SUBARU and e-Merlin observations of NGC3718. Diaries of an SMBH recoil?

NGC3718 is a LINER $L1.9$ galaxy, lying at a distance of about $\sim 17.4$ Mpc away from earth and its similarities with NGC5128 often award it the name "northern Centaurus A". We use high angular resolution ($\sim100$ mas) e-Merlin radio and SUBARU NIR ($\sim170$ mas) data, to take a detailed view of the processes taking place in its central region. In order to preserve some objectivity in our interpretation, we combine our results with literature values and findings from previous studies. Our NIR maps suggest, on one hand, that towards the stellar bulge there are no large scale absorption phenomena caused by the apparent dust lane and, on the other, that there is a significant (local) contribution from hot ($\sim1000$ K) dust to the nuclear NIR emission. The position where this takes place appears to be closer to the offset compact radio emission from our e-Merlin $6$ cm map, lying offset by $\sim4.25$ pc from the center of the underlying stellar bulge. The shape of the radio map suggests the presence of one (or possibly two, forming an X-shape) bipolar structure(s) $\sim1$ ($\sim0.6$) arcsec across, which combined with the balance between the gas and the stellar velocity dispersions and the presence of hard X-ray emission, point towards effects expected by AGN feedback. We also argue that NGC3718 has a "core" in its surface brightness profile, despite the fact that it is a gas-rich galaxy and we discuss its mixed photometric and spectroscopic characteristics. The latter combined with the observed spatial and radio offsets, the relative redshift between the broad and the narrow $H{\mathrm{\alpha}}$ line, the limited star formation activity and AGN feedback, strongly imply the existence of an SMBH recoil. Finally, we discuss a possible interpretation, that could naturally incorporate all these findings into one physically consistent picture.Comment: 18 pages, 18 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publications in A&

International study on the long-term efficiency of stormwater infiltration by permeable pavements

Although permeable pavements have been used all over the world in recent years to infiltrate and treat stormwater, only limited research has been undertaken to investigate and compare the long-term performance of these sustainable urban drainage system devices. This paper presents the results of an extensive international review of research on the reduction of infiltration capacity of permeable pavements over time. The results of these studies, coupled with specific knowledge of the key environmental factors on the individual research locations and infiltration testing methods used, enables the maintenance of these SUDS to be strategically planned in order to meet specific European and international infiltration capacity guidelines

Concise Synthesis of (S,S)-(+)-Dehydrohomoancepsenolide

A concise total synthesis of the bis-butenolide 3 in optically active form is reported. Key steps are a zinc-mediated “three-component coupling” with formation of dienyne 9 which undergoes ring closing metathesis (RCM) on treatment with (PCy3)2Cl2Ru=CHPh. Dimerization of the resulting butenolide 11 is then achieved via alkyne metathesis using (tBuO)3WΞCCMe3 as the catalyst. A Lindlar reduction completes this synthesis which delivers product 3 in only five steps with an overall yield of 25%

Doubly connected minimal surfaces and extremal harmonic mappings

The concept of a conformal deformation has two natural extensions: quasiconformal and harmonic mappings. Both classes do not preserve the conformal type of the domain, however they cannot change it in an arbitrary way. Doubly connected domains are where one first observes nontrivial conformal invariants. Herbert Groetzsch and Johannes C. C. Nitsche addressed this issue for quasiconformal and harmonic mappings, respectively. Combining these concepts we obtain sharp estimates for quasiconformal harmonic mappings between doubly connected domains. We then apply our results to the Cauchy problem for minimal surfaces, also known as the Bjorling problem. Specifically, we obtain a sharp estimate of the modulus of a doubly connected minimal surface that evolves from its inner boundary with a given initial slope.Comment: 35 pages, 2 figures. Minor edits, references adde

VIPAR, a quantitative approach to 3D histopathology applied to lymphatic malformations.

