395 research outputs found
Constraining Large Scale Structure Theories with the Cosmic Background Radiation
We review the relevant 10+ parameters associated with inflation and matter
content; the relation between LSS and primary and secondary CMB anisotropy
probes; COBE constraints on energy injection; current anisotropy band-powers
which strongly support the gravitational instability theory and suggest the
universe could not have reionized too early. We use Bayesian analysis methods
to determine what current CMB and CMB+LSS data imply for inflation-based
Gaussian fluctuations in tilted CDM, hCDM and oCDM model
sequences with age 11-15 Gyr, consisting of mixtures of baryons, cold (and
possibly hot) dark matter, vacuum energy, and curvature energy in open
cosmologies. For example, we find the slope of the initial spectrum is within
about 5% of the (preferred) scale invariant form when just the CMB data is
used, and for CDM when LSS data is combined with CMB; with both, a
nonzero value of is strongly preferred ( for a 13
Gyr sequence, similar to the value from SNIa). The CDM sequence prefers
, but is overall much less likely than the flat
sequence with CMB+LSS. We also review the rosy forecasts
of angular power spectra and parameter estimates from future balloon and
satellite experiments when foreground and systematic effects are ignored.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, 5 figures, 2 tables, uses rspublic.sty To appear in
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A, 1998.
"Discussion Meeting on Large Scale Structure in the Universe," Royal Society,
London, March 1998. Text and colour figures also available at
ftp://ftp.cita.utoronto.ca/bond/roysoc9
Forest defoliator outbreaks alter nutrient cycling in northern waters.
Insect defoliators alter biogeochemical cycles from land into receiving waters by consuming terrestrial biomass and releasing biolabile frass. Here, we related insect outbreaks to water chemistry across 12 boreal lake catchments over 32-years. We report, on average, 27% lower dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and 112% higher dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) concentrations in lake waters when defoliators covered entire catchments and reduced leaf area. DOC reductions reached 32% when deciduous stands dominated. Within-year changes in DOC from insect outbreaks exceeded 86% of between-year trends across a larger dataset of 266 boreal and north temperate lakes from 1990 to 2016. Similarly, within-year increases in DIN from insect outbreaks exceeded local, between-year changes in DIN by 12-times, on average. As insect defoliator outbreaks occur at least every 5 years across a wider 439,661 km2 boreal ecozone of Ontario, we suggest they are an underappreciated driver of biogeochemical cycles in forest catchments of this region.Natural Environment Research Council (NE/L006561/1)
Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE/27649)
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC/509182-17
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
Two More Candidate AM Canum Venaticorum (AM CVn) Binaries from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
AM CVn systems are a select group of ultracompact binaries with the shortest
orbital periods of any known binary subclass; mass-transfer is likely from a
low-mass (partially-)degenerate secondary onto a white dwarf primary, driven by
gravitational radiation. In the past few years, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS) has provided five new AM CVns. Here we report on two further candidates
selected from more recent SDSS data. SDSS J1208+3550 is similar to the earlier
SDSS discoveries, recognized as an AM CVn via its distinctive spectrum which is
dominated by helium emission. From the expanded SDSS Data Release 6 (DR6)
spectroscopic area, we provide an updated surface density estimate for such AM
CVns of order 10^{-3.1} to 10^{-2.5} per deg^2 for 15<g<20.5. In addition, we
present another new candidate AM CVn, SDSS J2047+0008, that was discovered in
the course of followup of SDSS-II supernova candidates. It shows nova-like
outbursts in multi-epoch imaging data; in contrast to the other SDSS AM CVn
discoveries, its (outburst) spectrum is dominated by helium absorption lines,
reminiscent of KL Dra and 2003aw. The variability selection of SDSS J2047+0008
from the 300 deg^2 of SDSS Stripe 82 presages further AM CVn discoveries in
future deep, multicolor, and time-domain surveys such as LSST. The new
additions bring the total SDSS yield to seven AM CVns thus far, a substantial
contribution to this rare subclass, versus the dozen previously known.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figures, 1 table; submitted to A
