New calibration tools in the pyFAI suite for processing scattering experiments acquired with area detectors are presented. These include a new graphical user interface for calibrating the detector ...position in a scattering experiment performed with a fixed large area detector, as well as a library to be used in Jupyter notebooks for calibrating the motion of a detector on a goniometer arm (or any other moving table) to perform diffraction experiments.
New tools to calibrate different types of scattering experiments suitable for static and moving detectors are presented.
We study the stellar, brightest cluster galaxy (BCG) and intracluster medium (ICM) masses of 14 South Pole Telescope (SPT) selected galaxy clusters with median redshift z = 0.9 and mass M
...500 = 6 × 1014 M⊙. We estimate stellar masses for each cluster and BCG using six photometric bands, the ICM mass using X-ray observations and the virial masses using the SPT Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect signature. At z = 0.9, the BCG mass
$M_{\star }^{\mathrm{BCG}}$
constitutes 0.12 ± 0.01 per cent of the halo mass for a 6 × 1014 M⊙ cluster, and this fraction falls as
$M_{500}^{-0.58\pm 0.07}$
. The cluster stellar mass function has a characteristic mass M
0 = 1011.0 ± 0.1 M⊙, and the number of galaxies per unit mass in clusters is larger than in the field by a factor of 1.65 ± 0.20. We combine our SPT sample with previously published samples at low redshift and correct to a common initial mass function and for systematic virial mass differences. We then explore mass and redshift trends in the stellar fraction f
⋆, the ICM fraction f
ICM, the collapsed baryon fraction f
c and the baryon fraction f
b. At a pivot mass of 6 × 1014 M⊙ and redshift z = 0.9, the characteristic values are f
⋆ = 1.1 ± 0.1 per cent, f
ICM = 9.6 ± 0.5 per cent, f
c = 10.7 ± 1.1 per cent and f
b = 10.7 ± 0.6 per cent. These fractions all vary with cluster mass at high significance, with higher mass clusters having lower f
⋆ and f
c and higher f
ICM and f
b. When accounting for a 15 per cent systematic virial mass uncertainty, there is no statistically significant redshift trend at fixed mass. Our results support the scenario where clusters grow through accretion from subclusters (higher f
⋆, lower f
ICM) and the field (lower f
⋆, higher f
ICM), balancing to keep f
⋆ and f
ICM approximately constant since z ∼ 0.9.
Classification with small samples of high-dimensional data is important in many application areas. Quantile classifiers are distance-based classifiers that require a single parameter, regardless of ...the dimension, and classify observations according to a sum of weighted componentwise distances of the components of an observation to the within-class quantiles. An optimal percentage for the quantiles can be chosen by minimizing the misclassification error in the training sample. It is shown that this choice is consistent for the classification rule with the asymptotically optimal quantile and that under some assumptions, as the number of variables goes to infinity, the probability of correct classification converges to unity. The effect of skewness of the distributions of the predictor variables is discussed. The optimal quantile classifier gives low misclassification rates in a comprehensive simulation study and in a real-data application.
Abstract
Background
Greater understanding about the prevention and treatment of overweight and obesity in preschool children within public health care is needed. This study assessed the impact of The ...First Steps module in routine primary health care including mapping of height/weight and diet followed by parental counselling of healthy habits on overweight and obesity in children aged 2 to 7 years. Further, we explored the experiences of public health nurses (PHNs) with the module.
Methods
Body weight and height obtained in 2014 and 2016 were extracted retrospectively for 676 children from the health records of children at 2, 4, or 6 years of age in five child health centers in Southern Norway. Sex- and age-adjusted body mass index (BMI)
z
-scores and weight status classifications were calculated according to the International Obesity Task Force reference values. Impact was assessed as change in mean BMI
z
-scores for children with under-, normal-, and overweight, respectively, and as proportion of children with overweight and obesity. In focus groups, PHNs described their experiences with the practical application of the module. Focus group transcripts were analyzed using Braun and Clarke’s thematic analysis.
