The LCO/Palomar 10,000 km/sec Cluster Survey. II. Constraints on Large-Scale Streaming

The LCO/Palomar 10,000 km/sec (LP10K) Tully-Fisher (TF) data set is used to test for bulk streaming motions on a ~150 Mpc scale. The sample consists of 172 cluster galaxies in the original target range of the survey, 9000-13,000 km/sec, plus an additional 72 galaxies with cz < 30,000 km/sec. A maximum-likelihood analysis that is insensitive to Malmquist and selection bias effects is used to constrain the bulk velocity parameters, and realistic Monte-Carlo simulations are carried out to correct residual biases and determine statistical errors. When the analysis is restricted to the original target range, the bias-corrected bulk flow is v_B=720 +/- 280 km/sec toward l=266, b=19. When all objects out to z=0.1 are included the result is virtually unchanged, v_B=700 +/- 250 km/sec toward l=272, b=10. The hypothesis that the Hubble flow has converged to the CMB frame at distances less than ~ 100 Mpc is ruled out at the 97% confidence level. The data are inconsistent with the flow vector found by Lauer & Postman. However, the LP10K bulk flow is consistent with that obtained from the SMAC survey of elliptical galaxies recently described by Hudson et al. If correct, the LP10K results indicate that the convergence depth for the Hubble flow is >~ 150 Mpc.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, uses emulateapj, submitted to the Astrophysical Journal. Also available at http://astro.stanford.edu/jeff

Association Between Empathy and Burnout Among Emergency Medicine Physicians

Background: The association between physician self-reported empathy and burnout has been studied in the past with diverse findings. We aimed to determine the association between empathy and burnout among United States emergency medicine (EM) physicians using a novel combination of tools for validation. Methods: This was a prospective single-center observational study. Data were collected from EM physicians. From December 1, 2018 to January 31, 2019, we used the Jefferson scale of empathy (JSE) to assess physician empathy and the Copenhagen burnout inventory (CBI) to assess burnout. We divided EM physicians into different groups (residents in each year of training, junior/senior attendings). Empathy, burnout scores and their association were analyzed and compared among these groups. Results: A total of 33 attending physicians and 35 EM residents participated in this study. Median self-reported empathy scores were 113 (interquartile range (IQR): 105 - 117) in post-graduate year (PGY)-1, 112 (90 - 115) in PGY-2, 106 (93 - 118) in PGY-3 EM residents, 112 (105 - 116) in junior and 114 (101 - 125) in senior attending physicians. Overall burnout scores were 43 (33 - 50) in PGY-1, 51 (29 - 56) in PGY-2, 43 (42 - 53) in PGY-3 EM residents, 33 (24 - 47) in junior attending and 25 (22 - 53) in senior attending physicians separately. The Spearman correlation (ρ) was -0.11 and β-weight was -0.23 between empathy and patient-related burnout scores. Conclusion: Self-reported empathy declines over the course of EM residency training and improves after graduation. Overall high burnout occurs among EM residents and improves after graduation. Our analysis showed a weak negative correlation between self-reported empathy and patient-related burnout among EM physicians

To live a problem: Deleuze and existential politics

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Anomaly mediated neutrino-photon interactions at finite baryon density

We propose new physical processes based on the axial vector anomaly and described by the Wess-Zumino-Witten term that couples the photon, Z-boson, and the omega-meson. The interaction takes the form of a pseudo-Chern-Simons term, $\sim \epsilon_{\mu\nu\rho\sigma}\omega^\mu Z^\nu F^{\rho\sigma}$. This term induces neutrino-photon interactions at finite baryon density via the coupling of the Z-boson to neutrinos. These interactions may be detectable in various laboratory and astrophysical arenas. The new interactions may account for the MiniBooNE excess. They also produce a competitive contribution to neutron star cooling at temperatures >10^9 K. These processes and related axion--photon interactions at finite baryon density appear to be relevant in many astrophysical regimes.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; references adde

