Background-Modeling-Based Adaptive Prediction for Surveillance Video Coding.

PubMed

Zhang, Xianguo; Huang, Tiejun; Tian, Yonghong; Gao, Wen

2014-02-01

The exponential growth of surveillance videos presents an unprecedented challenge for high-efficiency surveillance video coding technology. Compared with the existing coding standards that were basically developed for generic videos, surveillance video coding should be designed to make the best use of the special characteristics of surveillance videos (e.g., relative static background). To do so, this paper first conducts two analyses on how to improve the background and foreground prediction efficiencies in surveillance video coding. Following the analysis results, we propose a background-modeling-based adaptive prediction (BMAP) method. In this method, all blocks to be encoded are firstly classified into three categories. Then, according to the category of each block, two novel inter predictions are selectively utilized, namely, the background reference prediction (BRP) that uses the background modeled from the original input frames as the long-term reference and the background difference prediction (BDP) that predicts the current data in the background difference domain. For background blocks, the BRP can effectively improve the prediction efficiency using the higher quality background as the reference; whereas for foreground-background-hybrid blocks, the BDP can provide a better reference after subtracting its background pixels. Experimental results show that the BMAP can achieve at least twice the compression ratio on surveillance videos as AVC (MPEG-4 Advanced Video Coding) high profile, yet with a slightly additional encoding complexity. Moreover, for the foreground coding performance, which is crucial to the subjective quality of moving objects in surveillance videos, BMAP also obtains remarkable gains over several state-of-the-art methods.

Background matching by means of dorsal color change in treefrog populations (Hyla japonica).

PubMed

Choi, Noori; Jang, Yikweon

2014-02-01

Treefrogs change dorsal coloration to match background colors, presumably for predator avoidance. Dorsal coloration in treefrogs results from rearrangement of pigment granules in dermal chromatophores. This physiological basis for color change suggests that brightness and chroma are the color components that may change in response to background color. However, results of experiments are conflicting in that there is no consensus as to which color component is critical for color change in treefrogs. We tested predictions of the physiological model for color change in treefrogs by investigating dorsal color change under five background colors in three different populations of the treefrog Hyla japonica. Differences in color components between background colors and frogs were used as a measure of background matching. Throughout a 1-week experimental period, brightness and chroma differences decreased monotonically, while hue difference remained constant for all background colors. Chroma differences were smaller with the natural colors such as green and brown than with achromatic colors. Moreover, variation in color change among frogs from three localities that differed in land cover suggested that chroma change capacity may be sensitive to environmental conditions. Under the white background color, however, decreasing brightness difference seemed to be crucial to background matching. Furthermore, chroma difference and brightness difference did not decrease indefinitely, suggesting a trade-off between chroma difference and brightness difference under the white background. Thus, background matching may generally occur by decreasing chroma difference under most background colors in H. japonica, but brightness matching may be important under the white color. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Readout circuit with novel background suppression for long wavelength infrared focal plane arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xie, L.; Xia, X. J.; Zhou, Y. F.; Wen, Y.; Sun, W. F.; Shi, L. X.

2011-02-01

In this article, a novel pixel readout circuit using a switched-capacitor integrator mode background suppression technique is presented for long wavelength infrared focal plane arrays. This circuit can improve dynamic range and signal-to-noise ratio by suppressing the large background current during integration. Compared with other background suppression techniques, the new background suppression technique is less sensitive to the process mismatch and has no additional shot noise. The proposed circuit is theoretically analysed and simulated while taking into account the non-ideal characteristics. The result shows that the background suppression non-uniformity is ultra-low even for a large process mismatch. The background suppression non-uniformity of the proposed circuit can also remain very small with technology scaling.

Effects of background stimulation upon eye-movement information.

PubMed

Nakamura, S

1996-04-01

To investigate the effects of background stimulation upon eye-movement information (EMI), the perceived deceleration of the target motion during pursuit eye movement (Aubert-Fleishl paradox) was analyzed. In the experiment, a striped pattern was used as a background stimulus with various brightness contrasts and spatial frequencies for serially manipulating the attributions of the background stimulus. Analysis showed that the retinal-image motion of the background stimulus (optic flow) affected eye-movement information and that the effects of optic flow became stronger when high contrast and low spatial frequency stripes were presented as the background stimulus. In conclusion, optic flow is one source of eye-movement information in determining real object motion, and the effectiveness of optic flow depends on the attributes of the background stimulus.

Electric line source illumination of a chiral cylinder placed in another chiral background medium

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aslam, M.; Saleem, A.; Awan, Z. A.

2018-05-01

An electric line source illumination of a chiral cylinder embedded in a chiral background medium is considered. The field expressions inside and outside of a chiral cylinder have been derived using the wave field decomposition approach. The effects of various chiral cylinders, chiral background media and source locations upon the scattering gain pattern have been investigated. It is observed that the chiral background reduces the backward scattering gain as compared to the free space background for a dielectric cylinder. It is also studied that by moving a line source away from a cylinder reduces the backward scattering gain for a chiral cylinder placed in a chiral background under some specific conditions. A unique phenomenon of reduced scattering gain has been observed at a specific observation angle for a chiral cylinder placed in a chiral background having an electric line source location of unity free space wavelength. An isotropic scattering gain pattern is observed for a chiral nihility background provided that if cylinder is chiral or chiral nihility type. It is also observed that this isotropic behaviour is independent of background and cylinder chirality.

[Effects of exposure frequency and background information on preferences for photographs of cars in different locations].

PubMed

Matsuda, Ken; Kusumi, Takashi; Hosomi, Naohiro; Osa, Atsushi; Miike, Hidetoshi

2014-08-01

This study examined the influence of familiarity and novelty on the mere exposure effect while manipulating the presentation of background information. We selected presentation stimuli that integrated cars and backgrounds based on the results of pilot studies. During the exposure phase, we displayed the stimuli successively for 3 seconds, manipulating the background information (same or different backgrounds with each presentation) and exposure frequency (3, 6, and 9 times). In the judgment phase, 18 participants judged the cars in terms of preference, familiarity, and novelty on a 7-point scale. As the number of stimulus presentations increased, the preference for the cars increased during the different background condition and decreased during the same background condition. This increased preference may be due to the increase in familiarity caused by the higher exposure frequency and novelty resulting from the background changes per exposure session. The rise in preference judgments was not seen when cars and backgrounds were presented independently. Therefore, the addition of novel features to each exposure session facilitated the mere exposure effect.

The perception of 3-D shape from shadows cast onto curved surfaces.

PubMed

Norman, J Farley; Lee, Young-lim; Phillips, Flip; Norman, Hideko F; Jennings, L RaShae; McBride, T Ryan

2009-05-01

In a natural environment, cast shadows abound. Objects cast shadows both upon themselves and upon background surfaces. Previous research on the perception of 3-D shape from cast shadows has only examined the informativeness of shadows cast upon flat background surfaces. In outdoor environments, however, background surfaces often possess significant curvature (large rocks, trees, hills, etc.), and this background curvature distorts the shape of cast shadows. The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which observers can "discount" the distorting effects of curved background surfaces. In our experiments, observers viewed deforming or static shadows of naturally shaped objects, which were cast upon flat and curved background surfaces. The results showed that the discrimination of 3-D object shape from cast shadows was generally invariant over the distortions produced by hemispherical background surfaces. The observers often had difficulty, however, in identifying the shadows cast onto saddle-shaped background surfaces. The variations in curvature which occur in different directions on saddle-shaped background surfaces cause shadow distortions that lead to difficulties in object recognition and discrimination.

A systematic analysis of the XMM-Newton background: III. Impact of the magnetospheric environment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ghizzardi, Simona; Marelli, Martino; Salvetti, David; Gastaldello, Fabio; Molendi, Silvano; De Luca, Andrea; Moretti, Alberto; Rossetti, Mariachiara; Tiengo, Andrea

2017-12-01

A detailed characterization of the particle induced background is fundamental for many of the scientific objectives of the Athena X-ray telescope, thus an adequate knowledge of the background that will be encountered by Athena is desirable. Current X-ray telescopes have shown that the intensity of the particle induced background can be highly variable. Different regions of the magnetosphere can have very different environmental conditions, which can, in principle, differently affect the particle induced background detected by the instruments. We present results concerning the influence of the magnetospheric environment on the background detected by EPIC instrument onboard XMM-Newton through the estimate of the variation of the in-Field-of-View background excess along the XMM-Newton orbit. An important contribution to the XMM background, which may affect the Athena background as well, comes from soft proton flares. Along with the flaring component a low-intensity component is also present. We find that both show modest variations in the different magnetozones and that the soft proton component shows a strong trend with the distance from Earth.

Multilingual Content Extraction Extended with Background Knowledge for Military Intelligence

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-06-01

extended with background knowledge (WordNet [Fel98], YAGO [SKW08]) so that new conclusions (logical inferences) can be drawn. For this purpose theorem...such formalized content is extended with background knowledge (WordNet, YAGO ) so that new conclusions (logical inferences) can be drawn. Our aim is to...External Knowledge Formulas Transformation FOLE MRS to FOLE WordNet OpenCyc ... YAGO Logical Calculation Knowledge Background Knowledge Axioms Background

Background characterization of an ultra-low background liquid scintillation counter

DOE PAGES

Erchinger, J. L.; Orrell, John L.; Aalseth, C. E.; ...

2017-01-26

The Ultra-Low Background Liquid Scintillation Counter developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will expand the application of liquid scintillation counting by enabling lower detection limits and smaller sample volumes. By reducing the overall count rate of the background environment approximately 2 orders of magnitude below that of commercially available systems, backgrounds on the order of tens of counts per day over an energy range of ~3–3600 keV can be realized. Finally, initial test results of the ULB LSC show promising results for ultra-low background detection with liquid scintillation counting.

Judgments of aircraft noise in a traffic noise background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Powell, C. A.; Rice, C. G.

1975-01-01

An investigation was conducted to determine subjective response to aircraft noise in different road traffic backgrounds. In addition, two laboratory techniques for presenting the aircraft noise with the background noise were evaluated. For one technique, the background noise was continuous over an entire test session; for the other, the background noise level was changed with each aircraft noise during a session. Subjective response to aircraft noise was found to decrease with increasing background noise level, for a range of typical indoor noise levels. Subjective response was found to be highly correlated with the Noise Pollution Level (NPL) measurement scale.

Unsupervised background-constrained tank segmentation of infrared images in complex background based on the Otsu method.

PubMed

Zhou, Yulong; Gao, Min; Fang, Dan; Zhang, Baoquan

2016-01-01

In an effort to implement fast and effective tank segmentation from infrared images in complex background, the threshold of the maximum between-class variance method (i.e., the Otsu method) is analyzed and the working mechanism of the Otsu method is discussed. Subsequently, a fast and effective method for tank segmentation from infrared images in complex background is proposed based on the Otsu method via constraining the complex background of the image. Considering the complexity of background, the original image is firstly divided into three classes of target region, middle background and lower background via maximizing the sum of their between-class variances. Then, the unsupervised background constraint is implemented based on the within-class variance of target region and hence the original image can be simplified. Finally, the Otsu method is applied to simplified image for threshold selection. Experimental results on a variety of tank infrared images (880 × 480 pixels) in complex background demonstrate that the proposed method enjoys better segmentation performance and even could be comparative with the manual segmentation in segmented results. In addition, its average running time is only 9.22 ms, implying the new method with good performance in real time processing.

Context-dependent effects of background colour in free recall with spatially grouped words.

PubMed

Sakai, Tetsuya; Isarida, Toshiko K; Isarida, Takeo

2010-10-01

Three experiments investigated context-dependent effects of background colour in free recall with groups of items. Undergraduates (N=113) intentionally studied 24 words presented in blocks of 6 on a computer screen with two different background colours. The two background colours were changed screen-by-screen randomly (random condition) or alternately (alternation condition) during the study period. A 30-second filled retention interval was imposed before an oral free-recall test. A signal for free recall was presented throughout the test on one of the colour background screens presented at study. Recalled words were classified as same- or different-context words according to whether the background colours at study and test were the same or different. The random condition produced significant context-dependent effects, whereas the alternation condition showed no context-dependent effects, regardless of whether the words were presented once or twice. Furthermore, the words presented on the same screen were clustered in recall, whereas the words presented against the same background colour but on different screens were not clustered. The present results imply: (1) background colours can cue spatially massed words; (2) background colours act as temporally local context; and (3) predictability of the next background colour modulates the context-dependent effect.

Raman background photobleaching as a possible method of cancer diagnostics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandt, Nikolai N.; Brandt, Nikolai B.; Chikishev, Andrey Y.; Gangardt, Mihail G.; Karyakina, Nina F.

2001-06-01

Kinetics of photobleaching of background in Raman spectra of aqueous solutions of plant toxins ricin and ricin agglutinin, ricin binding subunit, and normal and malignant human blood serum were measured. For the excitation of the spectra cw and pulsed laser radiation were used. The spectra of Raman background change upon laser irradiation. Background intensity is lower for the samples with small molecular weight. The cyclization of amino acid residues in the toxin molecules as well as in human blood serum can be a reason of the Raman background. The model of the background photobleaching is proposed. The differences in photobleaching kinetics in the cases of cw and pulsed laser radiation are discussed. It is shown that Raman background photobleaching can be very informative for cancer diagnostics.

Calculating background levels for ecological risk parameters in toxic harbor sediment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Leadon, C.J.; McDonnell, T.R.; Lear, J.; Barclift, D.

2007-01-01

Establishing background levels for biological parameters is necessary in assessing the ecological risks from harbor sediment contaminated with toxic chemicals. For chemicals in sediment, the term contaminated is defined as having concentrations above background and significant human health or ecological risk levels. For biological parameters, a site could be considered contaminated if levels of the parameter are either more or less than the background level, depending on the specific parameter. Biological parameters can include tissue chemical concentrations in ecological receptors, bioassay responses, bioaccumulation levels, and benthic community metrics. Chemical parameters can include sediment concentrations of a variety of potentially toxic chemicals. Indirectly, contaminated harbor sediment can impact shellfish, fish, birds, and marine mammals, and human populations. This paper summarizes the methods used to define background levels for chemical and biological parameters from a survey of ecological risk investigations of marine harbor sediment at California Navy bases. Background levels for regional biological indices used to quantify ecological risks for benthic communities are also described. Generally, background stations are positioned in relatively clean areas exhibiting the same physical and general chemical characteristics as nearby areas with contaminated harbor sediment. The number of background stations and the number of sample replicates per background station depend on the statistical design of the sediment ecological risk investigation, developed through the data quality objective (DQO) process. Biological data from the background stations can be compared to data from a contaminated site by using minimum or maximum background levels or comparative statistics. In Navy ecological risk assessments (ERA's), calculated background levels and appropriate ecological risk screening criteria are used to identify sampling stations and sites with contaminated sediments.

Investigation of the Effects of Facility Background Pressure on the Performance and Voltage-Current Characteristics of the High Voltage Hall Accelerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamhawi, Hani; Huang, Wensheng; Haag, Thomas; Spektor, Rostislav

2014-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate In-Space Propulsion Technology office is sponsoring NASA Glenn Research Center to develop a 4 kW-class Hall thruster propulsion system for implementation in NASA science missions. A study was conducted to assess the impact of varying the facility background pressure on the High Voltage Hall Accelerator (HiVHAc) thruster performance and voltage-current characteristics. This present study evaluated the HiVHAc thruster performance in the lowest attainable background pressure condition at NASA GRC Vacuum Facility 5 to best simulate space-like conditions. Additional tests were performed at selected thruster operating conditions to investigate and elucidate the underlying physics that change during thruster operation at elevated facility background pressure. Tests were performed at background pressure conditions that are three and ten times higher than the lowest realized background pressure. Results indicated that the thruster discharge specific impulse and efficiency increased with elevated facility background pressure. The voltage-current profiles indicated a narrower stable operating region with increased background pressure. Experimental observations of the thruster operation indicated that increasing the facility background pressure shifted the ionization and acceleration zones upstream towards the thruster's anode. Future tests of the HiVHAc thruster are planned at background pressure conditions that are expected to be two to three times lower than what was achieved during this test campaign. These tests will not only assess the impact of reduced facility background pressure on thruster performance, voltage-current characteristics, and plume properties; but will also attempt to quantify the magnitude of the ionization and acceleration zones upstream shifting as a function of increased background pressure.

40 CFR 1065.667 - Dilution air background emission correction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Calculations and Data Requirements § 1065.667 Dilution air background emission correction. (a) To determine the mass of background emissions to subtract... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Dilution air background emission...

40 CFR 1065.667 - Dilution air background emission correction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Calculations and Data Requirements § 1065.667 Dilution air background emission correction. (a) To determine the mass of background emissions to subtract... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Dilution air background emission...

40 CFR 1065.667 - Dilution air background emission correction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Calculations and Data Requirements § 1065.667 Dilution air background emission correction. (a) To determine the mass of background emissions to subtract... 40 Protection of Environment 32 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Dilution air background emission...

40 CFR 1065.667 - Dilution air background emission correction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Calculations and Data Requirements § 1065.667 Dilution air background emission correction. (a) To determine the mass of background emissions to subtract... 40 Protection of Environment 33 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Dilution air background emission...

40 CFR 1065.667 - Dilution air background emission correction.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) AIR POLLUTION CONTROLS ENGINE-TESTING PROCEDURES Calculations and Data Requirements § 1065.667 Dilution air background emission correction. (a) To determine the mass of background emissions to subtract... 40 Protection of Environment 34 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Dilution air background emission...

First measurement of surface nuclear recoil background for argon dark matter searches

DOE PAGES

Xu, Jingke; Stanford, Chris; Westerdale, Shawn; ...

2017-09-19

Here, one major background in direct searches for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) comes from the deposition of radon progeny on detector surfaces. A dangerous surface background is the 206Pb nuclear recoils produced by 210Po decays. In this paper, we report the first characterization of this background in liquid argon. The scintillation signal of low energy Pb recoils is measured to be highly quenched in argon, and we estimate that the 103 keV 206Pb recoil background will produce a signal equal to that of a ~5 keV (30 keV) electron recoil ( 40Ar recoil). In addition, we demonstrate that thismore » dangerous 210Po surface background can be suppressed, using pulse shape discrimination methods, by a factor of ~100 or higher, which can make argon dark matter detectors near background-free and enhance their potential for discovery of medium- and high-mass WIMPs. Lastly, we also discuss the impact on other low background experiments.« less

Characterizing the Background Corona with SDO/AIA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Napier, Kate; Alexander, Caroline; Winebarger, Amy

2014-01-01

Characterizing the nature of the solar coronal background would enable scientists to more accurately determine plasma parameters, and may lead to a better understanding of the coronal heating problem. Because scientists study the 3D structure of the Sun in 2D, any line-of-sight includes both foreground and background material, and thus, the issue of background subtraction arises. By investigating the intensity values in and around an active region, using multiple wavelengths collected from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) over an eight-hour period, this project aims to characterize the background as smooth or structured. Different methods were employed to measure the true coronal background and create minimum intensity images. These were then investigated for the presence of structure. The background images created were found to contain long-lived structures, including coronal loops, that were still present in all of the wavelengths, 131, 171, 193, 211, and 335 A. The intensity profiles across the active region indicate that the background is much more structured than previously thought.

Development of criteria used to establish a background environmental monitoring station

DOE PAGES

Fritz, Brad G.; Barnett, J. Matthew; Snyder, Sandra F.; ...

2015-03-02

It is generally considered necessary to measure concentrations of contaminants-of-concern at a background location when conducting atmospheric environmental surveillance. This is because it is recognized that measurements of background concentrations can enhance interpretation of environmental monitoring data. Despite the recognized need for background measurements, there is little published guidance available that describes how to identify an appropriate atmospheric background monitoring location. This paper develops generic criteria that can guide the decision making process for identifying suitable locations for background atmospheric monitoring station. Detailed methods for evaluating some of these criteria are also provided and a case study for establishment ofmore » an atmospheric background surveillance station as part of an environmental surveillance program is described. While the case study focuses on monitoring for radionuclides, the approach is equally valid for any airborne constituent being monitored. The case study shows that implementation of the developed criteria can result in a good, defensible choice for a background atmospheric monitoring location.« less

Comparison of backgrounds in OSO-7 and SMM spectrometers and short-term activation in SMM

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dunphy, P. P.; Forrest, D. J.; Chupp, E. L.; Share, G. H.

1989-01-01

The backgrounds in the OSO-7 Gamma-Ray Monitor and the Solar Maximum Mission Gamma-Ray Spectrometer are compared. After scaling to the same volume, the background spectra agree to within 30 percent. This shows that analyses which successfully describe the background in one detector can be applied to similar detectors of different sizes and on different platforms. The background produced in the SMM spectrometer by a single trapped-radiation belt passage is also studied. This background is found to be dominated by a positron-annihilation line and a continuum spectrum with a high energy cutoff at 5 MeV.

Advanced Background Subtraction Applied to Aeroacoustic Wind Tunnel Testing

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bahr, Christopher J.; Horne, William C.

2015-01-01

An advanced form of background subtraction is presented and applied to aeroacoustic wind tunnel data. A variant of this method has seen use in other fields such as climatology and medical imaging. The technique, based on an eigenvalue decomposition of the background noise cross-spectral matrix, is robust against situations where isolated background auto-spectral levels are measured to be higher than levels of combined source and background signals. It also provides an alternate estimate of the cross-spectrum, which previously might have poor definition for low signal-to-noise ratio measurements. Simulated results indicate similar performance to conventional background subtraction when the subtracted spectra are weaker than the true contaminating background levels. Superior performance is observed when the subtracted spectra are stronger than the true contaminating background levels. Experimental results show limited success in recovering signal behavior for data where conventional background subtraction fails. They also demonstrate the new subtraction technique's ability to maintain a proper coherence relationship in the modified cross-spectral matrix. Beam-forming and de-convolution results indicate the method can successfully separate sources. Results also show a reduced need for the use of diagonal removal in phased array processing, at least for the limited data sets considered.

Optimal background matching camouflage.

PubMed

Michalis, Constantine; Scott-Samuel, Nicholas E; Gibson, David P; Cuthill, Innes C

2017-07-12

Background matching is the most familiar and widespread camouflage strategy: avoiding detection by having a similar colour and pattern to the background. Optimizing background matching is straightforward in a homogeneous environment, or when the habitat has very distinct sub-types and there is divergent selection leading to polymorphism. However, most backgrounds have continuous variation in colour and texture, so what is the best solution? Not all samples of the background are likely to be equally inconspicuous, and laboratory experiments on birds and humans support this view. Theory suggests that the most probable background sample (in the statistical sense), at the size of the prey, would, on average, be the most cryptic. We present an analysis, based on realistic assumptions about low-level vision, that estimates the distribution of background colours and visual textures, and predicts the best camouflage. We present data from a field experiment that tests and supports our predictions, using artificial moth-like targets under bird predation. Additionally, we present analogous data for humans, under tightly controlled viewing conditions, searching for targets on a computer screen. These data show that, in the absence of predator learning, the best single camouflage pattern for heterogeneous backgrounds is the most probable sample. © 2017 The Authors.

Colour and pattern change against visually heterogeneous backgrounds in the tree frog Hyla japonica.

PubMed

Kang, Changku; Kim, Ye Eun; Jang, Yikweon

2016-03-02

Colour change in animals can be adaptive phenotypic plasticity in heterogeneous environments. Camouflage through background colour matching has been considered a primary force that drives the evolution of colour changing ability. However, the mechanism to which animals change their colour and patterns under visually heterogeneous backgrounds (i.e. consisting of more than one colour) has only been identified in limited taxa. Here, we investigated the colour change process of the Japanese tree frog (Hyla japonica) against patterned backgrounds and elucidated how the expression of dorsal patterns changes against various achromatic/chromatic backgrounds with/without patterns. Our main findings are i) frogs primarily responded to the achromatic differences in background, ii) their contrasting dorsal patterns were conditionally expressed dependent on the brightness of backgrounds, iii) against mixed coloured background, frogs adopted intermediate forms between two colours. Using predator (avian and snake) vision models, we determined that colour differences against different backgrounds yielded perceptible changes in dorsal colours. We also found substantial individual variation in colour changing ability and the levels of dorsal pattern expression between individuals. We discuss the possibility of correlational selection on colour changing ability and resting behaviour that maintains the high variation in colour changing ability within population.

Effects of Socio-Economic Background Factors on Typewriting Speed and Accuracy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Erickson, Lawrence W.

The socioeconomic backgrounds of typewriting students as such backgrounds affect typewriting performance is evaluated in this research. There is convincing evidence that socioeconomic factors play a significant role in affecting typewriting performance. Students from low socioeconomic backgrounds are almost always associated with the poorest…

Issues and progress in determining background ozone and particle concentrations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pinto, J. P.

2011-12-01

Exposure to ambient ozone is associated with a variety of health outcomes ranging from mild breathing discomfort to mortality. For the purpose of health risk and policy assessments EPA evaluates the anthropogenic increase in ozone above background concentrations and has defined the North American (NA) background concentration of O3 as that which would occur in the U.S. in the absence of anthropogenic emissions of precursors in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. Monthly average NA background ozone has been used to evaluate health risks, but EPA and state air quality managers must also estimate day specific ozone background levels for high ozone episodes as part of urban scale photochemical modeling efforts to support ozone regulatory programs. The background concentration of O3 is of more concern than other air pollutants because it typically represents a much larger fraction of observed O3 than do the backgrounds of other criteria pollutants (particulate matter (PM), CO, NO2, SO2). NA background cannot be determined directly from ambient monitoring data because of the influence of NA precursor emissions on formation of ozone within NA. Instead, estimates of NA background O3 have been based on GEOS-Chem using simulations in which NA anthropogenic precursor emissions are zeroed out. Thus, modeled NA background O3 includes contributions from natural sources of precursors (including CH4, NMVOCs, NOx, and CO) everywhere in the world, anthropogenic sources of precursors outside of NA, and downward transport of O3 from the stratosphere. Although monitoring data cannot determine NA background directly, measurements by satellites, aircraft, ozonesondes and surface monitors have proved to be highly useful for identifying sources of background O3 and for evaluating the performance of the GEOS-Chem model. Model simulated NA background concentrations are strong functions of location and season with large inter-day variability and with values increasing with elevation and higher in spring than in summer, and tend to be highest in the Intermountain West during spring. Estimates of annual average NA and other background definitions that have been considered will be presented. Issues associated with modeling background concentrations for both health-risk assessments and for episodic regulatory air quality programs will be discussed, and proposals for new atmospheric measurements and model improvements needed to quantify more accurately background contributions to ozone will also be presented. The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Background suppression of infrared small target image based on inter-frame registration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ye, Xiubo; Xue, Bindang

2018-04-01

We propose a multi-frame background suppression method for remote infrared small target detection. Inter-frame information is necessary when the heavy background clutters make it difficult to distinguish real targets and false alarms. A registration procedure based on points matching in image patches is used to compensate the local deformation of background. Then the target can be separated by background subtraction. Experiments show our method serves as an effective preliminary of target detection.

Background sources at PEP

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lynch, H.; Schwitters, R.F.; Toner, W.T.

Important sources of background for PEP experiments are studied. Background particles originate from high-energy electrons and positrons which have been lost from stable orbits, ..gamma..-rays emitted by the primary beams through bremsstrahlung in the residual gas, and synchrotron radiation x-rays. The effect of these processes on the beam lifetime are calculated and estimates of background rates at the interaction region are given. Recommendations for the PEP design, aimed at minimizing background are presented. 7 figs., 4 tabs.

LArGe: active background suppression using argon scintillation for the Gerda 0ν β β -experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostini, M.; Barnabé-Heider, M.; Budjáš, D.; Cattadori, C.; Gangapshev, A.; Gusev, K.; Heisel, M.; Junker, M.; Klimenko, A.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Pelczar, K.; Schönert, S.; Smolnikov, A.; Zuzel, G.

2015-10-01

LArGe is a Gerda low-background test facility to study novel background suppression methods in a low-background environment, for future application in the Gerda experiment. Similar to Gerda, LArGe operates bare germanium detectors submersed into liquid argon (1 m^3, 1.4 tons), which in addition is instrumented with photomultipliers to detect argon scintillation light. The scintillation signals are used in anti-coincidence with the germanium detectors to effectively suppress background events that deposit energy in the liquid argon. The background suppression efficiency was studied in combination with a pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique using a BEGe detector for various sources, which represent characteristic backgrounds to Gerda. Suppression factors of a few times 10^3 have been achieved. First background data of LArGe with a coaxial HPGe detector (without PSD) yield a background index of (0.12-4.6)× 10^{-2} cts/(keV kg year) (90 % C.L.), which is at the level of Gerda Phase I. Furthermore, for the first time we monitor the natural ^{42}Ar abundance (parallel to Gerda), and have indication for the 2ν β β -decay in natural germanium. These results show the effectivity of an active liquid argon veto in an ultra-low background environment. As a consequence, the implementation of a liquid argon veto in Gerda Phase II is pursued.

Effects of Background Music on Objective and Subjective Performance Measures in an Auditory BCI.

PubMed

Zhou, Sijie; Allison, Brendan Z; Kübler, Andrea; Cichocki, Andrzej; Wang, Xingyu; Jin, Jing

2016-01-01

Several studies have explored brain computer interface (BCI) systems based on auditory stimuli, which could help patients with visual impairments. Usability and user satisfaction are important considerations in any BCI. Although background music can influence emotion and performance in other task environments, and many users may wish to listen to music while using a BCI, auditory, and other BCIs are typically studied without background music. Some work has explored the possibility of using polyphonic music in auditory BCI systems. However, this approach requires users with good musical skills, and has not been explored in online experiments. Our hypothesis was that an auditory BCI with background music would be preferred by subjects over a similar BCI without background music, without any difference in BCI performance. We introduce a simple paradigm (which does not require musical skill) using percussion instrument sound stimuli and background music, and evaluated it in both offline and online experiments. The result showed that subjects preferred the auditory BCI with background music. Different performance measures did not reveal any significant performance effect when comparing background music vs. no background. Since the addition of background music does not impair BCI performance but is preferred by users, auditory (and perhaps other) BCIs should consider including it. Our study also indicates that auditory BCIs can be effective even if the auditory channel is simultaneously otherwise engaged.

Sex and mathematical background as predictors of anxiety and self-efficacy in mathematics.

PubMed

Lussier, G

1996-12-01

Anxiety and self-efficacy in mathematics as a function of sex and mathematical background were investigated. This study employed an ex post facto 2 x 2 factorial design in which sex and mathematical background were classification variables. It was predicted that men would report lower anxiety scores and higher self-efficacy scores than women and that students with a high mathematical background would report lower anxiety scores and higher self-efficacy scores than those with a low background in mathematics. An interaction between sex and mathematical background was also predicted. 51 subjects were given the revised Mathematics Anxiety Scale and the Mathematics Self-efficacy Scale. Results supported the hypotheses with respect to background in mathematics for anxiety in mathematics, and all of the hypotheses were supported for self-efficacy in mathematics.

Synergic effects of 10°/s constant rotation and rotating background on visual cognitive processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

He, Siyang; Cao, Yi; Zhao, Qi; Tan, Cheng; Niu, Dongbin

In previous studies we have found that constant low-speed rotation facilitated the auditory cognitive process and constant velocity rotation background sped up the perception, recognition and assessment process of visual stimuli. In the condition of constant low-speed rotation body is exposed into a new physical state. In this study the variations of human brain's cognitive process under the complex condition of constant low-speed rotation and visual rotation backgrounds with different speed were explored. 14 university students participated in the ex-periment. EEG signals were recorded when they were performing three different cognitive tasks with increasing mental load, that is no response task, selective switch responses task and selec-tive mental arithmetic task. Rotary chair was used to create constant low-speed10/srotation. Four kinds of background were used in this experiment, they were normal black background and constant 30o /s, 45o /s or 60o /s rotating simulated star background. The P1 and N1 compo-nents of brain event-related potentials (ERP) were analyzed to detect the early visual cognitive processing changes. It was found that compared with task performed under other backgrounds, the posterior P1 and N1 latencies were shortened under 45o /s rotating background in all kinds of cognitive tasks. In the no response task, compared with task performed under black back-ground, the posterior N1 latencies were delayed under 30o /s rotating background. In the selec-tive switch responses task and selective mental arithmetic task, compared with task performed under other background, the P1 latencies were lengthened under 60o /s rotating background, but the average amplitudes of the posterior P1 and N1 were increased. It was suggested that under constant 10/s rotation, the facilitated effect of rotating visual background were changed to an inhibited one in 30o /s rotating background. Under vestibular new environment, not all of the rotating backgrounds accelerated the early process of visual cognition. There is a synergic effect between the effects of constant low-speed rotation and rotating speed of the background. Under certain conditions, they both served to facilitate the visual cognitive processing, and it had been started at the stage when extrastriate cortex perceiving the visual signal. Under the condition of constant low-speed rotation in higher cognitive load tasks, the rapid rotation of the background enhanced the magnitude of the signal transmission in the visual path, making signal to noise ratio increased and a higher signal to noise ratio is clearly in favor of target perception and recognition. This gave rise to the hypothesis that higher cognitive load tasks with higher top-down control had more power in counteracting the inhibition effect of higher velocity rotation background. Acknowledgements: This project was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 30670715) and National High Technology Research and Development Program of China (No.2007AA04Z254).

Investigation of the Effects of Facility Background Pressure on the Performance and Voltage-Current Characteristics of the High Voltage Hall Accelerator

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kamhawi, Hani; Huang, Wensheng; Haag, Thomas; Spektor, Rostislav

2014-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Science Mission Directorate In-Space Propulsion Technology office is sponsoring NASA Glenn Research Center to develop a 4 kW-class Hall thruster propulsion system for implementation in NASA science missions. A study was conducted to assess the impact of varying the facility background pressure on the High Voltage Hall Accelerator (HiVHAc) thruster performance and voltage-current characteristics. This present study evaluated the HiVHAc thruster performance in the lowest attainable background pressure condition at NASA GRC Vacuum Facility 5 to best simulate space-like conditions. Additional tests were performed at selected thruster operating conditions to investigate and elucidate the underlying physics that change during thruster operation at elevated facility background pressure. Tests were performed at background pressure conditions that are three and ten times higher than the lowest realized background pressure. Results indicated that the thruster discharge specific impulse and efficiency increased with elevated facility background pressure. The voltage-current profiles indicated a narrower stable operating region with increased background pressure. Experimental observations of the thruster operation indicated that increasing the facility background pressure shifted the ionization and acceleration zones upstream towards the thrusters anode. Future tests of the HiVHAc thruster are planned at background pressure conditions that are expected to be two to three times lower than what was achieved during this test campaign. These tests will not only assess the impact of reduced facility background pressure on thruster performance, voltage-current characteristics, and plume properties; but will also attempt to quantify the magnitude of the ionization.

Dental fear among children and adolescents in a multicultural population--a cross-sectional study.

PubMed

Fägerstad, Anida; Lundgren, Jesper; Arnrup, Kristina

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore dental fear in a multicultural population of child and adolescent dental patients, with background, gender, age, and socioeconomic status taken into account. A specific aim was to investigate whether the level of DF differed between patients with a non- Swedish background and patients with a Swedish background. In conjunction with a routine visit to the dental clinic, 301 patients (8-19 years old) assessed their dental fear on the Children's Fear Survey Schedule - Dental Subscale, using self-ratings. Following an interview protocol, patients' and their parents' country of birth, and parents' education and occupation/employment were registered. An interpreter was present when needed. Self-rated dental fear was almost equal among patients coming from a non-Swedish background and patients with a Swedish background. Girls scored higher than boys and younger children scored slightly higher compared to older children, but the pattern of dental fear variation was inconsistent. Socioeconomic status differed between the groups with a non-Swedish vs. a Swedish background, but no impact on dental fear was revealed. When children and adolescents with a non-Swedish vs. a Swedish background were modelled separately, female gender and younger age had an impact on dental fear only in the group with a Swedish background. No differences in dental fear were found between children and adolescents from non-Swedish vs. Swedish backgrounds. Dental fear variations according to gender and age were more pronounced in the group with a Swedish background compared to the group with a non-Swedish background. No impact of socioeconomic status could be revealed.

Strain Background Modifies Phenotypes in the ATP8B1-Deficient Mouse

PubMed Central

Vargas, Julie C.; Xu, Hongmei; Groen, Annamiek; Paulusma, Coen C.; Grenert, James P.; Pawlikowska, Ludmila; Sen, Saunak; Elferink, Ronald P. J. Oude; Bull, Laura N.

2010-01-01

Background Mutations in ATP8B1 (FIC1) underlie cases of cholestatic disease, ranging from chronic and progressive (progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis) to intermittent (benign recurrent intrahepatic cholestasis). The ATP8B1-deficient mouse serves as an animal model of human ATP8B1 deficiency. Methodology/Principal Findings We investigated the effect of genetic background on phenotypes of ATP8B1-deficient and wild-type mice, using C57Bl/6 (B6), 129, and (B6-129) F1 strain backgrounds. B6 background resulted in greater abnormalities in ATP8B1-deficient mice than did 129 and/or F1 background. ATP8B1-deficient pups of B6 background gained less weight. In adult ATP8B1-deficient mice at baseline, those of B6 background had lower serum cholesterol levels, higher serum alkaline phosphatase levels, and larger livers. After challenge with cholate-supplemented diet, these mice exhibited higher serum alkaline phosphatase and bilirubin levels, greater weight loss and larger livers. ATP8B1-deficient phenotypes in mice of F1 and 129 backgrounds are usually similar, suggesting that susceptibility to manifestations of ATP8B1 deficiency may be recessive. We also detected differences in hepatobiliary phenotypes between wild-type mice of differing strains. Conclusions/Significance Our results indicate that the ATP8B1-deficient mouse in a B6 background may be a better model of human ATP8B1 deficiency and highlight the importance of informed background strain selection for mouse models of liver disease. PMID:20126555

Dilatonic parallelizable NS-NS backgrounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kawano, Teruhiko; Yamaguchi, Satoshi

2003-08-01

We complete the classification of parallelizable NS-NS backgrounds in type II supergravity by adding the dilatonic case to the result of Figueroa-O'Farrill on the non-dilatonic case. We also study the supersymmetry of these parallelizable backgrounds. It is shown that all the dilatonic parallelizable backgrounds have sixteen supersymmetries.

Background subtraction for fluorescence EXAFS data of a very dilute dopant Z in Z + 1 host.

PubMed

Medling, Scott; Bridges, Frank

2011-07-01

When conducting EXAFS at the Cu K-edge for ZnS:Cu with very low Cu concentration (<0.04% Cu), a large background was present that increased with energy. This background arises from a Zn X-ray Raman peak, which moves through the Cu fluorescence window, plus the tail of the Zn fluorescence peak. This large background distorts the EXAFS and must be removed separately before reducing the data. A simple means to remove this background is described.

Characterization and Prediction of the SPI Background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Teegarden, B. J.; Jean, P.; Knodlseder, J.; Skinner, G. K.; Weidenspointer, G.

2003-01-01

The INTEGRAL Spectrometer, like most gamma-ray instruments, is background dominated. Signal-to-background ratios of a few percent are typical. The background is primarily due to interactions of cosmic rays in the instrument and spacecraft. It characteristically varies by +/- 5% on time scales of days. This variation is caused mainly by fluctuations in the interplanetary magnetic field that modulates the cosmic ray intensity. To achieve the maximum performance from SPI it is essential to have a high quality model of this background that can predict its value to a fraction of a percent. In this poster we characterize the background and its variability, explore various models, and evaluate the accuracy of their predictions.

Study of Background Rejection Systems for the IXO Mission.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Laurent, Philippe; Limousin, O.; Tatischeff, V.

2009-01-01

The scientific performances of the IXO mission will necessitate a very low detector background level. This will imply thorough background simulations, and efficient background rejection systems. It necessitates also a very good knowledge of the detectors to be shielded. In APC, Paris, and CEA, Saclay, we got experience on these activities by conceiving and optimising in parallel the high energy detector and the active and passive background rejection system of the Simbol-X mission. Considering that this work may be naturally extended to other X-ray missions, we have initiated with CNES a R&D project on the study of background rejection systems mainly in view the IXO project. We will detail this activity in the poster.

Review of approaches to the recording of background lesions in toxicologic pathology studies in rats.

PubMed

McInnes, E F; Scudamore, C L

2014-08-17

Pathological evaluation of lesions caused directly by xenobiotic treatment must always take into account the recognition of background (incidental) findings. Background lesions can be congenital or hereditary, histological variations, changes related to trauma or normal aging and physiologic or hormonal changes. This review focuses on the importance and correct approach to recording of background changes and includes discussion on sources of variability in background changes, the correct use of terminology, the concept of thresholds, historical control data, diagnostic drift, blind reading of slides, scoring and artifacts. The review is illustrated with background lesions in Sprague Dawley and Wistar rats. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Monte Carlo Simulations of Background Spectra in Integral Imager Detectors

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Armstrong, T. W.; Colborn, B. L.; Dietz, K. L.; Ramsey, B. D.; Weisskopf, M. C.

1998-01-01

Predictions of the expected gamma-ray backgrounds in the ISGRI (CdTe) and PiCsIT (Csl) detectors on INTEGRAL due to cosmic-ray interactions and the diffuse gamma-ray background have been made using a coupled set of Monte Carlo radiation transport codes (HETC, FLUKA, EGS4, and MORSE) and a detailed, 3-D mass model of the spacecraft and detector assemblies. The simulations include both the prompt background component from induced hadronic and electromagnetic cascades and the delayed component due to emissions from induced radioactivity. Background spectra have been obtained with and without the use of active (BGO) shielding and charged particle rejection to evaluate the effectiveness of anticoincidence counting on background rejection.

Effects of display characteristics and individual differences on preferences of VDT icon design.

PubMed

Shieh, Kong-King; Ko, Ya-Hsien

2005-04-01

This study explored the effects of display characteristics such as target/background color combination, single/simultaneous presentation, and individual differences by sex, and design specialty on preferences of VDT icon design. The results indicated black targets (black-on-white, black-on-yellow) and black backgrounds (red-on-black, yellow-on-black) were the most popular and white targets (white-on-red, white-on-black) and white backgrounds (blue-on-white, red-on-white) were the second most popular. As for the chromatic color combinations, yellow-on-blue was the most favored. Subjects rated color combinations under single presentation higher than those under simultaneous presentation. Women rated purplish targets and rated purplish and blue backgrounds higher than men. Subjects with design background favored black more either as a target or background, but they favored turquoise less than those without design background.

Effects of background motion on eye-movement information.

PubMed

Nakamura, S

1997-02-01

The effect of background stimulus on eye-movement information was investigated by analyzing the underestimation of the target velocity during pursuit eye movement (Aubert-Fleishl paradox). In the experiment, a striped pattern with various brightness contrasts and spatial frequencies was used as a background stimulus, which was moved at various velocities. Analysis showed that the perceived velocity of the pursuit target, which indicated the magnitudes of eye-movement information, decreased when the background stripes moved in the same direction as eye movement at higher velocities and increased when the background moved in the opposite direction. The results suggest that the eye-movement information varied as a linear function of the velocity of the motion of the background retinal image (optic flow). In addition, the effectiveness of optic flow on eye-movement information was determined by the attributes of the background stimulus such as the brightness contrast or the spatial frequency of the striped pattern.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xu, Jingke; Stanford, Chris; Westerdale, Shawn

Here, one major background in direct searches for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) comes from the deposition of radon progeny on detector surfaces. A dangerous surface background is the 206Pb nuclear recoils produced by 210Po decays. In this paper, we report the first characterization of this background in liquid argon. The scintillation signal of low energy Pb recoils is measured to be highly quenched in argon, and we estimate that the 103 keV 206Pb recoil background will produce a signal equal to that of a ~5 keV (30 keV) electron recoil ( 40Ar recoil). In addition, we demonstrate that thismore » dangerous 210Po surface background can be suppressed, using pulse shape discrimination methods, by a factor of ~100 or higher, which can make argon dark matter detectors near background-free and enhance their potential for discovery of medium- and high-mass WIMPs. Lastly, we also discuss the impact on other low background experiments.« less

Extracting Optical Fiber Background from Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy Spectra Based on Bi-Objective Optimization Modeling.

PubMed

Huang, Jie; Shi, Tielin; Tang, Zirong; Zhu, Wei; Liao, Guanglan; Li, Xiaoping; Gong, Bo; Zhou, Tengyuan

2017-08-01

We propose a bi-objective optimization model for extracting optical fiber background from the measured surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS) spectrum of the target sample in the application of fiber optic SERS. The model is built using curve fitting to resolve the SERS spectrum into several individual bands, and simultaneously matching some resolved bands with the measured background spectrum. The Pearson correlation coefficient is selected as the similarity index and its maximum value is pursued during the spectral matching process. An algorithm is proposed, programmed, and demonstrated successfully in extracting optical fiber background or fluorescence background from the measured SERS spectra of rhodamine 6G (R6G) and crystal violet (CV). The proposed model not only can be applied to remove optical fiber background or fluorescence background for SERS spectra, but also can be transferred to conventional Raman spectra recorded using fiber optic instrumentation.

Evaluation of Background Exposures of Americans to Dioxin-Like Compounds in the 1990's and the 2000's

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s 2004 Dioxin Reassessment included a characterization of background exposures to dioxin-like compounds, including an estimate of an average background intake dose and an average background body burden. These quantities were derived from data generated in the m...

Flooding event impacts soil pH, Ca, and P concentration distribution in a cattle backgrounding site on karst topography.

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Beef cattle backgrounding in US, function as an intermediate between cow-calf enterprises and feedlot finishing. Beef cattle backgrounding receives weaned calves of different growth stages from cow-calf operations and prepare them ready for feed lot finishing. Many beef cattle backgrounding operati...

Urban and Rural College Students' Family Background and Their Participation in Student Organization: A Study in Guangzhou University

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hui, Liu; Min, Yang

2017-01-01

Based on the survey of "undergraduate family and educational background and freshman learning experience," a statistical analysis of Guangzhou University first-year undergraduate students' family backgrounds and participation in student organizational activities found a significant correlation between family background and the degree of…

Building and Activating Students' Background Knowledge: It's What They Already Know That Counts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fisher, Douglas; Frey, Nancy; Lapp, Diane

2012-01-01

Students enter the middle grades with varying amounts of background knowledge. Teachers must assess student background knowledge for gaps or misconceptions and then provide instruction to build on that base. This article discusses effective strategies for assessing and developing students' background knowledge so they can become independent…

TIMSS 2011 User Guide for the International Database. Supplement 2: National Adaptations of International Background Questionnaires

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Foy, Pierre, Ed.; Arora, Alka, Ed.; Stanco, Gabrielle M., Ed.

2013-01-01

This supplement describes national adaptations made to the international version of the TIMSS 2011 background questionnaires. This information provides users with a guide to evaluate the availability of internationally comparable data for use in secondary analyses involving the TIMSS 2011 background variables. Background questionnaire adaptations…

Exploring Encoding and Retrieval Effects of Background Information on Text Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rawson, Katherine A.; Kintsch, Walter

2004-01-01

Two experiments were conducted (a) to evaluate how providing background information at test may benefit retrieval and (b) to further examine how providing background information prior to study influences encoding. Half of the participants read background information prior to study, and the other half did not. In each group, half were presented…

[PM₂.₅ Background Concentration at Different Directions in Beijing in 2013].

PubMed

Li, Yun-ting; Cheng, Niam-liang; Zhang, Da-wei; Sun, Rui-wen; Dong, Xin; Sun, Nai-di; Chen, Chen

2015-12-01

PM₂.₅, background concentration at different directions in 2013 in Beijing was analyzed combining the techniques of mathematical statistics, physical identification and numerical simulation (CMAQ4.7.1) as well as using monitoring data of six PM₂.₅ auto-monitoring sites and five meteorological sites in 2013. Results showed that background concentrations of PM₂.₅ at northwest, northeast, eastern, southeast, southern and southwest boundary sites were between 40.3 and 85.3 µg · m⁻³ in Beijing. From the lowest to the highest, PMPM₂.₅ background concentrations at different sites were: Miyun reservoir, Badaling, Donggaocun, Yufa, Yongledian and Liulihe. Background concentration of PM₂.₅ was the lowest under north wind, then under west wind, and significantly higher under south and east wind. Calculated PM₂.₅ background average concentrations were 6.5-27.9, 22.4-73.4, 67.2-91.7, 40.7-116.1 µg · m⁻³ respectively in different wind directions. Simulated PM₂.₅ background concentration showed a clear north-south gradient distribution and the surrounding area had a notable effect on the spatial distribution of PM₂.₅ background concentration in 2013 in Beijing.

[Symptoms, disease models and treatment experiences of patients in psychosomatic rehabilitation with and without a history of migration].

PubMed

Gruner, Andrea; Oster, Jörg; Müller, Gottfried; von Wietersheim, Jörn

2012-01-01

Previous studies have shown that psychosomatic rehabilitation treatments were less successful for patients with a migration background. These findings should be explored further with the help of interviews. The main aim of this study was to compare patients with and without a migration background with regards to social-demographic variables, disease model, symptoms, and the course and result of a psychosomatic rehabilitation treatment. 75 patients with and 75 without a migration background were analysed. Half-structured interviews were carried out at admission, discharge and three months after discharge from treatment. Patients with a migration background were "sicker" at the beginning of the rehabilitation. Especially men with a migration background benefit less from the treatment and often did not feel "at the right place" in the psychosomatic rehabilitation. Patients with a migration background have a more negative view of their work performance than patients without a migration background. Patient with a migration background should receive more information about psychosomatic disease models and different treatment methods prior to their rehabilitation therapy.

Characterizing the True Background Corona with SDO/AIA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Napier, Kate; Winebarger, Amy; Alexander, Caroline

2014-01-01

Characterizing the nature of the solar coronal background would enable scientists to more accurately determine plasma parameters, and may lead to a better understanding of the coronal heating problem. Because scientists study the 3D structure of the Sun in 2D, any line of sight includes both foreground and background material, and thus, the issue of background subtraction arises. By investigating the intensity values in and around an active region, using multiple wavelengths collected from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) over an eight-hour period, this project aims to characterize the background as smooth or structured. Different methods were employed to measure the true coronal background and create minimum intensity images. These were then investigated for the presence of structure. The background images created were found to contain long-lived structures, including coronal loops, that were still present in all of the wavelengths, 193 Angstroms,171 Angstroms,131 Angstroms, and 211 Angstroms. The intensity profiles across the active region indicate that the background is much more structured than previously thought.

Colour and pattern change against visually heterogeneous backgrounds in the tree frog Hyla japonica

PubMed Central

Kang, Changku; Kim, Ye Eun; Jang, Yikweon

2016-01-01

Colour change in animals can be adaptive phenotypic plasticity in heterogeneous environments. Camouflage through background colour matching has been considered a primary force that drives the evolution of colour changing ability. However, the mechanism to which animals change their colour and patterns under visually heterogeneous backgrounds (i.e. consisting of more than one colour) has only been identified in limited taxa. Here, we investigated the colour change process of the Japanese tree frog (Hyla japonica) against patterned backgrounds and elucidated how the expression of dorsal patterns changes against various achromatic/chromatic backgrounds with/without patterns. Our main findings are i) frogs primarily responded to the achromatic differences in background, ii) their contrasting dorsal patterns were conditionally expressed dependent on the brightness of backgrounds, iii) against mixed coloured background, frogs adopted intermediate forms between two colours. Using predator (avian and snake) vision models, we determined that colour differences against different backgrounds yielded perceptible changes in dorsal colours. We also found substantial individual variation in colour changing ability and the levels of dorsal pattern expression between individuals. We discuss the possibility of correlational selection on colour changing ability and resting behaviour that maintains the high variation in colour changing ability within population. PMID:26932675

Relationship between acceptance of background noise and hearing aid use

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nabelek, Anna K.; Burchfield, Samuel B.; Webster, Joanna D.

2003-04-01

Background noise produces complaints among hearing-aid users, however speech-perception-in-noise does not predict hearing-aid use. It is possible that hearing-aid users are complaining about the presence of background noise and not about speech perception. To test this possibility, acceptance of background noise is being investigated as a predictor of hearing-aid use. Acceptance of background noise is determined by having subjects select their most comfortable listening level (MCL) for a story. Next, speech-babble is added and the subjects select the maximum background noise level (BNL) which is acceptable while listening to and following the story. The difference between the MCL and the BNL is the acceptable noise level (ANL), all in dB. ANLs are being compared with hearing-aid use, subjective impressions of benefit (APHAB), speech perception in background noise (SPIN) scores, and audiometric data. Individuals who accept higher levels of background noise are more successful users than individuals who accept less background noise. Mean ANLs are 7.3 dB for full-time users (N=21), 12.6 dB for part-time users (N=44), and 13.8 dB for rejecters (N=17). ANLs are not related to APHAB, SPIN, or audiometric data. Results for about 120 subjects will be reported. [Work supported by NIDCD (NIH) RO1 DC 05018.

Association of Radon Background and Total Background Ionizing Radiation with Alzheimer's Disease Deaths in U.S. States.

PubMed

Lehrer, Steven; Rheinstein, Peter H; Rosenzweig, Kenneth E

2017-01-01

Exposure of the brain to ionizing radiation might promote the development of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Analysis of AD death rates versus radon background radiation and total background radiation in U.S. states. Total background, radon background, cosmic and terrestrial background radiation measurements are from Assessment of Variations in Radiation Exposure in the United States and Report No. 160 - Ionizing Radiation Exposure of the Population of the United States. 2013 AD death rates by U.S. state are from the Alzheimer's Association. Radon background ionizing radiation was significantly correlated with AD death rate in 50 states and the District of Columbia (r = 0.467, p = 0.001). Total background ionizing radiation was also significantly correlated with AD death rate in 50 states and the District of Columbia (r = 0.452, p = 0.001). Multivariate linear regression weighted by state population demonstrated that AD death rate was significantly correlated with radon background (β= 0.169, p < 0.001), age (β= 0.231, p < 0.001), hypertension (β= 0.155, p < 0.001), and diabetes (β= 0.353, p < 0.001). Our findings, like other studies, suggest that ionizing radiation is a risk factor for AD. Intranasal inhalation of radon gas could subject the rhinencephalon and hippocampus to damaging radiation that initiates AD. The damage would accumulate over time, causing age to be a powerful risk factor.

Constrained sampling experiments reveal principles of detection in natural scenes.

PubMed

Sebastian, Stephen; Abrams, Jared; Geisler, Wilson S

2017-07-11

A fundamental everyday visual task is to detect target objects within a background scene. Using relatively simple stimuli, vision science has identified several major factors that affect detection thresholds, including the luminance of the background, the contrast of the background, the spatial similarity of the background to the target, and uncertainty due to random variations in the properties of the background and in the amplitude of the target. Here we use an experimental approach based on constrained sampling from multidimensional histograms of natural stimuli, together with a theoretical analysis based on signal detection theory, to discover how these factors affect detection in natural scenes. We sorted a large collection of natural image backgrounds into multidimensional histograms, where each bin corresponds to a particular luminance, contrast, and similarity. Detection thresholds were measured for a subset of bins spanning the space, where a natural background was randomly sampled from a bin on each trial. In low-uncertainty conditions, both the background bin and the amplitude of the target were fixed, and, in high-uncertainty conditions, they varied randomly on each trial. We found that thresholds increase approximately linearly along all three dimensions and that detection accuracy is unaffected by background bin and target amplitude uncertainty. The results are predicted from first principles by a normalized matched-template detector, where the dynamic normalizing gain factor follows directly from the statistical properties of the natural backgrounds. The results provide an explanation for classic laws of psychophysics and their underlying neural mechanisms.

Mapping gravitational-wave backgrounds using methods from CMB analysis: Application to pulsar timing arrays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gair, Jonathan; Romano, Joseph D.; Taylor, Stephen; Mingarelli, Chiara M. F.

2014-10-01

We describe an alternative approach to the analysis of gravitational-wave backgrounds, based on the formalism used to characterize the polarization of the cosmic microwave background. In contrast to standard analyses, this approach makes no assumptions about the nature of the background and so has the potential to reveal much more about the physical processes that generated it. An arbitrary background can be decomposed into modes whose angular dependence on the sky is given by gradients and curls of spherical harmonics. We derive the pulsar timing overlap reduction functions for the individual modes, which are given by simple combinations of spherical harmonics evaluated at the pulsar locations. We show how these can be used to recover the components of an arbitrary background, giving explicit results for both isotropic and anisotropic uncorrelated backgrounds. We also find that the response of a pulsar timing array to curl modes is identically zero, so half of the gravitational-wave sky will never be observed using pulsar timing, no matter how many pulsars are included in the array. An isotropic, unpolarized and uncorrelated background can be accurately represented using only three modes, and so a search of this type will be only slightly more complicated than the standard cross-correlation search using the Hellings and Downs overlap reduction function. However, by measuring the components of individual modes of the background and checking for consistency with isotropy, this approach has the potential to reveal much more information. Each individual mode on its own describes a background that is correlated between different points on the sky. A measurement of the components that indicates the presence of correlations in the background on large angular scales would suggest startling new physics.

The Pedestrian Detection Method Using an Extension Background Subtraction about the Driving Safety Support Systems

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Muranaka, Noriaki; Date, Kei; Tokumaru, Masataka; Imanishi, Shigeru

In recent years, the traffic accident occurs frequently with explosion of traffic density. Therefore, we think that the safe and comfortable transportation system to defend the pedestrian who is the traffic weak is necessary. First, we detect and recognize the pedestrian (the crossing person) by the image processing. Next, we inform all the drivers of the right or left turn that the pedestrian exists by the sound and the image and so on. By prompting a driver to do safe driving in this way, the accident to the pedestrian can decrease. In this paper, we are using a background subtraction method for the movement detection of the movement object. In the background subtraction method, the update method in the background was important, and as for the conventional way, the threshold values of the subtraction processing and background update were identical. That is, the mixing rate of the input image and the background image of the background update was a fixation value, and the fine tuning which corresponded to the environment change of the weather was difficult. Therefore, we propose the update method of the background image that the estimated mistake is difficult to be amplified. We experiment and examines in the comparison about five cases of sunshine, cloudy, evening, rain, sunlight change, except night. This technique can set separately the threshold values of the subtraction processing and background update processing which suited the environmental condition of the weather and so on. Therefore, the fine tuning becomes possible freely in the mixing rate of the input image and the background image of the background update. Because the setting of the parameter which suited an environmental condition becomes important to minimize mistaking percentage, we examine about the setting of a parameter.

[Mental health in adolescents in Germany: A comparison with regard to migration background and country of origin].

PubMed

Brettschneider, Anna-Kristin; Hölling, H; Schlack, R; Ellert, U

2015-04-01

Many children and adolescents in Germany grow up in families with a migration background. Different cultural, religious, and linguistic backgrounds have an influence on their behavior in various ways. Health status can be affected both negatively and positively by a migration background. The aim of this study was to analyze associations between migration background and self-reported psychological problems. In addition, it was tested whether country of origin had a differential effect on the associations found. Because of its migration-specific approach, the baseline survey (2003-2006) of the nationwide German Health Interview and Examination Survey for Children and Adolescents (KiGGS) offers a solid basis for migrant-specific analyses. Self-reported mental health problems were assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), which was completed by 6,719 adolescents aged 11-17 years. Adolescents with a two-sided migration background (i.e., both parents) reported higher SDQ total difficulties scores compared with adolescents without a migration background (16.9 vs 11.5%) or those with a one-sided migration background (16.9 vs 11.3%). Adolescents with a Turkish background had higher odds (boys: OR 2.0; 95%CI 1.3-3.2; girls: OR 2.0; 95%CI 1.2-3.4) of reporting mental health problems than adolescents without a migration background. Also, girls with a migration background from Western Europe, the USA or Canada had higher odds (OR 2.2; 95%CI 1.3-3.6). In some cases, adjusting for socioeconomic status led to insignificant associations with regard to the country of origin. The findings underline the importance of migrant-specific and culture-sensitive prevention, which also takes the environment and culture-specific characteristics into account.

INTEGRAL/SPI γ-ray line spectroscopy. Response and background characteristics

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Diehl, Roland; Siegert, Thomas; Greiner, Jochen; Krause, Martin; Kretschmer, Karsten; Lang, Michael; Pleintinger, Moritz; Strong, Andrew W.; Weinberger, Christoph; Zhang, Xiaoling

2018-03-01

Context. The space based γ-ray observatory INTEGRAL of the European Space Agency (ESA) includes the spectrometer instrument "SPI". This is a coded mask telescope featuring a 19-element Germanium detector array for high-resolution γ-ray spectroscopy, encapsulated in a scintillation detector assembly that provides a veto for background from charged particles. In space, cosmic rays irradiate spacecraft and instruments, which, in spite of the vetoing detectors, results in a large instrumental background from activation of those materials, and leads to deterioration of the charge collection properties of the Ge detectors. Aim. We aim to determine the measurement characteristics of our detectors and their evolution with time, that is, their spectral response and instrumental background. These incur systematic variations in the SPI signal from celestial photons, hence their determination from a broad empirical database enables a reduction of underlying systematics in data analysis. For this, we explore compromises balancing temporal and spectral resolution within statistical limitations. Our goal is to enable modelling of background applicable to spectroscopic studies of the sky, accounting separately for changes of the spectral response and of instrumental background. Methods: We use 13.5 years of INTEGRAL/SPI data, which consist of spectra for each detector and for each pointing of the satellite. Spectral fits to each such spectrum, with independent but coherent treatment of continuum and line backgrounds, provides us with details about separated background components. From the strongest background lines, we first determine how the spectral response changes with time. Applying symmetry and long-term stability tests, we eliminate degeneracies and reduce statistical fluctuations of background parameters, with the aim of providing a self-consistent description of the spectral response for each individual detector. Accounting for this, we then determine how the instrumental background components change in intensities and other characteristics, most-importantly their relative distribution among detectors. Results: Spectral resolution of Ge detectors in space degrades with time, up to 15% within half a year, consistently for all detectors, and across the SPI energy range. Semi-annual annealing operations recover these losses, yet there is a small long-term degradation. The intensity of instrumental background varies anti-correlated to solar activity, in general. There are significant differences among different lines and with respect to continuum. Background lines are found to have a characteristic, well-defined and long-term consistent intensity ratio among detectors. We use this to categorise lines in groups of similar behaviour. The dataset of spectral-response and background parameters as fitted across the INTEGRAL mission allows studies of SPI spectral response and background behaviour in a broad perspective, and efficiently supports precision modelling of instrumental background.

Automated Knowledge Generation with Persistent Surveillance Video

DTIC Science & Technology

2008-03-26

5 2.1 Artificial Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.1.1 Formal Logic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 2.1.2...background of Artificial Intelligence and the reasoning engines that will be applied to generate knowledge from data. Section 2.2 discusses background on...generation from persistent video. 4 II. Background In this chapter, we will discuss the background of Artificial Intelligence, Semantic Web, image

22 CFR 96.53 - Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false Background studies on the child and consents in... United States (outgoing Cases) § 96.53 Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases. (a) The agency or person takes all appropriate measures to ensure that a child background study is...

22 CFR 96.53 - Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false Background studies on the child and consents in... United States (outgoing Cases) § 96.53 Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases. (a) The agency or person takes all appropriate measures to ensure that a child background study is...

22 CFR 96.53 - Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false Background studies on the child and consents in... United States (outgoing Cases) § 96.53 Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases. (a) The agency or person takes all appropriate measures to ensure that a child background study is...

22 CFR 96.53 - Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false Background studies on the child and consents in... United States (outgoing Cases) § 96.53 Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases. (a) The agency or person takes all appropriate measures to ensure that a child background study is...

22 CFR 96.53 - Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... 22 Foreign Relations 1 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Background studies on the child and consents in... United States (outgoing Cases) § 96.53 Background studies on the child and consents in outgoing cases. (a) The agency or person takes all appropriate measures to ensure that a child background study is...

Background photobleaching in raman spectra of aqueous solutions of plant toxins

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brandt, Nikolai N.; Chikishev, Andrey Y.; Tonevitsky, Alexander G.

2002-05-01

Kinetics of background photobleaching in Raman spectra of aqueous solutions of ricin, ricin agglutinin and ricin binding subunit were measured. It was found that the spectrum of Raman background changes upon laser irradiation. Background intensity is lower for the samples with lower molecular weight. Photobleaching is characterized by oscillations in the multi exponentially decaying intensity.

Tackling the Remaining Attainment Gap between Students with and without Immigrant Background: An Investigation into the Equivalence of SES Constructs

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lenkeit, Jenny; Caro, Daniel H.; Strand, Steve

2015-01-01

In England, students with immigrant background exhibit lower educational attainment than those without immigrant background. Family socioeconomic status (SES) helps explain differences in educational attainment, but a gap remains that differs in size for students with different immigrant backgrounds. While the explanatory repertoire for the…

--No Title--

Science.gov Websites

}table#result-list{font-family:arial;background-color:#fff;margin:10px 0 0 0;width:100%;text-align:left }table#result-list tr{cursor:pointer}table#result-list tr:hover{background-color:#eee}table#result-list -gradient{color:#fff;background:#6bad40;background:-moz-linear-gradient(top,#6bad40 0,#146c32 100

Cosmological backgrounds of gravitational waves and eLISA/NGO: phase transitions, cosmic strings and other sources

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Binétruy, Pierre; Dufaux, Jean-François; Bohé, Alejandro

We review several cosmological backgrounds of gravitational waves accessible to direct-detection experiments, with a special emphasis on those backgrounds due to first-order phase transitions and networks of cosmic (super-)strings. For these two particular sources, we revisit in detail the computation of the gravitational wave background and improve the results of previous works in the literature. We apply our results to identify the scientific potential of the NGO/eLISA mission of ESA regarding the detectability of cosmological backgrounds.

Double-modulation spectroscopy of molecular ions - Eliminating the background in velocity-modulation spectroscopy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lan, Guang; Tholl, Hans Dieter; Farley, John W.

1991-01-01

Velocity-modulation spectroscopy is an established technique for performing laser absorption spectroscopy of molecular ions in a discharge. However, such experiments are often plagued by a coherent background signal arising from emission from the discharge or from electronic pickup. Fluctuations in the background can obscure the desired signal. A simple technique using amplitude modulation of the laser and two lock-in amplifiers in series to detect the signal is demonstrated. The background and background fluctuations are thereby eliminated, facilitating the detection of molecular ions.

Radon-related Backgrounds in the LUX Dark Matter Search

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bradley, A.; Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.; Bai, X.; Bailey, A. J.; Balajthy, J.; Bernard, E.; Bernstein, A.; Byram, D.; Cahn, S. B.; Carmona-Benitez, M. C.; Chan, C.; Chapman, J. J.; Chiller, A. A.; Chiller, C.; Coffey, T.; Currie, A.; de Viveiros, L.; Dobi, A.; Dobson, J.; Druszkiewicz, E.; Edwards, B.; Faham, C. H.; Fiorucci, S.; Flores, C.; Gaitskell, R. J.; Gehman, V. M.; Ghag, C.; Gibson, K. R.; Gilchriese, M. G. D.; Hall, C.; Hertel, S. A.; Horn, M.; Huang, D. Q.; Ihm, M.; Jacobsen, R. G.; Kazkaz, K.; Knoche, R.; Larsen, N. A.; Lee, C.; Lindote, A.; Lopes, M. I.; Malling, D. C.; Mannino, R.; McKinsey, D. N.; Mei, D.-M.; Mock, J.; Moongweluwan, M.; Morad, J.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Nehrkorn, C.; Nelson, H.; Neves, F.; Ott, R. A.; Pangilinan, M.; Parker, P. D.; Pease, E. K.; Pech, K.; Phelps, P.; Reichhart, L.; Shutt, T.; Silva, C.; Solovov, V. N.; Sorensen, P.; O'Sullivan, K.; Sumner, T. J.; Szydagis, M.; Taylor, D.; Tennyson, B.; Tiedt, D. R.; Tripathi, M.; Uvarov, S.; Verbus, J. R.; Walsh, N.; Webb, R.; White, J. T.; Witherell, M. S.; Wolfs, F. L. H.; Woods, M.; Zhang, C.

