Near-infrared and X-ray obscuration to the nucleus of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 3281

We present the results of a near-infrared and X-ray study of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 3281. Emission from the Seyfert nucleus is detected in both regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing us to infer both the equivalent line of sight hydrogen column density, N_H = 71.0(+11.3,-12.3)e26/m^2 and the extinction due to dust, A_V = 22+/-11 magnitudes (90% confidence intervals). We infer a ratio of N_H/A_V which is an order of magnitude larger than that determined along lines of sight in the Milky Way and discuss possible interpretations. We consider the most plausible explanation to be a dense cloud in the foreground of both the X-ray and infrared emitting regions which obscures the entire X-ray source but only a fraction of the much larger infrared source.Comment: 23 pages including 9 figure

Developing inclusive residential care for older Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) people: an evaluation of the Care Home Challenge action research project

There have been substantial achievements in legislative and human rights for Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) older people and their visibility in health and social care has equally increased. These appear to have surpassed the ability of care services to meet their needs given documented concerns about the accessibility, inclusiveness and safety of care services particularly institutionalised care. This requires systemic change not easy to operationalise. This paper describes an action research initiative where six care homes belonging to a national care provider, collaborated to assess and develop their services with the support of local LGBT ‘Community Advisors’ and academic partners. Framed within Rogers’ (2003) change management framework and combined with a participatory leadership approach, a programme of intervention was implemented comprising structured activities around seven key areas thought to promote LGBT inclusion. A formal evaluation was conducted involving 35 pre and post intervention qualitative interviews with 18 people (community advisors; care home managers and senior managers). The findings are presented across three key themes 1) starting points on the journey; 2) challenges encountered along the journey (organisational and interpersonal); and, 3) making change happen; opportunities, initiatives and gains. We make recommendations on the value of a programme approach for achieving tangible outcomes that demonstrate increased inclusion for older LGBT older people living in long-term care settings

Resource consumption and process performance in minimum quantity lubricated milling of tool steel

The use of cutting fluids has driven performance improvements in metal machining. However these fluids have drawbacks including resources consumed and possible negative environmental consequences. Thus the study of coolant delivery rates is important. This work investigated the use of minimum quantity lubrication (MQL) in solid carbide milling of tool steel. A tool life improvement of 60 percent was demonstrated in comparison to dry cutting. Based on measurements and calculations made, MQL consumed cutting fluid at a rate less than 5 percent of that of a typical flooding coolant system, and was a low-consumption option in terms of electrical power

On the monodromy of the moduli space of Calabi-Yau threefolds coming from eight planes in P3\mathbb{P}^3

It is a fundamental problem in geometry to decide which moduli spaces of polarized algebraic varieties are embedded by their period maps as Zariski open subsets of locally Hermitian symmetric domains. In the present work we prove that the moduli space of Calabi-Yau threefolds coming from eight planes in $\mathbb{P}^3$ does {\em not} have this property. We show furthermore that the monodromy group of a good family is Zariski dense in the corresponding symplectic group. Moreover, we study a natural sublocus which we call hyperelliptic locus, over which the variation of Hodge structures is naturally isomorphic to wedge product of a variation of Hodge structures of weight one. It turns out the hyperelliptic locus does not extend to a Shimura subvariety of type III (Siegel space) within the moduli space. Besides general Hodge theory, representation theory and computational commutative algebra, one of the proofs depends on a new result on the tensor product decomposition of complex polarized variations of Hodge structures.Comment: 26 page

Study of the stress intensity factors in the bulk of the material with synchrotron diffraction

Artículo de Proceedings de Congreso Internacional Fatigue2017In this work we present the results of a hybrid experimental and analytical approach for estimating the stress intensity factor. It uses the elastic strains within the bulk obtained by synchrotron X-ray diffraction data. The stress intensity factor is calculated using a multi-point overdeterministic method where the number of experimental data points is higher than the number of unknowns describing the elastic field surrounding the crack-tip. The tool is tested on X-ray strain measurements collected on a bainitic steel. In contrast to surface techniques the approach provides insights into the crack tip mechanics deep within the sample.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. The authors are grateful to the ESRF for ID15 beamtime awarded under MA-1483. Financial support of Universidad de Malaga through Plan Propio, Junta de Andalucía through Proyectos de Excelencia grant reference TEP-3244, Campus de Excelencia Internacional del Mar (CEIMAR) and Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad through grant reference MAT2016-76951-C2-2-P is also acknowledged. PJW acknowledges an ERC advanced grant

Structural insight into the TRIAP1/PRELI-like domain family of mitochondrial phospholipid transfer complexes

The composition of the mitochondrial membrane is important for its architecture and proper function. Mitochondria depend on a tightly regulated supply of phospholipid via intra-mitochondrial synthesis and by direct import from the endoplasmic reticulum. The Ups1/PRELI-like family together with its mitochondrial chaperones (TRIAP1/Mdm35) represent a unique heterodimeric lipid transfer system that is evolutionary conserved from yeast to man. Work presented here provides new atomic resolution insight into the function of a human member of this system. Crystal structures of free TRIAP1 and the TRIAP1–SLMO1 complex reveal how the PRELI domain is chaperoned during import into the intermembrane mitochondrial space. The structural resemblance of PRELI-like domain of SLMO1 with that of mammalian phoshatidylinositol transfer proteins (PITPs) suggest that they share similar lipid transfer mechanisms, in which access to a buried phospholipid-binding cavity is regulated by conformationally adaptable loops