Theoretical and experimental lifetime and oscillator strength determination in singly ionized neodymium (Nd ii)

Radiative lifetime measurements were performed with time-resolved laser-induced fluorescence techniques for 24 levels of Nd  ii in the energy range 20 500–32 500 cm⁻¹. For 17 levels, no previous experimental data exist. These results have allowed the testing of new theoretical calculations with the relativistic Hartree–Fock method taking configuration interactions and core-polarization effects into account, and a satisfying agreement has been found for this complex ion. A new set of calculated oscillator strengths, accurate within a few per cent for the strongest transitions, is presented for 107 lines of astrophysical interest appearing in the wavelength range 358.0–1100.0 nm. These results will be useful to evaluate abundance values of neodymium in chemically peculiar stars in relation with cosmochronology.     

The response of an elastic half‐space under a momentary shear line impulse

The response of an ideal elastic half‐space to a line‐concentrated impulsive vector shear force applied momentarily is obtained by an analytical–numerical computational method based on the theory of characteristics in conjunction with kinematical relations derived across surfaces of strong discontinuities. The shear force is concentrated along an infinite line, drawn on the surface of the half‐space, while being normal to that line as well as to the axis of symmetry of the half‐space. An exact loading model is introduced and built into the computational method for this shear force. With this model, a compatibility exists among the prescribed applied force, the geometric decay of the shear stress component at the precursor shear wave, and the boundary conditions of the half‐space; in this sense, the source configuration is exact. For the transient boundary‐value problem described above, a wave characteristics formulation is presented, where its differential equations are extended to allow for strong discontinuities which occur in the material motion of the half‐space. A numerical integration of these extended differential equations is then carried out in a three‐dimensional spatiotemporal wavegrid formed by the Cartesian bicharacteristic curves of the wave characteristics formulation. This work is devoted to the construction of the computational method and to the concepts involved therein, whereas the interpretation of the resultant transient deformation of the half‐space is presented in a subsequent paper. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The grain-size characteristics of Quaternary deposits at Xingshan near Siping in Jilin province, China

This research paper analyses the grain-size characteristics of the Quaternary deposits at Xingshan near Siping, Jilin province in China by employing graphic measures to study the grain size distribution and its mode of transport and deposition. The Quaternary deposits at Xingshan lie unconformable on Cretaceous rocks made of siltstone, mudstone and sandstone. The average grain size is between 8.06 to 8.55Φ (0.002 6 ～0.003 7 mm). The Quaternary deposits at Xingshan mainly compose of very fine silt to clay. The compositions of the grade are clay 63% and silt 37%. The clay size components are weathered debris transported and deposited by flowing water from the SE highlands or hills to the low lying NW Xingshan plains whereas the silty components accumulated by aoelian process. The Quaternary deposits at Xingshan accumulated in the middle and late Pleistocene interglacial periods from (459.12～39.03) ka to (88.92～7.56) ka. The standard deviation ranged from 0.96 to 1.36Φ, indicating that the sediments are moderately to poorly sorted, Coefficient of skewness ranged from 0.16～0.31 with an average skewness of 0.218, (Positively skewed towards fine). Kurtosis values (0.84～1.05) from the grain size distribution and visual inspection of the frequency curves indicate platykurtic to mesokurtic curves and unimodal to bimodal grain-size distribution. The type of deposit formation is sand dune and the source is at a distal from its provenance.     

Optical monitoring of the quasar 4C 38.41

The results of a photometric monitoring of the quasar 4C 38.41, performed at the optical R and B bands in 2002 February–March, are presented. With a 60/90 cm Schmidt telescope at the Xinglong station of the National Astronomical Observatories of China, we observed the source exhibiting amplitude variations of up to 0.78 mag in both bands during the whole campaign. Intraday and even intranight variations are detected as well. A typical variability time-scale of about 36 d is derived from our 2-month observations at the optical bands, which is identical to that found at a radio wavelength of 92 cm, suggesting a common origin for the variations in 4C 38.41 from optical to radio bands.     

Principal components in active galactic nuclei variability data and the estimation of the flux contributions from different components

It has been found that the near-infrared flux variations of Seyfert galaxies satisfy relations of the form   F_i ≈α _{i j} +β _{i j} F_j   , where F_i , F_j are the fluxes in filters i and j ; and  α _{i , j} , β _{i , j}   are constants. These relations have been used to estimate the constant contributions of the non-variable underlying galaxies. The paper attempts a formal treatment of the estimation procedure, allowing for the possible presence of a third component, namely non-variable hot dust. In an analysis of a sample of 38 Seyfert galaxies, inclusion of the hot dust component improves the model fit in approximately half the cases. All derived dust temperatures are below 300 K, in the range 540–860 K or above 1300 K. A noteworthy feature is the estimation of confidence intervals for the component contributions: this is achieved by bootstrapping. It is also pointed out that the model implies that such data could be fruitfully analysed in terms of principal components.     

Automatic Determination of Stellar Atmospheric Parameters Using Neural Networks and Instance-Based Machine Learning

In this article we show how machine learning methods can beeffectively applied to the problem of automatically predictingstellar atmospheric parameters from spectral information, a veryimportant problem in stellar astronomy. We apply feedforwardneural networks, Kohonen's self-organizing maps andlocally-weighted regression to predict the stellar atmosphericparameters effective temperature, surface gravity and metallicityfrom spectral indices. Our experimental results show that thethree methods are capable of predicting the parameters with verygood accuracy. Locally weighted regression gives slightly betterresults than the other methods using the original dataset asinput, while self-organizing maps outperform the other methods when significant amounts of noise are added. We also implemented a heterogeneous ensemble of predictors, combining the results given by the three algorithms. This ensemble yields better results than any of the three algorithms alone, using both the original and the noisy data.     

无规取向、无吸收非球形粒子光散射的T-矩阵方法

较详细地研究了无规取向、无吸收椭球体粒子的T－矩阵收敛问题。首先，简要概括了nmax的3种收敛方案和它们的基本特性。然后，应用1993年提出的数学收敛方法（M－方法）和1998年提出和物理收敛方法（P－方法）研究收敛问题。结果表明椭球粒子收敛精度对粒子的尺度参数，纵横比以及椭球体的种类（例如，长／扁椭球）有很强的依赖性。当粒子的尺度参数不太大时，甚至在极端纵横比的条件下，P－收敛方案优于M－收敛方案。     

平阳矾山明矾石矿床岩石学特征及其成因浅析

在野外地质工作的基础上，通过对浙江平阳研山明矾石矿床的岩石学及地球化学特征进行认真的研究，进一步证实了矾山明矾山矿床是酸性火山气热液与中酸性火山碎屑岩内的碱性长石的交代中形成的。为了解释矿床的均一性，成矿的周期性和矿床单向依变分带等重要特征，我们重点研究了矿床中明矾石化和叶蜡石化的热力学性质，得出了K 活度和pH值是控制交代产物的重要因素的新结论，提出了该矿床交代成矿作用的新模型，并据此成功地解释了矿床的一些重要特征。