7,273 research outputs found
The effects of dog management on Echinococcus spp. prevalence in villages on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China
Background The pastoral area of the eastern Tibetan plateau is a very important human echinococcosis endemic region. Domestic dogs are the main definitive host for the transmission of Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato (s.1.) and E. multilocularis to humans. To control the infection risks, a national-level canine echinococcosis prevention and control program has been implemented since 2015 in Shiqu County, Sichuan, China, The objective of this investigation was to evaluate its effect on Echinococcus spp. prevalence in dogs. Methods We surveyed 69 households with 84 owned dogs, for dog keeping information in the villages of Rizha and Eduoma. A total of 105 dog fecal samples, consisting of 75 from owned dogs and 30 unknown dog fecal samples were collected between 2015 and 2017 to determine Echinococcus spp. prevalence using copro-PCR. Eight variables based on household surveys were included into a logistic regression model for significantly relevant factors to canine echinococcosis prevalence in dogs. Results The overall Echinococcus spp. copro-DNA prevalence decreased significantly in dogs from 51.2% (2015) to 20.0% (2017) in Rizha, and insignificantly from 11.5% (2016) to 4.3% (2017) in Eduoma. Echinococcus multilocularis was the most prevalent species continually detected during the entire research period, while E. granulosus was rare and not detected in 2017. Echinococcus shiquicus prevalence was as high as E. multilocularis , although only detected in 2015 in Rizha. Unleashed dog feces were mainly collected in Rizha Village in 2015. Although 93.2% of owned dogs were leashed, and the monthly praziquantel dosing rate reached 97%, E. multilocularis infection could still be detected in 11.1% of owned dogs in 2017. Monthly deworming, leashing dogs 24h per day, and the avoidance of dogs feeding on livestock viscera are significant measures to prevent canine echinococcosis infection in owned dogs. Conclusion Carrying out a canine echinococcosis prevention and control program can significantly decrease the Echinococcus prevalence. The potential contact between leashed dogs and wild small mammals is still a risk to re-infect owned dogs. This study shows that the long term application of regular dog dosing in the vast remote echinococcosis endemic areas of west China is still challenging
Segmentation, Reconstruction, and Analysis of Blood Thrombus Formation in 3D 2-Photon Microscopy Images
We study the problem of segmenting, reconstructing, and analyzing the structure growth of thrombi (clots) in blood vessels in vivo based on 2-photon microscopic image data. First, we develop an algorithm for segmenting clots in 3D microscopic images based on density-based clustering and methods for dealing with imaging artifacts. Next, we apply the union-of-balls (or alpha-shape) algorithm to reconstruct the boundary of clots in 3D. Finally, we perform experimental studies and analysis on the reconstructed clots and obtain quantitative data of thrombus growth and structures. We conduct experiments on laser-induced injuries in vessels of two types of mice (the wild type and the type with low levels of coagulation factor VII) and analyze and compare the developing clot structures based on their reconstructed clots from image data. The results we obtain are of biomedical significance. Our quantitative analysis of the clot composition leads to better understanding of the thrombus development, and is valuable to the modeling and verification of computational simulation of thrombogenesis
Transverse Velocity Field Measurement in High-Resolution Solar Images Based on Deep Learning
To address the problem of the low accuracy of transverse velocity field
measurements for small targets in high-resolution solar images, we proposed a
novel velocity field measurement method for high-resolution solar images based
on PWCNet. This method transforms the transverse velocity field measurements
into an optical flow field prediction problem. We evaluated the performance of
the proposed method using the Ha and TiO datasets obtained from New Vacuum
Solar Telescope (NVST) observations. The experimental results show that our
method effectively predicts the optical flow of small targets in images
compared with several typical machine- and deep-learning methods. On the Ha
dataset, the proposed method improves the image structure similarity from
0.9182 to 0.9587 and reduces the mean of residuals from 24.9931 to 15.2818; on
the TiO dataset, the proposed method improves the image structure similarity
from 0.9289 to 0.9628 and reduces the mean of residuals from 25.9908 to
17.0194. The optical flow predicted using the proposed method can provide
accurate data for the atmospheric motion information of solar images. The code
implementing the proposed method is available on
https://github.com/lygmsy123/transverse-velocity-field-measurement.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Research
in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Hawking Radiation of an Arbitrarily Accelerating Kinnersley Black Hole: Spin-Acceleration Coupling Effect
