217 research outputs found
Robust Machine Learning Applied to Astronomical Datasets I: Star-Galaxy Classification of the SDSS DR3 Using Decision Trees
We provide classifications for all 143 million non-repeat photometric objects
in the Third Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) using decision
trees trained on 477,068 objects with SDSS spectroscopic data. We demonstrate
that these star/galaxy classifications are expected to be reliable for
approximately 22 million objects with r < ~20. The general machine learning
environment Data-to-Knowledge and supercomputing resources enabled extensive
investigation of the decision tree parameter space. This work presents the
first public release of objects classified in this way for an entire SDSS data
release. The objects are classified as either galaxy, star or nsng (neither
star nor galaxy), with an associated probability for each class. To demonstrate
how to effectively make use of these classifications, we perform several
important tests. First, we detail selection criteria within the probability
space defined by the three classes to extract samples of stars and galaxies to
a given completeness and efficiency. Second, we investigate the efficacy of the
classifications and the effect of extrapolating from the spectroscopic regime
by performing blind tests on objects in the SDSS, 2dF Galaxy Redshift and 2dF
QSO Redshift (2QZ) surveys. Given the photometric limits of our spectroscopic
training data, we effectively begin to extrapolate past our star-galaxy
training set at r ~ 18. By comparing the number counts of our training sample
with the classified sources, however, we find that our efficiencies appear to
remain robust to r ~ 20. As a result, we expect our classifications to be
accurate for 900,000 galaxies and 6.7 million stars, and remain robust via
extrapolation for a total of 8.0 million galaxies and 13.9 million stars.
[Abridged]Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, to be published in ApJ, uses emulateapj.cl
Robust Machine Learning Applied to Astronomical Datasets III: Probabilistic Photometric Redshifts for Galaxies and Quasars in the SDSS and GALEX
We apply machine learning in the form of a nearest neighbor instance-based
algorithm (NN) to generate full photometric redshift probability density
functions (PDFs) for objects in the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky
Survey (SDSS DR5). We use a conceptually simple but novel application of NN to
generate the PDFs - perturbing the object colors by their measurement error -
and using the resulting instances of nearest neighbor distributions to generate
numerous individual redshifts. When the redshifts are compared to existing SDSS
spectroscopic data, we find that the mean value of each PDF has a dispersion
between the photometric and spectroscopic redshift consistent with other
machine learning techniques, being sigma = 0.0207 +/- 0.0001 for main sample
galaxies to r < 17.77 mag, sigma = 0.0243 +/- 0.0002 for luminous red galaxies
to r < ~19.2 mag, and sigma = 0.343 +/- 0.005 for quasars to i < 20.3 mag. The
PDFs allow the selection of subsets with improved statistics. For quasars, the
improvement is dramatic: for those with a single peak in their probability
distribution, the dispersion is reduced from 0.343 to sigma = 0.117 +/- 0.010,
and the photometric redshift is within 0.3 of the spectroscopic redshift for
99.3 +/- 0.1% of the objects. Thus, for this optical quasar sample, we can
virtually eliminate 'catastrophic' photometric redshift estimates. In addition
to the SDSS sample, we incorporate ultraviolet photometry from the Third Data
Release of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer All-Sky Imaging Survey (GALEX AIS GR3)
to create PDFs for objects seen in both surveys. For quasars, the increased
coverage of the observed frame UV of the SED results in significant improvement
over the full SDSS sample, with sigma = 0.234 +/- 0.010. We demonstrate that
this improvement is genuine. [Abridged]Comment: Accepted to ApJ, 10 pages, 12 figures, uses emulateapj.cl
Clinical outcomes after detection of elevated cardiac enzymes in patients undergoing percutaneous intervention
AbstractObjectives. We examined the relations of elevated creatine kinase (CK) and its myocardial band isoenzyme (CK-MB) to clinical outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients enrolled in Integrilin (eptifibatide) to Minimize Platelet Aggregation and Coronary Thrombosis-II (trial) (IMPACT-II), a trial of the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor eptifibatide.Background. Elevation of cardiac enzymes often occurs after PCI, but its clinical implications are uncertain.Methods. Patients undergoing elective, scheduled PCI for any indication were analyzed. Parallel analyses investigated CK (n = 3,535) and CK-MB (n = 2,341) levels after PCI (within 4 to 20 h). Clinical outcomes at 30 days and 6 months were stratified by postprocedure CK and CK-MB (multiple of the site’s upper normal limit).Results. Overall, 1,779 patients (76%) had no CK-MB elevation; CK-MB levels were elevated to 1 to 3 times the upper normal limit in 323 patients (13.8%), to 3 to 5 times normal in 84 (3.6%), to 5 to 10 times normal in 86 (3.7%), and to >10 times normal in 69 patients (2.9%). Elevated CK-MB was associated with an increased risk of death, reinfarction, or emergency revascularization at 30 days, and of death, reinfarction, or surgical revascularization at 6 months. Elevated total CK to above three times normal was less frequent, but its prognostic significance paralleled that seen for CK-MB. The degree of risk correlated with the rise in CK or CK-MB, even for patients with successful procedures not complicated by abrupt closure.Conclusions. Elevations in cardiac enzymes, including small increases (between one and three times normal) often not considered an infarction, are associated with an increased risk for short-term adverse clinical outcomes after successful or unsuccessful PCI
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