2,218 research outputs found
Collecting close-contact social mixing data with contact diaries: reporting errors and biases
The analysis of contact networks plays a major role to understanding the dynamics of disease spread. Empirical contact data is often collected using contact diaries. Such studies rely on self-reported perceptions of contacts, and arrangements for validation are usually not made. Our study was based on a complete network study design that allowed for the analysis of reporting accuracy in contact diary studies. We collected contact data of the employees of three research groups over a period of 1 work week. We found that more than one third of all reported contacts were only reported by one out of the two involved contact partners. Non-reporting is most frequent in cases of short, non-intense contact. We estimated that the probability of forgetting a contact of ⩜5 min duration is greater than 50%. Furthermore, the number of forgotten contacts appears to be proportional to the total number of contact
Observations of Mira stars with the IOTA/FLUOR interferometer and comparison with Mira star models
We present K'-band observations of five Mira stars with the IOTA
interferometer. The interferograms were obtained with the FLUOR fiber optics
beam combiner, which provides high-accuracy visibility measurements in spite of
time-variable atmospheric conditions. For the M-type Miras X Oph, R Aql, RU
Her, R Ser, and the C-type Mira V CrB we derived the uniform-disk diameters
11.7mas, 10.9mas, 8.4mas, 8.1mas, and 7.9mas (+/- 0.3mas), respectively.
Simultaneous photometric observations yielded the bolometric fluxes. The
derived angular Rosseland radii and the bolometric fluxes allowed the
determination of effective temperatures. For instance, the effective
temperature of R Aql was determined to be 2970 +/- 110 K. A linear Rosseland
radius for R Aql of (250 +100/-60) Rsun was derived from the angular Rosseland
radius of 5.5mas +/- 0.2mas and the HIPPARCOS parallax of 4.73mas +/- 1.19mas.
The observations were compared with theoretical Mira star models of Bessel et
al. (1996) and Hofmann et al. (1998). The effective temperatures of the M-type
Miras and the linear radius of R Aql indicate fundamental mode pulsation.Comment: 12 pages, 4 postscript figure
Modelling radiation-induced cell cycle delays
Ionizing radiation is known to delay the cell cycle progression. In
particular after particle exposure significant delays have been observed and it
has been shown that the extent of delay affects the expression of damage such
as chromosome aberrations. Thus, to predict how cells respond to ionizing
radiation and to derive reliable estimates of radiation risks, information
about radiation-induced cell cycle perturbations is required. In the present
study we describe and apply a method for retrieval of information about the
time-course of all cell cycle phases from experimental data on the mitotic
index only. We study the progression of mammalian cells through the cell cycle
after exposure. The analysis reveals a prolonged block of damaged cells in the
G2 phase. Furthermore, by performing an error analysis on simulated data
valuable information for the design of experimental studies has been obtained.
The analysis showed that the number of cells analyzed in an experimental sample
should be at least 100 to obtain a relative error less than 20%.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Radiation and
Environmental Biophysic
Measurement of the 187Re({\alpha},n)190Ir reaction cross section at sub-Coulomb energies using the Cologne Clover Counting Setup
Uncertainties in adopted models of particle+nucleus optical-model potentials
directly influence the accuracy in the theoretical predictions of reaction
rates as they are needed for reaction-network calculations in, for instance,
{\gamma}-process nucleosynthesis. The improvement of the {\alpha}+nucleus
optical-model potential is hampered by the lack of experimental data at
astrophysically relevant energies especially for heavier nuclei. Measuring the
Re187({\alpha},n)Ir190 reaction cross section at sub-Coulomb energies extends
the scarce experimental data available in this mass region and helps
understanding the energy dependence of the imaginary part of the
{\alpha}+nucleus optical-model potential at low energies. Applying the
activation method, after the irradiation of natural rhenium targets with
{\alpha}-particle energies of 12.4 to 14.1 MeV, the reaction yield and thus the
reaction cross section were determined via {\gamma}-ray spectroscopy by using
the Cologne Clover Counting Setup and the method of {\gamma}{\gamma}
coincidences. Cross-section values at five energies close to the
astrophysically relevant energy region were measured. Statistical model
calculations revealed discrepancies between the experimental values and
predictions based on widely used {\alpha}+nucleus optical-model potentials.
