4,432 research outputs found
New measurements of the cosmic infrared background fluctuations in deep Spitzer/IRAC survey data and their cosmological implications
We extend previous measurements of cosmic infrared background (CIB)
fluctuations to ~ 1 deg using new data from the Spitzer Extended Deep Survey.
Two fields, with depths of ~12 hr/pixel over 3 epochs, are analyzed at 3.6 and
4.5 mic. Maps of the fields were assembled using a self-calibration method
uniquely suitable for probing faint diffuse backgrounds. Resolved sources were
removed from the maps to a magnitude limit of AB mag ~ 25, as indicated by the
level of the remaining shot noise. The maps were then Fourier-transformed and
their power spectra were evaluated. Instrumental noise was estimated from the
time-differenced data, and subtracting this isolates the spatial fluctuations
of the actual sky. The power spectra of the source-subtracted fields remain
identical (within the observational uncertainties) for the three epochs
indicating that zodiacal light contributes negligibly to the fluctuations.
Comparing to 8 mic power spectra shows that Galactic cirrus cannot account for
the fluctuations. The signal appears isotropically distributed on the sky as
required for an extragalactic origin. The CIB fluctuations continue to diverge
to > 10 times those of known galaxy populations on angular scales out to < 1
deg. The low shot noise levels remaining in the diffuse maps indicate that the
large scale fluctuations arise from the spatial clustering of faint sources
well below the confusion noise. The spatial spectrum of these fluctuations is
in reasonable agreement with an origin in populations clustered according to
the standard cosmological model (LCDM) at epochs coinciding with the first
stars era.Comment: ApJ, to be publishe
Voluntary Counselling, HIV Testing and Adjunctive Cotrimoxazole Reduces Mortality in Tuberculosis Patients in Thyolo, Malawi.
OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility and effectiveness of voluntary counselling, HIV testing and adjunctive cotrimoxazole in reducing mortality in a cohort of tuberculosis (TB) patients registered under routine programme conditions in a rural district of Malawi. DESIGN: 'Before' and 'after' cohort study using historical controls. METHODS: Between 1 July 1999 and 30 June 2000 all TB patients were started on standardized anti-TB treatment, and offered voluntary counselling and HIV testing (VCT). Those found to be HIV-positive were offered cotrimoxazole at a dose of 480 mg twice daily, provided there were no contraindications. Side-effects were monitored clinically. End-of-treatment outcomes in this cohort (intervention group) were compared with a cohort registered between 1 July 1998 and 30 June 1999 in whom VCT and cotrimoxazole was not offered (control group). FINDINGS: A total of 1986 patients was registered in the study: 1061 in the intervention group and 925 in the control cohort. In the intervention group, 1019 (96%) patients were counselled pre-test, 964 (91%) underwent HIV testing and 938 (88%) were counselled post-test. The overall HIV-seroprevalence rate was 77%. A total of 693 patients were given cotrimoxazole of whom 14 (2%) manifested minor dermatological reactions. The adjusted relative risk of death in the intervention group compared with the control group was 0.81 (P < 0.001). The number needed to treat with VCT and adjunctive cotrimoxazole to prevent one death during anti-TB treatment was 12.5. INTERPRETATION: This study shows that VCT and adjunctive cotrimoxazole is feasible, safe and reduces mortality rates in TB patients under routine programme conditions
Entanglement, measurement, and conditional evolution of the Kondo singlet interacting with a mesoscopic detector
We investigate various aspects of the Kondo singlet in a quantum dot (QD)
electrostatically coupled to a mesoscopic detector. The two subsystems are
represented by an entangled state between the Kondo singlet and the
charge-dependent detector state. We show that the phase-coherence of the Kondo
singlet is destroyed in a way that is sensitive to the charge-state information
restored both in the magnitude and in the phase of the scattering coefficients
of the detector. We also introduce the notion of the `conditional evolution' of
the Kondo singlet under projective measurement on the detector. Our study
reveals that the state of the composite system is disentangled upon this
measurement. The Kondo singlet evolves into a particular state with a fixed
number of electrons in the quantum dot. Its relaxation time is shown to be
sensitive only to the QD-charge dependence of the transmission probability in
the detector, which implies that the phase information is erased in this
conditional evolution process. We discuss implications of our observations in
view of the possible experimental realization.Comment: Focus issue on "Interference in Mesoscopic Systems" of New J. Phy
Evidence for Halo Kinematics among Cool Carbon-Rich Dwarfs
This paper reports preliminary yet compelling kinematical inferences for N ~
600 carbon-rich dwarf stars that demonstrate around 30% to 60% are members of
the Galactic halo. The study uses a spectroscopically and non-kinematically
selected sample of stars from the SDSS, and cross-correlates these data with
three proper motion catalogs based on Gaia DR1 astrometry to generate estimates
of their 3-D space velocities. The fraction of stars with halo-like kinematics
is roughly 30% for distances based on a limited number of parallax
measurements, with the remainder dominated by the thick disk, but close to 60%
of the sample lie below an old, metal-poor disk isochrone in reduced proper
motion. An ancient population is consistent with an extrinsic origin for C/O >1
in cool dwarfs, where a fixed mass of carbon pollution more readily surmounts
lower oxygen abundances, and with a lack of detectable ultraviolet-blue flux
from younger white dwarf companions. For an initial stellar mass function that
favors low-mass stars as in the Galactic disk, the dC stars are likely to be
the dominant source of carbon-enhanced, metal-poor stars in the Galaxy.Comment: 7 pages, 1 table, and 3 figures. Accepted to MNRA
Angular dependent vortex pinning mechanisms in YBCO coated conductors and thin films
We present a comparative study of the angular dependent critical current
density in YBa2Cu3O7 films deposited on IBAD MgO and on single crystal MgO and
SrTiO3 substrates. We identify three angular regimes where pinning is dominated
by different types of correlated and uncorrelated defects. We show that those
regimes are present in all cases, indicating that the pinning mechanisms are
the same, but their extension and characteristics are sample dependent,
reflecting the quantitative differences in texture and defect density. In
particular, the more defective nature of the films on IBAD turns into an
advantage as it results in stronger vortex pinning, demonstrating that the
critical current density of the films on single crystals is not an upper limit
for the performance of the IBAD coated conductors.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to AP
Arendt and political realism: towards a realist account of political judgement
This article argues that Hannah Arendt’s thought can offer significant insights on political judgement for realism in political theory. We identify a realist position which emphasises the need to account for how humans judge politically, contra moralist tendencies to limit its exercise to rational standards, but which fails to provide a sufficient conception of its structure and potential. Limited appeals to political judgement render the realist defence of the political elusive, and compromise the endeavour to offer a meaningful alternative to the moralist tendency to displace politics. The potential and limitations of realist discussions on judgement are made visible in relation to proto-realists Judith Shklar and Isaiah Berlin.
In seeking to enrich the realist conception of the political, the article introduces the displacement critique found in the neglected Arendtian ‘realism’. It also provides the foundations for a distinctly realist account of political judgement which, we argue, requires elaboration along two dimensions: the social coding of political judgement and the political capacities that help judgement build a suitable political sphere
Citizens without nations
To broach the question of whether citizenship could exist without (or beyond) community, this paper discusses genealogies of citizenship as membership that binds an individual to the community of birth (of the self or a parent). It is birthright as fraternity that blurs the boundary between citizenship and nationality. After briefly discussing recent critical studies on birthright citizenship (whether it is civic or ethnic or blood or soil) by Ayelet Shachar and Jacqueline Stevens, the paper discusses three critical genealogies of the relationship between birthright and citizenship by Max Weber, Hannah Arendt, and Michel Foucault. Although each provides a critical perspective into the question, Weber reduces citizenship to fraternity with nation and Arendt reduces citizenship to fraternity with the state. It is Foucault who illustrates racialization of fraternity as the connection between citizenship and nationality. Yet, since Foucault limits his genealogical investigations to the 18th and 19th centuries, a genealogy of fraternity of what he calls an immense biblical and Greek tradition remains for Derrida to articulate as a question of citizenship
Practice-Focused, Constructivist Grounded Theory Methodology In Higher Education Leadership Research
A growing body of education research considers practices, however there is less focus on a methodology that enables practical analysis of practices. Use of practice theory is growing, particularly in work and organisational studies, but practice focused studies more frequently address theoretical than methodological agenda. This chapter proposes a practice-focused, constructivist grounded theory methodology as one approach which can address this gap. After first considering the ways in which, separately and in combination, practice-theory and constructivist grounded theory can support higher education leadership and management research, the chapter considers implementation of this methodology by drawing on a study into the practice of authority in higher education leadership. It concludes by considering some implications for the ways in which practices can be understood and the affordances and limitations of this methodology.Peer reviewe
- …