Photometric Redshifts of Quasars
We demonstrate that the design of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) filter
system and the quality of the SDSS imaging data are sufficient for determining
accurate and precise photometric redshifts (``photo-z''s) of quasars. Using a
sample of 2625 quasars, we show that photo-z determination is even possible for
z<=2.2 despite the lack of a strong continuum break that robust photo-z
techniques normally require. We find that, using our empirical method on our
sample of objects known to be quasars, approximately 70% of the photometric
redshifts are correct to within delta z = 0.2; the fraction of correct
photometric redshifts is even better for z>3. The accuracy of quasar
photometric redshifts does not appear to be dependent upon magnitude to nearly
21st magnitude in i'. Careful calibration of the color-redshift relation to
21st magnitude may allow for the discovery of on the order of 10^6 quasars
candidates in addition to the 10^5 quasars that the SDSS will confirm
spectroscopically. We discuss the efficient selection of quasar candidates from
imaging data for use with the photometric redshift technique and the potential
scientific uses of a large sample of quasar candidates with photometric
redshifts.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, submitted to A
Head and neck cancer predictive risk estimator to determine control and therapeutic outcomes of radiotherapy (HNC-PREDICTOR):development, international multi-institutional validation, and web implementation of clinic-ready model-based risk stratification for head and neck cancer
Background: Personalised radiotherapy can improve treatment outcomes of patients with head and neck cancer (HNC), where currently a ‘one-dose-fits-all’ approach is the standard. The aim was to establish individualised outcome prediction based on multi-institutional international ‘big-data’ to facilitate risk-based stratification of patients with HNC. Methods: The data of 4611 HNC radiotherapy patients from three academic cancer centres were split into four cohorts: a training (n = 2241), independent test (n = 786), and external validation cohorts 1 (n = 1087) and 2 (n = 497). Tumour- and patient-related clinical variables were considered in a machine learning pipeline to predict overall survival (primary end-point) and local and regional tumour control (secondary end-points); serially, imaging features were considered for optional model improvement. Finally, patients were stratified into high-, intermediate-, and low-risk groups. Results: Performance score, AJCC8th stage, pack-years, and Age were identified as predictors for overall survival, demonstrating good performance in both the training cohort (c-index = 0.72 [95% CI, 0.66–0.77]) and in all three validation cohorts (c-indices: 0.76 [0.69–0.83], 0.73 [0.68–0.77], and 0.75 [0.68–0.80]). Excellent stratification of patients with HNC into high, intermediate, and low mortality risk was achieved; with 5-year overall survival rates of 17–46% for the high-risk group compared to 92–98% for the low-risk group. The addition of morphological image feature further improved the performance (c-index = 0.73 [0.64–0.81]). These models are integrated in a clinic-ready interactive web interface: https://uic-evl.github.io/hnc-predictor/ Conclusions: Robust model-based prediction was able to stratify patients with HNC in distinct high, intermediate, and low mortality risk groups. This can effectively be capitalised for personalised radiotherapy, e.g., for tumour radiation dose escalation/de-escalation
The Multi-Object, Fiber-Fed Spectrographs for SDSS and the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey
We present the design and performance of the multi-object fiber spectrographs
for the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and their upgrade for the Baryon
Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Originally commissioned in Fall 1999
on the 2.5-m aperture Sloan Telescope at Apache Point Observatory, the
spectrographs produced more than 1.5 million spectra for the SDSS and SDSS-II
surveys, enabling a wide variety of Galactic and extra-galactic science
including the first observation of baryon acoustic oscillations in 2005. The
spectrographs were upgraded in 2009 and are currently in use for BOSS, the
flagship survey of the third-generation SDSS-III project. BOSS will measure
redshifts of 1.35 million massive galaxies to redshift 0.7 and Lyman-alpha
absorption of 160,000 high redshift quasars over 10,000 square degrees of sky,
making percent level measurements of the absolute cosmic distance scale of the
Universe and placing tight constraints on the equation of state of dark energy.
