SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SELECTED HERMATYPIC CORALS FROM GULF OF KACHCHH, INDIA

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N. Ray Chaudhury

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Hermatypic, scleractinian corals are the most important benthic substrates in a coral reef ecosystem. The existing, high (spatial resolution, broad-band, multi-spectral, space-borne sensors have limited capability to spatially detect and spectrally discriminate coral substrates. In situ hyperspectral signatures of eight coral targets were collected with the help of Analytical Spectral Devices FieldSpec spectroradiometer from Paga and Laku Point reefs of Gulf of Kachchh, India to study the spectral behaviour of corals. The eight coral targets consisted of seven live corals representing four distinct colony morphologies and one bleached coral target. The coral spectra were studied over a continuous range of 350 to 1350 nm. The corals strongly reflected in the NIR and MIR regions with regional central maximas located at 820 and 1070 nm respectively. In the visible region the live coral spectra conformed to "brown mode" of coral reflectance with triple-peaked pattern at 575, 600 and 650 nm. All coral spectra are characterized with two distinct absorption features: chlorophyll absorption at 675 nm and water absorption at 975 nm. The live and the bleached corals get distinguished in the visible region over 400 to 600 nm region. Water column over the targets modifies the spectral shape and magnitude. First and second-order derivatives help in identifying spectral windows to distinguish live and bleached corals.

The impact of different reference panels on spectral reflectance coefficients of some biological water pollutants

Science.gov (United States)

Jenerowicz, Agnieszka; Walczykowski, Piotr

2015-10-01

Monitoring of water environment and ecosystem, detecting water contaminants and understanding water quality parameters are most important tasks in water management and protection of whole aquatic environment. Detection of biological contaminants play a very important role in preserving human health and water management. To obtain accurate and precise results of determination of the level of biological contamination and to distinguish its type it is necessary to determine precisely spectral reflectance coefficients of several water biological pollutants with inter alia spectroradiometer. This paper presents a methodology and preliminary results of acquisition of spectral reflectance coefficients with different reference panels (e.g. with 5%, 20%, 50%, 80% and 96% of reflectivity) of several biological pollutants. The authors' main task was to measure spectral reflectance coefficients of different biological water pollutants with several reference panels and to select optimal reference standard, which would allow for distinguish different types of several biological contaminants. Moreover it was necessary to indicate the spectral range in which it is possible to discriminate investigated samples of biological contaminants. By conducting many series of measurements of several samples of different types of biological pollutants, authors had concluded how the reflectivity of reference panel influences the accuracy of acquisition of spectral reflectance coefficients. This research was crucial in order to be able to distinguish several types of biological pollutants and to determine the useful spectral range for detection of different kinds of biological contaminants with multispectral and hyperspectral imagery.

Investigating cardiorespiratory interaction by cross-spectral analysis of event series

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Carsten; Rosenblum, Michael G.; Pikovsky, Arkady S.; Kurths, Jürgen

2000-02-01

The human cardiovascular and respiratory systems interact with each other and show effects of modulation and synchronization. Here we present a cross-spectral technique that specifically considers the event-like character of the heartbeat and avoids typical restrictions of other spectral methods. Using models as well as experimental data, we demonstrate how modulation and synchronization can be distinguished. Finally, we compare the method to traditional techniques and to the analysis of instantaneous phases.

On the Spectral Entropy of Thermodynamic Paths for Elementary Systems

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Daniel J. Graham

2009-12-01

Full Text Available Systems do not elect thermodynamic pathways on their own. They operate in tandem with their surroundings. Pathway selection and traversal require coordinated work and heat exchanges along with parallel tuning of the system variables. Previous research by the author (Reference [1] focused on the information expressed in thermodynamic pathways. Examined here is how spectral entropy is a by-product of information that depends intricately on the pathway structure. The spectral entropy has proven to be a valuable tool in diverse fields. This paper illustrates the contact between spectral entropy and the properties which distinguish ideal from non-ideal gases. The role of spectral entropy in the first and second laws of thermodynamics and heat → work conversions is also discussed.

Spectral quality requirements for effluent identification

Science.gov (United States)

Czerwinski, R. N.; Seeley, J. A.; Wack, E. C.

2005-11-01

We consider the problem of remotely identifying gaseous materials using passive sensing of long-wave infrared (LWIR) spectral features at hyperspectral resolution. Gaseous materials are distinguishable in the LWIR because of their unique spectral fingerprints. A sensor degraded in capability by noise or limited spectral resolution, however, may be unable to positively identify contaminants, especially if they are present in low concentrations or if the spectral library used for comparisons includes materials with similar spectral signatures. This paper will quantify the relative importance of these parameters and express the relationships between them in a functional form which can be used as a rule of thumb in sensor design or in assessing sensor capability for a specific task. This paper describes the simulation of remote sensing datacontaining a gas cloud.In each simulation, the spectra are degraded in spectral resolution and through the addition of noise to simulate spectra collected by sensors of varying design and capability. We form a trade space by systematically varying the number of sensor spectral channels and signal-to-noise ratio over a range of values. For each scenario, we evaluate the capability of the sensor for gas identification by computing the ratio of the F-statistic for the truth gas tothe same statistic computed over the rest of the library.The effect of the scope of the library is investigated as well, by computing statistics on the variability of the identification capability as the library composition is varied randomly.

Effects of spectral smearing on performance of the spectral ripple and spectro-temporal ripple tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Narne, Vijaya Kumar; Sharma, Mridula; Van Dun, Bram; Bansal, Shalini; Prabhu, Latika; Moore, Brian C J

2016-12-01

The main aim of this study was to use spectral smearing to evaluate the efficacy of a spectral ripple test (SRt) using stationary sounds and a recent variant with gliding ripples called the spectro-temporal ripple test (STRt) in measuring reduced spectral resolution. In experiment 1 the highest detectable ripple density was measured using four amounts of spectral smearing (unsmeared, mild, moderate, and severe). The thresholds worsened with increasing smearing and were similar for the SRt and the STRt across the three conditions with smearing. For unsmeared stimuli, thresholds were significantly higher (better) for the STRt than for the SRt. An amplitude fluctuation at the outputs of simulated (gammatone) auditory filters centered above 6400 Hz was identified as providing a potential detection cue for the STRt stimuli. Experiment 2 used notched noise with energy below and above the passband of the SRt and STRt stimuli to reduce confounding cues in the STRt. Thresholds were almost identical for the STRt and SRt for both unsmeared and smeared stimuli, indicating that the confounding cue for the STRt was eliminated by the notched noise. Thresholds obtained with notched noise present could be predicted reasonably accurately using an excitation-pattern model.

Spectroscopic (multi-energy) CT distinguishes iodine and barium contrast material in MICE

CERN Document Server

Anderson, NG; Firsching, M; de Ruiter, N; Schleich, N; Butzer, J S; Cook, N J; Grasset, R; Campbell, M; Scott, N J A; Anderson, N G

2010-01-01

Spectral CT differs from dual-energy CT by using a conventional X-ray tube and a photon-counting detector. We wished to produce 3D spectroscopic images of mice that distinguished calcium, iodine and barium. We developed a desktop spectral CT, dubbed MARS, based around the Medipix2 photon-counting energy-discriminating detector. The single conventional X-ray tube operated at constant voltage (75 kVp) and constant current (150 A mu A). We anaesthetised with ketamine six black mice (C57BL/6). We introduced iodinated contrast material and barium sulphate into the vascular system, alimentary tract and respiratory tract as we euthanised them. The mice were preserved in resin and imaged at four detector energy levels from 12 keV to 42 keV to include the K-edges of iodine (33.0 keV) and barium (37.4 keV). Principal component analysis was applied to reconstructed images to identify components with independent energy response, then displayed in 2D and 3D. Iodinated and barium contrast material was spectrally distinct f...

[Spectral navigation technology and its application in positioning the fruits of fruit trees].

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Xiao-Lei; Zhao, Zhi-Min

2010-03-01

An innovative technology of spectral navigation is presented in the present paper. This new method adopts reflectance spectra of fruits, leaves and branches as one of the key navigation parameters and positions the fruits of fruit trees relying on the diversity of spectral characteristics. The research results show that the distinct smoothness as effect is available in the spectrum of leaves of fruit trees. On the other hand, gradual increasing as the trend is an important feature in the spectrum of branches of fruit trees while the spectrum of fruit fluctuates. In addition, the peak diversity of reflectance rate between fruits and leaves of fruit trees is reached at 850 nm of wavelength. So the limit value can be designed at this wavelength in order to distinguish fruits and leaves. The method introduced here can not only quickly distinguish fruits, leaves and branches, but also avoid the effects of surroundings. Compared with the traditional navigation systems based on machine vision, there are still some special and unique features in the field of positioning the fruits of fruit trees using spectral navigation technology.

Spectral Classification of Similar Materials using the Tetracorder Algorithm: The Calcite-Epidote-Chlorite Problem

Science.gov (United States)

Dalton, J. Brad; Bove, Dana; Mladinich, Carol; Clark, Roger; Rockwell, Barnaby; Swayze, Gregg; King, Trude; Church, Stanley

2001-01-01

Recent work on automated spectral classification algorithms has sought to distinguish ever-more similar materials. From modest beginnings separating shade, soil, rock and vegetation to ambitious attempts to discriminate mineral types and specific plant species, the trend seems to be toward using increasingly subtle spectral differences to perform the classification. Rule-based expert systems exploiting the underlying physics of spectroscopy such as the US Geological Society Tetracorder system are now taking advantage of the high spectral resolution and dimensionality of current imaging spectrometer designs to discriminate spectrally similar materials. The current paper details recent efforts to discriminate three minerals having absorptions centered at the same wavelength, with encouraging results.

Application of positive mode atmospheric chemical ionisation to distinguish epimeric oleanolic and ursolic acids.

Science.gov (United States)

Townley, Chloe; Brettell, Rhea C; Bowen, Richard D; Gallagher, Richard T; Martin, William H C

2015-01-01

A new and more reliable method is reported for distinguishing the equatorial and axial epimers of oleanolic and ursolic acids and related triterpenoids based primarily on the relative abundance of the [M+H](+) and [M+-H(2)O](+) signals in their positive mode atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation mass spectra. The rate of elimination of water, which is the principal primary fragmentation of protonated oleanolic and ursolic acids, depends systematically on the stereochemistry of the hydroxyl group in the 3 position. For the b-epimer, in which the 3-hydroxyl substituent is in an equatorial position,[M+-H(2)O](+) is the base peak. In contrast, for the α-epimer, where the 3-hydroxyl group is axial, [M + H](+) is the base peak. This trend, which is general for a range of derivatives of oleanolic and ursolic acids, including the corresponding methyl esters, allows epimeric triterpenoids in these series to be securely differentiated. Confirmatory information is available from the collision-induced dissociation of the [M+-H(2)O](+) primary fragment ions, which follow different pathways for the species derived from axial and equatorial epimers of oleanolic and ursolic acids. These two pieces of independent spectral information permit the stereochemistry of epimeric oleanolic and ursolic acids (and selected derivatives) to be assigned with confidence without relying either on chromatographic retention times or referring to the spectra or other properties of authentic samples of these triterpenoids.

Spectral reflectance of five hardwood tree species in southern Indiana

Science.gov (United States)

Dale R. Weigel; J.C. Randolph

2013-01-01

The use of remote sensing to identify forest species has been ongoing since the launch of Landsat-1 using MSS imagery. The ability to separate hardwoods from conifers was accomplished by the 1980s. However, distinguishing individual hardwood species is more problematic due to similar spectral and phenological characteristics. With the launch of commercial satellites...

Stochastic model stationarization by eliminating the periodic term and its effect on time series prediction

Science.gov (United States)

Moeeni, Hamid; Bonakdari, Hossein; Fatemi, Seyed Ehsan

2017-04-01

Because time series stationarization has a key role in stochastic modeling results, three methods are analyzed in this study. The methods are seasonal differencing, seasonal standardization and spectral analysis to eliminate the periodic effect on time series stationarity. First, six time series including 4 streamflow series and 2 water temperature series are stationarized. The stochastic term for these series obtained with ARIMA is subsequently modeled. For the analysis, 9228 models are introduced. It is observed that seasonal standardization and spectral analysis eliminate the periodic term completely, while seasonal differencing maintains seasonal correlation structures. The obtained results indicate that all three methods present acceptable performance overall. However, model accuracy in monthly streamflow prediction is higher with seasonal differencing than with the other two methods. Another advantage of seasonal differencing over the other methods is that the monthly streamflow is never estimated as negative. Standardization is the best method for predicting monthly water temperature although it is quite similar to seasonal differencing, while spectral analysis performed the weakest in all cases. It is concluded that for each monthly seasonal series, seasonal differencing is the best stationarization method in terms of periodic effect elimination. Moreover, the monthly water temperature is predicted with more accuracy than monthly streamflow. The criteria of the average stochastic term divided by the amplitude of the periodic term obtained for monthly streamflow and monthly water temperature were 0.19 and 0.30, 0.21 and 0.13, and 0.07 and 0.04 respectively. As a result, the periodic term is more dominant than the stochastic term for water temperature in the monthly water temperature series compared to streamflow series.

ASTER spectral sensitivity of carbonate rocks - Study in Sultanate of Oman

Science.gov (United States)

Rajendran, Sankaran; Nasir, Sobhi

2014-02-01

Remote sensing satellite data plays a vital role and capable in detecting minerals and discriminating rock types for explorations of mineral resources and geological studies. Study of spectral absorption characters of remotely sensed data are under consideration by the exploration and mining companies, and demonstrating the spectral absorption characters of carbonates on the cost-effective multispectral image (rather than the hyperspectral, Lidar image) for easy understanding of all geologists and exploration communities of carbonates is very much important. The present work is an integrated study and an outcome of recently published works on the economic important carbonate rocks, includes limestone, marl, listwaenites and carbonatites occurred in parts of the Sultanate of Oman. It demonstrates the spectral sensitivity of such rocks for simple interpretation over satellite data and describes and distinguishes them based on the absorptions of carbonate minerals in the spectral bands of advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER) for mapping and exploration studies. The study results that the ASTER spectral band 8 discriminates the carbonate rocks due to the presence of predominantly occurred carbonate minerals; the ASTER band 5 distinguishes the limestones and marls (more hydroxyl clay minerals) from listwaenite (hydrothermally altered rock) due to the presence of altered minerals and the ASTER band 4 detects carbonatites (ultramafic intrusive alkaline rocks) which contain relatively more silicates. The study on the intensity of the total absorptions against the reflections of these rocks shows that the limestones and marls have low intensity in absorptions (and high reflection values) due to the presence of carbonate minerals (calcite and dolomite) occurred in different proportions. The listwaenites and carbonatites have high intensity of absorptions (low reflection values) due to the occurrence of Mn-oxide in listwaenites and carbonates

Titanium nitride coatings synthesized by IPD method with eliminated current oscillations

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Chodun Rafał

2016-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the effects of elimination of current oscillations within the coaxial plasma accelerator during IPD deposition process on the morphology, phase structure and properties of synthesized TiN coatings. Current observations of waveforms have been made by use of an oscilloscope. As a test material for experiments, titanium nitride TiN coatings synthesized on silicon and high-speed steel substrates were used. The coatings morphology, phase composition and wear resistance properties were determined. The character of current waveforms in the plasma accelerator electric circuit plays a crucial role during the coatings synthesis process. Elimination of the current oscillations leads to obtaining an ultrafine grained structure of titanium nitride coatings and to disappearance of the tendency to structure columnarization. The coatings obtained during processes of a non-oscillating character are distinguished by better wear-resistance properties.

A comparison of random forest and its Gini importance with standard chemometric methods for the feature selection and classification of spectral data

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Himmelreich Uwe

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Regularized regression methods such as principal component or partial least squares regression perform well in learning tasks on high dimensional spectral data, but cannot explicitly eliminate irrelevant features. The random forest classifier with its associated Gini feature importance, on the other hand, allows for an explicit feature elimination, but may not be optimally adapted to spectral data due to the topology of its constituent classification trees which are based on orthogonal splits in feature space. Results We propose to combine the best of both approaches, and evaluated the joint use of a feature selection based on a recursive feature elimination using the Gini importance of random forests' together with regularized classification methods on spectral data sets from medical diagnostics, chemotaxonomy, biomedical analytics, food science, and synthetically modified spectral data. Here, a feature selection using the Gini feature importance with a regularized classification by discriminant partial least squares regression performed as well as or better than a filtering according to different univariate statistical tests, or using regression coefficients in a backward feature elimination. It outperformed the direct application of the random forest classifier, or the direct application of the regularized classifiers on the full set of features. Conclusion The Gini importance of the random forest provided superior means for measuring feature relevance on spectral data, but – on an optimal subset of features – the regularized classifiers might be preferable over the random forest classifier, in spite of their limitation to model linear dependencies only. A feature selection based on Gini importance, however, may precede a regularized linear classification to identify this optimal subset of features, and to earn a double benefit of both dimensionality reduction and the elimination of noise from the classification task.

Quantitative imaging of excised osteoarthritic cartilage using spectral CT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rajendran, Kishore; Bateman, Christopher J.; Younis, Raja Aamir; De Ruiter, Niels J.A.; Ramyar, Mohsen; Anderson, Nigel G. [University of Otago - Christchurch, Department of Radiology, Christchurch (New Zealand); Loebker, Caroline [University of Otago, Christchurch Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering Group, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine, Christchurch (New Zealand); University of Twente, Department of Developmental BioEngineering, Enschede (Netherlands); Schon, Benjamin S.; Hooper, Gary J.; Woodfield, Tim B.F. [University of Otago, Christchurch Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering Group, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Musculoskeletal Medicine, Christchurch (New Zealand); Chernoglazov, Alex I. [University of Canterbury, Human Interface Technology Laboratory New Zealand, Christchurch (New Zealand); Butler, Anthony P.H. [University of Otago - Christchurch, Department of Radiology, Christchurch (New Zealand); European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva (Switzerland); MARS Bioimaging, Christchurch (New Zealand)

2017-01-15

To quantify iodine uptake in articular cartilage as a marker of glycosaminoglycan (GAG) content using multi-energy spectral CT. We incubated a 25-mm strip of excised osteoarthritic human tibial plateau in 50 % ionic iodine contrast and imaged it using a small-animal spectral scanner with a cadmium telluride photon-processing detector to quantify the iodine through the thickness of the articular cartilage. We imaged both spectroscopic phantoms and osteoarthritic tibial plateau samples. The iodine distribution as an inverse marker of GAG content was presented in the form of 2D and 3D images after applying a basis material decomposition technique to separate iodine in cartilage from bone. We compared this result with a histological section stained for GAG. The iodine in cartilage could be distinguished from subchondral bone and quantified using multi-energy CT. The articular cartilage showed variation in iodine concentration throughout its thickness which appeared to be inversely related to GAG distribution observed in histological sections. Multi-energy CT can quantify ionic iodine contrast (as a marker of GAG content) within articular cartilage and distinguish it from bone by exploiting the energy-specific attenuation profiles of the associated materials. (orig.)

The Research on the Spectral Characteristics of Sea Fog Based on Caliop and Modis Data

Science.gov (United States)

Wan, J.; Su, J.; Liu, S.; Sheng, H.

2018-04-01

In view of that difficulty of distinguish between sea fog and low cloud by optical remote sensing mean, the research on spectral characteristics of sea fog is focused and carried out. The satellite laser radar CALIOP data and the high spectral MODIS data were obtained from May to December 2017, and the scattering coefficient and the vertical height information were extracted from the atmospheric attenuation of the lower star to extract the sea fog sample points, and the spectral response curve based on MODIS was formed to analyse the spectral response characteristics of the sea fog, thus providing a theoretical basis for the monitoring of sea fog with optical remote sensing image.

THE RESEARCH ON THE SPECTRAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SEA FOG BASED ON CALIOP AND MODIS DATA

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J. Wan

2018-04-01

Full Text Available In view of that difficulty of distinguish between sea fog and low cloud by optical remote sensing mean, the research on spectral characteristics of sea fog is focused and carried out。The satellite laser radar CALIOP data and the high spectral MODIS data were obtained from May to December 2017, and the scattering coefficient and the vertical height information were extracted from the atmospheric attenuation of the lower star to extract the sea fog sample points, and the spectral response curve based on MODIS was formed to analyse the spectral response characteristics of the sea fog, thus providing a theoretical basis for the monitoring of sea fog with optical remote sensing image.

Virtual Non-Contrast CT Using Dual-Energy Spectral CT: Feasibility of Coronary Artery Calcium Scoring

OpenAIRE

Song, Inyoung; Yi, Jeong Geun; Park, Jeong Hee; Kim, Sung Mok; Lee, Kyung Soo; Chung, Myung Jin

2016-01-01

Objective To evaluate the feasibility of coronary artery calcium scoring based on three virtual noncontrast-enhanced (VNC) images derived from single-source spectral dual-energy CT (DECT) as compared with true noncontrast-enhanced (TNC) images. Materials and Methods This prospective study was conducted with the approval of our Institutional Review Board. Ninety-seven patients underwent noncontrast CT followed by contrast-enhanced chest CT using single-source spectral DECT. Iodine eliminated V...

[Study on Application of NIR Spectral Information Screening in Identification of Maca Origin].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yuan-zhong; Zhao, Yan-li; Zhang, Ji; Jin, Hang

2016-02-01

Medicinal and edible plant Maca is rich in various nutrients and owns great medicinal value. Based on near infrared diffuse reflectance spectra, 139 Maca samples collected from Peru and Yunnan were used to identify their geographical origins. Multiplication signal correction (MSC) coupled with second derivative (SD) and Norris derivative filter (ND) was employed in spectral pretreatment. Spectrum range (7,500-4,061 cm⁻¹) was chosen by spectrum standard deviation. Combined with principal component analysis-mahalanobis distance (PCA-MD), the appropriate number of principal components was selected as 5. Based on the spectrum range and the number of principal components selected, two abnormal samples were eliminated by modular group iterative singular sample diagnosis method. Then, four methods were used to filter spectral variable information, competitive adaptive reweighted sampling (CARS), monte carlo-uninformative variable elimination (MC-UVE), genetic algorithm (GA) and subwindow permutation analysis (SPA). The spectral variable information filtered was evaluated by model population analysis (MPA). The results showed that RMSECV(SPA) > RMSECV(CARS) > RMSECV(MC-UVE) > RMSECV(GA), were 2. 14, 2. 05, 2. 02, and 1. 98, and the spectral variables were 250, 240, 250 and 70, respectively. According to the spectral variable filtered, partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was used to build the model, with random selection of 97 samples as training set, and the other 40 samples as validation set. The results showed that, R²: GA > MC-UVE > CARS > SPA, RMSEC and RMSEP: GA Maca. The method was aimed to lay the foundation for traditional Chinese medicine identification and quality evaluation.

Acoustic and spectral characteristics of young children's fricative productions: A developmental perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Nissen, Shawn L.; Fox, Robert Allen

2005-10-01

Scientists have made great strides toward understanding the mechanisms of speech production and perception. However, the complex relationships between the acoustic structures of speech and the resulting psychological percepts have yet to be fully and adequately explained, especially in speech produced by younger children. Thus, this study examined the acoustic structure of voiceless fricatives (/f, θ, s, /sh/) produced by adults and typically developing children from 3 to 6 years of age in terms of multiple acoustic parameters (durations, normalized amplitude, spectral slope, and spectral moments). It was found that the acoustic parameters of spectral slope and variance (commonly excluded from previous studies of child speech) were important acoustic parameters in the differentiation and classification of the voiceless fricatives, with spectral variance being the only measure to separate all four places of articulation. It was further shown that the sibilant contrast between /s/ and /sh/ was less distinguished in children than adults, characterized by a dramatic change in several spectral parameters at approximately five years of age. Discriminant analysis revealed evidence that classification models based on adult data were sensitive to these spectral differences in the five-year-old age group.

Distinguishing Intensity Levels of Grassland Fertilization Using Vegetation Indices

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Jens L. Hollberg

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Monitoring the reaction of grassland canopies on fertilizer application is of major importance to enable a well-adjusted management supporting a sustainable production of the grass crop. Up to date, grassland managers estimate the nutrient status and growth dynamics of grasslands by costly and time-consuming field surveys, which only provide low temporal and spatial data density. Grassland mapping using remotely-sensed Vegetation Indices (VIs has the potential to contribute to solving these problems. In this study, we explored the potential of VIs for distinguishing five differently-fertilized grassland communities. Therefore, we collected spectral signatures of these communities in a long-term fertilization experiment (since 1941 in Germany throughout the growing seasons 2012–2014. Fifteen VIs were calculated and their seasonal developments investigated. Welch tests revealed that the accuracy of VIs for distinguishing these grassland communities varies throughout the growing season. Thus, the selection of the most promising single VI for grassland mapping was dependent on the date of the spectra acquisition. A random forests classification using all calculated VIs reduced variations in classification accuracy within the growing season and provided a higher overall precision of classification. Thus, we recommend a careful selection of VIs for grassland mapping or the utilization of temporally-stable methods, i.e., including a set of VIs in the random forests algorithm.

Spectroscopic (multi-energy) CT distinguishes iodine and barium contrast material in MICE.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, N G; Butler, A P; Scott, N J A; Cook, N J; Butzer, J S; Schleich, N; Firsching, M; Grasset, R; de Ruiter, N; Campbell, M; Butler, P H

2010-09-01

Spectral CT differs from dual-energy CT by using a conventional X-ray tube and a photon-counting detector. We wished to produce 3D spectroscopic images of mice that distinguished calcium, iodine and barium. We developed a desktop spectral CT, dubbed MARS, based around the Medipix2 photon-counting energy-discriminating detector. The single conventional X-ray tube operated at constant voltage (75 kVp) and constant current (150 microA). We anaesthetised with ketamine six black mice (C57BL/6). We introduced iodinated contrast material and barium sulphate into the vascular system, alimentary tract and respiratory tract as we euthanised them. The mice were preserved in resin and imaged at four detector energy levels from 12 keV to 42 keV to include the K-edges of iodine (33.0 keV) and barium (37.4 keV). Principal component analysis was applied to reconstructed images to identify components with independent energy response, then displayed in 2D and 3D. Iodinated and barium contrast material was spectrally distinct from soft tissue and bone in all six mice. Calcium, iodine and barium were displayed as separate channels on 3D colour images at contrast agents with K-edges only 4 keV apart. Multi-contrast imaging and molecular CT are potential future applications.

A multimodal spectral approach to characterize rhythm in natural speech.

Science.gov (United States)

Alexandrou, Anna Maria; Saarinen, Timo; Kujala, Jan; Salmelin, Riitta

2016-01-01

Human utterances demonstrate temporal patterning, also referred to as rhythm. While simple oromotor behaviors (e.g., chewing) feature a salient periodical structure, conversational speech displays a time-varying quasi-rhythmic pattern. Quantification of periodicity in speech is challenging. Unimodal spectral approaches have highlighted rhythmic aspects of speech. However, speech is a complex multimodal phenomenon that arises from the interplay of articulatory, respiratory, and vocal systems. The present study addressed the question of whether a multimodal spectral approach, in the form of coherence analysis between electromyographic (EMG) and acoustic signals, would allow one to characterize rhythm in natural speech more efficiently than a unimodal analysis. The main experimental task consisted of speech production at three speaking rates; a simple oromotor task served as control. The EMG-acoustic coherence emerged as a sensitive means of tracking speech rhythm, whereas spectral analysis of either EMG or acoustic amplitude envelope alone was less informative. Coherence metrics seem to distinguish and highlight rhythmic structure in natural speech.

Eliminating armaments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Adams, R.

1998-01-01

The end of Cold War induced optimistic projections concerning disarmament, elimination of nuclear weapons, elimination of massive inequities - poverty, hatred, racism. All these goals should be achieved simultaneously, but little has been achieved so far

Polarized Redundant-Baseline Calibration for 21 cm Cosmology Without Adding Spectral Structure

Science.gov (United States)

Dillon, Joshua S.; Kohn, Saul A.; Parsons, Aaron R.; Aguirre, James E.; Ali, Zaki S.; Bernardi, Gianni; Kern, Nicholas S.; Li, Wenyang; Liu, Adrian; Nunhokee, Chuneeta D.; Pober, Jonathan C.

2018-04-01

21 cm cosmology is a promising new probe of the evolution of visible matter in our universe, especially during the poorly-constrained Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization. However, in order to separate the 21 cm signal from bright astrophysical foregrounds, we need an exquisite understanding of our telescopes so as to avoid adding spectral structure to spectrally-smooth foregrounds. One powerful calibration method relies on repeated simultaneous measurements of the same interferometric baseline to solve for the sky signal and for instrumental parameters simultaneously. However, certain degrees of freedom are not constrained by asserting internal consistency between redundant measurements. In this paper, we review the origin of these degeneracies of redundant-baseline calibration and demonstrate how they can source unwanted spectral structure in our measurement and show how to eliminate that additional, artificial structure. We also generalize redundant calibration to dual-polarization instruments, derive the degeneracy structure, and explore the unique challenges to calibration and preserving spectral smoothness presented by a polarized measurement.

The exponential function expansion of the intra-nodal cross sections for the spectral history gradient correction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, J. Y.; Noh, J. M.; Cheong, H. K.; Choo, H. K.

1998-01-01

In order to simplify the previous spectral history effect correction based on the polynomial expansion nodal method, a new spectral history effect correction is proposed. The new spectral history correction eliminates four microscopic depletion points out of total 13 depletion points in the previous correction by approximating the group cross sections with exponential function. The neutron flux to homogenize the group cross sections for the correction of the spectral history effect is calculated by the analytic function expansion nodal method in stead of the conventional polynomial expansion nodal method. This spectral history correction model is verified against the three MOX benchmark cores: a checkerboard type, a small core with 25 fuel assemblies, and a large core with 177 fuel assemblies. The benchmark results prove that this new spectral history correction model is superior to the previous one even with the reduced number of the local microscopic depletion points

[Experimental Methods and Result Analysis of a Variety of Spectral Reflectance Properties of the Thin Oil Film].

Science.gov (United States)

Ye, Zhou; Liu, Li; Wei, Chuan-xin; Gu, Qun; An, Ping-ao; Zhao, Yue-jiao; Yin, Da-yi

2015-06-01

In order to analysis the oil spill situation based on the obtained data in airborne aerial work, it's needed to get the spectral reflectance characteristics of the oil film of different oils and thickness as support and to select the appropriate operating band. An experiment is set up to measure the reflectance spectroscopy from ultraviolet to near-infrared for the film of five target samples, which means petrol, diesel, lubricating oil, kerosene and fossil, using spectral measurement device. The result is compared with the reflectance spectra of water in the same experimental environment, which shows that the spectral reflection characteristics of the oil film are related to the thickness and the type of the oil film. In case of the same thickness, the spectral reflectance curve of different types of film is far different, and for the same type of film, the spectral reflectance curve changes accordingly with the change of film thickness, therefore in terms of the single film, different film thickness can be distinguished by reflectance curves. It also shows that in terms of the same film thickness, the reflectance of diesel, kerosene, lubricants reaches peak around 380 nm wavelength, obviously different from the reflectance of water, and that the reflectance of crude oil is far less than that of water in more than 340 nm wavelength, and the obtained reflection spectrum can be used to distinguish between different types of oil film to some extent. The experiment covers main types of spilled oil, with data comprehensively covering commonly used detect spectral bands, and quantitative description of the spectral reflectance properties of film. It provides comprehensive theoretical and data support for the selection of airborne oil spill detection working band and the detection and analysis of water-surface oil spill.

ChromAIX2: A large area, high count-rate energy-resolving photon counting ASIC for a Spectral CT Prototype

Science.gov (United States)

Steadman, Roger; Herrmann, Christoph; Livne, Amir

2017-08-01

Spectral CT based on energy-resolving photon counting detectors is expected to deliver additional diagnostic value at a lower dose than current state-of-the-art CT [1]. The capability of simultaneously providing a number of spectrally distinct measurements not only allows distinguishing between photo-electric and Compton interactions but also discriminating contrast agents that exhibit a K-edge discontinuity in the absorption spectrum, referred to as K-edge Imaging [2]. Such detectors are based on direct converting sensors (e.g. CdTe or CdZnTe) and high-rate photon counting electronics. To support the development of Spectral CT and show the feasibility of obtaining rates exceeding 10 Mcps/pixel (Poissonian observed count-rate), the ChromAIX ASIC has been previously reported showing 13.5 Mcps/pixel (150 Mcps/mm2 incident) [3]. The ChromAIX has been improved to offer the possibility of a large area coverage detector, and increased overall performance. The new ASIC is called ChromAIX2, and delivers count-rates exceeding 15 Mcps/pixel with an rms-noise performance of approximately 260 e-. It has an isotropic pixel pitch of 500 μm in an array of 22×32 pixels and is tile-able on three of its sides. The pixel topology consists of a two stage amplifier (CSA and Shaper) and a number of test features allowing to thoroughly characterize the ASIC without a sensor. A total of 5 independent thresholds are also available within each pixel, allowing to acquire 5 spectrally distinct measurements simultaneously. The ASIC also incorporates a baseline restorer to eliminate excess currents induced by the sensor (e.g. dark current and low frequency drifts) which would otherwise cause an energy estimation error. In this paper we report on the inherent electrical performance of the ChromAXI2 as well as measurements obtained with CZT (CdZnTe)/CdTe sensors and X-rays and radioactive sources.

Hybrid spectral CT reconstruction.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Darin P Clark

Full Text Available Current photon counting x-ray detector (PCD technology faces limitations associated with spectral fidelity and photon starvation. One strategy for addressing these limitations is to supplement PCD data with high-resolution, low-noise data acquired with an energy-integrating detector (EID. In this work, we propose an iterative, hybrid reconstruction technique which combines the spectral properties of PCD data with the resolution and signal-to-noise characteristics of EID data. Our hybrid reconstruction technique is based on an algebraic model of data fidelity which substitutes the EID data into the data fidelity term associated with the PCD reconstruction, resulting in a joint reconstruction problem. Within the split Bregman framework, these data fidelity constraints are minimized subject to additional constraints on spectral rank and on joint intensity-gradient sparsity measured between the reconstructions of the EID and PCD data. Following a derivation of the proposed technique, we apply it to the reconstruction of a digital phantom which contains realistic concentrations of iodine, barium, and calcium encountered in small-animal micro-CT. The results of this experiment suggest reliable separation and detection of iodine at concentrations ≥ 5 mg/ml and barium at concentrations ≥ 10 mg/ml in 2-mm features for EID and PCD data reconstructed with inherent spatial resolutions of 176 μm and 254 μm, respectively (point spread function, FWHM. Furthermore, hybrid reconstruction is demonstrated to enhance spatial resolution within material decomposition results and to improve low-contrast detectability by as much as 2.6 times relative to reconstruction with PCD data only. The parameters of the simulation experiment are based on an in vivo micro-CT experiment conducted in a mouse model of soft-tissue sarcoma. Material decomposition results produced from this in vivo data demonstrate the feasibility of distinguishing two K-edge contrast agents with

Hybrid spectral CT reconstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Darin P.

2017-01-01

Current photon counting x-ray detector (PCD) technology faces limitations associated with spectral fidelity and photon starvation. One strategy for addressing these limitations is to supplement PCD data with high-resolution, low-noise data acquired with an energy-integrating detector (EID). In this work, we propose an iterative, hybrid reconstruction technique which combines the spectral properties of PCD data with the resolution and signal-to-noise characteristics of EID data. Our hybrid reconstruction technique is based on an algebraic model of data fidelity which substitutes the EID data into the data fidelity term associated with the PCD reconstruction, resulting in a joint reconstruction problem. Within the split Bregman framework, these data fidelity constraints are minimized subject to additional constraints on spectral rank and on joint intensity-gradient sparsity measured between the reconstructions of the EID and PCD data. Following a derivation of the proposed technique, we apply it to the reconstruction of a digital phantom which contains realistic concentrations of iodine, barium, and calcium encountered in small-animal micro-CT. The results of this experiment suggest reliable separation and detection of iodine at concentrations ≥ 5 mg/ml and barium at concentrations ≥ 10 mg/ml in 2-mm features for EID and PCD data reconstructed with inherent spatial resolutions of 176 μm and 254 μm, respectively (point spread function, FWHM). Furthermore, hybrid reconstruction is demonstrated to enhance spatial resolution within material decomposition results and to improve low-contrast detectability by as much as 2.6 times relative to reconstruction with PCD data only. The parameters of the simulation experiment are based on an in vivo micro-CT experiment conducted in a mouse model of soft-tissue sarcoma. Material decomposition results produced from this in vivo data demonstrate the feasibility of distinguishing two K-edge contrast agents with a spectral

Spectral characterisation of dairy products using photon time-of-flight spectroscopy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Otto Højager Attermann; Subash, Arman Ahamed; Nielsen, Frederik Donbæk

2013-01-01

in the sample provides important information on the chemical composition and micro-structural properties, which are not available with the traditional techniques used in dairy production. The instrument operates in the spectral range from 500 nm to 1030 nm. The reduced scattering coefficient varies from 5 cm(-1...... distinguishes milk and yoghurt with the same fat content and can offer a reliable way of monitoring structural formation during milk fermentation....

Prediction of spectral acceleration response ordinates based on PGA attenuation

Science.gov (United States)

Graizer, V.; Kalkan, E.

2009-01-01

Developed herein is a new peak ground acceleration (PGA)-based predictive model for 5% damped pseudospectral acceleration (SA) ordinates of free-field horizontal component of ground motion from shallow-crustal earthquakes. The predictive model of ground motion spectral shape (i.e., normalized spectrum) is generated as a continuous function of few parameters. The proposed model eliminates the classical exhausted matrix of estimator coefficients, and provides significant ease in its implementation. It is structured on the Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) database with a number of additions from recent Californian events including 2003 San Simeon and 2004 Parkfield earthquakes. A unique feature of the model is its new functional form explicitly integrating PGA as a scaling factor. The spectral shape model is parameterized within an approximation function using moment magnitude, closest distance to the fault (fault distance) and VS30 (average shear-wave velocity in the upper 30 m) as independent variables. Mean values of its estimator coefficients were computed by fitting an approximation function to spectral shape of each record using robust nonlinear optimization. Proposed spectral shape model is independent of the PGA attenuation, allowing utilization of various PGA attenuation relations to estimate the response spectrum of earthquake recordings.

Identification of triacylglycerol using automated annotation of high resolution multistage mass spectral trees.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiupin; Peng, Qingzhi; Li, Peiwu; Zhang, Qi; Ding, Xiaoxia; Zhang, Wen; Zhang, Liangxiao

2016-10-12

High complexity of identification for non-target triacylglycerols (TAGs) is a major challenge in lipidomics analysis. To identify non-target TAGs, a powerful tool named accurate MS(n) spectrometry generating so-called ion trees is used. In this paper, we presented a technique for efficient structural elucidation of TAGs on MS(n) spectral trees produced by LTQ Orbitrap MS(n), which was implemented as an open source software package, or TIT. The TIT software was used to support automatic annotation of non-target TAGs on MS(n) ion trees from a self-built fragment ion database. This database includes 19108 simulate TAG molecules from a random combination of fatty acids and corresponding 500582 self-built multistage fragment ions (MS ≤ 3). Our software can identify TAGs using a "stage-by-stage elimination" strategy. By utilizing the MS(1) accurate mass and referenced RKMD, the TIT software can discriminate unique elemental composition candidates. The regiospecific isomers of fatty acyl chains will be distinguished using MS(2) and MS(3) fragment spectra. We applied the algorithm to the selection of 45 TAG standards and demonstrated that the molecular ions could be 100% correctly assigned. Therefore, the TIT software could be applied to TAG identification in complex biological samples such as mouse plasma extracts. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spectral anomaly methods for aerial detection using KUT nuisance rejection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Detwiler, R.S.; Pfund, D.M.; Myjak, M.J.; Kulisek, J.A.; Seifert, C.E.

2015-01-01

This work discusses the application and optimization of a spectral anomaly method for the real-time detection of gamma radiation sources from an aerial helicopter platform. Aerial detection presents several key challenges over ground-based detection. For one, larger and more rapid background fluctuations are typical due to higher speeds, larger field of view, and geographically induced background changes. As well, the possible large altitude or stand-off distance variations cause significant steps in background count rate as well as spectral changes due to increased gamma-ray scatter with detection at higher altitudes. The work here details the adaptation and optimization of the PNNL-developed algorithm Nuisance-Rejecting Spectral Comparison Ratios for Anomaly Detection (NSCRAD), a spectral anomaly method previously developed for ground-based applications, for an aerial platform. The algorithm has been optimized for two multi-detector systems; a NaI(Tl)-detector-based system and a CsI detector array. The optimization here details the adaptation of the spectral windows for a particular set of target sources to aerial detection and the tailoring for the specific detectors. As well, the methodology and results for background rejection methods optimized for the aerial gamma-ray detection using Potassium, Uranium and Thorium (KUT) nuisance rejection are shown. Results indicate that use of a realistic KUT nuisance rejection may eliminate metric rises due to background magnitude and spectral steps encountered in aerial detection due to altitude changes and geographically induced steps such as at land–water interfaces

Design of a modified endoscope illuminator for spectral imaging of colorectal tissues

Science.gov (United States)

Browning, Craig M.; Mayes, Samuel; Rich, Thomas C.; Leavesley, Silas J.

2017-02-01

The gold standard for locating colonic polyps is a white light endoscope in a colonoscopy, however, polyps smaller than 5 mm can be easily missed. Modified procedures such as narrow band imaging have shown only marginal increases in detection rates. Spectral imaging is a potential solution to improve the sensitivity and specificity of colonoscopies by providing the ability to distinguish molecular fluorescence differences in tissues. The goal of this work is to implement a spectral endoscopic light source to acquire spectral image data of colorectal tissues. A beta-version endoscope light source was developed, by retrofitting a white light endoscope light source (Olympus, CLK-4) with 16 narrow band LEDs. This redesigned, beta-prototype uses high-power LEDs with a minimum output of 500 mW to provide sufficient spectral output (0.5 mW) through the endoscope. A mounting apparatus was designed to provide sufficient heat dissipation. Here, we report recent results of our tests to characterize the intensity output through the light source and endoscope to determine the flat spectral output for imaging and intensity losses through the endoscope. We also report preliminary spectral imaging data from transverse pig colon that demonstrates the ability to result in working practical spectral data. Preliminary results of this revised prototype spectral endoscope system demonstrate that there is sufficient power to allow the imaging process to continue and potentially determine spectral differences in cancerous and normal tissue from imaging ex vivo pairs. Future work will focus on building a spectral library for the colorectal region and refining the user interface the system for in vivo use.

Spectral discrimination of uranium-mineralized breccia pipes in northwestern Arizona

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwarteng, A.Y.; Goodell, P.C.; Pingitore, N.E. Jr.; Wenich, K.J.

1989-01-01

The price of uranium is currently the lowest in more than a decade. The only type of uranium deposit that is economically viable in the depressed uranium market is such high-grade ore as the unconformity type found in Canada and Australia. Exploration for uranium-bearing breccia pipes in northwestern Arizona by both domestic and foreign companies is currently active because of the relatively high-grade ore they contain and their tendency to be polymetallic. In the US, uranium-mineralized breccia pipes are one of the few deposits that can compete in the current market. A stepwise discriminant analysis was performed on spectral data acquired from the field, laboratory, and Landsat thematic mapper (TM). The principal objectives were (1) to investigate the fundamental differences in the spectral properties of outcrops on the surface of breccia pipes and the background, (2) to choose TM bandpasses that were statistically optimum for distinguishing between breccia pipes and the background, and (3) to compare the results of the field, laboratory, and TM digital data which were acquired by different instruments having different spatial and spectral resolutions

Distinguishing Bark Beetle-infested Vegetation by Tree Species Types and Stress Levels using Landsat Data

Science.gov (United States)

Sivanpillai, R.; Ewers, B. E.; Speckman, H. N.; Miller, S. N.

2015-12-01

In the Western United States, more than 3 million hectares of lodgepole pine forests have been impacted by the Mountain pine beetle outbreak, while another 166,000 hectares of spruce-fir forests have been attacked by Spruce beetle. Following the beetle attack, the trees lose their hydraulic conductivity thus altering their carbon and water fluxes. These trees go through various stages of stress until mortality, described by color changes in their needles prior to losing them. Modeling the impact of these vegetation types require thematically precise land cover data that distinguishes lodgepole pine and spruce-fir forests along with the stage of impact since the ecosystem fluxes are different for these two systems. However, the national and regional-scale land cover datasets derived from remotely sensed data do not have this required thematic precision. We evaluated the feasibility of multispectral data collected by Landsat 8 to distinguish lodgepole pine and spruce fir, and subsequently model the different stages of attack using field data collected in Medicine Bow National Forest (Wyoming, USA). Operational Land Imager, onboard Landsat 8 has more spectral bands and higher radiometric resolution (12 bit) in comparison to sensors onboard earlier Landsat missions which could improve the ability to distinguish these vegetation types and their stress conditions. In addition to these characteristics, its repeat coverage, rigorous radiometric calibration, wide swath width, and no-cost data provide unique advantages to Landsat data for mapping large geographic areas. Initial results from this study highlight the importance of SWIR bands for distinguishing different levels of stress, and the need for ancillary data for distinguishing species types. Insights gained from this study could lead to the generation of land cover maps with higher thematic precision, and improve the ability to model various ecosystem processes as a result of these infestations.

Spectral autofluorescence imaging of the retina for drusen detection

Science.gov (United States)

Foubister, James J.; Gorman, Alistair; Harvey, Andy; Hemert, Jano van

2018-02-01

The presence and characteristics of drusen in retinal images, namely their size, location, and distribution, can be used to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of Age Related Macular Degeneration (AMD); one of the leading causes for blindness in the elderly population. Current imaging techniques are effective at determining the presence and number of drusen, but fail when it comes to classifying their size and form. These distinctions are important for correctly characterising the disease, especially in the early stages where the development of just one larger drusen can indicate progression. Another challenge for automated detection is in distinguishing them from other retinal features, such as cotton wool spots. We describe the development of a multi-spectral scanning-laser ophthalmoscope that records images of retinal autofluorescence (AF) in four spectral bands. This will offer the potential to detect drusen with improved contrast based on spectral discrimination for automated classification. The resulting improved specificity and sensitivity for their detection offers more reliable characterisation of AMD. We present proof of principle images prior to further system optimisation and clinical trials for assessment of enhanced detection of drusen.

Remote sensing of St. Augustine Decline (SAD) disease. [spectral reflectance of healthy and diseased grass

Science.gov (United States)

Odle, W. C.

1976-01-01

Laboratory and field spectral reflectance measurements of healthy and infected St. Augustine grass were made using several different instruments. Spectral differences between healthy and infected grass occured in the visible and near infrared regions. Multiband and color infrared photographs were taken of healthy and diseased turf from ground-based platforms and low altitude aircraft. Qualitative (density slicing) and quantitative (transmission densitometry) analyses revealed distinct tonal differences between healthy and St. Augustine disease (SAD) infected grass. Similar experiments are described for determining if healthy and diseased grass can be distinguished from waterstressed grass and grass deficient in either nitrogen or iron.

Distinguishing Hidden Markov Chains

OpenAIRE

Kiefer, Stefan; Sistla, A. Prasad

2015-01-01

Hidden Markov Chains (HMCs) are commonly used mathematical models of probabilistic systems. They are employed in various fields such as speech recognition, signal processing, and biological sequence analysis. We consider the problem of distinguishing two given HMCs based on an observation sequence that one of the HMCs generates. More precisely, given two HMCs and an observation sequence, a distinguishing algorithm is expected to identify the HMC that generates the observation sequence. Two HM...

Ultraviolet spectral reflectance of carbonaceous materials

Science.gov (United States)

Applin, Daniel M.; Izawa, Matthew R. M.; Cloutis, Edward A.; Gillis-Davis, Jeffrey J.; Pitman, Karly M.; Roush, Ted L.; Hendrix, Amanda R.; Lucey, Paul G.

2018-06-01

A number of planetary spacecraft missions have carried instruments with sensors covering the ultraviolet (UV) wavelength range. However, there exists a general lack of relevant UV reflectance laboratory data to compare against these planetary surface remote sensing observations in order to make confident material identifications. To address this need, we have systematically analyzed reflectance spectra of carbonaceous materials in the 200-500 nm spectral range, and found spectral-compositional-structural relationships that suggest this wavelength region could distinguish between otherwise difficult-to-identify carbon phases. In particular (and by analogy with the infrared spectral region), large changes over short wavelength intervals in the refractive indices associated with the trigonal sp2π-π* transition of carbon can lead to Fresnel peaks and Christiansen-like features in reflectance. Previous studies extending to shorter wavelengths also show that anomalous dispersion caused by the σ-σ* transition associated with both the trigonal sp2 and tetrahedral sp3 sites causes these features below λ = 200 nm. The peak wavelength positions and shapes of π-π* and σ-σ* features contain information on sp3/sp2, structure, crystallinity, and powder grain size. A brief comparison with existing observational data indicates that the carbon fraction of the surface of Mercury is likely amorphous and submicroscopic, as is that on the surface of the martian satellites Phobos and Deimos, and possibly comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, while further coordinated observations and laboratory experiments should refine these feature assignments and compositional hypotheses. The new laboratory diffuse reflectance data reported here provide an important new resource for interpreting UV reflectance measurements from planetary surfaces throughout the solar system, and confirm that the UV can be rich in important spectral information.

High-power direct diode laser output by spectral beam combining

Science.gov (United States)

Tan, Hao; Meng, Huicheng; Ruan, Xu; Du, Weichuan; Wang, Zhao

2018-03-01

We demonstrate a spectral beam combining scheme based on multiple mini-bar stacks, which have more diode laser combining elements, to increase the combined diode laser power and realize equal beam quality in both the fast and slow axes. A spectral beam combining diode laser output of 1130 W is achieved with an operating current of 75 A. When a 9.6 X de-magnifying telescope is introduced between the output mirror and the diffraction grating, to restrain cross-talk among diode laser emitters, a 710 W spectral beam combining diode laser output is achieved at the operating current of 70 A, and the beam quality on the fast and slow axes of the combined beam is about 7.5 mm mrad and 7.3 mm mrad respectively. The power reduction is caused by the existence of a couple resonator between the rear facet of the diode laser and the fast axis collimation lens, and it should be eliminated by using diode laser chips with higher front facet transmission efficiency and a fast axis collimation lens with lower residual reflectivity.

Optical perception for detection of cutaneous T-cell lymphoma by multi-spectral imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hsiao, Yu-Ping; Wang, Hsiang-Chen; Chen, Shih-Hua; Tsai, Chung-Hung; Yang, Jen-Hung

2014-01-01

In this study, the spectrum of each picture element of the patient’s skin image was obtained by multi-spectral imaging technology. Spectra of normal or pathological skin were collected from 15 patients. Principal component analysis and principal component scores of skin spectra were employed to distinguish the spectral characteristics with different diseases. Finally, skin regions with suspected cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL) lesions were successfully predicted by evaluation and classification of the spectra of pathological skin. The sensitivity and specificity of this technique were 89.65% and 95.18% after the analysis of about 109 patients. The probability of atopic dermatitis and psoriasis patients misinterpreted as CTCL were 5.56% and 4.54%, respectively. (paper)

Elimination reactions. V. Steric effects in Hofmann elimination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coke, J.L.; Smith, G.D.; Britton, G.H. Jr.

1975-01-01

Earlier Hofmann elimination studies were extended, and the percent syn eliminations in several ring systems have been correlated using cis-d 1 and trans-d 1 models. The measurements of several syn and anti k/sub H//k/sub D/ kinetic isotope effects are reported. Results indicate that Hofmann elimination of N,N,N-trimethyl-3,3-dimethylcyclopentylammonium hydroxide goes by 97 percent syn mechanism to give 3,3-dimethylcyclopentene and by 70 + - 6 percent syn mechanism to give 4,4-dimethylcyclopentene. There appears to be severe steric interactions in the anti mechanism in the 3,3-dimethylcyclopentyl system. Results indicate that, for Hofmann pyrolysis of trimethylammonium hydroxides, cyclopentene is formed by a 39 +- 7 percent syn mechanism, cyclohexene is formed by a 2 + - 2 percent syn mechanism, and cycloheptene is formed by a 30 +- 2 percent syn mechanism. Steric effects on isotope effects and mechanisms are discussed. (U.S.)

Spectral gamuts and spectral gamut mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Rosen, Mitchell R.; Derhak, Maxim W.

2006-01-01

All imaging devices have two gamuts: the stimulus gamut and the response gamut. The response gamut of a print engine is typically described in CIE colorimetry units, a system derived to quantify human color response. More fundamental than colorimetric gamuts are spectral gamuts, based on radiance, reflectance or transmittance units. Spectral gamuts depend on the physics of light or on how materials interact with light and do not involve the human's photoreceptor integration or brain processing. Methods for visualizing a spectral gamut raise challenges as do considerations of how to utilize such a data-set for producing superior color reproductions. Recent work has described a transformation of spectra reduced to 6-dimensions called LabPQR. LabPQR was designed as a hybrid space with three explicit colorimetric axes and three additional spectral reconstruction axes. In this paper spectral gamuts are discussed making use of LabPQR. Also, spectral gamut mapping is considered in light of the colorimetric-spectral duality of the LabPQR space.

Spectral interferometric length measurement and tomography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinkl, W.

1998-01-01

This work presents a new method for optical length measurement using the principles of spectral interferometry. Results of thickness measurements on glass plates, the human cornea in vivo and human finger and toe nails in vivo and in vitro are discussed. It could be demonstrated that the absorption coefficient of red and green ink can be measured depth sensitive. Another chapter describes a new technique to measure a thickness profile of a sample within the illuminating beam. It could be demonstrated that a thickness profile over a distance of a few millimeters can be measured with one single measurement. At the Institute of Medical Physics of the University of Vienna a method to measure intraocular distances by the means of interferometry has been developed during the last ten years. Basing on this method (dual beam interferometry) an optical in vivo tomography experiment could be established. A thickness map of the retina of a human eye in vivo can be easily measured. The dual beam technique uses a Michelson interferometer with a moving mirror to adjust the length of the interferometer arms. The mirror is moved by a stepper motor. This movement induces vibrations, misalignment and other disadvantages. So mechanically moved parts as reasons for possible errors should be eliminated. This work shows one possible solution - using the principle of spectral interferometry. A spectral interferometry experiment is a static experiment, no moving parts are used. A spectral interferometry experiment has been used to measure the thickness of glass plates and stacks of glass plates. Using two light sources of different wavelengths spectral absorption properties of a sample can be measured depth sensitive. This could be demonstrated with stacks of glass plates and the use of red and green ink between two plates. The obtained results are compared to the results of a computer simulation. To demonstrate the ability of spectral interferometry to measure the thickness of biologic

The high throughput virtual slit enables compact, inexpensive Raman spectral imagers

Science.gov (United States)

Gooding, Edward; Deutsch, Erik R.; Huehnerhoff, Joseph; Hajian, Arsen R.

2018-02-01

Raman spectral imaging is increasingly becoming the tool of choice for field-based applications such as threat, narcotics and hazmat detection; air, soil and water quality monitoring; and material ID. Conventional fiber-coupled point source Raman spectrometers effectively interrogate a small sample area and identify bulk samples via spectral library matching. However, these devices are very slow at mapping over macroscopic areas. In addition, the spatial averaging performed by instruments that collect binned spectra, particularly when used in combination with orbital raster scanning, tends to dilute the spectra of trace particles in a mixture. Our design, employing free space line illumination combined with area imaging, reveals both the spectral and spatial content of heterogeneous mixtures. This approach is well suited to applications such as detecting explosives and narcotics trace particle detection in fingerprints. The patented High Throughput Virtual Slit1 is an innovative optical design that enables compact, inexpensive handheld Raman spectral imagers. HTVS-based instruments achieve significantly higher spectral resolution than can be obtained with conventional designs of the same size. Alternatively, they can be used to build instruments with comparable resolution to large spectrometers, but substantially smaller size, weight and unit cost, all while maintaining high sensitivity. When used in combination with laser line imaging, this design eliminates sample photobleaching and unwanted photochemistry while greatly enhancing mapping speed, all with high selectivity and sensitivity. We will present spectral image data and discuss applications that are made possible by low cost HTVS-enabled instruments.

Universal leakage elimination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Byrd, Mark S.; Lidar, Daniel A.; Wu, L.-A.; Zanardi, Paolo

2005-01-01

'Leakage' errors are particularly serious errors which couple states within a code subspace to states outside of that subspace, thus destroying the error protection benefit afforded by an encoded state. We generalize an earlier method for producing leakage elimination decoupling operations and examine the effects of the leakage eliminating operations on decoherence-free or noiseless subsystems which encode one logical, or protected qubit into three or four qubits. We find that by eliminating a large class of leakage errors, under some circumstances, we can create the conditions for a decoherence-free evolution. In other cases we identify a combined decoherence-free and quantum error correcting code which could eliminate errors in solid-state qubits with anisotropic exchange interaction Hamiltonians and enable universal quantum computing with only these interactions

Towards Operational Definition of Postictal Stage: Spectral Entropy as a Marker of Seizure Ending

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ancor Sanz-García

2017-02-01

Full Text Available The postictal period is characterized by several neurological alterations, but its exact limits are clinically or even electroencephalographically hard to determine in most cases. We aim to provide quantitative functions or conditions with a clearly distinguishable behavior during the ictal-postictal transition. Spectral methods were used to analyze foramen ovale electrodes (FOE recordings during the ictal/postictal transition in 31 seizures of 15 patients with strictly unilateral drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy. In particular, density of links, spectral entropy, and relative spectral power were analyzed. Partial simple seizures are accompanied by an ipsilateral increase in the relative Delta power and a decrease in synchronization in a 66% and 91% of the cases, respectively, after seizures offset. Complex partial seizures showed a decrease in the spectral entropy in 94% of cases, both ipsilateral and contralateral sides (100% and 73%, respectively mainly due to an increase of relative Delta activity. Seizure offset is defined as the moment at which the “seizure termination mechanisms” actually end, which is quantified in the spectral entropy value. We propose as a definition for the postictal start the time when the ipsilateral SE reaches the first global minimum.

Spectral features of nasals in Standard Latvian

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Taperte

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In the article, the acoustic features of nasals in Standard Latvian are investigated. The aim of the study is to examine whether some of the spectral properties of nasal murmur (namely anti-formant frequency, as well as frequency and bandwidth of the first nasal formant can be considered as efficient cues for distinguishing between nasal places of articulation.Speech recordings from 10 native speakers of Standard Latvian, five male and five female, aged 19–39, without any disorders or dialectal traces in their pronunciation, were used for the analysis. Prevocalic nasals [m; n; ɲ] were analyzed in isolated CVC syllables, where C is one of the nasals and V is one of the vowels [i(ː; e(ː; æ(ː; ɑ(ː; ɔ(ː; u(ː]. The velar [ŋ] — the allophone of the phoneme /n/ — was recorded in postvocalic position in [k]V[ŋks] structure units. 1260 items were analyzed in total.According to the results, the nasals of Standard Latvian can be distinguished by anti-formant frequencies rather efficiently, and the results generally agree with those obtained in previous research of Latvian as well as data reported for other languages. The frequencies and the bandwidths of the first nasal formant are less informative regarding nasal place of articulation and can be used only for distinguishing between [ŋ] and [m; n; ɲ]. Conducting perception tests to assess the auditory relevance of these acoustic features is necessary.

