Boron Phosphate and Aluminum Phosphate Aerogels

Anhydrous sol-gel condensation of triethyl phosphate [(CH3CH2O)3PO] with boron trichloride (BCL3 ) or triethyl aluminum [(CH3CH2 ) 3A1] in organic solvents, led to formation of metallophosphate gels. The pore fluid of the gels was removed under supercritical conditions in a pressurized vessel to form aerogels. The aerogels were then calcined at progressively higher temperatures to produce high surface area phosphates. Since the initial gel reagent mixtures contained several NMR active nuclei, the condensation chemistry prior to the gel point was monitored by solution nB NMR. The surface areas, distribution of pore sizes, and total pore volumes of the aerogel products were determined using nitrogen gas physisorption methods

The biosocial event : responding to innovation in the life sciences

Innovation in the life sciences calls for reflection on how sociologies separate and relate life processes and social processes. To this end we introduce the concept of the ‘biosocial event’. Some life processes and social processes have more mutual relevance than others. Some of these relationships are more negotiable than others. We show that levels of relevance and negotiability are not static but can change within existing relationships. Such changes, or biosocial events, lie at the heart of much unplanned biosocial novelty and much deliberate innovation. We illustrate and explore the concept through two examples – meningitis infection and epidemic, and the use of sonic ‘teen deterrents’ in urban settings. We then consider its value in developing sociological practice oriented to critically constructive engagement with innovation in the life sciences

A Photometric Survey for Variables and Transits in the Field of Praesepe with KELT

The Kilodegree Extremely Little Telescope (KELT) project is a small aperture, wide-angle search for planetary transits of solar-type stars. In this paper, we present the results of a commissioning campaign with the KELT telescope to observe the open cluster Praesepe for 34 nights in early 2005. Lightcurves were obtained for 69,337 stars, out of which we identify 58 long period variables and 152 periodic variables. Sixteen of these are previously known as variable, yielding 194 newly discovered variable stars for which we provide properties and lightcurves. We also searched for planetary-like transits, finding four transit candidates. Follow-up observations indicate that two of the candidates are astrophysical false positives, with two candidates remaining as potential planetary transits.Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures. Submitted to AJ. PDF version with full resolution figures located at http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pepper/kelt.pd

Microlens OGLE-2005-BLG-169 Implies Cool Neptune-Like Planets are Common

We detect a Neptune mass-ratio (q~8e-5) planetary companion to the lens star in the extremely high-magnification (A~800) microlensing event OGLE-2005-BLG-169. If the parent is a main-sequence star, it has mass M~0.5 M_sun implying a planet mass of ~13 M_earth and projected separation of ~2.7 AU. When intensely monitored over their peak, high-magnification events similar to OGLE-2005-BLG-169 have nearly complete sensitivity to Neptune mass-ratio planets with projected separations of 0.6 to 1.6 Einstein radii, corresponding to 1.6--4.3 AU in the present case. Only two other such events were monitored well enough to detect Neptunes, and so this detection by itself suggests that Neptune mass-ratio planets are common. Moreover, another Neptune was recently discovered at a similar distance from its parent star in a low-magnification event, which are more common but are individually much less sensitive to planets. Combining the two detections yields 90% upper and lower frequency limits f=0.37^{+0.30}_{-0.21} over just 0.4 decades of planet-star separation. In particular, f>16% at 90% confidence. The parent star hosts no Jupiter-mass companions with projected separations within a factor 5 of that of the detected planet. The lens-source relative proper motion is \mu~7--10 mas/yr, implying that if the lens is sufficiently bright, I<23.8, it will be detectable by HST by 3 years after peak. This would permit a more precise estimate of the lens mass and distance, and so the mass and projected separation of the planet. Analogs of OGLE-2005-BLG-169Lb orbiting nearby stars would be difficult to detect by other methods of planet detection, including radial velocities, transits, or astrometry.Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letters, 9 text pages + 4 figures + 1 tabl

Antenatal Determinants of Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia and Late Respiratory Disease in Preterm Infants

RATIONALE: Mechanisms contributing to chronic lung disease after preterm birth are incompletely understood. OBJECTIVES: To identify antenatal risk factors associated with increased risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) and respiratory disease during early childhood after preterm birth, we performed a prospective, longitudinal study of 587 preterm infants with gestational age less than 34 weeks and birth weights between 500 and 1,250 g. METHODS: Data collected included perinatal information and assessments during the neonatal intensive care unit admission and longitudinal follow-up by questionnaire until 2 years of age. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: After adjusting for covariates, we found that maternal smoking prior to preterm birth increased the odds of having an infant with BPD by twofold (P = 0.02). Maternal smoking was associated with prolonged mechanical ventilation and respiratory support during the neonatal intensive care unit admission. Preexisting hypertension was associated with a twofold (P = 0.04) increase in odds for BPD. Lower gestational age and birth weight z-scores were associated with BPD. Preterm infants who were exposed to maternal smoking had higher rates of late respiratory disease during childhood. Twenty-two percent of infants diagnosed with BPD and 34% of preterm infants without BPD had no clinical signs of late respiratory disease during early childhood. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that maternal smoking and hypertension increase the odds for developing BPD after preterm birth, and that maternal smoking is strongly associated with increased odds for late respiratory morbidities during early childhood. These findings suggest that in addition to the BPD diagnosis at 36 weeks, other factors modulate late respiratory outcomes during childhood. We speculate that measures to reduce maternal smoking not only will lower the risk for preterm birth but also will improve late respiratory morbidities after preterm birth

