Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Modeling Score Distributions For Combining The Outputs Of Search Engines, R. Manmatha, T. Rath, F. Feng

R. Manmatha

In this paper the score distributions of a number of text search engines are modeled. It is shown empirically that the score distributions on a per query basis may be fitted using an exponential distribution for the set of non-relevant documents and a normal distribution for the set of relevant documents. Experiments show that this model fits TREC-3 and TREC-4 data for not only probabilistic search engines like INQUERY but also vector space search engines like SMART for English. We have also used this model to fit the output of other search engines like LSI search engines and search engines …

An Empirical Model Of Amino Acid Transformations In An Alpine Soil, David A. Lipson, Ted K. Raab, Steven K. Schmidt, Russ K. Monson

Ted K. Raab

Amino acids are potentially important nitrogen (N) sources for plants in many ecosystems. However, a quantitative understanding of organic N availability is lacking for most ecosystems. This study estimates seasonal amino acid fluxes in an alpine tundra soil using three independent data sets. In previous work in an alpine dry meadow ecosystem in the Front Range of the Colorado Rocky Mountains, we measured signifcant rates of amino acid production from soil peptides during the plant growing season. This suggested that proteolysis of native soil peptides could serve as a measure of amino acid availability to plants. Here we use a …

An Investigation Of Environmental Racism Claims: Testing Environmental Management Approaches With A Geographic Information System, Gregg P. Macey

Gregg P. Macey

The purpose of this research was to explore the concept of an environmental racism claim through the use of several environmental management tools. The EPA's Toxics Release Inventory, Cumulative Exposure Project, and the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services' Hot Zone Census Tract Assessment were combined with racial and socioeconomic data to test claims that minorities in South Central Los Angeles are disproportionately exposed to environmental lead. Multivariate analysis indicated that race is strongly associated with the number of cases of elevated lead levels in South Central, irrespective of poverty status. Proximity to point sources, a common focal point …

Optically Induced Periodic Structures In Smectic-C Liquid Crystals, Antal Jákli, A. Vajda, E. Benkler, Janossy, Peter Palffy-Muhoray

Peter Palffy-Muhoray

We explore periodic structures of smectic-C (SmC) liquid crystals, induced optically by a polarization grating. The studied cells contain a passive surface of rubbed polyimide and an active photosensitive substrate of ate-dye doped polyimide. In a nematic phase the director field can be periodic independent of the angle between the grating vector and the rubbing direction. In the SmA phase periodic structure can be induced only by layer undulations. The SmC behaves similarly to the nematic phase, but the director can rotate only on a cone, which results in a more complex geometry. The periodic pattern is superimposed with four …

Teacher’S Stages Of Development In Using Visualization Tools For Inquiry-Based Science: The Case Of Project Vism, M. Charles, Robert A. Kolvoord

Robert A Kolvoord

No abstract provided.

Learning Object-Independent Modes Of Variation With Feature Flow Fields, Erik G. Learned-Miller, Kinh Tieu, Chris Stauffer

Erik G Learned-Miller

We present a unifying framework in which object-independent modes of variation are learned from continuous-time data such as video sequences. These modes of variation can be used as generators to produce a manifold of images of a new object from a single example of that object. We develop the framework in the context of a well-known example: analyzing the modes of spatial deformations of a scene under camera movement. Our method learns a close approximation to the standard affine deformations that are expected from the geometry of the situation, and does so in a completely unsupervised (i.e. ignorant of the …

Karst Genetic Model For The French Bay Breccia Deposits, San Salvador, Bahamas, Lee J. Florea, John Mylroie, Jim Carew

Lee J Florea, PhD, P.G.

No abstract provided.

Optically Induced Periodic Structures In Smectic-C Liquid Crystals, Antal Jákli, A. Vajda, E. Benkler, Janossy, Peter Palffy-Muhoray

Antal Jakli

We explore periodic structures of smectic-C (SmC) liquid crystals, induced optically by a polarization grating. The studied cells contain a passive surface of rubbed polyimide and an active photosensitive substrate of ate-dye doped polyimide. In a nematic phase the director field can be periodic independent of the angle between the grating vector and the rubbing direction. In the SmA phase periodic structure can be induced only by layer undulations. The SmC behaves similarly to the nematic phase, but the director can rotate only on a cone, which results in a more complex geometry. The periodic pattern is superimposed with four …

Covert Shells, John Christian Smith

John Christian Smith

The potential for covert communications exist anywhere that legitimate communication channels are in use. In order to maintain control of the channel once exploited, the insertion of a backdoor Trojan horse server, to be used with a client that provides shell access, is often a necessary prerequisite to establishing and using a covert channel long term.

