1,088 research outputs found
TRX: A Formally Verified Parser Interpreter
Parsing is an important problem in computer science and yet surprisingly
little attention has been devoted to its formal verification. In this paper, we
present TRX: a parser interpreter formally developed in the proof assistant
Coq, capable of producing formally correct parsers. We are using parsing
expression grammars (PEGs), a formalism essentially representing recursive
descent parsing, which we consider an attractive alternative to context-free
grammars (CFGs). From this formalization we can extract a parser for an
arbitrary PEG grammar with the warranty of total correctness, i.e., the
resulting parser is terminating and correct with respect to its grammar and the
semantics of PEGs; both properties formally proven in Coq.Comment: 26 pages, LMC
Search for lepton flavor violating decays of a heavy neutral particle in p-pbar collisions at root(s)=1.8 TeV
We report on a search for a high mass, narrow width particle that decays
directly to e+mu, e+tau, or mu+tau. We use approximately 110 pb^-1 of data
collected with the Collider Detector at Fermilab from 1992 to 1995. No evidence
of lepton flavor violating decays is found. Limits are set on the production
and decay of sneutrinos with R-parity violating interactions.Comment: Figure 2 fixed. Reference 4 fixed. Minor changes to tex
Abrupt reversal in emissions and atmospheric abundance of HCFC-133a (CF3CH2Cl)
Hydrochlorofluorocarbon HCFC-133a (CF3CH2Cl) is an anthropogenic compound whose consumption for emissive use is restricted under the Montreal Protocol. A recent study showed rapidly increasing atmospheric abundances and emissions. We report that, following this rise, the at- mospheric abundance and emissions have declined sharply in the past three years. We find a Northern Hemisphere HCFC-133a increase from 0.13 ppt (dry air mole fraction in parts-per-trillion) in 2000 to 0.50 ppt in 2012âmid-2013 followed by an abrupt reversal to 0.44 ppt by early 2015. Global emissions derived from these observations peaked at 3.1 kt in 2011, followed by a rapid decline of 0.5 kt yrâ2 to 1.5 kt yrâ1 in 2014. Sporadic HCFC-133a pollution events are detected in Europe from our high-resolution HCFC-133a records at three European stations, and in Asia from sam- ples collected in Taiwan. European emissions are estimated to be <0.1 kt yrâ1 although emission hotspots were identi- fied in France
West Nile Virus Encephalitis and Myocarditis in Wolf and Dog
In the third season (2002) of the West Nile virus epidemic in the United States, two canids (wolf and dog) were diagnosed with West Nile virus encephalitis and myocarditis with similarities to known affected species (humans, horses, and birds). The West Nile virus infections were confirmed by immunohistochemistry and polymerase chain reaction
The long-term and interannual variability of summer fresh water storage over the eastern Siberian shelf: Implication for climatic change
A time series of summer fresh water content anomalies (FWCA) over the Laptev and East Siberian sea shelves was constructed from historical hydrographic records for the period from 1920 to 2005. Results from a multiple regression between FCWA and various atmospheric and oceanic indices show that the fresh water content on the shelves is mainly controlled by atmospheric vorticity on quasi-decadal timescales. When the vorticity of the atmosphere on the shelves is antycyclonic, approximately 500 km3 of fresh water migrates from the eastern Siberian shelf to the Arctic Ocean through the northeastern Laptev Sea. When the vorticity of the atmosphere is cyclonic, this fresh water remains on the southern Laptev and East Siberian sea shelves. This FWCA represents approximately 35% of the total fresh water inflow provided by river discharge and local sea-ice melt, and is about ten times larger than the standard deviation of the Lena River summer long-term mean discharge. However, the large interannual and spatial variability in the fresh water content of the shelves, as well as the spatial coverage of the hydrographic data, makes it difficult to detect the long-term tendency of fresh water storage associated with climate change
Self-affirmation reduces the socioeconomic attainment gap in schools in England
Background. Studies in the USA show that school students from some ethnic backgrounds are susceptible to stereotype threat, that this undermines their academic performance, and that a series of virtually zero-cost self-affirmation writing exercises can reduce these adverse effects. In England, however, socioeconomic status (SES) is a much stronger predictor of academic success than is ethnic background.