BACKGROUND: Lack of investigatory and diagnostic tools has been a major contributing factor to the failure to mechanistically understand lymphedema and other lymphatic disorders in order to develop effective drug and surgical therapies. One difficulty has been understanding the true changes in lymph vessel pathology from standard 2D tissue sections. METHODS: VIPAR (volume information-based histopathological analysis by 3D reconstruction and data extraction), a light-sheet microscopy-based approach for the analysis of tissue biopsies, is based on digital reconstruction and visualization of microscopic image stacks. VIPAR allows semiautomated segmentation of the vasculature and subsequent nonbiased extraction of characteristic vessel shape and connectivity parameters. We applied VIPAR to analyze biopsies from healthy lymphedematous and lymphangiomatous skin. RESULTS: Digital 3D reconstruction provided a directly visually interpretable, comprehensive representation of the lymphatic and blood vessels in the analyzed tissue volumes. The most conspicuous features were disrupted lymphatic vessels in lymphedematous skin and a hyperplasia (4.36-fold lymphatic vessel volume increase) in the lymphangiomatous skin. Both abnormalities were detected by the connectivity analysis based on extracted vessel shape and structure data. The quantitative evaluation of extracted data revealed a significant reduction of lymphatic segment length (51.3% and 54.2%) and straightness (89.2% and 83.7%) for lymphedematous and lymphangiomatous skin, respectively. Blood vessel length was significantly increased in the lymphangiomatous sample (239.3%). CONCLUSION: VIPAR is a volume-based tissue reconstruction data extraction and analysis approach that successfully distinguished healthy from lymphedematous and lymphangiomatous skin. Its application is not limited to the vascular systems or skin. FUNDING: Max Planck Society, DFG (SFB 656), and Cells-in-Motion Cluster of Excellence EXC 1003

Technikgenese: Einflußfaktoren der Technisierung jenseits traditioneller Technikfolgenforschung

Ausgehend davon, daß das Verhältnis von Technikgeneseforschung zu Technikfolgenforschung komplementär sein muß, werden in dem Beitrag die strukturellen, institutionellen und organisatorischen, die kognitiven wie perzeptiven Voraussetzungen dafür untersucht, welche Technikfolgen wie systematisch und rational in frühen Phasen der Technikentstehung wahrgenommen, berücksichtigt und technisch umgesetzt werden und welche nicht, um in der sozialwissenschaftlichen Rekonstruktion der Bedingungen technischer Innovationen die gesellschaftlichen und organisatorischen Einflußparameter, die Selektionsprozesse bei der Neueinführung von Techniken prägen, manifest werden zu lassen. Ziele und Grundlagen der sozialwissenschaftlichen Technikgeneseforschung werden dargestellt. Indem Technikgenese in organisationskulturellen Kontexten analysiert wird, wird ein neuer Forschungsansatz konzipiert, der im Kern beansprucht, das Selektions- und Entscheidungsverhalten von Organisationen mit Hilfe von Erklärungskategorien zu erfassen. Der zentrale Beitrag des organisationskulturellen Forschungsansatzes der Technikgenese liegt in der Möglichkeit, diejenigen Faktoren herauszukristallisieren, die eine Organisation dazu befähigen, innovative Impulse selbst zu generieren oder entsprechende Stimuli aus ihrer Umwelt aufzunehmen und umzusetzen. Abschließend wird das weitere Vorgehen sozialwissenschaftlicher Forschung zur Technikgenese skizziert. (ICA

Quality evaluation of olive oil by statistical analysis of multicomponent stable isotope dilution assay data of aroma active compounds

An instrumental method for the evaluation of olive oil quality was developed. Twenty-one relevant aroma active compounds were quantified in 95 olive oil samples of different quality by headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and dynamic headspace coupled to GC-MS. On the basis of these stable isotope dilution assay results, statistical evaluation by partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was performed. Important variables were the odor activity values of ethyl isobutanoate, ethyl 2-methylbutanoate, 3-methylbutanol, butyric acid, E,E-2,4-decadienal, hexanoic acid, guaiacol, 2-phenylethanol, and the sum of the odor activity values of Z-3-hexenal, E-2-hexenal, Z-3-hexenyl acetate, and Z-3-hexenol. Classification performed with these variables predicted 88% of the olive oils? quality correctly. Additionally, the aroma compounds, which are characteristic for some off-flavors, were dissolved in refined plant oil. Sensory evaluation of these models demonstrated that the off-flavors rancid, fusty, and vinegary could be successfully simulated by a limited number of odorants