Analytical solution to position dependent mass Schr\"odinger equation

Using a recently developed technique to solve Schr\"odinger equation for constant mass, we studied the regime in which mass varies with position i.e position dependent mass Schr\"odinger equation(PDMSE). We obtained an analytical solution for the PDMSE and applied our approach to study a position dependent mass $m(x)$ particle scattered by a potential $\mathcal{V}(x)$. We also studied the structural analogy between PDMSE and two-level atomic system interacting with a classical field.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Optical Spectroscopy of Type Ia Supernovae

We present 432 low-dispersion optical spectra of 32 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) that also have well-calibrated light curves. The coverage ranges from 6 epochs to 36 epochs of spectroscopy. Most of the data were obtained with the 1.5m Tillinghast telescope at the F. L. Whipple Observatory with typical wavelength coverage of 3700-7400A and a resolution of ~7A. The earliest spectra are thirteen days before B-band maximum; two-thirds of the SNe were observed before maximum brightness. Coverage for some SNe continues almost to the nebular phase. The consistency of the method of observation and the technique of reduction makes this an ideal data set for studying the spectroscopic diversity of SNe Ia.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, 109 pages (including data table), 44 figures, full resolution figures at http://www.noao.edu/noao/staff/matheson/Iaspec.ps.g

Human endogenous retrovirus K106 (HERV-K106) was infectious after the emergence of anatomically modern humans.

HERV-K113 and HERV-K115 have been considered to be among the youngest HERVs because they are the only known full-length proviruses that are insertionally polymorphic and maintain the open reading frames of their coding genes. However, recent data suggest that HERV-K113 is at least 800,000 years old, and HERV-K115 even older. A systematic study of HERV-K HML2 members to identify HERVs that may have infected the human genome in the more recent evolutionary past is lacking. Therefore, we sought to determine how recently HERVs were exogenous and infectious by examining sequence variation in the long terminal repeat (LTR) regions of all full-length HERV-K loci. We used the traditional method of inter-LTR comparison to analyze all full length HERV-Ks and determined that two insertions, HERV-K106 and HERV-K116 have no differences between their 5' and 3' LTR sequences, suggesting that these insertions were endogenized in the recent evolutionary past. Among these insertions with no sequence differences between their LTR regions, HERV-K106 had the most intact viral sequence structure. Coalescent analysis of HERV-K106 3' LTR sequences representing 51 ethnically diverse individuals suggests that HERV-K106 integrated into the human germ line approximately 150,000 years ago, after the emergence of anatomically modern humans

Bulk viscosity in hyperonic star and r-mode instability

We consider a rotating neutron star with the presence of hyperons in its core, using an equation of state in an effective chiral model within the relativistic mean field approximation. We calculate the hyperonic bulk viscosity coefficient due to nonleptonic weak interactions. By estimating the damping timescales of the dissipative processes, we investigate its role in the suppression of gravitationally driven instabilities in the $r$-mode. We observe that $r$-mode instability remains very much significant for hyperon core temperature of around $10^8$K, resulting in a comparatively larger instability window. We find that such instability can reduce the angular velocity of the rapidly rotating star considerably upto $\sim0.04 \Omega_K$, with $\Omega_K$ as the Keplerian angular velocity.Comment: 10 pages including 7 figure

Towards a Mg lattice clock: Observation of the 1S0−^1S_{0}-3P0^3P_{0} transition and determination of the magic wavelength

We optically excite the electronic state $3s3p~^3P_{0}$ in $^{24}$Mg atoms, laser-cooled and trapped in a magic-wavelength lattice. An applied magnetic field enhances the coupling of the light to the otherwise strictly forbidden transition. We determine the magic wavelength, the quadratic magnetic Zeeman shift and the transition frequency to be 468.463(207)$\,$nm, -206.6(2.0)$\,$MHz/T$^2$ and 655 058 646 691(101)$\,$kHz, respectively. These are compared with theoretical predictions and results from complementary experiments. We also developed a high-precision relativistic structure model for magnesium, give an improved theoretical value for the blackbody radiation shift and discuss a clock based on bosonic magnesium.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Climate Change Sensitivity Assessment on Upper Mississippi River Basin Streamflows Using SWAT

The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model was used to assess the impacts of potential future climate change on the hydrology of the Upper Mississippi River Basin (UMRB). Calibration and validation of SWAT were performed on a monthly basis for 1968-87 and 1988-97, respectively; R2 and Nash-Sutcliffe simulation efficiency (E) values computed for the monthly comparisons were 0.74 and 0.65 for the calibration period and 0.81 and 0.75 for the validation period. The impacts of eight 20-year (1971- 90) scenarios were then analyzed, relative to a scenario baseline. A doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentrations was predicted to result in an average annual flow increase of 35 percent. An average annual flow decrease of 15 percent was estimated for a constant temperature increase of 4°C. Essentially linear impacts were predicted among precipitation change scenarios of -20, -10, 10, and 20 percent, which resulted in average annual flow changes at Grafton, Illinois, of -51, -27, 28, and 58 percent, respectively. The final two scenarios accounted for variable monthly temperature and precipitation changes obtained from a previous climate projection with and without the effects of CO2 doubling. The resultant average annual flows were predicted to increase by 15 and 52 percent in response to these climatic changes. Overall, the results indicate that the UMRB hydrology is very sensitive to potential future climate changes and that these changes could stimulate increased periods of flooding or drought

Factors Associated with Physician Agreement on Verbal Autopsy of over 27000 Childhood Deaths in India

Each year, more than 10 million children younger than five years of age die. The large majority of these deaths occur in the developing world. The verbal autopsy (VA) is a tool designed to ascertain cause of death in such settings. While VA has been validated against hospital diagnosed cause of death, there has been no research conducted to better understand the factors that may influence individual physicians in determining cause of death from VA.This study uses data from over 27,000 neonatal and childhood deaths from The Million Death Study in which 6.3 million people in India were monitored for vital status between 1998 and 2003. The main outcome variable was physician agreement or disagreement of category of death and the variables were assessed for association using the kappa statistic, univariate and multivariate logistic regression using a conceptual hierarchical model, and a sensitivity and specificity analysis using the final VA category of mortality as the gold standard. The main variables found to be significantly associated with increased physician agreement included older ages and male gender of the deceased. When taking into account confounding factors in the multivariate analysis, we did not find consistent significant differences in physician agreement based on the death being in a rural or urban area, at home or in a health care facility, registered or not, or the respondent's gender, religion, relationship to the deceased, or whether or not the respondent lived with the deceased.Factors influencing physician agreement/disagreement to the greatest degree are the gender and age of the deceased; specifically, physicians tend to be less likely to agree on a common category of death in female children and in younger ages, particularly neonates. Additional training of physician reviewers and continued adaptation of the VA itself, with a focus on gender and age of the deceased, may be useful in increasing rates of physician agreement in these groups