2,955 research outputs found
Ranking candidate signals with machine learning in low-latency searches for gravitational waves from compact binary mergers
In the multimessenger astronomy era, accurate sky localization and low latency time of gravitational-wave (GW) searches are keys in triggering successful follow-up observations on the electromagnetic counterpart of GW signals. We, in this work, study the feasibility of adopting a supervised machine learning (ML) method for scoring rank on candidate GW events. We consider two popular ML methods, random forest and neural networks. We observe that the evaluation time of both methods takes tens of milliseconds for ∼45,000 evaluation samples. We compare the classification efficiency between the two ML methods and a conventional low-latency search method with respect to the true positive rate at given false positive rate. The comparison shows that about 10% improved efficiency can be achieved at lower false positive rate ∼2×10⁻⁵ with both ML methods. We also present that the search sensitivity can be enhanced by about 18% at ∼10⁻¹¹ Hz false alarm rate. We conclude that adopting ML methods for ranking candidate GW events is a prospective approach to yield low latency and high efficiency in searches for GW signals from compact binary mergers
Fingering Instability of Dislocations and Related Defects
We identify a fundamental morphological instability of mobile dislocations in
crystals and related line defects. A positive gradient in the local driving
force along the direction of defect motion destabilizes long-wavelength
vibrational modes, producing a ``fingering'' pattern. The minimum unstable
wavelength scales as the inverse square root of the force gradient. We
demonstrate the instability's onset in simulations of a screw dislocation in Al
(via molecular dynamics) and of a vortex in a 3-d XY ``rotator'' model.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Annotation of two large contiguous regions from the Haemonchus contortus genome using RNA-seq and comparative analysis with Caenorhabditis elegans
The genomes of numerous parasitic nematodes are currently being sequenced, but their complexity and size, together with high levels of intra-specific sequence variation and a lack of reference genomes, makes their assembly and annotation a challenging task. Haemonchus contortus is an economically significant parasite of livestock that is widely used for basic research as well as for vaccine development and drug discovery. It is one of many medically and economically important parasites within the strongylid nematode group. This group of parasites has the closest phylogenetic relationship with the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans, making comparative analysis a potentially powerful tool for genome annotation and functional studies. To investigate this hypothesis, we sequenced two contiguous fragments from the H. contortus genome and undertook detailed annotation and comparative analysis with C. elegans. The adult H. contortus transcriptome was sequenced using an Illumina platform and RNA-seq was used to annotate a 409 kb overlapping BAC tiling path relating to the X chromosome and a 181 kb BAC insert relating to chromosome I. In total, 40 genes and 12 putative transposable elements were identified. 97.5% of the annotated genes had detectable homologues in C. elegans of which 60% had putative orthologues, significantly higher than previous analyses based on EST analysis. Gene density appears to be less in H. contortus than in C. elegans, with annotated H. contortus genes being an average of two-to-three times larger than their putative C. elegans orthologues due to a greater intron number and size. Synteny appears high but gene order is generally poorly conserved, although areas of conserved microsynteny are apparent. C. elegans operons appear to be partially conserved in H. contortus. Our findings suggest that a combination of RNA-seq and comparative analysis with C. elegans is a powerful approach for the annotation and analysis of strongylid nematode genomes
Synergies for Improving Oil Palm Production and Forest Conservation in Floodplain Landscapes
Lowland tropical forests are increasingly threatened with conversion to oil palm as global demand and high profit drives crop expansion throughout the world’s tropical regions. Yet, landscapes are not homogeneous and regional constraints dictate land suitability for this crop. We conducted a regional study to investigate spatial and economic components of forest conversion to oil palm within a tropical floodplain in the Lower Kinabatangan, Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. The Kinabatangan ecosystem harbours significant biodiversity with globally threatened species but has suffered forest loss and fragmentation. We mapped the oil palm and forested landscapes (using object-based-image analysis, classification and regression tree analysis and on-screen digitising of high-resolution imagery) and undertook economic modelling. Within the study region (520,269 ha), 250,617 ha is cultivated with oil palm with 77% having high Net-Present-Value (NPV) estimates (637/ha?yr); but 20.5% is under-producing. In fact 6.3% (15,810 ha) of oil palm is commercially redundant (with negative NPV of -65/ha?yr) due to palm mortality from flood inundation. These areas would have been important riparian or flooded forest types. Moreover, 30,173 ha of unprotected forest remain and despite its value for connectivity and biodiversity 64% is allocated for future oil palm. However, we estimate that at minimum 54% of these forests are unsuitable for this crop due to inundation events. If conversion to oil palm occurs, we predict a further 16,207 ha will become commercially redundant. This means that over 32,000 ha of forest within the floodplain would have been converted for little or no financial gain yet with significant cost to the ecosystem. Our findings have globally relevant implications for similar floodplain landscapes undergoing forest transformation to agriculture such as oil palm. Understanding landscape level constraints to this crop, and transferring these into policy and practice, may provide conservation and economic opportunities within these seemingly high opportunity cost landscapes
