Massive Clusters in the Inner Regions of NGC 1365: Cluster Formation and Gas Dynamics in Galactic Bars

Cluster formation and gas dynamics in the central regions of barred galaxies are not well understood. This paper reviews the environment of three 10^7 Msun clusters near the inner Lindblad resonance of the barred spiral NGC 1365. The morphology, mass, and flow of HI and CO gas in the spiral and barred regions are examined for evidence of the location and mechanism of cluster formation. The accretion rate is compared with the star formation rate to infer the lifetime of the starburst. The gas appears to move from inside corotation in the spiral region to looping filaments in the interbar region at a rate of ~6 Msun/yr before impacting the bar dustlane somewhere along its length. The gas in this dustlane moves inward, growing in flux as a result of the accretion to ~40 Msun/yr near the ILR. This inner rate exceeds the current nuclear star formation rate by a factor of 4, suggesting continued buildup of nuclear mass for another ~0.5 Gyr. The bar may be only 1-2 Gyr old. Extrapolating the bar flow back in time, we infer that the clusters formed in the bar dustlane outside the central dust ring at a position where an interbar filament currently impacts the lane. The ram pressure from this impact is comparable to the pressure in the bar dustlane, and both are comparable to the pressure in the massive clusters. Impact triggering is suggested. The isothermal assumption in numerical simulations seems inappropriate for the rare fraction parts of spiral and bar gas flows. The clusters have enough lower-mass counterparts to suggest they are part of a normal power law mass distribution. Gas trapping in the most massive clusters could explain their [NeII] emission, which is not evident from the lower-mass clusters nearby.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, accepted by ApJ, 702, September 2009, revision adds reference

Multidimensional scaling reveals a color dimension unique to 'color-deficient' observers

Normal color vision depends on the relative rates at which photons are absorbed in three types of retinal cone:short-wave (S), middle-wave (M) and long-wave (L) cones, maximally sensitive near 430, 530 and 560nm, respectively. But 6% of men exhibit an X-linked variant form of color vision called deuteranomaly [1]. Their color vision is thought to depend on S cones and two forms of long-wave cone (L, L′) [2,3]. The two types of L cone contain photopigments that are maximally sensitive near 560nm, but their spectral sensitivities are different enough that the ratio of their activations gives a useful chromatic signal

X-ray spectroscopy of organic materials

The radiation-induced decomposition of glycine is studied using a combination of Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) measurements and density functional theory calculations. Principal Component Analysis was used to determine the number of distinct molecules that were needed to explain the observed changes in the measured spectra, and the emerging absorption features are assigned to various product molecules through comparison with simulated spectra of several model compounds. It is clear from the experiment that the major effect of soft X-ray irradiation is the fragmentation of the molecule, primarily at the carbonyl sites. Peptide formation is shown to occur under irradiation; a condensation reaction initiated by the removal of a carbonyl oxygen is the proposed mechanism. This study utilizes a novel approach to the study of radiation damage that can occur during measurements, and suggests that it may be possible to use simulated model spectra to correct for these effects in measured spectra. A study of oligothiophene-based molecular semiconductor materials with potential applications in light-emitting and photovoltaic devices is undertaken. Angle-resolved NEXAFS measurements of the star-shaped 4(HPBT) molecules on an amorphous indium surface show a strong dichroic signal indicating a well-ordered, uniformly upright arrangement of planar molecules. The X-ray excited optical luminescence (XEOL) measurements showed several sharp features associated with vibronic splitting of the LUMO-HOMO luminescent transition. The HOMO-LUMO gap determined from the XEOL measurements is 2.28 eV; this value is in agreement with previously published optical measurements as well as with the value that is estimated from the combination of NEXAFS and X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) measurements. Films formed from blended solutions of 4(HPBT) and the hole-transporting molecular semiconductor PCBM are shown to form a bilayer structure with the PCBM adjacent to the substrate. Annealing causes desorption of the 4(HPBT) from the surface

