Public Displays of Affection with Relation to Comfort Levels and Culture

To determine the tolerance levels of public displays of affection between males, females, Hispanics, and White Non-Hispanics (Whites), a total of 152 participants completed the Attitudes Toward Public Displays of Affection Inventory. While the hypothesis that males would be significantly more tolerant than females of observing public displays of affection was statistically supported for certain settings and certain levels of affection, overall, results may not be clinically meaningful. The second hypothesis, that there would be a significant difference between Hispanics and Whites and their tolerance levels for watching public displays of affection, was not supported. Overall trends indicate passionately kissing was the line of acceptability with acts listed prior as being acceptable and acts listed after it being unacceptable. Passionately kissing itself, yielded mixed results depending on the situation. Results also indicated that passionately kissing was the level in which acts switched from being affectionate to being erotic. Overall, males were more accepting of witnessing the various acts in public than were females. Implications for future research includes a larger variety of participants from different parts of the US, who the participants were with at the time of the observed affection, how much affection the participant would be willing to engage in at different locations, age of the observed couple, ethnicity of the observed couple, and varying the gender of the observed couples

Debris disc candidates in systems with transiting planets

Debris discs are known to exist around many planet-host stars, but no debris dust has been found so far in systems with transiting planets. Using publicly available catalogues, we searched for infrared excesses in such systems. In the recently published Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) catalogue, we found 52 stars with transiting planets. Two systems with one transiting "hot Jupiter" each, TrES-2 and XO-5, exhibit small excesses both at 12 and 22 microns at a > 3 sigma level. Provided that one or both of these detections are real, the frequency of warm excesses in systems with transiting planets of 2-4 % is comparable to that around solar-type stars probed at similar wavelengths with Spitzer's MIPS and IRS instruments. Modelling suggests that the observed excesses would stem from dust rings with radii of several AU. The inferred amount of dust is close to the maximum expected theoretically from a collisional cascade in asteroid belt analogues. If confirmed, the presence of debris discs in systems with transiting planets may put important constraints onto formation and migration scenarios of hot Jupiters.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

IRS Spectra of Solar-Type Stars: \break A Search for Asteroid Belt Analogs

We report the results of a spectroscopic search for debris disks surrounding 41 nearby solar type stars, including 8 planet-bearing stars, using the {\it Spitzer Space Telescope}. With accurate relative photometry using the Infrared Spectrometer (IRS) between 7-34 \micron we are able to look for excesses as small as $\sim$2% of photospheric levels with particular sensitivity to weak spectral features. For stars with no excess, the $3\sigma$ upper limit in a band at 30-34 $\mu$m corresponds to $\sim$ 75 times the brightness of our zodiacal dust cloud. Comparable limits at 8.5-13 $\mu$m correspond to $\sim$ 1,400 times the brightness of our zodiacal dust cloud. These limits correspond to material located within the $<$1 to $\sim$5 AU region that, in our solar system, originates from debris associated with the asteroid belt. We find excess emission longward of $\sim$25 $\mu$m from five stars of which four also show excess emission at 70 $\mu$m. This emitting dust must be located around 5-10 AU. One star has 70 micron emission but no IRS excess. In this case, the emitting region must begin outside 10 AU; this star has a known radial velocity planet. Only two stars of the five show emission shortward of 25 \micron where spectral features reveal the presence of a population of small, hot dust grains emitting in the 7-20 $\mu$m band. The data presented here strengthen the results of previous studies to show that excesses at 25 \micron and shorter are rare: only 1 star out of 40 stars older than 1 Gyr or $\sim 2.5$% shows an excess. Asteroid belts 10-30 times more massive than our own appear are rare among mature, solar-type stars

Debris disks in main sequence binary systems

We observed 69 A3-F8 main sequence binary star systems using the Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer onboard the Spitzer Space Telescope. We find emission significantly in excess of predicted photospheric flux levels for 9(+4/-3)% and 40(+7/-6)% of these systems at 24 and 70 microns, respectively. Twenty two systems total have excess emission, including four systems that show excess emission at both wavelengths. A very large fraction (nearly 60%) of observed binary systems with small (<3 AU) separations have excess thermal mission. We interpret the observed infrared excesses as thermal emission from dust produced by collisions in planetesimal belts. The incidence of debris disks around main sequence A3-F8 binaries is marginally higher than that for single old AFGK stars. Whatever combination of nature (birth conditions of binary systems) and nurture (interactions between the two stars) drives the evolution of debris disks in binary systems, it is clear that planetesimal formation is not inhibited to any great degree. We model these dust disks through fitting the spectral energy distributions and derive typical dust temperatures in the range 100--200 K and typical fractional luminosities around 10^-5, with both parameters similar to other Spitzer-discovered debris disks. Our calculated dust temperatures suggest that about half the excesses we observe are derived from circumbinary planetesimal belts and around one third of the excesses clearly suggest circumstellar material. Three systems with excesses have dust in dynamically unstable regions, and we discuss possible scenarios for the origin of this short-lived dust.Comment: ApJ, in press. 57 pages, including 7 figures (one of which is in color

