If the Secretary approves a plan under this section, the Secretary shall issue an order requiring implementation of such plan by the covered air carriers who submitted such plan and any other covered air carriers. If there are any covered air carriers who did not participate in development of a plan approved under this section, such carriers shall be treated under such order and plan in the same manner as carriers who did participate in development of such plan. ``(d) Regulations.--If a plan described in subsection (a) is not submitted within 180 days after the date of the enactment of this section, or if the Secretary disapproves a plan submitted in accordance with subsection (a), or if the Secretary determines that a plan approved under this section is not being implemented in a manner which provides satisfactory protection for all persons who hold airline tickets described in subsection (a), the Secretary shall issue regulations requiring all covered air carriers to provide air transportation for persons who hold such tickets. Such regulations must be issued within 90 days after the expiration of such 180-day period, the date of disapproval of such plan, or the date of such determination, as the case may be. ``(e) Definitions.--For purposes of this section-- ``(1) Airline ticket.--The term `airline ticket' means any written instrument that embodies a contract of carriage between a covered air carrier and a passenger thereof for interstate or overseas air transportation. ``(2) Covered air carrier.--The term `covered air carrier' means-- ``(A) an air carrier which provides interstate or overseas air transportation primarily with aircraft having seating for more than 60 passengers and which in the 12-month period preceding the date of the enactment of this section, enplaned more than.2 percent of the total number of passengers enplaned on all aircraft used to provide interstate and overseas air transportation in such period; and ``(B) an air carrier not described in subparagraph (A) who enters into an agreement with an air carrier who is described in subparagraph (A) to operate under or use a single air carrier designator code to provide interstate or overseas air transportation, but only with respect to those operations of the carrier not described in subparagraph (A) which are carried out under such code. ``(3) Secretary.--The term `Secretary' means the Secretary of Transportation.''. (b) Conforming Amendment to Table of Contents.--The table of contents in the first section of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 is amended by adding at the end of the


in the United States. ``(5) Carryback and carryforward allowed.-- ``(A) In general.--If the credit allowable under subsection (a) for a taxable year exceeds the amount of the limitation under subsection (f)(1) for such taxable year (in this paragraph referred to as the `unused credit year'), such excess shall be a credit carryback to each of the 3 taxable years preceding the unused credit year and a credit carryforward to each of the 20 taxable years following the unused credit year. ``(B) Rules.--Rules similar to the rules of section 39 shall apply with respect to the credit carryback and credit carryforward under subparagraph (A). ``(6) Certain rules to apply.--Rules similar to the rules of subsections (c), (d), and (e) of section 52 shall apply.''. (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 55(c)(2) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ``30B(f)(1),'' after ``30(b)(3),''. (c) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for subpart B of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end of 30A the following new item: ``Sec. 30B. Employer wage credit for activated military reservists''. (d) Effective Date; Special Rule.-- (1) Effective date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to amounts paid after September 11, 2001, in taxable years ending after such date. (2) Waiver of limitations.--If refund or credit of any overpayment of tax resulting from the amendments made by this section is prevented at any time before the close of the 1-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act by the operation of any law or rule of law (including res judicata), such refund or credit may nevertheless be made or allowed if claim therefor is filed before the close of such period.


(Abridged) Recent results from the Pierre Auger Observatory (PAO) indicate that the composition of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) with energies above $10^{19}$ eV may be dominated by heavy nuclei. An important question is whether the distribution of arrival directions for such UHECR nuclei can exhibit observable anisotropy or positional correlations with their astrophysical source objects despite the expected strong deflections by intervening magnetic fields. For this purpose, we have simulated the propagation of UHECR nuclei including models for both the extragalactic magnetic field and the Galactic magnetic field. Assuming that only iron nuclei are injected steadily from sources with equal luminosity and spatially distributed according to the observed large scale structure in the local Universe, at the number of events published by the PAO so far, the arrival distribution of UHECRs would be consistent with no auto-correlation at 95% confidence if the mean number density of UHECR sources $n_s >~ 10^{-6}$ Mpc$^{-3}$, and consistent with no cross-correlation with sources within 95% errors for $n_s >~ 10^{-5}$ Mpc$^{-3}$. On the other hand, with 1000 events above $5.5 \times 10^{19}$ eV in the whole sky, next generation experiments can reveal auto-correlation with more than 99% probability even for $n_s <~ 10^{-3}$ Mpc$^{-3}$, and cross-correlation with sources with more than 99% probability for $n_s <~ 10^{-4}$ Mpc$^{-3}$. In addition, we find that the contribution of Centaurus A is required to reproduce the currently observed UHECR excess in the Centaurus region. Secondary protons generated by photodisintegration of primary heavy nuclei during propagation play a crucial role in all cases, and the resulting anisotropy at small angular scales should provide a strong hint of the source location if the maximum energies of the heavy nuclei are sufficiently high.


If Jim Mora could pick a team for his former quarterback Josh Rosen to end up with Thursday night in the NFL draft, that team would be wearing green and white. “I think he’d be a fantastic fit with the Jets,” said Mora, the former UCLA coach who has served as an analyst for the NFL Network on its “Path to the Draft” program. “Josh is kind of ready to go. You give him the keys to the offense, teach it to him, and then he’s going to master it pretty quickly. He’s that type of kid. I think he’d be a tremendous fit with that coaching staff, with that city. I think it would be a great spot for him.” Mora will be tuning in to NFL Network on Thursday to see where Rosen winds up. Rosen is considered one of the top quarterbacks in this draft, but has not really been linked to the Browns or Giants (who own the top two picks) in any of the recent mock drafts. The Jets are a different story. There are people inside the Jets’ organization who like Rosen a lot. Some people around the NFL believe the Jets are debating whether to take Rosen or Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield with the No. 3 pick. Rosen blew away members of the Jets’ coaching staff with his intelligence. He is viewed by many experts as the most ready quarterback to play immediately. “I’m hoping that’s where he ends up,” Mora said. “I’m hoping he ends up with the Giants or the Jets. I want to see him go as high as possible, but I think the Jets would be a great place for him.” Mora said he believes Rosen is cut out for being a quarterback in New York. When he said this a month ago and said Sam Darnold was a better fit for Cleveland, it caused a stir. But Mora said he did not mean that as a negative. He just believes New York fits Rosen. “He’s incredibly smart,” Mora said. “He can handle a lot of volume. He can handle being the quarterback of an NFL team in New York City with that type of scrutiny. He can handle the workload that comes with being a quarterback in the NFL. He’s been here in Los Angeles. I don’t know which one is the larger media market, but they’re both certainly very big and very prominent. He’s been under the microscope for a long time. He’s been highly scrutinized since high school


This paper reports Very Large Array observations at 325 and 1425 MHz (90cm and 20cm) during and near the periastron passage of HD 80606b on 2007 November 20. We obtain flux density limits (3-sigma) of 1.7 mJy and 48 microJy at 325 and 1425 MHz, respectively, equivalent to planetary luminosity limits of 2.3 x 10^{24} erg/s and 2.7 x 10^{23} erg/s. These are well above the Jovian value (at 40 MHz) of 2 x 10^{18} erg/s. The motivation for these observations was that the planetary magnetospheric emission is driven by a stellar wind-planetary magnetosphere interaction so that the planetary luminosity would be elevated. Near periastron, HD 80606b might be as much as 3000 times more luminous than Jupiter. Recent transit observations of HD 80606b provide stringent constraints on the planetary mass and radius, and, because of the planet's highly eccentric orbit, its rotation period is likely to be "pseudo-synchronized" to its orbital period, allowing a robust estimate of the former. We are able to make robust estimates of the emission frequency of the planetary magnetospheric emission and find it to be around 60--90 MHz. We compare HD 80606b to other high-eccentricity systems and assess the detection possibilities for both near-term and more distant future systems. Of the known high eccentricity planets, only HD 80606b is likely to be detectable, as HD 20782B b and HD 4113b are both likely to have weaker magnetic field strengths. Both the forthcoming "EVLA low band" system and the Low Frequency Array may be able to improve upon our limits for HD 80606b, and do so at a more optimum frequency. If the low-frequency component of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA-lo) and a future lunar radio array are able to approach their thermal noise limits, they should be able to detect an HD 80606b-like planet, unless the planet's luminosity increases by substantially less than a factor of 3000.


This paper discusses the approximation by %semigroups of operators of class ($\mathscr{C}_0$) on the sphere and focuses on a class of so called exponential-type multiplier operators. It is proved that such operators form a strongly continuous semigroup of contraction operators of class ($\mathscr{C}_0$), from which the equivalence between approximation for these operators and $K$-functionals introduced by the operators is given. As examples, the constructed $r$-th Boolean of generalized spherical Abel-Poisson operator and $r$-th Boolean of generalized spherical Weierstrass operator denoted by $\oplus^r V_t^{\gamma}$ and $\oplus^r W_t^{\kappa}$ separately ($r$ is any positive integer, $0<\gamma,\kappa\leq1$ and $t>0$) satisfy that $\|\oplus^r V_t^{\gamma}f - f\|_{\mathcal{X}}\approx \omega^{r\gamma}(f,t^{1/\gamma})_{\mathcal{X}}$ and $\|\oplus^r W_t^{\kappa}f - f\|_{\mathcal{X}}\approx \omega^{2r\gamma}(f,t^{1/(2\kappa)})_{\mathcal{X}}$, for all $f\in \mathcal{X}$, where $\mathcal{X}$ is a Banach space of continuous functions or $\mathcal{L}^p$-integrable functions ($1\leq p<\infty$) and $\|\cdot\|_{\mathcal{X}}$ is the norm on $\mathcal{X}$ and $\omega^s(f,t)_{\mathcal{X}}$ is the moduli of smoothness of degree $s>0$ for $f\in \mathcal{X}$. The saturation order and saturation class of the regular exponential-type multiplier operators with positive kernels are also obtained. Moreover, it is proved that $\oplus^r V_t^{\gamma}$ and $\oplus^r W_t^{\kappa}$ have the same saturation class if $\gamma=2\kappa$.


