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Sample records for anisotropic scale-invariant unstructured

  1. Anisotropic Weyl invariance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Perez-Nadal, Guillem [Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

    2017-07-15

    We consider a non-relativistic free scalar field theory with a type of anisotropic scale invariance in which the number of coordinates ''scaling like time'' is generically greater than one. We propose the Cartesian product of two curved spaces, the metric of each space being parameterized by the other space, as a notion of curved background to which the theory can be extended. We study this type of geometries, and find a family of extensions of the theory to curved backgrounds in which the anisotropic scale invariance is promoted to a local, Weyl-type symmetry. (orig.)

  2. Phenomenology of local scale invariance: from conformal invariance to dynamical scaling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henkel, Malte

    2002-01-01

    Statistical systems displaying a strongly anisotropic or dynamical scaling behaviour are characterized by an anisotropy exponent θ or a dynamical exponent z. For a given value of θ (or z), we construct local scale transformations, which can be viewed as scale transformations with a space-time-dependent dilatation factor. Two distinct types of local scale transformations are found. The first type may describe strongly anisotropic scaling of static systems with a given value of θ, whereas the second type may describe dynamical scaling with a dynamical exponent z. Local scale transformations act as a dynamical symmetry group of certain non-local free-field theories. Known special cases of local scale invariance are conformal invariance for θ=1 and Schroedinger invariance for θ=2. The hypothesis of local scale invariance implies that two-point functions of quasi primary operators satisfy certain linear fractional differential equations, which are constructed from commuting fractional derivatives. The explicit solution of these yields exact expressions for two-point correlators at equilibrium and for two-point response functions out of equilibrium. A particularly simple and general form is found for the two-time auto response function. These predictions are explicitly confirmed at the uniaxial Lifshitz points in the ANNNI and ANNNS models and in the aging behaviour of simple ferromagnets such as the kinetic Glauber-Ising model and the kinetic spherical model with a non-conserved order parameter undergoing either phase-ordering kinetics or non-equilibrium critical dynamics

  3. Condition for invariant spectrum of an electromagnetic wave scattered from an anisotropic random media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jia; Wu, Pinghui; Chang, Liping

    2015-08-24

    Within the accuracy of the first-order Born approximation, sufficient conditions are derived for the invariance of spectrum of an electromagnetic wave, which is generated by the scattering of an electromagnetic plane wave from an anisotropic random media. We show that the following restrictions on properties of incident fields and the anisotropic media must be simultaneously satisfied: 1) the elements of the dielectric susceptibility matrix of the media must obey the scaling law; 2) the spectral components of the incident field are proportional to each other; 3) the second moments of the elements of the dielectric susceptibility matrix of the media are inversely proportional to the frequency.

  4. Anisotropic three-dimensional inversion of CSEM data using finite-element techniques on unstructured grids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Feiyan; Morten, Jan Petter; Spitzer, Klaus

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we present a recently developed anisotropic 3-D inversion framework for interpreting controlled-source electromagnetic (CSEM) data in the frequency domain. The framework integrates a high-order finite-element forward operator and a Gauss-Newton inversion algorithm. Conductivity constraints are applied using a parameter transformation. We discretize the continuous forward and inverse problems on unstructured grids for a flexible treatment of arbitrarily complex geometries. Moreover, an unstructured mesh is more desirable in comparison to a single rectilinear mesh for multisource problems because local grid refinement will not significantly influence the mesh density outside the region of interest. The non-uniform spatial discretization facilitates parametrization of the inversion domain at a suitable scale. For a rapid simulation of multisource EM data, we opt to use a parallel direct solver. We further accelerate the inversion process by decomposing the entire data set into subsets with respect to frequencies (and transmitters if memory requirement is affordable). The computational tasks associated with each data subset are distributed to different processes and run in parallel. We validate the scheme using a synthetic marine CSEM model with rough bathymetry, and finally, apply it to an industrial-size 3-D data set from the Troll field oil province in the North Sea acquired in 2008 to examine its robustness and practical applicability.

  5. Lorentz invariance violation and electromagnetic field in an intrinsically anisotropic spacetime

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chang, Zhe [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of High Energy Physics, Beijing (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences, Theoretical Physics Center for Science Facilities, Beijing (China); Wang, Sai [Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of High Energy Physics, Beijing (China)

    2012-09-15

    Recently, Kostelecky [V.A. Kostelecky, Phys. Lett. B 701, 137 (2011)] proposed that the spontaneous Lorentz invariance violation (sLIV) is related to Finsler geometry. Finsler spacetime is intrinsically anisotropic and naturally induces Lorentz invariance violation (LIV). In this paper, the electromagnetic field is investigated in locally Minkowski spacetime. The Lagrangian is presented explicitly for the electromagnetic field. It is compatible with the one in the standard model extension (SME). We show the Lorentz-violating Maxwell equations as well as the electromagnetic wave equation. The formal plane wave solution is obtained for the electromagnetic wave. The speed of light may depend on the direction of light and the lightcone may be enlarged or narrowed. The LIV effects could be viewed as influence from an anisotropic media on the electromagnetic wave. In addition, birefringence of light will not emerge at the leading order in this model. A constraint on the spacetime anisotropy is obtained from observations on gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). (orig.)

  6. Hidden scale invariance of metals

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hummel, Felix; Kresse, Georg; Dyre, Jeppe C.

    2015-01-01

    Density functional theory (DFT) calculations of 58 liquid elements at their triple point show that most metals exhibit near proportionality between the thermal fluctuations of the virial and the potential energy in the isochoric ensemble. This demonstrates a general “hidden” scale invariance...... of metals making the condensed part of the thermodynamic phase diagram effectively one dimensional with respect to structure and dynamics. DFT computed density scaling exponents, related to the Grüneisen parameter, are in good agreement with experimental values for the 16 elements where reliable data were...... available. Hidden scale invariance is demonstrated in detail for magnesium by showing invariance of structure and dynamics. Computed melting curves of period three metals follow curves with invariance (isomorphs). The experimental structure factor of magnesium is predicted by assuming scale invariant...

  7. Simple types of anisotropic inflation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Barrow, John D.; Hervik, Sigbjoern

    2010-01-01

    We display some simple cosmological solutions of gravity theories with quadratic Ricci curvature terms added to the Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian which exhibit anisotropic inflation. The Hubble expansion rates are constant and unequal in three orthogonal directions. We describe the evolution of the simplest of these homogeneous and anisotropic cosmological models from its natural initial state and evaluate the deviations they will create from statistical isotropy in the fluctuations produced during a period of anisotropic inflation. The anisotropic inflation is not a late-time attractor in these models but the rate of approach to a final isotropic de Sitter state is slow and is conducive to the creation of observable anisotropic statistical effects in the microwave background. The statistical anisotropy would not be scale invariant and the level of statistical anisotropy will grow with scale.

  8. Retinal Identification Based on an Improved Circular Gabor Filter and Scale Invariant Feature Transform

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaoming Xi

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Retinal identification based on retinal vasculatures in the retina provides the most secure and accurate means of authentication among biometrics and has primarily been used in combination with access control systems at high security facilities. Recently, there has been much interest in retina identification. As digital retina images always suffer from deformations, the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT, which is known for its distinctiveness and invariance for scale and rotation, has been introduced to retinal based identification. However, some shortcomings like the difficulty of feature extraction and mismatching exist in SIFT-based identification. To solve these problems, a novel preprocessing method based on the Improved Circular Gabor Transform (ICGF is proposed. After further processing by the iterated spatial anisotropic smooth method, the number of uninformative SIFT keypoints is decreased dramatically. Tested on the VARIA and eight simulated retina databases combining rotation and scaling, the developed method presents promising results and shows robustness to rotations and scale changes.

  9. On logarithmic extensions of local scale-invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Henkel, Malte

    2013-01-01

    Ageing phenomena far from equilibrium naturally present dynamical scaling and in many situations this may be generalised to local scale-invariance. Generically, the absence of time-translation-invariance implies that each scaling operator is characterised by two independent scaling dimensions. Building on analogies with logarithmic conformal invariance and logarithmic Schrödinger-invariance, this work proposes a logarithmic extension of local scale-invariance, without time-translation-invariance. Carrying this out requires in general to replace both scaling dimensions of each scaling operator by Jordan cells. Co-variant two-point functions are derived for the most simple case of a two-dimensional logarithmic extension. Their form is compared to simulational data for autoresponse functions in several universality classes of non-equilibrium ageing phenomena

  10. A scale invariance criterion for LES parametrizations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Urs Schaefer-Rolffs

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Turbulent kinetic energy cascades in fluid dynamical systems are usually characterized by scale invariance. However, representations of subgrid scales in large eddy simulations do not necessarily fulfill this constraint. So far, scale invariance has been considered in the context of isotropic, incompressible, and three-dimensional turbulence. In the present paper, the theory is extended to compressible flows that obey the hydrostatic approximation, as well as to corresponding subgrid-scale parametrizations. A criterion is presented to check if the symmetries of the governing equations are correctly translated into the equations used in numerical models. By applying scaling transformations to the model equations, relations between the scaling factors are obtained by demanding that the mathematical structure of the equations does not change.The criterion is validated by recovering the breakdown of scale invariance in the classical Smagorinsky model and confirming scale invariance for the Dynamic Smagorinsky Model. The criterion also shows that the compressible continuity equation is intrinsically scale-invariant. The criterion also proves that a scale-invariant turbulent kinetic energy equation or a scale-invariant equation of motion for a passive tracer is obtained only with a dynamic mixing length. For large-scale atmospheric flows governed by the hydrostatic balance the energy cascade is due to horizontal advection and the vertical length scale exhibits a scaling behaviour that is different from that derived for horizontal length scales.

  11. Scale invariant Volkov–Akulov supergravity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferrara, S., E-mail: sergio.ferrara@cern.ch [Th-Ph Department, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); INFN – Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Via Enrico Fermi 40, 00044 Frascati (Italy); Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 (United States); Porrati, M., E-mail: mp9@nyu.edu [Th-Ph Department, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); CCPP, Department of Physics, NYU, 4 Washington Pl., New York, NY 10003 (United States); Sagnotti, A., E-mail: sagnotti@sns.it [Th-Ph Department, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Scuola Normale Superiore and INFN, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, 56126 Pisa (Italy)

    2015-10-07

    A scale invariant goldstino theory coupled to supergravity is obtained as a standard supergravity dual of a rigidly scale-invariant higher-curvature supergravity with a nilpotent chiral scalar curvature. The bosonic part of this theory describes a massless scalaron and a massive axion in a de Sitter Universe.

  12. Scale invariant Volkov–Akulov supergravity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Ferrara

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available A scale invariant goldstino theory coupled to supergravity is obtained as a standard supergravity dual of a rigidly scale-invariant higher-curvature supergravity with a nilpotent chiral scalar curvature. The bosonic part of this theory describes a massless scalaron and a massive axion in a de Sitter Universe.

  13. Anisotropic inflation reexamined: upper bound on broken rotational invariance during inflation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naruko, Atsushi; Yamaguchi, Masahide; Komatsu, Eiichiro

    2015-01-01

    The presence of a light vector field coupled to a scalar field during inflation makes a distinct prediction: the observed correlation functions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) become statistically anisotropic. We study the implications of the current bound on statistical anisotropy derived from the Planck 2013 CMB temperature data for such a model. The previous calculations based on the attractor solution indicate that the magnitude of anisotropy in the power spectrum is proportional to N 2 , where N is the number of e-folds of inflation counted from the end of inflation. In this paper, we show that the attractor solution is not necessarily compatible with the current bound, and derive new predictions using another branch of anisotropic inflation. In addition, we improve upon the calculation of the mode function of perturbations by including the leading-order slow-roll corrections. We find that the anisotropy is roughly proportional to [2(ε H +4η H )/3−4(c−1)] −2 , where ε H and η H are the usual slow-roll parameters and c is the parameter in the model, regardless of the form of potential of an inflaton field. The bound from Planck implies that breaking of rotational invariance during inflation (characterized by the background homogeneous shear divided by the Hubble rate) is limited to be less than O(10 −9 ). This bound is many orders of magnitude smaller than the amplitude of breaking of time translation invariance, which is observed to be O(10 −2 )

  14. Inflation in a Scale Invariant Universe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferreira, Pedro G. [Oxford U.; Hill, Christopher T. [Fermilab; Noller, Johannes [Zurich U.; Ross, Graham G. [Oxford U., Theor. Phys.

    2018-02-16

    A scale-invariant universe can have a period of accelerated expansion at early times: inflation. We use a frame-invariant approach to calculate inflationary observables in a scale invariant theory of gravity involving two scalar fields - the spectral indices, the tensor to scalar ratio, the level of isocurvature modes and non-Gaussianity. We show that scale symmetry leads to an exact cancellation of isocurvature modes and that, in the scale-symmetry broken phase, this theory is well described by a single scalar field theory. We find the predictions of this theory strongly compatible with current observations.

  15. A scale invariant covariance structure on jet space

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Kim Steenstrup; Loog, Marco; Markussen, Bo

    2005-01-01

    This paper considers scale invariance of statistical image models. We study statistical scale invariance of the covariance structure of jet space under scale space blurring and derive the necessary structure and conditions of the jet covariance matrix in order for it to be scale invariant. As par...

  16. Quantum implications of a scale invariant regularization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghilencea, D. M.

    2018-04-01

    We study scale invariance at the quantum level in a perturbative approach. For a scale-invariant classical theory, the scalar potential is computed at a three-loop level while keeping manifest this symmetry. Spontaneous scale symmetry breaking is transmitted at a quantum level to the visible sector (of ϕ ) by the associated Goldstone mode (dilaton σ ), which enables a scale-invariant regularization and whose vacuum expectation value ⟨σ ⟩ generates the subtraction scale (μ ). While the hidden (σ ) and visible sector (ϕ ) are classically decoupled in d =4 due to an enhanced Poincaré symmetry, they interact through (a series of) evanescent couplings ∝ɛ , dictated by the scale invariance of the action in d =4 -2 ɛ . At the quantum level, these couplings generate new corrections to the potential, as scale-invariant nonpolynomial effective operators ϕ2 n +4/σ2 n. These are comparable in size to "standard" loop corrections and are important for values of ϕ close to ⟨σ ⟩. For n =1 , 2, the beta functions of their coefficient are computed at three loops. In the IR limit, dilaton fluctuations decouple, the effective operators are suppressed by large ⟨σ ⟩, and the effective potential becomes that of a renormalizable theory with explicit scale symmetry breaking by the DR scheme (of μ =constant).

  17. Modified dispersion relations, inflation, and scale invariance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bianco, Stefano; Friedhoff, Victor Nicolai; Wilson-Ewing, Edward

    2018-02-01

    For a certain type of modified dispersion relations, the vacuum quantum state for very short wavelength cosmological perturbations is scale-invariant and it has been suggested that this may be the source of the scale-invariance observed in the temperature anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. We point out that for this scenario to be possible, it is necessary to redshift these short wavelength modes to cosmological scales in such a way that the scale-invariance is not lost. This requires nontrivial background dynamics before the onset of standard radiation-dominated cosmology; we demonstrate that one possible solution is inflation with a sufficiently large Hubble rate, for this slow roll is not necessary. In addition, we also show that if the slow-roll condition is added to inflation with a large Hubble rate, then for any power law modified dispersion relation quantum vacuum fluctuations become nearly scale-invariant when they exit the Hubble radius.

  18. Gauge-invariant perturbations in a spatially flat anisotropic universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Den, Mitsue.

    1986-12-01

    The gauge-invariant perturbations in a spatially flat anisotropic universe with an arbitrary dimension (= N) are studied. In a previous paper the equations for the perturbations with a wave vector k a in one of the axial directions were derived and their solutions were shown. In this paper the perturbations with k a in arbitrary directions are treated. The remarkable properties are that all three types (scalar, vector, and tensor) of perturbations are generally coupled, so that a density perturbation can be produced also by vector or tensor perturbations. The formulation is quite general, but the behavior of the perturbations is discussed in a simple case such that N = 4 and k a is orthogonal to one of the axial directions. In this case, the perturbations are divided into two groups which are dynamically decoupled from each other. The asymptotic behavior of the perturbations in the group containing the density perturbation is discussed. (author)

  19. Manifestly scale-invariant regularization and quantum effective operators

    CERN Document Server

    Ghilencea, D.M.

    2016-01-01

    Scale invariant theories are often used to address the hierarchy problem, however the regularization of their quantum corrections introduces a dimensionful coupling (dimensional regularization) or scale (Pauli-Villars, etc) which break this symmetry explicitly. We show how to avoid this problem and study the implications of a manifestly scale invariant regularization in (classical) scale invariant theories. We use a dilaton-dependent subtraction function $\\mu(\\sigma)$ which after spontaneous breaking of scale symmetry generates the usual DR subtraction scale $\\mu(\\langle\\sigma\\rangle)$. One consequence is that "evanescent" interactions generated by scale invariance of the action in $d=4-2\\epsilon$ (but vanishing in $d=4$), give rise to new, finite quantum corrections. We find a (finite) correction $\\Delta U(\\phi,\\sigma)$ to the one-loop scalar potential for $\\phi$ and $\\sigma$, beyond the Coleman-Weinberg term. $\\Delta U$ is due to an evanescent correction ($\\propto\\epsilon$) to the field-dependent masses (of...

  20. Scale-invariant gravity: geometrodynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anderson, Edward; Barbour, Julian; Foster, Brendan; Murchadha, Niall O

    2003-01-01

    We present a scale-invariant theory, conformal gravity, which closely resembles the geometrodynamical formulation of general relativity (GR). While previous attempts to create scale-invariant theories of gravity have been based on Weyl's idea of a compensating field, our direct approach dispenses with this and is built by extension of the method of best matching w.r.t. scaling developed in the parallel particle dynamics paper by one of the authors. In spatially compact GR, there is an infinity of degrees of freedom that describe the shape of 3-space which interact with a single volume degree of freedom. In conformal gravity, the shape degrees of freedom remain, but the volume is no longer a dynamical variable. Further theories and formulations related to GR and conformal gravity are presented. Conformal gravity is successfully coupled to scalars and the gauge fields of nature. It should describe the solar system observations as well as GR does, but its cosmology and quantization will be completely different

  1. New solutions to the Vortex Anisotropic Electron Hydrodynamic equations for a Weibel plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bychenkov, V.Yu.; Kovalev, V.F.; Pustovalov, V.V.

    1996-01-01

    On the basis of the group analysis, new nonlinear solutions to the equations of Vortex Anisotropic Electron Hydrodynamics (VAEH) describing large-scale magnetic structures in a plasm with an anisotropic pressure are obtained. Unlike familiar particular nonlinear solutions to the VAEH equations, new solutions, which are found in the form of an infinite series, are invariant or partially invariant with respect to the permissible Lie and Lie-Baecklund symmetry groups. Examples of finite regular solutions and solutions in the form of magnetic explosion are presented to illustrate the new solutions obtained

  2. Heterotic superstring and curved, scale-invariant superspace

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuusk, P.K.

    1988-01-01

    It is shown that the modified heterotic superstring [R. E. Kallosh, JETP Lett. 43, 456 (1986); Phys. Lett. 176B, 50 (1986)] demands a scale-invariant superspace for its existence. Explicit expressions are given for the connection, the torsion, and the curvature of an extended scale-invariant superspace with 506 bosonic and 16 fermionic coordinates

  3. Scaling and scale invariance of conservation laws in Reynolds transport theorem framework

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haltas, Ismail; Ulusoy, Suleyman

    2015-07-01

    Scale invariance is the case where the solution of a physical process at a specified time-space scale can be linearly related to the solution of the processes at another time-space scale. Recent studies investigated the scale invariance conditions of hydrodynamic processes by applying the one-parameter Lie scaling transformations to the governing equations of the processes. Scale invariance of a physical process is usually achieved under certain conditions on the scaling ratios of the variables and parameters involved in the process. The foundational axioms of hydrodynamics are the conservation laws, namely, conservation of mass, conservation of linear momentum, and conservation of energy from continuum mechanics. They are formulated using the Reynolds transport theorem. Conventionally, Reynolds transport theorem formulates the conservation equations in integral form. Yet, differential form of the conservation equations can also be derived for an infinitesimal control volume. In the formulation of the governing equation of a process, one or more than one of the conservation laws and, some times, a constitutive relation are combined together. Differential forms of the conservation equations are used in the governing partial differential equation of the processes. Therefore, differential conservation equations constitute the fundamentals of the governing equations of the hydrodynamic processes. Applying the one-parameter Lie scaling transformation to the conservation laws in the Reynolds transport theorem framework instead of applying to the governing partial differential equations may lead to more fundamental conclusions on the scaling and scale invariance of the hydrodynamic processes. This study will investigate the scaling behavior and scale invariance conditions of the hydrodynamic processes by applying the one-parameter Lie scaling transformation to the conservation laws in the Reynolds transport theorem framework.

