I present low-resolution (Dl 6 A° ) follow-up spectroscopy of 370 Ha emitters (12 . r . 17) identified with IPHAS, in a 100 deg2 wide section of the Galactic plane that is located between ` = (120 ; 140 ) and b = ( 1 ; +4 ). Classical Be stars are found to be the most numerous group of the observed targets ( 60%). Sixty-eight classical Be stars have also been observed at higher spectral resolution (Dl 2 4 A° ) and S/N ratio, which allows spectral typing to an estimated precision of 1 sub-type. Colour excesses were measured via spectral energy distribution fitting of flux-calibrated data. I took care to remove the circumstellar contribution to the measured colour excess, using an established scaling to the Ha equivalent widths. In doing so, this method of correction was re-evaluated and modified to better suit the data at hand. Spectroscopic parallaxes were measured constraining the luminosity class via estimates of distances to main sequence A/F stars, which are found within a few arcminutes of each classical Be star on the sky. In order to probe the structure of the outer Galactic disc, I studied the spatial distribution of 63 out of 248 classical Be stars identified. Their cumulative distribution function with respect to the distance is statistically compatible both with a smooth exponential density profile and with a simple spiral arms representation. The distribution of reddenings of classical Be stars is compared with estimates of the total Galactic reddening along their sightlines. It is expected that the measured reddenings match the integrated Galactic values, for distant stars located outside the Galactic dust layer, or they are smaller than the asymptotic values if the stars are less distant. The outcome meets expectations, and lends support to the conclusion that the measured reddenings are determined to a precision of 10%. The sample of 248 objects doubles the number of known classical Be stars in this part of the Galactic plane. Unlike the pre-existing bright sample, the new objects are seen at large distances, between 2 – 8 kpc with typical E(B V) 0:9. Only four stars are members of known clusters. Ten classical Be stars are proposed to be well beyond the putative Outer Arm, at distances larger than 8 kpc. The large sample of stars, which has been identified here, is the result of a successful selection and analysis of classical Be stars that is offered for more exploitation in future. The proposition is that GAIA observations will use the present sample of classical Be stars as a new tracer of the Galactic disc.

We directly detect dust emission in an optically detected, multiply imaged galaxy lensed by the Frontier Fields cluster MACSJ0717.5+3745. We detect two images of the same galaxy at 1.1 mm with the AzTEC camera on the Large Millimeter Telescope leaving no ambiguity in the counterpart identification. This galaxy, MACS0717_Az9, is at z > 4 and the strong lensing model (mu = 7.5) allows us to calculate an intrinsic IR luminosity of 9.7 x 10(10) L-circle dot and an obscured star formation rate of 14.6 +/- 4.5 M-circle dot yr(-1). The unobscured star formation rate from the UV is only 4.1 +/- 0.3 M-circle dot yr(-1), which means the total star formation rate (18.7 +/- 4.5 M-circle dot yr(-1)) is dominated (75%-80%) by the obscured component. With an intrinsic stellar mass of only 6.9 x 10(9) M circle dot, MACS0717_Az9 is one of only a handful of z. >. 4 galaxies at these lower masses that is detected in dust emission. This galaxy lies close to the estimated star formation sequence at this epoch. However, it does not lie on the dust obscuration relation (IRX-beta) for local starburst galaxies and is instead consistent with the Small Magellanic Cloud attenuation law. This remarkable lower mass galaxy, showing signs of both low metallicity and high dust content, may challenge our picture of dust production in the early universe.

Approved for public release, distribution unlimited / This research will be used to evaluate the feasibility of robotically, or remotecontrolled firefighting nozzles aboard air-capable ships. A numerical model was constructed and analyzed, using the program CFD-ACE, of a fire hose stream being deflected by the influence of a crosswind, tailwind, or headwind. The model is intended to predict the reach of the fire hose stream, indicate the distribution pattern, and estimate the volume of fire fighting agent available at the end of the stream. Preliminary results for a two fluid cross flow model have been obtained. / US Navy (USN) author.

CHDS State/Local / ments is evaluated, smart practices are identified and reviewed, and a new model firefighter candidate screening policy supported and driven by a formal strategic plan is proposed. / Fire Chief, Concord; New Hampshire Fire Department

