U.S. East Coast Trough Indices at 500 hPa and New England Winter Climate Variability

Using monthly gridded 500-hPa data, two synoptic indices are defined to better understand the principle mechanisms controlling intraseasonal to multiannual winter climate variability in NewEngland (NE). The “trough axis index” (TAI) is created to quantify the mean longitudinal position of the common East Coast pressure trough, and the “trough intensity index” (TII) is calculated to estimate the relative amplitude of this trough at 42.5°N. The TAI and TII are then compared with records for NE regional winter precipitation, temperature, and snowfall with the goal of understanding physical mechanisms linking NE winter climate with regional sea surface temperatures (SST), the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO), and the Pacific–North American (PNA) teleconnection pattern. The TAI correlates most significantly with winter precipitation at inland sites, such that a western (eastern)trough axis position is associated with greater (lower) average monthly precipitation. Also, significant correlations between the TAI and both NE regional SSTs and the NAO suggest that longitudinal shifting of the trough is one possible mechanism linking the North Atlantic with NE regional winterclimate variability. The NE winter temperature is significantly correlated with the TII, regional SSTs, and the NAO. While the PNA also correlates with the TII, NE winter climate variables are apparently unrelated to the PNA index

Student Life Transformed: A Post-World War Two Institutional Case Study of St. Francis Xavier University

This paper is an institutional case study of how post-World War II social trends reconfigured Canadian universities and colleges and thus substantially altered the undergraduate experience. The study focuses on the church-related college of St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. By marshalling a combination of salient documentary, oral, survey, and statistical evidence, the author concludes that critical processes, such as rising enrolments, physical plant expansion, faculty laicization, the campaign for student power, and gradual integration of the sexes transformed key dimensions of student life. Pronounced changes occurred in the sociology of residence life, in student attitudes to institutional authority, in student-faculty relations, in institutional decision-making processes, in gender relations, in program offerings and curricular regulations, in rules governing student social life, and in the role of religion. Consequently, the student who enrolled after the 1960s entered a markedly different institution than the student's predecessor who had been admitted as an undergraduate before 1945. The research demonstrates the value of the close analysis of student life at the local institutional level in the post-war era for understanding the contours of the contemporary undergraduate experience.Cette étude traite de l'impact de la société canadienne de l'après- Seconde Guerre mondiale sur les étudiantes et étudiants de l'Université St. Francis Xavier, une fondation religieuse située à Antigonish, en Nouvelle-Ecosse. Cet article montre, à l'aide de statistiques, d'interviews, et de documents d'archives, de quelles façons l'ajout de nouveaux édifices, le processus de sécularisation du personnel enseignant, la croissance démographique du corps étudiant et sa quête d'un certain pouvoir ont transformé en profondeur l'essence même de l'expérience universitaire. Les étudiantes et étudiants ont alors envisagé sous un oeil tout autre leurs relations avec les autorités de l'institution, leurs professeurs, leurs camarades de sexe opposé, de même que leur vie en résidence, leurs choix de programmes scolaires et la place de la religion dans leur vie. En conséquence, l'étudiante ou l'étudiant qui débute ses études au début des années soixante-dix entre à une université qui ne ressemble guère à celle de l'année  1945. Une étude détaillée de la vie étudiante révèle ainsi les contours de l'expérience universitaire au premier cycle

Graduate Sessions 9: Keller Easterling

Keller Easterling is an architect, professor, urbanist, and writer whose books Enduring Innocence: Global Architecture and Its Political Masquerades and Organization Space: Landscapes, Highways and Houses in America offer original and provocative conflations of spatial theory and contemporary design

A search for starlight reflected from HD 75289 b

We have used a doppler tomographic analysis to conduct a deep search for the starlight reflected from the planetary companion to HD 75289. In 4 nights on VLT2/UVES in January 2003, we obtained 684 high resolution echelle spectra with a total integration time of 26 hours. We establish an upper limit on the planet's geometric albedo p < 0.12 (to the 99.9% significance level) at the most probable orbital inclination i ~ 60 degrees, assuming a grey albedo, a Venus-like phase function and a planetary radius R_p = 1.6 R_Jup. We are able to rule out some combinations of the predicted planetary radius and atmospheric albedo models with high, reflective cloud decks.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, MNRAS accepted 12 Oct 200

