The organization and management of the Virtual Astronomical Observatory

The U.S. Virtual Astronomical Observatory (VAO; http://www.us-vao.org/) has been in operation since May 2010. Its goal is to enable new science through efficient integration of distributed multi-wavelength data. This paper describes the management and organization of the VAO, and emphasizes the techniques used to ensure efficiency in a distributed organization. Management methods include using an annual program plan as the basis for establishing contracts with member organizations, regular communication, and monitoring of processes.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. SPIE Conference 8449: Modeling, Systems Engineering, and Project Management for Astronomy

Quantifying Compliance Costs for Small Businesses in New Zealand

This paper reports on a small-scale study of the compliance costs of small New Zealand businesses. Participating firms were asked to keep a record of both time spent and expenditure directly incurred over a thirteen-week period. This differs from previous studies that rely on a firm's recall of how much time has been spent on compliance over the previous year. The results suggest that New Zealand small businesses on average spend less time and money on compliance than has been indicated in previous studies. However a number offirms do perceive compliance to be a major issue and in some cases this perception prevents firms from expanding

Bostonia. Volume 13

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Polarization of macrophages toward M2 phenotype is favored by reduction in iPLA2β (group VIA phospholipase A2)*

Macrophages are important in innate and adaptive immunity. Macrophage participation in inflammation or tissue repair is directed by various extracellular signals and mediated by multiple intracellular pathways. Activation of group VIA phospholipase A2 (iPLA2β) causes accumulation of arachidonic acid, lysophospholipids, and eicosanoids that can promote inflammation and pathologic states. We examined the role of iPLA2β in peritoneal macrophage immune function by comparing wild type (WT) and iPLA2β−/− mouse macrophages. Compared with WT, iPLA2β−/− macrophages exhibited reduced proinflammatory M1 markers when classically activated. In contrast, anti-inflammatory M2 markers were elevated under naïve conditions and induced to higher levels by alternative activation in iPLA2β−/− macrophages compared with WT. Induction of eicosanoid (12-lipoxygenase (12-LO) and cyclooxygenase 2 (COX2))- and reactive oxygen species (NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4))-generating enzymes by classical activation pathways was also blunted in iPLA2β−/− macrophages compared with WT. The effects of inhibitors of iPLA2β, COX2, or 12-LO to reduce M1 polarization were greater than those to enhance M2 polarization. Certain lipids (lysophosphatidylcholine, lysophosphatidic acid, and prostaglandin E2) recapitulated M1 phenotype in iPLA2β−/− macrophages, but none tested promoted M2 phenotype. These findings suggest that (a) lipids generated by iPLA2β and subsequently oxidized by cyclooxygenase and 12-LO favor macrophage inflammatory M1 polarization, and (b) the absence of iPLA2β promotes macrophage M2 polarization. Reducing macrophage iPLA2β activity and thereby attenuating macrophage M1 polarization might cause a shift from an inflammatory to a recovery/repair milieu

Statistical Computations with AstroGrid and the Grid

We outline our first steps towards marrying two new and emerging technologies; the Virtual Observatory (e.g, AstroGrid) and the computational grid. We discuss the construction of VOTechBroker, which is a modular software tool designed to abstract the tasks of submission and management of a large number of computational jobs to a distributed computer system. The broker will also interact with the AstroGrid workflow and MySpace environments. We present our planned usage of the VOTechBroker in computing a huge number of n-point correlation functions from the SDSS, as well as fitting over a million CMBfast models to the WMAP data.Comment: Invited talk to appear in "Proceedings of PHYSTAT05: Statistical Problems in Particle Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology

Saturation Effects in a Tunable Coherent Near-Infrared Source

A Saturation Effect in a Tunable Infrared Source Utilizing Four-Wave Parametric Conversion in Potassium Vapor is Reported and is Shown to Be the Result of Parasitic Oscillations. a Hundredfold Increase over Previously Attained Power Levels Has Been Affected Via Elimination of These Oscillations

Efficient Photometric Selection of Quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey: 100,000 z<3 Quasars from Data Release One

We present a catalog of 100,563 unresolved, UV-excess (UVX) quasar candidates to g=21 from 2099 deg^2 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release One (DR1) imaging data. Existing spectra of 22,737 sources reveals that 22,191 (97.6%) are quasars; accounting for the magnitude dependence of this efficiency, we estimate that 95,502 (95.0%) of the objects in the catalog are quasars. Such a high efficiency is unprecedented in broad-band surveys of quasars. This ``proof-of-concept'' sample is designed to be maximally efficient, but still has 94.7% completeness to unresolved, g<~19.5, UVX quasars from the DR1 quasar catalog. This efficient and complete selection is the result of our application of a probability density type analysis to training sets that describe the 4-D color distribution of stars and spectroscopically confirmed quasars in the SDSS. Specifically, we use a non-parametric Bayesian classification, based on kernel density estimation, to parameterize the color distribution of astronomical sources -- allowing for fast and robust classification. We further supplement the catalog by providing photometric redshifts and matches to FIRST/VLA, ROSAT, and USNO-B sources. Future work needed to extend the this selection algorithm to larger redshifts, fainter magnitudes, and resolved sources is discussed. Finally, we examine some science applications of the catalog, particularly a tentative quasar number counts distribution covering the largest range in magnitude (14.2<g<21.0) ever made within the framework of a single quasar survey.Comment: 35 pages, 11 figures (3 color), 2 tables, accepted by ApJS; higher resolution paper and ASCII version of catalog available at http://sdss.ncsa.uiuc.edu/qso/nbckde

Using nestedness and species-accumulation analyses to strengthen a conservation plan for littoral forest birds in south-eastern Madagascar

The littoral forests of south-eastern Madagascar are among the most threatened ecosystems on the island. A conservation plan has been developed for the region due to a proposed mining venture. Here, we provide a novel methodology to assess if the planned conservation measures would effectively conserve the bird diversity inhabiting these forests. Bird community composition within 30 littoral forest fragments was quantified with each fragment characterized by measures of fragment area, isolation, and internal habitat complexity. A nestedness and cumulative species–area analysis was conducted to ascertain the contribution of forest fragments of different sizes in capturing the overall bird species richness. Datasets representing the overall and forest-dependent bird assemblages were found to be significantly nested. The pattern of nestedness appeared to be driven by fragment size. However, cumulative species–area analyses showed that the assemblages were imperfectly nested with ten species displaying idiosyncratic distribution patterns. When a modest conservation target was set (the occurrence of a bird species in three or more fragments), the proposed conservation plan would only protect approximately half the species found in the littoral forests. We show that protecting an additional four large patches would mean that the proportion of forest-birds captured in three or more patches would increase to 70%