A dipole anisotropy of galaxy distribution: Does the CMB rest-frame exist in the local universe?

The peculiar motion of the Earth causes a dipole anisotropy modulation in the distant galaxy distribution due to the aberration effect. However, the amplitude and angular direction of the effect is not necessarily the same as those of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) dipole anisotropy due to the growth of cosmic structures. In other words exploring the aberration effect may give us a clue to the horizon-scale physics perhaps related to the cosmic acceleration. In this paper we develop a method to explore the dipole angular modulation from the pixelized galaxy data on the sky properly taking into account the covariances due to the shot noise and the intrinsic galaxy clustering contamination as well as the partial sky coverage. We applied the method to the galaxy catalogs constructed from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 6 data. After constructing the four galaxy catalogs that are different in the ranges of magnitudes and photometric redshifts to study possible systematics, we found that the most robust sample against systematics indicates no dipole anisotropy in the galaxy distribution. This finding is consistent with the expectation from the concordance Lambda-dominated cold dark matter model. Finally we argue that an almost full-sky galaxy survey such as LSST may allow for a significant detection of the aberration effect of the CMB dipole having the precision of constraining the angular direction to ~ 20 degrees in radius. Assuming a hypothetical LSST galaxy survey, we find that this method can confirm or reject the result implied from a stacked analysis of the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect of X-ray luminous clusters in Kashlinsky et al. (2008,2009) if the implied cosmic bulk flow is not extended out to the horizon.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures; 24 pages, added a couple of references and 2 figures. Revised version in response to the referee's comments. Resubmitted to Phys. Rev.

Spectroscopy and Stellar Populations of Star-forming Galaxies at z~3 in the Hubble Deep Field - South

We present results of VLT/FORS2 spectroscopy of galaxies at z~3 in the Hubble Deep Field-South (HDF-S). A sample of galaxies was drawn from the photo-z catalogue based on the HST/WFPC2 optical images and the deep near-infrared images obtained with VLT/ISAAC as a part of the FIRES project. We selected galaxies with photometric redshift between 2.5 and 4. Most of the selected galaxies are bright in rest-frame UV wavelengths and satisfy color selection criteria of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at z~3. The number of target galaxies with I(AB)<25.0 was 15. We identified new 5 firm and 2 probable redshifts in addition to confirmations of previously known 6 galaxies at z~3. We found 6 among these 13 galaxies lie at a quite narrow redshift range at z = 2.80+-0.01. We examined stellar populations of the galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts through comparisons of their optical and near-IR photometry data with template spectra generated by a population synthesis code. The ages from the onset of star formation for these star-forming galaxies with I<=25.0 are typically 50-200 Myr, and their stellar masses are between (0.5-5) x 10^10 M_sun, consistent with previous studies. We also compared these SED fitting results with those for distant red galaxies (DRGs) at z>2 discovered by FIRES. DRGs have larger stellar masses, larger dust attenuation than our UV-luminous LBG sample, and their star formation rates are often comparable to LBGs. These trends suggest that majority of DRGs are indeed the most massive systems at the redshift and are still in the active star-forming phase. Unless the number density of DRGs is much smaller than LBGs, estimates based on UV selected sample could miss substantial part of stellar mass density at z~3.Comment: 13 pages, 10 Postscript figures, accepted for publication in A&

Influence of through-flow on linear pattern formation properties in binary mixture convection

We investigate how a horizontal plane Poiseuille shear flow changes linear convection properties in binary fluid layers heated from below. The full linear field equations are solved with a shooting method for realistic top and bottom boundary conditions. Through-flow induced changes of the bifurcation thresholds (stability boundaries) for different types of convective solutions are deter- mined in the control parameter space spanned by Rayleigh number, Soret coupling (positive as well as negative), and through-flow Reynolds number. We elucidate the through-flow induced lifting of the Hopf symmetry degeneracy of left and right traveling waves in mixtures with negative Soret coupling. Finally we determine with a saddle point analysis of the complex dispersion relation of the field equations over the complex wave number plane the borders between absolute and convective instabilities for different types of perturbations in comparison with the appropriate Ginzburg-Landau amplitude equation approximation. PACS:47.20.-k,47.20.Bp, 47.15.-x,47.54.+rComment: 19 pages, 15 Postscript figure

Nonequilibrium relaxation of the two-dimensional Ising model: Series-expansion and Monte Carlo studies

We study the critical relaxation of the two-dimensional Ising model from a fully ordered configuration by series expansion in time t and by Monte Carlo simulation. Both the magnetization (m) and energy series are obtained up to 12-th order. An accurate estimate from series analysis for the dynamical critical exponent z is difficult but compatible with 2.2. We also use Monte Carlo simulation to determine an effective exponent, z_eff(t) = - {1/8} d ln t /d ln m, directly from a ratio of three-spin correlation to m. Extrapolation to t = infinity leads to an estimate z = 2.169 +/- 0.003.Comment: 9 pages including 2 figure

New Dynamic Monte Carlo Renormalization Group Method

The dynamical critical exponent of the two-dimensional spin-flip Ising model is evaluated by a Monte Carlo renormalization group method involving a transformation in time. The results agree very well with a finite-size scaling analysis performed on the same data. The value of $z = 2.13 \pm 0.01$ is obtained, which is consistent with most recent estimates

Influence of the Soret effect on convection of binary fluids

Convection in horizontal layers of binary fluids heated from below and in particular the influence of the Soret effect on the bifurcation properties of extended stationary and traveling patterns that occur for negative Soret coupling is investigated theoretically. The fixed points corresponding to these two convection structures are determined for realistic boundary conditions with a many mode Galerkin scheme for temperature and concentration and an accurate one mode truncation of the velocity field. This solution procedure yields the stable and unstable solutions for all stationary and traveling patterns so that complete phase diagrams for the different convection types in typical binary liquid mixtures can easily be computed. Also the transition from weakly to strongly nonlinear states can be analyzed in detail. An investigation of the concentration current and of the relevance of its constituents shows the way for a simplification of the mode representation of temperature and concentration field as well as for an analytically manageable few mode description.Comment: 30 pages, 12 figure

