1,330 research outputs found
Lensing by Lyman Limit Systems: Determining the Mass to Gas Ratio
We present a new method to determine the total mass-to-neutral gas ratio in
Lyman-limits systems. The method exploits the relation between the neutral
hydrogen column density and the magnification of background sources due to the
weak gravitational lensing that these systems induce. Because weak lensing does
not provide a direct measure of mass, one must use this relation in a
statistical sense to solve for the average mass-to-gas ratio and its
distribution. We use a detailed mock catalog of quasars (sources) and
Lyman-limit systems (lenses) to demonstrate the applicability of this approach
through our ability to recover the parameter. This mock catalog also allows us
to check for systematics in the method and to sketch its limitations. For a
universal constant mass-to-gas ratio and a sample of N quasars, we obtain an
unbiased estimate of its value with 95% confidence limits (independent of its
actual value) of +/- 140 {10^5/N)^0.5.Comment: 20 pages, 11 figures submitted to Ap
The Galaxy Angular Correlation Functions and Power Spectrum from the Two Micron All Sky Survey
We calculate the angular correlation function of galaxies in the Two Micron
All Sky Survey. We minimize the possible contamination by stars, dust, seeing
and sky brightness by studying their cross correlation with galaxy density, and
limiting the galaxy sample accordingly. We measure the correlation function at
scales between 1-18 arcdegs using a half million galaxies. We find a best fit
power law to the correlation function has a slope of 0.76 and an amplitude of
0.11. However, there are statistically significant oscillations around this
power law. The largest oscillation occurs at about 0.8 degrees, corresponding
to 2.8 h^{-1} Mpc at the median redshift of our survey, as expected in halo
occupation distribution descriptions of galaxy clustering.
We invert the angular correlation function using Singular Value Decomposition
to measure the three-dimensional power spectrum and find that it too is in good
agreement with previous measurements. A dip seen in the power spectrum at small
wavenumber k is statistically consistent with CDM-type power spectra. A fit of
CDM-type power spectra to k < 0.2 h Mpc^{-1} give constraints of
\Gamma_{eff}=0.116 and \sigma_8=0.96. This suggest a K_s-band linear bias of
1.1+/-0.2. This \Gamma_{eff} is different from the WMAP CMB derived value. On
small scales the power-law shape of our power spectrum is shallower than that
derived for the SDSS. These facts together imply a biasing of these different
galaxies that might be nonlinear, that might be either waveband or luminosity
dependent, and that might have a nonlocal origin.Comment: 14 pages, 20 figures, to be published in ApJ January 20th, revision
included two new figures, version with high resolution figures can be found
here http::ww
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Adapting the Assessing British Sign Language Development: Receptive Skills Test into American sign language
Signed languages continue to be a key element of deaf education programs that incorporate a bilingual approach to teaching and learning. In order to monitor the success of bilingual deaf education programs, and in particular to monitor the progress of children acquiring signed language, it is essential to develop an assessment tool of signed language skills. Although researchers have developed some checklists and experimental tests related to American Sign Language (ASL) assessment, at this time a standardized measure of ASL does not exist. There have been tests developed in other signed languages, for example, British Sign Language, that can serve as models in this area. The purpose of this study was to adapt the Assessing British Sign Language Development: Receptive Skills Test for use in ASL in order to begin the process of developing a standardized measure of ASL skills. The results suggest that collaboration between researchers in different signed languages can provide a valuable contribution toward filling the gap in the area of signed language assessment
International Making Cities Livable Paper -20-24 May, 2012, Portland, Oregon USA Master Planned Communities and the Re-formation of Cities for Health and Wellbeing: The Case of Selandra Rise
3 Summary Master planned estates are a common feature of modern cities. This paper explores residents' social practices to reveal connections between spatial and social features, daily routines and health and wellbeing. Abstract Master planned communities (MPCs) are designed to give residents a 'complete living experience' including access to educational facilities, shopping centres and parks. Although MPCs aspire to be suburban utopias much research focuses on identifying negative outcomes to reinforce notions that dreams of utopian futures are rarely realised. However, as a dynamic form of city re-formation, MPCs create an opportunity to 'get it right' by putting into practice lessons learnt from the past and principles of best practice planning. Selandra Rise is an MPC in Melbourne, Australia that has been designed to maximise the health and wellbeing of residents. Key elements incorporate access to nature, open space for physical activity, diverse housing, access to education, public transport, a local town centre and a focus on generating employment. This paper presents the details of a study designed to measure the role of built, natural, social and economic environments in the health and wellbeing of residents, taking account of the key design features listed. Using a social practice approach rather than taking an individual behavioural stance, the research focuses on households as a unit of study to reveal the connection between spatial and social features, daily routines and health and wellbeing. The paper presents the methods, outlines findings to date, and reflects on potential policy implications for creating neighbourhoods and cities to improve social and physical health. Introduction Master-planned housing estates (MPEs), or master-planned communities (MPCs) are an increasingly common feature of residential landscapes around the world, and for many countries like Australia, are the newest form of suburb creatio
Altered hippocampal function in major depression despite intact structure and resting perfusion
Background: Hippocampal volume reductions in major depression have been frequently reported. However, evidence for functional abnormalities in the same region in depression has been less clear. We investigated hippocampal function in depression using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neuropsychological tasks tapping spatial memory function, with complementing measures of hippocampal volume and resting blood flow to aid interpretation. Method: A total of 20 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and a matched group of 20 healthy individuals participated. Participants underwent multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): fMRI during a spatial memory task, and structural MRI and resting blood flow measurements of the hippocampal region using arterial spin labelling. An offline battery of neuropsychological tests, including several measures of spatial memory, was also completed. Results: The fMRI analysis showed significant group differences in bilateral anterior regions of the hippocampus. While control participants showed task-dependent differences in blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal, depressed patients did not. No group differences were detected with regard to hippocampal volume or resting blood flow. Patients showed reduced performance in several offline neuropsychological measures. All group differences were independent of differences in hippocampal volume and hippocampal blood flow. Conclusions: Functional abnormalities of the hippocampus can be observed in patients with MDD even when the volume and resting perfusion in the same region appear normal. This suggests that changes in hippocampal function can be observed independently of structural abnormalities of the hippocampus in depression
Towards the optimal window for the 2MASS dipole
A comparison of the 2MASS flux dipole to the CMB dipole can serve as a method
to constrain a combination of the cosmological parameter Omega_m and the
luminosity bias of the 2MASS survey. For this constraint to be as tight as
possible, it is necessary to maximize the correlation between the two dipoles.
This can be achieved by optimizing the survey window through which the flux
dipole is measured. Here we explicitly construct such a window for the 2MASS
survey. The optimization in essence reduces to excluding from the calculation
of the flux dipole galaxies brighter than some limiting magnitude K_min of the
near-infrared K_s band. This exclusion mitigates nonlinear effects and shot
noise from small scales, which decorrelate the 2MASS dipole from the CMB
dipole. Under the assumption of negligible shot noise we find that the optimal
value of K_min is about five. Inclusion of shot noise shifts the optimal K_min
to larger values. We present an analytical formula for shot noise for the 2MASS
flux dipole, to be used in follow-up work with 2MASS data.
The misalignment angle between the two dipoles is a sensitive measure of
their correlation: the higher the correlation, the smaller the expectation
value of the angle. A minimum of the misalignment is thus a sign of the optimal
gravity window. We model analytically the distribution function for the
misalignment angle and show that the misalignment estimated by Maller et al. is
consistent with the assumed underlying model (though it is greater than the
expectation value). We predict with about 90% confidence that the misalignment
will decrease if 2MASS galaxies brighter than K_min = 5 mag are excluded from
the calculation of the flux dipole. This prediction has been indirectly
confirmed by the results of Erdogdu et al. (ABRIDGED)Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures. Significantly expanded version, with added
sections on shot noise and likelihood for beta, as well as an appendix with a
derivation of the distribution for the misalignment angle relaxing the
small-angle assumptio
Arc Statistics in Clusters: Galaxy Contribution
The frequency with which background galaxies appear as long arcs as a result
of gravitational lensing by foreground clusters of galaxies has recently been
found to be a very sensitive probe of cosmological models by Bartelmann et al.
(1998). They have found that such arcs would be expected far less frequently
than observed (by an order of magnitude) in the currently favored model for the
universe, with a large cosmological constant . Here we
analyze whether including the effect of cluster galaxies on the likelihood of
clusters to generate long-arc images of background galaxies can change the
statistics. Taking into account a variety of constraints on the properties of
cluster galaxies, we find that there are not enough sufficiently massive
galaxies in a cluster for them to significantly enhance the cross section of
clusters to generate long arcs. We find that cluster galaxies typically enhance
the cross section by only .Comment: 19 pages, 1 figure, uses aasms4.sty, submitted to Ap
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