Current cosmological constraints from a 10 parameter CMB analysis

We compute the constraints on a ``standard'' 10 parameter cold dark matter (CDM) model from the most recent CMB and data and other observations, exploring 30 million discrete models and two continuous parameters. Our parameters are the densities of CDM, baryons, neutrinos, vacuum energy and curvature, the reionization optical depth, and the normalization and tilt for both scalar and tensor fluctuations. Our strongest constraints are on spatial curvature, -0.24 < Omega_k < 0.38, and CDM density, h^2 Omega_cdm <0.3, both at 95%. Including SN 1a constraints gives a positive cosmological constant at high significance. We explore the robustness of our results to various assumptions. We find that three different data subsets give qualitatively consistent constraints. Some of the technical issues that have the largest impact are the inclusion of calibration errors, closed models, gravity waves, reionization, nucleosynthesis constraints and 10-dimensional likelihood interpolation.Comment: Replaced to match published ApJ version. More details added. 13 ApJ pages. CMB movies and color figs at http://www.hep.upenn.edu/~max/10par_frames.html or from [email protected]

Ultra-calcic Magmas Generated from Ca-depleted Mantle: an Experimental Study on the Origin of Ankaramites

Ultra-calcic ankaramitic magmas or melt inclusions are ubiquitous in arc, ocean-island and mid-ocean ridge settings. They are primitive in character (XMg > 0·65) and have high CaO contents (>14 wt %) and CaO/Al2O3 (>1·1). Experiments on an ankaramite from Epi, Vanuatu arc, demonstrate that its liquidus surface has only clinopyroxene at pressures of 15 and 20 kbar, with XCO2 in the volatile component from 0 to 0·86. The parental Epi ankaramite is thus not an unfractionated magma. However, forcing the ankaramite experimentally into saturation with olivine, orthopyroxene and spinel results in more magnesian, ultra-calcic melts with CaO/Al2O3 of 1·21-1·58. The experimental melts are not extremely Ca-rich but high in CaO/Al2O3 and in MgO (up to 18.5 wt %), and would evolve to high-CaO melts through olivine fractionation. Fractionation models show that the Epi parent magma can be derived from such ultra-calcic experimental melts through mainly olivine fractionation. We show that the experimental ultra-calcic melts could form through low-degree melting of somewhat refractory mantle. The latter would have been depleted by previous melt extraction, which increases the CaO/Al2O3 in the residue as long as some clinopyroxene remains residual. This finding corrects the common assumption that ultra-calcic magmas must come from a Ca-rich pyroxenite-type source. The temperatures necessary for the generation of ultra-calcic magmas are ≥1330°C, and their presence would suggest melting regimes that are at the upper temperature end of previous interpretations made on the basis of picritic magma

A Simple Route towards High-Concentration Surfactant-Free Graphene Dispersions

A simple solvent exchange method is introduced to prepare high-concentration and surfactant-free graphene liquid dispersion. Natural graphite flakes are first exfoliated into graphene in dimethylformamide (DMF). DMF is then exchanged by terpineol through distillation, relying on their large difference in boiling points. Graphene can then be concentrated thanks to the volume difference between DMF and terpineol. The concentrated graphene dispersions are used to fabricate transparent conductive thin films, which possess comparable properties to those prepared by more complex methods.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Elective affinities of the Protestant ethic : Weber and the chemistry of capitalism

Peer reviewedPostprin

Spontaneous localization of bulk fields: the six-dimensional case

We study N=2 supersymmetric gauge theories with $d=6$ bulk and $d=4$ brane fields charged under a U(1) gauge symmetry. Radiatively induced Fayet-Iliopoulos terms lead to an instability of the bulk fields. We compute the profile of the bulk zero modes and observe the phenomenon of spontaneous localization towards the position of the branes. While this mechanism is quite similar to the $d=5$ case, the mass spectrum of the excited Kaluza-Klein modes shows a crucial difference.Comment: 23 pages, 3 figure file

Don’t turn your back on the symptoms of psychosis : a proof-of-principle, quasi-experimental public health trial to reduce the duration of untreated psychosis in Birmingham, UK

Background: Reducing the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) is an aspiration of international guidelines for first episode psychosis; however, public health initiatives have met with mixed results. Systematic reviews suggest that greater focus on the sources of delay within care pathways, (which will vary between healthcare settings) is needed to achieve sustainable reductions in DUP (BJP 198: 256-263; 2011). Methods/Design: A quasi-experimental trial, comparing a targeted intervention area with a ‘detection as usual’ area in the same city. A proof-of–principle trial, no a priori assumptions are made regarding effect size; key outcome will be an estimate of the potential effect size for a definitive trial. DUP and number of new cases will be collected over an 18-month period in target and control areas and compared; historical data on DUP collected in both areas over the previous three years, will serve as a benchmark. The intervention will focus on reducing two significant DUP component delays within the overall care pathway: delays within the mental health service and help-seeking delay. Discussion: This pragmatic trial will be the first to target known delays within the care pathway for those with a first episode of psychosis. If successful, this will provide a generalizable methodology that can be implemented in a variety of healthcare contexts with differing sources of delay. Trial registration: http://www.controlled-trials.com/ISRCTN45058713 Keywords: Public mental health campaign, First-episode psychosis, Early detection, Duration of untreated psychosis, Youth mental healt

A human embryonic kidney 293T cell line mutated at the Golgi -mannosidase II locus

Disruption of Golgi -mannosidase II activity can result in type II congenital dyserythropoietic anemia and can induce lupus-like autoimmunity in mice. Here, we isolate a mutant human embryonic kidney (HEK) 293T cell line, called Lec36, that displays sensitivity to ricin that lies between the parental HEK 293T cells, whose secreted and membrane-expressed proteins are dominated by complex-type glycosylation, and 293S Lec1 cells, which only produce oligomannose-type N-linked glycans. The stem cell marker, 19A, was transiently expressed in the HEK 293T Lec36 cells, and in parental HEK 293T cells with and without the potent Golgi -mannosidase II inhibitor, swainsonine. Negative-ion nano-electrospray ionization mass spectra of the 19A N-linked glycans from HEK 293T Lec36 and swainsonine-treated HEK 293T cells were qualitatively indistinguishable and, as shown by collision-induced dissociation spectra, dominated by hybrid-type glycosylation. Nucleotide sequencing revealed mutations in each allele of MAN2A1, the gene encoding Golgi -mannosidase II: a point mutation in one allele mapping to the active site and an in-frame deletion of twelve-nucleotides in the other. Expression of wild-type but not the mutant MAN2A1 alleles in Lec36 cells restored processing of the 19A reporter glycoprotein to complex-type glycosylation. The Lec36 cell line will be useful for expressing therapeutic glycoproteins with hybrid-type glycans and provides a sensitive host for detecting mutations in human MAN2A1 causing type II congenital dyserythropoietic anemia

Color appearance processing using iccMAX

ICC.2:2017 is a revision to the next-generation colour management specification iccMAX that introduces new support for colour appearance processing. iccMAX includes a built-in colour appearance model IccCAM, together with a rich programming environment, and support for spectral data, material channel connections, BRDF and processing elements that make it possible to functionally encode any appearance model. ICC.2:2017 introduces many new capabilities, including the ability to provide environment variables which allow parameters such as image statistics or viewing conditions to be passed to the transform at run-time. ICC.2:2017 supports a wide range of colour appearance computations within the colour management workflow.publishedVersionThis work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0