Classical orbital paramagnetism in non-equilibrium steady state

We report the results of our numerical simulation of classical-dissipative dynamics of a charged particle subjected to a non-markovian stochastic forcing. We find that the system develops a steady-state orbital magnetic moment in the presence of a static magnetic field. Very significantly, the sign of the orbital magnetic moment turns out to be {\it paramagnetic} for our choice of parameters, varied over a wide range. This is shown specifically for the case of classical dynamics driven by a Kubo-Anderson type non-markovian noise. Natural spatial boundary condition was imposed through (1) a soft (harmonic) confining potential, and (2) a hard potential, approximating a reflecting wall. There was no noticeable qualitative difference. What appears to be crucial to the orbital magnetic effect noticed here is the non-markovian property of the driving noise chosen. Experimental realization of this effect on the laboratory scale, and its possible implications are briefly discussed. We would like to emphasize that the above steady-state classical orbital paramagnetic moment complements, rather than contradicts the Bohr-van Leeuwen (BvL) theorem on the absence of classical orbital diamagnetism in thermodynamic equilibrium.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Has appeared in Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy special issue on 'Physics of Neutron Stars and Related Objects', celebrating the 75th birth-year of G. Srinivasa

Time-resolved photometric and spectroscopic analysis of a luminous Ap star HD103498

We present the results on the photometric and spectroscopic monitoring of a luminous Ap star HD103498. The time-series photometric observations were carried out on 17 nights using three-channel fast photometer attached to the 1.04-m optical telescope at ARIES, Nainital. The photometric data of five nights of year 2007 show clear signature of 15-min periodicity. However, the follow-up observations during 2007--2009 could not repeated any such periodicity. To confirm the photometric light variations, the time-series spectroscopic observations were carried out with the 2.56-m Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) at La Palma on February 2, 2009. Any radial velocity variations were absent in this data set which is in full agreement with the photometric observations taken near the same night. Model atmosphere and abundance analysis of HD103498 show that the star is evolved from the Main Sequence and its atmospheric abundances are similar to two other evolved Ap stars HD133792 and HD204411: large overabundances of Si, Cr, and Fe and moderate overabundances of the rare-earth elements. These chemical properties and a higher effective temperature distinguish HD103498 from any known roAp star.Comment: 8 Figures, 2 Tables, 9 Pages, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Towards a new crown indicator: an empirical analysis

We present an empirical comparison between two normalization mechanisms for citation-based indicators of research performance. These mechanisms aim to normalize citation counts for the field and the year in which a publication was published. One mechanism is applied in the current so-called crown indicator of our institute. The other mechanism is applied in the new crown indicator that our institute is currently exploring. We find that at high aggregation levels, such as at the level of large research institutions or at the level of countries, the differences between the two mechanisms are very small. At lower aggregation levels, such as at the level of research groups or at the level of journals, the differences between the two mechanisms are somewhat larger. We pay special attention to the way in which recent publications are handled. These publications typically have very low citation counts and should therefore be handled with special care

City Blueprints: Baseline Assessments of Sustainable Water Management in 11 Cities of the Future

