Application of dictionary learning to denoise LIGO's blip noise transients

Data streams of gravitational-wave detectors are polluted by transient noise features, or "glitches", of instrumental and environmental origin. In this work, we investigate the use of total-variation methods and learned dictionaries to mitigate the effect of those transients in the data. We focus on a specific type of transient, "blip" glitches, as this is the most common type of glitch present in the LIGO detectors and their waveforms are easy to identify. We randomly select 80 blip glitches scattered in the data from advanced LIGO's O1 run, as provided by the citizen-science project Gravity Spy. Our results show that dictionary-learning methods are a valid approach to model and subtract most of the glitch contribution in all cases analyzed, particularly at frequencies below $\sim 1$ kHz. The high-frequency component of the glitch is best removed when a combination of dictionaries with different atom length is employed. As a further example, we apply our approach to the glitch visible in the LIGO-Livingston data around the time of merger of binary neutron star signal GW170817, finding satisfactory results. This paper is the first step in our ongoing program to automatically classify and subtract all families of gravitational-wave glitches employing variational methods

A Measurement Study of Online Tracking and Advertising in Ibero-America

The ability of the online marketing industry to track and profile users’ Web-browsing activity is what enables effective, tailored-made advertising services. The intrusiveness of these practices and the increasing invasiveness of digital advertising, however, have raised serious concerns regarding user privacy. Although the level of ubiquity of tracking and advertising has been investigated in top-world sites based in North America and Western Europe, the extent to which those practices are carried out in territories with less or no legal coverage —in terms of data protection— has not been studied so far. In this work, we present the first detailed measurement of online tracking and advertising conducted to date in one of those regions, namely, Ibero-America, by analyzing local websites (e.g., education and government sites). In doing so, our measurement study aims to find out how user location as well as the type of publisher may impact on tracking and advertising and thus user privacy. Lastly, our thorough, extensive analysis also explores whether differences are appreciated between Latin America and the EU with regard to the third-party tracking conducted from and towards the corresponding countries

Ethische Aspekte der Sozialen Arbeit verdeutlicht anhand des Ethikkomitees der Klinikum Chemnitz gGmbH

Die Bachelorarbeit befasst sich mit dem Thema der Ethik, der Berufsethik der Sozialen Arbeit und den ethischen Herausforderungen im Bereich der Humanmedizin. Zudem wird dargestellt, welche Folgen und Herausforderungen sich, für die Einrichtungen im Gesundheitswesen und speziell auch für die Fachkräfte der klinischen Sozialarbeit, ergeben. Der Schwerpunkt der Arbeit liegt dabei auf einer intensiven Literaturrecherche. Mithilfe dieser wurde die vorhandene Problemstellung ermittelt und Lösungsmöglichkeiten aufgezeigt. Außerdem wurde der Vorstand des Ethikkomitees der Klinikum Chemnitz gGmbH befragt. Die Befragung des Vorstandes stellt keine empirische Untersuchung im Sinne einer Beweisführung dar, sondern soll die Fragestellungen und Probleme aus der wissenschaftlichen Literatur verdeutlichen, differenzieren und erweitern

Social Media as a measurable medium for corporate communications of the fu-ture : SeFa-Index for the analysis of Facebook activities of a company using the ex-ample of the automobile manufacturer Mercedes-Benz

In der modernen Unternehmenskommunikation kommt man heutzutage um dem Begriff Social Media nicht vorbei. Social Media besteht aus vielen Netzwerken und Plattformen, die gerade für ein Unternehmen sehr interessant sein können, da sich hierbei alles um das Thema Kommunikation dreht. Folglich können Kundenbindungen gestärkt sowie Beziehungen aufgebaut werden. Jedoch ist das nur ein Bruchteil der Möglichkeiten, die eine sorgfältig aufgebaute Unternehmensstrategie ermöglicht. Des Weiteren legen viele Unternehmen ihr Ziele an festen Zahlen fest, um sie messbar zu machen. Die Autorin, Anna Weber , hat sich mit dem Thema Social Media und einem Versuch einer Messmethode beschäftigt, welche die Unternehmenskommunikation in sozialen Netzwerken messbar macht. Der SeFa-Index ist eine von der Autorin festgelegte Analysemethode, um Facebook-Aktivitäten berechnen und kontrollieren zu können

First narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves from known pulsars in advanced detector data

Spinning neutron stars asymmetric with respect to their rotation axis are potential sources of continuous gravitational waves for ground-based interferometric detectors. In the case of known pulsars a fully coherent search, based on matched filtering, which uses the position and rotational parameters obtained from electromagnetic observations, can be carried out. Matched filtering maximizes the signalto- noise (SNR) ratio, but a large sensitivity loss is expected in case of even a very small mismatch between the assumed and the true signal parameters. For this reason, narrow-band analysis methods have been developed, allowing a fully coherent search for gravitational waves from known pulsars over a fraction of a hertz and several spin-down values. In this paper we describe a narrow-band search of 11 pulsars using data from Advanced LIGO’s first observing run. Although we have found several initial outliers, further studies show no significant evidence for the presence of a gravitational wave signal. Finally, we have placed upper limits on the signal strain amplitude lower than the spin-down limit for 5 of the 11 targets over the bands searched; in the case of J1813-1749 the spin-down limit has been beaten for the first time. For an additional 3 targets, the median upper limit across the search bands is below the spin-down limit. This is the most sensitive narrow-band search for continuous gravitational waves carried out so far

