The Radio Variability of the Gravitational Lens PMN J1838-3427

We present the results of a radio variability study of the gravitational lens PMN J1838-3427. Our motivation was to determine the Hubble constant by measuring the time delay between variations of the two quasar images. We monitored the system for 4 months (approximately 5 times longer than the expected delay) using the Australia Telescope Compact Array at 9 GHz. Although both images were variable on a time scale of a few days, no correlated intrinsic variability could be identified, and therefore no time delay could be measured. Notably, the fractional variation of the fainter image (8%) was greater than that of the brighter image (4%), whereas lensed images of a point source would have the same fractional variation. This effect can be explained, at least in part, as the refractive scintillation of both images due to the turbulent interstellar medium of the Galaxy.Comment: To appear in AJ (8 pages, including 4 figures

Visualization of coral host--pathogen interactions using a stable GFP-labeled Vibrio coralliilyticus strain

The bacterium Vibrio coralliilyticus has been implicated as the causative agent of coral tissue loss diseases (collectively known as white syndromes) at sites across the Indo-Pacific and represents an emerging model pathogen for understanding the mechanisms linking bacterial infection and coral disease. In this study, we used a mini-Tn7 transposon delivery system to chromosomally label a strain of V. coralliilyticus isolated from a white syndrome disease lesion with a green fluorescent protein gene (GFP). We then tested the utility of this modified strain as a research tool for studies of coral host–pathogen interactions. A suite of biochemical assays and experimental infection trials in a range of model organisms confirmed that insertion of the GFP gene did not interfere with the labeled strain’s virulence. Using epifluorescence video microscopy, the GFP-labeled strain could be reliably distinguished from non-labeled bacteria present in the coral holobiont, and the pathogen’s interactions with the coral host could be visualized in real time. This study demonstrates that chromosomal GFP labeling is a useful technique for visualization and tracking of coral pathogens and provides a novel tool to investigate the role of V. coralliilyticus in coral disease pathogenesis.Human Frontier Science Program (Strasbourg, France) (No. RGY0089RS

Validating First-Principles Phonon Lifetimes via Inelastic Neutron Scattering

Phonon lifetimes are a key component of quasiparticle theories of transport, yet first-principles lifetimes are rarely directly compared to inelastic neutron scattering (INS) results. Existing comparisons show discrepancies even at temperatures where perturbation theory is expected to be reliable. In this work, we demonstrate that the reciprocal space voxel ($q$-voxel), which is the finite region in reciprocal space required in INS data analysis, must be explicitly accounted for within theory in order to draw a meaningful comparison. We demonstrate accurate predictions of peak widths of the scattering function when accounting for the $q$-voxel in CaF$_2$ and ThO$_2$. Passing this test implies high fidelity of the phonon interactions and the approximations used to compute the Green's function, serving as critical benchmark of theory, and indicating that other material properties should be accurately predicted; which we demonstrate for thermal conductivity

Planetary population synthesis

In stellar astrophysics, the technique of population synthesis has been successfully used for several decades. For planets, it is in contrast still a young method which only became important in recent years because of the rapid increase of the number of known extrasolar planets, and the associated growth of statistical observational constraints. With planetary population synthesis, the theory of planet formation and evolution can be put to the test against these constraints. In this review of planetary population synthesis, we first briefly list key observational constraints. Then, the work flow in the method and its two main components are presented, namely global end-to-end models that predict planetary system properties directly from protoplanetary disk properties and probability distributions for these initial conditions. An overview of various population synthesis models in the literature is given. The sub-models for the physical processes considered in global models are described: the evolution of the protoplanetary disk, the planets' accretion of solids and gas, orbital migration, and N-body interactions among concurrently growing protoplanets. Next, typical population synthesis results are illustrated in the form of new syntheses obtained with the latest generation of the Bern model. Planetary formation tracks, the distribution of planets in the mass-distance and radius-distance plane, the planetary mass function, and the distributions of planetary radii, semimajor axes, and luminosities are shown, linked to underlying physical processes, and compared with their observational counterparts. We finish by highlighting the most important predictions made by population synthesis models and discuss the lessons learned from these predictions - both those later observationally confirmed and those rejected.Comment: 47 pages, 12 figures. Invited review accepted for publication in the 'Handbook of Exoplanets', planet formation section, section editor: Ralph Pudritz, Springer reference works, Juan Antonio Belmonte and Hans Deeg, Ed

