10,410 research outputs found
Vulnerability : a view from different disciplines
Practitioners from different disciplines use different meanings and concepts of vulnerability, which, in turn, have led to diverse methods of measuring it. This paper presents a selective review of the literature from several disciplines to examine how they define and measure vulnerability. The disciplines include economics, sociology/anthropology, disaster management, environmental science, and health/nutrition. Differences between the disciplines can be explained by their tendency to focus on different components of risk, household responses to risk and welfare outcomes. In general, they focus either on the risks (at one extreme) or the underlying conditions (or outcomes) at the other. Trade-offs exist between simple measurement schemes and rich conceptual understanding.Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Economic Theory&Research,Rural Poverty Reduction
The LCO/Palomar 10,000 km/sec Cluster Survey. I. Properties of the Tully-Fisher Relation
The first results from a Tully-Fisher (TF) survey of cluster galaxies are
presented. The galaxies are drawn from fifteen Abell clusters that lie in the
redshift range 9000-12,000 km/sec and are distributed uniformly around the
celestial sky. The data set consists of R-band CCD photometry and long- slit
H-alpha spectroscopy. The rotation curves (RCs) are characterized by a turnover
radius (r_t) and an asymptotic velocity v_a, while the surface brightness
profiles are characterized in terms of an effective exponential surface
brightness I_e and a scale length r_e. The TF scatter is minimized when the
rotation velocity is measured at 2.0 +/- 0.2 r_e; a significantly larger
scatter results when the rotation velocity is measured at > 3 or < 1.5 scale
lengths. This effect demonstrates that RCs do not have a universal form, as has
been suggested by Persic, Salucci, and Stel. In contrast to previous studies, a
modest but statistically significant surface-brightness dependence of the TF
relation is found, log v = const + 0.28*log L + 0.14*log I_e. This indicates a
stronger parallel between the TF relation and the FP relations of elliptical
galaxies than has previously been recognized. Future papers in this series will
consider the implications of this cluster sample for deviations from Hubble
flow on 100-200 Mpc scales.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figures, uses aaspp4.sty. Submitted to ApJ. Also
available at http://astro.stanford.edu/jeff
Scaling by 5 on a 1/4-Cantor Measure
Each Cantor measure (\mu) with scaling factor 1/(2n) has at least one
associated orthonormal basis of exponential functions (ONB) for L^2(\mu). In
the particular case where the scaling constant for the Cantor measure is 1/4
and two specific ONBs are selected for L^2(\mu), there is a unitary operator U
defined by mapping one ONB to the other. This paper focuses on the case in
which one ONB (\Gamma) is the original Jorgensen-Pedersen ONB for the Cantor
measure (\mu) and the other ONB is is 5\Gamma. The main theorem of the paper
states that the corresponding operator U is ergodic in the sense that only the
constant functions are fixed by U.Comment: 34 page
Ages, metallicities and -element enhancement for galaxies in Hickson compact groups
Central velocity dispersions and eight line-strength Lick indices have been
determined from 1.3 resolution long-slit spectra of 16 elliptical
galaxies in Hickson compact groups. These data were used to determine galaxy
properties (ages, metallicities and -element enhancements) and allowed
a comparison with the parameters determined for a sample of galaxies in lower
density environments, studied by Gonz\'alez (1993). The stellar population
parameters were derived by comparison to single stellar population models of
Thomas et al. (2003) and to a new set of SSP models for the indices Mg,
Fe5270 and Fe5335 based on synthetic spetra. These models, based on an update
version of the fitting functions presented in Barbuy et al. (2003), are fully
described here. Our main results are: (1) the two samples have similar mean
values for the metallicities and [/Fe] ratios, (2) the majority of the
galaxies in compact groups seem to be old (median age of 14 Gyr for eight
galaxies for which ages could be derived), in agreement with recent work by
Proctor et al. (2004). These findings support two possible scenarios: compact
groups are either young systems whose members have recently assembled and had
not enough time to experience any merging yet or, instead, they are old systems
that have avoided merging since their time of formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in A
RXJ0142.0+2131: I. The galaxy content of an X-ray-luminous galaxy cluster at z=0.28
We present a photometric and spectroscopic study of stellar populations in
the X-ray-luminous cluster of galaxies RXJ0142.0+2131 at z=0.280. This paper
analyses the results of high signal-to-noise spectroscopy, as well as g'-, r'-,
and i'-band imaging, using the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph on Gemini
North. Of 43 spectroscopic targets, we find 30 cluster members over a range in
color. Central velocity dispersions and absorption-line strengths for lines in
the range 3700A < lambda_rest < 5800A are derived for cluster members, and are
compared with a low-redshift sample of cluster galaxies, and single stellar
population (SSP) models. We use a combination of these indicators to estimate
luminosity-weighted mean ages, metallicities ([M/H]), and alpha-element
abundance ratios ([alpha/Fe]).
