An analysis of the peculiar A star HD 204411

Spectrum analysis of cool Ap star HD 20441

Surface-gravity determinations for main-sequence B stars

Astronomical models for computing surface gravity of B stars from hydrogen line equivalent width

Analysis of F and G Subdwarfs. I. The Location of Subdwarfs in the Theoretical H-R Diagram

Spectrum scans and model stellar atmospheres have been used to locate in the (L/L_⊙, T_(eff)) plane F and G subdwarfs having known parallax A comparison is made between their position on the H-R diagram and the evolutionary tracks for Population II models of low- and high-helium content recently computed by Faulkner and Iben. The lower helium-content models are found to give somewhat more plausible ages than the high-helium models. Nevertheless, for both the low- and high-helium-content models, we find several subdwarfs with ages apparently greater than 10 X 10^9 years

TDOA based positioning in the presence of unknown clock skew

Cataloged from PDF version of article.This paper studies the positioning problem of a single target node based on time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) measurements in the presence of clock imperfections. Employing an affine model for the behaviour of a local clock, it is observed that TDOA based approaches suffer from a parameter of the model, called the clock skew. Modeling the clock skew as a nuisance parameter, this paper investigates joint clock skew and position estimation. The maximum likelihood estimator (MLE) is derived for this problem, which is highly nonconvex and difficult to solve. To avoid the difficulty in solving the MLE, we employ suitable approximations and relaxations and propose two suboptimal estimators based on semidefinite programming and linear estimation. To further improve the estimation accuracy, we also propose a refining step. In addition, the Cramer-Rao ´ lower bound (CRLB) is derived for this problem as a benchmark. Simulation results show that the proposed suboptimal estimators can attain the CRLB for sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratios

Current status of intestinal transplantation in children

Purpose: A clinical trial of intestinal transplantation (Itx) under tacrolimus and prednisone immunosuppression was initiated in June 1990 in children with irreversible intestinal failure and who were dependent on total parenteral nutrition (TPN). Methods: Fifty-five patients (28 girls, 27 boys) with a median age of 3.2 years (range, 0.5 to 18 years) received 58 intestinal transplants that included isolated small bowel (SB) (n = 17), liver SB (LSB) (n = 33), and multivisceral (MV) (n = 8) allografts. Nine patients also received bone marrow infusion, and there were 20 colonic allografts. Azathioprine, cyclophosphamide, or mycophenolate mofetil were used in different phases of the series. Indications for Itx included: gastroschisis (n = 14), volvulus (n = 13), necrotizing enterocolitis (n = 6), intestinal atresia (n = 8), chronic intestinal pseudoobstruction (n = 5), Hirschsprung's disease (n = 4), microvillus inclusion disease (n = 3), multiple polyposis (n = 1), and trauma (n = 1). Results: Currently, 30 patients are alive (patient survival, 55%; graft survival, 52%). Twenty-nine children with functioning grafts are living at home and off TPN, with a mean follow-up of 962 (range, 75 to 2,424) days. Immunologic complications have included liver allograft rejection (n = 18), intestinal allograft rejection (n = 52), posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease (n = 16), cytomegalovirus (n = 16) and graft-versus-host disease (n = 4). A combination of associated complications included intestinal perforation (n = 4), biliary leak (n = 3), bile duct stenosis (n = 1), intestinal leak (n = 6), dehiscence with evisceration (n = 4), hepatic artery thrombosis (n = 3), bleeding (n = 9), portal vein stenosis (n = 1), intraabdominal abscess (n = 11), and chylous ascites (n = 4). Graft loss occurred as a result of rejection (n = 8), infection (n = 12), technical complications (n = 8), and complications of TPN after graft removal (n = 3). There were four retransplants (SB, n = 1; LSB n = 3). Conclusions: Intestinal transplantation is a valid therapeutic option for patients with intestinal failure suffering complications of TPN. The complex clinical and immunologic course of these patients is reflected in a higher complication rate as well as patient and graft loss than seen after heart, liver, and kidney transplantation, although better than after lung transplantation

Rotation In Young Stars

The smallest molecular cores observed to date have at least ∼6 orders of magnitude greater angular momentum per unit mass than the Sun, suggesting that they would greatly exceed the breakup velocity if no angular momentum was lost during the star formation process. Therefore, an angular momentum regulation mechanism must be at work in the pre-main-sequence phase, and disks are often invoked as the solution to the angular momentum problem. Thanks to large-format CCDs, more than 1000 periods for young stars are now known (with more being presented at this conference), and with the Spitzer Space Telescope, we have the ability to get reliable circumstellar disk indicators for many 1000s of stars at once. Now, for the first time, we may have enough stars to start to constrain the angular momentum loss mechanism in a meaningful fashion. In this contribution, we review the observations made to date of rotation in pre-main-sequence low-mass stars

Analysis of F and G Subdwarfs. I. The Location of Subdwarfs in the Theoretical H-R Diagram

Spectrum scans and model stellar atmospheres have been used to locate in the (L/L_⊙, T_(eff)) plane F and G subdwarfs having known parallax A comparison is made between their position on the H-R diagram and the evolutionary tracks for Population II models of low- and high-helium content recently computed by Faulkner and Iben. The lower helium-content models are found to give somewhat more plausible ages than the high-helium models. Nevertheless, for both the low- and high-helium-content models, we find several subdwarfs with ages apparently greater than 10 X 10^9 years

The Discovery of an Anomalous X-ray Pulsar in the Supernova Remnant Kes 73

We report the discovery of pulsed X-ray emission from the compact source 1E 1841-045, using data obtained with the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astrophysics. The X-ray source is located in the center of the small-diameter supernova remnant (SNR) Kes 73 and is very likely to be the compact stellar-remnant of the supernova which formed Kes 73. The X-rays are pulsed with a period of ~ 11.8 s, and a sinusoidal modulation of roughly 30 %. We interpret this modulation to be the rotation period of an embedded neutron star, and as such would be the longest spin period for an isolated neutron star to-date. This is especially remarkable since the surrounding SNR is very young, at ~ 2000 yr old. We suggest that the observed characteristics of this object are best understood within the framework of a neutron star with an enormous dipolar magnetic field, B ~ 8x10^14 G