We present results from an analysis of all data taken by the BICEP2, Keck Array, and BICEP3 CMB polarization experiments up to and including the 2018 observing season. We add additional Keck Array ...observations at 220 GHz and BICEP3 observations at 95 GHz to the previous 95 / 150 / 220 GHz dataset. The Q / U maps now reach depths of 2.8, 2.8, and 8.8 μ KCMB arcmin at 95, 150, and 220 GHz, respectively, over an effective area of ≈ 600 square degrees at 95 GHz and ≈ 400 square degrees at 150 and 220 GHz. The 220 GHz maps now achieve a signal-to-noise ratio on polarized dust emission exceeding that of Planck at 353 GHz. We take auto- and cross-spectra between these maps and publicly available WMAP and Planck maps at frequencies from 23 to 353 GHz and evaluate the joint likelihood of the spectra versus a multicomponent model of lensed Λ CDM + r + dust + synchrotron + noise . The foreground model has seven parameters, and no longer requires a prior on the frequency spectral index of the dust emission taken from measurements on other regions of the sky. This model is an adequate description of the data at the current noise levels. The likelihood analysis yields the constraint r0.05 < 0.036 at 95% confidence. Running maximum likelihood search on simulations we obtain unbiased results and find that σ ( r ) = 0.009 . These are the strongest constraints to date on primordial gravitational waves.
Moving beyond the West vs. the rest Gelfand, Michele J.; Denison, Emmy E.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS,
03/2020, Letnik:
117, Številka:
10
Journal Article
Antibiotic-resistant infections are a growing threat to human health, but basic features of the eco-evolutionary dynamics remain unexplained. Most prominently, there is no clear mechanism for the ...long-term coexistence of both drug-sensitive and resistant strains at intermediate levels, a ubiquitous pattern seen in surveillance data. Here we show that accounting for structured or spatially-heterogeneous host populations and variability in antibiotic consumption can lead to persistent coexistence over a wide range of treatment coverages, drug efficacies, costs of resistance, and mixing patterns. Moreover, this mechanism can explain other puzzling spatiotemporal features of drug-resistance epidemiology that have received less attention, such as large differences in the prevalence of resistance between geographical regions with similar antibiotic consumption or that neighbor one another. We find that the same amount of antibiotic use can lead to very different levels of resistance depending on how treatment is distributed in a transmission network. We also identify parameter regimes in which population structure alone cannot support coexistence, suggesting the need for other mechanisms to explain the epidemiology of antibiotic resistance. Our analysis identifies key features of host population structure that can be used to assess resistance risk and highlights the need to include spatial or demographic heterogeneity in models to guide resistance management.
The Heart of Asia Skrine, Francis Henry; Ross, Edward Denison
1899, 20120910, 2012, 2004, 2012-09-10, 19980101
eBook
Originally published in 1899, The Heart of Asia is a definitive history of Central Asia from pre-history to the contemporary machinations of the Russian empire. The book is valuable not only because ...of the quality of the historical work on the early period, but also because of the unique picture that it gives of contemporary views on the potential for Anglo-Russian conflict, at a time when the Russian Empire was Britain's closest rival for Asian hegemony. Scholars of modern Russia and Central Asia will find much that echoes, and indeed drives, more recent events. Includes 34 illustrations and two maps.
Objective: To investigate accidental falls and near fall incidents in people with multiple sclerosis with respect to clinical variables and the predictive values of four tests.
Design: A ...longitudinal, multi-centred cohort study with prospectively collected falls.
Procedures: Self-reported incidents during the three months following a standardized test procedure.
Subjects: Seventy-six people with multiple sclerosis and an Expanded Disability Status Scale score between 3.5 and 6.0.
Main outcome measures: Berg Balance Scale, Timed Up and Go cognitive, Four Square Step Test (FSST) and 12-item Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale.
Results: Forty-eight people (63%) registered 270 falls. Most falls occurred indoors during activities of daily life. We found a correlation of rs=0.57 between near falls and falls, and of rs = 0.82 between registered and retrospectively recalled falls. Fallers and non-fallers differed significantly regarding Expanded Disability Status Score (odds ratio (OR) 1.99, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.22; 3.40), spasticity (OR 1.14, CI 1.02; 1.31), proprioception (OR 2.50, CI 1.36; 5.12) and use of walking aids (OR 2.27, CI 1.23; 4.37). Reported use of walking aids both indoors and outdoors increased the odds of falling fivefold while disturbed proprioception increased the odds 2.5—15.6 times depending on severity. The odds of falling were doubled for each degree of increased Expanded Disability Status Score and more than doubled for each degree of increased spasticity. The Berg Balance Scale, use of walking aids and Timed Up and Go cognitive best identified fallers (73—94%) and proprioception, Expanded Disability Status Score, 12-item Multiple Sclerosis Walking Scale and Four Square Step Test best identified non-fallers (75—93%).
Conclusions: In clinical practice, looking at the use of walking aids, investigating proprioception and spasticity, rating Expanded Disability Status Score and using Berg Balance Scale or Timed Up and Go cognitive all contribute when identifying fallers.
Abstract
We report on the design and performance of the B
icep3
instrument and its first three-year data set collected from 2016 to 2018. B
icep3
is a 52 cm aperture refracting telescope designed to ...observe the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on degree angular scales at 95 GHz. It started science observation at the South Pole in 2016 with 2400 antenna-coupled transition-edge sensor bolometers. The receiver first demonstrated new technologies such as large-diameter alumina optics, Zotefoam infrared filters, and flux-activated SQUIDs, allowing ∼10× higher optical throughput compared to the
Keck
design. B
icep3
achieved instrument noise equivalent temperatures of 9.2, 6.8, and 7.1
μ
K
CMB
s
and reached Stokes
Q
and
U
map depths of 5.9, 4.4, and 4.4
μ
K arcmin in 2016, 2017, and 2018, respectively. The combined three-year data set achieved a polarization map depth of 2.8
μ
K arcmin over an effective area of 585 square degrees, which is the deepest CMB polarization map made to date at 95 GHz.
Time-division multiplexing (TDM) is a mature scheme for the readout of arrays of transition-edge sensors (TESs). TDM is based on superconducting-quantum-interference-device (SQUID) current ...amplifiers. Multiple spectrometers based on gamma-ray and X-ray microcalorimeters have been operated with TDM readout, each at the scale of 200 sensors per spectrometer, as have several astronomical cameras with thousands of sub-mm or microwave bolometers. Here we present the details of two different versions of our TDM system designed to read out X-ray TESs. The first has been field-deployed in two 160-sensor (8 columns
×
20 rows) spectrometers and four 240-sensor (8 columns
×
30 rows) spectrometers. It has a three-SQUID-stage architecture, switches rows every 320 ns, and has total readout noise of 0.41
μ
Φ
0
/
√
Hz. The second, which is presently under development, has a two-SQUID-stage architecture, switches rows every 160 ns, and has total readout noise of 0.19
μ
Φ
0
/
√
Hz. Both quoted noise values are non-multiplexed and referred to the first-stage SQUID. In a demonstration of this new architecture, a multiplexed 1-column
×
32-row array of NIST TESs achieved average energy resolution of
2.55
±
0.01
eV at 6 keV.
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