1,931 research outputs found
Effect of magnetic disorder and strong electron correlations on the thermodynamics of CrN
We use first-principles calculations to study the effect of magnetic disorder
and electron correlations on the structural and thermodynamic properties of
CrN. We illustrate the usability of a special quasirandom structure supercell
treatment of the magnetic disorder by comparing with coherent potential
approximation calculations and with a complementary magnetic sampling method.
The need of a treatment of electron correlations effects beyond the local
density approximation is proven by a comparison of LDA+U calculations of
structural and electronic properties with experimental results. When magnetic
disorder and strong electron correlations are taken into account
simultaneously, pressure and temperature induced structural and magnetic
transitions in CrN can be understood.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figure
Aggregation for Gaussian regression
This paper studies statistical aggregation procedures in the regression
setting. A motivating factor is the existence of many different methods of
estimation, leading to possibly competing estimators. We consider here three
different types of aggregation: model selection (MS) aggregation, convex (C)
aggregation and linear (L) aggregation. The objective of (MS) is to select the
optimal single estimator from the list; that of (C) is to select the optimal
convex combination of the given estimators; and that of (L) is to select the
optimal linear combination of the given estimators. We are interested in
evaluating the rates of convergence of the excess risks of the estimators
obtained by these procedures. Our approach is motivated by recently published
minimax results [Nemirovski, A. (2000). Topics in non-parametric statistics.
Lectures on Probability Theory and Statistics (Saint-Flour, 1998). Lecture
Notes in Math. 1738 85--277. Springer, Berlin; Tsybakov, A. B. (2003). Optimal
rates of aggregation. Learning Theory and Kernel Machines. Lecture Notes in
Artificial Intelligence 2777 303--313. Springer, Heidelberg]. There exist
competing aggregation procedures achieving optimal convergence rates for each
of the (MS), (C) and (L) cases separately. Since these procedures are not
directly comparable with each other, we suggest an alternative solution. We
prove that all three optimal rates, as well as those for the newly introduced
(S) aggregation (subset selection), are nearly achieved via a single
``universal'' aggregation procedure. The procedure consists of mixing the
initial estimators with weights obtained by penalized least squares. Two
different penalties are considered: one of them is of the BIC type, the second
one is a data-dependent -type penalty.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/009053606000001587 the
Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Mixed cropping systems for biological control of weeds and pests in organic oilseed crops
Agricultural advantages of mixed cropping are gained by biological effects like light competition, offering weed-suppressing capacities or by diversification of plant covers to break development cycles of pests. In a two-year project on mixed cropping with organic oilseed crops these effects were measured. It was found that weeds can be efficiently suppressed in organic linseed (Linum usitatissivum) in crop combinations with wheat (Triticum aestivum) or false flax (Camelina sativa). But linseed development was strictly limited. Also in organic pea production (Pisum sativum) the introduction of mixtures with the oil crop false flax led to a significant decrease of weed population. Either culture showed a balanced plant development. In winter rape (Brassica napus) hints were found that infestation by insect pests can be directly reduced in mixtures with cereals or legumes and that parasitoids of insect pests are supported
Psychophysiological correlates of peritraumatic dissociative responses in survivors of life-threatening cardiac events
The psychophysiological startle response pattern associated with peritraumatic dissociation (DISS) was studied in 103 survivors of a life-threatening cardiac event (mean age 61.0 years, SD 13.95). Mean time period since the cardiac event was 37 (79 IQD) months. All patients underwent a psychodiagnostic evaluation (including the Peritraumatic Dissociative Experiences Questionnaire) and a psychophysiological startle experience which comprised the delivery of 15 acoustic startle trials. Magnitude and habituation to trials were measured by means of electromyogram (EMG) and skin conductance responses (SCR). Thirty-two (31%) subjects were indexed as patients with a clinically significant level of DISS symptoms. High-level DISS was associated with a higher magnitude of SCR (ANOVA for repeated measures p = 0.017) and EMG (p = 0.055) and an impaired habituation (SCR slope p = 0.064; EMG slope p = 0.005) in comparison to subjects with no or low DISS. In a subgroup analysis, high-level DISS patients with severe post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD; n = 11) in comparison to high-level DISS patients without subsequent PTSD (n = 19) exhibited higher EMG amplitudes during all trials (repeated measures analysis of variance IF = 5.511, p = 0.026). The results demonstrate exaggerated startle responses in SCR and EMG measures - an abnormal defensive response to high-intensity stimuli which indicates a steady state of increased arousal. DISS patients without PTSD exhibited balanced autonomic responses to the startle trials. DISS may, therefore, unfold malignant properties only in combination with persistent physiological hyperarousability. Copyright (C) 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel
Selection of reliable reference genes during THP-1 monocyte differentiation into macrophages
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Reliable reference genes are a vital prerequisite for any functional study employing quantitative real-time RT-PCR (RT-qPCR) for analyzing gene expression. Yet a proper selection and assessment of the chosen reference genes is only rarely included into a study. To date, no reference genes have been validated for differentiation of THP-1 monocytes. Here we report on the selection of validated reference genes during differentiation of THP-1 monocytes into macrophages induced by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mRNA expression of 21 preselected potential reference genes was measured by RT-qPCR at several time-points over six days of PMA-induced THP-1 monocyte-to-macrophage differentiation. A ranking according to expression stability was calculated. Calculations were performed using Microsoft Excel-based applets GeNorm, NormFinder and BestKeeper. Our results indicated ACTB (β-actin) (C<sub>q </sub>± SD, 14.1 ± 0.3) and RPL37A (ribosomal protein L37a) (14.5 ± 0.3) as the most stable genes. While other frequently used reference genes such as GAPDH (glycereraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase) (20.8 ± 0.8) or G6PD (glucose-6-phophate dehydrogenase) (16.1 ± 1.0) were found to be not as reliable and were therefore unsuited for use as reference genes. These findings were validated by investigating mRNA expression of macrophage scavenger receptor CD36, known to be regulated during monocyte-to-macrophage differentiation. Using ACTB and RPL37A as reference genes a profound and significant regulation of CD36 could be demonstrated, while use of G6PD resulted in a much less pronounced apparent regulation of CD36.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Consequently, it is recommended to normalize any real-time PCR-based expression data obtained during THP-1 monocyte differentiation using ACTB and RPL37A.</p
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