Microfluidics for effective concentration and sorting of waterborne protozoan pathogens

We report on an inertial focussing based microfluidics technology for concentrating waterborne protozoa, achieving a 96% recovery rate of Cryptosporidium parvum and 86% for Giardia lamblia at a throughput (mL/min) capable of replacing centrifugation. The approach can easily be extended to other parasites and also bacteria

Radio jet refraction in galactic atmospheres with static pressure gradients

A theory of double radio sources which have a 'Z' or 'S' morphology is proposed, based on the refraction of radio jets in the extended atmosphere of an elliptical galaxy. The model describes a collimated jet of supersonic material bending self-consistently under the influence of external static pressure gradients. Gravity and magnetic fields are neglected in the simplest case except insofar as they determine the static pressure distribution. The calculation is a straightforward extension of a method used to calculate a ram-pressure model for twin radio trails ('C' morphology). It may also be described as a continuous-jet version of a buoyancy model proposed in 1973. The model has the added virtue of invoking a galactic atmosphere similar to those already indicated by X-ray measurements of some other radio galaxies and by models for the collimation of other radio jets

Synchrotron brightness distribution of turbulent radio jets

Radio jets are considered as turbulent mixing regions and it is proposed that the essential small scale viscous dissipation in these jets is by emission of MHD waves and by their subsequent strong damping due, at least partly, to gyro-resonant acceleration of supra-thermal particles. A formula relating the synchrotron surface brightness of a radio jet to the turbulent power input is deduced from physical postulates, and is tested against the data for NGC315 and 3C31 (NGC383). The predicted brightness depends essentially on the collimation behavior of the jet, and, to a lesser extent, on the CH picture of a 'high' nozzle with accelerating flow. The conditions for forming a large scale jet at a high nozzle from a much smaller scale jet are discussed. The effect of entrainment on the prediction is discussed with the use of similarity solutions. Although entrainment is inevitably associated with the turbulent jet, it may or may not be a dominant factor depending on the ambient density profile

Improving Search through A3C Reinforcement Learning based Conversational Agent

We develop a reinforcement learning based search assistant which can assist users through a set of actions and sequence of interactions to enable them realize their intent. Our approach caters to subjective search where the user is seeking digital assets such as images which is fundamentally different from the tasks which have objective and limited search modalities. Labeled conversational data is generally not available in such search tasks and training the agent through human interactions can be time consuming. We propose a stochastic virtual user which impersonates a real user and can be used to sample user behavior efficiently to train the agent which accelerates the bootstrapping of the agent. We develop A3C algorithm based context preserving architecture which enables the agent to provide contextual assistance to the user. We compare the A3C agent with Q-learning and evaluate its performance on average rewards and state values it obtains with the virtual user in validation episodes. Our experiments show that the agent learns to achieve higher rewards and better states.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure

Asymmetry of jets, lobe size and spectral index in radio galaxies and quasars

We investigate the correlations between spectral index, jet side and extent of the radio lobes for a sample of nearby FRII radio galaxies. In Dennett-Thorpe et al. (1997) we studied a sample of quasars and found that the high surface brightness regions had flatter spectra on the jet side (explicable as a result of Doppler beaming) whilst the extended regions had spectral asymmetries dependent on lobe length. Unified schemes predict that asymmetries due to beaming will be much smaller in narrow-line radio galaxies than in quasars: we therefore investigate in a similar manner, a sample of radio galaxies with detected jets. We find that spectral asymmetries in these objects are uncorrelated with jet sidedness at all brightness levels, but depend on relative lobe volume. Our results are not in conflict with unified schemes, but suggest that the differences between the two samples are due primarily to power or redshift, rather than to orientation. We also show directly that hotspot spectra steepen as a function of radio power or redshift. Whilst a shift in observed frequency due to the redshift may account for some of the steepening, it cannot account for all of it, and a dependence on radio power is required.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS, 10 pages; typos/minor correctio

VLBA Imaging of NGC 4261: Symmetric Parsec-scale Jets and the Inner Accretion Region

We observed the nuclear region of NGC 4261 (3C270) with the VLBA at two frequencies (1.6 and 8.4 GHz) simultaneously. We find that the position angle of the parsec-scale radio axis agrees, within the errors, with the position angle of the VLA-scale jet. Our observations also reveal basically symmetric radio structures at both 1.6 and 8.4 GHz. Analysis of these images shows that most of the central 10 pc of this source is not significantly affected by free-free absorption, even though HST images show that the nucleus contains a nearly edge-on disk of gas and dust on larger scales. Our highest angular resolution image shows a very narrow gap in emission, which we interpret as an absorption feature, just east of the radio core. This suggests that there may be a small, dense inner accretion disk whose width is less than 0.1 pc. If the inclination of this inner disk is close to that of the larger-scale HST disk it becomes optically thin to 8.4 GHz radiation at a deprojected radius of about 0.8 pc. The brightness of the pc-scale jets falls off very rapidly on both sides of the core, suggesting that the jets are rapidly expanding during the the first several pc of their travel. It appears that there is a small dense inner disk centered on the radio core (the base of the jets; less than 1 pc), a low density bubble filling most of the the inner several pc of the nucleus (within which the radio jets expand rapidly; ~10 pc), and a surrounding cool, higher density region (of which the HST absorption disk is part; tens to hundreds of pc) within which the transverse expansion of the radio jets, as implied by the rate of decrease in jet brightness, is nearly halted.Comment: Accepted by the Astrophysical Journa

A Comprehensive Radio and Optical Study of Abell 2256: Activity from an Infalling Group

Abell 2256 is a nearby (z~0.06), rich cluster of galaxies with fascinating observed properties across a range of wavelengths. Long believed to represent a cluster merger, recent X-ray and optical results have suggested that in addition to the primary cluster and subcluster there is evidence for a third, poorer system. We present wide-field, high sensitivity 1.4 GHz VLA radio observations of Abell 2256 in conjunction with optical imaging and additional spectroscopy. Over 40 cluster radio galaxies are identified, with optical spectroscopy indicating the emission source (star formation or AGN) for most of them. While the overall fraction of galaxies exhibiting radio emission is consistent with a large sample of other nearby clusters, we find an increase in the activity level of galaxies belonging to the third system (hereafter, the ``Group''). Specifically, the Group has relatively more star formation than both the primary cluster and main subcluster. The position of the Group is also coincident with the observed cluster radio relic. We suggest that the Group recently (~0.3 Gyr) merged with the primary cluster and that this merger, not the ongoing merger of the primary and the main subcluster, might be responsible for many of the unusual radio properties of Abell 2256. Furthermore, the greater star formation activity of the Group suggests that the infall of groups is an important driver of galaxy evolution in clusters.Comment: 21 pages plus 13 JPEG figures; to appear in the Astronomical Journa