1,420 research outputs found
Tellipsoid: Exploiting inter-gene correlation for improved detection of differential gene expression
Motivation: Algorithms for differential analysis of microarray data are vital
to modern biomedical research. Their accuracy strongly depends on effective
treatment of inter-gene correlation. Correlation is ordinarily accounted for in
terms of its effect on significance cut-offs. In this paper it is shown that
correlation can, in fact, be exploited {to share information across tests},
which, in turn, can increase statistical power.
Results: Vastly and demonstrably improved differential analysis approaches
are the result of combining identifiability (the fact that in most microarray
data sets, a large proportion of genes can be identified a priori as
non-differential) with optimization criteria that incorporate correlation. As a
special case, we develop a method which builds upon the widely used two-sample
t-statistic based approach and uses the Mahalanobis distance as an optimality
criterion. Results on the prostate cancer data of Singh et al. (2002) suggest
that the proposed method outperforms all published approaches in terms of
statistical power.
Availability: The proposed algorithm is implemented in MATLAB and in R. The
software, called Tellipsoid, and relevant data sets are available at
http://www.egr.msu.edu/~desaikeyComment: 19 pages, Submitted to Bioinformatic
A novel search for gravitationally lensed radio sources in wide-field VLBI imaging from the mJIVE-20 survey
We present a novel pilot search for gravitational lenses in the mJIVE-20
survey, which observed radio sources selected from FIRST with the
VLBA at an angular resolution of 5 mas. We have taken the visibility data for
an initial sources that were detected by the mJIVE-20 observations and
re-mapped them to make wide-field images, selecting fourteen sources that had
multiple components separated by mas, with a flux-ratio of
: and a surface brightness consistent with gravitational lensing.
Two of these candidates are re-discoveries of gravitational lenses found as
part of CLASS. The remaining twelve candidates were then re-observed at 1.4 GHz
and then simultaneously at 4.1 and 7.1 GHz with the VLBA to measure the
spectral index and surface brightness of the individual components as a
function of frequency. Ten were rejected as core-jet or core-hotspot(s)
systems, with surface brightness distributions and/or spectral indices
inconsistent with gravitational lensing, and one was rejected after lens
modelling demonstrated that the candidate lensed images failed the parity test.
The final lens candidate has an image configuration that is consistent with a
simple lens mass model, although further observations are required to confirm
the lensing nature. Given the two confirmed gravitational lenses in the
mJIVE-20 sample, we find a robust lensing-rate of :() for a
statistical sample of 635 radio sources detected on mas-scales, which is
consistent with that found for CLASS.Comment: 31 pages, 22 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA
Optimising the length of doped polymer light mixers
Transparent Refractive Index Matched Micro-particles (TRIMM) in polymer rods are highly efficient light mixers. This paper addressess the problem of estimating the optimum length fr the mixing rods, for a given TRIMM-to-matrix refractive index ratio and concentration. Light mixing can be this maximised and loss minimised, without computer ray tracing simulations. The probability density function and mean angle for a single TRIMM sphere ray deviation are derived and used in modelling an expression for a critical mixer length for rays of normal incidence. Similar models could be very useful design tools with further development
A wider audience: Turning VLBI into a survey instrument
Radio observations using the Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI)
technique typically have fields of view of only a few arcseconds, due to the
computational problems inherent in imaging larger fields. Furthermore,
sensitivity limitations restrict observations to very compact and bright
objects, which are few and far between on the sky. Thus, while most branches of
observational astronomy can carry out sensitive, wide-field surveys, VLBI
observations are limited to targeted observations of carefully selected
objects. However, recent advances in technology have made it possible to carry
out the computations required to target hundreds of sources simultaneously.
