WorldWideScience

Sample records for cataclysmic variables identified

  1. Cataclysmic Variable Stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hellier, Coel

    2001-01-01

    Cataclysmic variable stars are the most variable stars in the night sky, fluctuating in brightness continually on timescales from seconds to hours to weeks to years. The changes can be recorded using amateur telescopes, yet are also the subject of intensive study by professional astronomers. That study has led to an understanding of cataclysmic variables as binary stars, orbiting so closely that material transfers from one star to the other. The resulting process of accretion is one of the most important in astrophysics. This book presents the first account of cataclysmic variables at an introductory level. Assuming no previous knowledge of the field, it explains the basic principles underlying the variability, while providing an extensive compilation of cataclysmic variable light curves. Aimed at amateur astronomers, undergraduates, and researchers, the main text is accessible to those with no mathematical background, while supplementary boxes present technical details and equations.

  2. Theoretical statistics of zero-age cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Politano, M.J.

    1988-01-01

    The distribution of the white dwarf masses, the distribution of the mass ratios and the distribution of the orbital periods in cataclysmic variables which are forming at the present time are calculated. These systems are referred to as zero-age cataclysmic variables. The results show that 60% of the systems being formed contain helium white dwarfs and 40% contain carbon-oxygen white dwarfs. The mean dwarf mass in those systems containing helium white dwarfs is 0.34. The mean white dwarf mass in those systems containing carbon-oxygen white dwarfs is 0.75. The orbital period distribution identifies four main classes of zero-age cataclysmic variables: (1) short-period systems containing helium white dwarfs, (2) systems containing carbon-oxygen white dwarfs whose secondaries are convectively stable against rapid mass transfer to the white dwarf, (3) systems containing carbon-oxygen white dwarfs whose secondaries are radiatively stable against rapid mass transfer to the white dwarf and (4) long period systems with evolved secondaries. The white dwarf mass distribution in zero-age cataclysmic variables has direct application to the calculation of the frequency of outburst in classical novae as a function of the mass of the white dwarf. The method developed in this thesis to calculate the distributions of the orbital parameters in zero-age cataclysmic variables can be used to calculate theoretical statistics of any class of binary systems. This method provides a theoretical framework from which to investigate the statistical properties and the evolution of the orbital parameters of binary systems

  3. Investigations of cataclysmic variables by ESA INTEGRAL

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hudec, René; Blažek, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 83, č. 2 (2012), s. 659-664 ISSN 0037-8720. [Workshop on the golden age of cataclysmic variables and related objects /2./. Palermo , 09.09.2013-14.09.2013] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/08/1207 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : stars * high-energy sources * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  4. Einstein x-ray observations of cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mason, K.O.; Cordova, F.A.

    1982-01-01

    Observations with the imaging x-ray detectors on the Einstein Observatory have led to a large increase in the number of low luminosity x-ray sources known to be associated with cataclysmic variable stars (CVs). The high sensitivity of the Einstein instrumentation has permitted study of their short timescale variability and spectra. The data are adding significantly to our knowledge of the accretion process in cataclysmic variables and forcing some revision in our ideas concerning the origin of the optical variability in these stars

  5. Cataclysmic Variables from SDSS I. The First Results

    OpenAIRE

    Szkody, P.; Anderson, S. F.; Agueros, M.; Covarrubias, R.; Bentz, M.; Hawley, S.; Margon, B.; Voges, W.; Henden, A.; Knapp, G. R.; Berk, D. E. Vanden; Rest, A.; Miknaitis, G.; Magnier, E.; Brinkmann, J.

    2001-01-01

    The commissioning year of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has demonstrated that many cataclysmic variables have been missed in previous surveys with brighter limits. We report the identification of 22 cataclysmic variables, of which 19 are new discoveries and 3 are known systems (SW UMa, BH Lyn and Vir4). A compendium of positions, colors and characteristics of these systems obtained from the SDSS photometry and spectroscopy is presented along with data obtained during follow-up studies with the...

  6. Golden Era of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects: concluding remarks

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hudec, René

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 83, č. 2 (2012), s. 883-890 ISSN 0037-8720. [Workshop on the golden age of cataclysmic variables and related objects /2./. Palermo , 09.09.2013-14.09.2013] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/08/1207 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : stars * variable stars * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  7. Cataclysmic variables observed with INTEGRAL

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch; Hudec, René; Münz, Filip; Štrobl, Jan

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 6, č. 1 (2006), s. 149-154 ISSN 1009-9271 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/05/2167 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : cataclysmic variables * intermediate polars * X-rays Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 0.746, year: 2006

  8. Structure and Evolution of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andronov, I. L.

    2007-06-01

    Theoretical models and observational results are reviewed. The general picture of the structure and evolution of cataclysmic variables (CV) is presented, together with a brief discussion of additional mechanisms of intrinsic variability of the components and magnetic activity of secondaries. Special attention is paid to the accretion structures - flow, disk, column - which are affected by the magnetic field of the white dwarf. The mass and angular momentum transfer in asynchronous MCVs leads to a "propeller" stage of rapid synchronization, after which the "idlings" of the white dwarf are altered to "swingings" with a characteristic time of century(ies). The disk- magnetic field interaction leads to precession of the white dwarf, which causes quasi-periodic changes of the equilibrium rotational period. "Shot noise" in cataclysmic variables is discussed based on one-bandpass and multi-color observations.

  9. Short-timescale variability in cataclysmic binaries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cordova, F.A.; Mason, K.O.

    1982-01-01

    Rapid variability, including flickering and pulsations, has been detected in cataclysmic binaries at optical and x-ray frequencies. In the case of the novalike variable TT Arietis, simultaneous observations reveal that the x-ray and optical flickering activity is strongly correlated, while short period pulsations are observed that occur at the same frequencies in both wavelength bands

  10. Astrophysics of cataclysmic variables by ESA Gaia and low dispersion spectroscopy

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hudec, René; Šimon, Vojtěch; Hudec, L.; Hudcová, Věra

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 83, č. 2 (2012), s. 849-853 ISSN 0037-8720. [Workshop on the golden age of cataclysmic variables and related objects /2./. Palermo, 09.09.2013-14.09.2013] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/08/1207 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : stars * variable stars * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  11. Mass transfer and the period gap of cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Verbunt, F.

    1984-01-01

    Three different explanations for the period gap of cataclysmic variables are investigated in some detail, and compared with the observations. The static picture is ruled out; strong continued magnetic braking is shown to be unlikely; disrupted magnetic braking is shown to provide a good explanation. A simple derivation is given for the magnetic braking of a star as a function of the magnetic-field strength and the wind mass flux. A field strength of >= 100 gauss and a wind of 10 -10 Msub(solar mass) yr -1 are needed for the secondary of a cataclysmic variable to explain the braking. These values are rather high, but perhaps not unfeasible. (author)

  12. High-Speed Photo-Polarimetry of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. B. Potter

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available I review recent highlights of the SAAO High-speed Photo-POlarimeter (HIPPO on the study of magnetic Cataclysmic Variables. Its high-speed capabilities are demonstrated with example observations made of the intermediate polar NY Lup and the polar IGRJ14536-5522.

  13. The masses of cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Robinson, E.L.

    1976-01-01

    Masses are derived for the individual components of six cataclysmic variables. There is a considerable spread in the masses of the white dwarf components, which range from 0.73 M/sub sun/ in EM Cyg to 1.26 M/sub sun/ in Z Cam. All of the white dwarfs have masses greater than 0.70 M/sub sun/, but there is no evidence that there is any preferred mass. It is found that the morphology of the eruptions (i.e., nova versus dwarf nova) is independent of the mass of both the white dwarf and the late-type star

  14. Pulse timing for cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chester, T.J.

    1979-01-01

    It is shown that present pulse timing measurements of cataclysmic variables can be explained by models of accretion disks in these systems, and thus such measurements can constrain disk models. The model for DQ Her correctly predicts the amplitude variation of the continuum pulsation and can also perhaps explain the asymmetric amplitude of the pulsed lambda4686 emission line. Several other predictions can be made from the model. In particular, if pulse timing measurements that resolve emission lines both in wavelength and in binary phase can be made, the projected orbital radius of the white dwarf could be deduced

  15. Cycles in the cataclysmic variable V795 Herculis

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch; Polášek, Cyril; Štrobl, Jan; Hudec, René; Blažek, Martin

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 540, April (2012), A15/1-A15/11 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/08/1207 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : novae * cataclysmic variables * accretion disks Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 5.084, year: 2012

  16. 1RXS J180834.7+101041 is a new cataclysmic variable with non-uniform disc

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yakin, D. G.; Suleimanov, V. F.; Shimansky, V. V.; Borisov, N. V.; Bikmaev, I. F.; Sakhibullin, N. A.

    2010-11-01

    Results of photometric and spectroscopic investigations of the recently discovered disc cataclysmic variable star 1RXS J180834.7+101041 are presented. Emission spectra of the system show broad double peaked hydrogen and helium emission lines. Doppler maps for the hydrogen lines demonstrate strongly non-uniform emissivity distribution in the disc, similar to that found in IP Peg. It means that the system is a new cataclysmic variable with a spiral density wave in the disc. Masses of the components (MWD = 0.8+/-0.22 Msolar and MRD = 0.14+/-0.02 Msolar), and the orbit inclination (i = 78°+/- 1.°5) were estimated using the various well-known relations for cataclysmic variables.

  17. Cataclysmic variables, Hubble-Sandage variables and eta Carinae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bath, G.T.

    1980-01-01

    The Hubble-Sandage variables are the most luminous stars in external galaxies. They were first investigated by Hubble and Sandage (1953) for use as distance indicators. Their main characteristics are high luminosity, blue colour indices, and irregular variability. Spectroscopically they show hydrogen and helium in emission with occasionally weaker FeII and [FeII], and no Balmer jump (Humphreys 1975, 1978). In this respect they closely resemble cataclysmic variables, particularly dwarf novae. In the quiescent state dwarf novae show broad H and HeI, together with a strong UV continuum. In contrast to the spectroscopic similarities, the luminosities could hardly differ more. Rather than being the brightest stars known, quiescent dwarf novae are as faint or fainter than the sun. It is suggested that the close correspondence between the spectral appearance of the two classes combined with the difference in luminosity is well accounted for by a model of Hubble-Sandage variables in which the same physical processes are occurring, but on a larger scale. (Auth.)

  18. Cataclysmic Variables as Supernova Ia Progenitors

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stella Kafka

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Although the identification of the progenitors of type Ia supernovae (SNeIa remains controversial, it is generally accepted that they originate from binary star systems in which at least one component is a carbon-oxygen white dwarf (WD; those systems are grouped under the wide umbrella of cataclysmic variables. Current theories for SNeIa progenitors hold that, either via Roche lobe overflow of the companion or via a wind, the WD accumulates hydrogen or helium rich material which is then burned to C and O onto the WD’s surface. However, the specifics of this scenario are far from being understood or defined, allowing for a wealth of theories fighting for attention and a dearth of observations to support them. I discuss the latest attempts to identify and study those controversial SNeIa progenitors. I also introduce the most promising progenitor in hand and I present observational diagnostics that can reveal more members of the category.

  19. X-ray emission and the winds of cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cordova, F.A.

    1985-01-01

    X-ray and ultraviolet observations of cataclysmic variable stars reveal a variety of exotic behavior - pulsations, winds, and episodic outbursts - are these related, what do they tell us about the nature of the outburst, about the environment of the accreting white dwarf. The author summarizes the observed changes in the x-ray and uv continuum and spectral features through the outbursts of the dwarf novae. The author then discusses how the modeling of these data have refined our ideas about the location and nature of the emissions, and the source of the outbursts. The author shows how comparisons of the x-ray and uv properties of cataclysmic variables with similar phenomena in other astronomical systems - the solar corona, OB stars, and Be stars - suggest ways in which the x-ray and uv emissions in CVs may be related, and point to further, specific observations that would elucidate our understanding of the behavior and role of the white dwarf in the outburst. 26 references

  20. Is WD 1437-008 a cataclysmic variable?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimansky, V. V.; Nurtdinova, D. N.; Borisov, N. V.; Spiridonova, O. I.

    2011-10-01

    Comprehensive observations of a close binary candidate WD 1437-008 are performed. The shape and amplitude of the observed brightness variations are shown to be inconsistent with the hypothesis of reflection effects, and the photometric period of the system, P phot = 0. d 2775, is found to differ from the period of spectral variations, P sp = 0. d 272060. As a result, WD 1437-008 has been preliminarily classified as a low-inclination cataclysmic variable.

  1. Lessons learned from ESA INTEGRAL: cataclysmic variables and blazars

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hudec, René; Gális, R.; Kocka, Matúš

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 81, č. 1 (2010), s. 320-325 ISSN 0037-8720. [Multifrequency behaviour of high energy cosmic sources. Vulcano, 25.05.2009-30.05. 2009] Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : high-energy sources * cataclysmic variables * INTEGRAL Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  2. CVcat: An interactive database on cataclysmic variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kube, J.; Gänsicke, B. T.; Euchner, F.; Hoffmann, B.

    2003-06-01

    CVcat is a database that contains published data on cataclysmic variables and related objects. Unlike in the existing online sources, the users are allowed to add data to the catalogue. The concept of an ``open catalogue'' approach is reviewed together with the experience from one year of public usage of CVcat. New concepts to be included in the upcoming AstroCat framework and the next CVcat implementation are presented. CVcat can be found at http://www.cvcat.org.

  3. White-dwarf rotational equilibria in magnetic cataclysmic variable stars

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Warner, B. (Cape Town Univ. (South Africa). Dept. of Astronomy Australian National Univ., Canberra (Australia). Dept. of Mathematics); Wickramasinghe, D.T. (Australian National Univ., Canberra (Australia). Dept. of Mathematics)

    1991-02-01

    The magnetic cataclysmic variable stars (polars, intermediate polars and DQ Her stars) are grouped about three lines in the orbital period-spin period diagram. This segregation is shown to be the consequence of competition between braking and accretion torques when combined with the effects of cyclical variations in rate of mass transfer. (author).

  4. White dwarf models of supernovae and cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nomoto, K.; Hashimoto, M.

    1986-01-01

    If the accreting white dwarf increases its mass to the Chandrasekhar mass, it will either explode as a Type I supernova or collapse to form a neutron star. In fact, there is a good agreement between the exploding white dwarf model for Type I supernovae and observations. We describe various types of evolution of accreting white dwarfs as a function of binary parameters (i.e,. composition, mass, and age of the white dwarf, its companion star, and mass accretion rate), and discuss the conditions for the precursors of exploding or collapsing white dwarfs, and their relevance to cataclysmic variables. Particular attention is given to helium star cataclysmics which might be the precursors of some Type I supernovae or ultrashort period x-ray binaries. Finally we present new evolutionary calculations using the updated nuclear reaction rates for the formation of O+Ne+Mg white dwarfs, and discuss the composition structure and their relevance to the model for neon novae. 61 refs., 14 figs

  5. CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES FROM SDSS. VII. THE SEVENTH YEAR (2006)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szkody, Paula; Anderson, Scott F.; Hayden, Michael; Kronberg, Martin; McGurk, Rosalie; Riecken, Thomas; Schmidt, Gary D.; West, Andrew A.; Gaensicke, Boris T.; Gomez-Moran, Ada N.; Schwope, Axel D.; Schneider, Donald P.; Schreiber, Matthias R.

    2009-01-01

    Coordinates, magnitudes, and spectra are presented for 39 cataclysmic variables (CVs) found in Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra that were primarily obtained in 2006. Of these, 13 were CVs identified prior to the SDSS spectra (AK Cnc, GY Cnc, GO Com, ST LMi, NY Ser, MR Ser, QW Ser, EU UMa, IY UMa, HS1340+1524, RXJ1610.1+0352, Boo 1, Leo 5). Follow-up spectroscopic observations of seven systems (including one from year 2005 and another from year 2004) were obtained, resulting in estimates of the orbital periods for three objects. The new CVs include two candidates for high inclination, eclipsing systems, four new polars, and three systems whose spectra clearly reveal atmospheric absorption lines from the underlying white dwarf.

  6. Observing cataclysmic variables and related objects with different techniques

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 83, č. 2 (2012), s. 675-682 ISSN 0037-8720. [Workshop on the golden age of cataclysmic variables and related objects /2./. Palermo , 09.09.2013-14.09.2013] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/08/1207 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : X-rays * binaries * circumstellar matter Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  7. Exploratory Spectroscopy of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables Candidates and Other Variable Objects

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oliveira, A. S.; Palhares, M. S. [IP and D, Universidade do Vale do Paraíba, 12244-000, São José dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Rodrigues, C. V.; Cieslinski, D.; Jablonski, F. J. [Divisão de Astrofísica, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, 12227-010, São José dos Campos, SP (Brazil); Silva, K. M. G. [Gemini Observatory, Casilla 603, La Serena (Chile); Almeida, L. A. [Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, Universidade de São Paulo, 05508-900, São Paulo, SP (Brazil); Rodríguez-Ardila, A., E-mail: alexandre@univap.br [Laboratório Nacional de Astrofísica LNA/MCTI, 37504-364, Itajubá MG (Brazil)

    2017-04-01

    The increasing number of synoptic surveys made by small robotic telescopes, such as the photometric Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS), provides a unique opportunity to discover variable sources and improves the statistical samples of such classes of objects. Our goal is the discovery of magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (mCVs). These are rare objects that probe interesting accretion scenarios controlled by the white-dwarf magnetic field. In particular, improved statistics of mCVs would help to address open questions on their formation and evolution. We performed an optical spectroscopy survey to search for signatures of magnetic accretion in 45 variable objects selected mostly from the CRTS. In this sample, we found 32 CVs, 22 being mCV candidates, 13 of which were previously unreported as such. If the proposed classifications are confirmed, it would represent an increase of 4% in the number of known polars and 12% in the number of known IPs. A fraction of our initial sample was classified as extragalactic sources or other types of variable stars by the inspection of the identification spectra. Despite the inherent complexity in identifying a source as an mCV, variability-based selection, followed by spectroscopic snapshot observations, has proved to be an efficient strategy for their discoveries, being a relatively inexpensive approach in terms of telescope time.

  8. The intermediate-age pre-cataclysmic variables SDSS J172406+562003 and RE J2013+4002

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimansky, V. V.; Borisov, N. V.; Nurtdinova, D. N.; Mitrofanova, A. A.; Vlasyuk, V. V.; Spiridonova, O. I.

    2012-06-01

    We have analyzed the physical status of the pre-cataclysmic variables SDSSJ172406+562003 and RE J2013+4002, which have evolved after their common-envelope stage a time t = 106-107 years. Spectroscopy and photometry of these systems were performed with the 6-m and 1-m telescopes of the Special Astrophysical Observatory. We demonstrate that emission lines in the spectra were formed solely by the reflection of radiation emitted by the white dwarfs on the surfaces of their cool companions, under conditions close to local thermodynamic equilibrium. These effects are also responsible for most of the objects' photometric variability amplitude. However, comparing the light curves of SDSS 172406 from different epochs, we find aperiodic brightness variations, probably due to spottedness of the surface of the secondary. Jointly analyzing the spectra, radial-velocity curves, and light curves of the pre-cataclysmic variables and modeling the reflection effects, we have derived their fundamental parameters. We demonstrate that the secondaries in these systems are consistent with evolutionary models for main-sequence stars and do not have the luminosity excesses characteristic of cool stars in young pre-cataclysmic variables.

  9. On the masses of the white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Livio, M.; Soker, N.

    1984-01-01

    The question of the masses of the white dwarfs in cataclysmic binaries is examined. It is shown that selection effects can explain an overabundance of massive white dwarfs in novae but not in dwarf novae. It is proposed that the spiralling-in process in the common envelope favours the formation of more massive white dwarfs A number of simplified spiralling-in calculations are performed. The calculations demonstrate that the probability of coalescence of the secondary with the primary core, or secondary dissipation, is higher in the case of a giant envelope than in the case of a super giant envelope. Consequently, binaries with primary core masses greater than approx. 0.7 Msolar masses (and thus massive white dwarf remnants), have a better chance of surviving common envelope evolution and are therefore better candidates for the formation of cataclysmic variables. (author)

  10. Evolution and Outbursts of Cataclysmic Variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S.-B. Qian

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Mass transfer and accretion are very important to understand the evolution and observational properties of cataclysmic variables (CVs. Due to the lack of an accretion disk, eclipsing profiles of polars are the best source to study the character of mass transfer in CVs. By analyzing long-term photometric variations in the eclipsing polar HU Aqr, the property of mass transfer and accretion are investigated. The correlation between the brightness state change and the variation of the ingress profile suggests that both the accretion hot spot and the accretion stream are produced instantaneously. The observations clearly show that it is the variation of mass transfer causing the brightness state changes that is a direct evidence of variable mass transfer in a CV. It is shown that it is the local dark-spot activity near the L1 point to cause the change of the mass transfer rather than the activity cycles of the cool secondary star. Our results suggest that the evolution of CVs is more complex than that predicted by the standard model and we should consider the effect of variable mass accretion in nova and dwarf nova outbursts.

  11. Winds in cataclysmic variable stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cordova, F.A.; Ladd, E.F.; Mason, K.O.

    1984-01-01

    Ultraviolet spectrophotometry of two dwarf novae, CN Ori and RX And, at various phases of their outburst cycles confirms that the far uv flux increases dramatically about 1-2 days after the optical outburst begins. At this time the uv spectral line profiles indicate the presence of a high velocity wind. The detectability of the wind depends more on the steepness of the spectrum, and thus on the flux in the extreme ultraviolet, than on the absolute value of the far uv luminosity. The uv continuum during outburst consists of (at least) two components, the most luminous of which is located behind the wind and is completely absorbed by the wind at the line frequencies. Several pieces of evidence suggest that the uv emission lines that are observed in many cataclysmic variables during quiescence have a different location in the binary than the wind, and are affected very little by the outburst

  12. Cataclysmic variables as probes of x-ray properties of interstellar grains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bode, M.F.; Evans, A.; Norwell, G.A.

    1983-01-01

    Interstellar-grain properties have previously been probed at wavelengths ranging from the infrared to the ultraviolet. Recent work by other authors has shown that we may also observe the effects of scattering by such grains at x-ray wavelengths. In this paper we suggest that investigations of the x-ray properties of interstellar grains may profitably be conducted in sight lines to variable sources. Particular emphasis is given in this context to cataclysmic variables and related objects

  13. The X-ray cataclysmic variable 1E0643.0-1648

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bailey, J.; Hough, J.H.

    1981-01-01

    A new simultaneous IR/optical high-speed photometer on the UK IR telescope has been used to study the recently discovered cataclysmic variable 1 E0643.0-1648. The light curve shows it to be a dwarf nova with a recurrence time scale of 15 days. Photometry obtained during the decline from an outburst showed slow flickering, with the IR and optical curves correlated with no delay. (author)

  14. White Dwarfs in Cataclysmic Variables: An Update

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. M. Sion

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available In this review, we summarize what is currently known about the surface temperatures of accreting white dwarfs in nonmagnetic and magnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs based upon synthetic spectral analyses of far ultraviolet data. We focus only on white dwarf surface temperatures, since in the area of chemical abundances, rotation rates, WD masses and accretion rates, relatively little has changed since our last review, pending the results of a large HST GO programinvolving 48 CVs of different CV types. The surface temperature of the white dwarf in SS Cygni is re-examined in the light of its revised distance. We also discuss new HST spectra of the recurrent nova T Pyxidis as it transitioned into quiescence following its April 2011 nova outburst.

  15. Cataclysmic variables from a ROSAT/2MASS selection - I. Four new intermediate polars

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Gänsicke, B.T.; Marsh, T.R.; Edge, A.; Rodríguez-Gil, P.; Steeghs, D.; Araujo-Betancor, S.; Harlaftis, E.; Giannakis, O.; Pyrzas, S.; Morales-Rueda, L.; Aungwerojwit, A.

    2005-01-01

    We report the first results from a new search for cataclysmic variables (CVs) using a combined X-ray (ROSAT)/infrared (2MASS) target selection that discriminates against background active galactic nuclei. Identification spectra were obtained at the Isaac Newton Telescope for a total of 174 targets,

  16. Exploratory Spectroscopy of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables Candidates and Other Variable Objects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, A. S.; Rodrigues, C. V.; Cieslinski, D.; Jablonski, F. J.; Silva, K. M. G.; Almeida, L. A.; Rodríguez-Ardila, A.; Palhares, M. S.

    2017-04-01

    The increasing number of synoptic surveys made by small robotic telescopes, such as the photometric Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey (CRTS), provides a unique opportunity to discover variable sources and improves the statistical samples of such classes of objects. Our goal is the discovery of magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (mCVs). These are rare objects that probe interesting accretion scenarios controlled by the white-dwarf magnetic field. In particular, improved statistics of mCVs would help to address open questions on their formation and evolution. We performed an optical spectroscopy survey to search for signatures of magnetic accretion in 45 variable objects selected mostly from the CRTS. In this sample, we found 32 CVs, 22 being mCV candidates, 13 of which were previously unreported as such. If the proposed classifications are confirmed, it would represent an increase of 4% in the number of known polars and 12% in the number of known IPs. A fraction of our initial sample was classified as extragalactic sources or other types of variable stars by the inspection of the identification spectra. Despite the inherent complexity in identifying a source as an mCV, variability-based selection, followed by spectroscopic snapshot observations, has proved to be an efficient strategy for their discoveries, being a relatively inexpensive approach in terms of telescope time. Based on observations obtained at the Observatório do Pico dos Dias/LNA, and at the Southern Astrophysical Research (SOAR) telescope, which is a joint project of the Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia, e Inovação (MCTI) da República Federativa do Brasil, the U.S. National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO), the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and Michigan State University (MSU).

  17. Visualizing SPH Cataclysmic Variable Accretion Disk Simulations with Blender

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kent, Brian R.; Wood, Matthew A.

    2015-01-01

    We present innovative ways to use Blender, a 3D graphics package, to visualize smoothed particle hydrodynamics particle data of cataclysmic variable accretion disks. We focus on the methods of shape key data constructs to increasedata i/o and manipulation speed. The implementation of the methods outlined allow for compositing of the various visualization layers into a final animation. The viewing of the disk in 3D from different angles can allow for a visual analysisof the physical system and orbits. The techniques have a wide ranging set of applications in astronomical visualization,including both observation and theoretical data.

  18. Cataclysmic variables in the SUPERBLINK proper motion survey

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Skinner, Julie N.; Thorstensen, John R. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755-3528 (United States); Lépine, Sébastien, E-mail: jns@dartmouth.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, 25 Park Place NE, Atlanta, GA 30303 (United States)

    2014-12-01

    We have discovered a new high proper motion cataclysmic variable (CV) in the SUPERBLINK proper motion survey, which is sensitive to stars with proper motions greater than 40 mas yr{sup −1}. This CV was selected for follow-up observations as part of a larger search for CVs selected based on proper motions and their near-UV−V and V−K{sub s} colors. We present spectroscopic observations from the 2.4 m Hiltner Telescope at MDM Observatory. The new CV's orbital period is near 96 minutes, its spectrum shows the double-peaked Balmer emission lines characteristic of quiescent dwarf novae, and its V magnitude is near 18.2. Additionally, we present a full list of known CVs in the SUPERBLINK catalog.

  19. The Golden Age of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects - II Concluding Address

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    F. Giovannelli

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Before to conclude officially this workshop — far from me the idea to attempt some concluding remarks already dealt at the meeting with various burning by Joseph Patterson, Mariko Kato, Dmitry Bisikalo, and Rene Hudec —, I would like to comment few highlights coming out from our fruitful week of discussions about The Golden Age of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects - II, without any pretension of completeness.

  20. Astrometry with Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor 3: The Parallax of the Cataclysmic Variable RW Triangulum

    Science.gov (United States)

    McArthur, B. E.; Benedict, G. F.; Lee, J.; Lu, C.-L.; van Altena, W. F.; Deliyannis, C. P.; Girard, T.; Fredrick, L. W.; Nelan, E.; Duncombe, R. L.; Hemenway, P. D.; Jefferys, W. H.; Shelus, P. J.; Franz, O. G.; Wasserman, L. H.

    1999-07-01

    RW Triangulum (RW Tri) is a 13th magnitude nova-like cataclysmic variable star with an orbital period of 0.2319 days (5.56 hr). Infrared observations of RW Tri indicate that its secondary is most likely a late-K dwarf (Dhillon). Past analyses predicted a distance of 270 pc, derived from a blackbody fit to the spectrum of the central part of the disk (Rutten, van Paradijs, & Tinbergen). Recently completed Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor interferometric observations allow us to determine the first trigonometric parallax to RW Tri. This determination puts the distance of RW Tri at 341-31+38, one of the most distant objects with a direct parallax measurement. We compare our result with methods previously employed to estimate distances to cataclysmic variables.

  1. Searching for nova shells around cataclysmic variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahman, D. I.; Dhillon, V. S.; Knigge, C.; Marsh, T. R.

    2015-08-01

    We present the results of a search for nova shells around 101 cataclysmic variables (CVs), using H α images taken with the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope (WHT) and the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope Photometric H α Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane (IPHAS). Both telescopes are located on La Palma. We concentrated our WHT search on nova-like variables, whilst our IPHAS search covered all CVs in the IPHAS footprint. We found one shell out of the 24 nova-like variables we examined. The newly discovered shell is around V1315 Aql and has a radius of ˜2.5 arcmin, indicative of a nova eruption approximately 120 yr ago. This result is consistent with the idea that the high mass-transfer rate exhibited by nova-like variables is due to enhanced irradiation of the secondary by the hot white dwarf following a recent nova eruption. The implications of our observations for the lifetime of the nova-like variable phase are discussed. We also examined four asynchronous polars, but found no new shells around any of them, so we are unable to confirm that a recent nova eruption is the cause of the asynchronicity in the white dwarf spin. We find tentative evidence of a faint shell around the dwarf nova V1363 Cyg. In addition, we find evidence for a light echo around the nova V2275 Cyg, which erupted in 2001, indicative of an earlier nova eruption ˜300 yr ago, making V2275 Cyg a possible recurrent nova.

  2. Discovery of a New Classical Nova Shell Around a Nova-like Cataclysmic Variable

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guerrero, Martín A.; Sabin, Laurence; Tovmassian, Gagik; Santamaría, Edgar; Michel, Raul; Ramos-Larios, Gerardo; Alarie, Alexandre; Morisset, Christophe; Bermúdez Bustamante, Luis C.; González, Chantal P.; Wright, Nick J.

    2018-04-01

    The morphology and optical spectrum of IPHASX J210204.7+471015, a nebula classified as a possible planetary nebula are, however, strikingly similar to those of AT Cnc, a classical nova shell around a dwarf nova. To investigate its true nature, we have obtained high-resolution narrowband [O III] and [N II] images and deep optical spectra. The nebula shows an arc of [N II]-bright knots notably enriched in nitrogen, while an [O III]-bright bow shock is progressing throughout the ISM. Diagnostic line ratios indicate that shocks are associated with the arc and bow shock. The central star of this nebula has been identified by its photometric variability. Time-resolved photometric and spectroscopic data of this source reveal a period of 4.26 hr, which is attributed to a binary system. The optical spectrum is notably similar to that of RW Sex, a cataclysmic variable star (CV) of the UX UMa nova-like (NL) type. Based on these results, we propose that IPHASX J210204.7 + 471015 is a classical nova shell observed around a CV-NL system in quiescence.

  3. The evolution of polar caps in magnetic cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Frank, J.; Chanmugam, G.

    1986-01-01

    A simple analysis of the evolution of the size of the magnetic polar cap in accreting white dwarfs is made on the basis of current theories of the secular evolution of magnetic cataclysmic variables. For white dwarfs with dipolar fields it is shown that the size of the polar cap in DQ Her binaries is larger than in AM Her binaries. The size of the former is, however, smaller than deduced from interpretation of their X-ray light curves, while that of the latter is in rough agreement. If the dwarf contains an aligned magnetic quadrupole the size of the polar caps of the DQ Her binaries is significantly increased. Magnetic field decay of the quadrupole moment in the older AM Her binaries implies that their fields are predominantly dipolar. (author)

  4. SWSex Stars, Old Novae, and the Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L. Schmidtobreick

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available The population of cataclysmic variables with orbital periods right above the period gap are dominated by systems with extremely high mass transfer rates, the so-called SW Sextantis stars. On the other hand, some old novae in this period range which are expected to show high mass transfer rate instead show photometric and/or spectroscopic resemblance to low mass transfer systems like dwarf novae. We discuss them as candidates for so-called hibernating systems, CVs that changed their mass transfer behaviour due to a previously experienced nova outburst. This paper is designed to provide input for further research and discussion as the results as such are still very preliminary.

  5. CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY. VIII. THE FINAL YEAR (2007–2008)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szkody, Paula; Anderson, Scott F.; Brooks, Keira; Kronberg, Martin; Riecken, Thomas; Gänsicke, Boris T.; Ross, Nicholas P.; Schmidt, Gary D.; Schneider, Donald P.; Agüeros, Marcel A.; Gomez-Moran, Ada N.; Schwope, Axel D.; Knapp, Gillian R.; Schreiber, Matthias R.

    2011-01-01

    This paper completes the series of cataclysmic variables (CVs) identified from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) I/II. The coordinates, magnitudes, and spectra of 33 CVs are presented. Among the 33 are eight systems known prior to SDSS (CT Ser, DO Leo, HK Leo, IR Com, V849 Her, V405 Peg, PG1230+226, and HS0943+1404), as well as nine objects recently found through various photometric surveys. Among the systems identified since the SDSS are two polar candidates, two intermediate polar candidates, and one candidate for containing a pulsating white dwarf. Our follow-up data have confirmed a polar candidate from Paper VII and determined tentative periods for three of the newly identified CVs. A complete summary table of the 285 CVs with spectra from SDSS I/II is presented as well as a link to an online table of all known CVs from both photometry and spectroscopy that will continue to be updated as future data appear.

  6. White Dwarfs in Cataclysmic Variable Stars: Surface Temperatures and Evolution

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edward M. Sion

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available A summary is presented of what is currently known about the surface temperatures of accreting white dwarfs (WDs detected in non-magnetic and magnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs based upon synthetic spectral analyses of far ultraviolet data. A special focus is placed on WD temperatures above and below the CV period gap as a function of the orbital period, Porb. The principal uncertainty of the temperatures for the CV WDs in the Teff - Porb distribution, besides the distance to the CV, is the mass of the WD. Only in eclipsing CV systems, an area of eclipsing binary studies, which was so central to Robert H. Koch’s career, is it possible to know CV WD masses with high precision.

  7. Study of the eclipses of cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, E.H.

    1986-01-01

    The cataclysmic variables (CV's) are all close binary stars in which a secondary star fills its Roche lobe and transfers mass to its white dwarf companion. The transferred mass forms an accretion disk or ring, around the white dwarf. Reliable determinations of the masses of the two-component stars, the distributions of temperature and brightness across the disk, and other parameters, are necessary to understand both the CV's and the accretion processes, but they are extremely difficult to measure. The best way to obtain this data is to observe eclipsing CV's. The author developed a computer program to synthesize light curves of eclipsing CV's using the most realistic model built so far to analyze the eclipses of CV's. A statistical method was developed to perform a complete error analysis of the results of the numerical studies. High-speed, multi-color photometry of three eclipsing CV's - HT Cas, U Gem, and AC Cnc - was obtained. Using the program to analyze the observed light curves, the author derived, for each system, the orbital inclination, the sizes, masses and temperature of the two component stars, and the temperature distribution across the disk

  8. SPECTROSCOPY OF NEW AND POORLY KNOWN CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES IN THE KEPLER FIELD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Howell, Steve B.; Still, Martin; Everett, Mark E.; Seebode, Sally A.; Szkody, Paula; Wood, Matt; Ramsay, Gavin; Cannizzo, John; Smale, Alan

    2013-01-01

    The NASA Kepler mission has been in science operation since 2009 May and is providing high precision, high cadence light curves of over 150,000 targets. Prior to launch, nine cataclysmic variables were known to lie within Kepler's field of view. We present spectroscopy for seven systems, four of which were newly discovered since launch. All of the stars presented herein have been observed by, or are currently being observed by, the Kepler space telescope. Three historic systems and one new candidate could not be detected at their sky position and two candidates are called into question as to their true identity.

  9. SPECTROSCOPY OF NEW AND POORLY KNOWN CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES IN THE KEPLER FIELD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Howell, Steve B.; Still, Martin [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Everett, Mark E. [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Seebode, Sally A. [San Mateo High School, San Mateo, CA 94401 (United States); Szkody, Paula [Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Wood, Matt [Physics and Astronomy Department, Texas A and M University-Commerce, Commerce, TX 75429 (United States); Ramsay, Gavin [Armagh Observatory, College Hill, Armagh BT61 9DG (United Kingdom); Cannizzo, John [CRESST and Astroparticle Physics Laboratory, NASA/GSFC, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Smale, Alan [NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)

    2013-04-15

    The NASA Kepler mission has been in science operation since 2009 May and is providing high precision, high cadence light curves of over 150,000 targets. Prior to launch, nine cataclysmic variables were known to lie within Kepler's field of view. We present spectroscopy for seven systems, four of which were newly discovered since launch. All of the stars presented herein have been observed by, or are currently being observed by, the Kepler space telescope. Three historic systems and one new candidate could not be detected at their sky position and two candidates are called into question as to their true identity.

  10. Eclipses of cataclysmic variables. II. U Geminorum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, E.H.; Robinson, E.L.

    1987-01-01

    U Gem is an eclipsing dwarf nova with an orbital period of 4 h 15 m. High-speed, multicolor photometric observations of U Gem in its quiescent state were obtained. A program was used that synthesizes the light curves of cataclysmic variables to derive the properties of U Gem from its eclipses. Using radial velocity curves published by Wade (1981) and by Stover (1981), it was found that i = 69.7 + or - 0.7 deg, M1 = 1.12 + or - 0.13 solar masses, and M2 = 0.53 + or - 0.06 solar mass. The radial temperature distribution across the accretion disk in U Gem shows that the disk is a hollow ring around the white dwarf with R(out) = 0.30 + or - 0.04 and R(in) = 0.12 + or - 0.05 a, where a is the separation of the two stars. The temperature of the ring is 4800 + or - 300 K. The model also reproduces the published infrared light curves and ultraviolet spectral distributions of U Gem. A mass transfer rate of 7.8 x 10 to the -10th solar mass/yr is derived. The structure of the ring around the white dwarf is consistent with the current theories of accretion disk instabilities in dwarf novae. 39 references

  11. Investigations of a New Eclipsing Cataclysmic Variable HBHA 4705-03

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yakin, D. G.; Suleimanov, V. F.; Shimansky, V. V.; Vlasyuk, V. V.; Spiridonova, O. I.

    2013-01-01

    Results of photometric and spectroscopic investigations of the recently discovered eclipsing cataclysmic variable star HBHA 4705-03 are presented. The emission spectra of the system show broad hydrogen and helium emission lines. The bright spots with an approximately zero velocity components are found in the Doppler maps for the hydrogen and ionized helium lines. The disc structure is more prominent in the maps for the neutral helium lines. The masses of the components (MWD = 0.54 ± 0.10M⊙ and MRD = 0.45 ± 0.05 M⊙), and the orbit inclination (i = 71.°8 ± 0.°7) were estimated using the radial velocity light curve and the eclipse width. The modeling of the light curve allows us to evaluate the bright spot parameters and the mass accretion rate (M ≍ 2 ·1017 g s-1).

  12. SPECTROSCOPIC ORBITAL PERIODS FOR 29 CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thorstensen, John R.; Taylor, Cynthia J.; Peters, Christopher S.; Skinner, Julie N. [Department of Physics and Astronomy 6127 Wilder Laboratory, Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755-3528 (United States); Southworth, John [Astrophysics Group Keele University Staffordshire ST5 5BG (United Kingdom); Gänsicke, Boris T. [Department of Physics University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom)

    2015-04-15

    We report follow-up spectroscopy of 29 cataclysmic variables from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), 22 of which were discovered by SDSS and seven of which are previously known systems that were recovered in SDSS. The periods for 16 of these objects were included in the tabulation by Gänsicke et al. While most of the systems have periods less than 2 hr, only one has a period in the 80–86 minutes “spike” found by Gänsicke et al., and 11 have periods longer than 3 hr, indicating that the present sample is skewed toward longer-period, higher-luminosity objects. Seven of the objects have spectra resembling dwarf novae, but have apparently never been observed in outburst, suggesting that many cataclysmics with relatively low variability amplitude remain to be discovered. Some of the objects are notable. SDSS J07568+0858 and SDSS J08129+1911 were previously known to have deep eclipses; in addition to spectroscopy, we use archival data from the Catalina Real Time Transient Survey to refine their periods. We give a parallax-based distance of 195 (+54, −39) pc for LV Cnc (SDSS J09197+0857), which at P{sub orb} = 81 m has the shortest orbital period in our sample. SDSS J08091+3814 shows both the spectroscopic phase offset and phase-dependent absorption found in SW Sextantis stars. The average spectra of SDSS J08055+0720 and SDSS J16191+1351 show contributions from K-type secondaries, and SDSS J080440+0239 shows a contribution from an early M star. We use these to constrain the distances. SDSS J09459+2922 has characteristics typical of a magnetic system. SDSS11324+6249 may be a novalike variable, and if so, its orbital period (99 minutes) is unusually short for that subclass.

  13. X-Ray Emission of Cataclysmic Variables Observed by Integral

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Gális, R.; Eckert, D.; Paltani, S.; Münz, F.; Kocka, Matúš

    2009-01-01

    Roč. 18, 3-4 (2009), s. 321-326 ISSN 1392-0049 Grant - others:ESA(XE) ESA- PECS project No. 98023; VEGA(SK) 2/0078/10 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : binaries starss * cataclysmic * X-rays Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 1.032, year: 2009

  14. DISCOVERY OF A NOVA-LIKE CATACLYSMIC VARIABLE IN THE KEPLER MISSION FIELD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Williams, Kurtis A.; De Martino, Domitilla; Silvotti, Roberto; Bruni, Ivan; Dufour, Patrick; Riecken, Thomas S.; Kronberg, Martin; Mukadam, Anjum; Handler, G.

    2010-01-01

    We announce the identification of a new cataclysmic variable (CV) star in the field of the Kepler Mission, KIC J192410.81+445934.9. This system was identified during a search for compact pulsators in the Kepler field. High-speed photometry reveals coherent large-amplitude variability with a period of 2.94 hr. Rapid, large-amplitude quasi-periodic variations are also detected on time scales of ∼1200 s and ∼650 s. Time-resolved spectroscopy covering one half photometric period shows shallow, broad Balmer and He I absorption lines with bright emission cores as well as strong He II and Bowen blend emission. Radial velocity variations are also observed in the Balmer and He I emission lines that are consistent with the photometric period. We therefore conclude that KIC J192410.81+445934.9 is a nova-like (NL) variable of the UX UMa class in or near the period gap, and it may belong to the rapidly growing subclass of SW Sex systems. Based on Two Micron All Sky Survey photometry and companion star models, we place a lower limit on the distance to the system of ∼500 pc. Due to limitations of our discovery data, additional observations including spectroscopy and polarimetry are needed to confirm the nature of this object. Such data will enable further understanding of the behavior of NL variables in the critical period range of 3-4 hr, where standard CV evolutionary theory finds major problems. The presence of this system in the Kepler Mission field of view also presents a unique opportunity to obtain a continuous photometric data stream of unparalleled length and precision on a CV system.

  15. VHE gamma-rays from radio pulsars and cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    De Jager, O.C.; Brink, C.; Meintjies, P.J.; Nel, H.I.; North, A.R.; Raubenheimer, B.C.; Van der Walt, D.J.

    1990-01-01

    We present the results of observations (above 1 TeV) of radio pulsars and cataclysmic variables with the Potchefstroom air Cerenkov facility. We were able to confirm our previous detection of PSR 1509-58 and the final significance is 1.7x10 -5 . A DC enhancement at the 10 -3 significance level was seen from the L 4 Lagrange position in the PSR 1957+20 system. This result was confirmed by COS-B data. We were also able to detect the 5.4 ms pulsar PSR 1855+09 at a marginal significance level of 5%. However, the best and longest observation indicates non-uniformity at the 0.005 significance level. The TeV light curve resembles the radio light curve. The latter is also reminiscent of other millisecond pulsar observed above 1 TeV. The intermediate polar AEAQR (P = 33.08s) shows a period shift which is consistent with recent model predictions. However, the present significance of this results does not allow an unambiguous claim. (orig.)

  16. Features of the mass transfer in magnetic cataclysmic variables with fast-rotating white dwarfs

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Isakova Polina

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The flow structure in magnetic cataclysmic variables was investigated taking into account the effects of strong magnetic field and fast rotation of the white dwarf. We modeled the AE Aqr system as a unique object that has the rotation period of the white dwarf is about 1000 times shorter than the orbital period of the binary system. Observations show that in spite of fast rotation of the white dwarf some part of the stream from the inner Lagrange point comes into the Roche lobe region. We analyzed possible mechanisms preventing material to outflow from the system.

  17. Follow-up Observations of SDSS and CRTS Candidate Cataclysmic Variables II

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szkody, Paula; Everett, Mark E.; Dai, Zhibin; Serna-Grey, Donald

    2018-01-01

    Spectra of 38 candidate or known cataclysmic variables are presented. Most are candidate dwarf novae or systems containing possible highly magnetic white dwarfs, while a few (KR Aur, LS Peg, V380 Oph, and V694 Mon) are previously known objects caught in unusual states. Individual spectra are used to confirm a dwarf nova nature or other classification while radial velocities of 15 systems provide orbital periods and velocity amplitudes that aid in determining the nature of the objects. Our results substantiate a polar nature for four objects, find an eclipsing SW Sex star below the period gap, another as a likely intermediate polar, as well as two dwarf novae with periods in the middle of the gap. Based on observations obtained with the Apache Point Observatory (APO) 3.5 m telescope, which is owned and operated by the Astrophysical Research Consortium (ARC).

  18. Dynamics of Line-Driven Winds from Disks in Cataclysmic Variables. I. Solution Topology and Wind Geometry

    OpenAIRE

    Feldmeier, Achim; Shlosman, Isaac

    1999-01-01

    We analyze the dynamics of 2-D stationary, line-driven winds from accretion disks in cataclysmic variable stars. The driving force is that of line radiation pressure, in the formalism developed by Castor, Abbott & Klein for O stars. Our main assumption is that wind helical streamlines lie on straight cones. We find that the Euler equation for the disk wind has two eigenvalues, the mass loss rate and the flow tilt angle with the disk. Both are calculated self-consistently. The wind is characte...

  19. Hydrodynamic simulations of accretion disks in cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirose, Masahito; Osaki, Yoji

    1990-01-01

    The tidal effects of secondary stars on accretion disks in cataclysmic variables are studied by two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations. The time evolution of an accretion disk under a constant mass supply rate from the secondary is followed until it reaches a quasi-steady state. We have examined various cases of different mass ratios of binary systems. It is found that the accretion disk settles into a steady state of an elongated disk fixed in the rotating frame of the binary in a binary system with comparable masses of component stars. On the other hand, in the case of a low-mass secondary, the accretion disk develops a non-axisymmetric (eccentric) structure and finally settles into a periodically oscillating state in which a non-axisymmetric eccentric disk rotates in the opposite direction to the orbital motion of the binary in the rotating frame of the binary. The period of oscillation is a few percent longer than the orbital period of the binary, and it offers a natural explanation for the ''superhump'' periodicity of SU UMa stars. Our results thus confirm basically those of Whitehurst (1988, AAA 45.064.032) who discovered the tidal instability of an accretion disk in the case of a low-mass secondary. We then discuss the cause of the tidal instability. It is shown that the tidal instability of accretion disks is caused by a parametric resonance between particle orbits and an orbiting secondary star with a 1:3 period ratio. (author)

  20. Follow up observations of SDSS and CRTS candidate cataclysmic variables

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szkody, Paula; Vasquez-Soltero, Stephanie [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, P.O. Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Everett, Mark E.; Silva, David R. [National Optical Astronomy Observatory, 950 North Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Howell, Steve B. [NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035 (United States); Landolt, Arlo U. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803 (United States); Bond, Howard E., E-mail: szkody@astro.washington.edu, E-mail: dsilva@noao.edu, E-mail: steve.b.howell@nasa.gov, E-mail: landolt@rouge.phys.lsu.edu, E-mail: heb11@psu.edu [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States)

    2014-10-01

    We present photometry and spectroscopy of 11 and 35 potential cataclysmic variables, respectively, from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Catalina Real-Time Transient Survey, and vsnet alerts. The photometry results include quasi-periodic oscillations during the decline of V1363 Cyg, nightly accretion changes in the likely Polar (AM Herculis binary) SDSS J1344+20, eclipses in SDSS J2141+05 with an orbital period of 76 ± 2 minutes, and possible eclipses in SDSS J2158+09 at an orbital period near 100 minutes. Time-resolved spectra reveal short orbital periods near 80 minutes for SDSS J0206+20, 85 minutes for SDSS J1502+33, and near 100 minutes for CSS J0015+26, RXS J0150+37, SDSS J1132+62, SDSS J2154+15, and SDSS J2158+09. The prominent He II line and velocity amplitude of SDSS J2154+15 are consistent with a Polar nature for this object, while the absence of this line and a low velocity amplitude argue against this classification for RXS J0150+37. Single spectra of 10 objects were obtained near outburst and the rest near quiescence, confirming the dwarf novae nature of these objects.

  1. Theoretical, numerical and experimental study of accretion shocks dynamics in magnetic cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Busschaert, Clotilde

    2013-01-01

    Magnetic cataclysmic variables are interacting binary Systems containing a highly magnetized white dwarf which accretes material from a companion. Material is led along magnetic field lines and falls onto the magnetic pole(s) supersonically forming an accretion column. As the material hits the surface, a reverse shock is formed and the shocked region is structured by the cooling effect of radiation processes. This work is a multidisciplinary study of the dynamics of the accretion column. Firstly, a numerical study of the accretion column structure at the astrophysical scale is presented. The observational consequences are discussed. This approach is completed by experiments using radiative flows generated by powerful lasers. The relevance of such experiments is based on the establishment of scaling laws. News scaling laws in the frame of radiative ideal or resistive MHD are exposed. The results of the sizing and the interpretation of the POLAR experimental campaign of 2012 on LULI2000 installation are presented. (author) [fr

  2. Period changes of cataclysmic variables below the period gap: V2051 Oph, OY Car and Z Cha

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pilarčík, L.; Wolf, M.; Zasche, P.; Vraštil, J.

    2018-04-01

    We present our results of a long-term monitoring of cataclysmic variable stars (CVs). About 40 new eclipses were measured for the three southern SU UMa-type eclipsing CVs: V2051 Oph, OY Car and Z Cha. Based on the current O - C diagrams we confirmed earlier findings that V2051 Oph and OY Car present cyclic changes of their orbital periods lasting 25 and 29 years, respectively. In case of Z Cha we propose the light-time effect caused probably by a presence of the third component orbiting the eclipsing CV with the period of 43.5 years. The minimal mass of this companion results about 15 MJup.

  3. Machine learning from hard x-ray surveys: applications to magnetic cataclysmic variable studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scaringi, Simone

    2009-11-01

    Within this thesis are discussed two main topics of contemporary astrophysics. The first is that of machine learning algorithms for astronomy whilst the second is that of magnetic cataclysmic variables (mCVs). To begin, an overview is given of ISINA: INTEGRAL Scouce Identifiction Network Algorithm. This machine learning algorithm, using random forests, is applied to the IBIS/ISGRI data set in order to ease the production of unbiased future soft gamma-ray source catalogues. The feature extraction process on an initial candidate list is described together with feature merging. Three trainng and testing sets are created in order to deal with the diverse time-scales encountered when dealing with the gamma-ray sky: one dealing with faint persistent source recognition, one dealing with strong persistent sources and a final one dealing with transients. For the latter, a new transient detection technique is introduced and described: the transient matrix. Finally the performance of the network is assessed and discussed using the testing set and some illustrative source examples. ISINA is also compared to the more conventional approach of visual inspection. Next mCVs are discussed, and in particular the properties arising from a hard X-ray selected sample which has proven remarkably efficient in detecting intermediate polars and asynchronous polars, two of the rarest type of cataclysmic variables (CVs). This thesis focuses particularly on the link between hard X-ray properties and spin/orbital periods. To this end, a new sample of these objects is constructed by cross-corelating candidate sources detected in INTEGRAL/IBIS observations against catalogues of known CVs. Also included in the analysis are hard X-ray Observations from Swift/BAT and SUZAKU/HXD in order to make the study more complete. It is found that most hard X-ray detected mCVs have Pspin/Porb<0.1 above the period gap. In this respect, attention is given to the very low number of detected systems in any ban

  4. Analysis of cataclysmic variable GSC02197-00886 evolution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitrofanova, A. A.; Borisov, N. V.; Shimansky, V. V.

    2014-01-01

    We present the spectral analysis of the physical state and evolution of the WZSge-type cataclysmic variable GSC02197-00886. The spectra of the system, covering the total orbital period at the time of the outburst on May 8, 2010, at the late relaxation stage, and in the quiescent state, were obtained at the SAO RAS 6-m BTA telescope in 2010-2012. From the absorption and emission HI, He I, and Fe II lines, we have determined the radial velocities for all the nights of observations and constructed the maps of Doppler tomography for the quiescent state. It was found that during the outburst the spectra of the object were formed in an optically thick accretion disk with an effective temperature of T eff ≈ 45 000 K and in a hotter boundary layer. During the relaxation of the system, the accretion disk gradually became optically thinner in the continuum and in the emission lines. In the quiescent state (July 2012), the continuous spectrum was dominated by the radiation of the cooling white dwarf with T eff = 18 000 K. The emission lines are formed on the surface of the cool star by the X-ray irradiation of the 1RXSJ213807.1+261958 source. We propose a method for determining the parameters of the white dwarf, based on the numerical modeling of the system spectra in the quiescent state and their comparison with the observed spectra. It is shown that the effective temperature of white dwarf has decreased by Δ T eff = 6000 K during the relaxation from August 2010 to July 2012. We have obtained a set of parameters for GSC02197-00886 and shown their good agreement with the average parameters of the W Z Sge-type systems, presented in the literature.

  5. XMM-NEWTON AND OPTICAL OBSERVATIONS OF CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES FROM THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hilton, Eric J.; Szkody, Paula; Mukadam, Anjum; Henden, Arne; Dillon, William; Schmidt, Gary D.

    2009-01-01

    We report on XMM-Newton and optical results for six cataclysmic variables that were selected from Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectra because they showed strong He II emission lines, indicative of being candidates for containing white dwarfs with strong magnetic fields. While high X-ray background rates prevented optimum results, we are able to confirm SDSS J233325.92+152222.1 as an intermediate polar from its strong pulse signature at 21 minutes and its obscured hard X-ray spectrum. Ground-based circular polarization and photometric observations were also able to confirm SDSS J142256.31 - 022108.1 as a polar with a period near 4 hr. Photometry of SDSS J083751.00+383012.5 and SDSS J093214.82+495054.7 solidifies the orbital period of the former as 3.18 hr and confirms the latter as a high-inclination system with deep eclipses.

  6. The primary role of the SW Sextantis stars in the evolution of cataclysmic variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Manuel; Gaensicke, Boris; Rodriguez-Gil, Pablo; Long, Knox; Marsh, Tom; Steeghs, Danny; Munoz-Darias, Teodoro; Shahbaz, Tariq; Schmidtobreick, Linda; Schreiber, Matthias

    2009-02-01

    SW Sextantis stars are a relatively large group of cataclysmic variables (CVs) which plays a fundamental role in our understanding of CV structure and evolution. Very little is known about the properties of their accreting white dwarfs and their donor stars, as the stellar components are usually outshone by an extremely bright accretion flow. Consequently, a proper assesment of their evolutionary state is illusionary. We are monitoring the brightness of a number of SW Sex stars and request here Gemini/GMOS-N ToO time to obtain orbital phase-resolved spectroscopy if one of them enters a low state, since this is the only opportunity for studying the stellar components individually. These data will be used to accurately measure the binary parameters, white dwarf temperature, and distance to the system for a SW Sex star for the first time. The measured stellar masses and radii will especially be a precious input to the theory of compact binary evolution as a whole.

  7. Unravelling the role of the SW Sextantis stars in the evolution of cataclysmic variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torres, Manuel; Steeghs, Danny; Gaensicke, Boris; Marsh, Tom; Rodriguez-Gil, Pablo; Schmidtobreick, Linda; Long, Knox; Schreiber, Matthias

    2007-08-01

    SW Sextantis stars are a relatively large group of cataclysmic variables (CVs) whose properties contradict all predictions made by the current CV evolution theories. Very little is known about the properties of their accreting white dwarfs and their donor stars, as the stellar components are usually outshone by an extremely bright accretion flow. Consequently, a proper assesment of their evolutionary state is illusionary. We are monitoring the brightness of a number of SW Sex stars and request here Gemini/GMOS-N ToO time to obtain orbital phase-resolved spectroscopy if one of them enters a low state, since this is the only opportunity for studying the stellar components individually. These data will be used to accurately measure the mass ratio of the system which, combined with the orbital inclination derived from modelling of either the disc eclipses in the high state or the ellipsoidal modulation in the low state, will eventually provide the first detailed system parameters for any SW Sex star.

  8. PN G068.1+11.0: A young pre-cataclysmic variable with an extremely hot primary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitrofanova, A. A.; Shimansky, V. V.; Borisov, N. V.; Spiridonova, O. I.; Gabdeev, M. M.

    2016-02-01

    An analysis of spectroscopic and photometric data for the young pre-cataclysmic variable (PCV) PN G068.1+11.0, which passed through its common-envelope stage relatively recently, is presented. The spectroscopic and photometric data were obtained with the 6-m telescope and Zeiss-1000 telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory. The light curves show sinusoidal brightness variations with the orbital-period time scale and brightness-variation amplitudes of Δ m = 1. m41, 1. m62, and 1. m57 in the B, V, and R bands, respectively. The system's spectrum exhibits weak HI (H β-H δ) andHeII λλ4541, 4686, 5411 Å absorption lines during the phases of minimum brightness, as well as HI, HeII, CIII, CIV, NIII, and OII emission lines whose intensity variations are synchronized with variations of the integrated brightness of the system. The emission-line formation in the spectra can be fully explained by the effects of fluorescence of the ultraviolet light from the primary at the surface of the cool star. All the characteristics of the optical light of PN G068.1+11.0 confirm that it is a young PCV containing sdO subdwarf. The radial velocities were measured from a blend of lines of moderately light elements, CIII+NIII λ4640 Å, which is formed at the surface of the secondary due to reflection effects. The ephemeris of the system has been improved through a joint analysis of the radial-velocity curves and light curves of pre-cataclysmic variable, using modelling of the reflection effects. The fundamental parameters of PN G068.1+11.0 have been determined using two evolutionary tracks for planetary-nebula nuclei of different masses (0.7 M ⊙and 0.78 M ⊙). The model spectra for the system and a comparison with the observations demonstrate the possibility of refining the components' effective temperatures if the quality of the spectra used is improved.

  9. Minimum period and the gap in periods of Cataclysmic binaries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paczynski, B.; Sienkiewicz, R.

    1983-01-01

    The 81 minute cutoff to the orbital periods of hydrogen-rich cataclysmic binaries is consistent with evolution of those systems being dominated by angular momentum losses due to gravitational radiation. Unfortunately, many uncertainties, mainly poorly known atmospheric opacities below 2000 K, make is physically impossible to verify the quadrupole formula for gravitational radiation by using the observed cutoff at 81 minutes. The upper boundary of the gap in orbital periods observed at about 3 hours is almost certainly due to enhanced angular momentum losses from cataclysmic binaries which have longer periods. The physical mechanism of those losses is not identified, but a possible importance of stellar winds is pointed out. The lower boundary of the gap may be explained with the oldest cataclysmic binaries, whose periods evolved past the minimum at 81 minutes and reached the value of 2 hours within about 12 x 10 9 years after the binary had formed. Those binaries should have secondary components of only 0.02 solar masses, and their periods could be used to estimate ages of the oldest cataclysmic stars, and presumably the age of Galaxy. An alternative explanation for the gap requires that binaries should be detached while crossing the gap. A possible mechanism for this phenomenon is discussed. It requires the secondary components to be about 0.2 solar masses in the binaries just below the gap

  10. Unravelling the role of SW Sextantis stars in the evolution of cataclysmic variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Araujo-Betancor, Sofia; Gansicke, Boris; Long, Knox; Rodriguez-Gil, Pablo

    2005-08-01

    SW Sextantis stars are a relatively large group of cataclysmic variables whose properties contradict all predictions made by the current CV evolution theories. Very little is known about the properties of their accreting white dwarfs and their donor stars, as the stellar components are usually outshone by an extremely bright accretion flow. Consequently, a proper assessment of their evolutionary state is illusionary. There is one particular behavior of the SW Sex stars that can allow us to overcome this problem: SW Sex stars exhibit low states during which accretion onto the white dwarf decreases or shuts off completely. Only during this rare occasions we can directly observe the white dwarf and the donor star in these systems, and measurements of the white dwarf temperature, spectral type of the donor, mass and distance to the system can be carried out. With this aim in mind, we have set up a long-term monitoring of a group of five SW Sex stars using the 1.3 m telescope at CTIO. Here we propose to activate follow-up TOOs to obtain optical spectra of the low states to accurately determine the fundamental properties of these systems.

  11. VizieR Online Data Catalog: Faint cataclysmic variables from SDSS (Woudt+, 2012)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woudt, P. A.; Warner, B.; de Bude, D.; Macfarlane, S.; Schurch, M. P. E.; Zietsman, E.

    2013-01-01

    We present high-speed photometric observations of 20 faint cataclysmic variables (CVs) selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Catalina catalogues. Measurements are given of 15 new directly measured orbital periods, including four eclipsing dwarf novae (SDSS 0904+03, CSS 0826-00, CSS 1404-10 and CSS 1626-12), two new polars (CSS 0810+00 and CSS 1503-22) and two dwarf novae with superhumps in quiescence (CSS 0322+02 and CSS 0826-00). Whilst most of the dwarf novae presented here have periods below 2h, SDSS 0805+07 and SSS 0617-36 have relatively long orbital periods of 5.489 and 3.440h, respectively. The double-humped orbital modulations observed in SSS 0221-26, CSS 0345-01, CSS 1300+11 and CSS 1443-17 are typical of low-mass transfer rate dwarf novae. The white dwarf primary of SDSS 0919+08 is confirmed to have non-radial oscillations, and quasi-periodic oscillations were observed in the short-period dwarf nova CSS 1028-08 during outburst. We further report the detection of a new nova-like variable (SDSS 1519+06). The frequency distribution of orbital periods of CVs in the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS) has a high peak near ~80min orbital period, independently confirming that found by Gansicke et al. (2009MNRAS.397.2170G) from SDSS sources. We also observe a marked correlation between the median in the orbital period distribution and the outburst class, in the sense that dwarf novae with a single observed outburst (over the 5-year baseline of the CRTS coverage) occur predominantly at shortest orbital period. (2 data files).

