Reconstructing vectorised photographic images

We address the problem of representing captured images in the continuous mathematical space more usually associated with certain forms of drawn ('vector') images. Such an image is resolution-independent so can be used as a master for varying resolution-specific formats. We briefly describe the main features of a vectorising codec for photographic images, whose significance is that drawing programs can access images and image components as first-class vector objects. This paper focuses on the problem of rendering from the isochromic contour form of a vectorised image and demonstrates a new fill algorithm which could also be used in drawing generally. The fill method is described in terms of level set diffusion equations for clarity. Finally we show that image warping is both simplified and enhanced in this form and that we can demonstrate real histogram equalisation with genuinely rectangular histograms

The Simulation of Recovery Procedures from Engine Failures during Helicopter Offshore Operations. Internal report no. 9331

This report discusses the mathematical models and the specialised simulation techniques developed for an investigation of helicopter offshore operations under adverse conditions. The development of a mathematical model of a torque limited, twin engine power plant capable of accommodating multiple or single gas turbine failures is presented. In order to simulate engine failures during the critical phases of takeoff or landing manoeuvres, a novel hybrid simulation technique called HIFIS which incorporates both inverse and forward methods has been developed. Its formulation and the subsequent specialised recovery trajectories that it requires are detailed

Emergent properties in optically bound matter

Sub-micron particles have been observed to spontaneously form regular two-dimensional structures in counterpropagating evanescent laser fields. We show that collective properties of large numbers of optically-trapped particles can be qualitatively different to the properties of small numbers. This is demonstrated both with a computer model and with experimental results. As the number of particles in the structure is increased, optical binding forces can be sufficiently large to overcome the optical landscape imposed by the interference fringes of the laser beams and impose a different, competing structure

Metabolic profiling predicts response to anti-tumor necrosis factor α therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

<p>Objective: Anti–tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies are highly effective in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA), but a significant number of patients exhibit only a partial or no therapeutic response. Inflammation alters local and systemic metabolism, and TNF plays a role in this. We undertook this study to determine if the patient's metabolic fingerprint prior to therapy could predict responses to anti-TNF agents.</p> <p>Methods: Urine was collected from 16 RA patients and 20 PsA patients before and during therapy with infliximab or etanercept. Urine metabolic profiles were assessed using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Discriminating metabolites were identified, and the relationship between metabolic profiles and clinical outcomes was assessed.</p> <p>Results: Baseline urine metabolic profiles discriminated between RA patients who did or did not have a good response to anti-TNF therapy according to European League Against Rheumatism criteria, with a sensitivity of 88.9% and a specificity of 85.7%, with several metabolites contributing (in particular histamine, glutamine, xanthurenic acid, and ethanolamine). There was a correlation between baseline metabolic profiles and the magnitude of change in the Disease Activity Score in 28 joints from baseline to 12 months in RA patients (P = 0.04). In both RA and PsA, urinary metabolic profiles changed between baseline and 12 weeks of anti-TNF therapy. Within the responders, urinary metabolite changes distinguished between etanercept and infliximab treatment.</p> <p>Conclusion: The clear relationship between urine metabolic profiles of RA patients at baseline and their response to anti-TNF therapy may allow development of novel approaches to the optimization of therapy. Differences in metabolic profiles during treatment with infliximab and etanercept in RA and PsA may reflect distinct mechanisms of action.</p&gt

Role of carbon dioxide and ion transport in the formation of sub-embryonic fluid by the blastoderm of the Japanese quail

1. The explanted blastoderm of the Japanese quail was used to explore the role of ions and carbon dioxide in determining the rate of sub-embryonic fluid (SEF) production between 54 and 72 h of incubation. 2. Amiloride, an inhibitor of Na+/H+ exchange, at concentrations of 10-3 to 10-6 M substantially decreased the rate of SEF production when added to the albumen culture medium. N-ethylmaleimide, an inhibitor of V type H+ ATPase, also decreased this rate but only to a small extent at the highest dose applied, 10-3 M. Both inhibitors had no effect on SEF production when added to the SEF. 3. The inhibitors of cellular bicarbonate and chloride exchange, 4-acetamido-4-'isothiocyano-2, 2-'disulphonic acid (SITS) and 4,4'diisothiocyanostilbene-2,2-'disulphonic acid (DIDS), had no effect upon SEF production. 4. Ouabain, an inhibitor of Na+/K+ ATPase, decreased SEF production substantially at all concentrations added to the SEF (10-3 to 10-6 M). Three sulphonamide inhibitors of carbonic anhydrase, acetazolamide, ethoxzolamide and benzolamide, decreased SEF production when added to the SEF at concentrations of 10-3 to 10-6 M. Benzolamide was by far the most potent. Neither ouabain nor the sulphonamides altered SEF production when added to the albumen culture medium. 5. Using a cobalt precipitation method, carbonic anhydrase activity was localised to the endodermal cells of the area vasculosa. The carbonic anhydrase activity was primarily associated with the lateral plasma membranes, which together with the potent inhibitory effect of benzolamide, suggests the carbonic anhydrase of these cells is the membrane-associated form, CA IV. 6. The changes in SEF composition produced by inhibitors were consistent with the production of SEF by local osmotic gradients. 7. It is concluded that a Na+/K+ ATPase is located on the basolateral membranes of the endodermal cells of the area vasculosa , and that a sodium ion/hydrogen ion exchanger is located on their apical surfaces. Protons for this exchanger would be provided by the hydration of CO2 catalysed by the membrane-associated carbonic anhydrase. Furthermore, it is proposed that the prime function of the endodermal cells of the area vasculosa is the production of SEF

