An efficient randomised sphere cover classifier

This paper describes an efficient randomised sphere cover classifier(aRSC), that reduces the training data set size without loss of accuracy when compared to nearest neighbour classifiers. The motivation for developing this algorithm is the desire to have a non-deterministic, fast, instance-based classifier that performs well in isolation but is also ideal for use with ensembles. We use 24 benchmark datasets from UCI repository and six gene expression datasets for evaluation. The first set of experiments demonstrate the basic benefits of sphere covering. The second set of experiments demonstrate that when we set the a parameter through cross validation, the resulting aRSC algorithm outperforms several well known classifiers when compared using the Friedman rank sum test. Thirdly, we test the usefulness of aRSC when used with three feature filtering filters on six gene expression datasets. Finally, we highlight the benefits of pruning with a bias/variance decompositio

Jet-torus connection in radio galaxies: Relativistic hydrodynamics and synthetic emission

High-resolution Very-Long-Baseline Interferometry observations of active galactic nuclei have revealed asymmetric structures in the jets of radio galaxies. These asymmetric structures may be due to internal asymmetries in the jet, could be induced by the different conditions in the surrounding ambient medium including the obscuring torus, or a combination of the two. In this paper we investigate the influence of the ambient medium (including the obscuring torus) on the observed properties of jets from radio galaxies. We performed special-relativistic hydrodynamic (RHD) simulations of over-pressured and pressure-matched jets using the special-relativistic hydrodynamics code \texttt{Ratpenat}, which is based on a second-order accurate finite-volume method and an approximate Riemann solver. Using a newly developed emission code to compute the electromagnetic emission, we have investigated the influence of different ambient medium and torus configurations on the jet structure and subsequently computed the non-thermal emission produced by the jet and the thermal absorption due to the torus. To better compare the emission simulations with observations we produced synthetic radio maps, taking into account the properties of the observatory. The detailed analysis of our simulations shows that the observed asymmetries can be produced by the interaction of the jet with the ambient medium and by the absorption properties of the obscuring torus.Comment: 14 pages, 17 figures, submitted to A&

Incidences de pluies exceptionnelles sur un aquifère libre côtier en zone semi-aride (Chaouia, Maroc)

