Faith and Global Policy Challenges

In an effort to understand how the general public and individuals with specific religious traditions think that their spiritual faith intersects with global policy challenges, the Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland (CISSM) and its Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) conducted a public opinion poll. This poll is part of a larger effort to engage faith communities in addressing these challenges. As national governments and civil society contend with these issues, the involvement of religious communities and the application of their convictions could prove decisive.A CISSM/PIPA/Knowledge Network pol

NGC 2419 -- Another Remnant of Accretion by the Milky Way

We isolate a sample of 43 upper RGB stars in the extreme outer halo Galactic globular cluster NGC 2419 from two Keck/DEIMOS slitmasks. The probability that there is more than one contaminating halo field star in this sample is extremely low. Analysis of moderate resolution spectra of these cluster members, as well as of our Keck/HIRES high resolution spectra of a subsample of them, demonstrates that there is a small but real spread in Ca abundance of ~ 0.2 dex within this massive metal-poor globular cluster. This provides additional support to earlier suggestions that NGC 2419 is the remnant of a dwarf galaxy accreted long ago by the Milky Way.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

The ACS LCID Project. I. Short-Period Variables in the Isolated Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies Cetus & Tucana

(abridged) We present the first study of the variable star populations in the isolated dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSph) Cetus and Tucana. Based on Hubble Space Telescope images obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys in the F475W and F814W bands, we identified 180 and 371 variables in Cetus and Tucana, respectively. The vast majority are RR Lyrae stars. In Cetus we also found three anomalous Cepheids, four candidate binaries and one candidate long-period variable (LPV), while six anomalous Cepheids and seven LPV candidates were found in Tucana. Of the RR Lyrae stars, 147 were identified as fundamental mode (RRab) and only eight as first-overtone mode (RRc) in Cetus, with mean periods of 0.614 and 0.363 day, respectively. In Tucana we found 216 RRab and 82 RRc giving mean periods of 0.604 and 0.353 day. These values place both galaxies in the so-called Oosterhoff Gap, as is generally the case for dSph. We calculated the distance modulus to both galaxies using different approaches based on the properties of RRab and RRc, namely the luminosity-metallicity and period-luminosity-metallicity relations, and found values in excellent agreement with previous estimates using independent methods: (m-M)_{0,Cet}=24.46+-0.12 and (m-M)_{0,Tuc}=24.74+-0.12, corresponding to 780+-40 kpc and 890+-50 kpc. We also found numerous RR Lyrae variables pulsating in both modes simultaneously (RRd): 17 in Cetus and 60 in Tucana. Tucana is, after Fornax, the second dSph in which such a large fraction of RRd (~17%) has been observed. We provide the photometry and pulsation parameters for all the variables, and compare the latter with values from the literature for well-studied dSph of the Local Group and Galactic globular clusters.Comment: 26 pages, 24 figures, in emulateapj format. To be published in ApJ. Some figures heavily degraded; See http://www.iac.es/project/LCID/?p=publications for a version with full resolution figure

Recent physician strike in Israel: a health system under stress?

In 2011, a series of physician strikes in Israel followed eight months of unsuccessful negotiations with the government (Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance). Strikes by physicians may be a warning that all is not well in a health system and protestors have claimed that they signify a system failure. In contrast, others argue that strikes have been a feature of the Israeli health system from its inception and should not be a cause for alarm. This paper analyses the Israeli health system from the perspective of the strikers' demands using the World Health Organisation's six health system building blocks as a framework, including: service delivery; health workforce; information; medical products, vaccines and technologies; leadership and governance; and financing. While we recognise that the immediate causes of the 2011 strikes were concerns about salaries and working conditions, we argue that a complex set of interacting factors underlie the strikers' demands, resonating with issues relating to five of the WHO building blocks. We argue that of the five, three are most significant and limit progress with all the others: a disgruntled health workforce, many of whom believe that striking is the only way to be heard; a lack of leadership by the government in understanding and responding to physicians' concerns; and a purported information insufficiency, manifest as a lack of critique and analysis that may have prevented those at the top from making a reliable diagnosis of the system's problems. This paper argues that there are cracks within the Israeli health system but that these are not irresolvable. The Israeli health system is a relatively new and popular health system, but there are no grounds for complacency

