Article

Patrick O’Brian’s Astronomy

September 2003
Astronomy Education Review 2(2):127-137

DOI:10.3847/AER2003019

Authors:

With the opening in the fall of 2003 of the 20th Century Fox motion picture Master and Commander-The Far Side of the World, starring Russell Crowe as Captain Jack Aubrey and Paul Belany as Jack's friend and colleague Stephen Maturin, a new generation will be introduced to the maritime novels of the late Patrick O'Brian. Here we explore some possibilities of using parts of these stories to foster student interest in astronomy and to introduce some of the astronomical and other resources on the Internet.

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Chapter

Anser

January 2016

John Barentine

Johannes Hevelius created “Vulpecula cum Ansere” (the Little Fox with the Goose) out of unformed stars in the space between Cygnus and Aquila. The constellation first appeared in Firmamentum Sobiescianum sive Uranographia (1687) and the accompanying introductory text, Prodromus astronomiae (1690). To emphasize that it was his own creation, Hevelius dedicated Figure L to the pair, shown as a ... [Show full abstract] detail in Fig. 3.1. In atlases published before Hevelius, its stars are shown simply marking the flow of the Milky Way through the area. Ian Ridpath (1989) noted that “Hevelius placed the fox near two other hunting animals, the eagle (the constellation Aquila) and the vulture (which was an alternative identification for Lyra). He explained that the fox was taking the goose to neighbouring Cerberus, another of his inventions.” Richard Hinckley Allen (1899) put the total number of constituent stars identified by Hevelius at 27, while the German astronomers Friedrich Argelander (1843) and Eduard Heis (1872) recorded 37 and 62 stars, respectively, in their later catalogs.

Article

Salience of dynamic virtual formants in diphthongs

May 2007 · The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

Variations in the quality of a synthesized vowel can be produced by changing the frequency of its steady‐state formants or the amplitude of closely‐spaced static spectral components—the latter effect a function of auditory spectral integration. Recent studies have demonstrated that dynamic modification of the amplitude ratios of these spectral components can give rise to the perception of virtual ... [Show full abstract] diphthongs. This study examines the extent to which spectral integration of these dynamic components is uniform across a range of frequency separations of these spectral components (previous work [Fox et al., ‘‘Title,’’ J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 120, 3252 (2006)] demonstrated the integration of static components beyond 3.5 bark). Two synthetic vowel series were created by modifying the rise or fall of F2 producing [■i]‐[■:]‐[■u] and [i■]‐[■:]‐[u■] series. Next, several different series were created in which this dynamic F2 was replaced by two static spectral components whose amplitude ratios were varied over time (virtual F2 glides). The spectral separation of these two components varied from 2.0 to 4.0 bark. A single‐interval 2AFC identification task was used to obtain estimates of vowel quality. Results will be discussed in terms of whether the spectral integration effects decline as the frequency separation between components increases. [Work supported by NIDCD R01DC00679‐01A1.]

Article

Survey of Salmonella enterica in Wildlife in and around Cattle Farms in Hokkaido, Japan

February 2012 · Journal of the Japan Veterinary Medical Association

We investigated the prevalence of Salmonella enterica in 267 rodents, 208 raccoons, 9 red foxes, 208 crows, 9 sparrows, and 5 feral pigeons in and around cattle farms in Hokkaido. Their intestine contents and foot surfaces were tested using culture method. Salmonella was isolated from 14 crows (6.7%) and 11 raccoons (5.2%). The isolates were serotyped into Infantis (crows), Thompson, Agona, O4 : ... [Show full abstract] i : - (raccoons), Braenderup, and Typhimurium (crows and raccoons). These results suggested that wildlife is capable of being a source of Salmonella infection in cattle.

Article

Constrained quantum motion in δ-potential and application of a generalized integral operator

September 2019 · Computers and Mathematics with Applications

A quantum motion of a particle along the x-direction constrained at y=0 in presence of the Dirac δ-potential is considered. The Green's function approach is applied for solving the corresponding two-dimensional Schrödinger equation. The exact results for the Green's function are presented in terms of the Fox H-function, and a generalized integral operator which contains the Mittag-Leffler ... [Show full abstract] function in the kernel.