System size dependence of cluster properties from two-particle angular correlations in Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions at = 200 GeV
We present results on two-particle angular correlations in Cu+Cu and Au+Au
collisions at a center of mass energy per nucleon pair of 200 GeV over a broad
range of pseudorapidity () and azimuthal angle () as a function of
collision centrality. The PHOBOS detector at RHIC has a uniquely-large angular
coverage for inclusive charged particles, which allows for the study of
correlations on both long- and short-range scales. A complex two-dimensional
correlation structure in and emerges, which is
interpreted in the context of a cluster model. The effective cluster size and
decay width are extracted from the two-particle pseudorapidity correlation
functions. The effective cluster size found in semi-central Cu+Cu and Au+Au
collisions is comparable to that found in proton-proton collisions but a
non-trivial decrease of the size with increasing centrality is observed.
Moreover, a comparison between results from Cu+Cu and Au+Au collisions shows an
interesting scaling of the effective cluster size with the measured fraction of
total cross section (which is related to the ratio of the impact parameter to
the nuclear radius, ), suggesting a geometric origin. Further analysis
for pairs from restricted azimuthal regions shows that the effective cluster
size at drops more rapidly toward central
collisions than the size at . The effect of limited
acceptance on the cluster parameters is also addressed, and a correction
is applied to present cluster parameters for full coverage, leading to
much larger effective cluster sizes and widths than previously noted in the
literature. These results should provide insight into the hot and dense medium
created in heavy ion collisions.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, Published in Phys. Rev.
Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at TeV with the ATLAS detector
This paper presents measurements of the and cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a
function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were
collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with
the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity
of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements
varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the
1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured
with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with
predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various
parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between
them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables,
submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at
https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13
Soil nitrogen concentration mediates the relationship between leguminous trees and neighbor diversity in tropical forests
Legumes provide an essential service to ecosystems by capturing nitrogen from the atmosphere and delivering it to the soil, where it may then be available to other plants. However, this facilitation by legumes has not been widely studied in global tropical forests. Demographic data from 11 large forest plots (16–60 ha) ranging from 5.25° S to 29.25° N latitude show that within forests, leguminous trees have a larger effect on neighbor diversity than non-legumes. Where soil nitrogen is high, most legume species have higher neighbor diversity than non-legumes. Where soil nitrogen is low, most legumes have lower neighbor diversity than non-legumes. No facilitation effect on neighbor basal area was observed in either high or low soil N conditions. The legume–soil nitrogen positive feedback that promotes tree diversity has both theoretical implications for understanding species coexistence in diverse forests, and practical implications for the utilization of legumes in forest restoration
Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13 TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139 fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV
Search for direct stau production in events with two hadronic tau-leptons in root s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for the direct production of the supersymmetric partners ofτ-leptons (staus) in final stateswith two hadronically decayingτ-leptons is presented. The analysis uses a dataset of pp collisions corresponding to an integrated luminosity of139fb−1, recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LargeHadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of 13 TeV. No significant deviation from the expected StandardModel background is observed. Limits are derived in scenarios of direct production of stau pairs with eachstau decaying into the stable lightest neutralino and oneτ-lepton in simplified models where the two staumass eigenstates are degenerate. Stau masses from 120 GeV to 390 GeV are excluded at 95% confidencelevel for a massless lightest neutralino
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