Ultraviolet properties of IRAS-selected Be stars

New IUE observations were obtained of 35 Be stars from a list of stars which show excess infrared fluxes in IRAS data. The IRAS-selected Be stars show larger C IV and Si IV equivalent widths than other Be stars. Excess C IV and Si IV absorption seems to be independent of spectral type for IRAS-selected Be stars later than spectral type B4. This is interpreted as evidence for a possible second mechanism acting in conjunction with radiation pressure for producing the winds in Be stars. No clear correlation of IR excess of v sin i with C IV or Si IV equivalent widths is seen, although a threshold for the occurrence of excess C IV and Si IV absorption appears at a v sin i of 150 km/sec

Impact Assessment of agricultural research and development to reduce virus problems in tomato production in Mali: Farmers perceptions

Pests and diseases caused by bacteria, nematodes, fungi and viruses cause significant losses to tomato in West Africa. This study, carried-out within the framework of the IPM-CRSP implemented jointly by IITA, IER and Virginia Tech. and State University, assesses farmers’ perceptions on tomato pests and analyzes factors affecting pest management decision-making. Surveys were carried out in three tomato production areas where pests and diseases are major agricultural problems encountered by farmers. Data were collected a sample of from 343 farmers through a set of questionnaires on tomato production systems. Farmer’s decision-making in pest management was modeled using an econometrics Logit probability model. Results show that the main disease reported by most farmers is tomato leaf curl viruses transmitted by whitefly (Bemissia tabaci). The spray of chemicals was not effective on whitefly-transmitted viruses, but the observance of host free period could significantly reduce the population of whiteflies. Key factors affecting farmers’ pest management decision-making are gender; share of tomato income from household income and the level of farm income. Men are more involved in tomato production due to access to pesticide and effective demand for pesticides because of incomes (purchasing power). This paper concludes that tomato production can increase significantly if improved varieties tolerant to whitefly viruses are developed and disseminated, and farmers trained on the appropriate use of chemicals using a participatory approach to raise their level of awareness and information on effective pesticide use and pest-management decision-making.Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance, Crop Production/Industries, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, International Relations/Trade, Marketing, Productivity Analysis, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Spot deformation and replication in the two-dimensional Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction in water-in-oil microemulsion

In the limit of large diffusivity ratio, spot-like solutions in the two-dimensional Belousov-Zhabotinski reaction in water-in-oil microemulsion are studied. It is shown analytically that such spots undergo an instability as the diffusivity ratio is decreased. An instability threshold is derived. For spots of small radius, it is shown that this instability leads to a spot splitting into precisely two spots. For larger spots, it leads to deformation, fingering patterns and space-filling curves. Numerical simulations are shown to be in close agreement with the analytical predictions.Comment: To appear, PR

Solicitors General Panel on the Legacy of the Rehnquist Court

All of us who are speaking probably share the same giddy feeling in front of a microphone with no red light. For years, my daughter told people that the greatest threat to Western civilization was her father at a podium without a red light. Before becoming Solicitor General, I spent my career as a trial lawyer, arguing only a few appeals. I found this red light tradition a little peculiar. More often than not, timers and lights in courts of appeals are viewed as advisory at best. I\u27ve had arguments where ten minutes were allocated per side, and yet argument extended until the afternoon. In another case that allocated ninety minutes per side and began at nine o\u27clock, we didn\u27t actually finish until four o\u27clock in the afternoon. So coming into the SG\u27s office, my view about the red light was, well, perhaps it shows your time has nominally expired, but undoubtedly the Justices will have other questions. And in any event, I might want to take a few extra minutes to address additional points. That was so wrong. The red light ended everything-absolutely everything-and not just for the advocates; it also ended the questioning of the Associate Justices. The Chief Justice was an equal opportunity cutter-offer. On many occasions, he cut off oral argument when a Justice was at the outset of a question he or she had been trying to get out in the open oral combat that was advocacy in the Supreme Court of Chief Justice Rehnquist