We discuss covert channel communications methods ranging from embedded channels to disguised protocols. What follows is a review of available covert shell tools. The underground, historical evolution of covert shells is reviewed, focusing on selected, available tools, which range from simple encapsulation methods to …

Topology And Metastability In The Lattice Skyrme Model, Alec Schramm, Benjamin Svetitsky

Alec J Schramm

We offer the Skyrme model on a lattice as an effective field theory—fully quantized—of baryon-meson interactions at temperatures below the chiral phase transition. We define a local topological density that involves the volumes of tetrahedra in the target space S3 and we make use of Coxeter’s formula for the Schläfli function to implement it. This permits us to calculate the mean-square radius of a Skyrmion in the three-dimensional lattice Skyrme model, which may be viewed as a Ginzburg-Landau effective theory for the full quantum theory at finite temperature. We find that, contrary to expectations, the Skyrmion shrinks as quantum and …

Resonance Line Scattering Polarization In Optically Thin Planar Equatorial Disks., Richard Ignace

Richard Ignace

This paper is the third in a series on the anisotropic scattering by optically thin resonance lines in extended stellar envelopes. Considered here is the polarization arising from resonance line scattering in equatorial disks. The shape of the polarized line profile is analytically derived under simplifying conditions of constant expansion or rotation for thin lines, with stellar occultation and finite star depolarization effects also included. The polarized profiles for the two cases are radically different. Moreover owing to the symmetries, rotation leads to profiles in both Q_ν and U_ν, whereas only a Q_ν profile survives for …

Relationship Of Molecular Structure To The Mechanism Of Lysophospholipid-Induced Smooth Muscle Cell Proliferation, Yuh-Cherng Chai, David Binion, Guy Chisholm

Yuh-Cherng Chai

No abstract provided.

Clustering Irregular Shapes Using High-Order Neurons, H. Lipson, Hava Siegelmann

Hava Siegelmann

This article introduces a method for clustering irregularly shaped data arrangements using high-order neurons. Complex analytical shapes are modeled by replacing the classic synaptic weight of the neuron by high-order tensors in homogeneous coordinates. In the first- and second-order cases, this neuron corresponds to a classic neuron and to an ellipsoidalmetric neuron. We show how high-order shapes can be formulated to follow the maximum-correlation activation principle and permit simple local Hebbian learning. We also demonstrate decomposition of spatial arrangements of data clusters, including very close and partially overlapping clusters, which are difficult to distinguish using classic neurons. Superior results are …

Exospheric Models For The X-Ray Emission From Single Wolf-Rayet Stars., R. Ignace, L. M. Oskinova

Richard Ignace

We review existing ROSAT detections of single Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars and develop wind models to interpret the X-ray emission. The ROSAT data, consisting of bandpass detections from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) and some pointed observations, exhibit no correlations of the WR X-ray luminosity (L_X) with any star or wind parameters of interest (e.g. bolometric luminosity, mass-loss rate or wind kinetic energy), although the dispersion in the measurements is quite large. The lack of correlation between X-ray luminosity and wind parameters among the WR stars is unlike that of their progenitors, the O stars, which show …

Bezpośrednie I Pośrednie Efekty Wprowadzenia Ciągłego Odlewania Stali W Bilansie Emisji Zanieczyszczeń Z Huty Żelaza, Marian Mazur, Marek Bogacki, Robert Oleniacz

Robert Oleniacz

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the impact of continuous casting technology on emissions of air pollutants from "Katowice" Steelworks in Dąbrowa Górnicza (Poland). Sources of emissions occurring in the manufacturing process and emissions levels have been identified. Implementation of continuous casting of steel has increased the efficiency of production and brought substantial ecological effects.

English title: Direct and indirect effects of introduction of continuous casting of steel in the balance sheet of pollutant emissions from "Katowice" Steelworks.

