41,741 research outputs found
Star Trek : Arbeitsbibliographie
No full textEine erste Fassung der folgenden Bibliographie haben wir in: Faszinierend! STAR TREK und die Wissenschaften. 2. (hrsg. v. Nina Rogotzki [...]. Kiel: Ludwig 2003, S. 222-240) vorgestellt
Cooling rates of neutron stars and the young neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant
No full textWe explore the thermal state of the neutron star in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant using the recent result of Ho & Heinke that the thermal radiation of this star is well described by a carbon atmosphere model and the emission comes from the entire stellar surface. Starting from neutron star cooling theory, we formulate a robust method to extract neutrino cooling rates of thermally relaxed stars at the neutrino cooling stage from observations of thermal surface radiation. We show how to compare these rates with the rates of standard candles – stars with non-superfluid nucleon cores cooling slowly via the modified Urca process. We find that the internal temperature of standard candles is a well-defined function of the stellar compactness parameter x=rg/R, irrespective of the equation of state of neutron star matter (R and rg are circumferential and gravitational radii, respectively). We demonstrate that the data on the Cassiopeia A neutron star can be explained in terms of three parameters: f?, the neutrino cooling efficiency with respect to the standard candle; the compactness x; and the amount of light elements in the heat-blanketing envelope. For an ordinary (iron) heat-blanketing envelope or a low-mass (? 10?13 M?) carbon envelope, we find the efficiency f?? 1 (standard cooling) for x? 0.5 and f?? 0.02 (slower cooling) for a maximum compactness x? 0.7. A heat blanket containing the maximum mass (?10?8 M?) of light elements increases f? by a factor of 50. We also examine the (unlikely) possibility that the star is still thermally non-relaxe
Investigation into Triggered Star Formation by Radiative Driven Implosion
No full textWhen massive stars form, they emit strong, hydrogen ionising radiation fields into their molecular cloud environment, forming HII regions. This is believed to be capable of inducing effects which can trigger further star formation through a process known as Radiative Driven Implosion. Hydrodynamic shock fronts are generated at the interface between ionised and un-ionised material. These shocks propagate into the clouds, and their motion and increase in density can result in the conditions required for star formation.
Using the method of Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics, the effect of varied initial geometrical and physical properties of a molecular cloud on the prospect of radiation triggered star formation is investigated over a large parameter space. The physical processes of the model include a detailed ray-tracing implementation of the ionising radiation, along with a thermodynamic model and chemical evolution for multiple species of atoms.
A parameter d_euv, defined as the ratio of the initial ionising penetration depth to the scale length of the cloud along the radiation axis, was found to be an effective indicator of the final evolutionary prospects of the molecular clouds investigated. Low d_euv clouds typically exhibit shock front motion which converges on a focus or foci, and form symmetric or asymmetric B or C type Bright Rimmed Clouds depending on orientation. At medium d_euv there is a mixture of focus/foci convergent and linear or filamentary structure formation with cores formed indirectly, after disruption of material by the shock fronts. At high d_euv only fragment-core and irregular structures form, with the clouds being increasingly dominated by photoevaporation. At extremely high d_euv cores cannot form and the cloud will photoevaporate.
In addition, qualitative impressions of the scope of structure morphologies, especially those for irregular morphologies, is compiled. Of note, it is found that the simple initial conditions of a uniform prolate cloud at inclinations to incident radiation are capable of producing a wide variety of the structures observed at HII boundaries
Construction of Good Rank-1 Lattice Rules Based on the Weighted Star Discrepancy
No full textThe ‘goodness’ of a set of quadrature points in [0, 1]d may be measured by the weighted star discrepancy. If the weights for the weighted star discrepancy are summable, then we show that for n prime there exist n-point rank-1 lattice rules whose weighted star discrepancy is O(n−1+δ) for any δ>0, where the implied constant depends on δ and the weights, but is independent of d and n. Further, we show that the generating vector z for such lattice rules may be obtained using a component-by-component construction. The results given here for the weighted star discrepancy are used to derive corresponding results for a weighted Lp discrepancy
Good lattice rules with a composite number of points based on the product weighted star discrepancy
No full textRank-1 lattice rules based on a weighted star discrepancy with weights of a product form have been previously constructed under the assumption that the number of points is prime. Here, we extend these results to the non-prime case. We show that if the weights are summable, there exist lattice rules whose weighted star discrepancy is O(n−1+δ), for any δ > 0, with the implied constant independent of the dimension and the number of lattice points, but dependent on δ and the weights. Then we show that the generating vector of such a rule can be constructed using a component-by-component (CBC) technique. The cost of the CBC construction is analysed in the final part of the paper
Optimization of star research algorithm for esmo star tracker