Les eaux souterraines qui représentent les seules ressources en eau de la Chaouia côtière, sont très minéralisées : intrusion marine, évaporation et recyclage des eaux d'irrigation chargées en sels. L'évolution spatio-temporelle piézométrique et hydrochimique de cet aquifère a été observée sur 179 puits, de 1991 à 1998 qui inclue une période exceptionnellement pluvieuse. Une comparaison par rapport à l'état de la nappe en 1971, date du début de l'exploitation des eaux souterraines, a été faite. Les suivis ont montré qu'à la suite des pluies importantes de 1996 (943 mm), un rehaussement important du niveau de la nappe et des dilutions plus ou moins retardées de tous les sels en solution dans l'eau, sont mesurés dans tous les puits. En effet, la nappe qui a accusé des baisses de 10 à 20 m entre 1971 et 1995, remonte en 1996 de 4,5 à 12,5 m en moyenne surtout au centre et à l'amont de la plaine. Quant à la qualité des eaux qui s'était dégradée, elle a connu des améliorations importantes avec des variations de 0,5 à plus de 4 ms/cm au niveau de la conductivité électrique. Ces faits montrent une grande sensibilité de la nappe aux apports par les pluies qui constituent sa principale alimentation.A study of regional pollution in the coastal aquifer system between Oum-er-Rbia River and Bir Jdid (Coastal Moroccan Meseta, Morocco) was based on data gathered from 1995 to 1998. The study improved the hydrogeological and hydrochemical understanding of the aquifers. The study examined the effects of significant rains on the quantity and quality of coastal groundwater. These waters exhibited high sensitivity to the rain input.Measurements undertaken since 1991 on 179 wells in the study area reveal that the groundwaters are highly mineralized - conductivity reaches more than 10 mS/cm, depending on season and well location. These results also show high chloride concentrations (more than 3500 mg/l), sodium concentrations frequently in the 500 - 1000 mg/l range and nitrates between 150 and 250 mg/l.In coastal Chaouia, these high concentrations of dissolved mineral salts aggravate the problem of supplying quality water to the rural population for drinking or even market-gardening irrigation purposes. The area is characterized by increased irrigated surfaces (more than 16000 hectares with 4125 m3 /s) and a demographic rise that has triggered the chaotic boring of more than 2000 wells into a heterogeneous aquifer sensitive to salinity. Possible sources of this high salinity include :Seawater intrusion into coastal aquifer sectors (mainly into a two-kilometre strip of coastline). The degree and the length of the marine intrusion were exacerbated by intensive pumping for irrigation needs, particularly during the dry season. Other factors such as coastal aquifer permeability, saturation zone thickness and basement depth also affect the degree and length of the marine intrusion. Seawater pollution is more marked in the southwestern coastal area.Reuse of irrigation saline waters, especially as groundwater circulates in the coastal and eastern sectors deep in the soil (to depths of 10 m).Several important factors have been highlighted concerning the origin of the chemical elements in solution and the mechanism of hydrochemical distribution: evaporation, lithology of tapped aquifers, water table depth, distance of wells from the coast, type of soil, use of fertilizers, frequency of pumping operations, and rainfall, among others.A regular network of 179 wells was monitored and surveyed in this study. Spatial and temporal changes in the water table and in the hydrochemistry of the aquifer were monitored between 1991 and 1998, a span which included an exceptionally rainy period (1996). Data are compared with those from 1971, the year groundwater exploitation began.The studied region is characterized by a semi-arid climate, mean annual rainfall of 391 mm (between 1977 and 1998), mean temperature of 17.8 °C, and mean rainfall input of 142 mm. In the dry season, high temperature combined with low rainfall and intensive pumping operations give rise to salinization of shallow groundwater. Groundwater in the area of study circulates in two principal hydrogeological matrices :1. Sandy-calcareous Plio-Quaternary and paleozoic strata in costal sectors and the eastern part located between Tnine Chtouka and Bir Jdid. These hydrogeological strata are characterized by significant porosity and permeability and are exploited at a shallow depth, generally less than 14 m, under sandy-clayed soil.2. A Cretaceous aquifer in marly limestone located between Oum-er-Rbia River and Tnine Chtouka. This aquifer is characterized by a low permeability and a water table generally exceeding 24 m in depth.Monitoring showed that after the heavy rains of 1996 (943 mm, with infiltration of 142 mm), the water table rose markedly in all study wells and a lagged dilution (3 to 6 months) was noted for all mineral salts dissolved in water. In fact, the water table, which had dropped between 1971 and 1995 (10 m in the costal sectors and 20 m in the others parts of the studied region), rose by an average 4.5 to 12.5 m in the central and up-gradient parts of the plain. Several factors were at work between 1971 and 1995: decreased pumping times (about 15 minutes) combined with sharp decreases in the thickness of the saturated zone; appearance of a closed piezometric level in the western region between Oum-er-Rbia River and Tnine Chtouka; and desiccation of 59 wells. With the aid of a polynomial model, annual level evolution of the five coastal test piezometers showed correlation factors of 0.76 to 0.93 respectively for years 1996 and 1997. Other quantitative effects of exceptional rains on groundwater identified include: increased pumping time (up from less than 15 minutes prior to the heavy rains of 1996); increased saturated zone thickness; rises in the water-table surpassing former sea-level heights in certain wells ; general advancement of the piezometric levels towards the coastline; and increased aquifer thickness stemming from longer pumping times.In terms of quality, groundwater showed gradually increasing salinity (by a factor of 2) between 1971 and 1995 and significant improvements after the rains of 1996. Between 1971 and 1995, increased mineralization was observed mainly in coastal and eastern parts of the aquifer between Tnine Chtouka and Bir Jdid. Conductivity of the waters in some coastal wells increased from 5 mS/cm to more than 10 mS/cm. After the exceptional rains of 1996, differences ranging from 0.5 to more than 4 mS/cm were observed in 71 % of the 179 wells analysed. Over the same period, chloride concentrations decreased by average values ranging from 150 to 500 mg/l (higher decreases surpassed 1000 mg/l). By contrast, spatial distributions of conductivity and of the main mineral salts remained unchanged and coastal and eastern groundwaters were still the most vulnerable to high salinity.The quantitative and qualitative effects of heavy rain point to the high sensitivity of these groundwaters to rain input, which is the principal recharge source of the studied aquifer

Aberrational Effects for Shadows of Black Holes

In this paper, we discuss how the shadow of a Kerr black hole depends on the motion of the observer. In particular, we derive an analytical formula for the boundary curve of the shadow for an observer moving with given four-velocity at given Boyer--Lindquist coordinates. We visualize the shadow for various values of parameters.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures; Proceedings of the 524. WE-Heraeus-Seminar held at the Physikzentrum, Bad Honnef, Germany, 17.--23.2.201

Contribution à l’étude de la salinisation de la nappe côtière de sahel El Haouzia région d’El Jadida au Maroc