  12. NON-THERMAL EMISSION FROM CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES: IMPLICATIONS ON ASTROPARTICLE PHYSICS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vojtech Šimon

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available We review the lines of evidence that some cataclysmic variables (CVs are the sources of non-thermal radiation. It was really observed in some dwarf novae in outburst, a novalike CV in the high state, an intermediate polar, polars, and classical novae (CNe during outburst. The detection of this radiation suggests the presence of highly energetic particles in these CVs. The conditions for the observability of this emission depend on the state of activity, and the system parameters. We review the processes and conditions that lead to the production of this radiation in various spectral bands, from gamma-rays including TeV emission to radio. Synchrotron and cyclotron emissions suggest the presence of strong magnetic fields in CV. In some CVs, e.g. during some dwarf nova outbursts, the magnetic field generated in the accretion disk leads to the synchrotron jets radiating in radio. The propeller effect or a shock in the case of the magnetized white dwarf (WD can lead to a strong acceleration of the particles that produce gamma-ray emission via pi0 decay; even Cherenkov radiation is possible. In addition, a gamma-ray production via pi0 decay was observed in the ejecta of an outburst of a symbiotic CN. Nuclear reactions during thermonuclear runaway in the outer layer of the WD undergoing CN outburst lead to the production of radioactive isotopes; their decay is the source of gamma-ray emission. The production of accelerated particles in CVs often has episodic character with a very small duty cycle; this makes their detection and establishing the relation of the behavior in various bands difficult.

  13. The origin of the infrared light of cataclysmic variable stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berriman, G.; Szkody, P.; Capps, R.W.

    1985-01-01

    This paper presents a model-independent overview of the origin of the near infrared (1-2 μm) light of a sample of 28 cataclysmic binary stars, largely dwarf novae in quiescence. The infrared light comes from the red dwarf that supplies matter to the white dwarf companion and the accretion disc around the white dwarf. The complex nature of the disc prevents near-infrared photometry from being a good probe of the red dwarfs, even in those systems where they are seen in the visual. All that can be found reliably is an upper limit to the proportion light that the red dwarfs supply, and consequently lower limits to the distances to the systems. The infrared light of the discs comes from opaque material and from the optically thin gas that gives rise to the visual and UV emission lines. (author)

  14. PG 1316+678: A young pre-cataclysmic binary with weak reflection effects

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimansky, V. V.; Borisov, N. V.; Bikmaev, I. F.; Sakhibullin, N. A.; Shimanskaya, N. N.; Spiridonova, O. I.; Irtuganov, E. N.

    2013-03-01

    The PG 1316+678 star is classified as a pre-cataclysmic binary, as is evidenced by its photometric and spectroscopic observations. Its orbital period is determined to be P orb = 3.3803d, which coincides with the photometric period. The intensities of the emission HI and HeI lines are shown to vary synchronously with the brightness of the object (Δ m V = 0.065 m , Δ m R = 0.08 m ). These variations arise as the UV radiation from the DAO white dwarf is reflected from the surface of the cold companion. The parameters of the binary are estimated and the time of its evolution after the common-envelope phase is determined to be t ≈ 240 000 years. Thus, PG 1316+678 is a young pre-cataclysmic NN Ser variable with the smallest known photometric reflection effect.

  15. Cataclysmic Variables and Active Binary Stars in Omega Centauri

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arias, T.; Brochmann, M.; Dorfman, J. L.; White, M. V.; Cool, A. M.

    2004-12-01

    We report findings from our ongoing research on the globular cluster Omega Centauri (NGC 5139) using a 3x3 mosaic of Wide Field Camera pointings with the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The data consist of F435W (B435), F625W (R625), and F658N (Hα ) images and cover roughly 10x10 arcminutes, out to beyond the cluster's half-mass radius. Our current work is a search for cataclysmic variables (CVs) and active binaries (ABs) (e.g., RS CVn and BY Dra stars) as counterparts to X-ray point sources previously detected with Chandra. The ACS field encompasses 109 of the Chandra sources, 20-50 of which are likely to be cluster members according to our statistical estimates (the rest being primarily active galaxies). Using DAOPHOT to obtain photometry in 20x20 arcsecond patches surrounding each X-ray source, we are constructing color-magnitude diagrams to search for stars with Hα -R625 and/or B435-R625 colors indicative of CVs or ABs in ˜ 1 arcsecond Chandra error circles. With roughly half of the patches analyzed, several AB candidates and only a small number of CV candidates have emerged. Our tentative conclusion is that CVs may be significantly rarer in Omega Cen than in 47 Tuc, in contrast to the comparable numbers ( ˜100) predicted for these two clusters from tidal capture theory (Di Stefano and Rappaport 1994). Alternatively, the CVs could be strongly concentrated toward the cluster center, and thus not yet appear in our sample. To date, most of the patches we have analyzed are 3-4 arcminutes from the cluster center and thus are outside the cluster core (radius 2.6 arcminutes). Our continuing work should soon enable us to resolve this question. This work is supported by NASA grant GO-9442 from the Space Telescope Science Institute.

  16. Non-radial oscillations of rotating stars and their relevance to the short-period oscillations of cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Papaloizou, J.; Pringle, J.E.

    1978-01-01

    The usual hypothesis, that the short-period coherent oscillations seen in cataclysmic variables are attributable to g modes in a slowly rotating white dwarf, is considered. It is shown that this hypothesis is untenable for three main reasons: (i) the observed periods are too short for reasonable white dwarf models, (ii) the observed variability of the oscillations is too rapid and (iii) the expected rotation of the white dwarf, due to accretion, invalidates the slow rotation assumption on which standard g-mode theory is based. The low-frequency spectrum of a rotating pulsating star is investigated taking the effects of rotation fully into account. In this case there are two sets of low-frequency modes, the g modes, and modes similar to Rossby waves in the Earth's atmosphere and oceans, which are designated r modes. Typical periods for such modes are 1/m times the rotation period of the white dwarfs outer layers (m is the aximuthal wavenumber). It is concluded that non-radial oscillations of rotating white dwarfs can account for the properties of the oscillations seen in dwarf novae. Application of these results to other systems is also discussed. (author)

  17. EVOLUTION OF CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES AND RELATED BINARIES CONTAINING A WHITE DWARF

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kalomeni, B.; Rappaport, S.; Molnar, M.; Nelson, L.; Quintin, J.; Yakut, K.

    2016-01-01

    We present a binary evolution study of cataclysmic variables (CVs) and related systems with white dwarf (WD) accretors, including for example, AM CVn systems, classical novae, supersoft X-ray sources (SXSs), and systems with giant donor stars. Our approach intentionally avoids the complications associated with population synthesis algorithms, thereby allowing us to present the first truly comprehensive exploration of all of the subsequent binary evolution pathways that zero-age CVs might follow (assuming fully non-conservative, Roche-lobe overflow onto an accreting WD) using the sophisticated binary stellar evolution code MESA. The grid consists of 56,000 initial models, including 14 WD accretor masses, 43 donor-star masses (0.1–4.7 M ⊙ ), and 100 orbital periods. We explore evolution tracks in the orbital period and donor-mass ( P orb – M don ) plane in terms of evolution dwell times, masses of the WD accretor, accretion rate, and chemical composition of the center and surface of the donor star. We report on the differences among the standard CV tracks, those with giant donor stars, and ultrashort period systems. We show where in parameter space one can expect to find SXSs, present a diagnostic to distinguish among different evolutionary paths to forming AM CVn binaries, quantify how the minimum orbital period in CVs depends on the chemical composition of the donor star, and update the P orb ( M wd ) relation for binaries containing WDs whose progenitors lost their envelopes via stable Roche-lobe overflow. Finally, we indicate where in the P orb – M don the accretion disks will tend to be stable against the thermal-viscous instability, and where gravitational radiation signatures may be found with LISA.

  18. EVOLUTION OF CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES AND RELATED BINARIES CONTAINING A WHITE DWARF

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kalomeni, B.; Rappaport, S.; Molnar, M. [Department of Physics, and Kavli Institute for Astrophysics and Space Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Nelson, L. [Department of Physics, Bishop’s University, 2600 College St., Sherbrooke, Quebec, QC J1M 1Z7 (Canada); Quintin, J. [Department of Physics, McGill University, Montréal, QC H3A 2T8 (Canada); Yakut, K., E-mail: kalomeni@mit.edu, E-mail: sar@mit.edu, E-mail: momchil.molnar@gmail.com, E-mail: belinda.kalomeni@ege.edu.tr, E-mail: kadri.yakut@ege.edu.tr, E-mail: lnelson@ubishops.ca, E-mail: jquintin@physics.mcgill.ca [Department of Astronomy and Space Sciences, Ege University, 35100, İzmir (Turkey)

    2016-12-10

    We present a binary evolution study of cataclysmic variables (CVs) and related systems with white dwarf (WD) accretors, including for example, AM CVn systems, classical novae, supersoft X-ray sources (SXSs), and systems with giant donor stars. Our approach intentionally avoids the complications associated with population synthesis algorithms, thereby allowing us to present the first truly comprehensive exploration of all of the subsequent binary evolution pathways that zero-age CVs might follow (assuming fully non-conservative, Roche-lobe overflow onto an accreting WD) using the sophisticated binary stellar evolution code MESA. The grid consists of 56,000 initial models, including 14 WD accretor masses, 43 donor-star masses (0.1–4.7 M {sub ⊙}), and 100 orbital periods. We explore evolution tracks in the orbital period and donor-mass ( P {sub orb}– M {sub don}) plane in terms of evolution dwell times, masses of the WD accretor, accretion rate, and chemical composition of the center and surface of the donor star. We report on the differences among the standard CV tracks, those with giant donor stars, and ultrashort period systems. We show where in parameter space one can expect to find SXSs, present a diagnostic to distinguish among different evolutionary paths to forming AM CVn binaries, quantify how the minimum orbital period in CVs depends on the chemical composition of the donor star, and update the P {sub orb}( M {sub wd}) relation for binaries containing WDs whose progenitors lost their envelopes via stable Roche-lobe overflow. Finally, we indicate where in the P {sub orb}– M {sub don} the accretion disks will tend to be stable against the thermal-viscous instability, and where gravitational radiation signatures may be found with LISA.

  19. Accretion torques due to three-dimensional channelled flows in magnetic cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Campbell, C.G.

    1986-01-01

    Angular momentum transfer due to three-dimensional magnetically channelled accretion flows in cataclysmic binaries is considered. The white dwarf experiences a torque due to the twist in that part of its magnetic field which interacts with the accretion stream. The channelling process can also enhance angular momentum exchange between the stream and the orbit by increasing the gravitational torques. The components of the accretion torque are calculated for an arbitrary static magnetic orientation of the white dwarf, and their variation with orientation is presented. For high inclinations of the accreting pole to the orbital plane the component of the accretion torque parallel to this plane can be comparable to its perpendicular component. It is shown that the parallel component of the torque is still significant relative to the perpendicular component if material links to the white dwarf's magnetic field well away from the L 1 region. (author)

  20. A NEW SUB-PERIOD-MINIMUM CATACLYSMIC VARIABLE WITH PARTIAL HYDROGEN DEPLETION AND EVIDENCE OF SPIRAL DISK STRUCTURE

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Littlefield, C.; Garnavich, P.; Magno, K.; Applegate, A.; Pogge, R.; Irwin, J.; Marion, G. H.; Kirshner, R.; Vinkó, J.

    2013-01-01

    We present time-resolved spectroscopy and photometry of CSS 120422:111127+571239 (=SBS 1108+574), a recently discovered SU UMa-type dwarf nova whose 55 minute orbital period is well below the cataclysmic variable (CV) period minimum of ∼78 minutes. In contrast with most other known CVs, its spectrum features He I emission of comparable strength to the Balmer lines, implying a hydrogen abundance less than 0.1 of long-period CVs—but still at least 10 times higher than that in AM CVn stars. Together, the short orbital period and remarkable helium-to-hydrogen ratio suggest that mass transfer in CSS 120422 began near the end of the donor star's main-sequence lifetime, meaning that this CV is a strong candidate progenitor of an AM CVn system as described by Podsiadlowski et al. Moreover, a Doppler tomogram of the Hα line reveals two distinct regions of enhanced emission. While one is the result of the stream-disk impact, the other is probably attributable to spiral disk structure generated when material in the outer disk achieves a 2:1 orbital resonance with respect to the donor.

  1. New cataclysmic variables and other exotic binaries in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rivera Sandoval, L. E.; van den Berg, M.; Heinke, C. O.; Cohn, H. N.; Lugger, P. M.; Anderson, J.; Cool, A. M.; Edmonds, P. D.; Wijnands, R.; Ivanova, N.; Grindlay, J. E.

    2018-04-01

    We present 22 new (+3 confirmed) cataclysmic variables (CVs) in the non-core-collapsed globular cluster 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc). The total number of CVs in the cluster is now 43, the largest sample in any globular cluster so far. For the identifications we used near-ultraviolet (NUV) and optical images from the Hubble Space Telescope, in combination with X-ray results from the Chandra X-ray Observatory. This allowed us to build the deepest NUV CV luminosity function of the cluster to date. We found that the CVs in 47 Tuc are more concentrated towards the cluster centre than the main-sequence turn-off stars. We compared our results to the CV populations of the core-collapsed globular clusters NGC 6397 and NGC 6752. We found that 47 Tuc has fewer bright CVs per unit mass than those two other clusters. That suggests that dynamical interactions in core-collapsed clusters play a major role creating new CVs. In 47 Tuc, the CV population is probably dominated by primordial and old dynamically formed systems. We estimated that the CVs in 47 Tuc have total masses of ˜1.4 M⊙. We also found that the X-ray luminosity function of the CVs in the three clusters is bimodal. Additionally, we discuss a possible double degenerate system and an intriguing/unclassified object. Finally, we present four systems that could be millisecond pulsar companions given their X-ray and NUV/optical colours. For one of them we present very strong evidence for being an ablated companion. The other three could be CO or He white dwarfs.

  2. Comments on the evolution and origin of cataclysmic binaries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Whyte, C.A.; Eggleton, P.P.

    1980-01-01

    Aspects of the observational data on cataclysmic binaries are discussed and possible correlations between type of behaviour and binary period are noted. A gap between 2 and 3 hr in binary periods is judged to be real. A simple numerical procedure for evolving Roche-lobe-filling stars is described, and applied to white dwarf-red dwarf binaries for various mass loss and angular momentum loss mechanisms, and initial conditions. The results, in which the short-time-scale behaviour of the systems is ignored, are classified into four modes of evolution: normal, nuclear evolution dominated, angular momentum loss dominated and hydrodynamical. The clustering below 2 hr is interpreted in terms of evolution following the hydrodynamical mode, and it is suggested that both stars in such systems are of low mass. This may be the commonest type of cataclysmic binary. A possible explanation for the apparent clustering of classical novae to periods of 3 to 5 hr is given, and evolutionary schemes for cataclysmic binaries outlined. It is suggested that the short-period systems (approximately < 2 hr) arise mainly from late case B mass transfer in the original binary and the longer period systems mainly from case C. (author)

  3. Broad-Band Variability in Accreting Compact Objects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Scaringi

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Cataclysmic variable stars are in many ways similar to X-ray binaries. Both types of systems possess an accretion disk, which in most cases can reach the surface (or event horizon of the central compact object. The main difference is that the embedded gravitational potential well in X-ray binaries is much deeper than those found in cataclysmic variables. As a result, X-ray binaries emit most of their radiation at X-ray wavelengths, as opposed to cataclysmic variables which emit mostly at optical/ultraviolet wavelengths. Both types of systems display aperiodic broad-band variability which can be associated to the accretion disk. Here, the properties of the observed X-ray variability in XRBs are compared to those observed at optical wavelengths in CVs. In most cases the variability properties of both types of systems are qualitatively similar once the relevant timescales associated with the inner accretion disk regions have been taken into account. The similarities include the observed power spectral density shapes, the rms-flux relation as well as Fourier-dependant time lags. Here a brief overview on these similarities is given, placing them in the context of the fluctuating accretion disk model which seeks to reproduce the observed variability.

  4. Mind the Gap when Data Mining the Ritter-Kolb Cataclysmic Variable Catalogue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparks, Warren M.; Sion, Edward M.

    2017-01-01

    The cataclysmic variable (CV) binary consists of a white dwarf primary and a low-mass secondary which overflows its Roche lobe. The Ritter-Kolb catalogue (2003, A&A, 404, 301) is a collection (~1000) of CV binaries and related objects. We have mined this catalogue for CVs with unevolved secondaries whose mass ratio (secondary/primary) is known (~130). A plot of the secondary mass verses the log of the orbital period exhibits the well-known period gap at 2-3 hrs. In addition, this plot shows that the secondary masses just above the period gap are collectively much larger than those just below. The average of the first ten secondary masses above the period is 180% larger than the average below the gap.The disrupted magnetic braking hypothesis (Howell, Nelson, and Rappaport 2001, ApJ, 550, 897 [HNR]) predicts that when the secondary becomes fully convective, the magnetic braking, which has driven the secondary out of thermal equilibrium, stops. In adjusting to thermal equilibrium the secondary shrinks below its Roche lobe and no longer loses mass. The binary system ceases to appear as a CV until gravitational radiation loss brings the secondary back in contact with its Roche lobe. This scenario is at odds with the apparent secondary mass loss across the period gap. Either the secondary continues to lose mass while crossing the period gap or the secondary masses are miscalculated!Magnetic braking causes the secondary to expand or inflate larger than its single star counterpart. Any orbital parameter calculation which assumes a radius-mass relationship based on single main-sequence stars will overestimate the mass of the secondary. We can approximate this mass overestimation from calculations by HNR which take into account the thermal heating from magnetic braking. Using this approximation as a first-order correction to the secondary mass, we replot the deflated secondary mass versus the binary period. The deflated masses immediately above and below the period gap are

  5. VizieR Online Data Catalog: Radial velocities of 35 cataclysmic variables (Thorstensen+, 2016)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thorstensen, J. R.; Alper, E. H.; Weil, K. E.

    2017-02-01

    We present spectroscopic follow-up observations of 35 newly discovered cataclysmic variables (CVs), 32 of which were found by the Catalina Real Time Transient Surveys (CRTS; Drake et al. 2009, Cat. J/ApJ/696/870; Drake et al. 2014, Cat. J/MNRAS/441/1186; Breedt et al. 2014, Cat. J/MNRAS/443/3174), ASAS-SN (Shappee et al. 2014ApJ...788...48S), and/or MASTER (Lipunov et al. 2010AdAst2010E..30L). All our observations are from Michigan-Dartmouth-MIT (MDM) Observatory on Kitt Peak, Arizona. For nearly all the spectra, we used the "modspec" spectrograph (a description of the modspec can be found at http://mdm.kpno.noao.edu/Manuals/ModSpec/modspec_man.html) with a 600line/mm grating. We mostly used a SITe 20482 CCD detector, which yielded 2Å/pixel from 4210 to 7500Å, with declining throughput toward the ends of the spectral range. When this detector was unavailable, we used a very similar 10242 SITe detector ("Templeton"), which covered 4660 to 6730Å. The modspec was mounted mostly on the 2.4m Hiltner telescope, but for some of the brighter objects, we used the 1.3m McGraw-Hill telescope. For a few of the 1.3m spectra, we used the Mark III grism spectrograph, which covered 4580 to 6850Å at 2.3Å/pixel. On both telescopes and with both spectrographs, we used an Andor Ikon camera to view the reflective slit jaws through a microscope and guided the telescope with a separate off-axis guider. With this arrangement we could place any object that was bright enough for a usable spectrum in the slit and track it accurately even if the portion of the light spilling onto the slit jaws was invisible. Our emission-line radial velocities are almost entirely of Hα, since it almost always gives the best signal-to-noise ratio with our instrument. (3 data files).

  6. Hydrodynamic ejection of bipolar flows from objects undergoing disk accretion: T Tauri stars, massive pre-main-sequence objects, and cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Torbett, M.V.

    1984-01-01

    A general mechanism is presented for generating pressure-driven winds that are intrinsically bipolar from objects undergoing disk accretion. The energy librated in a boundary layer shock as the disk matter impacts the central object is shown to be sufficient to eject a fraction βapprox.10 -2 to 10 -3 of the accreted mass. These winds are driven by a mechanism that accelerates the flow perpendicular to the plane of the disk and can therefore account for the bipolar geometry of the mass loss observed near young stars. The mass loss contained in these winds is comparable to that inferred for young stars. Thus, disk accretion-driven winds may constitute the T Tauri phase of stellar evolution. This mechanism is generally applicable, and thus massive pre-main-sequence objects as well as cataclysmic variables at times of enhanced accretion are predicted to eject bipolar outflows as well. Unmagnetized accreting neutron stas are also expected to eject bipolar flows. Since this mechanism requires stellar surfaces, however, it will not operate in disk accretion onto black holes

  7. Radio emission from the nova-like variable AC Cancri and the symbiotic variable AG Draconis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Torbett, M.V.; Campbell, B.; Mount Wilson and Las Campanas Observatories, Pasadena, CA)

    1987-01-01

    Radio emission at 6 cm has been detected from the nova-like cataclysmic variable AC Cnc and the symbiotic variable AG Dra. The AC Cnc observation constitutes the first radio detection in this class of objects. The AG Dra source is probably resolved and appears to show asymmetric, extended structure. The radio emission can best be explained by thermal bremsstrahlung. 26 references

  8. Research of Precataclysmic Variables with Radius Excesses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deminova, N. R.; Shimansky, V. V.; Borisov, N. V.; Gabdeev, M. M.; Shimanskaya, N. N.

    2017-06-01

    The results of spectroscopic observations of the pre-cataclysmic variable NSVS 14256825, which is a HW Vir binary system, were analyzed. The chemical composition is determined, the radial velocities and equivalent widths of a given star are measured. The fundamental parameters of the components were determined (R1 = 0.166 R⊙ , M2 = 0.100 M⊙ , R2 = 0.122 R⊙). It is shown that the secondary component has a mass close to the mass of brown dwarfs. A comparison of two close binary systems is made: HS 2333 + 3927 and NSVS 14256825. A radius-to-mass relationship for the secondary components of the studied pre-cataclysmic variables is constructed. It is concluded that an excess of radii relative to model predictions for MS stars is observed in virtually all systems.

  9. Krakatoa Erupts!: Using a Historic Cataclysm to Teach Modern Science

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clary, Renee; Wandersee, James

    2011-01-01

    Through integration of geology, biology, chemistry, and the history of science, the historic Krakatoa eruption offers a unique portal for student inquiry in the classroom. Students are inherently fascinated by natural disasters, and modern comparisons to the Krakatoa cataclysm are as close as the day's news. This article uses the historic Krakatoa…

  10. On the history of the early meteoritic bombardment of the Moon: Was there a terminal lunar cataclysm?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Michael, Greg; Basilevsky, Alexander; Neukum, Gerhard

    2018-03-01

    This work revisits the hypothesis of the so-called 'lunar terminal cataclysm' suggested by Tera et al. (1973, 1974) as a strong peak in the meteorite bombardment of the Moon around 3.9 Ga ago. According to the hypothesis, most of the impact craters observed on the lunar highlands formed during this short time period and thus formed the majority of the lunar highland impact breccias and melts. The hypothesis arose from the observation that the ages of highland samples from all the lunar missions are mostly grouped around 3.9-4.0 Ga. Since those missions, however, radiometric dating techniques have progressed and many samples, both old and new, have been re-analyzed. Nevertheless, the debate over whether there was a terminal cataclysm persists. To progress in this problem we summarized results of 269 K-Ar datings (mostly made using the 40Ar-39Ar technique) of highland rocks represented by the Apollo 14, 15, 16, 17 and Luna 20 samples and 94 datings of clasts of the highland rocks from 23 lunar meteorites representing 21 localities on the lunar surface, and considered them jointly with the results of our modelling of the cumulative effect of the impact gardening process on the presence of impact melt of different ages at the near-surface of the Moon. The considered results of K-Ar dating of the Apollo-Luna samples of lunar highland rocks confirmed a presence of strong peak centered at 3.87 Ga. But since the time when the hypothesis of terminal cataclysm was suggested, it has become clear that this peak could be a result of sampling bias: it is the only prominent feature at the sites with an apparent domination of Imbrium basin ejecta (Apollo 14 and 15) and the age pattern is more complicated for the sites influenced not only by Imbrium ejecta but also that of other basins (Nectaris at the Apollo 16 site and Serenitatis at the Apollo 17 site). Our modelling shows that the cataclysm, if it occurred, should produce a strong peak in the measured age values but we see in

  11. The Evolution of Cataclysmic Variables as Revealed by Their Donor Stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knigge, Christian; Baraffe, Isabelle; Patterson, Joseph

    2011-06-01

    We present an attempt to reconstruct the complete evolutionary path followed by cataclysmic variables (CVs), based on the observed mass-radius relationship of their donor stars. Along the way, we update the semi-empirical CV donor sequence presented previously by one of us, present a comprehensive review of the connection between CV evolution and the secondary stars in these systems, and reexamine most of the commonly used magnetic braking (MB) recipes, finding that even conceptually similar ones can differ greatly in both magnitude and functional form. The great advantage of using donor radii to infer mass-transfer and angular-momentum-loss (AML) rates is that they sample the longest accessible timescales and are most likely to represent the true secular (evolutionary average) rates. We show explicitly that if CVs exhibit long-term mass-transfer-rate fluctuations, as is often assumed, the expected variability timescales are so long that other tracers of the mass-transfer rate—including white dwarf (WD) temperatures—become unreliable. We carefully explore how much of the radius difference between CV donors and models of isolated main-sequence stars may be due to mechanisms other than mass loss. The tidal and rotational deformation of Roche-lobe-filling stars produces ~= 4.5% radius inflation below the period gap and ~= 7.9% above. A comparison of stellar models to mass-radius data for non-interacting stars suggests a real offset of ~= 1.5% for fully convective stars (i.e., donors below the gap) and ~= 4.9% for partially radiative ones (donors above the gap). We also show that donor bloating due to irradiation is probably smaller than, and at most comparable to, these effects. After calibrating our models to account for these issues, we fit self-consistent evolution sequences to our compilation of donor masses and radii. In the standard model of CV evolution, AMLs below the period gap are assumed to be driven solely by gravitational radiation (GR), while AMLs

  12. THE EVOLUTION OF CATACLYSMIC VARIABLES AS REVEALED BY THEIR DONOR STARS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Knigge, Christian; Baraffe, Isabelle; Patterson, Joseph

    2011-01-01

    We present an attempt to reconstruct the complete evolutionary path followed by cataclysmic variables (CVs), based on the observed mass-radius relationship of their donor stars. Along the way, we update the semi-empirical CV donor sequence presented previously by one of us, present a comprehensive review of the connection between CV evolution and the secondary stars in these systems, and reexamine most of the commonly used magnetic braking (MB) recipes, finding that even conceptually similar ones can differ greatly in both magnitude and functional form. The great advantage of using donor radii to infer mass-transfer and angular-momentum-loss (AML) rates is that they sample the longest accessible timescales and are most likely to represent the true secular (evolutionary average) rates. We show explicitly that if CVs exhibit long-term mass-transfer-rate fluctuations, as is often assumed, the expected variability timescales are so long that other tracers of the mass-transfer rate-including white dwarf (WD) temperatures-become unreliable. We carefully explore how much of the radius difference between CV donors and models of isolated main-sequence stars may be due to mechanisms other than mass loss. The tidal and rotational deformation of Roche-lobe-filling stars produces ≅ 4.5% radius inflation below the period gap and ≅ 7.9% above. A comparison of stellar models to mass-radius data for non-interacting stars suggests a real offset of ≅ 1.5% for fully convective stars (i.e., donors below the gap) and ≅ 4.9% for partially radiative ones (donors above the gap). We also show that donor bloating due to irradiation is probably smaller than, and at most comparable to, these effects. After calibrating our models to account for these issues, we fit self-consistent evolution sequences to our compilation of donor masses and radii. In the standard model of CV evolution, AMLs below the period gap are assumed to be driven solely by gravitational radiation (GR), while AMLs

  13. Exploring the Hard and Soft X-ray Emission of Magnetic Cataclysmic Variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Martino, D.; Anzolin, G.; Bonnet-Bidaud, J.-M.; Falanga, M.; Matt, G.; Mouchet, M.; Mukai, K.; Masetti, N.

    2009-05-01

    A non-negligible fraction of galactic hard (>20 keV) X-ray sources were identified as CVs of the magnetic Intermediate Polar type in INTEGRAL, SWIFT and RXTE surveys, that suggests a still hidden but potentially important population of faint hard X-ray sources. Simbol-X has the unique potential to simultaneously characterize their variable and complex soft and hard X-ray emission thus allowing to understand their putative role in galactic populations of X-ray sources.

  14. Very-high-energy gamma-ray observations of pulsar wind nebulae and cataclysmic variable stars with MAGIC and development of trigger systems for IACTs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopez-Coto, Ruben

    2015-07-01

    lowest possible energy threshold with the LSTs of CTA. Together with this work, the trigger of the MAGIC telescopes was improved. We have simulated, tested and commissioned a new concept of stereoscopic trigger. This new system, that uses the information of the position of the showers on each of the MAGIC cameras, is dubbed "Topo-trigger". The scientific fraction of the thesis deals with galactic sources observed with the MAGIC telescopes. In Part III, I talk about the analysis of the VHE γ-ray emission of Pulsar Wind Nebulae (PWNe): the discovery of VHE γ-ray emission from the puzzling PWN 3C 58, the likely remnant of the SN 1181 AD and the weakest PWN detected at VHE to date; the characterization of the VHE tail of the Crab nebula by observing it at the highest zenith angles; and the search for an additional inverse Compton component during the Crab nebula flares reported by Fermi-LAT in the synchrotron regime. Part IV is concerned with searches for VHE γ-ray emission of cataclysmic variable stars. I studied, on a multiwavelength context, the VHE γ-ray nature of the previously claimed pulsed γ-ray emission of the cataclysmic variable AE Aqr. I also performed observations of novae and a dwarf nova to pinpoint the ac- celeration mechanisms taking place in this kind of objects and to discover a putative hadronic component of the soft γ-ray emission. A conclusion chapter summarizes all the work performed and lists prospects related with the topics treated in this thesis.

  15. Cataclysm No More: New Views on the Timing and Delivery of Lunar Impactors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zellner, Nicolle E B

    2017-09-01

    If properly interpreted, the impact record of the Moon, Earth's nearest neighbour, can be used to gain insights into how the Earth has been influenced by impacting events since its formation ~4.5 billion years (Ga) ago. However, the nature and timing of the lunar impactors - and indeed the lunar impact record itself - are not well understood. Of particular interest are the ages of lunar impact basins and what they tell us about the proposed "lunar cataclysm" and/or the late heavy bombardment (LHB), and how this impact episode may have affected early life on Earth or other planets. Investigations of the lunar impactor population over time have been undertaken and include analyses of orbital data and images; lunar, terrestrial, and other planetary sample data; and dynamical modelling. Here, the existing information regarding the nature of the lunar impact record is reviewed and new interpretations are presented. Importantly, it is demonstrated that most evidence supports a prolonged lunar (and thus, terrestrial) bombardment from ~4.2 to 3.4 Ga and not a cataclysmic spike at ~3.9 Ga. Implications for the conditions required for the origin of life are addressed.

  16. Brown dwarfs in retrogradely precessing cataclysmic variables?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin E.L.

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available We compare Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamic simulations of retrogradely precessing accretion disks that have a white dwarf primary and a main sequence secondary with observational data and with theory on retrograde precession via tidal torques like those by the Moon and the Sun on the Earth [1, 2]. Assuming the primary does not accrete much of the mass lost from the secondary, we identify the theoretical low mass star/brown dwarf boundary. We find no observational candidates in our study that could qualify as brown dwarfs.

  17. Identifying causal linkages between environmental variables and African conflicts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nguy-Robertson, A. L.; Dartevelle, S.

    2017-12-01

    Environmental variables that contribute to droughts, flooding, and other natural hazards are often identified as factors contributing to conflict; however, few studies attempt to quantify these causal linkages. Recent research has demonstrated that the environment operates within a dynamical system framework and the influence of variables can be identified from convergent cross mapping (CCM) between shadow manifolds. We propose to use CCM to identify causal linkages between environmental variables and incidences of conflict. This study utilizes time series data from Climate Forecast System ver. 2 and MODIS satellite sensors processed using Google Earth Engine to aggregate country and regional trends. These variables are then compared to Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project observations at similar scales. Results provide relative rankings of variables and their linkage to conflict. Being able to identify which factors contributed more strongly to a conflict can allow policy makers to prepare solutions to mitigate future crises. Knowledge of the primary environmental factors can lead to the identification of other variables to examine in the causal network influencing conflict.

  18. Polarimetry of magnetic catalysmic variables

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cropper, M

    1985-01-01

    The design and construction of an astronomical polarimeter is described and an evaluation made of its performance. Extensive observations of cataclysmic variables with emphasis on the AM Her and DQ Her classes are then presented. The polarimeter permitted simultaneous linear and circular polarisation measurements, or, by rearranging the order of the retarders in the beam, linear polarisation measurements alone, or circular polarisation measurements alone, with enhanced efficiency. Extensive sets of observations using the polarimeter were obtained for six of the ten AM Her variables. A comparison was made between the competing models for the cyclotron emission, showing that those which take into account the temperature structure of the accretion region provide the best results.

  19. The inter-outburst behavior of cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szkody, P.; Mattei, J.A.; Waagen, E.O.; Stablein, C.

    1990-01-01

    Existing International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) and American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO) archive data was used to accomplish a large scale study of what happens to the ultraviolet flux of accretion disk systems during the quiescent intervals between outbursts and how it relates to the preceding outburst characteristics of amplitude and width. The data sample involved multiple IUE observations for 16 dwarf novae and 8 novae along with existing optical coverage. Results indicate that most systems show correlated ultraviolet (UV) flux behavior with interoutburst phase, with 60 percent of the dwarf novae and 50 percent of the novae having decreasing flux trends while 33 percent of the dwarf novae and 38 percent of the novae show rising UV flux during the quiescent interval. All of the dwarf novae with decreasing UV fluxes at 1475A have orbital periods longer than 4.4 hours, while all (except BV Cen) with flat or rising fluxes at 1475A have orbital periods less than two hours. There are not widespread correlations of the UV fluxes with the amplitude of the preceding outburst and no correlations with the width of the outburst. From a small sample (7) that have relatively large quiescent V magnitude changes between the IUE observations, most show a strong correlation between the UV and optical continuum. Interpretation of the results is complicated by not being able to determine how much the white dwarf contributes to the ultraviolet flux. However, it is now evident that noticeable changes are occurring in the hot zones in accreting systems long after the outburst, and not only for systems that are dominated by the white dwarf. Whether these differences are due to different outburst mechanisms or to changes on white dwarfs which provide varying contributions to the UV flux remains to be determined

  20. Problems Identifying Independent and Dependent Variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leatham, Keith R.

    2012-01-01

    This paper discusses one step from the scientific method--that of identifying independent and dependent variables--from both scientific and mathematical perspectives. It begins by analyzing an episode from a middle school mathematics classroom that illustrates the need for students and teachers alike to develop a robust understanding of…

  1. Identification of Hard X-ray Sources in Galactic Globular Clusters: Simbol-X Simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Servillat, M.

    2009-05-01

    Globular clusters harbour an excess of X-ray sources compared to the number of X-ray sources in the Galactic plane. It has been proposed that many of these X-ray sources are cataclysmic variables that have an intermediate magnetic field, i.e. intermediate polars, which remains to be confirmed and understood. We present here several methods to identify intermediate polars in globular clusters from multiwavelength analysis. First, we report on XMM-Newton, Chandra and HST observations of the very dense Galactic globular cluster NGC 2808. By comparing UV and X-ray properties of the cataclysmic variable candidates, the fraction of intermediate polars in this cluster can be estimated. We also present the optical spectra of two cataclysmic variables in the globular cluster M 22. The HeII (4868 Å) emission line in these spectra could be related to the presence of a magnetic field in these objects. Simulations of Simbol-X observations indicate that the angular resolution is sufficient to study X-ray sources in the core of close, less dense globular clusters, such as M 22. The sensitivity of Simbol-X in an extended energy band up to 80 keV will allow us to discriminate between hard X-ray sources (such as magnetic cataclysmic variables) and soft X-ray sources (such as chromospherically active binaries).

  2. Star-planet systems as possible progenitors of cataclysmic binaries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Livio, M.; Soker, N.

    1984-01-01

    The evolution of a star-planet system is studied, in the phase in which the star becomes a red giant, thus enabling the planet to accrete mass either from its envelope or from its wind. It is found that for planets which are embedded in the envelope, there exists a certain critical initial mass, under which the planets are totally evaporated while spiralling-in. Planets with an initial mass above this critical value are all transformed into low-mass stellar companions to the giant's core. The final masses of these secondaries are almost independent of their initial mass and their initial separation, as long as the latter is greater than a certain critical value. The final masses are essentially determined by the giant's envelope mass. The star-planet separation is found to increase for planets that accrete from the stellar wind, when tidal effects are neglected. Possible consequences of these results on the problem of formation of low-mass cataclysmic binaries are discussed. (author)

  3. Flickering of the symbiotic variable CH Cygni during outburst

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Slovak, M H [Texas Univ., Austin (USA). Dept. of Astronomy; Africano, J

    1978-11-01

    High-speed and conventional BVRI photometry are reported for the bright symbiotic variable CH Cygni (M6 IIIe), obtained during the course of a recent outburst. Unlike the quiescent symbiotic stars, the presence of flickering similar in nature to that seen in the cataclysmic variables has been confirmed during this active phase. The BVRI photometry for a sample of stars in the field is used to derive the reddening and the distance to CH Cyg. A composite energy distribution is derived from 0.35 to 11.0 ..mu..m which clearly establishes the existence of a variable, blue continuum. The lack of variability in the near infrared suggests that the blue continuum arises from a hot companion. A binary model including a subluminous hot companion accreting material from the stellar wind of an SRa variable is discussed to account for the observed photometric properties.

  4. AIC identifies optimal representation of longitudinal dietary variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    VanBuren, John; Cavanaugh, Joseph; Marshall, Teresa; Warren, John; Levy, Steven M

    2017-09-01

    The Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) is a well-known tool for variable selection in multivariable modeling as well as a tool to help identify the optimal representation of explanatory variables. However, it has been discussed infrequently in the dental literature. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the use of AIC in determining the optimal representation of dietary variables in a longitudinal dental study. The Iowa Fluoride Study enrolled children at birth and dental examinations were conducted at ages 5, 9, 13, and 17. Decayed or filled surfaces (DFS) trend clusters were created based on age 13 DFS counts and age 13-17 DFS increments. Dietary intake data (water, milk, 100 percent-juice, and sugar sweetened beverages) were collected semiannually using a food frequency questionnaire. Multinomial logistic regression models were fit to predict DFS cluster membership (n=344). Multiple approaches could be used to represent the dietary data including averaging across all collected surveys or over different shorter time periods to capture age-specific trends or using the individual time points of dietary data. AIC helped identify the optimal representation. Averaging data for all four dietary variables for the whole period from age 9.0 to 17.0 provided a better representation in the multivariable full model (AIC=745.0) compared to other methods assessed in full models (AICs=750.6 for age 9 and 9-13 increment dietary measurements and AIC=762.3 for age 9, 13, and 17 individual measurements). The results illustrate that AIC can help researchers identify the optimal way to summarize information for inclusion in a statistical model. The method presented here can be used by researchers performing statistical modeling in dental research. This method provides an alternative approach for assessing the propriety of variable representation to significance-based procedures, which could potentially lead to improved research in the dental community. © 2017 American

  5. THE TIME DOMAIN SPECTROSCOPIC SURVEY: VARIABLE SELECTION AND ANTICIPATED RESULTS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Morganson, Eric; Green, Paul J. [Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Anderson, Scott F.; Ruan, John J. [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Myers, Adam D. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071 (United States); Eracleous, Michael; Brandt, William Nielsen [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, 525 Davey Laboratory, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Kelly, Brandon [Department of Physics, Broida Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9530 (United States); Badenes, Carlos [Department of Physics and Astronomy and Pittsburgh Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology Center (PITT PACC), University of Pittsburgh, 3941 O’Hara St, Pittsburgh, PA 15260 (United States); Bañados, Eduardo [Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Blanton, Michael R. [Center for Cosmology and Particle Physics, Department of Physics, New York University, 4 Washington Place, New York, NY 10003 (United States); Bershady, Matthew A. [Department of Astronomy, University of Wisconsin, 475 N. Charter St., Madison, WI 53706 (United States); Borissova, Jura [Instituto de Física y Astronomía, Universidad de Valparaíso, Av. Gran Bretaña 1111, Playa Ancha, Casilla 5030, and Millennium Institute of Astrophysics (MAS), Santiago (Chile); Burgett, William S. [GMTO Corp, Suite 300, 251 S. Lake Ave, Pasadena, CA 91101 (United States); Chambers, Kenneth, E-mail: emorganson@cfa.harvard.edu [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States); and others

    2015-06-20

    We present the selection algorithm and anticipated results for the Time Domain Spectroscopic Survey (TDSS). TDSS is an Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-IV Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) subproject that will provide initial identification spectra of approximately 220,000 luminosity-variable objects (variable stars and active galactic nuclei across 7500 deg{sup 2} selected from a combination of SDSS and multi-epoch Pan-STARRS1 photometry. TDSS will be the largest spectroscopic survey to explicitly target variable objects, avoiding pre-selection on the basis of colors or detailed modeling of specific variability characteristics. Kernel Density Estimate analysis of our target population performed on SDSS Stripe 82 data suggests our target sample will be 95% pure (meaning 95% of objects we select have genuine luminosity variability of a few magnitudes or more). Our final spectroscopic sample will contain roughly 135,000 quasars and 85,000 stellar variables, approximately 4000 of which will be RR Lyrae stars which may be used as outer Milky Way probes. The variability-selected quasar population has a smoother redshift distribution than a color-selected sample, and variability measurements similar to those we develop here may be used to make more uniform quasar samples in large surveys. The stellar variable targets are distributed fairly uniformly across color space, indicating that TDSS will obtain spectra for a wide variety of stellar variables including pulsating variables, stars with significant chromospheric activity, cataclysmic variables, and eclipsing binaries. TDSS will serve as a pathfinder mission to identify and characterize the multitude of variable objects that will be detected photometrically in even larger variability surveys such as Large Synoptic Survey Telescope.

  6. Variation of Surface Air Temperature in Relation to El Nino and Cataclysmic Volcanic Eruptions, 1796-1882

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, Robert M.

    1999-01-01

    During the contemporaneous interval of 1796-1882 a number of significant decreases in temperature are found in the records of Central England and Northern Ireland. These decreases appear to be related to the occurrences of El Nino and/or cataclysmic volcanic eruptions. For example, a composite of residual temperatures of the Central England dataset, centering temperatures on the yearly onsets of 20 El Nino of moderate to stronger strength, shows that, on average, the change in temperature varied by about +/- 0.3 C from normal being warmer during the boreal fall-winter leading up to the El Nino year and cooler during the spring-summer of the El Nino year. Also, the influence of El Nino on Central England temperatures appears to last about 1-2 years. Similarly, a composite of residual temperatures of the Central England dataset, centering temperatures on the month of eruption for 26 cataclysmic volcanic eruptions, shows that, on average, the change in temperature decreased by about 0.1 - 0.2 C, typically, 1-2 years after the eruption, although for specific events, like Tambora, the decrease was considerably greater. Additionally, tropical eruptions appear to produce greater changes in temperature than extratropical eruptions, and eruptions occurring in boreal spring-summer appear to produce greater changes in temperature than those occurring in fall-winter.

  7. Identify the dominant variables to predict stream water temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chien, H.; Flagler, J.

    2016-12-01

    Stream water temperature is a critical variable controlling water quality and the health of aquatic ecosystems. Accurate prediction of water temperature and the assessment of the impacts of environmental variables on water temperature variation are critical for water resources management, particularly in the context of water quality and aquatic ecosystem sustainability. The objective of this study is to measure stream water temperature and air temperature and to examine the importance of streamflow on stream water temperature prediction. The measured stream water temperature and air temperature will be used to test two hypotheses: 1) streamflow is a relatively more important factor than air temperature in regulating water temperature, and 2) by combining air temperature and streamflow data stream water temperature can be more accurately estimated. Water and air temperature data loggers are placed at two USGS stream gauge stations #01362357and #01362370, located in the upper Esopus Creek watershed in Phonecia, NY. The ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) time series model is used to analyze the measured water temperature data, identify the dominant environmental variables, and predict the water temperature with identified dominant variable. The preliminary results show that streamflow is not a significant variable in predicting stream water temperature at both USGS gauge stations. Daily mean air temperature is sufficient to predict stream water temperature at this site scale.

  8. White dwarfs in cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sion, E.M.

    1987-01-01

    The physical properties and evolutionary state of the underlying white dwarfs in CVs are explored. Observations of 25 white dwarfs with effective temperature upper limits of 9000-75,000 K are discussed. Correlations between effective temperature, orbital period, accretion rate, and CV type with respect to the CV period gap are considered. Quasi-static and hydrodynamic evolutionary models are used to explain the surface temperature/luminosity distribution ratios. 42 references

  9. VHE gamma-rays from radio pulsars and cataclysmic variables. [PSR 1055-52; PSR 1509-58; PSR 1620-26; PSR 1747-46; PSR 1800-21; PSR 1818-04; PSR 1821-24; PSR 1822-09; PSR 1823-13; PSR 1855+09; PSR 1929+10; PSR 1957+20

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    De Jager, O.C.; Brink, C.; Meintjies, P.J.; Nel, H.I.; North, A.R.; Raubenheimer, B.C.; Van der Walt, D.J. (Potchefstroom Univ. for C.H.E. (South Africa). Dept. of Physics)

    1990-03-01

    We present the results of observations (above 1 TeV) of radio pulsars and cataclysmic variables with the Potchefstroom air Cerenkov facility. We were able to confirm our previous detection of PSR 1509-58 and the final significance is 1.7x10{sup -5}. A DC enhancement at the 10{sup -3} significance level was seen from the L{sub 4} Lagrange position in the PSR 1957+20 system. This result was confirmed by COS-B data. We were also able to detect the 5.4 ms pulsar PSR 1855+09 at a marginal significance level of 5%. However, the best and longest observation indicates non-uniformity at the 0.005 significance level. The TeV light curve resembles the radio light curve. The latter is also reminiscent of other millisecond pulsar observed above 1 TeV. The intermediate polar AEAQR (P = 33.08s) shows a period shift which is consistent with recent model predictions. However, the present significance of this results does not allow an unambiguous claim. (orig.).

  10. La mort de Tupac Amaru, l’ultime cataclysme ?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nejma Jalal-Kermele

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available L’exécution du jeune Inca Tupac Amaru en 1572 fut pour les Indiens du Pérou un véritable cataclysme. Il s’insérait dans un contexte particulier : celui de la vice-royauté du Pérou qui connaissait, depuis de longues années, une série de guerres et de complots. Au cœur de cet espace troublé, se trouvait un royaume néo-inca que la Couronne espérait vaincre par une politique du compromis. Toledo, envoyé pour faire rentrer le Pérou dans un ordre nouveau, avait marqué, dès le début de son gouvernement, son opposition au régime de Vilcabamba dont la seule présence fragilisait la légitimité du pouvoir du roi de Castille aux Indes. C’était donc la question des Justes Titres qui préoccupait Toledo, décidé à lutter activement contre la pensée de Las Casas. La mort d’un messager, envoyé pour négocier avec l’Inca, servit de prétexte à une attaque de Vilcabamba qui permit l’arrestation du jeune Tupac Amaru que le vice-roi décida de condamner à mort, en dépit de sa conversion au catholicisme. L’exécution marqua pour les Indiens la fin d’un monde, la fin d’un espoir et apparut comme l’ultime catastrophe, une répétition de la mort de l’Inca et des Dieux. De nombreux récits rapportent la détresse infinie des Indiens et la désapprobation quasi générale des témoins. Nous voudrions proposer ici une rapide analyse des différentes lectures du cataclysme et tenter de montrer que, pour Toledo, il s’inséra dans une politique claire et assumée. Outre la question idéologique, le vice-roi s’appuya sur des arguments sécuritaires et fit finalement de Tupac Amaru non un prince mais un simple délinquant de droit commun. Cette réécriture de l’Histoire permit d’instaurer une nouvelle définition de la politique espagnole au Pérou mais le cataclysme marqua les esprits et Tupac Amaru, loin d’être oublié, devint un symbole qui traversa les siècles jusqu’à aujourd’hui.La ejecución del joven

  11. The interoutburst behavior of cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Szkody, P.; Stablein, C.; Mattei, J.A.; Waagen, E.O.

    1991-01-01

    Existing IUE and AAVSO archive data were used to accomplish a large scale study of what happens to the UV flux of accretion disk systems during the quiescent intervals between outbursts, and how it relates to the preceding outburst characteristics of amplitude and width. The data sample involved multiple IUE observations for 16 dwarf novae and 8 novae along with existing optical coverage. Results indicate that most systems show correlated UV flux behavior with interoutburst phase, with 60 percent of the dwarf novae and 50 percent of the novae having decreasing flux trends while 33 percent of the dwarf novae and 38 percent of the novae show rising UV flux during the quiescent interval. All of the dwarf novae with decreasing UV fluxes at 1475 A have orbital periods longer than 4.4 hours, while all (except BV Cen) with flat or rising fluxes at 1475 A have orbital periods less than two hours. From a small sample (7) that have relatively large quiescent V magnitude changes between the IUE observations, most show a strong correlation between the UV and optical continuum. Interpretation of the results is complicated by not being able to determine how much the white dwarf contributes to the ultraviolet flux. However, it is now evident that noticeable changes are occurring in the hot zones in accreting systems long after the outburst, and not only for systems that are dominated by the white dwarf. 25 refs

  12. The Magnetospheric Boundary in Cataclysmic Variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hellier Coel

    2014-01-01

    During outbursts, when the accretion flow increases by orders of magnitude, the disk pushes the magnetosphere inwards, and appears to feed field lines over a much greater range of magnetic azimuth. The non-equilibrium outburst behaviour shows an even richer phenomenology than in quiescence, adding DNOs and QPOs into the mix.

  13. Structural identifiability of cyclic graphical models of biological networks with latent variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yulin; Lu, Na; Miao, Hongyu

    2016-06-13

    Graphical models have long been used to describe biological networks for a variety of important tasks such as the determination of key biological parameters, and the structure of graphical model ultimately determines whether such unknown parameters can be unambiguously obtained from experimental observations (i.e., the identifiability problem). Limited by resources or technical capacities, complex biological networks are usually partially observed in experiment, which thus introduces latent variables into the corresponding graphical models. A number of previous studies have tackled the parameter identifiability problem for graphical models such as linear structural equation models (SEMs) with or without latent variables. However, the limited resolution and efficiency of existing approaches necessarily calls for further development of novel structural identifiability analysis algorithms. An efficient structural identifiability analysis algorithm is developed in this study for a broad range of network structures. The proposed method adopts the Wright's path coefficient method to generate identifiability equations in forms of symbolic polynomials, and then converts these symbolic equations to binary matrices (called identifiability matrix). Several matrix operations are introduced for identifiability matrix reduction with system equivalency maintained. Based on the reduced identifiability matrices, the structural identifiability of each parameter is determined. A number of benchmark models are used to verify the validity of the proposed approach. Finally, the network module for influenza A virus replication is employed as a real example to illustrate the application of the proposed approach in practice. The proposed approach can deal with cyclic networks with latent variables. The key advantage is that it intentionally avoids symbolic computation and is thus highly efficient. Also, this method is capable of determining the identifiability of each single parameter and

  14. Identifying populations sensitive to environmental chemicals by simulating toxicokinetic variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ring, Caroline L; Pearce, Robert G; Setzer, R Woodrow; Wetmore, Barbara A; Wambaugh, John F

    2017-09-01

    The thousands of chemicals present in the environment (USGAO, 2013) must be triaged to identify priority chemicals for human health risk research. Most chemicals have little of the toxicokinetic (TK) data that are necessary for relating exposures to tissue concentrations that are believed to be toxic. Ongoing efforts have collected limited, in vitro TK data for a few hundred chemicals. These data have been combined with biomonitoring data to estimate an approximate margin between potential hazard and exposure. The most "at risk" 95th percentile of adults have been identified from simulated populations that are generated either using standard "average" adult human parameters or very specific cohorts such as Northern Europeans. To better reflect the modern U.S. population, we developed a population simulation using physiologies based on distributions of demographic and anthropometric quantities from the most recent U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data. This allowed incorporation of inter-individual variability, including variability across relevant demographic subgroups. Variability was analyzed with a Monte Carlo approach that accounted for the correlation structure in physiological parameters. To identify portions of the U.S. population that are more at risk for specific chemicals, physiologic variability was incorporated within an open-source high-throughput (HT) TK modeling framework. We prioritized 50 chemicals based on estimates of both potential hazard and exposure. Potential hazard was estimated from in vitro HT screening assays (i.e., the Tox21 and ToxCast programs). Bioactive in vitro concentrations were extrapolated to doses that produce equivalent concentrations in body tissues using a reverse dosimetry approach in which generic TK models are parameterized with: 1) chemical-specific parameters derived from in vitro measurements and predicted from chemical structure; and 2) with

  15. Identifying decaying supermassive black hole binaries from their variable electromagnetic emission

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Haiman, Zoltan; Menou, Kristen [Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, New York, NY (United States); Kocsis, Bence [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States); Lippai, Zoltan; Frei, Zsolt [Institute of Physics, Eoetvoes University, Budapest (Hungary)

    2009-05-07

    Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) with masses in the mass range approx(10{sup 4}-10{sup 7}) M{sub o-dot}/(1 + z), produced in galaxy mergers, are thought to complete their coalescence due to the emission of gravitational waves (GWs). The anticipated detection of the GWs by the future Laser Interferometric Space Antenna (LISA) will constitute a milestone for fundamental physics and astrophysics. While the GW signatures themselves will provide a treasure trove of information, if the source can be securely identified in electromagnetic (EM) bands, this would open up entirely new scientific opportunities, to probe fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology. We discuss several ideas, involving wide-field telescopes, that may be useful in locating electromagnetic counterparts to SMBHBs detected by LISA. In particular, the binary may produce a variable electromagnetic flux, such as a roughly periodic signal due to the orbital motion prior to coalescence, or a prompt transient signal caused by shocks in the circumbinary disc when the SMBHB recoils and 'shakes' the disc. We discuss whether these time-variable EM signatures may be detectable, and how they can help in identifying a unique counterpart within the localization errors provided by LISA. We also discuss a possibility of identifying a population of coalescing SMBHBs statistically, in a deep optical survey for periodically variable sources, before LISA detects the GWs directly. The discovery of such sources would confirm that gas is present in the vicinity and is being perturbed by the SMBHB-serving as a proof of concept for eventually finding actual LISA counterparts.

  16. Identifying decaying supermassive black hole binaries from their variable electromagnetic emission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Haiman, Zoltan; Menou, Kristen; Kocsis, Bence; Lippai, Zoltan; Frei, Zsolt

    2009-01-01

    Supermassive black hole binaries (SMBHBs) with masses in the mass range ∼(10 4 -10 7 ) M o-dot /(1 + z), produced in galaxy mergers, are thought to complete their coalescence due to the emission of gravitational waves (GWs). The anticipated detection of the GWs by the future Laser Interferometric Space Antenna (LISA) will constitute a milestone for fundamental physics and astrophysics. While the GW signatures themselves will provide a treasure trove of information, if the source can be securely identified in electromagnetic (EM) bands, this would open up entirely new scientific opportunities, to probe fundamental physics, astrophysics and cosmology. We discuss several ideas, involving wide-field telescopes, that may be useful in locating electromagnetic counterparts to SMBHBs detected by LISA. In particular, the binary may produce a variable electromagnetic flux, such as a roughly periodic signal due to the orbital motion prior to coalescence, or a prompt transient signal caused by shocks in the circumbinary disc when the SMBHB recoils and 'shakes' the disc. We discuss whether these time-variable EM signatures may be detectable, and how they can help in identifying a unique counterpart within the localization errors provided by LISA. We also discuss a possibility of identifying a population of coalescing SMBHBs statistically, in a deep optical survey for periodically variable sources, before LISA detects the GWs directly. The discovery of such sources would confirm that gas is present in the vicinity and is being perturbed by the SMBHB-serving as a proof of concept for eventually finding actual LISA counterparts.

  17. Can we identify non-stationary dynamics of trial-to-trial variability?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emili Balaguer-Ballester

    Full Text Available Identifying sources of the apparent variability in non-stationary scenarios is a fundamental problem in many biological data analysis settings. For instance, neurophysiological responses to the same task often vary from each repetition of the same experiment (trial to the next. The origin and functional role of this observed variability is one of the fundamental questions in neuroscience. The nature of such trial-to-trial dynamics however remains largely elusive to current data analysis approaches. A range of strategies have been proposed in modalities such as electro-encephalography but gaining a fundamental insight into latent sources of trial-to-trial variability in neural recordings is still a major challenge. In this paper, we present a proof-of-concept study to the analysis of trial-to-trial variability dynamics founded on non-autonomous dynamical systems. At this initial stage, we evaluate the capacity of a simple statistic based on the behaviour of trajectories in classification settings, the trajectory coherence, in order to identify trial-to-trial dynamics. First, we derive the conditions leading to observable changes in datasets generated by a compact dynamical system (the Duffing equation. This canonical system plays the role of a ubiquitous model of non-stationary supervised classification problems. Second, we estimate the coherence of class-trajectories in empirically reconstructed space of system states. We show how this analysis can discern variations attributable to non-autonomous deterministic processes from stochastic fluctuations. The analyses are benchmarked using simulated and two different real datasets which have been shown to exhibit attractor dynamics. As an illustrative example, we focused on the analysis of the rat's frontal cortex ensemble dynamics during a decision-making task. Results suggest that, in line with recent hypotheses, rather than internal noise, it is the deterministic trend which most likely underlies

  18. Examining Preservice Science Teachers' Skills of Formulating Hypotheses and Identifying Variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aydogdu, Bülent

    2015-01-01

    The aim of this study is to examine preservice science teachers' skills of formulating hypotheses and identifying variables. The research has a phenomenological research design. The data was gathered qualitatively. In this study, preservice science teachers were first given two scenarios (Scenario-1 & Scenario-2) containing two different…

  19. Reducing the devastating effects of cataclysmic events: Cooperation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jing Ding; Fong, P.

    1989-01-01

    Natural calamities, including earthquakes, land sinkings, volcanos, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, avalanches, lightnings, forest fires, are discussed. Their devastating effects can be alleviated by cooperative efforts, sometimes international, among all concerned. The successful earthquake management of the Haicheng event is discussed as an example. Now the authors have environmental calamities, including erosion floods, dam failures, acid rain, ozone depletion, and the global greenhouse effect. There are empirical and theoretical questions about whether the greenhouse effect leads to global warming or polar ice melting. The warming prediction was based on model calculation with an incorrect boundary condition. When corrected with the right boundary condition, the models predict ice melting. The same is borne out in independent static and dynamic theories. Thus, there will be no greenhouse warming, only a sea level rise of up to 200 feet, which is much worse. The only way out is replacing fossil fuels by nuclear power. The nuclear fear is analyzed in terms of the Don Quixote syndrome and Laplace dictum. The lessons of Three Mile Island and Chernobyl actually strengthen the case of nuclear safety. New reactor technology and design will make it even safer. After 250 years of studying the history of the earth, geologists are now able to show that it is nothing but a long series of gradual changes and violent events. What was true in the past will remain so in the future, and cataclysms will occur again and again. Earthquakes, land subsidence and volcanic eruptions; flood and drought; the tsunami, tropical cyclones and avalanches; lightning and forest fires; have occurred ever since mountains, oceans, rivers, atmosphere, and ice sheets have been on the earth, and they will continue to happen

  20. Chromospheric activity of periodic variable stars (including eclipsing binaries) observed in DR2 LAMOST stellar spectral survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Liyun; Lu, Hongpeng; Han, Xianming L.; Jiang, Linyan; Li, Zhongmu; Zhang, Yong; Hou, Yonghui; Wang, Yuefei; Cao, Zihuang

    2018-05-01

    The LAMOST spectral survey provides a rich databases for studying stellar spectroscopic properties and chromospheric activity. We cross-matched a total of 105,287 periodic variable stars from several photometric surveys and databases (CSS, LINEAR, Kepler, a recently updated eclipsing star catalogue, ASAS, NSVS, some part of SuperWASP survey, variable stars from the Tsinghua University-NAOC Transient Survey, and other objects from some new references) with four million stellar spectra published in the LAMOST data release 2 (DR2). We found 15,955 spectra for 11,469 stars (including 5398 eclipsing binaries). We calculated their equivalent widths (EWs) of their Hα, Hβ, Hγ, Hδ and Caii H lines. Using the Hα line EW, we found 447 spectra with emission above continuum for a total of 316 stars (178 eclipsing binaries). We identified 86 active stars (including 44 eclipsing binaries) with repeated LAMOST spectra. A total of 68 stars (including 34 eclipsing binaries) show chromospheric activity variability. We also found LAMOST spectra of 12 cataclysmic variables, five of which show chromospheric activity variability. We also made photometric follow-up studies of three short period targets (DY CVn, HAT-192-0001481, and LAMOST J164933.24+141255.0) using the Xinglong 60-cm telescope and the SARA 90-cm and 1-m telescopes, and obtained new BVRI CCD light curves. We analyzed these light curves and obtained orbital and starspot parameters. We detected the first flare event with a huge brightness increase of more than about 1.5 magnitudes in R filter in LAMOST J164933.24+141255.0.

  1. Radiative Transfer Through Discs of Cataclysmic Variables

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Korčáková, Daniela; Nagel, T.; Werner, K.; Suleimanov, V.; Votruba, Viktor

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 1273, - (2010), s. 350-353 ISSN 1551-7616. [European White Dwarf Workshop /17./. Tübingen, 16.08.2010-20.08.2010] R&D Projects: GA ČR GP205/09/P476 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : radiative transfer * Doppler effect, * accretion disks Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  2. Rapid oscillations in cataclysmic variables. III. An oblique rotator in AE aquarii

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patternson, J.

    1979-01-01

    A rapid, strictly periodic oscillation has been discovered in the light curve of the novalike variable AE Aquarii. The fundamental period is 33.076737 s, with comparable power at the first harmonic. The amplitude averages 0.2--0.3% but can exceed 1% in flares. Pulse timings around the binary orbit prove that the periodicity arises in the white dwarf, and lead to an accurate measurement of the projected orbital velocity. The velocity curve and other constraints lead to a mass determination for the component stars :0.74 +- 0.06 M/sub sun/ for the late-type star and 0.94 +- 0.10 M/sub sun/ for the white dwarf. Estimates are also given for the system dimensions, luminosity, distance, and mass transfer rate.Quasi-periodic oscillations are also detected in flares, and have periods near the coherent periods of 16.5 and 33 s. Their characteristics suggest an origin in gaseous blobs produced by instabilities near the inner edge of the accretion disk.A model is presented in which the strict periodicity arises from the rotation of an accreting, magnetized white dwarf, with a surface field of 10 6 --10 7 gauss. Future spectroscopic, polarimetric, and X-ray observations should provide critical tests for predictions of the model

  3. DISCOVERY OF A WOLF-RAYET STAR THROUGH DETECTION OF ITS PHOTOMETRIC VARIABILITY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Littlefield, Colin [Law School, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Garnavich, Peter; McClelland, Colin; Rettig, Terrence [Physics Department, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556 (United States); Marion, G. H. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Vinko, Jozsef [Department of Optics, University of Szeged (Hungary); Wheeler, J. Craig [Astronomy Department, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712 (United States)

    2012-06-15

    We report the serendipitous discovery of a heavily reddened Wolf-Rayet star that we name WR 142b. While photometrically monitoring a cataclysmic variable, we detected weak variability in a nearby field star. Low-resolution spectroscopy revealed a strong emission line at 7100 A, suggesting an unusual object and prompting further study. A spectrum taken with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope confirms strong He II emission and an N IV 7112 A line consistent with a nitrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet star of spectral class WN6. Analysis of the He II line strengths reveals no detectable hydrogen in WR 142b. A blue-sensitive spectrum obtained with the Large Binocular Telescope shows no evidence for a hot companion star. The continuum shape and emission line ratios imply a reddening of E(B - V) = 2.2-2.6 mag. We estimate that the distance to WR 142b is 1.4 {+-} 0.3 kpc.

