124 research outputs found
Under Siege : Journal Publishing in the 1990s
Budget cutbacks are the theme of the '90s, and all aspects of advanced education are under intense pressure from severely reduced federal and provincial funding. The realm of scholarly communication is no exception. At a time of rising production costs, reduced postal subsidies, and subscription cancellations from under-funded university libraries, publishers of scholarly journals are now faced with the outright elimination of funding sources such as the Scientific Publication Grants Program of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). According to NSERC, the support of scientific journals is a "non-core program" and is therefore being terminated to allow more funding to be directed to research grants. It is difficult to understand how the dissemination of knowledge came to be defined as a non-core program. The goal of ensuring adequate funds for the direct costs of conducting research is certainly laudable. Nevertheless, the loss, through inadequate funding, of scholarly journals as a major forum for scientists to communicate the results of their work has serious consequences for the entire scientific endeavour. There is little point in funding research that will remain unknown to the broader academic community and to Canadian tax-payers who support that community. Such a move could easily result in the research being available only to a privileged few (relatively speaking) through informal networks of communication such as the Internet. ... The move to on-line publishing may somewhat ease the budgetary pressures on journal support programs and university libraries as more and more new journals are offered directly in the electronic media rather than in print. ... Until such time as the print journal has disappeared, publishers will continue to seek ways to make the production process as efficient and cost-effective as possible, while maintaining the quality and integrity of scholarly journals. ... Fiscally responsible journal management means maintaining subscriber rates that will cover the costs of production and distribution. But we need to look elsewhere to cover the myriad other costs associated with scholarly publishing. ..
Western Elements in the Early Thule Culture of the Eastern High Arctic
Excavations of Thule culture winter sites in the Bache Peninsula region on the east coast of Ellesmere Island have yielded a number of finds which indicate a strong relationship to cultural developments in the Bering Sea region. Specific elements under discussion include dwelling styles, clay pottery, needle cases, a brow band and harpoon heads. Evidence is presented suggesting an initial arrival of the Thule culture Inuit in the eastern Arctic around 1050 A.D
Targeting alphas can make coyote control more effective and socially acceptable
Research at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) has improved our understanding of how to reduce sheep depredation while minimizing the impact on coyotes. Analysis of a 14-year data set of HREC coyote-control efforts found that sheep depredation losses were not correlated with the number of coyotes removed in any of three time scales analyzed (yearly, seasonally and monthly) during corresponding intervals for the next 2 years. Field research using radiotelemetry to track coyotes supported and explained this finding. For example, in 1995, dominant âalphasâ from four territories were associated with 89% of 74 coyote-killed lambs; âbetasâ and transients were not associated with any of these kills. Relatively few coyotes were killing sheep, and these animals were difficult to capture by conventional methods at the time of year when depredation was highest. However, selective removal of only the problem alpha coyotes effectively reduced losses at HREC
Targeting alphas can make coyote control more effective and socially acceptable
Research at the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center (HREC) has improved our understanding of how to reduce sheep depredation while minimizing the impact on coyotes. Analysis of a 14-year data set of HREC coyote-control efforts found that sheep depredation losses were not correlated with the number of coyotes removed in any of three time scales analyzed (yearly, seasonally and monthly) during corresponding intervals for the next 2 years. Field research using radiotelemetry to track coyotes supported and explained this finding. For example, in 1995, dominant âalphasâ from four territories were associated with 89% of 74 coyote-killed lambs; âbetasâ and transients were not associated with any of these kills. Relatively few coyotes were killing sheep, and these animals were difficult to capture by conventional methods at the time of year when depredation was highest. However, selective removal of only the problem alpha coyotes effectively reduced losses at HREC
Current Status of Cord Blood Banking and Transplantation in the United States and Europe
Cord blood (CB) transplantation has expanded the ability of the transplantation community to meet the growing needs of their patients. Clinical data over the last decade show promising results in CB transplantation using blood from related as well as unrelated donors. Basic science continues to look for ways to expand the quality and quantity of CB. CB banks are now established around the world, with major efforts to standardize banking to facilitate regulation, collection, processing, and distribution as a way of providing the highest-quality CB for patient use. This review article discusses the current status of CB transplantation and banking in the United States and Europe
The Lupus Transit Survey For Hot Jupiters: Results and Lessons
We present the results of a deep, wide-field transit survey targeting Hot
Jupiter planets in the Lupus region of the Galactic plane conducted over 53
nights concentrated in two epochs separated by a year. Using the Australian
National University 40-inch telescope at Siding Spring Observatory (SSO), the
survey covered a 0.66 sq. deg. region close to the Galactic Plane (b=11 deg.)
and monitored a total of 110,372 stars (15.0<V<22.0). Using difference imaging
photometry, 16,134 light curves with a photometric precision of sigma<0.025 mag
were obtained. These light curves were searched for transits, and four
candidates were detected that displayed low-amplitude variability consistent
with a transiting giant planet. Further investigations, including spectral
typing and radial velocity measurements for some candidates, revealed that of
the four, one is a true planetary companion (Lupus-TR-3), two are blended
systems (Lupus-TR-1 and 4), and one is a binary (Lupus-TR-2). The results of
this successful survey are instructive for optimizing the observational
strategy and follow-up procedure for deep searches for transiting planets,
including an upcoming survey using the SkyMapper telescope at SSO.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in A
TESS Discovery of a Transiting Super-Earth in the Mensae System
We report the detection of a transiting planet around Mensae (HD
39091), using data from the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). The
solar-type host star is unusually bright (V=5.7) and was already known to host
a Jovian planet on a highly eccentric, 5.7-year orbit. The newly discovered
planet has a size of and an orbital period of 6.27
days. Radial-velocity data from the HARPS and AAT/UCLES archives also displays
a 6.27-day periodicity, confirming the existence of the planet and leading to a
mass determination of . The star's proximity and
brightness will facilitate further investigations, such as atmospheric
spectroscopy, asteroseismology, the Rossiter--McLaughlin effect, astrometry,
and direct imaging.Comment: Accepted for publication ApJ Letters. This letter makes use of the
TESS Alert data, which is currently in a beta test phase. The discovery light
curve is included in a table inside the arxiv submissio
Collider signatures of goldstini in gauge mediation
We investigate the collider signatures of the multiple goldstini scenario in
the framework of gauge mediation. This class of models is characterized by a
visible sector (e.g. the MSSM or any extension) coupled by gauge interactions
to more than one SUSY breaking sector. The spectrum consists of a light
gravitino LSP, behaving as a goldstino, and a number of neutral fermions (the
pseudo-goldstini) with a mass between that of the LSP and that of the lightest
particle of the observable sector (LOSP). We consider the two situations where
the LOSP is either a gaugino-like neutralino or a stau and we assume only one
pseudo-goldstino of a mass of O(100) GeV. The coupling of the LOSP to the
pseudo-goldstino can be enhanced with respect to those of the gravitino giving
rise to characteristic signatures. We show that the decay modes of the LOSP
into a SM particle and a pseudo-goldstino can be significant. For both LOSP
scenarios we analyze (pseudo)-goldstini production at colliders. Compared to
standard gauge mediation the final state spectrum is softer and more
structured.Comment: v2: analysis of the stau LOSP scenario added, sections rearranged,
and Introduction and Conclusions rewritten to include the added scenario.
Version to appear in JHE
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