1,343 research outputs found
A Western Range Extension for Caprella scaura (Amphipoda: Caprellidae) in the Aransas Bay Ecosystem, Texas
During March 2009, the skeleton shrimp Caprella scaura and Paracaprella tenuis (Amphipoda: Caprellidae) were collected from several locations throughout the Aransas Bay, Texas ecosystem from Texas Parks and Wildlife fishery—independent trawl and oyster dredge samples. This is a western range expansion for C. scaura; P. tenuis has been reported from this area before. Both species were exclusively associated with a bryozoan, Bugula neritina. Densities of both species ranged between 0.1–3.4 individuals per gram of attached bryozoans. A reproductive population is likely established since several sizes, including adult males and gravid females, were observed. No caprellids were observed after early April, which coincided with a reduction in bryozoan occurrence in our routine monthly samples. These collections represent the first documented occurrence of C. scaura west of Florida
Estimating the burden of malaria in Senegal : Bayesian zero-inflated binomial geostatistical modeling of the MIS 2008 data
The Research Center for Human Development in Dakar (CRDH) with the technical assistance of ICF Macro and the National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP) conducted in 2008/2009 the Senegal Malaria Indicator Survey (SMIS), the first nationally representative household survey collecting parasitological data and malaria-related indicators. In this paper, we present spatially explicit parasitaemia risk estimates and number of infected children below 5 years. Geostatistical Zero-Inflated Binomial models (ZIB) were developed to take into account the large number of zero-prevalence survey locations (70%) in the data. Bayesian variable selection methods were incorporated within a geostatistical framework in order to choose the best set of environmental and climatic covariates associated with the parasitaemia risk. Model validation confirmed that the ZIB model had a better predictive ability than the standard Binomial analogue. Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods were used for inference. Several insecticide treated nets (ITN) coverage indicators were calculated to assess the effectiveness of interventions. After adjusting for climatic and socio-economic factors, the presence of at least one ITN per every two household members and living in urban areas reduced the odds of parasitaemia by 86% and 81% respectively. Posterior estimates of the ORs related to the wealth index show a decreasing trend with the quintiles. Infection odds appear to be increasing with age. The population-adjusted prevalence ranges from 0.12% in Thille-Boubacar to 13.1% in Dabo. Tambacounda has the highest population-adjusted predicted prevalence (8.08%) whereas the region with the highest estimated number of infected children under the age of 5 years is Kolda (13940). The contemporary map and estimates of malaria burden identify the priority areas for future control interventions and provide baseline information for monitoring and evaluation. Zero-Inflated formulations are more appropriate in modeling sparse geostatistical survey data, expected to arise more frequently as malaria research is focused on eliminatio
Hadamard Regularization
Motivated by the problem of the dynamics of point-particles in high
post-Newtonian (e.g. 3PN) approximations of general relativity, we consider a
certain class of functions which are smooth except at some isolated points
around which they admit a power-like singular expansion. We review the concepts
of (i) Hadamard ``partie finie'' of such functions at the location of singular
points, (ii) the partie finie of their divergent integral. We present and
investigate different expressions, useful in applications, for the latter
partie finie. To each singular function, we associate a partie-finie (Pf)
pseudo-function. The multiplication of pseudo-functions is defined by the
ordinary (pointwise) product. We construct a delta-pseudo-function on the class
of singular functions, which reduces to the usual notion of Dirac distribution
when applied on smooth functions with compact support. We introduce and analyse
a new derivative operator acting on pseudo-functions, and generalizing, in this
context, the Schwartz distributional derivative. This operator is uniquely
defined up to an arbitrary numerical constant. Time derivatives and partial
derivatives with respect to the singular points are also investigated. In the
course of the paper, all the formulas needed in the application to the physical
problem are derived.Comment: 50 pages, to appear in Journal of Mathematical Physic
Effective action approach to higher-order relativistic tidal interactions in binary systems and their effective one body description
The gravitational-wave signal from inspiralling neutron-star--neutron-star
(or black-hole--neutron-star) binaries will be influenced by tidal coupling in
the system. An important science goal in the gravitational-wave detection of
these systems is to obtain information about the equation of state of neutron
star matter via the measurement of the tidal polarizability parameters of
neutron stars. To extract this piece of information will require to have
accurate analytical descriptions of both the motion and the radiation of
tidally interacting binaries. We improve the analytical description of the late
inspiral dynamics by computing the next-to-next-to-leading order relativistic
correction to the tidal interaction energy. Our calculation is based on an
effective-action approach to tidal interactions, and on its transcription
within the effective-one-body formalism. We find that second-order relativistic
effects (quadratic in the relativistic gravitational potential ) significantly increase the effective tidal polarizability of
neutron stars by a distance-dependent amplification factor of the form where, say for an equal-mass binary,
(as previously known) and (as
determined here for the first time). We argue that higher-order relativistic
effects will lead to further amplification, and we suggest a Pad\'e-type way of
resumming them. We recommend to test our results by comparing
resolution-extrapolated numerical simulations of inspiralling-binary neutron
stars to their effective one body description.Comment: 29 pages, Physical Review D, to appea
Lorentzian regularization and the problem of point-like particles in general relativity
The two purposes of the paper are (1) to present a regularization of the
self-field of point-like particles, based on Hadamard's concept of ``partie
finie'', that permits in principle to maintain the Lorentz covariance of a
relativistic field theory, (2) to use this regularization for defining a model
of stress-energy tensor that describes point-particles in post-Newtonian
expansions (e.g. 3PN) of general relativity. We consider specifically the case
of a system of two point-particles. We first perform a Lorentz transformation
of the system's variables which carries one of the particles to its rest frame,
next implement the Hadamard regularization within that frame, and finally come
back to the original variables with the help of the inverse Lorentz
transformation. The Lorentzian regularization is defined in this way up to any
order in the relativistic parameter 1/c^2. Following a previous work of ours,
we then construct the delta-pseudo-functions associated with this
regularization. Using an action principle, we derive the stress-energy tensor,
made of delta-pseudo-functions, of point-like particles. The equations of
motion take the same form as the geodesic equations of test particles on a
fixed background, but the role of the background is now played by the
regularized metric.Comment: 34 pages, to appear in J. Math. Phy
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