Sodium Atoms in the Lunar Exotail: Observed Velocity and Spatial Distributions

The lunar sodium tail extends long distances due to radiation pressure on sodium atoms in the lunar exosphere. Our earlier observations measured the average radial velocity of sodium atoms moving down the lunar tail beyond Earth (i.e., near the anti-lunar point) to be ~ 12.5 km/s. Here we use the Wisconsin H-alpha Mapper to obtain the first kinematically resolved maps of the intensity and velocity distribution of this emission over a 15 x 15 deg region on the sky near the anti-lunar point. We present both spatially and spectrally resolved observations obtained over four nights bracketing new Moon in October 2007. The spatial distribution of the sodium atoms is elongated along the ecliptic with the location of the peak intensity drifting 3 deg east along the ecliptic per night. Preliminary modeling results suggest the spatial and velocity distributions in the sodium exotail are sensitive to the near surface lunar sodium velocity distribution. Future observations of this sort along with detailed modeling offer new opportunities to describe the time history of lunar surface sputtering over several days

Re-examining the relationship between audiometric profile and tinnitus pitch

Objective: We explored the relationship between audiogram shape and tinnitus pitch to answer questions arising from neurophysiological models of tinnitus: ‘Is the dominant tinnitus pitch associated with the edge of hearing loss?’ and ‘Is such a relationship more robust in people with narrow tinnitus bandwidth or steep sloping hearing loss?’ Design: A broken-stick fitting objectively quantified slope, degree and edge of hearing loss up to 16 kHz. Tinnitus pitch was characterized up to 12 kHz. We used correlation and multiple regression analyses for examining relationships with many potentially predictive audiometric variables. Study Sample: 67 people with chronic bilateral tinnitus (43 men and 24 women, aged from 22 to 81 years). Results: In this ample of 67 subjects correlation failed to reveal any relationship between the tinnitus pitch and the edge frequency. The tinnitus pitch generally fell within the area of hearing loss. The pitch of the tinnitus in a subset of subjects with a narrow tinnitus bandwidth (n = 23) was associated with the audiometric edge. Conclusions: Our findings concerning subjects with narrow tinnitus bandwidth suggest that this can be used as an a priori inclusion criterion. A large group of such subjects should be tested to confirm these results

Detector Description and Performance for the First Coincidence Observations between LIGO and GEO

For 17 days in August and September 2002, the LIGO and GEO interferometer gravitational wave detectors were operated in coincidence to produce their first data for scientific analysis. Although the detectors were still far from their design sensitivity levels, the data can be used to place better upper limits on the flux of gravitational waves incident on the earth than previous direct measurements. This paper describes the instruments and the data in some detail, as a companion to analysis papers based on the first data.Comment: 41 pages, 9 figures 17 Sept 03: author list amended, minor editorial change

Search for Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Hole Binary Coalescences in the Galactic Halo

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole (PBH) binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$. The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing non-spinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2--$1.0 M_\odot$, we place an observational upper limit on the rate of PBH coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to Phys. Rev.

Are community forestry principles at work in Ontario’s County, Municipal, and Conservation Authority forests?

