Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect in Cross-Correlation: The Observer's Manual

The Integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect is a direct signature of the presence of dark energy in the universe, in the absence of spatial curvature. A powerful method for observing the ISW effect is through cross-correlation of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) with a tracer of the matter in the low redshift universe. In this paper, we describe the dependence of the obtained cross-correlation signal on the geometry and other properties of a survey of the low redshift universe. We show that an all-sky survey with about 10 million galaxies, almost uniformly distributed within 0<z<1 should yield a near optimal ISW detection, at ~ 5\sigma level. In order to achieve this level of signal-to-noise, the systematic anisotropies in the survey must be below ~ 0.1 %, on the scale of ~ 10 degrees on the sky, while the systematic error in redshift estimates must be less than 0.05. Then, we argue that, while an ISW detection will not be a good way of constraining the conventional properties of dark energy, it could be a valuable means of testing alternative theories of gravity on large physical scales.Comment: 9 pages, 9 Figures, Extended discussion of different observational systematics, Accepted for publication in PR

Subjective Quality Assessment of the Impact of Buffer Size in Fine-Grain Parallel Video Encoding

Fine-Grain parallelism is essential for real-time video encoding performance. This usually implies setting a fixed buffer size for each encoded block. The choice of this parameter is critical for both performance and hardware cost. In this paper we analyze the impact of buffer size on image subjective quality, and its relation with other encoding parameters. We explore the consequences on visual quality, when minimizing buffer size to the point of causing the discard of quantized coefficients for highest frequencies. Finally, we propose some guidelines for the choice of buffer size, that has proven to be heavily dependent, in addition to other parameters, on the type of sequence being encoded. These guidelines are useful for the design of efficient realtime encoders, both hardware and software

Planar graph coloring avoiding monochromatic subgraphs: trees and paths make things difficult

We consider the problem of coloring a planar graph with the minimum number of colors such that each color class avoids one or more forbidden graphs as subgraphs. We perform a detailed study of the computational complexity of this problem

Ökologischer Kreislauf Moorbad Harbach: Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) for Agricultural Plant Production and Transportation

In 1992 the community of Moorbad Harbach (Austria), located near the border of the Czech Republic and dominated by extensive agricultural practice on small scale farms, decided to initiate activities for regional devolopment. About 40 farms (27 %) converted to organic farming, a local marketing service as well as regional food processing businesses (slaughterhouse, dairy), operating as linkages between regional agriculture and the local spa hotel were founded. The basic idea for the work presented here was to evaluate the – especially ecological – consequences of such a regional conversion. One part of this attempt of evaluation was carried out as a LCA for the agricultural production in Moorbad Harbach. The emphasis of the study was to compare plant production before and after the regional conversion to organic farming. In another step changes in transportation distances and quantities with special regard to transport of raw milk and milk products were quantified

Mobile Communication Networks and Digital Television Broadcasting Systems in the Same Frequency Bands – Advanced Co-Existence Scenarios

The increasing demand for wireless multimedia services provided by modern communication systems with stable services is a key feature of advanced markets. On the other hand, these systems can many times operate in a neighboring or in the same frequency bands. Therefore, numerous unwanted co-existence scenarios can occur. The aim of this paper is to summarize our results which were achieved during exploration and measurement of the co-existences between still used and upcoming mobile networks (from GSM to LTE) and digital terrestrial television broadcasting (DVB) systems. For all of these measurements and their evaluation universal measurement testbed has been proposed and used. Results presented in this paper are a significant part of our activities in work package WP5 in the ENIAC JU project “Agile RF Transceivers and Front-Ends for Future Smart Multi-Standard Communications Applications (ARTEMOS)”

Satellite provided customer premise services: A forecast of potential domestic demand through the year 2000. Volume 2: Technical report

The potential United States domestic telecommunications demand for satellite provided customer premises voice, data and video services through the year 2000 were forecast, so that this information on service demand would be available to aid in NASA program planning. To accomplish this overall purpose the following objectives were achieved: development of a forecast of the total domestic telecommunications demand, identification of that portion of the telecommunications demand suitable for transmission by satellite systems, identification of that portion of the satellite market addressable by Computer premises services systems, identification of that portion of the satellite market addressabble by Ka-band CPS system, and postulation of a Ka-band CPS network on a nationwide and local level. The approach employed included the use of a variety of forecasting models, a market distribution model and a network optimization model. Forecasts were developed for; 1980, 1990, and 2000; voice, data and video services; terrestrial and satellite delivery modes; and C, Ku and Ka-bands

Molecular signatures of a TLR4 agonist-adjuvanted HIV-1 vaccine candidate in humans

Systems biology approaches have recently provided new insights into the mechanisms of action of human vaccines and adjuvants. Here, we investigated early transcriptional signatures induced in whole blood of healthy subjects following vaccination with a recombinant HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein subunit CN54gp140 adjuvanted with the TLR4 agonist glucopyranosyl lipid adjuvant-aqueous formulation (GLA-AF) and correlated signatures to CN54gp140-specific serum antibody responses. Fourteen healthy volunteers aged 18-45 years were immunized intramuscularly three times at 1-month intervals and whole blood samples were collected at baseline, 6 h, and 1, 3, and 7 days post first immunization. Subtle changes in the transcriptomic profiles were observed following immunization, ranging from over 300 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at day 1 to nearly 100 DEGs at day 7 following immunization. Functional pathway analysis revealed blood transcription modules (BTMs) related to general cell cycle activation, and innate immune cell activation at early time points, as well as BTMs related to T cells and B cell activation at the later time points post-immunization. Diverse CN54gp140-specific serum antibody responses of the subjects enabled their categorization into high or low responders, at early ( < 1 month) and late (up to 6 months) time points post vaccination. BTM analyses revealed repression of modules enriched in NK cells, and the mitochondrial electron chain, in individuals with high or sustained antigen-specific antibody responses. However, low responders showed an enhancement of BTMs associated with enrichment in myeloid cells and monocytes as well as integrin cell surface interactions. Flow cytometry analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cells obtained from the subjects revealed an enhanced frequency of CD56 dim NK cells in the majority of vaccines 14 days after vaccination as compared with the baseline. These results emphasize the utility of a systems biology approach to enhance our understanding on the mechanisms of action of TLR4 adjuvanted human vaccines

Ventricular Tachycardia in a Pediatric Patient with High-Risk Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia Purpura

An 8-year-old previously healthy male was diagnosed with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) and increased serum cardiac troponin I. Telemetry recorded non-sustained ventricular tachycardia, without ST-segment changes or other abnormalities on serial electrocardiogram. This case illustrates that cardiac monitoring by telemetry should be considered in high-risk TTP with elevated cardiac troponin

Satellite provided customer promises services, a forecast of potential domestic demand through the year 2000. Volume 4: Sensitivity analysis

The overall purpose was to forecast the potential United States domestic telecommunications demand for satellite provided customer promises voice, data and video services through the year 2000, so that this information on service demand would be available to aid in NASA program planning. To accomplish this overall purpose the following objectives were achieved: (1) development of a forecast of the total domestic telecommunications demand; (2) identification of that portion of the telecommunications demand suitable for transmission by satellite systems; (3) identification of that portion of the satellite market addressable by consumer promises service (CPS) systems; (4) identification of that portion of the satellite market addressable by Ka-band CPS system; and (5) postulation of a Ka-band CPS network on a nationwide and local level. The approach employed included the use of a variety of forecasting models, a parametric cost model, a market distribution model and a network optimization model. Forecasts were developed for: 1980, 1990, and 2000; voice, data and video services; terrestrial and satellite delivery modes; and C, Ku and Ka-bands