Synthetic spectra of H Balmer and HeI absorption lines. I: Stellar library

We present a grid of synthetic profiles of stellar H Balmer and HeI lines at optical wavelengths with a sampling of 0.3 A. The grid spans a range of effective temperature 4000 K < Teff < 50000 K, and gravity 0.0 < log g < 5.0 at solar metallicity. For Teff > 25000 K, NLTE stellar atmosphere models are computed using the code TLUSTY (Hubeny 1988). For cooler stars, Kurucz (1993) LTE models are used to compute thesynthetic spectra. The grid includes the profiles of the high-order hydrogen Balmer series and HeI lines for effective temperatures and gravities that have not been previously synthesized. The behavior of H8 to H13 and HeI 3819 with effective temperature and gravity is very similar to that of the lower terms of the series (e.g. Hb) and the other HeI lines at longer wavelengths; therefore, they are suited for the determination of the atmospheric parameters of stars. These lines are potentially important to make predictions for these stellar absorption features in galaxies with active star formation. Evolutionary synthesis models of these lines for starburst and post-starburst galaxies are presented in a companion paper. The full set of the synthetic stellar spectra is available for retrieval at our website http://www.iaa.es/ae/e2.html and http://www.stsci.edu/science/starburst/ or on request from the authors at [email protected]: To be published in ApJS. 28 pages and 12 figure

Magneto-elastic torsional oscillations of magnetars

We extend a general-relativistic ideal magneto-hydrodynamical code to include the effects of elasticity. Using this numerical tool we analyse the magneto-elastic oscillations of highly magnetised neutron stars (magnetars). In simulations without magnetic field we are able to recover the purely crustal shear oscillations within an accuracy of about a few per cent. For dipole magnetic fields between 5 x 10^13 and 10^15 G the Alfv\'en oscillations become modified substantially by the presence of the crust. Those quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) split into three families: Lower QPOs near the equator, Edge QPOs related to the last open field line and Upper QPOs at larger distance from the equator. Edge QPOs are called so because they are related to an edge in the corresponding Alfv\'en continuum. The Upper QPOs are of the same kind, while the Lower QPOs are turning-point QPOs, related to a turning point in the continuous spectrum.Comment: 6 pages, 1 figure, 1 table, Proceedings of NEB14, to appear in J. Phys.: Conf. Se

O ESPAÇO-MOVIMENTO DO CICLISTA: SEGUINDO O CICLISTA ANÔNIMO

A presente dissertação se constitui de uma busca por identificar e investigar a subjetividade da relação cotidiana da prática de pedalar com o espaço urbano. A partir do desenvolvimento conceitual do binômio espaço-movimento, originalmente exposto por Paola B. Jacques, propõe-se uma investigação do caminho daqueles que pedalam pela cidade anonimamente e têm a bicicleta como meio de transporte num cotidiano de subsistência. Parte-se de uma concepção móvel da cidade e persegue-se o objeto nas relações do 'entre', do 'enquanto', do 'mover-se', valorizando o deslocamento como um modo de habitar a cidade, objetivando contribuir para estudos da mobilidade ativa e da produção do espaço urbano. Para tanto foi desenvolvido uma metodologia de observação participativa dinâmica aos movimentos dos ciclistas anônimos. Palavras-chave: Espaço-movimento, Bicicleta, Cidade, cotidiano

Oidium longipes, a new powdery mildew fungus on petunia in the USA: A potential threat to ornamental and vegetable solanaceous crops

