573 research outputs found
Hypothetical Reasoning via Provenance Abstraction
Data analytics often involves hypothetical reasoning: repeatedly modifying
the data and observing the induced effect on the computation result of a
data-centric application. Previous work has shown that fine-grained data
provenance can help make such an analysis more efficient: instead of a costly
re-execution of the underlying application, hypothetical scenarios are applied
to a pre-computed provenance expression. However, storing provenance for
complex queries and large-scale data leads to a significant overhead, which is
often a barrier to the incorporation of provenance-based solutions.
To this end, we present a framework that allows to reduce provenance size.
Our approach is based on reducing the provenance granularity using user defined
abstraction trees over the provenance variables; the granularity is based on
the anticipated hypothetical scenarios. We formalize the tradeoff between
provenance size and supported granularity of the hypothetical reasoning, and
study the complexity of the resulting optimization problem, provide efficient
algorithms for tractable cases and heuristics for others. We experimentally
study the performance of our solution for various queries and abstraction
trees. Our study shows that the algorithms generally lead to substantial
speedup of hypothetical reasoning, with a reasonable loss of accuracy
Structurally Tractable Uncertain Data
Many data management applications must deal with data which is uncertain,
incomplete, or noisy. However, on existing uncertain data representations, we
cannot tractably perform the important query evaluation tasks of determining
query possibility, certainty, or probability: these problems are hard on
arbitrary uncertain input instances. We thus ask whether we could restrict the
structure of uncertain data so as to guarantee the tractability of exact query
evaluation. We present our tractability results for tree and tree-like
uncertain data, and a vision for probabilistic rule reasoning. We also study
uncertainty about order, proposing a suitable representation, and study
uncertain data conditioned by additional observations.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figure, 1 table. To appear in SIGMOD/PODS PhD Symposium
201
Astrometric Control of the Inertiality of the Hipparcos Catalog
Based on the most complete list of the results of an individual comparison of
the proper motions for stars of various programs common to the Hipparcos
catalog, each of which is an independent realization of the inertial reference
frame with regard to stellar proper motions, we redetermined the vector
of residual rotation of the ICRS system relative to the extragalactic
reference frame. The equatorial components of this vector were found to be the
following: mas yr,
mas yr, and mas yr.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur
Recommended from our members
2006 B100 Quality Survey Results: Milestone Report
In 2006, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory conducted a nationwide quality survey of pure biodiesel (B100) intended to be used as a blendstock. The study collected random samples throughout the United States and analyzed them for quality against the current and proposed ASTM D6751 fuel quality specifications
Xenohormone transactivities are inversely associated to serum POPs in Inuit
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licens
On Multipartite Pure-State Entanglement
We show that pure states of multipartite quantum systems are multiseparable
(i.e. give separable density matrices on tracing any party) if and only if they
have a generalized Schmidt decomposition. Implications of this result for the
quantification of multipartite pure-state entanglement are discussed. Further,
as an application of the techniques used here, we show that any purification of
a bipartite PPT bound entangled state is tri-inseparable, i.e. has none of its
three bipartite partial traces separable.Comment: 8 Pages ReVTeX, 4 figures (eps); v2: Revised terminology, added two
references and other minor changes; v3: Minor changes, added two references,
added author's middle initial; v4: One footnote remove
NMR Simulation of an Eight-State Quantum System
The propagation of excitation along a one-dimensional chain of atoms is
simulated by means of NMR. The physical system used as an analog quantum
computer is a nucleus of 133-Cs (spin 7/2) in a liquid crystalline matrix. The
Hamiltonian of migration is simulated by using a special 7-frequency pulse, and
the dynamics is monitored by following the transfer of population from one of
the 8 spin energy levels to the other.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure
Tunneling dynamics in relativistic and nonrelativistic wave equations
We obtain the solution of a relativistic wave equation and compare it with
the solution of the Schroedinger equation for a source with a sharp onset and
excitation frequencies below cut-off. A scaling of position and time reduces to
a single case all the (below cut-off) nonrelativistic solutions, but no such
simplification holds for the relativistic equation, so that qualitatively
different ``shallow'' and ``deep'' tunneling regimes may be identified
relativistically. The nonrelativistic forerunner at a position beyond the
penetration length of the asymptotic stationary wave does not tunnel;
nevertheless, it arrives at the traversal (semiclassical or
B\"uttiker-Landauer) time "tau". The corresponding relativistic forerunner is
more complex: it oscillates due to the interference between two saddle point
contributions, and may be characterized by two times for the arrival of the
maxima of lower and upper envelops. There is in addition an earlier
relativistic forerunner, right after the causal front, which does tunnel.
Within the penetration length, tunneling is more robust for the precursors of
the relativistic equation
AhR transcriptional activity in serum of Inuits across Greenlandic districts
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Human exposure to lipophilic persistent organic pollutants (POPs) including polychlorinated dibenzo-<it>p</it>-dioxins/furans (PCDDs/PCDFs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticide is ubiquitous. The individual is exposed to a complex mixture of POPs being life-long beginning during critical developmental windows. Exposure to POPs elicits a number of species- and tissue-specific toxic responses, many of which involve the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR). The aim of this study was to compare the actual level of integrated AhR transcriptional activity in the lipophilic serum fraction containing the actual POP mixture among Inuits from different districts in Greenland, and to evaluate whether the AhR transactivity is correlated to the bio-accumulated POPs and/or lifestyle factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study included 357 serum samples from the Greenlandic districts: Nuuk and Sisimiut (South West Coast), Qaanaaq (North Coast) and Tasiilaq (East Coast). The bio-accumulated serum POPs were extracted by ethanol: hexane and clean-up on Florisil columns. Effects of the serum extract on the AhR transactivity was determined using the Hepa 1.12cR mouse hepatoma cell line carrying an AhR-luciferase reporter gene, and the data was evaluated for possible association to the serum levels of 14 PCB congeners, 10 organochlorine pesticide residues and/or lifestyle factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In total 85% of the Inuit samples elicited agonistic AhR transactivity in a district dependent pattern. The median level of the AhR-TCDD equivalent (AhR-TEQ) of the separate genders was similar in the different districts. For the combined data the order of the median AhR-TEQ was Tasiilaq > Nuuk ≥ Sisimiut > Qaanaaq possibly being related to the different composition of POPs. In overall, the AhR transactivity was inversely correlated to the levels of sum POPs, age and/or intake of marine food.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>i) We observed that the proportion of dioxin like (DL) compounds in the POP mixture was the dominating factor affecting the level of serum AhR transcriptional activity even at very high level of non DL-PCBs; ii) The inverse association between the integrated serum AhR transactivity and sum of POPs might be explained by the higher level of compounds antagonizing the AhR function probably due to selective POP bioaccumulation in the food chain.</p
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