ranacapa: An R package and Shiny web app to explore environmental DNA data with exploratory statistics and interactive visualizations.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding is becoming a core tool in ecology and conservation biology, and is being used in a growing number of education, biodiversity monitoring, and public outreach programs in which professional research scientists engage community partners in primary research. Results from eDNA analyses can engage and educate natural resource managers, students, community scientists, and naturalists, but without significant training in bioinformatics, it can be difficult for this diverse audience to interact with eDNA results. Here we present the R package ranacapa, at the core of which is a Shiny web app that helps perform exploratory biodiversity analyses and visualizations of eDNA results. The app requires a taxonomy-by-sample matrix and a simple metadata file with descriptive information about each sample. The app enables users to explore the data with interactive figures and presents results from simple community ecology analyses. We demonstrate the value of ranacapa to two groups of community partners engaging with eDNA metabarcoding results

Probing seed black holes using future gravitational-wave detectors

Identifying the properties of the first generation of seeds of massive black holes is key to understanding the merger history and growth of galaxies. Mergers between ~100 solar mass seed black holes generate gravitational waves in the 0.1-10Hz band that lies between the sensitivity bands of existing ground-based detectors and the planned space-based gravitational wave detector, the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA). However, there are proposals for more advanced detectors that will bridge this gap, including the third generation ground-based Einstein Telescope and the space-based detector DECIGO. In this paper we demonstrate that such future detectors should be able to detect gravitational waves produced by the coalescence of the first generation of light seed black-hole binaries and provide information on the evolution of structure in that era. These observations will be complementary to those that LISA will make of subsequent mergers between more massive black holes. We compute the sensitivity of various future detectors to seed black-hole mergers, and use this to explore the number and properties of the events that each detector might see in three years of observation. For this calculation, we make use of galaxy merger trees and two different seed black hole mass distributions in order to construct the astrophysical population of events. We also consider the accuracy with which networks of future ground-based detectors will be able to measure the parameters of seed black hole mergers, in particular the luminosity distance to the source. We show that distance precisions of ~30% are achievable, which should be sufficient for us to say with confidence that the sources are at high redshift.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, accepted for proceedings of 13th GWDAW meetin

Liver regeneration after living donor transplantation: Adult‐to‐adult living donor liver transplantation cohort study

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109827/1/lt23966.pd

Triple Michelson Interferometer for a Third-Generation Gravitational Wave Detector

The upcoming European design study `Einstein gravitational-wave Telescope' represents the first step towards a substantial, international effort for the design of a third-generation interferometric gravitational wave detector. It is generally believed that third-generation instruments might not be installed into existing infrastructures but will provoke a new search for optimal detector sites. Consequently, the detector design could be subject to fewer constraints than the on-going design of the second generation instruments. In particular, it will be prudent to investigate alternatives to the traditional L-shaped Michelson interferometer. In this article, we review an old proposal to use three Michelson interferometers in a triangular configuration. We use this example of a triple Michelson interferometer to clarify the terminology and will put this idea into the context of more recent research on interferometer technologies. Furthermore the benefits of a triangular detector will be used to motivate this design as a good starting point for a more detailed research effort towards a third-generation gravitational wave detector.Comment: Minor corrections to the main text and two additional appendices. 14 pages, 6 figure

Cosmography with the Einstein Telescope

Einstein Telescope (ET) is a 3rd generation gravitational-wave (GW) detector that is currently undergoing a design study. ET can detect millions of compact binary mergers up to redshifts 2-8. A small fraction of mergers might be observed in coincidence as gamma-ray bursts, helping to measure both the luminosity distance and red-shift to the source. By fitting these measured values to a cosmological model, it should be possible to accurately infer the dark energy equation-of-state, dark matter and dark energy density parameters. ET could, therefore, herald a new era in cosmology.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Recipient Morbidity After Living and Deceased Donor Liver Transplantation: Findings from the A2ALL Retrospective Cohort Study †

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72284/1/j.1600-6143.2008.02440.x.pd

Status of the GEO600 gravitational wave detector

The GEO600 laser interferometric gravitational wave detector is approaching the end of its commissioning phase which started in 1995.During a test run in January 2002 the detector was operated for 15 days in a power-recycled michelson configuration. The detector and environmental data which were acquired during this test run were used to test the data analysis code. This paper describes the subsystems of GEO600, the status of the detector by August 2002 and the plans towards the first science run

Social and Financial Outcomes of Living Liver Donation: A Prospective Investigation Within the Adult‐to‐Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation Cohort Study 2 (A2ALL‐2)

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136356/1/ajt14055_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136356/2/ajt14055.pd

Compact Binary Coalescences in the Band of Ground-based Gravitational-Wave Detectors

As the ground-based gravitational-wave telescopes LIGO, Virgo, and GEO 600 approach the era of first detections, we review the current knowledge of the coalescence rates and the mass and spin distributions of merging neutron-star and black-hole binaries. We emphasize the bi-directional connection between gravitational-wave astronomy and conventional astrophysics. Astrophysical input will make possible informed decisions about optimal detector configurations and search techniques. Meanwhile, rate upper limits, detected merger rates, and the distribution of masses and spins measured by gravitational-wave searches will constrain astrophysical parameters through comparisons with astrophysical models. Future developments necessary to the success of gravitational-wave astronomy are discussed.Comment: Replaced with version accepted by CQG