Symmetry-protected topological (SPT) phases are gapped short-range-entangled quantum phases with a symmetry $G$, which can all be smoothly connected to the trivial product states if we break the symmetry. It has been shown that a large class of interacting bosonic SPT phases can be systematically described by group cohomology theory. In this paper, we introduce a (special) group supercohomology theory which is a generalization of the standard group cohomology theory. We show that a large class of short-range interacting fermionic SPT phases can be described by the group supercohomology theory. Using the data of super cocycles, we can obtain the ideal ground state wave function for the corresponding fermionic SPT phase. We can also obtain the bulk Hamiltonian that realizes the SPT phase, as well as the anomalous (ie, non-on-site) symmetry for the boundary effective Hamiltonian. The anomalous symmetry on the boundary implies that the symmetric} boundary must be gapless for 1+1D boundary, and must be gapless or topologically ordered beyond 1+1D. As an application of this general result, we construct a new SPT phase in 3D, for interacting fermionic superconductors with coplanar spin order (which have $T^2=1$ time-reversal $Z_2^T$ and fermion-number parity $Z_2^f$ symmetries described by a full symmetry group $Z_2^T\times Z_2^f$). Such a fermionic SPT state can neither be realized by free fermions nor by interacting bosons (formed by fermion-pairs), and thus are not included in the K-theory classification for free fermions or group cohomology description for interacting bosons. We also construct three interacting fermionic SPT phases in 2D with a full symmetry group $Z_2\times Z_2^f$. Those 2D fermionic SPT phases all have central-charge $c=1$ gapless edge excitations, if the symmetry is not broken.


We present the first results of a program to characterize the disk and envelope structure of typical Class 0 protostars in nearby low-mass star forming regions. We use Spitzer IRS mid-infrared spectra, high resolution CARMA 230 GHz continuum imaging, and 2-D radiative transfer models to constrain the envelope structure, as well as the size and mass of the circum-protostellar disk in Serpens FIRS 1. The primary envelope parameters (centrifugal radius, outer radius, outflow opening angle, and inclination) are well constrained by the spectral energy distribution (SED), including Spitzer IRAC and MIPS photometry, IRS spectra, and 1.1 mm Bolocam photometry. These together with the excellent uv-coverage (4.5-500 klam) of multiple antenna configurations with CARMA allow for a robust separation of the envelope and a resolved disk. The SED of Serpens FIRS 1 is best fit by an envelope with the density profile of a rotating, collapsing spheroid with an inner (centrifugal) radius of approximately 600 AU, and the millimeter data by a large resolved disk with Mdisk~1.0 Msun and Rdisk~300 AU. These results suggest that large, massive disks can be present early in the main accretion phase. Results for the larger, unbiased sample of Class~0 sources in the Perseus, Serpens, and Ophiuchus molecular clouds are needed to determine if relatively massive disks are typical in the Class 0 stage.


We present deep Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) optical observations obtained as part of the ACS Nearby Galaxy Survey Treasury (ANGST) as well as early release Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) ultra-violet and infrared observations of the nearby dwarf starbursting galaxy NGC 4214. Our data provide a detailed example of how covering such a broad range in wavelength provides a powerful tool for constraining the physical properties of stellar populations. The deepest data reach the ancient red clump at M_F814W -0.2. All of the optical data reach the main sequence turnoff for stars younger than ~300 Myr, and the blue He burning sequence for stars younger than 500 Myr. The full CMD-fitting analysis shows that all three fields in our data set are consistent with ~75% of the stellar mass being older than 8 Gyr, in spite of showing a wide range in star formation rates at the present day. Thus, our results suggest that the scale length of NGC 4214 has remained relatively constant for many Gyr. As previously noted by others, we also find the galaxy has recently ramped up production, consistent with its bright UV luminosity and its population of UV-bright massive stars. In the central field we find UV point sources with F336W magnitudes as bright as -9.9. These are as bright as stars with masses of at least 52-56 M_sun and ages near 4 Myr in stellar evolution models. Assuming a standard IMF, our CMD is well-fitted by an increase in star formation rate beginning 100 Myr ago. The stellar populations of this late-type dwarf are compared with those of NGC 404, an early-type dwarf that is also the most massive galaxy in its local environment. The late-type dwarf appears to have a similar high fraction of ancient stars, suggesting that these dominant galaxies may form at early epochs even if they have low total mass and very different present-day morphologies.


A new type of neutrino mixing named bi-pair neutrino mixing is proposed to describe the current neutrino mixing pattern with a vanishing reactor mixing angle and is determined by a mixing matrix with two pairs of identical magnitudes of matrix elements. As a result, we predict \sin^2\theta_{12}=1-1/\sqrt{2}(\approx 0.293) for the solar neutrino mixing and either \sin^2\theta_{23}=\tan^2\theta_{12} or \cos^2\theta_{23}=\tan^2\theta_{12} for the atmospheric neutrino mixing. We determine flavor structure of a mass matrix M, leading to diagonal masses of m_{1,2,3}, and find that |M_{\mu\mu}-M_{ee}/t^2_{12}|:|M_{\mu \tau}|:|M_{\tau \tau}-M_{ee}/t^2_{12}|=t^2_{23}:|t_{23}|:1 for the normal mass hierarchy if m_1=0, where t_{ij}=\tan\theta_{ij} (i,j=1,2,3) and M_{ij} (i,j=e,\mu,\tau) stand for flavor neutrino masses. For the inverted mass hierarchy, the bi-pair mixing scheme turns out to satisfy the strong scaling ansatz requiring that |M_{\mu\mu}|:|M_{\mu\tau}|:|M_{\tau\tau}|=1:|t_{23}|:t^2_{23} if m_3=0.


motorcycle in front of the office and moved to the Olomowewe area in Adiyan, where they burnt three motorcycles parked by the roadside. There was confusion everywhere. “Through the intervention of the police, the situation was brought under control on Sunday evening. Policemen have been patrolling the community.” Another resident, who did not want his name in print, said there might have been a disagreement between Olatunbosun and the vigilantes prior to the incident. “Those that killed him must be brought to book. I don’t think they beat him because he stole the dryer or not. “They probably had a disagreement with him before now and they decided to deal with him. They beat him with charms and later took him to the station,” he said. PUNCH Metro learnt that the two vigilantes were later arrested by the Agbado division. A police source said the hairdryer purportedly recovered from Olatunbosun was taken to the station. “By the time the vigilantes brought him to the station with the dryer, he had been seriously injured. “He was released to go and treat himself, but he died in the hospital,” the source added. The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the suspects were being investigated for murder and would be charged to court afterwards. “The two vigilantes in question are in custody. The Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Iliyasu, has ordered that they should be transferred to the Homicide Section of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department for proper investigation. Even if he was caught stealing, that does not mean he should be killed,” he added.


The ISM evolution of elliptical galaxies experiencing feedback from accretion onto a central black hole was studied recently with high-resolution 1D hydrodynamical simulations including radiative heating and pressure effects, a RIAF-like radiative efficiency, mechanical input from AGN winds, and accretion-driven starbursts. Here we focus on the observational properties of the models in the X-ray band (nuclear luminosity; hot ISM luminosity and temperature; temperature and brightness profiles during quiescence and during outbursts). The nuclear bursts last for ~10^7 yr, with a duty-cycle of a few X (10^-3-10^-2); the present epoch bolometric nuclear emission is very sub-Eddington. The ISM thermal luminosity \lx oscillates in phase with the nuclear one; this helps reproduce statistically the observed large \lx variation. In quiescence the temperature profile has a negative gradient; thanks to past outbursts, the brightness profile lacks the steep shape typical of inflowing models. Outbursts produce disturbances in these profiles. Most significantly, a hot bubble from shocked hot gas is inflated at the galaxy center; the bubble would be conical in shape, and show radio emission. The ISM resumes a smooth appearance on a time-scale of ~200 Myr; the duty-cycle of perturbances in the ISM is of the order of 5-10%. From the present analysis, additional input physics is important in the ISM-black hole coevolution, to fully account for the properties of real galaxies, as a confining external medium and a jet. The jet will reduce further the mass available for accretion (and then the Eddington ratio $l$), and may help, together with an external pressure, to produce flat or positive temperature gradient profiles (observed in high density environments). Alternatively, $l$ can be reduced if the switch from high to low radiative efficiency takes place at a larger $l$ than routinely assumed.


We investigate two closely related subjects: (i) existence of a pure persistent spin current in semiconducting mesoscopic device with a spin-orbit interaction's (SOI), and (ii) the definition of the spin current in the presence of SOI. Through physical argument from four physical pictures in different aspects, we provide strong evidences that the persistent spin current does exist in a device with SOI in the absence of any magnetic materials. This persistent spin current is an analog of the persistent charge current in a mesoscopic ring threaded by a magnetic flux, and it describes the real spin motion and can be measured experimentally. We then investigate the definition of the spin current. We point out that (i) the non-zero spin current in the equilibrium SOI device is the persistent spin current, (ii) the spin current is in general not conserved, and (iii) the Onsager relation is violated for the spin transport no matter what definition of the spin current is used. These issues, the non-zero spin current in the equilibrium case, the non-conserved spin current, and the violation of the Onsager relation, are intrinsic properties of spin transport. We note that the conventional definition of the spin current has very clear physical intuition and describes the spin motion very well. Therefore we feel that the conventional definition of the spin current makes physical sense and there is no need to modify it. In addition, the relationship between the persistent spin current and transport spin current, the persistent linear and angular spin currents in the SOI region of the hybrid ring, are discussed. Finally, we show that if the spin-spin interaction is included into the Hamiltonian, the persistent spin current is automatically conserved using the conventional definition.


