Rutgers University

About: Rutgers University is a education organization based out in New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 68736 authors who have published 159418 publications receiving 6713860 citations. The organization is also known as: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey & Rutgers.

The International Soil Moisture Network: a data hosting facility for global in situ soil moisture measurements

Abstract: . In situ measurements of soil moisture are invaluable for calibrating and validating land surface models and satellite-based soil moisture retrievals. In addition, long-term time series of in situ soil moisture measurements themselves can reveal trends in the water cycle related to climate or land cover change. Nevertheless, on a worldwide basis the number of meteorological networks and stations measuring soil moisture, in particular on a continuous basis, is still limited and the data they provide lack standardization of technique and protocol. To overcome many of these limitations, the International Soil Moisture Network (ISMN; http://www.ipf.tuwien.ac.at/insitu ) was initiated to serve as a centralized data hosting facility where globally available in situ soil moisture measurements from operational networks and validation campaigns are collected, harmonized, and made available to users. Data collecting networks share their soil moisture datasets with the ISMN on a voluntary and no-cost basis. Incoming soil moisture data are automatically transformed into common volumetric soil moisture units and checked for outliers and implausible values. Apart from soil water measurements from different depths, important metadata and meteorological variables (e.g., precipitation and soil temperature) are stored in the database. These will assist the user in correctly interpreting the soil moisture data. The database is queried through a graphical user interface while output of data selected for download is provided according to common standards for data and metadata. Currently (status May 2011), the ISMN contains data of 19 networks and more than 500 stations located in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The time period spanned by the entire database runs from 1952 until the present, although most datasets have originated during the last decade. The database is rapidly expanding, which means that both the number of stations and the time period covered by the existing stations are still growing. Hence, it will become an increasingly important resource for validating and improving satellite-derived soil moisture products and studying climate related trends. As the ISMN is animated by the scientific community itself, we invite potential networks to enrich the collection by sharing their in situ soil moisture data.

Unrealistic optimism about susceptibility to health problems.

Abstract: In this study, 100 college students compared their own chances of experiencing 45 different health- and life-threatening problems with the chances of their peers. They showed a significant optimistic bias for 34 of these hazards, consistently considering their own chances to be below average. Attempts to account for the amount of bias evoked by different hazards identified perceived controllability, lack of previous experience, and the belief that the problem appears during childhood as factors that tend to increase unrealistic optimism. The investigation also examined the importance of beliefs and emotions as determinants of self-reported interest in adopting precautions to reduce one's risk. It found that: (a) beliefs about risk likelihood, beliefs about risk severity, and worry about the risk all made independent contributions to interest in risk reduction; (b) unrealistic optimism undermined interest in risk reduction indirectly by decreasing worry; and (c) beliefs about risk likelihood and severity were not sufficient to explain the amount of worry expressed about different hazards.

KEA: practical automatic keyphrase extraction

Abstract: Keyphrases provide semantic metadata that summarize and characterize documents. This paper describes Kea, an algorithm for automatically extracting keyphrases from text. Kea identifies candidate keyphrases using lexical methods, calculates feature values for each candidate, and uses a machinelearning algorithm to predict which candidates are good keyphrases. The machine learning scheme first builds a prediction model using training documents with known keyphrases, and then uses the model to find keyphrases in new documents. We use a large test corpus to evaluate Kea’s effectiveness in terms of how many author-assigned keyphrases are correctly identified. The system is simple, robust, and publicly available.

The cluster lensing and supernova survey with hubble: an overview

Abstract: The Cluster Lensing And Supernova survey with Hubble (CLASH) is a 524-orbit Multi-Cycle Treasury Program to use the gravitational lensing properties of 25 galaxy clusters to accurately constrain their mass distributions. The survey, described in detail in this paper, will definitively establish the degree of concentration of dark matter in the cluster cores, a key prediction of structure formation models. The CLASH cluster sample is larger and less biased than current samples of space-based imaging studies of clusters to similar depth, as we have minimized lensing-based selection that favors systems with overly dense cores. Specifically, 20 CLASH clusters are solely X-ray selected. The X-ray-selected clusters are massive (kT > 5 keV) and, in most cases, dynamically relaxed. Five additional clusters are included for their lensing strength (θ_Ein > 35" at z_s = 2) to optimize the likelihood of finding highly magnified high-z (z > 7) galaxies. A total of 16 broadband filters, spanning the near-UV to near-IR, are employed for each 20-orbit campaign on each cluster. These data are used to measure precise (σ_z ~ 0.02(1 + z)) photometric redshifts for newly discovered arcs. Observations of each cluster are spread over eight epochs to enable a search for Type Ia supernovae at z > 1 to improve constraints on the time dependence of the dark energy equation of state and the evolution of supernovae. We present newly re-derived X-ray luminosities, temperatures, and Fe abundances for the CLASH clusters as well as a representative source list for MACS1149.6+2223 (z = 0.544).

Mycophenolate Mofetil versus Cyclophosphamide for Induction Treatment of Lupus Nephritis

Abstract: Recent studies have suggested that mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) may offer advantages over intravenous cyclophosphamide (IVC) for the treatment of lupus nephritis, but these therapies have not been compared in an international randomized, controlled trial. Here, we report the comparison of MMF and IVC as induction treatment for active lupus nephritis in a multinational, two-phase (induction and maintenance) study. We randomly assigned 370 patients with classes III through V lupus nephritis to open-label MMF (target dosage 3 g/d) or IVC (0.5 to 1.0 g/m(2) in monthly pulses) in a 24-wk induction study. Both groups received prednisone, tapered from a maximum starting dosage of 60 mg/d. The primary end point was a prespecified decrease in urine protein/creatinine ratio and stabilization or improvement in serum creatinine. Secondary end points included complete renal remission, systemic disease activity and damage, and safety. Overall, we did not detect a significantly different response rate between the two groups: 104 (56.2%) of 185 patients responded to MMF compared with 98 (53.0%) of 185 to IVC. Secondary end points were also similar between treatment groups. There were nine deaths in the MMF group and five in the IVC group. We did not detect significant differences between the MMF and IVC groups with regard to rates of adverse events, serious adverse events, or infections. Although most patients in both treatment groups experienced clinical improvement, the study did not meet its primary objective of showing that MMF was superior to IVC as induction treatment for lupus nephritis.