A prospective study of the parent–baby bond in men and women 15 months after birth

Objective: To prospectively examine the impact of parental mental health (PTSD, depression and anxiety), the couple’s relationship quality and the infant temperament on the parent–baby bond in first-time mothers and fathers. Background: Evidence suggests that poor parental mental health, difficult infant temperament and/or lower quality of the couple’s relationship may impede the parent–baby bond. However, little research has included both parents or followed these measures across time. Methods: 75 women and 66 men completed questionnaire measures during pregnancy, 3 and 15 months postpartum, assessing mental health symptoms, the parent–baby bond, the couple’s relationship and infant characteristics. The response rates at different time-points were 90%, 77% and 70%. Results: The parent–baby bond was associated with parental mental health, the couple’s relationship and infant characteristics. The most important predictors of the parent–baby bond three months postpartum for both men and women were the couple’s relationship during pregnancy and their baby’s temperament at three months. At 15 months postpartum, after accounting for the parent–baby bond at 3 months, only concurrent infant temperament remained a significant predictor for women. However, men’s bond with their baby at 15 months was predicted by their relationship with their partner in pregnancy and concurrent affective symptoms. Few significant gender differences were found, apart from women reporting more mental health symptoms than men. Conclusion: This study highlights the significance of the couple’s relationship in pregnancy and the infant’s temperament on the development of the parent–baby bond. Future research is needed to examine this in larger more representative samples

The distribution of transit durations for Kepler planet candidates and implications for their orbital eccentricities

‘In these times, during the rise in the popularity of institutional repositories, the Society does not forbid authors from depositing their work in such repositories. However, the AAS regards the deposit of scholarly work in such repositories to be a decision of the individual scholar, as long as the individual's actions respect the diligence of the journals and their reviewers.’ Original article can be found at : http://iopscience.iop.org/ Copyright American Astronomical SocietyDoppler planet searches have discovered that giant planets follow orbits with a wide range of orbital eccentricities, revolutionizing theories of planet formation. The discovery of hundreds of exoplanet candidates by NASA's Kepler mission enables astronomers to characterize the eccentricity distribution of small exoplanets. Measuring the eccentricity of individual planets is only practical in favorable cases that are amenable to complementary techniques (e.g., radial velocities, transit timing variations, occultation photometry). Yet even in the absence of individual eccentricities, it is possible to study the distribution of eccentricities based on the distribution of transit durations (relative to the maximum transit duration for a circular orbit). We analyze the transit duration distribution of Kepler planet candidates. We find that for host stars with T > 5100 K we cannot invert this to infer the eccentricity distribution at this time due to uncertainties and possible systematics in the host star densities. With this limitation in mind, we compare the observed transit duration distribution with models to rule out extreme distributions. If we assume a Rayleigh eccentricity distribution for Kepler planet candidates, then we find best fits with a mean eccentricity of 0.1-0.25 for host stars with T ≤ 5100 K. We compare the transit duration distribution for different subsets of Kepler planet candidates and discuss tentative trends with planetary radius and multiplicity. High-precision spectroscopic follow-up observations for a large sample of host stars will be required to confirm which trends are real and which are the results of systematic errors in stellar radii. Finally, we identify planet candidates that must be eccentric or have a significantly underestimated stellar radius.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Comparison of the Eemian and Holocene interglacial climate in Northern Spain based on paleoclimatic proxies of stalagmites from Cueva del Cobre (Palencia)

El Eemiense se suele considerar un buen análogo del Holoceno a pesar de la diferente configuración orbital de cada época. La comparación de varios indicadores paleoclimáticos obtenidos en estalagmitas eemienses y holocenas de la Cueva del Cobre (Montaña Palentina) aporta datos que permiten verificar esta supuesta similitud. Los indicadores paleoclimáticos comparados son la tasa de crecimiento de las estalagmitas, las texturas de la calcita y los isótopos estables de oxígeno. En comparación con los holocenos, los espeleotemas eemienses son más grandes porque han crecido sin interrupción durante más tiempo, presentan una variedad menor de texturas de calcita y apenas registran láminas anuales. Además, ni las texturas de calcita ni la composición isotópica de oxígeno muestran signos de alteración diagenética. En función de estos indicadores se ha podido deducir que el clima de la zona de estudio fue durante el Eemiense ligeramente más cálido que durante el Holoceno y considerablemente más seco, contradiciendo las estimaciones más aceptadas del clima global para el Último Periodo Interglacial. El clima eemiense en la zona de estudio fue además más estable y tuvo una estacionalidad menos marcada que en los últimos 6000 años. El análisis de los cambios sincrónicos de estos indicadores ha permitido estimar una duración del Último Periodo Interglacial de ~21ka en esta zona.The Eemian is usually considered as a close analogue of the Holocene, despite their different orbital configurations. The comparison of some paleoclimatic proxies in different stalagmites of Eemian and Holocene age from Cueva del Cobre (Palencia) allows us to check the assumed similarity. The analized paleoclimatic proxies were growth rate of the stalagmites, their calcite textures, and oxygen stable isotope ratios. In general, the Eemian speleothems are larger because they experienced longer periods of time for growth without hiatuses, display less variation of calcite texture and very seldom preserve annual growth layers. They contain a well preserved isotopic record. According to these proxies it was possible to infer that the Eemian climate in the study area was slightly warmer and considerably drier than it has been during the Holocene. This later aspect contrasts with the broadly accepted estimation of a more humid global climate for that time. In the study area, the climate also seems to have been more stable and characterized by less pronounced seasonality. The study of the synchronous changes of the proxies allowed us to estimate the Eemian duration to be ~21ka.Depto. de Geodinámica, Estratigrafía y PaleontologíaFac. de Ciencias GeológicasTRUEMinisterio de Educación y Ciencia (MEC)pu