The LUX detector is currently in operation at the Davis Campus at the 4850' level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD to directly search for WIMP dark matter. Knowing the type and rate of backgrounds is critical in a rare, low energy event search, and LUX was designed, constructed, and deployed to mitigate backgrounds, both internal and external. An important internal background are decays of radon and its daughters. These consist of alpha decays, which are easily tagged and are a tracer of certain backgrounds, and beta decays, some of which are not as readily tagged and present a background for the WIMP search. We report on studies of alpha decay and discuss implications for the WIMP search.

Probabilistic BPRRC: Robust Change Detection against Illumination Changes and Background Movements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yokoi, Kentaro

This paper presents Probabilistic Bi-polar Radial Reach Correlation (PrBPRRC), a change detection method that is robust against illumination changes and background movements. Most of the traditional change detection methods are robust against either illumination changes or background movements; BPRRC is one of the illumination-robust change detection methods. We introduce a probabilistic background texture model into BPRRC and add the robustness against background movements including foreground invasions such as moving cars, walking people, swaying trees, and falling snow. We show the superiority of PrBPRRC in the environment with illumination changes and background movements by using three public datasets and one private dataset: ATON Highway data, Karlsruhe traffic sequence data, PETS 2007 data, and Walking-in-a-room data.

Breathers and solitons on two different backgrounds in a generalized coupled Hirota system with four wave mixing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xu, Han-Xiang; Yang, Zhan-Ying; Zhao, Li-Chen; Duan, Liang; Yang, Wen-Li

2018-07-01

We study breathers and solitons on different backgrounds in optical fiber system, which is governed by generalized coupled Hirota equations with four wave mixing effect. On plane wave background, a transformation between different types of solitons is discovered. Then, on periodic wave background, we find breather-like nonlinear localized waves of which formation mechanism are related to the energy conversion between two components. The energy conversion results from four wave mixing. Furthermore, we prove that this energy conversion is controlled by amplitude and period of backgrounds. Finally, solitons on periodic wave background are also exhibited. These results would enrich our knowledge of nonlinear localized waves' excitation in coupled system with four wave mixing effect.

[Raman spectroscopy fluorescence background correction and its application in clustering analysis of medicines].

PubMed

Chen, Shan; Li, Xiao-ning; Liang, Yi-zeng; Zhang, Zhi-min; Liu, Zhao-xia; Zhang, Qi-ming; Ding, Li-xia; Ye, Fei

2010-08-01

During Raman spectroscopy analysis, the organic molecules and contaminations will obscure or swamp Raman signals. The present study starts from Raman spectra of prednisone acetate tablets and glibenclamide tables, which are acquired from the BWTek i-Raman spectrometer. The background is corrected by R package baselineWavelet. Then principle component analysis and random forests are used to perform clustering analysis. Through analyzing the Raman spectra of two medicines, the accurate and validity of this background-correction algorithm is checked and the influences of fluorescence background on Raman spectra clustering analysis is discussed. Thus, it is concluded that it is important to correct fluorescence background for further analysis, and an effective background correction solution is provided for clustering or other analysis.

Attitudes and Perceptions of Patients, Caregivers, and Health Care Providers toward Background Music in Patient Care Areas: An Exploratory Study

PubMed Central

Perez-Cruz, Pedro; Nguyen, Linh; Rhondali, Wadih; Hui, David; Palmer, J. Lynn; Sevy, Ingrid; Richardson, Michael

2012-01-01

Abstract Background Background music can be used to distract from ordinary sounds and improve wellbeing in patient care areas. Little is known about individuals' attitudes and beliefs about music versus ordinary sound in this setting. Objectives To assess the preferences of patients, caregivers and healthcare providers regarding background music or ordinary sound in outpatient and inpatient care areas, and to explore their attitudes and perceptions towards music in general. Methods All participants were exposed to background music in outpatient or inpatient clinical settings. 99 consecutive patients, 101 caregivers and 65 out of 70 eligible healthcare providers (93%) completed a survey about music attitudes and preferences. The primary outcome was a preference for background music over ordinary sound in patient care areas. Results Preference for background music was high and similar across groups (70 patients (71%), 71 caregivers (71%) and 46 providers (71%), p=0.58). The three groups had very low disapproval for background music in patient care areas (10%, 9% and 12%, respectively; p=0.91). Black ethnicity independently predicted lower preference for background music (OR: 0.47, 95%CI: 0.23, 0.98). Patients, caregivers and providers reported recent use of music for themselves for the purpose of enjoyment (69%, 80% and 86% respectively p=0.02). Age, gender, religion and education level significantly predicted preferences for specific music styles. Conclusion Background music in patient care areas was preferred to ordinary sound by patients, caregivers and providers. Demographics of the population are strong determinants of music style preferences. PMID:22957677

A Flexible Cosmic Ultraviolet Background Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McQuinn, Matthew

2016-10-01

HST studies of the IGM, of the CGM, and of reionization-era galaxies are all aided by ionizing background models, which are a critical input in modeling the ionization state of diffuse, 10^4 K gas. The ionization state in turn enables the determination of densities and sizes of absorbing clouds and, when applied to the Ly-a forest, the global ionizing emissivity of sources. Unfortunately, studies that use these background models have no way of gauging the amount of uncertainty in the adopted model other than to recompute their results using previous background models with outdated observational inputs. As of yet there has been no systematic study of uncertainties in the background model and there unfortunately is no publicly available ultraviolet background code. A public code would enable users to update the calculation with the latest observational constraints, and it would allow users to experiment with varying the background model's assumptions regarding emissions and absorptions. We propose to develop a publicly available ionizing background code and, as an initial application, quantify the level of uncertainty in the ionizing background spectrum across cosmic time. As the background model improves, so does our understanding of (1) the sources that dominate ionizing emissions across cosmic time and (2) the properties of diffuse gas in the circumgalactic medium, the WHIM, and the Ly-a forest. HST is the primary telescope for studying both the highest redshift galaxies and low-redshift diffuse gas. The proposed program would benefit HST studies of the Universe at z 0 all the way up to z = 10, including of high-z galaxies observed in the HST Frontier Fields.

On the time response of background obtained in γ-ray spectroscopy experiments using LaBr3(Ce) detectors with different shielding

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Régis, J.-M.; Dannhoff, M.; Jolie, J.; Müller-Gatermann, C.; Saed-Samii, N.

2016-03-01

Employing the γ-γ fast-timing technique with LaBr3(Ce) scintillator detectors allows the direct determination of lifetimes of nuclear excited states with a lower limit of about 5 ps. This limit is increased as soon as background is present in the coincidence spectra underneath the full-energy peaks of the γ-γ cascade. Our aim was to identify the components of the γ-ray background by systematic γ-γ fast-timing measurements using different types of γ shielding within a large γ-ray spectrometer. The energy dependent physical zero-time response was measured using background-free full-energy peak events from the 152Eu γ-ray source. This is compared with the time response of the (Compton-) background distribution as obtained using the prompt 60Co γ-ray source. The time response of the typical Compton background is about 15 ps faster than the time response of background-free full-energy peak events. Below about 500 keV, a second type of background contributes by the detection of Compton-scattered γ rays generated in the materials of the spectrometer around the detector. Due to the additional time-of-flight of the Compton-scattered γ rays, this low-energy background is largely delayed. Compared with a bare cylindrical 1.5 in . × 1.5 in . LaBr3(Ce) detector, the BGO-shielded detector in the Compton-suppression mode improves the peak-to-total ratio by a factor of 1.66(5), while the Pb-shielded detector only slightly reduces the low-energy background.

Colour preferences of juvenile turbot (Scophthalmus maximus).

PubMed

Li, Xian; Chi, Liang; Tian, Huiqin; Meng, Lingjie; Zheng, Jimeng; Gao, Xiaolong; Liu, Ying

2016-03-15

The background colour of aquaculture tanks is normally chosen based on practical experience and/or observations of fish behaviour and the growth rates achieved. However, some farmed species, including turbot, are sentient and can show a preference for a particular environment. In the current study, a self-referent colour preference device was developed and the self-referent colour preference of farmed fish investigated. In experiment 1, the background colour preference of juvenile turbot cultured under a grey background for >3months post-incubation was evaluated. Based on these results, in experiment 2, juvenile turbot were adapted to blue, pink, white, or black backgrounds for 50days and their preferences established. Meanwhile, the growth rates, feed intake, and metabolic rates (including oxygen consumption rate, and ammonia excretion rate) of the turbot were evaluated. The results showed that turbot farmed under a grey background, or after long-term white, blue, pink and black colour adaptation, always displayed a preference for a white background and a dislike for black, red, or brown backgrounds, although their body colour was greyish. Long-term adaptation influenced the frequency of juveniles selecting white, black, pink or blue backgrounds. They showed the highest growth rate, feed intake, and metabolic rates under blue and white backgrounds, and the lowest under a black background in accordance with their preferences shown in experiment 1. Although it is unclear how turbot determine their self-referent colour preferences over such a short period of time, these results indicate that dark colours are unsuitable for the aquaculture of turbot culture in terms of the welfare of the fish. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Olfactory cortical adaptation facilitates detection of odors against background.

PubMed

Kadohisa, Mikiko; Wilson, Donald A

2006-03-01

Detection and discrimination of odors generally, if not always, occurs against an odorous background. On any given inhalation, olfactory receptor neurons will be activated by features of both the target odorant and features of background stimuli. To identify a target odorant against a background therefore, the olfactory system must be capable of grouping a subset of features into an odor object distinct from the background. Our previous work has suggested that rapid homosynaptic depression of afferents to the anterior piriform cortex (aPCX) contributes to both cortical odor adaptation to prolonged stimulation and habituation of simple odor-evoked behaviors. We hypothesize here that this process may also contribute to figure-ground separation of a target odorant from background stimulation. Single-unit recordings were made from both mitral/tufted cells and aPCX neurons in urethan-anesthetized rats and mice. Single-unit responses to odorant stimuli and their binary mixtures were determined. One of the odorants was randomly selected as the background and presented for 50 s. Forty seconds after the onset of the background stimulus, the second target odorant was presented, producing a binary mixture. The results suggest that mitral/tufted cells continue to respond to the background odorant and, when the target odorant is presented, had response magnitudes similar to that evoked by the binary mixture. In contrast, aPCX neurons filter out the background stimulus while maintaining responses to the target stimulus. Thus the aPCX acts as a filter driven most strongly by changing stimuli, providing a potential mechanism for olfactory figure-ground separation and selective reading of olfactory bulb output.

Migration background is associated with caries in Viennese school children, even if parents have received a higher education

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background A low level of education and the migration background of parents are associated with the development of caries in children. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a higher educational level of parents can overcome risks for the development of caries in immigrants in Vienna, Austria. Methods The educational level of the parents, the school type, and the caries status of 736 randomly selected twelve-year-old children with and without migration background was determined in this cross sectional study. In children attending school in Vienna the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index was determined. For statistical analysis, a mixed negative-binomial-model was used. Results The caries status of the children with migration background was significantly worse compared to that of the native Viennese population. A significant interaction was found between migration background and the educational level of the parents (p = 0.045). No interaction was found between the school type and either the migration background (p = 0.220) or the education level of the parents (p = 0.08). In parents with a higher scholarly education level, migration background (p < 0.01) and school type (p = 0.018) showed an association with DMFT values. In parents with a low education level, however, migration background and school type had no significant association with DMFT values. Conclusion These data indicate that children with a migration background are at higher risk to acquire caries than other Viennese children, even when the parents have received a higher education. PMID:24886105

Inhibition of recombinase polymerase amplification by background DNA: a lateral flow-based method for enriching target DNA.

PubMed

Rohrman, Brittany; Richards-Kortum, Rebecca

2015-02-03

Recombinase polymerase amplification (RPA) may be used to detect a variety of pathogens, often after minimal sample preparation. However, previous work has shown that whole blood inhibits RPA. In this paper, we show that the concentrations of background DNA found in whole blood prevent the amplification of target DNA by RPA. First, using an HIV-1 RPA assay with known concentrations of nonspecific background DNA, we show that RPA tolerates more background DNA when higher HIV-1 target concentrations are present. Then, using three additional assays, we demonstrate that the maximum amount of background DNA that may be tolerated in RPA reactions depends on the DNA sequences used in the assay. We also show that changing the RPA reaction conditions, such as incubation time and primer concentration, has little effect on the ability of RPA to function when high concentrations of background DNA are present. Finally, we develop and characterize a lateral flow-based method for enriching the target DNA concentration relative to the background DNA concentration. This sample processing method enables RPA of 10(4) copies of HIV-1 DNA in a background of 0-14 μg of background DNA. Without lateral flow sample enrichment, the maximum amount of background DNA tolerated is 2 μg when 10(6) copies of HIV-1 DNA are present. This method requires no heating or other external equipment, may be integrated with upstream DNA extraction and purification processes, is compatible with the components of lysed blood, and has the potential to detect HIV-1 DNA in infant whole blood with high proviral loads.

Effect of background correction on peak detection and quantification in online comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography using diode array detection.

PubMed

Allen, Robert C; John, Mallory G; Rutan, Sarah C; Filgueira, Marcelo R; Carr, Peter W

2012-09-07

A singular value decomposition-based background correction (SVD-BC) technique is proposed for the reduction of background contributions in online comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography (LC×LC) data. The SVD-BC technique was compared to simply subtracting a blank chromatogram from a sample chromatogram and to a previously reported background correction technique for one dimensional chromatography, which uses an asymmetric weighted least squares (AWLS) approach. AWLS was the only background correction technique to completely remove the background artifacts from the samples as evaluated by visual inspection. However, the SVD-BC technique greatly reduced or eliminated the background artifacts as well and preserved the peak intensity better than AWLS. The loss in peak intensity by AWLS resulted in lower peak counts at the detection thresholds established using standards samples. However, the SVD-BC technique was found to introduce noise which led to detection of false peaks at the lower detection thresholds. As a result, the AWLS technique gave more precise peak counts than the SVD-BC technique, particularly at the lower detection thresholds. While the AWLS technique resulted in more consistent percent residual standard deviation values, a statistical improvement in peak quantification after background correction was not found regardless of the background correction technique used. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Preliminary investigation of the roles of military background and posttraumatic stress symptoms in frequency and recidivism of intimate partner violence perpetration among court-referred men.

PubMed

Hoyt, Tim; Wray, Alisha M; Rielage, Jennifer Klosterman

2014-04-01

Significant rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) perpetration have been identified among men with military backgrounds. Research indicates posttraumatic stress symptoms place military men at increased risk for IPV perpetration, but may be negatively associated with IPV among nonmilitary samples. However, no previous studies have directly compared court-referred IPV offenders with and without military experience, which may have clinical implications if posttraumatic stress symptoms are differentially associated with IPV perpetration across these two samples. Twenty court-referred IPV offenders with military background were demographically matched with 40 court-referred IPV offenders without military background. As anticipated, self- and partner-report of physically assaultive acts and injurious acts during baseline assessment showed significantly greater physical assault and injury perpetrated by offenders with military background. However, 1-year follow-up data on convictions indicated a significantly lower rate of recidivism among offenders with military background than among nonmilitary offenders. As hypothesized, symptoms of posttraumatic stress at intake showed a significant positive correlation with IPV perpetration among offenders with military background; however, this relationship showed a negative correlation among offenders without military background. Clinical implications are discussed including treatment avenues, such as Veterans Courts and other incarceration diversion programs, which may be particularly appropriate for offenders with military backgrounds.

Latent variable method for automatic adaptation to background states in motor imagery BCI

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dagaev, Nikolay; Volkova, Ksenia; Ossadtchi, Alexei

2018-02-01

Objective. Brain-computer interface (BCI) systems are known to be vulnerable to variabilities in background states of a user. Usually, no detailed information on these states is available even during the training stage. Thus there is a need in a method which is capable of taking background states into account in an unsupervised way. Approach. We propose a latent variable method that is based on a probabilistic model with a discrete latent variable. In order to estimate the model’s parameters, we suggest to use the expectation maximization algorithm. The proposed method is aimed at assessing characteristics of background states without any corresponding data labeling. In the context of asynchronous motor imagery paradigm, we applied this method to the real data from twelve able-bodied subjects with open/closed eyes serving as background states. Main results. We found that the latent variable method improved classification of target states compared to the baseline method (in seven of twelve subjects). In addition, we found that our method was also capable of background states recognition (in six of twelve subjects). Significance. Without any supervised information on background states, the latent variable method provides a way to improve classification in BCI by taking background states into account at the training stage and then by making decisions on target states weighted by posterior probabilities of background states at the prediction stage.

Does School Admission by Zoning Affect Educational Inequality? A Study of Family Background Effect in Estonia, Finland, and Sweden

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Põder, Kaire; Lauri, Triin; Veski, Andre

2017-01-01

We indicate the size of family background effects in Sweden, Finland, and Estonia--countries that differ in both the rhetoric and extensiveness of the system-level school choice policies. Family background effect is defined as the dependence of student achievement on family background characteristics, such as parental education, income, and social…

An Investigation Into the Effects of Background Music in a Dramatic Television Presentation on University Students' Perception and Retention of Cognitive Content.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rink, Otho P.

To investigate the effects of background music on perception and retention of a dramatic television presentation's cognitive content, 107 English literature students were randomly assigned to one of five background treatments for a play. Four of the videotaped presentations included background music; Shostakovich's Symphony No. 6; Japanese jazz;…

Equivalent background speed in recovery from motion adaptation.

PubMed

Simpson, W A; Newman, A; Aasland, W

1997-01-01

We measured, in the same observers, (1) the detectability, d, of a small rotational jump following adaptation to rotational motion and (2) the detectability of the same jump when superimposed on one of several background rotation speeds. Following 90 s of motion adaptation the detectability of the jump was impaired, and sensitivity slowly recovered over the course of 60 s. The detectability of the jump was also impaired by the background speed in a way consistent with a quadratic form of Weber's law. We propose that motion adaptation impairs the detectability of the small jump because it is as if an equivalent background speed has been superimposed on the display. We measured the equivalent background by finding the real background speed that produced the same d' at each instant in the recovery from motion adaptation. The equivalent background started at approximately one to two thirds the speed of the adapting motion, declined rapidly, rose to a small peak at 30 s, then disappeared by 60 s. Since the equivalent background speed corresponds to the speed of the motion aftereffect, we have measured the time course of the motion aftereffect with objective psychophysics.

Beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds observed in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton running period

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; Abdinov, O.; Abeloos, B.; Aben, R.; Abolins, M.; AbouZeid, O. S.; Abraham, N. L.; Abramowicz, H.; Abreu, H.; Abreu, R.; Abulaiti, Y.; Acharya, B. S.; Adamczyk, L.; Adams, D. L.; Adelman, J.; Adomeit, S.; Adye, T.; Affolder, A. A.; Agatonovic-Jovin, T.; Agricola, J.; Aguilar-Saavedra, J. A.; Ahlen, S. P.; Ahmadov, F.; Aielli, G.; Akerstedt, H.; Åkesson, T. P. A.; Akimov, A. V.; Alberghi, G. L.; Albert, J.; Albrand, S.; Alconada Verzini, M. J.; Aleksa, M.; Aleksandrov, I. N.; Alexa, C.; Alexander, G.; Alexopoulos, T.; Alhroob, M.; Aliev, M.; Alimonti, G.; Alison, J.; Alkire, S. P.; Allbrooke, B. M. M.; Allen, B. W.; Allport, P. P.; Aloisio, A.; Alonso, A.; Alonso, F.; Alpigiani, C.; Alvarez Gonzalez, B.; Álvarez Piqueras, D.; Alviggi, M. G.; Amadio, B. T.; Amako, K.; Amaral Coutinho, Y.; Amelung, C.; Amidei, D.; Amor Dos Santos, S. P.; Amorim, A.; Amoroso, S.; Amram, N.; Amundsen, G.; Anastopoulos, C.; Ancu, L. S.; Andari, N.; Andeen, T.; Anders, C. F.; Anders, G.; Anders, J. K.; Anderson, K. J.; Andreazza, A.; Andrei, V.; Angelidakis, S.; Angelozzi, I.; Anger, P.; Angerami, A.; Anghinolfi, F.; Anisenkov, A. V.; Anjos, N.; Annovi, A.; Antonelli, M.; Antonov, A.; Antos, J.; Anulli, F.; Aoki, M.; Aperio Bella, L.; Arabidze, G.; Arai, Y.; Araque, J. P.; Arce, A. T. H.; Arduh, F. A.; Arduini, G.; Arguin, J.-F.; Argyropoulos, S.; Arik, M.; Armbruster, A. J.; Armitage, L. J.; Arnaez, O.; Arnold, H.; Arratia, M.; Arslan, O.; Artamonov, A.; Artoni, G.; Artz, S.; Asai, S.; Asbah, N.; Ashkenazi, A.; Åsman, B.; Asquith, L.; Assamagan, K.; Astalos, R.; Atkinson, M.; Atlay, N. B.; Augsten, K.; Avolio, G.; Axen, B.; Ayoub, M. K.; Azuelos, G.; Baak, M. A.; Baas, A. E.; Baca, M. J.; Bachacou, H.; Bachas, K.; Backes, M.; Backhaus, M.; Bagiacchi, P.; Bagnaia, P.; Bai, Y.; Baines, J. T.; Baker, O. K.; Baldin, E. M.; Balek, P.; Balestri, T.; Balli, F.; Balunas, W. K.; Banas, E.; Banerjee, Sw.; Bannoura, A. A. E.; Barak, L.; Barberio, E. L.; Barberis, D.; Barbero, M.; Barillari, T.; Barklow, T.; Barlow, N.; Barnes, S. L.; Barnett, B. M.; Barnett, R. M.; Barnovska, Z.; Baroncelli, A.; Barone, G.; Barr, A. J.; Barranco Navarro, L.; Barreiro, F.; Barreiro Guimarães da Costa, J.; Bartoldus, R.; Barton, A. E.; Bartos, P.; Basalaev, A.; Bassalat, A.; Basye, A.; Bates, R. L.; Batista, S. J.; Batley, J. R.; Battaglia, M.; Bauce, M.; Bauer, F.; Bawa, H. S.; Beacham, J. B.; Beattie, M. D.; Beau, T.; Beauchemin, P. H.; Bechtle, P.; Beck, H. P.; Becker, K.; Becker, M.; Beckingham, M.; Becot, C.; Beddall, A. J.; Beddall, A.; Bednyakov, V. A.; Bedognetti, M.; Bee, C. P.; Beemster, L. J.; Beermann, T. A.; Begel, M.; Behr, J. K.; Belanger-Champagne, C.; Bell, A. S.; Bella, G.; Bellagamba, L.; Bellerive, A.; Bellomo, M.; Belotskiy, K.; Beltramello, O.; Belyaev, N. L.; Benary, O.; Benchekroun, D.; Bender, M.; Bendtz, K.; Benekos, N.; Benhammou, Y.; Benhar Noccioli, E.; Benitez, J.; Benitez Garcia, J. A.; Benjamin, D. P.; Bensinger, J. R.; Bentvelsen, S.; Beresford, L.; Beretta, M.; Berge, D.; Bergeaas Kuutmann, E.; Berger, N.; Berghaus, F.; Beringer, J.; Berlendis, S.; Bernard, N. R.; Bernius, C.; Bernlochner, F. U.; Berry, T.; Berta, P.; Bertella, C.; Bertoli, G.; Bertolucci, F.; Bertram, I. A.; Bertsche, C.; Bertsche, D.; Besjes, G. J.; Bessidskaia Bylund, O.; Bessner, M.; Besson, N.; Betancourt, C.; Bethke, S.; Bevan, A. J.; Bhimji, W.; Bianchi, R. M.; Bianchini, L.; Bianco, M.; Biebel, O.; Biedermann, D.; Bielski, R.; Biesuz, N. V.; Biglietti, M.; Bilbao De Mendizabal, J.; Bilokon, H.; Bindi, M.; Binet, S.; Bingul, A.; Bini, C.; Biondi, S.; Bjergaard, D. M.; Black, C. W.; Black, J. E.; Black, K. M.; Blackburn, D.; Blair, R. E.; Blanchard, J.-B.; Blanco, J. E.; Blazek, T.; Bloch, I.; Blocker, C.; Blum, W.; Blumenschein, U.; Blunier, S.; Bobbink, G. J.; Bobrovnikov, V. S.; Bocchetta, S. S.; Bocci, A.; Bock, C.; Boehler, M.; Boerner, D.; Bogaerts, J. A.; Bogavac, D.; Bogdanchikov, A. G.; Bohm, C.; Boisvert, V.; Bold, T.; Boldea, V.; Boldyrev, A. S.; Bomben, M.; Bona, M.; Boonekamp, M.; Borisov, A.; Borissov, G.; Bortfeldt, J.; Bortoletto, D.; Bortolotto, V.; Bos, K.; Boscherini, D.; Bosman, M.; Bossio Sola, J. D.; Boudreau, J.; Bouffard, J.; Bouhova-Thacker, E. V.; Boumediene, D.; Bourdarios, C.; Boutle, S. K.; Boveia, A.; Boyd, J.; Boyko, I. R.; Bracinik, J.; Brandt, A.; Brandt, G.; Brandt, O.; Bratzler, U.; Brau, B.; Brau, J. E.; Braun, H. M.; Breaden Madden, W. D.; Brendlinger, K.; Brennan, A. J.; Brenner, L.; Brenner, R.; Bressler, S.; Bristow, T. M.; Britton, D.; Britzger, D.; Brochu, F. M.; Brock, I.; Brock, R.; Brooijmans, G.; Brooks, T.; Brooks, W. K.; Brosamer, J.; Brost, E.; Broughton, J. H.; Bruce, R.; Bruckman de Renstrom, P. A.; Bruncko, D.; Bruneliere, R.; Bruni, A.; Bruni, G.; Brunt, BH; Bruschi, M.; Bruscino, N.; Bryant, P.; Bryngemark, L.; Buanes, T.; Buat, Q.; Buchholz, P.; Buckley, A. G.; Budagov, I. A.; Buehrer, F.; Bugge, M. K.; Bulekov, O.; Bullock, D.; Burckhart, H.; Burdin, S.; Burgard, C. D.; Burghgrave, B.; Burka, K.; Burke, S.; Burmeister, I.; Busato, E.; Büscher, D.; Büscher, V.; Bussey, P.; Butler, J. M.; Butt, A. I.; Buttar, C. M.; Butterworth, J. M.; Butti, P.; Buttinger, W.; Buzatu, A.; Buzykaev, A. R.; Cabrera Urbán, S.; Caforio, D.; Cairo, V. M.; Cakir, O.; Calace, N.; Calafiura, P.; Calandri, A.; Calderini, G.; Calfayan, P.; Caloba, L. P.; Calvet, D.; Calvet, S.; Calvet, T. P.; Camacho Toro, R.; Camarda, S.; Camarri, P.; Cameron, D.; Caminal Armadans, R.; Camincher, C.; Campana, S.; Campanelli, M.; Campoverde, A.; Canale, V.; Canepa, A.; Cano Bret, M.; Cantero, J.; Cantrill, R.; Cao, T.; Capeans Garrido, M. D. M.; Caprini, I.; Caprini, M.; Capua, M.; Caputo, R.; Carbone, R. M.; Cardarelli, R.; Cardillo, F.; Carli, T.; Carlino, G.; Carminati, L.; Caron, S.; Carquin, E.; Carrillo-Montoya, G. D.; Carter, J. R.; Carvalho, J.; Casadei, D.; Casado, M. P.; Casolino, M.; Casper, D. W.; Castaneda-Miranda, E.; Castelli, A.; Castillo Gimenez, V.; Castro, N. F.; Catinaccio, A.; Catmore, J. R.; Cattai, A.; Caudron, J.; Cavaliere, V.; Cavallaro, E.; Cavalli, D.; Cavalli-Sforza, M.; Cavasinni, V.; Ceradini, F.; Cerda Alberich, L.; Cerio, B. C.; Cerqueira, A. S.; Cerri, A.; Cerrito, L.; Cerutti, F.; Cerv, M.; Cervelli, A.; Cetin, S. A.; Chafaq, A.; Chakraborty, D.; Chalupkova, I.; Chan, S. K.; Chan, Y. L.; Chang, P.; Chapman, J. D.; Charlton, D. G.; Chatterjee, A.; Chau, C. C.; Chavez Barajas, C. A.; Che, S.; Cheatham, S.; Chegwidden, A.; Chekanov, S.; Chekulaev, S. V.; Chelkov, G. A.; Chelstowska, M. A.; Chen, C.; Chen, H.; Chen, K.; Chen, S.; Chen, S.; Chen, X.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, H. C.; Cheng, H. J.; Cheng, Y.; Cheplakov, A.; Cheremushkina, E.; Cherkaoui El Moursli, R.; Chernyatin, V.; Cheu, E.; Chevalier, L.; Chiarella, V.; Chiarelli, G.; Chiodini, G.; Chisholm, A. S.; Chitan, A.; Chizhov, M. V.; Choi, K.; Chomont, A. R.; Chouridou, S.; Chow, B. K. B.; Christodoulou, V.; Chromek-Burckhart, D.; Chudoba, J.; Chuinard, A. J.; Chwastowski, J. J.; Chytka, L.; Ciapetti, G.; Ciftci, A. K.; Cinca, D.; Cindro, V.; Cioara, I. A.; Ciocio, A.; Cirotto, F.; Citron, Z. H.; Ciubancan, M.; Clark, A.; Clark, B. L.; Clark, M. R.; Clark, P. J.; Clarke, R. N.; Clement, C.; Coadou, Y.; Cobal, M.; Coccaro, A.; Cochran, J.; Coffey, L.; Colasurdo, L.; Cole, B.; Cole, S.; Colijn, A. P.; Collot, J.; Colombo, T.; Compostella, G.; Conde Muiño, P.; Coniavitis, E.; Connell, S. H.; Connelly, I. A.; Consorti, V.; Constantinescu, S.; Conta, C.; Conti, G.; Conventi, F.; Cooke, M.; Cooper, B. D.; Cooper-Sarkar, A. M.; Cornelissen, T.; Corradi, M.; Corriveau, F.; Corso-Radu, A.; Cortes-Gonzalez, A.; Cortiana, G.; Costa, G.; Costa, M. J.; Costanzo, D.; Cottin, G.; Cowan, G.; Cox, B. E.; Cranmer, K.; Crawley, S. J.; Cree, G.; Crépé-Renaudin, S.; Crescioli, F.; Cribbs, W. A.; Crispin Ortuzar, M.; Cristinziani, M.; Croft, V.; Crosetti, G.; Cuhadar Donszelmann, T.; Cummings, J.; Curatolo, M.; Cúth, J.; Cuthbert, C.; Czirr, H.; Czodrowski, P.; D'Auria, S.; D'Onofrio, M.; Da Cunha Sargedas De Sousa, M. J.; Da Via, C.; Dabrowski, W.; Dai, T.; Dale, O.; Dallaire, F.; Dallapiccola, C.; Dam, M.; Dandoy, J. R.; Dang, N. P.; Daniells, A. C.; Dann, N. S.; Danninger, M.; Dano Hoffmann, M.; Dao, V.; Darbo, G.; Darmora, S.; Dassoulas, J.; Dattagupta, A.; Davey, W.; David, C.; Davidek, T.; Davies, M.; Davison, P.; Davygora, Y.; Dawe, E.; Dawson, I.; Daya-Ishmukhametova, R. K.; De, K.; de Asmundis, R.; De Benedetti, A.; De Castro, S.; De Cecco, S.; De Groot, N.; de Jong, P.; De la Torre, H.; De Lorenzi, F.; De Pedis, D.; De Salvo, A.; De Sanctis, U.; De Santo, A.; De Vivie De Regie, J. B.; Dearnaley, W. J.; Debbe, R.; Debenedetti, C.; Dedovich, D. V.; Deigaard, I.; Del Peso, J.; Del Prete, T.; Delgove, D.; Deliot, F.; Delitzsch, C. M.; Deliyergiyev, M.; Dell'Acqua, A.; Dell'Asta, L.; Dell'Orso, M.; Della Pietra, M.; della Volpe, D.; Delmastro, M.; Delsart, P. A.; Deluca, C.; DeMarco, D. A.; Demers, S.; Demichev, M.; Demilly, A.; Denisov, S. P.; Denysiuk, D.; Derendarz, D.; Derkaoui, J. E.; Derue, F.; Dervan, P.; Desch, K.; Deterre, C.; Dette, K.; Deviveiros, P. O.; Dewhurst, A.; Dhaliwal, S.; Di Ciaccio, A.; Di Ciaccio, L.; Di Clemente, W. K.; Di Donato, C.; Di Girolamo, A.; Di Girolamo, B.; Di Micco, B.; Di Nardo, R.; Di Simone, A.; Di Sipio, R.; Di Valentino, D.; Diaconu, C.; Diamond, M.; Dias, F. A.; Diaz, M. A.; Diehl, E. B.; Dietrich, J.; Diglio, S.; Dimitrievska, A.; Dingfelder, J.; Dita, P.; Dita, S.; Dittus, F.; Djama, F.; Djobava, T.; Djuvsland, J. I.; do Vale, M. A. B.; Dobos, D.; Dobre, M.; Doglioni, C.; Dohmae, T.; Dolejsi, J.; Dolezal, Z.; Dolgoshein, B. A.; Donadelli, M.; Donati, S.; Dondero, P.; Donini, J.; Dopke, J.; Doria, A.; Dova, M. T.; Doyle, A. T.; Drechsler, E.; Dris, M.; Du, Y.; Duarte-Campderros, J.; Duchovni, E.; Duckeck, G.; Ducu, O. A.; Duda, D.; Dudarev, A.; Duflot, L.; Duguid, L.; Dührssen, M.; Dunford, M.; Duran Yildiz, H.; Düren, M.; Durglishvili, A.; Duschinger, D.; Dutta, B.; Dyndal, M.; Eckardt, C.; Ecker, K. M.; Edgar, R. C.; Edson, W.; Edwards, N. C.; Eifert, T.; Eigen, G.; Einsweiler, K.; Ekelof, T.; El Kacimi, M.; Ellajosyula, V.; Ellert, M.; Elles, S.; Ellinghaus, F.; Elliot, A. A.; Ellis, N.; Elmsheuser, J.; Elsing, M.; Emeliyanov, D.; Enari, Y.; Endner, O. C.; Endo, M.; Ennis, J. S.; Erdmann, J.; Ereditato, A.; Ernis, G.; Ernst, J.; Ernst, M.; Errede, S.; Ertel, E.; Escalier, M.; Esch, H.; Escobar, C.; Esposito, B.; Etienvre, A. I.; Etzion, E.; Evans, H.; Ezhilov, A.; Fabbri, F.; Fabbri, L.; Facini, G.; Fakhrutdinov, R. M.; Falciano, S.; Falla, R. J.; Faltova, J.; Fang, Y.; Fanti, M.; Farbin, A.; Farilla, A.; Farina, C.; Farooque, T.; Farrell, S.; Farrington, S. M.; Farthouat, P.; Fassi, F.; Fassnacht, P.; Fassouliotis, D.; Faucci Giannelli, M.; Favareto, A.; Fawcett, W. J.; Fayard, L.; Fedin, O. L.; Fedorko, W.; Feigl, S.; Feligioni, L.; Feng, C.; Feng, E. J.; Feng, H.; Fenyuk, A. B.; Feremenga, L.; Fernandez Martinez, P.; Fernandez Perez, S.; Ferrando, J.; Ferrari, A.; Ferrari, P.; Ferrari, R.; Ferreira de Lima, D. E.; Ferrer, A.; Ferrere, D.; Ferretti, C.; Ferretto Parodi, A.; Fiedler, F.; Filipčič, A.; Filipuzzi, M.; Filthaut, F.; Fincke-Keeler, M.; Finelli, K. D.; Fiolhais, M. C. N.; Fiorini, L.; Firan, A.; Fischer, A.; Fischer, C.; Fischer, J.; Fisher, W. C.; Flaschel, N.; Fleck, I.; Fleischmann, P.; Fletcher, G. T.; Fletcher, G.; Fletcher, R. R. M.; Flick, T.; Floderus, A.; Flores Castillo, L. R.; Flowerdew, M. J.; Forcolin, G. T.; Formica, A.; Forti, A.; Foster, A. G.; Fournier, D.; Fox, H.; Fracchia, S.; Francavilla, P.; Franchini, M.; Francis, D.; Franconi, L.; Franklin, M.; Frate, M.; Fraternali, M.; Freeborn, D.; Fressard-Batraneanu, S. M.; Friedrich, F.; Froidevaux, D.; Frost, J. A.; Fukunaga, C.; Fullana Torregrosa, E.; Fusayasu, T.; Fuster, J.; Gabaldon, C.; Gabizon, O.; Gabrielli, A.; Gabrielli, A.; Gach, G. P.; Gadatsch, S.; Gadomski, S.; Gagliardi, G.; Gagnon, L. G.; Gagnon, P.; Galea, C.; Galhardo, B.; Gallas, E. J.; Gallop, B. J.; Gallus, P.; Galster, G.; Gan, K. K.; Gao, J.; Gao, Y.; Gao, Y. S.; Garay Walls, F. M.; García, C.; García Navarro, J. E.; Garcia-Sciveres, M.; Gardner, R. W.; Garelli, N.; Garonne, V.; Gascon Bravo, A.; Gatti, C.; Gaudiello, A.; Gaudio, G.; Gaur, B.; Gauthier, L.; Gavrilenko, I. L.; Gay, C.; Gaycken, G.; Gazis, E. N.; Gecse, Z.; Gee, C. N. P.; Geich-Gimbel, Ch.; Geisler, M. P.; Gemme, C.; Genest, M. H.; Geng, C.; Gentile, S.; George, S.; Gerbaudo, D.; Gershon, A.; Ghasemi, S.; Ghazlane, H.; Ghneimat, M.; Giacobbe, B.; Giagu, S.; Giannetti, P.; Gibbard, B.; Gibson, S. M.; Gignac, M.; Gilchriese, M.; Gillam, T. P. S.; Gillberg, D.; Gilles, G.; Gingrich, D. M.; Giokaris, N.; Giordani, M. P.; Giorgi, F. M.; Giorgi, F. M.; Giraud, P. F.; Giromini, P.; Giugni, D.; Giuli, F.; Giuliani, C.; Giulini, M.; Gjelsten, B. K.; Gkaitatzis, S.; Gkialas, I.; Gkougkousis, E. L.; Gladilin, L. K.; Glasman, C.; Glatzer, J.; Glaysher, P. C. F.; Glazov, A.; Goblirsch-Kolb, M.; Godlewski, J.; Goldfarb, S.; Golling, T.; Golubkov, D.; Gomes, A.; Gonçalo, R.; Goncalves Pinto Firmino Da Costa, J.; Gonella, L.; Gongadze, A.; González de la Hoz, S.; Gonzalez Parra, G.; Gonzalez-Sevilla, S.; Goossens, L.; Gorbounov, P. A.; Gordon, H. A.; Gorelov, I.; Gorini, B.; Gorini, E.; Gorišek, A.; Gornicki, E.; Goshaw, A. T.; Gössling, C.; Gostkin, M. I.; Goudet, C. R.; Goujdami, D.; Goussiou, A. G.; Govender, N.; Gozani, E.; Graber, L.; Grabowska-Bold, I.; Gradin, P. O. J.; Grafström, P.; Gramling, J.; Gramstad, E.; Grancagnolo, S.; Gratchev, V.; Gray, H. M.; Graziani, E.; Greenwood, Z. D.; Grefe, C.; Gregersen, K.; Gregor, I. M.; Grenier, P.; Grevtsov, K.; Griffiths, J.; Grillo, A. A.; Grimm, K.; Grinstein, S.; Gris, Ph.; Grivaz, J.-F.; Groh, S.; Grohs, J. P.; Gross, E.; Grosse-Knetter, J.; Grossi, G. C.; Grout, Z. J.; Guan, L.; Guan, W.; Guenther, J.; Guescini, F.; Guest, D.; Gueta, O.; Guido, E.; Guillemin, T.; Guindon, S.; Gul, U.; Gumpert, C.; Guo, J.; Guo, Y.; Gupta, S.; Gustavino, G.; Gutierrez, P.; Gutierrez Ortiz, N. G.; Gutschow, C.; Guyot, C.; Gwenlan, C.; Gwilliam, C. B.; Haas, A.; Haber, C.; Hadavand, H. K.; Haddad, N.; Hadef, A.; Haefner, P.; Hageböck, S.; Hajduk, Z.; Hakobyan, H.; Haleem, M.; Haley, J.; Hall, D.; Halladjian, G.; Hallewell, G. D.; Hamacher, K.; Hamal, P.; Hamano, K.; Hamilton, A.; Hamity, G. N.; Hamnett, P. G.; Han, L.; Hanagaki, K.; Hanawa, K.; Hance, M.; Haney, B.; Hanke, P.; Hanna, R.; Hansen, J. B.; Hansen, J. D.; Hansen, M. C.; Hansen, P. H.; Hara, K.; Hard, A. S.; Harenberg, T.; Hariri, F.; Harkusha, S.; Harrington, R. D.; Harrison, P. F.; Hartjes, F.; Hasegawa, M.; Hasegawa, Y.; Hasib, A.; Hassani, S.; Haug, S.; Hauser, R.; Hauswald, L.; Havranek, M.; Hawkes, C. M.; Hawkings, R. J.; Hawkins, A. D.; Hayden, D.; Hays, C. P.; Hays, J. M.; Hayward, H. S.; Haywood, S. J.; Head, S. J.; Heck, T.; Hedberg, V.; Heelan, L.; Heim, S.; Heim, T.; Heinemann, B.; Heinrich, J. J.; Heinrich, L.; Heinz, C.; Hejbal, J.; Helary, L.; Hellman, S.; Helsens, C.; Henderson, J.; Henderson, R. C. W.; Heng, Y.; Henkelmann, S.; Henriques Correia, A. M.; Henrot-Versille, S.; Herbert, G. H.; Hernández Jiménez, Y.; Herten, G.; Hertenberger, R.; Hervas, L.; Hesketh, G. G.; Hessey, N. P.; Hetherly, J. W.; Hickling, R.; Higón-Rodriguez, E.; Hill, E.; Hill, J. C.; Hiller, K. H.; Hillier, S. J.; Hinchliffe, I.; Hines, E.; Hinman, R. R.; Hirose, M.; Hirschbuehl, D.; Hobbs, J.; Hod, N.; Hodgkinson, M. C.; Hodgson, P.; Hoecker, A.; Hoeferkamp, M. R.; Hoenig, F.; Hohlfeld, M.; Hohn, D.; Holmes, T. R.; Homann, M.; Hong, T. M.; Hooberman, B. H.; Hopkins, W. H.; Horii, Y.; Horton, A. J.; Hostachy, J.-Y.; Hou, S.; Hoummada, A.; Howard, J.; Howarth, J.; Hrabovsky, M.; Hristova, I.; Hrivnac, J.; Hryn'ova, T.; Hrynevich, A.; Hsu, C.; Hsu, P. J.; Hsu, S.-C.; Hu, D.; Hu, Q.; Huang, Y.; Hubacek, Z.; Hubaut, F.; Huegging, F.; Huffman, T. B.; Hughes, E. W.; Hughes, G.; Huhtinen, M.; Hülsing, T. A.; Huseynov, N.; Huston, J.; Huth, J.; Iacobucci, G.; Iakovidis, G.; Ibragimov, I.; Iconomidou-Fayard, L.; Ideal, E.; Idrissi, Z.; Iengo, P.; Igonkina, O.; Iizawa, T.; Ikegami, Y.; Ikeno, M.; Ilchenko, Y.; Iliadis, D.; Ilic, N.; Ince, T.; Introzzi, G.; Ioannou, P.; Iodice, M.; Iordanidou, K.; Ippolito, V.; Irles Quiles, A.; Isaksson, C.; Ishino, M.; Ishitsuka, M.; Ishmukhametov, R.; Issever, C.; Istin, S.; Ito, F.; Ponce, J. M. Iturbe; Iuppa, R.; Ivarsson, J.; Iwanski, W.; Iwasaki, H.; Izen, J. M.; Izzo, V.; Jabbar, S.; Jackson, B.; Jackson, M.; Jackson, P.; Jain, V.; Jakobi, K. B.; Jakobs, K.; Jakobsen, S.; Jakoubek, T.; Jamin, D. O.; Jana, D. K.; Jansen, E.; Jansky, R.; Janssen, J.; Janus, M.; Jarlskog, G.; Javadov, N.; Javůrek, T.; Jeanneau, F.; Jeanty, L.; Jejelava, J.; Jeng, G.-Y.; Jennens, D.; Jenni, P.; Jentzsch, J.; Jeske, C.; Jézéquel, S.; Ji, H.; Jia, J.; Jiang, H.; Jiang, Y.; Jiggins, S.; Jimenez Pena, J.; Jin, S.; Jinaru, A.; Jinnouchi, O.; Johansson, P.; Johns, K. A.; Johnson, W. J.; Jon-And, K.; Jones, G.; Jones, R. W. L.; Jones, S.; Jones, T. J.; Jongmanns, J.; Jorge, P. M.; Jovicevic, J.; Ju, X.; Juste Rozas, A.; Köhler, M. K.; Kaczmarska, A.; Kado, M.; Kagan, H.; Kagan, M.; Kahn, S. J.; Kajomovitz, E.; Kalderon, C. W.; Kaluza, A.; Kama, S.; Kamenshchikov, A.; Kanaya, N.; Kaneti, S.; Kantserov, V. A.; Kanzaki, J.; Kaplan, B.; Kaplan, L. S.; Kapliy, A.; Kar, D.; Karakostas, K.; Karamaoun, A.; Karastathis, N.; Kareem, M. J.; Karentzos, E.; Karnevskiy, M.; Karpov, S. N.; Karpova, Z. M.; Karthik, K.; Kartvelishvili, V.; Karyukhin, A. N.; Kasahara, K.; Kashif, L.; Kass, R. D.; Kastanas, A.; Kataoka, Y.; Kato, C.; Katre, A.; Katzy, J.; Kawagoe, K.; Kawamoto, T.; Kawamura, G.; Kazama, S.; Kazanin, V. F.; Keeler, R.; Kehoe, R.; Keller, J. S.; Kempster, J. J.; Kentaro, K.; Keoshkerian, H.; Kepka, O.; Kerševan, B. P.; Kersten, S.; Keyes, R. A.; Khalil-zada, F.; Khandanyan, H.; Khanov, A.; Kharlamov, A. G.; Khoo, T. J.; Khovanskiy, V.; Khramov, E.; Khubua, J.; Kido, S.; Kim, H. Y.; Kim, S. H.; Kim, Y. K.; Kimura, N.; Kind, O. M.; King, B. T.; King, M.; King, S. B.; Kirk, J.; Kiryunin, A. E.; Kishimoto, T.; Kisielewska, D.; Kiss, F.; Kiuchi, K.; Kivernyk, O.; Kladiva, E.; Klein, M. H.; Klein, M.; Klein, U.; Kleinknecht, K.; Klimek, P.; Klimentov, A.; Klingenberg, R.; Klinger, J. A.; Klioutchnikova, T.; Kluge, E.-E.; Kluit, P.; Kluth, S.; Knapik, J.; Kneringer, E.; Knoops, E. B. F. G.; Knue, A.; Kobayashi, A.; Kobayashi, D.; Kobayashi, T.; Kobel, M.; Kocian, M.; Kodys, P.; Koffas, T.; Koffeman, E.; Kogan, L. A.; Koi, T.; Kolanoski, H.; Kolb, M.; Koletsou, I.; Komar, A. A.; Komori, Y.; Kondo, T.; Kondrashova, N.; Köneke, K.; König, A. C.; Kono, T.; Konoplich, R.; Konstantinidis, N.; Kopeliansky, R.; Koperny, S.; Köpke, L.; Kopp, A. K.; Korcyl, K.; Kordas, K.; Korn, A.; Korol, A. A.; Korolkov, I.; Korolkova, E. V.; Kortner, O.; Kortner, S.; Kosek, T.; Kostyukhin, V. V.; Kotwal, A.; Kourkoumeli-Charalampidi, A.; Kourkoumelis, C.; Kouskoura, V.; Koutsman, A.; Kowalewska, A. B.; Kowalewski, R.; Kowalski, T. Z.; Kozanecki, W.; Kozhin, A. S.; Kramarenko, V. A.; Kramberger, G.; Krasnopevtsev, D.; Krasny, M. W.; Krasznahorkay, A.; Kraus, J. K.; Kravchenko, A.; Kretz, M.; Kretzschmar, J.; Kreutzfeldt, K.; Krieger, P.; Krizka, K.; Kroeninger, K.; Kroha, H.; Kroll, J.; Kroseberg, J.; Krstic, J.; Kruchonak, U.; Krüger, H.; Krumnack, N.; Kruse, A.; Kruse, M. C.; Kruskal, M.; Kubota, T.; Kucuk, H.; Kuday, S.; Kuechler, J. T.; Kuehn, S.; Kugel, A.; Kuger, F.; Kuhl, A.; Kuhl, T.; Kukhtin, V.; Kukla, R.; Kulchitsky, Y.; Kuleshov, S.; Kuna, M.; Kunigo, T.; Kupco, A.; Kurashige, H.; Kurochkin, Y. A.; Kus, V.; Kuwertz, E. S.; Kuze, M.; Kvita, J.; Kwan, T.; Kyriazopoulos, D.; La Rosa, A.; La Rosa Navarro, J. L.; La Rotonda, L.; Lacasta, C.; Lacava, F.; Lacey, J.; Lacker, H.; Lacour, D.; Lacuesta, V. R.; Ladygin, E.; Lafaye, R.; Laforge, B.; Lagouri, T.; Lai, S.; Lammers, S.; Lampl, W.; Lançon, E.; Landgraf, U.; Landon, M. P. J.; Lang, V. S.; Lange, J. C.; Lankford, A. J.; Lanni, F.; Lantzsch, K.; Lanza, A.; Laplace, S.; Lapoire, C.; Laporte, J. F.; Lari, T.; Lasagni Manghi, F.; Lassnig, M.; Laurelli, P.; Lavrijsen, W.; Law, A. T.; Laycock, P.; Lazovich, T.; Lazzaroni, M.; Le Dortz, O.; Le Guirriec, E.; Le Menedeu, E.; Le Quilleuc, E. P.; LeBlanc, M.; LeCompte, T.; Ledroit-Guillon, F.; Lee, C. A.; Lee, S. C.; Lee, L.; Lefebvre, G.; Lefebvre, M.; Legger, F.; Leggett, C.; Lehan, A.; Lehmann Miotto, G.; Lei, X.; Leight, W. A.; Leisos, A.; Leister, A. G.; Leite, M. A. L.; Leitner, R.; Lellouch, D.; Lemmer, B.; Leney, K. J. C.; Lenz, T.; Lenzi, B.; Leone, R.; Leone, S.; Leonidopoulos, C.; Leontsinis, S.; Lerner, G.; Leroy, C.; Lesage, A. A. J.; Lester, C. G.; Levchenko, M.; Levêque, J.; Levin, D.; Levinson, L. J.; Levy, M.; Leyko, A. M.; Leyton, M.; Li, B.; Li, H.; Li, H. L.; Li, L.; Li, L.; Li, Q.; Li, S.; Li, X.; Li, Y.; Liang, Z.; Liao, H.; Liberti, B.; Liblong, A.; Lichard, P.; Lie, K.; Liebal, J.; Liebig, W.; Limbach, C.; Limosani, A.; Lin, S. C.; Lin, T. H.; Lindquist, B. E.; Lipeles, E.; Lipniacka, A.; Lisovyi, M.; Liss, T. M.; Lissauer, D.; Lister, A.; Litke, A. M.; Liu, B.; Liu, D.; Liu, H.; Liu, H.; Liu, J.; Liu, J. B.; Liu, K.; Liu, L.; Liu, M.; Liu, M.; Liu, Y. L.; Liu, Y.; Livan, M.; Lleres, A.; Llorente Merino, J.; Lloyd, S. L.; Lo Sterzo, F.; Lobodzinska, E.; Loch, P.; Lockman, W. S.; Loebinger, F. K.; Loevschall-Jensen, A. E.; Loew, K. M.; Loginov, A.; Lohse, T.; Lohwasser, K.; Lokajicek, M.; Long, B. A.; Long, J. D.; Long, R. E.; Longo, L.; Looper, K. A.; Lopes, L.; Lopez Mateos, D.; Lopez Paredes, B.; Lopez Paz, I.; Lopez Solis, A.; Lorenz, J.; Martinez, N. Lorenzo; Losada, M.; Lösel, P. J.; Lou, X.; Lounis, A.; Love, J.; Love, P. A.; Lu, H.; Lu, N.; Lubatti, H. J.; Luci, C.; Lucotte, A.; Luedtke, C.; Luehring, F.; Lukas, W.; Luminari, L.; Lundberg, O.; Lund-Jensen, B.; Lynn, D.; Lysak, R.; Lytken, E.; Lyubushkin, V.; Ma, H.; Ma, L. L.; Ma, Y.; Maccarrone, G.; Macchiolo, A.; Macdonald, C. M.; Maček, B.; Machado Miguens, J.; Madaffari, D.; Madar, R.; Maddocks, H. J.; Mader, W. F.; Madsen, A.; Maeda, J.; Maeland, S.; Maeno, T.; Maevskiy, A.; Magradze, E.; Mahlstedt, J.; Maiani, C.; Maidantchik, C.; Maier, A. A.; Maier, T.; Maio, A.; Majewski, S.; Makida, Y.; Makovec, N.; Malaescu, B.; Malecki, Pa.; Maleev, V. P.; Malek, F.; Mallik, U.; Malon, D.; Malone, C.; Maltezos, S.; Malyukov, S.; Mamuzic, J.; Mancini, G.; Mandelli, B.; Mandelli, L.; Mandić, I.; Maneira, J.; Filho, L. Manhaes de Andrade; Manjarres Ramos, J.; Mann, A.; Mansoulie, B.; Mantifel, R.; Mantoani, M.; Manzoni, S.; Mapelli, L.; Marceca, G.; March, L.; Marchiori, G.; Marcisovsky, M.; Marjanovic, M.; Marley, D. E.; Marroquim, F.; Marsden, S. P.; Marshall, Z.; Marti, L. F.; Marti-Garcia, S.; Martin, B.; Martin, T. A.; Martin, V. J.; dit Latour, B. Martin; Martinez, M.; Martin-Haugh, S.; Martoiu, V. S.; Martyniuk, A. C.; Marx, M.; Marzano, F.; Marzin, A.; Masetti, L.; Mashimo, T.; Mashinistov, R.; Masik, J.; Maslennikov, A. L.; Massa, I.; Massa, L.; Mastrandrea, P.; Mastroberardino, A.; Masubuchi, T.; Mättig, P.; Mattmann, J.; Maurer, J.; Maxfield, S. J.; Maximov, D. A.; Mazini, R.; Mazza, S. M.; McFadden, N. C.; McGoldrick, G.; McKee, S. P.; McCarn, A.; McCarthy, R. L.; McCarthy, T. G.; McClymont, L. I.; McFarlane, K. W.; Mcfayden, J. A.; Mchedlidze, G.; McMahon, S. J.; McPherson, R. A.; Medinnis, M.; Meehan, S.; Mehlhase, S.; Mehta, A.; Meier, K.; Meineck, C.; Meirose, B.; Mellado Garcia, B. R.; Meloni, F.; Mengarelli, A.; Menke, S.; Meoni, E.; Mercurio, K. M.; Mergelmeyer, S.; Mermod, P.; Merola, L.; Meroni, C.; Merritt, F. S.; Messina, A.; Metcalfe, J.; Mete, A. S.; Meyer, C.; Meyer, C.; Meyer, J.-P.; Meyer, J.; Theenhausen, H. Meyer Zu; Middleton, R. P.; Miglioranzi, S.; Mijović, L.; Mikenberg, G.; Mikestikova, M.; Mikuž, M.; Milesi, M.; Milic, A.; Miller, D. W.; Mills, C.; Milov, A.; Milstead, D. A.; Minaenko, A. A.; Minami, Y.; Minashvili, I. A.; Mincer, A. I.; Mindur, B.; Mineev, M.; Ming, Y.; Mir, L. M.; Mistry, K. P.; Mitani, T.; Mitrevski, J.; Mitsou, V. A.; Miucci, A.; Miyagawa, P. S.; Mjörnmark, J. U.; Moa, T.; Mochizuki, K.; Mohapatra, S.; Mohr, W.; Molander, S.; Moles-Valls, R.; Monden, R.; Mondragon, M. C.; Mönig, K.; Monk, J.; Monnier, E.; Montalbano, A.; Montejo Berlingen, J.; Monticelli, F.; Monzani, S.; Moore, R. W.; Morange, N.; Moreno, D.; Moreno Llácer, M.; Morettini, P.; Mori, D.; Mori, T.; Morii, M.; Morinaga, M.; Morisbak, V.; Moritz, S.; Morley, A. K.; Mornacchi, G.; Morris, J. D.; Mortensen, S. S.; Morvaj, L.; Mosidze, M.; Moss, J.; Motohashi, K.; Mount, R.; Mountricha, E.; Mouraviev, S. V.; Moyse, E. J. W.; Muanza, S.; Mudd, R. D.; Mueller, F.; Mueller, J.; Mueller, R. S. P.; Mueller, T.; Muenstermann, D.; Mullen, P.; Mullier, G. A.; Munoz Sanchez, F. J.; Murillo Quijada, J. A.; Murray, W. J.; Musheghyan, H.; Muskinja, M.; Myagkov, A. G.; Myska, M.; Nachman, B. P.; Nackenhorst, O.; Nadal, J.; Nagai, K.; Nagai, R.; Nagano, K.; Nagasaka, Y.; Nagata, K.; Nagel, M.; Nagy, E.; Nairz, A. M.; Nakahama, Y.; Nakamura, K.; Nakamura, T.; Nakano, I.; Namasivayam, H.; Naranjo Garcia, R. F.; Narayan, R.; Narrias Villar, D. I.; Naryshkin, I.; Naumann, T.; Navarro, G.; Nayyar, R.; Neal, H. A.; Nechaeva, P. Yu.; Neep, T. J.; Nef, P. D.; Negri, A.; Negrini, M.; Nektarijevic, S.; Nellist, C.; Nelson, A.; Nemecek, S.; Nemethy, P.; Nepomuceno, A. A.; Nessi, M.; Neubauer, M. S.; Neumann, M.; Neves, R. M.; Nevski, P.; Newman, P. R.; Nguyen, D. H.; Nickerson, R. B.; Nicolaidou, R.; Nicquevert, B.; Nielsen, J.; Nikiforov, A.; Nikolaenko, V.; Nikolic-Audit, I.; Nikolopoulos, K.; Nilsen, J. K.; Nilsson, P.; Ninomiya, Y.; Nisati, A.; Nisius, R.; Nobe, T.; Nodulman, L.; Nomachi, M.; Nomidis, I.; Nooney, T.; Norberg, S.; Nordberg, M.; Norjoharuddeen, N.; Novgorodova, O.; Nowak, S.; Nozaki, M.; Nozka, L.; Ntekas, K.; Nurse, E.; Nuti, F.; O'grady, F.; O'Neil, D. C.; O'Rourke, A. A.; O'Shea, V.; Oakham, F. G.; Oberlack, H.; Obermann, T.; Ocariz, J.; Ochi, A.; Ochoa, I.; Ochoa-Ricoux, J. P.; Oda, S.; Odaka, S.; Ogren, H.; Oh, A.; Oh, S. H.; Ohm, C. C.; Ohman, H.; Oide, H.; Okawa, H.; Okumura, Y.; Okuyama, T.; Olariu, A.; Oleiro Seabra, L. F.; Olivares Pino, S. A.; Oliveira Damazio, D.; Olszewski, A.; Olszowska, J.; Onofre, A.; Onogi, K.; Onyisi, P. U. E.; Oram, C. J.; Oreglia, M. J.; Oren, Y.; Orestano, D.; Orlando, N.; Orr, R. S.; Osculati, B.; Ospanov, R.; Garzon, G. Otero y.; Otono, H.; Ouchrif, M.; Ould-Saada, F.; Ouraou, A.; Oussoren, K. P.; Ouyang, Q.; Ovcharova, A.; Owen, M.; Owen, R. E.; Ozcan, V. E.; Ozturk, N.; Pachal, K.; Pacheco Pages, A.; Padilla Aranda, C.; Pagáčová, M.; Pagan Griso, S.; Paige, F.; Pais, P.; Pajchel, K.; Palacino, G.; Palestini, S.; Palka, M.; Pallin, D.; Palm, M.; Palma, A.; Panagiotopoulou, E. St.; Pandini, C. E.; Panduro Vazquez, J. G.; Pani, P.; Panitkin, S.; Pantea, D.; Paolozzi, L.; Papadopoulou, Th. D.; Papageorgiou, K.; Paramonov, A.; Paredes Hernandez, D.; Parker, A. J.; Parker, M. A.; Parker, K. A.; Parodi, F.; Parsons, J. A.; Parzefall, U.; Pascuzzi, V. R.; Pasqualucci, E.; Passaggio, S.; Pastore, F.; Pastore, Fr.; Pásztor, G.; Pataraia, S.; Patel, N. D.; Pater, J. R.; Pauly, T.; Pearce, J.; Pearson, B.; Pedersen, L. E.; Pedersen, M.; Pedraza Lopez, S.; Pedro, R.; Peleganchuk, S. V.; Pelikan, D.; Penc, O.; Peng, C.; Peng, H.; Penwell, J.; Peralva, B. S.; Perego, M. M.; Perepelitsa, D. V.; Perez Codina, E.; Perini, L.; Pernegger, H.; Perrella, S.; Peschke, R.; Peshekhonov, V. D.; Peters, K.; Peters, R. F. Y.; Petersen, B. A.; Petersen, T. C.; Petit, E.; Petridis, A.; Petridou, C.; Petroff, P.; Petrolo, E.; Petrov, M.; Petrucci, F.; Pettersson, N. E.; Peyaud, A.; Pezoa, R.; Phillips, P. W.; Piacquadio, G.; Pianori, E.; Picazio, A.; Piccaro, E.; Piccinini, M.; Pickering, M. A.; Piegaia, R.; Pilcher, J. E.; Pilkington, A. D.; Pin, A. W. J.; Pina, J.; Pinamonti, M.; Pinfold, J. L.; Pingel, A.; Pires, S.; Pirumov, H.; Pitt, M.; Plazak, L.; Pleier, M.-A.; Pleskot, V.; Plotnikova, E.; Plucinski, P.; Pluth, D.; Poettgen, R.; Poggioli, L.; Pohl, D.; Polesello, G.; Poley, A.; Policicchio, A.; Polifka, R.; Polini, A.; Pollard, C. S.; Polychronakos, V.; Pommès, K.; Pontecorvo, L.; Pope, B. G.; Popeneciu, G. A.; Popovic, D. S.; Poppleton, A.; Pospisil, S.; Potamianos, K.; Potrap, I. N.; Potter, C. J.; Potter, C. T.; Poulard, G.; Poveda, J.; Pozdnyakov, V.; Pozo Astigarraga, M. E.; Pralavorio, P.; Pranko, A.; Prell, S.; Price, D.; Price, L. E.; Primavera, M.; Prince, S.; Proissl, M.; Prokofiev, K.; Prokoshin, F.; Protopopescu, S.; Proudfoot, J.; Przybycien, M.; Puddu, D.; Puldon, D.; Purohit, M.; Puzo, P.; Qian, J.; Qin, G.; Qin, Y.; Quadt, A.; Quayle, W. B.; Queitsch-Maitland, M.; Quilty, D.; Raddum, S.; Radeka, V.; Radescu, V.; Radhakrishnan, S. K.; Radloff, P.; Rados, P.; Ragusa, F.; Rahal, G.; Raine, J. A.; Rajagopalan, S.; Rammensee, M.; Rangel-Smith, C.; Ratti, M. G.; Rauscher, F.; Rave, S.; Ravenscroft, T.; Raymond, M.; Read, A. L.; Readioff, N. P.; Rebuzzi, D. M.; Redelbach, A.; Redlinger, G.; Reece, R.; Reeves, K.; Rehnisch, L.; Reichert, J.; Reisin, H.; Rembser, C.; Ren, H.; Rescigno, M.; Resconi, S.; Rezanova, O. L.; Reznicek, P.; Rezvani, R.; Richter, R.; Richter, S.; Richter-Was, E.; Ricken, O.; Ridel, M.; Rieck, P.; Riegel, C. J.; Rieger, J.; Rifki, O.; Rijssenbeek, M.; Rimoldi, A.; Rinaldi, L.; Ristić, B.; Ritsch, E.; Riu, I.; Rizatdinova, F.; Rizvi, E.; Rizzi, C.; Robertson, S. H.; Robichaud-Veronneau, A.; Robinson, D.; Robinson, J. E. M.; Robson, A.; Roda, C.; Rodina, Y.; Rodriguez Perez, A.; Rodriguez Rodriguez, D.; Roe, S.; Rogan, C. S.; RØhne, O.; Romaniouk, A.; Romano, M.; Romano Saez, S. M.; Romero Adam, E.; Rompotis, N.; Ronzani, M.; Roos, L.; Ros, E.; Rosati, S.; Rosbach, K.; Rose, P.; Rosenthal, O.; Rossetti, V.; Rossi, E.; Rossi, L. P.; Rosten, J. H. N.; Rosten, R.; Rotaru, M.; Roth, I.; Rothberg, J.; Rousseau, D.; Royon, C. R.; Rozanov, A.; Rozen, Y.; Ruan, X.; Rubbo, F.; Rubinskiy, I.; Rud, V. I.; Rudolph, M. S.; Rühr, F.; Ruiz-Martinez, A.; Rurikova, Z.; Rusakovich, N. A.; Ruschke, A.; Russell, H. L.; Rutherfoord, J. P.; Ruthmann, N.; Ryabov, Y. F.; Rybar, M.; Rybkin, G.; Ryu, S.; Ryzhov, A.; Saavedra, A. F.; Sabato, G.; Sacerdoti, S.; Sadrozinski, H. F.-W.; Sadykov, R.; Safai Tehrani, F.; Saha, P.; Sahinsoy, M.; Saimpert, M.; Saito, T.; Sakamoto, H.; Sakurai, Y.; Salamanna, G.; Salamon, A.; Salazar Loyola, J. E.; Salek, D.; Sales De Bruin, P. H.; Salihagic, D.; Salnikov, A.; Salt, J.; Salvatore, D.; Salvatore, F.; Salvucci, A.; Salzburger, A.; Sammel, D.; Sampsonidis, D.; Sanchez, A.; Sánchez, J.; Sanchez Martinez, V.; Sandaker, H.; Sandbach, R. L.; Sander, H. G.; Sanders, M. P.; Sandhoff, M.; Sandoval, C.; Sandstroem, R.; Sankey, D. P. C.; Sannino, M.; Sansoni, A.; Santoni, C.; Santonico, R.; Santos, H.; Santoyo Castillo, I.; Sapp, K.; Sapronov, A.; Saraiva, J. G.; Sarrazin, B.; Sasaki, O.; Sasaki, Y.; Sato, K.; Sauvage, G.; Sauvan, E.; Savage, G.; Savard, P.; Sawyer, C.; Sawyer, L.; Saxon, J.; Sbarra, C.; Sbrizzi, A.; Scanlon, T.; Scannicchio, D. A.; Scarcella, M.; Scarfone, V.; Schaarschmidt, J.; Schacht, P.; Schaefer, D.; Schaefer, R.; Schaeffer, J.; Schaepe, S.; Schaetzel, S.; Schäfer, U.; Schaffer, A. C.; Schaile, D.; Schamberger, R. D.; Scharf, V.; Schegelsky, V. A.; Scheirich, D.; Schernau, M.; Schiavi, C.; Schillo, C.; Schioppa, M.; Schlenker, S.; Schmieden, K.; Schmitt, C.; Schmitt, S.; Schmitz, S.; Schneider, B.; Schnellbach, Y. J.; Schnoor, U.; Schoeffel, L.; Schoening, A.; Schoenrock, B. D.; Schopf, E.; Schorlemmer, A. L. S.; Schott, M.; Schovancova, J.; Schramm, S.; Schreyer, M.; Schuh, N.; Schultens, M. J.; Schultz-Coulon, H.-C.; Schulz, H.; Schumacher, M.; Schumm, B. A.; Schune, Ph.; Schwanenberger, C.; Schwartzman, A.; Schwarz, T. A.; Schwegler, Ph.; Schweiger, H.; Schwemling, Ph.; Schwienhorst, R.; Schwindling, J.; Schwindt, T.; Sciolla, G.; Scuri, F.; Scutti, F.; Searcy, J.; Seema, P.; Seidel, S. C.; Seiden, A.; Seifert, F.; Seixas, J. M.; Sekhniaidze, G.; Sekhon, K.; Sekula, S. J.; Seliverstov, D. M.; Semprini-Cesari, N.; Serfon, C.; Serin, L.; Serkin, L.; Sessa, M.; Seuster, R.; Severini, H.; Sfiligoj, T.; Sforza, F.; Sfyrla, A.; Shabalina, E.; Shaikh, N. W.; Shan, L. Y.; Shang, R.; Shank, J. T.; Shapiro, M.; Shatalov, P. B.; Shaw, K.; Shaw, S. M.; Shcherbakova, A.; Shehu, C. Y.; Sherwood, P.; Shi, L.; Shimizu, S.; Shimmin, C. O.; Shimojima, M.; Shiyakova, M.; Shmeleva, A.; Shoaleh Saadi, D.; Shochet, M. J.; Shojaii, S.; Shrestha, S.; Shulga, E.; Shupe, M. A.; Sicho, P.; Sidebo, P. E.; Sidiropoulou, O.; Sidorov, D.; Sidoti, A.; Siegert, F.; Sijacki, Dj.; Silva, J.; Silverstein, S. B.; Simak, V.; Simard, O.; Simic, Lj.; Simion, S.; Simioni, E.; Simmons, B.; Simon, D.; Simon, M.; Sinervo, P.; Sinev, N. B.; Sioli, M.; Siragusa, G.; Sivoklokov, S. Yu.; Sjölin, J.; Sjursen, T. B.; Skinner, M. B.; Skottowe, H. P.; Skubic, P.; Slater, M.; Slavicek, T.; Slawinska, M.; Sliwa, K.; Slovak, R.; Smakhtin, V.; Smart, B. H.; Smestad, L.; Smirnov, S. Yu.; Smirnov, Y.; Smirnova, L. N.; Smirnova, O.; Smith, M. N. K.; Smith, R. W.; Smizanska, M.; Smolek, K.; Snesarev, A. A.; Snidero, G.; Snyder, S.; Sobie, R.; Socher, F.; Soffer, A.; Soh, D. A.; Sokhrannyi, G.; Solans Sanchez, C. A.; Solar, M.; Soldatov, E. Yu.; Soldevila, U.; Solodkov, A. A.; Soloshenko, A.; Solovyanov, O. V.; Solovyev, V.; Sommer, P.; Son, H.; Song, H. Y.; Sood, A.; Sopczak, A.; Sopko, V.; Sorin, V.; Sosa, D.; Sotiropoulou, C. L.; Soualah, R.; Soukharev, A. M.; South, D.; Sowden, B. C.; Spagnolo, S.; Spalla, M.; Spangenberg, M.; Spanò, F.; Sperlich, D.; Spettel, F.; Spighi, R.; Spigo, G.; Spiller, L. A.; Spousta, M.; St. Denis, R. D.; Stabile, A.; Stahlman, J.; Stamen, R.; Stamm, S.; Stanecka, E.; Stanek, R. W.; Stanescu, C.; Stanescu-Bellu, M.; Stanitzki, M. M.; Stapnes, S.; Starchenko, E. A.; Stark, G. H.; Stark, J.; Staroba, P.; Starovoitov, P.; Stärz, S.; Staszewski, R.; Steinberg, P.; Stelzer, B.; Stelzer, H. J.; Stelzer-Chilton, O.; Stenzel, H.; Stewart, G. A.; Stillings, J. A.; Stockton, M. C.; Stoebe, M.; Stoicea, G.; Stolte, P.; Stonjek, S.; Stradling, A. R.; Straessner, A.; Stramaglia, M. E.; Strandberg, J.; Strandberg, S.; Strandlie, A.; Strauss, M.; Strizenec, P.; Ströhmer, R.; Strom, D. M.; Stroynowski, R.; Strubig, A.; Stucci, S. A.; Stugu, B.; Styles, N. A.; Su, D.; Su, J.; Subramaniam, R.; Suchek, S.; Sugaya, Y.; Suk, M.; Sulin, V. V.; Sultansoy, S.; Sumida, T.; Sun, S.; Sun, X.; Sundermann, J. E.; Suruliz, K.; Susinno, G.; Sutton, M. R.; Suzuki, S.; Svatos, M.; Swiatlowski, M.; Sykora, I.; Sykora, T.; Ta, D.; Taccini, C.; Tackmann, K.; Taenzer, J.; Taffard, A.; Tafirout, R.; Taiblum, N.; Takai, H.; Takashima, R.; Takeda, H.; Takeshita, T.; Takubo, Y.; Talby, M.; Talyshev, A. A.; Tam, J. Y. C.; Tan, K. G.; Tanaka, J.; Tanaka, R.; Tanaka, S.; Tannenwald, B. B.; Tapia Araya, S.; Tapprogge, S.; Tarem, S.; Tartarelli, G. F.; Tas, P.; Tasevsky, M.; Tashiro, T.; Tassi, E.; Tavares Delgado, A.; Tayalati, Y.; Taylor, A. C.; Taylor, G. N.; Taylor, P. T. E.; Taylor, W.; Teischinger, F. A.; Teixeira-Dias, P.; Temming, K. K.; Temple, D.; Ten Kate, H.; Teng, P. K.; Teoh, J. J.; Tepel, F.; Terada, S.; Terashi, K.; Terron, J.; Terzo, S.; Testa, M.; Teuscher, R. J.; Theveneaux-Pelzer, T.; Thomas, J. P.; Thomas-Wilsker, J.; Thompson, E. N.; Thompson, P. D.; Thompson, R. J.; Thompson, A. S.; Thomsen, L. A.; Thomson, E.; Thomson, M.; Tibbetts, M. J.; Ticse Torres, R. E.; Tikhomirov, V. O.; Tikhonov, Yu. A.; Timoshenko, S.; Tipton, P.; Tisserant, S.; Todome, K.; Todorov, T.; Todorova-Nova, S.; Tojo, J.; Tokár, S.; Tokushuku, K.; Tolley, E.; Tomlinson, L.; Tomoto, M.; Tompkins, L.; Toms, K.; Tong, B.; Torrence, E.; Torres, H.; Torró Pastor, E.; Toth, J.; Touchard, F.; Tovey, D. R.; Trefzger, T.; Tricoli, A.; Trigger, I. M.; Trincaz-Duvoid, S.; Tripiana, M. F.; Trischuk, W.; Trocmé, B.; Trofymov, A.; Troncon, C.; Trottier-McDonald, M.; Trovatelli, M.; Truong, L.; Trzebinski, M.; Trzupek, A.; Tseng, J. C.-L.; Tsiareshka, P. V.; Tsipolitis, G.; Tsirintanis, N.; Tsiskaridze, S.; Tsiskaridze, V.; Tskhadadze, E. G.; Tsui, K. M.; Tsukerman, I. I.; Tsulaia, V.; Tsuno, S.; Tsybychev, D.; Tudorache, A.; Tudorache, V.; Tuna, A. N.; Tupputi, S. A.; Turchikhin, S.; Turecek, D.; Turgeman, D.; Turra, R.; Turvey, A. J.; Tuts, P. M.; Tyndel, M.; Ucchielli, G.; Ueda, I.; Ueno, R.; Ughetto, M.; Ukegawa, F.; Unal, G.; Undrus, A.; Unel, G.; Ungaro, F. C.; Unno, Y.; Unverdorben, C.; Urban, J.; Urquijo, P.; Urrejola, P.; Usai, G.; Usanova, A.; Vacavant, L.; Vacek, V.; Vachon, B.; Valderanis, C.; Valdes Santurio, E.; Valencic, N.; Valentinetti, S.; Valero, A.; Valery, L.; Valkar, S.; Vallecorsa, S.; Valls Ferrer, J. A.; Van Den Wollenberg, W.; Van Der Deijl, P. C.; van der Geer, R.; van der Graaf, H.; van Eldik, N.; van Gemmeren, P.; Van Nieuwkoop, J.; van Vulpen, I.; van Woerden, M. C.; Vanadia, M.; Vandelli, W.; Vanguri, R.; Vaniachine, A.; Vankov, P.; Vardanyan, G.; Vari, R.; Varnes, E. W.; Varol, T.; Varouchas, D.; Vartapetian, A.; Varvell, K. E.; Vasquez, J. G.; Vazeille, F.; Vazquez Schroeder, T.; Veatch, J.; Veloce, L. M.; Veloso, F.; Veneziano, S.; Ventura, A.; Venturi, M.; Venturi, N.; Venturini, A.; Vercesi, V.; Verducci, M.; Verkerke, W.; Vermeulen, J. C.; Vest, A.; Vetterli, M. C.; Viazlo, O.; Vichou, I.; Vickey, T.; Boeriu, O. E. Vickey; Viehhauser, G. H. A.; Viel, S.; Vigani, L.; Vigne, R.; Villa, M.; Villaplana Perez, M.; Vilucchi, E.; Vincter, M. G.; Vinogradov, V. B.; Vittori, C.; Vivarelli, I.; Vlachos, S.; Vlasak, M.; Vogel, M.; Vokac, P.; Volpi, G.; Volpi, M.; von der Schmitt, H.; von Toerne, E.; Vorobel, V.; Vorobev, K.; Vos, M.; Voss, R.; Vossebeld, J. H.; Vranjes, N.; Vranjes Milosavljevic, M.; Vrba, V.; Vreeswijk, M.; Vuillermet, R.; Vukotic, I.; Vykydal, Z.; Wagner, P.; Wagner, W.; Wahlberg, H.; Wahrmund, S.; Wakabayashi, J.; Walder, J.; Walker, R.; Walkowiak, W.; Wallangen, V.; Wang, C.; Wang, C.; Wang, F.; Wang, H.; Wang, H.; Wang, J.; Wang, J.; Wang, K.; Wang, R.; Wang, S. M.; Wang, T.; Wang, T.; Wang, X.; Wanotayaroj, C.; Warburton, A.; Ward, C. P.; Wardrope, D. R.; Washbrook, A.; Watkins, P. M.; Watson, A. T.; Watson, I. J.; Watson, M. F.; Watts, G.; Watts, S.; Waugh, B. M.; Webb, S.; Weber, M. S.; Weber, S. W.; Webster, J. S.; Weidberg, A. R.; Weinert, B.; Weingarten, J.; Weiser, C.; Weits, H.; Wells, P. S.; Wenaus, T.; Wengler, T.; Wenig, S.; Wermes, N.; Werner, M.; Werner, P.; Wessels, M.; Wetter, J.; Whalen, K.; Whallon, N. L.; Wharton, A. M.; White, A.; White, M. J.; White, R.; White, S.; Whiteson, D.; Wickens, F. J.; Wiedenmann, W.; Wielers, M.; Wienemann, P.; Wiglesworth, C.; Wiik-Fuchs, L. A. M.; Wildauer, A.; Wilk, F.; Wilkens, H. G.; Williams, H. H.; Williams, S.; Willis, C.; Willocq, S.; Wilson, J. A.; Wingerter-Seez, I.; Winklmeier, F.; Winston, O. J.; Winter, B. T.; Wittgen, M.; Wittkowski, J.; Wollstadt, S. J.; Wolter, M. W.; Wolters, H.; Wosiek, B. K.; Wotschack, J.; Woudstra, M. J.; Wozniak, K. W.; Wu, M.; Wu, M.; Wu, S. L.; Wu, X.; Wu, Y.; Wyatt, T. R.; Wynne, B. M.; Xella, S.; Xu, D.; Xu, L.; Yabsley, B.; Yacoob, S.; Yakabe, R.; Yamaguchi, D.; Yamaguchi, Y.; Yamamoto, A.; Yamamoto, S.; Yamanaka, T.; Yamauchi, K.; Yamazaki, Y.; Yan, Z.; Yang, H.; Yang, H.; Yang, Y.; Yang, Z.; Yao, W.-M.; Yap, Y. C.; Yasu, Y.; Yatsenko, E.; Yau Wong, K. H.; Ye, J.; Ye, S.; Yeletskikh, I.; Yen, A. L.; Yildirim, E.; Yorita, K.; Yoshida, R.; Yoshihara, K.; Young, C.; Young, C. J. S.; Youssef, S.; Yu, D. R.; Yu, J.; Yu, J. M.; Yu, J.; Yuan, L.; Yuen, S. P. Y.; Yusuff, I.; Zabinski, B.; Zaidan, R.; Zaitsev, A. M.; Zakharchuk, N.; Zalieckas, J.; Zaman, A.; Zambito, S.; Zanello, L.; Zanzi, D.; Zeitnitz, C.; Zeman, M.; Zemla, A.; Zeng, J. C.; Zeng, Q.; Zengel, K.; Zenin, O.; Ženiš, T.; Zerwas, D.; Zhang, D.; Zhang, F.; Zhang, G.; Zhang, H.; Zhang, J.; Zhang, L.; Zhang, R.; Zhang, R.; Zhang, X.; Zhang, Z.; Zhao, X.; Zhao, Y.; Zhao, Z.; Zhemchugov, A.; Zhong, J.; Zhou, B.; Zhou, C.; Zhou, L.; Zhou, L.; Zhou, M.; Zhou, N.; Zhu, C. G.; Zhu, H.; Zhu, J.; Zhu, Y.; Zhuang, X.; Zhukov, K.; Zibell, A.; Zieminska, D.; Zimine, N. I.; Zimmermann, C.; Zimmermann, S.; Zinonos, Z.; Zinser, M.; Ziolkowski, M.; Živković, L.; Zobernig, G.; Zoccoli, A.; zur Nedden, M.; Zurzolo, G.; Zwalinski, L.

