5,856 research outputs found
A simulation-based study of the neutron backgrounds for NaI dark matter experiments
No full textAmong the direct search experiments for weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) dark matter, the DAMA experiment observed an annual modulation signal interpreted as WIMP interactions with a significance of 9.2σ. Recently, Jonathan Davis claimed that the DAMA modulation may be interpreted on the basis of the neutron scattering events induced by the muons and neutrinos together. We tried to simulate the neutron backgrounds at the Gran Sasso and Yangyang laboratory with and without the polyethylene shielding to quantify the effects of the ambient neutrons on the direct detection experiments based on the crystals. © 2015 Elsevier B.V1121sciescopu
A Retail Benchmarking Approach to Efficient Two-way Access Pricing: Two-Part Tariffs
No full textWe study a retail benchmarking approach to determine access prices for
interconnected networks. Instead of considering fixed access charges as
in the existing literature, we study access pricing rules that determine
the access price that network i pays to network j as a linear function
of the marginal costs and the retail prices set by both networks. In the
case of competition in two-part tariffs, we consider a class of access
pricing rules, similar to the optimal one under competition in linear
prices, derived by Jeon (2005), but based on average retail prices. We
show that firms choose the variable price equal to the marginal cost
under the class of rules. Therefore, the regulator can choose one among
the rules to pursue additional objectives such as consumer surplus,
network coverage or investment: in particular, we show that the
regulator can achieve static and dynamic e±ciency at the same time
Novel one-shot fluorescent aptasensor for dengue fever diagnosis using NS1-induced structural change of G-quadruplex aptamer
No full textIn this study, we proposed a new G-quadruplex (GQ)-based fluorescent aptasensor using one-shot detection of NS1 for dengue fever diagnosis. To design the aptasensor, Dengue virus-derived NS1-binding aptamer (DBA) that forms a GQ structure was developed. The DBA underwent structural destruction induced by nonstructural protein 1 (NS1), then we aimed to utilize it for optical sensing. Fluorescent detection of the NS1-dependent structural change was performed by applying a fluorescent dye; 6-carboxyfluorescein (FAM) was attached to the 5' end of DBA (5' FAM-DBA). The 5' FAM-DBA could quantitatively detect the fluorescence quenching caused by guanines upon NS1 binding, which was feasible for dengue fever diagnosis. We analyzed to understand the structural and fluorescent characteristics that are involved in the interaction between NS1 and DBA. The results suggested that the central G-tracts were rearranged to adjacent toward the FAM, and that the structure of 5' FAM-DBA bound to NS1 was expected to form base-pairing. Finally, the aptasensor with 5�� FAM-DBA was established after optimization, which contributed to the effective and rapid detection. The aptasensor achieved low detection limits of 2.51 nM in buffer and 8.13 nM in serum. Additionally, it was verified the high specificity using other proteins including yellow fever proteins, and it has the potential to overcome the cross-reactivity with other flaviviruses. Also, the stability of the DF aptasensor was confirmed to give practical usability. Here, we developed a novel GQ-based fluorescent aptasensor for rapid and simple dengue fever diagnosis, which could provide the possibility for use in practical applications. ? 202111Nsciescopu
An interval type-2 fuzzy active contour model for auroral oval segmentation
No full textAurora is a recurrent feature of the atmosphere, acting as a mirror of otherwise invisible coupling between different atmospheric layers. Advanced processing of auroral images has proven essential to investigate some key physical processes in near-Earth space; in particular, auroral images carry important information for research on power networks, communication systems, meteorology, and complex biological systems. Segmenting aurora images to detect auroral regions is an important step of this study. Classical image segmentation approaches fail to effectively detect auroral regions when the auroral oval is not distinct from its background in terms of pixel intensity. To reduce the negative influence of intensity inhomogeneity in auroral oval images, we design a novel active contour model which employs interval type-2 fuzzy sets for auroral oval image segmentation. The proposed method can robustly segment auroral oval images even in the presence of high intensity variations. Experimental results on Ultraviolet Imager (UVI) auroral oval images acquired from an online database including data collected by NASA Polar satellite’s UVI demonstrate the advantages of our method in terms of human visual perception and segmentation accuracy