Analysis of In-Situ Spectral Reflectance of Sago and Other Palms: Implications for Their Detection in Optical Satellite Images

Science.gov (United States)

Rendon Santillan, Jojene; Makinano-Santillan, Meriam

2018-04-01

We present a characterization, comparison and analysis of in-situ spectral reflectance of Sago and other palms (coconut, oil palm and nipa) to ascertain on which part of the electromagnetic spectrum these palms are distinguishable from each other. The analysis also aims to reveal information that will assist in selecting which band to use when mapping Sago palms using the images acquired by these sensors. The datasets used in the analysis consisted of averaged spectral reflectance curves of each palm species measured within the 345-1045 nm wavelength range using an Ocean Optics USB4000-VIS-NIR Miniature Fiber Optic Spectrometer. This in-situ reflectance data was also resampled to match the spectral response of the 4 bands of ALOS AVNIR-2, 3 bands of ASTER VNIR, 4 bands of Landsat 7 ETM+, 5 bands of Landsat 8, and 8 bands of Worldview-2 (WV2). Examination of the spectral reflectance curves showed that the near infra-red region, specifically at 770, 800 and 875 nm, provides the best wavelengths where Sago palms can be distinguished from other palms. The resampling of the in-situ reflectance spectra to match the spectral response of optical sensors made possible the analysis of the differences in reflectance values of Sago and other palms in different bands of the sensors. Overall, the knowledge learned from the analysis can be useful in the actual analysis of optical satellite images, specifically in determining which band to include or to exclude, or whether to use all bands of a sensor in discriminating and mapping Sago palms.

Morphological, spectral and chromatography analysis and forensic comparison of PET fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Farah, Shady; Tsach, Tsadok; Bentolila, Alfonso; Domb, Abraham J

2014-06-01

Poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) fiber analysis and comparison by spectral and polymer molecular weight determination was investigated. Plain fibers of PET, a common textile fiber and plastic material was chosen for this study. The fibers were analyzed for morphological (SEM and AFM), spectral (IR and NMR), thermal (DSC) and molecular weight (MS and GPC) differences. Molecular analysis of PET fibers by Gel Permeation Chromatography (GPC) allowed the comparison of fibers that could not be otherwise distinguished with high confidence. Plain PET fibers were dissolved in hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) and analyzed by GPC using hexafluoroisopropanol:chloroform 2:98 v/v as eluent. 14 PET fiber samples, collected from various commercial producers, were analyzed for polymer molecular weight by GPC. Distinct differences in the molecular weight of the different fiber samples were found which may have potential use in forensic fiber comparison. PET fibers with average molecular weights between about 20,000 and 70,000 g mol(-1) were determined using fiber concentrations in HFIP as low as 1 μg mL(-1). This GPC analytical method can be applied for exclusively distinguish between PET fibers using 1 μg of fiber. This method can be extended to forensic comparison of other synthetic fibers such as polyamides and acrylics. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Identification of Dendrobium varieties by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy combined with spectral retrieval].

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Fei; Wang, Yuan-zhong; Deng, Xing-yan; Jin, Hang; Yang, Chun-yan

2014-06-01

The infrared spectral of stems of 165 trees of 23 Dendrobium varieties were obtained by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy technique. The spectra show that the spectra of all the samples were similar, and the main components of stem of Dendrobium is cellulose. By the spectral professional software Omnic8.0, three spectral databases were constructed. Lib01 includes of the average spectral of the first four trees of every variety, while Lib02 and Lib03 are constructed from the first-derivative spectra and the second-derivative spectra of average spectra, separately. The correlation search, the square difference retrieval and the square differential difference retrieval of the spectra are performed with the spectral database Lib01 in the specified range of 1 800-500 cm(-1), and the yield correct rate of 92.7%, 74.5% and 92.7%, respectively. The square differential difference retrieval of the first-derivative spectra and the second-derivative spectra is carried out with Lib02 and Lib03 in the same specified range 1 800-500 cm(-1), and shows correct rate of 93.9% for the former and 90.3% for the later. The results show that the first-derivative spectral retrieval of square differential difference algorithm is more suitabe for discerning Dendrobium varieties, and FTIR combining with the spectral retrieval method can identify different varieties of Dendrobium, and the correlation retrieval, the square differential retrieval, the first-derivative spectra and second-derivative spectra retrieval in the specified spectral range are effective and simple way of distinguishing different varieties of Dendrobium.

Investigation of spectral interferences in the determination of lead in fertilizers and limestone samples using high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Borges, Aline R. [Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil); Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do CNPq — INCT de Energia e Ambiente, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA (Brazil); Becker, Emilene M.; François, Luciane L.; Jesus, Alexandre de [Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil); Vale, Maria Goreti R. [Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil); Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do CNPq — INCT de Energia e Ambiente, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA (Brazil); Welz, Bernhard [Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do CNPq — INCT de Energia e Ambiente, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA (Brazil); Departamento de Química, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, 88040-900 Florianópolis, SC (Brazil); Dessuy, Morgana B., E-mail: mbdessuy@ufrgs.br [Instituto de Química, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Av. Bento Gonçalves 9500, 91501-970 Porto Alegre, RS (Brazil); Andrade, Jailson B. de [Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia do CNPq — INCT de Energia e Ambiente, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA (Brazil)

2014-11-01

In the present work, spectral interferences on the determination of lead in fertilizer and limestone samples were investigated using high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry at the main analytical lines: 217.001 and 283.306 nm. For these investigations, samples were introduced into the furnace as slurry together with a mixture of Pd and Mg as chemical modifier. Spectral interferences were observed for some samples at both analytical lines. In order to verify whether a wet digestion procedure would avoid these interferences, a reference method for wet digestion of fertilizers was employed as an alternative sample preparation procedure. However, the same interferences were also observed in the digested samples. In order to identify and eliminate the fine-structured background using a least-squares background correction, reference spectra were generated using the combination of different species. The use of the latter technique allowed the elimination of spectral interferences for most of the investigated samples, making possible the determination of lead in fertilizer and limestone samples free of interferences. The best results were found using a reference spectrum of NH{sub 4}H{sub 2}PO{sub 4} at 217.001 nm, and a mixture of H{sub 2}SO{sub 4} + Ca and HNO{sub 3} + Ca at the 283.306 nm line. The accuracy of the method was evaluated using a certified reference material “Trace Elements in Multi-Nutrient Fertilizer”. Similar results were obtained using line source graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with Zeeman-effect background correction, indicating that the latter technique was also capable to correct the spectral interferences, at least in part. - Highlights: • Spectral interferences on the determination of lead in fertilizers and limestone. • The analytical lines at 217.001 nm and 283.306 nm using HR-CS GF AAS. • Various combinations of compounds were used to create reference spectra. • LSBC

[Road Extraction in Remote Sensing Images Based on Spectral and Edge Analysis].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Wen-zhi; Luo, Li-qun; Guo, Zhou; Yue, Jun; Yu, Xue-ying; Liu, Hui; Wei, Jing

2015-10-01

Roads are typically man-made objects in urban areas. Road extraction from high-resolution images has important applications for urban planning and transportation development. However, due to the confusion of spectral characteristic, it is difficult to distinguish roads from other objects by merely using traditional classification methods that mainly depend on spectral information. Edge is an important feature for the identification of linear objects (e. g. , roads). The distribution patterns of edges vary greatly among different objects. It is crucial to merge edge statistical information into spectral ones. In this study, a new method that combines spectral information and edge statistical features has been proposed. First, edge detection is conducted by using self-adaptive mean-shift algorithm on the panchromatic band, which can greatly reduce pseudo-edges and noise effects. Then, edge statistical features are obtained from the edge statistical model, which measures the length and angle distribution of edges. Finally, by integrating the spectral and edge statistical features, SVM algorithm is used to classify the image and roads are ultimately extracted. A series of experiments are conducted and the results show that the overall accuracy of proposed method is 93% comparing with only 78% overall accuracy of the traditional. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is efficient and valuable for road extraction, especially on high-resolution images.

Reduction of Musical Noise in Spectral Subtraction Method Using Subframe Phase Randomization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Seok, J.W.; Bae, K.S. [Kyungpook National University, Taegu (Korea)

1999-06-01

The Subframe phase randomization method is applied to the spectral subtraction method to reduce the musical noise in nonvoicing region after speech enhancement. The musical noise in the spectral subtraction method is the result of the narrowband tonal components that appearing somewhat periodically in the spectrogram of unvoiced and silence regions. Thus each synthesis frame in nonvoicing region is divided into several subframes to broaden the narrowband spectrum, and then phases of silence and unvoiced regions are randomized to eliminate the tonal components in the spectrum while keeping the shape of the amplitude spectrum. Performance assessments based on visual inspection of spectrogram, objective measure, and informal subjective listening tests demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm. (author). 7 refs., 5 figs.

Modern quantum kinetic theory and spectral line shapes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Monchick, L.

1991-01-01

The modern quantum kinetic theory of spectral line shapes is outlined and a typical calculation of a Raman scattered line shape described. The distinguishing feature of this calculation is that it was completely ab initio and therefore constituted a test of modern quantum kinetic theory, the state of the art in computing molecular-scattering cross sections, and novel methods of solving kinetic equations. The computation employed a large assortment of tools: group theory, finite-element methods, classic methods of solving coupled sets of ordinary differential equations, graph methods of combining angular momenta, and matrix methods of solving integral equations. Agreement with experimental results was excellent. 13 refs

A Novel Anti-Spoofing Solution for Iris Recognition Toward Cosmetic Contact Lens Attack Using Spectral ICA Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Sheng-Hsun; Li, Yung-Hui; Wang, Wei; Tien, Chung-Hao

2018-03-06

In this study, we maneuvered a dual-band spectral imaging system to capture an iridal image from a cosmetic-contact-lens-wearing subject. By using the independent component analysis to separate individual spectral primitives, we successfully distinguished the natural iris texture from the cosmetic contact lens (CCL) pattern, and restored the genuine iris patterns from the CCL-polluted image. Based on a database containing 200 test image pairs from 20 CCL-wearing subjects as the proof of concept, the recognition accuracy (False Rejection Rate: FRR) was improved from FRR = 10.52% to FRR = 0.57% with the proposed ICA anti-spoofing scheme.

Eliminating the non-Gaussian spectral response of X-ray absorbers for transition-edge sensors

Science.gov (United States)

Yan, Daikang; Divan, Ralu; Gades, Lisa M.; Kenesei, Peter; Madden, Timothy J.; Miceli, Antonino; Park, Jun-Sang; Patel, Umeshkumar M.; Quaranta, Orlando; Sharma, Hemant; Bennett, Douglas A.; Doriese, William B.; Fowler, Joseph W.; Gard, Johnathon D.; Hays-Wehle, James P.; Morgan, Kelsey M.; Schmidt, Daniel R.; Swetz, Daniel S.; Ullom, Joel N.

2017-11-01

Transition-edge sensors (TESs) as microcalorimeters for high-energy-resolution X-ray spectroscopy are often fabricated with an absorber made of materials with high Z (for X-ray stopping power) and low heat capacity (for high resolving power). Bismuth represents one of the most compelling options. TESs with evaporated bismuth absorbers have shown spectra with undesirable and unexplained low-energy tails. We have developed TESs with electroplated bismuth absorbers over a gold layer that are not afflicted by this problem and that retain the other positive aspects of this material. To better understand these phenomena, we have studied a series of TESs with gold, gold/evaporated bismuth, and gold/electroplated bismuth absorbers, fabricated on the same die with identical thermal coupling. We show that the bismuth morphology is linked to the spectral response of X-ray TES microcalorimeters.

A Distinguish Attack on COSvd Cipher

OpenAIRE

Mohammad Ali Orumiehchi ha; R. Mirghadri

2007-01-01

The COSvd Ciphers has been proposed by Filiol and others (2004). It is a strengthened version of COS stream cipher family denoted COSvd that has been adopted for at least one commercial standard. We propose a distinguish attack on this version, and prove that, it is distinguishable from a random stream. In the COSvd Cipher used one S-Box (10×8) on the final part of cipher. We focus on S-Box and use weakness this S-Box for distinguish attack. In addition, found a leak on HNLL that the sub s-bo...

ANALYSIS OF IN-SITU SPECTRAL REFLECTANCE OF SAGO AND OTHER PALMS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THEIR DETECTION IN OPTICAL SATELLITE IMAGES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. R. Santillan

2018-04-01

Full Text Available We present a characterization, comparison and analysis of in-situ spectral reflectance of Sago and other palms (coconut, oil palm and nipa to ascertain on which part of the electromagnetic spectrum these palms are distinguishable from each other. The analysis also aims to reveal information that will assist in selecting which band to use when mapping Sago palms using the images acquired by these sensors. The datasets used in the analysis consisted of averaged spectral reflectance curves of each palm species measured within the 345–1045 nm wavelength range using an Ocean Optics USB4000-VIS-NIR Miniature Fiber Optic Spectrometer. This in-situ reflectance data was also resampled to match the spectral response of the 4 bands of ALOS AVNIR-2, 3 bands of ASTER VNIR, 4 bands of Landsat 7 ETM+, 5 bands of Landsat 8, and 8 bands of Worldview-2 (WV2. Examination of the spectral reflectance curves showed that the near infra-red region, specifically at 770, 800 and 875 nm, provides the best wavelengths where Sago palms can be distinguished from other palms. The resampling of the in-situ reflectance spectra to match the spectral response of optical sensors made possible the analysis of the differences in reflectance values of Sago and other palms in different bands of the sensors. Overall, the knowledge learned from the analysis can be useful in the actual analysis of optical satellite images, specifically in determining which band to include or to exclude, or whether to use all bands of a sensor in discriminating and mapping Sago palms.

Seismic spectral decomposition and analysis based on Wigner–Ville distribution for sandstone reservoir characterization in West Sichuan depression

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Xiaoyang; Liu, Tianyou

2010-01-01

Reflections from a hydrocarbon-saturated zone are generally expected to have a tendency to be low frequency. Previous work has shown the application of seismic spectral decomposition for low-frequency shadow detection. In this paper, we further analyse the characteristics of spectral amplitude in fractured sandstone reservoirs with different fluid saturations using the Wigner–Ville distribution (WVD)-based method. We give a description of the geometric structure of cross-terms due to the bilinear nature of WVD and eliminate cross-terms using smoothed pseudo-WVD (SPWVD) with time- and frequency-independent Gaussian kernels as smoothing windows. SPWVD is finally applied to seismic data from West Sichuan depression. We focus our study on the comparison of SPWVD spectral amplitudes resulting from different fluid contents. It shows that prolific gas reservoirs feature higher peak spectral amplitude at higher peak frequency, which attenuate faster than low-quality gas reservoirs and dry or wet reservoirs. This can be regarded as a spectral attenuation signature for future exploration in the study area

Topological susceptibility from twisted mass fermions using spectral projectors and the gradient flow

Science.gov (United States)

Alexandrou, Constantia; Athenodorou, Andreas; Cichy, Krzysztof; Constantinou, Martha; Horkel, Derek P.; Jansen, Karl; Koutsou, Giannis; Larkin, Conor

2018-04-01

We compare lattice QCD determinations of topological susceptibility using a gluonic definition from the gradient flow and a fermionic definition from the spectral-projector method. We use ensembles with dynamical light, strange and charm flavors of maximally twisted mass fermions. For both definitions of the susceptibility we employ ensembles at three values of the lattice spacing and several quark masses at each spacing. The data are fitted to chiral perturbation theory predictions with a discretization term to determine the continuum chiral condensate in the massless limit and estimate the overall discretization errors. We find that both approaches lead to compatible results in the continuum limit, but the gluonic ones are much more affected by cutoff effects. This finally yields a much smaller total error in the spectral-projector results. We show that there exists, in principle, a value of the spectral cutoff which would completely eliminate discretization effects in the topological susceptibility.

On the Spectral Shape of Non-recycled γ-ray Pulsars

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chung-Yue Hui

2016-06-01

Full Text Available More than 100 γ−ray pulsars have been discovered by the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. With a significantly enlarged sample size, it is possible to compare the properties of different classes. Radio-quiet (RQ γ−ray pulsars form a distinct population, and various studies have shown that the properties of the RQ population can be intrinsically different from those of radio-loud (RL pulsars. Utilizing these differences, it is possible to further classify the pulsar-like unidentified γ−ray sources into sub-groups. In this study, we suggest the possibility of distinguishing RQ/RL pulsars by their spectral shape. We compute the probabilities of a pulsar to be RQ or RL for a given spectral curvature. This can provide a key to the estimation of the intrinsic fraction of radio-quietness in the γ−ray pulsar population, which can place a tight constraint on the emission geometry.

A stable pattern of EEG spectral coherence distinguishes children with autism from neuro-typical controls - a large case control study.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Frank H; Als, Heidelise

2012-06-26

The autism rate has recently increased to 1 in 100 children. Genetic studies demonstrate poorly understood complexity. Environmental factors apparently also play a role. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies demonstrate increased brain sizes and altered connectivity. Electroencephalogram (EEG) coherence studies confirm connectivity changes. However, genetic-, MRI- and/or EEG-based diagnostic tests are not yet available. The varied study results likely reflect methodological and population differences, small samples and, for EEG, lack of attention to group-specific artifact. Of the 1,304 subjects who participated in this study, with ages ranging from 1 to 18 years old and assessed with comparable EEG studies, 463 children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD); 571 children were neuro-typical controls (C). After artifact management, principal components analysis (PCA) identified EEG spectral coherence factors with corresponding loading patterns. The 2- to 12-year-old subsample consisted of 430 ASD- and 554 C-group subjects (n = 984). Discriminant function analysis (DFA) determined the spectral coherence factors' discrimination success for the two groups. Loading patterns on the DFA-selected coherence factors described ASD-specific coherence differences when compared to controls. Total sample PCA of coherence data identified 40 factors which explained 50.8% of the total population variance. For the 2- to 12-year-olds, the 40 factors showed highly significant group differences (P EEG coherence-based phenotype of childhood autism. The predominantly reduced short-distance coherences may indicate poor local network function. The increased long-distance coherences may represent compensatory processes or reduced neural pruning. The wide average spectral range of factor loadings may suggest over-damped neural networks.

Local and Global Distinguishability in Quantum Interferometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Durkin, Gabriel A.; Dowling, Jonathan P.

2007-01-01

A statistical distinguishability based on relative entropy characterizes the fitness of quantum states for phase estimation. This criterion is employed in the context of a Mach-Zehnder interferometer and used to interpolate between two regimes of local and global phase distinguishability. The scaling of distinguishability in these regimes with photon number is explored for various quantum states. It emerges that local distinguishability is dependent on a discrepancy between quantum and classical rotational energy. Our analysis demonstrates that the Heisenberg limit is the true upper limit for local phase sensitivity. Only the ''NOON'' states share this bound, but other states exhibit a better trade-off when comparing local and global phase regimes

Passive microrheology of soft materials with atomic force microscopy: A wavelet-based spectral analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martinez-Torres, C.; Streppa, L. [CNRS, UMR5672, Laboratoire de Physique, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 Allée d' Italie, Université de Lyon, 69007 Lyon (France); Arneodo, A.; Argoul, F. [CNRS, UMR5672, Laboratoire de Physique, Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon, 46 Allée d' Italie, Université de Lyon, 69007 Lyon (France); CNRS, UMR5798, Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d' Aquitaine, Université de Bordeaux, 351 Cours de la Libération, 33405 Talence (France); Argoul, P. [Université Paris-Est, Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, SDOA, MAST, IFSTTAR, 14-20 Bd Newton, Cité Descartes, 77420 Champs sur Marne (France)

2016-01-18

Compared to active microrheology where a known force or modulation is periodically imposed to a soft material, passive microrheology relies on the spectral analysis of the spontaneous motion of tracers inherent or external to the material. Passive microrheology studies of soft or living materials with atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilever tips are rather rare because, in the spectral densities, the rheological response of the materials is hardly distinguishable from other sources of random or periodic perturbations. To circumvent this difficulty, we propose here a wavelet-based decomposition of AFM cantilever tip fluctuations and we show that when applying this multi-scale method to soft polymer layers and to living myoblasts, the structural damping exponents of these soft materials can be retrieved.

Distinguished trajectories in time dependent vector fields

OpenAIRE

Madrid, J. A. Jimenez; Mancho, Ana M.

2008-01-01

We introduce a new definition of distinguished trajectory that generalizes the concepts of fixed point and periodic orbit to aperiodic dynamical systems. This new definition is valid for identifying distinguished trajectories with hyperbolic and nonhyperbolic types of stability. The definition is implemented numerically and the procedure consists of determining a path of limit coordinates. It has been successfully applied to known examples of distinguished trajectories. In the context of high...

Non-invasive material discrimination using spectral x-ray radiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gilbert, Andrew J.; McDonald, Benjamin S.; Robinson, Sean M.; Jarman, Ken D.; White, Tim A.; Deinert, Mark R.

2014-01-01

Current radiographic methods are limited in their ability to determine the presence of nuclear materials in containers or composite objects. A central problem is the inability to distinguish the attenuation pattern of high-density metals from those with a greater thickness of a less dense material. Here, we show that spectrally sensitive detectors can be used to discriminate plutonium from multiple layers of other materials using a single-view radiograph. An inverse algorithm with adaptive regularization is used. The algorithm can determine the presence of plutonium in simulated radiographs with a mass resolution per unit area of at least 0.07 g cm −2

A stable pattern of EEG spectral coherence distinguishes children with autism from neuro-typical controls - a large case control study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duffy Frank H

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The autism rate has recently increased to 1 in 100 children. Genetic studies demonstrate poorly understood complexity. Environmental factors apparently also play a role. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI studies demonstrate increased brain sizes and altered connectivity. Electroencephalogram (EEG coherence studies confirm connectivity changes. However, genetic-, MRI- and/or EEG-based diagnostic tests are not yet available. The varied study results likely reflect methodological and population differences, small samples and, for EEG, lack of attention to group-specific artifact. Methods Of the 1,304 subjects who participated in this study, with ages ranging from 1 to 18 years old and assessed with comparable EEG studies, 463 children were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD; 571 children were neuro-typical controls (C. After artifact management, principal components analysis (PCA identified EEG spectral coherence factors with corresponding loading patterns. The 2- to 12-year-old subsample consisted of 430 ASD- and 554 C-group subjects (n = 984. Discriminant function analysis (DFA determined the spectral coherence factors' discrimination success for the two groups. Loading patterns on the DFA-selected coherence factors described ASD-specific coherence differences when compared to controls. Results Total sample PCA of coherence data identified 40 factors which explained 50.8% of the total population variance. For the 2- to 12-year-olds, the 40 factors showed highly significant group differences (P Conclusions Classification success suggests a stable coherence loading pattern that differentiates ASD- from C-group subjects. This might constitute an EEG coherence-based phenotype of childhood autism. The predominantly reduced short-distance coherences may indicate poor local network function. The increased long-distance coherences may represent compensatory processes or reduced neural pruning. The wide average spectral range

A Novel Anti-Spoofing Solution for Iris Recognition Toward Cosmetic Contact Lens Attack Using Spectral ICA Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Hsieh, Sheng-Hsun; Wang, Wei; Tien, Chung-Hao

2018-01-01

In this study, we maneuvered a dual-band spectral imaging system to capture an iridal image from a cosmetic-contact-lens-wearing subject. By using the independent component analysis to separate individual spectral primitives, we successfully distinguished the natural iris texture from the cosmetic contact lens (CCL) pattern, and restored the genuine iris patterns from the CCL-polluted image. Based on a database containing 200 test image pairs from 20 CCL-wearing subjects as the proof of concept, the recognition accuracy (False Rejection Rate: FRR) was improved from FRR = 10.52% to FRR = 0.57% with the proposed ICA anti-spoofing scheme. PMID:29509692

A Novel Anti-Spoofing Solution for Iris Recognition Toward Cosmetic Contact Lens Attack Using Spectral ICA Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sheng-Hsun Hsieh

2018-03-01

Full Text Available In this study, we maneuvered a dual-band spectral imaging system to capture an iridal image from a cosmetic-contact-lens-wearing subject. By using the independent component analysis to separate individual spectral primitives, we successfully distinguished the natural iris texture from the cosmetic contact lens (CCL pattern, and restored the genuine iris patterns from the CCL-polluted image. Based on a database containing 200 test image pairs from 20 CCL-wearing subjects as the proof of concept, the recognition accuracy (False Rejection Rate: FRR was improved from FRR = 10.52% to FRR = 0.57% with the proposed ICA anti-spoofing scheme.

Study on text mining algorithm for ultrasound examination of chronic liver diseases based on spectral clustering

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Bingguo; Chen, Xiaofei

2018-05-01

Ultrasonography is an important examination for the diagnosis of chronic liver disease. The doctor gives the liver indicators and suggests the patient's condition according to the description of ultrasound report. With the rapid increase in the amount of data of ultrasound report, the workload of professional physician to manually distinguish ultrasound results significantly increases. In this paper, we use the spectral clustering method to cluster analysis of the description of the ultrasound report, and automatically generate the ultrasonic diagnostic diagnosis by machine learning. 110 groups ultrasound examination report of chronic liver disease were selected as test samples in this experiment, and the results were validated by spectral clustering and compared with k-means clustering algorithm. The results show that the accuracy of spectral clustering is 92.73%, which is higher than that of k-means clustering algorithm, which provides a powerful ultrasound-assisted diagnosis for patients with chronic liver disease.

Integral and Multidimensional Linear Distinguishers with Correlation Zero

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bogdanov, Andrey; Leander, Gregor; Nyberg, Kaisa

2012-01-01

Zero-correlation cryptanalysis uses linear approximations holding with probability exactly 1/2. In this paper, we reveal fundamental links of zero-correlation distinguishers to integral distinguishers and multidimensional linear distinguishers. We show that an integral implies zero-correlation li...... weak key assumptions. © International Association for Cryptologic Research 2012....

Distinguishing Bovine Fecal Matter on Spinach Leaves Using Field Spectroscopy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Colm D. Everard

2016-08-01

Full Text Available Detection of fecal contaminants on leafy greens in the field will allow for decreasing cross-contamination of produce during and post-harvest. Fecal contamination of leafy greens has been associated with Escherichia coli (E. coli O157:H7 outbreaks and foodborne illnesses. In this study, passive field spectroscopy measuring reflectance and fluorescence created by the sun’s light, coupled with numerical normalization techniques, are used to distinguish fecal contaminants on spinach leaves from soil on spinach leaves and uncontaminated spinach leaf portions. A Savitzky-Golay first derivative transformation and a waveband ratio of 710:688 nm as normalizing techniques were assessed. A soft independent modelling of class analogies (SIMCA procedure with a 216 sample training set successfully predicted all 54 test set sample types using the spectral region of 600–800 nm. The ratio of 710:688 nm along with set thresholds separated all 270 samples by type. Application of these techniques in-field to avoid harvesting of fecal contaminated leafy greens may lead to a reduction in foodborne illnesses as well as reduced produce waste.

Techniques for Handling and Removal of Spectral Channels in Fourier Transform Synchrotron-Based Spectra

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ibrahim, Amr; Predoi-Cross, Adriana; Teillet, Philippe M.

2010-01-01

Channel spectra are a big problem for those attempting to use synchrotron-based Fourier transform spectra for spectral lineshape studies. Due to the layout of the optical system at the CLS far-infrared beamline, the synchrotron beam undergoes unavoidable multiple reflections on the steering mirrors, beam splitter, several sets of windows, and filters. We present a method for eliminating channel spectra and compare the results of our technique with other methods available in the literature.

EIT Imaging Regularization Based on Spectral Graph Wavelets.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Bo; Schullcke, Benjamin; Krueger-Ziolek, Sabine; Vauhkonen, Marko; Wolf, Gerhard; Mueller-Lisse, Ullrich; Moeller, Knut

2017-09-01

The objective of electrical impedance tomographic reconstruction is to identify the distribution of tissue conductivity from electrical boundary conditions. This is an ill-posed inverse problem usually solved under the finite-element method framework. In previous studies, standard sparse regularization was used for difference electrical impedance tomography to achieve a sparse solution. However, regarding elementwise sparsity, standard sparse regularization interferes with the smoothness of conductivity distribution between neighboring elements and is sensitive to noise. As an effect, the reconstructed images are spiky and depict a lack of smoothness. Such unexpected artifacts are not realistic and may lead to misinterpretation in clinical applications. To eliminate such artifacts, we present a novel sparse regularization method that uses spectral graph wavelet transforms. Single-scale or multiscale graph wavelet transforms are employed to introduce local smoothness on different scales into the reconstructed images. The proposed approach relies on viewing finite-element meshes as undirected graphs and applying wavelet transforms derived from spectral graph theory. Reconstruction results from simulations, a phantom experiment, and patient data suggest that our algorithm is more robust to noise and produces more reliable images.

Cut Elimination, Identity Elimination, and Interpolation in Super-Belnap Logics

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Přenosil, Adam

2017-01-01

Roč. 105, č. 6 (2017), s. 1255-1289 ISSN 0039-3215 R&D Projects: GA ČR GBP202/12/G061 EU Projects: European Commission(XE) 689176 - SYSMICS Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : Super-Belnap logic s * Dunn–Belnap logic * Logic of Paradox * Strong Kleene logic * Exactly True Logic * Gentzen calculus * Cut elimination * Identity elimination * Interpolation Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8) Impact factor: 0.589, year: 2016

Understanding Soliton Spectral Tunneling as a Spectral Coupling Effect

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guo, Hairun; Wang, Shaofei; Zeng, Xianglong

2013-01-01

Soliton eigenstate is found corresponding to a dispersive phase profile under which the soliton phase changes induced by the dispersion and nonlinearity are instantaneously counterbalanced. Much like a waveguide coupler relying on a spatial refractive index profile that supports mode coupling...... between channels, here we suggest that the soliton spectral tunneling effect can be understood supported by a spectral phase coupler. The dispersive wave number in the spectral domain must have a coupler-like symmetric profile for soliton spectral tunneling to occur. We show that such a spectral coupler...

Development of Femtosecond Stimulated Raman Spectroscopy: Stimulated Raman Gain via Elimination of Cross Phase Modulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jin, Seung Min; Lee, Young Jong; Yu, Jong Wan; Kim, Seong Keun

2004-01-01

We have developed a new femtosecond probe technique by using stimulated Raman spectroscopy. The cross phase modulation in femtosecond time scale associated with off-resonant interaction was shown to be eliminated by integrating the transient gain/loss signal over the time delay between the Raman pump pulse and the continuum pulse. The stimulated Raman gain of neat cyclohexane was obtained to demonstrate the feasibility of the technique. Spectral and temporal widths of stimulated Raman spectra were controlled by using a narrow band pass filter. Femtosecond stimulated Raman spectroscopy was proposed as a highly useful probe in time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy

Elimination device for metal impurities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yanagisawa, Ko.

1982-01-01

Purpose: To enable reuse of adsorbing materials by eliminating Fe 3 O 4 films reduced with adsorbing performance by way of electrolytic polishing and then forming fresh membranes using high temperature steams. Constitution: An elimination device is provided to a coolant clean-up system of a reactor for eliminating impurities such as cobalt. The elimination device comprises adsorbing materials made of stainless steel tips or the likes having Fe 3 O 4 films. The adsorbing materials are regenerated by applying an electric current between grid-like cathode plates and anode plates to leach out the Fe 3 O 4 films, washing out the electrolytic solution by cleaning water and then applying steams at high temperature onto the adsorbing materials to thereby form fresh Fe 3 O 4 films again thereon. The regeneration of the adsorbing materials enables to eliminate Co 60 and the like in the primary coolant efficiently. (Moriyama, K.)

Competition for pollinators and intra-communal spectral dissimilarity of flowers.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Kooi, C J; Pen, I; Staal, M; Stavenga, D G; Elzenga, J T M

2016-01-01

Competition for pollinators occurs when, in a community of flowering plants, several simultaneously flowering plant species depend on the same pollinator. Competition for pollinators increases interspecific pollen transfer rates, thereby reducing the number of viable offspring. In order to decrease interspecific pollen transfer, plant species can distinguish themselves from competitors by having a divergent phenotype. Floral colour is an important signalling cue to attract potential pollinators and thus a major aspect of the flower phenotype. In this study, we analysed the amount of spectral dissimilarity of flowers among pollinator-competing plants in a Dutch nature reserve. We expected pollinator-competing plants to exhibit more spectral dissimilarity than non-competing plants. Using flower visitation data of 2 years, we determined the amount of competition for pollinators by different plant species. Plant species that were visited by the same pollinator were considered specialist and competing for that pollinator, whereas plant species visited by a broad array of pollinators were considered non-competing generalists. We used principal components analysis to quantify floral reflectance, and found evidence for enhanced spectral dissimilarity among plant species within specialist pollinator guilds (i.e. groups of plant species competing for the same pollinator). This is the first study that examined intra-communal dissimilarity in floral reflectance with a focus on the pollination system. © 2015 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

Elimination of two level fluctuators in superconducting quantum bits by an epitaxial tunnel barrier

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oh, Seongshik; Cicak, Katarina; Kline, Jeffrey S.; Sillanpaeae, Mika A.; Osborn, Kevin D.; Whittaker, Jed D.; Simmonds, Raymond W.; Pappas, David P.

2006-01-01

Quantum computing based on Josephson junction technology is considered promising due to its scalable architecture. However, decoherence is a major obstacle. Here, we report evidence for improved Josephson quantum bits (qubits) using a single-crystal Al 2 O 3 tunnel barrier. We have found an ∼80% reduction in the density of the spectral splittings that indicate the existence of two-level fluctators (TLFs) in amorphous tunnel barriers. The residual ∼20% TLFs can be attributed to interfacial effects that may be further reduced by different electrode materials. These results show that decoherence sources in the tunnel barrier of Josephson qubits can be identified and eliminated

Scattering and absorption measurements of cervical tissues measures using low cost multi-spectral imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Bernat, Amir S.; Bar-Am, Kfir; Cataldo, Leigh; Bolton, Frank J.; Kahn, Bruce S.; Levitz, David

2018-02-01

Cervical cancer is a leading cause of death for women in low resource settings. In order to better detect cervical dysplasia, a low cost multi-spectral colposcope was developed utilizing low costs LEDs and an area scan camera. The device is capable of both traditional colposcopic imaging and multi-spectral image capture. Following initial bench testing, the device was deployed to a gynecology clinic where it was used to image patients in a colposcopy setting. Both traditional colposcopic images and spectral data from patients were uploaded to a cloud server for remote analysis. Multi-spectral imaging ( 30 second capture) took place before any clinical procedure; the standard of care was followed thereafter. If acetic acid was used in the standard of care, a post-acetowhitening colposcopic image was also captured. In analyzing the data, normal and abnormal regions were identified in the colposcopic images by an expert clinician. Spectral data were fit to a theoretical model based on diffusion theory, yielding information on scattering and absorption parameters. Data were grouped according to clinician labeling of the tissue, as well as any additional clinical test results available (Pap, HPV, biopsy). Altogether, N=20 patients were imaged in this study, with 9 of them abnormal. In comparing normal and abnormal regions of interest from patients, substantial differences were measured in blood content, while differences in oxygen saturation parameters were more subtle. These results suggest that optical measurements made using low cost spectral imaging systems can distinguish between normal and pathological tissues.

Spectrally based mapping of riverbed composition

Science.gov (United States)

Legleiter, Carl; Stegman, Tobin K.; Overstreet, Brandon T.

2016-01-01

Remote sensing methods provide an efficient means of characterizing fluvial systems. This study evaluated the potential to map riverbed composition based on in situ and/or remote measurements of reflectance. Field spectra and substrate photos from the Snake River, Wyoming, USA, were used to identify different sediment facies and degrees of algal development and to quantify their optical characteristics. We hypothesized that accounting for the effects of depth and water column attenuation to isolate the reflectance of the streambed would enhance distinctions among bottom types and facilitate substrate classification. A bottom reflectance retrieval algorithm adapted from coastal research yielded realistic spectra for the 450 to 700 nm range; but bottom reflectance-based substrate classifications, generated using a random forest technique, were no more accurate than classifications derived from above-water field spectra. Additional hypothesis testing indicated that a combination of reflectance magnitude (brightness) and indices of spectral shape provided the most accurate riverbed classifications. Convolving field spectra to the response functions of a multispectral satellite and a hyperspectral imaging system did not reduce classification accuracies, implying that high spectral resolution was not essential. Supervised classifications of algal density produced from hyperspectral data and an inferred bottom reflectance image were not highly accurate, but unsupervised classification of the bottom reflectance image revealed distinct spectrally based clusters, suggesting that such an image could provide additional river information. We attribute the failure of bottom reflectance retrieval to yield more reliable substrate maps to a latent correlation between depth and bottom type. Accounting for the effects of depth might have eliminated a key distinction among substrates and thus reduced discriminatory power. Although further, more systematic study across a broader

Spectrally efficient polarization multiplexed direct-detection OFDM system without frequency gap.

Science.gov (United States)

Wei, Chia-Chien; Zeng, Wei-Siang; Lin, Chun-Ting

2016-01-25

We experimentally demonstrate a spectrally efficient direct-detection orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (DD-OFDM) system. In addition to polarization-division multiplexing, removing the frequency gap further improves the spectral efficiency of the OFDM system. The frequency gap between a reference carrier and OFDM subcarriers avoids subcarrier-to-subcarrier beating interference (SSBI) in traditional DD-OFDM systems. Without dynamic polarization control, the resulting interference after square-law direct detection in the proposed gap-less system is polarization-dependent and composed of linear inter-carrier interference (ICI) and nonlinear SSBI. Thus, this work proposes an iterative multiple-input multiple-output detection scheme to remove the mixed polarization-dependent interference. Compared to the previous scheme, which only removes ICI, the proposed scheme can further eliminate SSBI to achieve the improvement of ∼ 7 dB in signal-to-noise ratio. Without the need for polarization control, we successfully utilize 7-GHz bandwidth to transmit a 39.5-Gbps polarization multiplexed OFDM signal over 100 km.

DISTINGUISHING A HYPOTHETICAL ABIOTIC PLANET–MOON SYSTEM FROM A SINGLE INHABITED PLANET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li, Tong; Tian, Feng; Wei, Wanjing; Huang, Xiaomeng; Wang, Yuwei

2016-01-01

It has recently been suggested that an exomoon with a CH 4 atmosphere, orbiting an abiotic Earth-mass planet with an O 2 -rich atmosphere, can produce a false positive biosignature at a low–moderate spectral resolution (R = λ/Δλ ≤ 2000). If this were true, inferring the presence of life on exoplanets will be beyond our reach in the next several decades. Here we use a line-by-line radiative transfer model to compute the relevant reflection spectrum between 1 and 3.3 μm. We show that it is possible to separate the combined spectra of such planet–moon systems from an inhabited planet by multiple-band NIR observations. We suggest that future observations near the 2.3 μm CH 4 absorption band at a resolution of 100 and an SNR of 10 or more may be a good way to distinguish an abiotic planet–moon system from a inhabited single planet

Method for distinguishing fuel pellets

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sagami, Masaharu; Kurihara, Kunitoshi.

1978-01-01

Purpose: To distinguish correctly and efficiently the kind of fuel substance enclosed in a cladding tube. Method: Elements such as manganess 55, copper 65, vanadium 51, zinc 64, scandium 45 and the like, each having a large neutron absorption cross section and discharging gamma rays of inherent bright line spectra are applied to or mixed in fuel pellets of different kinds in uranium enrichment degree, plutonium concentration, burnable poison concentration or the like. These fuel rods are irradiated with neutron beams, and energy spectra of gamma rays discharged upon this occasion are observed to carry out distinguishing of fuel pellets. (Aizawa, K.)

Piecewise spectrally band-pass for compressive coded aperture spectral imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qian Lu-Lu; Lü Qun-Bo; Huang Min; Xiang Li-Bin

2015-01-01

Coded aperture snapshot spectral imaging (CASSI) has been discussed in recent years. It has the remarkable advantages of high optical throughput, snapshot imaging, etc. The entire spatial-spectral data-cube can be reconstructed with just a single two-dimensional (2D) compressive sensing measurement. On the other hand, for less spectrally sparse scenes, the insufficiency of sparse sampling and aliasing in spatial-spectral images reduce the accuracy of reconstructed three-dimensional (3D) spectral cube. To solve this problem, this paper extends the improved CASSI. A band-pass filter array is mounted on the coded mask, and then the first image plane is divided into some continuous spectral sub-band areas. The entire 3D spectral cube could be captured by the relative movement between the object and the instrument. The principle analysis and imaging simulation are presented. Compared with peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) and the information entropy of the reconstructed images at different numbers of spectral sub-band areas, the reconstructed 3D spectral cube reveals an observable improvement in the reconstruction fidelity, with an increase in the number of the sub-bands and a simultaneous decrease in the number of spectral channels of each sub-band. (paper)

The Effects of High Frequency ULF Wave Activity on the Spectral Characteristics of Coherent HF Radar Returns

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, D. M.; Yeoman, T. K.; Woodfield, E. E.

2003-12-01

It is now a common practice to employ ground-based radars in order to distinguish between those regions of the Earth's upper atmosphere which are magnetically conjugate to open and closed field lines. Radar returns from ionospheric irregularities inside the polar cap and cusp regions generally exhibit large spectral widths in contrast to those which exist on closed field lines at lower latitudes. It has been suggested that the so-called Spectral Width Boundary (SWB) might act as a proxy for the open-closed field line boundary (OCFLB), which would then be an invaluable tool for investigating reconnection rates in the magnetosphere. The exact cause of the increased spectral widths observed at very high latitudes is still subject to considerable debate. Several mechanisms have been proposed. This paper compares a dusk-sector interval of coherent HF radar data with measurements made by an induction coil magnetometer located at Tromso, Norway (66° N geomagnetic). On this occasion, a series of transient regions of radar backscatter exhibiting large spectral widths are accompanied by increases in spectral power of ULF waves in the Pc1-2 frequency band. These observations would then, seem to support the possibility that high frequency magnetospheric wave activity at least contribute to the observed spectral characteristics and that such wave activity might play a significant role in the cusp and polar cap ionospheres.

ULTRAVIOLET RAMAN SPECTRAL SIGNATURE ACQUISITION: UV RAMAN SPECTRAL FINGERPRINTS.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

SEDLACEK,III, A.J.FINFROCK,C.

2002-09-01

As a member of the science-support part of the ITT-lead LISA development program, BNL is tasked with the acquisition of UV Raman spectral fingerprints and associated scattering cross-sections for those chemicals-of-interest to the program's sponsor. In support of this role, the present report contains the first installment of UV Raman spectral fingerprint data on the initial subset of chemicals. Because of the unique nature associated with the acquisition of spectral fingerprints for use in spectral pattern matching algorithms (i.e., CLS, PLS, ANN) great care has been undertaken to maximize the signal-to-noise and to minimize unnecessary spectral subtractions, in an effort to provide the highest quality spectral fingerprints. This report is divided into 4 sections. The first is an Experimental section that outlines how the Raman spectra are performed. This is then followed by a section on Sample Handling. Following this, the spectral fingerprints are presented in the Results section where the data reduction process is outlined. Finally, a Photographs section is included.

Detection of the power lines in UAV remote sensed images using spectral-spatial methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Bhola, Rishav; Krishna, Nandigam Hari; Ramesh, K N; Senthilnath, J; Anand, Gautham

2018-01-15

In this paper, detection of the power lines on images acquired by Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) based remote sensing is carried out using spectral-spatial methods. Spectral clustering was performed using Kmeans and Expectation Maximization (EM) algorithm to classify the pixels into the power lines and non-power lines. The spectral clustering methods used in this study are parametric in nature, to automate the number of clusters Davies-Bouldin index (DBI) is used. The UAV remote sensed image is clustered into the number of clusters determined by DBI. The k clustered image is merged into 2 clusters (power lines and non-power lines). Further, spatial segmentation was performed using morphological and geometric operations, to eliminate the non-power line regions. In this study, UAV images acquired at different altitudes and angles were analyzed to validate the robustness of the proposed method. It was observed that the EM with spatial segmentation (EM-Seg) performed better than the Kmeans with spatial segmentation (Kmeans-Seg) on most of the UAV images. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Classification of breast microcalcifications using spectral mammography

Science.gov (United States)

Ghammraoui, B.; Glick, S. J.

2017-03-01

Purpose: To investigate the potential of spectral mammography to distinguish between type I calcifications, consisting of calcium oxalate dihydrate or weddellite compounds that are more often associated with benign lesions, and type II calcifications containing hydroxyapatite which are predominantly associated with malignant tumors. Methods: Using a ray tracing algorithm, we simulated the total number of x-ray photons recorded by the detector at one pixel from a single pencil-beam projection through a breast of 50/50 (adipose/glandular) tissues with inserted microcalcifications of different types and sizes. Material decomposition using two energy bins was then applied to characterize the simulated calcifications into hydroxyapatite and weddellite using maximumlikelihood estimation, taking into account the polychromatic source, the detector response function and the energy dependent attenuation. Results: Simulation tests were carried out for different doses and calcification sizes for multiple realizations. The results were summarized using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis with the area under the curve (AUC) taken as an overall indicator of discrimination performance and showing high AUC values up to 0.99. Conclusion: Our simulation results obtained for a uniform breast imaging phantom indicate that spectral mammography using two energy bins has the potential to be used as a non-invasive method for discrimination between type I and type II microcalcifications to improve early breast cancer diagnosis and reduce the number of unnecessary breast biopsies.

Local population structure of Plasmodium: impact on malaria control and elimination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chenet Stella M

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Regardless of the growing interest in detecting population structures in malarial parasites, there have been limited discussions on how to use this concept in control programmes. In such context, the effects of the parasite population structures will depend on interventions’ spatial or temporal scales. This investigation explores the problem of identifying genetic markers, in this case microsatellites, to unveil Plasmodium genetic structures that could affect decisions in the context of elimination. The study was performed in a low-transmission area, which offers a good proxy to better understand problems associated with surveillance at the final stages of malaria elimination. Methods Plasmodium vivax samples collected in Tumeremo, Venezuela, between March 2003 and November 2004 were analysed. Since Plasmodium falciparum also circulates in many low endemic areas, P. falciparum samples from the same locality and time period were included for comparison. Plasmodium vivax samples were assayed for an original set of 25 microsatellites and P. falciparum samples were assayed for 12 microsatellites. Results Not all microsatellite loci assayed offered reliable local data. A complex temporal-cluster dynamics is found in both P. vivax and P. falciparum. Such dynamics affect the numbers and the type of microsatellites required for identifying individual parasites or parasite clusters when performing cross-sectional studies. The minimum number of microsatellites required to differentiate circulating P. vivax clusters differs from the minimum number of hyper-variable microsatellites required to distinguish individuals within these clusters. Regardless the extended number of microsatellites used in P. vivax, it was not possible to separate all individual infections. Conclusions Molecular surveillance has great potential; however, it requires preliminary local studies in order to properly interpret the emerging patterns in the context of

Distinguishing attack on five-round Feistel networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Knudsen, Lars Ramkilde; Raddum, H

2003-01-01

Recently it was shown (by J. Patarin) how to distinguish a general five-round Feistel network from a random permutation using O(2/sup 3n/2/) chosen plaintexts or O(2/sup 7n/4/) known plaintexts. The present authors report improvement of these results and a distinguisher is presented which uses ro...

Distinguishability of countable quantum states and von Neumann lattice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawakubo, Ryûitirô; Koike, Tatsuhiko

2016-01-01

The condition for distinguishability of a countably infinite number of pure states by a single measurement is given. Distinguishability is to be understood as the possibility of an unambiguous measurement. For a finite number of states, it is known that the necessary and sufficient condition of distinguishability is that the states are linearly independent. For an infinite number of states, several natural classes of distinguishability can be defined. We give a necessary and sufficient condition for a system of pure states to be distinguishable. It turns out that each level of distinguishability naturally corresponds to one of the generalizations of linear independence to families of infinite vectors. As an important example, we apply the general theory to von Neumann’s lattice, a subsystem of coherent states which corresponds to a lattice in the classical phase space. We prove that the condition for distinguishability is that the area of the fundamental region of the lattice is greater than the Planck constant, and also find subtle behavior on the threshold. These facts reveal the measurement theoretical meaning of the Planck constant and give a justification for the interpretation that it is the smallest unit of area in the phase space. The cases of uncountably many states and of mixed states are also discussed. (paper)

Rapid screening of guar gum using portable Raman spectral identification methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Srivastava, Hirsch K; Wolfgang, Steven; Rodriguez, Jason D

2016-01-25

Guar gum is a well-known inactive ingredient (excipient) used in a variety of oral pharmaceutical dosage forms as a thickener and stabilizer of suspensions and as a binder of powders. It is also widely used as a food ingredient in which case alternatives with similar properties, including chemically similar gums, are readily available. Recent supply shortages and price fluctuations have caused guar gum to come under increasing scrutiny for possible adulteration by substitution of cheaper alternatives. One way that the U.S. FDA is attempting to screen pharmaceutical ingredients at risk for adulteration or substitution is through field-deployable spectroscopic screening. Here we report a comprehensive approach to evaluate two field-deployable Raman methods--spectral correlation and principal component analysis--to differentiate guar gum from other gums. We report a comparison of the sensitivity of the spectroscopic screening methods with current compendial identification tests. The ability of the spectroscopic methods to perform unambiguous identification of guar gum compared to other gums makes them an enhanced surveillance alternative to the current compendial identification tests, which are largely subjective in nature. Our findings indicate that Raman spectral identification methods perform better than compendial identification methods and are able to distinguish guar gum from other gums with 100% accuracy for samples tested by spectral correlation and principal component analysis. Published by Elsevier B.V.

[A cloud detection algorithm for MODIS images combining Kmeans clustering and multi-spectral threshold method].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wei; Song, Wei-Guo; Liu, Shi-Xing; Zhang, Yong-Ming; Zheng, Hong-Yang; Tian, Wei

2011-04-01

An improved method for detecting cloud combining Kmeans clustering and the multi-spectral threshold approach is described. On the basis of landmark spectrum analysis, MODIS data is categorized into two major types initially by Kmeans method. The first class includes clouds, smoke and snow, and the second class includes vegetation, water and land. Then a multi-spectral threshold detection is applied to eliminate interference such as smoke and snow for the first class. The method is tested with MODIS data at different time under different underlying surface conditions. By visual method to test the performance of the algorithm, it was found that the algorithm can effectively detect smaller area of cloud pixels and exclude the interference of underlying surface, which provides a good foundation for the next fire detection approach.

From spectral information to animal colour vision: experiments and concepts.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelber, Almut; Osorio, Daniel

2010-06-07

Many animals use the spectral distribution of light to guide behaviour, but whether they have colour vision has been debated for over a century. Our strong subjective experience of colour and the fact that human vision is the paradigm for colour science inevitably raises the question of how we compare with other species. This article outlines four grades of 'colour vision' that can be related to the behavioural uses of spectral information, and perhaps to the underlying mechanisms. In the first, even without an (image-forming) eye, simple organisms can compare photoreceptor signals to locate a desired light environment. At the next grade, chromatic mechanisms along with spatial vision guide innate preferences for objects such as food or mates; this is sometimes described as wavelength-specific behaviour. Here, we compare the capabilities of di- and trichromatic vision, and ask why some animals have more than three spectral types of receptors. Behaviours guided by innate preferences are then distinguished from a grade that allows learning, in part because the ability to learn an arbitrary colour is evidence for a neural representation of colour. The fourth grade concerns colour appearance rather than colour difference: for instance, the distinction between hue and saturation, and colour categorization. These higher-level phenomena are essential to human colour perception but poorly known in animals, and we suggest how they can be studied. Finally, we observe that awareness of colour and colour qualia cannot be easily tested in animals.

Radioactive wastes eliminating device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mitsutsuka, Norimasa.

1979-01-01

Purpose: To eliminate impurities and radioactive wastes by passing liquid sodium in a cold trap and an adsorption device. Constitution: Heated sodium is partially extracted from the core of a nuclear reactor by way of a pump, flown into and cooled in heat exchangers and then introduced into a cold trap for removal of impurities. The liquid sodium eliminated with impurities is introduced into an adsorption separator and purified by the elimination of radioactive wastes. The purified sodium is returned to the nuclear reactor. A heater is provided between the cold trap and the adsorption separator, so that the temperature of the liquid sodium introduced into the adsorption separator is not lower than the minimum temperature in the cold trap to thereby prevent deposition of impurities in the adsorption separator. (Kawakami, Y.)

Distinguishing Antimicrobial Models with Different Resistance Mechanisms via Population Pharmacodynamic Modeling.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthieu Jacobs

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Semi-mechanistic pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PK-PD modeling is increasingly used for antimicrobial drug development and optimization of dosage regimens, but systematic simulation-estimation studies to distinguish between competing PD models are lacking. This study compared the ability of static and dynamic in vitro infection models to distinguish between models with different resistance mechanisms and support accurate and precise parameter estimation. Monte Carlo simulations (MCS were performed for models with one susceptible bacterial population without (M1 or with a resting stage (M2, a one population model with adaptive resistance (M5, models with pre-existing susceptible and resistant populations without (M3 or with (M4 inter-conversion, and a model with two pre-existing populations with adaptive resistance (M6. For each model, 200 datasets of the total bacterial population were simulated over 24h using static antibiotic concentrations (256-fold concentration range or over 48h under dynamic conditions (dosing every 12h; elimination half-life: 1h. Twelve-hundred random datasets (each containing 20 curves for static or four curves for dynamic conditions were generated by bootstrapping. Each dataset was estimated by all six models via population PD modeling to compare bias and precision. For M1 and M3, most parameter estimates were unbiased (<10% and had good imprecision (<30%. However, parameters for adaptive resistance and inter-conversion for M2, M4, M5 and M6 had poor bias and large imprecision under static and dynamic conditions. For datasets that only contained viable counts of the total population, common statistical criteria and diagnostic plots did not support sound identification of the true resistance mechanism. Therefore, it seems advisable to quantify resistant bacteria and characterize their MICs and resistance mechanisms to support extended simulations and translate from in vitro experiments to animal infection models and

Smarandachely Adjacent-Vertex-Distinguishing Proper Edge Chromatic Number of Cm∨Kn

OpenAIRE

Shunqin Liu

2016-01-01

According to different conditions, researchers have defined a great deal of coloring problems and the corresponding chromatic numbers. Such as, adjacent-vertex-distinguishing total chromatic number, adjacent-vertex-distinguishing proper edge chromatic number, smarandachely-adjacent-vertex-distinguishing proper edge chromatic number, smarandachely-adjacent-vertex-distinguishing proper total chromatic number. And we focus on the smarandachely adjacent-vertex-distinguishing proper edge chromatic...

Development of a high spectral resolution surface albedo product for the ARM Southern Great Plains Central Facility

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

McFarlane, Sally A.; Gaustad, Krista L.; Mlawer, Eli J.; Long, Charles N.; Delamere, Jennifer

2011-09-01

We present a method for identifying dominant surface type and estimating high spectral resolution surface albedo at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma for use in radiative transfer calculations. Given a set of 6-channel narrowband visible and near-infrared irradiance measurements from upward and downward looking multi-filter radiometers (MFRs), four different surface types (snow-covered, green vegetation, partial vegetation, non-vegetated) can be identified. A normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is used to distinguish between vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces, and a scaled NDVI index is used to estimate the percentage of green vegetation in partially vegetated surfaces. Based on libraries of spectral albedo measurements, a piecewise continuous function is developed to estimate the high spectral resolution surface albedo for each surface type given the MFR albedo values as input. For partially vegetated surfaces, the albedo is estimated as a linear combination of the green vegetation and non-vegetated surface albedo values. The estimated albedo values are evaluated through comparison to high spectral resolution albedo measurements taken during several Intensive Observational Periods (IOPs) and through comparison of the integrated spectral albedo values to observed broadband albedo measurements. The estimated spectral albedo values agree well with observations for the visible wavelengths constrained by the MFR measurements, but have larger biases and variability at longer wavelengths. Additional MFR channels at 1100 nm and/or 1600 nm would help constrain the high resolution spectral albedo in the near infrared region.

Development of a high spectral resolution surface albedo product for the ARM Southern Great Plains central facility

Science.gov (United States)

McFarlane, S. A.; Gaustad, K. L.; Mlawer, E. J.; Long, C. N.; Delamere, J.

2011-09-01

We present a method for identifying dominant surface type and estimating high spectral resolution surface albedo at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) facility at the Southern Great Plains (SGP) site in Oklahoma for use in radiative transfer calculations. Given a set of 6-channel narrowband visible and near-infrared irradiance measurements from upward and downward looking multi-filter radiometers (MFRs), four different surface types (snow-covered, green vegetation, partial vegetation, non-vegetated) can be identified. A normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) is used to distinguish between vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces, and a scaled NDVI index is used to estimate the percentage of green vegetation in partially vegetated surfaces. Based on libraries of spectral albedo measurements, a piecewise continuous function is developed to estimate the high spectral resolution surface albedo for each surface type given the MFR albedo values as input. For partially vegetated surfaces, the albedo is estimated as a linear combination of the green vegetation and non-vegetated surface albedo values. The estimated albedo values are evaluated through comparison to high spectral resolution albedo measurements taken during several Intensive Observational Periods (IOPs) and through comparison of the integrated spectral albedo values to observed broadband albedo measurements. The estimated spectral albedo values agree well with observations for the visible wavelengths constrained by the MFR measurements, but have larger biases and variability at longer wavelengths. Additional MFR channels at 1100 nm and/or 1600 nm would help constrain the high resolution spectral albedo in the near infrared region.

Development of a high spectral resolution surface albedo product for the ARM Southern Great Plains central facility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J. Delamere

2011-09-01

Full Text Available We present a method for identifying dominant surface type and estimating high spectral resolution surface albedo at the Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM facility at the Southern Great Plains (SGP site in Oklahoma for use in radiative transfer calculations. Given a set of 6-channel narrowband visible and near-infrared irradiance measurements from upward and downward looking multi-filter radiometers (MFRs, four different surface types (snow-covered, green vegetation, partial vegetation, non-vegetated can be identified. A normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI is used to distinguish between vegetated and non-vegetated surfaces, and a scaled NDVI index is used to estimate the percentage of green vegetation in partially vegetated surfaces. Based on libraries of spectral albedo measurements, a piecewise continuous function is developed to estimate the high spectral resolution surface albedo for each surface type given the MFR albedo values as input. For partially vegetated surfaces, the albedo is estimated as a linear combination of the green vegetation and non-vegetated surface albedo values. The estimated albedo values are evaluated through comparison to high spectral resolution albedo measurements taken during several Intensive Observational Periods (IOPs and through comparison of the integrated spectral albedo values to observed broadband albedo measurements. The estimated spectral albedo values agree well with observations for the visible wavelengths constrained by the MFR measurements, but have larger biases and variability at longer wavelengths. Additional MFR channels at 1100 nm and/or 1600 nm would help constrain the high resolution spectral albedo in the near infrared region.

Development of new two-dimensional spectral/spatial code based on dynamic cyclic shift code for OCDMA system

Science.gov (United States)

Jellali, Nabiha; Najjar, Monia; Ferchichi, Moez; Rezig, Houria

2017-07-01

In this paper, a new two-dimensional spectral/spatial codes family, named two dimensional dynamic cyclic shift codes (2D-DCS) is introduced. The 2D-DCS codes are derived from the dynamic cyclic shift code for the spectral and spatial coding. The proposed system can fully eliminate the multiple access interference (MAI) by using the MAI cancellation property. The effect of shot noise, phase-induced intensity noise and thermal noise are used to analyze the code performance. In comparison with existing two dimensional (2D) codes, such as 2D perfect difference (2D-PD), 2D Extended Enhanced Double Weight (2D-Extended-EDW) and 2D hybrid (2D-FCC/MDW) codes, the numerical results show that our proposed codes have the best performance. By keeping the same code length and increasing the spatial code, the performance of our 2D-DCS system is enhanced: it provides higher data rates while using lower transmitted power and a smaller spectral width.

