The Nimbus 7 LIMS (Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere) water vapor measurements

Earth orbital instruments, designed to measure the vertical and spatial distribution of atmospheric water vapor is discussed. Specifically, the operation of the Limb Infrared Monitor of the Stratosphere (LIMS) experiment is examined. The LIMS is a six channel limb scanning radiometer that was launched aboard Nimbus 7 in 1978. Profiles of stratospheric and mesospheric temperature, water vapor, and various other constituents were obtained by inverting the LIMS radiance measurements. This same technique was used in 1981 to analyze the data returned from another limb scanning radiometer aboard the Solar Mesosphere Explorer

QCD corrections to stoponium production at hadron colliders

If the lighter top squark has no kinematically allowed two-body decays that conserve flavor, then it will live long enough to form hadronic bound states. The observation of the diphoton decays of stoponium could then provide a uniquely precise measurement of the top squark mass. In this paper, we calculate the cross section for the production of stoponium in a hadron collider at next-to-leading order (NLO) in QCD. We present numerical results for the cross section for production of stoponium at the LHC and study the dependence on beam energy, stoponium mass, and the renormalization and factorization scale. The cross-section is substantially increased by the NLO corrections, counteracting a corresponding decrease found earlier in the NLO diphoton branching ratio.Comment: 24 page

The Liberty Interest of Children: Due Process Rights and Their Application

Few areas pose more difficult problems in the application of due process doctrine than does regulation of parent-child relationships. Determination of the procedural requirements for intervention by the state in the lives of children, at the request or with the agreement of parents, presents novel and troublesome constitutional questions. Special problems arise in the definition of the liberty interests of minors and in determining how much process is due given an infringement of those interests. These problems cannot be resolved by resort to the categorical assumptions of either traditional theory or children\u27s liberation. Close examination of the interests held by parents, children, and state, and of the process by which those interests are affected, will be required

Subaru Weak Lensing survey -- II: Multi-object Spectroscopy and Cluster Masses

We present the first results of a MOS campaign to follow up cluster candidates located via weak lensing. Our main goals are to search for spatial concentrations of galaxies that are plausible optical counterparts of the weak lensing signals, and to determine the cluster redshifts from those of member galaxies. Around each of 36 targeted cluster candidates, we obtain 15-32 galaxy redshifts. For 28 of these targets, we confirm a secure cluster identification. This includes three cases where two clusters at different redshifts are projected along the same line-of-sight. In 6 of the 8 unconfirmed targets, we find multiple small galaxy concentrations at different redshifts. In both the remaining two targets, a single small galaxy concentration is found. We evaluate the weak lensing mass of confirmed clusters. For a subsample of our most cleanly measured clusters, we investigate the statistical relation between their weak lensing mass and the velocity dispersion of their member galaxies, comparing our sample with optically and X-ray selected samples from the literature. Our lensing-selected clusters are consistent with sigma_v=sigma_sis, with a similar scatter to the optically and X-ray selected clusters. We thus find no evidence of selection bias compared to these other techniques. We also derive an empirical relation between the cluster mass and the galaxy velocity dispersion, which is in reasonable agreement with the prediction of N-body simulations in the LCDM cosmology.Comment: 58 pages, 45 figures, submitted to PASJ. A version with full-resolution figures is available at http://th.nao.ac.jp/~hamanatk/PP/supcam_wl2.pd

Toward understanding ambulatory activity decline in Parkinson disease

BACKGROUND: Declining ambulatory activity represents an important facet of disablement in Parkinson disease (PD). OBJECTIVE: The primary study aim was to compare the 2-year trajectory of ambulatory activity decline with concurrently evolving facets of disability in a small cohort of people with PD. The secondary aim was to identify baseline variables associated with ambulatory activity at 1- and 2-year follow-up assessments. DESIGN: This was a prospective, longitudinal cohort study. METHODS: Seventeen people with PD (Hoehn and Yahr stages 1-3) were recruited from 2 outpatient settings. Ambulatory activity data were collected at baseline and at 1- and 2-year annual assessments. Motor, mood, balance, gait, upper extremity function, quality of life, self-efficacy, and levodopa equivalent daily dose data and data on activities of daily living also were collected. RESULTS: Participants displayed significant 1- and 2-year declines in the amount and intensity of ambulatory activity concurrently with increasing levodopa equivalent daily dose. Worsening motor symptoms and slowing of gait were apparent only after 2 years. Concurrent changes in the remaining clinical variables were not observed. Baseline ambulatory activity and physical performance variables had the strongest relationships with 1- and 2-year mean daily steps. LIMITATIONS: The sample was small and homogeneous. CONCLUSIONS: Future research that combines ambulatory activity monitoring with a broader and more balanced array of measures would further illuminate the dynamic interactions among evolving facets of disablement and help determine the extent to which sustained patterns of recommended daily physical activity might slow the rate of disablement in PD.This study was funded primarily by the Davis Phinney Foundation and the Parkinson Disease Foundation. Additional funding was provided by Boston University Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (K12 HD043444), the National Institutes of Health (R01NS077959), the Utah Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA), the Greater St Louis Chapter of the APDA, and the APDA Center for Advanced PD Research at Washington University. (Davis Phinney Foundation; Parkinson Disease Foundation; K12 HD043444 - Boston University Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health; R01NS077959 - National Institutes of Health; Utah Chapter of the American Parkinson Disease Association (APDA); Greater St Louis Chapter of the APDA; APDA Center for Advanced PD Research at Washington University

