Systems approach to the improvement of engine warm-up behaviour

Modifications to the coolant and oil circuits of a modern production 2.4 l diesel engine have been made in an attempt to promote oil warm-up to reduce fuel consumption. The new system used oil to cool exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) gases and incorporates a number of coolant flow control valves to reduce heat loss during warm-up. The engine was run over cold-start New European Drive Cycles with various flow strategies as a screening exercise to understand the behaviour of the system. Fuel consumption benefits of up to 4 per cent were observed, but these were accompanied by 3 per cent increases in nitrogen oxide (NO x) emissions. Detailed analysis of the coolant flows and temperatures showed that, when throttling the flow, the mass of coolant in the degas bottle and radiator could be isolated from the system during warm-up, essentially reducing the thermal inertia. Heat transfer directly to the oil from the EGR gases rather than via the coolant allowed more heat to be put into the oil, with engine oil supply temperatures up to 6 °C hotter; however, it was not possible to verify that the oil was hotter at the bearings, valve train, and cylinder liner. The engine strategy was seen to react to the faster warm-up and to retard injection timing, reducing NO x but also compromising overall fuel consumption benefits. Further tests were conducted with various injection timings to establish a NO x—fuel consumption trade-off to demonstrate further benefits when the engine strategy is included in the operation of novel thermal management systems. </jats:p

Cataclysmic Variables from SDSS II. The Second Year

The first full year of operation following the commissioning year of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has revealed a wide variety of newly discovered cataclysmic variables. We show the SDSS spectra of forty-two cataclysmic variables observed in 2002, of which thirty-five are new classifications, four are known dwarf novae (CT Hya, RZ Leo, T Leo and BZ UMa), one is a known CV identified from a previous quasar survey (Aqr1) and two are known ROSAT or FIRST discovered CVs (RX J09445+0357, FIRST J102347.6+003841). The SDSS positions, colors and spectra of all forty-two systems are presented. In addition, the results of follow-up studies of several of these objects identify the orbital periods, velocity curves and polarization that provide the system geometry and accretion properties. While most of the SDSS discovered systems are faint (>18th mag) with low accretion rates (as implied from their spectral characteristics), there are also a few bright objects which may have escaped previous surveys due to changes in the mass transfer rate.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journal, Vol. 126, Sep. 2003, 44 pages, 25 figures (now with adjacent captions), AASTeX v5.

A proteasome-resistant fragment of NIK mediates oncogenic NF-κB signaling in schwannomas

Schwannomas are common, highly morbid and medically untreatable tumors that can arise in patients with germ line as well as somatic mutations in neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). These mutations most commonly result in the loss of function of the NF2-encoded protein, Merlin. Little is known about how Merlin functions endogenously as a tumor suppressor and how its loss leads to oncogenic transformation in Schwann cells (SCs). Here, we identify nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells (NF-κB)-inducing kinase (NIK) as a potential drug target driving NF-κB signaling and Merlin-deficient schwannoma genesis. Using a genomic approach to profile aberrant tumor signaling pathways, we describe multiple upregulated NF-κB signaling elements in human and murine schwannomas, leading us to identify a caspase-cleaved, proteasome-resistant NIK kinase domain fragment that amplifies pathogenic NF-κB signaling. Lentiviral-mediated transduction of this NIK fragment into normal SCs promotes proliferation, survival, and adhesion while inducing schwannoma formation in a novel in vivo orthotopic transplant model. Furthermore, we describe an NF-κB-potentiated hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) to MET proto-oncogene receptor tyrosine kinase (c-Met) autocrine feed-forward loop promoting SC proliferation. These innovative studies identify a novel signaling axis underlying schwannoma formation, revealing new and potentially druggable schwannoma vulnerabilities with future therapeutic potential

Two Rare Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables with Extreme Cyclotron Features Identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

Two newly identified magnetic cataclysmic variables discovered in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), SDSSJ155331.12+551614.5 and SDSSJ132411.57+032050.5, have spectra showing highly prominent, narrow, strongly polarized cyclotron humps with amplitudes that vary on orbital periods of 4.39 and 2.6 hrs, respectively. In the former, the spacing of the humps indicates the 3rd and 4th harmonics in a magnetic field of ~60 MG. The narrowness of the cyclotron features and the lack of strong emission lines imply very low temperature plasmas and very low accretion rates, so that the accreting area is heated by particle collisions rather than accretion shocks. The detection of rare systems like these exemplifies the ability of the SDSS to find the lowest accretion rate close binaries.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, vol. 583, February 1, 2003; slight revisions and additions in response to referee's comments; 17 pages, 6 figures, AASTeX v4.

