Merged infrared catalogue

A compilation of equatorial coordinates, spectral types, magnitudes, and fluxes from five catalogues of infrared observations is presented. This first edition of the Merged Infrared Catalogue contains 11,201 oservations from the Two-Micron Sky Survey, Observations of Infrared Radiation from Cool Stars, the Air Force Geophysics Laboratory four Color Infrared Sky Survey and its Supplemental Catalog, and from Catalog of 10 micron Celestial Objects (HALL). This compilation is a by-product of a computerized infrared data base under development at Goddard Space Flight Center; the objective is to maintain a complete and current record of all infrared observations from 1 micron m to 1000 micron m of nonsolar system objects. These observations are being placed into a standardized system

Astronomical Data Center Bulletin, volume 1, number 3

A catalog of galactic O-type stars, a machine-readable version of the bright star catalog, a two-micron sky survey, sky survey sources with problematical Durchmusterung identifications, data retrieval for visual binary stars, faint blue objects, the sixth catalog of galactic Wolf-Rayet stars, declination versus magnitude distribution, the SAO-HD-GC-DM cross index catalog, star cross-identification tables, astronomical sources, bibliographical star index search updates, DO-HD and HD-DO cross indices, and catalogs, are reviewed

Astronomical Data Center Bulletin, volume 1, no. 1

Information about work in progress on astronomical catalogs is presented. In addition to progress reports, an upadated status list for astronomical catalogs available at the Astronomical Data Center is included. Papers from observatories and individuals involved with astronomical data are also presented

Resistance to Fracture of Two All-Ceramic Crown Materials Following Endodontic Access

Statement of problem There is currently no protocol for managing endodontic access openings for all-ceramic crowns. A direct restorative material is generally used to repair the access opening, rendering a repaired crown as the definitive restoration. This endodontic procedure, however, may weaken the restoration or initiate microcracks that may propagate, resulting in premature failure of the restoration. Purpose The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate how an endodontic access opening prepared through an all-ceramic crown altered the structural integrity of the ceramic, and the effect of a repair of this access on the load to failure of an all-ceramic crown. Material and methods Twenty-four alumina (Procera) and 24 zirconia (Procera) crowns were fabricated and cemented (Rely X Luting Plus Cement) onto duplicate epoxy resin dies. Twelve crowns of each were accessed to simulate root canal treatment therapy. Surface defects of all accessed specimens were evaluated with an environmental scanning electron microscope. The specimens were repaired with a porcelain repair system (standard adhesive resin/composite resin protocol) and were loaded to failure in a universal testing machine. Observations made visually and microscopically noted veneer delamination from the core, core fracture, shear within the veneer porcelain, or a combination thereof. A Kruskal-Wallis test was used to determine if a significant difference (α=.05) in load to failure existed between the 4 groups, and a Mann-Whitney test with a Bonferroni correction (P Results All specimens exhibited edge chipping around the access openings. Some displayed larger chips within the veneering porcelain, and 4 zirconia crowns showed radial crack formation. There was a significant difference in load to failure among all groups with the exception of the alumina intact and repaired specimens (P=.695). The alumina crowns generally showed fracture of the coping with the veneering porcelain still bonded to the core, whereas the zirconia copings tended not to fracture but experienced veneering porcelain delamination. Conclusion Endodontic access through all-ceramic crowns resulted in a significant loss of strength in the zirconia specimens but not in the alumina specimens

Report from ionospheric science

The general strategy to advance knowledge of the ionospheric component of the solar terrestrial system should consist of a three pronged attack on the problem. Ionospheric models should be refined by utilization of existing and new data bases. The data generated in the future should emphasize spatial and temporal gradients and their relation to other events in the solar terrestrial system. In parallel with the improvement in modeling, it will be necessary to initiate a program of advanced instrument development. In particular, emphasis should be placed on the area of improved imaging techniques. The third general activity to be supported should be active experiments related to a better understanding of the basic physics of interactions occurring in the ionospheric environment. These strategies are briefly discussed

Plugging Leaks and Lowering Levees in the Federal Government: Practical Solutions for Securities Trading Based on Political Intelligence

From its founding, the U.S. federal government has been a potential gold mine for nonpublic market-moving information. By selectively disclosing this information to securities traders outside the government (or to persons who advise them), federal officials can substantially privilege certain wealthy or otherwise well-connected investors over ordinary investors in the securities market. The trading profits that can be derived from the use of this material nonpublic government information are often tremendous. Such disparity of access to government information undermines the public’s confidence in the fairness and integrity of securities markets -- and in the federal government itself. But absent an identifiable personal benefit on the part of the government insider, neither the selective disclosure of government information nor the securities trading by persons on the outside constitutes a violation of the federal securities laws -- even under the newly enacted Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act. Moreover, this political intelligence problem appears to be worsening: in recent months, news reports about the selective disclosure of nonpublic government information have proliferated, and the SEC and DOJ are investigating how some of these leaks may have occurred.To address the problem of selective disclosure, this Article proposes practical solutions that focus on the source of the political intelligence problem: the federal government itself. Solving – or at least reducing the amount of -- selective disclosure is a complex endeavor. Equal treatment of investors is an admirable goal, but in many situations, the government has legitimate interests in communicating with members of the public and disclosing information only to certain parties. Thus, this Article attempts to carve out a middle ground that neither unduly inhibits governmental functions nor allows for patently unequal treatment of investors. insider trading, Stock Act, selective disclosure, political intelligence, information leaks, FOIA, open government, transparenc

