Black Hole Mass Estimates Based on CIV are Consistent with Those Based on the Balmer Lines

Using a sample of high-redshift lensed quasars from the CASTLES project with observed-frame ultraviolet or optical and near-infrared spectra, we have searched for possible biases between supermassive black hole (BH) mass estimates based on the CIV, Halpha and Hbeta broad emission lines. Our sample is based upon that of Greene, Peng & Ludwig, expanded with new near-IR spectroscopic observations, consistently analyzed high S/N optical spectra, and consistent continuum luminosity estimates at 5100A. We find that BH mass estimates based on the FWHM of CIV show a systematic offset with respect to those obtained from the line dispersion, sigma_l, of the same emission line, but not with those obtained from the FWHM of Halpha and Hbeta. The magnitude of the offset depends on the treatment of the HeII and FeII emission blended with CIV, but there is little scatter for any fixed measurement prescription. While we otherwise find no systematic offsets between CIV and Balmer line mass estimates, we do find that the residuals between them are strongly correlated with the ratio of the UV and optical continuum luminosities. Removing this dependency reduces the scatter between the UV- and optical-based BH mass estimates by a factor of approximately 2, from roughly 0.35 to 0.18 dex. The dispersion is smallest when comparing the CIV sigma_l mass estimate, after removing the offset from the FWHM estimates, and either Balmer line mass estimate. The correlation with the continuum slope is likely due to a combination of reddening, host contamination and object-dependent SED shapes. When we add additional heterogeneous measurements from the literature, the results are unchanged.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. 37 text pages + 8 tables + 23 figures. Updated with comments by the referee and with a expanded discussion on literature data including new observation

Hα Reverberation Mapping of the Intermediate-mass Active Galactic Nucleus in NGC 4395

We present the results of a high-cadence spectroscopic and imaging monitoring campaign of the active galactic nucleus (AGN) of NGC 4395. High signal-to-noise-ratio spectra were obtained at the Gemini-N 8 m telescope using the GMOS integral field spectrograph (IFS) on 2019 March 7 and at the Keck I 10 m telescope using the Low-Resolution Imaging Spectrometer with slit masks on 2019 March 3 and April 2. Photometric data were obtained with a number of 1 m-class telescopes during the same nights. The narrow-line region (NLR) is spatially resolved; therefore, its variable contributions to the slit spectra make the standard procedure of relative flux calibration impractical. We demonstrate that spatially resolved data from the IFS can be effectively used to correct the slit-mask spectral light curves. While we obtained no reliable lag owing to the lack of a strong variability pattern in the light curves, we constrain the broad-line time lag to be less than 3 hr, consistent with the photometric lag of ∼80 minutes reported by Woo et al. By exploiting the high-quality spectra, we measure the second moment of the broad component of the Hα emission line to be 586 ± 19 km s−1, superseding the lower value reported by Woo et al. Combining the revised line dispersion and the photometric time lag, we update the black hole mass to (1.7 ± 0.3) × 104 M⊙

Socio-economic aspects of goat farming in arid environments. The example of Turkey

Livestock is important in supporting the livelihoods of farmers, consumers, traders and laborers in developed but particularly in developing world. Recently, the international community recognizes the importance of livestock in terms of poverty reduction and economic opportunities. Despite its potential importance to sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction, livestock sector development has received limited attention from the international organizations and national governments in recent decades. On the other hand, some research have showed that goat production plays a crucial role in the lives of large number of people in the Mediterranean region. Thus, goat rearing is an essential element of their farming system. In some countries like Turkey, rural women carry out a primary role in goat production. However, women's productive work has been ignored and underestimated. Goat production can play an important role in improving rural livelihoods. Commercialization, another important aspect related to goat productions, should be improved to achieve a higher profitability of smallholder production systems. In this chapter, the social and economic aspects as well as gender issues involved in the goat production in Turkey, as an example of a typical arid environments, are described. © Springer International Publishing AG 2017

A review of the economics and the marketing of the pomegranate industry in Turkey

Turkey is one of the most important agricultural countries in the word, being endowed with a wide range of ecological conditions. Therefore, many species of fruits and vegetables are produced in Turkey. Pomegranate is widely distributed in the Mediterranean and Aegean regions of Turkey, even if its world-wide trade is still limited. According to the latest numbers of TurkStat statistics, it is obvious that pomegranate is one of the promising crops in Turkey. Total planted area of pomegranates is rising very fast and the number of bearing and non-bearing trees reached to around 16 million in 2012. Total production increased from 60.000 to 315.000 tons starting from the year 2000 to 2012, and the country is one of the world's important pomegranate export countries. In addition to this, degree of pomegranate self-sufficiency is about 150% in Turkey. Since Turkish domestic market in fresh fruit and the juice industry are increasing and there is steady growth of consumption, pomegranate can be considered one of the leading agroindustrial crops in the near future in Turkey. There are more than 40 brands of about 37 producer companies (17 of them are dealing with pomegranates) in the country. Fruit processed in the Turkish juice industry is about 983.000 tons in total (pomegranates is 118.000 tons) in 2011