Mass segregation trends in SDSS galaxy groups

It has been shown that galaxy properties depend strongly on their host environment. In order to understand the relevant physical processes driving galaxy evolution it is important to study the observed properties of galaxies in different environments. Mass segregation in bound galaxy structures is an important indicator of evolutionary history and dynamical friction timescales. Using group catalogues derived from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 (SDSS DR7) we investigate mass segregation trends in galaxy groups at low redshift. We investigate average galaxy stellar mass as a function of group-centric radius and find evidence for weak mass segregation in SDSS groups. The magnitude of the mass segregation depends on both galaxy stellar mass limits and group halo mass. We show that the inclusion of low mass galaxies tends to strengthen mass segregation trends, and that the strength of mass segregation tends to decrease with increasing group halo mass. We find the same trends if we use the fraction of massive galaxies as a function of group-centric radius as an alternative probe of mass segregation. The magnitude of mass segregation that we measure, particularly in high-mass haloes, indicates that dynamical friction is not acting efficiently.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

A-STAR: The All-Sky Transient Astrophysics Reporter

The small mission A-STAR (All-Sky Transient Astrophysics Reporter) aims to locate the X-ray counterparts to ALIGO and other gravitational wave detector sources, to study the poorly-understood low luminosity gamma-ray bursts, and to find a wide variety of transient high-energy source types, A-STAR will survey the entire available sky twice per 24 hours. The payload consists of a coded mask instrument, Owl, operating in the novel low energy band 4-150 keV, and a sensitive wide-field focussing soft X-ray instrument, Lobster, working over 0.15-5 keV. A-STAR will trigger on ~100 GRBs/yr, rapidly distributing their locations.Comment: Accepted for the European Astronomical Society Publications Series: Proceedings of the Fall 2012 Gamma-Ray Burst Symposium held in Marbella, Spain, 8-12 Oct 201

Replacing a cysteine ligand by selenocysteine in a [NiFe]-hydrogenase unlocks hydrogen production activity and addresses the role of concerted proton-coupled electron transfer in electrocatalytic reversibility

Hydrogenases catalyze hydrogen/proton interconversion that is normally electrochemically reversible (having minimal overpotential requirement), a special property otherwise almost exclusive to platinum metals. The mechanism of [NiFe]-hydrogenases includes a long-range proton-coupled electron-transfer process involving a specific Ni-coordinated cysteine and the carboxylate of a nearby glutamate. A variant in which this cysteine has been exchanged for selenocysteine displays two distinct changes in electrocatalytic properties, as determined by protein film voltammetry. First, proton reduction, even in the presence of H2 (a strong product inhibitor), is greatly enhanced relative to H2 oxidation: this result parallels a characteristic of natural [NiFeSe]-hydrogenases which are superior H2 production catalysts. Second, an inflection (an S-shaped “twist” in the trace) appears around the formal potential, the small overpotentials introduced in each direction (oxidation and reduction) signaling a departure from electrocatalytic reversibility. Concerted proton–electron transfer offers a lower energy pathway compared to stepwise transfers. Given the much lower proton affinity of Se compared to that of S, the inflection provides compelling evidence that concerted proton–electron transfer is important in determining why [NiFe]-hydrogenases are reversible electrocatalysts

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey V. The peculiar B[e]-like supergiant, VFTS698, in 30 Doradus

We present an analysis of a peculiar supergiant B-type star (VFTS698/Melnick 2/Parker 1797) in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud which exhibits characteristics similar to the broad class of B[e] stars. We analyse optical spectra from the VLT-FLAMES survey, together with archival optical and infrared photometry and X-ray imaging to characterise the system. We find radial velocity variations of around 400 km/s in the high excitation Si IV, N III and He II spectra, and photometric variability of ~0.6 mag with a period of 12.7 days. In addition, we detect long-term photometric variations of ~0.25 mag, which may be due to a longer-term variability with a period of ~400 days. We conclude that VFTS698 is likely an interacting binary comprising an early B-type star secondary orbiting a veiled, more massive companion. Spectral evidence suggests a mid-to-late B-type primary, but this may originate from an optically-thick accretion disc directly surrounding the primary.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures and 8 tables. Table 8 to be published onlin

