Modeling Elasticity in Crystal Growth

A new model of crystal growth is presented that describes the phenomena on atomic length and diffusive time scales. The former incorporates elastic and plastic deformation in a natural manner, and the latter enables access to times scales much larger than conventional atomic methods. The model is shown to be consistent with the predictions of Read and Shockley for grain boundary energy, and Matthews and Blakeslee for misfit dislocations in epitaxial growth.Comment: 4 pages, 10 figure

Are Miami blues in Cuba? A review of the genus \u3ci\u3eCyclargus\u3c/i\u3e Nabokov (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) with implications for conservation management

We review the genus Cyclargus Nabokov (Lepidoptera: Lycaenidae) based on detailed comparative analyses of wing patterns, genitalia, and mitochondrial COI DNA barcode sequences, and suggest that Cyclargus is composed of four species: C. thomasi (Clench), C. woodruffi (W. Comstock and Huntington), C. ammon (Lucas), and C. dominica (Möschler). The following new subjective synonyms are proposed: C. erembis Nabokov syn. n. and C. kathleena K. Johnson and Matusik syn. n. are C. thomasi noeli (W. Comstock and Huntington); C. sorpresus K. Johnson and Matusik syn. n. and C. shuturn K. Johnson and Bálint syn. n. are C. ammon; and Cyclargus oualiri Brevignon syn. n. is C. woodruffi. Additionally, we report the discovery of C. thomasi noeli in Cuba (where this taxon was previously confused with C. ammon), report C. ammon from Hispaniola for the first time, and document the widespread sympatry of C. thomasi and C. ammon in the northern Caribbean (including south Florida, Cuba, Cayman Islands, Hispaniola, Lucayan Archipelago). Finally, we provide a provisional synonymic list of Cyclargus taxa, which may serve as a taxonomic framework to assist efforts to conserve the Miami blue (C. thomasi bethunebakeri (W. Comstock and Huntington)), a taxon listed as “Endangered” under the Endangered Species Act in the United States

Photometric variability of the Herbig Ae star HD 37806

The more massive counterparts of T Tauri stars, Herbig Ae/Be stars, are known to vary in a complex way with no variability mechanism clearly identified. We attempt to characterize the optical variability of HD~37806 (MWC 120) on time scales ranging between minutes and several years. A continuous, one-minute resolution, 21 day-long sequence of MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars) satellite observations has been analyzed using wavelet, scalegram and dispersion analysis tools. The MOST data have been augmented by sparse observations over 9 seasons from ASAS (All Sky Automated Survey), by previously non-analyzed ESO (European Southern Observatory) data partly covering 3 seasons and by archival measurements dating back half a century ago. Mutually superimposed flares or accretion instabilities grow in size from about 0.0003 of the mean flux on a time scale of minutes to a peak-to-peak range of <~0.05 on a time scale of a few years. The resulting variability has properties of stochastic "red" noise, whose self-similar characteristics are very similar to those observed in cataclysmic binary stars, but with much longer characteristic time scales of hours to days (rather than minutes) and with amplitudes which appear to cease growing in size on time scales of tens of years. In addition to chaotic brightness variations combined with stochastic noise, the MOST data show a weakly defined cyclic signal with a period of about 1.5 days, which may correspond to the rotation of the star.Comment: Accepted for publication by Astron. & Astroph. 8 pages, 9 figures. For some reason Fig.5 incorrectly shows in arXiv: Contours OK, gray scale no

Time of day of vaccination affects SARS-CoV-2 antibody responses in an observational study of health care workers

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a global crisis with unprecedented challenges for public health. Vaccinations against SARS-CoV-2 have slowed the incidence of new infections and reduced disease severity. As the time of day of vaccination has been reported to influence host immune responses to multiple pathogens, we quantified the influence of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination time, vaccine type, participant age, sex, and days post-vaccination on anti-Spike antibody responses in health care workers. The magnitude of the anti-Spike antibody response is associated with the time of day of vaccination, vaccine type, participant age, sex, and days post-vaccination. These results may be relevant for optimising SARS-CoV-2 vaccine efficacy

