1,117 research outputs found

    Philadelphia Progressivism 1910-1915: a reappraisal

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    For the most part scholars have debated the definition of progressive while virtually ignoring the applicability of the term movement. The progressives must agree on a common program, subscribe to common set of values and channel their efforts toward achieving a common purpose. None of these conditions are found in an examination of Philadelphia politics from 1910 until 1915. In addition this investigation does not support the contention that reformers are identifiable by the singularity and consistency of their political behavior

    DustPedia: Multiwavelength photometry and imagery of 875 nearby galaxies in 42 ultraviolet-microwave bands

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    Aims. The DustPedia project is capitalising on the legacy of the Herschel Space Observatory, using cutting-edge modelling techniques to study dust in the 875 DustPedia galaxies – representing the vast majority of extended galaxies within 3000 km s-1 that were observed by Herschel. This work requires a database of multiwavelength imagery and photometry that greatly exceeds the scope (in terms of wavelength coverage and number of galaxies) of any previous local-Universe survey. Methods. We constructed a database containing our own custom Herschel reductions, along with standardised archival observations from GALEX, SDSS, DSS, 2MASS, WISE, Spitzer, and Planck. Using these data, we performed consistent aperture-matched photometry, which we combined with external supplementary photometry from IRAS and Planck. Results. We present our multiwavelength imagery and photometry across 42 UV-microwave bands for the 875 DustPedia galaxies. Our aperture-matched photometry, combined with the external supplementary photometry, represents a total of 21 857 photometric measurements. A typical DustPedia galaxy has multiwavelength photometry spanning 25 bands. We also present the Comprehensive & Adaptable Aperture Photometry Routine (CAAPR), the pipeline we developed to carry out our aperture-matched photometry. CAAPR is designed to produce consistent photometry for the enormous range of galaxy and observation types in our data. In particular, CAAPR is able to determine robust cross-compatible uncertainties, thanks to a novel method for reliably extrapolating the aperture noise for observations that cover a very limited amount of background. Our rich database of imagery and photometry is being made available to the community

    The Journal of Nutrition Nutrition and Disease Tart Cherry Juice Decreases Oxidative Stress in Healthy Older Men and Women 1-3

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    Abstract Compared with young adults, older adults have significantly impaired capacities to resist oxidative damage when faced with acute stress such as ischemia/reperfusion. This impairment likely contributes to increased morbidity and mortality in older adults in response to acute trauma, infections, and the susceptibility to diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimer's disease. Consumption of foods high in polyphenols, particularly anthocyanins, have been associated with improved health, but the mechanisms contributing to these salutary effects remain to be fully established. This study tested the hypothesis that consumption of tart cherry juice containing high levels of anthocyanins improves the capacity of older adults to resist oxidative damage during acute oxidative stress. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover design, 12 volunteers [6 men and 6 women; age 69 6 4 y (61-75 y)] consumed in random order either tart cherry juice or placebo (240 mL twice daily for 14 d) separated by a 4-wk washout period. The capacity to resist oxidative damage was measured as the changes in plasma F 2 -isoprostane levels in response to forearm ischemia-reperfusion (I/R) before and after each treatment. The tart cherry juice intervention reduced the I/R-induced F 2 -isoprostane response (P , 0.05), whereas placebo had no significant effect. The tart cherry juice intervention also reduced basal urinary excretion of oxidized nucleic acids (8-hydroxy-29-deoxyguanosine, 8-hydroxyguanosine) (P , 0.05) but not urinary excretion of isoprostanes. These data suggest that consumption of tart cherry juice improves antioxidant defenses in vivo in older adults as shown by an increased capacity to constrain an oxidative challenge and reduced oxidative damage to nucleic acids

    Seiberg-Witten and "Polyakov-like" magnetic bion confinements are continuously connected