2016-05-01

This paper discusses various observations on beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton run. Building on published results based on 2011 data, the correlations between background and residual pressure of the beam vacuum are revisited. Ghost charge evolution over 2012 and its role for backgrounds are evaluated. New methods to monitor ghost charge with beam-gas rates are presented and observations of LHC abort gap population by ghost charge are discussed in detail. Fake jets from colliding bunches and from ghost charge are analysed with improved methods, showing that ghost charge in individual radio-frequency buckets of the LHC can be resolved. Some results of two short periods of dedicated cosmic-ray background data-taking are shown; in particular cosmic-ray muon induced fake jet rates are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and to the fake jet rates from beam background. A thorough analysis of a particular LHC fill, where abnormally high background was observed, is presented. Correlations between backgrounds and beam intensity losses in special fills with very high β* are studied.

Background norepinephrine primes astrocytic calcium responses to subsequent norepinephrine stimuli in the cerebral cortex

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Nuriya, Mutsuo; Keio Advanced Research Center for Water Biology and Medicine, Keio University, Shinjuku, Tokyo, 160-8582; Graduate School of Environment and Information Sciences, Yokohama National University, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 240-8501

Norepinephrine (NE) levels in the cerebral cortex are regulated in two modes; the brain state is correlated with slow changes in background NE concentration, while salient stimuli induce transient NE spikes. Previous studies have revealed their diverse neuromodulatory actions; however, the modulatory role of NE on astrocytic activity has been poorly characterized thus far. In this study, we evaluated the modulatory action of background NE on astrocytic responses to subsequent stimuli, using two-photon calcium imaging of acute murine cortical brain slices. We find that subthreshold background NE significantly augments calcium responses to subsequent pulsed NE stimulation in astrocytes. This primingmore » effect is independent of neuronal activity and is mediated by the activation of β-adrenoceptors and the downstream cAMP pathway. These results indicate that background NE primes astrocytes for subsequent calcium responses to NE stimulation and suggest a novel gliomodulatory role for brain state-dependent background NE in the cerebral cortex. - Highlights: • Background NE augments the responsiveness of astrocytes to subsequent NE stimulation. • The priming effect is independent of neuronal activity and mediated by βadrenoceptor. • Background subthreshold NE may play gliomodulatory roles in the cerebral cortex.« less

Beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds observed in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton running period

DOE PAGES

Aad, G.; Abbott, B.; Abdallah, J.; ...

2016-05-20

This paper discusses various observations on beam-induced and cosmic-ray backgrounds in the ATLAS detector during the LHC 2012 proton-proton run. Building on published results based on 2011 data, the correlations between background and residual pressure of the beam vacuum are revisited. Ghost charge evolution over 2012 and its role for backgrounds are evaluated. New methods to monitor ghost charge with beam-gas rates are presented and observations of LHC abort gap population by ghost charge are discussed in detail. Fake jets from colliding bunches and from ghost charge are analysed with improved methods, showing that ghost charge in individual radio-frequency bucketsmore » of the LHC can be resolved. Some results of two short periods of dedicated cosmic-ray background data-taking are shown; in particular cosmic-ray muon induced fake jet rates are compared to Monte Carlo simulations and to the fake jet rates from beam background. A thorough analysis of a particular LHC fill, where abnormally high background was observed, is presented. Correlations between backgrounds and beam intensity losses in special fills with very high β* are studied.« less

Optimal Background Estimators in Single-Molecule FRET Microscopy.

PubMed

Preus, Søren; Hildebrandt, Lasse L; Birkedal, Victoria

2016-09-20

Single-molecule total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) microscopy constitutes an umbrella of powerful tools that facilitate direct observation of the biophysical properties, population heterogeneities, and interactions of single biomolecules without the need for ensemble synchronization. Due to the low signal/noise ratio in single-molecule TIRF microscopy experiments, it is important to determine the local background intensity, especially when the fluorescence intensity of the molecule is used quantitatively. Here we compare and evaluate the performance of different aperture-based background estimators used particularly in single-molecule Förster resonance energy transfer. We introduce the general concept of multiaperture signatures and use this technique to demonstrate how the choice of background can affect the measured fluorescence signal considerably. A new, to our knowledge, and simple background estimator is proposed, called the local statistical percentile (LSP). We show that the LSP background estimator performs as well as current background estimators at low molecular densities and significantly better in regions of high molecular densities. The LSP background estimator is thus suited for single-particle TIRF microscopy of dense biological samples in which the intensity itself is an observable of the technique. Copyright © 2016 Biophysical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Estimating background-subtracted fluorescence transients in calcium imaging experiments: a quantitative approach.

PubMed

Joucla, Sébastien; Franconville, Romain; Pippow, Andreas; Kloppenburg, Peter; Pouzat, Christophe

2013-08-01

Calcium imaging has become a routine technique in neuroscience for subcellular to network level investigations. The fast progresses in the development of new indicators and imaging techniques call for dedicated reliable analysis methods. In particular, efficient and quantitative background fluorescence subtraction routines would be beneficial to most of the calcium imaging research field. A background-subtracted fluorescence transients estimation method that does not require any independent background measurement is therefore developed. This method is based on a fluorescence model fitted to single-trial data using a classical nonlinear regression approach. The model includes an appropriate probabilistic description of the acquisition system's noise leading to accurate confidence intervals on all quantities of interest (background fluorescence, normalized background-subtracted fluorescence time course) when background fluorescence is homogeneous. An automatic procedure detecting background inhomogeneities inside the region of interest is also developed and is shown to be efficient on simulated data. The implementation and performances of the proposed method on experimental recordings from the mouse hypothalamus are presented in details. This method, which applies to both single-cell and bulk-stained tissues recordings, should help improving the statistical comparison of fluorescence calcium signals between experiments and studies. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can the cosmic x ray and gamma ray background be due to reflection of a steep power law spectrum and Compton scattering by relativistic electrons?

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zycki, Piotr T.; Zdziarski, Andrzej A.; Svensson, Roland

1991-01-01

We reconsider the recent model for the origin in the cosmic X-ray and gamma-ray background by Rogers and Field. The background in the model is due to an unresolved population of AGNs. An individual AGN spectrum contains three components: a power law with the energy index of alpha = 1.1, an enhanced reflection component, and a component from Compton scattering by relativistic electrons with a low energy cutoff at some minimum Lorentz factor, gamma(sub min) much greater than 1. The MeV bump seen in the gamma-ray background is then explained by inverse Compton emission by the electrons. We show that the model does not reproduce the shape of the observed X-ray and gamma-ray background below 10 MeV and that it overproduces the background at larger energies. Furthermore, we find the assumptions made for the Compton component to be physically inconsistent. Relaxing the inconsistent assumptions leads to model spectra even more different from that of the observed cosmic background. Thus, we can reject the hypothesis that the high-energy cosmic background is due to the described model.

Adaptive removal of background and white space from document images using seam categorization

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fillion, Claude; Fan, Zhigang; Monga, Vishal

2011-03-01

Document images are obtained regularly by rasterization of document content and as scans of printed documents. Resizing via background and white space removal is often desired for better consumption of these images, whether on displays or in print. While white space and background are easy to identify in images, existing methods such as naïve removal and content aware resizing (seam carving) each have limitations that can lead to undesirable artifacts, such as uneven spacing between lines of text or poor arrangement of content. An adaptive method based on image content is hence needed. In this paper we propose an adaptive method to intelligently remove white space and background content from document images. Document images are different from pictorial images in structure. They typically contain objects (text letters, pictures and graphics) separated by uniform background, which include both white paper space and other uniform color background. Pixels in uniform background regions are excellent candidates for deletion if resizing is required, as they introduce less change in document content and style, compared with deletion of object pixels. We propose a background deletion method that exploits both local and global context. The method aims to retain the document structural information and image quality.

Experimental investigation of coaxial-gun-formed plasmas injected into a background transverse magnetic field or plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Yue; Fisher, Dustin M.; Gilmore, Mark; Hsu, Scott C.; Lynn, Alan G.

2018-05-01

Injection of coaxial-gun-formed magnetized plasmas into a background transverse vacuum magnetic field or into a background magnetized plasma has been studied in the helicon-cathode (HelCat) linear plasma device at the University of New Mexico [M. Gilmore et al., J. Plasma Phys. 81, 345810104 (2015)]. A magnetized plasma jet launched into a background transverse magnetic field shows emergent kink stabilization of the jet due to the formation of a sheared flow in the jet above the kink stabilization threshold 0.1kVA [Y. Zhang et al., Phys. Plasmas 24, 110702 (2017)]. Injection of a spheromak-like plasma into a transverse background magnetic field led to the observation of finger-like structures on the side with a stronger magnetic field null between the spheromak and the background field. The finger-like structures are consistent with magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability. Jets or spheromaks launched into a background, low-β magnetized plasma show similar behavior as above, respectively, in both cases.

CUORE and Background Reduction Case Studies for CUPID

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sakai, Michinari; Gozlukluoglu, Nihal; Huang, Huan; Cuore Collaboration

2017-09-01

CUORE (Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events) is a bolometric experiment at cryogenic temperatures currently in operation to search for neutrinoless double beta decay. Successful detection of this extremely rare process requires stringent control of radioactive backgrounds of the experiment as well as the detector itself. Great care was taken in CUORE to select the materials and various parts that comprise the current detector. However next-generation neutrinoless double beta decay experiments face a challenge to further reduce backgrounds in order to probe more deeply into the effective Majorana neutrino mass phase space. In this presentation we will review the sensitivity and background budget for the currently running experiment CUORE, as well as the target sensitivity and background goals for the next generation experiment CUPID that will cover the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy. We will explore simulation based R&D case studies for background reduction and lay out achievable background reduction levels using possible materials and feasible geometries in the context of CUPID. National Science Foundation.

On the origin of the soft X-ray background. [in cosmological observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Wang, Q. D.; Mccray, Richard

1993-01-01

The angular autocorrelation function and spectrum of the soft X-ray background is studied below a discrete source detection limit, using two deep images from the Rosat X-ray satellite. The average spectral shape of pointlike sources, which account for 40 to 60 percent of the background intensity, is determined by using the autocorrelation function. The background spectrum, in the 0.5-0.9 keV band (M band), is decomposed into a pointlike source component characterized by a power law and a diffuse component represented by a two-temperature plasma. These pointlike sources cannot contribute more than 60 percent of the X-ray background intensity in the M band without exceeding the total observed flux in the R7 band. Spectral analysis has shown that the local soft diffuse component, although dominating the background intensity at energies not greater than 0.3 keV, contributes only a small fraction of the M band background intensity. The diffuse component may represent an important constituent of the interstellar or intergalactic medium.

Stability of an ion-ring distribution in a multi-ion component plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mithaiwala, Manish; Rudakov, Leonid; Ganguli, Gurudas

2010-04-01

The stability of a cold ion-ring velocity distribution in a thermal plasma is analyzed. In particular, the effect of plasma temperature and density on the instability is considered. A high ring density (compared to the background plasma) neutralizes the stabilizing effect of the warm background plasma and the ring is unstable to the generation of waves below the lower-hybrid frequency even for a very high temperature plasma. For ring densities lower than the background plasma density, there is a slow instability where the growth rate is less than the background-ion cyclotron frequency and, consequently, the background-ion response is magnetized. This is in addition to the widely discussed fast instability where the wave growth rate exceeds the background-ion cyclotron frequency and hence the background ions are effectively unmagnetized. Thus, even a low density ring is unstable to waves around the lower-hybrid frequency range for any ring speed. This implies that effectively there is no velocity threshold for a sufficiently cold ring.

(Biased) Grading of Students' Performance: Students' Names, Performance Level, and Implicit Attitudes.

PubMed

Bonefeld, Meike; Dickhäuser, Oliver

2018-01-01

Biases in pre-service teachers' evaluations of students' performance may arise due to stereotypes (e.g., the assumption that students with a migrant background have lower potential). This study examines the effects of a migrant background, performance level, and implicit attitudes toward individuals with a migrant background on performance assessment (assigned grades and number of errors counted in a dictation). Pre-service teachers ( N = 203) graded the performance of a student who appeared to have a migrant background statistically significantly worse than that of a student without a migrant background. The differences were more pronounced when the performance level was low and when the pre-service teachers held relatively positive implicit attitudes toward individuals with a migrant background. Interestingly, only performance level had an effect on the number of counted errors. Our results support the assumption that pre-service teachers exhibit bias when grading students with a migrant background in a third-grade level dictation assignment.

Effects of Classical Background Music on Stress, Anxiety, and Knowledge of Filipino Baccalaureate Nursing Students.

PubMed

Evangelista, Kevin; Macabasag, Romeo Luis A; Capili, Brylle; Castro, Timothy; Danque, Marilee; Evangelista, Hanzel; Rivero, Jenica Ana; Gonong, Michell Katrina; Diño, Michael Joseph; Cajayon, Sharon

2017-10-28

Previous work on the use of background music suggests conflicting results in various psychological, behavioral, and educational measures. This quasi-experiment examined the effect of integrating classical background music during a lecture on stress, anxiety, and knowledge. A total of 42 nursing students participated this study. We utilized independent sample t-test and multivariate analysis of variance to examine the effect of classical background music. Our findings suggest that the presence or absence of classical background music do not affect stress, anxiety, and knowledge scores (Λ = 0.999 F(3, 78) = 0.029, p = 0.993). We provided literature to explain the non-significant result. Although classical music failed to establish a significant influence on the dependent variables, classical background music during lecture hours can be considered a non-threatening stimulus. We recommend follow up studies regarding the role of classical background music in regulating attention control of nursing students during lecture hours.

(Biased) Grading of Students’ Performance: Students’ Names, Performance Level, and Implicit Attitudes

PubMed Central

Bonefeld, Meike; Dickhäuser, Oliver

2018-01-01

Biases in pre-service teachers’ evaluations of students’ performance may arise due to stereotypes (e.g., the assumption that students with a migrant background have lower potential). This study examines the effects of a migrant background, performance level, and implicit attitudes toward individuals with a migrant background on performance assessment (assigned grades and number of errors counted in a dictation). Pre-service teachers (N = 203) graded the performance of a student who appeared to have a migrant background statistically significantly worse than that of a student without a migrant background. The differences were more pronounced when the performance level was low and when the pre-service teachers held relatively positive implicit attitudes toward individuals with a migrant background. Interestingly, only performance level had an effect on the number of counted errors. Our results support the assumption that pre-service teachers exhibit bias when grading students with a migrant background in a third-grade level dictation assignment. PMID:29867618

Survey of background scattering from materials found in small-angle neutron scattering.

PubMed

Barker, J G; Mildner, D F R

2015-08-01

Measurements and calculations of beam attenuation and background scattering for common materials placed in a neutron beam are presented over the temperature range of 300-700 K. Time-of-flight (TOF) measurements have also been made, to determine the fraction of the background that is either inelastic or quasi-elastic scattering as measured with a 3 He detector. Other background sources considered include double Bragg diffraction from windows or samples, scattering from gases, and phonon scattering from solids. Background from the residual air in detector vacuum vessels and scattering from the 3 He detector dome are presented. The thickness dependence of the multiple scattering correction for forward scattering from water is calculated. Inelastic phonon background scattering at small angles for crystalline solids is both modeled and compared with measurements. Methods of maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio by material selection, choice of sample thickness and wavelength, removal of inelastic background by TOF or Be filters, and removal of spin-flip scattering with polarized beam analysis are discussed.

Survey of background scattering from materials found in small-angle neutron scattering

PubMed Central

Barker, J. G.; Mildner, D. F. R.

2015-01-01

Measurements and calculations of beam attenuation and background scattering for common materials placed in a neutron beam are presented over the temperature range of 300–700 K. Time-of-flight (TOF) measurements have also been made, to determine the fraction of the background that is either inelastic or quasi-elastic scattering as measured with a 3He detector. Other background sources considered include double Bragg diffraction from windows or samples, scattering from gases, and phonon scattering from solids. Background from the residual air in detector vacuum vessels and scattering from the 3He detector dome are presented. The thickness dependence of the multiple scattering correction for forward scattering from water is calculated. Inelastic phonon background scattering at small angles for crystalline solids is both modeled and compared with measurements. Methods of maximizing the signal-to-noise ratio by material selection, choice of sample thickness and wavelength, removal of inelastic background by TOF or Be filters, and removal of spin-flip scattering with polarized beam analysis are discussed. PMID:26306088

Monte-Carlo background simulations of present and future detectors in x-ray astronomy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tenzer, C.; Kendziorra, E.; Santangelo, A.

2008-07-01

Reaching a low-level and well understood internal instrumental background is crucial for the scientific performance of an X-ray detector and, therefore, a main objective of the instrument designers. Monte-Carlo simulations of the physics processes and interactions taking place in a space-based X-ray detector as a result of its orbital environment can be applied to explain the measured background of existing missions. They are thus an excellent tool to predict and optimize the background of future observatories. Weak points of a design and the main sources of the background can be identified and methods to reduce them can be implemented and studied within the simulations. Using the Geant4 Monte-Carlo toolkit, we have created a simulation environment for space-based detectors and we present results of such background simulations for XMM-Newton's EPIC pn-CCD camera. The environment is also currently used to estimate and optimize the background of the future instruments Simbol-X and eRosita.

Radon-related backgrounds in the LUX dark matter search

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bradley, A.; Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.

The LUX detector is currently in operation at the Davis Campus at the 4850’ level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD to directly search for WIMP dark matter. Knowing the type and rate of backgrounds is critical in a rare, low energy event search, and LUX was designed, constructed, and deployed to mitigate backgrounds, both internal and external. An important internal background are decays of radon and its daughters. These consist of alpha decays, which are easily tagged and are a tracer of certain backgrounds, and beta decays, some of which are not as readily taggedmore » and present a background for the WIMP search. We report on studies of alpha decay and discuss implications for the WIMP search.« less

Radon-related backgrounds in the LUX dark matter search

DOE PAGES

Bradley, A.; Akerib, D. S.; Araújo, H. M.; ...

2015-01-01

The LUX detector is currently in operation at the Davis Campus at the 4850’ level of the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD to directly search for WIMP dark matter. Knowing the type and rate of backgrounds is critical in a rare, low energy event search, and LUX was designed, constructed, and deployed to mitigate backgrounds, both internal and external. An important internal background are decays of radon and its daughters. These consist of alpha decays, which are easily tagged and are a tracer of certain backgrounds, and beta decays, some of which are not as readily taggedmore » and present a background for the WIMP search. We report on studies of alpha decay and discuss implications for the WIMP search.« less

Background radiation measurements at high power research reactors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ashenfelter, J.; Balantekin, B.; Baldenegro, C. X.; Band, H. R.; Barclay, G.; Bass, C. D.; Berish, D.; Bowden, N. S.; Bryan, C. D.; Cherwinka, J. J.; Chu, R.; Classen, T.; Davee, D.; Dean, D.; Deichert, G.; Dolinski, M. J.; Dolph, J.; Dwyer, D. A.; Fan, S.; Gaison, J. K.; Galindo-Uribarri, A.; Gilje, K.; Glenn, A.; Green, M.; Han, K.; Hans, S.; Heeger, K. M.; Heffron, B.; Jaffe, D. E.; Kettell, S.; Langford, T. J.; Littlejohn, B. R.; Martinez, D.; McKeown, R. D.; Morrell, S.; Mueller, P. E.; Mumm, H. P.; Napolitano, J.; Norcini, D.; Pushin, D.; Romero, E.; Rosero, R.; Saldana, L.; Seilhan, B. S.; Sharma, R.; Stemen, N. T.; Surukuchi, P. T.; Thompson, S. J.; Varner, R. L.; Wang, W.; Watson, S. M.; White, B.; White, C.; Wilhelmi, J.; Williams, C.; Wise, T.; Yao, H.; Yeh, M.; Yen, Y.-R.; Zhang, C.; Zhang, X.; Prospect Collaboration

2016-01-01

Research reactors host a wide range of activities that make use of the intense neutron fluxes generated at these facilities. Recent interest in performing measurements with relatively low event rates, e.g. reactor antineutrino detection, at these facilities necessitates a detailed understanding of background radiation fields. Both reactor-correlated and naturally occurring background sources are potentially important, even at levels well below those of importance for typical activities. Here we describe a comprehensive series of background assessments at three high-power research reactors, including γ-ray, neutron, and muon measurements. For each facility we describe the characteristics and identify the sources of the background fields encountered. The general understanding gained of background production mechanisms and their relationship to facility features will prove valuable for the planning of any sensitive measurement conducted therein.

A tool to estimate the Fermi Large Area Telescope background for short-duration observations

DOE PAGES

Vasileiou, Vlasios

2013-07-25

Here, the proper estimation of the background is a crucial component of data analyses in astrophysics, such as source detection, temporal studies, spectroscopy, and localization. For the case of the Large Area Telescope (LAT) on board the Fermi spacecraft, approaches to estimate the background for short (≲1000 s duration) observations fail if they ignore the strong dependence of the LAT background on the continuously changing observational conditions. We present a (to be) publicly available background-estimation tool created and used by the LAT Collaboration in several analyses of Gamma Ray Bursts. This tool can accurately estimate the expected LAT background formore » any observational conditions, including, for example, observations with rapid variations of the Fermi spacecraft’s orientation occurring during automatic repointings.« less

Active background suppression with the liquid argon scintillation veto of GERDA Phase II

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostini, M.; Allardt, M.; Bakalyarov, A. M.; Balata, M.; Barabanov, I.; Baudis, L.; Bauer, C.; Bellotti, E.; Belogurov, S.; Belyaev, S. T.; Benato, G.; Bettini, A.; Bezrukov, L.; Bode, T.; Borowicz, D.; Brudanin, V.; Brugnera, R.; Caldwell, A.; Cattadori, C.; Chernogorov, A.; D'Andrea, V.; Demidova, E. V.; Di Marco, N.; Domula, A.; Doroshkevich, E.; Egorov, V.; Falkenstein, R.; Frodyma, N.; Gangapshev, A.; Garfagnini, A.; Gooch, C.; Grabmayr, P.; Gurentsov, V.; Gusev, K.; Hakenmüller, J.; Hegai, A.; Heisel, M.; Hemmer, S.; Hofmann, W.; Hult, M.; Inzhechik, L. V.; Janicskó Csáthy, J.; Jochum, J.; Junker, M.; Kazalov, V.; Kihm, T.; Kirpichnikov, I. V.; Kirsch, A.; Kish, A.; Klimenko, A.; Kneißl, R.; Knöpfle, K. T.; Kochetov, O.; Kornoukhov, V. N.; Kuzminov, V. V.; Laubenstein, M.; Lazzaro, A.; Lebedev, V. I.; Lehnert, B.; Liao, H. Y.; Lindner, M.; Lippi, I.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Lubsandorzhiev, B.; Lutter, G.; Macolino, C.; Majorovits, B.; Maneschg, W.; Medinaceli, E.; Miloradovic, M.; Mingazheva, R.; Misiaszek, M.; Moseev, P.; Nemchenok, I.; Palioselitis, D.; Panas, K.; Pandola, L.; Pelczar, K.; Pullia, A.; Riboldi, S.; Rumyantseva, N.; Sada, C.; Salamida, F.; Salathe, M.; Schmitt, C.; Schneider, B.; Schönert, S.; Schreiner, J.; Schulz, O.; Schütz, A.-K.; Schwingenheuer, B.; Selivanenko, O.; Shevzik, E.; Shirchenko, M.; Simgen, H.; Smolnikov, A.; Stanco, L.; Vanhoefer, L.; Vasenko, A. A.; Veresnikova, A.; von Sturm, K.; Wagner, V.; Wegmann, A.; Wester, T.; Wiesinger, C.; Wojcik, M.; Yanovich, E.; Zhitnikov, I.; Zhukov, S. V.; Zinatulina, D.; Zuber, K.; Zuzel, G.

2017-09-01

The observation of neutrinoless double beta decay would allow to shed light onto the particle nature of neutrinos. Gerda is aiming to perform a background-free search for this process using high purity germanium detectors enriched in 76Ge operated in liquid argon. This goal relies on the application of active background suppression techniques. A low background light instrumentation has been installed for Phase II to detect events with coincident energy deposition in the nearby liquid argon. The intended background index of ˜10-3 cts/(keV·ky·yr) has been confirmed.

Coherent photon scattering background in sub- GeV / c 2 direct dark matter searches

DOE PAGES

Robinson, Alan E.

2017-01-18

Here, proposed dark matter detectors with eV-scale sensitivities will detect a large background of atomic (nuclear) recoils from coherent photon scattering of MeV-scale photons. This background climbs steeply below ~10 eV, far exceeding the declining rate of low-energy Compton recoils. The upcoming generation of dark matter detectors will not be limited by this background, but further development of eV-scale and sub-eV detectors will require strategies, including the use of low nuclear mass target materials, to maximize dark matter sensitivity while minimizing the coherent photon scattering background.

An analog retina model for detecting dim moving objects against a bright moving background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Searfus, R. M.; Colvin, M. E.; Eeckman, F. H.; Teeters, J. L.; Axelrod, T. S.

1991-01-01

We are interested in applications that require the ability to track a dim target against a bright, moving background. Since the target signal will be less than or comparable to the variations in the background signal intensity, sophisticated techniques must be employed to detect the target. We present an analog retina model that adapts to the motion of the background in order to enhance targets that have a velocity difference with respect to the background. Computer simulation results and our preliminary concept of an analog 'Z' focal plane implementation are also presented.

Study of new anticoincidence systems design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chabaud, J.; Laurent, P.; Baronick, J.-P.; Oger, R.; Prévôt, G.

2012-12-01

The scientific performances of future hard X-ray missions will necessitate a very low detector background level. This will imply thorough background simulations, and efficient background rejection systems. It necessitates also a very good knowledge of the detectors to be shielded. We got experience on these activities by conceiving and optimizing the active and passive background rejection system of the Simbol-X and IXO/HXI missions. Considering that this work may naturally be extended to other X-ray missions, we have initiated with CNES, in 2010, a R&T project on the study of background rejection systems, whose status will be presented in this paper.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Archer, Daniel E.; Hornback, Donald Eric; Johnson, Jeffrey O.

This report summarizes the findings of a two year effort to systematically assess neutron and gamma backgrounds relevant to operational modeling and detection technology implementation. The first year effort focused on reviewing the origins of background sources and their impact on measured rates in operational scenarios of interest. The second year has focused on the assessment of detector and algorithm performance as they pertain to operational requirements against the various background sources and background levels.

Background Error Correlation Modeling with Diffusion Operators

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-01-01

RESPONSIBLE PERSON 19b. TELEPHONE NUMBER (Include area code) 07-10-2013 Book Chapter Background Error Correlation Modeling with Diffusion Operators...normalization Unclassified Unclassified Unclassified UU 27 Max Yaremchuk (228) 688-5259 Reset Chapter 8 Background error correlation modeling with diffusion ...field, then a structure like this simulates enhanced diffusive transport of model errors in the regions of strong cur- rents on the background of

A study of nuclear recoil backgrounds in dark matter detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Westerdale, Shawn S.

Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics, a preponderance of astrophysical evidence suggests that it cannot explain most of the matter in the universe. This so-called dark matter has eluded direct detection, though many theoretical extensions to the Standard Model predict the existence of particles with a mass on the 1-1000 GeV scale that interact only via the weak nuclear force. Particles in this class are referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and their high masses and low scattering cross sections make them viable dark matter candidates. The rarity of WIMP-nucleus interactions makes them challenging to detect: any background can mask the signal they produce. Background rejection is therefore a major problem in dark matter detection. Many experiments greatly reduce their backgrounds by employing techniques to reject electron recoils. However, nuclear recoil backgrounds, which produce signals similar to what we expect from WIMPs, remain problematic. There are two primary sources of such backgrounds: surface backgrounds and neutron recoils. Surface backgrounds result from radioactivity on the inner surfaces of the detector sending recoiling nuclei into the detector. These backgrounds can be removed with fiducial cuts, at some cost to the experiment's exposure. In this dissertation we briefly discuss a novel technique for rejecting these events based on signals they make in the wavelength shifter coating on the inner surfaces of some detectors. Neutron recoils result from neutrons scattering off of nuclei in the detector. These backgrounds may produce a signal identical to what we expect from WIMPs and are extensively discussed here. We additionally present a new tool for calculating (alpha, n) yields in various materials. We introduce the concept of a neutron veto system designed to shield against, measure, and provide an anti-coincidence veto signal for background neutrons. We discuss the research and development that informed the design of the DarkSide-50 boron-loaded liquid scintillator neutron veto. We describe the specific implementation of this veto system in DarkSide-50, including a description of its performance, and show that it can reject neutrons with a high enough efficiency to allow DarkSide-50 to run background-free for three years.

Influence of background/surrounding area on accuracy of visual color matching.

PubMed

Dudea, Diana; Gasparik, Cristina; Botos, Alexandra; Alb, Florin; Irimie, Ada; Paravina, Rade D

2016-07-01

Visual shade selection is subjective and influenced by factors that might be operator-dependent or not. The objective was to evaluate influence of observer nonrelated factors (background/surrounding area, and light) and observer-related factors (gender and color competence) on shade-matching quality and to identify the most often mismatched shades in correlation with the background. Ten observers with average or superior color discrimination competence according to ISO TR 28642:2011 were asked to match 48 shade tabs of three VITA Classical shade guides, in a viewing booth under two light sources: D65 and D50. Gray, white, black, red, and light blue background/surrounding area simulated various clinical situations. The results were statistically analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis test and Mann-Whitney U test. Post hoc power analyses and sample size calculations were also conducted. The matching scores ranged between 72.7 % (using blue background) and 85.9 % (using white and black backgrounds). There was a statistically significant difference between matching scores on the five backgrounds (χ (2)(4) = 12.67, p = 0.01). When neutral gray was used as reference, Mann-Whitney U value was statistically significant only for the blue background (U = 107.00, Z = -2.52, p = 0.01). The influence of gender and lighting condition was also assessed, no statistically significance being found, but in both cases, the effect size and the achieved power were small. However, color discrimination competence did influence the results (p < 0.01). Background influenced shade matching results for tabs A3, B3, B4, and D4. Within the limitations of this study, it was concluded that 1. When it comes to the influence of the background/surround area on quality of color matching, no difference among achromatic backgrounds was recorded. Significantly worse results were recorded when the blue background was used. 2. Observers with superior color matching competence performed significantly better than the ones with average competence 3. The most frequently mismatched shade tabs were A3.5, B3, B4, and D4.

Investigation of background acoustical effect on online surveys: A case study of a farmers' market customer survey

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Xingdi

Since the middle of 1990s, internet has become a new platform for surveys. Previous studies have discussed the visual design features of internet surveys. However, the application of acoustics as a design characteristic of online surveys has been rarely investigated. The present study aimed to fill that research gap. The purpose of the study was to assess the impact of background sound on respondents' engagement and satisfaction with online surveys. Two forms of background sound were evaluated; audio recorded in studios and audio edited with convolution reverb technique. The author recruited 80 undergraduate students for the experiment. These students were assigned to one of three groups. Each of the three groups was asked to evaluate their engagement and satisfaction with a specific online survey. The content of the online survey was the same. However, the three groups was exposed to the online survey with no background sound, with background sound recorded in studios; and with background sound edited with convolution reverb technique. The results showed no significant difference in engagement and satisfaction in the three groups of online surveys; without background sound, background sound recorded in studios, and background sound edited with convolution reverb technique. The author suggests that background sound does not contribute to online surveys in all the contexts. The industry practitioners should be careful to evaluate the survey context to decide whether the background sound should be added. Particularly, ear-piercing noise or acoustics which may link to respondents' unpleasant experience should be avoided. Moreover, although the results did not support the advantage of the revolution reverb technique in improving respondents' engagement and satisfaction, the author suggests that the potential of the revolution reverb technique in the applications of online surveys can't be totally denied, since it may be useful for some contexts which need further explorations in future research.

Extragalactic background light measurements and applications.

PubMed

Cooray, Asantha

2016-03-01

This review covers the measurements related to the extragalactic background light intensity from γ-rays to radio in the electromagnetic spectrum over 20 decades in wavelength. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) remains the best measured spectrum with an accuracy better than 1%. The measurements related to the cosmic optical background (COB), centred at 1 μm, are impacted by the large zodiacal light associated with interplanetary dust in the inner Solar System. The best measurements of COB come from an indirect technique involving γ-ray spectra of bright blazars with an absorption feature resulting from pair-production off of COB photons. The cosmic infrared background (CIB) peaking at around 100 μm established an energetically important background with an intensity comparable to the optical background. This discovery paved the way for large aperture far-infrared and sub-millimetre observations resulting in the discovery of dusty, starbursting galaxies. Their role in galaxy formation and evolution remains an active area of research in modern-day astrophysics. The extreme UV (EUV) background remains mostly unexplored and will be a challenge to measure due to the high Galactic background and absorption of extragalactic photons by the intergalactic medium at these EUV/soft X-ray energies. We also summarize our understanding of the spatial anisotropies and angular power spectra of intensity fluctuations. We motivate a precise direct measurement of the COB between 0.1 and 5 μm using a small aperture telescope observing either from the outer Solar System, at distances of 5 AU or more, or out of the ecliptic plane. Other future applications include improving our understanding of the background at TeV energies and spectral distortions of CMB and CIB.

Parafoveal Target Detectability Reversal Predicted by Local Luminance and Contrast Gain Control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ahumada, Albert J., Jr.; Beard, Bettina L.; Null, Cynthia H. (Technical Monitor)

1996-01-01

This project is part of a program to develop image discrimination models for the prediction of the detectability of objects in a range of backgrounds. We wanted to see if the models could predict parafoveal object detection as well as they predict detection in foveal vision. We also wanted to make our simplified models more general by local computation of luminance and contrast gain control. A signal image (0.78 x 0.17 deg) was made by subtracting a simulated airport runway scene background image (2.7 deg square) from the same scene containing an obstructing aircraft. Signal visibility contrast thresholds were measured in a fully crossed factorial design with three factors: eccentricity (0 deg or 4 deg), background (uniform or runway scene background), and fixed-pattern white noise contrast (0%, 5%, or 10%). Three experienced observers responded to three repetitions of 60 2IFC trials in each condition and thresholds were estimated by maximum likelihood probit analysis. In the fovea the average detection contrast threshold was 4 dB lower for the runway background than for the uniform background, but in the parafovea, the average threshold was 6 dB higher for the runway background than for the uniform background. This interaction was similar across the different noise levels and for all three observers. A likely reason for the runway background giving a lower threshold in the fovea is the low luminance near the signal in that scene. In our model, the local luminance computation is controlled by a spatial spread parameter. When this parameter and a corresponding parameter for the spatial spread of contrast gain were increased for the parafoveal predictions, the model predicts the interaction of background with eccentricity.

A robust background regression based score estimation algorithm for hyperspectral anomaly detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Rui; Du, Bo; Zhang, Liangpei; Zhang, Lefei

2016-12-01

Anomaly detection has become a hot topic in the hyperspectral image analysis and processing fields in recent years. The most important issue for hyperspectral anomaly detection is the background estimation and suppression. Unreasonable or non-robust background estimation usually leads to unsatisfactory anomaly detection results. Furthermore, the inherent nonlinearity of hyperspectral images may cover up the intrinsic data structure in the anomaly detection. In order to implement robust background estimation, as well as to explore the intrinsic data structure of the hyperspectral image, we propose a robust background regression based score estimation algorithm (RBRSE) for hyperspectral anomaly detection. The Robust Background Regression (RBR) is actually a label assignment procedure which segments the hyperspectral data into a robust background dataset and a potential anomaly dataset with an intersection boundary. In the RBR, a kernel expansion technique, which explores the nonlinear structure of the hyperspectral data in a reproducing kernel Hilbert space, is utilized to formulate the data as a density feature representation. A minimum squared loss relationship is constructed between the data density feature and the corresponding assigned labels of the hyperspectral data, to formulate the foundation of the regression. Furthermore, a manifold regularization term which explores the manifold smoothness of the hyperspectral data, and a maximization term of the robust background average density, which suppresses the bias caused by the potential anomalies, are jointly appended in the RBR procedure. After this, a paired-dataset based k-nn score estimation method is undertaken on the robust background and potential anomaly datasets, to implement the detection output. The experimental results show that RBRSE achieves superior ROC curves, AUC values, and background-anomaly separation than some of the other state-of-the-art anomaly detection methods, and is easy to implement in practice.

Extragalactic background light measurements and applications

PubMed Central

Cooray, Asantha

2016-01-01

This review covers the measurements related to the extragalactic background light intensity from γ-rays to radio in the electromagnetic spectrum over 20 decades in wavelength. The cosmic microwave background (CMB) remains the best measured spectrum with an accuracy better than 1%. The measurements related to the cosmic optical background (COB), centred at 1 μm, are impacted by the large zodiacal light associated with interplanetary dust in the inner Solar System. The best measurements of COB come from an indirect technique involving γ-ray spectra of bright blazars with an absorption feature resulting from pair-production off of COB photons. The cosmic infrared background (CIB) peaking at around 100 μm established an energetically important background with an intensity comparable to the optical background. This discovery paved the way for large aperture far-infrared and sub-millimetre observations resulting in the discovery of dusty, starbursting galaxies. Their role in galaxy formation and evolution remains an active area of research in modern-day astrophysics. The extreme UV (EUV) background remains mostly unexplored and will be a challenge to measure due to the high Galactic background and absorption of extragalactic photons by the intergalactic medium at these EUV/soft X-ray energies. We also summarize our understanding of the spatial anisotropies and angular power spectra of intensity fluctuations. We motivate a precise direct measurement of the COB between 0.1 and 5 μm using a small aperture telescope observing either from the outer Solar System, at distances of 5 AU or more, or out of the ecliptic plane. Other future applications include improving our understanding of the background at TeV energies and spectral distortions of CMB and CIB. PMID:27069645

Background radiation in inelastic X-ray scattering and X-ray emission spectroscopy. A study for Johann-type spectrometers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Paredes Mellone, O. A.; Bianco, L. M.; Ceppi, S. A.; Goncalves Honnicke, M.; Stutz, G. E.

2018-06-01

A study of the background radiation in inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS) and X-ray emission spectroscopy (XES) based on an analytical model is presented. The calculation model considers spurious radiation originated from elastic and inelastic scattering processes along the beam paths of a Johann-type spectrometer. The dependence of the background radiation intensity on the medium of the beam paths (air and helium), analysed energy and radius of the Rowland circle was studied. The present study shows that both for IXS and XES experiments the background radiation is dominated by spurious radiation owing to scattering processes along the sample-analyser beam path. For IXS experiments the spectral distribution of the main component of the background radiation shows a weak linear dependence on the energy for the most cases. In the case of XES, a strong non-linear behaviour of the background radiation intensity was predicted for energy analysis very close to the backdiffraction condition, with a rapid increase in intensity as the analyser Bragg angle approaches π / 2. The contribution of the analyser-detector beam path is significantly weaker and resembles the spectral distribution of the measured spectra. Present results show that for usual experimental conditions no appreciable structures are introduced by the background radiation into the measured spectra, both in IXS and XES experiments. The usefulness of properly calculating the background profile is demonstrated in a background subtraction procedure for a real experimental situation. The calculation model was able to simulate with high accuracy the energy dependence of the background radiation intensity measured in a particular XES experiment with air beam paths.

What is the financial state of medical students from rural backgrounds during tuition fee deregulation?

PubMed

Woloschuk, Wayne; Lemay, Jean-François; Wright, Bruce

2010-01-01

We sought to examine the financial state of medical students from rural backgrounds during a time of tuition fee deregulation. We surveyed incoming classes from 2007 to 2011 at the University of Calgary. Community background, expected educational debt at graduation, educational debt at entry to medical school and parental income were collected for analysis. Data were analyzed using the Χ² test, analysis of variance and the Newman-Keuls multiple comparison test. The overall response rate was 95.3%. Of the 571 (93.5%) respondents who supplied data on their background and debt, 94.4% expected to have educational debt at graduation. The mean projected educational debt at graduation by medical students from both rural ($107 226 [95% confidence interval (CI) $98 030-$116 423]) and regional ($99 456 [95% CI $91 905-$107 006]) backgrounds was significantly greater than the debt projected by students from metropolitan ($88 565 [95% CI $83 607-$93 524]) backgrounds. Medical students who came from rural backgrounds had the highest mean debt at entry to medical school ($33 053 [95% CI $25 715-$40 391]) compared with their peers from regional ($23 253 [95% CI $16 621-$29 885]) and metropolitan ($22 053 [95% CI $17 344-$26 762]) backgrounds. Students of rural origin also had parents whose mean income ($104 024 [95% CI $75 976-$132 173]) was significantly lower than the mean parental income of their peers who originated from regional ($143 167 [95% CI $119 898-$166 435]) and metropolitan ($150 339 [95% CI $135 241-165 438]) centres. Rising tuition and subsequent debt may be affecting the diversity of medical students' backgrounds. Financial programs dedicated to rural-background students and their interest in medicine may become necessary.

Smoot Cosmology Group

Science.gov Websites

, Ivone F. M.; Smoot, George F. 07/2006 Power Spectrum Analysis of Far-IR Background Fluctuations in 160 Microwave Background Anisotropies. Jeong, E.; Smoot, G. F. 2005 Power Spectrum Analysis of Far-IR Background

Background Light Bluer Than Expected

NASA Image and Video Library

2014-11-06

This plot shows data from the Cosmic Infrared Background Experiment, or CIBER, rockets launched in 2010 and 2012. The experiment measures a diffuse glow of infrared light in the sky, known as the cosmic infrared background.

Scientific results from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE)

PubMed Central

Bennett, C. L.; Boggess, N. W.; Cheng, E. S.; Hauser, M. G.; Kelsall, T.; Mather, J. C.; Moseley, S. H.; Murdock, T. L.; Shafer, R. A.; Silverberg, R. F.; Smoot, G. F.; Weiss, R.; Wright, E. L.

1993-01-01

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has flown the COBE satellite to observe the Big Bang and the subsequent formation of galaxies and large-scale structure. Data from the Far-Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS) show that the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background is that of a black body of temperature T = 2.73 ± 0.06 K, with no deviation from a black-body spectrum greater than 0.25% of the peak brightness. The data from the Differential Microwave Radiometers (DMR) show statistically significant cosmic microwave background anisotropy, consistent with a scale-invariant primordial density fluctuation spectrum. Measurements from the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) provide new conservative upper limits to the cosmic infrared background. Extensive modeling of solar system and galactic infrared foregrounds is required for further improvement in the cosmic infrared background limits. PMID:11607383

Dark soliton beats in the time-varying background of Bose-Einstein condensates

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Wu Lei; Li Lu; Zhang Jiefang

2009-07-15

We investigate the dynamics of dark solitons in one-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensates. In the large particle limit, by introducing the lens-type transformation, we find that the macroscopic wave function evolves self-similarly when its initial profile strays from that of the equilibrium state, which provides a time-varying background for the propagation of dark solitons. The interaction of dark solitons with this kind of background is studied both analytically and numerically. We find that the center-of-mass motion of the dark soliton is deeply affected by the time-varying background, and the beating phenomena of dark soliton emerge when the intrinsic frequency of the darkmore » soliton approaches that of the background. Lastly, we investigate the propagation of dark solitons in the freely expanding background.« less

Do Executives' Backgrounds Matter to IPO Investors? Evidence from the Life Science Industry

PubMed Central

Chok, Jay; Qian, Jifeng

2013-01-01

In this study, we focus on the impact of senior executives' industry backgrounds on the amount of capital raised in the stock market. The primary contribution of the study entails applying the upper echelon theory to the initial public offering (IPO) phenomenon. Specifically, we hypothesize that the industry backgrounds of corporate executives affect the amount of capital that the firm raised in the primary stock market. We argue that the firm's future investment strategies are unobserved by the investors ex-ante and investors expect firms' investment strategies to be based on the executives' industry backgrounds. As a result, the executives' industry backgrounds influence the investors' expectations about what investment strategies the firm is likely to deploy. Furthermore, the above logic also suggests that executives of different industry backgrounds should prefer different investment strategies corresponding with demand for different amount of capital. As a result, we expect the industry backgrounds to covary with the capital raised from both the supply and demand perspectives. To test the hypotheses, we ran a reduced econometric model wherein the executives' background predicts the amount of capital raised. Regression analyses suggest that the capital raised is negatively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in the healthcare and genomic sectors but positively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in regulatory affairs. The results provide tentative support for the notion that investors infer corporate strategies from senior executives' industry backgrounds. PMID:23690920

Significant competitive advantage conferred by meiosis and syngamy in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

PubMed Central

Birdsell, J; Wills, C

1996-01-01

The presumed advantages of genetic recombinations are difficult to demonstrate directly. To investigate the effects of recombination and background heterozygosity on competitive ability, we have performed serial-transfer competition experiments between isogenic sexual and asexual strains of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The members of these diploid pairs of strains differed only in being heterozygous (sexual) or homozygous (asexual) at the mating type or MAT locus. Competing pairs had either a completely homozygous or a heterozygous genetic background, the latter being heterozygous at many different loci throughout the genome. A round of meiotic recombination (automixis) conferred a large and statistically significant enhancement of competitive ability on sexual strains with a heterozygous genetic background. By contrast, in homozygous background competitions, meiosis decreased the sexual strains' initial relative competitive ability. In all cases, however, the sexual strains outcompeted their isogenic asexual counterparts, whether meiotic recombination had occurred or not. In some genetic backgrounds, this was due in part to an overdominance effect on competitive advantage of heterozygosity at the MAT locus. The advantage of the sexual strains also increased significantly during the course of the homozygous background competitions, particularly when meiosis had occurred. This latter effect either did not occur or was very weak in heterozygous background competitions. Overall, sexual strains with heterozygous genetic backgrounds had a significantly higher initial relative competitive ability than those with homozygous backgrounds. The advantage of mating type heterozygosity in this organism extends far beyond the ability to recombine meiotically. PMID:8570658

Do executives' backgrounds matter to IPO investors? Evidence from the life science industry.

PubMed

Chok, Jay; Qian, Jifeng

2013-01-01

In this study, we focus on the impact of senior executives' industry backgrounds on the amount of capital raised in the stock market. The primary contribution of the study entails applying the upper echelon theory to the initial public offering (IPO) phenomenon. Specifically, we hypothesize that the industry backgrounds of corporate executives affect the amount of capital that the firm raised in the primary stock market. We argue that the firm's future investment strategies are unobserved by the investors ex-ante and investors expect firms' investment strategies to be based on the executives' industry backgrounds. As a result, the executives' industry backgrounds influence the investors' expectations about what investment strategies the firm is likely to deploy. Furthermore, the above logic also suggests that executives of different industry backgrounds should prefer different investment strategies corresponding with demand for different amount of capital. As a result, we expect the industry backgrounds to covary with the capital raised from both the supply and demand perspectives. To test the hypotheses, we ran a reduced econometric model wherein the executives' background predicts the amount of capital raised. Regression analyses suggest that the capital raised is negatively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in the healthcare and genomic sectors but positively associated with the number of senior executives with prior career experience in regulatory affairs. The results provide tentative support for the notion that investors infer corporate strategies from senior executives' industry backgrounds.

SAR image classification based on CNN in real and simulation datasets

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Peng, Lijiang; Liu, Ming; Liu, Xiaohua; Dong, Liquan; Hui, Mei; Zhao, Yuejin

2018-04-01

Convolution neural network (CNN) has made great success in image classification tasks. Even in the field of synthetic aperture radar automatic target recognition (SAR-ATR), state-of-art results has been obtained by learning deep representation of features on the MSTAR benchmark. However, the raw data of MSTAR have shortcomings in training a SAR-ATR model because of high similarity in background among the SAR images of each kind. This indicates that the CNN would learn the hierarchies of features of backgrounds as well as the targets. To validate the influence of the background, some other SAR images datasets have been made which contains the simulation SAR images of 10 manufactured targets such as tank and fighter aircraft, and the backgrounds of simulation SAR images are sampled from the whole original MSTAR data. The simulation datasets contain the dataset that the backgrounds of each kind images correspond to the one kind of backgrounds of MSTAR targets or clutters and the dataset that each image shares the random background of whole MSTAR targets or clutters. In addition, mixed datasets of MSTAR and simulation datasets had been made to use in the experiments. The CNN architecture proposed in this paper are trained on all datasets mentioned above. The experimental results shows that the architecture can get high performances on all datasets even the backgrounds of the images are miscellaneous, which indicates the architecture can learn a good representation of the targets even though the drastic changes on background.

Accuracy of cochlear implant recipients in speech reception in the presence of background music.

PubMed

Gfeller, Kate; Turner, Christopher; Oleson, Jacob; Kliethermes, Stephanie; Driscoll, Virginia

2012-12-01

This study examined speech recognition abilities of cochlear implant (CI) recipients in the spectrally complex listening condition of 3 contrasting types of background music, and compared performance based upon listener groups: CI recipients using conventional long-electrode devices, Hybrid CI recipients (acoustic plus electric stimulation), and normal-hearing adults. We tested 154 long-electrode CI recipients using varied devices and strategies, 21 Hybrid CI recipients, and 49 normal-hearing adults on closed-set recognition of spondees presented in 3 contrasting forms of background music (piano solo, large symphony orchestra, vocal solo with small combo accompaniment) in an adaptive test. Signal-to-noise ratio thresholds for speech in music were examined in relation to measures of speech recognition in background noise and multitalker babble, pitch perception, and music experience. The signal-to-noise ratio thresholds for speech in music varied as a function of category of background music, group membership (long-electrode, Hybrid, normal-hearing), and age. The thresholds for speech in background music were significantly correlated with measures of pitch perception and thresholds for speech in background noise; auditory status was an important predictor. Evidence suggests that speech reception thresholds in background music change as a function of listener age (with more advanced age being detrimental), structural characteristics of different types of music, and hearing status (residual hearing). These findings have implications for everyday listening conditions such as communicating in social or commercial situations in which there is background music.

Accuracy of Cochlear Implant Recipients on Speech Reception in Background Music

PubMed Central

Gfeller, Kate; Turner, Christopher; Oleson, Jacob; Kliethermes, Stephanie; Driscoll, Virginia

2012-01-01

Objectives This study (a) examined speech recognition abilities of cochlear implant (CI) recipients in the spectrally complex listening condition of three contrasting types of background music, and (b) compared performance based upon listener groups: CI recipients using conventional long-electrode (LE) devices, Hybrid CI recipients (acoustic plus electric stimulation), and normal-hearing (NH) adults. Methods We tested 154 LE CI recipients using varied devices and strategies, 21 Hybrid CI recipients, and 49 NH adults on closed-set recognition of spondees presented in three contrasting forms of background music (piano solo, large symphony orchestra, vocal solo with small combo accompaniment) in an adaptive test. Outcomes Signal-to-noise thresholds for speech in music (SRTM) were examined in relation to measures of speech recognition in background noise and multi-talker babble, pitch perception, and music experience. Results SRTM thresholds varied as a function of category of background music, group membership (LE, Hybrid, NH), and age. Thresholds for speech in background music were significantly correlated with measures of pitch perception and speech in background noise thresholds; auditory status was an important predictor. Conclusions Evidence suggests that speech reception thresholds in background music change as a function of listener age (with more advanced age being detrimental), structural characteristics of different types of music, and hearing status (residual hearing). These findings have implications for everyday listening conditions such as communicating in social or commercial situations in which there is background music. PMID:23342550

Causes and Consequences of Genetic Background Effects Illuminated by Integrative Genomic Analysis

PubMed Central

Chandler, Christopher H.; Chari, Sudarshan; Dworkin, Ian

2014-01-01

The phenotypic consequences of individual mutations are modulated by the wild-type genetic background in which they occur. Although such background dependence is widely observed, we do not know whether general patterns across species and traits exist or about the mechanisms underlying it. We also lack knowledge on how mutations interact with genetic background to influence gene expression and how this in turn mediates mutant phenotypes. Furthermore, how genetic background influences patterns of epistasis remains unclear. To investigate the genetic basis and genomic consequences of genetic background dependence of the scallopedE3 allele on the Drosophila melanogaster wing, we generated multiple novel genome-level datasets from a mapping-by-introgression experiment and a tagged RNA gene expression dataset. In addition we used whole genome resequencing of the parental lines—two commonly used laboratory strains—to predict polymorphic transcription factor binding sites for SD. We integrated these data with previously published genomic datasets from expression microarrays and a modifier mutation screen. By searching for genes showing a congruent signal across multiple datasets, we were able to identify a robust set of candidate loci contributing to the background-dependent effects of mutations in sd. We also show that the majority of background-dependent modifiers previously reported are caused by higher-order epistasis, not quantitative noncomplementation. These findings provide a useful foundation for more detailed investigations of genetic background dependence in this system, and this approach is likely to prove useful in exploring the genetic basis of other traits as well. PMID:24504186

On the Use of Sibiling Data to Estimate the Effects of Family Background, Cognitive Skills, and Schooling: Results from the Kalamazoo Brothers Study. Discussion Papers 374-76.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Olneck, Michael R.

