Wandering globular clusters: the first dwarf galaxies in the universe?

In the last decade we witness an advent of new types of dwarf stellar systems in cluding ultra-compact dwarfs, ultra-faint dwarf spheroidals, and exotic globular clusters, breaking the old simple paradigm for dwarf galaxies and globular clusters. These objects become more intriguing, and understanding of these new findings be comes more challenging. Recently we discovered a new type of large scale structure in the Virgo cluster of galaxies: it is composed of globular clusters. Globular clusters in Virgo are found wandering between galaxies (intracluster globular clusters) as well as in galaxies. These intracluster globular clusters fill a significant fraction in the area of the Virgo cluster and they are dominated by blue globular clusters. These intracluster globular clusters may be closely related with the first dwarf galaxies in the universe.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Conference Proceedings: "A Universe of Dwarf Galaxies", 14-18 June 2010, Lyon, Franc

QCD sum rule analysis of excited Λc\Lambda_c mass parameter

The mass parameter of orbitally excited $\Lambda_c$ baryons is calculated by using QCD sum rule in the framework of heavy quark effective theory. Two kinds of interpolating current for the excited heavy baryons are introduced. It is obtained that $\bar{\Lambda}=1.08^{+0.095}_{-0.104}$ GeV for the non-derivative current and $\bar{\Lambda}=1.06^{+0.090}_{-0.107}$ GeV for the current with derivative. These results are consistent with experimental data.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures, to appear in PL

Storm surge, wave, and inundation simulation in the bay of Bengal

Bangladesh's geographical and land characteristics along the coastal area has created the most disastrous country by tropical cyclones originating in the Bay of Bengal and associated with the storm surges. During the past 61 years (1950-2011), India Meteorology Department (IMD) was observed 902 events from deep depression (tropical\ud storm) up to super cyclonic storm (tropical cyclone category 5) with average 5 storms per year. This condition is strengthening storm surge and increasing sea level to the sudden inundation and flooding along the Bangladesh coast. Consequently, the storm surge and sea level rise are the key factor of coastal damage. Therefore, it is critical to estimate the future storm surges in a changing climate for vulnerability study and adaptation strategy. In this study, numerical simulations are performed to validate the storm surge induced by the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone, one of the deadliest cyclone in the Bay of Bengal using an atmosphere-waves-ocean integrated modelling system. Then, further numerical experiments are performed to estimate the future storm surges in 2050 and 2080 and inundation map for Bangladesh's disaster management strategy

Wintertime extreme storm waves in the East sea (Japan sea): Numerical experiments of storm wave overtopping in the Fushiki port, the Toyama bay

In the winter East Sea (ES), storm waves due to winter storms (e.g. extratropical cyclones) under the context of the cold and dry East Asian winter monsoon are frequently reported causing extensive coastal damages along the coasts of Korea and Japan. In February 2008, abnormal storm waves due to a moving low propagating from the west off Hokkaido, Japan, to the south and southwest caused severe coastal damages along the Toyama Bay coast. In this study, we perform numerical experiments on wave overtopping and run-up in the Fushiki Port, Toyama Bay, where the long North-Breakwater was heavily damaged by the storm waves in February 2008. The experiments are conducted using an open-source Gerris flow solver (Gfs) based on modified non-linear shallow-water equation with adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) method and wet-dry scheme for the potential extreme storm waves of 6.78 m and 18.28 sec obtained from statistical analysis and wind wave modeling. The refined mesh efficiently resolves the complicated coastline and coastal structures in the Fushiki Port. The results show that the Fushiki Port would be overtopped and flooded by extreme storm waves if the North-Breakwater does not function properly after being damaged. Also the storm waves would overtop seawalls and sidewalls of the Manyou Pier behind the North-Breakwater. The results also depict that AMR method and wet-dry scheme capture the coastline and coastal structure very well while keeping the computational load efficiently

Polarization Effects on the e+e−→W+W−e+e- \to W^+W^- process with Large Extra Dimensions

We study large extra dimension effects on the polarizations of the $W$ pair and electron beam at the $e^+ e^-\to W^+ W^-$ process. It is shown that the measurements of the cross section for transversely polarized $W$ pair with the right-handed electron beam remarkably enhance the possibilities to see the low scale quantum gravity effects. Higher Linear Collider bounds on the string scale in this model can be obtained by using the left-handed electron beam.Comment: Final version to appear in Phys.Lett.B. More references are adde

