3,657 research outputs found
The Visibility Graph: a new method for estimating the Hurst exponent of fractional Brownian motion
Fractional Brownian motion (fBm) has been used as a theoretical framework to
study real time series appearing in diverse scientific fields. Because its
intrinsic non-stationarity and long range dependence, its characterization via
the Hurst parameter H requires sophisticated techniques that often yield
ambiguous results. In this work we show that fBm series map into a scale free
visibility graph whose degree distribution is a function of H. Concretely, it
is shown that the exponent of the power law degree distribution depends
linearly on H. This also applies to fractional Gaussian noises (fGn) and
generic f^(-b) noises. Taking advantage of these facts, we propose a brand new
methodology to quantify long range dependence in these series. Its reliability
is confirmed with extensive numerical simulations and analytical developments.
Finally, we illustrate this method quantifying the persistent behavior of human
gait dynamics.Comment: 5 pages, submitted for publicatio
Detailed study of SNR G306.3-0.9 using XMM-Newton and Chandra observations
We used combined data from XMM-Newton and Chandra observatories to study the
X-ray morphology of SNR G306.3-0.9. A spatially-resolved spectral analysis was
used to obtain physical and geometrical parameters of different regions of the
remnant. Spitzer infrared observations were also used to constrain the
progenitor supernova and study the environment in which the SNR evolved. The
X-ray morphology of the remnant displays a non-uniform structure of
semi-circular appearance, with a bright southwest region and very weak or
almost negligible X-ray emission in its northern part. These results indicate
that the remnant is propagating in a non-uniform environment as the shock
fronts are encountering a high-density medium, where enhanced infrared emission
is detected. The X-ray spectral analysis of the selected regions shows distinct
emission-line features of several metal elements, confirming the thermal origin
of the emission. The X-ray spectra are well represented by a combination of two
absorbed thermal plasma models: one in equilibrium ionization with a mean
temperature of ~0.19 keV, and another out of equilibrium ionization at a higher
temperature of ~1.1 or 1.6-1.9 keV. For regions located in the northeast,
central, and southwest part of the SNR, we found elevated abundances of Si, S,
Ar, Ca, and Fe, typical of ejecta material. The outer regions located northwest
and south show values of the abundances above solar but lower than to those
found in the central regions. This suggests that the composition of the
emitting outer parts of the SNR is a combination of ejecta and shocked material
of the interstellar medium. The comparison between the S/Si, Ar/Si, and Ca/Si
abundances ratios (1.75, 1.27, and 2.72 in the central region, respectively),
favor a Type Ia progenitor for this SNR, a result that is also supported by an
independent morphological analysis using X-ray and IR data.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic
Determination of Arsenic, Mercury and Barium in herbarium mount paper using dynamic ultrasound-assisted extraction prior to atomic fluorescence and absorption spectrometry
A dynamic ultrasound-assisted extraction method using Atomic Absorption and Atomic Flourescence spectrometers as detectors was developed to analyse mercury, arsenic and barium from herbarium mount paper originating from the herbarium collection of the National Museum of Wales. The variables influencing extraction were optimised by a multivariate approach. The optimal conditions were found to be 1% HNO3 extractant solution used at a flow rate of 1 mL min-1. The duty cycle and amplitude of the ultrasonic probe was found to be 50% in both cases with an ultrasound power of 400 W. The optimal distance between the probe and the top face of the extraction chamber was found to be 0 cm. Under these conditions the time required for complete extraction of the three analytes was 25 min. Cold vapour and hydride generation coupled to atomic fluorescence spectrometry was utilized to determine mercury and arsenic, respectively. The chemical and instrumental conditions were optimized to provide detection limits of 0.01ng g-1 and 1.25 ng g-1 for mercury and arsenic, respectively. Barium was determined by graphite-furnace atomic absorption spectrometry, with a detection limit of 25 ng g-1. By using 0.5 g of sample, the concentrations of the target analytes varied for the different types of paper and ranged between 0.4–2.55 µg g-1 for Ba, 0.035–10.47 µg g-1 for As and 0.0046–2.37 µg g-1 for Hg
Qualitative Systematic Review of Barber-Administered Health Education, Promotion, Screening and Outreach Programs in African-American Communities
The barbershop has been portrayed as a culturally appropriate venue for reaching Black men with health information and preventive health screenings to overcome institutional and socio-cultural barriers. The purpose of this review is to synthesize the peer-reviewed literature on barbershop-based health programs to provide lessons learned for researchers and practitioners. A literature search was conducted to identify articles for the review. Inclusion criteria specified that studies had to be based in the United States and reported about research where barbers were either being assessed for the feasibility of their participation or recruited to administer health education/screening outreach or research activities. The literature search produced 901 unique bibliographic records from peer-reviewed publications. After eliminating articles not meeting the inclusion criteria, 35 articles remained for full-text review. The final article sample consisted of 16 articles for complete abstraction to assess characteristics of studies, role and training of barbers, outcomes targeted, effectiveness, and key