Multi-Element Abundance Measurements from Medium-Resolution Spectra. II. Catalog of Stars in Milky Way Dwarf Satellite Galaxies

We present a catalog of Fe, Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti abundances for 2961 red giant stars that are likely members of eight dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way (MW): Sculptor, Fornax, Leo I, Sextans, Leo II, Canes Venatici I, Ursa Minor, and Draco. For the purposes of validating our measurements, we also observed 445 red giants in MW globular clusters and 21 field red giants in the MW halo. The measurements are based on Keck/DEIMOS medium-resolution spectroscopy combined with spectral synthesis. We estimate uncertainties in [Fe/H] by quantifying the dispersion of [Fe/H] measurements in a sample of stars in monometallic globular clusters. We estimate uncertainties in Mg, Si, Ca, and Ti abundances by comparing our medium-resolution spectroscopic measurements to high-resolution spectroscopic abundances of the same stars. For this purpose, our DEIMOS sample included 132 red giants with published high-resolution spectroscopy in globular clusters, the MW halo field, and dwarf galaxies. The standard deviations of the differences in [Fe/H] and [alpha/Fe] (the average of [Mg/Fe], [Si/Fe], [Ca/Fe], and [Ti/Fe]) between the two samples is 0.15 and 0.16, respectively. This catalog represents the largest sample of multi-element abundances in dwarf galaxies to date. The next papers in this series draw conclusions on the chemical evolution, gas dynamics, and star formation histories from the catalog presented here. The wide range of dwarf galaxy luminosity reveals the dependence of dwarf galaxy chemical evolution on galaxy stellar mass.Comment: 26 pages, 22 figures, 4 machine-readable tables (available in the source file; click "Other formats"); accepted for publication in ApJ Supplements; updated acknowledgments in v

Willman 1 - a probable dwarf galaxy with an irregular kinematic distribution

We investigate the kinematic properties and stellar population of the Galactic satellite Willman 1 (Wil 1) by combining Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy with KPNO mosaic camera imaging. Wil 1 is an ultra-low luminosity Milky Way companion. This object lies in a region of size-luminosity space (M_V ~ -2 mag, d ~ 38 kpc, r_half ~ 20 pc) also occupied by the Galactic satellites Bo\"otes II and Segue 1 and 2, but no other known old stellar system. We use kinematic and color-magnitude criteria to identify 45 stars as possible members of Wil 1. With a systemic velocity of v_helio = -12.8 +/- 1.0 km/s, Wil 1 stars have velocities similar to those of foreground Milky Way stars. Informed by Monte-Carlo simulations, we identify 5 of the 45 candidate member stars as likely foreground contaminants. We confirm a significant spread in the abundances of the likely Wil 1 red giant branch members ([Fe/H] = -1.73 +/- 0.12 and -2.65 +/- 0.12, [Ca/Fe] = -0.4 +/- 0.18 and +0.13 +/- 0.28). This spread supports the scenario that Wil 1 is an ultra-low luminosity dwarf galaxy rather than a star cluster. Wil 1's innermost stars move with radial velocities offset by 8 km/s from its outer stars and have a velocity dispersion consistent with 0 km/s, suggesting that Wil 1 may not be in dynamical equilibrium. The combination of the foreground contamination and unusual kinematic distribution make it difficult to robustly determine the dark matter mass of Wil 1. As a result, X-ray or gamma-ray observations of Wil 1 that attempt to constrain models of particle dark matter using an equilibrium mass model are strongly affected by the systematics in the observations presented here. We conclude that, despite the unusual features in the Wil 1 kinematic distribution, evidence indicates that this object is, or at least once was, a dwarf galaxy.Comment: AJ accepted version. The primary improvements are a detailed investigation of the membership probability (Section 3.4 and new Figures 6, 7 and 8) and the revised spectroscopic [Fe/H] and [Ca/Fe] measurements of the two brightest member stars. Conclusions are unchanged from the submitted versio