Sibling data drawn from the Kalamazoo Brothers sample are used in this report to assess the adequacy of conventional sociological variables for measuring family background, to estimate the overall effects of family background on test scores, education, occupational status, and earning, and to control family background when estimating the effects…

A Review of Research Related to Unmanned Aircraft System Visual Observers

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-10-01

accommodation. Poor Contrast Contrast refers to the difference in luminance between an object and its background. The larger the difference in luminance , the...to camouflage potential targets. Complex Backgrounds When the background behind an object contains a variety of luminance levels and contours it...itself contained a variety of luminance levels and contours. It is likely that this complex background effect would be seen more often between air

Cephalopod dynamic camouflage: bridging the continuum between background matching and disruptive coloration

PubMed Central

Hanlon, R.T.; Chiao, C.-C.; Mäthger, L.M.; Barbosa, A.; Buresch, K.C.; Chubb, C.

2008-01-01

Individual cuttlefish, octopus and squid have the versatile capability to use body patterns for background matching and disruptive coloration. We define—qualitatively and quantitatively—the chief characteristics of the three major body pattern types used for camouflage by cephalopods: uniform and mottle patterns for background matching, and disruptive patterns that primarily enhance disruptiveness but aid background matching as well. There is great variation within each of the three body pattern types, but by defining their chief characteristics we lay the groundwork to test camouflage concepts by correlating background statistics with those of the body pattern. We describe at least three ways in which background matching can be achieved in cephalopods. Disruptive patterns in cuttlefish possess all four of the basic components of ‘disruptiveness’, supporting Cott's hypotheses, and we provide field examples of disruptive coloration in which the body pattern contrast exceeds that of the immediate surrounds. Based upon laboratory testing as well as thousands of images of camouflaged cephalopods in the field (a sample is provided on a web archive), we note that size, contrast and edges of background objects are key visual cues that guide cephalopod camouflage patterning. Mottle and disruptive patterns are frequently mixed, suggesting that background matching and disruptive mechanisms are often used in the same pattern. PMID:19008200

How affective information from faces and scenes interacts in the brain

PubMed Central

Vandenbulcke, Mathieu; Sinke, Charlotte B. A.; Goebel, Rainer; de Gelder, Beatrice

2014-01-01

Facial expression perception can be influenced by the natural visual context in which the face is perceived. We performed an fMRI experiment presenting participants with fearful or neutral faces against threatening or neutral background scenes. Triangles and scrambled scenes served as control stimuli. The results showed that the valence of the background influences face selective activity in the right anterior parahippocampal place area (PPA) and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) with higher activation for neutral backgrounds compared to threatening backgrounds (controlled for isolated background effects) and that this effect correlated with trait empathy in the sgACC. In addition, the left fusiform gyrus (FG) responds to the affective congruence between face and background scene. The results show that valence of the background modulates face processing and support the hypothesis that empathic processing in sgACC is inhibited when affective information is present in the background. In addition, the findings reveal a pattern of complex scene perception showing a gradient of functional specialization along the posterior–anterior axis: from sensitivity to the affective content of scenes (extrastriate body area: EBA and posterior PPA), over scene emotion–face emotion interaction (left FG) via category–scene interaction (anterior PPA) to scene–category–personality interaction (sgACC). PMID:23956081

Effects of placement point of background music on shopping website.

PubMed

Lai, Chien-Jung; Chiang, Chia-Chi

2012-01-01

Consumer on-line behaviors are more important than ever due to highly growth of on-line shopping. The purposes of this study were to design placement methods of background music for shopping website and examine the effect on browsers' emotional and cognitive response. Three placement points of background music during the browsing, i.e. 2 min., 4 min., and 6 min. from the start of browsing were considered for entry points. Both browsing without music (no music) and browsing with constant music volume (full music) were treated as control groups. Participants' emotional state, approach-avoidance behavior intention, and action to adjust music volume were collected. Results showed that participants had a higher level of pleasure, arousal and approach behavior intention for the three placement points than for no music and full music. Most of the participants for full music (5/6) adjusted the background music. Only 16.7% (3/18) participants for other levels turn off the background music. The results indicate that playing background music after the start of browsing is benefit for on-line shopping atmosphere. It is inappropriate to place background music at the start of browsing shopping website. The marketer must manipulated placement methods of background music for a web store carefully.

Characterization and Evolution of the Swift X-ray Telescope Instrumental Background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hill, Joanne; Pagani, C.; Morris, D. C.; Racusin, J.; Grupe, D.; Vetere, L.; Stroh, M.; Falcone, A.; Kennea, J.; Burrows, D. N.;

Dual-tracer background subtraction approach for fluorescent molecular tomography

PubMed Central

Holt, Robert W.; El-Ghussein, Fadi; Davis, Scott C.; Samkoe, Kimberley S.; Gunn, Jason R.; Leblond, Frederic

2013-01-01

Abstract. Diffuse fluorescence tomography requires high contrast-to-background ratios to accurately reconstruct inclusions of interest. This is a problem when imaging the uptake of fluorescently labeled molecularly targeted tracers in tissue, which can result in high levels of heterogeneously distributed background uptake. We present a dual-tracer background subtraction approach, wherein signal from the uptake of an untargeted tracer is subtracted from targeted tracer signal prior to image reconstruction, resulting in maps of targeted tracer binding. The approach is demonstrated in simulations, a phantom study, and in a mouse glioma imaging study, demonstrating substantial improvement over conventional and homogenous background subtraction image reconstruction approaches. PMID:23292612

Superluminality in dilatationally invariant generalized Galileon theories

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kolevatov, R. S.

2015-12-01

We consider small perturbations about homogeneous backgrounds in dilatationally invariant Galileon models. The issues we address are stability (absence of ghosts and gradient instabilities) and superluminality. We show that in the Minkowski background, it is possible to construct the Lagrangian in such a way that any homogeneous Galileon background solution is stable and small perturbations about it are subluminal. On the other hand, in the case of Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) backgrounds, for any Lagrangian functions there exist homogeneous background solutions to the Galileon equation of motion and time dependence of the scale factor, such that the stability conditions are satisfied, but the Galileon perturbations propagate with superluminal speed.

Critical role of foreground stimuli in perceiving visually induced self-motion (vection).

PubMed

Nakamura, S; Shimojo, S

1999-01-01

The effects of a foreground stimulus on vection (illusory perception of self-motion induced by a moving background stimulus) were examined in two experiments. The experiments reveal that the presentation of a foreground pattern with a moving background stimulus may affect vection. The foreground stimulus facilitated vection strength when it remained stationary or moved slowly in the opposite direction to that of the background stimulus. On the other hand, there was a strong inhibition of vection when the foreground stimulus moved slowly with, or quickly against, the background. These results suggest that foreground stimuli, as well as background stimuli, play an important role in perceiving self-motion.

Digging Deeper: Observing Primordial Gravitational Waves below the Binary-Black-Hole-Produced Stochastic Background.

PubMed

Regimbau, T; Evans, M; Christensen, N; Katsavounidis, E; Sathyaprakash, B; Vitale, S

2017-04-14

The merger rate of black hole binaries inferred from the detections in the first Advanced LIGO science run implies that a stochastic background produced by a cosmological population of mergers will likely mask the primordial gravitational wave background. Here we demonstrate that the next generation of ground-based detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, will be able to observe binary black hole mergers throughout the Universe with sufficient efficiency that the confusion background can potentially be subtracted to observe the primordial background at the level of Ω_{GW}≃10^{-13} after 5 years of observation.

Aircraft and background noise annoyance effects

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Willshire, K. F.

1984-01-01

To investigate annoyance of multiple noise sources, two experiments were conducted. The first experiment, which used 48 subjects, was designed to establish annoyance-noise level functions for three community noise sources presented individually: jet aircraft flyovers, air conditioner, and traffic. The second experiment, which used 216 subjects, investigated the effects of background noise on aircraft annoyance as a function of noise level and spectrum shape; and the differences between overall, aircraft, and background noise annoyance. In both experiments, rated annoyance was the dependent measure. Results indicate that the slope of the linear relationship between annoyance and noise level for traffic is significantly different from that of flyover and air conditioner noise and that further research was justified to determine the influence of the two background noises on overall, aircraft, and background noise annoyance (e.g., experiment two). In experiment two, total noise exposure, signal-to-noise ratio, and background source type were found to have effects on all three types of annoyance. Thus, both signal-to-noise ratio, and the background source must be considered when trying to determine community response to combined noise sources.

Shielding concepts for low-background proportional counter arrays in surface laboratories

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aalseth, Craig E.; Humble, Paul H.; Mace, Emily K.

2016-02-01

Development of ultra low background gas proportional counters has made the contribution from naturally occurring radioactive isotopes – primarily and activity in the uranium and thorium decay chains – inconsequential to instrumental sensitivity levels when measurements are performed in above ground surface laboratories. Simple lead shielding is enough to mitigate against gamma rays as gas proportional counters are already relatively insensitive to naturally occurring gamma radiation. The dominant background in these surface laboratory measurements using ultra low background gas proportional counters is due to cosmic ray generated muons, neutrons, and protons. Studies of measurements with ultra low background gas proportionalmore » counters in surface and underground laboratories as well as radiation transport Monte Carlo simulations suggest a preferred conceptual design to achieve the highest possible sensitivity from an array of low background gas proportional counters when operated in a surface laboratory. The basis for a low background gas proportional counter array and the preferred shielding configuration is reported, especially in relation to measurements of radioactive gases having low energy decays such as 37Ar.« less

Poisson mixture model for measurements using counting.

PubMed

Miller, Guthrie; Justus, Alan; Vostrotin, Vadim; Dry, Donald; Bertelli, Luiz

2010-03-01

Starting with the basic Poisson statistical model of a counting measurement process, 'extraPoisson' variance or 'overdispersion' are included by assuming that the Poisson parameter representing the mean number of counts itself comes from another distribution. The Poisson parameter is assumed to be given by the quantity of interest in the inference process multiplied by a lognormally distributed normalising coefficient plus an additional lognormal background that might be correlated with the normalising coefficient (shared uncertainty). The example of lognormal environmental background in uranium urine data is discussed. An additional uncorrelated background is also included. The uncorrelated background is estimated from a background count measurement using Bayesian arguments. The rather complex formulas are validated using Monte Carlo. An analytical expression is obtained for the probability distribution of gross counts coming from the uncorrelated background, which allows straightforward calculation of a classical decision level in the form of a gross-count alarm point with a desired false-positive rate. The main purpose of this paper is to derive formulas for exact likelihood calculations in the case of various kinds of backgrounds.

A Catalog of Galaxy Clusters Observed by XMM-Newton

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snowden, S. L.; Mushotzky, R. M.; Kuntz, K. D.; Davis, David S.

2007-01-01

Images and the radial profiles of the temperature, abundance, and brightness for 70 clusters of galaxies observed by XMM-Newton are presented along with a detailed discussion of the data reduction and analysis methods, including background modeling, which were used in the processing. Proper consideration of the various background components is vital to extend the reliable determination of cluster parameters to the largest possible cluster radii. The various components of the background including the quiescent particle background, cosmic diffuse emission, soft proton contamination, and solar wind charge exchange emission are discussed along with suggested means of their identification, filtering, and/or their modeling and subtraction. Every component is spectrally variable, sometimes significantly so, and all components except the cosmic background are temporally variable as well. The distributions of the events over the FOV vary between the components, and some distributions vary with energy. The scientific results from observations of low surface brightness objects and the diffuse background itself can be strongly affected by these background components and therefore great care should be taken in their consideration.

Effects of hue, saturation, and brightness on preference: a study on Goethe's color circle with RGB color space

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Camgoz, Nilgun; Yener, Cengiz

2002-06-01

In order to investigate preference responses for foreground- background color relationships, 85 university undergraduates in Ankara, Turkey, viewed 6 background colors (red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, and magenta) on which color squares of differing hues, saturations, and brightnesses were presented. All the background colors had maximum brightness (100%) and maximum saturation (100%). Subjects were asked to show the color square they preferred on the presented background color viewed through a computer monitor. The experimental setup consisted of a computer monitor located in a windowless room, illuminated with cove lighting. The findings of the experiment show that the brightness 100%- saturation 100% range is significantly preferred the most (p-value < 0.03). Thus, color squares that are most saturated and brightest are preferred on backgrounds of most saturated and brightest colors. Regardless of the background colors viewed, the subjects preferred blue the most (p-value < 0.01). Findings of the study are also discussed with pertinent research on the field. Through this analysis, an understanding of foreground-background color relationships in terms of preference is sought.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Aalseth, Craig E.; Day, Anthony R.; Fuller, Erin S.

Abstract A new ultra-low-background proportional counter (ULBPC) design was recently developed at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). This design, along with an ultra-low-background counting system (ULBCS) which provides passive and active shielding with radon exclusion, has been developed to complement a new shallow underground laboratory (~30 meters water-equivalent) constructed at PNNL. After these steps to mitigate dominant backgrounds (cosmic rays, external gamma-rays, radioactivity in materials), remaining background events do not exclusively arise from ionization of the proportional counter gas. Digital pulse-shape discrimination (PSD) is thus employed to further improve measurement sensitivity. In this work, a template shape is generated formore » each individual sample measurement of interest, a "self-calibrating" template. Differences in event topology can also cause differences in pulse shape. In this work, the temporal region analyzed for each event is refined to maximize background discrimination while avoiding unwanted sensitivity to event topology. This digital PSD method is applied to sample and background data, and initial measurement results from a biofuel methane sample are presented in the context of low-background measurements currently being developed.« less

Alcohol and cannabis use among adolescents in Flemish secondary school in Brussels: effects of type of education

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Research regarding socio-economic differences in alcohol and drug use in adolescence yields mixed results. This study hypothesizes that (1) when using education type as a proxy of one's social status, clear differences will exist between students from different types of education, regardless of students' familial socio-economic background; (2) and that the effects of education type differ according to their cultural background. Methods Data from the Brussels youth monitor were used, a school survey administered among 1,488 adolescents from the 3rd to 6th year of Flemish secondary education. Data were analyzed using multilevel logistic regression models. Results Controlling for their familial background, the results show that native students in lower educational tracks use alcohol and cannabis more often than students in upper educational tracks. Such a relationship was not found for students from another ethnic background. Conclusion Results from this study indicate that research into health risks should take into account both adolescents' familial background and individual social position as different components of youngsters' socio-economic background. PMID:22433291

Stacked Multilayer Self-Organizing Map for Background Modeling.

PubMed

Zhao, Zhenjie; Zhang, Xuebo; Fang, Yongchun

2015-09-01

In this paper, a new background modeling method called stacked multilayer self-organizing map background model (SMSOM-BM) is proposed, which presents several merits such as strong representative ability for complex scenarios, easy to use, and so on. In order to enhance the representative ability of the background model and make the parameters learned automatically, the recently developed idea of representative learning (or deep learning) is elegantly employed to extend the existing single-layer self-organizing map background model to a multilayer one (namely, the proposed SMSOM-BM). As a consequence, the SMSOM-BM gains several merits including strong representative ability to learn background model of challenging scenarios, and automatic determination for most network parameters. More specifically, every pixel is modeled by a SMSOM, and spatial consistency is considered at each layer. By introducing a novel over-layer filtering process, we can train the background model layer by layer in an efficient manner. Furthermore, for real-time performance consideration, we have implemented the proposed method using NVIDIA CUDA platform. Comparative experimental results show superior performance of the proposed approach.

Influence of an O2 background gas on the composition and kinetic energies of species in laser induced La0.4Ca0.6MnO3 plasmas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Jikun; Stender, Dieter; Bator, Matthias; Schneider, Christof W.; Lippert, Thomas; Wokaun, Alexander

2013-08-01

Oxygen is one of the most commonly used background gases for pulsed laser deposition of oxide thin films. In this work the properties of a 308 nm laser-induced La0.4Ca0.6MnO3 plasma were analyzed using a quadrupole mass spectrometer combined with an energy analyzer, to investigate the interaction between the various plasma species and the background gas. The composition and kinetic energies of the plasma species were compared in vacuum and an O2 background gas at different pressures. It has been observed that the O2 background gas decreases the kinetic energy of the positively charged atomic plasma species. In addition, the interaction with the O2 background gas causes the generation of positive diatomic oxide species of LaO+, CaO+ and MnO+. The amount of negatively charged diatomic or tri-atomic oxide species decreases in the O2 background compared to vacuum, while the amount of O2- increases strongly.

Gamma-Ray Background Variability in Mobile Detectors

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aucott, Timothy John

Gamma-ray background radiation significantly reduces detection sensitivity when searching for radioactive sources in the field, such as in wide-area searches for homeland security applications. Mobile detector systems in particular must contend with a variable background that is not necessarily known or even measurable a priori. This work will present measurements of the spatial and temporal variability of the background, with the goal of merging gamma-ray detection, spectroscopy, and imaging with contextual information--a "nuclear street view" of the ubiquitous background radiation. The gamma-ray background originates from a variety of sources, both natural and anthropogenic. The dominant sources in the field are the primordial isotopes potassium-40, uranium-238, and thorium-232, as well as their decay daughters. In addition to the natural background, many artificially-created isotopes are used for industrial or medical purposes, and contamination from fission products can be found in many environments. Regardless of origin, these backgrounds will reduce detection sensitivity by adding both statistical as well as systematic uncertainty. In particular, large detector arrays will be limited by the systematic uncertainty in the background and will suffer from a high rate of false alarms. The goal of this work is to provide a comprehensive characterization of the gamma-ray background and its variability in order to improve detection sensitivity and evaluate the performance of mobile detectors in the field. Large quantities of data are measured in order to study their performance at very low false alarm rates. Two different approaches, spectroscopy and imaging, are compared in a controlled study in the presence of this measured background. Furthermore, there is additional information that can be gained by correlating the gamma-ray data with contextual data streams (such as cameras and global positioning systems) in order to reduce the variability in the background. This is accomplished by making many hours of background measurements with a truck-mounted system, which utilizes high-purity germanium detectors for spectroscopy and sodium iodide detectors for coded aperture imaging. This system also utilizes various peripheral sensors, such as panoramic cameras, laser ranging systems, global positioning systems, and a weather station to provide context for the gamma-ray data. About three hundred hours of data were taken in the San Francisco Bay Area, covering a wide variety of environments that might be encountered in operational scenarios. These measurements were used in a source injection study to evaluate the sensitivity of different algorithms (imaging and spectroscopy) and hardware (sodium iodide and high-purity germanium detectors). These measurements confirm that background distributions in large, mobile detector systems are dominated by systematic, not statistical variations, and both spectroscopy and imaging were found to substantially reduce this variability. Spectroscopy performed better than the coded aperture for the given scintillator array (one square meter of sodium iodide) for a variety of sources and geometries. By modeling the statistical and systematic uncertainties of the background, the data can be sampled to simulate the performance of a detector array of arbitrary size and resolution. With a larger array or lower resolution detectors, however imaging was better able to compensate for background variability.

U.S. EPA's Ultraviolet Disinfection Technologies Demonstration Study

EPA Science Inventory

This presentation will give a background on USEPA's Disinfection Technologies Demonstration Study. This will include regulatory background, science background, goals of the project, and ultimate expected outcome of the project. This presentation will preceed a panel discussion ...

Cryptotomography: reconstructing 3D Fourier intensities from randomly oriented single-shot diffraction patterns (CXIDB ID 9)

DOE Data Explorer

Loh, Ne-Te Duane

2011-08-01

These 2000 single-shot diffraction patterns include were either background-scattering only or hits (background-scattering plus diffraction signal from sub-micron ellipsoidal particles at random, undetermined orientations). Candidate hits were identified by eye, and the remainder were presumed as background. 54 usable, background-subtracted hits in this set (procedure in referenced article) were used to reconstruct the 3D diffraction intensities of the average ellipsoidal particle.

Probing the Intergalactic Magnetic Field with the Anisotropy of the Extragalactic Gamma-Ray Background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Venters, T. M.; Pavlidou, V.

2012-01-01

The intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) may leave an imprint on the anisotropy properties of the extragalactic gamma-ray background, through its effect on electromagnetic cascades triggered by interactions between very high energy photons and the extragalactic background light. A strong IGMF will deflect secondary particles produced in these cascades and will thus tend to isotropize lower energy cascade photons, thus inducing a modulation in the anisotropy energy spectrum of the gamma-ray background. Here we present a simple, proof-of-concept calculation of the magnitude of this effect and demonstrate that the two extreme cases (zero IGMF and IGMF strong enough to completely isotropize cascade photons) would be separable by ten years of Fermi observations and reasonable model parameters for the gamma-ray background. The anisotropy energy spectrum of the Fermi gamma-ray background could thus be used as a probe of the IGMF strength.

An Effective Method for Modeling Two-dimensional Sky Background of LAMOST

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Haerken, Hasitieer; Duan, Fuqing; Zhang, Jiannan; Guo, Ping

2017-06-01

Each CCD of LAMOST accommodates 250 spectra, while about 40 are used to observe sky background during real observations. How to estimate the unknown sky background information hidden in the observed 210 celestial spectra by using the known 40 sky spectra is the problem we solve. In order to model the sky background, usually a pre-observation is performed with all fibers observing sky background. We use the observed 250 skylight spectra as training data, where those observed by the 40 fibers are considered as a base vector set. The Locality-constrained Linear Coding (LLC) technique is utilized to represent the skylight spectra observed by the 210 fibers with the base vector set. We also segment each spectrum into small parts, and establish the local sky background model for each part. Experimental results validate the proposed method, and show the local model is better than the global model.

A method to characterise site, urban and regional ambient background radiation.

PubMed

Passmore, C; Kirr, M

2011-03-01

Control dosemeters are routinely provided to customers to monitor the background radiation so that it can be subtracted from the gross response of the dosemeter to arrive at the occupational dose. Landauer, the largest dosimetry processor in the world with subsidiaries in Australia, Brazil, China, France, Japan, Mexico and the UK, has clients in approximately 130 countries. The Glenwood facility processes over 1.1 million controls per year. This network of clients around the world provides a unique ability to monitor the world's ambient background radiation. Control data can be mined to provide useful historical information regarding ambient background rates and provide a historical baseline for geographical areas. Historical baseline can be used to provide site or region-specific background subtraction values, document the variation in ambient background radiation around a client's site or provide a baseline for measuring the efficiency of clean-up efforts in urban areas after a dirty bomb detonation.

Effect of Background Pressure on the Plasma Oscillation Characteristics of the HiVHAc Hall Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, Wensheng; Kamhawi, Hani; Lobbia, Robert B.; Brown, Daniel L.

2014-01-01

During a component compatibility test of the NASA HiVHAc Hall thruster, a number of plasma diagnostics were implemented to study the effect of varying facility background pressure on thruster operation. These diagnostics characterized the thruster performance, the plume, and the plasma oscillations in the thruster. Thruster performance and plume characteristics as functions of background pressure were previously published. This paper focuses on changes in the plasma oscillation characteristics with changing background pressure. The diagnostics used to study plasma oscillations include a high-speed camera and a set of high-speed Langmuir probes. The results show a rise in the oscillation frequency of the "breathing" mode with rising background pressure, which is hypothesized to be due to a shortening acceleration/ionization zone. An attempt is made to apply a simplified ingestion model to the data. The combined results are used to estimate the maximum acceptable background pressure for performance and wear testing.

Effect of Background Pressure on the Performance and Plume of the HiVHAc Hall Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, Wensheng; Kamhawi, Hani; Haag, Thomas

2013-01-01

During the Single String Integration Test of the NASA HiVHAc Hall thruster, a number of plasma diagnostics were implemented to study the effect of varying facility background pressure on thruster operation. These diagnostics include thrust stand, Faraday probe, ExB probe, and retarding potential analyzer. The test results indicated a rise in thrust and discharge current with background pressure. There was also a decrease in ion energy per charge, an increase in multiply-charged species production, a decrease in plume divergence, and a decrease in ion beam current with increasing background pressure. A simplified ingestion model was applied to determine the maximum acceptable background pressure for thrust measurement. The maximum acceptable ingestion percentage was found to be around 1%. Examination of the diagnostics results suggest the ionization and acceleration zones of the thruster were shifting upstream with increasing background pressure.

Gauge copies in the Landau-DeWitt gauge: A background invariant restriction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dudal, David; Vercauteren, David

2018-04-01

The Landau background gauge, also known as the Landau-DeWitt gauge, has found renewed interest during the past decade given its usefulness in accessing the confinement-deconfinement transition via the vacuum expectation value of the Polyakov loop, describable via an appropriate background. In this Letter, we revisit this gauge from the viewpoint of it displaying gauge (Gribov) copies. We generalize the Gribov-Zwanziger effective action in a BRST and background invariant way; this action leads to a restriction on the allowed gauge fluctuations, thereby eliminating the infinitesimal background gauge copies. The explicit background invariance of our action is in contrast with earlier attempts to write down and use an effective Gribov-Zwanziger action. It allows to address certain subtleties arising in these earlier works, such as a spontaneous and thus spurious Lorentz symmetry breaking, something which is now averted.

X-ray absorption spectroscopy to determine originating depth of electrons that form an inelastic background of Auger electron spectrum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Isomura, Noritake; Cui, Yi-Tao; Murai, Takaaki; Oji, Hiroshi; Kimoto, Yasuji

2017-07-01

In Auger electron spectroscopy (AES), the spectral background is mainly due to inelastic scattering of Auger electrons that lose their kinetic energy in a sample bulk. To investigate the spectral components within this background for SiO2(19.3 nm)/Si(100) with known layer thickness, X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used in the partial-electron-yield (PEY) mode at several electron kinetic energies to probe the background of the Si KLL Auger peak. The Si K-edge PEY-XAS spectra constituted of both Si and SiO2 components at each kinetic energy, and their component fractions were approximately the same as those derived from the simulated AES background for the same sample structure. The contributions of Auger electrons originating from layers at different depths to the inelastic background could thus be identified experimentally.

Practical Application of Model-based Programming and State-based Architecture to Space Missions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Horvath, Gregory; Ingham, Michel; Chung, Seung; Martin, Oliver; Williams, Brian

2006-01-01

A viewgraph presentation to develop models from systems engineers that accomplish mission objectives and manage the health of the system is shown. The topics include: 1) Overview; 2) Motivation; 3) Objective/Vision; 4) Approach; 5) Background: The Mission Data System; 6) Background: State-based Control Architecture System; 7) Background: State Analysis; 8) Overview of State Analysis; 9) Background: MDS Software Frameworks; 10) Background: Model-based Programming; 10) Background: Titan Model-based Executive; 11) Model-based Execution Architecture; 12) Compatibility Analysis of MDS and Titan Architectures; 13) Integrating Model-based Programming and Execution into the Architecture; 14) State Analysis and Modeling; 15) IMU Subsystem State Effects Diagram; 16) Titan Subsystem Model: IMU Health; 17) Integrating Model-based Programming and Execution into the Software IMU; 18) Testing Program; 19) Computationally Tractable State Estimation & Fault Diagnosis; 20) Diagnostic Algorithm Performance; 21) Integration and Test Issues; 22) Demonstrated Benefits; and 23) Next Steps

The inception of pulsed discharges in air: simulations in background fields above and below breakdown

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sun, Anbang; Teunissen, Jannis; Ebert, Ute

2014-11-01

We investigate discharge inception in air, in uniform background electric fields above and below the breakdown threshold. We perform 3D particle simulations that include a natural level of background ionization in the form of positive and \\text{O}2- ions. In background fields below breakdown, we use a strongly ionized seed of electrons and positive ions to enhance the field locally. In the region of enhanced field, we observe the growth of positive streamers, as in previous simulations with 2D plasma fluid models. The inclusion of background ionization has little effect in this case. When the background field is above the breakdown threshold, the situation is very different. Electrons can then detach from \\text{O}2- and start ionization avalanches in the whole volume. These avalanches together create one extended discharge, in contrast to the ‘double-headed’ streamers found in many fluid simulations.

A flat Universe from high-resolution maps of the cosmic microwave background radiation

PubMed

de Bernardis P; Ade; Bock; Bond; Borrill; Boscaleri; Coble; Crill; De Gasperis G; Farese; Ferreira; Ganga; Giacometti; Hivon; Hristov; Iacoangeli; Jaffe; Lange; Martinis; Masi; Mason; Mauskopf; Melchiorri; Miglio; Montroy; Netterfield

2000-04-27

The blackbody radiation left over from the Big Bang has been transformed by the expansion of the Universe into the nearly isotropic 2.73 K cosmic microwave background. Tiny inhomogeneities in the early Universe left their imprint on the microwave background in the form of small anisotropies in its temperature. These anisotropies contain information about basic cosmological parameters, particularly the total energy density and curvature of the Universe. Here we report the first images of resolved structure in the microwave background anisotropies over a significant part of the sky. Maps at four frequencies clearly distinguish the microwave background from foreground emission. We compute the angular power spectrum of the microwave background, and find a peak at Legendre multipole Ipeak = (197 +/- 6), with an amplitude delta T200 = (69 +/- 8) microK. This is consistent with that expected for cold dark matter models in a flat (euclidean) Universe, as favoured by standard inflationary models.

Assessment of background particulate matter concentrations in small cities and rural locations--Prince George, Canada.

PubMed

Veira, Andreas; Jackson, Peter L; Ainslie, Bruce; Fudge, Dennis

2013-07-01

This study investigates the development and application of a simple method to calculate annual and seasonal PM2.5 and PM10 background concentrations in small cities and rural areas. The Low Pollution Sectors and Conditions (LPSC) method is based on existing measured long-term data sets and is designed for locations where particulate matter (PM) monitors are only influenced by local anthropogenic emission sources from particular wind sectors. The LPSC method combines the analysis of measured hourly meteorological data, PM concentrations, and geographical emission source distributions. PM background levels emerge from measured data for specific wind conditions, where air parcel trajectories measured at a monitoring station are assumed to have passed over geographic sectors with negligible local emissions. Seasonal and annual background levels were estimated for two monitoring stations in Prince George, Canada, and the method was also applied to four other small cities (Burns Lake, Houston, Quesnel, Smithers) in northern British Columbia. The analysis showed reasonable background concentrations for both monitoring stations in Prince George, whereas annual PM10 background concentrations at two of the other locations and PM2.5 background concentrations at one other location were implausibly high. For those locations where the LPSC method was successful, annual background levels ranged between 1.8 +/- 0.1 microg/m3 and 2.5 +/- 0.1 microg/m3 for PM2.5 and between 6.3 +/- 0.3 microg/m3 and 8.5 +/- 0.3 microg/m3 for PM10. Precipitation effects and patterns of seasonal variability in the estimated background concentrations were detectable for all locations where the method was successful. Overall the method was dependent on the configuration of local geography and sources with respect to the monitoring location, and may fail at some locations and under some conditions. Where applicable, the LPSC method can provide a fast and cost-efficient way to estimate background PM concentrations for small cities in sparsely populated regions like northern British Columbia. In rural areas like northern British Columbia, particulate matter (PM) monitoring stations are usually located close to emission sources and residential areas in order to assess the PM impact on human health. Thus there is a lack of accurate PM background concentration data that represent PM ambient concentrations in the absence of local emissions. The background calculation method developed in this study uses observed meteorological data as well as local source emission locations and provides annual, seasonal and precipitation-related PM background concentrations that are comparable to literature values for four out of six monitoring stations.

Multi-talker background and semantic priming effect

PubMed Central

Dekerle, Marie; Boulenger, Véronique; Hoen, Michel; Meunier, Fanny

2014-01-01

The reported studies have aimed to investigate whether informational masking in a multi-talker background relies on semantic interference between the background and target using an adapted semantic priming paradigm. In 3 experiments, participants were required to perform a lexical decision task on a target item embedded in backgrounds composed of 1–4 voices. These voices were Semantically Consistent (SC) voices (i.e., pronouncing words sharing semantic features with the target) or Semantically Inconsistent (SI) voices (i.e., pronouncing words semantically unrelated to each other and to the target). In the first experiment, backgrounds consisted of 1 or 2 SC voices. One and 2 SI voices were added in Experiments 2 and 3, respectively. The results showed a semantic priming effect only in the conditions where the number of SC voices was greater than the number of SI voices, suggesting that semantic priming depended on prime intelligibility and strategic processes. However, even if backgrounds were composed of 3 or 4 voices, reducing intelligibility, participants were able to recognize words from these backgrounds, although no semantic priming effect on the targets was observed. Overall this finding suggests that informational masking can occur at a semantic level if intelligibility is sufficient. Based on the Effortfulness Hypothesis, we also suggest that when there is an increased difficulty in extracting target signals (caused by a relatively high number of voices in the background), more cognitive resources were allocated to formal processes (i.e., acoustic and phonological), leading to a decrease in available resources for deeper semantic processing of background words, therefore preventing semantic priming from occurring. PMID:25400572

The Influence of Background Music on Learning in the Light of Different Theoretical Perspectives and the Role of Working Memory Capacity.

PubMed

Lehmann, Janina A M; Seufert, Tina

2017-01-01

This study investigates how background music influences learning with respect to three different theoretical approaches. Both the Mozart effect as well as the arousal-mood-hypothesis indicate that background music can potentially benefit learning outcomes. While the Mozart effect assumes a direct influence of background music on cognitive abilities, the arousal-mood-hypothesis assumes a mediation effect over arousal and mood. However, the seductive detail effect indicates that seductive details such as background music worsen learning. Moreover, as working memory capacity has a crucial influence on learning with seductive details, we also included the learner's working memory capacity as a factor in our study. We tested 81 college students using a between-subject design with half of the sample listening to two pop songs while learning a visual text and the other half learning in silence. We included working memory capacity in the design as a continuous organism variable. Arousal and mood scores before and after learning were collected as potential mediating variables. To measure learning outcomes we tested recall and comprehension. We did not find a mediation effect between background music and arousal or mood on learning outcomes. In addition, for recall performance there were no main effects of background music or working memory capacity, nor an interaction effect of these factors. However, when considering comprehension we did find an interaction between background music and working memory capacity: the higher the learners' working memory capacity, the better they learned with background music. This is in line with the seductive detail assumption.

The Influence of Background Music on Learning in the Light of Different Theoretical Perspectives and the Role of Working Memory Capacity

PubMed Central

Lehmann, Janina A. M.; Seufert, Tina

2017-01-01

This study investigates how background music influences learning with respect to three different theoretical approaches. Both the Mozart effect as well as the arousal-mood-hypothesis indicate that background music can potentially benefit learning outcomes. While the Mozart effect assumes a direct influence of background music on cognitive abilities, the arousal-mood-hypothesis assumes a mediation effect over arousal and mood. However, the seductive detail effect indicates that seductive details such as background music worsen learning. Moreover, as working memory capacity has a crucial influence on learning with seductive details, we also included the learner’s working memory capacity as a factor in our study. We tested 81 college students using a between-subject design with half of the sample listening to two pop songs while learning a visual text and the other half learning in silence. We included working memory capacity in the design as a continuous organism variable. Arousal and mood scores before and after learning were collected as potential mediating variables. To measure learning outcomes we tested recall and comprehension. We did not find a mediation effect between background music and arousal or mood on learning outcomes. In addition, for recall performance there were no main effects of background music or working memory capacity, nor an interaction effect of these factors. However, when considering comprehension we did find an interaction between background music and working memory capacity: the higher the learners’ working memory capacity, the better they learned with background music. This is in line with the seductive detail assumption. PMID:29163283

Computational Assessment of Naturally Occurring Neutron and Photon Background Radiation Produced by Extraterrestrial Sources

DOE PAGES

Miller, Thomas Martin; de Wet, Wouter C.; Patton, Bruce W.

2015-10-28

In this study, a computational assessment of the variation in terrestrial neutron and photon background from extraterrestrial sources is presented. The motivation of this assessment is to evaluate the practicality of developing a tool or database to estimate background in real time (or near–real time) during an experimental measurement or to even predict the background for future measurements. The extraterrestrial source focused on during this assessment is naturally occurring galactic cosmic rays (GCRs). The MCNP6 transport code was used to perform the computational assessment. However, the GCR source available in MCNP6 was not used. Rather, models developed and maintained bymore » NASA were used to generate the GCR sources. The largest variation in both neutron and photon background spectra was found to be caused by changes in elevation on Earth's surface, which can be as large as an order of magnitude. All other perturbations produced background variations on the order of a factor of 3 or less. The most interesting finding was that ~80% and 50% of terrestrial background neutrons and photons, respectively, are generated by interactions in Earth's surface and other naturally occurring and man-made objects near a detector of particles from extraterrestrial sources and their progeny created in Earth's atmosphere. In conclusion, this assessment shows that it will be difficult to estimate the terrestrial background from extraterrestrial sources without a good understanding of a detector's surroundings. Therefore, estimating or predicting background during a measurement environment like a mobile random search will be difficult.« less

Migration background is associated with caries in Viennese school children, even if parents have received a higher education.

PubMed

Cvikl, Barbara; Haubenberger-Praml, Gertraud; Drabo, Petra; Hagmann, Michael; Gruber, Reinhard; Moritz, Andreas; Nell, Andrea

2014-05-09

A low level of education and the migration background of parents are associated with the development of caries in children. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether a higher educational level of parents can overcome risks for the development of caries in immigrants in Vienna, Austria. The educational level of the parents, the school type, and the caries status of 736 randomly selected twelve-year-old children with and without migration background was determined in this cross sectional study. In children attending school in Vienna the decayed, missing, and filled teeth (DMFT) index was determined. For statistical analysis, a mixed negative-binomial-model was used. The caries status of the children with migration background was significantly worse compared to that of the native Viennese population. A significant interaction was found between migration background and the educational level of the parents (p = 0.045). No interaction was found between the school type and either the migration background (p = 0.220) or the education level of the parents (p = 0.08). In parents with a higher scholarly education level, migration background (p < 0.01) and school type (p = 0.018) showed an association with DMFT values. In parents with a low education level, however, migration background and school type had no significant association with DMFT values. These data indicate that children with a migration background are at higher risk to acquire caries than other Viennese children, even when the parents have received a higher education.

Influence of background noise on the performance in the odor sensitivity task: effects of noise type and extraversion.

PubMed

Seo, Han-Seok; Hähner, Antje; Gudziol, Volker; Scheibe, Mandy; Hummel, Thomas

2012-10-01

Recent research demonstrated that background noise relative to silence impaired subjects' performance in a cognitively driven odor discrimination test. The current study aimed to investigate whether the background noise can also modulate performance in an odor sensitivity task that is less cognitively loaded. Previous studies have shown that the effect of background noise on task performance can be different in relation to degree of extraversion and/or type of noise. Accordingly, we wanted to examine whether the influence of background noise on the odor sensitivity task can be altered as a function of the type of background noise (i.e., nonverbal vs. verbal noise) and the degree of extraversion (i.e., introvert vs. extrovert group). Subjects were asked to conduct an odor sensitivity task in the presence of either nonverbal noise (e.g., party sound) or verbal noise (e.g., audio book), or silence. Overall, the subjects' mean performance in the odor sensitivity task was not significantly different across three auditory conditions. However, with regard to the odor sensitivity task, a significant interaction emerged between the type of background noise and the degree of extraversion. Specifically, verbal noise relative to silence significantly impaired or improved the performance of the odor sensitivity task in the introvert or extrovert group, respectively; the differential effect of introversion/extraversion was not observed in the nonverbal noise-induced task performance. In conclusion, our findings provide new empirical evidence that type of background noise and degree of extraversion play an important role in modulating the effect of background noise on subjects' performance in an odor sensitivity task.

Comparison of Pain Thresholds and Analgesic Effects of Parecoxib Sodium in Surgical Patients of Different Racial and Religious Backgrounds.

PubMed

Li, Li-Biao; Hu, Yu; Liu, Chao; Gu, Miao-Ning

2015-06-01

To explore the differences of the thresholds of pain and analgesic effects of parecoxib sodium among patients with different racial and religious backgrounds. A total of 48 male patients aged 18 to 38 years who had undergone elective laparoscopic appendectomy under general anesthesia in our centers were enrolled in our study and then divided into 6 groups(n=8 in each group)based on their racial backgrounds(three levels:Mongoloid,Negroid,and Europoid)and religious backgrounds(two levels:without religion background,with religion background).All subjects received the same anesthesia,surgical procedure,and postoperative analgesia with parecoxib sodium. The temperature pain threshold and electrical pain threshold were detected 1h before and after analgesia. The threshold of pain was higher in Europoids than in Negroids and Mongoloids before and after treatment. The temperature pain threshold and electrical pain threshold were not significantly different between subjects with or without religious background(before analgesic therapy:F=251.119,P=0.130,F=275.861,P=0.059;after analgesic therapy:F=308.531,P=0.086,F=180.062,P=0.078). Also,there was no interaction between the racial and religious backgrous in terms of temperature pain threshold and electrical pain threshold(F=13.553,P=0.091,F=22.001,P= 0.089;after analgesic therapy:F=4.624,P=0.089,F=15.935,P=0.094). The threshold of pain differs among individuals with different racial background:it is highest in Europoids,followed by Negroids and Mongoloids. It shows no obvious difference in people with different religious backgrounds.

How biological background assumptions influence scientific risk evaluation of stacked genetically modified plants: an analysis of research hypotheses and argumentations.

PubMed

Rocca, Elena; Andersen, Fredrik

2017-08-14

Scientific risk evaluations are constructed by specific evidence, value judgements and biological background assumptions. The latter are the framework-setting suppositions we apply in order to understand some new phenomenon. That background assumptions co-determine choice of methodology, data interpretation, and choice of relevant evidence is an uncontroversial claim in modern basic science. Furthermore, it is commonly accepted that, unless explicated, disagreements in background assumptions can lead to misunderstanding as well as miscommunication. Here, we extend the discussion on background assumptions from basic science to the debate over genetically modified (GM) plants risk assessment. In this realm, while the different political, social and economic values are often mentioned, the identity and role of background assumptions at play are rarely examined. We use an example from the debate over risk assessment of stacked genetically modified plants (GM stacks), obtained by applying conventional breeding techniques to GM plants. There are two main regulatory practices of GM stacks: (i) regulate as conventional hybrids and (ii) regulate as new GM plants. We analyzed eight papers representative of these positions and found that, in all cases, additional premises are needed to reach the stated conclusions. We suggest that these premises play the role of biological background assumptions and argue that the most effective way toward a unified framework for risk analysis and regulation of GM stacks is by explicating and examining the biological background assumptions of each position. Once explicated, it is possible to either evaluate which background assumptions best reflect contemporary biological knowledge, or to apply Douglas' 'inductive risk' argument.

Attitudes and perceptions of patients, caregivers, and health care providers toward background music in patient care areas: an exploratory study.

PubMed

Perez-Cruz, Pedro; Nguyen, Linh; Rhondali, Wadih; Hui, David; Palmer, J Lynn; Sevy, Ingrid; Richardson, Michael; Bruera, Eduardo

2012-10-01

Background music can be used to distract from ordinary sounds and improve wellbeing in patient care areas. Little is known about individuals' attitudes and beliefs about music versus ordinary sound in this setting. To assess the preferences of patients, caregivers and healthcare providers regarding background music or ordinary sound in outpatient and inpatient care areas, and to explore their attitudes and perceptions towards music in general. All participants were exposed to background music in outpatient or inpatient clinical settings. 99 consecutive patients, 101 caregivers and 65 out of 70 eligible healthcare providers (93%) completed a survey about music attitudes and preferences. The primary outcome was a preference for background music over ordinary sound in patient care areas. Preference for background music was high and similar across groups (70 patients (71%), 71 caregivers (71%) and 46 providers (71%), p=0.58). The three groups had very low disapproval for background music in patient care areas (10%, 9% and 12%, respectively; p=0.91). Black ethnicity independently predicted lower preference for background music (OR: 0.47, 95%CI: 0.23, 0.98). Patients, caregivers and providers reported recent use of music for themselves for the purpose of enjoyment (69%, 80% and 86% respectively p=0.02). Age, gender, religion and education level significantly predicted preferences for specific music styles. Background music in patient care areas was preferred to ordinary sound by patients, caregivers and providers. Demographics of the population are strong determinants of music style preferences.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Inoue, Yoshiyuki; Tanaka, Yasuyuki T., E-mail: yinoue@astro.isas.jaxa.jp

The Fermi gamma-ray space telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the cosmic gamma-ray background radiation in the GeV band. However, investigation on the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background radiation still remains sparse. Here, we report the lower bound on the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background spectrum placed by the cumulative flux of individual detected extragalactic TeV sources including blazars, radio galaxies, and starburst galaxies. The current limit on the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background above 0.1 TeV is obtained as 2.8 × 10{sup −8}(E/100 GeV){sup −0.55} exp(−E/2100GeV)[GeV cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} sr{sup −1}] < E{sup 2}dN/dE < 1.1 × 10{sup −7}(E/100 GeV){sup −0.49} [GeV cm{sup −2} s{sup −1} sr{sup −1}], wheremore » the upper bound is set by requirement that the cascade flux from the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background radiation can not exceed the measured cosmic GeV gamma-ray background spectrum. Two nearby blazars, Mrk 421 and Mrk 501, explain ∼70% of the cumulative background flux at 0.8–4 TeV, while extreme blazars start to dominate at higher energies. We also provide the cumulative background flux from each population, i.e., blazars, radio galaxies, and starburst galaxies which will be the minimum requirement for their contribution to the cosmic TeV gamma-ray background radiation.« less

40 CFR 82.110 - Form of label bearing warning statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... contrast are: black letters on a dark blue or dark green background, dark red letters on a light red background, light red letters on a reflective silver background, and white letters on a light gray or tan...

40 CFR 82.110 - Form of label bearing warning statement.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... contrast are: black letters on a dark blue or dark green background, dark red letters on a light red background, light red letters on a reflective silver background, and white letters on a light gray or tan...

Genetic background effects in Neuroligin-3 mutant mice: Minimal behavioral abnormalities on C57 background.

PubMed

Jaramillo, Thomas C; Escamilla, Christine Ochoa; Liu, Shunan; Peca, Lauren; Birnbaum, Shari G; Powell, Craig M

2018-02-01

Neuroligin-3 (NLGN3) is a postsynaptic cell adhesion protein that interacts with presynaptic ligands including neurexin-1 (NRXN1) [Ichtchenko et al., Journal of Biological Chemistry, 271, 2676-2682, 1996]. Mice harboring a mutation in the NLGN3 gene (NL3R451C) mimicking a mutation found in two brothers with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) were previously generated and behaviorally phenotyped for autism-related behaviors. In these NL3R451C mice generated and tested on a hybrid C57BL6J/129S2/SvPasCrl background, we observed enhanced spatial memory and reduced social interaction [Tabuchi et al., Science, 318, 71-76, 2007]. Curiously, an independently generated second line of mice harboring the same mutation on a C57BL6J background exhibited minimal aberrant behavior, thereby providing apparently discrepant results. To investigate the origin of the discrepancy, we previously replicated the original findings of Tabuchi et al. by studying the same NL3R451C mutation on a pure 129S2/SvPasCrl genetic background. Here we complete the behavioral characterization of the NL3R451C mutation on a pure C57BL6J genetic background to determine if background genetics play a role in the discrepant behavioral outcomes involving NL3R451C mice. NL3R451C mutant mice on a pure C57BL6J background did not display spatial memory enhancements or social interaction deficits. We only observed a decreased startle response and mildly increased locomotor activity in these mice suggesting that background genetics influences behavioral outcomes involving the NL3R451C mutation. Autism Res 2018, 11: 234-244. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Behavioral symptoms of autism can be highly variable, even in cases that involve identical genetic mutations. Previous studies in mice with a mutation of the Neuroligin-3 gene showed enhanced learning and social deficits. We replicated these findings on the same and different genetic backgrounds. In this study, however, the same mutation in mice on a different genetic background did not reproduce our previous findings. Our results suggest that genetic background influences behavioral symptoms of this autism-associated mutation. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

A Study of Nuclear Recoil Backgrounds in Dark Matter Detectors

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Westerdale, Shawn S.

2016-01-01

Despite the great success of the Standard Model of particle physics, a preponderance of astrophysical evidence suggests that it cannot explain most of the matter in the universe. This so-called dark matter has eluded direct detection, though many theoretical extensions to the Standard Model predict the existence of particles with a mass on themore » $1-1000$ GeV scale that interact only via the weak nuclear force. Particles in this class are referred to as Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs), and their high masses and low scattering cross sections make them viable dark matter candidates. The rarity of WIMP-nucleus interactions makes them challenging to detect: any background can mask the signal they produce. Background rejection is therefore a major problem in dark matter detection. Many experiments greatly reduce their backgrounds by employing techniques to reject electron recoils. However, nuclear recoil backgrounds, which produce signals similar to what we expect from WIMPs, remain problematic. There are two primary sources of such backgrounds: surface backgrounds and neutron recoils. Surface backgrounds result from radioactivity on the inner surfaces of the detector sending recoiling nuclei into the detector. These backgrounds can be removed with fiducial cuts, at some cost to the experiment's exposure. In this dissertation we briefly discuss a novel technique for rejecting these events based on signals they make in the wavelength shifter coating on the inner surfaces of some detectors. Neutron recoils result from neutrons scattering from nuclei in the detector. These backgrounds may produce a signal identical to what we expect from WIMPs and are extensively discussed here. We additionally present a new tool for calculating ($$\\alpha$$, n)yields in various materials. We introduce the concept of a neutron veto system designed to shield against, measure, and provide an anti-coincidence veto signal for background neutrons. We discuss the research and development that informed the design of the DarkSide-50 boron-loaded liquid scintillator neutron veto. We describe the specific implementation of this veto system in DarkSide-50, including a description of its performance, and show that it can reject neutrons with a high enough e_ciency to allow DarkSide-50 to run background-free for three years.« less

Rod-cone interaction in light adaptation

PubMed Central

Latch, M.; Lennie, P.

1977-01-01

1. The increment-threshold for a small test spot in the peripheral visual field was measured against backgrounds that were red or blue. 2. When the background was a large uniform field, threshold over most of the scotopic range depended exactly upon the background's effect upon rods. This confirms Flamant & Stiles (1948). But when the background was small, threshold was elevated more by a long wave-length than a short wave-length background equated for its effect on rods. 3. The influence of cones was explored in a further experiment. The scotopic increment-threshold was established for a short wave-length test spot on a large, short wave-length background. Then a steady red circular patch, conspicuous to cones, but below the increment-threshold for rod vision, was added to the background. When it was small, but not when it was large, this patch substantially raised the threshold for the test. 4. When a similar experiment was made using, instead of a red patch, a short wave-length one that was conspicuous in rod vision, threshold varied similarly with patch size. These results support the notion that the influence of small backgrounds arises in some size-selective mechanism that is indifferent to the receptor system in which visual signals originate. Two corollaries of this hypothesis were tested in further experiments. 5. A small patch was chosen so as to lift scotopic threshold substantially above its level on a uniform field. This threshold elevation persisted for minutes after extinction of the patch, but only when the patch was small. A large patch made bright enough to elevate threshold by as much as the small one gave rise to no corresponding after-effect. 6. Increment-thresholds for a small red test spot, detected through cones, followed the same course whether a large uniform background was long- or short wave-length. When the background was small, threshold upon the short wave-length one began to rise for much lower levels of background illumination, suggesting the influence of rods. This was confirmed by repeating the experiment after a strong bleach when the cones, but not rods, had fully recovered their sensitivity. Increment-thresholds upon small backgrounds of long or short wave-lengths then followed the same course. PMID:894602

Background Independence and Duality Invariance in String Theory.

PubMed

Hohm, Olaf

2017-03-31

Closed string theory exhibits an O(D,D) duality symmetry on tori, which in double field theory is manifest before compactification. I prove that to first order in α^{'} there is no manifestly background independent and duality invariant formulation of bosonic string theory in terms of a metric, b field, and dilaton. To this end I use O(D,D) invariant second order perturbation theory around flat space to show that the unique background independent candidate expression for the gauge algebra at order α^{'} is inconsistent with the Jacobi identity. A background independent formulation exists instead for frame variables subject to α^{'}-deformed frame transformations (generalized Green-Schwarz transformations). Potential applications for curved backgrounds, as in cosmology, are discussed.

Discriminability measures for predicting readability of text on textured backgrounds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Scharff, L. F.; Hill, A. L.; Ahumada, A. J. Jr; Watson, A. B. (Principal Investigator)

2000-01-01

Several discriminability measures were examined for their ability to predict reading search times for three levels of text contrast and a range of backgrounds (plain, a periodic texture, and four spatial-frequency-filtered textures created from the periodic texture). Search times indicate that these background variations only affect readability when the text contrast is low, and that spatial frequency content of the background affects readability. These results were not well predicted by the single variables of text contrast (Spearman rank correlation = -0.64) and background RMS contrast (0.08), but a global masking index and a spatial-frequency-selective masking index led to better predictions (-0.84 and -0.81, respectively). c2000 Optical Society of America.

Saccade adaptation goes for the goal

PubMed Central

Madelain, Laurent; Herman, James P.; Harwood, Mark R.

2013-01-01

The oculomotor system maintains saccade accuracy by adjusting saccades that are consistently inaccurate. Four experiments were performed to determine the relative contribution of background and target postsaccadic displacement. Unlike typical saccade adaptation experiments, we used natural image scenes and masked target and background displacements during the saccade to exclude motion signals from allowing detection of the displacements. We found that the background had no effect on saccade gain while the target drove gain changes. Only when the target was blanked after the saccade did we observe some adaptation in the direction of the background displacement. We conclude that target selection is critical to saccade adaptation, and operates effectively against natural image backgrounds. PMID:23492925

An EPIC Tale of the Quiescent Particle Background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Snowden, S.L.; Kuntz, K.D.

2017-01-01

Extended Source Analysis Software Use Based Empirical Investigation: (1) Builds quiescent particle background (QPB) spectra and images for observations of extended sources that fill (or mostly fill) the FOV i.e., annular background subtraction won't work. (2) Uses a combination of Filter Wheel Closed (FWC) and corner data to capture the spectral, spatial, and temporal variation of the quiescent particle background. New Work: (1) Improved understanding of the QPB (aided by adding a whole lot of data since 2008). (2) Significantly improved statistics (did I mention a LOT more data?). (3) Better characterization and identification of anomalous states. (4) Builds backgrounds for some anomalous state. (5) New efficient method for non-anomalous states.

Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background due to Primordial Binary Black Hole Mergers.

PubMed

Mandic, Vuk; Bird, Simeon; Cholis, Ilias

2016-11-11

Recent Advanced LIGO detections of binary black hole mergers have prompted multiple studies investigating the possibility that the heavy GW150914 binary system was of primordial origin, and hence could be evidence for dark matter in the form of black holes. We compute the stochastic background arising from the incoherent superposition of such primordial binary black hole systems in the Universe and compare it to the similar background spectrum due to binary black hole systems of stellar origin. We investigate the possibility of detecting this background with future gravitational-wave detectors, and conclude that constraining the dark matter component in the form of black holes using stochastic gravitational-wave background measurements will be very challenging.

Target vs. background discrimination using multispectral data in 1.5-14.5 micron

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cogliandro, Santo; Panizza, Marco; Castelli, Paola

1987-01-01

LOWTRAN V model calculations are compared to experimental spectral background radiance and spectral transmittance data in the 1.5 to 14.5-micron band, in order to identify the most important parameters affecting the discrimination of targets from background. Attention is accordingly given to the IR energy emitted by a reference plate at different values of temperature and emissivity vs various previously investigated backgrounds. Targets at near-ambient temperature are also considered.

Light Weapons and Intrastate Conflict, Early Warning Factors and Preventive Action. A Report to the Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict,

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-07-01

x. BACKGROUND , RECENT EXPERIENCE, AND THE BEGINNINGS 13 OF INTERNATIONAL ACTION Background , 13 Codifying and Illustrating the Experience to Date...are proposed for preventive action at the national, regional, and international level. BACKGROUND , RECENT EXPERIENCE, AND THE BEGINNINGS OF...the nature of such conflict, and most important, the types and modes of acquisition of the weapons now used in this type of conflict. BACKGROUND

Background evaluation for the neutron sources in the Daya Bay experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gu, W. Q.; Cao, G. F.; Chen, X. H.

2016-07-06

Here, we present an evaluation of the background induced by 241Am–13C neutron calibration sources in the Daya Bay reactor neutrino experiment. Furthermore, as a significant background for electron-antineutrino detection at 0.26 ± 0.12 detector per day on average, it has been estimated by a Monte Carlo simulation that was benchmarked by a special calibration data set. This dedicated data set also provides the energy spectrum of the background.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Priel, Nadav; Landsman, Hagar; Manfredini, Alessandro

We propose a safeguard procedure for statistical inference that provides universal protection against mismodeling of the background. The method quantifies and incorporates the signal-like residuals of the background model into the likelihood function, using information available in a calibration dataset. This prevents possible false discovery claims that may arise through unknown mismodeling, and corrects the bias in limit setting created by overestimated or underestimated background. We demonstrate how the method removes the bias created by an incomplete background model using three realistic case studies.

Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) press kit

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1989-01-01

COBE, the Cosmic Background Explorer spacecraft, and its mission are described. COBE was designed to study the origin and dynamics of the universe including the theory that the universe began with a cataclysmic explosion referred to as the Big Bang. To this end, earth's cosmic background - the infrared radiation that bombards earth from every direction - will be measured by three sophisticated instruments: the Differential Microwave Radiometer (DMR), the Far Infrared Absolute Spectrophotometer (FIRAS), and the Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE).

Improvement of Accuracy for Background Noise Estimation Method Based on TPE-AE

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Itai, Akitoshi; Yasukawa, Hiroshi

This paper proposes a method of a background noise estimation based on the tensor product expansion with a median and a Monte carlo simulation. We have shown that a tensor product expansion with absolute error method is effective to estimate a background noise, however, a background noise might not be estimated by using conventional method properly. In this paper, it is shown that the estimate accuracy can be improved by using proposed methods.

Magnetic imager and method

DOEpatents

Powell, J.; Reich, M.; Danby, G.

1997-07-22

A magnetic imager includes a generator for practicing a method of applying a background magnetic field over a concealed object, with the object being effective to locally perturb the background field. The imager also includes a sensor for measuring perturbations of the background field to detect the object. In one embodiment, the background field is applied quasi-statically. And, the magnitude or rate of change of the perturbations may be measured for determining location, size, and/or condition of the object. 25 figs.

Continuous Glucose Monitoring in Subjects with Type 1 Diabetes: Improvement in Accuracy by Correcting for Background Current

PubMed Central

Youssef, Joseph El; Engle, Julia M.; Massoud, Ryan G.; Ward, W. Kenneth

2010-01-01

Abstract Background A cause of suboptimal accuracy in amperometric glucose sensors is the presence of a background current (current produced in the absence of glucose) that is not accounted for. We hypothesized that a mathematical correction for the estimated background current of a commercially available sensor would lead to greater accuracy compared to a situation in which we assumed the background current to be zero. We also tested whether increasing the frequency of sensor calibration would improve sensor accuracy. Methods This report includes analysis of 20 sensor datasets from seven human subjects with type 1 diabetes. Data were divided into a training set for algorithm development and a validation set on which the algorithm was tested. A range of potential background currents was tested. Results Use of the background current correction of 4 nA led to a substantial improvement in accuracy (improvement of absolute relative difference or absolute difference of 3.5–5.5 units). An increase in calibration frequency led to a modest accuracy improvement, with an optimum at every 4 h. Conclusions Compared to no correction, a correction for the estimated background current of a commercially available glucose sensor led to greater accuracy and better detection of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia. The accuracy-optimizing scheme presented here can be implemented in real time. PMID:20879968

Spatial-frequency spectrum of patterns changes the visibility of spatial-phase differences

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Lawton, T. B.

1985-01-01

It is shown that spatial-frequency components over a 4-octave range affected the visibility of spatial-phase differences. Contrast thresholds were measured for discrimination between two (+45- and -45-deg) spatial phases of a sinusoidal test grating added to a background grating. The background could contain one or several sinusoidal components, all in 0-deg phase. Phase differences between the test and the background were visible at lower contrasts when test and background frequencies were harmonically related than when they were not, when test and background frequencies were within 1 octave than when they were farther apart, when the fundamental frequency of the background was low than when it was high, and for some discriminations more than for others, after practice. The visibility of phase differences was not affected by additional components in the background if the fundamental and difference frequencies of the background remained unchanged. Observers' reports of their strategies gave information about the types of attentive processing that were used to discriminate phase differences. Attentive processing facilitated phase discrimination for multifrequency gratings spanning a much wider range of spatial frequencies than would be possible by using only local preattentive processing. These results were consistent with the visibility of phase differences being processed by some combination of even- and odd-symmetric simple cells tuned to a wide range of different spatial frequencies.

Importance of background values in assessing the impact of heavy metals in river ecosystems: case study of Tisza River, Serbia.

PubMed

Štrbac, Snežana; Kašanin Grubin, Milica; Vasić, Nebojša

2017-11-30

The main objective of this paper is to evaluate how a choice of different background values may affect assessing the anthropogenic heavy metal pollution in sediments from Tisza River (Serbia). The second objective of this paper is to underline significance of using geochemical background values when establishing quality criteria for sediment. Enrichment factor (EF), geoaccumulation index (I geo ), pollution load index (PLI), and potential ecological risk index (PERI) were calculated using different background values. Three geochemical (average metal concentrations in continental crust, average metal concentrations in shale, and average metal concentrations in non-contaminated core sediment samples) and two statistical methods (delineation method and principal component analyses) were used for calculating background values. It can be concluded that obtained information of pollution status can be more dependent on the use of background values than the index/factor chosen. The best option to assess the potential river sediment contamination is to compare obtained concentrations of analyzed elements with concentrations of mineralogically and texturally comparable, uncontaminated core sediment samples. Geochemical background values should be taken into account when establishing quality criteria for soils, sediments, and waters. Due to complexity of the local lithology, it is recommended that environmental monitoring and assessment include selection of an appropriate background values to gain understanding of the geochemistry and potential source of pollution in a given environment.

Effects of a shade-matching light and background color on reliability in tooth shade selection.

PubMed

Najafi-Abrandabadi, Siamak; Vahidi, Farhad; Janal, Malvin N

2018-01-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of a shade-matching light (Rite-Lite-2, AdDent) and different viewing backgrounds on reliability in a test of shade tab matching. Four members of the Prosthodontic faculty matched 10 shade tabs selected for a range of shades against the shade guide. All raters were tested for color blindness and were calibrated prior to the study. Matching took place under four combinations of conditions: with operatory light or the shade-matching light, and using either a pink or a blue background. Reliability was quantified with the kappa statistic, separately for agreement of value, hue, and chroma for each shade tab. In general, raters showed fair to moderate levels of agreement when judging the value of the shade tabs, but could not agree on the hue and chroma of the stimuli. The pink background led to higher levels of agreement than the blue background, and the shade-matching light improved agreement when used in conjunction with the pink but not the blue background. Moderate levels of agreement were found in matching shade tab value. Agreement was generally better when using the pink rather than the blue background, regardless of light source. The use of the shade-matching light tended to amplify the advantage of the pink background.

Reducing DRIFT backgrounds with a submicron aluminized-mylar cathode

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Battat, J. B. R.; Daw, E.; Dorofeev, A.; Ezeribe, A. C.; Fox, J. R.; Gauvreau, J.-L.; Gold, M.; Harmon, L.; Harton, J.; Lafler, R.; Landers, J.; Lauer, R. J.; Lee, E. R.; Loomba, D.; Lumnah, A.; Matthews, J.; Miller, E. H.; Mouton, F.; Murphy, A. St. J.; Paling, S. M.; Phan, N.; Sadler, S. W.; Scarff, A.; Schuckman, F. G.; Snowden-Ifft, D.; Spooner, N. J. C.; Walker, D.

2015-09-01

Background events in the DRIFT-IId dark matter detector, mimicking potential WIMP signals, are predominantly caused by alpha decays on the central cathode in which the alpha particle is completely or partially absorbed by the cathode material. We installed a 0.9 μm thick aluminized-mylar cathode as a way to reduce the probability of producing these backgrounds. We study three generations of cathode (wire, thin-film, and radiologically clean thin-film) with a focus on the ratio of background events to alpha decays. Two independent methods of measuring the absolute alpha decay rate are used to ensure an accurate result, and agree to within 10%. Using alpha range spectroscopy, we measure the radiologically cleanest cathode version to have a contamination of 3.3±0.1 ppt 234U and 73±2 ppb 238U. This cathode reduces the probability of producing an RPR from an alpha decay by a factor of 70±20 compared to the original stainless steel wire cathode. First results are presented from a texturized version of the cathode, intended to be even more transparent to alpha particles. These efforts, along with other background reduction measures, have resulted in a drop in the observed background rate from 500/day to 1/day. With the recent implementation of full-volume fiducialization, these remaining background events are identified, allowing for background-free operation.

The Joint Effects of Background Selection and Genetic Recombination on Local Gene Genealogies

PubMed Central

Zeng, Kai; Charlesworth, Brian

2011-01-01

Background selection, the effects of the continual removal of deleterious mutations by natural selection on variability at linked sites, is potentially a major determinant of DNA sequence variability. However, the joint effects of background selection and genetic recombination on the shape of the neutral gene genealogy have proved hard to study analytically. The only existing formula concerns the mean coalescent time for a pair of alleles, making it difficult to assess the importance of background selection from genome-wide data on sequence polymorphism. Here we develop a structured coalescent model of background selection with recombination and implement it in a computer program that efficiently generates neutral gene genealogies for an arbitrary sample size. We check the validity of the structured coalescent model against forward-in-time simulations and show that it accurately captures the effects of background selection. The model produces more accurate predictions of the mean coalescent time than the existing formula and supports the conclusion that the effect of background selection is greater in the interior of a deleterious region than at its boundaries. The level of linkage disequilibrium between sites is elevated by background selection, to an extent that is well summarized by a change in effective population size. The structured coalescent model is readily extendable to more realistic situations and should prove useful for analyzing genome-wide polymorphism data. PMID:21705759

Differentiation of specific ripple patterns helps to identify epileptogenic areas for surgical procedures.

PubMed

Kerber, Karolin; Dümpelmann, Matthias; Schelter, Björn; Le Van, Pierre; Korinthenberg, Rudolf; Schulze-Bonhage, Andreas; Jacobs, Julia

2014-07-01

High frequency oscillations (HFOs) at 80-500 Hz are promising markers of epileptic areas. Several retrospective studies reported that surgical removal of areas generating HFOs was associated with a good seizure outcome. Recent reports suggested that ripple (80-200 Hz) HFO patterns co-existed with different background EEG activities. We hypothesized that the coexisting background EEG pattern may distinguish physiological from epileptic ripples. Rates of HFOs were analyzed in intracranial EEG recordings of 22 patients. Additionally, ripple patterns were classified for each channel depending either as coexisting with a flat or oscillatory background activity. A multi-variate analysis was performed to determine whether removal of areas showing the above EEG markers correlated with seizure outcome. Removal of areas generating high rates of 'fast ripples (>200 Hz)' and 'ripples on a flat background activity' showed a significant correlation with a seizure-free outcome. In contrast, removal of high rates of 'ripples' or 'ripple patterns in a continuously oscillating background' was not significantly associated with seizure outcome. Ripples occurring in an oscillatory background activity may be suggestive of physiological activity, while those on a flat background reflect epileptic activity. Consideration of coexisting background patterns may improve the delineation of the epileptogenic areas using ripple oscillations. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

The joint effects of background selection and genetic recombination on local gene genealogies.

PubMed

Zeng, Kai; Charlesworth, Brian

2011-09-01

Background selection, the effects of the continual removal of deleterious mutations by natural selection on variability at linked sites, is potentially a major determinant of DNA sequence variability. However, the joint effects of background selection and genetic recombination on the shape of the neutral gene genealogy have proved hard to study analytically. The only existing formula concerns the mean coalescent time for a pair of alleles, making it difficult to assess the importance of background selection from genome-wide data on sequence polymorphism. Here we develop a structured coalescent model of background selection with recombination and implement it in a computer program that efficiently generates neutral gene genealogies for an arbitrary sample size. We check the validity of the structured coalescent model against forward-in-time simulations and show that it accurately captures the effects of background selection. The model produces more accurate predictions of the mean coalescent time than the existing formula and supports the conclusion that the effect of background selection is greater in the interior of a deleterious region than at its boundaries. The level of linkage disequilibrium between sites is elevated by background selection, to an extent that is well summarized by a change in effective population size. The structured coalescent model is readily extendable to more realistic situations and should prove useful for analyzing genome-wide polymorphism data.

