14,635 research outputs found
Fringe Science: Defringing CCD Images with Neon Lamp Flat Fields
Fringing in CCD images is troublesome from the aspect of photometric quality
and image flatness in the final reduced product. Additionally, defringing
during calibration requires the inefficient use of time during the night to
collect and produce a "supersky" fringe frame. The fringe pattern observed in a
CCD image for a given near-IR filter is dominated by small thickness variations
across the detector with a second order effect caused by the wavelength extent
of the emission lines within the bandpass which produce the interference
pattern. We show that essentially any set of emission lines which generally
match the wavelength coverage of the night sky emission lines within a bandpass
will produce an identical fringe pattern. We present an easy, inexpensive, and
efficient method which uses a neon lamp as a flat field source and produces
high S/N fringe frames to use for defringing an image during the calibration
process.Comment: accepted to PAS
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The effects of bilingualism on speakers who stutter during late childhood
Objectives: To examine stuttering by children speaking an alternative language exclusively (LE) or with English (BIL) and to study onset of stuttering, school performance and recovery rate relative to monolingual speakers who stutter (MONO).
Design: Clinical referral sample with supplementary data obtained from speech recordings and interviews.
Setting: South-East England, 1999–2007.
Participants: Children aged 8–12 plus who stuttered (monolingual and bilingual) and fluent bilingual controls
(FB).
Main outcome measures: Participants’ stuttering history, SATS scores, measures of recovery or persistence of stuttering.
Results: 69 (21.8%) of 317 children were bilingual. Of 38 children who used a language other than English at home, 36 (94.7%) stuttered in both languages. Fewer LE (15/38, 39.5%) than BIL (23/38, 60.5%) children stuttered at first referral to clinic, but more children in the fluent control sample were LE (28/38, 73.7%) than BIL (10/38, 26.3%). The association between stuttering and bilingual group (LE/BIL) was significant by x2 test; BIL speakers have more chance of stuttering than LE speakers. Age at stuttering onset and male/female ratio for LE, BIL and MONO speakers were similar (4 years 9 months, 4 years 10 months and 4 years 3 months, and 4.1:1, 4.75:1 and 4.43:1, respectively). Educational achievement was not affected by bilingualism relative to the MONO and FB groups. The recovery rate for the LE and MONO controls together (55%) was significantly higher by x2 test than for the BIL group (25%).
Conclusions: BIL children had an increased risk of stuttering and a lower chance of recovery from stuttering than LE and MONO speakers
A theoretical model for single molecule incoherent scanning tunneling spectroscopy
Single molecule scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS), with dephasing due to
elastic and inelastic scattering, is of some current interest. Motivated by
this, we report an extended Huckel theory (EHT) based mean-field
Non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) transport model with electron-phonon
scattering treated within the self-consistent Born approximation (SCBA).
Furthermore, a procedure based on EHT basis set modification is described. We
use this model to study the effect of the temperature dependent dephasing, due
to low lying modes in far-infrared range for which hw<<kT, on the resonant
conduction through highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level of a phenyl
dithiol molecule sandwiched between two fcc-Au(111) contacts. Furthermore, we
propose to include dephasing in room temperature molecular resonant conduction
calculations.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure
Measurement of the elastic scattering cross section of neutrons from argon and neon
Background: The most significant source of background in direct dark matter
searches are neutrons that scatter elastically from nuclei in the detector's
sensitive volume. Experimental data for the elastic scattering cross section of
neutrons from argon and neon, which are target materials of interest to the
dark matter community, were previously unavailable. Purpose: Measure the
differential cross section for elastic scattering of neutrons from argon and
neon in the energy range relevant to backgrounds from (alpha,n) reactions in
direct dark matter searches. Method: Cross-section data were taken at the
Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory (TUNL) using the neutron
time-of-flight technique. These data were fit using the spherical optical
model. Results: The differential cross section for elastic scatting of neutrons
from neon at 5.0 and 8.0 MeV and argon at 6.0 MeV was measured. Optical-model
parameters for the elastic scattering reactions were determined from the best
fit to these data. The total elastic scattering cross section for neon was
found to differ by 6% at 5.0 MeV and 13% at 8.0 MeV from global optical-model
predictions. Compared to a local optical-model for 40Ar, the elastic scattering
cross section was found to differ from the data by 8% at 6.0 MeV. Conclusions:
These new data are important for improving Monte-Carlo simulations and
background estimates for direct dark matter searches and for benchmarking
optical models of neutron elastic scattering from these nuclei
High spectral resolution time-resolved optical spectroscopy of V893 Sco