findings. All barbershop-based studies reviewed targeted Black men in urban settings. Common study designs were cross-sectional studies, feasibility studies, needs assessments, and one-shot case studies. Barber administered interventions addressed primarily prostate cancer and hypertension, and barbers provided health education, screening, and referrals to health care. Nonintervention studies focused mostly on surveying or interviewing barbers for assessing the feasibility of future interventions. Barbershops are a culturally appropriate venue for disseminating health education materials in both print and media formats. Barbershops are also acceptable venues for training barbers to conduct education and screening. In studies where barbers received training, their knowledge of various health conditions increased significantly and knowledge gains were sustained over time. They were also able to increase knowledge and promote positive health behaviors among their customers, but these outcomes were variable and not consistently documented.https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10900-013-9744-
Classification of qubit entanglement: SL(2,C) versus SU(2) invariance
The role of SU(2) invariants for the classification of multiparty
entanglement is discussed and exemplified for the Kempe invariant I_5 of pure
three-qubit states. It is found to being an independent invariant only in
presence of both W-type entanglement and threetangle. In this case, constant
I_5 admits for a wide range of both threetangle and concurrences. Furthermore,
the present analysis indicates that an SL^3 orbit of states with equal tangles
but continuously varying I_5 must exist. This means that I_5 provides no
information on the entanglement in the system in addition to that contained in
the tangles (concurrences and threetangle) themselves. Together with the
numerical evidence that I_5 is an entanglement monotone this implies that SU(2)
invariance or the monotone property are too weak requirements for the
characterization and quantification of entanglement for systems of three
qubits, and that SL(2,C) invariance is required. This conclusion can be
extended to general multipartite systems (including higher local dimension)
because the entanglement classes of three-qubit systems appear as subclasses.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, revtex
Flow injection analysis of water. Part 2: Integrated system for automatic multideterrnination
This paper describes an integrated flow injection (FI) system for the determination of ammonia, sulphate and Fe(II)/Fe(III) which can work unattended for long periods. The system was designed for the determination of individual analytes in long series of samples. Each batch of samples requires manual selection of parameters and units, such as wavelength for monitoring, preconcentration column, loops and switching of three valves to select the carrier, reagents and eluent. The system then works automatically
Reproducible science: What, why, how
Most scientific papers are not reproducible: it is really hard, if not impossible, to understand how results are derived from data, and being able to regenerate them in the future (even by the same researchers). However, traceability and reproducibility of results are indispensable elements of highquality science, and an increasing requirement of many journals and funding sources. Reproducible studies include code able to regenerate results from the original data. This practice not only provides a perfect record of the whole analysis but also reduces the probability of errors and facilitates code reuse, thus accelerating scientific progress. But doing reproducible science also brings many benefits to the individual researcher, including saving time and effort, improved collaborations, and higher quality and impact of final publications. In this article we introduce reproducible science, why it is important, and how we can improve the reproducibility of our work. We introduce principles and tools for data management, analysis, version control, and software management that help us achieve reproducible workflows in the context of ecology.Peer Reviewe
Ecoinformática: Nuevo grupo de trabajo de la asociación Española de ecología terrestre
Peer Reviewe
The invariant-comb approach and its relation to the balancedness of multipartite entangled states
The invariant-comb approach is a method to construct entanglement measures
for multipartite systems of qubits. The essential step is the construction of
an antilinear operator that we call {\em comb} in reference to the {\em
hairy-ball theorem}. An appealing feature of this approach is that for qubits
(or spins 1/2) the combs are automatically invariant under SL(2,\CC), which
implies that the obtained invariants are entanglement monotones by
construction. By asking which property of a state determines whether or not it
is detected by a polynomial SL(2,\CC) invariant we find that it is the
presence of a {\em balanced part} that persists under local unitary
transformations. We present a detailed analysis for the maximally entangled
states detected by such polynomial invariants, which leads to the concept of
{\em irreducibly balanced} states. The latter indicates a tight connection with
SLOCC classifications of qubit entanglement. \\ Combs may also help to define
measures for multipartite entanglement of higher-dimensional subsystems.
However, for higher spins there are many independent combs such that it is
non-trivial to find an invariant one. By restricting the allowed local
operations to rotations of the coordinate system (i.e. again to the
SL(2,\CC)) we manage to define a unique extension of the concurrence to
general half-integer spin with an analytic convex-roof expression for mixed
states.Comment: 17 pages, revtex4. Substantially extended manuscript (e.g. proofs
have been added); title and abstract modified
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