We present 63 new multi-site radial velocity (RV) measurements of the K1III giant HD 76920, which was recently reported to host the most eccentric planet known to orbit an evolved star. We focused our observational efforts on the time around the predicted periastron passage and achieved near-continuous phase coverage of the corresponding RV peak. By combining our RV measurements from four different instruments with previously published ones, we confirm the highly eccentric nature of the system and find an even higher eccentricity of $e=0.8782 \pm 0.0025$ , an orbital period of $415.891^{+0.043}_{-0.039}\,\textrm{d}$ , and a minimum mass of $3.13^{+0.41}_{-0.43}\,\textrm{M}_{\textrm{J}}$ for the planet. The uncertainties in the orbital elements are greatly reduced, especially for the period and eccentricity. We also performed a detailed spectroscopic analysis to derive atmospheric stellar parameters, and thus the fundamental stellar parameters ( $M_*, R_*, L_*$ ), taking into account the parallax from Gaia DR2, and independently determined the stellar mass and radius using asteroseismology. Intriguingly, at periastron, the planet comes to within 2.4 stellar radii of its host star’s surface. However, we find that the planet is not currently experiencing any significant orbital decay and will not be engulfed by the stellar envelope for at least another 50–80 Myr. Finally, while we calculate a relatively high transit probability of 16%, we did not detect a transit in the TESS photometry.

We summarize a series of numerical experiments of collisional dynamics in dense stellar systems such as globular clusters (GCs) and in weakly collisional plasmas using a novel simulation technique, the so-calledMulti-particle collision (MPC) method, alternative to Fokker-Planck and Monte Carlo approaches. MPC is related to particle-mesh approaches for the computation of self consistent long-range fields, ensuring that simulation time scales with N log N in the number of particles, as opposed to N2 for direct N-body. The collisional relaxation effects are modelled by computing particle interactions based on a collision operator approach that ensures rigorous conservation of energy and momenta and depends only on particles velocities and cell-based integrated quantities.

Growth mixture modeling with a sample of 749 Mexican heritage families identified parallel trajectories of adolescents’ and their mothers’ heritage cultural values and parallel trajectories of adolescents’ and their fathers’ heritage cultural values from Grades 5 to 10. Parallel trajectory profiles were then used to test cultural gap-distress theory that predicts increased parent–adolescent conflict and adolescent psychopathology over time when adolescents become less aligned with Mexican heritage values compared to their parents. Six similar parallel profiles were identified for the mother–youth and father–youth dyads, but only one of the six was consistent with the hypothesized problem gap pattern in which adolescents’ values were declining over time to become more discrepant from their parents. When compared to families in the other trajectory groups as a whole, mothers in the mother–adolescent problem gap trajectory group reported higher levels of mother–adolescent conflict in the 10th grade that accounted for subsequent increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms assessed in 12th grade. Although the findings provided some support for cultural gap-distress predictions, they were not replicated with adolescent report of conflict nor with the father–adolescent trajectory group analyses. Exploratory pairwise comparisons between all six mother–adolescent trajectory groups revealed additional differences that qualified and extended these findings.

Unusual speleothems, associated with hyperalkaline (pH > 12) groundwaters have formed within a shallow, abandoned railway tunnel at Peak Dale, Derbyshire, UK. The hyperalkaline groundwaters are produced by the leaching of a thin layer (<2 m) of old lime-kiln waste on the soil-bedrock surface above the tunnel by rainwater. This results in a different reaction and chemical process to that more commonly associated with the formation of calcium carbonate speleothems from Ca-HCO3-type groundwaters and degassing of CO2. Stalagmites within the Peak Daletunnel have grown rapidly (averaging 33 mm y–1), following the closure of the tunnel 70 years ago. They have an unusual morphology comprising a central sub-horizontally-laminated column of micro- to nano-crystalline calcium carbonate encompassed by an outer sub-vertical assymetricripple-laminated layer. The stalagmites are composed largely of secondary calcite forming pseudomorphs (<1 mm) that we believe to be predominantly after the 'cold climate' calcium carbonate polymorph, ikaite (calcium carbonate hexahydrate: CaCO3·6H2O), withminor volumes of small (<5 μm) pseudomorphs after vaterite. The tunnel has a near constant temperature of 8–9°C, which is slightly above the previously published crystallization temperatures for ikaite (<6°C). Analysis of a stalagmite actively growing at the time ofsampling, and preserved immediately within a dry nitrogen cryogenic vessel, indicates that following crystallization of ikaite, decomposition to calcite occurs rapidly, if not instantaneously. We believe this is the first occurrence of this calcium carbonate polymorph observed within speleothems.

