4,940 research outputs found
Helium mixtures in nanotube bundles
An analogue to Raoult's law is determined for the case of a 3He-4He mixture
adsorbed in the interstitial channels of a bundle of carbon nanotubes. Unlike
the case of He mixtures in other environments, the ratio of the partial
pressures of the coexisting vapor is found to be a simple function of the ratio
of concentrations within the nanotube bundle.Comment: 3 pages, no figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
The Random-bond Potts model in the large-q limit
We study the critical behavior of the q-state Potts model with random
ferromagnetic couplings. Working with the cluster representation the partition
sum of the model in the large-q limit is dominated by a single graph, the
fractal properties of which are related to the critical singularities of the
random Potts model. The optimization problem of finding the dominant graph, is
studied on the square lattice by simulated annealing and by a combinatorial
algorithm. Critical exponents of the magnetization and the correlation length
are estimated and conformal predictions are compared with numerical results.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Cosmological Parameters Degeneracies and Non-Gaussian Halo Bias
We study the impact of the cosmological parameters uncertainties on the
measurements of primordial non-Gaussianity through the large-scale non-Gaussian
halo bias effect. While this is not expected to be an issue for the standard
LCDM model, it may not be the case for more general models that modify the
large-scale shape of the power spectrum. We consider the so-called local
non-Gaussianity model and forecasts from planned surveys, alone and combined
with a Planck CMB prior. In particular, we consider EUCLID- and LSST-like
surveys and forecast the correlations among and the running of the
spectral index , the dark energy equation of state , the effective
sound speed of dark energy perturbations , the total mass of massive
neutrinos , and the number of extra relativistic degrees of
freedom . Neglecting CMB information on and scales /Mpc, we find that, if is assumed to be known, the
uncertainty on cosmological parameters increases the error on by
10 to 30% depending on the survey. Thus the constraint is
remarkable robust to cosmological model uncertainties. On the other hand, if
is simultaneously constrained from the data, the
error increases by . Finally, future surveys which provide a large
sample of galaxies or galaxy clusters over a volume comparable to the Hubble
volume can measure primordial non-Gaussianity of the local form with a
marginalized 1-- error of the order , after
combination with CMB priors for the remaining cosmological parameters. These
results are competitive with CMB bispectrum constraints achievable with an
ideal CMB experiment.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure added, typos corrected, comments added, matches
the published versio
HI Observations of Giant Low Surface Brightness Galaxies
We have used the Nancay Radio Telescope to obtain new global HI data for 16
giant low surface brightness (LSB) galaxies. Our targets have optical
luminosities and disk scale lengths at the high end for spiral galaxies
(L_B~10^10 Lsun and h_r>~6 kpc for H_0=75 km/s/Mpc), but they have diffuse
stellar disks, with mean disk surface brightnesses ~1 magnitude or more fainter
than normal giant spirals. Thirteen of the galaxies previously had been
detected in HI by other workers, but the published HI observations were either
confused, resolved by the telescope beam, of low signal-to-noise, or showed
significant discrepancies between different authors. For the other 3 galaxies,
no HI data were previously available. Several of the galaxies were resolved by
the Nancay 3.6' E-W beam, so global parameters were derived from multiple-point
mapping observations. Typical HI masses for our sample are ~10^10 Msun, with
M_HI/L_B=0.3-1.7 (in solar units). All of the observed galaxies have published
optical surface photometry, and we have compiled key optical measurements for
these objects from the literature. We frequently find significant variations
among physical parameters of giant LSB galaxies reported by various workers.Comment: accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplements; 14 pages;
improved table formattin
WINGS: a WIde-field Nearby Galaxy-cluster Survey. I - Optical imaging
This is the first paper of a series that will present data and scientific
results from the WINGS project, a wide-field, multiwavelength imaging and
spectroscopic survey of galaxies in 77 nearby clusters. The sample was
extracted from the ROSAT catalogs with constraints on the redshift
(0.0420). The global goal of
the WINGS project is the systematic study of the local cosmic variance of the
cluster population and of the properties of cluster galaxies as a function of
cluster properties and local environment. This data collection will allow to
define a local 'Zero-Point' reference against which to gauge the cosmic
evolution when compared to more distant clusters. The core of the project
consists of wide-field optical imaging of the selected clusters in the B and V
bands. We have also completed a multi-fiber, medium resolution spectroscopic
survey for 51 of the clusters in the master sample. In addition, a NIR (JK)
survey of ~50 clusters and an H_alpha + UV survey of some 10 clusters are
presently ongoing, while a very-wide-field optical survey has also been
programmed. In this paper we briefly outline the global objectives and the main
characteristics of the WINGS project. Moreover, the observing strategy and the
data reduction of the optical imaging survey (WINGS-OPT) are presented. We have
achieved a photometric accuracy of ~0.025mag, reaching completeness to V~23.5.
