6,397 research outputs found
Genetic Characterization of the Tick-Borne Orbiviruses
The International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) recognizes four species of tick-borne orbiviruses (TBOs): Chenuda virus, Chobar Gorge virus, Wad Medani virus and Great Island virus (genus Orbivirus, family Reoviridae). Nucleotide (nt) and amino acid (aa) sequence comparisons provide a basis for orbivirus detection and classification, however full genome sequence data were only available for the Great Island virus species. We report representative genome-sequences for the three other TBO species (virus isolates: Chenuda virus (CNUV); Chobar Gorge virus (CGV) and Wad Medani virus (WMV)). Phylogenetic comparisons show that TBOs cluster separately from insect-borne orbiviruses (IBOs). CNUV, CGV, WMV and GIV share low level aa/nt identities with other orbiviruses, in 'conserved' Pol, T2 and T13 proteins/genes, identifying them as four distinct virus-species. The TBO genome segment encoding cell attachment, outer capsid protein 1 (OC1), is approximately half the size of the equivalent segment from insect-borne orbiviruses, helping to explain why tick-borne orbiviruses have a ~1 kb smaller genome
Inhomogeneous soliton ratchets under two ac forces
We extend our previous work on soliton ratchet devices [L. Morales-Molina et
al., Eur. Phys. J. B 37, 79 (2004)] to consider the joint effect of two ac
forces including non-harmonic drivings, as proposed for particle ratchets by
Savele'v et al. [Europhys. Lett. 67}, 179 (2004); Phys. Rev. E {\bf 70} 066109
(2004)]. Current reversals due to the interplay between the phases, frequencies
and amplitudes of the harmonics are obtained. An analysis of the effect of the
damping coefficient on the dynamics is presented. We show that solitons give
rise to non-trivial differences in the phenomenology reported for particle
systems that arise from their extended character. A comparison with soliton
ratchets in homogeneous systems with biharmonic forces is also presented. This
ratchet device may be an ideal candidate for Josephson junction ratchets with
intrinsic large damping
Random Costs in Combinatorial Optimization
The random cost problem is the problem of finding the minimum in an
exponentially long list of random numbers. By definition, this problem cannot
be solved faster than by exhaustive search. It is shown that a classical
NP-hard optimization problem, number partitioning, is essentially equivalent to
the random cost problem. This explains the bad performance of heuristic
approaches to the number partitioning problem and allows us to calculate the
probability distributions of the optimum and sub-optimum costs.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, 2 figures (eps), submitted to PR
Fine and ultrafine particle number and size measurements from industrial combustion processes : primary emissions field data
This study is to our knowledge the first to present the results of on-line measurements of residual nanoparticle numbers downstream of the flue gas treatment systems of a wide variety of medium- and large-scale industrial installations. Where available, a semi-quantitative elemental composition of the sampled particles is carried out using a Scanning Electron Microscope coupled with an Energy Dispersive Spectrometer (SEM-EDS). The semi-quantitative elemental composition as a function of the particle size is presented. EU's Best Available Technology documents (BAT) show removal efficiencies of Electrostatic Precipitator (ESP) and bag filter dedusting systems exceeding 99% when expressed in terms of weight. Their efficiency decreases slightly for particles smaller than 1 mu m but when expressed in terms of weight, still exceeds 99% for bag filters and 96% for ESP. This study reveals that in terms of particle numbers, residual nanoparticles (NP) leaving the dedusting systems dominate by several orders of magnitude. In terms of weight, all installations respect their emission limit values and the contribution of NP to weight concentrations is negligible, despite their dominance in terms of numbers. Current World Health Organisation regulations are expressed in terms of PM2.5 wt concentrations and therefore do not reflect the presence or absence of a high number of NP. This study suggests that research is needed on possible additional guidelines related to NP given their possible toxicity and high potential to easily enter the blood stream when inhaled by humans
Number partitioning as random energy model
Number partitioning is a classical problem from combinatorial optimisation.
In physical terms it corresponds to a long range anti-ferromagnetic Ising spin
glass. It has been rigorously proven that the low lying energies of number
partitioning behave like uncorrelated random variables. We claim that
neighbouring energy levels are uncorrelated almost everywhere on the energy
axis, and that energetically adjacent configurations are uncorrelated, too.
Apparently there is no relation between geometry (configuration) and energy
that could be exploited by an optimization algorithm. This ``local random
energy'' picture of number partitioning is corroborated by numerical
simulations and heuristic arguments.Comment: 8+2 pages, 9 figures, PDF onl
On the combination of omics data for prediction of binary outcomes
Enrichment of predictive models with new biomolecular markers is an important
task in high-dimensional omic applications. Increasingly, clinical studies
include several sets of such omics markers available for each patient,
measuring different levels of biological variation. As a result, one of the
main challenges in predictive research is the integration of different sources
of omic biomarkers for the prediction of health traits. We review several
approaches for the combination of omic markers in the context of binary outcome
prediction, all based on double cross-validation and regularized regression
models. We evaluate their performance in terms of calibration and
discrimination and we compare their performance with respect to single-omic
source predictions. We illustrate the methods through the analysis of two real
datasets. On the one hand, we consider the combination of two fractions of
proteomic mass spectrometry for the calibration of a diagnostic rule for the
detection of early-stage breast cancer. On the other hand, we consider
transcriptomics and metabolomics as predictors of obesity using data from the
Dietary, Lifestyle, and Genetic determinants of Obesity and Metabolic syndrome
(DILGOM) study, a population-based cohort, from Finland
Switching between different vortex states in 2-dimensional easy-plane magnets due to an ac magnetic field
Using a discrete model of 2-dimensional easy-plane classical ferromagnets, we
propose that a rotating magnetic field in the easy plane can switch a vortex
from one polarization to the opposite one if the amplitude exceeds a threshold
value, but the backward process does not occur. Such switches are indeed
observed in computer simulations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Criticality of natural absorbing states
We study a recently introduced ladder model which undergoes a transition
between an active and an infinitely degenerate absorbing phase. In some cases
the critical behaviour of the model is the same as that of the branching
annihilating random walk with species both with and without hard-core
interaction. We show that certain static characteristics of the so-called
natural absorbing states develop power law singularities which signal the
approach of the critical point. These results are also explained using random
walk arguments. In addition to that we show that when dynamics of our model is
considered as a minimum finding procedure, it has the best efficiency very
close to the critical point.Comment: 6 page
Edge Density Characterization Close to the Greenwald Density Limit with the Closed Divertor in ASDEX Upgrade
Counting Lattice Animals in High Dimensions
We present an implementation of Redelemeier's algorithm for the enumeration
of lattice animals in high dimensional lattices. The implementation is lean and
fast enough to allow us to extend the existing tables of animal counts,
perimeter polynomials and series expansion coefficients in -dimensional
hypercubic lattices for . From the data we compute formulas
for perimeter polynomials for lattice animals of size in arbitrary
dimension . When amended by combinatorial arguments, the new data suffices
to yield explicit formulas for the number of lattice animals of size
and arbitrary . We also use the enumeration data to compute numerical
estimates for growth rates and exponents in high dimensions that agree very
well with Monte Carlo simulations and recent predictions from field theory.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables; journal versio
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