The chemical evolution of local star forming galaxies: Radial profiles of ISM metallicity, gas mass, and stellar mass and constraints on galactic accretion and winds

The radially averaged metallicity distribution of the ISM and the young stellar population of a sample of 20 disk galaxies is investigated by means of an analytical chemical evolution model which assumes constant ratios of galactic wind mass loss and accretion mass gain to star formation rate. Based on this model the observed metallicities and their gradients can be described surprisingly well by the radially averaged distribution of the ratio of stellar mass to ISM gas mass. The comparison between observed and model predicted metallicity is used to constrain the rate of mass loss through galactic wind and accretion gain in units of the star formation rate. Three groups of galaxies are found: galaxies with either mostly winds and only weak accretion, or mostly accretion and only weak winds, and galaxies where winds are roughly balanced by accretion. The three groups are distinct in the properties of their gas disks. Galaxies with approximately equal rates of mass-loss and accretion gain have low metallicity, atomic hydrogen dominated gas disks with a flat spatial profile. The other two groups have gas disks dominated by molecular hydrogen out to 0.5 to 0.7 isophotal radii and show a radial exponential decline, which is on average steeper for the galaxies with small accretion rates. The rates of accretion (<1.0 x SFR) and outflow (<2.4 x SFR) are relatively low. The latter depend on the calibration of the zero point of the metallicity determination from the use of HII region strong emission lines.Comment: 19 pages, 17 figure, accepted to MNRA

Computational Wind Engineering for Optimal Path Planning of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

The current work represents an analysis of Computational Wind Engineering of a dense complex urban environment and translation of the results to optimizing the path planning for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV). Investigations into the behavior of the k-ε and k-ω SST turbulence models on sufficiently representative geometries were conducted. The steady-state simulations are done on the Architectural Institute of Japan (AIJ) Case B and Case F geometries. The steady-state data obtained will then need to be translated to transient data in order to better represent flow characteristics that an Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) will experience. The performance of the k-ω SST is deemed better than that of the k-ε model for path optimization

Third-order many-body perturbation theory calculations for the beryllium and magnesium isoelectronic sequences

Relativistic third-order MBPT is applied to obtain energies of ions with two valence electrons in the no virtual-pair approximation (NVPA). A total of 302 third-order Goldstone diagrams are organized into 12 one-body and 23 two-body terms. Only third-order two-body terms and diagrams are presented here, owing to the fact that the one-body terms are identical to the previously studied third-order terms in monovalent ions. Dominant classes of diagrams are identified. The model potential is a Dirac-Hartree-Fock $V^{N-2}$ potential, and B-spline basis functions in a cavity of finite radius are employed in the numerical calculations. The Breit interaction is taken into account through second order of perturbation theory and the lowest-order Lamb shift is also evaluated. Sample calculations are performed for berylliumlike ions with Z = 4--7, and for the magnesiumlike ion P IV. The third-order energies are in excellent agreement with measurement with an accuracy at 0.2% level for the cases considered. Comparisons are made with previous second-order MBPT results and with other calculations. The third-order energy correction is shown to be significant, improving second-order correlation energies by an order of magnitude

The Maslov Gerbe

Let Lag(E) be the grassmannian of lagrangian subspaces of a complex symplectic vector space E. We construct a Maslov class which generates the second integral cohomology of Lag(E), and we show that its mod 2 reduction is the characteristic class of a flat gerbe with structure group Z_2. We explain the relation of this gerbe to the well-known flat Maslov line bundle with structure group Z_4 over the real lagrangian grassmannian, whose characteristic class is the mod 4 reduction of the real Maslov class.Comment: 8 page

The role of atrial natriuretic peptide to attenuate inflammation in a mouse skin wound and individually perfused rat mesenteric microvessels.

We tested the hypothesis that the anti-inflammatory actions of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) result from the modulation of leukocyte adhesion to inflamed endothelium and not solely ANP ligation of endothelial receptors to stabilize endothelial barrier function. We measured vascular permeability to albumin and accumulation of fluorescent neutrophils in a full-thickness skin wound on the flank of LysM-EGFP mice 24 h after formation. Vascular permeability in individually perfused rat mesenteric microvessels was also measured after leukocytes were washed out of the vessel lumen. Thrombin increased albumin permeability and increased the accumulation of neutrophils. The thrombin-induced inflammatory responses were attenuated by pretreating the wound with ANP (30 min). During pretreatment ANP did not lower permeability, but transiently increased baseline albumin permeability concomitant with the reduction in neutrophil accumulation. ANP did not attenuate acute increases in permeability to histamine and bradykinin in individually perfused rat microvessels. The hypothesis that anti-inflammatory actions of ANP depend solely on endothelial responses that stabilize the endothelial barrier is not supported by our results in either individually perfused microvessels in the absence of circulating leukocytes or the more chronic skin wound model. Our results conform to the alternate hypothesis that ANP modulates the interaction of leukocytes with the inflamed microvascular wall of the 24 h wound. Taken together with our previous observations that ANP reduces deformability of neutrophils and their strength of attachment, rolling, and transvascular migration, these observations provide the basis for additional investigations of ANP as an anti-inflammatory agent to modulate leukocyte-endothelial cell interactions

Spectroscopy of a narrow-line laser cooling transition in atomic dysprosium

The laser cooling and trapping of ultracold neutral dysprosium has been recently demonstrated using the broad, open 421-nm cycling transition. Narrow-line magneto-optical trapping of Dy on longer wavelength transitions would enable the preparation of ultracold Dy samples suitable for loading optical dipole traps and subsequent evaporative cooling. We have identified the closed 741-nm cycling transition as a candidate for the narrow-line cooling of Dy. We present experimental data on the isotope shifts, the hyperfine constants A and B, and the decay rate of the 741-nm transition. In addition, we report a measurement of the 421-nm transition's linewidth, which agrees with previous measurements. We summarize the laser cooling characteristics of these transitions as well as other narrow cycling transitions that may prove useful for cooling Dy.Comment: 6+ pages, 5 figures, 5 table