Aims. This study investigates whether self-affirmation writing exercises can help close the SES attainment gap in England by increasing the academic performance of low-SES (but not higher-SES) school students.
Sample. Our sample consisted of students aged 11-14 in a secondary school in southern England (N = 562); of these, 128 were eligible for free school meals, a proxy
for low SES.
Methods. Students completed three short writing exercises throughout one academic year: those randomly assigned to an affirmed condition wrote about values that were important to them, and those assigned to a control condition wrote about a neutral topic.
Results. On average, the low-SES students had lower academic performance and reported experiencing more stereotype threat than their higher-SES peers. The selfaffirmation raised the academic performance of the low-SES students by 0.38 standard deviations but did not significantly affect the performance of the higher-SES students, thus reducing the SES performance gap by 62%. The self-affirmation also reduced the level of stress reported by the low-SES school students.
Conclusions. The benefits of this virtually zero-cost intervention compare favorably with those of other interventions targeting the SES academic attainment gap
Interpretation of Strong Short-Term Central Perturbations in the Light Curves of Moderate-Magnification Microlensing Events
To improve the planet detection efficiency, current planetary microlensing
experiments are focused on high-magnification events searching for planetary
signals near the peak of lensing light curves. However, it is known that
central perturbations can also be produced by binary companions and thus it is
important to distinguish planetary signals from those induced by binary
companions. In this paper, we analyze the light curves of microlensing events
OGLE-2007-BLG-137/MOA-2007-BLG-091, OGLE-2007-BLG-355/MOA-2007-BLG-278, and
MOA-2007-BLG-199/OGLE-2007-BLG-419, for all of which exhibit short-term
perturbations near the peaks of the light curves. From detailed modeling of the
light curves, we find that the perturbations of the events are caused by binary
companions rather than planets. From close examination of the light curves
combined with the underlying physical geometry of the lens system obtained from
modeling, we find that the short time-scale caustic-crossing feature occurring
at a low or a moderate base magnification with an additional secondary
perturbation is a typical feature of binary-lens events and thus can be used
for the discrimination between the binary and planetary interpretations.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Characterizing Low-Mass Binaries From Observation of Long Time-scale Caustic-crossing Gravitational Microlensing Events
Despite astrophysical importance of binary star systems, detections are
limited to those located in small ranges of separations, distances, and masses
and thus it is necessary to use a variety of observational techniques for a
complete view of stellar multiplicity across a broad range of physical
parameters. In this paper, we report the detections and measurements of 2
binaries discovered from observations of microlensing events MOA-2011-BLG-090
and OGLE-2011-BLG-0417. Determinations of the binary masses are possible by
simultaneously measuring the Einstein radius and the lens parallax. The
measured masses of the binary components are 0.43 and 0.39
for MOA-2011-BLG-090 and 0.57 and 0.17 for
OGLE-2011-BLG-0417 and thus both lens components of MOA-2011-BLG-090 and one
component of OGLE-2011-BLG-0417 are M dwarfs, demonstrating the usefulness of
microlensing in detecting binaries composed of low-mass components. From
modeling of the light curves considering full Keplerian motion of the lens, we
also measure the orbital parameters of the binaries. The blended light of
OGLE-2011-BLG-0417 comes very likely from the lens itself, making it possible
to check the microlensing orbital solution by follow-up radial-velocity
observation. For both events, the caustic-crossing parts of the light curves,
which are critical for determining the physical lens parameters, were resolved
by high-cadence survey observations and thus it is expected that the number of
microlensing binaries with measured physical parameters will increase in the
future.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 4 table
Two New Rhabdoviruses (Rhabdoviridae) Isolated from Birds During Surveillance for Arboviral Encephalitis, Northeastern United States
Two novel rhabdoviruses were isolated from birds during surveillance for arboviral encephalitis in the northeastern United States. The first, designated Farmington virus, is a tentative new member of the Vesiculovirus genus. The second, designated Rhode Island virus, is unclassified antigenically, but its ultrastructure and size are more similar to those of some of the plant rhabdoviruses. Both viruses infect birds and mice, as well as monkey kidney cells in culture, but their importance for human health is unknown
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