Wind Signatures In The X-Ray Emission-Line Profiles Of The Late-O Supergiant Zeta Orionis

X-ray line-profile analysis has proved to be the most direct diagnostic of the kinematics and spatial distribution of the very hot plasma around O stars. The Doppler-broadened line profiles provide information about the velocity distribution of the hot plasma, while the wavelength-dependent attenuation across a line profile provides information about the absorption to the hot plasma, thus providing a strong constraint on its physical location. In this paper, we apply several analysis techniques to the emission lines in the Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (HETGS) spectrum of the late-O supergiant zeta Ori (O9.7 Ib), including the fitting of a simple line-profile model. We show that there is distinct evidence for blueshifts and profile asymmetry, as well as broadening in the X-ray emission lines of zeta Ori. These are the observational hallmarks of a wind-shock X-ray source, and the results for zeta Ori are very similar to those for the earlier O star, zeta Pup, which we have previously shown to be well fit by the same wind-shock line-profile model. The more subtle effects on the line-profile morphologies in zeta Ori, as compared to zeta Pup, are consistent with the somewhat lower density wind in this later O supergiant. In both stars, the wind optical depths required to explain the mildly asymmetric X-ray line profiles imply reductions in the effective opacity of nearly an order of magnitude, which may be explained by some combination of mass-loss rate reduction and large-scale clumping, with its associated porosity-based effects on radiation transfer. In the context of the recent reanalysis of the helium-like line intensity ratios in both zeta Ori and zeta Pup, and also in light of recent work questioning the published mass-loss rates in OB stars, these new results indicate that the X-ray emission from zeta Ori can be understood within the framework of the standard wind-shock scenario for hot stars

Prevalence of Dyskinesia and OFF by 30-Minute Intervals Through the Day and Assessment of Daily Episodes of Dyskinesia and OFF: Novel Analyses of Diary Data from Gocovri Pivotal Trials.

BACKGROUND: Parkinson\u27s disease (PD) patients using levodopa commonly develop dyskinesia and OFF episodes that reduce quality of life. OBJECTIVE: Evaluate prevalence of troublesome dyskinesia and OFF through the day, assessed by 30-minute intervals, as well as the mean number and duration of troublesome dyskinesia and OFF episodes, transitions between PD states, and effects of Gocovri® (amantadine) extended release capsules on these episodes. METHODS: Evaluate diary data from pooled Gocovri phase 3, placebo-controlled trials-analyzed for 17 hours following wake-up-at baseline and week 12. RESULTS: Diaries were evaluable for 162 patients. At baseline, 67% of patients woke up OFF, with prevalence decreasing to 13% at 2 hours and then remaining relatively steady at ∼12% (range, 6-17%) across half-hour intervals thereafter. Troublesome dyskinesia prevalence rose steadily from 5% to 24% over the first 2 hours, then fluctuated between 20% and 44% through the rest of the waking day. At baseline, patients experienced a mean of 3.0 daily episodes of troublesome dyskinesia (average duration 2.0 hours each), and 2.2 daily episodes of OFF (average duration 1.1 hour each). At week 12, Gocovri-treated patients showed greater reductions than placebo in troublesome dyskinesia and OFF episodes per day (treatment difference: -1.0 episodes and -0.4 episodes, respectively) and average episode duration (treatment difference: -0.6 hours and -0.3 hours, respectively). Mean duration of individual episodes of ON without troublesome dyskinesia (Good ON) increased by 5.0 hours for Gocovri, compared with 2.0 hours for placebo. Patients taking Gocovri experienced 2.2 fewer transitions between states than patients taking placebo. CONCLUSIONS: Troublesome dyskinesia and OFF occurred in the morning and throughout the waking day. Gocovri-treated patients experienced fewer, shorter episodes of both troublesome dyskinesia and OFF, thereby increasing the duration of continuous Good ON episodes and reducing the frequency of transitions between motor states

Relativistic Quantum Mechanics and Relativistic Entanglement in the Rest-Frame Instant Form of Dynamics

