Hydrodynamical instabilities induced by atomic diffusion in A stars and their consequences

Aims. Atomic diffusion, including the effect of radiative accelerations on individual elements, leads to important variations of the chemical composition inside the stars. The accumulation in specific layers of the elements, which are the main contributors of the local opacity, leads to hydrodynamical instabilities that modify the internal stellar structure and surface abundances. Our aim is to study these effects and compare the resulting surface abundances with spectroscopic observations Methods. We computed the detailed structure of A-type stars including these effects. We used the Toulouse-Geneva Evolution Code (TGEC), where radiative accelerations are computed using the Single Valued Parameter (SVP) method, and we added double-diffusive convection with mixing coefficients deduced from three-dimensional (3D) simulations. Results. We show that the modification of the initial chemical composition has important effects on the internal stellar mixing and leads to different surface abundances of the elements. The results fit the observed surface chemical composition well if the layers, which are individually mixed by double-diffusive convection, are connected.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted in A&

Nonholonomic motion planning: steering using sinusoids

Methods for steering systems with nonholonomic constraints between arbitrary configurations are investigated. Suboptimal trajectories are derived for systems that are not in canonical form. Systems in which it takes more than one level of bracketing to achieve controllability are considered. The trajectories use sinusoids at integrally related frequencies to achieve motion at a given bracketing level. A class of systems that can be steered using sinusoids (claimed systems) is defined. Conditions under which a class of two-input systems can be converted into this form are given

Causation in Occupational Disease: Balancing Epidemiology, Law and Manufacturer Conduct

Drs. Lynch & Henefin examine evolution of disease causation theory and its impact on public health, as well as how these relate to the courtroom admissibility of expert opinion evidence

Lithium abundances in exoplanet host stars as test of planetary formation scenarii

Following the observations of Israelian et al. 2004, we compare different evolutionary models in order to study the lithium destruction processes and the planetary formation scenarii.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, proceeding of the meeting "Element Stratification in stars : 40 years of atomic diffusion", Mons 6-11 Juin 200

A technique for the bacteriologic investigation of the physiologic gingival crevice

Typewritten.Thesis (M.Sc.D.)--Boston University, March, 1965. Note: Page 111 is missing.Bibliography: p. 99-109

Multiquark Systems in a Constituent Quark Model with Chiral Dynamics

We discuss the stability of multiquark systems within the recent model of Glozman et al. where the chromomagnetic hyperfine interaction is replaced by pseudoscalar-meson exchange. We find that such an interaction binds a heavy tetraquark system $QQ\bar q\bar q$ ($Q=c, b$ and $q=u, d)$ by $0.2-0.4$ GeV. This is at variance with results of previous models where $cc\bar q\bar q$ is unstable.Comment: 6 pages, Plain Latex, Contribution to the Workshop''Quark Confinement and the Hadron Spectrum II'', Como, Italy, June 26--29, 1996, to appear in the Proceedings, ed. Nora Brambilla, World Scientifi

Natural flow wing

The invention is a natural flow wing and a method for constructing the same. The method comprises contouring a three-dimensional upper surface and a three-dimensional lower surface of the natural flow wing independently of one another into a prescribed shape. Experimental data and theoretical analysis show that flow and pressure-loading over an upper surface of a wing tend to be conical about an apex of the wing, producing favorable and unfavorable regions of performance based on drag. The method reduces these unfavorable regions by shaping the upper surface such that the maximum thickness near a tip of the natural flow wing moves aft, thereby, contouring the wing to coincide more closely with the conical nature of the flow on the upper surface. Nearly constant compressive loading characterizes the flow field over a lower surface of the conventional wing. Magnitude of these compressive pressures on the lower surface depends on angle of attack and on a streamwise curvature of the lower surface of the wing and not on a cross-sectional spanwise curvature. The method, thereby, shapes the lower surface to create an area as large as possible with negative slopes. Any type of swept wing may be used to obtain the final, shaped geometry of the upper and lower surfaces of the natural flow wing

Multiple environmental controls explain global patterns in soil animal communities

Soil animals play important roles in ecosystem functioning and stability, but the environmental controls on their communities are not fully understood. In this study, we compiled a dataset of soil animal communities for which the abundance and body mass of multiple soil animal groups were recorded. The mass–abundance scaling relationships were then used to investigate multiple environmental controls on soil animal community composition. The data reveal latitudinal shifts from high abundances of small soil animals at high latitudes to greater relative abundances of large soil animals at low latitudes. A hierarchical linear mixed effects model was applied to reveal the environmental variables shaping these latitudinal trends. The final hierarchical model identified mean annual temperature, soil pH and soil organic carbon content as key environmental controls explaining global mass–abundance scaling relationships in soil animal communities (R2c = 0.828, Ngroup = 117). Such relationships between soil biota with climate and edaphic conditions have been previously identified for soil microbial, but not soil animal, communities at a global scale. More comprehensive global soil community datasets are needed to better understand the generality of these relationships over a broader range of global ecosystems and soil animal groups

Relation between Tcc,bbT_{cc,bb} and Xc,bX_{c,b} from QCD

We have studied, using double ratio of QCD (spectral) sum rules, the ratio between the masses of $T_{cc}$ and X(3872) assuming that they are respectively described by the $D-{D}^*$ and $D-\bar{D}^*$ molecular currents. We found (within our approximation) that the masses of these two states are almost degenerate. Since the pion exchange interaction between these mesons is exactly the same, we conclude that if the observed X(3872) meson is a $D\bar{D}^*+c.c.$ molecule, then the $DD^*$ molecule should also exist with approximately the same mass. An extension of the analysis to the $b$-quark case leads to the same conclusion. We also study the SU(3) breakings for the $T^s_{QQ}/T_{QQ}$ mass ratios. Motivated by the recent Belle observation of two $Z_b$ states, we revise our determination of $X_b$ by combining results from exponential and FESR sum rules.Comment: revised version to appear on Phys. Lett.

A Comparison of Weak Lensing Measurements From Ground- and Space-Based Facilities

We assess the relative merits of weak lensing surveys, using overlapping imaging data from the ground-based Subaru telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Our tests complement similar studies undertaken with simulated data. From observations of 230,000 matched objects in the 2 square degree COSMOS field, we identify the limit at which faint galaxy shapes can be reliably measured from the ground. Our ground-based shear catalog achieves sub-percent calibration bias compared to high resolution space-based data, for galaxies brighter than i'~24.5 and with half-light radii larger than 1.8". This selection corresponds to a surface density of ~15 galaxies per sq arcmin compared to ~71 per sq arcmin from space. On the other hand the survey speed of current ground-based facilities is much faster than that of HST, although this gain is mitigated by the increased depth of space-based imaging desirable for tomographic (3D) analyses. As an independent experiment, we also reconstruct the projected mass distribution in the COSMOS field using both data sets, and compare the derived cluster catalogs with those from X-ray observations. The ground-based catalog achieves a reasonable degree of completeness, with minimal contamination and no detected bias, for massive clusters at redshifts 0.2<z<0.5. The space-based data provide improved precision and a greater sensitivity to clusters of lower mass or at higher redshift.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, submitted to ApJ, Higher resolution figures available at http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~mansi/GroundvsSpace.pd