6,025 research outputs found
To sell or not to sell? Behavior of shareholders during price collapses
It is a common belief that the behavior of shareholders depends upon the
direction of price fluctuations: if prices increase they buy, if prices
decrease they sell. That belief, however, is more based on ``common sense''
than on facts. In this paper we present evidence for a specific class of
shareholders which shows that the actual behavior of shareholders can be
markedly different.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure. To appear in International Journal of Modern
Physics
Graveyard For Britons, West Florida, 1763-1781
Today it is known as the Miracle Strip, and every spring its long white beaches beckon to sun-starved multitudes who flock to that stretch of coast centering upon Pensacola to the east and Mobile to the west. There lie warmth, relaxation, recreation, and health. Few of todayâs sun-worshipers remember that Pensacola was once the swampy, fever-infested capital of British West Florida, and that Mobile was known as a âgraveyard for Britons.
A Naval Visitor in British West Florida
The world-wide explansion of the British Empire in the eighteenth century was dependent upon a navy whose officers were, of necessity, the most widely travelled men of their times. No less than frontiersmen, the holders of His Majestyâs commission were empire-builders. Seldom, however, were they fully conscious of the broader significance of their work or capable of literary exploitation of their experiences. John Blankett was an exception to this generalization. His career extended from the inland waters of North America to the Indian Ocean, from Russia to South Africa, from the English Channel to the Red Sea where he last flew his broad pennant. Blankett possessed a keen eye for the unique and delighted in sharing his observations with any who might find them useful or interesting. He was the author of a brief book on Portugal and several lengthy descriptive and strategic memoranda addressed to such influential British statesmen as the Earl of Shelburne
Evaluation of existing and new methods of tracking glacier terminus change
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors thank two anonymous reviewers for constructive comments that helped to improve the manuscript. This research was financially supported by J.M.L.âs PhD funding from UK Natural Environment Research Council grant No. NE/I528742/1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Long term hard X-ray variability of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1RXS J170849.0-400910 discovered with INTEGRAL
We report on a multi-band high-energy observing campaign aimed at studying
the long term spectral variability of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar (AXP) 1RXS
J170849.0-400910, one of the magnetar candidates. We observed 1RXS
J170849.0-400910 in Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 simultaneously with Swift/XRT, in
the 0.1-10 keV energy range, and with INTEGRAL/IBIS, in the 20-200 keV energy
range. Furthermore, we also reanalyzed, using the latest calibration and
software, all the publicly available INTEGRAL data since 2002, and the soft
X-ray data starting from 1999 taken using BeppoSAX, Chandra, XMM, and
Swift/XRT, in order to study the soft and hard X-ray spectral variability of
1RXS J170849.0-400910. We find a long-term variability of the hard X-ray flux,
extending the hardness-intensity correlation proposed for this source over 2
orders of magnitude in energy.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysics main journa
VLT observations of the magnetar CXO J164710.2-455216 and the detection of a candidate infrared counterpart
We present deep observations of the field of the magnetar CXOJ164710.2-455216
in the star cluster Westerlund 1, obtained in the near-infrared with the
adaptive optics camera NACO@VLT. We detected a possible candidate counterpart
at the {\em Chandra} position of the magnetar, of magnitudes , , and . The K-band measurements available for two epochs (2006 and
2013) do not show significant signs of variability but only a marginal
indication that the flux varied (at the 2 level), consistent with the
fact that the observations were taken when CXOJ164710.2-455216 was in
quiescence. At the same time, we also present colour--magnitude and
colour--colour diagrams in the J, H, and K bands from the 2006 epoch
only, the only one with observations in all three bands, showing that the
candidate counterpart lies in the main bulk of objects describing a relatively
well--defined sequence. Therefore, based on its colours and lack of
variability, we cannot yet associate the candidate counterpart to
CXOJ164710.2-455216. Future near-infrared observations of the field,
following-up a source outburst, would be crucial to confirm the association
from the detection of near-infrared variability and colour evolution.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
A Comparison of Two Skip Entry Guidance Algorithms
The Orion capsule vehicle will have a Lift-to-Drag ratio (L/D) of 0.3-0.35. For an Apollo-like direct entry into the Earth's atmosphere from a lunar return trajectory, this L/D will give the vehicle a maximum range of about 2500 nm and a maximum crossrange of 216 nm. In order to y longer ranges, the vehicle lift must be used to loft the trajectory such that the aerodynamic forces are decreased. A Skip-Trajectory results if the vehicle leaves the sensible atmosphere and a second entry occurs downrange of the atmospheric exit point. The Orion capsule is required to have landing site access (either on land or in water) inside the Continental United States (CONUS) for lunar returns anytime during the lunar month. This requirement means the vehicle must be capable of flying ranges of at least 5500 nm. For the L/D of the vehicle, this is only possible with the use of a guided Skip-Trajectory. A skip entry guidance algorithm is necessary to achieve this requirement. Two skip entry guidance algorithms have been developed: the Numerical Skip Entry Guidance (NSEG) algorithm was developed at NASA/JSC and PredGuid was developed at Draper Laboratory. A comparison