241 research outputs found
Is there a "Right" Time to Buy Options Pre-Harvest?
This study analyses the variables that affect the option premium levels in an attempt to identify a period in time that would be considered "preferred" for the purchase of a December put option contract for corn and cotton. The daily futures and options data from January 1990 to October 2005 revealed that average prices of December cotton and corn futures tended to be higher in the month of March. The early months of the year also demonstrated low implied volatility levels while offering larger time to maturity. The analysis suggests that March may be a preferred time to purchase December cotton and corn put options.Marketing,
Supernova Kicks and Misaligned Be Star Binaries
Be stars are rapidly spinning B stars surrounded by an outflowing disc of gas
in Keplerian rotation. Be star/X-ray binary systems contain a Be star and a
neutron star. They are found to have non-zero eccentricities and there is
evidence that some systems have a misalignment between the spin axis of the
star and the spin axis of the binary orbit. The eccentricities in these systems
are thought to be caused by a kick to the neutron star during the supernova
that formed it. Such kicks would also give rise to misalignments. In this paper
we investigate the extent to which the same kick distribution can give rise to
both the observed eccentricity distribution and the observed misalignments. We
find that a Maxwellian distribution of velocity kicks with a low velocity
dispersion, , is consistent with the observed
eccentricity distribution but is hard to reconcile with the observed
misalignments, typically . Alternatively a higher velocity kick
distribution, , is consistent with the observed
misalignments but not with the observed eccentricities, unless post-supernova
circularisation of the binary orbits has taken place. We discuss briefly how
this might be achieved.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA
Orientation Sensitivity at Different Stages of Object Processing: Evidence from Repetition Priming and Naming
An ongoing debate in the object recognition literature centers on whether the shape representations used in recognition are coded in an orientation-dependent or orientation-invariant manner. In this study, we asked whether the nature of the object representation (orientation-dependent vs orientation-invariant) depends on the information-processing stages tapped by the task
Low and High Ionization Absorption Properties of Mg II Absorption-Selected Galaxies at Intermediate Redshifts. II. Taxonomy, Kinematics, and Galaxies
[Abridged] We examine a sample of 45 Mg II absorption-selected systems over
the redshift range 0.4 to 1.4. Mg II and Fe II absorption profiles were
observed at a resolution of ~6 km/s with HIRES/Keck. Lyman-alpha and C IV data
were measured in archival FOS/HST spectra (~230 km/s). We perform a
multivariate analysis of W(MgII), W(FeII), W(CIV) and W(Lya) (rest-frame)
equivalent widths and the Mg II kinematic spread. We find five categories of Mg
II absorbers: "Classic", "C IV-deficient", "Single/Weak", "Double", and
"DLA/HI-Rich". There is a strong connection between low-ionization kinematics
and the location of an absorber on the W(CIV)-W(MgII) plane. In most absorbers
a significant fraction of the C IV arises in a phase separate from Mg II. Many
of the C IV profiles are resolved in the FOS spectra due to velocity
structure.. For 16 galaxies, we compare the available absorption-line
properties (taken from Churchill et al. 2000, Paper I) to the galaxy properties
but find no significant (greater than 3-sigma) correlations, although several
suggestive trends are apparent. We compare the locations of our intermediate
redshift absorbers on the W(CIV)-W(MgII) plane with those of lower and higher
redshift data taken from the literature and find evidence for evolution that is
connected with the Mg II kinematics. We discuss the potential of using the
above categorizations of absorbers to understand the evolution in the
underlying physical processes giving rise to the gas and governing its
ionization phases and kinematics.Comment: Accepted: The Astrophysical Journal; Work based upon data presented
in Paper I [astro-ph/0005585
Early differential sensitivity of evoked-potentials to local and global shape during the perception of three-dimensional objects
Here we investigated the time course underlying differential processing of local and global shape information during the perception of complex three-dimensional (3D) objects. Observers made shape matching judgments about pairs of sequentially presented multipart novel objects. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to measure perceptual sensitivity to 3D shape differences in terms of local part structure and global shape configuration - based on predictions derived from hierarchical structural description models of object recognition. There were three types of different object trials in which stimulus pairs (1) shared local parts but differed in global shape configuration; (2) contained different local parts but shared global configuration or (3) shared neither local parts nor global configuration. Analyses of the ERP data showed differential amplitude modulation as a function of shape similarity as early as the N1 component between 146-215 ms post-stimulus onset. These negative amplitude deflections were more similar between objects sharing global shape configuration than local part structure. Differentiation among all stimulus types was reflected in N2 amplitude modulations between 276–330 ms. sLORETA inverse solutions showed stronger involvement of left occipitotemporal areas during the N1 for object discrimination weighted towards local part structure. The results suggest that the perception of 3D object shape involves parallel processing of information at local and global scales. This processing is characterised by relatively slow derivation of ‘fine-grained’ local shape structure, and fast derivation of ‘coarse-grained’ global shape configuration. We propose that the rapid early derivation of global shape attributes underlies the observed patterns of N1 amplitude modulations
