K-feldspar Sand Grain Rounding in Eolian and Subaqueous Transportation

This project’s aim is to compare the rounding of K-feldspar grains in eolian and subaqueous conditions. It was hypothesized that K-feldspar grains in a subaqueous environment are cushioned enough by surrounding water to prevent the rounding observed in eolian environments. The experiment was conducted by use of eolian and subaqueous simulations originally developed by Calvin Anderson for comparing muscovite flakes in these respective environments. It was expected that an eolian environment will produce rounded grains within a few weeks, and an aqueous environment will take a minimum of months to produce fully rounded grains. The resulting data from this project will shed some light on the depositional environments of K-feldspar-rich sandstones

M31N 2008-05d: A M 31 disk nova with a dipping supersoft X-ray light curve

Classical novae (CNe) represent a major class of supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs) in the central region of our neighbouring galaxy M 31. Significantly different SSS properties of CNe in the M 31 bulge and disk were indicated by recent X-ray population studies, which however considered only a small number of disk novae. We initiated a target of opportunity (ToO) program with XMM-Newton to observe the SSS phases of CNe in the disk of M 31 and improve the database for further population studies. We analysed two XMM-Newton ToO observations triggered in Aug 2011 and Jan 2012, respectively, and extracted X-ray spectra and light curves. We report the discovery of an X-ray counterpart to the M 31 disk nova M31N 2008-05d. The X-ray spectrum of the object allows us to classify it as a SSS parametrised by a blackbody temperature of 32+/-6 eV. More than three years after the nova outburst, the X-ray light curve of the SSS exhibits irregular, broad dip features. These dips affect primarily the very soft part of the X-ray spectrum, which might indicate absorption effects. Dipping SSS light curves are rarely observed in M 31 novae. As well as providing an unparalleled statistical sample, the M 31 population of novae with SSS counterparts produces frequent discoveries of unusual objects, thereby underlining the importance of regular monitoring.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic

Intraossäre Infusion: Eine wichtige Technik auch für die Kinderanästhesie

Zusammenfassung: Die zeitgerechte Etablierung eines venösen Zugangs kann insbesondere bei Säuglingen und Kleinkindern eine große Herausforderung sein. Hier hat sich die intraossäre Infusionstechnik seit den 1940er Jahren als schnelle, effiziente und sichere Alternativmethode zur Schaffung eines Gefäßzugangs bewährt, um einem vitalgefährdeten Kind dringend benötigte Medikamente und Flüssigkeiten zu applizieren. Während in den internationalen Leitlinien zur pädiatrischen Notfallmedizin der intraossären Infusion eine hohe Priorität eingeräumt wird, greifen die meisten Anästhesisten nur sehr zögerlich auf diese langjährig bewährte Punktionstechnik zurück. Die vorliegende Arbeit beschreibt die intraossäre Infusionstechnik, stellt zwei unterschiedliche Kanülierungssysteme vor und diskutiert, basierend auf den aktuellen notfallmedizinischen Leitlinien sowie anhand von eigenen Fallbeispielen, potenzielle Indikationen für die Kinderanästhesie. Demnach sollten insbesondere akut vital-gefährdete Kinder mit Kreislaufstillstand, Laryngospasmus, akuter Atemwegsblutung, hypovolämischem Schock oder Hypothermie bei ausgedehnten Verbrennungen ohne liegenden bzw. rasch anzulegenden venösen Zugang mit einer intraossären Kanüle versorgt werden. Inwieweit die intraossäre Infusion auch beim nichtakut vital-gefährdeten Kind mit schwierigem oder unmöglichem peripheren Venenzugang in der Anästhesie überbrückend und zeitlich begrenzt eingesetzt werden sollte, wird die zukünftige Diskussion zeigen. Die erfolgreiche Anwendung der intraossären Infusionstechnik in der Kinderanästhesie verlangt die unmittelbare Verfügbarkeit der entsprechenden Ausrüstung, die umfassende Schulung und das regelmäßige Training sowie eine klare Regelung für ihre Anwendung innerhalb der Anästhesieabteilun

CXOM31 J004253.1+411422: The first ultra-luminous X-ray transient in M 31

We seek clarification of the nature of X-ray sources detected in M 31. Here we focus on CXOM31 J004253.1+411422, the brightness of which suggests that it belongs to the class of ultraluminous X-ray sources. We determine the X-ray properties of sources detected in the XMM-Newton Chandra monitoring program. We investigate spectral properties and search for periodic or quasi-periodic oscillations. A multi-component model is applied to the spectra obtained from XMM-Newton data to evaluate the relative contributions from thermal and non-thermal emission. The time dependence of this ratio is evaluated over a period of forty days. We simultaneously fit data from XMM-Newton EPIC-pn, MOS1 and MOS2 detectors with (non-thermal) powerlaw and (thermal) multicolored blackbody. The X-ray spectrum is best fit by the combination of a thermal component with kT ~ 1 keV and a powerlaw component with photon index approximately 2.6. From combined analysis of Chandra, Swift and XMM-Newton data, the unabsorbed total luminosity of this source decreases from ~ 3.8 x 10^{39} erg s^{-1} in the first observation to ~ 0.5 x 10^{39} ergs s^{-1} over a period of three months. The decay closely follows an exponential decline with a time constant of 32 days. The source spectrum evolves significantly, exhibiting a faster decline of the thermal component. We do not find evidence of any significant temporal features in the power density spectrum. The presence of a thermal component at kT ~ 1 keV in conjunction with a non-thermal high energy tail, is also consistent with spectral properties of other ULXs in the "high state". Our analysis indicates that the underlying source of this first ULX in M~31 is a black hole of mass, M > 13 M_{sun}, accreting near the Eddington limit, that underwent a transient outburst followed by an exponential decay reminiscent of transients associated with galactic X-ray novae.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics. 6 pages, 8 figure

Characterizations of multinormality and corresponding tests of fit, including for Garch models

We provide novel characterizations of multivariate normality that incorporate both the characteristic function and the moment generating function, and we employ these results to construct a class of affine invariant, consistent and easy-to-use goodness-of-fit tests for normality. The test statistics are suitably weighted L2-statistics, and we provide their asymptotic behavior both for i.i.d. observations as well as in the context of testing that the innovation distribution of a multivariate GARCH model is Gaussian. We also study the finite-sample behavior of the new tests and compare the new criteria with alternative existing tests

X-ray monitoring of classical novae in the central region of M 31. II. Autumn and winter 2007/2008 and 2008/2009

[Abridged] Classical novae (CNe) represent the major class of supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs) in the central region of our neighbouring galaxy M 31. We performed a dedicated monitoring of the M 31 central region with XMM-Newton and Chandra between Nov 2007 and Feb 2008 and between Nov 2008 and Feb 2009 respectively, in order to find SSS counterparts of CNe, determine the duration of their SSS phase and derive physical outburst parameters. We systematically searched our data for X-ray counterparts of CNe and determined their X-ray light curves and spectral properties. We detected in total 17 X-ray counterparts of CNe in M 31, only four of which were known previously. These latter sources are still active 12.5, 11.0, 7.4 and 4.8 years after the optical outburst. From the 17 X-ray counterparts 13 were classified as SSSs. Four novae displayed short SSS phases (< 100 d). Based on these results and previous studies we compiled a catalogue of all novae with SSS counterparts in M 31 known so far. We used this catalogue to derive correlations between the following X-ray and optical nova parameters: turn-on time, turn-off time, effective temperature (X-ray), t2 decay time and expansion velocity of the ejected envelope (optical). Furthermore, we found a first hint for the existence of a difference between SSS parameters of novae associated with the stellar populations of the M 31 bulge and disk. Additionally, we conducted a Monte Carlo Markov Chain simulation on the intrinsic fraction of novae with SSS phase. This simulation showed that the relatively high fraction of novae without detected SSS emission might be explained by the inevitably incomplete coverage with X-ray observations in combination with a large fraction of novae with short SSS states, as expected from the WD mass distribution. In order to verify our results with an increased sample further monitoring observations are needed.Comment: 31 pages, 23 figures, 10 tables; submitted to A&

X-ray monitoring of classical novae in the central region of M31. III. Autumn and winter 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12

[Abridged] Classical novae (CNe) represent the major class of supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs) in the central region of our neighbouring galaxy M31. We performed a dedicated monitoring of the M31 central region, aimed to detect SSS counterparts of CNe, with XMM-Newton and Chandra between Nov and Mar of the years 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12. In total we detected 24 novae in X-rays. Seven of these sources were known from previous observations, including the M31 nova with the longest SSS phase, M31N~1996-08b, which was found to fade below our X-ray detection limit 13.8 yr after outburst. Of the new discoveries several novae exhibit significant variability in their short-term X-ray light curves with one object showing a suspected period of about 1.3 h. We studied the SSS state of the most recent outburst of a recurrent nova which had previously shown the shortest time ever observed between two outbursts (about 5 yr). The total number of M31 novae with X-ray counterpart was increased to 79 and we subjected this extended catalogue to detailed statistical studies. Four previously indicated correlations between optical and X-ray parameters could be confirmed and improved. We found indications that the multi-dimensional parameter space of nova properties might be dominated by a single physical parameter. We discuss evidence for a different X-ray behaviour of novae in the M31 bulge and disk. Exploration of the multi-wavelength parameter space of optical and X-ray measurements is shown to be a powerful tool for examining properties of extragalactic nova populations. While there are hints that the different stellar populations of M31 (bulge vs disk) produce dissimilar nova outbursts, there is also growing evidence that the overall behaviour of an average nova might be understood in surprisingly simple terms.Comment: 39 pages (half of them for 9 tables), 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&A; updated after language editing stag

Tests for circular symmetry of complex-valued random vectors

We propose tests for the null hypothesis that the law of a complex-valued random vector is circularly symmetric. The test criteria are formulated as $L^2$-type criteria based on empirical characteristic functions, and they are convenient from the computational point of view. Asymptotic as well as Monte-Carlo results are presented. Applications on real data are also reported. An R package called CircSymTest is available from the authors

Addictive links: The motivational value of adaptive link annotation

Adaptive link annotation is a popular adaptive navigation support technology. Empirical studies of adaptive annotation in the educational context have demonstrated that it can help students to acquire knowledge faster, improve learning outcomes, reduce navigational overhead, and encourage non-sequential navigation. In this paper, we present our exploration of a lesser known effect of adaptive annotation, its ability to significantly increase students' motivation to work with non-mandatory educational content. We explored this effect and confirmed its significance in the context of two different adaptive hypermedia systems. The paper presents and discusses the results of our work