FRANKLIN COUNTY, IOWA'S PROGRAM IN PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Public Economics,

Electron collisions in Mercury Vapor - The 9.8 Volt Loss

Magnetic analysis of electrons which have passed through mercury vapor has shown the energy losses corresponding to the principle levels of the normal atom. A very prominent energy loss of 11.1 volts (and so greater than the ionization potential) is not accounted for. It is now shown that the energy loss of 9.8 volts is not due to a double 4.9 excitation

Representing and analysing molecular and cellular function in the computer

Determining the biological function of a myriad of genes, and understanding how they interact to yield a living cell, is the major challenge of the post genome-sequencing era. The complexity of biological systems is such that this cannot be envisaged without the help of powerful computer systems capable of representing and analysing the intricate networks of physical and functional interactions between the different cellular components. In this review we try to provide the reader with an appreciation of where we stand in this regard. We discuss some of the inherent problems in describing the different facets of biological function, give an overview of how information on function is currently represented in the major biological databases, and describe different systems for organising and categorising the functions of gene products. In a second part, we present a new general data model, currently under development, which describes information on molecular function and cellular processes in a rigorous manner. The model is capable of representing a large variety of biochemical processes, including metabolic pathways, regulation of gene expression and signal transduction. It also incorporates taxonomies for categorising molecular entities, interactions and processes, and it offers means of viewing the information at different levels of resolution, and dealing with incomplete knowledge. The data model has been implemented in the database on protein function and cellular processes 'aMAZE' (http://www.ebi.ac.uk/research/pfbp/), which presently covers metabolic pathways and their regulation. Several tools for querying, displaying, and performing analyses on such pathways are briefly described in order to illustrate the practical applications enabled by the model

Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis Version 2.1: construction, observational verification and new results

The Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis (BPASS) suite of binary stellar evolution models and synthetic stellar populations provides a framework for the physically motivated analysis of both the integrated light from distant stellar populations and the detailed properties of those nearby. We present a new version 2.1 data release of these models, detailing the methodology by which BPASS incorporates binary mass transfer and its effect on stellar evolution pathways, as well as the construction of simple stellar populations. We demonstrate key tests of the latest BPASS model suite demonstrating its ability to reproduce the colours and derived properties of resolved stellar populations, including well- constrained eclipsing binaries. We consider observational constraints on the ratio of massive star types and the distribution of stellar remnant masses. We describe the identification of supernova progenitors in our models, and demonstrate a good agreement to the properties of observed progenitors. We also test our models against photometric and spectroscopic observations of unresolved stellar populations, both in the local and distant Universe, finding that binary models provide a self-consistent explanation for observed galaxy properties across a broad redshift range. Finally, we carefully describe the limitations of our models, and areas where we expect to see significant improvement in future versions.Comment: 69 pages, 45 figures. Accepted for publication in PASA. Accompanied by a full, documented data release at http://bpass.auckland.ac.nz and http://warwick.ac.uk/bpas

Observational properties of massive black hole binary progenitors

The first directly detected gravitational waves (GW 150914) were emitted by two coalescing black holes (BHs) with masses of ~36Msun and ~29Msun. Several scenarios have been proposed to put this detection into an astrophysical context. The evolution of an isolated massive binary system is among commonly considered models. Various groups have performed detailed binary-evolution calculations that lead to BH merger events. However, the question remains open as to whether binary systems with the predicted properties really exist. The aim of this paper is to help observers to close this gap by providing spectral characteristics of massive binary BH progenitors during a phase where at least one of the companions is still non-degenerate. Stellar evolution models predict fundamental stellar parameters. Using these as input for our stellar atmosphere code (PoWR), we compute a set of models for selected evolutionary stages of massive merging BH progenitors at different metallicities. The synthetic spectra obtained from our atmosphere calculations reveal that progenitors of massive BH merger events start their lives as O2-3V stars that evolve to early-type blue supergiants before they undergo core-collapse during the Wolf-Rayet phase. When the primary has collapsed, the remaining system will appear as a wind-fed high-mass X-ray binary. We provide feedback parameters, broad band magnitudes, and spectral templates that should help to identify such binaries in the future. Comparisons of empirically determined mass-loss rates with those assumed by evolution calculations reveal significant differences. The consideration of the empirical mass-loss rates in evolution calculations will possibly entail a shift of the maximum in the predicted binary-BH merger rate to higher metallicities, that is, more candidates should be expected in our cosmic neighborhood than previously assumed.Comment: 64 pages, 30 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics, v2: typos correcte

Coastal Habitat Use by Wood Storks during the Non-Breeding Season

We documented roosting and foraging habitat use by Wood Storks during the post-breeding season in the coastal zone of Georgia from 1994-1998. Larger, more persistent aggregations of roosting storks typically oc- curred in enclosed wetlands on large estuarine islands. Smaller, more ephemeral aggregations tended to occur on salt marsh/upland ecotones, where storks appeared to be waiting for local conditions (tide levels) to become suit- able for foraging. Examination of habitat types within a 2-km radius of the larger (mean \u3e 10 storks/survey) vs. smaller (mean \u3c10 storks/survey) roosts showed that surrounding habitat structure, including those used for for- aging, were similar. Foraging storks typically fed in close proximity (median = 0.5 km) to large roosts, much closer than storks using coastal wetlands during the breeding season. Tidal creeks were used almost exclusively as foraging habitat (92%). Storks and other wading birds were almost always present when the study bird arrived. The foraging patterns of study birds and four storks carrying radios suggested that storks often used the same foraging sites and/ or marsh systems in the non-breeding season. Coastal Wood Storks apparently selected roosting sites based on the presence of conspecifics, abundant local prey, or possibly as shelter from adverse weather condition

Coastal Habitat Use by Wood Storks during the Non-Breeding Season

We documented roosting and foraging habitat use by Wood Storks during the post-breeding season in the coastal zone of Georgia from 1994-1998. Larger, more persistent aggregations of roosting storks typically oc- curred in enclosed wetlands on large estuarine islands. Smaller, more ephemeral aggregations tended to occur on salt marsh/upland ecotones, where storks appeared to be waiting for local conditions (tide levels) to become suit- able for foraging. Examination of habitat types within a 2-km radius of the larger (mean \u3e 10 storks/survey) vs. smaller (mean \u3c10 storks/survey) roosts showed that surrounding habitat structure, including those used for for- aging, were similar. Foraging storks typically fed in close proximity (median = 0.5 km) to large roosts, much closer than storks using coastal wetlands during the breeding season. Tidal creeks were used almost exclusively as foraging habitat (92%). Storks and other wading birds were almost always present when the study bird arrived. The foraging patterns of study birds and four storks carrying radios suggested that storks often used the same foraging sites and/ or marsh systems in the non-breeding season. Coastal Wood Storks apparently selected roosting sites based on the presence of conspecifics, abundant local prey, or possibly as shelter from adverse weather condition