We present multi-epoch mid-infrared (IR) photometry and the optical discovery observations of the "impostor" supernova (SN) 2010da in NGC. 300 using new and archival Spitzer Space Telescope images and ground-based observatories. The mid-infrared counterpart of SN. 2010da was detected as Spitzer Infrared Intensive Transient Survey (SPIRITS). 14bme in the SPIRITS, an ongoing systematic search for IR transients. Before erupting on 2010 May 24, the SN. 2010da progenitor exhibited a constant mid-IR flux at 3.6 and only a slight similar to 10% decrease at 4.5 mu m between 2003 November and 2007 December. A sharp increase in the 3.6 mu m flux followed by a rapid decrease measured similar to 150 days before and similar to 80 days after the initial outburst, respectively, reveal a mid-IR counterpart to the coincident optical and high luminosity X-ray outbursts. At late times, after the outburst (similar to 2000 days), the 3.6 and 4.5 mu m emission increased to over a factor of two. times the progenitor flux and is currently observed (as of 2016 Feb) to be fading, but still above the progenitor flux. We attribute the re-brightening mid-IR emission to continued dust production and increasing luminosity of the surviving system associated with SN. 2010da. We analyze the evolution of the dust temperature (T-d similar to 700-1000 K), mass (Md similar to 0.5-3.8 x. 10(-7) M circle dot), luminosity (L-IR similar to 1.3-3.5 x 10(4) L circle dot), and the equilibrium temperature radius (R-eq similar to 6.4-12.2 au) in order to resolve the nature of SN. 2010da. We address the leading interpretation of SN. 2010da as an eruption from a luminous blue variable high-mass X-ray binary (HMXB) system. We propose that SN. 2010da is instead a supergiant (sg)B[e]-HMXB based on similar luminosities and dust masses exhibited by two other known sgB[e]-HMXB systems. Additionally, the SN. 2010da progenitor occupies a similar region on a mid-IR color-magnitude diagram (CMD) with known sgB[e] stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The lower limit estimated for the orbital eccentricity of the sgB[e]-HMXB (e > 0.82) from X-ray luminosity measurements is high compared to known sgHMXBs and supports the claim that SN. 2010da may be associated with a newly formed HMXB system.

An avoidance response was conditioned to three stimuli presented in serial order. Following conditioning, each group of subjects received a different treatment procedure. The group I procedure involved distributed CS trials, contingent, non-anxious CS terminations, and individualized treatment durations. Group 2 subjects received massed CS trials, non-contingent CS terminations, and non-individualized treatment durations. Group 3 subjects experienced distributed CS trials, contingent non-anxious CS terminations, and non-individualized treatment durations. Individual izing treatment duration (termination contingent upon operational ized measure of anxiety dissipation) was found to significantly hasten the extinction of avoidance responses. Implications for the effective practice of implosive therapy were discussed. Yoked control methods were criticized for confounding the variable of individualization of the yoked variable.

Many people who receive exposure-based treatments for anxiety disorders exhibit a return of fear and avoidance which is often referred to as renewal or relapse. Human and nonhuman research on fear conditioning and renewal has been instrumental in helping understand relapse in anxiety disorders. The purpose of this investigation was to examine renewal of human avoidance and assess whether avoidance may aid in sustaining renewal of fear responses. We adopted a multimodal measurement approach consisting of an approach-avoidance task along with ratings of perceived threat and fear and measures of skin-conductance, a widely used physiological measure of fear. A traditional, single-subject research design was used with six healthy adults. All tasks employed a discrete trial procedure. Experimental conditions included Pavlovian fear conditioning in which increased probability of money loss was paired with a “threat” meter in Context A and later followed extinction in Context B. Fear and avoidance increased to higher threat levels in Context A but not Context B. Renewal testing involved presenting the threat meter on a return to Context A to determine if it evoked fear and avoidance (i.e., relapse). As predicted, renewal testing in Context A showed that increased threat was associated with increased avoidance, ratings of perceived threat and fear, and higher skin-conductance. Moreover, results showed that renewal maintained over six blocks of trials. This is the first investigation of renewal of threat and avoidance in humans that highlights avoidance as a mechanism that may contribute to maintaining fear in anxiety pathology.

Resurgence is the relapse of an extinguished instrumental behavior that can occur when an alternative behavior that was introduced to replace it is itself extinguished. In a typical resurgence experiment, rats are trained to make a response (R1) for food reinforcers. In a second phase, responses on R1 are no longer reinforced, but a new response (R2) is introduced and responses on it are reinforced. During a third phase, reinforcement for R2 is removed and behavior on R1 often returns (or "resurges") despite remaining on extinction. The current experiments were designed to examine the effects of the temporal distribution of reinforcers delivered during Phase 2 on later resurgence. The role of these alternative reinforcers is central to theories that have been proposed to account for resurgence. The experiments provided a special opportunity to contrast predictions made by the Shahan-Sweeney Model (Shahan & Sweeney, 2011) and a contextual account of resurgence (Winterbauer & Bouton, 2010). Experiments 1 and 2 examined resurgence when alternative reinforcement during Phase 2 was delivered according to the same set of daily reinforcement schedules presented in different orders. That is, one group received rich reinforcement rates that were gradually thinned to leaner ones (Group Thinning) and another group received lean rates that were gradually increased to richer ones (Group Reverse Thinning). Both procedures weakened resurgence compared to that in a group that received the richest rate (a variable interval, or VI 10-s schedule that arranged for a reinforcer to be available for a response every 10s on average) during all of the Phase 2 sessions. However, the forward thinning procedure was more effective than the reverse thinning procedure at eliminating the resurgence effect. Experiment 3 examined resurgence when alternative reinforcement was only available for R2 during every other session. The results indicated that daily alternations of a VI 10-s schedule with an extinction schedule for R2 weakened resurgence compared to groups that either received the same average rate over the entire phase (VI 17.5-s) or that received the same terminal rate (VI 10-s) in every session. The Shahan-Sweeney model cannot account for several of the current results. Instead, the results are most consistent with a contextual account of resurgence. That is, resurgence can be conceptualized as an ABC renewal effect in which extinguished R1 behavior returns when an animal is removed from an extinction "context" provided by R2 reinforcement. Lean reinforcement rates at any time during Phase 2 allow the animal to learn to inhibit R1 under conditions that generalize to the extinction conditions that prevail during the resurgence test. The results also suggest that experience with alternating extinction sessions or lean reinforcement rates close to the final resurgence test are especially effective at eliminating the resurgence effect.

