Doctor of Philosophy

dissertationA computationally efficient variational analysis system for two-dimensional meteorological fields is developed and described. This analysis approach is most efficient when the number of analysis grid points is much larger than the number of available observations, such as for large domain mesoscale analyses. The analysis system is developed using MATLAB software and can take advantage of multiple processors or processor cores. A version of the analysis system has been exported as a platform independent application (i.e., can be run on Windows, Linux, or Macintosh OS X desktop computers without a MATLAB license) with input/output operations handled by commonly available internet software combined with data archives at the University of Utah. The impact of observation networks on the meteorological analyses is assessed by utilizing a percentile ranking of individual observation sensitivity and impact, which is computed by using the adjoint of the variational surface assimilation system. This methodology is demonstrated using a case study of the analysis from 1400 UTC 27 October 2010 over the entire contiguous United States domain. The sensitivity of this approach to the dependence of the background error covariance on observation density is examined. Observation sensitivity and impact provide insight on the influence of observations from heterogeneous observing networks as well as serve as objective metrics for quality control procedures that may help to identify stations with significant siting, reporting, or representativeness issues

Packed Ultra-wideband Mapping Array (PUMA): A Radio Telescope for Cosmology and Transients

PUMA is a proposal for an ultra-wideband, low-resolution and transit interferometric radio telescope operating at $200-1100\,\mathrm{MHz}$. Its design is driven by six science goals which span three science themes: the physics of dark energy (measuring the expansion history and growth of the universe up to $z=6$), the physics of inflation (constraining primordial non-Gaussianity and primordial features) and the transient radio sky (detecting one million fast radio bursts and following up SKA-discovered pulsars). We propose two array configurations composed of hexagonally close-packed 6m dish arrangements with 50% fill factor. The initial 5,000 element 'petite array' is scientifically compelling, and can act as a demonstrator and a stepping stone to the full 32,000 element 'full array'. Viewed as a 21cm intensity mapping telescope, the program has the noise equivalent of a traditional spectroscopic galaxy survey comprised of 0.6 and 2.5 billion galaxies at a comoving wavenumber of $k=0.5\,h\mathrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ spanning the redshift range $z = 0.3 - 6$ for the petite and full configurations, respectively. At redshifts beyond $z=2$, the 21cm technique is a uniquely powerful way of mapping the universe, while the low-redshift range will allow for numerous cross-correlations with existing and upcoming surveys. This program is enabled by the development of ultra-wideband radio feeds, cost-effective dish construction methods, commodity radio-frequency electronics driven by the telecommunication industry and the emergence of sufficient computing power to facilitate real-time signal processing that exploits the full potential of massive radio arrays. The project has an estimated construction cost of 55 and 330 million FY19 USD for the petite and full array configurations. Including R&D, design, operations and science analysis, the cost rises to 125 and 600 million FY19 USD, respectively.Comment: 10 pages + references, 3 figures, 3 tables; project white paper submitted to the Astro2020 decadal survey; further details in updated arXiv:1810.0957

Scleroderma and related disorders: 223. Long Term Outcome in a Contemporary Systemic Sclerosis Cohort

Background: We have previously compared outcome in two groups of systemic sclerosis (SSc) patients with disease onset a decade apart and we reported data on 5 year survival and cumulative incidence of organ disease in a contemporary SSc cohort. The present study examines longer term outcome in an additional cohort of SSc followed for 10 years. Methods: We have examined patients with disease onset between years 1995 and 1999 allowing for at least 10 years of follow-up in a group that has characteristics representative for the patients we see in contemporary clinical practice. Results: Of the 398 patients included in the study, 252 (63.3%) had limited cutaneous (lc) SSc and 146 (36.7%) had diffuse cutaneous (dc) SSc. The proportion of male patients was higher among the dcSSc group (17.1% v 9.9%, p = 0.037) while the mean age of onset was significantly higher among lcSSc patients (50 ± 13 v 46 ± 13 years ± SD, p = 0.003). During a 10 year follow-up from disease onset, 45% of the dcSSc and 21% of the lcSSc subjects developed clinically significant pulmonary fibrosis, p < 0.001. Among them approximately half reached the endpoint within the first 3 years (23% of dcSSc and 10% of lcSSc) and over three quarters within the first 5 years (34% and 16% respectively). There was a similar incidence of pulmonary hypertension (PH) in the two subsets with a steady rate of increase over time. At 10 years 13% of dcSSc and 15% of lcSSc subjects had developed PH (p=0.558), with the earliest cases observed within the first 2 years of disease. Comparison between subjects who developed PH in the first and second 5 years from disease onset demonstrated no difference in demographic or clinical characteristics, but 5-year survival from PH onset was better among those who developed this complication later in their disease (49% v 24%), with a strong trend towards statistical significance (p = 0.058). Incidence of SSc renal crisis (SRC) was significantly higher among the dcSSc patients (12% v 4% in lcSSc, p = 0.002). As previously observed, the rate of development of SRC was highest in the first 3 years of disease- 10% in dcSSc and 3% in lcSSc. All incidences of clinically important cardiac disease developed in the first 5 years from disease onset (7% in dcSSc v 1% in lcSSc, p < 0.001) and remained unchanged at 10 years. As expected, 10-year survival among lcSSc subjects was significantly higher (81%) compared to that of dcSSc patients (70%, p = 0.006). Interestingly, although over the first 5 years the death rate was much higher in the dcSSc cohort (16% v 6% in lcSSc), over the following years it became very similar for both subsets (14% and 13% between years 5 and 10, and 18% and 17% between years 10 and 15 for dcSSc and lcSSc respectively). Conclusions: Even though dcSSc patients have higher incidence for most organ complications compared to lcSSc subjects, the worse survival among them is mainly due to higher early mortality rate. Mortality rate after first 5 years of disease becomes comparable in the two disease subsets. Disclosure statement: The authors have declared no conflicts of interes

Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation vs Intravenous Pulse Cyclophosphamide in Diffuse Cutaneous Systemic Sclerosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Importance: High-dose immunosuppressive therapy and autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) have shown efficacy in systemic sclerosis in phase 1 and small phase 2 trials. Objective: To compare efficacy and safety of HSCT vs 12 successive monthly intravenous pulses of cyclophosphamide. Design, Setting, and Participants: The Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation International Scleroderma (ASTIS) trial, a phase 3, multicenter, randomized (1:1), open-label, parallel-group, clinical trial conducted in 10 countries at 29 centers with access to a European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation–registered transplant facility. From March 2001 to October 2009, 156 patients with early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis were recruited and followed up until October 31, 2013. Interventions: HSCT vs intravenous pulse cyclophosphamide. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary end point was event-free survival, defined as time from randomization until the occurrence of death or persistent major organ failure. Results: A total of 156 patients were randomly assigned to receive HSCT (n = 79) or cyclophosphamide (n = 77). During a median follow-up of 5.8 years, 53 events occurred: 22 in the HSCT group (19 deaths and 3 irreversible organ failures) and 31 in the control group (23 deaths and 8 irreversible organ failures). During the first year, there were more events in the HSCT group (13 events [16.5%], including 8 treatment-related deaths) than in the control group (8 events [10.4%], with no treatment-related deaths). At 2 years, 14 events (17.7%) had occurred cumulatively in the HSCT group vs 14 events (18.2%) in the control group; at 4 years, 15 events (19%) had occurred cumulatively in the HSCT group vs 20 events (26%) in the control group. Time-varying hazard ratios (modeled with treatment × time interaction) for event-free survival were 0.35 (95% CI, 0.16-0.74) at 2 years and 0.34 (95% CI, 0.16-0.74) at 4 years. Conclusions and Relevance: Among patients with early diffuse cutaneous systemic sclerosis, HSCT was associated with increased treatment-related mortality in the first year after treatment. However, HCST conferred a significant long-term event-free survival benefit. Trial Registration: isrctn.org Identifier: ISRCTN5437125

British Romanticism and the Global Climate

As a result of developments in the meteorological and geological sciences, the Romantic period saw the gradual emergence of attempts to understand the climate as a dynamic global system that could potentially be affected by human activity. This chapter examines textual responses to climate disruption cause by the Laki eruption of 1783 and the Tambora eruption of 1815. During the Laki haze, writers such as Horace Walpole, Gilbert White, and William Cowper found in Milton a powerful way of understanding the entanglements of culture and climate at a time of national and global crisis. Apocalyptic discourse continued to resonate during the Tambora crisis, as is evident in eyewitness accounts of the eruption, in the utopian predictions of John Barrow and Eleanor Anne Porden, and in the grim speculations of Byron’s ‘Darkness’. Romantic writing offers a powerful analogue for thinking about climate change in the Anthropocene

