Adapting SAM for CDF

The CDF and D0 experiments probe the high-energy frontier and as they do so have accumulated hundreds of Terabytes of data on the way to petabytes of data over the next two years. The experiments have made a commitment to use the developing Grid based on the SAM system to handle these data. The D0 SAM has been extended for use in CDF as common patterns of design emerged to meet the similar requirements of these experiments. The process by which the merger was achieved is explained with particular emphasis on lessons learned concerning the database design patterns plus realization of the use cases.Comment: Talk from the 2003 Computing in High Energy and Nuclear Physics (CHEP03), La Jolla, Ca, USA, March 2003, 4 pages, pdf format, TUAT00

Plant Genetic Resources and Germplasm Use in India

Plant genetic resource (PGR) scientists now recognize the importance of shifting from a singular focus on conservation to a focus on both conservation and utilization of germplasm in order to meet future challenges. This paper analyzes the patterns of distribution of pearl millet, six small millets, chickpea and pigeonpea germplasm over the last 10 years at the two major genebanks functioning in India: the National Genebank at the National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources (NBPGR) and a Consultative Group for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Genebank at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), as well as the patterns of use of germplasm by millet breeders in India. Between the years of 1999-2009, ICRISAT distributed approximately 48 per cent of all its collections to breeders in India whereas NBPGR distributed 36 per cent of their collection. A total of 20 responses (30 per cent of surveys sent) were collected through this study. Sixty-five percent of respondents said that they rarely (<50 per cent of the time) use germplasm from genebanks in their breeding programs. It is important that both genebanks look into several issues in order to improve levels of distribution and utilization, collection, duplication, engagement of the private sector, access to information, and pre-breeding

Superscaling of Inclusive Electron Scattering from Nuclei

We investigate the degree to which the concept of superscaling, initially developed within the framework of the relativistic Fermi gas model, applies to inclusive electron scattering from nuclei. We find that data obtained from the low energy loss side of the quasielastic peak exhibit the superscaling property, i.e., the scaling functions f(\psi') are not only independent of momentum transfer (the usual type of scaling: scaling of the first kind), but coincide for A \geq 4 when plotted versus a dimensionless scaling variable \psi' (scaling of the second kind). We use this behavior to study as yet poorly understood properties of the inclusive response at large electron energy loss.Comment: 33 pages, 12 color EPS figures, LaTeX2e using BoxedEPSF macros; email to [email protected]

Application of frequency ratio, statistical index, and weights-of-evidence models and their comparison in landslide susceptibility mapping in Central Nepal Himalaya

The Mugling–Narayanghat road section falls within the Lesser Himalaya and Siwalik zones of Central Nepal Himalaya and is highly deformed by the presence of numerous faults and folds. Over the years, this road section and its surrounding area have experienced repeated landslide activities. For that reason, landslide susceptibility zonation is essential for roadside slope disaster management and for planning further development activities. The main goal of this study was to investigate the application of the frequency ratio (FR), statistical index (SI), and weights-of-evidence (WoE) approaches for landslide susceptibility mapping of this road section and its surrounding area. For this purpose, the input layers of the landslide conditioning factors were prepared in the first stage. A landslide inventory map was prepared using earlier reports, aerial photographs interpretation, and multiple field surveys. A total of 438 landslide locations were detected. Out these, 295 (67 %) landslides were randomly selected as training data for the modeling using FR, SI, and WoE models and the remaining 143 (33 %) were used for the validation purposes. The landslide conditioning factors considered for the study area are slope gradient, slope aspect, plan curvature, altitude, stream power index, topographic wetness index, lithology, land use, distance from faults, distance from rivers, and distance from highway. The results were validated using area under the curve (AUC) analysis. From the analysis, it is seen that the FR model with a success rate of 76.8 % and predictive accuracy of 75.4 % performs better than WoE (success rate, 75.6 %; predictive accuracy, 74.9 %) and SI (success rate, 75.5 %; predictive accuracy, 74.6 %) models. Overall, all the models showed almost similar results. The resultant susceptibility maps can be useful for general land use planning

Performance of laboratory tests used to measure blood phenylalanine for the monitoring of patients with phenylketonuria