This is the first North American report of Oidium longipes, an anamorphic powdery mildew species described recently in Europe. It was found on vegetatively propagated petunia grown in a commercial greenhouse in New Jersey, USA, where it caused a rapidly spreading disease. The pathogen might have originated offshore and may have already been distributed in the United States through horticultural trade. During field surveys in Europe, it was found on petunia in Hungary and Austria as well; this is the first report of O. longipes from these two countries. A detailed light microscopy study of American and European specimens of O. longipes, including freshly collected samples and authentic herbarium specimens, revealed that its conidiophore morphology is more variable than illustrated in the original species description or in subsequent works. Microcycle conidiation, a process not yet known to occur in powdery mildews, was repeatedly observed in O. longipes. The rDNA internal transcribed spacer (ITS) sequences were identical in colonies containing different conidiophore types as well as in a total of five specimens collected from petunia in the United States, Austria, Hungary, Germany, and Switzerland. A phylogenetic analysis of the ITS sequences revealed that the closest known relative of O. longipes is O. lycopersici, known to infect tomato only in Australia. Cross-inoculation tests showed that O. longipes from petunia heavily infected tobacco cv. Xanthi, while the tomato and eggplant cultivars tested were moderately susceptible to this pathogen. These results indicate that its spread represents a potential danger to a number of solanaceous crops. Our ad hoc field surveys conducted in 2006 and 2007 did not detect it outside New Jersey in the United States; all the other powdery mildew–infected petunias, collected in New York and Indiana, were infected by Podosphaera xanthii. In Europe, most of the powdery mildew–infected petunias examined in this study were infected by P. xanthii or Golovinomyces orontii. Our multiple inoculation tests revealed that the same petunia plants and even the same leaves can be infected concomitantly by O. longipes, O. neolycopersici, G. orontii, and P. xanthii. Thus, it is at present unclear to what extent O. longipes contributes to the powdery mildew epidemics that develop year after year on solanaceous plants in many parts of the world

Ecological resilience indicators for salt marsh ecosystems

Salt marshes are coastal ecosystems within the intertidal zone, characterized by hypoxic, saline, soil conditions and low biodiversity. Low diversity arises from frequent disturbance and stressful conditions (i.e., high salinity and hypoxia), where vegetative reproduction and low competition result in mostly monotypic stands, with some differences in plant community influenced by flooding regime (described below). While there are several types of salt marshes in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (NGoM), ranging from low to high salt marshes and salt flats (Tiner, 2013), Spartina alterniflora–dominated salt marshes in the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) Low and Intermediate Salt Marsh Biotic Group (FGDC, 2012) are the most extensive and are the focus of this project. These salt marshes are classified as “Gulf Coast Cordgrass Salt Marsh” (CEGL004190; USNVC, 2016). Within the NGoM region, some salt marsh areas are dominated by other species such as Spartina patens and Juncus roemerianus, which both occupy higher elevations in high-precipitation zones (e.g., Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida). In lower precipitation regions (southern Texas), hypersaline conditions often develop yielding communities of succulent salt marsh plants (Batis and Salicornia spp.). In climatic zones with warmer winter temperatures, temperate salt marshes naturally transition to mangrove (generally in the southern Gulf of Mexico range) or, in areas with lower precipitation, to salt flats (generally in western part of the study area)

Strangeness Enhancement in Heavy Ion Collisions - Evidence for Quark-Gluon-Matter ?

The centrality dependence of (multi-)strange hadron abundances is studied for Pb(158 AGeV)Pb reactions and compared to p(158 GeV)Pb collisions. The microscopic transport model UrQMD is used for this analysis. The predicted Lambda/pi-, Xi-/pi- and Omega-/pi- ratios are enhanced due to rescattering in central Pb-Pb collisions as compared to peripheral Pb-Pb or p-Pb collisions. A reduction of the constituent quark masses to the current quark masses m_s \sim 230 MeV, m_q \sim 10 MeV, as motivated by chiral symmetry restoration, enhances the hyperon yields to the experimentally observed high values. Similar results are obtained by an ad hoc overall increase of the color electric field strength (effective string tension of kappa=3 GeV/fm). The enhancement depends strongly on the kinematical cuts. The maximum enhancement is predicted around midrapidity. For Lambda's, strangeness suppression is predicted at projectile/target rapidity. For Omega's, the predicted enhancement can be as large as one order of magnitude. Comparisons of Pb-Pb data to proton induced asymmetric (p-A) collisions are hampered due to the predicted strong asymmetry in the various rapidity distributions of the different (strange) particle species. In p-Pb collisions, strangeness is locally (in rapidity) not conserved. The present comparison to the data of the WA97 and NA49 collaborations clearly supports the suggestion that conventional (free) hadronic scenarios are unable to describe the observed high (anti-)hyperon yields in central collisions. The doubling of the strangeness to nonstrange suppression factor, gamma_s \approx 0.65, might be interpreted as a signal of a phase of nearly massless particles.Comment: published version, discussion on strange mesons and new table added, extended discussion on strange baryon yields. Latex, 20 pages, including 5 eps-figure

