Refitting successful daily wear GP patients into thirty day continuous wear gas permeable lenses: A case series

Current rigid gas permeable lens wearers were refit into the thirty day continuous wear Menicon Z gas permeable lens. The purpose of the study was to evaluate how the subjects transitioned to the new Menicon Z lenses and the thirty day wearing schedule. Subjects were monitored for two months for an ocular health changes by assessing visual acuity, performing biomicroscopy and lens fit evaluation, and corneal topography

Extending Bauer's corollary to fractional derivatives

We comment on the method of Dreisigmeyer and Young [D. W. Dreisigmeyer and P. M. Young, J. Phys. A \textbf{36}, 8297, (2003)] to model nonconservative systems with fractional derivatives. It was previously hoped that using fractional derivatives in an action would allow us to derive a single retarded equation of motion using a variational principle. It is proven that, under certain reasonable assumptions, the method of Dreisigmeyer and Young fails.Comment: Accepted Journal of Physics A at www.iop.org/EJ/journal/JPhys

The QUEST-La Silla AGN Variability Survey

We present the characterization and initial results from the QUEST-La Silla AGN variability survey. This is an effort to obtain well sampled optical light curves in extragalactic fields with unique multi-wavelength observations. We present photometry obtained from 2010 to 2012 in the XMM-COSMOS field, which was observed over 150 nights using the QUEST camera on the ESO-Schmidt telescope. The survey uses a broadband filter, the $Q$-band, similar to the union of the $g$ and the $r$ filters, achieving an intrinsic photometric dispersion of $0.05$ mag, and a systematic error of $0.05$ mag in the zero-point. Since some detectors of the camera show significant non-linearity, we use a linear correlation to fit the zero-points as a function of the instrumental magnitudes, thus obtaining a good correction to the non-linear behavior of these detectors. We obtain good photometry to an equivalent limiting magnitude of $r\sim 20.5$. Studying the optical variability of X-ray detected sources in the XMM-COSMOS field, we find that the survey is $\sim75-80$% complete to magnitudes $r\sim20$, and $\sim67$% complete to a magnitude $r\sim21$. The determination and parameterization of the structure function (${SF}_{norm}(\tau) = A \tau^{\gamma}$) of the variable sources shows that most BL AGN are characterized by $A > 0.1$ and $\gamma > 0.025$. It is further shown that variable NL AGN and GAL sources occupying the same parameter space in $A$ and $\gamma$ are very likely to correspond to obscured or low luminosity AGN. Our samples are, however, small, and we expect to revisit these results using larger samples with longer light curves obtained as part of our ongoing survey.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Dust in the reionization era: ALMA observations of a zz=8.38 Galaxy

We report on the detailed analysis of a gravitationally-lensed Y-band dropout, A2744_YD4, selected from deep Hubble Space Telescope imaging in the Frontier Field cluster Abell 2744. Band 7 observations with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) indicate the proximate detection of a significant 1mm continuum flux suggesting the presence of dust for a star-forming galaxy with a photometric redshift of $z\simeq8$. Deep X-SHOOTER spectra confirms the high redshift identity of A2744_YD4 via the detection of Lyman $\alpha$ emission at a redshift $z$=8.38. The association with the ALMA detection is confirmed by the presence of [OIII] 88$\mu$m emission at the same redshift. Although both emission features are only significant at the 4 $\sigma$ level, we argue their joint detection and the positional coincidence with a high redshift dropout in the HST images confirms the physical association. Analysis of the available photometric data and the modest gravitational magnification ($\mu\simeq2$) indicates A2744_YD4 has a stellar mass of $\sim$ 2$\times$10$^9$ M$_{\odot}$, a star formation rate of $\sim20$ M$_{\odot}$/yr and a dust mass of $\sim$6$\times$10$^{6}$ M$_{\odot}$. We discuss the implications of the formation of such a dust mass only $\simeq$200 Myr after the onset of cosmic reionisation.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ

High Time for Conservation: Adding the Environment to the Debate on Marijuana Liberalization

The liberalization of marijuana policies, including the legalization of medical and recreational marijuana, is sweeping the United States and other countries. Marijuana cultivation can have significant negative collateral effects on the environment that are often unknown or overlooked. Focusing on the state of California, where by some estimates 60% -- 70% of the marijuana consumed in the United States is grown, we argue that (a) the environmental harm caused by marijuana cultivation merits a direct policy response, (b) current approaches to governing the environmental effects are inadequate, and (c) neglecting discussion of the environmental impacts of cultivation when shaping future marijuana use and possession policies represents a missed opportunity to reduce, regulate, and mitigate environmental harm

Seasonal variability of particulate organic radiocarbon in the northeast Pacific ocean

We present Delta(14)C measurements of particulate organic carbon (POC) collected on four cruises at our time series site (station M) in the northeast Pacific Ocean. We observe a large gradient with depth in the suspended POC Delta(14)C values (124-160 parts per thousand). These profiles display lower Delta(14)C values (by 20-30 parts per thousand) in samples between 2500 m and the bottom during June 1992 and July 1993 than those during February and October 1992. Values of Delta(14)C in sinking POC from deep-moored sediment trap collections suggest a semiannual trend that displays lower overall Delta(14)C in material collected during periods of high flux. A limited number of Delta(14)C measurements of small swimmers picked from the trap 650 m above bottom are similar to surface Delta(14)C measurements of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIG) and suspended POC, indicating a surface carbon source. Overall, we postulate that the major process causing lower Delta(14)C values of deep suspended and sinking POC is sorption (or biological incorporation) of \u27\u27old\u27\u27 DOC onto particulate matter. There appears to be a higher ratio of DOC sorbed to sinking particulate matter at times of high flux (late spring and early fall) that can be thought of as a \u27\u27stripping out\u27\u27 of DOC from the water column. The DIC Delta(14)C display a small seasonal variation in the surface waters and is not the sole source of the observed seasonality in the POC Delta(14)C signals

Nonconservative Lagrangian mechanics II: purely causal equations of motion

This work builds on the Volterra series formalism presented in [D. W. Dreisigmeyer and P. M. Young, J. Phys. A \textbf{36}, 8297, (2003)] to model nonconservative systems. Here we treat Lagrangians and actions as `time dependent' Volterra series. We present a new family of kernels to be used in these Volterra series that allow us to derive a single retarded equation of motion using a variational principle