A large number of hydrodynamic pulsation models are converged in the first overtone, and their mean properties compared with observations of RRc stars in six globular clusters. The two observed quantities, period and Fourier parameter ϕ31 , lead, via the models, to inferred values for mean mass, luminosity and temperature of the RRc sample in each cluster. We find a narrow range in intracluster RRc luminosity and temperature, but a wider range in mass. At the same time, the intercluster spread is wide in all three parameters. A full discussion of our techniques and results will be given elsewhere (Simon and Clement, in preparation).

The level scheme and electromagnetic properties of 148Pm have been studied using 149Sm(d, 3He) and 148Nd(p, nγ) reactions. Combining these measurements with estimates for E2/M1 decay branching ratios leads to the tentative conclusion that 148Pmg,m are in thermal equilibrium during the s-process. The branch at 148Pm then leads to an inferred s-process neutron density of 3 × 108 cm−3.

It is well known that 14C dating of fossil bone with seriously depleted protein levels, or bone that has been consolidated with preservatives, can produce erroneous results. In the tropics, warm and moist soil conditions lead to constant reworking of organic matter and add to the danger of bone contamination. Because of this, 14C dating of preservative-impregnated bone from such areas has rarely been successful. We report here a set of AMS dates on both unconsolidated animal bone and polyvinyl acetate/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA/PV-OH) impregnated human burials from the Maya site of Cuello, Belize. The steps needed to purify the samples are described, together with details on the use of qualitative infra-red (IR) spectra as a means of assessing sample purity.

Objective: Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) is a neurological disorder presenting with gait, cognitive, and bladder symptoms in the context of ventricular enlargement. Although gait is the primary indicator for treatment candidacy and outcome, additional monitoring tools are needed. Line Tracing Test (LTT) and Serial Dotting Test (SDT), two psychomotor tasks, have been introduced as potential outcome measures but have not been widely studied. This preliminary study examined whether LTT and SDT are sensitive to motor dysfunction in INPH and determined if accuracy and time are important aspects of performance. Methods: Eighty-four INPH subjects and 36 healthy older adults were administered LTT and SDT. Novel error scoring procedures were developed to make scoring practical and efficient; interclass correlation showed good reliability of scoring procedures for both tasks (0.997; p<.001). Results: The INPH group demonstrated slower performance on SDT (p<.001) and made a greater number of errors on both tasks (p<.001). Combined Time/Error scores revealed poorer performance in the INPH group for original-LTT (p<.001), modified-LTT (p≤.001) and SDT (p<.001). Conclusions: These findings indicate LTT and SDT may prove useful for monitoring psychomotor skills in INPH. While completion time reflects impaired processing speed, reduced accuracy may suggest planning and self-monitoring difficulties, aspects of executive functioning known to be compromised in INPH. This is the first study to underscore the importance of performance accuracy in INPH and introduce practical/reliable error scoring for these tasks. Future work will establish reliability and validity of these measures and determine their utility as outcome tools. (JINS, 2016, 22, 341–349)

We mapped the distribution of 6 cm H2CO (110→111) absorption against the HII regions DR21 and W58 with an angular resolution of 6″8 (RA) and a velocity resolution of 0.73 km s-1. The Westerbork SRT was used with the newly completed 5120 channel digital line receiver. With all 14 telescopes, a maximum baseline of 1440 m, both linear polarizations and a bandwidth per channel of 10 kHz the rms noise in the channel maps was about 7 K. The goal of this work is to measure scale sizes of H2CO in molecular clouds near HII regions and to study the kinematics of the clouds in the molecular line.

Developing management strategies for invasive plant species requires identifying effective treatment methods (e.g., physical or chemical treatments) and optimally timing their application. For invasive annual plants, effects of treatments on seed production and germinability are paramount to reduce seed banks and subsequent plant establishment. We compared effects of a range of physical and chemical treatments applied to plants containing seeds at different developmental stages at field sites in the Mojave Desert (Nevada and Arizona) for managing the exotic annual forb, African mustard. Effectiveness of physical treatments (hand pulling entire plants, breaking plants, or separating siliques from plants) for reducing African mustard seed size and germination varied by treatment and seed maturity stage at which treatments were applied. With all treated plant material remaining in the field (i.e., not bagged and transported off site), hand pulling or breaking plants resulted in 90 to 100% of developing and developed seeds still able to germinate. Separating siliques from plants, however, resulted in 0% germination of undeveloped and developing seeds. All three tested herbicides (glyphosate, 2,4-D, and metsulfuron) reduced germination to zero or near zero across all seed development stages. Results suggest that physical treatments are most effective at early stages of seed development, whereas several different herbicides are effective across seed developmental stages. Results also highlight the importance of considering the potential for continued seed development and germinability on treated plant material when choosing invasive plant treatment types and timing.

Using data from a large-scale three-dimensional simulation of supersonic isothermal turbulence, we have tested the validity of an exact flux relation derived analytically from the Navier–Stokes equation by Falkovich, Fouxon & Oz (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 644, 2010, p. 465). That relation, for compressible barotropic fluids, was derived assuming turbulence generated by a large-scale force. However, compressible turbulence in simulations is usually initialized and maintained by a large-scale acceleration, as in gravity-driven astrophysical flows. We present a new approximate flux relation for isothermal turbulence driven by a large-scale acceleration, and find it in reasonable agreement with the simulation results.