A introduction to particle filtering is discussed starting with an overview of Bayesian inference from batch to sequential processors. Once the evolving Bayesian paradigm is established, simulation-based methods using sampling theory and Monte Carlo realizations are discussed. Here the usual limitations of nonlinear approximations and non-gaussian processes prevalent in classical nonlinear processing algorithms (e.g. Kalman filters) are no longer a restriction to perform Bayesian inference. It is shown how the underlying hidden or state variables are easily assimilated into this Bayesian construct. Importance sampling methods are then discussed and shown how they can be extended to sequential solutions implemented using Markovian state-space models as a natural evolution. With this in mind, the idea of a particle filter, which is a discrete representation of a probability distribution, is developed and shown how it can be implemented using sequential importance sampling/resampling methods. Finally, an application is briefly discussed comparing the performance of the particle filter designs with classical nonlinear filter implementations.

None

None

None

None

In this paper we report on strangeness measurements in p+p, Au+Au and Cu+Cu collisions at different energies in the STAR detector at RHIC. We will focus on two momentum regions in particular: Firstly we look at strangeness enhancement in A+A collisions with respect to p+p. These yields are dominated by low transverse momentum. We compare the enhancements from Au+Au and Cu+Cu data at {radical}s{sub NN} = 200 GeV with Pb+Pb data at {radical}s{sub NN} = 17.2 GeV and find that the enhancement does not scale with N{sub part} as expected, but rather scales with N{sub part}{sup 1/3}, where N{sub part} represents the number of participants; We then examine {Lambda}/K{sub S}{sup 0} ratios at intermediate transverse momentum in both Au+Au and Cu+Cu data where we find a greater enhancement in Cu+Cu compared to Au+Au data when we compare integrated ratios between 1.5 < p{sub T} < 3.5 GeV/c.

None

In this paper we report on electron beam lifetime measurements as a function of scraper position, RF voltage and bunch fill pattern in SPEAR3. We then outline development of an empirical, macroscopic model using the beam-loss rate equation. By identifying the dependence of loss coefficients on accelerator and beam parameters, a numerically-integrating simulator can be constructed to compute beam decay with time. In a companion paper, the simulator is used to train a parametric, non-linear dynamics model for the system [1].

Pillar detector is an innovative solid state device structure that leverages advanced semiconductor fabrication technology to produce a device for thermal neutron detection. State-of-the-art thermal neutron detectors have shortcomings in achieving simultaneously high efficiency, low operating voltage while maintaining adequate fieldability performance. By using a 3-dimensional silicon PIN diode pillar array filled with isotopic boron 10, ({sup 10}B) a high efficiency device is theoretically possible. The fabricated pillar structures reported in this work are composed of 2 {micro}m diameter silicon pillars with a 4 {micro}m pitch and pillar heights of 6 and 12 {micro}m. The pillar detector with a 12 {micro}m height achieved a thermal neutron detection efficiency of 7.3% at 2V.

Knowledge of the thermophysical properties of materials at extreme pressure and temperature conditions is essential for improving our understanding of many planetary and detonation processes. Significant gaps in what is known about the behavior of materials at high density and high temperature exist, largely due to the limitations and dangers of performing experiments at the necessary extreme conditions. Modeling these systems through the use of equations of state and particle-based simulation methods significantly extends the range of pressures and temperatures that can be safely studied. The reliability of such calculations depends on the accuracy of the models used. Here we present an assessment of the united-atom version of the TraPPE (Transferable Potentials for Phase Equilibria) force field and single-site exp-6 representations for methane, methanol, oxygen, and ammonia at extreme conditions. As shown by Monte Carlo simulations in the isobaric-isothermal ensemble, the TraPPE models, despite being parameterized to the vapor-liquid coexistence curve (i.e. relatively mild conditions), perform remarkably well in the high pressure/high temperature regime. The single-site exp-6 models can fit experimental data in the high pressure/temperature regime very well, but the parameters are less transferable to ambient conditions.

