A note on the local power of the LR, Wald, score and gradient tests

This paper examines the local power of the likelihood ratio, Wald, score and gradient tests under the presence of a scalar parameter, phi say, that is orthogonal to the remaining parameters. We show that some of the coefficients that define the local powers remain unchanged regardless of whether phi is known or needs to be estimated, where as the others can be written as the sum of two terms, the first of which being the corresponding term obtained as if phi were known, and the second, an additional term yielded by the fact that phi is unknown. The contribution of each set of parameters on the local powers of the tests can then be examined. Various implications of our main result are stated and discussed. Several examples are presented for illustrative purposes

The local power of the gradient test

The asymptotic expansion of the distribution of the gradient test statistic is derived for a composite hypothesis under a sequence of Pitman alternative hypotheses converging to the null hypothesis at rate n(-1/2), n being the sample size. Comparisons of the local powers of the gradient, likelihood ratio, Wald and score tests reveal no uniform superiority property. The power performance of all four criteria in one-parameter exponential family is examined.

MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS OF MAXIMUM POWER GENERATED BY PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS AND FITTING CURVES FOR STANDARD TEST CONDITIONS

The rural electrification is characterized by geographical dispersion of the population, low consumption, high investment by consumers and high cost. Moreover, solar radiation constitutes an inexhaustible source of energy and in its conversion into electricity photovoltaic panels are used. In this study, equations were adjusted to field conditions presented by the manufacturer for current and power of small photovoltaic systems. The mathematical analysis was performed on the photovoltaic rural system I- 100 from ISOFOTON, with power 300 Wp, located at the Experimental Farm Lageado of FCA/UNESP. For the development of such equations, the circuitry of photovoltaic cells has been studied to apply iterative numerical methods for the determination of electrical parameters and possible errors in the appropriate equations in the literature to reality. Therefore, a simulation of a photovoltaic panel was proposed through mathematical equations that were adjusted according to the data of local radiation. The results have presented equations that provide real answers to the user and may assist in the design of these systems, once calculated that the maximum power limit ensures a supply of energy generated. This real sizing helps establishing the possible applications of solar energy to the rural producer and informing the real possibilities of generating electricity from the sun.

Local power and size properties of the LR, Wald, score and gradient tests in dispersion models

We derive asymptotic expansions for the nonnull distribution functions of the likelihood ratio, Wald, score and gradient test statistics in the class of dispersion models, under a sequence of Pitman alternatives. The asymptotic distributions of these statistics are obtained for testing a subset of regression parameters and for testing the precision parameter. Based on these nonnull asymptotic expansions, the power of all four tests, which are equivalent to first order, are compared. Furthermore, in order to compare the finite-sample performance of these tests in this class of models, Monte Carlo simulations are presented. An empirical application to a real data set is considered for illustrative purposes. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stopping power and depth dose profile of H+ and He+ ion beams in hydroxyapatite thin films.

Hadron therapy is a promising technique to treat deep-seated tumors. For an accurate treatment planning, the energy deposition in the soft and hard human tissue must be well known. Water has been usually employed as a phantom of soft tissues, but other biomaterials, such as hydroxyapatite (HAp), used as bone substitute, are also relevant as a phantom for hard tissues. The stopping power of HAp for H+ and He+ beams has been studied experimentally and theoretically. The measurements have been done using the Rutherford backscattering technique in an energy range of 450-2000 keV for H+ and of 400-5000 keV for He+ projectiles. The theoretical calculations are based in the dielectric formulation together with the MELF-GOS (Mermin Energy-Loss Function – Generalized Oscillator Strengths) method [1] to describe the target excitation spectrum. A quite good agreement between the experimental data and the theoretical results has been found. The depth dose profile of H+ and He+ ion beams in HAp has been simulated by the SEICS (Simulation of Energetic Ions and Clusters through Solids) code [2], which incorporates the electronic stopping force due to the energy loss by collisions with the target electrons, including fluctuations due to the energy-loss straggling, the multiple elastic scattering with the target nuclei, with their corresponding nuclear energy loss, and the dynamical charge-exchange processes in the projectile charge state. The energy deposition by H+ and He+ as a function of the depth are compared, at several projectile energies, for HAp and liquid water, showing important differences.

