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1. Study on U.S. Parents' Divisions of Labor During COVID-19, Waves 1-2

   https://doi.org/10.3886/E183142V2  

   Carlson, Daniel L. ; Petts, Richard J. ( January 2022 , ICPSR - Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research)

   The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered family life in the United States. Over the long duration of the pandemic, parents had to adapt to shifting work conditions, virtual schooling, the closure of daycare facilities, and the stress of not only managing households without domestic and care supports but also worrying that family members may contract the novel coronavirus. Reports early in the pandemic suggest that these burdens have fallen disproportionately on mothers, creating concerns about the long-term implications of the pandemic for gender inequality and mothers’ well-being. Nevertheless, less is known about how parents’ engagement in domestic labor and paid work has changed throughout the pandemic, what factors may be driving these changes, and what the long-term consequences of the pandemic may be for the gendered division of labor and gender inequality more generally.
   
   The Study on U.S. Parents’ Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 (SPDLC) collects longitudinal survey data from partnered U.S. parents that can be used to assess changes in parents’ divisions of domestic labor, divisions of paid labor, and well-being throughout and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The goal of SPDLC is to understand both the short- and long-term impacts of the pandemic for the gendered division of labor, work-family issues, and broader patterns of gender inequality.
   
   Survey data for this study is collected using Prolifc (www.prolific.co), an opt-in online platform designed to facilitate scientific research. The sample is comprised U.S. adults who were residing with a romantic partner and at least one biological child (at the time of entry into the study). In each survey, parents answer questions about both themselves and their partners. Wave 1 of SPDLC was conducted in April 2020, and parents who participated in Wave 1 were asked about their division of labor both prior to (i.e., early March 2020) and one month after the pandemic began. Wave 2 of SPDLC was collected in November 2020. Parents who participated in Wave 1 were invited to participate again in Wave 2, and a new cohort of parents was also recruited to participate in the Wave 2 survey. Wave 3 of SPDLC was collected in October 2021. Parents who participated in either of the first two waves were invited to participate again in Wave 3, and another new cohort of parents was also recruited to participate in the Wave 3 survey. This research design (follow-up survey of panelists and new cross-section of parents at each wave) will continue through 2024, culminating in six waves of data spanning the period from March 2020 through October 2024. An estimated total of approximately 6,500 parents will be surveyed at least once throughout the duration of the study.
   
   SPDLC data will be released to the public two years after data is collected; Waves 1 and 2 are currently publicly available. Wave 3 will be publicly available in October 2023, with subsequent waves becoming available yearly. Data will be available to download in both SPSS (.sav) and Stata (.dta) formats, and the following data files will be available: (1) a data file for each individual wave, which contains responses from all participants in that wave of data collection, (2) a longitudinal panel data file, which contains longitudinal follow-up data from all available waves, and (3) a repeated cross-section data file, which contains the repeated cross-section data (from new respondents at each wave) from all available waves. Codebooks for each survey wave and a detailed user guide describing the data are also available. Response Rates: Of the 1,157 parents who participated in Wave 1, 828 (72%) also participated in the Wave 2 study. Presence of Common Scales: The following established scales are included in the survey:
   

   • Self-Efficacy, adapted from Pearlin's mastery scale (Pearlin et al., 1981) and the Rosenberg self-esteem scale (Rosenberg, 2015) and taken from the American Changing Lives Survey
   • Communication with Partner, taken from the Marriage and Relationship Survey (Lichter & Carmalt, 2009)
     
   • Gender Attitudes, taken from the National Survey of Families and Households (Sweet & Bumpass, 1996)
     
   • Depressive Symptoms (CES-D-10)
   • Stress, measured using Cohen's Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, & Mermelstein, 1983)
     

   Full details about these scales and all other items included in the survey can be found in the user guide and codebook
   The second wave of the SPDLC was fielded in November 2020 in two stages. In the first stage, all parents who participated in W1 of the SPDLC and who continued to reside in the United States were re-contacted and asked to participate in a follow-up survey. The W2 survey was posted on Prolific, and messages were sent via Prolific’s messaging system to all previous participants. Multiple follow-up messages were sent in an attempt to increase response rates to the follow-up survey. Of the 1,157 respondents who completed the W1 survey, 873 at least started the W2 survey. Data quality checks were employed in line with best practices for online surveys (e.g., removing respondents who did not complete most of the survey or who did not pass the attention filters). After data quality checks, 5.2% of respondents were removed from the sample, resulting in a final sample size of 828 parents (a response rate of 72%).
   