Spectral evolution of GRBs with negative spectral lag using Fermi GBM observations

Science.gov (United States)

Chakrabarti, Arundhati; Chaudhury, Kishor; Sarkar, Samir K.; Bhadra, Arunava

2018-06-01

The positive spectral lag of Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) is often explained in terms of hard-to-soft spectral evolution of GRB pulses. While positive lags of GRBs is very common, there are few GRB pulses that exhibits negative spectral lags. In the present work we examine whether negative lags of GRBs also can be interpreted in terms of spectral evolution of GRB pulses or not. Using Fermi-GBM data, we identify two GRBs, GRB 090426C and GRB 150213A, with clean pulses that exhibit negative spectral lag. An indication of soft to hard transition has been noticed for the negative spectral lag events from the spectral evolution study. The implication of the present findings on the models of GRB spectral lags are discussed.

Spectral Quantitative Analysis Model with Combining Wavelength Selection and Topology Structure Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qian Wang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Spectroscopy is an efficient and widely used quantitative analysis method. In this paper, a spectral quantitative analysis model with combining wavelength selection and topology structure optimization is proposed. For the proposed method, backpropagation neural network is adopted for building the component prediction model, and the simultaneousness optimization of the wavelength selection and the topology structure of neural network is realized by nonlinear adaptive evolutionary programming (NAEP. The hybrid chromosome in binary scheme of NAEP has three parts. The first part represents the topology structure of neural network, the second part represents the selection of wavelengths in the spectral data, and the third part represents the parameters of mutation of NAEP. Two real flue gas datasets are used in the experiments. In order to present the effectiveness of the methods, the partial least squares with full spectrum, the partial least squares combined with genetic algorithm, the uninformative variable elimination method, the backpropagation neural network with full spectrum, the backpropagation neural network combined with genetic algorithm, and the proposed method are performed for building the component prediction model. Experimental results verify that the proposed method has the ability to predict more accurately and robustly as a practical spectral analysis tool.

Selection of maintaining, method for keeping of biologial purity, patternship and health, regarding viruses infection of distinguished potato breeding lines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luiza MIKE

2008-05-01

Full Text Available A large number of potato varieties and distinguished breeding lines disappeared as an effect of nonfavourable climatically conditions and especially by viruses diseases, as well as other biological and viruses degeneration. To avoid the negative effect of degeneration on potato varieties and distinguished breeding lines, the method of selection for maintaining and multiplication of potato is applying in Romania in the frame of National Center for Maintaining of potato varieties and distinguished breeding lines Apa Rosie, Covasna County, which belong to the Station for Research and Development of Potato, Targu Secuiesc, Covasna County.In this center are maintained and multiplied all distinguished varieties and breeding centers from Romania (National Institute for research and Development of Potato and Sugar beet Brasov, Research and Development Station for Agriculture Suceava, Research and Development Station for Potato Targu Secuiesc, Research and development Station for Potato Miercurea Ciuc.Using the method of selection for maintaining it is possible an early identification of somatic mutations, disease (especially viruses infection by visual elimination or by serological testing.The viruses’ infection of potato leads to disturbed the metabolism of plants and produces anatomical – morphological alters as: mosaic, crinkle, rolling, browning of leaves and plants deformation.The disturbing of plant metabolism has as negative effect the reduction of vegetation period, decreasing the yield capacity, depreciation of physical and chemical quality of tubers.The genetically complex structure of cultivated potato (2n = 4x = 48 and strong segregation of long – expected characters in the obtained future progeny by sexual hybridization, complicated many times by nonfavourable linkage, are the backgrounds for initiation of maintain selection.

From spectral holeburning memory to spatial-spectral microwave signal processing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Babbitt, Wm Randall; Barber, Zeb W; Harrington, Calvin; Mohan, R Krishna; Sharpe, Tia; Bekker, Scott H; Chase, Michael D; Merkel, Kristian D; Stiffler, Colton R; Traxinger, Aaron S; Woidtke, Alex J

2014-01-01

Many storage and processing systems based on spectral holeburning have been proposed that access the broad bandwidth and high dynamic range of spatial-spectral materials, but only recently have practical systems been developed that exceed the performance and functional capabilities of electronic devices. This paper reviews the history of the proposed applications of spectral holeburning and spatial-spectral materials, from frequency domain optical memory to microwave photonic signal processing systems. The recent results of a 20 GHz bandwidth high performance spectrum monitoring system with the additional capability of broadband direction finding demonstrates the potential for spatial-spectral systems to be the practical choice for solving demanding signal processing problems in the near future. (paper)

Spatial and Spectral Hybrid Image Classification for Rice Lodging Assessment through UAV Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Der Yang

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Rice lodging identification relies on manual in situ assessment and often leads to a compensation dispute in agricultural disaster assessment. Therefore, this study proposes a comprehensive and efficient classification technique for agricultural lands that entails using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV imagery. In addition to spectral information, digital surface model (DSM and texture information of the images was obtained through image-based modeling and texture analysis. Moreover, single feature probability (SFP values were computed to evaluate the contribution of spectral and spatial hybrid image information to classification accuracy. The SFP results revealed that texture information was beneficial for the classification of rice and water, DSM information was valuable for lodging and tree classification, and the combination of texture and DSM information was helpful in distinguishing between artificial surface and bare land. Furthermore, a decision tree classification model incorporating SFP values yielded optimal results, with an accuracy of 96.17% and a Kappa value of 0.941, compared with that of a maximum likelihood classification model (90.76%. The rice lodging ratio in paddies at the study site was successfully identified, with three paddies being eligible for disaster relief. The study demonstrated that the proposed spatial and spectral hybrid image classification technology is a promising tool for rice lodging assessment.

Distinguishing computable mixtures of quantum states

Science.gov (United States)

Grande, Ignacio H. López; Senno, Gabriel; de la Torre, Gonzalo; Larotonda, Miguel A.; Bendersky, Ariel; Figueira, Santiago; Acín, Antonio

2018-05-01

In this article we extend results from our previous work [Bendersky et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 230402 (2016), 10.1103/PhysRevLett.116.230402] by providing a protocol to distinguish in finite time and with arbitrarily high success probability any algorithmic mixture of pure states from the maximally mixed state. Moreover, we include an experimental realization, using a modified quantum key distribution setup, where two different random sequences of pure states are prepared; these sequences are indistinguishable according to quantum mechanics, but they become distinguishable when randomness is replaced with pseudorandomness within the experimental preparation process.

Spectral Imaging by Upconversion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dam, Jeppe Seidelin; Pedersen, Christian; Tidemand-Lichtenberg, Peter

2011-01-01

We present a method to obtain spectrally resolved images using upconversion. By this method an image is spectrally shifted from one spectral region to another wavelength. Since the process is spectrally sensitive it allows for a tailored spectral response. We believe this will allow standard...... silicon based cameras designed for visible/near infrared radiation to be used for spectral images in the mid infrared. This can lead to much lower costs for such imaging devices, and a better performance....

USCIS Backlog Elimination

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Homeland Security — USCIS is streamlining the way immigration benefits are delivered. By working smarter and eliminating redundancies, USCIS is bringing a business model to government....

Experimental investigation of distinguishable and non-distinguishable grayscales applicable in active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes for quality engineering

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Henglong; Chang, Wen-Cheng; Lin, Yu-Hsuan; Chen, Ming-Hong

2017-08-01

The distinguishable and non-distinguishable 6-bit (64) grayscales of green and red organic light-emitting diode (OLED) were experimentally investigated by using high-sensitive photometric instrument. The feasibility of combining external detection system for quality engineering to compensate the grayscale loss based on preset grayscale tables was also investigated by SPICE simulation. The degradation loss of OLED deeply affects image quality as grayscales become inaccurate. The distinguishable grayscales are indicated as those brightness differences and corresponding current increments are differentiable by instrument. The grayscales of OLED in 8-bit (256) or higher may become nondistinguishable as current or voltage increments are in the same order of noise level in circuitry. The distinguishable grayscale tables for individual red, green, blue, and white colors can be experimentally established as preset reference for quality engineering (QE) in which the degradation loss is compensated by corresponding grayscale numbers shown in preset table. The degradation loss of each OLED colors is quantifiable by comparing voltage increments to those in preset grayscale table if precise voltage increments are detectable during operation. The QE of AMOLED can be accomplished by applying updated grayscale tables. Our preliminary simulation result revealed that it is feasible to quantify degradation loss in terms of grayscale numbers by using external detector circuitry.

Phase-modified CTQW unable to distinguish strongly regular graphs efficiently

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mahasinghe, A; Wijerathna, J K; Izaac, J A; Wang, J B

2015-01-01

Various quantum walk-based algorithms have been developed, aiming to distinguish non-isomorphic graphs with polynomial scaling, within both the discrete-time quantum walk (DTQW) and continuous-time quantum walk (CTQW) frameworks. Whilst both the single-particle DTQW and CTQW have failed to distinguish non-isomorphic strongly regular graph families (prompting the move to multi-particle graph isomorphism (GI) algorithms), the single-particle DTQW has been successfully modified by the introduction of a phase factor to distinguish a wide range of graphs in polynomial time. In this paper, we prove that an analogous phase modification to the single particle CTQW does not have the same distinguishing power as its discrete-time counterpart, in particular it cannot distinguish strongly regular graphs with the same family parameters with the same efficiency. (paper)

Hornbills can distinguish between primate alarm calls.

Science.gov (United States)

Rainey, Hugo J.; Zuberbühler, Klaus; Slater, Peter J. B.

2004-01-01

Some mammals distinguish between and respond appropriately to the alarm calls of other mammal and bird species. However, the ability of birds to distinguish between mammal alarm calls has not been investigated. Diana monkeys (Cercopithecus diana) produce different alarm calls to two predators: crowned eagles (Stephanoaetus coronatus) and leopards (Panthera pardus). Yellow-casqued hornbills (Ceratogymna elata) are vulnerable to predation by crowned eagles but are not preyed on by leopards and might therefore be expected to respond to the Diana monkey eagle alarm call but not to the leopard alarm call. We compared responses of hornbills to playback of eagle shrieks, leopard growls, Diana monkey eagle alarm calls and Diana monkey leopard alarm calls and found that they distinguished appropriately between the two predator vocalizations as well as between the two Diana monkey alarm calls. We discuss possible mechanisms leading to these responses. PMID:15209110

Examination of Spectral Transformations on Spectral Mixture Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Y.; Wu, C.

2018-04-01

While many spectral transformation techniques have been applied on spectral mixture analysis (SMA), few study examined their necessity and applicability. This paper focused on exploring the difference between spectrally transformed schemes and untransformed scheme to find out which transformed scheme performed better in SMA. In particular, nine spectrally transformed schemes as well as untransformed scheme were examined in two study areas. Each transformed scheme was tested 100 times using different endmember classes' spectra under the endmember model of vegetation- high albedo impervious surface area-low albedo impervious surface area-soil (V-ISAh-ISAl-S). Performance of each scheme was assessed based on mean absolute error (MAE). Statistical analysis technique, Paired-Samples T test, was applied to test the significance of mean MAEs' difference between transformed and untransformed schemes. Results demonstrated that only NSMA could exceed the untransformed scheme in all study areas. Some transformed schemes showed unstable performance since they outperformed the untransformed scheme in one area but weakened the SMA result in another region.

Cut elimination in multifocused linear logic

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guenot, Nicolas; Brock-Nannestad, Taus

2015-01-01

We study cut elimination for a multifocused variant of full linear logic in the sequent calculus. The multifocused normal form of proofs yields problems that do not appear in a standard focused system, related to the constraints in grouping rule instances in focusing phases. We show that cut...... elimination can be performed in a sensible way even though the proof requires some specific lemmas to deal with multifocusing phases, and discuss the difficulties arising with cut elimination when considering normal forms of proofs in linear logic....

Authentication of Closely Related Fish and Derived Fish Products Using Tandem Mass Spectrometry and Spectral Library Matching.

Science.gov (United States)

Nessen, Merel A; van der Zwaan, Dennis J; Grevers, Sander; Dalebout, Hans; Staats, Martijn; Kok, Esther; Palmblad, Magnus

2016-05-11

Proteomics methodology has seen increased application in food authentication, including tandem mass spectrometry of targeted species-specific peptides in raw, processed, or mixed food products. We have previously described an alternative principle that uses untargeted data acquisition and spectral library matching, essentially spectral counting, to compare and identify samples without the need for genomic sequence information in food species populations. Here, we present an interlaboratory comparison demonstrating how a method based on this principle performs in a realistic context. We also increasingly challenge the method by using data from different types of mass spectrometers, by trying to distinguish closely related and commercially important flatfish, and by analyzing heavily contaminated samples. The method was found to be robust in different laboratories, and 94-97% of the analyzed samples were correctly identified, including all processed and contaminated samples.

The stratigraphy and evolution of lower Mount Sharp from spectral, morphological, and thermophysical orbital data sets.

Science.gov (United States)

Fraeman, A A; Ehlmann, B L; Arvidson, R E; Edwards, C S; Grotzinger, J P; Milliken, R E; Quinn, D P; Rice, M S

2016-09-01

We have developed a refined geologic map and stratigraphy for lower Mount Sharp using coordinated analyses of new spectral, thermophysical, and morphologic orbital data products. The Mount Sharp group consists of seven relatively planar units delineated by differences in texture, mineralogy, and thermophysical properties. These units are (1-3) three spatially adjacent units in the Murray formation which contain a variety of secondary phases and are distinguishable by thermal inertia and albedo differences, (4) a phyllosilicate-bearing unit, (5) a hematite-capped ridge unit, (6) a unit associated with material having a strongly sloped spectral signature at visible near-infrared wavelengths, and (7) a layered sulfate unit. The Siccar Point group consists of the Stimson formation and two additional units that unconformably overlie the Mount Sharp group. All Siccar Point group units are distinguished by higher thermal inertia values and record a period of substantial deposition and exhumation that followed the deposition and exhumation of the Mount Sharp group. Several spatially extensive silica deposits associated with veins and fractures show that late-stage silica enrichment within lower Mount Sharp was pervasive. At least two laterally extensive hematitic deposits are present at different stratigraphic intervals, and both are geometrically conformable with lower Mount Sharp strata. The occurrence of hematite at multiple stratigraphic horizons suggests redox interfaces were widespread in space and/or in time, and future measurements by the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover will provide further insights into the depositional settings of these and other mineral phases.

Plutonium fuel cycles in the spectral shift controlled reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sider, F.M.; Matzie, R.A.

1980-01-01

The spectral shift controlled reactor (SSCR) controls excess core reactivity during an operating cycle through the use of variable heavy water concentrations in the moderator. With heavy water in the coolant, the neutron spectrum is shifted to higher energy levels, thus increasing fertile conversion. In addition, since heavy water obviates the need for soluble boron, neutron losses to control poison are eliminated. As a result, better resource utilization is obtained in the SSCR employing plutonium fuel cycles compared to similarly fueled pressurized water reactors (PWRs). The SSCR, however, is not competitive with the PWR due to higher capital costs, operation and maintenance costs, and the heavy water costs, which outweigh the fuel cycle cost savings. The SSCR may become an attractive alternative to the PWR if uranium prices increase substantially

Constraining Anisotropic Lorentz Violation via the Spectral-lag Transition of GRB 160625B

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wei, Jun-Jie; Wu, Xue-Feng; Shao, Lang [Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China); Zhang, Bin-Bin [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucá (IAA-CSIC), P.O. Box 03004, E-18080 Granada (Spain); Mészáros, Peter [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pennsylvania State University, 525 Davey Laboratory, University Park, PA 16802 (United States); Kostelecký, V. Alan, E-mail: xfwu@pmo.ac.cn, E-mail: kostelec@indiana.edu [Physics Department, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405 (United States)

2017-06-20

Violations of Lorentz invariance can lead to an energy-dependent vacuum dispersion of light, which results in arrival-time differences of photons with different energies arising from a given transient source. In this work, direction-dependent dispersion constraints are obtained on nonbirefringent Lorentz-violating effects using the observed spectral lags of the gamma-ray burst GRB 160625B. This burst has unusually large high-energy photon statistics, so we can obtain constraints from the true spectral time lags of bunches of high-energy photons rather than from the rough time lag of a single highest-energy photon. Also, GRB 160625B is the only burst to date having a well-defined transition from positive lags to negative lags, providing a unique opportunity to distinguish Lorentz-violating effects from any source-intrinsic time lag in the emission of photons of different energy bands. Our results place comparatively robust two-sided constraints on a variety of isotropic and anisotropic coefficients for Lorentz violation, including the first bounds on Lorentz-violating effects from operators of mass dimension 10 in the photon sector.

Probing chemistry within the membrane structure of wood with soft X-ray spectral microscopy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cody, George D.

2000-01-01

Scanning Transmission Soft X-ray spectral microscopy on Carbon's 1s absorption edge reveals the distribution of structural biopolymers within cell membrane regions of modern cedar and oak. Cellulose is extremely susceptible to beam damage. Spectroscopic studies of beam damage reveals that the chemical changes resulting from secondary electron impact may be highly selective and is consistent with hydroxyl eliminations and structural rearrangement of pyranose rings in alpha-cellulose to hydroxyl substituted γ pyrones. A study of acetylated cellulose demonstrates significantly different chemistry; principally massive decarboxylation. Defocusing the beam to a 2 μm spot size allows for the acquisition of 'pristine' cellulose spectra. Spectral deconvolution is used to assess the distribution of lignin and cellulose in the different regions of the cell membrane. Using the intensity of the hydroxylated aromatic carbons 1s-π * transition, the ratio of coniferyl and syringyl based lignin within the middle lamellae and secondary cell wall of oak, an angiosperm can be determined

Recursive Cluster Elimination (RCE for classification and feature selection from gene expression data

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Showe Louise C

2007-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Classification studies using gene expression datasets are usually based on small numbers of samples and tens of thousands of genes. The selection of those genes that are important for distinguishing the different sample classes being compared, poses a challenging problem in high dimensional data analysis. We describe a new procedure for selecting significant genes as recursive cluster elimination (RCE rather than recursive feature elimination (RFE. We have tested this algorithm on six datasets and compared its performance with that of two related classification procedures with RFE. Results We have developed a novel method for selecting significant genes in comparative gene expression studies. This method, which we refer to as SVM-RCE, combines K-means, a clustering method, to identify correlated gene clusters, and Support Vector Machines (SVMs, a supervised machine learning classification method, to identify and score (rank those gene clusters for the purpose of classification. K-means is used initially to group genes into clusters. Recursive cluster elimination (RCE is then applied to iteratively remove those clusters of genes that contribute the least to the classification performance. SVM-RCE identifies the clusters of correlated genes that are most significantly differentially expressed between the sample classes. Utilization of gene clusters, rather than individual genes, enhances the supervised classification accuracy of the same data as compared to the accuracy when either SVM or Penalized Discriminant Analysis (PDA with recursive feature elimination (SVM-RFE and PDA-RFE are used to remove genes based on their individual discriminant weights. Conclusion SVM-RCE provides improved classification accuracy with complex microarray data sets when it is compared to the classification accuracy of the same datasets using either SVM-RFE or PDA-RFE. SVM-RCE identifies clusters of correlated genes that when considered together

Spectral analysis of mammographic images using a multitaper method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu Gang; Mainprize, James G.; Yaffe, Martin J.

2012-01-01

Purpose: Power spectral analysis in radiographic images is conventionally performed using a windowed overlapping averaging periodogram. This study describes an alternative approach using a multitaper technique and compares its performance with that of the standard method. This tool will be valuable in power spectrum estimation of images, whose content deviates significantly from uniform white noise. The performance of the multitaper approach will be evaluated in terms of spectral stability, variance reduction, bias, and frequency precision. The ultimate goal is the development of a useful tool for image quality assurance. Methods: A multitaper approach uses successive data windows of increasing order. This mitigates spectral leakage allowing one to calculate a reduced-variance power spectrum. The multitaper approach will be compared with the conventional power spectrum method in several typical situations, including the noise power spectra (NPS) measurements of simulated projection images of a uniform phantom, NPS measurement of real detector images of a uniform phantom for two clinical digital mammography systems, and the estimation of the anatomic noise in mammographic images (simulated images and clinical mammograms). Results: Examination of spectrum variance versus frequency resolution and bias indicates that the multitaper approach is superior to the conventional single taper methods in the prevention of spectrum leakage and variance reduction. More than four times finer frequency precision can be achieved with equivalent or less variance and bias. Conclusions: Without any shortening of the image data length, the bias is smaller and the frequency resolution is higher with the multitaper method, and the need to compromise in the choice of regions of interest size to balance between the reduction of variance and the loss of frequency resolution is largely eliminated.

Elimination of Ideas and Professional Socialisation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gravengaard, Gitte; Rimestad, Lene

2012-01-01

. Our aim is to study how this building of expertise takes place at meetings with a particular focus on the decision-making process concerning ideas for new news stories. In order to do this, we perform linguistic analysis of news production practices, as we investigate how the journalists' ideas...... for potential news stories are eliminated by the editor at the daily newsroom meetings. The elimination of ideas for news stories are not just eliminations; they are also corrections of culturally undesirable behaviour producing and reproducing the proper perception of an important object of knowledge...

A High-Precision Control for a ZVT PWM Soft-Switching Inverter to Eliminate the Dead-Time Effect

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baoquan Kou

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Attributing to the advantages of high efficiency, low electromagnetic interference (EMI noise and closest to the pulse-width-modulation (PWM converter counterpart, zero-voltage-transition (ZVT PWM soft-switching inverters are very suitable for high-performance applications. However, the conventional control algorithms intended for high efficiency generally results in voltage distortion. Thus, this paper, for the first time, proposes a high-precision control method to eliminate the dead-time effect through controlling the auxiliary current in the auxiliary resonant snubber inverter (ARSI, which is a typical ZVT PWM inverter. The dead-time effect of ARSI is analyzed, which is distinguished from hard-switching inverters. The proposed high-precision control is introduced based on the investigation of dead-time effect. A prototype was developed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control. The experimental results shows that the total harmonic distortion (THD of the output current of the ARSI can be reduced compared with that of the hard-switching inverter, because the blanking delay error is eliminated. The quality of the output current and voltage can be further improved by utilizing the proposed control method.

Identification of spectral regions for the quantification of red wine tannins with fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Jensen, Jacob S; Egebo, Max; Meyer, Anne S

2008-05-28

Accomplishment of fast tannin measurements is receiving increased interest as tannins are important for the mouthfeel and color properties of red wines. Fourier transform mid-infrared spectroscopy allows fast measurement of different wine components, but quantification of tannins is difficult due to interferences from spectral responses of other wine components. Four different variable selection tools were investigated for the identification of the most important spectral regions which would allow quantification of tannins from the spectra using partial least-squares regression. The study included the development of a new variable selection tool, iterative backward elimination of changeable size intervals PLS. The spectral regions identified by the different variable selection methods were not identical, but all included two regions (1485-1425 and 1060-995 cm(-1)), which therefore were concluded to be particularly important for tannin quantification. The spectral regions identified from the variable selection methods were used to develop calibration models. All four variable selection methods identified regions that allowed an improved quantitative prediction of tannins (RMSEP = 69-79 mg of CE/L; r = 0.93-0.94) as compared to a calibration model developed using all variables (RMSEP = 115 mg of CE/L; r = 0.87). Only minor differences in the performance of the variable selection methods were observed.

Zero-Crossing Disturbance Elimination and Spectrum Analysis of Single-Carrier Seven-Level SPWM

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wu, Fengjiang; Feng, Fan; Duan, Jiandong

2015-01-01

the same comparison logics of the MWs and carrier during positive and negative half cycles of the MWs. Thus, it is implemented with only one digital signal processor chip without any other attached logical circuit or controller. The reason for generating the zero-crossing voltage pulse disturbance (ZCVPD......) in this strategy is analyzed, and the elimination of the ZCVPD is proposed and verified by experimental results. The spectral characters of the conventional multi-MW-based SPWM and the proposed one are originally derived and compared with each other by simulation in detail. The theoretical analysis, simulation......, and experimental results indicate that the output characters of the proposed strategy are identical to those of the conventional one; it means that the proposed strategy can replace the conventional one while with the benefit of significantly reducing the cost and bulk of the implemental platform....

Phonological, temporal and spectral processing in vowel length discrimination is impaired in German primary school children with developmental dyslexia.

Science.gov (United States)

Steinbrink, Claudia; Klatte, Maria; Lachmann, Thomas

2014-11-01

It is still unclear whether phonological processing deficits are the underlying cause of developmental dyslexia, or rather a consequence of basic auditory processing impairments. To avoid methodological confounds, in the current study the same task and stimuli of comparable complexity were used to investigate both phonological and basic auditory (temporal and spectral) processing in dyslexia. German dyslexic children (Grades 3 and 4) were compared to age- and grade-matched controls in a vowel length discrimination task with three experimental conditions: In a phonological condition, natural vowels were used, differing both with respect to temporal and spectral information (in German, vowel length is phonemic, and vowel length differences are characterized by both temporal and spectral information). In a temporal condition, spectral information differentiating between the two vowels of a pair was eliminated, whereas in a spectral condition, temporal differences were removed. As performance measure, the sensitivity index d' was computed. At the group level, dyslexic children's performance was inferior to that of controls for phonological as well as temporal and spectral vowel length discrimination. At an individual level, nearly half of the dyslexic sample was characterized by deficits in all three conditions, but there were also some children showing no deficits at all. These results reveal on the one hand that phonological processing deficits in dyslexia may stem from impairments in processing temporal and spectral information in the speech signal. On the other hand they indicate, however, that not all dyslexic children might be characterized by phonological or auditory processing deficits. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

5 CFR 838.612 - Distinguishing between annuities and contributions.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... 5 Administrative Personnel 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Distinguishing between annuities and... Orders Affecting Employee Annuities or Refunds of Employee Contributions Identification of Benefits § 838.612 Distinguishing between annuities and contributions. (a) A court order using “annuities,” “pensions...

Spectral image reconstruction using an edge preserving spatio-spectral Wiener estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Urban, Philipp; Rosen, Mitchell R; Berns, Roy S

2009-08-01

Reconstruction of spectral images from camera responses is investigated using an edge preserving spatio-spectral Wiener estimation. A Wiener denoising filter and a spectral reconstruction Wiener filter are combined into a single spatio-spectral filter using local propagation of the noise covariance matrix. To preserve edges the local mean and covariance matrix of camera responses is estimated by bilateral weighting of neighboring pixels. We derive the edge-preserving spatio-spectral Wiener estimation by means of Bayesian inference and show that it fades into the standard Wiener reflectance estimation shifted by a constant reflectance in case of vanishing noise. Simulation experiments conducted on a six-channel camera system and on multispectral test images show the performance of the filter, especially for edge regions. A test implementation of the method is provided as a MATLAB script at the first author's website.

Handling of uncertainty due to interference fringe in FT-NIR transmittance spectroscopy - Performance comparison of interference elimination techniques using glucose-water system

Science.gov (United States)

Beganović, Anel; Beć, Krzysztof B.; Henn, Raphael; Huck, Christian W.

2018-05-01

The applicability of two elimination techniques for interferences occurring in measurements with cells of short pathlength using Fourier transform near-infrared (FT-NIR) spectroscopy was evaluated. Due to the growing interest in the field of vibrational spectroscopy in aqueous biological fluids (e.g. glucose in blood), aqueous solutions of D-(+)-glucose were prepared and split into a calibration set and an independent validation set. All samples were measured with two FT-NIR spectrometers at various spectral resolutions. Moving average smoothing (MAS) and fast Fourier transform filter (FFT filter) were applied to the interference affected FT-NIR spectra in order to eliminate the interference pattern. After data pre-treatment, partial least squares regression (PLSR) models using different NIR regions were constructed using untreated (interference affected) spectra and spectra treated with MAS and FFT filter. The prediction of the independent validation set revealed information about the performance of the utilized interference elimination techniques, as well as the different NIR regions. The results showed that the combination band of water at approx. 5200 cm-1 is of great importance since its performance was superior to the one of the so-called first overtone of water at approx. 6800 cm-1. Furthermore, this work demonstrated that MAS and FFT filter are fast and easy-to-use techniques for the elimination of interference fringes in FT-NIR transmittance spectroscopy.

Non-stationarities significantly distort short-term spectral, symbolic and entropy heart rate variability indices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Magagnin, Valentina; Bassani, Tito; Bari, Vlasta; Turiel, Maurizio; Porta, Alberto; Maestri, Roberto; Pinna, Gian Domenico

2011-01-01

The autonomic regulation is non-invasively estimated from heart rate variability (HRV). Many methods utilized to assess autonomic regulation require stationarity of HRV recordings. However, non-stationarities are frequently present even during well-controlled experiments, thus potentially biasing HRV indices. The aim of our study is to quantify the potential bias of spectral, symbolic and entropy HRV indices due to non-stationarities. We analyzed HRV series recorded in healthy subjects during uncontrolled daily life activities typical of 24 h Holter recordings and during predetermined levels of robotic-assisted treadmill-based physical exercise. A stationarity test checking the stability of the mean and variance over short HRV series (about 300 cardiac beats) was utilized to distinguish stationary periods from non-stationary ones. Spectral, symbolic and entropy indices evaluated solely over stationary periods were contrasted with those derived from all the HRV segments. When indices were calculated solely over stationary series, we found that (i) during both uncontrolled daily life activities and controlled physical exercise, the entropy-based complexity indices were significantly larger; (ii) during uncontrolled daily life activities, the spectral and symbolic indices linked to sympathetic modulation were significantly smaller and those associated with vagal modulation were significantly larger; (iii) while during uncontrolled daily life activities, the variance of spectral, symbolic and entropy rate indices was significantly larger, during controlled physical exercise, it was smaller. The study suggests that non-stationarities increase the likelihood to overestimate the contribution of sympathetic control and affect the power of statistical tests utilized to discriminate conditions and/or groups

Charles L. Brewer Award for Distinguished Teaching of Psychology: Neil Lutsky

Science.gov (United States)

American Psychologist, 2011

2011-01-01

The American Psychological Foundation (APF) Charles L. Brewer Award for Distinguished Teaching of Psychology recognizes an outstanding career contribution to the teaching of psychology. The 2011 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award is Neil Lutsky. Dorothy W. Cantor, president of the APF, will present the APF Distinguished Teaching Award…

Estimation of Spectral Exponent Parameter of 1/f Process in Additive White Background Noise

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Semih Ergintav

2007-01-01

Full Text Available An extension to the wavelet-based method for the estimation of the spectral exponent, γ, in a 1/fγ process and in the presence of additive white noise is proposed. The approach is based on eliminating the effect of white noise by a simple difference operation constructed on the wavelet spectrum. The γ parameter is estimated as the slope of a linear function. It is shown by simulations that the proposed method gives reliable results. Global positioning system (GPS time-series noise is analyzed and the results provide experimental verification of the proposed method.

Michael Tomasello: Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions.

Science.gov (United States)

2015-11-01

The APA Awards for Distinguished Scientific Contributions are presented to persons who, in the opinion of the Committee on Scientific Awards, have made distinguished theoretical or empirical contributions to basic research in psychology. One of the 2015 award winners is Michael Tomasello, who received this award for "outstanding empirical and theoretical contributions to understanding what makes the human mind unique. Michael Tomasello's pioneering research on the origins of social cognition has led to revolutionary insights in both developmental psychology and primate cognition." Tomasello's award citation, biography, and a selected bibliography are presented here. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Charles L. Brewer Award for Distinguished Teaching of Psychology

Science.gov (United States)

American Psychologist, 2009

2009-01-01

The American Psychological Foundation (APF) Charles L. Brewer Distinguished Teaching of Psychology Award recognizes an outstanding career contribution to the teaching of psychology. The 2009 recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award is William Buskist. Dorothy W. Cantor, president of the APF, will present the APF Teaching Award at the 117th…

Spectrally selective glazings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

1998-08-01

Spectrally selective glazing is window glass that permits some portions of the solar spectrum to enter a building while blocking others. This high-performance glazing admits as much daylight as possible while preventing transmission of as much solar heat as possible. By controlling solar heat gains in summer, preventing loss of interior heat in winter, and allowing occupants to reduce electric lighting use by making maximum use of daylight, spectrally selective glazing significantly reduces building energy consumption and peak demand. Because new spectrally selective glazings can have a virtually clear appearance, they admit more daylight and permit much brighter, more open views to the outside while still providing the solar control of the dark, reflective energy-efficient glass of the past. This Federal Technology Alert provides detailed information and procedures for Federal energy managers to consider spectrally selective glazings. The principle of spectrally selective glazings is explained. Benefits related to energy efficiency and other architectural criteria are delineated. Guidelines are provided for appropriate application of spectrally selective glazing, and step-by-step instructions are given for estimating energy savings. Case studies are also presented to illustrate actual costs and energy savings. Current manufacturers, technology users, and references for further reading are included for users who have questions not fully addressed here.

Elimination of Drifts in Long-Duration Monitoring for Apnea-Hypopnea of Human Respiration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peng Jiang

2016-10-01

Full Text Available This paper reports a methodology to eliminate an uncertain baseline drift in respiratory monitoring using a thermal airflow sensor exposed in a high humidity environment. Human respiratory airflow usually contains a large amount of moisture (relative humidity, RH > 85%. Water vapors in breathing air condense gradually on the surface of the sensor so as to form a thin water film that leads to a significant sensor drift in long-duration respiratory monitoring. The water film is formed by a combination of condensation and evaporation, and therefore the behavior of the humidity drift is complicated. Fortunately, the exhale and inhale responses of the sensor exhibit distinguishing features that are different from the humidity drift. Using a wavelet analysis method, we removed the baseline drift of the sensor and successfully recovered the respiratory waveform. Finally, we extracted apnea-hypopnea events from the respiratory signals monitored in whole-night sleeps of patients and compared them with golden standard polysomnography (PSG results.

Adaptive Spectral Doppler Estimation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gran, Fredrik; Jakobsson, Andreas; Jensen, Jørgen Arendt

2009-01-01

. The methods can also provide better quality of the estimated power spectral density (PSD) of the blood signal. Adaptive spectral estimation techniques are known to pro- vide good spectral resolution and contrast even when the ob- servation window is very short. The 2 adaptive techniques are tested......In this paper, 2 adaptive spectral estimation techniques are analyzed for spectral Doppler ultrasound. The purpose is to minimize the observation window needed to estimate the spectrogram to provide a better temporal resolution and gain more flexibility when designing the data acquisition sequence...... and compared with the averaged periodogram (Welch’s method). The blood power spectral capon (BPC) method is based on a standard minimum variance technique adapted to account for both averaging over slow-time and depth. The blood amplitude and phase estimation technique (BAPES) is based on finding a set...

76 FR 24802 - Eliminating the Decision Review Board

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-03

... 0960-AG80 Eliminating the Decision Review Board AGENCY: Social Security Administration. ACTION: Final rules. SUMMARY: We are eliminating the Decision Review Board (DRB) portions of part 405 of our rules...-level process. DSI also eliminated review by the Appeals Council, the final step in our administrative...

Electron-impact and pyrolytic eliminations from 4-tert-butylcyclohexyl xanthates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Eadon, G.; Jefson, M.

1976-01-01

The stereochemistry of electron--impact induced xanthic acid elimination reactions was assessed by mass spectrographic studies of cis and trans deuterated 4-tert-butylcyclohexyl xanthates and their derivatives. Cis elimination was observed to be about 30 times as facile as trans elimination in the axial xanthate reaction. In the equatorial ester derivative reactions, the cis elimination was found to be slightly preferred. The electron-impact induced elimination results were compared with pyrolytic elimination results for the xanthates; and similar stereochemistry was observed for each type of elimination

Case Report: A case of hypertrophic lupus erythematosus with negative CD123 staining and absence of transepidermal elimination of elastin [v2; ref status: indexed, http://f1000r.es/3n7

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Matthew Hughes

2014-06-01

Full Text Available We report the case of a 49-year-old male with clinical and histological findings consistent with hypertrophic lupus erythematosus (HLE. HLE must be clinically and histologically differentiated from keratoacanthoma, hypertrophic lichen planus, squamous cell carcinoma and plaque type psoriasis. CD123 positivity and transepidermal elimination of elastin have recently been reported as tools to distinguish HLE. Interestingly, in this case, biopsies of two separate lesions failed to reveal these two features. The etiology of this discrepancy is unknown and further studies are needed to clarify the utility of CD123 positivity and transepidermal elimination of elastin in the diagnosis of hypertrophic lupus erythematosus.

E-Waste recycling: new algorithm for hyper spectral identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Picon-Ruiz, A.; Echazarra-Higuet, J.; Bereciartua-Perez, A.

2010-01-01

Waste electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) constitutes 4% of the municipal waste in Europe, being increased by 16-28% every five years. Nowadays, Europe produces 6,5 million tonnes of WEEE per year and currently 90% goes to landfill. WEEE waste is growing 3 times faster than municipal waste and this figure is expected to be increased up to 12 million tones by 2015. Applying a new technology to separate non-ferrous metal Waste from WEEE is the aim of this paper, by identifying multi-and hyper-spectral materials and inserting them in a recycling plant. This technology will overcome the shortcomings passed by current methods, which are unable to separate valuable materials very similar in colour, size or shape. For this reason, it is necessary to develop new algorithms able to distinguish among these materials and to face the timing requirements. (Author). 22 refs.

Probing the ignored elimination channel of Br2 in the 248 nm photodissociation of 1,1-dibromoethylene by cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Ping-Chen; Tsai, Po-Yu; Hsiao, Ming-Kai; Lin, King-Chuen; Huang, C H; Chang, A H H

2009-03-09

In the photodissociation of 1,1-C(2)H(2)Br(2) at 248 nm, the Br(2) elimination channel is probed by using cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy (CRDS). In terms of spectral simulation, the vibrational population ratio of Br(2)(v = 1)/Br(2)(v = 0) is found to be 0.55+/-0.05, which indicates that the Br(2) fragment is vibrationally hot. The rotational population is thermally equilibrated with a Boltzmann temperature of 349+/-38 K. According to ab initio potential energy calculations, the obtained fragments are anticipated to result primarily from photodissociation of the ground electronic state that undergoes 1) H migration followed by three-center elimination, and 2) isomerization forming either trans- or cis-1,2-C(2)H(2)Br(2) from which Br(2) is eliminated. RRKM calculations predict that the Br(2) dissociation rates through the ground singlet state prevail over those through the triplet state. Measurements of temperature and Ar pressure dependence are examined to support the proposed pathway via internal conversion. The quantum yield for the Br(2) elimination reaction is determined to be 0.07+/-0.04. This result is smaller than that obtained in 1,2-C(2)H(2)Br(2), probably because the dissociation rates are slowed in the isomerization stage.

Distinguishing method for contamination/radio-activation of radioactive wastes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fukazawa, Takuji; Kato, Keiichiro; Koda, Satoshi.

1994-01-01

The present invention concerns a method of distinguishing the contamination/radio-activation of radioactive wastes used in processing wastes generated upon dismantling of exhausted nuclear reactors. Especially, contaminated/radio-activation is distinguished for wastes having openings such as pipes and valves, by utilizing scattering of γ-rays or γ-ray to β-ray ratio. That is, ratio of scattered γ-rays and direct γ-rays or ratio of β-rays and γ-rays from radioactive wastes are measured and compared by a radiation detector, to distinguish whether the radioactive wastes contaminated materials or radio-activated materials. For example, when an object to be measured having an opening is contaminated at the inner side, the radiation detector facing to the opening mainly detects high direct γ-rays emitted from the object to be measured while a radiation detector not facing the opening mainly detects high scattered γ-rays relatively. On the other hand, when the object is a radio-activated material, any of the detectors detect scattered γ-rays, so that they can be distinguished by these ratios. (I.S.)

Entropic Lower Bound for Distinguishability of Quantum States

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seungho Yang

2015-01-01

Full Text Available For a system randomly prepared in a number of quantum states, we present a lower bound for the distinguishability of the quantum states, that is, the success probability of determining the states in the form of entropy. When the states are all pure, acquiring the entropic lower bound requires only the density operator and the number of the possible states. This entropic bound shows a relation between the von Neumann entropy and the distinguishability.

Progress toward elimination of onchocerciasis in the Americas.

Science.gov (United States)

Sauerbrey, Mauricio; Rakers, Lindsay J; Richards, Frank O

2018-03-01

The Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA) is a regional initiative and international partnership that has made considerable progress toward its goal since it was launched in 1993. Its strategy is based on mass drug administration of ivermectin (Mectizan, donated by MSD, also known as Merck & Co., Inc., Kenilworth, NJ, USA), twice or four times per year, with at least 85% coverage of eligible populations. From 1989 to 2016, 11 741 276 ivermectin treatments have been given in the Americas, eliminating transmission in 11 of 13 foci. The OEPA's success has had a great influence on programs in Africa, especially Sudan and Uganda, which moved from a control to an elimination strategy in 2006 and 2007, respectively. The successes in the Americas have also greatly influenced WHO guidelines for onchocerciasis transmission elimination. With four of the six originally endemic American countries now WHO verified as having eliminated onchocerciasis transmission, and 95% of ivermectin treatments in the region halted, the regional focus is now on the remaining active transmission zone, called the Yanomami Area, on the border between Venezuela and Brazil. Both countries have difficult political climates that hinder the elimination task in this remote and relatively neglected region. As with other elimination efforts, 'the final inch' is often the most difficult task of all.

Nonlinear spectral imaging of human normal skin, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma based on two-photon excited fluorescence and second-harmonic generation

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, S. Y.; Yang, J. G.; Zhuang, J.

2011-10-01

In this work, we use nonlinear spectral imaging based on two-photon excited fluorescence (TPEF) and second harmonic generation (SHG) for analyzing the morphology of collagen and elastin and their biochemical variations in basal cell carcinoma (BCC), squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and normal skin tissue. It was found in this work that there existed apparent differences among BCC, SCC and normal skin in terms of their thickness of the keratin and epithelial layers, their size of elastic fibers, as well as their distribution and spectral characteristics of collagen. These differences can potentially be used to distinguish BCC and SCC from normal skin, and to discriminate between BCC and SCC, as well as to evaluate treatment responses.

The HIFI spectral survey of AFGL 2591 (CHESS). II. Summary of the survey

Science.gov (United States)

Kaźmierczak-Barthel, M.; van der Tak, F. F. S.; Helmich, F. P.; Chavarría, L.; Wang, K.-S.; Ceccarelli, C.

2014-07-01

Aims: This paper presents the richness of submillimeter spectral features in the high-mass star forming region AFGL 2591. Methods: As part of the Chemical Herschel Survey of Star Forming Regions (CHESS) key programme, AFGL 2591 was observed by the Herschel (HIFI) instrument. The spectral survey covered a frequency range from 480 to 1240 GHz as well as single lines from 1267 to 1901 GHz (i.e. CO, HCl, NH3, OH, and [CII]). Rotational and population diagram methods were used to calculate column densities, excitation temperatures, and the emission extents of the observed molecules associated with AFGL 2591. The analysis was supplemented with several lines from ground-based JCMT spectra. Results: From the HIFI spectral survey analysis a total of 32 species were identified (including isotopologues). Although the lines are mostly quite weak (∫TmbdV ~ few K km s-1), 268 emission and 16 absorption lines were found (excluding blends). Molecular column densities range from 6 × 1011 to 1 × 1019 cm-2 and excitation temperatures from 19 to 175 K. Cold (e.g. HCN, H2S, and NH3 with temperatures below 70 K) and warm species (e.g. CH3OH, SO2) in the protostellar envelope can be distinguished. Herschel is an ESA space observatory with science instruments provided by European-led Principal Investigator consortia and with important participation from NASA.Appendix A is available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org

Calculus of the Power Spectral Density of Ultra Wide Band Pulse Position Modulation Signals Coded with Totally Flipped Code

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

DURNEA, T. N.

2009-02-01

Full Text Available UWB-PPM systems were noted to have a power spectral density (p.s.d. consisting of a continuous portion and a line spectrum, which is composed of energy components placed at discrete frequencies. These components are the major source of interference to narrowband systems operating in the same frequency interval and deny harmless coexistence of UWB-PPM and narrowband systems. A new code denoted as Totally Flipped Code (TFC is applied to them in order to eliminate these discrete spectral components. The coded signal transports the information inside pulse position and will have the amplitude coded to generate a continuous p.s.d. We have designed the code and calculated the power spectral density of the coded signals. The power spectrum has no discrete components and its envelope is largely flat inside the bandwidth with a maximum at its center and a null at D.C. These characteristics make this code suited for implementation in the UWB systems based on PPM-type modulation as it assures a continuous spectrum and keeps PPM modulation performances.

On the Importance of Elimination Heuristics in Lazy Propagation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Madsen, Anders Læsø; Butz, Cory J.

2012-01-01

elimination orders on-line. This paper considers the importance of elimination heuristics in LP when using Variable Elimination (VE) as the message and single marginal computation algorithm. It considers well-known cost measures for selecting the next variable to eliminate and a new cost measure....... The empirical evaluation examines dierent heuristics as well as sequences of cost measures, and was conducted on real-world and randomly generated Bayesian networks. The results show that for most cases performance is robust relative to the cost measure used and in some cases the elimination heuristic can have...

Optimisation of material discrimination using spectral CT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nik, S.J.; Meyer, J.; Watts, R.

2010-01-01

Full text: Spectral computed tomography (CT) using novel X-ray photon counting detectors (PCDs) with energy resolving capabilities is capable of providing energy-selective images. This extra energy information may allow materials such as iodine and calcium, or water and fat to be distinguished. PCDs have energy thresholds, enabling the classification of photons into multiple energy bins. The inform tion content of spectral CT images depends on how the photons are grouped together. [n this work, a method is presented to optimise energy windows for maximum material discrimination. Given a combination of thicknesses, the reference number of expected photons in each energy bin is computed using the Bee Lambert equation. A similar calculation is performed for an exhaustive range of thicknesses and the number of photons in each case is com pared to the reference, allowing a statistical map of the uncertainty in thickness parameters to be constructed. The 63%-confidence region in the two-dimensional thickness space is a representation of how optimal the bins are for material separation. The model is demonstrated with 0.1 mm of iodine and 2.2 mm of calcium using two adjacent bins encompassing the entire energy range. Bins bordering at the iodine k-edge of 33.2 keY are found to be optimal. When compared to two abutted energy bins with equal incident counts as used in the literature (bordering at 54 keY), the thickness uncertainties are reduced from approximately 4% to less than I % (see Figure). This approach has been developed for two materials and is expandable to an arbitrary number of materials and bins.

Spectral triangulation: a 3D method for locating single-walled carbon nanotubes in vivo

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Ching-Wei; Bachilo, Sergei M.; Vu, Michael; Beckingham, Kathleen M.; Bruce Weisman, R.

2016-05-01

Nanomaterials with luminescence in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) region are of special interest for biological research and medical diagnostics because of favorable tissue transparency and low autofluorescence backgrounds in that region. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) show well-known sharp SWIR spectral signatures and therefore have potential for noninvasive detection and imaging of cancer tumours, when linked to selective targeting agents such as antibodies. However, such applications face the challenge of sensitively detecting and localizing the source of SWIR emission from inside tissues. A new method, called spectral triangulation, is presented for three dimensional (3D) localization using sparse optical measurements made at the specimen surface. Structurally unsorted SWCNT samples emitting over a range of wavelengths are excited inside tissue phantoms by an LED matrix. The resulting SWIR emission is sampled at points on the surface by a scanning fibre optic probe leading to an InGaAs spectrometer or a spectrally filtered InGaAs avalanche photodiode detector. Because of water absorption, attenuation of the SWCNT fluorescence in tissues is strongly wavelength-dependent. We therefore gauge the SWCNT-probe distance by analysing differential changes in the measured SWCNT emission spectra. SWCNT fluorescence can be clearly detected through at least 20 mm of tissue phantom, and the 3D locations of embedded SWCNT test samples are found with sub-millimeter accuracy at depths up to 10 mm. Our method can also distinguish and locate two embedded SWCNT sources at distinct positions.Nanomaterials with luminescence in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) region are of special interest for biological research and medical diagnostics because of favorable tissue transparency and low autofluorescence backgrounds in that region. Single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) show well-known sharp SWIR spectral signatures and therefore have potential for noninvasive detection and

Spectral multitude and spectral dynamics reflect changing conjugation length in single molecules of oligophenylenevinylenes

KAUST Repository

Kobayashi, Hiroyuki; Tsuchiya, Kousuke; Ogino, Kenji; Vacha, Martin

2012-01-01

Single-molecule study of phenylenevinylene oligomers revealed distinct spectral forms due to different conjugation lengths which are determined by torsional defects. Large spectral jumps between different spectral forms were ascribed to torsional flips of a single phenylene ring. These spectral changes reflect the dynamic nature of electron delocalization in oligophenylenevinylenes and enable estimation of the phenylene torsional barriers. © 2012 The Owner Societies.

Distinguishing attack and second-preimage attack on encrypted message authentication codes (EMAC)

Science.gov (United States)

Ariwibowo, Sigit; Windarta, Susila

2016-02-01

In this paper we show that distinguisher on CBC-MAC can be applied to Encrypted Message Authentication Code (EMAC) scheme. EMAC scheme in general is vulnerable to distinguishing attack and second preimage attack. Distinguishing attack simulation on AES-EMAC using 225 message modifications, no collision have been found. According to second preimage attack simulation on AES-EMAC no collision found between EMAC value of S1 and S2, i.e. no second preimage found for messages that have been tested. Based on distinguishing attack simulation on truncated AES-EMAC we found collision in every message therefore we cannot distinguish truncated AES-EMAC with random function. Second-preimage attack is successfully performed on truncated AES-EMAC.

[Review of digital ground object spectral library].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Xiao-Hu; Zhou, Ding-Wu

2009-06-01

A higher spectral resolution is the main direction of developing remote sensing technology, and it is quite important to set up the digital ground object reflectance spectral database library, one of fundamental research fields in remote sensing application. Remote sensing application has been increasingly relying on ground object spectral characteristics, and quantitative analysis has been developed to a new stage. The present article summarized and systematically introduced the research status quo and development trend of digital ground object reflectance spectral libraries at home and in the world in recent years. Introducing the spectral libraries has been established, including desertification spectral database library, plants spectral database library, geological spectral database library, soil spectral database library, minerals spectral database library, cloud spectral database library, snow spectral database library, the atmosphere spectral database library, rocks spectral database library, water spectral database library, meteorites spectral database library, moon rock spectral database library, and man-made materials spectral database library, mixture spectral database library, volatile compounds spectral database library, and liquids spectral database library. In the process of establishing spectral database libraries, there have been some problems, such as the lack of uniform national spectral database standard and uniform standards for the ground object features as well as the comparability between different databases. In addition, data sharing mechanism can not be carried out, etc. This article also put forward some suggestions on those problems.

Plasma complement biomarkers distinguish multiple sclerosis and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Hakobyan, Svetlana; Luppe, Sebastian; Evans, David Rs; Harding, Katharine; Loveless, Samantha; Robertson, Neil P; Morgan, B Paul

2017-06-01

Multiple sclerosis (MS) and neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) are autoimmune inflammatory demyelinating diseases of the central nervous system. Although distinguished by clinicoradiological and demographic features, early manifestations can be similar complicating management. Antibodies against aquaporin-4 support the diagnosis of NMOSD but are negative in some patients. Therefore, there is unmet need for biomarkers that enable early diagnosis and disease-specific intervention. We investigated whether plasma complement proteins are altered in MS and NMOSD and provide biomarkers that distinguish these diseases. Plasma from 54 NMOSD, 40 MS and 69 control donors was tested in multiplex assays measuring complement activation products and proteins. Using logistic regression, we tested whether combinations of complement analytes distinguished NMOSD from controls and MS. All activation products were elevated in NMOSD compared to either control or MS. Four complement proteins (C1inh, C1s, C5 and FH) were higher in NMOSD compared to MS or controls. A model comprising C1inh and terminal complement complex (TCC) distinguished NMOSD from MS (area under the curve (AUC): 0.98), while C1inh and C5 distinguished NMOSD from controls (AUC: 0.94). NMOSD is distinguished from MS by plasma complement biomarkers. Selected complement analytes enable differential diagnosis. Findings support trials of anti-complement therapies in NMOSD.

SpectralNET – an application for spectral graph analysis and visualization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Schreiber Stuart L

2005-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Graph theory provides a computational framework for modeling a variety of datasets including those emerging from genomics, proteomics, and chemical genetics. Networks of genes, proteins, small molecules, or other objects of study can be represented as graphs of nodes (vertices and interactions (edges that can carry different weights. SpectralNET is a flexible application for analyzing and visualizing these biological and chemical networks. Results Available both as a standalone .NET executable and as an ASP.NET web application, SpectralNET was designed specifically with the analysis of graph-theoretic metrics in mind, a computational task not easily accessible using currently available applications. Users can choose either to upload a network for analysis using a variety of input formats, or to have SpectralNET generate an idealized random network for comparison to a real-world dataset. Whichever graph-generation method is used, SpectralNET displays detailed information about each connected component of the graph, including graphs of degree distribution, clustering coefficient by degree, and average distance by degree. In addition, extensive information about the selected vertex is shown, including degree, clustering coefficient, various distance metrics, and the corresponding components of the adjacency, Laplacian, and normalized Laplacian eigenvectors. SpectralNET also displays several graph visualizations, including a linear dimensionality reduction for uploaded datasets (Principal Components Analysis and a non-linear dimensionality reduction that provides an elegant view of global graph structure (Laplacian eigenvectors. Conclusion SpectralNET provides an easily accessible means of analyzing graph-theoretic metrics for data modeling and dimensionality reduction. SpectralNET is publicly available as both a .NET application and an ASP.NET web application from http://chembank.broad.harvard.edu/resources/. Source code is

Distinguishing Entailment and Presupposition Under Negation Test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gatri Asti Putri Indarti

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Distinguishing entailment from presupposition is quite difficult because their semantic relation seems to be similar. Both entailment and presupposition have an automatic relationship based on the context. However, those semantic relations can still be differentiated by using negation test to show whether a pair is entailment or presupposition. This research focuses on sentences and utterances. Thus, this research aims to analyze and test pairs of entailment and pairs of presupposition by using negation in utterances. The data were twelve comic strips from the Internet and they were analysed by using a negation test. The analysis shows that negation test is useful to test entailment and presupposition in the comic strips. It can be concluded that the difficulty of distinguishing pair of entailment and presupposition in the comic strip using negation test has been successfully solved. In this case, negation test is suitable to test entailment and presupposition. This research can be developed further by other researchers to distinguish entailment and presupposition by using another test if the negation test cannot be used to any further extent.   DOI: https://doi.org/10.24071/llt.2015.180104

(LMRG): Microscope Resolution, Objective Quality, Spectral Accuracy and Spectral Un-mixing

Science.gov (United States)

Bayles, Carol J.; Cole, Richard W.; Eason, Brady; Girard, Anne-Marie; Jinadasa, Tushare; Martin, Karen; McNamara, George; Opansky, Cynthia; Schulz, Katherine; Thibault, Marc; Brown, Claire M.

2012-01-01

The second study by the LMRG focuses on measuring confocal laser scanning microscope (CLSM) resolution, objective lens quality, spectral imaging accuracy and spectral un-mixing. Affordable test samples for each aspect of the study were designed, prepared and sent to 116 labs from 23 countries across the globe. Detailed protocols were designed for the three tests and customized for most of the major confocal instruments being used by the study participants. One protocol developed for measuring resolution and objective quality was recently published in Nature Protocols (Cole, R. W., T. Jinadasa, et al. (2011). Nature Protocols 6(12): 1929–1941). The first study involved 3D imaging of sub-resolution fluorescent microspheres to determine the microscope point spread function. Results of the resolution studies as well as point spread function quality (i.e. objective lens quality) from 140 different objective lenses will be presented. The second study of spectral accuracy looked at the reflection of the laser excitation lines into the spectral detection in order to determine the accuracy of these systems to report back the accurate laser emission wavelengths. Results will be presented from 42 different spectral confocal systems. Finally, samples with double orange beads (orange core and orange coating) were imaged spectrally and the imaging software was used to un-mix fluorescence signals from the two orange dyes. Results from 26 different confocal systems will be summarized. Time will be left to discuss possibilities for the next LMRG study.

Characterizing CDOM Spectral Variability Across Diverse Regions and Spectral Ranges

Science.gov (United States)

Grunert, Brice K.; Mouw, Colleen B.; Ciochetto, Audrey B.

2018-01-01

Satellite remote sensing of colored dissolved organic matter (CDOM) has focused on CDOM absorption (aCDOM) at a reference wavelength, as its magnitude provides insight into the underwater light field and large-scale biogeochemical processes. CDOM spectral slope, SCDOM, has been treated as a constant or semiconstant parameter in satellite retrievals of aCDOM despite significant regional and temporal variabilities. SCDOM and other optical metrics provide insights into CDOM composition, processing, food web dynamics, and carbon cycling. To date, much of this work relies on fluorescence techniques or aCDOM in spectral ranges unavailable to current and planned satellite sensors (e.g., global variability in SCDOM and fit deviations in the aCDOM spectra using the recently proposed Gaussian decomposition method. From this, we investigate if global variability in retrieved SCDOM and Gaussian components is significant and regionally distinct. We iteratively decreased the spectral range considered and analyzed the number, location, and magnitude of fitted Gaussian components to understand if a reduced spectral range impacts information obtained within a common spectral window. We compared the fitted slope from the Gaussian decomposition method to absorption-based indices that indicate CDOM composition to determine the ability of satellite-derived slope to inform the analysis and modeling of large-scale biogeochemical processes. Finally, we present implications of the observed variability for remote sensing of CDOM characteristics via SCDOM.

Indications and Use of the Gluten Contamination Elimination Diet for Patients with Non-Responsive Celiac Disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Leonard, Maureen M; Cureton, Pamela; Fasano, Alessio

2017-10-18

For the majority of patients diagnosed with celiac disease, once a gluten-free diet is initiated, symptoms improve within weeks and may completely resolve in months. However, up to 30% of patients may show signs, symptoms or persistent small intestinal damage after one year on a gluten-free diet. These patients require evaluation for other common GI etiologies and assessment of their celiac disease status in order to make a diagnosis and suggest treatment. Here, we propose an approach to evaluating patients with celiac disease with persistent symptoms, persistently elevated serology, and or persistent villous atrophy despite a gluten-free diet. We detail how to diagnose and distinguish between non-responsive and refractory celiac disease. Finally, we introduce the indications for use of the gluten contamination elimination diet and provide information for practitioners to implement the diet when necessary in their practice.

Elimination of onchocerciasis from Colombia: first proof of concept of river blindness elimination in the world.

Science.gov (United States)

Nicholls, Rubén Santiago; Duque, Sofía; Olaya, Luz Adriana; López, Myriam Consuelo; Sánchez, Sol Beatriz; Morales, Alba Lucía; Palma, Gloria Inés

2018-04-11

Onchocerciasis is a chronic parasitic infection originally endemic in 13 discrete regional foci distributed among six countries of Latin America (Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico and Venezuela). In Colombia, this disease was discovered in 1965 in the Pacific Coast of the country. The National Onchocerciasis Elimination Program was established in 1993 with the aim of eliminating disease morbidity and infection transmission. In 2013, the World Health Organization (WHO) verified Colombia as free of onchocerciasis, becoming the first country in the world to reach such a goal. This report provides the empirical evidence of the elimination of Onchocerca volvulus transmission by Simulium exiguum (s.l.) after 12 years of 6-monthly mass drug administration of Mectizan® (ivermectin) to all the eligible residents living in this endemic area. From 1996 onwards, a biannual community-based mass ivermectin administration programme was implemented, complemented by health education and community participation. In-depth parasitological, serological and entomological surveys were conducted periodically between 1998 and 2007 to evaluate the impact of ivermectin treatment according to the 2001 WHO guidelines. When the interruption of parasite transmission was demonstrated, the drug distribution ceased and a three-year post-treatment surveillance (PTS) period (2008-2010) was initiated. After 23 rounds of treatment, parasitological and ophthalmological assessments showed absence of microfilariae in skin and anterior chamber of the eyes. Serological tests proved lack of antibodies against O. volvulus in children under 10 years-old. A total of 10,500 S. exiguum flies tested by PCR had no L3 infection (infectivity rate = 0.0095%; 95% CI: 0.0029-0.049) during 2004, indicating interruption of parasite transmission. However, biannual ivermectin treatments continued until 2007 followed by a 3-year PTS period at the end of which 13,481 flies were analyzed and no infective flies were

Deblurring sequential ocular images from multi-spectral imaging (MSI) via mutual information.

