An Unbiased Survey for Molecular Clouds in the Southern Galactic Warp

We have made an unbiased survey for molecular clouds in the Galactic Warp. This survey, covering an area of 56 square degrees at l = 252 deg to 266 deg and b = -5 deg to -1 deg, has revealed 70 molecular clouds, while only 6 clouds were previously known in the region. The number of molecular clouds is, then, an order of magnitude greater than previously known in this sector at R > 14.5 kpc. The mass of the clouds is in a range from 7.8x10(2) Mo to 8.4x10(4) Mo, significantly less than the most massive giant molecular clouds in the inner disk, ~10(6) Mo, while the cloud mass spectrum characterized by a power law is basically similar to other parts of the Galaxy. The X factor, N(H2)/Wco(12CO), derived from the molecular clouds in the Warp is estimated to be 3.5(+/-1.8) times larger than that in the inner disk. The total molecular mass in the Warp is estimated as 7.3x10(5) Mo, and total mass in the far-outer Galaxy (R > 14.5 kpc) can be estimated as 2x10(7) Mo. The spatial correlation between the CO and HI distribution appears fairly good, and the mass of the molecular gas is about 1% of that of the atomic gas in the far-outer Galaxy. This ratio is similar to that in the interarm but is ten times smaller than those of the spiral arms. Only 6 of the 70 Warp clouds show signs of star formation at the IRAS sensitivity and star formation efficiency for high-mass stars in the Warp is found to be smaller than those in other molecular clouds in the Galaxy.Comment: 29 pages, including 12 (pages of) figures, accepted for PASJ, and will be published in PASJ Vol.57, No.6. Tables and color-figures are available on-line: http://www.a.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp/~masa/study/nakagawa_etal2005_warp.pd

Changes in plasma levels of B-type natriuretic peptide with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Background: Elevated plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels and their association with heart failure have been reported in subjects with acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD). Purpose: To examine and compare plasma BNP levels and diastolic and systolic dysfunction in subjects with AECOPD and s table chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods: In all,87 unselected consecutive hospitalizations due to AECOPD in 61 subjects and a total of 190 consecutive subjects with stable COPD were recruited. Plasma BNP levels were compared cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Transthoracic echocardiographic examinations were also performed in the hospitalized subjects. Results: In the hospitalized subjects, the median plasma BNP level (interquartile range) was 55.4 (26.9–129.3) pg/mL and was higher than that of patients with stable COPD: 18.3 (10.0–45.3)for Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease grade I; 25.8 (11.0–53.7) for grade II; 22.1 (9.1–52.6) for grade III; and 17.2 (9.6–22.9) pg/mL for grade IV, all P,0.001. In 15 subjects studied prospectively, the median plasma BNP level was 19.4 (9.8–32.2) pg/mL before AECOPD, 72.7 (27.7–146.3) pg/mL during AECOPD, and 14.6 (12.9–39.0) pg/mL after AECOPD (P,0.0033 and P,0.0013, respectively). Median plasma BNP levels during AECOPD were significantly higher in ten unsuccessfully discharged subjects 260.5 (59.4–555.0) than in 48 successfully discharged subjects 48.5(24.2–104.0) pg/mL (P=0.0066). Only 5.6% of AECOPD subjects were associated with systolic dysfunction defined as a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF),50%; a further 7.4% were considered to have impaired relaxation defined as an E/A wave velocity ratio,0.8 and a deceleration time of E.240 ms. BNP levels were weakly correlated with the E/peak early diastolic velocity of the mitral annulus (Ea) ratio (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient =0.353,P =0.018), but they were not correlated with the LVEF (Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient =−0.221,P = 0.108). Conclusion: A modest elevation of plasma BNP is observed during AECOPD. It appears that AECOPD may have an impact on plasma BNP levels that is not attributable to heart failure

