Automatic Target Recognition in Synthetic Aperture Sonar Images Based on Geometrical Feature Extraction

This paper presents a new supervised classification approach for automated target recognition (ATR) in SAS images. The recognition procedure starts with a novel segmentation stage based on the Hilbert transform. A number of geometrical features are then extracted and used to classify observed objects against a previously compiled database of target and non-target features. The proposed approach has been tested on a set of 1528 simulated images created by the NURC SIGMAS sonar model, achieving up to 95% classification accuracy

Open Universe for Blazars: A new generation of astronomical products based on 14 years of Swift -XRT data

Aims. Open Universe for Blazars is a set of high-transparency multi-frequency data products for blazar science, and the tools designed to generate them. Blazars are drawing growing interest following the consolidation of their position as the most abundant type of source in the extragalactic very high-energy γ-ray sky, and because of their status as prime candidate sources in the nascent field of multi-messenger astrophysics. As such, blazar astrophysics is becoming increasingly data driven, depending on the integration and combined analysis of large quantities of data from the entire span of observational astrophysics techniques. The project was therefore chosen as one of the pilot activities within the United Nations Open Universe Initiative, whose objective is to stimulate a large increase in the accessibility and ease of utilisation of space science data for the worldwide benefit of scientific research, education, capacity building, and citizen science. Methods. Our aim is to deliver innovative data science tools for multi-messenger astrophysics. In this work we report on a data analysis pipeline called Swift-DeepSky based on the Swift XRTDAS software and the XIMAGE package, encapsulated into a Docker container. Swift-DeepSky downloads and reads low-level data, generates higher level products, detects X-ray sources, and estimates several intensity and spectral parameters for each detection, thus facilitating the generation of complete and up-to-date science-ready catalogues from an entire space-mission data set. Results. As a first application of our innovative approach, we present the results of a detailed X-ray image analysis based on Swift-DeepSky that was run on all Swift-XRT observations including a known blazar, carried out during the first 14 years of operations of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory. Short exposures executed within one week of each other have been added to increase sensitivity, which ranges between ∼1 × 10-12 and ∼1 × 10-14 erg cm-2 s-1 (0.3-10.0 keV). After cleaning for problematic fields, the resulting database includes over 27 000 images integrated in different X-ray bands, and a catalogue, called 1OUSXB, that provides intensity and spectral information for 33 396 X-ray sources, 8896 of which are single or multiple detections of 2308 distinct blazars. All the results can be accessed online in a variety of ways, from the Open Universe portal through Virtual Observatory services, via the VOU-Blazar tool and the SSDC SED builder. One of the most innovative aspects of this work is that the results can be easily reproduced and extended by anyone using the Docker version of the Swift-DeepSky pipeline, which runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows machines, and does not require any specific experience in X-ray data analysis.Fil: Giommi, Paolo. Università di Roma; Italia. International Center For Relativistic Astrophysics; Italia. Universitat Technical Zu Munich; AlemaniaFil: Brandt, C. H.. International Center For Relativistic Astrophysics; Italia. Jacobs University; AlemaniaFil: Barres de Almeida, U.. International Center For Relativistic Astrophysics; Italia. Centro Brasileiro de Pesquisas Físicas; BrasilFil: Pollock, A. M. T.. University of Sheffield; Reino UnidoFil: Arneodo, F.. New York University Abu Dhabi; Arabia SauditaFil: Chang, Y. L.. International Center For Relativistic Astrophysics; ItaliaFil: Civitarese, Enrique Osvaldo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: de Angelis, Maria Cruz. Università di Roma; ItaliaFil: D'Elia, V.. Space Science Data Center; Italia. Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma; ItaliaFil: Del Rio Vera, J.. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs; AustraliaFil: Di Pippo, S.. United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs; AustraliaFil: Middei, Riccardo. Università di Roma; ItaliaFil: Penacchioni, Ana Virginia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Física La Plata. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Física La Plata; ArgentinaFil: Perri, M.. Osservatorio Astronomico di Roma; Italia. Space Science Data Center; ItaliaFil: Ruffini, Remo. International Center For Relativistic Astrophysics; ItaliaFil: Sahakyan, Narek. International Centre For Relativistic Astrophysics Network; ArmeniaFil: Turriziani, Sara. Computational Astrophysics Laboratory; Japó

The Open Universe survey of Swift-XRT GRB fields: a complete sample of HBL blazars