A few long gamma-ray bursts such as GRB 050421 show no afterglow emission beyond the usual initial steep decay phase. It has been suggested that these events correspond to "naked" bursts that occur in a very low density environment. We reconsider this possibility in the context of various scenarios for the origin of the afterglow. In the standard model where the afterglow results from the forward shock as well as in the alternative model where the afterglow comes from the reverse shock, we aim to obtain constraints on the density of the environment, the microphysics parameters, or the Lorentz factor of the ejecta, which are imposed by the absence of a detected afterglow. For the two models we compute the afterglow evolution for different values of the external density (uniform or wind medium) and various burst parameters. We then compare our results to the Swift data of GRB 050421, which is the best example of a long burst without afterglow. In the standard model we show that consistency with the data imposes that the external density does not exceed 1E-5 cm-3 or that the microphysics parameters are very small with epsilon_e <~ 1E-2 and epsilon_B <~ 1E-4. If the afterglow is caused by the reverse shock, we find that its contribution can be strongly reduced if the central source has mainly emitted fast-moving material (with less than 10 - 30 % of the kinetic energy at Gamma<100 and was located in a dense environment. The two considered scenarios therefore lead to opposite constraints on the circumburst medium. The high-density environment, favored by the reverse shock model, better corresponds to what is expected if the burst progenitor was a massive star.


It would be an understatement to say the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party has had an unusual fortnight. A disaster is more like it. But there are welcome signs that the party is starting to gather its wits and regroup. It may still be a formidable force come this June’s provincial election. We certainly hope so. Kathleen Wynne’s tired and scandal-saddled Ontario Liberal Party has recklessly vandalized the once-envied economy of Canada’s most populous province. Recent improvements — linked to U.S. recovery, not any Liberal wisdom — cannot undo the damage that will be felt for generations thanks to the crushing debts, hydro costs and regulatory excesses that have piled up in 13 years of Liberal rule. Ontarians desperately want another option. Up until recently, the PCs seemed to be it, and were within sight of winning the next election until leader Patrick Brown was brought down by a news report of sexual misconduct. This left the party leaderless mere months before the election. The party quickly settled on Vic Fedeli as an interim leader; Fedeli, himself, despite obvious leadership ambitions of his own, wisely and graciously agreed to remove himself for consideration from the full-time job while he works to keep the party intact. The party’s executive (which also lost its president this week to sexual-assault allegations) has settled on a fast leadership race, with a high entrance fee to deter frivolous candidates. The new leader will be chosen March 10. This is the right decision. The sitting caucus members seemed to prefer simply selecting one of their own, and there’s the appeal of simplicity there. But the problem with an opposition party’s caucus is that it’s not representative of the province at large. PC members who live in ridings where there is no PC MPP deserve their say in who the next leader should be. Nor are we convinced by arguments based on fears of disruptive outsider candidates — obviously they mean Doug Ford — seizing on the chaos. Yes, the vote will cost money, and the PCs need every dollar for the upcoming general election. But democracy can’t be considered an inconvenience or a burden even amid crises. It’s the whole point, and a party that does not trust its own members should not be trusted with the entire province. Trust the members to choose, and then let Ontarians decide if they chose right.


Happy Fourth of July! Celebrate Independence Day with this fruity star-spangled sangria from lifestyle blog Heart and Seam. Interested in 4th of July? Add 4th of July as an interest to stay up to date on the latest 4th of July news, video, and analysis from ABC News. Add Interest From fashion and beauty to wellness and recipes Heart and Seam founder Janet Cooke shares real-life experiences on her blog from her home in New Hampshire -- including her festive and tasty summer sangria recipe. Heart and Seam Lifestyle Blog "This is a fun festive spin on a classic sangria recipe," Cooke told "GMA." "The best part about this recipe is that you can make it in large batches so it's perfect for a Fourth of July cookout where there will be lots of family and friends to enjoy." Check out the full recipe and pour this red, wine and blueberry beverage all day for friends and family. Heart and Seam Lifestyle Blog Ingredients 1 bottle red wine (I like Pinot Noir or Shiraz) 1-1/2 cups cranberry juice 1 cup brandy juice from one large orange 2 cups fresh blueberries 8 ounces fresh strawberries cut in quarters Club soda Directions To a large pitcher add wine, cranberry juice, brandy and orange juice. Add blueberries and strawberries. Chill for a few hours. To serve, fill glasses half full with ice and use a slotted spoon to add fruit from the pitcher to each glass. Pour liquid over ice and fruit, top with club soda and serve. Tips Add raspberries, blackberries and even apples to create even more of a festive drink. Be sure to add the ice to the glasses and not the pitcher itself. You will dilute the sangria if you add directly to the pitcher.


If you liked Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, you’re going to be either extremely happy or a little disappointed about its sequel, Middle-earth: Shadow of War. In just about every way, developer Monolith is expanding, increasing, and doubling down on the elements that made Shadow of Mordor work, as was evident when it showed off a big chunk of the game to journalists at E3 2017. But it also feels like an expanded and deeper version of the same game, which might be a turnoff to players expecting massive overhauls. Shadow of War is bigger, more easily traversed, and most importantly, more Nemesis System-focused than its predecessor. Players of Shadow of Mordor will remember that game’s signature feature, a system in which the orcs that populate the Tolkien universe’s evil country of Mordor grow, level up, and remembered their encounters with you. A random orc that happens to strike a killing blow against the player advances up the ranks of orc society, gaining a name and traits, and popping up later in the world to menace you again. The idea is to create player-personal stories of rivalries and revenge between you and the grunts and bosses you take on throughout the game. More menacing nemeses The marketing tag line for Shadow of War is “Nothing is forgotten,” and that’s the marching order for the most interesting aspect of the game. Now the Nemesis System that lets orcs get more powerful over time is expanded, allowing you to grow an army of your own. But your captured, mentally dominated orcs remember what happens to them — and might decide to betray you if you’re a bad leader. Monolith is expanding, increasing, and doubling down on the elements that made Shadow of Mordor work. “There’s always those guys that people love to hate,” Bob Roberts, design director, explained. “Last time, it was about killing and getting revenge. And there were some people who would get to that point of feeling like this guy was important to them, but they didn’t just want to kill him, that’s the end. So there’s this whole dimension now where you make him a follower, he keeps his personality, he becomes loyal to you.” The demo we played at E3 let players roam around doing open-world activities like ambient quests and gathering collectibles, engaging in story moments, or trying to grow their army and capture territory in Mordor. It’s


A horse that was trapped in a mud pit in southeastern Florida has been freed, thanks to some diligent firefighters. Palm Beach County firefighters received a call early Monday morning about a horse stuck in the mud in The Acreage, Florida, an unincorporated area near West Palm Beach. When they first arrived on the scene, firefighters found the horse stuck in the mud up to its belly. #BreakingNews @PBCFR on location of horse stuck in mud in #acreage #specialoperations & Battalion 2 crews working on freeing horse pic.twitter.com/IQk1zyl9Ut — PBC Fire Rescue (@PBCFR) April 17, 2017 "Firefighters ... started working on digging the horse from the mud using hand tools and keeping the scared horse calm during the rescue," Captain Albert Borroto, public information officer with the Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, told ABC News. According to firefighters, a local veterinarian sedated the horse in order to get it out safely. Horse Cmd *update* straps are around horse, #firefighters preparing to start pulling horse from mud pic.twitter.com/LvX0p7glue — PBC Fire Rescue (@PBCFR) April 17, 2017 "Using training learned in equestrian rescue classes, the crews were able to get the rescue straps around the animal and prepare to pull it from the mud with a pulley system," Borroto said. Horse Cmd *update2* Vet on location has sedated horse, #firefighters pulling horse from mud pic.twitter.com/eKjWGDpYIx — PBC Fire Rescue (@PBCFR) April 17, 2017 It took about an hour to get the horse out. "The 25-year-old horse named Skip was evaluated by the veterinarian and is doing well," Borroto said. Horse Cmd*update3* horse safely out of mud, sedation has worn off and he is being evaluated by veterinarian on location pic.twitter.com/YaVXz9ubNn — PBC Fire Rescue (@PBCFR) April 17, 2017 Authorities have not released how the horse became stuck in the mud or if it has been claimed by someone in the area.


The high-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (HF QPOs) that appear in the X-ray fluxes of low-mass X-ray binaries remain an unexplained phenomenon. Among other ideas, it has been suggested that a non-linear resonance between two oscillation modes in an accretion disc orbiting either a black hole or a neutron star plays a role in exciting the observed modulation. Several possible resonances have been discussed. A particular model assumes resonances in which the disc-oscillation modes have the eigenfrequencies equal to the radial and vertical epicyclic frequencies of geodesic orbital motion. This model has been discussed for black hole microquasar sources as well as for a group of neutron star sources. Assuming several neutron (strange) star equations of state and Hartle-Thorne geometry of rotating stars, we briefly compare the frequencies expected from the model to those observed. Our comparison implies that the inferred neutron star radius "RNS" is larger than the related radius of the marginally stable circular orbit "rms" for nuclear matter equations of state and spin frequencies up to 800Hz. For the same range of spin and a strange star (MIT) equation of state, the inferrred radius RNS is roughly equal to rms. The Paczynski modulation mechanism considered within the model requires that RNS < rms. However, we find this condition to be fulfilled only for the strange matter equation of state, masses below one solar mass, and spin frequencies above 800Hz. This result most likely falsifies the postulation of the neutron star 3:2 resonant eigenfrequencies being equal to the frequencies of geodesic radial and vertical epicyclic modes. We suggest that the 3:2 epicyclic modes could stay among the possible choices only if a fairly non-geodesic accretion flow is assumed, or if a different modulation mechanism operates.


If star formation proceeds by thermal fragmentation and the subsequent gravitational collapse of the individual fragments, how is it possible to form fragments massive enough for O and B stars in a typical star-forming molecular cloud where the Jeans mass is about 1Msun at the typical densities (10^4 cm^-3) and temperatures (10K)? We test the hypothesis that a first generation of low-mass stars may heat the gas enough that subsequent thermal fragmentation results in fragments >=10Msun, sufficient to form B stars. We combine ATCA and SMA observations of the massive star-forming region G8.68-0.37 with radiative transfer modeling to derive the present-day conditions in the region and use this to infer the conditions in the past, at the time of core formation. Assuming the current mass/separation of the observed cores equals the fragmentation Jeans mass/length and the region's average density has not changed, requires the gas temperature to have been 100K at the time of fragmentation. The postulated first-generation of low-mass stars would still be around today, but the number required to heat the cloud exceeds the limits imposed by the observations. Several lines of evidence suggest the observed cores in the region should eventually form O stars yet none have sufficient raw material. Even if feedback may have suppressed fragmentation, it was not sufficient to halt it to this extent. To develop into O stars, the cores must obtain additional mass from outside their observationally defined boundaries. The observations suggest they are currently fed via infall from the very massive reservoir (~1500Msun) of gas in the larger pc scale cloud around the star-forming cores. This suggests that massive stars do not form in the collapse of individual massive fragments, but rather in smaller fragments that themselves continue to gain mass by accretion from larger scales.