ESR1 gene promoter region methylation in free circulating DNA and its correlation with estrogen receptor protein expression in tumor tissue in breast cancer patients

[Background] Tumor expression of estrogen receptor (ER) is an important marker of prognosis, and is predictive of response to endocrine therapy in breast cancer. Several studies have observed that epigenetic events, such methylation of cytosines and deacetylation of histones, are involved in the complex mechanisms that regulate promoter transcription. However, the exact interplay of these factors in transcription activity is not well understood. In this study, we explored the relationship between ER expression status in tumor tissue samples and the methylation of the 5′ CpG promoter region of the estrogen receptor gene (ESR1) isolated from free circulating DNA (fcDNA) in plasma samples from breast cancer patients. [Methods] Patients (n = 110) with non-metastatic breast cancer had analyses performed of ER expression (luminal phenotype in tumor tissue, by immunohistochemistry method), and the ESR1-DNA methylation status (fcDNA in plasma, by quantitative methylation specific PCR technique). [Results] Our results showed a significant association between presence of methylated ESR1 in patients with breast cancer and ER negative status in the tumor tissue (p = 0.0179). There was a trend towards a higher probability of ESR1-methylation in those phenotypes with poor prognosis i.e. 80% of triple negative patients, 60% of HER2 patients, compared to 28% and 5.9% of patients with better prognosis such as luminal A and luminal B, respectively. [Conclusion] Silencing, by methylation, of the promoter region of the ESR1 affects the expression of the estrogen receptor protein in tumors of breast cancer patients; high methylation of ESR1-DNA is associated with estrogen receptor negative status which, in turn, may be implicated in the patient’s resistance to hormonal treatment in breast cancer. As such, epigenetic markers in plasma may be of interest as new targets for anticancer therapy, especially with respect to endocrine treatment.The study was funded, in part, by a grant from the Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia (CICYT: SAF 2004–00889)

A Non-Coding RNA Within the Rasgrf1 Locus in Mouse Is Imprinted and Regulated by Its Homologous Chromosome in Trans

BACKGROUND: Rasgrf1 is imprinted in mouse, displaying paternal allele specific expression in neonatal brain. Paternal expression is accompanied by paternal-specific DNA methylation at a differentially methylated domain (DMD) within the locus. The cis-acting elements necessary for Rasgrf1 imprinting are known. A series of tandem DNA repeats control methylation of the adjacent DMD, which is a methylation sensitive enhancer-blocking element. These two sequences constitute a binary switch that controls imprinting and represents the Imprinting Control Region (ICR). One paternally transmitted mutation, which helped define the ICR, induced paramutation, in trans, on the maternal allele. Like many imprinted genes, Rasgrf1 lies within an imprinted cluster. One of four noncoding transcripts in the cluster, AK015891, is known to be imprinted. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Here we demonstrate that an additional noncoding RNA, AK029869, is imprinted and paternally expressed in brain throughout development. Intriguingly, any of several maternally inherited ICR mutations affected expression of the paternal AK029869 transcript in trans. Furthermore, we found that the ICR mutations exert different trans effects on AK029869 at different developmental times. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Few trans effects have been defined in mammals and, those that exist, do not show the great variation seen at the Rasgrf1 imprinted domain, either in terms of the large number of mutations that produce the effects or the range of phenotypes that emerge when they are seen. These results suggest that trans regulation of gene expression may be more common than originally appreciated and that where trans regulation occurs it can change dynamically during development

Landuse and soil degradation in the southern Maya lowlands, from Pre-Classic to Post-Classic times : The case of La Joyanca (Petén, Guatemala)

International audienceThis work focuses on the impact of Maya agriculture on soil degradation. In site and out site studies in the area of the city of La Joyanca (NW Petén) show that "Maya clays" do not constitute a homogeneous unit, but represent a complex sedimentary record. A high resolution analysis leads us to document changes in rates and practices evolving in time in relation with major socio-political and economic changes. It is possible to highlight extensive agricultural practices between Early Pre-classical to Late Pre-classical times. Intensification occurs in relation with reduction of the fallow duration during Pre-classic to Classic periods. The consequences of these changes on soil erosion are discussed. However, it does not seem that the agronomic potential of the soils was significantly degraded before the end of the Classic period

Pairing of Homologous Regions in the Mouse Genome Is Associated with Transcription but Not Imprinting Status

This work was funded by the BBSRC, grant BB/H088071/1 (www.bbsrc.ac.uk), MRC, grant G0700760 (www.mrc.ac.uk), Wellcome Trust, grant 095645/Z/11/Z (www.wellcome.ac.uk) and the EU through EpiGeneSys (www.epigenesys.eu) and Blueprint (www.blueprint-epigenome.eu). C.K. was funded by the DFG, personal fellowship KR 3317/2-1 (www.dfg.de) and CTR, personal short term fellowship (www.trophoblast.cam.ac.uk). M.J.H. received funding through grant NCI/NIH 2RO1 CA089426 (www.nih.gov)