On the apsidal motion of BP Vulpeculae

BP Vulpeculae is a bright eclipsing binary system showing apsidal motion. It was found in an earlier study that it shows retrograde apsidal motion which contradicts theory. In this paper we present the first $BV$ light curve of the system and its light curve solution as well as seven new times of the minima from the years 1959-1963. This way we could expanded the baseline of the investigation to five decades. Based on this longer baseline we concluded that the apsidal motion is prograde agreeing with the theoretical expectations and its period is about 365 years and the determined internal structure constant is close to the theoretically expected one.Comment: accepted for New Astronomy; two figure

Dietary fat and the prevalence of hand osteoarthritis: data from the osteoarthritis initiative

OBJECTIVE: To determine the effect of total dietary fat intake on the prevalence of hand osteoarthritis (HOA) utilizing data collected in the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) study cohort. METHODS: This is an observational cross-sectional study. Subjects from the OAI cohort with hand radiographs were analyzed for HOA, defined as a Kellgren-Lawrence score of ≥2 in two or more joints on different fingers. Dietary data and socioeconomic factors were collected from the baseline study visit. Logistic regression analysis assessed the association of total fat intake and disease prevalence. Odds ratios were calculated from the coefficients and confidence intervals were calculated with log-likelihood. RESULTS: HOA was prevalent in 1,106 out of the 2,993 participants (37%). Total fat intake did not show a significant relationship to disease prevalence when adjusted for age, education, income, race, smoking, BMI, prescription NSAID use, calcium intake, protein intake, total calories, saturated/monounsaturated fats, and alcohol consumption. There was a significant association of HOA with age, sex, education, race, total calories, and alcohol intake. Sex was analyzed independently to assess for effect modification, showing an association with age (P<0.01) OR (95%CI) 1.03 (1.02,1.03), race (P<0.01) 1.16 (1.09,1.23), and alcohol consumption (P<0.01) 1.06 (1.02,1.09) among only female subjects. Male subjects showed a strong association with age (P<0.01) 1.02 (1.01,1.02). CONCLUSION: Total fat intake does not show a significant association with HOA prevalence with the study sample from the OAI cohort. Age, race, and alcohol consumption showed significant associations depending on sex. More research is needed to further investigation these associations among different groups

Interpretation of Infrared Vibration-Rotation Spectra of Interstellar and Circumstellar Molecules

Infrared vibration-rotation lines can be valuable probes of interstellar and circumstellar molecules, especially symmetric molecules, which have no pure rotational transitions. But most such observations have been interpreted with an isothermal absorbing slab model, which leaves out important radiative transfer and molecular excitation effects. A more realistic non-LTE and non-isothermal radiative transfer model has been constructed. The results of this model are in much better agreement with the observations, including cases where lines in one branch of a vibration-rotation band are in absorption and another in emission. In general, conclusions based on the isothermal absorbing slab model can be very misleading, but the assumption of LTE may not lead to such large errors, particularly if the radiation field temperature is close to the gas temperature.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, ApJ in pres

Regional/District economic developments : District economic overview

Economic conditions ; Economic indicators ; Federal Reserve District, 5th

District economic developments

Economic indicators ; Federal Reserve District, 5th

District economic developments

Economic conditions ; Economic indicators ; Federal Reserve District, 5th

Electric debate : is deregulation working?

Electric utilities