4,193 research outputs found
Group and individual differences in the neural representation of described and experienced risk
The UNAM-KIAS Catalog of Isolated Galaxies
A new catalog of isolated galaxies from The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (DR5) is
presented. 1520 isolated galaxies were found in 1.4 steradians of sky. The
selection criteria in this so called UNAM-KIAS catalog was implemented from a
variation on the criteria developed by Karachentseva 1973 including full
redshift information. Through an image processing pipeline that takes advantage
from the high resolution (~ 0.4 ''/pix) and high dynamic range of the SDSS
images, a uniform g band morphological classification for all these galaxies is
presented. We identify 80% (SaSm) spirals (50% later than Sbc types) on one
hand, and a scarce population of early-type E(6.5%) and S0(8%) galaxies
amounting to 14.5% on the other hand. This magnitude-limited catalog is ~ 80%
complete at 16.5, 15.6, 15.0, 14.6 and 14.4 magnitudes in the ugriz bands
respectively. Some representative physical properties including SDSS magnitudes
and color distributions, color-color diagrams, absolute magnitude-color, and
concentration-color diagrams as a function of morphological type are presented.
The UNAM-KIAS Morphological Atlas is also released along with this paper. For
each galaxy of type later than Sa, a mosaic is presented that includes: (1) a
g-band logarithmic image, (2) a g band filtered-enhanced image where a Gaussian
kernel of various sizes was applied and (3) an RGB color image from the SDSS
database. For E/S0/Sa galaxies, in addition to the images in (1), (2) and (3),
plots of r band surface brightness and geometric profiles (ellipticity,
Position Angle PA and A4/B4 coefficients of the Fourier series expansions of
deviations of a pure ellipse) are provided...Comment: 40 pages, 17 figures and 3 table
The UNAM-KIAS Catalog of Isolated Galaxies
A new catalog of isolated galaxies from The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (DR5) is
presented. 1520 isolated galaxies were found in 1.4 steradians of sky. The
selection criteria in this so called UNAM-KIAS catalog was implemented from a
variation on the criteria developed by Karachentseva 1973 including full
redshift information. Through an image processing pipeline that takes advantage
from the high resolution (~ 0.4 ''/pix) and high dynamic range of the SDSS
images, a uniform g band morphological classification for all these galaxies is
presented. We identify 80% (SaSm) spirals (50% later than Sbc types) on one
hand, and a scarce population of early-type E(6.5%) and S0(8%) galaxies
amounting to 14.5% on the other hand. This magnitude-limited catalog is ~ 80%
complete at 16.5, 15.6, 15.0, 14.6 and 14.4 magnitudes in the ugriz bands
respectively. Some representative physical properties including SDSS magnitudes
and color distributions, color-color diagrams, absolute magnitude-color, and
concentration-color diagrams as a function of morphological type are presented.
The UNAM-KIAS Morphological Atlas is also released along with this paper. For
each galaxy of type later than Sa, a mosaic is presented that includes: (1) a
g-band logarithmic image, (2) a g band filtered-enhanced image where a Gaussian
kernel of various sizes was applied and (3) an RGB color image from the SDSS
database. For E/S0/Sa galaxies, in addition to the images in (1), (2) and (3),
plots of r band surface brightness and geometric profiles (ellipticity,
Position Angle PA and A4/B4 coefficients of the Fourier series expansions of
deviations of a pure ellipse) are provided...Comment: 40 pages, 17 figures and 3 table
Mathematical Models for Estimating the Risk of vCJD Transmission
We present two different simple models for vCJD transmission by blood transfusion. Both models indicate that transfusions alone are unlikely to cause more than a few infections, unless the number of primary cases increases.
To improve our models, future work should pursue data collection, empirical estimation of the model parameters, and examination of the underlying assumptions of our frameworks.
Further improvements could also include examining susceptibility to vCJD infection by age group and iatrogenic infections introduced through surgical instruments. Regarding the latter, it may be worthwhile to conduct experiments to quantify the transmission of prions from an infected surgical instrument after repeated sterilization procedures
Conserving insect assemblages in urban landscapes: accounting for species-specific responses and imperfect detection
Understanding how global environmental change impacts insect biodiversity is central to the core principals of conservation biology. To preserve the ecosystem services provided by insects in cities, it is crucial to understand how insect species are influenced by the degree of urbanization of the surrounding landscape. Using a hierarchical occupancy-detection model, we estimated the effect of urbanization on heteropteran bug species richness and occupancy, an approach that concurrently accounts for species-specific responses and imperfect detection. We found that species richness decreased along a gradient of increasing urbanization. This trend corresponded well with species-specific trends, as approximately two-thirds of all herbivores and predatory species experienced a strong mean negative response to urbanization. These results indicate that many species are potentially at risk of local extinction as cities grow and expand in the future. A second group of species, however, showed a weak mean negative response, indicating that they are ubiquitous urban species that thrive regardless of the surrounding degree of urban disturbance. Our research suggests that as cities develop, many of the species that are currently present will become less likely to occur, and therefore assemblages in the future are likely to become more simplified. In order to preserve or increase insect biological diversity in cities, it is critical to understand how individual species are influenced by urbanization. Our finding that insects display species-specific responses to urbanization has important repercussions for decision makers charged with preserving and improving urban biodiversity and the deliverance of ecosystem services in cities
Semiclassical approach to fidelity amplitude
The fidelity amplitude is a quantity of paramount importance in echo type
experiments. We use semiclassical theory to study the average fidelity
amplitude for quantum chaotic systems under external perturbation. We explain
analytically two extreme cases: the random dynamics limit --attained
approximately by strongly chaotic systems-- and the random perturbation limit,
which shows a Lyapunov decay. Numerical simulations help us bridge the gap
between both extreme cases.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures. Version closest to published versio
Decellularized ECM-Derived Hydrogels: Modification and Properties
Extracellular matrix (ECM) hydrogels are water-swollen fibrillary three-dimensional (3D) networks where collagen type I is the major component. The hierarchical network formed by the polymerization of tropocollagen molecules with enhanced properties is an attractive template for generating biomaterials. The mammalian tissue source from which collagen is extracted and its consequent modification are variables that impact the physicochemical and biological properties of the collagen network. This chapter has the purpose to provide a review of the research of different strategies to modify and characterize the properties of decellularized ECM-derived hydrogels in the context of safe biomaterials with immunomodulatory properties
Effects of imperfections for Shor's factorization algorithm
We study effects of imperfections induced by residual couplings between
qubits on the accuracy of Shor's algorithm using numerical simulations of
realistic quantum computations with up to 30 qubits. The factoring of numbers
up to N=943 show that the width of peaks, which frequencies allow to determine
the factors, grow exponentially with the number of qubits. However, the
algorithm remains operational up to a critical coupling strength
which drops only polynomially with . The numerical dependence of
on is explained by analytical estimates that allows to
obtain the scaling for functionality of Shor's algorithm on realistic quantum
computers with a large number of qubits.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Added references and new data. Erratum
added as appendix. 1 Figure and 1 Table added. Research is available at
http://www.quantware.ups-tlse.fr
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