Selective Disclosure by Federal Officials and the Case for an FGD (Fairer Government Disclosure) Regime

This Article addresses a problem at the intersection of securities regulation and government ethics: the selective disclosure of market-moving information, by federal officials in the executive and legislative branches, to securities investors outside the government who use that information for trading. These privileged investors, often aided by political intelligence consultants, can profit substantially from their access to knowledgeable sources inside the government. In most instances, however, neither the disclosure nor the trading violates the antifraud provisions of the federal securities laws (under which the insider trading prohibitions arise). This legally protected favoritism undermines investor confidence in the fairness and integrity of securities markets – and in government itself. Congress considered these consequences in the debates leading up to the Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge (STOCK) Act of 2012. But it wisely opted to study the role of political intelligence in financial markets before legislating further. To address securities trading on the basis of selectively disclosed government information, this Article examines an analogous situation in the private sector that plagued individual investors until relatively recently. Selective disclosure of issuer-information by corporate executives, to securities analysts and professional investors, had been regarded as blatantly unfair yet, in most instances, not illegal. Regulation FD, which the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted in 2000, addressed this unfairness by looking beyond the construct of fraudulent tipping and trading under Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder. The solution involved regulating the timing and manner of disclosures by corporate insiders, rather than the conduct of outsiders who gather and trade on the basis of those disclosures. Regulation FD embraced this approach for publicly-traded companies, and corporate executives have been adhering to it for more than a decade. This Article proposes an analogous FGD regime – standing for Fairer Government Disclosure – that would prompt federal agencies, as well as Members of Congress and their staffs, to deploy a variety of strategies that could substantially reduce the amount of selective disclosure of nonpublic government information to persons who are likely to use it in securities trading. The Article first gathers together press reports, agency and congressional correspondence, and other materials that demonstrate the ubiquity of selective disclosure in the federal government. It then analyzes insider trading law to show that most of these instances of selective disclosure are not illegal. The Article concludes that the problem can be solved – or at least curtailed – with more effective internal controls on the federal officials who selectively disclose government information. It thus begins a discussion as to how such controls could be developed without compromising the quality and timeliness of disclosures to persons, including voters, who must have information in order to make informed decisions

Multi-jet cross sections in deep inelastic scattering at next-to-leading order

We present the perturbative prediction for three-jet production cross section in DIS at the NLO accuracy. We study the dependence on the renormalization and factorization scales of exclusive three-jet cross section. The perturbative prediction for the three-jet differential distribution as a function of the momentum transfer is compared to the corresponding data obtained by the H1 collaboration at HERA.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

A causal statistical family of dissipative divergence type fluids

In this paper we investigate some properties, including causality, of a particular class of relativistic dissipative fluid theories of divergence type. This set is defined as those theories coming from a statistical description of matter, in the sense that the three tensor fields appearing in the theory can be expressed as the three first momenta of a suitable distribution function. In this set of theories the causality condition for the resulting system of hyperbolic partial differential equations is very simple and allow to identify a subclass of manifestly causal theories, which are so for all states outside equilibrium for which the theory preserves this statistical interpretation condition. This subclass includes the usual equilibrium distributions, namely Boltzmann, Bose or Fermi distributions, according to the statistics used, suitably generalized outside equilibrium. Therefore this gives a simple proof that they are causal in a neighborhood of equilibrium. We also find a bigger set of dissipative divergence type theories which are only pseudo-statistical, in the sense that the third rank tensor of the fluid theory has the symmetry and trace properties of a third momentum of an statistical distribution, but the energy-momentum tensor, while having the form of a second momentum distribution, it is so for a different distribution function. This set also contains a subclass (including the one already mentioned) of manifestly causal theories.Comment: LaTex, documentstyle{article

The application of ultrasonic NDT techniques in tribology

The use of ultrasonic reflection is emerging as a technique for studying tribological contacts. Ultrasonic waves can be transmitted non-destructively through machine components and their behaviour at an interface describes the characteristics of that contact. This paper is a review of the current state of understanding of the mechanisms of ultrasonic reflection at interfaces, and how this has been used to investigate the processes of dry rough surface contact and lubricated contact. The review extends to cover how ultrasound has been used to study the tribological function of certain engineering machine elements