  4. Holographic models with anisotropic scaling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brynjolfsson, E. J.; Danielsson, U. H.; Thorlacius, L.; Zingg, T.

    2013-12-01

    We consider gravity duals to d+1 dimensional quantum critical points with anisotropic scaling. The primary motivation comes from strongly correlated electron systems in condensed matter theory but the main focus of the present paper is on the gravity models in their own right. Physics at finite temperature and fixed charge density is described in terms of charged black branes. Some exact solutions are known and can be used to obtain a maximally extended spacetime geometry, which has a null curvature singularity inside a single non-degenerate horizon, but generic black brane solutions in the model can only be obtained numerically. Charged matter gives rise to black branes with hair that are dual to the superconducting phase of a holographic superconductor. Our numerical results indicate that holographic superconductors with anisotropic scaling have vanishing zero temperature entropy when the back reaction of the hair on the brane geometry is taken into account.

  5. Classically scale-invariant B–L model and conformal gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oda, Ichiro

    2013-01-01

    We consider a coupling of conformal gravity to the classically scale-invariant B–L extended standard model which has been recently proposed as a phenomenologically viable model realizing the Coleman–Weinberg mechanism of breakdown of the electroweak symmetry. As in a globally scale-invariant dilaton gravity, it is also shown in a locally scale-invariant conformal gravity that without recourse to the Coleman–Weinberg mechanism, the B–L gauge symmetry is broken in the process of spontaneous symmetry breakdown of the local scale invariance (Weyl invariance) at the tree level and as a result the B–L gauge field becomes massive via the Higgs mechanism. As a bonus of conformal gravity, the massless dilaton field does not appear and the parameters in front of the non-minimal coupling of gravity are completely fixed in the present model. This observation clearly shows that the conformal gravity has a practical application even if the scalar field does not possess any dynamical degree of freedom owing to the local scale symmetry

  6. Symmetry analysis for anisotropic field theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parra, Lorena; Vergara, J. David

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this paper is to study with the help of Noether's theorem the symmetries of anisotropic actions for arbitrary fields which generally depend on higher order spatial derivatives, and to find the corresponding current densities and the Noether charges. We study in particular scale invariance and consider the cases of higher derivative extensions of the scalar field, electrodynamics and Chern-Simons theory.

  7. Inertial Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking and Quantum Scale Invariance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferreira, Pedro G. [Oxford U.; Hill, Christopher T. [Fermilab; Ross, Graham G. [Oxford U., Theor. Phys.

    2018-01-23

    Weyl invariant theories of scalars and gravity can generate all mass scales spontaneously, initiated by a dynamical process of "inertial spontaneous symmetry breaking" that does not involve a potential. This is dictated by the structure of the Weyl current, $K_\\mu$, and a cosmological phase during which the universe expands and the Einstein-Hilbert effective action is formed. Maintaining exact Weyl invariance in the renormalised quantum theory is straightforward when renormalisation conditions are referred back to the VEV's of fields in the action of the theory, which implies a conserved Weyl current. We do not require scale invariant regulators. We illustrate the computation of a Weyl invariant Coleman-Weinberg potential.

  8. Unstructured Mesh Movement and Viscous Mesh Generation for CFD-Based Design Optimization, Phase II

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The innovations proposed are twofold: 1) a robust unstructured mesh movement method able to handle isotropic (Euler), anisotropic (viscous), mixed element (hybrid)...

  9. Rotation, scale, and translation invariant pattern recognition using feature extraction

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prevost, Donald; Doucet, Michel; Bergeron, Alain; Veilleux, Luc; Chevrette, Paul C.; Gingras, Denis J.

    1997-03-01

    A rotation, scale and translation invariant pattern recognition technique is proposed.It is based on Fourier- Mellin Descriptors (FMD). Each FMD is taken as an independent feature of the object, and a set of those features forms a signature. FMDs are naturally rotation invariant. Translation invariance is achieved through pre- processing. A proper normalization of the FMDs gives the scale invariance property. This approach offers the double advantage of providing invariant signatures of the objects, and a dramatic reduction of the amount of data to process. The compressed invariant feature signature is next presented to a multi-layered perceptron neural network. This final step provides some robustness to the classification of the signatures, enabling good recognition behavior under anamorphically scaled distortion. We also present an original feature extraction technique, adapted to optical calculation of the FMDs. A prototype optical set-up was built, and experimental results are presented.

  10. Scale-Invariant Rotating Black Holes in Quadratic Gravity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guido Cognola

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available Black hole solutions in pure quadratic theories of gravity are interesting since they allow the formulation of a set of scale-invariant thermodynamics laws. Recently, we have proven that static scale-invariant black holes have a well-defined entropy, which characterizes equivalent classes of solutions. In this paper, we generalize these results and explore the thermodynamics of rotating black holes in pure quadratic gravity.

  11. Anisotropic cosmological constant and the CMB quadrupole anomaly

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodrigues, Davi C.

    2008-01-01

    There are evidences that the cosmic microwave background (CMB) large-angle anomalies imply a departure from statistical isotropy and hence from the standard cosmological model. We propose a ΛCDM model extension whose dark energy component preserves its nondynamical character but wields anisotropic vacuum pressure. Exact solutions for the cosmological scale factors are presented, upper bounds for the deformation parameter are evaluated and its value is estimated considering the elliptical universe proposal to solve the quadrupole anomaly. This model can be constructed from a Bianchi I cosmology with a cosmological constant from two different ways: (i) a straightforward anisotropic modification of the vacuum pressure consistently with energy-momentum conservation; (ii) a Poisson structure deformation between canonical momenta such that the dynamics remain invariant under scale factors rescalings

  12. Anisotropic, Mixed-Norm Lizorkin-Triebel Spaces and Diffeomorphic Maps

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Johnsen, Jon; Hansen, Sabrina Munch; Sickel, Winfried

    2014-01-01

    This paper gives general results on invariance of anisotropic Lizorkin-Triebel spaces with mixed norms under coordinate transformations on Euclidean space, open sets, and cylindrical domains.......This paper gives general results on invariance of anisotropic Lizorkin-Triebel spaces with mixed norms under coordinate transformations on Euclidean space, open sets, and cylindrical domains....

  13. Scale invariance from phase transitions to turbulence

    CERN Document Server

    Lesne, Annick

    2012-01-01

    During a century, from the Van der Waals mean field description (1874) of gases to the introduction of renormalization group (RG techniques 1970), thermodynamics and statistical physics were just unable to account for the incredible universality which was observed in numerous critical phenomena. The great success of RG techniques is not only to solve perfectly this challenge of critical behaviour in thermal transitions but to introduce extremely useful tools in a wide field of daily situations where a system exhibits scale invariance. The introduction of scaling, scale invariance and universality concepts has been a significant turn in modern physics and more generally in natural sciences. Since then, a new "physics of scaling laws and critical exponents", rooted in scaling approaches, allows quantitative descriptions of numerous phenomena, ranging from phase transitions to earthquakes, polymer conformations, heartbeat rhythm, diffusion, interface growth and roughening, DNA sequence, dynamical systems, chaos ...

  14. Broken Scale Invariance and Anomalous Dimensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wilson, K. G.

    1970-05-01

    Mack and Kastrup have proposed that broken scale invariance is a symmetry of strong interactions. There is evidence from the Thirring model and perturbation theory that the dimensions of fields defined by scale transformations will be changed by the interaction from their canonical values. We review these ideas and their consequences for strong interactions.

  15. One-loop potential with scale invariance and effective operators

    CERN Document Server

    Ghilencea, D M

    2016-01-01

    We study quantum corrections to the scalar potential in classically scale invariant theories, using a manifestly scale invariant regularization. To this purpose, the subtraction scale $\\mu$ of the dimensional regularization is generated after spontaneous scale symmetry breaking, from a subtraction function of the fields, $\\mu(\\phi,\\sigma)$. This function is then uniquely determined from general principles showing that it depends on the dilaton only, with $\\mu(\\sigma)\\sim \\sigma$. The result is a scale invariant one-loop potential $U$ for a higgs field $\\phi$ and dilaton $\\sigma$ that contains an additional {\\it finite} quantum correction $\\Delta U(\\phi,\\sigma)$, beyond the Coleman Weinberg term. $\\Delta U$ contains new, non-polynomial effective operators like $\\phi^6/\\sigma^2$ whose quantum origin is explained. A flat direction is maintained at the quantum level, the model has vanishing vacuum energy and the one-loop correction to the mass of $\\phi$ remains small without tuning (of its self-coupling, etc) bey...

  16. IMPACT STUDY OF ANISOTROPIC OPTICAL FIBERS WINDING WITH DIFFERENT TENSION VALUE ON THE H-PARAMETER INVARIANCE DEGREE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. B. Mukhtubayev

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Subject of Research. We have investigated the effect of anisotropic optical fibers winding with an elliptical sheath subjecting to stress on the H-parameter invariance degree. This type of optical fiber is used in the manufacture of fiber loop in fiber-optic gyroscopes. Method of Research. The method of research is based on the application of Michelson polarization scanning interferometer as a measuring device. Superluminescent diode with a central wavelength of 1575 nm and a half-width of the spectrum equal to 45 nm is used as a radiation source. The studies were carried out with anisotropic optical fiber with 50 m long elliptical sheath subjecting to stress. The fiber was wound with one layer turn to turn on the coil with a diameter of 18 cm, which is used in the design of fiber-optic gyroscope. The tension force of the optical fiber was controlled during winding on a special machine. Main Results. It was found that at the increase of tension force from 0.05 N to 0.8 H the value of H-parameter increases from 7×10-6 1/m up to 178×10-6 1/m, respectively; i.e. the coupling coefficient of orthogonal modes in the test fiber is being increased. Thus, it is necessary to consider the longitudinal tension force of fiber in the design and manufacture of the fiber-optic sensors of high accuracy class: the less the fiber winding power, the higher invariance degree of distributed H-parameter. The longitudinal tension force of anisotropic optical fiber with elliptical sheath subjecting to stress equal to 0.2 N is recommended in the process of designing fiber-optic gyroscopes. Practical Relevance. The proposed method of Michelson scanning interferometer is usable in the production process for quality determination of the optical fiber winding: no local defects, value controlling of fiber H-parameter.

  17. A characterization of scale invariant responses in enzymatic networks.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maja Skataric

    Full Text Available An ubiquitous property of biological sensory systems is adaptation: a step increase in stimulus triggers an initial change in a biochemical or physiological response, followed by a more gradual relaxation toward a basal, pre-stimulus level. Adaptation helps maintain essential variables within acceptable bounds and allows organisms to readjust themselves to an optimum and non-saturating sensitivity range when faced with a prolonged change in their environment. Recently, it was shown theoretically and experimentally that many adapting systems, both at the organism and single-cell level, enjoy a remarkable additional feature: scale invariance, meaning that the initial, transient behavior remains (approximately the same even when the background signal level is scaled. In this work, we set out to investigate under what conditions a broadly used model of biochemical enzymatic networks will exhibit scale-invariant behavior. An exhaustive computational study led us to discover a new property of surprising simplicity and generality, uniform linearizations with fast output (ULFO, whose validity we show is both necessary and sufficient for scale invariance of three-node enzymatic networks (and sufficient for any number of nodes. Based on this study, we go on to develop a mathematical explanation of how ULFO results in scale invariance. Our work provides a surprisingly consistent, simple, and general framework for understanding this phenomenon, and results in concrete experimental predictions.

  18. The Scale Invariant Synchrotron Jet of Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    2016-01-27

    Jan 27, 2016 ... In this paper, the scale invariance of the synchrotron jet of Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars has been studied using a sample of combined sources from FKM04 and from SDSS DR3 catalogue. Since the research of scale invariance has been focused on sub-Eddington cases that can be fitted onto the ...

  19. The evolving Planck mass in classically scale-invariant theories

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kannike, K.; Raidal, M.; Spethmann, C.; Veermäe, H. [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics,Rävala 10, 10143 Tallinn (Estonia)

    2017-04-05

    We consider classically scale-invariant theories with non-minimally coupled scalar fields, where the Planck mass and the hierarchy of physical scales are dynamically generated. The classical theories possess a fixed point, where scale invariance is spontaneously broken. In these theories, however, the Planck mass becomes unstable in the presence of explicit sources of scale invariance breaking, such as non-relativistic matter and cosmological constant terms. We quantify the constraints on such classical models from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis that lead to an upper bound on the non-minimal coupling and require trans-Planckian field values. We show that quantum corrections to the scalar potential can stabilise the fixed point close to the minimum of the Coleman-Weinberg potential. The time-averaged motion of the evolving fixed point is strongly suppressed, thus the limits on the evolving gravitational constant from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and other measurements do not presently constrain this class of theories. Field oscillations around the fixed point, if not damped, contribute to the dark matter density of the Universe.

  20. The evolving Planck mass in classically scale-invariant theories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kannike, K.; Raidal, M.; Spethmann, C.; Veermäe, H.

    2017-04-01

    We consider classically scale-invariant theories with non-minimally coupled scalar fields, where the Planck mass and the hierarchy of physical scales are dynamically generated. The classical theories possess a fixed point, where scale invariance is spontaneously broken. In these theories, however, the Planck mass becomes unstable in the presence of explicit sources of scale invariance breaking, such as non-relativistic matter and cosmological constant terms. We quantify the constraints on such classical models from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis that lead to an upper bound on the non-minimal coupling and require trans-Planckian field values. We show that quantum corrections to the scalar potential can stabilise the fixed point close to the minimum of the Coleman-Weinberg potential. The time-averaged motion of the evolving fixed point is strongly suppressed, thus the limits on the evolving gravitational constant from Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and other measurements do not presently constrain this class of theories. Field oscillations around the fixed point, if not damped, contribute to the dark matter density of the Universe.

  1. Natural inflation with hidden scale invariance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Neil D. Barrie

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available We propose a new class of natural inflation models based on a hidden scale invariance. In a very generic Wilsonian effective field theory with an arbitrary number of scalar fields, which exhibits scale invariance via the dilaton, the potential necessarily contains a flat direction in the classical limit. This flat direction is lifted by small quantum corrections and inflation is realised without need for an unnatural fine-tuning. In the conformal limit, the effective potential becomes linear in the inflaton field, yielding to specific predictions for the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, being respectively: ns−1≈−0.025(N⋆60−1 and r≈0.0667(N⋆60−1, where N⋆≈30–65 is a number of efolds during observable inflation. This predictions are in reasonable agreement with cosmological measurements. Further improvement of the accuracy of these measurements may turn out to be critical in falsifying our scenario.

  2. Nonlocal matching condition and scale-invariant spectrum in bouncing cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chu, C.-S.; Furuta, K.; Lin, F.-L.

    2006-01-01

    In cosmological scenarios such as the pre-big bang scenario or the ekpyrotic scenario, a matching condition between the metric perturbations in the pre-big bang phase and those in the post big bang phase is often assumed. Various matching conditions have been considered in the literature. Nevertheless obtaining a scale-invariant CMB spectrum via a concrete mechanism remains impossible. In this paper, we examine this problem from the point of view of local causality. We begin with introducing the notion of local causality and explain how it constrains the form of the matching condition. We then prove a no-go theorem: independent of the details of the matching condition, a scale-invariant spectrum is impossible as long as the local causality condition is satisfied. In our framework, it is easy to show that a violation of local causality around the bounce is needed in order to give a scale-invariant spectrum. We study a specific scenario of this possibility by considering a nonlocal effective theory inspired by noncommutative geometry around the bounce and show that a scale-invariant spectrum is possible. Moreover we demonstrate that the magnitude of the spectrum is compatible with observations if the bounce is assumed to occur at an energy scale which is a few orders of magnitude below the Planckian energy scale

  3. Galilean invariance and homogeneous anisotropic randomly stirred flows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Berera, Arjun; Hochberg, David

    2005-01-01

    The Ward-Takahashi identities for incompressible flow implied by Galilean invariance are derived for the randomly forced Navier-Stokes equation, in which both the mean and fluctuating velocity components are explicitly present. The consequences of the Galilean invariance for the vertex renormalization are drawn from this identity

  4. Error-measure for anisotropic grid-adaptation in turbulence-resolving simulations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toosi, Siavash; Larsson, Johan

    2015-11-01

    Grid-adaptation requires an error-measure that identifies where the grid should be refined. In the case of turbulence-resolving simulations (DES, LES, DNS), a simple error-measure is the small-scale resolved energy, which scales with both the modeled subgrid-stresses and the numerical truncation errors in many situations. Since this is a scalar measure, it does not carry any information on the anisotropy of the optimal grid-refinement. The purpose of this work is to introduce a new error-measure for turbulence-resolving simulations that is capable of predicting nearly-optimal anisotropic grids. Turbulent channel flow at Reτ ~ 300 is used to assess the performance of the proposed error-measure. The formulation is geometrically general, applicable to any type of unstructured grid.

  5. Time-scale invariance as an emergent property in a perceptron with realistic, noisy neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buhusi, Catalin V; Oprisan, Sorinel A

    2013-05-01

    In most species, interval timing is time-scale invariant: errors in time estimation scale up linearly with the estimated duration. In mammals, time-scale invariance is ubiquitous over behavioral, lesion, and pharmacological manipulations. For example, dopaminergic drugs induce an immediate, whereas cholinergic drugs induce a gradual, scalar change in timing. Behavioral theories posit that time-scale invariance derives from particular computations, rules, or coding schemes. In contrast, we discuss a simple neural circuit, the perceptron, whose output neurons fire in a clockwise fashion based on the pattern of coincidental activation of its input neurons. We show numerically that time-scale invariance emerges spontaneously in a perceptron with realistic neurons, in the presence of noise. Under the assumption that dopaminergic drugs modulate the firing of input neurons, and that cholinergic drugs modulate the memory representation of the criterion time, we show that a perceptron with realistic neurons reproduces the pharmacological clock and memory patterns, and their time-scale invariance, in the presence of noise. These results suggest that rather than being a signature of higher order cognitive processes or specific computations related to timing, time-scale invariance may spontaneously emerge in a massively connected brain from the intrinsic noise of neurons and circuits, thus providing the simplest explanation for the ubiquity of scale invariance of interval timing. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Disadvantage factor for anisotropic scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Saad, E.A.; Abdel Krim, M.S.; EL-Dimerdash, A.A.

    1990-01-01

    The invariant embedding method is used to solve the problem for a two region reactor with anisotropic scattering and to compute the disadvantage factor necessary for calculating some reactor parameters

  7. Gowdy phenomenology in scale-invariant variables

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Andersson, Lars; Elst, Henk van; Uggla, Claes

    2004-01-01

    The dynamics of Gowdy vacuum spacetimes is considered in terms of Hubble-normalized scale-invariant variables, using the timelike area temporal gauge. The resulting state space formulation provides for a simple mechanism for the formation of 'false' and 'true spikes' in the approach to the singularity, and a geometrical formulation for the local attractor

  8. Large transverse momenta in inclusive hadronic reactions and asymptotic scale invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miralles, F.; Sala, C.

    1976-01-01

    The inclusive reaction among scalar particles in considered, assuming that in the large-transverse momentum limit, scale invariance becomes important. Predictions are made of the asymptotic scale invariance for large four transverse momentum in hadron-hadron interactions, and they are compared with previous predictions. Photoproduction is also studied and the predictions that follow from different assumptions about the compositeness of hadrons are compared

  9. Scale-invariant entropy-based theory for dynamic ordering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mahulikar, Shripad P.; Kumari, Priti

    2014-01-01

    Dynamically Ordered self-organized dissipative structure exists in various forms and at different scales. This investigation first introduces the concept of an isolated embedding system, which embeds an open system, e.g., dissipative structure and its mass and/or energy exchange with its surroundings. Thereafter, scale-invariant theoretical analysis is presented using thermodynamic principles for Order creation, existence, and destruction. The sustainability criterion for Order existence based on its structured mass and/or energy interactions with the surroundings is mathematically defined. This criterion forms the basis for the interrelationship of physical parameters during sustained existence of dynamic Order. It is shown that the sufficient condition for dynamic Order existence is approached if its sustainability criterion is met, i.e., its destruction path is blocked. This scale-invariant approach has the potential to unify the physical understanding of universal dynamic ordering based on entropy considerations

  10. Longitudinal Cross-Gender Factorial Invariance of the Academic Motivation Scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grouzet, Frederick M. E.; Otis, Nancy; Pelletier, Luc G.

    2006-01-01

    This study examined the measurement and latent construct invariance of the Academic Motivation Scale (Vallerand, Blais, Brier, & Pelletier, 1989; Vallerand et al., 1992, 1993) across both gender and time. An integrative analytical strategy was used to assess in one set of nested models both longitudinal and cross-gender invariance, and…

  11. Higgs mass naturalness and scale invariance in the UV

    CERN Document Server

    Tavares, Gustavo Marques; Skiba, Witold

    2014-01-01

    It has been suggested that electroweak symmetry breaking in the Standard Model may be natural if the Standard Model merges into a conformal field theory (CFT) at short distances. In such a scenario the Higgs mass would be protected from quantum corrections by the scale invariance of the CFT. In order for the Standard Model to merge into a CFT at least one new ultraviolet (UV) scale is required at which the couplings turn over from their usual Standard Model running to the fixed point behavior. We argue that the Higgs mass is sensitive to such a turn-over scale even if there are no associated massive particles and the scale arises purely from dimensional transmutation. We demonstrate this sensitivity to the turnover scale explicitly in toy models. Thus if scale invariance is responsible for Higgs mass naturalness, then the transition to CFT dynamics must occur near the TeV scale with observable consequences at colliders. In addition, the UV fixed point theory in such a scenario must be interacting because loga...

  12. Exact scale-invariant background of gravitational waves from cosmic defects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Figueroa, Daniel G; Hindmarsh, Mark; Urrestilla, Jon

    2013-03-08

    We demonstrate that any scaling source in the radiation era produces a background of gravitational waves with an exact scale-invariant power spectrum. Cosmic defects, created after a phase transition in the early universe, are such a scaling source. We emphasize that the result is independent of the topology of the cosmic defects, the order of phase transition, and the nature of the symmetry broken, global or gauged. As an example, using large-scale numerical simulations, we calculate the scale-invariant gravitational wave power spectrum generated by the dynamics of a global O(N) scalar theory. The result approaches the large N theoretical prediction as N(-2), albeit with a large coefficient. The signal from global cosmic strings is O(100) times larger than the large N prediction.

  13. Time-scale invariances in preseismic electromagnetic radiation, magnetization and damage evolution of rocks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Kawada

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available We investigate the time-scale invariant changes in electromagnetic and mechanical energy releases prior to a rock failure or a large earthquake. The energy release processes are caused by damage evolutions such as crack propagation, motion of charged dislocation, area-enlargement of sheared asperities and repetitive creep-rate changes. Damage mechanics can be used to represent the time-scale invariant evolutions of both brittle and plastic damages. Irreversible thermodynamics applied to the damage mechanics reveals that the damage evolution produces the variations in charge, dipole and electromagnetic signals in addition to mechanical energy release, and yields the time-scale invariant patterns of Benioff electromagnetic radiation and cumulative Benioff strain-release. The irreversible thermodynamic framework of damage mechanics is also applicable to the seismo-magnetic effect, and the time-scale invariance is recognized in the remanent magnetization change associated with damage evolution prior to a rock failure.

  14. Two-loop scale-invariant scalar potential and quantum effective operators

    CERN Document Server

    Ghilencea, D.M.

    2016-11-29

    Spontaneous breaking of quantum scale invariance may provide a solution to the hierarchy and cosmological constant problems. In a scale-invariant regularization, we compute the two-loop potential of a higgs-like scalar $\\phi$ in theories in which scale symmetry is broken only spontaneously by the dilaton ($\\sigma$). Its vev $\\langle\\sigma\\rangle$ generates the DR subtraction scale ($\\mu\\sim\\langle\\sigma\\rangle$), which avoids the explicit scale symmetry breaking by traditional regularizations (where $\\mu$=fixed scale). The two-loop potential contains effective operators of non-polynomial nature as well as new corrections, beyond those obtained with explicit breaking ($\\mu$=fixed scale). These operators have the form: $\\phi^6/\\sigma^2$, $\\phi^8/\\sigma^4$, etc, which generate an infinite series of higher dimensional polynomial operators upon expansion about $\\langle\\sigma\\rangle\\gg \\langle\\phi\\rangle$, where such hierarchy is arranged by {\\it one} initial, classical tuning. These operators emerge at the quantum...

  15. Scale-invariant Green-Kubo relation for time-averaged diffusivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meyer, Philipp; Barkai, Eli; Kantz, Holger

    2017-12-01

    In recent years it was shown both theoretically and experimentally that in certain systems exhibiting anomalous diffusion the time- and ensemble-averaged mean-squared displacement are remarkably different. The ensemble-averaged diffusivity is obtained from a scaling Green-Kubo relation, which connects the scale-invariant nonstationary velocity correlation function with the transport coefficient. Here we obtain the relation between time-averaged diffusivity, usually recorded in single-particle tracking experiments, and the underlying scale-invariant velocity correlation function. The time-averaged mean-squared displacement is given by 〈δ2¯〉 ˜2 DνtβΔν -β , where t is the total measurement time and Δ is the lag time. Here ν is the anomalous diffusion exponent obtained from ensemble-averaged measurements 〈x2〉 ˜tν , while β ≥-1 marks the growth or decline of the kinetic energy 〈v2〉 ˜tβ . Thus, we establish a connection between exponents that can be read off the asymptotic properties of the velocity correlation function and similarly for the transport constant Dν. We demonstrate our results with nonstationary scale-invariant stochastic and deterministic models, thereby highlighting that systems with equivalent behavior in the ensemble average can differ strongly in their time average. If the averaged kinetic energy is finite, β =0 , the time scaling of 〈δ2¯〉 and 〈x2〉 are identical; however, the time-averaged transport coefficient Dν is not identical to the corresponding ensemble-averaged diffusion constant.

  16. Decrease in scale invariance of activity fluctuations with aging and in patients with suprasellar tumors

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Joustra, S. D.; Gu, C.; Rohling, J. H.T.

    2018-01-01

    -matched healthy controls (age range 21.0–70.6 years). Spontaneous wrist locomotor activity was measured for 7 days with actigraphy, and detrended fluctuation analysis was applied to assess correlations over a range of time scales from minutes to 24 h. For all the subjects, complex scale-invariant correlations...... scale invariance. Conversely, activity patterns at time scales between 10 and 24 h were significantly more regular than all other time scales, and this was mostly associated with age. In conclusion, scale invariance is degraded in healthy subjects at the ages of >33 year as characterized by attenuation......Motor activity in healthy young humans displays intrinsic fluctuations that are scale-invariant over a wide range of time scales (from minutes to hours). Human postmortem and animal lesion studies showed that the intact function of the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) is required to maintain...

  17. Augmented distinctive features with color and scale invariance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yan; Lu, Xiaoqing; Qin, Yeyang; Tang, Zhi; Xu, Jianbo

    2013-03-01

    For objects with the same texture but different colors, it is difficult to discriminate them with the traditional scale invariant feature transform descriptor (SIFT), because it is designed for grayscale images only. Thus it is important to keep a high probability to make sure that the used key points are couples of correct pairs. In addition, mean distributed key points are much more expected than over dense and clustered key points for image match and other applications. In this paper, we analyze these two problems. First, we propose a color and scale invariant method to extract a more mean distributed key points relying on illumination intensity invariance but object reflectance sensitivity variance variable. Second, we modify the key point's canonical direction accumulated error by dispersing each pixel's gradient direction on a relative direction around the current key point. At last, we build the descriptors on a Gaussian pyramid and match the key points with our enhanced two-way matching regulations. Experiments are performed on the Amsterdam Library of Object Images dataset and some synthetic images manually. The results show that the extracted key points have better distribution character and larger number than SIFT. The feature descriptors can well discriminate images with different color but with the same content and texture.

  18. Rotation invariant fast features for large-scale recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takacs, Gabriel; Chandrasekhar, Vijay; Tsai, Sam; Chen, David; Grzeszczuk, Radek; Girod, Bernd

    2012-10-01

    We present an end-to-end feature description pipeline which uses a novel interest point detector and Rotation- Invariant Fast Feature (RIFF) descriptors. The proposed RIFF algorithm is 15× faster than SURF1 while producing large-scale retrieval results that are comparable to SIFT.2 Such high-speed features benefit a range of applications from Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) to web-scale image retrieval and analysis.

  19. Object detection based on improved color and scale invariant features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Mengyang; Men, Aidong; Fan, Peng; Yang, Bo

    2009-10-01

    A novel object detection method which combines color and scale invariant features is presented in this paper. The detection system mainly adopts the widely used framework of SIFT (Scale Invariant Feature Transform), which consists of both a keypoint detector and descriptor. Although SIFT has some impressive advantages, it is not only computationally expensive, but also vulnerable to color images. To overcome these drawbacks, we employ the local color kernel histograms and Haar Wavelet Responses to enhance the descriptor's distinctiveness and computational efficiency. Extensive experimental evaluations show that the method has better robustness and lower computation costs.

  20. Factor Structure and Measurement Invariance of the Need-Supportive Teaching Style Scale for Physical Education.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Jing-Dong; Chung, Pak-Kwong

    2017-08-01

    The purpose of the current study was to examine the factor structure and measurement invariance of a scale measuring students' perceptions of need-supportive teaching (Need-Supportive Teaching Style Scale in Physical Education; NSTSSPE). We sampled 615 secondary school students in Hong Kong, 200 of whom also completed a follow-up assessment two months later. Factor structure of the scale was examined through exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). Further, nomological validity of the NSTSSPE was evaluated by examining the relationships between need-supportive teaching style and student satisfaction of psychological needs. Finally, four measurement models-configural, metric invariance, scalar invariance, and item uniqueness invariance-were assessed using multiple group ESEM to test the measurement invariance of the scale across gender, grade, and time. ESEM results suggested a three-factor structure of the NSTSSPE. Nomological validity was supported, and weak, strong, and strict measurement invariance of the NSTSSPE was evidenced across gender, grade, and time. The current study provides initial psychometric support for the NSTSSPE to assess student perceptions of teachers' need-supportive teaching style in physical education classes.

  1. Linear systems with unstructured multiplicative uncertainty: Modeling and robust stability analysis.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Radek Matušů

    Full Text Available This article deals with continuous-time Linear Time-Invariant (LTI Single-Input Single-Output (SISO systems affected by unstructured multiplicative uncertainty. More specifically, its aim is to present an approach to the construction of uncertain models based on the appropriate selection of a nominal system and a weight function and to apply the fundamentals of robust stability investigation for considered sort of systems. The initial theoretical parts are followed by three extensive illustrative examples in which the first order time-delay, second order and third order plants with parametric uncertainty are modeled as systems with unstructured multiplicative uncertainty and subsequently, the robust stability of selected feedback loops containing constructed models and chosen controllers is analyzed and obtained results are discussed.

  2. A quantization scheme for scale-invariant pure gauge theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hortacsu, M.

    1988-01-01

    A scheme is suggested for the quantization of the recently proposed scale-invariant gauge theories in higher dimensions. The model is minimally coupled to a spinor field. Regularization algorithms are proposed. (orig.)

  3. Universal happiness? Cross-cultural measurement invariance of scales assessing positive mental health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bieda, Angela; Hirschfeld, Gerrit; Schönfeld, Pia; Brailovskaia, Julia; Zhang, Xiao Chi; Margraf, Jürgen

    2017-04-01

    Research into positive aspects of the psyche is growing as psychologists learn more about the protective role of positive processes in the development and course of mental disorders, and about their substantial role in promoting mental health. With increasing globalization, there is strong interest in studies examining positive constructs across cultures. To obtain valid cross-cultural comparisons, measurement invariance for the scales assessing positive constructs has to be established. The current study aims to assess the cross-cultural measurement invariance of questionnaires for 6 positive constructs: Social Support (Fydrich, Sommer, Tydecks, & Brähler, 2009), Happiness (Subjective Happiness Scale; Lyubomirsky & Lepper, 1999), Life Satisfaction (Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985), Positive Mental Health Scale (Lukat, Margraf, Lutz, van der Veld, & Becker, 2016), Optimism (revised Life Orientation Test [LOT-R]; Scheier, Carver, & Bridges, 1994) and Resilience (Schumacher, Leppert, Gunzelmann, Strauss, & Brähler, 2004). Participants included German (n = 4,453), Russian (n = 3,806), and Chinese (n = 12,524) university students. Confirmatory factor analyses and measurement invariance testing demonstrated at least partial strong measurement invariance for all scales except the LOT-R and Subjective Happiness Scale. The latent mean comparisons of the constructs indicated differences between national groups. Potential methodological and cultural explanations for the intergroup differences are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  4. Scale invariants from Gaussian-Hermite moments

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Yang, B.; Kostková, Jitka; Flusser, Jan; Suk, Tomáš

    2017-01-01

    Roč. 132, č. 1 (2017), s. 77-84 ISSN 0165-1684 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA15-16928S Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : Scale invariants * Gaussian–Hermite moments * Variable modulation * Normalization * Zernike moments Subject RIV: JD - Computer Applications, Robotics OBOR OECD: Computer sciences, information science, bioinformathics (hardware development to be 2.2, social aspect to be 5.8) Impact factor: 3.110, year: 2016 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2016/ZOI/flusser-0466031.pdf

  5. Scale Invariant Gabor Descriptor-Based Noncooperative Iris Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Du Yingzi

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract A new noncooperative iris recognition method is proposed. In this method, the iris features are extracted using a Gabor descriptor. The feature extraction and comparison are scale, deformation, rotation, and contrast-invariant. It works with off-angle and low-resolution iris images. The Gabor wavelet is incorporated with scale-invariant feature transformation (SIFT for feature extraction to better extract the iris features. Both the phase and magnitude of the Gabor wavelet outputs were used in a novel way for local feature point description. Two feature region maps were designed to locally and globally register the feature points and each subregion in the map is locally adjusted to the dilation/contraction/deformation. We also developed a video-based non-cooperative iris recognition system by integrating video-based non-cooperative segmentation, segmentation evaluation, and score fusion units. The proposed method shows good performance for frontal and off-angle iris matching. Video-based recognition methods can improve non-cooperative iris recognition accuracy.

  6. Scale Invariant Gabor Descriptor-based Noncooperative Iris Recognition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhi Zhou

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available A new noncooperative iris recognition method is proposed. In this method, the iris features are extracted using a Gabor descriptor. The feature extraction and comparison are scale, deformation, rotation, and contrast-invariant. It works with off-angle and low-resolution iris images. The Gabor wavelet is incorporated with scale-invariant feature transformation (SIFT for feature extraction to better extract the iris features. Both the phase and magnitude of the Gabor wavelet outputs were used in a novel way for local feature point description. Two feature region maps were designed to locally and globally register the feature points and each subregion in the map is locally adjusted to the dilation/contraction/deformation. We also developed a video-based non-cooperative iris recognition system by integrating video-based non-cooperative segmentation, segmentation evaluation, and score fusion units. The proposed method shows good performance for frontal and off-angle iris matching. Video-based recognition methods can improve non-cooperative iris recognition accuracy.

  7. Scalewise invariant analysis of the anisotropic Reynolds stress tensor for atmospheric surface layer and canopy sublayer turbulent flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brugger, Peter; Katul, Gabriel G.; De Roo, Frederik; Kröniger, Konstantin; Rotenberg, Eyal; Rohatyn, Shani; Mauder, Matthias

    2018-05-01

    Anisotropy in the turbulent stress tensor, which forms the basis of invariant analysis, is conducted using velocity time series measurements collected in the canopy sublayer (CSL) and the atmospheric surface layer (ASL). The goal is to assess how thermal stratification and surface roughness conditions simultaneously distort the scalewise relaxation towards isotropic state from large to small scales when referenced to homogeneous turbulence. To achieve this goal, conventional invariant analysis is extended to allow scalewise information about relaxation to isotropy in physical (instead of Fourier) space to be incorporated. The proposed analysis shows that the CSL is more isotropic than its ASL counterpart at large, intermediate, and small (or inertial) scales irrespective of the thermal stratification. Moreover, the small (or inertial) scale anisotropy is more prevalent in the ASL when compared to the CSL, a finding that cannot be fully explained by the intensity of the mean velocity gradient acting on all scales. Implications to the validity of scalewise Rotta and Lumley models for return to isotropy as well as advantages to using barycentric instead of anisotropy invariant maps for such scalewise analysis are discussed.

  8. Invariant relationships deriving from classical scaling transformations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bludman, Sidney; Kennedy, Dallas C.

    2011-01-01

    Because scaling symmetries of the Euler-Lagrange equations are generally not variational symmetries of the action, they do not lead to conservation laws. Instead, an extension of Noether's theorem reduces the equations of motion to evolutionary laws that prove useful, even if the transformations are not symmetries of the equations of motion. In the case of scaling, symmetry leads to a scaling evolutionary law, a first-order equation in terms of scale invariants, linearly relating kinematic and dynamic degrees of freedom. This scaling evolutionary law appears in dynamical and in static systems. Applied to dynamical central-force systems, the scaling evolutionary equation leads to generalized virial laws, which linearly connect the kinetic and potential energies. Applied to barotropic hydrostatic spheres, the scaling evolutionary equation linearly connects the gravitational and internal energy densities. This implies well-known properties of polytropes, describing degenerate stars and chemically homogeneous nondegenerate stellar cores.

  9. Testing Lorentz invariance emergence in Ising Model using lattice Monte Carlo simulations

    CERN Document Server

    Stojku, Stefan

    2017-01-01

    All measurements performed so far at the observable energy scales show no violation of Lorentz invariance. However, it is yet impossible to check experimentally whether this symmetry holds at high energies such as the Planck scale. Recently, theories of gravitation with Lorentz violation, known as Horava-Lifshitz gravity [1, 2] have gained significant attention by treating Lorentz symmetry as an emergent phenomenon. A Lif-shitz type theory assumes an anisotropic scaling between space and time weighted by some critical exponent. In order for these theories to be viable candidates for quantum gravity description of the nature, Lorentz symmetry needs to be recovered at low energies.

  10. Scale-invariant extended inflation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Holman, R.; Kolb, E.W.; Vadas, S.L.; Wang, Y.

    1991-01-01

    We propose a model of extended inflation which makes use of the nonlinear realization of scale invariance involving the dilaton coupled to an inflaton field whose potential admits a metastable ground state. The resulting theory resembles the Jordan-Brans-Dicke version of extended inflation. However, quantum effects, in the form of the conformal anomaly, generate a mass for the dilaton, thus allowing our model to evade the problems of the original version of extended inflation. We show that extended inflation can occur for a wide range of inflaton potentials with no fine-tuning of dimensionless parameters required. Furthermore, we also find that it is quite natural for the extended-inflation period to be followed by an epoch of slow-rollover inflation as the dilaton settles down to the minimum of its induced potential

  11. Solution to the hierarchy problem from an almost decoupled hidden sector within a classically scale invariant theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foot, Robert; Kobakhidze, Archil; Volkas, Raymond R.; McDonald, Kristian L.

    2008-01-01

    If scale invariance is a classical symmetry then both the Planck scale and the weak scale should emerge as quantum effects. We show that this can be realized in simple scale invariant theories with a hidden sector. The weak/Planck scale hierarchy emerges in the (technically natural) limit in which the hidden sector decouples from the ordinary sector. In this limit, finite corrections to the weak scale are consequently small, while quadratic divergences are absent by virtue of classical scale invariance, so there is no hierarchy problem

  12. On spectral scaling laws for incompressible anisotropic magnetohydrodynamic turbulence

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Galtier, Sebastien; Pouquet, Annick; Mangeney, Andre

    2005-01-01

    A heuristic model is given for anisotropic magnetohydrodynamics turbulence in the presence of a uniform external magnetic field B 0 e parallel . The model is valid for both moderate and strong B 0 and is able to describe both the strong and weak wave turbulence regimes as well as the transition between them. The main ingredient of the model is the assumption of constant ratio at all scales between the linear wave period and the nonlinear turnover time scale. Contrary to the model of critical balance introduced by Goldreich and Sridhar [Astrophys. J. 438, 763 (1995)], it is not assumed, in addition, that this ratio be equal to unity at all scales. This allows us to make use of the Iroshnikov-Kraichnan phenomenology; it is then possible to recover the widely observed anisotropic scaling law k parallel ∝k perpendicular 2/3 between parallel and perpendicular wave numbers (with reference to B 0 e parallel and to obtain for the total-energy spectrum E(k perpendicular ,k parallel )∼k perpendicular -α k parallel -β the universal prediction, 3α+2β=7. In particular, with such a prediction, the weak Alfven wave turbulence constant-flux solution is recovered and, for the first time, a possible explanation to its precursor found numerically by Galtier et al. [J. Plasma Phys. 63, 447 (2000)] is given.

  13. Hidden Scale Invariance in Condensed Matter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dyre, J. C.

    2014-01-01

    . This means that the phase diagram becomes effectively one-dimensional with regard to several physical properties. Liquids and solids with isomorphs include most or all van der Waals bonded systems and metals, as well as weakly ionic or dipolar systems. On the other hand, systems with directional bonding...... (hydrogen bonds or covalent bonds) or strong Coulomb forces generally do not exhibit hidden scale invariance. The article reviews the theory behind this picture of condensed matter and the evidence for it coming from computer simulations and experiments...

  14. A new subgrid characteristic length for turbulence simulations on anisotropic grids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trias, F. X.; Gorobets, A.; Silvis, M. H.; Verstappen, R. W. C. P.; Oliva, A.

    2017-11-01

    Direct numerical simulations of the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations are not feasible yet for most practical turbulent flows. Therefore, dynamically less complex mathematical formulations are necessary for coarse-grained simulations. In this regard, eddy-viscosity models for Large-Eddy Simulation (LES) are probably the most popular example thereof. This type of models requires the calculation of a subgrid characteristic length which is usually associated with the local grid size. For isotropic grids, this is equal to the mesh step. However, for anisotropic or unstructured grids, such as the pancake-like meshes that are often used to resolve near-wall turbulence or shear layers, a consensus on defining the subgrid characteristic length has not been reached yet despite the fact that it can strongly affect the performance of LES models. In this context, a new definition of the subgrid characteristic length is presented in this work. This flow-dependent length scale is based on the turbulent, or subgrid stress, tensor and its representations on different grids. The simplicity and mathematical properties suggest that it can be a robust definition that minimizes the effects of mesh anisotropies on simulation results. The performance of the proposed subgrid characteristic length is successfully tested for decaying isotropic turbulence and a turbulent channel flow using artificially refined grids. Finally, a simple extension of the method for unstructured meshes is proposed and tested for a turbulent flow around a square cylinder. Comparisons with existing subgrid characteristic length scales show that the proposed definition is much more robust with respect to mesh anisotropies and has a great potential to be used in complex geometries where highly skewed (unstructured) meshes are present.

  15. Evaluation of scaling invariance embedded in short time series.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xue Pan

    Full Text Available Scaling invariance of time series has been making great contributions in diverse research fields. But how to evaluate scaling exponent from a real-world series is still an open problem. Finite length of time series may induce unacceptable fluctuation and bias to statistical quantities and consequent invalidation of currently used standard methods. In this paper a new concept called correlation-dependent balanced estimation of diffusion entropy is developed to evaluate scale-invariance in very short time series with length ~10(2. Calculations with specified Hurst exponent values of 0.2,0.3,...,0.9 show that by using the standard central moving average de-trending procedure this method can evaluate the scaling exponents for short time series with ignorable bias (≤0.03 and sharp confidential interval (standard deviation ≤0.05. Considering the stride series from ten volunteers along an approximate oval path of a specified length, we observe that though the averages and deviations of scaling exponents are close, their evolutionary behaviors display rich patterns. It has potential use in analyzing physiological signals, detecting early warning signals, and so on. As an emphasis, the our core contribution is that by means of the proposed method one can estimate precisely shannon entropy from limited records.

  16. Evaluation of scaling invariance embedded in short time series.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Xue; Hou, Lei; Stephen, Mutua; Yang, Huijie; Zhu, Chenping

    2014-01-01

    Scaling invariance of time series has been making great contributions in diverse research fields. But how to evaluate scaling exponent from a real-world series is still an open problem. Finite length of time series may induce unacceptable fluctuation and bias to statistical quantities and consequent invalidation of currently used standard methods. In this paper a new concept called correlation-dependent balanced estimation of diffusion entropy is developed to evaluate scale-invariance in very short time series with length ~10(2). Calculations with specified Hurst exponent values of 0.2,0.3,...,0.9 show that by using the standard central moving average de-trending procedure this method can evaluate the scaling exponents for short time series with ignorable bias (≤0.03) and sharp confidential interval (standard deviation ≤0.05). Considering the stride series from ten volunteers along an approximate oval path of a specified length, we observe that though the averages and deviations of scaling exponents are close, their evolutionary behaviors display rich patterns. It has potential use in analyzing physiological signals, detecting early warning signals, and so on. As an emphasis, the our core contribution is that by means of the proposed method one can estimate precisely shannon entropy from limited records.

  17. Another scheme for quantization of scale invariant gauge theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hortacsu, M.

    1987-10-01

    A new scheme is proposed for the quantization of scale invariant gauge theories for all even dimensions when they are minimally coupled to a spinor field. A cut-off procedure suggests an algorithm which may regularize the theory. (author). 10 refs

  18. Evaluation of scale invariance in physiological signals by means of balanced estimation of diffusion entropy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Wenqing; Qiu, Lu; Xiao, Qin; Yang, Huijie; Zhang, Qingjun; Wang, Jianyong

    2012-11-01

    By means of the concept of the balanced estimation of diffusion entropy, we evaluate the reliable scale invariance embedded in different sleep stages and stride records. Segments corresponding to waking, light sleep, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and deep sleep stages are extracted from long-term electroencephalogram signals. For each stage the scaling exponent value is distributed over a considerably wide range, which tell us that the scaling behavior is subject and sleep cycle dependent. The average of the scaling exponent values for waking segments is almost the same as that for REM segments (˜0.8). The waking and REM stages have a significantly higher value of the average scaling exponent than that for light sleep stages (˜0.7). For the stride series, the original diffusion entropy (DE) and the balanced estimation of diffusion entropy (BEDE) give almost the same results for detrended series. The evolutions of local scaling invariance show that the physiological states change abruptly, although in the experiments great efforts have been made to keep conditions unchanged. The global behavior of a single physiological signal may lose rich information on physiological states. Methodologically, the BEDE can evaluate with considerable precision the scale invariance in very short time series (˜102), while the original DE method sometimes may underestimate scale-invariance exponents or even fail in detecting scale-invariant behavior. The BEDE method is sensitive to trends in time series. The existence of trends may lead to an unreasonably high value of the scaling exponent and consequent mistaken conclusions.

  19. Lorentz invariance with an invariant energy scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magueijo, João; Smolin, Lee

    2002-05-13

    We propose a modification of special relativity in which a physical energy, which may be the Planck energy, joins the speed of light as an invariant, in spite of a complete relativity of inertial frames and agreement with Einstein's theory at low energies. This is accomplished by a nonlinear modification of the action of the Lorentz group on momentum space, generated by adding a dilatation to each boost in such a way that the Planck energy remains invariant. The associated algebra has unmodified structure constants. We also discuss the resulting modifications of field theory and suggest a modification of the equivalence principle which determines how the new theory is embedded in general relativity.

  20. Anisotropic power spectrum and bispectrum in the f(ϕ)F2 mechanism

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartolo, Nicola; Matarrese, Sabino; Peloso, Marco; Ricciardone, Angelo

    2013-01-01

    A suitable coupling of the inflaton φ to a vector kinetic term F2 gives frozen and scale invariant vector perturbations. We compute the cosmological perturbations ζ that result from such coupling by taking into account the classical vector field that unavoidably gets generated at large scales during inflation. This generically results in a too-anisotropic power spectrum of ζ. Specifically, the anisotropy exceeds the 1% level (10% level) if inflation lasts ˜5 e-folds (˜50 e-folds) more than the minimal amount required to produce the cosmic microwave background modes. This conclusion applies, among others, to the application of this mechanism for magnetogenesis, for anisotropic inflation, and for the generation of anisotropic perturbations at the end of inflation through a waterfall field coupled to the vector (in this case, the unavoidable contribution that we obtain is effective all throughout inflation, and it is independent of the waterfall field). For a tuned duration of inflation, a 1% (10%) anisotropy in the power spectrum corresponds to an anisotropic bispectrum which is enhanced like the local one in the squeezed limit, and with an effective local fNL˜3(˜30). More in general, a significant anisotropy of the perturbations may be a natural outcome of all models that sustain higher than 0 spin fields during inflation.

  1. Generating scale-invariant tensor perturbations in the non-inflationary universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Mingzhe

    2014-01-01

    It is believed that the recent detection of large tensor perturbations strongly favors the inflation scenario in the early universe. This common sense depends on the assumption that Einstein's general relativity is valid at the early universe. In this paper we show that nearly scale-invariant primordial tensor perturbations can be generated during a contracting phase before the radiation dominated epoch if the theory of gravity is modified by the scalar–tensor theory at that time. The scale-invariance protects the tensor perturbations from suppressing at large scales and they may have significant amplitudes to fit BICEP2's result. We construct a model to achieve this purpose and show that the universe can bounce to the hot big bang after long time contraction, and at almost the same time the theory of gravity approaches to general relativity through stabilizing the scalar field. Theoretically, such models are dual to inflation models if we change to the frame in which the theory of gravity is general relativity. Dual models are related by the conformal transformations. With this study we reinforce the point that only the conformal invariant quantities such as the scalar and tensor perturbations are physical. How did the background evolve before the radiation time depends on the frame and has no physical meaning. It is impossible to distinguish different pictures by later time cosmological probes.

  2. Generating scale-invariant tensor perturbations in the non-inflationary universe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mingzhe Li

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available It is believed that the recent detection of large tensor perturbations strongly favors the inflation scenario in the early universe. This common sense depends on the assumption that Einstein's general relativity is valid at the early universe. In this paper we show that nearly scale-invariant primordial tensor perturbations can be generated during a contracting phase before the radiation dominated epoch if the theory of gravity is modified by the scalar–tensor theory at that time. The scale-invariance protects the tensor perturbations from suppressing at large scales and they may have significant amplitudes to fit BICEP2's result. We construct a model to achieve this purpose and show that the universe can bounce to the hot big bang after long time contraction, and at almost the same time the theory of gravity approaches to general relativity through stabilizing the scalar field. Theoretically, such models are dual to inflation models if we change to the frame in which the theory of gravity is general relativity. Dual models are related by the conformal transformations. With this study we reinforce the point that only the conformal invariant quantities such as the scalar and tensor perturbations are physical. How did the background evolve before the radiation time depends on the frame and has no physical meaning. It is impossible to distinguish different pictures by later time cosmological probes.

  3. Nonlinear constitutive relations for anisotropic elastic materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sokolova, Marina; Khristich, Dmitrii

    2018-03-01

    A general approach to constructing of nonlinear variants of connection between stresses and strains in anisotropic materials with different types of symmetry of properties is considered. This approach is based on the concept of elastic proper subspaces of anisotropic materials introduced in the mechanics of solids by J. Rychlewski and on the particular postulate of isotropy proposed by A. A. Il’yushin. The generalization of the particular postulate on the case of nonlinear anisotropic materials is formulated. Systems of invariants of deformations as lengths of projections of the strain vector into proper subspaces are developed. Some variants of nonlinear constitutive relations for anisotropic materials are offered. The analysis of these relations from the point of view of their satisfaction to general and limit forms of generalization of partial isotropy postulate on anisotropic materials is performed. The relations for particular cases of anisotropy are written.

  4. Derivative-based scale invariant image feature detector with error resilience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mainali, Pradip; Lafruit, Gauthier; Tack, Klaas; Van Gool, Luc; Lauwereins, Rudy

    2014-05-01

    We present a novel scale-invariant image feature detection algorithm (D-SIFER) using a newly proposed scale-space optimal 10th-order Gaussian derivative (GDO-10) filter, which reaches the jointly optimal Heisenberg's uncertainty of its impulse response in scale and space simultaneously (i.e., we minimize the maximum of the two moments). The D-SIFER algorithm using this filter leads to an outstanding quality of image feature detection, with a factor of three quality improvement over state-of-the-art scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) and speeded up robust features (SURF) methods that use the second-order Gaussian derivative filters. To reach low computational complexity, we also present a technique approximating the GDO-10 filters with a fixed-length implementation, which is independent of the scale. The final approximation error remains far below the noise margin, providing constant time, low cost, but nevertheless high-quality feature detection and registration capabilities. D-SIFER is validated on a real-life hyperspectral image registration application, precisely aligning up to hundreds of successive narrowband color images, despite their strong artifacts (blurring, low-light noise) typically occurring in such delicate optical system setups.

  5. Invariant length scale in relativistic kinematics: lessons from Dirichlet branes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schuller, Frederic P.; Pfeiffer, Hendryk

    2004-01-01

    Dirac-Born-Infeld theory is shown to possess a hidden invariance associated with its maximal electric field strength. The local Lorentz symmetry O(1,n) on a Dirichlet-n-brane is thereby enhanced to an O(1,n)xO(1,n) gauge group, encoding both an invariant velocity and acceleration (or length) scale. The presence of this enlarged gauge group predicts consequences for the kinematics of observers on Dirichlet branes, with admissible accelerations being bounded from above. An important lesson is that the introduction of a fundamental length scale into relativistic kinematics does not enforce a deformation of Lorentz boosts, as one might assume naively. The exhibited structures further show that Moffat's non-symmetric gravitational theory qualifies as a candidate for a consistent Born-Infeld type gravity with regulated solutions

  6. Transient electromagnetic scattering on anisotropic media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Stewart, R.D.

    1990-01-01

    This dissertation treats the problem of transient scattering of obliquely incident electromagnetic plane waves on a stratified anisotropic dielectric slab. Scattering operators are derived for the reflective response of the medium. The internal fields are calculated. Wave splitting and invariant imbedding techniques are used. These techniques are first presented for fields normally incident on a stratified, isotropic dielectric medium. The techniques of wave splitting and invariant imbedding are applied to normally incident plane waves on an anisotropic medium. An integro-differential equation is derived for the reflective response and the direct and inverse scattering problems are discussed. These techniques are applied to the case of obliquely incident plane waves. The reflective response is derived and the direct and inverse problems discussed and compared to those for the normal incidence case. The internal fields are investigated for the oblique incidence via a Green's function approach. A numerical scheme is presented to calculate the Green's function. Finally, symmetry relations of the reflective response are discussed

  7. A resistor interpretation of general anisotropic cardiac tissue.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Hai; Sampson, Kevin J; Pormann, John B; Rose, Donald J; Henriquez, Craig S

    2004-02-01

    This paper describes a spatial discretization scheme for partial differential equation systems that contain anisotropic diffusion. The discretization method uses unstructured finite volumes, or the boxes, that are formed as a secondary geometric structure from an underlying triangular mesh. We show how the discretization can be interpreted as a resistive circuit network, where each resistor is assigned at each edge of the triangular element. The resistor is computed as an anisotropy dependent geometric quantity of the local mesh structure. Finally, we show that under certain conditions, the discretization gives rise to negative resistors that can produce non-physical hyperpolarizations near depolarizing stimuli. We discuss how the proper choice of triangulation (anisotropic Delaunay triangulation) can ensure monotonicity (i.e. all resistors are positive).

  8. Scaling Argument of Anisotropic Random Walk

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Bingzhen; Jin Guojun; Wang Feifeng

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, we analytically discuss the scaling properties of the average square end-to-end distance (R 2 ) for anisotropic random walk in D-dimensional space (D≥2), and the returning probability P n (r 0 ) for the walker into a certain neighborhood of the origin. We will not only give the calculating formula for (R 2 ) and P n (r 0 ), but also point out that if there is a symmetric axis for the distribution of the probability density of a single step displacement, we always obtain (R p erpendicular n 2 )∼n, where perpendicular refers to the projections of the displacement perpendicular to each symmetric axes of the walk; in D-dimensional space with D symmetric axes perpendicular to each other, we always have (R n 2 )∼n and the random walk will be like a purely random motion; if the number of inter-perpendicular symmetric axis is smaller than the dimensions of the space, we must have (R n 2 )∼n 2 for very large n and the walk will be like a ballistic motion. It is worth while to point out that unlike the isotropic random walk in one and two dimensions, which is certain to return into the neighborhood of the origin, generally there is only a nonzero probability for the anisotropic random walker in two dimensions to return to the neighborhood.

  9. Near-Milne realization of scale-invariant fluctuations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Magueijo, Joao

    2007-01-01

    A near-Milne universe produces a very red spectrum of vacuum quantum fluctuations but has the potential to produce near-scale-invariant thermal fluctuations. This happens if the energy and entropy are mildly subextensive, for example, if there is a Casimir contribution. Therefore, one does not need to invoke corrections to Einstein gravity (as in loop quantum cosmology) for a thermal scenario to be viable. Neither do we need the energy to scale like the area, as in scenarios where the thermal fluctuations are subject to a phase transition in the early universe. Some odd features of this model are pointed out: whether they are fatal or merely unusual will need to be investigated further

  10. Scaling behavior of spin gap of the bond alternating anisotropic spin-1/2 Heisenberg chain

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paul, Susobhan, E-mail: suso.phy.paul@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Scottish Church College, 1 & 3 Urquhart Square, Kolkata-700006 (India); Ghosh, Asim Kumar, E-mail: asimkumar96@yahoo.com [Department of Physics, Jadavpur University, 188 Raja S C Mallik Road, Kolkata-700032 (India)

    2016-05-06

    Scaling behavior of spin gap of a bond alternating spin-1/2 anisotropic Heisenberg chain has been studied both in ferromagnetic (FM) and antiferromagnetic (AFM) cases. Spin gap has been estimated by using exact diagonalization technique. All those quantities have been obtained for a region of anisotropic parameter Δ defined by 0≤Δ≤1. Spin gap is found to develop as soon as the non-uniformity in the alternating bond strength is introduced in the AFM regime which furthermore sustains in the FM regime as well. Scaling behavior of the spin gap has been studied by introducing scaling exponent. The variation of scaling exponents with Δ is fitted with a regular function.

  11. Spectrum of perturbations in anisotropic inflationary universe with vector hair

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Himmetoglu, Burak, E-mail: burak@physics.umn.edu [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Minnesota, 116 Church Street S.E., Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)

    2010-03-01

    We study both the background evolution and cosmological perturbations of anisotropic inflationary models supported by coupled scalar and vector fields. The models we study preserve the U(1) gauge symmetry associated with the vector field, and therefore do not possess instabilities associated with longitudinal modes (which instead plague some recently proposed models of vector inflation and curvaton). We first intoduce a model in which the background anisotropy slowly decreases during inflation; we then confirm the stability of the background solution by studying the quadratic action for all the perturbations of the model. We then compute the spectrum of the h{sub ×} gravitational wave polarization. The spectrum we find breaks statistical isotropy at the largest scales and reduces to the standard nearly scale invariant form at small scales. We finally discuss the possible relevance of our results to the large scale CMB anomalies.

  12. Cross-cultural measurement invariance in the satisfaction with food-related life scale in older adults from two developing countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schnettler, Berta; Miranda-Zapata, Edgardo; Lobos, Germán; Lapo, María; Grunert, Klaus G; Adasme-Berríos, Cristian; Hueche, Clementina

    2017-05-30

    Nutrition is one of the major determinants of successful aging. The Satisfaction with Food-related Life (SWFL) scale measures a person's overall assessment regarding their food and eating habits. The SWFL scale has been used in older adult samples across different countries in Europe, Asia and America, however, there are no studies that have evaluated the cross-cultural measurement invariance of the scale in older adult samples. Therefore, we evaluated the measurement invariance of the SWFL scale across older adults from Chile and Ecuador. Stratified random sampling was used to recruit a sample of older adults of both genders from Chile (mean age = 71.38, SD = 6.48, range = 60-92) and from Ecuador (mean age = 73.70, SD = 7.45, range = 60-101). Participants reported their levels of satisfaction with food-related life by completing the SWFL scale, which consists of five items grouped into a single dimension. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was used to examine cross-cultural measurement invariance of the SWFL scale. Results showed that the SWFL scale exhibited partial measurement invariance, with invariance of all factor loadings, invariance in all but one item's threshold (item 1) and invariance in all items' uniqueness (residuals), which leads us to conclude that there is a reasonable level of partial measurement invariance for the CFA model of the SWFL scale, when comparing the Chilean and Ecuadorian older adult samples. The lack of invariance in item 1 confirms previous studies with adults and emerging adults in Chile that suggest this item is culture-sensitive. We recommend revising the wording of the first item of the SWFL in order to relate the statement with the person's life. The SWFL scale shows partial measurement invariance across older adults from Chile and Ecuador. A 4-item version of the scale (excluding item 1) provides the basis for international comparisons of satisfaction with food-related life in older adults from developing

  13. Gender Invariance of Family, School, and Peer Influence on Volunteerism Scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Law, Ben; Shek, Daniel; Ma, Cecilia

    2015-01-01

    Objective: This article examines the measurement invariance of "Family, School, and Peer Influence on Volunteerism Scale" (FSPV) across genders using the mean and covariance structure analysis approach. Method: A total of 2,845 Chinese high school adolescents aged 11 to 15 years completed the FSPV scale. Results: Results of the…

  14. The Satisfaction with Life Scale: : Measurement invariance across immigrant groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ponizovsky, Y.; Dimitrova, R.; Schachner, M.K.; Van de Schoot, R.

    2013-01-01

    The current study examined measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) across three immigrant groups, namely, immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel, Turkish-Bulgarians, and Turkish-Germans. The results demonstrate

  15. The Satisfaction With Life Scale : Measurement invariance across immigrant groups

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ponizovsky, Y.; Dimitrova, R.; Schachner, M.; van de Schoot, R.