Color tunability of intense upconversion emission from Er3+-Yb3+ co-doped SiO2-Ta2O5 glass ceramic planar waveguides

This work reports on the infrared-to-visible CW frequency upconversion from planar waveguides based on Er3+-Yb3+-doped 100-xSiO(2)-xTa(2)O(5) obtained by a sol-gel process and deposited onto a SiO2-Si substrate by dip-coating. Surface morphology and optical parameters of the planar waveguides were analyzed by atomic force microscopy and the m-line technique. The influence of the composition on the electronic properties of the glass-ceramic films was followed by the band gap ranging from 4.35 to 4.51 eV upon modification of the Ta2O5 content. Intense green and red emissions were detected from the upconversion process for all the samples after excitation at 980 nm. The relative intensities of the emission bands around 550 nm and 665 nm, assigned to the H-2(11/2) -> I-4(15/2), S-4(3/2) -> I-4(15/2), and F-4(9/2) -> I-4(15/2) transitions, depended on the tantalum oxide content and the power of the laser source at 980 nm. The upconversion dynamics were investigated as a function of the Ta2O5 content and the number of photons involved in each emission process. Based on the upconversion emission spectra and 1931CIE chromaticity diagram, it is shown that color can be tailored by composition and pump power. The glass ceramic films are attractive materials for application in upconversion lasers and near infrared-to-visible upconverters in solar cells.

Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy in the Treatment of Oral Candidiasis in HIV-Infected Patients

Objective: Antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) has been used to combat local infections, and it consists of the combination of a photosensitizer, a light source, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) to kill microbial cells. In this study, we evaluated the effectiveness of aPDT in the treatment of candidiasis in HIV-infected patients. Methods: Twenty-one patients were divided into three groups. Control group (CG) was treated with the conventional medication for candidiasis (fluconazole 100 mg/day during 14 days). Laser group (LG) was subjected to low-level laser therapy (LLLT), wavelength 660 nm, power of 30 mW, and fluence of 7.5 J/cm(2), in contact with mucosa during 10 sec on the affected point. An aPDT group (aPDTG) was treated with aPDT, that is, combination of a low-power laser and methylene blue 450 mu g/mL. Pre-irradiation time was 1 min. Parameters of irradiation were the same ones as for the LG, and patients were single irradiated. Patients were clinically evaluated and culture analysis was performed before, immediately after, and 7, 15, and 30 days after the treatment. Results: Our results showed that fluconazole was effective; however, it did not prevent the return of the candidiasis in short-term. LLLT per se did not show any reduction on Candida spp. aPDT eradicated 100% of the colonies of this fungus and the patients did not show recurrence of candidiasis up to 30 days after the irradiation. Conclusions: These findings suggest that aPDT is a potential approach to oral candidiasis treatment in HIV-infected patients.

Within-plant isoprene oxidation confirmed by direct emissions of oxidation products methyl vinyl ketone and methacrolein

Isoprene is emitted from many terrestrial plants at high rates, accounting for an estimated 1/3 of annual global volatile organic compound emissions from all anthropogenic and biogenic sources combined. Through rapid photooxidation reactions in the atmosphere, isoprene is converted to a variety of oxidized hydrocarbons, providing higher order reactants for the production of organic nitrates and tropospheric ozone, reducing the availability of oxidants for the breakdown of radiatively active trace gases such as methane, and potentially producing hygroscopic particles that act as effective cloud condensation nuclei. However, the functional basis for plant production of isoprene remains elusive. It has been hypothesized that in the cell isoprene mitigates oxidative damage during the stress-induced accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), but the products of isoprene-ROS reactions in plants have not been detected. Using pyruvate-2-13C leaf and branch feeding and individual branch and whole mesocosm flux studies, we present evidence that isoprene (i) is oxidized to methyl vinyl ketone and methacrolein (iox) in leaves and that iox/i emission ratios increase with temperature, possibly due to an increase in ROS production under high temperature and light stress. In a primary rainforest in Amazonia, we inferred significant in plant isoprene oxidation (despite the strong masking effect of simultaneous atmospheric oxidation), from its influence on the vertical distribution of iox uptake fluxes, which were shifted to low isoprene emitting regions of the canopy. These observations suggest that carbon investment in isoprene production is larger than that inferred from emissions alone and that models of tropospheric chemistry and biotachemistryclimate interactions should incorporate isoprene oxidation within both the biosphere and the atmosphere with potential implications for better understanding both the oxidizing power of the troposphere and forest response to climate change.