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal.

De nombreuses données suggèrent que l'activation/phosphorylation du facteur de transcription CREB (cAMP Responsive Element Binding protein, pCREB) est nécessaire à la consolidation mnésique, notamment dans les tâches dépendantes de l’hippocampe (HPC). Au laboratoire, il a été récemment montré, dans deux paradigmes de conditionnement classique, que la consolidation des associations contexte-choc (HPC-dépendante) vs son-choc (amygdale-dépendante), est associée à l'établissement de cinétiques pCREB différentielles dans l’HPC (respectivement biphasique vs monophasique). Partant de ces données, nos travaux ont porté sur l'étude des cinétiques de la voie transcriptionnelle CREB-gènes précoces lors de la consolidation ou de la perturbation (vieillissement, extinction) d'une mémoire spatiale acquise en piscine de Morris. L’analyse des niveaux de pCREB au cours de l’entraînement met en évidence un recrutement différentiel des structures examinées selon la phase d’apprentissage, et nous a ainsi permis d’illustrer la théorie d’interaction des systèmes de mémoire. L’étude détaillée de la cinétique d’activation de CREB en fin d’apprentissage (lorsque la mémoire est bien consolidée) met en évidence des patrons d’activité pCREB qui varient selon la structure considérée (biphasique dans le CA1 vs monophasique ou inexistant dans les autres structures). La durée et l’amplitude de l’activation de CREB reflètent (1) le niveau d’implication de la structure cérébrale considérée dans le traitement des informations spatiales et (2) le degré de maîtrise de la tâche. L’analyse des patrons d’activation de CREB chez des souris âgées révèle que les déficits de mémoire spatiale dus au vieillissement sont associés à une altération sélective de la cinétique pCREB et à une diminution de la production de protéine Fos dans le CA1. Enfin, nous montrons que l’extinction de la mémoire spatiale induit des altérations spécifiques du patron d’activation de CREB dans le l’HPC (CA1) et l’amygdale selon que l’extinction est effectuée par retrait ou changements successifs de la position de la plate-forme. Dans leur ensemble, nos données mettent en lumière le rôle crucial de l’activation de la voie transcriptionnelle CREB dépendante dans l’aire CA1, dans une fenêtre temporelle extrêmement fine, pour le traitement des informations spatiales. / Accumulating evidence suggest that the activation/phosphorylation of CREB transcription factor (cAMP Responsive Element Binding protein, pCREB) is necessary for memory consolidation in hippocampus (HPC)-dependant tasks. Recently, it has been shown that the consolidation of memory traces for contextual- (HPC-dependant) vs elemental- (amygdala-dependent) conditioning resulted in different pCREB patterns in the HPC (respectively biphasic vs monophasic). Based on these data, we studied, by immunohistochemistry and western-blots, the activation patterns of the CREB-early genes transcriptional route during consolidation and disturbance (aging, extinction) of a spatial memory acquired in the Morris water maze. Analysis of pCREB levels across training revealed differential recruitment of the structures considered as a function of the learning phase, and illustrated memory systems interaction. A detailed analysis of the kinetics of CREB activation at the end of training (when the memory is well consolidated) showed variable activation patterns within the different structures examined (biphasic in the CA1 vs monophasic or absent in other structures). The amplitude and duration of CREB phosphorylation reflected (1) the role of the structure examined in spatial information processing and (2) the degree of mastering of the task. The detailed analysis of CREB phosphorylation in aged mice revealed that aging-induced spatial memory deficits are associated to a selective alteration of pCREB pattern and Fos production in the CA1. Finally, we showed that extinction of spatial memory differentially affected the CREB phosphorylation pattern in the HPC (CA1) and the amygdala when extinction occurred either by moving or by retiring the platform. Together, our findings highlight the crucial role of the activation of the CREB dependant transcriptional route within a narrow window in the CA1 subfield for efficient spatial information processing.