3D spectroscopy of dwarf elliptical galaxies

I present some results of 3D spectroscopy for a small sample of dwarf elliptical galaxies, mostly members of small groups. The galaxies under consideration have a typical absolute magnitude of -18 (B-band), and at the Kormendy's relation they settle within a transition zone between the main cloud of giant ellipticals and the sequence of diffuse ellipticals. By measuring Lick indices and investigating radial profiles of the SSP-equivalent ages and metallicities of the stellar populations in their central parts, I have found evolutionary distinct cores in all of them. Typically, the ages of these cores are 2-4 Gyr, and the metallicities are higher than the solar one. Outside the cores, the stellar populations are always old, T>12 Gyr, and the metallicities are subsolar. This finding implies that the well-known correlation between the stellar age and the total mass (luminosity) of field ellipticals (Trager et al. 2000, Caldwell et al. 2003, Howell 2005) may be in fact a direct consequence of a larger contribution of nuclear starbursts into the integrated stellar population in dwarfs with respect to giants, and does not relate to `downsizing'.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure. Poster contribution to the proceedings of the conference "A Universe of Dwarf Galaxies" (Lyon, June 14-18, 2010

Tropidosteptes forestierae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Miridae: Mirinae): a new species of Plant Bug injuring ornamental Florida Swampprivet, Forestiera segregata (Oleaceae), in South Florida

The mirine plant bug Tropidosteptes forestierae, new species (Hemiptera: Miridae) is described from Collier County, Florida, where it was found causing serious injury to an extensive ornamental hedge of Florida swampprivet, Forestiera segregata (Jacq.) Krug and Urb. (Oleaceae). Adult male and female, fifth instar, and egg are described. Color images of the adults, nymph, egg, and injury; scanning photomicrographs of selected adult structures; and illustrations of male genitalia are provided. A key to help distinguish the 16 species of Tropidosteptes known to occur in the southeastern United States is given

Rhetoric in Fiction: A Fantasy-Theme Analysis of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

This study meets three primary objectives. First, it demonstrates how rhetorical theory and Iiterary criticism are compatible fields of study and explains how Ernest Bormann\u27s rhetorical theory based on fantasy-theme analysis can be used as an appropriate method for the analysis of literary works. Secondly, this study identifies a trend in late Nineteenth Century adventure stories in which travel to foreign lands and European influence on the cultures of those lands is portrayed as good and philanthropic. Finally, this study concludes with a fantasy-theme analysis of Joseph Conrad\u27s Heart of Darkness which reveals that Conrad\u27s adventure fiction breaks away from the established trends of other adventure writers. Through the fantasy chains within this work, Conrad suggests that European involvement in foreign cultures is harmful to those cultures as well as the individual Europeans involved

Polarisation and Cultural Realignment in Britain, 2014-2019

Following decades of reduced ideological competition, mainstream party policy diverged in Britain after the 2007-2008 financial crisis. This is motivating renewed interest in mass polarisation, yet that concept remains understudied relative to the American political science literature. Almost all existing research is based in the post-Thatcher era of left-right convergence, leaving gaps in our understanding of cultural realignment during the Brexit period. I consider three perspectives on polarisation in this thesis: (1) sociological accounts claim that polarisation reflects changes in distributional properties of public opinion; (2) party sorting accounts contend that public opinion is not necessarily polarising so much as partisanship is more organised around issue positions; (3) elite cue accounts argue that partisanship causes polarisation and thus limits attitude change to politically engaged voters. These accounts are tested using cross-sectional and panel data from the British Election Study, 2014-2019. I operationalise aggregate outcomes and individual-level mechanisms contested in the American case, examining the extent to which citizens are dividing through different variables (attitude versus partisanship change), via different voters (partisans versus non-partisans), and on different issues (cultural versus economic). Little evidence is found for elite cue accounts throughout the thesis. Despite strong left-right policy divergence among Labour-Conservative platforms, I observe depolarisation in the distributional properties and partisanship of mass economic preferences. More ambiguous elite disagreements surrounding European integration, immigration, and broader social values are associated with escalating social division, meanwhile. I find liberal attitude change suggesting socio-demographic culture shifts, yet this trend is unfolding in conjunction with party switching mechanisms. The product of these changes drives mass polarisation from 2014 to 2019, indicating an overarching account of cultural realignment based on sociological and party sorting processes

Self-diffusion of ions in gels

Radioisotope tracer techniques were used to determine the self-diffusion coefficients of the ions of sodium, potassium, cesium, chloride, bromide, and iodide in 3% agar gel, and the self-diffusion coefficient of the sodium ion in gelatin-agar gels at differing pH values of the gel. The coefficients in agar gels were found to be in agreement with the Nernst equation for the diffusion coefficients of ions in aqueous solution. \u27l\u27he diffusion coefficients in gelatin-agar gels were found to be higher in the presence of non-active NaCl than in its absence. The value of the coefficient was lower at the isoelectric point of the gelatin-agar gel than at pH values on the acid and basic sides of the isoelectric point. The value of the self-diffusion coefficient for the sodium ion found in gelatin-agar gel of pH 3 .1 and non-active NaCl concentration of 110 micro equivalents per milliliter ·was larger than the coefficient value in aqueous solution