X-ray Emission From Nearby M-dwarfs: the Super-saturation Phenomenon

A rotation rate and X-ray luminosity analysis is presented for rapidly rotating single and binary M-dwarf systems. X-ray luminosities for the majority of both single & binary M-dwarf systems with periods below $\simeq 5-6$ days (equatorial velocities, V$_{eq}>$ 6 km~s$^{-1}$) are consistent with the current rotation-activity paradigm, and appear to saturate at about $10^{-3}$ of the stellar bolometric luminosity. The single M-dwarf data show tentative evidence for the super-saturation phenomenon observed in some ultra-fast rotating ($>$ 100 km~s$^{-1}$) G & K-dwarfs in the IC 2391, IC 2602 and Alpha Persei clusters. The IC 2391 M star VXR60b is the least X-ray active and most rapidly rotating of the short period (P$_{rot}<$ 2 days) stars considered herein, with a period of 0.212 days and an X-ray activity level about 1.5 sigma below the mean X-ray emission level for most of the single M-dwarf sample. For this star, and possibly one other, we cautiously believe that we have identified the first evidence of super-saturation in M-dwarfs. If we are wrong, we demonstrate that only M-dwarfs rotating close to their break up velocities are likely to exhibit the super-saturation effect at X-ray wavelengths.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, accepted by MNRA

Assessment of the Geometric Interaction Between the Lotus Transcatheter Aortic Valve Prosthesis and the Native Ventricular Aortic Interface by 320-Multidetector Computed Tomography

AbstractObjectivesThis study sought to assess the geometric interaction between the Lotus Valve System transcatheter aortic prosthesis (Boston Scientific, Natick, Massachusetts) and the native aortoventricular interface using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT).BackgroundThe interaction between transcatheter aortic valve prostheses and native anatomy is variable, although potentially predictable. The Lotus transcatheter device uses a novel mechanical means of expansion, the effect of which on native anatomic geometry has not previously been described.MethodsForty patients treated with the Lotus prosthesis were enrolled. The patients underwent 320-MDCT imaging before and after implantation. Prosthesis dimensions and relevant interaction parameters, including circularity and expansion, were assessed. The degree of paraprosthetic regurgitation (PAR) and prosthesis gradient were measured by transthoracic echocardiography at the same time points.ResultsThe mean baseline annular eccentricity index (EI) was 0.21 ± 0.06 and left ventricular outflow tract EI was 0.31 ± 0.09. The deployed prostheses had high rates of circularity with a mean EI across all device segments of 0.06 ± 0.04. In noncircular device deployment, an EI >0.1 was identified in 25% of prostheses and was associated with greater native annular eccentricity at baseline compared with circular devices (0.24 ± 0.04 vs. 0.19 ± 0.06; p = 0.01). The median percent of expansion was 97.5 ± 3.8% in the inflow portion of the prosthesis. Twenty-five percent of prostheses were <90% expanded in at least 1 segment with a numerical, but not statistically significant, association between oversizing and underexpansion. No correlation was found between device underexpansion and the mean transprosthesis gradient or between noncircularity and PAR.ConclusionsThe Lotus prosthesis results in nearly full device expansion and circularization of the native basal plane. Awareness of the anatomic interaction between this unique device and the native architecture may help in the formulation of appropriate device-specific sizing algorithms

The classification of normalizing groups

Let X be a finite set such that |X|=n. Let Tn and Sn denote the transformation monoid and the symmetric group on n points, respectively. Given a∈Tn∖Sn, we say that a group G⩽Sn is a-normalizing if ,where a, G and g−1ag | g ∈ G denote the subsemigroups of Tn generated by the sets {a} ∪ G and {g−1ag | g ∈ G}, respectively. If G is a-normalizing for all a ∈ Tn \ Sn, then we say that G is normalizing.The goal of this paper is to classify the normalizing groups and hence answer a question of Levi, McAlister, and McFadden. The paper ends with a number of problems for experts in groups, semigroups and matrix theory