Analysis of blood phenylalanine is central to the monitoring of patients with phenylketonuria (PKU) and age‐related phenylalanine target treatment‐ranges (0‐12 years; 120‐360 μmol/L, and >12 years; 120‐600 μmol/L) are recommended in order to prevent adverse neurological outcomes. These target treatment‐ranges are based upon plasma phenylalanine concentrations. However, patients are routinely monitored using dried bloodspot (DBS) specimens due to the convenience of collection. Significant differences exist between phenylalanine concentrations in plasma and DBS, with phenylalanine concentrations in DBS specimens analyzed by flow‐injection analysis tandem mass spectrometry reported to be 18% to 28% lower than paired plasma concentrations analyzed using ion‐exchange chromatography. DBS specimens with phenylalanine concentrations of 360 and 600 μmol/L, at the critical upper‐target treatment‐range thresholds would be plasma equivalents of 461 and 768 μmol/L, respectively, when a reported difference of 28% is taken into account. Furthermore, analytical test imprecision and bias in conjunction with pre‐analytical factors such as volume and quality of blood applied to filter paper collection devices to produce DBS specimens affect the final test results. Reporting of inaccurate patient results when comparing DBS results to target treatment‐ranges based on plasma concentrations, together with inter‐laboratory imprecision could have a significant impact on patient management resulting in inappropriate dietary change and potentially adverse patient outcomes. This review is intended to provide perspective on the issues related to the measurement of phenylalanine in blood specimens and to provide direction for the future needs of PKU patients to ensure reliable monitoring of metabolic control using the target treatment‐ranges

Alterations in the gut microbiome implicate key taxa and metabolic pathways across inflammatory arthritis phenotypes

Musculoskeletal diseases affect up to 20% of adults worldwide. The gut microbiome has been implicated in inflammatory conditions, but large-scale metagenomic evaluations have not yet traced the routes by which immunity in the gut affects inflammatory arthritis. To characterize the community structure and associated functional processes driving gut microbial involvement in arthritis, the Inflammatory Arthritis Microbiome Consortium investigated 440 stool shotgun metagenomes comprising 221 adults diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, or psoriatic arthritis and 219 healthy controls and individuals with joint pain without an underlying inflammatory cause. Diagnosis explained about 2% of gut taxonomic variability, which is comparable in magnitude to inflammatory bowel disease. We identified several candidate microbes with differential carriage patterns in patients with elevated blood markers for inflammation. Our results confirm and extend previous findings of increased carriage of typically oral and inflammatory taxa and decreased abundance and prevalence of typical gut clades, indicating that distal inflammatory conditions, as well as local conditions, correspond to alterations to the gut microbial composition. We identified several differentially encoded pathways in the gut microbiome of patients with inflammatory arthritis, including changes in vitamin B salvage and biosynthesis and enrichment of iron sequestration. Although several of these changes characteristic of inflammation could have causal roles, we hypothesize that they are mainly positive feedback responses to changes in host physiology and immune homeostasis. By connecting taxonomic alternations to functional alterations, this work expands our understanding of the shifts in the gut ecosystem that occur in response to systemic inflammation during arthritis

Landslide susceptibility mapping in North-East Wales

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk on 4th October 2011, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/19475705.2011.600778In North-East Wales, United Kingdom, slope instability is a known environmental hazard which has caused significant damage to the built environment in the recent past. This paper reports on the creation of a digital landslide inventory for North-East Wales and the use of a Geographical Information System (GIS) to create landslide susceptibility models that are applicable to landslide hazard management in the area. The research undertaken has resulted in the most comprehensive landslide inventory of North-East Wales to date, documenting 430 landslides within the area. Landslide susceptibility models created within a GIS using a statistical (multiple logistic regression) approach, divide the landscape of North-East Wales into areas of ‘low’, ‘moderate’ and ‘high’ landslide susceptibility using calculated probability values. These models indicate that 8% of the surface exposure of drift deposits and 12% of the area of solid geology is of high or very high susceptibility to slope instability. Validation tests have demonstrated the accuracy of these models and their potential value in a predictive sense. The digital landslide database and susceptibility models created are readily available to interested stakeholders, and may be useful tools in land-use planning, development of civil contingency plans and as guidance for the insurance industry

Experimental benchmark of kinetic simulations of capacitively coupled plasmas in molecular gases

International audienceWe discuss the origin of uncertainties in the results of numerical simulations of low-temperature plasma sources, focusing on capacitively coupled plasmas. These sources can be operated in various gases/gas mixtures, over a wide domain of excitation frequency, voltage, and gas pressure. At low pressures, the non-equilibrium character of the charged particle transport prevails and particle-based simulations become the primary tools for their numerical description. The particle-in-cell method, complemented with Monte Carlo type description of collision processes, is a well-established approach for this purpose. Codes based on this technique have been developed by several authors/groups, and have been benchmarked with each other in some cases. Such benchmarking demonstrates the correctness of the codes, but the underlying physical model remains unvalidated. This is a key point, as this model should ideally account for all important plasma chemical reactions as well as for the plasma-surface interaction via including specific surface reaction coefficients (electron yields, sticking coefficients, etc). In order to test the models rigorously, comparison with experimental ?benchmark data? is necessary. Examples will be given regarding the studies of electron power absorption modes in O 2 , and CF 4 ?Ar discharges, as well as on the effect of modifications of the parameters of certain elementary processes on the computed discharge characteristics in O 2 capacitively coupled plasmas