608 research outputs found
The conformation of apamin
AbstractEnergy minimisation techniques are used as a tool to distinguish between different proposed models for the structure of the bee venom polypeptide apamin. The influence of electrostatic interactions on the resultant energies is noted. The model of Hider and Ragnarsson [(1980) FEBS Lett. 111, 189-193] is found to be of consistently low energy
Outskirts of Nearby Disk Galaxies: Star Formation and Stellar Populations
The properties and star formation processes in the far-outer disks of nearby
spiral and dwarf irregular galaxies are reviewed. The origin and structure of
the generally exponential profiles in stellar disks is considered to result
from cosmological infall combined with a non-linear star formation law and a
history of stellar migration and scattering from spirals, bars, and random
collisions with interstellar clouds. In both spirals and dwarfs, the far-outer
disks tend to be older, redder and thicker than the inner disks, with the
overall radial profiles suggesting inside-out star formation plus stellar
scattering in spirals, and outside-in star formation with a possible
contribution from scattering in dwarfs. Dwarf irregulars and the far-outer
parts of spirals both tend to be gas dominated, and the gas radial profile is
often non-exponential although still decreasing with radius. The ratio of
H-alpha to far-UV flux tends to decrease with lower surface brightness in these
regions, suggesting either a change in the initial stellar mass function or the
sampling of that function, or a possible loss of H-alpha photons.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, Invited review, Book chapter in "Outskirts of
Galaxies", Eds. J. H. Knapen, J. C. Lee and A. Gil de Paz, Astrophysics and
Space Science Library, Springer, in pres
Law, politics and the governance of English and Scottish joint-stock companies 1600-1850
This article examines the impact of law on corporate governance by means of a case study of joint-stock enterprise in England and Scotland before 1850. Based on a dataset of over 450 company constitutions together with qualitative information on governance practice, it finds little evidence to support the hypothesis that common-law regimes such as England were more supportive of economic growth than civil-law jurisdictions such as Scotland: indeed, levels of shareholder protection were slightly stronger in the civil-law zone. Other factors, such as local political institutions, played a bigger role in shaping organisational forms and business practice
Large-scale collective motion of RFGC galaxies in curved space-time
We consider large-scale collective motion of flat edge-on spiral galaxies
from the Revised Flat Galaxy Catalogue (RFGC) taking into account the curvature
of space-time in the Local Universe at the scale 100 Mpc/h. We analyse how the
relativistic model of collective motion should be modified to provide the best
possible values of parameters, the effects that impact these parameters and
ways to mitigate them. Evolution of galactic diameters, selection effects, and
difference between isophotal and angular diameter distances are inadequate to
explain this impact. At the same time, measurement error in HI line widths and
angular diameters can easily provide such an impact. This is illustrated in a
toy model, which allows analytical consideration, and then in the full model
using Monte Carlo simulations. The resulting velocity field is very close to
that provided by the non-relativistic model of motion. The obtained bulk flow
velocity is consistent with {\Lambda}CDM cosmology.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 2 table
The Impact of Stellar Migration on Disk Outskirts
Stellar migration, whether due to trapping by transient spirals (churning),
or to scattering by non-axisymmetric perturbations, has been proposed to
explain the presence of stars in outer disks. After a review of the basic
theory, we present compelling, but not yet conclusive, evidence that churning
has been important in the outer disks of galaxies with type II (down-bending)
profiles, while scattering has produced the outer disks of type III
(up-bending) galaxies. In contrast, field galaxies with type I (pure
exponential) profiles appear to not have experienced substantial migration. We
conclude by suggesting work that would improve our understanding of the origin
of outer disks.Comment: Invited review, Book chapter in "Outskirts of Galaxies", Eds. J. H.
Knapen, J. C. Lee and A. Gil de Paz, Astrophysics and Space Science Library,
Springer, in press 39 pages, 15 figure
Refractive elastic scattering of carbon and oxygen nuclei: The mean field analysis and Airy structures
The experimental data on the OC and OC elastic
scatterings and their optical model analysis are presented. Detailed and
complete elastic angular distributions have been measured at the Strasbourg
Vivitron accelerator at several energies covering the energy range between 5
and 10 MeV per nucleon. The elastic scattering angular distributions show the
usual diffraction pattern and also, at larger angles, refractive effects in the
form of nuclear rainbow and associated Airy structures. The optical model
analysis unambiguously shows the evolution of the refractive scattering
pattern. The observed structure, namely the Airy minima, can be consistently
described by a nucleus-nucleus potential with a deep real part and a weakly
absorptive imaginary part. The difference in absorption in the two systems is
explained by an increased imaginary (mostly surface) part of the potential in
the OC system. The relation between the obtained potentials and
those reported for the symmetrical OO and CC
systems is drawn.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, Phys. rev. C in pres
A retrospective study on persistent pain after childbirth in the Netherlands
Research into fetal development and medicin
Data driven optimal filtering for phase and frequency of noisy oscillations: application to vortex flowmetering
A new method for extracting the phase of oscillations from noisy time series
is proposed. To obtain the phase, the signal is filtered in such a way that the
filter output has minimal relative variation in the amplitude (MIRVA) over all
filters with complex-valued impulse response. The argument of the filter output
yields the phase. Implementation of the algorithm and interpretation of the
result are discussed. We argue that the phase obtained by the proposed method
has a low susceptibility to measurement noise and a low rate of artificial
phase slips. The method is applied for the detection and classification of mode
locking in vortex flowmeters. A novel measure for the strength of mode locking
is proposed.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
Island Universes
Conference SummaryComment: 8 pages and 1 figure, LaTeX, to appear in the Proceedings of "Island
Universes - Structure and Evolution of Disk Galaxies", editor R.S. de Jong,
Springer, in pres
MesoTRAP: A feasibility study comparing video-assisted thoracoscopic partial pleurectomy/decortication with indwelling pleural catheter in patients with trapped lung due to malignant pleural mesothelioma designed to address recruitment and randomisation uncertainties and sample size requirements for a phase III trial
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