491 research outputs found
Asset Building in Low-Income Communities of Color, Part 1
Examines practices and policies in states rated high on the Corporation for Enterprise Development's scorecard for asset building in poor communities of color. Analyzes socioeconomic, legislative, and other factors believed to support asset building
Cosmological constraints from the convergence 1-point probability distribution
We examine the cosmological information available from the 1-point
probability distribution (PDF) of the weak-lensing convergence field, utilizing
fast L-PICOLA simulations and a Fisher analysis. We find competitive
constraints in the - plane from the convergence PDF with
pixels compared to the cosmic shear power spectrum with an
equivalent number of modes (). The convergence PDF also partially
breaks the degeneracy cosmic shear exhibits in that parameter space. A joint
analysis of the convergence PDF and shear 2-point function also reduces the
impact of shape measurement systematics, to which the PDF is less susceptible,
and improves the total figure of merit by a factor of , depending on the
level of systematics. Finally, we present a correction factor necessary for
calculating the unbiased Fisher information from finite differences using a
limited number of cosmological simulations.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Photometric Quasar Clustering: Probing the Initial Conditions of the Universe using the Largest Volume
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey has surveyed 14,555 square degrees of the sky,
and delivered over a trillion pixels of imaging data. We present the
large-scale clustering of 1.6 million quasars between z = 0.5 and z = 2.5 that
have been classified from this imaging, representing the highest density of
quasars ever studied for clustering measurements. This data set spans ~11,000
square degrees and probes a volume of 80(Gpc/h)^3. In principle, such a large
volume and medium density of tracers should facilitate high-precision
cosmological constraints. We measure the angular clustering of photometrically
classified quasars using an optimal quadratic estimator in four redshift slices
with an accuracy of ~25% over a bin width of l ~10 - 15 on scales corresponding
to matter-radiation equality and larger (l ~ 2 - 30). Observational systematics
can strongly bias clustering measurements on large scales, which can mimic
cosmologically relevant signals such as deviations from Gaussianity in the
spectrum of primordial perturbations. We account for systematics by employing a
new method recently proposed by Agarwal et al. (2014) to the clustering of
photometrically classified quasars. We carefully apply our methodology to
mitigate known observational systematics and further remove angular bins that
are contaminated by unknown systematics. Combining quasar data with the
photometric luminous red galaxy (LRG) sample of Ross et al. (2011) and Ho et
al. (2012), and marginalizing over all bias and shot noise-like parameters, we
obtain a constraint on local primordial non-Gaussianity of fNL = -113+/-154
(1\sigma error). [Abridged]Comment: 35 pages, 15 figure
Nutritional approaches to slow late finishing pig growth: implications on carcass composition and pork quality
Although pork producers typically aim to optimize growth rates, occasionally it is necessary to slow growth, such as when harvest facility capacity is limited. In finishing pigs, numerous dietary strategies can be used to slow growth so pigs are at optimal slaughter body weights when harvest facility capacity and/or access is restored. However, the impact of these diets on pork carcass quality is largely unknown. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of dietary strategies to slow growth in late finishing pigs and evaluate their effects on carcass composition and pork quality. Mixed-sex pigs (n = 897; 125 ± 2 kg BW) were randomly allotted across 48 pens and assigned to 1 of 6 dietary treatments (n = 8 pens/treatment): (1) Control diet representative of a typical finisher diet (CON); (2) diet containing 3% calcium chloride (CaCl2); (3) diet containing 97% corn and no soybean meal (Corn); (4) diet deficient in isoleucine (LowIle); (5) diet containing 15% neutral detergent fiber (NDF) from soybean hulls (15% NDF); and (6) diet containing 20% NDF from soybean hulls (20% NDF). Over 42 d, pen body weights and feed disappearance were collected. Pigs were harvested in 3 groups (14, 28, and 42 d on feed) and carcass data collected. From the harvest group, 1 loin was collected from 120 randomly selected carcasses (20 loins/treatment) to evaluate pork quality traits. Overall, ADG was reduced in CaCl2, Corn, and 20% NDF pigs compared with CON pigs (P \u3c 0.001). However, ADFI was only reduced in CaCl2 and 20% NDF pigs compared with CON (P \u3c 0.001). Feed efficiency was reduced in CaCl2 and Corn pigs compared with CON (P \u3c 0.001). Hot carcass weights were reduced in CaCl2 pigs at all harvest dates (P \u3c 0.001) and were reduced in Corn and 20% NDF pigs at days 28 and 42 compared with CON pigs (P \u3c 0.001). In general, CaCl2 and 20% NDF diets resulted in leaner carcasses, whereas the Corn diet increased backfat by 42 d on test (P \u3c 0.05). Loin pH was reduced and star probe increased in CaCl2 pigs compared with CON pigs (P \u3c 0.05); no treatments differed from CON pigs regarding drip loss, cook loss, color, firmness, or marbling (P ≥ 0.117). Overall, these data indicate that several dietary strategies can slow finishing pig growth without evidence of behavioral vices. However, changes to carcass composition and quality were also observed, indicating quality should be taken into consideration when choosing diets to slow growth
Correlating students' educational background, study habits, and resource usage with learning success in medical histology
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109887/1/ase1449.pd
A 2% Distance to z=0.35 by Reconstructing Baryon Acoustic Oscillations - I : Methods and Application to the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We apply the reconstruction technique to the clustering of galaxies from the
SDSS DR7 LRG sample, sharpening the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) feature
and achieving a 1.9% measurement of the distance to z=0.35. This is the first
application of reconstruction of the BAO feature in a galaxy redshift survey.
