400 research outputs found
Iron and iron/manganese ratio in forage from Icelandic sheep farms: relation to scrapie
This study was undertaken in order to examine whether any connection existed between the amounts of iron in forage and the sporadic occurrence of scrapie observed in certain parts of Iceland. As iron and manganese are considered antagonistic in plants, calculation of the Fe/Mn ratios was also included by using results from Mn determination earlier performed in the same samples. Forage samples (n = 170) from the summer harvests of 2001–2003, were collected from 47 farms for iron and manganese analysis. The farms were divided into four categories: 1. Scrapie-free farms in scrapie-free areas (n = 9); 2. Scrapie-free farms in scrapie-afflicted areas (n = 17); 3. Scrapie-prone farms (earlier scrapie-afflicted, restocked farms) (n = 12); 4. Scrapie-afflicted farms (n = 9). Farms in categories 1 and 2 are collectively referred to as scrapie-free farms. The mean iron concentration in forage samples from scrapie-afflicted farms was significantly higher than in forage samples from farms in the other scrapie categories (P = 0.001). The mean Fe/Mn ratio in forage from scrapie-afflicted farms was significantly higher than in forage from scrapie-free and scrapie-prone farms (P < 0.001). The results indicated relative dominance of iron over manganese in forage from scrapie-afflicted farms as compared to farms in the other categories. Thus thorough knowledge of iron, along with manganese, in soil and vegetation on sheep farms could be a pivot in studies on sporadic scrapie
Afterglow Light Curves and Broken Power Laws: A Statistical Study
In gamma-ray burst research it is quite common to fit the afterglow light
curves with a broken power law to interpret the data. We apply this method to a
computer simulated population of afterglows and find systematic differences
between the known model parameters of the population and the ones derived from
the power law fits. In general, the slope of the electron energy distribution
is overestimated from the pre-break light curve slope while being
underestimated from the post-break slope. We also find that the jet opening
angle derived from the fits is overestimated in narrow jets and underestimated
in wider ones. Results from fitting afterglow light curves with broken power
laws must therefore be interpreted with caution since the uncertainties in the
derived parameters might be larger than estimated from the fit. This may have
implications for Hubble diagrams constructed using gamma-ray burst data.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Geology of Tindfjallajökull volcano, Iceland
The geology of Tindfjallajökull volcano, southern Iceland, is presented as a 1:50,000 scale map. Field mapping was carried out with a focus on indicators of past environments. A broad stratocone of interbedded fragmental rocks and lavas was constructed during Tindfjallajökull’s early development. This stratocone has been dissected by glacial erosion and overlain by a variety of mafic to silicic volcanic landforms. Eruption of silicic magma, which probably occurred subglacially, constructed a thick pile of breccia and lava lobes in the summit area. Mafic to intermediate flank eruptions continued through to the end of the last glacial period, producing lavas, hyaloclastite-dominated units and tuyas that preserve evidence of volcano-ice interactions. The Thórsmörk Ignimbrite, a regionally important chronostratigraphic marker, is present on the SE flank of the volcano. The geological mapping of Tindfjallajökull gives insights into the evolution of stratovolcanoes in glaciated regions and the influence of ice in their development
Comprehensive multi-wavelength modelling of the afterglow of GRB050525A
The Swift era has posed a challenge to the standard blast-wave model of Gamma
Ray Burst (GRB) afterglows. The key observational features expected within the
model are rarely observed, such as the achromatic steepening (`jet-break') of
the light curves. The observed afterglow light curves showcase additional
complex features requiring modifications within the standard model. Here we
present optical/NIR observations, millimeter upper limits and comprehensive
broadband modelling of the afterglow of the bright GRB 0505025A, detected by
Swift. This afterglow cannot be explained by the simplistic form of the
standard blast-wave model. We attempt modelling the multi-wavelength light
curves using (i) a forward-reverse shock model, (ii) a two-component outflow
model and (iii) blast-wave model with a wind termination shock. The
forward-reverse shock model cannot explain the evolution of the afterglow. The
two component model is able to explain the average behaviour of the afterglow
very well but cannot reproduce the fluctuations in the early X-ray light curve.
The wind termination shock model reproduces the early light curves well but
deviates from the global behaviour of the late-time afterglow.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Electroencephalography as a clinical tool for diagnosing and monitoring attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: a cross-sectional study.
