Spin-orbit misalignement for the transiting planet HD 80606b

A global Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis of published eclipse photometry and radial velocities is presented for the transiting planet HD 80606b. Despite the lack of a complete transit light curve, the size of the planet is measured with a good level of precision (R_p = 1.04 +0.05-0.09 R_Jup), while the orbital parameters are refined. This global analysis reveals that the orbital axis of the planet is significatively inclined relative to the spin axis of the host star (Beta = -59 +18-28 deg), providing a compelling evidence that HD 80606b owes its peculiar orbit to the Kozai migration mechanism.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure. Submitted to MNRA

Indian Microfinance Sector: A Case Study

In developing areas of the world with very little economic structure, many activities are not monetized. In other words, money is not used to carry out these tasks because the people in these areas do not have the expendable funds required. In order to combat this problem, micro financing has become increasingly more apparent in these areas of distress. Microfinance is an economic development strategy that allows for those in need to borrow actual money in order to start a business, go to school, or even gain access to everyday living requirements. Microfinance has made tremendous strides over the years, but still faces several obstacles including regulation, loan strategies, and loan consumption. This study will attempt to analyze the microfinance industry in India by challenging certain aspects of its use, as well as offer suggestions that could have beneficial effects upon the industry

On the influence of blends on the potential of ground-based transit surveys

Transit surveys have to observe many stars all at once in order to compensate for the rarity of the searched events. Such surveys, especially the ones observing a deep field of view and/or broadening their stellar images, have to deal with a relatively high level of crowding. This crowding could lead to a reduction of the number of detectable transits, and the estimation of the potential of such surveys without taking into account the influence of blends could give overoptimistic results. We have developed a code which allows to estimate the extent by which such a survey is affected by the crowding of the field of view. Our results show that the influence of blends is important only for severe levels of crowding and is in general much less crucial than the influence of red noise.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; to be published in Transiting Extrasolar Planets Workshop, Eds: Cristina Afonso, David Weldrake & Thomas Hennin

Flux Weakening Strategy Optimization for Five-Phase PM Machine with Concentrated Windings

The paper applies an Efficient Global Optimization method (EGO) to improve the efficiency, in flux weakening region, of a given 5-phase Permanent Magnet (PM) machine. An optimal control for the four independent currents is thus defined. Moreover, a modification proposal of the machine geometry is added to the optimization process of the global drive. The effectiveness of the method allows solving the challenge which consists in taking into account inside the control strategy the eddy-current losses in magnets and iron. In fact, magnet losses are a critical point to protect the machine from demagnetization in flux-weakening region. But these losses, which highly depend on magnetic state of the machine, must be calculated by Finite Element Method (FEM) to be accurate. The FEM has the drawback to be time consuming. It is why a direct optimization using FEM is critical. EGO method, using sparingly FEM, allows to find a feasible solution to this hard optimization problem of control and design of multi-phase drive