Visual Analytics for Understanding Spatial Situations from Episodic Movement Data

Continuing advances in modern data acquisition techniques result in rapidly growing amounts of geo-referenced data about moving objects and in emergence of new data types. We define episodic movement data as a new complex data type to be considered in the research fields relevant to data analysis. In episodic movement data, position measurements may be separated by large time gaps, in which the positions of the moving objects are unknown and cannot be reliably reconstructed. Many of the existing methods for movement analysis are designed for data with fine temporal resolution and cannot be applied to discontinuous trajectories. We present an approach utilizing Visual Analytics methods to explore and understand the temporal variation of spatial situations derived from episodic movement data by means of spatio-temporal aggregation. The situations are defined in terms of the presence of moving objects in different places and in terms of flows (collective movements) among the places. The approach, which combines interactive visual displays with clustering of the spatial situations, is presented by example of a real dataset collected by Bluetooth sensors

Low-energy neutron-deuteron reactions with N3LO chiral forces

We solve three-nucleon Faddeev equations with nucleon-nucleon and three-nucleon forces derived consistently in the framework of chiral perturbation theory at next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order in the chiral expansion. In this first investigation we include only matrix elements of the three-nucleon force for partial waves with the total two-nucleon (three-nucleon) angular momenta up to 3 (5/2). Low-energy neutron-deuteron elastic scattering and deuteron breakup reaction are studied. Emphasis is put on Ay puzzle in elastic scattering and cross sections in symmetric-space-star and neutron-neutron quasi-free-scattering breakup configurations, for which large discrepancies between data and theory have been reported.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figure

Few-nucleon systems with state-of-the-art chiral nucleon-nucleon forces

We apply improved nucleon-nucleon potentials up to fifth order in chiral effective field theory, along with a new analysis of the theoretical truncation errors, to study nucleon-deuteron (Nd) scattering and selected low-energy observables in 3H, 4He, and 6Li. Calculations beyond second order differ from experiment well outside the range of quantified uncertainties, providing truly unambiguous evidence for missing three-nucleon forces within the employed framework. The sizes of the required three-nucleon force contributions agree well with expectations based on Weinberg's power counting. We identify the energy range in elastic Nd scattering best suited to study three-nucleon force effects and estimate the achievable accuracy of theoretical predictions for various observables.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Seston quality drives feeding, stoichiometry and excretion of zebra mussels

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136507/1/fwb12892.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/136507/2/fwb12892_am.pd

Thermal Conversion of Guanylurea Dicyanamide into Graphitic Carbon Nitride via Prototype CNx Precursors

Guanylurea dicyanamide, [(H2N)C(-O)NHC(NH2)2][N(CN)2], has been synthesized by ion exchange reaction in aqueous solution and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction (C2/c, a = 2249.0(5) pm, b = 483.9(1) pm, c = 1382.4(3) pm, β = 99.49(3)°, V = 1483.8(5) × 106 pm3, T = 130 K). The thermal behavior of the molecular salt has been studied by thermal analysis, temperature-programmed X-ray powder diffraction, FTIR spectroscopy, and mass spectrometry between room temperature and 823 K. The results were interpreted on a molecular level in terms of a sequence of thermally induced addition, cyclization, and elimination reactions. As a consequence, melamine (2,4,6-triamino-1,3,5-triazine) is formed with concomitant loss of HNCO. Further condensation of melamine yields the prototypic CNx precursor melem (2,6,10-triamino-s-heptazine, C6N7(NH2)3), which alongside varying amounts of directly formed CNxHy material transforms into layered CNxHy phases without significant integration of oxygen into the core framework owing to the evaporation of HNCO. Thus, further evidence can be added to melamine and its condensation product melem acting as “key intermediates” in the synthetic pathway toward graphitic CNxHy materials, whose exact constitution is still a point at issue. Due to the characteristic formation process and hydrogen content a close relationship with the polymer melon is evident. In particular, the thermal transformation of guanylurea dicyanamide clearly demonstrates that the formation of volatile compounds such as HNCO during thermal decomposition may render a large variety of previously not considered molecular compounds suitable CNx precursors despite the presence of oxygen in the starting material

Achieving enhanced gain in photorefractive polymers by eliminating electron contributions using large bias fields