RXJ0142.0+2131 is a relatively poor cluster and lacks galaxies with high
central velocity dispersions. Although the red sequence and the Faber-Jackson
relation are consistent with pure passive evolution of the early-type
population with a formation redshift of z_form = 2, the strengths of the 4000A
break and scaling relations between metal line indices and velocity dispersion
reject this model with high significance. By inverting SSP models for the
Hbeta_G, Mgb, and line indices, we calculate that, at a given velocity
dispersion and metallicity, galaxies in RXJ0142.0+2131 have luminosity-weighted
mean ages 0.14 +- 0.07 dex older than the low-redshift sample. We also find
that [alpha/Fe] in stellar populations in RXJ0142.0+2131 is 0.14 +- 0.03
greater than at low redshift. All scaling relations are consistent with these
estimated offsets. (abridged)Comment: AJ, accepted. 31 pages, 13 figures, uses emulateapj.cls.
High-resolution figures available on request from first autho
Exploring Cluster Ellipticals as Cosmological Standard Rods
We explore the possibility to calibrate massive cluster ellipticals as
cosmological standard rods using the Fundamental Plane relation combined with a
correction for luminosity evolution. Though cluster ellipticals certainly
formed in a complex way, their passive evolution out to redshifts of about 1
indicates that basically all major merging and accretion events took place at
higher redshifts. Therefore, a calibration of their luminosity evolution can be
attempted. We propose to use the Mg relation for that purpose because
it is independent of distance and cosmology. We discuss a variety of possible
caveats, ranging from dynamical evolution to uncertainties in stellar
population models and evolution corrections to the presence of age spread.
Sources of major random and systematic errors are analysed as well. We apply
the described procedure to nine elliptical galaxies in two clusters at
and derive constraints on the cosmological model. For the best
fitting -free cosmological model we obtain: , with
90% confidence limits being (the lower limit being due to the
presence of matter in the Universe). If the inflationary scenario applies (i.e.
the Universe has flat geometry), then, for the best fitting model, matter and
contribute about equally to the critical cosmic density (i.e.
). With 90% confidence
should be smaller than 0.9.Comment: 21 pages, including 5 eps-figures, Latex, uses aasms4.sty, accepted
by ApJ main journa
An extension of Wiener integration with the use of operator theory
With the use of tensor product of Hilbert space, and a diagonalization
procedure from operator theory, we derive an approximation formula for a
general class of stochastic integrals. Further we establish a generalized
Fourier expansion for these stochastic integrals. In our extension, we
circumvent some of the limitations of the more widely used stochastic integral
due to Wiener and Ito, i.e., stochastic integration with respect to Brownian
motion. Finally we discuss the connection between the two approaches, as well
as a priori estimates and applications.Comment: 13 page
Finding cool subdwarfs using a V-J reduced proper-motion diagram: Stellar parameters for 91 candidates
We present the results of a search for cool subdwarfs for which our
candidates were drawn from a V-J reduced proper-motion diagram constructed by
Salim & Gould (2002). Kinematic (U, V, and W) and self-consistent stellar
parameters (Teff, log g, [Fe/H], and V_t) are derived for 91 candidate
subdwarfs based on high resolution spectra. The observed stars span 3900K <
Teff < 6200K and -2.63 < [Fe/H] < 0.25 including only 3 giants (log g < 4.0).
Of the sample, 77 stars have MgH lines present in their spectra. With more than
56% of our candidate subdwarfs having [Fe/H] < -1.5, we show that the V-J
reduced proper-motion diagram readily identifies metal-poor stars.Comment: PASP (in press
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