665 research outputs found
Boston Hospitality Review: Fall 2012
Lodging Update: Greater Boston by Rachel Rogisnky and Matthew Arrants -- A Sense of Place by Rachel Black -- Hospitality, Tourism, and Politics by Stephen W. Litvin -- Paris in Boston by photo essay by Jack Dzamba -- The Cradle of American Hospitality by Bradford Hudson -- Thomponâs Spa: The Most Famous Lunch Counter in the World by Peter Szende and Heather Rule -- The Restaurant as Hybrid: Lean Manufacturer and Service Provider by Christopher Mulle
ASPOD modifications of 1993-1994
ASPOD, Autonomous Space Processors for Orbital Debris, provides a unique way of collecting the space debris that has built up over the past 37 years. For the past several years, ASPOD has gone through several different modifications. This year's concentrations were on the solar cutting array, the solar tracker, the earth based main frame/tilt table, the controls for the two robotic arms, and accurate autocad drawings of ASPOD. This final report contains the reports written by the students who worked on the ASPOD project this year
PHASES High Precision Differential Astrometry of delta Equulei
delta Equulei is among the most well-studied nearby binary star systems.
Results of its observation have been applied to a wide range of fundamental
studies of binary systems and stellar astrophysics. It is widely used to
calibrate and constrain theoretical models of the physics of stars. We report
27 high precision differential astrometry measurements of delta Equulei from
the Palomar High-precision Astrometric Search for Exoplanet Systems (PHASES).
The median size of the minor axes of the uncertainty ellipses for these
measurements is 26 micro-arcseconds. These data are combined with previously
published radial velocity data and other previously published differential
astrometry measurements using other techniques to produce a combined model for
the system orbit. The distance to the system is determined to within a
twentieth of a parsec and the component masses are determined at the level of a
percent. The constraints on masses and distance are limited by the precisions
of the radial velocity data; we outline plans improve this deficiency and
discuss the outlook for further study of this binary.Comment: Accepted by AJ. Complete versions of tables 2-7 now available at
http://stuff.mit.edu/~matthew1/deltaEquTables/ (removed from astroph server
Quarkonium from the Fifth Dimension
Adding fundamental matter of mass m_Q to N=4 Yang Mills theory, we study
quarkonium, and "generalized quarkonium" containing light adjoint particles. At
large 't Hooft coupling the states of spin<=1 are anomalously light (Kruczenski
et al., hep-th/0304032). We examine their form factors, and show these hadrons
are unlike any known in QCD. By a traditional yardstick they appear infinite in
size (as with strings in flat space) but we show that this is a failure of the
yardstick. All of the hadrons are actually of finite size ~ \sqrt{g^2N}/m_Q,
regardless of their radial excitation level and of how many valence adjoint
particles they contain. Certain form factors for spin-1 quarkonia vanish in the
large-g^2N limit; thus these hadrons resemble neither the observed J/Psi
quarkonium states nor rho mesons.Comment: 57 pages, LaTeX, 5 figure
Towards a Critique of Educative Violence: Walter Benjamin and âSecond Educationâ
Although modern systems of mass education are typically defined in their opposition to violence, it has been argued that it is only through an insistent and critical focus upon violence that radical thought can be sustained. This article seeks to take up this challenge in relation to Walter Benjaminâs lesser-known writings on education. Benjamin retained throughout his life a deep suspicion about academic institutions and about the pedagogic, social and economic violence implicated in the idea of cultural transmission. He nonetheless remained committed to the possibility of another kind of revolutionary potential inherent to true education and, when he comes to speak of this in his Critique of Violence, it is remarkable that he describes it as manifesting an educative violence. This article argues that Benjaminâs philosophy works toward a critique of educative violence that results in a distinction between a âfirstâ and âsecondâ kind of education and asks whether destruction might have a positive role to play within pedagogical theories in contrast to current valorisations of creativity and productivity
Radiation from condensed surface of magnetic neutron stars
Recent observations show that the thermal X-ray spectra of many isolated
neutron stars are featureless and in some cases (e.g., RX J1856.5-3754) well
fit by a blackbody. Such a perfect blackbody spectrum is puzzling since
radiative transport through typical neutron star atmospheres causes noticeable
deviation from blackbody. Previous studies have shown that in a strong magnetic
field, the outermost layer of the neutron star may be in a condensed solid or
liquid form because of the greatly enhanced cohesive energy of the condensed
matter. The critical temperature of condensation increases with the magnetic
field strength, and can be as high as 10^6 K (for Fe surface at B \sim 10^{13}
G or H surface at B \sim a few times 10^{14} G). Thus the thermal radiation can
directly emerge from the degenerate metallic condensed surface, without going
through a gaseous atmosphere. Here we calculate the emission properties
(spectrum and polarization) of the condensed Fe and H surfaces of magnetic
neutron stars in the regimes where such condensation may be possible. For a
smooth condensed surface, the overall emission is reduced from the blackbody by
less than a factor of 2. The spectrum exhibits modest deviation from blackbody
across a wide energy range, and shows mild absorption features associated with
the ion cyclotron frequency and the electron plasma frequency in the condensed
matter. The roughness of the solid condensate (in the Fe case) tends to
decrease the reflectivity of the surface, and make the emission spectrum even
closer to blackbody. We discuss the implications of our results for
observations of dim, isolated neutron stars and magnetars.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures. ApJ, accepted (final version; eq.(3) corrected
PHASES Differential Astrometry and Iodine Cell Radial Velocities of the kappa Pegasi Triple Star System
kappa Pegasi is a well-known, nearby triple star system. It consists of a
``wide'' pair with semi-major axis 235 milli-arcseconds, one component of which
is a single-line spectroscopic binary (semi-major axis 2.5 milli-arcseconds).