Target detection using the background model from the topological anomaly detection algorithm

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dorado Munoz, Leidy P.; Messinger, David W.; Ziemann, Amanda K.

2013-05-01

The Topological Anomaly Detection (TAD) algorithm has been used as an anomaly detector in hyperspectral and multispectral images. TAD is an algorithm based on graph theory that constructs a topological model of the background in a scene, and computes an anomalousness ranking for all of the pixels in the image with respect to the background in order to identify pixels with uncommon or strange spectral signatures. The pixels that are modeled as background are clustered into groups or connected components, which could be representative of spectral signatures of materials present in the background. Therefore, the idea of using the background components given by TAD in target detection is explored in this paper. In this way, these connected components are characterized in three different approaches, where the mean signature and endmembers for each component are calculated and used as background basis vectors in Orthogonal Subspace Projection (OSP) and Adaptive Subspace Detector (ASD). Likewise, the covariance matrix of those connected components is estimated and used in detectors: Constrained Energy Minimization (CEM) and Adaptive Coherence Estimator (ACE). The performance of these approaches and the different detectors is compared with a global approach, where the background characterization is derived directly from the image. Experiments and results using self-test data set provided as part of the RIT blind test target detection project are shown.

Evaluation of background radiation dose contributions in the United Arab Emirates.

PubMed

Goddard, Braden; Bosc, Emmanuel; Al Hasani, Sarra; Lloyd, Cody

2018-09-01

The natural background radiation consists of three main components; cosmic, terrestrial, and skyshine. Although there are currently methods available to measure the total dose rate from background radiation, no established methods exist that allow for the measurement of each component the background radiation. This analysis consists of a unique methodology in which the dose rate contribution from each component of the natural background radiation is measured and calculated. This project evaluates the natural background dose rate in the Abu Dhabi City region from all three of these components using the developed methodology. Evaluating and understanding the different components of background radiation provides a baseline allowing for the detection, and possibly attribution, of elevated radiation levels. Measurements using a high-pressure ion chamber with different shielding configurations and two offshore measurements provided dose rate information that were attributed to the different components of the background radiation. Additional spectral information was obtained using an HPGe detector to verify and quantify the presence of terrestrial radionuclides. By evaluating the dose rates of the different shielding configurations the comic, terrestrial, and skyshine contribution in the Abu Dhabi City region were determined to be 33.0 ± 1.7, 15.7 ± 2.5, and 2.4 ± 2.1 nSv/h, respectively. Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

PCA-based approach for subtracting thermal background emission in high-contrast imaging data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hunziker, S.; Quanz, S. P.; Amara, A.; Meyer, M. R.

2018-03-01

Aims.Ground-based observations at thermal infrared wavelengths suffer from large background radiation due to the sky, telescope and warm surfaces in the instrument. This significantly limits the sensitivity of ground-based observations at wavelengths longer than 3 μm. The main purpose of this work is to analyse this background emission in infrared high-contrast imaging data as illustrative of the problem, show how it can be modelled and subtracted and demonstrate that it can improve the detection of faint sources, such as exoplanets. Methods: We used principal component analysis (PCA) to model and subtract the thermal background emission in three archival high-contrast angular differential imaging datasets in the M' and L' filter. We used an M' dataset of β Pic to describe in detail how the algorithm works and explain how it can be applied. The results of the background subtraction are compared to the results from a conventional mean background subtraction scheme applied to the same dataset. Finally, both methods for background subtraction are compared by performing complete data reductions. We analysed the results from the M' dataset of HD 100546 only qualitatively. For the M' band dataset of β Pic and the L' band dataset of HD 169142, which was obtained with an angular groove phase mask vortex vector coronagraph, we also calculated and analysed the achieved signal-to-noise ratio (S/N). Results: We show that applying PCA is an effective way to remove spatially and temporarily varying thermal background emission down to close to the background limit. The procedure also proves to be very successful at reconstructing the background that is hidden behind the point spread function. In the complete data reductions, we find at least qualitative improvements for HD 100546 and HD 169142, however, we fail to find a significant increase in S/N of β Pic b. We discuss these findings and argue that in particular datasets with strongly varying observing conditions or infrequently sampled sky background will benefit from the new approach.

Effect of Background Luminance Level on the Assessment of Color Visual Acuity Using Colored Landolt Rings in Young Healthy Subjects.

PubMed

Tanaka, Yoshiki; Yokoyama, Sho; Horai, Rie; Kojima, Takashi; Hiroyuki, Sato; Kato, Yukihito; Takagi, Mari; Nakamura, Hideki; Tanaka, Kiyoshi; Ichikawa, Kazuo; Tanabe, Shoko

2018-03-01

To evaluate the color visual acuity (CVA) of young healthy subjects using colored Landolt rings and the effect of background luminance level on the CVA. We measured the CVA of 20 young healthy subjects (age: 23.8 ± 3.8 years) with different colors using a computer and a liquid crystal display, with 15 Landolt ring colors (30 cd/m 2 ) with a background luminance of 30 cd/m 2 , and then 100 cd/m 2 . We then used different background luminance levels (15-50 cd/m 2 ) using four Landolt ring colors (red, green-yellow, green, and blue-green) to evaluate the effect of the background luminance level on CVA. The CVA significantly differed among the colors with a background luminance of 30 cd/m 2 (p < 0.0001). Green-yellow and blue-purple had poor CVA (high LogMAR value; 0.808 ± 0.107 and 0.633 ± 0.150, respectively) with a background luminance of 30 cd/m 2 (same luminance as the Landolt rings). There were no significant differences in the CVAs among the colors with a background luminance of 100 cd/m 2 (p = 0.5999). There were no significant difference in the CVA between background luminance 30 cd/m 2 and other luminance level ranging from 28 to 32 cd/m 2 for colors of red, green-yellow, green, and blue-green. The results reveal that the background luminance of Landolt rings affects the CVA. Distinctive CVAs for each color are measured by equalizing the luminance between the Landolt ring and the background. We consider that the poor CVAs of these colors reflect the visual function of S-cone, because GY and BP are included in the confusion locus of tritan axis on the chromaticity diagram. We believe that CVA assessment may be useful for individuals who have known or suspected ocular dysfunction or color vision deficiencies.

47 CFR 215.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Background. 215.1 Section 215.1 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOCAL POINT FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (EMP) INFORMATION § 215.1 Background. (a) The nuclear electromagnetic...

47 CFR 215.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Background. 215.1 Section 215.1 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOCAL POINT FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (EMP) INFORMATION § 215.1 Background. (a) The nuclear electromagnetic...

47 CFR 215.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Background. 215.1 Section 215.1 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOCAL POINT FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (EMP) INFORMATION § 215.1 Background. (a) The nuclear electromagnetic...

47 CFR 215.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Background. 215.1 Section 215.1 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOCAL POINT FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (EMP) INFORMATION § 215.1 Background. (a) The nuclear electromagnetic...

47 CFR 215.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Background. 215.1 Section 215.1 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL FEDERAL GOVERNMENT FOCAL POINT FOR ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE (EMP) INFORMATION § 215.1 Background. (a) The nuclear electromagnetic...

40 CFR 11.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 40 Protection of Environment 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 11.2 Section 11.2 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY GENERAL SECURITY CLASSIFICATION REGULATIONS PURSUANT TO EXECUTIVE ORDER 11652 § 11.2 Background. While the Environmental Protection Agency does not...

76 FR 79565 - Management Contracts-Background Investigations

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-22

... Management Contracts--Background Investigations AGENCY: National Indian Gaming Commission. ACTION: Notice of... investigation process required for management contracts. The proposed revision may reduce duplication of efforts... to clarify that a management contractor should be required to submit background information when the...

Assessment of ambient background concentrations of elements in soil using combined survey and open-source data.

PubMed

Mikkonen, Hannah G; Clarke, Bradley O; Dasika, Raghava; Wallis, Christian J; Reichman, Suzie M

2017-02-15

Understanding ambient background concentrations in soil, at a local scale, is an essential part of environmental risk assessment. Where high resolution geochemical soil surveys have not been undertaken, soil data from alternative sources, such as environmental site assessment reports, can be used to support an understanding of ambient background conditions. Concentrations of metals/metalloids (As, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) were extracted from open-source environmental site assessment reports, for soils derived from the Newer Volcanics basalt, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. A manual screening method was applied to remove samples that were indicated to be contaminated by point sources and hence not representative of ambient background conditions. The manual screening approach was validated by comparison to data from a targeted background soil survey. Statistical methods for exclusion of contaminated samples from background soil datasets were compared to the manual screening method. The statistical methods tested included the Median plus Two Median Absolute Deviations, the upper whisker of a normal and log transformed Tukey boxplot, the point of inflection on a cumulative frequency plot and the 95th percentile. We have demonstrated that where anomalous sample results cannot be screened using site information, the Median plus Two Median Absolute Deviations is a conservative method for derivation of ambient background upper concentration limits (i.e. expected maximums). The upper whisker of a boxplot and the point of inflection on a cumulative frequency plot, were also considered adequate methods for deriving ambient background upper concentration limits, where the percentage of contaminated samples is <25%. Median ambient background concentrations of metals/metalloids in the Newer Volcanic soils of Melbourne were comparable to ambient background concentrations in Europe and the United States, except for Ni, which was naturally enriched in the basalt-derived soils of Melbourne. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

EEG Beta Power but Not Background Music Predicts the Recall Scores in a Foreign-Vocabulary Learning Task.

PubMed

Küssner, Mats B; de Groot, Annette M B; Hofman, Winni F; Hillen, Marij A

2016-01-01

As tantalizing as the idea that background music beneficially affects foreign vocabulary learning may seem, there is-partly due to a lack of theory-driven research-no consistent evidence to support this notion. We investigated inter-individual differences in the effects of background music on foreign vocabulary learning. Based on Eysenck's theory of personality we predicted that individuals with a high level of cortical arousal should perform worse when learning with background music compared to silence, whereas individuals with a low level of cortical arousal should be unaffected by background music or benefit from it. Participants were tested in a paired-associate learning paradigm consisting of three immediate word recall tasks, as well as a delayed recall task one week later. Baseline cortical arousal assessed with spontaneous EEG measurement in silence prior to the learning rounds was used for the analyses. Results revealed no interaction between cortical arousal and the learning condition (background music vs. silence). Instead, we found an unexpected main effect of cortical arousal in the beta band on recall, indicating that individuals with high beta power learned more vocabulary than those with low beta power. To substantiate this finding we conducted an exact replication of the experiment. Whereas the main effect of cortical arousal was only present in a subsample of participants, a beneficial main effect of background music appeared. A combined analysis of both experiments suggests that beta power predicts the performance in the word recall task, but that there is no effect of background music on foreign vocabulary learning. In light of these findings, we discuss whether searching for effects of background music on foreign vocabulary learning, independent of factors such as inter-individual differences and task complexity, might be a red herring. Importantly, our findings emphasize the need for sufficiently powered research designs and exact replications of theory-driven experiments when investigating effects of background music and inter-individual variation on task performance.

EEG Beta Power but Not Background Music Predicts the Recall Scores in a Foreign-Vocabulary Learning Task

PubMed Central

de Groot, Annette M. B.; Hofman, Winni F.; Hillen, Marij A.

2016-01-01

As tantalizing as the idea that background music beneficially affects foreign vocabulary learning may seem, there is—partly due to a lack of theory-driven research—no consistent evidence to support this notion. We investigated inter-individual differences in the effects of background music on foreign vocabulary learning. Based on Eysenck’s theory of personality we predicted that individuals with a high level of cortical arousal should perform worse when learning with background music compared to silence, whereas individuals with a low level of cortical arousal should be unaffected by background music or benefit from it. Participants were tested in a paired-associate learning paradigm consisting of three immediate word recall tasks, as well as a delayed recall task one week later. Baseline cortical arousal assessed with spontaneous EEG measurement in silence prior to the learning rounds was used for the analyses. Results revealed no interaction between cortical arousal and the learning condition (background music vs. silence). Instead, we found an unexpected main effect of cortical arousal in the beta band on recall, indicating that individuals with high beta power learned more vocabulary than those with low beta power. To substantiate this finding we conducted an exact replication of the experiment. Whereas the main effect of cortical arousal was only present in a subsample of participants, a beneficial main effect of background music appeared. A combined analysis of both experiments suggests that beta power predicts the performance in the word recall task, but that there is no effect of background music on foreign vocabulary learning. In light of these findings, we discuss whether searching for effects of background music on foreign vocabulary learning, independent of factors such as inter-individual differences and task complexity, might be a red herring. Importantly, our findings emphasize the need for sufficiently powered research designs and exact replications of theory-driven experiments when investigating effects of background music and inter-individual variation on task performance. PMID:27537520

A Series of Case Studies of Tinnitus Suppression With Mixed Background Stimuli in a Cochlear Implant

PubMed Central

Keiner, A. J.; Walker, Kurt; Deshpande, Aniruddha K.; Witt, Shelley; Killian, Matthijs; Ji, Helena; Patrick, Jim; Dillier, Norbert; van Dijk, Pim; Lai, Wai Kong; Hansen, Marlan R.; Gantz, Bruce

2015-01-01

Purpose Background sounds provided by a wearable sound playback device were mixed with the acoustical input picked up by a cochlear implant speech processor in an attempt to suppress tinnitus. Method First, patients were allowed to listen to several sounds and to select up to 4 sounds that they thought might be effective. These stimuli were programmed to loop continuously in the wearable playback device. Second, subjects were instructed to use 1 background sound each day on the wearable device, and they sequenced the selected background sounds during a 28-day trial. Patients were instructed to go to a website at the end of each day and rate the loudness and annoyance of the tinnitus as well as the acceptability of the background sound. Patients completed the Tinnitus Primary Function Questionnaire (Tyler, Stocking, Secor, & Slattery, 2014) at the beginning of the trial. Results Results indicated that background sounds were very effective at suppressing tinnitus. There was considerable variability in sounds preferred by the subjects. Conclusion The study shows that a background sound mixed with the microphone input can be effective for suppressing tinnitus during daily use of the sound processor in selected cochlear implant users. PMID:26001407

Culture impacts the magnitude of the emotion-induced memory trade-off effect.

PubMed

Gutchess, Angela; Garner, Lauryn; Ligouri, Laura; Konuk, Ayse Isilay; Boduroglu, Aysecan

2017-10-04

The present study assessed the extent to which culture impacts the emotion-induced memory trade-off effect. This trade-off effect occurs because emotional items are better remembered than neutral ones, but this advantage comes at the expense of memory for backgrounds such that neutral backgrounds are remembered worse when they occurred with an emotional item than with a neutral one. Cultures differ in their prioritisation of focal object versus contextual background information, with Westerners focusing more on objects and Easterners focusing more on backgrounds. Americans, a Western culture, and Turks, an Eastern-influenced culture, incidentally encoded positive, negative, and neutral items placed against neutral backgrounds, and then completed a surprise memory test with the items and backgrounds tested separately. Results revealed a reduced trade-off for Turks compared to Americans. Although both groups exhibited an emotional enhancement in item memory, Turks did not show a decrement in memory for backgrounds that had been paired with emotional items. These findings complement prior ones showing reductions in trade-off effects as a result of task instructions. Here, we suggest that a contextual-focus at the level of culture can mitigate trade-off effects in emotional memory.

Neural basis of processing threatening voices in a crowded auditory world

PubMed Central

Mothes-Lasch, Martin; Becker, Michael P. I.; Miltner, Wolfgang H. R.

2016-01-01

In real world situations, we typically listen to voice prosody against a background crowded with auditory stimuli. Voices and background can both contain behaviorally relevant features and both can be selectively in the focus of attention. Adequate responses to threat-related voices under such conditions require that the brain unmixes reciprocally masked features depending on variable cognitive resources. It is unknown which brain systems instantiate the extraction of behaviorally relevant prosodic features under varying combinations of prosody valence, auditory background complexity and attentional focus. Here, we used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the effects of high background sound complexity and attentional focus on brain activation to angry and neutral prosody in humans. Results show that prosody effects in mid superior temporal cortex were gated by background complexity but not attention, while prosody effects in the amygdala and anterior superior temporal cortex were gated by attention but not background complexity, suggesting distinct emotional prosody processing limitations in different regions. Crucially, if attention was focused on the highly complex background, the differential processing of emotional prosody was prevented in all brain regions, suggesting that in a distracting, complex auditory world even threatening voices may go unnoticed. PMID:26884543

A novel background field removal method for MRI using projection onto dipole fields (PDF).

PubMed

Liu, Tian; Khalidov, Ildar; de Rochefort, Ludovic; Spincemaille, Pascal; Liu, Jing; Tsiouris, A John; Wang, Yi

2011-11-01

For optimal image quality in susceptibility-weighted imaging and accurate quantification of susceptibility, it is necessary to isolate the local field generated by local magnetic sources (such as iron) from the background field that arises from imperfect shimming and variations in magnetic susceptibility of surrounding tissues (including air). Previous background removal techniques have limited effectiveness depending on the accuracy of model assumptions or information input. In this article, we report an observation that the magnetic field for a dipole outside a given region of interest (ROI) is approximately orthogonal to the magnetic field of a dipole inside the ROI. Accordingly, we propose a nonparametric background field removal technique based on projection onto dipole fields (PDF). In this PDF technique, the background field inside an ROI is decomposed into a field originating from dipoles outside the ROI using the projection theorem in Hilbert space. This novel PDF background removal technique was validated on a numerical simulation and a phantom experiment and was applied in human brain imaging, demonstrating substantial improvement in background field removal compared with the commonly used high-pass filtering method. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Simple automatic strategy for background drift correction in chromatographic data analysis.

PubMed

Fu, Hai-Yan; Li, He-Dong; Yu, Yong-Jie; Wang, Bing; Lu, Peng; Cui, Hua-Peng; Liu, Ping-Ping; She, Yuan-Bin

2016-06-03

Chromatographic background drift correction, which influences peak detection and time shift alignment results, is a critical stage in chromatographic data analysis. In this study, an automatic background drift correction methodology was developed. Local minimum values in a chromatogram were initially detected and organized as a new baseline vector. Iterative optimization was then employed to recognize outliers, which belong to the chromatographic peaks, in this vector, and update the outliers in the baseline until convergence. The optimized baseline vector was finally expanded into the original chromatogram, and linear interpolation was employed to estimate background drift in the chromatogram. The principle underlying the proposed method was confirmed using a complex gas chromatographic dataset. Finally, the proposed approach was applied to eliminate background drift in liquid chromatography quadrupole time-of-flight samples used in the metabolic study of Escherichia coli samples. The proposed method was comparable with three classical techniques: morphological weighted penalized least squares, moving window minimum value strategy and background drift correction by orthogonal subspace projection. The proposed method allows almost automatic implementation of background drift correction, which is convenient for practical use. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An upper limit on the stochastic gravitational-wave background of cosmological origin.

PubMed

Abbott, B P; Abbott, R; Acernese, F; Adhikari, R; Ajith, P; Allen, B; Allen, G; Alshourbagy, M; Amin, R S; Anderson, S B; Anderson, W G; Antonucci, F; Aoudia, S; Arain, M A; Araya, M; Armandula, H; Armor, P; Arun, K G; Aso, Y; Aston, S; Astone, P; Aufmuth, P; Aulbert, C; Babak, S; Baker, P; Ballardin, G; Ballmer, S; Barker, C; Barker, D; Barone, F; Barr, B; Barriga, P; Barsotti, L; Barsuglia, M; Barton, M A; Bartos, I; Bassiri, R; Bastarrika, M; Bauer, Th S; Behnke, B; Beker, M; Benacquista, M; Betzwieser, J; Beyersdorf, P T; Bigotta, S; Bilenko, I A; Billingsley, G; Birindelli, S; Biswas, R; Bizouard, M A; Black, E; Blackburn, J K; Blackburn, L; Blair, D; Bland, B; Boccara, C; Bodiya, T P; Bogue, L; Bondu, F; Bonelli, L; Bork, R; Boschi, V; Bose, S; Bosi, L; Braccini, S; Bradaschia, C; Brady, P R; Braginsky, V B; Brand, J F J van den; Brau, J E; Bridges, D O; Brillet, A; Brinkmann, M; Brisson, V; Van Den Broeck, C; Brooks, A F; Brown, D A; Brummit, A; Brunet, G; Bullington, A; Bulten, H J; Buonanno, A; Burmeister, O; Buskulic, D; Byer, R L; Cadonati, L; Cagnoli, G; Calloni, E; Camp, J B; Campagna, E; Cannizzo, J; Cannon, K C; Canuel, B; Cao, J; Carbognani, F; Cardenas, L; Caride, S; Castaldi, G; Caudill, S; Cavaglià, M; Cavalier, F; Cavalieri, R; Cella, G; Cepeda, C; Cesarini, E; Chalermsongsak, T; Chalkley, E; Charlton, P; Chassande-Mottin, E; Chatterji, S; Chelkowski, S; Chen, Y; Christensen, N; Chung, C T Y; Clark, D; Clark, J; Clayton, J H; Cleva, F; Coccia, E; Cokelaer, T; Colacino, C N; Colas, J; Colla, A; Colombini, M; Conte, R; Cook, D; Corbitt, T R C; Corda, C; Cornish, N; Corsi, A; Coulon, J-P; Coward, D; Coyne, D C; Creighton, J D E; Creighton, T D; Cruise, A M; Culter, R M; Cumming, A; Cunningham, L; Cuoco, E; Danilishin, S L; D'Antonio, S; Danzmann, K; Dari, A; Dattilo, V; Daudert, B; Davier, M; Davies, G; Daw, E J; Day, R; De Rosa, R; Debra, D; Degallaix, J; Del Prete, M; Dergachev, V; Desai, S; Desalvo, R; Dhurandhar, S; Di Fiore, L; Di Lieto, A; Di Paolo Emilio, M; Di Virgilio, A; Díaz, M; Dietz, A; Donovan, F; Dooley, K L; Doomes, E E; Drago, M; Drever, R W P; Dueck, J; Duke, I; Dumas, J-C; Dwyer, J G; Echols, C; Edgar, M; Effler, A; Ehrens, P; Ely, G; Espinoza, E; Etzel, T; Evans, M; Evans, T; Fafone, V; Fairhurst, S; Faltas, Y; Fan, Y; Fazi, D; Fehrmann, H; Ferrante, I; Fidecaro, F; Finn, L S; Fiori, I; Flaminio, R; Flasch, K; Foley, S; Forrest, C; Fotopoulos, N; Fournier, J-D; Franc, J; Franzen, A; Frasca, S; Frasconi, F; Frede, M; Frei, M; Frei, Z; Freise, A; Frey, R; Fricke, T; Fritschel, P; Frolov, V V; Fyffe, M; Galdi, V; Gammaitoni, L; Garofoli, J A; Garufi, F; Genin, E; Gennai, A; Gholami, I; Giaime, J A; Giampanis, S; Giardina, K D; Giazotto, A; Goda, K; Goetz, E; Goggin, L M; González, G; Gorodetsky, M L; Gobler, S; Gouaty, R; Granata, M; Granata, V; Grant, A; Gras, S; Gray, C; Gray, M; Greenhalgh, R J S; Gretarsson, A M; Greverie, C; Grimaldi, F; Grosso, R; Grote, H; Grunewald, S; Guenther, M; Guidi, G; Gustafson, E K; Gustafson, R; Hage, B; Hallam, J M; Hammer, D; Hammond, G D; Hanna, C; Hanson, J; Harms, J; Harry, G M; Harry, I W; Harstad, E D; Haughian, K; Hayama, K; Heefner, J; Heitmann, H; Hello, P; Heng, I S; Heptonstall, A; Hewitson, M; Hild, S; Hirose, E; Hoak, D; Hodge, K A; Holt, K; Hosken, D J; Hough, J; Hoyland, D; Huet, D; Hughey, B; Huttner, S H; Ingram, D R; Isogai, T; Ito, M; Ivanov, A; Johnson, B; Johnson, W W; Jones, D I; Jones, G; Jones, R; Sancho de la Jordana, L; Ju, L; Kalmus, P; Kalogera, V; Kandhasamy, S; Kanner, J; Kasprzyk, D; Katsavounidis, E; Kawabe, K; Kawamura, S; Kawazoe, F; Kells, W; Keppel, D G; Khalaidovski, A; Khalili, F Y; Khan, R; Khazanov, E; King, P; Kissel, J S; Klimenko, S; Kokeyama, K; Kondrashov, V; Kopparapu, R; Koranda, S; Kozak, D; Krishnan, B; Kumar, R; Kwee, P; La Penna, P; Lam, P K; Landry, M; Lantz, B; Laval, M; Lazzarini, A; Lei, H; Lei, M; Leindecker, N; Leonor, I; Leroy, N; Letendre, N; Li, C; Lin, H; Lindquist, P E; Littenberg, T B; Lockerbie, N A; Lodhia, D; Longo, M; Lorenzini, M; Loriette, V; Lormand, M; Losurdo, G; Lu, P; Lubinski, M; Lucianetti, A; Lück, H; Machenschalk, B; Macinnis, M; Mackowski, J-M; Mageswaran, M; Mailand, K; Majorana, E; Man, N; Mandel, I; Mandic, V; Mantovani, M; Marchesoni, F; Marion, F; Márka, S; Márka, Z; Markosyan, A; Markowitz, J; Maros, E; Marque, J; Martelli, F; Martin, I W; Martin, R M; Marx, J N; Mason, K; Masserot, A; Matichard, F; Matone, L; Matzner, R A; Mavalvala, N; McCarthy, R; McClelland, D E; McGuire, S C; McHugh, M; McIntyre, G; McKechan, D J A; McKenzie, K; Mehmet, M; Melatos, A; Melissinos, A C; Mendell, G; Menéndez, D F; Menzinger, F; Mercer, R A; Meshkov, S; Messenger, C; Meyer, M S; Michel, C; Milano, L; Miller, J; Minelli, J; Minenkov, Y; Mino, Y; Mitrofanov, V P; Mitselmakher, G; Mittleman, R; Miyakawa, O; Moe, B; Mohan, M; Mohanty, S D; Mohapatra, S R P; Moreau, J; Moreno, G; Morgado, N; Morgia, A; Morioka, T; Mors, K; Mosca, S; Mossavi, K; Mours, B; Mowlowry, C; Mueller, G; Muhammad, D; Mühlen, H Zur; Mukherjee, S; Mukhopadhyay, H; Mullavey, A; Müller-Ebhardt, H; Munch, J; Murray, P G; Myers, E; Myers, J; Nash, T; Nelson, J; Neri, I; Newton, G; Nishizawa, A; Nocera, F; Numata, K; Ochsner, E; O'Dell, J; Ogin, G H; O'Reilly, B; O'Shaughnessy, R; Ottaway, D J; Ottens, R S; Overmier, H; Owen, B J; Pagliaroli, G; Palomba, C; Pan, Y; Pankow, C; Paoletti, F; Papa, M A; Parameshwaraiah, V; Pardi, S; Pasqualetti, A; Passaquieti, R; Passuello, D; Patel, P; Pedraza, M; Penn, S; Perreca, A; Persichetti, G; Pichot, M; Piergiovanni, F; Pierro, V; Pinard, L; Pinto, I M; Pitkin, M; Pletsch, H J; Plissi, M V; Poggiani, R; Postiglione, F; Principe, M; Prix, R; Prodi, G A; Prokhorov, L; Punken, O; Punturo, M; Puppo, P; Putten, S van der; Quetschke, V; Raab, F J; Rabaste, O; Rabeling, D S; Radkins, H; Raffai, P; Raics, Z; Rainer, N; Rakhmanov, M; Rapagnani, P; Raymond, V; Re, V; Reed, C M; Reed, T; Regimbau, T; Rehbein, H; Reid, S; Reitze, D H; Ricci, F; Riesen, R; Riles, K; Rivera, B; Roberts, P; Robertson, N A; Robinet, F; Robinson, C; Robinson, E L; Rocchi, A; Roddy, S; Rolland, L; Rollins, J; Romano, J D; Romano, R; Romie, J H; Röver, C; Rowan, S; Rüdiger, A; Ruggi, P; Russell, P; Ryan, K; Sakata, S; Salemi, F; Sandberg, V; Sannibale, V; Santamaría, L; Saraf, S; Sarin, P; Sassolas, B; Sathyaprakash, B S; Sato, S; Satterthwaite, M; Saulson, P R; Savage, R; Savov, P; Scanlan, M; Schilling, R; Schnabel, R; Schofield, R; Schulz, B; Schutz, B F; Schwinberg, P; Scott, J; Scott, S M; Searle, A C; Sears, B; Seifert, F; Sellers, D; Sengupta, A S; Sentenac, D; Sergeev, A; Shapiro, B; Shawhan, P; Shoemaker, D H; Sibley, A; Siemens, X; Sigg, D; Sinha, S; Sintes, A M; Slagmolen, B J J; Slutsky, J; van der Sluys, M V; Smith, J R; Smith, M R; Smith, N D; Somiya, K; Sorazu, B; Stein, A; Stein, L C; Steplewski, S; Stochino, A; Stone, R; Strain, K A; Strigin, S; Stroeer, A; Sturani, R; Stuver, A L; Summerscales, T Z; Sun, K-X; Sung, M; Sutton, P J; Swinkels, B L; Szokoly, G P; Talukder, D; Tang, L; Tanner, D B; Tarabrin, S P; Taylor, J R; Taylor, R; Terenzi, R; Thacker, J; Thorne, K A; Thorne, K S; Thüring, A; Tokmakov, K V; Toncelli, A; Tonelli, M; Torres, C; Torrie, C; Tournefier, E; Travasso, F; Traylor, G; Trias, M; Trummer, J; Ugolini, D; Ulmen, J; Urbanek, K; Vahlbruch, H; Vajente, G; Vallisneri, M; Vass, S; Vaulin, R; Vavoulidis, M; Vecchio, A; Vedovato, G; van Veggel, A A; Veitch, J; Veitch, P; Veltkamp, C; Verkindt, D; Vetrano, F; Viceré, A; Villar, A; Vinet, J-Y; Vocca, H; Vorvick, C; Vyachanin, S P; Waldman, S J; Wallace, L; Ward, H; Ward, R L; Was, M; Weidner, A; Weinert, M; Weinstein, A J; Weiss, R; Wen, L; Wen, S; Wette, K; Whelan, J T; Whitcomb, S E; Whiting, B F; Wilkinson, C; Willems, P A; Williams, H R; Williams, L; Willke, B; Wilmut, I; Winkelmann, L; Winkler, W; Wipf, C C; Wiseman, A G; Woan, G; Wooley, R; Worden, J; Wu, W; Yakushin, I; Yamamoto, H; Yan, Z; Yoshida, S; Yvert, M; Zanolin, M; Zhang, J; Zhang, L; Zhao, C; Zotov, N; Zucker, M E; Zweizig, J

2009-08-20

A stochastic background of gravitational waves is expected to arise from a superposition of a large number of unresolved gravitational-wave sources of astrophysical and cosmological origin. It should carry unique signatures from the earliest epochs in the evolution of the Universe, inaccessible to standard astrophysical observations. Direct measurements of the amplitude of this background are therefore of fundamental importance for understanding the evolution of the Universe when it was younger than one minute. Here we report limits on the amplitude of the stochastic gravitational-wave background using the data from a two-year science run of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). Our result constrains the energy density of the stochastic gravitational-wave background normalized by the critical energy density of the Universe, in the frequency band around 100 Hz, to be <6.9 x 10(-6) at 95% confidence. The data rule out models of early Universe evolution with relatively large equation-of-state parameter, as well as cosmic (super)string models with relatively small string tension that are favoured in some string theory models. This search for the stochastic background improves on the indirect limits from Big Bang nucleosynthesis and cosmic microwave background at 100 Hz.

Insect Detection of Small Targets Moving in Visual Clutter

PubMed Central

Barnett, Paul D; O'Carroll, David C

2006-01-01

Detection of targets that move within visual clutter is a common task for animals searching for prey or conspecifics, a task made even more difficult when a moving pursuer needs to analyze targets against the motion of background texture (clutter). Despite the limited optical acuity of the compound eye of insects, this challenging task seems to have been solved by their tiny visual system. Here we describe neurons found in the male hoverfly,Eristalis tenax, that respond selectively to small moving targets. Although many of these target neurons are inhibited by the motion of a background pattern, others respond to target motion within the receptive field under a surprisingly large range of background motion stimuli. Some neurons respond whether or not there is a speed differential between target and background. Analysis of responses to very small targets (smaller than the size of the visual field of single photoreceptors) or those targets with reduced contrast shows that these neurons have extraordinarily high contrast sensitivity. Our data suggest that rejection of background motion may result from extreme selectivity for small targets contrasting against local patches of the background, combined with this high sensitivity, such that background patterns rarely contain features that satisfactorily drive the neuron. PMID:16448249

Improvement of individual camouflage through background choice in ground-nesting birds.

PubMed

Stevens, Martin; Troscianko, Jolyon; Wilson-Aggarwal, Jared K; Spottiswoode, Claire N

2017-09-01

Animal camouflage is a longstanding example of adaptation. Much research has tested how camouflage prevents detection and recognition, largely focusing on changes to an animal's own appearance over evolution. However, animals could also substantially alter their camouflage by behaviourally choosing appropriate substrates. Recent studies suggest that individuals from several animal taxa could select backgrounds or positions to improve concealment. Here, we test whether individual wild animals choose backgrounds in complex environments, and whether this improves camouflage against predator vision. We studied nest site selection by nine species of ground-nesting birds (nightjars, plovers and coursers) in Zambia, and used image analysis and vision modeling to quantify egg and plumage camouflage to predator vision. Individual birds chose backgrounds that enhanced their camouflage, being better matched to their chosen backgrounds than to other potential backgrounds with respect to multiple aspects of camouflage. This occurred at all three spatial scales tested (a few cm and five meters from the nest, and compared to other sites chosen by conspecifics), and was the case for the eggs of all bird groups studied, and for adult nightjar plumage. Thus, individual wild animals improve their camouflage through active background choice, with choices highly refined across multiple spatial scales.

Improvement of individual camouflage through background choice in ground-nesting birds

PubMed Central

Stevens, Martin; Troscianko, Jolyon; Wilson-Aggarwal, Jared K.; Spottiswoode, Claire N.

2017-01-01

Animal camouflage is a longstanding example of adaptation. Much research has tested how camouflage prevents detection and recognition, largely focusing on changes to an animal's own appearance over evolution. However, animals could also substantially alter their camouflage by behaviourally choosing appropriate substrates. Recent studies suggest that individuals from several animal taxa could select backgrounds or positions to improve concealment. Here, we test whether individual wild animals choose backgrounds in complex environments, and whether this improves camouflage against predator vision. We studied nest site selection by nine species of ground-nesting birds (nightjars, plovers and coursers) in Zambia, and used image analysis and vision modeling to quantify egg and plumage camouflage to predator vision. Individual birds chose backgrounds that enhanced their camouflage, being better matched to their chosen backgrounds than to other potential backgrounds with respect to multiple aspects of camouflage. This occurred at all three spatial scales tested (a few cm and five meters from the nest, and compared to other sites chosen by conspecifics), and was the case for the eggs of all bird groups studied, and for adult nightjar plumage. Thus, individual wild animals improve their camouflage through active background choice, with choices highly refined across multiple spatial scales. PMID:28890937

A study of the sensitivity of an imaging telescope (GRITS) for high energy gamma-ray astronomy

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Yearian, Mason R.

1990-01-01

When a gamma-ray telescope is placed in Earth orbit, it is bombarded by a flux of cosmic protons much greater than the flux of interesting gammas. These protons can interact in the telescope's thermal shielding to produce detectable gamma rays, most of which are vetoed. Since the proton flux is so high, the unvetoed gamma rays constitute a significant background relative to some weak sources. This background increases the observing time required to pinpoint some sources and entirely obscures other sources. Although recent telescopes have been designed to minimize this background, its strength and spectral characteristics were not previously calculated in detail. Monte Carlo calculations are presented which characterize the strength, spectrum and other features of the cosmic proton background using FLUKA, a hadronic cascade program. Several gamma-ray telescopes, including SAS-2, EGRET and the Gamma Ray Imaging Telescope System (GRITS), are analyzed, and their proton-induced backgrounds are characterized. In all cases, the backgrounds are either shown to be low relative to interesting signals or suggestions are made which would reduce the background sufficiently to leave the telescope unimpaired. In addition, several limiting cases are examined for comparison to previous estimates and calibration measurements.

A Drastic Change in Background Luminance or Motion Degrades the Preview Benefit.

PubMed

Osugi, Takayuki; Murakami, Ikuya

2017-01-01

When some distractors (old items) precede some others (new items) in an inefficient visual search task, the search is restricted to new items, and yields a phenomenon termed the preview benefit. It has recently been demonstrated that, in this preview search task, the onset of repetitive changes in the background disrupts the preview benefit, whereas a single transient change in the background does not. In the present study, we explored this effect with dynamic background changes occurring in the context of realistic scenes, to examine the robustness and usefulness of visual marking. We examined whether preview benefit in a preview search task survived through task-irrelevant changes in the scene, namely a luminance change and the initiation of coherent motion, both occurring in the background. Luminance change of the background disrupted preview benefit if it was synchronized with the onset of the search display. Furthermore, although the presence of coherent background motion per se did not affect preview benefit, its synchronized initiation with the onset of the search display did disrupt preview benefit if the motion speed was sufficiently high. These results suggest that visual marking can be destroyed by a transient event in the scene if that event is sufficiently drastic.

Mitigation strategies against radiation-induced background for space astronomy missions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Davis, C. S. W.; Hall, D.; Keelan, J.; O'Farrell, J.; Leese, M.; Holland, A.

2018-01-01

The Advanced Telescope for High ENergy Astrophysics (ATHENA) mission is a major upcoming space-based X-ray observatory due to be launched in 2028 by ESA, with the purpose of mapping the early universe and observing black holes. Background radiation is expected to constitute a large fraction of the total system noise in the Wide Field Imager (WFI) instrument on ATHENA, and designing an effective system to reduce the background radiation impacting the WFI will be crucial for maximising its sensitivity. Significant background sources are expected to include high energy protons, X-ray fluorescence lines, 'knock-on' electrons and Compton electrons. Due to the variety of the different background sources, multiple shielding methods may be required to achieve maximum sensitivity in the WFI. These techniques may also be of great interest for use in future space-based X-ray experiments. Simulations have been developed to model the effect of a graded-Z shield on the X-ray fluorescence background. In addition the effect of a 90nm optical blocking filter on the secondary electron background has been investigated and shown to modify the requirements of any secondary electron shielding that is to be used.

Investigation on location dependent detectability in cone beam CT images with uniform and anatomical backgrounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Han, Minah; Baek, Jongduk

2017-03-01

We investigate location dependent lesion detectability of cone beam computed tomography images for different background types (i.e., uniform and anatomical), image planes (i.e., transverse and longitudinal) and slice thicknesses. Anatomical backgrounds are generated using a power law spectrum of breast anatomy, 1/f3. Spherical object with a 5mm diameter is used as a signal. CT projection data are acquired by the forward projection of uniform and anatomical backgrounds with and without the signal. Then, projection data are reconstructed using the FDK algorithm. Detectability is evaluated by a channelized Hotelling observer with dense difference-of-Gaussian channels. For uniform background, off-centered images yield higher detectability than iso-centered images for the transverse plane, while for the longitudinal plane, detectability of iso-centered and off-centered images are similar. For anatomical background, off-centered images yield higher detectability for the transverse plane, while iso-centered images yield higher detectability for the longitudinal plane, when the slice thickness is smaller than 1.9mm. The optimal slice thickness is 3.8mm for all tasks, and the transverse plane at the off-center (iso-center and off-center) produces the highest detectability for uniform (anatomical) background.

Background of SAM atom-fraction profiles

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Ernst, Frank

Atom-fraction profiles acquired by SAM (scanning Auger microprobe) have important applications, e.g. in the context of alloy surface engineering by infusion of carbon or nitrogen through the alloy surface. However, such profiles often exhibit an artifact in form of a background with a level that anti-correlates with the local atom fraction. This article presents a theory explaining this phenomenon as a consequence of the way in which random noise in the spectrum propagates into the discretized differentiated spectrum that is used for quantification. The resulting model of “energy channel statistics” leads to a useful semi-quantitative background reduction procedure, which ismore » validated by applying it to simulated data. Subsequently, the procedure is applied to an example of experimental SAM data. The analysis leads to conclusions regarding optimum experimental acquisition conditions. The proposed method of background reduction is based on general principles and should be useful for a broad variety of applications. - Highlights: • Atom-fraction–depth profiles of carbon measured by scanning Auger microprobe • Strong background, varies with local carbon concentration. • Needs correction e.g. for quantitative comparison with simulations • Quantitative theory explains background. • Provides background removal strategy and practical advice for acquisition.« less

Stroke-model-based character extraction from gray-level document images.

PubMed

Ye, X; Cheriet, M; Suen, C Y

2001-01-01

Global gray-level thresholding techniques such as Otsu's method, and local gray-level thresholding techniques such as edge-based segmentation or the adaptive thresholding method are powerful in extracting character objects from simple or slowly varying backgrounds. However, they are found to be insufficient when the backgrounds include sharply varying contours or fonts in different sizes. A stroke-model is proposed to depict the local features of character objects as double-edges in a predefined size. This model enables us to detect thin connected components selectively, while ignoring relatively large backgrounds that appear complex. Meanwhile, since the stroke width restriction is fully factored in, the proposed technique can be used to extract characters in predefined font sizes. To process large volumes of documents efficiently, a hybrid method is proposed for character extraction from various backgrounds. Using the measurement of class separability to differentiate images with simple backgrounds from those with complex backgrounds, the hybrid method can process documents with different backgrounds by applying the appropriate methods. Experiments on extracting handwriting from a check image, as well as machine-printed characters from scene images demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model.

Spectral and temporal changes to speech produced in the presence of energetic and informational maskers.

PubMed

Cooke, Martin; Lu, Youyi

2010-10-01

Talkers change the way they speak in noisy conditions. For energetic maskers, speech production changes are relatively well-understood, but less is known about how informational maskers such as competing speech affect speech production. The current study examines the effect of energetic and informational maskers on speech production by talkers speaking alone or in pairs. Talkers produced speech in quiet and in backgrounds of speech-shaped noise, speech-modulated noise, and competing speech. Relative to quiet, speech output level and fundamental frequency increased and spectral tilt flattened in proportion to the energetic masking capacity of the background. In response to modulated backgrounds, talkers were able to reduce substantially the degree of temporal overlap with the noise, with greater reduction for the competing speech background. Reduction in foreground-background overlap can be expected to lead to a release from both energetic and informational masking for listeners. Passive changes in speech rate, mean pause length or pause distribution cannot explain the overlap reduction, which appears instead to result from a purposeful process of listening while speaking. Talkers appear to monitor the background and exploit upcoming pauses, a strategy which is particularly effective for backgrounds containing intelligible speech.

28 CFR 23.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Background. 23.2 Section 23.2 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS OPERATING POLICIES § 23.2 Background. It is... of intelligence data necessary to support control of serious criminal activity may represent...

28 CFR 23.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Background. 23.2 Section 23.2 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS OPERATING POLICIES § 23.2 Background. It is... of intelligence data necessary to support control of serious criminal activity may represent...

28 CFR 23.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Background. 23.2 Section 23.2 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS OPERATING POLICIES § 23.2 Background. It is... of intelligence data necessary to support control of serious criminal activity may represent...

28 CFR 23.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 23.2 Section 23.2 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS OPERATING POLICIES § 23.2 Background. It is... of intelligence data necessary to support control of serious criminal activity may represent...

28 CFR 23.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 28 Judicial Administration 1 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Background. 23.2 Section 23.2 Judicial Administration DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE CRIMINAL INTELLIGENCE SYSTEMS OPERATING POLICIES § 23.2 Background. It is... of intelligence data necessary to support control of serious criminal activity may represent...

76 FR 30405 - Information Collection Request Under OMB Review

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-05-25

..., the National Agency Check (NAC) Questionnaire for Peace Corps Volunteer Background Investigation (OMB... INFORMATION: The NAC Questionnaire for Peace Corps Volunteer Background Investigation Form is used to conduct... Volunteer Background Investigation. Type of Review: Reinstatement, without change, of a previously approved...

47 CFR 32.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Background. 32.1 Section 32.1 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Preface § 32.1 Background. The revised Uniform System of Accounts (USOA) is a historical...

47 CFR 201.0 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Background. 201.0 Section 201.0 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL EXECUTIVE POLICY § 201.0 Background. National policy with respect to the conservation, allocation and use of the Nation's...

47 CFR 201.0 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Background. 201.0 Section 201.0 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL EXECUTIVE POLICY § 201.0 Background. National policy with respect to the conservation, allocation and use of the Nation's...

47 CFR 201.0 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Background. 201.0 Section 201.0 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL EXECUTIVE POLICY § 201.0 Background. National policy with respect to the conservation, allocation and use of the Nation's...

47 CFR 201.0 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Background. 201.0 Section 201.0 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL EXECUTIVE POLICY § 201.0 Background. National policy with respect to the conservation, allocation and use of the Nation's...

47 CFR 201.0 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Background. 201.0 Section 201.0 Telecommunication OFFICE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY POLICY AND NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL EXECUTIVE POLICY § 201.0 Background. National policy with respect to the conservation, allocation and use of the Nation's...

47 CFR 32.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Background. 32.1 Section 32.1 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Preface § 32.1 Background. The revised Uniform System of Accounts (USOA) is a historical...

47 CFR 32.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 47 Telecommunication 2 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Background. 32.1 Section 32.1 Telecommunication FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (CONTINUED) COMMON CARRIER SERVICES UNIFORM SYSTEM OF ACCOUNTS FOR TELECOMMUNICATIONS COMPANIES Preface § 32.1 Background. The revised Uniform System of Accounts (USOA) is a historical...

Low-background gamma-ray spectrometry for the international monitoring system

DOE PAGES

Greenwood, L. R.; Cantaloub, M. G.; Burnett, J. L.; ...

2016-12-28

PNNL has developed two low-background gamma-ray spectrometers in a new shallow underground laboratory, thereby significantly improving its ability to detect low levels of gamma-ray emitting fission or activation products in airborne particulate in samples from the IMS (International Monitoring System). Furthermore, the combination of cosmic veto panels, dry nitrogen gas to reduce radon and low background shielding results in a reduction of the background count rate by about a factor of 100 compared to detectors operating above ground at our laboratory.

The microwave background: Its smoothness and frequency distribution as an astrophysical product

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoyle, Fred; Wickramasinghe, N. C.; Burbidge, Geoffrey

1990-12-01

The use of astrophysical sources in providing an understanding of the total energy density of the background is reviewed. The need of a thermalizing agent is stressed. The nearer such an agent comes to establishing thermodynamic equilibrium, the smoother the background becomes. This is shown to be true despite irregularities in the distribution of the thermalizer. The ejection of iron whiskers from galaxies and the ways in which such whiskers could affect the microwave background are discussed.

Influence of detector noise and background noise on detection-system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Song, Yiheng; Wang, Zhiyong

2018-02-01

Study the noise by detectors and background light ,we find that the influence of background noise on the detection is more than that of itself. Therefore, base on the fiber coupled beam splitting technique, the small area detector is used to replace the large area detector. It can achieve high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and reduce the speckle interference of the background light. This technique is expected to solve the bottleneck of large field of view and high sensitivity.

Magnetic imager and method

DOEpatents

Powell, James; Reich, Morris; Danby, Gordon

1997-07-22

A magnetic imager 10 includes a generator 18 for practicing a method of applying a background magnetic field over a concealed object, with the object being effective to locally perturb the background field. The imager 10 also includes a sensor 20 for measuring perturbations of the background field to detect the object. In one embodiment, the background field is applied quasi-statically. And, the magnitude or rate of change of the perturbations may be measured for determining location, size, and/or condition of the object.

Background Underground at WIPP

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Esch, Ernst-Ingo; Hime, A.; Bowles, T. J.

2001-04-01

Recent interest to establish a dedicated underground laboratory in the United States prompted an experimental program at to quantify the enviromental backgrounds underground at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad, New Mexico. An outline of this program is provided along with recent experimental data on the cosmic ray muon flux at the 650 meter level of WIPP. The implications of the cosmic ray muon and fast neutron background at WIPP will be discussed in the context of new generation, low background experiments envisioned in the future.

The Magic Background of Pearl Harbor. Volume 1 (February 14, 1941 - May 12, 1941)

DTIC Science & Technology

1977-01-01

1977 2. REPORT TYPE 3. DATES COVERED 00-00-1977 to 00-00-1977 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE The ’ Magic ’ Background of Pearl Harbor. Volume 1: February...34 MAGIC " BACKGROUND OF PEARL HARBOR VOLUME I (February 14, 1941-May 12,1941) /- / DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA For sale by the...The Department of Defense is releasing for public use and research this multi-volume study giving the " MAGIC " or communications intelligence background

Effect of Background Pressure on the Plasma Oscillation Characteristics of the HiVHAc Hall Thruster

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-06-01

Hall thruster , a number of plasma diagnostics were implemented to study the effect of varying facility background pressure on thruster operation. These diagnostics characterized the thruster performance, the plume, and the plasma oscillations in the thruster. Thruster performance and plume characteristics as functions of background pressure were previously published. This paper will focus on changes in the plasma oscillation characteristics with changing background pressure. The diagnostics used to study plasma oscillations include a high-speed camera and a set of

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Erchinger, J. L.; Orrell, John L.; Aalseth, C. E.

The Ultra-Low Background Liquid Scintillation Counter developed by Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will expand the application of liquid scintillation counting by enabling lower detection limits and smaller sample volumes. By reducing the overall count rate of the background environment approximately 2 orders of magnitude below that of commercially available systems, backgrounds on the order of tens of counts per day over an energy range of ~3–3600 keV can be realized. Finally, initial test results of the ULB LSC show promising results for ultra-low background detection with liquid scintillation counting.

Myostatin propeptide mutation of the hypermuscular Compact mice decreases the formation of myostatin and improves insulin sensitivity.

PubMed

Kocsis, Tamas; Trencsenyi, Gyorgy; Szabo, Kitti; Baan, Julia Aliz; Muller, Geza; Mendler, Luca; Garai, Ildiko; Reinauer, Hans; Deak, Ferenc; Dux, Laszlo; Keller-Pinter, Aniko

2017-03-01

The TGFβ family member myostatin (growth/differentiation factor-8) is a negative regulator of skeletal muscle growth. The hypermuscular Compact mice carry the 12-bp Mstn(Cmpt-dl1Abc) deletion in the sequence encoding the propeptide region of the precursor promyostatin, and additional modifier genes of the Compact genetic background contribute to determine the full expression of the phenotype. In this study, by using mice strains carrying mutant or wild-type myostatin alleles with the Compact genetic background and nonmutant myostatin with the wild-type background, we studied separately the effect of the Mstn(Cmpt-dl1Abc) mutation or the Compact genetic background on morphology, metabolism, and signaling. We show that both the Compact myostatin mutation and Compact genetic background account for determination of skeletal muscle size. Despite the increased musculature of Compact s, the absolute size of heart and kidney is not influenced by myostatin mutation; however, the Compact genetic background increases them. Both Compact myostatin and genetic background exhibit systemic metabolic effects. The Compact mutation decreases adiposity and improves whole body glucose uptake, insulin sensitivity, and 18 FDG uptake of skeletal muscle and white adipose tissue, whereas the Compact genetic background has the opposite effect. Importantly, the mutation does not prevent the formation of mature myostatin; however, a decrease in myostatin level was observed, leading to altered activation of Smad2, Smad1/5/8, and Akt, and an increased level of p-AS160, a Rab-GTPase-activating protein responsible for GLUT4 translocation. Based on our analysis, the Compact genetic background strengthens the effect of myostatin mutation on muscle mass, but those can compensate for each other when systemic metabolic effects are compared. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Review of Monte Carlo simulations for backgrounds from radioactivity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Selvi, Marco

2013-08-01

For all experiments dealing with the rare event searches (neutrino, dark matter, neutrino-less double-beta decay), the reduction of the radioactive background is one of the most important and difficult tasks. There are basically two types of background, electron recoils and nuclear recoils. The electron recoil background is mostly from the gamma rays through the radioactive decay. The nuclear recoil background is from neutrons from spontaneous fission, (α, n) reactions and muoninduced interactions (spallations, photo-nuclear and hadronic interaction). The external gammas and neutrons from the muons and laboratory environment, can be reduced by operating the detector at deep underground laboratories and by placing active or passive shield materials around the detector. The radioactivity of the detector materials also contributes to the background; in order to reduce it a careful screening campaign is mandatory to select highly radio-pure materials. In this review I present the status of current Monte Carlo simulations aimed to estimate and reproduce the background induced by gamma and neutron radioactivity of the materials and the shield of rare event search experiment. For the electromagnetic background a good level of agreement between the data and the MC simulation has been reached by the XENON100 and EDELWEISS experiments, using the GEANT4 toolkit. For the neutron background, a comparison between the yield of neutrons from spontaneous fission and (α, n) obtained with two dedicated softwares, SOURCES-4A and the one developed by Mei-Zhang-Hime, show a good overall agreement, with total yields within a factor 2 difference. The energy spectra from SOURCES-4A are in general smoother, while those from MZH presents sharp peaks. The neutron propagation through various materials has been studied with two MC codes, GEANT4 and MCNPX, showing a reasonably good agreement, inside 50% discrepancy.

Firearm Acquisition Without Background Checks: Results of a National Survey.

PubMed

Miller, Matthew; Hepburn, Lisa; Azrael, Deborah

2017-02-21

In 1994, 40% of U.S. gun owners who had recently acquired a firearm did so without a background check. No contemporary estimates exist. To estimate the proportion of current U.S. gun owners who acquired their most recent firearm without a background check, by time since and manner of acquisition, for the nation as a whole and separately in states with and without legislation regulating private sales. Probability-based online survey. United States, 2015. 1613 adult gun owners. Current gun owners were asked where and when they acquired their last firearm; if they purchased the firearm; and whether, as part of that acquisition, they had a background check (or were asked to show a firearm license or permit). 22% (95% CI, 16% to 27%) of gun owners who reported obtaining their most recent firearm within the previous 2 years reported doing so without a background check. For firearms purchased privately within the previous 2 years (that is, other than from a store or pawnshop, including sales between individuals in person, online, or at gun shows), 50% (CI, 35% to 65%) were obtained without a background check. This percentage was 26% (CI, 5% to 47%) for owners residing in states regulating private firearm sales and 57% (CI, 40% to 75%) for those living in states without regulations on private firearm sales. Potential inaccuracies due to recall and social desirability bias. 22% of current U.S. gun owners who acquired a firearm within the past 2 years did so without a background check. Although this represents a smaller proportion of gun owners obtaining firearms without background checks than in the past, millions of U.S. adults continue to acquire guns without background checks, especially in states that do not regulate private firearm sales. Fund for a Safer Future and the Joyce Foundation.

Expected background in the LZ experiment

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kudryavtsev, Vitaly A.

2015-08-01

The LZ experiment, featuring a 7-tonne active liquid xenon target, is aimed at achieving unprecedented sensitivity to WIMPs with the background expected to be dominated by astrophysical neutrinos. To reach this goal, extensive simulations are carried out to accurately calculate the electron recoil and nuclear recoil rates in the detector. Both internal (from target material) and external (from detector components and surrounding environment) backgrounds are considered. A very efficient suppression of background rate is achieved with an outer liquid scintillator veto, liquid xenon skin and fiducialisation. Based on the current measurements of radioactivity of different materials, it is shown that LZ can achieve the reduction of a total background for a WIMP search down to about 2 events in 1000 live days for 5.6 tonne fiducial mass.

Rigid supersymmetric backgrounds of 3-dimensional Newton-Cartan supergravity

DOE PAGES

Knodel, Gino; Lisbao, Pedro; Liu, James T.

2016-06-06

Recently, a non-relativistic off-shell formulation of three dimensional Newton-Cartan supergravity was proposed as the c → ∞ limit of three dimensional N = 2 super-gravity [1]. Here in the present paper we study supersymmetric backgrounds within this theory. Using integrability constraints for the non-relativistic Killing spinor equations, we explicitly construct all maximally supersymmetric solutions, which admit four supercharges. In addition to these solutions, there aremore » $$\\frac{1}{2}$$ -BPS solutions with reduced supersymmetry. We give explicit examples of such backgrounds and derive necessary conditions for backgrounds preserving two supercharges. Finally, we address how supersymmetric backgrounds of N = 2 supergravity are connected to the solutions found here in the c → ∞ limit.« less

Radiative decays of massive relic particles and the submillimeter background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Field, George B.; Walker, Terry P.

1989-01-01

The interaction of the decay photons of an unstable relic particle species with the microwave background radiation is considered. The radiative decays of these particles delay recombination and serve as an energy source for the resultant plasma. Nonrelativistic Compton scattering by these electrons couples the decay photons to the microwave background, producing submillimeter distortions. If the decay products close the universe, they must decay with a radiative branching ratio larger than 2.5 x 10 to the -5th in order to produce recently observed excess submillimeter background radiation. To be consistent with measurements of the UV background, their mass m is much greater than 114 keV and their decay redshift z is much greater than 5200.

Ground-to-air flow visualization using Solar Calcium-K line Background-Oriented Schlieren

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hill, Michael A.; Haering, Edward A.

2017-01-01

The Calcium-K Eclipse Background-Oriented Schlieren experiment was performed as a proof of concept test to evaluate the effectiveness of using the solar disk as a background to perform the Background-Oriented Schlieren (BOS) method of flow visualization. A ground-based imaging system was equipped with a Calcium-K line optical etalon filter to enable the use of the chromosphere of the sun as the irregular background to be used for BOS. A US Air Force T-38 aircraft performed three supersonic runs which eclipsed the sun as viewed from the imaging system. The images were successfully post-processed using optical flow methods to qualitatively reveal the density gradients in the flow around the aircraft.

Background feature descriptor for offline handwritten numeral recognition

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ming, Delie; Wang, Hao; Tian, Tian; Jie, Feiran; Lei, Bo

2011-11-01

This paper puts forward an offline handwritten numeral recognition method based on background structural descriptor (sixteen-value numerical background expression). Through encoding the background pixels in the image according to a certain rule, 16 different eigenvalues were generated, which reflected the background condition of every digit, then reflected the structural features of the digits. Through pattern language description of images by these features, automatic segmentation of overlapping digits and numeral recognition can be realized. This method is characterized by great deformation resistant ability, high recognition speed and easy realization. Finally, the experimental results and conclusions are presented. The experimental results of recognizing datasets from various practical application fields reflect that with this method, a good recognition effect can be achieved.

C2-C6 background hydrocarbon concentrations monitored at a roof top and green park site, in Dublin City centre.

PubMed

O'Donoghue, R T; Broderick, B M

2007-09-01

A 5 week monitoring campaign was carried out in Dublin City centre, to establish which site gave a more accurate background city centre estimation: a roof-top or green field site. This background represented a conservative estimate of HC exposure in Dublin City centre, useful for quantifying health effects related to this form of pollution and also for establishing a local background relative to the four surrounding main roads when the wind direction is travelling towards each road with the background receptor upwind. Over the entire monitoring campaign, the lowest concentrations and relative standard deviations were observed at the green field site, regardless of time of day or meteorological effects.

Background rejection in NEXT using deep neural networks

DOE PAGES

Renner, J.; Farbin, A.; Vidal, J. Muñoz; ...

2017-01-16

Here, we investigate the potential of using deep learning techniques to reject background events in searches for neutrinoless double beta decay with high pressure xenon time projection chambers capable of detailed track reconstruction. The differences in the topological signatures of background and signal events can be learned by deep neural networks via training over many thousands of events. These networks can then be used to classify further events as signal or background, providing an additional background rejection factor at an acceptable loss of efficiency. The networks trained in this study performed better than previous methods developed based on the usemore » of the same topological signatures by a factor of 1.2 to 1.6, and there is potential for further improvement.« less

Amplitudes on plane waves from ambitwistor strings

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamo, Tim; Casali, Eduardo; Mason, Lionel; Nekovar, Stefan

2017-11-01

In marked contrast to conventional string theory, ambitwistor strings remain solvable worldsheet theories when coupled to curved background fields. We use this fact to consider the quantization of ambitwistor strings on plane wave metric and plane wave gauge field backgrounds. In each case, the worldsheet model is anomaly free as a consequence of the background satisfying the field equations. We derive vertex operators (in both fixed and descended picture numbers) for gravitons and gluons on these backgrounds from the worldsheet CFT, and study the 3-point functions of these vertex operators on the Riemann sphere. These worldsheet correlation functions reproduce the known results for 3-point scattering amplitudes of gravitons and gluons in gravitational and gauge theoretic plane wave backgrounds, respectively.

Intellectual Assessment of Children from Culturally Diverse Backgrounds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Armour-Thomas, Eleanor

1992-01-01

Examines assumptions and premises of standardized tests of mental ability and reviews extant theories and research on intellectual functioning of children from culturally different backgrounds. Discusses implications of these issues and perspectives for new directions for intellectual assessment for children from culturally different backgrounds.…

32 CFR 1292.3 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 1292.3 Section 1292.3 National Defense Other Regulations Relating to National Defense DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MISCELLANEOUS SECURITY OF DLA ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES § 1292.3 Background. Section 21 of the Internal Security Act of 1950...

7 CFR 3407.1 - Background and purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Background and purpose. 3407.1 Section 3407.1 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT § 3407.1 Background and purpose. (a) The...

7 CFR 3407.1 - Background and purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Background and purpose. 3407.1 Section 3407.1 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT § 3407.1 Background and purpose. (a) The...

7 CFR 3407.1 - Background and purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Background and purpose. 3407.1 Section 3407.1 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT § 3407.1 Background and purpose. (a) The...

7 CFR 3407.1 - Background and purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 7 Agriculture 15 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Background and purpose. 3407.1 Section 3407.1 Agriculture Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE IMPLEMENTATION OF NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT § 3407.1 Background and purpose. (a) The...

14 CFR 1214.302 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Background. 1214.302 Section 1214.302 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE FLIGHT Payload Specialists for Space Transportation System (STS) Missions § 1214.302 Background. (a) The Space Transportation System (STS) has been...

14 CFR 1214.302 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Background. 1214.302 Section 1214.302 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE FLIGHT Payload Specialists for Space Transportation System (STS) Missions § 1214.302 Background. (a) The Space Transportation System (STS) has been...

14 CFR 1214.302 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2011-01-01 2010-01-01 true Background. 1214.302 Section 1214.302 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE FLIGHT Payload Specialists for Space Transportation System (STS) Missions § 1214.302 Background. (a) The Space Transportation System (STS) has been...

14 CFR 1214.302 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2013-01-01 2013-01-01 false Background. 1214.302 Section 1214.302 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE FLIGHT Payload Specialists for Space Transportation System (STS) Missions § 1214.302 Background. (a) The Space Transportation System (STS) has been...

22 CFR 97.3 - Requirements subject to verification in an outgoing Convention case.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... background study. An accredited agency, temporarily accredited agency, or public domestic authority must complete or approve a child background study that includes information about the child's identity, adoptability, background, social environment, family history, medical history (including that of the child's...

22 CFR 97.3 - Requirements subject to verification in an outgoing Convention case.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... background study. An accredited agency, temporarily accredited agency, or public domestic authority must complete or approve a child background study that includes information about the child's identity, adoptability, background, social environment, family history, medical history (including that of the child's...

22 CFR 97.3 - Requirements subject to verification in an outgoing Convention case.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... background study. An accredited agency, temporarily accredited agency, or public domestic authority must complete or approve a child background study that includes information about the child's identity, adoptability, background, social environment, family history, medical history (including that of the child's...

22 CFR 97.3 - Requirements subject to verification in an outgoing Convention case.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... background study. An accredited agency, temporarily accredited agency, or public domestic authority must complete or approve a child background study that includes information about the child's identity, adoptability, background, social environment, family history, medical history (including that of the child's...

22 CFR 97.3 - Requirements subject to verification in an outgoing Convention case.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... background study. An accredited agency, temporarily accredited agency, or public domestic authority must complete or approve a child background study that includes information about the child's identity, adoptability, background, social environment, family history, medical history (including that of the child's...

44 CFR 10.1 - Background and purpose.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 44 Emergency Management and Assistance 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Background and purpose. 10.1 Section 10.1 Emergency Management and Assistance FEDERAL EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT AGENCY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL CONSIDERATIONS General § 10.1 Background and purpose. (a) This part...

Gifted Students from Low-Education Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gibbons, Melinda M.; Pelchar, Taylor K.; Cochran, Jeff L.

2012-01-01

Gifted children from low-education backgrounds often experience barriers to educational and career success. This article reviews the growing body of literature regarding gifted students from low-education backgrounds and the related literature on the challenges and characteristics of first-generation college students. A mother and daughter…

40 CFR 1065.650 - Emission calculations.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... following sequence of preliminary calculations on recorded concentrations: (i) Correct all THC and CH4.... (iii) Calculate all THC and NMHC concentrations, including dilution air background concentrations, as... NMHC to background corrected mass of THC. If the background corrected mass of NMHC is greater than 0.98...

32 CFR 1292.3 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Background. 1292.3 Section 1292.3 National Defense Other Regulations Relating to National Defense DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MISCELLANEOUS SECURITY OF DLA ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES § 1292.3 Background. Section 21 of the Internal Security Act of 1950...

32 CFR 1292.3 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Background. 1292.3 Section 1292.3 National Defense Other Regulations Relating to National Defense DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MISCELLANEOUS SECURITY OF DLA ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES § 1292.3 Background. Section 21 of the Internal Security Act of 1950...

32 CFR 1292.3 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Background. 1292.3 Section 1292.3 National Defense Other Regulations Relating to National Defense DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MISCELLANEOUS SECURITY OF DLA ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES § 1292.3 Background. Section 21 of the Internal Security Act of 1950...

32 CFR 1292.3 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Background. 1292.3 Section 1292.3 National Defense Other Regulations Relating to National Defense DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY MISCELLANEOUS SECURITY OF DLA ACTIVITIES AND RESOURCES § 1292.3 Background. Section 21 of the Internal Security Act of 1950...

Speech Enhancement of Mobile Devices Based on the Integration of a Dual Microphone Array and a Background Noise Elimination Algorithm.

PubMed

Chen, Yung-Yue

2018-05-08

Mobile devices are often used in our daily lives for the purposes of speech and communication. The speech quality of mobile devices is always degraded due to the environmental noises surrounding mobile device users. Regretfully, an effective background noise reduction solution cannot easily be developed for this speech enhancement problem. Due to these depicted reasons, a methodology is systematically proposed to eliminate the effects of background noises for the speech communication of mobile devices. This methodology integrates a dual microphone array with a background noise elimination algorithm. The proposed background noise elimination algorithm includes a whitening process, a speech modelling method and an H ₂ estimator. Due to the adoption of the dual microphone array, a low-cost design can be obtained for the speech enhancement of mobile devices. Practical tests have proven that this proposed method is immune to random background noises, and noiseless speech can be obtained after executing this denoise process.

