Structured, sparse regression with application to HIV drug resistance

We introduce a new version of forward stepwise regression. Our modification finds solutions to regression problems where the selected predictors appear in a structured pattern, with respect to a predefined distance measure over the candidate predictors. Our method is motivated by the problem of predicting HIV-1 drug resistance from protein sequences. We find that our method improves the interpretability of drug resistance while producing comparable predictive accuracy to standard methods. We also demonstrate our method in a simulation study and present some theoretical results and connections.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/10-AOAS428 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Why do Tornados and Hail Storms Rest on Weekends?

When anthropogenic aerosols over the eastern USA during summertime are at their weekly mid-week peak, tornado and hail storm activity there is also near its weekly maximum. The weekly cycle in storm activity is statistically significant and unlikely to be due to natural variability. The pattern of variability supports the hypothesis that air pollution aerosols invigorate deep convective clouds in a moist, unstable atmosphere, to the extent of inducing production of large hailstones and tornados. This is caused by the effect of aerosols on cloud-drop nucleation, making cloud drops smaller, delaying precipitation-forming processes and their evaporation, and hence affecting cloud dynamics

Acousto-optic tomography beyond the acoustic diffraction-limit using speckle decorrelation

Acousto-optic tomography (AOT) enables optical-contrast imaging deep inside scattering samples via localized ultrasound modulation of scattered light. However, the resolution of AOT is inherently limited by the ultrasound focus size, prohibiting microscopic investigations. In the last few years, advances in the field of digital wavefront-shaping have allowed the development of novel approaches for overcoming the acoustic resolution limit of AOT. However, these novel approaches require the execution of thousands of wavefront measurements within the sample speckle decorrelation time, limiting their application to static samples. Here, we show that it is possible to surpass the acoustic resolution limit with a conventional AOT system by exploiting the natural dynamics of speckle decorrelations rather than trying to overcome them. We achieve this by adapting the principles of super-resolution optical fluctuations imaging (SOFI), originally developed for imaging blinking fluorophores, to AOT. We show that naturally fluctuating optical speckle grains can serve as the analogues of blinking fluorophores, enabling super-resolution by statistical analysis of fluctuating acousto-optic signals.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures & supplementary materia

Environmental and climatic proxies for the Cañadón Asfalto and Neuquén basins (Patagonia, Argentina): review of middle to upper jurassic continental and near coastal sequences

In this review, we include several proxies (sedimentology, palynology, invertebrates) from the Cañadón Asfalto and Neuquén basins, to infer the environments and regional climatic context during the Middle to Late Jurassic of Patagonia. In central Patagonia, early in the Middle Jurassic, and associated with a magmatic arc, began the sedimentary fi lling of Jurassic continental sub-basins in the Cañadón Asfalto Basin. Lacustrine and fl uvio-deltaic sediments, bearing a continental Middle Jurassic palynobiota, correspond to the Las Chacritas Member, while the sediments and palynobiota from the Late Jurassic Puesto Almada Member (both in the Cañadón Asfalto Formation) indicate a palustrine wetland subenvironment immersed within an arid macroenvironment. Paleoinvertebrates (conchostracans and sponges) of this formation suggest wet-dry cycles in the water bodies they inhabited. The sedimentological information together with the continental and coastal palynomorph assemblages of the back arc Neuquén Basin, allowed distinguishing a complete regressive-transgressive sequence for the Middle Jurassic Lajas Formation. For the Upper Jurassic in this basin, the thick gypsum and anhydrite deposits of the evaporitic coastal Auquilco Formation correlate with extended deposits of eolian sandstones corresponding to the Botucatú paleodesert, and a saltmarsh environment is inferred from the palynofl ora. The palynologic associations from both basins indicate a regional warm climate with seasonal aridity. Climatic conditions would have been drier in the continental interior (Cañadón Asfalto Basin), with strongly seasonally distributed temperatures, and moister in the western coast of the continent (Neuquén Basin), during the marine transgressions.Na presente revisão foram incluídos vários proxies (sedimentologia, palinologia, invertebrados), das bacias de Cañadón Asfalto e Neuquén, para inferir o contexto climático regional e ambiental durante o Jurássico Médio e Superior da Patagônia. Na região central da Patagônia, no início do Jurássico Médio, e associado a um arco magmático, começou o preenchimento sedimentar de sub-bacias continentais jurássicas na bacia Cañadón Asfalto. Os sedimentos flúvio-deitaico e lacustres, tendo uma palinobiota continental do Jurássico Médio correspondente ao Membro Las Chacritas, enquanto os sedimentos e a palinobiota do Jurássico Superior do Membro Puesto Almada (ambos na Formação Cañadón Asfalto) indicam um subambiente palustre úmido imerso em um macroambiente árido. Os paleoinvertebrados (conchostráceos e esponjas) desta formação sugerem ciclos úmidos-secos nos corpos de água por eles habitados. A informação sedimentológica juntamente com as assembleias de palinomorfos continentais e costeiros do “back arc” da bacia Neuquén permitiu distinguir uma sequência completa regressiva-transgressiva para o Jurássico Médio da Formação Lajas. Para o Jurássico Superior, os depósitos de anidrita e gesso espessos da Formação Auquilco costeira evaporítica correlacionam-se com depósitos extensos de arenitos eólicos correspondentes ao paleodeserto Botucatu. Um ambiente “saltmarsh” é inferido a partir da palinoflora. As associações palinológicas de ambas as bacias indicam um clima regional quente com aridez sazonal. As condições climáticas teriam sido mais secas no interior continental (bacia Cañadón Asfalto), com temperaturas fortemente distribuídas de forma sazonal, e úmidas na costa ocidental do continente (bacia de Neuquén), durante as transgressões marinhas.Fil: Volkheimer, Wolfang. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Quattrocchio, Mirta Elena. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Geología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Cabaleri, Nora Graciela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotopica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Geocronología y Geología Isotópica; ArgentinaFil: Narvaez, Paula Liliana. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Provincia de Mendoza. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Instituto Argentino de Nivología, Glaciología y Ciencias Ambientales; ArgentinaFil: Rosenfeld, U.. Westfälische Wilhelms-universität Münster; AlemaniaFil: Scafati, Laura Haydee. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ; ArgentinaFil: Melendi, Daniel Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Parque Centenario. Museo Argentino de Ciencias Naturales ; Argentin