Morphological Number Counts and Redshift Distributions to I = 25 from the Hubble Deep Fields: Constraints on Cosmological Models from Early Type Galaxies

We combine magnitude and photometric redshift data on galaxies in the Hubble Deep Fields with morphological classifications in order to separate out the distributions for early type galaxies. The updated morphological galaxy number counts down to I = 25 and the corresponding redshift distributions are used as joint constraints on cosmological models, in particular on the values of the density parameter Omega_{0} and normalised cosmological constant Lambda_{0}. We find that an Einstein - de Sitter universe with simple passive evolution gives an excellent fit to the counts and redshift data at all magnitudes. An open, low Omega_{0}, model with no net evolution (and conservation of the number of ellipticals), which fits the counts equally well, is somewhat less successful, predicting slightly lower mean redshifts and, more significantly, the lack of a high--z tail. A number conserving model with a dominant contribution from Lambda_{0}, on the other hand, is far less successful, predicting a much narrower distribution than seen. More complex models are obviously possible, but we conclude that if large scale transmutation between types does {\it not} occur, then the lambda-dominated models provide a very poor fit to the current data.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

The Effect Of Education On Oral Health Students’ Attitudes In Australia And New Zealand

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the oral health attitudes and behavior of students in the oral health curriculum in Australia and New Zealand. Materials and Methods: The Hiroshima University ‑ Dental Behavioral Inventory was administered to students in the first (year 1) and final years (year 3) of the oral health curriculum at Charles Sturt University in Australia and the University of Otago in New Zealand. A total of fifty‑two year 1 students and forty‑five year 3 students completed English version of the questionnaire in 2013. The responses were statistically analyzed by Fisher’s exact tests and exact logistic regression models. Results: The responses of students in years 1 and 3 differed significantly for “I worry about the color of my teeth” at Charles Sturt University and at the University Otago, for “I think my teeth are getting worse despite my daily brushing,” “I put off going to the dentist until I have a toothache,” and “I don’t feel I’ve brushed well unless I brush with strong strokes.” The estimated odds ratios from the exact logistic regression models showed that year 1 students were more likely to agree with above‑mentioned four questions. Conclusions: Oral Health students who had been educated in a 3‑year oral health curriculum in Australia and New Zealand had more positive attitudes and behaviors related oral health than did students at the beginning of their curriculum

Oxytocin's neurochemical effects in the medial prefrontal cortex underlie recovery of task-specific brain activity in autism: a randomized controlled trial

The neuropeptide oxytocin may be an effective therapeutic strategy for the currently untreatable social and communication deficits associated with autism. Our recent paper reported that oxytocin mitigated autistic behavioral deficits through the restoration of activity in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), as demonstrated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a socio-communication task. However, it is unknown whether oxytocin exhibited effects at the neuronal level, which was outside of the specific task examined. In the same randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, within-subject cross-over clinical trial in which a single dose of intranasal oxytocin (24 IU) was administered to 40 men with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (UMIN000002241/000004393), we measured N-acetylaspartate (NAA) levels, a marker for neuronal energy demand, in the vmPFC using (1)H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS). The differences in the NAA levels between the oxytocin and placebo sessions were associated with oxytocin-induced fMRI signal changes in the vmPFC. The oxytocin-induced increases in the fMRI signal could be predicted by the NAA differences between the oxytocin and placebo sessions (P=0.002), an effect that remained after controlling for variability in the time between the fMRI and (1)H-MRS scans (P=0.006) and the order of administration of oxytocin and placebo (P=0.001). Furthermore, path analysis showed that the NAA differences in the vmPFC triggered increases in the task-dependent fMRI signals in the vmPFC, which consequently led to improvements in the socio-communication difficulties associated with autism. The present study suggests that the beneficial effects of oxytocin are not limited to the autistic behavior elicited by our psychological task, but may generalize to other autistic behavioral problems associated with the vmPFC

Appendicular bone mass and knee and hand osteoarthritis in Japanese women: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that there is an inverse association between osteoarthritis (OA) and osteoporosis. However, the relationship of bone mass to OA in a Japanese population whose rates of OA are different from Caucasians remains uncertain. METHODS: We studied the association of appendicular bone mineral density (second metacarpal; mBMD) and quantitative bone ultrasound (calcaneus; stiffness index) with knee and hand OA among 567 Japanese community-dwelling women. Knee and hand radiographs were scored for OA using Kellgren-Lawrence (K/L) scales. In addition, we evaluated the presence of osteophytes and of joint space narrowing. The hand joints were examined at the distal and proximal interphalangeal (DIP, PIP) and first metacarpophalangeal/carpometacarpal (MCP/CMC) joints. RESULTS: After adjusting for age and body mass index (BMI), stiffness index was significantly higher in women with K/L scale, grade 3 at CMC/MCP joint compared with those with no OA. Adjusted means of stiffness index and mBMD were significantly higher in women with definite osteophytes at the CMC/MCP joint compared to those without osteophytes, whereas there were no significant differences for knee, DIP and PIP joints. Stiffness index, but not mBMD, was higher in women with definite joint space narrowing at the CMC/MCP joint compared with those with no joint space narrowing. CONCLUSIONS: Appendicular bone mass was increased with OA at the CMC/MCP joint, especially among women with osteophytes. Our findings suggest that the association of peripheral bone mass with OA for knee, DIP or PIP may be less clearcut in Japanese women than in other populations