In the dairy industry, excess dietary CP is consistently correlated with decreased conception rates. However, the source from which excess CP is derived and how it affects reproductive function in beef cattle is largely undefined. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of feeding excess metabolizable protein (MP) from feedstuffs differing in rumen degradability on ovulatory follicular dynamics, subsequent corpus luteum (CL) development, steroid hormone production and circulating amino acids (AA) in beef cows. Non-pregnant, non-lactating mature beef cows (n=18) were assigned to 1 of 2 isonitrogenous diets (150% of MP requirements) designed to maintain similar BW and body condition score (BCS) between treatments. Diets consisted of ad libitum corn stalks supplemented with corn gluten meal (moderate rumen undegradable protein (RUP); CGM) or soybean meal (low RUP; SBM). After a 20-day supplement adaptation period, cows were synchronized for ovulation. After 10 days of synchronization, gonadotropin releasing hormone (GnRH) was administered to reset ovarian follicular growth. Starting at GnRH administration and daily thereafter until spontaneous ovulation, transrectal ultrasonography was used to diagram ovarian follicular growth, and blood samples were collected for hormone, metabolite and AA analyses. After 7 days of visual detection of estrus, CL size was determined via ultrasound. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedures of SAS. As designed, cow BW and BCS were not different (P⩾0.33). Ovulatory follicular wavelength, antral follicle count, ovulatory follicle size at dominance and duration of dominance were not different (P>0.13) between treatments. Cows supplemented with CGM had greater post-dominance ovulatory follicle growth, larger dominant follicles at spontaneous luteolysis, shorter proestrus, and larger ovulatory follicles (P⩽0.03) than SBM cows. No differences (P⩾0.44) in peak estradiol, ratio of estradiol to ovulatory follicle volume, or plasma urea nitrogen were observed. While CL volume and the ratio of progesterone to CL volume were not affected by treatment (P⩾0.24), CGM treated cows tended to have decreased (P=0.07) circulating progesterone 7 days post-estrus compared with SBM cows. Although total circulating plasma AA concentration did not differ (P=0.70) between treatments, CGM cows had greater phenylalanine (P=0.03) and tended to have greater leucine concentrations (P=0.07) than SBM cows. In summary, these data illustrate that excess MP when supplemented to cows consuming a low quality forage may differentially impact ovarian function depending on ruminal degradability of the protein source.

