The Area Distribution of Solar Magnetic Bright Points

Magnetic Bright Points (MBPs) are among the smallest observable objects on the solar photosphere. A combination of G-band observations and numerical simulations is used to determine their area distribution. An automatic detection algorithm, employing 1-dimensional intensity profiling, is utilized to identify these structures in the observed and simulated datasets. Both distributions peak at an area of $\approx$45000 km$^2$, with a sharp decrease towards smaller areas. The distributions conform with log-normal statistics, which suggests that flux fragmentation dominates over flux convergence. Radiative magneto-convection simulations indicate an independence in the MBP area distribution for differing magnetic flux densities. The most commonly occurring bright point size corresponds to the typical width of intergranular lanes.Comment: Astrophysical Journal, accepte

Differential effects of MDMA and methylphenidate on social cognition

Social cognition is important in everyday-life social interactions. The social cognitive effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') and methylphenidate (both used for neuroenhancement and as party drugs) are largely unknown. We investigated the acute effects of MDMA (75 mg), methylphenidate (40 mg) and placebo using the Facial Emotion Recognition Task, Multifaceted Empathy Test, Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition, Social Value Orientation Test and the Moral Judgment Task in a cross-over study in 30 healthy subjects. Additionally, subjective, autonomic, pharmacokinetic, endocrine and adverse drug effects were measured. MDMA enhanced emotional empathy for positive emotionally charged situations in the MET and tended to reduce the recognition of sad faces in the Facial Emotion Recognition Task. MDMA had no effects on cognitive empathy in the Multifaceted Empathy Test or social cognitive inferences in the Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition. MDMA produced subjective 'empathogenic' effects, such as drug liking, closeness to others, openness and trust. In contrast, methylphenidate lacked such subjective effects and did not alter emotional processing, empathy or mental perspective-taking. MDMA but not methylphenidate increased the plasma levels of oxytocin and prolactin. None of the drugs influenced moral judgment. Effects on emotion recognition and emotional empathy were evident at a low dose of MDMA and likely contribute to the popularity of the drug

The Velocity Distribution of Solar Photospheric Magnetic Bright Points

We use high spatial resolution observations and numerical simulations to study the velocity distribution of solar photospheric magnetic bright points. The observations were obtained with the Rapid Oscillations in the Solar Atmosphere instrument at the Dunn Solar Telescope, while the numerical simulations were undertaken with the MURaM code for average magnetic fields of 200 G and 400 G. We implemented an automated bright point detection and tracking algorithm on the dataset, and studied the subsequent velocity characteristics of over 6000 structures, finding an average velocity of approximately 1 km/s, with maximum values of 7 km/s. Furthermore, merging magnetic bright points were found to have considerably higher velocities, and significantly longer lifetimes, than isolated structures. By implementing a new and novel technique, we were able to estimate the background magnetic flux of our observational data, which is consistent with a field strength of 400 G.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJL, 12 pages, 2 figure

A combined IRAM and Herschel/HIFI study of cyano(di)acetylene in Orion KL: tentative detection of DC3N

We present a study of cyanoacetylene (HC3N) and cyanodiacetylene (HC5N) in Orion KL, through observations from two line surveys performed with the IRAM 30m telescope and the HIFI instrument on board the Herschel telescope. The frequency ranges covered are 80-280 GHz and 480-1906 GHz. We model the observed lines of HC3N, HC5N, their isotopologues (including DC3N), and vibrational modes, using a non-LTE radiative transfer code. To investigate the chemical origin of HC3N and DC3N in Orion KL, we use a time-dependent chemical model. We detect 40 lines of the ground state of HC3N and 68 lines of its 13C isotopologues. We also detect 297 lines of six vibrational modes of this molecule (nu_7, 2nu_7, 3nu_7, nu_6, nu_5, and nu_6+nu_7) and 35 rotational lines of the ground state of HC5N. We report the first tentative detection of DC3N in a giant molecular cloud with a DC3N/HC3N abundance ratio of 0.015. We provide column densities and isotopic and molecular abundances. We also perform a 2x2" map around Orion IRc2 and we present maps of HC3N lines and maps of lines of the HC3N vibrational modes nu_6 and nu_7. In addition, a comparison of our results for HC3N with those in other clouds allows us to derive correlations between the column density, the FWHM, the mass, and the luminosity of the clouds. The high column densities of HC3N obtained in the hot core, make this molecule an excellent tracer of hot and dense gas. In addition, the large frequency range covered reveals the need to consider a temperature and density gradient in the hot core in order to obtain better line fits. The high D/H ratio (comparable to that obtained in cold clouds) that we derive suggests a deuterium enrichment. Our chemical models indicate that the possible deuterated HC3N present in Orion KL is formed during the gas-phase. This fact provides new hints concerning the processes leading to deuteration.Comment: 50 pages, 33 figures, 13 tables. Accepted for publication in A&