Inorganic—Carbon Nanomaterial Composites for Chemical Sensing

Carbon nanomaterials have been demonstrated to be excellent transducer materials for chemical sensing. Their high surface to volume ratio, high conductivity, and nanoscale dimensions allow them to be incorporated into miniaturized, low power consumption devices. The attachment of receptors to carbon nanomaterials as an analyte recognition layer is crucial for achieving selective and sensitive chemical sensing. The hybridization of carbon nanomaterials with metals, metal oxides, and other inorganic materials has created a new class of materials, inorganic—carbon nanomaterial composites. These composites seek to combine the properties of inorganic materials with the aforementioned properties of carbon nanomaterials. The surface chemistry and electronic structure of these composites are important for various applications, including chemical sensing. In this work we describe the synthesis and characterization of novel inorganic—carbon nanomaterial composites. Attachment of the inorganic materials to the carbon nanomaterial layer was achieved through both covalent and noncovalent methods. Characterization of these composites was performed with electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, photoelectron spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, electrical measurements, and gas adsorption measurements. Most of the described inorganic—carbon nanomaterial composites were incorporated into chemiresistor devices for chemical gas sensing. The indium oxide/single-walled carbon nanotube composite was found to be sensitive to volatile organic compounds such as ethanol and acetone, while the carbon nitride/reduced graphene oxide composite was sensitive to inorganic gases such as oxygen and carbon dioxide. The sensing mechanisms for these inorganic—carbon nanomaterial composites are explored and discussed. A new photoredox sensing mechanism was demonstrated for the carbon nitride/reduced graphene oxide composite. Tuning the electronic structure of carbon nitride/reduced graphene oxide with copper nanoparticles was found to change the sensor sensitivity toward carbon dioxide. Through hybridization of carbon nanomaterial with new inorganic materials like zeolitic imidazolate frameworks (ZIF) and carbon nitride, we have shown that carbon nanomaterial composites can achieve new properties such as microporosity and photoexcited charge carriers, respectively. Combining these properties with those of carbon nanomaterials will benefit a variety of applications including chemical sensors, (photo)electrocatalysts, and energy storage devices, among others

Supergravity and Superstring Signatures of the One-Parameter Model at LHC

Many string constructions have a classical no-scale structure, resulting in a one-parameter model (OPM) for the supersymmetry breaking soft terms. As a highly constrained subset of mSUGRA, the OPM has the potential to be predictive. Conversely, if the observed superpartner spectrum at LHC is a subset of the OPM parameter space, then this may provide a clue to the underlying theory at high energies. We investigate the allowed supersymmetry parameter space for a generic one-parameter model taking into account the most recent experimental constraints. We find that in the strict moduli scenario, there are no regions of the parameter space which may satisfy all constraints. However, for the dilaton scenario, there are small regions of the parameter space where all constraints may be satisfied and for which the observed dark matter density may be generated. We also survey the possible signatures which may be observable at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Finally, we compare collider signatures of OPM to those from a model with non-universal soft terms, in particular those of an intersecting D6-brane model. We find that it may be possible to distinguish between these diverse scenarios at LHC.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PR

Circles, columns and screenings: mapping the institutional, discursive, physical and gendered spaces of film criticism in 1940s London

This article revisits the period considered within ‘The Quality Film Adventure: British Critics and the Cinema 1942-1948’, mapping the professional cultures, working contexts and industry relationships that underpinned the aesthetic judgements and collective directions which John Ellis has observed within the critics published writings. Drawing on the records of the Critics’ Circle, Dilys Powell’s papers and Kinematograph Weekly, it explores the evolution of increasingly organised professional cultures of film criticism and film publicity, arguing that the material conditions imposed by war caused tensions between them to escalate. In the context of two major challenges to critical integrity and practice – the evidence given by British producer R.J. Minney in front of the 1948 Royal Commission on the Press and an ongoing libel case between a BBC critic and MGM – the different spaces of hospitality and film promotion became highly contested sites. This article focuses on the ways in which these spaces were characterised, used, and policed. It finds that the value and purpose of press screenings were hotly disputed and observes the way the advancement of women within one sector (film criticism) but not the other (film publicity) created particular difficulties, as key female critics avoided the more compromised masculine spaces of publicity, making them harder for publicists to reach and fuelling trade resentment. More broadly, the article asserts the need to consider film critics as geographically and culturally located audiences, who experience films as ‘professional’ viewers within extended and embodied cultures of habitual professional practice and physical space

Holocene Glaciation of the Arrigetch Peaks, Brooks Range, Alaska

Eleven cirque glaciers and associated deposits within the granitic Arrigetch Peaks of the west-central Brooks Range face north, minimizing insolation. Shading by surrounding mountainous terrain decreases insolation on these landforms even more significantly, favoring the formation of glacier-cored moraines. Comparison of glacier photographs taken in 1911, 1962, and 1979 reveals a record of decelerating recession. Geomorphic and lichenometric mapping suggests at least three to possibly eight phases of Holocene glacial expansion. These date between ~5000 and 300 yr B.P., based on the application of a central Brooks Range Rhizocarpon geographicum growth curve