Anisotropy of the Upper Critical Field and Critical Current in Single Crystal MgB2_2

We report on specific heat, high magnetic field transport and $ac-$susceptibility measurements on magnesium diboride single crystals. The upper critical field $H_{c2}$ for magnetic fields perpendicular and parallel to the Mg and B planes is presented for the first time in the entire temperature range. A very different temperature dependence has been observed in the two directions which yields to a temperature dependent anisotropy with $\Gamma \sim$ 5 at low temperatures and about 2 near $T_c$. A peak effect is observed in susceptibility measurements for $H \sim$2 T parallel to the $c-$axis and the critical current density presnts a sharp maximum for $H$ parallel to the ab-plane.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Human leukocyte antigen alleles associate with COVID-19 vaccine immunogenicity and risk of breakthrough infection

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine immunogenicity varies between individuals, and immune responses correlate with vaccine efficacy. Using data from 1,076 participants enrolled in ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vaccine efficacy trials in the United Kingdom, we found that inter-individual variation in normalized antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 spike and its receptor-binding domain (RBD) at 28 days after first vaccination shows genome-wide significant association with major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II alleles. The most statistically significant association with higher levels of anti-RBD antibody was HLA-DQB1*06 (P = 3.2 × 10−9), which we replicated in 1,677 additional vaccinees. Individuals carrying HLA-DQB1*06 alleles were less likely to experience PCR-confirmed breakthrough infection during the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 virus and subsequent Alpha variant waves compared to non-carriers (hazard ratio = 0.63, 0.42–0.93, P = 0.02). We identified a distinct spike-derived peptide that is predicted to bind differentially to HLA-DQB1*06 compared to other similar alleles, and we found evidence of increased spike-specific memory B cell responses in HLA-DQB1*06 carriers at 84 days after first vaccination. Our results demonstrate association of HLA type with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine antibody response and risk of breakthrough infection, with implications for future vaccine design and implementation

Kernel Trick Embedded Gaussian Mixture Model

Abstract. In this paper, we present a kernel trick embedded Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM), called kernel GMM. The basic idea is to embed kernel trick into EM algorithm and deduce a parameter estimation algorithm for GMM in feature space. Kernel GMM could be viewed as a Bayesian Kernel Method. Compared with most classical kernel methods, the proposed method can solve problems in probabilistic framework. Moreover, it can tackle nonlinear problems better than the traditional GMM. To avoid great computational cost problem existing in most kernel methods upon large scale data set, we also employ a Monte Carlo sampling technique to speed up kernel GMM so that it is more practical and efficient. Experimental results on synthetic and real-world data set demonstrate that the proposed approach has satisfing performance.

Characterization of sea-ice kinematic in the Arctic outflow region using buoy data

Data from four ice-tethered buoys deployed in 2010 were used to investigate sea-ice motion and deformation from the Central Arctic to Fram Strait. Seasonal and long-term changes in ice kinematics of the Arctic outflow region were further quantified using 42 ice-tethered buoys deployed between 1979 and 2011. Our results confirmed that the dynamic setting of the transpolar drift stream (TDS) and Fram Strait shaped the motion of the sea ice. Ice drift was closely aligned with surface winds, except during quiescent conditions, or during short-term reversal of the wind direction opposing the TDS. Meridional ice velocity south of 85°N showed a distinct seasonal cycle, peaking between late autumn and early spring in agreement with the seasonality of surface winds. Inertia-induced ice motion was strengthened as ice concentration decreased in summer. As ice drifted southward into the Fram Strait, the meridional ice speed increased dramatically, while associated zonal ice convergence dominated the ice-field deformation. The Arctic atmospheric Dipole Anomaly (DA) influenced ice drift by accelerating the meridional ice velocity. Ice trajectories exhibited less meandering during the positive phase of DA and vice versa. From 2005 onwards, the buoy data exhibit high Arctic sea-ice outflow rates, closely related to persistent positive DA anomaly. However, the long-term data from 1979 to 2011 do not show any statistically significant trend for sea-ice outflow, but exhibit high year-to-year variability, associated with the change in the polarity of DA