Modeling the gluon propagator in Landau gauge: Lattice estimates of pole masses and dimension-two condensates

We present an analytic description of numerical results for the Landau-gauge SU(2) gluon propagator D(p(2)), obtained from lattice simulations (in the scaling region) for the largest lattice sizes to date, in d = 2, 3 and 4 space-time dimensions. Fits to the gluon data in 3d and in 4d show very good agreement with the tree-level prediction of the refined Gribov-Zwanziger (RGZ) framework, supporting a massive behavior for D(p(2)) in the infrared limit. In particular, we investigate the propagator's pole structure and provide estimates of the dynamical mass scales that can be associated with dimension-two condensates in the theory. In the 2d case, fitting the data requires a noninteger power of the momentum p in the numerator of the expression for D(p(2)). In this case, an infinite-volume-limit extrapolation gives D(0) = 0. Our analysis suggests that this result is related to a particular symmetry in the complex-pole structure of the propagator and not to purely imaginary poles, as would be expected in the original Gribov-Zwanziger scenario.

The analytic torsion of a disc

In this article, we study the Reidemeister torsion and the analytic torsion of the m dimensional disc, with the Ray and Singer homology basis (Adv Math 7:145-210, 1971). We prove that the Reidemeister torsion coincides with a power of the volume of the disc. We study the additional terms arising in the analytic torsion due to the boundary, using generalizations of the Cheeger-Muller theorem. We use a formula proved by Bruning and Ma (GAFA 16:767-873, 2006) that predicts a new anomaly boundary term beside the known term proportional to the Euler characteristic of the boundary (Luck, J Diff Geom 37:263-322, 1993). Some of our results extend to the case of the cone over a sphere, in particular we evaluate directly the analytic torsion for a cone over the circle and over the two sphere. We compare the results obtained in the low dimensional cases. We also consider a different formula for the boundary term given by Dai and Fang (Asian J Math 4:695-714, 2000), and we compare the results. The results of these work were announced in the study of Hartmann et al. (BUMI 2:529-533, 2009).

Origin of the heavy elements in HD 140283 Measurement of europium abundance

Context. HD 140283 is a nearby (V = 7.7) subgiant metal-poor star, extensively analysed in the literature. Although many spectra have been obtained for this star, none showed a signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio high enough to enable a very accurate derivation of abundances from weak lines. Aims. The detection of europium proves that the neutron-capture elements in this star originate in the r-process, and not in the s-process, as recently claimed in the literature. Methods. Based on the OSMARCS 1D LTE atmospheric model and with a consistent approach based on the spectrum synthesis code Turbospectrum, we measured the europium lines at 4129 angstrom and 4205 angstrom, taking into account the hyperfine structure of the transitions. The spectrum, obtained with a long exposure time of seven hours at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), has a resolving power of 81 000 and a S/N ratio of 800 at 4100 angstrom. Results. We were able to determine the abundance A(Eu) = -2.35 +/- 0.07 dex, compatible with the value predicted for the europium from the r-process. The abundance ratio [Eu/Ba] = +0.58 +/- 0.15 dex agrees with the trend observed in metal-poor stars and is also compatible with a strong r-process contribution to the origin of the neutron-capture elements in HD 140283.

A randomised clinical trial of the effect of low-level laser therapy for perineal pain and healing after episiotomy: A pilot study

Objective: to evaluate the effects of low-level laser therapy for perineal pain and healing after episiotomy. Design: a double-blind, randomised, controlled clinical trial comparing perineal pain scores and episiotomy healing in women treated with low-level laser therapy (LLLT) and with the simulation of the treatment. Setting: the study was conducted in the Birth Centre and rooming-in units of Amparo Maternal, a maternity service located in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Participants: fifty-two postpartum women who had had mediolateral episiotomies during their first normal delivery were randomly divided into two groups of 26: an experimental group and a control group. Intervention: in the experimental group, the women were treated with LLLT. Irradiation was applied at three points directly on the episiotomy after the suture and in three postpartum sessions: up to 2 hrs postpartum, between 20 and 24 hrs postpartum and between 40 and 48 hrs postpartum. The LLLT was performed with diode laser, with a wavelength of 660 nm (red light), spot size of 0.04 cm(2), energy density of 3.8 J/cm(2), radiant power of 15 mW and 10 s per point, which resulted in an energy of 0.15 J per point and a total energy of 0.45 J per session. The control group participants also underwent three treatment sessions, but without the emission of radiation (simulation group), to assess the possible effects of placebo treatment. Main outcomes: perineal pain scores, rated on a scale from 0 to 10, were evaluated before and immediately after the irradiation in the three sessions. The healing process was assessed using the REEDA scale (Redness, Edema, Echymosis, Discharge Aproximation) before each laser therapy session and 15 and 20 days after the women's discharge. Findings: comparing the pain scores before and after the LLLT sessions, the experimental group presented a significant within-group reduction in mean pain scores after the second and third sessions (p=0.003 and p<0.001, respectively), and the control group showed a significant reduction after the first treatment simulation (p=0.043). However, the comparison of the perineal pain scores between the experimental and control groups indicated no statistical difference at any of the evaluated time points. There was no significant difference in perineal healing scores between the groups. All postpartum women approved of the low-level laser therapy. Conclusions: this pilot study showed that LLLT did not accelerate episiotomy healing. Although there was a reduction in perineal pain mean scores in the experimental group, we cannot conclude that the laser relieved perineal pain. This study led to the suggestion of a new research proposal involving another irradiation protocol to evaluate LLLT's effect on perineal pain relief. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structure- and Ligand-Based Structure-Activity Relationships for a Series of Inhibitors of Aldolase

