On the evolutionary behaviour of BL Lac objects

We present a new well defined sample of BL Lac objects selected from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS). The sample consists of 39 objects with 35 forming a flux limited sample down to f_X = 8 x 10^{-13} cgs, redshifts are known for 33 objects (and 31 of the complete sample). X-ray spectral properties were determined for each object individually with the RASS data. The luminosity function of RASS selected BL Lac objects is compatible with results provided by objects selected with the Einstein observatory, but the RASS selected sample contains objects with luminosities at least tenfold higher. Our analysis confirms the negative evolution for X-ray selected BL Lac objects found in a sample by the Einstein observatory, the parameterization provides similar results. A subdivision of the sample into halves according to the X-ray to optical flux ratio yielded unexpected results. The extremely X-ray dominated objects have higher redshifts and X-ray luminosities and only this subgroup shows clear signs of strong negative evolution. The evolutionary behaviour of objects with an intermediate spectral energy distribution between X-ray and radio dominated is compatible with no evolution at all. Consequences for unified schemes of X-ray and radio selected BL Lac objects are discussed.We suggest that the intermediate BL Lac objects are the basic BL Lac population. The distinction between the two subgroups can be explained if extreme X-ray dominated BL Lac objects are observed in a state of enhanced X-ray activity.Comment: 14 pages incl. 8 figures, accepted by A&

Online instructional videos as a complimentary method of teaching practical rehabilitation skills for groups and individuals

Online instructional videos are becoming increasingly common within education. This study adopts a quasi-experimental 2 × 2 crossover design (control and experimental groups) to evaluate the efficacy of instructional videos to teach practical rehabilitation skills. The students performed practical sessions in class and were formatively assessed by their lecturers. The results demonstrate that the group effect was moderate with an effect size of 0.68, CI [0.04, 1.31]; the magnitude-based inferences indicate the probabilities the video was beneficial or trivial or harmful were 93.9% or 5.4% or 0.6%. The results of the study demonstrate that the instructional videos had a small to moderate beneficial effect on all assessed criteria

Dimensionality effects on non-equilibrium electronic transport in Cu nanobridges

We report on non-equilibrium electronic transport through normal-metal (Cu) nanobridges coupled to large reservoirs at low temperatures. We observe a logarithmic temperature dependence of the zero-bias conductance, as well as a universal scaling behavior of the differential conductance. Our results are explained by electron-electron interactions in diffusive metals in the zero-dimensional limit.Comment: RevTex, 4 page

Whirlpool: Improving Dynamic Cache Management with Static Data Classification

Cache hierarchies are increasingly non-uniform and difficult to manage. Several techniques, such as scratchpads or reuse hints, use static information about how programs access data to manage the memory hierarchy. Static techniques are effective on regular programs, but because they set fixed policies, they are vulnerable to changes in program behavior or available cache space. Instead, most systems rely on dynamic caching policies that adapt to observed program behavior. Unfortunately, dynamic policies spend significant resources trying to learn how programs use memory, and yet they often perform worse than a static policy. We present Whirlpool, a novel approach that combines static information with dynamic policies to reap the benefits of each. Whirlpool statically classifies data into pools based on how the program uses memory. Whirlpool then uses dynamic policies to tune the cache to each pool. Hence, rather than setting policies statically, Whirlpool uses static analysis to guide dynamic policies. We present both an API that lets programmers specify pools manually and a profiling tool that discovers pools automatically in unmodified binaries. We evaluate Whirlpool on a state-of-the-art NUCA cache. Whirlpool significantly outperforms prior approaches: on sequential programs, Whirlpool improves performance by up to 38% and reduces data movement energy by up to 53%; on parallel programs, Whirlpool improves performance by up to 67% and reduces data movement energy by up to 2.6x.National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant CCF-1318384)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (CAREER-1452994)Samsung (Firm) (GRO award

The 1 keV to 200 keV X-ray Spectrum of NGC 2992 and NGC 3081

The Seyfert 2 galaxies NGC 2992 and NGC 3081 have been observed by INTEGRAL and Swift. We report about the results and the comparison of the spectrum above 10 keV based on INTEGRAL IBIS/ISGRI, Swift/BAT, and BeppoSAX/PDS. A spectrum can be extracted in the X-ray energy band ranging from 1 keV up to 200 keV. Although NGC 2992 shows a complex spectrum below 10 keV, the hard tail observed by various missions exhibits a slope with photon index = 2, independent on the flux level during the observation. No cut-off is detectable up to the detection limit around 200 keV. In addition, NGC 3081 is detected in the INTEGRAL and Swift observation and also shows an unbroken Gamma = 1.8 spectrum up to 150 keV. These two Seyfert galaxies give further evidence that a high-energy cut-off in the hard X-ray spectra is often located at energies E_C >> 100 keV. In NGC 2992 a constant spectral shape is observed over a hard X-ray luminosity variation by a factor of 11. This might indicate that the physical conditions of the emitting hot plasma are constant, while the amount of plasma varies, due to long-term flaring activity.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

The HRX-BL Lac sample - evolution of BL Lac objects

The unification of X-ray and radio selected BL Lacs has been an outstanding problem in the blazar research in the past years. Recent investigations have shown that the gap between the two classes can be filled with intermediate objects and that apparently all differences can be explained by mutual shifts of the peak frequencies of the synchrotron and inverse Compton component of the emission. We study the consequences of this scheme using a new sample of X-ray selected BL Lac objects comprising 104 objects with z<0.9 and a mean redshift z=0.34. 77 BL Lacs, of which the redshift could be determined for 64 (83%) objects, form a complete sample. The new data could not confirm our earlier result, drawn from a subsample, that the negative evolution vanishes below a synchrotron peak frequency log (peak-frequency) = 16.5. The complete sample shows negative evolution at the 2 sigma level ( = 0.42 +- 0.04). We conclude that the observed properties of the HRX BL Lac sample show typical behaviour for X-ray selected BL Lacs. They support an evolutionary model, in which flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQ) with high energetic jets evolve towards low frequency peaked (mostly radio-selected) BL Lac objects and later on to high frequency peaked (mostly X-ray selected) BL Lacs.Comment: 24 pages, 35 figures, accepted by A&

Hard X-ray Variability of AGN

Aims: Active Galactic Nuclei are known to be variable throughout the electromagnetic spectrum. An energy domain poorly studied in this respect is the hard X-ray range above 20 keV. Methods: The first 9 months of the Swift/BAT all-sky survey are used to study the 14 - 195 keV variability of the 44 brightest AGN. The sources have been selected due to their detection significance of >10 sigma. We tested the variability using a maximum likelihood estimator and by analysing the structure function. Results: Probing different time scales, it appears that the absorbed AGN are more variable than the unabsorbed ones. The same applies for the comparison of Seyfert 2 and Seyfert 1 objects. As expected the blazars show stronger variability. 15% of the non-blazar AGN show variability of >20% compared to the average flux on time scales of 20 days, and 30% show at least 10% flux variation. All the non-blazar AGN which show strong variability are low-luminosity objects with L(14-195 keV) < 1E44 erg/sec. Conclusions: Concerning the variability pattern, there is a tendency of unabsorbed or type 1 galaxies being less variable than the absorbed or type 2 objects at hardest X-rays. A more solid anti-correlation is found between variability and luminosity, which has been previously observed in soft X-rays, in the UV, and in the optical domain.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&