763 research outputs found
The Metallicity Distribution Functions of SEGUE G and K dwarfs: Constraints for Disk Chemical Evolution and Formation
We present the metallicity distribution function (MDF) for 24,270 G and
16,847 K dwarfs at distances from 0.2 to 2.3 kpc from the Galactic plane, based
on spectroscopy from the Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and
Exploration (SEGUE) survey. This stellar sample is significantly larger in both
number and volume than previous spectroscopic analyses, which were limited to
the solar vicinity, making it ideal for comparison with local volume-limited
samples and Galactic models. For the first time, we have corrected the MDF for
the various observational biases introduced by the SEGUE target selection
strategy. The SEGUE sample is particularly notable for K dwarfs, which are too
faint to examine spectroscopically far from the solar neighborhood. The MDF of
both spectral types becomes more metal-poor with increasing |Z|, which reflects
the transition from a sample with small [alpha/Fe] values at small heights to
one with enhanced [alpha/Fe] above 1 kpc. Comparison of our SEGUE distributions
to those of two different Milky Way models reveals that both are more
metal-rich than our observed distributions at all heights above the plane. Our
unbiased observations of G and K dwarfs provide valuable constraints over the
|Z|-height range of the Milky Way disk for chemical and dynamical Galaxy
evolution models, previously only calibrated to the solar neighborhood, with
particular utility for thin- and thick-disk formation models.Comment: 70 pages, 25 figures, 7 tables. Accepted by The Astrophysical Journa
Characterization of the HD 17156 planetary system
AIMS : To improve the parameters of the HD 17156 system (peculiar due to the
eccentric and long orbital period of its transiting planet) and constrain the
presence of stellar companions.
METHODS : Photometric data were acquired for 4 transits, and high precision
radial velocity measurements were simultaneously acquired with SARG@TNG for one
transit. The template spectra of HD 17156 was used to derive effective
temperature, gravity, and metallicity. A fit of the photometric and
spectroscopic data was performed to measure the stellar and planetary radii,
and the spin-orbit alignment. Planet orbital elements and ephemeris were
derived from the fit. Near infrared adaptive optic images was acquired with
ADOPT@TNG.
RESULTS: We have found that the star has a radius of R_S = 1.43+/-0.03 R_sun
and the planet R_P =1.02+/-0.08 R_jup. The transit ephemeris is T_c =
2454\756.73134+/-0.00020+N*21.21663+/-0.00045 BJD. The analysis of the
Rossiter-Mclaughlin effect shows that the system is spin orbit aligned with an
angle lambda = 4.8 +/- 5.3 deg. The analysis of high resolution images has not
revealed any stellar companion with projected separation between 150 and 1000
AU from HD 17156.Comment: submitted to A&
Classical Conformal Blocks and Accessory Parameters from Isomonodromic Deformations
Classical conformal blocks naturally appear in the large central charge limit
of 2D Virasoro conformal blocks. In the correspondence, they
are related to classical bulk actions and are used to calculate entanglement
entropy and geodesic lengths. In this work, we discuss the identification of
classical conformal blocks and the Painlev\'e VI action showing how
isomonodromic deformations naturally appear in this context. We recover the
accessory parameter expansion of Heun's equation from the isomonodromic
-function. We also discuss how the expansion of the
-function leads to a novel approach to calculate the 4-point classical
conformal block.Comment: 32+10 pages, 2 figures; v3: upgraded notation, discussion on moduli
space and monodromies, numerical and analytic checks; v2: added refs, fixed
emai
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7/7: A reflexive re-evaluation of journalistic practice
The suicide bombings of 7 July 2005 remain the most serious terror attacks in the United Kingdom to date in the so-called âwar on terrorâ. Much has been published on the war on terror but few journalists have reflected on their practice post 9/11 and none on their domestic coverage of the 7/7 attacks. This article is written by a journalist who covered the London bombings for a UK national newspaper and more recently is a practitioner-academic. Using academic texts focusing on the domestic reporting of the war on terror as stimuli for scholarly reflection, this article reviews the authorâs own coverage using reflexive practice and content analysis. This article places 7/7 in the continuum of reporting subsequent to 11 September 2001 (9/11) and issues discussed. Some 63 authored articles were considered from the period. Scholarly texts have proposed a range of concepts to analyse coverage from including political ritual, trauma, national wound and hegemony. This article concludes by noting that while many academic texts see coverage of terrorism as an elite discourse, dominated by political economy drivers and responding to events in a homogeneous reactivity, in practice, news organisations can have complex responses and journalists, agency in their coverage of major terrorism events
The GALAH survey: Properties of the Galactic disc(s) in the solar neighbourhood
Using data from the GALAH pilot survey, we determine properties of the Galactic thin and thick discs near the solar neighbourhood. The data cover a small range of Galactocentric radius (7.9 RGC 9.5 kpc), but extend up to 4 kpc in height from the Galactic plane, and several kpc in the direction of Galactic anti-rotation (at longitude 260⊠††280âŠ). This allows us to reliably measure the vertical density and abundance profiles of the chemically and
kinematically defined âthickâ and âthinâ discs of the Galaxy. The thin disc (low-α population) exhibits a steep negative vertical metallicity gradient, at d[M/H]/dz = â0.18 ± 0.01 dex kpcâ1, which is broadly consistent with previous studies. In contrast, its vertical α-abundance profile is almost flat, with a gradient of d[α/M]/dz = 0.008 ± 0.002 dex kpcâ1. The steep vertical metallicity gradient of the low-α population is in agreement with models where radial
migration has a major role in the evolution of the thin disc. The thick disc (high-α population) has a weaker vertical metallicity gradient d[M/H]/dz = â0.058 ± 0.003 dex kpcâ1. The αabundance of the thick disc is nearly constant with height, d[α/M]/dz = 0.007 ± 0.002 dex kpcâ1. The negative gradient in metallicity and the small gradient in [α/M] indicate that the high-α population experienced a settling phase, but also formed prior to the onset of major
Type Ia supernova enrichment. We explore the implications of the distinct α-enrichments and narrow [α/M] range of the sub-populations in the context of thick disc formation.LD and MA acknowledge funding from the Australian Government through ARC Laureate Fellowship FL110100012. LD, KCF, and RFGW acknowledge