Monte Carlo simulation for background study of geophysical inspection with cosmic-ray muons

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nishiyama, Ryuichi; Taketa, Akimichi; Miyamoto, Seigo; Kasahara, Katsuaki

2016-08-01

Several attempts have been made to obtain a radiographic image inside volcanoes using cosmic-ray muons (muography). Muography is expected to resolve highly heterogeneous density profiles near the surface of volcanoes. However, several prior works have failed to make clear observations due to contamination by background noise. The background contamination leads to an overestimation of the muon flux and consequently a significant underestimation of the density in the target mountains. To investigate the origin of the background noise, we performed a Monte Carlo simulation. The main components of the background noise in muography are found to be low-energy protons, electrons and muons in case of detectors without particle identification and with energy thresholds below 1 GeV. This result was confirmed by comparisons with actual observations of nuclear emulsions. This result will be useful for detector design in future works, and in addition some previous works of muography should be reviewed from the view point of background contamination.

Systematic measurement of fast neutron background fluctuations in an urban area using a mobile detection system

DOE PAGES

Iyengar, Anagha; Beach, Matthew; Newby, Robert J.; ...

2015-11-12

Neutron background measurements using a mobile trailer-based system were conducted in Knoxville, Tennessee. The 0.5 m 2 system consisting of 8 EJ-301 liquid scintillation detectors was used to collect neutron background measurements in order to better understand the systematic background variations that depend solely on the street-level measurement position in a local, downtown area. Data was collected along 5 different streets in the downtown Knoxville area, and the measurements were found to be repeatable. Using 10-min measurements, fractional uncertainty in each measured data point was <2%. Compared with fast neutron background count rates measured away from downtown Knoxville, a reductionmore » in background count rates ranging from 10-50% was observed in the downtown area, sometimes varying substantially over distances of tens of meters. These reductions are attributed to the shielding of adjacent buildings, quantified in part here by the metric angle-of-open-sky. The adjacent buildings may serve to shield cosmic ray neutron flux.« less

Background norepinephrine primes astrocytic calcium responses to subsequent norepinephrine stimuli in the cerebral cortex.

PubMed

Nuriya, Mutsuo; Takeuchi, Miyabi; Yasui, Masato

2017-01-29

Norepinephrine (NE) levels in the cerebral cortex are regulated in two modes; the brain state is correlated with slow changes in background NE concentration, while salient stimuli induce transient NE spikes. Previous studies have revealed their diverse neuromodulatory actions; however, the modulatory role of NE on astrocytic activity has been poorly characterized thus far. In this study, we evaluated the modulatory action of background NE on astrocytic responses to subsequent stimuli, using two-photon calcium imaging of acute murine cortical brain slices. We find that subthreshold background NE significantly augments calcium responses to subsequent pulsed NE stimulation in astrocytes. This priming effect is independent of neuronal activity and is mediated by the activation of β-adrenoceptors and the downstream cAMP pathway. These results indicate that background NE primes astrocytes for subsequent calcium responses to NE stimulation and suggest a novel gliomodulatory role for brain state-dependent background NE in the cerebral cortex. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The diffuse infrared background - COBE and other observations

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hauser, M. G.; Kelsall, T.; Moseley, S. H., Jr.; Silverberg, R. F.; Murdock, T.; Toller, G.; Spiesman, W.; Weiland, J.

1991-01-01

The Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment (DIRBE) on the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite is designed to conduct a sensitive search for an isotropic cosmic infrared background radiation over the spectral range from 1 to 300 micrometers. The cumulative emissions of pregalactic, protogalactic, and evolving galactic systems are expected to be recorded in this background. The DIRBE instrument, a 10 spectral band absolute photometer with an 0.7 deg field of view, maps the full sky with high redundancy at solar elongation angles ranging from 64 to 124 degrees to facilitate separation of interplanetary, Galactic, and extragalactic sources of emission. Initial sky maps show the expected character of the foreground emissions, with relative minima at wavelengths of 3.4 micrometers and longward of 100 micrometers. Extensive modelling of the foregrounds, just beginning, will be required to isolate the extragalactic component. In this paper, we summarize the status of diffuse infrared background observations from the DIRBE, and compare preliminary results with those of recent rocket and satellite instruments.

Scattering on plane waves and the double copy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Adamo, Tim; Casali, Eduardo; Mason, Lionel; Nekovar, Stefan

2018-01-01

Perturbatively around flat space, the scattering amplitudes of gravity are related to those of Yang–Mills by colour-kinematic duality, under which gravitational amplitudes are obtained as the ‘double copy’ of the corresponding gauge theory amplitudes. We consider the question of how to extend this relationship to curved scattering backgrounds, focusing on certain ‘sandwich’ plane waves. We calculate the 3-point amplitudes on these backgrounds and find that a notion of double copy remains in the presence of background curvature: graviton amplitudes on a gravitational plane wave are the double copy of gluon amplitudes on a gauge field plane wave. This is non-trivial in that it requires a non-local replacement rule for the background fields and the momenta and polarization vectors of the fields scattering on the backgrounds. It must also account for new ‘tail’ terms arising from scattering off the background. These encode a memory effect in the scattering amplitudes, which naturally double copies as well.

[Maintenance treatment in opioid-dependent patients with migration background].

PubMed

Bald, L K; Schouler-Ocak, M; Penka, S; Schoofs, N; Häbel, T; Bermpohl, F; Gutwinski, S

2016-05-01

No regional analyses regarding opioid-dependent patients in maintenance treatment with a migration background have so far been performed in German-speaking countries. This study examined patients with and without a migration background regarding socioeconomic parameters, characteristics of dependency and attitude towards opiate maintenance treatment (OMT). From May to October 2011 patients in OMT from all of the 20 psychiatry clinics and 110 physician practices in Berlin with a licence to provide OMT were included in this analysis. Out of the 986 participating patients, 956 gave information on migration background and of these, 204 (21.3 %) originated from a country other than Germany. Compared to patients without a migration background, their participation in a maintenance program was significantly shorter and they more often expressed a desire to end OMT and wanted a limited duration of OMT. The differences regarding duration of OMT and the wish to end OMT can reflect a stronger desire for abstinence and a different attitude towards maintenance treatment of patients with a migration background.

Geographic divergence and colour change in response to visual backgrounds and illumination intensity in bearded dragons.

PubMed

Cadena, Viviana; Smith, Kathleen R; Endler, John A; Stuart-Fox, Devi

2017-03-15

Animals may improve camouflage by both dynamic colour change and local evolutionary adaptation of colour but we have little understanding of their relative importance in colour-changing species. We tested for differences in colour change in response to background colour and light intensity in two populations of central bearded dragon lizards ( Pogona vitticeps ) representing the extremes in body coloration and geographical range. We found that bearded dragons change colour in response to various backgrounds and that colour change is affected by illumination intensity. Within-individual colour change was similar in magnitude in the two populations but varied between backgrounds. However, at the endpoints of colour change, each population showed greater similarity to backgrounds that were representative of the local habitat compared with the other population, indicating local adaptation to visual backgrounds. Our results suggest that even in species that change colour, both phenotypic plasticity and geographic divergence of coloration may contribute to improved camouflage. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Activity patterns in networks stabilized by background oscillations.

PubMed

Hoppensteadt, Frank

2009-07-01

The brain operates in a highly oscillatory environment. We investigate here how such an oscillating background can create stable organized behavior in an array of neuro-oscillators that is not observable in the absence of oscillation, much like oscillating the support point of an inverted pendulum can stabilize its up position, which is unstable without the oscillation. We test this idea in an array of electronic circuits coming from neuroengineering: we show how the frequencies of the background oscillation create a partition of the state space into distinct basins of attraction. Thus, background signals can stabilize persistent activity that is otherwise not observable. This suggests that an image, represented as a stable firing pattern which is triggered by a voltage pulse and is sustained in synchrony or resonance with the background oscillation, can persist as a stable behavior long after the initial stimulus is removed. The background oscillations provide energy for organized behavior in the array, and these behaviors are categorized by the basins of attraction determined by the oscillation frequencies.

Detecting background changes in environments with dynamic foreground by separating probability distribution function mixtures using Pearson's method of moments

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jenkins, Colleen; Jordan, Jay; Carlson, Jeff

2007-02-01

This paper presents parameter estimation techniques useful for detecting background changes in a video sequence with extreme foreground activity. A specific application of interest is automated detection of the covert placement of threats (e.g., a briefcase bomb) inside crowded public facilities. We propose that a histogram of pixel intensity acquired from a fixed mounted camera over time for a series of images will be a mixture of two Gaussian functions: the foreground probability distribution function and background probability distribution function. We will use Pearson's Method of Moments to separate the two probability distribution functions. The background function can then be "remembered" and changes in the background can be detected. Subsequent comparisons of background estimates are used to detect changes. Changes are flagged to alert security forces to the presence and location of potential threats. Results are presented that indicate the significant potential for robust parameter estimation techniques as applied to video surveillance.

Systematic measurement of fast neutron background fluctuations in an urban area using a mobile detection system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Iyengar, A.; Beach, M.; Newby, R. J.; Fabris, L.; Heilbronn, L. H.; Hayward, J. P.

2015-02-01

Neutron background measurements using a mobile trailer-based system were conducted in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. The 0.5 m2 system, consisting of eight EJ-301 liquid scintillation detectors, was used to collect neutron background measurements in order to better understand the systematic variations in background that depend solely on the street-level measurement position in a downtown area. Data was collected along 5 different streets, and the measurements were found to be repeatable. Using 10-min measurements, the fractional uncertainty in each measured data point was <2%. Compared with fast neutron background count rates measured away from downtown Knoxville, a reduction in background count rates ranging from 10% to 50% was observed in the downtown area, sometimes varying substantially over distances of tens of meters. These reductions are attributed to the net shielding of the cosmic ray neutron flux by adjacent buildings. For reference, the building structure as observed at street level is quantified in part here by a measured angle-of-open-sky metric.

Maximum Likelihood Analysis of Low Energy CDMS II Germanium Data

DOE PAGES

Agnese, R.

2015-03-30

We report on the results of a search for a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) signal in low-energy data of the Cryogenic Dark Matter Search experiment using a maximum likelihood analysis. A background model is constructed using GEANT4 to simulate the surface-event background from Pb210decay-chain events, while using independent calibration data to model the gamma background. Fitting this background model to the data results in no statistically significant WIMP component. In addition, we also perform fits using an analytic ad hoc background model proposed by Collar and Fields, who claimed to find a large excess of signal-like events in ourmore » data. Finally, we confirm the strong preference for a signal hypothesis in their analysis under these assumptions, but excesses are observed in both single- and multiple-scatter events, which implies the signal is not caused by WIMPs, but rather reflects the inadequacy of their background model.« less

Spatiotemporal models for the simulation of infrared backgrounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wilkes, Don M.; Cadzow, James A.; Peters, R. Alan, II; Li, Xingkang

1992-09-01

It is highly desirable for designers of automatic target recognizers (ATRs) to be able to test their algorithms on targets superimposed on a wide variety of background imagery. Background imagery in the infrared spectrum is expensive to gather from real sources, consequently, there is a need for accurate models for producing synthetic IR background imagery. We have developed a model for such imagery that will do the following: Given a real, infrared background image, generate another image, distinctly different from the one given, that has the same general visual characteristics as well as the first and second-order statistics of the original image. The proposed model consists of a finite impulse response (FIR) kernel convolved with an excitation function, and histogram modification applied to the final solution. A procedure for deriving the FIR kernel using a signal enhancement algorithm has been developed, and the histogram modification step is a simple memoryless nonlinear mapping that imposes the first order statistics of the original image onto the synthetic one, thus the overall model is a linear system cascaded with a memoryless nonlinearity. It has been found that the excitation function relates to the placement of features in the image, the FIR kernel controls the sharpness of the edges and the global spectrum of the image, and the histogram controls the basic coloration of the image. A drawback to this method of simulating IR backgrounds is that a database of actual background images must be collected in order to produce accurate FIR and histogram models. If this database must include images of all types of backgrounds obtained at all times of the day and all times of the year, the size of the database would be prohibitive. In this paper we propose improvements to the model described above that enable time-dependent modeling of the IR background. This approach can greatly reduce the number of actual IR backgrounds that are required to produce a sufficiently accurate mathematical model for synthesizing a similar IR background for different times of the day. Original and synthetic IR backgrounds will be presented. Previous research in simulating IR backgrounds was performed by Strenzwilk, et al., Botkin, et al., and Rapp. The most recent work of Strenzwilk, et al. was based on the use of one-dimensional ARMA models for synthesizing the images. Their results were able to retain the global statistical and spectral behavior of the original image, but the synthetic image was not visually very similar to the original. The research presented in this paper is the result of an attempt to improve upon their results, and represents a significant improvement in quality over previously obtained results.

Sonographic Features of Nodular Hashimoto Thyroiditis.

PubMed

Oppenheimer, Daniel Corey; Giampoli, Ellen; Montoya, Simone; Patel, Swapnil; Dogra, Vikram

2016-09-01

The aim of the study was to analyze the sonographic features of nodular Hashimoto thyroiditis (HT) in patients with diffuse background thyroiditis and normal background thyroid parenchyma. Eighty-six patients who had fine-needle aspiration biopsy of 100 thyroid nodules confirmed to be HT and a thyroid ultrasound within 1 year of the biopsy were included in the study. Retrospective analysis of several sonographic features of each nodule was then performed. The mean age of patients with nodular HT was 53 years, 84% of which were female. Nodular HT occurred in a background of diffuse thyroiditis in 85% and in a homogeneous normal background in 15%. Ninety-three percent of nodules were completely solid and 7% of nodules were cystic and solid. Although the sonographic appearance of nodular HT was variable, the most common appearance was a solid (93/100) and hypoechoic nodule (44/100) with a thin hypoechoic halo (42/100) without calcifications (96/100). On color Doppler, 17% of nodules showed peripheral hypervascularity, 14% of nodules were diffusely hypervascular, 34% were iso vascular, 32% were hypovascular, and 3% were avascular. The sonographic appearance of nodular HT was not significantly different in patients with diffuse background thyroiditis compared with those without background thyroiditis. The sonographic appearance of nodular HT is variable, but the most common appearance is a solid sharply circumscribed hypoechoic nodule with thin hypoechoic halo without calcification. There was no significant difference in the appearance of nodular HT in patients with diffuse background thyroiditis compared with patients with normal background thyroid parenchyma.

Distracted While Reading? Changing to a Hard-to-Read Font Shields against the Effects of Environmental Noise and Speech on Text Memory

PubMed Central

Halin, Niklas

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the distractive effects of background speech, aircraft noise and road traffic noise on text memory and particularly to examine if displaying the texts in a hard-to-read font can shield against the detrimental effects of these types of background sounds. This issue was addressed in an experiment where 56 students read shorter texts about different classes of fictitious creatures (i.e., animals, fishes, birds, and dinosaurs) against a background of the aforementioned background sounds respectively and silence. For half of the participants the texts were displayed in an easy-to-read font (i.e., Times New Roman) and for the other half in a hard-to-read font (i.e., Haettenschweiler). The dependent measure was the proportion correct answers on the multiple-choice tests that followed each sound condition. Participants’ performance in the easy-to-read font condition was significantly impaired by all three background sound conditions compared to silence. In contrast, there were no effects of the three background sound conditions compared to silence in the hard-to-read font condition. These results suggest that an increase in task demand—by displaying the text in a hard-to-read font—shields against various types of distracting background sounds by promoting a more steadfast locus-of-attention and by reducing the processing of background sound. PMID:27555834

[Establishment of background color to discriminate among tablets: sharper and more feasible with color-weak simulation as access to safe medication].

PubMed

Ishizaki, Makiko; Maeda, Hatsuo; Okamoto, Ikuko

2014-01-01

Color-weak persons, who in Japan represent approximately 5% of male and 0.2% of female population, may not be able to discriminate among colors of tablets. Thus using color-weak simulation by Variantor™ we evaluated the effects of background colors (light, medium, and dark gray, purple, blue, and blue green) on discrimination among yellow, yellow red, red, and mixed group tablets by our established method. In addition, the influence of white 10-mm ruled squares on background sheets was examined, and the change in color of the tablets and background sheets through the simulation measured. Variance analysis of the data obtained from 42 volunteers demonstrated that with color-weak vision, the best discrimination among yellow, yellow red, or mixed group tablets was achieved on a dark gray background sheet, and a blue background sheet was useful to discriminate among each tablet group in all colors including red. These results were compared with those previously obtained with healthy and cataractous vision, suggesting that gap in color hue and chroma as well as value between background sheets and tablets affects discrimination with color-weak vision. The observed positive effects of white ruled squares, in contrast to those observed on healthy and cataractous vision, demonstrate that a background sheet arranged by two colors allows color-weak persons to discriminate among all sets of tablets in a sharp and feasible manner.

Statistics for the Relative Detectability of Chemicals in Weak Gaseous Plumes in LWIR Hyperspectral Imagery

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Metoyer, Candace N.; Walsh, Stephen J.; Tardiff, Mark F.

2008-10-30

The detection and identification of weak gaseous plumes using thermal imaging data is complicated by many factors. These include variability due to atmosphere, ground and plume temperature, and background clutter. This paper presents an analysis of one formulation of the physics-based model that describes the at-sensor observed radiance. The motivating question for the analyses performed in this paper is as follows. Given a set of backgrounds, is there a way to predict the background over which the probability of detecting a given chemical will be the highest? Two statistics were developed to address this question. These statistics incorporate data frommore » the long-wave infrared band to predict the background over which chemical detectability will be the highest. These statistics can be computed prior to data collection. As a preliminary exploration into the predictive ability of these statistics, analyses were performed on synthetic hyperspectral images. Each image contained one chemical (either carbon tetrachloride or ammonia) spread across six distinct background types. The statistics were used to generate predictions for the background ranks. Then, the predicted ranks were compared to the empirical ranks obtained from the analyses of the synthetic images. For the simplified images under consideration, the predicted and empirical ranks showed a promising amount of agreement. One statistic accurately predicted the best and worst background for detection in all of the images. Future work may include explorations of more complicated plume ingredients, background types, and noise structures.« less

Effect of Listeners' Linguistic Background on Perceptual Judgements of Hypernasality

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Alice; Brown, Susanna; Gibbon, Fiona E.

2008-01-01

Background: Many speech and language therapists work in a multilingual environment, making cross-linguistic studies of speech disorders clinically and theoretically important. Aims: To investigate the effect of listeners' linguistic background on their perceptual ratings of hypernasality and the reliability of the ratings. Methods &…

View of Launcher #3 surface doors. Launcher #1 in background ...

Library of Congress Historic Buildings Survey, Historic Engineering Record, Historic Landscapes Survey

View of Launcher #3 surface doors. Launcher #1 in background left, Launcher #2 in background right. Image looking west - Titan One Missile Complex 2A, .3 miles west of 129 Road and 1.5 miles north of County Line Road, Aurora, Adams County, CO

Background Knowledge in Learning-Based Relation Extraction

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Do, Quang Xuan

2012-01-01

In this thesis, we study the importance of background knowledge in relation extraction systems. We not only demonstrate the benefits of leveraging background knowledge to improve the systems' performance but also propose a principled framework that allows one to effectively incorporate knowledge into statistical machine learning models for…

32 CFR 763.3 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 763.3 Section 763.3 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY ISLANDS UNDER NAVY JURISDICTION RULES GOVERNING PUBLIC ACCESS Entry Regulations for Kaho'olawe Island, Hawaii § 763.3 Background. (a) Kaho'olawe Island...

45 CFR 650.16 - Background rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Background rights. 650.16 Section 650.16 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.16 Background rights. The Foundation will acquire rights to a research performer's pre-existing technology only...

32 CFR 3.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 3.2 Section 3.2 National Defense Department of Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ACQUISITION TRANSACTIONS OTHER THAN CONTRACTS, GRANTS, OR COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS FOR PROTOTYPE PROJECTS § 3.2 Background. “Other transactions” is the...

ONTOGENY OF THE ACOUSTIC STARTLE RESPONSE AND SENSITIZATION TO BACKGROUND NOISE IN THE RAT (JOURNAL VERSION)

EPA Science Inventory

The purpose of the study was to characterize the ontogeny of the acoustic startle response (ASR), and response sensitization to background noise, in preweanling rats. With constant low-level (45 dB) background noise, response latency decreased steadily with age, whereas, both res...

Soil nutrients, bacterial communities, and veterinary pharmaceuticals in beef cattle backgrounding confinement on karst environment

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

The United States hosts the world’s largest grain fed beef production. Commercial beef production in the US consists of three tiers that include: cow-calf enterprises, cattle backgrounding/stockering, and feedlot finishing. Beef cattle backgrounding/stockering represents an intermediate between the ...

Using Music as a Background for Reading: An Exploratory Study.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mulliken, Colleen N.; Henk, William A.

1985-01-01

Reports on a study during which intermediate level students were exposed to three auditory backgrounds while reading (no music, classical music, and rock music), and their subsequent comprehension performance was measured. Concludes that the auditory background during reading may affect comprehension and that, for most students, rock music should…

40 CFR 257.22 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... defined in § 257.5(b)) that: (1) Represent the quality of background ground water that has not been affected by leakage from a unit. A determination of background quality may include sampling of wells that... at other wells will provide an indication of background ground-water quality that is as...

Narrative Career Counselling for People with Refugee Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Abkhezr, Peyman; McMahon, Mary

2017-01-01

For people with refugee backgrounds, pursuing a meaningful career in their country of resettlement is important for their successful integration. However, for many, achieving this is a challenging process. Career counsellors may have a role to play in facilitating the transition and integration of people with refugee backgrounds, and narrative…

14 CFR § 1214.302 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 5 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Background. § 1214.302 Section § 1214.302 Aeronautics and Space NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION SPACE FLIGHT Payload Specialists for Space Transportation System (STS) Missions § 1214.302 Background. (a) The Space Transportation System (STS) has been...

Thailand--Secondary Education for Employment, Volume II: Background Papers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

World Bank, Washington, DC.

This report, a series of three background papers, was prepared as part of the Thailand Secondary Vocational Education Sector Study. The first background paper, "Intro Changing Workplaces, Changing Skills: Views from the Thai Private Sector on Work-Organization, Employee Recruitment and Selection" (Charles Abelmann, Lee Kian Chang,…

45 CFR 650.16 - Background rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2014-10-01 2014-10-01 false Background rights. 650.16 Section 650.16 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.16 Background rights. The Foundation will acquire rights to a research performer's pre-existing technology only in exceptional circumstances where, du...

45 CFR 650.16 - Background rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Background rights. 650.16 Section 650.16 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.16 Background rights. The Foundation will acquire rights to a research performer's pre-existing technology only in exceptional circumstances where, du...

45 CFR 650.16 - Background rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Background rights. 650.16 Section 650.16 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.16 Background rights. The Foundation will acquire rights to a research performer's pre-existing technology only in exceptional circumstances where, du...

45 CFR 650.16 - Background rights.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 45 Public Welfare 3 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Background rights. 650.16 Section 650.16 Public Welfare Regulations Relating to Public Welfare (Continued) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION PATENTS § 650.16 Background rights. The Foundation will acquire rights to a research performer's pre-existing technology only in exceptional circumstances where, du...

Culturally Responsive Evaluation Meets Systems-Oriented Evaluation

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Thomas, Veronica G.; Parsons, Beverly A.

2017-01-01

The authors of this article each bring a different theoretical background to their evaluation practice. The first author has a background of attention to culturally responsive evaluation (CRE), while the second author has a background of attention to systems theories and their application to evaluation. Both have had their own evolution of…

32 CFR 735.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Background. 735.2 Section 735.2 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL REPORTING BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES § 735.2 Background. For Armed Forces members and their dependents on duty overseas...

32 CFR 735.2 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 735.2 Section 735.2 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL REPORTING BIRTHS AND DEATHS IN COOPERATION WITH OTHER AGENCIES § 735.2 Background. For Armed Forces members and their dependents on duty overseas...

77 FR 30932 - Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Massachusetts; Regional Haze

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-05-24

... background for EPA's proposed action? A. The Regional Haze Problem B. Background Information C. Roles of... the background for EPA's proposed action? A. The Regional Haze Problem Regional haze is visibility... distances, even hundreds of kilometers. Therefore, to effectively address the problem of visibility...

Child Care: State Requirements for Background Checks.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fagnoni, Cynthia

Background checks involve gathering information from state and federal databases to determine if child care providers have a history of child abuse or other criminal convictions that would make them unacceptable for working with children. Background checks include state criminal history checks, state child abuse registry checks, and Federal Bureau…

Gender-Role Identity, Attitudes toward Marriage, and Gender-Segregated School Backgrounds.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katsurada, Emiko; Sugihara, Yoko

2002-01-01

Investigated the relationship between Japanese college students' gender role identity and attitudes toward marriage, exploring the effects of gender-segregated school backgrounds on gender role identity and attitudes toward marriage. Women without any coeducational school background had relatively strong masculinity and desired to marry at older…

In-Home Respite Care Program Development. Background. Coordinator's Manual. Training Manual.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Parham, J. D.; And Others

This volume consists of a background discussion, coordinator's manual, and training manual dealing with developing programs for the in-home respite care (IHRC) of the developmentally disabled. Addressed in the background information unit are the nature of developmental disabilities; program variables, planning, and funding; and practical…

Sociocultural Diversity and Reading Literacy in a Finland-Swedish Environment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Brunell, Viking; Saretsalo, Lauri

1999-01-01

Studied the relationships among students' backgrounds in terms of parental education and socioeconomic level, Finnish linguistic influence, and reading literacy for students in Swedish-speaking schools in Finland. Data from two national studies indicate that home background is more significant for reading literacy than is linguistic background.…

General Music Teachers' Backgrounds and Multicultural Repertoire Selection

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lee, Soojin

2018-01-01

The purpose of this qualitative study was to examine how teachers' backgrounds could contribute to their decisions to include music from diverse cultures. Analysis of interviews with three general music teachers indicated that their music training and experiences, ethnic backgrounds, and years of teaching experience may have influenced their…

Beyond Free Lunch: Which Family Background Measures Matter?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lubienski, Sarah Theule; Crane, Corinna Crawford

2010-01-01

Most studies of school achievement use free-lunch eligibility or other basic indicators to adjust for differences in students' socioeconomic backgrounds. This study determines whether these variables are enough to separate the confounding effects of students' backgrounds from the main variables of interest in education studies. The Early Childhood…

Educating Refugee-Background Students in Australian Schools and Universities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Naidoo, Loshini

2015-01-01

The Australian federal government recently set a challenging national aim: By 2020, 20% of higher education enrolment at the undergraduate level will include students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. Although refugee-background students are often members of the targeted sub-population, their educational journeys frequently require special forms…

Social Background and School Continuation Decisions.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mare, Robert D.

1980-01-01

Presents a model of the relationship between social background and school continuation decisions among White males born between 1900 and 1950. The model predicts a decline in the effects of social background by the last school transition. Reprint available from Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. (AM)

Social Background, Composition and Educational Growth.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mare, Robert D.

1979-01-01

Studies the impact of changes in family background on grade-level attainment for White males between 1907-1951. Findings show that the effects of social background on grade attainment decrease with increasing levels of attainment. Reprint available from Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI 53706. (AM)

14 CFR 91.1051 - Pilot safety background check.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 2 2011-01-01 2011-01-01 false Pilot safety background check. 91.1051... Operations Program Management § 91.1051 Pilot safety background check. Within 90 days of an individual beginning service as a pilot, the program manager must request the following information: (a) FAA records...

Incremental principal component pursuit for video background modeling

DOEpatents

Rodriquez-Valderrama, Paul A.; Wohlberg, Brendt

2017-03-14

An incremental Principal Component Pursuit (PCP) algorithm for video background modeling that is able to process one frame at a time while adapting to changes in background, with a computational complexity that allows for real-time processing, having a low memory footprint and is robust to translational and rotational jitter.

40 CFR 258.51 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the uppermost aquifer (as defined in § 258.2) that: (1) Represent the quality of background ground water that has not been affected by leakage from a unit. A determination of background quality may...; or (ii) Sampling at other wells will provide an indication of background ground-water quality that is...

77 FR 10508 - Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Background Checks...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-22

... Activities; Proposed Collection; Comment Request; Background Checks for Contractor Employees (Renewal) AGENCY... the electronic docket, go to www.regulations.gov . Title: Background Checks for Contractor Employees... consolidated in 40 CFR part 9. Abstract: The EPA uses contractors to perform services throughout the nation...

--No Title--

Science.gov Websites

; } .stage .controls a:link, .stage .controls a:visited { color:#000000; display:block; border:1px solid #ccc ; background-color:#fff; padding:1em 1em; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; } .stage .controls a:hover { background-color:#ccc; text-decoration:none; } .stage .controls a.active { background-color:#ccc; } .stage

--No Title--

Science.gov Websites

************************************************************/ .banner-logo { background-color: #0079c5; width: 100%; border-bottom: none; min-height:60px; } @media (min ; } } .banner-wordo { background-color: #005d92; font-family: "Roboto"; width: 100%; } /* National Renewable Energy Laboratory */ .wordo { background-color: #005d92; color: #fff; text-align: center; height

--No Title--

Science.gov Websites

{ background-color:#fff; padding-bottom:20px; } .navbar-default ul li { background-color:#1E8728; margin: 0 , .navbar-default .navbar-nav > .active > a:focus { background-color: #004C09; color: #fff; } .navbar -default .navbar-nav > li > a { color:#fff; } .navbar-default .navbar-nav > li > a:hover

Activation of Background Knowledge for Inference Making: Effects on Reading Comprehension

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Elbro, Carsten; Buch-Iversen, Ida

2013-01-01

Failure to "activate" relevant, existing background knowledge may be a cause of poor reading comprehension. This failure may cause particular problems with inferences that depend heavily on prior knowledge. Conversely, teaching how to use background knowledge in the context of gap-filling inferences could improve reading comprehension in…

77 FR 55843 - Office of Facilities Management and Program Services; Submission for OMB Review; Background...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-09-11

... of Facilities Management and Program Services; Submission for OMB Review; Background Investigations... collection of personal data for background investigations for child care workers accessing GSA owned and... assumptions and methodology; ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be...

Doppler search for a gravitational background radiation with two spacecraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bertotti, B.; Iess, L.

1985-11-01

The prospect of detecting a gravitational wave background by means of a simultaneous Doppler tracking of two spacecraft are discussed. It is found that the cross spectrum of the Doppler shifts of the two spacecraft is a filtered expression of the energy density spectrum of the background. The filter function, which is expressed as a series in terms of Legendre polynomials, is obtained by an integration over the rotation group, assuming the background to be isotropic. The main noise sources are examined, and the advantages of a measurement with two spacecraft are noted.

The number counts and infrared backgrounds from infrared-bright galaxies

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hacking, P. B.; Soifer, B. T.

1991-01-01

Extragalactic number counts and diffuse backgrounds at 25, 60, and 100 microns are predicted using new luminosity functions and improved spectral-energy distribution density functions derived from IRAS observations of nearby galaxies. Galaxies at redshifts z less than 3 that are like those in the local universe should produce a minimum diffuse background of 0.0085, 0.038, and 0.13 MJy/sr at 25, 60, and 100 microns, respectively. Models with significant luminosity evolution predict backgrounds about a factor of 4 greater than this minimum.

Effects of interior aircraft noise on speech intelligibility and annoyance

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pearsons, K. S.; Bennett, R. L.

1977-01-01

Recordings of the aircraft ambiance from ten different types of aircraft were used in conjunction with four distinct speech interference tests as stimuli to determine the effects of interior aircraft background levels and speech intelligibility on perceived annoyance in 36 subjects. Both speech intelligibility and background level significantly affected judged annoyance. However, the interaction between the two variables showed that above an 85 db background level the speech intelligibility results had a minimal effect on annoyance ratings. Below this level, people rated the background as less annoying if there was adequate speech intelligibility.

New type IIB backgrounds and aspects of their field theory duals

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Caceres, Elena; Macpherson, Niall T.; Núñez, Carlos

2014-08-01

In this paper we study aspects of geometries in Type IIA and Type IIB String theory and elaborate on their field theory dual pairs. The backgrounds are associated with reductions to Type IIA of solutions with G 2 holonomy in eleven dimensions. We classify these backgrounds according to their G-structure, perform a non-Abelian T-duality on them and find new Type IIB configurations presenting dynamical SU(2)-structure. We study some aspects of the associated field theories defined by these new backgrounds. Various technical details are clearly spelled out.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Robinson, Alan E.

Here, proposed dark matter detectors with eV-scale sensitivities will detect a large background of atomic (nuclear) recoils from coherent photon scattering of MeV-scale photons. This background climbs steeply below ~10 eV, far exceeding the declining rate of low-energy Compton recoils. The upcoming generation of dark matter detectors will not be limited by this background, but further development of eV-scale and sub-eV detectors will require strategies, including the use of low nuclear mass target materials, to maximize dark matter sensitivity while minimizing the coherent photon scattering background.

The background in a balloon-borne fluorescence-gated proportional counter

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ramsey, B. D.; Bower, C. R.; Dietz, K. L.; Weisskopf, M. C.

1990-01-01

The results of an analysis of the background in a fluorescence-gated proportional counter operating over the energy range 3-150 keV are presented. It is found that the dominant background component is that produced by high energy qamma-rays that penetrate the shields and undergo multiple scattering in the detector body, resulting in photoelectric absorption in the detector gas. A careful choice of materials and thickness can move the peak of this emission outside of the detector sensitive range, thereby dramatically reducing the residual background.

Comparison of Measured Galactic Background Radiation at L-Band with Model

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

LeVine, David M.; Abraham, Saji; Kerr, Yann H.; Wilson, William J.; Skou, Niels; Sobjaerg, Sten

2004-01-01

Radiation from the celestial sky in the spectral window at 1.413 GHz is strong and an accurate accounting of this background radiation is needed for calibration and retrieval algorithms. Modern radio astronomy measurements in this window have been converted into a brightness temperature map of the celestial sky at L-band suitable for such applications. This paper presents a comparison of the background predicted by this map with the measurements of several modern L-band remote sensing radiometer Keywords-Galactic background, microwave radiometry; remote sensing;

Herschel-PACS Observations of Far-IR CO Line Emission in NGC 1068: Highly Excited Molecular Gas in the Circumnuclear Disk

DTIC Science & Technology

2012-08-10

local radiation density. At millimeter wavelengths the background is dominated by the cosmic microwave background (CMB; Kamenetzky et al. 2011), but the...the observed continuum flux density Fν,obs as Jν,ext = Iν,CB + 9 16 Fν,obs Ω , (1) where Iν,CB is the sum of the CMB and cosmic IR background . We take...data, likely due to an imperfect subtraction of the telescope background , and we remove this feature using a higher order baseline fit. The integrated

Propagation of Polarized Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation in an Anisotropic Magnetized Plasma

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Moskaliuk, S. S.

2010-01-01

The polarization plane of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR) can be rotated either in a space-time with metric of anisotropic type and in a magnetized plasma or in the presence of a quintessential background with pseudoscalar coupling to electromagnetism. A unified treatment of these three phenomena is presented for cold anisotropic plasma at the pre-recombination epoch. It is argued that the generalized expressions derived in the present study may be relevant for direct searches of a possible rotation of the cosmic microwave background polarization.

Study of the GERDA Phase II background spectrum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostini, M.; Allardt, M.; Bakalyarov, A. M.; Balata, M.; Barabanov, I.; Baudis, L.; Bauer, C.; Bellotti, E.; Belogurov, S.; Belyaev, S. T.; Benato, G.; Bettini, A.; Bezrukov, L.; Bode, T.; Borowicz, D.; Brudanin, V.; Brugnera, R.; Caldwell, A.; Cattadori, C.; Chernogorov, A.; D'Andrea, V.; Demidova, E. V.; Di Marco, N.; Domula, A.; Doroshkevich, E.; Egorov, V.; Falkenstein, R.; Frodyma, N.; Gangapshev, A.; Garfagnini, A.; Gooch, C.; Grabmayr, P.; Gurentsov, V.; Gusev, K.; Hakenmüller, J.; Hegai, A.; Heisel, M.; Hemmer, S.; Hofmann, W.; Hult, M.; Inzhechik, L. V.; Janicskó Csáthy, J.; Jochum, J.; Junker, M.; Kazalov, V.; Kihm, T.; Kirpichnikov, I. V.; Kirsch, A.; Kish, A.; Klimenko, A.; Kneißl, R.; Knöpfle, K. T.; Kochetov, O.; Kornoukhov, V. N.; Kuzminov, V. V.; Laubenstein, M.; Lazzaro, A.; Lebedev, V. I.; Lehnert, B.; Liao, H. Y.; Lindner, M.; Lippi, I.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Lubsandorzhiev, B.; Lutter, G.; Macolino, C.; Majorovits, B.; Maneschg, W.; Medinaceli, E.; Miloradovic, M.; Mingazheva, R.; Misiaszek, M.; Moseev, P.; Nemchenok, I.; Palioselitis, D.; Panas, K.; Pandola, L.; Pelczar, K.; Pullia, A.; Riboldi, S.; Rumyantseva, N.; Sada, C.; Salamida, F.; Salathe, M.; Schmitt, C.; Schneider, B.; Schönert, S.; Schreiner, J.; Schulz, O.; Schütz, A.-K.; Schwingenheuer, B.; Selivanenko, O.; Shevzik, E.; Shirchenko, M.; Simgen, H.; Smolnikov, A.; Stanco, L.; Vanhoefer, L.; Vasenko, A. A.; Veresnikova, A.; von Sturm, K.; Wagner, V.; Wegmann, A.; Wester, T.; Wiesinger, C.; Wojcik, M.; Yanovich, E.; Zhitnikov, I.; Zhukov, S. V.; Zinatulina, D.; Zuber, K.; Zuzel, G.

2017-09-01

The Gerda experiment, located at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN in Italy, searches for the neutrinoless double beta (0νββ) decay of 76Ge. Gerda Phase II is aiming to reach a sensitivity for the 0νββ half life of 1026 yr in ˜ 3 years of physics data taking with 100 kg·yr of exposure and a background index of ˜ 10-3 cts/(keV·kg·yr). After 6 months of acquisition a first data release with 10.8 kg·yr of exposure is performed, showing that the design background is achieved. In this work a study of the Phase II background spectrum, the main spectral structures and the background sources will be presented and discussed.

Expected background in the LZ experiment

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Kudryavtsev, Vitaly A.

2015-08-17

The LZ experiment, featuring a 7-tonne active liquid xenon target, is aimed at achieving unprecedented sensitivity to WIMPs with the background expected to be dominated by astrophysical neutrinos. To reach this goal, extensive simulations are carried out to accurately calculate the electron recoil and nuclear recoil rates in the detector. Both internal (from target material) and external (from detector components and surrounding environment) backgrounds are considered. A very efficient suppression of background rate is achieved with an outer liquid scintillator veto, liquid xenon skin and fiducialisation. Based on the current measurements of radioactivity of different materials, it is shown thatmore » LZ can achieve the reduction of a total background for a WIMP search down to about 2 events in 1000 live days for 5.6 tonne fiducial mass.« less

Probing the Intergalactic Magnetic Field with the Anisotropy of the Extragalactic Gamma-ray Background

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Venters, T. M.; Pavlidou, V.

2013-01-01

The intergalactic magnetic field (IGMF) may leave an imprint on the angular anisotropy of the extragalactic gamma-ray background through its effect on electromagnetic cascades triggered by interactions between very high energy photons and the extragalactic background light. A strong IGMF will deflect secondary particles produced in these cascades and will thus tend to isotropize lower energy cascade photons, thereby inducing a modulation in the anisotropy energy spectrum of the gamma-ray background. Here we present a simple, proof-of-concept calculation of the magnitude of this effect and demonstrate that current Fermi data already seem to prefer nonnegligible IGMF values. The anisotropy energy spectrum of the Fermi gamma-ray background could thus be used as a probe of the IGMF strength.

Reduction of Background Noise in the NASA Ames 40- by 80-Foot Wind Tunnel

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Jaeger, Stephen M.; Allen, Christopher S.; Soderman, Paul T.; Olson, Larry E. (Technical Monitor)

1995-01-01

Background noise in both open-jet and closed wind tunnels adversely affects the signal-to-noise ratio of acoustic measurements. To measure the noise of increasingly quieter aircraft models, the background noise will have to be reduced by physical means or through signal processing. In a closed wind tunnel, such as the NASA Ames 40- by 80- Foot Wind Tunnel, the principle background noise sources can be classified as: (1) fan drive noise; (2) microphone self-noise; (3) aerodynamically induced noise from test-dependent hardware such as model struts and junctions; and (4) noise from the test section walls and vane set. This paper describes the steps taken to minimize the influence of each of these background noise sources in the 40 x 80.

Target detection in GPR data using joint low-rank and sparsity constraints

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bouzerdoum, Abdesselam; Tivive, Fok Hing Chi; Abeynayake, Canicious

2016-05-01

In ground penetrating radars, background clutter, which comprises the signals backscattered from the rough, uneven ground surface and the background noise, impairs the visualization of buried objects and subsurface inspections. In this paper, a clutter mitigation method is proposed for target detection. The removal of background clutter is formulated as a constrained optimization problem to obtain a low-rank matrix and a sparse matrix. The low-rank matrix captures the ground surface reflections and the background noise, whereas the sparse matrix contains the target reflections. An optimization method based on split-Bregman algorithm is developed to estimate these two matrices from the input GPR data. Evaluated on real radar data, the proposed method achieves promising results in removing the background clutter and enhancing the target signature.

Simulation of PEP-II Accelerator Backgrounds Using TURTLE

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Barlow, R.J.; Fieguth, T.; /SLAC

2006-02-15

We present studies of accelerator-induced backgrounds in the BaBar detector at the SLAC B-Factory, carried out using LPTURTLE, a modified version of the DECAY TURTLE simulation package. Lost-particle backgrounds in PEP-II are dominated by a combination of beam-gas bremstrahlung, beam-gas Coulomb scattering, radiative-Bhabha events and beam-beam blow-up. The radiation damage and detector occupancy caused by the associated electromagnetic shower debris can limit the usable luminosity. In order to understand and mitigate such backgrounds, we have performed a full program of beam-gas and luminosity-background simulations, that include the effects of the detector solenoidal field, detailed modeling of limiting apertures in bothmore » collider rings, and optimization of the betatron collimation scheme in the presence of large transverse tails.« less

Background in X-ray astronomy proportional counters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Bower, C. R.; Dietz, K. L.; Ramsey, B. D.; Weisskopf, M. C.

1991-01-01

The authors report the results of an investigation into the nature of background events in proportional counters sensitive to X-ray photons having energy of less than 150 keV. Even with the use of thick shields composed of high-atomic-number material, a significant flux background in the detector's energy region can result from multiple Compton scattering in the mass surrounding the active region of the detector. The importance of the selection of detector components in the reduction of the background by more than an order of magnitude is emphasized. Experimental results are shown to agree qualitatively with Monte Carlo simulations. It is concluded that escape gating is a powerful means of determining the nature of background in flight detectors: the single/pair ratios reveal whether the detected events are charged particles or photons.

The modulating impact of illumination and background radiation on 8 Hz-induced infrasound effect on physicochemical properties of physiolagical solution.

PubMed

Baghdasaryan, Naira; Mikayelyan, Yerazik; Barseghyan, Sedrak; Dadasyan, Erna; Ayrapetyan, Sinerik

2012-12-01

At present, when the level of background ionizing radiation is increasing in a number of world locations, the problem of the study of biological effect of high background radiation becomes one of the extremely important global problems in modern life sciences. The modern research in biophysics proved that water is a most essential target, through which the biological effects of ionizing and non-ionizing radiations are realized. Therefore, there is no doubt about the strong dependency of non-ionizing radiation-induced effect on the level of background radiation. Findings have shown that illumination and background radiation have a strong modulation effect on infrasound-induced impacts on water physicochemical properties, which could also have appropriate effect on living organisms.

The EPIC-MOS Particle-Induced Background Spectrum

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuntz, K. D.; Snowden, S. L.

2006-01-01

We have developed a method for constructing a spectrum of the particle-induced instrumental background of the XMM-Newton EPIC MOS detectors that can be used for observations of the diffuse background and extended sources that fill a significant fraction of the instrument field of view. The strength and spectrum of the particle-induced background, that is, the background due to the interaction of particles with the detector and the detector surroundings, is temporally variable as well as spatially variable over individual chips. Our method uses a combination of the filter-wheel-closed data and a database of unexposed-region data to construct a spectrum of the "quiescent" background. We show that, using this method of background subtraction, the differences between independent observations of the same region of "blank sky" are consistent with the statistical uncertainties except when there is clear evidence of solar wind charge exchange emission. We use the blank sky observations to show that contamination by SWCX emission is a strong function of the solar wind proton flux, and that observations through the flanks of the magnetosheath appear to be contaminated only at much higher solar wind fluxes. We have also developed a spectral model of the residual soft proton flares, which allows their effects to be removed to a substantial degree during spectral fitting.

Low Background Counting at LBNL

DOE PAGES

Smith, A. R.; Thomas, K. J.; Norman, E. B.; ...

2015-03-24

The Low Background Facility (LBF) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, California provides low background gamma spectroscopy services to a wide array of experiments and projects. The analysis of samples takes place within two unique facilities; locally within a carefully-constructed, low background cave and remotely at an underground location that historically has operated underground in Oroville, CA, but has recently been relocated to the Sanford Underground Research Facility (SURF) in Lead, SD. These facilities provide a variety of gamma spectroscopy services to low background experiments primarily in the form of passive material screening for primordial radioisotopes (U, Th, K)more » or common cosmogenic/anthropogenic products, as well as active screening via Neutron Activation Analysis for specific applications. The LBF also provides hosting services for general R&D testing in low background environments on the surface or underground for background testing of detector systems or similar prototyping. A general overview of the facilities, services, and sensitivities is presented. Recent activities and upgrades will also be presented, such as the completion of a 3π anticoincidence shield at the surface station and environmental monitoring of Fukushima fallout. The LBF is open to any users for counting services or collaboration on a wide variety of experiments and projects.« less

Common Sense or Gun Control? Political Communication and News Media Framing of Firearm Sale Background Checks after Newtown.

PubMed

McGinty, Emma E; Wolfson, Julia A; Sell, Tara Kirk; Webster, Daniel W

2016-02-01

Gun violence is a critical public health problem in the United States, but it is rarely at the top of the public policy agenda. The 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, opened a rare window of opportunity to strengthen firearm policies in the United States. In this study, we examine the American public's exposure to competing arguments for and against federal- and state-level universal background check laws, which would require a background check prior to every firearm sale, in a large sample of national and regional news stories (n = 486) published in the year following the Newtown shooting. Competing messages about background check laws could influence the outcome of policy debates by shifting support and political engagement among key constituencies such as gun owners and conservatives. We found that news media messages in support of universal background checks were fact-based and used rational arguments, and opposing messages often used rights-based frames designed to activate the core values of politically engaged gun owners. Reframing supportive messages about background check policies to align with gun owners' and conservatives' core values could be a promising strategy to increase these groups' willingness to vocalize their support for expanding background checks for firearm sales. Copyright © 2016 by Duke University Press.

Dynamics of Magnetized Plasma Jets and Bubbles Launched into a Background Magnetized Plasma

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wallace, B.; Zhang, Y.; Fisher, D. M.; Gilmore, M.

2016-10-01

The propagation of dense magnetized plasma, either collimated with mainly azimuthal B-field (jet) or toroidal with closed B-field (bubble), in a background plasma occurs in a number of solar and astrophysical cases. Such cases include coronal mass ejections moving in the background solar wind and extragalactic radio lobes expanding into the extragalactic medium. Understanding the detailed MHD behavior is crucial for correctly modeling these events. In order to further the understanding of such systems, we are investigating the injection of dense magnetized jets and bubbles into a lower density background magnetized plasma using a coaxial plasma gun and a background helicon or cathode plasma. In both jet and bubble cases, the MHD dynamics are found to be very different when launched into background plasma or magnetic field, as compared to vacuum. In the jet case, it is found that the inherent kink instability is stabilized by velocity shear developed due to added magnetic tension from the background field. In the bubble case, rather than directly relaxing to a minimum energy Taylor state (spheromak) as in vacuum, there is an expansion asymmetry and the bubble becomes Rayleigh-Taylor unstable on one side. Recent results will be presented. Work supported by the Army Research Office Award No. W911NF1510480.

VNIR hyperspectral background characterization methods in adverse weather conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romano, João M.; Rosario, Dalton; Roth, Luz

2009-05-01

Hyperspectral technology is currently being used by the military to detect regions of interest where potential targets may be located. Weather variability, however, may affect the ability for an algorithm to discriminate possible targets from background clutter. Nonetheless, different background characterization approaches may facilitate the ability for an algorithm to discriminate potential targets over a variety of weather conditions. In a previous paper, we introduced a new autonomous target size invariant background characterization process, the Autonomous Background Characterization (ABC) or also known as the Parallel Random Sampling (PRS) method, features a random sampling stage, a parallel process to mitigate the inclusion by chance of target samples into clutter background classes during random sampling; and a fusion of results at the end. In this paper, we will demonstrate how different background characterization approaches are able to improve performance of algorithms over a variety of challenging weather conditions. By using the Mahalanobis distance as the standard algorithm for this study, we compare the performance of different characterization methods such as: the global information, 2 stage global information, and our proposed method, ABC, using data that was collected under a variety of adverse weather conditions. For this study, we used ARDEC's Hyperspectral VNIR Adverse Weather data collection comprised of heavy, light, and transitional fog, light and heavy rain, and low light conditions.

Particle dynamics during nanoparticle synthesis by laser ablation in a background gas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nakata, Yoshiki; Muramoto, Junichi; Okada, Tatsuo; Maeda, Mitsuo

2002-02-01

Particle dynamics during Si nanoparticle synthesis in a laser-ablation plume in different background gases were investigated by laser-spectroscopic imaging techniques. Two-dimensional laser induced fluorescence and ultraviolet Rayleigh scattering techniques were used to visualize the spatial distribution of the Si atoms and nanoparticles grown, respectively. We have developed a visualization technique called re-decomposition laser-induced fluorescence to observe small nanoparticles (hereafter called clusters) which are difficult to observe by the conventional imaging techniques. In this article, the whole process of nanoparticle synthesis in different background gases of He, Ne, Ar, N2 and O2 was investigated by these techniques. In He, Ne, Ar and N2 background gases at 10 Torr, the clustering of the Si atoms started 200, 250, 300 and 800 μs after ablation, respectively. The growth rate of the clusters in He background gas was much larger than that in the other gases. The spatial distributions of the Si nanoparticles were mushroom like in He, N2 and O2, and column like in Ne and Ar. It is thought that the difference in distribution was caused by differences in the flow characteristics of the background gases, which would imply that the viscosity of the background gas is one of the main governing parameters.

Tolerance of ambiguity, perfectionism and resilience are associated with personality profiles of medical students oriented to rural practice.

PubMed

Eley, Diann S; Leung, Janni K; Campbell, Narelle; Cloninger, C Robert

2017-05-01

Resilience, coping with uncertainty and learning from mistakes are vital characteristics for all medical disciplines - particularly rural practice. Levels of coping constructs were examined in medical students with and without a rural background or an interest in rural practice. Cross-sectional surveys identified two personality profiles, and their association with levels of Tolerance of Ambiguity, Resilience, Perfectionism-High Standards and Concern over mistakes as constructs indicative of coping. Medical students (N = 797) were stratified by rural background and degree of rural interest. Mediation analysis tested the effect of personality profile on levels of the coping constructs. More (72%) rural background students had Profile 1 which was associated with higher levels of Tolerance of Ambiguity, High standards, and Resilience, but lower Concern over mistakes. Non-rural background students reporting a strong rural interest also had Profile 1 (64%) and similar levels of coping constructs. Personality profile mediated the association between rural interest and levels of coping constructs regardless of background. Having a rural background or strong rural interest are associated with a personality profile that indicates a better capacity for coping. Personality may play a part in an individual's interest in rural practice. Rural workforce initiatives through education should encourage and nurture students with a genuine interest in rural practice - regardless of background.

Nonlocal interactions in color perception: nonlinear processing of chromatic signals from remote inducers.

PubMed

Wachtler, T; Albright, T D; Sejnowski, T J

2001-05-01

The perceived color of an object depends on the chromaticity of its immediate background. But color appearance is also influenced by remote chromaticities. To quantify these influences, the effects of remote color fields on the appearance of a fixated 2 degrees test field were measured using a forced-choice method. Changes in the appearance of the test field were induced by chromaticity changes of the background and of 2 degrees color fields not adjacent to the test field. The appearance changes induced by the color of the background corresponded to a fraction of between 0.5 and 0.95 of the cone contrast of the background change, depending on the observer. The magnitude of induction by the background color was modulated on average by 7.6% by chromaticity changes in the remote color fields. Chromaticity changes in the remote fields had virtually no inducing effect when they occurred without a change in background color. The spatial range of these chromatic interactions extended over at least 10 degrees from the fovea. They were established within the first few hundred milliseconds after the change of background color and depended only weakly on the number of inducing fields. These results may be interpreted as reflecting rapid chromatic interactions that support robustness of color vision under changing viewing conditions.

Real-time airborne gamma-ray background estimation using NASVD with MLE and radiation transport for calibration

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kulisek, J. A.; Schweppe, J. E.; Stave, S. C.; Bernacki, B. E.; Jordan, D. V.; Stewart, T. N.; Seifert, C. E.; Kernan, W. J.

2015-06-01

Helicopter-mounted gamma-ray detectors can provide law enforcement officials the means to quickly and accurately detect, identify, and locate radiological threats over a wide geographical area. The ability to accurately distinguish radiological threat-generated gamma-ray signatures from background gamma radiation in real time is essential in order to realize this potential. This problem is non-trivial, especially in urban environments for which the background may change very rapidly during flight. This exacerbates the challenge of estimating background due to the poor counting statistics inherent in real-time airborne gamma-ray spectroscopy measurements. To address this challenge, we have developed a new technique for real-time estimation of background gamma radiation from aerial measurements without the need for human analyst intervention. The method can be calibrated using radiation transport simulations along with data from previous flights over areas for which the isotopic composition need not be known. Over the examined measured and simulated data sets, the method generated accurate background estimates even in the presence of a strong, 60Co source. The potential to track large and abrupt changes in background spectral shape and magnitude was demonstrated. The method can be implemented fairly easily in most modern computing languages and environments.

Efimov states near a Feshbach resonance and the limits of van der Waals universality at finite background scattering length

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Langmack, Christian; Schmidt, Richard; Zwerger, Wilhelm

2018-03-01

We calculate the spectrum of three-body Efimov bound states near a Feshbach resonance within a model which accounts both for the finite range of interactions and the presence of background scattering. The latter may be due to direct interactions in an open channel or a second overlapping Feshbach resonance. It is found that background scattering gives rise to substantial changes in the trimer spectrum as a function of the detuning away from a Feshbach resonance, in particular in the regime where the background channel supports Efimov states on its own. Compared to the situation with negligible background scattering, the regime where van der Waals universality applies is shifted to larger values of the resonance strength if the background scattering length is positive. For negative background scattering lengths, in turn, van der Waals universality extends to even small values of the resonance strength parameter, consistent with experimental results on Efimov states in 39K. Within a simple model, we show that short-range three-body forces do not affect van der Waals universality significantly. Repulsive three-body forces may, however, explain the observed variation between around -8 and -10 of the ratio between the scattering length where the first Efimov trimer appears and the van der Waals length.

Gravitational Waves Propagation through the Stochastic Background of Gravitational Waves

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Frajuca, C.; Bortoli, F. S.; Nakamoto, F. Y.; Santos, G. A.

2018-02-01

With the recent claim that gravitational waves were finally detected and with other efforts around the world for GWs detection, its is reasonable to imagine that the relic gravitational wave background could be detected in some time in the future and with such information gather some hints about the origin of the universe. But, it’s also be considered that gravity has self-interaction, with such assumption it’s reasonable to expect that these gravitational wave will interact with the relic or nonrelic GW background by scattering, for example. Such interaction should decrease the distance which such propagating waves could be detected The propagation of gravitational waves (GWs) is analyzed in an asymptotically de Sitter space by the perturbation expansion around Minkowski space using a scalar component. Using the case of de Sitter inflationary phase scenario, the perturbation propagates through a FRW background. The GW, using the actual value for the Hubble scale (Ho), has a damping factor with a very small valor for the size of the observational universe; the stochastic relic GW background is given by a dimensionless function of the frequency. In this work we analyze this same damping including the gravitational wave background due to astrophysical sources such background is 3 orders of magnitude bigger in some frequencies and produces a higher damping factor.

A method of reducing background fluctuation in tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yang, Rendi; Dong, Xiaozhou; Bi, Yunfeng; Lv, Tieliang

2018-03-01

Optical interference fringe is the main factor that leads to background fluctuation in gas concentration detection based on tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy. The interference fringes are generated by multiple reflections or scatterings upon optical surfaces in optical path and make the background signal present an approximated sinusoidal oscillation. To reduce the fluctuation of the background, a method that combines dual tone modulation (DTM) with vibration reflector (VR) is proposed in this paper. The combination of DTM and VR can make the unwanted periodic interference fringes to be averaged out and the effectiveness of the method in reducing background fluctuation has been verified by simulation and real experiments in this paper. In the detection system based on the proposed method, the standard deviation (STD) value of the background signal is decreased to 0.0924 parts per million (ppm), which is reduced by a factor of 16 compared with that of wavelength modulation spectroscopy. The STD value of 0.0924 ppm corresponds to the absorption of 4 . 328 × 10-6Hz - 1 / 2 (with effective optical path length of 4 m and integral time of 0.1 s). Moreover, the proposed method presents a better stable performance in reducing background fluctuation in long time experiments.

Substance consumption in adolescents with and without an immigration background: a representative study-What part of an immigration background is protective against binge drinking?

PubMed

Donath, Carolin; Baier, Dirk; Graessel, Elmar; Hillemacher, Thomas

2016-11-14

Representative data indicate that adolescents with an immigration background show less harmful patterns of consumption, for example, they practice binge drinking less often. It remains to be shown whether this also applies to substances such as tobacco and cannabis and if the "healthier" patterns of consumption are permanent or if they gradually disappear as the level of integration increases. Using representative data, the current study was designed to a) present the epidemiology of the consumption of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis of adolescents with and without an immigration background in 2013 and b) to analyze which immigration-specific variables predict problematic alcohol consumption in adolescents with an immigration background. A representative, written survey was administered to 9512 students in the 9th grade from Lower Saxony, Germany in 2013 by the "Kriminologisches Forschungsinstitut Niedersachsen (KfN)." Data were collected from 1763 adolescents with an immigration background regarding their cultural, structural, social, and identificative integration. These variables were introduced as predictors in a multiple logistic regression analysis with binge drinking during the last 30 days as the dependent variable. Compared with German adolescents without an immigration background, significantly fewer adolescents with an immigration background had already tried alcohol, but they were significantly more likely to report experience with cigarettes and cannabis. In the group of adolescents with an immigration background, the percentage of binge drinkers fluctuated by country of origin (p < .001). In the regression model, binge drinking was associated with a lower targeted school leaving certificate (p < .001), not living on social welfare (p = .038), and the strong assimilation (p = .015) of the adolescent. Binge drinking was negatively associated with attitudes that favored segregation (p < .001) and a stronger attachment of the parents to the traditions of their country of origin (p = .003). It cannot be confirmed that adolescents with an immigration background generally show less harmful patterns of consumption. Distinctions have to be made regarding the substance, the adolescent's country of origin, and the level of assimilation or segregation of the adolescent and his/her family.

The background in the experiment Gerda

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Agostini, M.; Allardt, M.; Andreotti, E.; Bakalyarov, A. M.; Balata, M.; Barabanov, I.; Barnabé Heider, M.; Barros, N.; Baudis, L.; Bauer, C.; Becerici-Schmidt, N.; Bellotti, E.; Belogurov, S.; Belyaev, S. T.; Benato, G.; Bettini, A.; Bezrukov, L.; Bode, T.; Brudanin, V.; Brugnera, R.; Budjáš, D.; Caldwell, A.; Cattadori, C.; Chernogorov, A.; Cossavella, F.; Demidova, E. V.; Domula, A.; Egorov, V.; Falkenstein, R.; Ferella, A.; Freund, K.; Frodyma, N.; Gangapshev, A.; Garfagnini, A.; Gotti, C.; Grabmayr, P.; Gurentsov, V.; Gusev, K.; Guthikonda, K. K.; Hampel, W.; Hegai, A.; Heisel, M.; Hemmer, S.; Heusser, G.; Hofmann, W.; Hult, M.; Inzhechik, L. V.; Ioannucci, L.; Csáthy, J. Janicskó; Jochum, J.; Junker, M.; Kihm, T.; Kirpichnikov, I. V.; Kirsch, A.; Klimenko, A.; Knöpfle, K. T.; Kochetov, O.; Kornoukhov, V. N.; Kuzminov, V. V.; Laubenstein, M.; Lazzaro, A.; Lebedev, V. I.; Lehnert, B.; Liao, H. Y.; Lindner, M.; Lippi, I.; Liu, X.; Lubashevskiy, A.; Lubsandorzhiev, B.; Lutter, G.; Macolino, C.; Machado, A. A.; Majorovits, B.; Maneschg, W.; Nemchenok, I.; Nisi, S.; O'Shaughnessy, C.; Palioselitis, D.; Pandola, L.; Pelczar, K.; Pessina, G.; Pullia, A.; Riboldi, S.; Sada, C.; Salathe, M.; Schmitt, C.; Schreiner, J.; Schulz, O.; Schwingenheuer, B.; Schönert, S.; Shevchik, E.; Shirchenko, M.; Simgen, H.; Smolnikov, A.; Stanco, L.; Strecker, H.; Tarka, M.; Ur, C. A.; Vasenko, A. A.; Volynets, O.; von Sturm, K.; Wagner, V.; Walter, M.; Wegmann, A.; Wester, T.; Wojcik, M.; Yanovich, E.; Zavarise, P.; Zhitnikov, I.; Zhukov, S. V.; Zinatulina, D.; Zuber, K.; Zuzel, G.

2014-04-01

The GERmanium Detector Array ( Gerda) experiment at the Gran Sasso underground laboratory (LNGS) of INFN is searching for neutrinoless double beta () decay of Ge. The signature of the signal is a monoenergetic peak at 2039 keV, the value of the decay. To avoid bias in the signal search, the present analysis does not consider all those events, that fall in a 40 keV wide region centered around . The main parameters needed for the analysis are described. A background model was developed to describe the observed energy spectrum. The model contains several contributions, that are expected on the basis of material screening or that are established by the observation of characteristic structures in the energy spectrum. The model predicts a flat energy spectrum for the blinding window around with a background index ranging from 17.6 to 23.8 cts/(keV kg yr). A part of the data not considered before has been used to test if the predictions of the background model are consistent. The observed number of events in this energy region is consistent with the background model. The background at is dominated by close sources, mainly due to K, Bi, Th, Co and emitting isotopes from the Ra decay chain. The individual fractions depend on the assumed locations of the contaminants. It is shown, that after removal of the known peaks, the energy spectrum can be fitted in an energy range of 200 keV around with a constant background. This gives a background index consistent with the full model and uncertainties of the same size.

The thermal background determines how the infrared and visual systems interact in pit vipers.

PubMed

Chen, Qin; Liu, Yang; Brauth, Steven E; Fang, Guangzhan; Tang, Yezhong

2017-09-01

The thermal infrared (IR) sensing system of pit vipers is believed to complement vision and provide a substitute imaging system in dark environments. Theoretically, the IR system would best image a scene consisting of a homothermal target in cold surroundings as a bright spot on a dark background. To test this hypothesis, we evaluated how the pit viper ( Gloydius brevicaudus ) discriminates and strikes prey when the background temperature is either higher or lower than that of the prey (approximately 32-33°C) in different parts of the scene. Snakes were tested in a modified predation cage in which background temperatures were set to 26°C on one side and either 33 or 40°C on the opposite side when the eyes, the pit organs or neither sensory system was occluded. When the eyes were blocked, snakes preferred to strike prey on the 26°C side rather than on the 33°C side but showed no bias in the other conditions. Snakes showed no preference for 26 versus 40°C background temperature, although more missed strikes occurred when the eyes were occluded. The results thus revealed that the pit viper IR system can accomplish a 'brightness constancy' computation reflecting the difference between the target and background temperatures, much as the visual system compares the luminance of a figure and the background. Furthermore, the results show that the IR system performs less well for locating prey when the background is warmer than the target. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Coalescence with Background and Balancing Selection in Systems with Bi- and Uniparental Reproduction: Contrasting Partial Asexuality and Selfing

PubMed Central

Agrawal, Aneil F.; Hartfield, Matthew

2016-01-01

Uniparental reproduction in diploids, via asexual reproduction or selfing, reduces the independence with which separate loci are transmitted across generations. This is expected to increase the extent to which a neutral marker is affected by selection elsewhere in the genome. Such effects have previously been quantified in coalescent models involving selfing. Here we examine the effects of background selection and balancing selection in diploids capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction (i.e., partial asexuality). We find that the effect of background selection on reducing coalescent time (and effective population size) can be orders of magnitude greater when rates of sex are low than when sex is common. This is because asexuality enhances the effects of background selection through both a recombination effect and a segregation effect. We show that there are several reasons that the strength of background selection differs between systems with partial asexuality and those with comparable levels of uniparental reproduction via selfing. Expectations for reductions in Ne via background selection have been verified using stochastic simulations. In contrast to background selection, balancing selection increases the coalescence time for a linked neutral site. With partial asexuality, the effect of balancing selection is somewhat dependent upon the mode of selection (e.g., heterozygote advantage vs. negative frequency-dependent selection) in a manner that does not apply to selfing. This is because the frequency of heterozygotes, which are required for recombination onto alternative genetic backgrounds, is more dependent on the pattern of selection with partial asexuality than with selfing. PMID:26584901

Coalescence with Background and Balancing Selection in Systems with Bi- and Uniparental Reproduction: Contrasting Partial Asexuality and Selfing.

PubMed

Agrawal, Aneil F; Hartfield, Matthew

2016-01-01

Uniparental reproduction in diploids, via asexual reproduction or selfing, reduces the independence with which separate loci are transmitted across generations. This is expected to increase the extent to which a neutral marker is affected by selection elsewhere in the genome. Such effects have previously been quantified in coalescent models involving selfing. Here we examine the effects of background selection and balancing selection in diploids capable of both sexual and asexual reproduction (i.e., partial asexuality). We find that the effect of background selection on reducing coalescent time (and effective population size) can be orders of magnitude greater when rates of sex are low than when sex is common. This is because asexuality enhances the effects of background selection through both a recombination effect and a segregation effect. We show that there are several reasons that the strength of background selection differs between systems with partial asexuality and those with comparable levels of uniparental reproduction via selfing. Expectations for reductions in Ne via background selection have been verified using stochastic simulations. In contrast to background selection, balancing selection increases the coalescence time for a linked neutral site. With partial asexuality, the effect of balancing selection is somewhat dependent upon the mode of selection (e.g., heterozygote advantage vs. negative frequency-dependent selection) in a manner that does not apply to selfing. This is because the frequency of heterozygotes, which are required for recombination onto alternative genetic backgrounds, is more dependent on the pattern of selection with partial asexuality than with selfing. Copyright © 2016 by the Genetics Society of America.