The possible existence of a continuum encompassing the diversity of explosive stellar deaths,ranging from ordinary SNe to relativistic hypernovae associated with long duration GRBs, is under intense debate. In this context, SN2008D associated with XT080109 could represent a paradigmatic case, since it might exemplify a potential borderline event. The main aim is to infer geometric information of SN2008D through the evolution of its linear optical polarization. We also report the polarization evolution of SN2007uy, and discuss the properties of the host ISM towards the XT. The final goal is to compare the polarization properties, and hence the geometries of both SNe, which shone contemporaneously in NGC2770. This fortunate coincidence brought us the opportunity to observe both SNe simultaneously, and most importantly, with identical instrumental setups. The observations span 74.9 days, starting 3.6 days after the XT and are distributed in 11 visits. In addition we performed observations in the mm range in order to identify the dominant polarization. We report positive linear polarization detections at several epochs for SN2008D at a level of ~1% and at ~1.5% for SN2007uy. SN2007uy shows constant polarization, which could be described by the host interstellar polarization plus a constant eccentricity expansion on the sky plane. A statistical analysis of the distribution of the SN2008D Stokes parametres suggests that it could show an intrinsic variable polarization component. Assuming the SN2007uy polarization is constant, we find that the evolution of the intrinsic SN2008D polarization could be explained by an aspherical axisymmetric expansion with variable eccentricity. We come to the same result even if we make no assumption on SN2007uy, although at a lower significance level. We suggest that at least the projected, if not the intrinsic, geometries of both SNe could differ.


of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986, the provisions of such sections (as in effect before the date of the enactment of this Act) shall continue to apply with respect to such waiver until-- (i) the organization is eligible to be a provider under this Act; (ii) the Secretary issues and implements the regulations referred to in section 2(c)(1); and (iii) the organization has had a reasonable opportunity to apply to be recognized as a provider, such application has been formally considered by the Secretary, and a final determination on the application has been made. (B) Continuation of waiver until effective date.-- The waiver authority of any organization applying for recognition under subparagraph (A) shall continue until-- (i) the date that the Secretary determines that such organization is eligible to be and can actually serve as a provider under this Act; or (ii) if the Secretary determines that the organization is not eligible to be a provider under this Act, the expiration of the waiver. (C) Consideration of periods of operation prior to this act.--In determining whether an organization is eligible to be a provider under subparagraph (A), the Secretary-- (i) in determining whether the organization has successfully completed a trial period under this Act, shall consider any period before the date of the enactment of this Act during which an organization was operating under a waiver described in subparagraph (A); and (ii) shall treat the organization as eligible to be a provider under this Act for periods after the date of the enactment of this Act and before such determination if the organization meets the requirements of the regulations issued under section 2(c)(1) during such periods.


If local workforce subcontracting requirements have not been met in any contract entered into by the General Services Administration, the report required under this subsection shall include a description of efforts made by the General Services Administration to meet the requirements in such contract. (b) GAO Report.--Not later than 180 days after submission of the first report required under subsection (a), the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to Congress a report commenting on the findings described in such report and including recommendations for further actions to ensure compliance with local workforce subcontracting requirements. SEC. 6. ACQUISITION WORKFORCE IMPROVEMENTS. (a) Evaluation and Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the head of each executive agency shall submit to Congress a report evaluating the strength and sufficiency of its acquisition workforce. (b) Content.--The report required under subsection (a) shall include-- (1) a 30-year history of the size of the acquisition agency's workforce; and (2) a description of measures the agency is implementing to address any shortage of acquisition workforce personnel. (c) Public Comment.--In preparing the report required under subsection (a), the head of each executive agency shall solicit feedback regarding the agency's acquisition workforce, including through a public comment process. SEC. 7. USE OF PROCUREMENT ASSISTANCE RESOURCES. Not later than 180 days after the date of the enactment of this Act, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council shall amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation to require executive agencies to take actions to encourage prospective contractors to utilize contracting assistance resources that are offered in their communities. The Federal Acquisition Regulation, as so amended, shall include a requirement that the bid solicitation documents for a contract include language encouraging the use of such resources. SEC. 8. IMPROVING OUTREACH TO SMALL BUSINESS CONCERNS. Section 15 of the Small Business Act (15 U.S.C. 644) is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(q) Small Business Outreach Program.-- ``(1) Program established.--The Administrator and the Administrator of General Services shall jointly establish an outreach program-- ``(A) to communicate with small business concerns regarding specific contracting opportunities with the Federal Government; and ``(B) to inform small business concerns about opportunities to learn about the process of contracting with the Federal Government. ``(2) Annual report to congress.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of


If G is a finitely generated group, and A an algebraic group, then Hom(G,A) is a possibly reducible algebraic variety denoted by R_A(G). Here we define the profile function, P_d(R_A(G)), of the representation variety of G over A to be P_d(R_A(G))=(N_d(R_A(G)),...,N_0(R_A(G))), where N_i(R_A(G)) stands for the number of irreducible components of R_A(G) of dimension i, where 0\leq i\leq d, and d=Dim(R_A(G)). We then use this invariant in the study of fg groups and prove various results. In particular, we show that if G an orientable surface group of genus g\geq 1, then P_d(R_{SL(2,C)}(G))\neq P_d(R_{PSL(2,C)}(G)). We also show that the same holds for G a torus knot group with presentation <x,y;x^p=y^t> where both p,t are greater than 2, and that the same also holds when G is a the fundamental group of a compact non-orientable surface of genus g\geq 3. Further, we show that if a group G can be n+1 generated, and presented by <x_1,...,x_n,y ; W=y^p>, where W is a non-trivial word in F_n=<x_1,...,x_n>, and A=PSL(2, C), that then Dim(R_{A}(G)) is equal to Max{3n, Dim(R_{A}(G'))+2 \} \leq 3n+1, where G'=<x_1,...,x_n; W=1>. We also give a condition guaranteeing that the resulting algebraic variety is reducible.


If you’ve not seen the previous series of Last Tango in Halifax or you’ve got a hazy memory, here’s a guide to what’s happened so far, who plays who and where you’ve seen the actors before. Advertisement Celia (Anne Reid) The Last Tango story begins with Celia, a 70-something widow, who gets in touch with childhood sweetheart Alan after she spots him on Facebook. They meet up and get on so well that it’s like they’ve never been apart. By episode two they’re engaged, much to the shock and confusion of their children. The duo are based on writer Sally Wainwright’s own mother’s experience of a meeting her teenage boyfriend 60 years later on Friends Reunited. Wait, so there is hope I could end up marrying Sam, who I fancied in year nine? Interrrrresting…. Anyway, Celia’s daughter Caroline is going out with a woman named Kate in series two and unlike Alan, Celia doesn’t take the same-sex thing well at all. In fact, she refuses to accept it and there are torrid, throw-plates-at-the-wall, rows until Celia realises she’s making her daughter miserable with her homophobia. As the Christmas special begins, Celia is happily married to Alan and is caught up in the daily chaos of her family. (Some) lessons have been learnt although her sharp tongue hasn’t lost its edge. Played by: Anne Reid, who you’ll know as Valerie in Coronation Street and Jean in dinnerladies. Alan (Derek Jacobi) Alan knows all about life’s peaks and troughs. He gets engaged to Celia and then at the end of series one he has a heart attack. It’s all ok though because he recovers and marries Celia as planned. Alan’s daughter Gillian has a complex time in the show and he’s very involved – but more about that later. The crucial thing to know about Alan is that he discovers he has a son called Gary from an affair he had in the 1980s while married to his first wife, his daughter Gillian’s mum. Alan doesn’t tell Celia about Gary because he’s worried she’ll judge him for having had an affair – and especially because Celia’s own husband was adulterous and she suffered badly. When he does tell her, she’s devastated and genuinely questions whether he’s the man she thought he was. By the time series four


The relation between the clustering properties of luminous matter in the form of galaxies and the underlying dark matter distribution is of fundamental importance for the interpretation of ongoing and upcoming galaxy surveys. The so called local bias model, where galaxy density is a function of local matter density, is frequently discussed as a means to infer the matter power spectrum or correlation function from the measured galaxy correlation. However, gravitational evolution generates a term quadratic in the tidal tensor and thus non-local in the density field, even if this term is absent in the initial conditions (Lagrangian space). Because the term is quadratic, it contributes as a loop correction to the power spectrum, so the standard linear bias picture still applies on large scales, however, it contributes at leading order to the bispectrum for which it is significant on all scales. Such a term could also be present in Lagrangian space if halo formation were influenced by the tidal field. We measure the corresponding coupling strengths from the matter-matter-halo bispectrum in numerical simulations and find a non-vanishing coefficient for the tidal tensor term. We find no scale dependence of the bias parameters up to k=0.1 h/Mpc and that the tidal effect is increasing with halo mass. While the Lagrangian bias picture is a better description of our results than the Eulerian bias picture, our results suggest that there might be a tidal tensor bias already in the initial conditions. We also find that the coefficients of the quadratic density term deviate quite strongly from the theoretical predictions based on the spherical collapse model and a universal mass function. Both quadratic density and tidal tensor bias terms must be included in the modeling of galaxy clustering of current and future surveys if one wants to achieve the high precision cosmology promise of these datasets.