Remote sensing and geologic studies of the orientale basin region

Both visual and near-infrared spectral observations are combined with multispectral imaging to study the Orientale interior and exterior, the Cruger region, Grimaldi Region, the Schiller-Schickard Region, and the Humorum Region of the Moon. It was concluded that anorthosites occur in the Inner Rook Mountains of Orientale, the inner ring of Grimaldi, and the main ring of Humorum. Imaging spectroscopy shows that the entire eastern Inner Rook Mountains are composed of anorthosites. Orientale ejecta are strikingly like the surface materials in the region where Apollo 16 landed. This similarity indicates similar mineralogy, i.e., noritic anorthosite. Thus, Orientile ejecta is more mafic than the Inner Rook Mountains. This situation is also true for the Nectaris, Humorum, and Gramaldi basins. Isolated areas of the Orientale region show the presence of gabbroic rocks, but, in general, Orientale ejecta are noritic anorthosites, which contain much more low-Ca pyroxene than high-Ca pyroxene. Ancient (pre-Orientale) mare volcanism apparently occurred in several areas of the western limb

The conference effect: National surgery meetings are associated with increased mortality at trauma centers without American College of Surgeons verification

BACKGROUND: Thousands of physicians attend scientific conferences each year. While recent data indicate that variation in staffing during such meetings impacts survival of non-surgical patients, the association between treatment during conferences and outcomes of a surgical population remain unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine mortality resulting from traumatic injuries and the influence of hospital admission during national surgery meetings. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective analysis of in-hospital mortality using data from the Trauma Quality Improvement Program (2010-2011). Identified patients admitted during four annual meetings and compared their mortality with that of patients admitted during non-conference periods. Analysis included 155 hospitals with 12,256 patients admitted on 42 conference days and 82,399 patients admitted on 270 non-conference days. Multivariate analysis performed separately for hospitals with different levels of trauma center verification by state and American College of Surgeons (ACS) criteria. RESULTS: Patient characteristics were similar between meeting and non-meeting dates. At ACS level I and level II trauma centers during conference versus non-conference dates, adjusted mortality was not significantly different. However, adjusted mortality increased significantly for patients admitted to trauma centers that lacked ACS trauma verification during conferences versus non-conference days (OR 1.2, p = 0.008), particularly for patients with penetrating injuries, whose mortality rose from 11.6% to 15.9% (p = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Trauma mortality increased during surgery conferences compared to non-conference dates for patients admitted to hospitals that lacked ACS trauma level verification. The mortality difference at those hospitals was greatest for patients who presented with penetrating injuries

Remote sensing and geologic studies of the terrain northwest of Humorum basin

A portion of the highlands terrain northwest of the Humorum basin, a large multiringed impact structure on the southwestern portion of the lunar nearside, exhibits anomalous characteristics in several remote sensing data sets. A variety of remote sensing studies of the terrain northwest of Humorum basin were performed in order to determine the composition and origin of the anomalous unit as well as the composition of the highland material exposed by the Humorum impact event. It was found that at least a portion of the mare-bounding ring of Humorum is composed of pure anorthosite. Other details of the study are reported