PRAXIS: a low background NIR spectrograph for fibre Bragg grating OH suppression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Horton, Anthony; Ellis, Simon; Lawrence, Jon; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss

2012-09-01

Fibre Bragg grating (FBG) OH suppression is capable of greatly reducing the bright sky background seen by near infrared spectrographs. By filtering out the airglow emission lines at high resolution before the light enters the spectrograph this technique prevents scattering from the emission lines into interline regions, thereby reducing the background at all wavelengths. In order to take full advantage of this sky background reduction the spectrograph must have very low instrumental backgrounds so that it remains sky noise limited. Both simulations and real world experience with the prototype GNOSIS system show that existing spectrographs, designed for higher sky background levels, will be unable to fully exploit the sky background reduction. We therefore propose PRAXIS, a spectrograph optimised specifically for this purpose. The PRAXIS concept is a fibre fed, fully cryogenic, fixed format spectrograph for the J and H-bands. Dark current will be minimised by using the best of the latest generation of NIR detectors while thermal backgrounds will be reduced by the use of a cryogenic fibre slit. Optimised spectral formats and the use of high throughput volume phase holographic gratings will further enhance sensitivity. Our proposal is for a modular system, incorporating exchangeable fore-optics units, integral field units and OH suppression units, to allow PRAXIS to operate as a visitor instrument on any large telescope and enable new developments in FBG OH suppression to be incorporated as they become available. As a high performance fibre fed spectrograph PRAXIS could also serve as a testbed for other astrophotonic technologies.

Conflict between background matching and social signalling in a colour-changing freshwater fish.

PubMed

Kelley, Jennifer L; Rodgers, Gwendolen M; Morrell, Lesley J

2016-06-01

The ability to change coloration allows animals to modify their patterning to suit a specific function. Many freshwater fishes, for example, can appear cryptic by altering the dispersion of melanin pigment in the skin to match the visual background. However, melanin-based pigments are also used to signal dominance among competing males; thus colour change for background matching may conflict with colour change for social status signalling. We used a colour-changing freshwater fish to investigate whether colour change for background matching influenced aggressive interactions between rival males. Subordinate males that had recently darkened their skin for background matching received heightened aggression from dominant males, relative to males whose coloration had not changed. We then determined whether the social status of a rival male, the focal male's previous social status, and his previous skin coloration, affected a male's ability to change colour for background matching. Social status influenced skin darkening in the first social encounter, with dominant males darkening more than subordinate males, but there was no effect of social status on colour change in the second social encounter. We also found that the extent of skin colour change (by both dominant and subordinate males) was dependent on previous skin coloration, with dark males displaying a smaller change in coloration than pale males. Our findings suggest that skin darkening for background matching imposes a significant social cost on subordinate males in terms of increased aggression. We also suggest that the use of melanin-based signals during social encounters can impede subsequent changes in skin coloration for other functions, such as skin darkening for background matching.

Detection of enhancement in number densities of background galaxies due to magnification by massive galaxy clusters

DOE PAGES

Chiu, I.; Dietrich, J. P.; Mohr, J.; ...

2016-02-18

We present a detection of the enhancement in the number densities of background galaxies induced from lensing magnification and use it to test the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect (SZE) inferred masses in a sample of 19 galaxy clusters with median redshift z≃0.42 selected from the South Pole Telescope SPT-SZ survey. Two background galaxy populations are selected for this study through their photometric colours; they have median redshifts z median≃0.9 (low-z background) and z median≃1.8 (high-z background). Stacking these populations, we detect the magnification bias effect at 3.3σ and 1.3σ for the low- and high-z backgrounds, respectively. We fit NFW models simultaneously tomore » all observed magnification bias profiles to estimate the multiplicative factor η that describes the ratio of the weak lensing mass to the mass inferred from the SZE observable-mass relation. We further quantify systematic uncertainties in η resulting from the photometric noise and bias, the cluster galaxy contamination and the estimations of the background properties. The resulting η for the combined background populations with 1σ uncertainties is 0.83 ± 0.24(stat) ± 0.074(sys), indicating good consistency between the lensing and the SZE-inferred masses. We also use our best-fit η to predict the weak lensing shear profiles and compare these predictions with observations, showing agreement between the magnification and shear mass constraints. Our work demonstrates the promise of using the magnification as a complementary method to estimate cluster masses in large surveys.« less

Spallation backgrounds in Super-Kamiokande are made in muon-induced showers

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Li, Shirley Weishi; Beacom, John F.

2015-05-01

Crucial questions about solar and supernova neutrinos remain unanswered. Super-Kamiokande has the exposure needed for progress, but detector backgrounds are a limiting factor. A leading component is the beta decays of isotopes produced by cosmic-ray muons and their secondaries, which initiate nuclear spallation reactions. Cuts of events after and surrounding muon tracks reduce this spallation decay background by ≃ 90 % (at a cost of ≃ 20 % deadtime), but its rate at 6-18 MeV is still dominant. A better way to cut this background was suggested in a Super-Kamiokande paper by Bays et al. [Phys. Rev. D 85, 052007 (2012)] on a search for the diffuse supernova neutrino background. They found that spallation decays above 16 MeV were preceded near the same location by a peak in the apparent Cherenkov light profile from the muon; a more aggressive cut was applied to a limited section of the muon track, leading to decreased background without increased deadtime. We put their empirical discovery on a firm theoretical foundation. We show that almost all spallation decay isotopes are produced by muon-induced showers and that these showers are rare enough and energetic enough to be identifiable. This is the first such demonstration for any detector. We detail how the physics of showers explains the peak in the muon Cherenkov light profile and other Super-K observations. Our results provide a physical basis for practical improvements in background rejection that will benefit multiple studies. For solar neutrinos, in particular, it should be possible to dramatically reduce backgrounds at energies as low as 6 MeV.

The interaction of family background and personal education on depressive symptoms in later life.

PubMed

Schaan, Barbara

2014-02-01

This study assesses the interaction between personal education and family background during childhood on depressive symptoms in later life by applying Ross & Mirowsky's resource substitution and structural amplification theory of health and education. OLS regression models are estimated using data from the "Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe" (SHARE), which covers information on current social and health status as well as retrospective life histories from 20,716 respondents aged 50 or older from thirteen European countries. Higher education helps to overcome the negative consequences of a poor family background. Since people from poor families are less likely to attain higher educational levels, they lack exactly the resource they need in order to overcome the negative consequences their non-prosperous background has on depressive symptoms. Thus, low family background and low personal education amplify each other. Examining the processes described by theory of resource substitution and structural amplification over different age groups from midlife to old-age suggests that the moderating effect of education remains constant over age among people coming from a poor family background. However, there is some evidence for a decrease with age in the buffering effect of a well-off family background on depressive symptoms among the low educated group. Furthermore, the educational gap in depression diverges with age among individuals originating from a well-off family background. Taken together the results cautiously allude to the conclusion that three processes - cumulative (dis-)advantage, age-as-leveler, and persistent inequalities - might take place. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

White Letters on Colored Backgrounds: Legibility and Preference.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pett, Dennis

This paper reviews two studies of color preference and the relationships between color and legibility. The Gustin study in 1991 dealt with the legibility of and preference for projected slides with colored backgrounds and white text. The order of background color preference was cyan, blue, green, yellow, magenta, and red. The follow-up study by…

Backgrounds in Language.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Maxwell, John C.; Long, Barbara K.

"Backgrounds in Language," a field-tested inservice course designed for use by groups of 15 or 25 language arts teachers, provides the subject matter background teachers need to make informed decisions about what curriculum materials to use in what way, at what time, and with which students. The course is comprised of eight 2-hour sessions,…

Identification of Rural-Background Applicants by the Talent Identification Program of WHAHEC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Calkins, E. Virginia; And Others

1978-01-01

The Talent Identification Program identifies, motivates, and assists high school juniors and seniors with disadvantaged backgrounds who have potential for careers in the health sciences. The policy of assistance in applying and preparing for medical school is in accordance with evidence that rural-background students are more likely to practice…

Listening to Students from Refugee Backgrounds: Lessons for Education Professionals

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mthethwa-Sommers, Shirley; Kisiara, Otieno

2015-01-01

This article is based on a study that examined how students from refugee backgrounds cope with victimization and bullying in three urban high schools in the United States. Qualitative methods of data collection and analysis were employed. Twelve high school students from refugee backgrounds participated in the study, which involved focus group…

Acculturation and Religion in Schools: The Views of Young People from Minority Belief Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Niens, Ulrike; Mawhinney, Alison; Richardson, Norman; Chiba, Yuko

2013-01-01

This paper aims to explore the relationship between religious identity, acculturation strategies and perceptions of acculturation orientation in the school context amongst young people from minority belief backgrounds. Based on a qualitative study including interviews with 26 young people from religious minority belief backgrounds in Northern…

40 CFR 257.22 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... aquifer (as defined in § 257.5(b)) that: (1) Represent the quality of background ground water that has not been affected by leakage from a unit. A determination of background quality may include sampling of...) Sampling at other wells will provide an indication of background ground-water quality that is as...

Contradictory Literacy Practices of Mexican-Background Students: An Ethnography From the Rural Midwest

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Godina, Heriberto

2004-01-01

This ethnographic study explores the contradictory literacy practices of 10 high school students of Mexican background from the rural Midwest. The author uses the term "Mexican background" to encompass both settled Mexican Americans and recent-immigrant Mexicanos. Literacy is investigated through English and Spanish in a sociocultural…

Validating Lidar Depolorization Calibration using Solar Radiation Scattered by Ice Clouds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Liu, Zhao-Yang; McGill, Matthew; Hu, Yong-Xiang; Hostetter, Chris; Winker, David; Vaughan, Mark

2004-01-01

This letter proposes the use of solar background radiation scattered by ice clouds for validating space lidar depolarization calibration. The method takes advantage of the fact that the background light scattered by ice clouds is almost entirely unpolarized. The theory is examined with Cloud Physics Lidar (CPL) background light measurements.

36 CFR 1238.14 - What are the microfilming requirements for permanent and unscheduled records?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... accordance with ISO 18901 (incorporated by reference, see § 1238.5) and use the processing procedures in ANSI... § 1238.5). (2) Background density of images. Agencies must use the background ISO standard visual diffuse... transmission density. (i) Recommended visual diffuse transmission background densities for images of documents...

36 CFR 1238.14 - What are the microfilming requirements for permanent and unscheduled records?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... accordance with ISO 18901 (incorporated by reference, see § 1238.5) and use the processing procedures in ANSI... § 1238.5). (2) Background density of images. Agencies must use the background ISO standard visual diffuse... transmission density. (i) Recommended visual diffuse transmission background densities for images of documents...

36 CFR 1238.14 - What are the microfilming requirements for permanent and unscheduled records?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... accordance with ISO 18901 (incorporated by reference, see § 1238.5) and use the processing procedures in ANSI... § 1238.5). (2) Background density of images. Agencies must use the background ISO standard visual diffuse... transmission density. (i) Recommended visual diffuse transmission background densities for images of documents...

Personal Background Knowledge Influences Cross-Cultural Understanding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lin, Xiaodong; Bransford, John D.

2010-01-01

Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study was to investigate how two types of videos, personal background knowledge (PBK) and general background knowledge (GBK), affect people's interpretation of a classroom problem case that involved a disconnection between a foreign college professor and her students. The PBK video described the professor's…

32 CFR 732.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Background. 732.1 Section 732.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL NONNAVAL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE General § 732.1 Background. When a U.S. Navy or Marine Corps member or a Canadian Navy or Marine Corps member...

32 CFR 732.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Background. 732.1 Section 732.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL NONNAVAL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE General § 732.1 Background. When a U.S. Navy or Marine Corps member or a Canadian Navy or Marine Corps member...

32 CFR 732.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Background. 732.1 Section 732.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL NONNAVAL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE General § 732.1 Background. When a U.S. Navy or Marine Corps member or a Canadian Navy or Marine Corps member...

32 CFR 732.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Background. 732.1 Section 732.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL NONNAVAL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE General § 732.1 Background. When a U.S. Navy or Marine Corps member or a Canadian Navy or Marine Corps member...

32 CFR 732.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 32 National Defense 5 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Background. 732.1 Section 732.1 National Defense Department of Defense (Continued) DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY PERSONNEL NONNAVAL MEDICAL AND DENTAL CARE General § 732.1 Background. When a U.S. Navy or Marine Corps member or a Canadian Navy or Marine Corps member...

Artist's concept of Surveyor III resting in the Ocean of Storms

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1969-01-01

Ryan Aeronautical Company artist's concept depicting a close-up view of Surveyor III resting in the Ocean of Storms on the lunar nearside. Two Apollo 12 astronauts are seen approaching in the background. The Apollo 12 Lunar Module is in the the left background. The Earth is in the right background.

12 CFR 408.1 - Background.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 12 Banks and Banking 4 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Background. 408.1 Section 408.1 Banks and Banking EXPORT-IMPORT BANK OF THE UNITED STATES PROCEDURES FOR COMPLIANCE WITH THE NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY ACT General § 408.1 Background. (a) The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) of 1969 (42 U.S.C...

How Long Is the Shadow? The Relationships of Family Background to Selected Adult Outcomes: Results from PIAAC

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Braun, Henry

2018-01-01

Background: Ongoing interest in the relationships between family background and adult outcomes is motivated by concerns regarding the intergenerational transmission of advantage/disadvantage. Currently all countries are far from achieving the ideal that all individuals, irrespective of their starting points or their demographic characteristics,…

40 CFR 91.420 - CVS concept of exhaust gas sampling system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... that complete mixing of the engine exhaust and background air is assured prior to the sampling probe.... The background probe must draw a representative sample of the background air during each sampling mode...) sampling system. If a critical flow venturi (CFV) is used on the dilute exhaust sample probe, this system...

40 CFR 91.420 - CVS concept of exhaust gas sampling system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... that complete mixing of the engine exhaust and background air is assured prior to the sampling probe.... The background probe must draw a representative sample of the background air during each sampling mode...) sampling system. If a critical flow venturi (CFV) is used on the dilute exhaust sample probe, this system...

40 CFR 91.420 - CVS concept of exhaust gas sampling system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... that complete mixing of the engine exhaust and background air is assured prior to the sampling probe.... The background probe must draw a representative sample of the background air during each sampling mode...) sampling system. If a critical flow venturi (CFV) is used on the dilute exhaust sample probe, this system...

40 CFR 91.420 - CVS concept of exhaust gas sampling system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... that complete mixing of the engine exhaust and background air is assured prior to the sampling probe.... The background probe must draw a representative sample of the background air during each sampling mode...) sampling system. If a critical flow venturi (CFV) is used on the dilute exhaust sample probe, this system...

40 CFR 91.420 - CVS concept of exhaust gas sampling system.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... that complete mixing of the engine exhaust and background air is assured prior to the sampling probe.... The background probe must draw a representative sample of the background air during each sampling mode...) sampling system. If a critical flow venturi (CFV) is used on the dilute exhaust sample probe, this system...

Cultural Capital Theory: A Study of Children Enrolled in Rural and Urban Head Start Programmes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bojczyk, Kathryn E.; Rogers-Haverback, Heather; Pae, Hye; Davis, Anna E.; Mason, Rihana S.

2015-01-01

Children from different backgrounds have disparate access to cultural capital, which may influence their academic success. The purpose of this study was to examine the links between family background, home literacy experiences, and emergent literacy skills among preschoolers enrolled in Head Start programmes. The background characteristics studied…

17 CFR 229.1003 - (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 2 2012-04-01 2012-04-01 false (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person. 229.1003 Section 229.1003 Commodity and Securities Exchanges SECURITIES AND... (Regulation M-A) § 229.1003 (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person. (a) Name and address. State...

17 CFR 229.1003 - (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 2 2013-04-01 2013-04-01 false (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person. 229.1003 Section 229.1003 Commodity and Securities Exchanges SECURITIES AND... (Regulation M-A) § 229.1003 (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person. (a) Name and address. State...

17 CFR 229.1003 - (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 3 2014-04-01 2014-04-01 false (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person. 229.1003 Section 229.1003 Commodity and Securities Exchanges SECURITIES AND... (Regulation M-A) § 229.1003 (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person. (a) Name and address. State...

17 CFR 229.1003 - (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... 17 Commodity and Securities Exchanges 2 2011-04-01 2011-04-01 false (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person. 229.1003 Section 229.1003 Commodity and Securities Exchanges SECURITIES AND... (Regulation M-A) § 229.1003 (Item 1003) Identity and background of filing person. (a) Name and address. State...

Background Music in Educational Games: Motivational Appeal and Cognitive Impact

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Linek, Stephanie B.; Marte, Birgit; Albert, Dietrich

2011-01-01

Most game-designers likely stick to the assumption that background music is a design feature for fostering fun and game play. From a psychological point of view, these (intuitive) aspects act upon the intrinsic motivation and the flow experience of players. However, from a pure cognitive perspective on instructional design, background music could…

Bridging the Gap: Helping Students from Competitive Dance Training Backgrounds Become Successful Dance Majors

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Schupp, Karen

2010-01-01

This article examines the methods the author uses to help first-year dance majors from competitive training backgrounds expand their understanding of dance and learn to create a strong foundation for collegiate success. By acknowledging differences in dance backgrounds, carefully emphasizing the theory behind postmodern contemporary dance…

Social Background Composition and Educational Growth. Discussion Papers No. 471-77.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mare, Robert D.

This paper examines the impact of intercohort changes in social background composition on changes in grade progression rates at selected schooling levels. It is argued that the relative and absolute effects of background composition on grade progression rates should decline over levels of schooling. Empirical support for these arguments is…

The Impact of Background Radio and Television on High School Students' Homework Performance.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pool, Marina M.; Koolstra, Cees M.; van der Voort, Tom H. A.

2003-01-01

Examines the impact of background media on Dutch students' performance and time spent on paper-and-pencil and memorization homework assignments. Notes that doing homework combined with watching a soap opera interfered with students' performance on both types of assignments. Indicates that music in the background left homework performance…

40 CFR 257.22 - Ground-water monitoring systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... aquifer (as defined in § 257.5(b)) that: (1) Represent the quality of background ground water that has not been affected by leakage from a unit. A determination of background quality may include sampling of...) Sampling at other wells will provide an indication of background ground-water quality that is as...

"Gaining Power through Education": Experiences of Honduran Students from High Poverty Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mather, Peter C.; Zempter, Christy; Ngumbi, Elizabeth; Nakama, Yuki; Manley, David; Cox, Haley

2017-01-01

This is a study of students from high-poverty backgrounds attending universities in Honduras. Based on a series of individual and focus group interviews, the researchers found students from high-poverty backgrounds face numerous practical challenges in persisting in higher education. Despite these challenges, participants succeeded due to a…

--No Title--

Science.gov Websites

family:arial;width:100%;background-color:#fff;margin:0}form{margin:0;padding:0 %);background:-webkit-gradient(linear,left top,left bottom,color-stop(0%,#00527f),color-stop(100%,#00324d :16px;line-height:36px;color:white;font-weight:bold}#outer{width:100%;background-color:#eee;margin:0

--No Title--

Science.gov Websites

}.caption-box{background:#000;background-color:rgba(0,0,0,.8);color:#fff;padding:1em}.caption-box .teaser }.carousel-caption .headline{color:#fff;font-size:16px;margin:0}@media (min-width:768px){.carousel-caption ;width:auto;height:auto}.carousel-controls{background-color:#000;line-height:1;margin-left:-15px;margin-right

--No Title--

Science.gov Websites

;height:auto;overflow:hidden}.poc_table .top_row{background-color:#eee;height:auto;overflow:hidden}.poc_table ;background-color:#FFF;height:auto;overflow:hidden;border-top:1px solid #ccc}.poc_table .main_row .name :200px;padding:5px;height:auto;overflow:hidden}.tli_grey_box{background-color:#eaeaea;text-align:center

The effect of background and illumination on color identification of real, 3D objects.

PubMed

Allred, Sarah R; Olkkonen, Maria

2013-01-01

For the surface reflectance of an object to be a useful cue to object identity, judgments of its color should remain stable across changes in the object's environment. In 2D scenes, there is general consensus that color judgments are much more stable across illumination changes than background changes. Here we investigate whether these findings generalize to real 3D objects. Observers made color matches to cubes as we independently varied both the illumination impinging on the cube and the 3D background of the cube. As in 2D scenes, we found relatively high but imperfect stability of color judgments under an illuminant shift. In contrast to 2D scenes, we found that background had little effect on average color judgments. In addition, variability of color judgments was increased by an illuminant shift and decreased by embedding the cube within a background. Taken together, these results suggest that in real 3D scenes with ample cues to object segregation, the addition of a background may improve stability of color identification.

Cleaning and passivation of copper surfaces to remove surface radioactivity and prevent oxide formation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hoppe, E. W.; Seifert, A.; Aalseth, C. E.; Bachelor, P. P.; Day, A. R.; Edwards, D. J.; Hossbach, T. W.; Litke, K. E.; McIntyre, J. I.; Miley, H. S.; Schulte, S. M.; Smart, J. E.; Warren, G. A.

2007-08-01

High-purity copper is an attractive material for constructing ultra-low-background radiation measurement devices. Many low-background experiments using high-purity copper have indicated surface contamination emerges as the dominant background. Radon daughters plate out on exposed surfaces, leaving a residual 210Pb background that is difficult to avoid. Dust is also a problem; even under cleanroom conditions, the amount of U and Th deposited on surfaces can represent the largest remaining background. To control these backgrounds, a copper cleaning chemistry has been developed. Designed to replace an effective, but overly aggressive concentrated nitric acid etch, this peroxide-based solution allows for a more controlled cleaning of surfaces. The acidified hydrogen peroxide solution will generally target the Cu +/Cu 2+ species which are the predominant surface participants, leaving the bulk of copper metal intact. This preserves the critical tolerances of parts and eliminates significant waste disposal issues. Accompanying passivation chemistry has also been developed that protects copper surfaces from oxidation. Using a high-activity polonium surface spike, the most difficult-to-remove daughter isotope of radon, the performance of these methods are quantified.

Characterization of 176Lu background in LSO-based PET scanners

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Conti, Maurizio; Eriksson, Lars; Rothfuss, Harold; Sjoeholm, Therese; Townsend, David; Rosenqvist, Göran; Carlier, Thomas

2017-05-01

LSO and LYSO are today the most common scintillators used in positron emission tomography. Lutetium contains traces of 176Lu, a radioactive isotope that decays β - with a cascade of γ photons in coincidence. Therefore, Lutetium-based scintillators are characterized by a small natural radiation background. In this paper, we investigate and characterize the 176Lu radiation background via experiments performed on LSO-based PET scanners. LSO background was measured at different energy windows and different time coincidence windows, and by using shields to alter the original spectrum. The effect of radiation background in particularly count-starved applications, such as 90Y imaging, is analysed and discussed. Depending on the size of the PET scanner, between 500 and 1000 total random counts per second and between 3 and 5 total true coincidences per second were measured in standard coincidence mode. The LSO background counts in a Siemens mCT in the standard PET energy and time windows are in general negligible in terms of trues, and are comparable to that measured in a BGO scanner of similar size.

The EPIC-MOS Particle-Induced Background Spectra

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kuntz, K. D.; Sowden, S. L.

2007-01-01

In order to analyse diffuse emission that fills the field of view, one must accurately characterize the instrumental backgrounds. For the XMM-Newton EPIC instrument these backgrounds include a temporally variable "quiescent" component. as well as the strongly variable soft proton contamination. We have characterized the spectral and spatial response of the EPIC detectors to these background components and have developed tools to remove these backgrounds from observations. The "quiescent" component was characterized using a combination of the filter-wheel-closed data and a database of unexposed-region data. The soft proton contamination was characterized by differencing images and spectra taken during flared and flare-free intervals. After application of our modeled backgrounds, the differences between independent observations of the same region of "blank sky" are consistent with the statistical uncertainties except when there is clear spectral evidence of solar wind charge exchange emission. Using a large sample of blank sky data, we show that strong magnetospheric SWCX emission requires elevated solar wind fluxes; observations through the densest part of the magnetosheath are not necessarily strongly contaminated with SWCX emission.

Development of a low background liquid scintillation counter for a shallow underground laboratory

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Erchinger, Jennifer L.; Aalseth, Craig E.; Bernacki, Bruce E.

2015-08-20

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory has recently opened a shallow underground laboratory intended for measurement of lowconcentration levels of radioactive isotopes in samples collected from the environment. The development of a low-background liquid scintillation counter is currently underway to further augment the measurement capabilities within this underground laboratory. Liquid scintillation counting is especially useful for measuring charged particle (e.g., B, a) emitting isotopes with no (orvery weak) gamma-ray yields. The combination of high-efficiency detection of charged particle emission in a liquid scintillation cocktail coupled with the low-background environment of an appropriately-designed shield located in a clean underground laboratory provides the opportunitymore » for increased-sensitivity measurements of a range of isotopes. To take advantage of the 35-meter water-equivalent overburden of the underground laboratory, a series of simulations have evaluated the instrumental shield design requirements to assess the possible background rate achievable. This report presents the design and background evaluation for a shallow underground, low background liquid scintillation counter design for sample measurements.« less

Effect of feeding treatment during the backgrounding phase of beef production from pasture on: II. Longissimus muscle proximate composition, cholesterol and fatty acids.

PubMed

Pordomingo, A J; García, T P; Volpi Lagreca, G

2012-04-01

This study evaluated effects of feedlot backgrounding strategies (40, 70 or 100% alfalfa hay diets) or pasture grazing on moisture, protein, total lipids, ash, cholesterol concentration, and lipid profiles of the longissimus dorsi muscle (LM) of pasture finished Angus heifers. Ninety six calves were allocated to the strategies over a 114-day period, followed by pasture grazing over 132 days. At the end of the backgrounding stage, the concentration of omega-3 (n-3) fatty acids was highest in the Pasture group and this difference persisted (P<0.032) until the end of the 132 day pasture finishing phase. Similarly, the n-6/n-3 ratio was lowest in the Pasture group at the end of backgrounding and after pasture finishing. Backgrounding diets based on 70 and 100% hay or pasture grazing showed greater (P<0.041) conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) concentration in the lipid fraction than 40% hay. Results suggested that residual effects of backgrounding strategies could be detected in intramuscular fat of pasture finished heifers. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Abernathy, M. R.; Acernese, F.; Ackley, K.; Adams, C.; Adams, T.; Addesso, P.; Adhikari, R. X.; Adya, V. B.; Affeldt, C.; Agathos, M.; Agatsuma, K.; Aggarwal, N.; Aguiar, O. D.; Aiello, L.; Ain, A.; Ajith, P.; Allen, B.; Allocca, A.; Altin, P. A.; Ananyeva, A.; Anderson, S. B.; Anderson, W. G.; Appert, S.; Arai, K.; Araya, M. C.; Areeda, J. S.; Arnaud, N.; Arun, K. G.; Ascenzi, S.; Ashton, G.; Ast, M.; Aston, S. M.; Astone, P.; Aufmuth, P.; Aulbert, C.; Avila-Alvarez, A.; Babak, S.; Bacon, P.; Bader, M. K. M.; Baker, P. T.; Baldaccini, F.; Ballardin, G.; Ballmer, S. W.; Barayoga, J. C.; Barclay, S. E.; Barish, B. C.; Barker, D.; Barone, F.; Barr, B.; Barsotti, L.; Barsuglia, M.; Barta, D.; Bartlett, J.; Bartos, I.; Bassiri, R.; Basti, A.; Batch, J. C.; Baune, C.; Bavigadda, V.; Bazzan, M.; Beer, C.; Bejger, M.; Belahcene, I.; Belgin, M.; Bell, A. S.; Berger, B. K.; Bergmann, G.; Berry, C. P. L.; Bersanetti, D.; Bertolini, A.; Betzwieser, J.; Bhagwat, S.; Bhandare, R.; Bilenko, I. A.; Billingsley, G.; Billman, C. R.; Birch, J.; Birney, R.; Birnholtz, O.; Biscans, S.; Biscoveanu, A. S.; Bisht, A.; Bitossi, M.; Biwer, C.; Bizouard, M. A.; Blackburn, J. K.; Blackman, J.; Blair, C. D.; Blair, D. G.; Blair, R. M.; Bloemen, S.; Bock, O.; Boer, M.; Bogaert, G.; Bohe, A.; Bondu, F.; Bonnand, R.; Boom, B. A.; Bork, R.; Boschi, V.; Bose, S.; Bouffanais, Y.; Bozzi, A.; Bradaschia, C.; Brady, P. R.; Braginsky, V. B.; Branchesi, M.; Brau, J. E.; Briant, T.; Brillet, A.; Brinkmann, M.; Brisson, V.; Brockill, P.; Broida, J. E.; Brooks, A. F.; Brown, D. A.; Brown, D. D.; Brown, N. M.; Brunett, S.; Buchanan, C. C.; Buikema, A.; Bulik, T.; Bulten, H. J.; Buonanno, A.; Buskulic, D.; Buy, C.; Byer, R. L.; Cabero, M.; Cadonati, L.; Cagnoli, G.; Cahillane, C.; Calderón Bustillo, J.; Callister, T. A.; Calloni, E.; Camp, J. B.; Campbell, W.; Canepa, M.; Cannon, K. C.; Cao, H.; Cao, J.; Capano, C. D.; Capocasa, E.; Carbognani, F.; Caride, S.; Casanueva Diaz, J.; Casentini, C.; Caudill, S.; Cavaglià, M.; Cavalier, F.; Cavalieri, R.; Cella, G.; Cepeda, C. B.; Cerboni Baiardi, L.; Cerretani, G.; Cesarini, E.; Chamberlin, S. J.; Chan, M.; Chao, S.; Charlton, P.; Chassande-Mottin, E.; Cheeseboro, B. D.; Chen, H. Y.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, H.-P.; Chincarini, A.; Chiummo, A.; Chmiel, T.; Cho, H. S.; Cho, M.; Chow, J. H.; Christensen, N.; Chu, Q.; Chua, A. J. K.; Chua, S.; Chung, S.; Ciani, G.; Clara, F.; Clark, J. A.; Cleva, F.; Cocchieri, C.; Coccia, E.; Cohadon, P.-F.; Colla, A.; Collette, C. G.; Cominsky, L.; Constancio, M.; Conti, L.; Cooper, S. J.; Corbitt, T. R.; Cornish, N.; Corsi, A.; Cortese, S.; Costa, C. A.; Coughlin, E.; Coughlin, M. W.; Coughlin, S. B.; Coulon, J.-P.; Countryman, S. T.; Couvares, P.; Covas, P. B.; Cowan, E. E.; Coward, D. M.; Cowart, M. J.; Coyne, D. C.; Coyne, R.; Creighton, J. D. E.; Creighton, T. D.; Cripe, J.; Crowder, S. G.; Cullen, T. J.; Cumming, A.; Cunningham, L.; Cuoco, E.; Dal Canton, T.; Danilishin, S. L.; D'Antonio, S.; Danzmann, K.; Dasgupta, A.; Da Silva Costa, C. F.; Dattilo, V.; Dave, I.; Davier, M.; Davies, G. S.; Davis, D.; Daw, E. J.; Day, B.; Day, R.; De, S.; DeBra, D.; Debreczeni, G.; Degallaix, J.; De Laurentis, M.; Deléglise, S.; Del Pozzo, W.; Denker, T.; Dent, T.; Dergachev, V.; De Rosa, R.; DeRosa, R. T.; DeSalvo, R.; Devenson, J.; Devine, R. C.; Dhurandhar, S.; Díaz, M. C.; Di Fiore, L.; Di Giovanni, M.; Di Girolamo, T.; Di Lieto, A.; Di Pace, S.; Di Palma, I.; Di Virgilio, A.; Doctor, Z.; Dolique, V.; Donovan, F.; Dooley, K. L.; Doravari, S.; Dorrington, I.; Douglas, R.; Dovale Álvarez, M.; Downes, T. P.; Drago, M.; Drever, R. W. P.; Driggers, J. C.; Du, Z.; Ducrot, M.; Dwyer, S. E.; Edo, T. B.; Edwards, M. C.; Effler, A.; Eggenstein, H.-B.; Ehrens, P.; Eichholz, J.; Eikenberry, S. S.; Essick, R. C.; Etienne, Z.; Etzel, T.; Evans, M.; Evans, T. M.; Everett, R.; Factourovich, M.; Fafone, V.; Fair, H.; Fairhurst, S.; Fan, X.; Farinon, S.; Farr, B.; Farr, W. M.; Fauchon-Jones, E. J.; Favata, M.; Fays, M.; Fehrmann, H.; Fejer, M. M.; Fernández Galiana, A.; Ferrante, I.; Ferreira, E. C.; Ferrini, F.; Fidecaro, F.; Fiori, I.; Fiorucci, D.; Fisher, R. P.; Flaminio, R.; Fletcher, M.; Fong, H.; Forsyth, S. S.; Fournier, J.-D.; Frasca, S.; Frasconi, F.; Frei, Z.; Freise, A.; Frey, R.; Frey, V.; Fries, E. M.; Fritschel, P.; Frolov, V. V.; Fulda, P.; Fyffe, M.; Gabbard, H.; Gadre, B. U.; Gaebel, S. M.; Gair, J. R.; Gammaitoni, L.; Gaonkar, S. G.; Garufi, F.; Gaur, G.; Gayathri, V.; Gehrels, N.; Gemme, G.; Genin, E.; Gennai, A.; George, J.; Gergely, L.; Germain, V.; Ghonge, S.; Ghosh, Abhirup; Ghosh, Archisman; Ghosh, S.; Giaime, J. A.; Giardina, K. D.; Giazotto, A.; Gill, K.; Glaefke, A.; Goetz, E.; Goetz, R.; Gondan, L.; González, G.; Gonzalez Castro, J. M.; Gopakumar, A.; Gorodetsky, M. L.; Gossan, S. E.; Gosselin, M.; Gouaty, R.; Grado, A.; Graef, C.; Granata, M.; Grant, A.; Gras, S.; Gray, C.; Greco, G.; Green, A. C.; Groot, P.; Grote, H.; Grunewald, S.; Guidi, G. M.; Guo, X.; Gupta, A.; Gupta, M. K.; Gushwa, K. E.; Gustafson, E. K.; Gustafson, R.; Hacker, J. J.; Hall, B. R.; Hall, E. D.; Hammond, G.; Haney, M.; Hanke, M. M.; Hanks, J.; Hanna, C.; Hannam, M. D.; Hanson, J.; Hardwick, T.; Harms, J.; Harry, G. M.; Harry, I. W.; Hart, M. J.; Hartman, M. T.; Haster, C.-J.; Haughian, K.; Healy, J.; Heidmann, A.; Heintze, M. C.; Heitmann, H.; Hello, P.; Hemming, G.; Hendry, M.; Heng, I. S.; Hennig, J.; Henry, J.; Heptonstall, A. W.; Heurs, M.; Hild, S.; Hoak, D.; Hofman, D.; Holt, K.; Holz, D. E.; Hopkins, P.; Hough, J.; Houston, E. A.; Howell, E. J.; Hu, Y. M.; Huerta, E. A.; Huet, D.; Hughey, B.; Husa, S.; Huttner, S. H.; Huynh-Dinh, T.; Indik, N.; Ingram, D. R.; Inta, R.; Isa, H. N.; Isac, J.-M.; Isi, M.; Isogai, T.; Iyer, B. R.; Izumi, K.; Jacqmin, T.; Jani, K.; Jaranowski, P.; Jawahar, S.; Jiménez-Forteza, F.; Johnson, W. W.; Jones, D. I.; Jones, R.; Jonker, R. J. G.; Ju, L.; Junker, J.; Kalaghatgi, C. V.; Kalogera, V.; Kandhasamy, S.; Kang, G.; Kanner, J. B.; Karki, S.; Karvinen, K. S.; Kasprzack, M.; Katsavounidis, E.; Katzman, W.; Kaufer, S.; Kaur, T.; Kawabe, K.; Kéfélian, F.; Keitel, D.; Kelley, D. B.; Kennedy, R.; Key, J. S.; Khalili, F. Y.; Khan, I.; Khan, S.; Khan, Z.; Khazanov, E. A.; Kijbunchoo, N.; Kim, Chunglee; Kim, J. C.; Kim, Whansun; Kim, W.; Kim, Y.-M.; Kimbrell, S. J.; King, E. J.; King, P. J.; Kirchhoff, R.; Kissel, J. S.; Klein, B.; Kleybolte, L.; Klimenko, S.; Koch, P.; Koehlenbeck, S. M.; Koley, S.; Kondrashov, V.; Kontos, A.; Korobko, M.; Korth, W. Z.; Kowalska, I.; Kozak, D. B.; Krämer, C.; Kringel, V.; Królak, A.; Kuehn, G.; Kumar, P.; Kumar, R.; Kuo, L.; Kutynia, A.; Lackey, B. D.; Landry, M.; Lang, R. N.; Lange, J.; Lantz, B.; Lanza, R. K.; Lartaux-Vollard, A.; Lasky, P. D.; Laxen, M.; Lazzarini, A.; Lazzaro, C.; Leaci, P.; Leavey, S.; Lebigot, E. O.; Lee, C. H.; Lee, H. K.; Lee, H. M.; Lee, K.; Lehmann, J.; Lenon, A.; Leonardi, M.; Leong, J. R.; Leroy, N.; Letendre, N.; Levin, Y.; Li, T. G. F.; Libson, A.; Littenberg, T. B.; Liu, J.; Lockerbie, N. A.; Lombardi, A. L.; London, L. T.; Lord, J. E.; Lorenzini, M.; Loriette, V.; Lormand, M.; Losurdo, G.; Lough, J. D.; Lovelace, G.; Lück, H.; Lundgren, A. P.; Lynch, R.; Ma, Y.; Macfoy, S.; Machenschalk, B.; MacInnis, M.; Macleod, D. M.; Magaña-Sandoval, F.; Majorana, E.; Maksimovic, I.; Malvezzi, V.; Man, N.; Mandic, V.; Mangano, V.; Mansell, G. L.; Manske, M.; Mantovani, M.; Marchesoni, F.; Marion, F.; Márka, S.; Márka, Z.; Markosyan, A. S.; Maros, E.; Martelli, F.; Martellini, L.; Martin, I. W.; Martynov, D. V.; Mason, K.; Masserot, A.; Massinger, T. J.; Masso-Reid, M.; Mastrogiovanni, S.; Matas, A.; Matichard, F.; Matone, L.; Mavalvala, N.; Mazumder, N.; McCarthy, R.; McClelland, D. E.; McCormick, S.; McGrath, C.; McGuire, S. C.; McIntyre, G.; McIver, J.; McManus, D. J.; McRae, T.; McWilliams, S. T.; Meacher, D.; Meadors, G. D.; Meidam, J.; Melatos, A.; Mendell, G.; Mendoza-Gandara, D.; Mercer, R. A.; Merilh, E. L.; Merzougui, M.; Meshkov, S.; Messenger, C.; Messick, C.; Metzdorff, R.; Meyers, P. M.; Mezzani, F.; Miao, H.; Michel, C.; Middleton, H.; Mikhailov, E. E.; Milano, L.; Miller, A. L.; Miller, A.; Miller, B. B.; Miller, J.; Millhouse, M.; Minenkov, Y.; Ming, J.; Mirshekari, S.; Mishra, C.; Mitra, S.; Mitrofanov, V. P.; Mitselmakher, G.; Mittleman, R.; Moggi, A.; Mohan, M.; Mohapatra, S. R. P.; Montani, M.; Moore, B. C.; Moore, C. J.; Moraru, D.; Moreno, G.; Morriss, S. R.; Mours, B.; Mow-Lowry, C. M.; Mueller, G.; Muir, A. W.; Mukherjee, Arunava; Mukherjee, D.; Mukherjee, S.; Mukund, N.; Mullavey, A.; Munch, J.; Muniz, E. A. M.; Murray, P. G.; Mytidis, A.; Napier, K.; Nardecchia, I.; Naticchioni, L.; Nelemans, G.; Nelson, T. J. N.; Neri, M.; Nery, M.; Neunzert, A.; Newport, J. M.; Newton, G.; Nguyen, T. T.; Nielsen, A. B.; Nissanke, S.; Nitz, A.; Noack, A.; Nocera, F.; Nolting, D.; Normandin, M. E. N.; Nuttall, L. K.; Oberling, J.; Ochsner, E.; Oelker, E.; Ogin, G. H.; Oh, J. J.; Oh, S. H.; Ohme, F.; Oliver, M.; Oppermann, P.; Oram, Richard J.; O'Reilly, B.; O'Shaughnessy, R.; Ottaway, D. J.; Overmier, H.; Owen, B. J.; Pace, A. E.; Page, J.; Pai, A.; Pai, S. A.; Palamos, J. R.; Palashov, O.; Palomba, C.; Pal-Singh, A.; Pan, H.; Pankow, C.; Pannarale, F.; Pant, B. C.; Paoletti, F.; Paoli, A.; Papa, M. A.; Paris, H. R.; Parker, W.; Pascucci, D.; Pasqualetti, A.; Passaquieti, R.; Passuello, D.; Patricelli, B.; Pearlstone, B. L.; Pedraza, M.; Pedurand, R.; Pekowsky, L.; Pele, A.; Penn, S.; Perez, C. J.; Perreca, A.; Perri, L. M.; Pfeiffer, H. P.; Phelps, M.; Piccinni, O. J.; Pichot, M.; Piergiovanni, F.; Pierro, V.; Pillant, G.; Pinard, L.; Pinto, I. M.; Pitkin, M.; Poe, M.; Poggiani, R.; Popolizio, P.; Post, A.; Powell, J.; Prasad, J.; Pratt, J. W. W.; Predoi, V.; Prestegard, T.; Prijatelj, M.; Principe, M.; Privitera, S.; Prodi, G. A.; Prokhorov, L. G.; Puncken, O.; Punturo, M.; Puppo, P.; Pürrer, M.; Qi, H.; Qin, J.; Qiu, S.; Quetschke, V.; Quintero, E. A.; Quitzow-James, R.; Raab, F. J.; Rabeling, D. S.; Radkins, H.; Raffai, P.; Raja, S.; Rajan, C.; Rakhmanov, M.; Rapagnani, P.; Raymond, V.; Razzano, M.; Re, V.; Read, J.; Regimbau, T.; Rei, L.; Reid, S.; Reitze, D. H.; Rew, H.; Reyes, S. D.; Rhoades, E.; Ricci, F.; Riles, K.; Rizzo, M.; Robertson, N. A.; Robie, R.; Robinet, F.; Rocchi, A.; Rolland, L.; Rollins, J. G.; Roma, V. J.; Romano, J. D.; Romano, R.; Romie, J. H.; Rosińska, D.; Rowan, S.; Rüdiger, A.; Ruggi, P.; Ryan, K.; Sachdev, S.; Sadecki, T.; Sadeghian, L.; Sakellariadou, M.; Salconi, L.; Saleem, M.; Salemi, F.; Samajdar, A.; Sammut, L.; Sampson, L. M.; Sanchez, E. J.; Sandberg, V.; Sanders, J. R.; Sassolas, B.; Sathyaprakash, B. S.; Saulson, P. R.; Sauter, O.; Savage, R. L.; Sawadsky, A.; Schale, P.; Scheuer, J.; Schlassa, S.; Schmidt, E.; Schmidt, J.; Schmidt, P.; Schnabel, R.; Schofield, R. M. S.; Schönbeck, A.; Schreiber, E.; Schuette, D.; Schutz, B. F.; Schwalbe, S. G.; Scott, J.; Scott, S. M.; Sellers, D.; Sengupta, A. S.; Sentenac, D.; Sequino, V.; Sergeev, A.; Setyawati, Y.; Shaddock, D. A.; Shaffer, T. J.; Shahriar, M. S.; Shapiro, B.; Shawhan, P.; Sheperd, A.; Shoemaker, D. H.; Shoemaker, D. M.; Siellez, K.; Siemens, X.; Sieniawska, M.; Sigg, D.; Silva, A. D.; Singer, A.; Singer, L. P.; Singh, A.; Singh, R.; Singhal, A.; Sintes, A. M.; Slagmolen, B. J. J.; Smith, B.; Smith, J. R.; Smith, R. J. E.; Son, E. J.; Sorazu, B.; Sorrentino, F.; Souradeep, T.; Spencer, A. P.; Srivastava, A. K.; Staley, A.; Steinke, M.; Steinlechner, J.; Steinlechner, S.; Steinmeyer, D.; Stephens, B. C.; Stevenson, S. P.; Stone, R.; Strain, K. A.; Straniero, N.; Stratta, G.; Strigin, S. E.; Sturani, R.; Stuver, A. L.; Summerscales, T. Z.; Sun, L.; Sunil, S.; Sutton, P. J.; Swinkels, B. L.; Szczepańczyk, M. J.; Tacca, M.; Talukder, D.; Tanner, D. B.; Tao, D.; Tápai, M.; Taracchini, A.; Taylor, R.; Theeg, T.; Thomas, E. G.; Thomas, M.; Thomas, P.; Thorne, K. A.; Thrane, E.; Tippens, T.; Tiwari, S.; Tiwari, V.; Tokmakov, K. V.; Toland, K.; Tomlinson, C.; Tonelli, M.; Tornasi, Z.; Torrie, C. I.; Töyrä, D.; Travasso, F.; Traylor, G.; Trifirò, D.; Trinastic, J.; Tringali, M. C.; Trozzo, L.; Tse, M.; Tso, R.; Turconi, M.; Tuyenbayev, D.; Ugolini, D.; Unnikrishnan, C. S.; Urban, A. L.; Usman, S. A.; Vahlbruch, H.; Vajente, G.; Valdes, G.; van Bakel, N.; van Beuzekom, M.; van den Brand, J. F. J.; Van Den Broeck, C.; Vander-Hyde, D. C.; van der Schaaf, L.; van Heijningen, J. V.; van Veggel, A. A.; Vardaro, M.; Varma, V.; Vass, S.; Vasúth, M.; Vecchio, A.; Vedovato, G.; Veitch, J.; Veitch, P. J.; Venkateswara, K.; Venugopalan, G.; Verkindt, D.; Vetrano, F.; Viceré, A.; Viets, A. D.; Vinciguerra, S.; Vine, D. J.; Vinet, J.-Y.; Vitale, S.; Vo, T.; Vocca, H.; Vorvick, C.; Voss, D. V.; Vousden, W. D.; Vyatchanin, S. P.; Wade, A. R.; Wade, L. E.; Wade, M.; Walker, M.; Wallace, L.; Walsh, S.; Wang, G.; Wang, H.; Wang, M.; Wang, Y.; Ward, R. L.; Warner, J.; Was, M.; Watchi, J.; Weaver, B.; Wei, L.-W.; Weinert, M.; Weinstein, A. J.; Weiss, R.; Wen, L.; Weßels, P.; Westphal, T.; Wette, K.; Whelan, J. T.; Whiting, B. F.; Whittle, C.; Williams, D.; Williams, R. D.; Williamson, A. R.; Willis, J. L.; Willke, B.; Wimmer, M. H.; Winkler, W.; Wipf, C. C.; Wittel, H.; Woan, G.; Woehler, J.; Worden, J.; Wright, J. L.; Wu, D. S.; Wu, G.; Yam, W.; Yamamoto, H.; Yancey, C. C.; Yap, M. J.; Yu, Hang; Yu, Haocun; Yvert, M.; ZadroŻny, A.; Zangrando, L.; Zanolin, M.; Zendri, J.-P.; Zevin, M.; Zhang, L.; Zhang, M.; Zhang, T.; Zhang, Y.; Zhao, C.; Zhou, M.; Zhou, Z.; Zhu, S. J.; Zhu, X. J.; Zucker, M. E.; Zweizig, J.; LIGO Scientific Collaboration; Virgo Collaboration

2017-03-01

A wide variety of astrophysical and cosmological sources are expected to contribute to a stochastic gravitational-wave background. Following the observations of GW150914 and GW151226, the rate and mass of coalescing binary black holes appear to be greater than many previous expectations. As a result, the stochastic background from unresolved compact binary coalescences is expected to be particularly loud. We perform a search for the isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background using data from Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory's (aLIGO) first observing run. The data display no evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal. We constrain the dimensionless energy density of gravitational waves to be Ω0<1.7 ×10-7 with 95% confidence, assuming a flat energy density spectrum in the most sensitive part of the LIGO band (20-86 Hz). This is a factor of ˜33 times more sensitive than previous measurements. We also constrain arbitrary power-law spectra. Finally, we investigate the implications of this search for the background of binary black holes using an astrophysical model for the background.

GW170817: Implications for the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Compact Binary Coalescences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abbott, B. P.; Abbott, R.; Abbott, T. D.; Acernese, F.; Ackley, K.; Adams, C.; Adams, T.; Addesso, P.; Adhikari, R. X.; Adya, V. B.; Affeldt, C.; Afrough, M.; Agarwal, B.; Agathos, M.; Agatsuma, K.; Aggarwal, N.; Aguiar, O. D.; Aiello, L.; Ain, A.; Ajith, P.; Allen, B.; Allen, G.; Allocca, A.; Altin, P. A.; Amato, A.; Ananyeva, A.; Anderson, S. B.; Anderson, W. G.; Angelova, S. V.; Antier, S.; Appert, S.; Arai, K.; Araya, M. C.; Areeda, J. S.; Arnaud, N.; Arun, K. G.; Ascenzi, S.; Ashton, G.; Ast, M.; Aston, S. M.; Astone, P.; Atallah, D. V.; Aufmuth, P.; Aulbert, C.; AultONeal, K.; Austin, C.; Avila-Alvarez, A.; Babak, S.; Bacon, P.; Bader, M. K. M.; Bae, S.; Baker, P. T.; Baldaccini, F.; Ballardin, G.; Ballmer, S. W.; Banagiri, S.; Barayoga, J. C.; Barclay, S. E.; Barish, B. C.; Barker, D.; Barkett, K.; Barone, F.; Barr, B.; Barsotti, L.; Barsuglia, M.; Barta, D.; Bartlett, J.; Bartos, I.; Bassiri, R.; Basti, A.; Batch, J. C.; Bawaj, M.; Bayley, J. C.; Bazzan, M.; Bécsy, B.; Beer, C.; Bejger, M.; Belahcene, I.; Bell, A. S.; Berger, B. K.; Bergmann, G.; Bero, J. J.; Berry, C. P. L.; Bersanetti, D.; Bertolini, A.; Betzwieser, J.; Bhagwat, S.; Bhandare, R.; Bilenko, I. A.; Billingsley, G.; Billman, C. R.; Birch, J.; Birney, R.; Birnholtz, O.; Biscans, S.; Biscoveanu, S.; Bisht, A.; Bitossi, M.; Biwer, C.; Bizouard, M. A.; Blackburn, J. K.; Blackman, J.; Blair, C. D.; Blair, D. G.; Blair, R. M.; Bloemen, S.; Bock, O.; Bode, N.; Boer, M.; Bogaert, G.; Bohe, A.; Bondu, F.; Bonilla, E.; Bonnand, R.; Boom, B. A.; Bork, R.; Boschi, V.; Bose, S.; Bossie, K.; Bouffanais, Y.; Bozzi, A.; Bradaschia, C.; Brady, P. R.; Branchesi, M.; Brau, J. E.; Briant, T.; Brillet, A.; Brinkmann, M.; Brisson, V.; Brockill, P.; Broida, J. E.; Brooks, A. F.; Brown, D. A.; Brown, D. D.; Brunett, S.; Buchanan, C. C.; Buikema, A.; Bulik, T.; Bulten, H. J.; Buonanno, A.; Buskulic, D.; Buy, C.; Byer, R. L.; Cabero, M.; Cadonati, L.; Cagnoli, G.; Cahillane, C.; Bustillo, J. Calderón; Callister, T. A.; Calloni, E.; Camp, J. B.; Canepa, M.; Canizares, P.; Cannon, K. C.; Cao, H.; Cao, J.; Capano, C. D.; Capocasa, E.; Carbognani, F.; Caride, S.; Carney, M. F.; Diaz, J. Casanueva; Casentini, C.; Caudill, S.; Cavaglià, M.; Cavalier, F.; Cavalieri, R.; Cella, G.; Cepeda, C. B.; Cerdá-Durán, P.; Cerretani, G.; Cesarini, E.; Chamberlin, S. J.; Chan, M.; Chao, S.; Charlton, P.; Chase, E.; Chassande-Mottin, E.; Chatterjee, D.; Cheeseboro, B. D.; Chen, H. Y.; Chen, X.; Chen, Y.; Cheng, H.-P.; Chia, H.; Chincarini, A.; Chiummo, A.; Chmiel, T.; Cho, H. S.; Cho, M.; Chow, J. H.; Christensen, N.; Chu, Q.; Chua, A. J. K.; Chua, S.; Chung, A. K. W.; Chung, S.; Ciani, G.; Ciolfi, R.; Cirelli, C. E.; Cirone, A.; Clara, F.; Clark, J. A.; Clearwater, P.; Cleva, F.; Cocchieri, C.; Coccia, E.; Cohadon, P.-F.; Cohen, D.; Colla, A.; Collette, C. G.; Cominsky, L. R.; Constancio, M.; Conti, L.; Cooper, S. J.; Corban, P.; Corbitt, T. R.; Cordero-Carrión, I.; Corley, K. R.; Cornish, N.; Corsi, A.; Cortese, S.; Costa, C. A.; Coughlin, M. W.; Coughlin, S. B.; Coulon, J.-P.; Countryman, S. T.; Couvares, P.; Covas, P. B.; Cowan, E. E.; Coward, D. M.; Cowart, M. J.; Coyne, D. C.; Coyne, R.; Creighton, J. D. E.; Creighton, T. D.; Cripe, J.; Crowder, S. G.; Cullen, T. J.; Cumming, A.; Cunningham, L.; Cuoco, E.; Dal Canton, T.; Dálya, G.; Danilishin, S. L.; D'Antonio, S.; Danzmann, K.; Dasgupta, A.; Da Silva Costa, C. F.; Dattilo, V.; Dave, I.; Davier, M.; Davis, D.; Daw, E. J.; Day, B.; De, S.; DeBra, D.; Degallaix, J.; De Laurentis, M.; Deléglise, S.; Del Pozzo, W.; Demos, N.; Denker, T.; Dent, T.; De Pietri, R.; Dergachev, V.; De Rosa, R.; DeRosa, R. T.; De Rossi, C.; DeSalvo, R.; de Varona, O.; Devenson, J.; Dhurandhar, S.; Díaz, M. C.; Di Fiore, L.; Di Giovanni, M.; Di Girolamo, T.; Di Lieto, A.; Di Pace, S.; Di Palma, I.; Di Renzo, F.; Doctor, Z.; Dolique, V.; Donovan, F.; Dooley, K. L.; Doravari, S.; Dorrington, I.; Douglas, R.; Dovale Álvarez, M.; Downes, T. P.; Drago, M.; Dreissigacker, C.; Driggers, J. C.; Du, Z.; Ducrot, M.; Dupej, P.; Dwyer, S. E.; Edo, T. B.; Edwards, M. C.; Effler, A.; Eggenstein, H.-B.; Ehrens, P.; Eichholz, J.; Eikenberry, S. S.; Eisenstein, R. A.; Essick, R. C.; Estevez, D.; Etienne, Z. B.; Etzel, T.; Evans, M.; Evans, T. M.; Factourovich, M.; Fafone, V.; Fair, H.; Fairhurst, S.; Fan, X.; Farinon, S.; Farr, B.; Farr, W. M.; Fauchon-Jones, E. J.; Favata, M.; Fays, M.; Fee, C.; Fehrmann, H.; Feicht, J.; Fejer, M. M.; Fernandez-Galiana, A.; Ferrante, I.; Ferreira, E. C.; Ferrini, F.; Fidecaro, F.; Finstad, D.; Fiori, I.; Fiorucci, D.; Fishbach, M.; Fisher, R. P.; Fitz-Axen, M.; Flaminio, R.; Fletcher, M.; Fong, H.; Font, J. A.; Forsyth, P. W. F.; Forsyth, S. S.; Fournier, J.-D.; Frasca, S.; Frasconi, F.; Frei, Z.; Freise, A.; Frey, R.; Frey, V.; Fries, E. M.; Fritschel, P.; Frolov, V. V.; Fulda, P.; Fyffe, M.; Gabbard, H.; Gadre, B. U.; Gaebel, S. M.; Gair, J. R.; Gammaitoni, L.; Ganija, M. R.; Gaonkar, S. G.; Garcia-Quiros, C.; Garufi, F.; Gateley, B.; Gaudio, S.; Gaur, G.; Gayathri, V.; Gehrels, N.; Gemme, G.; Genin, E.; Gennai, A.; George, D.; George, J.; Gergely, L.; Germain, V.; Ghonge, S.; Ghosh, Abhirup; Ghosh, Archisman; Ghosh, S.; Giaime, J. A.; Giardina, K. D.; Giazotto, A.; Gill, K.; Glover, L.; Goetz, E.; Goetz, R.; Gomes, S.; Goncharov, B.; González, G.; Gonzalez Castro, J. M.; Gopakumar, A.; Gorodetsky, M. L.; Gossan, S. E.; Gosselin, M.; Gouaty, R.; Grado, A.; Graef, C.; Granata, M.; Grant, A.; Gras, S.; Gray, C.; Greco, G.; Green, A. C.; Gretarsson, E. M.; Groot, P.; Grote, H.; Grunewald, S.; Gruning, P.; Guidi, G. M.; Guo, X.; Gupta, A.; Gupta, M. K.; Gushwa, K. E.; Gustafson, E. K.; Gustafson, R.; Halim, O.; Hall, B. R.; Hall, E. D.; Hamilton, E. Z.; Hammond, G.; Haney, M.; Hanke, M. M.; Hanks, J.; Hanna, C.; Hannam, M. D.; Hannuksela, O. A.; Hanson, J.; Hardwick, T.; Harms, J.; Harry, G. M.; Harry, I. W.; Hart, M. J.; Haster, C.-J.; Haughian, K.; Healy, J.; Heidmann, A.; Heintze, M. C.; Heitmann, H.; Hello, P.; Hemming, G.; Hendry, M.; Heng, I. S.; Hennig, J.; Heptonstall, A. W.; Heurs, M.; Hild, S.; Hinderer, T.; Hoak, D.; Hofman, D.; Holt, K.; Holz, D. E.; Hopkins, P.; Horst, C.; Hough, J.; Houston, E. A.; Howell, E. J.; Hreibi, A.; Hu, Y. M.; Huerta, E. A.; Huet, D.; Hughey, B.; Husa, S.; Huttner, S. H.; Huynh-Dinh, T.; Indik, N.; Inta, R.; Intini, G.; Isa, H. N.; Isac, J.-M.; Isi, M.; Iyer, B. R.; Izumi, K.; Jacqmin, T.; Jani, K.; Jaranowski, P.; Jawahar, S.; Jiménez-Forteza, F.; Johnson, W. W.; Jones, D. I.; Jones, R.; Jonker, R. J. G.; Ju, L.; Junker, J.; Kalaghatgi, C. V.; Kalogera, V.; Kamai, B.; Kandhasamy, S.; Kang, G.; Kanner, J. B.; Kapadia, S. J.; Karki, S.; Karvinen, K. S.; Kasprzack, M.; Katolik, M.; Katsavounidis, E.; Katzman, W.; Kaufer, S.; Kawabe, K.; Kéfélian, F.; Keitel, D.; Kemball, A. J.; Kennedy, R.; Kent, C.; Key, J. S.; Khalili, F. Y.; Khan, I.; Khan, S.; Khan, Z.; Khazanov, E. A.; Kijbunchoo, N.; Kim, Chunglee; Kim, J. C.; Kim, K.; Kim, W.; Kim, W. S.; Kim, Y.-M.; Kimbrell, S. J.; King, E. J.; King, P. J.; Kinley-Hanlon, M.; Kirchhoff, R.; Kissel, J. S.; Kleybolte, L.; Klimenko, S.; Knowles, T. D.; Koch, P.; Koehlenbeck, S. M.; Koley, S.; Kondrashov, V.; Kontos, A.; Korobko, M.; Korth, W. Z.; Kowalska, I.; Kozak, D. B.; Krämer, C.; Kringel, V.; Krishnan, B.; Królak, A.; Kuehn, G.; Kumar, P.; Kumar, R.; Kumar, S.; Kuo, L.; Kutynia, A.; Kwang, S.; Lackey, B. D.; Lai, K. H.; Landry, M.; Lang, R. N.; Lange, J.; Lantz, B.; Lanza, R. K.; Lartaux-Vollard, A.; Lasky, P. D.; Laxen, M.; Lazzarini, A.; Lazzaro, C.; Leaci, P.; Leavey, S.; Lee, C. H.; Lee, H. K.; Lee, H. M.; Lee, H. W.; Lee, K.; Lehmann, J.; Lenon, A.; Leonardi, M.; Leroy, N.; Letendre, N.; Levin, Y.; Li, T. G. F.; Linker, S. D.; Littenberg, T. B.; Liu, J.; Lo, R. K. L.; Lockerbie, N. A.; London, L. T.; Lord, J. E.; Lorenzini, M.; Loriette, V.; Lormand, M.; Losurdo, G.; Lough, J. D.; Lousto, C. O.; Lovelace, G.; Lück, H.; Lumaca, D.; Lundgren, A. P.; Lynch, R.; Ma, Y.; Macas, R.; Macfoy, S.; Machenschalk, B.; MacInnis, M.; Macleod, D. M.; Magaña Hernandez, I.; Magaña-Sandoval, F.; Magaña Zertuche, L.; Magee, R. M.; Majorana, E.; Maksimovic, I.; Man, N.; Mandic, V.; Mangano, V.; Mansell, G. L.; Manske, M.; Mantovani, M.; Marchesoni, F.; Marion, F.; Márka, S.; Márka, Z.; Markakis, C.; Markosyan, A. S.; Markowitz, A.; Maros, E.; Marquina, A.; Martelli, F.; Martellini, L.; Martin, I. W.; Martin, R. M.; Martynov, D. V.; Mason, K.; Massera, E.; Masserot, A.; Massinger, T. J.; Masso-Reid, M.; Mastrogiovanni, S.; Matas, A.; Matichard, F.; Matone, L.; Mavalvala, N.; Mazumder, N.; McCarthy, R.; McClelland, D. E.; McCormick, S.; McCuller, L.; McGuire, S. C.; McIntyre, G.; McIver, J.; McManus, D. J.; McNeill, L.; McRae, T.; McWilliams, S. T.; Meacher, D.; Meadors, G. D.; Mehmet, M.; Meidam, J.; Mejuto-Villa, E.; Melatos, A.; Mendell, G.; Mercer, R. A.; Merilh, E. L.; Merzougui, M.; Meshkov, S.; Messenger, C.; Messick, C.; Metzdorff, R.; Meyers, P. M.; Miao, H.; Michel, C.; Middleton, H.; Mikhailov, E. E.; Milano, L.; Miller, A. L.; Miller, B. B.; Miller, J.; Millhouse, M.; Milovich-Goff, M. C.; Minazzoli, O.; Minenkov, Y.; Ming, J.; Mishra, C.; Mitra, S.; Mitrofanov, V. P.; Mitselmakher, G.; Mittleman, R.; Moffa, D.; Moggi, A.; Mogushi, K.; Mohan, M.; Mohapatra, S. R. P.; Montani, M.; Moore, C. J.; Moraru, D.; Moreno, G.; Morriss, S. R.; Mours, B.; Mow-Lowry, C. M.; Mueller, G.; Muir, A. W.; Mukherjee, Arunava; Mukherjee, D.; Mukherjee, S.; Mukund, N.; Mullavey, A.; Munch, J.; Muñiz, E. A.; Muratore, M.; Murray, P. G.; Napier, K.; Nardecchia, I.; Naticchioni, L.; Nayak, R. K.; Neilson, J.; Nelemans, G.; Nelson, T. J. N.; Nery, M.; Neunzert, A.; Nevin, L.; Newport, J. M.; Newton, G.; Ng, K. K. Y.; Nguyen, T. T.; Nichols, D.; Nielsen, A. B.; Nissanke, S.; Nitz, A.; Noack, A.; Nocera, F.; Nolting, D.; North, C.; Nuttall, L. K.; Oberling, J.; O'Dea, G. D.; Ogin, G. H.; Oh, J. J.; Oh, S. H.; Ohme, F.; Okada, M. A.; Oliver, M.; Oppermann, P.; Oram, Richard J.; O'Reilly, B.; Ormiston, R.; Ortega, L. F.; O'Shaughnessy, R.; Ossokine, S.; Ottaway, D. J.; Overmier, H.; Owen, B. J.; Pace, A. E.; Page, J.; Page, M. A.; Pai, A.; Pai, S. A.; Palamos, J. R.; Palashov, O.; Palomba, C.; Pal-Singh, A.; Pan, Howard; Pan, Huang-Wei; Pang, B.; Pang, P. T. H.; Pankow, C.; Pannarale, F.; Pant, B. C.; Paoletti, F.; Paoli, A.; Papa, M. A.; Parida, A.; Parker, W.; Pascucci, D.; Pasqualetti, A.; Passaquieti, R.; Passuello, D.; Patil, M.; Patricelli, B.; Pearlstone, B. L.; Pedraza, M.; Pedurand, R.; Pekowsky, L.; Pele, A.; Penn, S.; Perez, C. J.; Perreca, A.; Perri, L. M.; Pfeiffer, H. P.; Phelps, M.; Piccinni, O. J.; Pichot, M.; Piergiovanni, F.; Pierro, V.; Pillant, G.; Pinard, L.; Pinto, I. M.; Pirello, M.; Pitkin, M.; Poe, M.; Poggiani, R.; Popolizio, P.; Porter, E. K.; Post, A.; Powell, J.; Prasad, J.; Pratt, J. W. W.; Pratten, G.; Predoi, V.; Prestegard, T.; Prijatelj, M.; Principe, M.; Privitera, S.; Prodi, G. A.; Prokhorov, L. G.; Puncken, O.; Punturo, M.; Puppo, P.; Pürrer, M.; Qi, H.; Quetschke, V.; Quintero, E. A.; Quitzow-James, R.; Raab, F. J.; Rabeling, D. S.; Radkins, H.; Raffai, P.; Raja, S.; Rajan, C.; Rajbhandari, B.; Rakhmanov, M.; Ramirez, K. E.; Ramos-Buades, A.; Rapagnani, P.; Raymond, V.; Razzano, M.; Read, J.; Regimbau, T.; Rei, L.; Reid, S.; Reitze, D. H.; Ren, W.; Reyes, S. D.; Ricci, F.; Ricker, P. M.; Rieger, S.; Riles, K.; Rizzo, M.; Robertson, N. A.; Robie, R.; Robinet, F.; Rocchi, A.; Rolland, L.; Rollins, J. G.; Roma, V. J.; Romano, J. D.; Romano, R.; Romel, C. L.; Romie, J. H.; Rosińska, D.; Ross, M. P.; Rowan, S.; Rüdiger, A.; Ruggi, P.; Rutins, G.; Ryan, K.; Sachdev, S.; Sadecki, T.; Sadeghian, L.; Sakellariadou, M.; Salconi, L.; Saleem, M.; Salemi, F.; Samajdar, A.; Sammut, L.; Sampson, L. M.; Sanchez, E. J.; Sanchez, L. E.; Sanchis-Gual, N.; Sandberg, V.; Sanders, J. R.; Sassolas, B.; Sathyaprakash, B. S.; Saulson, P. R.; Sauter, O.; Savage, R. L.; Sawadsky, A.; Schale, P.; Scheel, M.; Scheuer, J.; Schmidt, J.; Schmidt, P.; Schnabel, R.; Schofield, R. M. S.; Schönbeck, A.; Schreiber, E.; Schuette, D.; Schulte, B. W.; Schutz, B. F.; Schwalbe, S. G.; Scott, J.; Scott, S. M.; Seidel, E.; Sellers, D.; Sengupta, A. S.; Sentenac, D.; Sequino, V.; Sergeev, A.; Shaddock, D. A.; Shaffer, T. J.; Shah, A. A.; Shahriar, M. S.; Shaner, M. B.; Shao, L.; Shapiro, B.; Shawhan, P.; Sheperd, A.; Shoemaker, D. H.; Shoemaker, D. M.; Siellez, K.; Siemens, X.; Sieniawska, M.; Sigg, D.; Silva, A. D.; Singer, L. P.; Singh, A.; Singhal, A.; Sintes, A. M.; Slagmolen, B. J. J.; Smith, B.; Smith, J. R.; Smith, R. J. E.; Somala, S.; Son, E. J.; Sonnenberg, J. A.; Sorazu, B.; Sorrentino, F.; Souradeep, T.; Spencer, A. P.; Srivastava, A. K.; Staats, K.; Staley, A.; Steinke, M.; Steinlechner, J.; Steinlechner, S.; Steinmeyer, D.; Stevenson, S. P.; Stone, R.; Stops, D. J.; Strain, K. A.; Stratta, G.; Strigin, S. E.; Strunk, A.; Sturani, R.; Stuver, A. L.; Summerscales, T. Z.; Sun, L.; Sunil, S.; Suresh, J.; Sutton, P. J.; Swinkels, B. L.; Szczepańczyk, M. J.; Tacca, M.; Tait, S. C.; Talbot, C.; Talukder, D.; Tanner, D. B.; Tápai, M.; Taracchini, A.; Tasson, J. D.; Taylor, J. A.; Taylor, R.; Tewari, S. V.; Theeg, T.; Thies, F.; Thomas, E. G.; Thomas, M.; Thomas, P.; Thorne, K. A.; Thrane, E.; Tiwari, S.; Tiwari, V.; Tokmakov, K. V.; Toland, K.; Tonelli, M.; Tornasi, Z.; Torres-Forné, A.; Torrie, C. I.; Töyrä, D.; Travasso, F.; Traylor, G.; Trinastic, J.; Tringali, M. C.; Trozzo, L.; Tsang, K. W.; Tse, M.; Tso, R.; Tsukada, L.; Tsuna, D.; Tuyenbayev, D.; Ueno, K.; Ugolini, D.; Unnikrishnan, C. S.; Urban, A. L.; Usman, S. A.; Vahlbruch, H.; Vajente, G.; Valdes, G.; van Bakel, N.; van Beuzekom, M.; van den Brand, J. F. J.; Van Den Broeck, C.; Vander-Hyde, D. C.; van der Schaaf, L.; van Heijningen, J. V.; van Veggel, A. A.; Vardaro, M.; Varma, V.; Vass, S.; Vasúth, M.; Vecchio, A.; Vedovato, G.; Veitch, J.; Veitch, P. J.; Venkateswara, K.; Venugopalan, G.; Verkindt, D.; Vetrano, F.; Viceré, A.; Viets, A. D.; Vinciguerra, S.; Vine, D. J.; Vinet, J.-Y.; Vitale, S.; Vo, T.; Vocca, H.; Vorvick, C.; Vyatchanin, S. P.; Wade, A. R.; Wade, L. E.; Wade, M.; Walet, R.; Walker, M.; Wallace, L.; Walsh, S.; Wang, G.; Wang, H.; Wang, J. Z.; Wang, W. H.; Wang, Y. F.; Ward, R. L.; Warner, J.; Was, M.; Watchi, J.; Weaver, B.; Wei, L.-W.; Weinert, M.; Weinstein, A. J.; Weiss, R.; Wen, L.; Wessel, E. K.; Weßels, P.; Westerweck, J.; Westphal, T.; Wette, K.; Whelan, J. T.; Whiting, B. F.; Whittle, C.; Wilken, D.; Williams, D.; Williams, R. D.; Williamson, A. R.; Willis, J. L.; Willke, B.; Wimmer, M. H.; Winkler, W.; Wipf, C. C.; Wittel, H.; Woan, G.; Woehler, J.; Wofford, J.; Wong, K. W. K.; Worden, J.; Wright, J. L.; Wu, D. S.; Wysocki, D. M.; Xiao, S.; Yamamoto, H.; Yancey, C. C.; Yang, L.; Yap, M. J.; Yazback, M.; Yu, Hang; Yu, Haocun; Yvert, M.; ZadroŻny, A.; Zanolin, M.; Zelenova, T.; Zendri, J.-P.; Zevin, M.; Zhang, L.; Zhang, M.; Zhang, T.; Zhang, Y.-H.; Zhao, C.; Zhou, M.; Zhou, Z.; Zhu, S. J.; Zhu, X. J.; Zucker, M. E.; Zweizig, J.; LIGO Scientific Collaboration; Virgo Collaboration

2018-03-01

The LIGO Scientific and Virgo Collaborations have announced the event GW170817, the first detection of gravitational waves from the coalescence of two neutron stars. The merger rate of binary neutron stars estimated from this event suggests that distant, unresolvable binary neutron stars create a significant astrophysical stochastic gravitational-wave background. The binary neutron star component will add to the contribution from binary black holes, increasing the amplitude of the total astrophysical background relative to previous expectations. In the Advanced LIGO-Virgo frequency band most sensitive to stochastic backgrounds (near 25 Hz), we predict a total astrophysical background with amplitude ΩGW(f =25 Hz )=1. 8-1.3+2.7×10-9 with 90% confidence, compared with ΩGW(f =25 Hz )=1. 1-0.7+1.2×10-9 from binary black holes alone. Assuming the most probable rate for compact binary mergers, we find that the total background may be detectable with a signal-to-noise-ratio of 3 after 40 months of total observation time, based on the expected timeline for Advanced LIGO and Virgo to reach their design sensitivity.

