413 research outputs found
GUT-Scale Primordial Black Holes: Consequences and Constraints
A population of very light primordial black holes which evaporate before
nucleosynthesis begins is unconstrained unless the decaying black holes leave
stable relics. We show that gravitons Hawking radiated from these black holes
would source a substantial stochastic background of high frequency
gravititational waves ( Hz or more) in the present universe. These
black holes may lead to a transient period of matter dominated expansion. In
this case the primordial universe could be temporarily dominated by large
clusters of "Hawking stars" and the resulting gravitational wave spectrum is
independent of the initial number density of primordial black holes.Comment: 4 pages; grey body factors included in graviton emission
calculations, and a couple of references added, but the conclusions are
unchanged. v3 Minor changes to references and wording; final versio
Nonlinear internal wave penetration via parametric subharmonic instability
We present the results of a laboratory experimental study of an internal wave field generated by harmonic, spatially periodic boundary forcing from above of a density stratification comprising a strongly stratified, thin upper layer sitting atop a weakly stratified, deep lower layer. In linear regimes, the energy flux associated with relatively high frequency internal waves excited in the upper layer is prevented from entering the lower layer by virtue of evanescent decay of the wave field. In the experiments, however, we find that the development of parametric subharmonic instability in the upper layer transfers energy from the forced primary wave into a pair of subharmonic daughter waves, each capable of penetrating the weakly stratified lower layer. We find that around 10% of the primary wave energy flux penetrates into the lower layer via this nonlinear wave-wave interaction for the regime we study.ONLITUR ((No. ANR-2011-BS04-006-01)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (No. OCE-1357434
Ultra-high energy cosmic rays may come from clustered sources
Clustering of cosmic-ray sources affects the flux observed beyond the cutoff
imposed by the cosmic microwave background and may be important in interpreting
the AGASA, Fly's Eye, and HiRes data. The standard deviation, sigma, in the
predicted number, N, of events above 10^{20} eV is sigma/N = 0.9(r_0/10
Mpc)^{0.9}, where r_0 is the unknown scale length of the correlation function
(r_0 = 10 Mpc for field galaxies). Future experiments will allow the
determination of r_0 through the detection of anisotropies in arrival
directions of ~ 10^{20} eV cosmic-rays over angular scales of Theta ~ r_0/30
Mpc.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa
Adventures in Friedmann Cosmology: An Educationally Detailed Expansion of the Cosmological Friedmann Equations
The general relativistic cosmological Friedmann equations which describe how
the scale factor of the universe evolves are expanded explicitly to include
energy forms not usually seen. The evolution of the universe as predicted by
the Friedmann equations when dominated by a single, isotropic, stable, static,
perfect-fluid energy form is discussed for different values of its
gravitational pressure to density ratio . These energy forms include phantom
energy (), cosmological constant (), domain walls (),
cosmic strings (), normal matter (), radiation and
relativistic matter (), and a previously little-discussed form of
energy called "ultralight" (). A brief history and possible futures of
Friedmann universes dominated by a single energy form are discussed.Comment: 32 pages, 4 tables; modified version accepted for publication in the
American Journal of Physic
Computational environment for modeling and enhancing community resilience: Introducing the center for risk-based community resilience planning
The resilience of a community is defined as its ability to prepare for, withstand, recover from and adapt to the effects of natural or human-caused disasters, and depends on the performance of the built environment and on supporting social, economic and public institutions that are essential for immediate response and long-term recovery and adaptation. The performance of the built environment generally is governed by codes, standards, and regulations, which are applicable to individual facilities and residences, are based on different performance criteria, and do not account for the interdependence of buildings, transportation, utilities and other infrastructure sectors. The National Institute of Standards and Technology recently awarded a new Center of Excellence (NIST-CoE) for Risk-Based Community Resilience Planning, which is headquartered at Colorado State University and involves nine additional universities. Research in this Center is focusing on three major research thrusts: (1) developing the NIST-Community Resilience Modeling Environment known as NIST-CORE, thereby enabling alternative strategies to enhance community resilience to be measured quantitatively; (2) developing a standardized data ontology, robust data architecture and data management tools in support of NIST-CORE; and (3) performing a comprehensive set of hindcasts on disasters to validate the data architecture and NIST-CORE
N-Terminal ProâB-Type Natriuretic Peptide in the Emergency Department: The ICON-RELOADED Study
Background
Contemporary reconsideration of diagnostic N-terminal proâB-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) cutoffs for diagnosis of heart failure (HF) is needed.
Objectives
This study sought to evaluate the diagnostic performance of NT-proBNP for acute HF in patients with dyspnea in the emergency department (ED) setting.
