664 research outputs found
Recent Decisions
Comments on recent decisions by James E. Murray, Edmund L. White, Peter H. Lousberg, Wilbur L. Pollard, John L. Rosshirt, and Patrick J. Foley
Cosmological Constraints from High-Redshift Damped Lyman-Alpha Systems
Any viable cosmological model must produce enough structure at early epochs
to explain the amount of gas associated with high-redshift damped Ly
systems. We study the evolution of damped Ly systems at redshifts in cold dark matter (CDM) and cold+hot dark matter (CDM+HDM) models using
both N-body and hydrodynamic simulations. Our approach incorporates the effects
of gas dynamics, and we find that all earlier estimates which assumed that all
the baryons in dark matter halos would contribute to damped Ly
absorption have overestimated the column density distribution and the
fraction of neutral dense gas in damped Ly systems. The
differences are driven by ionization of hydrogen in the outskirts of galactic
halos and by gaseous dissipation near the halo centers, and they tend to
exacerbate the problem of late galaxy formation in CDM+HDM models. We only
include systems up to the highest observed column density
cm in the estimation of for a fair comparison with data. If
the observed and inferred from a small number of confirmed
and candidate absorbers are robust, the amount of gas in damped Ly
systems at high redshifts in the CDM+HDM model falls well
below the observations.Comment: 11 pages including 2 figures. AAS LaTeX v4.0. Astrophysical Journal
Letters, in pres
Observing the Inflaton Potential
We show how observations of the density perturbation (scalar) spectrum and
the gravitational wave (tensor) spectrum allow a reconstruction of the
potential responsible for cosmological inflation. A complete functional
reconstruction or a perturbative approximation about a single scale are
possible; the suitability of each approach depends on the data available.
Consistency equations between the scalar and tensor spectra are derived, which
provide a powerful signal of inflation.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX, FERMILAB--PUB--93/071--A; SUSSEX-AST 93/4-
Indications for thyroid FNA and pre-FNA requirements: A synopsis of the National Cancer Institute Thyroid Fine-Needle Aspiration State of the Science Conference
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) sponsored the NCI Thyroid Fine-Needle Aspiration (FNA) State of the Science Conference on October 22â23, 2007 in Bethesda, MD. The 2-day meeting was accompanied by a permanent informational website and several on-line discussions between May 1 and December 15, 2007 ( http://thyroidfna.cancer.gov ). This document summarizes the indications for performing an FNA of a nodule discovered by physical examination or an imaging study; the indications for using ultrasound versus palpation for guidance when performing a thyroid FNA; the issues surrounding informed consent for thyroid FNA; and the information required on a requisition form that accompanies a thyroid FNA specimen. ( http://thyroidfna.cancer.gov/pages/info/agenda/ ) Diagn. Cytopathol. 2008;36:390â399. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/58658/1/20827_ftp.pd
Reconstructing the Inflaton Potential---in Principle and in Practice
Generalizing the original work by Hodges and Blumenthal, we outline a
formalism which allows one, in principle, to reconstruct the potential of the
inflaton field from knowledge of the tensor gravitational wave spectrum or the
scalar density fluctuation spectrum, with special emphasis on the importance of
the tensor spectrum. We provide some illustrative examples of such
reconstruction. We then discuss in some detail the question of whether one can
use real observations to carry out this procedure. We conclude that in
practice, a full reconstruction of the functional form of the potential will
not be possible within the foreseeable future. However, with a knowledge of the
dark matter components, it should soon be possible to combine
intermediate-scale data with measurements of large-scale cosmic microwave
background anisotropies to yield useful information regarding the potential.Comment: 39 pages plus 2 figures (upon request:[email protected]), LaTeX,
FNAL--PUB--93/029-A; SUSSEX-AST 93/3-
Acupuncture in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis: a double-blind controlled pilot study