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    We study four-dimensional N=2 supersymmetric pure-gauge (Seiberg-Witten) theory and its N=1 mass perturbation by using compactification S**1 x R**3. It is well known that on R**4 (or at large S**1) the perturbed theory realizes confinement through monopole or dyon condensation. At small S**1, we demonstrate that confinement is induced by a generalization of Polyakov's three-dimensional instanton mechanism to a locally four-dimensional theory - the magnetic bion mechanism - which also applies to a large class of nonsupersymmetric theories. Using a large- vs. small-L Poisson duality, we show that the two mechanisms of confinement, previously thought to be distinct, are in fact continuously connected.Comment: 49 pages, 5 figure

    Rationale and study design of a cross sectional study documenting the prevalence of Heart Failure amongst the minority ethnic communities in the UK: the E-ECHOES Study (Ethnic - Echocardiographic Heart of England Screening Study)

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    Background: Heart failure is an important cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Studies to date have not established the prevalence heart failure amongst the minority ethnic community in the UK. The aim of the E-ECHOES (Ethnic - Echocardiographic Heart of England Screening Study) is to establish, for the first time, the community prevalence and severity of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) and heart failure amongst the South Asian and Black African-Caribbean ethnic groups in the UK.Methods/Design: This is a community based cross-sectional population survey of a sample of South Asian (i.e. those originating from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh) and Black African-Caribbean male and female subjects aged 45 years and over. Data collection undertaken using a standardised protocol comprising a questionnaire incorporating targeted clinical history taking, physical examination, and investigations with resting electrocardiography and echocardiography; and blood sampling with consent. This is the largest study on heart failure amongst these ethnic groups. Full data collection started in September 2006 and will be completed by August 2009.Discussion: The E-ECHOES study will enable the planning and delivery of clinically and cost-effective treatment of this common and debilitating condition within these communities. In addition it will increase knowledge of the aetiology and management of heart failure within minority ethnic communities

    Multiple populations in globular clusters. Lessons learned from the Milky Way globular clusters

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    Recent progress in studies of globular clusters has shown that they are not simple stellar populations, being rather made of multiple generations. Evidence stems both from photometry and spectroscopy. A new paradigm is then arising for the formation of massive star clusters, which includes several episodes of star formation. While this provides an explanation for several features of globular clusters, including the second parameter problem, it also opens new perspectives about the relation between globular clusters and the halo of our Galaxy, and by extension of all populations with a high specific frequency of globular clusters, such as, e.g., giant elliptical galaxies. We review progress in this area, focusing on the most recent studies. Several points remain to be properly understood, in particular those concerning the nature of the polluters producing the abundance pattern in the clusters and the typical timescale, the range of cluster masses where this phenomenon is active, and the relation between globular clusters and other satellites of our Galaxy.Comment: In press (The Astronomy and Astrophysics Review

    Multidimensional method-of-lines transport for atmospheric flows over steep terrain using arbitrary meshes

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    Including terrain in atmospheric models gives rise to mesh distortions near the lower boundary that can degrade accuracy and challenge the stability of transport schemes. Multidimensional transport schemes avoid splitting errors on distorted, arbitrary meshes, and method-of-lines schemes have low computational cost because they perform reconstructions at fixed points. This paper presents a multidimensional method-of-lines finite volume transport scheme, “cubicFit”, which is designed to be numerically stable on arbitrary meshes. Stability conditions derived from a von Neumann analysis are imposed during model initialisation to obtain stability and improve accuracy in distorted regions of the mesh, and near steeply-sloping lower boundaries. Reconstruction calculations depend upon the mesh only, needing just one vector multiply per face per time-stage irrespective of the velocity field. The cubicFit scheme is evaluated using three, idealised numerical tests. The first is a variant of a standard horizontal transport test on severely distorted terrain-following meshes. The second is a new test case that assesses accuracy near the ground by transporting a tracer at the lower boundary over steep terrain on terrain-following meshes, cut-cell meshes, and new, slanted-cell meshes that do not suffer from severe time-step constraints associated with cut cells. The third, standard test deforms a tracer in a vortical flow on hexagonal-icosahedral meshes and cubed-sphere meshes. In all tests, cubicFit is stable and largely insensitive to mesh distortions, and cubicFit results are more accurate than those obtained using a multidimensional linear upwind transport scheme. The cubicFit scheme is second-order convergent regardless of mesh distortions