We have analysed all the X-ray images centred on Gamma Ray Bursts generated by Swift over the last 15 years using automatic tools that do not require any expertise in X-ray astronomy, producing results in excellent agreement with previous findings. This work, besides presenting the largest medium-deep survey of the X-ray sky and a complete sample of blazars, wishes to be a step in the direction of achieving the ultimate goal of the Open Universe Initiative, that is to enable non expert people to fully benefit of space science data, possibly extending the potential for scientific discovery, currently confined within a small number of highly specialised teams, to a much larger population. We have used the Swift_deepsky Docker container encapsulated pipeline to build the largest existing flux-limited and unbiased sample of serendipitous X-ray sources. Swift_deepsky runs on any laptop or desktop computer with a modern operating system. The tool automatically downloads the data and the calibration files from the archives, runs the official Swift analysis software and produces a number of results including images, the list of detected sources, X-ray fluxes, SED data, and spectral slope estimations. We used our source list to build the LogN-LogS of extra-galactic sources, which perfectly matches that estimated by other satellites. Combining our survey with multi-frequency data we selected a complete radio flux-density limited sample of High Energy Peaked (HBL) blazars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 8 pages, 7 figure

INTERLOCKING RESONANCE PATTERNS IN GALAXY DISKS

We have developed a method for finding dynamical resonances in disk galaxies using the change in sense of the radial component of the in-plane velocity at a resonance radius. Using simulations we show that we would expect to find these changes at corotation radii with a weaker effect at the Lindblad resonances. The method works well with observations at high spectral and angular resolutions, and is suited to the analysis of two-dimensional velocity fields in Hα from Fabry-Perot spectroscopy. We find clear indications of resonance effects in the disk velocity fields of virtually all of the 104 galaxies. The number of resonance radii detected ranges from one to seven, with a median of four. The frequency curves Ω, Ω ± κ/2, Ω ± κ/4 against radius for all the galaxies led us to discover a pattern in over 70% of the sample: given two pattern speeds, say Ω1 and Ω2, the OLR of Ω1 coincides with the corotation of Ω2, and the inner 4:1 resonance of Ω2 coincides with the corotation of Ω1. Although the second coincidence has been predicted, a prediction of this double coincidence is not found in the literature. This pattern is found once in 42 of the galaxies, twice in a further 26, three times in 5, and even four times in 1 galaxy. We also compute the ratio of corotation radius to bar length where we have sufficient image quality, finding a mean value of 1.3, and a shallow increase toward later type galaxies

Differential Effects of Migration and Deportation on HIV Infection among Male and Female Injection Drug Users in Tijuana, Mexico

HIV prevalence is rising, especially among high risk females in Tijuana, Baja California, a Mexico-US border city situated on major migration and drug trafficking routes. We compared factors associated with HIV infection among male and female injection drug users (IDUs) in Tijuana in an effort to inform HIV prevention and treatment programs. IDUs aged ≥18 years were recruited using respondent-driven sampling and underwent testing for HIV, syphilis and structured interviews. Logistic regression identified correlates of HIV infection, stratified by gender. Among 1056 IDUs, most were Mexican-born but 67% were born outside Tijuana. Reasons for moving to Tijuana included deportation from the US (56% for males, 29% for females), and looking for work/better life (34% for females, 15% for males). HIV prevalence was higher in females versus males (10.2% vs. 3.5%, p = 0.001). Among females (N = 158), factors independently associated with higher HIV prevalence included younger age, lifetime syphilis infection and living in Tijuana for longer durations. Among males (N = 898), factors independently associated with higher HIV prevalence were syphilis titers consistent with active infection, being arrested for having ‘track-marks’, having larger numbers of recent injection partners and living in Tijuana for shorter durations. An interaction between gender and number of years lived in Tijuana regressed on HIV infection was significant (p = 0.03). Upon further analysis, deportation from the U.S. explained the association between shorter duration lived in Tijuana and HIV infection among males; odds of HIV infection were four-fold higher among male injectors deported from the US, compared to other males, adjusting for all other significant correlates (p = 0.002). Geographic mobility has a profound influence on Tijuana's evolving HIV epidemic, and its impact is significantly modified by gender. Future studies are needed to elucidate the context of mobility and HIV acquisition in this region, and whether US immigration policies adversely affect HIV risk

Anticoagulant selection in relation to the SAMe-TT2R2 score in patients with atrial fibrillation. the GLORIA-AF registry