The necessity of Urban Water Cycle Services (UWCS) adapting to future stresses calls for changes that take sustainability into account. Megatrends (e.g. population growth, water scarcity, pollution and climate change) pose urgent water challenges in cities. In a previous paper, a set of indicators, i.e., the City Blueprint has been developed to assess the sustainability ofUWCS (Van Leeuwen et al.,Wat Resour Manage 26:2177¿2197, 2012). In this paper this approach has been applied in 9 cities and regions in Europe (Amsterdam, Algarve, Athens, Bucharest, Hamburg, Reggio Emilia, Rotterdam, Oslo and Cities of Scotland) and in 2 African cities in Angola (Kilamba Kiaxi) and Tanzania (Dar es Salaam). The assessments showed that cities vary considerably with regard to the sustainability of theUWCS. This is also captured in the Blue City Index (BCI), the arithmetic mean of 24 indicators comprising the City Blueprint (Van Leeuwen et al., Wat Resour Manage 26:2177¿2197, 2012). Theoretically, the BCI has a minimum score of 0 and a maximum score of 10. The actual BCIs in the 11 cities studied varied from 3.31 (Kilamba Kiaxi) to 7.72 (Hamburg). The BCI was positively correlated with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per person, the ambitions of the local authorities regarding the sustainability of the UWCS, the voluntary participation index (VPI) and all governance indicators according to the World Bank. The study demonstrated that the variability in sustainability among the UWCS of cities offers great opportunities for short-term and long-term improvements, provided that cities share their best practices.Van Leeuwen, CJ. (2013). City Blueprints: Baseline Assessments of Sustainable Water Management in 11 Cities of the Future. Water resources management. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-013-0462-5Bai X (2007) Industrial ecology and the global impacts of cities. J Industr Ecol 11:1–6Brown RR, Keath N, Wong THF (2009) Urban water management in cities: Historical, current and future regimes. Water Sci Technol 59:847–855De Graaf R, van de Giessen N, van de Ven F (2007a) Alternative water management options to reduce vulnerability for climate change in the Netherlands. Nat Hazards 5:407–422De Graaf RE, van de Giessen NC, van de Ven FHM (2007b) The closed city as a strategy to reduce vulnerability of urban areas for climate change. Water Sci Technol 56:165–173EEA (2010) European Environment Agency. The European environment. State and outlook 2010. Synthesis. Copenhagen, DenmarkEEA (2012) European Environment Agency. Urban adaptation to climate change in Europe. Challenges and opportunities for cities together with supportive national and European policies. Synthesis, Copenhagen, DenmarkEFILWC (2006) First European quality of life survey: participation in civil society. European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, Dublin. http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/publications/htmlfiles/ef0676.htm . Accessed 21 February 2011Engel K, Jokiel D, Kraljevic A, Geiger M, Smith K (2011) Big cities. Big water. Big challenges. Water in an urbanizing world. World wildlife fund, KoberichEnvironmental Performance Index (2010) http://www.epi2010.yale.edu/Metrics/WaterEffectsOnEcosystem . Accessed 30 March 2012European Commission (2012) Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A Blueprint to Safeguard Europe’s Water Resources. COM (2012)673 finalEuropean Commission (2013) European Innovation Partnership on water (EIP Water). http://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/innovationpartnership/European green city index (2009) Assessing the environmental impact of Europe’s major cities. A research project conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit, http://www.siemens.com/press/pool/de/events/corporate/2009-12-Cop15/European_Green_City_Index.pdf . Accessed 20 February 2011Grimm NB, Faeth SH, Golubiewski NE, Redman CL, Wu J, Bai X, Briggs JM (2008) Global change and the ecology of cities. Science 319(5864):756–760Hoekstra AY, Mekonnen MM, Chapagain AK, Mathews RE, Richter BD (2012) Global monthly water scarcity: Blue water footprints versus blue water availability. PLoS ONE 7(2):e32688. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0032688IMF (2012) Gross Domestic Product (international dollars) as provided by the International Monetary Fund for 2010–2011: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita . Accessed October 2012Kaufman D, Kraay A, Mastruzzi M (2010) The worldwide governance indicators. Methodology and analytical issues. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 5430. World Bank, Washington DCLange P, Driessen PJ, Sauer A, Borneman B, Burger P (2013) Governing towards sustainability – conceptualizing modes of governance. J Environ Policy Planning 15:403–425Makropoulos CK, Butler D (2010) Distributed water infrastructure for sustainable communities. Water Resour Manag 24(11):2795–2816Mekonnen MM, Hoekstra AY (2011) National water footprint accounts: the green, blue and grey water footprint of production and consumption. Volumes 1 and 2. Value of Water Research Report Series No. 50. UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the NetherlandsNorman E, Bakker K, Cook C, Dunn G, Allen D (2010) Water security: A primer. Policy report. Fostering water security in Canada Project www.watergovernance.ca Accessed 20 September 2013Philip R, Anton B, van der Steen P (2011) SWITCH training kit. Integrated urban water management in the city of the future. Module 1. Strategic planning, ICLEI, Freiburg, GermanyPrüss-Üstün A, Bos R, Gore F, Bartram J (2008) Safer water, better health: Costs, benefits and sustainability of interventions to protect and promote health. World Health Organization, GenevaRozos E, Makropoulos C (2013) Source to tap urban water cycle modelling. Environ Model Softw 41:139–150SIWI (2012) Stockholm International Water Institute. Statistics. http://www.siwi.org/sa/node.asp?node=159 Accessed 20 December, 2012Ugarelli R, Pachioli M, Di Federico V (2009) Planning maintenance strategies for Italian urban drainage systems applying CARE-S. In: Allegre H, do Céu Almeida M (eds) Strategic asset management of water supply and wastewater infrastructures. IWA Publishing, London, pp 471–486UN (2012) World urbanization prospects: The 2011 revision. UN, New York, USA. http://esa.un.org/unup/ . Accessed 30 November 2012UNDP (2004) Water governance for poverty reduction. USA, New YorkUNEP (2008) Every drop counts; environmentally sound technologies for urban and domestic water use efficiency. Switzerland, GenevaUNEP (2012) Fifth global environment outlook: Environment for the future we want. Switzerland, GenevaUNESCO (2012) Managing water under uncertainty and risk. Facts and figures from the UN world water development report 4. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0021/002154/215492e.pdf . Accessed 20 December 2012UN-Habitat (2010). Climate change strategy 2010–2013. Urban Environmental Planning Branch, Nairobi, Kenia. http://www.google.nl/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4MXGB_enNL512NL512&q=Climate+change+strategy+2010-2013 . Accessed 20 December 2012Van Leeuwen CJ (2007) Introduction. In: Van Leeuwen CJ, Vermeire TG (eds) Risk Assessment of Chemicals. An Introduction. 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A LOFAR DETECTION of the LOW-MASS YOUNG STAR T TAU at 149 MHz

