833 research outputs found
ChaLearn Joint Contest on Multimedia Challenges Beyond Visual Analysis: An overview
This paper provides an overview of the Joint Contest on Multimedia Challenges Beyond Visual Analysis. We organized an academic competition that focused on four problems that require effective processing of multimodal information in order to be solved. Two tracks were devoted to gesture spotting and recognition from RGB-D video, two fundamental problems for human computer interaction. Another track was devoted to a second round of the first impressions challenge of which the goal was to develop methods to recognize personality traits from short video clips. For this second round we adopted a novel collaborative-competitive (i.e., coopetition) setting. The fourth track was dedicated to the problem of video recommendation for improving user experience. The challenge was open for about 45 days, and received outstanding participation: almost 200 participants registered to the contest, and 20 teams sent predictions in the final stage. The main goals of the challenge were fulfilled: the state of the art was advanced considerably in the four tracks, with novel solutions to the proposed problems (mostly relying on deep learning). However, further research is still required. The data of the four tracks will be available to allow researchers to keep making progress in the four tracks
Implications of the 125 GeV Higgs boson for scalar dark matter and for the CMSSM phenomenology
We study phenomenological implications of the ATLAS and CMS hint of a GeV Higgs boson for the singlet, and singlet plus doublet non-supersymmetric
dark matter models, and for the phenomenology of the CMSSM. We show that in
scalar dark matter models the vacuum stability bound on Higgs boson mass is
lower than in the standard model and the 125 GeV Higgs boson is consistent with
the models being valid up the GUT or Planck scale. We perform a detailed study
of the full CMSSM parameter space keeping the Higgs boson mass fixed to GeV, and study in detail the freeze-out processes that imply the observed
amount of dark matter. After imposing all phenomenological constraints except
for the muon we show that the CMSSM parameter space is divided
into well separated regions with distinctive but in general heavy sparticle
mass spectra. Imposing the constraint introduces severe tension
between the high SUSY scale and the experimental measurements -- only the
slepton co-annihilation region survives with potentially testable sparticle
masses at the LHC. In the latter case the spin-independent DM-nucleon
scattering cross section is predicted to be below detectable limit at the
XENON100 but might be of measurable magnitude in the general case of light dark
matter with large bino-higgsino mixing and unobservably large scalar masses.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. v3: same as published versio
Modeling the Dust Properties of z ~ 6 Quasars with ART^2 -- All-wavelength Radiative Transfer with Adaptive Refinement Tree
The detection of large quantities of dust in z ~ 6 quasars by infrared and
radio surveys presents puzzles for the formation and evolution of dust in these
early systems. Previously (Li et al. 2007), we showed that luminous quasars at
z > 6 can form through hierarchical mergers of gas-rich galaxies. Here, we
calculate the dust properties of simulated quasars and their progenitors using
a three-dimensional Monte Carlo radiative transfer code, ART^2 --
All-wavelength Radiative Transfer with Adaptive Refinement Tree. ART^2
incorporates a radiative equilibrium algorithm for dust emission, an adaptive
grid for inhomogeneous density, a multiphase model for the ISM, and a
supernova-origin dust model. We reproduce the SED and dust properties of SDSS
J1148+5251, and find that the infrared emission are closely associated with the
formation and evolution of the quasar host. The system evolves from a cold to a
warm ULIRG owing to heating and feedback from stars and AGN. Furthermore, the
AGN has significant implications for the interpretation of observation of the
hosts. Our results suggest that vigorous star formation in merging progenitors
is necessary to reproduce the observed dust properties of z~6 quasars,
supporting a merger-driven origin for luminous quasars at high redshifts and
the starburst-to-quasar evolutionary hypothesis. (Abridged)Comment: 26 pages, 22 figures, accepted by ApJ. Version with full resolution
images is available at
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~yxli/ARTDUST/astroph0706.3706.pd
Spatial mapping of flow-induced molecular alignment in a noncrystalline biopolymer fluid using double quantum filtered (DQF) 23Na MRI
Flow-induced molecular alignment was observed experimentally in a non-liquid- crystalline bioplymeric fluid during developed tubular flow. The fluid was comprised of rigid rods of the polysaccharide xanthan and exhibited shear-thinning behavior. Without a requirement for optical transparency or the need for an added tracer, 23Na magic angle (MA) double quantum filtered (DQF) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enabled the mapping of the anisotropic molecular arrangement under flow conditions. A regional net molecular alignment was found in areas of high shear values in the vicinity of the tube wall. Furthermore, the xanthan molecules resumed random orientations after the cessation of flow. The observed flow-induced molecular alignment was correlated with the rheological properties of the fluid. The work demonstrates the ability of 23Na MA DQF magnetic resonance to provide a valuable molecular-mechanical link
Apoptotic signaling clears engineered Salmonella in an organ-specific manner