Proteolytic action of the crude extract ofDuddingtonia flagrans on cyathostomins (Nematoda: Cyathostominae) in coprocultures
Genetic Elucidation of Human Hyperosmia to Isovaleric Acid
The genetic basis of odorant-specific variations in human olfactory thresholds, and in particular of enhanced odorant sensitivity (hyperosmia), remains largely unknown. Olfactory receptor (OR) segregating pseudogenes, displaying both functional and nonfunctional alleles in humans, are excellent candidates to underlie these differences in olfactory sensitivity. To explore this hypothesis, we examined the association between olfactory detection threshold phenotypes of four odorants and segregating pseudogene genotypes of 43 ORs genome-wide. A strong association signal was observed between the single nucleotide polymorphism variants in OR11H7P and sensitivity to the odorant isovaleric acid. This association was largely due to the low frequency of homozygous pseudogenized genotype in individuals with specific hyperosmia to this odorant, implying a possible functional role of OR11H7P in isovaleric acid detection. This predicted receptor–ligand functional relationship was further verified using the Xenopus oocyte expression system, whereby the intact allele of OR11H7P exhibited a response to isovaleric acid. Notably, we also uncovered another mechanism affecting general olfactory acuity that manifested as a significant inter-odorant threshold concordance, resulting in an overrepresentation of individuals who were hyperosmic to several odorants. An involvement of polymorphisms in other downstream transduction genes is one possible explanation for this observation. Thus, human hyperosmia to isovaleric acid is a complex trait, contributed to by both receptor and other mechanisms in the olfactory signaling pathway
A natural explanation for periodic X-ray outbursts in Be/X-ray binaries
When applied to Be/X-ray binaries, the viscous decretion disc model for Be
stars naturally predicts the truncation of the circumstellar disc. The distance
at which the circumstellar disc is truncated depends mainly on the orbital
parameters and the viscosity. In systems with low eccentricity, the disc is
expected to be truncated at the 3:1 resonance radius, for which the gap between
the disc outer radius and the critical lobe radius of the Be star is so wide
that, under normal conditions, the neutron star cannot accrete enough gas at
periastron passage to show Type I X-ray outbursts. These systems will display
only Type II X-ray outbursts. On the other hand, in systems with high orbital
eccentricity, the disc truncation occurs at a much higher resonance radius,
which is very close to or slightly beyond the critical lobe radius at
periastron unless the viscosity is very low. In these systems, disc truncation
cannot be efficient, allowing the neutron star to capture gas from the disc at
every periastron passage and display Type I outbursts regularly. In contrast to
the rather robust results for systems with low eccentricity and high
eccentricity, the result for systems with moderate eccentricity depends on
rather subtle details. Systems in which the disc is truncated in the vicinity
of the critical lobe will regularly display Type I outbursts, whereas those
with the disc significantly smaller than the critical lobe will show only Type
II outbursts under normal conditions and temporary Type I outbursts when the
disc is strongly disturbed.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Spitzer and JCMT Observations of the Active Galactic Nucleus in the Sombrero Galaxy (NGC 4594)
We present Spitzer 3.6-160 micron images, Spitzer mid-infrared spectra, and
JCMT SCUBA 850 micron images of the Sombrero Galaxy (NGC 4594), an Sa galaxy
with a 10^9 M_solar low luminosity active galactic nucleus (AGN). The brightest
infrared sources in the galaxy are the nucleus and the dust ring. The spectral
energy distribution of the AGN demonstrates that, while the environment around
the AGN is a prominent source of mid-infrared emission, it is a relatively weak
source of far-infrared emission, as had been inferred for AGN in previous
research. The weak nuclear 160 micron emission and the negligible polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbon emission from the nucleus also implies that the nucleus is
a site of only weak star formation activity and the nucleus contains relatively
little cool interstellar gas needed to fuel such activity. We propose that this
galaxy may be representative of a subset of low ionization nuclear emission
region galaxies that are in a quiescent AGN phase because of the lack of gas
needed to fuel circumnuclear star formation and Seyfert-like AGN activity.
Surprisingly, the AGN is the predominant source of 850 micron emission. We
examine the possible emission mechanisms that could give rise to the 850 micron
emission and find that neither thermal dust emission, CO line emission,
bremsstrahlung emission, nor the synchrotron emission observed at radio
wavelengths can adequately explain the measured 850 micron flux density by
themselves. The remaining possibilities for the source of the 850 micron
emission include a combination of known emission mechanisms, synchrotron
emission that is self-absorbed at wavelengths longer than 850 microns, or
unidentified spectral lines in the 850 micron band.Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 200
Comparative proteomic analysis of a potentially probiotic Lactobacillus pentosus MP-10 for the identification of key proteins involved in antibiotic resistance and biocide tolerance
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