3,531 research outputs found
Bayesian analysis of magnetic island dynamics
We examine a first order differential equation with respect to time coming up
in the description of magnetic islands in magnetically confined plasmas. The
free parameters of this equation are obtained by employing Bayesian probability
theory. Additionally a typical Bayesian change point is solved in the process
of obtaining the data.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to be included in MaxEnt 2002
proceeding
Gravity-induced birefringence within the framework of Poincare gauge theory
Gauge theories of gravity provide an elegant and promising extension of
general relativity. In this paper we show that the Poincar\'e gauge theory
exhibits gravity-induced birefringence under the assumption of a specific gauge
invariant nonminimal coupling between torsion and Maxwell's field. Furthermore
we give for the first time an explicit expression for the induced phaseshift
between two orthogonal polarization modes within the Poincar\'e framework.
Since such a phaseshift can lead to a depolarization of light emitted from an
extended source this effect is, in principle, observable. We use white dwarf
polarimetric data to constrain the essential coupling constant responsible for
this effect.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for publication by Physical Review
The microstructure and microtexture of zirconium oxide films studied by transmission electron backscatter diffraction and automated crystal orientation mapping with transmission electron microscopy
A detailed characterization of nanostructured thin zirconium oxide films formed during aqueous corrosion of a nuclear-grade zirconium alloy (Zircaloy-4) has been carried out by means of two novel, ultra-high-spatial-resolution grain mapping techniques, namely automated crystal orientation mapping in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) and transmission electron backscatter diffraction (t-EBSD). While the former provided excellent spatial resolution with the ability to identify tetragonal ZrO<sub>2</sub> grains as small as âŒ5 nm, the superior angular resolution and unambiguous indexing with t-EBSD enabled verification of the TEM observations. Both techniques revealed that in a stress-free condition (TEM foil prepared by focused ion beam milling), the oxide consists mainly of well-oriented columnar monoclinic grains with a high fraction of transformation twin boundaries, which indicates that the transformation from tetragonal to monoclinic ZrO<sub>2</sub> is a continuous process, and that a significant fraction of the columnar grains transformed from stress-stabilized tetragonal grains with (0 0 1) planes parallel to the metalâoxide interface. The TEM analysis also revealed a small fraction of size-stabilized, equiaxed tetragonal grains throughout the oxide. Those grains were found to show significant misalignment from the expected (0 0 1) growth direction, which explains the limited growth of those grains. The observations are discussed in the context of providing new insights into corrosion mechanisms of zirconium alloys, which is of particular importance for improving service life of fuel assemblies used in water-cooled reactors
Radiomics: Medical Imaging Can Predict Pancreatic Cancer Patient Outcome
Radiomics is a process that mines quantitative data from imaging techniques, including MRIs, CTs, and PET scans. In this study, radiomics is used to find associations between clinical factors such as the number of metastases in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) patients from their preoperative CT scans. PDAC patients have a five-year survival rate only barely above 10%. By the time of diagnosis over half of pancreatic cancers are metastasized, and when that is the case the five-year survival rate is only 3%. It is hypothesized that radiomics can help predict clinical factors such as the number of metastases in pancreatic patients. These predictions can lead to improved treatment plans by risk stratification. Patients with a higher risk of metastases would adopt more aggressive treatment than patients with lower risk. This study included 87 patients diagnosed with PDAC who consented to a Rapid Autopsy Program. Although results have not yet been processed, future work would include finishing developing a model to use to predict PDAC metastases.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/surp2021/1000/thumbnail.jp
Who's afraid of Homo sapiens?
Understanding how humans differ from other animals, as well as how we are like them, requires comparative investigations. For the purpose of documenting the distinctive features of humans, the most informative research involves comparing humans to our closest relativesâthe chimpanzees and other great apes. Psychology and anthropology have maintained a tradition of empirical comparative research on human specializations of cognition. The neurosciences, by contrast, have been dominated by the model-animal research paradigm, which presupposes the commonality of "basic" features of brain organization across species and discourages serious treatment of species differences. As a result, the neurosciences have made little progress in understanding human brain specializations. Recent developments in neuroimaging, genomics, and other non-invasive techniques make it possible to directly compare humans and nonhuman species at levels of organization that were previously inaccessible, offering the hope of gaining a better understanding of the species-specific features of the human brain. This hope will be dashed, however, if chimpanzees and other great ape species become unavailable for even non-invasive research
The influence of the strength of bone on the deformation of acetabular shells : a laboratory experiment in cadavers
Date of Acceptance: 24/08/2014 ©2015 The British Editorial Society of Bone & Joint Surgery. The authors would like to thank N. Taylor (3D Measurement Company) for his work with regard to data acquisition and processing of experimental data. We would also like to thank Dr A. Blain of Newcastle University for performing the statistical analysis The research was supported by the NIHR Newcastle Biomedical Research Centre. The authors P. Dold, M. Flohr and R. Preuss are employed by Ceramtec GmbH. Martin Bone received a salary from the joint fund. The author or one or more of the authors have received or will receive benefits for personal or professional use from a commercial party related directly or indirectly to the subject of this article. This article was primary edited by G. Scott and first proof edited by J. Scott.Peer reviewedPostprin
Discovering Evolutionary Stepping Stones through Behavior Domination
Behavior domination is proposed as a tool for understanding and harnessing
the power of evolutionary systems to discover and exploit useful stepping
stones. Novelty search has shown promise in overcoming deception by collecting
diverse stepping stones, and several algorithms have been proposed that combine
novelty with a more traditional fitness measure to refocus search and help
novelty search scale to more complex domains. However, combinations of novelty
and fitness do not necessarily preserve the stepping stone discovery that
novelty search affords. In several existing methods, competition between
solutions can lead to an unintended loss of diversity. Behavior domination
defines a class of algorithms that avoid this problem, while inheriting
theoretical guarantees from multiobjective optimization. Several existing
algorithms are shown to be in this class, and a new algorithm is introduced
based on fast non-dominated sorting. Experimental results show that this
algorithm outperforms existing approaches in domains that contain useful
stepping stones, and its advantage is sustained with scale. The conclusion is
that behavior domination can help illuminate the complex dynamics of
behavior-driven search, and can thus lead to the design of more scalable and
robust algorithms.Comment: To Appear in Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation
Conference (GECCO 2017
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