1,276 research outputs found
The Age, Metallicity and Alpha-Element Abundance of Galactic Globular Clusters from Single Stellar Population Models
Establishing the reliability with which stellar population parameters can be
measured is vital to extragalactic astronomy. Galactic GCs provide an excellent
medium in which to test the consistency of Single Stellar Population (SSP)
models as they should be our best analogue to a homogeneous (single) stellar
population. Here we present age, metallicity and -element abundance
measurements for 48 Galactic globular clusters (GCs) as determined from
integrated spectra using Lick indices and SSP models from Thomas, Maraston &
Korn, Lee & Worthey and Vazdekis et al. By comparing our new measurements to
independent determinations we are able to assess the ability of these SSPs to
derive consistent results -- a key requirement before application to
heterogeneous stellar populations like galaxies.
We find that metallicity determinations are extremely robust, showing good
agreement for all models examined here, including a range of enhancement
methods. Ages and -element abundances are accurate for a subset of our
models, with the caveat that the range of these parameters in Galactic GCs is
limited. We are able to show that the application of published Lick index
response functions to models with fixed abundance ratios allows us to measure
reasonable -element abundances from a variety of models. We also
examine the age-metallicity and [/Fe]-metallicity relations predicted
by SSP models, and characterise the possible effects of varied model horizontal
branch morphology on our overall results.Comment: 22 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Vanishing of Gravitational Particle Production in the Formation of Cosmic Strings
We consider the gravitationally induced particle production from the quantum
vacuum which is defined by a free, massless and minimally coupled scalar field
during the formation of a gauge cosmic string. Previous discussions of this
topic estimate the power output per unit length along the string to be of the
order of ergs/sec/cm in the s-channel. We find that this production
may be completely suppressed. A similar result is also expected to hold for the
number of produced photons.Comment: 10 pages, Plain LaTex. Minor improvements. To appear in PR
Effect of arginine on oligomerization and stability of N-acetylglutamate synthase.
N-acetylglutamate synthase (NAGS; E.C.2.3.1.1) catalyzes the formation of N-acetylglutamate (NAG) from acetyl coenzyme A and glutamate. In microorganisms and plants, NAG is the first intermediate of the L-arginine biosynthesis; in animals, NAG is an allosteric activator of carbamylphosphate synthetase I and III. In some bacteria bifunctional N-acetylglutamate synthase-kinase (NAGS-K) catalyzes the first two steps of L-arginine biosynthesis. L-arginine inhibits NAGS in bacteria, fungi, and plants and activates NAGS in mammals. L-arginine increased thermal stability of the NAGS-K from Maricaulis maris (MmNAGS-K) while it destabilized the NAGS-K from Xanthomonas campestris (XcNAGS-K). Analytical gel chromatography and ultracentrifugation indicated tetrameric structure of the MmMNAGS-K in the presence and absence of L-arginine and a tetramer-octamer equilibrium that shifted towards tetramers upon binding of L-arginine for the XcNAGS-K. Analytical gel chromatography of mouse NAGS (mNAGS) indicated either different oligomerization states that are in moderate to slow exchange with each other or deviation from the spherical shape of the mNAGS protein. The partition coefficient of the mNAGS increased in the presence of L-arginine suggesting smaller hydrodynamic radius due to change in either conformation or oligomerization. Different effects of L-arginine on oligomerization of NAGS may have implications for efforts to determine the three-dimensional structure of mammalian NAGS
Nonlinear spectral calculus and super-expanders
Nonlinear spectral gaps with respect to uniformly convex normed spaces are
shown to satisfy a spectral calculus inequality that establishes their decay
along Cesaro averages. Nonlinear spectral gaps of graphs are also shown to
behave sub-multiplicatively under zigzag products. These results yield a
combinatorial construction of super-expanders, i.e., a sequence of 3-regular
graphs that does not admit a coarse embedding into any uniformly convex normed
space.Comment: Typos fixed based on referee comments. Some of the results of this
paper were announced in arXiv:0910.2041. The corresponding parts of
