On the dark matter profile in Sculptor: Breaking the β\beta degeneracy with Virial shape parameters

We present a new method for studying tracers in gravitational systems where higher moments of the line-of-sight velocity distribution are introduced via Virial equations rather than the Jeans equations. Unlike the fourth order Jeans equations, the fourth order Virial equations can simply be added to the standard second order Jeans equation without introducing a new anisotropy parameter $\beta^{\prime}$. We introduce two new global shape parameters $\zeta_A$ and $\zeta_B$ which replace the kurtosis as a more statistically robust measure of the shape of the line of sight velocity distribution. We show that in the case of stars in dwarf spheroidal galaxies these new parameters can significantly reduce the range of density profiles that are otherwise consistent with the observed stellar kinematics (a problem sometimes known as the $\beta$ degeneracy). Specifically, we find that $\zeta_A$ focuses tightly on a subset of solutions where cusped density profiles are degenerate with more concentrated cored dark matter halos. If the number density of stars $\nu(r)$ is fixed, then introducing $\zeta_B$ can further reduce the space of solutions by constraining the outer slope of the dark matter density profile. Assuming a Plummer profile for $\nu(r)$ we recover the surprising result that the dark matter in Sculptor may be cuspy after all, in contrast to the conclusions of other approaches.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures. Matches version accepted in MNRAS. Minor additions to text. Conclusions unchange

Voice stress analysis

In a study of the validity of eight candidate voice measures (fundamental frequency, amplitude, speech rate, frequency jitter, amplitude shimmer, Psychological Stress Evaluator scores, energy distribution, and the derived measure of the above measures) for determining psychological stress, 17 males age 21 to 35 were subjected to a tracking task on a microcomputer CRT while parameters of vocal production as well as heart rate were measured. Findings confirm those of earlier studies that increases in fundamental frequency, amplitude, and speech rate are found in speakers involved in extreme levels of stress. In addition, it was found that the same changes appear to occur in a regular fashion within a more subtle level of stress that may be characteristic, for example, of routine flying situations. None of the individual speech measures performed as robustly as did heart rate

Improving the Scalability of a Prosumer Cooperative Game with K-Means Clustering

Among the various market structures under peer-to-peer energy sharing, one model based on cooperative game theory provides clear incentives for prosumers to collaboratively schedule their energy resources. The computational complexity of this model, however, increases exponentially with the number of participants. To address this issue, this paper proposes the application of K-means clustering to the energy profiles following the grand coalition optimization. The cooperative model is run with the "clustered players" to compute their payoff allocations, which are then further distributed among the prosumers within each cluster. Case studies show that the proposed method can significantly improve the scalability of the cooperative scheme while maintaining a high level of financial incentives for the prosumers.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Accepted to the 13th IEEE PES PowerTech Conference, 23-27 June 2019, Milano, Ital

Thiol-reactive analogues of galanthamine, codeine and morphine as potential probes to interrogate allosteric binding within nAChRs

Alkaloids including galanthamine (1) and codeine (2) are reported to be positive allosteric modulators of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) but the binding sites responsible for this activity are not known with certainty. Analogues of galanthamine (1), codeine (2) and morphine (3) with reactivity towards cysteine thiols were synthesised including conjugated enone derivatives of the three alkaloids 4-6 and two chloro-alkane derivatives of codeine 7 and 8. The stability of the enones was deemed sufficient for use in buffered aqueous solutions and their reactivity towards thiols was assessed by determining the kinetics of reaction with a cysteine derivative. All three enone derivatives were of sufficient reactivity and stability to be used in covalent trapping, an extension of the substituted cysteine accessibility method (SCAM), to elucidate the allosteric binding sites of galanthamine and codeine at nAChRs

Full Disclosure: Why Bank Transparency Matters

This report seeks to reinvigorate the debate on bank disclosure in the UK and to create a better understanding of why it should be demanded of banks. This analysis is carried out through detailed case studies comparing Charter One Bank in Chicago in the US where banks have disclosed local lending practices since 1975- with its parent company Royal Bank of Scotland in Manchester to review the level of information available and the impact that this has. To do this we evaluate the available information on small-business lending, bank branch availability and basic bank account opening in underserved areas of Manchester. Our analysis indicates that data on these factors is generally difficult to obtain, inconsistent, and in many cases incomplete

02. Thomas R. Malcolm: Letter of Support

UCI Law letter of support from Thomas R. Malcolm of Jones Day