3,944 research outputs found
Uniform infinite planar triangulation and related time-reversed critical branching process
We establish a connection between the uniform infinite planar triangulation
and some critical time-reversed branching process. This allows to find a
scaling limit for the principal boundary component of a ball of radius R for
large R (i.e. for a boundary component separating the ball from infinity). We
show also that outside of R-ball a contour exists that has length linear in R.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures, LaTe
Most of the genetic covariation between major depressive and alcohol use disorders is explained by trait measures of negative emotionality and behavioral control
Background Mental health disorders commonly co-occur, even between conceptually distinct syndromes, such as internalizing and externalizing disorders. The current study investigated whether phenotypic, genetic, and environmental variance in negative emotionality and behavioral control account for the covariation between major depressive disorder (MDD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Method A total of 3623 members of a national twin registry were administered structured diagnostic telephone interviews that included assessments of lifetime histories of MDD and AUD, and were mailed self-report personality questionnaires that assessed stress reactivity (SR) and behavioral control (CON). A series of biometric models were fitted to partition the proportion of covariance between MDD and AUD into SR and CON. Results A statistically significant proportion of the correlation between MDD and AUD was due to variance specific to SR (men = 0.31, women = 0.27) and CON (men = 0.20, women = 0.19). Further, genetic factors explained a large proportion of this correlation (0.63), with unique environmental factors explaining the rest. SR explained a significant proportion of the genetic (0.33) and environmental (0.23) overlap between MDD and AUD. In contrast, variance specific to CON accounted for genetic overlap (0.32), but not environmental overlap (0.004). In total, SR and CON accounted for approximately 70% of the genetic and 20% of the environmental covariation between MDD and AUD. Conclusions This is the first study to demonstrate that negative emotionality and behavioral control confer risk for the co-occurrence of MDD and AUD via genetic factors. These findings are consistent with the aims of NIMH's RDoC proposal to elucidate how transdiagnostic risk factors drive psychopathology
SN 1997bs in M66: Another Extragalactic Eta Carinae Analog?
We report on SN 1997bs in NGC 3627 (M66), the first supernova discovered by
the Lick Observatory Supernova Search using the 0.75-m Katzman Automatic
Imaging Telescope (KAIT). Based on its early-time optical spectrum, SN 1997bs
was classified as Type IIn. However, from the BVRI light curves obtained by
KAIT early in the supernova's evolution, and F555W and F814W light curves
obtained from Hubble Space Telescope archival WFPC2 images at late times, we
question the identification of SN 1997bs as a bona fide supernova. We believe
that it is more likely a super-outburst of a very massive luminous blue
variable star, analogous to Eta Carinae, and similar to SN 1961V in NGC 1058
(Filippenko et al. 1995 [AJ, 110, 2261]) and SN 1954J (``Variable 12'') in NGC
2403 (Humphreys & Davidson 1994 [PASP, 106, 1025]). The progenitor may have
survived the outburst, since the SN is seen in early 1998 at m_F555W=23.4,
about 0.5 mag fainter than the progenitor identified by Van Dyk et al. (1999,
[AJ, 118, 2331]) in a pre-discovery image. Based on analysis of its environment
in the Hubble Space Telescope images, the progenitor was not in an H II region
or association of massive stars. The recent discovery of additional objects
with properties similar to those of SN 1997bs suggests that the heterogeneous
class of Type IIn supernovae consists in part of ``impostors.''Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the PASP (2000 Dec issue
The Discovery of Cepheids and a New Distance to NGC 2841 Using the Hubble Space Telescope
We report on the discovery of Cepheids in the spiral galaxy NGC 2841, based
on observations made with the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 on board the
Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 2841 was observed over 12 epochs using the F555W
filter, and over 5 epochs using the F814W filter. Photometry was performed
using the DAOPHOT/ALLFRAME package.
