Testing the martingale difference hypothesis in high dimension

In this paper, we consider testing the martingale difference hypothesis for high-dimensional time series. Our test is built on the sum of squares of the element-wise max-norm of the proposed matrix-valued nonlinear dependence measure at different lags. To conduct the inference, we approximate the null distribution of our test statistic by Gaussian approximation and provide a simulation-based approach to generate critical values. The asymptotic behavior of the test statistic under the alternative is also studied. Our approach is nonparametric as the null hypothesis only assumes the time series concerned is martingale difference without specifying any parametric forms of its conditional moments. As an advantage of Gaussian approximation, our test is robust to the cross-series dependence of unknown magnitude. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first valid test for the martingale difference hypothesis that not only allows for large dimension but also captures nonlinear serial dependence. The practical usefulness of our test is illustrated via simulation and a real data analysis. The test is implemented in a user-friendly R-function

Statistical inference for high-dimensional spectral density matrix

The spectral density matrix is a fundamental object of interest in time series analysis, and it encodes both contemporary and dynamic linear relationships between component processes of the multivariate system. In this paper we develop novel inference procedures for the spectral density matrix in the high-dimensional setting. Specifically, we introduce a new global testing procedure to test the nullity of the cross-spectral density for a given set of frequencies and across pairs of component indices. For the first time, both Gaussian approximation and parametric bootstrap methodologies are employed to conduct inference for a high-dimensional parameter formulated in the frequency domain, and new technical tools are developed to provide asymptotic guarantees of the size accuracy and power for global testing. We further propose a multiple testing procedure for simultaneously testing the nullity of the cross-spectral density at a given set of frequencies. The method is shown to control the false discovery rate. Both numerical simulations and a real data illustration demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed testing methods

Artificial Intelligence-based Motion Tracking in Cancer Radiotherapy: A Review

Radiotherapy aims to deliver a prescribed dose to the tumor while sparing neighboring organs at risk (OARs). Increasingly complex treatment techniques such as volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT), stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), and proton therapy have been developed to deliver doses more precisely to the target. While such technologies have improved dose delivery, the implementation of intra-fraction motion management to verify tumor position at the time of treatment has become increasingly relevant. Recently, artificial intelligence (AI) has demonstrated great potential for real-time tracking of tumors during treatment. However, AI-based motion management faces several challenges including bias in training data, poor transparency, difficult data collection, complex workflows and quality assurance, and limited sample sizes. This review serves to present the AI algorithms used for chest, abdomen, and pelvic tumor motion management/tracking for radiotherapy and provide a literature summary on the topic. We will also discuss the limitations of these algorithms and propose potential improvements.Comment: 36 pages, 5 Figures, 4 Table

Revealing the Signal of QCD Phase Transition in Heavy-Ion Collisions

We propose a novel method to construct the Landau thermodynamic potential directly from the fluctuations measured in heavy-ion collisions. The potential is capable of revealing the signal of the critical end-point (CEP) and the first order phase transition (FOPT) of QCD in the system even away from the phase transition region. With the available experimental data, we show that the criterion of the FOPT is negative for most of the collision energies which indicates no signal of FOPT. The data at $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=7.7$ GeV with 0-5% centrality shows a different behavior and the mean value of the data satisfies the criterion. However, the uncertainty is still too large to make a certain conclusion. The higher order fluctuations are also required for confirming the signal. We emphasize therefore that new measurements with higher precision for the $C_{1,...,6}$ within 0-5% centrality in the vicinity of $\sqrt{s_\mathrm{NN}}=7.7$ GeV are in demand which may finally reveal the signal of QCD phase transition.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure

Noninflammatory Changes of Microglia Are Sufficient to Cause Epilepsy.

Microglia are well known to play a critical role in maintaining brain homeostasis. However, their role in epileptogenesis has yet to be determined. Here, we demonstrate that elevated mTOR signaling in mouse microglia leads to phenotypic changes, including an amoeboid-like morphology, increased proliferation, and robust phagocytosis activity, but without a significant induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines. We further provide evidence that these noninflammatory changes in microglia disrupt homeostasis of the CNS, leading to reduced synapse density, marked microglial infiltration into hippocampal pyramidal layers, moderate neuronal degeneration, and massive proliferation of astrocytes. Moreover, the mice thus affected develop severe early-onset spontaneous recurrent seizures (SRSs). Therefore, we have revealed an epileptogenic mechanism that is independent of the microglial inflammatory response. Our data suggest that microglia could be an opportune target for epilepsy prevention

Magnetic field-modulated exciton generation in organic semiconductors: an intermolecular quantum correlation effect

Magnetoelectroluminescence (MEL) of organic semiconductor has been experimentally tuned by adopting blended emitting layer consisting of both hole and electron transporting materials. A theoretical model considering intermolecular quantum correlation is proposed to demonstrate two fundamental issues: (1) two mechanisms, spin scattering and spin mixing, dominate the two different steps respectively in the process of the magnetic field modulated generation of exciton; (2) the hopping rate of carriers determines the intensity of MEL. Calculation successfully predicts the increase of singlet excitons in low field with little change of triplet exciton population.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure