252 research outputs found
Polarized galactic synchrotron and dust emission and their correlation
We present an analysis of the level of polarized dust and synchrotron
emission using the WMAP9 and Planck data. The primary goal of this study is to
inform the assessment of foreground contamination in the cosmic microwave
background (CMB) measurements below from 23 to 353 GHz. We
compute angular power spectra as a function of sky cut based on the Planck 353
GHz polarization maps. Our primary findings are the following. (1) There is a
spatial correlation between the dust emission as measured by Planck at 353 GHz
and the synchrotron emission as measured by WMAP at 23 GHz with
or greater for and ,
dropping to for . (2) A simple foreground model
with dust, synchrotron, and their correlation fits well to all possible cross
spectra formed with the WMAP and Planck 353 GHz data given the current
uncertainties. (3) In the 50 cleanest region of the polarized dust map, the
ratio of synchrotron to dust amplitudes at 90 GHz for 50 110 is
. Smaller regions of sky can be cleaner although the
uncertainties in our knowledge of synchrotron emission are larger. A
high-sensitivity measurement of synchrotron below 90 GHz will be important for
understanding all the components of foreground emission near 90 GHz.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures; Published in JCAP. Source masks updated, minor
change
Results from the Atacama B-mode Search (ABS) Experiment
The Atacama B-mode Search (ABS) is an experiment designed to measure cosmic
microwave background (CMB) polarization at large angular scales (). It
operated from the ACT site at 5190~m elevation in northern Chile at 145 GHz
with a net sensitivity (NEQ) of 41 K. It employed an
ambient-temperature sapphire half-wave plate rotating at 2.55 Hz to modulate
the incident polarization signal and reduce systematic effects. We report here
on the analysis of data from a 2400 deg patch of sky centered at
declination and right ascension . We perform a blind
analysis. After unblinding, we find agreement with the Planck TE and EE
measurements on the same region of sky. We marginally detect polarized dust
emission and give an upper limit on the tensor-to-scalar ratio of (95%
cl) with the equivalent of 100 on-sky days of observation. We also present a
new measurement of the polarization of Tau A and introduce new methods
associated with HWP-based observations.Comment: 38 pages, 11 figure
Mechanical design and development of TES bolometer detector arrays for the Advanced ACTPol experiment
The next generation Advanced ACTPol (AdvACT) experiment is currently underway
and will consist of four Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometer arrays, with
three operating together, totaling ~5800 detectors on the sky. Building on
experience gained with the ACTPol detector arrays, AdvACT will utilize various
new technologies, including 150mm detector wafers equipped with multichroic
pixels, allowing for a more densely packed focal plane. Each set of detectors
includes a feedhorn array of stacked silicon wafers which form a spline profile
leading to each pixel. This is then followed by a waveguide interface plate,
detector wafer, back short cavity plate, and backshort cap. Each array is
housed in a custom designed structure manufactured from high purity copper and
then gold plated. In addition to the detector array assembly, the array package
also encloses cryogenic readout electronics. We present the full mechanical
design of the AdvACT high frequency (HF) detector array package along with a
detailed look at the detector array stack assemblies. This experiment will also
make use of extensive hardware and software previously developed for ACT, which
will be modified to incorporate the new AdvACT instruments. Therefore, we
discuss the integration of all AdvACT arrays with pre-existing ACTPol
infrastructure.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, SPIE Astronomical Telescopes and Instrumentation
conference proceeding
Estimation of proteinuria as a predictor of complications of pre-eclampsia: a systematic review
Background
Proteinuria is one of the essential criteria for the clinical diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. Increasing levels of proteinuria is considered to be associated with adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. We aim to determine the accuracy with which the amount of proteinuria predicts maternal and fetal complications in women with pre-eclampsia by systematic quantitative review of test accuracy studies.
Methods
We conducted electronic searches in MEDLINE (1951 to 2007), EMBASE (1980 to 2007), the Cochrane Library (2007) and the MEDION database to identify relevant articles and hand-search of selected specialist journals and reference lists of articles. There were no language restrictions for any of these searches. Two reviewers independently selected those articles in which the accuracy of proteinuria estimate was evaluated to predict maternal and fetal complications of pre-eclampsia. Data were extracted on study characteristics, quality and accuracy to construct 2 × 2 tables with maternal and fetal complications as reference standards.
