Post Newtonian SPH

We introduce an adaptation of the well known Tree+SPH numerical scheme to Post Newtonian (PN) hydrodynamics and gravity. Our code solves the (0+1+2.5)PN equations. These equations include Newtonian hydrodynamics and gravity (0PN), the first order relativistic corrections to those (1PN) and the lowest order gravitational radiation terms (2.5PN). We test various aspects of our code using analytically solvable test problems. We then proceed to study the 1PN effects on binary neutron star coalescence by comparing calculations with and without the 1PN terms. We find that the effect of the 1PN terms is rather small. The largest effect arises with a stiff equation of state for which the maximum rest mass density increases. This could induce black hole formation. The gravitational wave luminosity is also affected.Comment: 28 pages, 13 figures, revised version published in Ap

PENINGKATAN HASIL BELAJAR PESERTA DIDIK KELAS X SMK NEGERI 6 AMBON MENGGUNAKAN MODEL PEMBELAJARAN KOOPERATIF TIPE NUMBERED HEADS TOGETHER (NHT) DENGAN MEDIA FLASH PLAYER PADA MATERI IKATAN KIMIA

This study aims to determine the increase in learning outcomes of students of SMK Negeri 6 Ambon by using the NHT coopertive learning model (Numbered Heads Together) with Flash Player media. The purpose of this research was to determine the improvement of learning outcomes in the chemical bonding material learning by using the NHT learning model on class X TI-2. This research was conducted with a study sample of 27 students in class X TI-2. Data collection is done by using test instruments and LKPD. The results of data analysis showed that the learning outcomes of class X TI-2 students achieved different qualifications, namely very good qualifications 1 (3.70%). Good 10 (37.04%), Sufficient 10 (37.04%), less 6 (22.22%). The N-gain achievement data obtained were 18 students (66.67%) in the high category and 9 students (33.33%) in the moderate gain category, overall the average n-gain value was 0.71 meant in the high category. Thus the NHT type cooperative learning model can help improve student learning outcome

HUBUNGAN DUKUNGAN KELUARGA TERHADAP TINGKAT DEPRESI PADA PENDERITA TUBERKULOSIS DI KOTA KUPANG

Tuberkulosis merupakan salah satu masalah kesehatan dunia yang tiap tahunnya selalu berusaha diturunkan angka morbiditas maupun mortalitasnya. Indonesia merupakan negara dengan insiden tuberkulosis tertinggi kedua di Dunia. Dukungan keluarga pada pasien tuberkulosis sangat diperlukan mengingat penyakit yang dideritanya merupakan penyakit yang kronis dengan masa pengobatan yang cukup lama. Adanya keterbatasan dalam menjalani kehidupannya juga dapat meningkatkan resiko terjadinya depresi pada diri pasien dengan tuberkulosis. Oleh sebab itu peneliti ingin mengetahui hubungan dukungan keluarga terhadap tingkat depresi pada penderita tuberkulosis di Kota Kupang.  Tujuan  penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui hubungan dukungan keluarga terhadap tingkat depresi pada penderita tuberkulosis di Kota Kupang. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah penelitian kuantitatif dengan metode observasional analitik dan pendekatan Cross sectional yang dilakukan di 11 puskesmas di Kota Kupang. Pengambilan sampel dengan teknik Stratified sampling dan didapatkan 84 penderita tuberkulosis yang terdaftar di puskesmas tahun 2018.  Hasil uji Korelasi Spearman dengan program SPSS 16 menunjukan bahwa tidak terdapat hubungan antara dukungan keluarga terhadap tingkat depresi pada penderita tuberkulosis di Kota Kupang dengan p value = 0,896 (p > 0,005).  Kesimpulan penelitian ini tidak terdapat hubungan antara dukungan keluarga terhadap tingkat depresi pada penderita tuberkulosis di Kota Kupan