Provided that there is no theoretical frame for complex engineered systems (CES) as yet, this paper claims that bio-inspired engineering can help provide such a frame. Within CES bio-inspired systems play a key role. The disclosure from bio-inspired systems and biological computation has not been sufficiently worked out, however. Biological computation is to be taken as the processing of information by living systems that is carried out in polynomial time, i.e., efficiently; such processing however is grasped by current science and research as an intractable problem (for instance, the protein folding problem). A remark is needed here: P versus NP problems should be well defined and delimited but biological computation problems are not. The shift from conventional engineering to bio-inspired engineering needs bring the subject (or problem) of computability to a new level. Within the frame of computation, so far, the prevailing paradigm is still the Turing-Church thesis. In other words, conventional engineering is still ruled by the Church-Turing thesis (CTt). However, CES is ruled by CTt, too. Contrarily to the above, we shall argue here that biological computation demands a more careful thinking that leads us towards hypercomputation. Bio-inspired engineering and CES thereafter, must turn its regard toward biological computation. Thus, biological computation can and should be taken as the ground for engineering complex non-linear systems. Biological systems do compute in terms of hypercomputation, indeed. If so, then the focus is not algorithmic or computational complexity but computation-beyond-the-Church-Turing-barrier. We claim that we need a new computational theory that encompasses biological processes wherein the Turing-Church thesis is but a particular case.


We apply population synthesis techniques to calculate the present day population of post-common envelope binaries (PCEBs) for a range of theoretical models describing the common envelope (CE) phase. Adopting the canonical energy budget approach we consider models where the ejection efficiency, $\alpha_{\rmn{CE}}$ is either a constant, or a function of the secondary mass. We obtain the envelope binding energy from detailed stellar models of the progenitor primary, with and without the thermal and ionization energy, but we also test a commonly used analytical scaling. We also employ the alternative angular momentum budget approach, known as the $\gamma$-algorithm. We find that a constant, global value of $\alpha_{\rmn{CE}} \ga 0.1$ can adequately account for the observed population of PCEBs with late spectral-type secondaries. However, this prescription fails to reproduce IK Pegasi, which has a secondary with spectral type A8. We can account for IK Pegasi if we include thermal and ionization energy of the giant's envelope, or if we use the $\gamma$-algorithm. However, the $\gamma$-algorithm predicts local space densities that are 1 to 2 orders of magnitude greater than estimates from observations. In contrast, the canonical energy budget prescription with an initial mass ratio distribution that favours unequal initial mass ratios gives a local space density which is in good agreement with observations, and best reproduces the observed distribution of PCEBs. Finally, all models fail to reproduce the sharp decline for orbital periods, $P_{\rmn{orb}} \ga 1$ d in the orbital period distribution of observed PCEBs, even if we take into account selection effects against systems with long orbital periods and early spectral-type secondaries.


Observations of the Lyman-alpha forest and of high-redshift galaxies at z~5-10 imply that there were just enough photons to maintain the universe in an ionized state at z~5-6, indicating a "photon-starved" end to reionization. The ionizing emissivity must have been larger at earlier times in order to yield the extended reionization history implied by the electron scattering optical depth constraint from WMAP. Here we address the possibility that a faint population of galaxies with host halo masses of ~1e8-1e9 Msun dominated the ionizing photon budget at redshifts of about z>9, due to their much higher escape fractions. Such faint, early galaxies, would not have formed in ionized regions due to suppression by heating from the UV background (UVB), and would therefore not contribute to the ionizing background at z<6, after reionization is complete. Our model matches: (1) the low escape fractions observed for high-redshift galaxies, (2) the WMAP constraint of tau_es~0.09, (3) the low values for the UVB at z<6, and (4) the observed star formation rate density inferred from Lyman-break galaxies. A top heavy IMF from Pop III stars is not required in this scenario. We compare our model to recent ones in the literature that were forced to introduce an escape fraction that increases strongly towards high redshift, and show that a similar evolution occurs naturally if low mass galaxies possess high escape fractions.


The last time we covered LineageOS, the project had started supporting seven new phones, including the Xperia Z5 Compact and LG K10. Since then, several additional devices have been added to the official build roster. These include the Sony Xperia Z5, Samsung Galaxy S6, and Redmi 3S/3X. Before we get to the new devices, there were a few developments in the LineageOS community worth mentioning. Official builds for the HTC One M9 were added back in early January, but only one version (dated January 10) was uploaded. The ROM caused hardware-encrypted One M9s to be unbootable, since only software encryption was supported. The maintainer pulled support a few days later, and as of the time of writing, it's unclear if builds will resume. On a similar note, LineageOS has also discontinued builds for the ASUS ZenFone 2. Lineage previously supported both the 1080p (Z00A) and 720p (Z008) models, and the final release was uploaded on January 27. The maintainer said on XDA, "I'm calling it quits on these devices. My touchscreen on my last zf2 gave out and I'm done wasting money repairing these things. [...] I wanted to take a moment here to thank all of those who have participated here, supported my work and the work of crpalmer early on." And now, without further ado, here are the newly-supported LineageOS devices: Sony Xperia Z5 (sumire) Samsung Galaxy S6 SM-G920F (zerofltexx) Samsung Galaxy S5 Sport SM-G860P (kltesprsports) ZTE Axon 7 Mini (tulip) Xiaomi Redmi 3S/3X (land) Most of these devices have been around for a few years, so if you own one of these phones already, maybe LineageOS can extend its usefulness for a while longer.


to administer the opioid overdose drug; and (C) the steps that need to be taken after administration of the opioid overdose drug. (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to a health care professional if the harm was caused by the gross negligence or reckless misconduct of the health care professional. SEC. 6. LIMITATION ON CIVIL LIABILITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WORKING FOR OR VOLUNTEERING AT A STATE OR LOCAL AGENCY OPIOID OVERDOSE PROGRAM. (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as provided in subsection (b), no individual who provides an opioid overdose drug shall be liable for harm caused by the emergency administration of an opioid overdose drug by another individual if the individual who provides such drug-- (1) works for or volunteers at an opioid overdose program; and (2) provides the opioid overdose drug as part of the opioid overdose program to an individual authorized by the program to receive an opioid overdose drug. (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply if the harm was caused by the gross negligence or reckless misconduct of the individual who provides the drug. SEC. 7. LIMITATION ON CIVIL LIABILITY FOR INDIVIDUALS WHO ADMINISTER OPIOID OVERDOSE DRUGS. (a) In General.--Notwithstanding any other provision of law, except as provided in subsection (b), no individual shall be liable for harm caused by the emergency administration of an opioid overdose drug to an individual who has or reasonably appears to have suffered an overdose from heroin or other opioid, if-- (1) the individual who administers the opioid overdose drug-- (A) obtained the drug from a health care professional or as part of an opioid overdose program; or (B) is doing so pursuant to a prescription for an opioid overdose drug under section 505 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 355) or is licensed under section 351 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 262); and (2) was educated in accordance with section 5(a)(2) by the health care professional or an opioid overdose program. (b) Exception.--Subsection (a) shall not apply to an individual if the harm was caused by the gross negligence or reckless misconduct of the individual who administers the drug.


a copy of the State tax return of each employer making such a submission. The Secretary may, after consultation with the Interstate Conference of Employment Security Administrators, prescribe regulations requiring that additional information be submitted by such State with respect to the amount of such tax payable by such employer.'' (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for chapter 23 of such Code is amended by striking the item relating to section 3311 and inserting the following new items: ``Sec. 3311. State collection of tax. ``Sec. 3312. Short title.'' (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 1999. SEC. 5. REQUIRED DISTRIBUTION OF STATE-SPECIFIC INFORMATION PACKETS. (a) In General.--Subsection (a) of section 3304 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to approval of State laws) is amended by striking ``and'' at the end of paragraph (18), by striking the period at the end of paragraph (19) and inserting ``; and'', and by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ``(20) the State will distribute to unemployed individuals State-specific information packets explaining unemployment insurance eligibility conditions.'' (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to certifications of States for 2000, except that section 3304(a)(20) of such Code, as added by subsection (a), shall not be a requirement for the State law of any State prior to July 1, 2001, if the legislature of such State does not meet in a regular session which closes during the calendar year 2000.


Two of the dominant channels for galaxy mass assembly are cold flows (cold gas supplied via the filaments of the cosmic web) and mergers. How these processes combine in a cosmological setting, at both low and high redshift, to produce the whole zoo of galaxies we observe is largely unknown. Indeed there is still much to understand about the detailed physics of each process in isolation. While these formation channels have been studied using hydrodynamical simulations, here we study their impact on gas properties and star formation (SF) with some of the first simulations that capture the multiphase, cloudy nature of the interstellar medium (ISM), by virtue of their high spatial resolution (and corresponding low temperature threshold). In this regime, we examine the competition between cold flows and a supernovae(SNe)-driven outflow in a very high-redshift galaxy (z {\approx} 9) and study the evolution of equal-mass galaxy mergers at low and high redshift, focusing on the induced SF. We find that SNe-driven outflows cannot reduce the cold accretion at z {\approx} 9 and that SF is actually enhanced due to the ensuing metal enrichment. We demonstrate how several recent observational results on galaxy populations (e.g. enhanced HCN/CO ratios in ULIRGs, a separate Kennicutt Schmidt (KS) sequence for starbursts and the population of compact early type galaxies (ETGs) at high redshift) can be explained with mechanisms captured in galaxy merger simulations, provided that the multiphase nature of the ISM is resolved.


'' means an individual described in paragraph (2) of subsection (b) of the Policemen and Firemen's Retirement and Disability Act (sec. 5-703, D.C. Official Code), as added by subsection (a). SEC. 3. TREATMENT OF REEMPLOYED ANNUITANTS. Section 8468 of title 5, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: ``(k)(1) For purposes of this section, the term `covered District of Columbia retiree' means an individual who is receiving benefits under the Policemen and Firemen's Retirement and Disability Act-- ``(A) based in whole or in part on such individual's service as an officer or member of the United States Secret Service Division or the United States Secret Service Uniformed Division; and ``(B) pursuant to an election, made under subsection (b)(2) of such Act (sec. 5-703, D.C. Official Code), to transfer to that retirement system from the retirement system under this chapter. ``(2) If a covered District of Columbia retiree becomes employed in an appointive or elective position (as referred to in subsection (a)), an amount equal to the retirement benefits which are payable under the Policemen and Firemen's Retirement and Disability Act and allocable to the period of actual employment shall be deducted from the pay of the reemployed retiree, to the same extent and in the same manner as if those retirement benefits were an annuity under this chapter. ``(3) The Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall prescribe any regulations necessary to carry out this subsection, including regulations under which an employing agency shall accept the certification of the appropriate official of the government of the District of Columbia regarding the amount of retirement benefits being paid to a covered District of Columbia retiree for a period during which such retiree is employed in the position described in paragraph (2).''. SEC. 4. PAYGO COMPLIANCE. The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall be determined by reference to the latest statement titled ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the Chairman of the House Budget Committee, provided that such statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.