    2013-01-01

    The current study examined measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) across three immigrant groups, namely, immigrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) in Israel, Turkish-Bulgarians, and Turkish-Germans. The results demonstrate

  16. Anisotropic phenomena in gauge/gravity duality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zeller, Hansjoerg

    2014-01-01

    In this thesis we use gauge/gravity duality to model anisotropic effects realised in nature. Firstly we analyse transport properties in holographic systems with a broken rotational invariance. Secondly we discuss geometries dual to IR fixed points with anisotropic scaling behaviour, which are related to quantum critical points in condensed matter systems. Gauge/gravity duality relates a gravity theory in Anti-de Sitter space to a lower dimensional strongly coupled quantum field theory in Minkowski space. Over the past decade this duality provided many insights into systems at strong coupling, e.g. quark-gluon plasma and condensed matter close to quantum critical points. One very important result computed in this framework is the value of the shear viscosity divided by the entropy density in strongly coupled theories. The quantitative result agrees very well with measurements of the ratio in quark-gluon plasma. However, for isotropic two derivative Einstein gravity it is temperature independent. We show that by breaking the rotational symmetry of a system we obtain a temperature dependent shear viscosity over entropy density. This is important to make contact with real world systems, since substances in nature display such dependence. In addition, we derive various transport properties in strongly coupled anisotropic systems using the gauge/gravity dictionary. The most notable results include an electrical conductivity with Drude behaviour in the low frequency region. This resembles conductors with broken translational invariance. However, we did not implement the breaking explicitly. Furthermore, our analysis shows that this setup models effects, resembling the piezoelectric and exoelectric effects, known from liquid crystals. In a second project we discuss a geometry with non-trivial scaling behaviour in order to model an IR fixed point of condensed matter theories. We construct the UV completion of this geometry and analyse its properties by computing the

  17. Anisotropic phenomena in gauge/gravity duality

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zeller, Hansjoerg

    2014-05-26

    In this thesis we use gauge/gravity duality to model anisotropic effects realised in nature. Firstly we analyse transport properties in holographic systems with a broken rotational invariance. Secondly we discuss geometries dual to IR fixed points with anisotropic scaling behaviour, which are related to quantum critical points in condensed matter systems. Gauge/gravity duality relates a gravity theory in Anti-de Sitter space to a lower dimensional strongly coupled quantum field theory in Minkowski space. Over the past decade this duality provided many insights into systems at strong coupling, e.g. quark-gluon plasma and condensed matter close to quantum critical points. One very important result computed in this framework is the value of the shear viscosity divided by the entropy density in strongly coupled theories. The quantitative result agrees very well with measurements of the ratio in quark-gluon plasma. However, for isotropic two derivative Einstein gravity it is temperature independent. We show that by breaking the rotational symmetry of a system we obtain a temperature dependent shear viscosity over entropy density. This is important to make contact with real world systems, since substances in nature display such dependence. In addition, we derive various transport properties in strongly coupled anisotropic systems using the gauge/gravity dictionary. The most notable results include an electrical conductivity with Drude behaviour in the low frequency region. This resembles conductors with broken translational invariance. However, we did not implement the breaking explicitly. Furthermore, our analysis shows that this setup models effects, resembling the piezoelectric and exoelectric effects, known from liquid crystals. In a second project we discuss a geometry with non-trivial scaling behaviour in order to model an IR fixed point of condensed matter theories. We construct the UV completion of this geometry and analyse its properties by computing the

  18. A biologically inspired scale-space for illumination invariant feature detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vonikakis, Vasillios; Chrysostomou, Dimitrios; Kouskouridas, Rigas; Gasteratos, Antonios

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents a new illumination invariant operator, combining the nonlinear characteristics of biological center-surround cells with the classic difference of Gaussians operator. It specifically targets the underexposed image regions, exhibiting increased sensitivity to low contrast, while not affecting performance in the correctly exposed ones. The proposed operator can be used to create a scale-space, which in turn can be a part of a SIFT-based detector module. The main advantage of this illumination invariant scale-space is that, using just one global threshold, keypoints can be detected in both dark and bright image regions. In order to evaluate the degree of illumination invariance that the proposed, as well as other, existing, operators exhibit, a new benchmark dataset is introduced. It features a greater variety of imaging conditions, compared to existing databases, containing real scenes under various degrees and combinations of uniform and non-uniform illumination. Experimental results show that the proposed detector extracts a greater number of features, with a high level of repeatability, compared to other approaches, for both uniform and non-uniform illumination. This, along with its simple implementation, renders the proposed feature detector particularly appropriate for outdoor vision systems, working in environments under uncontrolled illumination conditions. (paper)

  19. Generation of a scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations in cosmological models with a contracting phase

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finelli, Fabio; Brandenberger, Robert

    2002-01-01

    In pre-big-bang and in ekpyrotic cosmology, perturbations on cosmological scales today are generated from quantum vacuum fluctuations during a phase when the Universe is contracting (viewed in the Einstein frame). The backgrounds studied to date do not yield a scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations. Here, we present a new contracting background model (neither of pre-big-bang nor of the ekpyrotic form) involving a single scalar field coupled to gravity in which a scale-invariant spectrum of curvature fluctuations and gravitational waves results. The equation of state of this scalar field corresponds to cold matter. We demonstrate that if this contracting phase can be matched via a nonsingular bounce to an expanding Friedmann cosmology, the scale-invariance of the curvature fluctuations is maintained. We also find new background solutions for pre-big-bang and for ekpyrotic cosmology, which involve two scalar fields with exponential potentials with background values which are evolving in time. We comment on the difficulty of obtaining a scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations with background solutions which have been studied in the past

  20. Scale invariance, killing vectors, and the size of the fifth dimension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ross, D.K.

    1986-01-01

    An analysis is made of the classical five-dimensional sourceless Kaluza-Klein equations with the existence of the usual α/α/PSI/ Killing vector not assumed, where /PSI/ is the coordinate of the fifth dimension. The physical distance around the fifth dimension D 5 , needed for the calculation of the fine structure constant α, is not calculable in the usual theory because the equations have a global scale invariance. In the present case, the Killing vector and the global scale invariance are not present, but it is found rather generally that D 5 = 0. This indicates that quantum gravity is a necessary ingredient if α is to be calculated. It also provides an alternate explanation of why the universe appears four-dimensional

  1. Mean anisotropy of homogeneous Gaussian random fields and anisotropic norms of linear translation-invariant operators on multidimensional integer lattices

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Phil Diamond

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Sensitivity of output of a linear operator to its input can be quantified in various ways. In Control Theory, the input is usually interpreted as disturbance and the output is to be minimized in some sense. In stochastic worst-case design settings, the disturbance is considered random with imprecisely known probability distribution. The prior set of probability measures can be chosen so as to quantify how far the disturbance deviates from the white-noise hypothesis of Linear Quadratic Gaussian control. Such deviation can be measured by the minimal Kullback-Leibler informational divergence from the Gaussian distributions with zero mean and scalar covariance matrices. The resulting anisotropy functional is defined for finite power random vectors. Originally, anisotropy was introduced for directionally generic random vectors as the relative entropy of the normalized vector with respect to the uniform distribution on the unit sphere. The associated a-anisotropic norm of a matrix is then its maximum root mean square or average energy gain with respect to finite power or directionally generic inputs whose anisotropy is bounded above by a≥0. We give a systematic comparison of the anisotropy functionals and the associated norms. These are considered for unboundedly growing fragments of homogeneous Gaussian random fields on multidimensional integer lattice to yield mean anisotropy. Correspondingly, the anisotropic norms of finite matrices are extended to bounded linear translation invariant operators over such fields.

  2. Invariance Signatures: Characterizing contours by their departures from invariance

    OpenAIRE

    Squire, David; Caelli, Terry M.

    1997-01-01

    In this paper, a new invariant feature of two-dimensional contours is reported: the Invariance Signature. The Invariance Signature is a measure of the degree to which a contour is invariant under a variety of transformations, derived from the theory of Lie transformation groups. It is shown that the Invariance Signature is itself invariant under shift, rotation and scaling of the contour. Since it is derived from local properties of the contour, it is well-suited to a neural network implement...

  3. Simulating multi-scale oceanic processes around Taiwan on unstructured grids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Hao-Cheng; Zhang, Yinglong J.; Yu, Jason C. S.; Terng, C.; Sun, Weiling; Ye, Fei; Wang, Harry V.; Wang, Zhengui; Huang, Hai

    2017-11-01

    We validate a 3D unstructured-grid (UG) model for simulating multi-scale processes as occurred in Northwestern Pacific around Taiwan using recently developed new techniques (Zhang et al., Ocean Modeling, 102, 64-81, 2016) that require no bathymetry smoothing even for this region with prevalent steep bottom slopes and many islands. The focus is on short-term forecast for several months instead of long-term variability. Compared with satellite products, the errors for the simulated Sea-surface Height (SSH) and Sea-surface Temperature (SST) are similar to a reference data-assimilated global model. In the nearshore region, comparison with 34 tide gauges located around Taiwan indicates an average RMSE of 13 cm for the tidal elevation. The average RMSE for SST at 6 coastal buoys is 1.2 °C. The mean transport and eddy kinetic energy compare reasonably with previously published values and the reference model used to provide boundary and initial conditions. The model suggests ∼2-day interruption of Kuroshio east of Taiwan during a typhoon period. The effect of tidal mixing is shown to be significant nearshore. The multi-scale model is easily extendable to target regions of interest due to its UG framework and a flexible vertical gridding system, which is shown to be superior to terrain-following coordinates.

  4. Cellular Scale Anisotropic Topography Guides Schwann Cell Motility

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitchel, Jennifer A.; Hoffman-Kim, Diane

    2011-01-01

    Directed migration of Schwann cells (SC) is critical for development and repair of the peripheral nervous system. Understanding aspects of motility specific to SC, along with SC response to engineered biomaterials, may inform strategies to enhance nerve regeneration. Rat SC were cultured on laminin-coated microgrooved poly(dimethyl siloxane) platforms that were flat or presented repeating cellular scale anisotropic topographical cues, 30 or 60 µm in width, and observed with timelapse microscopy. SC motion was directed parallel to the long axis of the topography on both the groove floor and the plateau, with accompanying differences in velocity and directional persistence in comparison to SC motion on flat substrates. In addition, feature dimension affected SC morphology, alignment, and directional persistence. Plateaus and groove floors presented distinct cues which promoted differential motility and variable interaction with the topographical features. SC on the plateau surfaces tended to have persistent interactions with the edge topography, while SC on the groove floors tended to have infrequent contact with the corners and walls. Our observations suggest the capacity of SC to be guided without continuous contact with a topographical cue. SC exhibited a range of distinct motile morphologies, characterized by their symmetry and number of extensions. Across all conditions, SC with a single extension traveled significantly faster than cells with more or no extensions. We conclude that SC motility is complex, where persistent motion requires cellular asymmetry, and that anisotropic topography with cellular scale features can direct SC motility. PMID:21949703

  5. Rotation and scale invariant shape context registration for remote sensing images with background variations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Jie; Zhang, Shumei; Cao, Shixiang

    2015-01-01

    Multitemporal remote sensing images generally suffer from background variations, which significantly disrupt traditional region feature and descriptor abstracts, especially between pre and postdisasters, making registration by local features unreliable. Because shapes hold relatively stable information, a rotation and scale invariant shape context based on multiscale edge features is proposed. A multiscale morphological operator is adapted to detect edges of shapes, and an equivalent difference of Gaussian scale space is built to detect local scale invariant feature points along the detected edges. Then, a rotation invariant shape context with improved distance discrimination serves as a feature descriptor. For a distance shape context, a self-adaptive threshold (SAT) distance division coordinate system is proposed, which improves the discriminative property of the feature descriptor in mid-long pixel distances from the central point while maintaining it in shorter ones. To achieve rotation invariance, the magnitude of Fourier transform in one-dimension is applied to calculate angle shape context. Finally, the residual error is evaluated after obtaining thin-plate spline transformation between reference and sensed images. Experimental results demonstrate the robustness, efficiency, and accuracy of this automatic algorithm.

  6. Unsupervised Video Shot Detection Using Clustering Ensemble with a Color Global Scale-Invariant Feature Transform Descriptor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuchou Chang

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT transforms a grayscale image into scale-invariant coordinates of local features that are invariant to image scale, rotation, and changing viewpoints. Because of its scale-invariant properties, SIFT has been successfully used for object recognition and content-based image retrieval. The biggest drawback of SIFT is that it uses only grayscale information and misses important visual information regarding color. In this paper, we present the development of a novel color feature extraction algorithm that addresses this problem, and we also propose a new clustering strategy using clustering ensembles for video shot detection. Based on Fibonacci lattice-quantization, we develop a novel color global scale-invariant feature transform (CGSIFT for better description of color contents in video frames for video shot detection. CGSIFT first quantizes a color image, representing it with a small number of color indices, and then uses SIFT to extract features from the quantized color index image. We also develop a new space description method using small image regions to represent global color features as the second step of CGSIFT. Clustering ensembles focusing on knowledge reuse are then applied to obtain better clustering results than using single clustering methods for video shot detection. Evaluation of the proposed feature extraction algorithm and the new clustering strategy using clustering ensembles reveals very promising results for video shot detection.

  7. Unsupervised Video Shot Detection Using Clustering Ensemble with a Color Global Scale-Invariant Feature Transform Descriptor

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hong Yi

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT transforms a grayscale image into scale-invariant coordinates of local features that are invariant to image scale, rotation, and changing viewpoints. Because of its scale-invariant properties, SIFT has been successfully used for object recognition and content-based image retrieval. The biggest drawback of SIFT is that it uses only grayscale information and misses important visual information regarding color. In this paper, we present the development of a novel color feature extraction algorithm that addresses this problem, and we also propose a new clustering strategy using clustering ensembles for video shot detection. Based on Fibonacci lattice-quantization, we develop a novel color global scale-invariant feature transform (CGSIFT for better description of color contents in video frames for video shot detection. CGSIFT first quantizes a color image, representing it with a small number of color indices, and then uses SIFT to extract features from the quantized color index image. We also develop a new space description method using small image regions to represent global color features as the second step of CGSIFT. Clustering ensembles focusing on knowledge reuse are then applied to obtain better clustering results than using single clustering methods for video shot detection. Evaluation of the proposed feature extraction algorithm and the new clustering strategy using clustering ensembles reveals very promising results for video shot detection.

  8. Dimensionality and measurement invariance in the Satisfaction with Life Scale in Norway.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clench-Aas, Jocelyne; Nes, Ragnhild Bang; Dalgard, Odd Steffen; Aarø, Leif Edvard

    2011-10-01

    Results from previous studies examining the dimensionality and factorial invariance of the Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) are inconsistent and often based on small samples. This study examines the factorial structure and factorial invariance of the SWLS in a Norwegian sample. Confirmatory factor analysis (AMOS) was conducted to explore dimensionality and test for measurement invariance in factor structure, factor loadings, intercepts, and residual variance across gender and four age groups in a large (N = 4,984), nationally representative sample of Norwegian men and women (15-79 years). The data supported a modified unidimensional structure. Factor loadings could be constrained to equality between the sexes, indicating metric invariance between genders. Further testing indicated invariance also at the strong and strict levels, thus allowing analyses involving group means. The SWLS was shown to be sensitive to age, however, at the strong and strict levels of invariance testing. In conclusion, the results in this Norwegian study seem to confirm that a unidimensional structure is acceptable, but that a modified single-factor model with correlations between error terms of items 4 and 5 is preferred. Additionally, comparisons may be made between the genders. Caution must be exerted when comparing age groups.

  9. From Pore Scale to Turbulent Flow with the Unstructured Lattice Boltzmann Method

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Matin, Rastin

    Abstract: The lattice Boltzmann method is a class of methods in computational fluid dynamics for simulating fluid flow. Implementations on unstructured grids are particularly relevant for various engineering applications, where geometric flexibility or high resolution near a body or a wall...... is required. The main topic of this thesis is to further develop unstructured lattice Boltzmann methods for simulations of Newtonian fluid flow in three dimensions, in particular porous flow. Two methods are considered in this thesis based on the finite volume method and finite element method, respectively...

  10. Large-scale transmission-type multifunctional anisotropic coding metasurfaces in millimeter-wave frequencies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Tie Jun; Wu, Rui Yuan; Wu, Wei; Shi, Chuan Bo; Li, Yun Bo

    2017-10-01

    We propose fast and accurate designs to large-scale and low-profile transmission-type anisotropic coding metasurfaces with multiple functions in the millimeter-wave frequencies based on the antenna-array method. The numerical simulation of an anisotropic coding metasurface with the size of 30λ × 30λ by the proposed method takes only 20 min, which however cannot be realized by commercial software due to huge memory usage in personal computers. To inspect the performance of coding metasurfaces in the millimeter-wave band, the working frequency is chosen as 60 GHz. Based on the convolution operations and holographic theory, the proposed multifunctional anisotropic coding metasurface exhibits different effects excited by y-polarized and x-polarized incidences. This study extends the frequency range of coding metasurfaces, filling the gap between microwave and terahertz bands, and implying promising applications in millimeter-wave communication and imaging.

  11. Two-group neutron transport theory in adjacent space with lineary anisotropic scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maiorino, J.R.

    1978-01-01

    A solution method for two-group neutron transport theory with anisotropic scattering is introduced by the combination of case method (expansion method of self singular function) and the invariant imbedding (invariance principle). The numerical results for the Milne problem in light water and borated water is presented to demonstrate the avalibility of the method [pt

  12. Slow feature analysis: unsupervised learning of invariances.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wiskott, Laurenz; Sejnowski, Terrence J

    2002-04-01

    Invariant features of temporally varying signals are useful for analysis and classification. Slow feature analysis (SFA) is a new method for learning invariant or slowly varying features from a vectorial input signal. It is based on a nonlinear expansion of the input signal and application of principal component analysis to this expanded signal and its time derivative. It is guaranteed to find the optimal solution within a family of functions directly and can learn to extract a large number of decorrelated features, which are ordered by their degree of invariance. SFA can be applied hierarchically to process high-dimensional input signals and extract complex features. SFA is applied first to complex cell tuning properties based on simple cell output, including disparity and motion. Then more complicated input-output functions are learned by repeated application of SFA. Finally, a hierarchical network of SFA modules is presented as a simple model of the visual system. The same unstructured network can learn translation, size, rotation, contrast, or, to a lesser degree, illumination invariance for one-dimensional objects, depending on only the training stimulus. Surprisingly, only a few training objects suffice to achieve good generalization to new objects. The generated representation is suitable for object recognition. Performance degrades if the network is trained to learn multiple invariances simultaneously.

  13. Direct detection of singlet dark matter in classically scale-invariant standard model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kazuhiro Endo

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Classical scale invariance is one of the possible solutions to explain the origin of the electroweak scale. The simplest extension is the classically scale-invariant standard model augmented by a multiplet of gauge singlet real scalar. In the previous study it was shown that the properties of the Higgs potential deviate substantially, which can be observed in the International Linear Collider. On the other hand, since the multiplet does not acquire vacuum expectation value, the singlet components are stable and can be dark matter. In this letter we study the detectability of the real singlet scalar bosons in the experiment of the direct detection of dark matter. It is shown that a part of this model has already been excluded and the rest of the parameter space is within the reach of the future experiment.

  14. Neutron transport in two dissimilar media anisotropic scattering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Burkart, A.R.; Ishiguro, Y.; Siewert, C.E.

    1976-01-01

    The elementary solution of the one-speed neutron-transport equation with linearly anisotropic scattering are used in conjunction with Chandrasekhar's invariance principles to solve in a concise manner the Milne problem for two adjoining half-spaces and the critical reactor problem for a reflected slab

  15. Astrophysical gyrokinetics: turbulence in pressure-anisotropic plasmas at ion scales and beyond

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kunz, M. W.; Abel, I. G.; Klein, K. G.