Superior pre-osteoblast cell response of etched ultrafine-grained titanium with a controlled crystallographic orientation

Ultrafine-grained (UFG) Ti for improved mechanical performance as well as its surface modification enhancing biofunctions has attracted much attention in medical industries. Most of the studies on the surface etching of metallic biomaterials have focused on surface topography and wettability but not crystallographic orientation, i.e., texture, which influences the chemical as well as the physical properties. In this paper, the influences of texture and grain size on roughness, wettability, and pre-osteoblast cell response were investigated in vitro after HF etching treatment. The surface characteristics and cell behaviors of ultrafine, fine, and coarse-grained Ti were examined after the HF etching. The surface roughness during the etching treatment was significantly increased as the orientation angle from the basal pole was increased. The cell adhesion tendency of the rough surface was promoted. The UFG Ti substrate exhibited a higher texture energy state, rougher surface, enhanced hydrophilic wettability, and better cell adhesion and proliferation behaviors after etching than those of the coarse- and fine-grained Ti substrates. These results provide a new route for enhancing both mechanical and biological performances using etching after grain refinement of Ti. ? The Author(s) 2017.115Ysciescopu

Camera distortion self-calibration using the plumb-line constraint and minimal Hough entropy

In this paper we present a simple and robust method for self-correction of camera distortion using single images of scenes which contain straight lines. Since the most common distortion can be modelled as radial distortion, we illustrate the method using the Harris radial distortion model, but the method is applicable to any distortion model. The method is based on transforming the edgels of the distorted image to a 1-D angular Hough space, and optimizing the distortion correction parameters which minimize the entropy of the corresponding normalized histogram. Properly corrected imagery will have fewer curved lines, and therefore less spread in Hough space. Since the method does not rely on any image structure beyond the existence of edgels sharing some common orientations and does not use edge fitting, it is applicable to a wide variety of image types. For instance, it can be applied equally well to images of texture with weak but dominant orientations, or images with strong vanishing points. Finally, the method is performed on both synthetic and real data revealing that it is particularly robust to noise.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures Corrected errors in equation 1

Wintertime extreme storm waves in the East sea (Japan sea): Estimation of extreme storm waves in the Toyama bay, Japan

In the winter East Sea (ES), abnormal high waves due to the cold and dry East Asian winter monsoon and winter storms (extratropical cyclones) are often reported causing large coastal damages along the coasts of ES. In February 2008, abnormal storm waves due to a developed atmospheric low pressure system propagating from the west off Hokkaido, Japan, to the south and southwest throughout the ES caused extensive damages along the central coast of Japan and along the east coast of Korea. In this study, we investigate a potential extreme storm wave, Yorimawari Waves in Japanese, in the Toyama Bay where the coastal structures were heavily damaged by the storm waves in February 2008. Three factors for wind wave growing, such as wind intensity, duration and fetch, are investigated for their extreme conditions based on historical data and empirical formula. Then, numerical experiments are conducted to estimate extreme wave characteristics in the Toyoma Bay using a meso-scale non-hydrostatic meteorological model, WRF, and a spectral wave model, WAVEWATCH III. The results from numerical experiments depict the potential significant wave height of 6.78 m and corresponding wave period of 18.28 sec at the Fushiki-Toyama Port in the Toyama Bay

Changes in microarchitectural characteristics at the tibial epiphysis induced by collagen-induced rheumatoid arthritis over time

10.2147/CIA.S35202Clinical Interventions in Aging7373-38

AC Microcalorimetry of Superconducting MgCNi3 Single Crystals

Proceedings of the CSMAG'07 Conference, Kosice, July 9-12, 2007International audienceThe low-temperature speci¯c heat of single-crystal samples of super- conducting MgCNi3 with typical dimensions 200 ¹m were measured for the ¯rst time. A computer controlled ac microcalorimeter using an optical ¯ber and an infrared light-emitting diode as the heat source was used down to 2 K at magnetic ¯elds up to 8 T. The speci¯c heat data suggest a moderate coupling in MgCNi3