  4. DISCOVERY OF A WOLF-RAYET STAR THROUGH DETECTION OF ITS PHOTOMETRIC VARIABILITY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Littlefield, Colin; Garnavich, Peter; McClelland, Colin; Rettig, Terrence; Marion, G. H.; Vinkó, József; Wheeler, J. Craig

    2012-01-01

    We report the serendipitous discovery of a heavily reddened Wolf-Rayet star that we name WR 142b. While photometrically monitoring a cataclysmic variable, we detected weak variability in a nearby field star. Low-resolution spectroscopy revealed a strong emission line at 7100 Å, suggesting an unusual object and prompting further study. A spectrum taken with the Hobby-Eberly Telescope confirms strong He II emission and an N IV 7112 Å line consistent with a nitrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet star of spectral class WN6. Analysis of the He II line strengths reveals no detectable hydrogen in WR 142b. A blue-sensitive spectrum obtained with the Large Binocular Telescope shows no evidence for a hot companion star. The continuum shape and emission line ratios imply a reddening of E(B – V) = 2.2-2.6 mag. We estimate that the distance to WR 142b is 1.4 ± 0.3 kpc.

  5. Development of a Mailing List on Variable Stars, VSNET

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nogami, D.; Kato, T.; Baba, H.; Kunjaya, C.

    Various usages of the Internet have been developed and made remarkable progress these years, which is now dramatically changing the style of astronomical study. Among those, the maing list is thought to be most useful to study of unpredictable objects for the characteristics, especially rapidness and equality. We started a mailing list (VSNET) on variable stars, mainly on cataclysmic variables and supernovae, in 1994 July for mutual exchange of information and ideas between astronomers including professionals and amateurs. Up to now, the various articles have been distributed, for example, calls for follow up observations of transient objects discovered in the UV or X-ray region, calls for ground-based observations simultaneous with ones by the space telescopes, discoveries of supernovae, alert notices of outbursts in long dormant dwarf novae (EG Cnc, AL Com, UZ Boo, HT Cas, etc), and so on. You can get long-term light curves of variable stars drawn using VSNET data on the VSNET web pages http://www.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/vsnet/. The archives of VSNET mails are available via VSNET web pages and anonymous ftp ftp://ftp.kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp/pub/vsnet/Mail/. If you have any questions and suggestions on VSNET, please feel free to contact us (vsnet-adm@kusastro.kyoto-u.ac.jp).

  6. Identifying Variability in Mental Models Within and Between Disciplines Caring for the Cardiac Surgical Patient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Evans K H; Harder, Kathleen A; Apostolidou, Ioanna; Wahr, Joyce A; Shook, Douglas C; Farivar, R Saeid; Perry, Tjorvi E; Konia, Mojca R

    2017-07-01

    The cardiac operating room is a complex environment requiring efficient and effective communication between multiple disciplines. The objectives of this study were to identify and rank critical time points during the perioperative care of cardiac surgical patients, and to assess variability in responses, as a correlate of a shared mental model, regarding the importance of these time points between and within disciplines. Using Delphi technique methodology, panelists from 3 institutions were tasked with developing a list of critical time points, which were subsequently assigned to pause point (PP) categories. Panelists then rated these PPs on a 100-point visual analog scale. Descriptive statistics were expressed as percentages, medians, and interquartile ranges (IQRs). We defined low response variability between panelists as an IQR ≤ 20, moderate response variability as an IQR > 20 and ≤ 40, and high response variability as an IQR > 40. Panelists identified a total of 12 PPs. The PPs identified by the highest number of panelists were (1) before surgical incision, (2) before aortic cannulation, (3) before cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) initiation, (4) before CPB separation, and (5) at time of transfer of care from operating room (OR) to intensive care unit (ICU) staff. There was low variability among panelists' ratings of the PP "before surgical incision," moderate response variability for the PPs "before separation from CPB," "before transfer from OR table to bed," and "at time of transfer of care from OR to ICU staff," and high response variability for the remaining 8 PPs. In addition, the perceived importance of each of these PPs varies between disciplines and between institutions. Cardiac surgical providers recognize distinct critical time points during cardiac surgery. However, there is a high degree of variability within and between disciplines as to the importance of these times, suggesting an absence of a shared mental model among disciplines caring for

  7. A new approach to hazardous materials transportation risk analysis: decision modeling to identify critical variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clark, Renee M; Besterfield-Sacre, Mary E

    2009-03-01

    We take a novel approach to analyzing hazardous materials transportation risk in this research. Previous studies analyzed this risk from an operations research (OR) or quantitative risk assessment (QRA) perspective by minimizing or calculating risk along a transport route. Further, even though the majority of incidents occur when containers are unloaded, the research has not focused on transportation-related activities, including container loading and unloading. In this work, we developed a decision model of a hazardous materials release during unloading using actual data and an exploratory data modeling approach. Previous studies have had a theoretical perspective in terms of identifying and advancing the key variables related to this risk, and there has not been a focus on probability and statistics-based approaches for doing this. Our decision model empirically identifies the critical variables using an exploratory methodology for a large, highly categorical database involving latent class analysis (LCA), loglinear modeling, and Bayesian networking. Our model identified the most influential variables and countermeasures for two consequences of a hazmat incident, dollar loss and release quantity, and is one of the first models to do this. The most influential variables were found to be related to the failure of the container. In addition to analyzing hazmat risk, our methodology can be used to develop data-driven models for strategic decision making in other domains involving risk.

  8. Time dependence of the UV resonance lines in the cataclysmic variables SU UMa, RX And and 0623+71

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woods, J.A.; Drew, J.E.; Verbunt, Frank

    1990-01-01

    We present IUE observations of the dwarf novae SU UMa and RX And, and of the nova-like variable 0623 + 71. At the time of observation, SU UMa and RX And were in outburst. All three systems show variability in the wind-formed UV resonance lines of N v λ 1240, Si IV λ 1397 and C IV λ 1549 on timescale of hours. The amplitude of variation is smallest in RX And and largest in 0623 + 71. There is evidence that the variations observed in SU UMa's UV spectrum repeat on the orbital period. Our observations of SU UMa also reveal variability in the continuum flux during the decline from outburst maximum that is much more marked in the UV than at optical wavelengths. (author)

  9. Advances in astronomy and astrophysics

    CERN Document Server

    Kopal, Zdenek

    1963-01-01

    Advances in Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 2 brings together numerous research works on different aspects of astronomy and astrophysics. This volume is composed of six chapters and begins with a summary of observational record on twilight extensions of the Venus cusps. The next chapter deals with the common and related properties of binary stars, with emphasis on the evaluation of their cataclysmic variables. Cataclysmic variables refer to an object in one of three classes: dwarf nova, nova, or supernova. These topics are followed by discussions on the eclipse phenomena and the eclipses i

  10. Cataclysms and Catastrophes: A Case Study of Improving K-12 Science Education Through a University Partnership

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fennell, T.; Ellins, K. K.; Morris, M.; Christeson, G.

    2003-12-01

    The K-12 science teacher is always seeking ways of improving and updating their curriculum by integrating the latest research into their most effective classroom activities. However, the daily demands of delivering instruction to large numbers of students coupled with the rapid advances in some fields of science can often overwhelm this effort. The NSF-sponsored Cataclysms and Catastrophes curriculum, developed by scientists from the The University of Texas at Austin Institute for Geophysics (UTIG) and Bureau of Economic Geology (BEG), middle and high school teachers, and UT graduate students (NSF GK-12 fellows) working together through the GK-12 program, is a textbook example of how universities can facilitate this quest, benefiting education at both K-12 and university levels. In 1992, "The Great K-T Extinction Debate" was developed as an activity in the Planet Earth class at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy of Austin as an interdisciplinary approach to science. Taking advantage of the media attention generated by the impact scenario for the K-T extinction, the activity consists of students participating in a simulated senate hearing on the potential causes of the K-T extinction and their implications for society today. This activity not only exposes students to the wide range of science involved in understanding mass extinctions, but also to the social, political and economic implications when this science is brought into the public arena and the corresponding use of data in decision making and disaster preparedness. While "The Great K-T Extinction Debate" was always a popular and effective activity with students, it was in desperate need of updating to keep pace with the evolving scientific debate over the cause of the K-T extinction and the growing body of impact evidence discovered over the past decade. By adding two inquiry-based learning activities that use real geophysical data collected by scientists studying the buried Chicxulub feature as a

  11. Intermediate polars as low-field magnetic cataclysmic variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wickramasinghe, D.T.; Kinwah Wu; Ferrario, Lilia

    1991-01-01

    We present the first detailed calculations of the polarization properties of extended accretion shocks on the surface of a magnetic white dwarf where allowance is made both for field spread and for the change in shock height as a function of specific accretion rate. These results are used to show conclusively that the null detection of circular polarization in most IPs imply fields of less than 5 MG. We suggest that the X-ray properties of MCVs depends critically on the fractional area of the white-dwarf surface over which accretion occurs, and on the type of accretion (smooth or clumpy). We argue that in the known IPs, accretion occurs via a disc. The accretion flow is smooth and a strong shock forms making them a powerful source of hard X-rays. We propose that there is a new class of MCV distinct from the IPs, where the white dwarf is asynchronous and accretes without a disc in which the accretion is clumpy and the radiation is mainly in the EUV region. (author)

  12. Identifying Midshipmen for Academic Assistance Using Entry Variables

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Watson, Arthur

    2001-01-01

    .... Categorical values from the Learning and Study Strategies Inventory (LASSI), SAT scores and high school rank were incorporated as independent variables in a linear regression model with dependent variable Cumulative Quality Point Rating (CQPR...

  13. OPTICAL STUDIES OF 13 HARD X-RAY SELECTED CATACLYSMIC BINARIES FROM THE SWIFT-BAT SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Halpern, Jules P.; Thorstensen, John R.

    2015-01-01

    From a set of 13 cataclysmic binaries that were discovered in the Swift Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) survey, we conducted time-resolved optical spectroscopy and/or time-series photometry of 11, with the goal of measuring their orbital periods and searching for spin periods. Seven of the objects in this study are new optical identifications. Orbital periods are found for seven targets, ranging from 81 minutes to 20.4 hr. PBC J0706.7+0327 is an AM Herculis star (polar) based on its emission-line variations and large amplitude photometric modulation on the same period. Swift J2341.0+7645 may be a polar, although the evidence here is less secure. Coherent pulsations are detected from two objects, Swift J0503.7−2819 (975 s) and Swift J0614.0+1709 (1412 s and 1530 s, spin and beat periods, respectively), indicating that they are probable intermediate polars (DQ Herculis stars). For two other stars, longer spin periods are tentatively suggested. We also present the discovery of a 2.00 hr X-ray modulation from RX J2015.6+3711, possibly a contributor to Swift J2015.9+3715, and likely a polar

  14. Linking optical and infrared observations with gravitational wave sources through transient variability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stubbs, C W

    2008-01-01

    Optical and infrared observations have thus far detected more celestial cataclysms than have been seen in gravity waves (GW). This argues that we should search for gravity wave signatures that correspond to transient variables seen at optical wavelengths, at precisely known positions. There is an unknown time delay between the optical and gravitational transient, but knowing the source location precisely specifies the corresponding time delays across the gravitational antenna network as a function of the GW-to-optical arrival time difference. Optical searches should detect virtually all supernovae that are plausible gravitational radiation sources. The transient optical signature expected from merging compact objects is not as well understood, but there are good reasons to expect detectable transient optical/IR emission from most of these sources as well. The next generation of deep wide-field surveys (for example PanSTARRS and LSST) will be sensitive to subtle optical variability, but we need to fill the 'blind spots' that exist in the galactic plane, and for optically bright transient sources. In particular, a galactic plane variability survey at λ∼ 2 μm seems worthwhile. Science would benefit from closer coordination between the various optical survey projects and the gravity wave community

  15. A visible and infrared study of the eclipsing dwarf nova OY Carinae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berriman, G.

    1984-01-01

    This paper presents four visible light curves of the highly inclined, short-period cataclysmic binary star OY Carinae in quiescence. These light curves show that the red dwarf eclipses both its white dwarf companion and the accretion disc and hotspot, which originate from material transferred from the red dwarf to the white dwarf. The consequences of the findings are discussed in the light of current ideas about the evolution of cataclysmic variable stars. (author)

  16. The spectrum and variability of radio emission from AE Aquarii

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abada-Simon, Meil; Lecacheux, Alain; Bastian, Tim S.; Bookbinder, Jay A.; Dulk, George A.

    1993-01-01

    The first detections of the magnetic cataclysmic variable AE Aquarii at millimeter wavelengths are reported. AE Aqr was detected at wavelengths of 3.4 and 1.25 mm. These data are used to show that the time-averaged spectrum is generally well fitted by a power law S(nu) varies as nu exp alpha, where alpha is approximately equal to 0.35-0.60, and that the power law extends to millimeter wavelengths, i.e., the spectral turnover is at a frequency higher than 240 GHz. It is suggested that the spectrum is consistent with that expected from a superposition of flarelike events where the frequency distribution of the initial flux density is a power law f (S0) varies as S0 exp -epsilon, with index epsilon approximately equal to 1.8. Within the context of this model, the high turnover frequency of the radio spectrum implies magnetic field strengths in excess of 250 G in the source.

  17. Identifying psychosocial variables that predict safer-sex intentions in adolescents and young adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phil eBrüll

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Young people are especially vulnerable to sexually transmitted infections. The triad of deliberate and effective safer-sex behavior encompasses condom use, combined with additional information about a partner’s sexual health, and the kind of sex acts usually performed. To identify psychosocial predictors of young people’s intentions to have safer sex, as related to this triad we conducted an online study with 211 sexually active participants aged between 18 and 24 years. Predictors (i.e. perceived behavioural control, subjective norms and intention taken from Fishbein and Ajzen’s Reasoned Action Approach (RAA, were combined with more distal variables (e.g. behavioral inhibition, sensation seeking, parental monitoring, and knowledge about sexually transmitted infections. Beyond the highly predictive power of RAA variables, additional variance was explained by the number of instances of unprotected sexual intercourse during the last twelve months and reasons for using barrier protection during first sexual intercourse. In particular, past condom nonuse behavior moderated perceived behavioral control related to intended condom use. Further, various distal variables showed significant univariate associations with intentions related to the three behaviors of interest. It may, therefore, be helpful to include measures of past behavior as well as certain additional distal variables in future safer-sex programs designed to promote health sustaining sexual behavior.

  18. Doppler Tomography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, T. R.

    I review the method of Doppler tomography which translates binary-star line profiles taken at a series of orbital phases into a distribution of emission over the binary. I begin with a discussion of the basic principles behind Doppler tomography, including a comparison of the relative merits of maximum entropy regularisation versus filtered back-projection for implementing the inversion. Following this I discuss the issue of noise in Doppler images and possible methods for coping with it. Then I move on to look at the results of Doppler Tomography applied to cataclysmic variable stars. Outstanding successes to date are the discovery of two-arm spiral shocks in cataclysmic variable accretion discs and the probing of the stream/magnetospheric interaction in magnetic cataclysmic variable stars. Doppler tomography has also told us much about the stream/disc interaction in non-magnetic systems and the irradiation of the secondary star in all systems. The latter indirectly reveals such effects as shadowing by the accretion disc or stream. I discuss all of these and finish with some musings on possible future directions for the method. At the end I include a tabulation of Doppler maps published in refereed journals.

  19. Identifying optimal remotely-sensed variables for ecosystem monitoring in Colorado Plateau drylands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poitras, Travis; Villarreal, Miguel; Waller, Eric K.; Nauman, Travis; Miller, Mark E.; Duniway, Michael C.

    2018-01-01

    Water-limited ecosystems often recover slowly following anthropogenic or natural disturbance. Multitemporal remote sensing can be used to monitor ecosystem recovery after disturbance; however, dryland vegetation cover can be challenging to accurately measure due to sparse cover and spectral confusion between soils and non-photosynthetic vegetation. With the goal of optimizing a monitoring approach for identifying both abrupt and gradual vegetation changes, we evaluated the ability of Landsat-derived spectral variables to characterize surface variability of vegetation cover and bare ground across a range of vegetation community types. Using three year composites of Landsat data, we modeled relationships between spectral information and field data collected at monitoring sites near Canyonlands National Park, UT. We also developed multiple regression models to assess improvement over single variables. We found that for all vegetation types, percent cover bare ground could be accurately modeled with single indices that included a combination of red and shortwave infrared bands, while near infrared-based vegetation indices like NDVI worked best for quantifying tree cover and total live vegetation cover in woodlands. We applied four models to characterize the spatial distribution of putative grassland ecological states across our study area, illustrating how this approach can be implemented to guide dryland ecosystem management.

  20. Identifying and quantifying recurrent novae masquerading as classical novae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pagnotta, Ashley; Schaefer, Bradley E.

    2014-01-01

    Recurrent novae (RNe) are cataclysmic variables with two or more nova eruptions within a century. Classical novae (CNe) are similar systems with only one such eruption. Many of the so-called CNe are actually RNe for which only one eruption has been discovered. Since RNe are candidate Type Ia supernova progenitors, it is important to know whether there are enough in our Galaxy to provide the supernova rate, and therefore to know how many RNe are masquerading as CNe. To quantify this, we collected all available information on the light curves and spectra of a Galactic, time-limited sample of 237 CNe and the 10 known RNe, as well as exhaustive discovery efficiency records. We recognize RNe as having (1) outburst amplitude smaller than 14.5 – 4.5 × log (t 3 ), (2) orbital period >0.6 days, (3) infrared colors of J – H > 0.7 mag and H – K > 0.1 mag, (4) FWHM of Hα > 2000 km s –1 , (5) high excitation lines, such as Fe X or He II near peak, (6) eruption light curves with a plateau, and (7) white dwarf mass greater than 1.2 M ☉ . Using these criteria, we identify V1721 Aql, DE Cir, CP Cru, KT Eri, V838 Her, V2672 Oph, V4160 Sgr, V4643 Sgr, V4739 Sgr, and V477 Sct as strong RN candidates. We evaluate the RN fraction among the known CNe using three methods to get 24% ± 4%, 12% ± 3%, and 35% ± 3%. With roughly a quarter of the 394 known Galactic novae actually being RNe, there should be approximately a hundred such systems masquerading as CNe.

  1. Relationship of classical novae to other eruptive variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vogt, N.

    1989-01-01

    Classical novae are characterized by their well known large-amplitude outbursts, accompanied by the ejection of a shell. The same stars, however, apparently pass through much longer quiescent phases whose duration exceeds that of the outburst phase by a factor ∼ 10 5 and that of historical nova records by a factor 10 2 -10 3 . Therefore a large number of variable stars should exist which actually are classical nova systems but whose last outbursts occurred in prehistoric times. We assume that some of these stars are hidden among the so-called 'nova-lies' in the literature. However some eruptive variables and symbiotic stars, i.e. stars which certainly are not nova remnants, are mentioned. Variables related to classical novae can be divided into three main classes: (i) Potential novae which are possibly classical novae in their quiescent state. Potential novae must share the basic configuration and parameters (orbital period, masses) with classical novae; they must be semi-detached cataclysmic binaries with a white dwarf as primary and a Roche-lobe-filling red dwarf on, or near, the mainsequence as secondary. (ii) Stars which share some outburst characteristics with classical novae without having the same binary configuration. For example recurrent novae with giant secondaries, very slow novae (and symbiotic binary stars). (iii) Stars which are evolutionarily related to classical novae, i.e. which possibly are progenitors or successors of novae in their secular evolution, such as binary nuclei of planetary nebulae and close, but detached, white dwarf-red dwarf pairs (e.g. V 471 Tau), both resulting from common-envelope evolution. These three main groups of nova-related stars are discussed. (author)

  2. The R band light curves of eclipses of U Gem in outburst

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch

    č. 5453 (2003), s. 1-4 ISSN 0374-0676 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1003909 Keywords : cataclysmic variables * general binaries stars Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  3. Identifying the variables associated with pain during transrectal ultrasonography of the prostate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hou CP

    2015-08-01

    Full Text Available Chen-Pang Hou,1,2 Yu-Hsiang Lin,1,2 Meng-Chiao Hsieh,3 Chien-Lun Chen,1,2 Phei-Lang Chang,1,2 Ying-Chen Huang,2 Ke-Hung Tsui1,21Department of Urology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, 2School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, 3Division of Colon and Rectal Surgery, Department of Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Chiayi, Chang Gung University, Kwei-Shan, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan Objective: The purpose of this study was to prospectively investigate the degree of pain experienced by the patients receiving transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS of the prostate by applying a visual analog scale. We also identified the clinical parameters influencing pain during the TRUS examination.Materials and methods: Records were obtained from a prospective database for male patients who received TRUS of prostate in the outpatient department of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taiwan, from January 2014 to June 2014. The patients underwent a detailed physical examination and medical history review. Immediately after the TRUS examination, the patients completed questionnaires based on a ten-point visual analog pain scale. The variables of interest were age, body mass index, prostate volume, prostate sagittal length, prostate-specific antigen, previous TRUS experience, external hemorrhoids, anal surgical history, prostate calcification, and image artifact caused by stool in the rectum. All variables were correlated to the visual analog scale by applying multivariate regression analysis.Results: By using linear regression analysis, we identified the independent factors that affected the pain score during the TRUS examination. The patients who received the examination for the first time or had longer prostate sagittal lengths, external hemorrhoids, anal surgical history, or stool stored in the rectum experienced more pain during the TRUS examination. Furthermore, the pain was reduced when we provided the patients with a detailed explanation before the procedure and

  4. Variables Associated with First Year Teacher Morale Which Can Be Identified in a Teacher Education Program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomson, James R., Jr.; Schuck, Robert F.

    This paper presents a study of the personal variables associated with first-year teacher morale that can be identified early in the training programs of novice teachers. This study is based on data derived from 96 (76.6 percent) of the graduates teaching in Mississippi. Data were collected through the use of five special instruments: (1)…

  5. Analysis of individual cells identifies cell-to-cell variability following induction of cellular senescence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiley, Christopher D; Flynn, James M; Morrissey, Christapher; Lebofsky, Ronald; Shuga, Joe; Dong, Xiao; Unger, Marc A; Vijg, Jan; Melov, Simon; Campisi, Judith

    2017-10-01

    Senescent cells play important roles in both physiological and pathological processes, including cancer and aging. In all cases, however, senescent cells comprise only a small fraction of tissues. Senescent phenotypes have been studied largely in relatively homogeneous populations of cultured cells. In vivo, senescent cells are generally identified by a small number of markers, but whether and how these markers vary among individual cells is unknown. We therefore utilized a combination of single-cell isolation and a nanofluidic PCR platform to determine the contributions of individual cells to the overall gene expression profile of senescent human fibroblast populations. Individual senescent cells were surprisingly heterogeneous in their gene expression signatures. This cell-to-cell variability resulted in a loss of correlation among the expression of several senescence-associated genes. Many genes encoding senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) factors, a major contributor to the effects of senescent cells in vivo, showed marked variability with a subset of highly induced genes accounting for the increases observed at the population level. Inflammatory genes in clustered genomic loci showed a greater correlation with senescence compared to nonclustered loci, suggesting that these genes are coregulated by genomic location. Together, these data offer new insights into how genes are regulated in senescent cells and suggest that single markers are inadequate to identify senescent cells in vivo. © 2017 The Authors. Aging Cell published by the Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  6. Clinical Impact of Speed Variability to Identify Ultramarathon Runners at Risk for Acute Kidney Injury.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sen-Kuang Hou

    Full Text Available Ultramarathon is a high endurance exercise associated with a wide range of exercise-related problems, such as acute kidney injury (AKI. Early recognition of individuals at risk of AKI during ultramarathon event is critical for implementing preventative strategies.To investigate the impact of speed variability to identify the exercise-related acute kidney injury anticipatively in ultramarathon event.This is a prospective, observational study using data from a 100 km ultramarathon in Taipei, Taiwan. The distance of entire ultramarathon race was divided into 10 splits. The mean and variability of speed, which was determined by the coefficient of variation (CV in each 10 km-split (25 laps of 400 m oval track were calculated for enrolled runners. Baseline characteristics and biochemical data were collected completely 1 week before, immediately post-race, and one day after race. The main outcome was the development of AKI, defined as Stage II or III according to the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN criteria. Multivariate analysis was performed to determine the independent association between variables and AKI development.26 ultramarathon runners were analyzed in the study. The overall incidence of AKI (in all Stages was 84.6% (22 in 26 runners. Among these 22 runners, 18 runners were determined as Stage I, 4 runners (15.4% were determined as Stage II, and none was in Stage III. The covariates of BMI (25.22 ± 2.02 vs. 22.55 ± 1.96, p = 0.02, uric acid (6.88 ± 1.47 vs. 5.62 ± 0.86, p = 0.024, and CV of speed in specific 10-km splits (from secondary 10 km-split (10th - 20th km-split to 60th - 70th km-split were significantly different between runners with or without AKI (Stage II in univariate analysis and showed discrimination ability in ROC curve. In the following multivariate analysis, only CV of speed in 40th - 50th km-split continued to show a significant association to the development of AKI (Stage II (p = 0.032.The development of exercise

  7. Psychological Variables for Identifying Susceptibility to Mental Disorders in Medical

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosa Sender

    2004-05-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: This study analyses some psychological variables related to susceptibility to mental disorders in medical students. Methods: A sample of 209 first- and second-year medical students was evaluated using the State and Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI, and three questionnaires: Sensitivity to Punishment and Sensitivity to Reward Questionnaire (SPSRQ, General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28 and UNCAHS scale of STRAIN. Results: Thirty percent of the students suffered from emotional distress as measured by de GHQ-28, and showed significantly higher scores on trait anxiety, sensitivity to punishment and reward scales, and had higher levels of strain both in the academic environment and their personal life. Women scored significantly higher than men on trait anxiety and sensitivity to reward. Logistical regression found that trait anxiety and strain in non-academic life were the best predictors of the development of a mental disorder. Conclusions: The study confirms the usefulness of the STAI for detecting psychological distress and the validity of the SPSRQ for identifying subjects likely to present emotional distress when facing high environmental demands. Subjects most likely to present with mental illness are those who evaluate their personal (non-academic lives as more stressful.

  8. The January 2015 outburst of a red nova in M31

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kurtenkov, A.A.; Pessev, P.; Tomov, T.; Barsukova, E.A.; Fabrika, S.; Vida, K.; Hornoch, Kamil; Ovcharov, E.P.; Goranskij, V.P.; Valeev, A.F.; Molnár, L.; Sárneczky, K.; Kostov, A.; Nedialkov, P.; Valenti, S.; Geier, S.; Wiersema, K.; Henze, M.; Shafter, A.W.; Dimitrova, R.V.M.; Popov, V.N.; Stritzinger, M.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 578, June (2015), L10/1-L10/5 ISSN 0004-6361 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : novae * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

  9. Modeling the optical radiation of the precataclysmic variable SDSS J212531-010745

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimansky, V. V.; Borisov, N. V.; Nurtdinova, D. N.; Solovyeva, Yu. N.; Sakhibullin, N. A.; Spiridonova, O. I.

    2015-03-01

    Optical observations are analyzed to derive a set of basic parameters for the precataclysmic variable star SDSS J212531-010745, whose primary is a PG1159-type star. Spectroscopic and multiband photometric observations of the star were performed in 2008-2011 with the 6-m telescope and the Zeiss-1000 telescope of the Special Astrophysical Observatory. The shape of the binary's orbital light curves is nearly sinusoidal, with the amplitude increasing with wavelength from Δ m = 0.40 m in the B band to Δ m = 0.73 m in the R band. The spectra contain absorption lines of HeII and neutral atoms, along with HI, HeI, CII, MgII, FeII emission lines, whose intensity increases synchronously with the brightness of the system. The optical radiation from SDSS J212531-010745 has a composite nature, corresponding to a model for a pre-cataclysmic variable with strong reflection effects. Cross-correlation techniques are used to measure the radial velocities and derive the component masses. Numerical modeling of the binary's light curves, radial velocities, and spectra is performed, and a complete set of parameters determined. Considerable abundance anomalies (to 1 dex) were detected for the secondary. The primary's characteristics correspond to the evolutionary predictions for DAO dwarfs with masses M ≈ 0.5 M ⊙, and the secondary's characteristics to low-mass, main-sequence stars with the solar metallicity.

  10. Identifying the most informative variables for decision-making problems – a survey of recent approaches and accompanying problems

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Pudil, Pavel; Somol, Petr

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 16, č. 4 (2008), s. 37-55 ISSN 0572-3043 R&D Projects: GA MŠk 1M0572 Grant - others:GA MŠk(CZ) 2C06019 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10750506 Keywords : variable selection * decision making Subject RIV: BD - Theory of Information http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2008/RO/pudil-identifying%20the%20most%20informative%20variables%20for%20decision- making %20problems%20a%20survey%20of%20recent%20approaches%20and%20accompanying%20problems.pdf

  11. Diagnostic Value of Selected Echocardiographic Variables to Identify Pulmonary Hypertension in Dogs with Myxomatous Mitral Valve Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tidholm, A; Höglund, K; Häggström, J; Ljungvall, I

    2015-01-01

    Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is commonly associated with myxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD). Because dogs with PH present without measureable tricuspid regurgitation (TR), it would be useful to investigate echocardiographic variables that can identify PH. To investigate associations between estimated systolic TR pressure gradient (TRPG) and dog characteristics and selected echocardiographic variables. 156 privately owned dogs. Prospective observational study comparing the estimations of TRPG with dog characteristics and selected echocardiographic variables in dogs with MMVD and measureable TR. Tricuspid regurgitation pressure gradient was significantly (P modeled as linear variables LA/Ao (P modeled as second order polynomial variables: AT/DT (P = .0039) and LVIDDn (P value for the final model was 0.45 and receiver operating characteristic curve analysis suggested the model's performance to predict PH, defined as 36, 45, and 55 mmHg as fair (area under the curve [AUC] = 0.80), good (AUC = 0.86), and excellent (AUC = 0.92), respectively. In dogs with MMVD, the presence of PH might be suspected with the combination of decreased PA AT/DT, increased RVIDDn and LA/Ao, and a small or great LVIDDn. Copyright © 2015 The Authors Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of the American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine.

  12. Anupama, Prof. Gadiyara Chakrapani

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Specialization: Time Domain Astronomy, Cataclysmic Variables, Supernovae, Gamma-Ray Burst Sources, Active Galactic Nuclei Address: Senior Professor, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Sarjapur Road, Koramangala, Bengaluru 560 034, Karnataka Contact: Office: (080) 2254 1344. Residence: (080) 6697 3104

  13. The Nova Rate in NGC 2403

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Franck, J.R.; Shafter, A.W.; Hornoch, Kamil; Misselt, K.A.

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 760, č. 1 (2012), 13-1-13-8 ISSN 0004-637X Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : galaxy NGC 2403 * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 6.733, year: 2012

  14. Identifying emotional intelligence skills of Turkish clinical nurses according to sociodemographic and professional variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kahraman, Nilgün; Hiçdurmaz, Duygu

    2016-04-01

    This study aimed to identify the emotional intelligence skills of Turkish clinical nurses according to sociodemographic and professional variables. Emotional intelligence is "the ability of a person to comprehend self-emotions, to show empathy towards the feelings of others, and to control self-emotions in a way that enriches life." Nurses with a higher emotional intelligence level offer more efficient and professional care, and they accomplish more in their social and professional lives. We designed a descriptive cross-sectional study. The Introductory Information Form and the Bar-On emotional intelligence Inventory were used to collect data between 20th June and 20th August 2012. The study was conducted with 312 nurses from 37 hospitals located within the borders of the metropolitan municipality in Ankara. There were no significant differences between emotional intelligence scores of the nurses according to demographic variables such as age, gender, marital status, having children. Thus, sociodemographic factors did not appear to be key factors, but some professional variables did. Higher total emotional intelligence scores were observed in those who had 10 years or longer experience, who found oneself successful in professional life, who stated that emotional intelligence is an improvable skill and who previously received self-improvement training. Interpersonal skills were higher in those with a graduate degree and in nurses working in polyclinics and paediatric units. These findings indicate which groups require improvement in emotional intelligence skills and which skills need improvement. Additionally, these results provide knowledge and create awareness about emotional intelligence skills of nurses and the distribution of these skills according to sociodemographic and professional variables. Implementation of emotional intelligence improvement programmes targeting the determined clinical nursing groups by nursing administrations can help the increase in

  15. The intermediate polar GK Persei: An unstable relation of the X-ray and the optical intensities in a series of outbursts

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 575, March (2015), A65/1-A65/8 ISSN 0004-6361 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : accretion disks * radiation mechanisms * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

  16. Recurrent Novae in M31

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Shafter, A.W.; Henze, M.; Rector, T. A.; Schweizer, F.; Hornoch, Kamil; Orio, M.; Pietsch, W.; Darnley, M.J.; Williams, S.C.; Bode, M.F.; Bryan, J.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 216, č. 2 (2015), 34/1-34/35 ISSN 0067-0049 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : individual (M31) galaxies * stellar content * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 11.257, year: 2015

  17. M31N 2008-12a - The Remarkable Recurrent Nova in M31: Panchromatic Observations of the 2015 Eruption

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Darnley, M.J.; Henze, M.; Bode, M.F.; Haciusu, I.; Hernanz, M.; Hornoch, Kamil; Hounsell, R.; Kato, M.; Ness, J.-U.; Osborne, J.P.

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 833, č. 2 (2016), 149/1-149/38 ISSN 0004-637X Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : individual galaxies * novae cataclysmic variables * individual stars Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 5.533, year: 2016

  18. A remarkable recurrent nova in M31: Discovery and optical/UV observations of the predicted 2014 eruption

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Darnley, M.J.; Henze, M.; Steele, I.A.; Bode, M.F.; Ribeiro, V.A.R.M.; Rodriguez-Gil, P.; Shafter, A.W.; Williams, S.C.; Baer, D.; Hachisu, I.; Hernanz, M.; Hornoch, Kamil; Hounsell, R.A.; Kato, M.; Kiyota, S.; Kučáková, Hana; Maehara, H.; Ness, J.-U.; Piascik, A.S.; Sala, G.; Skillen, I.; Smith, R. J.; Wolf, M.

    2015-01-01

    Roč. 580, August (2015), A45/1-A45/23 ISSN 0004-6361 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : individual (M31) galaxies * novae * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

  19. Supersoft X-rays reveal a classical nova in the M 31 globular cluster Bol 126

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Henze, M.; Pietsch, W.; Haberl, F.; Della Valle, M.; Riffeser, A.; Salla, G.; Hatzidimitriou, D.; Hofmann, F.; Hartmann, D.H.; Koppenhoefer, J.; Seitz, S.; Williams, G.; Hornoch, Kamil; Itagaki, K.; Kabashima, F.; Nishiyama, K.; Xing, G.; Lee, C.H.; Magnier, E.; Chambers, K.

    2013-01-01

    Roč. 549, January (2013), A120/1-A120/15 ISSN 0004-6361 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : galaxies individual M 31 * novae * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.479, year: 2013

  20. X-RAY-EMITTING STARS IDENTIFIED FROM THE ROSAT ALL-SKY SURVEY AND THE SLOAN DIGITAL SKY SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agueeros, Marcel A.; Newsom, Emily R.; Anderson, Scott F.; Hawley, Suzanne L.; Silvestri, Nicole M.; Szkody, Paula; Covey, Kevin R.; Posselt, Bettina; Margon, Bruce; Voges, Wolfgang

    2009-01-01

    The ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) was the first imaging X-ray survey of the entire sky. Combining the RASS Bright and Faint Source Catalogs yields an average of about three X-ray sources per square degree. However, while X-ray source counterparts are known to range from distant quasars to nearby M dwarfs, the RASS data alone are often insufficient to determine the nature of an X-ray source. As a result, large-scale follow-up programs are required to construct samples of known X-ray emitters. We use optical data produced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to identify 709 stellar X-ray emitters cataloged in the RASS and falling within the SDSS Data Release 1 footprint. Most of these are bright stars with coronal X-ray emission unsuitable for SDSS spectroscopy, which is designed for fainter objects (g > 15 [mag]). Instead, we use SDSS photometry, correlations with the Two Micron All Sky Survey and other catalogs, and spectroscopy from the Apache Point Observatory 3.5 m telescope to identify these stellar X-ray counterparts. Our sample of 707 X-ray-emitting F, G, K, and M stars is one of the largest X-ray-selected samples of such stars. We derive distances to these stars using photometric parallax relations appropriate for dwarfs on the main sequence, and use these distances to calculate L X . We also identify a previously unknown cataclysmic variable (CV) as a RASS counterpart. Separately, we use correlations of the RASS and the SDSS spectroscopic catalogs of CVs and white dwarfs (WDs) to study the properties of these rarer X-ray-emitting stars. We examine the relationship between (f X /f g ) and the equivalent width of the Hβ emission line for 46 X-ray-emitting CVs and discuss tentative classifications for a subset based on these quantities. We identify 17 new X-ray-emitting DA (hydrogen) WDs, of which three are newly identified WDs. We report on follow-up observations of three candidate cool X-ray-emitting WDs (one DA and two DB (helium) WDs); we have not

  1. The relation between the long-term X-ray and optical activity of the polar AM Her (RX J1816.2+4952)

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 16, č. 6 (2011), s. 405-411 ISSN 1384-1076 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : radiation mechanisms * cataclysmic variables * X-rays Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 1.411, year: 2011

  2. Multicolour photometry and spectroscopy of the slow nova V475 Sct (Nova Scuti 2003)

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Chochol, D.; Katysheva, N.A.; Pribulla, T.; Schmidtobreick, L.; Shugarov, S.Yu.; Škoda, Petr; Šlechta, Miroslav; Vittone, A.A.; Volkov, I. M.

    2006-01-01

    Roč. 6, č. 1 (2006), s. 137-142 ISSN 1009-9271 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : cataclysmic variables * circumstellar matter * stars: novae Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 0.746, year: 2006

  3. A Spectroscopic and Photometric Survey of Novae in M31

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Shafter, A.W.; Darnley, M.J.; Hornoch, Kamil; Filippenko, A.V.; Bode, M.F.; Ciardullo, R.; Misselt, K.A.; Hounsell, R.A.; Chornock, R.; Matheson, T.

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 734, č. 1 (2011), 12/1-12/28 ISSN 0004-637X Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : individual galaxy (M31) * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 6.024, year: 2011

  4. Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy | Indian Academy of Sciences

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-01-27

    14 a cataclysmic variable, PG 1336-018 a binary with an sdB pulsator and finally HR 1217 a roAp star. The paper concludes with what the limitations are in our observations and how we can overcome them in the future.

  5. New Fellows and Honorary Fellow

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Date of birth: 19 June 1952. Specialization: X-ray Instrumentation for Astronomy, Active Galactic Nuclei and Cataclysmic Variables, Stellar Coronae, Hot Interstellar & Intracluster Media and Supernova Remnants Address: 28A, Bank Colony, Patiala 147 001, Panjab Contact: Mobile: 90048 38965. Email: kulinderpal@gmail.

  6. The spectroscopic evolution of the symbiotic-like recurrent nova V407 Cygni during its 2010 outburst II. The circumstellar environment and the aftermath

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Shore, S. N.; Wahlgren, G.M.; Augusteijn, T.; Liimets, T.; Koubský, Pavel; Šlechta, Miroslav; Votruba, Viktor

    2012-01-01

    Roč. 540, April (2012), A55/1-A55/15 ISSN 0004-6361 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : gamma-ray burst * cataclysmic variables stars * star V407 Cygni Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 5.084, year: 2012

  7. High-velocity winds from a dwarf nova during outburst

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordova, F. A.; Mason, K. O.

    1982-01-01

    An ultraviolet spectrum of the dwarf nova TW Vir during an optical outburst shows shortward-shifted absorption features with edge velocities as high as 4800 km/s, about the escape velocity of a white dwarf. A comparison of this spectrum with the UV spectra of other cataclysmic variables suggests that mass loss is evident only for systems with relatively high luminosities (more than about 10 solar luminosities) and low inclination angles with respect to the observer's line of sight. The mass loss rate for cataclysmic variables is of order 10 to the -11th solar mass per yr; this is from 0.01 to 0.001 of the mass accretion rate onto the compact star in the binary. The mass loss may occur by a mechanism similar to that invoked for early-type stars, i.e., radiation absorbed in the lines accelerates the accreting gas to the high velocities observed.

  8. Inflows, Outflows, and a Giant Donor in the Remarkable Recurrent Nova M31N 2008-12a?-Hubble Space Telescope Photometry of the 2015 Eruption

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Darnley, M.J.; Hounsell, R.; Godon, M.; Perley, D.A.; Henze, M.; Kuindersma, S.; Williams, B. F.; Williams, S.C.; Bode, M.F.; Harman, D. J.; Hornoch, Kamil; Link, M.; Ness, J.-U.; Ribeiro, V.A.R.M.; Sion, E. M.; Shafter, A.W.; Shara, M. M.

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 849, č. 2 (2017), 96/1-96/17 ISSN 0004-637X Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : accretion * accretion disks * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics OBOR OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) Impact factor: 5.533, year: 2016

  9. Interacting binaries

    CERN Document Server

    Shore, S N; van den Heuvel, EPJ

    1994-01-01

    This volume contains lecture notes presented at the 22nd Advanced Course of the Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy. The contributors deal with symbiotic stars, cataclysmic variables, massive binaries and X-ray binaries, in an attempt to provide a better understanding of stellar evolution.

  10. A remarkable recurrent nova in M 31: The optical observations

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Darnley, M.J.; Williams, S.C.; Bode, M.F.; Henze, M.; Ness, J.-U.; Shafter, A.W.; Hornoch, Kamil; Votruba, Viktor

    2014-01-01

    Roč. 563, March (2014), L9/1-L9/4 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA MŠk LG12001 Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : galaxies: individual: M 31 * novae * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.378, year: 2014

  11. Evolution of the optical and hard X-ray activity of AM Her in a season dominated by the high states

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch

    2016-01-01

    Roč. 361, č. 7 (2016), 235/1-235/8 ISSN 0004-640X Grant - others:GAO(CZ) GC13-39464J Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : X-rays binaries * cataclysmic variables * radiation mechanisms Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 1.622, year: 2016

  12. Observations of TT Ari requested in support of MOST observations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waagen, Elizabeth O.

    2012-08-01

    Dr. Nikolaus Vogt (Universidad de Valparaiso, Chile) requested simultaneous photometry and spectroscopy of the novalike (VY Scl subtype) cataclysmic variable TT Ari in support of upcoming observations with the Canadian Microvariability and Oscillations of Stars (MOST) satellite 2012 September 13 through October 20. The Departamento de Fisica y Astronomia of the Valparaiso University will carry out photometry with small telescopes in central Chile but the assistance of other observers, particularly in other latitudes and longitudes, is requested. The observations are being carried out to study superhump behavior, which is still not well understood despite the amount of research done in all classes of cataclysmic variables. TT Ari exibits superhumps - both positive (the superhump period is longer than the orbital period) and negative (the superhump period is shorter than the orbital period). While positive superhumps are thought probably to be the result of an eccentric configuration in the accretion disk, the mechanism for negative superhumps is not yet understood except that it may be related to the disk's being warped out of the orbital plane, leading to complex torque phenomena. TT Ari, one of the brightest cataclysmic variables, exhibits occasional fadings of several magnitudes, from its usual high-state (maximum) magnitude of ~10.5V to a low-state magnitude as faint as 16V. These fadings occur every 20-25 years, and last between 500 and 1000 days. According to observations in the AAVSO International Database, TT Ari is currently magnitude 10.5V. Finder charts with sequence may be created using the AAVSO Variable Star Plotter (http://www.aavso.org/vsp). Observations should be submitted to the AAVSO International Database. See full Alert Notice for more details, particularly regarding goals of the campaign, and observing instructions.

  13. Identifying individuality and variability in team tactics by means of statistical shape analysis and multilayer perceptrons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jäger, Jörg M; Schöllhorn, Wolfgang I

    2012-04-01

    Offensive and defensive systems of play represent important aspects of team sports. They include the players' positions at certain situations during a match, i.e., when players have to be on specific positions on the court. Patterns of play emerge based on the formations of the players on the court. Recognition of these patterns is important to react adequately and to adjust own strategies to the opponent. Furthermore, the ability to apply variable patterns of play seems to be promising since they make it harder for the opponent to adjust. The purpose of this study is to identify different team tactical patterns in volleyball and to analyze differences in variability. Overall 120 standard situations of six national teams in women's volleyball are analyzed during a world championship tournament. Twenty situations from each national team are chosen, including the base defence position (start configuration) and the two players block with middle back deep (end configuration). The shapes of the defence formations at the start and end configurations during the defence of each national team as well as the variability of these defence formations are statistically analyzed. Furthermore these shapes data are used to train multilayer perceptrons in order to test whether artificial neural networks can recognize the teams by their tactical patterns. Results show significant differences between the national teams in both the base defence position at the start and the two players block with middle back deep at the end of the standard defence situation. Furthermore, the national teams show significant differences in variability of the defence systems and start-positions are more variable than the end-positions. Multilayer perceptrons are able to recognize the teams at an average of 98.5%. It is concluded that defence systems in team sports are highly individual at a competitive level and variable even in standard situations. Artificial neural networks can be used to recognize

  14. On the SW Sex-type eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSS0756+0858

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tovmassian, Gagik; Hernandez, Mercedes Stephania; González-Buitrago, Diego; Zharikov, Sergey; García-Díaz, Maria Teresa, E-mail: gag@astro.unam.mx [Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de México, Apdo. Postal 877, Ensenada, Baja California 22800 (Mexico)

    2014-03-01

    We conducted a spectroscopic and photometric study of SDSS J075653.11+085831. X-ray observations were also attempted. We determined the orbital period of this binary system to be 3.29 hr. It is a deep eclipsing system, whose spectra show mostly single-peaked, Balmer emission lines and a rather intense He II line. There is also the presence of faint (often double-peaked) He I emission lines as well as several absorption lines, Mg I being the most prominent. All of these features point toward the affiliation of this object with the growing number of SW Sex-type objects. We developed a phenomenological model of an SW Sex system to reproduce the observed photometric and spectral features.

  15. On the SW Sex-type eclipsing cataclysmic variable SDSS0756+0858

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tovmassian, Gagik; Hernandez, Mercedes Stephania; González-Buitrago, Diego; Zharikov, Sergey; García-Díaz, Maria Teresa

    2014-01-01

    We conducted a spectroscopic and photometric study of SDSS J075653.11+085831. X-ray observations were also attempted. We determined the orbital period of this binary system to be 3.29 hr. It is a deep eclipsing system, whose spectra show mostly single-peaked, Balmer emission lines and a rather intense He II line. There is also the presence of faint (often double-peaked) He I emission lines as well as several absorption lines, Mg I being the most prominent. All of these features point toward the affiliation of this object with the growing number of SW Sex-type objects. We developed a phenomenological model of an SW Sex system to reproduce the observed photometric and spectral features.

  16. Rapid oscillations in cataclysmic variables. VI. Periodicities in erupting dwarf novae

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patterson, J.

    1981-01-01

    We report an extensive study of the coherent oscillations observed in high-speed photometry of dwarf novae during eruption. The oscillations are in all cases singly periodic and sinusoidal to the limits of measurement. The detection of oscillations in 14 separate eruptions of AH Her and SY Cnc enables a general study of period variations. The stars trace out characteristic loops (''banana diagrams'') in the period-intensity plane. New detections are also reported for SS Cyg, EM Cyg, and HT Cas

  17. Mass loss from interacting close binary systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plavec, M. J.

    1981-01-01

    The three well-defined classes of evolved binary systems that show evidence of present and/or past mass loss are the cataclysmic variables, the Algols, and Wolf-Rayet stars. It is thought that the transformation of supergiant binary systems into the very short-period cataclysmic variables must have been a complex process. The new evidence that has recently been obtained from the far ultraviolet spectra that a certain subclass of the Algols (the Serpentids) are undergoing fairly rapid evolution is discussed. It is thought probable that the remarkable mass outflow observed in them is connected with a strong wind powered by accretion. The origin of the circumbinary clouds or flat disks that probably surround many strongly interacting binaries is not clear. Attention is also given to binary systems with hot white dwarf or subdwarf components, such as the symbiotic objects and the BQ stars; it is noted that in them both components may be prone to an enhanced stellar wind.

  18. X-ray and optical observations of the ultrashort period dwarf nova SW Ursae Majoris - A likely new DQ Herculis star

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafter, A. W.; Szkody, P.; Thorstensen, J. R.

    1986-01-01

    Time-resolved X-ray and optical photometric and optical spectroscopic observations of the ultrashort period cataclysmic variable SW UMa are reported. The spectroscopic observations reveal the presence of an s-wave component which is almost in phase with the extreme line wings and presumably the white dwarf. This very unusual phasing in conjunction with the available optical and X-ray data seems to indicate that a region of enhanced emission exists on the opposite side of the disk from the expected location of the hot spot. The photometric observations reveal the presence of a hump in the light curve occurring at an orbital phase which is consistent with the phase at which the region of enhanced line emission is most favorably seen. Changes in the hump amplitude are seen from night to night, and a 15.9 min periodicity is evident in the light curve. The optical and X-ray periodicities suggest that SW UMa is a member of the DQ Her class of cataclysmic variables.

  19. Late Pleistocene-Holocene cataclysmic eruptions at Nevado de Toluca and Jocotitlan volcanoes, central Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macias, J.L.; Garcia, P.A.; Arce, J.L.; Siebe, C.; Espindola, J.M.; Komorowski, J.C.; Scott, K.

    1997-01-01

    This field guide describes a five day trip to examine deposits of Late Pleistocene-Holocene cataclysmic eruptions at Nevado de Toluca and Jocotitlan volcanoes in central Mexico. We will discuss the stratigraphy, petrology, and sedimentological characteristics of these deposits which provide insights into the eruptive history, type of volcanic activity, and transport and emplacement mechanisms of pyroclastic materials. These parameters will allow us to discuss the kinds of hazards and the risk that they pose to populations around these volcanoes. The area to be visited is tectonically complex thus we will also discuss the location of the volcanoes with respect to the tectonic environment. The first four days of the field trip will be dedicated to Nevado de Toluca Volcano (19 degrees 09'N; 99 degrees 45'W) located at 23 km. southwest of the City of Toluca, and is the fourth highest peak in the country, reaching an elevation of 4,680 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.). Nevado de Toluca is an andesitic-dacitic stratovolcano, composed of a central vent excavated upon the remains of older craters destroyed by former events. Bloomfield and Valastro, (1974, 1977) concluded that the last cycle of activity occurred nearly equal 11,600 yr. ago. For this reason Nevado de Toluca has been considered an extinct volcano. Our studies, however, indicate that Nevado de Toluca has had at least two episodes of cone destruction by sector collapse as well as several explosive episodes including plinian eruptions and dome-destruction events. These eruptions occurred during the Pleistocene but a very young eruption characterized by surge and ash flows occurred ca. 3,300 yr. BP. This new knowledge of the volcano's eruptive history makes the evaluation of its present state of activity and the geological hazards necessary. This is important because the area is densely populated and large cities such as Toluca and Mexico are located in its proximity.

  20. The spectroscopic evolution of the symbiotic-like recurrent nova V407 Cygni during its 2010 outburst

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Shore, S. N.; Wahlgren, G.M.; Augusteijn, T.; Liimets, T.; Page, K.L.; Osborne, J.P.; Beardmore, A.P.; Koubský, Pavel; Šlechta, Miroslav; Votruba, Viktor

    2011-01-01

    Roč. 527, March (2011), A98/1-A98/15 ISSN 0004-6361 Grant - others:EU(XE) ESA PECS project No 98058. Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : novae * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 4.587, year: 2011

  1. A formal method for identifying distinct states of variability in time-varying sources: SGR A* as an example

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meyer, L.; Witzel, G.; Ghez, A. M. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 (United States); Longstaff, F. A. [UCLA Anderson School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1481 (United States)

    2014-08-10

    Continuously time variable sources are often characterized by their power spectral density and flux distribution. These quantities can undergo dramatic changes over time if the underlying physical processes change. However, some changes can be subtle and not distinguishable using standard statistical approaches. Here, we report a methodology that aims to identify distinct but similar states of time variability. We apply this method to the Galactic supermassive black hole, where 2.2 μm flux is observed from a source associated with Sgr A* and where two distinct states have recently been suggested. Our approach is taken from mathematical finance and works with conditional flux density distributions that depend on the previous flux value. The discrete, unobserved (hidden) state variable is modeled as a stochastic process and the transition probabilities are inferred from the flux density time series. Using the most comprehensive data set to date, in which all Keck and a majority of the publicly available Very Large Telescope data have been merged, we show that Sgr A* is sufficiently described by a single intrinsic state. However, the observed flux densities exhibit two states: noise dominated and source dominated. Our methodology reported here will prove extremely useful to assess the effects of the putative gas cloud G2 that is on its way toward the black hole and might create a new state of variability.

  2. General Relativity Theory Explains the Shnoll Effect and Makes Possible Forecasting Earthquakes and Weather Cataclysms (Letters to Progress in Physics

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rabounski D.

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available The Shnoll effect manifests itself in the fine structure of the noise registered in very sta- ble processes, where the magnitude of signal and the average noise remain unchanged. It is found in the periodic fluctuation of the fine structure of the noise according to the cosmic cycles connected with stars, the Sun, and the Moon. Th e Shnoll effect is ex- plained herein, employing the framework of General Relativity, as the twin / entangled synchronization states of the observer’s reference frame. The states are repeated while the observer travels, in common with the Earth, through the c osmic grid of the geodesic synchronization paths that connect his local reference fra me with the reference frames of other cosmic bodies. These synchronization periods matc h the periods that are man- ifested due to the Shnoll e ff ect, regardless of which process produces the noise. These synchronization periods are expected to exist in the noise o f natural processes of any type (physics, biology, social, etc. as well as in such arti ficial processes as computer- software random-number generation. This conclusion accor ds with what was registered according the Shnoll effect. The theory not only explains the Shnoll effect but also al- lows for forecasting fluctuations in the stock exchange mark et, fluctuations of weather, earthquakes, and other cataclysms.

  3. Identifying associations between sport sponsorship decision-making variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CH Van Heerden

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available Sport sponsorship spending in South Africa has increased steadily. This paper discusses the findings of an exploratory study into key sponsorship decision-areas, namely the setting of sponsorship objectives, the integration of marketing communication variables into sponsorship to create a leverage effect, and the measurement of sponsorship success. It is argued that for a sponsorship to be successful certain associations should exist between these key decision-making areas and also among elements internal to each of these areas. The main findings are that the respondents indicated a bias towards setting media related objectives that will subsequently enable the sponsors to use media-related measurement tools. It is recommended that sponsors should develop alternative methods to measure the effectiveness of their sponsorships.

  4. Identifying novel phenotypes of acute heart failure using cluster analysis of clinical variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horiuchi, Yu; Tanimoto, Shuzou; Latif, A H M Mahbub; Urayama, Kevin Y; Aoki, Jiro; Yahagi, Kazuyuki; Okuno, Taishi; Sato, Yu; Tanaka, Tetsu; Koseki, Keita; Komiyama, Kota; Nakajima, Hiroyoshi; Hara, Kazuhiro; Tanabe, Kengo

    2018-07-01

    Acute heart failure (AHF) is a heterogeneous disease caused by various cardiovascular (CV) pathophysiology and multiple non-CV comorbidities. We aimed to identify clinically important subgroups to improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of AHF and inform clinical decision-making. We evaluated detailed clinical data of 345 consecutive AHF patients using non-hierarchical cluster analysis of 77 variables, including age, sex, HF etiology, comorbidities, physical findings, laboratory data, electrocardiogram, echocardiogram and treatment during hospitalization. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was performed to estimate the association between the clusters and clinical outcomes. Three clusters were identified. Cluster 1 (n=108) represented "vascular failure". This cluster had the highest average systolic blood pressure at admission and lung congestion with type 2 respiratory failure. Cluster 2 (n=89) represented "cardiac and renal failure". They had the lowest ejection fraction (EF) and worst renal function. Cluster 3 (n=148) comprised mostly older patients and had the highest prevalence of atrial fibrillation and preserved EF. Death or HF hospitalization within 12-month occurred in 23% of Cluster 1, 36% of Cluster 2 and 36% of Cluster 3 (p=0.034). Compared with Cluster 1, risk of death or HF hospitalization was 1.74 (95% CI, 1.03-2.95, p=0.037) for Cluster 2 and 1.82 (95% CI, 1.13-2.93, p=0.014) for Cluster 3. Cluster analysis may be effective in producing clinically relevant categories of AHF, and may suggest underlying pathophysiology and potential utility in predicting clinical outcomes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Long-term activity of QU Car

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 338, č. 6 (2017), s. 696-699 ISSN 0004-6337 Grant - others:GA ČR(CZ) GA13-33324S Institutional support: RVO:67985815 Keywords : novae * cataclysmic variables * accretion disks Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics OBOR OECD: Astronomy (including astrophysics,space science) Impact factor: 0.916, year: 2016

  6. Photometry of the three eclipsing novalike variables EC 21178-5417, GS Pav and V345 Pav

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bruch, Albert

    2017-10-01

    As part of a project to better characterize comparatively bright, yet little studied cataclysmic variables time resolved photometry of the three eclipsing novalike variables EC 21178-5417, GS Pav und V345 Pav is presented. Previously known orbital periods are significantly improved and long-term ephemeris are derived. Variations of eclipse profiles, occurring on time scales of days to weeks, are analyzed. Out of eclipse the light curves are characterized by low scale flickering superposed on more gradual variations with amplitudes limited to a few tenths of a magnitude and profiles which at least in EC 21178-5417 and GS Pav roughly follow the same pattern in all observed cycles. Additionally, signs for variations on the time scale of some tens of minutes are seen in GS Pav, most clearly in two subsequent nights when in the first of these a signal with a period of 15.7 min was observed over several hours. In the second night variations with twice this period were seen. While no additional insight could be gained on quasi periodic oscillations (QPOs) and dwarf nova oscillations in EC 21178-5417, previously detected by Warner et al. (2003), and while such oscillations could not be found in V345 Pav, stacked power spectra of GS Pav clearly reveal the presence of QPOs over time intervals of several hours with periods varying between 200 s and 500 s in that system.

  7. Identifying variables that influence manufacturing product quality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marek Krynke

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available In the article a risk analysis of the production process of selected products in a plant producing votive candles was conducted. The Pareto-Lorenz diagram and FMEA method were used which indicated the most important areas affecting the production of selected elements of candles. The synthesis of intangible factors affecting production in the audited company was also carried out with particular emphasis on the operation of the production system. The factors determining the validity of studies was examined, describing the principle of BOST 14 Toyota management. The most important areas of the company were identified, positively affecting the production process.

  8. New stars for old

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henbest, N.

    1980-01-01

    Observations of novas made through the ages, the identity of the close double stars which make up these cataclysmic variables and the physics of nova explosions, are discussed. A picture is outlined which explains novas, dwarf novas and recurrent novas and provides a basis for interpreting the latest so called x-ray novas. (U.K.)

  9. The BINSYN Program Package

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Albert P. Linnell

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available The BINSYN program package, recently expanded to calculate synthetic spectra of cataclysmic variables, is being further extended to include synthetic photometry of ordinary binary stars in addition to binary stars with optically thick accretion disks. The package includes a capability for differentials correction optimization of eclipsing binary systems using synthetic photometry.

  10. YY Sex: a Polar Candidate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gabdeev, M. M.; Shimanskiy, V. V.; Borisov, N. V.; Tazieva, Z. R.

    2017-06-01

    We present spectroscopic investigations of a cataclysmic variable star, YY Sex. There are some uncertainties in the classification of this object. We calculate Doppler maps for Hβ and HeII λ4686Å and show that there is no sign of disk accretion in YY Sex. Consequently, we conclude that YY Sex is a polar.

  11. Circular polarimetry of EXO 033319-2554.2 - A new eclipsing AM Herculis star

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berriman, Graham; Smith, Paul S.

    1988-01-01

    This Letter presents circular polarimetry that unequivocally identifies EXO 033319-2554.2 as only the third eclipsing AM Her star and brings the total number of AM Her stars now identified to 14. The orbital period is 126.4 minutes, as previously reported, and defines a new short-period edge to the period gap seen in all classes of cataclysmic variable stars. EXO 033319-2554.2 shows 2.5 mag deep eclipses of the predominantly accreting magnetic pole on the white dwarf. Before the eclipse, the pole rotates into the line of sight and shows white-light circular polarization, due to cyclotron radiation, that reaches values as high as 10 percent. There is some evidence that the second pole is emitting cyclotron radiation too. How high time resolution photometry, linear polarimetry, and spectroscopy will be of great value in understanding this system.

  12. Workshop on The Golden Age of Cataclysmic Variables and Related Objects - II .

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Editorial, Foreword

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Organizing Institutions:INAF – Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Roma – INAF-IAPS, Roma, ItalyINTA – Dpt. de Cargas Utiles y Ciencias del Espacio, INTA-DCUCE, Madrid, SpainCzech Republic Academy of Sciences – Astronomical Institute, ASCR-AI, Ondřejov, Czech RepublicCzech Technical University, CTU in Prague, Czech RepublicDepartment of Physics, Technion, Haifa, IsraelRussian Academy of Sciences – Institute of Astronomy, RAS-IA, Moscow, RussiaINAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, INAF-OAC, Napoli, ItalyDepartment of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

  13. Lominous binary supersoft X-ray sources: optical colors and absolute magnitudes

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Šimon, Vojtěch

    2003-01-01

    Roč. 406, č. 2 (2003), s. 613-621 ISSN 0004-6361 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KSK1048102; GA ČR GA205/00/P013 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z1003909 Keywords : close star binaries * circumstellar matter * cataclysmic variables Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics Impact factor: 3.843, year: 2003

  14. The dance of the double stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Theokas, A.

    1985-01-01

    The paper concerns pairs of stars orbiting one another. The evolutionary path model for close binary stars, involving a mass transfer of gases between the stars, is described. The life history of a single star; cataclysmic variables; the algol paradox, matter and lagranges' point; x-ray binaries and bursters; and pulsars; are all briefly discussed. (U.K.)

  15. The classical nova outburst

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Starrfield, S.G.

    1988-01-01

    The classical nova outburst occurs on the white dwarf component in a close binary system. Nova systems are members of the general class of cataclysmic variables and other members of the class are the Dwarf Novae, AM Her variables, Intermediate Polars, Recurrent Novae, and some of the Symbiotic variables. Although multiwavelength observations have already provided important information about all of these systems, in this review I will concentrate on the outbursts of the classical and recurrent novae and refer to other members of the class only when necessary. 140 refs., 1 tab

  16. Hubble Space Telescope Ultraviolet Light Curves Reveal Interesting Properties of CC Sculptoris and RZ Leonis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Szkody, Paula; Mukadam, Anjum S. [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle, WA 98195 (United States); Toloza, Odette; Gänsicke, Boris T.; Pala, Anna F. [Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Dai, Zhibin [Yunnan Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 396 Yangfangwang, Guandu District, Kunming, 650216 (China); Waagen, Elizabeth O. [AAVSO, 48 Bay State Rd, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Godon, Patrick; Sion, Edward M., E-mail: szkody@astro.washington.edu [Department of Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085 (United States)

    2017-03-01

    Time-tag ultraviolet data obtained on the Hubble Space Telescope in 2013 reveal interesting variability related to the white dwarf spin in the two cataclysmic variables RZ Leo and CC Scl. RZ Leo shows a period at 220 s and its harmonic at 110 s, thus identifying it as a likely Intermediate Polar (IP). The spin signal is not visible in a short single night of ground-based data in 2016, but the shorter exposures in that data set indicate a possible partial eclipse. The much larger UV amplitude of the spin signal in the known IP CC Scl allows the spin of 389 s, previously only seen at outburst, to be visible at quiescence. Spectra created from the peaks and troughs of the spin times indicate a hotter temperature of several thousand degrees during the peak phases, with multiple components contributing to the UV light.