Science.gov (United States)

Lian, Jian; Zheng, Yuanjie; Jiao, Wanzhen; Yan, Fang; Zhao, Bojun

2018-06-01

Multi-spectral imaging (MSI) produces a sequence of spectral images to capture the inner structure of different species, which was recently introduced into ocular disease diagnosis. However, the quality of MSI images can be significantly degraded by motion blur caused by the inevitable saccades and exposure time required for maintaining a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio. This degradation may confuse an ophthalmologist, reduce the examination quality, or defeat various image analysis algorithms. We propose an early work specially on deblurring sequential MSI images, which is distinguished from many of the current image deblurring techniques by resolving the blur kernel simultaneously for all the images in an MSI sequence. It is accomplished by incorporating several a priori constraints including the sharpness of the latent clear image, the spatial and temporal smoothness of the blur kernel and the similarity between temporally-neighboring images in MSI sequence. Specifically, we model the similarity between MSI images with mutual information considering the different wavelengths used for capturing different images in MSI sequence. The optimization of the proposed approach is based on a multi-scale framework and stepwise optimization strategy. Experimental results from 22 MSI sequences validate that our approach outperforms several state-of-the-art techniques in natural image deblurring.

Martian Atmospheric Pressure Static Charge Elimination Tool

Science.gov (United States)

Johansen, Michael R.

2014-01-01

A Martian pressure static charge elimination tool is currently in development in the Electrostatics and Surface Physics Laboratory (ESPL) at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. In standard Earth atmosphere conditions, static charge can be neutralized from an insulating surface using air ionizers. These air ionizers generate ions through corona breakdown. The Martian atmosphere is 7 Torr of mostly carbon dioxide, which makes it inherently difficult to use similar methods as those used for standard atmosphere static elimination tools. An initial prototype has been developed to show feasibility of static charge elimination at low pressure, using corona discharge. A needle point and thin wire loop are used as the corona generating electrodes. A photo of the test apparatus is shown below. Positive and negative high voltage pulses are sent to the needle point. This creates positive and negative ions that can be used for static charge neutralization. In a preliminary test, a floating metal plate was charged to approximately 600 volts under Martian atmospheric conditions. The static elimination tool was enabled and the voltage on the metal plate dropped rapidly to -100 volts. This test data is displayed below. Optimization is necessary to improve the electrostatic balance of the static elimination tool.

Dynamic changes in spectral and spatial signatures of high frequency oscillations in rat hippocampi during epileptogenesis in acute and chronic stages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pan-Pan Song

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Objective: To analyze spectral and spatial signatures of high frequency oscillations (HFOs, which include ripples and fast ripples (FRs, > 200 Hz by quantitatively assessing average and peak spectral power in a rat model of different stages of epileptogenesis.Methods: The lithium–pilocarpine model of temporal lobe epilepsy was used. The acute phase of epilepsy was assessed by recording intracranial electroencephalography (EEG activity for 1 day after status epilepticus (SE. The chronic phase of epilepsy, including spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRSs, was assessed by recording EEG activity for 28 days after SE. Average and peak spectral power of five frequency bands of EEG signals in CA1, CA3 and DG regions of the hippocampus were analyzed with wavelet and digital filter.Results: FRs occurred in the hippocampus in the animal model. Significant dynamic changes in the spectral power of FRS were identified in CA1 and CA3. The average spectral power of ripples increased at 20 min before SE (p < 0.05, peaked at 10 min before diazepam injection. It decreased at 10 min after diazepam (p < 0.05 and returned to baseline after 1 hour (h. The average spectral power of FRs increased at 30 min before SE (p < 0.05 and peaked at 10 min before diazepam. It decreased at 10 min after diazepam (p < 0.05 and returned to baseline at 2 h after injection. The dynamic changes were similar between average and peak spectral power of FRs. Average and peak spectral power of both ripples and FRs in the chronic phase showed a gradual downward trend compared with normal rats 14 days after SE.Significance: The spectral power of HFOs may be utilized to distinguish between normal and pathologic HFOs. Ictal average and peak spectral power of FRs were two parameters for predicting acute epileptic seizures, which could be used as a new quantitative biomarker and early warning marker of seizure. Changes in interictal HFOs power in the hippocampus at the chronic stage may be not

Making Career Decisions--A Sequential Elimination Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Gati, Itamar

1986-01-01

Presents a model for career decision making based on the sequential elimination of occupational alternatives, an adaptation for career decisions of Tversky's (1972) elimination-by-aspects theory of choice. The expected utility approach is reviewed as a representative compensatory model for career decisions. Advantages, disadvantages, and…

77 FR 30871 - Implementing the Prison Rape Elimination Act

Science.gov (United States)

2012-05-23

...--Implementing the Prison Rape Elimination Act Proclamation 8823--Armed Forces Day, 2012 #0; #0; #0; Presidential... Prison Rape Elimination Act Memorandum for the Heads of Executive Departments and Agencies Sexual... Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) was enacted with bipartisan support and established a ``zero...

Estimation of spectral kurtosis

Science.gov (United States)

Sutawanir

2017-03-01

Rolling bearings are the most important elements in rotating machinery. Bearing frequently fall out of service for various reasons: heavy loads, unsuitable lubrications, ineffective sealing. Bearing faults may cause a decrease in performance. Analysis of bearing vibration signals has attracted attention in the field of monitoring and fault diagnosis. Bearing vibration signals give rich information for early detection of bearing failures. Spectral kurtosis, SK, is a parameter in frequency domain indicating how the impulsiveness of a signal varies with frequency. Faults in rolling bearings give rise to a series of short impulse responses as the rolling elements strike faults, SK potentially useful for determining frequency bands dominated by bearing fault signals. SK can provide a measure of the distance of the analyzed bearings from a healthy one. SK provides additional information given by the power spectral density (psd). This paper aims to explore the estimation of spectral kurtosis using short time Fourier transform known as spectrogram. The estimation of SK is similar to the estimation of psd. The estimation falls in model-free estimation and plug-in estimator. Some numerical studies using simulations are discussed to support the methodology. Spectral kurtosis of some stationary signals are analytically obtained and used in simulation study. Kurtosis of time domain has been a popular tool for detecting non-normality. Spectral kurtosis is an extension of kurtosis in frequency domain. The relationship between time domain and frequency domain analysis is establish through power spectrum-autocovariance Fourier transform. Fourier transform is the main tool for estimation in frequency domain. The power spectral density is estimated through periodogram. In this paper, the short time Fourier transform of the spectral kurtosis is reviewed, a bearing fault (inner ring and outer ring) is simulated. The bearing response, power spectrum, and spectral kurtosis are plotted to

Spectral stratigraphy

Science.gov (United States)

Lang, Harold R.

1991-01-01

A new approach to stratigraphic analysis is described which uses photogeologic and spectral interpretation of multispectral remote sensing data combined with topographic information to determine the attitude, thickness, and lithology of strata exposed at the surface. The new stratigraphic procedure is illustrated by examples in the literature. The published results demonstrate the potential of spectral stratigraphy for mapping strata, determining dip and strike, measuring and correlating stratigraphic sequences, defining lithofacies, mapping biofacies, and interpreting geological structures.

A fully-coupled discontinuous Galerkin spectral element method for two-phase flow in petroleum reservoirs

Science.gov (United States)

Taneja, Ankur; Higdon, Jonathan

2018-01-01

A high-order spectral element discontinuous Galerkin method is presented for simulating immiscible two-phase flow in petroleum reservoirs. The governing equations involve a coupled system of strongly nonlinear partial differential equations for the pressure and fluid saturation in the reservoir. A fully implicit method is used with a high-order accurate time integration using an implicit Rosenbrock method. Numerical tests give the first demonstration of high order hp spatial convergence results for multiphase flow in petroleum reservoirs with industry standard relative permeability models. High order convergence is shown formally for spectral elements with up to 8th order polynomials for both homogeneous and heterogeneous permeability fields. Numerical results are presented for multiphase fluid flow in heterogeneous reservoirs with complex geometric or geologic features using up to 11th order polynomials. Robust, stable simulations are presented for heterogeneous geologic features, including globally heterogeneous permeability fields, anisotropic permeability tensors, broad regions of low-permeability, high-permeability channels, thin shale barriers and thin high-permeability fractures. A major result of this paper is the demonstration that the resolution of the high order spectral element method may be exploited to achieve accurate results utilizing a simple cartesian mesh for non-conforming geological features. Eliminating the need to mesh to the boundaries of geological features greatly simplifies the workflow for petroleum engineers testing multiple scenarios in the face of uncertainty in the subsurface geology.

Spectral unmixing: estimating partial abundances

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Debba, Pravesh

2009-01-01

Full Text Available techniques is complicated when considering very similar spectral signatures. Iron-bearing oxide/hydroxide/sulfate minerals have similar spectral signatures. The study focuses on how could estimates of abundances of spectrally similar iron-bearing oxide...

Body elimination attitude family resemblance in Kuwait.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Fayez, Ghenaim; Awadalla, Abdelwahid; Arikawa, Hiroko; Templer, Donald I; Hutton, Shane

2009-12-01

The purpose of the present study was to determine the family resemblance of attitude toward body elimination in Kuwaiti participants. This study was conceptualized in the context of the theories of moral development, importance of cleanliness in the Muslim religion, cross-cultural differences in personal hygiene practices, previous research reporting an association between family attitudes and body elimination attitude, and health implications. The 24-item Likert-type format Body Elimination Attitude Scale-Revised was administered to 277 Kuwaiti high school students and 437 of their parents. Females scored higher, indicating greater disgust, than the males. Moreover, sons' body elimination attitude correlated more strongly with fathers' attitude (r = .85) than with that of the mothers (r = .64). Daughters' attitude was similarly associated with the fathers' (r = .89) and the mothers' attitude (r = .86). The high correlations were discussed within the context of Kuwait having a collectivistic culture with authoritarian parenting style. The higher adolescent correlations, and in particular the boys' correlation with fathers than with mothers, was explained in terms of the more dominant role of the Muslim father in the family. Public health and future research implications were suggested. A theoretical formulation was advanced in which "ideal" body elimination attitude is relative rather than absolute, and is a function of one's life circumstances, one's occupation, one's culture and subculture, and the society that one lives in.

Familial identification: population structure and relationship distinguishability.

Science.gov (United States)

Rohlfs, Rori V; Fullerton, Stephanie Malia; Weir, Bruce S

2012-02-01

With the expansion of offender/arrestee DNA profile databases, genetic forensic identification has become commonplace in the United States criminal justice system. Implementation of familial searching has been proposed to extend forensic identification to family members of individuals with profiles in offender/arrestee DNA databases. In familial searching, a partial genetic profile match between a database entrant and a crime scene sample is used to implicate genetic relatives of the database entrant as potential sources of the crime scene sample. In addition to concerns regarding civil liberties, familial searching poses unanswered statistical questions. In this study, we define confidence intervals on estimated likelihood ratios for familial identification. Using these confidence intervals, we consider familial searching in a structured population. We show that relatives and unrelated individuals from population samples with lower gene diversity over the loci considered are less distinguishable. We also consider cases where the most appropriate population sample for individuals considered is unknown. We find that as a less appropriate population sample, and thus allele frequency distribution, is assumed, relatives and unrelated individuals become more difficult to distinguish. In addition, we show that relationship distinguishability increases with the number of markers considered, but decreases for more distant genetic familial relationships. All of these results indicate that caution is warranted in the application of familial searching in structured populations, such as in the United States.

Familial identification: population structure and relationship distinguishability.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rori V Rohlfs

2012-02-01

Full Text Available With the expansion of offender/arrestee DNA profile databases, genetic forensic identification has become commonplace in the United States criminal justice system. Implementation of familial searching has been proposed to extend forensic identification to family members of individuals with profiles in offender/arrestee DNA databases. In familial searching, a partial genetic profile match between a database entrant and a crime scene sample is used to implicate genetic relatives of the database entrant as potential sources of the crime scene sample. In addition to concerns regarding civil liberties, familial searching poses unanswered statistical questions. In this study, we define confidence intervals on estimated likelihood ratios for familial identification. Using these confidence intervals, we consider familial searching in a structured population. We show that relatives and unrelated individuals from population samples with lower gene diversity over the loci considered are less distinguishable. We also consider cases where the most appropriate population sample for individuals considered is unknown. We find that as a less appropriate population sample, and thus allele frequency distribution, is assumed, relatives and unrelated individuals become more difficult to distinguish. In addition, we show that relationship distinguishability increases with the number of markers considered, but decreases for more distant genetic familial relationships. All of these results indicate that caution is warranted in the application of familial searching in structured populations, such as in the United States.

Introduction to spectral theory

CERN Document Server

Levitan, B M

1975-01-01

This monograph is devoted to the spectral theory of the Sturm- Liouville operator and to the spectral theory of the Dirac system. In addition, some results are given for nth order ordinary differential operators. Those parts of this book which concern nth order operators can serve as simply an introduction to this domain, which at the present time has already had time to become very broad. For the convenience of the reader who is not familar with abstract spectral theory, the authors have inserted a chapter (Chapter 13) in which they discuss this theory, concisely and in the main without proofs, and indicate various connections with the spectral theory of differential operators.

Biopsy Diagnosis of Oral Carcinoma by the Combination of Morphological and Spectral Methods Based on Embedded Relay Lens Microscopic Hyperspectral Imaging System.

Science.gov (United States)

Ou-Yang, Mang; Hsieh, Yao-Fang; Lee, Cheng-Chung

Cytopathological examination through biopsy is very important for carcinoma detection. The embedded relay lens microscopic hyperspectral imaging system (ERL-MHIS) provides a morphological image of a biopsy sample and the spectrum of each pixel in the image simultaneously. Based on the ERL-MHIS, this work develops morphological and spectral methods to diagnose oral carcinoma biopsy. In morphological discrimination, the fractal dimension method is applied to differentiate between normal and abnormal tissues. In spectral identification, normal and cancerous cells are distinguished using five methods. However, the spectra of normal and cancerous cells vary with patient. The diagnostic performances of the five methods are thus not ideal. Hence, the proposed cocktail approach is used to determine the effectiveness of the spectral methods in correlating with the sampling conditions. And then we use a combination of effective spectral methods according to the sample conditions for diagnosing a sample. A total of 68 biopsies from 34 patients are analyzed using the ERL-MHIS. The results demonstrate a sensitivity of 90 ± 4.53 % and a specificity of 87.8 ± 5.21 %. Furthermore, in our survey, this system is the first time utilized to study oral carcinoma biopsies.

Entropy of Mixing of Distinguishable Particles

Science.gov (United States)

Kozliak, Evguenii I.

2014-01-01

The molar entropy of mixing yields values that depend only on the number of mixing components rather than on their chemical nature. To explain this phenomenon using the logic of chemistry, this article considers mixing of distinguishable particles, thus complementing the well-known approach developed for nondistinguishable particles, for example,…

[Analysis of sensitive spectral bands for burning status detection using hyper-spectral images of Tiangong-01].

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Xian-Lin; Zhu, Xi; Yang, Fei; Zhao, Kai-Rui; Pang, Yong; Li, Zeng-Yuan; Li, Xu-Zhi; Zhang, Jiu-Xing

2013-07-01

To obtain the sensitive spectral bands for detection of information on 4 kinds of burning status, i. e. flaming, smoldering, smoke, and fire scar, with satellite data, analysis was conducted to identify suitable satellite spectral bands for detection of information on these 4 kinds of burning status by using hyper-spectrum images of Tiangong-01 (TG-01) and employing a method combining statistics and spectral analysis. The results show that: in the hyper-spectral images of TG-01, the spectral bands differ obviously for detection of these 4 kinds of burning status; in all hyper-spectral short-wave infrared channels, the reflectance of flaming is higher than that of all other 3 kinds of burning status, and the reflectance of smoke is the lowest; the reflectance of smoke is higher than that of all other 3 kinds of burning status in the channels corresponding to hyper-spectral visible near-infrared and panchromatic sensors. For spectral band selection, more suitable spectral bands for flaming detection are 1 000.0-1 956.0 and 2 020.0-2 400.0 nm; the suitable spectral bands for identifying smoldering are 930.0-1 000.0 and 1 084.0-2 400.0 nm; the suitable spectral bands for smoke detection is in 400.0-920.0 nm; for fire scar detection, it is suitable to select bands with central wavelengths of 900.0-930.0 and 1 300.0-2 400.0 nm, and then to combine them to construct a detection model.

Millimetre spectral indices of transition disks and their relation to the cavity radius

Science.gov (United States)

Pinilla, P.; Benisty, M.; Birnstiel, T.; Ricci, L.; Isella, A.; Natta, A.; Dullemond, C. P.; Quiroga-Nuñez, L. H.; Henning, T.; Testi, L.

2014-04-01

Context. Transition disks are protoplanetary disks with inner depleted dust cavities that are excellent candidates for investigating the dust evolution when there is a pressure bump. A pressure bump at the outer edge of the cavity allows dust grains from the outer regions to stop their rapid inward migration towards the star and to efficiently grow to millimetre sizes. Dynamical interactions with planet(s) have been one of the most exciting theories to explain the clearing of the inner disk. Aims: We look for evidence of millimetre dust particles in transition disks by measuring their spectral index αmm with new and available photometric data. We investigate the influence of the size of the dust depleted cavity on the disk integrated millimetre spectral index. Methods: We present the 3-mm (100 GHz) photometric observations carried out with the Plateau de Bure Interferometer of four transition disks: LkHα 330, UX Tau A, LRLL 31, and LRLL 67. We used the available values of their fluxes at 345 GHz to calculate their spectral index, as well as the spectral index for a sample of twenty transition disks. We compared the observations with two kinds of models. In the first set of models, we considered coagulation and fragmentation of dust in a disk in which a cavity is formed by a massive planet located at different positions. The second set of models assumes disks with truncated inner parts at different radii and with power-law dust-size distributions, where the maximum size of grains is calculated considering turbulence as the source of destructive collisions. Results: We show that the integrated spectral index is higher for transition disks (TD) than for regular protoplanetary disks (PD) with mean values of bar{αmmTD} = 2.70 ± 0.13 and bar{αmmPD} = 2.20 ± 0.07 respectively. For transition disks, the probability that the measured spectral index is positively correlated with the cavity radius is 95%. High angular resolution imaging of transition disks is needed to

Importance of the green color, absorption gradient, and spectral absorption of chloroplasts for the radiative energy balance of leaves.

Science.gov (United States)

Kume, Atsushi

2017-05-01

Terrestrial green plants absorb photosynthetically active radiation (PAR; 400-700 nm) but do not absorb photons evenly across the PAR waveband. The spectral absorbance of photosystems and chloroplasts is lowest for green light, which occurs within the highest irradiance waveband of direct solar radiation. We demonstrate a close relationship between this phenomenon and the safe and efficient utilization of direct solar radiation in simple biophysiological models. The effects of spectral absorptance on the photon and irradiance absorption processes are evaluated using the spectra of direct and diffuse solar radiation. The radiation absorption of a leaf arises as a consequence of the absorption of chloroplasts. The photon absorption of chloroplasts is strongly dependent on the distribution of pigment concentrations and their absorbance spectra. While chloroplast movements in response to light are important mechanisms controlling PAR absorption, they are not effective for green light because chloroplasts have the lowest spectral absorptance in the waveband. With the development of palisade tissue, the incident photons per total palisade cell surface area and the absorbed photons per chloroplast decrease. The spectral absorbance of carotenoids is effective in eliminating shortwave PAR (solar radiation. However, most of the near infrared radiation is unabsorbed and heat stress is greatly reduced. The incident solar radiation is too strong to be utilized for photosynthesis under the current CO 2 concentration in the terrestrial environment. Therefore, the photon absorption of a whole leaf is efficiently regulated by photosynthetic pigments with low spectral absorptance in the highest irradiance waveband and through a combination of pigment density distribution and leaf anatomical structures.

ParTIES: a toolbox for Paramecium interspersed DNA elimination studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Denby Wilkes, Cyril; Arnaiz, Olivier; Sperling, Linda

2016-02-15

Developmental DNA elimination occurs in a wide variety of multicellular organisms, but ciliates are the only single-celled eukaryotes in which this phenomenon has been reported. Despite considerable interest in ciliates as models for DNA elimination, no standard methods for identification and characterization of the eliminated sequences are currently available. We present the Paramecium Toolbox for Interspersed DNA Elimination Studies (ParTIES), designed for Paramecium species, that (i) identifies eliminated sequences, (ii) measures their presence in a sequencing sample and (iii) detects rare elimination polymorphisms. ParTIES is multi-threaded Perl software available at https://github.com/oarnaiz/ParTIES. ParTIES is distributed under the GNU General Public Licence v3. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Method of eliminating gaseous hydrogen isotopes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nagakura, Masaaki; Imaizumi, Hideki; Suemori, Nobuo; Aizawa, Takashi; Naito, Taisei.

1983-01-01

Purpose: To prevent external diffusion of gaseous hydrogen isotopes such as tritium or the like upon occurrence of tritium leakage accident in a thermonuclear reactor by recovering to eliminate the isotopes rapidly and with safety. Method: Gases at the region of a reactor container where hydrogen isotopes might leak are sucked by a recycing pump, dehumidified in a dehumidifier and then recycled from a preheater through a catalytic oxidation reactor to a water absorption tower. In this structure, the dehumidifier is disposed at the upstream of the catalytic oxidation reactor to reduce the water content of the gases to be processed, whereby the eliminating efficiency for the gases to be processed can be maintained well even when the oxidation reactor is operated at a low temperature condition near the ambient temperature. This method is based on the fact that the oxidating reactivity of the catalyst can be improved significantly by eliminating the water content in the gases to be processed. (Yoshino, Y.)

[Study on spectral detection of green plant target].

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Wei; Zhao, Chun-jiang; He, Xiong-kui; Chen, Li-ping; Zhang, Lu-da; Wu, Guang-wei; Mueller, J; Zhai, Chang-yuan

2010-08-01

Weeds grow scatteredly in fields, where many insentient objects exist, for example, withered grasses, dry twig and barriers. In order to improve the precision level of spraying, it is important to study green plant detecting technology. The present paper discussed detecting method of green plant by using spectral recognizing technology, because of the real-time feature of spectral recognition. By analyzing the reflectivity difference between each of the two sides of the "red edge" of the spectrum from plants and surrounding environment, green plant discriminat index (GPDI) is defined as the value which equals the reflectivity ratio at the wavelength of 850 nm divided by the reflectivity ratio at the wavelength of 650 nm. The original spectral data of green plants and the background were measured by using the handhold FieldSpec 3 Spectroradiometer manufactured by ASD Inc. in USA. The spectral data were processed to get the reflectivity of each measured objects and to work out the GPDI thereof as well. The classification model of green plant and its background was built up using decision tree method in order to obtain the threshold of GPDI to distinguish green plants and the background. The threshold of GPDI was chosen as 5.54. The detected object was recognized as green plant when it is GPDI>GPDITH, and vice versa. Through another test, the accuracy rate was verified which was 100% by using the threshold. The authors designed and developed the green plant detector based on single chip microcomputer (SCM) "AT89S51" and photodiode "OPT101" to realize detecting green plants from the background. After passing through two optical filters, the center wavelengths of which are 650 and 850 nm respectively, the reflected light from measured targets was detected by two photodiodes and converted into electrical signals. These analog signals were then converted to digital signals via an analog-to-digital converter (ADS7813) after being amplified by a signal amplifier (OP400

Comparative metabolism and elimination of acetanilide compounds by rat.

Science.gov (United States)

Davison, K L; Larsen, G L; Feil, V J

1994-10-01

1. 14C-labelled propachlor, alachlor, butachlor, metolachlor, methoxypropachlor and some of their mercapturic acid pathway metabolites (MAP) were given to rat either by gavage or by perfusion into a renal artery. MAP metabolites were isolated from bile and urine. 2. Rat gavaged with propachlor and methoxypropachlor eliminated 14C mostly in urine, whereas rat gavaged with alachlor, butachlor and metolachlor eliminated 14C about equally divided between urine and faeces. When bile ducts were cannulated, the gavaged rat eliminated most of the 14C in bile for all compounds. The amount of 14C in bile from the propachlor-gavaged rat was less than that for the other acetanilides, with the difference being in the urine. 3. The mercapturic acid metabolites 2-methylsulphinyl-N-(1-methylhydroxyethyl)-N-phenylacetam ide and 2-methylsulphinyl-N-(1-methylmethoxyethyl)-N-phenylacetam ide were isolated from the urine and bile of the methoxypropachlor-gavaged rat. 4. Bile was the major route for 14C elimination when MAP metabolites of alachlor, butachlor and metolachlor were perfused into a renal artery. Urine was the major route for 14C elimination when MAP metabolites of propachlor and methoxypropachlor were perfused. Mercapturic acid conjugates were major metabolites in bile and urine when MAP metabolites were perfused. 5. We conclude that alkyl groups on the phenyl portion of the acetanilide causes biliary elimination to be favoured over urinary elimination.

Testing the hypothesis that treatment can eliminate HIV

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Okano, Justin T; Robbins, Danielle; Palk, Laurence

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Worldwide, approximately 35 million individuals are infected with HIV; about 25 million of these live in sub-Saharan Africa. WHO proposes using treatment as prevention (TasP) to eliminate HIV. Treatment suppresses viral load, decreasing the probability an individual transmits HIV....... The elimination threshold is one new HIV infection per 1000 individuals. Here, we test the hypothesis that TasP can substantially reduce epidemics and eliminate HIV. We estimate the impact of TasP, between 1996 and 2013, on the Danish HIV epidemic in men who have sex with men (MSM), an epidemic UNAIDS has...... identified as a priority for elimination. METHODS: We use a CD4-staged Bayesian back-calculation approach to estimate incidence, and the hidden epidemic (the number of HIV-infected undiagnosed MSM). To develop the back-calculation model, we use data from an ongoing nationwide population-based study...

Optimization of spectral printer modeling based on a modified cellular Yule-Nielsen spectral Neugebauer model.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qiang; Wan, Xiaoxia; Xie, Dehong

2014-06-01

The study presented here optimizes several steps in the spectral printer modeling workflow based on a cellular Yule-Nielsen spectral Neugebauer (CYNSN) model. First, a printer subdividing method was developed that reduces the number of sub-models while maintaining the maximum device gamut. Second, the forward spectral prediction accuracy of the CYNSN model for each subspace of the printer was improved using back propagation artificial neural network (BPANN) estimated n values. Third, a sequential gamut judging method, which clearly reduced the complexity of the optimal sub-model and cell searching process during printer backward modeling, was proposed. After that, we further modified the use of the modeling color metric and comprehensively improved the spectral and perceptual accuracy of the spectral printer model. The experimental results show that the proposed optimization approaches provide obvious improvements in aspects of the modeling accuracy or efficiency for each of the corresponding steps, and an overall improvement of the optimized spectral printer modeling workflow was also demonstrated.

Beyond y and μ: the shape of the CMB spectral distortions in the intermediate epoch, 1.5 × 104∼5

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khatri, Rishi; Sunyaev, Rashid A.

2012-01-01

We calculate numerical solutions and analytic approximations for the intermediate-type spectral distortions. Detection of a μ-type distortion (saturated comptonization) in the CMB will constrain the time of energy injection to be at a redshift 2 × 10 6 ∼>z∼>2 × 10 5 , while a detection of a y-type distortion (minimal comptonization) will mean that there was heating of CMB at redshift z∼ 4 . We point out that the partially comptonized spectral distortions, generated in the redshift range 1.5 × 10 4 ∼ 5 , are much richer in information than the pure y and μ-type distortions. The spectrum created during this period is intermediate between y and μ-type distortions and depends sensitively on the redshift of energy injection. These intermediate-type distortions cannot be mimicked by a mixture of y and μ-type distortions at all frequencies and vice versa. The measurement of these intermediate-type CMB spectral distortions has the possibility to constrain precisely not only the amount of energy release in the early Universe but also the mechanism, for example, particle annihilation and Silk damping can be distinguished from particle decay. The intermediate-type distortion templates and software code using these templates to calculate the CMB spectral distortions for user-defined energy injection rate is made publicly available

Minding Rachlin's Eliminative Materialism

Science.gov (United States)

McDowell, J. J.

2012-01-01

Rachlin's teleological behaviorism eliminates the first-person ontology of conscious experience by identifying mental states with extended patterns of behavior, and thereby maintains the materialist ontology of science. An alternate view, informed by brain-based and externalist philosophies of mind, is shown also to maintain the materialist…

Rapid molecular technique to distinguish Fusarium species

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Lodolo, EJ

1993-03-01

Full Text Available The nuclear DNA (nDNA) of different isolates of three closely related, toxin-producing Fusarium species, F. moniliforme, F. nygamai and F. napiforme, was compared to ascertain the sensitivity of a molecular method to distinguish these three species...

The experimental determination and evaluation of the spectral indices of the IPEN/MB-01 reactor for the IRPhE project

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos, Adimir dos; Fanaro, Leda C.C.B.; Jerez, Rogério

2013-01-01

Highlights: • A new experimental method for the spectral index measurements was developed. • The method eliminates the need of calculated correction factors for the case of 28 ρ. • The experimental results were approved for inclusion in the IRPhE handbook. • MCNP5 with ENDF/B-VII.0 described well the experimental data. - Abstract: New experimental results for the spectral indices of the IPEN/MB-01 reactor are presented in this work. The experimental approach considers a new technique for the 28 ρ case which does not require any sort of calculated correction factors. This aspect gave to the IPEN/MB-01 experiment an excellent quality and free of possible bias due to these calculated correction factors. The uncertainty analysis show, even considering the uncertainties of the geometric and material data of the facility, that the final uncertainties are small enough and well understood for a benchmark problem. The experiment was evaluated and included in the IRPhE handbook. The theory/experiment comparison reveals that there is considerable progress in the 238 U nuclear data for application in thermal reactors. The theory/experiment comparison employs the nuclear data libraries ENDF/B-VII.0, ENDF/B-VI.8, JEF3.1, and JENDL3.3 and reveals an excellent agreement for the spectral index 28 ρ * independently of the nuclear data library considered; aspect never found before in several other comparisons. The long term overprediction of the 238 U neutron epithermal capture appears to be eliminated with the improvements in the recent nuclear data libraries. The experimental performed at the IPEN/MB-01 reactor supports the changes in the 238 U nuclear data incorporated in ENDF/B-VII.0 as well as in the other libraries studied in this work. The theory/experiment comparison of 25 δ * and (C8/F) ept show that these spectral indices are in general slightly overpredicted, thus suggesting that the thermal fission cross section of 235 U might be a little bit underestimated

The economics of malaria control and elimination: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Shretta, Rima; Avanceña, Anton L V; Hatefi, Arian

2016-12-12

Declining donor funding and competing health priorities threaten the sustainability of malaria programmes. Elucidating the cost and benefits of continued investments in malaria could encourage sustained political and financial commitments. The evidence, although available, remains disparate. This paper reviews the existing literature on the economic and financial cost and return of malaria control, elimination and eradication. A review of articles that were published on or before September 2014 on the cost and benefits of malaria control and elimination was performed. Studies were classified based on their scope and were analysed according to two major categories: cost of malaria control and elimination to a health system, and cost-benefit studies. Only studies involving more than two control or elimination interventions were included. Outcomes of interest were total programmatic cost, cost per capita, and benefit-cost ratios (BCRs). All costs were converted to 2013 US$ for standardization. Of the 6425 articles identified, 54 studies were included in this review. Twenty-two were focused on elimination or eradication while 32 focused on intensive control. Forty-eight per cent of studies included in this review were published on or after 2000. Overall, the annual per capita cost of malaria control to a health system ranged from $0.11 to $39.06 (median: $2.21) while that for malaria elimination ranged from $0.18 to $27 (median: $3.00). BCRs of investing in malaria control and elimination ranged from 2.4 to over 145. Overall, investments needed for malaria control and elimination varied greatly amongst the various countries and contexts. In most cases, the cost of elimination was greater than the cost of control. At the same time, the benefits of investing in malaria greatly outweighed the costs. While the cost of elimination in most cases was greater than the cost of control, the benefits greatly outweighed the cost. Information from this review provides guidance to

Uptake, disposition, and elimination of acrylamide in rainbow trout

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Petersen, D.W.; Kleinow, K.M.; Kraska, R.C.; Lech, J.J.

1985-01-01

The uptake, disposition, and elimination of [2,3- 14 C]acrylamide was studied in fingerling rainbow trout exposed to 0.388 and 0.710 mg/liter [2,3- 14 C]acrylamide at 12 degrees C under static water conditions for 72 hr. 14 C in carcass and viscera was determined at times ranging from 4 to 72 hr after the beginning of the exposure period and 4 to 96 hr after transfer of the fish to fresh flowing water for the elimination studies. Uptake of 14 C was initially rapid and plateaued after 72 hr of acrylamide exposure. No appreciable bioaccumulation occurred in carcass or viscera at either exposure concentration and 14 C distributed approximately equally to all tissues studied. Elimination of 14 C from carcass and viscera was biphasic with a terminal half-life of approximately 7 days. 14 C elimination was not uniform in all tissues studied with the most rapid elimination occurring in blood and gill and the slowest elimination occurring in muscle and intestine. In addition, 10 to 15% of the initial total 14 C in carcass or viscera was nonextractable and was associated with the protein fraction of the sample at all time points in the depuration period. Approximately 20% of an ip administered dose of [ 14 C]acrylamide was eliminated via the gills, 7% via the urine, and less than 1% via the bile in 2 hr. At least three biliary metabolites were isolated by HPLC

Recognizing, Confronting, and Eliminating Workplace Bullying.

Science.gov (United States)

Berry, Peggy Ann; Gillespie, Gordon L; Fisher, Bonnie S; Gormley, Denise K

2016-07-01

Workplace bullying (WPB) behaviors negatively affect nurse productivity, satisfaction, and retention, and hinder safe patient care. The purpose of this article is to define WPB, differentiate between incivility and WPB, and recommend actions to prevent WPB behaviors. Informed occupational and environmental health nurses and nurse leaders must recognize, confront, and eliminate WPB in their facilities and organizations. Recognizing, confronting, and eliminating WPB behaviors in health care is a crucial first step toward sustained improvements in patient care quality and the health and safety of health care employees. © 2016 The Author(s).

How to distinguish between cloudy mini-Neptunes and water/volatile-dominated super-Earths

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benneke, Björn; Seager, Sara, E-mail: bbenneke@mit.edu [Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

2013-12-01

One of the most profound questions about the newly discovered class of low-density super-Earths is whether these exoplanets are predominately H{sub 2}-dominated mini-Neptunes or volatile-rich worlds with gas envelopes dominated by H{sub 2}O, CO{sub 2}, CO, CH{sub 4}, or N{sub 2}. Transit observations of the super-Earth GJ 1214b rule out cloud-free H{sub 2}-dominated scenarios, but are not able to determine whether the lack of deep spectral features is due to high-altitude clouds or the presence of a high mean molecular mass atmosphere. Here, we demonstrate that one can unambiguously distinguish between cloudy mini-Neptunes and volatile-dominated worlds based on wing steepness and relative depths of absorption features in moderate-resolution near-infrared transmission spectra (R ∼ 100). In a numerical retrieval study, we show for GJ 1214b that an unambiguous distinction between a cloudy H{sub 2}-dominated atmosphere and cloud-free H{sub 2}O atmosphere will be possible if the uncertainties in the spectral transit depth measurements can be reduced by a factor of ∼3 compared to the published Hubble Space Telescope Wide-Field Camera 3 and Very Large Telescope transit observations by Berta et al. and Bean et al. We argue that the required precision for the distinction may be achievable with currently available instrumentation by stacking 10-15 repeated transit observations. We provide a scaling law that scales our quantitative results to other transiting super-Earths and Neptunes such as HD 97658b, 55 Cnc e, GJ 3470b and GJ 436b. The analysis in this work is performed using an improved version of our Bayesian atmospheric retrieval framework. The new framework not only constrains the gas composition and cloud/haze parameters, but also determines our confidence in having detected molecules and cloud/haze species through Bayesian model comparison. Using the Bayesian tool, we demonstrate quantitatively that the subtle transit depth variation in the Berta et al. data is

Elimination of americium-241 after a case of accidental inhalation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Edvardsson, K.A.; Lindgren, L.

1976-01-01

In handling a 241 Am source one person received an internal contamination of about 140 nCi of americium oxide, which was deposited in the lung region. Elimination of the activity was followed for more than 3 months by external gamma counting and excreta analyses. During the first week after the inhalation about 80% of the total intake was eliminated with an effective half-life of less than 2 days. The remaining activity, deposited in the lung region, was eliminated with an effective half-life of about 17 days. About 15% of the activity eliminated from the lung region from the 10th to the 50th day was eliminated in the faeces. (author)

The Role of Quantifier Alternations in Cut Elimination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gerhardy, Philipp

2005-01-01

Extending previous results on the complexity of cut elimination for the sequent calculus LK, we discuss the role of quantifier alternations and develop a measure to describe the complexity of cut elimination in terms of quantifier alternations in cut formulas and contractions on such formulas...

Spectral radius of graphs

CERN Document Server

Stevanovic, Dragan

2015-01-01

Spectral Radius of Graphs provides a thorough overview of important results on the spectral radius of adjacency matrix of graphs that have appeared in the literature in the preceding ten years, most of them with proofs, and including some previously unpublished results of the author. The primer begins with a brief classical review, in order to provide the reader with a foundation for the subsequent chapters. Topics covered include spectral decomposition, the Perron-Frobenius theorem, the Rayleigh quotient, the Weyl inequalities, and the Interlacing theorem. From this introduction, the

New parameter of the right gastroepiploic arterial graft using the power spectral analysis device named MemCalc soft.

Science.gov (United States)

Uehara, Mayuko; Takagi, Nobuyuki; Muraki, Satoshi; Yanase, Yosuke; Tabuchi, Masaki; Tachibana, Kazutoshi; Miyaki, Yasuko; Ito, Toshiro; Higami, Tetsuya

2015-12-01

Transit-time flow measurement (TTFM) parameters such as mean graft flow (MGF, ml/min), pulsatility index (PI) and diastolic filling (DF, %) have been extensively researched for internal mammary arterial or saphenous vein grafts. In our experience of using the right gastroepiploic arterial (GEA) graft for right coronary artery (RCA) grafting, we observed unique GEA graft flow waveforms. We analysed the GEA graft flow waveforms for their effectiveness in determining GEA graft patency by power spectral analysis. Forty-five patients underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass using the GEA graft for RCA grafting individually. The means of intraoperative MGF, PI and DF were compared between patent and non-patent grafts, postoperatively. Furthermore, the GEA flow data were output and analysed using power spectral analysis. Forty grafts were 'patent' and five were 'non-patent'. There were no significant differences in the mean TTFM parameters between the patent and non-patent grafts (MGF: 22 vs 8 ml/min, respectively, P = 0.068; PI: 3.5 vs 6.5, respectively, P = 0.155; DF: 63 vs 53%, respectively, P = 0.237). Results of the power spectral analysis presented clear differences; the power spectral density (PSD) of patent grafts presented high peaks at frequency levels of 1, 2 and 3 Hz, and the non-patent graft PSD presented high peaks that were not limited to these frequencies. The PSD had a sensitivity and specificity of 80 and 87.5%, respectively. Power spectral analysis of the GEA graft flow is useful to distinguish between non-patent and patent grafts intraoperatively. This should be used as a fourth parameter along with MGF, PI and DF. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

Activity recognition from minimal distinguishing subsequence mining

Science.gov (United States)

Iqbal, Mohammad; Pao, Hsing-Kuo

2017-08-01

Human activity recognition is one of the most important research topics in the era of Internet of Things. To separate different activities given sensory data, we utilize a Minimal Distinguishing Subsequence (MDS) mining approach to efficiently find distinguishing patterns among different activities. We first transform the sensory data into a series of sensor triggering events and operate the MDS mining procedure afterwards. The gap constraints are also considered in the MDS mining. Given the multi-class nature of most activity recognition tasks, we modify the MDS mining approach from a binary case to a multi-class one to fit the need for multiple activity recognition. We also study how to select the best parameter set including the minimal and the maximal support thresholds in finding the MDSs for effective activity recognition. Overall, the prediction accuracy is 86.59% on the van Kasteren dataset which consists of four different activities for recognition.

Stability of the nonequilibrium states of a superconductor with a finite difference between the populations of the electron- and hole-like spectral branches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gal'perin, Y.M.; Kozub, V.I.; Spivak, B.Z.

1981-01-01

The stability of the nonequilibrium states of a superconductor with a finite difference between the populations of the electron- and hole-like spectral branches is investigated. It is shown that an instability similar to the Cooper instability of a normal metal arises at a sufficiently large value of the imbalance. This eliminates the imbalance within quantum-mechanical (nonkinetic) time periods. The consistency of the allowance for the imbalance in the nonequilibrium Ginzburg-Landau equations is discussed

Comparing materials used in mist eliminators

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Looney, B.; Baleno, B.; Boles, G.L.; Telow, J. [Solvay Advanced Polyers (United States)

2007-11-15

Wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) systems, or wet scrubbers, are notoriously capital - and maintenance-intensive. Mist eliminators are an integral part of most wet FGD systems. These are available in a variety of materials - polypropylene, fiberglass reinforced polymer (FRP), polysulfone and stainless steel. The article discusses the material properties, performance attributes and relative cost differences associated with each of these four materials. It describes the common problems with mist eliminators - fouling and corrosion. These can be minimised by routine cleaning and use of chemical additives to prevent deposition. An analysis was carried out to compare the four materials at APS Cholla power plant. As a result the facility is retrofitting its remaining wet scrubber towers in Unit 2 with mist eliminators constructed from polysulfone as each of the current ones of the existing polypropylene needs replacing. Polysulfone is cheaper to clean and components require replacing less frequently than polypropylene. Switching from stainless steel to polypropylene has proved advantageous on 22 wet scrubbers operated by PPL Montana. 5 figs. 2 tabs.

M3 spectral analysis of lunar swirls and the link between optical maturation and surface hydroxyl formation at magnetic anomalies

Science.gov (United States)

Kramer, G.Y.; Besse, S.; Dhingra, D.; Nettles, J.; Klima, R.; Garrick-Bethell, I.; Clark, Roger N.; Combe, J.-P.; Head, J. W.; Taylor, L.A.; Pieters, C.M.; Boardman, J.; McCord, T.B.

2011-01-01

We examined the lunar swirls using data from the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3). The improved spectral and spatial resolution of M3 over previous spectral imaging data facilitates distinction of subtle spectral differences, and provides new information about the nature of these enigmatic features. We characterized spectral features of the swirls, interswirl regions (dark lanes), and surrounding terrain for each of three focus regions: Reiner Gamma, Gerasimovich, and Mare Ingenii. We used Principle Component Analysis to identify spectrally distinct surfaces at each focus region, and characterize the spectral features that distinguish them. We compared spectra from small, recent impact craters with the mature soils into which they penetrated to examine differences in maturation trends on- and off-swirl. Fresh, on-swirl crater spectra are higher albedo, exhibit a wider range in albedos and have well-preserved mafic absorption features compared with fresh off-swirl craters. Albedoand mafic absorptions are still evident in undisturbed, on-swirl surface soils, suggesting the maturation process is retarded. The spectral continuum is more concave compared with off-swirl spectra; a result of the limited spectral reddening being mostly constrained to wavelengths less than ∼1500 nm. Off-swirl spectra show very little reddening or change in continuum shape across the entire M3 spectral range. Off-swirl spectra are dark, have attenuated absorption features, and the narrow range in off-swirl albedos suggests off-swirl regions mature rapidly. Spectral parameter maps depicting the relative OH surface abundance for each of our three swirl focus regions were created using the depth of the hydroxyl absorption feature at 2.82 μm. For each of the studied regions, the 2.82 μm absorption feature is significantly weaker on-swirl than off-swirl, indicating the swirls are depleted in OH relative to their surroundings. The spectral characteristics of the swirls and adjacent terrains

Malaria elimination practices in rural community residents in ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

53. Rwanda Journal Series F: Medicine and Health Sciences Vol. 2 No. 1, 2015. Malaria elimination practices in rural community residents in Rwanda: A cross sectional study ... is an entirely preventable and treatable disease, provided that effective .... The most way used for malaria prevention, control and elimination.

Spectral L2/L1 norm: A new perspective for spectral kurtosis for characterizing non-stationary signals

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Dong

2018-05-01

Thanks to the great efforts made by Antoni (2006), spectral kurtosis has been recognized as a milestone for characterizing non-stationary signals, especially bearing fault signals. The main idea of spectral kurtosis is to use the fourth standardized moment, namely kurtosis, as a function of spectral frequency so as to indicate how repetitive transients caused by a bearing defect vary with frequency. Moreover, spectral kurtosis is defined based on an analytic bearing fault signal constructed from either a complex filter or Hilbert transform. On the other hand, another attractive work was reported by Borghesani et al. (2014) to mathematically reveal the relationship between the kurtosis of an analytical bearing fault signal and the square of the squared envelope spectrum of the analytical bearing fault signal for explaining spectral correlation for quantification of bearing fault signals. More interestingly, it was discovered that the sum of peaks at cyclic frequencies in the square of the squared envelope spectrum corresponds to the raw 4th order moment. Inspired by the aforementioned works, in this paper, we mathematically show that: (1) spectral kurtosis can be decomposed into squared envelope and squared L2/L1 norm so that spectral kurtosis can be explained as spectral squared L2/L1 norm; (2) spectral L2/L1 norm is formally defined for characterizing bearing fault signals and its two geometrical explanations are made; (3) spectral L2/L1 norm is proportional to the square root of the sum of peaks at cyclic frequencies in the square of the squared envelope spectrum; (4) some extensions of spectral L2/L1 norm for characterizing bearing fault signals are pointed out.

Distinguishing between symbiotic stars and planetary nebulae

Science.gov (United States)

Iłkiewicz, K.; Mikołajewska, J.

2017-10-01

Context. The number of known symbiotic stars (SySt) is still significantly lower than their predicted population. One of the main problems in finding the total population of SySt is the fact that their spectrum can be confused with other objects, such as planetary nebulae (PNe) or dense H II regions. This problem is reinforced by the fact that in a significant fraction of established SySt the emission lines used to distinguish them from other objects are not present. Aims: We aim at finding new diagnostic diagrams that could help separate SySt from PNe. Additionally, we examine a known sample of extragalactic PNe for candidate SySt. Methods: We employed emission line fluxes of known SySt and PNe from the literature. Results: We found that among the forbidden lines in the optical region of spectrum, only the [O III] and [N II] lines can be used as a tool for distinguishing between SySt and PNe, which is consistent with the fact that they have the highest critical densities. The most useful diagnostic that we propose is based on He I lines, which are more common and stronger in SySt than forbidden lines. All these useful diagnostic diagrams are electron density indicators that better distinguish PNe and ionized symbiotic nebulae. Moreover, we found six new candidate SySt in the Large Magellanic Cloud and one in M 81. If confirmed, the candidate in M 81 would be the farthest known SySt thus far.

Progress Toward Regional Measles Elimination - Worldwide, 2000-2016.

Science.gov (United States)

Dabbagh, Alya; Patel, Minal K; Dumolard, Laure; Gacic-Dobo, Marta; Mulders, Mick N; Okwo-Bele, Jean-Marie; Kretsinger, Katrina; Papania, Mark J; Rota, Paul A; Goodson, James L

2017-10-27

The fourth United Nations Millennium Development Goal, adopted in 2000, set a target to reduce child mortality by two thirds by 2015. One indicator of progress toward this target was measles vaccination coverage (1). In 2010, the World Health Assembly (WHA) set three milestones for measles control by 2015: 1) increase routine coverage with the first dose of a measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) among children aged 1 year to ≥90% at the national level and to ≥80% in every district; 2) reduce global annual measles incidence to measles mortality by 95% from the 2000 estimate (2).* In 2012, WHA endorsed the Global Vaccine Action Plan, † with the objective of eliminating measles in four World Health Organization (WHO) regions by 2015 and in five regions by 2020. Countries in all six WHO regions have adopted goals for measles elimination by or before 2020. Measles elimination is defined as the absence of endemic measles virus transmission in a region or other defined geographic area for ≥12 months, in the presence of a high quality surveillance system that meets targets of key performance indicators. This report updates a previous report (3) and describes progress toward global measles control milestones and regional measles elimination goals during 2000-2016. During this period, annual reported measles incidence decreased 87%, from 145 to 19 cases per million persons, and annual estimated measles deaths decreased 84%, from 550,100 to 89,780; measles vaccination prevented an estimated 20.4 million deaths. However, the 2015 milestones have not yet been met; only one WHO region has been verified as having eliminated measles. Improved implementation of elimination strategies by countries and their partners is needed, with focus on increasing vaccination coverage through substantial and sustained additional investments in health systems, strengthening surveillance systems, using surveillance data to drive programmatic actions, securing political commitment, and raising

Spectral methods. Fundamentals in single domains

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Canuto, C.

2006-01-01

Since the publication of ''Spectral Methods in Fluid Dynamics'' 1988, spectral methods have become firmly established as a mainstream tool for scientific and engineering computation. The authors of that book have incorporated into this new edition the many improvements in the algorithms and the theory of spectral methods that have been made since then. This latest book retains the tight integration between the theoretical and practical aspects of spectral methods, and the chapters are enhanced with material on the Galerkin with numerical integration version of spectral methods. The discussion of direct and iterative solution methods is also greatly expanded. (orig.)

Challenges for malaria elimination in Brazil.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferreira, Marcelo U; Castro, Marcia C

2016-05-20

Brazil currently contributes 42 % of all malaria cases reported in the Latin America and the Caribbean, a region where major progress towards malaria elimination has been achieved in recent years. In 2014, malaria burden in Brazil (143,910 microscopically confirmed cases and 41 malaria-related deaths) has reached its lowest levels in 35 years, Plasmodium falciparum is highly focal, and the geographic boundary of transmission has considerably shrunk. Transmission in Brazil remains entrenched in the Amazon Basin, which accounts for 99.5 % of the country's malaria burden. This paper reviews major lessons learned from past and current malaria control policies in Brazil. A comprehensive discussion of the scientific and logistic challenges that may impact malaria elimination efforts in the country is presented in light of the launching of the Plan for Elimination of Malaria in Brazil in November 2015. Challenges for malaria elimination addressed include the high prevalence of symptomless and submicroscopic infections, emerging anti-malarial drug resistance in P. falciparum and Plasmodium vivax and the lack of safe anti-relapse drugs, the largely neglected burden of malaria in pregnancy, the need for better vector control strategies where Anopheles mosquitoes present a highly variable biting behaviour, human movement, the need for effective surveillance and tools to identify foci of infection in areas with low transmission, and the effects of environmental changes and climatic variability in transmission. Control actions launched in Brazil and results to come are likely to influence control programs in other countries in the Americas.

Vowel Inherent Spectral Change

CERN Document Server

Assmann, Peter

2013-01-01

It has been traditional in phonetic research to characterize monophthongs using a set of static formant frequencies, i.e., formant frequencies taken from a single time-point in the vowel or averaged over the time-course of the vowel. However, over the last twenty years a growing body of research has demonstrated that, at least for a number of dialects of North American English, vowels which are traditionally described as monophthongs often have substantial spectral change. Vowel Inherent Spectral Change has been observed in speakers’ productions, and has also been found to have a substantial effect on listeners’ perception. In terms of acoustics, the traditional categorical distinction between monophthongs and diphthongs can be replaced by a gradient description of dynamic spectral patterns. This book includes chapters addressing various aspects of vowel inherent spectral change (VISC), including theoretical and experimental studies of the perceptually relevant aspects of VISC, the relationship between ar...

The spectral energy distribution and nature of the symbiotic system AS 296 in outburst

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Munari, U.; Whitelock, P.A.

1989-01-01

Photometry covering the spectral range 0.36 to 5 μm is reported for the symbiotic star As 296 about two months after the onset of the first recorded nova-like outburst. Analysis of published pre-outburst photometry provides evidence for the presence of an accreting white dwarf of high luminosity. This information together with the new observations is used to eliminate, for the 1988 event, various mechanisms which have been suggested for the outbursts in symbiotic objects. It is shown that hydrogen burning of accreted material can produce the white dwarf luminosity during quiescence. The outburst is then the result of a thermonuclear runaway in the unburnt material. The evidence is somewhat conflicting on the question of degeneracy conditions prior to the thermonuclear runaway. (author)

Visibility bound caused by a distinguishable noise particle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gavenda, Miroslav; Celechovska, Lucie; Dusek, Miloslav; Filip, Radim; Soubusta, Jan

2011-01-01

We investigate how the distinguishability of a 'noise' particle degrades interference of the 'signal' particle. The signal, represented by an equatorial state of a photonic qubit, is mixed with noise, represented by another photonic qubit, via linear coupling on a beam splitter. We report on the degradation of the signal photon interference depending on the degree of indistinguishability between the signal and noise photons. When the photons are completely distinguishable in principle but technically indistinguishable, the visibility drops to the value 1/√(2). As the photons become more indistinguishable, the maximal visibility increases and reaches the unit value for completely indistinguishable photons. We have examined this effect experimentally using a setup with a fiber-optics two-photon Mach-Zehnder interferometer.

Spectrally accurate contour dynamics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Van Buskirk, R.D.; Marcus, P.S.

1994-01-01

We present an exponentially accurate boundary integral method for calculation the equilibria and dynamics of piece-wise constant distributions of potential vorticity. The method represents contours of potential vorticity as a spectral sum and solves the Biot-Savart equation for the velocity by spectrally evaluating a desingularized contour integral. We use the technique in both an initial-value code and a newton continuation method. Our methods are tested by comparing the numerical solutions with known analytic results, and it is shown that for the same amount of computational work our spectral methods are more accurate than other contour dynamics methods currently in use

Defense Logistics Agency Revenue Eliminations

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

1996-01-01

The issue of revenue eliminations was identified during our work on the Defense Logistics Agency portion of the Audit of Revenue Accounts in the FY 1996 Financial Statements of the Defense Business Operations Fund...

An elimination diet for chronic urticaria of childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Kemp, A S; Schembri, G

1985-09-16

Twenty-three children with chronic urticaria were treated with an elimination diet for two weeks. Eighteen completed the period of dietary elimination; in seven of the 18 children there was a marked remission of the urticaria during the second week of the diet. The administration of challenge capsules provoked an exacerbation of urticaria in five of the 14 (36%) children given aspirin. The incidence of reactions to tartrazine, sodium benzoate and yeast (7%) was not significantly different from those to the lactose placebo (9%). In selected cases, elimination diets with controlled reintroduction of foods have a role in the management of chronic urticaria in childhood.

Sliding Control with Chattering Elimination for Hydraulic Drives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Lasse; Andersen, Torben Ole; Pedersen, Henrik C.

2012-01-01

This paper presents the development of a sliding mode control scheme with chattering elimination, generally applicable for position tracking control of electro-hydraulic valve-cylinder drives. The proposed control scheme requires only common data sheet information, no knowledge on load characteri......This paper presents the development of a sliding mode control scheme with chattering elimination, generally applicable for position tracking control of electro-hydraulic valve-cylinder drives. The proposed control scheme requires only common data sheet information, no knowledge on load...... controller is developed for the control derivative based on a reduced order model. Simulation results demonstrate strong robustness when subjected to parameter perturbations and that chattering is eliminated....

How To Eliminate Narcissism Overnight

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition appears likely to eliminate the diagnosis of narcissistic personality disorder. There are significant problems with the discriminant validity of the current narcissistic personality disorder critiera set; furthermore, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition's narrow focus on “grandiosity” probably contributes to the wide disparity between low narcissistic personality disorder prevalence rates in epidemiological studies and high rates of narcissistic personality disorder in clinical practice. Nevertheless, the best course of action may be to refine the narcissistic personality disorder criteria, followed by careful field testing and a search for biomarkers, rather than wholesale elimination of the narcissistic personality disorder category. The construct of “malignant narcissism” is also worthy of more intense empirical investigation. PMID:21468294

Assessing the role of spectral and intensity cues in spectral ripple detection and discrimination in cochlear-implant users.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, Elizabeth S; Oxenham, Andrew J; Nelson, Peggy B; Nelson, David A

2012-12-01

Measures of spectral ripple resolution have become widely used psychophysical tools for assessing spectral resolution in cochlear-implant (CI) listeners. The objective of this study was to compare spectral ripple discrimination and detection in the same group of CI listeners. Ripple detection thresholds were measured over a range of ripple frequencies and were compared to spectral ripple discrimination thresholds previously obtained from the same CI listeners. The data showed that performance on the two measures was correlated, but that individual subjects' thresholds (at a constant spectral modulation depth) for the two tasks were not equivalent. In addition, spectral ripple detection was often found to be possible at higher rates than expected based on the available spectral cues, making it likely that temporal-envelope cues played a role at higher ripple rates. Finally, spectral ripple detection thresholds were compared to previously obtained speech-perception measures. Results confirmed earlier reports of a robust relationship between detection of widely spaced ripples and measures of speech recognition. In contrast, intensity difference limens for broadband noise did not correlate with spectral ripple detection measures, suggesting a dissociation between the ability to detect small changes in intensity across frequency and across time.

Surface Compositional Units on Mercury from Spectral Reflectance at Ultraviolet to Near-infrared Wavelengths

Science.gov (United States)

Izenberg, N. R.; Holsclaw, G. M.; Domingue, D. L.; McClintock, W. E.; Klima, R. L.; Blewett, D. T.; Helbert, J.; Head, J. W.; Sprague, A. L.; Vilas, F.; Solomon, S. C.

2012-12-01

The Mercury Atmospheric and Surface Composition Spectrometer (MASCS) on the MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft has been acquiring reflectance spectra of Mercury's surface for over 16 months. The Visible and Infrared Spectrograph (VIRS) component of MASCS has accumulated a global data set of more than 2 million spectra over the wavelength range 300-1450 nm. We have derived a set of VIRS spectral units (VSUs) from the following spectral parameters: visible brightness (R575: reflectance at 575 nm); visible/near-infrared reflectance ratio (VISr: reflectance at 415 nm to that at 750 nm); and ultraviolet reflectance ratio (UVr: reflectance at 310 nm to that at 390 nm). Five broad, slightly overlapping VSUs may be distinguished from these parameters. "Average VSU" areas have spectral parameters close to mean global values. "Dark blue VSU" areas have spectra with low R575 and high UVr. "Red VSU" areas have spectra with low UVr and higher VISr and R575 than average. "Intermediate VSU" areas have spectra with higher VISr than VSU red, generally higher R575, and a wide range of UVr. "Bright VSU" areas have high R575 and VISr and intermediate UVr. Several units defined by morphological or multispectral criteria correspond to specific VSUs, including low-reflectance material (dark blue VSU), pyroclastic deposits (red VSU), and hollows (intermediate VSU), but these VSUs generally include other types of areas as well. VSU definitions are complementary to those obtained by unsupervised clustering analysis. The global distribution of VIRS spectral units provides new information on Mercury's geological evolution. Much of Mercury's northern volcanic plains show spectral properties ranging from those of average VSU to those of red VSU, as does a large region in the southern hemisphere centered near 50°S, 245°E. Dark blue VSU material is widely distributed, with concentrations south of the northern plains, around the Rembrandt and

Ability of spectral domain optical coherence tomography peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness measurements to identify early glaucoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tarannum Mansoori

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose : To evaluate the ability of spectral domain optical coherence tomography (OCT peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT parameters to distinguish normal eyes from those with early glaucoma in Asian Indian eyes. Design : Observational cross-sectional study. Materials and Methods : One hundred and seventy eight eyes (83 glaucoma patients and 95 age matched healthy subjects of subjects more than 40 years of age were included in the study. All subjects underwent RNFLT measurement with spectral OCT/ scanning laser ophthalmoscope (SLO after dilatation. Sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiving operating characteristic curve (AROC were calculated for various OCT peripapillary RNFL parameters. Results: The mean RNFLT in healthy subjects and patients with early glaucoma were 105.7 ± 5.1 μm and 90.7 ± 7.5 μm, respectively. The largest AROC was found for 12 o′clock- hour (0.98, average (0.96 and superior quadrant RNFLT (0.9. When target specificity was set at ≥ 90% and ≥ 80%, the parameters with highest sensitivity were 12 o′clock -hour (91.6%, average RNFLT (85.3% and 12 o′ clock- hour (96.8 %, average RNFLT (94.7% respectively. Conclusion : Our study showed good ability of spectral OCT/ SLO to differentiate normal eyes from patients with early glaucoma and hence it may serve as an useful adjunct for early diagnosis of glaucoma.