    2018-04-01

    We present a theoretical framework for describing electromagnetic kinetic turbulence in a multi-species, magnetized, pressure-anisotropic plasma. The turbulent fluctuations are assumed to be small compared to the mean field, to be spatially anisotropic with respect to it and to have frequencies small compared to the ion cyclotron frequency. At scales above the ion-Larmor radius, the theory reduces to the pressure-anisotropic generalization of kinetic reduced magnetohydrodynamics (KRMHD) formulated by Kunz et al. (J. Plasma Phys., vol. 81, 2015, 325810501). At scales at and below the ion-Larmor radius, three main objectives are achieved. First, we analyse the linear response of the pressure-anisotropic gyrokinetic system, and show it to be a generalization of previously explored limits. The effects of pressure anisotropy on the stability and collisionless damping of Alfvénic and compressive fluctuations are highlighted, with attention paid to the spectral location and width of the frequency jump that occurs as Alfvén waves transition into kinetic Alfvén waves. Secondly, we derive and discuss a very general gyrokinetic free-energy conservation law, which captures both the KRMHD free-energy conservation at long wavelengths and dual cascades of kinetic Alfvén waves and ion entropy at sub-ion-Larmor scales. We show that non-Maxwellian features in the distribution function change the amount of phase mixing and the efficiency of magnetic stresses, and thus influence the partitioning of free energy amongst the cascade channels. Thirdly, a simple model is used to show that pressure anisotropy, even within the bounds imposed on it by firehose and mirror instabilities, can cause order-of-magnitude variations in the ion-to-electron heating ratio due to the dissipation of Alfvénic turbulence. Our theory provides a foundation for determining how pressure anisotropy affects turbulent fluctuation spectra, the differential heating of particle species and the ratio of parallel

  16. Longitudinal multigroup invariance analysis of the satisfaction with food-related life scale in university students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schnettler, Berta; Miranda, Horacio; Miranda-Zapata, Edgardo; Salinas-Oñate, Natalia; Grunert, Klaus G; Lobos, Germán; Sepúlveda, José; Orellana, Ligia; Hueche, Clementina; Bonilla, Héctor

    2017-06-01

    This study examined longitudinal measurement invariance in the Satisfaction with Food-related Life (SWFL) scale using follow-up data from university students. We examined this measure of the SWFL in different groups of students, separated by various characteristics. Through non-probabilistic longitudinal sampling, 114 university students (65.8% female, mean age: 22.5) completed the SWFL questionnaire three times, over intervals of approximately one year. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine longitudinal measurement invariance. Two types of analysis were conducted: first, a longitudinal invariance by time, and second, a multigroup longitudinal invariance by sex, age, socio-economic status and place of residence during the study period. Results showed that the 3-item version of the SWFL exhibited strong longitudinal invariance (equal factor loadings and equal indicator intercepts). Longitudinal multigroup invariance analysis also showed that the 3-item version of the SWFL displays strong invariance by socio-economic status and place of residence during the study period over time. Nevertheless, it was only possible to demonstrate equivalence of the longitudinal factor structure among students of both sexes, and among those older and younger than 22 years. Generally, these findings suggest that the SWFL scale has satisfactory psychometric properties for longitudinal measurement invariance in university students with similar characteristics as the students that participated in this research. It is also possible to suggest that satisfaction with food-related life is associated with sex and age. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Robust object tracking combining color and scale invariant features

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shengping; Yao, Hongxun; Gao, Peipei

    2010-07-01

    Object tracking plays a very important role in many computer vision applications. However its performance will significantly deteriorate due to some challenges in complex scene, such as pose and illumination changes, clustering background and so on. In this paper, we propose a robust object tracking algorithm which exploits both global color and local scale invariant (SIFT) features in a particle filter framework. Due to the expensive computation cost of SIFT features, the proposed tracker adopts a speed-up variation of SIFT, SURF, to extract local features. Specially, the proposed method first finds matching points between the target model and target candidate, than the weight of the corresponding particle based on scale invariant features is computed as the the proportion of matching points of that particle to matching points of all particles, finally the weight of the particle is obtained by combining weights of color and SURF features with a probabilistic way. The experimental results on a variety of challenging videos verify that the proposed method is robust to pose and illumination changes and is significantly superior to the standard particle filter tracker and the mean shift tracker.

  18. On Adding Structure to Unstructured Overlay Networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leitão, João; Carvalho, Nuno A.; Pereira, José; Oliveira, Rui; Rodrigues, Luís

    Unstructured peer-to-peer overlay networks are very resilient to churn and topology changes, while requiring little maintenance cost. Therefore, they are an infrastructure to build highly scalable large-scale services in dynamic networks. Typically, the overlay topology is defined by a peer sampling service that aims at maintaining, in each process, a random partial view of peers in the system. The resulting random unstructured topology is suboptimal when a specific performance metric is considered. On the other hand, structured approaches (for instance, a spanning tree) may optimize a given target performance metric but are highly fragile. In fact, the cost for maintaining structures with strong constraints may easily become prohibitive in highly dynamic networks. This chapter discusses different techniques that aim at combining the advantages of unstructured and structured networks. Namely we focus on two distinct approaches, one based on optimizing the overlay and another based on optimizing the gossip mechanism itself.

  19. Anisotropic perturbations due to dark energy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Battye, Richard A.; Moss, Adam

    2006-01-01

    A variety of observational tests seem to suggest that the Universe is anisotropic. This is incompatible with the standard dogma based on adiabatic, rotationally invariant perturbations. We point out that this is a consequence of the standard decomposition of the stress-energy tensor for the cosmological fluids, and that rotational invariance need not be assumed, if there is elastic rigidity in the dark energy. The dark energy required to achieve this might be provided by point symmetric domain wall network with P/ρ=-2/3, although the concept is more general. We illustrate this with reference to a model with cubic symmetry and discuss various aspects of the model

  20. Time-Scale Invariant Audio Data Embedding

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mansour Mohamed F

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available We propose a novel algorithm for high-quality data embedding in audio. The algorithm is based on changing the relative length of the middle segment between two successive maximum and minimum peaks to embed data. Spline interpolation is used to change the lengths. To ensure smooth monotonic behavior between peaks, a hybrid orthogonal and nonorthogonal wavelet decomposition is used prior to data embedding. The possible data embedding rates are between 20 and 30 bps. However, for practical purposes, we use repetition codes, and the effective embedding data rate is around 5 bps. The algorithm is invariant after time-scale modification, time shift, and time cropping. It gives high-quality output and is robust to mp3 compression.

  1. Pattern recognition invariant under changes of scale and orientation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arsenault, Henri H.; Parent, Sebastien; Moisan, Sylvain

    1997-08-01

    We have used a modified method proposed by neiberg and Casasent to successfully classify five kinds of military vehicles. The method uses a wedge filter to achieve scale invariance, and lines in a multi-dimensional feature space correspond to each target with out-of-plane orientations over 360 degrees around a vertical axis. The images were not binarized, but were filtered in a preprocessing step to reduce aliasing. The feature vectors were normalized and orthogonalized by means of a neural network. Out-of-plane rotations of 360 degrees and scale changes of a factor of four were considered. Error-free classification was achieved.

  2. Esoteric elementary particle phenomena in undergraduate physics: spontaneous symmetry breaking and scale invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Greenberger, D.M.

    1978-01-01

    We take two rather abstract concepts from elementary particle physics, and show that there actually exist analogs to both of them in undergraduate physics. In the case of spontaneous symmetry breaking, we provide an example where the most symmetrical state of a simple system suddenly becomes unstable, while a less symmetrical state develops lower energy and becomes stable. In the case of scale invariance, we consider an example with no natural scale determined, and show that a straightforward dimensional analysis of the problem leads to incorrect results, because of the occurrence of infinities, even though they would appear to be irrelevant infinities that might not be expected to affect the dimensions of the answer. We then show how a simple use of the scale invariance of the problem leads to the correct answer

  3. Longitudinal multigroup invariance analysis of the satisfaction with food-related life scale in university students

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schnettler, Berta; Miranda, Horacio; Miranda-Zapata, Edgardo

    2017-01-01

    This study examined longitudinal measurement invariance in the Satisfaction with Food-related Life (SWFL) scale using follow-up data from university students. We examined this measure of the SWFL in different groups of students, separated by various characteristics. Through non......-probabilistic longitudinal sampling, 114 university students (65.8% female, mean age: 22.5) completed the SWFL questionnaire three times, over intervals of approximately one year. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to examine longitudinal measurement invariance. Two types of analysis were conducted: first, a longitudinal...... students of both sexes, and among those older and younger than 22 years. Generally, these findings suggest that the SWFL scale has satisfactory psychometric properties for longitudinal measurement invariance in university students with similar characteristics as the students that participated...

  4. Measurement invariance of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale between British and Chinese college students

    OpenAIRE

    Luo, Chengwen

    2010-01-01

    The present study examined the factor structure and measurement invariance of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale in college students from Britain (N=150) and China (N=205). Confirmatory factor analyses suggested that the two-factor model, which consisted of a positive self-image factor and a negative self-image factor, could fit the data better than single factor structure especially after deleting the eighth item. Furthermore, factorial structure was invariant across groups in configural level ...

  5. Can we really use available scales for child and adolescent psychopathology across cultures? A systematic review of cross-cultural measurement invariance data.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stevanovic, Dejan; Jafari, Peyman; Knez, Rajna; Franic, Tomislav; Atilola, Olayinka; Davidovic, Nikolina; Bagheri, Zahra; Lakic, Aneta

    2017-02-01

    In this systematic review, we assessed available evidence for cross-cultural measurement invariance of assessment scales for child and adolescent psychopathology as an indicator of cross-cultural validity. A literature search was conducted using the Medline, PsychInfo, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar databases. Cross-cultural measurement invariance data was available for 26 scales. Based on the aggregation of the evidence from the studies under review, none of the evaluated scales have strong evidence for cross-cultural validity and suitability for cross-cultural comparison. A few of the studies showed a moderate level of measurement invariance for some scales (such as the Fear Survey Schedule for Children-Revised, Multidimensional Anxiety Scale for Children, Revised Child Anxiety and Depression Scale, Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale, Mood and Feelings Questionnaire, and Disruptive Behavior Rating Scale), which may make them suitable in cross-cultural comparative studies. The remainder of the scales either showed weak or outright lack of measurement invariance. This review showed only limited testing for measurement invariance across cultural groups of scales for pediatric psychopathology, with evidence of cross-cultural validity for only a few scales. This study also revealed a need to improve practices of statistical analysis reporting in testing measurement invariance. Implications for future research are discussed.

  6. Finite volume method for radiative heat transfer in an unstructured flow solver for emitting, absorbing and scattering media

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gazdallah, Moncef; Feldheim, Véronique; Claramunt, Kilian; Hirsch, Charles

    2012-01-01

    This paper presents the implementation of the finite volume method to solve the radiative transfer equation in a commercial code. The particularity of this work is that the method applied on unstructured hexahedral meshes does not need a pre-processing step establishing a particular marching order to visit all the control volumes. The solver simply visits the faces of the control volumes as numbered in the hexahedral unstructured mesh. A cell centred mesh and a spatial differencing step scheme to relate facial radiative intensities to nodal intensities is used. The developed computer code based on FVM has been integrated in the CFD solver FINE/Open from NUMECA Int. Radiative heat transfer can be evaluated within systems containing uniform, grey, emitting, absorbing and/or isotropically or linear anisotropically scattering medium bounded by diffuse grey walls. This code has been validated for three test cases. The first one is a three dimensional rectangular enclosure filled with emitting, absorbing and anisotropically scattering media. The second is the differentially heated cubic cavity. The third one is the L-shaped enclosure. For these three test cases a good agreement has been observed when temperature and heat fluxes predictions are compared with references taken, from literature.

  7. Longitudinal Invariance of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Fourth Edition in a Referral Sample

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richerson, Lindsay P.; Watkins, Marley W.; Beaujean, A. Alexander

    2014-01-01

    Measurement invariance of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children--Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) was investigated with a group of 352 students eligible for psychoeducational evaluations tested, on average, 2.8 years apart. Configural, metric, and scalar invariance were found. However, the error variance of the Coding subtest was not constant…

  8. Proposed Empirical Entropy and Gibbs Energy Based on Observations of Scale Invariance in Open Nonequilibrium Systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tuck, Adrian F

    2017-09-07

    There is no widely agreed definition of entropy, and consequently Gibbs energy, in open systems far from equilibrium. One recent approach has sought to formulate an entropy and Gibbs energy based on observed scale invariances in geophysical variables, particularly in atmospheric quantities, including the molecules constituting stratospheric chemistry. The Hamiltonian flux dynamics of energy in macroscopic open nonequilibrium systems maps to energy in equilibrium statistical thermodynamics, and corresponding equivalences of scale invariant variables with other relevant statistical mechanical variables such as entropy, Gibbs energy, and 1/(k Boltzmann T), are not just formally analogous but are also mappings. Three proof-of-concept representative examples from available adequate stratospheric chemistry observations-temperature, wind speed and ozone-are calculated, with the aim of applying these mappings and equivalences. Potential applications of the approach to scale invariant observations from the literature, involving scales from molecular through laboratory to astronomical, are considered. Theoretical support for the approach from the literature is discussed.

  9. Non-singular cosmologies in the conformally invariant gravitation theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kembhavi, A.K.

    1976-01-01

    It is shown that in the framework of a conformally invariant gravitation theory, the singularity which is present in some anisotropic universes in general relativity is due to a wrong choice of conformal frame. Frames exist in which these models can be made singularity free. (author)

  10. Investigating longitudinal and cross cultural measurement Invariance of Inglehart’s short post-materialism scale

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ippel, L.; Gelissen, J.P.T.M.; Moors, G.B.D.

    2014-01-01

    Inglehart applies a four item ranking scale to measure post-materialism which is used for cross-cultural and cross-temporal comparative purposes. The aim of this research is to test measurement invariance of the scale to establish to what extent the scale produces comparable results in time and

  11. Testing measurement invariance of the Learning Programme Management and Evaluation scale across academic achievement

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maelekanyo C. Mulaudzi

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Orientation: Measurement invariance is one of the most precarious aspects of the scale development process without which the interpretation of research findings on population subgroups may be ambiguous and even invalid. Besides tests for validity and reliability, measurement invariance represents the hallmark for psychometric compliance of a new measuring instrument and provides the basis for inference of research findings across a range of relevant population sub-groups. Research purpose: This study tested the measurement invariance of a Learning Programme Management and Evaluation (LPME scale across levels of academic achievement. Motivation for the study: It is important for any researcher involved in new scale development to ensure that the measurement instrument and its underlying constructs have proper structural alignment and that they both have the same level of meaning and significance across comparable heterogeneous groups. Research design, approach and method: A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional survey design was used, and data were obtained from 369 participants who were selected from three public sector organisations using a probabilistic simple random sampling technique. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Analysis of Moment Structures software (versions 21.0.0 were used to analyse the data. Main findings: The findings show that all the four invariance models tested have achieved acceptable goodness-of-fit indices. Furthermore, the findings show that the factorial structure of the LPME scale and the meaning of its underlying constructs are invariant across different levels of academic achievement for human resource development (HRD practitioners and learners or apprentices involved in occupational learning programmes. Practical implications: The findings of this study suggest practical implications for HRD scholars as they are enabled to make informed decisional balance comparisons involving educational

  12. Anisotropic correlated electron model associated with the Temperley-Lieb algebra

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foerster, Angela; Links, Jon; Roditi, Itzhak

    1997-12-01

    We present and anisotropic correlated electron model on a periodic lattice, constructed from an R-matrix associated with the Temperley-Lieb algebra. By modification of the coupling of the first and last sites we obtain a model with quantum algebra invariance. (author)

  13. Measurement invariance of the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game scale across 36 countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Różycka-Tran, Joanna; Jurek, Paweł; Olech, Michał; Piotrowski, Jarosław; Żemojtel-Piotrowska, Magdalena

    2017-11-28

    In this paper, we examined the psychometric properties of cross-cultural validation and replicability (i.e. measurement invariance) of the Belief in a Zero-Sum Game (BZSG) scale, measuring antagonistic belief about interpersonal relations over scarce resources. The factorial structure of the BZSG scale was investigated in student samples from 36 countries (N = 9907), using separate confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) for each country. The cross-cultural validation of the scale was based on multigroup confirmatory factor analyses (MGCFA). The results confirmed that the scale had a one-factor structure in all countries, in which configural and metric invariance between countries was confirmed. As a zero-sum belief about social relations perceived as antagonistic, BZSG is an important factor related to, for example, social and international relations, attitudes toward immigrants, or well-being. The paper proposes different uses of the BZSG scale for cross-cultural studies in different fields of psychology: social, political, or economic. © 2017 International Union of Psychological Science.

  14. Nearly scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations may be from a very slowly expanding phase of the Universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Piao Yunsong; Zhou, E.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we construct an expanding phase with phantom matter, in which the scale factor expands very slowly but the Hubble parameter increases gradually, and assume that this expanding phase could be matched to our late observational cosmology by the proper mechanism. We obtain the nearly scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations in this scenario; different from the simplest inflation and usual ekpyrotic or cyclic scenario, the tilt of the nearly scale-invariant spectrum in this scenario is blue. Although there exists an uncertainty surrounding the way in which the perturbations propagate through the transition in our scenario, which is dependent on the details of possible 'bounce' physics, compared with inflation and the ekpyrotic or cyclic scenario, our work may provide another feasible cosmological scenario generating the nearly scale-invariant perturbation spectrum

  15. Scale-invariant matter distribution in the universe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Balian, R.; Schaeffer, R.

    1989-01-01

    We calculate the galaxy counts or the matter content within a randomly placed cell, under the sole hypothesis of scale-invariance of the many-body correlations functions. The various forms taken by the probability for finding N objects in a given volume are obtained as a function of its size. At smallscales ( -1 Mpc), this probability decreases exponentially with N. At larger scales (0.5h -1 Mpc to 10h -1 Mpc) it behaves as a power-law with an upper and possibly a lower exponential cut-off, reminiscent of the current parametrizations of the galaxy and cluster luminosity functions. We show that the large scale void probability, whose logarithm is seen to be a power-law, is a scale-free extrapolation of its small scale behaviour. As long as the correlation functions are power-laws, this void distribution is not compatible with the linear theory, whatever large scale is considered. We relate this large-scale behaviour of the void probability to the power-law observed at the faint end of the luminosity functions. A scaling law is found, the galaxy and cluster distributions being expressed by the same universal function. We show that the counts in cells are approximately gaussian, only at very large scales, above 50h -1 Mpc, provived the density fluctuations are less than 10% of the mean. In the intermediate range of 10h -1 to 50h -1 Mpc, considerable deviations from gaussian statistics are predicted. Counts in cells are seen to provide a cleaner statistical tool than the mass or luminosity functions and are as easy to obtain either from theoretical information on correlation functions or from observations

  16. Parallel unstructured mesh optimisation for 3D radiation transport and fluids modelling

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gorman, G.J.; Pain, Ch. C.; Oliveira, C.R.E. de; Umpleby, A.P.; Goddard, A.J.H.

    2003-01-01

    In this paper we describe the theory and application of a parallel mesh optimisation procedure to obtain self-adapting finite element solutions on unstructured tetrahedral grids. The optimisation procedure adapts the tetrahedral mesh to the solution of a radiation transport or fluid flow problem without sacrificing the integrity of the boundary (geometry), or internal boundaries (regions) of the domain. The objective is to obtain a mesh which has both a uniform interpolation error in any direction and the element shapes are of good quality. This is accomplished with use of a non-Euclidean (anisotropic) metric which is related to the Hessian of the solution field. Appropriate scaling of the metric enables the resolution of multi-scale phenomena as encountered in transient incompressible fluids and multigroup transport calculations. The resulting metric is used to calculate element size and shape quality. The mesh optimisation method is based on a series of mesh connectivity and node position searches of the landscape defining mesh quality which is gauged by a functional. The mesh modification thus fits the solution field(s) in an optimal manner. The parallel mesh optimisation/adaptivity procedure presented in this paper is of general applicability. We illustrate this by applying it to a transient CFD (computational fluid dynamics) problem. Incompressible flow past a cylinder at moderate Reynolds numbers is modelled to demonstrate that the mesh can follow transient flow features. (authors)

  17. CVD-MPFA full pressure support, coupled unstructured discrete fracture-matrix Darcy-flux approximations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Raheel; Edwards, Michael G.; Lamine, Sadok; Huisman, Bastiaan A. H.; Pal, Mayur

    2017-11-01

    Two novel control-volume methods are presented for flow in fractured media, and involve coupling the control-volume distributed multi-point flux approximation (CVD-MPFA) constructed with full pressure support (FPS), to two types of discrete fracture-matrix approximation for simulation on unstructured grids; (i) involving hybrid grids and (ii) a lower dimensional fracture model. Flow is governed by Darcy's law together with mass conservation both in the matrix and the fractures, where large discontinuities in permeability tensors can occur. Finite-volume FPS schemes are more robust than the earlier CVD-MPFA triangular pressure support (TPS) schemes for problems involving highly anisotropic homogeneous and heterogeneous full-tensor permeability fields. We use a cell-centred hybrid-grid method, where fractures are modelled by lower-dimensional interfaces between matrix cells in the physical mesh but expanded to equi-dimensional cells in the computational domain. We present a simple procedure to form a consistent hybrid-grid locally for a dual-cell. We also propose a novel hybrid-grid for intersecting fractures, for the FPS method, which reduces the condition number of the global linear system and leads to larger time steps for tracer transport. The transport equation for tracer flow is coupled with the pressure equation and provides flow parameter assessment of the fracture models. Transport results obtained via TPS and FPS hybrid-grid formulations are compared with the corresponding results of fine-scale explicit equi-dimensional formulations. The results show that the hybrid-grid FPS method applies to general full-tensor fields and provides improved robust approximations compared to the hybrid-grid TPS method for fractured domains, for both weakly anisotropic permeability fields and very strong anisotropic full-tensor permeability fields where the TPS scheme exhibits spurious oscillations. The hybrid-grid FPS formulation is extended to compressible flow and the

  18. Inflationary perturbations in anisotropic, shear-free universes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pereira, Thiago S.; Carneiro, Saulo; Marugan, Guillermo A. Mena

    2012-01-01

    In this work, the linear and gauge-invariant theory of cosmological perturbations in a class of anisotropic and shear-free spacetimes is developed. After constructing an explicit set of complete eigenfunctions in terms of which perturbations can be expanded, we identify the effective degrees of freedom during a generic slow-roll inflationary phase. These correspond to the anisotropic equivalent of the standard Mukhanov-Sasaki variables. The associated equations of motion present a remarkable resemblance to those found in perturbed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetimes with curvature, apart from the spectrum of the Laplacian, which exhibits the characteristic frequencies of the underlying geometry. In particular, it is found that the perturbations cannot develop arbitrarily large super-Hubble modes

  19. Scale-invariant instantons and the complete lifetime of the standard model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andreassen, Anders; Frost, William; Schwartz, Matthew D.