However, an excellent reproduction of the measured cross-section values could
be achieved from calculations based on the so-called Sauerwein-Rauscher
{\alpha}+nucleus optical-model potential. The results obtained indicate that
the energy dependence of the imaginary part of the {\alpha}+nucleus
optical-model potential can be described by an exponential decrease. Successful
reproductions of measured cross sections at low energies for {\alpha}-induced
reactions in the mass range 141{\leq}A{\leq}187 confirm the global character of
the Sauerwein-Rauscher potential
Synthetic Spectra and Color-Temperature Relations of M Giants
As part of a project to model the integrated spectra and colors of elliptical
galaxies through evolutionary synthesis, we have refined our synthetic spectrum
calculations of M giants. After critically assessing three effective
temperature scales for M giants, we adopted the relation of Dyck et al. (1996)
for our models. Using empirical spectra of field M giants as a guide, we then
calculated MARCS stellar atmosphere models and SSG synthetic spectra of these
cool stars, adjusting the band absorption oscillator strengths of the TiO bands
to better reproduce the observational data. The resulting synthetic spectra are
found to be in very good agreement with the K-band spectra of stars of the
appropriate spectral type taken from Kleinmann & Hall (1986) as well. Spectral
types estimated from the strengths of the TiO bands and the depth of the
bandhead of CO near 2.3 microns quantitatively confirm that the synthetic
spectra are good representations of those of field M giants. The broad-band
colors of the models match the field relations of K and early-M giants very
well; for late-M giants, differences between the field-star and synthetic
colors are probably caused by the omission of spectral lines of VO and water in
the spectrum synthesis calculations. Here, we present four grids of K-band
bolometric corrections and colors -- Johnson U-V and B-V; Cousins V-R and V-I;
Johnson-Glass V-K, J-K and H-K; and CIT/CTIO V-K, J-K, H-K and CO -- for models
having 3000 K < Teff < 4000 K and -0.5 < log g < 1.5. These grids, which have
[Fe/H] = +0.25, 0.0, -0.5 and -1.0, extend and supplement the color-temperature
relations of hotter stars presented in a companion paper (astro-ph/9911367).Comment: To appear in the March 2000 issue of the Astronomical Journal. 60
pages including 15 embedded postscript figures (one page each) and 6 embedded
postscript tables (10 pages total
The RAVE survey: the Galactic escape speed and the mass of the Milky Way
We construct new estimates on the Galactic escape speed at various
Galactocentric radii using the latest data release of the Radial Velocity
Experiment (RAVE DR4). Compared to previous studies we have a database larger
by a factor of 10 as well as reliable distance estimates for almost all stars.
Our analysis is based on the statistical analysis of a rigorously selected
sample of 90 high-velocity halo stars from RAVE and a previously published data
set. We calibrate and extensively test our method using a suite of cosmological
simulations of the formation of Milky Way-sized galaxies. Our best estimate of
the local Galactic escape speed, which we define as the minimum speed required
to reach three virial radii , is km/s (90%
confidence) with an additional 5% systematic uncertainty, where is
the Galactocentric radius encompassing a mean over-density of 340 times the
critical density for closure in the Universe. From the escape speed we further
derive estimates of the mass of the Galaxy using a simple mass model with two
options for the mass profile of the dark matter halo: an unaltered and an
adiabatically contracted Navarro, Frenk & White (NFW) sphere. If we fix the
local circular velocity the latter profile yields a significantly higher mass
than the un-contracted halo, but if we instead use the statistics on halo
concentration parameters in large cosmological simulations as a constraint we
find very similar masses for both models. Our best estimate for , the
mass interior to (dark matter and baryons), is M (corresponding to M). This estimate is in good agreement with recently published
independent mass estimates based on the kinematics of more distant halo stars
and the satellite galaxy Leo I.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
A generally applicable lightweight method for calculating a value structure for tools and services in bioinformatics infrastructure projects
Sustainable noncommercial bioinformatics infrastructures are a prerequisite to use and take advantage of the potential of big data analysis for research and economy. Consequently, funders, universities and institutes as well as users ask for a transparent value model for the tools and services offered. In this article, a generally applicable lightweight method is described by which bioinformatics infrastructure projects can estimate the value of tools and services offered without determining exactly the total costs of ownership. Five representative scenarios for value estimation from a rough estimation to a detailed breakdown of costs are presented. To account for the diversity in bioinformatics applications and services, the notion of service-specific âservice provision unitsâ is introduced together with the factors influencing them and the main underlying assumptions for these âvalue influencing factorsâ. Special attention is given on how to handle personnel costs and indirect costs such as electricity. Four examples are presented for the calculation of the value of tools and services provided by the German Network for Bioinformatics Infrastructure (de.NBI): one for tool usage, one for (Web-based) database analyses, one for consulting services and one for bioinformatics training events. Finally, from the discussed values, the costs of direct funding and the costs of payment of services by funded projects are calculated and compared
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STOUT SMEARING FOR TWISTED FERMIONS.
