12,054 research outputs found
Technical Note: Could benzalkonium chloride be a suitable alternative to mercuric chloride for preservation of seawater samples?
Instrumental equipment unsuitable or unavailable for fieldwork as well as lack of ship space can necessitate the preservation of seawater samples prior to analysis in a shore-based laboratory. Mercuric chloride (HgCl2) is routinely used for such preservation, but its handling and subsequent disposal incur environmental risks and significant expense. There is therefore a strong motivation to find less hazardous alternatives. Benzalkonium chloride (BAC) has been used previously as microbial inhibitor for freshwater samples. Here, we assess the use of BAC for marine samples prior to the measurement of oxygen-to-argon (O2 / Ar) ratios, as used for the determination of biological net community production. BAC at a concentration of 50 mg dm−3 inhibited microbial activity for at least 3 days in samples tested with chlorophyll a (Chl a) concentrations up to 1 mg m−3. BAC concentrations of 100 and 200 mg dm−3 were no more effective than 50 mg dm−3 . With fewer risks to human health and the environment, and no requirement for expensive waste disposal, BAC could be a viable alternative to HgCl2 for short-term preservation of seawater samples, but is not a replacement for HgCl2 in the case of oxygen triple isotope analysis, which requires storage over weeks to months. In any event, further tests on a case-by-case basis should be undertaken if use of BAC was considered, since its inhibitory activity may depend on concentration and composition of the microbial community
Three episodes of jet activity in the FRII radio galaxy B0925+420
We present Very Large Array images of a "Double-Double Radio Galaxy", a class
of objects in which two pairs of lobes are aligned either side of the nucleus.
In this object, B0925+420, we discover a third pair of lobes, close to the core
and again in alignment with the other lobes. This first-known "Triple-Double"
object strongly increases the likelihood that these lobes represent mutiple
episodes of jet activity, as opposed to knots in an underlying jet. We model
the lobes in terms of their dynamical evolution. We find that the inner pair of
lobes is consistent with the outer pair having been displaced buoyantly by the
ambient medium. The middle pair of lobes is more problematic - to the extent
where an alternative model interpreting the middle and inner "lobes" as
additional bow shocks within the outer lobes may be more appropriate - and we
discuss the implications of this on our understanding of the density of the
ambient medium.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Figure 2 is best viewed in colou
Comparisons of spectra determined using detector atoms and spatial correlation functions
We show how two level atoms can be used to determine the local time dependent
spectrum. The method is applied to a one dimensional cavity. The spectrum
obtained is compared with the mode spectrum determined using spatially filtered
second order correlation functions. The spectra obtained using two level atoms
give identical results with the mode spectrum. One benefit of the method is
that only one time averages are needed. It is also more closely related to a
realistic measurement scheme than any other definition of a time dependent
spectrum.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
Double-double radio galaxies: further insights into the formation of the radio structures
Double-double radio galaxies (DDRGs) offer a unique opportunity for us to
study multiple episodes of jet activity in large-scale radio sources. We use
radio data from the Very Large Array and the literature to model two DDRGs,
B1450+333 and B1834+620, in terms of their dynamical evolution. We find that
the standard Fanaroff-Riley II model is able to explain the properties of the
two outer lobes of each source, whereby the lobes are formed by ram-pressure
balance of a shock at the end of the jet with the surrounding medium. The inner
pairs of lobes, however, are not well-described by the standard model. Instead
we interpret the inner lobes as arising from the emission of relativistic
electrons within the outer lobes, which are compressed and re-accelerated by
the bow-shock in front of the restarted jets and within the outer lobes. The
predicted rapid progression of the inner lobes through the outer lobes requires
the eventual development of a hotspot at the edge of the outer lobe, causing
the DDRG ultimately to resemble a standard Fanaroff-Riley II radio galaxy. This
may suggest that DDRGs are a brief, yet normal, phase of the evolution of
large-scale radio galaxies.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 17 pages; 15 figures, 2 of which
are in colou
Connection between accretion disk and superluminal radio jets and the role of radio plateau state in GRS 1915+105
We investigate the association between the accretion disk during radio
plateau state and the following superluminal relativistic radio jets with peak
intensity varies from 200 mJy to 1000 mJy observed over a period of five years
and present the evidences of direct accretion disc-jet connection in
microquasar GRS 1915+105. We have analysed RXTE PCA/HEXTE X-ray data and have
found that the accretion rate, , as inferred from the X-ray
flux, is very high during the radio plateaux. We suggest that the accretion
disk during the radio plateaux always associated with radiation-driven wind
which is manifested in the form of enhanced absorption column density for X-ray
and the depleted IR emission. We find that the wind density increases with the
accretion disk luminosity during the radio plateaux. The wind density is
similar to the density of the warm absorber proposed in extragalactic AGNs and
Quasars. We suggest a simple model for the origin of superluminal relativistic
jets. Finally, We discuss the implications of this work for galactic
microquasars and the extragalactic AGNs and Quasars.Comment: 9 pages, 6 Figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
Monolithic Arrays of Grating-Surface-Emitting Diode Lasers and Quantum Well Modulators for Optical Communications
The electro-optic switching properties of injection-coupled coherent 2-D grating-surface-emitting laser arrays with multiple gain sections and quantum well active layers are discussed and demonstrated. Within such an array of injection-coupled grating-surface-emitting lasers, a single gain section can be operated as intra-cavity saturable loss element that can modulate the output of the entire array. Experimental results demonstrate efficient sub-nanosecond switching of high power grading-surface-emitting laser arrays by using only one gain section as an intra-cavity loss modulator
Biased-estimations of the Variance and Skewness
Nonlinear combinations of direct observables are often used to estimate
quantities of theoretical interest. Without sufficient caution, this could lead
to biased estimations. An example of great interest is the skewness of
the galaxy distribution, defined as the ratio of the third moment \xibar_3
and the variance squared \xibar_2^2. Suppose one is given unbiased estimators
for \xibar_3 and \xibar_2^2 respectively, taking a ratio of the two does
not necessarily result in an unbiased estimator of . Exactly such an
estimation-bias affects most existing measurements of . Furthermore,
common estimators for \xibar_3 and \xibar_2 suffer also from this kind of
estimation-bias themselves: for \xibar_2, it is equivalent to what is
commonly known as the integral constraint. We present a unifying treatment
allowing all these estimation-biases to be calculated analytically. They are in
general negative, and decrease in significance as the survey volume increases,
for a given smoothing scale. We present a re-analysis of some existing
measurements of the variance and skewness and show that most of the well-known
systematic discrepancies between surveys with similar selection criteria, but
different sizes, can be attributed to the volume-dependent estimation-biases.