A new formulation of relativistic quantum mechanics is proposed in the framework of the rest-frame instant form of dynamics with its instantaneous Wigner 3-spaces and with its description of the particle world-lines by means of derived non-canonical predictive coordinates. In it we quantize the frozen Jacobi data of the non-local 4-center of mass and the Wigner-covariant relative variables in an abstract (frame-independent) internal space whose existence is implied by Wigner-covariance. The formalism takes care of the properties of both relativistic bound states and scattering ones. There is a natural solution to the \textit{relativistic localization problem}. The non-relativistic limit leads to standard quantum mechanics but with a frozen Hamilton-Jacobi description of the center of mass. Due to the \textit{non-locality} of the Poincar\'e generators the resulting theory of relativistic entanglement is both \textit{kinematically non-local and spatially non-separable}: these properties, absent in the non-relativistic limit, throw a different light on the interpretation of the non-relativistic quantum non-locality and of its impact on foundational problems.Comment: 73 pages, includes revision

Early primary care physician contact and health service utilisation in a large sample of recently released ex-prisoners in Australia: prospective cohort study

Objective To describe the association between ex-prisoner primary care physician contact within 1 month of prison release and health service utilisation in the 6 months following release. Design A cohort from the Passports study with a mean follow-up of 219 (±44) days post release. Associations were assessed using a multivariate Andersen-Gill model, controlling for a range of other factors. Setting Face-to-face, baseline interviews were conducted in a sample of prisoners within 6 weeks of expected release from seven prisons in Queensland, Australia, from 2008 to 2010, with telephone follow-up interviews 1, 3 and 6 months post release. Participants From an original population-based sample of 1325 sentenced adult (≥18 years) prisoners, 478 participants were excluded due to not being released from prison during follow-up (n=7, 0.5%), loss to follow-up (n=257, 19.4%), or lacking exposure data (n=214, 16.2%). A total of 847 (63.9%) participants were included in the analyses. Exposure Primary care physician contact within 1 month of follow-up as a dichotomous measure. Main outcome measures Adjusted time-to-event hazard rates for hospital, mental health, alcohol and other drug and subsequent primary care physician service utilisations assessed as multiple failure time-interval data. Results Primary care physician contact prevalence within 1 month of follow-up was 46.5%. One-month primary care physician contact was positively associated with hospital (adjusted HR (AHR)=2.07; 95% CI 1.39 to 3.09), mental health (AHR=1.65; 95% CI 1.24 to 2.19), alcohol and other drug (AHR=1.48; 95% CI 1.15 to 1.90) and subsequent primary care physician service utilisation (AHR=1.47; 95% CI 1.26 to 1.72) over 6 months of follow-up. Conclusions Engagement with primary care physician services soon after prison release increases health service utilisation during the critical community transition period for ex-prisoners. Trial registration number Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12608000232336)

The evolution of metabolic networks of E. coli

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite the availability of numerous complete genome sequences from <it>E. coli </it>strains, published genome-scale metabolic models exist only for two commensal <it>E. coli </it>strains. These models have proven useful for many applications, such as engineering strains for desired product formation, and we sought to explore how constructing and evaluating additional metabolic models for <it>E. coli </it>strains could enhance these efforts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We used the genomic information from 16 <it>E. coli </it>strains to generate an <it>E. coli </it>pangenome metabolic network by evaluating their collective 76,990 ORFs. Each of these ORFs was assigned to one of 17,647 ortholog groups including ORFs associated with reactions in the most recent metabolic model for <it>E. coli </it>K-12. For orthologous groups that contain an ORF already represented in the MG1655 model, the gene to protein to reaction associations represented in this model could then be easily propagated to other <it>E. coli </it>strain models. All remaining orthologous groups were evaluated to see if new metabolic reactions could be added to generate a pangenome-scale metabolic model (iEco1712_pan). The pangenome model included reactions from a metabolic model update for <it>E. coli </it>K-12 MG1655 (iEco1339_MG1655) and enabled development of five additional strain-specific genome-scale metabolic models. These additional models include a second K-12 strain (iEco1335_W3110) and four pathogenic strains (two enterohemorrhagic <it>E. coli </it>O157:H7 and two uropathogens). When compared to the <it>E. coli </it>K-12 models, the metabolic models for the enterohemorrhagic (iEco1344_EDL933 and iEco1345_Sakai) and uropathogenic strains (iEco1288_CFT073 and iEco1301_UTI89) contained numerous lineage-specific gene and reaction differences. All six <it>E. coli </it>models were evaluated by comparing model predictions to carbon source utilization measurements under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, and to batch growth profiles in minimal media with 0.2% (w/v) glucose. An ancestral genome-scale metabolic model based on conserved ortholog groups in all 16 <it>E. coli </it>genomes was also constructed, reflecting the conserved ancestral core of <it>E. coli </it>metabolism (iEco1053_core). Comparative analysis of all six strain-specific <it>E. coli </it>models revealed that some of the pathogenic <it>E. coli </it>strains possess reactions in their metabolic networks enabling higher biomass yields on glucose. Finally the lineage-specific metabolic traits were compared to the ancestral core model predictions to derive new insight into the evolution of metabolism within this species.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our findings demonstrate that a pangenome-scale metabolic model can be used to rapidly construct additional <it>E. coli </it>strain-specific models, and that quantitative models of different strains of <it>E. coli </it>can accurately predict strain-specific phenotypes. Such pangenome and strain-specific models can be further used to engineer metabolic phenotypes of interest, such as designing new industrial <it>E. coli </it>strains.</p

