Total variation denoising in l1l^1 anisotropy

We aim at constructing solutions to the minimizing problem for the variant of Rudin-Osher-Fatemi denoising model with rectilinear anisotropy and to the gradient flow of its underlying anisotropic total variation functional. We consider a naturally defined class of functions piecewise constant on rectangles (PCR). This class forms a strictly dense subset of the space of functions of bounded variation with an anisotropic norm. The main result shows that if the given noisy image is a PCR function, then solutions to both considered problems also have this property. For PCR data the problem of finding the solution is reduced to a finite algorithm. We discuss some implications of this result, for instance we use it to prove that continuity is preserved by both considered problems.Comment: 34 pages, 9 figure

Super-resolution community detection for layer-aggregated multilayer networks

Applied network science often involves preprocessing network data before applying a network-analysis method, and there is typically a theoretical disconnect between these steps. For example, it is common to aggregate time-varying network data into windows prior to analysis, and the tradeoffs of this preprocessing are not well understood. Focusing on the problem of detecting small communities in multilayer networks, we study the effects of layer aggregation by developing random-matrix theory for modularity matrices associated with layer-aggregated networks with $N$ nodes and $L$ layers, which are drawn from an ensemble of Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi networks. We study phase transitions in which eigenvectors localize onto communities (allowing their detection) and which occur for a given community provided its size surpasses a detectability limit $K^*$. When layers are aggregated via a summation, we obtain $K^*\varpropto \mathcal{O}(\sqrt{NL}/T)$, where $T$ is the number of layers across which the community persists. Interestingly, if $T$ is allowed to vary with $L$ then summation-based layer aggregation enhances small-community detection even if the community persists across a vanishing fraction of layers, provided that $T/L$ decays more slowly than $\mathcal{O}(L^{-1/2})$. Moreover, we find that thresholding the summation can in some cases cause $K^*$ to decay exponentially, decreasing by orders of magnitude in a phenomenon we call super-resolution community detection. That is, layer aggregation with thresholding is a nonlinear data filter enabling detection of communities that are otherwise too small to detect. Importantly, different thresholds generally enhance the detectability of communities having different properties, illustrating that community detection can be obscured if one analyzes network data using a single threshold.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Stabilizing the Long-time Behavior of the Navier-Stokes Equations and Damped Euler Systems by Fast Oscillating Forces

The paper studies the issue of stability of solutions to the Navier-Stokes and damped Euler systems in periodic boxes. We show that under action of fast oscillating-in- time external forces all two dimensional regular solutions converge to a time periodic flow. Unexpectedly, effects of stabilization can be also obtained for systems with stationary forces with large total momentum (average of the velocity). Thanks to the Galilean transformation and space boundary conditions, the stationary force changes into one with time oscillations. In the three dimensional case we show an analogical result for weak solutions to the Navier- Stokes equations

Genetic analysis of milk urea nitrogen and relationships with yield and fertility across lactation

AbstractThe aim of this project was to investigate the relationship of milk urea nitrogen (MUN) with 3 milk production traits [milk yield (MY), fat yield (FY), protein yield (PY)] and 6 fertility measures (number of inseminations, calving interval, interval from calving to first insemination, interval from calving to last insemination, interval from first to last insemination, and pregnancy at first insemination). Data consisted of 635,289 test-day records of MY, FY, PY, and MUN on 76,959 first-lactation Swedish Holstein cows calving from 2001 to 2003, and corresponding lactation records for the fertility traits. Yields and MUN were analyzed with a random regression model followed by a multi-trait model in which the lactation was broken into 10 monthly periods. Heritability for MUN was stable across lactation (between 0.16 and 0.18), whereas MY, FY, and PY had low heritability at the beginning of lactation, which increased with time and stabilized after 100 d in milk, at 0.47, 0.36, and 0.44, respectively. Fertility traits had low heritabilities (0.02 to 0.05). Phenotypic correlations of MUN and milk production traits were between 0.13 (beginning of lactation) and 0.00 (end of lactation). Genetic correlations of MUN and MY, FY, and PY followed similar trends and were positive (0.22) at the beginning and negative (−0.15) at the end of lactation. Phenotypic correlations of MUN and fertility were close to zero. A surprising result was that genetic correlations of MUN and fertility traits suggest a positive relationship between the 2 traits for most of the lactation, indicating that animals with breeding values for increased MUN also had breeding values for improved fertility. This result was obtained with a random regression model as well as with a multi-trait model. The analyzed group of cows had a moderate level of MUN concentration. In such a population MUN concentration may increase slightly due to selection for improved fertility. Conversely, selection for increased MUN concentration may improve fertility slightly