Desulfovibrio vulgaris ATCC 29579 is a well studied sulfate reducer that has known capabilities of reducing heavy metals and radionuclides, like chromium and uranium. Cultures grown in a defined medium (i.e. LS4D) had a lag period of approximately 40 h when exposed to 50 μMof Cr(VI). Substrate analysis revealed that although chromium is reduced within the first 5 h, growth does not resume for another 35 h. During this time, small amounts of lactate are still utilized but the reduction of sulfate does not occur. Sulfate reduction occurs concurrently with the accumulation of acetate approximately 40 h after inoculation, when growth resumes. Similar amounts of hydrogen are produced during this time compared to hydrogen production by cells not exposed to Cr(VI); therefore an accumulation of hydrogen cannot account for the utilization of lactate. There is a significant decrease in the carbohydrate to protein ratio at approximately 25 h, and this result indicated that lactate is not converted to glycogen. Most probable number analysis indicated that cell viability decreased steadily after inoculation and reached approximately 6 x 104 cells/ml 20 h post-chromium exposure. Regeneration of reducing conditions during chromium exposure does not induce growth and in fact may make the growth …

Understanding the influence of past land use changes on climate is needed to improve regional projections of future climate change and inform debates about the tradeoffs associated with land use decisions. The effects of rapid expansion of irrigated area in the 20th century has remained unclear relative to other land use changes, such as urbanization, that affected a similar total land area. Using spatial and temporal variations in temperature and irrigation extent observed in California, we show that irrigation expansion has had a large cooling effect on summertime average daily daytime temperatures (-0.15 to -0.25 C.decade{sup -1}), which corresponds to a cooling estimated at -2.0 - -3.3 C since the introduction of irrigation practice. Irrigation has negligible effects on nighttime temperatures, leading to a net cooling effect of irrigation on climate (-0.06 to -0.19 C.decade{sup -1}). Stabilization of irrigated area has occurred in California since 1980 and is expected in the near future for most irrigated regions. The suppression of past human-induced greenhouse warming by increased irrigation is therefore likely to slow in the future, and a potential decrease in irrigation may even contribute to a more rapid warming. Changes in irrigation alone are not expected to influence broadscale temperatures, …

If massive black holes (BHs) are ubiquitous in galaxies and galaxies experience multiple mergers during their cosmic assembly, then BH binaries should be common albeit temporary features of most galactic bulges. Observationally, the paucity of active BH pairs points toward binary lifetimes far shorter than the Hubble time, indicating rapid inspiral of the BHs down to the domain where gravitational waves lead to their coalescence. Here, we review a series of studies on the dynamics of massive BHs in gas-rich galaxy mergers that underscore the vital role played by a cool, gaseous component in promoting the rapid formation of the BH binary. The BH binary is found to reside at the center of a massive self-gravitating nuclear disc resulting from the collision of the two gaseous discs present in the mother galaxies. Hardening by gravitational torques against gas in this grand disc is found to continue down to sub-parsec scales. The eccentricity decreases with time to zero and when the binary is circular, accretion sets in around the two BHs. When this occurs, each BH is endowed with it own small-size ({approx}< 0.01 pc) accretion disc comprising a few percent of the BH mass. Double AGN activity is expected to …

We present a new cubic ({gamma}) Li{sub 3}N phase discovered above 40({+-}5) GPa. Structure and electronic bands are examined at high pressure with synchrotron x-ray diffraction and inelastic x-ray scattering in a diamond anvil cell, and also with first-principles calculations. We observe a dramatic band-gap widening and volume collapse at the phase transition. {gamma}-Li{sub 3}N remains extremely stable and ionic to 200 GPa, with predicted metallization near 8 TPa. The high structural stability, wide band-gap and simple electronic structure of {gamma}-Li{sub 3}N are analogous to that of such lower valence closed-shell solids as NaCl, MgO and Ne, meriting its use as a low-Z internal pressure standard.

Supicosecond x-ray pulses are routinely produced at ALS,BESSY and SLS with slicing technique and used in pump-probe experimentswith controlled delay between laser pump pulses and x-ray probe pulses.New development aiming for a production of a subpicosecond x-ray pulsesusing rf orbit deflection technique is under way at APS. Both techniqueswill be reviewed here.

We compare four algorithms from the latest LAPACK 3.1 release for computing eigenpairs of a symmetric tridiagonal matrix. These include QR iteration, bisection and inverse iteration (BI), the Divide-and-Conquer method (DC), and the method of Multiple Relatively Robust Representations (MR). Our evaluation considers speed and accuracy when computing all eigenpairs, and additionally subset computations. Using a variety of carefully selected test problems, our study includes a variety of today's computer architectures. Our conclusions can be summarized as follows. (1) DC and MR are generally much faster than QR and BI on large matrices. (2) MR almost always does the fewest floating point operations, but at a lower MFlop rate than all the other algorithms. (3) The exact performance of MR and DC strongly depends on the matrix at hand. (4) DC and QR are the most accurate algorithms with observed accuracy O({radical}ne). The accuracy of BI and MR is generally O(ne). (5) MR is preferable to BI for subset computations.

Various internal defects, such as Te inclusions, twin boundaries, dislocation, etc., are prevalent in as-grown CdZnTe (CZT) crystals, which affect the charge transport properties of CZT crystals and, therefore, worsen the performance of CZT detectors. In order to develop high quality CZT detectors, it is imperative to clarify the effects of internal defects on the charge transport properties of CZT. Simple flood illumination with nuclear radiation source cannot reveal the nature of highly localized defects in CZT. Therefore, at Brookhaven's National Synchrotron Light Source (NSLS), we have developed a unique testing system for micro-scale defect investigation of CZT, which employs an X-ray beam collimated with the spatial resolution as small as 3 x 3 {micro}m{sup 2}, a microscopic size comparable to the scale of common defects in CZT. This powerful tool enables us to investigate the effect of internal defects on charge transport properties of CZT in detail.

Direct imaging of exoplanets is limited by bright quasi-static speckles in the point spread function (PSF) of the central star. This limitation can be reduced by subtraction of reference PSF images. We have developed an algorithm to construct an optimal reference PSF image from an arbitrary set of reference images. This image is built as a linear combination of all available images and is optimized independently inside multiple subsections of the image to ensure that the absolute minimum residual noise is achieved within each subsection. The algorithm developed is completely general and can be used with many high contrast imaging observing strategies, such as angular differential imaging (ADI), roll subtraction, spectral differential imaging, reference star observations, etc. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated for ADI data. It is shown that for this type of data the new algorithm provides a gain in sensitivity by up 22 to a factor 3 at small separation over the algorithm previously used.

In this study, we investigated {gamma}H2AX{sup ser139} and 53BP1{sup ser25}, DNA damage pathway markers, to observe responses to radiation insult. Two Human Mammary Epithelial Cell (HMEC) lines were utilized to research the role of immortalization in DNA damage marker expression, HMEC HMT-3522 (S1) with an infinite lifespan, and a subtype of HMEC 184 (184V) with a finite lifespan. Cells were irradiated with 50 cGy X-rays, fixed with 4% paraformaldehyde after 1 hour repair at 37 C, and processed through immunofluorescence. Cells were visualized with a fluorescent microscope and images were digitally captured using Image-Pro Plus software. The 184V irradiated cells exhibited a more positive punctate response within the nucleus for both DNA damage markers compared to the S1 irradiated cells. We will expand the dose and time course in future studies to augment the preliminary data from this research. It is important to understand whether the process of transformation to immortalization compromises the DNA damage sensor and repair process proteins of HMECs in order to understand what is 'normal' and to evaluate the usefulness of cell lines as experimental models.

