106,089 research outputs found
Cognitive node selection and assignment algorithms for weighted cooperative sensing in radar systems
The control of nonlinear stochastic control systems under discounted performance criteria
Control algorithm for optimization of nonlinear stochastic processes with discounted performance criteri
Running with Rugby Balls: Bulk Renormalization of Codimension-2 Branes
We compute how one-loop bulk effects renormalize both bulk and brane
effective interactions for geometries sourced by codimension-two branes. We do
so by explicitly integrating out spin-zero, -half and -one particles in
6-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-Scalar theories compactified to 4 dimensions on
a flux-stabilized 2D geometry. (Our methods apply equally well for D dimensions
compactified to D-2 dimensions, although our explicit formulae do not capture
all divergences when D>6.) The renormalization of bulk interactions are
independent of the boundary conditions assumed at the brane locations, and
reproduce standard heat-kernel calculations. Boundary conditions at any
particular brane do affect how bulk loops renormalize this brane's effective
action, but not the renormalization of other distant branes. Although we
explicitly compute our loops using a rugby ball geometry, because we follow
only UV effects our results apply more generally to any geometry containing
codimension-two sources with conical singularities. Our results have a variety
of uses, including calculating the UV sensitivity of one-loop vacuum energy
seen by observers localized on the brane. We show how these one-loop effects
combine in a surprising way with bulk back-reaction to give the complete
low-energy effective cosmological constant, and comment on the relevance of
this calculation to proposed applications of codimension-two 6D models to
solutions of the hierarchy and cosmological constant problems.Comment: 42 pages + appendices. This is the final version which appears in
JHE
The potential of low-intensity and online interventions for depression in low- and middle-income countries
The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are confronted with a serious âmental health gapâ, indicating an enormous disparity between the number of individuals in need of mental health care and the availability of professionals to provide such care (WHO in 2010). Traditional forms of mental health services (i.e. face-to-face, individualised assessments and interventions) are therefore not feasible. We propose three strategies for addressing this mental health gap: delivery of evidence-based, low-intensity interventions by non-specialists, the use of transdiagnostic treatment protocols, and strategic deployment of technology to facilitate access and uptake. We urge researchers from all over the world to conduct feasibility studies and randomised controlled studies on the effect of low-intensity interventions and technology supported (e.g. online) interventions in LMICs, preferably using an active control condition as comparison, to ensure we disseminate effective treatments in LMICs
Superfluid and Mott Insulating shells of bosons in harmonically confined optical lattices
Weakly interacting atomic or molecular bosons in quantum degenerate regime
and trapped in harmonically confined optical lattices, exhibit a wedding cake
structure consisting of insulating (Mott) shells. It is shown that superfluid
regions emerge between Mott shells as a result of fluctuations due to finite
hopping. It is found that the order parameter equation in the superfluid
regions is not of the Gross-Pitaeviskii type except near the insulator to
superfluid boundaries. The excitation spectra in the Mott and superfluid
regions are obtained, and it is shown that the superfluid shells posses low
energy sound modes with spatially dependent sound velocity described by a local
index of refraction directly related to the local superfluid density. Lastly,
the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition and vortex-antivortex pairs are
discussed in thin (wide) superfluid shells (rings) limited by three (two)
dimensional Mott regions.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures
Land use map, Finney County, Kansas
The author has identified the following significant results. Methods for the mapping of land use in agricultural regions are developed and applied to preparation of a land use map of Finney County, Kanas. Six land use categories were identified from an MSS-5 image. These categories are: (1) large field irrigation; (2) small field irrigation; (3) dryland cultivation; (4) rangeland; (5) cultural features; and (6) riverine land. The map is composed of basically homogeneous regions with definable mixtures of the six categories. Each region is bounded by an ocularly evident change in land use
Evaluation of atlas-based segmentation of hippocampi in healthy humans
Introduction and aim: Region of interest (ROI)-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data analysis relies on extracting signals from a specific area which is presumed to be involved in the brain activity being studied. The hippocampus is of interest in many functional connectivity studies for example in epilepsy as it plays an important role in epileptogenesis. In this context, ROI may be defined using different techniques. Our study aims at evaluating the spatial correspondence of hippocampal ROIs obtained using three brain atlases with hippocampal ROI obtained using an automatic segmentation algorithm dedicated to the hippocampus.
Material and methods: High-resolution volumetric T1-weighted MR images of 18 healthy volunteers (five females) were acquired on a 3T scanner. Individual ROIs for both hippocampi of each subject were segmented from the MR images using an automatic hippocampus and amygdala segmentation software called SACHA providing the gold standard ROI for comparison with the atlas-derived results. For each subject, hippocampal ROIs were also obtained using three brain atlases: PickAtlas available as a commonly used software toolbox; automated anatomical labeling (AAL) atlas included as a subset of ROI into PickAtlas toolbox and a frequency-based brain atlas by Hammers et al. The levels of agreement between the SACHA results and those obtained using the atlases were assessed based on quantitative indices measuring volume differences and spatial overlap. The comparison was performed in standard Montreal Neurological Institute space, the registration being obtained with SPM5 (http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/spm/).
Results: The mean volumetric error across all subjects was 73% for hippocampal ROIs derived from AAL atlas; 20% in case of ROIs derived from the Hammers atlas and 107% for ROIs derived from PickAtlas. The mean false-positive and false-negative classification rates were 60% and 10% respectively for the AAL atlas; 16% and 32% for the Hammers atlas and 6% and 72% for the PickAtlas.
Conclusion: Though atlas-based ROI definition may be convenient, the resulting ROIs may be poor representations of the hippocampus in some studies critical to under- or oversampling. Performance of the AAL atlas was inferior to that of the Hammers atlas. Hippocampal ROIs derived from PickAtlas are highly significantly smaller, and this results in the worst performance out of three atlases. It is advisable that the defined ROIs should be verified with knowledge of neuroanatomy before using it for further data analysis
Gluon and ghost propagators in the Landau gauge: Deriving lattice results from Schwinger-Dyson equations
We show that the application of a novel gauge invariant truncation scheme to
the Schwinger-Dyson equations of QCD leads, in the Landau gauge, to an infrared
finite gluon propagator and a divergent ghost propagator, in qualitative
agreement with recent lattice data.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures; v3: typos corrected; v2: discussion on numerical
results expanded, considerations about the Kugo-Ojima confinement criterion
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