An Initial Survey of White Dwarfs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

An initial assessment is made of white dwarf and hot subdwarf stars observed in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. In a small area of sky (190 square degrees), observed much like the full survey will be, 269 white dwarfs and 56 hot subdwarfs are identified spectroscopically where only 44 white dwarfs and 5 hot subdwarfs were known previously. Most are ordinary DA (hydrogen atmosphere) and DB (helium) types. In addition, in the full survey to date, a number of WDs have been found with uncommon spectral types. Among these are blue DQ stars displaying lines of atomic carbon; red DQ stars showing molecular bands of C_2 with a wide variety of strengths; DZ stars where Ca and occasionally Mg, Na, and/or Fe lines are detected; and magnetic WDs with a wide range of magnetic field strengths in DA, DB, DQ, and (probably) DZ spectral types. Photometry alone allows identification of stars hotter than 12000 K, and the density of these stars for 15<g<20 is found to be ~2.2 deg^{-2} at Galactic latitudes 29-62 deg. Spectra are obtained for roughly half of these hot stars. The spectra show that, for 15<g<17, 40% of hot stars are WDs and the fraction of WDs rises to ~90% at g=20. The remainder are hot sdB and sdO stars.Comment: Accepted for AJ; 43 pages, including 12 figures and 5 table

A Catalog of Spectroscopically Identified White Dwarf Stars in the First Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We present the full spectroscopic white dwarf and hot subdwarf sample from the SDSS first data release, DR1. We find 2551 white dwarf stars of various types, 240 hot subdwarf stars, and an additional 144 objects we have identified as uncertain white dwarf stars. Of the white dwarf stars, 1888 are non-magnetic DA types and 171, non-magnetic DBs. The remaining (492) objects consist of all different types of white dwarf stars: DO, DQ, DC, DH, DZ, hybrid stars like DAB, etc., and those with non-degenerate companions. We fit the DA and DB spectra with a grid of models to determine the Teff and log(g) for each object. For all objects, we provide coordinates, proper motions, SDSS photometric magnitudes, and enough information to retrieve the spectrum/image from the SDSS public database. This catalog nearly doubles the known sample of spectroscopically-identified white dwarf stars. In the DR1 imaged area of the sky, we increase the known sample of white dwarf stars by a factor of 8.5. We also comment on several particularly interesting objects in this sample.Comment: To be published ApJ, 20May04. 52 pages, 13 figures, 12 tables. Full tables are available at the (now-corrected) SDSS DR1 Value-added catalog at http://www.sdss.org/dr1/products/value_added/index.htm

L Dwarfs Found in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Commissioning Data II. Hobby-Eberly Telescope Observations

Low dispersion optical spectra have been obtained with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope of 22 very red objects found in early imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The objects are assigned spectral types on the 2MASS system (Kirkpatrick et al. 1999) and are found to range from late M to late L. The red- and near-infrared colors from SDSS and 2MASS correlate closely with each other, and most of the colors are closely related to spectral type in this range; the exception is the (i^* - z^*) color, which appears to be independent of spectral type between about M7 and L4. The spectra suggest that this independence is due to the disappearance of the TiO and VO absorption in the i-band for later spectral types; to the presence of strong Na I and K I absorption in the i-band; and to the gradual disappearance of the 8400 Angstrom absorption of TiO and FeH in the z-band.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, accepted by AJ, a version with higher resolution figures can be found at ftp://ftp.astro.psu.edu/pub/dps/hetld.p