Stochastic Thermodynamics Across Scales: Emergent Inter-attractoral Discrete Markov Jump Process and Its Underlying Continuous Diffusion

The consistency across scales of a recently developed mathematical thermodynamic structure, between a continuous stochastic nonlinear dynamical system (diffusion process with Langevin or Fokker-Planck equations) and its emergent discrete, inter-attractoral Markov jump process, is investigated. We analyze how the system's thermodynamic state functions, e.g. free energy $F$, entropy $S$, entropy production $e_p$, and free energy dissipation $\dot{F}$, etc., are related when the continuous system is describe with a coarse-grained discrete variable. We show that the thermodynamics derived from the underlying detailed continuous dynamics is exact in the Helmholtz free-energy representation. That is, the system thermodynamic structure is the same as if one only takes a middle-road and starts with the "natural" discrete description, with the corresponding transition rates empirically determined. By "natural", we mean in the thermodynamic limit of large systems in which there is an inherent separation of time scales between inter- and intra-attractoral dynamics. This result generalizes a fundamental idea from chemistry and the theory of Kramers by including thermodynamics: while a mechanical description of a molecule is in terms of continuous bond lengths and angles, chemical reactions are phenomenologically described by the Law of Mass Action with rate constants, and a stochastic thermodynamics.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur

On the Use of KPCA to Extract Artifacts in One-Dimensional Biomedical Signals

Kernel principal component analysis(KPCA) is a nonlinear projective technique that can be applied to decompose multi-dimensional signals and extract informative features as well as reduce any noise contributions. In this work we extend KPCA to extract and remove artifact-related contributions as well as noise from one-dimensional signal recordings. We introduce an embedding step which transforms the one-dimensional signal into a multi-dimensional vector. The latter is decomposed in feature space to extract artifact related contaminations. We further address the preimage problem and propose an initialization procedure to the fixed-point algorithm which renders it more efficient. Finally we apply KPCA to extract dominant Electrooculogram (EOG) artifacts contaminating Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings in a frontal channel.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

InfoFaunaFVG: a novel progressive web application for wildlife surveillance

The Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences (DI4A) at the University of Udine, in collaboration with Friuli Venezia Giulia regional authorities, within northeastern Italy, set up a wildlife monitoring and surveillance regional network, named InfoFaunaFVG. Here we describe the development and application of this data repository system based on a novel progressive web application, and report the data gathered in the first two and a half years of its use. InfoFaunaFVG is made of a Web Database and an integrated WebGIS system. In particular, the following open source softwares are used: Apache HTTP Server, Oracle MySQL, Symfony, Apache Tomcat, GeoServer, OpenLayers. The web app can be accessed from any web browser or by installing the progressive web application in the desktop or mobile devices. In short, operating from November 2019, InfoFaunaFVG currently (April 2022) contains a total of 40,175 records, from 300 different users, from 16 institutions. Among all species recorded, mammals were 40% (16,018) of the total, whereas avian species represented 59% (23,741), and others (reptiles and amphibians) 1% (416), respectively. Two hundred twenty-six different species (175 avian and 51 mammals) were recorded. Details about causes of death and live animal rescue were reported. To date, InfoFaunaFVG has proven to be a successful wildlife data repository system providing high quality consistent, accurate and traceable data. These had a considerable impact on regional wildlife governance. In the authors’ knowledge, InfoFaunaFVG is the first example described in literature of such a progressive web application, coordinated on an institutional level, and not based on voluntary-citizen observations. InfoFaunaFVG has the potential to become the largest wildlife monitoring and surveillance data repository system on a national level

Impact of Demographic Features, Lifestyle, and Comorbidities on the Clinical Expression of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