This affects the inference of the galaxy-bias(es) from these surveys. Our
methodology can be adapted to measurements of analogous quantities in quasar
spectra and weak-lensing maps. We suggest methods to reduce the above
estimation-biases, and point out other examples in LSS studies which might
suffer from the same type of a nonlinear-estimation-bias.Comment: 28 pages of text, 9 ps figures, submitted to Ap
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Racial/ethnic heterogeneity in associations of blood pressure and incident cardiovascular disease by functional status in a prospective cohort: the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis.
OBJECTIVES:Research has demonstrated that the association between high blood pressure and outcomes is attenuated among older adults with functional limitations, compared with healthier elders. However, it is not known whether these patterns vary by racial/ethnic group. We evaluated race/ethnicity-specific patterns of effect modification in the association between blood pressure and incident cardiovascular disease (CVD) by functional status. SETTING:We used data from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (2002-2004, with an average of 8.8 years of follow-up for incident CVD). We assessed effect modification of systolic blood pressure and cardiovascular outcomes by self-reported physical limitations and by age. PARTICIPANTS:The study included 6117 participants (aged 46 to 87; 40% white, 27% black, 22% Hispanic and 12% Chinese) who did not have CVD at the second study examination (when self-reported physical limitations were assessed). OUTCOME MEASURES:Incident CVD was defined as an incident myocardial infarction, coronary revascularisation, resuscitated cardiac arrest, angina, stroke (fatal or non-fatal) or death from CVD. RESULTS:We observed weaker associations between systolic blood pressure (SBP) and CVD among white adults with physical limitations (incident rate ratio (IRR) per 10 mm Hg higher SBP: 1.09 (95% CI 0.99 to 1.20)) than those without physical limitations (IRR 1.29 (1.19, 1.40); P value for interaction <0.01). We found a similar pattern among black adults. Poor precision among the estimates for Hispanic or Chinese participants limited the findings in these groups. The attenuated associations were consistent across both multiplicative and additive scales, though physical limitations showed clearer patterns than age on an additive scale. CONCLUSION:Attenuated associations between high blood pressure and incident CVD were observed for blacks and whites with poor function, though small sample sizes remain a limitation for identifying differences among Hispanic or Chinese participants. Identifying the characteristics that distinguish those in whom higher SBP is associated with less risk of morbidity or mortality may inform our understanding of the consequences of hypertension among older adults
The Lifetime of FRIIs in Groups and Clusters: Implications for Radio-Mode Feedback
We determine the maximum lifetime t_max of 52 FRII radio sources found in 26
central group galaxies from cross correlation of the Berlind SDSS group catalog
with the VLA FIRST survey. Mock catalogs of FRII sources were produced to match
the selection criteria of FIRST and the redshift distribution of our parent
sample, while an analytical model was used to calculate source sizes and
luminosities. The maximum lifetime of FRII sources was then determined via a
comparison of the observed and model projected length distributions. We
estimate the average FRII lifetime is 1.5x10^7 years and the duty cycle is
~8x10^8 years. Degeneracies between t_max and the model parameters: jet power
distribution, axial ratio, energy injection index, and ambient density
introduce at most a factor of two uncertainty in our lifetime estimate. In
addition, we calculate the radio active galactic nuclei (AGN) fraction in
central group galaxies as a function of several group and host galaxy
properties. The lifetime of radio sources recorded here is consistent with the
quasar lifetime, even though these FRIIs have substantially sub-Eddington
accretion. These results suggest a fiducial time frame for energy injection
from AGN in feedback models. If the morphology of a given extended radio source
is set by large-scale environment, while the lifetime is determined by the
details of the accretion physics, this FRII lifetime is relevant for all
extended radio sources.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ. High resolution
paper available at http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~bird/BMK07.pd
Incremental, Inductive Coverability
We give an incremental, inductive (IC3) procedure to check coverability of
well-structured transition systems. Our procedure generalizes the IC3 procedure
for safety verification that has been successfully applied in finite-state
hardware verification to infinite-state well-structured transition systems. We
show that our procedure is sound, complete, and terminating for downward-finite
well-structured transition systems---where each state has a finite number of
states below it---a class that contains extensions of Petri nets, broadcast
protocols, and lossy channel systems.
We have implemented our algorithm for checking coverability of Petri nets. We
describe how the algorithm can be efficiently implemented without the use of
SMT solvers. Our experiments on standard Petri net benchmarks show that IC3 is
competitive with state-of-the-art implementations for coverability based on
symbolic backward analysis or expand-enlarge-and-check algorithms both in time
taken and space usage.Comment: Non-reviewed version, original version submitted to CAV 2013; this is
a revised version, containing more experimental results and some correction
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