Pyroptosis and apoptosis are two forms of regulated cell death that can defend against intracellular infection. When a cell fails to complete pyroptosis, backup pathways will initiate apop-tosis. Here, we investigated the utility of apoptosis compared to pyroptosis in defense against an intracellular bacterial infection. We previously engineered Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium to persistently express flagellin, and thereby activate NLRC4 during systemic infection in mice. The resulting pyroptosis clears this flagellin-engineered strain. We now show that infection of caspase-1 or gasdermin D deficient macrophages by this flagellin-engineered S. Typhimurium induces apop-tosis in vitro. Additionally, we engineered S. Typhimurium to translocate the pro-apoptotic BH3 domain of BID, which also triggers apoptosis in macrophages in vitro. During mouse infection, the apoptotic pathway successfully cleared these engineered S. Typhimurium from the intestinal niche but failed to clear the bacteria from the myeloid niche in the spleen or lymph nodes. In contrast, the pyroptotic pathway was beneficial in defense of both niches. To clear an infection, cells may have specific tasks that they must complete before they die; different modes of cell death could initiate these ‘bucket lists’ in either convergent or divergent ways
Heritability Estimation of Reliable Connectomic Features*
Brain imaging genetics is an emerging research field to explore the underlying genetic architecture of brain structure and function measured by different imaging modalities. However, not all the changes in the brain are a consequential result of genetic effect and it is usually unknown which imaging phenotypes are promising for genetic analyses. In this paper, we focus on identifying highly heritable measures of structural brain networks derived from diffusion weighted imaging data. Using the twin data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP), we evaluated the reliability of fractional anisotropy measure, fiber length and fiber number of each edge in the structural connectome and seven network level measures using intraclass correlation coefficients. We then estimated the heritability of those reliable network measures using SOLAR-Eclipse software. Across all 64,620 network edges between 360 brain regions in the Glasser parcellation, we observed ~5% of them with significantly high heritability in fractional anisotropy, fiber length or fiber number. All the tested network level measures, capturing the network integrality, segregation or resilience, are highly heritable, with variance explained by the additive genetic effect ranging from 59% to 77%
Enriched haloes at redshift with no star-formation: Implications for accretion and wind scenarios
[Abridged] In order to understand which process (e.g. galactic winds, cold
accretion) is responsible for the cool (T~10^4 K) halo gas around galaxies, we
embarked on a program to study the star-formation properties of galaxies
selected by their MgII absorption signature in quasar spectra. Specifically, we
searched for the H-alpha line emission from galaxies near very strong z=2 MgII
absorbers (with rest-frame equivalent width EW>2 \AA) because these could be
the sign-posts of outflows or inflows. Surprisingly, we detect H-alpha from
only 4 hosts out of 20 sight-lines (and 2 out of the 19 HI-selected
sight-lines), despite reaching a star-formation rate (SFR) sensitivity limit of
2.9 M/yr (5-sigma) for a Chabrier initial mass function. This low success rate
is in contrast with our z=1 survey where we detected 66%\ (14/21) of the MgII
hosts. Taking into account the difference in sensitivity between the two
surveys, we should have been able to detect >11.4 of the 20 z=2 hosts whereas
we found only 4 galaxies. Interestingly, all the z=2 detected hosts have
observed SFR greater than 9 M/yr, well above our sensitivity limit, while at
z=1 they all have SFR less than 9 M/yr, an evolution that is in good agreement
with the evolution of the SFR main sequence. Moreover, we show that the z=2
undetected hosts are not hidden under the quasar continuum after stacking our
data and that they also cannot be outside our surveyed area. Hence, strong MgII
absorbers could trace star-formation driven winds in low-mass halos (Mhalo <
10^{10.6} Msun). Alternatively, our results imply that z=2 galaxies traced by
strong MgII absorbers do not form stars at a rate expected (3--10 M/yr) for
their (halo or stellar) masses, supporting the existence of a transition in
accretion efficiency at Mhalo ~ 10^{11} Msun. This scenario can explain both
the detections and the non-detections.Comment: 14 pages, 4 fig.; MNRAS in press, minor corrections to match proof
The Circumgalactic Medium in Massive Halos
This chapter presents a review of the current state of knowledge on the cool
(T ~ 1e4 K) halo gas content around massive galaxies at z ~ 0.2-2. Over the
last decade, significant progress has been made in characterizing the cool
circumgalactic gas in massive halos of Mh ~ 1e12-1e14 Msun at intermediate
redshifts using absorption spectroscopy. Systematic studies of halo gas around
massive galaxies beyond the nearby universe are made possible by large
spectroscopic samples of galaxies and quasars in public archives. In addition
to accurate and precise constraints for the incidence of cool gas in massive
halos, detailed characterizations of gas kinematics and chemical compositions
around massive quiescent galaxies at z ~ 0.5 have also been obtained. Combining
all available measurements shows that infalling clouds from external sources
are likely the primary source of cool gas detected at d >~ 100 kpc from massive
quiescent galaxies. The origin of the gas closer in is currently less certain,
but SNe Ia driven winds appear to contribute significantly to cool gas found at
d < 100 kpc. In contrast, cool gas observed at d <~ 200 kpc from luminous
quasars appears to be intimately connected to quasar activities on parsec
scales. The observed strong correlation between cool gas covering fraction in
quasar host halos and quasar bolometric luminosity remains a puzzle. Combining
absorption-line studies with spatially-resolved emission measurements of both
gas and galaxies is the necessary next step to address remaining questions.Comment: 29 pages, 7 figures, invited review to appear in "Gas Accretion onto
Galaxies", Astrophysics and Space Science Library, eds. A. Fox & R. Dave, to
be published by Springe
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