8,077 research outputs found
Radio Galaxy Zoo: Knowledge Transfer Using Rotationally Invariant Self-Organising Maps
With the advent of large scale surveys the manual analysis and classification
of individual radio source morphologies is rendered impossible as existing
approaches do not scale. The analysis of complex morphological features in the
spatial domain is a particularly important task. Here we discuss the challenges
of transferring crowdsourced labels obtained from the Radio Galaxy Zoo project
and introduce a proper transfer mechanism via quantile random forest
regression. By using parallelized rotation and flipping invariant Kohonen-maps,
image cubes of Radio Galaxy Zoo selected galaxies formed from the FIRST radio
continuum and WISE infrared all sky surveys are first projected down to a
two-dimensional embedding in an unsupervised way. This embedding can be seen as
a discretised space of shapes with the coordinates reflecting morphological
features as expressed by the automatically derived prototypes. We find that
these prototypes have reconstructed physically meaningful processes across two
channel images at radio and infrared wavelengths in an unsupervised manner. In
the second step, images are compared with those prototypes to create a
heat-map, which is the morphological fingerprint of each object and the basis
for transferring the user generated labels. These heat-maps have reduced the
feature space by a factor of 248 and are able to be used as the basis for
subsequent ML methods. Using an ensemble of decision trees we achieve upwards
of 85.7% and 80.7% accuracy when predicting the number of components and peaks
in an image, respectively, using these heat-maps. We also question the
currently used discrete classification schema and introduce a continuous scale
that better reflects the uncertainty in transition between two classes, caused
by sensitivity and resolution limits
The Concept of Culture in Critical Mathematics Education
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of a chapter published in The Philosophy of Mathematics Education Today. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77760-3A well-known critique in the research literature of critical mathematics education suggests that framing educational questions in cultural terms can encourage ethnic-cultural essentialism, obscure conflicts within cultures and promote an ethnographic or anthropological stance towards learners. Nevertheless, we believe that some of the obstacles to learning mathematics are cultural. ‘Stereotype threat’, for example, has a basis in culture. Consequently, the aims of critical mathematics education cannot be seriously pursued without including a cultural approach in educational research. We argue that an adequate conception of culture is available and should include normative/descriptive and material/ideal dyads as dialectical moments
Observation of harmonic generation and nonlinear coupling in the collective dynamics of a Bose condensate
We report the observation of harmonic generation and strong nonlinear
coupling of two collective modes of a condensed gas of rubidium atoms. Using a
modified TOP trap we changed the trap anisotropy to a value where the frequency
of the m=0 high-lying mode corresponds to twice the frequency of the m=0
low-lying mode, thus leading to strong nonlinear coupling between these modes.
By changing the anisotropy of the trap and exciting the low-lying mode we
observed significant frequency shifts of this fundamental mode and also the
generation of its second harmonic.Comment: 4 pages,3 figure
A narrow-band search for Ly alpha emitting galaxies at z = 8.8
Aims: The first star forming galaxies in the early universe should be copious
Ly alpha emitters, and may play a significant role in ionizing the
intergalactic medium (IGM). It has been proposed that the luminosity function
of Lya emitting galaxies beyond z~6 may be used to constrain the neutral
fraction of the IGM during this epoch. In this work we report on a search for
Ly alpha emitters at redshift 8.8.
Methods: We performed a narrow band imaging programme using ISAAC at the ESO
VLT. Seven fields, covering a total area of 31sq. arcmin and for which optical
and broad band infra-red images have been obtained in the GOODS survey, were
imaged to a limiting flux (respectively luminosity) of ~ 1.3 x 10^{-17}
ergs.s^{-1}.cm^{-2} (respectively ~ 1.3 x 10^{43} ergs.s^{-1} in a narrow band
filter centered in a region of low OH sky emission at 1.19 micron. Candidate
Lyman alpha emitters are objects that are detected in the ISAAC NB images and
undetected in the visible broad band images.