   In the second stage, a new sample of parents was recruited. New parents had to meet the same sampling criteria as in W1 (be at least 18 years old, reside in the United States, reside with a romantic partner, and be a parent living with at least one biological child). Also similar to the W1 procedures, we oversampled men, Black individuals, individuals who did not complete college, and individuals who identified as politically conservative to increase sample diversity. A total of 1,207 parents participated in the W2 survey. Data quality checks led to the removal of 5.7% of the respondents, resulting in a final sample size of new respondents at Wave 2 of 1,138 parents.
   
   In both stages, participants were informed that the survey would take approximately 20 minutes to complete. All panelists were provided monetary compensation in line with Prolific’s compensation guidelines, which require that all participants earn above minimum wage for their time participating in studies.
   To be included in SPDLC, respondents had to meet the following sampling criteria at the time they enter the study: (a) be at least 18 years old, (b) reside in the United States, (c) reside with a romantic partner (i.e., be married or cohabiting), and (d) be a parent living with at least one biological child. Follow-up respondents must be at least 18 years old and reside in the United States, but may experience changes in relationship and resident parent statuses. Smallest Geographic Unit: U.S. State

   This 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/. In accordance with this license, all users of these data must give appropriate credit to the authors in any papers, presentations, books, or other works that use the data. A suggested citation to provide attribution for these data is included below:            
   
   Carlson, Daniel L. and Richard J. Petts. 2022. Study on U.S. Parents’ Divisions of Labor During COVID-19 User Guide: Waves 1-2.  

   To help provide estimates that are more representative of U.S. partnered parents, the SPDLC includes sampling weights. Weights can be included in statistical analyses to make estimates from the SPDLC sample representative of U.S. parents who reside with a romantic partner (married or cohabiting) and a child aged 18 or younger based on age, race/ethnicity, and gender. National estimates for the age, racial/ethnic, and gender profile of U.S. partnered parents were obtained using data from the 2020 Current Population Survey (CPS). Weights were calculated using an iterative raking method, such that the full sample in each data file matches the nationally representative CPS data in regard to the gender, age, and racial/ethnic distributions within the data. This variable is labeled CPSweightW2 in the Wave 2 dataset, and CPSweightLW2 in the longitudinal dataset (which includes Waves 1 and 2). There is not a weight variable included in the W1-W2 repeated cross-section data file.
    

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2. Redder than Red: Discovery of an Exceptionally Red L/T Transition Dwarf

   https://doi.org/10.3847/2041-8213/acb0cd  

   Schneider, Adam C. ; Burgasser, Adam J. ; Bruursema, Justice ; Munn, Jeffrey A. ; Vrba, Frederick J. ; Caselden, Dan ; Kabatnik, Martin ; Rothermich, Austin ; Sainio, Arttu ; Bickle, Thomas P. ; et al ( January 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal Letters)

   We present the discovery of CWISE J050626.96+073842.4 (CWISE J0506+0738), an L/T transition dwarf with extremely red near-infrared colors discovered through the Backyard Worlds: Planet 9 citizen science project. Photometry from UKIRT and CatWISE give a (J−K)_MKOcolor of 2.97 ± 0.03 mag and aJ_MKO− W2 color of 4.93 ± 0.02 mag, making CWISE J0506+0738 the reddest known free-floating L/T dwarf in both colors. We confirm the extremely red nature of CWISE J0506+0738 using Keck/NIRES near-infrared spectroscopy and establish that it is a low-gravity, late-type L/T transition dwarf. The spectrum of CWISE J0506+0738 shows possible signatures of CH₄absorption in its atmosphere, suggesting a colder effective temperature than other known, young, red L dwarfs. We assign a preliminary spectral type for this source of L8γ–T0γ. We tentatively find that CWISE J0506+0738 is variable at 3–5μm based on multiepoch WISE photometry. Proper motions derived from follow-up UKIRT observations combined with a radial velocity from our Keck/NIRES spectrum and a photometric distance estimate indicate a strong membership probability in theβPic moving group. A future parallax measurement will help to establish a more definitive moving group membership for this unusual object.

    

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3. RR Lyrae Mid-infrared Period–Luminosity–Metallicity and Period–Wesenheit–Metallicity Relations Based on Gaia DR3 Parallaxes

   https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/acb20a  

   Mullen, Joseph P. ; Marengo, Massimo ; Martínez-Vázquez, Clara E. ; Chaboyer, Brian ; Bono, Giuseppe ; Braga, Vittorio F. ; Dall’Ora, Massimo ; D’Orazi, Valentina ; Fabrizio, Michele ; Monelli, Matteo ; et al ( March 2023 , The Astrophysical Journal)