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In planning a randomized controlled trial of acupuncture, we conducted a pilot study using validated outcome measures to assess the feasibility of the protocol, and to obtain preliminary data on efficacy and tolerability of 3 different forms of acupuncture treatment as an adjunct for the treatment of chronic pain in patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study employs a randomized, prospective, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture (EA), traditional Chinese acupuncture (TCA) and sham acupuncture (Sham) in patients with RA. All patients received 20 sessions over a period of 10 weeks. Six acupuncture points were chosen. Primary outcome is the changes in the pain score. Secondary outcomes included the changes in the ACR core disease measures, DAS 28 score and the number of patients who achieved ACR 20 at week 10.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>From 80 eligible patients, 36 patients with mean age of 58 ± 10 years and disease duration of 9.3 ± 6.4 years were recruited. Twelve patients were randomized to each group. Twelve, 10 and 7 patients from the EA, TCA and Sham group respectively completed the study at 20 weeks (p < 0.03); all except one of the premature dropouts were due to lack of efficacy. At week 10, the pain score remained unchanged in all 3 groups. The number of tender joints was significantly reduced for the EA and TCA groups. Physician's global score was significantly reduced for the EA group and patient's global score was significantly reduced for the TCA group. All the outcomes except patient's global score remained unchanged in the Sham group.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This pilot study has allowed a number of recommendations to be made to facilitate the design of a large-scale trial, which in turn will help to clarify the existing evidence base on acupuncture for RA.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00404443</p
Position-Space Description of the Cosmic Microwave Background and Its Temperature Correlation Function
We suggest that the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature correlation
function C(theta) as a function of angle provides a direct connection between
experimental data and the fundamental cosmological quantities. The evolution of
inhomogeneities in the prerecombination universe is studied using their Green's
functions in position space. We find that a primordial adiabatic point
perturbation propagates as a sharp-edged spherical acoustic wave. Density
singularities at its wavefronts create a feature in the CMB correlation
function distinguished by a dip at theta ~ 1.2 deg. Characteristics of the
feature are sensitive to the values of cosmological parameters, in particular
to the total and the baryon densities.Comment: The version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Letters. 4 pages,
3 figure
How a Diverse Research Ecosystem Has Generated New Rehabilitation Technologies: Review of NIDILRRâs Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers
Over 50 million United States citizens (1 in 6 people in the US) have a developmental, acquired, or degenerative disability. The average US citizen can expect to live 20% of his or her life with a disability. Rehabilitation technologies play a major role in improving the quality of life for people with a disability, yet widespread and highly challenging needs remain. Within the US, a major effort aimed at the creation and evaluation of rehabilitation technology has been the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Centers (RERCs) sponsored by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research. As envisioned at their conception by a panel of the National Academy of Science in 1970, these centers were intended to take a âtotal approach to rehabilitationâ, combining medicine, engineering, and related science, to improve the quality of life of individuals with a disability. Here, we review the scope, achievements, and ongoing projects of an unbiased sample of 19 currently active or recently terminated RERCs. Specifically, for each center, we briefly explain the needs it targets, summarize key historical advances, identify emerging innovations, and consider future directions. Our assessment from this review is that the RERC program indeed involves a multidisciplinary approach, with 36 professional fields involved, although 70% of research and development staff are in engineering fields, 23% in clinical fields, and only 7% in basic science fields; significantly, 11% of the professional staff have a disability related to their research. We observe that the RERC program has substantially diversified the scope of its work since the 1970âs, addressing more types of disabilities using more technologies, and, in particular, often now focusing on information technologies. RERC work also now often views users as integrated into an interdependent society through technologies that both people with and without disabilities co-use (such as the internet, wireless communication, and architecture). In addition, RERC research has evolved to view users as able at improving outcomes through learning, exercise, and plasticity (rather than being static), which can be optimally timed. We provide examples of rehabilitation technology innovation produced by the RERCs that illustrate this increasingly diversifying scope and evolving perspective. We conclude by discussing growth opportunities and possible future directions of the RERC program
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