A New Autonomous Underwater Vehicle For Imaging Research, C. Roman, O. Pizarro, R. Eustice, H. Singh

Christopher N. Roman

Currently, unmanned underwater vehicles either tend to be cumbersome and complex to run, or operationally simple, but not quite suitable platforms for deep water imaging. This paper presents an alternative design in the form of a new low cost and easier to use autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) for imaging research. The objective of the vehicle is to serve as a readily available and operationally simple tool that allows rapid testing of imaging algorithms in areas such as photomosaicking, 3D image reconstruction from a single camera, image based navigation, and multi-sensor fusion of bathymetry and optical data. These are all current …

An Autonomous Water Vapor Plume Tracking Robot Using Passive Resistive Polymer Sensors, S. Kazadi, R. Goodman, D. Tsikata, D. Green, H. Lin

Sanza Kazadi

A Support Vector Method For Clustering, Asa Ben-Hur, David Horn, Hava Siegelmann, Vladimir Vapnik

Hava Siegelmann

We present a novel method for clustering using the support vector machine approach. Data points are mapped to a high dimensional feature space, where support vectors are used to define a sphere enclosing them. The boundary of the sphere forms in data space a set of closed contours containing the data. Data points enclosed by each contour are defined as a cluster. As the width parameter of the Gaussian kernel is decreased, these contours fit the data more tightly and splitting of contours occurs. The algorithm works by separating clusters according to valleys in the underlying probability distribution, and thus …

Relaxation Dynamics Of Rubbed Polystyrene Thin Films, D. M. G. Agra, A. D. Schwab, J-H. Kim, Satyendra Kumar, A. Dhinojwala

Satyendra Kumar

Optical retardation measurements were used to probe the chain relaxation dynamics in rubbed polystyrene films of varying thicknesses on glass substrates. A model based on Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts relaxation was developed and used to determine the glass transition temperature (Tg) of the films. Results showed reductions of 15–20 K in Tg for thin films of thicknesses comparable to the radius of gyration as well as for cast films rubbed with different strengths. These results provide evidence of a faster relaxation dynamics relative to the polymer-substrate interface for thinner films and enhanced chain mobility at the polymer-air interface.

Measurements Of The Hyperpolarizability Tensor By Means Of Hyper-Rayleigh Scattering, Liang-Chy Chien, V. Ostroverkhova, R. G. Petschek, K. D. Singer, L. Sukhomlinova, R. J. Twieg, S.-X. Wang

Liang-Chy Chien

We describe improvements to a previously reported hyper-Rayleigh scattering technique [J. Opt. Sec. Am. B 15, 289 (1998)], for measuring all rotational invariants of the first hyperpolarizability tensor. The full hyper-Rayleigh scattering tensor is expressed in terms of its rotationally invariant components leading to a figures of merit corresponding to each of the rotationally invariant tensors. With elliptically polarized incident light, the polarization state and the intensity of the harmonic light are measured at a scattering angle of 45 degrees. A new analytical fitting method is applied to the signal for two polarization measurements to yield the invariants. We have …

Is Overexcitability A Differential Personality Attribute Of High-Iq Youth? A Comparison Study Of Identified Gifted And Vocational High School Teenagers Using The Overexcitability Questionnaire (Oeq), Jane Piirto, Lori Beach, Geri Cassone, Robbin Rogers, John Fraas

John W. Fraas

No abstract provided.

On The Effect Of Long-Wavelength Electron Plasma Waves On Large-Angle Stimulated Raman Scattering Of Short Laser Pulse In Plasmas, Nikolai E. Andreev, Serguei Y. Kalmykov

Serge Youri Kalmykov

Spectral features of a large-angle stimulated Raman scattering (LA SRS) of a short electromagnetic pulse in an underdense plasma, which are caused by the presence in a plasma of a given linear long-wavelength electron plasma wave (LW EPW), are investigated. It is shown that the LW EPW, whose phase velocity coincides with a group velocity of a pulse and a density perturbation normalized to a background electron density, \delta n_{LW} / n_0, exceeds the ratio of the electron plasma frequency to the laser frequency, \omega_{pe} / \omega_0, suppresses the well-known Stokes branch of the weakly coupled LA SRS. Under the …