The Least Luminous Galaxy: Spectroscopy of the Milky Way Satellite Segue 1

We present Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy of Segue 1, an ultra-low luminosity (M_V = -1.5) Milky Way satellite companion. While the combined size and luminosity of Segue 1 are consistent with either a globular cluster or a dwarf galaxy, we present spectroscopic evidence that this object is a dark matter-dominated dwarf galaxy. We identify 24 stars as members of Segue 1 with a mean heliocentric recession velocity of 206 +/- 1.3 kms. We measure an internal velocity dispersion of 4.3+/-1.2 kms. Under the assumption that these stars are in dynamical equilibrium, we infer a total mass of 4.5^{+4.7}_{-2.5} x 10^5 Msun in the case where mass-follow-light; using a two-component maximum likelihood model, we determine a similar mass within the stellar radius of 50 pc. This implies a mass-to-light ratio of ln(M/L_V) = 7.2^{+1.1}_{-1.2} or M/L_V = 1320^{+2680}_{-940}. The error distribution of the mass-to-light ratio is nearly log-normal, thus Segue 1 is dark matter-dominated at a high significance. Using spectral synthesis modeling, we derive a metallicity for the single red giant branch star in our sample of [Fe/H]=-3.3 +/- 0.2 dex. Finally, we discuss the prospects for detecting gamma-rays from annihilation of dark matter particles and show that Segue 1 is the most promising satellite for indirect dark matter detection. We conclude that Segue 1 is the least luminous of the ultra-faint galaxies recently discovered around the Milky Way, and is thus the least luminous known galaxy.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, ApJ accepte

Multi-Element Abundance Measurements from Medium-Resolution Spectra. III. Metallicity Distributions of Milky Way Dwarf Satellite Galaxies

We present metallicity distribution functions (MDFs) for the central regions of eight dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way: Fornax, Leo I and II, Sculptor, Sextans, Draco, Canes Venatici I, and Ursa Minor. We use the published catalog of abundance measurements from the previous paper in this series. The measurements are based on spectral synthesis of iron absorption lines. For each MDF, we determine maximum likelihood fits for Leaky Box, Pre-Enriched, and Extra Gas (wherein the gas supply available for star formation increases before it decreases to zero) analytic models of chemical evolution. Although the models are too simplistic to describe any MDF in detail, a Leaky Box starting from zero metallicity gas fits none of the galaxies except Canes Venatici I well. The MDFs of some galaxies, particularly the more luminous ones, strongly prefer the Extra Gas Model to the other models. Only for Canes Venatici I does the Pre-Enriched Model fit significantly better than the Extra Gas Model. The best-fit effective yields of the less luminous half of our galaxy sample do not exceed 0.02 Z_sun, indicating that gas outflow is important in the chemical evolution of the less luminous galaxies. We surmise that the ratio of the importance of gas infall to gas outflow increases with galaxy luminosity. Strong correlations of average [Fe/H] and metallicity spread with luminosity support this hypothesis.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in ApJ; minor corrections in v3; corrected typographical errors in Tables 1 and 3 in v

Short-term Succinic Acid Treatment Mitigates Cerebellar Mitochondrial OXPHOS Dysfunction, Neurodegeneration and Ataxia in a Purkinje-specific Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type 1 (SCA1) Mouse Model

Mitochondrial dysfunction plays a significant role in neurodegenerative disease including ataxias and other movement disorders, particularly those marked by progressive degeneration in the cerebellum. In this study, we investigate the role of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS) deficits in cerebellar tissue of a Purkinje cell-driven spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1) mouse. Using RNA sequencing transcriptomics, OXPHOS complex assembly analysis and oxygen consumption assays, we report that in the presence of mutant polyglutamine-expanded ataxin-1, SCA1 mice display deficits in cerebellar OXPHOS complex I (NADH-coenzyme Q oxidoreductase). Complex I genes are upregulated at the time of symptom onset and upregulation persists into late stage disease; yet, functional assembly of complex I macromolecules are diminished and oxygen respiration through complex I is reduced. Acute treatment of postsymptomatic SCA1 mice with succinic acid, a complex II (succinate dehydrogenase) electron donor to bypass complex I dysfunction, ameliorated cerebellar OXPHOS dysfunction, reduced cerebellar pathology and improved motor behavior. Thus, exploration of mitochondrial dysfunction and its role in neurodegenerative ataxias, and warrants further investigation