Transient X-ray Emission from Normal Galactic Nuclei

X-ray transients appeared in optically non-active galactic nuclei have been observed in recent years. The most popular model explaining this kind of phenomena is the conventional tidal disruption model. In this model, when a star moves within the tidal radius of a black hole, part of the star materials will fall into the black hole through an accretion disk, which gives rise to the luminous flare. We propose that the X-ray emission may not necessarily come from radiation of the accretion disk alone. Instead, it may be related to a jet. As the jet travels in the interstellar medium, a shock is produced and synchrotron radiation is expected. We compared the model light curve and the synchrotron radiation spectrum with the observed data, and find that our model explains the observed light curve and late-time spectrum well. Our model predicts that these transient active galactic nuclei could be sources of the future gamma-ray satellites, e.g. GLAST and the emission region will be expanding with time.Comment: 5 figures, accepted by A&

Quantum corrections to critical phenomena in gravitational collapse

We investigate conformally coupled quantum matter fields on spherically symmetric, continuously self-similar backgrounds. By exploiting the symmetry associated with the self-similarity the general structure of the renormalized quantum stress-energy tensor can be derived. As an immediate application we consider a combination of classical, and quantum perturbations about exactly critical collapse. Generalizing the standard argument which explains the scaling law for black hole mass, $M \propto |\eta-\eta^*|^\beta$, we demonstrate the existence of a quantum mass gap when the classical critical exponent satisfies $\beta \geq 0.5$. When $\beta < 0.5$ our argument is inconclusive; the semi-classical approximation breaks down in the spacetime region of interest.Comment: RevTeX, 6 pages, 3 figures included using psfi

Assessing vegetation response to multi-time-scale drought across inner Mongolia plateau

This study assessed the impacts of climate change in IMP by investigating vegetation responses droughtin multiple timescales. Methods used included the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) andStandardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI), by annual maximum Pearson correlation(Rmax) and the corresponding month (Rmonth) of drought. Results showed that: (1) It is necessary tozone IMP when analyzing the vegetation responses to drought. (2) Rmax is significantly positive cor-relation in IMP, indicating that vegetation was largely in fl uenced by drought; the most seriously affectedareas are in the north-eastern part of typical steppe, south-western parts of steppe desert and southernpart of desert steppe, while light seriously are distributed in the south-eastern of typical steppe andforest steppe. (3) Vegetation in typical steppe, steppe desert and desert steppe are sensitive to shortertime-scales of droughts, while in the forest, forest steppe and sand desert, vegetation shows a closerelationship with the longer drought time-scales. (4) The effects of drought related climate extremes canalso contr ibute to Rmax and Rmo nth between SPEI and NDVI. Vegetation in forest and sand desert areas,have lower sensitivity to drought under the effect of climate extremes. Adaptation measures, such asbuilding drought resilience vegetation types, applying biochar and monitoring and forecasting drought,must be timely and effectively initiated, especially, in the typical steppe, steppe desert and desert steppein IMP since vegetation in these four areas is affected seriously, once drought occur. The results from thisstudy may provide useful infor mation about appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies against theinverse effects of drought on vegetation, and even alleviate the losses caused by drought

Assessing the impacts of climate change in cities and their adaptive capacity: Towards transformative approaches to climate change adaptation and poverty reduction in urban areas in a set of developing countries

Many cities across the world are facing many problems climate change poses to their populations, communities and infrastructure. These vary from increased exposures to floods, to discomfort due to urban heat, depending on their geographical locations and settings. However, even though some cities have a greater ability to cope with climate change challenges, many struggle to do so, particularly in cities in developing countries. In addition, there is a shortage of international studies which examine the links between climate change adaptation and cities, and which at the same time draw some successful examples of good practice, which may assist future efforts. This paper is an attempt to address this information need. The aim of this paper is to analyse the extent to which cities in a sample of developing countries are attempting to pursue climate change adaptation and the problems which hinder this process. Its goal is to showcase examples of initiatives and good practice in transformative adaptation, which may be replicable elsewhere. To this purpose, the paper describes some trends related to climate change in a set of cities in developing countries across different continents, including one of the smallest capital cities (Georgetown, Guyana) and Shanghai, one the world's most populous cities. In particular, it analyses their degree of vulnerability, how they manage to cope with climate change impacts, and the policies being implemented to aid adaptation. It also suggests the use of transformative approaches which may be adopted, in order to assist them in their efforts towards investments in low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure, thereby maximizing investments in urban areas and trying to address their related poverty issues. This paper addresses a gap in the international literature on the problems many cities in developing countries face, in trying to adapt to a changing climate

