The Distance To The Hyades Cluster Based On Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor Parallaxes

Trigonometric parallax observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) 3 of seven Hyades members in six fields of view have been analyzed along with their proper motions to determine the distance to the cluster. Knowledge of the convergent point and mean proper motion of the Hyades is critical to the derivation of the distance to the center of the cluster. Depending on the choice of the proper-motion system, the derived cluster center distance varies by 9%. Adopting a reference distance of 46.1 pc or m - M = 3.32, which is derived from the ground-based parallaxes in the General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes (1995 edition), the FK5/PPM proper-motion system yields a distance 4% larger, while the Hanson system yields a distance 2% smaller. The HST FGS parallaxes reported here yield either a 14% or 5% larger distance, depending on the choice of the proper-motion system. Orbital parallaxes (Torres et al.) yield an average distance 4% larger than the reference distance. The variation in the distance derived from the HST data illustrates the importance of the proper-motion system and the individual proper motions to the derivation of the distance to the Hyades center; therefore, a full utilization of the HST FGS parallaxes awaits the establishment of an accurate and consistent proper-motion system.NASA HST GTO, HF-1042.01-93A, HF-1046.01-93A, NAS526555Astronom

Fiscal developments and financial stress : a threshold VAR analysis

We use a threshold VAR analysis to study the linkages between changes in the debt ratio, economic activity and financial stress within different financial regimes. We use quarterly data for the US, the UK, Germany and Italy, for the period 1980:4– 2014:1, encompassing macro, fiscal and financial variables, and use nonlinear impulse responses allowing for endogenous regime-switches in response to structural shocks. The results show that output reacts mostly positively to an increase in the debt ratio in both financial stress regimes; however, the differences in estimated multipliers across regimes are relatively small. Furthermore, a financial stress shock has a negative effect on output and worsens the fiscal situation. The large time-variation and the estimated nonlinear impulse responses suggest that the size of the fiscal multipliers was higher than average in the 2008–2009 crisis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of vaginal microbicide film hydration kinetics by quantitative imaging refractometry

We have developed a quantitative imaging refractometry technique, based on holographic phase microscopy, as a tool for investigating microscopic structural changes in water-soluble polymeric materials. Here we apply the approach to analyze the structural degradation of vaginal topical microbicide films due to water uptake. We implemented transmission imaging of 1-mm diameter film samples loaded into a flow chamber with a 1.5×2 mm field of view. After water was flooded into the chamber, interference images were captured and analyzed to obtain high resolution maps of the local refractive index and subsequently the volume fraction and mass density of film material at each spatial location. Here, we compare the hydration dynamics of a panel of films with varying thicknesses and polymer compositions, demonstrating that quantitative imaging refractometry can be an effective tool for evaluating and characterizing the performance of candidate microbicide film designs for anti-HIV drug delivery. © 2014 Rinehart et al

The Distance to the Hyades Cluster Based on HST Fine Guidance Sensor Parallaxes

Trigonometric parallax observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope's Fine Guidance Sensor #3 (HST FGS) of seven Hyades Cluster members in six fields of view have been analyzed along with their proper motions to determine the distance to the cluster. Knowledge of the Cluster's convergent point and mean proper motion are critical to the derivation of the distance to the center of the cluster. Depending on the choice of the proper-motion system, the derived cluster center distance varies by 9%. Adopting a reference distance of 46.1 pc or m-M=3.32, which is derived from the ground-based parallaxes in the General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes (1995 edition), the FK5/PPM proper-motion system yields a distance 4% larger, while the Hanson (1975) system yields a distance 2% smaller. The HST FGS parallaxes reported here yield either a 14% or 5% larger distance depending on the choice of the proper-motion system. Orbital parallaxes (Torres et al. 1997a, 1997b, 1997c) yield an average distance 4% larger than the reference distance. The variation in the distance derived from the HST data illustrates the importance of the proper-motion system and the individual proper motions to the derivation of the distance to the Hyades Cluster center, therefore a full utilization of the HST FGS parallaxes awaits the establishment of an accurate and consistent proper-motion system.Comment: 7 pages; This study is collaborated with 8 institution

Two-frequency shell model for hypernuclei and meson-exchange hyperon-nucleon potentials

A two-frequency shell model is proposed for investigating the structure of hypernuclei starting with a hyperon-nucleon potential in free space. In a calculation using the folded-diagram method for Λ¹⁶O, the Λ single particle energy is found to have a saturation minimum at an oscillator frequency ħωΛ≈10MeV, for the Λ orbit, which is considerably smaller than ħωN=14MeV for the nucleon orbit. The spin-dependence parameters derived from the Nijmegen NSC89 and NSC97f potentials are similar, but both are rather different from those obtained with the Jülich-B potential. The ΛNN three-body interactions induced by ΛN-ΣN transitions are important for the spin parameters, but relatively unimportant for the low-lying states of Λ¹⁶O.Yiharn Tzeng, S. Y. Tsay Tzeng, T. T. S. Kuo, T.-S.H. Lee, and V. G. D. Stok

Study of Damage Propagation at the Interface Localization-Delocalization Transition of the Confined Ising Model

The propagation of damage in a confined magnetic Ising film, with short range competing magnetic fields ($h$) acting at opposite walls, is studied by means of Monte Carlo simulations. Due to the presence of the fields, the film undergoes a wetting transition at a well defined critical temperature $T_w(h)$. In fact, the competing fields causes the occurrence of an interface between magnetic domains of different orientation. For $T T_w(h)$) such interface is bounded (unbounded) to the walls, while right at $T_w(h)$ the interface is essentially located at the center of the film. It is found that the spatio-temporal spreading of the damage becomes considerably enhanced by the presence of the interface, which act as a ''catalyst'' of the damage causing an enhancement of the total damaged area. The critical points for damage spreading are evaluated by extrapolation to the thermodynamic limit using a finite-size scaling approach. Furthermore, the wetting transition effectively shifts the location of the damage spreading critical points, as compared with the well known critical temperature of the order-disorder transition characteristic of the Ising model. Such a critical points are found to be placed within the non-wet phase.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures include

Conjunctive input processing drives feature selectivity in hippocampal CA1 neurons

Feature-selective firing allows networks to produce representations of the external and internal environments. Despite its importance, the mechanisms generating neuronal feature selectivity are incompletely understood. In many cortical microcircuits the integration of two functionally distinct inputs occurs nonlinearly through generation of active dendritic signals that drive burst firing and robust plasticity. To examine the role of this processing in feature selectivity, we recorded CA1 pyramidal neuron membrane potential and local field potential in mice running on a linear treadmill. We found that dendritic plateau potentials were produced by an interaction between properly timed input from entorhinal cortex and hippocampal CA3. These conjunctive signals positively modulated the firing of previously established place fields and rapidly induced new place field formation to produce feature selectivity in CA1 that is a function of both entorhinal cortex and CA3 input. Such selectivity could allow mixed network level representations that support context-dependent spatial maps.Howard Hughes Medical InstituteRikagaku Kenkyūjo (Japan