  17. The interprocess NIR sampling as an alternative approach to multivariate statistical process control for identifying sources of product-quality variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marković, Snežana; Kerč, Janez; Horvat, Matej

    2017-03-01

    We are presenting a new approach of identifying sources of variability within a manufacturing process by NIR measurements of samples of intermediate material after each consecutive unit operation (interprocess NIR sampling technique). In addition, we summarize the development of a multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) model for the production of enteric-coated pellet product of the proton-pump inhibitor class. By developing provisional NIR calibration models, the identification of critical process points yields comparable results to the established MSPC modeling procedure. Both approaches are shown to lead to the same conclusion, identifying parameters of extrusion/spheronization and characteristics of lactose that have the greatest influence on the end-product's enteric coating performance. The proposed approach enables quicker and easier identification of variability sources during manufacturing process, especially in cases when historical process data is not straightforwardly available. In the presented case the changes of lactose characteristics are influencing the performance of the extrusion/spheronization process step. The pellet cores produced by using one (considered as less suitable) lactose source were on average larger and more fragile, leading to consequent breakage of the cores during subsequent fluid bed operations. These results were confirmed by additional experimental analyses illuminating the underlying mechanism of fracture of oblong pellets during the pellet coating process leading to compromised film coating.

  18. Directional semivariogram analysis to identify and rank controls on the spatial variability of fracture networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanke, John R.; Fischer, Mark P.; Pollyea, Ryan M.

    2018-03-01

    In this study, the directional semivariogram is deployed to investigate the spatial variability of map-scale fracture network attributes in the Paradox Basin, Utah. The relative variability ratio (R) is introduced as the ratio of integrated anisotropic semivariogram models, and R is shown to be an effective metric for quantifying the magnitude of spatial variability for any two azimuthal directions. R is applied to a GIS-based data set comprising roughly 1200 fractures, in an area which is bounded by a map-scale anticline and a km-scale normal fault. This analysis reveals that proximity to the fault strongly influences the magnitude of spatial variability for both fracture intensity and intersection density within 1-2 km. Additionally, there is significant anisotropy in the spatial variability, which is correlated with trends of the anticline and fault. The direction of minimum spatial correlation is normal to the fault at proximal distances, and gradually rotates and becomes subparallel to the fold axis over the same 1-2 km distance away from the fault. We interpret these changes to reflect varying scales of influence of the fault and the fold on fracture network development: the fault locally influences the magnitude and variability of fracture network attributes, whereas the fold sets the background level and structure of directional variability.

  19. ASAS-SN Discovery of a Possible Galactic Nova ASASSN-18ix

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stanek, K. Z.; Kochanek, C. S.; Shields, J. V.; Thompson, T. A.; Chomiuk, L.; Strader, J.; Shappee, B. J.; Holoien, T. W.-S.; Prieto, J. L.; Dong, Subo; Stritzinger, M.

    2018-04-01

    During the ongoing All Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN, Shappee et al. 2014), using data from multiple ASAS-SN telescopes, we detect a new bright transient source, possibly a classical nova, but it might also be a young, large amplitude outburst of a cataclysmic variable Object RA (J2000) DEC (J2000) Gal l (deg) Gal b (deg) Disc.

  20. ENIGMATIC RECURRENT PULSATIONAL VARIABILITY OF THE ACCRETING WHITE DWARF EQ LYN (SDSS J074531.92+453829.6)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mukadam, Anjum S.; Szkody, Paula [Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195-1580 (United States); Townsley, D. M.; Brockett, T. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (United States); Gaensicke, B. T.; Parsons, S. [Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Southworth, J. [Astrophysics Group, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG (United Kingdom); Hermes, J. J.; Montgomery, M. H.; Winget, D. E.; Harrold, S. [Department of Astronomy, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78759 (United States); Tovmassian, G.; Zharikov, S. [Observatorio Astronomico Nacional SPM, Instituto de Astronomia, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Ensenada, BC (Mexico); Drake, A. J. [Department of Astronomy and the Center for Advanced Computing Research, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91225 (United States); Henden, A. [American Association of Variable Star Observers, 25 Birch Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Rodriguez-Gil, P. [Departamento de Astrofisica, Universidad de La Laguna, La Laguna, E-38204 Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain); Sion, E. M. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Villanova University, Villanova, PA 19085 (United States); Zola, S.; Szymanski, T. [Astronomical Observatory, Jagiellonian University, ul. Orla 171, PL-30-244 Krakow (Poland); Pavlenko, E. [Crimean Astrophysical Observatory, Crimea 98409 (Ukraine); and others

    2013-09-15

    Photometric observations of the cataclysmic variable EQ Lyn (SDSS J074531.92+453829.6), acquired from 2005 October to 2006 January, revealed high-amplitude variability in the range 1166-1290 s. This accreting white dwarf underwent an outburst in 2006 October, during which its brightness increased by at least five magnitudes, and it started exhibiting superhumps in its light curve. Upon cooling to quiescence, the superhumps disappeared and it displayed the same periods in 2010 February as prior to the outburst within the uncertainties of a couple of seconds. This behavior suggests that the observed variability is likely due to nonradial pulsations in the white dwarf star, whose core structure has not been significantly affected by the outburst. The enigmatic observations begin with an absence of pulsational variability during a multi-site campaign conducted in 2011 January-February without any evidence of a new outburst; the light curve is instead dominated by superhumps with periods in the range of 83-87 minutes. Ultraviolet Hubble Space Telescope time-series spectroscopy acquired in 2011 March reveals an effective temperature of 15,400 K, placing EQ Lyn within the broad instability strip of 10,500-16,000 K for accreting pulsators. The ultraviolet light curve with 90% flux from the white dwarf shows no evidence of any pulsations. Optical photometry acquired during 2011 and Spring 2012 continues to reflect the presence of superhumps and an absence of pulsations. Subsequent observations acquired in 2012 December and 2013 January finally indicate the disappearance of superhumps and the return of pulsational variability with similar periods as previous data. However, our most recent data from 2013 March to May reveal superhumps yet again with no sign of pulsations. We speculate that this enigmatic post-outburst behavior of the frequent disappearance of pulsational variability in EQ Lyn is caused either by heating the white dwarf beyond the instability strip due to an

  1. A multivariate and stochastic approach to identify key variables to rank dairy farms on profitability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atzori, A S; Tedeschi, L O; Cannas, A

    2013-05-01

    The economic efficiency of dairy farms is the main goal of farmers. The objective of this work was to use routinely available information at the dairy farm level to develop an index of profitability to rank dairy farms and to assist the decision-making process of farmers to increase the economic efficiency of the entire system. A stochastic modeling approach was used to study the relationships between inputs and profitability (i.e., income over feed cost; IOFC) of dairy cattle farms. The IOFC was calculated as: milk revenue + value of male calves + culling revenue - herd feed costs. Two databases were created. The first one was a development database, which was created from technical and economic variables collected in 135 dairy farms. The second one was a synthetic database (sDB) created from 5,000 synthetic dairy farms using the Monte Carlo technique and based on the characteristics of the development database data. The sDB was used to develop a ranking index as follows: (1) principal component analysis (PCA), excluding IOFC, was used to identify principal components (sPC); and (2) coefficient estimates of a multiple regression of the IOFC on the sPC were obtained. Then, the eigenvectors of the sPC were used to compute the principal component values for the original 135 dairy farms that were used with the multiple regression coefficient estimates to predict IOFC (dRI; ranking index from development database). The dRI was used to rank the original 135 dairy farms. The PCA explained 77.6% of the sDB variability and 4 sPC were selected. The sPC were associated with herd profile, milk quality and payment, poor management, and reproduction based on the significant variables of the sPC. The mean IOFC in the sDB was 0.1377 ± 0.0162 euros per liter of milk (€/L). The dRI explained 81% of the variability of the IOFC calculated for the 135 original farms. When the number of farms below and above 1 standard deviation (SD) of the dRI were calculated, we found that 21

  2. Circular polarimetry of EXO 033319-2554.2 - a new eclipsing AM Herculis star

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berriman, G.; Smith, P.S.

    1988-01-01

    This Letter presents circular polarimetry that unequivocally identifies EXO 033319-2554.2 as only the third eclipsing AM Her star and brings the total number of AM Her stars now identified to 14. The orbital period is 126.4 minutes, as previously reported, and defines a new short-period edge to the period gap seen in all classes of cataclysmic variable stars. EXO 033319-2554.2 shows 2.5 mag deep eclipses of the predominantly accreting magnetic pole on the white dwarf. Before the eclipse, the pole rotates into the line of sight and shows white-light circular polarization, due to cyclotron radiation, that reaches values as high as 10 percent. There is some evidence that the second pole is emitting cyclotron radiation too. How high time resolution photometry, linear polarimetry, and spectroscopy will be of great value in understanding this system. 17 references

  3. Identifying market segments in consumer markets: variable selection and data interpretation

    OpenAIRE

    Tonks, D G

    2004-01-01

    Market segmentation is often articulated as being a process which displays the recognised features of classical rationalism but in part; convention, convenience, prior experience and the overarching impact of rhetoric will influence if not determine the outcomes of a segmentation exercise. Particular examples of this process are addressed critically in this paper which concentrates on the issues of variable choice for multivariate approaches to market segmentation and also the methods used fo...

  4. VariableR Reclustering in Multiple Top Quark and W Boson Events

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hyde, Jeremy [SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

    2015-08-14

    VariableR jet reclustering is an innovative technique that allows for the reconstruction of boosted object over a wide range of kinematic regimes. Such capability enables the efficient identification of events with multiple boosted top quarks which is a typical signature for new physics processes such as the production of the supersymmetric partner of the gluon. In order to evaluate the performance of the algorithm, the VariableR reclustered jets are compared with fixed radius reclustered jets. The flexibility of the algorithm is tested by reconstructing both boosted top quarks and boosted W bosons. The VariableR reclustering method is found to be more efficient than the fixed radius algorithm at identifying top quarks and W bosons in events with four top quarks, therefore enhancing the sensitivity for gluino searches.

  5. Discovery of an old nova shell surrounding the cataclysmic variable V1315 Aql

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sahman, D. I.; Dhillon, V. S.; Littlefair, S. P.; Hallinan, G.

    2018-04-01

    Following our tentative discovery of a faint shell around V1315 Aql reported in Sahman et al. (2015), we undertook deep Hα imaging and intermediate-resolution spectroscopy of the shell. We find that the shell has its geometric centre located on V1315 Aql. The mass, spectral features and density of the shell are consistent with other nova shells, rather than planetary nebulae or supernova remnants. The radial velocity of the shell is consistent with the systemic velocity of V1315 Aql. We believe this evidence strongly suggests that the shell originates from an earlier nova event. This is the first nova shell discovered around a novalike, and supports the theory of nova-induced cycles in mass transfer rates (hibernation theory) first proposed by Shara et al. (1986).

  6. Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Spectroscopy of the Nova-Like Cataclysmic Variable BB Doradus

    Science.gov (United States)

    2008-06-27

    which we have best-fit models in the parameter space, we use the infrared magnitudes J, H, and K from the Two Micron All Sky Survey ( 2MASS ) to assess the...in a high state with a visual red magnitude R ¼ 14:60 and a blue magnitude B ¼ 13:90 (whereas B 16:5 in the low state). The 2MASS IR apparent...therefore certainly larger than 300 pc, and most likely in the range of 500 pc. Since BB Dor was observed in a high state (with 2MASS ), it is likely

  7. Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Spectroscopy of the Nova-Like Cataclysmic Variable BB Doradus

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Godon, Patrick; Sion, Edward M; Barrett, Paul E; Szkody, Paula; Schlegel, Eric M

    2008-01-01

    ... (possibly lower than 10 ). Assuming an average white dwarf (WD) mass of 0.8 M leads to a mass accretion rate of 10 9 M yr 1 and a distance on the order of 650 pc, consistent with the extremely low Galactic reddening in the direction of BB Dor...

  8. U-Pb geochronology of zircons form lunar Breccia 73217 using a sensitive high mass-resolution ion microprobe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Compston, W.; Williams, I.S.

    1984-01-01

    U-Pb age determinations on four lunar zircons from existing thin-sections of one highland breccia, 73217, using the recently constructed ion microprobe SHRIMP, are reported. The analytical reproducibility of SHRIMP is demonstrated, and procedures for measuring Pb/U, Th/U, and corecting for initial Pb are explained. Electron microprobe analyses for the zircons are also reported. The results show that the four zircons survived the lunar cataclysm without any identifiable effects on their U-Pb systematics. All four indicate a single age of 4356 +23 or -14 m.y. The zircons have experienced small variable amounts of Pb loss since crystallization, from almost zero up to about 10 percent. If this occurred during one later event, then age of the latter is between 1100 and 2300 m.y. 18 references

  9. Identifying Factors Causing Variability in Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Fluxes in a Polygonal Tundra Landscape

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arora, B.; Wainwright, H. M.; Vaughn, L. S.; Curtis, J. B.; Torn, M. S.; Dafflon, B.; Hubbard, S. S.

    2017-12-01

    Greenhouse gas (GHG) flux variations in Arctic tundra environments are important to understand because of the vast amount of soil carbon stored in these regions and the potential of these regions to convert from a global carbon sink to a source under warmer conditions. Multiple factors potentially contribute to GHG flux variations observed in these environments, including snowmelt timing, growing season length, active layer thickness, water table variations, and temperature fluctuations. The objectives of this study are to investigate temporal variability in CO2 and CH4 fluxes at Barrow, AK over three successive growing seasons (2012-14) and to determine the factors influencing this variability using a novel entropy-based classification scheme. We analyzed soil, vegetation, and climate parameters as well as GHG fluxes at multiple locations within low-, flat- and high-centered polygons at Barrow, AK as part of the Next Generation Ecosystem Experiment (NGEE) Arctic project. Entropy results indicate that different environmental factors govern variability in GHG fluxes under different spatiotemporal settings. In particular, flat-centered polygons are more likely to become significant sources of CO2 during warm and dry years as opposed to high-centered polygons that contribute considerably to CO2 emissions during cold and wet years. In contrast, the highest CH4 emissions were always associated with low-centered polygons. Temporal variability in CO2 fluxes was primarily associated with factors affecting soil temperature and/or vegetation dynamics during early and late season periods. Temporal variability in CH4 fluxes was primarily associated with changes in vegetation cover and its covariability with primary controls such as seasonal thaw—rather than direct response to changes in soil moisture. Overall, entropy results document which factors became important under different spatiotemporal settings, thus providing clues concerning the manner in which ecosystem

  10. Inter Annual Variability of the Acoustic Propagation in the Yellow Sea Identified from a Synoptic Monthly Gridded Database as Compared with GDEM

    Science.gov (United States)

    2016-09-01

    resolution in SMG-WOD, and thus less data levels for such shallow water . A comprehensive collection of salinity images by years can be found in the...DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words ) This research investigates the inter-annual acoustic variability in the Yellow Sea identified from...is a semi-enclosed basin located between China and Korea with a mean depth of 40m; acoustics are driven by shallow water dynamics and interaction with

  11. Predicting suicidal ideation in primary care: An approach to identify easily assessable key variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Pascal; Shedden-Mora, Meike C; Löwe, Bernd

    To obtain predictors of suicidal ideation, which can also be used for an indirect assessment of suicidal ideation (SI). To create a classifier for SI based on variables of the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) and sociodemographic variables, and to obtain an upper bound on the best possible performance of a predictor based on those variables. From a consecutive sample of 9025 primary care patients, 6805 eligible patients (60% female; mean age = 51.5 years) participated. Advanced methods of machine learning were used to derive the prediction equation. Various classifiers were applied and the area under the curve (AUC) was computed as a performance measure. Classifiers based on methods of machine learning outperformed ordinary regression methods and achieved AUCs around 0.87. The key variables in the prediction equation comprised four items - namely feelings of depression/hopelessness, low self-esteem, worrying, and severe sleep disturbances. The generalized anxiety disorder scale (GAD-7) and the somatic symptom subscale (PHQ-15) did not enhance prediction substantially. In predicting suicidal ideation researchers should refrain from using ordinary regression tools. The relevant information is primarily captured by the depression subscale and should be incorporated in a nonlinear model. For clinical practice, a classification tree using only four items of the whole PHQ may be advocated. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. THE CHANDRA VARIABLE GUIDE STAR CATALOG

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nichols, Joy S.; Lauer, Jennifer L.; Morgan, Douglas L.; Sundheim, Beth A.; Henden, Arne A.; Huenemoerder, David P.; Martin, Eric

    2010-01-01

    Variable stars have been identified among the optical-wavelength light curves of guide stars used for pointing control of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. We present a catalog of these variable stars along with their light curves and ancillary data. Variability was detected to a lower limit of 0.02 mag amplitude in the 4000-10000 A range using the photometrically stable Aspect Camera on board the Chandra spacecraft. The Chandra Variable Guide Star Catalog (VGUIDE) contains 827 stars, of which 586 are classified as definitely variable and 241 are identified as possibly variable. Of the 586 definite variable stars, we believe 319 are new variable star identifications. Types of variables in the catalog include eclipsing binaries, pulsating stars, and rotating stars. The variability was detected during the course of normal verification of each Chandra pointing and results from analysis of over 75,000 guide star light curves from the Chandra mission. The VGUIDE catalog represents data from only about 9 years of the Chandra mission. Future releases of VGUIDE will include newly identified variable guide stars as the mission proceeds. An important advantage of the use of space data to identify and analyze variable stars is the relatively long observations that are available. The Chandra orbit allows for observations up to 2 days in length. Also, guide stars were often used multiple times for Chandra observations, so many of the stars in the VGUIDE catalog have multiple light curves available from various times in the mission. The catalog is presented as both online data associated with this paper and as a public Web interface. Light curves with data at the instrumental time resolution of about 2 s, overplotted with the data binned at 1 ks, can be viewed on the public Web interface and downloaded for further analysis. VGUIDE is a unique project using data collected during the mission that would otherwise be ignored. The stars available for use as Chandra guide stars are

  13. Optical, UV, and EUV Oscillations of SS Cygni in Outburst

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mauche, Christopher W.

    2004-07-01

    I provide a review of observations in the optical, UV (HST), and EUV (EUVE and Chandra LETG) of the rapid periodic oscillations of nonmagnetic, disk-accreting, high mass-accretion rate cataclysmic variables (CVs), with particular emphasis on the dwarf nova SS Cyg in outburst. In addition, I drawn attention to a correlation, valid over nearly six orders of magnitude in frequency, between the frequencies of the quasi-periodic oscillations (QPOs) of white dwarf, neutron star, and black hole binaries. This correlation identifies the high frequency quasi-coherent oscillations (so-called ``dwarf nova oscillations'') of CVs with the kilohertz QPOs of low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), and the low frequency and low coherence QPOs of CVs with the horizontal branch oscillations (or the broad noise component identified as such) of LMXBs. Assuming that the same mechanisms produce the QPOs of white dwarf, neutron star, and black hole binaries, this correlation has important implications for QPO models.

  14. Superoutburst of 0203+56A UV Persei

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waagen, Elizabeth O.

    1991-12-01

    Cataclysmic variable 0203+56A UV Per is currently undergoing a superoutburst reaching ~11.5 magnitude. SU UMa is also in superoutburst reaching ~11.7 magnitude. Reiki Kushida made a visual discovery of a supernova in NGC 4374 on December 9.844 UT. 1950 Epoch position is set at 12h 22' 31.54", +13° 08' 52.4". Observations of the supernova its magnitude at ~14.7.

  15. Photometry and Low Dispersion Spectroscopy with ESA Gaia

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hudec, R.; Šimon, Vojtěch; Hudec, L.

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 2010, - (2010), 781421/1-781421/7 ISSN 1687-7969 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/08/1207 Grant - others:GA AV ČR(CZ) GA102/09/0997; GA MŠk(CZ) ME09027; ESA(XE) ESA- PECS project No. Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : high-energy sources * cataclysmic variables * low-dispersion spectra Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  16. Identifying Pertinent Variables for Nonresponse Follow-Up Surveys. Lessons Learned from 4 Cases in Switzerland

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caroline Vandenplas

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available All social surveys suffer from different types of errors, of which one of the most studied is non-response bias. Non-response bias is a systematic error that occurs because individuals differ in their accessibility and propensity to participate in a survey according to their own characteristics as well as those from the survey itself. The extent of the problem heavily depends on the correlation between response mechanisms and key survey variables. However, non-response bias is difficult to measure or to correct for due to the lack of relevant data about the whole target population or sample. In this paper, non-response follow-up surveys are considered as a possible source of information about non-respondents. Non-response follow-ups, however, suffer from two methodological issues: they themselves operate through a response mechanism that can cause potential non-response bias, and they pose a problem of comparability of measure, mostly because the survey design differs between main survey and non-response follow-up. In order to detect possible bias, the survey variables included in non-response surveys have to be related to the mechanism of participation, but not be sensitive to measurement effects due to the different designs. Based on accumulated experience of four similar non-response follow-ups, we studied the survey variables that fulfill these conditions. We differentiated socio-demographic variables that are measurement-invariant but have a lower correlation with non-response and variables that measure attitudes, such as trust, social participation, or integration in the public sphere, which are more sensitive to measurement effects but potentially more appropriate to account for the non-response mechanism. Our results show that education level, work status, and living alone, as well as political interest, satisfaction with democracy, and trust in institutions are pertinent variables to include in non-response follow-ups of general social

  17. Variable stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feast, M.W.; Wenzel, W.; Fernie, J.D.; Percy, J.R.; Smak, J.; Gascoigne, S.C.B.; Grindley, J.E.; Lovell, B.; Sawyer Hogg, H.B.; Baker, N.; Fitch, W.S.; Rosino, L.; Gursky, H.

    1976-01-01

    A critical review of variable stars is presented. A fairly complete summary of major developments and discoveries during the period 1973-1975 is given. The broad developments and new trends are outlined. Essential problems for future research are identified. (B.R.H. )

  18. Coherence method of identifying signal noise model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vavrin, J.

    1981-01-01

    The noise analysis method is discussed in identifying perturbance models and their parameters by a stochastic analysis of the noise model of variables measured on a reactor. The analysis of correlations is made in the frequency region using coherence analysis methods. In identifying an actual specific perturbance, its model should be determined and recognized in a compound model of the perturbance system using the results of observation. The determination of the optimum estimate of the perturbance system model is based on estimates of related spectral densities which are determined from the spectral density matrix of the measured variables. Partial and multiple coherence, partial transfers, the power spectral densities of the input and output variables of the noise model are determined from the related spectral densities. The possibilities of applying the coherence identification methods were tested on a simple case of a simulated stochastic system. Good agreement was found of the initial analytic frequency filters and the transfers identified. (B.S.)

  19. Practices for Identifying and Rejecting Hemolyzed Specimens Are Highly Variable in Clinical Laboratories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howanitz, Peter J; Lehman, Christopher M; Jones, Bruce A; Meier, Frederick A; Horowitz, Gary L

    2015-08-01

    Hemolysis is an important clinical laboratory quality attribute that influences result reliability. To determine hemolysis identification and rejection practices occurring in clinical laboratories. We used the College of American Pathologists Survey program to distribute a Q-Probes-type questionnaire about hemolysis practices to Chemistry Survey participants. Of 3495 participants sent the questionnaire, 846 (24%) responded. In 71% of 772 laboratories, the hemolysis rate was less than 3.0%, whereas in 5%, it was 6.0% or greater. A visual scale, an instrument scale, and combination of visual and instrument scales were used to identify hemolysis in 48%, 11%, and 41% of laboratories, respectively. A picture of the hemolysis level was used as an aid to technologists' visual interpretation of hemolysis levels in 40% of laboratories. In 7.0% of laboratories, all hemolyzed specimens were rejected; in 4% of laboratories, no hemolyzed specimens were rejected; and in 88% of laboratories, some specimens were rejected depending on hemolysis levels. Participants used 69 different terms to describe hemolysis scales, with 21 terms used in more than 10 laboratories. Slight and moderate were the terms used most commonly. Of 16 different cutoffs used to reject hemolyzed specimens, moderate was the most common, occurring in 30% of laboratories. For whole blood electrolyte measurements performed in 86 laboratories, 57% did not evaluate the presence of hemolysis, but for those that did, the most common practice in 21 laboratories (24%) was centrifuging and visually determining the presence of hemolysis in all specimens. Hemolysis practices vary widely. Standard assessment and consistent reporting are the first steps in reducing interlaboratory variability among results.

  20. Identifying High Performance ERP Projects

    OpenAIRE

    Stensrud, Erik; Myrtveit, Ingunn

    2002-01-01

    Learning from high performance projects is crucial for software process improvement. Therefore, we need to identify outstanding projects that may serve as role models. It is common to measure productivity as an indicator of performance. It is vital that productivity measurements deal correctly with variable returns to scale and multivariate data. Software projects generally exhibit variable returns to scale, and the output from ERP projects is multivariate. We propose to use Data Envelopment ...

  1. Request for Observations of V405 Peg

    Science.gov (United States)

    Templeton, Matthew R.

    2009-12-01

    Dr. Axel Schwope (Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam) requests time-series monitoring of the magnetic cataclysmic variable V405 Pegasi from 2009 December 28 through 2009 December 30. These observations are requested in support of a planned XMM-Newton observation of V405 Peg on 2009 December 29 beginning at 18:51 UT (JD 2455195.2854) and continuing for 12.5 hours. Observers are asked to provide intensive coverage during the three day window centered on the XMM-Newton observation to provide information on the activity state of V405 Peg, to improve the orbital ephemeris, and to provide optical data that will help constrain the spectral energy distribution of this poorly understood cataclysmic variable. The primary filters for this observation are Johnson B and Cousins I, but all observations will be useful for determining the orbital ephemeris. V405 Peg may show both orbital modulation as well as changes in its activity level. The orbital period is approximately four hours, and observers are asked to obtain at least ten and preferably more data points per cycle in each filter. Please use exposure times that provide S/N of at least 20 in both the comparison and target stars but short exposure times are preferred to detect flickering and other short-timescale variations. Finder charts with sequence may be created using the AAVSO Variable Star Plotter (http://www.aavso.org/vsp). Observations should be submitted to the AAVSO International Database. See full Alert Notice for more details.

  2. Detailed EXOSAT and optical observations of the intermediate polar 3A0729+103: discovery of two medium energy X-ray emission regions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McHardy, I.M.; Pye, J.P.; Fairall, A.P.; Menzies, J.W.

    1987-01-01

    EXOSAT observations of the intermediate polar cataclysmic variable 3A0729+103 reveal a strong orbital modulation, with the 2-4KeV X-rays being significantly more modulated than the 4-6keV X-rays, indicative of photoelectric absorption. The 913 second modulation which is very prominent in the optical light curve, is weakly detected in the medium-energy X-ray light curve, confirming that it represents the white dwarf spin period. These observations are well explained by a combination of two sources of medium-energy X-ray emission. The presence of two emission regions is also clearly seen in the optical spectroscopy, particularly in the intensity of the He II4686 line which has two peaks during the orbit. The authors identify the two optical emission regions with the two X-ray emission regions. (author)

  3. Observations of eclipses of UU Sge

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimansky, V. V.; Borisov, N. V.; Bikmaev, I. F.; Shimanskaya, N. N.

    2012-06-01

    We have performed spectroscopy and photometry of eclipses of the pre-cataclysmic variable UUSge using the 6-m telescope of the Special AstrophysicalObservatory and the 1.5-mRussian-Turkish telescope. Our analysis of variations of the B- V and V- R color indices during the eclipses indicates that the temperature of the secondary is T eff,2 = 6000-6300 K. A similar value, T eff,2 = 6200 ± 200 K, follows from our comparison of the observed spectrum of UU Sge at the total eclipse phase and theoretical spectra of late-type stars. We identify 27 absorption lines of 11 chemical elements in the secondary's spectrum. Their abnormal intensities indicate possible high-velocity turbulent motions (up to ξ turb = 10.0 km/s) in the atmosphere of the star and the presence of hot gas above its surface.

  4. Low-frequency variability in North Sea and Baltic Sea identified through simulations with the 3-D coupled physical–biogeochemical model ECOSMO

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    U. Daewel

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Here we present results from a long-term model simulation of the 3-D coupled ecosystem model ECOSMO II for a North Sea and Baltic Sea set-up. The model allows both multi-decadal hindcast simulation of the marine system and specific process studies under controlled environmental conditions. Model results have been analysed with respect to long-term multi-decadal variability in both physical and biological parameters with the help of empirical orthogonal function (EOF analysis. The analysis of a 61-year (1948–2008 hindcast reveals a quasi-decadal variation in salinity, temperature and current fields in the North Sea in addition to singular events of major changes during restricted time frames. These changes in hydrodynamic variables were found to be associated with changes in ecosystem productivity that are temporally aligned with the timing of reported regime shifts in the areas. Our results clearly indicate that for analysing ecosystem productivity, spatially explicit methods are indispensable. Especially in the North Sea, a correlation analysis between atmospheric forcing and primary production (PP reveals significant correlations between PP and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO and wind forcing for the central part of the region, while the Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation (AMO and air temperature are correlated to long-term changes in PP in the southern North Sea frontal areas. Since correlations cannot serve to identify causal relationship, we performed scenario model runs perturbing the temporal variability in forcing condition to emphasize specifically the role of solar radiation, wind and eutrophication. The results revealed that, although all parameters are relevant for the magnitude of PP in the North Sea and Baltic Sea, the dominant impact on long-term variability and major shifts in ecosystem productivity was introduced by modulations of the wind fields.

  5. Structural parameter identifiability analysis for dynamic reaction networks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Davidescu, Florin Paul; Jørgensen, Sten Bay

    2008-01-01

    method based on Lie derivatives. The proposed systematic two phase methodology is illustrated on a mass action based model for an enzymatically catalyzed reaction pathway network where only a limited set of variables is measured. The methodology clearly pinpoints the structurally identifiable parameters...... where for a given set of measured variables it is desirable to investigate which parameters may be estimated prior to spending computational effort on the actual estimation. This contribution addresses the structural parameter identifiability problem for the typical case of reaction network models....... The proposed analysis is performed in two phases. The first phase determines the structurally identifiable reaction rates based on reaction network stoichiometry. The second phase assesses the structural parameter identifiability of the specific kinetic rate expressions using a generating series expansion...

  6. Identifying the sources driving observed PM2.5 temporal variability over Halifax, Nova Scotia, during BORTAS-B

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. D. Gibson

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available The source attribution of observed variability of total PM2.5 concentrations over Halifax, Nova Scotia, was investigated between 11 July and 26 August 2011 using measurements of PM2.5 mass and PM2.5 chemical composition (black carbon, organic matter, anions, cations and 33 elements. This was part of the BORTAS-B (quantifying the impact of BOReal forest fires on Tropospheric oxidants using Aircraft and Satellites experiment, which investigated the atmospheric chemistry and transport of seasonal boreal wildfire emissions over eastern Canada in 2011. The US EPA Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF receptor model was used to determine the average mass (percentage source contribution over the 45 days, which was estimated to be as follows: long-range transport (LRT pollution: 1.75 μg m−3 (47%; LRT pollution marine mixture: 1.0 μg m−3 (27.9%; vehicles: 0.49 μg m−3 (13.2%; fugitive dust: 0.23 μg m−3 (6.3%; ship emissions: 0.13 μg m−3 (3.4%; and refinery: 0.081 μg m−3 (2.2%. The PMF model describes 87% of the observed variability in total PM2.5 mass (bias = 0.17 and RSME = 1.5 μg m−3. The factor identifications are based on chemical markers, and they are supported by air mass back trajectory analysis and local wind direction. Biomass burning plumes, found by other surface and aircraft measurements, were not significant enough to be identified in this analysis. This paper presents the results of the PMF receptor modelling, providing valuable insight into the local and upwind sources impacting surface PM2.5 in Halifax and a vital comparative data set for the other collocated ground-based observations of atmospheric composition made during BORTAS-B.

  7. Low-Frequency Temporal Variability in Mira and Semiregular Variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Templeton, Matthew R.; Karovska, M.; Waagen, E. O.

    2012-01-01

    We investigate low-frequency variability in a large sample of Mira and semiregular variables with long-term visual light curves from the AAVSO International Database. Our aim is to determine whether we can detect and measure long-timescale variable phenomena in these stars, for example photometric variations that might be associated with supergranular convection. We analyzed the long-term light curves of 522 variable stars of the Mira and SRa, b, c, and d classes. We calculated their low-frequency time-series spectra to characterize rednoise with the power density spectrum index, and then correlate this index with other observable characteristics such as spectral type and primary pulsation period. In our initial analysis of the sample, we see that the semiregular variables have a much broader range of spectral index than the Mira types, with the SRb subtype having the broadest range. Among Mira variables we see that the M- and S-type Miras have similarly wide ranges of index, while the C-types have the narrowest with generally shallower slopes. There is also a trend of steeper slope with larger amplitude, but at a given amplitude, a wide range of slopes are seen. The ultimate goal of the project is to identify stars with strong intrinsic red noise components as possible targets for resolved surface imaging with interferometry.

  8. Pulsating White Dwarfs in Cataclysmic Variables: The Marriage of ZZ Cet and Dwarf Nova

    OpenAIRE

    Warner, Brian; Woudt, Patrick A.

    2003-01-01

    There are now four dwarf novae known with white dwarf primaries that show large amplitude non-radial oscillations of the kind seen in ZZ Cet stars. We compare the properties of these stars and point out that by the end of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey more than 30 should be known.

  9. MASTER OT J072007.30+451611.6: Cataclysmic Variable with an Extreme Hot Spot

    Science.gov (United States)

    Denisenko, D.

    2018-05-01

    MASTER team has reported an unusual object MASTER OT J072007.30+451611.6 in ATel #11620 (T. Pogrosheva et al.). The object was observed at 17.0-17.2m during 9 minutes from 22:15:26 to 22:24:30 UT on 2018-04-26, but was below the detection limit (18.8m) 45 minutes before the first positive observation and 43 minutes after the last one. As noted by S. Otero in AAVSO VSX entry, MASTER OT J072007.30+451611.6 has an X-ray counterpart XMMSL2 J072007.4+451615.

  10. New Insights from Inside-Out Doppler Tomography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    E. J. Kotze

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available We present preliminary results from our investigation into using an “inside-out” velocity space for creating a Doppler tomogram. The aim is to transpose the inverted appearance of the Cartesian velocity space used in normal Doppler tomography. In a comparison between normal and inside-out Doppler tomograms of cataclysmic variables, we show that the inside-out velocity space has the potential to produce new insights into the accretion dynamics in these systems.

  11. Intermediate polars observed from Brazil in the last eight years

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jablonski, F.

    1988-01-01

    The results of observations done, in the last eight years, of the Intermidiate Polars (IP): EX Hya, V1223 Sgr, FO Agr and Ao Psc, are presented. The IP define a subclass of cataclysmic variable stars that present coherent oscillations in their optical and/or X-ray emission. The observations were done from Laboratorio Nacional de Astrofisica, in Itajuba (Brazil). The stability of oscillations in IP was analysed to study the nature of compact stars. (M.C.K.) [pt

  12. Infrared photometry of cataclysmic variables. II - Evidence for ellipsoidal variations in CW MoN, X Leo, IP Peg, and AF CaM

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szkody, P.; Mateo, M.

    1986-08-01

    Broadband H or K light curves of the dwarf novae CM Mon, X Leo, IP Peg, and AF Cam reveal variations that can be attributed to ellipsoidal modulation of the secondaries in these systems. The present data imply orbital periods of 4.23 + or - 0.01 hr for CW Mon and 5.0 + or - 0.1 hr for X Leo. The high-amplitude ellipsoidal modulation of the secondary of CW Mon implies a large orbital inclination. The interpretation of the low-amplitude variability seen in X Leo is complicated by details in its light curve and a recent determination of its orbital period by Shafter and Harkness (1986) which differs significantly from the period inferred from the present observations. The light variations of the eclipsing system IP Peg are interpreted as showing a 0.2 mag ellipsoidal variation from the secondary superposed on a deep eclipse of the IR light of the white dwarf and hotspot. AF Cam shows marginal evidence for a low-amplitude variation implying a very short orbital period of 76 min. IR colors of SS Aur, AH Eri, and IR Gem as well as the above four objects are used to place limits on the properties of the secondaries and the distances to these systems.

  13. IRAS variables as galactic structure tracers - Classification of the bright variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Allen, L. E.; Kleinmann, S. G.; Weinberg, M. D.

    1993-01-01

    The characteristics of the 'bright infrared variables' (BIRVs), a sample consisting of the 300 brightest stars in the IRAS Point Source Catalog with IRAS variability index VAR of 98 or greater, are investigated with the purpose of establishing which of IRAS variables are AGB stars (e.g., oxygen-rich Miras and carbon stars, as was assumed by Weinberg (1992)). Results of the analysis of optical, infrared, and microwave spectroscopy of these stars indicate that, out of 88 stars in the BIRV sample identified with cataloged variables, 86 can be classified as Miras. Results of a similar analysis performed for a color-selected sample of stars, using the color limits employed by Habing (1988) to select AGB stars, showed that, out of 52 percent of classified stars, 38 percent are non-AGB stars, including H II regions, planetary nebulae, supergiants, and young stellar objects, indicating that studies using color-selected samples are subject to misinterpretation.

  14. Photometry and Multipolar Magnetic Field Modeling of Polars: BY Camelopardalis and FL Ceti

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. A. Mason

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available We present new broad band optical photometry of two magnetic cataclysmic variable stars, the asynchronous polar BY Camelopardalis and the short period polar FL Ceti. Observations were obtained at the 2.1-m Otto Struve Telescope of McDonald Observatory with 3s and 1s integration times respectively. In an attempt to understand the observed complex changes in accretion flow geometry observed in BY Cam, we performed full 3D MHD simulations assuming a variety of white dwarf magnetic field structures. We investigate fields with increasing complexity including both aligned and non-aligned dipole plus quadrupole field components. We compare model predictions with photometry at various phases of the beat cycle and find that synthetic light curves derived from a multipolar field structure are broadly consistent with optical photometry. FL Ceti is observed to have two very small accretion regions at the foot-points of the white dwarf’s magnetic field. Both accretion regions are visible at the same time in the high state and are about 100 degrees apart. MHD modeling using a dipole plus quadrupole field structure yields quite similar accretion regions as those observed in FL Ceti. We conclude that accretion flows calculated from MHD modeling of multi-polar magnetic fields produce synthetic light curves consistent with photometry of these magnetic cataclysmic variables.

  15. On the nature of WX Ceti

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Downes, R.A.; Margon, B.

    1981-01-01

    WX Ceti is a large amplitude (8 mag) variable which has undergone at least four outbursts during this century. Bailey has suggested that this object may be related to WZ Sge, and is part of a small but distinct subgroup of dwarf novae. Spectroscopy of WX Cet has been obtained at minimum light, revealing extremely strong, broad Balmer emission, but no He II lambda 4686. The spectrum indeed resembles WZ Sge at minimum, although it lacks the broad Balmer absorptions of the latter object. The data confirm the cataclysmic variable nature of WX Cet, and indicate that the proposed association with WZ Sge is plausible. (author)

  16. Partitioning inter annual variability in net ecosystem exchange between climatic variability and functional change

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hui, D.; Luo, Y.; Katul, G.

    2003-01-01

    Inter annual variability in net ecosystem exchange of carbon is investigated using a homogeneity-of-slopes model to identify the function change contributing to inter annual variability, net ecosystem carbon exchange, and night-time ecosystem respiration. Results of employing this statistical approach to a data set collected at the Duke Forest AmeriFlux site from August 1997 to December 2001 are discussed. The results demonstrate that it is feasible to partition the variation in ecosystem carbon fluxes into direct effects of seasonal and inter annual climatic variability and functional change. 51 refs., 4 tabs., 5 figs

  17. Using naturalistic driving data to identify variables associated with infrequent, occasional, and consistent seat belt use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reagan, Ian J; McClafferty, Julie A; Berlin, Sharon P; Hankey, Jonathan M

    2013-01-01

    Seat belt use is one of the most effective countermeasures to reduce traffic fatalities and injuries. The success of efforts to increase use is measured by road side observations and self-report questionnaires. These methods have shortcomings, with the former requiring a binary point estimate and the latter being subjective. The 100-car naturalistic driving study presented a unique opportunity to study seat belt use in that seat belt status was known for every trip each driver made during a 12-month period. Drivers were grouped into infrequent, occasional, or consistent seat belt users based on the frequency of belt use. Analyses were then completed to assess if these groups differed on several measures including personality, demographics, self-reported driving style variables as well as measures from the 100-car study instrumentation suite (average trip speed, trips per day). In addition, detailed analyses of the occasional belt user group were completed to identify factors that were predictive of occasional belt users wearing their belts. The analyses indicated that consistent seat belt users took fewer trips per day, and that increased average trip speed was associated with increased belt use among occasional belt users. The results of this project may help focus messaging efforts to convert occasional and inconsistent seat belt users to consistent users. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. VARIABLE STARS IN THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER NGC 2808

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kunder, Andrea; Walker, Alistair R.; Stetson, Peter B.; Catelan, Márcio; Amigo, Pía

    2013-01-01

    The first calibrated broadband BVI time-series photometry is presented for the variable stars in NGC 2808, with observations spanning a range of 28 years. We have also redetermined the variability types and periods for the variable stars identified previously by Corwin et al., revising the number of probable fundamental-mode RR Lyrae variables (RR0) to 11 and the number of first-overtone variables (RR1) to five. Our observations were insufficient to discern the nature of the previously identified RR1 star, V24, and the tentatively identified RR1 star, V13. These two variables are ∼0.8 mag brighter than the RR Lyrae variables, appear to have somewhat erratic period and/or luminosity changes, and lie inside the RR Lyrae instability strip. Curiously, all but one of the RR Lyrae stars studied in this relatively metal-rich cluster exhibit the Blazhko phenomenon, an effect thought to occur with higher frequency in metal-poor environments. The mean periods of the RR0 and RR1 variables are (P) RR0 = 0.56 ± 0.01 d and RR1 = 0.30 ± 0.02 d, respectively, supporting an Oosterhoff I classification of the cluster. On the other hand, the number ratio of RR1-to-RR0-type variables is high, though not unprecedented, for an Oosterhoff I cluster. The RR Lyrae variables have no period shifts at a given amplitude compared to the M3 variables, making it unlikely that these variables are He enhanced. Using the recent recalibration of the RR Lyrae luminosity scale by Catelan and Cortés, a mean distance modulus of (m – M) V = 15.57 ± 0.13 mag for NGC 2808 is obtained, in good agreement with that determined here from its type II Cepheid and SX Phoenicis population. Our data have also allowed the discovery of two new candidate SX Phoenicis stars and an eclipsing binary in the blue straggler region of the NGC 2808 color-magnitude diagram.

  19. Disc structure and variability in dwarf novae

    Science.gov (United States)

    Harlaftis, Emilios Theofanus

    An introduction is given to dwarf novae reviewing the current research status in the field. We present IUE observations of Z Cha which support the mass transfer instability as the cause of the superoutbursts observed in SU UMa type dwarf novae. Comparison between the superoutburst and a normal outburst of Z Cha shows that the disc is flatter and has significantly less azimuthal structure than during superoutburst. Z Cha exhibits a soft x-ray deficit during superoutburst compared to OY Car. We find that the secondary star of Z Cha contributes approximately 30 percent of the infrared flux at peak of outburst. The second part of the thesis presents results from the 1988 International Time Project at the Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos. Investigation of the behavior of SU UMa and YZ Cnc is carried out through the outburst cycle. The secular changes of the equivalent widths of both systems shows an increasing trend even during quiescence and are caused by the continuum decrease. Both systems show a low-velocity emission component which contaminates the wings of the H(alpha) profile. In addition to doppler broadening, the Stark effect is found to cause significant broadening to the line profile. The radial dependence of the emission lines is discussed in relation to other cataclysmic variables. H(alpha) emission from the secondary star of YZ Cnc is found during superoutburst, during outburst and during quiescence after outburst. Photometry during late decline of outburst shows a sinusoidal, weak variation peaking at 0.5 orbital phase and which is related to heating of the red star or to a transient disc event. During quiescence, the flickering is found to be caused by the bright spot. This modulation increases with time and is maximum before the outburst. Doppler tomography of IP Peg during quiescence reveals an emission line distribution not consistent to the standard model. We find Balmer emission from the secondary star, at a level of only 2.5 percent of the

  20. Identifying environmental and geochemical variables governing metal concentrations in a stream draining headwaters in NW Spain

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soto-Varela, F.; Rodríguez-Blanco, M.L.; Taboada-Castro, M.M.; Taboada-Castro, M.T.

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • All metals occur in association with suspended sediment. • DOC and SS appeared to influence the partitioning of metals. • The SS was a good predictor of particulate metal levels. • The most important variable to explain storm-event K D for Al and Fe is DOC. • Enrichment factor values suggest a natural origin for the particulate metals. - Abstract: Headwater stream, draining from a rural catchment in NW Spain, was sampled during baseflow and storm-event conditions to investigate the temporal variability in dissolved and particulate Al, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn concentrations and the role of discharge (Q), pH, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and suspended sediment (SS) in the transport of dissolved and particulate metals. Under baseflow and storm-event conditions, concentrations of the five metals were highly variable. The results of this study reveal that all metal concentrations are correlated with SS. DOC and SS appeared to influence both the metal concentrations and the partitioning of metals between dissolved and particulate. The SS was a good predictor of particulate metal levels. Distribution coefficients (K D ) were similar between metals (4.72–6.55) and did not change significantly as a function of discharge regime. Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis reveals that the most important variable to explain storm-event K D for Al and Fe is DOC. The positive relationships found between metals, in each fraction, indicate that these elements mainly come from the same source. Metal concentrations in the stream were relatively low

  1. PERIODIC AND APERIODIC VARIABILITY IN THE MOLECULAR CLOUD ρ OPHIUCHUS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parks, J. Robert; Plavchan, Peter; Gee, Alan H.; White, Russel J.

    2014-01-01

    Presented are the results of a near-IR photometric survey of 1678 stars in the direction of the ρ Ophiuchus (ρ Oph) star forming region using data from the 2MASS Calibration Database. For each target in this sample, up to 1584 individual J-, H-, and K s -band photometric measurements with a cadence of ∼1 day are obtained over three observing seasons spanning ∼2.5 yr; it is the most intensive survey of stars in this region to date. This survey identifies 101 variable stars with ΔK s -band amplitudes from 0.044 to 2.31 mag and Δ(J – K s ) color amplitudes ranging from 0.053 to 1.47 mag. Of the 72 young ρ Oph star cluster members included in this survey, 79% are variable; in addition, 22 variable stars are identified as candidate members. Based on the temporal behavior of the K s time-series, the variability is distinguished as either periodic, long time-scale or irregular. This temporal behavior coupled with the behavior of stellar colors is used to assign a dominant variability mechanism. A new period-searching algorithm finds periodic signals in 32 variable stars with periods between 0.49 to 92 days. The chief mechanism driving the periodic variability for 18 stars is rotational modulation of cool starspots while 3 periodically vary due to accretion-induced hot spots. The time-series for six variable stars contains discrete periodic ''eclipse-like'' features with periods ranging from 3 to 8 days. These features may be asymmetries in the circumstellar disk, potentially sustained or driven by a proto-planet at or near the co-rotation radius. Aperiodic, long time-scale variations in stellar flux are identified in the time-series for 31 variable stars with time-scales ranging from 64 to 790 days. The chief mechanism driving long time-scale variability is variable extinction or mass accretion rates. The majority of the variable stars (40) exhibit sporadic, aperiodic variability over no discernable time-scale. No chief variability mechanism

  2. PERIODIC AND APERIODIC VARIABILITY IN THE MOLECULAR CLOUD ρ OPHIUCHUS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Parks, J. Robert; Plavchan, Peter; Gee, Alan H. [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, Mail Code 100-22, 770 South Wilson Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); White, Russel J., E-mail: parksj@chara.gsu.edu [Georgia State University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 25 Park Place, Room 605, Atlanta, GA 30303 (United States)

    2014-03-01

    Presented are the results of a near-IR photometric survey of 1678 stars in the direction of the ρ Ophiuchus (ρ Oph) star forming region using data from the 2MASS Calibration Database. For each target in this sample, up to 1584 individual J-, H-, and K{sub s} -band photometric measurements with a cadence of ∼1 day are obtained over three observing seasons spanning ∼2.5 yr; it is the most intensive survey of stars in this region to date. This survey identifies 101 variable stars with ΔK{sub s} -band amplitudes from 0.044 to 2.31 mag and Δ(J – K{sub s} ) color amplitudes ranging from 0.053 to 1.47 mag. Of the 72 young ρ Oph star cluster members included in this survey, 79% are variable; in addition, 22 variable stars are identified as candidate members. Based on the temporal behavior of the K{sub s} time-series, the variability is distinguished as either periodic, long time-scale or irregular. This temporal behavior coupled with the behavior of stellar colors is used to assign a dominant variability mechanism. A new period-searching algorithm finds periodic signals in 32 variable stars with periods between 0.49 to 92 days. The chief mechanism driving the periodic variability for 18 stars is rotational modulation of cool starspots while 3 periodically vary due to accretion-induced hot spots. The time-series for six variable stars contains discrete periodic ''eclipse-like'' features with periods ranging from 3 to 8 days. These features may be asymmetries in the circumstellar disk, potentially sustained or driven by a proto-planet at or near the co-rotation radius. Aperiodic, long time-scale variations in stellar flux are identified in the time-series for 31 variable stars with time-scales ranging from 64 to 790 days. The chief mechanism driving long time-scale variability is variable extinction or mass accretion rates. The majority of the variable stars (40) exhibit sporadic, aperiodic variability over no discernable time-scale. No chief

  3. The White Dwarf Mass and the Accretion Rate of Recurrent Novae: An X-ray Perspective

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mukai, Koji; Sokoloski, Jennifer L.; Nelson, Thomas; Luna, Gerardo J. M.

    2011-01-01

    We present recent results of quiescent X-ray observations of recurrent novae (RNe) and related objects. Several RNe are luminous hard X-ray sources in quiescence, consistent with accretion onto a near Chandrasekhar mass white dwarf. Detection of similar hard X-ray emissions in old novae and other cataclysmic variables may lead to identification of additional RN candidates. On the other hand, other RNe are found to be comparatively hard X-ray faint. We present several scenarios that may explain this dichotomy, which should be explored further.

  4. Using variants of CHC Algorithms in the Design of Radio Frequency Networks in Wireless Communications.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Antonio Molina

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we apply to solve the Radio Network Design problem (RND a series  of the non-conventional genetic algorithms called Cross generational elitist selection Heterogeneous recombination Cataclysmic mutation (CHC. A set of genetic algorithms is used to perform a comparative performance of the proposed algorithms. An objective function based on signal coverage efficiency is used. Genetic variability of the population is used for both, as a parameter of convergence and detection of incest. Furthermore the variability of the best individual is proposed as a shaking mechanism. This allows generating dynamic populations according to the most promising solutions generating different search spaces. The results obtained by the proposed algorithms are satisfactory.

  5. Infrared observations of AE Aquarii

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanzi, E. G.; Chincarini, G.; Tarenghi, M.

    1981-01-01

    Broadband infrared observations of the cataclysmic variable AE Aquarii are reported. The observations were obtained in the J, H, K and L filters with the InSb photometer attached to the 1-m telescope of the European Southern Observatory. The infrared energy distribution observed from 0.35 to 3.5 microns for phase 0.5 suggests a spectral type of K5 V for the secondary and a distance to the system of approximately 70 pc if an absolute magnitude of 7.3 is assumed. Monitoring of the flux at 2.2 microns reveals a variability with an amplitude of approximately 0.3 magnitude over one third of the orbital period, the nature of which is under investigation.

  6. Variability of Massive Young Stellar Objects in Cygnus-X

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Nancy H.; Hora, J. L.; Smith, H. A.

    2013-01-01

    Young stellar objects (YSOs) are stars in the process of formation. Several recent investigations have shown a high rate of photometric variability in YSOs at near- and mid-infrared wavelengths. Theoretical models for the formation of massive stars (1-10 solar masses) remain highly idealized, and little is known about the mechanisms that produce the variability. An ongoing Spitzer Space Telescope program is studying massive star formation in the Cygnus-X region. In conjunction with the Spitzer observations, we have conducted a ground-based near-infrared observing program of the Cygnus-X DR21 field using PAIRITEL, the automated infrared telescope at Whipple Observatory. Using the Stetson index for variability, we identified variable objects and a number of variable YSOs in our time-series PAIRITEL data of DR21. We have searched for periodicity among our variable objects using the Lomb-Scargle algorithm, and identified periodic variable objects with an average period of 8.07 days. Characterization of these variable and periodic objects will help constrain models of star formation present. This work is supported in part by the NSF REU and DOD ASSURE programs under NSF grant no. 0754568 and by the Smithsonian Institution.

  7. Computing Cosmic Cataclysms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Centrella, Joan M.

    2010-01-01

    The final merger of two black holes releases a tremendous amount of energy, more than the combined light from all the stars in the visible universe. This energy is emitted in the form of gravitational waves, and observing these sources with gravitational wave detectors requires that we know the pattern or fingerprint of the radiation emitted. Since black hole mergers take place in regions of extreme gravitational fields, we need to solve Einstein's equations of general relativity on a computer in order to calculate these wave patterns. For more than 30 years, scientists have tried to compute these wave patterns. However, their computer codes have been plagued by problems that caused them to crash. This situation has changed dramatically in the past few years, with a series of amazing breakthroughs. This talk will take you on this quest for these gravitational wave patterns, showing how a spacetime is constructed on a computer to build a simulation laboratory for binary black hole mergers. We will focus on the recent advances that are revealing these waveforms, and the dramatic new potential for discoveries that arises when these sources will be observed.

  8. Cluster Analysis of Clinical Data Identifies Fibromyalgia Subgroups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Docampo, Elisa; Collado, Antonio; Escaramís, Geòrgia; Carbonell, Jordi; Rivera, Javier; Vidal, Javier; Alegre, José

    2013-01-01

    Introduction Fibromyalgia (FM) is mainly characterized by widespread pain and multiple accompanying symptoms, which hinder FM assessment and management. In order to reduce FM heterogeneity we classified clinical data into simplified dimensions that were used to define FM subgroups. Material and Methods 48 variables were evaluated in 1,446 Spanish FM cases fulfilling 1990 ACR FM criteria. A partitioning analysis was performed to find groups of variables similar to each other. Similarities between variables were identified and the variables were grouped into dimensions. This was performed in a subset of 559 patients, and cross-validated in the remaining 887 patients. For each sample and dimension, a composite index was obtained based on the weights of the variables included in the dimension. Finally, a clustering procedure was applied to the indexes, resulting in FM subgroups. Results Variables clustered into three independent dimensions: “symptomatology”, “comorbidities” and “clinical scales”. Only the two first dimensions were considered for the construction of FM subgroups. Resulting scores classified FM samples into three subgroups: low symptomatology and comorbidities (Cluster 1), high symptomatology and comorbidities (Cluster 2), and high symptomatology but low comorbidities (Cluster 3), showing differences in measures of disease severity. Conclusions We have identified three subgroups of FM samples in a large cohort of FM by clustering clinical data. Our analysis stresses the importance of family and personal history of FM comorbidities. Also, the resulting patient clusters could indicate different forms of the disease, relevant to future research, and might have an impact on clinical assessment. PMID:24098674

  9. Cluster analysis of clinical data identifies fibromyalgia subgroups.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elisa Docampo

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Fibromyalgia (FM is mainly characterized by widespread pain and multiple accompanying symptoms, which hinder FM assessment and management. In order to reduce FM heterogeneity we classified clinical data into simplified dimensions that were used to define FM subgroups. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 48 variables were evaluated in 1,446 Spanish FM cases fulfilling 1990 ACR FM criteria. A partitioning analysis was performed to find groups of variables similar to each other. Similarities between variables were identified and the variables were grouped into dimensions. This was performed in a subset of 559 patients, and cross-validated in the remaining 887 patients. For each sample and dimension, a composite index was obtained based on the weights of the variables included in the dimension. Finally, a clustering procedure was applied to the indexes, resulting in FM subgroups. RESULTS: VARIABLES CLUSTERED INTO THREE INDEPENDENT DIMENSIONS: "symptomatology", "comorbidities" and "clinical scales". Only the two first dimensions were considered for the construction of FM subgroups. Resulting scores classified FM samples into three subgroups: low symptomatology and comorbidities (Cluster 1, high symptomatology and comorbidities (Cluster 2, and high symptomatology but low comorbidities (Cluster 3, showing differences in measures of disease severity. CONCLUSIONS: We have identified three subgroups of FM samples in a large cohort of FM by clustering clinical data. Our analysis stresses the importance of family and personal history of FM comorbidities. Also, the resulting patient clusters could indicate different forms of the disease, relevant to future research, and might have an impact on clinical assessment.

  10. Identifying suitable sites for Florida panther reintroduction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thatcher, Cindy A.; van Manen, Frank T.; Clark, Joseph D.

    2006-01-01

    A major objective of the 1995 Florida Panther (Puma concolor cory) Recovery Plan is the establishment of 2 additional panther populations within the historic range. Our goal was to identify prospective sites for Florida panther reintroduction within the historic range based on quantitative landscape assessments. First, we delineated 86 panther home ranges using telemetry data collected from 1981 to 2001 in south Florida to develop a Mahalanobis distance (D2) habitat model, using 4 anthropogenic variables and 3 landscape variables mapped at a 500-m resolution. From that analysis, we identified 9 potential reintroduction sites of sufficient size to support a panther population. We then developed a similar D2 model at a higher spatial resolution to quantify the area of favorable panther habitat at each site. To address potential for the population to expand, we calculated the amount of favorable habitat adjacent to each prospective reintroduction site within a range of dispersal distances of female panthers. We then added those totals to the contiguous patches to estimate the total amount of effective panther habitat at each site. Finally, we developed an expert-assisted model to rank and incorporate potentially important habitat variables that were not appropriate for our empirical analysis (e.g., area of public lands, livestock density). Anthropogenic factors heavily influenced both the landscape and the expert-assisted models. Of the 9 areas we identified, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, Ozark National Forest, and Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge regions had the highest combination of effective habitat area and expert opinion scores. Sensitivity analyses indicated that variability among key model parameters did not affect the high ranking of those sites. Those sites should be considered as starting points for the field evaluation of potential reintroduction sites.

  11. Family and academic performance: identifying high school student profiles

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alicia Aleli Chaparro Caso López

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to identify profiles of high school students, based on variables related to academic performance, socioeconomic status, cultural capital and family organization. A total of 21,724 high school students, from the five municipalities of the state of Baja California, took part. A K-means cluster analysis was performed to identify the profiles. The analyses identified two clearly-defined clusters: Cluster 1 grouped together students with high academic performance and who achieved higher scores for socioeconomic status, cultural capital and family involvement, whereas Cluster 2 brought together students with low academic achievement, and who also obtained lower scores for socioeconomic status and cultural capital, and had less family involvement. It is concluded that the family variables analyzed form student profiles that can be related to academic achievement.

  12. Use of Photogrammetry and Biomechanical Gait analysis to Identify Individuals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Larsen, Peter Kastmand; Simonsen, Erik Bruun; Lynnerup, Niels

    Photogrammetry and recognition of gait patterns are valuable tools to help identify perpetrators based on surveillance recordings. We have found that stature but only few other measures have a satisfying reproducibility for use in forensics. Several gait variables with high recognition rates were...... found. Especially the variables located in the frontal plane are interesting due to large inter-individual differences in time course patterns. The variables with high recognition rates seem preferable for use in forensic gait analysis and as input variables to waveform analysis techniques...

  13. On the formation of TW Crv optical radiation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimansky, V. V.; Mitrofanova, A. A.; Borisov, N. V.; Fabrika, S. N.; Galeev, A. I.

    2016-10-01

    We present the analysis of the optical radiation of the young pre-cataclysmic variable TW Crv. Spectroscopic and photometric observations were obtained at the SAO RAS 6-m BTA telescope and at the Russian-Turkish RTT-150 telescope. The light curves of the system posses nearly sinusoidal shapes with the amplitudes of Δ m > 0.m7, what is typical for young pre-cataclysmic variables with sdO-subdwarfs and orbit inclinations of less than 45◦. The optical spectrum contains dominant radiation of the hot subdwarf with the HI and He II absorption lines and strong emission lines, which are formed in the atmosphere of the secondary owing to the reflection effects. Radial velocities of the cool star were measured by analyzing the λλ 4630-4650 Å Bowen blend, which for the first time allowed to determine the component masses. A numerical simulation of the light curves and spectra of TW Crv, obtaining a complete set of systems fundamental parameters was carried out. The hot star parameters prompt its belonging to the sdOsubdwarf class at the stage of transition to the cooling white dwarf sequence. The absence of its observable planetary nebula is caused by a long-lasting evolution of the system after the common envelope state. The secondary component has a luminosity excess, which is typical for other young sdO-subdwarf precataclysmic variables. Its position on the " age-luminosity excess" diagram points at the accuracy of the obtained set of TW Crv fundamental parameters and at the similarity of its evolutionary and physical conditions with that of other BE UMa-type objects.

  14. Design variables and constraints in fashion store design processes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haug, Anders; Borch Münster, Mia

    2015-01-01

    is to identify the most important store design variables, organise these variables into categories, understand the design constraints between categories, and determine the most influential stakeholders. Design/methodology/approach: – Based on a discussion of existing literature, the paper defines a framework...... into categories, provides an understanding of constraints between categories of variables, and identifies the most influential stakeholders. The paper demonstrates that the fashion store design task can be understood through a system perspective, implying that the store design task becomes a matter of defining......Purpose: – Several frameworks of retail store environment variables exist, but as shown by this paper, they are not particularly well-suited for supporting fashion store design processes. Thus, in order to provide an improved understanding of fashion store design, the purpose of this paper...

  15. An analysis of feature relevance in the classification of astronomical transients with machine learning methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Isanto, A.; Cavuoti, S.; Brescia, M.; Donalek, C.; Longo, G.; Riccio, G.; Djorgovski, S. G.

    2016-04-01

    The exploitation of present and future synoptic (multiband and multi-epoch) surveys requires an extensive use of automatic methods for data processing and data interpretation. In this work, using data extracted from the Catalina Real Time Transient Survey (CRTS), we investigate the classification performance of some well tested methods: Random Forest, MultiLayer Perceptron with Quasi Newton Algorithm and K-Nearest Neighbours, paying special attention to the feature selection phase. In order to do so, several classification experiments were performed. Namely: identification of cataclysmic variables, separation between galactic and extragalactic objects and identification of supernovae.

  16. Recent advances on the formation and evolution of white dwarfs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sion, E.M.

    1986-01-01

    Advances made in the past seven years in both the theory and observation of white dwarfs which have led to major progress in understanding white dwarf formation and evolution are reviewed. The roles of convective dredge-up, mixing and dilution, accretion, gravitational and thermal diffusion in dense plasmas, radiate forces and mass outflow, nuclear shell burning, diffusion-induced reactions, late thermonuclear shell flashes, rotation, and magnetic fields in white dwarf evolution are considered. Recent work on the properties of white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables is briefly addressed. 153 references

  17. Investigation of high-energy sources in optical light by ESA Gaia

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Hudec, R.; Šimon, Vojtěch; Hudec, L.; Hudcová, Věra

    2010-01-01

    Roč. 81, č. 1 (2010), s. 476-481 ISSN 0037-8720. [Multifrequency behaviour of high energy cosmic sources. Vulcano, 25.05.2009-30.05. 2009] R&D Projects: GA ČR GA205/08/1207 Grant - others:ESA(XE) ESA- PECS project No. 98058; GA ČR(CZ) GA102/09/0997; GA MŠk(CZ) ME09027; ESA(XE) ESA- PECS project No. 98023 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10030501 Keywords : high-energy sources * cataclysmic variables * low-dispersion spectra Subject RIV: BN - Astronomy, Celestial Mechanics, Astrophysics

  18. The evolutionary status of symbiotic stars

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rudak, B.

