2,967 research outputs found
Extragalactic Radio Sources and the WMAP Cold Spot
We detect a dip of 20-45% in the surface brightness and number counts of NVSS
sources smoothed to a few degrees at the location of the WMAP cold spot. The
dip has structure on scales of approximately 1-10 degrees. Together with
independent all-sky wavelet analyses, our results suggest that the dip in
extragalactic brightness and number counts and the WMAP cold spot are
physically related, i.e., that the coincidence is neither a statistical anomaly
nor a WMAP foreground correction problem. If the cold spot does originate from
structures at modest redshifts, as we suggest, then there is no remaining need
for non-Gaussian processes at the last scattering surface of the CMB to explain
the cold spot. The late integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, already seen
statistically for NVSS source counts, can now be seen to operate on a single
region. To create the magnitude and angular size of the WMAP cold spot requires
a ~140 Mpc radius completely empty void at z<=1 along this line of sight. This
is far outside the current expectations of the concordance cosmology, and adds
to the anomalies seen in the CMB.Comment: revised version, ApJ, in pres
Evidence of Rapid Phenocryst Growth of Olivine During Ascent in Basalts From the Big Pine Volcanic Field: Application of OlivineâMelt Thermometry and Hygrometry at the Liquidus
The Quaternary Big Pine (BP) volcanic field in eastern California is notable for the occurrence of mantle xenoliths in several flows. This points to rapid ascent of basalt through the crust and precludes prolonged storage in a crustal reservoir. In this study, the hypothesis of phenocryst growth during ascent is tested for several basalts (13â7 wt% MgO) and shown to be viable. Phenocrysts of olivine and clinopyroxene frequently display diffusionâlimited growth textures, and clinopyroxene compositions are consistent with polybaric crystallization. When the most Mgârich olivine in each sample is paired with the wholeârock composition, resulting Fe2+âMgKD(olivineâmelt) values (0.31â0.36) match those calculated from literature models (0.32â0.36). Application of a Mgâ and a Niâbased olivineâmelt thermometer from the literature, both calibrated on the same experimental data set, leads to two sets of temperatures that vary linearly with wholeârock MgO wt%. Because the Ni thermometer is independent of water content, it provides the actual temperature at the onset of olivine crystallization (1247â1097°C), whereas the Mg thermometer gives the temperature under anhydrous conditions and thus allows ÎT (=TMg â TNi = depression of liquidus due to water) to be obtained. The average ÎT for all samples is ~59°C, which is consistent with analyzed water contents of 1.5â3.0 wt% in olivineâhosted melt inclusions from the literature. Because the application of olivineâmelt thermometry/hygrometry at the liquidus only requires microprobe analyses of olivine combined with wholeârock compositions, it can be used to obtain large global data sets of the temperature and water contents of basalts from different tectonic settings.Plain Language SummaryBasaltic lavas are a window into their mantle source regions, which is why it is important to determine their temperatures and water contents. In this study, a new approach that allows these two parameters to be quantified is demonstrated for basalts from the Big Pine volcanic field, CA. They were targeted because many contain chunks of dense mantle rocks, which precludes storage in a crustal magma chamber and points to direct ascent from the mantle to the surface along fractures. Two hypotheses are proposed, tested, and shown to be viable in this study: (1) olivine crystallized in the basalts during ascent, and (2) the most Mgârich olivine analyzed in each basalt represents the first olivine to grow during ascent. This enables the most Mgârich olivine to be paired with the wholeârock composition in the application of olivineâmelt thermometry and hygrometry. The results match those from published, independent studies. The success of this approach paves the way for the attainment of large, highâquality data sets for basalts from a wide variety of tectonic settings. This, in turn, may allow global variations in mantle temperature and volatile content to be mapped in greater detail and better understood.Key PointsRapid phenocryst growth occurs during ascent in Mgârich basalts (some carry mantle xenoliths) from the Big Pine volcanic field, CAThe most Mgârich olivine can be paired with the wholeârock composition to apply olivineâmelt thermometry/hygrometry at the liquidusLarge, highâquality data sets on the temperature and water content of basalts from various tectonic settings can be obtained by this methodPeer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163434/3/ggge22329-sup-0001-2020GC009264-SI.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163434/2/ggge22329.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/163434/1/ggge22329_am.pd
Using gamma+jets Production to Calibrate the Standard Model Z(nunu)+jets Background to New Physics Processes at the LHC
The irreducible background from Z(nunu)+jets, to beyond the Standard Model
searches at the LHC, can be calibrated using gamma+jets data. The method
utilises the fact that at high vector boson pT, the event kinematics are the
same for the two processes and the cross sections differ mainly due to the
boson-quark couplings. The method relies on a precise prediction from theory of
the Z/gamma cross section ratio at high pT, which should be insensitive to
effects from full event simulation. We study the Z/gamma ratio for final states
involving 1, 2 and 3 hadronic jets, using both the leading-order parton shower
Monte Carlo program Pythia8 and a leading-order matrix element program Gambos.
This enables us both to understand the underlying parton dynamics in both
processes, and to quantify the theoretical systematic uncertainties in the
ratio predictions. Using a typical set of experimental cuts, we estimate the
net theoretical uncertainty in the ratio to be of order 7%, when obtained from
a Monte Carlo program using multiparton matrix-elements for the hard process.
Uncertainties associated with full event simulation are found to be small. The
results indicate that an overall accuracy of the method, excluding statistical
errors, of order 10% should be possible.Comment: 22 pages, 14 figures; Accepted for publication by JHE
Hydrogen atom in a spherical well: linear approximation
We discuss the boundary effects on a quantum system by examining the problem
of a hydrogen atom in a spherical well. By using an approximation method which
is linear in energy we calculate the boundary corrections to the ground-state
energy and wave function. We obtain the asymptotic dependence of the
ground-state energy on the radius of the well.Comment: Revised version to appear in European Journal of Physic
Differential sensitivities of bone marrow, spleen and thymus to genotoxicity induced by environmentally relevant concentrations of arsenite
It is known in humans and mouse models, that drinking water exposures to arsenite (As+3) leads to immunotoxicity. Previously, our group showed that certain types of immune cells are extremely sensitive to arsenic induced genotoxicity. In order to see if cells from different immune organs have differential sensitivities to As+3, and if the sensitivities correlate with the intracellular concentrations of arsenic species, male C57BL/6J mice were dosed with 0, 100 and 500 ppb As+3 via drinking water for 30 d. Oxidation State Specific Hydride Generation-Cryotrapping- Inductively Coupled Plasma- Mass Spectrometry (HG- CT- ICP- MS) was applied to analyze the intracellular arsenic species and concentrations in bone marrow, spleen and thymus cells isolated from the exposed mice. A dose-dependent increase in intracellular monomethylarsonous acid (MMA+3) was observed in both bone marrow and thymus cells, but not spleen cells. The total arsenic and MMA+3 levels were correlated with an increase in DNA damage in bone marrow and thymus cells. An in vitro treatment of 5, 50 and 500 nM As+3 and MMA+3 revealed that bone marrow cells are most sensitive to As+3 treatment, and MMA+3 is more genotoxic than As+3. These results suggest that the differential sensitivities of the three immune organs to As+3 exposure are due to the different intracellular arsenic species and concentrations, and that MMA+3 may play a critical role in immunotoxicity
Infant mental health home visiting therapists- reflective supervision self- efficacy in community practice settings
In recent years, there has been an increase in the research on reflective supervision, including the development of tools designed to measure reflective practice in the context of reflective supervision. The Reflective Supervision Self- Efficacy Scale for Supervisees (RSSESS) is a self- report measure that has been used in previous evaluations and is designed to assess perceived reflective practice self- efficacy for Infant Mental Health- Home Visiting (IMH- HV) therapists. Properties of the RSSESS including factor structure and reliability are explored in a first study that lays the foundation for the use of the RSSESS in an IMH- HV evaluation in the State of Michigan. IMH- HV therapists completed the RSSESS at 4 time points over a 12- month period and also completed a Clinician Profile Form that included questions about their IMH background and their work experience, including job satisfaction and burnout. Results indicated that the RSSESS is a reliable tool to measure change in reflective practice skills. IMH- HV therapists demonstrated growth in their use of reflective practice skills with families and their observational skills over the 12- month period. In addition, results indicated correlations between reflective supervision self- efficacy and job satisfaction as well as burnout.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154909/1/imhj21834.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/154909/2/imhj21834_am.pd
Including debris cover effects in a distributed model of glacier ablation