We consider an isotropic Fermi liquid in two dimensions near the n=2 Pomeranchuk instability in the charge channel. The order parameter is a quadrupolar stress tensor with two polarizations, longitudinal and transverse to the quadrupolar momentum tensor. Longitudinal and transverse bosonic modes are characterized by dynamical exponents z_parallel=3 and z_perp=2, respectively. Previous studies have found that such a system exhibits multiscale quantum criticality with two different energy scales omega ~ xi^{-z_{parallel,perp}}, where xi is the correlation length. We study the impact of the multiple energy scales on the electron Green function. The interaction with the critical z_parallel =3 mode is known to give rise to a local self-energy that develops a non-Fermi liquid form, Sigma(omega) ~ omega^{2/3} for frequencies larger than the energy scale omega ~ xi^{-3}. We find that the exchange of transverse z_perp=2 fluctuations leads to a logarithmically singular renormalizations of the quasiparticle residue Z and the vertex Gamma. We derive and solve renormalization group equations for the flow of Z and Gamma and show that the system develops an anomalous dimension at the nematic quantum-critical point (QCP). As a result, the spectral function at a fixed omega and varying k has a non-Lorentzian form. Away from the QCP, we find that the flow of Z is cut at the energy scale omega_{FL} ~ xi^{-1}, associated with the z=1 dynamics of electrons. The z_perp=2 energy scale, omega ~ xi^{-2}, affects the flow of Z only if one includes into the theory self-interaction of transverse fluctuations.


: ``(4) Availability of the medicare operated prescription drug plan.-- ``(A) In general.--A medicare operated prescription drug plan (as defined in section 1860D-11A(c)) shall be offered nationally in accordance with section 1860D- 11A. ``(B) Relationship to other plans.-- ``(i) In general.--Subject to clause (ii), a medicare operated prescription drug plan shall be offered in addition to any qualifying plan or fallback prescription drug plan offered in a PDP region and shall not be considered to be such a plan purposes of meeting the requirements of this subsection. ``(ii) Designation as a fallback plan.-- Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, the Secretary may designate the medicare operated prescription drug plan as the fallback prescription drug plan for any fallback service area (as defined in section 1860D-11(g)(3)) determined to be appropriate by the Secretary.''. (2) Section 1860D-13(c)(3) of such Act, as added by such section, is amended-- (A) in the heading, by inserting ``and medicare operated prescription drug plans'' after ``Fallback plans''; and (B) by inserting ``or a medicare operated prescription drug plan'' after ``a fallback prescription drug plan''. (3) Section 1860D-16(b)(1) of such Act, as added by such section, is amended-- (A) in subparagraph (C), by striking ``and'' after the semicolon at the end; (B) in subparagraph (D), by striking the period at the end and inserting ``; and''; and ``(E) payments for expenses incurred with respect to the operation of medicare operated prescription drug plans under section 1860D-11A.''. (4) Section 1860D-41(a) of such Act, as added by such section, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph: ``(19) Medicare operated prescription drug plan.--The term `medicare operated prescription drug plan' has the meaning given such term in section 1860D-11A(c).''. (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take effect as if included in the enactment of section 101 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003.


Sgr A*, the massive black hole at the center of the Galaxy, varies in radio through X-ray emission on hourly time scales. The flare activity is thought to arise from the innermost region of an accretion flow onto Sgr A*. We present simultaneous light curves of Sgr A* in radio, sub-mm and X-rays that show a possible time delay of 110$\pm17$ minutes between X-ray and 850 $\mu$m suggesting that the sub-mm flare emission is optically thick. At radio wavelengths, we detect time lags of of $20.4\pm6.8, 30\pm12$ and 20$\pm6$ minutes between the flare peaks observed at 13 and 7 mm (22 and 43 GHz) in three different epochs using the VLA. Linear polarization of 1$\pm0.2$% and 0.7$\pm0.1$% is detected at 7 and 13 mm, respectively, when averaged over the entire observation on 2006 July 17. A simple model of a bubble of synchrotron emitting electrons cooling via adiabatic expansion can explain the time delay between various wavelengths, the asymmetric shape of the light curves, and the observed polarization of the flare emission at 43 and 22 GHz. The derived physical quantities that characterize the emission give an expansion speed of v$_{exp} \sim 0.003-0.1$c, magnetic field of B$\sim$10-70 Gauss and particle spectral index p$\sim$1-2. These parameters suggest that the associated plasma cannot escape from Sgr A* unless it has a large bulk motion.


We propose a simple model explaining two outstanding astrophysical problems related to compact objects: (1) that of stars such as G87-7 (alias EG 50) that constitute a class of relatively low-mass white dwarfs which nevertheless fall away from the C/O composition and (2) that of GRB 110328A/Swift J164449.3+57345 which showed spectacularly long-lived strong X-ray flaring, posing a challenge to standard GRB models. We argue that both these observations may have an explanation within the unified framework of a Quark-Nova occurring in a low-mass X-ray binary (neutron star- white dwarf). For LMXBs where the binary separation is sufficiently tight, ejecta from the exploding Neutron Star triggers nuclear burning in the white dwarf on impact, possibly leading to Fe-rich composition compact white dwarfs with mass 0.43M_sun < M_WD < 0.72M_sun, reminiscent of G87-7. Our results rely on the assumption, which ultimately needs to be tested by hydrodynamic and nucleosynthesis simulations, that under certain circumstances the WD can avoid the thermonuclear runaway. For heavier white dwarfs (i.e. M_WD > 0.72M_sun) experiencing the QN shock, degeneracy will not be lifted when Carbon burning begins, and a sub-Chandrasekhar Type Ia Supernovae may result in our model. Under slightly different conditions, and for pure He white dwarfs (i.e. M_WD < 0.43M_sun), the white dwarf is ablated and its ashes raining down on the Quark star leads to accretion-driven X-ray luminosity with energetics and duration reminiscent of GRB 110328A. We predict additional flaring activity towards the end of the accretion phase if the Quark star turns into a Black Hole.


If the research pans out, the world of mental health care may look very different in the coming decades. Psychedelic treatment won't be available for just anyone, and recreational psychedelic use may still be banned. But those with certain illnesses could seek treatment from a psychiatrist specially certified in psychedelic therapy. Just a few treatment sessions a year might be enough to provide lasting relief from their issues. People with mood disorders, including those who are unresponsive to conventional therapies, might be able to ditch their antidepressants and antianxiety medications. Those with terminal illness could enjoy their remaining days without the fear of death looming over them, while people with PTSD could return to a normal life unobstructed by paralyzing flashbacks. And rehab centers for substance use and eating disorders could empty out as more people turn to psychedelics. Again, we’re not at this point yet. But such is the promise of psychedelic medicine. SAFETY FIRST Psychedelic drugs fall into one of two categories depending on how they affect the brain. Classic psychedelics include LSD, psilocybin, and ayahuasca. They work by binding to the same receptors in the brain as serotonin, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of wellbeing. MDMA, on the other hand, causes the release of another neurotransmitter, serotonin, in the brain. At this point, the star players in psychedelic research are psilocybin and MDMA. (LSD's hallucinogenic effects last too long, thus limiting its therapeutic value; ayahuasca is hard to standardize because it’s a brew made from two plants.) Given psychedelics’ potential for abuse — and the possibility of unpleasant hallucinations — clinical trials of the drugs follow rigid protocols. Patients for the clinical trials are screened for schizophrenia and related disorders that preclude psychedelic therapy; those who are selected undergo preliminary sessions during which they learn about the goals and nature of the treatment, as well as the particulars of the drug they’ll be trying. During treatment, patients typically don headphones for music and eyeshades and then lie down. They’re encouraged to go as "deep" as possible into the experience, says Charles Grob, a UCLA psychiatry professor who has done research on MDMA, psilocybin, and ayahuasca. As the session ends and the hallucinogenic effects wear off, patient and therapist discuss the experience. Follow-up psychotherapy sessions facilitate lasting results, Grob says. As experimental therapies, the sessions are conducted in


In multiprocessor systems, various problems are treated with Lamport's logical clock and the resultant logical time orders between operations. However, one often needs to face the high complexities caused by the lack of logical time order information in practice. In this paper, we utilize the \emph{global clock} to infuse the so-called \emph{pending period} to each operation in a multiprocessor system, where the pending period is a time interval that contains the performed time of the operation. Further, we define the \emph{physical time order} for any two operations with disjoint pending periods. The physical time order is obeyed by any real execution in multiprocessor systems due to that it is part of the truly happened operation orders restricted by global clock, and it is then proven to be independent and consistent with traditional logical time orders. The above novel yet fundamental concepts enables new effective approaches for analyzing multiprocessor systems, which are named \emph{pending period analysis} as a whole. As a consequence of pending period analysis, many important problems of multiprocessor systems can be tackled effectively. As a significant application example, complete memory consistency verification, which was known as an NP-hard problem, can be solved with the complexity of $O(n^2)$ (where $n$ is the number of operations). Moreover, the two event ordering problems, which were proven to be Co-NP-Hard and NP-hard respectively, can both be solved with the time complexity of O(n) if restricted by pending period information.