   We present new empirical infrared period–luminosity–metallicity (PLZ) and period–Wesenheit–metallicity (PWZ) relations for RR Lyae based on the latest Gaia Early Data Release 3 (EDR3) parallaxes. The relations are provided in the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) W1 and W2 bands, as well as in the W(W1,V− W1) and W(W2,V− W2) Wesenheit magnitudes. The relations are calibrated using a very large sample of Galactic halo field RR Lyrae stars with homogeneous spectroscopic [Fe/H] abundances (over 1000 stars in the W1 band), covering a broad range of metallicities (−2.5 ≲ [Fe/H] ≲ 0.0). We test the performance of our PLZ and PWZ relations by determining the distance moduli of both galactic and extragalactic stellar associations: the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the Local Group (finding${\overline{\mu }}_0=19.47\pm 0.06$), the Galactic globular clusters M4 (${\overline{\mu }}_0=11.16\pm 0.05$), and the Reticulum globular cluster in the Large Magellanic Cloud (${\overline{\mu }}_0=18.23\pm 0.06$). The distance moduli determined through all our relations are internally self-consistent (within ≲0.05 mag) but are systematically smaller (by ∼2–3σ) than previous literature measurements taken from a variety of methods/anchors. However, a comparison with similar recent RR Lyrae empirical relations anchored with EDR3 likewise shows, to varying extents, a systematically smaller distance modulus for PLZ/PWZ RR Lyrae relations.

    

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4. Mid-infrared dusty torus sizes in active galactic nuclei with Hβ reverberation mapping

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad1136  

   Chen, Yong-Jie ; Liu, Jun-Rong ; Zhai, Shuo ; Yao, Zhu-Heng ; Li, Yan-Rong ; Du, Pu ; Hu, Chen ; Guo, Wei-Jian ; Xiao, Ming ; Songsheng, Yu-Yang ; et al ( April 2023 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   We compile optical and mid-infrared light curves from the time-domain surveys (i.e. CRTS, PTF, ZTF, and ASAS-SN) and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) archive for a selected sample of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) with Hβ reverberation mapping (RM) measurements. We measure the time lags (and thus torus sizes) of W1 (∼3.4 $\mu$ m) and W2 (∼4.6 $\mu$ m) band light curves relative to the optical one using the MICA method. Through Hβ RM, the sample has well-measured AGN properties, therefore allowing us to reliably constrain the relations between torus sizes and AGN properties. We perform linear regressions for the relations between torus sizes and 5100 Å luminosities ($R\propto L_{5100}^{\beta }$ ) in two cases: β = 0.5 and β set free. The latter case yields β ≈ 0.37 ± 0.028 for both W1 and W2 bands, shallower than the expected value of 0.5, possibly due to the dependence of torus size on accretion rate. For β = 0.5, by combining with the previous K band RM measurements, we obtain the characteristic broad-line region (BLR) and tours sizes following RBLR:RK :RW1:RW2 = 1.0:6.2:9.2:11.2. We investigate the deviations of the W1 and W2 band observed torus sizes from the corresponding best-fitting relations (with β = 0.5) and find that they both are correlated with accretion rate. As the accretion rate increases, the torus sizes tend to be shortened compared to the anticipated sizes from the best-fitting relations, similar to the behaviour found in BLRs. Such behaviours can be explained by the self-shadowing effect of slim discs. This is further supported by ratios of the W1 and W2 band torus sizes to BLR sizes, which do not show significant correlations with AGN properties.

    

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5. Improved selection of extremely red quasars with boxy C  iv lines in BOSS

   https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stac294  

   Monadi, Reza ; Bird, Simeon ( February 2022 , Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society)

   Extremely red quasars (ERQs) are an interesting sample of quasars in the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Sample (BOSS) in the redshift range of 2.0–3.4 and have extreme red colours of i − W3 ≥ 4.6. Core ERQs have strong C  iv emission lines with rest equivalent width of ≥100 Å. Many core ERQs also have C  iv line profiles with peculiar boxy shapes which distinguish them from normal blue quasars. We show, using a combination of kernel density estimation and local outlier factor analyses on a space of the i − W3 colour, C iv rest equivalent width and line kurtosis, that core ERQs likely represent a separate population rather than a smooth transition between normal blue quasars and the quasars in the tail of the colour-REW distribution. We apply our analyses to find new criteria for selecting ERQs in this 3D parameter space. Our final selection produces 133 quasars, which are three times more likely to have a visually verified C iv broad absorption line feature than the previous core ERQ sample. We further show that our newly selected sample are extreme objects in the intersection of the WISE AGN catalogue with the MILLIQUAS quasar catalogue in the colour–colour space of (W1 − W2, W2 − W3). This paper validates an improved selection method for red quasars which can be applied to future data sets such as the quasar catalogue from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument.

    

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