Doppler imaging of the young late-type star LO Pegasi (BD +22 4409) in September 2003

A Doppler image of the ZAMS late-type rapidly rotating star LO Pegasi, based on spectra acquired between 12 and 15 September 2003, is presented. The Least Square Deconvolution technique is applied to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio of the mean rotational broadened line profiles extracted from the observed spectra. In the present application, a unbroadened spectrum is used as a reference, instead of a simple line list, to improve the deconvolution technique applied to extract the mean profiles. The reconstructed image is similar to those previously obtained from observations taken in 1993 and 1998, and shows that LO Peg photospheric activity is dominated by high-latitude spots with a non-uniform polar cap. The latter seems to be a persistent feature as it has been observed since 1993 with little modifications. Small spots, observed between ~ 10 and ~ 60 degrees of latitude, appears to be different with respect to those present in the 1993 and 1998 maps.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, accepted by Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Microscopic description of Coulomb and nuclear excitation of multiphonon states in 40^{40}Ca + 40^{40}Ca collisions

We calculate the inelastic scattering cross sections to populate one- and two-phonon states in heavy ion collisions with both Coulomb and nuclear excitations. Starting from a microscopic approach based on RPA, we go beyond it in order to treat anharmonicities and non-linear terms in the exciting field. These anharmonicities and non-linearities are shown to have important effects on the cross sections both in the low energy part of the spectrum and in the energy region of the Double Giant Quadrupole Resonance. By properly introducing an optical potential the inelastic cross section is calculated semiclassically by integrating the excitation probability over all impact parameters. A satisfactory agreement with the experimental results is obtained.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, revtex, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Excitation of Pygmy Dipole Resonance in neutron-rich nuclei via Coulomb and nuclear fields

We study the nature of the low-lying dipole strength in neutron-rich nuclei, often associated to the Pygmy Dipole Resonance. The states are described within the Hartree-Fock plus RPA formalism, using different parametrizations of the Skyrme interaction. We show how the information from combined reactions processes involving the Coulomb and different mixtures of isoscalar and isovector nuclear interactions can provide a clue to reveal the characteristic features of these states.Comment: 9 Pages, 8 figures, contribution to International Symposium On Nuclear Physics, December 8-12, 2009,Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai, Indi

Autonomous planning tool for changeable assembly systems

Car manufacturers are expected to start series production of fuel cell vehicles within the next years. Simultaneously, other industries are pushing towards the utilization of fuel cells. Fuel cell manufacturers need to scale up production at the right time and react to changing product requirements with the ideal level and point of changeability. This complex task requires methods and tools for decision support. The authors present SkaliA, an autonomous planning tool, which generates guidelines for the efficient use of change enablers specific to an assembly system. The planning tool is demonstrated on the example of an assembly system for high pressure valves used in fuel cell applications

Microscopic calculations of double and triple Giant Resonance excitation in heavy ion collisions

We perform microscopic calculations of the inelastic cross sections for the double and triple excitation of giant resonances induced by heavy ion probes within a semicalssical coupled channels formalism. The channels are defined as eigenstates of a bosonic quartic Hamiltonian constructed in terms of collective RPA phonons. Therefore, they are superpositions of several multiphonon states, also with different numbers of phonons and the spectrum is anharmonic. The inclusion of (n+1) phonon configurations affects the states whose main component is a n-phonon one and leads to an appreacible lowering of their energies. We check the effects of such further anharmonicities on the previous published results for the cross section for the double excitation of Giant Resonances. We find that the only effect is a shift of the peaks towards lower energies, the double GR cross section being not modified by the explicity inclusion of the three-phonon channels in the dynamical calculations. The latters give an important contribution to the cross section in the triple GR energy region which however is still smaller than the experimental available data. The inclusion of four phonon configurations in the structure calculations does not modify the results.Comment: Revtex4, to be published in PR

Classification of specimen density in Laser Powder Bed Fusion (L-PBF) using in-process structure-borne acoustic process emissions

Currently, the laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process cannot offer a reproducible and predefined quality of the processed parts. Recent research on process monitoring focuses strongly on integrated optical measurement technology. Besides optical sensors, acoustic sensors also seem promising. Previous studies have shown the potential of analyzing structure-borne and air-borne acoustic emissions in laser welding. Only a few works evaluate the potential that lies in the usage during the L-PBF process. This work shows how the approach to structure-borne acoustic process monitoring can be elaborated by correlating acoustic signals to statistical values indicating part quality. Density measurements according to Archimedes’ principle are used to label the layer-based acoustic data and to measure the quality. The data set is then treated as a classification problem while investigating the applicability of existing artificial neural network algorithms to match acoustic data with density measurements. Furthermore, this work investigates the transferability of the approach to more complex specimens

SOAP. A tool for the fast computation of photometry and radial velocity induced by stellar spots

We define and put at the disposal of the community SOAP, Spot Oscillation And Planet, a software tool that simulates the effect of stellar spots and plages on radial velocimetry and photometry. This paper describes the tool release and provides instructions for its use. We present detailed tests with previous computations and real data to assess the code's performance and to validate its suitability. We characterize the variations of the radial velocity, line bisector, and photometric amplitude as a function of the main variables: projected stellar rotational velocity, filling factor of the spot, resolution of the spectrograph, linear limb-darkening coefficient, latitude of the spot, and inclination of the star. Finally, we model the spot distributions on the active stars HD166435, TW Hya and HD189733 which reproduces the observations. We show that the software is remarkably fast allowing several evolutions in its capabilities that could be performed to study the next challenges in the exoplanetary field connected with the stellar variability.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in A&