Results
Mean BMI
z
-scores decreased from 2014 to 2016 in overweight children (− 0.26) and increased in children with under- (0.63) and normal weight (0.06), whereas the proportion of children with overweight and obesity was stable. PHNs believed that the module provides them with new tools that are useful for addressing the intricacies of childhood obesity. They described counseling sessions with families as “moving upstream in a river” and that overweight and obesity may be one of many complex challenges for these families.
Conclusions
Mean BMI
z
-score decreased in children with overweight during the 2 years after initiation of The First Steps module. PHNs considered the module as useful for addressing children’s overweight and obesity, which was perceived as one of several complex challenges for most of these families. Specialist and evidence-based support is needed to address overweight and obesity in children in primary care. Further research should focus on integrating the issues relating to overweight and obesity within other family problems.
We present a detection of the enhancement in the number densities of background galaxies induced from lensing magnification and use it to test the Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect (SZE-) inferred masses in ...a sample of 19 galaxy clusters with median redshift z ≃ 0.42 selected from the South Pole Telescope SPT-SZ survey. These clusters are observed by the Megacam on the Magellan Clay Telescope though gri filters. Two background galaxy populations are selected for this study through their photometric colours; they have median redshifts z
median ≃ 0.9 (low-z background) and z
median ≃ 1.8 (high-z background). Stacking these populations, we detect the magnification bias effect at 3.3σ and 1.3σ for the low- and high-z backgrounds, respectively. We fit Navarro, Frenk and White models simultaneously to all observed magnification bias profiles to estimate the multiplicative factor η that describes the ratio of the weak lensing mass to the mass inferred from the SZE observable-mass relation. We further quantify systematic uncertainties in η resulting from the photometric noise and bias, the cluster galaxy contamination and the estimations of the background properties. The resulting η for the combined background populations with 1σ uncertainties is 0.83 ± 0.24(stat) ± 0.074(sys), indicating good consistency between the lensing and the SZE-inferred masses. We use our best-fitting η to predict the weak lensing shear profiles and compare these predictions with observations, showing agreement between the magnification and shear mass constraints. This work demonstrates the promise of using the magnification as a complementary method to estimate cluster masses in large surveys.
Recently, novel container-less laser heating experimental data have been published on the melting behaviour of pure PuO2 and PuO2-rich compositions in the uranium dioxide–plutonium dioxide system. ...Such data showed that previous data obtained by more traditional furnace heating techniques were affected by extensive interaction between the sample and its containment. It is therefore paramount to check whether data so far used by nuclear engineers for the uranium-rich side of the pseudo-binary dioxide system can be confirmed or not. In the present work, new data are presented both in the UO2-rich part of the phase diagram, most interesting for the uranium–plutonium dioxide based nuclear fuel safety, and in the PuO2 side. The new results confirm earlier furnace heating data in the uranium-dioxide rich part of the phase diagram, and more recent laser-heating data in the plutonium-dioxide side of the system. As a consequence, it is also confirmed that a minimum melting point must exist in the UO2–PuO2 system, at a composition between x(PuO2)=0.4 and x(PuO2)=0.7 and 2900K⩽T⩽3000K. Taking into account that, especially at high temperature, oxygen chemistry has an effect on the reported phase boundary uncertainties, the current results should be projected in the ternary U–Pu–O system. This aspect has been extensively studied here by X-ray diffraction and X-ray absorption spectroscopy. The current results suggest that uncertainty bands related to oxygen behaviour in the equilibria between condensed phases and gas should not significantly affect the qualitative trend of the current solid–liquid phase boundaries.