Bayer demosaicking with polynomial interpolation
No full textDemosaicking is a digital image process to reconstruct full color digital images from incomplete color samples from an image sensor. It is an unavoidable process for many devices incorporating camera sensor (e.g. mobile phones, tablet, etc.). In this paper, we introduce a new demosaicking algorithm based on polynomial interpolation-based demosaicking (PID). Our method makes three contributions: calculation of error predictors, edge classification based on color differences, and a refinement stage using a weighted sum strategy. Our new predictors are generated on the basis of on the polynomial interpolation, and can be used as a sound alternative to other predictors obtained by bilinear or Laplacian interpolation. In this paper we show how our predictors can be combined according to the proposed edge classifier. After populating three color channels, a refinement stage is applied to enhance the image quality and reduce demosaicking artifacts. Our experimental results show that the proposed method substantially improves over existing demosaicking methods in terms of objective performance (CPSNR, S-CIELAB E, and FSIM), and visual performance
Re: Perineural Invasion By Transitional Cell Carcinoma Of The Bladder In Patients Submitted To Radical Cystectomy: What Is The Prognostic Value? [2]
No full text[No abstract available]333422Leissner, J., Koeppen, C., Wolf, H.K., Prognostic significance of vascular and perineural invasion in urothelial bladder cancer treated with radical cystectomy (2003) J Urol, 169, pp. 955-960Hong, S.K., Kwak, C., Jeon, H.G., Lee, E., Lee, S.E., Do vascular, lymphatic, and perineural invasion have prognostic implications for bladder cancer.after radical cystectomy? (2005) Urology, 65, pp. 697-70
Residual stress analysis of Pt bottom electrodes on ZrO2/SiO2/Si and SiO2/Si substrates for Pb(ZrTi)O-3 thick films
No full textWe fabricated Pt bottom electrodes on SiO2/Si and ZrO2/SiO2/Si substrates by DC magnetron sputtering. The residual stress of the Pt layers deposited on SiO2 and ZrO2/SiO2 diffusion barrier layers was measured by an X-ray diffractometer (XRD). The Pt layers deposited at 400 degrees C exhibited tensile residual stress, but the Pt layers deposited at room temperature exhibited compressive residual stress. Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thick films were fabricated on the Pt electrodes by a screen printing method. The dielectric permittivity, tan delta, P-E hysteresis loop, breakdown field, coercive field and piezoelectric constant were measured for the PZT thick films. A PZT thick film on Pt/ZrO2/SiO2/Si displaying a low tensile residual stress exhibited the remanent polarization, coercive held, dielectric permittivity (epsilon(r)), dissipation factor (tan delta), breakdown field and piezoelectric constant (d(33)) of 13 mu C/cm(2), 8.5 kV/cm, 800, 0.015, 12 MV/m and 343 mu C/N, respectively.Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST), Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy (MOCIE)and Samsung Electronics Inc
Designing of a type-2 fuzzy logic filter for improving edge-preserving restoration of interlaced-to-progressive conversion
No full textThis paper focuses on recently advanced fuzzy models and the application of type-2 fuzzy sets in video deinterlacing. The final goal of the proposed deinterlacing algorithm is to exactly determine an unknown pixel value while preserving the edges and details of the image. To begin, we will discuss some artefacts of spatial, temporal, and spatio-temporal domain deinterlacing methods. In order to address the aforementioned issues, we adopted type-2 fuzzy sets concepts to design a weight evaluating approach. In the proposed method, the upper and lower fuzzy membership functions of the type-2 fuzzy logic filters are derived from the type-1 (or primary) fuzzy membership function. The weights from upper and lower membership functions are considered to be multiplied with the candidate deinterlaced pixels. Experimental results proved that the performance of the proposed method was superior, both objectively and subjectively to other different conventional deinterlacing methods.Moreover, the proposed method preserved the smoothness of the original image edges and produced a high quality progressive image
A Novel Full-Diversity Full-Rate Transmit Beamforming Systems Combined with V-BLAST over Correlated Fading Channels
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