A Bag of Features Based Approach for Classification of Motile Sperm Cells

The analysis of sperm morphology remains an essential process for diagnosis and treatment of male infertility. In this paper, a novel framework based on image processing is proposed to classify sperm cell images affected by noise due to their movement. This represents a challenge, articularly because the cells are not fixed or stained. The proposed framework is based on Speeded-Up Robust Features (SURF) combined with Bag of Features (BoF) models to quantise features computed by SURF. Support Vector Machines (SVMs) are used to classify the simplified feature vectors, extracted from sperm cell images, into normal, abnormal and noncell categories. The performance of this framework is compared to a similar model where the Histogram of Oriented Gradients (HOG) is used to extract features and SVMs is applied for their classification. The proposed framework allows to achieve classification results with an average accuracy of 90% with the SURF approach compared to 78% with the HOG approach

Effects of site dilution on the magnetic properties of geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets

The effect of site dilution by non magnetic impurities on the susceptibility of geometrically frustrated antiferromagnets (kagome and pyrochlore lattices) is discussed in the framework of the Generalized Constant Coupling model, for both classical and quantum Heisenberg spins. For the classical diluted pyrochlore lattice, excellent agreement is found when compared with Monte Carlo data. Results for the quantum case are also presented and discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Mapeamento de solos através do caráter espectral, da rede de drenagem e da vegetação

This study puts together three different methodologies that utilize Remote Sensing Techniques for the study of soils. The soils of the selected area were studied by their spectra parameters and analysed through satellite images processed in an appropriate equipment. The drainage indices were correlated to their respective soils. The well known relationship between types of cerrado vegetation and associated soils were also studied. For each situation a soil map was prepared; those maps showed a reasonable relationship with the ground truth. Wen these informations were put together in a single map, the relationship with the reference soil map was highly significant, showing the applicability of the methodology.O presente trabalho reuniu três metodologias conhecidas para o estudo de solos, todas associadas às técnicas de sensoriamento remoto. Para uma mesma área, os solos foram relacionados aos seus parâmetros espectrais obtidos digitalmente de imagens de satélite; os índices de drenagem da área foram também relacionados aos respectivos solos; a conhecida relação entre tipos de cerrado e respectivos solos suporte foi também estudada. Para cada situação foi preparado um mapa de solos, que se aproximava do mapa já existente. Quando as informações de tais mapas foram agregadas em um único mapa, a aproximação com o mapa de controle foi altamente satisfatória evidenciando a aplicabilidade da metodologia

Quantum dynamics of crystals of molecular nanomagnets inside a resonant cavity

It is shown that crystals of molecular nanomagnets exhibit enhanced magnetic relaxation when placed inside a resonant cavity. Strong dependence of the magnetization curve on the geometry of the cavity has been observed, providing evidence of the coherent microwave radiation by the crystals. A similar dependence has been found for a crystal placed between Fabry-Perot superconducting mirrors. These observations open the possibility of building a nanomagnetic microwave laser pumped by the magnetic field

Genetic determinants of cellular addiction to DNA polymerase theta

Polymerase theta (Pol θ, gene name Polq) is a widely conserved DNA polymerase that mediates a microhomology-mediated, error-prone, double strand break (DSB) repair pathway, referred to as Theta Mediated End Joining (TMEJ). Cells with homologous recombination deficiency are reliant on TMEJ for DSB repair. It is unknown whether deficiencies in other components of the DNA damage response (DDR) also result in Pol θ addiction. Here we use a CRISPR genetic screen to uncover 140 Polq synthetic lethal (PolqSL) genes, the majority of which were previously unknown. Functional analyses indicate that Pol θ/TMEJ addiction is associated with increased levels of replication-associated DSBs, regardless of the initial source of damage. We further demonstrate that approximately 30% of TCGA breast cancers have genetic alterations in PolqSL genes and exhibit genomic scars of Pol θ/TMEJ hyperactivity, thereby substantially expanding the subset of human cancers for which Pol θ inhibition represents a promising therapeutic strategy

Detection of apoptotic events, using different methods, in renal tissues after acute haemorrhage.

Apoptosis plays an important role in cellular damage caused by acute renal hypoperfusion. The aim of this study was to detect apoptotic events in an animal model of acute haemorrhage, followed by volume replacement with different intravenous solution

