961 research outputs found
Excitation and entanglement transfer versus spectral gap
Published versio
Anisotropic Laplace-Beltrami Operators for Shape Analysis
International audienceThis paper introduces an anisotropic Laplace-Beltrami operator for shape analysis. While keeping useful properties of the standard Laplace-Beltrami operator, it introduces variability in the directions of principal curvature, giving rise to a more intuitive and semantically meaningful diffusion process. Although the benefits of anisotropic diffusion have already been noted in the area of mesh processing (e.g. surface regularization), focusing on the Laplacian itself, rather than on the diffusion process it induces, opens the possibility to effectively replace the omnipresent Laplace-Beltrami operator in many shape analysis methods. After providing a mathematical formulation and analysis of this new operator, we derive a practical implementation on discrete meshes. Further, we demonstrate the effectiveness of our new operator when employed in conjunction with different methods for shape segmentation and matching
Metagenomic analysis of the turkey gut RNA virus community
Viral enteric disease is an ongoing economic burden to poultry producers worldwide, and despite considerable research, no single virus has emerged as a likely causative agent and target for prevention and control efforts. Historically, electron microscopy has been used to identify suspect viruses, with many small, round viruses eluding classification based solely on morphology. National and regional surveys using molecular diagnostics have revealed that suspect viruses continuously circulate in United States poultry, with many viruses appearing concomitantly and in healthy birds. High-throughput nucleic acid pyrosequencing is a powerful diagnostic technology capable of determining the full genomic repertoire present in a complex environmental sample. We utilized the Roche/454 Life Sciences GS-FLX platform to compile an RNA virus metagenome from turkey flocks experiencing enteric disease. This approach yielded numerous sequences homologous to viruses in the BLAST nr protein database, many of which have not been described in turkeys. Our analysis of this turkey gut RNA metagenome focuses in particular on the turkey-origin members of the Picornavirales, the Caliciviridae, and the turkey Picobirnaviruses
Choose where you live carefully: built environment differences in children’s cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiometabolic risk
© 2021 The Authors. Published by MDPI. This is an open access article available under a Creative Commons licence.
The published version can be accessed at the following link on the publisher’s website: https://doi.org/10.3390/sports9020031Information regarding urban-rural differences in health indicators are scarce in Brazil. This study sought to identify rural-urban differences in cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) and car-diometabolic risk (CMR) in Brazilian children and adolescents whilst controlling for the important confounding variables including social economic status (SES). This is a cross-sectional study developed with children and adolescents (n = 2250, age 11.54 ± 2.76) selected from a city in the south of Brazil. CRF was estimated using a 6-minute run/walk test. CMR scores were calculated by summing different cardiometabolic risk indicators. CRF was analysed assuming a multiplicative model with allometric body-size components. CMR differences in residential locations was assessed using Analysis of caovariance (ANCOVA) adopting SES, Body Mass Index (BMI), waist circumference (WC), age and fitness as covariates. Results indicated a main effect of location (p< 0.001) with children living a rural environment having the highest CRF, and children living in the periphery of towns having the lowest. Analysis also revealed significant main effects of location (p< 0.001) with children living a rural environment having the lowest CMR and children living in the centre of towns having the highest. Therefore, Brazilian children living in a rural environment appear to have superior health benefits.Published versio
Euler-Heisenberg lagrangians and asymptotic analysis in 1+1 QED, part 1: Two-loop
We continue an effort to obtain information on the QED perturbation series at
high loop orders, and particularly on the issue of large cancellations inside
gauge invariant classes of graphs, using the example of the l - loop N - photon
amplitudes in the limit of large photons numbers and low photon energies. As
was previously shown, high-order information on these amplitudes can be
obtained from a nonperturbative formula, due to Affleck et al., for the
imaginary part of the QED effective lagrangian in a constant field. The
procedure uses Borel analysis and leads, under some plausible assumptions, to a
number of nontrivial predictions already at the three-loop level. Their direct
verification would require a calculation of this `Euler-Heisenberg lagrangian'
at three-loops, which seems presently out of reach. Motivated by previous work
by Dunne and Krasnansky on Euler-Heisenberg lagrangians in various dimensions,
in the present work we initiate a new line of attack on this problem by
deriving and proving the analogous predictions in the simpler setting of 1+1
dimensional QED. In the first part of this series, we obtain a generalization