Qube - A CubeSat for Quantum Key Distribution Experiments

In a world of global satellite communication networks, it is crucial to ensure the security of these data links. QUBE is a project that will develop and launch a CubeSat for the downlink of strongly attenuated light pulses, with encoded quantum information, which can be used for the exchange of encryption keys. This 3U Pico-Satellite will be built using the UNISEC-Europe standard, which has been proven to provide a robust framework for increased reliability for CubeSat missions. In addition to advanced reaction wheels for precision pointing, the satellite will be carrying the DLR-OSIRIS optical downlink system as well as dedicated payloads for testing components required for quantum key distribution. A miniaturized quantum random number generator (QRNG) will create a sequence of numbers, which can be used to set the quantum states of the light. The light pulses will then be downlinked to the optical ground station at DLR in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, which is equipped with the corresponding components for receiving the quantum states. Additionally, the random numbers will partially be made available via an RF downlink. This will allow evaluating the link loss as well as the noise and errors in the transmission of quantum signals. In QKD, due to the underlying quantum mechanics, any attempt of reading the quantum states will alter them, which makes interceptions easily detectable. The quantum communication experiments will evaluate whether secure communication links are possible even on a CubeSat scale. A major challenge for building the required CubeSat is the attitude determination and control system that will provide precise pointing. This work will outline detailed mission requirements as well as the chosen subsystems for tackling these challenges in order to deliver a successful mission

Self-testing with finite statistics enabling the certification of a quantum network link

Self-testing is a method to certify devices from the result of a Bell test. Although examples of noise tolerant self-testing are known, it is not clear how to deal efficiently with a finite number of experimental trials to certify the average quality of a device without assuming that it behaves identically at each run. As a result, existing self-testing results with finite statistics have been limited to guarantee the proper working of a device in just one of all experimental trials, thereby limiting their practical applicability. We here derive a method to certify through self-testing that a device produces states on average close to a Bell state without assumption on the actual state at each run. Thus the method is free of the I.I.D. (independent and identically distributed) assumption. Applying this new analysis on the data from a recent loophole-free Bell experiment, we demonstrate the successful distribution of Bell states over 398 meters with an average fidelity of $\geq$55.50% at a confidence level of 99%. Being based on a Bell test free of detection and locality loopholes, our certification is evidently device-independent, that is, it does not rely on trust in the devices or knowledge of how the devices work. This guarantees that our link can be integrated in a quantum network for performing long-distance quantum communications with security guarantees that are independent of the details of the actual implementation.Comment: 7+10 pages, 2+3 figures, 1 tabl