La nappe côtière du Sahel d’El Haouzia circulent soit dans les calcaires fissurés du Cénomanien (partie amont), soit dans les formations détritiques du Plioquaternaire (partie avale). Ce sont des formations perméables favorisant le transit des eaux d’infiltration à forte charge saline, vers la nappe d’eau souterraine, circulant généralement à de faibles de la surface. La conductivité électrique moyenne des eaux souterraines étudiées montre des variations importantes, de 1,7 mS/cm (zone interne) à 7 mS/cm. En effet, elle accuse des valeurs de plus en plus importantes en direction de la mer, avec un gradient d’augmentation important dans les premiers kilomètres du rivage. La minéralisation totale est déterminée principalement par les ions chlorures et sodium qui montrent une corrélation positive avec la conductivité électrique. La combinaison des outils, géologiques, hydrogéologiques, piézométriques et hydrochimiques a montré que les fortes salinités des eaux souterraines sont liées au phénomène d’intrusion marine (dans les premiers kilomètres de la côte), à celui du lessivage de la roche réservoir et de l’infiltration des eaux de retour. Ces méthodes d’étude ont montré une meilleure adaptation avec notre système aquifère côtier.Mots-clés : Nappe côtière, salinité, intrusion marine, hydrochimie, Sahel ElHaouzia, Maroc

Univariate comparison of performance of different cerebrovascular reactivity indices for outcome association in adult TBI : a CENTER-TBI study

BackgroundMonitoring cerebrovascular reactivity in adult traumatic brain injury (TBI) has been linked to global patient outcome. Three intra-cranial pressure (ICP)-derived indices have been described. It is unknown which index is superior for outcome association in TBI outside previous single-center evaluations. The goal of this study is to evaluate indices for 6- to 12-month outcome association using uniform data harvested in multiple centers.MethodsUsing the prospectively collected data from the Collaborative European NeuroTrauma Effectiveness Research in TBI (CENTER-TBI) study, the following indices of cerebrovascular reactivity were derived: PRx (correlation between ICP and mean arterial pressure (MAP)), PAx (correlation between pulse amplitude of ICP (AMP) and MAP), and RAC (correlation between AMP and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP)). Univariate logistic regression models were created to assess the association between vascular reactivity indices with global dichotomized outcome at 6 to 12months, as assessed by Glasgow Outcome Score-Extended (GOSE). Models were compared via area under the receiver operating curve (AUC) and Delong's test.ResultsTwo separate patient groups from this cohort were assessed: the total population with available data (n=204) and only those without decompressive craniectomy (n=159), with identical results. PRx, PAx, and RAC perform similar in outcome association for both dichotomized outcomes, alive/dead and favorable/unfavorable, with RAC trending towards higher AUC values. There were statistically higher mean values for the index, % time above threshold, and hourly dose above threshold for each of PRx, PAx, and RAC in those patients with poor outcomes.ConclusionsPRx, PAx, and RAC appear similar in their associations with 6- to 12-month outcome in moderate/severe adult TBI, with RAC showing tendency to achieve stronger associations. Further work is required to determine the role for each of these cerebrovascular indices in monitoring of TBI patients.Peer reviewe

Observational signatures of disk and jet misalignment in images of accreting black holes

Black hole accretion is one of nature's most efficient energy extraction processes. When gas falls in, a significant fraction of its gravitational binding energy is either converted into radiation or flows outwards in the form of black hole-driven jets and disk-driven winds. Recently, the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT), an Earth-size sub-millimetre radio interferometer, captured the first images of M87's black hole. These images were analysed and interpreted using general-relativistic magnetohydrodynamics (GRMHD) models of accretion disks with rotation axes aligned with the black hole spin axis. However, since infalling gas is often insensitive to the black hole spin direction, misalignment between accretion disk and black hole spin may be a common occurrence in nature. In this work, we use the general-relativistic radiative transfer (GRRT) code \texttt{BHOSS} to calculate the first synthetic radio images of (highly) tilted disk/jet models generated by our GPU-accelerated GRMHD code \texttt{HAMR}. While the tilt does not have a noticeable effect on the system dynamics beyond a few tens of gravitational radii from the black hole, the warping of the disk and jet can imprint observable signatures in EHT images on smaller scales. Comparing the images from our GRMHD models to the 43 GHz and 230 GHz EHT images of M87, we find that M87 may feature a tilted disk/jet system. Further, tilted disks and jets display significant time variability in the 230 GHz flux that can be further tested by longer-duration EHT observations of M87