Necessary and Sufficient Condition that the Limit of Stieltjes Transforms is a Stieltjes Transform

The pointwise limit S of a sequence of Stieltjes transforms (Sn) of real Borel probability measures (Pn) is itself the Stieltjes transform of a Borel p.m. P if and only if iy S(iy) →−1as y →∞, in which case Pn converges to P in distribution. Applications are given to several problems in mathematical physics

Near-infrared observations of active asteroid (3200) Phaethon reveal no evidence for hydration

Asteroid (3200) Phaethon is an active near-Earth asteroid and the parent body of the Geminid Meteor Shower. Because of its small perihelion distance, Phaethon's surface reaches temperatures sufficient to destabilize hydrated materials. We conducted rotationally resolved spectroscopic observations of this asteroid, mostly covering the northern hemisphere and the equatorial region, beyond 2.5-micron to search for evidence of hydration on its surface. Here we show that the observed part of Phaethon does not exhibit the 3-micron hydrated mineral absorption (within 2-sigma). These observations suggest that Phaethon's modern activity is not due to volatile sublimation or devolatilization of phyllosilicates on its surface. It is possible that the observed part of Phaethon was originally hydrated and has since lost volatiles from its surface via dehydration, supporting its connection to the Pallas family, or it was formed from anhydrous material

New Insights on Interstellar Gas-Phase Iron

In this paper, we report on the gas-phase abundance of singly-ionized iron (Fe II) for 51 lines of sight, using data from the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE). Fe II column densities are derived by measuring the equivalent widths of several ultraviolet absorption lines and subsequently fitting those to a curve of growth. Our derivation of Fe II column densities and abundances creates the largest sample of iron abundances in moderately- to highly-reddened lines of sight explored with FUSE, lines of sight that are on average more reddened than lines of sight in previous Copernicus studies. We present three major results. First, we observe the well-established correlation between iron depletion and and also find trends between iron depletion and other line of sight parameters (e.g. f(H_2), E_(B-V), and A_V), and examine the significance of these trends. Of note, a few of our lines of sight probe larger densities than previously explored and we do not see significantly enhanced depletion effects. Second, we present two detections of an extremely weak Fe II line at 1901.773 A in the archival STIS spectra of two lines of sight (HD 24534 and HD 93222). We compare these detections to the column densities derived through FUSE spectra and comment on the line's f-value and utility for future studies of Fe II. Lastly, we present strong anecdotal evidence that the Fe II f-values derived empirically through FUSE data are more accurate than previous values that have been theoretically calculated, with the probable exception of f_1112.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 669, 378; see ApJ version for small updates. 53 total pages (preprint format), 7 tables, 11 figure

An investigation of temperature-sensing textiles for temperature monitoring during sub-maximal cycling trials

Temperature sensing textiles have been proposed for a variety of applications including health monitoring and sports. Skin temperature (Tsk) measurements are an important parameter in performance sports and can be used to better understand thermoregulation during exercise. Currently, most Tsk measurements are taken using skin mounted thermistors, which can be uncomfortable to the wearer, or thermal imaging, which can be difficult to implement and analyse. This work investigates the feasibility of using textile temperature sensing electronic yarns (E-yarns) to measure human skin temperature during sub maximal cycling trials. E-yarns were attached to commercially available cycling suits and measurements were recorded using both the E-yarns and the skin mounted thermistors at rest and during sub maximal cycling. Temperature readings were compared between the two temperature sensing methodologies to determine the viability of using the temperature sensing E-yarns for this application. Differences in the Tsk measurements as high as 5.9 °C between the E-yarns and skin mounted thermistors for participants at rest have been shown. This work has also identified that a build-up of sweat significantly altered the Tsk recorded by the E-yarns in some cases. Further experiments explored the effect of saline solutions (simulating sweat) on the response of the temperature sensing E-yarns. This work has highlighted boundary conditions for taking point Tsk measurement using electronic textiles