Soft lepton-flavor violation in a multi-Higgs-doublet seesaw model

We consider the Standard Model with an arbitrary number n_H of Higgs doublets and enlarge the lepton sector by adding to each lepton family \ell a right-handed neutrino singlet \nu_{\ell R}. We assume that all Yukawa-coupling matrices are diagonal, but the Majorana mass matrix M_R of the right-handed neutrino singlets is an arbitrary symmetric matrix, thereby introducing an explicit but soft violation of all lepton numbers. We investigate lepton-flavor-violating processes within this model. We pay particular attention to the large-m_R behavior of the amplitudes for these processes, where m_R is the order of magnitude of the matrix elements of M_R. While the amplitudes for processes like tau^- --> mu^- gamma and Z --> tau^+ mu^- drop as 1/m_R^2 for arbitrary n_H, processes like tau^- --> mu^- e^+ e^- and mu^- --> e^- e^+ e^- obey this power law only for n_H = 1. For n_H \geq 2, on the contrary, those amplitudes do not fall off when m_R increases, rather they converge towards constants. This non-decoupling of the right-handed scale occurs because of the sub-process ell^- --> ell'^- {S_b^0}^*, where S_b^0 is a neutral scalar which subsequently decays to e^+ e^-. That sub-process has a contribution from charged-scalar exchange which, for n_H \geq 2, does not decrease when m_R tends to infinity. We also perform a general study of the non-decoupling and argue that, after performing the limit m_R --> \infty and removing the \nu_R from the Lagrangian, our model becomes a multi-Higgs-doublet Standard Model with suppressed flavor-changing Yukawa couplings. Finally, we show that, with the usual assumptions about the mass scales in the seesaw mechanism, the branching ratios of all lepton-flavor-changing processes are several orders of magnitude smaller than present experimental limits.Comment: 46 pages, 2 figures, Revte

Analysis of Alfven eigenmodes destabilization by energetic particles in TJ-II using a Landau-closure model

Alfven Eigenmodes (AE) can be destabilized by energetic particles in neutral beam injection (NBI) heated plasmas through inverse Landau damping and couplings with gap modes in the shear Alfven continua. We describe the linear evolution of the poloidal flux and the toroidal component of the vorticity in a full 3D system using the reduced MHD equations, density and parallel velocity moments for the energetic particles as well as the geodesic acoustic wave dynamics. A closure relation adds the Landau damping and resonant destabilization effects in the model. We apply the model to study the Alfven modes stability in TJ-II, performing a parametric analysis in a range of realistic values of energetic particle beta (beta(f)), ratios of thermal/Alfven velocities (V-th/V-A0), energetic particle density profiles and toroidal modes (n) including toroidal and helical couplings. The study predicts a large helical coupling between different toroidal modes and the destabilization of helical Alfven eigenmodes (HAE) with frequencies similar to the AE activity measured in TJ-II, between 50-400 kHz. The analysis has also revealed the destabilization of GAE (global Alfven eigenmodes), TAE (toroidal Alfven eigenmodes) and EPM (energetic particle modes). For the modes considered here, optimized TJ-II operations require a t profile in the range of [0.845, 0.979] to stabilize AEs in the inner and middle plasma. AEs in the plasma periphery cannot be fully stabilized, although for a configuration with t = [0.945, 1.079], only n = 7, 11, 15 AE are unstable with a growth rate 4 times smaller compared to the standard t = [1.54, 1.68] case and a frequency of 100 kHz. We reproduce the frequency sweeping evolution of the AE frequency observed in TJ-II as the t profile is varied. The AE frequency sweeping is caused by consecutive changes of the instability dominant modes between different helical families.This material based on work is supported both by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, under Contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 with UT-Battelle, LLC. This research was sponsored in part by the Ministerio of Economia y Competitividad of Spain under project no. ENE2015-68265-P. We also want to acknowledge Alexander Melnikov and the TJ-II group at CIEMAT for providing us the initial VMEC equilibria and useful discussions regarding the experimental phenomena

Designing the club of the future with data: A case study on collaboration of creative industries

This paper reflects on the development of a multi-sensory clubbing experience which was deployed during a two-day event within the context of the Amsterdam Dance Event in October 2016 in Amsterdam. We present how the entire experience was developed end-to-end and deployed at the event through the collaboration of several project partners from industries such as art and design, music, food, technology and research. Central to the system are smart textiles, namely wristbands equipped with Bluetooth LE sensors which were used to sense people attending the dance event. We describe the components of the system, the development process, the collaboration between the involved entities and the event itself. To conclude the paper, we highlight insights gained from conducting a real world research deployment across many collaborators and stakeholders with different backgrounds

Meta-Stable Supersymmetry Breaking in a Cooling Universe

We look at the recently proposed idea that susy breaking can be accomplished in a meta-stable vacuum. In the context of one of the simplest models (the Seiberg-dual of super-QCD), we address the following question: if we look at this theory as it cools from high temperature, is it at all possible that we can end up in a susy-breaking meta-stable vacuum? To get an idea about the answer, we look at the free energy of the system at high temperature. We conclude that the phase-structure of the free-energy as the temperature drops, is indeed such that there is a second order phase transition in the direction of the non-susy vacuum at a finite $T=T_c^Q$. On the other hand, the potential barrier in the direction of the susy vacuum is there all the way till $T \sim 0$.Comment: writing full author name