Power-law distributions in binned empirical data

Many man-made and natural phenomena, including the intensity of earthquakes, population of cities and size of international wars, are believed to follow power-law distributions. The accurate identification of power-law patterns has significant consequences for correctly understanding and modeling complex systems. However, statistical evidence for or against the power-law hypothesis is complicated by large fluctuations in the empirical distribution's tail, and these are worsened when information is lost from binning the data. We adapt the statistically principled framework for testing the power-law hypothesis, developed by Clauset, Shalizi and Newman, to the case of binned data. This approach includes maximum-likelihood fitting, a hypothesis test based on the Kolmogorov--Smirnov goodness-of-fit statistic and likelihood ratio tests for comparing against alternative explanations. We evaluate the effectiveness of these methods on synthetic binned data with known structure, quantify the loss of statistical power due to binning, and apply the methods to twelve real-world binned data sets with heavy-tailed patterns.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/13-AOAS710 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Encryption Key Search using Java-based ALiCE Grid

Encryption Key Search is a compute-intensive operation that consists of a brute-force search of a particular key in a given key space. Sequential execution time for a 56-bit encryption key search is approximately 200,000 years and therefore it is ideal to execute such operation in a grid environment. ALiCE (Adaptive and scaLable internet-based Computing Engine) is a grid middleware that offers a portable software technology for developing and deploying grid applications and systems. This paper discusses the development of the Encryption Key Search application on ALiCE and also presents the performance evaluation of ALiCE using this application.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

AN AYURVEDIC PERSPECTIVE TO GERIATRIC EYE DISORDERS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AGE RELATED MACULAR DEGENERATION (A.M.D.)

Recent advancements have remarkably increased average lifespan in human beings. It is obvious and inevitable that various changes occur in ocular tissue as age progresses. However, changed lifestyle has resulted in early ageing. Geriatric eye disorders are going to be a big challenge in the next years. Cataract, Glaucoma, dry eye syndrome, age related macular degeneration are the main disorders occurring in old age and can grossly affect visual acuity.Age related macular degeneration (A.M.D.) is a painless degenerative condition of photoreceptor cells in the macular area of the retina; having two types dry and wet AMD. A.M.D. is one of the leading causes of irreversible blindness above age of 50. There are nearly 23.5 million people suffering from this disease in the world.There is no satisfactory treatment for this disease in modern medicine. Therefore, attempt has been made to find out better solution through Ayurveda. Our aim should be to prevent and treat the diseases in early stage so that we can preserve our eyesight even in the old age. Hence Rasayana chikitsa (rejuvenation) will be helpful in prolonging degenerative changes. In this conceptual study, various changes occurring in eye due to ageing are studied. In A.M.D., symptoms are similar to Timira (Patalgata dosha dushti).So according to Dosha, Dushya vitiation; basic line of treatment is suggested. As A.M.D. and other geriatric eye conditions are multi factorial, holistic approach with combined therapy with Chakshushya Rasayanas, eye exercises & yoga will be more beneficial than a single drug therapy.

The Marangoni effect in gas absorption

Digitisation of this thesis was sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin

Analysis of defect structure in silicon. Characterization of SEMIX material. Silicon sheet growth development for the large area silicon sheet task of the low-cost solar array project

Statistically significant quantitative structural imperfection measurements were made on samples from ubiquitous crystalline process (UCP) Ingot 5848 - 13C. Important correlation was obtained between defect densities, cell efficiency, and diffusion length. Grain boundary substructure displayed a strong influence on the conversion efficiency of solar cells from Semix material. Quantitative microscopy measurements gave statistically significant information compared to other microanalytical techniques. A surface preparation technique to obtain proper contrast of structural defects suitable for quantimet quantitative image analyzer (QTM) analysis was perfected and is used routinely. The relationships between hole mobility and grain boundary density was determined. Mobility was measured using the van der Pauw technique, and grain boundary density was measured using quantitative microscopy technique. Mobility was found to decrease with increasing grain boundary density

Benevolent Approach of In Vitro And Ex Vivo Study in Ayurvedic Ocular Therapeutics

Animal Experimentation like in vitro and in vivo study plays an important role in research and understanding the ocular delivery system. Any new drug development is carried out on cell culture. Tissue engineering has developed biologically equivalent replacements which are used for research. Topical therapies in the form of kriyakalpa are widely used in netra roga chikitsa. There are multiple studies available regarding the results of kriyakalpa. It is need of hour to prove its mode of action, ocular drug delivery, safety, efficacy and toxicity of ayurvedic ocular medicines on modern parameters. If proven; ayurvedic ocular therapeutics will be globally accepted. Many ocular therapeutics give temporary symptomatic relief, in such conditions alternative ayurvedic treatment modality can be developed using cell culture study. In vitro and ex vivo models of the conjunctiva, cornea, vitreous, retina, etc can play an important role in research and development of ayurvedic ophthalmic drug. This review summarizes various available cell models, their uses and limitations. This can be helpful for further research in ayurvedic ocular drug delivery system

A COMPARATIVE PHARMACEUTICO-ANALYTICAL STUDY OF TUTTHADRAV

Tuttha is mineral containing copper and sulphur, easily available and is well known for its medicinal use since ancient time. In modern medicine the use of Tuttha (copper sulphate) is much used as topical applications where as in Rasashastra Tuttha was used internally as well as externally therapeutically, many external applications were told in classical texts. So it is used for medicinal purpose and various Shodhana processes are adopted, which render Tuttha into the therapeutic form and free from the side effects. Presently Tutthadrava is prepared, marketed and practiced inspite of being explained as effective remedy for various disorders. In this study Tutthadrava was prepared by using Shodhit Tuttha. Three samples of Tuttha were collected from various places i.e., A1- market, A2- market, A3- market. All three samples were comparatively examined for their Grahya lakshanas. Comparative pharmaceutical study of Tuttha Shodhana and Tutthadrava Nirman and analytical study of Shodhit Tuttha and Tutthadrava was carried out. All the five Shodhit tuttha samples were subjected to analytical study in laboratory as pH, Total ash, Acid insoluble ash, Water insoluble Ash, Loss on drying at 105o c, Colour, Odour,  Assay of element as Cu, Fe, S. was done and X-RD