6,231 research outputs found
Bayesian photon counting with electron-multiplying charge coupled devices (EMCCDs)
The EMCCD is a CCD type that delivers fast readout and negligible detector
noise, making it an ideal detector for high frame rate applications. Because of
the very low detector noise, this detector can potentially count single
photons. Considering that an EMCCD has a limited dynamical range and negligible
detector noise, one would typically apply an EMCCD in such a way that multiple
images of the same object are available, for instance, in so called lucky
imaging. The problem of counting photons can then conveniently be viewed as
statistical inference of flux or photon rates, based on a stack of images. A
simple probabilistic model for the output of an EMCCD is developed. Based on
this model and the prior knowledge that photons are Poisson distributed, we
derive two methods for estimating the most probable flux per pixel, one based
on thresholding, and another based on full Bayesian inference. We find that it
is indeed possible to derive such expressions, and tests of these methods show
that estimating fluxes with only shot noise is possible, up to fluxes of about
one photon per pixel per readout.Comment: Fixed a few typos compared to the published versio
Photochemistry in the arctic free troposphere: NOx budget and the role of odd nitrogen reservoir recycling
The budget of nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the arctic free troposphere is calculated with a constrained photochemical box model using aircraft observations from the Tropospheric O3 Production about the Spring Equinox (TOPSE) campaign between February and May. Peroxyacetic nitric anhydride (PAN) was observed to be the dominant odd nitrogen species (NOy) in the arctic free troposphere and showed a pronounced seasonal increase in mixing ratio. When constrained to observed acetaldehyde (CH3CHO) mixing ratios, the box model calculates unrealistically large net NOx losses due to PAN formation (62pptv/day for May, 1-3km). Thus, given our current understanding of atmospheric chemistry, these results cast doubt on the robustness of the CH3CHO observations during TOPSE. When CH3CHO was calculated to steady state in the box model, the net NOx loss to PAN was of comparable magnitude to the net NOx loss to HNO3 (NO2 reaction with OH) for spring conditions. During the winter, net NOx loss due to N2O5 hydrolysis dominates other NOx loss processes and is near saturation with respect to further increases in aerosol surface area concentration. NOx loss due to N2O5 hydrolysis is sensitive to latitude and month due to changes in diurnal photolysis (sharp day-night transitions in winter to continuous sun in spring for the arctic). Near NOx sources, HNO4 is a net sink for NOx; however, for more aged air masses HNO4 is a net source for NOx, largely countering the NOx loss to PAN, N2O5 and HNO3. Overall, HNO4 chemistry impacts the timing of NOx decay and O3 production; however, the cumulative impact on O3 and NOx mixing ratios after a 20-day trajectory is minimal. © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved
Cultural Recovery and Determination of Antimicrobial Susceptibility in Helicobacter pylori by Using Commercial Transport and Isolation Media
Abstract : Background: : Antimicrobial resistance of Helicobacter pylori is the main reason for eradication failure. We have studied the feasibility of a commercial transport medium for cultural recovery and subsequent drug susceptibility testing. Patients and Methods: : From March to December 2000, 79 consecutive gastric biopsies, positive in a rapid urease test, were transferred into a commercial transport medium and sent within 24 hours from the district hospital to the microbiological laboratory for culture and susceptibility testing. A commercial agar plate and an in-house Wilkins-Chalgren agar plate were used for culture. Susceptibility data were compared with data collected from 1992 to 2003 in the University Hospital of Zurich. Results: : Cultural recovery and susceptibility testing of H. pylori was successful in 55 of 79 patients. In 17 cases cultural recovery failed because of technical problems (n = 14), long transport time (n = 1) and unknown reason (n = 2). Failure of susceptibility testing (n = 7) was mainly due to fungal overgrowth. Resistance to metronidazole and clarithromycin was found in 15 (27%) and in 12 patients (22%), respectively; resistance to amoxicillin was not observed. Five patients (9%) showed resistance both to metronidazole and to clarithromycin. Eradication therapy failed in all patients with macrolide resistance. Resistance rates were higher in females than in males; 30% vs 12% for clarithromycin and 33% vs 20% for metronidazole. Resistance to metronidazole was significantly lower in Swiss patients (15%) than in non-Swiss patients (39%). Conclusion: : Antimicrobial resistance data can reliably be obtained by sending the biopsy specimen in a commercial transport medium to a microbiological laboratory. This is especially important after eradication failure. Resistance to metronidazole and clarithromycin is highly prevalent and more common in women and non-Swiss patient
A new simulation algorithm for lattice QCD with dynamical quarks
A previously introduced multi-boson technique for the simulation of QCD with
dynamical quarks is described and some results of first test runs on a
lattice with Wilson quarks and gauge group SU(2) are reported.Comment: 7 pages, postscript file (166 KB
The optically-powerful quasar E1821+643 is associated with a 300-kpc scale FRI radio structure
We present a deep image of the optically-powerful quasar E1821+643 at 18cm
made with the Very Large Array (VLA). This image reveals radio emission, over
280 kpc in extent, elongated way beyond the quasar's host galaxy. Its radio
structure has decreasing surface brightness with increasing distance from the
bright core, characteristic of FRI sources (Fanaroff & Riley 1974). Its radio
luminosity at 5GHz falls in the classification for `radio-quiet' quasars (it is
only 10^23.9 W/Hz/sr; see e.g. Kellermann et al 1994). Its radio luminosity at
151MHz (which is 10^25.3 W/Hz/sr) is at the transition luminosity observed to
separate FRIs and FRIIs. Hitherto, no optically-powerful quasar had been found
to have a conventional FRI radio structure. For searches at low-frequency this
is unsurprising given current sensitivity and plausible radio spectral indices
for radio-quiet quasars. We demonstrate the inevitability of the extent of any
FRqI radio structures being seriously under-estimated by existing targetted
follow-up observations of other optically-selected quasars, which are typically
short exposures of z > 0.3 objects, and discuss the implications for the
purported radio bimodality in quasars.