In the dairy industry, excess dietary CP is consistently correlated with decreased conception rates. However, amount of excess CP effects on reproductive function in beef cattle is largely undefined. The objective of this experiment was to determine the effects of excess metabolizable protein (MP) supplementation from a moderately abundant rumen undegradable protein (RUP) source (corn gluten meal: 62% RUP) on ovarian function and circulating amino acid (AA) concentrations in beef cows consuming low quality forage. Non-pregnant, non-lactating beef cows (n=16) were allocated by age, BW and body condition score (BCS) to 1 of 2 isocaloric supplements designed to maintain BW for 60 days. Cows had ad libitum access to corn stalks and were individually offered a corn gluten meal-based supplement daily at 125% (MP125) or 150% (MP150) of National Research Council (NRC) MP requirements. After a 20-day supplement adaptation period, cows were synchronized for ovulation. After 10 days of synchronization, follicular growth was reset with gonadotropin releasing hormone. Daily thereafter, transrectal ultrasonography was performed to diagram ovarian follicular waves, and blood samples were collected for hormone, metabolite and AA analyses. After 7 days of observation of estrus, corpus luteum (CL) size was determined via ultrasound. Data were analyzed using the MIXED procedures of SAS. No differences (P⩾0.21) in BW and BCS existed throughout the study; however, plasma urea N at ovulation was greater (P=0.04) in MP150. Preovulatory ovarian follicle size at dominance, duration of dominance, size at spontaneous luteolysis, length of proestrus and wavelength were not different (P⩾0.11) between treatments. However, ovulatory follicles were larger (P=0.04) and average antral follicle count was greater (P=0.01) in MP150 than MP125. Estradiol concentration and ratio of estradiol to ovulatory follicle volume were not different due to treatment (P⩾0.25). While CL volume 7 days post-estrus was greater (P<0.01) in MP150 than MP125, circulating progesterone 7 days post-estrus and ratio of progesterone to CL volume were not different (P⩾0.21). Total AA were not different (P⩾0.76) at study initiation or completion; however, as a percent of total AA, branched-chain AA at ovulation were greater (P=0.02) in MP150. In conclusion, supplementation of CP at 150% of NRC MP requirements from a moderately undegradable protein source may enhance growth of the ovulatory follicle and subsequent CL compared with MP supplementation at 125% of NRC MP requirements.

In recent years there has been an increasing need for data on the rates of fatigue crack propagation in alloys of interest to the aircraft industry. In general alloys in which cracks grow slowly, under given stress conditions, have an obvious advantage over those in which cracks grow faster; there is more time to detect a crack before failure. It is possible that, in the future, quantitative crack propagation data may be used to give better estimates of the safe life of a structure. There is, however, a need to rationalise the presentation of such data and to study the effect of such parameters as specimen geometry and stress level. Some experiments to investigate the effect of varying some of these parameters in one clad aluminium alloy, DTD 5070A are described. It is a summary of work contained in two RAE Technical Reports.

1. A field trial in which a sward, predominantly of S. 24 ryegrass was fertilized with 248, 301, 532 or 589 kg N/ha showed that a maximal yield of 13·1 tonnes/ha of artificially dried grass could be obtained from four harvests in the year.

2. The materials harvested ranged in crude protein content from 10·1 to 23·6% and in apparent digestibility of dry matter from 72 to 76%. The amounts of the grasses voluntarily consumed by sheep were slightly and significantly lower for those containing the least N × 6·25.

3. In feeding trials with twenty-five steers, a barley diet was compared with a diet entirely of dried grass from the 3rd and 4th harvests from an area in the same field which had received 487 kg N/ha. The cattle given the barley diet consumed 8·7 kg/day and gained 1·22 kg/day. Those given dried grass consumed 8·9 kg and gained only 0·85 kg/day. Carcass quality of animals given dried grass was significantly lower than of those given the barley diet.

4. Calorimetric trials were made using two herbages from the first harvest (501, 532 kg N/ha) and all four herbages from the third harvest. In each of the six experiments three sheep were each given three amounts of a herbage, and in addition were fasted. Fifty-four calorimetric observations each lasting 5 days and eighteen fasting metabolism measurements were made.

5. With both 1st and 3rd harvests, methane energy losses fell and urinary energy losses increased with the level of N fertilization. Faecal energy losses were little affected by fertilizer application and the metabolizable energy (kcal/g D.M.) was 2·8 (11·7 kJ/g) for 1st harvests and 2·6 (10·9 kJ/g) for 3rd harvests. There was a slight decline in metabolizable energy/g D.M. with N application for the 3rd harvests.

6. The net energy values of the grasses for maintenance were 1·99 kcal/g D.M. (8·4 kJ/g) for the 1st harvested material and 1·84 kcal/g D.M. (7·7kJ/g) for the 3rd harvests. Net energy values for fattening, however, were 1·28 kcal/g D.M. (5·4kJ/g) for 1st harvests and 0·87 kcal/g D.M. (3·6kJ/g) for 3rd harvests. There were no significant effects of level of N fertilization.