Semiclassical Study on Tunneling Processes via Complex-Domain Chaos

We investigate the semiclassical mechanism of tunneling process in non-integrable systems. The significant role of complex-phase-space chaos in the description of the tunneling process is elucidated by studying a simple scattering map model. Behaviors of tunneling orbits are encoded into symbolic sequences based on the structure of complex homoclinic tanglement. By means of the symbolic coding, the phase space itineraries of tunneling orbits are related with the amounts of imaginary parts of actions gained by the orbits, so that the systematic search of significant tunneling orbits becomes possible.Comment: 26 pages, 28 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Band Crossing studied by GCM with 3D-CHFB

We solved the constrained Hill-Wheeler Equation, and found several signatures of multi-band crossing in 182 Os.Comment: LaTeX 3 pages, 3 eps figures; Contribution to International Conference, Nuclear Structure at the extreme,Lewes, UK, (1998) Jun.17-1

Catalogue of 12CO(J=1-0) and 13CO(J=1-0) Molecular Clouds in the Carina Flare Supershell

We present a catalogue of 12CO(J=1-0) and 13CO(J=1-0) molecular clouds in the spatio-velocity range of the Carina Flare supershell, GSH 287+04-17. The data cover a region of ~66 square degrees and were taken with the NANTEN 4m telescope, at spatial and velocity resolutions of 2.6' and 0.1 km/s. Decomposition of the emission results in the identification of 156 12CO clouds and 60 13CO clouds, for which we provide observational and physical parameters. Previous work suggests the majority of the detected mass forms part of a comoving molecular cloud complex that is physically associated with the expanding shell. The cloud internal velocity dispersions, degree of virialization and size-linewidth relations are found to be consistent with those of other Galactic samples. However, the vertical distribution is heavily skewed towards high-altitudes. The robust association of high-z molecular clouds with a known supershell provides some observational backing for the theory that expanding shells contribute to the support of a high-altitude molecular layer.Comment: To be published in PASJ Vol. 60, No. 6. (Issued on December 25th 2008). 35 pages (including 13 pages of tables), 7 figures. Please note that formatting problems with the journal macro result in loss of rightmost data columns in some long tables. These will be fixed in the final published issue. In the meantime, please contact the authors for missing dat

Using Global Positioning System Analysis to Quantify the movement characteristics of sub elite rugby union players in training and Match Performance

Rugby Union (RU) involves various movement patterns (MP) which includes walking, jogging and sprinting. Substantial physiological differences exist between backs and forwards. The diversity of physiological requirements of each positional group results in a range of physiological stress experienced by players. Game demands and training loads needs to be quantified to maximize the physiological benefits of training an improve performance

Spin, charge, and orbital correlations in the one-dimensional t2g-orbital Hubbard model

We present the zero-temperature phase diagram of the one-dimensional t2g-orbital Hubbard model, obtained using the density-matrix renormalization group and Lanczos techniques. Emphasis is given to the case for the electron density n=5 corresponding to five electrons per site, of relevance for some Co-based compounds. However, several other cases for electron densities between n=3 and 6 are also studied. At n=5, our results indicate a first-order transition between a paramagnetic (PM) insulator phase and a fully-polarized ferromagnetic (FM) state by tuning the Hund's coupling. The results also suggest a transition from the n=5 PM insulator phase to a metallic regime by changing the electron density, either via hole or electron doping. The behavior of the spin, charge, and orbital correlation functions in the FM and PM states are also described in the text and discussed. The robustness of these two states varying parameters suggests that they may be of relevance in more realistic higher dimensional systems as well.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Structure and apparent topography of TiO2 (110) surfaces

We present self-consistent ab-initio total-energy and electronic-structure calculations on stoichiometric and non-stoichiometric TiO2 (110) surfaces. Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) topographs are simulated by calculating the local electronic density of states over an energy window appropriate for the experimental positive-bias conditions. We find that under these conditions the STM tends to image the undercoordinated Ti atoms, in spite of the physical protrusion of the O atoms, giving an apparent reversal of topographic contrast on the stoichiometric 1x1 or missing-row 2x1 surface. We also show that both the interpretation of STM images and the direct comparison of surface energies favor an added-row structure over the missing-row structure for the oxygen-deficient 2x1 surface.Comment: 6 pages, two-column style with 5 postscript figures embedded. Uses REVTEX and epsf macros. Also available at http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~dhv/preprints/index.html#ng_tio