SDSS-III: Massive Spectroscopic Surveys of the Distant Universe, the Milky Way Galaxy, and Extra-Solar Planetary Systems

Building on the legacy of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-I and II), SDSS-III is a program of four spectroscopic surveys on three scientific themes: dark energy and cosmological parameters, the history and structure of the Milky Way, and the population of giant planets around other stars. In keeping with SDSS tradition, SDSS-III will provide regular public releases of all its data, beginning with SDSS DR8 (which occurred in Jan 2011). This paper presents an overview of the four SDSS-III surveys. BOSS will measure redshifts of 1.5 million massive galaxies and Lya forest spectra of 150,000 quasars, using the BAO feature of large scale structure to obtain percent-level determinations of the distance scale and Hubble expansion rate at z<0.7 and at z~2.5. SEGUE-2, which is now completed, measured medium-resolution (R=1800) optical spectra of 118,000 stars in a variety of target categories, probing chemical evolution, stellar kinematics and substructure, and the mass profile of the dark matter halo from the solar neighborhood to distances of 100 kpc. APOGEE will obtain high-resolution (R~30,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N>100 per resolution element), H-band (1.51-1.70 micron) spectra of 10^5 evolved, late-type stars, measuring separate abundances for ~15 elements per star and creating the first high-precision spectroscopic survey of all Galactic stellar populations (bulge, bar, disks, halo) with a uniform set of stellar tracers and spectral diagnostics. MARVELS will monitor radial velocities of more than 8000 FGK stars with the sensitivity and cadence (10-40 m/s, ~24 visits per star) needed to detect giant planets with periods up to two years, providing an unprecedented data set for understanding the formation and dynamical evolution of giant planet systems. (Abridged)Comment: Revised to version published in The Astronomical Journa

Kepler-18b, c, and d: a system of three planets confirmed by transit timing variations, light curve validation, Warm-Spitzer photometry, and radial velocity measurements

We report the detection of three transiting planets around a Sun-like star, which we designate Kepler-18. The transit signals were detected in photometric data from the Kepler satellite, and were confirmed to arise from planets using a combination of large transit-timing variations (TTVs), radial velocity variations, Warm-Spitzer observations, and statistical analysis of false-positive probabilities. The Kepler-18 star has a mass of 0.97 M ⊙, a radius of 1.1 R ⊙, an effective temperature of 5345K, and an iron abundance of [Fe/H] = +0.19. The planets have orbital periods of approximately 3.5, 7.6, and 14.9 days. The innermost planet 'b' is a 'super-Earth' with a mass of 6.9 ± 3.4 M ⊕, a radius of 2.00 ± 0.10 R ⊕, an' a mean density of 4.9 ± 2.4gcm3. The two outer planets 'c' and 'd' are both low-density Neptune-mass planets. Kepler-18c has a mass of 17.3 ± 1.9 M ⊕, a radius of 5.49 ± 0.26 R ⊕, and a mean density of 0.59 0.07gcm 3, while Kepler-18d has a mass of 16.4 ± 1.4 M ⊕, a radius of 6.98 ± 0.33 R ⊕ and a mean density of 0.27 ± 0.03gcm3. Kepler-18c and Kepler-18d have orbital periods near a 2:1 mean-motion resonance, leading to large and readily detected TTVs

Planetary Migration in Protoplanetary Disks

The known exoplanet population displays a great diversity of orbital architectures, and explaining the origin of this is a major challenge for planet formation theories. The gravitational interaction between young planets and their protoplanetary disks provides one way in which planetary orbits can be shaped during the formation epoch. Disk-planet interactions are strongly influenced by the structure and physical processes that drive the evolution of the protoplanetary disk. In this review we focus on how disk-planet interactions drive the migration of planets when different assumptions are made about the physics of angular momentum transport, and how it drives accretion flows in protoplanetary disk models. In particular, we consider migration in discs where: (i) accretion flows arise because turbulence diffusively transports angular momentum; (ii) laminar accretion flows are confined to thin, ionised layers near disk surfaces and are driven by the launching of magneto-centrifugal winds, with the midplane being completely inert; (iii) laminar accretion flows pervade the full column density of the disc, and are driven by a combination of large scale horizontal and vertical magnetic fields

Enumeration of fossils collected in the Niagara limestone at Chicago, Illinois : with descriptions of several new species /

Caption-title.Mode of access: Internet

Time to reminisce, a raindrop and a kiss, two hearts that seemed [first line of chorus]

Performers: Wally Brown, Alan Carney, Marcy McGuire, Gordon OliverPiano, Voice and Chord

CO2-response QTL for leaf gas exchange in Quercus robur

Intrinsic water use efficiency (Wi) is the ratio between net leaf CO2 assimilation rate (A) and stomatal conductance to water vapour (gs). QTL have been detected for A, gs or Wi, mainly for crop species (rice, what, maize), Arabidopsis and a few tree species (poplar, apple, maritime pine and pedonculate oak). However the large number of individuals to measure usual for QTL studies complicates the estimation of genotype-typical values by introducing response-variations during the measurement campaign. Repeated measurements and multi-environment QTL analyses are one approach to gain detection power. In this study, we investigated the impact of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration on diversity of A, gs and Wi in a Quercus robur mapping population. The atmospheric CO2 concentration impacts both, A and gs. Short term responses to an increased atmospheric CO2 concentration are an increase in A and a decrease in gs, resulting in an increased Wi. However, plant co-regulate A and gs, resulting in a complex system. For long-term exposure to elevated CO2, acclimation can also play a role and impact A and gs differently, which would have a large impact on the temporal evolution of Wi. 183 three-year old cuttings from a Quercus robur full-sib family were exposed before bud flushing in two adjacent greenhouses to two different CO2 levels (ambient, controlled : 380 µmolmol-1 and elevated : 690 µmolmol-1). Gas exchange measurements were done on five dates from May until September. Combining 5 dates with two CO2 levels, resulted in 10 data sets that were combined in one QTL analysis similarly to a full-cross statistical analysis. The multi-environment QTL analysis (MultiQTL) was used to test for significant date and/or CO2 differences for the allelic effects of the detected QTL, where significance is an indication for a plasticity QTL. Plasticity QTL were also detected for the CO2 effect by using the difference between environments for A, gs and Wi as an estimator of plasticity. A significant CO2 or CO2 x date effect has been detected for two QTL for gs, whereas a significant date effect has been detected for two QTL for A and Wi, respectively. The results will be discussed in terms of allelic sensitivity or gene regulation plasticity theory. The detected QTL for Wi will play an important role in the ongoing French national project H2Oak (https://www6.inra.fr/anr-h2oak/) to select positional candidate genes for screening in natural populations

Plasma concentrations of efavirenz with a 600 mg standard dose in Cambodian HIV-infected adults treated for tuberculosis with a body weight above 50 kg

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