2,612 research outputs found
Book Review: Freedom or Order? The eucharistic liturgy in English Congregationalism 1645-1980: Freedom or Order? The eucharistic liturgy in English Congregationalism 1645-1980. By SpinksBrian D.. (Pittsburgh Theological Monographs, NS 8.) Pp. xii + 290. Allison Park, PA: Pickwick Publications, 1984. $22.50
Cecil Gerahty’s The Road to Madrid: An Anglo-Irish Falstaff in Spain’s Theatre of War
The main goal of this article is to make better known a largely neglected work on the Spanish Civil War, The Road to Madrid, and its author, Cecil Gerahty. The work, which combines war reportage with travelogue, is first situated in its publishing context and then its chief claims to historiographical notoriety are explained. There follows a survey of the biographical data available for Gerahty’s life and a sketch of his character and personality based on the internal evidence of his book. After a general overview of The Road to Madrid’s contents and main characteristics, Gerahty’s connoisseurial attitude to the conflict and his aestheticisation of trauma are examined, with a discussion of their possible causes and consequences
Calcium-Rich Gap Transients: Tidal Detonations of White Dwarfs?
We hypothesize that at least some of the recently discovered class of
calcium-rich gap transients are tidal detonation events of white dwarfs (WDs)
by black holes (BHs) or possibly neutron stars. We show that the properties of
the calcium-rich gap transients agree well with the predictions of the tidal
detonation model. Under the predictions of this model, we use a follow-up X-ray
observation of one of these transients, SN 2012hn, to place weak upper limits
on the detonator mass of this system that include all intermediate-mass BHs
(IMBHs). As these transients are preferentially in the stellar haloes of
galaxies, we discuss the possibility that these transients are tidal
detonations of WDs caused by random flyby encounters with IMBHs in dwarf
galaxies or globular clusters. This possibility has been already suggested in
the literature but without connection to the calcium-rich gap transients. In
order for the random flyby cross-section to be high enough, these events would
have to be occurring inside these dense stellar associations. However, there is
a lack of evidence for IMBHs in these systems, and recent observations have
ruled out all but the very faintest dwarf galaxies and globular clusters for a
few of these transients. Another possibility is that these are tidal
detonations caused by three-body interactions, where a WD is perturbed toward
the detonator in isolated multiple star systems. We highlight a number of ways
this could occur, even in lower-mass systems with stellar-mass BHs or neutron
stars. Finally, we outline several new observational tests of this scenario,
which are feasible with current instrumentation.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in MNRA
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MUSCULOSKELETAL STRENGTH, PHYSIOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS, AND KNEE KINESTHESIA FOLLOWING FATIGUING EXERCISE
Fatiguing exercise may result in impaired functional joint stability and increased risk of unintentional injury. While there are several musculoskeletal and physiological characteristics related to fatigue onset, their relationship with proprioceptive changes following fatigue has not been examined. The purpose of this study was to establish the relationship between musculoskeletal and physiological characteristics and changes in proprioception, measured by threshold to detect passive motion (TTDPM), following fatiguing exercise. Twenty, physically active females participated (age: 28.65 ± 5.6 years, height: 165.6 ± 4.3 cm, weight: 61.8 ± 8.0 kg, BMI: 22.5± 2.3 kg/m2, BF: 23.3 ± 5.4%). During Visit 1, subjects completed an exercise history and 24-hour dietary questionnaire, and body composition, TTDPM familiarization, isokinetic knee strength, and maximal oxygen uptake/lactate threshold assessments. During Visit 2, subjects completed TTDPM and isometric knee strength testing prior to and following a fatiguing exercise protocol. Wilcoxon signed rank tests determined TTDPM and isometric knee strength changes from pre- to post- fatigue. Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients determined the relationship between strength and physiological variables with pre- to post-fatigue changes in TTDPM and with pre-fatigue and post-fatigue TTDPM in extension and flexion (α=0.05). No significant differences were demonstrated from pre-fatigue to post-fatigue TTDPM despite a significant decrease in isometric knee flexion strength (P<0.01) and flexion/extension ratio (P<0.05) following fatigue. No significant correlations were observed between strength or physiological variables and changes in TTDPM from pre- to post-fatigue in extension or flexion. Flexion/extension ratio was significantly correlated with pre-fatigue TTDPM in extension (r=-0.231, P<0.05). Peak oxygen uptake was significantly correlated with pre-fatigue (r=-0.500, P<0.01) and post-fatigue (r=-0.520, P<0.05) TTDPM in extension. No significant relationships were demonstrated between musculoskeletal and physiological characteristics and changes in TTDPM following fatigue. The results suggest that highly trained individuals may have better proprioception, and that the high fitness level of subjects in this investigation may have contributed to absence of TTDPM deficits following fatigue despite reaching a high level of perceptual and physiological fatigue. Future studies should consider various subject populations, other musculoskeletal strength characteristics, and different modalities of proprioception to determine the most important contributions to proprioceptive changes following fatigue
Parsec-Scale Bipolar X-ray Shocks Produced by Powerful Jets from the Neutron Star Circinus X-1
We report the discovery of multi-scale X-ray jets from the accreting neutron
star X-ray binary, Circinus X-1. The bipolar outflows show wide opening angles
and are spatially coincident with the radio jets seen in new high-resolution
radio images of the region. The morphology of the emission regions suggests
that the jets from Circinus X-1 are running into a terminal shock with the
interstellar medium, as is seen in powerful radio galaxies. This and other
observations indicate that the jets have a wide opening angle, suggesting that
the jets are either not very well collimated or precessing. We interpret the
spectra from the shocks as cooled synchrotron emission and derive a cooling age
of approximately 1600 yr. This allows us to constrain the jet power to be
between 3e35 erg/s and 2e37 erg/s, making this one of a few microquasars with a
direct measurement of its jet power and the only known microquasar that
exhibits stationary large-scale X-ray emission.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal
Letter
Lord of the Rings: A Kinematic Distance to Circinus X-1 from a Giant X-Ray Light Echo
Circinus X-1 exhibited a bright X-ray flare in late 2013. Follow-up
observations with Chandra and XMM-Newton from 40 to 80 days after the flare
reveal a bright X-ray light echo in the form of four well-defined rings with
radii from 5 to 13 arcminutes, growing in radius with time. The large fluence
of the flare and the large column density of interstellar dust towards Circinus
X-1 make this the largest and brightest set of rings from an X-ray light echo
observed to date. By deconvolving the radial intensity profile of the echo with
the MAXI X-ray lightcurve of the flare we reconstruct the dust distribution
towards Circinus X-1 into four distinct dust concentrations. By comparing the
peak in scattering intensity with the peak intensity in CO maps of molecular
clouds from the Mopra Southern Galactic Plane CO Survey we identify the two
innermost rings with clouds at radial velocity ~ -74 km/s and ~ -81 km/s,
respectively. We identify a prominent band of foreground photoelectric
absorption with a lane of CO gas at ~ -32 km/s. From the association of the
rings with individual CO clouds we determine the kinematic distance to Circinus
X-1 to be kpc. This distance rules out
earlier claims of a distance around 4 kpc, implies that Circinus X-1 is a
frequent super-Eddington source, and places a lower limit of on the Lorentz factor and an upper limit of on the jet viewing angle.Comment: 20 pages, 21 figures, Astrophysical Journal, in prin
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