Vibration Isolation and Transmissibility Characteristics of Passive Sequential Damper

This paper presents a half-car model (4-degrees-of-freedom) employing nonlinear passlve sequential damper. The vibration isolation and transmrssibility effect on the vehicle's centre ofgravity (C.G.) has been studied. The results have been compared for transmissibility, displacement, and velocity transient response for half-car model having nonlinear passive sequentialhydropneumatic damper under different terrain excitation

Spectral properties of XRBs in dusty early-type galaxies

We present spectral properties of a total of 996 discrete X-ray sources resolved in a sample of 23 dusty early-type galaxies selected from different environments. The combined X-ray luminosity function of all the 996 sources within the optical \D of the sample galaxies is well described by a broken power law with a break at 2.71$\times$\te \lum and is close to the Eddington limit for a 1.4\Msun neutron star. Out of the 996, about 63\p of the sources have their X-ray luminosities in the range between few\tim\ts to 2.0 \tim \tn \lum and are like normal LMXBs; about 15-20\p with luminosities $<$ few \tim 10$^{37}$ \lum are either super-soft or very-soft sources; while the remainder represents ULXs, HMXBs or unrelated heavily absorbed harder sources. More XRBs have been detected in the galaxies from isolated regions while those from rich groups and clusters host very few sources. The X-ray color-color plot for these sources has enabled us to classify them as SNRs, LMXBs, HMXBs and heavily absorbed AGNs. The composite X-ray spectra of the resolved sources within \D region of each of the galaxies are best represented by a power law with the average photon spectral index close to 1.65. The contribution of the resolved sources to the total X-ray luminosity of their host is found to vary greatly, in the sense that, in galaxies like NGC 3379 the XRB contribution is about 81\p while for NGC 5846 it is only 2\p. A correlation has been evidenced between the cumulative X-ray luminosity of the resolved sources against the star formation rate and the Ks band luminosity of the target galaxies indicating their primordial origin.Comment: 15 Pages, 6 Figures & 2 Tables, Accepted for publication in New Astronom

Dust extinction and X-ray emission from the star burst galaxy NGC 1482

We present the results based on multiwavelength imaging observations of the prominent dust lane starburst galaxy NGC 1482 aimed to investigate the extinction properties of dust existing in the extreme environment. (B-V) colour-index map derived for the starburst galaxy NGC 1482 confirms two prominent dust lanes running along its optical major axis and are found to extend up to \sim 11 kpc. In addition to the main lanes, several filamentary structures of dust originating from the central starburst are also evident. Though, the dust is surrounded by exotic environment, the average extinction curve derived for this target galaxy is compatible with the Galactic curve, with RV =3.05, and imply that the dust grains responsible for the optical extinction in the target galaxy are not really different than the canonical grains in the Milky Way. Our estimate of total dust content of NGC 1482 assuming screening effect of dust is \sim 2.7 \times 10^5 Msun, and provide lower limit due to the fact that our method is not sensitive to the intermix component of dust. Comparison of the observed dust in the galaxy with that supplied by the SNe to the ISM, imply that this supply is not sufficient to account for the observed dust and hence point towards the origin of dust in this galaxy through a merger like event. Our multiband imaging analysis reveals a qualitative physical correspondence between the morphologies of the dust and H{\alpha} emission lines as well as diffuse X-ray emission in this galaxy. continue.... for more detail please see in pdf file.Comment: 22 pages, 11 Figures. Accepted for publication in New Astronom

`Zwicky's Nonet': a compact merging ensemble of nine galaxies and 4C 35.06, a peculiar radio galaxy with dancing radio jets

We report the results of our radio, optical and infra-red studies of a peculiar radio source 4C~35.06, an extended radio-loud AGN at the center of galaxy cluster Abell 407 ($z=0.047$). The central region of this cluster hosts a remarkably tight ensemble of nine galaxies, the spectra of which resemble those of passive red ellipticals, embedded within a diffuse stellar halo of $\sim$1~arcmin size. This system (named the `Zwicky's Nonet') provides unique and compelling evidence for a multiple-nucleus cD galaxy precursor. Multifrequency radio observations of 4C~35.06 with the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) at 610, 235 and 150 MHz reveal a system of 400~kpc scale helically twisted and kinked radio jets and outer diffuse lobes. The outer extremities of jets contain extremely steep spectrum (spectral index -1.7 to -2.5) relic/fossil radio plasma with a spectral age of a few$\,\times (10^7 - 10^8)$ yr. Such ultra-steep spectrum relic radio lobes without definitive hot-spots are rare, and they provide an opportunity to understand the life-cycle of relativistic jets and physics of black hole mergers in dense environments. We interpret our observations of this radio source in the context of the growth of its central black hole, triggering of its AGN activity and jet precession, all possibly caused by galaxy mergers in this dense galactic system. A slow conical precession of the jet axis due to gravitational perturbation between interacting black holes is invoked to explain the unusual jet morphology.Comment: Published in MNRAS | No. of pages 12, 10 figures and 4 tables. Comments are welcom

MACS J0553.4-3342: a young merging galaxy cluster caught through the eyes of Chandra and HST

FWN – Publicaties zonder aanstelling Universiteit Leide

Development of High Yielding Fusarium Wilt Resistant Cultivar by Pyramiding of “Genes” Through Marker-Assisted Backcrossing in Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.)