arXiv:0910.2041 are subsumed by the current pape
Maximum gradient embeddings and monotone clustering
Let (X,d_X) be an n-point metric space. We show that there exists a
distribution D over non-contractive embeddings into trees f:X-->T such that for
every x in X, the expectation with respect to D of the maximum over y in X of
the ratio d_T(f(x),f(y)) / d_X(x,y) is at most C (log n)^2, where C is a
universal constant. Conversely we show that the above quadratic dependence on
log n cannot be improved in general. Such embeddings, which we call maximum
gradient embeddings, yield a framework for the design of approximation
algorithms for a wide range of clustering problems with monotone costs,
including fault-tolerant versions of k-median and facility location.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figures. Final version, minor revision of the previous
one. To appear in "Combinatorica
Prevention of venous thromboembolism in acute spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage: A survey of opinion
INTRODUCTION: People immobilized following acute spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage (ICH) are at risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) but the role of short-term prophylactic anticoagulation remains uncertain. We surveyed UK clinical practice and opinion regarding preventing VTE after ICH. PATIENTS AND METHODS: An online survey was sent to stroke healthcare professionals within the United Kingdom and Ireland via a professional society (British and Irish Association of Stroke Physicians (BIASP)). RESULTS: One hundred and twenty-three staff members responded to the survey, of whom 80% were consultant stroke physicians. All responders except one considered the issue to be important or extremely important, but only 5 (4%) were “extremely certain” and 51 (41%) “fairly certain” regarding the optimal treatment approach. Intermittent pneumatic compression (IPC) devices alone were the most used method (in 60%) followed by IPC devices and switching to low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) (in 30%). We identified high levels of uncertainty regarding the role of anticoagulation, and its optimal timing; uncertainty was greater in lobar compared to deep ICH. Most respondents (93%) consider a randomised controlled trial investigating the role of pharmacological VTE prophylaxis after acute ICH as important and would consider participation. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The optimal method for the prevention of VTE in non-traumatic ICH patients remains an area of clinical uncertainty. Clinical trials assessing short-term anticoagulation in patients after acute ICH would be beneficial in providing evidence to resolve this clinical dilemma
СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ВЗГЛЯДЫ НА КОНВЕРСИЮ ПРИ ЛАПАРОСКОПИЧЕСКОЙ ХОЛЕЦИСТЭКТОМИИ
СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ ВЗГЛЯДЫ НА КОНВЕРСИЮ ПРИ ЛАПАРОСКОПИЧЕСКОЙ ХОЛЕЦИСТЭКТОМИ
The Savvidy ``ferromagnetic vacuum'' in three-dimensional lattice gauge theory
The vacuum effective potential of three-dimensional SU(2) lattice gauge
theory in an applied color-magnetic field is computed over a wide range of
field strengths. The background field is induced by an external current, as in
continuum field theory. Scaling and finite volume effects are analyzed
systematically. The first evidence from lattice simulations is obtained of the
existence of a nontrivial minimum in the effective potential. This supports a
``ferromagnetic'' picture of gluon condensation, proposed by Savvidy on the
basis of a one-loop calculation in (3+1)-dimensional QCD.Comment: 9pp (REVTEX manuscript). Postscript figures appende
Quenched QCD at finite density
Simulations of quenched at relatively small but {\it nonzero} chemical
potential on lattices indicate that the nucleon
screening mass decreases linearly as increases predicting a critical
chemical potential of one third the nucleon mass, , by extrapolation.
The meson spectrum does not change as increases over the same range, from
zero to . Past studies of quenched lattice QCD have suggested that
there is phase transition at . We provide alternative
explanations for these results, and find a number of technical reasons why
standard lattice simulation techniques suffer from greatly enhanced
fluctuations and finite size effects for ranging from to
. We find evidence for such problems in our simulations, and suggest
that they can be surmounted by improved measurement techniques.Comment: 23 pages, Revte
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