Photorefractive polymers have been extensively studied for over two decades and have found applications in holographic displays and optical image processing. The complexity of these materials arises from multiple charge contributions, for example, leading to the formation of competing photorefractive gratings. It has been recently shown that in a photorefractive polymer at relatively moderate applied electric fields the primary charge carriers (holes) establish an initial grating, followed by a subsequent competing grating (electrons) resulting in a decreased two-beam coupling and diffraction efficiencies. In this paper, it is shown that with relatively large sustainable bias fields, the two-beam coupling efficiency is enhanced owing to a decreased electron contribution. These results also explain the cause of dielectric breakdown experienced under large bias fields. Our conclusions are supported by self-pumped transient two-beam coupling and photocurrent measurements as a function of applied bias fields at different wavelengths

Grasses and Legumes for Cellulosic Bioenergy

Human life has depended on renewable sources of bioenergy for many thousands of years, since the time humans fi rst learned to control fi re and utilize wood as the earliest source of bioenergy. The exploitation of forage crops constituted the next major technological breakthrough in renewable bioenergy, when our ancestors began to domesticate livestock about 6000 years ago. Horses, cattle, oxen, water buffalo, and camels have long been used as sources of mechanical and chemical energy. They perform tillage for crop production, provide leverage to collect and transport construction materials, supply transportation for trade and migratory routes, and create manure that is used to cook meals and heat homes. Forage crops—many of which form the basis of Grass: The 1948 Yearbook of Agriculture (Stefferud, 1948), as well as the other chapters of this volume—have composed the principal or only diet of these draft animals since the dawn of agriculture

Threshold neutral pion photoproduction off the tri-nucleon to O(q^4)

We calculate electromagnetic neutral pion production off tri-nucleon bound states (3H, 3He) at threshold in chiral nuclear effective field theory to fourth order in the standard heavy baryon counting. We show that the fourth order two-nucleon corrections to the S-wave multipoles at threshold are very small. This implies that a precise measurement of the S-wave cross section for neutral pion production off 3He allows for a stringent test of the chiral perturbation theory prediction for the S-wave electric multipole E_{0+}^{pi0 n}.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, title changed, final version to appear in EPJA. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1103.340

MRI plaque imaging reveals high-risk carotid plaques especially in diabetic patients irrespective of the degree of stenosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Plaque imaging based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) represents a new modality for risk assessment in atherosclerosis. It allows classification of carotid plaques in high-risk and low-risk lesion types (I-VIII). Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM 2) represents a known risk factor for atherosclerosis, but its specific influence on plaque vulnerability is not fully understood. This study investigates whether MRI-plaque imaging can reveal differences in carotid plaque features of diabetic patients compared to nondiabetics.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>191 patients with moderate to high-grade carotid artery stenosis were enrolled after written informed consent was obtained. Each patient underwent MRI-plaque imaging using a 1.5-T scanner with phased-array carotid coils. The carotid plaques were classified as lesion types I-VIII according to the MRI-modified AHA criteria. For 36 patients histology data was available.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Eleven patients were excluded because of insufficient MR-image quality. DM 2 was diagnosed in 51 patients (28.3%). Concordance between histology and MRI-classification was 91.7% (33/36) and showed a Cohen's kappa value of 0.81 with a 95% CI of 0.98-1.15. MRI-defined high-risk lesion types were overrepresented in diabetic patients (n = 29; 56.8%). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed association between DM 2 and MRI-defined high-risk lesion types (OR 2.59; 95% CI [1.15-5.81]), independent of the degree of stenosis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>DM 2 seems to represent a predictor for the development of vulnerable carotid plaques irrespective of the degree of stenosis and other risk factors. MRI-plaque imaging represents a new tool for risk stratification of diabetic patients.</p> <p>See Commentary: <url>http://www.biomedcentral.com/1741-7015/8/78/abstract</url></p

Properties of ^{4}He and ^{6}Li with improved chiral EFT interactions

We present recent results for 4He and 6Li obtained with improved NN interactions derived from chiral effective field theory up to N4LO. The many-body calculations are performed order-by-order in the chiral expansion. At N3LO and N4LO additional renormalization using the Similarity Renormalization Group is adopted to improve numerical convergence of the many-body calculations. We discuss results for the ground state energies, as well as the magnetic moment and the low-lying spectrum of 6Li