The Far-Ultraviolet Spectra of TW Hya. II. Models of H2 Fluorescence in a Disk

We measure the temperature of warm gas at planet-forming radii in the disk around the classical T Tauri star (CTTS) TW Hya by modelling the H2 fluorescence observed in HST/STIS and FUSE spectra. Strong Ly-alpha emission irradiates a warm disk surface within 2 AU of the central star and pumps certain excited levels of H2. We simulate a 1D plane-parallel atmosphere to estimate fluxes for the 140 observed H2 emission lines and to reconstruct the Ly-alpha emission profile incident upon the warm H2. The excitation of H2 can be determined from relative line strengths by measuring self-absorption in lines with low-energy lower levels, or by reconstructing the Ly-alpha profile incident upon the warm H2 using the total flux from a single upper level and the opacity in the pumping transition. Based on those diagnostics, we estimate that the warm disk surface has a column density of log N(H2)=18.5^{+1.2}_{-0.8}, a temperature T=2500^{+700}_{-500} K, and a filling factor of H2, as seen by the source of Ly-alpha emission, of 0.25\pm0.08 (all 2-sigma error bars). TW Hya produces approximately 10^{-3} L_\odot in the FUV, about 85% of which is in the Ly-alpha emission line. From the H I absorption observed in the Ly-alpha emission, we infer that dust extinction in our line of sight to TW Hya is negligible.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. 26 pages, 17 figures, 6 table

High-Redshift Quasars Found in Sloan Digital Sky Survey Commissioning Data IV: Luminosity Function from the Fall Equatorial Stripe Sampl

This is the fourth paper in a series aimed at finding high-redshift quasars from five-color imaging data taken along the Celestial Equator by the SDSS. during its commissioning phase. In this paper, we use the color-selected sample of 39 luminous high-redshift quasars presented in Paper III to derive the evolution of the quasar luminosity function over the range of 3.6<z<5.0, and -27.5<M_1450<-25.5 (Omega=1, H_0=50 km s^-1 Mpc^-1). We use the selection function derived in Paper III to correct for sample incompleteness. The luminosity function is estimated using three different methods: (1) the 1/V_a estimator; (2) a maximum likelihood solution, assuming that the density of quasars depends exponentially on redshift and as a power law in luminosity and (3) Lynden-Bell's non-parametric C^- estimator. All three methods give consistent results. The luminous quasar density decreases by a factor of ~ 6 from z=3.5 to z=5.0, consistent with the decline seen from several previous optical surveys at z<4.5. The luminosity function follows psi(L) ~ L^{-2.5} for z~4 at the bright end, significantly flatter than the bright end luminosity function psi(L) \propto L^{-3.5} found in previous studies for z<3, suggesting that the shape of the quasar luminosity function evolves with redshift as well, and that the quasar evolution from z=2 to 5 cannot be described as pure luminosity evolution. Possible selection biases and the effect of dust extinction on the redshift evolution of the quasar density are also discussed.Comment: AJ accepted, with minor change

Halo Star Streams in the Solar Neighborhood

We have assembled a sample of halo stars in the solar neighborhood to look for halo substructure in velocity and angular momentum space. Our sample includes red giants, RR Lyrae, and red horizontal branch stars within 2.5 kpc of the Sun with [Fe/H] less than -1.0. It was chosen to include stars with accurate distances, space velocities, and metallicities as well as well-quantified errors. We confirm the existence of the streams found by Helmi and coworkers, which we refer to as the H99 streams. These streams have a double-peaked velocity distribution in the z direction. We use the results of modeling of the H99 streams by Helmi and collaborators to test how one might use v_z velocity information and radial velocity information to detect kinematic substructure in the halo. We find that detecting the H99 streams with radial velocities alone would require a large sample. We use the velocity distribution of the H99 streams to estimate their age. From our model of the progenitor of the H99 streams, we determine that it was accreted between 6 and 9 Gyr ago. The H99 streams have [alpha/Fe] abundances similar to other halo stars in the solar neighborhood, suggesting that the gas that formed these stars were enriched mostly by Type II SNe. We have also discovered in angular momentum space two other possible substructures, which we refer to as the retrograde and prograde outliers. The retrograde outliers are likely to be halo substructure, but the prograde outliers are most likely part of the smooth halo. The retrograde outliers have significant structure in the v_phi direction and show a range of [alpha/Fe]. The methods presented in this paper can be used to exploit the kinematic information present in future large databases like RAVE, SDSSII/SEGUE, and Gaia.Comment: 46 pages, 13 figures, and 9 tables. Minor changes to text to match proofed version of the paper. Low resolution figures. High resolution version at http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~kepley/solar_streams.p