302 research outputs found
Estimation of Fiber Orientations Using Neighborhood Information
Data from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) can be used to
reconstruct fiber tracts, for example, in muscle and white matter. Estimation
of fiber orientations (FOs) is a crucial step in the reconstruction process and
these estimates can be corrupted by noise. In this paper, a new method called
Fiber Orientation Reconstruction using Neighborhood Information (FORNI) is
described and shown to reduce the effects of noise and improve FO estimation
performance by incorporating spatial consistency. FORNI uses a fixed tensor
basis to model the diffusion weighted signals, which has the advantage of
providing an explicit relationship between the basis vectors and the FOs. FO
spatial coherence is encouraged using weighted l1-norm regularization terms,
which contain the interaction of directional information between neighbor
voxels. Data fidelity is encouraged using a squared error between the observed
and reconstructed diffusion weighted signals. After appropriate weighting of
these competing objectives, the resulting objective function is minimized using
a block coordinate descent algorithm, and a straightforward parallelization
strategy is used to speed up processing. Experiments were performed on a
digital crossing phantom, ex vivo tongue dMRI data, and in vivo brain dMRI data
for both qualitative and quantitative evaluation. The results demonstrate that
FORNI improves the quality of FO estimation over other state of the art
algorithms.Comment: Journal paper accepted in Medical Image Analysis. 35 pages and 16
figure
Masses of composite fermions carrying two and four flux quanta: Differences and similarities
This study provides a theoretical rationalization for the intriguing
experimental observation regarding the equality of the normalized masses of
composite fermions carrying two and four flux quanta, and also demonstrates
that the mass of the latter type of composite fermion has a substantial filling
factor dependence in the filling factor range , in agreement
with experiment, originating from the relatively strong inter-composite fermion
interactions here.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figure
Evolutionary aspects of population structure for molecular and quantitative traits in the freshwater snail Radix balthica.
Detecting the action of selection in natural populations can be achieved using the QST-FST comparison that relies on the estimation of FST with neutral markers, and QST using quantitative traits potentially under selection. QST higher than FST suggests the action of directional selection and thus potential local adaptation. In this article, we apply the QST-FST comparison to four populations of the hermaphroditic freshwater snail Radix balthica located in a floodplain habitat. In contrast to most studies published so far, we did not detect evidence of directional selection for local optima for any of the traits we measured: QST calculated using three different methods was never higher than FST. A strong inbreeding depression was also detected, indicating that outcrossing is probably predominant over selfing in the studied populations. Our results suggest that in this floodplain habitat, local adaptation of R. balthica populations may be hindered by genetic drift, and possibly altered by uneven gene flow linked to flood frequency
Measurement of the W+W-gamma Cross Section and Direct Limits on Anomalous Quartic Gauge Boson Couplings at LEP
The process e+e- -> W+W-gamma is analysed using the data collected with the
L3 detector at LEP at a centre-of-mass energy of 188.6GeV, corresponding to an
integrated luminosity of 176.8pb^-1. Based on a sample of 42 selected W+W-
candidates containing an isolated hard photon, the W+W-gamma cross section,
defined within phase-space cuts, is measured to be: sigma_WWgamma = 290 +/- 80
+/- 16 fb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation. Including the
process e+e- -> nu nu gamma gamma, limits are derived on anomalous
contributions to the Standard Model quartic vertices W+W- gamma gamma and W+W-Z
gamma at 95% CL: -0.043 GeV^-2 < a_0/Lambda^2 < 0.043 GeV^-2 0.08 GeV^-2 <
a_c/Lambda^2 < 0.13 GeV^-2 0.41 GeV^-2 < a_n/Lambda^2 < 0.37 GeV^-2
Production of Single W Bosons at \sqrt{s}=189 GeV and Measurement of WWgamma Gauge Couplings
Single W boson production in electron-positron collisions is studied with the
L3 detector at LEP. The data sample collected at a centre-of-mass energy of
\sqrt{s} = 188.7GeV corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 176.4pb^-1.
Events with a single energetic lepton or two acoplanar hadronic jets are
selected. Within phase-space cuts, the total cross-section is measured to be
0.53 +/- 0.12 +/- 0.03 pb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation.
Including our single W boson results obtained at lower \sqrt{s}, the WWgamma
gauge couplings kappa_gamma and lambda_gamma are determined to be kappa_gamma =
0.93 +/- 0.16 +/- 0.09 and lambda_gamma = -0.31 +0.68 -0.19 +/- 0.13
Search for an invisibly decaying Higgs boson in e^+e^- collisions at \sqrt{s} = 183 - 189 GeV
A search for a Higgs boson decaying into invisible particles is performed
using the data collected at LEP by the L3 experiment at centre-of-mass energies
of 183 GeV and 189 GeV. The integrated luminosities are respectively 55.3 pb^-1
and 176.4 pb^-1. The observed candidates are consistent with the expectations
from Standard Model processes. In the hypothesis that the production cross
section of this Higgs boson equals the Standard Model one and the branching
ratio into invisible particles is 100%, a lower mass limit of 89.2 GeV is set
at 95% confidence level
Search for Neutral Higgs Bosons of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model in e+e- Interactions at \sqrt{s} = 189 GeV
A search for the lightest neutral scalar and neutral pseudoscalar Higgs
bosons in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model is performed using 176.4
pb^-1 of integrated luminosity collected by L3 at a center-of-mass energy of
189 GeV. No signal is observed, and the data are consistent with the expected
Standard Model background. Lower limits on the masses of the lightest neutral
scalar and pseudoscalar Higgs bosons are given as a function of tan(beta).
Lower mass limits for tan(beta)>1 are set at the 95% confidence level to be m_h
> 77.1 GeV and m_A > 77.1 GeV
Measurement of Bose-Einstein Correlations in e+e- -> W+W- at root(s)=189GeV
We investigate Bose-Einstein correlations (BEC) in W-pair production at
root(s)=189GeV using the L3 detector at LEP. We observe BEC between particles
from a single W decay in good agreement with those from a light-quark Z decay
sample. We investigate their possible existence between particles coming from
different W's. No evidence for such inter-W BEC is found
Measurement of the Lifetime of the Tau Lepton
The tau lepton lifetime is measured with the L3 detector at LEP using the
complete data taken at centre-of-mass energies around the Z pole resulting in
tau_tau = 293.2 +/- 2.0 (stat) +/- 1.5 (syst) fs. The comparison of this result
with the muon lifetime supports lepton universality of the weak charged current
at the level of six per mille. Assuming lepton universality, the value of the
strong coupling constant, alpha_s is found to be alpha_s(m_tau^2) = 0.319 +/-
0.015(exp.) +/- 0.014 (theory)
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