Detection of Extrasolar Planets by Gravitational Microlensing

Gravitational microlensing provides a unique window on the properties and prevalence of extrasolar planetary systems because of its ability to find low-mass planets at separations of a few AU. The early evidence from microlensing indicates that the most common type of exoplanet yet detected are the so-called "super-Earth" planets of ~10 Earth-masses at a separation of a few AU from their host stars. The detection of two such planets indicates that roughly one third of stars have such planets in the separation range 1.5-4 AU, which is about an order of magnitude larger than the prevalence of gas-giant planets at these separations. We review the basic physics of the microlensing method, and show why this method allows the detection of Earth-mass planets at separations of 2-3 AU with ground-based observations. We explore the conditions that allow the detection of the planetary host stars and allow measurement of planetary orbital parameters. Finally, we show that a low-cost, space-based microlensing survey can provide a comprehensive statistical census of extrasolar planetary systems with sensitivity down to 0.1 Earth-masses at separations ranging from 0.5 AU to infinity.Comment: 43 pages. Very similar to chapter 3 of Exoplanets: Detection, Formation, Properties, Habitability, John Mason, ed. Springer (April 3, 2008

Microlensing in H1413+117 : disentangling line profile emission and absorption in a broad absorption line quasar

On the basis of 16 years of spectroscopic observations of the four components of the gravitationally lensed broad absorption line (BAL) quasar H1413+117, covering the ultraviolet to visible rest-frame spectral range, we analyze the spectral differences observed in the P Cygni-type line profiles and have used the microlensing effect to derive new clues to the BAL profile formation. We confirm that the spectral differences observed in component D can be attributed to a microlensing effect lasting at least a decade. We show that microlensing magnifies the continuum source in image D, leaving the emission line region essentially unaffected. We interpret the differences seen in the absorption profiles of component D as the result of an emission line superimposed onto a nearly black absorption profile. We also find that the continuum source and a part of the broad emission line region are likely de-magnified in component C, while components A and B are not affected by microlensing. We show that microlensing of the continuum source in component D has a chromatic dependence compatible with the thermal continuum emission of a standard Shakura-Sunyaev accretion disk. Using a simple decomposition method to separate the part of the line profiles affected by microlensing and coming from a compact region from the part unaffected by this effect and coming from a larger region, we disentangle the true absorption line profiles from the true emission line profiles. The extracted emission line profiles appear double-peaked, suggesting that the emission is occulted by a strong absorber, narrower in velocity than the full absorption profile, and emitting little by itself. We propose that the outflow around H1413+117 is constituted by a high-velocity polar flow and a denser, lower velocity disk seen nearly edge-on.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Reverberation Mapping Measurements of Black Hole Masses in Six Local Seyfert Galaxies

We present the final results from a high sampling rate, multi-month, spectrophotometric reverberation mapping campaign undertaken to obtain either new or improved Hbeta reverberation lag measurements for several relatively low-luminosity AGNs. We have reliably measured thetime delay between variations in the continuum and Hbeta emission line in six local Seyfert 1 galaxies. These measurements are used to calculate the mass of the supermassive black hole at the center of each of these AGNs. We place our results in context to the most current calibration of the broad-line region (BLR) R-L relationship, where our results remove outliers and reduce the scatter at the low-luminosity end of this relationship. We also present velocity-resolved Hbeta time delay measurements for our complete sample, though the clearest velocity-resolved kinematic signatures have already been published.Comment: 52 pages (AASTeX: 29 pages of text, 8 tables, 7 figures), accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

A Revised Broad-Line Region Radius and Black Hole Mass for the Narrow-Line Seyfert 1 NGC 4051

We present the first results from a high sampling rate, multi-month reverberation mapping campaign undertaken primarily at MDM Observatory with supporting observations from telescopes around the world. The primary goal of this campaign was to obtain either new or improved Hbeta reverberation lag measurements for several relatively low luminosity AGNs. We feature results for NGC 4051 here because, until now, this object has been a significant outlier from AGN scaling relationships, e.g., it was previously a ~2-3sigma outlier on the relationship between the broad-line region (BLR) radius and the optical continuum luminosity - the R_BLR-L relationship. Our new measurements of the lag time between variations in the continuum and Hbeta emission line made from spectroscopic monitoring of NGC 4051 lead to a measured BLR radius of R_BLR = 1.87 (+0.54 -0.50) light days and black hole mass of M_BH = 1.73 (+0.55 -0.52) x 10^6 M_sun. This radius is consistent with that expected from the R_BLR-L relationship, based on the present luminosity of NGC 4051 and the most current calibration of the relation by Bentz et al. (2009a). We also present a preliminary look at velocity-resolved Hbeta light curves and time delay measurements, although we are unable to reconstruct an unambiguous velocity-resolved reverberation signal.Comment: 38 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ, changes from v1 reflect suggestions from anonymous refere