Ontario’s County, Municipal and Conservation Authority forests have received little attention within the academic literature on community forestry in Canada. These “Agreement Forests”, as they were once called, are a product of the early 20th century and have been under local government management since the 1990s. Most are situated in Southern Ontario. In this article we investigate the extent to which community forestry principles are at work in these forests. Three principles—participatory governance, local benefits and multiple forest use—are analyzed using a composite score approach derived from survey data collected from nearly all of these forest organizations (response rate = 80%). Results indicate that most of these organizations do display attributes associated with community forestry principles, including a local governance process, public participation activities, local employment and multiple-use management. Traditional forestry employment is less strong than in similar studies of Crown land community forests; however, there is an important emphasis on non-timber activities. The article concludes that the County, Municipal and Conservation Authority forests represents a unique approach, which reflects the specific geographic and socio-economic context in which it resides. / Les forêts cantonales, municipales et des offices de conservation de l’Ontario n’ont reçu qu’une faible couverture dans la littérature scientifique sur la foresterie communautaire au Canada. Ces « forêts d’entente (Agreement Forests) », comme on les appelait avant, ont été créées au début du XXe siècle et gérées par les autorités locales depuis les années 1990. La majeure partie de ces forêts sont situées dans le sud de l’Ontario. Dans cet article, nous cherchons à voir jusqu’à quel point les principes de foresterie communautaire sont mis en application dans ces forêts. L’étude porte sur trois principes – la gouvernance participative, les bénéfices locaux et l’utilisation polyvalente de la forêt – qui furent analysés avec l’approche de résultats combinés utilisant les données d’un sondage effectué auprès de presque toutes ces organisations forestières (taux de réponse = 80 %). Les résultats indiquent que la plupart de ces organisations présentent effectivement certains attributs rappelant les principes de la foresterie communautaire, incluant un processus de gouvernance locale, des activités de participation du public, l’embauche locale et l’aménagement à des fins d’utilisation polyvalente. Les emplois forestiers traditionnels ont moins d’importance que dans les études similaires des forêts communautaires établies sur des terres publiques; par contre, on accorde beaucoup d’importance aux activités sans prélèvement de bois. L’article conclut que les forêts cantonales, municipales et des offices de conservation constituent une approche unique qui reflète bien le contexte géographique et socio-économique spécifique dans lequel elles sont établies.Financial support from the Fonds québécois de la recherché sur la société et la culture and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.http://pubs.cif-ifc.org/doi/10.5558/tfc2012-13

Analyzing and Modeling Real-World Phenomena with Complex Networks: A Survey of Applications

The success of new scientific areas can be assessed by their potential for contributing to new theoretical approaches and in applications to real-world problems. Complex networks have fared extremely well in both of these aspects, with their sound theoretical basis developed over the years and with a variety of applications. In this survey, we analyze the applications of complex networks to real-world problems and data, with emphasis in representation, analysis and modeling, after an introduction to the main concepts and models. A diversity of phenomena are surveyed, which may be classified into no less than 22 areas, providing a clear indication of the impact of the field of complex networks.Comment: 103 pages, 3 figures and 7 tables. A working manuscript, suggestions are welcome

AD51B in Familial Breast Cancer

Common variation on 14q24.1, close to RAD51B, has been associated with breast cancer: rs999737 and rs2588809 with the risk of female breast cancer and rs1314913 with the risk of male breast cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of RAD51B variants in breast cancer predisposition, particularly in the context of familial breast cancer in Finland. We sequenced the coding region of RAD51B in 168 Finnish breast cancer patients from the Helsinki region for identification of possible recurrent founder mutations. In addition, we studied the known rs999737, rs2588809, and rs1314913 SNPs and RAD51B haplotypes in 44,791 breast cancer cases and 43,583 controls from 40 studies participating in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) that were genotyped on a custom chip (iCOGS). We identified one putatively pathogenic missense mutation c.541C>T among the Finnish cancer patients and subsequently genotyped the mutation in additional breast cancer cases (n = 5259) and population controls (n = 3586) from Finland and Belarus. No significant association with breast cancer risk was seen in the meta-analysis of the Finnish datasets or in the large BCAC dataset. The association with previously identified risk variants rs999737, rs2588809, and rs1314913 was replicated among all breast cancer cases and also among familial cases in the BCAC dataset. The most significant association was observed for the haplotype carrying the risk-alleles of all the three SNPs both among all cases (odds ratio (OR): 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.11–1.19, P = 8.88 x 10−16) and among familial cases (OR: 1.24, 95% CI: 1.16–1.32, P = 6.19 x 10−11), compared to the haplotype with the respective protective alleles. Our results suggest that loss-of-function mutations in RAD51B are rare, but common variation at the RAD51B region is significantly associated with familial breast cancer risk