Eliminating Perinatal HIV Transmission

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

In this podcast, CDC’s Dr. Steve Nesheim discusses perinatal HIV transmission, including the importance of preventing HIV among women, preconception care, and timely HIV testing of the mother. Dr. Nesheim also introduces the revised curriculum Eliminating Perinatal HIV Transmission intended for faculty of OB/GYN and pediatric residents and nurse midwifery students.

Risks: diagnosing and eliminating

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yuriy A. Tikhomirov

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Objective to develop conceptual theoretical and legal provisions and scientific recommendations on the identification analysis and elimination of risk. Methods universal dialectic method of cognition as well as scientific and private research methods based on it. Results the system was researched of risks diagnostics in the legal sphere and mechanism of influencing the quotrisk situationsquot and their consequences damage to the environment and harm to society. The concept of risk in the legal sphere was formulated the author39s classification of risks in the legal sphere is presented. The rules of analysis evaluation and prevention of risks and the model risk management framework are elaborated. Scientific novelty the mechanism for the identification analysis and elimination of risk has been developed and introduced into scientific circulation the author has proposed the classification and types of risks the reasons and the conditions promoting the risk occurrence. Practical significance the provisions and conclusions of the article can be used in the scientific lawmaking and lawenforcement activity as well as in the educational process of higher educational establishments. nbsp

Could We Distinguish Child Users from Adults Using Keystroke Dynamics?

OpenAIRE

Uzun, Yasin; Bicakci, Kemal; Uzunay, Yusuf

2015-01-01

Significant portion of contemporary computer users are children, who are vulnerable to threats coming from the Internet. To protect children from such threats, in this study, we investigate how successfully typing data can be used to distinguish children from adults. For this purpose, we collect a dataset comprising keystroke data of 100 users and show that distinguishing child Internet users from adults is possible using Keystroke Dynamics with equal error rates less than 10 percent. However...

Intersection numbers of spectral curves

CERN Document Server

Eynard, B.

2011-01-01

We compute the symplectic invariants of an arbitrary spectral curve with only 1 branchpoint in terms of integrals of characteristic classes in the moduli space of curves. Our formula associates to any spectral curve, a characteristic class, which is determined by the laplace transform of the spectral curve. This is a hint to the key role of Laplace transform in mirror symmetry. When the spectral curve is y=\\sqrt{x}, the formula gives Kontsevich--Witten intersection numbers, when the spectral curve is chosen to be the Lambert function \\exp{x}=y\\exp{-y}, the formula gives the ELSV formula for Hurwitz numbers, and when one chooses the mirror of C^3 with framing f, i.e. \\exp{-x}=\\exp{-yf}(1-\\exp{-y}), the formula gives the Marino-Vafa formula, i.e. the generating function of Gromov-Witten invariants of C^3. In some sense this formula generalizes ELSV, Marino-Vafa formula, and Mumford formula.

Preliminary study on the differentiation between parapelvic cyst and hydronephrosis with non-calculous using only pre-contrast dual-energy spectral CT scans

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Dong; Ma, Guangming; Wei, Lequn; Ren, Chenglong; Zhou, Jieli; Shen, Chen

2017-01-01

Objective: To investigate the value of using the quantitative parameters from only the pre-contrast dual-energy spectral CT imaging for distinguishing between parapelvic cyst and hydronephrosis with non-calculous (HNC). Methods: This retrospective study was approved by the institutional review board. 28 patients with parapelvic cyst and 24 patients with HNC who underwent standard pre-contrast and multiphase contrast-enhanced dual-energy spectral CT imaging were retrospectively identified. The parapelvic cyst and HNC were identified using the contrast-enhanced scans, and their CT number in the 70-keV monochromatic images, effective atomic number (Zeff), iodine concentration (IC) and water concentration in the pre-contrast images were measured. The slope of the spectral curve (λ) was calculated. The difference in the measurements between parapelvic cyst and HNC was statistically analyzed using SPSS® v. 19.0 (IBM Corp., New York, NY; formerly SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL) statistical software. Receiver-operating characteristic analysis was performed to assess the diagnostic performance. Results: The CT numbers in the 70-keV images, Zeff and IC values were statistically different between parapelvic cyst and HNC (all p  0.05). Conclusion: The quantitative parameters obtained in the pre-contrast dual-energy spectral CT imaging may be used to differentiate between parapelvic cyst and HNC. Advances in knowledge: The pre-contrast dual-energy spectral CT scans may be used to screen parapelvic cysts for patients who are asymptomatic, thereby avoiding contrast-enhanced CT or CT urography examination for these patients to reduce ionizing radiation dose and contrast dose. PMID:28281789

Proportional counter end effects eliminator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meekins, J.F.

1976-01-01

An improved gas-filled proportional counter which includes a resistor network connected between the anode and cathode at the ends of the counter in order to eliminate ''end effects'' is described. 3 Claims, 2 Drawing Figures

ASTER spectral analysis and lithologic mapping of the Khanneshin carbonatite volcano, Afghanistan

Science.gov (United States)

Mars, John C.; Rowan, Lawrence C.

2011-01-01

Advanced Spaceborne Thermal and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data of the early Quaternary Khanneshin carbonatite volcano located in southern Afghanistan were used to identify carbonate rocks within the volcano and to distinguish them from Neogene ferruginous polymict sandstone and argillite. The carbonatitic rocks are characterized by diagnostic CO3 absorption near 11.2 μm and 2.31–2.33 μm, whereas the sandstone, argillite, and adjacent alluvial deposits exhibit intense Si-O absorption near 8.7 μm caused mainly by quartz and Al-OH absorption near 2.20 μm due to muscovite and illite.Calcitic carbonatite was distinguished from ankeritic carbonatite in the short wave infrared (SWIR) region of the ASTER data due to a slight shift of the CO3 absorption feature toward 2.26 μm (ASTER band 7) in the ankeritic carbonatite spectra. Spectral assessment using ASTER SWIR data suggests that the area is covered by extensive carbonatite flows that contain calcite, ankerite, and muscovite, though some areas mapped as ankeritic carbonatite on a preexisting geologic map were not identified in the ASTER data. A contact aureole shown on the geologic map was defined using an ASTER false color composite image (R = 6, G = 3, B = 1) and a logical operator byte image. The contact aureole rocks exhibit Fe2+, Al-OH, and Fe, Mg-OH spectral absorption features at 1.65, 2.2, and 2.33 μm, respectively, which suggest that the contact aureole rocks contain muscovite, epidote, and chlorite. The contact aureole rocks were mapped using an Interactive Data Language (IDL) logical operator.A visible through short wave infrared (VNIR-SWIR) mineral and rock-type map based on matched filter, band ratio, and logical operator analysis illustrates: (1) laterally extensive calcitic carbonatite that covers most of the crater and areas northeast of the crater; (2) ankeritic carbonatite located southeast and north of the crater and some small deposits located within the crater; (3) agglomerate that

Estimativa da disponibilidade de forragem do bioma Campos Sulinos a partir de dados radiométricos orbitais: parametrização do submodelo espectral Forecast the available forage of natural pastures of Campos Sulinos biome using satellite spectral data: parameterization for the spectral submodel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eliana Lima da Fonseca

2007-12-01

Full Text Available Este trabalho apresenta a parametrização do submodelo espectral do modelo JONG, um modelo agrometeorológico-espectral para a previsão da disponibilidade de forragem das pastagens naturais do bioma Campos Sulinos. A parametrização foi feita testando-se a capacidade de diferentes variáveis espectrais obtidas a partir de imagens do sensor ETM+/Landsat 7 representando a disponibilidade de forragem em diferentes fases do ciclo fenológico da vegetação campestre natural do bioma Campos Sulinos. Verificou-se que as variáveis Wetness e reflectância da banda ETM+7/Landsat 7 representam o status inicial da vegetação de forma eficiente, mas não tiveram sensibilidade suficiente para eliminar os efeitos do tipo de solo na resposta espectral da vegetação.This research presents the parameterization for the spectral submodel of JONG model, an agrometeorologic-spectral model to forecast the available forage of natural pastures of Campos Sulinos biome. Tthe capacity of different spectral variables, gotten from images of the sensor ETM+/Landsat 7, to represent the forage availability in different phases of its fenologic cycle was realized. The Wetness variable and reflectance of the band ETM+7/Landsat 7 represent the initial status of vegetation of efficient form was verified, however had no sensitivity enough to eliminate the effect of soil type in the spectral response of the vegetation.

Spectral features of the tunneling-induced transparency and the Autler-Townes doublet and triplet in a triple quantum dot.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Xiao-Qing; Li, Zeng-Zhao; Jing, Jun; Xiong, Wei; Li, Tie-Fu; Yu, Ting

2018-02-15

We theoretically investigate the spectral features of tunneling-induced transparency (TIT) and Autler-Townes (AT) doublet and triplet in a triple-quantum-dot system. By analyzing the eigenenergy spectrum of the system Hamiltonian, we can discriminate TIT and double TIT from AT doublet and triplet, respectively. For the resonant case, the presence of the TIT does not exhibit distinguishable anticrossing in the eigenenergy spectrum in the weak-tunneling regime, while the occurrence of double anticrossings in the strong-tunneling regime shows that the TIT evolves to the AT doublet. For the off-resonance case, the appearance of a new detuning-dependent dip in the absorption spectrum leads to double TIT behavior in the weak-tunneling regime due to no distinguished anticrossing occurring in the eigenenergy spectrum. However, in the strong-tunneling regime, a new detuning-dependent dip in the absorption spectrum results in AT triplet owing to the presence of triple anticrossings in the eigenenergy spectrum. Our results can be applied to quantum measurement and quantum-optics devices in solid systems.

Atmospheric parameters, spectral indexes and their relation to CPV spectral performance

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Núñez, Rubén, E-mail: ruben.nunez@ies-def.upm.es; Antón, Ignacio, E-mail: ruben.nunez@ies-def.upm.es; Askins, Steve, E-mail: ruben.nunez@ies-def.upm.es; Sala, Gabriel, E-mail: ruben.nunez@ies-def.upm.es [Instituto de Energía Solar - Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Instituto de Energía Solar, ETSI Telecomunicación, Ciudad Universitaria 28040 Madrid (Spain)

2014-09-26

Air Mass and atmosphere components (basically aerosol (AOD) and precipitable water (PW)) define the absorption of the sunlight that arrive to Earth. Radiative models such as SMARTS or MODTRAN use these parameters to generate an equivalent spectrum. However, complex and expensive instruments (as AERONET network devices) are needed to obtain AOD and PW. On the other hand, the use of isotype cells is a convenient way to characterize spectrally a place for CPV considering that they provide the photocurrent of the different internal subcells individually. Crossing data from AERONET station and a Tri-band Spectroheliometer, a model that correlates Spectral Mismatch Ratios and atmospheric parameters is proposed. Considering the amount of stations of AERONET network, this model may be used to estimate the spectral influence on energy performance of CPV systems close to all the stations worldwide.

Determinants of Human African Trypanosomiasis Elimination via Paratransgenesis.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer A Gilbert

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Human African trypanosomiasis (HAT, transmitted by tsetse flies, has historically infected hundreds of thousands of individuals annually in sub-Saharan Africa. Over the last decade, concerted control efforts have reduced reported cases to below 10,000 annually, bringing complete elimination within reach. A potential technology to eliminate HAT involves rendering the flies resistant to trypanosome infection. This approach can be achieved through the introduction of transgenic Sodalis symbiotic bacteria that have been modified to produce a trypanocide, and propagated via Wolbachia symbionts, which confer a reproductive advantage to the paratransgenic tsetse. However, the population dynamics of these symbionts within tsetse flies have not yet been evaluated. Specifically, the key factors that determine the effectiveness of paratransgenesis have yet to be quantified. To identify the impact of these determinants on T.b. gambiense and T.b. rhodesiense transmission, we developed a mathematical model of trypanosome transmission that incorporates tsetse and symbiont population dynamics. We found that fecundity and mortality penalties associated with Wolbachia or recombinant Sodalis colonization, probabilities of vertical transmission, and tsetse migration rates are fundamental to the feasibility of HAT elimination. For example, we determined that HAT elimination could be sustained over 25 years when Wolbachia colonization minimally impacted fecundity or mortality, and when the probability of recombinant Sodalis vertical transmission exceeded 99.9%. We also found that for a narrow range of recombinant Sodalis vertical transmission probability (99.9-90.6% for T.b. gambiense and 99.9-85.8% for T.b. rhodesiense, cumulative HAT incidence was reduced between 30% and 1% for T.b. gambiense and between 21% and 3% for T.b. rhodesiense, although elimination was not predicted. Our findings indicate that fitness and mortality penalties associated with paratransgenic

Mechanisms of spectral and temporal integration in the mustached bat inferior colliculus

Science.gov (United States)

Wenstrup, Jeffrey James; Nataraj, Kiran; Sanchez, Jason Tait

2012-01-01

This review describes mechanisms and circuitry underlying combination-sensitive response properties in the auditory brainstem and midbrain. Combination-sensitive neurons, performing a type of auditory spectro-temporal integration, respond to specific, properly timed combinations of spectral elements in vocal signals and other acoustic stimuli. While these neurons are known to occur in the auditory forebrain of many vertebrate species, the work described here establishes their origin in the auditory brainstem and midbrain. Focusing on the mustached bat, we review several major findings: (1) Combination-sensitive responses involve facilitatory interactions, inhibitory interactions, or both when activated by distinct spectral elements in complex sounds. (2) Combination-sensitive responses are created in distinct stages: inhibition arises mainly in lateral lemniscal nuclei of the auditory brainstem, while facilitation arises in the inferior colliculus (IC) of the midbrain. (3) Spectral integration underlying combination-sensitive responses requires a low-frequency input tuned well below a neuron's characteristic frequency (ChF). Low-ChF neurons in the auditory brainstem project to high-ChF regions in brainstem or IC to create combination sensitivity. (4) At their sites of origin, both facilitatory and inhibitory combination-sensitive interactions depend on glycinergic inputs and are eliminated by glycine receptor blockade. Surprisingly, facilitatory interactions in IC depend almost exclusively on glycinergic inputs and are largely independent of glutamatergic and GABAergic inputs. (5) The medial nucleus of the trapezoid body (MNTB), the lateral lemniscal nuclei, and the IC play critical roles in creating combination-sensitive responses. We propose that these mechanisms, based on work in the mustached bat, apply to a broad range of mammals and other vertebrates that depend on temporally sensitive integration of information across the audible spectrum. PMID:23109917

Spectral Estimation of UV-Vis Absorbance Time Series for Water Quality Monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonardo Plazas-Nossa

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Context: Signals recorded as multivariate time series by UV-Vis absorbance captors installed in urban sewer systems, can be non-stationary, yielding complications in the analysis of water quality monitoring. This work proposes to perform spectral estimation using the Box-Cox transformation and differentiation in order to obtain stationary multivariate time series in a wide sense. Additionally, Principal Component Analysis (PCA is applied to reduce their dimensionality. Method: Three different UV-Vis absorbance time series for different Colombian locations were studied: (i El-Salitre Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP in Bogotá; (ii Gibraltar Pumping Station (GPS in Bogotá; and (iii San-Fernando WWTP in Itagüí. Each UV-Vis absorbance time series had equal sample number (5705. The esti-mation of the spectral power density is obtained using the average of modified periodograms with rectangular window and an overlap of 50%, with the 20 most important harmonics from the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT. Results: Absorbance time series dimensionality reduction using PCA, resulted in 6, 8 and 7 principal components for each study site respectively, altogether explaining more than 97% of their variability. Values of differences below 30% for the UV range were obtained for the three study sites, while for the visible range the maximum differences obtained were: (i 35% for El-Salitre WWTP; (ii 61% for GPS; and (iii 75% for San-Fernando WWTP. Conclusions: The Box-Cox transformation and the differentiation process applied to the UV-Vis absorbance time series for the study sites (El-Salitre, GPS and San-Fernando, allowed to reduce variance and to eliminate ten-dency of the time series. A pre-processing of UV-Vis absorbance time series is recommended to detect and remove outliers and then apply the proposed process for spectral estimation. Language: Spanish.

Calibration with near-continuous spectral measurements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Henrik Aalborg; Rasmussen, Michael; Madsen, Henrik

2001-01-01

In chemometrics traditional calibration in case of spectral measurements express a quantity of interest (e.g. a concentration) as a linear combination of the spectral measurements at a number of wavelengths. Often the spectral measurements are performed at a large number of wavelengths and in thi...... by an example in which the octane number of gasoline is related to near infrared spectral measurements. The performance is found to be much better that for the traditional calibration methods....

Hepatic, renal, and total body galactose elimination in the pig

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Winkler, K; Henriksen, Jens Henrik Sahl; Tygstrup, N

1993-01-01

Galactose elimination capacity is used as a quantitative measure of liver function on the assumption that galactose elimination outside the liver is negligible or easily corrected for. The relationship between hepatic and extrahepatic removal of galactose was studied in anesthetized pigs during...... reabsorption (Tm 178 +/- 3.0 mumol/min, Km 3.8 +/- 0.9 mmol/l, n = 20). Metabolic conversion of galactose in the kidney was not demonstrable. At all concentrations studied (0.4-5.8 mmol/l), total galactose elimination from the body exceeded the sum of hepatic and renal elimination by approximately 100 mumol....../min, independent of the concentration. At blood concentrations usually used for clinical estimation of the galactose elimination capacity (approximately 4 mmol/l), hepatic removal in the pig accounted for 55% and renal removal for 30% of total removal; 15% of removal occurred in other organs. We conclude...

Solution of system of multidimensional differential equations in X for identification of gold nanoparticles on fibers with elimination of uncertainty

Science.gov (United States)

Dobrovolskaya, T. A.; Emelyanov, V. M.; Emelyanov, V. V.

2018-05-01

There are the results of the compilation and solution of a system of multidimensional differential correlation equations of distribution ellipses in the identification of colloidal gold nanoparticles on polyester fibers with multi-dimensional correlation components of Raman polarization spectra. A proposed method is to increase the accuracy and speed of identification of silver nanoparticles on polyester fibers, taking into account the longitudinal and transverse polarization of laser radiation over the entire spectral range, analyzing in sequence and in order simultaneously two peaks along the X-transverse and along the Y-along the fibers. During a solution of the system using a nonlinear quadratic and differential equation with respect to X, an uncertainty arises, the elimination of which is numerical addition Δ = + 0.02985

The green hemoproteins of bovine erythrocytes. II. Spectral, ligand-binding, and electrochemical properties.

Science.gov (United States)

DeFilippi, L J; Hultquist, D E

1978-05-10

The two green hemoproteins isolated from bovine erythrocytes (form I and form II) have been characterized as to spectral, electrochemical, and chemical properties. The absorption spectra of the isolated hemoproteins are typical of high spin ferric states. Reduction of the hemoproteins yields high spin ferrohemoproteins. Complexation of the ferrohemoproteins with CO and the ferrihemoproteins with cyanide yields low spin complexes, demonstrating the presence of an exchangeable weak field ligand in both the ferrous and ferric states of the hemoproteins. The differences in position and intensity of the absorption peaks of the visible spectra allow the two forms to be distinguished from one another. The midpoint potential of forms I and II were found to be +0.075 and +0.019 V, respectively, at pH 6.4 and +0.038 and -0.005 V, respectively, at pH 7.0. This is consistent with the gaining of 1 proton/electron during the reduction. The Nernst plot reveals an unusual 0.5-electron transfer, whereas a quantitative titration demonstrates a 1-electron transfer. Form I binds cyanide more tightly than form II (KD of 84 and 252 micrometer, respectively). The observed spectral, electrochemical, and ligand-binding differences between forms I and II can be explained in terms of a greater electron-withdrawing ability of the side chains of the heme of form I relative to the heme of form II.

Calibrating spectral images using penalized likelihood

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heijden, van der G.W.A.M.; Glasbey, C.

2003-01-01

A new method is presented for automatic correction of distortions and for spectral calibration (which band corresponds to which wavelength) of spectral images recorded by means of a spectrograph. The method consists of recording a bar-like pattern with an illumination source with spectral bands

Spectral Learning for Supervised Topic Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Yong; Wang, Yining; Zhu, Jun

2018-03-01

Supervised topic models simultaneously model the latent topic structure of large collections of documents and a response variable associated with each document. Existing inference methods are based on variational approximation or Monte Carlo sampling, which often suffers from the local minimum defect. Spectral methods have been applied to learn unsupervised topic models, such as latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA), with provable guarantees. This paper investigates the possibility of applying spectral methods to recover the parameters of supervised LDA (sLDA). We first present a two-stage spectral method, which recovers the parameters of LDA followed by a power update method to recover the regression model parameters. Then, we further present a single-phase spectral algorithm to jointly recover the topic distribution matrix as well as the regression weights. Our spectral algorithms are provably correct and computationally efficient. We prove a sample complexity bound for each algorithm and subsequently derive a sufficient condition for the identifiability of sLDA. Thorough experiments on synthetic and real-world datasets verify the theory and demonstrate the practical effectiveness of the spectral algorithms. In fact, our results on a large-scale review rating dataset demonstrate that our single-phase spectral algorithm alone gets comparable or even better performance than state-of-the-art methods, while previous work on spectral methods has rarely reported such promising performance.

Distinguishing the rates of gene activation from phenotypic variations.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Ye; Lv, Cheng; Li, Fangting; Li, Tiejun

2015-06-18

Stochastic genetic switching driven by intrinsic noise is an important process in gene expression. When the rates of gene activation/inactivation are relatively slow, fast, or medium compared with the synthesis/degradation rates of mRNAs and proteins, the variability of protein and mRNA levels may exhibit very different dynamical patterns. It is desirable to provide a systematic approach to identify their key dynamical features in different regimes, aiming at distinguishing which regime a considered gene regulatory network is in from their phenotypic variations. We studied a gene expression model with positive feedbacks when genetic switching rates vary over a wide range. With the goal of providing a method to distinguish the regime of the switching rates, we first focus on understanding the essential dynamics of gene expression system in different cases. In the regime of slow switching rates, we found that the effective dynamics can be reduced to independent evolutions on two separate layers corresponding to gene activation and inactivation states, and the transitions between two layers are rare events, after which the system goes mainly along deterministic ODE trajectories on a particular layer to reach new steady states. The energy landscape in this regime can be well approximated by using Gaussian mixture model. In the regime of intermediate switching rates, we analyzed the mean switching time to investigate the stability of the system in different parameter ranges. We also discussed the case of fast switching rates from the viewpoint of transition state theory. Based on the obtained results, we made a proposal to distinguish these three regimes in a simulation experiment. We identified the intermediate regime from the fact that the strength of cellular memory is lower than the other two cases, and the fast and slow regimes can be distinguished by their different perturbation-response behavior with respect to the switching rates perturbations. We proposed a

Lysophosphatidic acid metabolism and elimination in cardiovascular disease

Science.gov (United States)

Salous, Abdelghaffar Kamal

The bioactive lipids lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) and sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) are present in human and mouse plasma at a concentration of ~0.1-1 microM and regulate physiological and pathophysiological processes in the cardiovascular system including atherothrombosis, intimal hyperplasia, and immune function, edema formation, and permeability. PPAP2B, the gene encoding LPP3, a broad activity integral membrane enzyme that terminates LPA actions in the vasculature, has a single nucleotide polymorphism that been recently associated with coronary artery disease risk. The synthesis and signaling of LPA and S1P in the cardiovascular system have been extensively studied but the mechanisms responsible for their elimination are less well understood. The broad goal of this research was to examine the role of LPP3 in the termination of LPA signaling in models of cardiovascular disease involving vascular wall cells, investigate the role of LPP3 in the elimination of plasma LPA, and further characterize the elimination of plasma LPA. The central hypothesis is that LPP3 plays an important role in attenuating the pathological responses to LPA signaling and that it mediates the elimination of exogenously applied bioactive lipids from the plasma. These hypotheses were tested using molecular biological approaches, in vitro studies, synthetic lysophospholipid mimetics, modified surgical procedures, and mass spectrometry assays. My results indicated that LPP3 played a critical role in attenuating LPA signaling mediating the pathological processes of intimal hyperplasia and vascular leak in mouse models of disease. Additionally, enzymatic inactivation of lysophospholipids by LPP and PLA enzymes in the plasma was not a primary mechanism for the rapid elimination of plasma LPA and S1P. Instead, evidence strongly suggested a transcellular uptake mechanism by hepatic non-parenchymal cells as the predominant mechanism for elimination of these molecules. These results support a model in

Cut-elimination for the mu-calculus with one variable

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Grigori Mints

2012-02-01

Full Text Available We establish syntactic cut-elimination for the one-variable fragment of the modal mu-calculus. Our method is based on a recent cut-elimination technique by Mints that makes use of Buchholz' Omega-rule.

Metallicity and the spectral energy distribution and spectral types of dwarf O-stars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mokiem, MR; Martin-Hernandez, NL; Lenorzer, A; de Koter, A; Tielens, AGGA

We present a systematic study of the effect of metallicity on the stellar spectral energy distribution (SED) of 0 main sequence (dwarf) stars, focussing on the hydrogen and helium ionizing continua, and on the optical and near-IR lines used for spectral classification. The spectra are based on

Metallicity and the spectral energy distribution and spectral types of dwarf O-stars

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mokiem, M.R.; Martín-Hernández, N.L.; Lenorzer, A.; de Koter, A.; Tielens, A.G.G.M.

2004-01-01

We present a systematic study of the effect of metallicity on the stellar spectral energy distribution (SED) of O main sequence (dwarf) stars, focussing on the hydrogen and helium ionizing continua, and on the optical and near-IR lines used for spectral classification. The spectra are based on

Br2 molecular elimination in photolysis of (COBr)2 at 248 nm by using cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy: A photodissociation channel being ignored

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Chia-Ching; Lin, Hsiang-Chin; Chang, Yuan-Bin; Tsai, Po-Yu; Yeh, Yu-Ying; Fan, He; Lin, King-Chuen; Francisco, J. S.

2011-01-01

A primary dissociation channel of Br 2 elimination is detected following a single-photon absorption of (COBr) 2 at 248 nm by using cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy. The technique contains two laser beams propagating in a perpendicular configuration. The tunable laser beam along the axis of the ring-down cell probes the Br 2 fragment in the B 3 Π ou + -X 1 Σ g + transition. The measurements of laser energy- and pressure-dependence and addition of a Br scavenger are further carried out to rule out the probability of Br 2 contribution from a secondary reaction. By means of spectral simulation, the ratio of nascent vibrational population for v = 0, 1, and 2 levels is evaluated to be 1:(0.65 ± 0.09):(0.34 ± 0.07), corresponding to a Boltzmann vibrational temperature of 893 ± 31 K. The quantum yield of the ground state Br 2 elimination reaction is determined to be 0.11 ± 0.06. With the aid of ab initio potential energy calculations, the pathway of molecular elimination is proposed on the energetic ground state (COBr) 2 via internal conversion. A four-center dissociation mechanism is followed synchronously or sequentially yielding three fragments of Br 2 + 2CO. The resulting Br 2 is anticipated to be vibrationally hot. The measurement of a positive temperature effect supports the proposed mechanism.

Br2 molecular elimination in photolysis of (COBr)2 at 248 nm by using cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy: a photodissociation channel being ignored.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Chia-Ching; Lin, Hsiang-Chin; Chang, Yuan-Bin; Tsai, Po-Yu; Yeh, Yu-Ying; Fan, He; Lin, King-Chuen; Francisco, J S

2011-12-21

A primary dissociation channel of Br(2) elimination is detected following a single-photon absorption of (COBr)(2) at 248 nm by using cavity ring-down absorption spectroscopy. The technique contains two laser beams propagating in a perpendicular configuration. The tunable laser beam along the axis of the ring-down cell probes the Br(2) fragment in the B(3)Π(ou)(+)-X(1)Σ(g)(+) transition. The measurements of laser energy- and pressure-dependence and addition of a Br scavenger are further carried out to rule out the probability of Br(2) contribution from a secondary reaction. By means of spectral simulation, the ratio of nascent vibrational population for v = 0, 1, and 2 levels is evaluated to be 1:(0.65 ± 0.09):(0.34 ± 0.07), corresponding to a Boltzmann vibrational temperature of 893 ± 31 K. The quantum yield of the ground state Br(2) elimination reaction is determined to be 0.11 ± 0.06. With the aid of ab initio potential energy calculations, the pathway of molecular elimination is proposed on the energetic ground state (COBr)(2) via internal conversion. A four-center dissociation mechanism is followed synchronously or sequentially yielding three fragments of Br(2) + 2CO. The resulting Br(2) is anticipated to be vibrationally hot. The measurement of a positive temperature effect supports the proposed mechanism.

Toward rubella elimination in Poland: need for supplemental immunization activities, enhanced surveillance, and further integration with measles elimination efforts.

Science.gov (United States)

Zimmerman, Laura; Rogalska, Justyna; Wannemuehler, Kathleen A; Haponiuk, Marzena; Kosek, Adam; Pauch, Ewa; Plonska, Elzbieta; Veltze, Daniel; Czarkowski, Miroslaw P; Buddh, Nilesh; Reef, Susan; Stefanoff, Pawel

2011-07-01

All Member States of the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region have endorsed rubella elimination and congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) prevention. However, Poland has continued high levels of reported rubella. We reviewed rubella incidence in Poland since 1966 and analyzed national aggregated surveillance data from the period 2003-2008 and case-based data from 4 provinces from the period 2006-2008. We described CRS cases since 1997 and assessed maternal receipt of vaccine. We reviewed national vaccination coverage from 1992 through 2008. Since 1966, rubella outbreaks have occurred every 4-6 years in Poland. Aggregate and case-based data from the period 2003-2008 indicate that rubella virus transmission has occurred across wide age ranges (from continues. To achieve rubella elimination, supplemental immunization activities among adolescent boys are needed, as is integration with measles elimination efforts. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2011.

Rabies elimination research: juxtaposing optimism, pragmatism and realism.

Science.gov (United States)

Cleaveland, Sarah; Hampson, Katie

2017-12-20

More than 100 years of research has now been conducted into the prevention, control and elimination of rabies with safe and highly efficacious vaccines developed for use in human and animal populations. Domestic dogs are a major reservoir for rabies, and although considerable advances have been made towards the elimination and control of canine rabies in many parts of the world, the disease continues to kill tens of thousands of people every year in Africa and Asia. Policy efforts are now being directed towards a global target of zero human deaths from dog-mediated rabies by 2030 and the global elimination of canine rabies. Here we demonstrate how research provides a cause for optimism as to the feasibility of these goals through strategies based around mass dog vaccination. We summarize some of the pragmatic insights generated from rabies epidemiology and dog ecology research that can improve the design of dog vaccination strategies in low- and middle-income countries and which should encourage implementation without further delay. We also highlight the need for realism in reaching the feasible, although technically more difficult and longer-term goal of global elimination of canine rabies. Finally, we discuss how research on rabies has broader relevance to the control and elimination of a suite of diseases of current concern to human and animal health, providing an exemplar of the value of a 'One Health' approach. © 2017 The Authors.

Duplicate Record Elimination in Large Data Files.

Science.gov (United States)

1981-08-01

UNCLASSIFIJED CSTR -445 NL LmEE~hhE - I1.0 . 111112----5 1.~4 __112 ___IL25_ 1.4 111111.6 EI24 COMPUTER SCIENCES DEPARTMENT oUniversity of Wisconsin...we propose a combinatorial model for the use in the analysis of algorithms for duplicate elimination. We contend that this model can serve as a...duplicates in a multiset of records, knowing the size of the multiset and the number of distinct records in it. 3. Algorithms for Duplicate Elimination

Ten years left to eliminate blinding trachoma

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Haddad D.

2010-09-01

Full Text Available n 1997, the World Health Organization formed the Global Alliance to Eliminate Blinding Trachoma by 2020 (GET 2020, a coalition of governmental, non-governmental, research, and pharmaceutical partners. In 1998, the World Health Assembly urged member states to map blinding trachoma in endemic areas, implement the SAFE strategy (which stands for surgery for trichiasis, antibiotics, facial-cleanliness and environmental change, such as clean water and latrines and collaborate with the global alliance in its work to eliminate blinding trachoma.

Disease elimination and re-emergence in differential-equation models.

Science.gov (United States)

Greenhalgh, Scott; Galvani, Alison P; Medlock, Jan

2015-12-21

Traditional differential equation models of disease transmission are often used to predict disease trajectories and evaluate the effectiveness of alternative intervention strategies. However, such models cannot account explicitly for probabilistic events, such as those that dominate dynamics when disease prevalence is low during the elimination and re-emergence phases of an outbreak. To account for the dynamics at low prevalence, i.e. the elimination and risk of disease re-emergence, without the added analytical and computational complexity of a stochastic model, we develop a novel application of control theory. We apply our approach to analyze historical data of measles elimination and re-emergence in Iceland from 1923 to 1938, predicting the temporal trajectory of local measles elimination and re-emerge as a result of disease migration from Copenhagen, Denmark. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Distinguishing feral and managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) using stable carbon isotopes

OpenAIRE

Anderson , Lucy; Dynes , Travis; Berry , Jennifer; Delaplane , Keith; McCormick , Lydia; Brosi , Berry

2014-01-01

International audience; The ability to distinguish feral and managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) has applications in studies of population genetics, parasite transmission, pollination, interspecific interactions, and bee breeding. We evaluated a diagnostic test based on theoretical differences in stable carbon isotope ratios generated by supplemental feeding. We evaluated (1) if carbon isotope ratios can distinguish feral and managed honeybees and (2) the temporal persistence of the signal aft...

Spectral filtering for plant production

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Young, R.E.; McMahon, M.J.; Rajapakse, N.C.; Becoteau, D.R.

1994-12-31

Research to date suggests that spectral filtering can be an effective alternative to chemical growth regulators for altering plant development. If properly implemented, it can be nonchemical and environmentally friendly. The aqueous CuSO{sub 4}, and CuCl{sub 2} solutions in channelled plastic panels have been shown to be effective filters, but they can be highly toxic if the solutions contact plants. Some studies suggest that spectral filtration limited to short EOD intervals can also alter plant development. Future research should be directed toward confirmation of the influence of spectral filters and exposure times on a broader range of plant species and cultivars. Efforts should also be made to identify non-noxious alternatives to aqueous copper solutions and/or to incorporate these chemicals permanently into plastic films and panels that can be used in greenhouse construction. It would also be informative to study the impacts of spectral filters on insect and microbal populations in plant growth facilities. The economic impacts of spectral filtering techniques should be assessed for each delivery methodology.

Evaluating the capabilities of vegetation spectral indices on chlorophyll content estimation at Sentinel-2 spectral resolutions

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Qi; Jiao, Quanjun; Dai, Huayang

2018-03-01

Chlorophyll is an important pigment in green plants for photosynthesis and obtaining the energy for growth and development. The rapid, nondestructive and accurate estimation of chlorophyll content is significant for understanding the crops growth, monitoring the disease and insect, and assessing the yield of crops. Sentinel-2 equipped with the Multi-Spectral Instrument (MSI), which will provide images with high spatial, spectral and temporal resolution. It covers the VNIR/SWIR spectral region in 13 bands and incorporates two new spectral bands in the red-edge region and a spatial resolution of 20nm, which can be used to derive vegetation indices using red-edge bands. In this paper, we will focus on assessing the potential of vegetation spectral indices for retrieving chlorophyll content from Sentinel-2 at different angles. Subsequently, we used in-situ spectral data and Sentinel-2 data to test the relationship between VIs and chlorophyll content. The REP, MTCI, CIred-edge, CIgreen, Macc01, TCARI/OSAVI [705,750], NDRE1 and NDRE2 were calculated. NDRE2 index displays a strongly similar result for hyperspectral and simulated Sentinel-2 spectral bands (R2 =0.53, R2 =0.51, for hyperspectral and Sentinel-2, respectively). At different observation angles, NDRE2 has the smallest difference in performance (R2 = 0.51, R2 =0.64, at 0° and 15° , respectively).

Identifying Subalpine Fir (Abies lasiocarpa Attacked by the Balsam Woolly Adelgid (Adelges piceae Using Spectral Measurements of the Foliage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen P. Cook

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Balsam woolly adelgid is an invasive pest of firs in the United States. Aerial surveys are conducted for detection of adelgid infestations but other remotely sensed data may also be useful. Our objective was to determine if high spectral resolution, branch-level data can be used to distinguish infested from noninfested trees. Stepwise discriminant analysis yielded a three-variable model (the red-green index and two narrow-bands (one at 670 nm and the other at 1912 nm that classified infested versus non-infested trees with 94% accuracy compared with the 83% accuracy obtained with a single-variable model. The response of trees in narrow spectral bands was integrated across wavebands to simulate measurements from the multispectral SPOT5-HRVIR sensor. Stepwise discriminant analysis again yielded a three-variable model (simple ratio, the SPOT5-HRVIR band in the SWIR region and NDVI with similar accuracy (93% at discriminating infested from non-infested trees compared with the 83% accuracy obtained with a single-variable model.

75 FR 6402 - Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET)

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-09

... Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET) In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal... for Health, and the Director, CDC, regarding the elimination of tuberculosis. Specifically, the... eliminating tuberculosis. Matters To Be Discussed: Agenda items include issues pertaining to regionalization...

A Model to Partly but Reliably Distinguish DDOS Flood Traffic from Aggregated One

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming Li

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Reliable distinguishing DDOS flood traffic from aggregated traffic is desperately desired by reliable prevention of DDOS attacks. By reliable distinguishing, we mean that flood traffic can be distinguished from aggregated one for a predetermined probability. The basis to reliably distinguish flood traffic from aggregated one is reliable detection of signs of DDOS flood attacks. As is known, reliably distinguishing DDOS flood traffic from aggregated traffic becomes a tough task mainly due to the effects of flash-crowd traffic. For this reason, this paper studies reliable detection in the underlying DiffServ network to use static-priority schedulers. In this network environment, we present a method for reliable detection of signs of DDOS flood attacks for a given class with a given priority. There are two assumptions introduced in this study. One is that flash-crowd traffic does not have all priorities but some. The other is that attack traffic has all priorities in all classes, otherwise an attacker cannot completely achieve its DDOS goal. Further, we suppose that the protected site is equipped with a sensor that has a signature library of the legitimate traffic with the priorities flash-crowd traffic does not have. Based on those, we are able to reliably distinguish attack traffic from aggregated traffic with the priorities that flash-crowd traffic does not have according to a given detection probability.

Rabies Elimination in Dogs in the United States

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

Rabies has been eliminated from dogs in the United States through efforts to promote annual vaccination, but it's still a problem in wildlife in the U.S. and in wild and domesticated animals abroad. In this podcast, CDC's Dr. Charles Rupprecht discusses a study which provides proof of the elimination of rabies in dogs and what this means for the average American.

Characterizing locally distinguishable orthogonal product states

OpenAIRE

Feng, Yuan; Shi, Yaoyun

2007-01-01

Bennett et al. \\cite{BDF+99} identified a set of orthogonal {\\em product} states in the $3\\otimes 3$ Hilbert space such that reliably distinguishing those states requires non-local quantum operations. While more examples have been found for this counter-intuitive ``nonlocality without entanglement'' phenomenon, a complete and computationally verifiable characterization for all such sets of states remains unknown. In this Letter, we give such a characterization for the $3\\otimes 3$ space.

76 FR 67459 - Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET)

Science.gov (United States)

2011-11-01

... Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET) In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal... Director, CDC, regarding the elimination of tuberculosis. Specifically, the Council makes recommendations... technologies; and reviews the extent to which progress has been made toward eliminating tuberculosis. Matters...

75 FR 63496 - Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET)

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-15

... Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET) In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal... Director, CDC, regarding the elimination of tuberculosis. Specifically, the Council makes recommendations... technologies; and reviews the extent to which progress has been made toward eliminating tuberculosis. Matters...

77 FR 8877 - Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET)

Science.gov (United States)

2012-02-15

... Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET) In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal... for Health, and the Director, CDC, regarding the elimination of tuberculosis. Specifically, the... eliminating tuberculosis. Matters to be Discussed: Agenda items include the following topics: (1) Tuberculosis...

On Longitudinal Spectral Coherence

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kristensen, Leif

1979-01-01

It is demonstrated that the longitudinal spectral coherence differs significantly from the transversal spectral coherence in its dependence on displacement and frequency. An expression for the longitudinal coherence is derived and it is shown how the scale of turbulence, the displacement between ...... observation sites and the turbulence intensity influence the results. The limitations of the theory are discussed....

A spectral profile multiplexed FBG sensor network with application to strain measurement in a Kevlar woven fabric

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Guodong; Hackney, Drew; Pankow, Mark; Peters, Kara

2017-04-01

A spectral profile division multiplexed fiber Bragg grating (FBG) sensor network is described in this paper. The unique spectral profile of each sensor in the network is identified as a distinct feature to be interrogated. Spectrum overlap is allowed under working conditions. Thus, a specific wavelength window does not need to be allocated to each sensor as in a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) network. When the sensors are serially connected in the network, the spectrum output is expressed through a truncated series. To track the wavelength shift of each sensor, the identification problem is transformed to a nonlinear optimization problem, which is then solved by a modified dynamic multi-swarm particle swarm optimizer (DMS-PSO). To demonstrate the application of the developed network, a network consisting of four FBGs was integrated into a Kevlar woven fabric, which was under a quasi-static load imposed by an impactor head. Due to the substantial radial strain in the fabric, the spectrums of different FBGs were found to overlap during the loading process. With the developed interrogating method, the overlapped spectrum would be distinguished thus the wavelength shift of each sensor can be monitored.

Speech recognition from spectral dynamics

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Carrier nature of speech; modulation spectrum; spectral dynamics ... the relationships between phonetic values of sounds and their short-term spectral envelopes .... the number of free parameters that need to be estimated from training data.

29 CFR 794.107 - “Establishment” distinguished.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... the definition of “enterprise” in section 3(r), as set forth in § 794.106, that the activities of the... § 794.107 “Establishment” distinguished. The “enterprise” referred to in the section 7(b)(3) exemption... “an entire business or enterprise” which may include several separate places of business. (See...

McGuire snubber elimination program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cloud, R.L.; Leung, J.S.M.; Taylor, W.H.; Morgan, R.L. Jr.

1993-01-01

An engineering program has been initiated at McGuire Nuclear Stations 1 and 2 to eliminate all existing snubbers. The elimination is achieved by replacing existing snubbers with limit stop pipe supports. The program establishes plant-wide modification procedures for one-to-one substitution under the 10 CFR 50.59 requirement. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) acceptance is based on the results of both comparison analyses and the hardware implementation of sample piping systems at McGuire nuclear stations. Experimental results obtained on shake table testing and from the NRC sponsored HDR research program are also used to formulate the technical basis and design procedures for plant-wide implementation of the snubber replacement effort. The overall program plan is for nearly 3,000 snubbers to be replaced in phases consistent with the plant scheduled outages. Duke Power estimates the program, when completed, will maintain ALARA, improve reliability, and reduce plant operating costs

Noise elimination algorithm for modal analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bao, X. X., E-mail: baoxingxian@upc.edu.cn [Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, China University of Petroleum (East China), Qingdao 266580 (China); Li, C. L. [Key Laboratory of Marine Geology and Environment, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071 (China); Xiong, C. B. [The First Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, Qingdao 266061 (China)

2015-07-27

Modal analysis is an ongoing interdisciplinary physical issue. Modal parameters estimation is applied to determine the dynamic characteristics of structures under vibration excitation. Modal analysis is more challenging for the measured vibration response signals are contaminated with noise. This study develops a mathematical algorithm of structured low rank approximation combined with the complex exponential method to estimate the modal parameters. Physical experiments using a steel cantilever beam with ten accelerometers mounted, excited by an impulse load, demonstrate that this method can significantly eliminate noise from measured signals and accurately identify the modal frequencies and damping ratios. This study provides a fundamental mechanism of noise elimination using structured low rank approximation in physical fields.

Information Systems to Support Surveillance for Malaria Elimination

Science.gov (United States)

Ohrt, Colin; Roberts, Kathryn W.; Sturrock, Hugh J. W.; Wegbreit, Jennifer; Lee, Bruce Y.; Gosling, Roly D.

2015-01-01

Robust and responsive surveillance systems are critical for malaria elimination. The ideal information system that supports malaria elimination includes: rapid and complete case reporting, incorporation of related data, such as census or health survey information, central data storage and management, automated and expert data analysis, and customized outputs and feedback that lead to timely and targeted responses. Spatial information enhances such a system, ensuring cases are tracked and mapped over time. Data sharing and coordination across borders are vital and new technologies can improve data speed, accuracy, and quality. Parts of this ideal information system exist and are in use, but have yet to be linked together coherently. Malaria elimination programs should support the implementation and refinement of information systems to support surveillance and response and ensure political and financial commitment to maintain the systems and the human resources needed to run them. National malaria programs should strive to improve the access and utility of these information systems and establish cross-border data sharing mechanisms through the use of standard indicators for malaria surveillance. Ultimately, investment in the information technologies that support a timely and targeted surveillance and response system is essential for malaria elimination. PMID:26013378

Meson spectral functions at finite temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wetzorke, I.; Karsch, F.; Laermann, E.; Petreczky, P.; Stickan, S.

2001-10-01

The Maximum Entropy Method provides a Bayesian approach to reconstruct the spectral functions from discrete points in Euclidean time. The applicability of the approach at finite temperature is probed with the thermal meson correlation function. Furthermore the influence of fuzzing/smearing techniques on the spectral shape is investigated. We present first results for meson spectral functions at several temperatures below and above T c . The correlation functions were obtained from quenched calculations with Clover fermions on large isotropic lattices of the size (24 - 64) 3 x 16. We compare the resulting pole masses with the ones obtained from standard 2-exponential fits of spatial and temporal correlation functions at finite temperature and in the vacuum. The deviation of the meson spectral functions from free spectral functions is examined above the critical temperature. (orig.)

Meson spectral functions at finite temperature

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wetzorke, I.; Karsch, F.; Laermann, E.; Petreczky, P.; Stickan, S.

2002-01-01

The Maximum Entropy Method provides a Bayesian approach to reconstruct the spectral functions from discrete points in Euclidean time. The applicability of the approach at finite temperature is probed with the thermal meson correlation function. Furthermore the influence of fuzzing/smearing techniques on the spectral shape is investigated. We present first results for meson spectral functions at several temperatures below and above T c . The correlation functions were obtained from quenched calculations with Clover fermions on large isotropic lattices of the size (24 - 64) 3 x 16. We compare the resulting pole masses with the ones obtained from standard 2-exponential fits of spatial and temporal correlation functions at finite temperature and in the vacuum. The deviation of the meson spectral functions from free spectral functions is examined above the critical temperature

Meson spectral functions at finite temperature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wetzorke, I.; Karsch, F.; Laermann, E.; Petreczky, P.; Stickan, S

2002-03-01

The Maximum Entropy Method provides a Bayesian approach to reconstruct the spectral functions from discrete points in Euclidean time. The applicability of the approach at finite temperature is probed with the thermal meson correlation function. Furthermore the influence of fuzzing/smearing techniques on the spectral shape is investigated. We present first results for meson spectral functions at several temperatures below and above T{sub c}. The correlation functions were obtained from quenched calculations with Clover fermions on large isotropic lattices of the size (24 - 64){sup 3} x 16. We compare the resulting pole masses with the ones obtained from standard 2-exponential fits of spatial and temporal correlation functions at finite temperature and in the vacuum. The deviation of the meson spectral functions from free spectral functions is examined above the critical temperature.

Meson spectral functions at finite temperature

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wetzorke, I.; Karsch, F.; Laermann, E.; Petreczky, P.; Stickan, S. [Bielefeld Univ. (Germany). Fakultaet fuer Physik

2001-10-01

The Maximum Entropy Method provides a Bayesian approach to reconstruct the spectral functions from discrete points in Euclidean time. The applicability of the approach at finite temperature is probed with the thermal meson correlation function. Furthermore the influence of fuzzing/smearing techniques on the spectral shape is investigated. We present first results for meson spectral functions at several temperatures below and above T{sub c}. The correlation functions were obtained from quenched calculations with Clover fermions on large isotropic lattices of the size (24 - 64){sup 3} x 16. We compare the resulting pole masses with the ones obtained from standard 2-exponential fits of spatial and temporal correlation functions at finite temperature and in the vacuum. The deviation of the meson spectral functions from free spectral functions is examined above the critical temperature. (orig.)

The development of a modified spectral ripple test.

Science.gov (United States)

Aronoff, Justin M; Landsberger, David M

2013-08-01

Poor spectral resolution can be a limiting factor for hearing impaired listeners, particularly for complex listening tasks such as speech understanding in noise. Spectral ripple tests are commonly used to measure spectral resolution, but these tests contain a number of potential confounds that can make interpretation of the results difficult. To measure spectral resolution while avoiding those confounds, a modified spectral ripple test with dynamically changing ripples was created, referred to as the spectral-temporally modulated ripple test (SMRT). This paper describes the SMRT and provides evidence that it is sensitive to changes in spectral resolution.

Comparing auditory filter bandwidths, spectral ripple modulation detection, spectral ripple discrimination, and speech recognition: Normal and impaired hearing.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies-Venn, Evelyn; Nelson, Peggy; Souza, Pamela

2015-07-01

Some listeners with hearing loss show poor speech recognition scores in spite of using amplification that optimizes audibility. Beyond audibility, studies have suggested that suprathreshold abilities such as spectral and temporal processing may explain differences in amplified speech recognition scores. A variety of different methods has been used to measure spectral processing. However, the relationship between spectral processing and speech recognition is still inconclusive. This study evaluated the relationship between spectral processing and speech recognition in listeners with normal hearing and with hearing loss. Narrowband spectral resolution was assessed using auditory filter bandwidths estimated from simultaneous notched-noise masking. Broadband spectral processing was measured using the spectral ripple discrimination (SRD) task and the spectral ripple depth detection (SMD) task. Three different measures were used to assess unamplified and amplified speech recognition in quiet and noise. Stepwise multiple linear regression revealed that SMD at 2.0 cycles per octave (cpo) significantly predicted speech scores for amplified and unamplified speech in quiet and noise. Commonality analyses revealed that SMD at 2.0 cpo combined with SRD and equivalent rectangular bandwidth measures to explain most of the variance captured by the regression model. Results suggest that SMD and SRD may be promising clinical tools for diagnostic evaluation and predicting amplification outcomes.

Comparing auditory filter bandwidths, spectral ripple modulation detection, spectral ripple discrimination, and speech recognition: Normal and impaired hearinga)

Science.gov (United States)

Davies-Venn, Evelyn; Nelson, Peggy; Souza, Pamela

2015-01-01

Some listeners with hearing loss show poor speech recognition scores in spite of using amplification that optimizes audibility. Beyond audibility, studies have suggested that suprathreshold abilities such as spectral and temporal processing may explain differences in amplified speech recognition scores. A variety of different methods has been used to measure spectral processing. However, the relationship between spectral processing and speech recognition is still inconclusive. This study evaluated the relationship between spectral processing and speech recognition in listeners with normal hearing and with hearing loss. Narrowband spectral resolution was assessed using auditory filter bandwidths estimated from simultaneous notched-noise masking. Broadband spectral processing was measured using the spectral ripple discrimination (SRD) task and the spectral ripple depth detection (SMD) task. Three different measures were used to assess unamplified and amplified speech recognition in quiet and noise. Stepwise multiple linear regression revealed that SMD at 2.0 cycles per octave (cpo) significantly predicted speech scores for amplified and unamplified speech in quiet and noise. Commonality analyses revealed that SMD at 2.0 cpo combined with SRD and equivalent rectangular bandwidth measures to explain most of the variance captured by the regression model. Results suggest that SMD and SRD may be promising clinical tools for diagnostic evaluation and predicting amplification outcomes. PMID:26233047

A pilot study using low-dose Spectral CT and ASIR (Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction) algorithm to diagnose solitary pulmonary nodules.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Huijuan; Liu, Yihe; Tan, Hongna; Liang, Pan; Wang, Bo; Su, Lei; Wang, Suya; Gao, Jianbo

2015-11-17

Lung cancer is the most common cancer which has the highest mortality rate. With the development of computed tomography (CT) techniques, the case detection rates of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN) has constantly increased and the diagnosis accuracy of SPN has remained a hot topic in clinical and imaging diagnosis. The aim of this study was to evaluate the combination of low-dose spectral CT and ASIR (Adaptive Statistical Iterative Reconstruction) algorithm in the diagnosis of solitary pulmonary nodules (SPN). 62 patients with SPN (42 cases of benign SPN and 20 cases of malignant SPN, pathology confirmed) were scanned by spectral CT with a dual-phase contrast-enhanced method. The iodine and water concentration (IC and WC) of the lesion and the artery in the image that had the same density were measured by the GSI (Gemstone Spectral Imaging) software. The normalized iodine and water concentration (NIC and NWC) of the lesion and the normalized iodine and water concentration difference (ICD and WCD) between the arterial and venous phases (AP and VP) were also calculated. The spectral HU (Hounsfield Unit ) curve was divided into 3 sections based on the energy (40-70, 70-100 and 100-140 keV) and the slopes (λHU) in both phases were calculated. The ICAP, ICVP, WCAP and WCVP, NIC and NWC, and the λHU in benign and malignant SPN were compared by independent sample t-test. The iodine related parameters (ICAP, ICVP, NICAP, NICVP, and the ICD) of malignant SPN were significantly higher than that of benign SPN (t = 3.310, 1.330, 2.388, 1.669 and 3.251, respectively, P 0.05). The iodine related parameters and the slope of spectral curve are useful markers to distinguish the benign from the malignant lung diseases, and its application is extremely feasible in clinical applications.

Magnetic field effects on spectrally resolved lifetime of on-line oxygen monitoring using magneto-optic probes

Science.gov (United States)

Mermut, O.; Gallant, P.; Le Bouch, N.; Leclair, S.; Noiseux, I.; Vernon, M.; Morin, J.-F.; Diamond, K.; Patterson, M. S.; Samkoe, K.; Pogue, B.

2009-02-01

Multimodal agents that serve as both probes for contrast and light-activated effectors of cellular processes in diseased tissue were developed. These agents were introduced into multicellular tumor spheroids (3D tissue models) and in the chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) of a chicken embryo. The luminescence decay was examined using a novel technique involving a spectrally-resolved fluorescence lifetime apparatus integrated with a weak electromagnet. A spectrallyresolved lifetime setup was used to identify magneto-optic species sensitive to magnetic field effects and distinguish from background emissions. We demonstrate that the applied magnetic fields can alter reaction rates and product distribution of some dyes detected by time- and spectrally-resolved luminescence changes. We will discuss the use of exogenous magneto-optical probes taken up in tumors to both induce phototoxicity, a process that is governed by complex and dynamically evolving mechanisms involving reactive oxygen species, and monitor treatment progress. The magnetic field enhancement, measured over a range of weak fields (0-300 mT) is correlated to oxygenation and may be used to monitor dynamic changes occurring due to oxygen consumption over the course of photodynamic therapy. Such online measurements provide the possibility to derive real-time information about response to treatment via monitoring magnetic field enhancement/suppression of the time-resolved, spectrally-resolved luminescence of the probe at the site of the treatment directly. Magnetic perturbation of lifetime can serve as a status reporter, providing optical feedback of oxygen-mediated treatments in situ and allowing for real-time adjustment of a phototherapy treatment plan.

State plans to force companies to eliminate environmental burdens

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marcan, P.

2004-01-01

The Ministry of Environment is preparing legislation aimed at forcing the state and especially private enterprises to map and eliminate tips, refuse from company premises and farmyards, and manure heaps. It is expected that the main burden will fall on private enterprises. The department is still working on the wording of this new Act on environmental burdens and so it is not yet clear whether it will be of assistance in the elimination of environmental burdens. The Ministry is aware that economic aspects must also be taken into account when exercising pressure on the companies. Closing down a company that cannot meet environmental criteria would result in redundancies and so the time schedule for the elimination of environmental burdens will be adjusted to fit the financial situation of the company involved. The ministry plans to first find companies responsible for environmental debts and then set a deadline for the preparation of a project to eliminate the environmental burden. The project would have to contain a description of elimination methods, in addition to a time schedule and cost assessment. If a private company does not report an environmental burden, the competent public authority will have the power to request access to the premises to undertake an inspection. (author)

Distinguishing advective and powered motion in self-propelled colloids

Science.gov (United States)

Byun, Young-Moo; Lammert, Paul E.; Hong, Yiying; Sen, Ayusman; Crespi, Vincent H.

2017-11-01

Self-powered motion in catalytic colloidal particles provides a compelling example of active matter, i.e. systems that engage in single-particle and collective behavior far from equilibrium. The long-time, long-distance behavior of such systems is of particular interest, since it connects their individual micro-scale behavior to macro-scale phenomena. In such analyses, it is important to distinguish motion due to subtle advective effects—which also has long time scales and length scales—from long-timescale phenomena that derive from intrinsically powered motion. Here, we develop a methodology to analyze the statistical properties of the translational and rotational motions of powered colloids to distinguish, for example, active chemotaxis from passive advection by bulk flow.

A method for eliminating sulfur compounds from fluid, saturated, aliphatic hydrocarbons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fakhriev, A.M.; Galiautdinov, N.G.; Kashevarov, L.A.; Mazgarov, A.M.

1982-01-01

The method for eliminating sulfur compounds from fluid, saturated, aliphatic hydrocarbons, which involves extracting hydrocarbons using a dimethylsulfoxide extractant, is improved by using a dimethylsulfoxide blend and 10-60 percent (by volume) diethylenetriamine or polyethylenepolyamine which contains diethylenetriamine, triethylenetetramine and tetraethylenepentamine, in order to eliminate the above compounds. Polyethylenepolyamine is produced as a by-product during the production of ethylenediamine. Elimination is performed at 0-50 degrees and 1-60 atmospheres of pressure. Here, the extractant may contain up to 10 percent water. The use of the proposed method, rather than the existing method, will make it possible to increase hydrocarbon elimination from mercaptans by 40 percent and from H/sub 2/S by 10 percent when the same amount is eliminated from dialkylsulfides.

Identical Distinguishable Gas Particles in the Real World

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

IAS Admin

particles, it requires more care to identify a gas of identical distinguishable particles ... properties (such as mass, charge, shape, and spin). Adopt an operational ... [6] which might appear to be a physical realization of the proto- typical system of ...