Results
Sixteen primary articles with a total of 6749 women met the selection criteria with levels of proteinuria estimated by urine dipstick, 24-hour urine proteinuria or urine protein:creatinine ratio as a predictor of complications of pre-eclampsia. All 10 studies predicting maternal outcomes showed that proteinuria is a poor predictor of maternal complications in women with pre-eclampsia. Seventeen studies used laboratory analysis and eight studies bedside analysis to assess the accuracy of proteinuria in predicting fetal and neonatal complications. Summary likelihood ratios of positive and negative tests for the threshold level of 5 g/24 h were 2.0 (95% CI 1.5, 2.7) and 0.53 (95% CI 0.27, 1) for stillbirths, 1.5 (95% CI 0.94, 2.4) and 0.73 (95% CI 0.39, 1.4) for neonatal deaths and 1.5 (95% 1, 2) and 0.78 (95% 0.64, 0.95) for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit admission.
Conclusion
Measure of proteinuria is a poor predictor of either maternal or fetal complications in women with pre-eclampsia
Disturbance distance: quantifying forests' vulnerability to disturbance under current and future conditions
Disturbances, both natural and anthropogenic, are critical determinants of forest structure, function,
and distribution. The vulnerability of forests to potential changes in disturbance rates remains largely
unknown. Here, we developed a framework for quantifying and mapping the vulnerability of forests
to changes in disturbance rates. By comparing recent estimates of observed forest disturbance rates
over a sample of contiguous US forests to modeled rates of disturbance resulting in forest loss, a novel
index of vulnerability, Disturbance Distance, was produced. Sample results indicate that 20% of
current US forestland could be lost if disturbance rates were to double, with southwestern forests
showing highest vulnerability. Under a future climate scenario, the majority of US forests showed
capabilities of withstanding higher rates of disturbance then under the current climate scenario,
which may buffer some impacts of intensified forest disturbanceinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Galactic Dust Structure and the Cosmic PAH Background in Cross-correlation with WISE
We present a cross-correlation analysis between resolution total
intensity and polarization observations from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope
(ACT) at 150 and 220 GHz and 15 mid-infrared photometry from the Wide-field
Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) over 107 12.512.5 patches
of sky. We detect a spatially isotropic signal in the WISEACT
cross power spectrum at 30 significance that we interpret as the
correlation between the cosmic infrared background at ACT frequencies and
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) emission from galaxies in WISE, i.e., the
cosmic PAH background. Within the Milky Way, the Galactic dust spectra are
generally well-described by power laws in over the range 1010, but there is evidence both for variability in the power law index and
for non-power law behavior in some regions. We measure a positive correlation
between WISE total intensity and ACT -mode polarization at 10006000 at 3 in each of 35 distinct 100 deg regions
of the sky, suggesting alignment between Galactic density structures and the
local magnetic field persists to sub-parsec physical scales in these regions.
The distribution of amplitudes in this range across all 107 regions
is biased to positive values, while there is no evidence for such a bias in the
spectra. This work constitutes the highest- measurements of the
Galactic dust spectrum to date and indicates that cross-correlation with
high-resolution mid-infrared measurements of dust emission is a promising tool
for constraining the spatial statistics of dust emission at millimeter
wavelengths.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, submitted to Ap
Recommended from our members
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Modeling bulk atmospheric motion
Fluctuating atmospheric emission is a dominant source of noise for ground-based millimeter-wave observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropy at angular scales . We present a model of the atmosphere as a discrete set of emissive turbulent layers that move with respect to the observer with a horizontal wind velocity. After introducing a statistic derived from the time-lag dependent correlation function for detector pairs in an array, referred to as the pair-lag, we use this model to estimate the aggregate angular motion of the atmosphere derived from time-ordered data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT). We find that estimates derived from ACT’s CMB observations alone agree with those derived from satellite weather data that additionally include a height-dependent horizontal wind velocity and water vapor density. We also explore the dependence of the measured atmospheric noise spectrum on the relative angle between the wind velocity and the telescope scan direction. In particular, we find that varying the scan velocity changes the noise spectrum in a predictable way. Computing the pair-lag statistic opens up new avenues for understanding how atmospheric fluctuations impact measurements of the CMB anisotropy
Research-Based Web Design & Usability Guidelines [2006 edition]
The new edition of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Research-Based Web Design and Usability Guidelines. These guidelines reflect HHS’ commitment to identifying innovative, research-based approaches that result in highly responsive and easy-to-use Web sites for the public.
These guidelines help move us in that direction by providing practical, yet authoritative, guidance on a broad range of Web design and communication issues. Having access to the best available research helps to ensure we make the right decisions the first time around and reduces the possibility of errors and costly mistakes
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