269 research outputs found

    Line Graphs of Weighted Networks for Overlapping Communities

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    In this paper, we develop the idea to partition the edges of a weighted graph in order to uncover overlapping communities of its nodes. Our approach is based on the construction of different types of weighted line graphs, i.e. graphs whose nodes are the links of the original graph, that encapsulate differently the relations between the edges. Weighted line graphs are argued to provide an alternative, valuable representation of the system's topology, and are shown to have important applications in community detection, as the usual node partition of a line graph naturally leads to an edge partition of the original graph. This identification allows us to use traditional partitioning methods in order to address the long-standing problem of the detection of overlapping communities. We apply it to the analysis of different social and geographical networks.Comment: 8 Pages. New title and text revisions to emphasise differences from earlier paper

    Dynamical renormalization group approach to transport in ultrarelativistic plasmas: the electrical conductivity in high temperature QED

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    The DC electrical conductivity of an ultrarelativistic QED plasma is studied in real time by implementing the dynamical renormalization group. The conductivity is obtained from the realtime dependence of a dissipative kernel related to the retarded photon polarization. Pinch singularities in the imaginary part of the polarization are manifest as growing secular terms that in the perturbative expansion of this kernel. The leading secular terms are studied explicitly and it is shown that they are insensitive to the anomalous damping of hard fermions as a result of a cancellation between self-energy and vertex corrections. The resummation of the secular terms via the dynamical renormalization group leads directly to a renormalization group equation in real time, which is the Boltzmann equation for the (gauge invariant) fermion distribution function. A direct correspondence between the perturbative expansion and the linearized Boltzmann equation is established, allowing a direct identification of the self energy and vertex contributions to the collision term.We obtain a Fokker-Planck equation in momentum space that describes the dynamics of the departure from equilibrium to leading logarithmic order in the coupling.This determines that the transport time scale is given by t_{tr}=(24 pi)/[e^4 T \ln(1/e)}]. The solution of the Fokker-Planck equation approaches asymptotically the steady- state solution as sim e^{-t/(4.038 t_{tr})}.The steady-state solution leads to the conductivity sigma = 15.698 T/[e^2 ln(1/e)] to leading logarithmic order. We discuss the contributions beyond leading logarithms as well as beyond the Boltzmann equation. The dynamical renormalization group provides a link between linear response in quantum field theory and kinetic theory.Comment: LaTex, 48 pages, 14 .ps figures, final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

    Discontinuation, suboptimal adherence, and reinitiation of oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis: a global systematic review and meta-analysis

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    Background: Poor adherence to oral HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) diminishes its clinical and public health benefits. This study synthesises evidence regarding discontinuation, adherence, and reinitiation of PrEP among geographically diverse PrEP users. Methods: We did a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating studies published in MEDLINE, Embase, and Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials from inception to Dec 18, 2020. We included longitudinal studies that presented data for PrEP discontinuation, defined as investigator-reported loss to follow-up or participant self-reported PrEP stoppage. Data were extracted from published reports and assessed for risk of bias. We used a random-effects meta-analysis to pool estimates of discontinuation and I2 and τ2 to evaluate heterogeneity. This study is registered with PROSPERO, CRD42020155675. Findings: We identified 4129 records, of which 59 articles were included (n=43 917 participants). 41·0% (95% CI 18·8–63·5) of participants discontinued PrEP within 6 months, with the highest rates in observational studies. The discontinuation rate in sub-Saharan Africa (47·5%, 95% CI: 29·4–66·4%) was higher than in other regions (p<0·001). Discontinuation rates were lower in studies with adherence interventions than in those without (24·7% vs 36·7%, p=0·015). Gay or bisexual men who have sex with men and transgender women offered daily or non-daily dosing options had lower discontinuation rates than those offered daily dosing alone (21·6% vs 31·5%; p<0·001). The pooled suboptimal adherence within 6 months was 37·7% (95% CI 8·4–66·9). Among people who discontinued PrEP, 47·3% (95% CI 31·5–63·2) reinitiated PrEP within 1 year of PrEP initiation. The included studies had poor quality in terms of study design, with a moderate risk of bias. Interpretation: Strategies to encourage reinitiating PrEP for new or persistent risk should be a focus of future PrEP implementation strategies. Funding: National Institutes of Health and Nature Science Foundation of China

    Observing Supermassive Black Holes across cosmic time: from phenomenology to physics

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    In the last decade, a combination of high sensitivity, high spatial resolution observations and of coordinated multi-wavelength surveys has revolutionized our view of extra-galactic black hole (BH) astrophysics. We now know that supermassive black holes reside in the nuclei of almost every galaxy, grow over cosmological times by accreting matter, interact and merge with each other, and in the process liberate enormous amounts of energy that influence dramatically the evolution of the surrounding gas and stars, providing a powerful self-regulatory mechanism for galaxy formation. The different energetic phenomena associated to growing black holes and Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), their cosmological evolution and the observational techniques used to unveil them, are the subject of this chapter. In particular, I will focus my attention on the connection between the theory of high-energy astrophysical processes giving rise to the observed emission in AGN, the observable imprints they leave at different wavelengths, and the methods used to uncover them in a statistically robust way. I will show how such a combined effort of theorists and observers have led us to unveil most of the SMBH growth over a large fraction of the age of the Universe, but that nagging uncertainties remain, preventing us from fully understating the exact role of black holes in the complex process of galaxy and large-scale structure formation, assembly and evolution.Comment: 46 pages, 21 figures. This review article appears as a chapter in the book: "Astrophysical Black Holes", Haardt, F., Gorini, V., Moschella, U and Treves A. (Eds), 2015, Springer International Publishing AG, Cha

    Contribution of machining to the fatigue behaviour of metal matrix composites (MMCs) of varying reinforcement size

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    The high cycle constant stress amplitude fatigue performance of metal matrix composite (MMC) components machined by a milling process was investigated in this study as a function of machining speed, feed rate and reinforcement particle size. The presence of reinforcement and particle size were found to be the most influential factors that affected the fatigue life. In contrast to this, the effect of feed and speed on tool-particle interaction, strain hardening and heat generation during milling of MMCs were balanced in such a way that the contributions of feed and speed on fatigue life were negligible. The interactions of different parameters contributed significantly to the fatigue life which indicated that the modelling of fatigue life based on these three parameters was relatively complex. The fatigue life of the machined MMC samples increased with decreasing particle size and increasing feed. However, the fatigue life was not influenced by speed variation. The presence of smaller or no particles induced a complete separation of failed samples, in contrast to that of specimens containing larger reinforcing particles where crack growth was arrested or deflected by the reinforcing particles

    Effect of Austenite Deformation on the Microstructure Evolution and Grain Refinement Under Accelerated Cooling Conditions

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    Although there has been much research regarding the effect of austenite deformation on accelerated cooled microstructures in microalloyed steels, there is still a lack of accurate data on boundary densities and effective grain sizes. Previous results observed from optical micrographs are not accurate enough, because, for displacive transformation products, a substantial part of the boundaries have disorientation angles below 15 deg. Therefore, in this research, a niobium microalloyed steel was used and electron backscattering diffraction mappings were performed on all of the transformed microstructures to obtain accurate results on boundary densities and grain refinement. It was found that with strain rising from 0 to 0.5, a transition from bainitic ferrite to acicular ferrite occurs and the effective grain size reduces from 5.7 to 3.1 ÎŒm. When further increasing strain from 0.5 to 0.7, dynamic recrystallization was triggered and postdynamic softening occurred during the accelerated cooling, leading to an inhomogeneous and coarse transformed microstructure. In the entire strain range, the density changes of boundaries with different disorientation angles are distinct, due to different boundary formation mechanisms. Finally, the controversial influence of austenite deformation on effective grain size of low-temperature transformation products was argued to be related to the differences in transformation conditions and final microstructures

    Photonic molecules and spectral engineering

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    This chapter reviews the fundamental optical properties and applications of pho-tonic molecules (PMs) - photonic structures formed by electromagnetic coupling of two or more optical microcavities (photonic atoms). Controllable interaction between light and matter in photonic atoms can be further modified and en-hanced by the manipulation of their mutual coupling. Mechanical and optical tunability of PMs not only adds new functionalities to microcavity-based optical components but also paves the way for their use as testbeds for the exploration of novel physical regimes in atomic physics and quantum optics. Theoretical studies carried on for over a decade yielded novel PM designs that make possible lowering thresholds of semiconductor microlasers, producing directional light emission, achieving optically-induced transparency, and enhancing sensitivity of microcavity-based bio-, stress- and rotation-sensors. Recent advances in material science and nano-fabrication techniques make possible the realization of optimally-tuned PMs for cavity quantum electrodynamic experiments, classical and quantum information processing, and sensing.Comment: A review book chapter: 29 pages, 19 figure

    Whole-genome landscapes of major melanoma subtypes

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    Melanoma of the skin is a common cancer only in Europeans, whereas it arises in internal body surfaces (mucosal sites) and on the hands and feet (acral sites) in people throughout the world. Here we report analysis of whole-genome sequences from cutaneous, acral and mucosal subtypes of melanoma. The heavily mutated landscape of coding and non-coding mutations in cutaneous melanoma resolved novel signatures of mutagenesis attributable to ultraviolet radiation. However, acral and mucosal melanomas were dominated by structural changes and mutation signatures of unknown aetiology, not previously identified in melanoma. The number of genes affected by recurrent mutations disrupting non-coding sequences was similar to that affected by recurrent mutations to coding sequences. Significantly mutated genes included BRAF, CDKN2A, NRAS and TP53 in cutaneous melanoma, BRAF, NRAS and NF1 in acral melanoma and SF3B1 in mucosal melanoma. Mutations affecting the TERT promoter were the most frequent of all; however, neither they nor ATRX mutations, which correlate with alternative telomere lengthening, were associated with greater telomere length. Most melanomas had potentially actionable mutations, most in components of the mitogen-activated protein kinase and phosphoinositol kinase pathways. The whole-genome mutation landscape of melanoma reveals diverse carcinogenic processes across its subtypes, some unrelated to sun exposure, and extends potential involvement of the non-coding genome in its pathogenesis

    Measurement of the View the tt production cross-section using eÎŒ events with b-tagged jets in pp collisions at √s = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    This paper describes a measurement of the inclusive top quark pair production cross-section (σttÂŻ) with a data sample of 3.2 fb−1 of proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of √s = 13 TeV, collected in 2015 by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. This measurement uses events with an opposite-charge electron–muon pair in the final state. Jets containing b-quarks are tagged using an algorithm based on track impact parameters and reconstructed secondary vertices. The numbers of events with exactly one and exactly two b-tagged jets are counted and used to determine simultaneously σttÂŻ and the efficiency to reconstruct and b-tag a jet from a top quark decay, thereby minimising the associated systematic uncertainties. The cross-section is measured to be: σttÂŻ = 818 ± 8 (stat) ± 27 (syst) ± 19 (lumi) ± 12 (beam) pb, where the four uncertainties arise from data statistics, experimental and theoretical systematic effects, the integrated luminosity and the LHC beam energy, giving a total relative uncertainty of 4.4%. The result is consistent with theoretical QCD calculations at next-to-next-to-leading order. A fiducial measurement corresponding to the experimental acceptance of the leptons is also presented
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