Populations of planets in multiple star systems

Astronomers have discovered that both planets and binaries are abundant throughout the Galaxy. In combination, we know of over 100 planets in binary and higher-order multi-star systems, in both circumbinary and circumstellar configurations. In this chapter we review these findings and some of their implications for the formation of both stars and planets. Most of the planets found have been circumstellar, where there is seemingly a ruinous influence of the second star if sufficiently close (<50 AU). Hosts of hot Jupiters have been a particularly popular target for binary star studies, showing an enhanced rate of stellar multiplicity for moderately wide binaries (>100 AU). This was thought to be a sign of Kozai-Lidov migration, however recent studies have shown this mechanism to be too inefficient to account for the majority of hot Jupiters. A couple of dozen circumbinary planets have been proposed around both main sequence and evolved binaries. Around main sequence binaries there are preliminary indications that the frequency of gas giants is as high as those around single stars. There is however a conspicuous absence of circumbinary planets around the tightest main sequence binaries with periods of just a few days, suggesting a unique, more disruptive formation history of such close stellar pairs.Comment: Invited review chapter, accepted for publication in "Handbook of Exoplanets", ed. H. Deeg & J. A. Belmont

Doxycycline for Malaria Chemoprophylaxis and Treatment: Report from the CDC Expert Meeting on Malaria Chemoprophylaxis

Doxycycline, a synthetically derived tetracycline, is a partially efficacious causal prophylactic (liver stage of Plasmodium) drug and a slow acting blood schizontocidal agent highly effective for the prevention of malaria. When used in conjunction with a fast acting schizontocidal agent, it is also highly effective for malaria treatment. Doxycycline is especially useful as a prophylaxis in areas with chloroquine and multidrug-resistant Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Although not recommended for pregnant women and children < 8 years of age, severe adverse events are rarely reported for doxycycline. This report examines the evidence behind current recommendations for the use of doxycycline for malaria and summarizes the available literature on its safety and tolerability

Penilaian Kinerja Keuangan Koperasi di Kabupaten Pelalawan

This paper describe development and financial performance of cooperative in District Pelalawan among 2007 - 2008. Studies on primary and secondary cooperative in 12 sub-districts. Method in this stady use performance measuring of productivity, efficiency, growth, liquidity, and solvability of cooperative. Productivity of cooperative in Pelalawan was highly but efficiency still low. Profit and income were highly, even liquidity of cooperative very high, and solvability was good

Juxtaposing BTE and ATE – on the role of the European insurance industry in funding civil litigation

One of the ways in which legal services are financed, and indeed shaped, is through private insurance arrangement. Two contrasting types of legal expenses insurance contracts (LEI) seem to dominate in Europe: before the event (BTE) and after the event (ATE) legal expenses insurance. Notwithstanding institutional differences between different legal systems, BTE and ATE insurance arrangements may be instrumental if government policy is geared towards strengthening a market-oriented system of financing access to justice for individuals and business. At the same time, emphasizing the role of a private industry as a keeper of the gates to justice raises issues of accountability and transparency, not readily reconcilable with demands of competition. Moreover, multiple actors (clients, lawyers, courts, insurers) are involved, causing behavioural dynamics which are not easily predicted or influenced. Against this background, this paper looks into BTE and ATE arrangements by analysing the particularities of BTE and ATE arrangements currently available in some European jurisdictions and by painting a picture of their respective markets and legal contexts. This allows for some reflection on the performance of BTE and ATE providers as both financiers and keepers. Two issues emerge from the analysis that are worthy of some further reflection. Firstly, there is the problematic long-term sustainability of some ATE products. Secondly, the challenges faced by policymakers that would like to nudge consumers into voluntarily taking out BTE LEI

Differential cross section measurements for the production of a W boson in association with jets in proton–proton collisions at √s = 7 TeV

Measurements are reported of differential cross sections for the production of a W boson, which decays into a muon and a neutrino, in association with jets, as a function of several variables, including the transverse momenta (pT) and pseudorapidities of the four leading jets, the scalar sum of jet transverse momenta (HT), and the difference in azimuthal angle between the directions of each jet and the muon. The data sample of pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV was collected with the CMS detector at the LHC and corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb[superscript −1]. The measured cross sections are compared to predictions from Monte Carlo generators, MadGraph + pythia and sherpa, and to next-to-leading-order calculations from BlackHat + sherpa. The differential cross sections are found to be in agreement with the predictions, apart from the pT distributions of the leading jets at high pT values, the distributions of the HT at high-HT and low jet multiplicity, and the distribution of the difference in azimuthal angle between the leading jet and the muon at low values.United States. Dept. of EnergyNational Science Foundation (U.S.)Alfred P. Sloan Foundatio