Constraints on Dark Energy from Supernovae, Gamma Ray Bursts, Acoustic Oscillations, Nucleosynthesis and Large Scale Structure and the Hubble constant

The luminosity distance vs. redshift law is now measured using supernovae and gamma ray bursts, and the angular size distance is measured at the surface of last scattering by the CMB and at z = 0.35 by baryon acoustic oscillations. In this paper this data is fit to models for the equation of state with w = -1, w = const, and w(z) = w_0+w_a(1-a). The last model is poorly constrained by the distance data, leading to unphysical solutions where the dark energy dominates at early times unless the large scale structure and acoustic scale constraints are modified to allow for early time dark energy effects. A flat LambdaCDM model is consistent with all the data.Comment: 19 pages Latex with 8 Postscript figure files. A new reference and constraint, w vs w' contour plots updated. Version accepted by the the Ap

Extended Water Quality Monitoring of the Lincoln Lake Watershed

For seven years, the Lincoln Lake (Moores Creek and Beatty Branch) watershed was monitored for improvements in water quality resulting from agricultural best management practices (BMP) implemented to reduce nutrient transport. During the first three years of monitoring (1991 to 1994), nitrogen transport declined significantly (Edwards et al., 1994, 1996, and 1997) under both base and storm flow conditions. This decline in nitrogen transport was again observed in the three-year period following 1994 (Vendrell et al. 1998). This monitoring effort has demonstrated that water quality bas improved in the Lincoln Lake watershed. However, since the nitrogen transport continued to decline and there was some indication that phosphorus may begin to decline, monitoring was extended for another year (1998)

Enhancing care for older people living in nursing homes in rural Australia using action learning as a catalyst for change

The implementation of action learning workshops in three nursing homes in rural Victoria, Australia has been critical in the re-visioning of how care can be enhanced for residents. The workshops were designed with the intent of improving quality of care for residents by providing health care staff with opportunities to learn together and effect cultural change. Valuing what was accomplished well in these nursing homes was the starting point. The project was funded by a Commonwealth Government Rural Education Grant and was based on ‘My Home Life’ a popular programme that promotes quality of life and delivers positive change in care homes for older people across the United Kingdom. This paper provides an account of the project including key components of the action learning workshops and subsequent evaluation of the programme conducted in Australia. The lessons learnt throughout this project have provided the impetus to continue using appreciative inquiry and action learning to involve participants in reflecting on their practice, valuing what they do well while identifying areas that require change. Working together in a safe and respectful space provides participants with opportunity to harness their own collective wisdom and as the health professionals in this project experienced, also learn valuable skills that support progressive action that makes a difference to older people’s lives

Integrating Food Policy with Growing Health and Wellness Concerns: An Analytical Literature Review of the Issues Affecting Government, Industry, and Civil Society

Over the past few years, there has been growing global interest in the link between food and health. This paper provides a review of some of the recent literature describing these linkages. The first section provides an overview of findings that link the consumption of fruits and vegetables, meat, eggs, whole-grains, alcohol, sugar, dairy, fish, pulses, soy, and nuts to coronary heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes. The authors then summarize various international and domestic non-government organizations' views about these issues. The third section centres on the food industry and its responses to growing health concerns. The fourth section is an overview of public policy relating to food and health, including the use of food policy to change consumption behaviour and address obesity. This section also includes a discussion of the relevance of policies designed to discourage smoking to the current debate on obesity. The Conclusion highlights ways in which Canadian food policy can be adapted in order to better promote health and wellness.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy, Agribusiness,

The Lick Planet Search: Detectability and Mass Thresholds

We analyse 11 years of precise radial velocities for 76 solar type stars from the Lick survey. Eight stars in this sample have previously reported planetary-mass companions, all with mass (m sin i) less than 8 Jupiter masses (MJ). For the stars without a detected companion, we place upper limits on possible companion mass. For most stars, we can exclude companions with m sin i > 0.7 MJ (a/AU)^1/2 for orbital radii a < 5 AU. We use our results to interpret the observed masses and orbital radii of planetary-mass companions. For example, we show that the finite duration of the observations makes detection of Jupiter mass companions more and more difficult for orbital radii beyond 3 AU. Thus it is possible that the majority of solar type stars harbor Jupiter-mass companions much like our own, and if so these companions should be detectable in a few years. To search for periodicities, we adopt a "floating-mean" periodogram, which improves on the traditional Lomb-Scargle periodogram by accounting for statistical fluctuations in the mean of a sampled sinusoid. We discuss in detail the normalization of the periodogram, an issue which has been of some debate in the literature.Comment: To appear in the Astrophysical Journal (50 pages, LaTeX, including 11 figures