    2018-03-01

    In a classically scale-invariant quantum field theory, tunneling rates are infrared divergent due to the existence of instantons of any size. While one expects such divergences to be resolved by quantum effects, it has been unclear how higher-loop corrections can resolve a problem appearing already at one loop. With a careful power counting, we uncover a series of loop contributions that dominate over the one-loop result and sum all the necessary terms. We also clarify previously incomplete treatments of related issues pertaining to global symmetries, gauge fixing, and finite mass effects. In addition, we produce exact closed-form solutions for the functional determinants over scalars, fermions, and vector bosons around the scale-invariant bounce, demonstrating manifest gauge invariance in the vector case. With these problems solved, we produce the first complete calculation of the lifetime of our Universe: 1 0139 years . With 95% confidence, we expect our Universe to last more than 1 058 years . The uncertainty is part experimental uncertainty on the top quark mass and on αs and part theory uncertainty from electroweak threshold corrections. Using our complete result, we provide phase diagrams in the mt/mh and the mt/αs planes, with uncertainty bands. To rule out absolute stability to 3 σ confidence, the uncertainty on the top quark pole mass would have to be pushed below 250 MeV or the uncertainty on αs(mZ) pushed below 0.00025.

  20. Scale-invariance underlying the logistic equation and its social applications

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hernando, A., E-mail: alberto.hernando@irsamc.ups-tlse.fr [Laboratoire Collisions, Agrégats, Réactivité, IRSAMC, Université Paul Sabatier, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse Cedex 09 (France); Plastino, A., E-mail: plastino@fisica.unlp.edu.ar [National University La Plata, IFLP-CCT-CONICET, C.C. 727, 1900 La Plata (Argentina); Universitat de les Illes Balears and IFISC-CSIC, 07122 Palma de Mallorca (Spain)

    2013-01-03

    On the basis of dynamical principles we i) advance a derivation of the Logistic Equation (LE), widely employed (among multiple applications) in the simulation of population growth, and ii) demonstrate that scale-invariance and a mean-value constraint are sufficient and necessary conditions for obtaining it. We also generalize the LE to multi-component systems and show that the above dynamical mechanisms underlie a large number of scale-free processes. Examples are presented regarding city-populations, diffusion in complex networks, and popularity of technological products, all of them obeying the multi-component logistic equation in an either stochastic or deterministic way.

  1. Scale-invariance underlying the logistic equation and its social applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hernando, A.; Plastino, A.

    2013-01-01

    On the basis of dynamical principles we i) advance a derivation of the Logistic Equation (LE), widely employed (among multiple applications) in the simulation of population growth, and ii) demonstrate that scale-invariance and a mean-value constraint are sufficient and necessary conditions for obtaining it. We also generalize the LE to multi-component systems and show that the above dynamical mechanisms underlie a large number of scale-free processes. Examples are presented regarding city-populations, diffusion in complex networks, and popularity of technological products, all of them obeying the multi-component logistic equation in an either stochastic or deterministic way.

  2. A cross-national analysis of measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Whisman, Mark A; Judd, Charles M

    2016-02-01

    Measurement invariance of the Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) was examined in probability samples of adults 50-79 years of age living in the United States, England, and Japan. Confirmatory factor analysis modeling was used to test for multigroup measurement invariance of a single-factor structure of the SWLS. Results support a single-factor structure of the SWLS across the 3 countries, with tests of measurement invariance of the SWLS supporting its configural invariance and metric invariance. These results suggest that the SWLS may be used as a single-factor measure of life satisfaction in the United States, England, and Japan, and that it is appropriate to compare correlates of the SWLS in middle-aged and older adults across these 3 countries. However, results provided evidence for only partial scalar invariance, with the intercept for SWLS Item 4 varying across countries. Cross-national comparisons of means revealed a lower mean at the latent variable level for the Japanese sample than for the other 2 samples. In addition, over and above the latent mean difference, the Japanese sample also manifested a significantly lower intercept on Item 4. Implications of the findings for research on cross-national comparisons of life satisfaction in European American and East Asian countries are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  3. Scale genesis and gravitational wave in a classically scale invariant extension of the standard model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kubo, Jisuke [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kanazawa University,Kanazawa 920-1192 (Japan); Yamada, Masatoshi [Department of Physics, Kyoto University,Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan); Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg,Philosophenweg 16, 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)

    2016-12-01

    We assume that the origin of the electroweak (EW) scale is a gauge-invariant scalar-bilinear condensation in a strongly interacting non-abelian gauge sector, which is connected to the standard model via a Higgs portal coupling. The dynamical scale genesis appears as a phase transition at finite temperature, and it can produce a gravitational wave (GW) background in the early Universe. We find that the critical temperature of the scale phase transition lies above that of the EW phase transition and below few O(100) GeV and it is strongly first-order. We calculate the spectrum of the GW background and find the scale phase transition is strong enough that the GW background can be observed by DECIGO.

  4. Experimental tests of confinement scale invariance on JET, DIIID, ASDEX Upgrade and CMOD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Christiansen, J.P.; Cordey, J.G.; Budny, R.

    2001-01-01

    An international collaboration between JET, DIIID, AUG and CMOD has resulted in four sets of Tokamak discharges which are approximately identical as regards a set of dimensionless plasma variables. The data demonstrates some measure of scale invariance of local and global confinement but a more accurate matching of scaled density, power etc. is required to make firmer conclusions. (author)

  5. Dark matter and leptogenesis linked by classical scale invariance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khoze, Valentin V.; Plascencia, Alexis D. [Institute for Particle Physics Phenomenology, Department of Physics, Durham University,South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE United Kingdom (United Kingdom)

    2016-11-07

    In this work we study a classically scale invariant extension of the Standard Model that can explain simultaneously dark matter and the baryon asymmetry in the universe. In our set-up we introduce a dark sector, namely a non-Abelian SU(2) hidden sector coupled to the SM via the Higgs portal, and a singlet sector responsible for generating Majorana masses for three right-handed sterile neutrinos. The gauge bosons of the dark sector are mass-degenerate and stable, and this makes them suitable as dark matter candidates. Our model also accounts for the matter-anti-matter asymmetry. The lepton flavour asymmetry is produced during CP-violating oscillations of the GeV-scale right-handed neutrinos, and converted to the baryon asymmetry by the electroweak sphalerons. All the characteristic scales in the model: the electro-weak, dark matter and the leptogenesis/neutrino mass scales, are generated radiatively, have a common origin and related to each other via scalar field couplings in perturbation theory.

  6. Factorial invariance of the Satisfaction with Life Scale in adolescents from Spain and Portugal.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Atienza González, Francisco L; Balaguer Solá, Isabel; Corte-Real, Nuno; Fonseca, António M

    2016-08-01

    The Satisfaction with Life Scale is one of the most widely used scales to measure the global cognitive judgment of satisfaction with one’s life. This study assesses the equivalence of the SWLS across Spanish and Portuguese adolescents, using multi-sample Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Participants were Spanish (N = 2183) and Portuguese (N = 4082) junior high school. The results provide high support for the internal consistency of both the Spanish and Portuguese versions of this scale. The results also showed that factor structure, factor loadings, could be considered invariant across groups. However, the full scalar invariance between Spanish and Portuguese samples was not found, with the intercept for SWLS item 5 varying across countries. Similar findings have also been found in other cross-national studies with this scale. Implications of the findings are discussed and we conclude that the Spanish and Portuguese versions of the SWLS can be used for cross-national comparisons with Spanish and Portuguese adolescents.

  7. Rotation and scale change invariant point pattern relaxation matching by the Hopfield neural network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sang, Nong; Zhang, Tianxu

    1997-12-01

    Relaxation matching is one of the most relevant methods for image matching. The original relaxation matching technique using point patterns is sensitive to rotations and scale changes. We improve the original point pattern relaxation matching technique to be invariant to rotations and scale changes. A method that makes the Hopfield neural network perform this matching process is discussed. An advantage of this is that the relaxation matching process can be performed in real time with the neural network's massively parallel capability to process information. Experimental results with large simulated images demonstrate the effectiveness and feasibility of the method to perform point patten relaxation matching invariant to rotations and scale changes and the method to perform this matching by the Hopfield neural network. In addition, we show that the method presented can be tolerant to small random error.

  8. The algebraic construction of the scale-invariant asymtotic theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gatto, R.; Sartori, G.

    1975-01-01

    The procedure proposed in the preceding paper to construct the asymptotic scale-invariant theory is applied to massive free fields. The contracted fields (of the asymptotic theory) are calculated in terms of the original fields by two different procedures. The contracted charges are calculated and their general relation to the original charges is verified. The problem of defining a vacuum state for the contracted fields and charges is solved. The relation to the problem of non-equivalent representations of the commutator relations is pointed out

  9. Deviations from scale invariance near a general conformal background

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Babichenko, A.; Elitzur, S.

    1994-01-01

    Deviations from scale invariance resulting from small perturbations of a general two-dimensional conformal field theory are studied. They are expressed in terms of β-functions for the renormalization of general couplings under a local change of scale. The β-functions for a homogeneous background are given perturbatively in terms of the data of the original conformal theory without any specific assumptions on its nature. The renormalization of couplings to primary operators and to first descendents is considered as well as that of couplings of a dilatonic type which involve explicit dependence on world sheet curvature. The first descendent couplings are interpreted as gauge degrees of freedom in the string field action and the corresponding gauge transformation is spelled out. (orig.)

  10. A smooth bouncing cosmology with scale invariant spectrum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Creminelli, P.; Senatore, L.

    2007-01-01

    We present a bouncing cosmology which evolves from the contracting to the expanding phase in a smooth way, without developing instabilities or pathologies and remaining in the regime of validity of 4d effective field theory. A nearly scale invariant spectrum of perturbations is generated during the contracting phase by an isocurvature scalar with a negative exponential potential and then converted to adiabatic. The model predicts a slightly blue spectrum, n S > or approx. 1, no observable gravitational waves and a high (but model dependent) level of non-Gaussianities with local shape. The model represents an explicit and predictive alternative to inflation, although, at present, it is clearly less compelling. (author)

  11. Natively unstructured loops differ from other loops.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Avner Schlessinger

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available Natively unstructured or disordered protein regions may increase the functional complexity of an organism; they are particularly abundant in eukaryotes and often evade structure determination. Many computational methods predict unstructured regions by training on outliers in otherwise well-ordered structures. Here, we introduce an approach that uses a neural network in a very different and novel way. We hypothesize that very long contiguous segments with nonregular secondary structure (NORS regions differ significantly from regular, well-structured loops, and that a method detecting such features could predict natively unstructured regions. Training our new method, NORSnet, on predicted information rather than on experimental data yielded three major advantages: it removed the overlap between testing and training, it systematically covered entire proteomes, and it explicitly focused on one particular aspect of unstructured regions with a simple structural interpretation, namely that they are loops. Our hypothesis was correct: well-structured and unstructured loops differ so substantially that NORSnet succeeded in their distinction. Benchmarks on previously used and new experimental data of unstructured regions revealed that NORSnet performed very well. Although it was not the best single prediction method, NORSnet was sufficiently accurate to flag unstructured regions in proteins that were previously not annotated. In one application, NORSnet revealed previously undetected unstructured regions in putative targets for structural genomics and may thereby contribute to increasing structural coverage of large eukaryotic families. NORSnet found unstructured regions more often in domain boundaries than expected at random. In another application, we estimated that 50%-70% of all worm proteins observed to have more than seven protein-protein interaction partners have unstructured regions. The comparative analysis between NORSnet and DISOPRED2 suggested

  12. Testing measurement invariance in the International Social Survey Program Health 2011 – the mental well-being scale

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Deurzen, I.A.; Roosma, F.

    2014-01-01

    Purpose In the present contribution we address the measurement invariance of a new mental well-being scale of three items that was applied in the International Social Survey Program (ISSP) Health 2011 module. Our aim is to establish if and for how many countries (partial) scalar invariance is

  13. Are trait-scaling relationships invariant across contrasting elevations in the widely distributed treeline species Nothofagus pumilio?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fajardo, Alex

    2016-05-01

    The study of scaling examines the relative dimensions of diverse organismal traits. Understanding whether global scaling patterns are paralleled within species is key to identify causal factors of universal scaling. I examined whether the foliage-stem (Corner's rules), the leaf size-number, and the leaf mass-leaf area scaling relationships remained invariant and isometric with elevation in a wide-distributed treeline species in the southern Chilean Andes. Mean leaf area, leaf mass, leafing intensity, and twig cross-sectional area were determined for 1-2 twigs of 8-15 Nothofagus pumilio individuals across four elevations (including treeline elevation) and four locations (from central Chile at 36°S to Tierra del Fuego at 54°S). Mixed effects models were fitted to test whether the interaction term between traits and elevation was nonsignificant (invariant). The leaf-twig cross-sectional area and the leaf mass-leaf area scaling relationships were isometric (slope = 1) and remained invariant with elevation, whereas the leaf size-number (i.e., leafing intensity) scaling was allometric (slope ≠ -1) and showed no variation with elevation. Leaf area and leaf number were consistently negatively correlated across elevation. The scaling relationships examined in the current study parallel those seen across species. It is plausible that the explanation of intraspecific scaling relationships, as trait combinations favored by natural selection, is the same as those invoked to explain across species patterns. Thus, it is very likely that the global interspecific Corner's rules and other leaf-leaf scaling relationships emerge as the aggregate of largely parallel intraspecific patterns. © 2016 Botanical Society of America.

  14. Anisotropic inflation with a non-minimally coupled electromagnetic field to gravity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adak, Muzaffer; Akarsu, Özgür; Dereli, Tekin; Sert, Özcan

    2017-11-01

    We consider the non-minimal model of gravity in Y(R) F2-form. We investigate a particular case of the model, for which the higher order derivatives are eliminated but the scalar curvature R is kept to be dynamical via the constraint YRFmnFmn =-2/κ2. The effective fluid obtained can be represented by interacting electromagnetic field and vacuum depending on Y(R), namely, the energy density of the vacuum tracks R while energy density of the conventional electromagnetic field is dynamically scaled with the factor Y(R)/2. We give exact solutions for anisotropic inflation by assuming the volume scale factor of the Universe exhibits a power-law expansion. The directional scale factors do not necessarily exhibit power-law expansion, which would give rise to a constant expansion anisotropy, but expand non-trivially and give rise to a non-monotonically evolving expansion anisotropy that eventually converges to a non-zero constant. Relying on this fact, we discuss the anisotropic e-fold during the inflation by considering observed scale invariance in CMB and demanding the Universe to undergo the same amount of e-folds in all directions. We calculate the residual expansion anisotropy at the end of inflation, though as a result of non-monotonic behaviour of expansion anisotropy all the axes of the Universe undergo the same of amount of e-folds by the end of inflation. We also discuss the generation of the modified electromagnetic field during the first few e-folds of the inflation and its persistence against to the vacuum till end of inflation.

  15. Passion: Does one scale fit all? Construct validity of two-factor passion scale and psychometric invariance over different activities and languages.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marsh, Herbert W; Vallerand, Robert J; Lafrenière, Marc-André K; Parker, Philip; Morin, Alexandre J S; Carbonneau, Noémie; Jowett, Sophia; Bureau, Julien S; Fernet, Claude; Guay, Frédéric; Salah Abduljabbar, Adel; Paquet, Yvan

    2013-09-01

    The passion scale, based on the dualistic model of passion, measures 2 distinct types of passion: Harmonious and obsessive passions are predictive of adaptive and less adaptive outcomes, respectively. In a substantive-methodological synergy, we evaluate the construct validity (factor structure, reliability, convergent and discriminant validity) of Passion Scale responses (N = 3,571). The exploratory structural equation model fit to the data was substantially better than the confirmatory factor analysis solution, and resulted in better differentiated (less correlated) factors. Results from a 13-model taxonomy of measurement invariance supported complete invariance (factor loadings, factor correlations, item uniquenesses, item intercepts, and latent means) over language (French vs. English; the instrument was originally devised in French, then translated into English) and gender. Strong measurement partial invariance over 5 passion activity groups (leisure, sport, social, work, education) indicates that the same set of items is appropriate for assessing passion across a wide variety of activities--a previously untested, implicit assumption that greatly enhances practical utility. Support was found for the convergent and discriminant validity of the harmonious and obsessive passion scales, based on a set of validity correlates: life satisfaction, rumination, conflict, time investment, activity liking and valuation, and perceiving the activity as a passion.

  16. Same but different? Measurement invariance of the PIAAC motivation-to-learn scale across key socio-demographic groups

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Julia Gorges

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC revealed that countries systematically differ in their respondents’ literacy, numeracy, and problem solving in technology-rich environments skills; skill levels also vary by gender, age, level of education or migration background. Similarly, systematic differences have been documented with respect to adults’ participation in education, which can be considered as a means to develop and maintain skills. From a psychological perspective, motivation to learn is considered a key factor associated with both skill development and participation in (further education. In order to account for motivation when analyzing PIAAC data, four items from the PIAAC background questionnaire were recently compiled into a motivation-to-learn scale. This scale has been found to be invariant (i.e., showing full weak and partial strong measurement invariance across 21 countries. Methods This paper presents further analyses using multiple-group graded response models to scrutinize the validity of the motivation-to-learn scale for group comparisons. Results Results indicate at least partial strong measurement invariance across gender, age groups, level of education, and migration background in most countries under study (all CFI > .95, all RMSEA < .08. Thus, the scale is suitable for comparing both means and associations across these groups. Conclusions Results are discussed in light of country characteristics, challenges of measurement invariance testing, and potential future research using PIAAC data.

  17. Dynamics of anisotropic tissue growth

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bittig, Thomas; Juelicher, Frank [Max Planck Institute for the Physics of Complex Systems, Noethnitzer Strasse 38, 01187 Dresden (Germany); Wartlick, Ortrud; Kicheva, Anna; Gonzalez-Gaitan, Marcos [Department of Biochemistry and Department of Molecular Biology, Geneva University, Sciences II, Quai Ernest-Ansermet 30, 1211 Geneva 4 (Switzerland)], E-mail: Marcos.Gonzalez@biochem.unige.ch, E-mail: julicher@pks.mpg.de

    2008-06-15

    We study the mechanics of tissue growth via cell division and cell death (apoptosis). The rearrangements of cells can on large scales and times be captured by a continuum theory which describes the tissue as an effective viscous material with active stresses generated by cell division. We study the effects of anisotropies of cell division on cell rearrangements and show that average cellular trajectories exhibit anisotropic scaling behaviors. If cell division and apoptosis balance, there is no net growth, but for anisotropic cell division the tissue undergoes spontaneous shear deformations. Our description is relevant for the study of developing tissues such as the imaginal disks of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, which grow anisotropically.

  18. Universal Scaling and Critical Exponents of the Anisotropic Quantum Rabi Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Maoxin; Chesi, Stefano; Ying, Zu-Jian; Chen, Xiaosong; Luo, Hong-Gang; Lin, Hai-Qing

    2017-12-01

    We investigate the quantum phase transition of the anisotropic quantum Rabi model, in which the rotating and counterrotating terms are allowed to have different coupling strengths. The model interpolates between two known limits with distinct universal properties. Through a combination of analytic and numerical approaches, we extract the phase diagram, scaling functions, and critical exponents, which determine the universality class at finite anisotropy (identical to the isotropic limit). We also reveal other interesting features, including a superradiance-induced freezing of the effective mass and discontinuous scaling functions in the Jaynes-Cummings limit. Our findings are extended to the few-body quantum phase transitions with N >1 spins, where we expose the same effective parameters, scaling properties, and phase diagram. Thus, a stronger form of universality is established, valid from N =1 up to the thermodynamic limit.