Article

Mode identification of the betaCephei star BW Vulpeculae

January 1995

We analyse the pulsational behaviour of the large-amplitude betaCephei star BW Vulpeculae from high-resolution spectra. Our observations show very clear line-doublings at the time of maximum outward acceleration. These line-doublings appear and disappear on a time scale of about 30 minutes and lead to discontinuities in the radial-velocity curve. From our observations and photometric data we ... [Show full abstract] identify the pulsation mode of BW Vulpeculae by applying respectively the moment method (see e.g. Aerts et al. 1992) and the method of photometric amplitudes (see e.g. Heynderickx et al. 1994). Although a strong non-linear behaviour involving shock waves is suspected in the case of BW Vulpeculae (Crowe & Gillet 1989), both mode-identification techniques, which are developed for linear motions only, point towards a radial pulsation. Combining our result with the one recently found by Moskalik & Buchler (1994) then leads to the conclusion that BW Vulpeculae pulsates in the fundamental radial mode.

Article

Avian and Skunk Predation of Ashy Storm-Petrels at Santa Cruz Island, California

November 2018 · Western North American Naturalist

Avian and mammalian predation of Ashy Storm-Petrels (Oceanodroma homochroa) were documented during monthly nest monitoring in 1995-1998 and 2005-2015 and once-per-year monitoring in 1999-2004 at 5 colonies at Santa Cruz Island, California. Throughout the study period, predation by Barn Owls (Tyto alba) was documented at the sea cave colonies, and at Orizaba Rock, and likely contributed to reduced ... [Show full abstract] breeding success at Bat Cave in 1995-1997. Recent predation by Common Ravens (Corvus corax) caused reduced breeding success each year in 2012-2015 at Orizaba Rock (35%-48%) and in 2013 and 2015 at Bat Cave (49%-52%). Raven predation appears to be developing into a larger long-term problem that may require additional management actions, but efforts have focused on deploying artificial nests at Bat Cave to provide more protected sites. Two sea cave colonies where skunks previously had not been detected experienced major adult mortality due to unusual predation events by island spotted skunks (Spilogale gracilis amphiala) in 2005 and 2008. At Bat Cave in 2005, 2 skunks were trapped after they had killed at least 76 Ashy Storm-Petrel adults. Prior to this mortality event, the colony contained 64-97 nests per year in 1995-1997, with low breeding success (49%-59%) related largely to organochlorine pollutants. After the skunks were caught, nest numbers increased from 19 in 2006 to 100 in 2015, with variable but generally higher breeding success (49%-90%). At Cavern Point Cove Caves in 2008, 2 skunks were trapped after killing at least 32 adults. Prior to the mortality event, this colony contained 11-17 nests per year in 1995-1997, with a lower breeding success rate of 20%-47%. Nest numbers increased from 2 in 2009 to 10 in 2015, with a variable but higher rate of breeding success (50%-80%). Skunk predation events may have been related to temporarily higher skunk populations at Santa Cruz due to low numbers of island foxes (Urocyon littoralis santacruzae). Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus santacruzae) were not significant predators of Ashy Storm-Petrels at Santa Cruz Island.

Article

Urbanization and cattle density are determinants in the exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides of no...

October 2018 · Environmental Pollution

The persistence and toxicity of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (SGARs) in animal tissues make these compounds dangerous by biomagnification in predatory species. Here we studied the levels of SGARs in non-target species of wildlife and the environmental factors that influence such exposure. Liver samples of terrestrial vertebrates (n = 244) found dead between 2007 and 2016 in the ... [Show full abstract] region of Aragón (NE Spain) were analysed. The presence of SGARs was statistically analysed with binary or ordinal logistic models to study the effect of habitat characteristics including human population density, percentage of urban surface, livestock densities and surface of different types of crops. SGARs residues were detected in 83 (34%) of the animals and levels >200 ng/g were found in common raven (67%), red fox (50%), red kite (38%), Eurasian eagle-owl (25%), stone marten (23%), Eurasian buzzard (17%), northern marsh harrier (17%), and Eurasian badger (14%). The spatial analysis revealed that the presence of SGARs residues in wildlife was more associated with the use of these products as biocides in urban areas and cattle farms rather than as plant protection products in agricultural fields. This information permits to identify potential habitats where SGARs may pose a risk for predatory birds and mammals. The exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides in non-target species in NE Spain is mostly determined by their use as biocides in urban areas and bovine livestock farms.

