Diagrammatic Coupled Cluster Monte Carlo

We propose a modified coupled cluster Monte Carlo algorithm that stochastically samples connected terms within the truncated Baker--Campbell--Hausdorff expansion of the similarity transformed Hamiltonian by construction of coupled cluster diagrams on the fly. Our new approach -- diagCCMC -- allows propagation to be performed using only the connected components of the similarity-transformed Hamiltonian, greatly reducing the memory cost associated with the stochastic solution of the coupled cluster equations. We show that for perfectly local, noninteracting systems, diagCCMC is able to represent the coupled cluster wavefunction with a memory cost that scales linearly with system size. The favorable memory cost is observed with the only assumption of fixed stochastic granularity and is valid for arbitrary levels of coupled cluster theory. Significant reduction in memory cost is also shown to smoothly appear with dissociation of a finite chain of helium atoms. This approach is also shown not to break down in the presence of strong correlation through the example of a stretched nitrogen molecule. Our novel methodology moves the theoretical basis of coupled cluster Monte Carlo closer to deterministic approaches.Comment: 31 pages, 6 figure

NASA Sea Ice Validation Program for the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program Special Sensor Microwave Imager

The history of the program is described along with the SSM/I sensor, including its calibration and geolocation correction procedures used by NASA, SSM/I data flow, and the NASA program to distribute polar gridded SSM/I radiances and sea ice concentrations (SIC) on CD-ROMs. Following a discussion of the NASA algorithm used to convert SSM/I radiances to SICs, results of 95 SSM/I-MSS Landsat IC comparisons for regions in both the Arctic and the Antarctic are presented. The Landsat comparisons show that the overall algorithm accuracy under winter conditions is 7 pct. on average with 4 pct. negative bias. Next, high resolution active and passive microwave image mosaics from coordinated NASA and Navy aircraft underflights over regions of the Beaufort and Chukchi seas in March 1988 were used to show that the algorithm multiyear IC accuracy is 11 pct. on average with a positive bias of 12 pct. Ice edge crossings of the Bering Sea by the NASA DC-8 aircraft were used to show that the SSM/I 15 pct. ice concentration contour corresponds best to the location of the initial bands at the ice edge. Finally, a summary of results and recommendations for improving the SIC retrievals from spaceborne radiometers are provided

Gut inflammation provides a respiratory electron acceptor for Salmonella.

Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) causes acute gut inflammation by using its virulence factors to invade the intestinal epithelium and survive in mucosal macrophages. The inflammatory response enhances the transmission success of S. Typhimurium by promoting its outgrowth in the gut lumen through unknown mechanisms. Here we show that reactive oxygen species generated during inflammation react with endogenous, luminal sulphur compounds (thiosulphate) to form a new respiratory electron acceptor, tetrathionate. The genes conferring the ability to use tetrathionate as an electron acceptor produce a growth advantage for S. Typhimurium over the competing microbiota in the lumen of the inflamed gut. We conclude that S. Typhimurium virulence factors induce host-driven production of a new electron acceptor that allows the pathogen to use respiration to compete with fermenting gut microbes. Thus the ability to trigger intestinal inflammation is crucial for the biology of this diarrhoeal pathogen

Gender relations and couple negotiations of British men's food practice changes after prostate cancer.

Nutrition plays an important role in the health of men diagnosed with prostate cancer and dietary interventions can therefore be a significant part of prostate cancer survivorship supportive care. Family food provision, however, involves complex social interactions, which shape how men engage with their diets and dietary interventions. The role that gender plays in shaping prostate cancer couples' food practices and men's diets after a prostate cancer diagnosis is thought to be important but is little understood. This study explored couples' accounts of nutrition information seeking and diet change to gain a better understanding of how gender relations shaped men's food practices after prostate cancer diagnosis. Qualitative health interviews with men and their partners were conducted and analysed using interpretive descriptive methods. Findings demonstrated how couples navigated food change journeys that involved seeking information, deciding what changes were warranted and implementing and regulating diet changes. Two overarching themes that illustrated couples' food negotiations were called 'Seeking information and deciding on food changes' and 'Monitoring food changes'. Additional sub-themes described who led food changes, women's filtering of information, and moderation or 'treats'. Throughout these food change journeys interactions between men and women were at play, demonstrating how gender relations and dynamics acted to shape couples food negotiations and men's food practices. Findings reveal that attention to gender relations and the men's family food dynamics should inform diet interventions for men with prostate cancer in order to improve uptake

Predicting the Starquakes in PSR J0537-6910

We report on more than 7 years of monitoring of PSR J0537-6910, the 16 ms pulsar in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using data acquired with the RXTE. During this campaign the pulsar experienced 23 sudden increases in frequency (``glitches'') amounting to a total gain of over six ppm of rotation frequency superposed on its gradual spindown of d(nu)/d(t) = -2e-10 Hz/s. The time interval from one glitch to the next obeys a strong linear correlation to the amplitude of the first glitch, with a mean slope of about 400 days ppm (6.5 days per uHz), such that these intervals can be predicted to within a few days, an accuracy which has never before been seen in any other pulsar. There appears to be an upper limit of ~40 uHz for the size of glitches in_all_ pulsars, with the 1999 April glitch of J0537 as the largest so far. The change in the spindown of J0537 across the glitches, Delta(d(nu)/d(t)), appears to have the same hard lower limit of -1.5e-13 Hz/s, as, again, that observed in all other pulsars. The spindown continues to increase in the long term, d(d(nu)/d(t))/d(t) = -1e-21 Hz/s/s, and thus the timing age of J0537 (-0.5 nu d(nu)/d(t)) continues to decrease at a rate of nearly one year every year, consistent with movement of its magnetic moment away from its rotational axis by one radian every 10,000 years, or about one meter per year. J0537 was likely to have been born as a nearly-aligned rotator spinning at 75-80 Hz, with a |d(nu)/d(t)| considerably smaller than its current value of 2e-10 Hz/s. The pulse profile of J0537 consists of a single pulse which is found to be flat at its peak for at least 0.02 cycles.Comment: 54 pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal. Cleaner figure 2. V4 -- in line with version accepted by Ap