    1982-01-01

    The evolutionary relations between symbiotic stars and cataclysmic variables are presented. The symbiotic stars are assumed to be long period detached binaries containing a carbon-oxygen degenerate primary and a red giant losing its mass through a spherically symmetric wind. Such systems can be obtained in Case C evolution, provided a common envelope during a rapid mass transfer phase was not formed. The same way recurrent novae containing a red giant as a secondary component may be produced. The factors influencing the differences between symbiotic stars and nova-type stars are discussed. (Auth.)

  19. Identifying Differences in Cultural Behavior in Online Groups

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gregory, Michelle L.; Engel, David W.; Bell, Eric B.; Mcgrath, Liam R.

    2012-07-23

    We have developed methods to identify online communities, or groups, using a combination of structural information variables and content information variables from weblog posts and their comments to build a characteristic footprint for groups. We have worked with both explicitly connected groups and 'abstract' groups, in which the connection between individuals is in interest (as determined by content based features) and behavior (metadata based features) as opposed to explicit links. We find that these variables do a good job at identifying groups, placing members within a group, and helping determine the appropriate granularity for group boundaries. The group footprint can then be used to identify differences between the online groups. In the work described here we are interested in determining how an individual's online behavior is influenced by their membership in more than one group. For example, individuals belong to a certain culture; they may belong as well to a demographic group, and other 'chosen' groups such as churches or clubs. There is a plethora of evidence surrounding the culturally sensitive adoption, use, and behavior on the Internet. In this work we begin to investigate how culturally defined internet behaviors may influence behaviors of subgroups. We do this through a series of experiments in which we analyze the interaction between culturally defined behaviors and the behaviors of the subgroups. Our goal is to (a) identify if our features can capture cultural distinctions in internet use, and (b) determine what kinds of interaction there are between levels and types of groups.

  20. Variable selection and estimation for longitudinal survey data

    KAUST Repository

    Wang, Li

    2014-09-01

    There is wide interest in studying longitudinal surveys where sample subjects are observed successively over time. Longitudinal surveys have been used in many areas today, for example, in the health and social sciences, to explore relationships or to identify significant variables in regression settings. This paper develops a general strategy for the model selection problem in longitudinal sample surveys. A survey weighted penalized estimating equation approach is proposed to select significant variables and estimate the coefficients simultaneously. The proposed estimators are design consistent and perform as well as the oracle procedure when the correct submodel was known. The estimating function bootstrap is applied to obtain the standard errors of the estimated parameters with good accuracy. A fast and efficient variable selection algorithm is developed to identify significant variables for complex longitudinal survey data. Simulated examples are illustrated to show the usefulness of the proposed methodology under various model settings and sampling designs. © 2014 Elsevier Inc.

  1. WIND VARIABILITY IN BZ CAMELOPARDALIS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Honeycutt, R. K.; Kafka, S.; Robertson, J. W.

    2013-01-01

    Sequences of spectra of the nova-like cataclysmic variable (CV) BZ Cam were acquired on nine nights in 2005-2006 in order to study the time development of episodes of wind activity known to occur frequently in this star. We confirm the results of Ringwald and Naylor that the P-Cygni absorption components of the lines mostly evolve from higher expansion velocity to lower velocity as an episode progresses. We also commonly find blueshifted emission components in the Hα line profile, whose velocities and durations strongly suggest that they are also due to the wind. Curiously, Ringwald and Naylor reported common occurrences of redshifted Hα emission components in their BZ Cam spectra. We have attributed these emission components in Hα to occasions when gas concentrations in the bipolar wind (both front side and back side) become manifested as emission lines as they move beyond the disk's outer edge. We also suggest, based on changes in the P-Cygni profiles during an episode, that the progression from larger to smaller expansion velocities is due to the higher velocity portions of a wind concentration moving beyond the edge of the continuum light of the disk first, leaving a net redward shift of the remaining absorption profile. We derive a new orbital ephemeris for BZ Cam, using the radial velocity of the core of the He I λ5876 line, finding P = 0.15353(4). Using this period, the wind episodes in BZ Cam are found to be concentrated near the inferior conjunction of the emission line source. This result helps confirm that the winds in nova-like CVs are often phase dependent, in spite of the puzzling implication that such winds lack axisymmetry. We argue that the radiation-driven wind in BZ Cam receives an initial boost by acting on gas that has been lifted above the disk by the interaction of the accretion stream with the disk, thereby imposing flickering timescales onto the wind events, as well as leading to an orbital modulation of the wind due to the non

  2. Backyard Telescopes Watch an Expanding Binary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kohler, Susanna

    2018-01-01

    What can you do with a team of people armed with backyard telescopes and a decade of patience? Test how binary star systems evolve under Einsteins general theory of relativity!Unusual VariablesCataclysmic variables irregularly brightening binary stars consisting of an accreting white dwarf and a donor star are a favorite target among amateur astronomers: theyre detectable even with small telescopes, and theres a lot we can learn about stellar astrophysics by observing them, if were patient.Diagram of a cataclysmic variable. In an AM CVn, the donor is most likely a white dwarf as well, or a low-mass helium star. [Philip D. Hall]Among the large family of cataclysmic variables is one unusual type: the extremely short-period AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) stars. These rare variables (only 40 are known) are unique in having spectra dominated by helium, suggesting that they contain little or no hydrogen. Because of this, scientists have speculated that the donor stars in these systems are either white dwarfs themselves or very low-mass helium stars.Why study AM CVn stars? Because their unusual configuration allows us to predict the behavior of their orbital evolution. According to the general theory of relativity, the two components of an AM CVn will spiral closer and closer as the system loses angular momentum to gravitational-wave emission. Eventually they will get so close that the low-mass companion star overflows its Roche lobe, beginning mass transfer to the white dwarf. At this point, the orbital evolution will reverse and the binary orbit will expand, increasing its period.CBA member Enrique de Miguel, lead author on the study, with his backyard telescope in Huelva, Spain. [Enrique de Miguel]Backyard Astronomy Hard at WorkMeasuring the evolution of an AM CVns orbital period is the best way to confirm this model, but this is no simple task! To observe this evolution, we first need a system with a period that can be very precisely measured best achieved with an

  3. Variables influencing the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Veijgen, N.K.; Masen, Marc Arthur; van der Heide, Emile

    2013-01-01

    In the past decades, skin friction research has focused on determining which variables are important to affect the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin. Until now, there is still limited knowledge on these variables. This study has used a large dataset to identify the effect of variables on

  4. Classification of X-ray sources in the XMM-Newton serendipitous source catalog: Objects of special interest

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lin, Dacheng; Webb, Natalie A.; Barret, Didier, E-mail: dlin@ua.edu [CNRS, IRAP, 9 Avenue du Colonel Roche, BP 44346, F-31028 Toulouse Cedex 4 (France)

    2014-01-01

    We analyze 18 sources that showed interesting properties of periodicity, very soft spectra, and/or large long-term variability in X-rays in our project of classification of sources from the 2XMMi-DR3 catalog, but were poorly studied in the literature, in order to investigate their nature. Two hard sources show X-ray periodicities of ∼1.62 hr (2XMM J165334.4–414423) and ∼2.1 hr (2XMM J133135.2–315541) and are probably magnetic cataclysmic variables. One source, 2XMM J123103.2+110648, is an active galactic nucleus (AGN) candidate showing very soft X-ray spectra (kT ∼ 0.1 keV) and exhibiting an intermittent ∼3.8 hr quasi-periodic oscillation. There are six other very soft sources (with kT < 0.2 keV), which might be in other galaxies with luminosities between ∼10{sup 38}-10{sup 42} erg s{sup –1}. They probably represent a diverse group that might include objects such as ultrasoft AGNs and cool thermal disk emission from accreting intermediate-mass black holes. Six highly variable sources with harder spectra are probably in nearby galaxies with luminosities above 10{sup 37} erg s{sup –1} and thus are great candidates for extragalactic X-ray binaries. One of them (2XMMi J004211.2+410429, in M31) is probably a new-born persistent source, having been X-ray bright and hard in 0.3-10 keV for at least four years since it was discovered entering an outburst in 2007. Three highly variable hard sources appear at low galactic latitudes and have maximum luminosities below ∼10{sup 34} erg s{sup –1} if they are in our Galaxy. Thus, they are great candidates for cataclysmic variables or very faint X-ray transients harboring a black hole or neutron star. Our interpretations of these sources can be tested with future long-term X-ray monitoring and multi-wavelength observations.

  5. Surgeon and type of anesthesia predict variability in surgical procedure times.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strum, D P; Sampson, A R; May, J H; Vargas, L G

    2000-05-01

    Variability in surgical procedure times increases the cost of healthcare delivery by increasing both the underutilization and overutilization of expensive surgical resources. To reduce variability in surgical procedure times, we must identify and study its sources. Our data set consisted of all surgeries performed over a 7-yr period at a large teaching hospital, resulting in 46,322 surgical cases. To study factors associated with variability in surgical procedure times, data mining techniques were used to segment and focus the data so that the analyses would be both technically and intellectually feasible. The data were subdivided into 40 representative segments of manageable size and variability based on headers adopted from the common procedural terminology classification. Each data segment was then analyzed using a main-effects linear model to identify and quantify specific sources of variability in surgical procedure times. The single most important source of variability in surgical procedure times was surgeon effect. Type of anesthesia, age, gender, and American Society of Anesthesiologists risk class were additional sources of variability. Intrinsic case-specific variability, unexplained by any of the preceding factors, was found to be highest for shorter surgeries relative to longer procedures. Variability in procedure times among surgeons was a multiplicative function (proportionate to time) of surgical time and total procedure time, such that as procedure times increased, variability in surgeons' surgical time increased proportionately. Surgeon-specific variability should be considered when building scheduling heuristics for longer surgeries. Results concerning variability in surgical procedure times due to factors such as type of anesthesia, age, gender, and American Society of Anesthesiologists risk class may be extrapolated to scheduling in other institutions, although specifics on individual surgeons may not. This research identifies factors associated

  6. Variables influencing the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Veijgen, N.K.; Masen, M.A.; Heide, E. van der

    2013-01-01

    In the past decades, skin friction research has focused on determining which variables are important to affect the frictional behaviour of in vivo human skin. Until now, there is still limited knowledge on these variables.This study has used a large dataset to identify the effect of variables on the

  7. TRENDS IN VARIABILITY OF WATER FLOW OF TELEAJEN RIVER

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. JIPA

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available TRENDS IN VARIABILITY OF WATER FLOW OF TELEAJEN RIVER. In the context of climate change at global and regional scale, this study intends to identify the trends in variability of the annual and monthly flow of Teleajen river. The study is based on processing the series of mean, maximum and minimum flows at Cheia and Moara Domnească hydrometric stations (these data were taken from the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology. The period of analysis is 1966-1998, statistical methods beeing mostly used, among which the Mann – Kendall test, that identifies the liniar trend and its statistic significance, comes into focus. The trends in the variability of water annual and monthly flows are highlighted. The results obtained show downward trends for the mean and maximum annual flows, and for the minimum water discharge, a downward trend for Cheia station and an upward trend for Moara Domnească station. Knowing the trends in the variability of the rivers’ flow is important empirically in view of taking adequate administration measures of the water resources and managment measures for the risks lead by extreme hidrologic events (floods, low-water, according to the possible identified changes.

  8. Validation of de-identified record linkage to ascertain hospital admissions in a cohort study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    English Dallas R

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Cohort studies can provide valuable evidence of cause and effect relationships but are subject to loss of participants over time, limiting the validity of findings. Computerised record linkage offers a passive and ongoing method of obtaining health outcomes from existing routinely collected data sources. However, the quality of record linkage is reliant upon the availability and accuracy of common identifying variables. We sought to develop and validate a method for linking a cohort study to a state-wide hospital admissions dataset with limited availability of unique identifying variables. Methods A sample of 2000 participants from a cohort study (n = 41 514 was linked to a state-wide hospitalisations dataset in Victoria, Australia using the national health insurance (Medicare number and demographic data as identifying variables. Availability of the health insurance number was limited in both datasets; therefore linkage was undertaken both with and without use of this number and agreement tested between both algorithms. Sensitivity was calculated for a sub-sample of 101 participants with a hospital admission confirmed by medical record review. Results Of the 2000 study participants, 85% were found to have a record in the hospitalisations dataset when the national health insurance number and sex were used as linkage variables and 92% when demographic details only were used. When agreement between the two methods was tested the disagreement fraction was 9%, mainly due to "false positive" links when demographic details only were used. A final algorithm that used multiple combinations of identifying variables resulted in a match proportion of 87%. Sensitivity of this final linkage was 95%. Conclusions High quality record linkage of cohort data with a hospitalisations dataset that has limited identifiers can be achieved using combinations of a national health insurance number and demographic data as identifying variables.

  9. Revealing the ultrafast outflow in IRAS 13224-3809 through spectral variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parker, M. L.; Alston, W. N.; Buisson, D. J. K.; Fabian, A. C.; Jiang, J.; Kara, E.; Lohfink, A.; Pinto, C.; Reynolds, C. S.

    2017-08-01

    We present an analysis of the long-term X-ray variability of the extreme narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxy IRAS 13224-3809 using principal component analysis (PCA) and fractional excess variability (Fvar) spectra to identify model-independent spectral components. We identify a series of variability peaks in both the first PCA component and Fvar spectrum which correspond to the strongest predicted absorption lines from the ultrafast outflow (UFO) discovered by Parker et al. (2017). We also find higher order PCA components, which correspond to variability of the soft excess and reflection features. The subtle differences between RMS and PCA results argue that the observed flux-dependence of the absorption is due to increased ionization of the gas, rather than changes in column density or covering fraction. This result demonstrates that we can detect outflows from variability alone and that variability studies of UFOs are an extremely promising avenue for future research.

  10. A Spreadsheet-Based Visualized Mindtool for Improving Students' Learning Performance in Identifying Relationships between Numerical Variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lai, Chiu-Lin; Hwang, Gwo-Jen

    2015-01-01

    In this study, a spreadsheet-based visualized Mindtool was developed for improving students' learning performance when finding relationships between numerical variables by engaging them in reasoning and decision-making activities. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed approach, an experiment was conducted on the "phenomena of climate…

  11. VARIABILITY OF OPTICAL COUNTERPARTS IN THE CHANDRA GALACTIC BULGE SURVEY

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Britt, C. T.; Hynes, R. I.; Johnson, C. B.; Baldwin, A.; Collazzi, A.; Gossen, L. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-4001 (United States); Jonker, P. G.; Torres, M. A. P. [SRON, Netherlands Institute for Space Research, Sorbonnelaan 2, 3584 CA Utrecht (Netherlands); Nelemans, G. [Department of Astrophysics, IMAPP, Radboud University Nijmegen, Heyendaalseweg 135, 6525 AJ, Nijmegen (Netherlands); Maccarone, T. [Department of Physics, Texas Tech University, Box 41051, Science Building, Lubbock, TX 79409-1051 (United States); Steeghs, D.; Greiss, S. [Astronomy and Astrophysics, Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry, CV4 7AL (United Kingdom); Heinke, C. [Department of Physics, University of Alberta, CCIS 4-183, Edmonton, AB T6G 2E1 (Canada); Bassa, C. G. [Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom); Villar, A. [Department of Physics, Massachussettes Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 (United States); Gabb, M. [Department of Physics, Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0991 (United States)

    2014-09-01

    We present optical light curves of variable stars consistent with the positions of X-ray sources identified with the Chandra X-ray Observatory for the Chandra Galactic Bulge Survey (GBS). Using data from the Mosaic-II instrument on the Blanco 4 m Telescope at CTIO, we gathered time-resolved photometric data on timescales from ∼2 hr to 8 days over the 3/4 of the X-ray survey containing sources from the initial GBS catalog. Among the light curve morphologies we identify are flickering in interacting binaries, eclipsing sources, dwarf nova outbursts, ellipsoidal variations, long period variables, spotted stars, and flare stars. Eighty-seven percent of X-ray sources have at least one potential optical counterpart. Twenty-seven percent of these candidate counterparts are detectably variable; a much greater fraction than expected for randomly selected field stars, which suggests that most of these variables are real counterparts. We discuss individual sources of interest, provide variability information on candidate counterparts, and discuss the characteristics of the variable population.

  12. ROTSE All-Sky Surveys for Variable Stars. I. Test Fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Akerlof, C.; Amrose, S.; Balsano, R.; Bloch, J.; Casperson, D.; Fletcher, S.; Gisler, G.; Hills, J.; Kehoe, R.; Lee, B.

    2000-01-01

    The Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment I (ROTSE-I) experiment has generated CCD photometry for the entire northern sky in two epochs nightly since 1998 March. These sky patrol data are a powerful resource for studies of astrophysical transients. As a demonstration project, we present first results of a search for periodic variable stars derived from ROTSE-I observations. Variable identification, period determination, and type classification are conducted via automatic algorithms. In a set of nine ROTSE-I sky patrol fields covering roughly 2000 deg2, we identify 1781 periodic variable stars with mean magnitudes between m v = 10.0 and m v = 15.5. About 90% of these objects are newly identified as variable. Examples of many familiar types are presented. All classifications for this study have been manually confirmed. The selection criteria for this analysis have been conservatively defined and are known to be biased against some variable classes. This preliminary study includes only 5.6% of the total ROTSE-I sky coverage, suggesting that the full ROTSE-I variable catalog will include more than 32,000 periodic variable stars. (c) (c) 2000. The American Astronomical Society

  13. Variables influencing medical student learning in the operating room.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwind, Cathy J; Boehler, Margaret L; Rogers, David A; Williams, Reed G; Dunnington, Gary; Folse, Roland; Markwell, Stephen J

    2004-02-01

    The operating room (OR) is an important venue where surgeons do much of medical student teaching and yet there has been little work evaluating variables that influence learning in this unique environment. We designed this study to identify variables that affected medical student learning in the OR. We developed a questionnaire based on surgery faculty observations of learning in the OR. The medical students completed the questionnaire on 114 learning episodes in the OR. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to establish the strength of association between various variables and the student's overall perception of learning. The students evaluated 27 variables that might impact their learning in the OR. Strong correlations were identified between the attending physician's attitude, interactions and teaching ability in the OR and the environment being conducive to learning. Surgical faculty behavior is a powerful determinant of student perceptions of what provides for a favorable learning environment in the OR.

  14. ORIGIN OF THE GALACTIC DIFFUSE X-RAY EMISSION: IRON K-SHELL LINE DIAGNOSTICS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nobukawa, Masayoshi [Department of Teacher Training and School Education, Nara University of Education, Takabatake-cho, Nara, 630-8528 (Japan); Uchiyama, Hideki [Faculty of Education, Shizuoka University, 836 Ohya, Suruga-ku, Shizuoka, 422-8529 (Japan); Nobukawa, Kumiko K.; Koyama, Katsuji [Department of Physics, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kitashirakawa-oiwake-cho, Sakyo-ku, Kyoto, 606-8502 (Japan); Yamauchi, Shigeo, E-mail: nobukawa@nara-edu.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Nara Women’s University, Kitauoyanishimachi, Nara, 630-8506 (Japan)

    2016-12-20

    This paper reports detailed K-shell line profiles of iron (Fe) and nickel (Ni) of the Galactic Center X-ray Emission (GCXE), Galactic Bulge X-ray Emission (GBXE), Galactic Ridge X-ray Emission (GRXE), magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (mCVs), non-magnetic Cataclysmic Variables (non-mCVs), and coronally Active Binaries (ABs). For the study of the origin of the GCXE, GBXE, and GRXE, the spectral analysis is focused on equivalent widths of the Fe i-K α , Fe xxv-He α , and Fe xxvi-Ly α  lines. The global spectrum of the GBXE is reproduced by a combination of the mCVs, non-mCVs, and ABs spectra. On the other hand, the GRXE spectrum shows significant data excesses at the Fe i-K α and Fe xxv-He α  line energies. This means that additional components other than mCVs, non-mCVs, and ABs are required, which have symbiotic phenomena of cold gas and very high-temperature plasma. The GCXE spectrum shows larger excesses than those found in the GRXE spectrum at all the K-shell lines of iron and nickel. Among them the largest ones are the Fe i-K α , Fe xxv-He α , Fe xxvi-Ly α , and Fe xxvi-Ly β  lines. Together with the fact that the scale heights of the Fe i-K α , Fe xxv-He α , and Fe xxvi-Ly α lines are similar to that of the central molecular zone (CMZ), the excess components would be related to high-energy activity in the extreme envelopment of the CMZ.

  15. Latent cluster analysis of ALS phenotypes identifies prognostically differing groups.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jeban Ganesalingam

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS is a degenerative disease predominantly affecting motor neurons and manifesting as several different phenotypes. Whether these phenotypes correspond to different underlying disease processes is unknown. We used latent cluster analysis to identify groupings of clinical variables in an objective and unbiased way to improve phenotyping for clinical and research purposes.Latent class cluster analysis was applied to a large database consisting of 1467 records of people with ALS, using discrete variables which can be readily determined at the first clinic appointment. The model was tested for clinical relevance by survival analysis of the phenotypic groupings using the Kaplan-Meier method.The best model generated five distinct phenotypic classes that strongly predicted survival (p<0.0001. Eight variables were used for the latent class analysis, but a good estimate of the classification could be obtained using just two variables: site of first symptoms (bulbar or limb and time from symptom onset to diagnosis (p<0.00001.The five phenotypic classes identified using latent cluster analysis can predict prognosis. They could be used to stratify patients recruited into clinical trials and generating more homogeneous disease groups for genetic, proteomic and risk factor research.

  16. Offshore limit of coastal ocean variability identified from hydrography and altimeter data in the eastern Arabian Sea

    Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

    Antony, M.K.; Swamy, G.N.; Somayajulu, Y.K.

    In this communication, we describe a hitherto-unknown offshore limit to the coastal ocean variability signatures away from the continental shelf in the eastern Arabian Sea, based on hydrographic observations and satellite altimeter (TOPEX...

  17. Statistical identification of effective input variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vaurio, J.K.

    1982-09-01

    A statistical sensitivity analysis procedure has been developed for ranking the input data of large computer codes in the order of sensitivity-importance. The method is economical for large codes with many input variables, since it uses a relatively small number of computer runs. No prior judgemental elimination of input variables is needed. The sceening method is based on stagewise correlation and extensive regression analysis of output values calculated with selected input value combinations. The regression process deals with multivariate nonlinear functions, and statistical tests are also available for identifying input variables that contribute to threshold effects, i.e., discontinuities in the output variables. A computer code SCREEN has been developed for implementing the screening techniques. The efficiency has been demonstrated by several examples and applied to a fast reactor safety analysis code (Venus-II). However, the methods and the coding are general and not limited to such applications

  18. Identifying barriers to large-scale integration of variable renewable electricity into the electricity market : A literature review of market design

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hu, J.; Harmsen, R.; Crijns-Graus, Wina; Worrell, E.; van den Broek, M.A.

    For reaching the 2 °C climate target, the robust growth of electricity generation from variable renewable energy sources (VRE) in the power sector is expected to continue. Accommodation of the power system to the variable, uncertain and locational-dependent outputs of VRE causes integration costs.

  19. Origin of very-short orbital-period binary systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miyaji, S.

    1983-01-01

    Recent observations of four close binaries have established that there is a group of very-short orbital-period (VSOP) binaries whose orbital periods are less than 60 minutes. The VSOP binaries consist of both X-ray close binaries and cataclysmic variables. Their orbital periods are too short to have a main-sequence companion. However, four binaries, none of which belongs to any globular cluster, are too abundant to be explained by the capturing mechanism of a white dwarf. Therefore it seemed to be worthwhile to present an evolutionary scenario from an original binary system which can be applied for all VSOP binaries. (Auth.)

  20. Clinical Implications of Glucose Variability: Chronic Complications of Diabetes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hye Seung Jung

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Glucose variability has been identified as a potential risk factor for diabetic complications; oxidative stress is widely regarded as the mechanism by which glycemic variability induces diabetic complications. However, there remains no generally accepted gold standard for assessing glucose variability. Representative indices for measuring intraday variability include calculation of the standard deviation along with the mean amplitude of glycemic excursions (MAGE. MAGE is used to measure major intraday excursions and is easily measured using continuous glucose monitoring systems. Despite a lack of randomized controlled trials, recent clinical data suggest that long-term glycemic variability, as determined by variability in hemoglobin A1c, may contribute to the development of microvascular complications. Intraday glycemic variability is also suggested to accelerate coronary artery disease in high-risk patients.

  1. Extending existing structural identifiability analysis methods to mixed-effects models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janzén, David L I; Jirstrand, Mats; Chappell, Michael J; Evans, Neil D

    2018-01-01

    The concept of structural identifiability for state-space models is expanded to cover mixed-effects state-space models. Two methods applicable for the analytical study of the structural identifiability of mixed-effects models are presented. The two methods are based on previously established techniques for non-mixed-effects models; namely the Taylor series expansion and the input-output form approach. By generating an exhaustive summary, and by assuming an infinite number of subjects, functions of random variables can be derived which in turn determine the distribution of the system's observation function(s). By considering the uniqueness of the analytical statistical moments of the derived functions of the random variables, the structural identifiability of the corresponding mixed-effects model can be determined. The two methods are applied to a set of examples of mixed-effects models to illustrate how they work in practice. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Variable stiffness and damping MR isolator

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhang, X Z; Wang, X Y; Li, W H; Kostidis, K [University of Wollongong, School of Mechanical, Materials and Mechatronic Engineering, NSW 2522 (Australia)], E-mail: weihuali@uow.edu.au

    2009-02-01

    This paper presents the development of a magnetorheological (MR) fluid-based variable stiffness and damping isolator for vibration suppressions. The MR fluid isolator used a sole MR control unit to achieve the variable stiffness and damping in stepless and relative large scope. A mathematical model of the isolator was derived, and a prototype of the MR fluid isolator was fabricated and its dynamic behavior was measured in vibration under various applied magnetic fields. The parameters of the model under various magnetic fields were identified and the dynamic performances of isolator were evaluated.

  3. CD4+ T cell count, HIV-1 viral loads and demographic variables of newly identified patients with HIV infection in Wuhan, China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Man-Qing; Tang, Li; Kong, Wen-Hua; Zhu, Ze-Rong; Peng, Jin-Song; Wang, Xia; Yao, Zhong-Zhao; Schilling, Robert; Zhou, Wang

    2013-10-01

    In China, the rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) testing is increasing among men who have sex with men. The purpose of the present study was to describe HIV-related biomarkers and selected demographic variables of persons with newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS, among men who have sex with men in particular, in Wuhan China. Demographic indicators, and CD4+ T cell counts and HIV-1 viral load were collected from individuals newly identified as HIV-1 antibody positive during 2011. Of 176 enrolled patients, 132 (75.0%) were men who have sex with men. This group was significantly younger and had higher CD4+ T cell counts than patients who were likely infected through heterosexual contact. Most men who have sex with men (56.6%) were discovered by initiative investigation. Among heterosexual patients CD4+ T cell counts and HIV-1 viral load were significantly correlated; among the group of men who have sex with men, no such association was found. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  4. Profiles of drug addicts in relation to personality variables and disorders.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carou, María; Romero, Estrella; Luengo, Mª Ángeles

    2016-10-07

    In recent decades, research has identified a set of impulsive/disinhibited personality variables closely associated with drug addiction. As well as this, disorders linked with these variables, such as ADHD and personality disorders, are being closely studied in the field of drug addiction. Although much knowledge has been accumulated about the relation of these variables and disorders taken separately, less is known about how these constructs allow identify-specific profiles within the drug dependent population to be identified. This work, on the basis of data collected on a sample of drug addicts in treatment, analyzes how impulsiveness, sensation seeking, self-control, ADHD and personality disorders contribute to identifying specific profiles of addicts. Cluster analysis allowed two profiles to be outlined according to these personality and psychopathology characteristics. Self-control, impulsiveness, impulsive and antisocial personality disorders, as well as scores in ADHD, emerge as the variables that contribute more to profile differentiation. One of these profiles (56.1% of participants) with a high disinhibition pattern, is associated with severe indicators of consumption and criminal career patterns. These results allow us to emphasize the role of personality and impulsiveness-related disorders in the identification of distinctive profiles within the addict population, and suggest the need to generate treatment strategies adapted to personal/psychopathology configurations of drug addicts.

  5. Identifying community thresholds for lotic benthic diatoms in response to human disturbance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tang, Tao; Tang, Ting; Tan, Lu; Gu, Yuan; Jiang, Wanxiang; Cai, Qinghua

    2017-06-23

    Although human disturbance indirectly influences lotic assemblages through modifying physical and chemical conditions, identifying thresholds of human disturbance would provide direct evidence for preventing anthropogenic degradation of biological conditions. In the present study, we used data obtained from tributaries of the Three Gorges Reservoir in China to detect effects of human disturbance on streams and to identify disturbance thresholds for benthic diatoms. Diatom species composition was significantly affected by three in-stream stressors including TP, TN and pH. Diatoms were also influenced by watershed % farmland and natural environmental variables. Considering three in-stream stressors, TP was positively influenced by % farmland and % impervious surface area (ISA). In contrast, TN and pH were principally affected by natural environmental variables. Among measured natural environmental variables, average annual air temperature, average annual precipitation, and topsoil % CaCO 3 , % gravel, and total exchangeable bases had significant effects on study streams. When effects of natural variables were accounted for, substantial compositional changes in diatoms occurred when farmland or ISA land use exceeded 25% or 0.3%, respectively. Our study demonstrated the rationale for identifying thresholds of human disturbance for lotic assemblages and addressed the importance of accounting for effects of natural factors for accurate disturbance thresholds.

  6. The Chandra Source Catalog: Source Variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nowak, Michael; Rots, A. H.; McCollough, M. L.; Primini, F. A.; Glotfelty, K. J.; Bonaventura, N. R.; Chen, J. C.; Davis, J. E.; Doe, S. M.; Evans, J. D.; Evans, I.; Fabbiano, G.; Galle, E. C.; Gibbs, D. G., II; Grier, J. D.; Hain, R.; Hall, D. M.; Harbo, P. N.; He, X.; Houck, J. C.; Karovska, M.; Lauer, J.; McDowell, J. C.; Miller, J. B.; Mitschang, A. W.; Morgan, D. L.; Nichols, J. S.; Plummer, D. A.; Refsdal, B. L.; Siemiginowska, A. L.; Sundheim, B. A.; Tibbetts, M. S.; van Stone, D. W.; Winkelman, S. L.; Zografou, P.

    2009-09-01

    The Chandra Source Catalog (CSC) contains fields of view that have been studied with individual, uninterrupted observations that span integration times ranging from 1 ksec to 160 ksec, and a large number of which have received (multiple) repeat observations days to years later. The CSC thus offers an unprecedented look at the variability of the X-ray sky over a broad range of time scales, and across a wide diversity of variable X-ray sources: stars in the local galactic neighborhood, galactic and extragalactic X-ray binaries, Active Galactic Nuclei, etc. Here we describe the methods used to identify and quantify source variability within a single observation, and the methods used to assess the variability of a source when detected in multiple, individual observations. Three tests are used to detect source variability within a single observation: the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and its variant, the Kuiper test, and a Bayesian approach originally suggested by Gregory and Loredo. The latter test not only provides an indicator of variability, but is also used to create a best estimate of the variable lightcurve shape. We assess the performance of these tests via simulation of statistically stationary, variable processes with arbitrary input power spectral densities (here we concentrate on results of red noise simulations) at variety of mean count rates and fractional root mean square variabilities relevant to CSC sources. We also assess the false positive rate via simulations of constant sources whose sole source of fluctuation is Poisson noise. We compare these simulations to an assessment of the variability found in real CSC sources, and estimate the variability sensitivities of the CSC.

  7. Identifying clusters of active transportation using spatial scan statistics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Lan; Stinchcomb, David G; Pickle, Linda W; Dill, Jennifer; Berrigan, David

    2009-08-01

    There is an intense interest in the possibility that neighborhood characteristics influence active transportation such as walking or biking. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a spatial cluster identification method can evaluate the geographic variation of active transportation and identify neighborhoods with unusually high/low levels of active transportation. Self-reported walking/biking prevalence, demographic characteristics, street connectivity variables, and neighborhood socioeconomic data were collected from respondents to the 2001 California Health Interview Survey (CHIS; N=10,688) in Los Angeles County (LAC) and San Diego County (SDC). Spatial scan statistics were used to identify clusters of high or low prevalence (with and without age-adjustment) and the quantity of time spent walking and biking. The data, a subset from the 2001 CHIS, were analyzed in 2007-2008. Geographic clusters of significantly high or low prevalence of walking and biking were detected in LAC and SDC. Structural variables such as street connectivity and shorter block lengths are consistently associated with higher levels of active transportation, but associations between active transportation and socioeconomic variables at the individual and neighborhood levels are mixed. Only one cluster with less time spent walking and biking among walkers/bikers was detected in LAC, and this was of borderline significance. Age-adjustment affects the clustering pattern of walking/biking prevalence in LAC, but not in SDC. The use of spatial scan statistics to identify significant clustering of health behaviors such as active transportation adds to the more traditional regression analysis that examines associations between behavior and environmental factors by identifying specific geographic areas with unusual levels of the behavior independent of predefined administrative units.

  8. Exploratory Analysis of Dengue Fever Niche Variables within the Río Magdalena Watershed

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Austin Stanforth

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Previous research on Dengue Fever have involved laboratory tests or study areas with less diverse temperature and elevation ranges than is found in Colombia; therefore, preliminary research was needed to identify location specific attributes of Dengue Fever transmission. Environmental variables derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM satellites were combined with population variables to be statistically compared against reported cases of Dengue Fever in the Río Magdalena watershed, Colombia. Three-factor analysis models were investigated to analyze variable patterns, including a population, population density, and empirical Bayesian estimation model. Results identified varying levels of Dengue Fever transmission risk, and environmental characteristics which support, and advance, the research literature. Multiple temperature metrics, elevation, and vegetation composition were among the more contributory variables found to identify future potential outbreak locations.

  9. Contextuality in canonical systems of random variables

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dzhafarov, Ehtibar N.; Cervantes, Víctor H.; Kujala, Janne V.

    2017-10-01

    Random variables representing measurements, broadly understood to include any responses to any inputs, form a system in which each of them is uniquely identified by its content (that which it measures) and its context (the conditions under which it is recorded). Two random variables are jointly distributed if and only if they share a context. In a canonical representation of a system, all random variables are binary, and every content-sharing pair of random variables has a unique maximal coupling (the joint distribution imposed on them so that they coincide with maximal possible probability). The system is contextual if these maximal couplings are incompatible with the joint distributions of the context-sharing random variables. We propose to represent any system of measurements in a canonical form and to consider the system contextual if and only if its canonical representation is contextual. As an illustration, we establish a criterion for contextuality of the canonical system consisting of all dichotomizations of a single pair of content-sharing categorical random variables. This article is part of the themed issue `Second quantum revolution: foundational questions'.

  10. SRBreak: A read-depth and split-read framework to identify breakpoints of different events inside simple copy-number variable regions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HOANG T NGUYEN

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Copy-number variation (CNV has been associated with increased risk of complex diseases. High throughput sequencing (HTS technologies facilitate the detection of copy-number variable regions (CNVRs and their breakpoints. This helps in understanding genome structures of genomes as well as their evolution process. Various approaches have been proposed for detecting CNV breakpoints, but currently it is still challenging for tools based on a single analysis method to identify breakpoints of CNVs. It has been shown, however, that pipelines which integrate multiple approaches are able to report more reliable breakpoints. Here, based on HTS data, we have developed a pipeline to identify approximate breakpoints (±10 bp relating to different ancestral events within a specific CNVR. The pipeline combines read-depth and split-read information to infer breakpoints, using information from multiple samples to allow an imputation approach to be taken. The main steps involve using a normal mixture model to cluster samples into different groups, followed by simple kernel-based approaches to maximise information obtained from read-depth and split-read approaches, after which common breakpoints of groups are inferred. The pipeline uses split-read information directly from CIGAR strings of BAM files, without using a re-alignment step. On simulated data sets, it was able to report breakpoints for very low-coverage samples including those for which only single-end reads were available. When applied to three loci from existing human resequencing data sets (NEGR1, LCE3, IRGM the pipeline obtained good concordance with results from the 1000 Genomes Project (92%, 100% and 82%, respectively.The package is available at https://github.com/hoangtn/SRBreak, and also as a docker-based application at https://registry.hub.docker.com/u/hoangtn/srbreak/.

  11. Do psychological variables affect early surgical recovery?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael N Mavros

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Numerous studies have examined the effect of psychological variables on surgical recovery, but no definite conclusion has been reached yet. We sought to examine whether psychological factors influence early surgical recovery. METHODS: We performed a systematic search in PubMed, Scopus and PsycINFO databases to identify studies examining the association of preoperative psychological variables or interventions with objectively measured, early surgical outcomes. RESULTS: We identified 16 eligible studies, 15 of which reported a significant association between at least one psychological variable or intervention and an early postoperative outcome. However, most studies also reported psychological factors not influencing surgical recovery and there was significant heterogeneity across the studies. Overall, trait and state anxiety, state anger, active coping, subclinical depression, and intramarital hostility appeared to complicate recovery, while dispositional optimism, religiousness, anger control, low pain expectations, and external locus of control seemed to promote healing. Psychological interventions (guided relaxation, couple support visit, and psychiatric interview also appeared to favor recovery. Psychological factors unrelated to surgical outcomes included loneliness, perceived social support, anger expression, and trait anger. CONCLUSION: Although the heterogeneity of the available evidence precludes any safe conclusions, psychological variables appear to be associated with early surgical recovery; this association could bear important implications for clinical practice. Large clinical trials and further analyses are needed to precisely evaluate the contribution of psychology in surgical recovery.

  12. VaST: A variability search toolkit

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sokolovsky, K. V.; Lebedev, A. A.

    2018-01-01

    Variability Search Toolkit (VaST) is a software package designed to find variable objects in a series of sky images. It can be run from a script or interactively using its graphical interface. VaST relies on source list matching as opposed to image subtraction. SExtractor is used to generate source lists and perform aperture or PSF-fitting photometry (with PSFEx). Variability indices that characterize scatter and smoothness of a lightcurve are computed for all objects. Candidate variables are identified as objects having high variability index values compared to other objects of similar brightness. The two distinguishing features of VaST are its ability to perform accurate aperture photometry of images obtained with non-linear detectors and handle complex image distortions. The software has been successfully applied to images obtained with telescopes ranging from 0.08 to 2.5 m in diameter equipped with a variety of detectors including CCD, CMOS, MIC and photographic plates. About 1800 variable stars have been discovered with VaST. It is used as a transient detection engine in the New Milky Way (NMW) nova patrol. The code is written in C and can be easily compiled on the majority of UNIX-like systems. VaST is free software available at http://scan.sai.msu.ru/vast/.

  13. Limitations of variable number of tandem repeat typing identified through whole genome sequencing of Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis on a national and herd level.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahlstrom, Christina; Barkema, Herman W; Stevenson, Karen; Zadoks, Ruth N; Biek, Roman; Kao, Rowland; Trewby, Hannah; Haupstein, Deb; Kelton, David F; Fecteau, Gilles; Labrecque, Olivia; Keefe, Greg P; McKenna, Shawn L B; De Buck, Jeroen

    2015-03-08

    Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP), the causative bacterium of Johne's disease in dairy cattle, is widespread in the Canadian dairy industry and has significant economic and animal welfare implications. An understanding of the population dynamics of MAP can be used to identify introduction events, improve control efforts and target transmission pathways, although this requires an adequate understanding of MAP diversity and distribution between herds and across the country. Whole genome sequencing (WGS) offers a detailed assessment of the SNP-level diversity and genetic relationship of isolates, whereas several molecular typing techniques used to investigate the molecular epidemiology of MAP, such as variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) typing, target relatively unstable repetitive elements in the genome that may be too unpredictable to draw accurate conclusions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the diversity of bovine MAP isolates in Canadian dairy herds using WGS and then determine if VNTR typing can distinguish truly related and unrelated isolates. Phylogenetic analysis based on 3,039 SNPs identified through WGS of 124 MAP isolates identified eight genetically distinct subtypes in dairy herds from seven Canadian provinces, with the dominant type including over 80% of MAP isolates. VNTR typing of 527 MAP isolates identified 12 types, including "bison type" isolates, from seven different herds. At a national level, MAP isolates differed from each other by 1-2 to 239-240 SNPs, regardless of whether they belonged to the same or different VNTR types. A herd-level analysis of MAP isolates demonstrated that VNTR typing may both over-estimate and under-estimate the relatedness of MAP isolates found within a single herd. The presence of multiple MAP subtypes in Canada suggests multiple introductions into the country including what has now become one dominant type, an important finding for Johne's disease control. VNTR typing often failed to

  14. Variability of a "force signature" during windmill softball pitching and relationship between discrete force variables and pitch velocity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nimphius, Sophia; McGuigan, Michael R; Suchomel, Timothy J; Newton, Robert U

    2016-06-01

    This study assessed reliability of discrete ground reaction force (GRF) variables over multiple pitching trials, investigated the relationships between discrete GRF variables and pitch velocity (PV) and assessed the variability of the "force signature" or continuous force-time curve during the pitching motion of windmill softball pitchers. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for all discrete variables was high (0.86-0.99) while the coefficient of variance (CV) was low (1.4-5.2%). Two discrete variables were significantly correlated to PV; second vertical peak force (r(5)=0.81, p=0.03) and time between peak forces (r(5)=-0.79; p=0.03). High ICCs and low CVs support the reliability of discrete GRF and PV variables over multiple trials and significant correlations indicate there is a relationship between the ability to produce force and the timing of this force production with PV. The mean of all pitchers' curve-average standard deviation of their continuous force-time curves demonstrated low variability (CV=4.4%) indicating a repeatable and identifiable "force signature" pattern during this motion. As such, the continuous force-time curve in addition to discrete GRF variables should be examined in future research as a potential method to monitor or explain changes in pitching performance. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Decomposing global crop yield variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben-Ari, Tamara; Makowski, David

    2014-11-01

    Recent food crises have highlighted the need to better understand the between-year variability of agricultural production. Although increasing future production seems necessary, the globalization of commodity markets suggests that the food system would also benefit from enhanced supplies stability through a reduction in the year-to-year variability. Here, we develop an analytical expression decomposing global crop yield interannual variability into three informative components that quantify how evenly are croplands distributed in the world, the proportion of cultivated areas allocated to regions of above or below average variability and the covariation between yields in distinct world regions. This decomposition is used to identify drivers of interannual yield variations for four major crops (i.e., maize, rice, soybean and wheat) over the period 1961-2012. We show that maize production is fairly spread but marked by one prominent region with high levels of crop yield interannual variability (which encompasses the North American corn belt in the USA, and Canada). In contrast, global rice yields have a small variability because, although spatially concentrated, much of the production is located in regions of below-average variability (i.e., South, Eastern and South Eastern Asia). Because of these contrasted land use allocations, an even cultivated land distribution across regions would reduce global maize yield variance, but increase the variance of global yield rice. Intermediate results are obtained for soybean and wheat for which croplands are mainly located in regions with close-to-average variability. At the scale of large world regions, we find that covariances of regional yields have a negligible contribution to global yield variance. The proposed decomposition could be applied at any spatial and time scales, including the yearly time step. By addressing global crop production stability (or lack thereof) our results contribute to the understanding of a key

  16. Bayesian Multiresolution Variable Selection for Ultra-High Dimensional Neuroimaging Data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Yize; Kang, Jian; Long, Qi

    2018-01-01

    Ultra-high dimensional variable selection has become increasingly important in analysis of neuroimaging data. For example, in the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE) study, neuroscientists are interested in identifying important biomarkers for early detection of the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using high resolution brain images that include hundreds of thousands voxels. However, most existing methods are not feasible for solving this problem due to their extensive computational costs. In this work, we propose a novel multiresolution variable selection procedure under a Bayesian probit regression framework. It recursively uses posterior samples for coarser-scale variable selection to guide the posterior inference on finer-scale variable selection, leading to very efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms. The proposed algorithms are computationally feasible for ultra-high dimensional data. Also, our model incorporates two levels of structural information into variable selection using Ising priors: the spatial dependence between voxels and the functional connectivity between anatomical brain regions. Applied to the resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) data in the ABIDE study, our methods identify voxel-level imaging biomarkers highly predictive of the ASD, which are biologically meaningful and interpretable. Extensive simulations also show that our methods achieve better performance in variable selection compared to existing methods.

  17. Hydroclimate variability: comparing dendroclimatic records and future GCM scenarios

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lapp, S.

    2008-01-01

    Drought events of the 20th Century in western North America have been linked to teleconnections that influence climate variability on inter-annual and decadal to multi-decadal time scales. These teleconnections represent the changes sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in the tropical and extra-tropical regions of the Pacific Ocean, ENSO (El-Nino Southern Oscillation) and PDO (Pacific Decadal Oscillation), respectively, and the Atlantic Ocean, AMO (Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation), and also to atmospheric circulation patterns (PNA: Pacific-North American). A network of precipitation sensitive tree-ring chronologies from Montana, Alberta, Saskatchewan and NWT highly correlate to the climate moisture index (CMI) of precipitation potential evapotranspiration (P-PET), thus, capturing the long-term hydroclimatic variability of the region. Reconstructions of annual and seasonal CMI identify drought events in previous centuries that are more extreme in magnitude, frequency and duration than recorded during the instrumental period. Variability in the future climate will include these natural climate cycles as well as modulations of these cycles affected by human induced global warming. The proxy hydroclimate records derived from tree-rings present information on decadal and multi-decadal hydroclimatic variability for the past millennium; therefore, providing a unique opportunity to validate the climate variability simulated by GCMs (Global Climate Models) on longer time scales otherwise constrained by the shorter observation records. Developing scenarios of future variability depends: 1) on our understanding of the interaction of these teleconnection; and, 2) to identify climate models that are able to accurately simulate the hydroclimatic variability as detected in the instrumental and proxy records. (author)

  18. Identifying the independent effect of HbA1c variability on adverse health outcomes in patients with Type 2 diabetes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prentice, J C; Pizer, S D; Conlin, P R

    2016-12-01

    To characterize the relationship between HbA 1c variability and adverse health outcomes among US military veterans with Type 2 diabetes. This retrospective cohort study used Veterans Affairs and Medicare claims for veterans with Type 2 diabetes taking metformin who initiated a second diabetes medication (n = 50 861). The main exposure of interest was HbA 1c variability during a 3-year baseline period. HbA 1c variability, categorized into quartiles, was defined as standard deviation, coefficient of variation and adjusted standard deviation, which accounted for the number and mean number of days between HbA 1c tests. Cox proportional hazard models predicted mortality, hospitalization for ambulatory care-sensitive conditions, and myocardial infarction or stroke and were controlled for mean HbA 1c levels and the direction of change in HbA 1c levels during the baseline period. Over a mean 3.3 years of follow-up, all HbA 1c variability measures significantly predicted each outcome. Using the adjusted standard deviation measure for HbA 1c variability, the hazard ratios for the third and fourth quartile predicting mortality were 1.14 (95% CI 1.04, 1.25) and 1.42 (95% CI 1.28, 1.58), for myocardial infarction and stroke they were 1.25 (95% CI 1.10, 1.41) and 1.23 (95% CI 1.07, 1.42) and for ambulatory-care sensitive condition hospitalization they were 1.10 (95% CI 1.03, 1.18) and 1.11 (95% CI 1.03, 1.20). Higher baseline HbA 1c levels independently predicted the likelihood of each outcome. In veterans with Type 2 diabetes, greater HbA 1c variability was associated with an increased risk of adverse long-term outcomes, independently of HbA 1c levels and direction of change. Limiting HbA 1c fluctuations over time may reduce complications. © 2016 Diabetes UK.

  19. Impacts of climate variability and change on beekeeping productivity ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study investigated impacts of climate variability and change on Beekeeping productivity in Sunya, Kijungu and Olgira villages in Kiteto District in Manyara region in Tanzania. Specific objectives of the study were to identify the contribution of honey bees to community livelihoods, to identify climate related factors which ...

  20. Sparse modeling of spatial environmental variables associated with asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Timothy S; Gangnon, Ronald E; David Page, C; Buckingham, William R; Tandias, Aman; Cowan, Kelly J; Tomasallo, Carrie D; Arndt, Brian G; Hanrahan, Lawrence P; Guilbert, Theresa W

    2015-02-01

    Geographically distributed environmental factors influence the burden of diseases such as asthma. Our objective was to identify sparse environmental variables associated with asthma diagnosis gathered from a large electronic health record (EHR) dataset while controlling for spatial variation. An EHR dataset from the University of Wisconsin's Family Medicine, Internal Medicine and Pediatrics Departments was obtained for 199,220 patients aged 5-50years over a three-year period. Each patient's home address was geocoded to one of 3456 geographic census block groups. Over one thousand block group variables were obtained from a commercial database. We developed a Sparse Spatial Environmental Analysis (SASEA). Using this method, the environmental variables were first dimensionally reduced with sparse principal component analysis. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling was then used to identify block group variables associated with asthma from sparse principal components. The addresses of patients from the EHR dataset were distributed throughout the majority of Wisconsin's geography. Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling captured spatial variation of asthma. Four sparse principal components identified via model selection consisted of food at home, dog ownership, household size, and disposable income variables. In rural areas, dog ownership and renter occupied housing units from significant sparse principal components were associated with asthma. Our main contribution is the incorporation of sparsity in spatial modeling. SASEA sequentially added sparse principal components to Logistic thin plate regression spline modeling. This method allowed association of geographically distributed environmental factors with asthma using EHR and environmental datasets. SASEA can be applied to other diseases with environmental risk factors. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Sparse Linear Identifiable Multivariate Modeling

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Henao, Ricardo; Winther, Ole

    2011-01-01

    and bench-marked on artificial and real biological data sets. SLIM is closest in spirit to LiNGAM (Shimizu et al., 2006), but differs substantially in inference, Bayesian network structure learning and model comparison. Experimentally, SLIM performs equally well or better than LiNGAM with comparable......In this paper we consider sparse and identifiable linear latent variable (factor) and linear Bayesian network models for parsimonious analysis of multivariate data. We propose a computationally efficient method for joint parameter and model inference, and model comparison. It consists of a fully...

  2. LONG-TERM X-RAY VARIABILITY STUDY OF IC342 FROM XMM-NEWTON OBSERVATIONS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mak, Daisy S. Y.; Pun, Chun S. J.; Kong, Albert K. H.

    2011-01-01

    We presented the results of an analysis of four XMM-Newton observations of the starburst galaxy IC342 taken over a four-year span from 2001 to 2005, with an emphasis on investigating the long-term flux and spectral variability of the X-ray point sources. We detected a total of 61 X-ray sources within 35' x 30' of the galaxy down to a luminosity of (1-2) x 10 37 erg s -1 depending on the local background. We found that 39 of the 61 detected sources showed long-term variability, in which 26 of them were classified as X-ray transients. We also found 19 sources exhibiting variations in hardness ratios or undergoing spectral transitions among observations, and were identified as spectral variables. In particular, eight of the identified X-ray transients showed spectral variability in addition to flux variability. The diverse patterns of variability observed are indicative of a population of X-ray binaries. We used X-ray colors, flux and spectral variability, and in some cases the optical or radio counterparts to classify the detected X-ray sources into several stellar populations. We identified a total of 11 foreground stars, 1 supersoft source (SSS), 3 quasisoft sources (QSSs), and 2 supernova remnants (SNRs). The identified SSS/QSSs are located near or on the spiral arms, associated with young stellar populations; the 2 SNRs are very close to the starburst nucleus where current star formation activities are dominated. We also discovered a spectral change in the nuclear source of IC342 for the first time by a series of X-ray spectrum analysis.

  3. Methods to quantify variable importance: implications for theanalysis of noisy ecological data

    OpenAIRE

    Murray, Kim; Conner, Mary M.

    2009-01-01

    Determining the importance of independent variables is of practical relevance to ecologists and managers concerned with allocating limited resources to the management of natural systems. Although techniques that identify explanatory variables having the largest influence on the response variable are needed to design management actions effectively, the use of various indices to evaluate variable importance is poorly understood. Using Monte Carlo simulations, we compared six different indices c...

  4. Millijansky radio variability in SDSS stripe 82

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hodge, J. A.; Becker, R. H. [University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616 (United States); White, R. L. [Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Richards, G. T., E-mail: hodge@mpia.de [Drexel University, 3141 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States)

    2013-06-01

    We report on a blind survey for extragalactic radio variability that was carried out by comparing two epochs of data from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters survey with a third epoch from a new 1.4 GHz survey of SDSS Stripe 82. The three epochs are spaced seven years apart and have an overlapping area of 60 deg{sup 2}. We uncover 89 variable sources down to the millijansky level, 75 of which are newly identified, and we find no evidence for transient phenomena. This new sample of variable sources allows us to infer an upper limit to the mean characteristic timescale of active galactic nucleus radio variability of 14 yr. We find that only 1% of extragalactic sources have fractional variability f {sub var} > 3, while 44% of Galactic sources vary by this much. The variable sample contains a larger fraction of quasars than a comparable non-variable control sample, though the majority of the variable sources appear to be extended galaxies in the optical. This implies that either quasars are not the dominant contributor to the variability of the sample, or that the deep optical data allow us to detect the host galaxies of some low-z quasars. We use the new, higher resolution data to report on the morphology of the variable sources. Finally, we show that the fraction of sources that are variable remains constant or increases at low flux densities. This may imply that next generation radio surveys with telescopes like Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder and MeerKAT will see a constant or even increasing fraction of variable sources down into the sub-millijansky regime.

  5. Eutrophication Modeling Using Variable Chlorophyll Approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abdolabadi, H.; Sarang, A.; Ardestani, M.; Mahjoobi, E.

    2016-01-01

    In this study, eutrophication was investigated in Lake Ontario to identify the interactions among effective drivers. The complexity of such phenomenon was modeled using a system dynamics approach based on a consideration of constant and variable stoichiometric ratios. The system dynamics approach is a powerful tool for developing object-oriented models to simulate complex phenomena that involve feedback effects. Utilizing stoichiometric ratios is a method for converting the concentrations of state variables. During the physical segmentation of the model, Lake Ontario was divided into two layers, i.e., the epilimnion and hypolimnion, and differential equations were developed for each layer. The model structure included 16 state variables related to phytoplankton, herbivorous zooplankton, carnivorous zooplankton, ammonium, nitrate, dissolved phosphorus, and particulate and dissolved carbon in the epilimnion and hypolimnion during a time horizon of one year. The results of several tests to verify the model, close to 1 Nash-Sutcliff coefficient (0.98), the data correlation coefficient (0.98), and lower standard errors (0.96), have indicated well-suited model’s efficiency. The results revealed that there were significant differences in the concentrations of the state variables in constant and variable stoichiometry simulations. Consequently, the consideration of variable stoichiometric ratios in algae and nutrient concentration simulations may be applied in future modeling studies to enhance the accuracy of the results and reduce the likelihood of inefficient control policies.

  6. Identifying Stakeholders and Their Preferences about NFR by Comparing Use Case Diagrams of Several Existing Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaiya, Haruhiko; Osada, Akira; Kaijiri, Kenji

    We present a method to identify stakeholders and their preferences about non-functional requirements (NFR) by using use case diagrams of existing systems. We focus on the changes about NFR because such changes help stakeholders to identify their preferences. Comparing different use case diagrams of the same domain helps us to find changes to be occurred. We utilize Goal-Question-Metrics (GQM) method for identifying variables that characterize NFR, and we can systematically represent changes about NFR using the variables. Use cases that represent system interactions help us to bridge the gap between goals and metrics (variables), and we can easily construct measurable NFR. For validating and evaluating our method, we applied our method to an application domain of Mail User Agent (MUA) system.

  7. Optical photometric variable stars towards the Galactic H II region NGC 2282

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dutta, Somnath; Mondal, Soumen; Joshi, Santosh; Jose, Jessy; Das, Ramkrishna; Ghosh, Supriyo

    2018-05-01

    We report here CCD I-band time series photometry of a young (2-5 Myr) cluster NGC 2282, in order to identify and understand the variability of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars. The I-band photometry, down to ˜20.5 mag, enables us to probe the variability towards the lower mass end (˜0.1 M⊙) of PMS stars. From the light curves of 1627 stars, we identified 62 new photometric variable candidates. Their association with the region was established from H α emission and infrared (IR) excess. Among 62 variables, 30 young variables exhibit H α emission, near-IR (NIR)/mid-IR (MIR) excess or both and are candidate members of the cluster. Out of 62 variables, 41 are periodic variables, with a rotation rate ranging from 0.2-7 d. The period distribution exhibits a median period at ˜1 d, as in many young clusters (e.g. NGC 2264, ONC, etc.), but it follows a unimodal distribution, unlike others that have bimodality, with slow rotators peaking at ˜6-8 d. To investigate the rotation-disc and variability-disc connection, we derived the NIR excess from Δ(I - K) and the MIR excess from Spitzer [3.6]-[4.5] μm data. No conclusive evidence of slow rotation with the presence of discs around stars and fast rotation for discless stars is obtained from our periodic variables. A clear increasing trend of the variability amplitude with IR excess is found for all variables.

  8. Critical differences between elective and emergency surgery: identifying domains for quality improvement in emergency general surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Columbus, Alexandra B; Morris, Megan A; Lilley, Elizabeth J; Harlow, Alyssa F; Haider, Adil H; Salim, Ali; Havens, Joaquim M

    2018-04-01

    The objective of our study was to characterize providers' impressions of factors contributing to disproportionate rates of morbidity and mortality in emergency general surgery to identify targets for care quality improvement. Emergency general surgery is characterized by a high-cost burden and disproportionate morbidity and mortality. Factors contributing to these observed disparities are not comprehensively understood and targets for quality improvement have not been formally developed. Using a grounded theory approach, emergency general surgery providers were recruited through purposive-criterion-based sampling to participate in semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Participants were asked to identify contributors to emergency general surgery outcomes, to define effective care for EGS patients, and to describe operating room team structure. Interviews were performed to thematic saturation. Transcripts were iteratively coded and analyzed within and across cases to identify emergent themes. Member checking was performed to establish credibility of the findings. A total of 40 participants from 5 academic hospitals participated in either individual interviews (n = 25 [9 anesthesia, 12 surgery, 4 nursing]) or focus groups (n = 2 [15 nursing]). Emergency general surgery was characterized by an exceptionally high level of variability, which can be subcategorized as patient-variability (acute physiology and comorbidities) and system-variability (operating room resources and workforce). Multidisciplinary communication is identified as a modifier to variability in emergency general surgery; however, nursing is often left out of early communication exchanges. Critical variability in emergency general surgery may impact outcomes. Patient-variability and system-variability, with focus on multidisciplinary communication, represent potential domains for quality improvement in this field. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. High-speed photometry of Gaia14aae: an eclipsing AM CVn that challenges formation models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Green, M. J.; Marsh, T. R.; Steeghs, D. T. H.; Kupfer, T.; Ashley, R. P.; Bloemen, S.; Breedt, E.; Campbell, H. C.; Chakpor, A.; Copperwheat, C. M.; Dhillon, V. S.; Hallinan, G.; Hardy, L. K.; Hermes, J. J.; Kerry, P.; Littlefair, S. P.; Milburn, J.; Parsons, S. G.; Prasert, N.; van Roestel, J.; Sahman, D. I.; Singh, N.

    2018-05-01

    AM CVn-type systems are ultracompact, hydrogen-deficient accreting binaries with degenerate or semidegenerate donors. The evolutionary history of these systems can be explored by constraining the properties of their donor stars. We present high-speed photometry of Gaia14aae, an AM CVn with a binary period of 49. 7 min and the first AM CVn in which the central white dwarf is fully eclipsed by the donor star. Modelling of the light curves of this system allows for the most precise measurement to date of the donor mass of an AM CVn, and relies only on geometric and well-tested physical assumptions. We find a mass ratio q = M2/M1 = 0.0287 ± 0.0020 and masses M1 = 0.87 ± 0.02 M⊙ and M2 = 0.0250 ± 0.0013 M⊙. We compare these properties to the three proposed channels for AM CVn formation. Our measured donor mass and radius do not fit with the contraction that is predicted for AM CVn donors descended from white dwarfs or helium stars at long orbital periods. The donor properties we measure fall in a region of parameter space in which systems evolved from hydrogen-dominated cataclysmic variables are expected, but such systems should show spectroscopic hydrogen, which is not seen in Gaia14aae. The evolutionary history of this system is therefore not clear. We consider a helium-burning star or an evolved cataclysmic variable to be the most likely progenitors, but both models require additional processes and/or fine-tuning to fit the data. Additionally, we calculate an updated ephemeris which corrects for an anomalous time measurement in the previously published ephemeris.

  10. Characterizing the Optical Variability of Bright Blazars: Variability-based Selection of Fermi Active Galactic Nuclei

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruan, John J.; Anderson, Scott F.; MacLeod, Chelsea L.; Becker, Andrew C.; Burnett, T. H.; Davenport, James R. A.; Ivezić, Željko; Kochanek, Christopher S.; Plotkin, Richard M.; Sesar, Branimir; Stuart, J. Scott

    2012-11-01

    We investigate the use of optical photometric variability to select and identify blazars in large-scale time-domain surveys, in part to aid in the identification of blazar counterparts to the ~30% of γ-ray sources in the Fermi 2FGL catalog still lacking reliable associations. Using data from the optical LINEAR asteroid survey, we characterize the optical variability of blazars by fitting a damped random walk model to individual light curves with two main model parameters, the characteristic timescales of variability τ, and driving amplitudes on short timescales \\hat{\\sigma }. Imposing cuts on minimum τ and \\hat{\\sigma } allows for blazar selection with high efficiency E and completeness C. To test the efficacy of this approach, we apply this method to optically variable LINEAR objects that fall within the several-arcminute error ellipses of γ-ray sources in the Fermi 2FGL catalog. Despite the extreme stellar contamination at the shallow depth of the LINEAR survey, we are able to recover previously associated optical counterparts to Fermi active galactic nuclei with E >= 88% and C = 88% in Fermi 95% confidence error ellipses having semimajor axis r beaming. After correcting for beaming, we estimate that the characteristic timescale of blazar variability is ~3 years in the rest frame of the jet, in contrast with the ~320 day disk flux timescale observed in quasars. The variability-based selection method presented will be useful for blazar identification in time-domain optical surveys and is also a probe of jet physics.

  11. CHARACTERIZING THE OPTICAL VARIABILITY OF BRIGHT BLAZARS: VARIABILITY-BASED SELECTION OF FERMI ACTIVE GALACTIC NUCLEI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruan, John J.; Anderson, Scott F.; MacLeod, Chelsea L.; Becker, Andrew C.; Davenport, James R. A.; Ivezić, Željko; Burnett, T. H.; Kochanek, Christopher S.; Plotkin, Richard M.; Sesar, Branimir; Stuart, J. Scott

    2012-01-01

    We investigate the use of optical photometric variability to select and identify blazars in large-scale time-domain surveys, in part to aid in the identification of blazar counterparts to the ∼30% of γ-ray sources in the Fermi 2FGL catalog still lacking reliable associations. Using data from the optical LINEAR asteroid survey, we characterize the optical variability of blazars by fitting a damped random walk model to individual light curves with two main model parameters, the characteristic timescales of variability τ, and driving amplitudes on short timescales σ-circumflex. Imposing cuts on minimum τ and σ-circumflex allows for blazar selection with high efficiency E and completeness C. To test the efficacy of this approach, we apply this method to optically variable LINEAR objects that fall within the several-arcminute error ellipses of γ-ray sources in the Fermi 2FGL catalog. Despite the extreme stellar contamination at the shallow depth of the LINEAR survey, we are able to recover previously associated optical counterparts to Fermi active galactic nuclei with E ≥ 88% and C = 88% in Fermi 95% confidence error ellipses having semimajor axis r < 8'. We find that the suggested radio counterpart to Fermi source 2FGL J1649.6+5238 has optical variability consistent with other γ-ray blazars and is likely to be the γ-ray source. Our results suggest that the variability of the non-thermal jet emission in blazars is stochastic in nature, with unique variability properties due to the effects of relativistic beaming. After correcting for beaming, we estimate that the characteristic timescale of blazar variability is ∼3 years in the rest frame of the jet, in contrast with the ∼320 day disk flux timescale observed in quasars. The variability-based selection method presented will be useful for blazar identification in time-domain optical surveys and is also a probe of jet physics.