A local algorithm is a distributed algorithm where each node must operate solely based on the information that was available at system startup within a constant-size neighbourhood of the node. We study the applicability of local algorithms to max-min LPs where the objective is to maximise $\min_k \sum_v c_{kv} x_v$ subject to $\sum_v a_{iv} x_v \le 1$ for each $i$ and $x_v \ge 0$ for each $v$. Here $c_{kv} \ge 0$, $a_{iv} \ge 0$, and the support sets $V_i = \{v : a_{iv} > 0 \}$, $V_k = \{v : c_{kv}>0 \}$, $I_v = \{i : a_{iv} > 0 \}$ and $K_v = \{k : c_{kv} > 0 \}$ have bounded size. In the distributed setting, each agent $v$ is responsible for choosing the value of $x_v$, and the communication network is a hypergraph $\mathcal{H}$ where the sets $V_k$ and $V_i$ constitute the hyperedges. We present inapproximability results for a wide range of structural assumptions; for example, even if $|V_i|$ and $|V_k|$ are bounded by some constants larger than 2, there is no local approximation scheme. To contrast the negative results, we present a local approximation algorithm which achieves good approximation ratios if we can bound the relative growth of the vertex neighbourhoods in $\mathcal{H}$.


committees of Congress a report on the operation of the Fund during the fiscal year. (2) Contents.--Each report shall include, for the fiscal year covered by the report, the following: (A) A statement of the amounts deposited into the Fund. (B) A description of the expenditures made from the Fund for the fiscal year, including the purpose of the expenditures. (C) Recommendations for additional authorities to fulfill the purpose of the Fund. (D) A statement of the balance remaining in the Fund at the end of the fiscal year. SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATES. (a) Prohibition on Research.--The prohibition under section (4)(a) shall take effect-- (1) on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act for great apes assigned to an active protocol on the date of enactment of this Act; or (2) on the date of enactment of this Act for great apes not assigned to an active protocol on that date. (b) Prohibition on Housing and Funding.--The prohibitions under subsections (b) and (c) of section 4 shall take effect on the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of this Act. (c) Other Requirements.--Any provision of this Act for which a specific effective date is not provided shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. SEC. 9. SEVERABILITY. In the event that any provision of this Act shall, for any reason, be held to be invalid or unenforceable in any respect, such invalidity or unenforceability shall not affect any other provision of this Act, and this Act shall be construed as if the invalid or unenforceable provision had never been included in this Act.


require serious examination of how land reform was conducted and redistributing the land on an impartial basis right from scratch, and without favour and fear of powerful individuals or connected families. Letting go of Gushungo could include setting an uncompromising precedent in how government prosecutors deal with allegations of corruption and allegations of violence and human rights abuses in the highest echelons of power. If South Africa can charge former president Jacob Zuma over allegations of corruption, money laundering and racketeering, Zimbabwe can follow suit and arraign Gushungo – and his longtime lieutenants – if need be, and consequently, asphyxiate the blood-stained, ubiquitous storms of betrayal that have rained down on us for years. As Nyakinua states in Petals of Blood, before angry and dejected villagers decide to challenge corrupt authorities in Nairobi, “I think we should go. It is our turn to make things happen. There was a time when things happened the way we in Ilmorog wanted them to happen. We had power over the movement of our limbs. We made up our own words and sang them and we danced to them. But there came a time when this power was taken from us…. We must surround the city and demand back our share”. Likewise, we, the people, must wrestle control of our future and dance to our own democratic and economically viable song. Because, as things stand, who can prevent an exasperated clique of ZNA generals from targeting and removing the criminals around President Emmerson Mnangagwa à la Gushungo, and circumventing democracy, if need be, once again?


Aims. The main purpose of this paper is to study time delays between the light variations in different wavebands for a sample of quasars. Measuring a reliable time delay for a large number of quasars may help constraint the models of their central engines. The standard accretion disk irradiation model predicts a delay of the longer wavelengths behind the shorter ones, a delay that depends on the fundamental quasar parameters. Since the black hole masses and the accretion rates are approximately known for the sample we use, one can compare the observed time delays with the expected ones. Methods. We applied the interpolation cross-correlation function (ICCF) method to the Giveon et al. sample of 42 quasars, monitored in two (B and R) colors, to find the time lags represented by the ICCF peaks. Different tests were performed to assess the influence of photometric errors, sampling, etc., on the final result. Results. We found that most of the objects show a delay in the red light curve behind the blue one (a positive lag), which on average for the sample is about +4 days (+3 for the median), although the scatter is significant. These results are broadly consistent with the reprocessing model, especially for the well-sampled objects. The normalized time-lag deviations do not seem to correlate significantly with other quasar properties, including optical, radio, or X-ray measurables. On the other hand, many objects show a clear negative lag, which, if real, may have important consequences for the variability models.


X-ray pulsations with a 6.85 s period were recently detected in the SMC and were subsequently identified as originating from the Be/X-ray binary system XTE J0103-728. The recent localization of the source of the X-ray emission has made a targeted search for radio pulsations from this source possible. The detection of pulsed radio emission from XTE J0103-728 would make it only the second system after PSR B1259-63 that is both a Be/X-ray binary and a radio pulsar. We observed XTE J0103-728 in Feb 2008 with the Parkes 64-m radio telescope soon after the identification of the source of X-ray pulsations was reported in order to search for corresponding radio pulsations. We used a continuous 6.4 hour observation with a 256 MHz bandwidth centered at 1390 MHz using the center beam of the Parkes multibeam receiver. In the subsequent data analysis, which included a folding search, a Fourier search, a fast-folding algorithm search, and a single-pulse search, no pulsed signals were found for trial dispersion measures (DMs) between 0 and 800 pc cm^-3. This DM range easily encompasses the expected values for sources in the SMC. We place an upper limit of ~45 mJy kpc^2 on the luminosity of periodic radio emission from XTE J0103-728 at the epoch of our observation, and we compare this limit to a range of luminosities measured for PSR B1259-63, the only Be/X-ray binary currently known to emit radio pulses. We also compare our limit to the radio luminosities of neutron stars having similarly long spin periods to XTE J0103-728. Since the radio pulses from PSR B1259-63 are eclipsed and undetectable during the portion of the orbit near periastron, repeated additional radio search observations of XTE J0103-728 may be valuable if it is undergoing similar eclipsing and if such observations are able to sample the orbital phase of this system well.


BUENA VISTA, Fla. (AP) — Fittingly, Jack Morris reached the Hall of Fame in extra innings. Morris was elected to the Hall by its Modern Era committee on Sunday along with former Detroit Tigers teammate Alan Trammell, completing a joint journey from Motown to Cooperstown. The big-game pitcher and star shortstop were picked by 16 voters who considered 10 candidates whose biggest contributions came from 1970-87. Morris got 14 votes and Trammell drew 13, one more than the minimum needed. They will be enshrined on July 29, and fitting they’ll go in together. They both began their big league careers in 1977 with Detroit and played 13 seasons alongside each other with the Tigers. “The time that I’ve spent wondering if this day would ever come seems to be vanished and erased right now because it did come, and it’s amazing,” the 62-year-old Morris said during a conference call. —— Teams can lock up as many as 5 playoff berths in Week 14 As many as five playoff berths can be locked up Sunday, and New England can clinch before taking the field Monday night. A Buffalo loss or tie against the Colts on Sunday clinches the AFC East for the Patriots, while New England can clinch Monday night by beating Miami if the Bills win. Pittsburgh clinches a berth with a Buffalo loss or tie, though the Steelers need to tie or beat Baltimore to win the AFC North. Philadelphia could clinch the NFC East if Dallas ties or loses to the Giants before the Eagles take the field in Los Angeles. Minnesota can win the NFC North by beating Carolina or if Detroit and Green Bay both tie.


current Administration has granted discretionary compliance waivers from Obamacare to a variety of for-profit businesses, unions, and other organizations. (19) To date, the Department of Health and Human Services has granted more than 1,000 individual waiver requests for employers and insurers, excusing the employers and insurers from compliance with various aspects of the law. SEC. 3. SENSE OF THE SENATE. It is the sense of the Senate that the Food and Drug Administration should study whether contraceptives that are available with a prescription, on the date of enactment of this Act, would be safe and effective for adults if available without a prescription. SEC. 4. EMPLOYEE PROTECTION. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, an employer who is engaged in interstate commerce may not prohibit an employee from purchasing, pursuant to State prescribing and dispensing laws, a drug or medical device, including a contraceptive, that is regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. SEC. 5. EMPOWERING EMPLOYEES TO MAKE HEALTH CHOICES. (a) No Limitations Based on Whether a Drug Is Prescribed.--Section 9003 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111- 148), and the amendments made by such section, are repealed, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be applied as if such section, and amendments, had never been enacted. (b) No Limitations on Health FSAs.--Sections 9005 and 10902 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) and section 1403 of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-152), and the amendments made by such sections, are repealed, and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 shall be applied as if such section, and amendments, had never been enacted.


This work aims to provide a first insight into the mass-metallicity (MZ) relation of star-forming galaxies at redshift z~1.4. To reach this goal, we present a first set of nine VVDS galaxies observed with the NIR integral-field spectrograph SINFONI on the VLT. Oxygen abundances are derived from empirical indicators based on the ratio between strong nebular emission-lines (Halpha, [NII]6584 and [SII]6717,6731). Stellar masses are deduced from SED fitting with Charlot & Bruzual (2007) population synthesis models, and star formation rates are derived from [OII]3727 and Halpha emission-line luminosities. We find a typical shift of 0.2-0.4 dex towards lower metallicities for the z~1.4 galaxies, compared to the MZ-relation in the local universe as derived from SDSS data. However, this small sample of eight galaxies does not show any clear correlation between stellar mass and metallicity, unlike other larger samples at different redshift (z~0, z~0.7, and z~2). Indeed, our galaxies lie just under the relation at z~2 and show a small trend for more massive galaxies to be more metallic (~0.1 logarithmic slope). There are two possible explanations to account for these observations. First, the most massive galaxies present higher specific star formation rates when compared to the global VVDS sample which could explain the particularly low metallicity of these galaxies as already shown in the SDSS sample. Second, inflow of metal-poor gas due to tidal interactions could also explain the low metallicity of these galaxies as two of these three galaxies show clear signatures of merging in their velocity fields. Finally, we find that the metallicity of 4 galaxies is lower by ~0.2 to 0.4 dex if we take into account the N/O abundance ratio in their metallicity estimate.