Aim: The SAMe-TT2R2 score helps identify patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) likely to have poor anticoagulation control during anticoagulation with vitamin K antagonists (VKA) and those with scores >2 might be better managed with a target-specific oral anticoagulant (NOAC). We hypothesized that in clinical practice, VKAs may be prescribed less frequently to patients with AF and SAMe-TT2R2 scores >2 than to patients with lower scores. Methods and results: We analyzed the Phase III dataset of the Global Registry on Long-Term Oral Antithrombotic Treatment in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation (GLORIA-AF), a large, global, prospective global registry of patients with newly diagnosed AF and ≥1 stroke risk factor. We compared baseline clinical characteristics and antithrombotic prescriptions to determine the probability of the VKA prescription among anticoagulated patients with the baseline SAMe-TT2R2 score >2 and ≤ 2. Among 17,465 anticoagulated patients with AF, 4,828 (27.6%) patients were prescribed VKA and 12,637 (72.4%) patients an NOAC: 11,884 (68.0%) patients had SAMe-TT2R2 scores 0-2 and 5,581 (32.0%) patients had scores >2. The proportion of patients prescribed VKA was 28.0% among patients with SAMe-TT2R2 scores >2 and 27.5% in those with scores ≤2. Conclusions: The lack of a clear association between the SAMe-TT2R2 score and anticoagulant selection may be attributed to the relative efficacy and safety profiles between NOACs and VKAs as well as to the absence of trial evidence that an SAMe-TT2R2-guided strategy for the selection of the type of anticoagulation in NVAF patients has an impact on clinical outcomes of efficacy and safety. The latter hypothesis is currently being tested in a randomized controlled trial. Clinical trial registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov//Unique identifier: NCT01937377, NCT01468701, and NCT01671007

Comparative effectiveness and safety of non-vitamin K antagonists for atrial fibrillation in clinical practice: GLORIA-AF Registry

Background and purpose: Prospectively collected data comparing the safety and effectiveness of individual non-vitamin K antagonists (NOACs) are lacking. Our objective was to directly compare the effectiveness and safety of NOACs in patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF). Methods: In GLORIA-AF, a large, prospective, global registry program, consecutive patients with newly diagnosed AF were followed for 3 years. The comparative analyses for (1) dabigatran vs rivaroxaban or apixaban and (2) rivaroxaban vs apixaban were performed on propensity score (PS)-matched patient sets. Proportional hazards regression was used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for outcomes of interest. Results: The GLORIA-AF Phase III registry enrolled 21,300 patients between January 2014 and December 2016. Of these, 3839 were prescribed dabigatran, 4015 rivaroxaban and 4505 apixaban, with median ages of 71.0, 71.0, and 73.0 years, respectively. In the PS-matched set, the adjusted HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for dabigatran vs rivaroxaban were, for stroke: 1.27 (0.79–2.03), major bleeding 0.59 (0.40–0.88), myocardial infarction 0.68 (0.40–1.16), and all-cause death 0.86 (0.67–1.10). For the comparison of dabigatran vs apixaban, in the PS-matched set, the adjusted HRs were, for stroke 1.16 (0.76–1.78), myocardial infarction 0.84 (0.48–1.46), major bleeding 0.98 (0.63–1.52) and all-cause death 1.01 (0.79–1.29). For the comparison of rivaroxaban vs apixaban, in the PS-matched set, the adjusted HRs were, for stroke 0.78 (0.52–1.19), myocardial infarction 0.96 (0.63–1.45), major bleeding 1.54 (1.14–2.08), and all-cause death 0.97 (0.80–1.19). Conclusions: Patients treated with dabigatran had a 41% lower risk of major bleeding compared with rivaroxaban, but similar risks of stroke, MI, and death. Relative to apixaban, patients treated with dabigatran had similar risks of stroke, major bleeding, MI, and death. Rivaroxaban relative to apixaban had increased risk for major bleeding, but similar risks for stroke, MI, and death. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifiers: NCT01468701, NCT01671007. Date of registration: September 2013

Studies of new Higgs boson interactions through nonresonant HH production in the b¯bγγ fnal state in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for nonresonant Higgs boson pair production in the b ¯bγγ fnal state is performed using 140 fb−1 of proton-proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. This analysis supersedes and expands upon the previous nonresonant ATLAS results in this fnal state based on the same data sample. The analysis strategy is optimised to probe anomalous values not only of the Higgs (H) boson self-coupling modifer κλ but also of the quartic HHV V (V = W, Z) coupling modifer κ2V . No signifcant excess above the expected background from Standard Model processes is observed. An observed upper limit µHH < 4.0 is set at 95% confdence level on the Higgs boson pair production cross-section normalised to its Standard Model prediction. The 95% confdence intervals for the coupling modifers are −1.4 < κλ < 6.9 and −0.5 < κ2V < 2.7, assuming all other Higgs boson couplings except the one under study are fxed to the Standard Model predictions. The results are interpreted in the Standard Model efective feld theory and Higgs efective feld theory frameworks in terms of constraints on the couplings of anomalous Higgs boson (self-)interactions