© 2017 Published by Elsevier B.V. Radio observations of young stellar objects (YSOs) enable the study of ionized plasma outflows from young protostars via their free-free radiation. Previous studies of the low-mass young system T Tau have used radio observations to model the spectrum and estimate important physical properties of the associated ionized plasma (local electron density, ionized gas content, and emission measure). However, without an indication of the low-frequency turnover in the free-free spectrum, these properties remain difficult to constrain. This paper presents the detection of T Tau at 149 MHz with the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR)-the first time a YSO has been observed at such low frequencies. The recovered total flux indicates that the free-free spectrum may be turning over near 149 MHz. The spectral energy distribution is fitted and yields improved constraints on local electron density ((7.2 ± 2.1) × 103 cm-3), ionized gas mass ( ± × -1.0 1.8 10-6Ṁ), and emission measure ((1.67 ± 0.14) × 105 pc cm-6)

An eclipsing binary distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud accurate to 2 per cent

In the era of precision cosmology it is essential to determine the Hubble Constant with an accuracy of 3% or better. Currently, its uncertainty is dominated by the uncertainty in the distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) which as the second nearest galaxy serves as the best anchor point of the cosmic distance scale. Observations of eclipsing binaries offer a unique opportunity to precisely and accurately measure stellar parameters and distances. The eclipsing binary method was previously applied to the LMC but the accuracy of the distance results was hampered by the need to model the bright, early-type systems used in these studies. Here, we present distance determinations to eight long-period, late- type eclipsing systems in the LMC composed of cool giant stars. For such systems we can accurately measure both the linear and angular sizes of their components and avoid the most important problems related to the hot early-type systems. Our LMC distance derived from these systems is demonstrably accurate to 2.2 % (49.97 +/- 0.19 (statistical) +/- 1.11 (systematic) kpc) providing a firm base for a 3 % determination of the Hubble Constant, with prospects for improvement to 2 % in the future.Comment: 34 pages, 5 figures, 13 tables, published in the Nature, a part of our data comes from new unpublished OGLE-IV photometric dat

A Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Pilot Study to Evaluate the Effect of Calcium Fructoborate on Systemic Inflammation and Dyslipidemia Markers for Middle-Aged People with Primary Osteoarthritis

The objective of this pilot study was to determine whether 15 days of dietary supplementation with calcium fructoborate could acutely modulate inflammatory and lipid blood markers in individuals diagnosed with primary osteoarthritis. During 2 weeks, a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind study was conducted on 116 subjects that were initially recruited. Seventy-two subjects started the study, being divided into four groups, and only 60 completed the study as designed. The aim was to compare the effects of calcium fructoborate to placebo on subjects diagnosed with knee primary osteoarthritis. The obtained outcomes were inflammation biomarkers (C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate) and lipid markers (triglycerides, total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, and HDL cholesterol). No serious adverse events were reported. The calcium fructoborate showed beneficial effect on the inflammatory markers for all groups subjected to the treatment when compared with the placebo group and slight changes in the lipid metabolism. This study suggests that short-term (2 weeks) calcium fructoborate supplementation in patients with osteoarthritis symptoms has a favorable prognosis on inflammation diseases