Searching for Radio Pulsars in 3EG Sources at Urumqi Observatory

Since mid-2005, a pulsar searching system has been operating at 18 cm on the 25-m radio telescope of Urumqi Observatory. Test observations on known pulsars show that the system can perform the intended task. The prospect of using this system to observe 3EG sources and other target searching tasks is discussed.Comment: a training project about MSc thesi

Automatic Structure Detection in Constraints of Tabular Data

Abstract. Methods for the protection of statistical tabular data—as controlled tabular adjustment, cell suppression, or controlled rounding— need to solve several linear programming subproblems. For large multi-dimensional linked and hierarchical tables, such subproblems turn out to be computationally challenging. One of the techniques used to reduce the solution time of mathematical programming problems is to exploit the constraints structure using some specialized algorithm. Two of the most usual structures are block-angular matrices with either linking rows (primal block-angular structure) or linking columns (dual block-angular structure). Although constraints associated to tabular data have intrin-sically a lot of structure, current software for tabular data protection neither detail nor exploit it, and simply provide a single matrix, or at most a set of smallest submatrices. We provide in this work an efficient tool for the automatic detection of primal or dual block-angular struc-ture in constraints matrices. We test it on some of the complex CSPLIB instances, showing that when the number of linking rows or columns is small, the computational savings are significant

Statistical disclosure control in tabular data

Data disseminated by National Statistical Agencies (NSAs) can be classified as either microdata or tabular data. Tabular data is obtained from microdata by crossing one or more categorical variables. Although cell tables provide aggregated information, they also need to be protected. This chapter is a short introduction to tabular data protection. It contains three main sections. The first one shows the different types of tables that can be obtained, and how they are modeled. The second describes the practical rules for detection of sensitive cells that are used by NSAs. Finally, an overview of protection methods is provided, with a particular focus on two of them: “cell suppression problem” and “controlled tabular adjustment”.Postprint (published version

Standardized image quality for 68Ga-DOTA-TATE PET/CT

Background: Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging with 68Gallium labeled somatostatin analogues (68Ga-DOTA-SSA) plays a key role in neuroendocrine tumor management. The impact of patient size on PET image quality is not well known for PET imaging with 68Ga-DOTA-SSA. The aim of this study is to propose a dose regimen based on patient size that optimizes image quality and yields sufficient image quality for diagnosis. Methods: Twenty-one patients (12 males, 9 females) were prospectively included for 68Gallium-DOTA-Tyr3-Octreotate (68Ga-DOTA-TATE) PET/CT, which was acquired in whole body list mode using 6 min per bed position (mbp). The list-mode events were randomly sampled to obtain 1 to 6 mbp PET reconstructions. For semi-quantitative assessment of image quality, the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was measured in the liver. The SNR normalized (SNRnorm) for admini

Optical Imaging and Spectroscopic Observation of the Galactic Supernova Remnant G85.9-0.6

Optical CCD imaging with H$\alpha$ and [SII] filters and spectroscopic observations of the galactic supernova remnant G85.9-0.6 have been performed for the first time. The CCD image data are taken with the 1.5m Russian-Turkish Telescope (RTT150) at TUBITAK National Observatory (TUG) and spectral data are taken with the Bok 2.3 m telescope on Kitt Peak, AZ. The images are taken with narrow-band interference filters H$\alpha$, [SII] and their continuum. [SII]/H$\alpha$ ratio image is performed. The ratio obtained from [SII]/H$\alpha$ is found to be $\sim$0.42, indicating that the remnant interacts with HII regions. G85.9-0.6 shows diffuse-shell morphology. [SII]$\lambda\lambda 6716/6731$ average flux ratio is calculated from the spectra, and the electron density $N_{e}$ is obtained to be 395 $cm^{-3}$. From [OIII]/H$\beta$ ratio, shock velocity has been estimated, pre-shock density of $n_{c}=14$ $cm^{-3}$, explosion energy of $E=9.2\times10^{50}$ ergs, interstellar extinction of $E(B-V)=0.28$, and neutral hydrogen column density of $N(HI)=1.53\times10^{21}$ $cm^{-2}$ are reported.Comment: 20 pages, 4 tables, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

YREC: The Yale Rotating Stellar Evolution Code

The stellar evolution code YREC is outlined with emphasis on its applications to helio- and asteroseismology. The procedure for calculating calibrated solar and stellar models is described. Other features of the code such as a non-local treatment of convective core overshoot, and the implementation of a parametrized description of turbulence in stellar models, are considered in some detail. The code has been extensively used for other astrophysical applications, some of which are briefly mentioned at the end of the paper.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, ApSS accepte

Specificity and effector functions of human RSV-specific IgG from bovine milk

Background Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) infection is the second most important cause of death in the first year of life, and early RSV infections are associated with the development of asthma. Breastfeeding and serum IgG have been shown to protect against RSV infection. Yet, many infants depend on bovine milk-based nutrition, which at present lacks intact immunoglobulins. Objective To investigate whether IgG purified from bovine milk (bIgG) can modulate immune responses against human RSV. Methods ELISAs were performed to analyse binding of bIgG to human respiratory pathogens. bIgG or hRSV was coated to plates to assess dose-dependent binding of bIgG to human Fc¿ receptors (Fc¿R) or bIgG-mediated binding of myeloid cells to hRSV respectively. S. Epidermidis and RSV were used to test bIgG-mediated binding and internalisation of pathogens by myeloid cells. Finally, the ability of bIgG to neutralise infection of HEp2 cells by hRSV was evaluated. Results bIgG recognised human RSV, influenza haemagglutinin and Haemophilus influenza. bIgG bound to Fc¿RII on neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages, but not to Fc¿RI and Fc¿RIII, and could bind simultaneously to hRSV and human Fc¿RII on neutrophils. In addition, human neutrophils and dendritic cells internalised pathogens that were opsonised with bIgG. Finally, bIgG could prevent infection of HEp2 cells by hRSV. Conclusions The data presented here show that bIgG binds to hRSV and other human respiratory pathogens and induces effector functions through binding to human Fc¿RII on phagocytes. Thus bovine IgG may contribute to immune protection against RSV

Computational Experiments with Minimum-Distance Controlled Perturbation Methods

Abstract. Minimum-distance controlled perturbation is a recent family of methods for the protection of statistical tabular data. These methods are both efficient and versatile, since can deal with large tables of any structure and dimension, and in practice only need the solution of a linear or quadratic optimization problem. The purpose of this paper is to give insight into the behaviour of such methods through some computational experiments. In particular, the paper (1) illustrates the theoretical results about the low disclosure risk of the method; (2) analyzes the solutions provided by the method on a standard set of seven difficult and complex instances; and (3) shows the behaviour of a new approach obtained by the combination of two existing ones

Network Flows Heuristics for Complementary Cell Suppression: An Empirical Evaluation and Extensions

Several network flows heuristics have been suggested in the past for the solution of the complementary suppression problem. However, a limited computational experience using them is reported in the literature, and, moreover, they were only appropriate for two-dimensional tables. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we perform an em-pirical comparison of two network flows heuristics. They are improved versions of already existing approaches. Second, we show that exten-sions of network flows methods (i.e., multicommodity network flows and network flows with side constraints) can model three-dimensional, hierarchical and linked tables. Exploiting this network structure can improve the performance of any solution method solely based on linear programming formulations