The nature and evolution of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies: A mid-infrared spectroscopic survey

We report the first results of a low resolution mid-infrared spectroscopic survey of an unbiased, far-infrared selected sample of 60 ultraluminous infrared galaxies, using ISOPHOT-S on board ISO. We use the ratio of the 7.7um `PAH' emission feature to the local continuum as a discriminator between starburst and AGN activity. About 80% of all the ULIRGs are found to be predominantly powered by star formation but the fraction of AGN powered objects increases with luminosity. Observed ratios of the PAH features in ULIRGs differ slightly from those in lower luminosity starbursts. This can be plausibly explained by the higher extinction and/or different physical conditions in the interstellar medium of ULIRGs. The PAH feature-to-continuum ratio is anticorrelated with the ratio of feature-free 5.9um continuum to the IRAS 60um continuum, confirming suggestions that strong mid-IR continuum is a prime AGN signature. The location of starburst-dominated ULIRGs in such a diagram is consistent with previous ISO-SWS spectroscopy which implies significant extinction even in the mid-infrared. We have searched for indications that ULIRGs which are advanced mergers might be more AGN-like, as postulated by the classical evolutionary scenario. No such trend has been found amongst those objects for which near infrared images are available to assess their likely merger status.Comment: aastex, 4 eps figures. Revised version, accepted by ApJ (Letters

Wer überlebt? Bildung entscheidet über die Zukunft der Menschheit

Nicht Klima, nicht Rohstoffe, sondern Bildung ist der Schlüsselfaktor für das Überleben der Menschheit. Gesellschaften, in denen Breitenbildung gefördert wird, stehen heute bildungsfernen, teils fundamentalistischen gegenüber, die keine Antworten haben auf die sozialen und technologischen Herausforderungen unserer Zeit. Klingholz und Lutz stellen klar: Die Konfliktlinie des 21. Jahrhunderts verläuft zwischen den Gebildeten und den Ungebildeten. "Wir stecken mitten in einem Kampf der Bildungskulturen", sagen die Experten für Bevölkerungsentwicklung Reiner Klingholz und Wolfgang Lutz. Und der betrifft uns alle, denn Armut, Verzweiflung und Terror machen vor Grenzen nicht halt. Es ist Zeit, global in Bildung zu investieren. In diesem Buch entwerfen Klingholz und Lutz unterschiedliche Szenarien zur Zukunft der Menschheit bis zum Ende des 21. Jahrhunderts - bedingt durch künftige Bildungsinvestitionen

Memory erasure in small systems

We consider an overdamped nanoparticle in a driven double-well potential as a generic model of an erasable one-bit memory. We study in detail the statistics of the heat dissipated during an erasure process and show that full erasure may be achieved by dissipating less heat than the Landauer bound. We quantify the occurrence of such events and propose a single-particle experiment to verify our predictions. Our results show that Landauer's principle has to be generalized at the nanoscale to accommodate heat fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Contribution of Education to Infant and Under-Five Mortality Disparities among Caste Groups in India

The level of infant and under-five mortality is high among scheduled castes (SCs) and scheduled tribes (STs) in India. This study intends to quantify the contribution of education in explaining the gap in infant and under-five mortality between SCs/STs and non-SC/ST population in India with a special focus on the effect of maternal education. We used data from three rounds of National Family Health Survey (NFHS): 1992–93, 1998–99 and 2005–06. The synthetic cohort probability approach using full birth histories was used to estimate childhood mortality. We performed binary logistic regression analysis to examine the association of infant mortality (IM) and under-five mortality (U5M) with maternal education and selected other covariates. Further, we applied Fairlie's decomposition technique to understand the relative contribution of maternal education and other covariates on IM and U5M risk between the caste groups. The IM rate (IMR) among children born to illiterate mothers is about 3 times higher than those born to mothers with higher education across all caste groups. Similarly, the U5M rate (U5MR) is 5 times higher among ST population and 3 times higher among SC population during the 14-year observation period (1992–2006). The proportions of secondary and higher educated SC and ST mothers are relatively lower than among non-SC/ST mothers. The regression analysis shows that mother’s education has a statistically significant effect on reducing IM and U5M. A number of socio-economic covariates are found associated with IM and U5M; such as father’s education, mother’s age at first birth, mother’s work status, household wealth, exposure to media and socio-economic empowerment of the mother. A decomposition analysis shows that more than 90 percent of the gap in IM and U5M between social groups is explained by the differences in the distribution of maternal education and household wealth. The findings of this study emphasise the need to provide education to disadvantaged girls and health counselling to women, particularly among SC/STs with more focus on backward regions or states, to further reduce IM and U5M in India