Detection of nonpregnant cows and potential embryo losses by color Doppler ultrasound and interferon-stimulated gene expression in grazing dairy cows

Many studies have been conducted to estimate pregnancy losses between 19 and 34 d after artificial insemination (AI) in dairy cows managed under confinement-based systems, but few studies have examined embryo mortality during this interval in dairy cows managed under gazing systems. The objectives of this prospective cohort study were (1) to assess the diagnostic value of the corpus luteum (CL) blood perfusion (BP) evaluation by Doppler ultrasound (US) to detect nonpregnant cows at 19 to 20 d post-AI, and (2) to assess the rate of potential embryo mortality between 19 to 34 d post-AI. The CL-BP of all cows included in the study (n = 131) was examined on farm by power and color mode of Doppler US and later using an image processing software by a second evaluator. The endometrium thickness and echotexture were evaluated by B-mode US at the same visit to assess if the nonpregnancy diagnosis could be improved at 19 to 20 d post-AI by this additional diagnostic tool. Blood samples were obtained at 19 to 20 d post-AI for progesterone (P4) measurement by chemiluminescence and to determine the mRNA expression of ISG by real-time PCR. Pregnancy diagnosis based on embryo visualization was performed at 33 to 34 d post-AI by US B-mode. In parallel interpretation, ISG15 and MX2 mRNA expression in leukocytes [sensitivity (Se), 100%] were regarded as suitable biomarkers for early pregnancy and were selected for molecular characterization of pregnancy at 19 to 20 d post-AI. At 19 to 20 d post-AI, 61.1% of the cows had positive CL-BP by Doppler US (Se, 98.0%), 62.7% had ISG mRNA expression in leukocytes over the cutoff point (Se, 95.7%), and 50.8% were positive, based on the combination of ISG mRNA expression, CL-BP by Doppler US, and P4 concentration (Se, 100%), and were considered as possible pregnant. At 33 to 34 d, the pregnancy rate was 37.4% diagnosed by the B-mode US. Based on the expression of the selected biomarkers in cows with active CL, we found that 28.1% of the cows could have potentially lost their pregnancy between 19 and 34 d post-AI. The Doppler US color mode showed similar accuracy and a higher negative predictive value than the genes selected as biomarkers. The additional B-mode ultrasound evaluation of the uterine stratum vasculare and the endometrium thickness improved the diagnostic accuracy. Therefore, assessing the CL-BP by Doppler US allowed early detection of nonpregnant cows at 19 to 20 d post-AI. The combination of early CL-BP by Doppler US (d 19 to 20) with early embryo detection by B-mode US (d 33–34) could be used to facilitate earlier rebreeding of dairy cows

Beyond just sea-level rise: considering macroclimatic drivers within coastal wetland vulnerability assessments to climate change

Due to their position at the land-sea interface, coastal wetlands are vulnerable to many aspects of climate change. However, climate change vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands generally focus solely on sea-level rise without considering the effects of other facets of climate change. Across the globe and in all ecosystems, macroclimatic drivers (e.g., temperature and rainfall regimes) greatly influence ecosystem structure and function. Macroclimatic drivers have been the focus of climate change-related threat evaluations for terrestrial ecosystems, but largely ignored for coastal wetlands. In some coastal wetlands, changing macroclimatic conditions are expected to result in foundation plant species replacement, which would affect the supply of certain ecosystem goods and services and could affect ecosystem resilience. As examples, we highlight several ecological transition zones where small changes in macroclimatic conditions would result in comparatively large changes in coastal wetland ecosystem structure and function. Our intent in this communication is not to minimize the importance of sea-level rise. Rather, our overarching aim is to illustrate the need to also consider macroclimatic drivers within vulnerability assessments for coastal wetlands