Chapter

Giving and Getting

January 2014

David Kellogg

This eleventh-century comic strip, the Bayeux Tapestry, shows the 1066 invasion of Britain by William of Normandy and the very beginning of modern Englishness. Here, at the very beginning of the tapestry, we see Harold Godwinson—soon to declare himself king of England on the death of his brother-in-law Edward the Confessor—departing for France. Just below the scene of his departure, you can see a ... [Show full abstract] tree, a crow, and an animal that looks like a leopard but which is probably meant to be a fox.

Article

Egg Predation by Corvids in Gull Colonies on Lake Huron

January 1991 · Colonial Waterbirds

Peter Ewins

I recorded heavy predation by American Crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and Common Raven (C. corax) on Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) and Ring-billed Gull (L. delawarensis) eggs at four colonies on Lake Huron in 1990. Gulls experienced total reproductive failure, associated with large numbers of eggs taken by corvids. Average breeding success was significantly higher at colonies on non-wooded than ... [Show full abstract] on wooded islands, possibly related to reduced cover for corvid predators. It was not possible to attribute these failures solely to corvid predation since factors such as the presence of a Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), and food stresses for gulls could not be ruled out.

Article

Biopsy pathology of the endometriumCH Buckley, H Fox. New York, NY, Raven, 1989, 320 pages, $64

May 1991 · Human Pathology

M. Melinda Sanders

Chapter

Allegory, You are Woman

January 1994

Nancy Campi De Castro

It is our intention to start our study by presenting a modern fable which was written by Guillermo Cabrera Infante, a contemporaneous Cuban writer. Named “The Fox and the Grapes”, this is his text: A fox was hungry and as she was unusually vegetarian (there is nothing a fox wouldn’t make to be up to date), she looked at some grapes which were near her, but above her. She jumped once, twice, and ... [Show full abstract] one more time, but she couldn’t reach them. The fox looked at the grapes for the last time and looking carefully (it’s astonishing how things are carefully seen when for the last time) exclaimed: “It doesn’t matter: I don’t want them: they are green.” A crow, which was near by on the way to another fable, looked at the fox and then to the grapes and said: “It isn’t strange: the grapes look green because they are green grapes.” The fox didn’t answer, perhaps she didn’t listen, perhaps she was proud, but undoubtedly because foxes cannot talk to crows. Moral: A fox is an animal which hasn’t the gift of speech, but on the other hand, may suffer from daltonism.

Chapter

The Troublesome Mrs Kyme: John Bale’s Disorderly Virgin

January 2005

Megan Hickerson

When Foxe, in his Marian exile, began accumulating the materials for what would become the Acts and Monuments, he was confronted with the spectacle of Anne Askew, the first English, Protestant, female martyr, eulogized in print a decade earlier by his friend and colleague John Bale.1 In July 1546, at the age of 25, Askew was executed for denying the real presence of the body and blood of Christ ... [Show full abstract] in the Sacrament of the Altar, one of the last victims of Henry VIII’s ‘whip with six strings’, the Act of Six Articles. She was a Lincolnshire gentlewoman, the daughter of Sir William Askew, and was married, apparently against her will, to Sir Thomas Kyme, who had previously been betrothed to her deceased older sister, Martha. Askew and Kyme had two children, but the couple became estranged due to her conversion to the evangelical faith, exemplified by her open reading of the English Bible at Lincoln Minster, which was illegal for her as a woman according to the 1543 Act for the Advancement of True Religion.2 After fruitlessly petitioning for a divorce in the ecclesiastical court in Lincoln, Askew travelled to London, where her sister Jane and brother Edward served at court. There she continued her unsuccessful pursuit of a divorce, this time in the Court of Chancery.

Last Updated: 22 Oct 2024

Patrick O’Brian’s Astronomy

Abstract

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Recommended publications

Anser

Salience of dynamic virtual formants in diphthongs

Survey of Salmonella enterica in Wildlife in and around Cattle Farms in Hokkaido, Japan

Constrained quantum motion in δ-potential and application of a generalized integral operator

Mode identification of the betaCephei star BW Vulpeculae

Avian and Skunk Predation of Ashy Storm-Petrels at Santa Cruz Island, California

Urbanization and cattle density are determinants in the exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides of no...

Giving and Getting

Egg Predation by Corvids in Gull Colonies on Lake Huron

Biopsy pathology of the endometriumCH Buckley, H Fox. New York, NY, Raven, 1989, 320 pages, $64

Allegory, You are Woman

The Troublesome Mrs Kyme: John Bale’s Disorderly Virgin