Field size and resolution (FWHM) span the absolute intervals (1.6-2.7)Mpc and
(0.7-1.7)kpc, respectively, depending on the redshift and on the seeing. This
allows the planned studies to get a valuable description of the local
properties of clusters and galaxies in clusters.Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures, Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
The ABCD of usability testing
We introduce a methodology for tracking and auditing feedback, errors and suggestions for software packages. This short paper describes how we innovate on the evaluation mechanism, introducing an (Antecedent, Barrier, Consequence and Development) ABCD form, embedded within an eParticipation platform to enable end users to easily report on any usability issues. This methodology will be utilised to improve the STEP cloud eParticipation platform (part of the current STEP Horizon2020 project http://step4youth.eu. The platform is currently being piloted in real life contexts, with the participation of public authorities that are integrating the eParticipation platform into their regular decision-making practices. The project is involving young people, through engagement and motivation strategies and giving them a voice in Environmental decision making at the local level. The pilot evaluation aims to demonstrate how open engagement needs to be embedded within public sector processes and the usability methodology reported here will help to identify the key barriers for wide scale deployment of the platform
Ecological Invasion, Roughened Fronts, and a Competitor's Extreme Advance: Integrating Stochastic Spatial-Growth Models
Both community ecology and conservation biology seek further understanding of
factors governing the advance of an invasive species. We model biological
invasion as an individual-based, stochastic process on a two-dimensional
landscape. An ecologically superior invader and a resident species compete for
space preemptively. Our general model includes the basic contact process and a
variant of the Eden model as special cases. We employ the concept of a
"roughened" front to quantify effects of discreteness and stochasticity on
invasion; we emphasize the probability distribution of the front-runner's
relative position. That is, we analyze the location of the most advanced
invader as the extreme deviation about the front's mean position. We find that
a class of models with different assumptions about neighborhood interactions
exhibit universal characteristics. That is, key features of the invasion
dynamics span a class of models, independently of locally detailed demographic
rules. Our results integrate theories of invasive spatial growth and generate
novel hypotheses linking habitat or landscape size (length of the invading
front) to invasion velocity, and to the relative position of the most advanced
invader.Comment: The original publication is available at
www.springerlink.com/content/8528v8563r7u2742
A Functional Signature Ontology (FUSION) screen detects an AMPK inhibitor with selective toxicity toward human colon tumor cells
AMPK is a serine threonine kinase composed of a heterotrimer of a catalytic, kinase-containing α and regulatory β and γ subunits. Here we show that individual AMPK subunit expression and requirement for survival varies across colon cancer cell lines. While AMPKα1 expression is relatively consistent across colon cancer cell lines, AMPKα1 depletion does not induce cell death. Conversely, AMPKα2 is expressed at variable levels in colon cancer cells. In high expressing SW480 and moderate expressing HCT116 colon cancer cells, siRNA-mediated depletion induces cell death. These data suggest that AMPK kinase inhibition may be a useful component of future therapeutic strategies. We used Functional Signature Ontology (FUSION) to screen a natural product library to identify compounds that were inhibitors of AMPK to test its potential for detecting small molecules with preferential toxicity toward human colon tumor cells. FUSION identified 5′-hydroxy-staurosporine, which competitively inhibits AMPK. Human colon cancer cell lines are notably more sensitive to 5′-hydroxy-staurosporine than are non-transformed human colon epithelial cells. This study serves as proof-of-concept for unbiased FUSION-based detection of small molecule inhibitors of therapeutic targets and highlights its potential to identify novel compounds for cancer therapy development
Interpreting large-scale redshift-space distortion measurements
The simplest theory describing large-scale redshift-space distortions (RSD),
based on linear theory and distant galaxies, depends on the growth of
cosmological structure, suggesting that strong tests of General Relativity can
be constructed from galaxy surveys. As data sets become larger and the expected
constraints more precise, the extent to which the RSD follow the simple theory
needs to be assessed in order that we do not introduce systematic errors into
the tests by introducing inaccurate simplifying assumptions. We study the
impact of the sample geometry, non-linear processes, and biases induced by our
lack of understanding of the radial galaxy distribution on RSD measurements.
Using LasDamas simulations of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey II (SDSS-II)
Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) data, these effects are shown to be important at the
level of 20 per cent. Including them, we can accurately model the recovered
clustering in these mock catalogues on scales 30 -- 200 Mpc/h. Applying this
analysis to robustly measure parameters describing the growth history of the
Universe from the SDSS-II data, gives
and
when no prior is imposed on the
growth-rate, and the background geometry is assumed to follow a CDM
model with the WMAP + SNIa priors. The standard WMAP constrained CDM
model with General Relativity predicts
and
, which is fully consistent with
these measurements.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, 1 tabl
‘Working with the media taught us a lot’: Understanding The Guardian’s Katine initiative
One of the more important ventures in the world of media and development over the past decade has been The Guardian newspaper’s ‘Katine’ project in Uganda. The newspaper, with funding from its readers and Barclays Bank, put more than 2.5 million pounds into a Ugandan sub-county over the course of 4 years. The project was profiled on a dedicated Guardian microsite, with regular updates in the printed edition of the newspaper. In this article, I look at the relationship that developed between journalists and the non-governmental organisation and show that the experience was both disorienting and reorienting for the development project that was being implemented. The scrutiny of the project that appeared on the microsite disoriented the non-governmental organisation, making its work the subject of public criticism. The particular issues explored by journalists also reoriented what the non-governmental organisation did on the ground. I also point to the ways the relationship grew more settled as the project moved along, suggesting the amount of work that sometimes goes into what is often characterised as the relatively uncritical relationship between journalists and non-governmental organisations
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