SVM-Based Spectral Analysis for Heart Rate from Multi-Channel WPPG Sensor Signals.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiong, Jiping; Cai, Lisang; Wang, Fei; He, Xiaowei

2017-03-03

Although wrist-type photoplethysmographic (hereafter referred to as WPPG) sensor signals can measure heart rate quite conveniently, the subjects' hand movements can cause strong motion artifacts, and then the motion artifacts will heavily contaminate WPPG signals. Hence, it is challenging for us to accurately estimate heart rate from WPPG signals during intense physical activities. The WWPG method has attracted more attention thanks to the popularity of wrist-worn wearable devices. In this paper, a mixed approach called Mix-SVM is proposed, it can use multi-channel WPPG sensor signals and simultaneous acceleration signals to measurement heart rate. Firstly, we combine the principle component analysis and adaptive filter to remove a part of the motion artifacts. Due to the strong relativity between motion artifacts and acceleration signals, the further denoising problem is regarded as a sparse signals reconstruction problem. Then, we use a spectrum subtraction method to eliminate motion artifacts effectively. Finally, the spectral peak corresponding to heart rate is sought by an SVM-based spectral analysis method. Through the public PPG database in the 2015 IEEE Signal Processing Cup, we acquire the experimental results, i.e., the average absolute error was 1.01 beat per minute, and the Pearson correlation was 0.9972. These results also confirm that the proposed Mix-SVM approach has potential for multi-channel WPPG-based heart rate estimation in the presence of intense physical exercise.

Spectral properties of generalized eigenparameter dependent ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Jost function, spectrum, the spectral singularities, and the properties of the principal vectors corresponding to the spectral singularities of L, if. ∞Σn=1 n(∣1 - an∣ + ∣bnl) < ∞. Mathematics Subject Classication (2010): 34L05, 34L40, 39A70, 47A10, 47A75. Key words: Discrete equations, eigenparameter, spectral analysis, ...

Planck 2013 results. IX. HFI spectral response

CERN Document Server

Ade, P A R; Armitage-Caplan, C; Arnaud, M; Ashdown, M; Atrio-Barandela, F; Aumont, J; Baccigalupi, C; Banday, A J; Barreiro, R B; Battaner, E; Benabed, K; Benoît, A; Benoit-Lévy, A; Bernard, J -P; Bersanelli, M; Bielewicz, P; Bobin, J; Bock, J J; Bond, J R; Borrill, J; Bouchet, F R; Boulanger, F; Bridges, M; Bucher, M; Burigana, C; Cardoso, J -F; Catalano, A; Challinor, A; Chamballu, A; Chary, R -R; Chen, X; Chiang, L -Y; Chiang, H C; Christensen, P R; Church, S; Clements, D L; Colombi, S; Colombo, L P L; Combet, C; Comis, B; Couchot, F; Coulais, A; Crill, B P; Curto, A; Cuttaia, F; Danese, L; Davies, R D; de Bernardis, P; de Rosa, A; de Zotti, G; Delabrouille, J; Delouis, J -M; Désert, F -X; Dickinson, C; Diego, J M; Dole, H; Donzelli, S; Doré, O; Douspis, M; Dupac, X; Efstathiou, G; Enßlin, T A; Eriksen, H K; Falgarone, E; Finelli, F; Forni, O; Frailis, M; Franceschi, E; Galeotta, S; Ganga, K; Giard, M; Giraud-Héraud, Y; González-Nuevo, J; Górski, K M; Gratton, S; Gregorio, A; Gruppuso, A; Hansen, F K; Hanson, D; Harrison, D; Henrot-Versillé, S; Hernández-Monteagudo, C; Herranz, D; Hildebrandt, S R; Hivon, E; Hobson, M; Holmes, W A; Hornstrup, A; Hovest, W; Huffenberger, K M; Hurier, G; Jaffe, T R; Jaffe, A H; Jones, W C; Juvela, M; Keihänen, E; Keskitalo, R; Kisner, T S; Kneissl, R; Knoche, J; Knox, L; Kunz, M; Kurki-Suonio, H; Lagache, G; Lamarre, J -M; Lasenby, A; Laureijs, R J; Lawrence, C R; Leahy, J P; Leonardi, R; Leroy, C; Lesgourgues, J; Liguori, M; Lilje, P B; Linden-Vørnle, M; López-Caniego, M; Lubin, P M; Macías-Pérez, J F; Maffei, B; Mandolesi, N; Maris, M; Marshall, D J; Martin, P G; Martínez-González, E; Masi, S; Matarrese, S; Matthai, F; Mazzotta, P; McGehee, P; Melchiorri, A; Mendes, L; Mennella, A; Migliaccio, M; Mitra, S; Miville-Deschênes, M -A; Moneti, A; Montier, L; Morgante, G; Mortlock, D; Munshi, D; Murphy, J A; Naselsky, P; Nati, F; Natoli, P; Netterfield, C B; Nørgaard-Nielsen, H U; North, C; Noviello, F; Novikov, D; Novikov, I; Osborne, S; Oxborrow, C A; Paci, F; Pagano, L; Pajot, F; Paoletti, D; Pasian, F; Patanchon, G; Perdereau, O; Perotto, L; Perrotta, F; Piacentini, F; Piat, M; Pierpaoli, E; Pietrobon, D; Plaszczynski, S; Pointecouteau, E; Polenta, G; Ponthieu, N; Popa, L; Poutanen, T; Pratt, G W; Prézeau, G; Prunet, S; Puget, J -L; Rachen, J P; Reinecke, M; Remazeilles, M; Renault, C; Ricciardi, S; Riller, T; Ristorcelli, I; Rocha, G; Rosset, C; Roudier, G; Rusholme, B; Santos, D; Savini, G; Shellard, E P S; Spencer, L D; Starck, J -L; Stolyarov, V; Stompor, R; Sudiwala, R; Sureau, F; Sutton, D; Suur-Uski, A -S; Sygnet, J -F; Tauber, J A; Tavagnacco, D; Terenzi, L; Tomasi, M; Tristram, M; Tucci, M; Umana, G; Valenziano, L; Valiviita, J; Van Tent, B; Vielva, P; Villa, F; Vittorio, N; Wade, L A; Wandelt, B D; Yvon, D; Zacchei, A; Zonca, A

2014-01-01

The Planck High Frequency Instrument (HFI) spectral response was determined through a series of ground based tests conducted with the HFI focal plane in a cryogenic environment prior to launch. The main goal of the spectral transmission tests was to measure the relative spectral response (including out-of-band signal rejection) of all HFI detectors. This was determined by measuring the output of a continuously scanned Fourier transform spectrometer coupled with all HFI detectors. As there is no on-board spectrometer within HFI, the ground-based spectral response experiments provide the definitive data set for the relative spectral calibration of the HFI. The spectral response of the HFI is used in Planck data analysis and component separation, this includes extraction of CO emission observed within Planck bands, dust emission, Sunyaev-Zeldovich sources, and intensity to polarization leakage. The HFI spectral response data have also been used to provide unit conversion and colour correction analysis tools. Ver...

CRISS power spectral density

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vaeth, W.

1979-04-01

The correlation of signal components at different frequencies like higher harmonics cannot be detected by a normal power spectral density measurement, since this technique correlates only components at the same frequency. This paper describes a special method for measuring the correlation of two signal components at different frequencies: the CRISS power spectral density. From this new function in frequency analysis, the correlation of two components can be determined quantitatively either they stem from one signal or from two diverse signals. The principle of the method, suitable for the higher harmonics of a signal as well as for any other frequency combinations is shown for the digital frequency analysis technique. Two examples of CRISS power spectral densities demonstrates the operation of the new method. (orig.) [de

ALARA/ALARP distinguished

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Riley, P.

1992-01-01

In the United Kingdom the term ALARA, ''as low as reasonably achievable'' and the term ALARP ''as low as reasonably practicable'' are used in regulations, in conditions in licenses, in assessment principles and in guidance notes used in the nuclear industry. In fact the ALARA principle is a cornerstone on which much of radiation protection regulation is based. The words ''reasonably practicable'' in ALARP have an established meaning in UK law and are used extensively in statutes and regulations, in particular The Health and Safety Act 1974. The Select Committee of the House of Lords on the European Communities in 1986 concluded that public opinion will play a much larger part in deciding the future of nuclear power than is usual with questions of science and technology. Under the circumstances it is important to industry and the general public for the terms used in legislation to be clear and unambiguous. This paper by distinguishing the terms ALARA/ALARP, sets the scene for a more disciplined use of the terms. (author)

Distinguishing Features and Similarities Between Descriptive Phenomenological and Qualitative Description Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Willis, Danny G; Sullivan-Bolyai, Susan; Knafl, Kathleen; Cohen, Marlene Z

2016-09-01

Scholars who research phenomena of concern to the discipline of nursing are challenged with making wise choices about different qualitative research approaches. Ultimately, they want to choose an approach that is best suited to answer their research questions. Such choices are predicated on having made distinctions between qualitative methodology, methods, and analytic frames. In this article, we distinguish two qualitative research approaches widely used for descriptive studies: descriptive phenomenological and qualitative description. Providing a clear basis that highlights the distinguishing features and similarities between descriptive phenomenological and qualitative description research will help students and researchers make more informed choices in deciding upon the most appropriate methodology in qualitative research. We orient the reader to distinguishing features and similarities associated with each approach and the kinds of research questions descriptive phenomenological and qualitative description research address. © The Author(s) 2016.

Onboard spectral imager data processor

Science.gov (United States)

Otten, Leonard J.; Meigs, Andrew D.; Franklin, Abraham J.; Sears, Robert D.; Robison, Mark W.; Rafert, J. Bruce; Fronterhouse, Donald C.; Grotbeck, Ronald L.

1999-10-01

Previous papers have described the concept behind the MightySat II.1 program, the satellite's Fourier Transform imaging spectrometer's optical design, the design for the spectral imaging payload, and its initial qualification testing. This paper discusses the on board data processing designed to reduce the amount of downloaded data by an order of magnitude and provide a demonstration of a smart spaceborne spectral imaging sensor. Two custom components, a spectral imager interface 6U VME card that moves data at over 30 MByte/sec, and four TI C-40 processors mounted to a second 6U VME and daughter card, are used to adapt the sensor to the spacecraft and provide the necessary high speed processing. A system architecture that offers both on board real time image processing and high-speed post data collection analysis of the spectral data has been developed. In addition to the on board processing of the raw data into a usable spectral data volume, one feature extraction technique has been incorporated. This algorithm operates on the basic interferometric data. The algorithm is integrated within the data compression process to search for uploadable feature descriptions.

Quantitative functional optical imaging of the human skin using multi-spectral imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kainerstorfer, J. M.

2010-01-01

Light tissue interactions can be described by the physical principles of absorption and scattering. Based on those parameters, different tissue types and analytes can be distinguished. Extracting blood volume and oxygenation is of particular interest in clinical routines for tumor diagnostics and treatment follow up, since they are parameters of angiogenic processes. The quantification of those analytes in tissue can be done by physical modeling of light tissue interaction. The physical model used here is the random walk theory. However, for quantification and clinical usefulness, one has to account for multiple challenges. First, one must consider the effect of topology of the sample on measured physical parameters. Second, diffusion of light inside the tissue is dependent on the structure of the sample imaged. Thus, the structural conformation has to be taken into account. Third, clinical translation of imaging modalities is often hindered due to the complicated post-processing of data, not providing results in real-time. In this thesis, two imaging modalities are being utilized, where the first one, diffuse multi-spectral imaging, is based on absorption contrast and spectral characteristics and the second one, Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT), is based on scattering changes within the tissue. Multi-spectral imaging can provide spatial distributions of blood volume and blood oxygenation and OCT yields 3D structural images with micrometer resolution. In order to address the challenges mentioned above, a curvature correction algorithm for taking the topology into account was developed. Without taking curvature of the object into account, reconstruction of optical properties is not accurate. The method developed removes this artifact and recovers the underlying data, without the necessity of measuring the object's shape. The next step was to recover blood volume and oxygenation values in real time. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) on multi spectral images is

Soil forensics: How far can soil clay analysis distinguish between soil vestiges?

Science.gov (United States)

Corrêa, R S; Melo, V F; Abreu, G G F; Sousa, M H; Chaker, J A; Gomes, J A

2018-03-01

Soil traces are useful as forensic evidences because they frequently adhere to individuals and objects associated with crimes and can place or discard a suspect at/from a crime scene. Soil is a mixture of organic and inorganic components and among them soil clay contains signatures that make it reliable as forensic evidence. In this study, we hypothesized that soils can be forensically distinguished through the analysis of their clay fraction alone, and that samples of the same soil type can be consistently distinguished according to the distance they were collected from each other. To test these hypotheses 16 Oxisol samples were collected at distances of between 2m and 1.000m, and 16 Inceptisol samples were collected at distances of between 2m and 300m from each other. Clay fractions were extracted from soil samples and analyzed for hyperspectral color reflectance (HSI), X-ray diffraction crystallographic (XRD), and for contents of iron oxides, kaolinite and gibbsite. The dataset was submitted to multivariate analysis and results were from 65% to 100% effective to distinguish between samples from the two soil types. Both soil types could be consistently distinguished for forensic purposes according to the distance that samples were collected from each other: 1000m for Oxisol and 10m for Inceptisol. Clay color and XRD analysis were the most effective techniques to distinguish clay samples, and Inceptisol samples were more easily distinguished than Oxisol samples. Soil forensics seems a promising field for soil scientists as soil clay can be useful as forensic evidence by using routine analytical techniques from soil science. Copyright © 2017 The Chartered Society of Forensic Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Using GIS servers and interactive maps in spectral data sharing and administration: Case study of Ahvaz Spectral Geodatabase Platform (ASGP)

Science.gov (United States)

Karami, Mojtaba; Rangzan, Kazem; Saberi, Azim

2013-10-01

With emergence of air-borne and space-borne hyperspectral sensors, spectroscopic measurements are gaining more importance in remote sensing. Therefore, the number of available spectral reference data is constantly increasing. This rapid increase often exhibits a poor data management, which leads to ultimate isolation of data on disk storages. Spectral data without precise description of the target, methods, environment, and sampling geometry cannot be used by other researchers. Moreover, existing spectral data (in case it accompanied with good documentation) become virtually invisible or unreachable for researchers. Providing documentation and a data-sharing framework for spectral data, in which researchers are able to search for or share spectral data and documentation, would definitely improve the data lifetime. Relational Database Management Systems (RDBMS) are main candidates for spectral data management and their efficiency is proven by many studies and applications to date. In this study, a new approach to spectral data administration is presented based on spatial identity of spectral samples. This method benefits from scalability and performance of RDBMS for storage of spectral data, but uses GIS servers to provide users with interactive maps as an interface to the system. The spectral files, photographs and descriptive data are considered as belongings of a geospatial object. A spectral processing unit is responsible for evaluation of metadata quality and performing routine spectral processing tasks for newly-added data. As a result, by using internet browser software the users would be able to visually examine availability of data and/or search for data based on descriptive attributes associated to it. The proposed system is scalable and besides giving the users good sense of what data are available in the database, it facilitates participation of spectral reference data in producing geoinformation.

Precise Multi-Spectral Dermatological Imaging

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gomez, David Delgado; Carstensen, Jens Michael; Ersbøll, Bjarne Kjær

2004-01-01

In this work, an integrated imaging system to obtain accurate and reproducible multi-spectral dermatological images is proposed. The system is made up of an integrating sphere, light emitting diodes and a generic monochromatic camera. The system can collect up to 10 different spectral bands....... These spectral bands vary from ultraviolet to near infrared. The welldefined and diffuse illumination of the optically closed scene aims to avoid shadows and specular reflections. Furthermore, the system has been developed to guarantee the reproducibility of the collected images. This allows for comparative...

78 FR 12329 - Distinguishing Medical Device Recalls From Product Enhancements; Reporting Requirements; Draft...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-02-22

... medical devices to take timely action to correct violative devices or remove them from the marketplace...] Distinguishing Medical Device Recalls From Product Enhancements; Reporting Requirements; Draft Guidance for... draft guidance entitled ``Distinguishing Medical Device Recalls From Product Enhancements; Reporting...

Spectral characteristics and feature selection of satellite remote sensing data for climate and anthropogenic changes assessment in Bucharest area

Science.gov (United States)

Zoran, Maria; Savastru, Roxana; Savastru, Dan; Tautan, Marina; Miclos, Sorin; Cristescu, Luminita; Carstea, Elfrida; Baschir, Laurentiu

2010-05-01

Urban systems play a vital role in social and economic development in all countries. Their environmental changes can be investigated on different spatial and temporal scales. Urban and peri-urban environment dynamics is of great interest for future planning and decision making as well as in frame of local and regional changes. Changes in urban land cover include changes in biotic diversity, actual and potential primary productivity, soil quality, runoff, and sedimentation rates, and cannot be well understood without the knowledge of land use change that drives them. The study focuses on the assessment of environmental features changes for Bucharest metropolitan area, Romania by satellite remote sensing and in-situ monitoring data. Rational feature selection from the varieties of spectral channels in the optical wavelengths of electromagnetic spectrum (VIS and NIR) is very important for effective analysis and information extraction of remote sensing data. Based on comprehensively analyses of the spectral characteristics of remote sensing data is possibly to derive environmental changes in urban areas. The information quantity contained in a band is an important parameter in evaluating the band. The deviation and entropy are often used to show information amount. Feature selection is one of the most important steps in recognition and classification of remote sensing images. Therefore, it is necessary to select features before classification. The optimal features are those that can be used to distinguish objects easily and correctly. Three factors—the information quantity of bands, the correlation between bands and the spectral characteristic (e.g. absorption specialty) of classified objects in test area Bucharest have been considered in our study. As, the spectral characteristic of an object is influenced by many factors, being difficult to define optimal feature parameters to distinguish all the objects in a whole area, a method of multi-level feature selection

Cancer risks: Strategies for elimination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bannasch, P.

1987-01-01

This book deals with the possibilities for identifying and eliminating cancer risk factors. The current state of knowledge on the detection, assessment and elimination of chemical, physical (radiation), and biological (viruses) risk factors are comprehensively presented in 15 contributions. Chemical risk factors resulting from smoking and environmental contamination are given special attention. The coverage of cancer risks by radiation includes some of the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster. Finally, the discussion of the possible risks that certain viruses hold for cancer in man is intended to further the development of vaccinations against these viral infections. The information is directed not only at specialists, but also at a wider interested audience. Its primary aim is to convey established findings that are already being used for cancer prevention. Furthermore, the book aims to promote more intense research in the field of primary cancer prevention. Contents: General aspects; chemical carcinogens: Risk assessment; chemical carcinogens: Primary prevention; physical carcinogens - Oncogenic viruses and subject index

Challenges beyond elimination in leprosy.

Science.gov (United States)

Naaz, Farah; Mohanty, Partha Sarathi; Bansal, Avi Kumar; Kumar, Dilip; Gupta, Umesh Datta

2017-01-01

Every year >200,000 new leprosy cases are registered globally. This number has been fairly stable over the past 8 years. The World Health Organization has set a target to interrupt the transmission of leprosy globally by 2020. It is important, in terms of global action and research activities, to consider the eventuality of multidrug therapy (MDT) resistance developing. It is necessary to measure disease burden comprehensively, and contact-centered preventive interventions should be part of a global elimination strategy. Drug resistance is the reduction in effectiveness of a drug such as an antimicrobial or an antineoplastic in curing a disease or condition. MDT has proven to be a powerful tool in the control of leprosy, especially when patients report early and start prompt treatment. Adherence to and its successful completion is equally important. This paper has reviewed the current state of leprosy worldwide and discussed the challenges and also emphasizes the challenge beyond the elimination in leprosy.

Reducing BER of spectral-amplitude coding optical code-division multiple-access systems by single photodiode detection technique

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Khafaji, H. M. R.; Aljunid, S. A.; Amphawan, A.; Fadhil, H. A.; Safar, A. M.

2013-03-01

In this paper, we present a single photodiode detection (SPD) technique for spectral-amplitude coding optical code-division multiple-access (SAC-OCDMA) systems. The proposed technique eliminates both phase-induced intensity noise (PIIN) and multiple-access interference (MAI) in the optical domain. Analytical results show that for 35 simultaneous users transmitting at data rate of 622 Mbps, the bit-error rate (BER) = 1.4x10^-28 for SPD technique is much better compared to 9.3x10^-6 and 9.6x10^-3 for the modified-AND as well as the AND detection techniques, respectively. Moreover, we verified the improved performance afforded by the proposed technique using data transmission simulations.

Improving Our Ability to Assess Land Management and Disturbance by Linking Traditional Ecosystem Measurements with UAV Spectral Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Sutter, L., Jr.; Barron-Gafford, G.; Smith, W. K.; Minor, R. L.; Raub, H.; Jimenez, J. R.; Wolsiffer, S. K.; Escobedo, E. B.; Smith, J.

2017-12-01

Drylands are dynamic landscapes of mixed plant functional types that vary in their response to abiotic and biotic drivers of change. Within these regions, woody plant-herbaceous relationships have generally been viewed as negative: woody plants within these ecosystems have been shown to negatively impact herbaceous growth by taking advantage of both deeper stored water and intercepting near surface moisture after precipitation events. There has been a long-invested effort to eliminate woody plants in many areas of the world, and analyzing and assessing land management decisions has historically required high monetary and time inputs. Unfortunately, both management practices and disturbances from fire can leave a very heterogeneous landscape, making assessment of their impacts difficult to assess. This study has attempted to address the effectiveness of two commonly used treatments within woody plant invaded areas, fire and herbicide application, by linking plant physiological measurements with the emerging technology of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) spectral analysis. Taking advantage of a USDA-ARS sponsored herbicide treatment in 2016 and the accidental Sawmill Fire of 2017, both within the Santa Rita Experimental Range (SRER) of Southern Arizona, USA, we linked spectral data collected via UAV with ground-based photosynthetic measurements. Given the high repeatability, and both spatial and spectral resolution of low-flying UAV measurements, we found that there are a variety of spectral indices that can be derived and accurately linked with traditional ecological measurements. Results and techniques from this study can be immediately applied to land management plans as well as be improved for other ecological parameters, such as those obtained from long-term study sites containing eddy covariance towers.

Tissue distribution and elimination of rotenone in rainbow trout

Science.gov (United States)

Gingerich, W.H.

1986-01-01

The fate of a single i.v. dose (120 μg/kg) of the piscicide [14C]rotenone was evaluated in rainbow trout for periods up to 72 h after dosing. Rotenone was rapidly cleared from the plasma; less than 2% of the dose remained in the plasma compartment after 20 min. The highest concentrations of rotenone residues (% dose/g tissue) were in the hepatobiliary system, bile, intestine, and in heart, lateral line swimming muscle, and posterior kidney; tissues that are highly dependent on oxidative metabolism. Although rotenone activity was present in all cell fractions examined, greater than 40% was associated with the mitochondrial fraction of liver, kidney, and muscle. More than 85% of the activity extracted from these tissues, except the liver, was parent rotenone. Elimination from whole body and major tissue depots conformed to simple first-order kinetics; the estimated half-life from whole body was 68.5 h. Branchial elimination accounted for 5% of the injected dose over a 4-h period, and urinary elimination was less than 2% over a 48-h period. Rotenone was eliminated essentially unchanged across the gills; however, parent rotenone was not found in either urine or bile. More than 80% of the activity in both urine and bile eluted from HPLC chromatographs as a highly polar fraction that was not hydrolyzed by incubation with either β-glucuronidase or sulfatase. The results imply that hepatobiliary excretion is the major route of elimination for rotenone residues in the trout and that metabolism to a more polar form is a prerequisite for elimination in both the bile and the urine

Can Economic Analysis Contribute to Disease Elimination and Eradication? A Systematic Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Sicuri, Elisa; Evans, David B; Tediosi, Fabrizio

2015-01-01

Infectious diseases elimination and eradication have become important areas of focus for global health and countries. Due to the substantial up-front investments required to eliminate and eradicate, and the overall shortage of resources for health, economic analysis can inform decision making on whether elimination/eradication makes economic sense and on the costs and benefits of alternative strategies. In order to draw lessons for current and future initiatives, we review the economic literature that has addressed questions related to the elimination and eradication of infectious diseases focusing on: why, how and for whom? A systematic review was performed by searching economic literature (cost-benefit, cost-effectiveness and economic impact analyses) on elimination/eradication of infectious diseases published from 1980 to 2013 from three large bibliographic databases: one general (SCOPUS), one bio-medical (MEDLINE/PUBMED) and one economic (IDEAS/REPEC). A total of 690 non-duplicate papers were identified from which only 43 met the inclusion criteria. In addition, only one paper focusing on equity issues, the "for whom?" question, was found. The literature relating to "why?" is the largest, much of it focusing on how much it would cost. A more limited literature estimates the benefits in terms of impact on economic growth with mixed results. The question of how to eradicate or eliminate was informed by an economic literature highlighting that there will be opportunities for individuals and countries to free-ride and that forms of incentives and/or disincentives will be needed. This requires government involvement at country level and global coordination. While there is little doubt that eliminating infectious diseases will eventually improve equity, it will only happen if active steps to promote equity are followed on the path to elimination and eradication. The largest part of the literature has focused on costs and economic benefits of elimination

SPAM- SPECTRAL ANALYSIS MANAGER (UNIX VERSION)

Science.gov (United States)

Solomon, J. E.

1994-01-01

The Spectral Analysis Manager (SPAM) was developed to allow easy qualitative analysis of multi-dimensional imaging spectrometer data. Imaging spectrometers provide sufficient spectral sampling to define unique spectral signatures on a per pixel basis. Thus direct material identification becomes possible for geologic studies. SPAM provides a variety of capabilities for carrying out interactive analysis of the massive and complex datasets associated with multispectral remote sensing observations. In addition to normal image processing functions, SPAM provides multiple levels of on-line help, a flexible command interpretation, graceful error recovery, and a program structure which can be implemented in a variety of environments. SPAM was designed to be visually oriented and user friendly with the liberal employment of graphics for rapid and efficient exploratory analysis of imaging spectrometry data. SPAM provides functions to enable arithmetic manipulations of the data, such as normalization, linear mixing, band ratio discrimination, and low-pass filtering. SPAM can be used to examine the spectra of an individual pixel or the average spectra over a number of pixels. SPAM also supports image segmentation, fast spectral signature matching, spectral library usage, mixture analysis, and feature extraction. High speed spectral signature matching is performed by using a binary spectral encoding algorithm to separate and identify mineral components present in the scene. The same binary encoding allows automatic spectral clustering. Spectral data may be entered from a digitizing tablet, stored in a user library, compared to the master library containing mineral standards, and then displayed as a timesequence spectral movie. The output plots, histograms, and stretched histograms produced by SPAM can be sent to a lineprinter, stored as separate RGB disk files, or sent to a Quick Color Recorder. SPAM is written in C for interactive execution and is available for two different

Curvature Effect and the Spectral Softening Phenomenon Detected ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

soft spectral evolution, indicating that this spectral softening is not a rare phenomenon .... of time, there exists a temporal steep decay phase accompanied by spectral softening. (d) In most cases, the temporal power law index α and the spectral.

Spectral properties of 441 radio pulsars

Science.gov (United States)

Jankowski, F.; van Straten, W.; Keane, E. F.; Bailes, M.; Barr, E. D.; Johnston, S.; Kerr, M.

2018-02-01

We present a study of the spectral properties of 441 pulsars observed with the Parkes radio telescope near the centre frequencies of 728, 1382 and 3100 MHz. The observations at 728 and 3100 MHz were conducted simultaneously using the dual-band 10-50 cm receiver. These high-sensitivity, multifrequency observations provide a systematic and uniform sample of pulsar flux densities. We combine our measurements with spectral data from the literature in order to derive the spectral properties of these pulsars. Using techniques from robust regression and information theory, we classify the observed spectra in an objective, robust and unbiased way into five morphological classes: simple or broken power law, power law with either low- or high-frequency cut-off and log-parabolic spectrum. While about 79 per cent of the pulsars that could be classified have simple power-law spectra, we find significant deviations in 73 pulsars, 35 of which have curved spectra, 25 with a spectral break and 10 with a low-frequency turn-over. We identify 11 gigahertz-peaked spectrum (GPS) pulsars, with 3 newly identified in this work and 8 confirmations of known GPS pulsars; 3 others show tentative evidence of GPS, but require further low-frequency measurements to support this classification. The weighted mean spectral index of all pulsars with simple power-law spectra is -1.60 ± 0.03. The observed spectral indices are well described by a shifted log-normal distribution. The strongest correlations of spectral index are with spin-down luminosity, magnetic field at the light-cylinder and spin-down rate. We also investigate the physical origin of the observed spectral features and determine emission altitudes for three pulsars.

Spectral emissivity of tungsten: analytic expressions for the 340-nm to 2.6-μm spectral region

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pon, R.M.; Hessler, J.P.

1984-01-01

To correct emission spectra a standard radiance source is often used to determine the spectral responsivity of the detection system. In the near-UV, visible, and near-IR spectral regions the most common radiance standard is a tungsten strip lamp calibrated by a standards laboratory. For day-to-day experiments where slightly less accuracy is acceptable, a less expensive uncalibrated lamp is useful. In this case, the radiant temperature T/sub r/ of the lamp is measured with an optical pyrometer, generally at a single wavelength such as 650 nm, and the source spectral radiance L(λ) is calculated from L(λ) = tau(λ)epsilon(λ,T)L/sub B/(λ,T). The transmittance of the source is tau(λ), the spectral emissivity is epsilon(λ,T), and L/sub B/(λ,T) is the spectral distribution of blackbody radiation, Planck's radiation law. To obtain the true temperature T, Wien's approximation is employed. To conveniently calibrate a system, especially one which utilizes a microcomputer, it is advantageous to have analytic expressions for the spectral emissivity of tungsten. Although Larrabee has published such expressions, they are limited to the 450-800-nm spectral region. To obtain analytic expressions from 340 nm to 2.6 μm they have used the measurements of DeVos. Although DeVos's results differ by 2% from those of Larrabee, this difference is assumed to be acceptable

The Sturm-Liouville inverse spectral problem with boundary conditions depending on the spectral parameter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cornelis van der Mee

2005-01-01

Full Text Available We present the complete version including proofs of the results announced in [van der Mee C., Pivovarchik V.: A Sturm-Liouville spectral problem with boundary conditions depending on the spectral parameter. Funct. Anal. Appl. 36 (2002, 315–317 [Funkts. Anal. Prilozh. 36 (2002, 74–77 (Russian

Information systems to support surveillance for malaria elimination.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohrt, Colin; Roberts, Kathryn W; Sturrock, Hugh J W; Wegbreit, Jennifer; Lee, Bruce Y; Gosling, Roly D

2015-07-01

Robust and responsive surveillance systems are critical for malaria elimination. The ideal information system that supports malaria elimination includes: rapid and complete case reporting, incorporation of related data, such as census or health survey information, central data storage and management, automated and expert data analysis, and customized outputs and feedback that lead to timely and targeted responses. Spatial information enhances such a system, ensuring cases are tracked and mapped over time. Data sharing and coordination across borders are vital and new technologies can improve data speed, accuracy, and quality. Parts of this ideal information system exist and are in use, but have yet to be linked together coherently. Malaria elimination programs should support the implementation and refinement of information systems to support surveillance and response and ensure political and financial commitment to maintain the systems and the human resources needed to run them. National malaria programs should strive to improve the access and utility of these information systems and establish cross-border data sharing mechanisms through the use of standard indicators for malaria surveillance. Ultimately, investment in the information technologies that support a timely and targeted surveillance and response system is essential for malaria elimination. © The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

A retrieval-based approach to eliminating hindsight bias.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Boekel, Martin; Varma, Keisha; Varma, Sashank

2017-03-01

Individuals exhibit hindsight bias when they are unable to recall their original responses to novel questions after correct answers are provided to them. Prior studies have eliminated hindsight bias by modifying the conditions under which original judgments or correct answers are encoded. Here, we explored whether hindsight bias can be eliminated by manipulating the conditions that hold at retrieval. Our retrieval-based approach predicts that if the conditions at retrieval enable sufficient discrimination of memory representations of original judgments from memory representations of correct answers, then hindsight bias will be reduced or eliminated. Experiment 1 used the standard memory design to replicate the hindsight bias effect in middle-school students. Experiments 2 and 3 modified the retrieval phase of this design, instructing participants beforehand that they would be recalling both their original judgments and the correct answers. As predicted, this enabled participants to form compound retrieval cues that discriminated original judgment traces from correct answer traces, and eliminated hindsight bias. Experiment 4 found that when participants were not instructed beforehand that they would be making both recalls, they did not form discriminating retrieval cues, and hindsight bias returned. These experiments delineate the retrieval conditions that produce-and fail to produce-hindsight bias.

Spectrally-engineered solar thermal photovoltaic devices

Science.gov (United States)

Lenert, Andrej; Bierman, David; Chan, Walker; Celanovic, Ivan; Soljacic, Marin; Wang, Evelyn N.; Nam, Young Suk; McEnaney, Kenneth; Kraemer, Daniel; Chen, Gang

2018-03-27

A solar thermal photovoltaic device, and method of forming same, includes a solar absorber and a spectrally selective emitter formed on either side of a thermally conductive substrate. The solar absorber is configured to absorb incident solar radiation. The solar absorber and the spectrally selective emitter are configured with an optimized emitter-to-absorber area ratio. The solar thermal photovoltaic device also includes a photovoltaic cell in thermal communication with the spectrally selective emitter. The spectrally selective emitter is configured to permit high emittance for energies above a bandgap of the photovoltaic cell and configured to permit low emittance for energies below the bandgap.

Spacetime Discontinuous Galerkin FEM: Spectral Response

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abedi, R; Omidi, O; Clarke, P L

2014-01-01

Materials in nature demonstrate certain spectral shapes in terms of their material properties. Since successful experimental demonstrations in 2000, metamaterials have provided a means to engineer materials with desired spectral shapes for their material properties. Computational tools are employed in two different aspects for metamaterial modeling: 1. Mircoscale unit cell analysis to derive and possibly optimize material's spectral response; 2. macroscale to analyze their interaction with conventional material. We compare two different approaches of Time-Domain (TD) and Frequency Domain (FD) methods for metamaterial applications. Finally, we discuss advantages of the TD method of Spacetime Discontinuous Galerkin finite element method (FEM) for spectral analysis of metamaterials

Distinguishing the communicative functions of gestures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jokinen, Kristiina; Navarretta, Costanza; Paggio, Patrizia

2008-01-01

This paper deals with the results of a machine learning experiment conducted on annotated gesture data from two case studies (Danish and Estonian). The data concern mainly facial displays, that are annotated with attributes relating to shape and dynamics, as well as communicative function....... The results of the experiments show that the granularity of the attributes used seems appropriate for the task of distinguishing the desired communicative functions. This is a promising result in view of a future automation of the annotation task....

Daniel L. Schacter: Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions

Science.gov (United States)

American Psychologist, 2012

2012-01-01

Presents Daniel L. Schacter as one of the winners of the American Psychological Association's Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions (2012). Daniel L. Schacter's major theoretical and empirical contributions include groundbreaking research on the psychological and neural foundations of implicit and explicit memory, memory distortions and…

Soil-biofilters for elimination of xenobiotics from wastewaters

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bester, Kai; Schäfer, D; Janzen, N.

treatment plants are not designed to eliminate these compounds. Even more of these compounds are discharged by storm waters and combined sewer overflows. It is generally suggested that separating sewers into waste water and rainwater systems might help to improve the situation. However in the last few years...... it has been demonstrated, that storm waters can be heavily polluted with biocides, lubricants and PAHs. In this study we investigated the possibilities to eliminate lipophilic fragrances, bactericides, UV blockers, lubricants etc, as well as more hydrophilic organophosphate flame retardants, biocides...... and other components with low cost soil biofilter techniques suited for on-site decentralised treatment of storm waters and combined sewer overflows. On the other hand the same systems and compounds were tested in for polishing treated waste water in respect of further elimination of xenobiotic compounds....

Elimination of copper in tissues and organs of rainbow trout

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gaye Dogan

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Copper (Cu elimination was investigated in the tissue and organs of rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss, Walbaum, 1792, after Cu-free diets exposure. In the current study, fish were fed to satiation on diets containing 0.022 (Group 1; Control, 0.043 (Group 2, 0.123 (Group 3, 0.424 (Group 4 g Cu*kg-1 diet for 60 days before elimination experiment. A total of 288 fish (mean weight 84.28±1.05 g were randomly transferred to 12 fibreglass tanks. The fish were fed the Cu-free diet twice daily, until apparent satiation, during 60 days. Subsequently, the experiment was established for a period of elimination, during which samples were taken at days 15, 30, 45 and 60. Cu concentration in the muscle, gill tissue, digestive system, liver and whole body of fish were determined after 60 days depuration. Cu concentrations in tissues of rainbow trout decreased during depuration period, and the order of Cu elimination in tissue and organs of rainbow trout was: digestive system (73.1 %, then gill (41.1 %, muscle (31.5 % and liver (17.2 % for group 2; digestive system (74.1%, then muscle (65.8%, gill (60.0% and liver (34.6% for group 3; and digestive system (85.8%, then muscle (80.8%, liver (50.5% and less/equal in gill (50.2% for group 4. In statistical analysis, both groups and time were significant factors (P less than 0.05 on elimination rate. Moreover, significant interaction between groups and time were identified on elimination rate. Digestive system showed the fastest elimination rates of Cu at all groups compared with other tissues.

Radiometric Normalization of Temporal Images Combining Automatic Detection of Pseudo-Invariant Features from the Distance and Similarity Spectral Measures, Density Scatterplot Analysis, and Robust Regression

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana Paula Ferreira de Carvalho

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Radiometric precision is difficult to maintain in orbital images due to several factors (atmospheric conditions, Earth-sun distance, detector calibration, illumination, and viewing angles. These unwanted effects must be removed for radiometric consistency among temporal images, leaving only land-leaving radiances, for optimum change detection. A variety of relative radiometric correction techniques were developed for the correction or rectification of images, of the same area, through use of reference targets whose reflectance do not change significantly with time, i.e., pseudo-invariant features (PIFs. This paper proposes a new technique for radiometric normalization, which uses three sequential methods for an accurate PIFs selection: spectral measures of temporal data (spectral distance and similarity, density scatter plot analysis (ridge method, and robust regression. The spectral measures used are the spectral angle (Spectral Angle Mapper, SAM, spectral correlation (Spectral Correlation Mapper, SCM, and Euclidean distance. The spectral measures between the spectra at times t1 and t2 and are calculated for each pixel. After classification using threshold values, it is possible to define points with the same spectral behavior, including PIFs. The distance and similarity measures are complementary and can be calculated together. The ridge method uses a density plot generated from images acquired on different dates for the selection of PIFs. In a density plot, the invariant pixels, together, form a high-density ridge, while variant pixels (clouds and land cover changes are spread, having low density, facilitating its exclusion. Finally, the selected PIFs are subjected to a robust regression (M-estimate between pairs of temporal bands for the detection and elimination of outliers, and to obtain the optimal linear equation for a given set of target points. The robust regression is insensitive to outliers, i.e., observation that appears to deviate

CHANGE DETECTION OF CROPPING PATTERN IN PADDY FIELD USING MULTI SPECTRAL SATELLITE DATA FOR ESTIMATING IRRIGATION WATER NEEDS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rizatus Shofiyati1

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates the use of multi spectral satellite data for cropping pattern monitoring in paddy field. The southern coastal of Citarum watershed, West Java Province was selected as study sites. The analysis used in this study is identifying crop pattern based on growth stages of wetland paddy and other crops by investi-gating the characteristic of Normalized Differen-ce Vegetation Indices (NDVI and Wetness of Tasseled Cap Transformation (TCT derived from 14 scenes of Landsat TM date 1988 to 2001. In general, the phenological of growth stages of wetland paddy can be used to distinguish with other seasonal crops. The research results indicate that multi spectral satellite data has a great potential for identi-fication and monitoring cropping pattern in paddy field. Specific character of NDVI and Wetness can also produce a map of cropping pattern in paddy field that is useful to monitor agricultural land condition. The cropping pattern can also be used to estimate irrigation water needed of paddy field in the area. Expected implication of the information obtained from this analysis is useful for guiding more appropriate planning and better agricultural management.

Simulations of a spectral gamma-ray logging tool response to a surface source distribution on the borehole wall

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wilson, R.D.; Conaway, J.G.

1991-01-01

We have developed Monte Carlo and discrete ordinates simulation models for the large-detector spectral gamma-ray (SGR) logging tool in use at the Nevada Test Site. Application of the simulation models produced spectra for source layers on the borehole wall, either from potassium-bearing mudcakes or from plate-out of radon daughter products. Simulations show that the shape and magnitude of gamma-ray spectra from sources distributed on the borehole wall depend on radial position with in the air-filled borehole as well as on hole diameter. No such dependence is observed for sources uniformly distributed in the formation. In addition, sources on the borehole wall produce anisotropic angular fluxes at the higher scattered energies and at the source energy. These differences in borehole effects and in angular flux are important to the process of correcting SGR logs for the presence of potassium mudcakes; they also suggest a technique for distinguishing between spectral contributions from formation sources and sources on the borehole wall. These results imply the existence of a standoff effect not present for spectra measured in air-filled boreholes from formation sources. 5 refs., 11 figs

Planning of elimination of emergency consequences

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Kovalenko

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Introduction. The volume of useful information in the planning of elimination of emergency consequences process is reasonable to assess with calculatory problems and mathematical models. Materials and methods. The expert survey method is used to calculate quantitative values of probability and to determine the optimal solution before the information in condition is received. Results. It is determined that the quality of the solution of elimination emergency consequences depends primarily on the number of factors that are taken into account in particular circumstances of the situation; on the level of information readiness of control bodies to take decision to eliminate emergency consequences as soon as possible and to consider several options for achieving reasonableness and concreteness of a particular decision. The ratio between volume of useful information collected and processed during operation planning which is required for identifying optimal solution is calculated. This ratio allows to construct a graph of probability of identifying a solution in existing environment and probability value of identifying optimal solution before information in P*condition is obtained. This graph also shows the ratio volume of useful information collected and processed during operation planning and necessary volume of information for identifying optimal solution. Conclusion. The results of this research can be used for improving control bodies decisions to ensure safe working conditions for employees of food industry.

Whole genome sequencing distinguishes between relapse and reinfection in recurrent leprosy cases.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mariane M A Stefani

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Since leprosy is both treated and controlled by multidrug therapy (MDT it is important to monitor recurrent cases for drug resistance and to distinguish between relapse and reinfection as a means of assessing therapeutic efficacy. All three objectives can be reached with single nucleotide resolution using next generation sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of Mycobacterium leprae DNA present in human skin.DNA was isolated by means of optimized extraction and enrichment methods from samples from three recurrent cases in leprosy patients participating in an open-label, randomized, controlled clinical trial of uniform MDT in Brazil (U-MDT/CT-BR. Genome-wide sequencing of M. leprae was performed and the resultant sequence assemblies analyzed in silico.In all three cases, no mutations responsible for resistance to rifampicin, dapsone and ofloxacin were found, thus eliminating drug resistance as a possible cause of disease recurrence. However, sequence differences were detected between the strains from the first and second disease episodes in all three patients. In one case, clear evidence was obtained for reinfection with an unrelated strain whereas in the other two cases, relapse appeared more probable.This is the first report of using M. leprae whole genome sequencing to reveal that treated and cured leprosy patients who remain in endemic areas can be reinfected by another strain. Next generation sequencing can be applied reliably to M. leprae DNA extracted from biopsies to discriminate between cases of relapse and reinfection, thereby providing a powerful tool for evaluating different outcomes of therapeutic regimens and for following disease transmission.

Whole genome sequencing distinguishes between relapse and reinfection in recurrent leprosy cases

Science.gov (United States)

Bührer-Sékula, Samira; Benjak, Andrej; Loiseau, Chloé; Singh, Pushpendra; Pontes, Maria A. A.; Gonçalves, Heitor S.; Hungria, Emerith M.; Busso, Philippe; Piton, Jérémie; Silveira, Maria I. S.; Cruz, Rossilene; Schetinni, Antônio; Costa, Maurício B.; Virmond, Marcos C. L.; Diorio, Suzana M.; Dias-Baptista, Ida M. F.; Rosa, Patricia S.; Matsuoka, Masanori; Penna, Maria L. F.; Cole, Stewart T.; Penna, Gerson O.

2017-01-01

Background Since leprosy is both treated and controlled by multidrug therapy (MDT) it is important to monitor recurrent cases for drug resistance and to distinguish between relapse and reinfection as a means of assessing therapeutic efficacy. All three objectives can be reached with single nucleotide resolution using next generation sequencing and bioinformatics analysis of Mycobacterium leprae DNA present in human skin. Methodology DNA was isolated by means of optimized extraction and enrichment methods from samples from three recurrent cases in leprosy patients participating in an open-label, randomized, controlled clinical trial of uniform MDT in Brazil (U-MDT/CT-BR). Genome-wide sequencing of M. leprae was performed and the resultant sequence assemblies analyzed in silico. Principal findings In all three cases, no mutations responsible for resistance to rifampicin, dapsone and ofloxacin were found, thus eliminating drug resistance as a possible cause of disease recurrence. However, sequence differences were detected between the strains from the first and second disease episodes in all three patients. In one case, clear evidence was obtained for reinfection with an unrelated strain whereas in the other two cases, relapse appeared more probable. Conclusions/Significance This is the first report of using M. leprae whole genome sequencing to reveal that treated and cured leprosy patients who remain in endemic areas can be reinfected by another strain. Next generation sequencing can be applied reliably to M. leprae DNA extracted from biopsies to discriminate between cases of relapse and reinfection, thereby providing a powerful tool for evaluating different outcomes of therapeutic regimens and for following disease transmission. PMID:28617800

Distinct mechanisms eliminate mother and daughter centrioles in meiosis of starfish oocytes.

Science.gov (United States)

Borrego-Pinto, Joana; Somogyi, Kálmán; Karreman, Matthia A; König, Julia; Müller-Reichert, Thomas; Bettencourt-Dias, Mónica; Gönczy, Pierre; Schwab, Yannick; Lénárt, Péter

2016-03-28

Centriole elimination is an essential process that occurs in female meiosis of metazoa to reset centriole number in the zygote at fertilization. How centrioles are eliminated remains poorly understood. Here we visualize the entire elimination process live in starfish oocytes. Using specific fluorescent markers, we demonstrate that the two older, mother centrioles are selectively removed from the oocyte by extrusion into polar bodies. We show that this requires specific positioning of the second meiotic spindle, achieved by dynein-driven transport, and anchorage of the mother centriole to the plasma membrane via mother-specific appendages. In contrast, the single daughter centriole remaining in the egg is eliminated before the first embryonic cleavage. We demonstrate that these distinct elimination mechanisms are necessary because if mother centrioles are artificially retained, they cannot be inactivated, resulting in multipolar zygotic spindles. Thus, our findings reveal a dual mechanism to eliminate centrioles: mothers are physically removed, whereas daughters are eliminated in the cytoplasm, preparing the egg for fertilization. © 2016 Borrego-Pinto et al.

Dehydration of alcohols over oxide catalysts: γ-eliminations -- stereospecificity and selectivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siddhan, S.; Narayanan, K.

1979-01-01

The effect of alkali impregnation on alumina catalysts has been investigated by a physicochemical study of pure and modified alumina catalyst samples. The stereospecificity and selectivity of dehyration reactions, as well as the incidence of γ-elimination, have been studied by passing suitable substrates over catalyst samples. There was a change in the acidity-basicity balance in the sodium-impregnated alumina samples vis a vis pure alumina, while the surface area virtually remained constant. A higher propensity for γ-elimination was noticed with increases in basicity of the catalyst. 1-Olefin formation was found to be larger in more basic alumina- and thoria-catalyzed dehydration reactions. Thoria was strikingly unique in its capacity to dehydrate only alcohols, which have at least one β-hydrogen atom. Neopentyl alcohol could not be dehydrated even under drastic conditions. The modes of elimination in the case of alumina and thoria have been shown to be anti and syn, respectively, from the results of the dehydration studies with threo-3-methyl-2-pentanol. Studies of alcohols with proper β-substituents revealed that the cis preference is not universal in all catalytic eliminations but, in fact, depends on the mode of elimination. While cis-preference was noticed in alumina-catalyzed anti eliminations, trans-olefin was formed to a major amount in thoria-catalyzed syn-elimination processes. 9 figures, 13 tables

Information-efficient spectral imaging sensor

Science.gov (United States)

Sweatt, William C.; Gentry, Stephen M.; Boye, Clinton A.; Grotbeck, Carter L.; Stallard, Brian R.; Descour, Michael R.

2003-01-01

A programmable optical filter for use in multispectral and hyperspectral imaging. The filter splits the light collected by an optical telescope into two channels for each of the pixels in a row in a scanned image, one channel to handle the positive elements of a spectral basis filter and one for the negative elements of the spectral basis filter. Each channel for each pixel disperses its light into n spectral bins, with the light in each bin being attenuated in accordance with the value of the associated positive or negative element of the spectral basis vector. The spectral basis vector is constructed so that its positive elements emphasize the presence of a target and its negative elements emphasize the presence of the constituents of the background of the imaged scene. The attenuated light in the channels is re-imaged onto separate detectors for each pixel and then the signals from the detectors are combined to give an indication of the presence or not of the target in each pixel of the scanned scene. This system provides for a very efficient optical determination of the presence of the target, as opposed to the very data intensive data manipulations that are required in conventional hyperspectral imaging systems.

Spectral theory of linear operators and spectral systems in Banach algebras

CERN Document Server

Müller, Vladimir

2003-01-01

This book is dedicated to the spectral theory of linear operators on Banach spaces and of elements in Banach algebras. It presents a survey of results concerning various types of spectra, both of single and n-tuples of elements. Typical examples are the one-sided spectra, the approximate point, essential, local and Taylor spectrum, and their variants. The theory is presented in a unified, axiomatic and elementary way. Many results appear here for the first time in a monograph. The material is self-contained. Only a basic knowledge of functional analysis, topology, and complex analysis is assumed. The monograph should appeal both to students who would like to learn about spectral theory and to experts in the field. It can also serve as a reference book. The present second edition contains a number of new results, in particular, concerning orbits and their relations to the invariant subspace problem. This book is dedicated to the spectral theory of linear operators on Banach spaces and of elements in Banach alg...

32 CFR 22.205 - Distinguishing assistance from procurement.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... procurement contract, is the appropriate instrument, based on the following: (a) Purpose. (1) The grants... purpose is acquisition, then the grants officer shall judge that a procurement contract is the appropriate... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Distinguishing assistance from procurement. 22...

Developement of the method for realization of spectral irradiance scale featuring system of spectral comparisons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skerovic, V; Zarubica, V; Aleksic, M; Zekovic, L; Belca, I

2010-01-01

Realization of the scale of spectral responsivity of the detectors in the Directorate of Measures and Precious Metals (DMDM) is based on silicon detectors traceable to LNE-INM. In order to realize the unit of spectral irradiance in the laboratory for photometry and radiometry of the Bureau of Measures and Precious Metals, the new method based on the calibration of the spectroradiometer by comparison with standard detector has been established. The development of the method included realization of the System of Spectral Comparisons (SSC), together with the detector spectral responsivity calibrations by means of a primary spectrophotometric system. The linearity testing and stray light analysis were preformed to characterize the spectroradiometer. Measurement of aperture diameter and calibration of transimpedance amplifier were part of the overall experiment. In this paper, the developed method is presented and measurement results with the associated measurement uncertainty budget are shown.

Developement of the method for realization of spectral irradiance scale featuring system of spectral comparisons

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Skerovic, V; Zarubica, V; Aleksic, M [Directorate of measures and precious metals, Optical radiation Metrology department, Mike Alasa 14, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia); Zekovic, L; Belca, I, E-mail: vladanskerovic@dmdm.r [Faculty of Physics, Department for Applied physics and metrology, Studentski trg 12-16, 11000 Belgrade (Serbia)

2010-10-15

Realization of the scale of spectral responsivity of the detectors in the Directorate of Measures and Precious Metals (DMDM) is based on silicon detectors traceable to LNE-INM. In order to realize the unit of spectral irradiance in the laboratory for photometry and radiometry of the Bureau of Measures and Precious Metals, the new method based on the calibration of the spectroradiometer by comparison with standard detector has been established. The development of the method included realization of the System of Spectral Comparisons (SSC), together with the detector spectral responsivity calibrations by means of a primary spectrophotometric system. The linearity testing and stray light analysis were preformed to characterize the spectroradiometer. Measurement of aperture diameter and calibration of transimpedance amplifier were part of the overall experiment. In this paper, the developed method is presented and measurement results with the associated measurement uncertainty budget are shown.

Cochlear implant users' spectral ripple resolution.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeon, Eun Kyung; Turner, Christopher W; Karsten, Sue A; Henry, Belinda A; Gantz, Bruce J

2015-10-01

This study revisits the issue of the spectral ripple resolution abilities of cochlear implant (CI) users. The spectral ripple resolution of recently implanted CI recipients (implanted during the last 10 years) were compared to those of CI recipients implanted 15 to 20 years ago, as well as those of normal-hearing and hearing-impaired listeners from previously published data from Henry, Turner, and Behrens [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 118, 1111-1121 (2005)]. More recently, implanted CI recipients showed significantly better spectral ripple resolution. There is no significant difference in spectral ripple resolution for these recently implanted subjects compared to hearing-impaired (acoustic) listeners. The more recently implanted CI users had significantly better pre-operative speech perception than previously reported CI users. These better pre-operative speech perception scores in CI users from the current study may be related to better performance on the spectral ripple discrimination task; however, other possible factors such as improvements in internal and external devices cannot be excluded.

Eliminating Perinatal HIV Transmission

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2012-11-26

In this podcast, CDC’s Dr. Steve Nesheim discusses perinatal HIV transmission, including the importance of preventing HIV among women, preconception care, and timely HIV testing of the mother. Dr. Nesheim also introduces the revised curriculum Eliminating Perinatal HIV Transmission intended for faculty of OB/GYN and pediatric residents and nurse midwifery students.  Created: 11/26/2012 by Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention.   Date Released: 11/26/2012.

A Simple Spectral Observer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lizeth Torres

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The principal aim of a spectral observer is twofold: the reconstruction of a signal of time via state estimation and the decomposition of such a signal into the frequencies that make it up. A spectral observer can be catalogued as an online algorithm for time-frequency analysis because is a method that can compute on the fly the Fourier transform (FT of a signal, without having the entire signal available from the start. In this regard, this paper presents a novel spectral observer with an adjustable constant gain for reconstructing a given signal by means of the recursive identification of the coefficients of a Fourier series. The reconstruction or estimation of a signal in the context of this work means to find the coefficients of a linear combination of sines a cosines that fits a signal such that it can be reproduced. The design procedure of the spectral observer is presented along with the following applications: (1 the reconstruction of a simple periodical signal, (2 the approximation of both a square and a triangular signal, (3 the edge detection in signals by using the Fourier coefficients, (4 the fitting of the historical Bitcoin market data from 1 December 2014 to 8 January 2018 and (5 the estimation of a input force acting upon a Duffing oscillator. To round out this paper, we present a detailed discussion about the results of the applications as well as a comparative analysis of the proposed spectral observer vis-à-vis the Short Time Fourier Transform (STFT, which is a well-known method for time-frequency analysis.

Spectral characterization of natural backgrounds

Science.gov (United States)

Winkelmann, Max

2017-10-01

As the distribution and use of hyperspectral sensors is constantly increasing, the exploitation of spectral features is a threat for camouflaged objects. To improve camouflage materials at first the spectral behavior of backgrounds has to be known to adjust and optimize the spectral reflectance of camouflage materials. In an international effort, the NATO CSO working group SCI-295 "Development of Methods for Measurements and Evaluation of Natural Background EO Signatures" is developing a method how this characterization of backgrounds has to be done. It is obvious that the spectral characterization of a background will be quite an effort. To compare and exchange data internationally the measurements will have to be done in a similar way. To test and further improve this method an international field trial has been performed in Storkow, Germany. In the following we present first impressions and lessons learned from this field campaign and describe the data that has been measured.

Substitution dynamical systems spectral analysis

CERN Document Server

Queffélec, Martine

2010-01-01

This volume mainly deals with the dynamics of finitely valued sequences, and more specifically, of sequences generated by substitutions and automata. Those sequences demonstrate fairly simple combinatorical and arithmetical properties and naturally appear in various domains. As the title suggests, the aim of the initial version of this book was the spectral study of the associated dynamical systems: the first chapters consisted in a detailed introduction to the mathematical notions involved, and the description of the spectral invariants followed in the closing chapters. This approach, combined with new material added to the new edition, results in a nearly self-contained book on the subject. New tools - which have also proven helpful in other contexts - had to be developed for this study. Moreover, its findings can be concretely applied, the method providing an algorithm to exhibit the spectral measures and the spectral multiplicity, as is demonstrated in several examples. Beyond this advanced analysis, many...

Camouflage in thermal IR: spectral design

Science.gov (United States)

Pohl, Anna; Fagerström, Jan; Kariis, Hans; Lindell, Roland; Hallberg, Tomas; Högström, Herman

2016-10-01

In this work a spectral designed coating from SPECTROGON is evaluated. Spectral design in this case means that the coating has a reflectivity equal to one at 3-5 and 8-12 microns were sensors operate and a much lower reflectivity in the other wave length regions. Three boxes are evaluated: one metallic, one black-body and one with a spectral designed surface, all with a 15 W radiator inside the box. It is shown that the box with the spectral designed surface can combine the two good characteristics of the other boxes: low signature from the metallic box and reasonable inside temperature from the black-body box. The measurements were verified with calculations using RadThermIR.

Light distribution system comprising spectral conversion means

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2012-01-01

, longer wavelength,a spectral conversion characteristics of the spectral conversion fibre being essentially determined by the spectral absorption and emission properties of the photoluminescent agent, the amount of photo- luminescent agent,and the distribution of the photoluminescent agent in the spectral......System (200, 300) for the distribution of white light, having a supply side (201, 301, 401) and a delivery side (202, 302, 402), the system being configured for guiding light with a multitude of visible wavelengths in a propagation direction P from the supply side to the distribution side...... of providing a light distribution system and a method of correcting the spectral transmission characteristics of a light distribution system are disclosed....

Rabies Elimination in Dogs in the United States

Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Podcasts

2008-12-01

Rabies has been eliminated from dogs in the United States through efforts to promote annual vaccination, but it's still a problem in wildlife in the U.S. and in wild and domesticated animals abroad. In this podcast, CDC's Dr. Charles Rupprecht discusses a study which provides proof of the elimination of rabies in dogs and what this means for the average American.  Created: 12/1/2008 by Emerging Infectious Diseases.   Date Released: 12/1/2008.

Parametric Explosion Spectral Model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ford, S R; Walter, W R

2012-01-19

Small underground nuclear explosions need to be confidently detected, identified, and characterized in regions of the world where they have never before occurred. We develop a parametric model of the nuclear explosion seismic source spectrum derived from regional phases that is compatible with earthquake-based geometrical spreading and attenuation. Earthquake spectra are fit with a generalized version of the Brune spectrum, which is a three-parameter model that describes the long-period level, corner-frequency, and spectral slope at high-frequencies. Explosion spectra can be fit with similar spectral models whose parameters are then correlated with near-source geology and containment conditions. We observe a correlation of high gas-porosity (low-strength) with increased spectral slope. The relationship between the parametric equations and the geologic and containment conditions will assist in our physical understanding of the nuclear explosion source.

