Chapter 9: Aquatic Macroinvertebrates, Section A: Aquatic Macroinvertebrates (Exclusive of Mosquitoes)

Final Report. Excerpt (Chapter 9, Section A) from The Des Plaines River Wetlands Demonstration Project, Volume II, Baseline Survey, edited by Donald L. Hey and Nancy S. PhilippiReport issued on: October 1985INHS Technical Report prepared for Wetlands Research, Inc

Using New Selection Tools

The goal of most beef production systems is to increase or at least maintain profitability. Producers can attempt to increase profitability in a variety of ways that might include reducing feed costs, changing their marketing program, or perhaps by changing the performance of their herd through genetic improvement. Focusing on this latter option, there are two primary genetic tools available: selection and mating where selection refers to the selection of breeding animals and mating includes which females are mated to which bulls, for example, crossbreeding systems. This paper focuses on the former, the selection of the appropriate animals for a production system with the goal to improve profitability. The best tool available for making selection decisions is expected progeny differences (EPD). Over the years the number of EPD available to guide producers in making selection decisions has grown from 5 to over 15 in most cases. Simply put, the amount of information that the breeder must sift through to try to make a good selection decision has become overwhelming. The producer must determine which EPD have the greatest influence on their income and their expenses, and by how much—a daunting task. Historically this task has depended on the “intuition” and experience of the breeder. For instance, they know that selection for heavier weaning weight will increase the weight of calves sold at weaning, but that blind selection for weaning weight will also increase calving difficulty and if replacements are kept, likely increase cow size and feed costs. Breeders have been performing a balancing act with little concrete information on how important each of those traits is to their profitability. Fortunately, there are several tools that have recently become available to ease the process of combining the costs and the revenues of beef production with EPD to make selection decisions that will produce progeny which are more profitable

Fractal Descriptors in the Fourier Domain Applied to Color Texture Analysis

The present work proposes the development of a novel method to provide descriptors for colored texture images. The method consists in two steps. In the first, we apply a linear transform in the color space of the image aiming at highlighting spatial structuring relations among the color of pixels. In a second moment, we apply a multiscale approach to the calculus of fractal dimension based on Fourier transform. From this multiscale operation, we extract the descriptors used to discriminate the texture represented in digital images. The accuracy of the method is verified in the classification of two color texture datasets, by comparing the performance of the proposed technique to other classical and state-of-the-art methods for color texture analysis. The results showed an advantage of almost 3% of the proposed technique over the second best approach.Comment: Chaos, Volume 21, Issue 4, 201

Fast Fourier Optimization: Sparsity Matters

Many interesting and fundamentally practical optimization problems, ranging from optics, to signal processing, to radar and acoustics, involve constraints on the Fourier transform of a function. It is well-known that the {\em fast Fourier transform} (fft) is a recursive algorithm that can dramatically improve the efficiency for computing the discrete Fourier transform. However, because it is recursive, it is difficult to embed into a linear optimization problem. In this paper, we explain the main idea behind the fast Fourier transform and show how to adapt it in such a manner as to make it encodable as constraints in an optimization problem. We demonstrate a real-world problem from the field of high-contrast imaging. On this problem, dramatic improvements are translated to an ability to solve problems with a much finer grid of discretized points. As we shall show, in general, the "fast Fourier" version of the optimization constraints produces a larger but sparser constraint matrix and therefore one can think of the fast Fourier transform as a method of sparsifying the constraints in an optimization problem, which is usually a good thing.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

A General Setting for Geometric Phase of Mixed States Under an Arbitrary Nonunitary Evolution

The problem of geometric phase for an open quantum system is reinvestigated in a unifying approach. Two of existing methods to define geometric phase, one by Uhlmann's approach and the other by kinematic approach, which have been considered to be distinct, are shown to be related in this framework. The method is based upon purification of a density matrix by its uniform decomposition and a generalization of the parallel transport condition obtained from this decomposition. It is shown that the generalized parallel transport condition can be satisfied when Uhlmann's condition holds. However, it does not mean that all solutions of the generalized parallel transport condition are compatible with those of Uhlmann's one. It is also shown how to recover the earlier known definitions of geometric phase as well as how to generalize them when degeneracy exists and varies in time.Comment: 4 pages, extended result

An efficient platform for astrocyte differentiation from human induced pluripotent stem cells

Summary: Growing evidence implicates the importance of glia, particularly astrocytes, in neurological and psychiatric diseases. Here, we describe a rapid and robust method for the differentiation of highly pure populations of replicative astrocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), via a neural progenitor cell (NPC) intermediate. We evaluated this protocol across 42 NPC lines (derived from 30 individuals). Transcriptomic analysis demonstrated that hiPSC-astrocytes from four individuals are highly similar to primary human fetal astrocytes and characteristic of a non-reactive state. hiPSC-astrocytes respond to inflammatory stimulants, display phagocytic capacity, and enhance microglial phagocytosis. hiPSC-astrocytes also possess spontaneous calcium transient activity. Our protocol is a reproducible, straightforward (single medium), and rapid (<30 days) method to generate populations of hiPSC-astrocytes that can be used for neuron-astrocyte and microglia-astrocyte co-cultures for the study of neuropsychiatric disorders. : Brennand, Goate, and colleagues report a rapid and robust method for the differentiation of highly pure populations of replicative astrocytes from human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) via a neural progenitor cell (NPC) intermediate. hiPSC-astrocytes resemble primary human fetal astrocytes, have a transcriptional signature consistent with a non-reactive state, respond to inflammatory stimulants, and enhance microglial phagocytosis. Keywords: human induced pluripotent stem cell, iPSC, astrocyt

Fidelity amplitude of the scattering matrix in microwave cavities

The concept of fidelity decay is discussed from the point of view of the scattering matrix, and the scattering fidelity is introduced as the parametric cross-correlation of a given S-matrix element, taken in the time domain, normalized by the corresponding autocorrelation function. We show that for chaotic systems, this quantity represents the usual fidelity amplitude, if appropriate ensemble and/or energy averages are taken. We present a microwave experiment where the scattering fidelity is measured for an ensemble of chaotic systems. The results are in excellent agreement with random matrix theory for the standard fidelity amplitude. The only parameter, namely the perturbation strength could be determined independently from level dynamics of the system, thus providing a parameter free agreement between theory and experiment

On the Metric Dimension of Cartesian Products of Graphs

A set S of vertices in a graph G resolves G if every vertex is uniquely determined by its vector of distances to the vertices in S. The metric dimension of G is the minimum cardinality of a resolving set of G. This paper studies the metric dimension of cartesian products G*H. We prove that the metric dimension of G*G is tied in a strong sense to the minimum order of a so-called doubly resolving set in G. Using bounds on the order of doubly resolving sets, we establish bounds on G*H for many examples of G and H. One of our main results is a family of graphs G with bounded metric dimension for which the metric dimension of G*G is unbounded

Torpor in marsupials: Recent advances

We report new findings about torpor in marsupials with regard to three energy demanding processes: (i) development and growth, (ii) reproduction, and (iii) rewarming. Young marsupials use torpor extensively after they develop endothermy, and torpor is generally deeper and longer than in the same individuals when they reach adult size. Adult marsupials also employ torpor during pregnancy and/or lactation to reduce energy expenditure and perhaps to store fat for later use. Moreover, to enhance the energy-conserving potential of torpor, desert marsupials bask during arousal to minimize energy costs of rewarming. We show that the functions of torpor extend beyond merely reducing energy expenditure during food shortages and that torpor can save substantial amounts of energy even during the rewarming process