Inversion of polarimetric data from eclipsing binaries

We describe a method for determining the limb polarization and limb darkening of stars in eclipsing binary systems, by inverting photometric and polarimetric light curves. Because of the ill-conditioning of the problem, we use the Backus-Gilbert method to control the resolution and stability of the recovered solution, and to make quantitative estimates of the maximum accuracy possible. Using this method we confirm that the limb polarization can indeed be recovered, and demonstrate this with simulated data, thus determining the level of observational accuracy required to achieve a given accuracy of reconstruction. This allows us to set out an optimal observational strategy, and to critcally assess the claimed detection of limb polarization in the Algol system. The use of polarization in stars has been proposed as a diagnostic tool in microlensing surveys by Simmons et al. (1995), and we discuss the extension of this work to the case of microlensing of extended sources.Comment: 10pp, 5 figures. To appear in A&

Minimum Fee Schedules: Guides or Strait Jackets

Several states have minimum fee schedules that set the least amount of compensation a lawyer should charge for a specific legal service. There has been much confusion in bar associations across the country as to the application of minimum fee schedules and the consequences of non-compliance. The American Bar Association has published both formal and informal opinions in an attempt to clearly define the functions of the schedules. In view of the opinions, interviews and statistical studies on the subject of minimum fee schedules, it is apparent that they are too rigid to cope with the practical needs of the profession but are valuable resources where their function is viewed as a guide. Under the Kansas Relative Value System the lawyer is given a more flexible system that allows him to take into consideration all the necessary factors in arriving at a fair and just fee

Minimum Fee Schedules: Guides or Strait Jackets

Several states have minimum fee schedules that set the least amount of compensation a lawyer should charge for a specific legal service. There has been much confusion in bar associations across the country as to the application of minimum fee schedules and the consequences of non-compliance. The American Bar Association has published both formal and informal opinions in an attempt to clearly define the functions of the schedules. In view of the opinions, interviews and statistical studies on the subject of minimum fee schedules, it is apparent that they are too rigid to cope with the practical needs of the profession but are valuable resources where their function is viewed as a guide. Under the Kansas Relative Value System the lawyer is given a more flexible system that allows him to take into consideration all the necessary factors in arriving at a fair and just fee

Microlensing of Extended Stellar Sources

We investigate the feasibility of reconstructing the radial intensity profile of extended stellar sources by inverting their microlensed light curves. Using a simple, linear, limb darkening law as an illustration, we show that the intensity profile can be accurately determined, at least over the outer part of the stellar disc, with realistic light curve sampling and photometric errors. The principal requirement is that the impact parameter of the lens be less than or equal to the stellar radius. Thus, the analysis of microlensing events provides a powerful method for testing stellar atmosphere models.Comment: 4 pages LaTeX, to appear in New Astronomy Reviews - proceedings of the Oxford Workshop `Gravitational Lensing: Nature's Own Weighing Scales'. Uses elsart.cls. Paper also available at ftp://info.astro.gla.ac.uk/pub/martin/extended.p

Polarimetric variations of binary stars. II. Numerical simulations for circular and eccentric binaries in Mie scattering envelopes

We present numerical simulations of the periodic polarimetric variations produced by a binary star placed at the center of an empty spherical cavity inside a circumbinary ellipsoidal and optically thin envelope made of dust grains. Mie single-scattering is considered along with pre- and post-scattering extinction factors which produce a time-varying optical depth and affect the morphology of the periodic variations. We are interested in the effects that various parameters will have on the average polarization, the amplitude of the polarimetric variations, and the morphology of the variability. We show that the absolute amplitudes of the variations are smaller for Mie scattering than for Thomson scattering. Among the four grain types that we have studied, the highest polarizations are produced by grains with sizes in the range 0.1-0.2 micron. In general, the variations are seen twice per orbit. In some cases, because spherical dust grains have an asymmetric scattering function, the polarimetric curves produced also show variations seen once per orbit. Circumstellar disks produce polarimetric variations of greater amplitude than circumbinary envelopes. Another goal of these simulations is to see if the 1978 BME (Brown, McLean, & Emslie, ApJ, 68, 415) formalism, which uses a Fourier analysis of the polarimetric variations to find the orbital inclination for Thomson-scattering envelopes, can still be used for Mie scattering. We find that this is the case, if the amplitude of the variations is sufficient and the true inclinations is i_true > 45 deg. For eccentric orbits, the first-order coefficients of the Fourier fit, instead of second-order ones, can be used to find almost all inclinations.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Astronomical Journa

Dual Benefits of a Student-Assisted Interprofessional Men’s Healthy Lifestyle Pilot Program

Reprinted by permission of SAGE PublicationsMen are less willing to seek health professional advice than women and die more often than women from preventable causes. Therefore, it is important to increase male engagement with health initiatives. This study reports the outcomes of a student-assisted, interprofessional, 12-week health program for overweight adult males. The program included weekly health education and structured, supervised group exercise sessions. Thirteen males (participants) and 18 university students (session facilitators) completed the program. Participants were assessed for a range of health and physical activity measures and health and health profession knowledge. Participants demonstrated significant improvement in activity, knowledge, and perceptions of physical and mental function, and appreciated the guided, group sessions. Students completed an interprofessional readiness questionnaire and reported significant improvement in the understanding of the benefits of interprofessional education and of their role in health care. This program provides evidence of the dual benefit that occurs from the delivery of a student-assisted, interprofessional men’s health program to at-risk community members

Modern and ancient hiatuses in the pelagic caps of Pacific guyots and seamounts and internal tides

Incidences of non-deposition or erosion at the modern seabed and hiatuses within the pelagic caps of guyots and seamounts are evaluated along with paleo-temperature and physiographic information to speculate on the character of Late Cenozoic internal tidal waves in the upper Pacific Ocean. Drill core and seismic reflection data are used to classify sediment at the drill sites as having been either accumulating or eroding/nondepositing in the recent geological past. When those classified sites are compared against predictions of a numerical model of the modern internal tidal wave field (Simmons, 2008), the sites accumulating particles over the past few million years are found to lie away from beams of the modeled internal tide, while those that have not been accumulating are in internal tide beams. Given the correspondence to the modern internal wave field, we examine whether internal tides can explain ancient hiatuses at the drill sites. For example, Late Cenozoic pelagic caps on guyots among the Marshall Islands contain two hiatuses of broadly similar age, but the dates of the first pelagic sediments deposited following each hiatus do not correlate between guyots, suggesting that they originate not from ocean chemical changes but from physical processes, such as erosion by internal tidal waves. We investigate how changing conditions such as ocean temperature and basin physiography may have affected internal tides through the Cenozoic. Allowing for subsequent rotation or uplift by plate tectonics, ancient submarine ridges among the Solomon, Bonin and Marianas Island chains may have been responsible for some sediment hiatuses at these distant guyot sites