Time outdoors and the prevention of myopia

Recent epidemiological evidence suggests that children who spend more time outdoors are less likely to be, or to become myopic, irrespective of how much near work they do, or whether their parents are myopic. It is currently uncertain if time outdoors also blocks progression of myopia. It has been suggested that the mechanism of the protective effect of time outdoors involves light-stimulated release of dopamine from the retina, since increased dopamine release appears to inhibit increased axial elongation, which is the structural basis of myopia. This hypothesis has been supported by animal experiments which have replicated the protective effects of bright light against the development of myopia under laboratory conditions, and have shown that the effect is, at least in part, mediated by dopamine, since the D2-dopamine antagonist spiperone reduces the protective effect. There are some inconsistencies in the evidence, most notably the limited inhibition by bright light under laboratory conditions of lens-induced myopia in monkeys, but other proposed mechanisms possibly associated with time outdoors such as relaxed accommodation, more uniform dioptric space, increased pupil constriction, exposure to UV light, changes in the spectral composition of visible light, or increased physical activity have little epidemiological or experimental support. Irrespective of the mechanisms involved, clinical trials are now underway to reduce the development of myopia in children by increasing the amount of time they spend outdoors. These trials would benefit from more precise definition of thresholds for protection in terms of intensity and duration of light exposures. These can be investigated in animal experiments in appropriate models, and can also be determined in epidemiological studies, although more precise measurement of exposures than those currently provided by questionnaires is desirable

Seismic representation theorem coupling: synthetic SH mode sum seismograms for non-homogeneous paths

In this paper the methods for representation theorem coupling of finite-element or finite difference calculations and propagator matrix method calculations (Harkrider) are developed.The validity and accuracy of the resulting hybrid method are demonstrated.The resulting hybrid technique can be used to study the propagation of any phase that can be represented in terms of an SH mode sum seismogram, across regional transition zones or other heterogeneities. These heterogeneities may exist in regions which form subsegments of a longer, mostly plane-layered, path. Examples of structures of interest through which such waves can be propagated using these techniques include, regions of crustal thickening or thinning such as continent-ocean transitions or basins, anomalous bodies of any shape located in the path, and sudden transitions from one layered structure to another. Examples of the types of phases that may be propagated through these structures include Love waves, L_g, S_n, and S_a

Numerical modelling of SH L_g waves in and near continental margins

The effect of transition regions between continental and oceanic structures on the propagation of L_g waves from continental sources is examined. In particular, the attenuation due to variations in layer thickness in such transition regions is calculated and explained for a suite of simple models. The measured attenuation, due to the geometry of the transition regions between the oceanic and continental structures within a partially oceanic path with source and receiver in a continental structure, is at most a factor of four for frequencies from 0.01 to 1 Hz. This is inadequate to explain the observed extinction of L_g along such paths. This extinction has previously been attributed to the effects of the transition region geometry. The method used to calculate the results presented in this study is developed and its validity and accuracy are demonstrated. Propagator matrix seismograms are coupled into a Finite Element calculation to produce hybrid teleseismic SH mode sum seismograms. These hybrid synthetics can be determined for paths including any regional transition zone or other heterogeneity that exists as part of a longer, mostly plane-layered, path. Numerical results presented for a suite of transition models show distinct trends in each of the regions through which the wavefield passes. The wavefield passes through a continent-ocean transition region, then a region of oceanic structure, and finally through an ocean-continent transition region. When an L_g wavefront passes through a continent-ocean transition, the amplitude and coda duration of the L_g wave at the surface both increase. At the same time, much of the modal L_g energy previously trapped in the continental crust is able to escape from the lower crust into the subcrustal layers as body waves. The magnitude of both these effects increases as the length of the transition region increases. When the wavefront passes through the region of oceanic structure further energy escapes from the crustal layer, and produces a decrease in L_g amplitude at the surface. The rate of amplitude decrease is maximum near the transition region and decreases with distance from it. When the wavefield passes through the ocean-continent transition region a rapid decrease in the L_g amplitude at the surface of the crust results. The energy previously trapped in the oceanic crustal layer spreads throughout the thickening crustal layer. Some of the body wave phases produced when the wavefield passes through the continent-ocean transition region are incident on the continental crust in the ocean-continent transition region. These waves are predominantly transmitted back into the crust. The other body wave phases reach depths below the depth of the base of the continental crust before reaching the ocean-continent transition and, thus, escape from the system

The short-term effects of management changes on watertable position and nutrients in shallow groundwater in a harvested peatland forest

