373 research outputs found
SPIDERS: Selection of spectroscopic targets using AGN candidates detected in all-sky X-ray surveys
SPIDERS (SPectroscopic IDentification of eROSITA Sources) is an SDSS-IV
survey running in parallel to the eBOSS cosmology project. SPIDERS will obtain
optical spectroscopy for large numbers of X-ray-selected AGN and galaxy cluster
members detected in wide area eROSITA, XMM-Newton and ROSAT surveys. We
describe the methods used to choose spectroscopic targets for two
sub-programmes of SPIDERS: X-ray selected AGN candidates detected in the ROSAT
All Sky and the XMM-Newton Slew surveys. We have exploited a Bayesian
cross-matching algorithm, guided by priors based on mid-IR colour-magnitude
information from the WISE survey, to select the most probable optical
counterpart to each X-ray detection. We empirically demonstrate the high
fidelity of our counterpart selection method using a reference sample of bright
well-localised X-ray sources collated from XMM-Newton, Chandra and Swift-XRT
serendipitous catalogues, and also by examining blank-sky locations. We
describe the down-selection steps which resulted in the final set of
SPIDERS-AGN targets put forward for spectroscopy within the eBOSS/TDSS/SPIDERS
survey, and present catalogues of these targets. We also present catalogues of
~12000 ROSAT and ~1500 XMM-Newton Slew survey sources which have existing
optical spectroscopy from SDSS-DR12, including the results of our visual
inspections. On completion of the SPIDERS program, we expect to have collected
homogeneous spectroscopic redshift information over a footprint of ~7500
deg for >85 percent of the ROSAT and XMM-Newton Slew survey sources having
optical counterparts in the magnitude range 17<r<22.5, producing a large and
highly complete sample of bright X-ray-selected AGN suitable for statistical
studies of AGN evolution and clustering.Comment: MNRAS, accepte
Expanded molecular diversity generation during directed evolution by trinucleotide exchange (TriNEx)
Trinucleotide exchange (TriNEx) is a method for generating novel molecular diversity during directed evolution by random substitution of one contiguous trinucleotide sequence for another. Single trinucleotide sequences were deleted at random positions in a target gene using the engineered transposon MuDel that were subsequently replaced with a randomized trinucleotide sequence donated by the DNA cassette termed SubSeqNNN. The bla gene encoding TEM-1 β-lactamase was used as a model to demonstrate the effectiveness of TriNEx. Sequence analysis revealed that the mutations were distributed throughout bla, with variants containing single, double and triple nucleotide changes. Many of the resulting amino acid substitutions had significant effects on the in vivo activity of TEM-1, including up to a 64-fold increased activity toward ceftazidime and up to an 8-fold increased resistance to the inhibitor clavulanate. Many of the observed amino acid substitutions were only accessible by exchanging at least two nucleotides per codon, including charge-switch (R164D) and aromatic substitution (W165Y) mutations. TriNEx can therefore generate a diverse range of protein variants with altered properties by combining the power of site-directed saturation mutagenesis with the capacity of whole-gene mutagenesis to randomly introduce mutations throughout a gene
Insights into microstructural interfaces in aerospace alloys characterised by atom probe tomography
Stakeholders understanding of the concept of benefit sharing in health research in Kenya: a qualitative study
BACKGROUND: The concept of benefit sharing to enhance the social value of global health research in resource poor settings is now a key strategy for addressing moral issues of relevance to individuals, communities and host countries in resource poor settings when they participate in international collaborative health research.The influence of benefit sharing framework on the conduct of collaborative health research is for instance evidenced by the number of publications and research ethics guidelines that require prior engagement between stakeholders to determine the social value of research to the host communities. While such efforts as the production of international guidance on how to promote the social value of research through such strategies as benefit sharing have been made, the extent to which these ideas and guidelines have been absorbed by those engaged in global health research especially in resource poor settings remains unclear. We examine this awareness among stakeholders involved in health related research in Kenya. METHODS: We conducted in-depth interviews with key informants drawn from within the broader health research system in Kenya including researchers from the mainstream health research institutions, networks and universities, teaching hospitals, policy makers, institutional review boards, civil society organisations and community representative groups. RESULTS: Our study suggests that although people have a sense of justice and the moral aspects of research, this was not articulated in terms used in the literature and the guidelines on the ethics of global health research. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that while in theory several efforts can be made to address the moral issues of concern to research participants and their communities in resource poor settings, quick fixes such as benefit sharing are not going to be straightforward. We suggest a need to pay closer attention to the processes through which ethical principles are enacted in practice and distil lessons on how best to involve individuals and communities in promoting ethical conduct of global health research in resource poor settings
Energy landscape of the finite-size mean-field 2-spin spherical model and topology trivialization