P2P lending and outside entrepreneurial finance

Later stage, unlisted SMEs are typically too old to attract equity crowdfunding, one of the two novel sources of outside entrepreneurial finance. The other source is peer-to-peer (P2P) business lending – sometimes called marketplace lending or debt crowdfunding – where unlisted SMEs raise medium term loans from a combination of the crowd of small investors and financial institutions via internet portals. The institutions benefit from the collective wisdom of the crowd while institutional investments reduce information asymmetries for other investors and may lead to herding by the crowd. This paper studies the incremental decision to choose P2P over bank debt by means of probit and logit regressions. It establishes that firms with relatively high credit ratings, smaller assets, lower levels of prior capital expenditures, and low leverage ratios are more likely to raise P2P rather than bank debt. The conclusion is that P2P debt plays a unique role in accommodating the outside entrepreneurial capital needs of these SMEs wanting medium term funding. The empirical work employs a sample 1,249 small, private SMEs that received P2P loans with maturities of up to five years 2013–2015 from Funding Circle, the leading UK P2P business lender

The frequency and duration of Salmonella-macrophage adhesion events determines infection efficiency.

Salmonella enterica causes a range of important diseases in humans and a in a variety of animal species. The ability of bacteria to adhere to, invade and survive within host cells plays an important role in the pathogenesis of Salmonella infections. In systemic salmonellosis, macrophages constitute a niche for the proliferation of bacteria within the host organism. Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium is flagellated and the frequency with which this bacterium collides with a cell is important for infection efficiency. We investigated how bacterial motility affects infection efficiency, using a combination of population-level macrophage infection experiments and direct imaging of single-cell infection events, comparing wild-type and motility mutants. Non-motile and aflagellate bacterial strains, in contrast to wild-type bacteria, collide less frequently with macrophages, are in contact with the cell for less time and infect less frequently. Run-biased Salmonella also collide less frequently with macrophages but maintain contact with macrophages for a longer period of time than wild-type strains and infect the cells more readily. Our results suggest that uptake of S. Typhimurium by macrophages is dependent upon the duration of contact time of the bacterium with the cell, in addition to the frequency with which the bacteria collide with the cell.SA was supported by an Oliver Gatty studentship, and this work was funded from EU-ITN Transpol (PC), BBSRC Research Development Fellowship BB/H021930/1 (JAW and CEB).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from the Royal Society. via http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2014.003

A new rhynchocephalian from the late jurassic of Germany with a dentition that is unique amongst tetrapods.

Rhynchocephalians, the sister group of squamates (lizards and snakes), are only represented by the single genus Sphenodon today. This taxon is often considered to represent a very conservative lineage. However, rhynchocephalians were common during the late Triassic to latest Jurassic periods, but rapidly declined afterwards, which is generally attributed to their supposedly adaptive inferiority to squamates and/or Mesozoic mammals, which radiated at that time. New finds of Mesozoic rhynchocephalians can thus provide important new information on the evolutionary history of the group. A new fossil relative of Sphenodon from the latest Jurassic of southern Germany, Oenosaurus muehlheimensis gen. et sp. nov., presents a dentition that is unique amongst tetrapods. The dentition of this taxon consists of massive, continuously growing tooth plates, probably indicating a crushing dentition, thus representing a previously unknown trophic adaptation in rhynchocephalians. The evolution of the extraordinary dentition of Oenosaurus from the already highly specialized Zahnanlage generally present in derived rhynchocephalians demonstrates an unexpected evolutionary plasticity of these animals. Together with other lines of evidence, this seriously casts doubts on the assumption that rhynchocephalians are a conservative and adaptively inferior lineage. Furthermore, the new taxon underlines the high morphological and ecological diversity of rhynchocephalians in the latest Jurassic of Europe, just before the decline of this lineage on this continent. Thus, selection pressure by radiating squamates or Mesozoic mammals alone might not be sufficient to explain the demise of the clade in the Late Mesozoic, and climate change in the course of the fragmentation of the supercontinent of Pangaea might have played a major role

Constrained by managerialism : caring as participation in the voluntary social services

The data in this study show that care is a connective process, underlying and motivating participation and as a force that compels involvement in the lives of others, care is at least a micro-participative process. Care or affinity not only persisted in the face of opposition, but it was also used by workers as a counter discourse and set of practices with which to resist the erosion of worker participation and open up less autonomized practices and ways of connecting with fellow staff, clients and the communities they served. The data suggest that while managerialism and taylorised practice models may remove or reduce opportunities for worker participation, care is a theme or storyline that gave workers other ways to understand their work and why they did it, as well as ways they were prepared to resist managerial priorities and directives, including the erosion of various kinds of direct and indirect participation. The degree of resistance possible, even in the highly technocratic worksite in Australia, shows that cracks and fissures exist within managerialism