NASA's SnowEx Campaign: Observing Seasonal Snow in a Forested Environment

SnowEx is a multi-year airborne snow campaign with the primary goal of addressing the question: How much water is stored in Earth's terrestrial snow-covered regions? Year 1(2016-17) focused on the distribution of snow-water equivalent (SWE) and the snow energy balance in a forested environment. The year 1 primary site was Grand Mesa and the secondary site was the Senator Beck Basin, both in western Colorado, USA. Nine sensors on five aircraft made observations using a broad range of sensing techniques - active and passive microwave, and active and passive optical/infrared - to determine the sensitivity and accuracy of these potential satellite remote sensing techniques, along with models, to measure snow under a range of forest conditions. SnowEx also included an extensive range of ground truth measurements - in-situ manual samples, snow pits, ground based remote sensing measurements, and sophisticated new techniques. A detailed description of the data collected will be given and some preliminary results will be presented

Storytelling integration of the internet of things into business processes

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018. This paper discusses the integration of Internet of Things (IoT) into Business Processes (BPs). To define the business logic of thing-aware BPs, existing approaches extend traditional workflow languages (i.e., who does what, why, when, and where) with constructs like things’ roles. However, this way of defining the business logic restricts things’ operations and, thus, hinders them from initiating ad-hoc/opportunistic collaboration with peers. To overcome this limitation, we tap into the storytelling principles to introduce the concept of Process of Things (PoT) as a new way of integrating IoT into BPs. A PoT is specified as a story whose script indicates the characters that things will play as well as the scenes that will feature these things. A PoT, also, allows things to collaborate by offering value-added services to end-users. For demonstration purposes, a hospital scenario is implemented using a combination of real and simulated sensors along with different IoT technologies and communication protocols

Pan-viral serology implicates enteroviruses in acute flaccid myelitis.

Since 2012, the United States of America has experienced a biennial spike in pediatric acute flaccid myelitis (AFM)1-6. Epidemiologic evidence suggests non-polio enteroviruses (EVs) are a potential etiology, yet EV RNA is rarely detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)2. CSF from children with AFM (n = 42) and other pediatric neurologic disease controls (n = 58) were investigated for intrathecal antiviral antibodies, using a phage display library expressing 481,966 overlapping peptides derived from all known vertebrate and arboviruses (VirScan). Metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) of AFM CSF RNA (n = 20 cases) was also performed, both unbiased sequencing and with targeted enrichment for EVs. Using VirScan, the viral family significantly enriched by the CSF of AFM cases relative to controls was Picornaviridae, with the most enriched Picornaviridae peptides belonging to the genus Enterovirus (n = 29/42 cases versus 4/58 controls). EV VP1 ELISA confirmed this finding (n = 22/26 cases versus 7/50 controls). mNGS did not detect additional EV RNA. Despite rare detection of EV RNA, pan-viral serology frequently identified high levels of CSF EV-specific antibodies in AFM compared with controls, providing further evidence for a causal role of non-polio EVs in AFM

Phase II Open Label Study of Valproic Acid in Spinal Muscular Atrophy

UNLABELLED:Preliminary in vitro and in vivo studies with valproic acid (VPA) in cell lines and patients with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) demonstrate increased expression of SMN, supporting the possibility of therapeutic benefit. We performed an open label trial of VPA in 42 subjects with SMA to assess safety and explore potential outcome measures to help guide design of future controlled clinical trials. Subjects included 2 SMA type I ages 2-3 years, 29 SMA type II ages 2-14 years and 11 type III ages 2-31 years, recruited from a natural history study. VPA was well-tolerated and without evident hepatotoxicity. Carnitine depletion was frequent and temporally associated with increased weakness in two subjects. Exploratory outcome measures included assessment of gross motor function via the modified Hammersmith Functional Motor Scale (MHFMS), electrophysiologic measures of innervation including maximum ulnar compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitudes and motor unit number estimation (MUNE), body composition and bone density via dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA), and quantitative blood SMN mRNA levels. Clear decline in motor function occurred in several subjects in association with weight gain; mean fat mass increased without a corresponding increase in lean mass. We observed an increased mean score on the MHFMS scale in 27 subjects with SMA type II (p<or=0.001); however, significant improvement was almost entirely restricted to participants <5 years of age. Full length SMN levels were unchanged and Delta7SMN levels were significantly reduced for 2 of 3 treatment visits. In contrast, bone mineral density (p<or=0.0036) and maximum ulnar CMAP scores (p<or=0.0001) increased significantly. CONCLUSIONS:While VPA appears safe and well-tolerated in this initial pilot trial, these data suggest that weight gain and carnitine depletion are likely to be significant confounding factors in clinical trials. This study highlights potential strengths and limitations of various candidate outcome measures and underscores the need for additional controlled clinical trials with VPA targeting more restricted cohorts of subjects. TRIAL REGISTRATION:ClinicalTrials.gov