We present high resolution time-resolved optical spectra of the high
inclination short orbital period dwarf nova V893 Sco. We performed spectral
analysis through radial velocity measurements, Doppler mapping, and ratioed
Doppler maps. Our results indicate that V893 Sco's accretion disk is dissimilar
to WZ Sge's accretion disk, and does not fit any of the current accretion disk
models. We derive the system parameters M1 and i, and present evidence for V893
Sco as a very young cataclysmic variable and an ER UMa star. We advance the
hypothesis that all ER UMa stars may be newly formed cataclysmic variables.Comment: 23 pages (total), 8 figures, accepted by Ap
Networking frictions in venture capital, and the gender gap in entrepreneurship
We find that male participants in Harvard Business School’s New Venture Competition who were randomly exposed to more VC investors on their panel were substantially more likely to start a VC-backed startup post-graduation, indicating that access to investors impacts fundraising independent of the quality of ideas. However, female participants experience no benefit from exposure to male or female VCs, which appears related to a reduced propensity to reach out to VCs to whom they were exposed. Our results therefore also demonstrate gender-based differences in the degree to which increased exposure to investors can address networking frictions in venture capital
A model for the screen printing of Newtonian fluids
A preliminary investigation into aspects of the off-contact screen-printing process is presented. A mathematical model for the printing of a thin film of Newtonian fluid is proposed, in which the screen is modelled as a permeable membrane, and the entire region above and below the screen is flooded. By drawing upon widely used industrial circuit printing practices, the distinguished limit of greatest interest to this industry is identified. Numerical and asymptotic solutions of this distinguished limit are presented that reproduce many of the features observed in industrial screen-printing
Infrared spectroscopy of cataclysmic variables: III. Dwarf novae below the period gap and novalike variables
We present K-band spectra of the short-period dwarf novae YZ Cnc, LY Hya, BK
Lyn, T Leo, SW UMa and WZ Sge, the novalike variables DW UMa, V1315 Aql, RW
Tri, VY Scl, UU Aqr and GP Com, and a series of field dwarf stars with spectral
types ranging from K2-M6.
The spectra of the dwarf novae are dominated by emission lines of HI and HeI.
The large velocity and equivalent widths of these lines, in conjunction with
the fact that the lines are double-peaked in the highest inclination systems,
indicate an accretion disc origin. In the case of YZ Cnc and T Leo, for which
we obtained time-resolved data covering a complete orbital cycle, the emission
lines show modulations in their equivalent widths which are most probably
associated with the bright spot (the region where the gas stream collides with
the accretion disc). There are no clear detections of the secondary star in any
of the dwarf novae below the period gap, yielding upper limits of 10-30% for
the contribution of the secondary star to the observed K-band flux. In
conjunction with the K-band magnitudes of the dwarf novae, we use the derived
secondary star contributions to calculate lower limits to the distances to
these systems.
The spectra of the novalike variables are dominated by broad, single-peaked
emission lines of HI and HeI - even the eclipsing systems we observed do not
show the double-peaked profiles predicted by standard accretion disc theory.
With the exception of RW Tri, which exhibits NaI, CaI and 12CO absorption
features consistent with a M0V secondary contributing 65% of the observed
K-band flux, we find no evidence for the secondary star in any of the novalike
variables. The implications of this result are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, to appear in MNRA
Long term time-lapse microgravity and geotechnical monitoring of relict salt-mines, Marston, Cheshire, UK.
The area around the town of Northwich in Cheshire, U. K., has a long history of catastrophic ground subsidence caused by a combination of natural dissolution and collapsing abandoned mine workings within the underlying Triassic halite bedrock geology. In the village of Marston, the Trent and Mersey Canal crosses several abandoned salt mine workings and previously subsiding areas, the canal being breached by a catastrophic subsidence event in 1953. This canal section is the focus of a long-term monitoring study by conventional geotechnical topographic and microgravity surveys. Results of 20 years of topographic time-lapse surveys indicate specific areas of local subsidence that could not be predicted by available site and mine abandonment plan and shaft data. Subsidence has subsequently necessitated four phases of temporary canal bank remediation. Ten years of microgravity time-lapse data have recorded major deepening negative anomalies in specific sections that correlate with topographic data. Gravity 2D modeling using available site data found upwardly propagating voids, and associated collapse material produced a good match with observed microgravity data. Intrusive investigations have confirmed a void at the major anomaly. The advantages of undertaking such long-term studies for near-surface geophysicists, geotechnical engineers, and researchers working in other application areas are discussed
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