Proving refinement transformations using extended denotational semantics

TAMPR is a fully automatic transformation system based on syntactic rewrites. Our approach in a correctness proof is to map the transformation into an axiomatized mathematical domain where formal (and automated) reasoning can be performed. This mapping is accomplished via an extended denotational semantic paradigm. In this approach, the abstract notion of a program state is distributed between an environment function and a store function. Such a distribution introduces properties that go beyond the abstract state that is being modeled. The reasoning framework needs to be aware of these properties in order to successfully complete a correctness proof. This paper discusses some of our experiences in proving the correctness of TAMPR transformations

The pion's electromagnetic form factor at small momentum transfer in full lattice QCD

We compute the electromagnetic form factor of a "pion" with mass m_pi=330MeV at low values of Q^2\equiv -q^2, where q is the momentum transfer. The computations are performed in a lattice simulation using an ensemble of the RBC/UKQCD collaboration's gauge configurations with Domain Wall Fermions and the Iwasaki gauge action with an inverse lattice spacing of 1.73(3)GeV. In order to be able to reach low momentum transfers we use partially twisted boundary conditions using the techniques we have developed and tested earlier. For the pion of mass 330MeV we find a charge radius given by _{330MeV}=0.354(31)fm^2 which, using NLO SU(2) chiral perturbation theory, extrapolates to a value of =0.418(31)fm^2 for a physical pion, in agreement with the experimentally determined result. We confirm that there is a significant reduction in computational cost when using propagators computed from a single time-slice stochastic source compared to using those with a point source; for m_pi=330MeV and volume (2.74fm)^3 we find the reduction is approximately a factor of 12.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Machine learning classification of OARSI-scored human articular cartilage using magnetic resonance imaging

SummaryObjectiveThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the ability of machine learning to discriminate between magnetic resonance images (MRI) of normal and pathological human articular cartilage obtained under standard clinical conditions.MethodAn approach to MRI classification of cartilage degradation is proposed using pattern recognition and multivariable regression in which image features from MRIs of histologically scored human articular cartilage plugs were computed using weighted neighbor distance using compound hierarchy of algorithms representing morphology (WND-CHRM). The WND-CHRM method was first applied to several clinically available MRI scan types to perform binary classification of normal and osteoarthritic osteochondral plugs based on the Osteoarthritis Research Society International (OARSI) histological system. In addition, the image features computed from WND-CHRM were used to develop a multiple linear least-squares regression model for classification and prediction of an OARSI score for each cartilage plug.ResultsThe binary classification of normal and osteoarthritic plugs yielded results of limited quality with accuracies between 36% and 70%. However, multiple linear least-squares regression successfully predicted OARSI scores and classified plugs with accuracies as high as 86%. The present results improve upon the previously-reported accuracy of classification using average MRI signal intensities and parameter values.ConclusionMRI features detected by WND-CHRM reflect cartilage degradation status as assessed by OARSI histologic grading. WND-CHRM is therefore of potential use in the clinical detection and grading of osteoarthritis

Low-temperature concentration of tellurium and gold in continental red bed successions

Acknowledgements This research was supported by NERC grants (NE/L001764/1, NE/M010953/1). We are grateful to J. Still and A. Sandison for technical support and to the gypsum mines and C. Brolley for access and sampling. Critical comments from Cristiana Ciobanu, Eric Gloaguen and Georges Calas are gratefully acknowledged. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The Scottish Mental Survey 1932 linked to the Midspan studies: a prospective investigation of childhood intelligence and future health

The Scottish Mental Survey of 1932 (SMS1932) recorded mental ability test scores for nearly all of the age group of children born in 1921 and at school in Scotland on 1st June 1932. The Collaborative and Renfrew/Paisley studies, two of the Midspan studies, obtained health and social data by questionnaire and a physical examination in the 1970s. Some Midspan participants were born in 1921 and may have taken part in the SMS1932, so might have mental ability data available from childhood. The 1921-born Midspan participants were matched with the computerised SMS1932 database. The total numbers successfully matched were 1032 out of 1251 people (82.5%). Of those matched, 938 (90.9%) had a mental ability test score recorded. The mean score of the matched sample was 37.2 (standard deviation [SD] 13.9) out of a possible score of 76. The mean (SD) for the boys and girls respectively was 38.3 (14.2) and 35.7 (13.9). This compared with 38.6 (15.7) and 37.2 (14.3) for boys and girls in all of Scotland. Graded relationships were found between mental ability in childhood, and social class and deprivation category of residence in adulthood. Being in a higher social class or in a more affluent deprivation category was associated with higher childhood mental ability scores and the scores reduced with increasing deprivation. Future plans for the matched data include examining associations between childhood mental ability and other childhood and adult risk factors for disease in adulthood, and modelling childhood mental ability, alongside other factors available in the Midspan database, as a risk factor for specific illnesses, admission to hospital and mortality

An estimate of the flavour singlet contributions to the hyperfine splitting in charmonium

We explore the splitting between flavour singlet and non-singlet mesons in charmonium. This has implications for the hyperfine splitting in charmonium

Family stories, public silence: Irish identity construction amongst the second-generation Irish in England

Formal narratives of history, especially that of colonial oppression, have been central to the construction of national identities in Ireland. But the Irish diasporic community in Britain has been cut off from the reproduction of these narratives, most notably by their absence from the curriculum of Catholic schools, as result of the unofficial 'denationalisation' pact agreed by the Church in the 19th century (Hickman, 1995). The reproduction of Irish identities is largely a private matter, carried out within the home through family accounts of local connections, often reinforced by extended visits to parent/s 'home' areas. Recapturing a public dimension has often become a personal quest in adulthood, 'filling in the gaps'. This paper explores constructions of narratives of nation by a key diasporic population, those with one or two Irish-born parents. It places particular emphasis on varying regional/national contexts within which such constructions take place, drawing on focus group discussions and interviews for the ESRC-funded Irish 2 Project in five locations — London, Glasgow, Manchester, Coventry and Banbury

System Size and Energy Dependence of Jet-Induced Hadron Pair Correlation Shapes in Cu+Cu and Au+Au Collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 and 62.4 GeV

We present azimuthal angle correlations of intermediate transverse momentum (1-4 GeV/c) hadrons from {dijets} in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 62.4 and 200 GeV. The away-side dijet induced azimuthal correlation is broadened, non-Gaussian, and peaked away from \Delta\phi=\pi in central and semi-central collisions in all the systems. The broadening and peak location are found to depend upon the number of participants in the collision, but not on the collision energy or beam nuclei. These results are consistent with sound or shock wave models, but pose challenges to Cherenkov gluon radiation models.Comment: 464 authors from 60 institutions, 6 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables. Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Improved Measurement of Double Helicity Asymmetry in Inclusive Midrapidity pi^0 Production for Polarized p+p Collisions at sqrt(s)=200 GeV

We present an improved measurement of the double helicity asymmetry for pi^0 production in polarized proton-proton scattering at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV employing the PHENIX detector at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The improvements to our previous measurement come from two main factors: Inclusion of a new data set from the 2004 RHIC run with higher beam polarizations than the earlier run and a recalibration of the beam polarization measurements, which resulted in reduced uncertainties and increased beam polarizations. The results are compared to a Next to Leading Order (NLO) perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (pQCD) calculation with a range of polarized gluon distributions.Comment: 389 authors, 4 pages, 2 tables, 1 figure. Submitted to Phys. Rev. D, Rapid Communications. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm