1,235 research outputs found
Constructive updating/downdating of oblique projectors: a generalization of the Gram-Schmidt process
A generalization of the Gram-Schmidt procedure is achieved by providing
equations for updating and downdating oblique projectors. The work is motivated
by the problem of adaptive signal representation outside the orthogonal basis
setting. The proposed techniques are shown to be relevant to the problem of
discriminating signals produced by different phenomena when the order of the
signal model needs to be adjusted.Comment: As it will appear in Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and
Theoretical (2007
Measurements design and phenomena discrimination
The construction of measurements suitable for discriminating signal
components produced by phenomena of different types is considered. The required
measurements should be capable of cancelling out those signal components which
are to be ignored when focusing on a phenomenon of interest. Under the
hypothesis that the subspaces hosting the signal components produced by each
phenomenon are complementary, their discrimination is accomplished by
measurements giving rise to the appropriate oblique projector operator. The
subspace onto which the operator should project is selected by nonlinear
techniques in line with adaptive pursuit strategies
The Eddy Experiment: accurate GNSS-R ocean altimetry from low altitude aircraft
During the Eddy Experiment, two synchronous GPS receivers were flown at 1 km
altitude to collect L1 signals and their reflections from the sea surface for
assessment of altimetric precision and accuracy. Wind speed (U10) was around 10
m/s, and SWH up to 2 m. A geophysical parametric waveform model was used for
retracking and estimation of the lapse between the direct and reflected signals
with a 1-second precision of 3 m. The lapse was used to estimate the SSH along
the track using a differential model. The RMS error of the 20 km averaged
GNSS-R absolute altimetric solution with respect to Jason-1 SSH and a GPS buoy
measurement was of 10 cm, with a 2 cm mean difference. Multipath and retracking
parameter sensitivity due to the low altitude are suspected to have degraded
accuracy. This result provides an important milestone on the road to a GNSS-R
mesoscale altimetry space mission.Comment: All Starlab authors have contributed significantly; the Starlab
Author list has been ordered randoml
On the truncation of the harmonic oscillator wavepacket
We present an interesting result regarding the implication of truncating the
wavepacket of the harmonic oscillator. We show that disregarding the
non-significant tails of a function which is the superposition of
eigenfunctions of the harmonic oscillator has a remarkable consequence: namely,
there exist infinitely many different superpositions giving rise to the same
function on the interval. Uniqueness, in the case of a wavepacket, is restored
by a postulate of quantum mechanics
Sea state monitoring using coastal GNSS-R
We report on a coastal experiment to study GPS L1 reflections. The campaign
was carried out at the Barcelona Port breaker and dedicated to the development
of sea-state retrieval algorithms. An experimental system built for this
purpose collected and processed GPS data to automatically generate a times
series of the interferometric complex field (ICF). The ICF was analyzed off
line and compared to a simple developed model that relates ICF coherence time
to the ratio of significant wave height (SWH) and mean wave period (MWP). The
analysis using this model showed good consistency between the ICF coherence
time and nearby oceanographic buoy data. Based on this result, preliminary
conclusions are drawn on the potential of coastal GNSS-R for sea state
monitoring using semi-empirical modeling to relate GNSS-R ICF coherence time to
SWH.Comment: All Starlab authors have contributed significantly; the Starlab
author list has been ordered randomly. Submitted to GR
Ingested insecticide to control Aedes aegypti: developing a novel dried attractive toxic sugar bait device for intra-domiciliary control
© 2020 The Author(s). Background: Illnesses transmitted by Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus, 1762) such as dengue, chikungunya and Zika comprise a considerable global burden; mosquito control is the primary public health tool to reduce disease transmission. Current interventions are inadequate and insecticide resistance threatens the effectiveness of these options. Dried attractive bait stations (DABS) are a novel mechanism to deliver insecticide to Ae. aegypti. The DABS are a high-contrast 28 inch2 surface coated with dried sugar-boric acid solution. Aedes aegypti are attracted to DABS by visual cues only, and the dried sugar solution elicits an ingestion response from Ae. aegypti landing on the surface. The study presents the development of the DABS and tests of their impact on Ae. aegypti mortality in the laboratory and a series of semi-field trials. Methods: We conducted multiple series of laboratory and semi-field trials to assess the survivability of Ae. aegypti mosquitoes exposed to the DABS. In the laboratory experiments, we assessed the lethality, the killing mechanism, and the shelf life of the device through controlled experiments. In the semi-field trials, we released laboratory-reared female Ae. aegypti into experimental houses typical of peri-urban tropical communities in South America in three trial series with six replicates each. Laboratory experiments were conducted in Quito, Ecuador, and semi-field experiments were conducted in Machala, Ecuador, an area with abundant wild populations of Ae. aegypti and endemic arboviral transmission. Results: In the laboratory, complete lethality was observed after 48 hours regardless of physiological status of the mosquito. The killing mechanism was determined to be through ingestion, as the boric acid disrupted the gut of the mosquito. In experimental houses, total mosquito mortality was greater in the treatment house for all series of experiments (P \u3c 0.0001). Conclusions: The DABS devices were effective at killing female Ae. aegypti under a variety of laboratory and semi-field conditions. DABS are a promising intervention for interdomiciliary control of Ae. aegypti and arboviral disease prevention.[Figure not available: see fulltext.
Gender and IoT Research Report: The Rise of the Internet of Things and Implications for Technology-Facilitated Abuse
From cardinal spline wavelet bases to highly coherent dictionaries
Wavelet families arise by scaling and translations of a prototype function, called the mother wavelet. The construction of wavelet bases for cardinal spline spaces is generally carried out within the multi-resolution analysis scheme. Thus, the usual way of increasing the dimension of the multi-resolution subspaces is by augmenting the scaling factor. We show here that, when working on a compact interval, the identical effect can be achieved without changing the wavelet scale but reducing the translation parameter. By such a procedure we generate a redundant frame, called a dictionary, spanning the same spaces as a wavelet basis but with wavelets of broader support. We characterize the correlation of the dictionary elements by measuring their 'coherence' and produce examples illustrating the relevance of highly coherent dictionaries to problems of sparse signal representation
The cyanobacterial ribosomal-associated protein LrtA from Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 is an oligomeric protein in solution with chameleonic sequence properties
The LrtA protein of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 intervenes in cyanobacterial post-stress
survival and in stabilizing 70S ribosomal particles. It belongs to the hibernating promoting factor
(HPF) family of proteins, involved in protein synthesis. In this work, we studied the conformational
preferences and stability of isolated LrtA in solution. At physiological conditions, as shown by
hydrodynamic techniques, LrtA was involved in a self-association equilibrium. As indicated by
Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), circular dichroism (CD) and fluorescence, the protein acquired
a folded, native-like conformation between pH 6.0 and 9.0. However, that conformation was not
very stable, as suggested by thermal and chemical denaturations followed by CD and fluorescence.
Theoretical studies of its highly-charged sequence suggest that LrtA had a Janus sequence, with a
context-dependent fold. Our modelling and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations indicate that the
protein adopted the same fold observed in other members of the HPF family ( - - - - - ) at its
N-terminal region (residues 1–100), whereas the C terminus (residues 100–197) appeared disordered
and collapsed, supporting the overall percentage of overall secondary structure obtained by CD
deconvolution. Then, LrtA has a chameleonic sequence and it is the first member of the HPF family
involved in a self-association equilibrium, when isolated in solution.Ministerio de EconomÃa y Competitividad CTQ2015-64445-RMinisterio de EconomÃa y Competitividad BIO2016-78020-RMinisterio de EconomÃa y Competitividad FIS2014-52212-RMinisterio de EconomÃa y Competitividad BIO2016-75634-PFundación Séneca 19353/PI/1
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