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This article is open access.The aim of this study was to develop and test, for the first time, a multivariate diagnostic classifier of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) based on EEG coherence measures and chronological age.The participants were recruited in two specialised centres and three schools in Reykjavik.The data are from a large cross-sectional cohort of 310 patients with ADHD and 351 controls, covering an age range from 5.8 to 14 years. ADHD was diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition (DSM-IV) criteria using the K-SADS-PL semistructured interview. Participants in the control group were reported to be free of any mental or developmental disorders by their parents and had a score of less than 1.5 SDs above the age-appropriate norm on the ADHD Rating Scale-IV. Other than moderate or severe intellectual disability, no additional exclusion criteria were applied in order that the cohort reflected the typical cross section of patients with ADHD.Diagnostic classifiers were developed using statistical pattern recognition for the entire age range and for specific age ranges and were tested using cross-validation and by application to a separate cohort of recordings not used in the development process. The age-specific classification approach was more accurate (76% accuracy in the independent test cohort; 81% cross-validation accuracy) than the age-independent version (76%; 73%). Chronological age was found to be an important classification feature.The novel application of EEG-based classification methods presented here can offer significant benefit to the clinician by improving both the accuracy of initial diagnosis and ongoing monitoring of children and adolescents with ADHD. The most accurate possible diagnosis at a single point in time can be obtained by the age-specific classifiers, but the age-independent classifiers are also useful as they enable longitudinal monitoring of brain function.Icelandic Technology Development Fund 071201007
Landspitali University Hospital Research Fun
Strike-slip faulting during the 2014 Bároarbunga-Holuhraun dike intrusion, central Iceland
Over a 13 day period magma propagated laterally from the subglacial Bárðarbunga volcano in the northern rift zone, Iceland. It created > 30,000 earthquakes at 5–7 km depth along a 48 km path before erupting on 29 August 2014. The seismicity, which tracked the dike propagation, advanced in short bursts at 0.3–4.7 km/h separated by pauses of up to 81 h. During each surge forward, seismicity behind the dike tip dropped. Moment tensor solutions from the leading edge show exclusively left-lateral strike-slip faulting subparallel to the advancing dike tip, releasing accumulated strain deficit in the brittle layer of the rift zone. Behind the leading edge, both left- and right-lateral strike-slip earthquakes are observed. The lack of non-double-couple earthquakes implies that the dike opening was aseismic.Seismometers were borrowed from the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) SEIS-UK (loans 968 and 1022),with funding by research grants from the NERC and the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme grant 308377 (Project FUTUREVOLC), and graduate studentships from the NERC and Shell. We thank Ágúst Þór Gunnlaugsson and others who assisted with fieldwork in Iceland and Nigel Woodcock for his helpful discussions. M.T. Gudmundsson, H. Reynolds, and Þ. Högnadóttir supplied ice cauldron coordinates. The Icelandic Meteorological Office, Chris Bean (University College Dublin), and the British Geological Survey kindly provided additional data from seismometers in northeast Iceland, data delivery from IMO seismic database 20151001/01. We thank the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. Hypocenter locations in Figure 1 are listed in Tables S2 and S3. (Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge contribution ESC3539).This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Wiley via http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2015GL06742
Search for Early Gamma-ray Production in Supernovae Located in a Dense Circumstellar Medium with the Fermi LAT
Supernovae (SNe) exploding in a dense circumstellar medium (CSM) are
hypothesized to accelerate cosmic rays in collisionless shocks and emit GeV
gamma rays and TeV neutrinos on a time scale of several months. We perform the
first systematic search for gamma-ray emission in Fermi LAT data in the energy
range from 100 MeV to 300 GeV from the ensemble of 147 SNe Type IIn exploding
in dense CSM. We search for a gamma-ray excess at each SNe location in a one
year time window. In order to enhance a possible weak signal, we simultaneously
study the closest and optically brightest sources of our sample in a
joint-likelihood analysis in three different time windows (1 year, 6 months and
3 months). For the most promising source of the sample, SN 2010jl (PTF10aaxf),
we repeat the analysis with an extended time window lasting 4.5 years. We do
not find a significant excess in gamma rays for any individual source nor for
the combined sources and provide model-independent flux upper limits for both
cases. In addition, we derive limits on the gamma-ray luminosity and the ratio
of gamma-ray-to-optical luminosity ratio as a function of the index of the
proton injection spectrum assuming a generic gamma-ray production model.