MS

thesisA two-dimensional variational analysis for surface temperature is developed for a limited domain (4° latitude x 4° longitude) in order to evaluate approaches to efficiently examine the sensitivity of similar variational analysis systems to the specification of observation and background errors. This work is intended to help facilitate improvements to the operational Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) developed by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The local surface analysis (LSA) uses the same projection and terrain (on a roughly 5-km x 5-km grid), background fields derived from 1-h forecasts of the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) downscaled to that grid, and observation assets used by the RTMA. The observation error variance as a function of broad network categories and error variance and covariance of the downscaled 1-h RUC background fields are estimated using a sample of over 7 million surface temperature observations in the continental United States collected during the period 8 May - 7 June 2008. The ratio of observation to background error variance is found to be between 2 and 3, which is higher than that used operationally by the RTMA. This ratio is likely even higher in mountainous regions where the representativeness errors attributed to the observations are large. The background errors also tend to remain more strongly correlated over longer horizontal distances than those specified operationally for the RTMA. A two-dimensional variational analysis for surface temperature is developed for a limited domain (4° latitude x 4° longitude) in order to evaluate approaches to efficiently examine the sensitivity of similar variational analysis systems to the specification of observation and background errors. This work is intended to help facilitate improvements to the operational Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) developed by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The local surface analysis (LSA) uses the same projection and terrain (on a roughly 5-km x 5-km grid), background fields derived from 1-h forecasts of the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) downscaled to that grid, and observation assets used by the RTMA. The observation error variance as a function of broad network categories and error variance and covariance of the downscaled 1-h RUC background fields are estimated using a sample of over 7 million surface temperature observations in the continental United States collected during the period 8 May - 7 June 2008. The ratio of observation to background error variance is found to be between 2 and 3, which is higher than that used operationally by the RTMA. This ratio is likely even higher in mountainous regions where the representativeness errors attributed to the observations are large. The background errors also tend to remain more strongly correlated over longer horizontal distances than those specified operationally for the RTMA.A two-dimensional variational analysis for surface temperature is developed for a limited domain (4° latitude x 4° longitude) in order to evaluate approaches to efficiently examine the sensitivity of similar variational analysis systems to the specification of observation and background errors. This work is intended to help facilitate improvements to the operational Real-Time Mesoscale Analysis (RTMA) developed by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The local surface analysis (LSA) uses the same projection and terrain (on a roughly 5-km x 5-km grid), background fields derived from 1-h forecasts of the Rapid Update Cycle (RUC) downscaled to that grid, and observation assets used by the RTMA. The observation error variance as a function of broad network categories and error variance and covariance of the downscaled 1-h RUC background fields are estimated using a sample of over 7 million surface temperature observations in the continental United States collected during the period 8 May - 7 June 2008. The ratio of observation to background error variance is found to be between 2 and 3, which is higher than that used operationally by the RTMA. This ratio is likely even higher in mountainous regions where the representativeness errors attributed to the observations are large. The background errors also tend to remain more strongly correlated over longer horizontal distances than those specified operationally for the RTMA. Analysis sensitivity to both the ratio of the observation and background error variance and background error decorrelation length scale is examined for a single case (0900 UTC 22 October 2007) using the LSA centered over the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. The RTMA surface temperature analysis for that case exhibited several unrealistic features in that region as a result of a pronounced surface-based temperature inversion. Sets of 10 data denial experiments in which 10% of the observations are withheld randomly and uniquely from each analysis are used. The analysis error is estimated by the differences between the withheld observations and the corresponding analyses from which the observations are withheld while the analysis sensitivity to the withheld observations is computed from the differences between control analyses and the analyses from which the observations are withheld. For this case it is possible to improve analysis accuracy in multiple ways, i.e., by making the analysis less (more) detailed by broadening (shortening) the decorrelation length scales of the background error covariance in combination with increasing (decreasing) the observation to background error variance ratio. These results, not surprisingly, confirm the need to examine analysis sensitivity over many types of synoptic situations and the difficulty in specifying those parameters a priori

Research and Development for HI Intensity Mapping

Development of the hardware, data analysis, and simulation techniques for large compact radio arrays dedicated to mapping the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen gas has proven to be more difficult than imagined twenty years ago when such telescopes were first proposed. Despite tremendous technical and methodological advances, there are several outstanding questions on how to optimally calibrate and analyze such data. On the positive side, it has become clear that the outstanding issues are purely technical in nature and can be solved with sufficient development activity. Such activity will enable science across redshifts, from early galaxy evolution in the pre-reionization era to dark energy evolution at low redshift

Impact of the ATAD on Taxation of Incomes of Foreign Companies Controlled by a Czech Tax Resident

Diplomová práce se zabývá dopady směrnice ATAD na zdaňování příjmů plynoucích zahraničním společnostem, které jsou ovládané rezidentem ČR – právnickou osobou. Popisuje, analyzuje a systematizuje současný právní stav a změny, které vyvolala implementace pravidel pro ovládané zahraniční společnosti do tuzemské legislativy. Obsahuje návrh metodiky pro aplikaci pravidel z pohledu českého poplatníka daně z příjmů.This diploma thesis deals with the impact of the ATAD on the taxation of income of foreign companies controlled by a Czech resident – a legal entity. It describes, analyzes and systematizes the current legal situation and changes introduced into the area by the implementation of rules for controlled foreign companies into domestic legislation. This thesis includes a draft of the methodology for the application of rules from the perspective of the Czech corporate income taxpayer.