Merging Galaxies in the SDSS EDR

We present a new catalog of merging galaxies obtained through an automated systematic search routine. The 1479 new pairs of merging galaxies were found in approximately 462 sq deg of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release (SDSS EDR; Stoughton et al. 2002) photometric data, and the pair catalog is complete for galaxies in the magnitude range 16.0 <= g* <= 20. The selection algorithm, implementing a variation on the original Karachentsev (1972) criteria, proved to be very efficient and fast. Merging galaxies were selected such that the inter-galaxy separations were less than the sum of the component galaxies' radii. We discuss the characteristics of the sample in terms of completeness, pair separation, and the Holmberg effect. We also present an online atlas of images for the SDSS EDR pairs obtained using the corrected frames from the SDSS EDR database. The atlas images also include the relevant data for each pair member. This catalog will be useful for conducting studies of the general characteristics of merging galaxies, their environments, and their component galaxies. The redshifts for a subset of the interacting and merging galaxies and the distribution of angular sizes for these systems indicate the SDSS provides a much deeper sample than almost any other wide-area catalog to date.Comment: 58 pages, which includes 15 figures and 6 tables. Figures 2, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 14 are provided as JPEG files. For online atlas, see http://home.fnal.gov/~sallam/MergePair/ . Accepted for publication in A

Hard Probes in Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC: Jet Physics

We discuss the importance of high-pT hadron and jet measurements in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the CERN Large Hadron Collider.Comment: The writeup of the working group "Jet Physics" for the CERN Yellow Report on "Hard Probes in Heavy Ion Collisions at the LHC", 123 pages. Subgroup convenors: R. Baier, X.N. Wang, U.A. Wiedemann (theory) and I.P. Lokhtin, A. Morsch (experiment). Editor: U.A. Wiedeman

Теоретичний аналіз компетентності як ключового поняття педагогіки

У статті досліджено сутність ключового поняття педагогіки – «компетентність», проведено загальний та порівняльний аналіз дефініцій до розуміння компетентності в сучасних наукових дискурсах. Спираючись на розглянуті визначення і використовуючи теоретичний аналіз, визначено, що в контексті дослідження, під компетентністю розуміємо професійну якість, уміння актуалізувати в певній ситуації отримані знання та досвід, у контексті як соціальних, так і професійних ситуацій з урахуванням зовнішніх обставин; В статье исследована сущность ключевого понятия педагогики – «компетентность», проведен общий и сравнительный анализ дефиниций к пониманию компетентности в современных научных дискурсах. Опираясь на рассмотренные определения и используя теоретический анализ, определено, что в контексте исследования, под компетентностью понимаем профессиональное качество, умение актуализировать в определенной ситуации полученные знания и опыт в контексте как социальных, так и профессиональных ситуаций с учетом внешних обстоятельств; The article examines the essence of the key concept of pedagogy – “competence”. General and comparative analysis of definitions towards the understanding of competence in modern scientific discourses has been conducted. Based on the definition considered and using theoretical analysis, it is determined that in the context of the study competence is understood as a professional quality, the ability to actualize the knowledge and experience acquired in a given situation in the context of both social and professional situations, taking into account external circumstances

Some questions on passing a subtest of licensing examination “Krok 1” in a foreign language

Авторами статті обґрунтовується думка, що систематична підготовка студентів до практичних занять, методично продумана організація роботи з тестовими задачами з бази даних «Крок», регулярне повторення пройденого матеріалу, практична реалізація міжпредметних і міждисциплінарних зв’язків у процесі вивчення дисциплін циклу природничо-наукової підготовки та циклу гуманітарної і соціально-економічної підготовки (професійної орієнтації) таких, як латинська мова і медична термінологія та іноземна мова за професійним спрямуванням, формування у студентів високого рівня самосвідомості, відповідальності та самодисципліни забезпечать якісно нові позитивні результати складання ліцензійних іспитів «Крок»; The authors of the article substantiate the opinion that the systematic preparation of students for practical classes, methodically planned organization of work with test tasks from the “Krok” database, regular repetition of the material studied, practical implementation of intersubject and interdisciplinary links in the process of studying the disciplines of the natural science training cycle and the cycle of humanitarian and socio-economic training (occupational guidance) such as Latin and medical terminology and a foreign language for professional purposes and the formation of high level of selfawareness, responsibility and self-discipline in students will provide qualitatively new positive results in passing licensing examination “Krok”

Study of prompt dimuon and charm production with proton and heavy ion beams at the CERN SPS

NA6

Dark matter with invisible light from heavy double charged leptons of almost-commutative geometry?

A new candidate of cold dark matter arises by a novel elementary particle model: the almostcommutative AC-geometrical framework. Two heavy leptons are added to the Standard Model, each one sharing a double opposite electric charge and an own lepton flavor number The novel mathematical theory of almost-commutative geometry [1] wishes to unify gauge models with gravity. In this scenario two new heavy (m_L>100GeV), oppositely double charged leptons (A,C),(A with charge -2 and C with charge +2), are born with no twin quark companions. The model naturally involves a new U(1) gauge interaction, possessed only by the AC-leptons and providing a Coulomblike attraction between them. AC-leptons posses electro-magnetic as well as Z-boson interaction and, according to the charge chosen for the new U(1) gauge interaction, a new "invisible light" interaction. Their final cosmic relics are bounded into "neutral" stable atoms (AC) forming the mysterious cold dark matter, in the spirit of the Glashow's Sinister model. An (AC) state is reached in the early Universe along a tail of a few secondary frozen exotic components. They should be now here somehow hidden in the surrounding matter. The two main secondary manifest relics are C (mostly hidden in a neutral (Cee) "anomalous helium" atom, at a 10-8 ratio) and a corresponding "ion" A bounded with an ordinary helium ion (4He); indeed the positive helium ions are able to attract and capture the free A fixing them into a neutral relic cage that has nuclear interaction (4HeA).Comment: This paper has been merged with [astro-ph/0603187] for publication in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

An Analysis Tool for RF Control for Superconducting Cavities

The rf control analysis tool consists of a set of library blocks to be used with SIMULINK. The tool allows to study the performance of a given rf control design. The library blocks include models for the superconducting cavities, the rf power source, the beam, and the rf feedback system.The rf control relevant electrical and mechanical characteristics of the cavity are described in form of timevarying state space models. Included are perturbations from Lorentz force detuning and microphonics with the appropriate parameters for several mechanical resonances. The power source is calibrated in terms of actual power and includes saturation characteristics and noise. An arbitrary time structure can be imposed on the beam current to reflect a macro-pulse structure and bunch charge fluctuations. For rf feedback several schemes can be selected: Generator driven system or self-excited loop, traditional amplitude and phase control or I/Q control. The choices for the feedback controller include analog ordigital approaches and various choices of filters for the gain stages. Feed forward can be added to further suppress repetitive errors. The results of a performance analysis of the TTF Linac rf system using these tools are presented