Motivated by the recently observed phenomenon of topology trivialization of potential energy landscapes (PELs) for several statistical mechanics models, we perform a numerical study of the finite-size 2-spin spherical model using both numerical polynomial homotopy continuation and a reformulation via non-Hermitian matrices. The continuation approach computes all of the complex stationary points of this model while the matrix approach computes the real stationary points. Using these methods, we compute the average number of stationary points while changing the topology of the PEL as well as the variance. Histograms of these stationary points are presented along with an analysis regarding the complex stationary points. This work connects topology trivialization to two different branches of mathematics: algebraic geometry and catastrophe theory, which is fertile ground for further interdisciplinary research
A Halomethane thermochemical network from iPEPICO experiments and quantum chemical calculations
Internal energy selected halomethane cations CH3Cl+, CH2Cl2+, CHCl3+, CH3F+, CH2F2+, CHClF2+ and CBrClF2+ were prepared by vacuum ultraviolet photoionization, and their lowest energy dissociation channel studied using imaging photoelectron photoion coincidence spectroscopy (iPEPICO). This channel involves hydrogen atom loss for CH3F+, CH2F2+ and CH3Cl+, chlorine atom loss for CH2Cl2+, CHCl3+ and CHClF2+, and bromine atom loss for CBrClF2+. Accurate 0 K appearance energies, in conjunction with ab initio isodesmic and halogen exchange reaction energies, establish a thermochemical network, which is optimized to update and confirm the enthalpies of formation of the sample molecules and their dissociative photoionization products. The ground electronic states of CHCl3+, CHClF2+ and CBrClF2+ do not confirm to the deep well assumption, and the experimental breakdown curve deviates from the deep well model at low energies. Breakdown curve analysis of such shallow well systems supplies a satisfactorily succinct route to the adiabatic ionization energy of the parent molecule, particularly if the threshold photoelectron spectrum is not resolved and a purely computational route is unfeasible. The ionization energies have been found to be 11.47 ± 0.01 eV, 12.30 ± 0.02 eV and 11.23 ± 0.03 eV for CHCl3, CHClF2 and CBrClF2, respectively. The updated 0 K enthalpies of formation, ∆fHo0K(g) for the ions CH2F+, CHF2+, CHCl2+, CCl3+, CCl2F+ and CClF2+ have been derived to be 844.4 ± 2.1, 601.6 ± 2.7, 890.3 ± 2.2, 849.8 ± 3.2, 701.2 ± 3.3 and 552.2 ± 3.4 kJ mol–1, respectively. The ∆fHo0K(g) values for the neutrals CCl4, CBrClF2, CClF3, CCl2F2 and CCl3F and have been determined to be –94.0 ± 3.2, –446.6 ± 2.7, –702.1 ± 3.5, –487.8 ± 3.4 and –285.2 ± 3.2 kJ mol–1, respectively
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The τ-plot, a multicomponent 1-D pole figure plot, to quantify the heterogeneity of plastic deformation
An approach is presented that allows multi-scale characterisations of heterogeneous deformation in crystalline materials by employing a range of characterisation techniques including: electron backscatter diffraction, digital image correlation and neutron diffraction powder measurements. The approach will be used to obtain critical information about the variations in parameters that characterise the deformed state in different crystallographic orientation texture components of a sample in a statistically significant way. These parameters include lattice strains, texture evolution, peak broadening, dislocation density, planar faults, phase changes and surface strain. This approach allows verification of models of plastic deformation to provide a more detailed view of plastic deformation heterogeneity at multiple length scales than obtained by other characterisation approaches. The approach demonstrated here is applied to two stainless steel alloys; an alloy that exhibits phase transformation during deformation and an alloy that remains the same phase all through deformation process
Correlators for the Wigner–Smith time-delay matrix of chaotic cavities
We study the Wigner–Smith time-delay matrix Q of a ballistic quantum dot supporting N scattering channels. We compute the v-point correlators of the power traces Tr Qk for arbitrary v>1 at leading order for large N using techniques from the random matrix theory approach to quantum chromodynamics. We conjecture that the cumulants of the Tr Qkʼs are integer-valued at leading order in N and include a MATHEMATICA code that computes their generating functions recursively
On the distribution of maximum value of the characteristic polynomial of GUE random matrices
Motivated by recently discovered relations between logarithmically correlated Gaussian processes and characteristic polynomials of large random N×N matrices H from the Gaussian Unitary Ensemble (GUE), we consider the problem of characterising the distribution of the global maximum of DN(x):=−log|det(xI−H)| as N→∞ and x∈(−1,1). We arrive at an explicit expression for the asymptotic probability density of the (appropriately shifted) maximum by combining the rigorous Fisher-Hartwig asymptotics due to Krasovsky \cite{K07} with the heuristic {\it freezing transition} scenario for logarithmically correlated processes. Although the general idea behind the method is the same as for the earlier considered case of the Circular Unitary Ensemble, the present GUE case poses new challenges. In particular we show how the conjectured {\it self-duality} in the freezing scenario plays the crucial role in our selection of the form of the maximum distribution. Finally, we demonstrate a good agreement of the found probability density with the results of direct numerical simulations of the maxima of DN(x)
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