70 research outputs found
The Pioneer Anomaly in the Light of New Data
The radio-metric tracking data received from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft
from the distances between 20-70 astronomical units from the Sun has
consistently indicated the presence of a small, anomalous, blue-shifted Doppler
frequency drift that limited the accuracy of the orbit reconstruction for these
vehicles. This drift was interpreted as a sunward acceleration of a_P =
(8.74+/-1.33)x10^{-10} m/s^2 for each particular spacecraft. This signal has
become known as the Pioneer anomaly; the nature of this anomaly is still being
investigated.
Recently new Pioneer 10 and 11 radio-metric Doppler and flight telemetry data
became available. The newly available Doppler data set is much larger when
compared to the data used in previous investigations and is the primary source
for new investigation of the anomaly. In addition, the flight telemetry files,
original project documentation, and newly developed software tools are now used
to reconstruct the engineering history of spacecraft. With the help of this
information, a thermal model of the Pioneers was developed to study possible
contribution of thermal recoil force acting on the spacecraft. The goal of the
ongoing efforts is to evaluate the effect of on-board systems on the
spacecrafts' trajectories and possibly identify the nature of this anomaly.
Techniques developed for the investigation of the Pioneer anomaly are
applicable to the New Horizons mission. Analysis shows that anisotropic thermal
radiation from on-board sources will accelerate this spacecraft by ~41 x
10^{-10} m/s^2. We discuss the lessons learned from the study of the Pioneer
anomaly for the New Horizons spacecraft.Comment: 19 pages, 5 figure
From Social Data Mining to Forecasting Socio-Economic Crisis
Socio-economic data mining has a great potential in terms of gaining a better
understanding of problems that our economy and society are facing, such as
financial instability, shortages of resources, or conflicts. Without
large-scale data mining, progress in these areas seems hard or impossible.
Therefore, a suitable, distributed data mining infrastructure and research
centers should be built in Europe. It also appears appropriate to build a
network of Crisis Observatories. They can be imagined as laboratories devoted
to the gathering and processing of enormous volumes of data on both natural
systems such as the Earth and its ecosystem, as well as on human
techno-socio-economic systems, so as to gain early warnings of impending
events. Reality mining provides the chance to adapt more quickly and more
accurately to changing situations. Further opportunities arise by individually
customized services, which however should be provided in a privacy-respecting
way. This requires the development of novel ICT (such as a self- organizing
Web), but most likely new legal regulations and suitable institutions as well.
As long as such regulations are lacking on a world-wide scale, it is in the
public interest that scientists explore what can be done with the huge data
available. Big data do have the potential to change or even threaten democratic
societies. The same applies to sudden and large-scale failures of ICT systems.
Therefore, dealing with data must be done with a large degree of responsibility
and care. Self-interests of individuals, companies or institutions have limits,
where the public interest is affected, and public interest is not a sufficient
justification to violate human rights of individuals. Privacy is a high good,
as confidentiality is, and damaging it would have serious side effects for
society.Comment: 65 pages, 1 figure, Visioneer White Paper, see
http://www.visioneer.ethz.c
Recommendations for whole genome sequencing in diagnostics for rare diseases
In 2016, guidelines for diagnostic Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) have been published by EuroGentest in order to assist laboratories in the implementation and accreditation of NGS in a diagnostic setting. These guidelines mainly focused on Whole Exome Sequencing (WES) and targeted (gene panels) sequencing detecting small germline variants (Single Nucleotide Variants (SNVs) and insertions/deletions (indels)). Since then, Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) has been increasingly introduced in the diagnosis of rare diseases as WGS allows the simultaneous detection of SNVs, Structural Variants (SVs) and other types of variants such as repeat expansions. The use of WGS in diagnostics warrants the re-evaluation and update of previously published guidelines. This work was jointly initiated by EuroGentest and the Horizon2020 project Solve-RD. Statements from the 2016 guidelines have been reviewed in the context of WGS and updated where necessary. The aim of these recommendations is primarily to list the points to consider for clinical (laboratory) geneticists, bioinformaticians, and (non-)geneticists, to provide technical advice, aid clinical decision-making and the reporting of the results
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