The effect of Stout smearing is investigated in numerical simulations with twisted mass Wilson quarks. The phase transition near zero quark mass is studied on 12{sup 3} x 24, 16{sup 3} x 32 and 24{sup 3} x 48 lattices at lattice spacings a {approx_equal} 0.1-0.125 fm. The phase structure of Wilson fermions with twisted mass ({mu}) has been investigated in [1,2]. As it is explained there, the observed first order phase transition limits the minimal pion mass which can be reached in simulations at a given lattice spacing: m{sub k}{sup min} {approx_equal} {theta}(a). The phase structure is schematically depicted in the left panel of Fig. I . The phase transition can be observed in simulations with twisted mass fermions, for instance, as a ''jump'' or even metastabilities in the average plaquette value as a function of the hopping parameter ({kappa}). One possibility to weaken the phase transition and therefore allow for lighter pion masses at a given lattice spacing is to use an improved gauge action like the DBW2, Iwasaki, or tree-level Symanzik (tlSym) improved gauge action instead of the simple Wilson gauge action. This has been successfully demonstrated in [3,4,5]. Here we report on our attempts to use a smeared gauge field in the fermion lattice Dirac operator to further reduce the strength of the phase transition. This is relevant in simulations with N{sub f} = 2 + 1 + 1 (u,d,s,c) quark flavors [6] where the first order phase transition becomes stronger compared to N{sub f} = 2 simulations. The main impact of the above mentioned improved gauge actions on the gauge fields occurring in simulations is to suppress short range fluctuations (''dislocations'') and the associated ''exceptionally small'' eigenvalues of the fermion matrix. The same effect is expected from smearing the gauge field links in the fermion action. The cumulated effect of the improved gauge action and smeared links should allow for a smaller pion mass at a given lattice spacing and volume. Our choice is the Stout smearing procedure as introduced in [7], since it can easily be implemented in the Hybrid Monte Carlo (HMC) based updating algorithms we are currently using. One should keep in mind that a possible caveat of this procedure is ''oversmearing'', i.e., removing too many small eigenvalues by applying too many smearing steps and/or using a too high value for the smearing parameter-because not every small eigenvalue is ''unphysical''. In addition, after many smearing steps the fermion action can become too delocalized which can lead to an unwanted slowing down of the approach to the continuum limit. In order to avoid this caveat we choose to work with only one step of very mild Stout smearing. Moreover we keep these smearing parameters fixed as we change the lattice spacing. In Section 1 we will shortly review the smearing procedure and the twisted mass formulation, as well as some details concerning the used updating algorithms. Section 2 is devoted to the presentation of the results of our numerical simulations using N{sub f} = 2 and N{sub f} = 2 + 1 + 1 flavors of twisted mass quarks
Spectroscopic Signatures of Extra-Tidal Stars Around the Globular Clusters NGC 6656 (M22), NGC 3201 and NGC 1851 from RAVE
Stellar population studies of globular clusters have suggested that the
brightest clusters in the Galaxy might actually be the remnant nuclei of dwarf
spheroidal galaxies. If the present Galactic globular clusters formed within
larger stellar systems, they are likely surrounded by extra-tidal halos and/or
tails made up of stars that were tidally stripped from their parent systems.
The stellar surroundings around globular clusters are therefore one of the best
places to look for the remnants of an ancient dwarf galaxy. Here an attempt is
made to search for tidal debris around the supernovae enriched globular
clusters M22 and NGC 1851 as well as the kinematically unique cluster NGC 3201.
The stellar parameters from the Radial Velocity Experiment (RAVE) are used to
identify stars with RAVE metallicities, radial velocities and
elemental-abundances consistent with the abundance patterns and properties of
the stars in M22, NGC 1851 and NGC 3201. The discovery of RAVE stars that may
be associated with M22 and NGC 1851 are reported, some of which are at
projected distances of ~10 degrees away from the core of these clusters.
Numerous RAVE stars associated with NGC 3201 suggest that either the tidal
radius of this cluster is underestimated, or that there are some unbound stars
extending a few arc minutes from the edge of the cluster's radius. No further
extra-tidal stars associated with NGC 3201 could be identified. The bright
magnitudes of the RAVE stars make them easy targets for high resolution
follow-up observations, allowing an eventual further chemical tagging to
solidify (or exclude) stars outside the tidal radius of the cluster as tidal
debris. In both our radial velocity histograms of the regions surrounding NGC
1851 and NGC 3201, a peak of stars at 230 km/s is seen, consistent with
extended tidal debris from omega Centauri.Comment: accepted to A&
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