The evolution of dense aluminum and carbon plasmas produced by laser irradiation of 500 {micro}m diameter semi-cylindrical targets was studied using soft x-ray laser interferometry. Plasmas created heating the cavity walls with 120 picosecond duration optical laser pulses of {approx} 1 x 10{sup 12} W cm{sup -2} peak intensity were observed to expand and converge on axis to form a localized high density plasma region. Electron density maps were measured using a 46.9 nm wavelength tabletop capillary discharge soft x-ray laser probe in combination with an amplitude division interferometer based on diffraction gratings. The measurements show that the plasma density on axis exceeds 1 x 10{sup 20} cm{sup -3}. The electron density profiles are compared with simulations conducted using the hydrodynamic code HYDRA, which show that the abrupt density increase near the axis is dominantly caused by the convergence of plasma generated at the bottom of the groove during laser irradiation.

A synergistic approach involving experiment and first-principles theory not only shows that carbon nanostructures can be used as catalysts for hydrogen uptake and release in complex metal hydrides such as sodium alanate, NaAlH{sub 4}, but also provides an unambiguous understanding of how the catalysts work. The stability of NaAlH{sub 4} originates from the charge transfer from Na to the AlH{sub 4} moiety, resulting in an ionic bond between Na{sup +} and AlH{sub 4}{sup -} and a covalent bond between Al and H. Interaction of NaAlH{sub 4} with an electro-negative substrate such as carbon fullerene or nanotube affects the ability of Na to donate its charge to AlH{sub 4}, consequently weakening the Al-H bond and causing hydrogen to desorb at lower temperatures as well as facilitating the absorption of H{sub 2} to reverse the dehydrogenation reaction. Ab initio molecular dynamics simulation further reveals the time evolution of the charge transfer process with hydrogen desorption occurring when the charge transfer is complete.

Soft x-ray interferometry was used to measure the evolution of dense converging plasmas created by laser irradiation of 500 {micro}m diameter semi-cylindrical carbon targets. Optical laser pulses with an intensity of {approx} 1 x 10{sup 12} W cm{sup -2} and 120 ps duration were used to heat the surface of the cavities. The dense plasma formed expands from the walls converging slightly off the semi-cylinder's axis, giving rise to a bright localized high density plasma region. A sequence of electron density maps were measured using a 46.9 nm wavelength tabletop capillary discharge soft x-ray laser probe and a amplitude division interferometer based on diffraction gratings. The measured density profiles are compared with simulations conducted using the multi-dimensional hydrodynamic code HYDRA. The benchmarked model was then used to simulate particle trajectories which reveal that the increase in electron density near the axis is mainly the result of the convergence of plasma that originated at the bottom of the groove during laser irradiation.

The importance of microenvironment and context in regulation of tissue-specific genes is finally well established. DNA exposure to, or sequestration from, nucleases can be used to detect differences in higher order chromatin structure in intact cells without disturbing cellular or tissue architecture. To investigate the relationship between chromatin organization and tumor phenotype, we utilized an established 3-D assay where normal and malignant human breast cells can be easily distinguished by the morphology of the structures they make (acinus-like vs tumor-like, respectively). We show that these phenotypes can be distinguished also by sensitivity to AluI digestion where the malignant cells are resistant to digestion relative to non-malignant cells. Reversion of the T4-2 breast cancer cells by either cAMP analogs, or a phospatidylinositol 3-kinase (P13K) inhibitor not only reverted the phenotype, but also the chromatin sensitivity to AluI. By using different cAMP-analogs, we show that the cAMP-induced phenotypic reversion, polarization, and shift in DNA organization act through a cAMP-dependent-protein-kinase A-coupled signaling pathway. Importantly, inhibitory antibody to fibronectin also reverted the malignant phenotype, polarized the acini, and changed chromatin sequestration. These experiments show not only that modifying the tumor microenvironment can alter the organization of tumor cells but also that architecture of the …

None