10,087 research outputs found
Deconvolution Estimation in Measurement Error Models: The R Package decon
Data from many scientific areas often come with measurement error. Density or distribution function estimation from contaminated data and nonparametric regression with errors in variables are two important topics in measurement error models. In this paper, we present a new software package decon for R, which contains a collection of functions that use the deconvolution kernel methods to deal with the measurement error problems. The functions allow the errors to be either homoscedastic or heteroscedastic. To make the deconvolution estimators computationally more efficient in R, we adapt the fast Fourier transform algorithm for density estimation with error-free data to the deconvolution kernel estimation. We discuss the practical selection of the smoothing parameter in deconvolution methods and illustrate the use of the package through both simulated and real examples.
Entanglement Entropy as a Probe of the Proximity Effect in Holographic Superconductors
We study the entanglement entropy as a probe of the proximity effect of a
superconducting system by using the gauge/gravity duality in a fully
back-reacted gravity system. While the entanglement entropy in the
superconducting phase is less than the entanglement entropy in the normal
phase, we find that near the contact interface of the superconducting to normal
phase the entanglement entropy has a different behavior due to the leakage of
Cooper pairs to the normal phase. We verify this behavior by calculating the
conductivity near the boundary interface.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, extended version to be published in JHE
Implications of Fermi-LAT observations on the origin of IceCube neutrinos
The IceCube (IC) collaboration recently reported the detection of TeV-PeV
extraterrestrial neutrinos whose origin is yet unknown. By the photon-neutrino
connection in and interactions, we use the \fermi-LAT
observations to constrain the origin of the IC detected neutrinos. We find that
Galactic origins, i.e., the diffuse Galactic neutrinos due to cosmic ray (CR)
propagation in the Milky Way, and the neutrinos from the Galactic point
sources, may not produce the IC neutrino flux, thus these neutrinos should be
of extragalactic origin. Moreover, the extragalactic gamma-ray bursts (GRBs)
may not account for the IC neutrino flux, the jets of active galactic nuclei
may not produce the IC neutrino spectrum, but the starburst galaxies (SBGs) may
be promising sources. As suggested by the consistency between the IC detected
neutrino flux and the Waxman-Bahcall bound, GRBs in SBGs may be the sources of
both the ultrahigh energy, eV, CRs and the ~PeV CRs that
produce the IC detected TeV-PeV neutrinos.Comment: JCAP accepted version; 8 pages, 2 figs; discussion on blazar origin
added; conclusion unchange
Analysis of Down syndrome failed to be diagnosed after prenatal screening: A multicenter study.
To analyze the characters of Down syndrome (DS) who failed to be diagnosed after prenatal screening and hope to be able to improve the programs of prenatal screening and reduce the missed diagnosis of DS. In this multicenter study, we collected the missed cases from 3 prenatal diagnosis centers and analyzed their characters. A total of 126 DS babies failed to be diagnosed after prenatal screening. Their mothers accepted the prenatal screening in second trimester. We collected the mothers' blood and detected the levels of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) and the free beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (fβhCG) by time-resolved fluoroimmunoassay. The values were also presented as multiples of the median (MoM) and determined the risk of carrying a fetus with DS by Wallace LifeCycle Elipse analysis software. Compared with normal control group, the level of fβhCG and hCG MoM were dramatically increased, while AFP and AFP MoM were decreased. The area under the receiver-operating-characteristic curve of trisomy 21 was 0.8387 for hCG-MoM and AFP-MoM testing. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value were 84.6%, 74.8%, 75.4%, and 83.6%, respectively. Meanwhile, the prediction mode was "0.39957 + 1.90897HCG-MOM -3.32713AFP-MOM". It was worthwhile noting that the risk of 65.9% DS missed diagnosis group were higher than 1/1000, 92.9% higher than 1/3000. However, 72.5% cases in normal control group were lower than 1/3000. Only 9.2% mothers would be higher than the value of risk in 1/1000. The prediction mode of hCG MoM and AFP MoM might be able to help us reduce the missed diagnosis. It is also necessary to adjust more reasonable range of noninvasive prenatal testing with further clinical researches
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