Prediction of explosive yield and other characteristics of liquid propellant rocket explosions Final report

Explosive hazards and yield predictions for liquid rocket propellant

Sexual Differentiation of Circadian Clock Function in the Adrenal Gland

Sex differences in glucocorticoid production are associated with increased responsiveness of the adrenal gland in females. However, the adrenal-intrinsic mechanisms that establish sexual dimorphic function remain ill defined. Glucocorticoid production is gated at the molecular level by the circadian clock, which may contribute to sexual dimorphic adrenal function. Here we examine sex differences in the adrenal gland using an optical reporter of circadian clock function. Adrenal glands were cultured from male and female Period2::Luciferase (PER2::LUC) mice to assess clock function in vitro in real time. We confirm that there is a pronounced sex difference in the intrinsic capacity to sustain PER2::LUC rhythms in vitro, with higher amplitude rhythms in adrenal glands collected from males than from females. Changes in adrenal PER2::LUC rhythms over the reproductive life span implicate T as an important factor in driving sex differences in adrenal clock function. By directly manipulating hormone levels in adult mice in vivo, we demonstrate that T increases the amplitude of PER2::LUC rhythms in adrenal glands of both male and female mice. In contrast, we find little evidence that ovarian hormones modify adrenal clock function. Lastly, we find that T in vitro can increase the amplitude of PER2::LUC rhythms in male adrenals but not female adrenals, which suggests the existence of sex differences in the mechanisms of T action in vivo. Collectively these results reveal that activational effects of T alter circadian timekeeping in the adrenal gland, which may have implications for sex differences in stress reactivity and stress-related disorders

Contamination by field late-M, L and T dwarfs in deep surveys

Context: Deep photometric surveys for substellar objects in young clusters and for high-redshift quasars are affected by contaminant sources at different heliocentric distances.If not correctly taken into account, the contamination may have a strong effect on the Initial Mass Function determination and on the identification of quasars. Aims: We calculate in detail the back- and foreground contamination by field dwarfs of very late spectral types (intermediate and late M, L and T) in deep surveys and provide the data and tools for the computation. Methods: Up-to-date models and data from the literature have been used: (i) a model of the Galactic thin disc by an exponential law; (ii) the length and height scales for late-type dwarfs; (iii) the local spatial densities, absolute magnitudes and colours of dwarfs for each spectral type. Results: We derive a simplified expression for the spatial density in the thin disc that depends on the heliocentric distance and the galactic coordinates (l, b) and integrate it in the truncated cone screened in the survey. As a practical application, we compute the numbers of L- and T-type field dwarfs in very deep (I = 21-29 mag) surveys in the direction of the young sigma Orionis cluster. The increasing number of contaminants at the faintest magnitudes could inhibit the study of the opacity mass limit at M <~ 0.003 M_sol in the cluster.Comment: A&A, accepted. 11 pages, 4 figures, 4 tables. Version 2: deleted two spurious figures at the end of the fil

Distorted Copulas: Constructions and Tail Dependence

Given a copula C, we examine under which conditions on an order isomorphism ψ of [0, 1] the distortion C ψ: [0, 1]2 → [0, 1], C ψ(x, y) = ψ{C[ψ−1(x), ψ−1(y)]} is again a copula. In particular, when the copula C is totally positive of order 2, we give a sufficient condition on ψ that ensures that any distortion of C by means of ψ is again a copula. The presented results allow us to introduce in a more flexible way families of copulas exhibiting different behavior in the tails

Reanalysis of the FEROS observations of HIP 11952

Aims. We reanalyze FEROS observations of the star HIP 11952 to reassess the existence of the proposed planetary system. Methods. The radial velocity of the spectra were measured by cross-correlating the observed spectrum with a synthetic template. We also analyzed a large dataset of FEROS and HARPS archival data of the calibrator HD 10700 spanning over more than five years. We compared the barycentric velocities computed by the FEROS and HARPS pipelines. Results. The barycentric correction of the FEROS-DRS pipeline was found to be inaccurate and to introduce an artificial one-year period with a semi-amplitude of 62 m/s. Thus the reanalysis of the FEROS data does not support the existence of planets around HIP 11952.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 1 tabl