  12. Predictor variable resolution governs modeled soil types

    Science.gov (United States)

    Soil mapping identifies different soil types by compressing a unique suite of spatial patterns and processes across multiple spatial scales. It can be quite difficult to quantify spatial patterns of soil properties with remotely sensed predictor variables. More specifically, matching the right scale...

  13. Gene Variants Associated with Antisocial Behaviour: A Latent Variable Approach

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bentley, Mary Jane; Lin, Haiqun; Fernandez, Thomas V.; Lee, Maria; Yrigollen, Carolyn M.; Pakstis, Andrew J.; Katsovich, Liliya; Olds, David L.; Grigorenko, Elena L.; Leckman, James F.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: The aim of this study was to determine if a latent variable approach might be useful in identifying shared variance across genetic risk alleles that is associated with antisocial behaviour at age 15 years. Methods: Using a conventional latent variable approach, we derived an antisocial phenotype in 328 adolescents utilizing data from a…

  14. Extent of, and variables associated with, blood pressure variability among older subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morano, Arianna; Ravera, Agnese; Agosta, Luca; Sappa, Matteo; Falcone, Yolanda; Fonte, Gianfranco; Isaia, Gianluca; Isaia, Giovanni Carlo; Bo, Mario

    2018-02-23

    Blood pressure variability (BPV) may have prognostic implications for cardiovascular risk and cognitive decline; however, BPV has yet to be studied in old and very old people. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the extent of BPV and to identify variables associated with BPV among older subjects. A retrospective study of patients aged ≥ 65 years who underwent 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was carried out. Three different BPV indexes were calculated for systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP): standard deviation (SD), coefficient of variation (CV), and average real variability (ARV). Demographic variables and use of antihypertensive medications were considered. The study included 738 patients. Mean age was 74.8 ± 6.8 years. Mean SBP and DBP SD were 20.5 ± 4.4 and 14.6 ± 3.4 mmHg. Mean SBP and DBP CV were 16 ± 3 and 20 ± 5%. Mean SBP and DBP ARV were 15.7 ± 3.9 and 11.8 ± 3.6 mmHg. At multivariate analysis older age, female sex and uncontrolled mean blood pressure were associated with both systolic and diastolic BPV indexes. The use of calcium channel blockers and alpha-adrenergic antagonists was associated with lower systolic and diastolic BPV indexes, respectively. Among elderly subjects undergoing 24-h ABPM, we observed remarkably high indexes of BPV, which were associated with older age, female sex, and uncontrolled blood pressure values.

  15. Identifying core domains to assess flare in rheumatoid arthritis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bartlett, Susan J; Hewlett, Sarah; Bingham, Clifton O

    2012-01-01

    For rheumatoid arthritis (RA), there is no consensus on how to define and assess flare. Variability in flare definitions impairs understanding of findings across studies and limits ability to pool results. The OMERACT RA Flare Group sought to identify domains to define RA flares from patient...

  16. IPHAS J025827.88+635234.9 and IPHAS J051814.33+294113.0: Two probable eclipsing intermediate polars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joshi, Arti; Pandey, Jeewan Chandra

    2018-04-01

    We present photometry in the R-band and linear polarimetry of two cataclysmic variables, namely IPHAS J025827.88 + 635234.9 and IPHAS J051814.33 + 294113.0. The data were obtained from 1-m class tele-scopes of the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES; Nainital, India). In addition to the deep eclipse, strong short-period oscillations are also found. We derived a pulse period of (1203 ± 25) s for IPHAS J025827.88 + 635234.9 and (3277 ± 81) s for IPHAS J051814.33 + 294113.0. The presence of both orbital and spin modulations in these systems indicate that they belong to a class of intermediate polars. The full width at half depth of the eclipse is also found to be variable from epoch to epoch for IPHAS J025827.88 + 635234.9. The presence of a variable linear polarization of high value in these two sources indicates that these systems possess a strong magnetic field.

  17. CCD Photometry Using Multiple Comparison Stars

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yonggi Kim

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available The accuracy of CCD observations obtained at the Korean 1.8 m telescope has been studied. Seventeen comparison stars in the vicinity of the cataclysmic variable BG CMi have been measured. The ``artificial" star has been used instead of the ``control" star, what made possible to increase accuracy estimates by a factor of 1.3-2.1 times for ``good" and ``cloudy" nights, respectively. The algorithm of iterative determination of accuracy and weights of few comparison stars contributing to the artificial star, has been presented. The accuracy estimates for 13-mag stars are around 0.002 m mag for exposure times of 30 sec.

  18. OV Bootis: Forty Nights of World-Wide Photometry (Abstract)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patterson, J.; de Miguel, E.; Barret, D.; Brincat, S.; Boardman, J., Jr.; Buczynski, D.; Campbell, T.; Cejudo, D.; Cook, L.; Cook, M. J.; Collins, D.; Cooney, W.; Dubois, F.; Dvorak, S.; Halpern, J. P.; Kroes, A. J.; Lemay, D.; Licchelli, D.; Mankel, D.; Marshall, M.; Novak, R.; Oksanen, A.; Roberts, G.; Seargeant, J.; Sears, H.; Silcox, A.; Slauson, D.; Stone, G.; Thorstensen, J. R.; Ulowetz, J.; Vanmunster, T.; Wallgren, J.; Wood, M.

    2017-12-01

    (Abstract only) Among the 1000 known cataclysmic variables, only one appears to belong to the "Galactic halo"-the Population II stars. We report round-the-world photometry of this star (OV Boo) during March-April 2017, when it staged its first certified dwarf-nova outburst. The star is remarkable for its short binary period (66 minutes), high proper motion, metal-poor composition, substellar secondary, sharp white-dwarf eclipses, and nonradial pulsations. Something for everybody - and it even had the good manners to erupt in northern springtime, when it transits near local midnight. Move over, SS Cyg and WZ Sge; there's a new celebrity in town!

  19. How to Model Super-Soft X-ray Sources?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rauch, Thomas

    2012-07-01

    During outbursts, the surface temperatures of white dwarfs in cataclysmic variables exceed by far half a million Kelvin. In this phase, they may become the brightest super-soft sources (SSS) in the sky. Time-series of high-resolution, high S/N X-ray spectra taken during rise, maximum, and decline of their X-ray luminosity provide insights into the processes following such outbursts as well as in the surface composition of the white dwarf. Their analysis requires adequate NLTE model atmospheres. The Tuebingen Non-LTE Model-Atmosphere Package (TMAP) is a powerful tool for their calculation. We present the application of TMAP models to SSS spectra and discuss their validity.

  20. QPOs in CVs: An executive summary

    Science.gov (United States)

    Warner, Brian; Woudt, Patrick A.

    2008-09-01

    An overview is given of the properties of the various kinds of quasi-periodic luminosity modulations observed in cataclysmic variables (CVs). The two principal types, known in the CV literature as dwarf nova oscillations and quasi-periodic oscillations, have similarities to the high and low frequency quasi-periodic oscillations in X-Ray binaries. There is a further well observed class known as longer period dwarf nova oscillations. In CVs the observed interrelations between these oscillations suggests a model of magnetically controlled accretion onto a rapidly rotating equatorial belt of accreted gas. Non-radial oscillations of the central white dwarf are observed in some systems.

  1. The Effect of Visual Variability on the Learning of Academic Concepts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourgoyne, Ashley; Alt, Mary

    2017-06-10

    The purpose of this study was to identify effects of variability of visual input on development of conceptual representations of academic concepts for college-age students with normal language (NL) and those with language-learning disabilities (LLD). Students with NL (n = 11) and LLD (n = 11) participated in a computer-based training for introductory biology course concepts. Participants were trained on half the concepts under a low-variability condition and half under a high-variability condition. Participants completed a posttest in which they were asked to identify and rate the accuracy of novel and trained visual representations of the concepts. We performed separate repeated measures analyses of variance to examine the accuracy of identification and ratings. Participants were equally accurate on trained and novel items in the high-variability condition, but were less accurate on novel items only in the low-variability condition. The LLD group showed the same pattern as the NL group; they were just less accurate. Results indicated that high-variability visual input may facilitate the acquisition of academic concepts in college students with NL and LLD. High-variability visual input may be especially beneficial for generalization to novel representations of concepts. Implicit learning methods may be harnessed by college courses to provide students with basic conceptual knowledge when they are entering courses or beginning new units.

  2. The WFCAM multiwavelength Variable Star Catalog

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreira Lopes, C. E.; Dékány, I.; Catelan, M.; Cross, N. J. G.; Angeloni, R.; Leão, I. C.; De Medeiros, J. R.

    2015-01-01

    34 are probably new field RR Lyrae, and 3 are likely Cepheids. We also identify 32 highly reddened variable objects close to previously known dark nebulae, suggesting that these are embedded young stellar objects. We publish our results and all light curve data as the WFCAM Variable Star Catalog. Tables 4-6 are only available at the CDS via anonymous ftp to http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (ftp://130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr/viz-bin/qcat?J/A+A/573/A100

  3. Automatic classification of time-variable X-ray sources

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lo, Kitty K.; Farrell, Sean; Murphy, Tara; Gaensler, B. M. [Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006 (Australia)

    2014-05-01

    To maximize the discovery potential of future synoptic surveys, especially in the field of transient science, it will be necessary to use automatic classification to identify some of the astronomical sources. The data mining technique of supervised classification is suitable for this problem. Here, we present a supervised learning method to automatically classify variable X-ray sources in the Second XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalog (2XMMi-DR2). Random Forest is our classifier of choice since it is one of the most accurate learning algorithms available. Our training set consists of 873 variable sources and their features are derived from time series, spectra, and other multi-wavelength contextual information. The 10 fold cross validation accuracy of the training data is ∼97% on a 7 class data set. We applied the trained classification model to 411 unknown variable 2XMM sources to produce a probabilistically classified catalog. Using the classification margin and the Random Forest derived outlier measure, we identified 12 anomalous sources, of which 2XMM J180658.7–500250 appears to be the most unusual source in the sample. Its X-ray spectra is suggestive of a ultraluminous X-ray source but its variability makes it highly unusual. Machine-learned classification and anomaly detection will facilitate scientific discoveries in the era of all-sky surveys.

  4. Automatic classification of time-variable X-ray sources

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lo, Kitty K.; Farrell, Sean; Murphy, Tara; Gaensler, B. M.

    2014-01-01

    To maximize the discovery potential of future synoptic surveys, especially in the field of transient science, it will be necessary to use automatic classification to identify some of the astronomical sources. The data mining technique of supervised classification is suitable for this problem. Here, we present a supervised learning method to automatically classify variable X-ray sources in the Second XMM-Newton Serendipitous Source Catalog (2XMMi-DR2). Random Forest is our classifier of choice since it is one of the most accurate learning algorithms available. Our training set consists of 873 variable sources and their features are derived from time series, spectra, and other multi-wavelength contextual information. The 10 fold cross validation accuracy of the training data is ∼97% on a 7 class data set. We applied the trained classification model to 411 unknown variable 2XMM sources to produce a probabilistically classified catalog. Using the classification margin and the Random Forest derived outlier measure, we identified 12 anomalous sources, of which 2XMM J180658.7–500250 appears to be the most unusual source in the sample. Its X-ray spectra is suggestive of a ultraluminous X-ray source but its variability makes it highly unusual. Machine-learned classification and anomaly detection will facilitate scientific discoveries in the era of all-sky surveys.

  5. Variability of consumer impacts from energy efficiency standards

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McMahon, James E.; Liu, Xiaomin

    2000-06-15

    A typical prospective analysis of the expected impact of energy efficiency standards on consumers is based on average economic conditions (e.g., energy price) and operating characteristics. In fact, different consumers face different economic conditions and exhibit different behaviors when using an appliance. A method has been developed to characterize the variability among individual households and to calculate the life-cycle cost of appliances taking into account those differences. Using survey data, this method is applied to a distribution of consumers representing the U.S. Examples of clothes washer standards are shown for which 70-90% of the population benefit, compared to 10-30% who are expected to bear increased costs due to new standards. In some cases, sufficient data exist to distinguish among demographic subgroups (for example, low income or elderly households) who are impacted differently from the general population. Rank order correlations between the sampled input distributions and the sampled output distributions are calculated to determine which variability inputs are main factors. This ''importance analysis'' identifies the key drivers contributing to the range of results. Conversely, the importance analysis identifies variables that, while uncertain, make so little difference as to be irrelevant in deciding a particular policy. Examples will be given from analysis of water heaters to illustrate the dominance of the policy implications by a few key variables.

  6. Genetic Variants Contribute to Gene Expression Variability in Humans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulse, Amanda M.; Cai, James J.

    2013-01-01

    Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) studies have established convincing relationships between genetic variants and gene expression. Most of these studies focused on the mean of gene expression level, but not the variance of gene expression level (i.e., gene expression variability). In the present study, we systematically explore genome-wide association between genetic variants and gene expression variability in humans. We adapt the double generalized linear model (dglm) to simultaneously fit the means and the variances of gene expression among the three possible genotypes of a biallelic SNP. The genomic loci showing significant association between the variances of gene expression and the genotypes are termed expression variability QTL (evQTL). Using a data set of gene expression in lymphoblastoid cell lines (LCLs) derived from 210 HapMap individuals, we identify cis-acting evQTL involving 218 distinct genes, among which 8 genes, ADCY1, CTNNA2, DAAM2, FERMT2, IL6, PLOD2, SNX7, and TNFRSF11B, are cross-validated using an extra expression data set of the same LCLs. We also identify ∼300 trans-acting evQTL between >13,000 common SNPs and 500 randomly selected representative genes. We employ two distinct scenarios, emphasizing single-SNP and multiple-SNP effects on expression variability, to explain the formation of evQTL. We argue that detecting evQTL may represent a novel method for effectively screening for genetic interactions, especially when the multiple-SNP influence on expression variability is implied. The implication of our results for revealing genetic mechanisms of gene expression variability is discussed. PMID:23150607

  7. Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy in the UK: a retrospective review 1991-2008

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Head, M.W.; Yull, H.M.; Ritchie, D.L.; Langeveld, J.P.M.; Fletcher, N.A.; Knight, R.S.; Ironside, J.W.

    2013-01-01

    Variably protease-sensitive prionopathy is a newly described human prion disease of unknown aetiology lying out with the hitherto recognized phenotypic spectrum of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. Two cases that conform to the variably protease-sensitive prionopathy phenotype have been identified

  8. Childhood Depression: Relation to Adaptive, Clinical and Predictor Variables

    OpenAIRE

    Garaigordobil, Maite; Bernar?s, Elena; Jaureguizar, Joana; Machimbarrena, Juan M.

    2017-01-01

    The study had two goals: (1) to explore the relations between self-assessed childhood depression and other adaptive and clinical variables (2) to identify predictor variables of childhood depression. Participants were 420 students aged 7–10 years old (53.3% boys, 46.7% girls). Results revealed: (1) positive correlations between depression and clinical maladjustment, school maladjustment, emotional symptoms, internalizing and externalizing problems, problem behaviors, emotional reactivity, and...

  9. Monochromatic and identifiable photons used in photonuclear research

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beil, Hans; Bergere, Roland.

    1980-07-01

    A general overview is given of the most common experimental procedures for the production and utilisation of monochromatic and (or) identifiable photon probes actually operational in 1979. Their basic characteristics, merits and drawbacks, together with their respective major domains of experimental physics to which they are usually applied, are also investigated. Methods for producing such monochromatic and (or) identifiable photon probes, with a continuously variable energy from a few MeV up till about 180 GeV, are treated in some detail. Some of the most promising future trends in the ulterior development of such electromagnetic probes are also mentioned

  10. A Deep X-ray Survey of the Globular Cluster Omega Centauri

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henleywillis, Simon; Cool, Adrienne M.; Haggard, Daryl; Heinke, Craig; Callanan, Paul; Zhao, Yue

    2018-03-01

    We identify 233 X-ray sources, of which 95 are new, in a 222 ks exposure of Omega Centauri with the Chandra X-ray Observatory's ACIS-I detector. The limiting unabsorbed flux in the core is fX(0.5-6.0 keV) ≃ 3×10-16 erg s-1 cm-2 (Lx ≃ 1×1030 erg s-1 at 5.2 kpc). We estimate that ˜60 ± 20 of these are cluster members, of which ˜30 lie within the core (rc = 155 arcsec), and another ˜30 between 1-2 core radii. We identify four new optical counterparts, for a total of 45 likely identifications. Probable cluster members include 18 cataclysmic variables (CVs) and CV candidates, one quiescent low-mass X-ray binary, four variable stars, and five stars that are either associated with ω Cen's anomalous red giant branch, or are sub-subgiants. We estimate that the cluster contains 40 ± 10 CVs with Lx > 1031 erg s-1, confirming that CVs are underabundant in ω Cen relative to the field. Intrinsic absorption is required to fit X-ray spectra of six of the nine brightest CVs, suggesting magnetic CVs, or high-inclination systems. Though no radio millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are currently known in ω Cen, more than 30 unidentified sources have luminosities and X-ray colours like those of MSPs found in other globular clusters; these could be responsible for the Fermi-detected gamma-ray emission from the cluster. Finally, we identify a CH star as the counterpart to the second-brightest X-ray source in the cluster and argue that it is a symbiotic star. This is the first such giant/white dwarf binary to be identified in a globular cluster.

  11. Design study and performance analysis of a high-speed multistage variable-geometry fan for a variable cycle engine

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, T. J.; Parker, D. E.

    1979-01-01

    A design technology study was performed to identify a high speed, multistage, variable geometry fan configuration capable of achieving wide flow modulation with near optimum efficiency at the important operating condition. A parametric screening study of the front and rear block fans was conducted in which the influence of major fan design features on weight and efficiency was determined. Key design parameters were varied systematically to determine the fan configuration most suited for a double bypass, variable cycle engine. Two and three stage fans were considered for the front block. A single stage, core driven fan was studied for the rear block. Variable geometry concepts were evaluated to provide near optimum off design performance. A detailed aerodynamic design and a preliminary mechanical design were carried out for the selected fan configuration. Performance predictions were made for the front and rear block fans.

  12. Relationships and variability of agronomic and physiological ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This study was conducted to determine the variability, heritability and correlations among agronomic and physiological characters of mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) and to identify their direct and indirect effects on seed yield. Fifty six mungbean accessions were evaluated at Suranaree University of Technology Farm ...

  13. Stereophysicochemical variability plots highlight conserved antigenic areas in Flaviviruses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhou Bin

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Flaviviruses, which include Dengue (DV and West Nile (WN, mutate in response to immune system pressure. Identifying escape mutants, variant progeny that replicate in the presence of neutralizing antibodies, is a common way to identify functionally important residues of viral proteins. However, the mutations typically occur at variable positions on the viral surface that are not essential for viral replication. Methods are needed to determine the true targets of the neutralizing antibodies. Results Stereophysicochemical variability plots (SVPs, 3-D images of protein structures colored according to variability, as determined by our PCPMer program, were used to visualize residues conserved in their physical chemical properties (PCPs near escape mutant positions. The analysis showed 1 that escape mutations in the flavivirus envelope protein are variable residues by our criteria and 2 two escape mutants found at the same position in many flaviviruses sit above clusters of conserved residues from different regions of the linear sequence. Conservation patterns in T-cell epitopes in the NS3- protease suggest a similar mechanism of immune system evasion. Conclusion The SVPs add another dimension to structurally defining the binding sites of neutralizing antibodies. They provide a useful aid for determining antigenically important regions and designing vaccines.

  14. Sources of variability among replicate samples separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bland, Alison M; Janech, Michael G; Almeida, Jonas S; Arthur, John M

    2010-04-01

    Two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) offers high-resolution separation for intact proteins. However, variability in the appearance of spots can limit the ability to identify true differences between conditions. Variability can occur at a number of levels. Individual samples can differ because of biological variability. Technical variability can occur during protein extraction, processing, or storage. Another potential source of variability occurs during analysis of the gels and is not a result of any of the causes of variability named above. We performed a study designed to focus only on the variability caused by analysis. We separated three aliquots of rat left ventricle and analyzed differences in protein abundance on the replicate 2D gels. As the samples loaded on each gel were identical, differences in protein abundance are caused by variability in separation or interpretation of the gels. Protein spots were compared across gels by quantile values to determine differences. Fourteen percent of spots had a maximum difference in intensity of 0.4 quantile values or more between replicates. We then looked individually at the spots to determine the cause of differences between the measured intensities. Reasons for differences were: failure to identify a spot (59%), differences in spot boundaries (13%), difference in the peak height (6%), and a combination of these factors (21). This study demonstrates that spot identification and characterization make major contributions to variability seen with 2DE. Methods to highlight why measured protein spot abundance is different could reduce these errors.

  15. Impact of Reconstruction Algorithms on CT Radiomic Features of Pulmonary Tumors: Analysis of Intra- and Inter-Reader Variability and Inter-Reconstruction Algorithm Variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyungjin; Park, Chang Min; Lee, Myunghee; Park, Sang Joon; Song, Yong Sub; Lee, Jong Hyuk; Hwang, Eui Jin; Goo, Jin Mo

    2016-01-01

    To identify the impact of reconstruction algorithms on CT radiomic features of pulmonary tumors and to reveal and compare the intra- and inter-reader and inter-reconstruction algorithm variability of each feature. Forty-two patients (M:F = 19:23; mean age, 60.43±10.56 years) with 42 pulmonary tumors (22.56±8.51mm) underwent contrast-enhanced CT scans, which were reconstructed with filtered back projection and commercial iterative reconstruction algorithm (level 3 and 5). Two readers independently segmented the whole tumor volume. Fifteen radiomic features were extracted and compared among reconstruction algorithms. Intra- and inter-reader variability and inter-reconstruction algorithm variability were calculated using coefficients of variation (CVs) and then compared. Among the 15 features, 5 first-order tumor intensity features and 4 gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM)-based features showed significant differences (palgorithms. As for the variability, effective diameter, sphericity, entropy, and GLCM entropy were the most robust features (CV≤5%). Inter-reader variability was larger than intra-reader or inter-reconstruction algorithm variability in 9 features. However, for entropy, homogeneity, and 4 GLCM-based features, inter-reconstruction algorithm variability was significantly greater than inter-reader variability (palgorithms. Inter-reconstruction algorithm variability was greater than inter-reader variability for entropy, homogeneity, and GLCM-based features.

  16. Technological Capability's Predictor Variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernanda Maciel Reichert

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this study was to identify the factors that influence in configuration of the technological capability of companies in sectors with medium-low technological intensity. To achieve the goal proposed in this article a survey was carried out. Based on the framework developed by Lall (1992 which classifies firms in basic, intermediate and advanced level of technological capability; it was found that the predominant technological capability is intermediate, with 83.7% of respondent companies (plastics companies in Brazil. It is believed that the main contribution of this study is the finding that the dependent variable named “Technological Capability” can be explained at a rate of 65% by six variables: development of new processes; selection of the best equipment supplier; sales of internally developed new technology to third parties; design and manufacture of equipment; study of the work methods and perform inventory control; and improvement of product quality.

  17. Identifying Areas of Primary Care Shortage in Urban Ohio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hsin-Chung Liao

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: This study considers both spatial and a-spatial variables in examining accessibility to primary healthcare in the three largest urban areas of Ohio (Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. Spatial access emphasizes the importance of geographic barriers between individuals and primary care physicians, while a-spatial variables include non-geographic barriers or facilitators such as age, sex, race, income, social class, education, living conditions and language skills. Population and socioeconomic data were obtained from the 2000 Census, and primary care physician data for 2008 was provided by the Ohio Medical Board. We first implemented a two-step method based on a floating catchment area using Geographic Information Systems to measure spatial accessibility in terms of 30-minute travel times. We then used principal component analysis to group various socio-demographic variables into three groups: (1 socioeconomic disadvantages, (2 living conditions, and (3 healthcare needs. Finally, spatial and a-spatial variables were integrated to identify areas with poor access to primary care in Cleveland, Columbus, and Cincinnati. KEYWORDS: Geographic information systems, healthcare access, spatial accessibility, primary care shortage areas

  18. Identifying the important factors in simulation models with many factors

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Bettonvil, B.; Kleijnen, J.P.C.

    1994-01-01

    Simulation models may have many parameters and input variables (together called factors), while only a few factors are really important (parsimony principle). For such models this paper presents an effective and efficient screening technique to identify and estimate those important factors. The

  19. The ASAS-SN Catalog of Variable Stars I: The Serendipitous Survey

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jayasinghe, T.; Kochanek, C. S.; Stanek, K. Z.; Shappee, B. J.; Holoien, T. W.-S.; Thompson, Todd A.; Prieto, J. L.; Dong, Subo; Pawlak, M.; Shields, J. V.; Pojmanski, G.; Otero, S.; Britt, C. A.; Will, D.

    2018-04-01

    The All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASAS-SN) is the first optical survey to routinely monitor the whole sky with a cadence of ˜2 - 3 days down to V≲ 17 mag. ASAS-SN has monitored the whole sky since 2014, collecting ˜100 - 500 epochs of observations per field. The V-band light curves for candidate variables identified during the search for supernovae are classified using a random forest classifier and visually verified. We present a catalog of 66,533 bright, new variable stars discovered during our search for supernovae, including 27,753 periodic variables and 38,780 irregular variables. V-band light curves for the ASAS-SN variables are available through the ASAS-SN variable stars database (https://asas-sn.osu.edu/variables). The database will begin to include the light curves of known variable stars in the near future along with the results for a systematic, all-sky variability survey.

  20. Climate Variability and Sugarcane Yield in Louisiana.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Greenland, David

    2005-11-01

    This paper seeks to understand the role that climate variability has on annual yield of sugarcane in Louisiana. Unique features of sugarcane growth in Louisiana and nonclimatic, yield-influencing factors make this goal an interesting and challenging one. Several methods of seeking and establishing the relations between yield and climate variables are employed. First, yield climate relations were investigated at a single research station where crop variety and growing conditions could be held constant and yield relations could be established between a predominant older crop variety and a newer one. Interviews with crop experts and a literature survey were used to identify potential climatic factors that control yield. A statistical analysis was performed using statewide yield data from the American Sugar Cane League from 1963 to 2002 and a climate database. Yield values for later years were adjusted downward to form an adjusted yield dataset. The climate database was principally constructed from daily and monthly values of maximum and minimum temperature and daily and monthly total precipitation for six cooperative weather-reporting stations representative of the area of sugarcane production. The influence of 74 different, though not independent, climate-related variables on sugarcane yield was investigated. The fact that a climate signal exists is demonstrated by comparing mean values of the climate variables corresponding to the upper and lower third of adjusted yield values. Most of these mean-value differences show an intuitively plausible difference between the high- and low-yield years. The difference between means of the climate variables for years corresponding to the upper and lower third of annual yield values for 13 of the variables is statistically significant at or above the 90% level. A correlation matrix was used to identify the variables that had the largest influence on annual yield. Four variables [called here critical climatic variables (CCV

  1. Identifying At-Risk Students in General Chemistry via Cluster Analysis of Affective Characteristics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Julia Y. K.; Bauer, Christopher F.

    2014-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to identify academically at-risk students in first-semester general chemistry using affective characteristics via cluster analysis. Through the clustering of six preselected affective variables, three distinct affective groups were identified: low (at-risk), medium, and high. Students in the low affective group…

  2. IUE observations of variability in winds from hot stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grady, C. A.; Snow, T. P., Jr.

    1981-01-01

    Observations of variability in stellar winds or envelopes provide an important probe of their dynamics. For this purpose a number of O, B, Be, and Wolf-Rayet stars were repeatedly observed with the IUE satellite in high resolution mode. In the course of analysis, instrumental and data handling effects were found to introduce spurious variability in many of the spectra. software was developed to partially compensate for these effects, but limitations remain on the type of variability that can be identified from IUE spectra. With these contraints, preliminary results of multiple observations of two OB stars, one Wolf-Rayet star, and a Be star are discussed.

  3. SELECTING QUASARS BY THEIR INTRINSIC VARIABILITY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schmidt, Kasper B.; Rix, Hans-Walter; Jester, Sebastian; Hennawi, Joseph F.; Marshall, Philip J.; Dobler, Gregory

    2010-01-01

    We present a new and simple technique for selecting extensive, complete, and pure quasar samples, based on their intrinsic variability. We parameterize the single-band variability by a power-law model for the light-curve structure function, with amplitude A and power-law index γ. We show that quasars can be efficiently separated from other non-variable and variable sources by the location of the individual sources in the A-γ plane. We use ∼60 epochs of imaging data, taken over ∼5 years, from the SDSS stripe 82 (S82) survey, where extensive spectroscopy provides a reference sample of quasars, to demonstrate the power of variability as a quasar classifier in multi-epoch surveys. For UV-excess selected objects, variability performs just as well as the standard SDSS color selection, identifying quasars with a completeness of 90% and a purity of 95%. In the redshift range 2.5 < z < 3, where color selection is known to be problematic, variability can select quasars with a completeness of 90% and a purity of 96%. This is a factor of 5-10 times more pure than existing color selection of quasars in this redshift range. Selecting objects from a broad griz color box without u-band information, variability selection in S82 can afford completeness and purity of 92%, despite a factor of 30 more contaminants than quasars in the color-selected feeder sample. This confirms that the fraction of quasars hidden in the 'stellar locus' of color space is small. To test variability selection in the context of Pan-STARRS 1 (PS1) we created mock PS1 data by down-sampling the S82 data to just six epochs over 3 years. Even with this much sparser time sampling, variability is an encouragingly efficient classifier. For instance, a 92% pure and 44% complete quasar candidate sample is attainable from the above griz-selected catalog. Finally, we show that the presented A-γ technique, besides selecting clean and pure samples of quasars (which are stochastically varying objects), is also

  4. Variable gamma-ray sky at 1 GeV

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pshirkov, M. S.; Rubtsov, G. I.

    2013-01-01

    We search for the long-term variability of the gamma-ray sky in the energy range E > 1 GeV with 168 weeks of the gamma-ray telescope Fermi-LAT data. We perform a full sky blind search for regions with variable flux looking for deviations from uniformity. We bin the sky into 12288 pixels using the HEALPix package and use the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test to compare weekly photon counts in each pixel with the constant flux hypothesis. The weekly exposure of Fermi-LAT for each pixel is calculated with the Fermi-LAT tools. We consider flux variations in a pixel significant if the statistical probability of uniformity is less than 4 × 10 −6 , which corresponds to 0.05 false detections in the whole set. We identified 117 variable sources, 27 of which have not been reported variable before. The sources with previously unidentified variability contain 25 active galactic nuclei (AGN) belonging to the blazar class (11 BL Lacs and 14 FSRQs), one AGN of an uncertain type, and one pulsar PSR J0633+1746 (Geminga).

  5. Persistent fatigue in young athletes: measuring the clinical course and identifying variables affecting clinical recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Locke, S; Osborne, M; O'Rourke, P

    2011-02-01

    The objective of this paper is to measure the clinical course (months) in young athletes with persistent fatigue and to identify any covariates affecting the duration of recovery. This was a prospective longitudinal study of 68 athletes; 87% were elite (42 males, 26 females), aged 20.5±3.74 years (SD), who presented with the symptom of persistent fatigue. The collective duration to full clinical recovery was estimated using Kaplan-Meier product-limit curves, and covariates associated with prolonging recovery were identified from Cox proportional hazard models. The median recovery was 5 months (range 1-60 months). The range of presenting symptom duration was 0.5-36 months. The covariates identified were an increased duration of presenting symptoms [hazard ratio (HR), 1.06; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02-1.12; P=0.005] and the response of serum cortisol concentration to a standard exercise challenge (HR, 1.92; 95% CI, 1.09-3.38; P=0.03). Delay in recovery was not associated with categories of fatigue that included medical, training-related diagnoses, or other causes. In conclusion, the fatigued athlete represents a significant clinical problem with a median recovery of 5 months, whose collective clinical course to recovery can be estimated by Kaplan-Meier curves and appears to be a continuum. © 2009 John Wiley & Sons A/S.

  6. Variability Bugs:

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Melo, Jean

    . Although many researchers suggest that preprocessor-based variability amplifies maintenance problems, there is little to no hard evidence on how actually variability affects programs and programmers. Specifically, how does variability affect programmers during maintenance tasks (bug finding in particular......)? How much harder is it to debug a program as variability increases? How do developers debug programs with variability? In what ways does variability affect bugs? In this Ph.D. thesis, I set off to address such issues through different perspectives using empirical research (based on controlled...... experiments) in order to understand quantitatively and qualitatively the impact of variability on programmers at bug finding and on buggy programs. From the program (and bug) perspective, the results show that variability is ubiquitous. There appears to be no specific nature of variability bugs that could...

  7. Characterizing Temperature Variability and Associated Large Scale Meteorological Patterns Across South America

    Science.gov (United States)

    Detzer, J.; Loikith, P. C.; Mechoso, C. R.; Barkhordarian, A.; Lee, H.

    2017-12-01

    South America's climate varies considerably owing to its large geographic range and diverse topographical features. Spanning the tropics to the mid-latitudes and from high peaks to tropical rainforest, the continent experiences an array of climate and weather patterns. Due to this considerable spatial extent, assessing temperature variability at the continent scale is particularly challenging. It is well documented in the literature that temperatures have been increasing across portions of South America in recent decades, and while there have been many studies that have focused on precipitation variability and change, temperature has received less scientific attention. Therefore, a more thorough understanding of the drivers of temperature variability is critical for interpreting future change. First, k-means cluster analysis is used to identify four primary modes of temperature variability across the continent, stratified by season. Next, composites of large scale meteorological patterns (LSMPs) are calculated for months assigned to each cluster. Initial results suggest that LSMPs, defined using meteorological variables such as sea level pressure (SLP), geopotential height, and wind, are able to identify synoptic scale mechanisms important for driving temperature variability at the monthly scale. Some LSMPs indicate a relationship with known recurrent modes of climate variability. For example, composites of geopotential height suggest that the Southern Annular Mode is an important, but not necessarily dominant, component of temperature variability over southern South America. This work will be extended to assess the drivers of temperature extremes across South America.

  8. Application of classification-tree methods to identify nitrate sources in ground water

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spruill, T.B.; Showers, W.J.; Howe, S.S.

    2002-01-01

    A study was conducted to determine if nitrate sources in ground water (fertilizer on crops, fertilizer on golf courses, irrigation spray from hog (Sus scrofa) wastes, and leachate from poultry litter and septic systems) could be classified with 80% or greater success. Two statistical classification-tree models were devised from 48 water samples containing nitrate from five source categories. Model I was constructed by evaluating 32 variables and selecting four primary predictor variables (??15N, nitrate to ammonia ratio, sodium to potassium ratio, and zinc) to identify nitrate sources. A ??15N value of nitrate plus potassium 18.2 indicated inorganic or soil organic N. A nitrate to ammonia ratio 575 indicated nitrate from golf courses. A sodium to potassium ratio 3.2 indicated spray or poultry wastes. A value for zinc 2.8 indicated poultry wastes. Model 2 was devised by using all variables except ??15N. This model also included four variables (sodium plus potassium, nitrate to ammonia ratio, calcium to magnesium ratio, and sodium to potassium ratio) to distinguish categories. Both models were able to distinguish all five source categories with better than 80% overall success and with 71 to 100% success in individual categories using the learning samples. Seventeen water samples that were not used in model development were tested using Model 2 for three categories, and all were correctly classified. Classification-tree models show great potential in identifying sources of contamination and variables important in the source-identification process.

  9. Variables que influyen en el desarrollo de las competencias centrales, al requerir software en la empresa.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose Luis Cantu Mata

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we present a study in a business context, identifying the variables that influence the core competencies development and help to generate a competitive advantage. The literature review identifies variables that, in principle, help a company to innovate, sustainability, survival, and compete in the market. We propose a research model and then perform field work and analysis of results by pointing out the variables that are best represented in the research and make their respective discussion.

  10. Parameter sensitivity and identifiability for a biogeochemical model of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico

    Science.gov (United States)

    Local sensitivity analyses and identifiable parameter subsets were used to describe numerical constraints of a hypoxia model for bottom waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. The sensitivity of state variables differed considerably with parameter changes, although most variables ...

  11. Prions in Variably Protease-Sensitive Prionopathy: An Update

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Zou, W.Q.; Gambetti, P.; Xiao, X.; Yuan, J.; Langeveld, J.P.M.; Pirisinu, L.

    2013-01-01

    Human prion diseases, including sporadic, familial, and acquired forms such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), are caused by prions in which an abnormal prion protein (PrPSc) derived from its normal cellular isoform (PrPC) is the only known component. The recently-identified variably

  12. Identifying fish diversity hot-spots in data-poor situations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fonseca, Vinícius Prado; Pennino, Maria Grazia; de Nóbrega, Marcelo Francisco; Oliveira, Jorge Eduardo Lins; de Figueiredo Mendes, Liana

    2017-08-01

    One of the more challenging tasks in Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) is identifying critical areas for management and conservation of fish stocks. However, this objective is difficult to achieve in data-poor situations with different sources of uncertainty. In the present study we propose a combination of hierarchical Bayesian spatial models and remotely sensed estimates of environmental variables to be used as flexible and reliable statistical tools to identify and map fish species richness and abundance hot-spots. Results show higher species aggregates in areas with higher sea floor rugosity and habitat complexity, and identify clear richness hot-spots. Our findings identify sensitive habitats through essential and easy-to-use interpretation tools, such as predictive maps, which can contribute to improving management and operability of the studied data-poor situations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. An improved and explicit surrogate variable analysis procedure by coefficient adjustment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Seunggeun; Sun, Wei; Wright, Fred A; Zou, Fei

    2017-06-01

    Unobserved environmental, demographic, and technical factors can negatively affect the estimation and testing of the effects of primary variables. Surrogate variable analysis, proposed to tackle this problem, has been widely used in genomic studies. To estimate hidden factors that are correlated with the primary variables, surrogate variable analysis performs principal component analysis either on a subset of features or on all features, but weighting each differently. However, existing approaches may fail to identify hidden factors that are strongly correlated with the primary variables, and the extra step of feature selection and weight calculation makes the theoretical investigation of surrogate variable analysis challenging. In this paper, we propose an improved surrogate variable analysis using all measured features that has a natural connection with restricted least squares, which allows us to study its theoretical properties. Simulation studies and real data analysis show that the method is competitive to state-of-the-art methods.

  14. Development of a localized probabilistic sensitivity method to determine random variable regional importance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Millwater, Harry; Singh, Gulshan; Cortina, Miguel

    2012-01-01

    There are many methods to identify the important variable out of a set of random variables, i.e., “inter-variable” importance; however, to date there are no comparable methods to identify the “region” of importance within a random variable, i.e., “intra-variable” importance. Knowledge of the critical region of an input random variable (tail, near-tail, and central region) can provide valuable information towards characterizing, understanding, and improving a model through additional modeling or testing. As a result, an intra-variable probabilistic sensitivity method was developed and demonstrated for independent random variables that computes the partial derivative of a probabilistic response with respect to a localized perturbation in the CDF values of each random variable. These sensitivities are then normalized in absolute value with respect to the largest sensitivity within a distribution to indicate the region of importance. The methodology is implemented using the Score Function kernel-based method such that existing samples can be used to compute sensitivities for negligible cost. Numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy of the method through comparisons with finite difference and numerical integration quadrature estimates. - Highlights: ► Probabilistic sensitivity methodology. ► Determines the “region” of importance within random variables such as left tail, near tail, center, right tail, etc. ► Uses the Score Function approach to reuse the samples, hence, negligible cost. ► No restrictions on the random variable types or limit states.

  15. Aperture synthesis observations of solar and stellar radio emission

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bastian, T.S.

    1987-01-01

    The work presented in this thesis relied upon the radio astronomical instrument, The Very Large Array. The thesis is divided into three major sections. In the first the author applied maximum entropy-type image reconstruction techniques, using both single dish and iterferometer data, to generate full disk images of the Sun at a wavelength λ ∼ 21 cm. Using a set of six such images obtained during the Sun's decline from sunspot maximum to minimum, he has noted a number of previously unreported phenomena. Among these: (1) a systematic decrease in quiet Sun's brightness temperature as it declined to minimum; (2) a systematic decrease in the Sun's radius at 21 cm; (3) evidence for the evolution of polar coronal holes during the course of the solar cycle. The observed variation, though not noted previously at radio wavelengths, is entirely consistent with white light K coronagraph data. The results reported here explain the conflicting nature of a number of past observations. In the second section of the thesis, he presents the results of a long term survey of magnetic cataclysmic variables (CVs). Cataclysmic variables are close binary systems which contain a white dwarf accreting mass from a late-type secondary, typically a dwarf of spectral type, G, K, or M. The survey resulted in the detection of two out of the eighteen systems observed. In the third section of the thesis, he presents new results on flare stars in the solar neighborhood and in the Pleiades. He has successfully employed the technique of dynamic spectroscopy to constrain the mechanisms(s) for radio flaring on other stars. The second part of section three is devoted to a search for radio emission from flare stars in the Pleiades which was motivated by the evolutionary questions raised by flare stars and the Pleiades lower main sequence

  16. Variability of benzene exposure among filling station attendants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carere, A.; Iacovella, N.; Turrio Baldassarri, L.; Fuselli, S.; Iavarone, I.; Lagorio, S.; Proietto, A.R.

    1996-12-01

    A monitoring survey of filling station attendants aimed at identifying sources of variability of exposure to benzene and other aromatics was carried out. Concurrent samples of the worker's breathing zone air, atmospheric air in the service station proximity, and gasoline were collected, along with information about daily workloads and other exposure-related factors. Benzene personal exposure was characterised by a small between-worker variability and a predominant within-worker variance component. Such elevated day-to-day variability yields to imprecise estimates of mean personal exposure. Almost 70% of the overall personal exposure variance was explained by a model including daily benzene from dispensed fuel, presence of a shelter over the refueling area, amount of fuel supplied to the station if a delivery occurred, and background atmospheric benzene concentration

  17. BLAZAR OPTICAL VARIABILITY IN THE PALOMAR-QUEST SURVEY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bauer, Anne; Baltay, Charles; Coppi, Paolo; Ellman, Nancy; Jerke, Jonathan; Rabinowitz, David; Scalzo, Richard

    2009-01-01

    We study the ensemble optical variability of 276 flat-spectrum radio quasars (FSRQs) and 86 BL Lacs in the Palomar-QUEST Survey with the goal of searching for common fluctuation properties, examining the range of behavior across the sample, and characterizing the appearance of blazars in such a survey so that future work can more easily identify such objects. The survey, which covers 15,000 deg 2 multiple times over 3.5 years, allows for the first ensemble blazar study of this scale. Variability amplitude distributions are shown for the FSRQ and BL Lac samples for numerous time lags, and also studied through structure function analyses. Individual blazars show a wide range of variability amplitudes, timescales, and duty cycles. Of the best-sampled objects, 35% are seen to vary by more than 0.4 mag; for these, the fraction of measurements contributing to the high-amplitude variability ranges constantly from about 5% to 80%. Blazar variability has some similarities to that of type I quasi-stellar objects (QSOs) but includes larger amplitude fluctuations on all timescales. FSRQ variability amplitudes are particularly similar to those of QSOs on timescales of several months, suggesting significant contributions from the accretion disk to the variable flux at these timescales. Optical variability amplitudes are correlated with the maximum apparent velocities of the radio jet for the subset of FSRQs with MOJAVE Very Long Baseline Array measurements, implying that the optically variable flux's strength is typically related to that of the radio emission. We also study CRATES radio-selected FSRQ candidates, which show similar variability characteristics to known FSRQs; this suggests a high purity for the CRATES sample.

  18. ERUPTIVE VARIABLE STARS AND OUTFLOWS IN SERPENS NW

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hodapp, Klaus W. [Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 640 N. Aohoku Place, Hilo, HI 96720 (United States); Chini, Rolf; Watermann, Ramon; Lemke, Roland, E-mail: hodapp@ifa.hawaii.edu [Ruhr Universitaet Bochum, Astronomisches Institut, Universitaetsstrasse 150, D-44801 Bochum (Germany)

    2012-01-01

    We study the outflow activity, photometric variability, and morphology of three very young stellar objects in the Serpens NW star-forming region: OO Serpentis, EC 37 (V370 Ser), and EC 53 (V371 Ser). High spatial resolution Keck/NIRC2 laser guide star adaptive optics images obtained in 2007 and 2009 in broadband K and in a narrowband filter centered on the 1-0 S(1) emission line of H{sub 2} allow us to identify the outflows from all three objects. We also present new, seeing-limited data on the photometric evolution of the OO Ser reflection nebula and re-analyze previously published data. We find that OO Ser declined in brightness from its outburst peak in 1995 to about 2003, but that this decline has recently stopped and actually reversed itself in some areas of the reflection nebula. The morphology and proper motions of the shock fronts MHO 2218 near EC 37 suggest that they all originate in EC 37 and that this is an outflow seen nearly along its axis. We identify an H{sub 2} jet emerging from the cometary nebula EC 53. The star illuminating EC 53 is periodically variable with a period of 543 days and has a close-by, non-variable companion at a projected distance of 92 AU. We argue that the periodic variability is the result of accretion instabilities triggered by another very close, not directly observable, binary companion and that EC 53 can be understood in the model of a multiple system developing into a hierarchical configuration.

  19. Variability patterns of Rossby wave source

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shimizu, Marilia Harumi; Albuquerque Cavalcanti, Iracema Fonseca de [National Institute for Space Research (INPE), Center for Weather Forecasting and Climate Studies (CPTEC), Sao Jose dos Campos (Brazil)

    2011-08-15

    Rossby waves (RW) propagation due to a local forcing is one of the mechanisms responsible for wave trains configurations known as teleconnections. The term teleconnection refers to anomalies patterns that are correlated in several regions of the world, causing large-scale changes in atmospheric waves patterns and temperature and precipitation regimes. The aim of teleconnections studies is to provide a better understanding of atmospheric variability and their mechanisms of action in order to identify patterns that can be tracked and predicted. The purpose of this study was to characterize seasonal and spatial variability of atmospheric RW sources. The RW source at 200 hPa was calculated for the four seasons with reanalysis data of zonal and meridional wind. In the Northern Hemisphere (NH), the RW sources were located on East Asia, North America, North Atlantic and Pacific. The main RW sources in the Southern Hemisphere (SH) were located over Intertropical, South Pacific, South Atlantic and South Indian Convergence Zones. Extratropical regions were also identified, mainly to the south of Australia. The vortex stretching term (S1) and the advection of absolute vorticity by the divergent wind (S2) were analyzed to discuss the physical mechanisms for RW generation. In the NH, the source at East Asia in DJF changed to a sink in JJA, related to the dominance of S1 term in DJF and S2 term in JJA. In the SH, the vortex stretching term had the dominant contribution for RW source located to the south of Australia. The main forcing for RW sources at east of Australia was the advection of absolute vorticity by divergent flow. Over South America, both terms contributed to the source in DJF. The main modes of RW source variability were discussed by using empirical orthogonal functions analysis. RW variability was characterized by wave trains configurations in both hemispheres over regions of jet streams and storm tracks, associated with favorable and unfavorable areas for RW

  20. A genome-wide methylation study on obesity: differential variability and differential methylation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Xiaojing; Su, Shaoyong; Barnes, Vernon A; De Miguel, Carmen; Pollock, Jennifer; Ownby, Dennis; Shi, Hidong; Zhu, Haidong; Snieder, Harold; Wang, Xiaoling

    2013-05-01

    Besides differential methylation, DNA methylation variation has recently been proposed and demonstrated to be a potential contributing factor to cancer risk. Here we aim to examine whether differential variability in methylation is also an important feature of obesity, a typical non-malignant common complex disease. We analyzed genome-wide methylation profiles of over 470,000 CpGs in peripheral blood samples from 48 obese and 48 lean African-American youth aged 14-20 y old. A substantial number of differentially variable CpG sites (DVCs), using statistics based on variances, as well as a substantial number of differentially methylated CpG sites (DMCs), using statistics based on means, were identified. Similar to the findings in cancers, DVCs generally exhibited an outlier structure and were more variable in cases than in controls. By randomly splitting the current sample into a discovery and validation set, we observed that both the DVCs and DMCs identified from the first set could independently predict obesity status in the second set. Furthermore, both the genes harboring DMCs and the genes harboring DVCs showed significant enrichment of genes identified by genome-wide association studies on obesity and related diseases, such as hypertension, dyslipidemia, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancers, supporting their roles in the etiology and pathogenesis of obesity. We generalized the recent finding on methylation variability in cancer research to obesity and demonstrated that differential variability is also an important feature of obesity-related methylation changes. Future studies on the epigenetics of obesity will benefit from both statistics based on means and statistics based on variances.

  1. NuSTAR and swift observations of the fast rotating magnetized white dwarf AE Aquarii

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kitaguchi, Takao; An, Hongjun; Beloborodov, Andrei M.

    2014-01-01

    AE Aquarii is a cataclysmic variable with the fastest known rotating magnetized white dwarf (P-spin = 33.08 s). Compared to many intermediate polars, AE Aquarii shows a soft X-ray spectrum with a very low luminosity (L-X similar to 10(31) erg s(-1)). We have analyzed overlapping observations...... of this system with the NuSTAR and the Swift X-ray observatories in 2012 September. We find the 0.5-30 keV spectra to be well fitted by either an optically thin thermal plasma model with three temperatures of 0.75(-0.45)(+0.18), 2.29(-0.82)(+0.96), and 9.33(-2.18)(+6.07) keV, or an optically thin thermal plasma...

  2. High Time Resolution Astrophysics

    CERN Document Server

    Phelan, Don; Shearer, Andrew

    2008-01-01

    High Time Resolution Astrophysics (HTRA) is an important new window to the universe and a vital tool in understanding a range of phenomena from diverse objects and radiative processes. This importance is demonstrated in this volume with the description of a number of topics in astrophysics, including quantum optics, cataclysmic variables, pulsars, X-ray binaries and stellar pulsations to name a few. Underlining this science foundation, technological developments in both instrumentation and detectors are described. These instruments and detectors combined cover a wide range of timescales and can measure fluxes, spectra and polarisation. These advances make it possible for HTRA to make a big contribution to our understanding of the Universe in the next decade.

  3. New Observations of the Old Magnetic Nova GQ Muscae

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Narloch W.

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Photometric observations of GQ Mus performed between 1992 and 2011 are reported. We find that the total amplitude of the orbital modulation of its brightness decreased from ~ 0.9 mag in 1992 to ~ 0.2 mag in 2010, becoming comparable to the amplitude of chaotic flickering on a time scale of several minutes. Optical spectra obtained in 2001 and 2012 indicate continuing activity of GQ Mus. The spectra show broad emission lines of He II and H I typical for magnetic cataclysmic variables. The nova was found to be an UV-bright object in 2001 and 2012. We also show that the orbital period of GQ Mus has been constant between 1989 and 2010–2011.

  4. Superoutburst of a New Sub-Period-Minimum Dwarf Nova CSS130418 in Hercules

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. Chochol

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available Multicolour photometry of a new dwarf nova CSS130418 in Hercules, which underwent superoutburst on April 18, 2013, allow to classified it as a WZ Sge-type dwarf nova. The phase light curves for different stages of superoutburst are presented. The early superhumps were used to determine the orbital period Porb = 64.84(1 minutes, which is shorter than the period minimum ~78 minutes for normal hydrogen-rich cataclysmic variables. We found the mean period of ordinary superhumps Psh = 65.559(1 minutes. The quiescent spectrum is rich in helium, showing double peaked emissionlines of H I and He I from accretion disk, so the dwarf nova is in a late stage of stellar evolution.

  5. Spectral types for objects in the Kiso survey. IV - Data for 81 stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wegner, Gary; Mcmahan, Robert K.

    1988-01-01

    Spectroscopy and spectral types for 81 ultraviolet-excess objects found in the Kiso Schmidt-camera survey are reported. The data were secured with the McGraw-Hill 1.3 m telescope at 8-A resolution covering the wavelength interval 4000 -7200 A using the Mark II spectrograph. Descriptions of the spectra of some of the more peculiar objects found in this sample are given and include 14 sub-dwarfs, 23 definite DA white dwarfs, including a magnetic one, and one DQ whie dwarf, eight quasars and emission-line objects, and a new composite DA + dM system. More spectroscopy of the new cataclysmic variable KUV 01584-0939 and a possibly related object is also described.

  6. Collapse of white dwarfs in low mass binary systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isern, J.; Canal, R.; Garcia-Berro, E.; Hernanz, M.; Labay, J.

    1987-01-01

    Low-mass binary X-ray sources and cataclysmic variables are composed of a compact star plus a non-degenerate star with a mass of the order of 1 M sun . In the first case, the degenerate star is a neutron star. In the second case, the star is a white dwarf. The similarities of both systems are so high that it is worthwhile to look for the possibility of obtaining a neutron star from the collapse of a white dwarf that accretes matter. The present work shows that massive, initially cold white dwarfs can collapse non-explosively if they accrete mass at a rate greater than 1.0E-7 M sun per year. (Author)

  7. Hydrologic Variability of the Cosumnes River Floodplain

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric Booth

    2006-09-01

    Full Text Available Natural floodplain ecosystems are adapted to highly variable hydrologic regimes, which include periodic droughts, infrequent large floods, and relatively frequent periods of inundation. To more effectively manage water resources and maintain ecosystem services provided by floodplains – and associated aquatic, riparian, and wetland habitats – requires an understanding of seasonal and inter-annual hydrologic variability of floodplains. The Cosumnes River, the largest river on the west-slope Sierra Nevada mountains without a major dam, provides a pertinent test case to develop a systematic classification of hydrologic variability. By examining the dynamics of its relatively natural flow regime, and a 98-year streamflow record (1908 – 2005, we identified 12 potential flood types. We identified four duration thresholds, defined as short (S, medium (M, long (L, and very long (V. We then intersected the flood duration division by three magnitude classes, defined as small-medium (1, large (2, and very large (3. Of the 12 possible flood types created by this classification matrix, the Cosumnes River streamflow record populated 10 such classes. To assess the robustness of our classification, we employed discriminant analysis to test class fidelity based on independent measures of flood capability, such as start date. Lastly, we used hierarchical divisive clustering to classify water years by flood type composition resulting in 8 water year types. The results of this work highlight the significant seasonal and inter-annual variability in natural flood regimes in Central Valley rivers. The construction of water impoundment and flood control structures has significantly altered all aspects of the flood pulse. Restoring floodplain ecosystem services will require re-establishing key elements of these historic flood regimes in order to achieve regional restoration goals and objectives.

  8. Individual Movement Variability Magnitudes Are Explained by Cortical Neural Variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haar, Shlomi; Donchin, Opher; Dinstein, Ilan

    2017-09-13

    Humans exhibit considerable motor variability even across trivial reaching movements. This variability can be separated into specific kinematic components such as extent and direction that are thought to be governed by distinct neural processes. Here, we report that individual subjects (males and females) exhibit different magnitudes of kinematic variability, which are consistent (within individual) across movements to different targets and regardless of which arm (right or left) was used to perform the movements. Simultaneous fMRI recordings revealed that the same subjects also exhibited different magnitudes of fMRI variability across movements in a variety of motor system areas. These fMRI variability magnitudes were also consistent across movements to different targets when performed with either arm. Cortical fMRI variability in the posterior-parietal cortex of individual subjects explained their movement-extent variability. This relationship was apparent only in posterior-parietal cortex and not in other motor system areas, thereby suggesting that individuals with more variable movement preparation exhibit larger kinematic variability. We therefore propose that neural and kinematic variability are reliable and interrelated individual characteristics that may predispose individual subjects to exhibit distinct motor capabilities. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Neural activity and movement kinematics are remarkably variable. Although intertrial variability is rarely studied, here, we demonstrate that individual human subjects exhibit distinct magnitudes of neural and kinematic variability that are reproducible across movements to different targets and when performing these movements with either arm. Furthermore, when examining the relationship between cortical variability and movement variability, we find that cortical fMRI variability in parietal cortex of individual subjects explained their movement extent variability. This enabled us to explain why some subjects

  9. Identifying Wind and Solar Ramping Events: Preprint

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Florita, A.; Hodge, B. M.; Orwig, K.

    2013-01-01

    Wind and solar power are playing an increasing role in the electrical grid, but their inherent power variability can augment uncertainties in power system operations. One solution to help mitigate the impacts and provide more flexibility is enhanced wind and solar power forecasting; however, its relative utility is also uncertain. Within the variability of solar and wind power, repercussions from large ramping events are of primary concern. At the same time, there is no clear definition of what constitutes a ramping event, with various criteria used in different operational areas. Here the Swinging Door Algorithm, originally used for data compression in trend logging, is applied to identify variable generation ramping events from historic operational data. The identification of ramps in a simple and automated fashion is a critical task that feeds into a larger work of 1) defining novel metrics for wind and solar power forecasting that attempt to capture the true impact of forecast errors on system operations and economics, and 2) informing various power system models in a data-driven manner for superior exploratory simulation research. Both allow inference on sensitivities and meaningful correlations, as well as the ability to quantify the value of probabilistic approaches for future use in practice.

  10. Variable Cycle Engine Technology Program Planning and Definition Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westmoreland, J. S.; Stern, A. M.

    1978-01-01

    The variable stream control engine, VSCE-502B, was selected as the base engine, with the inverted flow engine concept selected as a backup. Critical component technologies were identified, and technology programs were formulated. Several engine configurations were defined on a preliminary basis to serve as demonstration vehicles for the various technologies. The different configurations present compromises in cost, technical risk, and technology return. Plans for possible variably cycle engine technology programs were formulated by synthesizing the technology requirements with the different demonstrator configurations.

  11. A systematic literature search to identify performance measure outcomes used in clinical studies of racehorses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wylie, C E; Newton, J R

    2018-05-01

    Racing performance is often used as a measurable outcome variable in research studies investigating clinical diagnoses or interventions. However, the use of many different performance measures largely precludes conduct of meaningful comparative studies and, to date, those being used have not been collated. To systematically review the veterinary scientific literature for the use of racing performance as a measurable outcome variable in clinical studies of racehorses, collate and identify those most popular, and identify their advantages and disadvantages. Systematic literature search. The search criteria "((racing AND performance) AND (horses OR equidae))" were adapted for both MEDLINE and CAB Abstracts databases. Data were collected in standardised recording forms for binary, categorical and quantitative measures, and the use of performance indices. In total, 217 studies that described racing performance were identified, contributing 117 different performance measures. No one performance measure was used in all studies, despite 90.3% using more than one variable. Data regarding race starts and earnings were used most commonly, with 88.0% and 54.4% of studies including at least one measure of starts and earnings, respectively. Seventeen variables were used 10 times or more, with the top five comprising: 'return to racing', 'number of starts', 'days to first start', 'earnings per period of time' and 'earnings per start'. The search strategies may not have identified all relevant papers, introducing bias to the review. Performance indices have been developed to improve assessment of interventions; however, they are not widely adopted in the scientific literature. Use of the two most commonly identified measures, whether the horse returned to racing and number of starts over a defined period of time, would best facilitate future systematic reviews and meta-analyses in advance of the development of a gold-standard measure of race performance outcome. © 2017 EVJ Ltd.

  12. A repeating fast radio burst.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spitler, L G; Scholz, P; Hessels, J W T; Bogdanov, S; Brazier, A; Camilo, F; Chatterjee, S; Cordes, J M; Crawford, F; Deneva, J; Ferdman, R D; Freire, P C C; Kaspi, V M; Lazarus, P; Lynch, R; Madsen, E C; McLaughlin, M A; Patel, C; Ransom, S M; Seymour, A; Stairs, I H; Stappers, B W; van Leeuwen, J; Zhu, W W

    2016-03-10

    Fast radio bursts are millisecond-duration astronomical radio pulses of unknown physical origin that appear to come from extragalactic distances. Previous follow-up observations have failed to find additional bursts at the same dispersion measure (that is, the integrated column density of free electrons between source and telescope) and sky position as the original detections. The apparent non-repeating nature of these bursts has led to the suggestion that they originate in cataclysmic events. Here we report observations of ten additional bursts from the direction of the fast radio burst FRB 121102. These bursts have dispersion measures and sky positions consistent with the original burst. This unambiguously identifies FRB 121102 as repeating and demonstrates that its source survives the energetic events that cause the bursts. Additionally, the bursts from FRB 121102 show a wide range of spectral shapes that appear to be predominantly intrinsic to the source and which vary on timescales of minutes or less. Although there may be multiple physical origins for the population of fast radio bursts, these repeat bursts with high dispersion measure and variable spectra specifically seen from the direction of FRB 121102 support an origin in a young, highly magnetized, extragalactic neutron star.

  13. Validation of China-wide interpolated daily climate variables from 1960 to 2011

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Wenping; Xu, Bing; Chen, Zhuoqi; Xia, Jiangzhou; Xu, Wenfang; Chen, Yang; Wu, Xiaoxu; Fu, Yang

    2015-02-01

    Temporally and spatially continuous meteorological variables are increasingly in demand to support many different types of applications related to climate studies. Using measurements from 600 climate stations, a thin-plate spline method was applied to generate daily gridded climate datasets for mean air temperature, maximum temperature, minimum temperature, relative humidity, sunshine duration, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, and precipitation over China for the period 1961-2011. A comprehensive evaluation of interpolated climate was conducted at 150 independent validation sites. The results showed superior performance for most of the estimated variables. Except for wind speed, determination coefficients ( R 2) varied from 0.65 to 0.90, and interpolations showed high consistency with observations. Most of the estimated climate variables showed relatively consistent accuracy among all seasons according to the root mean square error, R 2, and relative predictive error. The interpolated data correctly predicted the occurrence of daily precipitation at validation sites with an accuracy of 83 %. Moreover, the interpolation data successfully explained the interannual variability trend for the eight meteorological variables at most validation sites. Consistent interannual variability trends were observed at 66-95 % of the sites for the eight meteorological variables. Accuracy in distinguishing extreme weather events differed substantially among the meteorological variables. The interpolated data identified extreme events for the three temperature variables, relative humidity, and sunshine duration with an accuracy ranging from 63 to 77 %. However, for wind speed, air pressure, and precipitation, the interpolation model correctly identified only 41, 48, and 58 % of extreme events, respectively. The validation indicates that the interpolations can be applied with high confidence for the three temperatures variables, as well as relative humidity and sunshine duration based

  14. Identifying clinical course patterns in SMS data using cluster analysis

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kent, Peter; Kongsted, Alice

    2012-01-01

    ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Recently, there has been interest in using the short message service (SMS or text messaging), to gather frequent information on the clinical course of individual patients. One possible role for identifying clinical course patterns is to assist in exploring clinically important...... showed that clinical course patterns can be identified by cluster analysis using all SMS time points as cluster variables. This method is simple, intuitive and does not require a high level of statistical skill. However, there are alternative ways of managing SMS data and many different methods...