We update the reconstruction algorithm of Eisenstein et al, 2007 to account for
the effects of survey geometry as well as redshift-space distortions and
validate it on 160 LasDamas simulations. We demonstrate that reconstruction
sharpens the BAO feature in the angle averaged galaxy correlation function,
reducing the nonlinear smoothing scale \Sigma_nl from 8.1 Mpc/h to 4.4 Mpc/h.
Reconstruction also significantly reduces the effects of redshift-space
distortions at the BAO scale, isotropizing the correlation function. This
sharpened BAO feature yields an unbiased distance estimate (< 0.2%) and reduces
the scatter from 3.3% to 2.1%. We demonstrate the robustness of these results
to the various reconstruction parameters, including the smoothing scale, the
galaxy bias and the linear growth rate. Applying this reconstruction algorithm
to the SDSS LRG DR7 sample improves the significance of the BAO feature in
these data from 3.3 sigma for the unreconstructed correlation function, to 4.2
sigma after reconstruction. We estimate a relative distance scale D_V/r_s to
z=0.35 of 8.88+/-0.17, where r_s is the sound horizon and D_V = (D_A^2/H)^{1/3}
is a combination of the angular diameter distance D_A and Hubble parameter H.
Assuming a sound horizon of 154.25 Mpc, this translates into a distance
measurement D_V (z=0.35) = 1.356+/-0.025 Gpc. We find that reconstruction
reduces the distance error in the DR7 sample from 3.5% to 1.9%, equivalent to a
survey with three times the volume of SDSS.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, MNRAS submitted. This is the first of a series
of three papers. See http://www.astro.yale.edu/padmanabhan/dr7recon/ for
associated data files and figure
Advances in the field of nanooncology
Nanooncology, the application of nanobiotechnology to the management of cancer, is currently the most important chapter of nanomedicine. Nanobiotechnology has refined and extended the limits of molecular diagnosis of cancer, for example, through the use of gold nanoparticles and quantum dots. Nanobiotechnology has also improved the discovery of cancer biomarkers, one such example being the sensitive detection of multiple protein biomarkers by nanobiosensors. Magnetic nanoparticles can capture circulating tumor cells in the bloodstream followed by rapid photoacoustic detection. Nanoparticles enable targeted drug delivery in cancer that increases efficacy and decreases adverse effects through reducing the dosage of anticancer drugs administered. Nanoparticulate anticancer drugs can cross some of the biological barriers and achieve therapeutic concentrations in tumor and spare the surrounding normal tissues from toxic effects. Nanoparticle constructs facilitate the delivery of various forms of energy for noninvasive thermal destruction of surgically inaccessible malignant tumors. Nanoparticle-based optical imaging of tumors as well as contrast agents to enhance detection of tumors by magnetic resonance imaging can be combined with delivery of therapeutic agents for cancer. Monoclonal antibody nanoparticle complexes are under investigation for diagnosis as well as targeted delivery of cancer therapy. Nanoparticle-based chemotherapeutic agents are already on the market, and several are in clinical trials. Personalization of cancer therapies is based on a better understanding of the disease at the molecular level, which is facilitated by nanobiotechnology. Nanobiotechnology will facilitate the combination of diagnostics with therapeutics, which is an important feature of a personalized medicine approach to cancer
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