Photonuclear Reactions of Three-Nucleon Systems

We discuss the available data for the differential and the total cross section for the photodisintegration of $^3$He and $^3$H and the corresponding inverse reactions below $E_\gamma = 100$ MeV by comparing with our calculations using realistic $NN$ interactions. The theoretical results agree within the errorbars with the data for the total cross sections. Excellent agreement is achieved for the angular distribution in case of $^3$He, whereas for $^3$H a discrepancy between theory and experiment is found.Comment: 11 pages (twocolumn), 12 postscript figures included, uses psfig, RevTe

The mass distribution of a moderate redshift galaxy group and brightest group galaxy from gravitational lensing and kinematics

The gravitational lens system CLASS B2108+213 has two radio-loud lensed images separated by 4.56 arcsec. The relatively large image separation implies that the lensing is caused by a group of galaxies. In this paper, new optical imaging and spectroscopic data for the lensing galaxies of B2108+213 and the surrounding field galaxies are presented. These data are used to investigate the mass and composition of the lensing structure. The redshift and stellar velocity dispersion of the main lensing galaxy (G1) are found to be z = 0.3648 +/- 0.0002 and sigma_v = 325 +/- 25 km/s, respectively. The optical spectrum of the lensed quasar shows no obvious emission or absorption features and is consistent with a BL Lac type radio source. However, the tentative detection of the G-band and Mg-b absorption lines, and a break in the spectrum of the host galaxy of the lensed quasar gives a likely source redshift of z = 0.67. Spectroscopy of the field around B2108+213 finds 51 galaxies at a similar redshift to G1, thus confirming that there is a much larger structure at z ~ 0.365 associated with this system. The width of the group velocity distribution is 694 +/- 93 km/s, but is non-Gaussian, implying that the structure is not yet viralized. The main lensing galaxy is also the brightest group member and has a surface brightness profile consistent with a typical cD galaxy. A lensing and dynamics analysis of the mass distribution, which also includes the newly found group members, finds that the logarithmic slope of the mass density profile is on average isothermal inside the Einstein radius, but steeper at the location of the Einstein radius. This apparent change in slope can be accounted for if an external convergence gradient, representing the underlying parent halo of the galaxy group, is included in the mass model.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

A mouse informatics platform for phenotypic and translational discovery

The International Mouse Phenotyping Consortium (IMPC) is providing the world’s first functional catalogue of a mammalian genome by characterising a knockout mouse strain for every gene. A robust and highly structured informatics platform has been developed to systematically collate, analyse and disseminate the data produced by the IMPC. As the first phase of the project, in which 5000 new knockout strains are being broadly phenotyped, nears completion, the informatics platform is extending and adapting to support the increasing volume and complexity of the data produced as well as addressing a large volume of users and emerging user groups. An intuitive interface helps researchers explore IMPC data by giving overviews and the ability to find and visualise data that support a phenotype assertion. Dedicated disease pages allow researchers to find new mouse models of human diseases, and novel viewers provide high-resolution images of embryonic and adult dysmorphologies. With each monthly release, the informatics platform will continue to evolve to support the increased data volume and to maintain its position as the primary route of access to IMPC data and as an invaluable resource for clinical and non-clinical researchers

The solar-C (EUVST) mission: The latest status

Solar-C (EUVST) is the next Japanese solar physics mission to be developed with significant contributions from US and European countries. The mission carries an EUV imaging spectrometer with slit-jaw imaging system called EUVST (EUV High-Throughput Spectroscopic Telescope) as the mission payload, to take a fundamental step towards answering how the plasma universe is created and evolves and how the Sun influences the Earth and other planets in our solar system. In April 2020, ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science) of JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) has made the final down-selection for this mission as the 4th in the series of competitively chosen M-class mission to be launched with an Epsilon launch vehicle in mid 2020s. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has selected this mission concept for Phase A concept study in September 2019 and is in the process leading to final selection. For European countries, the team has (or is in the process of confirming) confirmed endorsement for hardware contributions to the EUVST from the national agencies. A recent update to the mission instrumentation is to add a UV spectral irradiance monitor capability for EUVST calibration and scientific purpose. This presentation provides the latest status of the mission with an overall description of the mission concept emphasizing on key roles of the mission in heliophysics research from mid 2020

Structural and Functional Loss in Restored Wetland Ecosystems

In restored wetland ecosystems with apparently natural hydrology and biological structure, biogeochemical function may remain degraded, even a century after restoration efforts