An Observational Diagnostic for Distinguishing Between Clouds and Haze in Hot Exoplanet Atmospheres

Science.gov (United States)

Kempton, Eliza; Bean, Jacob; Parmentier, Vivien

2018-01-01

The nature of aerosols in hot exoplanet atmospheres is one of the primary vexing questions facing the exoplanet field. The complex chemistry, multiple formation pathways, and lack of easily identifiable spectral features associated with aerosols make it especially challenging to constrain their key properties. We present a transmission spectroscopy technique to identify the primary aerosol formation mechanism for the most highly irradiated hot Jupiters (HIHJs). The technique is based on the idea that the two key types of aerosols -- photochemically generated hazes and equilibrium condensate clouds -- are expected to form and persist in different regions of a highly irradiated planet's atmosphere. Haze can only be produced on the permanent daysides of tidally-locked hot Jupiters, and will be carried downwind by atmospheric dynamics to the evening terminator (seen as the trailing limb during transit). Clouds can only form in cooler regions on the night side and morning terminator of HIHJs (seen as the leading limb during transit). Because opposite limbs are expected to be impacted by different types of aerosols, ingress and egress spectra, which primarily probe opposing sides of the planet, will reveal the dominant aerosol formation mechanism. We show that the benchmark HIHJ, WASP-121b, has a transmission spectrum consistent with partial aerosol coverage and that ingress-egress spectroscopy would constrain the location and formation mechanism of those aerosols. In general, we find that observations with JWST and potentially with HST should be able to distinguish between clouds and haze for currently known HIHJs.

[Modeling and Simulation of Spectral Polarimetric BRDF].

Science.gov (United States)

Ling, Jin-jiang; Li, Gang; Zhang, Ren-bin; Tang, Qian; Ye, Qiu

2016-01-01

Under the conditions of the polarized light, The reflective surface of the object is affected by many factors, refractive index, surface roughness, and so the angle of incidence. For the rough surface in the different wavelengths of light exhibit different reflection characteristics of polarization, a spectral polarimetric BRDF based on Kirchhof theory is proposee. The spectral model of complex refraction index is combined with refraction index and extinction coefficient spectral model which were got by using the known complex refraction index at different value. Then get the spectral model of surface roughness derived from the classical surface roughness measuring method combined with the Fresnel reflection function. Take the spectral model of refraction index and roughness into the BRDF model, then the spectral polarimetirc BRDF model is proposed. Compare the simulation results of the refractive index varies with wavelength, roughness is constant, the refraction index and roughness both vary with wavelength and origin model with other papers, it shows that, the spectral polarimetric BRDF model can show the polarization characteristics of the surface accurately, and can provide a reliable basis for the application of polarization remote sensing, and other aspects of the classification of substances.

Differences in atypical resting-state effective connectivity distinguish autism from schizophrenia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dana Mastrovito

Full Text Available Autism and schizophrenia share overlapping genetic etiology, common changes in brain structure and common cognitive deficits. A number of studies using resting state fMRI have shown that machine learning algorithms can distinguish between healthy controls and individuals diagnosed with either autism spectrum disorder or schizophrenia. However, it has not yet been determined whether machine learning algorithms can be used to distinguish between the two disorders. Using a linear support vector machine, we identify features that are most diagnostic for each disorder and successfully use them to classify an independent cohort of subjects. We find both common and divergent connectivity differences largely in the default mode network as well as in salience, and motor networks. Using divergent connectivity differences, we are able to distinguish autistic subjects from those with schizophrenia. Understanding the common and divergent connectivity changes associated with these disorders may provide a framework for understanding their shared cognitive deficits. Keywords: Schizophrenia, Autism, Resting state, Classification, Connectivity, fMRI, Default mode network

Estimation of the drift eliminator efficiency using numerical and experimental methods

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stodůlka Jiří

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of the drift eliminators is to prevent water from escaping in significant amounts the cooling tower. They are designed to catch the droplets dragged by the tower draft and the efficiency given by the shape of the eliminator is the main evaluation criteria. The ability to eliminate the escaping water droplets is studied using CFD and using the experimental IPI method.

Spectrally resolved measurement of the ion feature in the scattered spectrum of a hydrogen plasma obtained with a periodically pulsed Nd3+: YAG-laser

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kasparek, W.

Ion temperature and density in a magnetically stabilized hydrogen arc were determined with laser scattering from collective electron density fluctuations. A 90 0 -scattering experiment was set up using a periodically pulsed Nd 3+ : YAG-laser, an IR-photomultiplier and synchronous signal detection. A spectral resolution of 0.3 Angstroem was achieved by narrowing the laser line width and by using a Fabry-Perot-interferometer in combination with a monochromator as spectrometer. The data obtained from the scattered spectra (Tsub(i) = 1,1 ... 1,8 eV, nsub(e) = 2 ... 6 x 10 21 m -3 ) agree well with those obtained by other methods. The achieved high resolution also allowed to measure separately the ion features of two ion species with different mass, which are spectrally distinguished from each other. The results confirm the theoretical model of Evans. Demixing effects in a H 2 /A mixture as well as a temperature difference between the ion sorts are deduced. (orig.) 891 HT/orig. 892 HIS

Spectral Line Shapes in Plasmas and Gases

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oks, E.; Dalimier, D.; Stamm, R.; Stehle, CH.; Gonzalez, M.A.

2011-01-01

The subject of spectral line shapes (SLS), a.k.a. spectral line broadening, which embraces both shapes and shifts of spectral lines, is of both fundamental and practical importance. On the fundamental side, the study of the spectral line profiles reveals the underlying atomic and molecular interactions. On the practical side, the spectral line profiles are employed as powerful diagnostic tools for various media, such as neutral gases, technological gas discharges, magnetically confined plasmas for fusion, laser- and Z-pinch-produced plasmas (for fusion and other purposes), astrophysical plasmas (most importantly, solar plasmas), and planetary atmospheres. The research area covered by this special issue includes both the SLS dominated by various electric fields (including electron and ion micro fields in strongly ionized plasmas) and the SLS controlled by neutral particles. In the physical slang, the former is called plasma broadening while the latter is called neutral broadening (of course, the results of neutral broadening apply also to the spectral line broadening in neutral gases)

Immune Interventions to Eliminate the HIV Reservoir.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Denise C; Ananworanich, Jintanat

2017-10-26

Inducing HIV remission is a monumental challenge. A potential strategy is the "kick and kill" approach where latently infected cells are first activated to express viral proteins and then eliminated through cytopathic effects of HIV or immune-mediated killing. However, pre-existing immune responses to HIV cannot eradicate HIV infection due to the presence of escape variants, inadequate magnitude, and breadth of responses as well as immune exhaustion. The two major approaches to boost immune-mediated elimination of infected cells include enhancing cytotoxic T lymphocyte mediated killing and harnessing antibodies to eliminate HIV. Specific strategies include increasing the magnitude and breadth of T cell responses through therapeutic vaccinations, reversing the effects of T cell exhaustion using immune checkpoint inhibition, employing bispecific T cell targeting immunomodulatory proteins or dual-affinity re-targeting molecules to direct cytotoxic T lymphocytes to virus-expressing cells and broadly neutralizing antibody infusions. Methods to steer immune responses to tissue sites where latently infected cells are located need to be further explored. Ultimately, strategies to induce HIV remission must be tolerable, safe, and scalable in order to make a global impact.

TOWARDS THE ELIMINATION OF PREVENTABLE DISEASES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O. V. Shamsheva

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The article presents incidence rates of major vaccine-preventable diseases in the world and the Russian Federation and cites mitigation measures that, in the end, must lead to the elimination of the diseases. 

SPECTRAL SMILE CORRECTION IN CRISM HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGES

Science.gov (United States)

Ceamanos, X.; Doute, S.

2009-12-01

The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) is affected by a common artifact in "push-broom" sensors, the so-called "spectral smile". As a consequence, both central wavelength and spectral width of the spectral response vary along the across-track dimension, thus giving rise to a shifting and smoothing of spectra (see Fig. 1 (left)). In fact, both effects are greater for spectra on the edges, while they are minimum for data acquired by central detectors, the so-called "sweet spot". The prior artifacts become particularly critical for Martian observations which contain steep spectra such as CO2 ice-rich polar images. Fig. 1 (right) shows the horizontal brightness gradient which appears in every band corresponding to a steep portion of spectra. The correction of CRISM spectral smile is addressed using a two-step method which aims at modifying data sensibly in order to mimic the optimal CRISM response. First, all spectra, which are previously interpolated by cubic splines, are resampled to the "sweet spot" wavelengths in order to overcome the spectra shift. Secondly, the non-uniform spectral width is overcome by mimicking an increase of spectral resolution thanks to a spectral sharpening. In order to minimize noise, only bands particularly suffering from smile are selected. First, bands corresponding to the outliers of the Minimum Noise Transformation (MNF) eigenvector, which corresponds to the MNF band related to smile (MNF-smile), are selected. Then, a spectral neighborhood Θi, which takes into account the local spectral convexity or concavity, is defined for every selected band in order to maximize spectral shape preservation. The proposed sharpening technique takes into account both the instrument parameters and the observed spectra. First, every reflectance value belonging to a Θi is reevaluated by a sharpening which depends on a ratio of the spectral width of the current detector and the "sweet spot" one. Then, the optimal degree of

Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions: Steven F. Maier

Science.gov (United States)

American Psychologist, 2009

2009-01-01

Steven F. Maier, winner of the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, is cited for his work in the fields of learned helplessness; cytokines, depressed mood, and cognitive interference; and the brain structures that produce and counteract learned helplessness. In addition to the citation, a biography and selected bibliography of Maier's…

Accelerating to Zero: Strategies to Eliminate Malaria in the Peruvian Amazon

Science.gov (United States)

Quispe, Antonio M.; Llanos-Cuentas, Alejandro; Rodriguez, Hugo; Clendenes, Martin; Cabezas, Cesar; Leon, Luis M.; Chuquiyauri, Raul; Moreno, Marta; Kaslow, David C.; Grogl, Max; Herrera, Sócrates; Magill, Alan J.; Kosek, Margaret; Vinetz, Joseph M.; Lescano, Andres G.; Gotuzzo, Eduardo

2016-01-01

In February 2014, the Malaria Elimination Working Group, in partnership with the Peruvian Ministry of Health (MoH), hosted its first international conference on malaria elimination in Iquitos, Peru. The 2-day meeting gathered 85 malaria experts, including 18 international panelists, 23 stakeholders from different malaria-endemic regions of Peru, and 11 MoH authorities. The main outcome was consensus that implementing a malaria elimination project in the Amazon region is achievable, but would require: 1) a comprehensive strategic plan, 2) the altering of current programmatic guidelines from control toward elimination by including symptomatic as well as asymptomatic individuals for antimalarial therapy and transmission-blocking interventions, and 3) the prioritization of community-based active case detection with proper rapid diagnostic tests to interrupt transmission. Elimination efforts must involve key stakeholders and experts at every level of government and include integrated research activities to evaluate, implement, and tailor sustainable interventions appropriate to the region.

Elimination patterns of worldwide used sulfonamides and tetracyclines during anaerobic fermentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Spielmeyer, Astrid; Breier, Bettina; Groißmeier, Kathrin; Hamscher, Gerd

2015-10-01

Antibiotics such as sulfonamides and tetracyclines are frequently used in veterinary medicine. Due to incomplete absorption in the animal gut and/or unmetabolized excretion, the substances can enter the environment by using manure as soil fertilizer. The anaerobic fermentation process of biogas plants is discussed as potential sink for antibiotic compounds. However, negative impacts of antibiotics on the fermentation process are suspected. The elimination of sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine, tetracycline and chlortetracycline in semi-continuous lab-scale fermenters was investigated. Both biogas production and methane yield were not negatively affected by concentrations up to 38 mg per kg for sulfonamides and 7 mg per kg for tetracyclines. All substances were partly eliminated with elimination rates between 14% and 89%. Both matrix and structure of the target molecule influenced the elimination rate. Chlortetracycline was mainly transformed into iso-chlortetracycline. In all other cases, the elimination pathways remained undiscovered; however, sorption processes seem to have a negligible impact. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Buckling feedback of the spectral calculations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jing Xingqing; Shan Wenzhi; Luo Jingyu

1992-01-01

This paper studies the problems about buckling feedback of spectral calculations in physical calculations of the reactor and presents a useful method by which the buckling feedback of spectral calculations is implemented. The effect of the buckling feedback in spectra and the broad group cross section, convergence of buckling feedback iteration and the effect of the spectral zones dividing are discussed in the calculations. This method has been used for the physical design of HTR-10 MW Test Module

Spectral Slope as an Indicator of Pasture Quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rachel Lugassi

2014-12-01

Full Text Available In this study, we develop a spectral method for assessment of pasture quality based only on the spectral information obtained with a small number of wavelengths. First, differences in spectral behavior were identified across the near infrared–shortwave infrared spectral range that were indicative of changes in chemical properties. Then, slopes across different spectral ranges were calculated and correlated with the changes in crude protein (CP, neutral detergent fiber (NDF and metabolic energy concentration (MEC. Finally, partial least squares (PLS regression analysis was applied to identify the optimal spectral ranges for accurate assessment of CP, NDF and MEC. Six spectral domains and a set of slope criteria for real-time evaluation of pasture quality were suggested. The evaluation of three level categories (low, medium, high for these three parameters showed a success rate of: 73%–96% for CP, 72%–87% for NDF and 60%–85% for MEC. Moreover, only one spectral range, 1748–1764 nm, was needed to provide a good estimation of CP, NDF and MEC. Importantly, five of the six selected spectral regions were not affected by water absorbance. With some modifications, this rationale can be applied to further analyses of pasture quality from airborne sensors.

Hypothyroidism in patients after thyroid elimination by 131I

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vana, S.; Nemec, J.; Reisenauer, R.

1979-01-01

Patients after elimination of the thyroid gland with radioiodine 131 I develop hypothyroidism only slowly, the peripheral parameters lagging behind the protein bound iodine especially till the fiftieth day after elimination. In young patients the Achilles tendon reflex and the preejection period lag behind symmetrically, in older patients the effect of the supply of thyroid hormones to the skeletal muscles disappear faster, whereas the heart retains the reserves of the thyroid hormones or systems dependent on thyroid hormones affecting the rapidity of myocardial contraction for a relatively longer period of time. Thus, in older patients after elimination of the thyroid gland with radioiodine 131 I the Achilles tendon reflex is a better criterion of hypothyroidism than the preejection period of heart contraction. (author)

Risk Management - Variance Minimization or Lower Tail Outcome Elimination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aabo, Tom

2002-01-01

on future cash flows (the budget), while risk managers concerned about costly lower tail outcomes will hedge (considerably) less depending on the level of uncertainty. A risk management strategy of lower tail outcome elimination is in line with theoretical recommendations in a corporate value......This paper illustrates the profound difference between a risk management strategy of variance minimization and a risk management strategy of lower tail outcome elimination. Risk managers concerned about the variability of cash flows will tend to center their hedge decisions on their best guess......-adding perspective. A cross-case study of blue-chip industrial companies partly supports the empirical use of a risk management strategy of lower tail outcome elimination but does not exclude other factors from (co-)driving the observations....

Passive elimination of static electricity in oil industry

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gaćanović Mićo

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This study explains the existing and real conditions of a possible passive elimination of static electricity when loading oil and oil derivatives. We are considering the formation and survival of gas bubbles both in the volume of oil in its depth, but also at the surface of oil and oil derivatives of the partly filled reservoir, and formation of both volume and surface electric charge in oil and oil derivatives. The study presents the research of formation and survival of static electricity in both reservoirs and tank trucks of different geometric shapes partly filled with oil and oil derivatives. We are proposing a new original possibility of passive elimination of static electricity when loading oil and oil derivatives in reservoirs and tank trucks. The proposed passive device for elimination of static electricity is protected at the international level in the domain of intellectual property (with a patent, model and distinctive mark.

Uptake and elimination of radiotungsten in black bullheads

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reed, J.R.

1975-01-01

Black bullheads, Ictalurus melas (Rafinesque), accumulated radiotungsten from food and water. Whole-body activity reached a plateau after the fish had been in tagged water 4 days (mean temperature 154 0 C). Whole-body elimination of radiotungsten varied with the method of uptake. Fish that had accumulated radiotungsten from water had a single exponential component of elimination with a biological half-life of 2.75 days. Fish that had received radioisotope in a single feeding lost activity at two rates; one component had a biological half-life of 14 hr and the second 6 days. The bone, skin, flesh, blood, and gills contained the greatest percentages of whole-body activity after 1 day of uptake from tagged water; after 8 days, the flesh, gills, bone, and gut together contained 78.6 percent of the total activity. The bone had the longest biological half-life (8.0 days) of the tissues examined and contained 69.8 percent of the whole-body acitivty after 16 days of elimination

Spectrally-Selective Photonic Structures for PV Applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Benedikt Bläsi

2010-01-01

Full Text Available We review several examples of how spectrally-selective photonic structures may be used to improve solar cell systems. Firstly, we introduce different spectrally-selective structures that are based on interference effects. Examples shown include Rugate filter, edge filter and 3D photonic crystals such as artificial opals. In the second part, we discuss several examples of photovoltaic (PV concepts that utilize spectral selectivity such as fluorescence collectors, upconversion systems, spectrum splitting concepts and the intermediate reflector concept. The potential of spectrally selective filters in the context of solar cells is discussed.

Measurement of metabolism of worker ants by using the elimination of caesium-134

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nielsen, M.G.; Jensen, T.F.

1977-01-01

In order to find a method for measuring field metabolism of worker ants the elimination of 134 Cs by two ant species has been investigated. Equations relating temperature to radiocaesium elimination and metabolism have been found. From these equations the relationship between elimination and metabolism is calculated. Consequently, the elimination of the isotope can be used for measuring metabolism. A pilot field experiment with Lasius alienus (Foerst.) reveals that the traditional methods of estimating field metabolism give values which are considerably lower than the value based on caesium elimination rate. This difference is supposed to be mainly due to greater motor activity of the animals in the field. Consequently, the value of the caesium elimination method is closer to the 'true' value of field metabolism. (orig.) [de

Multi-Configuration Matched Spectral Filter Core, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — OPTRA proposes an open-architecture spectral gas sensor based on compressive sensing concepts employed for both spatial and spectral domains. Our matched spectral...

Adinkras, Dessins, Origami, and Supersymmetry Spectral Triples

OpenAIRE

Marcolli, Matilde; Zolman, Nick

2016-01-01

We investigate the spectral geometry and spectral action functionals associated to 1D Supersymmetry Algebras, using the classification of these superalgebras in terms of Adinkra graphs and the construction of associated dessin d'enfant and origami curves. The resulting spectral action functionals are computed in terms of the Selberg (super) trace formula.

Elimination Problems in Infants and Children

Science.gov (United States)

... inability to digest wheat (CELIAC DISEASE) or milk (LACTOSE INTOLERANCE) can cause these symptoms. Self CareEliminate foods that ... be an appropriate substitute for infants who have lactose intolerance. Start OverDiagnosisPain from HEMORRHOIDS or an ANAL FISSURE ...

Distinguishing between Realistic and Fantastical Figures in Iran

Science.gov (United States)

Davoodi, Telli; Corriveau, Kathleen H.; Harris, Paul L.

2016-01-01

Children in the United States come to distinguish historical from fictional story figures between the ages of 3 and 5 years, guided by the plausibility of the story events surrounding the figure (Corriveau, Kim, Schwalen, & Harris, 2009; Woolley & Cox, 2007). However, U.S. children vary in their reactions to stories that include…

75 FR 65238 - Loan Guaranty: Elimination of Redundant Regulations; Correction

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-22

... DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS 38 CFR Part 36 RIN 2900-AN71 Loan Guaranty: Elimination of... June 15, 2010 (75 FR 33704), amending its loan guaranty regulations to eliminate redundant regulations... INFORMATION CONTACT: William White, Acting Assistant Director for Loan Processing and Valuation (262...

Analysis reveals potential rangeland impacts if Williamson Act eliminated

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William C. Wetzel

2012-10-01

Full Text Available California budget cuts have resulted in dramatic reductions in state funding for the Williamson Act, a land protection program that reduces property taxes for the owners of 15 million acres of California farms and rangeland. With state reimbursements to counties eliminated, the decision to continue Williamson Act contracts lies with individual counties. We investigated the consequences of eliminating the Williamson Act, using a geospatial analysis and a mail questionnaire asking ranchers for plans under a hypothetical elimination scenario. The geospatial analysis revealed that 72% of rangeland parcels enrolled in Williamson Act contracts contained habitat important for statewide conservation goals. Presented with the elimination scenario, survey respondents reported an intention to sell 20% of their total 496,889 acres. The tendency of survey participants to respond that they would sell land was highest among full-time ranchers with low household incomes and without off-ranch employment. A majority (76% of the ranchers who reported that they would sell land predicted that the buyers would develop it for nonagricultural uses, suggesting substantial changes to California's landscape in a future without the Williamson Act.

The X-Shooter spectral library

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chen, Y. P.; Trager, S. C.; Peletier, R. F.; Lançon, A.; Prugniel, Ph.; Koleva, M.

2012-01-01

We are building a new spectral library with the X-Shooter instrument on ESO's VLT: XSL, the X-Shooter Spectral Library. We present our progress in building XSL, which covers the wavelength range from the near-UV to the near-IR with a resolution of R˜10000. As of now we have collected spectra for

A New Measurement of the Spectral Lag of Gamma-Ray Bursts and its Implications for Spectral Evolution Behaviors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shao, Lang; Wang, Fu-Ri; Cheng, Ye-Hao; Zhang, Xi; Yu, Bang-Yao; Xi, Bao-Jia; Wang, Xue; Feng, Huan-Xue; Zhang, Meng, E-mail: lshao@hebtu.edu.cn [Department of Space Sciences and Astronomy, Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050024 (China); Zhang, Bin-Bin [Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucá (IAA-CSIC), P.O. Box 03004, E-18080 Granada (Spain); Wu, Xue-Feng [Purple Mountain Observatory, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008 (China); Xu, Dong [Key Laboratory of Space Astronomy and Technology, National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100012 (China)

2017-08-01

We carry out a systematical study of the spectral lag properties of 50 single-pulsed gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) detected by the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor. By dividing the light curves into multiple consecutive energy channels, we provide a new measurement of the spectral lag that is independent of energy channel selections. We perform a detailed statistical study of our new measurements. We find two similar power-law energy dependencies of both the pulse arrival time and pulse width. Our new results on the power-law indices would favor the relativistic geometric effects for the origin of spectral lag. However, a complete theoretical framework that can fully account for the diverse energy dependencies of both arrival time and pulse width revealed in this work is still lacking. We also study the spectral evolution behaviors of the GRB pulses. We find that a GRB pulse with negligible spectral lag would usually have a shorter pulse duration and would appear to have a “hardness-intensity tracking” behavior, and a GRB pulse with a significant spectral lag would usually have a longer pulse duration and would appear to have a “hard-to-soft” behavior.

SVM-Based Spectral Analysis for Heart Rate from Multi-Channel WPPG Sensor Signals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiping Xiong

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Although wrist-type photoplethysmographic (hereafter referred to as WPPG sensor signals can measure heart rate quite conveniently, the subjects’ hand movements can cause strong motion artifacts, and then the motion artifacts will heavily contaminate WPPG signals. Hence, it is challenging for us to accurately estimate heart rate from WPPG signals during intense physical activities. The WWPG method has attracted more attention thanks to the popularity of wrist-worn wearable devices. In this paper, a mixed approach called Mix-SVM is proposed, it can use multi-channel WPPG sensor signals and simultaneous acceleration signals to measurement heart rate. Firstly, we combine the principle component analysis and adaptive filter to remove a part of the motion artifacts. Due to the strong relativity between motion artifacts and acceleration signals, the further denoising problem is regarded as a sparse signals reconstruction problem. Then, we use a spectrum subtraction method to eliminate motion artifacts effectively. Finally, the spectral peak corresponding to heart rate is sought by an SVM-based spectral analysis method. Through the public PPG database in the 2015 IEEE Signal Processing Cup, we acquire the experimental results, i.e., the average absolute error was 1.01 beat per minute, and the Pearson correlation was 0.9972. These results also confirm that the proposed Mix-SVM approach has potential for multi-channel WPPG-based heart rate estimation in the presence of intense physical exercise.

δ-Similar Elimination to Enhance Search Performance of Multiobjective Evolutionary Algorithms

Science.gov (United States)

Aguirre, Hernán; Sato, Masahiko; Tanaka, Kiyoshi

In this paper, we propose δ-similar elimination to improve the search performance of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms in combinatorial optimization problems. This method eliminates similar individuals in objective space to fairly distribute selection among the different regions of the instantaneous Pareto front. We investigate four eliminating methods analyzing their effects using NSGA-II. In addition, we compare the search performance of NSGA-II enhanced by our method and NSGA-II enhanced by controlled elitism.

Transcranial magnetic stimulation distinguishes Alzheimer disease from frontotemporal dementia.

Science.gov (United States)

Benussi, Alberto; Di Lorenzo, Francesco; Dell'Era, Valentina; Cosseddu, Maura; Alberici, Antonella; Caratozzolo, Salvatore; Cotelli, Maria Sofia; Micheli, Anna; Rozzini, Luca; Depari, Alessandro; Flammini, Alessandra; Ponzo, Viviana; Martorana, Alessandro; Caltagirone, Carlo; Padovani, Alessandro; Koch, Giacomo; Borroni, Barbara

2017-08-15

To determine whether a transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) multiparadigm approach can be used to distinguish Alzheimer disease (AD) from frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Paired-pulse TMS was used to investigate short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and facilitation (ICF), long-interval intracortical inhibition, and short-latency afferent inhibition (SAI) to measure the activity of different intracortical circuits in patients with AD, patients with FTD, and healthy controls (HC). The primary outcome measures were sensitivity and specificity of TMS measures, derived from receiver operating curve analysis. A total of 175 participants met the inclusion criteria. We diagnosed 79 patients with AD, 64 patients with FTD, and 32 HC. We found that while patients with AD are characterized by a specific impairment of SAI, FTD shows a remarkable dysfunction of SICI-ICF intracortical circuits. With the use of the best indexes, TMS differentiated FTD from AD with a sensitivity of 91.8% and specificity of 88.6%, AD from HC with a sensitivity of 84.8% and specificity of 90.6%, and FTD from HC with a sensitivity of 90.2% and specificity of 78.1%. These results were confirmed in patients with mild disease. TMS is a noninvasive procedure that reliably distinguishes AD from FTD and HC and, if these findings are replicated in larger studies, could represent a useful additional diagnostic tool for clinical practice. This study provides Class III evidence that TMS measures can distinguish patients with AD from those with FTD. © 2017 American Academy of Neurology.

Sustaining visceral leishmaniasis elimination in Bangladesh - Could a policy brief help?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alyssa Fitzpatrick

2017-12-01

Full Text Available Bangladesh has made significant progress towards elimination of visceral leishmaniasis, and is on track to achieve its target of less than one case per 10,000 inhabitants in each subdistrict in 2017. As the incidence of disease falls, it is likely that the political capital and financial resources dedicated towards the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis may decrease, raising the prospect of disease resurgence. Policy memos may play a crucial role during the transition of the elimination plan from the 'attack' to the 'consolidation' and 'maintenance' phases, highlighting key stakeholders and areas where ongoing investment is crucial. An example of a policy brief is outlined in this paper. The background to the current elimination efforts is highlighted, with emphasis on remaining uncertainties including the impact of disease reservoirs and sustainable surveillance strategies. A stakeholder map is provided outlining the current and projected future activities of key bodies. Identification of key stakeholders subsequently frames the discussion of three key policy recommendations in the Bangladeshi context for the transition to the consolidation and maintenance phases of the elimination program. Recommendations include determining optimal vector control and surveillance strategies, shifting the emphasis towards horizontal integration of disease programs, and prioritising remaining research questions with a focus on operational and technical capacity. Achieving elimination is as much a political as a scientific question. Integrating the discussion of key stakeholders with policy priorities and the research agenda provides a novel insight into potential pathways forwards in the elimination of visceral leishmaniasis in Bangladesh and in the rest of the Indian subcontinent.

Distribution of hydrothermally altered rocks in the Reko Diq, Pakistan mineralized area based on spectral analysis of ASTER data

Science.gov (United States)

Rowan, L.C.; Schmidt, R.G.; Mars, J.C.

2006-01-01

The Reko Diq, Pakistan mineralized study area, approximately 10??km in diameter, is underlain by a central zone of hydrothermally altered rocks associated with Cu-Au mineralization. The surrounding country rocks are a variable mixture of unaltered volcanic rocks, fluvial deposits, and eolian quartz sand. Analysis of 15-band Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data of the study area, aided by laboratory spectral reflectance and spectral emittance measurements of field samples, shows that phyllically altered rocks are laterally extensive, and contain localized areas of argillically altered rocks. In the visible through shortwave-infrared (VNIR + SWIR) phyllically altered rocks are characterized by Al-OH absorption in ASTER band 6 because of molecular vibrations in muscovite, whereas argillically altered rocks have an absorption feature in band 5 resulting from alunite. Propylitically altered rocks form a peripheral zone and are present in scattered exposures within the main altered area. Chlorite and muscovite cause distinctive absorption features at 2.33 and 2.20????m, respectively, although less intense 2.33????m absorption is also present in image spectra of country rocks. Important complementary lithologic information was derived by analysis of the spectral emittance data in the 5 thermal-infrared (TIR) bands. Silicified rocks were not distinguished in the 9 VNIR + SWIR bands because of the lack of diagnostic spectral absorption features in quartz in this wavelength region. Quartz-bearing surficial deposits, as well as hydrothermally silicified rocks, were mapped in the TIR bands by using a band 13/band 12 ratio image, which is sensitive to the intensity of the quartz reststrahlen feature. Improved distinction between the quartzose surficial deposits and silicified bedrock was achieved by using matched-filter processing with TIR image spectra for reference. ?? 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Learning theory of distributed spectral algorithms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Guo, Zheng-Chu; Lin, Shao-Bo; Zhou, Ding-Xuan

2017-01-01

Spectral algorithms have been widely used and studied in learning theory and inverse problems. This paper is concerned with distributed spectral algorithms, for handling big data, based on a divide-and-conquer approach. We present a learning theory for these distributed kernel-based learning algorithms in a regression framework including nice error bounds and optimal minimax learning rates achieved by means of a novel integral operator approach and a second order decomposition of inverse operators. Our quantitative estimates are given in terms of regularity of the regression function, effective dimension of the reproducing kernel Hilbert space, and qualification of the filter function of the spectral algorithm. They do not need any eigenfunction or noise conditions and are better than the existing results even for the classical family of spectral algorithms. (paper)

The Open Spectral Database: an open platform for sharing and searching spectral data.

Science.gov (United States)

Chalk, Stuart J

2016-01-01

A number of websites make available spectral data for download (typically as JCAMP-DX text files) and one (ChemSpider) that also allows users to contribute spectral files. As a result, searching and retrieving such spectral data can be time consuming, and difficult to reuse if the data is compressed in the JCAMP-DX file. What is needed is a single resource that allows submission of JCAMP-DX files, export of the raw data in multiple formats, searching based on multiple chemical identifiers, and is open in terms of license and access. To address these issues a new online resource called the Open Spectral Database (OSDB) http://osdb.info/ has been developed and is now available. Built using open source tools, using open code (hosted on GitHub), providing open data, and open to community input about design and functionality, the OSDB is available for anyone to submit spectral data, making it searchable and available to the scientific community. This paper details the concept and coding, internal architecture, export formats, Representational State Transfer (REST) Application Programming Interface and options for submission of data. The OSDB website went live in November 2015. Concurrently, the GitHub repository was made available at https://github.com/stuchalk/OSDB/, and is open for collaborators to join the project, submit issues, and contribute code. The combination of a scripting environment (PHPStorm), a PHP Framework (CakePHP), a relational database (MySQL) and a code repository (GitHub) provides all the capabilities to easily develop REST based websites for ingestion, curation and exposure of open chemical data to the community at all levels. It is hoped this software stack (or equivalent ones in other scripting languages) will be leveraged to make more chemical data available for both humans and computers.

Elimination of Plasmodium falciparum malaria in Tajikistan.

Science.gov (United States)

Kondrashin, Anatoly V; Sharipov, Azizullo S; Kadamov, Dilshod S; Karimov, Saifuddin S; Gasimov, Elkhan; Baranova, Alla M; Morozova, Lola F; Stepanova, Ekaterina V; Turbabina, Natalia A; Maksimova, Maria S; Morozov, Evgeny N

2017-05-30

Malaria was eliminated in Tajikistan by the beginning of the 1960s. However, sporadic introduced cases of malaria occurred subsequently probably as a result of transmission from infected mosquito Anopheles flying over river the Punj from the border areas of Afghanistan. During the 1970s and 1980s local outbreaks of malaria were reported in the southern districts bordering Afghanistan. The malaria situation dramatically changed during the 1990s following armed conflict and civil unrest in the newly independent Tajikistan, which paralyzed health services including the malaria control activities and a large-scale malaria epidemic occurred with more than 400,000 malaria cases. The malaria epidemic was contained by 1999 as a result of considerable financial input from the Government and the international community. Although Plasmodium falciparum constituted only about 5% of total malaria cases, reduction of its incidence was slower than that of Plasmodium vivax. To prevent increase in P. falciparum malaria both in terms of incidence and territory, a P. falciparum elimination programme in the Republic was launched in 200, jointly supported by the Government and the Global Fund for control of AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The main activities included the use of pyrethroids for the IRS with determined periodicity, deployment of mosquito nets, impregnated with insecticides, use of larvivorous fishes as a biological larvicide, implementation of small-scale environmental management, and use of personal protection methods by population under malaria risk. The malaria surveillance system was strengthened by the use of ACD, PCD, RCD and selective use of mass blood surveys. All detected cases were timely epidemiologically investigated and treated based on the results of laboratory diagnosis. As a result, by 2009, P. falciparum malaria was eliminated from all of Tajikistan, one year ahead of the originally targeted date. Elimination of P. falciparum also contributed towards

TU-EF-207-02: Spectral Mammography Based on Photon Counting Detectors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Molloi, S. [University of California (United States)

2015-06-15

mode due to lower photon fluence per projection. This may require fast-frame acquisition and symmetric or asymmetric pixel binning in some systems. Recent studies investigated the performance of increased conversion layer thickness for contrast-enhanced imaging of the breast in dual-energy acquisition mode. In other direct conversion detectors operating in the avalanche mode, sensitivities close to the single photon response are also explored for mammography and breast tomosynthesis. The potential advantages and challenges of this approach are described. Dedicated breast CT brings x-ray imaging of the breast to true tomographic 3D imaging. It can eliminate the tissue superposition problem and does not require physical compression of the breast. Using cone beam geometry and a flat-panel detector, several hundred projections are acquired and reconstructed to near isotropic voxels. Multiplanar reconstruction facilitates viewing the breast volume in any desired orientation. Ongoing clinical studies, the current state-of-the art, and research to advance the technology are described. Learning Objectives: To understand the ongoing developments in x-ray imaging of the breast To understand the approaches and applications of spectral mammography To understand the potential advantages of distributed x-ray source arrays for digital breast tomosynthesis To understand the ongoing developments in detector technology for digital mammography and breast tomosynthesis To understand the current state-of-the-art for dedicated cone-beam breast CT and research to advance the technology. Research collaboration with Koning Corporation.

TU-EF-207-02: Spectral Mammography Based on Photon Counting Detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Molloi, S.

2015-01-01

mode due to lower photon fluence per projection. This may require fast-frame acquisition and symmetric or asymmetric pixel binning in some systems. Recent studies investigated the performance of increased conversion layer thickness for contrast-enhanced imaging of the breast in dual-energy acquisition mode. In other direct conversion detectors operating in the avalanche mode, sensitivities close to the single photon response are also explored for mammography and breast tomosynthesis. The potential advantages and challenges of this approach are described. Dedicated breast CT brings x-ray imaging of the breast to true tomographic 3D imaging. It can eliminate the tissue superposition problem and does not require physical compression of the breast. Using cone beam geometry and a flat-panel detector, several hundred projections are acquired and reconstructed to near isotropic voxels. Multiplanar reconstruction facilitates viewing the breast volume in any desired orientation. Ongoing clinical studies, the current state-of-the art, and research to advance the technology are described. Learning Objectives: To understand the ongoing developments in x-ray imaging of the breast To understand the approaches and applications of spectral mammography To understand the potential advantages of distributed x-ray source arrays for digital breast tomosynthesis To understand the ongoing developments in detector technology for digital mammography and breast tomosynthesis To understand the current state-of-the-art for dedicated cone-beam breast CT and research to advance the technology. Research collaboration with Koning Corporation

SPECTRAL ANALYSIS OF EXCHANGE RATES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

ALEŠA LOTRIČ DOLINAR

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Using spectral analysis is very common in technical areas but rather unusual in economics and finance, where ARIMA and GARCH modeling are much more in use. To show that spectral analysis can be useful in determining hidden periodic components for high-frequency finance data as well, we use the example of foreign exchange rates

Development of methodology to assess application of practical elimination for nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jung, J.; Sivekumar, D.; Thambirasa, S.

2015-01-01

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident is presented as the primary case study for the topic of practical elimination. A decision matrix was created to assess whether practical elimination has been achieved or not. Public acceptance is included as a factor in practical elimination. An evaluation of an underground High-Temperature Gas Cooled Reactor was performed, where it was determined that a greater than 10 earthquake on the Richter scale is practically eliminated, but can easily be overturned based on public acceptance. A plane crash scenario was also practically eliminated. The gap analysis performed concluded that the developed decision matrix requires reworking. (author)

Scoring system to distinguish uncomplicated from complicated acute appendicitis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Atema, J. J.; van Rossem, C. C.; Leeuwenburgh, M. M.; Stoker, J.; Boermeester, M. A.

2015-01-01

Non-operative management may be an alternative for uncomplicated appendicitis, but preoperative distinction between uncomplicated and complicated disease is challenging. This study aimed to develop a scoring system based on clinical and imaging features to distinguish uncomplicated from complicated

Investigation of Soil Salinity to Distinguish Boundary Line between ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

ADOWIE PERE

Investigation of Soil Salinity to Distinguish Boundary Line between Saline and ... Setting 4 dSm-1 as the limit between saline and non-saline soils in kriging algorithms resulted in a .... number of sample points within the search window,.

Quasi-Optimal Elimination Trees for 2D Grids with Singularities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Paszyńska

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We construct quasi-optimal elimination trees for 2D finite element meshes with singularities. These trees minimize the complexity of the solution of the discrete system. The computational cost estimates of the elimination process model the execution of the multifrontal algorithms in serial and in parallel shared-memory executions. Since the meshes considered are a subspace of all possible mesh partitions, we call these minimizers quasi-optimal. We minimize the cost functionals using dynamic programming. Finding these minimizers is more computationally expensive than solving the original algebraic system. Nevertheless, from the insights provided by the analysis of the dynamic programming minima, we propose a heuristic construction of the elimination trees that has cost ONelog⁡Ne, where Ne is the number of elements in the mesh. We show that this heuristic ordering has similar computational cost to the quasi-optimal elimination trees found with dynamic programming and outperforms state-of-the-art alternatives in our numerical experiments.

Quasi-Optimal Elimination Trees for 2D Grids with Singularities

KAUST Repository

Paszyńska, A.

2015-04-22

We construct quasi-optimal elimination trees for 2D finite element meshes with singularities.These trees minimize the complexity of the solution of the discrete system. The computational cost estimates of the elimination process model the execution of the multifrontal algorithms in serial and in parallel shared-memory executions. Since the meshes considered are a subspace of all possible mesh partitions, we call these minimizers quasi-optimal.We minimize the cost functionals using dynamic programming. Finding these minimizers is more computationally expensive than solving the original algebraic system. Nevertheless, from the insights provided by the analysis of the dynamic programming minima, we propose a heuristic construction of the elimination trees that has cost O(log(Ne log(Ne)), where N e is the number of elements in the mesh.We show that this heuristic ordering has similar computational cost to the quasi-optimal elimination trees found with dynamic programming and outperforms state-of-the-art alternatives in our numerical experiments.

Quasi-Optimal Elimination Trees for 2D Grids with Singularities

KAUST Repository

Paszyńska, A.; Paszyński, M.; Jopek, K.; Woźniak, M.; Goik, D.; Gurgul, P.; AbouEisha, H.; Moshkov, Mikhail; Calo, Victor M.; Lenharth, A.; Nguyen, D.; Pingali, K.

2015-01-01

We construct quasi-optimal elimination trees for 2D finite element meshes with singularities.These trees minimize the complexity of the solution of the discrete system. The computational cost estimates of the elimination process model the execution of the multifrontal algorithms in serial and in parallel shared-memory executions. Since the meshes considered are a subspace of all possible mesh partitions, we call these minimizers quasi-optimal.We minimize the cost functionals using dynamic programming. Finding these minimizers is more computationally expensive than solving the original algebraic system. Nevertheless, from the insights provided by the analysis of the dynamic programming minima, we propose a heuristic construction of the elimination trees that has cost O(log(Ne log(Ne)), where N e is the number of elements in the mesh.We show that this heuristic ordering has similar computational cost to the quasi-optimal elimination trees found with dynamic programming and outperforms state-of-the-art alternatives in our numerical experiments.

Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions: Alice H. Eagly

Science.gov (United States)

American Psychologist, 2009

2009-01-01

Alice H. Eagly, winner of the Award for Distinguished Scientific Contributions, is cited for her work in the field of social psychology, the psychology of gender, and the use of meta-analytic techniques. She envisions a psychology that extends from individual cognitions to societal structures. In addition to the citation, a biography and selected…

The Hues of English. NCTE Distinguished Lectures 1969.

Science.gov (United States)

National Council of Teachers of English, Champaign, IL.

The third volume in the NCTE Distinguished Lectures Series, this collection of papers includes (1) William Stafford on poetry and the language of everyday life, (2) Fred Stocking linking Shakespeare to his time and all time by analysing "temperance" in Sonnet 18, (3) Alan Downer discussing the nature of comedy in drama and the universal…

SPECTRAL SETS AND TILES IN CARTESIAN PRODUCTS OVER ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

41

Spectral set conjecture: A Borel set Ω ⊂ Rd of positive and finite. Lebesgue measure is a spectral set if and only if it ... Ω ⊂ G of positive and finite Haar measure is a spectral set if and only if it is a translational tile. ... Key words and phrases. p-adic number field, Cartesian product, tile, spectral set. This work was supported by ...

Photovoltaic spectral responsivity measurements

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Emery, K.; Dunlavy, D.; Field, H.; Moriarty, T. [National Renewable Energy Lab., Golden, CO (United States)

1998-09-01

This paper discusses the various elemental random and nonrandom error sources in typical spectral responsivity measurement systems. The authors focus specifically on the filter and grating monochrometer-based spectral responsivity measurement systems used by the Photovoltaic (PV) performance characterization team at NREL. A variety of subtle measurement errors can occur that arise from a finite photo-current response time, bandwidth of the monochromatic light, waveform of the monochromatic light, and spatial uniformity of the monochromatic and bias lights; the errors depend on the light source, PV technology, and measurement system. The quantum efficiency can be a function of he voltage bias, light bias level, and, for some structures, the spectral content of the bias light or location on the PV device. This paper compares the advantages and problems associated with semiconductor-detector-based calibrations and pyroelectric-detector-based calibrations. Different current-to-voltage conversion and ac photo-current detection strategies employed at NREL are compared and contrasted.

Spectral dimension of quantum geometries

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Calcagni, Gianluca; Oriti, Daniele; Thürigen, Johannes

2014-01-01

The spectral dimension is an indicator of geometry and topology of spacetime and a tool to compare the description of quantum geometry in various approaches to quantum gravity. This is possible because it can be defined not only on smooth geometries but also on discrete (e.g., simplicial) ones. In this paper, we consider the spectral dimension of quantum states of spatial geometry defined on combinatorial complexes endowed with additional algebraic data: the kinematical quantum states of loop quantum gravity (LQG). Preliminarily, the effects of topology and discreteness of classical discrete geometries are studied in a systematic manner. We look for states reproducing the spectral dimension of a classical space in the appropriate regime. We also test the hypothesis that in LQG, as in other approaches, there is a scale dependence of the spectral dimension, which runs from the topological dimension at large scales to a smaller one at short distances. While our results do not give any strong support to this hypothesis, we can however pinpoint when the topological dimension is reproduced by LQG quantum states. Overall, by exploring the interplay of combinatorial, topological and geometrical effects, and by considering various kinds of quantum states such as coherent states and their superpositions, we find that the spectral dimension of discrete quantum geometries is more sensitive to the underlying combinatorial structures than to the details of the additional data associated with them. (paper)

Diagnostic value of chemical shift artifact in distinguishing benign lymphadenopathy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Farshchian, Nazanin, E-mail: farshchian.n@gmail.com [Department of Radiology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Tamari, Saghar; Farshchian, Negin [Department of Radiology, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Madani, Hamid [Department of Pathology, Imam-Reza Hospital, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Rezaie, Mansour [Department of Biostatistics, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of); Mohammadi-Motlagh, Hamid-Reza, E-mail: mohammadimotlagh@gmail.com [Medical Biology Research Center, Kermanshah University of Medical Sciences, Kermanshah (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2011-11-15

Purpose: Today, distinguishing metastatic lymph nodes from secondary benign inflammatory ones via using non-invasive methods is increasingly favorable. In this study, the diagnostic value of chemical shift artifact (CSA) in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was evaluated to distinguish benign lymphadenopathy. Subjects and methods: A prospective intraindividual internal review board-approved study was carried out on 15 men and 15 women having lymphadenopathic lesions in different locations of the body who underwent contrast-enhanced dynamic MR imaging at 1.5 T. Then, the imaging findings were compared with pathology reports, using the statistics analyses. Results: Due to the findings of the CSA existence in MRI, a total of 56.7% of the studied lesions (17 of 30) were identified as benign lesions and the rest were malignant, whereas the pathology reports distinguished twelve malignant and eighteen benign cases. Furthermore, the CSA findings comparing the pathology reports indicated that CSA, with confidence of 79.5%, has a significant diagnostic value to differentiate benign lesions from malignant ones. Conclusion: Our study demonstrated that CSA in MR imaging has a suitable diagnostic potential nearing readiness for clinical trials. Furthermore, CSA seems to be a feasible tool to differentiate benign lymph nodes from malignant ones; however, further studies including larger numbers of patients are required to confirm our results.

Influence of spectral resolution, spectral range and signal-to-noise ratio of Fourier transform infra-red spectra on identification of high explosive substances

Science.gov (United States)

Banas, Krzysztof; Banas, Agnieszka M.; Heussler, Sascha P.; Breese, Mark B. H.

2018-01-01

In the contemporary spectroscopy there is a trend to record spectra with the highest possible spectral resolution. This is clearly justified if the spectral features in the spectrum are very narrow (for example infra-red spectra of gas samples). However there is a plethora of samples (in the liquid and especially in the solid form) where there is a natural spectral peak broadening due to collisions and proximity predominately. Additionally there is a number of portable devices (spectrometers) with inherently restricted spectral resolution, spectral range or both, which are extremely useful in some field applications (archaeology, agriculture, food industry, cultural heritage, forensic science). In this paper the investigation of the influence of spectral resolution, spectral range and signal-to-noise ratio on the identification of high explosive substances by applying multivariate statistical methods on the Fourier transform infra-red spectral data sets is studied. All mathematical procedures on spectral data for dimension reduction, clustering and validation were implemented within R open source environment.

Extracting attosecond delays from spectrally overlapping interferograms

Science.gov (United States)

Jordan, Inga; Wörner, Hans Jakob

2018-02-01

Attosecond interferometry is becoming an increasingly popular technique for measuring the dynamics of photoionization in real time. Whereas early measurements focused on atomic systems with very simple photoelectron spectra, the technique is now being applied to more complex systems including isolated molecules and solids. The increase in complexity translates into an augmented spectral congestion, unavoidably resulting in spectral overlap in attosecond interferograms. Here, we discuss currently used methods for phase retrieval and introduce two new approaches for determining attosecond photoemission delays from spectrally overlapping photoelectron spectra. We show that the previously used technique, consisting in the spectral integration of the areas of interest, does in general not provide reliable results. Our methods resolve this problem, thereby opening the technique of attosecond interferometry to complex systems and fully exploiting its specific advantages in terms of spectral resolution compared to attosecond streaking.

Macrofilaricides and onchocerciasis control, mathematical modelling of the prospects for elimination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lazdins Janis

2001-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In most endemic parts of the world, onchocerciasis (river blindness control relies, or will soon rely, exclusively on mass treatment with the microfilaricide ivermectin. Worldwide eradication of the parasite by means of this drug is unlikely. Macrofilaricidal drugs are currently being developed for human use. Methods We used ONCHOSIM, a microsimulation mathematical model of the dynamics of onchocerciasis transmission, to explore the potentials of a hypothetical macrofilaricidal drug for the elimination of onchocerciasis under different epidemiological conditions, as characterized by previous intervention strategies, vectorial capacity and levels of coverage. Results With a high vector biting rate and poor coverage, a very effective macrofilaricide would appear to have a substantially higher potential for achieving elimination of the parasite than does ivermectin. Conclusions Macrofilaricides have a substantially higher potential for achieving onchocerciasis elimination than ivermectin, but high coverage levels are still key. When these drugs become available, onchocerciasis elimination strategies should be reconsidered. In view of the impact of control efforts preceding the introduction of macrofilaricides on the success of elimination, it is important to sustain current control efforts.

Elimination of User-Fees in Tertiary Education: A Distributive Analysis for Ecuador

Science.gov (United States)

Ponce, Juan; Loayza, Yessenia

2012-01-01

This paper offers new evidence and methods for understanding the distributive effect of a universal government policy to eliminate user fees in public universities in Ecuador. The main argument to eliminate user fees in higher education is that it will increase enrollment among the poor. In this regard, eliminating tuition fees is supposed to be a…

Abundance estimation of spectrally similar minerals

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Debba, Pravesh

2009-07-01

Full Text Available This paper evaluates a spectral unmixing method for estimating the partial abundance of spectrally similar minerals in complex mixtures. The method requires formulation of a linear function of individual spectra of individual minerals. The first...

The Identification of Conductor-Distinguished Functions of Conducting

Science.gov (United States)

Gumm, Alan J.; Battersby, Sharyn L.; Simon, Kathryn L.; Shankles, Andrew E.

2011-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to identify whether conductors distinguish functions of conducting similarly to functions implied in previous research. A sample of 84 conductors with a full range of experience levels (M = 9.8) and of a full range of large ensemble types and ensemble age levels rated how much they pay attention to 82…

Digital staining for histopathology multispectral images by the combined application of spectral enhancement and spectral transformation.

Science.gov (United States)

Bautista, Pinky A; Yagi, Yukako

2011-01-01

In this paper we introduced a digital staining method for histopathology images captured with an n-band multispectral camera. The method consisted of two major processes: enhancement of the original spectral transmittance and the transformation of the enhanced transmittance to its target spectral configuration. Enhancement is accomplished by shifting the original transmittance with the scaled difference between the original transmittance and the transmittance estimated with m dominant principal component (PC) vectors;the m-PC vectors were determined from the transmittance samples of the background image. Transformation of the enhanced transmittance to the target spectral configuration was done using an nxn transformation matrix, which was derived by applying a least square method to the enhanced and target spectral training data samples of the different tissue components. Experimental results on the digital conversion of a hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) stained multispectral image to its Masson's trichrome stained (MT) equivalent shows the viability of the method.

Eliminating transducer distortion in acoustic measurements

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Agerkvist, Finn T.; Torras Rosell, Antoni; McWalter, Richard Ian

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the in uence of nonlinear components that contaminate the linear response of acoustic transducer, and presents a method for eliminating the in uence of nonlinearities in acoustic measurements. The method is evaluated on simulated as well as experimental data, and is shown...

Semiconductor Laser Multi-Spectral Sensing and Imaging

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Han Q. Le

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Multi-spectral laser imaging is a technique that can offer a combination of the laser capability of accurate spectral sensing with the desirable features of passive multispectral imaging. The technique can be used for detection, discrimination, and identification of objects by their spectral signature. This article describes and reviews the development and evaluation of semiconductor multi-spectral laser imaging systems. Although the method is certainly not specific to any laser technology, the use of semiconductor lasers is significant with respect to practicality and affordability. More relevantly, semiconductor lasers have their own characteristics; they offer excellent wavelength diversity but usually with modest power. Thus, system design and engineering issues are analyzed for approaches and trade-offs that can make the best use of semiconductor laser capabilities in multispectral imaging. A few systems were developed and the technique was tested and evaluated on a variety of natural and man-made objects. It was shown capable of high spectral resolution imaging which, unlike non-imaging point sensing, allows detecting and discriminating objects of interest even without a priori spectroscopic knowledge of the targets. Examples include material and chemical discrimination. It was also shown capable of dealing with the complexity of interpreting diffuse scattered spectral images and produced results that could otherwise be ambiguous with conventional imaging. Examples with glucose and spectral imaging of drug pills were discussed. Lastly, the technique was shown with conventional laser spectroscopy such as wavelength modulation spectroscopy to image a gas (CO. These results suggest the versatility and power of multi-spectral laser imaging, which can be practical with the use of semiconductor lasers.

Semiconductor laser multi-spectral sensing and imaging.

Science.gov (United States)

Le, Han Q; Wang, Yang

2010-01-01

Multi-spectral laser imaging is a technique that can offer a combination of the laser capability of accurate spectral sensing with the desirable features of passive multispectral imaging. The technique can be used for detection, discrimination, and identification of objects by their spectral signature. This article describes and reviews the development and evaluation of semiconductor multi-spectral laser imaging systems. Although the method is certainly not specific to any laser technology, the use of semiconductor lasers is significant with respect to practicality and affordability. More relevantly, semiconductor lasers have their own characteristics; they offer excellent wavelength diversity but usually with modest power. Thus, system design and engineering issues are analyzed for approaches and trade-offs that can make the best use of semiconductor laser capabilities in multispectral imaging. A few systems were developed and the technique was tested and evaluated on a variety of natural and man-made objects. It was shown capable of high spectral resolution imaging which, unlike non-imaging point sensing, allows detecting and discriminating objects of interest even without a priori spectroscopic knowledge of the targets. Examples include material and chemical discrimination. It was also shown capable of dealing with the complexity of interpreting diffuse scattered spectral images and produced results that could otherwise be ambiguous with conventional imaging. Examples with glucose and spectral imaging of drug pills were discussed. Lastly, the technique was shown with conventional laser spectroscopy such as wavelength modulation spectroscopy to image a gas (CO). These results suggest the versatility and power of multi-spectral laser imaging, which can be practical with the use of semiconductor lasers.

Primary chromatic aberration elimination via optimization work with genetic algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Bo-Wen; Liu, Tung-Kuan; Fang, Yi-Chin; Chou, Jyh-Horng; Tsai, Hsien-Lin; Chang, En-Hao

2008-09-01

Chromatic Aberration plays a part in modern optical systems, especially in digitalized and smart optical systems. Much effort has been devoted to eliminating specific chromatic aberration in order to match the demand for advanced digitalized optical products. Basically, the elimination of axial chromatic and lateral color aberration of an optical lens and system depends on the selection of optical glass. According to reports from glass companies all over the world, the number of various newly developed optical glasses in the market exceeds three hundred. However, due to the complexity of a practical optical system, optical designers have so far had difficulty in finding the right solution to eliminate small axial and lateral chromatic aberration except by the Damped Least Squares (DLS) method, which is limited in so far as the DLS method has not yet managed to find a better optical system configuration. In the present research, genetic algorithms are used to replace traditional DLS so as to eliminate axial and lateral chromatic, by combining the theories of geometric optics in Tessar type lenses and a technique involving Binary/Real Encoding, Multiple Dynamic Crossover and Random Gene Mutation to find a much better configuration for optical glasses. By implementing the algorithms outlined in this paper, satisfactory results can be achieved in eliminating axial and lateral color aberration.

malERA: An updated research agenda for malaria elimination and eradication.

Science.gov (United States)

Rabinovich, Regina N; Drakeley, Chris; Djimde, Abdoulaye A; Hall, B Fenton; Hay, Simon I; Hemingway, Janet; Kaslow, David C; Noor, Abdisalan; Okumu, Fredros; Steketee, Richard; Tanner, Marcel; Wells, Timothy N C; Whittaker, Maxine A; Winzeler, Elizabeth A; Wirth, Dyann F; Whitfield, Kate; Alonso, Pedro L

2017-11-01

Achieving a malaria-free world presents exciting scientific challenges as well as overwhelming health, equity, and economic benefits. WHO and countries are setting ambitious goals for reducing the burden and eliminating malaria through the "Global Technical Strategy" and 21 countries are aiming to eliminate malaria by 2020. The commitment to achieve these targets should be celebrated. However, the need for innovation to achieve these goals, sustain elimination, and free the world of malaria is greater than ever. Over 180 experts across multiple disciplines are engaged in the Malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA) Refresh process to address problems that need to be solved. The result is a research and development agenda to accelerate malaria elimination and, in the longer term, transform the malaria community's ability to eradicate it globally.

malERA: An updated research agenda for malaria elimination and eradication.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Regina N Rabinovich

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Achieving a malaria-free world presents exciting scientific challenges as well as overwhelming health, equity, and economic benefits. WHO and countries are setting ambitious goals for reducing the burden and eliminating malaria through the "Global Technical Strategy" and 21 countries are aiming to eliminate malaria by 2020. The commitment to achieve these targets should be celebrated. However, the need for innovation to achieve these goals, sustain elimination, and free the world of malaria is greater than ever. Over 180 experts across multiple disciplines are engaged in the Malaria Eradication Research Agenda (malERA Refresh process to address problems that need to be solved. The result is a research and development agenda to accelerate malaria elimination and, in the longer term, transform the malaria community's ability to eradicate it globally.

Elimination of salmonella from fermented pork by gamma irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Noochpramul, K.; Loaharanu, P.

1974-01-01

A fermented pork product, locally known as ''Nham'', is usually contaminated with salmonella and occasionally with Trichinella spiralis and Taenea solium. This product is always eaten raw as cooking destroys its delicate flavour. A survey made on the MPN of salmonella revealed that much less than 100 salmonella was found in one gram of the product. Nham was inoculated with S. derby, S. anatum, S. newport, or S. paratyphi B, the most common serotypes of salmonella found in this product, at 10 6 , 10 4 , or 10 2 per gram. The inoculated product was irradiated by the gamma beam-650 Co-60 irradiator at 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3 or 0.4 Mrad. Dosage at 0.4 Mrad eliminated salmonella as much as 10 6 per g; 0.3 Mrad eliminated 10 6 /g of S. newport and S. paratyphi B and 10 4 /g of S. derby and S. anatum; and 0.2 Mrad eliminated 10 2 /g of all serotypes of salmonella in the product. No changes in the organoleptic properties of irradiated Nham was found when irradiated at 0.3 Mrad or less. Dosage at 0.2 Mrad appeared to be sufficient for commercial irradiation of Nham for the elimination of salmonella

A dust spectral energy distribution model with hierarchical Bayesian inference - I. Formalism and benchmarking

Science.gov (United States)

Galliano, Frédéric

2018-05-01

This article presents a new dust spectral energy distribution (SED) model, named HerBIE, aimed at eliminating the noise-induced correlations and large scatter obtained when performing least-squares fits. The originality of this code is to apply the hierarchical Bayesian approach to full dust models, including realistic optical properties, stochastic heating, and the mixing of physical conditions in the observed regions. We test the performances of our model by applying it to synthetic observations. We explore the impact on the recovered parameters of several effects: signal-to-noise ratio, SED shape, sample size, the presence of intrinsic correlations, the wavelength coverage, and the use of different SED model components. We show that this method is very efficient: the recovered parameters are consistently distributed around their true values. We do not find any clear bias, even for the most degenerate parameters, or with extreme signal-to-noise ratios.

General Vertex-Distinguishing Total Coloring of Graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chanjuan Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The general vertex-distinguishing total chromatic number of a graph G is the minimum integer k, for which the vertices and edges of G are colored using k colors such that any two vertices have distinct sets of colors of them and their incident edges. In this paper, we figure out the exact value of this chromatic number of some special graphs and propose a conjecture on the upper bound of this chromatic number.

