1,070 research outputs found
Beijing's Pyongyang Dilemma: Encouraging International Patience with a Troublesome Ally; Strategic Insights, v. 5, issue 7 September 2006
This article appeared in Strategic Insights, v.5, issue 7 September 2006Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited
Mapping the CMB III: combined analysis of QMAP flights
We present results from the QMAP balloon experiment, which maps the Cosmic
Microwave Background (CMB) and probes its angular power spectrum on degree
scales. In two separate flights, data were taken in six channels at two
frequency bands between 26 to 46 GHz. We describe our method for mapmaking
(removal of 1/f-noise and scan-synchronous offsets) and power spectrum
estimation, as well as the results of a joint analysis of the data from both
flights. This produces a 527 square degree map of the CMB around the North
Celestial Pole, allowing a wide variety of systematic cross-checks. The
frequency dependence of the fluctuations is consistent with CMB and
inconsistent with Galactic foreground emission. The anisotropy is measured in
three multipole bands from l~40 to l~200, and the angular power spectrum shows
a distinct rise which is consistent with the Saskatoon results.Comment: 4 pages, with 3 figures included. Submitted to ApJL. Window functions
are available at http://pupgg.princeton.edu/~cmb/welcome.html and color
figures and links at http://www.sns.ias.edu/~angelica/skymap.html#qma
Mapping the CMB I: the first flight of the QMAP experiment
We report on the first flight of the balloon-borne QMAP experiment. The
experiment is designed to make a map of the cosmic microwave background
anisotropy on angular scales from 0.7 to several degrees. Using the map we
determine the angular power spectrum of the anisotropy in multipole bands from
l~40 to l~140. The results are consistent with the Saskatoon (SK) measurements.
The frequency spectral index (measured at low l) is consistent with that of CMB
and inconsistent with either Galactic synchrotron or free-free emission. The
instrument, measurement, analysis of the angular power spectrum, and possible
systematic errors are discussed.Comment: 4 pages, with 5 figures included. Submitted to ApJL. Window functions
and color figures are available at
http://pupgg.princeton.edu/~cmb/welcome.htm
Nonlinear shallow water tropical instability waves on the equatorial ÎČ âplane: Genesis of two distinct types of waves
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95089/1/grl26480.pd
Mapping the CMB II: the second flight of the QMAP experiment
We report the results from the second flight of QMAP, an experiment to map
the cosmic microwave background near the North Celestial Pole. We present maps
of the sky at 31 and 42 GHz as well as a measurement of the angular power
spectrum covering the l-range 40-200. Anisotropy is detected at about 20 sigma
and is in agreement with previous results at these angular scales. We also
report details of the data reduction and analysis techniques which were used
for both flights of QMAP.Comment: 4 pages, with 5 figures included. Submitted to ApJL. Window functions
and color figures are available at
http://pupgg.princeton.edu/~cmb/welcome.htm
Pharmacist Empathy in Smoking Cessation Counseling
Cigarette smoking and nicotine addiction are prevalent in todayâs society. Approximately 19% of American adults (43.8 million people) smoke cigarettes. Smoking is associated with health risks such as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), infertility, low birth weight, respiratory symptoms, heart disease, and lung cancer and is responsible for roughly $96 billion in health care costs. Provider empathy has been proven effective in other treatments like cold and cancer; however, its effectiveness in smoking cessation has not yet been studied. Empathy is defined in two realms: cognitive and affective. In the cognitive domain, individuals have the ability to understand and view the world from anotherâs perspective, and in the affective domain, they can connect to the experiences or feelings of others. The twofold objective of this study is (1) to validate a modified Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale to measure patient perceptions of provider empathy and (2) to determine if patients who view their pharmacists as empathetic achieve a higher quit rate in smoking cessation. The original Kiersma-Chen Empathy Scale is a previously-validated measure of provider empathy. Patients who are utilizing smoking cessation clinical services and meet inclusion criteria and whose quit date was at least 6 months prior, will complete three surveys 6 months after their quit date. The surveys conducted will measure patient demographics, quit status, and the patientâs perceptions of their pharmacistâs empathy (modified KCES). The collected data will be analyzed via a psychometric test to show the validity of the modified empathy scale and via a Spearman correlation to demonstrate the association between provider empathy and smoking cessation rates. The results of this study will provide beneficial information about how pharmacistâs can best assist their patients in smoking cessation, specifically regarding the empathy shown to the patient
How accurately can suborbital experiments measure the CMB?
Great efforts are currently being channeled into ground- and balloon-based
CMB experiments, mainly to explore anisotropy on small angular scales and
polarization. To optimize instrumental design and assess experimental
prospects, it is important to understand in detail the atmosphere-related
systematic errors that limit the science achievable with new suborbital
instruments. For this purpose, we spatially compare the 648 square degree
ground- and balloon-based QMASK map with the atmosphere-free WMAP map, finding
beautiful agreement on all angular scales where both are sensitive. This is a
reassuring quantitative assessment of the power of the state-of-the-art FFT-
and matrix-based mapmaking techniques that have been used for QMASK and
virtually all subsequent experiments.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. More info at
http://www.hep.upenn.edu/~angelica/skymap.html QMASK data and covariance
matrix at http://www.hep.upenn.edu/~xuyz/qmask.htm
Galactic contamination in the QMAP experiment
We quantify the level of foreground contamination in the QMAP Cosmic
Microwave Background (CMB) data with two objectives: (a) measuring the level to
which the QMAP power spectrum measurements need to be corrected for foregrounds
and (b) using this data set to further refine current foreground models. We
cross-correlate the QMAP data with a variety of foreground templates. The 30
GHz Ka-band data is found to be significantly correlated with the Haslam 408
MHz and Reich and Reich 1420 MHz synchrotron maps, but not with the Diffuse
Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) 240, 140 and 100 micron maps or the
Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM) survey. The 40 GHz Q-band has no significant
template correlations. We discuss the constraints that this places on
synchrotron, free-free and dust emission. We also reanalyze the
foreground-cleaned Ka-band data and find that the two band power measurements
are lowered by 2.3% and 1.3%, respectively.Comment: 4 ApJL pages, including 4 figs. Color figures and data at
http://www.hep.upenn.edu/~angelica/foreground.html#qmap or from
[email protected]
SUSY approach to Pauli Hamiltonians with an axial symmetry
A two-dimensional Pauli Hamiltonian describing the interaction of a neutral
spin-1/2 particle with a magnetic field having axial and second order
symmetries, is considered. After separation of variables, the one-dimensional
matrix Hamiltonian is analyzed from the point of view of supersymmetric quantum
mechanics. Attention is paid to the discrete symmetries of the Hamiltonian and
also to the Hamiltonian hierarchies generated by intertwining operators. The
spectrum is studied by means of the associated matrix shape-invariance. The
relation between the intertwining operators and the second order symmetries is
established and the full set of ladder operators that complete the dynamical
algebra is constructed.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure
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