Using high-precision differential astrometry and radial velocity observations,
the masses for all three components are determined and the relative
inclinations between the wide and narrow pairs' orbits is found to be 43.8 +/-
3.0 degrees, just over the threshold for the three body Kozai resonance. The
system distance is determined to 34.60 +/- 0.21 parsec, and is consistent with
trigonometric parallax measurements.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, complete versions of tables 2 and 4
can be found at http://stuff.mit.edu/~matthew1/kapPegTables
Whole-genome and multisector exome sequencing of primary and post-treatment glioblastoma reveals patterns of tumor evolution
Glioblastoma (GBM) is a prototypical heterogeneous brain tumor refractory to conventional therapy. A small residual population of cells escapes surgery and chemoradiation, resulting in a typically fatal tumor recurrence ~7 mo after diagnosis. Understanding the molecular architecture of this residual population is critical for the development of successful therapies. We used whole-genome sequencing and whole-exome sequencing of multiple sectors from primary and paired recurrent GBM tumors to reconstruct the genomic profile of residual, therapy resistant tumor initiating cells. We found that genetic alteration of the p53 pathway is a primary molecular event predictive of a high number of subclonal mutations in glioblastoma. The genomic road leading to recurrence is highly idiosyncratic but can be broadly classified into linear recurrences that share extensive genetic similarity with the primary tumor and can be directly traced to one of its specific sectors, and divergent recurrences that share few genetic alterations with the primary tumor and originate from cells that branched off early during tumorigenesis. Our study provides mechanistic insights into how genetic alterations in primary tumors impact the ensuing evolution of tumor cells and the emergence of subclonal heterogeneity
WormBase 2016: expanding to enable helminth genomic research
WormBase (www.wormbase.org) is a central repository for research data on the biology, genetics and genomics of Caenorhabditis elegans and other nematodes. The project has evolved from its original remit to collect and integrate all data for a single species, and now extends to numerous nematodes, ranging from evolutionary comparators of C. elegans to parasitic species that threaten plant, animal and human health. Research activity using C. elegans as a model system is as vibrant as ever, and we have created new tools for community curation in response to the ever-increasing volume and complexity of data. To better allow users to navigate their way through these data, we have made a number of improvements to our main website, including new tools for browsing genomic features and ontology annotations. Finally, we have developed a new portal for parasitic worm genomes. WormBase ParaSite (parasite.wormbase.org) contains all publicly available nematode and platyhelminth annotated genome sequences, and is designed specifically to support helminth genomic research
The Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment: Exploring Fundamental Symmetries of the Universe
The preponderance of matter over antimatter in the early Universe, the
dynamics of the supernova bursts that produced the heavy elements necessary for
life and whether protons eventually decay --- these mysteries at the forefront
of particle physics and astrophysics are key to understanding the early
evolution of our Universe, its current state and its eventual fate. The
Long-Baseline Neutrino Experiment (LBNE) represents an extensively developed
plan for a world-class experiment dedicated to addressing these questions. LBNE
is conceived around three central components: (1) a new, high-intensity
neutrino source generated from a megawatt-class proton accelerator at Fermi
National Accelerator Laboratory, (2) a near neutrino detector just downstream
of the source, and (3) a massive liquid argon time-projection chamber deployed
as a far detector deep underground at the Sanford Underground Research
Facility. This facility, located at the site of the former Homestake Mine in
Lead, South Dakota, is approximately 1,300 km from the neutrino source at
Fermilab -- a distance (baseline) that delivers optimal sensitivity to neutrino
charge-parity symmetry violation and mass ordering effects. This ambitious yet
cost-effective design incorporates scalability and flexibility and can
accommodate a variety of upgrades and contributions. With its exceptional
combination of experimental configuration, technical capabilities, and
potential for transformative discoveries, LBNE promises to be a vital facility
for the field of particle physics worldwide, providing physicists from around
the globe with opportunities to collaborate in a twenty to thirty year program
of exciting science. In this document we provide a comprehensive overview of
LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the landscape of neutrino physics
worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate and the capabilities it will
possess.Comment: Major update of previous version. This is the reference document for
LBNE science program and current status. Chapters 1, 3, and 9 provide a
comprehensive overview of LBNE's scientific objectives, its place in the
landscape of neutrino physics worldwide, the technologies it will incorporate
and the capabilities it will possess. 288 pages, 116 figure
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