Data Mining the SDSS SkyServer Database

An earlier paper (Szalay et. al. "Designing and Mining MultiTerabyte Astronomy Archives: The Sloan Digital Sky Survey," ACM SIGMOD 2000) described the Sloan Digital Sky Survey's (SDSS) data management needs by defining twenty database queries and twelve data visualization tasks that a good data management system should support. We built a database and interfaces to support both the query load and also a website for ad-hoc access. This paper reports on the database design, describes the data loading pipeline, and reports on the query implementation and performance. The queries typically translated to a single SQL statement. Most queries run in less than 20 seconds, allowing scientists to interactively explore the database. This paper is an in-depth tour of those queries. Readers should first have studied the companion overview paper Szalay et. al. "The SDSS SkyServer, Public Access to the Sloan Digital Sky Server Data" ACM SIGMOND 2002.Comment: 40 pages, Original source is at http://research.microsoft.com/~gray/Papers/MSR_TR_O2_01_20_queries.do

Physical States in Canonically Quantized Supergravity

We discuss the canonical quantization of $N=1$ supergravity in the functional Schrodinger representation. Although the form of the supersymmetry constraints suggests that there are solutions of definite order $n$ in the fermion fields, we show that there are no such states for any finite $n$. For $n=0$, a simple scaling argument definitively excludes the purely bosonic states discussed by D'Eath. For $n>0$, the argument is based on a mode expansion of the gravitino field on the quantization 3-surface. It is thus suggested that physical states in supergravity have infinite Grassmann number. This is confirmed for the free spin-3/2 field, for which we find that states satisfying the gauge constraints contain an infinite product of fermion mode operators.Comment: 36 pages (uses jnl.tex), CTP #227

Поведенческие характеристики цементобетонных покрытий в Южном Казахстане: климатические изменения и оптимальный метод строительства

The present paper describes experiments and research outcomes concerning the construction of cement concrete pavements in South Kazakhstan, taking into account significant climate changes. The study has identified  potential problems in the construction of cement concrete pavements in the region, where there was no experience of their construction until  the mid-2000s. In order to develop an optimal solution, the technical factors that characterize the process of arranging these coatings using sliding molds are analyzed and quantitatively normalized. These factors include the optimal amount of mortar for curing concrete, the optimal joint cutting time, the interval and effective width of expansion joints to prevent the formation  of cracks in concrete at an early age. The effectiveness of the use of polyethylene film to prevent the formation of contraction cracks and maintain the required mode of hardening of the cement concrete pavement is shown. The main cause of damage  to the expansion joints along the length of the day coverage of coatings in the conditions of South Kazakhstan has been established. Recommendations have been developed for the installation of cement-concrete pavement and expansion joints during the construction of roads in this region. The accumulated data on climatic factors and methods of work with the use of polyethylene film have made it possible to create an optimal method for the construction of cement concrete pavements,  which will improve the quality of roads in South Kazakhstan.В статье изложены результаты исследований цементобетонных дорожных покрытий в Южном Казахстане, для которого характерны значительные изменения климата. Выявлены потенциальные проблемы устройства цементобетонных дорожных покрытий в регионе, где не было опыта их строительства вплоть до середины 2000 гг.  С целью выработки оптимального решения проанализированы и количественно нормированы технические факторы, характеризующие процесс устройства данных покрытий с использованием скользящих форм. К таким факторам  отнесены оптимальное количество раствора для отверждения бетона, оптимальное время нарезки шва, интервал и эффективная ширина деформационных швов для предотвращения образования трещин в бетоне в раннем возрасте. Показана эффективность применения полиэтиленовой пленки для предупреждения образования усадочных трещин  и поддержания требуемого режима твердения цементобетонного покрытия. Установлена основная причина повреждения швов расширения на длине дневной захватки и разработаны рекомендации по устройству цементобетонных покрытий и швов расширения при строительстве автомобильных дорог в регионе. Накопленные данные о климатических факторах и методах производства работ с использованием полиэтиленовой пленки позволят оптимизировать строительство цементобетонных дорожных покрытий в Южном Казахстане

Classical Lagrangians for Momentum Dependent Lorentz Violation

Certain momentum-dependent terms in the fermion sector of the Lorentz-violating Standard Model Extension (SME) yield solvable classical lagrangians of a type not mentioned in the literature. These cases yield new relatively simple examples of Finsler and pseudo-Finsler structures. One of the cases involves antisymmetric $d$-type terms and yields a new example of a relatively simple covariant lagrangian.Comment: 14 page

Rural men and mental health: their experiences and how they managed

There is a growing awareness that a primary source of information about mental health lies with the consumers. This article reports on a study that interviewed rural men with the aim of exploring their mental health experiences within a rural environment. The results of the interviews are a number of stories of resilience and survival that highlight not only the importance of exploring the individuals' perspective of their issues, but also of acknowledging and drawing on their inner strengths. Rural men face a number of challenges that not only increase the risk of mental illness but also decrease the likelihood of them seeking and/or finding professional support. These men's stories, while different from each other, have a common thread of coping. Despite some support from family and friends participants also acknowledged that seeking out professional support could have made the recovery phase easier. Mental health nurses need to be aware, not only of the barrier to professional support but also of the significant resilience that individuals have and how it can be utilised

Interference Effects Due to Projectile Target Nucleus Scattering in Single Ionization of H₂ by 75-keV Proton Impact

Doubly differential cross sections (DDCSs) for single ionization of molecular hydrogen by 75-keV proton impact have been measured and calculated as a function of the projectile scattering angle and energy loss. Interference structures are observed in the scattering angular dependence of the DDCSs, which disappear, however, at electron speeds near the projectile speed. The comparison to our calculations shows that the projectile-target nucleus interaction plays a central role. Furthermore, our data suggest that for a given scattering angle, ionization favors well-defined molecular orientations

Interference Effects Due to Projectile Target Nucleus Scattering in Single Ionization of H₂ by 75-keV Proton Impact

Doubly differential cross sections (DDCSs) for single ionization of molecular hydrogen by 75-keV proton impact have been measured and calculated as a function of the projectile scattering angle and energy loss. Interference structures are observed in the scattering angular dependence of the DDCSs, which disappear, however, at electron speeds near the projectile speed. The comparison to our calculations shows that the projectile-target nucleus interaction plays a central role. Furthermore, our data suggest that for a given scattering angle, ionization favors well-defined molecular orientations

Transfusion-Associated Babesiosis after Heart Transplant

We describe a 54-year-old spleen-intact man with transfusion-associated Babesia microti infection after a heart transplant. Adult respiratory distress syndrome developed in the patient, and he required mechanical ventilation. Our experiences with this patient suggest that babesiosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of transplant patients who have fever and hemolytic anemia

Assessing the naturalness of Malay emotional voice corpora

This research reports the development and evaluation of Malay emotional voice corpora through listening evaluation, and how the numbers of emotion choices offered to evaluators affect the result of the evaluation. The voice corpora comprises of three emotions, namely anger, sadness and happiness being expressed by two male and two female actors. The voice corpora were evaluated in two separate listening tests involving a number of Malay native evaluators balanced for gender, age and profession. In the first listening test, evaluators were given twenty five choices of emotions to choose from. For the second test, the number of emotion choices is only five. Each test was conducted separately with different group of evaluators. The results of the two tests are grossly different with the emotion identification rate of the first test lower than the second test