Likelihood informed dimension reduction for inverse problems in remote sensing of atmospheric constituent profiles

We use likelihood informed dimension reduction (LIS) (T. Cui et al. 2014) for inverting vertical profile information of atmospheric methane from ground based Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) measurements at Sodankyl\"a, Northern Finland. The measurements belong to the word wide TCCON network for greenhouse gas measurements and, in addition to providing accurate greenhouse gas measurements, they are important for validating satellite observations. LIS allows construction of an efficient Markov chain Monte Carlo sampling algorithm that explores only a reduced dimensional space but still produces a good approximation of the original full dimensional Bayesian posterior distribution. This in effect makes the statistical estimation problem independent of the discretization of the inverse problem. In addition, we compare LIS to a dimension reduction method based on prior covariance matrix truncation used earlier (S. Tukiainen et al. 2016)

Middle atmospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide and nitrogen trioxide in 2002-2011: SD-WACCM simulations compared to GOMOS observations

Most of our understanding of the atmosphere is based on observations and their comparison with model simulations. In middle atmosphere studies it is common practice to use an approach, where the model dynamics are at least partly based on temperature and wind fields from an external meteorological model. In this work we test how closely satellite measurements of a few central trace gases agree with this kind of model simulation. We use collocated vertical profiles where each satellite measurement is compared to the closest model data. We compare profiles and distributions of O3, NO2 and NO3 from the Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars instrument (GOMOS) on the Envisat satellite with simulations by the Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM). GOMOS measurements are from nighttime. Our comparisons show that in the stratosphere outside the polar regions differences in ozone between WACCM and GOMOS are small, between 0 and 6%. The correlation of 5-day time series show a very high 0.9-0.95. In the tropical region 10° S-10° N below 10hPa WACCM values are up to 20% larger than GOMOS. In the Arctic below 6 hPa WACCM ozone values are up to 20% larger than GOMOS. In the mesosphere between 0.04 and 1hPa the WACCM is at most 20% smaller than GOMOS. Above the ozone minimum at 0.01hPa (or 80km) large differences are found between WACCM and GOMOS. The correlation can still be high, but at the second ozone peak the correlation falls strongly and the ozone abundance from WACCM is about 60% smaller than that from GOMOS. The total ozone columns (above 50hPa) of GOMOS and WACCM agree within ±2% except in the Arctic where WACCM is 10% larger than GOMOS. Outside the polar areas and in the validity region of GOMOS NO2 measurements (0.3-37 hPa) WACCM and GOMOS NO2 agree within -5 to +25% and the correlation is high (0.7-0.95) except in the upper stratosphere at the southern latitudes. In the polar areas, where solar particle precipitation and downward transport from the thermosphere enhance NO2 abundance, large differences up to -90% are found between WACCM and GOMOS NO2 and the correlation varies between 0.3 and 0.9. For NO3, we find that the WACCM and GOMOS difference is between -20 and 5% with a very high correlation of 0.7-0.95. We show that NO3 values strongly depend on temperature and the dependency can be fitted by the exponential function of temperature. The ratio of NO3 to O3 from WACCM and GOMOS closely follow the prediction from the equilibrium chemical theory. Abrupt temperature increases from sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs) are reflected as sudden enhancements of WACCM and GOMOS NO3 values

Fidelity of dynamical maps

We introduce the concept of fidelity for dynamical maps in an open quantum system scenario. We derive an inequality linking this quantity to the distinguishability of the inducing environmental states. Our inequality imposes constraints on the allowed set of dynamical maps arising from the microscopic description of system plus environment. Remarkably, the inequality involves only the states of the environment and the dynamical map of the open system and, therefore, does not rely on the knowledge of either the microscopic interaction Hamiltonian or the environmental Hamiltonian characteristic parameters. We demonstrate the power of our result by applying it to two different scenarios: quantum programming and quantum probing. In the first case, we use it to derive bounds on the dimension of the processor for approximate programming of unitaries. In the second case we present an intriguing proof-of-principle demonstration of the ability to extract information on the environment via a quantum probe without any a priori assumption on the form of the system-environment coupling Hamiltonian

Retrieval of ozone profiles from GOMOS limb scattered measurements

The GOMOS (Global Ozone Monitoring by Occultation of Stars) instrument on board the Envisat satellite measures the vertical composition of the atmosphere using the stellar occultation technique. While the night-time occultations of GOMOS have been proven to be of good quality, the daytime occultations are more challenging due to weaker signal-to-noise ratio. During daytime GOMOS measures limb scattered solar radiation in addition to stellar radiation. In this paper we introduce a retrieval method that determines ozone profiles between 20–60 km from GOMOS limb scattered solar radiances. GOMOS observations contain a considerable amount of stray light at high altitudes. We introduce a method for removing stray light and demonstrate its feasibility by comparing the corrected radiances against those measured by the OSIRIS (Optical Spectrograph & Infra Red Imaging System) instrument. For the retrieval of ozone profiles, a standard onion peeling method is used. The first comparisons with other data sets suggest that the retrieved ozone profiles in 22–50 km are within 10% compared with the GOMOS night-time occultations and within 15% compared with OSIRIS. GOMOS has measured about 350 000 daytime profiles since 2002. The retrieval method presented here makes this large amount of data available for scientific use

Back Reflector with Diffractive Gratings for Light-Trapping in Thin-Film III-V Solar Cells

We report on the development of light-Trapping architectures applied to thin-film solar cells. In particular, we focus on enhancing the absorption at 1-eV spectral range for dilute nitride and quantum dot materials and report on the influence of planar back reflectors on the photovoltaic properties. Moreover, we discuss the properties of polymer diffraction gratings with enhanced light-Trapping capability pointing to advantageous properties of pyramidal gratings. In order to understand the suitability of these polymer grating architectures for space applications, we have performed an electron irradiation study (1 MeV) revealing the absence of reflectance changes up to doses of 1×1015 e-/cm

Thin-film InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cell with planar and pyramidal back reflectors

Quantum dot solar cells are promising for next-generation photovoltaics owing to their potential for improved device efficiency related to bandgap tailoring and quantum confinement of charge carriers. Yet implementing effective photon management to increase the absorptivity of the quantum dots is instrumental. To this end, the performance of thin-film InAs/GaAs quantum dot solar cells with planar and structured back reflectors is reported. The experimental thin-film solar cells with planar reflectors exhibited a bandgap-voltage offset of 0.3 V with an open circuit voltage of 0.884 V, which is one of the highest values reported for quantum dot solar cells grown by molecular beam epitaxy to our knowledge. Using measured external quantum efficiency and current-voltage characteristics, we parametrize a simulation model that was used to design an advanced reflector with diffractive pyramidal gratings revealing a 12-fold increase of the photocurrent generation in the quantum dot layers

Actualized lower body contouring surgery after bariatric surgery - a nationwide register-based study

Massive weight loss might lead to excess skin folds causing functional, physical, and psychosocial discomfort. Following bariatric procedures, an increasing number of patients are seeking lower body contouring surgery (LBCS). The proportion of bariatric patients who undergo LBCS is largely unknown. The aim of this current study was to analyse the incidence and realization of LBCS in bariatric patients in Finland. National retrospective register linkage study including all adult patients who received bariatric surgery in Finland during 1998-2016. The data were obtained from the Finnish national health registers maintained by the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare. Altogether 1089 (14.1%) of 7703 bariatric patients underwent LBCS during the study period. The majority of the LBCS procedures were abdominoplasty (89%). Median latency between bariatric surgery and LBCS was 31 months. The patients with LBCS were younger (p < 0.001) and received sleeve gastrectomy (p < 0.001). We revealed an annual correlation between LBCS and bariatric procedures (r = 0.683). With a two-year latency between the bariatric and post-bariatric operations, the correlation co-efficiency was strong (r = 0.927). LBCS operations ranged from 5 to 215 per hospital district. Most LBCSs (97.3%) were performed in public hospitals, and some (41%) were performed in university hospitals. This study shows that only 14.1% of bariatric patients undergo LBCS. There is a correlation between bariatric procedures and succeeding plastic surgical reconstructive procedures

Фармакокинетика теофиллина в ночное время при однократном приеме: сравнение трех препаратов в одинаковых условиях

We have carried out a stead y state pharmacokynetic comparison of three different theophylline preparations in nine healthy volunteers using a once a day dosage schedule of 600 mg theophylline given before bedtime for four days. The preparations tested were Retafyllin 200 mg depot tablet (R), Theo-Dur 200 mg depot tablet (T) and Uniphyllin 200 mg tablet (U). All preparations in steady state reached the serum level of 8.9— 10.2 microg/ml after a single evening dose of theophylline 600 mg. The pharmacokinetic profile of these slow release theophylline preparations was such that there is no risk of exceeding the therapeutic range even after a rather high evening dose. Individual variation was also observed in the present study but nobody exceeded the therapeutic range. The pharmacokinetic profiles of R and U were quite similar and they seemed to have suitable pharmacokinetic properties for once a day dosage, and they showed a more sustained action than T. Only minimal gastrointestinal side effects were reported during this study.

Genome-Wide Association Study Implicates Atrial Natriuretic Peptide Rather Than B-Type Natriuretic Peptide in the Regulation of Blood Pressure in the General Population

Background Cardiomyocytes secrete atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) in response to mechanical stretching, making them useful clinical biomarkers of cardiac stress. Both human and animal studies indicate a role for ANP as a regulator of blood pressure with conflicting results for BNP. Methods and Results We used genome-wide association analysis (n=6296) to study the effects of genetic variants on circulating natriuretic peptide concentrations and compared the impact of natriuretic peptide-associated genetic variants on blood pressure (n=27059). Eight independent genetic variants in 2 known (NPPA-NPPB and POC1B-GALNT4) and 1 novel locus (PPP3CC) associated with midregional proANP (MR-proANP), BNP, aminoterminal proBNP (NT-proBNP), or BNP:NT-proBNP ratio. The NPPA-NPPB locus containing the adjacent genes encoding ANP and BNP harbored 4 independent cis variants with effects specific to either midregional proANP or BNP and a rare missense single nucleotide polymorphism in NT-proBNP seriously altering its measurement. Variants near the calcineurin catalytic subunit gamma gene PPP3CC and the polypeptide N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase 4 gene GALNT4 associated with BNP:NT-proBNP ratio but not with BNP or midregional proANP, suggesting effects on the post-translational regulation of proBNP. Out of the 8 individual variants, only those correlated with midregional proANP had a statistically significant albeit weak impact on blood pressure. The combined effect of these 3 single nucleotide polymorphisms also associated with hypertension risk (P=8.2x10(-4)). Conclusions Common genetic differences affecting the circulating concentration of ANP associated with blood pressure, whereas those affecting BNP did not, highlighting the blood pressure-lowering effect of ANP in the general population.Peer reviewe