Aldolase has emerged as a promising molecular target for the treatment of human African trypanosomiasis. Over the last years, due to the increasing number of patients infected with Trypanosoma brucei, there is an urgent need for new drugs to treat this neglected disease. In the present study, two-dimensional fragment-based quantitative-structure activity relationship (QSAR) models were generated for a series of inhibitors of aldolase. Through the application of leave-one-out and leave-many-out cross-validation procedures, significant correlation coefficients were obtained (r(2) = 0.98 and q(2) = 0.77) as an indication of the statistical internal and external consistency of the models. The best model was employed to predict pK(i) values for a series of test set compounds, and the predicted values were in good agreement with the experimental results, showing the power of the model for untested compounds. Moreover, structure-based molecular modeling studies were performed to investigate the binding mode of the inhibitors in the active site of the parasitic target enzyme. The structural and QSAR results provided useful molecular information for the design of new aldolase inhibitors within this structural class.

Isolation and characterization of the flour and starch of plantain bananas (Musa paradisiaca)

Plantain bananas of the variety Terra (Musa paradisiaca) may have industrial value due to their high starch content. In this research, the flour and starch of such unripe fruit were isolated and their chemical, physicochemical, and structural characteristics were determined. Banana flour and starch had a dry basis yield of 50.6 and 28.5%, and an average granule size of 31.7 and 47.3?mu m, respectively. Both raw materials revealed a C-type pattern and high gelatinization temperatures. The peak viscosity was greater for flour (378.0 RVU) than for starch (252.6 RVU), although the final viscosity was lower. At temperatures above 65 degrees C, the swelling power of banana flour was lower than that of starch, while the solubility of flour was greater than that of starch at all temperatures. Furthermore, the presence of other components in banana flour influenced its physicochemical properties. In general, the flour and starch processed from unripe bananas have numerous possible uses as ingredients in food systems and for other industrial purposes.

Laser therapy and pain-related behavior after injury of the inferior alveolar nerve: possible involvement of neurotrophins

Nerve-related complications have been frequently reported in dental procedures, and a very frequent type of occurrence involves the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN). The nerve injury in humans often results in persistent pain accompanied by allodynia and hyperalgesia. In this investigation, we used an experimental IAN injury in rats, which was induced by a Crile hemostatic clamp, to evaluate the effects of laser therapy on nerve repair. We also studied the nociceptive behavior (von Frey hair test) before and after the injury and the behavioral effects of treatment with laser therapy (emitting a wavelength of 904 nm, output power of 70 Wpk, a spot area of *0.1 cm2, frequency of 9500 Hz, pulse time 60 ns and an energy density of 6 J/cm2). As neurotrophins are essential for the process of nerve regeneration, we used immunoblotting techniques to preliminarily examine the effects of laser therapy on the expression of nerve growth factor (NGF) and brainderived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). The injured animals treated with laser exhibited an improved nociceptive behavior. In irradiated animals, there was an enhanced expression of NGF (53%) and a decreased BDNF expression (40%) after laser therapy. These results indicate that BDNF plays a locally crucial role in pain-related behavior development after IAN injury, increasing after lesions (in parallel to the installation of pain behavior) and decreasing with laser therapy (in parallel to the improvement of pain behavior). On the other hand, NGF probably contributes to the repair of nerve tissue, in addition to improving the pain-related behavior.