This work was funded by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Environmental Protection Agency under the STRIVE program 2007 – 2013.peer-reviewedManagement changes such as drainage, fertilisation, afforestation and harvesting (clearfelling) of forested peatlands influence watertable (WT) position and groundwater concentrations of nutrients. This study investigated the impact of clearfelling of a peatland forest on WT and nutrient concentrations. Three areas were examined: (1) a regenerated riparian peatland buffer (RB) clearfelled four years prior to the present study (2) a recently clearfelled coniferous forest (CF) and (3) a standing, mature coniferous forest (SF), on which no harvesting took place. The WT remained consistently below 0.3 m during the pre-clearfelling period. Results showed there was an almost immediate rise in the WT after clearfelling and a rise to 0.15 m below ground level (bgl) within 10 months of clearfelling. Clearfelling of the forest increased dissolved reactive phosphorus concentrations (from an average of 28–230 μg L−1) in the shallow groundwater, likely caused by leaching from degrading brash mats.Environmental Protection AgencyDepartment of Agriculture, Food and the Marin

Rapid Separable Analysis of Higher Order Correlators in Large Scale Structure

We present an efficient separable approach to the estimation and reconstruction of the bispectrum and the trispectrum from observational (or simulated) large scale structure data. This is developed from general CMB (poly-)spectra methods which exploit the fact that the bispectrum and trispectrum in the literature can be represented by a separable mode expansion which converges rapidly (with $n_\textrm{max}={\cal{O}}(30)$ terms). With an effective grid resolution $l_\textrm{max}$ (number of particles/grid points $N=l_\textrm{max}^3$), we present a bispectrum estimator which requires only ${\cal O}(n_\textrm{max} \times l_\textrm{max}^3)$ operations, along with a corresponding method for direct bispectrum reconstruction. This method is extended to the trispectrum revealing an estimator which requires only ${\cal O}(n_\textrm{max}^{4/3} \times l_\textrm{max}^3)$ operations. The complexity in calculating the trispectrum in this method is now involved in the original decomposition and orthogonalisation process which need only be performed once for each model. However, for non-diagonal trispectra these processes present little extra difficulty and may be performed in ${\cal O}(l_\textrm{max}^4)$ operations. A discussion of how the methodology may be applied to the quadspectrum is also given. An efficient algorithm for the generation of arbitrary nonGaussian initial conditions for use in N-body codes using this separable approach is described. This prescription allows for the production of nonGaussian initial conditions for arbitrary bispectra and trispectra. A brief outline of the key issues involved in parameter estimation, particularly in the non-linear regime, is also given

Systemic dizocilpine (MK-801) facilitates performance in opposition to response bias

Previous research has established that dopamine signals are crucial in orienting behavior to reward. Less is known, however, about the psychopharmacology of task performance under small-reward conditions as compared to large-reward conditions. The current study examined the effects of the noncompetitive N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor antagonist dizocilpine (MK-801) on reaction time (RT) in a nose-poke task with rats completing an asymmetric reward schedule. In all trials, the rats were required to poke their nose in either the left or the right peripheral hole immediately adjacent to the centre hole when the corresponding light was illuminated. Depending on the stimulus-reward mapping, however, one position was associated with a large reward, while the alternative position was associated with a small reward. Correct performance was required in every trial; if the rat did not make a correct response within 20 s, the trial was aborted, and the same stimulus was presented again on the next trial. In this way, the rat was forced to perform the same visuo-spatial discrimination task under different reward conditions. Reaction times (ms) were faster for large-reward trials than for small-reward trials, replicating previous findings. At a dosage of MK-801 (0.04 mg/kg), there was no significant influence of on RT in large-reward trials. In contrast, the same dosage of MK-801 in small-reward trials produced a decrease in RT as compared to the control condition, implying an improvement of performance. Below 0.04 mg/kg of MK-801, a steady decrease of RT in small-trials was seen as a function of dosage. Above 0.04 mg/kg of MK-801, the majority of rats failed to perform the task at all, whereas the rats that did manage to perform the criterion of 80 correct trials in a session showed no difference in RT between large- and small-reward trials. These data indicate that the systemic administration of a relatively small dosage of MK-801 facilitates performance when reward is small. It is suggested that the facilitation may be due to the reinforcement of mechanisms that work in opposition to response bias. As a corollary, the study provides a useful paradigm to study the voluntary control of unavoidable action