Distinguishing Biologically Relevant Hexoses by Water Adduction to the Lithium-Cationized Molecule.

Science.gov (United States)

Campbell, Matthew T; Chen, Dazhe; Wallbillich, Nicholas J; Glish, Gary L

2017-10-03

A method to distinguish the four most common biologically relevant underivatized hexoses, d-glucose, d-galactose, d-mannose, and d-fructose, using only mass spectrometry with no prior separation/derivatization step has been developed. Electrospray of a solution containing hexose and a lithium salt generates [Hexose+Li] + . The lithium-cationized hexoses adduct water in a quadrupole ion trap. The rate of this water adduction reaction can be used to distinguish the four hexoses. Additionally, for each hexose, multiple lithiation sites are possible, allowing for multiple structures of [Hexose+Li] + . Electrospray produces at least one structure that reacts with water and at least one that does not. The ratio of unreactive lithium-cationized hexose to total lithium-cationized hexose is unique for the four hexoses studied, providing a second method for distinguishing the isomers. Use of the water adduction reaction rate or the unreactive ratio provides two separate methods for confidently (p ≤ 0.02) distinguishing the most common biologically relevant hexoses using only femtomoles of hexose. Additionally, binary mixtures of glucose and fructose were studied. A calibration curve was created by measuring the reaction rate of various samples with different ratios of fructose and glucose. The calibration curve was used to accurately measure the percentage of fructose in three samples of high fructose corn syrup (<4% error).

Possibilities of Sulphate Elimination from Mine Water

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Heviánková Silvie

2004-12-01

Full Text Available The issue of „acid water“ (or AMD is well known in the world for some centuries. In the Eastern Slovakia, the most acid surface water occurs in the area of old mine Smolník, which is closed and submerged for 15 years. The submitted contribution deals with the sulphate-elimination from this locality. Recently, several methods of sulphate-elimination from the mine water are applied. The best-known methods are biological, physical-chemical and chemical precipitation. The method described in this contribution consists of chemical precipitation by sodium aluminate and calcium hydrate. Under application of this method very interesting results were obtained. The amount of SO42- anions decreased to almost zero-value, using optimal doses of the chemical reagents.

Elimination of leprosy as a public health problem by 2000 AD: an epidemiological perspective.

Science.gov (United States)

Nsagha, Dickson Shey; Bamgboye, Elijah Afolabi; Assob, Jules Clement Nguedia; Njunda, Anna Longdoh; Kamga, Henri Lucien Foumou; Zoung-Kanyi Bissek, Anne-Cécile; Tabah, Earnest Nji; Oyediran, Alain Bankole O O; Njamnshi, Alfred Kongnyu

2011-01-01

Leprosy is caused by Mycobacterium leprae and manifests as damage to the skin and peripheral nerves. The disease is dreaded because it causes deformities, blindness and disfigurement. Worldwide, 2 million people are estimated to be disabled by leprosy. Multidrug therapy is highly effective in curing leprosy, but treating the nerve damage is much more difficult. The World Health Assembly targeted to eliminate leprosy as a public health problem from the world by 2000. The objective of the review was to assess the successes of the leprosy elimination strategy, elimination hurdles and the way forward for leprosy eradication. A structured search was used to identify publications on the elimination strategy. The keywords used were leprosy, elimination and 2000. To identify potential publications, we included papers on leprosy elimination monitoring, special action projects for the elimination of leprosy, modified leprosy elimination campaigns, and the Global Alliance to eliminate leprosy from the following principal data bases: Cochrane data base of systematic reviews, PubMed, Medline, EMBASE, and the Leprosy data base. We also scanned reference lists for important citations. Key leprosy journals including WHO publications were also reviewed. The search identified 63 journal publications on leprosy-related terms that included a form of elimination of which 19 comprehensively tackled the keywords including a book on leprosy elimination. In 1991, the 44th World Health Assembly called for the elimination of leprosy as a public health problem in the world by 2000. Elimination was defined as less than one case of leprosy per 10000-population. Elimination has been made possible by a confluence of several orders of opportunities: the scientific (the natural history of leprosy at the present state of knowledge), technological (multi-drug therapy and the blister pack); political (commitment of governments) and financial (support from NGOs for example the Nippon Foundation that

Elimination diets in the management of eosinophilic esophagitis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wechsler JB

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Joshua B Wechsler, Sally Schwartz, Katie Amsden, Amir F Kagalwalla Department of Pediatrics, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, IL, USA Abstract: Eosinophilic esophagitis, an increasingly recognized chronic inflammatory disorder isolated to the esophagus, is triggered by an abnormal allergic response to dietary antigens. Current treatment includes swallowed topical steroids and dietary modification, which aim to resolve symptoms and prevent long-term complications such as formation of strictures. The dietary approach has become more widely accepted because long-term steroid therapy is associated with potential risks. Dietary treatment includes elemental and elimination diets. An exclusive elemental diet, which requires replacement of all intact protein with amino acid-based formula, offers the best response of all available therapies, with remission in up to 96% of subjects proving it to be superior to all other available therapies including topical steroids. However, compliance with this approach is challenging because of poor taste and monotony. The high cost of formula and the associated psychosocial problems are additional drawbacks of this approach. Empiric and allergy test-directed elimination diets have gained popularity given that elimination of a limited number of foods is much easier and as such is more readily acceptable. There is a growing body of literature supporting this type of therapy in both children and adults. This paper reviews the evidence for all types of dietary therapy in eosinophilic esophagitis. Keywords: eosinophilic esophagitis, dietary therapy, empiric elimination, elemental, allergy test-directed

Spectral Imaging of Portolan Charts

Science.gov (United States)

France, Fenella G.; Wilson, Meghan A.; Ghez, Anita

2018-05-01

Spectral imaging of Portolan Charts, early nautical charts, provided extensive new information about their construction and creation. The origins of the portolan chart style have been a continual source of perplexity to numerous generations of cartographic historians. The spectral imaging system utilized incorporates a 50 megapixel mono-chrome camera with light emitting diode (LED) illumination panels that cover the range from 365 nm to 1050 nm to capture visible and non-visible information. There is little known about how portolan charts evolved, and what influenced their creation. These early nautical charts began as working navigational tools of medieval mariners, initially made in the 1300s in Italy, Portugal and Spain; however the origin and development of the portolan chart remained shrouded in mystery. Questions about these early navigational charts included whether colorants were commensurate with the time period and geographical location, and if different, did that give insight into trade routes, or possible later additions to the charts? For example; spectral data showed the red pigment on both the 1320 portolan chart and the 1565 Galapagos Islands matched vermillion, an opaque red pigment used since antiquity. The construction of these charts was also of great interest. Spectral imaging with a range of illumination modes revealed the presence of a "hidden circle" often referred to in relation to their construction. This paper will present in-depth analysis of how spectral imaging of the Portolans revealed similarities and differences, new hidden information and shed new light on construction and composition.

Costs of eliminating malaria and the impact of the global fund in 34 countries.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Brittany Zelman

Full Text Available International financing for malaria increased more than 18-fold between 2000 and 2011; the largest source came from The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund. Countries have made substantial progress, but achieving elimination requires sustained finances to interrupt transmission and prevent reintroduction. Since 2011, global financing for malaria has declined, fueling concerns that further progress will be impeded, especially for current malaria-eliminating countries that may face resurgent malaria if programs are disrupted.This study aims to 1 assess past total and Global Fund funding to the 34 current malaria-eliminating countries, and 2 estimate their future funding needs to achieve malaria elimination and prevent reintroduction through 2030.Historical funding is assessed against trends in country-level malaria annual parasite incidences (APIs and income per capita. Following Kizewski et al. (2007, program costs to eliminate malaria and prevent reintroduction through 2030 are estimated using a deterministic model. The cost parameters are tailored to a package of interventions aimed at malaria elimination and prevention of reintroduction.The majority of Global Fund-supported countries experiencing increases in total funding from 2005 to 2010 coincided with reductions in malaria APIs and also overall GNI per capita average annual growth. The total amount of projected funding needed for the current malaria-eliminating countries to achieve elimination and prevent reintroduction through 2030 is approximately US$8.5 billion, or about $1.84 per person at risk per year (PPY (ranging from $2.51 PPY in 2014 to $1.43 PPY in 2030.Although external donor funding, particularly from the Global Fund, has been key for many malaria-eliminating countries, sustained and sufficient financing is critical for furthering global malaria elimination. Projected cost estimates for elimination provide policymakers with an indication of the

Using Tractography to Distinguish SWEDD from Parkinson’s Disease Patients Based on Connectivity

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Mansu Kim

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Background. It is critical to distinguish between Parkinson’s disease (PD and scans without evidence of dopaminergic deficit (SWEDD, because the two groups are different and require different therapeutic approaches. Objective. The aim of this study was to distinguish SWEDD patients from PD patients using connectivity information derived from diffusion tensor imaging tractography. Methods. Diffusion magnetic resonance images of SWEDD (n=37 and PD (n=40 were obtained from a research database. Tractography, the process of obtaining neural fiber information, was performed using custom software. Group-wise differences between PD and SWEDD patients were quantified using the number of connected fibers between two regions, and correlation analyses were performed based on clinical scores. A support vector machine classifier (SVM was applied to distinguish PD and SWEDD based on group-wise differences. Results. Four connections showed significant group-wise differences and correlated with the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale sponsored by the Movement Disorder Society. The SVM classifier attained 77.92% accuracy in distinguishing between SWEDD and PD using these identified connections. Conclusions. The connections and regions identified represent candidates for future research investigations.

Computer-assisted spectral design and synthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Vadakkumpadan, Fijoy; Wang, Qiqi; Sun, Yinlong

2005-01-01

In this paper, we propose a computer-assisted approach for spectral design and synthesis. This approach starts with some initial spectrum, modifies it interactively, evaluates the change, and decides the optimal spectrum. Given a requested change as function of wavelength, we model the change function using a Gaussian function. When there is the metameric constraint, from the Gaussian function of request change, we propose a method to generate the change function such that the result spectrum has the same color as the initial spectrum. We have tested the proposed method with different initial spectra and change functions, and implemented an interactive graphics environment for spectral design and synthesis. The proposed approach and graphics implementation for spectral design and synthesis can be helpful for a number of applications such as lighting of building interiors, textile coloration, and pigment development of automobile paints, and spectral computer graphics.

Intermediate spectral theory and quantum dynamics

CERN Document Server

de Oliveira, Cesar R

2008-01-01

The spectral theory of linear operators plays a key role in the mathematical formulation of quantum theory. Furthermore, such a rigorous mathematical foundation leads to a more profound insight into the nature of quantum mechanics. This textbook provides a concise and comprehensible introduction to the spectral theory of (unbounded) self-adjoint operators and its application in quantum dynamics. The book places emphasis on the symbiotic relationship of these two domains by (1) presenting the basic mathematics of nonrelativistic quantum mechanics of one particle, i.e., developing the spectral theory of self-adjoint operators in infinite-dimensional Hilbert spaces from the beginning, and (2) giving an overview of many of the basic functional aspects of quantum theory, from its physical principles to the mathematical models. The book is intended for graduate (or advanced undergraduate) students and researchers interested in mathematical physics. It starts with linear operator theory, spectral questions and self-...

An Observational Diagnostic for Distinguishing between Clouds and Haze in Hot Exoplanet Atmospheres

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kempton, Eliza M.-R.; Bean, Jacob L.; Parmentier, Vivien

2017-01-01

The nature of aerosols in hot exoplanet atmospheres is one of the primary vexing questions facing the exoplanet field. The complex chemistry, multiple formation pathways, and lack of easily identifiable spectral features associated with aerosols make it especially challenging to constrain their key properties. We propose a transmission spectroscopy technique to identify the primary aerosol formation mechanism for the most highly irradiated hot Jupiters (HIHJs). The technique is based on the expectation that the two key types of aerosols—photochemically generated hazes and equilibrium condensate clouds—are expected to form and persist in different regions of a highly irradiated planet’s atmosphere. Haze can only be produced on the permanent daysides of tidally locked hot Jupiters, and will be carried downwind by atmospheric dynamics to the evening terminator (seen as the trailing limb during transit). Clouds can only form in cooler regions on the nightside and morning terminator of HIHJs (seen as the leading limb during transit). Because opposite limbs are expected to be impacted by different types of aerosols, ingress and egress spectra, which primarily probe opposing sides of the planet, will reveal the dominant aerosol formation mechanism. We show that the benchmark HIHJ, WASP-121b, has a transmission spectrum consistent with partial aerosol coverage and that ingress–egress spectroscopy would constrain the location and formation mechanism of those aerosols. In general, using this diagnostic we find that observations with the James Webb Space Telescope and potentially with the Hubble Space Telescope should be able to distinguish between clouds and haze for currently known HIHJs.

An Observational Diagnostic for Distinguishing between Clouds and Haze in Hot Exoplanet Atmospheres

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kempton, Eliza M.-R. [Department of Physics, Grinnell College, 1116 8th Avenue, Grinnell, IA 50112 (United States); Bean, Jacob L. [Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago, 5640 S. Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Parmentier, Vivien, E-mail: kemptone@grinnell.edu [Department of Planetary Sciences and Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States)

2017-08-20

The nature of aerosols in hot exoplanet atmospheres is one of the primary vexing questions facing the exoplanet field. The complex chemistry, multiple formation pathways, and lack of easily identifiable spectral features associated with aerosols make it especially challenging to constrain their key properties. We propose a transmission spectroscopy technique to identify the primary aerosol formation mechanism for the most highly irradiated hot Jupiters (HIHJs). The technique is based on the expectation that the two key types of aerosols—photochemically generated hazes and equilibrium condensate clouds—are expected to form and persist in different regions of a highly irradiated planet’s atmosphere. Haze can only be produced on the permanent daysides of tidally locked hot Jupiters, and will be carried downwind by atmospheric dynamics to the evening terminator (seen as the trailing limb during transit). Clouds can only form in cooler regions on the nightside and morning terminator of HIHJs (seen as the leading limb during transit). Because opposite limbs are expected to be impacted by different types of aerosols, ingress and egress spectra, which primarily probe opposing sides of the planet, will reveal the dominant aerosol formation mechanism. We show that the benchmark HIHJ, WASP-121b, has a transmission spectrum consistent with partial aerosol coverage and that ingress–egress spectroscopy would constrain the location and formation mechanism of those aerosols. In general, using this diagnostic we find that observations with the James Webb Space Telescope and potentially with the Hubble Space Telescope should be able to distinguish between clouds and haze for currently known HIHJs.

Neural Indices of Semantic Processing in Early Childhood Distinguish Eventual Stuttering Persistence and Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Kreidler, Kathryn; Wray, Amanda Hampton; Usler, Evan; Weber, Christine

2017-01-01

Purpose: Maturation of neural processes for language may lag in some children who stutter (CWS), and event-related potentials (ERPs) distinguish CWS who have recovered from those who have persisted. The current study explores whether ERPs indexing semantic processing may distinguish children who will eventually persist in stuttering…

Distinguishing the elements of a full product basis set needs only projective measurements and classical communication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Pingxing; Li Chengzu

2004-01-01

Nonlocality without entanglement is an interesting field. A manifestation of quantum nonlocality without entanglement is the possible local indistinguishability of orthogonal product states. In this paper we analyze the character of operators to distinguish the elements of a full product basis set in a multipartite system, and show that distinguishing perfectly these product bases needs only local projective measurements and classical communication, and these measurements cannot damage each product basis. Employing these conclusions one can discuss local distinguishability of the elements of any full product basis set easily. Finally we discuss the generalization of these results to the locally distinguishability of the elements of incomplete product basis set

Accurate and independent spectral response scale based on silicon trap detectors and spectrally invariant detectors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gran, Jarle

2005-01-01

The study aims to establish an independent high accuracy spectral response scale over a broad spectral range based on standard laboratory equipment at a moderate cost. This had to be done by a primary method, where the responsivity of the detector is linked to fundamental constants. Summary, conclusion and future directions: In this thesis it has been demonstrated that an independent spectral response scale from the visual to the IR based on simple relative measurements can be established. The accuracy obtained by the hybrid self-calibration method demonstrates that state of the art accuracy is obtained with self-calibration principles. A calculable silicon trap detector with low internal losses over a wide spectral range is needed to establish the scale, in addition to a linear, spectrally independent detector with a good signal to noise ratio. By fitting the parameters in the responsivity model to a purely relative measurement we express the spectral response in terms of fundamental constants with a known uncertainty This is therefore a primary method. By applying a digital filter on the relative measurements of the InGaAs detectors in the infrared reduces the standard deviation by 30 %. In addition, by optimising the necessary scaling constant converting the relative calibration to absolute values, we have managed to establish an accurate and cost efficient spectral response scale in the IR. The full covariance analysis, which takes into account the correlation in the absolute values of the silicon detector, the correlation caused by the filter and the scaling constant, shows that the spectral response scale established in the infrared with InGaAs detectors is done with high accuracy. A similar procedure can be used in the UV, though it has not been demonstrated here. In fig. 10 the responsitivities of the detectors (a) and their associated uncertainties (b) at the 1 sigma level of confidence is compared for the three publications. We see that the responsivity

Food allergy diagnosis in patients with elimination diet history. Preliminary report

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Elsy Maureen Navarrete-Rodríguez

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Background: Food allergy diagnosis is performed by a double blind placebo controlled challenge; however, in a lot of patients, it is only based on clinical history, skin prick tests, or parents’ perception. There is a high frequency of elimination diets without an adequate approach. Objective: To analyze the results of diagnostic tests in a group of children with elimination diet-based on suspected food allergy and verify such studies with double blind placebo-controlled test challenge. Material and method: An observational, analytical and prospective study was done in a group of patients with elimination diet for suspected food allergy. We performed prick test, Prick-to-Prick test and patch test and the positive ones were verified by double-blind placebo-controlled challenge. Results: Fourty-three patients were included within a total of 1,935 tests. Both approach for immediate and late sensitivity had not statistically significant relationship between a positive test and the elimination of food. Until now, we had 4 (8% positive challenges out of 50. Conclusion: The frequency of allergy proved by double-blind placebo-controlled test in 50 challenges was of 8% (4/50, thus, in the preliminary report we found a high frequency of elimination diets without adequate support. It is very important that food allergy diagnosis is accurate and based on an appropriate approach; since the implementation of an elimination diet in pediatric population can have a negative influence on their growth and development.

BRANCHIAL ELIMINATION OF SUPERHYDROPHOBIC ORGANIC COMPOUNDS BY RAINBOW TROUT (ONCORHYNCHUS MYKISS)

Science.gov (United States)

The branchial elimination of pentachloroethane and four congeneric polychlorinated bephenyls by rainbow trout was measured using a fish respirometer-metabolism chamber and an adsorption resin column. Branchial elimination was characterized by calculating a set of apparent in vivo...

A siphon well model for hydraulic performance optimization and bubble elimination

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu, Hui, E-mail: fuhui_iwhr@126.com; Ji, Ping; Xia, Qingfu; Guo, Xinlei

2017-01-15

Highlights: • A new method was proposed to improve the hydraulic performance and bubble elimination. • The diversion pier and diversion grid were used to stabilize the flow pattern. • Double multi-hole orifices were arranged after the weir. • The new method has a simpler construction and greater bubble elimination. - Abstract: In coastal nuclear power plants, bubble entrainment at the hydraulic jump in the siphon well causes foam pollution and salt fog erosion near the outfall of the siphon well. Thus, bubble elimination in siphon wells has been a topic of considerable interest. This study presents a new hydraulic performance optimization and bubble elimination method based on model experiments. Compared to previous methods, the new method has a simple structure, is effective in eliminating bubbles and is well adapted to different tide levels. The method mainly uses a diversion pier, diversion grid and multi-hole orifices to improve the hydraulic performance, thus reducing bubble entrainment at the hydraulic jump and shortening the bubble movement length in the siphon well. This study provides a valuable reference for the future siphon well design of coastal power plants.

A siphon well model for hydraulic performance optimization and bubble elimination

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fu, Hui; Ji, Ping; Xia, Qingfu; Guo, Xinlei

2017-01-01

Highlights: • A new method was proposed to improve the hydraulic performance and bubble elimination. • The diversion pier and diversion grid were used to stabilize the flow pattern. • Double multi-hole orifices were arranged after the weir. • The new method has a simpler construction and greater bubble elimination. - Abstract: In coastal nuclear power plants, bubble entrainment at the hydraulic jump in the siphon well causes foam pollution and salt fog erosion near the outfall of the siphon well. Thus, bubble elimination in siphon wells has been a topic of considerable interest. This study presents a new hydraulic performance optimization and bubble elimination method based on model experiments. Compared to previous methods, the new method has a simple structure, is effective in eliminating bubbles and is well adapted to different tide levels. The method mainly uses a diversion pier, diversion grid and multi-hole orifices to improve the hydraulic performance, thus reducing bubble entrainment at the hydraulic jump and shortening the bubble movement length in the siphon well. This study provides a valuable reference for the future siphon well design of coastal power plants.

Emissivity compensated spectral pyrometry—algorithm and sensitivity analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hagqvist, Petter; Sikström, Fredrik; Christiansson, Anna-Karin; Lennartson, Bengt

2014-01-01

In order to solve the problem of non-contact temperature measurements on an object with varying emissivity, a new method is herein described and evaluated. The method uses spectral radiance measurements and converts them to temperature readings. It proves to be resilient towards changes in spectral emissivity and tolerates noisy spectral measurements. It is based on an assumption of smooth changes in emissivity and uses historical values of spectral emissivity and temperature for estimating current spectral emissivity. The algorithm, its constituent steps and accompanying parameters are described and discussed. A thorough sensitivity analysis of the method is carried out through simulations. No rigorous instrument calibration is needed for the presented method and it is therefore industrially tractable. (paper)

In situ measured elimination of Vibrio cholerae from brackish water.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, María Elena Martínez; Macek, Miroslav; Galván, María Teresa Castro

2004-01-01

In situ elimination of fluorescently labelled Vibrio cholerae (FLB) was measured in two saline water bodies in Mexico: in a brackish water lagoon, Mecoacán (Gulf of Mexico; State of Tabasco) and an athalassohaline lake, Alchichica (State of Puebla). Disappearance rates of fluorescently labelled V. cholera O1 showed that they were eliminated from the environment at an average rate of 32% and 63%/day, respectively (based on the bacterial standing stocks). The indirect immunofluorescence method confirmed the presence of V. cholerae O1 in the lagoon. However, the elimination of FLB was not directly related either to the presence or absence of the bacterium in the water body or to the phytoplankton concentration.

Criteria for eliminating items of a Test of Figural Analogies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Diego Blum

2013-12-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the steps taken to eliminate two of the items in a Test of Figural Analogies (TFA. The main guidelines of psychometric analysis concerning Classical Test Theory (CTT and Item Response Theory (IRT are explained. The item elimination process was based on both the study of the CTT difficulty and discrimination index, and the unidimensionality analysis. The a, b, and c parameters of the Three Parameter Logistic Model of IRT were also considered for this purpose, as well as the assessment of each item fitting this model. The unfavourable characteristics of a group of TFA items are detailed, and decisions leading to their possible elimination are discussed.

A mathematical model for carbon dioxide elimination: an insight for tuning mechanical ventilation.

Science.gov (United States)

Pomprapa, Anake; Schwaiberger, David; Lachmann, Burkhard; Leonhardt, Steffen

2014-01-01

The aim is to provide better understanding of carbon dioxide (CO2) elimination during ventilation for both the healthy and atelectatic condition, derived in a pressure-controlled mode. Therefore, we present a theoretical analysis of CO2 elimination of healthy and diseased lungs. Based on a single-compartment model, CO2 elimination is mathematically modeled and its contours were plotted as a function of temporal settings and driving pressure. The model was validated within some level of tolerance on an average of 4.9% using porcine dynamics. CO2 elimination is affected by various factors, including driving pressure, temporal variables from mechanical ventilator settings, lung mechanics and metabolic rate. During respiratory care, CO2 elimination is a key parameter for bedside monitoring, especially for patients with pulmonary disease. This parameter provides valuable insight into the status of an atelectatic lung and of cardiopulmonary pathophysiology. Therefore, control of CO2 elimination should be based on the fine tuning of the driving pressure and temporal ventilator settings. However, for critical condition of hypercapnia, airway resistance during inspiration and expiration should be additionally measured to determine the optimal percent inspiratory time (%TI) to maximize CO2 elimination for treating patients with hypercapnia.

Spectral Compressive Sensing with Polar Interpolation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fyhn, Karsten; Dadkhahi, Hamid; F. Duarte, Marco

2013-01-01

. In this paper, we introduce a greedy recovery algorithm that leverages a band-exclusion function and a polar interpolation function to address these two issues in spectral compressive sensing. Our algorithm is geared towards line spectral estimation from compressive measurements and outperforms most existing...

USGS Digital Spectral Library splib06a

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Roger N.; Swayze, Gregg A.; Wise, Richard A.; Livo, K. Eric; Hoefen, Todd M.; Kokaly, Raymond F.; Sutley, Stephen J.

2007-01-01

Introduction We have assembled a digital reflectance spectral library that covers the wavelength range from the ultraviolet to far infrared along with sample documentation. The library includes samples of minerals, rocks, soils, physically constructed as well as mathematically computed mixtures, plants, vegetation communities, microorganisms, and man-made materials. The samples and spectra collected were assembled for the purpose of using spectral features for the remote detection of these and similar materials. Analysis of spectroscopic data from laboratory, aircraft, and spacecraft instrumentation requires a knowledge base. The spectral library discussed here forms a knowledge base for the spectroscopy of minerals and related materials of importance to a variety of research programs being conducted at the U.S. Geological Survey. Much of this library grew out of the need for spectra to support imaging spectroscopy studies of the Earth and planets. Imaging spectrometers, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Airborne Visible/Infra Red Imaging Spectrometer (AVIRIS) or the NASA Cassini Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) which is currently orbiting Saturn, have narrow bandwidths in many contiguous spectral channels that permit accurate definition of absorption features in spectra from a variety of materials. Identification of materials from such data requires a comprehensive spectral library of minerals, vegetation, man-made materials, and other subjects in the scene. Our research involves the use of the spectral library to identify the components in a spectrum of an unknown. Therefore, the quality of the library must be very good. However, the quality required in a spectral library to successfully perform an investigation depends on the scientific questions to be answered and the type of algorithms to be used. For example, to map a mineral using imaging spectroscopy and the mapping algorithm of Clark and others (1990a, 2003b

Quantum-Secret-Sharing Scheme Based on Local Distinguishability of Orthogonal Seven-Qudit Entangled States

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Cheng-Ji; Li, Zhi-Hui; Bai, Chen-Ming; Si, Meng-Meng

2018-02-01

The concept of judgment space was proposed by Wang et al. (Phys. Rev. A 95, 022320, 2017), which was used to study some important properties of quantum entangled states based on local distinguishability. In this study, we construct 15 kinds of seven-qudit quantum entangled states in the sense of permutation, calculate their judgment space and propose a distinguishability rule to make the judgment space more clearly. Based on this rule, we study the local distinguishability of the 15 kinds of seven-qudit quantum entangled states and then propose a ( k, n) threshold quantum secret sharing scheme. Finally, we analyze the security of the scheme.

Distinguishing benign from malignant gallbladder wall thickening using FDG-PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oe, Ai; Kawabe, Joji; Torii, Kenji

2006-01-01

Because thickening of the gallbladder wall is observed not only in patients with gallbladder cancer but also in those with benign diseases such as chronic cholecystitis and gallbladder adenomyosis, it is difficult to distinguish between benign and malignant gallbladder wall thickening by conventional techniques of diagnostic imaging such as computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and abdominal ultrasonography (US). In the present study, we attempted to distinguish between benign and malignant gallbladder wall thickening by means of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-Positron emission tomography (PET). FDG-PET was performed in 12 patients with gallbladder wall thickening detected by CT or US, to determine whether it was benign or malignant. Emission scans were taken, beginning 45 minutes after intravenous administration of FDG, and standardized uptake value (SUV) was calculated as an indicator of glucose metabolism. Of the 12 patients, 4 showed positive uptake of FDG in the gallbladder wall. Of these 4 patients, 3 had gallbladder cancer. The remaining one, who had chronic cholecystitis, had false-positive findings. The other 8 patients had negative uptake of FDG in the gallbladder wall. Two of these 8 underwent surgical resection, which yielded a diagnosis of chronic cholecystitis. The other 6 patients exhibited no sign of gallbladder malignancy and have been followed without active treatment. FDG-PET appears able to distinguish between benign and malignant gallbladder wall thickening. (author)

Analysis of the application of selected physico-chemical methods in eliminating odor nuisance of municipal facilities

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miller Urszula

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Operation of municipal management facilities is inseparable from the problem of malodorous compounds emissions to the atmospheric air. In that case odor nuisance is related to the chemical composition of waste, sewage and sludge as well as to the activity of microorganisms whose products of life processes can be those odorous compounds. Significant reduction of odorant emission from many sources can be achieved by optimizing parameters and conditions of processes. However, it is not always possible to limit the formation of odorants. In such cases it is best to use appropriate deodorizing methods. The choice of the appropriate method is based on in terms of physical parameters, emission intensity of polluted gases and their composition, if it is possible to determine. Among the solutions used in municipal economy, there can be distinguished physico-chemical methods such as sorption and oxidation. In cases where the source of the emission is not encapsulated, odor masking techniques are used, which consists of spraying preparations that neutralize unpleasant odors. The paper presents the characteristics of selected methods of eliminating odor nuisance and evaluation of their applicability in municipal management facilities.

Analysis of the application of selected physico-chemical methods in eliminating odor nuisance of municipal facilities

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Urszula; Grzelka, Agnieszka; Romanik, Elżbieta; Kuriata, Magdalena

2018-01-01

Operation of municipal management facilities is inseparable from the problem of malodorous compounds emissions to the atmospheric air. In that case odor nuisance is related to the chemical composition of waste, sewage and sludge as well as to the activity of microorganisms whose products of life processes can be those odorous compounds. Significant reduction of odorant emission from many sources can be achieved by optimizing parameters and conditions of processes. However, it is not always possible to limit the formation of odorants. In such cases it is best to use appropriate deodorizing methods. The choice of the appropriate method is based on in terms of physical parameters, emission intensity of polluted gases and their composition, if it is possible to determine. Among the solutions used in municipal economy, there can be distinguished physico-chemical methods such as sorption and oxidation. In cases where the source of the emission is not encapsulated, odor masking techniques are used, which consists of spraying preparations that neutralize unpleasant odors. The paper presents the characteristics of selected methods of eliminating odor nuisance and evaluation of their applicability in municipal management facilities.

Maximum spectral demands in the near-fault region

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Yin-Nan; Whittaker, Andrew S.; Luco, Nicolas

2008-01-01

The Next Generation Attenuation (NGA) relationships for shallow crustal earthquakes in the western United States predict a rotated geometric mean of horizontal spectral demand, termed GMRotI50, and not maximum spectral demand. Differences between strike-normal, strike-parallel, geometric-mean, and maximum spectral demands in the near-fault region are investigated using 147 pairs of records selected from the NGA strong motion database. The selected records are for earthquakes with moment magnitude greater than 6.5 and for closest site-to-fault distance less than 15 km. Ratios of maximum spectral demand to NGA-predicted GMRotI50 for each pair of ground motions are presented. The ratio shows a clear dependence on period and the Somerville directivity parameters. Maximum demands can substantially exceed NGA-predicted GMRotI50 demands in the near-fault region, which has significant implications for seismic design, seismic performance assessment, and the next-generation seismic design maps. Strike-normal spectral demands are a significantly unconservative surrogate for maximum spectral demands for closest distance greater than 3 to 5 km. Scale factors that transform NGA-predicted GMRotI50 to a maximum spectral demand in the near-fault region are proposed.

Spectral features in the cosmic ray fluxes

Science.gov (United States)

Lipari, Paolo

2018-01-01

The cosmic ray energy distributions contain spectral features, that is narrow energy regions where the slope of the spectrum changes rapidly. The identification and study of these features is of great importance to understand the astrophysical mechanisms of acceleration and propagation that form the spectra. In first approximation a spectral feature is often described as a discontinuous change in slope, however very valuable information is also contained in its width, that is the length of the energy interval where the change in spectral index develops. In this work we discuss the best way to define and parameterize the width a spectral feature, and for illustration discuss some of the most prominent known structures.

The architecture and effect of participation: a systematic review of community participation for communicable disease control and elimination. Implications for malaria elimination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Whittaker Maxine

2011-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Community engagement and participation has played a critical role in successful disease control and elimination campaigns in many countries. Despite this, its benefits for malaria control and elimination are yet to be fully realized. This may be due to a limited understanding of the influences on participation in developing countries as well as inadequate investment in infrastructure and resources to support sustainable community participation. This paper reports the findings of an atypical systematic review of 60 years of literature in order to arrive at a more comprehensive awareness of the constructs of participation for communicable disease control and elimination and provide guidance for the current malaria elimination campaign. Methods Evidence derived from quantitative research was considered both independently and collectively with qualitative research papers and case reports. All papers included in the review were systematically coded using a pre-determined qualitative coding matrix that identified influences on community participation at the individual, household, community and government/civil society levels. Colour coding was also carried out to reflect the key primary health care period in which community participation programmes originated. These processes allowed exhaustive content analysis and synthesis of data in an attempt to realize conceptual development beyond that able to be achieved by individual empirical studies or case reports. Results Of the 60 papers meeting the selection criteria, only four studies attempted to determine the effect of community participation on disease transmission. Due to inherent differences in their design, interventions and outcome measures, results could not be compared. However, these studies showed statistically significant reductions in disease incidence or prevalence using various forms of community participation. The use of locally selected volunteers provided with

Distinguishing between Poor/Dysfunctional Parenting and Child Emotional Maltreatment

Science.gov (United States)

Wolfe, David A.; McIsaac, Caroline

2011-01-01

Objective: This paper was intended to distinguish between poor parenting and child emotional maltreatment (CEM), to inform child welfare and public health policymakers of the need for differentiated responses. Methods: Scientific literature was integrated with current practice and assumptions relating to poor/dysfunctional parenting and child…

Lacunarity Elimination in the Translation of Nonequivalent Juridical Terms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir A. Lazarev

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In the article the authors refer to the problem of lacunarity elimination in legal texts reflecting national specific features in the legal sphere. Various ways of filling gaps when translating from English into Russian are suggested using legal-dogmatic theoretical texts as an example. Different variants of the lacunae elimination are proposed, which take into account the peculiarities of this type of text and can assist in the work of a legal translator.

Which structural rules admit cut elimination? An algebraic criterion

OpenAIRE

Terui, Kazushige

2007-01-01

Consider a general class of structural inference rules such as exchange, weakening, contraction and their generalizations. Among them, some are harmless but others do harm to cut elimination. Hence it is natural to ask under which condition cut elimination is preserved when a set of structural rules is added to a structure-free logic. The aim of this work is to give such a condition by using algebraic semantics. ¶ We consider full Lambek calculus (FL), i.e., intuitioni...

Distinguishing hyperhidrosis and normal physiological sweat production

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Thorlacius, Linnea; Gyldenløve, Mette; Zachariae, Claus

2015-01-01

of this study was to establish reference intervals for normal physiological axillary and palmar sweat production. METHODS: Gravimetric testing was performed in 75 healthy control subjects. Subsequently, these results were compared with findings in a cohort of patients with hyperhidrosis and with the results...... 100 mg/5 min. CONCLUSIONS: A sweat production rate of 100 mg/5 min as measured by gravimetric testing may be a reasonable cut-off value for distinguishing axillary and palmar hyperhidrosis from normal physiological sweat production....

Biologic phosphorus elimination - influencing parameters, boundary conditions, process optimation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dai Xiaohu.

1992-01-01

This paper first presents a systematic study of the basic process of biologic phosphorus elimination as employed by the original 'Phoredox (Main Stream) Process'. The conditions governing the process and the factors influencing its performance were determined by trial operation. A stationary model was developed for the purpose of modelling biologic phosphorus elimination in such a main stream process and optimising the dimensioning. The validity of the model was confirmed by operational data given in the literature and by operational data from the authors' own semitechnical-scale experimental plant. The model permits simulation of the values to be expected for effluent phosphorus and phosphate concentrations for given influent data and boundary conditions. It is thus possible to dimension a plant for accomodation of the original Phoredox (Main Stream) Process or any similar phosphorus eliminating plant that is to work according to the principle of the main stream process. (orig./EF) [de

Rayleigh Instability-Assisted Satellite Droplets Elimination in Inkjet Printing.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Qiang; Li, Huizeng; Li, Mingzhu; Li, Yanan; Chen, Shuoran; Bao, Bin; Song, Yanlin

2017-11-29

Elimination of satellite droplets in inkjet printing has long been desired for high-resolution and precision printing of functional materials and tissues. Generally, the strategy to suppress satellite droplets is to control ink properties, such as viscosity or surface tension, to assist ink filaments in retracting into one drop. However, this strategy brings new restrictions to the ink, such as ink viscosity, surface tension, and concentration. Here, we report an alternative strategy that the satellite droplets are eliminated by enhancing Rayleigh instability of filament at the break point to accelerate pinch-off of the droplet from the nozzle. A superhydrophobic and ultralow adhesive nozzle with cone morphology exhibits the capability to eliminate satellite droplets by cutting the ink filament at breakup point effectively. As a result, the nozzles with different sizes (10-80 μm) are able to print more inks (1 printing electronics and biotechnologies.

Spectral State Evolution of 4U 1820-30: the Stability of the Spectral Index of Comptonization Tail

Science.gov (United States)

Titarchuk, Lev G.; Seifina, Elena; Frontera, Filippo

2013-01-01

We analyze the X-ray spectra and their timing properties of the compact Xray binary 4U 1820-30. We establish spectral transitions in this source seen with BeppoSAX and the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE). During the RXTE observations (1996 - 2009), the source were approximately approximately 75% of its time in the soft state making the lower banana and upper banana transitions combined with long-term low-high state transitions. We reveal that all of the X-ray spectra of 4U 1820-30 are fit by a composition of a thermal (blackbody) component, a Comptonization component (COMPTB) and a Gaussian-line component. Thus using this spectral analysis we find that the photon power-law index Gamma of the Comptonization component is almost unchangeable (Gamma approximately 2) while the electron temperature kTe changes from 2.9 to 21 keV during these spectral events. We also establish that for these spectral events the normalization of COMPTB component (which is proportional to mass accretion rate ?M) increases by factor 8 when kTe decreases from 21 keV to 2.9 keV. Before this index stability effect was also found analyzing X-ray data for Z-source GX 340+0 and for atolls, 4U 1728-34, GX 3+1. Thus, we can suggest that this spectral stability property is a spectral signature of an accreting neutron star source. On the other hand in a black hole binary G monotonically increases with ?Mand ultimately its value saturates at large ?M.

Laboratory test variables useful for distinguishing upper from lower gastrointestinal bleeding.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomizawa, Minoru; Shinozaki, Fuminobu; Hasegawa, Rumiko; Shirai, Yoshinori; Motoyoshi, Yasufumi; Sugiyama, Takao; Yamamoto, Shigenori; Ishige, Naoki

2015-05-28

To distinguish upper from lower gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding. Patient records between April 2011 and March 2014 were analyzed retrospectively (3296 upper endoscopy, and 1520 colonoscopy). Seventy-six patients had upper GI bleeding (Upper group) and 65 had lower GI bleeding (Lower group). Variables were compared between the groups using one-way analysis of variance. Logistic regression was performed to identify variables significantly associated with the diagnosis of upper vs lower GI bleeding. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to determine the threshold value that could distinguish upper from lower GI bleeding. Hemoglobin (P = 0.023), total protein (P = 0.0002), and lactate dehydrogenase (P = 0.009) were significantly lower in the Upper group than in the Lower group. Blood urea nitrogen (BUN) was higher in the Upper group than in the Lower group (P = 0.0065). Logistic regression analysis revealed that BUN was most strongly associated with the diagnosis of upper vs lower GI bleeding. ROC analysis revealed a threshold BUN value of 21.0 mg/dL, with a specificity of 93.0%. The threshold BUN value for distinguishing upper from lower GI bleeding was 21.0 mg/dL.

Total spectral distributions from Hawking radiation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Broda, Boguslaw [University of Lodz, Department of Theoretical Physics, Faculty of Physics and Applied Informatics, Lodz (Poland)

2017-11-15

Taking into account the time dependence of the Hawking temperature and finite evaporation time of the black hole, the total spectral distributions of the radiant energy and of the number of particles have been explicitly calculated and compared to their temporary (initial) blackbody counterparts (spectral exitances). (orig.)

Spectral zone selection methodology for pebble bed reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mphahlele, Ramatsemela; Ougouag, Abderrafi M.; Ivanov, Kostadin N.; Gougar, Hans D.

2011-01-01

A methodology is developed for determining boundaries of spectral zones for pebble bed reactors. A spectral zone is defined as a region made up of a number of nodes whose characteristics are collectively similar and that are assigned the same few-group diffusion constants. The spectral zones are selected in such a manner that the difference (error) between the reference transport solution and the diffusion code solution takes a minimum value. This is achieved by choosing spectral zones through optimally minimizing this error. The objective function for the optimization algorithm is the total reaction rate error, which is defined as the sum of the leakage, absorption and fission reaction rates errors in each zone. The selection of these spectral zones is such that the core calculation results based on diffusion theory are within an acceptable tolerance as compared to a proper transport reference solution. Through this work, a consistent approach for identifying spectral zones that yield more accurate diffusion results is introduced.

Spectral analysis and filter theory in applied geophysics

CERN Document Server

Buttkus, Burkhard

2000-01-01

This book is intended to be an introduction to the fundamentals and methods of spectral analysis and filter theory and their appli­ cations in geophysics. The principles and theoretical basis of the various methods are described, their efficiency and effectiveness eval­ uated, and instructions provided for their practical application. Be­ sides the conventional methods, newer methods arediscussed, such as the spectral analysis ofrandom processes by fitting models to the ob­ served data, maximum-entropy spectral analysis and maximum-like­ lihood spectral analysis, the Wiener and Kalman filtering methods, homomorphic deconvolution, and adaptive methods for nonstation­ ary processes. Multidimensional spectral analysis and filtering, as well as multichannel filters, are given extensive treatment. The book provides a survey of the state-of-the-art of spectral analysis and fil­ ter theory. The importance and possibilities ofspectral analysis and filter theory in geophysics for data acquisition, processing an...

Viability in holder of irradiated cells: distinguish between repair and cell multiplication

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Araujo, A.C. de.

1980-01-01

In experiments in which liquid holding recovery (LHR) was measured, the majority of cellular population is formed by non-viable cells and cell multiplication may be important for LHR expression. In order to distinguish between recuperation of viability (true LHR) and cell multiplication, it was necessary to employ improved plating techniques and a fluctuation test based on Poisson distribution. Our results are an indication that this fluctuation test, used together with the traditional method, is a good tool to distinguish repair from cell multiplication. (author)

Diagnostic spectral characteristics of damouritization in granite type uranium deposit

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He Jianguo; Mao Yuxian; Li Jianzhong; Wang Changliang; Feng Mingyue; Rong Jiashu; Zhu Minqiang; Rao Minghui

2008-01-01

Spectral characteristics of different alteration type in uranium deposit are the prerequisite of selecting remote sensing spectral bands for uranium reconnaissance and exploration. It is also a basis for mapping alteration zone using imaging spectral data. Taking the No. 201 uranium deposit as example, the paper is focused on the spectral characteristics researching of damouritization in granite type uranium deposite. Through extracting diagnostic spectral feature of damourite and analyzing the reason causing absorption valley, it was found that spectral characteristics of damouritization in Chinese uranium deposit is different from that of illite in the spectral library published abroad. (authors)

Diagnostic spectral characteristics of damouritization in granite type uranium deposit

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jianguo, He; Yuxian, Mao; Jianzhong, Li; Changliang, Wang; Mingyue, Feng; Jiashu, Rong [Beijing Research Inst. of Uranium Geology, Beijing (China); Minqiang, Zhu; Minghui, Rao [East China Univ. of Technology, Fuzhou (China)

2008-07-15

Spectral characteristics of different alteration type in uranium deposit are the prerequisite of selecting remote sensing spectral bands for uranium reconnaissance and exploration. It is also a basis for mapping alteration zone using imaging spectral data. Taking the No. 201 uranium deposit as example, the paper is focused on the spectral characteristics researching of damouritization in granite type uranium deposite. Through extracting diagnostic spectral feature of damourite and analyzing the reason causing absorption valley, it was found that spectral characteristics of damouritization in Chinese uranium deposit is different from that of illite in the spectral library published abroad. (authors)

FSD: Frequency Space Differential measurement of CMB spectral distortions

Science.gov (United States)

Mukherjee, Suvodip; Silk, Joseph; Wandelt, Benjamin D.

2018-04-01

Although the Cosmic Microwave Background agrees with a perfect blackbody spectrum within the current experimental limits, it is expected to exhibit certain spectral distortions with known spectral properties. We propose a new method, Frequency Space Differential (FSD) to measure the spectral distortions in the CMB spectrum by using the inter-frequency differences of the brightness temperature. The difference between the observed CMB temperature at different frequencies must agree with the frequency derivative of the blackbody spectrum, in the absence of any distortion. However, in the presence of spectral distortions, the measured inter-frequency differences would also exhibit deviations from blackbody which can be modeled for known sources of spectral distortions like y & μ. Our technique uses FSD information for the CMB blackbody, y, μ or any other sources of spectral distortions to model the observed signal. Successful application of this method in future CMB missions can provide an alternative method to extract spectral distortion signals and can potentially make it feasible to measure spectral distortions without an internal blackbody calibrator.

Spectral signature verification using statistical analysis and text mining

Science.gov (United States)

DeCoster, Mallory E.; Firpi, Alexe H.; Jacobs, Samantha K.; Cone, Shelli R.; Tzeng, Nigel H.; Rodriguez, Benjamin M.

2016-05-01

In the spectral science community, numerous spectral signatures are stored in databases representative of many sample materials collected from a variety of spectrometers and spectroscopists. Due to the variety and variability of the spectra that comprise many spectral databases, it is necessary to establish a metric for validating the quality of spectral signatures. This has been an area of great discussion and debate in the spectral science community. This paper discusses a method that independently validates two different aspects of a spectral signature to arrive at a final qualitative assessment; the textual meta-data and numerical spectral data. Results associated with the spectral data stored in the Signature Database1 (SigDB) are proposed. The numerical data comprising a sample material's spectrum is validated based on statistical properties derived from an ideal population set. The quality of the test spectrum is ranked based on a spectral angle mapper (SAM) comparison to the mean spectrum derived from the population set. Additionally, the contextual data of a test spectrum is qualitatively analyzed using lexical analysis text mining. This technique analyzes to understand the syntax of the meta-data to provide local learning patterns and trends within the spectral data, indicative of the test spectrum's quality. Text mining applications have successfully been implemented for security2 (text encryption/decryption), biomedical3 , and marketing4 applications. The text mining lexical analysis algorithm is trained on the meta-data patterns of a subset of high and low quality spectra, in order to have a model to apply to the entire SigDB data set. The statistical and textual methods combine to assess the quality of a test spectrum existing in a database without the need of an expert user. This method has been compared to other validation methods accepted by the spectral science community, and has provided promising results when a baseline spectral signature is

Enzyme activity measurement via spectral evolution profiling and PARAFAC

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baum, Andreas; Meyer, Anne S.; Garcia, Javier Lopez

2013-01-01

The recent advances in multi-way analysis provide new solutions to traditional enzyme activity assessment. In the present study enzyme activity has been determined by monitoring spectral changes of substrates and products in real time. The method relies on measurement of distinct spectral...... fingerprints of the reaction mixture at specific time points during the course of the whole enzyme catalyzed reaction and employs multi-way analysis to detect the spectral changes. The methodology is demonstrated by spectral evolution profiling of Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectral fingerprints using...

Spectral decomposition of tent maps using symmetry considerations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ordonez, G.E.; Driebe, D.J.

1996-01-01

The spectral decompostion of the Frobenius-Perron operator of maps composed of many tents is determined from symmetry considerations. The eigenstates involve Euler as well as Bernoulli polynomials. The authors have introduced some new techniques, based on symmetry considerations, enabling the construction of spectral decompositions in a much simpler way than previous construction algorithms, Here we utilize these techniques to construct the spectral decomposition for one- dimensional maps of the unit interval composed of many tents. The construction uses the knowledge of the spectral decomposition of the r-adic map, which involves Bernoulli polynomials and their duals. It will be seen that the spectral decomposition of the tent maps involves both Bernoulli polynomials and Euler polynomials along with the appropriate dual states

Multi-spectral confocal microendoscope for in-vivo imaging

Science.gov (United States)

Rouse, Andrew Robert

The concept of in-vivo multi-spectral confocal microscopy is introduced. A slit-scanning multi-spectral confocal microendoscope (MCME) was built to demonstrate the technique. The MCME employs a flexible fiber-optic catheter coupled to a custom built slit-scan confocal microscope fitted with a custom built imaging spectrometer. The catheter consists of a fiber-optic imaging bundle linked to a miniature objective and focus assembly. The design and performance of the miniature objective and focus assembly are discussed. The 3mm diameter catheter may be used on its own or routed though the instrument channel of a commercial endoscope. The confocal nature of the system provides optical sectioning with 3mum lateral resolution and 30mum axial resolution. The prism based multi-spectral detection assembly is typically configured to collect 30 spectral samples over the visible chromatic range. The spectral sampling rate varies from 4nm/pixel at 490nm to 8nm/pixel at 660nm and the minimum resolvable wavelength difference varies from 7nm to 18nm over the same spectral range. Each of these characteristics are primarily dictated by the dispersive power of the prism. The MCME is designed to examine cellular structures during optical biopsy and to exploit the diagnostic information contained within the spectral domain. The primary applications for the system include diagnosis of disease in the gastro-intestinal tract and female reproductive system. Recent data from the grayscale imaging mode are presented. Preliminary multi-spectral results from phantoms, cell cultures, and excised human tissue are presented to demonstrate the potential of in-vivo multi-spectral imaging.

Interocularly merged face percepts eliminate binocular rivalry

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Klink, P. Christiaan; Boucherie, Daphne; Denys, Damiaan; Roelfsema, Pieter R.; Self, Matthew W.

2017-01-01

Faces are important visual objects for humans and other social animals. A complex network of specialized brain areas is involved in the recognition and interpretation of faces. This network needs to strike a balance between being sensitive enough to distinguish between different faces with similar

77 FR 65555 - Advisory Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET)

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-29

... Council for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (ACET) In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of the Federal... tuberculosis. Specifically, the Council makes recommendations regarding policies, strategies, objectives, and... progress has been made toward eliminating tuberculosis. Matters To Be Discussed: Agenda items include the...

Spectral backward radiation profile

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwon, Sung Duck; Lee, Keun Hyun; Kim, Bo Ra; Yoon, Suk Soo

2004-01-01

Ultrasonic backward radiation profile is frequency-dependent when incident region has deptional gradient of acoustical properties or multi-layers. Until now, we have measured the profiles of principal frequencies of used transducers so that it was not easy to understand the change of the frequency component and spectrum of backward radiation from the profile. We tried to measure the spectral backward radiation profiles using DFP(digital filer package) Lecroy DSO. The very big changes in the shape and pattern of spectral backward radiation profiles leads to the conclusion that this new try could be very effective tool to evaluate frequency dependent surface area.

Elimination of salmonella from animal glandular products.

Science.gov (United States)

De Fiebre, C W; Burck, K T; Feldman, D

1969-03-01

Methods for the elimination of salmonellae from selected powdered pharmaceuticals of animal glandular origin were studied. Terminal heat treatment under carefully controlled conditions was effective for pancreatin-a powder containing proteolytic, amylolytic, and lipolytic enzymes prepared from hog pancreas glands. Use of this method resulted in a significant reduction in the number of salmonella-positive batches and also reduced the testing procedures required to confirm the absence of viable salmonellae among the majority of samples tested. Powders such as stomach substance and thyroid, in which the biological activity is not enzyme in nature, were treated successfully with acidified organic solvents. Other methods were investigated but were not suitable because of a deleterious effect on the biological activity or physical properties of the product or an inability to effect salmonella elimination.

Elimination of Salmonellae from Animal Glandular Products

Science.gov (United States)

De Fiebre, Conrad W.; Burck, Kenneth T.; Feldman, David

1969-01-01

Methods for the elimination of salmonellae from selected powdered pharmaceuticals of animal glandular origin were studied. Terminal heat treatment under carefully controlled conditions was effective for pancreatin—a powder containing proteolytic, amylolytic, and lipolytic enzymes prepared from hog pancreas glands. Use of this method resulted in a significant reduction in the number of salmonella-positive batches and also reduced the testing procedures required to confirm the absence of viable salmonellae among the majority of samples tested. Powders such as stomach substance and thyroid, in which the biological activity is not enzyme in nature, were treated successfully with acidified organic solvents. Other methods were investigated but were not suitable because of a deleterious effect on the biological activity or physical properties of the product or an inability to effect salmonella elimination. PMID:5780395

Studies to distinguish between human and animal faecal pollution ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Human enteric viral infections are considered to be predominantly associated with human wastes, as opposed to animal wastes, and a distinction between these has benefits for water quality control and risk assessment. A variety of techniques have been described to distinguish between human and animal faecal pollution ...

Rayleigh imaging in spectral mammography

Science.gov (United States)

Berggren, Karl; Danielsson, Mats; Fredenberg, Erik

2016-03-01

Spectral imaging is the acquisition of multiple images of an object at different energy spectra. In mammography, dual-energy imaging (spectral imaging with two energy levels) has been investigated for several applications, in particular material decomposition, which allows for quantitative analysis of breast composition and quantitative contrast-enhanced imaging. Material decomposition with dual-energy imaging is based on the assumption that there are two dominant photon interaction effects that determine linear attenuation: the photoelectric effect and Compton scattering. This assumption limits the number of basis materials, i.e. the number of materials that are possible to differentiate between, to two. However, Rayleigh scattering may account for more than 10% of the linear attenuation in the mammography energy range. In this work, we show that a modified version of a scanning multi-slit spectral photon-counting mammography system is able to acquire three images at different spectra and can be used for triple-energy imaging. We further show that triple-energy imaging in combination with the efficient scatter rejection of the system enables measurement of Rayleigh scattering, which adds an additional energy dependency to the linear attenuation and enables material decomposition with three basis materials. Three available basis materials have the potential to improve virtually all applications of spectral imaging.

Conformal anomaly and elimination of infrared divergences in curved spacetime

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grib, A.A.; Nesteruk, A.V.; Pritomanov, S.A.

1984-01-01

The relation between the problem of eliminating the infrared divergences and the conformal anomaly of the regularized energy-momentum tensor is studied in homogeneous isotropic and anisotropic spacetime. It is shown that elimination of the infrared divergence by means of a cutoff or the introduction of a conformally invariant mass of the field leads to the absence of the conformal anomaly

Dual-Laser vibrometry: Elimination or extraction of pseudo vibration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jakobsen, Michael Linde; Bækbo, Martin Jesper; Hanson, Steen Grüner

2014-01-01

This paper investigates the principal idea of a method using two identical laser vibrometers to eliminate pseudovibrations, occurring as structured noise in laser-vibrometer measurements of angular velocity of a rotating object. Thetwo vibrometers monitor the same surface path on the rotating...... in angularvelocity of the object occur simultaneously at the two vibrometers. Knowing the angular separation between thevibrometers, simple trigonometry canbe used to eliminate the pseudo vibrations. These vibrometers are based oncameras, therefore the experiments demonstrate the principle of the method only...

Natural elimination of volatile halogenated hydrocarbons from the environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Harress, H.M.; Grathwohl, P.; Torunski, H.

1987-01-01

Recently carried out field investigations of groundwater contaminations with volatile halogenated hydrocarbons have shown evidence of natural elimination of these hazardous substances. This elimination effects is rare and observed in connection with special geological conditions. With regard to some contaminated sites, the following mechanisms for this behaviour are discussed: 1. Stripping by naturally ascending gases. 2. Sorption on soil organic matter. 3. Biodegradation. The so far compiled knowledge allowed to develop further research programmes, which are pursued in various projects.

Spectral functions from hadronic τ decays

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Davier, Michel

2002-01-01

Hadronic decays of the τ lepton provide a clean environment to study hadron dynamics in an energy regime dominated by romances, with the interesting information captured in the spectral functions. Recent results on exclusive channels are reviewed. Inclusive spectral functions are the basis for QCD analyses, delivering an accurate determination of the strong coupling constant and quantitative information on nonpertubative contributions. the τ vector spectral functions for the 2π and 4π final states are used together with e p+ e p- data in order to compute vacuum polarization integrals occurring in the calculations of the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon and the running of the electromagnetic coupling

Long-term studies in COD elimination and nitrification in an overcongested packed-bed reactor (biofilter); Langzeituntersuchungen zur CSB-Elimination und Nitrifikation in einem ueberstauten Festbettreaktor (Biofilter)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Engelhart, M.; Dichtl, N. [Technische Univ. Braunschweig (Germany). Inst. fuer Siedlungswasserwirtschaft

1999-07-01

On a semi-technical scale, two process combinations were tested for their suitability for COD elimination and nitrification in combination with an overcongested packed-bed reactor (biofilter). (orig.) [German] Im halbtechnischen Massstab wurden zwei Verfahrenskombinationen unter Einbeziehung eines ueberstauten Festbettreaktors (Biofilter) auf ihre Tauglichkeit zur CSB-Elimination und Nitrifikation untersucht. (orig.)

Adiabatic theorem and spectral concentration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nenciu, G.

1981-01-01

The spectral concentration of arbitrary order, for the Stark effect is proved to exist for a large class of Hamiltonians appearing in nonrelativistic and relativistic quantum mechanics. The results are consequences of an abstract theorem about the spectral concentration for self-ad oint operators. A general form of the adiabatic theorem of quantum mechanics, generalizing an earlier result of the author as well as some results of Lenard, is also proved [ru

Method for estimating effects of unknown correlations in spectral irradiance data on uncertainties of spectrally integrated colorimetric quantities

Science.gov (United States)

Kärhä, Petri; Vaskuri, Anna; Mäntynen, Henrik; Mikkonen, Nikke; Ikonen, Erkki

2017-08-01

Spectral irradiance data are often used to calculate colorimetric properties, such as color coordinates and color temperatures of light sources by integration. The spectral data may contain unknown correlations that should be accounted for in the uncertainty estimation. We propose a new method for estimating uncertainties in such cases. The method goes through all possible scenarios of deviations using Monte Carlo analysis. Varying spectral error functions are produced by combining spectral base functions, and the distorted spectra are used to calculate the colorimetric quantities. Standard deviations of the colorimetric quantities at different scenarios give uncertainties assuming no correlations, uncertainties assuming full correlation, and uncertainties for an unfavorable case of unknown correlations, which turn out to be a significant source of uncertainty. With 1% standard uncertainty in spectral irradiance, the expanded uncertainty of the correlated color temperature of a source corresponding to the CIE Standard Illuminant A may reach as high as 37.2 K in unfavorable conditions, when calculations assuming full correlation give zero uncertainty, and calculations assuming no correlations yield the expanded uncertainties of 5.6 K and 12.1 K, with wavelength steps of 1 nm and 5 nm used in spectral integrations, respectively. We also show that there is an absolute limit of 60.2 K in the error of the correlated color temperature for Standard Illuminant A when assuming 1% standard uncertainty in the spectral irradiance. A comparison of our uncorrelated uncertainties with those obtained using analytical methods by other research groups shows good agreement. We re-estimated the uncertainties for the colorimetric properties of our 1 kW photometric standard lamps using the new method. The revised uncertainty of color temperature is a factor of 2.5 higher than the uncertainty assuming no correlations.

Spectral concentration in the nonrelativistic limit

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