Notes on the anatomy and phylogenetic position of Eremias ercolinii Lanza & Poggesi 1975 (Reptilia Lacertidae)

Detailed examination of the only known specimen of Eremias ercolinii Lanza & Poggesi 1975 shows that it has affinities within the Ophisops-Mesalina clade and, on present evidence, is best regarded as a member of Mesalina Gray 1838. However, its exact phylogenetic position will only be confirmed when more material becomes available. Limb proportions and scale form suggest that Mesalina ercolinii probably spends time in low, dense vegetation

3,3′-Diindolylmethane and paclitaxel act synergistically to promote apoptosis in HER2/neu human breast cancer cells

Background. HER2/neu positive breast tumors are difficult to treat. About 25 to 30% of invasive breast tumors overexpress the HER2/neu oncogene. These tumors are aggressive and become resistant to chemotherapeutic drugs. 3,3′-diindolylmethane (DIM), the active metabolite of indole-3-carbinol, a naturally occurring compound found in cruciferous vegetables, has been found to have anti-cancer properties in both humans and animals. DIM has been shown to induce cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in animal breast cancer models. Because HER2/neu overexpression confers resistance to paclitaxel, and DIM has anti-tumor effects, we hypothesized that DIM will enhance the cytotoxic effects of paclitaxel, a common taxane drug, on human Her2/neu breast cancer cells by potentiating its effect on cell cycle and stimulating apoptosis. Methods. The MDA-MB-435eB1 human Her2/neu breast cancer cells were treated with varying concentrations of DIM and paclitaxel. The cells were analyzed at different time points (24, 48, and 72 h). Proliferation was measured by a commercial cell proliferation assay (Promega Procheck Assay). Cell-cycle analysis and apoptosis were determined by flow cytometry. Western blot analysis was performed on to determine the effect of DIM and/or paclitaxel on the proteins involved in apoptosis, and epidermal growth factor-induced activation of HER2/neu and ERK1/2 signaling proteins. Results. Both DIM and paclitaxel exhibited time and concentration dependent inhibition of cell proliferation. TUNEL assay indicated that the combination also increased the number of apoptotic cells more than either agent alone. The presence of cleaved poly (ADPRibose) polymerase (PARP) significantly increased in the combination treatment, whereas Bcl-2 is decreased. DIM alone decreased the activation of the Her2/neu receptor; the combination decreased the activation of ERK1/ERK2. Conclusions. DIM in combination with paclitaxel synergistically inhibits growth of Her2/neu human breast cancer cells through G2M phase cell-cycle arrest and induction of apoptosis/necrosis. The Her2/neu receptor and its downstream signaling protein ERK1/2 appear to be involved in DIM’s affect on cell growth and differentiation, whereas apoptosis appears to be mediated through the mitochondrial pathway (Bcl-2/ PARP). It appears DIM, a naturally occurring, nontoxic compound, may be a beneficial addition to a traditional (taxane-based) chemotherapy regimen

SOPHIE velocimetry of Kepler transit candidates. V. The three hot Jupiters KOI-135b, KOI-204b and KOI-203b (alias Kepler-17b)

We report the discovery of two new transiting hot Jupiters, KOI-135b and KOI-204b, that were previously identified as planetary candidates by Borucki et al. 2011, and, independently of the Kepler team, confirm the planetary nature of Kepler-17b, recently announced by Desert et al. 2011. Radial-velocity measurements, taken with the SOPHIE spectrograph at the OHP, and Kepler photometry (Q1 and Q2 data) were used to derive the orbital, stellar and planetary parameters. KOI-135b and KOI-204b orbit their parent stars in 3.02 and 3.25 days, respectively. They have approximately the same radius, Rp=1.20+/-0.06 R_jup and 1.24+/-0.07 R_jup, but different masses Mp=3.23+/-0.19 M_jup and 1.02+/-0.07 M_jup. As a consequence, their bulk densities differ by a factor of four, rho_p=2.33+/-0.36 g.cm^-3 (KOI-135b) and 0.65+/-0.12 g.cm-3 (KOI-204b). Our SOPHIE spectra of Kepler-17b, used both to measure the radial-velocity variations and determine the atmospheric parameters of the host star, allow us to refine the characterisation of the planetary system. In particular we found the radial-velocity semi-amplitude and the stellar mass to be respectively slightly smaller and larger than Desert et al. These two quantities, however, compensate and lead to a planetary mass fully consistent with Desert et al.: our analysis gives Mp=2.47+/-0.10 M_jup and Rp=1.33+/-0.04 R_jup. We found evidence for a younger age of this planetary system, t<1.8 Gyr, which is supported by both evolutionary tracks and gyrochronology. Finally, we confirm the detection of the optical secondary eclipse and found also the brightness phase variation with the Q1 and Q2 Kepler data. The latter indicates a low redistribution of stellar heat to the night side (<16% at 1-sigma), if the optical planetary occultation comes entirely from thermal flux. The geometric albedo is A_g<0.12 (1-sigma).Comment: submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysic