1,352 research outputs found
Plato on Well-Being
Plato's dialogues use several terms for the concept of well-being, which concept plays a central ethical role as the ultimate goal for action and a central political role as the proper aim for states. But the dialogues also reveal sharp debate about what human well-being is. I argue that they endorse a Socratic conception of well-being as virtuous activity, by considering and rejecting several alternatives, including an ordinary conception that lists a variety of goods, a Protagorean conception that identifies one's well-being with what appears one to be one's well-being, and hedonistic conceptions
Microwave and Millimeter Wave Techniques
Contains reports on three research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-75-C-1346
XO-2b: Transiting Hot Jupiter in a Metal-rich Common Proper Motion Binary
We report on a V=11.2 early K dwarf, XO-2 (GSC 03413-00005), that hosts a
Rp=0.98+0.03/-0.01 Rjup, Mp=0.57+/-0.06 Mjup transiting extrasolar planet,
XO-2b, with an orbital period of 2.615857+/-0.000005 days. XO-2 has high
metallicity, [Fe/H]=0.45+/-0.02, high proper motion, mu_tot=157 mas/yr, and has
a common proper motion stellar companion with 31" separation. The two stars are
nearly identical twins, with very similar spectra and apparent magnitudes. Due
to the high metallicity, these early K dwarf stars have a mass and radius close
to solar, Ms=0.98+/-0.02 Msolar and Rs=0.97+0.02/-0.01 Rsolar. The high proper
motion of XO-2 results from an eccentric orbit (Galactic pericenter, Rper<4
kpc) well confined to the Galactic disk (Zmax~100 pc). In addition, the phase
space position of XO-2 is near the Hercules dynamical stream, which points to
an origin of XO-2 in the metal-rich, inner Thin Disk and subsequent dynamical
scattering into the solar neighborhood. We describe an efficient Markov Chain
Monte Carlo algorithm for calculating the Bayesian posterior probability of the
system parameters from a transit light curve.Comment: 14 pages, 10 Figures, Accepted in ApJ. Negligible changes to XO-2
system properties. Removed Chi^2 light curve analysis section, and simplified
MCMC light curve analysis discussio
XO-3b: A Massive Planet in an Eccentric Orbit Transiting an F5V Star
We report the discovery of a massive (Mpsini = 13.02 +/- 0.64 Mjup; total
mass 13.25 +/- 0.64 Mjup), large (1.95 +/- 0.16 Rjup) planet in a transiting,
eccentric orbit (e = 0.260 +/- 0.017) around a 10th magnitude F5V star in the
constellation Camelopardalis. We designate the planet XO-3b, and the star XO-3,
also known as GSC 03727-01064. The orbital period of XO-3b is 3.1915426 +/-
0.00014 days. XO-3 lacks a trigonometric distance; we estimate its distance to
be 260 +/- 23 pc. The radius of XO-3 is 2.13 +/- 0.21 Rsun, its mass is 1.41
+/- 0.08 Msun, its vsini = 18.54 +/- 0.17 km/s, and its metallicity is [Fe/H] =
-0.177 +/- 0.027. This system is unusual for a number of reasons. XO-3b is one
of the most massive planets discovered around any star for which the orbital
period is less than 10 days. The mass is near the deuterium burning limit of 13
Mjup, which is a proposed boundary between planets and brown dwarfs. Although
Burrows et al. (2001) propose that formation in a disk or formation in the
interstellar medium in a manner similar to stars is a more logical way to
differentiate planets and brown dwarfs, our current observations are not
adequate to address this distinction. XO-3b is also unusual in that its
eccentricity is large given its relatively short orbital period. Both the
planetary radius and the inclination are functions of the spectroscopically
determined stellar radius. Analysis of the transit light curve of XO-3b
suggests that the spectroscopically derived parameters may be over estimated.
Though relatively noisy, the light curves favor a smaller radius in order to
better match the steepness of the ingress and egress. The light curve fits
imply a planetary radius of 1.25 +/- 0.15 Rjup, which would correspond to a
mass of 12.03 +/- 0.46 Mjup.Comment: 26 pages, 10 figures. Accepted by ApJ. Current version has several
small corrections as a result of a bug in the fitting softwar
Pain and Interference of Pain With Function and Mood in Elderly Adults Involved in a Motor Vehicle Collision: A Pilot Study
Musculoskeletal pain after motor vehicle collision is a substantial public health problem. The number of elderly individuals experiencing motor vehicle collision is increasing. We conducted analyses of data collected as part of a prospective observational study of outcomes after motor vehicle collision to estimates rates of persistent pain, pain interference, and change in physical function in patients 65 or older
Microwave and Millimeter Wave Techniques
Contains research objectives and summary of research on four research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAAB07-74-C-0630)National Science Foundation (Grant GP-40485X)National Science Foundation (Grant MPS73-05043-A01
Logging Affects Fledgling Sex Ratios and Baseline Corticosterone in a Forest Songbird
Silviculture (logging) creates a disturbance to forested environments. The degree to which forests are modified depends on the logging prescription and forest stand characteristics. In this study we compared the effects of two methods of group-selection (âmoderateâ and âheavyâ) silviculture (GSS) and undisturbed reference stands on stress and offspring sex ratios of a forest interior species, the Ovenbird (Seiurus aurocapilla), in Algonquin Provincial Park, Canada. Blood samples were taken from nestlings for corticosterone and molecular sexing. We found that logging creates a disturbance that is stressful for nestling Ovenbirds, as illustrated by elevated baseline corticosterone in cut sites. Ovenbirds nesting in undisturbed reference forest produce fewer male offspring per brood (proportion maleâ=â30%) while logging with progressively greater forest disturbance, shifted the offspring sex ratio towards males (proportion male: moderateâ=â50%, heavyâ=â70%). If Ovenbirds in undisturbed forests usually produce female-biased broods, then the production of males as a result of logging may disrupt population viability. We recommend a broad examination of nestling sex ratios in response to anthropogenic disturbance to determine the generality of our findings
Measurement of the quasi-elastic axial vector mass in neutrino-oxygen interactions
The weak nucleon axial-vector form factor for quasi-elastic interactions is
determined using neutrino interaction data from the K2K Scintillating Fiber
detector in the neutrino beam at KEK. More than 12,000 events are analyzed, of
which half are charged-current quasi-elastic interactions nu-mu n to mu- p
occurring primarily in oxygen nuclei. We use a relativistic Fermi gas model for
oxygen and assume the form factor is approximately a dipole with one parameter,
the axial vector mass M_A, and fit to the shape of the distribution of the
square of the momentum transfer from the nucleon to the nucleus. Our best fit
result for M_A = 1.20 \pm 0.12 GeV. Furthermore, this analysis includes updated
vector form factors from recent electron scattering experiments and a
discussion of the effects of the nucleon momentum on the shape of the fitted
distributions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table
Evidence for the η_b(1S) Meson in Radiative ΄(2S) Decay
We have performed a search for the η_b(1S) meson in the radiative decay of the ΄(2S) resonance using a sample of 91.6 Ă 10^6 ΄(2S) events recorded with the BABAR detector at the PEP-II B factory at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. We observe a peak in the photon energy spectrum at E_Îł = 609.3^(+4.6)_(-4.5)(stat)±1.9(syst) MeV, corresponding to an η_b(1S) mass of 9394.2^(+4.8)_(-4.9)(stat) ± 2.0(syst) MeV/c^2. The branching fraction for the decay ΄(2S) â γη_b(1S) is determined to be [3.9 ± 1.1(stat)^(+1.1)_(-0.9)(syst)] Ă 10^(-4). We find the ratio of branching fractions B[΄(2S) â γη_b(1S)]/B[΄(3S) â γη_b(1S)]= 0.82 ± 0.24(stat)^(+0.20)_(-0.19)(syst)
Search for the W-exchange decays B0 --> Ds(*)- Ds(*)+
We report a search for the decays , , in a sample of 232
million decays to \BBb ~pairs collected with the \babar detector
at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy storage ring. We find no significant
signal and set upper bounds for the branching fractions: and at 90% confidence level.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PRD-R
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