The single-degenerate channel for the progenitors of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are currently accepted, in which a carbon-oxygen white dwarf (CO WD) accretes hydrogen-rich material from its companion, increases its mass to the Chandrasekhar mass limit, and then explodes as a SN Ia. Incorporating the prescription of \citet{HAC99a} for the accretion efficiency into Eggleton's stellar evolution code and assuming that the prescription is valid for \emph{all} metallicities, we performed binary stellar evolution calculations for more than 25,000 close WD binaries with metallicities $Z=0.06, 0.05, 0.04, 0.03, 0.02, 0.01, 0.004, 0.001, 0.0003$ and 0.0001. For our calculations, the companions are assumed to be unevolved or slightly evolved stars (WD + MS). As a result, the initial parameter spaces for SNe Ia at various $Z$ are presented in orbital period-secondary mass ($\log P_{\rm i}, M_{\rm 2}^{\rm i}$) planes. Our study shows that both the initial mass of the secondary and the initial orbital period increase with metallicity. Thus, the minimum mass of the CO WD for SNe Ia decreases with metallicity $Z$. The difference of the minimum mass may be as large as 0.24 $M_{\odot}$ for different Z. Adopting the results above, we studied the birth rate of SNe Ia for various $Z$ via a binary population synthesis approach. If a single starburst is assumed, SNe Ia occur systemically earlier and the peak value of the birth rate is larger for a high $Z$. The Galactic birth rate from the WD + MS channel is lower than (but comparable to) that inferred from observations. Our study indicates that supernovae like SN2002ic would not occur in extremely low-metallicity environments, if the delayed dynamical-instability model in \citet{HAN06} is appropriate.


Semiclassical spin-coherent kinetic equations can be derived from quantum theory with many different approaches (Liouville equation based approaches, nonequilibrium Green's functions techniques, etc.). The collision integrals turn out to be formally different, but coincide in textbook examples as well as for systems where the spin-orbit coupling is only a small part of the kinetic energy like in related studies on the spin Hall effect. In Dirac cone physics (graphene, surface states of topological insulators like Bi_{1-x}Sb_x, Bi_2Te_3 etc.), where this coupling constitutes the entire kinetic energy, the difference manifests itself in the precise value of the electron-hole coherence originated quantum correction to the Drude conductivity $\sim e^2/h * \ell k_F$. The leading correction is derived analytically for single and multilayer graphene with general scalar impurities. The often neglected principal value terms in the collision integral are important. Neglecting them yields a leading correction of order $(\ell k_F)^{-1}$, whereas including them can give a correction of order $(\ell k_F)^0$. The latter opens up a counterintuitive scenario with finite electron-hole coherent effects at Fermi energies arbitrarily far above the neutrality point regime, for example in the form of a shift $\sim e^2/h$ that only depends on the dielectric constant. This residual conductivity, possibly related to the one observed in recent experiments, depends crucially on the approach and could offer a setting for experimentally singling out one of the candidates. Concerning the different formalisms we notice that the discrepancy between a density matrix approach and a Green's function approach is removed if the Generalized Kadanoff-Baym Ansatz in the latter is replaced by an anti-ordered version.


A small number of young stellar objects show signs of a halo-like structure of optically thin dust. This halo or torus is located within a few AU of the star, but its origin has not yet been understood. A dynamically excited cloud of planetesimals colliding to eventually form dust could produce such a structure. The cause of the dynamical excitation could be one or more planets. This work investigates an inwardly migrating planet that is dynamically scattering planetesimals as a possible cause for the observed structures. If this mechanism is responsible, the observed halo-like structure could be used to infer the existence of planets in these systems. We present analytical estimates on the maximum inclination reached owing to dynamical interactions between planetesimals and a migrating planet. A symplectic integrator is used to simulate the effect of a migrating planet on a population of planetesimals. It is found that an inwardly migrating planet is only able to scatter the material it encounters to highly-inclined orbits if the material is on an eccentric orbit. Such eccentric orbits can be the result of resonance trapping and eccentricity pumping. Simulations show that for a certain range of migration rates and planet masses, resonance capture combined with planetary migration indeed causes the planetesimals to reach eccentric orbits and subsequently get scattered to highly-inclined orbits. The size distribution of the resulting dust is calculated determined to find the total mass and optical depth, which are found to compare reasonably well with the observed structures. Dynamical scattering of planetesimals caused by a planet migrating in, followed by the grinding down of these planetesimals to dust grains, appears to be a promising explanation for the inferred circumstellar dust clouds. Further study is needed to see if the haloes can be used to infer the presence of planets.


The dust size distribution in molecular clouds can be strongly affected by ice-mantle formation and (subsequent) grain coagulation. Following previous work where the dust size distribution has been calculated from a state-of-the art collision model for dust aggregates that involves both coagulation and fragmentation (Paper I), the corresponding opacities are presented in this study. The opacities are calculated by applying the effective medium theory assuming that the dust aggregates are a mix of 0.1{\mu}m silicate and graphite grains and vacuum. In particular, we explore how the coagulation affects the near-IR opacities and the opacity in the 9.7{\mu}m silicate feature. We find that as dust aggregates grow to {\mu}m-sizes both the near-IR color excess and the opacity in the 9.7 {\mu}m feature increases. Despite their coagulation, porous aggregates help to prolong the presence of the 9.7{\mu}m feature. We find that the ratio between the opacity in the silicate feature and the near-IR color excess becomes lower with respect to the ISM, in accordance with many observations of dark clouds. However, this trend is primarily a result of ice mantle formation and the mixed material composition of the aggregates, rather than being driven by coagulation. With stronger growth, when most of the dust mass resides in particles of size 10{\mu}m or larger, both the near-IR color excess and the 9.7{\mu}m silicate feature significantly diminish. Observations at additional wavelengths, in particular in the sub-mm range, are essential to provide quantitative constraints on the dust size distribution within dense cores. Our results indicate that the sub-mm index {\beta} will increase appreciably, if aggregates grow to ~100{\mu}m in size.


ig, who in 1976, on national TV, announced that he’d make the West Indies grovel. Imagine the outrage if the England captain said that today. The ECB’s corporate benefactors would be queuing up to sponsor tennis. And now an England cricketer gets filmed fighting in the streets and the footage ends up in the national newspapers. Even if the ECB wanted to be lenient to England’s star player, there’s no way the corporates are going to have that sort of thing associated with their brand. Stokes has nothing to complain about, whoever started the fight, and for whatever reasons. He is an England cricketer, well aware of the standards of behaviour his employers expect, of what is likely to happen to transgressors. He was also happy, no doubt, to pick up the sort of salary that wouldn’t be possible if ECB didn’t dip into the corporate wallet. Before Packer, in the days before smartphones with cameras, players could get away with the odd boozed-up barny. Ian Chappell got into a bar room fight with a young Ian Botham before the 1977 Centenary Test. A few months later, Botham was making his Test debut and Chappell captaining Kerry Packer’s WSC Australian team. Christmas 1980 and Botham, allegedly, got involved in a brawl in a Scunthorpe nightclub. But whilst the bow-ties at Lord’s might have raised a disapproving pink gin or three; Botham was still England captain when the team set out for the West Indies a few months later. Back then, though, there were no corporate bigwigs casting judgements about the type of chap they wanted associated with their brand. It’s not all bad change for Stokes. Suspended on full pay since the incident, he has probably earned more in the last few weeks than he would have, in an entire career, if he’d had played during those more lenient, pre-Packer days.


If a sequence of Riemannian manifolds, $X_i$, converges in the pointed Gromov-Hausdorff sense to a limit space, $X_\infty$, and if $E_i$ are vector bundles over $X_i$ endowed with metrics of Sasaki-type with a uniform upper bound on rank, then a subsequence of the $E_i$ converges in the pointed Gromov-Hausdorff sense to a metric space, $E_\infty$. The projection maps $\pi_i$ converge to a limit submetry $\pi_\infty$ and the fibers converge to its fibers; the latter may no longer be vector spaces but are homeomorphic to $\R^k/G$, where $G$ is a closed subgroup of $O(k)$ ---called the {\em wane group}--- that depends on the basepoint and that is defined using the holonomy groups on the vector bundles. The norms $\mu_i=\|\cdot\|_i$ converges to a map $\mu_{\infty}$ compatible with the re-scaling in $\R^k/G$ and the $\R$-action on $E_i$ converges to an $\R-$action on $E_{\infty}$ compatible with the limiting norm. In the special case when the sequence of vector bundles has a uniform lower bound on holonomy radius (as in a sequence of collapsing flat tori to a circle), the limit fibers are vector spaces. Under the opposite extreme, e.g. when a single compact $n$-dimensional manifold is re-scaled to a point, the limit fiber is $\R^n/H$ where $H$ is the closure of the holonomy group of the compact manifold considered. An appropriate notion of parallelism is given to the limiting spaces by considering curves whose length is unchanged under the projection. The class of such curves is invariant under the $\R$-action and each such curve preserves norms. The existence of parallel translation along rectifiable curves with arbitrary initial conditions is also exhibited. Uniqueness is not true in general, but a necessary condition is given in terms of the aforementioned wane groups $G$.


Two types of pseudoscalar quarkonium electromagnetic decay processes, i.e. decay to a lepton pair, and to a lepton pair plus a photon (Dalitz decay), are analyzed at the leading order in NRQCD expansion. The former type of processes, highly suppressed in the Standard Model, have been hoped to act as the sensitive probes of the possible new physics. The latter type of processes generally possess much greater decay rates than the former, owing to several conspiring factors. The recently launched BES-III program, with $10^8$ $\eta_c$ samples to be anticipated in the coming years, may be able to observe the Dalitz decays $\eta_c\to e^+e^-\gamma$ and $\eta_c\to \mu^+\mu^-\gamma$, which have branching ratios of order $10^{-6}$. When the radiated photon becomes very soft, the Dalitz decay events will be experimentally tagged as the exclusive lepton pair events. It is found that, those quasi-two-body events that arise from $\eta_c\to e^+ e^-\gamma$ with photon energy less than the minimum sensitivity of the electromagnetic calorimeter, can vastly outnumber the literal $\eta_c\to e^+ e^-$ events, however this amplification is still not dramatic enough for the BES-III experiment to establish these events. Consequently, the expectation of looking for new physics signature in the $\eta_c\to l^+l^-$ channel is obscured, unless the contamination from $\eta_c \to l^+l^-\gamma$ has been taken into account carefully.