Iterative Correction Scheme Based on Discrete Cosine Transform and L1 Regularization for Fluorescence Molecular Tomography With Background Fluorescence.

PubMed

Zhang, Jiulou; Shi, Junwei; Guang, Huizhi; Zuo, Simin; Liu, Fei; Bai, Jing; Luo, Jianwen

2016-06-01

High-intensity background fluorescence is generally encountered in fluorescence molecular tomography (FMT), because of the accumulation of fluorescent probes in nontarget tissues or the existence of autofluorescence in biological tissues. The reconstruction results are affected or even distorted by the background fluorescence, especially when the distribution of fluorescent targets is relatively sparse. The purpose of this paper is to reduce the negative effect of background fluorescence on FMT reconstruction. After each iteration of the Tikhonov regularization algorithm, 3-D discrete cosine transform is adopted to filter the intermediate results. And then, a sparsity constraint step based on L1 regularization is applied to restrain the energy of the objective function. Phantom experiments with different fluorescence intensities of homogeneous and heterogeneous background are carried out to validate the performance of the proposed scheme. The results show that the reconstruction quality can be improved with the proposed iterative correction scheme. The influence of background fluorescence in FMT can be reduced effectively because of the filtering of the intermediate results, the detail preservation, and noise suppression of L1 regularization.

Upper Limits on the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background from Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run.

PubMed

Abbott, B P; Abbott, R; Abbott, T D; Abernathy, M R; Acernese, F; Ackley, K; Adams, C; Adams, T; Addesso, P; Adhikari, R X; Adya, V B; Affeldt, C; Agathos, M; Agatsuma, K; Aggarwal, N; Aguiar, O D; Aiello, L; Ain, A; Ajith, P; Allen, B; Allocca, A; Altin, P A; Ananyeva, A; Anderson, S B; Anderson, W G; Appert, S; Arai, K; Araya, M C; Areeda, J S; Arnaud, N; Arun, K G; Ascenzi, S; Ashton, G; Ast, M; Aston, S M; Astone, P; Aufmuth, P; Aulbert, C; Avila-Alvarez, A; Babak, S; Bacon, P; Bader, M K M; Baker, P T; Baldaccini, F; Ballardin, G; Ballmer, S W; Barayoga, J C; Barclay, S E; Barish, B C; Barker, D; Barone, F; Barr, B; Barsotti, L; Barsuglia, M; Barta, D; Bartlett, J; Bartos, I; Bassiri, R; Basti, A; Batch, J C; Baune, C; Bavigadda, V; Bazzan, M; Beer, C; Bejger, M; Belahcene, I; Belgin, M; Bell, A S; Berger, B K; Bergmann, G; Berry, C P L; Bersanetti, D; Bertolini, A; Betzwieser, J; Bhagwat, S; Bhandare, R; Bilenko, I A; Billingsley, G; Billman, C R; Birch, J; Birney, R; Birnholtz, O; Biscans, S; Biscoveanu, A S; Bisht, A; Bitossi, M; Biwer, C; Bizouard, M A; Blackburn, J K; Blackman, J; Blair, C D; Blair, D G; Blair, R M; Bloemen, S; Bock, O; Boer, M; Bogaert, G; Bohe, A; Bondu, F; Bonnand, R; Boom, B A; Bork, R; Boschi, V; Bose, S; Bouffanais, Y; Bozzi, A; Bradaschia, C; Brady, P R; Braginsky, V B; Branchesi, M; Brau, J E; Briant, T; Brillet, A; Brinkmann, M; Brisson, V; Brockill, P; Broida, J E; Brooks, A F; Brown, D A; Brown, D D; Brown, N M; Brunett, S; Buchanan, C C; Buikema, A; Bulik, T; Bulten, H J; Buonanno, A; Buskulic, D; Buy, C; Byer, R L; Cabero, M; Cadonati, L; Cagnoli, G; Cahillane, C; Calderón Bustillo, J; Callister, T A; Calloni, E; Camp, J B; Campbell, W; Canepa, M; Cannon, K C; Cao, H; Cao, J; Capano, C D; Capocasa, E; Carbognani, F; Caride, S; Casanueva Diaz, J; Casentini, C; Caudill, S; Cavaglià, M; Cavalier, F; Cavalieri, R; Cella, G; Cepeda, C B; Cerboni Baiardi, L; Cerretani, G; Cesarini, E; Chamberlin, S J; Chan, M; Chao, S; Charlton, P; Chassande-Mottin, E; Cheeseboro, B D; Chen, H Y; Chen, Y; Cheng, H-P; Chincarini, A; Chiummo, A; Chmiel, T; Cho, H S; Cho, M; Chow, J H; Christensen, N; Chu, Q; Chua, A J K; Chua, S; Chung, S; Ciani, G; Clara, F; Clark, J A; Cleva, F; Cocchieri, C; Coccia, E; Cohadon, P-F; Colla, A; Collette, C G; Cominsky, L; Constancio, M; Conti, L; Cooper, S J; Corbitt, T R; Cornish, N; Corsi, A; Cortese, S; Costa, C A; Coughlin, E; Coughlin, M W; Coughlin, S B; Coulon, J-P; Countryman, S T; Couvares, P; Covas, P B; Cowan, E E; Coward, D M; Cowart, M J; Coyne, D C; Coyne, R; Creighton, J D E; Creighton, T D; Cripe, J; Crowder, S G; Cullen, T J; Cumming, A; Cunningham, L; Cuoco, E; Dal Canton, T; Danilishin, S L; D'Antonio, S; Danzmann, K; Dasgupta, A; Da Silva Costa, C F; Dattilo, V; Dave, I; Davier, M; Davies, G S; Davis, D; Daw, E J; Day, B; Day, R; De, S; DeBra, D; Debreczeni, G; Degallaix, J; De Laurentis, M; Deléglise, S; Del Pozzo, W; Denker, T; Dent, T; Dergachev, V; De Rosa, R; DeRosa, R T; DeSalvo, R; Devenson, J; Devine, R C; Dhurandhar, S; Díaz, M C; Di Fiore, L; Di Giovanni, M; Di Girolamo, T; Di Lieto, A; Di Pace, S; Di Palma, I; Di Virgilio, A; Doctor, Z; Dolique, V; Donovan, F; Dooley, K L; Doravari, S; Dorrington, I; Douglas, R; Dovale Álvarez, M; Downes, T P; Drago, M; Drever, R W P; Driggers, J C; Du, Z; Ducrot, M; Dwyer, S E; Edo, T B; Edwards, M C; Effler, A; Eggenstein, H-B; Ehrens, P; Eichholz, J; Eikenberry, S S; Essick, R C; Etienne, Z; Etzel, T; Evans, M; Evans, T M; Everett, R; Factourovich, M; Fafone, V; Fair, H; Fairhurst, S; Fan, X; Farinon, S; Farr, B; Farr, W M; Fauchon-Jones, E J; Favata, M; Fays, M; Fehrmann, H; Fejer, M M; Fernández Galiana, A; Ferrante, I; Ferreira, E C; Ferrini, F; Fidecaro, F; Fiori, I; Fiorucci, D; Fisher, R P; Flaminio, R; Fletcher, M; Fong, H; Forsyth, S S; Fournier, J-D; Frasca, S; Frasconi, F; Frei, Z; Freise, A; Frey, R; Frey, V; Fries, E M; Fritschel, P; Frolov, V V; Fulda, P; Fyffe, M; Gabbard, H; Gadre, B U; Gaebel, S M; Gair, J R; Gammaitoni, L; Gaonkar, S G; Garufi, F; Gaur, G; Gayathri, V; Gehrels, N; Gemme, G; Genin, E; Gennai, A; George, J; Gergely, L; Germain, V; Ghonge, S; Ghosh, Abhirup; Ghosh, Archisman; Ghosh, S; Giaime, J A; Giardina, K D; Giazotto, A; Gill, K; Glaefke, A; Goetz, E; Goetz, R; Gondan, L; González, G; Gonzalez Castro, J M; Gopakumar, A; Gorodetsky, M L; Gossan, S E; Gosselin, M; Gouaty, R; Grado, A; Graef, C; Granata, M; Grant, A; Gras, S; Gray, C; Greco, G; Green, A C; Groot, P; Grote, H; Grunewald, S; Guidi, G M; Guo, X; Gupta, A; Gupta, M K; Gushwa, K E; Gustafson, E K; Gustafson, R; Hacker, J J; Hall, B R; Hall, E D; Hammond, G; Haney, M; Hanke, M M; Hanks, J; Hanna, C; Hannam, M D; Hanson, J; Hardwick, T; Harms, J; Harry, G M; Harry, I W; Hart, M J; Hartman, M T; Haster, C-J; Haughian, K; Healy, J; Heidmann, A; Heintze, M C; Heitmann, H; Hello, P; Hemming, G; Hendry, M; Heng, I S; Hennig, J; Henry, J; Heptonstall, A W; Heurs, M; Hild, S; Hoak, D; Hofman, D; Holt, K; Holz, D E; Hopkins, P; Hough, J; Houston, E A; Howell, E J; Hu, Y M; Huerta, E A; Huet, D; Hughey, B; Husa, S; Huttner, S H; Huynh-Dinh, T; Indik, N; Ingram, D R; Inta, R; Isa, H N; Isac, J-M; Isi, M; Isogai, T; Iyer, B R; Izumi, K; Jacqmin, T; Jani, K; Jaranowski, P; Jawahar, S; Jiménez-Forteza, F; Johnson, W W; Jones, D I; Jones, R; Jonker, R J G; Ju, L; Junker, J; Kalaghatgi, C V; Kalogera, V; Kandhasamy, S; Kang, G; Kanner, J B; Karki, S; Karvinen, K S; Kasprzack, M; Katsavounidis, E; Katzman, W; Kaufer, S; Kaur, T; Kawabe, K; Kéfélian, F; Keitel, D; Kelley, D B; Kennedy, R; Key, J S; Khalili, F Y; Khan, I; Khan, S; Khan, Z; Khazanov, E A; Kijbunchoo, N; Kim, Chunglee; Kim, J C; Kim, Whansun; Kim, W; Kim, Y-M; Kimbrell, S J; King, E J; King, P J; Kirchhoff, R; Kissel, J S; Klein, B; Kleybolte, L; Klimenko, S; Koch, P; Koehlenbeck, S M; Koley, S; Kondrashov, V; Kontos, A; Korobko, M; Korth, W Z; Kowalska, I; Kozak, D B; Krämer, C; Kringel, V; Królak, A; Kuehn, G; Kumar, P; Kumar, R; Kuo, L; Kutynia, A; Lackey, B D; Landry, M; Lang, R N; Lange, J; Lantz, B; Lanza, R K; Lartaux-Vollard, A; Lasky, P D; Laxen, M; Lazzarini, A; Lazzaro, C; Leaci, P; Leavey, S; Lebigot, E O; Lee, C H; Lee, H K; Lee, H M; Lee, K; Lehmann, J; Lenon, A; Leonardi, M; Leong, J R; Leroy, N; Letendre, N; Levin, Y; Li, T G F; Libson, A; Littenberg, T B; Liu, J; Lockerbie, N A; Lombardi, A L; London, L T; Lord, J E; Lorenzini, M; Loriette, V; Lormand, M; Losurdo, G; Lough, J D; Lovelace, G; Lück, H; Lundgren, A P; Lynch, R; Ma, Y; Macfoy, S; Machenschalk, B; MacInnis, M; Macleod, D M; Magaña-Sandoval, F; Majorana, E; Maksimovic, I; Malvezzi, V; Man, N; Mandic, V; Mangano, V; Mansell, G L; Manske, M; Mantovani, M; Marchesoni, F; Marion, F; Márka, S; Márka, Z; Markosyan, A S; Maros, E; Martelli, F; Martellini, L; Martin, I W; Martynov, D V; Mason, K; Masserot, A; Massinger, T J; Masso-Reid, M; Mastrogiovanni, S; Matas, A; Matichard, F; Matone, L; Mavalvala, N; Mazumder, N; McCarthy, R; McClelland, D E; McCormick, S; McGrath, C; McGuire, S C; McIntyre, G; McIver, J; McManus, D J; McRae, T; McWilliams, S T; Meacher, D; Meadors, G D; Meidam, J; Melatos, A; Mendell, G; Mendoza-Gandara, D; Mercer, R A; Merilh, E L; Merzougui, M; Meshkov, S; Messenger, C; Messick, C; Metzdorff, R; Meyers, P M; Mezzani, F; Miao, H; Michel, C; Middleton, H; Mikhailov, E E; Milano, L; Miller, A L; Miller, A; Miller, B B; Miller, J; Millhouse, M; Minenkov, Y; Ming, J; Mirshekari, S; Mishra, C; Mitra, S; Mitrofanov, V P; Mitselmakher, G; Mittleman, R; Moggi, A; Mohan, M; Mohapatra, S R P; Montani, M; Moore, B C; Moore, C J; Moraru, D; Moreno, G; Morriss, S R; Mours, B; Mow-Lowry, C M; Mueller, G; Muir, A W; Mukherjee, Arunava; Mukherjee, D; Mukherjee, S; Mukund, N; Mullavey, A; Munch, J; Muniz, E A M; Murray, P G; Mytidis, A; Napier, K; Nardecchia, I; Naticchioni, L; Nelemans, G; Nelson, T J N; Neri, M; Nery, M; Neunzert, A; Newport, J M; Newton, G; Nguyen, T T; Nielsen, A B; Nissanke, S; Nitz, A; Noack, A; Nocera, F; Nolting, D; Normandin, M E N; Nuttall, L K; Oberling, J; Ochsner, E; Oelker, E; Ogin, G H; Oh, J J; Oh, S H; Ohme, F; Oliver, M; Oppermann, P; Oram, Richard J; O'Reilly, B; O'Shaughnessy, R; Ottaway, D J; Overmier, H; Owen, B J; Pace, A E; Page, J; Pai, A; Pai, S A; Palamos, J R; Palashov, O; Palomba, C; Pal-Singh, A; Pan, H; Pankow, C; Pannarale, F; Pant, B C; Paoletti, F; Paoli, A; Papa, M A; Paris, H R; Parker, W; Pascucci, D; Pasqualetti, A; Passaquieti, R; Passuello, D; Patricelli, B; Pearlstone, B L; Pedraza, M; Pedurand, R; Pekowsky, L; Pele, A; Penn, S; Perez, C J; Perreca, A; Perri, L M; Pfeiffer, H P; Phelps, M; Piccinni, O J; Pichot, M; Piergiovanni, F; Pierro, V; Pillant, G; Pinard, L; Pinto, I M; Pitkin, M; Poe, M; Poggiani, R; Popolizio, P; Post, A; Powell, J; Prasad, J; Pratt, J W W; Predoi, V; Prestegard, T; Prijatelj, M; Principe, M; Privitera, S; Prodi, G A; Prokhorov, L G; Puncken, O; Punturo, M; Puppo, P; Pürrer, M; Qi, H; Qin, J; Qiu, S; Quetschke, V; Quintero, E A; Quitzow-James, R; Raab, F J; Rabeling, D S; Radkins, H; Raffai, P; Raja, S; Rajan, C; Rakhmanov, M; Rapagnani, P; Raymond, V; Razzano, M; Re, V; Read, J; Regimbau, T; Rei, L; Reid, S; Reitze, D H; Rew, H; Reyes, S D; Rhoades, E; Ricci, F; Riles, K; Rizzo, M; Robertson, N A; Robie, R; Robinet, F; Rocchi, A; Rolland, L; Rollins, J G; Roma, V J; Romano, J D; Romano, R; Romie, J H; Rosińska, D; Rowan, S; Rüdiger, A; Ruggi, P; Ryan, K; Sachdev, S; Sadecki, T; Sadeghian, L; Sakellariadou, M; Salconi, L; Saleem, M; Salemi, F; Samajdar, A; Sammut, L; Sampson, L M; Sanchez, E J; Sandberg, V; Sanders, J R; Sassolas, B; Sathyaprakash, B S; Saulson, P R; Sauter, O; Savage, R L; Sawadsky, A; Schale, P; Scheuer, J; Schlassa, S; Schmidt, E; Schmidt, J; Schmidt, P; Schnabel, R; Schofield, R M S; Schönbeck, A; Schreiber, E; Schuette, D; Schutz, B F; Schwalbe, S G; Scott, J; Scott, S M; Sellers, D; Sengupta, A S; Sentenac, D; Sequino, V; Sergeev, A; Setyawati, Y; Shaddock, D A; Shaffer, T J; Shahriar, M S; Shapiro, B; Shawhan, P; Sheperd, A; Shoemaker, D H; Shoemaker, D M; Siellez, K; Siemens, X; Sieniawska, M; Sigg, D; Silva, A D; Singer, A; Singer, L P; Singh, A; Singh, R; Singhal, A; Sintes, A M; Slagmolen, B J J; Smith, B; Smith, J R; Smith, R J E; Son, E J; Sorazu, B; Sorrentino, F; Souradeep, T; Spencer, A P; Srivastava, A K; Staley, A; Steinke, M; Steinlechner, J; Steinlechner, S; Steinmeyer, D; Stephens, B C; Stevenson, S P; Stone, R; Strain, K A; Straniero, N; Stratta, G; Strigin, S E; Sturani, R; Stuver, A L; Summerscales, T Z; Sun, L; Sunil, S; Sutton, P J; Swinkels, B L; Szczepańczyk, M J; Tacca, M; Talukder, D; Tanner, D B; Tao, D; Tápai, M; Taracchini, A; Taylor, R; Theeg, T; Thomas, E G; Thomas, M; Thomas, P; Thorne, K A; Thrane, E; Tippens, T; Tiwari, S; Tiwari, V; Tokmakov, K V; Toland, K; Tomlinson, C; Tonelli, M; Tornasi, Z; Torrie, C I; Töyrä, D; Travasso, F; Traylor, G; Trifirò, D; Trinastic, J; Tringali, M C; Trozzo, L; Tse, M; Tso, R; Turconi, M; Tuyenbayev, D; Ugolini, D; Unnikrishnan, C S; Urban, A L; Usman, S A; Vahlbruch, H; Vajente, G; Valdes, G; van Bakel, N; van Beuzekom, M; van den Brand, J F J; Van Den Broeck, C; Vander-Hyde, D C; van der Schaaf, L; van Heijningen, J V; van Veggel, A A; Vardaro, M; Varma, V; Vass, S; Vasúth, M; Vecchio, A; Vedovato, G; Veitch, J; Veitch, P J; Venkateswara, K; Venugopalan, G; Verkindt, D; Vetrano, F; Viceré, A; Viets, A D; Vinciguerra, S; Vine, D J; Vinet, J-Y; Vitale, S; Vo, T; Vocca, H; Vorvick, C; Voss, D V; Vousden, W D; Vyatchanin, S P; Wade, A R; Wade, L E; Wade, M; Walker, M; Wallace, L; Walsh, S; Wang, G; Wang, H; Wang, M; Wang, Y; Ward, R L; Warner, J; Was, M; Watchi, J; Weaver, B; Wei, L-W; Weinert, M; Weinstein, A J; Weiss, R; Wen, L; Weßels, P; Westphal, T; Wette, K; Whelan, J T; Whiting, B F; Whittle, C; Williams, D; Williams, R D; Williamson, A R; Willis, J L; Willke, B; Wimmer, M H; Winkler, W; Wipf, C C; Wittel, H; Woan, G; Woehler, J; Worden, J; Wright, J L; Wu, D S; Wu, G; Yam, W; Yamamoto, H; Yancey, C C; Yap, M J; Yu, Hang; Yu, Haocun; Yvert, M; Zadrożny, A; Zangrando, L; Zanolin, M; Zendri, J-P; Zevin, M; Zhang, L; Zhang, M; Zhang, T; Zhang, Y; Zhao, C; Zhou, M; Zhou, Z; Zhu, S J; Zhu, X J; Zucker, M E; Zweizig, J

2017-03-24

A wide variety of astrophysical and cosmological sources are expected to contribute to a stochastic gravitational-wave background. Following the observations of GW150914 and GW151226, the rate and mass of coalescing binary black holes appear to be greater than many previous expectations. As a result, the stochastic background from unresolved compact binary coalescences is expected to be particularly loud. We perform a search for the isotropic stochastic gravitational-wave background using data from Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory's (aLIGO) first observing run. The data display no evidence of a stochastic gravitational-wave signal. We constrain the dimensionless energy density of gravitational waves to be Ω_{0}<1.7×10^{-7} with 95% confidence, assuming a flat energy density spectrum in the most sensitive part of the LIGO band (20-86 Hz). This is a factor of ∼33 times more sensitive than previous measurements. We also constrain arbitrary power-law spectra. Finally, we investigate the implications of this search for the background of binary black holes using an astrophysical model for the background.

PREDICTION METRICS FOR CHEMICAL DETECTION IN LONG-WAVE INFRARED HYPERSPECTRAL IMAGERY

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Chilton, M.; Walsh, S.J.; Daly, D.S.

2009-01-01

Natural and man-made chemical processes generate gaseous plumes that may be detected by hyperspectral imaging, which produces a matrix of spectra affected by the chemical constituents of the plume, the atmosphere, the bounding background surface and instrument noise. A physics-based model of observed radiance shows that high chemical absorbance and low background emissivity result in a larger chemical signature. Using simulated hyperspectral imagery, this study investigated two metrics which exploited this relationship. The objective was to explore how well the chosen metrics predicted when a chemical would be more easily detected when comparing one background type to another. The twomore » predictor metrics correctly rank ordered the backgrounds for about 94% of the chemicals tested as compared to the background rank orders from Whitened Matched Filtering (a detection algorithm) of the simulated spectra. These results suggest that the metrics provide a reasonable summary of how the background emissivity and chemical absorbance interact to produce the at-sensor chemical signal. This study suggests that similarly effective predictors that account for more general physical conditions may be derived.« less

Low-background Gamma Spectroscopy at Sanford Underground Laboratory

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chiller, Christopher; Alanson, Angela; Mei, Dongming

2014-03-01

Rare-event physics experiments require the use of material with unprecedented radio-purity. Low background counting assay capabilities and detectors are critical for determining the sensitivity of the planned ultra-low background experiments. A low-background counting, LBC, facility has been built at the 4850-Level Davis Campus of the Sanford Underground Research Facility to perform screening of material and detector parts. Like many rare event physics experiments, our LBC uses lead shielding to mitigate background radiation. Corrosion of lead brick shielding in subterranean installations creates radon plate-out potential as well as human risks of ingestible or respirable lead compounds. Our LBC facilities employ an exposed lead shield requiring clean smooth surfaces. A cleaning process of low-activity silica sand blasting and borated paraffin hot coating preservation was employed to guard against corrosion due to chemical and biological exposures. The resulting lead shield maintains low background contribution integrity while fully encapsulating the lead surface. We report the performance of the current LBC and a plan to develop a large germanium well detector for PMT screening. Support provided by Sd governors research center-CUBED, NSF PHY-0758120 and Sanford Lab.

The estimation of background production by cosmic rays in high-energy gamma ray telescopes

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Edwards, H. L.; Nolan, P. L.; Lin, Y. C.; Koch, D. G.; Bertsch, D. L.; Fichtel, C. E.; Hartman, R. C.; Hunter, S. D.; Kniffen, D. A.; Hughes, E. B.

1991-01-01

A calculational method of estimating instrumental background in high-energy gamma-ray telescopes, using the hadronic Monte Carlo code FLUKA87, is presented. The method is applied to the SAS-2 and EGRET telescope designs and is also used to explore the level of background to be expected for alternative configurations of the proposed GRITS telescope, which adapts the external fuel tank of a Space Shuttle as a gamma-ray telescope with a very large collecting area. The background produced in proton-beam tests of EGRET is much less than the predicted level. This discrepancy appears to be due to the FLUKA87 inability to transport evaporation nucleons. It is predicted that the background in EGRET will be no more than 4-10 percent of the extragalactic diffuse gamma radiation.

Expected Backgrounds of the BetaCage, an Ultra-sensitive Screener for Surface Contamination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, Boqian; Bunker, Raymond; Schnee, Richard; Bowles, Michael; Kos, Marek; Ahmed, Zeeshan; Golwala, Sunil; Nelson, Robert; Grant, Darren

2013-04-01

Material screening for low-energy betas and alphas is necessary for rare-event-search experiments, such as dark matter and neutrinoless double-beta decay searches where surface radiocontamination has become a significant background. The BetaCage, a gaseous neon time-projection chamber, has been proposed as a screener for emitters of low-energy betas and alphas to which existing screening facilities are insufficiently sensitive. The expected sensitivity is 0.1 betas / (keV m^2 day) and 0.1 alphas / (m^2 day). Expected backgrounds are dominated by Compton scattering of external photons in the sample to be screened; radioassays and simulations indicate backgrounds from detector materials and radon daughters should be subdominant. We will report on details of the background simulations and the detector design that allows discrimination to reach these sensitivity levels.

Surface alpha backgrounds from plate-out of radon progeny

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Perumpilly, Gopakumar; Guiseppe, Vincente

2012-03-01

Low-background detectors operating underground aim for unprecedented low levels of radioactive backgrounds. Although the radioactive decays of airborne radon (particularly Rn-222) and its subsequent daughters present in an experiment are potential backgrounds, more troublesome is the deposition of radon daughters on detector materials. Exposure to radon at any stage of assembly of an experiment can result in surface contamination by daughters supported by the long half life (22 y) of Pb-210 on sensitive locations of a detector. We have developed a model of the radon progeny implantation using Geant4 simulations based on the low energy nuclear recoil process. We explore the alpha decays from implanted progeny on a Ge crystal as potential backgrounds for a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment. Results of the simulations validated with alpha spectrum measurement of plate-out samples will be presented.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Lavinto, Mikko; Räsänen, Syksy; Szybka, Sebastian J., E-mail: mikko.lavinto@helsinki.fi, E-mail: syksy.rasanen@iki.fi, E-mail: sebastian.szybka@uj.edu.pl

We construct the first exact statistically homogeneous and isotropic cosmological solution in which inhomogeneity has a significant effect on the expansion rate. The universe is modelled as a Swiss Cheese, with dust FRW background and inhomogeneous holes. We show that if the holes are described by the quasispherical Szekeres solution, their average expansion rate is close to the background under certain rather general conditions. We specialise to spherically symmetric holes and violate one of these conditions. As a result, the average expansion rate at late times grows relative to the background, \\ie backreaction is significant. The holes fit smoothly intomore » the background, but are larger on the inside than a corresponding background domain: we call them Tardis regions. We study light propagation, find the effective equations of state and consider the relation of the spatially averaged expansion rate to the redshift and the angular diameter distance.« less

On the background independence of two-dimensional topological gravity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Imbimbo, Camillo

1995-04-01

We formulate two-dimensional topological gravity in a background covariant Lagrangian framework. We derive the Ward identities which characterize the dependence of physical correlators on the background world-sheet metric defining the gauge-slice. We point out the existence of an "anomaly" in Ward identitites involving correlators of observables with higher ghost number. This "anomaly" represents an obstruction for physical correlators to be globally defined forms on moduli space which could be integrated in a background independent way. Starting from the anomalous Ward identities, we derive "descent" equations whose solutions are cocycles of the Lie algebra of the diffeomorphism group with values in the space of local forms on the moduli space. We solve the descent equations and provide explicit formulas for the cocycles, which allow for the definition of background independent integrals of physical correlators on the moduli space.

Background radiation measurements at high power research reactors

DOE PAGES

Ashenfelter, J.; Yeh, M.; Balantekin, B.; ...

2015-10-23

Research reactors host a wide range of activities that make use of the intense neutron fluxes generated at these facilities. Recent interest in performing measurements with relatively low event rates, e.g. reactor antineutrino detection, at these facilities necessitates a detailed understanding of background radiation fields. Both reactor-correlated and naturally occurring background sources are potentially important, even at levels well below those of importance for typical activities. Here we describe a comprehensive series of background assessments at three high-power research reactors, including γ-ray, neutron, and muon measurements. For each facility we describe the characteristics and identify the sources of the backgroundmore » fields encountered. Furthermore, the general understanding gained of background production mechanisms and their relationship to facility features will prove valuable for the planning of any sensitive measurement conducted therein.« less

Modeling surface backgrounds from radon progeny plate-out

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Perumpilly, G.; Guiseppe, V. E.; Snyder, N.

2013-08-08

The next generation low-background detectors operating deep underground aim for unprecedented low levels of radioactive backgrounds. The surface deposition and subsequent implantation of radon progeny in detector materials will be a source of energetic background events. We investigate Monte Carlo and model-based simulations to understand the surface implantation profile of radon progeny. Depending on the material and region of interest of a rare event search, these partial energy depositions can be problematic. Motivated by the use of Ge crystals for the detection of neutrinoless double-beta decay, we wish to understand the detector response of surface backgrounds from radon progeny. Wemore » look at the simulation of surface decays using a validated implantation distribution based on nuclear recoils and a realistic surface texture. Results of the simulations and measured α spectra are presented.« less

Mixture Modeling for Background and Sources Separation in x-ray Astronomical Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Guglielmetti, Fabrizia; Fischer, Rainer; Dose, Volker

2004-11-01

A probabilistic technique for the joint estimation of background and sources in high-energy astrophysics is described. Bayesian probability theory is applied to gain insight into the coexistence of background and sources through a probabilistic two-component mixture model, which provides consistent uncertainties of background and sources. The present analysis is applied to ROSAT PSPC data (0.1-2.4 keV) in Survey Mode. A background map is modelled using a Thin-Plate spline. Source probability maps are obtained for each pixel (45 arcsec) independently and for larger correlation lengths, revealing faint and extended sources. We will demonstrate that the described probabilistic method allows for detection improvement of faint extended celestial sources compared to the Standard Analysis Software System (SASS) used for the production of the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) catalogues.

Searching for the stochastic gravitational-wave background in Advanced LIGO's first observing run

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Meyers, Patrick

2017-01-01

One of the most exciting prospects of gravitational-wave astrophysics and cosmology is the measurement of the stochastic gravitational-wave background. In this talk, we discuss the most recent searches for a stochastic background with Advanced LIGO--the first performed with advanced interferometric detectors. We search for an isotropic as well as an anisotropic background, and perform a directed search for persistent gravitational waves in three promising directions. Additionally, with the accumulation of more Advanced LIGO data and the anticipated addition of Advanced Virgo to the network in 2017, we can also start to consider what the recent gravitational-wave detections--GW150914 and GW151226--tell us about when we can expect a detection of the stochastic background from binary black hole coalescences. For the LIGO Scientific Collaboration and the Virgo Collaboration.

Separating astrophysical sources from indirect dark matter signals

PubMed Central

Siegal-Gaskins, Jennifer M.

2015-01-01

Indirect searches for products of dark matter annihilation and decay face the challenge of identifying an uncertain and subdominant signal in the presence of uncertain backgrounds. Two valuable approaches to this problem are (i) using analysis methods which take advantage of different features in the energy spectrum and angular distribution of the signal and backgrounds and (ii) more accurately characterizing backgrounds, which allows for more robust identification of possible signals. These two approaches are complementary and can be significantly strengthened when used together. I review the status of indirect searches with gamma rays using two promising targets, the Inner Galaxy and the isotropic gamma-ray background. For both targets, uncertainties in the properties of backgrounds are a major limitation to the sensitivity of indirect searches. I then highlight approaches which can enhance the sensitivity of indirect searches using these targets. PMID:25304638

Investigating Galactic Structure with COBE/DIRBE and Simulation

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cohen, Martin

1999-01-01

In this work I applied the current version of the SKY model of the point source sky to the interpretation of the diffuse all-sky emission observed by COBE/DIRBE (Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite/Diffuse Infrared Background Experiment). The goal was to refine the SKY model using the all-sky DIRBE maps of the Galaxy, in order that a search could be made for an isotropic cosmic background."Faint Source Model" [FSM] was constructed to remove Galactic fore ground stars from the ZSMA products. The FSM mimics SKY version 1 but it was inadequate to seek cosmic background emission because of the sizeable residual emission in the ZSMA products after this starlight subtraction. At this point I can only support that such models are currently inadequate to reveal a cosmic background. Even SKY5 yields the same disappointing result.

Effects of saturation and contrast polarity on the figure-ground organization of color on gray.

PubMed

Dresp-Langley, Birgitta; Reeves, Adam

2014-01-01

Poorly saturated colors are closer to a pure gray than strongly saturated ones and, therefore, appear less "colorful."Color saturation is effectively manipulated in the visual arts for balancing conflicting sensations and moods and for inducing the perception of relative distance in the pictorial plane. While perceptual science has proven quite clearly that the luminance contrast of any hue acts as a self-sufficient cue to relative depth in visual images, the role of color saturation in such figure-ground organization has remained unclear. We presented configurations of colored inducers on gray "test" backgrounds to human observers. Luminance and saturation of the inducers was uniform on each trial, but varied across trials. We ran two separate experimental tasks. In the relative background brightness task, perceptual judgments indicated whether the apparent brightness of the gray test background contrasted with, assimilated to, or appeared equal (no effect) to that of a comparison background with the same luminance contrast. Contrast polarity and its interaction with color saturation affected response proportions for contrast, assimilation and no effect. In the figure-ground task, perceptual judgments indicated whether the inducers appeared to lie in front of, behind, or in the same depth with the background. Strongly saturated inducers produced significantly larger proportions of foreground effects indicating that these inducers stand out as figure against the background. Weakly saturated inducers produced significantly larger proportions of background effects, indicating that these inducers are perceived as lying behind the backgrounds. We infer that color saturation modulates figure-ground organization, both directly by determining relative inducer depth, and indirectly, and in interaction with contrast polarity, by affecting apparent background brightness. The results point toward a hitherto undocumented functional role of color saturation in the genesis of form, and in particular figure-ground percepts in the absence of chromatostereopsis.

The nature of the near-infrared interline sky background using fibre Bragg grating OH suppression

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Trinh, Christopher Q.; Ellis, Simon C.; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Horton, Anthony J.; Lawrence, Jon S.; Leon-Saval, Sergio G.

2013-07-01

We analyse the near-infrared interline sky background, OH and O2 emission in 19 h of H-band observations with the GNOSIS OH-suppression unit and the IRIS2 spectrograph at the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope. We find that the long-term behaviour of OH emission is best described by a gradual decrease during the first half of the night followed by a gradual increase during the second half of the night following the behaviour of the solar elevation angle. We measure the interline background at 1.520 μm where the instrumental thermal background is very low and study its variation with zenith distance, time after sunset, ecliptic latitude, lunar zenith distance and lunar distance to determine the presence of non-thermal atmospheric emission, zodiacal scattered light and scattered moonlight. Zodiacal scattered light is too faint to be detected in the summed observations. Scattered moonlight due to Mie scattering by atmospheric aerosols is seen at small lunar distances (ρ ≲ 11°), but is otherwise too faint to detect. Except at very small lunar distances the interline background at a resolving power of R ≈ 2400 when using OH-suppression fibres is dominated by a non-thermal atmospheric source with a temporal behaviour that resembles atmospheric OH emission, suggesting that the interline background contains instrumentally scattered OH. However, the interline background dims more rapidly than OH early in the night, suggesting contributions from rapid dimming molecules. The absolute interline background is 560 ± 120 photons s-1 m-2 μm- 1 arcsec-2 under dark conditions. This value is similar to previous measurements without OH suppression, suggesting that non-suppressed atmospheric emission is responsible for the interline background level. Future OH-suppression fibre designs may address this by the suppression of more sky lines using more accurate sky-line measurements taken from high-resolution spectra.

Background noise exerts diverse effects on the cortical encoding of foreground sounds.

PubMed

Malone, B J; Heiser, Marc A; Beitel, Ralph E; Schreiner, Christoph E

2017-08-01

In natural listening conditions, many sounds must be detected and identified in the context of competing sound sources, which function as background noise. Traditionally, noise is thought to degrade the cortical representation of sounds by suppressing responses and increasing response variability. However, recent studies of neural network models and brain slices have shown that background synaptic noise can improve the detection of signals. Because acoustic noise affects the synaptic background activity of cortical networks, it may improve the cortical responses to signals. We used spike train decoding techniques to determine the functional effects of a continuous white noise background on the responses of clusters of neurons in auditory cortex to foreground signals, specifically frequency-modulated sweeps (FMs) of different velocities, directions, and amplitudes. Whereas the addition of noise progressively suppressed the FM responses of some cortical sites in the core fields with decreasing signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs), the stimulus representation remained robust or was even significantly enhanced at specific SNRs in many others. Even though the background noise level was typically not explicitly encoded in cortical responses, significant information about noise context could be decoded from cortical responses on the basis of how the neural representation of the foreground sweeps was affected. These findings demonstrate significant diversity in signal in noise processing even within the core auditory fields that could support noise-robust hearing across a wide range of listening conditions. NEW & NOTEWORTHY The ability to detect and discriminate sounds in background noise is critical for our ability to communicate. The neural basis of robust perceptual performance in noise is not well understood. We identified neuronal populations in core auditory cortex of squirrel monkeys that differ in how they process foreground signals in background noise and that may contribute to robust signal representation and discrimination in acoustic environments with prominent background noise. Copyright © 2017 the American Physiological Society.

Effects of saturation and contrast polarity on the figure-ground organization of color on gray

PubMed Central

Dresp-Langley, Birgitta; Reeves, Adam

2014-01-01

Poorly saturated colors are closer to a pure gray than strongly saturated ones and, therefore, appear less “colorful.”Color saturation is effectively manipulated in the visual arts for balancing conflicting sensations and moods and for inducing the perception of relative distance in the pictorial plane. While perceptual science has proven quite clearly that the luminance contrast of any hue acts as a self-sufficient cue to relative depth in visual images, the role of color saturation in such figure-ground organization has remained unclear. We presented configurations of colored inducers on gray “test” backgrounds to human observers. Luminance and saturation of the inducers was uniform on each trial, but varied across trials. We ran two separate experimental tasks. In the relative background brightness task, perceptual judgments indicated whether the apparent brightness of the gray test background contrasted with, assimilated to, or appeared equal (no effect) to that of a comparison background with the same luminance contrast. Contrast polarity and its interaction with color saturation affected response proportions for contrast, assimilation and no effect. In the figure-ground task, perceptual judgments indicated whether the inducers appeared to lie in front of, behind, or in the same depth with the background. Strongly saturated inducers produced significantly larger proportions of foreground effects indicating that these inducers stand out as figure against the background. Weakly saturated inducers produced significantly larger proportions of background effects, indicating that these inducers are perceived as lying behind the backgrounds. We infer that color saturation modulates figure-ground organization, both directly by determining relative inducer depth, and indirectly, and in interaction with contrast polarity, by affecting apparent background brightness. The results point toward a hitherto undocumented functional role of color saturation in the genesis of form, and in particular figure-ground percepts in the absence of chromatostereopsis. PMID:25339931

Radionuclide Concentrations in Honey Bees from Area G at TA-54 during 1999

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

T. K. Haarmann; P. R. Fresquez

Honey bees were collected from two colonies located at Los Alamos National Laboratory's Area G, Technical Area 54, and from one control (background) colony located near Jemez Springs, NM. Samples were analyzed for various radionuclides. Area G sample results from both colonies were higher than the upper (95%) level background concentration for {sup 3}H. Sample results from one colony were higher than the upper (95%) level background concentration for total uranium, while sample results from the other colony were higher than the upper (95%) level background concentration for {sup 90}Sr.

Mitigation of hard x-ray background in backlit pinhole imagers

DOE PAGES

Fein, J. R.; Keiter, P. A.; Holloway, J. P.; ...

2016-09-16

Experiments were performed to mitigate the hard x-ray background commonly observed in backlit pinhole imagers. The material of the scaffold holding the primary backlighter foil was varied to reduce the laser-plasma instabilities responsible for hot electrons and resulting hard x-ray background. Radiographic measurements with image plates showed a factor of >25 decrease in x-rays between 30 and 67 keV when going from a plastic to Al or V scaffold. Here, a potential design using V scaffold offers a signal-to-background ratio of 6:1, a factor of 2 greater than using the bare plastic scaffold.

Mathematical background and attitudes toward statistics in a sample of Spanish college students.

PubMed

Carmona, José; Martínez, Rafael J; Sánchez, Manuel

2005-08-01

To examine the relation of mathematical background and initial attitudes toward statistics of Spanish college students in social sciences the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics was given to 827 students. Multivariate analyses tested the effects of two indicators of mathematical background (amount of exposure and achievement in previous courses) on the four subscales. Analysis suggested grades in previous courses are more related to initial attitudes toward statistics than the number of mathematics courses taken. Mathematical background was related with students' affective responses to statistics but not with their valuing of statistics. Implications of possible research are discussed.

Effect of Background Pressure on the Plasma Oscillation Characteristics of the HiVHAc Hall Thruster

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huang, Wensheng; Kamhawi, Hani; Lobbia, Robert B.; Brown, Daniel L.

2014-01-01

During a component compatibility test of the NASA HiVHAc Hall thruster, a high-speed camera and a set of high-speed Langmuir probes were implemented to study the effect of varying facility background pressure on thruster operation. The results show a rise in the oscillation frequency of the breathing mode with rising background pressure, which is hypothesized to be due to a shortening accelerationionization zone. An attempt is made to apply a simplified ingestion model to the data. The combined results are used to estimate the maximum acceptable background pressure for performance and wear testing.

Adaptive color artwork

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Beretta, Giordano

2007-01-01

The words in a document are often supported, illustrated, and enriched by visuals. When color is used, some of it is used to define the document's identity and is therefore strictly controlled in the design process. The result of this design process is a "color specification sheet," which must be created for every background color. While in traditional publishing there are only a few backgrounds, in variable data publishing a larger number of backgrounds can be used. We present an algorithm that nudges the colors in a visual to be distinct from a background while preserving the visual's general color character.

Automatic background updating for video-based vehicle detection

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hu, Chunhai; Li, Dongmei; Liu, Jichuan

2008-03-01

Video-based vehicle detection is one of the most valuable techniques for the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). The widely used video-based vehicle detection technique is the background subtraction method. The key problem of this method is how to subtract and update the background effectively. In this paper an efficient background updating scheme based on Zone-Distribution for vehicle detection is proposed to resolve the problems caused by sudden camera perturbation, sudden or gradual illumination change and the sleeping person problem. The proposed scheme is robust and fast enough to satisfy the real-time constraints of vehicle detection.

Anomalous cosmic-microwave-background polarization and gravitational chirality.

PubMed

Contaldi, Carlo R; Magueijo, João; Smolin, Lee

2008-10-03

We consider the possibility that gravity breaks parity, with left and right-handed gravitons coupling to matter with a different Newton's constant and show that this would affect their zero-point vacuum fluctuations during inflation. Should there be a cosmic background of gravity waves, the effect would translate into anomalous cosmic microwave background polarization. Nonvanishing temperature-magnetic (TB) mode [and electric-magnetic mode] components emerge, revealing interesting experimental targets. Indeed, if reasonable chirality is present a TB measurement would provide the easiest way to detect a gravitational wave background. We speculate on the theoretical implications of such an observation.

A post-reconstruction method to correct cupping artifacts in cone beam breast computed tomography

PubMed Central

Altunbas, M. C.; Shaw, C. C.; Chen, L.; Lai, C.; Liu, X.; Han, T.; Wang, T.

2007-01-01

In cone beam breast computed tomography (CT), scattered radiation leads to nonuniform biasing of CT numbers known as a cupping artifact. Besides being visual distractions, cupping artifacts appear as background nonuniformities, which impair efficient gray scale windowing and pose a problem in threshold based volume visualization/segmentation. To overcome this problem, we have developed a background nonuniformity correction method specifically designed for cone beam breast CT. With this technique, the cupping artifact is modeled as an additive background signal profile in the reconstructed breast images. Due to the largely circularly symmetric shape of a typical breast, the additive background signal profile was also assumed to be circularly symmetric. The radial variation of the background signals were estimated by measuring the spatial variation of adipose tissue signals in front view breast images. To extract adipose tissue signals in an automated manner, a signal sampling scheme in polar coordinates and a background trend fitting algorithm were implemented. The background fits compared with targeted adipose tissue signal value (constant throughout the breast volume) to get an additive correction value for each tissue voxel. To test the accuracy, we applied the technique to cone beam CT images of mastectomy specimens. After correction, the images demonstrated significantly improved signal uniformity in both front and side view slices. The reduction of both intra-slice and inter-slice variations in adipose tissue CT numbers supported our observations. PMID:17822018

Background concentrations for high resolution satellite observing systems of methane

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Benmergui, J. S.; Propp, A. M.; Turner, A. J.; Wofsy, S. C.

2017-12-01

Emerging satellite technologies promise to measure total column dry-air mole fractions of methane (XCH4) at resolutions on the order of a kilometer. XCH4 is linearly related to regional methane emissions through enhancements in the mixed layer, giving these satellites the ability to constrain emissions at unprecedented resolution. However, XCH4 is also sensitive to variability in transport of upwind concentrations (the "background concentration"). Variations in the background concentration are caused by synoptic scale transport in both the free troposphere and the stratosphere, as well as the rate of methane oxidation. Misspecification of the background concentration is aliased onto retrieved emissions as bias. This work explores several methods of specifying the background concentration for high resolution satellite observations of XCH4. We conduct observing system simulation experiments (OSSEs) that simulate the retrieval of emissions in the Barnett Shale using observations from a 1.33 km resolution XCH4 imaging satellite. We test background concentrations defined (1) from an external continental-scale model, (2) using pixels along the edge of the image as a boundary value, (3) using differences between adjacent pixels, and (4) using differences between the same pixel separated by one hour in time. We measure success using the accuracy of the retrieval, the potential for bias induced by misspecification of the background, and the computational expedience of the method. Pathological scenarios are given to each method.

Large-scale weakly supervised object localization via latent category learning.

PubMed

Chong Wang; Kaiqi Huang; Weiqiang Ren; Junge Zhang; Maybank, Steve

2015-04-01

Localizing objects in cluttered backgrounds is challenging under large-scale weakly supervised conditions. Due to the cluttered image condition, objects usually have large ambiguity with backgrounds. Besides, there is also a lack of effective algorithm for large-scale weakly supervised localization in cluttered backgrounds. However, backgrounds contain useful latent information, e.g., the sky in the aeroplane class. If this latent information can be learned, object-background ambiguity can be largely reduced and background can be suppressed effectively. In this paper, we propose the latent category learning (LCL) in large-scale cluttered conditions. LCL is an unsupervised learning method which requires only image-level class labels. First, we use the latent semantic analysis with semantic object representation to learn the latent categories, which represent objects, object parts or backgrounds. Second, to determine which category contains the target object, we propose a category selection strategy by evaluating each category's discrimination. Finally, we propose the online LCL for use in large-scale conditions. Evaluation on the challenging PASCAL Visual Object Class (VOC) 2007 and the large-scale imagenet large-scale visual recognition challenge 2013 detection data sets shows that the method can improve the annotation precision by 10% over previous methods. More importantly, we achieve the detection precision which outperforms previous results by a large margin and can be competitive to the supervised deformable part model 5.0 baseline on both data sets.

Selling a gun to a stranger without a background check: acceptable behaviour?

PubMed

Hemenway, David; Azrael, Deborah; Miller, Matthew

2018-06-01

One way that guns get into the wrong hands is via gun sales without a background check. While the large majority of Americans support laws requiring universal background checks, no prior study has assessed whether Americans think it is acceptable behaviour to sell a gun to a stranger without a background check, whether or not there is a law against it. We sponsored a nationally representative survey of over 3900 American adults, oversampling gun owners, using an online panel provided by the survey firm Growth for Knowledge. Over 72% of American adults agree or strongly agree with the statement that 'whether it is legal or not, it is NOT acceptable to sell a gun to a stranger without a background check' and 11% disagree or strongly disagree. Subgroups less likely to agree are young adults, men, conservatives, those with less than a high school education and gun owners. Reducing the number of guns sold without a background check could help reduce the flow of guns to felons. Changes in normative attitudes and behaviours, as well as changes in law, could help accomplish this goal. Most Americans, including gun owners, believe selling a gun to a stranger without a background check is not acceptable behaviour. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Impacts of Central American Fires on Ozone Air Quality in Texas

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wang, S. C.; Wang, Y.; Lei, R.; Talbot, R. W.

2016-12-01

Background ozone represents the portion of ozone level in one day that cannot be reduced by local emission controls. One of the important factors causing high background ozone events is wildfires. Satellite observations have documented frequent transport of wildfire smoke from Mexico and Central America to the southern US, particularly Texas, causing haze and exceedance of fine particle matters. However, the impact of those fires on background ozone in Texas is poorly understood. In this study, the effects of the Central America fire emissions in spring (Apr-May) from 2000 to 2013 on high background ozone events in Texas are investigated and quantified. We first examine through back trajectory analysis if any high background ozone days in cities of Texas such as Houston can be traced back to fire events in Central America. The GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model and its nested-grid version over North America are used to simulate the periods of the selected cases studies of Central American fires. Long-large transport of gaseous emissions (NOx, VOCs, and CO) from Central American fires are simulated and background ozone concentrations variations in Texas region due to those fire events are also quantified through the difference in model results with and without fire emissions in Central America. Finally, this study connects those fires and high background ozone events, and also quantifies the contribution of fire emissions from Central America on Texas ozone air quality.

Hawkes process model with a time-dependent background rate and its application to high-frequency financial data.

PubMed

Omi, Takahiro; Hirata, Yoshito; Aihara, Kazuyuki

2017-07-01

A Hawkes process model with a time-varying background rate is developed for analyzing the high-frequency financial data. In our model, the logarithm of the background rate is modeled by a linear model with a relatively large number of variable-width basis functions, and the parameters are estimated by a Bayesian method. Our model can capture not only the slow time variation, such as in the intraday seasonality, but also the rapid one, which follows a macroeconomic news announcement. By analyzing the tick data of the Nikkei 225 mini, we find that (i) our model is better fitted to the data than the Hawkes models with a constant background rate or a slowly varying background rate, which have been commonly used in the field of quantitative finance; (ii) the improvement in the goodness-of-fit to the data by our model is significant especially for sessions where considerable fluctuation of the background rate is present; and (iii) our model is statistically consistent with the data. The branching ratio, which quantifies the level of the endogeneity of markets, estimated by our model is 0.41, suggesting the relative importance of exogenous factors in the market dynamics. We also demonstrate that it is critically important to appropriately model the time-dependent background rate for the branching ratio estimation.

Background staining of visualization systems in immunohistochemistry: comparison of the Avidin-Biotin Complex system and the EnVision+ system.

PubMed

Vosse, Bettine A H; Seelentag, Walter; Bachmann, Astrid; Bosman, Fred T; Yan, Pu

2007-03-01

The aim of this study was to evaluate specific immunostaining and background staining in formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded human tissues with the 2 most frequently used immunohistochemical detection systems, Avidin-Biotin-Peroxidase (ABC) and EnVision+. A series of fixed tissues, including breast, colon, kidney, larynx, liver, lung, ovary, pancreas, prostate, stomach, and tonsil, was used in the study. Three monoclonal antibodies, 1 against a nuclear antigen (Ki-67), 1 against a cytoplasmic antigen (cytokeratin), and 1 against a cytoplasmic and membrane-associated antigen and a polyclonal antibody against a nuclear and cytoplasmic antigen (S-100) were selected for these studies. When the ABC system was applied, immunostaining was performed with and without blocking of endogenous avidin-binding activity. The intensity of specific immunostaining and the percentage of stained cells were comparable for the 2 detection systems. The use of ABC caused widespread cytoplasmic and rare nuclear background staining in a variety of normal and tumor cells. A very strong background staining was observed in colon, gastric mucosa, liver, and kidney. Blocking avidin-binding capacity reduced background staining, but complete blocking was difficult to attain. With the EnVision+ system no background staining occurred. Given the efficiency of the detection, equal for both systems or higher with EnVision+, and the significant background problem with ABC, we advocate the routine use of the EnVision+ system.

Consistent compactification of double field theory on non-geometric flux backgrounds

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hassler, Falk; Lüst, Dieter

2014-05-01

In this paper, we construct non-trivial solutions to the 2 D-dimensional field equations of Double Field Theory (DFT) by using a consistent Scherk-Schwarz ansatz. The ansatz identifies 2( D - d) internal directions with a twist U M N which is directly connected to the covariant fluxes ABC . It exhibits 2( D - d) linear independent generalized Killing vectors K I J and gives rise to a gauged supergravity in d dimensions. We analyze the covariant fluxes and the corresponding gauged supergravity with a Minkowski vacuum. We calculate fluctuations around such vacua and show how they gives rise to massive scalars field and vectors field with a non-abelian gauge algebra. Because DFT is a background independent theory, these fields should directly correspond the string excitations in the corresponding background. For ( D - d) = 3 we perform a complete scan of all allowed covariant fluxes and find two different kinds of backgrounds: the single and the double elliptic case. The later is not T-dual to a geometric background and cannot be transformed to a geometric setting by a field redefinition either. While this background fulfills the strong constraint, it is still consistent with the Killing vectors depending on the coordinates and the winding coordinates, thereby giving a non-geometric patching. This background can therefore not be described in Supergravity or Generalized Geometry.

Quadrant III RFI draft report: Appendix B-I, Volume 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-12-01

In order to determine the nature and extent of contamination at a RCRA site it is often necessary to investigate and characterize the chemical composition of the medium in question that represents background conditions. Background is defined as current conditions present at a site which are unaffected by past treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste (OEPA, 1991). The background composition of soils at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) site was characterized for the purpose of comparing investigative soil data to a background standard for each metal on the Target Compound List/Target Analyte List and each radiological parameter ofmore » concern in this RFI. Characterization of background compositions with respect to organic parameters was not performed because the organic parameters in the TCL/TAL are not naturally occurring at the site and because the site is not located in a highly industrialized area nor downgradient from another unrelated hazardous waste site. Characterization of the background soil composition with respect to metals and radiological parameters was performed by collecting and analyzing soil boring and hand-auger samples in areas deemed unaffected by past treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste. Criteria used in determining whether a soil sample location would be representative of the true background condition included: environmental history of the location, relation to Solid Waste Management Units (SWMU`s), prevailing wind direction, surface runoff direction, and ground-water flow direction.« less

Quadrant III RFI draft report: Appendix B-I, Volume 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1992-12-01

In order to determine the nature and extent of contamination at a RCRA site it is often necessary to investigate and characterize the chemical composition of the medium in question that represents background conditions. Background is defined as current conditions present at a site which are unaffected by past treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste (OEPA, 1991). The background composition of soils at the Portsmouth Gaseous Diffusion Plant (PORTS) site was characterized for the purpose of comparing investigative soil data to a background standard for each metal on the Target Compound List/Target Analyte List and each radiological parameter ofmore » concern in this RFI. Characterization of background compositions with respect to organic parameters was not performed because the organic parameters in the TCL/TAL are not naturally occurring at the site and because the site is not located in a highly industrialized area nor downgradient from another unrelated hazardous waste site. Characterization of the background soil composition with respect to metals and radiological parameters was performed by collecting and analyzing soil boring and hand-auger samples in areas deemed unaffected by past treatment, storage, or disposal of hazardous waste. Criteria used in determining whether a soil sample location would be representative of the true background condition included: environmental history of the location, relation to Solid Waste Management Units (SWMU's), prevailing wind direction, surface runoff direction, and ground-water flow direction.« less

A novel method to remove GPR background noise based on the similarity of non-neighboring regions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Montiel-Zafra, V.; Canadas-Quesada, F. J.; Vera-Candeas, P.; Ruiz-Reyes, N.; Rey, J.; Martinez, J.

2017-09-01

Ground penetrating radar (GPR) is a non-destructive technique that has been widely used in many areas of research, such as landmine detection or subsurface anomalies, where it is required to locate targets embedded within a background medium. One of the major challenges in the research of GPR data remains the improvement of the image quality of stone materials by means of detection of true anisotropies since most of the errors are caused by an incorrect interpretation by the users. However, it is complicated due to the interference of the horizontal background noise, e.g., the air-ground interface, that reduces the high-resolution quality of radargrams. Thus, weak or deep anisotropies are often masked by this type of noise. In order to remove the background noise obtained by GPR, this work proposes a novel background removal method assuming that the horizontal noise shows repetitive two-dimensional regions along the movement of the GPR antenna. Specifically, the proposed method, based on the non-local similarity of regions over the distance, computes similarities between different regions of the same depth in order to identify most repetitive regions using a criterion to avoid closer regions. Evaluations are performed using a set of synthetic and real GPR data. Experimental results show that the proposed method obtains promising results compared to the classic background removal techniques and the most recently published background removal methods.

DNDO Report: Predicting Solar Modulation Potentials for Modeling Cosmic Background Radiation

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Behne, Patrick Alan

The modeling of the detectability of special nuclear material (SNM) at ports and border crossings requires accurate knowledge of the background radiation at those locations. Background radiation originates from two main sources, cosmic and terrestrial. Cosmic background is produced by high-energy galactic cosmic rays (GCR) entering the atmosphere and inducing a cascade of particles that eventually impact the earth’s surface. The solar modulation potential represents one of the primary inputs to modeling cosmic background radiation. Usosokin et al. formally define solar modulation potential as “the mean energy loss [per unit charge] of a cosmic ray particle inside the heliosphere…” Modulationmore » potential, a function of elevation, location, and time, shares an inverse relationship with cosmic background radiation. As a result, radiation detector thresholds require adjustment to account for differing background levels, caused partly by differing solar modulations. Failure to do so can result in higher rates of false positives and failed detection of SNM for low and high levels of solar modulation potential, respectively. This study focuses on solar modulation’s time dependence, and seeks the best method to predict modulation for future dates using Python. To address the task of predicting future solar modulation, we utilize both non-linear least squares sinusoidal curve fitting and cubic spline interpolation. This material will be published in transactions of the ANS winter meeting of November, 2016.« less

Enhanced identification and biological validation of differential gene expression via Illumina whole-genome expression arrays through the use of the model-based background correction methodology

PubMed Central

Ding, Liang-Hao; Xie, Yang; Park, Seongmi; Xiao, Guanghua; Story, Michael D.

2008-01-01

Despite the tremendous growth of microarray usage in scientific studies, there is a lack of standards for background correction methodologies, especially in single-color microarray platforms. Traditional background subtraction methods often generate negative signals and thus cause large amounts of data loss. Hence, some researchers prefer to avoid background corrections, which typically result in the underestimation of differential expression. Here, by utilizing nonspecific negative control features integrated into Illumina whole genome expression arrays, we have developed a method of model-based background correction for BeadArrays (MBCB). We compared the MBCB with a method adapted from the Affymetrix robust multi-array analysis algorithm and with no background subtraction, using a mouse acute myeloid leukemia (AML) dataset. We demonstrated that differential expression ratios obtained by using the MBCB had the best correlation with quantitative RT–PCR. MBCB also achieved better sensitivity in detecting differentially expressed genes with biological significance. For example, we demonstrated that the differential regulation of Tnfr2, Ikk and NF-kappaB, the death receptor pathway, in the AML samples, could only be detected by using data after MBCB implementation. We conclude that MBCB is a robust background correction method that will lead to more precise determination of gene expression and better biological interpretation of Illumina BeadArray data. PMID:18450815

CdZnTe Background Measurements at Balloon Altitudes with PoRTIA

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Parsons, A.; Barthelmy, S.; Bartlett, L.; Gehrels, N.; Naya, J.; Stahle, C. M.; Tueller, J.; Teegarden, B.

2003-01-01

Measurements of the CdZnTe internal background at balloon altitudes are essential to determine which physical processes make the most important background contributions. We present results from CdZnTe background measurements made by PoRTIA, a small CdZnTe balloon instrument that was flown three times in three different shielding configurations. PoRTIA was passively shielded during its first flight from Palestine, Texas and actively shielded as a piggyback instrument on the GRIS balloon experiment during its second and third flights from Alice Springs, Australia, using the thick GRIS Nal anticoincidence shield. A significant CdZnTe background reduction was achieved during the third flight with PoRTIA placed completely inside the GRIS shield and blocking crystal, and thus completely surrounded by 15 cm of Nal. A unique balloon altitude background data set is provided by CdZnTe and Ge detectors simultaneously surrounded by the same thick anticoincidence shield; the presence of a single coxial Ge detector inside the shield next to PoRTIA allowed a measurement of the ambient neutron flux inside the shield throughout the flight. These neutrons interact with the detector material to produce isomeric states of the Cd, Zn and Te nuclei that radiatively decay; calculations are presented that indicate that these decays may explain most of the fully shielded CdZnTe background.

Hawkes process model with a time-dependent background rate and its application to high-frequency financial data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Omi, Takahiro; Hirata, Yoshito; Aihara, Kazuyuki

2017-07-01

A Hawkes process model with a time-varying background rate is developed for analyzing the high-frequency financial data. In our model, the logarithm of the background rate is modeled by a linear model with a relatively large number of variable-width basis functions, and the parameters are estimated by a Bayesian method. Our model can capture not only the slow time variation, such as in the intraday seasonality, but also the rapid one, which follows a macroeconomic news announcement. By analyzing the tick data of the Nikkei 225 mini, we find that (i) our model is better fitted to the data than the Hawkes models with a constant background rate or a slowly varying background rate, which have been commonly used in the field of quantitative finance; (ii) the improvement in the goodness-of-fit to the data by our model is significant especially for sessions where considerable fluctuation of the background rate is present; and (iii) our model is statistically consistent with the data. The branching ratio, which quantifies the level of the endogeneity of markets, estimated by our model is 0.41, suggesting the relative importance of exogenous factors in the market dynamics. We also demonstrate that it is critically important to appropriately model the time-dependent background rate for the branching ratio estimation.

Background Noise Acceptance and Personality Factors Involved in Library Environment Choices by College Students

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gordon-Hickey, Susan; Lemley, Trey

2012-01-01

For decades, academic libraries made efforts to provide study environments differing in acoustic environment. The present study aimed to provide an evidence basis for this practice by comparing background noise acceptance and personality factors of two groups of college-aged students self identified as preferring quiet or background noise when…

Variation in Second Language Learners' Strategies among Non-Native English Speakers from Three Language/Culture Backgrounds

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ebsworth, Miriam Eisenstein; Tang, Frank Lixing; Razavi, Nikta; Aiello, Jacqueline

2014-01-01

This study explored the effects of cultural and linguistic background, L2 proficiency, and gender on language learning strategies for 263 college-level learners from Chinese, Russian, and Latino backgrounds. Data based on the SILL (Oxford, 2001) revealed that Russian students used significantly more strategies than the Chinese students in three…

32 CFR Appendix B to Part 86 - Criteria For Criminal History Background Check Disqualification

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 1 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Criteria For Criminal History Background Check Disqualification B Appendix B to Part 86 National Defense Department of Defense OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF DEFENSE PERSONNEL, MILITARY AND CIVILIAN CRIMINAL HISTORY BACKGROUND CHECKS ON INDIVIDUALS IN CHILD CARE SERVICES Pt...