Spectroscopy of Giant Stars in the Pyxis Globular Cluster

The Pyxis globular cluster is a recently discovered globular cluster that lies in the outer halo (R_{gc} ~ 40 kpc) of the Milky Way. Pyxis lies along one of the proposed orbital planes of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), and it has been proposed to be a detached LMC globular cluster captured by the Milky Way. We present the first measurement of the radial velocity of the Pyxis globular cluster based on spectra of six Pyxis giant stars. The mean heliocentric radial velocity is ~ 36 km/sec, and the corresponding velocity of Pyxis with respect to a stationary observer at the position of the Sun is ~ -191 km/sec. This radial velocity is a large enough fraction of the cluster's expected total space velocity, assuming that it is bound to the Milky Way, that it allows strict limits to be placed on the range of permissible transverse velocities that Pyxis could have in the case that it still shares or nearly shares an orbital pole with the LMC. We can rule out that Pyxis is on a near circular orbit if it is Magellanic debris, but we cannot rule out an eccentric orbit associated with the LMC. We have calculated the range of allowed proper motions for the Pyxis globular cluster that result in the cluster having an orbital pole within 15 degrees of the present orbital pole of the LMC and that are consistent with our measured radial velocity, but verification of the tidal capture hypothesis must await proper motion measurement from the Space Interferometry Mission or HST. A spectroscopic metallicity estimate of [Fe/H] = -1.4 +/- 0.1 is determined for Pyxis from several spectra of its brightest giant; this is consistent with photometric determinations of the cluster metallicity from isochrone fitting.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, aaspp4 style, accepted for publication in October, 2000 issue of the PAS

National Consultation-Workshop on Alternative Mechanisms for the Promotion of Microfinance in Vietnam

On 24-26, 1996, the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture (VBA) and the Asia Pacific Rural and Agricultural Association (APRACA) held a joint workshop in Hanoi on Alternative Mechanisms for the Promotion of Microfinance in Vietnam. The workshop was hosted by VBA and supported by the German technical assistance agency GTZ. The workshop was attended by some 60 national participants from the State Bank of Vietnam, the Government Office, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Central Economics Committee, the People's and Mountainous Committee, the Vietnam Bank for Agriculture, the Vietnam Bank for the Poor, the Central People's Credit Fund, the National Economics University, the Vietnamese Farmers' Association, and the Vietnamese Women's Union. Further the workshop was attended by some 20 foreign participants from APRACA, ACS (APRACA Consultancy Services), BAAC (Bank of Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives) in Thailand, Bank Indonesia & PHBK, Bank Rakyat Indonesia, CIDSE (an international NGO in Vietnam), GTZ, NABARD from India, and UNDP (Hanoi and Kuala Lumpur). --

Relational implications of communication skill evaluations and love styles.

Abstract OnlyAs values placed by individuals on communication skills may associate with experiences of romantic love, this study explores relationships between communication values and the adoption of six major love styles (Lee, 1973). Two hundred and seventy‐two participants (119 males and 153 females) completed an expanded version of Burleson and Samter's (1990) Communication Functions Questionnaire, which generates judgments about the importance of several communication skills, and Hendrick and Hendrick's (1986) Love Attitudes Scale, which provides assessments of love styles. Results indicated numerous significant associations between communication values and love styles, sex differences in the evaluation of some communication values and in the adoption of some love styles, and that sex moderates relationships between some of the communication values and love styles

Assessing explanations for sex differences in emotional support: A test of the different cultures and skill specialization accounts

Abstract OnlyResearch documents sex differences in interpersonal behaviors, such as comforting and emotional support, with women consistently being more likely than men to engage in comforting behavior, to produce sophisticated comforting messages, to value comforting skills, and to select friends based on comforting skills. Explanations for these gender differences include the “different cultures account” and the “skill specialization account.” This research was designed to test these explanations by assessing contrasting predictions derived from each account. Participants completed questionnaires assessing the types of comforting messages perceived as most sensitive and effective, preferences for the sex of comfort providers, and priorities assigned to affective and instrumental goals in comforting contexts. The results indicated that men and women evaluated comforting messages similarly, preferred receiving emotional support from female providers, and had similar priorities in comforting contexts. These results are most consistent with the skill specialization account and provide virtually no support for the different cultures account