Copulas constructed from horizontal sections

In analogy with the study of copulas whose diagonal sections have been fixed, we study the set $\mathcal{C}_h$ of copulas for which a horizontal section $h$ has been given. We first show that this set is not empty, by explicitly writing one such copula, which we call \textit{horizontal copula}. Then we find the copulas that bound both below and above the set $\mathcal{C}_h$. Finally we determine the expressions for Kendall's tau and Spearman's rho for the horizontal and the bounding copulas

The Impact of Gendered Stereotypes on Perceptions of Violence: A Commentary

The present commentary explores the impact of gender role stereotypes on perceptions of both intimate partner violence (IPV) and sexual violence. Two papers published in this issue of Sex Roles explored the influence of gender stereotypes on both IPV (Bates et al., 2019) and rape myths (Klement et al., 2019). An overarching theme of these papers is how gender stereotypes may influence incorrect beliefs in how we view and approach interventions to these two types of violence. Reflecting on this convergence, we have come together as authors to consider how influential and damaging these stereotypes can be to victims of both partner violence and sexual violence. Our paper considers the nature of these stereotypes, who is harmed by them considering both gender and sexuality, and also the impact they have in societal and service responses to violence, as well as policy and practice development

Revealing the structure of the outer disks of Be stars

Context. The structure of the inner parts of Be star disks (20 stellar radii) is well explained by the viscous decretion disk (VDD) model, which is able to reproduce the observable properties of most of the objects studied so far. The outer parts, on the ther hand, are not observationally well-explored, as they are observable only at radio wavelengths. A steepening of the spectral slope somewhere between infrared and radio wavelengths was reported for several Be stars that were previously detected in the radio, but a convincing physical explanation for this trend has not yet been provided. Aims. We test the VDD model predictions for the extended parts of a sample of six Be disks that have been observed in the radio to address the question of whether the observed turndown in the spectral energy distribution (SED) can be explained in the framework of the VDD model, including recent theoretical development for truncated Be disks in binary systems. Methods. We combine new multi-wavelength radio observations from the Karl. G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) and Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) with previously published radio data and archival SED measurements at ultraviolet, visual, and infrared wavelengths. The density structure of the disks, including their outer parts, is constrained by radiative transfer modeling of the observed spectrum using VDD model predictions. In the VDD model we include the presumed effects of possible tidal influence from faint binary companions. Results. For 5 out of 6 studied stars, the observed SED shows strong signs of SED turndown between far-IR and radio wavelengths. A VDD model that extends to large distances closely reproduces the observed SEDs up to far IR wavelengths, but fails to reproduce the radio SED. ... (abstract continues but did not fit here)Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure

Multitechnique testing of the viscous decretion disk model I. The stable and tenuous disk of the late-type Be star β\beta CMi

The viscous decretion disk (VDD) model is able to explain most of the currently observable properties of the circumstellar disks of Be stars. However, more stringent tests, focusing on reproducing multitechnique observations of individual targets via physical modeling, are needed to study the predictions of the VDD model under specific circumstances. In the case of nearby, bright Be star $\beta$ CMi, these circumstances are a very stable low-density disk and a late-type (B8Ve) central star. The aim is to test the VDD model thoroughly, exploiting the full diagnostic potential of individual types of observations, in particular, to constrain the poorly known structure of the outer disk if possible, and to test truncation effects caused by a possible binary companion using radio observations. We use the Monte Carlo radiative transfer code HDUST to produce model observables, which we compare with a very large set of multitechnique and multiwavelength observations that include ultraviolet and optical spectra, photometry covering the interval between optical and radio wavelengths, optical polarimetry, and optical and near-IR (spectro)interferometry. Due to the absence of large scale variability, data from different epochs can be combined into a single dataset. A parametric VDD model with radial density exponent of $n$ = 3.5, which is the canonical value for isothermal flaring disks, is found to explain observables typically formed in the inner disk, while observables originating in the more extended parts favor a shallower, $n$ = 3.0, density falloff. Modeling of radio observations allowed for the first determination of the physical extent of a Be disk (35$^{+10}_{-5}$ stellar radii), which might be caused by a binary companion. Finally, polarization data allowed for an indirect measurement of the rotation rate of the star, which was found to be $W \gtrsim 0.98$, i.e., very close to critical.Comment: 19 pages (35 including online material), 17 figures, 2 online figures, 2 online tables with dat