Websites as Facilities Under ADA Title III

Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act requires public accommodations—private entities that offer goods or services to the public—to be accessible to individuals with disabilities. There is an ongoing debate about whether Title III applies to websites that offer services to the public, but this debate may be resolved in the coming years by litigation or Department of Justice regulations. Assuming for the sake of argument that Title III will eventually be applied to websites, the next inquiry is what that application should look like. The regulatory definition of “facilities” should be amended to include nonphysical places of public accommodations. This change would open the door to a multilayered approach to accessible websites, wherein existing websites are subject to relatively lax requirements but new and altered websites are subject to stricter requirements

First Measurement of the Clustering Evolution of Photometrically-Classified Quasars

We present new measurements of the quasar autocorrelation from a sample of \~80,000 photometrically-classified quasars taken from SDSS DR1. We find a best-fit model of $\omega(\theta) = (0.066\pm^{0.026}_{0.024})\theta^{-(0.98\pm0.15)}$ for the angular autocorrelation, consistent with estimates from spectroscopic quasar surveys. We show that only models with little or no evolution in the clustering of quasars in comoving coordinates since z~1.4 can recover a scale-length consistent with local galaxies and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). A model with little evolution of quasar clustering in comoving coordinates is best explained in the current cosmological paradigm by rapid evolution in quasar bias. We show that quasar biasing must have changed from b_Q~3 at a (photometric) redshift of z=2.2 to b_Q~1.2-1.3 by z=0.75. Such a rapid increase with redshift in biasing implies that quasars at z~2 cannot be the progenitors of modern L* objects, rather they must now reside in dense environments, such as clusters. Similarly, the duration of the UVX quasar phase must be short enough to explain why local UVX quasars reside in essentially unbiased structures. Our estimates of b_Q are in good agreement with recent spectroscopic results, which demonstrate the implied evolution in b_Q is consistent with quasars inhabiting halos of similar mass at every redshift. Treating quasar clustering as a function of both redshift and luminosity, we find no evidence for luminosity dependence in quasar clustering, and that redshift evolution thus affects quasar clustering more than changes in quasars' luminosity. We provide a new method for quantifying stellar contamination in photometrically-classified quasar catalogs via the correlation function.Comment: 34 pages, 10 figures, 1 table, Accepted to ApJ after: (i) Minor textual changes; (ii) extra points added to Fig.

New discoveries at Woolsey Mound, MC118, northern Gulf of Mexico

Woolsey Mound, a 1km-diameter carbonate-gas hydrate complex in the northern Gulf of Mexico, is the site of the Gulf’s only seafloor monitoring station-observatory in its only research reserve, Mississippi Canyon 118. Active venting, outcropping hydrate, and a thriving chemosynthetic community recommend the site for study. Since 2005, the Gulf of Mexico Hydrates Research Consortium has been conducting multidisciplinary studies to 1. Characterize the site, 2. Establish a facility for real-time monitoring-observing of gas hydrates in a natural setting, 3. Study the effects of gas hydrates on seafloor stability, 4. Establish fluid migration routes and estimates of fluid-flux at the site, 5. Establish the interrelationships between the organisms at the vent site and the association-dissociation of hydrates. A variety of novel geological, geophysical, geochemical and biological studies has been designed and conducted, some in survey mode, others in monitoring mode. Geophysical studies involving merging multiple seismic data acquisition systems accompanied by the application of custom processing techniques verify communication of surface features with deep structures. Supporting geological data derive from innovative recovery techniques. Geochemical sensors, used experimentally in survey mode, including aboard an AUV, double as monitoring devices. A suite of pore-fluid sampling devices has returned data that capture change at the site in daily increments; using only noise as an energy source, hydrophones have returned daily fluctuations in physical properties. Ever-expanding capabilities of a custom-ROV have been determined by research needs. Processing of new as well as conventional data via unconventional means has resulted in the discovery of new features…..vents, faults, benthic fauna…..and modification of others including pockmarks, hydrate outcrops, vent activity, and water-column chemical plumes. Though real-time monitoring awaits communications and power link to land, periodic data-collection reveals a carbonate-hydrate mound, part of an immensely complex hydrocarbon system

Photometric Redshifts of Quasars

We demonstrate that the design of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) filter system and the quality of the SDSS imaging data are sufficient for determining accurate and precise photometric redshifts (``photo-z''s) of quasars. Using a sample of 2625 quasars, we show that photo-z determination is even possible for z<=2.2 despite the lack of a strong continuum break that robust photo-z techniques normally require. We find that, using our empirical method on our sample of objects known to be quasars, approximately 70% of the photometric redshifts are correct to within delta z = 0.2; the fraction of correct photometric redshifts is even better for z>3. The accuracy of quasar photometric redshifts does not appear to be dependent upon magnitude to nearly 21st magnitude in i'. Careful calibration of the color-redshift relation to 21st magnitude may allow for the discovery of on the order of 10^6 quasars candidates in addition to the 10^5 quasars that the SDSS will confirm spectroscopically. We discuss the efficient selection of quasar candidates from imaging data for use with the photometric redshift technique and the potential scientific uses of a large sample of quasar candidates with photometric redshifts.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures, submitted to A