Recent breakthroughs in carrier depletion based silicon optical modulators

The majority of the most successful optical modulators in silicon demonstrated in recent years operate via the plasma dispersion effect and are more specifically based upon free carrier depletion in a silicon rib waveguide. In this work we overview the different types of free carrier depletion type optical modulators in silicon. A summary of some recent example devices for each configuration is then presented together with the performance that they have achieved. Finally an insight into some current research trends involving silicon based optical modulators is provided including integration, operation in the mid-infrared wavelength range and application in short and long haul data transmission link

Search and orchestration of data and processes in a federated environment

This paper describes on-going research on streamlining the access and use of spatial data and processes in Australia. Spatial data in Australia is available on-line at many levels of government from local authorities, state and territories (jurisdictions), and nationally from the Commonwealth and other sources. Much of this data is available via Open Geospatial Consortium and World Wide Web Consortium standard web services. This abstract discusses three related research topics that have been identified by a wide range of stakeholders through a comprehensive consultation process. These are search and discovery, federation and orchestration of data and processes. The commonality across the three research topics is that they all require Semantic Web and Artificial Intelligence methods and embrace the various standards, and if needed, propose modifications to such standard

Wind signatures in the X-ray emission line profiles of the late O supergiant ζ\zeta Orionis

X-ray line profile analysis has proved to be the most direct diagnostic of the kinematics and spatial distribution of the very hot plasma around O stars. In this paper we apply several analysis techniques to the emission lines in the Chandra HETGS spectrum of the late-O supergiant zeta Ori (O9.7 Ib), including the fitting of a simple line-profile model. We show that there is distinct evidence for blue shifts and profile asymmetry, as well as broadening in the X-ray emission lines of zeta Ori. These are the observational hallmarks of a wind-shock X-ray source, and the results for zeta Ori are very similar to those for the earlier O star, zeta Pup, which we have previously shown to be well-fit by the same wind-shock line-profile model. The more subtle effects on the line-profile morphologies in zeta Ori, as compared to zeta Pup, are consistent with the somewhat lower density wind in this later O supergiant. In both stars, the wind optical depths required to explain the mildly asymmetric X-ray line profiles imply reductions in the effective opacity of nearly an order of magnitude, which may be explained by some combination of mass-loss rate reduction and large-scale clumping, with its associated porosity-based effects on radiation transfer. In the context of the recent reanalysis of the helium-like line intensity ratios in both zeta Ori and zeta Pup, and also in light of recent work questioning the published mass-loss rates in OB stars, these new results indicate that the X-ray emission from zeta Ori can be understood within the framework of the standard wind-shock scenario for hot stars.Comment: MNRAS, accepted; 16 pages, 5 figure

Cataclysmic Variables in the First Year of the Zwicky Transient Facility

Using selection criteria based on amplitude, time, and color, we have identified 329 objects as known or candidate cataclysmic variables (CVs) during the first year of testing and operation of the Zwicky Transient Facility. Of these, 90 are previously confirmed CVs, 218 are strong candidates based on the shape and color of their light curves obtained during 3–562 days of observation, and the remaining 21 are possible CVs but with too few data points to be listed as good candidates. Almost half of the strong candidates are within 10 deg of the galactic plane, in contrast to most other large surveys that have avoided crowded fields. The available Gaia parallaxes are consistent with sampling the low mass transfer CVs, as predicted by population models. Our follow-up spectra have confirmed Balmer/helium emission lines in 27 objects, with four showing high-excitation He ii emission, including candidates for an AM CVn, a polar, and an intermediate polar. Our results demonstrate that a complete survey of the Galactic plane is needed to accomplish an accurate determination of the number of CVs existing in the Milky Way