2,981 research outputs found
Diffuse Gamma Rays: Galactic and Extragalactic Diffuse Emission
"Diffuse" gamma rays consist of several components: truly diffuse emission
from the interstellar medium, the extragalactic background, whose origin is not
firmly established yet, and the contribution from unresolved and faint Galactic
point sources. One approach to unravel these components is to study the diffuse
emission from the interstellar medium, which traces the interactions of high
energy particles with interstellar gas and radiation fields. Because of its
origin such emission is potentially able to reveal much about the sources and
propagation of cosmic rays. The extragalactic background, if reliably
determined, can be used in cosmological and blazar studies. Studying the
derived "average" spectrum of faint Galactic sources may be able to give a clue
to the nature of the emitting objects.Comment: 32 pages, 28 figures, kapproc.cls. Chapter to the book "Cosmic
Gamma-Ray Sources," to be published by Kluwer ASSL Series, Edited by K. S.
Cheng and G. E. Romero. More details can be found at
http://www.gamma.mpe-garching.mpg.de/~aws/aws.htm
Silent messages in negotiations: The role of nonverbal communication in cross-cultural business negotiations
This study specifically explored the perceived importance of the following nonverbal factors in the negotiation process: proxemics (location and negotiation site), physical arrangement (seating and furniture arrangement), and kinesics (eye contact, facial expressions and gestures). The participants are professional business negotiators of different nationalities. The findings show that the negotiators\u27 perception about the three factors and their roles in negotiation are consistent with the nonverbal communication literature
Parity Doubling and the S Parameter Below the Conformal Window
We describe a lattice simulation of the masses and decay constants of the
lowest-lying vector and axial resonances, and the electroweak S parameter, in
an SU(3) gauge theory with and 6 fermions in the fundamental
representation. The spectrum becomes more parity doubled and the S parameter
per electroweak doublet decreases when is increased from 2 to 6,
motivating study of these trends as is increased further, toward the
critical value for transition from confinement to infrared conformality.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures; to be submitted to PR
Towards the Secondary Bar: Gas Morphology and Dynamics in NGC 4303
The bulk of the molecular line emission in the double barred galaxy NGC4303
as observed in its CO(1-0) line with the OVRO mm-interferometer comes from two
straight gas lanes which run north-south along the leading sides of the
large-scale primary bar. Inside a radius of ~ 400 pc the molecular gas forms a
spiral pattern which, for the northern arm, can be traced to the nucleus.
Comparison of the OVRO and archival HST data with dynamical models of gas flow
in the inner kiloparsec of single- and double-barred galaxies shows that the
observed global properties of the molecular gas are in agreement with models
for the gas flow in a strong, large-scale bar, and the two-arm spiral structure
seen in CO in the inner kiloparsec can already be explained by a density wave
initiated by the potential of that bar. Only a weak correlation between the
molecular gas distribution and the extinction seen in the HST V-H map is found
in the inner 400 pc of NGC4303: The innermost part of one arm of the nuclear CO
spiral correlates with a weak dust filament in the color map, while the overall
dust distribution follows a ring or single-arm spiral pattern well correlated
with the UV continuum. This complicated nuclear geometry of the stellar and
gaseous components allows for two scenarios: (A) A self-gravitating m=1 mode is
present forming the spiral structure seen in the UV continuum. In this case the
gas kinematics would be unaffected by the small (~ 4'') inner bar. (B) The UV
continuum traces a complete ring which is heavily extincted north of the
nucleus. Such a ring forms in hydrodynamic models of double bars, but the
models cannot account for the UV emission observed on the leading side of the
inner bar. (abridged)Comment: 47 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A database of whole-body action videos for the study of action, emotion, and untrustworthiness
