426 research outputs found
Kinematics and morphology of ionized gas in Hickson Compact Group 18
We present new observations of emission in the Hickson Compact
Group 18 (HCG 18) obtained with a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer. The
velocity field does not show motions of individual group members but, instead,
a complex common velocity field for the whole group. The gas distribution is
very asymmetric with clumps of maximum intensity coinciding with the optically
brightest knots. Comparing and HI data we conclude that HCG 18 is
not a compact group but instead a large irregular galaxy with several clumps of
star formation.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal (13p 6 figures
The kinematics of the warm gas in Hickson compact group of galaxies HCG 90
We present kinematic observations of H emission for two early-type
galaxies and one disk system, members of the Hickson compact group 90 (HCG 90)
obtained with a scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer and samplings of 16
and 1\arcsec. Mapping of the gas kinematics was possible to 2
r for the disk galaxy N7174 and to 1.3 r and 1.7
r for the early-type galaxies N7176 and N7173 respectively. Evidence
for ongoing interaction was found in the properties of the warm gas of the
three galaxies, some of which do not have stellar counterparts.
We suggest the following evolutionary scenario for the system. H90d is the
warm gas reservoir of the group in process of fueling H90b with gas. H90c and d
have experienced past interaction with gas exchange. The gas acquired by H90c
has already settled and relaxed but the effects of the interaction can still be
visible in the morphology of the two galaxies and their stellar kinematics.
This process will possibly result in a major merger.Comment: 32 pages - 10 figures, Accepted for publication in Astronomical
Journa
The variable finesse locking technique
Virgo is a power recycled Michelson interferometer, with 3 km long Fabry-Perot cavities in the arms. The locking of the interferometer has been obtained with an original lock acquisition technique. The main idea is to lock the instrument away from its working point. Lock is obtained by misaligning the power recycling mirror and detuning the Michelson from the dark fringe. In this way, a good fraction of light escapes through the antisymmetric port and the power build-up inside the recycling cavity is extremely low. The benefit is that all the degrees of freedom are controlled when they are almost decoupled, and the linewidth of the recycling cavity is large. The interferometer is then adiabatically brought on to the dark fringe. This technique is referred to as variable finesse, since the recycling cavity is considered as a variable finesse Fabry-Perot. This technique has been widely tested and allows us to reach the dark fringe in few minutes, in an essentially deterministic way
A Cross-correlation method to search for gravitational wave bursts with AURIGA and Virgo
We present a method to search for transient GWs using a network of detectors
with different spectral and directional sensitivities: the interferometer Virgo
and the bar detector AURIGA. The data analysis method is based on the
measurements of the correlated energy in the network by means of a weighted
cross-correlation. To limit the computational load, this coherent analysis step
is performed around time-frequency coincident triggers selected by an excess
power event trigger generator tuned at low thresholds. The final selection of
GW candidates is performed by a combined cut on the correlated energy and on
the significance as measured by the event trigger generator. The method has
been tested on one day of data of AURIGA and Virgo during September 2005. The
outcomes are compared to the results of a stand-alone time-frequency
coincidence search. We discuss the advantages and the limits of this approach,
in view of a possible future joint search between AURIGA and one
interferometric detector.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to CQG special issue for Amaldi 7
Proceeding
Astrophysically Triggered Searches for Gravitational Waves: Status and Prospects
In gravitational-wave detection, special emphasis is put onto searches that
focus on cosmic events detected by other types of astrophysical observatories.
The astrophysical triggers, e.g. from gamma-ray and X-ray satellites, optical
telescopes and neutrino observatories, provide a trigger time for analyzing
gravitational wave data coincident with the event. In certain cases the
expected frequency range, source energetics, directional and progenitor
information is also available. Beyond allowing the recognition of gravitational
waveforms with amplitudes closer to the noise floor of the detector, these
triggered searches should also lead to rich science results even before the
onset of Advanced LIGO. In this paper we provide a broad review of LIGO's
astrophysically triggered searches and the sources they target
Impacto da vacinação contra o Haemophilus influenzae b na redução de meningites, Goiás
OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of the Haemophilus influenzae b (Hib) conjugate vaccine in reducing the incidence of meningitis among children under five years old. METHODS: A 'before-after' design was used to compare Hib meningitis incidence rates in the pre-vaccine (July 1995 - June 1999) and post-vaccine (July 1999 - June 2001) periods in the state of Goiás, central Brazil. Bacterial meningitis case definition was based on World Health Organization criteria. Incidence rates of S. pneumoniae and N. meningitidis were used for comparison purposes. Chi-squared and Student's t tests were used for statistical analysis. P-values below 0.05 were considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: 979 children with acute bacterial meningitis were detected throughout the entire period. The incidence rate of Hib meningitis decreased from 10.8 (x10(5)) in the pre-vaccine period to 2.3 (x10(5)) in the 2nd year post vaccination, leading to a risk reduction of 78%, targeted to the 7-23 months age group (pOBJETIVO: Avaliar o impacto da vacinação contra o Haemophilus influenzae b na incidência de meningites em crianças menores de cinco anos de idade. MÉTODOS: Utilizou-se o delineamento tipo "antes-depois" para comparar as taxas de incidência de meningites por Haemophilus influenzae b nos perÃodos pré-vacinação (julho/95-junho/99) e pós-vacinação (julho/99-junho/2001) no Estado de Goiás. A definição de caso de meningite bacteriana seguiu os critérios da Organização Mundial de Saúde. As taxas de meningite por Streptococcus pneumoniae e Neisseria. meningitidis foram utilizadas para efeito de comparação. Para análise estatÃstica foram utilizados o teste de chi2 e o t de Student. Valores de
