A review of elliptical and disc galaxy structure, and modern scaling laws

A century ago, in 1911 and 1913, Plummer and then Reynolds introduced their models to describe the radial distribution of stars in `nebulae'. This article reviews the progress since then, providing both an historical perspective and a contemporary review of the stellar structure of bulges, discs and elliptical galaxies. The quantification of galaxy nuclei, such as central mass deficits and excess nuclear light, plus the structure of dark matter halos and cD galaxy envelopes, are discussed. Issues pertaining to spiral galaxies including dust, bulge-to-disc ratios, bulgeless galaxies, bars and the identification of pseudobulges are also reviewed. An array of modern scaling relations involving sizes, luminosities, surface brightnesses and stellar concentrations are presented, many of which are shown to be curved. These 'redshift zero' relations not only quantify the behavior and nature of galaxies in the Universe today, but are the modern benchmark for evolutionary studies of galaxies, whether based on observations, N-body-simulations or semi-analytical modelling. For example, it is shown that some of the recently discovered compact elliptical galaxies at 1.5 < z < 2.5 may be the bulges of modern disc galaxies.Comment: Condensed version (due to Contract) of an invited review article to appear in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems"(www.springer.com/astronomy/book/978-90-481-8818-5). 500+ references incl. many somewhat forgotten, pioneer papers. Original submission to Springer: 07-June-201

Early osteoarthritis and reduced quality of life after retirement in former professional soccer players

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to compare the prevalence of osteoarthritis in two groups: one comprising former professional soccer players and the other comprising non-professional-athlete participants. METHODS: Twenty-seven male former professional soccer players and 30 male volunteers from different non-sports professional areas participated in the study. All participants underwent bilateral knee radiography and magnetic resonance imaging. In addition, the quality of life, knee pain and joint function were evaluated and compared using questionnaires given to all participants in both groups. Specific knee evaluations, with regard to osteoarthritis and quality of life, were performed in both groups using the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score subjective questionnaires and the Short-form 36. The chi-squared test, Fisher's exact test, the Mann-Whitney U test and Student's t-test were used for group comparisons. RESULTS: The between-groups comparison revealed significant differences in the following: pain, symptoms and quality of life related to the knee in the Knee Injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score subscales; the physical aspects subscale of the SF-36; total whole-organ magnetic resonance imaging scores with regard to the dominant and non-dominant knees. Former soccer players had worse scores than the controls in all comparisons. CONCLUSIONS: Both the clinical and magnetic resonance evaluations and the group comparisons performed in this study revealed that former soccer players have a worse quality of life than that of a control group with regard to physical aspects related to the knee; these aspects include greater pain, increased symptoms and substantial changes in radiographic and magnetic resonance images of the knee

The pax americana and development

Development in its many iterations was born from the needs of the Pax Americana to create reliable and competent compradors, plus viable trading partners in order that its post-1945 informal empire would function. This chapter will examine the way the Pax Americana replaced Europe’s formal empires, the reason informal empires need comprador partners, and the difficulties encountered by the Pax Americana with identifying and appointing satisfactory comprador partners. The relationship between this “comprador problem” and the founding of a development industry and aid industry will be unpacked, as will the core assumption underpinning Pax Americana “development.” The differences between Pax Americana and Pax Britannica governance and development will also be examined, as will the continuities and discontinuities between these two varieties of imperialism. The idea of “development” emerged in the 1950s as one of the consequences of howWorldWar II transformed the world by replacing British global hegemony with the Pax Americana (see Louw PE Roots of the Pax Americana. Manchester University Press, Manchester, 2010). Before this war European empires (especially the British Empire) straddled the globe, while the USA found itself in the frustrating position of being a new rising global power which kept finding its opportunities for expanding its trade thwarted by the fact the Europeans had gotten there first. And so, even before America had entered World War II, the US State Department had established working committees charged with conceptualizing how to terminate European imperialism through decolonization (O’Sullivan CD Sumner Welles, postwar planning, and the quest for a new world order. Columbia University Press, New York, 2008: chapter 4), plus how to replace Europe’s formal empires with an American informal empire. After 1945, American power was used to implement this State Department planning such that Europe’s empires were deconstructed and a Pax American trading empire constructed in their place. This shift from formal empire to informal empire is significant because it created conditions that produced the “development” phenomenon