Cleaning sky survey databases using Hough Transform and Renewal String approaches

Large astronomical databases obtained from sky surveys such as the SuperCOSMOS Sky Survey (SSS) invariably suffer from spurious records coming from artefactual effects of the telescope, satellites and junk objects in orbit around earth and physical defects on the photographic plate or CCD. Though relatively small in number these spurious records present a significant problem in many situations where they can become a large proportion of the records potentially of interest to a given astronomer. Accurate and robust techniques are needed for locating and flagging such spurious objects, and we are undertaking a programme investigating the use of machine learning techniques in this context. In this paper we focus on the four most common causes of unwanted records in the SSS: satellite or aeroplane tracks, scratches, fibres and other linear phenomena introduced to the plate, circular halos around bright stars due to internal reflections within the telescope and diffraction spikes near to bright stars. Appropriate techniques are developed for the detection of each of these. The methods are applied to the SSS data to develop a dataset of spurious object detections, along with confidence measures, which can allow these unwanted data to be removed from consideration. These methods are general and can be adapted to other astronomical survey data.Comment: Accepted for MNRAS. 17 pages, latex2e, uses mn2e.bst, mn2e.cls, md706.bbl, shortbold.sty (all included). All figures included here as low resolution jpegs. A version of this paper including the figures can be downloaded from http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/~amos/publications.html and more details on this project can be found at http://www.anc.ed.ac.uk/~amos/sattrackres.htm

Neglected diseases of neglected populations: Thinking to reshape the determinants of health in Latin America and the Caribbean

BACKGROUND: People living in poverty throughout the developing world are heavily burdened with neglected communicable diseases and often marginalized by the health sector. These diseases are currently referred to as Neglected Diseases of Neglected Populations. The neglected diseases create social and financial burdens to the individual, the family, the community, and the nation. DISCUSSION: Numerous studies of successful individual interventions to manage communicable disease determinants in various types of communities have been published, but few have applied multiple interventions in an integrated, coordinated manner. We have identified a series of successful interventions and developed three hypothetical scenarios where such interventions could be applied in an integrated, multi-disease, inter-programmatic, and/or inter-sectoral approach for prevention and control of neglected diseases in three different populations: a slum, an indigenous community, and a city with a mix of populations. SUMMARY: The objective of this paper is to identify new opportunities to address neglected diseases, improve community health and promote sustainable development in neglected populations by highlighting examples of key risk and protective factors for neglected diseases which can be managed and implemented through multi-disease-based, integrated, inter-programmatic, and/or inter-sectoral approaches. Based on a literature review, analysis and development of scenarios we visualize how multiple interventions could manage multiple disease problems and propose these as possible strategies to be tested. We seek to stimulate intra- and inter-sectoral dialogue which will help in the construction of new strategies for neglected diseases (particularly for the parasitic diseases) which could benefit the poor and marginalized based on the principle of sustainability and understanding of key determinants of health, and lead to the establishment of pilot projects and activities which can contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals

The Interplay of Parental Response to Anger, Adolescent Anger Regulation, and Externalizing and Internalizing Problems: A Longitudinal Study.

Numerous studies have reported substantive correlations between anger socialization, children's anger regulation, and internalizing/externalizing problems. However, substantially less is known about the interplay among these constructs during the developmental stage of adolescence, and longitudinal studies on causal relations (i.e., parent-directed, adolescent-directed, or reciprocal effects) are rare. It is also unclear whether the development of internalizing and externalizing problems have similar causal relations. We collected three waves of longitudinal data (Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 9) from multiple informants. A sample of N = 634 adolescents (mostly 11-12 years at Time 1; 50.6% male) and their parents (predominantly Caucasian with German nationality) completed questionnaires assessing parents' responses to anger, adolescents' anger regulation, and adolescents' internalizing/externalizing problems at each wave. Comparisons of different cross-lagged models revealed reciprocal rather than unidirectional effects. However, we found more parent-directed effects with respect to the development of internalizing problems, whereas relations regarding externalizing problems were more adolescent-directed, i.e., adolescents' externalizing problems and their anger regulation predicted changes in their parents' responses to anger across time. Adolescent anger regulation was an important maintaining factor of parents' responses to anger in later adolescence. Our findings suggest that assumptions regarding bidirectional relations should be emphasized much more in emotion socialization frameworks, particularly for the period of adolescence. Moreover, our study emphasizes the transdiagnostic importance of parents' responses to anger for both externalizing and internalizing problems and also suggests different underlying mechanisms

Australian examples of residential integrated water cycle planning: accepted current practice and a suggested alternative

Australian examples of Integrated Water Cycle Planning (IWCP) for residential development demonstrate that providing multiple household-water connections is a generally accepted practice. These connections typically include a potable mains supply, a separate non-potable supply utilising reclaimed water and/or a household roofwater tank for non-potable uses. Stormwater is not fully exploited as a potential urban water source. The advent of national guidelines for using recycled water for drinking purposes is expected to simplify IWCP towards a single-line household-water supply reclaimed from a range of different sources. An IWCP approach is suggested in this paper based on a single household supply complemented by: 1) potential separation of blackwater to reduce human health risk and to enhance community acceptance of recycled water, 2) the use of water sensitive urban design requirements of storing and slowly releasing urban stormwater, and 3) taking advantage of economies of scale by integrating communal roofwater tanks into the urban stormwater system

Comparison of Three Systems for Biological Greywater Treatment

Greywater consists of household wastewater excluding toilet discharges. Three systems were compared for the biological treatment of greywater at a similar hydraulic retention time of approximately 12–13 hours. These systems were aerobic treatment in a sequencing batch reactor, anaerobic treatment in an up-flow anaerobic blanket reactor and combined anaerobic-aerobic treatment (up-flow anaerobic blanket reactor + sequencing batch reactor). Aerobic conditions resulted in a COD removal of 90%, which was significantly higher than 51% removal by anaerobic treatment. The low removal in the anaerobic reactor may have been caused by high concentration of anionic surfactants in the influent (43.5 mg/L) and a poor removal of the colloidal fraction of the COD in up-flow anaerobic sludge blanket reactors. Combined aerobic-anaerobic treatment accomplished a COD removal of 89%, similar to the aerobic treatment alone. Greywater methanization was 32% for the anaerobic system and 25% for the anaerobic-aerobic system, yielding a small amount of energy. Therefore, anaerobic pre-treatment is not feasible and an aerobic system is preferred for the treatment of greywater