The Australian Farm Business Management Network: Industry, Education, Consultancy and Research Coming Together

Under the sponsorship of the University of Sydney, on 5-6th December 2002 the future of farm management in Australia was discussed. The fundamental conclusion achieved by key primary industry representatives, corporate executives, academics, consultants and researchers is that farm management will have a more significant role to play in the future than previously in servicing the primary sector. The idea of farm management as a profession was proposed. Its basis would be business management supported by farming systems and technology, and using an holistic approach to action (i.e. finance, people and environment). The new profession of Farm Business Management would seek to influence education, research, consultancy and extension in Australia. Interested parties participating of the 2002 National Farm Management Workshop came away with the idea of championing a consultative network, constituted by interested institutions and interested individuals, as a first step in the process of nurturing the future development of farm business management. By integrating farmers and academics with corporate executives, consultants and researchers the objective is to behave as a consultative group. This group will influence educational models, implement consultancy and research strategies, and network in social and professional terms. Moreover, this network will provide a systematic opportunity for the channelling of farm business management and farming systems related information at different levels for education, extension and scientific purposes. This network is called the Australian Farm Business Management Network (AFBMnetwork).Institutional and Behavioral Economics,

The type IIb SN 2008ax: the nature of the progenitor

A source coincident with the position of the type IIb supernova (SN) 2008ax is identified in pre-explosion Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 observations in three optical filters. We identify and constrain two possible progenitor systems: (i) a single massive star that lost most of its hydrogen envelope through radiatively driven mass loss processes, prior to exploding as a helium-rich Wolf-Rayet star with a residual hydrogen envelope, and (ii) an interacting binary in a low mass cluster producing a stripped progenitor. Late time, high resolution observations along with detailed modelling of the SN will be required to reveal the true nature of this progenitor star.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, resolution of figure 1 reduced, figure 2 revised, some revision following referee's comments, accepted for publication in MNRAS letter

A Candidate Young Massive Planet in Orbit around the Classical T Tauri Star CI Tau

The ~2 Myr old classical T Tauri star CI Tau shows periodic variability in its radial velocity (RV) variations measured at infrared (IR) and optical wavelengths. We find that these observations are consistent with a massive planet in a ~9-day period orbit. These results are based on 71 IR RV measurements of this system obtained over 5 years, and on 26 optical RV measurements obtained over 9 years. CI Tau was also observed photometrically in the optical on 34 nights over ~one month in 2012. The optical RV data alone are inadequate to identify an orbital period, likely the result of star spot and activity induced noise for this relatively small dataset. The infrared RV measurements reveal significant periodicity at ~9 days. In addition, the full set of optical and IR RV measurements taken together phase coherently and with equal amplitudes to the ~9 day period. Periodic radial velocity signals can in principle be produced by cool spots, hot spots, and reflection of the stellar spectrum off the inner disk, in addition to resulting from a planetary companion. We have considered each of these and find the planet hypothesis most consistent with the data. The radial velocity amplitude yields an Msin(i) of ~8.1 M_Jup; in conjunction with a 1.3 mm continuum emission measurement of the circumstellar disk inclination from the literature, we find a planet mass of ~11.3 M_Jup, assuming alignment of the planetary orbit with the disk.Comment: 61 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa