67 research outputs found
A study on the effects of tertiary education on open source information gathering skills
Since the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW), a large amount of information has become available and accessible to anyone with an Internet connection. Where in the past, the art of the intelligence profession was finding scarce information, currently information gathering is more focused on sorting relevant information from the available abundance. The purpose of the current study was to gain a better understanding of how information is gathered on the Web by potential intelligence analysts. Although the WWW is used by many people to search for information daily, relatively little research exists on how this source should be used and what to consider when using it in the intelligence context. As the intelligence profession mostly recruits university graduates as analysts, the current study aimed to investigate how information collection skills differ between security science students who are at different stages of a three-year tertiary intelligence course.
A mixed-method approach was employed using three cohorts of students with 40 participants. Each participant was asked to gather information on a defined problem utilising resources available on the WWW, to list all information gathered and the search terms used. In addition, each participant was asked to specify search strategies employed to address the problem, which were analysed qualitatively. Statistical tests were used to determine statistically significant differences between the three levels of cohorts concerning volume of information gathered, number of search terms utilised and number of clicks used. It was found that the second year cohort utilised a statistically significant greater number of search terms than the first year cohort. Qualitative data were analysed to identify that eight strategies overall, varying in frequency of use and level of sophistication, were used by participants at different stages of the course. The greatest searching skill acquisition was found to occur in the first year of the course, followed by further refinements of skills throughout the second and third year of the course. Replication of the study is recommended and future research directions are suggested
Seeing Galaxies though Thick and Thin. IV. The Superimposed Spiral Galaxies of NGC 3314
The superimposed pair of spiral galaxies NGC 3314 offers a unique opportunity
to trace the dust properties in a spiral galaxy. We analyze multicolor HST
imaging, supported by ground-based near-IR imaging and fiber-array spectroscopy
to measure dust extinction in the foreground Sc galaxy NGC 3314A, which is
backlit by the Sb system NGC 3314B. We can measure extinctions over a wide
range of galactocentric radii in the foreground galaxy, from 0.4-4.5 kpc. In
the outer disk, the extinction is strongly localized in discrete dust lanes.
These dust features show an extinction curve with a slope close to the Galactic
mean (R = 3.5+/-0.3) from 1.6 to 3.8 kpc, with no radial trend. Using the I-K
color of the background nucleus, we derive an extinction A(I) = 3.3 through the
disk at a projected distance 400 pc from the nucleus of NGC 3314A. The
extinction in even the inner disk of NGC 3314A is quite patchy, since
background H-alpha emission is detected from all parts of the system. Local
anticorrelations between foreground and background line emission demonstrate
that the dust is concentrated to star-forming regions, as has been found for
the blue light in several systems. Colors of dust lanes in NGC 3314A which are
projected only partially against the background disk indicate that the dust
scale height in the foreground disk is substantially smaller than that of the
stars.Comment: 12 figures; accepted for Astronomical Journal (Sept. 2001
Scalelength of disc galaxies
We have derived disk scale lengths for 30374 non-interacting disk galaxies in
all five SDSS bands. Virtual Observatory methods and tools were used to define,
retrieve, and analyse the images for this unprecedentedly large sample
classified as disk/spiral galaxies in the LEDA catalogue. Cross correlation of
the SDSS sample with the LEDA catalogue allowed us to investigate the variation
of the scale lengths for different types of disk/spiral galaxies. We further
investigat asymmetry, concentration, and central velocity dispersion as
indicators of morphological type, and are able to assess how the scale length
varies with respect to galaxy type. We note however, that the concentration and
asymmetry parameters have to be used with caution when investigating type
dependence of structural parameters in galaxies. Here, we present the scale
length derivation method and numerous tests that we have carried out to
investigate the reliability of our results. The average r-band disk scale
length is 3.79 kpc, with an RMS dispersion of 2.05 kpc, and this is a typical
value irrespective of passband and galaxy morphology, concentration, and
asymmetry. The derived scale lengths presented here are representative for a
typical galaxy mass of , and the RMS dispersion
is larger for more massive galaxies. Distributions and typical trends of scale
lengths have also been derived in all the other SDSS bands with linear
relations that indicate the relation that connect scale lengths in one passband
to another. Such transformations could be used to test the results of
forthcoming cosmological simulations of galaxy formation and evolution of the
Hubble sequence.Comment: Accepter for publication in MNRAS (15 pages, 15 figures, and 3
tables
Modelling the spectral energy distribution of galaxies. IV Correcting apparent disk scalelengths and central surface brightnesses for the effect of dust at optical and near-infrared wavelengths
We present corrections for the change in the apparent scalelengths, central
surface brightnesses and axis ratios due to the presence of dust in pure disk
galaxies, as a function of inclination, central face-on opacity in the B-band
(tau^f_B) and wavelength. The correction factors were derived from simulated
images of disk galaxies created using geometries for stars and dust which can
reproduce the entire spectral energy distribution from the ultraviolet (UV) to
the Far-infrared (FIR)/submillimeter (submm) and can also account for the
