9,044 research outputs found
Characterizing and correcting for the effect of sensor noise in the dynamic mode decomposition
Dynamic mode decomposition (DMD) provides a practical means of extracting
insightful dynamical information from fluids datasets. Like any data processing
technique, DMD's usefulness is limited by its ability to extract real and
accurate dynamical features from noise-corrupted data. Here we show
analytically that DMD is biased to sensor noise, and quantify how this bias
depends on the size and noise level of the data. We present three modifications
to DMD that can be used to remove this bias: (i) a direct correction of the
identified bias using known noise properties, (ii) combining the results of
performing DMD forwards and backwards in time, and (iii) a total
least-squares-inspired algorithm. We discuss the relative merits of each
algorithm, and demonstrate the performance of these modifications on a range of
synthetic, numerical, and experimental datasets. We further compare our
modified DMD algorithms with other variants proposed in recent literature
Time Resolved Correlation measurements of temporally heterogeneous dynamics
Time Resolved Correlation (TRC) is a recently introduced light scattering
technique that allows to detect and quantify dynamic heterogeneities. The
technique is based on the analysis of the temporal evolution of the speckle
pattern generated by the light scattered by a sample, which is quantified by
, the degree of correlation between speckle images recorded at
time and . Heterogeneous dynamics results in significant
fluctuations of with time . We describe how to optimize TRC
measurements and how to detect and avoid possible artifacts. The statistical
properties of the fluctuations of are analyzed by studying their
variance, probability distribution function, and time autocorrelation function.
We show that these quantities are affected by a noise contribution due to the
finite number of detected speckles. We propose and demonstrate a method to
correct for the noise contribution, based on a extrapolation
scheme. Examples from both homogeneous and heterogeneous dynamics are provided.
Connections with recent numerical and analytical works on heterogeneous glassy
dynamics are briefly discussed.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures. Submitted to PR
Perceived Impacts of Rural-Urban Migration on Agricultural Productivity in Nanumba South District of Northern Region of Ghana
There has been much out-migration by the youth from the Nanumba South District in the Northern Region of Ghana to urban centres in the country. The study was designed to to find out perceptions of the community members of causes of out-migration and its impact on agriculture and food availability in the Nanumba South District.The research design used quantitative data on a sample size of 400 farmers. A significant relationship was found between two push factors (poor educational services and poor health services) and the motivation to migrate while all the pull factors studied were statistically significant. It was observed that there was no significant relationship between farm incomes and the motivation to migrate but there was a significant relationship between migration and labour availability; migration and availability of agricultural land; and migration and food availability. The study recommends the need for policies aimed at increasing income growth in agriculture, intensification of the non-farm economy and investment in basic education, skills development, and provision of functional social amenities. Keywords: Migration, push factors, pull factors, out-migratio
Metformin Decreases the Incidence of Pancreatic Ductal Adenocarcinoma Promoted by Diet-induced Obesity in the Conditional KrasG12D Mouse Model.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a particularly deadly disease. Chronic conditions, including obesity and type-2 diabetes are risk factors, thus making PDAC amenable to preventive strategies. We aimed to characterize the chemo-preventive effects of metformin, a widely used anti-diabetic drug, on PDAC development using the KrasG12D mouse model subjected to a diet high in fats and calories (HFCD). LSL-KrasG12D/+;p48-Cre (KC) mice were given control diet (CD), HFCD, or HFCD with 5 mg/ml metformin in drinking water for 3 or 9 months. After 3 months, metformin prevented HFCD-induced weight gain, hepatic steatosis, depletion of intact acini, formation of advanced PanIN lesions, and stimulation of ERK and mTORC1 in pancreas. In addition to reversing hepatic and pancreatic histopathology, metformin normalized HFCD-induced hyperinsulinemia and hyperleptinemia among the 9-month cohort. Importantly, the HFCD-increased PDAC incidence was completely abrogated by metformin (p < 0.01). The obesogenic diet also induced a marked increase in the expression of TAZ in pancreas, an effect abrogated by metformin. In conclusion, administration of metformin improved the metabolic profile and eliminated the promoting effects of diet-induced obesity on PDAC formation in KC mice. Given the established safety profile of metformin, our findings have a strong translational potential for novel chemo-preventive strategies for PDAC
cDNA cloning of the complete genome of tobacco mosaic virus and production of infectious transcripts
High prevalence of scrapie in a dairy goat herd: tissue distribution of disease-associated PrP and effect of PRNP genotype and age
Following a severe outbreak of clinical scrapie in 2006–2007, a
large dairy goat herd was culled
and 200 animals were selected for post-mortem examinations in order to
ascertain the prevalence of infection,
the effect of age, breed and PRNP genotype on the susceptibility to scrapie,
the tissue distribution of diseaseassociated
PrP (PrP), and the comparative efficiency of different diagnostic methods.
As determined by immunohistochemical (IHC) examinations with Bar224 PrP antibody, the
prevalence of preclinical infection
was very high (72/200; 36.0%), with most infected animals being positive
for PrP in lymphoreticular system
(LRS) tissues (68/72; 94.4%) compared to those that were positive in
brain samples (38/72; 52.8%). The
retropharyngeal lymph node and the palatine tonsil showed the highest
frequency of PrP accumulation (87.3%
and 84.5%, respectively), while the recto-anal mucosa-associated lymphoid
tissue (RAMALT) was positive in
only 30 (41.7%) of the infected goats. However, the efficiency of rectal
and palatine tonsil biopsies taken
shortly before necropsy was similar. The probability of brain and RAMALT
being positive directly
correlated with the spread of PrP within the LRS. The prevalence of
infection was influenced by PRNP
genetics at codon 142 and by the age of the goats: methionine carriers older
than 60 months showed a much
lower prevalence of infection (12/78; 15.4%) than those younger than 60 months (20/42; 47.6%); these last
showed prevalence values similar to isoleucine homozygotes of any age
(40/80; 50.0%). Two of seven goats
with definite signs of scrapie were negative for PrP in brain but positive
in LRS tissues, and one goat showed
biochemical and IHC features of PrP different from all other infected
goats. The results of this study have
implications for surveillance and control policies for scrapie in goats
Exclusive Higgs Boson Production with bottom quarks at Hadron Colliders
We present the next-to-leading order QCD corrected rate for the production of
a scalar Higgs boson with a pair of high p_T bottom and anti-bottom quarks at
the Tevatron and at the Large Hadron Collider. Results are given for both the
Standard Model and the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model. The exclusive
b-bbar-h production rate is small in the Standard Model, but it can be greatly
enhanced in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model for large tan(beta),
making b-bbar-h an important discovery mode. We find that the next-to-leading
order QCD results are much less sensitive to the renormalization and
factorization scales than the lowest order results, but have a significant
dependence on the choice of the renormalization scheme for the bottom quark
Yukawa coupling.Comment: 27 pages, 17 figures, RevTeX
Leptoquark Contribution to the Higgs Boson Production at the LHC Collider
In this report we study how a light-scalar leptoquark could affect the Higgs
boson production cross-section at the LHC collider. We construct the most
general renormalizable and gauge invariant effective Lagrangian involving the
standard model particles and a scalar, isoscalar leptoquark, \eta.
The total cross-section for pp -> H+X is then calculated for different values
of the unknown parameters \lambda_eta, m_eta and m_H.(Here \lambda_eta is the
coupling associated with the Higgs-leptoquark interaction.)
We find that if \lambda_eta is moderately large and m_eta is around a few
hundred GeV, then the cross-section is significantly larger than the standard
model value.Comment: 9 pages, 4 postscript figure
- …