Methods
Dyspneic patients presenting to 19 EDs in North America were enrolled and had blood drawn for subsequent NT-proBNP measurement. Primary endpoints were positive predictive values of age-stratified cutoffs (450, 900, and 1,800 pg/ml) for diagnosis of acute HF and negative predictive value of the rule-out cutoff to exclude acute HF. Secondary endpoints included sensitivity, specificity, and positive (+) and negative (â) likelihood ratios (LRs) for acute HF.
Results
Of 1,461 subjects, 277 (19%) were adjudicated as having acute HF. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve for diagnosis of acute HF was 0.91 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.90 to 0.93; p < 0.001). Sensitivity for age stratified cutoffs of 450, 900, and 1,800 pg/ml was 85.7%, 79.3%, and 75.9%, respectively; specificity was 93.9%, 84.0%, and 75.0%, respectively. Positive predictive values were 53.6%, 58.4%, and 62.0%, respectively. Overall LR+ across age-dependent cutoffs was 5.99 (95% CI: 5.05 to 6.93); individual LR+ for age-dependent cutoffs was 14.08, 4.95, and 3.03, respectively. The sensitivity and negative predictive value for the rule-out cutoff of 300 pg/ml were 93.9% and 98.0%, respectively; LRâ was 0.09 (95% CI: 0.05 to 0.13).
Conclusions
In acutely dyspneic patients seen in the ED setting, age-stratified NT-proBNP cutpoints may aid in the diagnosis of acute HF. An NT-proBNP <300 pg/ml strongly excludes the presence of acute HF
Primordial black hole merger rates: distributions for multiple LIGO observables
We have calculated the detectable merger rate of primordial black holes, as a function of the redshift, as well as the binary's mass ratio, total mass and chirp mass (observables that have not previously been explored in great detail for PBHs). We consider both the current and design sensitivity of LIGO and five different primordial black hole mass functions, as well as showing a comparison to a predicted astrophysical black hole merger rate. We show that the empirical preference for nearly equal-mass binaries in current LIGO/Virgo data can be consistent with a PBH hypothesis once observational selection effects are taken into account. However, current data do exclude some PBH mass distributions, and future data may be able to rule out the possibility that all observed BH mergers had a primordial origin
Double diffusion, shear instabilities, and heat impacts of a pacific summer water intrusion in the Beaufort Sea
© The Author(s), 2022. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Fine, E., MacKinnon, J., Alford, M., Middleton, L., Taylor, J., Mickett, J., Cole, S., Couto, N., Boyer, A., & Peacock, T. Double diffusion, shear instabilities, and heat impacts of a pacific summer water intrusion in the Beaufort Sea. Journal of Physical Oceanography, 52(2), (2022): 189â203, https://doi.org/10.1175/jpo-d-21-0074.1.Pacific Summer Water eddies and intrusions transport heat and salt from boundary regions into the western Arctic basin. Here we examine concurrent effects of lateral stirring and vertical mixing using microstructure data collected within a Pacific Summer Water intrusion with a length scale of âŒ20 km. This intrusion was characterized by complex thermohaline structure in which warm Pacific Summer Water interleaved in alternating layers of O(1) m thickness with cooler water, due to lateral stirring and intrusive processes. Along interfaces between warm/salty and cold/freshwater masses, the density ratio was favorable to double-diffusive processes. The rate of dissipation of turbulent kinetic energy (Δ) was elevated along the interleaving surfaces, with values up to 3 Ă 10â8 W kgâ1 compared to background Δ of less than 10â9 W kgâ1. Based on the distribution of Δ as a function of density ratio RÏ, we conclude that double-diffusive convection is largely responsible for the elevated Δ observed over the survey. The lateral processes that created the layered thermohaline structure resulted in vertical thermohaline gradients susceptible to double-diffusive convection, resulting in upward vertical heat fluxes. Bulk vertical heat fluxes above the intrusion are estimated in the range of 0.2â1 W mâ2, with the localized flux above the uppermost warm layer elevated to 2â10 W mâ2. Lateral fluxes are much larger, estimated between 1000 and 5000 W mâ2, and set an overall decay rate for the intrusion of 1â5 years.This work was supported by ONR Grant N00014-16-1-2378 and NSF Grants PLR 14-56705 and PLR-1303791, NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Grant DGE-1650112, as well as by the Postdoctoral Scholar Program at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, with funding provided by the Weston Howland Jr. Postdoctoral Scholarship
Exploring learner and tutor experiences of Wimba in drama and the creative industries
Nine-month funded project by PALATINE (the Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Dance, Drama and Music).
Focus on online synchronous learning environments (OSLEs) such as Wimba in drama and cultural management.div_MCaPApub2944pu
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