observed surface-brightness distributions in both the optical/Near-infrared and
FIR/submm. We found that dust can significantly affect both the scalelength and
central surface brightness, inducing variations in the apparent to intrinsic
quantities of up to 50 percent in scalelength and up to 1.5 magnitudes in
central surface brightness. We also identified some astrophysical effects for
which, although the absolute effect of dust is non-negligible, the predicted
variation over a likely range in opacity is relatively small, such that an
exact knowledge of opacity is not needed. Thus, for a galaxy at a typical
inclination of 37 degrees and having any tau^f_B>2, the effect of dust is to
increase the scalelength in B relative to that in I by a factor of 1.12 +- 0.02
and to change the B-I central colour by 0.36 +- 0.05 magnitudes. Finally we use
the model to analyse the observed scalelength ratios between B and I for a
sample of disk-dominated spiral galaxies, finding that the tendency for
apparent scalelength to increase with decreasing wavelength is primarily due to
the effects of dust.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures and 5 tables; accepted for publication in
Astronomy & Astrophysic
Mid-infrared selection of AGN
Since a large fraction of active galactic nuclei (AGN) is missed in common
UV-excess surveys and is even hard to find in radio, near-IR and X-ray surveys,
we have used a new AGN selection technique which is expected to be not affected
by extinction. Within the scientific verification of the ISOCAM Parallel Survey
at 6.7 micron we have discovered objects with exceptional mid-infrared (MIR)
emission. They are essentially not detected on IRAS-ADDSCANs and only very few
of them show up in the NVSS and FIRST radio surveys. Various colour criteria of
the 6.7 micron data with 2MASS and optical wavebands show that the sources
reach more extreme IR colours than the sources in the Hubble Deep Field-South
and the ELAIS survey. The comparison with known object types suggests that we
have found AGN with a pronounced MIR emission, probably due to circum-nuclear
dust. First results from optical spectroscopy of ten candidates corroborate
this interpretation showing four AGN, two reddened LINER and four extremely
reddened emission-line galaxies with MIR/FIR flux ratios higher than for known
pure starburst galaxies. The results will make a significant contribution to
the debate on the entire AGN population.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication as Letter in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
A Quantitative Evaluation of the Galaxy Component of COSMOS and APM Catalogs
We have carried out an independent quantitative evaluation of the galaxy
component of the "COSMOS/UKST Southern Sky Object Catalogue" (SSC) and the
"APM/UKST J Catalogue" (APM). Using CCD observations our results corroborate
the accuracy of the photometry of both catalogs, which have an overall
dispersion of about 0.2 mag in the range 17 <= b_J <= 21.5. The SSC presents
externally calibrated galaxy magnitudes that follow a linear relation, while
the APM instrumental magnitudes of galaxies, only internally calibrated by the
use of stellar profiles, require second-order corrections. The completeness of
both catalogs in a general field falls rapidly fainter than b_J = 20.0, being
slightly better for APM. The 90% completeness level of the SSC is reached
between b_J = 19.5 and 20.0, while for APM this happens between b_J = 20.5 and
21.0. Both SSC and APM are found to be less complete in a galaxy cluster field.
Galaxies misclassified as stars in the SSC receive an incorrect magnitude
because the stellar ones take saturation into account besides using a different
calibration curve. In both cases, the misclassified galaxies show a large
diversity of colors that range from typical colors of early-types to those of
blue star-forming galaxies. A possible explanation for this effect is that it
results from the combination of low sampling resolutions with properties of the
image classifier for objects with characteristic sizes close to the
instrumental resolution. We find that the overall contamination by stars
misclassified as galaxies is < 5% to b_J = 20.5, as originally estimated for
both catalogs. Although our results come from small areas of the sky, they are
extracted from two different plates and are based on the comparison with two
independent datasets.Comment: 14 pages of text and tables, 8 figures; to be published in the
Astronomical Journal; for a single postscript version file see
ftp://danw.on.br/outgoing/caretta/caretta.p
The Aquarius Superclusters - I. Identification of Clusters and Superclusters
We study the distribution of galaxies and galaxy clusters in a 10^deg x 6^deg
field in the Aquarius region. In addition to 63 clusters in the literature, we
have found 39 new candidate clusters using a matched-filter technique and a
counts-in-cells analysis. From redshift measurements of galaxies in the
direction of these cluster candidates, we present new mean redshifts for 31
previously unobserved clusters, while improved mean redshifts are presented for
35 other systems. About 45% of the projected density enhancements are due to
the superposition of clusters and/or groups of galaxies along the line of
sight, but we could confirm for 72% of the cases that the candidates are real
physical associations similar to the ones classified as rich galaxy clusters.
On the other hand, the contamination due to galaxies not belonging to any
concentration or located only in small groups along the line of sight is ~ 10%.
Using a percolation radius of 10 h^{-1} Mpc (spatial density contrast of about
10), we detect two superclusters of galaxies in Aquarius, at z = 0.086 and at z
= 0.112, respectively with 5 and 14 clusters. The latter supercluster may
represent a space overdensity of about 160 times the average cluster density as
measured from the Abell et al. (1989) cluster catalog, and is possibly
connected to a 40 h^{-1} Mpc filament from z ~ 0.11 to 0.14.Comment: LateX text (21 pages) and 12 (ps/eps/gif) figures; figures 5a, 5b and
6 are not included in the main LateX text; to be published in the
Astronomical Journal, March issu
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