Assessing uncertainties in climate change adaptation and land management

The entire cascade of scenario generation, global and regional climate modeling, as well as concrete measures towards climate adaptation are subject to uncertainties. An exact prediction of how the climate will change in the coming years, and how it will affect land use, is not possible. There is thus a perceived need to identify ways via which uncertainties can be addressed. Based on the need to address the research gap in this area, this paper reports the findings of a study on uncertainty in a climate change adaptation context, and how it is perceived. It consists of a multi-stakeholder survey among climate change professionals, including academic staff at universities, representatives from international agencies, members of NGOs, policymakers, and representatives of industry from 50 countries, including a balanced representation of industrialized and developing nations. The results obtained suggest that uncertainties are often a hindrance to engagement in climate change adaptation efforts, and to land management. Furthermore, there is a range of tools to reduce climate change adaptation uncertainties, whose deployment may help to address them. The paper concludes by providing a list of lessons learned and suggestions as to how uncertainty can be better communicated, and by doing so, how a reduction in the levels of climate change vulnerability may be achieved, and how land management may be fostered

Fires can benefit plants by disrupting antagonistic interactions

Fire has a key role in the ecology and evolution of many ecosystems, yet its effects on plant–insect interactions are poorly understood. Because interacting species are likely to respond to fire differently, disruptions of the interactions are expected. We hypothesized that plants that regenerate after fire can benefit through the disruption of their antagonistic interactions. We expected stronger effects on interactions with specialist predators than with generalists. We studied two interactions between two Mediterranean plants (Ulex parviflorus, Asphodelus ramosus) and their specialist seed predators after large wildfires. In A. ramosus we also studied the generalist herbivores. We sampled the interactions in burned and adjacent unburned areas during 2 years by estimating seed predation, number of herbivores and fruit set. To assess the effect of the distance to unburned vegetation we sampled plots at two distance classes from the fire perimeter. Even 3 years after the fires, Ulex plants experienced lower seed damage by specialists in burned sites. The presence of herbivores on Asphodelus decreased in burned locations, and the variability in their presence was significantly related to fruit set. Generalist herbivores were unaffected. We show that plants can benefit from fire through the disruption of their antagonistic interactions with specialist seed predators for at least a few years. In environments with a long fire history, this effect might be one additional mechanism underlying the success of fire-adapted plants

Abnormal Changes in NKT Cells, the IGF-1 Axis, and Liver Pathology in an Animal Model of ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressing fatal neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the selective death of motor neurons (MN) in the spinal cord, and is associated with local neuroinflammation. Circulating CD4+ T cells are required for controlling the local detrimental inflammation in neurodegenerative diseases, and for supporting neuronal survival, including that of MN. T-cell deficiency increases neuronal loss, while boosting T cell levels reduces it. Here, we show that in the mutant superoxide dismutase 1 G93A (mSOD1) mouse model of ALS, the levels of natural killer T (NKT) cells increased dramatically, and T-cell distribution was altered both in lymphoid organs and in the spinal cord relative to wild-type mice. The most significant elevation of NKT cells was observed in the liver, concomitant with organ atrophy. Hepatic expression levels of insulin-like growth factor (IGF)-1 decreased, while the expression of IGF binding protein (IGFBP)-1 was augmented by more than 20-fold in mSOD1 mice relative to wild-type animals. Moreover, hepatic lymphocytes of pre-symptomatic mSOD1 mice were found to secrete significantly higher levels of cytokines when stimulated with an NKT ligand, ex-vivo. Immunomodulation of NKT cells using an analogue of α-galactosyl ceramide (α-GalCer), in a specific regimen, diminished the number of these cells in the periphery, and induced recruitment of T cells into the affected spinal cord, leading to a modest but significant prolongation of life span of mSOD1 mice. These results identify NKT cells as potential players in ALS, and the liver as an additional site of major pathology in this disease, thereby emphasizing that ALS is not only a non-cell autonomous, but a non-tissue autonomous disease, as well. Moreover, the results suggest potential new therapeutic targets such as the liver for immunomodulatory intervention for modifying the disease, in addition to MN-based neuroprotection and systemic treatments aimed at reducing oxidative stress