Subsurface flows associated with rotating sunspots

In this paper, we compare components of the horizontal flow below the solar surface in and around regions consisting of rotating and non-rotating sunspots. Our analysis suggests that there is a significant variation in both components of the horizontal flow at the beginning of sunspot rotation as compared to the non-rotating sunspot. In most cases, the flows in surrounding areas are relatively small. However, there is a significant influence of the motion on flows in an area closest to the sunspot rotation.Comment: 4 pages including 3 figures; Proceedings of IAU Symposium 273 "Physics of Sun and Star Spots" Eds. D.P. Choudhary and K.G. Strassmeie

Hierarchically-coupled hidden Markov models for learning kinetic rates from single-molecule data

We address the problem of analyzing sets of noisy time-varying signals that all report on the same process but confound straightforward analyses due to complex inter-signal heterogeneities and measurement artifacts. In particular we consider single-molecule experiments which indirectly measure the distinct steps in a biomolecular process via observations of noisy time-dependent signals such as a fluorescence intensity or bead position. Straightforward hidden Markov model (HMM) analyses attempt to characterize such processes in terms of a set of conformational states, the transitions that can occur between these states, and the associated rates at which those transitions occur; but require ad-hoc post-processing steps to combine multiple signals. Here we develop a hierarchically coupled HMM that allows experimentalists to deal with inter-signal variability in a principled and automatic way. Our approach is a generalized expectation maximization hyperparameter point estimation procedure with variational Bayes at the level of individual time series that learns an single interpretable representation of the overall data generating process.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Musical Training Enhances Inhibitory Control in Adolescence

Music production is a complex activity that involves nearly every function in the brain. Whether skills transfer from musical training to other cognitive abilities is a growing area of research. There is evidence to suggest that musical training in children and adult musicians is associated with an improvement in a variety of executive functions (EFs). This study examined whether those associations are also present during adolescence, and whether there is a relationship between the time spent in musical training and EF. Adolescents between the ages of 14 and 18 completed three tests of EF: Tower of Hanoi to assess working memory, Wisconsin Card Sort Test to assess cognitive flexibility, and Stroop Color Word Task to assess inhibition. They also completed a musical experience questionnaire, including their lifetime musical practice hours. Adolescent musicians were found to have improved inhibitory control (as measured by the Stroop Task) relative to nonmusicians and inhibition correlated with musical practice time. No other elements of EF were found to be associated with musical training. These findings suggest that the impact of musical training may not be the same for all EFs, and that there may be unique associations between this type of training and inhibitory control

The density of seawater solutions at one atmosphere as a function of temperature and salinity

The relative density (d – d0) of diluted and evaporated standard seawater solutions have been determined at one atmosphere with a magnetic float densimeter and a suspension balance from 0.5 to 40‰ salinity and 0 to 40°C…