of the formula of Affleck et al. to this case, and show that, for both Scalar
and Spinor QED, it correctly predicts the leading asymptotic behaviour of the
weak field expansion coefficients of the two loop Euler-Heisenberg lagrangians.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figures, final published version (minor modifications,
refs. added
Lattice worldline representation of correlators in a background field
We use a discrete worldline representation in order to study the continuum
limit of the one-loop expectation value of dimension two and four local
operators in a background field. We illustrate this technique in the case of a
scalar field coupled to a non-Abelian background gauge field. The first two
coefficients of the expansion in powers of the lattice spacing can be expressed
as sums over random walks on a d-dimensional cubic lattice. Using combinatorial
identities for the distribution of the areas of closed random walks on a
lattice, these coefficients can be turned into simple integrals. Our results
are valid for an anisotropic lattice, with arbitrary lattice spacings in each
direction.Comment: 54 pages, 14 figure
Maxwell-Chern-Simons Vortices and Holographic Superconductors
We investigate probe limit vortex solutions of a charged scalar field in
Einstein-Maxwell theory in 3+1 dimensions, for an asymptotically AdS
Schwarzschild black hole metric with the addition of an axionic coupling to the
Maxwell field. We show that the inclusion of such a term, together with a
suitable potential for the axion field, can induce an effective Chern-Simons
term on the 2+1 dimensional boundary. We obtain numerical solutions of the
equations of motion and find Maxwell-Chern-Simons like magnetic vortex
configurations, where the magnetic field profile varies with the size of the
effective Chern-Simons coupling. The axion field has a non-trivial profile
inside the AdS bulk but does not condense at spatial infinity.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, version accepted for publication in JHE
Genetic Determinants of Financial Risk Taking
Individuals vary in their willingness to take financial risks. Here we show that variants of two genes that regulate dopamine and serotonin neurotransmission and have been previously linked to emotional behavior, anxiety and addiction (5-HTTLPR and DRD4) are significant determinants of risk taking in investment decisions. We find that the 5-HTTLPR s/s allele carriers take 28% less risk than those carrying the s/l or l/l alleles of the gene. DRD4 7-repeat allele carriers take 25% more risk than individuals without the 7-repeat allele. These findings contribute to the emerging literature on the genetic determinants of economic behavior
Big-Data-Driven Materials Science and its FAIR Data Infrastructure
This chapter addresses the forth paradigm of materials research -- big-data
driven materials science. Its concepts and state-of-the-art are described, and
its challenges and chances are discussed. For furthering the field, Open Data
and an all-embracing sharing, an efficient data infrastructure, and the rich
ecosystem of computer codes used in the community are of critical importance.
For shaping this forth paradigm and contributing to the development or
discovery of improved and novel materials, data must be what is now called FAIR
-- Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Re-purposable/Re-usable. This sets
the stage for advances of methods from artificial intelligence that operate on
large data sets to find trends and patterns that cannot be obtained from
individual calculations and not even directly from high-throughput studies.
Recent progress is reviewed and demonstrated, and the chapter is concluded by a
forward-looking perspective, addressing important not yet solved challenges.Comment: submitted to the Handbook of Materials Modeling (eds. S. Yip and W.
Andreoni), Springer 2018/201
Age-related changes in global motion coherence: conflicting haemodynamic and perceptual responses
Our aim was to use both behavioural and neuroimaging data to identify indicators of perceptual decline in motion processing. We employed a global motion coherence task and functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS). Healthy adults (n = 72, 18-85) were recruited into the following groups: young (n = 28, mean age = 28), middle-aged (n = 22, mean age = 50), and older adults (n = 23, mean age = 70). Participants were assessed on their motion coherence thresholds at 3 different speeds using a psychophysical design. As expected, we report age group differences in motion processing as demonstrated by higher motion coherence thresholds in older adults. Crucially, we add correlational data showing that global motion perception declines linearly as a function of age. The associated fNIRS recordings provide a clear physiological correlate of global motion perception. The crux of this study lies in the robust linear correlation between age and haemodynamic response for both measures of oxygenation. We hypothesise that there is an increase in neural recruitment, necessitating an increase in metabolic need and blood flow, which presents as a higher oxygenated haemoglobin response. We report age-related changes in motion perception with poorer behavioural performance (high motion coherence thresholds) associated with an increased haemodynamic response
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