Identity Implications of Influence Goals: Similarities in Perceived face Threats and Facework Across Sex and Close Relationships

Abstract OnlyThis study tests the generalizability of Wilson, Aleman, & Leatham’s revised analysis of face threats and facework during compliance-gaining episodes. According to this revised analysis, threats to face arise from tacit knowledge about (a) specific influence goals (e.g., giving advice, asking favors) and (b) the rules for directives (e.g., requests) that underlie any attempt to seek compliance. Both types of knowledge are shared widely; hence, the distinct face threats of advice versus favors should generalize across sex and close relationships. Message sources give reasons as facework to redress particular face threats in an episode defined by a specific influence goal; hence, patterns of reason giving also should differ in advice versus favor episodes. Participants (N = 231 undergraduates) recalled an actual conversation in which they either gave advice to or asked a favor of a close same-sex friend, opposite-sex friend, or romantic partner and then rated threats to the message target’s face and their own. Results for both perceived face threats and reason giving are consistent with the revised analysis. Comparisons with Brown and Levinson’s politeness theory, as well as implications for future research, are drawn

Parental and Peer Contributions to the Emotional Support Skills of the Child: From Whom Do Children Learn to Express Support?

DOI: 10.1207/S15327698JFC0202_02With advancing age, children increasingly turn to peers for emotional support, and the child's ability to provide sensitive emotional support to peers becomes an increasingly important predictor of social acceptance. Although individual differences in emotional support skills become evident in early childhood, little is known about the social experiences that lead some children to become more skillful providers of emotional support than others. The present study assessed the influence of two socialization agents, parents and peers, on individual differences in children's emotional support skills. Participants included 51 first- and third-grade children, their mothers, and their classmates. Assessments obtained from each child of three skills related to the provision of emotional support included: comforting skill, affective perspective-taking ability, and social perspective-taking ability. Measures of comforting skill were obtained from both the child's mother and three classmates with whom each child frequently interacted. Correlational and regression analyses indicate that the comforting skills of mothers and peers independently contribute to the child's capacity to produce sensitive comforting messages. In addition, peers' comforting skills were significant predictors of the child's affective perspective taking ability. The results indicate different theoretical mechanisms may link the behavior of parents and peers to the social competencies of the child

Constraining the History of the Sagittarius Dwarf Galaxy Using Observations of its Tidal Debris

We present a comparison of semi-analytic models of the phase-space structure of tidal debris with observations of stars associated with the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy (Sgr). We find that many features in the data can be explained by these models. The properties of stars 10-15 degrees away from the center of Sgr --- in particular, the orientation of material perpendicular to Sgr's orbit (c.f. Alard 1996) and the kink in the velocity gradient (Ibata et al 1997) --- are consistent with those expected for unbound material stripped during the most recent pericentric passage ~50 Myrs ago. The break in the slope of the surface density seen by Mateo, Olszewski & Morrison (1998) at ~ b=-35 can be understood as marking the end of this material. However, the detections beyond this point are unlikely to represent debris in a trailing streamer, torn from Sgr during the immediately preceding passage ~0.7 Gyrs ago, but are more plausibly explained by a leading streamer of material that was lost more that 1 Gyr ago and has wrapped all the way around the Galaxy. The observations reported in Majewski et al (1999) also support this hypothesis. We determine debris models with these properties on orbits that are consistent with the currently known positions and velocities of Sgr in Galactic potentials with halo components that have circular velocities v_circ=140-200 km/s. The best match to the data is obtained in models where Sgr currently has a mass of ~10^9 M_sun and has orbited the Galaxy for at least the last 1 Gyr, during which time it has reduced its mass by a factor of 2-3, or luminosity by an amount equivalent to ~10% of the total luminosity of the Galactic halo. These numbers suggest that Sgr is rapidly disrupting and unlikely to survive beyond a few more pericentric passages.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Astronomical Journa