  15. The effect of virtual reality on gait variability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katsavelis, Dimitrios; Mukherjee, Mukul; Decker, Leslie; Stergiou, Nicholas

    2010-07-01

    Optic Flow (OF) plays an important role in human locomotion and manipulation of OF characteristics can cause changes in locomotion patterns. The purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of the velocity of optic flow on the amount and structure of gait variability. Each subject underwent four conditions of treadmill walking at their self-selected pace. In three conditions the subjects walked in an endless virtual corridor, while a fourth control condition was also included. The three virtual conditions differed in the speed of the optic flow displayed as follows--same speed (OFn), faster (OFf), and slower (OFs) than that of the treadmill. Gait kinematics were tracked with an optical motion capture system. Gait variability measures of the hip, knee and ankle range of motion and stride interval were analyzed. Amount of variability was evaluated with linear measures of variability--coefficient of variation, while structure of variability i.e., its organization over time, were measured with nonlinear measures--approximate entropy and detrended fluctuation analysis. The linear measures of variability, CV, did not show significant differences between Non-VR and VR conditions while nonlinear measures of variability identified significant differences at the hip, ankle, and in stride interval. In response to manipulation of the optic flow, significant differences were observed between the three virtual conditions in the following order: OFn greater than OFf greater than OFs. Measures of structure of variability are more sensitive to changes in gait due to manipulation of visual cues, whereas measures of the amount of variability may be concealed by adaptive mechanisms. Visual cues increase the complexity of gait variability and may increase the degrees of freedom available to the subject. Further exploration of the effects of optic flow manipulation on locomotion may provide us with an effective tool for rehabilitation of subjects with sensorimotor issues.

  16. Statistical variability of hydro-meteorological variables as indicators ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Statistical variability of hydro-meteorological variables as indicators of climate change in north-east Sokoto-Rima basin, Nigeria. ... water resources development including water supply project, agriculture and tourism in the study area. Key word: Climate change, Climatic variability, Actual evapotranspiration, Global warming ...

  17. A current controlled variable delay superconducting transmission line

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anlage, S.M.; Snortland, H.J.; Beasley, M.R.

    1989-01-01

    The authors present a device concept for a current-controlled variable delay for superconducting transmission line. The device makes use of the change in kinetic inductance of a superconducting transmission line under the application of a DC bias current. The relevant materials parameters and several promising superconducting materials have been identified

  18. Identifying Social Trust in Cross-Country Analysis: Do We Really Measure the Same?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Torpe, Lars; Lolle, Henrik

    2011-01-01

    Many see trust as an important social resource for the welfare of individuals as well as nations. It is therefore important to be able to identify trust and explain its sources. Cross-country survey analysis has been an important tool in this respect, and often one single variable is used to identify social trust understood as trust in strangers,…

  19. Statistical Analyses of Scatterplots to Identify Important Factors in Large-Scale Simulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kleijnen, J.P.C.; Helton, J.C.

    1999-04-01

    The robustness of procedures for identifying patterns in scatterplots generated in Monte Carlo sensitivity analyses is investigated. These procedures are based on attempts to detect increasingly complex patterns in the scatterplots under consideration and involve the identification of (1) linear relationships with correlation coefficients, (2) monotonic relationships with rank correlation coefficients, (3) trends in central tendency as defined by means, medians and the Kruskal-Wallis statistic, (4) trends in variability as defined by variances and interquartile ranges, and (5) deviations from randomness as defined by the chi-square statistic. The following two topics related to the robustness of these procedures are considered for a sequence of example analyses with a large model for two-phase fluid flow: the presence of Type I and Type II errors, and the stability of results obtained with independent Latin hypercube samples. Observations from analysis include: (1) Type I errors are unavoidable, (2) Type II errors can occur when inappropriate analysis procedures are used, (3) physical explanations should always be sought for why statistical procedures identify variables as being important, and (4) the identification of important variables tends to be stable for independent Latin hypercube samples.

  20. Drivers and potential predictability of summer time North Atlantic polar front jet variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hall, Richard J.; Jones, Julie M.; Hanna, Edward; Scaife, Adam A.; Erdélyi, Róbert

    2017-06-01

    The variability of the North Atlantic polar front jet stream is crucial in determining summer weather around the North Atlantic basin. Recent extreme summers in western Europe and North America have highlighted the need for greater understanding of this variability, in order to aid seasonal forecasting and mitigate societal, environmental and economic impacts. Here we find that simple linear regression and composite models based on a few predictable factors are able to explain up to 35 % of summertime jet stream speed and latitude variability from 1955 onwards. Sea surface temperature forcings impact predominantly on jet speed, whereas solar and cryospheric forcings appear to influence jet latitude. The cryospheric associations come from the previous autumn, suggesting the survival of an ice-induced signal through the winter season, whereas solar influences lead jet variability by a few years. Regression models covering the earlier part of the twentieth century are much less effective, presumably due to decreased availability of data, and increased uncertainty in observational reanalyses. Wavelet coherence analysis identifies that associations fluctuate over the study period but it is not clear whether this is just internal variability or genuine non-stationarity. Finally we identify areas for future research.

  1. Short timescale variability in the faint sky variability survey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Morales-Rueda, L.; Groot, P.J.; Augusteijn, T.; Nelemans, G.A.; Vreeswijk, P.M.; Besselaar, E.J.M. van den

    2006-01-01

    We present the V-band variability analysis of the Faint Sky Variability Survey (FSVS). The FSVS combines colour and time variability information, from timescales of 24 minutes to tens of days, down to V = 24. We find that �1% of all point sources are variable along the main sequence reaching �3.5%

  2. Identifying factors affecting optimal management of agricultural water

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masoud Samian

    2015-01-01

    In addition to quantitative methodology such as descriptive statistics and factor analysis a qualitative methodology was employed for dynamic simulation among variables through Vensim software. In this study, the factor analysis technique was used through the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO and Bartlett tests. From the results, four key elements were identified as factors affecting the optimal management of agricultural water in Hamedan area. These factors were institutional and legal factors, technical and knowledge factors, economic factors and social factors.

  3. Partial Granger causality--eliminating exogenous inputs and latent variables.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Shuixia; Seth, Anil K; Kendrick, Keith M; Zhou, Cong; Feng, Jianfeng

    2008-07-15

    Attempts to identify causal interactions in multivariable biological time series (e.g., gene data, protein data, physiological data) can be undermined by the confounding influence of environmental (exogenous) inputs. Compounding this problem, we are commonly only able to record a subset of all related variables in a system. These recorded variables are likely to be influenced by unrecorded (latent) variables. To address this problem, we introduce a novel variant of a widely used statistical measure of causality--Granger causality--that is inspired by the definition of partial correlation. Our 'partial Granger causality' measure is extensively tested with toy models, both linear and nonlinear, and is applied to experimental data: in vivo multielectrode array (MEA) local field potentials (LFPs) recorded from the inferotemporal cortex of sheep. Our results demonstrate that partial Granger causality can reveal the underlying interactions among elements in a network in the presence of exogenous inputs and latent variables in many cases where the existing conditional Granger causality fails.

  4. Supersoft X-Ray Source CAL 83: A Possible AE Aqr-like System

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Odendaal

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available CAL83 is a close binary supersoft X-ray source in the Large Magellanic Cloud. A ~67 s periodicity detected in supersoft X-rays is most probably associated with the spin period of a highly spun-up white dwarf (WD. The variability in the period is ascribed to the obscuration of the WD by the hydrogen burning envelope surrounding it, rotating with a period that is close to, but not quite synchronized with, the WD rotation period. Optical spectra obtained with SALT exhibit accretion disc emission lines with broad wing structures and P Cyg profiles, indicating mass outflows. Timing analysis of photometrical observations performed at the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO revealed variable signals at ≤1 mHz which are thought to be associated with quasi-periodic oscillations from an accretion disc. The short spin period inferred for CAL83 can be the result of spin-up by accretion disc torques during a long mass transfer history, placing this source on a similar evolutionary track as the cataclysmic variable AE Aqr.

  5. Revealing Relationships among Relevant Climate Variables with Information Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knuth, Kevin H.; Golera, Anthony; Curry, Charles T.; Huyser, Karen A.; Kevin R. Wheeler; Rossow, William B.

    2005-01-01

    The primary objective of the NASA Earth-Sun Exploration Technology Office is to understand the observed Earth climate variability, thus enabling the determination and prediction of the climate's response to both natural and human-induced forcing. We are currently developing a suite of computational tools that will allow researchers to calculate, from data, a variety of information-theoretic quantities such as mutual information, which can be used to identify relationships among climate variables, and transfer entropy, which indicates the possibility of causal interactions. Our tools estimate these quantities along with their associated error bars, the latter of which is critical for describing the degree of uncertainty in the estimates. This work is based upon optimal binning techniques that we have developed for piecewise-constant, histogram-style models of the underlying density functions. Two useful side benefits have already been discovered. The first allows a researcher to determine whether there exist sufficient data to estimate the underlying probability density. The second permits one to determine an acceptable degree of round-off when compressing data for efficient transfer and storage. We also demonstrate how mutual information and transfer entropy can be applied so as to allow researchers not only to identify relations among climate variables, but also to characterize and quantify their possible causal interactions.

  6. Identifying PHM market and network opportunities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grube, Mark E; Krishnaswamy, Anand; Poziemski, John; York, Robert W

    2015-11-01

    Two key processes for healthcare organizations seeking to assume a financially sustainable role in population health management (PHM), after laying the groundwork for the effort, are to identify potential PHM market opportunities and determine the scope of the PHM network. Key variables organizations should consider with respect to market opportunities include the patient population, the overall insurance/employer market, and available types of insurance products. Regarding the network's scope, organizations should consider both traditional strategic criteria for a viable network and at least five additional criteria: network essentiality and PHM care continuum, network adequacy, service distribution right-sizing, network growth strategy, and organizational agility.

  7. MHC variability in heritage breeds of chickens.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fulton, J E; Lund, A R; McCarron, A M; Pinegar, K N; Korver, D R; Classen, H L; Aggrey, S; Utterbach, C; Anthony, N B; Berres, M E

    2016-02-01

    The chicken Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) is very strongly associated with disease resistance and thus is a very important region of the chicken genome. Historically, MHC (B locus) has been identified by the use of serology with haplotype specific alloantisera. These antisera can be difficult to produce and frequently cross-react with multiple haplotypes and hence their application is generally limited to inbred and MHC-defined lines. As a consequence, very little information about MHC variability in heritage chicken breeds is available. DNA-based methods are now available for examining MHC variability in these previously uncharacterized populations. A high density SNP panel consisting of 101 SNP that span a 230,000 bp region of the chicken MHC was used to examine MHC variability in 17 heritage populations of chickens from five universities from Canada and the United States. The breeds included 6 heritage broiler lines, 3 Barred Plymouth Rock, 2 New Hampshire and one each of Rhode Island Red, Light Sussex, White Leghorn, Dark Brown Leghorn, and 2 synthetic lines. These heritage breeds contained from one to 11 haplotypes per line. A total of 52 unique MHC haplotypes were found with only 10 of them identical to serologically defined haplotypes. Furthermore, nine MHC recombinants with their respective parental haplotypes were identified. This survey confirms the value of these non-commercially utilized lines in maintaining genetic diversity. The identification of multiple MHC haplotypes and novel MHC recombinants indicates that diversity is being generated and maintained within these heritage populations. © 2016 Poultry Science Association Inc.

  8. The Ultracompact Nature of the Black Hole Candidate X-Ray Binary 47 Tuc X9

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahramian, Arash; Heinke, Craig O.; Tudor, Vlad; Miller-Jones, James C. A.; Bogdanov, Slavko; Maccarone, Thomas J.; Knigge, Christian; Sivakoff, Gregory R.; Chomiuk, Laura; Strader, J.; hide

    2017-01-01

    47 Tuc X9 is a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) in the globular cluster 47 Tucanae, and was previously thought to be a cataclysmic variable. However, Miller-Jones et al. recently identified a radio counterpart to X9 (inferring a radio X-ray luminosity ratio consistent with black hole LMXBs), and suggested that the donor star might be a white dwarf. We report simultaneous observations of X9 performed by Chandra, NuSTAR and Australia Telescope Compact Array. We find a clear 28.18+/- 0.02-min periodic modulation in the Chandra data, which we identify as the orbital period, confirming this system as an ultracompact X-ray binary. Our X-ray spectral fitting provides evidence for photoionized gas having a high oxygen abundance in this system, which indicates a CO white dwarf donor. We also identify reflection features in the hard X-ray spectrum, making X9 the faintest LMXB to show X-ray reflection. We detect an approx. 6.8-d modulation in the X-ray brightness by a factor of 10, in archival Chandra, Swift and ROSAT data. The simultaneous radio X-ray flux ratio is consistent with either a black hole primary or a neutron star primary, if the neutron star is a transitional millisecond pulsar. Considering the measured orbital period (with other evidence of a white dwarf donor), and the lack of transitional millisecond pulsar features in the X-ray light curve, we suggest that this could be the first ultracompact black hole X-ray binary identified in our Galaxy.

  9. Prognostic value of biochemical variables for survival after surgery for metastatic bone disease of the extremities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sørensen, Michala Skovlund; Hovgaard, Thea Bechman; Hindsø, Klaus; Petersen, Michael Mørk

    2017-03-01

    Prediction of survival in patients having surgery for metastatic bone disease in the extremities (MBDex) has been of interest in more than two decades. Hitherto no consensus on the value of biochemical variables has been achieved. Our purpose was (1) to investigate if standard biochemical variables have independent prognostic value for survival after surgery for MBDex and (2) to identify optimal prognostic cut off values for survival of biochemical variables. In a consecutive cohort of 270 patients having surgery for MBDex, we measured preoperative biochemical variables: hemoglobin, alkaline phosphatase, C-reactive protein and absolute, neutrophil and lymphocyte count. ROC curve analyses were performed to identify optimal cut off levels. Independent prognostic factors for variables were addressed with multiple Cox regression analyses. Optimal cut off levels were identified as: hemoglobin 7.45 mmol/L, absolute lymphocyte count 8.5 × 10 9 /L, neutrophil 5.68 × 10 9 /L, lymphocyte 1.37 × 10 9 /L, C-reactive protein 22.5 mg/L, and alkaline phosphatase 129 U/L. Regression analyses found alkaline phosphatase (HR 2.49) and neutrophil count (HR 2.49) to be independent prognostic factors. We found neutrophil count and alkaline phosphatase to be independent prognostic variables in predicting survival in patients after surgery for MBDex. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  10. Observer variability identifying attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder in 10-year-old children born extremely preterm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leviton, Alan; Hunter, Scott J; Scott, Megan N; Hooper, Stephen R; Joseph, Robert M; O'Shea, Thomas Michael; Allred, Elizabeth N; Kuban, Karl

    2017-08-01

    A DSM-5 diagnosis of attention deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) requires that symptoms be present in two settings. We wanted to see how teachers and parents compare on their assessments. We evaluated how well Child Symptom Inventory-4 (CSI-4) reports from 871 parents and 634 teachers of 10-year-old children born before the 28th week of gestation provided information about indicators of school dysfunction. Kappa values for parent and teacher agreement of any ADHD were at best fair to poor (<0.41). Nevertheless, ADHD identified by each alone provided a moderate amount of information about such indicators of school dysfunction as grade repetition. Only occasionally did agreement provide more information than provided by only one reporter. Mother's social class and intelligence level did not discriminate between parents who did and did not agree with the teacher. ADHD identified by a single observer can provide appreciable information about a range of the child's functions needed for success in school and, therefore, should not be discounted when another observer does not consider the child to have ADHD symptoms. ©2017 Foundation Acta Paediatrica. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  11. THE CLASSIFICATION OF KEPLER B-STAR VARIABLES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McNamara, Bernard J.; Jackiewicz, Jason; McKeever, Jean

    2012-01-01

    The light curves of 252 B-star candidates in the Kepler database are analyzed in a similar fashion to that done by Balona et al. to further characterize B-star variability, increase the sample of variable B stars for future study, and to identify stars whose power spectra include particularly interesting features such as frequency groupings. Stars are classified as either constant light emitters, β Cep stars, slowly pulsating B stars (SPBs), hybrid pulsators, binaries or stars whose light curves are dominated by rotation (Bin/Rot), hot subdwarfs, or white dwarfs. One-hundred stars in our sample were found to be either light constants or to be variable at a level of less than 0.02 mmag. We increase the number of candidate B-star variables found in the Kepler database by Balona et al. in the following fashion: β Cep stars from 0 to 10, SPBs from eight to 54, hybrid pulsators from seven to 21, and Bin/Rot stars from 23 to 82. For comparison purposes, approximately 51 SPBs and six hybrids had been known prior to 2007. The number of β Cep stars known prior to 2004 was 93. A secondary result of this study is the identification of an additional 11 pulsating white dwarf candidates, four of which possess frequency groupings.

  12. [Quantitative analysis of drug expenditures variability in dermatology units].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moreno-Ramírez, David; Ferrándiz, Lara; Ramírez-Soto, Gabriel; Muñoyerro, M Dolores

    2013-01-01

    Variability in adjusted drug expenditures among clinical departments raises the possibility of difficult access to certain therapies at the time that avoidable expenditures may also exist. Nevertheless, drug expenditures are not usually applied to clinical practice variability analysis. To identify and quantify variability in drug expenditures in comparable dermatology department of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud. Comparative economic analysis regarding the drug expenditures adjusted to population and health care production in 18 dermatology departments of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud. The 2012 cost and production data (homogeneous production units -HPU-)were provided by Inforcoan, the cost accounting information system of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud. The observed drug expenditure ratio ranged from 0.97?/inh to 8.90?/inh and from 208.45?/HPU to 1,471.95?/ HPU. The Pearson correlation between drug expenditure and population was 0.25 and 0.35 for the correlation between expenditure and homogeneous production (p=0.32 and p=0,15, respectively), both Pearson coefficients confirming the lack of correlation and arelevant degree of variability in drug expenditures. The quantitative analysis of variability performed through Pearson correlation has confirmed the existence of drug expenditure variability among comparable dermatology departments. Copyright © 2013 SEFH. Published by AULA MEDICA. All rights reserved.

  13. Photometric search for variable stars in the young open cluster Berkeley 59

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lata, Sneh; Pandey, A. K.; Maheswar, G.; Mondal, Soumen; Kumar, Brijesh

    2011-12-01

    We present the time series photometry of stars located in the extremely young open cluster Berkeley 59. Using the 1.04-m telescope at Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital, we have identified 42 variables in a field of ˜13 × 13 arcmin2 around the cluster. The probable members of the cluster have been identified using a (V, V-I) colour-magnitude diagram and a (J-H, H-K) colour-colour diagram. 31 variables have been found to be pre-main-sequence stars associated with the cluster. The ages and masses of the pre-main-sequence stars have been derived from the colour-magnitude diagram by fitting theoretical models to the observed data points. The ages of the majority of the probable pre-main-sequence variable candidates range from 1 to 5 Myr. The masses of these pre-main-sequence variable stars have been found to be in the range of ˜0.3 to ˜3.5 M⊙, and these could be T Tauri stars. The present statistics reveal that about 90 per cent T Tauri stars have period dispersal of the discs of relatively massive stars.

  14. Identifying Some Risk Factors for the Time to Death of the Elderly Using the Semi-Parametric Blended Model of Survival Analysis With Competing Risks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samane Hajiabbasi

    2018-01-01

    Conclusion In single-variable fitting, age, history of myocardial infarction, history of stroke, and kidney problems were identified to have significant effects on the time to death of the elderly. Based on one-variable semi-parametric competing risk mixture fitted models, more significant risk factors for the time to death of elderly was identified when compared with a fitted multivariate mode to the data. This implies that the role of some independent variables can be explained by other independent variables.

  15. The Southern Oscillation and northern hemisphere temperature variability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ropelewski, C.F.; Halpert, M.S.

    1990-01-01

    The Southern Oscillation (SO) is the best defined and understood mode of interannual climate variability. The extreme phases of the SO have been identified with global-scale variations in the atmosphere/ocean circulation system and with the modulation of monsoon precipitation on the global scale. While SO-related precipitation has been the subject of several studies, the magnitude of the SO-related temperature variability on the global scale has not been well documented. In this paper the authors provide an estimate of the SO-related temperature variability in the context of monitoring global warming related to the increase in greenhouse gases. This analysis suggested that traditional time series of hemispheric and global temperature anomalies for the calendar year may confuse interannual temperature variability associated with the SO and perceived climate trend. Analyses based on calendar-year data are likely to split the effects of the SO-related temperature variability over two years. The Northern Hemisphere cold season (october through March) time series may be more appropriate to separate the SO-related effects on the hemispheric temperature from other modes of variability. mean interannual temperature anomaly differences associated with the extremes of the So are estimated to be 0.2 C for the October-to-March season in the Northern Hemisphere. In areas directly linked to the SO, the mean interannual differences amount to over 0.5 C. The So cannot account for all the variability in the hemispheric times series of surface temperature estimates, but the SO signal must be properly accounted for if these time series are to be understood

  16. All varieties of encoding variability are not created equal: Separating variable processing from variable tasks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huff, Mark J.; Bodner, Glen E.

    2014-01-01

    Whether encoding variability facilitates memory is shown to depend on whether item-specific and relational processing are both performed across study blocks, and whether study items are weakly versus strongly related. Variable-processing groups studied a word list once using an item-specific task and once using a relational task. Variable-task groups’ two different study tasks recruited the same type of processing each block. Repeated-task groups performed the same study task each block. Recall and recognition were greatest in the variable-processing group, but only with weakly related lists. A variable-processing benefit was also found when task-based processing and list-type processing were complementary (e.g., item-specific processing of a related list) rather than redundant (e.g., relational processing of a related list). That performing both item-specific and relational processing across trials, or within a trial, yields encoding-variability benefits may help reconcile decades of contradictory findings in this area. PMID:25018583

  17. Saporin-conjugated tetramers identify efficacious anti-HIV CD8+ T-cell specificities

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Leitman, Ellen M.; Palmer, Christine D.; Buus, Søren

    2017-01-01

    Antigen-specific T-cells are highly variable, spanning potent antiviral efficacy and damaging auto-reactivity. In virus infections, identifying the most efficacious responses is critical to vaccine design. However, current methods depend on indirect measures or on ex vivo expanded CTL clones. We...

  18. Protein construct storage: Bayesian variable selection and prediction with mixtures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clyde, M A; Parmigiani, G

    1998-07-01

    Determining optimal conditions for protein storage while maintaining a high level of protein activity is an important question in pharmaceutical research. A designed experiment based on a space-filling design was conducted to understand the effects of factors affecting protein storage and to establish optimal storage conditions. Different model-selection strategies to identify important factors may lead to very different answers about optimal conditions. Uncertainty about which factors are important, or model uncertainty, can be a critical issue in decision-making. We use Bayesian variable selection methods for linear models to identify important variables in the protein storage data, while accounting for model uncertainty. We also use the Bayesian framework to build predictions based on a large family of models, rather than an individual model, and to evaluate the probability that certain candidate storage conditions are optimal.

  19. Variability search in M 31 using principal component analysis and the Hubble Source Catalogue

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moretti, M. I.; Hatzidimitriou, D.; Karampelas, A.; Sokolovsky, K. V.; Bonanos, A. Z.; Gavras, P.; Yang, M.

    2018-06-01

    Principal component analysis (PCA) is being extensively used in Astronomy but not yet exhaustively exploited for variability search. The aim of this work is to investigate the effectiveness of using the PCA as a method to search for variable stars in large photometric data sets. We apply PCA to variability indices computed for light curves of 18 152 stars in three fields in M 31 extracted from the Hubble Source Catalogue. The projection of the data into the principal components is used as a stellar variability detection and classification tool, capable of distinguishing between RR Lyrae stars, long-period variables (LPVs) and non-variables. This projection recovered more than 90 per cent of the known variables and revealed 38 previously unknown variable stars (about 30 per cent more), all LPVs except for one object of uncertain variability type. We conclude that this methodology can indeed successfully identify candidate variable stars.

  20. Variables associated with active spondylolysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gregg, Chris D; Dean, Sarah; Schneiders, Anthony G

    2009-11-01

    Retrospective non-experimental study. To investigate variables associated with active spondylolysis. A retrospective study audited clinical data over a two year period from patients with suspected spondylolysis that were referred for a SPECT bone scan. Six exploratory variables were identified and analysed using uni- and multi-variate regression from 82 patient records to determine the association between symptomatic, physical and demographic characteristics, and the presence of an active spondylolysis. Tertiary level multidisciplinary private practice sports medicine clinic. All patients with low back pain that required a SPECT bone scan to confirm suspected spondylolysis. 82 subjects were included in the final sample group. The six exploratory variables included Age, Gender, Injury duration, Injury onset, Sports participation and the result of the Single Leg Hyperextension Test. The dependent outcome variable was the result of the SPECT bone scan (scan-positive or scan-negative). Adolescent males had a higher incidence of spondylolysis detected by SPECT bone scan compared to other patients and a statistically significant association was demonstrated for both age (p=0.01) and gender (p=0.01). Subjects with an active spondylolysis were nearly five times more likely to be male and aged less than 20 years. Furthermore, the likelihood ratio indicated that adolescent males with suspected spondylolysis were three and a half times more likely to have a positive bone scan result. The Single Leg Hyperextension Test did not demonstrate a statistically significant association with spondylolysis (p=0.47). Clinicians assessing for a predisposition to the development of spondylolysis should consider the gender and age of the patient and not rely on the predictive ability of the Single Leg Hyperextension Test.

  1. Interannual-to-multidecadal Hydroclimate Variability and its Sectoral Impacts in northeastern Argentina

    OpenAIRE

    Lovino, Miguel A.; Müller, Omar V.; Müller, Gabriela V.; Sgroi, Leandro C.; Baethgen, Walter E.

    2018-01-01

    This study examines the relation between hydroclimate variability (precipitation, river discharge, temperature) and water resources, agriculture and human settlements at different time scales in northeastern Argentina. It also discusses the impacts on these productive and socio-economic sectors. The leading patterns of variability, their nonlinear trends, and cycles are identified by means of a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) complemented with a Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA). Interannua...

  2. Comparison of Sparse and Jack-knife partial least squares regression methods for variable selection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Karaman, Ibrahim; Qannari, El Mostafa; Martens, Harald

    2013-01-01

    The objective of this study was to compare two different techniques of variable selection, Sparse PLSR and Jack-knife PLSR, with respect to their predictive ability and their ability to identify relevant variables. Sparse PLSR is a method that is frequently used in genomics, whereas Jack-knife PL...

  3. The Integration of Continuous and Discrete Latent Variable Models: Potential Problems and Promising Opportunities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, Daniel J.; Curran, Patrick J.

    2004-01-01

    Structural equation mixture modeling (SEMM) integrates continuous and discrete latent variable models. Drawing on prior research on the relationships between continuous and discrete latent variable models, the authors identify 3 conditions that may lead to the estimation of spurious latent classes in SEMM: misspecification of the structural model,…

  4. Insights into gait disorders: walking variability using phase plot analysis, Huntington's disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Collett, Johnny; Esser, Patrick; Khalil, Hanan; Busse, Monica; Quinn, Lori; DeBono, Katy; Rosser, Anne; Nemeth, Andrea H; Dawes, Helen

    2014-09-01

    Huntington's disease (HD) is a progressive inherited neurodegenerative disorder. Identifying sensitive methodologies to quantitatively measure early motor changes have been difficult to develop. This exploratory observational study investigated gait variability and symmetry in HD using phase plot analysis. We measured the walking of 22 controls and 35 HD gene carriers (7 premanifest (PreHD)), 16 early/mid (HD1) and 12 late stage (HD2) in Oxford and Cardiff, UK. The unified Huntington's disease rating scale-total motor scores (UHDRS-TMS) and disease burden scores (DBS) were used to quantify disease severity. Data was collected during a clinical walk test (8.8 or 10 m) using an inertial measurement unit attached to the trunk. The 6 middle strides were used to calculate gait variability determined by spatiotemporal parameters (co-efficient of variation (CoV)) and phase plot analysis. Phase plots considered the variability in consecutive wave forms from vertical movement and were quantified by SDA (spatiotemporal variability), SDB (temporal variability), ratio ∀ (ratio SDA:SDB) and Δangleβ (symmetry). Step time CoV was greater in manifest HD (p0.05). Phase plot analysis identified differences between manifest HD and controls for SDB, Ratio ∀ and Δangle (all pplot analysis may be a sensitive method of detecting gait changes in HD and can be performed quickly during clinical walking tests. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Concurrent variable-interval variable-ratio schedules in a dynamic choice environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Matthew C; Baum, William M

    2017-11-01

    Most studies of operant choice have focused on presenting subjects with a fixed pair of schedules across many experimental sessions. Using these methods, studies of concurrent variable- interval variable-ratio schedules helped to evaluate theories of choice. More recently, a growing literature has focused on dynamic choice behavior. Those dynamic choice studies have analyzed behavior on a number of different time scales using concurrent variable-interval schedules. Following the dynamic choice approach, the present experiment examined performance on concurrent variable-interval variable-ratio schedules in a rapidly changing environment. Our objectives were to compare performance on concurrent variable-interval variable-ratio schedules with extant data on concurrent variable-interval variable-interval schedules using a dynamic choice procedure and to extend earlier work on concurrent variable-interval variable-ratio schedules. We analyzed performances at different time scales, finding strong similarities between concurrent variable-interval variable-interval and concurrent variable-interval variable- ratio performance within dynamic choice procedures. Time-based measures revealed almost identical performance in the two procedures compared with response-based measures, supporting the view that choice is best understood as time allocation. Performance at the smaller time scale of visits accorded with the tendency seen in earlier research toward developing a pattern of strong preference for and long visits to the richer alternative paired with brief "samples" at the leaner alternative ("fix and sample"). © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

  6. External forcing as a metronome for Atlantic multidecadal variability

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otterå, Odd Helge; Bentsen, Mats; Drange, Helge; Suo, Lingling

    2010-10-01

    Instrumental records, proxy data and climate modelling show that multidecadal variability is a dominant feature of North Atlantic sea-surface temperature variations, with potential impacts on regional climate. To understand the observed variability and to gauge any potential for climate predictions it is essential to identify the physical mechanisms that lead to this variability, and to explore the spatial and temporal characteristics of multidecadal variability modes. Here we use a coupled ocean-atmosphere general circulation model to show that the phasing of the multidecadal fluctuations in the North Atlantic during the past 600 years is, to a large degree, governed by changes in the external solar and volcanic forcings. We find that volcanoes play a particularly important part in the phasing of the multidecadal variability through their direct influence on tropical sea-surface temperatures, on the leading mode of northern-hemisphere atmosphere circulation and on the Atlantic thermohaline circulation. We suggest that the implications of our findings for decadal climate prediction are twofold: because volcanic eruptions cannot be predicted a decade in advance, longer-term climate predictability may prove challenging, whereas the systematic post-eruption changes in ocean and atmosphere may hold promise for shorter-term climate prediction.

  7. Investigation of load reduction for a variable speed, variable pitch, and variable coning wind turbine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pierce, K. [Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)

    1997-12-31

    A two bladed, variable speed and variable pitch wind turbine was modeled using ADAMS{reg_sign} to evaluate load reduction abilities of a variable coning configuration as compared to a teetered rotor, and also to evaluate control methods. The basic dynamic behavior of the variable coning turbine was investigated and compared to the teetered rotor under constant wind conditions as well as turbulent wind conditions. Results indicate the variable coning rotor has larger flap oscillation amplitudes and much lower root flap bending moments than the teetered rotor. Three methods of control were evaluated for turbulent wind simulations. These were a standard IPD control method, a generalized predictive control method, and a bias estimate control method. Each control method was evaluated for both the variable coning configuration and the teetered configuration. The ability of the different control methods to maintain the rotor speed near the desired set point is evaluated from the RMS error of rotor speed. The activity of the control system is evaluated from cycles per second of the blade pitch angle. All three of the methods were found to produce similar results for the variable coning rotor and the teetered rotor, as well as similar results to each other.

  8. The Space-Time Variation of Global Crop Yields, Detecting Simultaneous Outliers and Identifying the Teleconnections with Climatic Patterns

    Science.gov (United States)

    Najafi, E.; Devineni, N.; Pal, I.; Khanbilvardi, R.

    2017-12-01

    An understanding of the climate factors that influence the space-time variability of crop yields is important for food security purposes and can help us predict global food availability. In this study, we address how the crop yield trends of countries globally were related to each other during the last several decades and the main climatic variables that triggered high/low crop yields simultaneously across the world. Robust Principal Component Analysis (rPCA) is used to identify the primary modes of variation in wheat, maize, sorghum, rice, soybeans, and barley yields. Relations between these modes of variability and important climatic variables, especially anomalous sea surface temperature (SSTa), are examined from 1964 to 2010. rPCA is also used to identify simultaneous outliers in each year, i.e. systematic high/low crop yields across the globe. The results demonstrated spatiotemporal patterns of these crop yields and the climate-related events that caused them as well as the connection of outliers with weather extremes. We find that among climatic variables, SST has had the most impact on creating simultaneous crop yields variability and yield outliers in many countries. An understanding of this phenomenon can benefit global crop trade networks.

  9. About hidden influence of predictor variables: Suppressor and mediator variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milovanović Boško

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper procedure for researching hidden influence of predictor variables in regression models and depicting suppressor variables and mediator variables is shown. It is also shown that detection of suppressor variables and mediator variables could provide refined information about the research problem. As an example for applying this procedure, relation between Atlantic atmospheric centers and air temperature and precipitation amount in Serbia is chosen. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 47007

  10. Easy Long-Term Identifiers and the "Data Paper"

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunze, John

    2011-05-01

    A new publishing paradigm is needed to cope with the deluge of data artifacts produced by data-intensive science, many of which are vital to data re-use and verification of published scientific conclusions. Due to the limitations of traditional publishing, most of these artifacts are not usually disseminated, cited, or preserved. At the California Digital Library (CDL), one promising approach to the problem is to wrap these artifacts in the metaphor of a "data paper", assigning and managing data citations with our EZID (easy-eye-dee) identifier service. A data paper is a somewhat unfamiliar bundle of scholarly output with a familiar facade: minimally, a set of links to archived artifacts and a cover sheet containing familiar elements such as title, authors, date, abstract, and persistent identifier _ just enough to create basic citations, build "overlay journals", and enable discovery of data by internet search engines. Over time, we expect to add elements that permit deeper domain-specific discovery and re-use, such as variable names, methods, etc. At the same time, for data and identifiers that we manage, we will leverage as much domain-agnosticism data and identifier as possible.

  11. Realist identification of group-level latent variables for perinatal social epidemiology theory building.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eastwood, John Graeme; Jalaludin, Bin Badrudin; Kemp, Lynn Ann; Phung, Hai Ngoc

    2014-01-01

    We have previously reported in this journal on an ecological study of perinatal depressive symptoms in South Western Sydney. In that article, we briefly reported on a factor analysis that was utilized to identify empirical indicators for analysis. In this article, we report on the mixed method approach that was used to identify those latent variables. Social epidemiology has been slow to embrace a latent variable approach to the study of social, political, economic, and cultural structures and mechanisms, partly for philosophical reasons. Critical realist ontology and epistemology have been advocated as an appropriate methodological approach to both theory building and theory testing in the health sciences. We describe here an emergent mixed method approach that uses qualitative methods to identify latent constructs followed by factor analysis using empirical indicators chosen to measure identified qualitative codes. Comparative analysis of the findings is reported together with a limited description of realist approaches to abstract reasoning.

  12. Advanced Electrocardiography Can Identify Occult Cardiomyopathy in Doberman Pinschers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spiljak, M.; Petric, A. Domanjko; Wilberg, M.; Olsen, L. H.; Stepancic, A.; Schlegel, T. T.; Starc, V.

    2011-01-01

    Recently, multiple advanced resting electrocardiographic (A-ECG) techniques have improved the diagnostic value of short-duration ECG in detection of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) in humans. This study investigated whether 12-lead A-ECG recordings could accurately identify the occult phase of DCM in dogs. Short-duration (3-5 min) high-fidelity 12-lead ECG recordings were obtained from 31 privately-owned, clinically healthy Doberman Pinschers (5.4 +/- 1.7 years, 11/20 males/females). Dogs were divided into 2 groups: 1) 19 healthy dogs with normal echocardiographic M-mode measurements: left ventricular internal diameter in diastole (LVIDd . 47mm) and in systole (LVIDs . 38mm) and normal 24-hour ECG recordings (100 VPCs/24h; 1/12 dogs had only abnormal 24-hour ECG recordings (>100 VPCs/24h). ECG recordings were evaluated via custom software programs to calculate multiple parameters of high-frequency (HF) QRS ECG, heart rate variability, QT variability, waveform complexity and 3-D ECG. Student's t-tests determined 19 ECG parameters that were significantly different (P canine DCM as five selected ECG parameters can with reasonable accuracy identify occult DCM in Doberman Pinschers. Future extensive clinical studies need to clarify if 12-lead A-ECG could be useful as an additional screening test for canine DCM.

  13. Close Binaries in the 21st Century: New Opportunities and Challenges

    CERN Document Server

    Giménez, Àlvaro; Niarchos, Panagiotis; Rucinski, Slavek

    2006-01-01

    An International Conference entitled "Close Binaries in the 21st Century: New Opportunities and Challenges", was held in Syros island, Greece, from 27 to 30 June, 2005. There are many binary star systems whose components are so close together, that they interact in various ways. Stars in such systems do not pass through all stages of their evolution independently of each other; in fact their evolutionary path is significantly affected by their companions. Processes of interaction include gravitational effects, mutual irradiation, mass exchange, mass loss from the system, phenomena of extended atmospheres, semi-transparent atmospheric clouds, variable thickness disks and gas streams. The zoo of Close Binary Systems includes: Close Eclipsing Binaries (Detached, Semi-detached, Contact), High and Low-Mass X-ray Binaries, Cataclysmic Variables, RS CVn systems, Pulsar Binaries and Symbiotic Stars. The study of these binaries triggered the development of new branches of astrophysics dealing with the structure and ev...

  14. Using neutral models to identify constraints on low-severity fire regimes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donald McKenzie; Amy E. Hessl; Lara-Karena B. Kellogg

    2006-01-01

    Climate, topography, fuel loadings, and human activities all affect spatial and temporal patterns of fire occurrence. Because fire is modeled as a stochastic process, for which each fire history is only one realization, a simulation approach is necessary to understand baseline variability, thereby identifying constraints, or forcing functions, that affect fire regimes...

  15. Comparative Analysis of Upper Ocean Heat Content Variability from Ensemble Operational Ocean Analyses

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xue, Yan; Balmaseda, Magdalena A.; Boyer, Tim; Ferry, Nicolas; Good, Simon; Ishikawa, Ichiro; Rienecker, Michele; Rosati, Tony; Yin, Yonghong; Kumar, Arun

    2012-01-01

    Upper ocean heat content (HC) is one of the key indicators of climate variability on many time-scales extending from seasonal to interannual to long-term climate trends. For example, HC in the tropical Pacific provides information on thermocline anomalies that is critical for the longlead forecast skill of ENSO. Since HC variability is also associated with SST variability, a better understanding and monitoring of HC variability can help us understand and forecast SST variability associated with ENSO and other modes such as Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO), Tropical Atlantic Variability (TAV) and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). An accurate ocean initialization of HC anomalies in coupled climate models could also contribute to skill in decadal climate prediction. Errors, and/or uncertainties, in the estimation of HC variability can be affected by many factors including uncertainties in surface forcings, ocean model biases, and deficiencies in data assimilation schemes. Changes in observing systems can also leave an imprint on the estimated variability. The availability of multiple operational ocean analyses (ORA) that are routinely produced by operational and research centers around the world provides an opportunity to assess uncertainties in HC analyses, to help identify gaps in observing systems as they impact the quality of ORAs and therefore climate model forecasts. A comparison of ORAs also gives an opportunity to identify deficiencies in data assimilation schemes, and can be used as a basis for development of real-time multi-model ensemble HC monitoring products. The OceanObs09 Conference called for an intercomparison of ORAs and use of ORAs for global ocean monitoring. As a follow up, we intercompared HC variations from ten ORAs -- two objective analyses based on in-situ data only and eight model analyses based on ocean data assimilation systems. The mean, annual cycle, interannual variability and longterm trend of HC have

  16. Reducing variability in the output of pattern classifiers using histogram shaping

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gupta, Shalini; Kan, Chih-Wen; Markey, Mia K.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: The authors present a novel technique based on histogram shaping to reduce the variability in the output and (sensitivity, specificity) pairs of pattern classifiers with identical ROC curves, but differently distributed outputs. Methods: The authors identify different sources of variability in the output of linear pattern classifiers with identical ROC curves, which also result in classifiers with differently distributed outputs. They theoretically develop a novel technique based on the matching of the histograms of these differently distributed pattern classifier outputs to reduce the variability in their (sensitivity, specificity) pairs at fixed decision thresholds, and to reduce the variability in their actual output values. They empirically demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed technique by means of analyses on the simulated data and real world mammography data. Results: For the simulated data, with three different known sources of variability, and for the real world mammography data with unknown sources of variability, the proposed classifier output calibration technique significantly reduced the variability in the classifiers' (sensitivity, specificity) pairs at fixed decision thresholds. Furthermore, for classifiers with monotonically or approximately monotonically related output variables, the histogram shaping technique also significantly reduced the variability in their actual output values. Conclusions: Classifier output calibration based on histogram shaping can be successfully employed to reduce the variability in the output values and (sensitivity, specificity) pairs of pattern classifiers with identical ROC curves, but differently distributed outputs.

  17. Variable importance in latent variable regression models

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Kvalheim, O.M.; Arneberg, R.; Bleie, O.; Rajalahti, T.; Smilde, A.K.; Westerhuis, J.A.

    2014-01-01

    The quality and practical usefulness of a regression model are a function of both interpretability and prediction performance. This work presents some new graphical tools for improved interpretation of latent variable regression models that can also assist in improved algorithms for variable

  18. Near-infrared mapping of ARP 299 (IC 694-NGC 3690) - colliding galaxies unveiled

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Telesco, C.M.; Decher, R.; Gatley, I.; Edinburgh Royal Observatory, England)

    1985-01-01

    Near-infrared maps and multicolor photometry of the interacting galaxies IC 694 and NGC 3690 which form Arp 299 (= Markarian 171) are presented. These data reveal for the first time the distribution of nuclei and old red stars in a cataclysmically interacting system. The nuclei are considerably offset from the visual centroids of the galaxies but not from the mass centroids. The near-infrared colors of the most active regions are strongly affected by extinction, emission form hot dust, and bremsstrahlung. Near-infrared emission is also identified with secondary regions of star formation, probably resulting from the galaxies interaction. 24 references

  19. Using variable combination population analysis for variable selection in multivariate calibration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yun, Yong-Huan; Wang, Wei-Ting; Deng, Bai-Chuan; Lai, Guang-Bi; Liu, Xin-bo; Ren, Da-Bing; Liang, Yi-Zeng; Fan, Wei; Xu, Qing-Song

    2015-03-03

    Variable (wavelength or feature) selection techniques have become a critical step for the analysis of datasets with high number of variables and relatively few samples. In this study, a novel variable selection strategy, variable combination population analysis (VCPA), was proposed. This strategy consists of two crucial procedures. First, the exponentially decreasing function (EDF), which is the simple and effective principle of 'survival of the fittest' from Darwin's natural evolution theory, is employed to determine the number of variables to keep and continuously shrink the variable space. Second, in each EDF run, binary matrix sampling (BMS) strategy that gives each variable the same chance to be selected and generates different variable combinations, is used to produce a population of subsets to construct a population of sub-models. Then, model population analysis (MPA) is employed to find the variable subsets with the lower root mean squares error of cross validation (RMSECV). The frequency of each variable appearing in the best 10% sub-models is computed. The higher the frequency is, the more important the variable is. The performance of the proposed procedure was investigated using three real NIR datasets. The results indicate that VCPA is a good variable selection strategy when compared with four high performing variable selection methods: genetic algorithm-partial least squares (GA-PLS), Monte Carlo uninformative variable elimination by PLS (MC-UVE-PLS), competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS) and iteratively retains informative variables (IRIV). The MATLAB source code of VCPA is available for academic research on the website: http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/authors/498750. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Daily variability of strongyle fecal egg counts in horses

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Carstensen, Helena; Larsen, Lene; Ritz, Christian

    2013-01-01

    Strongyle parasites are ubiquitous in grazing horses and constitute a potential threat to equine health. Feces were collected from six horses four times daily over a period of 5 days. Fecal egg counts (FECs) were performed to identify any diurnal rhythms in strongyle egg shedding and to quantify...... variability at the different levels: individual horses, repeated counts, repeated subsamples, different time points, and different days. No significant differences in FECs were found between the different time points (P = .11). The variables-horse, day, subsample, and egg count-accounted for a variance of 104...... subsamples and repeated egg counts on the same subsamples, whereas the variability of FECs between following days can be considered negligible. The findings of this study have implication for designing and performing field surveillance of strongyle FEC levels and applying the FEC reduction test...

  1. VARIABLE STARS IN LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD GLOBULAR CLUSTERS. II. NGC 1786

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuehn, Charles A.; Smith, Horace A.; De Lee, Nathan; Catelan, Márcio; Pritzl, Barton J.; Borissova, Jura

    2012-01-01

    This is the second in a series of papers studying the variable stars in Large Magellanic Cloud globular clusters. The primary goal of this series is to study how RR Lyrae stars in Oosterhoff-intermediate systems compare to their counterparts in Oosterhoff I/II systems. In this paper, we present the results of our new time-series B–V photometric study of the globular cluster NGC 1786. A total of 65 variable stars were identified in our field of view. These variables include 53 RR Lyraes (27 RRab, 18 RRc, and 8 RRd), 3 classical Cepheids, 1 Type II Cepheid, 1 Anomalous Cepheid, 2 eclipsing binaries, 3 Delta Scuti/SX Phoenicis variables, and 2 variables of undetermined type. Photometric parameters for these variables are presented. We present physical properties for some of the RR Lyrae stars, derived from Fourier analysis of their light curves. We discuss several different indicators of Oosterhoff type which indicate that the Oosterhoff classification of NGC 1786 is not as clear cut as what is seen in most globular clusters.

  2. Phenotypic variability in unicellular organisms: from calcium signalling to social behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vogel, David; Nicolis, Stamatios C; Perez-Escudero, Alfonso; Nanjundiah, Vidyanand; Sumpter, David J T; Dussutour, Audrey

    2015-11-22

    Historically, research has focused on the mean and often neglected the variance. However, variability in nature is observable at all scales: among cells within an individual, among individuals within a population and among populations within a species. A fundamental quest in biology now is to find the mechanisms that underlie variability. Here, we investigated behavioural variability in a unique unicellular organism, Physarum polycephalum. We combined experiments and models to show that variability in cell signalling contributes to major differences in behaviour underpinning some aspects of social interactions. First, following thousands of cells under various contexts, we identified distinct behavioural phenotypes: 'slow-regular-social', 'fast-regular-social' and 'fast-irregular-asocial'. Second, coupling chemical analysis and behavioural assays we found that calcium signalling is responsible for these behavioural phenotypes. Finally, we show that differences in signalling and behaviour led to alternative social strategies. Our results have considerable implications for our understanding of the emergence of variability in living organisms. © 2015 The Author(s).

  3. Dissociating variability and effort as determinants of coordination.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ian O'Sullivan

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available When coordinating movements, the nervous system often has to decide how to distribute work across a number of redundant effectors. Here, we show that humans solve this problem by trying to minimize both the variability of motor output and the effort involved. In previous studies that investigated the temporal shape of movements, these two selective pressures, despite having very different theoretical implications, could not be distinguished; because noise in the motor system increases with the motor commands, minimization of effort or variability leads to very similar predictions. When multiple effectors with different noise and effort characteristics have to be combined, however, these two cost terms can be dissociated. Here, we measure the importance of variability and effort in coordination by studying how humans share force production between two fingers. To capture variability, we identified the coefficient of variation of the index and little fingers. For effort, we used the sum of squared forces and the sum of squared forces normalized by the maximum strength of each effector. These terms were then used to predict the optimal force distribution for a task in which participants had to produce a target total force of 4-16 N, by pressing onto two isometric transducers using different combinations of fingers. By comparing the predicted distribution across fingers to the actual distribution chosen by participants, we were able to estimate the relative importance of variability and effort of 1:7, with the unnormalized effort being most important. Our results indicate that the nervous system uses multi-effector redundancy to minimize both the variability of the produced output and effort, although effort costs clearly outweighed variability costs.

  4. Optical spectrophotometry of oscillations and flickering in AE Aquarii

    Science.gov (United States)

    Welsh, William F.; Horne, Keith; Oke, J. B.

    1993-01-01

    We observed rapid variations in the nova-like cataclysmic variable AE Aquarii for 1.7 hr with 4.3 s time resolution using the 30-channel (3227-10494 A) spectrophotometer on the Hale 5 m telescope. The 16.5 and 33.0 s oscillations show a featureless blue spectrum that can be represented by a blackbody with temperature and area much smaller than the accretion disk. Models consisting of the sum of a K star spectrum and a hydrogen slab in LTE at T = 6000-10,000 K can fit the spectrum of AE Aquarii reasonably well. The spectrum of a flare indicates optically thin gas with T = 8000-12,000 K. The energy released by the flare is large compared to typical stellar flares.

  5. Restablished Accretion in Post-outburst Classical Novae Revealed by X-rays

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hernanz, Margarita; Ferri, Carlo; Sala, Glòria

    2009-05-01

    Classical novae are explosions on accreting white dwarfs (hereinafter WDs) in cataclysmic variables (hereinafter CVs) a hydrogen thermonuclear runaway on top of the WD is responsible for the outburst. X-rays provide a unique way to study the turn-off of H-burning, because super soft X-rays reveal the hot WD photosphere, but also to understand how accretion is established again in the binary system. Observations with XMM-Newton of some post-outburst novae have revealed such a process, but a coverage up to larger energies -as Simbol-X will provide- is fundamental to well understand the characteristics of the binary system and of the nova ejecta. We present a brief summary of our results up to now and prospects for the Simbol-X mission.

  6. High-speed photometry of the dwarf nova Z Cha in quiescence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wood, Janet; Horne, Keith; Berriman, Graham; O'Donoghue, Darragh; Warner, Brian

    1986-01-01

    High-speed white light photometry of the cataclysmic variable star Z Cha is used to study the structure of the system and to derive the properties of its components. The white dwarf and bright spot eclipse timings require a mass ratio, q=Msub(R)/Msub(WD) of 0.146 0 .9>i>81 0 .6. The infalling stream passes through the light centre of the bright spot. If the central luminous object is the white dwarf its mass is 0.54+-0.01 Msolar mass which corresponds to a secondary star mass of 0.081+-0.003 Msolar mass. Agreement between colour and brightness temperatures for the white dwarf and bright spot provide a rough confirmation of the 97 pc distance. (author)

  7. SPARQL-enabled identifier conversion with Identifiers.org.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wimalaratne, Sarala M; Bolleman, Jerven; Juty, Nick; Katayama, Toshiaki; Dumontier, Michel; Redaschi, Nicole; Le Novère, Nicolas; Hermjakob, Henning; Laibe, Camille

    2015-06-01

    On the semantic web, in life sciences in particular, data is often distributed via multiple resources. Each of these sources is likely to use their own International Resource Identifier for conceptually the same resource or database record. The lack of correspondence between identifiers introduces a barrier when executing federated SPARQL queries across life science data. We introduce a novel SPARQL-based service to enable on-the-fly integration of life science data. This service uses the identifier patterns defined in the Identifiers.org Registry to generate a plurality of identifier variants, which can then be used to match source identifiers with target identifiers. We demonstrate the utility of this identifier integration approach by answering queries across major producers of life science Linked Data. The SPARQL-based identifier conversion service is available without restriction at http://identifiers.org/services/sparql. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press.

  8. SPARQL-enabled identifier conversion with Identifiers.org

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wimalaratne, Sarala M.; Bolleman, Jerven; Juty, Nick; Katayama, Toshiaki; Dumontier, Michel; Redaschi, Nicole; Le Novère, Nicolas; Hermjakob, Henning; Laibe, Camille

    2015-01-01

    Motivation: On the semantic web, in life sciences in particular, data is often distributed via multiple resources. Each of these sources is likely to use their own International Resource Identifier for conceptually the same resource or database record. The lack of correspondence between identifiers introduces a barrier when executing federated SPARQL queries across life science data. Results: We introduce a novel SPARQL-based service to enable on-the-fly integration of life science data. This service uses the identifier patterns defined in the Identifiers.org Registry to generate a plurality of identifier variants, which can then be used to match source identifiers with target identifiers. We demonstrate the utility of this identifier integration approach by answering queries across major producers of life science Linked Data. Availability and implementation: The SPARQL-based identifier conversion service is available without restriction at http://identifiers.org/services/sparql. Contact: sarala@ebi.ac.uk PMID:25638809

  9. Cellular signaling identifiability analysis: a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roper, Ryan T; Pia Saccomani, Maria; Vicini, Paolo

    2010-05-21

    Two primary purposes for mathematical modeling in cell biology are (1) simulation for making predictions of experimental outcomes and (2) parameter estimation for drawing inferences from experimental data about unobserved aspects of biological systems. While the former purpose has become common in the biological sciences, the latter is less common, particularly when studying cellular and subcellular phenomena such as signaling-the focus of the current study. Data are difficult to obtain at this level. Therefore, even models of only modest complexity can contain parameters for which the available data are insufficient for estimation. In the present study, we use a set of published cellular signaling models to address issues related to global parameter identifiability. That is, we address the following question: assuming known time courses for some model variables, which parameters is it theoretically impossible to estimate, even with continuous, noise-free data? Following an introduction to this problem and its relevance, we perform a full identifiability analysis on a set of cellular signaling models using DAISY (Differential Algebra for the Identifiability of SYstems). We use our analysis to bring to light important issues related to parameter identifiability in ordinary differential equation (ODE) models. We contend that this is, as of yet, an under-appreciated issue in biological modeling and, more particularly, cell biology. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. A PHOTOMETRIC VARIABILITY SURVEY OF FIELD K AND M DWARF STARS WITH HATNet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hartman, J. D.; Bakos, G. A.; Noyes, R. W.; Sipocz, B.; Pal, A.; Kovacs, G.; Mazeh, T.; Shporer, A.

    2011-01-01

    Using light curves from the HATNet survey for transiting extrasolar planets we investigate the optical broadband photometric variability of a sample of 27, 560 field K and M dwarfs selected by color and proper motion (V - K ∼> 3.0, μ > 30 mas yr -1 , plus additional cuts in J - H versus H - K S and on the reduced proper motion). We search the light curves for periodic variations and for large-amplitude, long-duration flare events. A total of 2120 stars exhibit potential variability, including 95 stars with eclipses and 60 stars with flares. Based on a visual inspection of these light curves and an automated blending classification, we select 1568 stars, including 78 eclipsing binaries (EBs), as secure variable star detections that are not obvious blends. We estimate that a further ∼26% of these stars may be blends with fainter variables, though most of these blends are likely to be among the hotter stars in our sample. We find that only 38 of the 1568 stars, including five of the EBs, have previously been identified as variables or are blended with previously identified variables. One of the newly identified EBs is 1RXS J154727.5+450803, a known P = 3.55 day, late M-dwarf SB2 system, for which we derive preliminary estimates for the component masses and radii of M 1 = M 2 = 0.258 ± 0.008 M sun and R 1 = R 2 = 0.289 ± 0.007 R sun . The radii of the component stars are larger than theoretical expectations if the system is older than ∼200 Myr. The majority of the variables are heavily spotted BY Dra-type stars for which we determine rotation periods. Using this sample, we investigate the relations between period, color, age, and activity measures, including optical flaring, for K and M dwarfs, finding that many of the well-established relations for F, G, and K dwarfs continue into the M dwarf regime. We find that the fraction of stars that is variable with peak-to-peak amplitudes greater than 0.01 mag increases exponentially with the V - K S color such that

  11. State-space dimensionality in short-memory hidden-variable theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Montina, Alberto

    2011-01-01

    Recently we have presented a hidden-variable model of measurements for a qubit where the hidden-variable state-space dimension is one-half the quantum-state manifold dimension. The absence of a short memory (Markov) dynamics is the price paid for this dimensional reduction. The conflict between having the Markov property and achieving the dimensional reduction was proved by Montina [A. Montina, Phys. Rev. A 77, 022104 (2008)] using an additional hypothesis of trajectory relaxation. Here we analyze in more detail this hypothesis introducing the concept of invertible process and report a proof that makes clearer the role played by the topology of the hidden-variable space. This is accomplished by requiring suitable properties of regularity of the conditional probability governing the dynamics. In the case of minimal dimension the set of continuous hidden variables is identified with an object living an N-dimensional Hilbert space whose dynamics is described by the Schroedinger equation. A method for generating the economical non-Markovian model for the qubit is also presented.

  12. Predicting General Academic Performance and Identifying the Differential Contribution of Participating Variables Using Artificial Neural Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Musso, Mariel F.; Kyndt, Eva; Cascallar, Eduardo C.; Dochy, Filip

    2013-01-01

    Many studies have explored the contribution of different factors from diverse theoretical perspectives to the explanation of academic performance. These factors have been identified as having important implications not only for the study of learning processes, but also as tools for improving curriculum designs, tutorial systems, and students'…

  13. IGR J14257-6117, a magnetic accreting white dwarf with a very strong strong X-ray orbital modulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernardini, F.; de Martino, D.; Mukai, K.; Falanga, M.

    2018-04-01

    IGR J14257-6117 is an unclassified source in the hard X-ray catalogues. Optical follow-ups suggest it could be a Cataclysmic Variable of the magnetic type. We present the first high S/N X-ray observation performed by XMM-Newton at 0.3-10 keV, complemented with 10-80 keV coverage by Swift/BAT, aimed at revealing the source nature. We detected for the first time a fast periodic variability at 509.5 s and a longer periodic variability at 4.05 h, ascribed to the white dwarf (WD) spin and binary orbital periods, respectively. These unambiguously identify IGR J14257-6117 as a magnetic CV of the Intermediate Polar (IP) type. The energy resolved light curves at both periods reveal amplitudes decreasing with increasing energy, with the orbital modulation reaching ˜100% in the softest band. The energy spectrum shows optically thin thermal emission with an excess at the iron complex, absorbed by two dense media (NH ˜ 1022 - 23 cm-2), partially covering the X-ray source. These are likely localised in the magnetically confined accretion flow above the WD surface and at the disc rim, producing the energy dependent spin and orbital variabilities, respectively. IGR J14257-6117, joins the group of strongest orbitally modulated IPs now counting four systems. Drawing similarities with low-mass X-ray binaries displaying orbital dips, these IPs should be seen at large orbital inclinations allowing azimuthally extended absorbing material fixed in the binary frame to intercept the line of sight. For IGR J14257-6117, we estimate (50o ≲ i ≲ 70o). Whether also the mass accretion rate plays a role in the large orbital modulations in IPs cannot be established with the present data.

  14. Social Networking Privacy Control: Exploring University Variables Related to Young Adults' Sharing of Personally Identifiable Information

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zimmerman, Melisa S.

    2014-01-01

    The growth of the Internet, and specifically social networking sites (SNSs) like Facebook, create opportunities for individuals to share private and identifiable information with a closed or open community. Internet crime has been on the rise and research has shown that criminals are using individuals' personal information pulled from social…

  15. Analytical Model for LLC Resonant Converter With Variable Duty-Cycle Control

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shen, Yanfeng; Wang, Huai; Blaabjerg, Frede

    2016-01-01

    are identified and discussed. The proposed model enables a better understanding of the operation characteristics and fast parameter design of the LLC converter, which otherwise cannot be achieved by the existing simulation based methods and numerical models. The results obtained from the proposed model......In LLC resonant converters, the variable duty-cycle control is usually combined with a variable frequency control to widen the gain range, improve the light-load efficiency, or suppress the inrush current during start-up. However, a proper analytical model for the variable duty-cycle controlled LLC...... converter is still not available due to the complexity of operation modes and the nonlinearity of steady-state equations. This paper makes the efforts to develop an analytical model for the LLC converter with variable duty-cycle control. All possible operation models and critical operation characteristics...

  16. Clinically identified postpartum depression in Asian American mothers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goyal, Deepika; Wang, Elsie J; Shen, Jeremy; Wong, Eric C; Palaniappan, Latha P

    2012-01-01

    To identify the clinical diagnosis rate of postpartum depression (PPD) in Asian American subgroups (Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese) compared to non-Hispanic Whites. Cross-sectional study using electronic health records (EHR). A large, outpatient, multiservice clinic in Northern California. A diverse clinical population of non-Hispanic White (N = 4582), Asian Indian (N = 1264), Chinese (N = 1160), Filipino (N = 347), Japanese (N = 124), Korean (N = 183), and Vietnamese (N = 147) mothers. Cases of PPD were identified from EHRs using physician diagnosis codes, medication usage, and age standardized for comparison. The relationship between PPD and other demographic variables (race/ethnicity, maternal age, delivery type, marital status, and infant gender) were examined in a multivariate logistic regression model. The PPD diagnosis rate for all Asian American mothers in aggregate was significantly lower than the diagnosis rate in non-Hispanic White mothers. Moreover, of the six Asian American subgroups, PPD diagnosis rates for Asian Indian, Chinese, and Filipino mothers were significantly lower than non-Hispanic White mothers. In multivariate analyses, race/ethnicity, age, and cesarean were significant predictors of PPD. In this insured population, PPD diagnosis rates were lower among Asian Americans, with variability in rates across the individual Asian American subgroups. It is unclear whether these lower rates are due to underreporting, underdiagnosis, or underutilization of mental health care in this setting. © 2012 AWHONN, the Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurses.

  17. Public transport travel time and its variability

    OpenAIRE

    Mazloumi Shomali, Ehsan

    2017-01-01

    Executive Summary Public transport agencies around the world are constantly trying to improve the performance of their service, and to provide passengers with a more reliable service. Two major measures to evaluate the performance of a transit system include travel time and travel time variability. Information on these two measures provides operators with a capacity to identify the problematic locations in a transport system and improve operating plans. Likewise, users can benefit through...

  18. The Promise of Virtual Teams: Identifying Key Factors in Effectiveness and Failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horwitz, Frank M.; Bravington, Desmond; Silvis, Ulrik

    2006-01-01

    Purpose: The aim of the investigation is to identify enabling and disenabling factors in the development and operation of virtual teams; to evaluate the importance of factors such as team development, cross-cultural variables, leadership, communication and social cohesion as contributors to virtual team effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach:…

  19. Spatial and temporal variability of precipitation and drought in Portugal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. S. Martins

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available The spatial variability of precipitation and drought are investigated for Portugal using monthly precipitation from 74 stations and minimum and maximum temperature from 27 stations, covering the common period of 1941–2006. Seasonal precipitation and the corresponding percentages in the year, as well as the precipitation concentration index (PCI, was computed for all 74 stations and then used as an input matrix for an R-mode principal component analysis to identify the precipitation patterns. The standardized precipitation index at 3 and 12 month time scales were computed for all stations, whereas the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI and the modified PDSI for Mediterranean conditions (MedPDSI were computed for the stations with temperature data. The spatial patterns of drought over Portugal were identified by applying the S-mode principal component analysis coupled with varimax rotation to the drought indices matrices. The result revealed two distinct sub-regions in the country relative to both precipitation regimes and drought variability. The analysis of time variability of the PC scores of all drought indices allowed verifying that there is no linear trend indicating drought aggravation or decrease. In addition, the analysis shows that results for SPI-3, SPI-12, PDSI and MedPDSI are coherent among them.

  20. Searching for faint AGN in the CDFS: an X-ray (Chandra) vs optical variability (HST) comparison.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Georgantopoulos, I.; Pouliasis, E.; Bonanos, A.; Sokolovsky, K.; Yang, M.; Hatzidimitriou, D.; Bellas, I.; Gavras, P.; Spetsieri, Z.