Kepler constraints on planets near hot Jupiters

We present the results of a search for planetary companions orbiting near hot Jupiter planet candidates (Jupiter-size candidates with orbital periods near 3 d) identified in the Kepler data through its sixth quarter of science operations. Special emphasis is given to companions between the 2∶1 interior and exterior mean-motion resonances. A photometric transit search excludes companions with sizes ranging from roughly two-thirds to five times the size of the Earth, depending upon the noise properties of the target star. A search for dynamically induced deviations from a constant period (transit timing variations) also shows no significant signals. In contrast, comparison studies of warm Jupiters (with slightly larger orbits) and hot Neptune-size candidates do exhibit signatures of additional companions with these same tests. These differences between hot Jupiters and other planetary systems denote a distinctly different formation or dynamical history

Can we save large carnivores without losing large carnivore science?

Large carnivores are depicted to shape entire ecosystems through top-down processes. Studies describing these processes are often used to support interventionist wildlife management practices, including carnivore reintroduction or lethal control programs. Unfortunately, there is an increasing tendency to ignore, disregard or devalue fundamental principles of the scientific method when communicating the reliability of current evidence for the ecological roles that large carnivores may play, eroding public confidence in large carnivore science and scientists. Here, we discuss six interrelated issues that currently undermine the reliability of the available literature on the ecological roles of large carnivores: (1) the overall paucity of available data, (2) reliability of carnivore population sampling techniques, (3) general disregard for alternative hypotheses to top-down forcing, (4) lack of applied science studies, (5) frequent use of logical fallacies, and (6) generalisation of results from relatively pristine systems to those substantially altered by humans. We first describe how widespread these issues are, and given this, show, for example, that evidence for the roles of wolves (Canis lupus) and dingoes (Canis lupus dingo) in initiating trophic cascades is not as strong as is often claimed. Managers and policy makers should exercise caution when relying on this literature to inform wildlife management decisions. We emphasise the value of manipulative experiments, and discuss the role of scientific knowledge in the decision-making process. We hope that the issues we raise here prompt deeper consideration of actual evidence, leading towards an improvement in both the rigour and communication of large carnivore science

Confinement and Chiral Symmetry Breaking via Domain-Like Structures in the QCD Vacuum

A qualitative mechanism for the emergence of domain structured background gluon fields due to singularities in gauge field configurations is considered, and a model displaying a type of mean field approximation to the QCD partition function based on this mechanism is formulated. Estimation of the vacuum parameters (gluon condensate, topological susceptibility, string constant and quark condensate) indicates that domain-like structures lead to an area law for the Wilson loop, nonzero topological susceptibility and spontaneous breakdown of chiral symmetry. Gluon and ghost propagators in the presence of domains are calculated explicitly and their analytical properties are discussed. The Fourier transforms of the propagators are entire functions and thus describe confined dynamical fields.Comment: RevTeX, 48 pages (32 pages + Appendices A-E), new references added [1,2,4,5] and minor formulae corrected for typographical error

Non Linear Current Response of a Many-Level Tunneling System: Higher Harmonics Generation

The fully nonlinear response of a many-level tunneling system to a strong alternating field of high frequency $\omega$ is studied in terms of the Schwinger-Keldysh nonequilibrium Green functions. The nonlinear time dependent tunneling current $I(t)$ is calculated exactly and its resonance structure is elucidated. In particular, it is shown that under certain reasonable conditions on the physical parameters, the Fourier component $I_{n}$ is sharply peaked at $n=\frac {\Delta E} {\hbar \omega}$, where $\Delta E$ is the spacing between two levels. This frequency multiplication results from the highly nonlinear process of $n$ photon absorption (or emission) by the tunneling system. It is also conjectured that this effect (which so far is studied mainly in the context of nonlinear optics) might be experimentally feasible.Comment: 28 pages, LaTex, 7 figures are available upon request from [email protected], submitted to Phys.Rev.

The Kuiper Belt and Other Debris Disks

We discuss the current knowledge of the Solar system, focusing on bodies in the outer regions, on the information they provide concerning Solar system formation, and on the possible relationships that may exist between our system and the debris disks of other stars. Beyond the domains of the Terrestrial and giant planets, the comets in the Kuiper belt and the Oort cloud preserve some of our most pristine materials. The Kuiper belt, in particular, is a collisional dust source and a scientific bridge to the dusty "debris disks" observed around many nearby main-sequence stars. Study of the Solar system provides a level of detail that we cannot discern in the distant disks while observations of the disks may help to set the Solar system in proper context.Comment: 50 pages, 25 Figures. To appear in conference proceedings book "Astrophysics in the Next Decade

A Comparison of the Technical Communications Practices of Japanese and U.S. Aerospace Engineers and Scientists

To understand the diffusion of aerospace knowledge, it is necessary to understand the communications practices and the information-seeking behaviors of those involved in the production, transfer, and use of aerospace knowledge at the individual, organizational, national, and international levels. In this paper, we report selected results from a survey of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists that focused on communications practices and information-seeking behaviors in the workplace. Data are presented for the following topics: importance of and time spent communicating information, collaborative writing, need for an undergraduate course in technical communications, use of libraries, the use and importance of electronic (computer) networks, and the use and importance of foreign and domestically produced technical reports. The responses of the survey respondents are placed within the context of the Japanese culture. We assume that differences in Japanese and U.S. cultures influence the communications practices and information-seeking behaviors of Japanese and U.S. aerospace engineers and scientists