HST/NICMOS observations of a proto-brown dwarf candidate

We present deep HST/NICMOS observations peering through the outflow cavity of the protostellar candidate IRAS 04381+2540 in the Taurus Molecular Cloud-1. A young stellar object as central source, a jet and a very faint and close (0.6") companion are identified. The primary and the companion have similar colours, consistent with strong reddening. We argue that the companion is neither a shock-excited knot nor a background star. The colour/magnitude information predicts a substellar upper mass limit for the companion, but the final confirmation will require spectroscopic information. Because of its geometry, young age and its rare low-mass companion, this system is likely to provide a unique insight into the formation of brown dwarfs.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics Letters, in press; 4 pages, 2 figure

Forecasting the Impact of Stellar Activity on Transiting Exoplanet Spectra

Exoplanet host star activity, in the form of unocculted starspots or faculae, alters the observed transmission and emission spectra of the exoplanet. This effect can be exacerbated when combining data from different epochs if the stellar photosphere varies between observations due to activity. Here, we present a method to characterize and correct for relative changes due to stellar activity by exploiting multi-epoch (⩾2 visits/transits) observations to place them in a consistent reference frame. Using measurements from portions of the planet's orbit where negligible planet transmission or emission can be assumed, we determine changes to the stellar spectral amplitude. With the analytical methods described here, we predict the impact of stellar variability on transit observations. Supplementing these forecasts with Kepler-measured stellar variabilities for F-, G-, K-, and M-dwarfs, and predicted transit precisions by the James Webb Space Telescope's (JWST) NIRISS, NIRCam, and MIRI, we conclude that stellar activity does not impact infrared transiting exoplanet observations of most presently known or predicted TESS targets by current or near-future platforms, such as JWST, as activity-induced spectral changes are below the measurement precision

<i>Herschel</i> observations of the debris disc around HIP 92043

Context. Typical debris discs are composed of particles ranging from several micron sized dust grains to km sized asteroidal bodies, and their infrared emission peaks at wavelengths 60-100 μm. Recent Herschel DUNES observations have identified several debris discs around nearby Sun-like stars (F, G and K spectral type) with significant excess emission only at 160 μm. Aims. We observed HIP 92043 (110 Her, HD 173667) at far-infrared and sub-millimetre wavelengths with Herschel PACS and SPIRE. Identification of the presence of excess emission from HIP 92043 and the origin and physical properties of any excess was undertaken through analysis of its spectral energy distribution (SED) and the PACS images. Methods. The PACS and SPIRE images were produced using the HIPE photProject map maker routine. Fluxes were measured using aperture photometry. A stellar photosphere model was scaled to optical and near infrared photometry and subtracted from the far-infared and sub-mm fluxes to determine the presence of excess emission. Source radial profiles were fitted using a 2D Gaussian and compared to a PSF model based on Herschel observations of α Boo to check for extended emission. Results. Clear excess emission from HIP 92043 was observed at 70 and 100 μm. Marginal excess was observed at 160 and 250 μm. Analysis of the images reveals that the source is extended at 160 μm. A fit to the source SED is inconsistent with a photosphere and single temperature black body. Conclusions. The excess emission from HIP 92043 is consistent with the presence of an unresolved circumstellar debris disc at 70 and 100 μm, with low probability of background contamination. The extended 160 μm emission may be interpreted as an additional cold component to the debris disc or as the result of background contamination along the line of sight. The nature of the 160 μm excess cannot be determined absolutely from the available data, but we favour a debris disc interpretation, drawing parallels with previously identified cold disc sources in the DUNES sample

Ethical implications of the perception and portrayal of dementia

yesThe way we perceive and portray dementia has implications for how we act towards people with dementia and how we address the issue of dementia within society. As a multi-disciplinary working group, established within the framework of the European Dementia Ethics Network of Alzheimer Europe, we aimed to describe the different ways that people with dementia are perceived and portrayed within society and to consider the moral implications of this. In the current paper, we address perceptions of dementia as reflected in explanatory models of its cause and nature, descriptions of characteristics of people with dementia, the use of language, media portrayals and the views of people living with dementia. Academics and professionals could use this exploration to reflect on their behaviour and their use of language regarding people with dementiaThe taskforce’s work arises from the 2013 Work Plan of Alzheimer Europe, which received funding from the European Union in the framework of the Health Programme