Rhetoric in Fiction: A Fantasy-Theme Analysis of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

This study meets three primary objectives. First, it demonstrates how rhetorical theory and Iiterary criticism are compatible fields of study and explains how Ernest Bormann\u27s rhetorical theory based on fantasy-theme analysis can be used as an appropriate method for the analysis of literary works. Secondly, this study identifies a trend in late Nineteenth Century adventure stories in which travel to foreign lands and European influence on the cultures of those lands is portrayed as good and philanthropic. Finally, this study concludes with a fantasy-theme analysis of Joseph Conrad\u27s Heart of Darkness which reveals that Conrad\u27s adventure fiction breaks away from the established trends of other adventure writers. Through the fantasy chains within this work, Conrad suggests that European involvement in foreign cultures is harmful to those cultures as well as the individual Europeans involved

Rhetoric in Fiction: A Fantasy-Theme Analysis of Conrad’s Heart of Darkness

This study meets three primary objectives. First, it demonstrates how rhetorical theory and Iiterary criticism are compatible fields of study and explains how Ernest Bormann\u27s rhetorical theory based on fantasy-theme analysis can be used as an appropriate method for the analysis of literary works. Secondly, this study identifies a trend in late Nineteenth Century adventure stories in which travel to foreign lands and European influence on the cultures of those lands is portrayed as good and philanthropic. Finally, this study concludes with a fantasy-theme analysis of Joseph Conrad\u27s Heart of Darkness which reveals that Conrad\u27s adventure fiction breaks away from the established trends of other adventure writers. Through the fantasy chains within this work, Conrad suggests that European involvement in foreign cultures is harmful to those cultures as well as the individual Europeans involved

Two-fluid matter-quintessence FLRW models: energy transfer and the equation of state of the universe

Recent observations support the view that the universe is described by a FLRW model with $\Omega_m^0 \approx 0.3$, $\Omega_{\Lambda}^0 \approx 0.7$, and $w \leq -1/3$ at the present epoch. There are several theoretical suggestions for the cosmological $\Lambda$ component and for the particular form of the energy transfer between this dark energy and matter. This gives a strong motive for a systematic study of general properties of two-fluid FLRW models. We consider a combination of one perfect fluid, which is quintessence with negative pressure ($p_Q = w\epsilon_Q$), and another perfect fluid, which is a mixture of radiation and/or matter components with positive pressure ($p = \beta \epsilon_m$), which define the associated one-fluid model ($p = \gamma \epsilon$). We introduce a useful classification which contains 4 classes of models defined by the presence or absence of energy transfer and by the stationarity ($w = const.$ and $\beta = const.$) or/and non stationarity ($w$ or $\beta$ time dependent) of the equations of state. It is shown that, for given $w$ and $\beta$, the energy transfer defines $\gamma$ and, therefore, the total gravitating mass and dynamics of the model. We study important examples of two-fluid FLRW models within the new classification. The behaviour of the energy content, gravitating mass, pressure, and the energy transfer are given as functions of the scale factor. We point out three characteristic scales, $a_E$, $a_{\cal P}$ and $a_{\cal M}$, which separate periods of time in which quintessence energy, pressure and gravitating mass dominate. Each sequence of the scales defines one of 6 evolution types

First limit from a surface run of a 10 liter Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber

Thesis (S.B.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Physics, 2009.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 35-37).A 10 liter prototype Dark Matter Time Projection Chamber (DMTPC) is operated on the surface of the earth at 75 Torr using carbon-tetrafluoride (CF4) as a target material to obtain a 24.57 gram-day exposure. A limit is set on a likely dark matter candidate, the weakly interacting massive particle. This is the first limit from the DMTPC detector, and the goal is to understand the sensitivity of the detector. In addition, this detector is used to measure the mean energy and attenuation coefficient of electrons propagating in CF4.by Thomas S. Caldwell, Jr.S.B

Star Clusters in M31: V. Internal Dynamical Trends: Some Troublesome, Some Reassuring

We present internal velocity dispersions and precise radial velocities for 200 globular clusters (GCs) in M31 that are derived using new high-resolution spectra from MMT/Hectochelle. Of these, 163 also have King model structural parameters that allow us to estimate their mass-to-light ratios. This is, by far, the largest such dataset available for any galaxy, including the Milky Way. These data strongly confirm earlier suggestions that the optical and near-infrared mass-to-light ratios of M31 GCs decline with increasing metallicity. This behavior is the opposite of that predicted by stellar population models for a standard initial mass function. We show that this phenomenon does not appear to be caused by standard dynamical evolution. A shallower mass function for metal-rich GCs (with dN/dM ~ M^-0.8 to M^-1.3 below one solar mass) can explain the bulk of extant observations. We also observe a consistent, monotonic correlation between mass-to-light ratio and cluster mass. This correlation, in contrast to the correlation with metallicity, is well-explained by the accepted model of dynamical evolution of GCs through mass segregation and the preferential loss of low-mass stars, and these data are among the best available to constrain this process.Comment: AJ in press. 11 pages, 7 figures (not including tables) in emulate forma