We report results of a study of Planck Sunyaev–Zel'dovich effect selected galaxy cluster candidates using the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS) imaging data. We first ...examine 150 Planck-confirmed galaxy clusters with spectroscopic redshifts to test our algorithm for identifying optical counterparts and measuring their redshifts; our redshifts have a typical accuracy of σ
z/(1+z) ∼ 0.022 for this sample. Using 60 random sky locations, we estimate that our chance of contamination through a random superposition is ∼3 per cent. We then examine an additional 237 Planck galaxy cluster candidates that have no redshift in the source catalogue. Of these 237 unconfirmed cluster candidates we are able to confirm 60 galaxy clusters and measure their redshifts. A further 83 candidates are so heavily contaminated by stars due to their location near the Galactic plane that we do not attempt to identify counterparts. For the remaining 94 candidates, we find no optical counterpart but use the depth of the Pan-STARRS1 data to estimate a redshift lower limit
$z_{{\rm lim}(10^{15})}$
beyond which we would not have expected to detect enough galaxies for confirmation. Scaling from the already published Planck sample, we expect that ∼12 of these unconfirmed candidates may be real clusters.
This study combines bulk structural and spectroscopic investigations of Eu
3+
- or Y
3+
/Eu
3+
co-doped tetragonal and cubic zirconia polymorphs to gain an in-depth understanding of the solid ...solution formation process. Our bulk structural characterizations show that the dopant is homogenously distributed in the ZrO
2
host structure resulting in an increase of the bulk symmetry with increasing dopant substitution (from 8 to 26 mol%). The local site symmetry around the Eu
3+
dopant, however, determined with luminescence spectroscopy (TRLFS), remains low in all samples. Results obtained with X-ray pair distribution function and X-ray absorption spectroscopy show that the average coordination environment in the stabilized zirconia structures remains practically unchanged. Despite this very constant average dopant environment, site-selective TRLFS data show the presence of three nonequivalent Eu
3+
environments in the ZrO
2
solid structures. These Eu
3+
environments are assumed to arise from Eu
3+
incorporation at superficial sites, which increase in abundance as the size of the crystallites decrease, and incorporation on two bulk sites differing in the location of the oxygen vacancies with respect to the dopant cation.
The coordination of the U(IV) and U(VI) ions as a function of the chloride concentration in aqueous solution has been studied by U LIII-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) ...spectroscopy. The oxidation state of uranium was changed in situ using a gastight spectroelectrochemical cell, specifically designed for the safe use with radioactive solutions. For U(VI) we observed the complexes UO2(H2O)5 2+, UO2(H2O)4Cl+, UO2(H2O)3Cl2 0, and UO2(H2O)2Cl3 - with Cl- increasing from 0 to 9 M, and for U(IV) we observed the complexes U(H2O)9 4+, U(H2O)8Cl3+, U(H2O)6 - 7Cl2 2+, and U(H2O)5Cl3 +. The distances in the U(VI) coordination sphere are U−Oax = 1.76±0.02 Å, Oeq = 2.41 ± 0.02 Å, and U−Cl = 2.71 ± 0.02 Å; the distances in the U(IV) coordination sphere are U−O = 2.41 ± 0.02 Å and U−Cl = 2.71 ± 0.02 Å.
Immunological characterization of immune cells that reside in specific anatomic compartments often requires their isolation from the respective tissue on the basis of enzymatic tissue disintegration. ...Applying enzymatic digestion of primary splenocytes, we evaluated the impact of collagenase and dispase, two enzymes that are commonly used for the liberation of immune cells from tissues, on the detectability of 48 immunologically relevant surface molecules that are frequently used for flow cytometric identification, isolation, and characterization of immune cell subsets. Whereas collagenase treatment had only minor effects on surface expression of most molecules tested, dispase treatment considerably affected antibody-mediated detectability of the majority of surface markers in subsequent FACS analyses. This effect was long lasting and, in case of high-dose dispase treatment, evident for the majority of surface molecules even after 24 h of in vitro culture. Of note, high-dose dispase treatment not only affected surface expression of certain molecules but also impaired antigen-specific proliferation of CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells. Together, our data indicate that enzymatic tissue disintegration can have profound effects on the expression of a variety of cell-surface molecules with direct consequences for phenotypic analysis, FACS- and MACS-based target cell isolation, and immune cell function in cell culture experiments.
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