Influence of Zeeman splitting and thermally excited polaron states on magneto-electrical and magneto-thermal properties of magnetoresistive polycrystalline manganite La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}MnO_3

Some possible connection between spin and charge degrees of freedom in magneto-resistive manganites is investigated through a thorough experimental study of the magnetic (AC susceptibility and DC magnetization) and transport (resistivity and thermal conductivity) properties. Measurements are reported in the case of well characterized polycrystalline La_{0.8}Sr_{0.2}MnO_3 samples. The experimental results suggest rather strong field-induced polarization effects in our material, clearly indicating the presence of ordered FM regions inside the semiconducting phase. Using an analytical expression which fits the spontaneous DC magnetization, the temperature and magnetic field dependences of both electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity data are found to be well reproduced through a universal scenario based on two mechanisms: (i) a magnetization dependent spin polaron hopping influenced by a Zeeman splitting effect, and (ii) properly defined thermally excited polaron states which have to be taken into account in order to correctly describe the behavior of the less conducting region. Using the experimentally found values of the magnetic and electron localization temperatures, we obtain L=0.5nm and m_p=3.2m_e for estimates of the localization length (size of the spin polaron) and effective polaron mass, respectively.Comment: Accepted for publication in Journal of Applied Physic

Spectroscopic Signatures of Electronic Excitations in Raman Scattering in Thin Films of Rhombohedral Graphite

Rhombohedral graphite features peculiar electronic properties, including persistence of low-energy surface bands of a topological nature. Here, we study the contribution of electron-hole excitations towards inelastic light scattering in thin films of rhombohedral graphite. We show that, in contrast to the featureless electron-hole contribution towards Raman spectrum of graphitic films with Bernal stacking, the inelastic light scattering accompanied by electron-hole excitations in crystals with rhombohedral stacking produces distinct features in the Raman signal which can be used both to identify the stacking and to determine the number of layers in the film.Comment: 15 pages in preprint format, 4 figures, accepted versio

Resolving structural variability in network models and the brain

Large-scale white matter pathways crisscrossing the cortex create a complex pattern of connectivity that underlies human cognitive function. Generative mechanisms for this architecture have been difficult to identify in part because little is known about mechanistic drivers of structured networks. Here we contrast network properties derived from diffusion spectrum imaging data of the human brain with 13 synthetic network models chosen to probe the roles of physical network embedding and temporal network growth. We characterize both the empirical and synthetic networks using familiar diagnostics presented in statistical form, as scatter plots and distributions, to reveal the full range of variability of each measure across scales in the network. We focus on the degree distribution, degree assortativity, hierarchy, topological Rentian scaling, and topological fractal scaling---in addition to several summary statistics, including the mean clustering coefficient, shortest path length, and network diameter. The models are investigated in a progressive, branching sequence, aimed at capturing different elements thought to be important in the brain, and range from simple random and regular networks, to models that incorporate specific growth rules and constraints. We find that synthetic models that constrain the network nodes to be embedded in anatomical brain regions tend to produce distributions that are similar to those extracted from the brain. We also find that network models hardcoded to display one network property do not in general also display a second, suggesting that multiple neurobiological mechanisms might be at play in the development of human brain network architecture. Together, the network models that we develop and employ provide a potentially useful starting point for the statistical inference of brain network structure from neuroimaging data.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, 1 table, supplementary material

On the existence of traveling waves in the 3D Boussinesq system

We extend earlier work on traveling waves in premixed flames in a gravitationally stratified medium, subject to the Boussinesq approximation. For three-dimensional channels not aligned with the gravity direction and under the Dirichlet boundary conditions in the fluid velocity, it is shown that a non-planar traveling wave, corresponding to a non-zero reaction, exists, under an explicit condition relating the geometry of the crossection of the channel to the magnitude of the Prandtl and Rayleigh numbers, or when the advection term in the flow equations is neglected.Comment: 15 pages, to appear in Communications in Mathematical Physic