Integrability and Conformal Symmetry in the BCS model

The exactly solvable BCS Hamiltonian of superconductivity is considered from several viewpoints: Richardson's ansatz, conformal field theory, integrable inhomogenous vertex models and Chern-Simons theory.Comment: Latex with macros included, 12 pages, Proceedings of the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on Statistical Field Theories, Como 18-23 June 2001. Editors: Andrea Cappelli and Giuseppe Mussardo. to be published by Kluwer, Academic Publishers. Corrected some typos and further acknowledgment

Multiplicative renormalizability of gluon and ghost propagators in QCD

We reformulate the coupled set of continuum equations for the renormalized gluon and ghost propagators in QCD, such that the multiplicative renormalizability of the solutions is manifest, independently of the specific form of full vertices and renormalization constants. In the Landau gauge, the equations are free of renormalization constants, and the renormalization point dependence enters only through the renormalized coupling and the renormalized propagator functions. The structure of the equations enables us to devise novel truncations with solutions that are multiplicatively renormalizable and agree with the leading order perturbative results. We show that, for infrared power law behaved propagators, the leading infrared behavior of the gluon equation is not solely determined by the ghost loop, as concluded in previous studies, but that the gluon loop, the three-gluon loop, the four-gluon loop, and even massless quarks also contribute to the infrared analysis. In our new Landau gauge truncation, the combination of gluon and ghost loop contributions seems to reject infrared power law solutions, but massless quark loops illustrate how additional contributions to the gluon vacuum polarization could reinstate these solutions. Moreover, a schematic study of the three-gluon and four-gluon loops shows that they too need to be considered in more detail before a definite conclusion about the existence of infrared power behaved gluon and ghost propagators can be reached.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Multiplicative renormalizability and quark propagator

The renormalized Dyson-Schwinger equation for the quark propagator is studied, in Landau gauge, in a novel truncation which preserves multiplicative renormalizability. The renormalization constants are formally eliminated from the integral equations, and the running coupling explicitly enters the kernels of the new equations. To construct a truncation which preserves multiplicative renormalizability, and reproduces the correct leading order perturbative behavior, non-trivial cancellations involving the full quark-gluon vertex are assumed in the quark self-energy loop. A model for the running coupling is introduced, with infrared fixed point in agreement with previous Dyson-Schwinger studies of the gauge sector, and with correct logarithmic tail. Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking is investigated, and the generated quark mass is of the order of the extension of the infrared plateau of the coupling, and about three times larger than in the Abelian approximation, which violates multiplicative renormalizability. The generated scale is of the right size for hadronic phenomenology, without requiring an infrared enhancement of the running coupling.Comment: 17 pages; minor corrections, comparison to lattice results added; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

The VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey at 5 GHz

We present the first results of the VLBA Imaging and Polarimetry Survey (VIPS), a 5 GHz VLBI survey of 1,127 sources with flat radio spectra. Through automated data reduction and imaging routines, we have produced publicly available I, Q, and U images and have detected polarized flux density from 37% of the sources. We have also developed an algorithm to use each source's I image to automatically classify it as a point-like source, a core-jet, a compact symmetric object (CSO) candidate, or a complex source. The mean ratio of the polarized to total 5 GHz flux density for VIPS sources with detected polarized flux density ranges from 1% to 20% with a median value of about 5%. We have also found significant evidence that the directions of the jets in core-jet systems tend to be perpendicular to the electric vector position angles (EVPAs). The data is consistent with a scenario in which ~24% of the polarized core-jets have EVPAs that are anti-aligned with the directions of their jet components and which have a substantial amount of Faraday rotation. In addition to these initial results, plans for future follow-up observations are discussed.Comment: 36 pages, 3 tables, 13 figures; accepted for publication in Ap