Transcription Factors in Light and Circadian Clock Signaling Networks Revealed by Genomewide Mapping of Direct Targets for Neurospora White Collar Complex

Light signaling pathways and circadian clocks are inextricably linked and have profound effects on behavior in most organisms. Here, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) sequencing to uncover direct targets of the Neurospora crassa circadian regulator White Collar Complex (WCC). The WCC is a blue-light receptor and the key transcription factor of the circadian oscillator. It controls a transcriptional network that regulates ∼20% of all genes, generating daily rhythms and responses to light. We found that in response to light, WCC binds to hundreds of genomic regions, including the promoters of previously identified clock- and light-regulated genes. We show that WCC directly controls the expression of 24 transcription factor genes, including the clock-controlled adv-1 gene, which controls a circadian output pathway required for daily rhythms in development. Our findings provide links between the key circadian activator and effectors in downstream regulatory pathways

Influence of and Optimal Insulin Therapy for a Low–Glycemic Index Meal in Children With Type 1 Diabetes Receiving Intensive Insulin Therapy

OBJECTIVE—The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of glycemic index on postprandial glucose excursion (PPGE) in children with type 1 diabetes receiving multiple daily injections and to determine optimal insulin therapy for a low–glycemic index meal

The Sloan Digital Sky Survey Quasar Lens Search. III. Constraints on Dark Energy from the Third Data Release Quasar Lens Catalog

We present cosmological results from the statistics of lensed quasars in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Quasar Lens Search. By taking proper account of the selection function, we compute the expected number of quasars lensed by early-type galaxies and their image separation distribution assuming a flat universe, which is then compared with 7 lenses found in the SDSS Data Release 3 to derive constraints on dark energy under strictly controlled criteria. For a cosmological constant model (w=-1) we obtain \Omega_\Lambda=0.74^{+0.11}_{-0.15}(stat.)^{+0.13}_{-0.06}(syst.). Allowing w to be a free parameter we find \Omega_M=0.26^{+0.07}_{-0.06}(stat.)^{+0.03}_{-0.05}(syst.) and w=-1.1\pm0.6(stat.)^{+0.3}_{-0.5}(syst.) when combined with the constraint from the measurement of baryon acoustic oscillations in the SDSS luminous red galaxy sample. Our results are in good agreement with earlier lensing constraints obtained using radio lenses, and provide additional confirmation of the presence of dark energy consistent with a cosmological constant, derived independently of type Ia supernovae.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in A

A First Search for coincident Gravitational Waves and High Energy Neutrinos using LIGO, Virgo and ANTARES data from 2007

We present the results of the first search for gravitational wave bursts associated with high energy neutrinos. Together, these messengers could reveal new, hidden sources that are not observed by conventional photon astronomy, particularly at high energy. Our search uses neutrinos detected by the underwater neutrino telescope ANTARES in its 5 line configuration during the period January - September 2007, which coincided with the fifth and first science runs of LIGO and Virgo, respectively. The LIGO-Virgo data were analysed for candidate gravitational-wave signals coincident in time and direction with the neutrino events. No significant coincident events were observed. We place limits on the density of joint high energy neutrino - gravitational wave emission events in the local universe, and compare them with densities of merger and core-collapse events.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, science summary page at http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-S5LV_ANTARES/index.php. Public access area to figures, tables at https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=p120000

The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Fifth Data Release (DR5) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). DR5 includes all survey quality data taken through June 2005 and represents the completion of the SDSS-I project (whose successor, SDSS-II will continue through mid-2008). It includes five-band photometric data for 217 million objects selected over 8000 square degrees, and 1,048,960 spectra of galaxies, quasars, and stars selected from 5713 square degrees of that imaging data. These numbers represent a roughly 20% increment over those of the Fourth Data Release; all the data from previous data releases are included in the present release. In addition to "standard" SDSS observations, DR5 includes repeat scans of the southern equatorial stripe, imaging scans across M31 and the core of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, and the first spectroscopic data from SEGUE, a survey to explore the kinematics and chemical evolution of the Galaxy. The catalog database incorporates several new features, including photometric redshifts of galaxies, tables of matched objects in overlap regions of the imaging survey, and tools that allow precise computations of survey geometry for statistical investigations.Comment: ApJ Supp, in press, October 2007. This paper describes DR5. The SDSS Sixth Data Release (DR6) is now public, available from http://www.sdss.or