7. The poorer nutritive value for fattening of the 3rd harvested grass, corresponding to an efficiency of utilization of metabolizable energy of only 33%, was contrary to prediction from equations relating nutritive value to either chemical composition or to metabolizable energy. The results of the calorimetric work, however, agreed with those of the feeding trial with cattle.

8. Combination of the results of the various trials showed that it was possible to obtain 1400 kg live-weight gain/ha from a system of husbandry based on high fertilizer use and artificial drying of herbage. With a barley system a maximal output/ha would be less than half this amount.

Major advances in our understanding of the Universe have historically come from dramatic improvements in our ability to accurately measure astronomical quantities. The astrometric observations obtained by modern digital sky surveys are enabling unprecedentedly massive and robust studies of the kinematics of the Milky Way. For example, the astrometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), together with half a century old astrometry from the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey (POSS), have enabled the construction of a catalog that includes absolute proper motions as accurate as 3 mas/year for about 20 million stars brighter than V=20, and for 80,000 spectroscopically confirmed quasars which provide exquisite error assessment. We discuss here several ongoing studies of Milky Way kinematics based on this catalog. The upcoming next-generation surveys will maintain this revolutionary progress. For example, we show using realistic simulations that the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will measure proper motions accurate to 1 mas/year to a limit 4 magnitude fainter than possible with SDSS and POSS catalogs, or with the Gaia survey. LSST will also obtain geometric parallaxes with accuracy similar to Gaia's at its faint end (0.3 mas at V=20), and extend them to V=24 with an accuracy of 3 mas. We discuss the impact that these LSST measurements will have on studies of the Milky Way kinematics, and potential synergies with the Gaia survey.

In Scotland, between 1995 and 2000 there were between 4 and 10 cases of illness per 100000 population per year identified as being caused by Escherichia coli O157, whereas in England and Wales there were between 1 and 2 cases per 100000 population per year. Within Scotland there is significant regional variation. A cluster of high rate areas was identified in the Northeast of Scotland and a cluster of low rate areas in central-west Scotland. Temporal trends follow a seasonal pattern whilst spatial effects appeared to be distant rather than local. The best-fit model identified a significant spatial trend with case rate increasing from West to East, and from South to North. No statistically significant spatial interaction term was found. In the models fitted, the cattle population density, the human population density, and the number of cattle per person were variously significant. The findings suggest that rural/urban exposures are important in sporadic infections.

Monitoring adolescent diets over time enables the assessment of the effectiveness of public health messages which are particularly important in vulnerable groups such as adolescents. In 2000, 424 children aged 11–12 years old completed two 3 d estimated dietary records. On the fourth day one nutritionist interviewed each child to clarify the information in the diary and foods were quantified with the aid of food models. Nutrient intake was calculated using computerised food tables. These children attended the same seven schools in the same Northumberland area as the 11- to 12-year-old children who recorded their diet using the same method in 1980 (n 405) and 1990 (n 379), respectively. Height and weight, and parental occupation were recorded in all three surveys for each child. Height and weight were used to calculate BMI, weight was used to estimate BMR and parental occupation was used to determine social class. Comparing the macronutrient intakes in 2000 with 1980 and 1990, energy intakes (EI) fell in boys (to 8·45 MJ) and girls (to 7·60 MJ). This fall may, at least in part, be due to an increase in low energy reporting. For 1980, 1990 and 2000 the percentage of boys with EI:BMR below 1·1 was 6, 15 and 23%, respectively; for girls, 3, 14 and 18%, respectively. Percentage energy from fat was unchanged between 1980 and 1990 but fell to 35% (about 76 g/d) in 2000, alongside a 3% increase in percentage energy from starch (30%). Percentage energy from non-milk extrinsic sugars remained above recommendations (16%; about 82 g/d). The number of overweight and obese children increased from 11% to 30% between 1980 and 2000. Positive changes have occurred in the Northumbrian adolescent diet but social inequalities, reported in previous surveys, remain.