Development of a conceptual model of the hydrologic response of tropical Andean micro-catchments in Southern Ecuador

This paper presents a lumped conceptual model designed for simulating the rainfallrunoff response of mountain micro-catchments with natural vegetation located in the south of Ecuador. The conceptual model is mimicking the soil hydrology and consists of a maximum of three linear reservoirs in series. A two and three reservoir model structure were tested, respectively A GLUE uncertainty analysis was applied to assess the model performance. Simulation results of the discharge confirmed the applicability of the soil-based conceptual model structure for the selected study areas, during model calibration and validation. The three reservoir model best predicted the runoff, nevertheless the two reservoir model well captures the rainfall-runoff process of the micro-catchments with páramo vegetation. Although differences in climate regime, vegetation, and soil of the selected catchments runoff is strongly controlled by the precipitation and soil type, and the horizons contributing to runoff are defined by their antecedent wetness. Results confirm that the discharge is mainly controlled by lateral subsurface flow through the organic horizons, while during dry conditions the C-horizon and the bedrock mainly contribute to discharge. Lateral transport through the densely rooted top horizon and the litter layer occurs during storm events, being under those conditions the major discharge component. Overland flow is a local phenomenon, negligible in comparison to the other flow components

Mehr Humankapital wagen! Wie Bildung die Gesellschaften der Welt fit für das 21. Jahrhundert machen kann

Wie können weit entwickelte Länder wie Österreich und Deutschland den demografischen Herausforderungen alternder Bevölkerungen begegnen? Welche Zukunftsperspektiven haben junge und gut ausgebildete Menschen in den weniger entwickelten Weltregionen? Und wie können die ärmsten Länder der Erde ihre größten Probleme angehen? Die zentrale Einflussgröße, um all diese Fragen zu beantworten, ist eine umfassende Bildung. Sie ist die Grundlage dafür, dass möglichst viele Menschen schon früh lernen, die komplexen Zusammenhänge unserer globalisierten Welt zu verstehen. Die positiven Effekte einer guten Bildung gehen aber weit darüber hinaus. Bildung beugt Armut vor und verbessert die Gesundheit, sie steigert die Produktivität und sie bremst das Bevölkerungswachstum in den ärmsten Regionen. Sie erhöht die Anpassungsfähigkeit der Menschen an jegliche Art von Wandel und fördert technologische und soziale Innovationen. Das Discussion Paper geht der Frage nach, was eine Bildung für das 21. Jahrhundert ausmacht, und zeigt auf welchem Stand sie sich heute weltweit befindet

Improving the clinical value and utility of CGM systems: issues and recommendations: a joint statement of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes and the American Diabetes Association Diabetes Technology Working Group

The first systems for continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) became available over 15 years ago. Many then believed CGM would revolutionize the use of intensive insulin therapy in diabetes; however, progress toward that vision has been gradual. Although increasing, the proportion of individuals using CGM rather than conventional systems for self-monitoring of blood glucose on a daily basis is still low in most parts of the world. Barriers to uptake include cost, measurement reliability (particularly with earlier-generation systems), human factors issues, lack of a standardized format for displaying results, and uncertainty on how best to use CGM data to make therapeutic decisions. This Scientific Statement makes recommendations for systemic improvements in clinical use and regulatory (pre- and postmarketing) handling of CGM devices. The aim is to improve safety and efficacy in order to support the advancement of the technology in achieving its potential to improve quality of life and health outcomes for more people with diabetes