We present a database of high-definition (HD) videos for the study of traits inferred from whole-body actions. Twenty-nine actors (19 female) were filmed performing different actionsâwalking, picking up a box, putting down a box, jumping, sitting down, and standing and actingâwhile conveying different traits, including four emotions (anger, fear, happiness, sadness), untrustworthiness, and neutral, where no specific trait was conveyed. For the actions conveying the four emotions and untrustworthiness, the actions were filmed multiple times, with the actor conveying the traits with different levels of intensity. In total, we made 2,783 action videos (in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional format), each lasting 7 s with a frame rate of 50 fps. All videos were filmed in a green-screen studio in order to isolate the action information from all contextual detail and to provide a flexible stimulus set for future use. In order to validate the traits conveyed by each action, we asked participants to rate each of the actions corresponding to the trait that the actor portrayed in the two-dimensional videos. To provide a useful database of stimuli of multiple actions conveying multiple traits, each video name contains information on the gender of the actor, the action executed, the trait conveyed, and the rating of its perceived intensity. All videos can be downloaded free at the following address: http://www-users.york.ac.uk/~neb506/databases.html. We discuss potential uses for the database in the analysis of the perception of whole-body actions
Fluctuation of dissolved heavy metal concentrations in the leachate from anaerobic digestion of municipal solid waste in commercial scale landfill bioreactors: the effect of pH and associated mechanisms
Heavy metals present in landfill leachate have infrequently been related to complete anaerobic degradation municipal solid waste (MSW) due to discrete ages of deposited MSW layers and leachate channelling in landfills. In this study, anaerobic digestion of MSW was performed in two enclosed 1000 tonne bioreactors using a unique flood and drain process. Leachates were characterised in terms of pH, soluble chemical oxygen demand, volatile fatty acids (VFAs), ammonium nitrogen and heavy metals over the entire course. All parameters, including the pH, fluctuated during acidogenesis, acetogenesis and methanogenesis, which strongly impacted on the dynamics of dissolved heavy metal concentrations. The simulation of dissolution and precipitation processes indicated that metal sulphide precipitation was not a factor as metal concentrations exceeded solubility limits. The correlation of pH and dissolved heavy metal concentrations indicated that other, or combinatorial, mechanisms were involved at the homogenisation conditions within the bioreactors. Besides the dissolution and precipitation process, the main processes most likely involved in metal distributions were adsorption (Zn, Cu, Ni, Pb and Cd), complexation (Cr) or combinations of both process (As and Co)
P04-04. The specific phospholipid binding and neutralizing activities of the anti-HIV antibody 4E10 are separable
Assessing health and well-being among older people in rural South Africa
Background: The population in developing countries is ageing, which is likely to increase the burden of noncommunicable diseases and disability.
Objective: To describe factors associated with self-reported health, disability and quality of life (QoL) of older people in the rural northeast of South Africa.
Design: Cross-sectional survey of 6,206 individuals aged 50 and over. We used multivariate analysis to examine relationships between demographic variables and measures of self-reported health (Health Status), functional ability (WHODASi) and quality of life (WHOQoL).
Results: About 4,085 of 6,206 people eligible (65.8%) completed the interview. Women (Odds Ratio (OR)
1.30, 95% CI 1.09, 1.55), older age (OR2.59, 95% CI 1.97, 3.40), lower education (OR1.62, 95% CI 1.31,2.00), single status (OR1.18, 95% CI 1.01, 1.37) and not working at present (OR1.29, 95% CI 1.06, 1.59) were associated with a low health status. Women were also more likely to report a higher level of disability (OR1.38, 95% CI 1.14, 1.66), as were older people (OR2.92, 95% CI 2.25, 3.78), those with no education (OR1.57, 95% CI 1.26, 1.97), with single status (OR1.25, 95% CI 1.06, 1.46) and not working at present (OR1.33, 95% CI 1.06, 1.66). Older age (OR1.35, 95% CI 1.06, 1.74), no education (OR1.39, 95% CI
1.11, 1.73), single status (OR1.28, 95% CI 1.10, 1.49), a low household asset score (OR1.52, 95% CI 1.19,
1.94) and not working at present (OR1.32; 95% CI 1.07, 1.64) were all associated with lower quality of life.
Conclusions: This study presents the first population-based data from South Africa on health status, functional ability and quality of life among older people. Health and social services will need to be restructured to provide effective care for older people living in rural South Africa with impaired functionality and other health problems
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