Analytic Inversion Of Emission Lines Of Arbitrary Optical Depth For The Structure Of Supernova Ejecta., R. Ignace, M. A. Hendry

Richard Ignace

We derive a method for inverting emission line profiles formed in supernova ejecta. The derivation assumes spherical symmetry and homologous expansion (i.e., v(r)∝r), is analytic, and even takes account of occultation by a pseudo-photosphere. Previous inversion methods have been developed which are restricted to optically thin lines, but the particular case of homologous expansion permits an analytic result for lines of arbitrary optical depth. In fact, we show that the quantity that is generically retrieved is the run of line intensity Iλ with radius in the ejecta. This result is quite general, and so could be applied to resonance lines, …

Weak-Singlet Fermions: Models And Constraints, Marko Popovic, Elizabeth Simmons

Marko B. Popovic

We employ data from precision electroweak tests and collider searches to derive constraints on the possibility that weak-singlet fermions mix with the ordinary standard model fermions. Our findings are presented within the context of a theory with weak-singlet partners for all ordinary fermions and theories in which only third-generation fermions mix with weak singlets. In addition, we indicate how our results can be applied more widely in theories containing exotic fermions.

The Complexity Of Decentralized Control Of Markov Decision Processes, Daniel S. Bernstein, Shlolo Zilberstein, Neil Immerman

Neil Immerman

Planning for distributed agents with partial state information is considered from a decisiontheoretic perspective. We describe generalizations of both the MDP and POMDP models that allow for decentralized control. For even a small number of agents, the finite-horizon problems corresponding to both of our models are complete for nondeterministic exponential time. These complexity results illustrate a fundamental difference between centralized and decentralized control of Markov processes. In contrast to the MDP and POMDP problems, the problems we consider provably do not admit polynomialtime algorithms and most likely require doubly exponential time to solve in the worst case. We have thus …

Advances In Fusion Of High Resolution Underwater Optical And Acoustic Data, H. Singh, C. Roman, L. Whitcomb, D. Yoerger

Christopher N. Roman

We report efforts to merge data from the complementary modalities of optical and acoustic sensing for obtaining more accurate representations of the seafloor. We show that the principal obstacles to merging the acoustic and optical imaging modalities are the distortions inherent to each modality. The construction of geometrically accurate photomosaics is dominated by incremental errors arising as individual images are scaled and warped to form the photomosaic. For microbathymetric mapping, principal errors arise from sensor position and orientation calibration parameters that affect our ability to construct maps from sonar data that are commensurate with sensor and navigation resolution. We show …

Fuzzy Neural Network Models For Classification, Arun D. Kulkarni, Charles D. Cavanaugh

Arun Kulkarni

Time Domain Probabilistic Risk Assessment:, George H. Baker, Charles T. C. Mo

George H Baker

For critical facilities, survivability and reconstitution in stressful environments generated by electromagnetic transients, sabotage, terrorist activity, military conflict, or Murphy’s laws are issues of concern. Critical fixed facilities are likely to be functionally complex and their system-wide failure probabilities, modes, and consequences are often not obvious. To analyze and quantify survivability, existing probabilistic risk assessment tools usually provide a “snapshot” of failure modes at a single point of time for certain initiating conditions. Likewise, elaborate physics models developed to treat weapons effects on structures and individual functional components compute effects at a single time point.

We have developed a tool …

Hot Star Polarimetric Variability And The Nature Of Wind Inhomogeneities., J. C. Brown, R. Ignace, J. P. Cassinelli

Richard Ignace

The problem is addressed of how much hot star polarisation variability can result from density redistribution processes within the wind as opposed to localised enhancement of stellar mass loss rate, such as ejections of wind inhomogeneities. For optically thin electron scattering, we present a theory for the relative polarisation arising from particle redistribution and consider several specific cases relevant to interpreting observations of wind variability. It is concluded that, allowing for partial cancellation of the contribution from compressed and evacuated regions, density redistribution internal to the wind can produce significant polarisation but only for processes that redistribute wind material over …

The Role Of Monolayer Structure On Interfacial Phenomena, Mark Anderson

Mark R. Anderson

No abstract is available at this time.