Distributed glacier melt models generally assume that the glacier surface consists of bare exposed ice and snow. In reality, many glaciers are wholly or partially covered in layers of debris that tend to suppress ablation rates. In this paper, an existing physically based point model for the ablation of debris-covered ice is incorporated in a distributed melt model and applied to Haut Glacier dâArolla, Switzerland, which has three large patches of debris cover on its surface. The model is based on a 10 m resolution digital elevation model (DEM) of the area; each glacier pixel in the DEM is defined as either bare or debris-covered ice, and may be covered in snow that must be melted off before ice ablation is assumed to occur. Each debris-covered pixel is assigned a debris thickness value using probability distributions based on over 1000 manual thickness measurements. Locally observed meteorological data are used to run energy balance calculations in every pixel, using an approach suitable for snow, bare ice or debris-covered ice as appropriate. The use of the debris model significantly reduces the total ablation in the debris-covered areas, however the precise reduction is sensitive to the temperature extrapolation used in the model distribution because air near the debris surface tends to be slightly warmer than over bare ice. Overall results suggest that the debris patches, which cover 10% of the glacierized area, reduce total runoff from the glacierized part of the basin by up to 7%
Energy Landscape and Global Optimization for a Frustrated Model Protein
The three-color (BLN) 69-residue model protein was designed to exhibit frustrated folding. We investigate the energy landscape of this protein using disconnectivity graphs and compare it to a Go model, which is designed to reduce the frustration by removing all non-native attractive interactions. Finding the global minimum on a frustrated energy landscape is a good test of global optimization techniques, and we present calculations evaluating the performance of basin-hopping and genetic algorithms for this system.Comparisons are made with the widely studied 46-residue BLN protein.We show that the energy landscape of the 69-residue BLN protein contains several deep funnels, each of which corresponds to a different ÎČ-barrel structure
The fully frustrated XY model with next nearest neighbor interaction
We introduce a fully frustrated XY model with nearest neighbor (nn) and next
nearest neighbor (nnn) couplings which can be realized in Josephson junction
arrays. We study the phase diagram for ( is the ratio
between nnn and nn couplings). When an Ising and a
Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transitions are present. Both critical
temperatures decrease with increasing . For the array
undergoes a sequence of two transitions. On raising the temperature first the
two sublattices decouple from each other and then, at higher temperatures, each
sublattice becomes disorderd.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
LAVA: An Open-Source Approach To Designing LAMP (Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification) DNA Signatures
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We developed an extendable open-source Loop-mediated isothermal AMPlification (LAMP) signature design program called LAVA (LAMP Assay Versatile Analysis). LAVA was created in response to limitations of existing LAMP signature programs.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>LAVA identifies combinations of six primer regions for basic LAMP signatures, or combinations of eight primer regions for LAMP signatures with loop primers, which can be used as LAMP signatures. The identified primers are conserved among target organism sequences. Primer combinations are optimized based on lengths, melting temperatures, and spacing among primer sites. We compare LAMP signature candidates for <it>Staphylococcus aureus </it>created both by LAVA and by PrimerExplorer. We also include signatures from a sample run targeting all strains of <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis</it>.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>We have designed and demonstrated new software for identifying signature candidates appropriate for LAMP assays. The software is available for download at <url>http://lava-dna.googlecode.com/</url>.</p
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