Pusa 391, a mega desi chickpea variety with medium maturity duration is extensively cultivated in the Central Zone of India. Of late, this variety has become susceptible to Fusarium wilt (FW), which has drastic impact on its yield. Presence of variability in the wilt causing pathogen, Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. ciceri (foc) across geographical locations necessitates the role of pyramiding for FW resistance for different races (foc 1,2,3,4 and 5). Subsequently, the introgression lines developed in Pusa 391 genetic background were subjected to foreground selection using three SSR markers (GA16, TA 27 and TA 96) while 48 SSR markers uniformly distributed on all chromosomes, were used for background selection to observe the recovery of recurrent parent genome (RPG). BC1F1 lines with 75–85% RPG recovery were used to generate BC2F1. The plants that showed more than 90% RPG recovery in BC2F1 were used for generating BC3F1. The plants that showed more than 96% RPG recovery were selected and selfed to generate BC3F3. Multi-location evaluation of advanced introgression lines (BC2F3) in six locations for grain yield (kg/ha), days to fifty percent flowering, days to maturity, 100 seed weight and disease incidence was done. In case of disease incidence, the genotype IL1 (BGM 20211) was highly resistant to FW in Junagarh, Indore, New Delhi, Badnapur and moderately resistant at Sehore and Nandyal. GGE biplot analysis revealed that IL1(BGM20211) was the most stable genotype at Junagadh, Sehore and Nandyal. GGE biplot analysis revealed that IL1(BGM 20211) and IL4(BGM 20212) were the top performers in yield and highly stable across six environments and were nominated for Advanced Varietal Trials (AVT) of AICRP (All India Coordinated Research Project on Chickpea) in 2018–19. BGM20211 and BGM 20212 recorded 29 and 28.5% average yield gain over the recurrent parent Pusa 391, in the AVT-1 and AVT-2 over five environments. Thus, BGM20211 was identified for release and notified as Pusa Manav/Pusa Chickpea 20211 for Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra, Southern Rajasthan, Bundhelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh states by the Central Sub-Committees on Crop Standards, Notification and Release of Varieties of Agricultural Crops, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India, for commercial cultivation in India (Gazette notification number S.O.500 (E) dt. 29-1-2021).Such pyramided lines give resilience to multiple races of fusarium wilt with added yield advantage

Mapping child growth failure across low- and middle-income countries

Childhood malnutrition is associated with high morbidity and mortality globally1. Undernourished children are more likely to experience cognitive, physical, and metabolic developmental impairments that can lead to later cardiovascular disease, reduced intellectual ability and school attainment, and reduced economic productivity in adulthood2. Child growth failure (CGF), expressed as stunting, wasting, and underweight in children under five years of age (0�59 months), is a specific subset of undernutrition characterized by insufficient height or weight against age-specific growth reference standards3�5. The prevalence of stunting, wasting, or underweight in children under five is the proportion of children with a height-for-age, weight-for-height, or weight-for-age z-score, respectively, that is more than two standard deviations below the World Health Organization�s median growth reference standards for a healthy population6. Subnational estimates of CGF report substantial heterogeneity within countries, but are available primarily at the first administrative level (for example, states or provinces)7; the uneven geographical distribution of CGF has motivated further calls for assessments that can match the local scale of many public health programmes8. Building from our previous work mapping CGF in Africa9, here we provide the first, to our knowledge, mapped high-spatial-resolution estimates of CGF indicators from 2000 to 2017 across 105 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where 99 of affected children live1, aggregated to policy-relevant first and second (for example, districts or counties) administrative-level units and national levels. Despite remarkable declines over the study period, many LMICs remain far from the ambitious World Health Organization Global Nutrition Targets to reduce stunting by 40 and wasting to less than 5 by 2025. Large disparities in prevalence and progress exist across and within countries; our maps identify high-prevalence areas even within nations otherwise succeeding in reducing overall CGF prevalence. By highlighting where the highest-need populations reside, these geospatial estimates can support policy-makers in planning interventions that are adapted locally and in efficiently directing resources towards reducing CGF and its health implications. © 2020, The Author(s)

Search for gravitational waves from Scorpius X-1 in the second Advanced LIGO observing run with an improved hidden Markov model

We present results from a semicoherent search for continuous gravitational waves from the low-mass x-ray binary Scorpius X-1, using a hidden Markov model (HMM) to track spin wandering. This search improves on previous HMM-based searches of LIGO data by using an improved frequency domain matched filter, the J-statistic, and by analyzing data from Advanced LIGO's second observing run. In the frequency range searched, from 60 to 650 Hz, we find no evidence of gravitational radiation. At 194.6 Hz, the most sensitive search frequency, we report an upper limit on gravitational wave strain (at 95% confidence) of h095%=3.47×10-25 when marginalizing over source inclination angle. This is the most sensitive search for Scorpius X-1, to date, that is specifically designed to be robust in the presence of spin wandering. © 2019 American Physical Society

Search for Tensor, Vector, and Scalar Polarizations in the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

The detection of gravitational waves with Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo has enabled novel tests of general relativity, including direct study of the polarization of gravitational waves. While general relativity allows for only two tensor gravitational-wave polarizations, general metric theories can additionally predict two vector and two scalar polarizations. The polarization of gravitational waves is encoded in the spectral shape of the stochastic gravitational-wave background, formed by the superposition of cosmological and individually unresolved astrophysical sources. Using data recorded by Advanced LIGO during its first observing run, we search for a stochastic background of generically polarized gravitational waves. We find no evidence for a background of any polarization, and place the first direct bounds on the contributions of vector and scalar polarizations to the stochastic background. Under log-uniform priors for the energy in each polarization, we limit the energy densities of tensor, vector, and scalar modes at 95% credibility to Ω0T<5.58×10-8, Ω0V<6.35×10-8, and Ω0S<1.08×10-7 at a reference frequency f0=25 Hz. © 2018 American Physical Society