No full textThis paper explains in detail the design and the development of a software research star algorithm, embedded on a star tracker, by the ISAE/SUPAERO team. This research algorithm is inspired by musical techniques. This work will be carried out as part of the ESMO (European Student Moon Orbiter) project by different teams of students and professors from ISAE/SUPAERO (Institut Supe ́rieur de l’Ae ́ronautique et de l’Espace). Till today, the system engineering studies have been completed and the work that will be presented will concern the algorithmic and the embedded software development. The physical architecture of the sensor relies on APS 750 developed by the CIMI laboratory of ISAE/SUPAERO. First, a star research algorithm based on the image acquired in lost-in-space mode (one of the star tracker opera- tional modes) will be presented; it is inspired by techniques of musical recognition with the help of the correlation of digital signature (hash) with those stored in databases. The musical recognition principle is based on finger- printing, i.e. the extraction of points of interest in the studied signal. In the musical context, the signal spectrogram is used to identify these points. Applying this technique in image processing domain requires an equivalent tool to spectrogram. Those points of interest create a hash and are used to efficiently search within the database pre- viously sorted in order to be compared. The main goals of this research algorithm are to minimise the number of steps in the computations in order to deliver information at a higher frequency and to increase the computation robustness against the different possible disturbances
Ionization-induced star formation - IV. Triggering in bound clusters
No full textWe present a detailed study of star formation occurring in bound star-forming clouds under the influence of internal ionizing feedback from massive stars across a spectrum of cloud properties. We infer which objects are triggered by comparing our feedback simulations with control simulations in which no feedback was present. We find that feedback always results in a lower star formation efficiency and usually but not always results in a larger number of stars or clusters. Cluster mass functions are not strongly affected by feedback, but stellar mass functions are biased towards lower masses. Ionization also affects the geometrical distribution of stars in ways that are robust against projection effects, but may make the stellar associations more or less subclustered depending on the background cloud environment. We observe a prominent pillar in one simulation which is the remains of an accretion flow feeding the central ionizing cluster of its host cloud and suggest that this may be a general formation mechanism for pillars such as those observed in M16. We find that the association of stars with structures in the gas such as shells or pillars is a good but by no means foolproof indication that those stars have been triggered and we conclude overall that it is very difficult to deduce which objects have been induced to form and which formed spontaneously simply from observing the system at a single time.Peer reviewe
Clinical, genetic, and functional characterization of four patients carrying partial loss-of-function mutations in the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR)
No full textContext: Nonclassic congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia (lipoid CAH) is a recently recognized disorder caused by mutations in the steroidogenic acute regulatory protein (StAR) that retain partial function. Affected individuals can present with a phenotype of late onset adrenal insufficiency with only mild or minimally disordered sexual development.
Objectives: The aim was to delineate the clinical spectrum of StAR mutations and correlate phenotype with StAR activity.
Patients: Four patients had nonclassic/atypical lipoid CAH. Adrenal insufficiency was manifested at birth in two patients and at 11 months and 4 yr in the other two. Three were 46,XY with underdeveloped genitalia.
Methods: The StAR gene was sequenced, mutations were recreated in expression vectors, and StAR activity was measured as pregnenolone production in COS-1 cells cotransfected with the cholesterol side-chain cleavage system. StAR mutants were expressed as N-62 StAR in bacteria, and purified proteins were tested for activity with isolated steroidogenic mitochondria and for cholesterol-binding capacity.
Results: DNA sequencing identified mutations on all alleles. Missense mutations were R188C, G221D, L260P, and F267S; we also tested R192C described by others. The respective activities of R188C, R192C, G221D, L260P, and F267S were 8.0, 39.4, 2.4, 3.1, and 6.1% of wild-type in transfected cells, and 12.8, 54.8, 6.3, 1.8, and 9.5% with isolated mitochondria. Cholesterol binding capacities of R188C, R192C, G221D, L260P, and F267S were 6.7, 55.3, 10.2, 4.6, and 20.9%. These data are correlated to the three-dimensional structure of StAR.
Conclusions: There is a broad clinical spectrum of StAR mutations; StAR activities in vitro correlate well with clinical phenotypes
Factors Influencing Willingness-to-Pay for the Energy Star Label
No full textIn the United States, nearly 17 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from residential energy use. Increases in energy efficiency for the residential sector can generate significant energy savings and emissions reductions. Consumer labels, such as USEPA’s Energy Star, promote conservation by providing consumers with information on energy usage for household appliances. This study examines how the Energy Star label affects consumer preferences for refrigerators. An online survey of a national sample of adults suggest that consumers are, on average, willing to pay an extra 349.30 for a refrigerator that has been awarded the Energy Star label. Furthermore, the results provide evidence that willingness to pay was motivated by both private (energy cost savings) and public (environmental) benefits.Energy Star, willingness-to-pay, eco-label, Consumer/Household Economics, Demand and Price Analysis, Environmental Economics and Policy,
Good lattice rules based on the general weighted star discrepancy
No full textWe study the problem of constructing rank- lattice rules which have good bounds on the ``weighted star discrepancy''. Here the non-negative weights are general weights rather than the product weights considered in most earlier works. In order to show the existence of such good lattice rules, we use an averaging argument, and a similar argument is used later to prove that these lattice rules may be obtained using a component-by-component (CBC) construction of the generating vector. Under appropriate conditions on the weights, these lattice rules satisfy strong tractability bounds on the weighted star discrepancy. Particular classes of weights known as ``order-dependent'' and ``finite-order'' weights are then considered and we show that the cost of the construction can be very much reduced for these two classes of weights
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