A Suborbital Payload for Soft X-ray Spectroscopy of Extended Sources

We present a suborbital rocket payload capable of performing soft X-ray spectroscopy on extended sources. The payload can reach resolutions of ~100(lambda/dlambda) over sources as large as 3.25 degrees in diameter in the 17-107 angstrom bandpass. This permits analysis of the overall energy balance of nearby supernova remnants and the detailed nature of the diffuse soft X-ray background. The main components of the instrument are: wire grid collimators, off-plane grating arrays and gaseous electron multiplier detectors. This payload is adaptable to longer duration orbital rockets given its comparatively simple pointing and telemetry requirements and an abundance of potential science targets.Comment: Accepted to Experimental Astronomy, 12 pages plus 1 table and 17 figure

A Complete Catalog of Swift GRB Spectra and Durations: Demise of a Physical Origin for Pre-Swift High-Energy Correlations

We calculate durations and spectral paramaters for 218 Swift bursts detected by the BAT instrument between and including GRBs 041220 and 070509, including 77 events with measured redshifts. Incorporating prior knowledge into the spectral fits, we are able to measure the characteristic $\nu F_{\nu}$ spectral peak energy $E_{\rm pk,obs}$ and the isotropic equivalent energy $E_{\rm iso}$ (1--$10^4$ keV) for all events. This complete and rather extensive catalog, analyzed with a unified methodology, allows us to address the persistence and origin of high-energy correlations suggested in pre-Swift observations. We find that the $E_{\rm pk,obs}$-$E_{\rm iso}$ correlation is present in the Swift sample; however, the best-fit powerlaw relation is inconsistent with the best-fit pre-Swift relation at >5 sigma significance. Moreover, it has a factor >~ 2 larger intrinsic scatter, after accounting for large errors on $E_{\rm pk,obs}$. A large fraction of the Swift events are hard and subluminous relative to (and inconsistent with) the pre-Swift relation, in agreement with indications from BATSE GRBs without redshift. Moreover, we determine an experimental threshold for the BAT detector and show how the $E_{\rm pk,obs}$--$E_{\rm iso}$ correlation arises artificially due to partial correlation with the threshold. We show that pre-Swift correlations found by Amati et al.(2002), Yonetoku et al. (2004), Firmani et al.(2006) (and independently by others) are likely unrelated to the physical properties of GRBs and are likely useless for tests of cosmology. Also, an explanation of these correlations in terms of a detector threshold provides a natural and quantitative explanation for why short-duration GRBs and events at low redshift tend to be outliers to the correlations.Comment: 25 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, Accepted to Ap

Chandra Discovery of a 300 kpc X-ray Jet in the GPS Quasar PKS1127-145

We have discovered an X-ray jet with Chandra imaging of the z=1.187 radio-loud quasar PKS1127-145. In this paper we present the Chandra X-ray data, follow-up VLA observations, and optical imaging using the HST WFPC2. The X-ray jet contains 273+/-5 net counts in 27ksec and extends ~30 arcsec, from the quasar core, corresponding to a minimum projected linear size of ~330/h_50 kpc. The evaluation of the X-ray emission processes is complicated by the observed offsets between X-ray and radio brightness peaks. We discuss the problems posed by these observations to jet models. In addition, PKS1127-145 is a Giga-Hertz Peaked Spectrum radio source, a member of the class of radio sources suspected to be young or ``frustrated'' versions of FRI radio galaxies. However the discovery of an X-ray and radio jet extending well outside the host galaxy of PKS1127-145 suggests that activity in this and other GPS sources may be long-lived and complex.Comment: 22 pages, 11 ps figures, 1 figure in a JPG file, 3 tables. AASTEX. Accepted by The Astrophysical Journa