    Planck 2013 results. XXII. Constraints on inflation

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    We analyse the implications of the Planck data for cosmic inflation. The Planck nominal mission temperature anisotropy measurements, combined with the WMAP large-angle polarization, constrain the scalar spectral index to be ns = 0:9603 _ 0:0073, ruling out exact scale invariance at over 5_: Planck establishes an upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of r < 0:11 (95% CL). The Planck data thus shrink the space of allowed standard inflationary models, preferring potentials with V00 < 0. Exponential potential models, the simplest hybrid inflationary models, and monomial potential models of degree n _ 2 do not provide a good fit to the data. Planck does not find statistically significant running of the scalar spectral index, obtaining dns=dln k = 0:0134 _ 0:0090. We verify these conclusions through a numerical analysis, which makes no slowroll approximation, and carry out a Bayesian parameter estimation and model-selection analysis for a number of inflationary models including monomial, natural, and hilltop potentials. For each model, we present the Planck constraints on the parameters of the potential and explore several possibilities for the post-inflationary entropy generation epoch, thus obtaining nontrivial data-driven constraints. We also present a direct reconstruction of the observable range of the inflaton potential. Unless a quartic term is allowed in the potential, we find results consistent with second-order slow-roll predictions. We also investigate whether the primordial power spectrum contains any features. We find that models with a parameterized oscillatory feature improve the fit by __2 e_ _ 10; however, Bayesian evidence does not prefer these models. We constrain several single-field inflation models with generalized Lagrangians by combining power spectrum data with Planck bounds on fNL. Planck constrains with unprecedented accuracy the amplitude and possible correlation (with the adiabatic mode) of non-decaying isocurvature fluctuations. The fractional primordial contributions of cold dark matter (CDM) isocurvature modes of the types expected in the curvaton and axion scenarios have upper bounds of 0.25% and 3.9% (95% CL), respectively. In models with arbitrarily correlated CDM or neutrino isocurvature modes, an anticorrelated isocurvature component can improve the _2 e_ by approximately 4 as a result of slightly lowering the theoretical prediction for the ` <_ 40 multipoles relative to the higher multipoles. Nonetheless, the data are consistent with adiabatic initial conditions

    Jet energy measurement with the ATLAS detector in proton-proton collisions at root s=7 TeV

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    The jet energy scale and its systematic uncertainty are determined for jets measured with the ATLAS detector at the LHC in proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 7TeV corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 38 pb-1. Jets are reconstructed with the anti-kt algorithm with distance parameters R=0. 4 or R=0. 6. Jet energy and angle corrections are determined from Monte Carlo simulations to calibrate jets with transverse momenta pT≥20 GeV and pseudorapidities {pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy systematic uncertainty is estimated using the single isolated hadron response measured in situ and in test-beams, exploiting the transverse momentum balance between central and forward jets in events with dijet topologies and studying systematic variations in Monte Carlo simulations. The jet energy uncertainty is less than 2. 5 % in the central calorimeter region ({pipe}η{pipe}<0. 8) for jets with 60≤pT<800 GeV, and is maximally 14 % for pT<30 GeV in the most forward region 3. 2≤{pipe}η{pipe}<4. 5. The jet energy is validated for jet transverse momenta up to 1 TeV to the level of a few percent using several in situ techniques by comparing a well-known reference such as the recoiling photon pT, the sum of the transverse momenta of tracks associated to the jet, or a system of low-pT jets recoiling against a high-pT jet. More sophisticated jet calibration schemes are presented based on calorimeter cell energy density weighting or hadronic properties of jets, aiming for an improved jet energy resolution and a reduced flavour dependence of the jet response. The systematic uncertainty of the jet energy determined from a combination of in situ techniques is consistent with the one derived from single hadron response measurements over a wide kinematic range. The nominal corrections and uncertainties are derived for isolated jets in an inclusive sample of high-pT jets. Special cases such as event topologies with close-by jets, or selections of samples with an enhanced content of jets originating from light quarks, heavy quarks or gluons are also discussed and the corresponding uncertainties are determined. © 2013 CERN for the benefit of the ATLAS collaboration
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