    2017-10-01

    X-ray surveys are believed to be the most efficient way to detect AGN. Recently though, optical variability studies are claimed to probe even fainter AGN. We are presenting results from an HST study aimed to identify Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) through optical variability selection in the CDFS.. This work is part of the 'Hubble Catalogue of Variables'project of ESA that aims to identify variable sources in the Hubble Source Catalogue.' In particular, we used Hubble Space Telescope (HST) z-band images taken over 5 epochs and performed aperture photometry to derive the lightcurves of the sources. Two statistical methods (standard deviation & interquartile range) resulting in a final sample of 175 variable AGN candidates, having removed the artifacts by visual inspection and known stars and supernovae. The fact that the majority of the sources are extended and variable indicates AGN activity. We compare the efficiency of the method by comparing with the 7Ms Chandra detections. Our work shows that the optical variability probes AGN at comparable redshifts but at deeper optical magnitudes. Our candidate AGN (non detected in X-rays) have luminosities of L_x<6×10^{40} erg/sec at z˜0.7 suggesting that these are associated with low luminosity Seyferts and LINERS.

  1. Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae genetic variability within a swine operation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pantoja, Lucina Galina; Pettit, Kalie; Dos Santos, Lucas F; Tubbs, Rick; Pieters, Maria

    2016-03-01

    The objective of our study was to characterize the Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae genetic diversity within a swine operation comingling weaned pigs. Bronchial swabs and tracheal aspirates were collected from 3 nursery-to-finish farms. During the finishing production stages, samples were obtained from mortalities and from live coughing pigs in rooms where mortality was not observed. A total of 105 samples were examined by a M. hyopneumoniae real-time polymerase chain reaction and subjected to genetic typing using a multilocus variable number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) assay. The MLVA was used to identify genetic variants based on the number of repeats in 2 variable number tandem repeats loci, namely P97 and P146, thought to mediate adherence of M. hyopneumoniae to swine cilia. Four distinguishable M. hyopneumoniae variants were identified: MVLA variants 9-15, 11-21, 9-21, and 7-15. Variant 9-15 was the most prevalent, observed in 79% of rooms, and detected on all 3 farms. Variant 11-21 was present in 37% of the rooms on 2 of the 3 farms. Only one 9-21 variant was identified in 1 farm, and all samples of variant 7-15 were recovered from another farm. Based on the low prevalence and limited geographic distribution of the last 2 variants, it is hypothesized that they might be the result of in-situ recombination. All variants detected in this investigation appeared to belong to 3 clusters. Overall, a limited number of variants and clusters were identified in a system that comingles pigs from different sources, suggesting limited M. hyopneumoniae genetic variation within commercial swine production environments. © 2016 The Author(s).

  2. Systematic Correlation Matrix Evaluation (SCoMaE) - a bottom-up, science-led approach to identifying indicators

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mengis, Nadine; Keller, David P.; Oschlies, Andreas

    2018-01-01

    This study introduces the Systematic Correlation Matrix Evaluation (SCoMaE) method, a bottom-up approach which combines expert judgment and statistical information to systematically select transparent, nonredundant indicators for a comprehensive assessment of the state of the Earth system. The methods consists of two basic steps: (1) the calculation of a correlation matrix among variables relevant for a given research question and (2) the systematic evaluation of the matrix, to identify clusters of variables with similar behavior and respective mutually independent indicators. Optional further analysis steps include (3) the interpretation of the identified clusters, enabling a learning effect from the selection of indicators, (4) testing the robustness of identified clusters with respect to changes in forcing or boundary conditions, (5) enabling a comparative assessment of varying scenarios by constructing and evaluating a common correlation matrix, and (6) the inclusion of expert judgment, for example, to prescribe indicators, to allow for considerations other than statistical consistency. The example application of the SCoMaE method to Earth system model output forced by different CO2 emission scenarios reveals the necessity of reevaluating indicators identified in a historical scenario simulation for an accurate assessment of an intermediate-high, as well as a business-as-usual, climate change scenario simulation. This necessity arises from changes in prevailing correlations in the Earth system under varying climate forcing. For a comparative assessment of the three climate change scenarios, we construct and evaluate a common correlation matrix, in which we identify robust correlations between variables across the three considered scenarios.

  3. Seasonal Variability in European Radon Measurements

    Science.gov (United States)

    Groves-Kirkby, C. J.; Denman, A. R.; Phillips, P. S.; Crockett, R. G. M.; Sinclair, J. M.

    2009-04-01

    In temperate climates, domestic radon concentration levels are generally seasonally dependent, the level in the home reflecting the convolution of two time-dependent functions. These are the source soil-gas radon concentration itself, and the principal force driving radon into the building from the soil, namely the pressure-difference between interior and exterior environment. While the meteorological influence can be regarded as relatively uniform on a European scale, its variability being defined largely by the influence of North-Atlantic weather systems, soil-gas radon is generally more variable as it is essentially geologically dependent. Seasonal variability of domestic radon concentration can therefore be expected to exhibit geographical variability, as is indeed the case. To compensate for the variability of domestic radon levels when assessing the long term radon health risks, the results of individual short-term measurements are generally converted to equivalent mean annual levels by application of a Seasonal Correction Factor (SCF). This is a multiplying factor, typically derived from measurements of a large number of homes, applied to the measured short-term radon concentration to provide a meaningful annual mean concentration for dose-estimation purposes. Following concern as to the universal applicability of a single SCF set, detailed studies in both the UK and France have reported location-specific SCF sets for different regions of each country. Further results indicate that SCFs applicable to the UK differ significantly from those applicable elsewhere in Europe and North America in both amplitude and phase, supporting the thesis that seasonal variability in indoor radon concentration cannot realistically be compensated for by a single national or international SCF scheme. Published data characterising the seasonal variability of European national domestic radon concentrations, has been collated and analysed, with the objective of identifying

  4. Analogue particle identifier and test unit for automatic measuring of errors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boden, A.; Lauch, J.

    1979-04-01

    A high accuracy analogue particle identifier is described. The unit is used for particle identification or data correction of experimental based errors in magnetic spectrometers. Signals which are proportional to the energy, the time-of-flight or the position of absorption of the particles are supplied to an analogue computation circuit (multifunction converter). Three computation functions are available for different applications. The output of the identifier produces correction signals or pulses whose amplitudes are proportional to the mass of the particles. Particle identification and data correction can be optimized by the adjustment of variable parameters. An automatic test unit has been developed for adjustment and routine checking of particle identifiers. The computation functions can be tested by this unit with an accuracy of 1%. (orig.) [de

  5. Formation of amyloid fibers by monomeric light chain variable domains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brumshtein, Boris; Esswein, Shannon R; Landau, Meytal; Ryan, Christopher M; Whitelegge, Julian P; Phillips, Martin L; Cascio, Duilio; Sawaya, Michael R; Eisenberg, David S

    2014-10-03

    Systemic light chain amyloidosis is a lethal disease characterized by excess immunoglobulin light chains and light chain fragments composed of variable domains, which aggregate into amyloid fibers. These fibers accumulate and damage organs. Some light chains induce formation of amyloid fibers, whereas others do not, making it unclear what distinguishes amyloid formers from non-formers. One mechanism by which sequence variation may reduce propensity to form amyloid fibers is by shifting the equilibrium toward an amyloid-resistant quaternary structure. Here we identify the monomeric form of the Mcg immunoglobulin light chain variable domain as the quaternary unit required for amyloid fiber assembly. Dimers of Mcg variable domains remain stable and soluble, yet become prone to assemble into amyloid fibers upon disassociation into monomers. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.

  6. Variable selection and model choice in geoadditive regression models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kneib, Thomas; Hothorn, Torsten; Tutz, Gerhard

    2009-06-01

    Model choice and variable selection are issues of major concern in practical regression analyses, arising in many biometric applications such as habitat suitability analyses, where the aim is to identify the influence of potentially many environmental conditions on certain species. We describe regression models for breeding bird communities that facilitate both model choice and variable selection, by a boosting algorithm that works within a class of geoadditive regression models comprising spatial effects, nonparametric effects of continuous covariates, interaction surfaces, and varying coefficients. The major modeling components are penalized splines and their bivariate tensor product extensions. All smooth model terms are represented as the sum of a parametric component and a smooth component with one degree of freedom to obtain a fair comparison between the model terms. A generic representation of the geoadditive model allows us to devise a general boosting algorithm that automatically performs model choice and variable selection.

  7. Mass Market Demand Response and Variable Generation Integration Issues: A Scoping Study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cappers, Peter; Mills, Andrew; Goldman, Charles; Wiser, Ryan; Eto, Joseph H.

    2011-09-10

    This scoping study focuses on the policy issues inherent in the claims made by some Smart Grid proponents that the demand response potential of mass market customers which is enabled by widespread implementation of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) through the Smart Grid could be the “silver bullet” for mitigating variable generation integration issues. In terms of approach, we will: identify key issues associated with integrating large amounts of variable generation into the bulk power system; identify demand response opportunities made more readily available to mass market customers through widespread deployment of AMI systems and how they can affect the bulk power system; assess the extent to which these mass market Demand Response (DR) opportunities can mitigate Variable Generation (VG) integration issues in the near-term and what electricity market structures and regulatory practices could be changed to further expand the ability for DR to mitigate VG integration issues over the long term; and provide a qualitative comparison of DR and other approaches to mitigate VG integration issues.

  8. Pulsating variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1989-01-01

    The study of stellar pulsations is a major route to the understanding of stellar structure and evolution. At the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) the following stellar pulsation studies were undertaken: rapidly oscillating Ap stars; solar-like oscillations in stars; 8-Scuti type variability in a classical Am star; Beta Cephei variables; a pulsating white dwarf and its companion; RR Lyrae variables and galactic Cepheids. 4 figs

  9. Supervised detection of anomalous light curves in massive astronomical catalogs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nun, Isadora; Pichara, Karim; Protopapas, Pavlos; Kim, Dae-Won

    2014-01-01

    but rare objects such as eclipsing Cepheids, blue variables, cataclysmic variables, and X-ray sources. For some outliers there was no additional information. Among them we identified three unknown variability types and a few individual outliers that will be followed up in order to perform a deeper analysis.

  10. Supervised Detection of Anomalous Light Curves in Massive Astronomical Catalogs

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nun, Isadora; Pichara, Karim; Protopapas, Pavlos; Kim, Dae-Won

    2014-09-01

    but rare objects such as eclipsing Cepheids, blue variables, cataclysmic variables, and X-ray sources. For some outliers there was no additional information. Among them we identified three unknown variability types and a few individual outliers that will be followed up in order to perform a deeper analysis.

  11. The association between mood state and chronobiological characteristics in bipolar I disorder: a naturalistic, variable cluster analysis-based study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Robert; Suppes, Trisha; Zeitzer, Jamie; McClung, Colleen; Tamminga, Carol; Tohen, Mauricio; Forero, Angelica; Dwivedi, Alok; Alvarado, Andres

    2018-02-19

    Multiple types of chronobiological disturbances have been reported in bipolar disorder, including characteristics associated with general activity levels, sleep, and rhythmicity. Previous studies have focused on examining the individual relationships between affective state and chronobiological characteristics. The aim of this study was to conduct a variable cluster analysis in order to ascertain how mood states are associated with chronobiological traits in bipolar I disorder (BDI). We hypothesized that manic symptomatology would be associated with disturbances of rhythm. Variable cluster analysis identified five chronobiological clusters in 105 BDI subjects. Cluster 1, comprising subjective sleep quality was associated with both mania and depression. Cluster 2, which comprised variables describing the degree of rhythmicity, was associated with mania. Significant associations between mood state and cluster analysis-identified chronobiological variables were noted. Disturbances of mood were associated with subjectively assessed sleep disturbances as opposed to objectively determined, actigraphy-based sleep variables. No associations with general activity variables were noted. Relationships between gender and medication classes in use and cluster analysis-identified chronobiological characteristics were noted. Exploratory analyses noted that medication class had a larger impact on these relationships than the number of psychiatric medications in use. In a BDI sample, variable cluster analysis was able to group related chronobiological variables. The results support our primary hypothesis that mood state, particularly mania, is associated with chronobiological disturbances. Further research is required in order to define these relationships and to determine the directionality of the associations between mood state and chronobiological characteristics.

  12. A study of school adjustment related variables of young children

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    for identifying relevant variables that affect the school adjustment of young ... Keywords: cognitive ability; hot executive function; peer relationships; school ... tend to act independently and have fewer positive feelings about their ... cognition provides a basis for developing social ..... is associated with hot EF is not activated,.

  13. Basin-scale heterogeneity in Antarctic precipitation and its impact on surface mass variability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. Fyke

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Annually averaged precipitation in the form of snow, the dominant term of the Antarctic Ice Sheet surface mass balance, displays large spatial and temporal variability. Here we present an analysis of spatial patterns of regional Antarctic precipitation variability and their impact on integrated Antarctic surface mass balance variability simulated as part of a preindustrial 1800-year global, fully coupled Community Earth System Model simulation. Correlation and composite analyses based on this output allow for a robust exploration of Antarctic precipitation variability. We identify statistically significant relationships between precipitation patterns across Antarctica that are corroborated by climate reanalyses, regional modeling and ice core records. These patterns are driven by variability in large-scale atmospheric moisture transport, which itself is characterized by decadal- to centennial-scale oscillations around the long-term mean. We suggest that this heterogeneity in Antarctic precipitation variability has a dampening effect on overall Antarctic surface mass balance variability, with implications for regulation of Antarctic-sourced sea level variability, detection of an emergent anthropogenic signal in Antarctic mass trends and identification of Antarctic mass loss accelerations.

  14. Under What Assumptions Do Site-by-Treatment Instruments Identify Average Causal Effects?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reardon, Sean F.; Raudenbush, Stephen W.

    2013-01-01

    The increasing availability of data from multi-site randomized trials provides a potential opportunity to use instrumental variables methods to study the effects of multiple hypothesized mediators of the effect of a treatment. We derive nine assumptions needed to identify the effects of multiple mediators when using site-by-treatment interactions…

  15. Interobserver variability in the evaluation of mismatch repair protein immunostaining

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Klarskov, Louise Laurberg; Ladelund, Steen; Holck, Susanne

    2010-01-01

    Immunohistochemical staining for mismatch repair proteins has during recent years been established as a routine analysis in many pathology laboratories with the aim to identify tumors linked to the hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome. Despite widespread application, data on reliabi......Immunohistochemical staining for mismatch repair proteins has during recent years been established as a routine analysis in many pathology laboratories with the aim to identify tumors linked to the hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome. Despite widespread application, data...... on reliability are lacking. We therefore evaluated interobserver variability among 6 pathologists, 3 experienced gastrointestinal pathologists and 3 residents. In total, 225 immunohistochemically stained colorectal cancers were evaluated as having normal, weak, loss of, or nonevaluable mismatch repair protein...... variability was considerable, though experienced pathologists and residents reached the same level of consensus. Because results from immunohistochemical mismatch repair protein stainings are used for decisions on mutation analysis and as an aid in the interpretation of gene variants of unknown significance...

  16. IDENTIFICATION OF THOSE VARIABLES THAT HAVE A SIGNIFICANT INFLUENCE ON THE EXPECTED NUMBER OF DAYS OF STAYING IN THE CENTRE DEVELOPMENT REGION OF ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erika KULCSÁR

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available I started from the assumption that there are more variables that have a significant influence on the expected number of days of staying in the Centre Development Region. To identify those variables this paper includes the analysis of variance with two variables that are not interacting, in this case the dependent variable is the question "How many days did you plan to stay in Centre Development Region?" and the independent variables are: "What is the purpose of your stay?" "What is the highest level of education?". Given that there are cases when interactions occur between variables, I also analyzed the interaction effects between the two independent variables. The paper also includes an ANOVA analysis with three variables between which interactions relationships occur. After identifying the dependency relations between the variables I found that the inclusion of the third variable, namely the "Marital status" of respondents, adds value to the model. Following the results obtained by ANOVA analysis, I identified those socio-demographic characteristics that, in my opinion, companies that operate on tourist market in the Center Development Region should consider when fundamenting marketing strategies in tourism.

  17. Identifying Patient Attitudinal Clusters Associated with Asthma Control: The European REALISE Survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Molen, Thys; Fletcher, Monica; Price, David

    Asthma is a highly heterogeneous disease that can be classified into different clinical phenotypes, and treatment may be tailored accordingly. However, factors beyond purely clinical traits, such as patient attitudes and behaviors, can also have a marked impact on treatment outcomes. The objective of this study was to further analyze data from the REcognise Asthma and LInk to Symptoms and Experience (REALISE) Europe survey, to identify distinct patient groups sharing common attitudes toward asthma and its management. Factor analysis of respondent data (N = 7,930) from the REALISE Europe survey consolidated the 34 attitudinal variables provided by the study population into a set of 8 summary factors. Cluster analyses were used to identify patient clusters that showed similar attitudes and behaviors toward each of the 8 summary factors. Five distinct patient clusters were identified and named according to the key characteristics comprising that cluster: "Confident and self-managing," "Confident and accepting of their asthma," "Confident but dependent on others," "Concerned but confident in their health care professional (HCP)," and "Not confident in themselves or their HCP." Clusters showed clear variability in attributes such as degree of confidence in managing their asthma, use of reliever and preventer medication, and level of asthma control. The 5 patient clusters identified in this analysis displayed distinctly different personal attitudes that would require different approaches in the consultation room certainly for asthma but probably also for other chronic diseases. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. Modified Principal Component Analysis for Identifying Key Environmental Indicators and Application to a Large-Scale Tidal Flat Reclamation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kejian Chu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Identification of the key environmental indicators (KEIs from a large number of environmental variables is important for environmental management in tidal flat reclamation areas. In this study, a modified principal component analysis approach (MPCA has been developed for determining the KEIs. The MPCA accounts for the two important attributes of the environmental variables: pollution status and temporal variation, in addition to the commonly considered numerical divergence attribute. It also incorporates the distance correlation (dCor to replace the Pearson’s correlation to measure the nonlinear interrelationship between the variables. The proposed method was applied to the Tiaozini sand shoal, a large-scale tidal flat reclamation region in China. Five KEIs were identified as dissolved inorganic nitrogen, Cd, petroleum in the water column, Hg, and total organic carbon in the sediment. The identified KEIs were shown to respond well to the biodiversity of phytoplankton. This demonstrated that the identified KEIs adequately represent the environmental condition in the coastal marine system. Therefore, the MPCA is a practicable method for extracting effective indicators that have key roles in the coastal and marine environment.

  19. Improvement of SET variability in TaO x based resistive RAM devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schönhals, Alexander; Waser, Rainer; Wouters, Dirk J.

    2017-11-01

    Improvement or at least control of variability is one of the key challenges for Redox based resistive switching memory technology. In this paper, we investigate the impact of a serial resistor as a voltage divider on the SET variability in Pt/Ta2O5/Ta/Pt nano crossbar devices. A partial RESET in a competing complementary switching (CS) mode is identified as a possible failure mechanism of bipolar switching SET in our devices. Due to a voltage divider effect, serial resistance value shows unequal impact on switching voltages of both modes which allows for a selective suppression of the CS mode. The impact of voltage divider on SET variability is demonstrated. A combination of appropriate write voltage and serial resistance allows for a significant improvement of the SET variability.

  20. Unmodifiable variables related to thyroid cancer incidence

    OpenAIRE

    Cornelia Nitipir; Lucian Alecu; Iulian Slavu; Raluca Tulin; Radu C. Jecan

    2018-01-01

    The incidence of thyroid cancer is significantly different between male and female patients. Thyroid cancer is also the only form of cancer where age can be considered a staging variable. Identifying biological prognostic factors such as age or sex is important as it helps select an optimal personalized therapy. The present analysis is an observational, prospective study that enrolled all patients with thyroid disease who were operated upon at a single center. The study aimed to determine the...

  1. q-Power function over q-commuting variables and deformed XXX, XXZ chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khoroshkin, S.M.; Stolin, A.A.; Tolstoy, V.N.

    2001-01-01

    Certain functional identifies for the Gauss q-power function of a sum of q-commuting variables are found. Then these identifies are used to obtain two-parameter twists of the quantum affine algebra U q (sl 2 ) and of the Yangian Y(sl 2 ). The corresponding deformed trigonometric and rational quantum R matrices, which then are used in the computation of deformed XXX and XXZ Hamiltonians [ru

  2. Children's Learning in Scientific Thinking: Instructional Approaches and Roles of Variable Identification and Executive Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blums, Angela

    The present study examines instructional approaches and cognitive factors involved in elementary school children's thinking and learning the Control of Variables Strategy (CVS), a critical aspect of scientific reasoning. Previous research has identified several features related to effective instruction of CVS, including using a guided learning approach, the use of self-reflective questions, and learning in individual and group contexts. The current study examined the roles of procedural and conceptual instruction in learning CVS and investigated the role of executive function in the learning process. Additionally, this study examined how learning to identify variables is a part of the CVS process. In two studies (individual and classroom experiments), 139 third, fourth, and fifth grade students participated in hands-on and paper and pencil CVS learning activities and, in each study, were assigned to either a procedural instruction, conceptual instruction, or control (no instruction) group. Participants also completed a series of executive function tasks. The study was carried out with two parts--Study 1 used an individual context and Study 2 was carried out in a group setting. Results indicated that procedural and conceptual instruction were more effective than no instruction, and the ability to identify variables was identified as a key piece to the CVS process. Executive function predicted ability to identify variables and predicted success on CVS tasks. Developmental differences were present, in that older children outperformed younger children on CVS tasks, and that conceptual instruction was slightly more effective for older children. Some differences between individual and group instruction were found, with those in the individual context showing some advantage over the those in the group setting in learning CVS concepts. Conceptual implications about scientific thinking and practical implications in science education are discussed.

  3. Variable mechanical ventilation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fontela, Paula Caitano; Prestes, Renata Bernardy; Forgiarini, Luiz Alberto; Friedman, Gilberto

    2017-01-01

    To review the literature on the use of variable mechanical ventilation and the main outcomes of this technique. Search, selection, and analysis of all original articles on variable ventilation, without restriction on the period of publication and language, available in the electronic databases LILACS, MEDLINE®, and PubMed, by searching the terms "variable ventilation" OR "noisy ventilation" OR "biologically variable ventilation". A total of 36 studies were selected. Of these, 24 were original studies, including 21 experimental studies and three clinical studies. Several experimental studies reported the beneficial effects of distinct variable ventilation strategies on lung function using different models of lung injury and healthy lungs. Variable ventilation seems to be a viable strategy for improving gas exchange and respiratory mechanics and preventing lung injury associated with mechanical ventilation. However, further clinical studies are necessary to assess the potential of variable ventilation strategies for the clinical improvement of patients undergoing mechanical ventilation.

  4. Optical Counterparts for Low-Luminosity X-ray Sources in Omega Centauri

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cool, Adrienne

    2002-07-01

    We propose to use narrow-band HAlpha imaging with ACS to search for the optical counterparts of low-luminosity X-ray sources {Lx 2 x 10^30 - 5 x 10^32 erg/s} in the globular cluster Omega Centauri. With 9 WFC fields, we will cover the inner two core radii of the cluster, and encompass about 90 of the faint sources we have identified with Chandra. Approximately 30-50 of these sources should be cluster members, the remainder being mostly background galaxies plus a smaller number of foreground stars. This large population of low-Lx cluster X-ray sources is second only to the more than 100 faint sources recently discovered in 47 Tuc with Chandra {Grindlay et al. 2001a}, which have been identified as a mixture of cataclysmic variables, quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries, millisecond pulsars, and coronally active main-sequence binaries. Our Cycle 6 WFPC2 program successfully identified 2 of the 3 then-known faint X-ray sources in the core of Omega Cen using H-alpha imaging. We now propose to expand the areal coverage by a factor of about 18 to encompass the much larger number of sources that have since been discovered with Chandra. The extreme crowding in the central regions of Omega Cen requires the resolution of HST to obtain optical IDs. These identifications are key to making meaningful comparisons between the populations of faint X-ray sources in different clusters, in an effort to understand their origins and role in cluster dynamics.

  5. ABOUT PSYCHOLOGICAL VARIABLES IN APPLICATION SCORING MODELS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pablo Rogers

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to investigate the contribution of psychological variables and scales suggested by Economic Psychology in predicting individuals’ default. Therefore, a sample of 555 individuals completed a self-completion questionnaire, which was composed of psychological variables and scales. By adopting the methodology of the logistic regression, the following psychological and behavioral characteristics were found associated with the group of individuals in default: a negative dimensions related to money (suffering, inequality and conflict; b high scores on the self-efficacy scale, probably indicating a greater degree of optimism and over-confidence; c buyers classified as compulsive; d individuals who consider it necessary to give gifts to children and friends on special dates, even though many people consider this a luxury; e problems of self-control identified by individuals who drink an average of more than four glasses of alcoholic beverage a day.

  6. THE INFLUENCE OF EUROPEAN CLIMATE VARIABILITY MECHANISM ON AIR TEMPERATURE IN ROMANIA

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. MATEI

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available The main objective of the present paper is to analyze the temporal and spatial variability of air-temperature in Romania, by using mean air-temperature values provided by the ECA&D project (http://eca.knmi.nl/. These data sets will be filtered by means of the EOF (Empirical Orthogonal Function analysis, which describes various modes of space variability and time coefficient series (PC series. The EOF analysis will also be used to identify the main way of action of the European climate variability mechanism, by using multiple variables in grid points, provided by the National Centre of Atmospheric Research (NCAR, USA. The variables considered here are: sea level pressure (SLP, geopotential height at 500 mb (H500 and air temperature at 850 mb (T850, for the summer and winter seasons. The linear trends and shift points of considered variables are then assessed by means of the Mann-Kendall and Pettitt non-parametric tests. By interpreting the results, we can infer that there is causal relationship between the large-scale analyzed parameters and temperature variability in Romania. These results are consistent with those presented by Busuioc et al., 2010, where the main variation trends of the principal European variables are shown.

  7. Near-infrared Variability in the 2MASS Calibration Fields: A Search for Planetary Transit Candidates

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plavchan, Peter; Jura, M.; Kirkpatrick, J. Davy; Cutri, Roc M.; Gallagher, S. C.

    2008-01-01

    The Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) photometric calibration observations cover approximately 6 square degrees on the sky in 35 'calibration fields,' each sampled in nominal photometric conditions between 562 and 3692 times during the 4 years of the 2MASS mission. We compile a catalog of variables from the calibration observations to search for M dwarfs transited by extrasolar planets. We present our methods for measuring periodic and nonperiodic flux variability. From 7554 sources with apparent K(sub s) magnitudes between 5.6 and 16.1, we identify 247 variables, including extragalactic variables and 23 periodic variables. We have discovered three M dwarf eclipsing systems, including two candidates for transiting extrasolar planets.

  8. Identifying the Factors Affecting Science and Mathematics Achievement Using Data Mining Methods

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kiray, S. Ahmet; Gok, Bilge; Bozkir, A. Selman

    2015-01-01

    The purpose of this article is to identify the order of significance of the variables that affect science and mathematics achievement in middle school students. For this aim, the study deals with the relationship between science and math in terms of different angles using the perspectives of multiple causes-single effect and of multiple…

  9. Cardiovascular variability and introversion/extroversion, neuroticism and psychoticism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burdick, J A; Van Dyck, B; Von Bargen, W J

    1982-01-01

    Forty-eight subjects were measured during a 10 min rest period for pulse wave velocity (PWV) and heart rate (HR) level and variability, using a Cyborg BL 907 instrument. These subjects were also evaluated by means of the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire for I-E, N, P and L. These data were factor analyzed. Five factors were identified which were accounted for 80.6% of the variance. These factors were: 'cardiovascular lability', 'heart rate time trends', 'cardiovascular balance', 'sex effects' and 'self reports'. The EPQ measurements separated from the physiological measurements in the factor analysis and none were found to be significantly loaded on any physiological variables. On the other hand, significant physiological correlations were found with N. This study adds a possible blood pressure and heart rate descripter to N.

  10. Status of the variable diameter centerbody inlet program

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saunders, John D.; Linne, A. A.

    1992-01-01

    The Variable Diameter Centerbody (VDC) inlet is an ongoing research program at LeRC. The VDC inlet is a mixed compression, axisymmetric inlet that has potential application on the next generation supersonic transport. This inlet was identified as one of the most promising axisymmetric concepts for supersonic cruise aircraft during the SCAR program in the late 1970's. Some of its features include high recovery, low bleed, good angle-of-attack tolerance, and excellent engine airflow matching. These features were demonstrated at LeRC in the past by the design and testing of fixed hardware models. A current test program in the LeRC 10' x 10' Supersonic Wind Tunnel (SWT) will attempt to duplicate these features on model hardware that actually incorporates a flight-like variable diameter centerbody mechanism.

  11. Classification criteria of syndromes by latent variable models

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Janne

    2010-01-01

    patient's characteristics. These methods may erroneously reduce multiplicity either by combining markers of different phenotypes or by mixing HALS with other processes such as aging. Latent class models identify homogenous groups of patients based on sets of variables, for example symptoms. As no gold......The thesis has two parts; one clinical part: studying the dimensions of human immunodeficiency virus associated lipodystrophy syndrome (HALS) by latent class models, and a more statistical part: investigating how to predict scores of latent variables so these can be used in subsequent regression...... standard exists for diagnosing HALS the normally applied diagnostic models cannot be used. Latent class models, which have never before been used to diagnose HALS, make it possible, under certain assumptions, to: statistically evaluate the number of phenotypes, test for mixing of HALS with other processes...

  12. Variability common to first leaf dates and snowpack in the western conterminous United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCabe, Gregory J.; Betancourt, Julio L.; Pederson, Gregory T.; Schwartz, Mark D.

    2013-01-01

    Singular value decomposition is used to identify the common variability in first leaf dates (FLDs) and 1 April snow water equivalent (SWE) for the western United States during the period 1900–2012. Results indicate two modes of joint variability that explain 57% of the variability in FLD and 69% of the variability in SWE. The first mode of joint variability is related to widespread late winter–spring warming or cooling across the entire west. The second mode can be described as a north–south dipole in temperature for FLD, as well as in cool season temperature and precipitation for SWE, that is closely correlated to the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. Additionally, both modes of variability indicate a relation with the Pacific–North American atmospheric pattern. These results indicate that there is a substantial amount of common variance in FLD and SWE that is related to large-scale modes of climate variability.

  13. The variability of piezoelectric measurements. Material and measurement method contributions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stewart, M.; Cain, M.

    2002-01-01

    The variability of piezoelectric materials measurements has been investigated in order to separate the contributions from intrinsic instrumental variability, and the contributions from the variability in materials. The work has pinpointed several areas where weaknesses in the measurement methods result in high variability, and also show that good correlation between piezoelectric parameters allow simpler measurement methods to be used. The Berlincourt method has been shown to be unreliable when testing thin discs, however when testing thicker samples there is a good correlation between this and other methods. The high field permittivity and low field permittivity correlate well, so tolerances on low field measurements would predict high field performance. In trying to identify microstructural origins of samples that behave differently to others within a batch, no direct evidence was found to suggest that outliers originate from either differences in microstructure or crystallography. Some of the samples chosen as maximum outliers showed pin-holes, probably from electrical breakdown during poling, even though these defects would ordinarily be detrimental to piezoelectric output. (author)

  14. Mobile Variable Depth Sampling System Design Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    BOGER, R.M.

    2000-01-01

    A design study is presented for a mobile, variable depth sampling system (MVDSS) that will support the treatment and immobilization of Hanford LAW and HLW. The sampler can be deployed in a 4-inch tank riser and has a design that is based on requirements identified in the Level 2 Specification (latest revision). The waste feed sequence for the MVDSS is based on Phase 1, Case 3S6 waste feed sequence. Technical information is also presented that supports the design study

  15. Mobile Variable Depth Sampling System Design Study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    BOGER, R.M.

    2000-08-25

    A design study is presented for a mobile, variable depth sampling system (MVDSS) that will support the treatment and immobilization of Hanford LAW and HLW. The sampler can be deployed in a 4-inch tank riser and has a design that is based on requirements identified in the Level 2 Specification (latest revision). The waste feed sequence for the MVDSS is based on Phase 1, Case 3S6 waste feed sequence. Technical information is also presented that supports the design study.

  16. Variability in the Precision of Children’s Spatial Working Memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elena M. Galeano Weber

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available Cognitive modeling studies in adults have established that visual working memory (WM capacity depends on the representational precision, as well as its variability from moment to moment. By contrast, visuospatial WM performance in children has been typically indexed by response accuracy—a binary measure that provides less information about precision with which items are stored. Here, we aimed at identifying whether and how children’s WM performance depends on the spatial precision and its variability over time in real-world contexts. Using smartphones, 110 Grade 3 and Grade 4 students performed a spatial WM updating task three times a day in school and at home for four weeks. Measures of spatial precision (i.e., Euclidean distance between presented and reported location were used for hierarchical modeling to estimate variability of spatial precision across different time scales. Results demonstrated considerable within-person variability in spatial precision across items within trials, from trial to trial and from occasion to occasion within days and from day to day. In particular, item-to-item variability was systematically increased with memory load and lowered with higher grade. Further, children with higher precision variability across items scored lower in measures of fluid intelligence. These findings emphasize the important role of transient changes in spatial precision for the development of WM.

  17. Clinical Trials With Large Numbers of Variables: Important Advantages of Canonical Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cleophas, Ton J

    2016-01-01

    Canonical analysis assesses the combined effects of a set of predictor variables on a set of outcome variables, but it is little used in clinical trials despite the omnipresence of multiple variables. The aim of this study was to assess the performance of canonical analysis as compared with traditional multivariate methods using multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). As an example, a simulated data file with 12 gene expression levels and 4 drug efficacy scores was used. The correlation coefficient between the 12 predictor and 4 outcome variables was 0.87 (P = 0.0001) meaning that 76% of the variability in the outcome variables was explained by the 12 covariates. Repeated testing after the removal of 5 unimportant predictor and 1 outcome variable produced virtually the same overall result. The MANCOVA identified identical unimportant variables, but it was unable to provide overall statistics. (1) Canonical analysis is remarkable, because it can handle many more variables than traditional multivariate methods such as MANCOVA can. (2) At the same time, it accounts for the relative importance of the separate variables, their interactions and differences in units. (3) Canonical analysis provides overall statistics of the effects of sets of variables, whereas traditional multivariate methods only provide the statistics of the separate variables. (4) Unlike other methods for combining the effects of multiple variables such as factor analysis/partial least squares, canonical analysis is scientifically entirely rigorous. (5) Limitations include that it is less flexible than factor analysis/partial least squares, because only 2 sets of variables are used and because multiple solutions instead of one is offered. We do hope that this article will stimulate clinical investigators to start using this remarkable method.

  18. A tool for protected area management: multivariate control charts 'cope' with rare variable communities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stringell, Thomas B; Bamber, Roger N; Burton, Mark; Lindenbaum, Charles; Skates, Lucie R; Sanderson, William G

    2013-06-01

    Performance assessment, impact detection, and the assessment of regulatory compliance are common scientific problems for the management of protected areas. Some habitats in protected areas, however, are rare and/or variable and are not often selected for study by ecologists because they preclude comparison with controls and high community variability makes meaningful change detection difficult. Shallow coastal saline lagoons are habitats that experience comparatively high levels of stress due to high physical variability. Lagoons are rare, declining habitats found in coastal regions throughout Europe (and elsewhere) where they are identified as one of the habitats most in need of protected area management. The infauna in the sediments of 25 lagoons were sampled. Temporal and spatial variation in three of these [protected] lagoons was investigated further over 5 years. In a multivariate analysis of community structure similarities were found between some lagoons, but in other cases communities were unique or specific to only two sites. The protected lagoons with these unique/specific communities showed significant temporal and spatial variation, yet none of the changes observed were attributed to human impacts and were interpreted as inherent variability. Multivariate control charts can operate without experimental controls and were used to assess community changes within the context of 'normal' lagoon variability. The aim of control chart analysis is to characterize background variability in a parameter and identify when a new observation deviates more than expected. In only 1 year was variability more than expected and corresponded with the coldest December in over 100 years. Multivariate control charts are likely to have wide application in the management of protected areas and other natural systems where variability and/or rarity preclude conventional analytical and experimental approaches but where assessments of condition, impact or regulatory compliance are

  19. A non-marine source of variability in Adélie Penguin demography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fraser, William R.; Patterson-Fraser, Donna L.; Ribic, Christine; Schofield, Oscar; Ducklow, Hugh

    2013-01-01

    A primary research objective of the Palmer Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) program has been to identify and understand the factors that regulate the demography of Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae). In this context, our work has been focused on variability in the marine environment on which this species depends for virtually all aspects of its life history (Ainley, 2002). As we show here, however, there are patterns evident in the population dynamics of Adélie penguins that are better explained by variability in breeding habitat quality rather than by variability in the marine system. Interactions between the geomorphology of the terrestrial environment that, in turn, affect patterns of snow deposition, drive breeding habitat quality.

  20. Fish functional traits correlated with environmental variables in a temperate biodiversity hotspot.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Benjamin P Keck

    Full Text Available The global biodiversity crisis has invigorated the search for generalized patterns in most disciplines within the natural sciences. Studies based on organismal functional traits attempt to broaden implications of results by identifying the response of functional traits, instead of taxonomic units, to environmental variables. Determining the functional trait responses enables more direct comparisons with, or predictions for, communities of different taxonomic composition. The North American freshwater fish fauna is both diverse and increasingly imperiled through human mediated disturbances, including climate change. The Tennessee River, USA, contains one of the most diverse assemblages of freshwater fish in North America and has more imperiled species than other rivers, but there has been no trait-based study of community structure in the system. We identified 211 localities in the upper Tennessee River that were sampled by the Tennessee Valley Authority between 2009 and 2011 and compiled fish functional traits for the observed species and environmental variables for each locality. Using fourth corner analysis, we identified significant correlations between many fish functional traits and environmental variables. Functional traits associated with an opportunistic life history strategy were correlated with localities subject to greater land use disturbance and less flow regulation, while functional traits associated with a periodic life history strategy were correlated with localities subject to regular disturbance and regulated flow. These are patterns observed at the continental scale, highlighting the generalizability of trait-based methods. Contrary to studies that found no community structure differences when considering riparian buffer zones, we found that fish functional traits were correlated with different environmental variables between analyses with buffer zones vs. entire catchment area land cover proportions. Using existing databases

  1. Fish functional traits correlated with environmental variables in a temperate biodiversity hotspot.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keck, Benjamin P; Marion, Zachary H; Martin, Derek J; Kaufman, Jason C; Harden, Carol P; Schwartz, John S; Strange, Richard J

    2014-01-01

    The global biodiversity crisis has invigorated the search for generalized patterns in most disciplines within the natural sciences. Studies based on organismal functional traits attempt to broaden implications of results by identifying the response of functional traits, instead of taxonomic units, to environmental variables. Determining the functional trait responses enables more direct comparisons with, or predictions for, communities of different taxonomic composition. The North American freshwater fish fauna is both diverse and increasingly imperiled through human mediated disturbances, including climate change. The Tennessee River, USA, contains one of the most diverse assemblages of freshwater fish in North America and has more imperiled species than other rivers, but there has been no trait-based study of community structure in the system. We identified 211 localities in the upper Tennessee River that were sampled by the Tennessee Valley Authority between 2009 and 2011 and compiled fish functional traits for the observed species and environmental variables for each locality. Using fourth corner analysis, we identified significant correlations between many fish functional traits and environmental variables. Functional traits associated with an opportunistic life history strategy were correlated with localities subject to greater land use disturbance and less flow regulation, while functional traits associated with a periodic life history strategy were correlated with localities subject to regular disturbance and regulated flow. These are patterns observed at the continental scale, highlighting the generalizability of trait-based methods. Contrary to studies that found no community structure differences when considering riparian buffer zones, we found that fish functional traits were correlated with different environmental variables between analyses with buffer zones vs. entire catchment area land cover proportions. Using existing databases and fourth corner

  2. Beyond imperviousness: A statistical approach to identifying functional differences between development morphologies on variable source area-type response in urbanized watersheds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lim, T. C.

    2016-12-01

    Empirical evidence has shown linkages between urbanization, hydrological regime change, and degradation of water quality and aquatic habitat. Percent imperviousness, has long been suggested as the dominant source of these negative changes. However, recent research identifying alternative pathways of runoff production at the watershed scale have called into question percent impervious surface area's primacy in urban runoff production compared to other aspects of urbanization including change in vegetative cover, imported water and water leakages, and the presence of drainage infrastructure. In this research I show how a robust statistical methodology can detect evidence of variable source area (VSA)-type hydrologic response associated with incremental hydraulic connectivity in watersheds. I then use logistic regression to explore how evidence of VSA-type response relates to the physical and meterological characteristics of the watershed. I find that impervious surface area is highly correlated with development, but does not add significant explanatory power beyond percent developed in predicting VSA-type response. Other aspects of development morphology, including percent developed open space and type of drainage infrastructure also do not add to the explanatory power of undeveloped land in predicting VSA-type response. Within only developed areas, the effect of developed open space was found to be more similar to that of total impervious area than to undeveloped land. These findings were consistent when tested across a national cross-section of urbanized watersheds, a higher resolution dataset of Baltimore Metropolitan Area watersheds, and a subsample of watersheds confirmed not to be served by combined sewer systems. These findings suggest that land development policies that focus on lot coverage should be revisited, and more focus should be placed on preserving native vegetation and soil conditions alongside development.

  3. Masked expression of life-history traits in a highly variable environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeBoer, Jason A.; Fontaine, Joseph J.; Chizinski, Christopher J.; Pope, Kevin L.

    2015-01-01

    Differing life-history strategies may act as a constraint on reproductive expression that ultimately limits the ability of individual species to respond to changes in the magnitude or frequency of environmental variation, and potentially underlies the variation often inherent in phenotypic and evolved responses to anthropogenic change. Alternatively, if there are environmental cues that predict reproductive potential, differential expression of life-history strategies may represent differences in the adaptive capacity to optimize current reproductive value given variation in environmental conditions. We compared several aspects of walleye Sander vitreus spawning ecology at two reservoirs that differ in environmental variability (i.e., annual water-level fluctuation) to identify the capacity of phenotypic expression and the corresponding association with age. Despite significant differences in female body and liver masses between reservoirs that differ in environmental variability, we found no difference in reproductive investment measured by egg size and fecundity. Walleye in a highly variable environment appear to exhibit reproductive traits more typical of a short-lived life-history strategy, which may be resultant from the interaction of environmental and anthropogenic pressures. This finding emphasizes the need to identify the degree to which life-history expression represents physiological constraints versus ecological optimization, particularly as anthropogenic change continues to alter environmental conditions. 

  4. Epigenetic variability in conversion to psychosis: novel findings from an innovative longitudinal methylomic analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kebir, Oussama; Chaumette, Boris; Krebs, Marie-Odile

    2018-04-26

    Conversion to psychosis is a longitudinal process during which several epigenetic changes have been described. We tested the hypothesis that epigenetic variability in the methylomes of ultra-high risk (UHR) individuals may contribute to the risk of conversion. We studied a longitudinal cohort of UHR individuals (n = 39) and compared two groups (converters, n = 14 vs. non-converters, n = 25). A longitudinal methylomic study was conducted using Infinium HumanMethylation450 BeadChip covering half a million cytosine-phosphate-guanine (CpG) sites across the human genome from whole-blood samples. We used two statistical methods to investigate the variability of methylation probes. (i) The search for longitudinal variable methylation probes (VMPs) based on median comparisons identified two VMPs in converters only. The first CpG was located in the MACROD2 gene and the second CpG was in an intergenic region at 8q24.21. (ii) The detection of outliers using variance analysis related to private epimutations identified a dozen CpGs in converters only and highlighted two genes (RAC1 and SPHK1) from the sphingolipid signaling pathway. Our study is the first to support increased methylome variability during conversion to psychosis. We speculate that stochastic factors could increase DNA methylation variability and have a role in the complex pathophysiology of conversion to psychosis as well as in other psychiatric diseases.

  5. A Machine Learning Approach to Identifying Placebo Responders in Late-Life Depression Trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zilcha-Mano, Sigal; Roose, Steven P; Brown, Patrick J; Rutherford, Bret R

    2018-01-11

    Despite efforts to identify characteristics associated with medication-placebo differences in antidepressant trials, few consistent findings have emerged to guide participant selection in drug development settings and differential therapeutics in clinical practice. Limitations in the methodologies used, particularly searching for a single moderator while treating all other variables as noise, may partially explain the failure to generate consistent results. The present study tested whether interactions between pretreatment patient characteristics, rather than a single-variable solution, may better predict who is most likely to benefit from placebo versus medication. Data were analyzed from 174 patients aged 75 years and older with unipolar depression who were randomly assigned to citalopram or placebo. Model-based recursive partitioning analysis was conducted to identify the most robust significant moderators of placebo versus citalopram response. The greatest signal detection between medication and placebo in favor of medication was among patients with fewer years of education (≤12) who suffered from a longer duration of depression since their first episode (>3.47 years) (B = 2.53, t(32) = 3.01, p = 0.004). Compared with medication, placebo had the greatest response for those who were more educated (>12 years), to the point where placebo almost outperformed medication (B = -0.57, t(96) = -1.90, p = 0.06). Machine learning approaches capable of evaluating the contributions of multiple predictor variables may be a promising methodology for identifying placebo versus medication responders. Duration of depression and education should be considered in the efforts to modulate placebo magnitude in drug development settings and in clinical practice. Copyright © 2018 American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. IDENTIFICATIONS OF FIVE INTEGRAL SOURCES VIA OPTICAL SPECTROSCOPY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Butler, Suzanne C.; Tomsick, John A.; Chaty, Sylvain; Heras, Juan A. Zurita; Rodriguez, Jerome; Walter, Roland; Kaaret, Philip; Kalemci, Emrah; Oezbey, Mehtap

    2009-01-01

    The International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) is discovering hundreds of new hard X-ray sources, many of which remain unidentified. We report on optical spectroscopy of five such sources for which X-ray observations at lower energies (∼0.5-10 keV) and higher angular resolutions than INTEGRAL have allowed for unique optical counterparts to be located. We find that INTEGRAL Gamma-Ray (IGR) J16426+6536 and IGR J22292+6647 are Type 1 Seyfert active galactic nuclei (with IGR J16426+6536 further classified as a Seyfert 1.5) which have redshifts of z = 0.323 and z = 0.113, respectively. IGR J18308-1232 is identified as a cataclysmic variable (CV), and we confirm a previous identification of IGR J19267+1325 as a magnetic CV. IGR J18214-1318 is identified as an obscured high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB), which are systems thought to have a compact object embedded in the stellar wind of a massive star. We combine Chandra fluxes with distances based on the optical observations to calculate X-ray luminosities of the HMXB and CVs, finding L 0.3-10keV = 5 x 10 36 erg s -1 for IGR J18214-1318, L 0.3-10keV = 1.3 x 10 32 erg s -1 for IGR J18308-1232, and L 0.3-10keV = 6.7 x 10 32 erg s -1 for IGR J19267+1325.

  7. Aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviours in competitive sports: an analysis of related personal and environmental variables

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonia Pelegrín

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available This paper gives an analysis of personal and environmental variables related to aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviours in a sample of Spanish sports competitors. We aim to: 1 ascertain how personality and expression variables relate to trait anger control and unsportsmanlike behaviors, in relation to men and women, age groups and type of sport, 2 identify and analyze the most maladjusted and the most adjusted profiles in a sample of sportsmen and women; 3 identify personality variables as predictors of aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviours. Differences in gender, age and type of sport were appreciated in personality variables and in aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviours. Men have better emotional adjustment (more behaviours of emotional stability, better self-esteem, self-confidence and leadership, and have worse social adjustment (fewer behaviours of tolerance, social skills and responsibility; more aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviours. Women have better social adjustment (more behaviours of tolerance, understanding, adaptation, responsibility, discipline and sociability, and have worse emotional adjustment (greater anxiety. More aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviours and greater emotional maladjustment were found in the youngest sportsmen and women. Aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviours were more frequent in team sports. This study highlights personality variables as predictors of aggressive and unsportsmanlike behaviours.

  8. YSOVAR: Mid-infrared variability in the star-forming region Lynds 1688

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Günther, H. M.; Poppenhaeger, K.; Wolk, S. J.; Hora, J. L. [Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Cody, A. M. [Spitzer Science Center, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Covey, K. R. [Lowell Observatory, 1400 West Mars Hill Road, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (United States); Hillenbrand, L. A. [Department of Astronomy, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Plavchan, P. [NASA Exoplanet Science Institute, California Institute of Technology, 770 South Wilson Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Rebull, L. M.; Stauffer, J. R. [Spitzer Science Center/Caltech, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Allen, L. [National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson, AZ 85719 (United States); Bayo, A. [Max Planck Institut für Astronomie, Königstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg (Germany); Gutermuth, R. A. [Department of Astronomy, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (United States); Meng, H. Y. A. [Infrared Processing and Analysis Center, California Institute of Technology, MC 100-22, 770 South Wilson Avenue, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Morales-Calderón, M. [Centro de Astrobiología (INTA-CSIC), ESAC Campus, P.O. Box 78, E-28691 Villanueva de la Canada (Spain); Parks, J. R. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Georgia State University, 25 Park Place South, Atlanta, GA 30303 (United States); Song, Inseok, E-mail: hguenther@cfa.harvard.edu [Physics and Astronomy Department, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2451 (United States)

    2014-12-01

    The emission from young stellar objects (YSOs) in the mid-infrared (mid-IR) is dominated by the inner rim of their circumstellar disks. We present IR data from the Young Stellar Object VARiability (YSOVAR) survey of ∼800 objects in the direction of the Lynds 1688 (L1688) star-forming region over four visibility windows spanning 1.6 yr using the Spitzer Space Telescope in its warm mission phase. Among all light curves, 57 sources are cluster members identified based on their spectral energy distribution and X-ray emission. Almost all cluster members show significant variability. The amplitude of the variability is larger in more embedded YSOs. Ten out of 57 cluster members have periodic variations in the light curves with periods typically between three and seven days, but even for those sources, significant variability in addition to the periodic signal can be seen. No period is stable over 1.6 yr. Nonperiodic light curves often still show a preferred timescale of variability that is longer for more embedded sources. About half of all sources exhibit redder colors in a fainter state. This is compatible with time-variable absorption toward the YSO. The other half becomes bluer when fainter. These colors can only be explained with significant changes in the structure of the inner disk. No relation between mid-IR variability and stellar effective temperature or X-ray spectrum is found.

  9. Impact of Subsurface Temperature Variability on Meteorological Variability: An AGCM Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahanama, S. P.; Koster, R. D.; Liu, P.

    2006-05-01

    Anomalous atmospheric conditions can lead to surface temperature anomalies, which in turn can lead to temperature anomalies deep in the soil. The deep soil temperature (and the associated ground heat content) has significant memory -- the dissipation of a temperature anomaly may take weeks to months -- and thus deep soil temperature may contribute to the low frequency variability of energy and water variables elsewhere in the system. The memory may even provide some skill to subseasonal and seasonal forecasts. This study uses two long-term AGCM experiments to isolate the contribution of deep soil temperature variability to variability elsewhere in the climate system. The first experiment consists of a standard ensemble of AMIP-type simulations, simulations in which the deep soil temperature variable is allowed to interact with the rest of the system. In the second experiment, the coupling of the deep soil temperature to the rest of the climate system is disabled -- at each grid cell, the local climatological seasonal cycle of deep soil temperature (as determined from the first experiment) is prescribed. By comparing the variability of various atmospheric quantities as generated in the two experiments, we isolate the contribution of interactive deep soil temperature to that variability. The results show that interactive deep soil temperature contributes significantly to surface temperature variability. Interactive deep soil temperature, however, reduces the variability of the hydrological cycle (evaporation and precipitation), largely because it allows for a negative feedback between evaporation and temperature.

  10. Variable selection in multivariate calibration based on clustering of variable concept.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrokhnia, Maryam; Karimi, Sadegh

    2016-01-01

    Recently we have proposed a new variable selection algorithm, based on clustering of variable concept (CLoVA) in classification problem. With the same idea, this new concept has been applied to a regression problem and then the obtained results have been compared with conventional variable selection strategies for PLS. The basic idea behind the clustering of variable is that, the instrument channels are clustered into different clusters via clustering algorithms. Then, the spectral data of each cluster are subjected to PLS regression. Different real data sets (Cargill corn, Biscuit dough, ACE QSAR, Soy, and Tablet) have been used to evaluate the influence of the clustering of variables on the prediction performances of PLS. Almost in the all cases, the statistical parameter especially in prediction error shows the superiority of CLoVA-PLS respect to other variable selection strategies. Finally the synergy clustering of variable (sCLoVA-PLS), which is used the combination of cluster, has been proposed as an efficient and modification of CLoVA algorithm. The obtained statistical parameter indicates that variable clustering can split useful part from redundant ones, and then based on informative cluster; stable model can be reached. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Analysis of source regions and meteorological factors for the variability of spring PM10 concentrations in Seoul, Korea

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Jangho; Kim, Kwang-Yul

    2018-02-01

    CSEOF analysis is applied for the springtime (March, April, May) daily PM10 concentrations measured at 23 Ministry of Environment stations in Seoul, Korea for the period of 2003-2012. Six meteorological variables at 12 pressure levels are also acquired from the ERA Interim reanalysis datasets. CSEOF analysis is conducted for each meteorological variable over East Asia. Regression analysis is conducted in CSEOF space between the PM10 concentrations and individual meteorological variables to identify associated atmospheric conditions for each CSEOF mode. By adding the regressed loading vectors with the mean meteorological fields, the daily atmospheric conditions are obtained for the first five CSEOF modes. Then, HYSPLIT model is run with the atmospheric conditions for each CSEOF mode in order to back trace the air parcels and dust reaching Seoul. The K-means clustering algorithm is applied to identify major source regions for each CSEOF mode of the PM10 concentrations in Seoul. Three main source regions identified based on the mean fields are: (1) northern Taklamakan Desert (NTD), (2) Gobi Desert and (GD), and (3) East China industrial area (ECI). The main source regions for the mean meteorological fields are consistent with those of previous study; 41% of the source locations are located in GD followed by ECI (37%) and NTD (21%). Back trajectory calculations based on CSEOF analysis of meteorological variables identify distinct source characteristics associated with each CSEOF mode and greatly facilitate the interpretation of the PM10 variability in Seoul in terms of transportation route and meteorological conditions including the source area.

  12. a Latent Variable Path Analysis Model of Secondary Physics Enrollments in New York State.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sobolewski, Stanley John

    The Percentage of Enrollment in Physics (PEP) at the secondary level nationally has been approximately 20% for the past few decades. For a more scientifically literate citizenry as well as specialists to continue scientific research and development, it is desirable that more students enroll in physics. Some of the predictor variables for physics enrollment and physics achievement that have been identified previously includes a community's socioeconomic status, the availability of physics, the sex of the student, the curriculum, as well as teacher and student data. This study isolated and identified predictor variables for PEP of secondary schools in New York. Data gathered by the State Education Department for the 1990-1991 school year was used. The source of this data included surveys completed by teachers and administrators on student characteristics and school facilities. A data analysis similar to that done by Bryant (1974) was conducted to determine if the relationships between a set of predictor variables related to physics enrollment had changed in the past 20 years. Variables which were isolated included: community, facilities, teacher experience, number of type of science courses, school size and school science facilities. When these variables were isolated, latent variable path diagrams were proposed and verified by the Linear Structural Relations computer modeling program (LISREL). These diagrams differed from those developed by Bryant in that there were more manifest variables used which included achievement scores in the form of Regents exam results. Two criterion variables were used, percentage of students enrolled in physics (PEP) and percent of students enrolled passing the Regents physics exam (PPP). The first model treated school and community level variables as exogenous while the second model treated only the community level variables as exogenous. The goodness of fit indices for the models was 0.77 for the first model and 0.83 for the second

  13. A review of variables of urban street connectivity for spatial connection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mohamad, W S N W; Said, I

    2014-01-01

    Several studies on street connectivity in cities and towns have been modeled on topology, morphology, technology and psychology of people living in the urban environment. Street connectivity means the connection of streets that offers people alternative routes. However, there emerge difficulties to determine the suitable variables and analysis to be chosen in defining the accurate result for studies street connectivity. The aim of this paper is to identify variables of street connectivity by applying GIS and Space Syntax. This paper reviews the variables of street connectivity from 15 past articles done in 1990s to early 2000s from journals of nine disciplines on Environment and Behavior, Planning and Design, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Applied Earth Observation and Geo-information, Environment and Planning, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Environmental Psychology, Social Science and Medicine and Building and Environment. From the review, there are four variables found for street connectivity: link (streets-streets, street-nodes or node-streets, nodes-nodes), accessibility, least-angle, and centrality. Space syntax and GIS are suitable tools to analyze the four variables relating to systematic street systems for pedestrians. This review implies that planners of the street systems, in the aspect of street connectivity in cities and towns, should consider these four variables

  14. A review of variables of urban street connectivity for spatial connection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohamad, W. S. N. W.; Said, I.

    2014-02-01

    Several studies on street connectivity in cities and towns have been modeled on topology, morphology, technology and psychology of people living in the urban environment. Street connectivity means the connection of streets that offers people alternative routes. However, there emerge difficulties to determine the suitable variables and analysis to be chosen in defining the accurate result for studies street connectivity. The aim of this paper is to identify variables of street connectivity by applying GIS and Space Syntax. This paper reviews the variables of street connectivity from 15 past articles done in 1990s to early 2000s from journals of nine disciplines on Environment and Behavior, Planning and Design, Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, Applied Earth Observation and Geo-information, Environment and Planning, Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Environmental Psychology, Social Science and Medicine and Building and Environment. From the review, there are four variables found for street connectivity: link (streets-streets, street-nodes or node-streets, nodes-nodes), accessibility, least-angle, and centrality. Space syntax and GIS are suitable tools to analyze the four variables relating to systematic street systems for pedestrians. This review implies that planners of the street systems, in the aspect of street connectivity in cities and towns, should consider these four variables.

  15. Radio variability in the Phoenix Deep Survey at 1.4 GHz

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hancock, P. J.; Drury, J. A.; Bell, M. E.; Murphy, T.; Gaensler, B. M.

    2016-09-01

    We use archival data from the Phoenix Deep Survey to investigate the variable radio source population above 1 mJy beam-1 at 1.4 GHz. Given the similarity of this survey to other such surveys we take the opportunity to investigate the conflicting results which have appeared in the literature. Two previous surveys for variability conducted with the Very Large Array (VLA) achieved a sensitivity of 1 mJy beam-1. However, one survey found an areal density of radio variables on time-scales of decades that is a factor of ˜4 times greater than a second survey which was conducted on time-scales of less than a few years. In the Phoenix deep field we measure the density of variable radio sources to be ρ = 0.98 deg-2 on time-scales of 6 months to 8 yr. We make use of Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer infrared cross-ids, and identify all variable sources as an active galactic nucleus of some description. We suggest that the discrepancy between previous VLA results is due to the different time-scales probed by each of the surveys, and that radio variability at 1.4 GHz is greatest on time-scales of 2-5 yr.

  16. Identifying factors which enhance capacity to engage in clinical education among podiatry practitioners: an action research project.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abey, Sally; Lea, Susan; Callaghan, Lynne; Shaw, Steve; Cotton, Debbie

    2015-01-01

    Health profession students develop practical skills whilst integrating theory with practice in a real world environment as an important component of their training. Research in the area of practice placements has identified challenges and barriers to the delivery of effective placement learning. However, there has been little research in podiatry and the question of which factors impact upon clinical educators' capacity to engage with the role remains an under-researched area. This paper presents the second phase of an action research project designed to determine the factors that impact upon clinical educators' capacity to engage with the mentorship role. An online survey was developed and podiatry clinical educators recruited through National Health Service (NHS) Trusts. The survey included socio-demographic items, and questions relating to the factors identified as possible variables influencing clinical educator capacity; the latter was assessed using the 'Clinical Educator Capacity to Engage' scale (CECE). Descriptive statistics were used to explore demographic data whilst the relationship between the CECE and socio-demographic factors were examined using inferential statistics in relation to academic profile, career profile and organisation of the placement. The survey response rate was 42 % (n = 66). Multiple linear regression identified four independent variables which explain a significant proportion of the variability of the dependent variable, 'capacity to engage with clinical education', with an adjusted R2 of 0.428. The four variables were: protected mentorship time, clinical educator relationship with university, sign-off responsibility, and volunteer status. The identification of factors that impact upon clinical educators' capacity to engage in mentoring of students has relevance for strategic planning and policy-making with the emphasis upon capacity-building at an individual level, so that the key attitudes and characteristics that are linked

  17. Photometric Variability in the Faint Sky Variability Survey

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Morales-Rueda, L.; Groot, P.J.; Augusteijn, T.; Nelemans, G.A.; Vreeswijk, P.M.; Besselaar, E.J.M. van den

    2005-01-01

    The Faint Sky Variability Survey (FSVS) is aimed at finding photometric and/or astrometric variable objects between 16th and 24th mag on time-scales between tens of minutes and years with photometric precisions ranging from 3 millimag to 0.2 mag. An area of ~23 deg2, located at mid and

  18. Correlação de pearson e análise de trilha identificando variáveis para caracterizar porta-enxerto de Pyrus communis L Pearson correlation and path analysis identifying variables for the characterization of Pyrus communis L. rootstock

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Simone Padilha Galarça

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Objetivou-se, no presente trabalho, através de correlação de Pearson e análise de trilha, identificar variáveis para caracterizar porta-enxertos ananizantes para a cultura da pereira (Pyrus communis L.. Neste experimento foram utilizadas 49 plantas de pereira, plantadas nos canteiros do Departamento de Fitotecnia da FAEM/UFPel. As plantas foram avaliadas na época do seu crescimento vegetativo, segundo parâmetros descritos em instruções do Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento. Pela correlação de Pearson, as variáveis VP, NRP, HCP e FCNPRCL se destacaram. Na análise de trilha, a variável número de lenticelas obteve maior efeito positivo sobre VP, NRP e FCNPRCL, a variável ramificação do ramo demonstrou-se com efeito positivo sobre HCP, sendo essas duas variáveis consideradas eficazes no processo de seleção de porta-enxerto juntamente com as variáveis básicas.The objective of this work was to identify, through the Pearson correlation and path analysis, variables to characterize rootstocks suitable for the cultivation of the pear (Pyrus communis L.. In this experiment 49 pear specimens were used, planted in flowerbeds at the Phytotechny Department. The plants were evaluated at the time of growth, according to parameters described in the instructions of the Ministério da Agricultura, Pecuária e Abastecimento. According to the Pearson correlation, the variables VP, NRP, ETA and FCNPRCL stood out. In path analysis, the variable number of lenticels had a more positive effect on VP, NRP and FCNPRCL, variable branch of the industry had a more positive effect on ETA. Both variables were considered effective in the process of selection of rootstock together with the basic variables.

  19. Evaluation of Online Log Variables That Estimate Learners' Time Management in a Korean Online Learning Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jo, Il-Hyun; Park, Yeonjeong; Yoon, Meehyun; Sung, Hanall

    2016-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to identify the relationship between the psychological variables and online behavioral patterns of students, collected through a learning management system (LMS). As the psychological variable, time and study environment management (TSEM), one of the sub-constructs of MSLQ, was chosen to verify a set of time-related…

  20. Implications of global warming on human health

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Singh, R.K.; Syam, P.V.S.

    1997-01-01

    Due to the build up of green house gases in atmosphere, less heat escapes through the atmosphere promoting global warming. This may result in world wide droughts, sea-level rise inundating islands and coastal countries, cataclysmic hurricanes etc. Human health as a result of these changes, will be affected both physiologically and psychologically. Physiological effects may be more pronounced in cases occurring due to changes in rainfall and temperature patterns, food production amounts, water availability, etc. Psychological impact may be more in cases of catastrophes like floods, hurricanes or famine. In this paper, an attempt has been made to highlight the implications of global warming on human health due to temperature change. Food production changes and ultra-violet radiation effects and cataclysmic disaster effects. (author)