The nature of the inner arcsec-scale jet in E1821+643, together with its
large-scale radio structure, suggest that the jet-axis in this quasar is
precessing (cf. Galactic jet sources such as SS433). A possible explanation for
this is that its central engine is a binary whose black holes have yet to
coalesce. The ubiquity of precession in `radio-quiet' quasars, perhaps as a
means of reducing the observable radio luminosity expected in highly-accreting
systems, remains to be established.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letters; higher quality versions of figures available
at http://www-astro.physics.ox.ac.uk/~km
S-DIMM+ height characterization of day-time seeing using solar granulation
To evaluate site quality and to develop multi-conjugative adaptive optics
systems for future large solar telescopes, characterization of contributions to
seeing from heights up to at least 12 km above the telescope is needed. We
describe a method for evaluating contributions to seeing from different layers
along the line-of-sight to the Sun. The method is based on Shack Hartmann
wavefront sensor data recorded over a large field-of-view with solar
granulation and uses only measurements of differential image displacements from
individual exposures, such that the measurements are not degraded by residual
tip-tilt errors. We conclude that the proposed method allows good measurements
when Fried's parameter r_0 is larger than about 7.5 cm for the ground layer and
that these measurements should provide valuable information for site selection
and multi-conjugate development for the future European Solar Telescope. A
major limitation is the large field of view presently used for wavefront
sensing, leading to uncomfortably large uncertainties in r_0 at 30 km distance.Comment: Accepted by AA 22/01/2010 (12 pages, 11 figures
Kinetic Enhancement of Raman Backscatter, and Electron Acoustic Thomson Scatter
1-D Eulerian Vlasov-Maxwell simulations are presented which show kinetic
enhancement of stimulated Raman backscatter (SRBS) due to electron trapping in
regimes of heavy linear Landau damping. The conventional Raman Langmuir wave is
transformed into a set of beam acoustic modes [L. Yin et al., Phys. Rev. E 73,
025401 (2006)]. For the first time, a low phase velocity electron acoustic wave
(EAW) is seen developing from the self-consistent Raman physics. Backscatter of
the pump laser off the EAW fluctuations is reported and referred to as electron
acoustic Thomson scatter. This light is similar in wavelength to, although much
lower in amplitude than, the reflected light between the pump and SRBS
wavelengths observed in single hot spot experiments, and previously interpreted
as stimulated electron acoustic scatter [D. S. Montgomery et al., Phys. Rev.
Lett. 87, 155001 (2001)]. The EAW is strongest well below the phase-matched
frequency for electron acoustic scatter, and therefore the EAW is not produced
by it. The beating of different beam acoustic modes is proposed as the EAW
excitation mechanism, and is called beam acoustic decay. Supporting evidence
for this process, including bispectral analysis, is presented. The linear
electrostatic modes, found by projecting the numerical distribution function
onto a Gauss-Hermite basis, include beam acoustic modes (some of which are
unstable even without parametric coupling to light waves) and a strongly-damped
EAW similar to the observed one. This linear EAW results from non-Maxwellian
features in the electron distribution, rather than nonlinearity due to electron
trapping.Comment: 15 pages, 16 figures, accepted in Physics of Plasmas (2006
Photochemistry in the arctic free troposphere: Ozone budget and its dependence on nitrogen oxides and the production rate of free radicals
Abstract. Local ozone production and loss rates for the arctic free troposphere (58–85 ◦ N, 1–6 km, February–May) during the Tropospheric Ozone Production about the Spring Equinox (TOPSE) campaign were calculated using a constrained photochemical box model. Estimates were made to assess the importance of local photochemical ozone production relative to transport in accounting for the springtime maximum in arctic free tropospheric ozone. Ozone production and loss rates from our diel steady-state box model constrained by median observations were first compared to two point box models, one run to instantaneous steady-state and the other run to diel steady-state. A consistent picture of local ozone photochemistry was derived by all three box models suggesting that differences between the approaches were not critical. Our model-derived ozone production rates increased by a factor of 28 in the 1–3 km layer and a factor of 7 in the 3–6 km layer between February and May. The arctic ozone budget required net import of ozone into the arctic free troposphere throughout the campaign; however, the transport term exceeded the photochemical production only in the lower free troposphere (1–3 km) between February and March. Gross ozone production rates were calculated to increase linearly with NOx mixing ratios up to ∼300 pptv in February and for NOx mixing ratio
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