This paper reports the first clear detection of a detached dust shell surrounding the prototypical J-type carbon star Y CVn in 90 m and 160 m maps taken with the ISO/ISOPHOT1. The projected inner radius of the shell is 180–190, corresponding to (6.4–7.1) 1017 cm at a distance of 250 pc. The shell thickness is obtained to be (2–5) 1017 cm. The mass-loss rate at the formation of the shell is esti...

41 RS CVn and BY Dra type binaries with reliable orbital and physical parameters have been found to rotate asynchronously with the orbital revolution. For this sample inclinations of the rotational axes, ir, of the primaries and the orbital inclinations, io, are independently determined to test the alignment between the equatorial and the orbital planes. The observed difference ∆i = |io − ir| m...

An analysis of the photometric observations of the light curves of the five large amplitude, irregularly pulsating stars R UMi, RS Cyg, V CVn, UX Dra and SX Her is presented. First, multi-periodicity is eliminated for these pulsations, i.e., they are not caused by the excitation of a small number of pulsation modes with constant amplitudes. Next, on the basis of energetics we also eliminate sto...

The model of a simple perceptron using phase-encoded inputs and complex-valued weights is proposed. The aggregation function, activation function, and learning rule for the proposed neuron are derived and applied to Boolean logic functions and simple computer vision tasks. The complex-valued neuron (CVN) is shown to be superior to traditional perceptrons. An improvement of 135% over the theoret...

We present five new outbursting AM CVn systems and one candidate discovered as part of an ongoing search for such systems using the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). This is the first large-area, systematic search for AM CVn systems using only large-amplitude photometric variability to select candidates. Three of the confirmed systems and the candidate system were discovered as part of the PTF t...

Cyanovirin-N (CV-N) is a small, cyanobacterial lectin that neutralizes many enveloped viruses, including human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1). This antiviral activity is attributed to two homologous carbohydrate binding sites that specifically bind high mannose glycosylation present on envelope glycoproteins such as HIV-1 gp120. We created obligate CV-N oligomers to determine whether inc...

The investigation of allyl cyanide adsorption on Si(111)-737 using high-resolution electron-energy-loss spectroscopy ~HREELS!, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy ~XPS!, and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy ~UPS! reveals a tetra-s binding mode through two @212#-like cycloaddition reactions. The HREELS spectra of chemisorbed monolayer show the absence of CvC, CwN, and C(sp)uH stretching modes...

We extend recent work that included the effect of pressure forces to derive the precession rate of eccentric accretion discs in cataclysmic variables to the case of double degenerate systems. We find that the logical scaling of the pressure force in such systems results in predictions of unrealistically high primary masses. Using the prototype AM CVn as a calibrator for the magnitude of the eff...

Studies of cognitive behavior in rodent models of Alzheimer's disease (AD) are the mainstay of academic and industrial efforts to find effective treatments for this disorder. However, in the majority of such studies, the nature of rodent behavioral tests is considerably different from the setting associated with cognitive assessments of individuals with AD. The recently developed touchscreen te...

Recent work by Levitan et al has expanded the long–term photometric database for AM CVn stars. In particular, their outburst properties are well–correlated with orbital period, and allow constraints to be placed on the secular mass transfer rate between secondary and primary if one adopts the disk instability model for the outbursts. We use the observed range of outbursting behavior for AM CVn ...