Furthermore, sensitivity upgrades have dramatically increased the number of
objects accessible to VLBI observations. The combination of these two
developments have enhanced the survey capabilities of VLBI observations such
that it is now possible to observe (almost) any point in the sky with
milli-arcsecond resolution. In this talk I review the development of wide-field
VLBI, which has made significant progress over the last three years.Comment: Invited review at the General Assembly of the Astronomische
Gesellschaf
On Pulsar Distance Measurements and their Uncertainties
Accurate distances to pulsars can be used for a variety of studies of the
Galaxy and its electron content. However, most distance measures to pulsars
have been derived from the absorption (or lack thereof) of pulsar emission by
Galactic HI gas, which typically implies that only upper or lower limits on the
pulsar distance are available. We present a critical analysis of all measured
HI distance limits to pulsars and other neutron stars, and translate these
limits into actual distance estimates through a likelihood analysis that
simultaneously corrects for statistical biases. We also apply this analysis to
parallax measurements of pulsars in order to obtain accurate distance estimates
and find that the parallax and HI distance measurements are biased in different
ways, because of differences in the sampled populations. Parallax measurements
typically underestimate a pulsar's distance because of the limited distance to
which this technique works and the consequential strong effect of the Galactic
pulsar distribution (i.e. the original Lutz-Kelker bias), in HI distance
limits, however, the luminosity bias dominates the Lutz-Kelker effect, leading
to overestimated distances because the bright pulsars on which this technique
is applicable are more likely to be nearby given their brightness.Comment: 32 pages, 1 figure, 2 tables; Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
The First Very Long Baseline Interferometric SETI Experiment
The first Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) conducted with
Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) is presented. By consideration of the
basic principles of interferometry, we show that VLBI is efficient at
discriminating between SETI signals and human generated radio frequency
interference (RFI). The target for this study was the star Gliese 581, thought
to have two planets within its habitable zone. On 2007 June 19, Gliese 581 was
observed for 8 hours at 1230-1544 with the Australian Long Baseline Array. The
dataset was searched for signals appearing on all interferometer baselines
above five times the noise limit. A total of 222 potential SETI signals were
detected and by using automated data analysis techniques, were ruled out as
originating from the Gliese 581 system. From our results we place an upper
limit of 7 MW/Hz on the power output of any isotropic emitter located in the
Gliese 581 system, within this frequency range. This study shows that VLBI is
ideal for targeted SETI, including follow-up observations. The techniques
presented are equally applicable to next-generation interferometers, such as
the long baselines of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).Comment: 34 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables. Accepted on 25/05/2012 for publication
in The Astronomical Journa
Reconciling optical and radio observations of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J1640+2224
Previous optical and radio observations of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR
J1640+2224 have come to inconsistent conclusions about the identity of its
companion, with some observations suggesting the companion is a low-mass
helium-core (He-core) white dwarf (WD), while others indicate it is most likely
a high-mass carbon-oxygen (CO) WD. Binary evolution models predict PSR
J1640+2224 most likely formed in a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) based on the
pulsar's short spin period and long-period, low-eccentricity orbit, in which
case its companion should be a He-core WD with mass about , depending on metallicity. If it is instead a CO WD, that would
suggest the system has an unusual formation history. In this paper we present
the first astrometric parallax measurement for this system from observations
made with the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), from which we determine the
distance to be . We use this distance and a
reanalysis of archival optical observations originally taken in 1995 with the
Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in
order to measure the WD's mass. We also incorporate improvements in
calibration, extinction model, and WD cooling models. We find that the existing
observations are not sufficient to tightly constrain the companion mass, but we
conclude the WD mass is with confidence. The limiting
factor in our analysis is the low signal-to-noise ratio of the original HST
observations.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
LOFAR observations of 4C+19.44. On the discovery of low frequency spectral curvature in relativistic jet knots
We present the first LOFAR observations of the radio jet in the quasar
4C+19.44 (a.k.a. PKS 1354+19) obtained with the long baselines. The achieved
resolution is very well matched to that of archival Jansky Very Large Array
(JVLA) observations at higher radio frequencies as well as the archival X-ray
images obtained with {\it Chandra}. We found that, for several knots along the
jet, the radio flux densities measured at hundreds of MHz lie well below the
values estimated by extrapolating the GHz spectra. This clearly indicates the
presence of spectral curvature. Radio spectral curvature has been already
observed in different source classes and/or extended radio structures and it
has been often interpreted as due to intrinsic processes, as a curved particle
energy distribution, rather than absorption mechanisms ({ Razin-Tsytovich}
effect, free-free or synchrotron self absorption to name a few). Here we
discuss our results according to the scenario where particles undergo
stochastic acceleration mechanisms also in quasar jet knots.Comment: 13 pages, 4 tables, 4 figures, pre-proof version, published on the
Astrophysical Journal (Harris, et al. 2019 ApJ, 873, 21
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