No abstract

CHARACTERIZATION AND EVALUATION OF SOME LOCAL ALBANIAN MELON (Cucumis melo L.) CULTIVARS

Sakupljanje, proučavanje, vrednovanje, svrstavanje i čuvanje biljnih genetskih izvora s nakanom trajnog očuvanja od propadanja ili njihove upotrebe za proizvodnju prioritet je mnogih institucija u svijetu. Ovim se bavi i Istraživački institut za povrće i krumpir u Tirani i Albanska gen banka. Albanija je bogata biljnim genetskim izvorima gdje se posebno među povrćem ističe dinja. Upoznavanje i proučavanje pojedinih genetskih osobina autohtonih sorti dinje veoma je važno za poboljšanje osobina postojećih i stvaranje novih sorti za uvjete suvremene proizvodnje. Za uspješnu sakupljenu genetsku raznolikost treba dobro prepoznati osobine koje nosi biljna germplazma. Ovo je moguće smo nakon preciznog vrednovanja, što omogućava pronalaženje razlika među primkama i upotrebljivo je za genetsko poboljšanje osobina biljaka. Ovoj svrsi služi i proučavanje prezentirano u ovom radu.This study has been carried out in Vegetables and Potato Research Institute of Tirana. 19 autochthon accessions of melon, which are collected for some years in different regions of our country (Tirana, Gjirokastra, Korça, Fier, Shkodra, etc.) have been studied. This study, on morphological characters of plants and fruits, resistance to disease and pests spread in Albania, biometric and organoleptic characters of fruit and flesh and agro economic features as well, have been studied according to International descriptors requests (IPBGR, Roma, 1983). Results obtained, have contributed in determination of morphological, biometric, agro economic characters of melon germoplasm, for evaluating them, with the goal for a further breeding work. Most of these genotypes have good morphological and agro economic parameters. In the end, 12 accessions have a netted skin, 10 orange flesh, 8 a medium flesh consistence. Also, most of these autochthon cultivars are distinguished for some special features as, high productivity, thick flesh, good resistance to disease and pest, etc. Thus, we can mention such old local cultivars as “Qarres of Tirana”, “Bajza of Shkodra”, “Myselimi” and “Dhoksati” which are with much interest for the nearest future in breeding work

Application of a renormalization group algorithm to nonequilibrium cellular automata with one absorbing state

We improve a recently proposed dynamically driven renormalization group algorithm for cellular automata systems with one absorbing state, introducing spatial correlations in the expression for the transition probabilities. We implement the renormalization group scheme considering three different approximations which take into account correlations in the stationary probability distribution. The improved scheme is applied to a probabilistic cellular automaton already introduced in the literature.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

Sudden Death and Left Ventricular Involvement in Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy

BACKGROUND: Arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy (ACM) is an inherited heart muscle disorder characterized by myocardial fibrofatty replacement and an increased risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD). Originally described as a right ventricular disease, ACM is increasingly recognized as a biventricular entity. We evaluated pathological, genetic, and clinical associations in a large SCD cohort. METHODS: We investigated 5205 consecutive cases of SCD referred to a national cardiac pathology center between 1994 and 2018. Hearts and tissue blocks were examined by expert cardiac pathologists. After comprehensive histological evaluation, 202 cases (4%) were diagnosed with ACM. Of these, 15 (7%) were diagnosed antemortem with dilated cardiomyopathy (n=8) or ACM (n=7). Previous symptoms, medical history, circumstances of death, and participation in competitive sport were recorded. Postmortem genetic testing was undertaken in 24 of 202 (12%). Rare genetic variants were classified according to American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics criteria. RESULTS: Of 202 ACM decedents (35.4±13.2 years; 82% male), no previous cardiac symptoms were reported in 157 (78%). Forty-one decedents (41/202; 20%) had been participants in competitive sport. The adjusted odds of dying during physical exertion were higher in men than in women (odds ratio, 4.58; 95% CI, 1.54-13.68; P=0.006) and in competitive athletes in comparison with nonathletes (odds ratio, 16.62; 95% CI, 5.39-51.24; P<0.001). None of the decedents with an antemortem diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy fulfilled definite 2010 Task Force criteria. The macroscopic appearance of the heart was normal in 40 of 202 (20%) cases. There was left ventricular histopathologic involvement in 176 of 202 (87%). Isolated right ventricular disease was seen in 13%, isolated left ventricular disease in 17%, and biventricular involvement in 70%. Among whole hearts, the most common areas of fibrofatty infiltration were the left ventricular posterobasal (68%) and anterolateral walls (58%). Postmortem genetic testing yielded pathogenic variants in ACM-related genes in 6 of 24 (25%) decedents. CONCLUSIONS: SCD attributable to ACM affects men predominantly, most commonly occurring during exertion in athletic individuals in the absence of previous reported cardiac symptoms. Left ventricular involvement is observed in the vast majority of SCD cases diagnosed with ACM at autopsy. Current Task Force criteria may fail to diagnose biventricular ACM before death

J/ψ elliptic flow in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN−−−−√=2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of inclusive J/ψ elliptic flow v2 in heavy-ion collisions at the LHC. The measurement is performed with the ALICE detector in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=2.76  TeV in the rapidity range 2.5&lt;y&lt;4.0. The dependence of the J/ψ v2 on the collision centrality and on the J/ψ transverse momentum is studied in the range 0≤pT&lt;10  GeV/c. For semicentral Pb-Pb collisions at sNN−−−√=2.76  TeV, an indication of nonzero v2 is observed with a largest measured value of v2=0.116±0.046(stat)±0.029(syst) for J/ψ in the transverse momentum range 2≤pT&lt;4  GeV/c. The elliptic flow measurement complements the previously reported ALICE results on the inclusive J/ψ nuclear modification factor and favors the scenario of a significant fraction of J/ψ production from charm quarks in a deconfined partonic phase