The twin multi-object fiber spectrographs utilize a simple optical layout
with reflective collimators, gratings, all-refractive cameras, and
state-of-the-art CCD detectors to produce hundreds of spectra simultaneously in
two channels over a bandpass covering the near ultraviolet to the near
infrared, with a resolving power R = \lambda/FWHM ~ 2000. Building on proven
heritage, the spectrographs were upgraded for BOSS with volume-phase
holographic gratings and modern CCD detectors, improving the peak throughput by
nearly a factor of two, extending the bandpass to cover 360 < \lambda < 1000
nm, and increasing the number of fibers from 640 to 1000 per exposure. In this
paper we describe the original SDSS spectrograph design and the upgrades
implemented for BOSS, and document the predicted and measured performances.Comment: 43 pages, 42 figures, revised according to referee report and
accepted by AJ. Provides background for the instrument responsible for SDSS
and BOSS spectra. 4th in a series of survey technical papers released in
Summer 2012, including arXiv:1207.7137 (DR9), arXiv:1207.7326 (Spectral
Classification), and arXiv:1208.0022 (BOSS Overview
The specificity and patterns of staining in human cells and tissues of p16INK4a antibodies demonstrate variant antigen binding
The validity of the identification and classification of human cancer using antibodies to detect biomarker proteins depends upon antibody specificity. Antibodies that bind to the tumour-suppressor protein p16INK4a are widely used for cancer diagnosis and research. In this study we examined the specificity of four commercially available anti-p16INK4a antibodies in four immunological applications. The antibodies H-156 and JC8 detected the same 16 kDa protein in western blot and immunoprecipitation tests, whereas the antibody F-12 did not detect any protein in western blot analysis or capture a protein that could be recognised by the H-156 antibody. In immunocytochemistry tests, the antibodies JC8 and H-156 detected a predominately cytoplasmic localised antigen, whose signal was depleted in p16INK4a siRNA experiments. F-12, in contrast, detected a predominately nuclear located antigen and there was no noticeable reduction in this signal after siRNA knockdown. Furthermore in immunohistochemistry tests, F-12 generated a different pattern of staining compared to the JC8 and E6H4 antibodies. These results demonstrate that three out of four commercially available p16INK4a antibodies are specific to, and indicate a mainly cytoplasmic localisation for, the p16INK4a protein. The F-12 antibody, which has been widely used in previous studies, gave different results to the other antibodies and did not demonstrate specificity to human p16INK4a. This work emphasizes the importance of the validation of commercial antibodies, aside to the previously reported use, for the full verification of immunoreaction specificity
Weak Lensing with SDSS Commissioning Data: The Galaxy-Mass Correlation Function To 1/h Mpc
(abridged) We present measurements of galaxy-galaxy lensing from early
commissioning imaging data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We measure
a mean tangential shear around a stacked sample of foreground galaxies in three
bandpasses out to angular radii of 600'', detecting the shear signal at very
high statistical significance. The shear profile is well described by a
power-law. A variety of rigorous tests demonstrate the reality of the
gravitational lensing signal and confirm the uncertainty estimates. We
interpret our results by modeling the mass distributions of the foreground
galaxies as approximately isothermal spheres characterized by a velocity
dispersion and a truncation radius. The velocity dispersion is constrained to
be 150-190 km/s at 95% confidence (145-195 km/s including systematic
uncertainties), consistent with previous determinations but with smaller error
bars. Our detection of shear at large angular radii sets a 95% confidence lower
limit , corresponding to a physical radius of
kpc, implying that galaxy halos extend to very large radii. However, it is
likely that this is being biased high by diffuse matter in the halos of groups
and clusters. We also present a preliminary determination of the galaxy-mass
correlation function finding a correlation length similar to the galaxy
autocorrelation function and consistency with a low matter density universe
with modest bias. The full SDSS will cover an area 44 times larger and provide
spectroscopic redshifts for the foreground galaxies, making it possible to
greatly improve the precision of these constraints, measure additional
parameters such as halo shape, and measure the properties of dark matter halos
separately for many different classes of galaxies.Comment: 28 pages, 11 figures, submitted to A
The First Hour of Extra-galactic Data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Spectroscopic Commissioning: The Coma Cluster
On 26 May 1999, one of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) fiber-fed
spectrographs saw astronomical first light. This was followed by the first
spectroscopic commissioning run during the dark period of June 1999. We present
here the first hour of extra-galactic spectroscopy taken during these early
commissioning stages: an observation of the Coma cluster of galaxies. Our data
samples the Southern part of this cluster, out to a radius of 1.5degrees and
thus fully covers the NGC 4839 group. We outline in this paper the main
characteristics of the SDSS spectroscopic systems and provide redshifts and
spectral classifications for 196 Coma galaxies, of which 45 redshifts are new.
For the 151 galaxies in common with the literature, we find excellent agreement
between our redshift determinations and the published values. As part of our
analysis, we have investigated four different spectral classification
algorithms: spectral line strengths, a principal component decomposition, a
wavelet analysis and the fitting of spectral synthesis models to the data. We
find that a significant fraction (25%) of our observed Coma galaxies show signs
of recent star-formation activity and that the velocity dispersion of these
active galaxies (emission-line and post-starburst galaxies) is 30% larger than
the absorption-line galaxies. We also find no active galaxies within the
central (projected) 200 h-1 Kpc of the cluster. The spatial distribution of our
Coma active galaxies is consistent with that found at higher redshift for the
CNOC1 cluster survey. Beyond the core region, the fraction of bright active
galaxies appears to rise slowly out to the virial radius and are randomly
distributed within the cluster with no apparent correlation with the potential
merger of the NGC 4839 group. [ABRIDGED]Comment: Accepted in AJ, 65 pages, 20 figures, 5 table
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