The Hawking radiation of Weyl neutrinos in an arbitrarily accelerating
Kinnersley black hole is investigated by using a method of the generalized
tortoise coordinate transformation. Both the location and temperature of the
event horizon depend on the time and on the angles. They coincide with previous
results, but the thermal radiation spectrum of massless spinor particles
displays a kind of spin-acceleration coupling effect.Comment: 8 pages, no figure, revtex 4.0, revisted version with typesetting
errors and misprint correcte
Relations as executable specifications: taming partiality and non-determinism using invariants
Comunicação publicada em "Lecture Notes in Computer Science", vol. 7560 (2012), pag. 146-161The calculus of relations has been widely used in program specification and reasoning. It is very tempting to use such specifications as running prototypes of the desired program, but, even considering finite domains, the inherent partiality and non-determinism of relations makes this impractical and highly inefficient. To tame partiality we prescribe the usage of invariants, represented by coreflexives, to characterize the exact domains and codomains of relational specifications. Such invariants can be used as pre-condition checkers to avoid runtime errors. Moreover, we show how such invariants can be used to narrow the non-deterministic execution of relational specifications, making it viable for a relevant class of problems. In particular, we show how the proposed techniques can be applied to execute specifications of bidirectional transformations, a domain where partiality and non-determinism are paramount.Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologi
Angular dependence of resistivity in the superconducting state of NdFeAsOF single crystals
We report the results of angle dependent resistivity of
NdFeAsOF single crystals in the superconducting state. By
doing the scaling of resistivity within the frame of the anisotropic
Ginzburg-Landau theory, it is found that the angle dependent resistivity
measured under different magnetic fields at a certain temperature can be
collapsed onto one curve. As a scaling parameter, the anisotropy can
be determined for different temperatures. It is found that
increases slowly with decreasing temperature, varying from 5.48
at T=50 K to 6.24 at T=44 K. This temperature dependence can be
understood within the picture of multi-band superconductivity.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Structural study on hole-doped superconductors Pr1-xSrxFeAsO
The structural details in Pr1-xSrxFeAsO (1111) superconducting system are
analyzed using data obtained from synchrotron X-ray diffraction and the
structural parameters are carefully studied as the system is moving from
non-superconducting to hole-doped superconducting with the Sr concentration.
Superconductivity emerges when the Sr doping amount reaches 0.221. The linear
increase of the lattice constants proves that Sr is successfully introduced
into the system and its concentration can accurately be determined by the
electron density analyses. The evolution of structural parameters with Sr
concentration in Pr1-xSrxFeAsO and their comparison to other similar structural
parameters of the related Fe-based superconductors suggest that the interlayer
space between the conducting As-Fe-As layer and the insulating Pr-O-Pr layer is
important for improving Tc in the hole-doped (1111) superconductors, which
seems to be different from electron-doped systems.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl
Fermion Masses and Mixing and CP-Violation in SO(10) Models with Family Symmetries
Several ideas for solving the problem of fermion mass hierarchy and mixing
and specific supersymmetric models that realize it are reviewed. In particular,
we discuss many models based on SO(10) in four dimensions combined with a
family symmetry to accommodate fermion mass hierarchy and mixing, including the
case of neutrinos. These models are compared and various tests that can be used
to distinguish these models are suggested. We also include a discussion of a
few SO(10) models in higher space-time dimensions.Comment: 66 pages; 5 figures; Submitted to International Journal of Modern
Physics A; v2: a few references added; some changes in tex
Direct writing of single germanium vacancy center arrays in diamond
© 2018 The Author(s). Color centers in diamond are promising solid-state qubits for scalable quantum photonics applications. Amongst many defects, those with inversion symmetry are of an interest due to their promising optical properties. In this work, we demonstrate a maskless implantation of an array of bright, single germanium vacancy (GeV) centers in diamond. Employing the direct focused ion beam technique, single GeV emitters are engineered with the spatial accuracy of tens of nanometers. The single GeV creation ratio reaches as high as 53% with the dose of 200 Ge + ions per spot. The presented fabrication method is promising for future nanofabrication of integrated photonic structures with GeV emitters as a leading platform for spin-spin interactions
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