of these two algorithms will be presented in this paper. Each algorithm has been implemented in a high-fidelity, 6 degree-of-freedom simulation called the Advanced NASA Technology Architecture for Exploration Studies (ANTARES). NASA and Draper engineers have completed several monte carlo analyses in order to compare the performance of each algorithm in various stress states. Each algorithm has been tested for entry-to-target ranges to include direct entries and skip entries of varying length. Dispersions have been included on the initial entry interface state, vehicle mass properties, vehicle aerodynamics, atmosphere, and Reaction Control System (RCS). Performance criteria include miss distance to the target, RCS fuel usage, maximum g-loads and heat rates for the first and second entry, total heat load, and control system saturation. The comparison of the performance criteria has led to a down select and guidance merger that will take the best ideas from each algorithm to create one skip entry guidance algorithm for the Orion vehicle
Orion Exploration Mission Entry Interface Target Line
The Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle is required to return to the continental United States at any time during the month. In addition, it is required to provide a survivable entry from a wide range of trans-lunar abort trajectories. The Entry Interface (EI) state must be targeted to ensure that all requirements are met for all possible return scenarios, even in the event of no communication with the Mission Control Center to provide an updated EI target. The challenge then is to functionalize an EI state constraint manifold that can be used in the on-board targeting algorithm, as well as the ground-based trajectory optimization programs. This paper presents the techniques used to define the EI constraint manifold and to functionalize it as a set of polynomials in several dimensions
Population Synthesis of Isolated Neutron Stars with magneto-rotational evolution II: from radio-pulsars to magnetars
Population synthesis studies constitute a powerful method to reconstruct the
birth distribution of periods and magnetic fields of the pulsar population.
When this method is applied to populations in different wavelengths, it can
break the degeneracy in the inferred properties of initial distributions that
arises from single-band studies. In this context, we extend previous works to
include -ray thermal emitting pulsars within the same evolutionary model as
radio-pulsars. We find that the cumulative distribution of the number of X-ray
pulsars can be well reproduced by several models that, simultaneously,
reproduce the characteristics of the radio-pulsar distribution. However, even
considering the most favourable magneto-thermal evolution models with fast
field decay, log-normal distributions of the initial magnetic field
over-predict the number of visible sources with periods longer than 12 s. We
then show that the problem can be solved with different distributions of
magnetic field, such as a truncated log-normal distribution, or a binormal
distribution with two distinct populations. We use the observational lack of
isolated NSs with spin periods P>12 s to establish an upper limit to the
fraction of magnetars born with B > 10^{15} G (less than 1\%). As future
detections keep increasing the magnetar and high-B pulsar statistics, our
approach can be used to establish a severe constraint on the maximum magnetic
field at birth of NSs.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, 5 table
Bacteriocins: Novel Solutions to Age Old Spore-Related Problems?
peer-reviewedBacteriocins are ribosomally synthesized antimicrobial peptides produced by bacteria, which have the ability to kill or inhibit other bacteria. Many bacteriocins are produced by food grade lactic acid bacteria (LAB). Indeed, the prototypic bacteriocin, nisin, is produced by Lactococcus lactis, and is licensed in over 50 countries. With consumers becoming more concerned about the levels of chemical preservatives present in food, bacteriocins offer an alternative, more natural approach, while ensuring both food safety and product shelf life. Bacteriocins also show additive/synergistic effects when used in combination with other treatments, such as heating, high pressure, organic compounds, and as part of food packaging. These features are particularly attractive from the perspective of controlling sporeforming bacteria. Bacterial spores are common contaminants of food products, and their outgrowth may cause food spoilage or food-borne illness. They are of particular concern to the food industry due to their thermal and chemical resistance in their dormant state. However, when spores germinate they lose the majority of their resistance traits, making them susceptible to a variety of food processing treatments. Bacteriocins represent one potential treatment as they may inhibit spores in the post-germination/outgrowth phase of the spore cycle. Spore eradication and control in food is critical, as they are able to spoil and in certain cases compromise the safety of food by producing dangerous toxins. Thus, understanding the mechanisms by which bacteriocins exert their sporostatic/sporicidal activity against bacterial spores will ultimately facilitate their optimal use in food. This review will focus on the use of bacteriocins alone, or in combination with other innovative processing methods to control spores in food, the current knowledge and gaps therein with regard to bacteriocin-spore interactions and discuss future research approaches to enable spores to be more effectively targeted by bacteriocins in food settings.KE, DF, CH, PC, MR, RR are supported by the Irish Government under the National Development Plan, through the Food Institutional Research Measure, administered by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Ireland (DAFM 13/F/462) to PC and MR, a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Technology and Innovation Development Award (TIDA 14/TIDA/2286) to DF, SFI-PI funding (11/PI/1137) to PDC and the APC Microbiome Insitute under Grant Number SFI/12/RC/2273
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