We analyze the properties of quasar variability using repeated SDSS imaging data in five UV-to-far red photometric bands, accurate to 0.02 mag, for ∼13,000 spectroscopically confirmed quasars. The observed time lags span the range from 3 hours to over 3 years, and constrain the quasar variability for rest-frame time lags of up to two years, and at rest-frame wavelengths from 1000Å to 6000Å. We demonstrate that ∼66,000 SDSS measurements of magnitude differences can be described within the measurement noise by a simple function of only three free parameters. The addition of POSS data constrains the long-term behavior of quasar variability and provides evidence for a turn-over in the structure function. This turn-over indicates that the characteristic time scale for optical variability of quasars is of the order 1 year.To search for other articles by the author(s) go to: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abstract_service.html

Semiconducting boron carbide overlayers, formed from the decomposition of orthocarborane and metacarborane have been studied by angle resolved photoemission. The incurrence of surface photovoltage and the photovoltaic process, from the photoemission experiment, reveal band offsets in the orthocarborane multilayer configurations that are invereted relative to single layer configurations. Defect induced gap states which trap charge at the heterostructure interface is used as one explanation of these results. The role of defects is also used to help illuminate why opposite semiconducting type materials are formed from the decomposition of isomer carborane molecules.

The aim of the work was to explore the impact on general and psychological health of those with a proven bacterial gastrointestinal infection and to compare this with controls from whom no bacterial pathogen was identified. A case control study was conducted using an interviewer-administered questionnaire. Thirty-nine cases from whose faeces salmonella or campylobacter had been cultured were compared with matched controls. Reported gastrointestinal symptoms, general health and self-reported hygiene practices were compared. At the time of acute illness the General Household Questionnaire suggested similar levels of morbidity, though by follow up the controls were substantially more likely to be distressed. Cases were more likely to have changed their food preparation practices, to avoid certain eating places and to have been given advice about food preparation. In this small study a positive diagnosis of salmonella or campylobacter seems to have had a reassuring effect when compared with those for whom no diagnosis was made.

We positionally match sources observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), and the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-cm (FIRST) survey. Practically all 2MASS sources are matched to an SDSS source within 2 arcsec; ~11% of them are optically resolved galaxies and the rest are dominated by stars. About 1/3 of FIRST sources are matched to an SDSS source within 2 arcsec; ~80% of these are galaxies and the rest are dominated by quasars. Based on these results, we project that by the completion of these surveys the matched samples will include about 107 stars and 106 galaxies observed by both SDSS and 2MASS, and about 250,000 galaxies and 50,000 quasars observed by both SDSS and FIRST. Here we present a preliminary analysis of the optical, infrared and radio properties for the extragalactic sources from the matched samples. In particular, we find that the fraction of quasars with stellar colors missed by the SDSS spectroscopic survey is probably not larger than ~10%, and that the optical colors of radio-loud quasars are ~0.05 mag. redder (with 4σ significance) than the colors of radio-quiet quasars.

The UK Department of Health recently recommended that flour be fortified with folic acid, at 2400 μg/kg. The objectives of the present paper were: to determine the consequence of this on folic acid intake of adolescents; to determine the level of fortification necessary to achieve an intake of 400 μg/d in adolescent girls (the amount recommended periconceptionally); to estimate the consequence of fortification on folic acid intake of high flour consumers; and to report on folate intake of adolescents. Dietary intake of folate and flour were determined by analysis of an existing database of the diets of 379 English adolescents. The folic acid intake that would result from white flour fortification with folic acid at 2400 μg/kg was determined and the level of folic acid fortification necessary to achieve an intake of 400 μg/d in girls from this source was also calculated. Without flour fortification, 6·9 % of girls failed to reach the UK lower reference nutrient intake for total folate. Fortification of white flour with folic acid at 2400 μg/kg would result in an additional folic acid intake of 191(SEM 6) μg/d in girls. To ensure 97 % of girls received 400 μg/d from white flour, white flour would need to be fortified at a level of 10 430 μg/kg, resulting in intakes of 1260 μg/d from flour in the highest (97·5 centile) female white flour consumers and 1422 μg/d from flour in the highest (97·5 centile) male white flour consumers.