Comparison of Muscle Transcriptome between Pigs with Divergent Meat Quality Phenotypes Identifies Genes Related to Muscle Metabolism and Structure
Background: Meat quality depends on physiological processes taking place in muscle tissue, which could involve a large pattern of genes associated with both muscle structural and metabolic features. Understanding the biological phenomena underlying muscle phenotype at slaughter is necessary to uncover meat quality development. Therefore, a muscle transcriptome analysis was undertaken to compare gene expression profiles between two highly contrasted pig breeds, Large White (LW) and Basque (B), reared in two different housing systems themselves influencing meat quality. LW is the most predominant breed used in pig industry, which exhibits standard meat quality attributes. B is an indigenous breed with low lean meat and high fat contents, high meat quality characteristics, and is genetically distant from other European pig breeds. Methodology/Principal Findings: Transcriptome analysis undertaken using a custom 15 K microarray, highlighted 1233 genes differentially expressed between breeds (multiple-test adjusted P-value,0.05), out of which 635 were highly expressed in the B and 598 highly expressed in the LW pigs. No difference in gene expression was found between housing systems. Besides, expression level of 12 differentially expressed genes quantified by real-time RT-PCR validated microarray data. Functional annotation clustering emphasized four main clusters associated to transcriptome breed differences: metabolic processes, skeletal muscle structure and organization, extracellular matrix, lysosome, and proteolysis, thereb
Statistical mechanics of two-dimensional vortices and stellar systems
The formation of large-scale vortices is an intriguing phenomenon in
two-dimensional turbulence. Such organization is observed in large-scale
oceanic or atmospheric flows, and can be reproduced in laboratory experiments
and numerical simulations. A general explanation of this organization was first
proposed by Onsager (1949) by considering the statistical mechanics for a set
of point vortices in two-dimensional hydrodynamics. Similarly, the structure
and the organization of stellar systems (globular clusters, elliptical
galaxies,...) in astrophysics can be understood by developing a statistical
mechanics for a system of particles in gravitational interaction as initiated
by Chandrasekhar (1942). These statistical mechanics turn out to be relatively
similar and present the same difficulties due to the unshielded long-range
nature of the interaction. This analogy concerns not only the equilibrium
states, i.e. the formation of large-scale structures, but also the relaxation
towards equilibrium and the statistics of fluctuations. We will discuss these
analogies in detail and also point out the specificities of each system.Comment: Chapter of the forthcoming "Lecture Notes in Physics" volume:
``Dynamics and Thermodynamics of Systems with Long Range Interactions'', T.
Dauxois, S. Ruffo, E. Arimondo, M. Wilkens Eds., Lecture Notes in Physics
Vol. 602, Springer (2002
Genetic Structure, Linkage Disequilibrium and Signature of Selection in Sorghum: Lessons from Physically Anchored DArT Markers
Population structure, extent of linkage disequilibrium (LD) as well as signatures of selection were investigated in sorghum using a core sample representative of worldwide diversity. A total of 177 accessions were genotyped with 1122 informative physically anchored DArT markers. The properties of DArTs to describe sorghum genetic structure were compared to those of SSRs and of previously published RFLP markers. Model-based (STRUCTURE software) and Neighbor-Joining diversity analyses led to the identification of 6 groups and confirmed previous evolutionary hypotheses. Results were globally consistent between the different marker systems. However, DArTs appeared more robust in terms of data resolution and bayesian group assignment. Whole genome linkage disequilibrium as measured by mean r2 decreased from 0.18 (between 0 to 10 kb) to 0.03 (between 100 kb to 1 Mb), stabilizing at 0.03 after 1 Mb. Effects on LD estimations of sample size and genetic structure were tested using i. random sampling, ii. the Maximum Length SubTree algorithm (MLST), and iii. structure groups. Optimizing population composition by the MLST reduced the biases in small samples and seemed to be an efficient way of selecting samples to make the best use of LD as a genome mapping approach in structured populations. These results also suggested that more than 100,000 markers may be required to perform genome-wide association studies in collections covering worldwide sorghum diversity. Analysis of DArT markers differentiation between the identified genetic groups pointed out outlier loci potentially linked to genes controlling traits of interest, including disease resistance genes for which evidence of selection had already been reported. In addition, evidence of selection near a homologous locus of FAR1 concurred with sorghum phenotypic diversity for sensitivity to photoperiod
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