Furthermore, we present detailed flux predictions based on multi-wavelength
observations and the corresponding flux upper limit at 95% confidence level
(CL) for the source SN 2010jl (PTF10aaxf).Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. Corresponding author: A. Franckowiak
([email protected]), updated author list and acknowledgement
Challenging GRB models through the broadband dataset of GRB060908
Context: Multiwavelength observations of gamma-ray burst prompt and afterglow
emission are a key tool to disentangle the various possible emission processes
and scenarios proposed to interpret the complex gamma-ray burst phenomenology.
Aims: We collected a large dataset on GRB060908 in order to carry out a
comprehensive analysis of the prompt emission as well as the early and late
afterglow. Methods: Data from Swift-BAT, -XRT and -UVOT together with data from
a number of different ground-based optical/NIR and millimeter telescopes
allowed us to follow the afterglow evolution from about a minute from the
high-energy event down to the host galaxy limit. We discuss the physical
parameters required to model these emissions. Results: The prompt emission of
GRB060908 was characterized by two main periods of activity, spaced by a few
seconds of low intensity, with a tight correlation between activity and
spectral hardness. Observations of the afterglow began less than one minute
after the high-energy event, when it was already in a decaying phase, and it
was characterized by a rather flat optical/NIR spectrum which can be
interpreted as due to a hard energy-distribution of the emitting electrons. On
the other hand, the X-ray spectrum of the afterglow could be fit by a rather
soft electron distribution. Conclusions: GRB060908 is a good example of a
gamma-ray burst with a rich multi-wavelength set of observations. The
availability of this dataset, built thanks to the joint efforts of many
different teams, allowed us to carry out stringent tests for various
interpretative scenarios showing that a satisfactorily modeling of this event
is challenging. In the future, similar efforts will enable us to obtain
optical/NIR coverage comparable in quality and quantity to the X-ray data for
more events, therefore opening new avenues to progress gamma-ray burst
research.Comment: A&A, in press. 11 pages, 5 figure
Detection of the high z GRB 080913 and its implications on progenitors and energy extraction mechanisms
Aims: We present multiwavelength observations of one of the most distant
gamma-ray bursts detected so far, GRB 080913. Based on these observations, we
consider whether it could be classified as a short-duration GRB and discuss the
implications for the progenitor nature and energy extraction mechanisms.
Methods: Multiwavelength X-ray, near IR and millimetre observations were made
between 20.7 hours and 16.8 days after the event.
Results: Whereas a very faint afterglow was seen at the 3.5m CAHA telescope
in the nIR, the X-ray afterglow was clearly detected in both Swift and
XMM-Newton observations. An upper limit is reported in the mm range. We have
modeled the data assuming a collimated 3 blast
wave with an energy injection at 0.5 days carrying erg or
approximately 12 times the initial energy of the blast wave. We find that GRB
080913 shares many of the gamma-ray diagnostics with the more recent burst GRB
090423 for being classified as short had they ocurred at low redshift. If the
progenitor were a compact binary merger, it is likely composed by a NS and BH.
The Blandford-Znajek (BZ) mechanism is the preferred one to extract energy from
the central, maximally-rotating BH. Both the magnetic field close to the event
horizon (B) and the BH mass () are restricted within a relatively
narrow range, such that . Similar constraints on the central BH hold for collapsar-like progenitor
systems if the BZ-mechanism works for the system at hand.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
A critique of neo-mercantilist analyses of Icelandic political economy and crisis
Iceland’s journey from rags to riches in the 20th century is related, in the dominant discourse, to its gaining independence in 1944. This discourse played a significant role in both the legitimation of the finance-dominated growth model in the 1990s and 2000s and in the latter’s defence as it came under scrutiny before its collapse in October 2008. It is therefore ironic – or perhaps, in some sense, logical – to find dominant analyses of the crisis arising from the neo-mercantilist tradition. Drawing on Marxist critiques of neo-mercantilism, we challenge these interventions and thus seek to redress the neglect of social struggle in the dominant discourse
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