We discovered a total of 29 variables, including 18 high-quality Cepheids
with periods ranging from 15 to 40 days. Period-luminosity relations in the V
and I bands, based on the high-quality Cepheids, yield an extinction-corrected
distance modulus of 30.74 +/- 0.23 mag, which corresponds to a distance of 14.1
+/- 1.5 Mpc. Our distance is based on an assumed LMC distance modulus of 18.50
+/- 0.10 mag (D = 50+/- 2.5 kpc) and a metallicity dependence of the Cepheid
P-L relation of gamma (VI) = -0.2 +/- 0.2 mag/dex.Comment: 31 preprint pages including 10 figures. Accepted for publication in
ApJ. High-resolution version available from
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~lmacri/n2841.p
Avatars of Eurocentrism in the critique of the liberal peace
Recent scholarly critiques of the so-called liberal peace raise important political and ethical challenges to practices of postwar intervention in the global South. However, their conceptual and analytic approaches have tended to reproduce rather than challenge the intellectual Eurocentrism underpinning the liberal peace. Eurocentric features of the critiques include the methodological bypassing of target subjects in research, the analytic bypassing of subjects through frameworks of governmentality, the assumed ontological split between the ‘liberal’ and the ‘local’, and a nostalgia for the liberal subject and the liberal social contract as alternative bases for politics. These collectively produce a ‘paradox of liberalism’ that sees the liberal peace as oppressive but also the only true source of emancipation. However, the article suggests that a repoliticization of colonial difference offers an alternative ‘decolonizing’ approach to critical analysis through repositioning the analytic gaze. Three alternative research strategies for critical analysis are briefly developed
Complications of Treated Cushing\u27s Syndrome
Fifty-two patients with Cushing\u27s syndrome are reported with emphasis on post treatment complications. Seven patients, cured of their disease following appropriate therapy, had a recurrence of adrenal hypersecretion from one to ten years later. This occurred after all modalities of treatment, but was more common after sub-total adrenalectomy. Pituitary adenomas were found in two cases. Pseudotumor cerebri, psychiatnc complications, hyperthyroidism and hyperpigmentation were observed. One patient developed progressive hyperplgmentation despite pituitary radiation. Thirteen of fifty-two patients had malignant disease including three endometrial carcinomas, one rectal carcinoma and one adenocarcinoma of the mandible. Despite the remarkable improvement In the prognosis for patients with Cushing\u27s syndrome, this population continues to be at high risk for late complications and warrants close follow-up medical care
Quantum effects in the quasiparticle structure of the ferromagnetic Kondo lattice model
A new ``Dynamical Mean-field theory'' based approach for the Kondo lattice
model with quantum spins is introduced. The inspection of exactly solvable
limiting cases and several known approximation methods, namely the second-order
perturbation theory, the self-consistent CPA and finally a moment-conserving
decoupling of the equations of motion help in evaluating the new approach. This
comprehensive investigation gives some certainty to our results: Whereas our
method is somewhat limited in the investigation of the J<0-model, the results
for J>0 reveal important aspects of the physics of the model: The energetically
lowest states are not completely spin-polarized.A band splitting, which occurs
already for relatively low interaction strengths, can be related to distinct
elementary excitations, namely magnon emission (absorption) and the formation
of magnetic polarons. We demonstrate the properties of the ferromagnetic Kondo
lattice model in terms of spectral densities and quasiparticle densities of
states.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure
Optically Selected BL Lacertae Candidates from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release Seven
We present a sample of 723 optically selected BL Lac candidates from the SDSS
DR7 spectroscopic database encompassing 8250 deg^2 of sky; our sample
constitutes one of the largest uniform BL Lac samples yet derived. Each BL Lac
candidate has a high-quality SDSS spectrum from which we determine
spectroscopic redshifts for ~60% of the objects. Redshift lower limits are
estimated for the remaining objects utilizing the lack of host galaxy flux
contamination in their optical spectra; we find that objects lacking
spectroscopic redshifts are likely at systematically higher redshifts.
Approximately 80% of our BL Lac candidates match to a radio source in
FIRST/NVSS, and ~40% match to a ROSAT X-ray source. The homogeneous
multiwavelength coverage allows subdivision of the sample into 637 radio-loud
BL Lac candidates and 86 weak-featured radio-quiet objects. The radio-loud
objects broadly support the standard paradigm unifying BL Lac objects with
beamed radio galaxies. We propose that the majority of the radio-quiet objects
may be lower-redshift (z<2.2) analogs to high-redshift weak line quasars (i.e.,
AGN with unusually anemic broad emission line regions). These would constitute
the largest sample of such objects, being of similar size and complementary in
redshift to the samples of high-redshift weak line quasars previously
discovered by the SDSS. However, some fraction of the weak-featured radio-quiet
objects may instead populate a rare and extreme radio-weak tail of the much
larger radio-loud BL Lac population. Serendipitous discoveries of unusual white
dwarfs, high-redshift weak line quasars, and broad absorption line quasars with
extreme continuum dropoffs blueward of rest-frame 2800 Angstroms are also
briefly described.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in A
Distinguishing cancerous from non-cancerous cells through analysis of electrical noise
Since 1984, electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) has been used to
monitor cell behavior in tissue culture and has proven sensitive to cell
morphological changes and cell motility. We have taken ECIS measurements on
several cultures of non-cancerous (HOSE) and cancerous (SKOV) human ovarian
surface epithelial cells. By analyzing the noise in real and imaginary
electrical impedance, we demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish the two
cell types purely from signatures of their electrical noise. Our measures
include power-spectral exponents, Hurst and detrended fluctuation analysis, and
estimates of correlation time; principal-component analysis combines all the
measures. The noise from both cancerous and non-cancerous cultures shows
correlations on many time scales, but these correlations are stronger for the
non-cancerous cells.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; submitted to PR
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