Results: No z=8.8 Ly alpha emitting galaxies were detected to a limit
approaching recent estimates of the luminosity function at z ~ 6. Our results
do suggest, however, that detections or substantial constraints could be
achieved by this method in the near future with larger field instruments
planned for various telescopes.Comment: 7 pages, accepted for publication in A&
Granular Rheology in Zero Gravity
We present an experimental investigation on the rheological behavior of model
granular media made of nearly elastic spherical particles. The experiments are
performed in a cylindrical Couette geometry and the experimental device is
placed inside an airplane undergoing parabolic flights to cancel the effect of
gravity. The corresponding curves, shear stress versus shear rate, are
presented and a comparison with existing theories is proposed. The quadratic
dependence on the shear rate is clearly shown and the behavior as a function of
the solid volume fraction of particles exhibits a power law function. It is
shown that theoretical predictions overestimate the experiments. We observe, at
intermediate volume fractions, the formation of rings of particles regularly
spaced along the height of the cell. The differences observed between
experimental results and theoretical predictions are discussed and related to
the structures formed in the granular medium submitted to the external shear.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures to be published in Journal of Physics : Condensed
Matte
Polymers pushing Polymers: Polymer Mixtures in Thermodynamic Equilibrium with a Pore
We investigate polymer partitioning from polymer mixtures into nanometer size
cavities by formulating an equation of state for a binary polymer mixture
assuming that only one (smaller) of the two polymer components can penetrate
the cavity. Deriving the partitioning equilibrium equations and solving them
numerically allows us to introduce the concept of "polymers-pushing-polymers"
for the action of non-penetrating polymers on the partitioning of the
penetrating polymers. Polymer partitioning into a pore even within a very
simple model of a binary polymer mixture is shown to depend in a complicated
way on the composition of the polymer mixture and/or the pore-penetration
penalty. This can lead to enhanced as well as diminished partitioning, due to
two separate energy scales that we analyse in detail.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Clustering environment of BL Lac object RGB 1745+398
The BL Lac object RGB 1745+398 lies in an environment that makes it possible
to study the cluster around it more deeply than the environments of other BL
Lac objects. The cluster centered on the BL Lac works as a strong gravitational
lens, forming a large arc around itself. The aim of this paper is to study the
environment and characteristics of this object more accurately than the
environments of other BL Lac objects have been before.We measured the redshifts
of galaxies in the cluster from the absorption lines in their spectra. The
velocity dispersion was then obtained from the redshifts. The gravitational
lensing was used for measuring the mass at the center of the cluster. The mass
of the whole cluster could then be estimated using the softened isothermal
sphere mass distribution. Finally, the richness of the cluster was determined
by counting the number of galaxies near the BL Lac object and obtaining the
galaxy-BL Lac spatial covariance function, . The redshifts of nine
galaxies in the field were measured to be near the redshift of the BL Lac
object, confirming the presence of a cluster. The average redshift of the
cluster is 0.268, and the velocity dispersion km
s. The mass of the cluster is M_{500}=(4^{+3}_{-2})\times10^{14}
M_{\sun} which implies a rather massive cluster. The richness measurement also
suggests that this is a rich cluster: the result for covariance function is
Mpc, which corresponds to Abell richness class 1
and which is consistent with the mass and velocity dispersion of the cluster.Comment: 5 pages, accepted to A&
Let Them In: Family Presence During Intensive Care Unit Procedures
Families have for decades advocated for full access to intensive care units (ICUs) and meaningful partnership with clinicians, resulting in gradual improvements in family access and collaboration with ICU clinicians. Despite such advances, family members in adult ICUs are still commonly asked to leave the patient’s room during invasive bedside procedures, regardless of whether the patient would prefer family to be present. Physicians may be resistant to having family members at the bedside due to concerns about trainee education, medicolegal implications, possible effects on the technical quality of procedures due to distractions, and procedural sterility. Limited evidence from parallel settings does not support these concerns. Family presence during ICU procedures, when the patient and family member both desire it, fulfills the mandates of patient-centered care. We anticipate that such inclusion will increase family engagement, improve patient and family satisfaction, and may, on the basis of studies of open visitation, pediatric ICU experience, and family presence during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, decrease psychological distress in patients and family members. We believe these goals can be achieved without compromising the quality of patient care, increasing provider burden significantly, or increasing risks of litigation. In this article, we weigh current evidence, consider historical objections to family presence at ICU procedures, and report our clinical experience with the practice. An outline for implementing family procedural presence in the ICU is also presented
Post-traumatic stress disorder and post-traumatic stress symptoms following critical illness in medical intensive care unit patients: assessing the magnitude of the problem
Very long storage times and evaporative cooling of cesium atoms in a quasi-electrostatic dipole trap
We have trapped cesium atoms over many minutes in the focus of a CO-laser
beam employing an extremely simple laser system. Collisional properties of the
unpolarized atoms in their electronic ground state are investigated. Inelastic
binary collisions changing the hyperfine state lead to trap loss which is
quantitatively analyzed. Elastic collisions result in evaporative cooling of
the trapped gas from 25 K to 10 K over a time scale of about 150 s.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
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