support from ARC grant DP160103747. LC gratefully acknowledges support from the Australian Research Council (grants
DP150100250, FT160100402). DMN was supported by the Allan C. and Dorothy H. Davis Fellowship. DS is the recipient of
an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number
FT1400147). TZ acknowledges financial support from the Slovenian Research Agency (research core funding No. P1-0188). Part of
this research was supported by the Munich Institute for Astro- and
Particle Physics (MIAPP) of the DFG cluster of excellence âOrigin
and Structure of the Universeâ
Sexual Plasticity and Self-Fertilization in the Sea Anemone Aiptasia diaphana
Traits that influence reproductive success and contribute to reproductive isolation in animal and plant populations are a central focus of evolutionary biology. In the present study we used an experimental approach to demonstrate the occurrence of environmental effects on sexual and asexual reproduction, and provide evidence for sexual plasticity and inter-clonal fertilization in laboratory-cultured lines of the sea anemone Aiptasia diaphana. We showed that in A. diaphana, both asexual reproduction by pedal laceration, and sexual reproduction have seasonal components. The rate of pedal laceration was ten-fold higher under summer photoperiod and water temperature conditions than under winter conditions. The onset of gametogenesis coincided with the rising water temperatures occurring in spring, and spawning occurred under parameters that emulated summer photoperiod and temperature conditions. In addition, we showed that under laboratory conditions, asexually produced clones derived from a single founder individual exhibit sexual plasticity, resulting in the development of both male and female individuals. Moreover, a single female founder produced not only males and females but also hermaphrodite individuals. We further demonstrated that A. diaphana can fertilize within and between clone lines, producing swimming planula larvae. These diverse reproductive strategies may explain the species success as invader of artificial marine substrates. We suggest that these diverse reproductive strategies, together with their unique evolutionary position, make Aiptasia diaphana an excellent model for studying the evolution of sex
Germline DNA copy number variation in individuals with Argyrophilic grain disease reveals CTNS as a plausible candidate gene
Work practices and the provision of mental-health care on the verge of reform: a national survey of Israeli psychiatrists and psychologists
Biodiversity Loss and the Taxonomic Bottleneck: Emerging Biodiversity Science
Human domination of the Earth has resulted in dramatic changes to global and local patterns of biodiversity. Biodiversity is critical to human sustainability because it drives the ecosystem services that provide the core of our life-support system. As we, the human species, are the primary factor leading to the decline in biodiversity, we need detailed information about the biodiversity and species composition of specific locations in order to understand how different species contribute to ecosystem services and how humans can sustainably conserve and manage biodiversity. Taxonomy and ecology, two fundamental sciences that generate the knowledge about biodiversity, are associated with a number of limitations that prevent them from providing the information needed to fully understand the relevance of biodiversity in its entirety for human sustainability: (1) biodiversity conservation strategies that tend to be overly focused on research and policy on a global scale with little impact on local biodiversity; (2) the small knowledge base of extant global biodiversity; (3) a lack of much-needed site-specific data on the species composition of communities in human-dominated landscapes, which hinders ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation; (4) biodiversity studies with a lack of taxonomic precision; (5) a lack of taxonomic expertise and trained taxonomists; (6) a taxonomic bottleneck in biodiversity inventory and assessment; and (7) neglect of taxonomic resources and a lack of taxonomic service infrastructure for biodiversity science. These limitations are directly related to contemporary trends in research, conservation strategies, environmental stewardship, environmental education, sustainable development, and local site-specific conservation. Todayâs biological knowledge is built on the known global biodiversity, which represents barely 20% of what is currently extant (commonly accepted estimate of 10 million species) on planet Earth. Much remains unexplored and unknown, particularly in hotspots regions of Africa, South Eastern Asia, and South and Central America, including many developing or underdeveloped countries, where localized biodiversity is scarcely studied or described. ââBackyard biodiversityââ, defined as local biodiversity near human habitation, refers to the natural resources and capital for ecosystem services at the grassroots level, which urgently needs to be explored, documented, and conserved as it is the backbone of sustainable economic development in these countries. Beginning with early identification and documentation of local flora and fauna, taxonomy has documented global biodiversity and natural history based on the collection of ââbackyard biodiversityââ specimens worldwide. However, this branch of science suffered a continuous decline in the latter half of the twentieth century, and has now reached a point of potential demise. At present there are very few professional taxonomists and trained local parataxonomists worldwide, while the need for, and demands on, taxonomic services by conservation and resource management communities are rapidly increasing. Systematic collections, the material basis of biodiversity information, have been neglected and abandoned, particularly at institutions of higher learning. Considering the rapid increase in the human population and urbanization, human sustainability requires new conceptual and practical approaches to refocusing and energizing the study of the biodiversity that is the core of natural resources for sustainable development and biotic capital for sustaining our life-support system. In this paper we aim to document and extrapolate the essence of biodiversity, discuss the state and nature of taxonomic demise, the trends of recent biodiversity studies, and suggest reasonable approaches to a biodiversity science to facilitate the expansion of global biodiversity knowledge and to create useful data on backyard biodiversity worldwide towards human sustainability
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