  19. Recent progress in invariant pattern recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arsenault, Henri H.; Chang, S.; Gagne, Philippe; Gualdron Gonzalez, Oscar

    1996-12-01

    We present some recent results in invariant pattern recognition, including methods that are invariant under two or more distortions of position, orientation and scale. There are now a few methods that yield good results under changes of both rotation and scale. Some new methods are introduced. These include locally adaptive nonlinear matched filters, scale-adapted wavelet transforms and invariant filters for disjoint noise. Methods using neural networks will also be discussed, including an optical method that allows simultaneous classification of multiple targets.

  20. The role of instantons in scale-invariant gauge theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Affleck, I.

    1980-01-01

    Instanton calculations in scale-invariant gauge theories, such as QCD, have long been plagued by divergences at large distances where strong coupling effects are important. Furthermore, Witten has argued that quantum effects may cause the instanton gas to disappear and has displayed this phenomenon in the CPsup(N-1) model at large N. It is argued here that instantons can play a role in calculations involving an inherent infrared cut-off, and this is demonstrated in the CPsup(N-1) model for large N at a finite temperature. Some results on finite-temperature QED are also obtained in passing. (orig.)

  1. Scale-invariant curvature fluctuations from an extended semiclassical gravity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pinamonti, Nicola, E-mail: pinamont@dima.unige.it, E-mail: siemssen@dima.unige.it [Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 35, 16146 Genova (Italy); INFN Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genova (Italy); Siemssen, Daniel, E-mail: pinamont@dima.unige.it, E-mail: siemssen@dima.unige.it [Dipartimento di Matematica, Università di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 35, 16146 Genova (Italy)

    2015-02-15

    We present an extension of the semiclassical Einstein equations which couple n-point correlation functions of a stochastic Einstein tensor to the n-point functions of the quantum stress-energy tensor. We apply this extension to calculate the quantum fluctuations during an inflationary period, where we take as a model a massive conformally coupled scalar field on a perturbed de Sitter space and describe how a renormalization independent, almost-scale-invariant power spectrum of the scalar metric perturbation is produced. Furthermore, we discuss how this model yields a natural basis for the calculation of non-Gaussianities of the considered metric fluctuations.

  2. Measurement Invariance of the Reynolds Depression Adolescent Scale across Gender and Age

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fonseca-Pedrero, Eduardo; Wells, Craig; Paino, Mercedes; Lemos-Giraldez, Serafin; Villazon-Garcia, Ursula; Sierra, Susana; Garcia-Portilla Gonzalez, Ma Paz; Bobes, Julio; Muniz, Jose

    2010-01-01

    The main objective of the present study was to examine measurement invariance of the Reynolds Depression Adolescent Scale (RADS) (Reynolds, 1987) across gender and age in a representative sample of nonclinical adolescents. The sample was composed of 1,659 participants, 801 males (48.3%), with a mean age of 15.9 years (SD = 1.2). Confirmatory…

  3. Bryan's effect and anisotropic nonlinear damping

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joubert, Stephan V.; Shatalov, Michael Y.; Fay, Temple H.; Manzhirov, Alexander V.

    2018-03-01

    In 1890, G. H. Bryan discovered the following: "The vibration pattern of a revolving cylinder or bell revolves at a rate proportional to the inertial rotation rate of the cylinder or bell." We call this phenomenon Bryan's law or Bryan's effect. It is well known that any imperfections in a vibratory gyroscope (VG) affect Bryan's law and this affects the accuracy of the VG. Consequently, in this paper, we assume that all such imperfections are either minimised or eliminated by some known control method and that only damping is present within the VG. If the damping is isotropic (linear or nonlinear), then it has been recently demonstrated in this journal, using symbolic analysis, that Bryan's law remains invariant. However, it is known that linear anisotropic damping does affect Bryan's law. In this paper, we generalise Rayleigh's dissipation function so that anisotropic nonlinear damping may be introduced into the equations of motion. Using a mixture of numeric and symbolic analysis on the ODEs of motion of the VG, for anisotropic light nonlinear damping, we demonstrate (up to an approximate average), that Bryan's law is affected by any form of such damping, causing pattern drift, compromising the accuracy of the VG.

  4. A Scale-Invariant Model of Statistical Mechanics and Modified Forms of the First and the Second Laws of Thermodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sohrab, Siavash H.; Pitch, Nancy (Technical Monitor)

    1999-01-01

    A scale-invariant statistical theory of fields is presented that leads to invariant definition of density, velocity, temperature, and pressure, The definition of Boltzmann constant is introduced as k(sub k) = m(sub k)v(sub k)c = 1.381 x 10(exp -23) J x K(exp -1), suggesting that the Kelvin absolute temperature scale is equivalent to a length scale. Two new state variables called the reversible heat Q(sub rev) = TS and the reversible work W(sub rev) = PV are introduced. The modified forms of the first and second law of thermodynamics are presented. The microscopic definition of heat (work) is presented as the kinetic energy due to the random (peculiar) translational, rotational, and pulsational motions. The Gibbs free energy of an element at scale Beta is identified as the total system energy at scale (Beta-1), thus leading to an invariant form of the first law of thermodynamics U(sub Beta) = Q(sub Beta) - W(sub Beta) +N(e3)U(sub Beta-1).

  5. Lorentz invariance violation in modified gravity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brax, Philippe

    2012-01-01

    We consider an environmentally dependent violation of Lorentz invariance in scalar-tensor models of modified gravity where General Relativity is retrieved locally thanks to a screening mechanism. We find that fermions have a modified dispersion relation and would go faster than light in an anisotropic and space-dependent way along the scalar field lines of force. Phenomenologically, these models are tightly restricted by the amount of Cerenkov radiation emitted by the superluminal particles, a constraint which is only satisfied by chameleons. Measuring the speed of neutrinos emitted radially from the surface of the earth and observed on the other side of the earth would probe the scalar field profile of modified gravity models in dense environments. We argue that the test of the equivalence principle provided by the Lunar ranging experiment implies that a deviation from the speed of light, for natural values of the coupling scale between the scalar field and fermions, would be below detectable levels, unless gravity is modified by camouflaged chameleons where the field normalisation is environmentally dependent.

  6. Lorentz invariance violation in modified gravity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brax, Philippe, E-mail: philippe.brax@cea.fr [Institut de Physique Theorique, CEA, IPhT, CNRS, URA 2306, F-91191Gif/Yvette Cedex (France)

    2012-06-06

    We consider an environmentally dependent violation of Lorentz invariance in scalar-tensor models of modified gravity where General Relativity is retrieved locally thanks to a screening mechanism. We find that fermions have a modified dispersion relation and would go faster than light in an anisotropic and space-dependent way along the scalar field lines of force. Phenomenologically, these models are tightly restricted by the amount of Cerenkov radiation emitted by the superluminal particles, a constraint which is only satisfied by chameleons. Measuring the speed of neutrinos emitted radially from the surface of the earth and observed on the other side of the earth would probe the scalar field profile of modified gravity models in dense environments. We argue that the test of the equivalence principle provided by the Lunar ranging experiment implies that a deviation from the speed of light, for natural values of the coupling scale between the scalar field and fermions, would be below detectable levels, unless gravity is modified by camouflaged chameleons where the field normalisation is environmentally dependent.

  7. From the Weyl theory to a theory of locally anisotropic space-time

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bogoslovsky, G.Yu.

    1991-01-01

    It is shown that Weyl ideas, pertaining to local conformal invariance, find natural embodiment within the framework of a relativistic theory based on a viable Finslerian model of space-time. This is associated with the peculiar property of the conformal invariant Finslerian metric which describes a locally anisotropic space of events. The local conformal transformations of the Riemannian metric tensor leave invariant rest masses as well as all observables and thus appear as local gauge transformations. The corresponding Finslerian theory of gravitation turns out, as a result, to be an Abelian gauge theory. It satisfies the principle of correspondence with Einstein theory and predicts a number of nontrivial physical effects accessible for experimental test under laboratory conditions. 13 refs

  8. Age-related invariance of abilities measured with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sudarshan, Navaneetham J; Bowden, Stephen C; Saklofske, Donald H; Weiss, Lawrence G

    2016-11-01

    Assessment of measurement invariance across populations is essential for meaningful comparison of test scores, and is especially relevant where repeated measurements are required for educational assessment or clinical diagnosis. Establishing measurement invariance legitimizes the assumption that test scores reflect the same psychological trait in different populations or across different occasions. Examination of Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth Edition (WAIS-IV) U.S. standardization samples revealed that a first-order 5-factor measurement model was best fitting across 9 age groups from 16 years to 69 years. Strong metric invariance was found for 3 of 5 factors and partial intercept invariance for the remaining 2. Pairwise comparisons of adjacent age groups supported the inference that cognitive-trait group differences are manifested by group differences in the test scores. In educational and clinical settings these findings provide theoretical and empirical support to interpret changes in the index or subtest scores as reflecting changes in the corresponding cognitive abilities. Further, where clinically relevant, the subtest score composites can be used to compare changes in respective cognitive abilities. The model was supported in the Canadian standardization data with pooled age groups but the sample sizes were not adequate for detailed examination of separate age groups in the Canadian sample. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  9. Statistical characterisation of COSMO Sky-Med X-SAR retrieved precipitation fields by scale-invariance analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deidda, Roberto; Mascaro, Giuseppe; Hellies, Matteo; Baldini, Luca; Roberto, Nicoletta

    2013-04-01

    COSMO Sky-Med (CSK) is an important programme of the Italian Space Agency aiming at supporting environmental monitoring and management of exogenous, endogenous and anthropogenic risks through X-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (X-SAR) on board of 4 satellites forming a constellation. Most of typical SAR applications are focused on land or ocean observation. However, X-band SAR can be detect precipitation that results in a specific signature caused by the combination of attenuation of surface returns induced by precipitation and enhancement of backscattering determined by the hydrometeors in the SAR resolution volume. Within CSK programme, we conducted an intercomparison between the statistical properties of precipitation fields derived by CSK SARs and those derived by the CNR Polar 55C (C-band) ground based weather radar located in Rome (Italy). This contribution presents main results of this research which was aimed at the robust characterisation of rainfall statistical properties across different scales by means of scale-invariance analysis and multifractal theory. The analysis was performed on a dataset of more two years of precipitation observations collected by the CNR Polar 55C radar and rainfall fields derived from available images collected by the CSK satellites during intense rainfall events. Scale-invariance laws and multifractal properties were detected on the most intense rainfall events derived from the CNR Polar 55C radar for spatial scales from 4 km to 64 km. The analysis on X-SAR retrieved rainfall fields, although based on few images, leaded to similar results and confirmed the existence of scale-invariance and multifractal properties for scales larger than 4 km. These outcomes encourage investigating SAR methodologies for future development of meteo-hydrological forecasting models based on multifractal theory.

  10. Numerical experiments on unstructured PIC stability.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Day, David Minot

    2011-04-01

    Particle-In-Cell (PIC) is a method for plasmas simulation. Particles are pushed with Verlet time integration. Fields are modeled using finite differences on a tensor product mesh (cells). The Unstructured PIC methods studied here use instead finite element discretizations on unstructured (simplicial) meshes. PIC is constrained by stability limits (upper bounds) on mesh and time step sizes. Numerical evidence (2D) and analysis will be presented showing that similar bounds constrain unstructured PIC.

  11. Exploring Shared-Memory Optimizations for an Unstructured Mesh CFD Application on Modern Parallel Systems

    KAUST Repository

    Mudigere, Dheevatsa

    2015-05-01

    In this work, we revisit the 1999 Gordon Bell Prize winning PETSc-FUN3D aerodynamics code, extending it with highly-tuned shared-memory parallelization and detailed performance analysis on modern highly parallel architectures. An unstructured-grid implicit flow solver, which forms the backbone of computational aerodynamics, poses particular challenges due to its large irregular working sets, unstructured memory accesses, and variable/limited amount of parallelism. This code, based on a domain decomposition approach, exposes tradeoffs between the number of threads assigned to each MPI-rank sub domain, and the total number of domains. By applying several algorithm- and architecture-aware optimization techniques for unstructured grids, we show a 6.9X speed-up in performance on a single-node Intel® XeonTM1 E5 2690 v2 processor relative to the out-of-the-box compilation. Our scaling studies on TACC Stampede supercomputer show that our optimizations continue to provide performance benefits over baseline implementation as we scale up to 256 nodes.

  12. Scale invariant for one-sided multivariate likelihood ratio tests

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Samruam Chongcharoen

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Suppose 1 2 , ,..., n X X X is a random sample from Np ( ,V distribution. Consider 0 1 2 : ... 0 p H      and1 : 0 for 1, 2,..., i H   i  p , let 1 0 H  H denote the hypothesis that 1 H holds but 0 H does not, and let ~ 0 H denote thehypothesis that 0 H does not hold. Because the likelihood ratio test (LRT of 0 H versus 1 0 H  H is complicated, severalad hoc tests have been proposed. Tang, Gnecco and Geller (1989 proposed an approximate LRT, Follmann (1996 suggestedrejecting 0 H if the usual test of 0 H versus ~ 0 H rejects 0 H with significance level 2 and a weighted sum of the samplemeans is positive, and Chongcharoen, Singh and Wright (2002 modified Follmann’s test to include information about thecorrelation structure in the sum of the sample means. Chongcharoen and Wright (2007, 2006 give versions of the Tang-Gnecco-Geller tests and Follmann-type tests, respectively, with invariance properties. With LRT’s scale invariant desiredproperty, we investigate its powers by using Monte Carlo techniques and compare them with the tests which we recommendin Chongcharoen and Wright (2007, 2006.

  13. A biologically plausible transform for visual recognition that is invariant to translation, scale and rotation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pavel eSountsov

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available Visual object recognition occurs easily despite differences in position, size, and rotation of the object, but the neural mechanisms responsible for this invariance are not known. We have found a set of transforms that achieve invariance in a neurally plausible way. We find that a transform based on local spatial frequency analysis of oriented segments and on logarithmic mapping, when applied twice in an iterative fashion, produces an output image that is unique to the object and that remains constant as the input image is shifted, scaled or rotated.

  14. A Biologically Plausible Transform for Visual Recognition that is Invariant to Translation, Scale, and Rotation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sountsov, Pavel; Santucci, David M; Lisman, John E

    2011-01-01

    Visual object recognition occurs easily despite differences in position, size, and rotation of the object, but the neural mechanisms responsible for this invariance are not known. We have found a set of transforms that achieve invariance in a neurally plausible way. We find that a transform based on local spatial frequency analysis of oriented segments and on logarithmic mapping, when applied twice in an iterative fashion, produces an output image that is unique to the object and that remains constant as the input image is shifted, scaled, or rotated.

  15. Color-based scale-invariant feature detection applied in robot vision

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Jian; Huang, Xinhan; Peng, Gang; Wang, Min; Li, Xinde

    2007-11-01

    The scale-invariant feature detecting methods always require a lot of computation yet sometimes still fail to meet the real-time demands in robot vision fields. To solve the problem, a quick method for detecting interest points is presented. To decrease the computation time, the detector selects as interest points those whose scale normalized Laplacian values are the local extrema in the nonholonomic pyramid scale space. The descriptor is built with several subregions, whose width is proportional to the scale factor, and the coordinates of the descriptor are rotated in relation to the interest point orientation just like the SIFT descriptor. The eigenvector is computed in the original color image and the mean values of the normalized color g and b in each subregion are chosen to be the factors of the eigenvector. Compared with the SIFT descriptor, this descriptor's dimension has been reduced evidently, which can simplify the point matching process. The performance of the method is analyzed in theory in this paper and the experimental results have certified its validity too.

  16. A unified theoretical and experimental study of anisotropic hardening

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Boehler, J.P.; Raclin, J.

    1981-01-01

    The purpose of this work is to develop a consistent formulation of the constitutive relations regarding anisotropic hardening materials. Attention is focused on the appearance and the evolution of mechanical anisotropies during irreversible processes, such as plastic forming and inelastic deformation of structures. The representation theorems for anisotropic tensor functions constitute a theoretical basis, allowing to reduce arbitrariness and to obtain a unified formulation of anisotropic hardening. In this approach, a general three-dimensional constitutive law is developed for prestrained initially orthotropic materials. Introduction of the plastic behavior results in the general forms of both the flow-law and the yield criterion. The developed theory is then specialized for the case of plane stress and different modes of anisotropic hardening are analyzed. A new generalization of the Von Mises criterion is proposed, in considering a homogeneous form of order two in stress and employing the simplest combinations of the basic invariants entering the general form of the yield condition. The proposed criterion involves specific terms accounting for the initial anisotropy, the deformation induced anisotropy and correlative terms between initial and induced anisotropy. The effects of prestrainings result in both isotropic and anisotropic hardening. An adequate experimental program, consisting of uniaxial tensile tests on oriented specimens of prestrained sheet-metal, was performed, in order to determine the specific form and the evolution of the anisotropic failure criterion for soft-steel subjected to different irreversible prestrainings. (orig.)

  17. Shift, rotation and scale invariant optical information authentication with binary digital holography

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiao, Shuming; Zhou, Changyuan; Zou, Wenbin; Li, Xia

    2017-12-01

    An optical information authentication system using binary holography is proposed recently, with high security, flexibility and reduced cipher-text size. Despite the success, we point out one limitation of this system that it cannot well verify scaled and rotated versions of correct images and simply regard them as wrong images. In fact, this limitation generally exists in many other optical authentication systems. In this paper, a preprocessing method based Fourier transform and log polar transform is employed to allow the optical authentication systems shift, rotation and scale invariant. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that our proposed scheme significantly outperforms the existing method.

  18. Motivational Climate Sport Youth Scale: Measurement Invariance Across Gender and Five Different Sports.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monteiro, Diogo; Borrego, Carla Chicau; Silva, Carlos; Moutão, João; Marinho, Daniel Almeida; Cid, Luís

    2018-03-01

    The aim of this study was to analyze the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the Motivational Climate Sport Youth Scale (MCSYSp) and invariance across gender and different sports (swimming, soccer, handball, basketball, futsal). A total of 4,569 athletes (3,053 males, 1,516 females) from soccer (1,098), swimming (1,049), basketball (1,754), futsal (340), and handball (328) participated in this study, with ages between 10 and 20 years (M = 15.13; SD = 1.95). The results show that the original model (two factors/12 items) did not adjust to the data in a satisfactory way; therefore, it was necessary to change the model by removing four items (two from each factor). Subsequently, the model adjusted to the data in a satisfactory way (χ 2 = 499.84; df = 19; χ 2 /df = 26.30; p sports (soccer, handball, basketball, futsal) (ΔCFK≤.01); however, it was not invariant between swimming and team sports (soccer, handball, basketball, futsal) (ΔCFI ≥ .01). In conclusion, the MCSYSp (two factors/eight items) is a valid and reliable choice that is transversal not only to gender, but also to the different studied team sports to measure the perception of the motivational climate in athletes. Future studies can research more deeply the invariance analysis between individual sports to better understand the invariance of the model between individual and team sports.

  19. Measurement Invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Student's Life Satisfaction Scale among Adolescents and Emerging Adults across 23 Cultural Contexts

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abubakar, Amina; van de Vijver, Fons; Alonso-Arbiol, Itziar; He, Jia; Adams, Byron; Aldhafri, Said; Aydinli-Karakulak, Arzu; Arasa, Josephine; Boer, Diana; Celenk, Ozgur; Dimitrova, Radosveta; Ferreira, Maria Cristina; Fischer, Ronald; Mbebeb, Fomba Emmanuel; Frías, María Teresa; Fresno, Andrés; Gillath, Omri; Harb, Charles; Handani, Penny; Hapunda, Given; Kamble, Shanmukh; Kosic, Marianna; Looh, Joseph Lah; Mazrui, Lubna; Mendia, Rafael Emilio; Murugami, Margaret; Mason-Li, Mei; Pandia, Weny Savitry; Perdomo, Cristina; Schachner, Maja; Sim, Samantha; Spencer, Rosario; Suryani, Angela; Tair, Ergyul

    2016-01-01

    There is hardly any cross-cultural research on the measurement invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scales (BMSLSS). The current article evaluates the measurement invariance of the BMSLSS across cultural contexts. This cross-sectional study sampled 7,739 adolescents and emerging adults in 23 countries. A multi-group…

  20. Factorial Validity and Invariance of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale among Portuguese Youngsters

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vasconcelos-Raposo, Jose; Fernandes, Helder Miguel; Teixeira, Carla M.; Bertelli, Rosangela

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of the present study was to examine the reliability, factorial validity and measurement invariance (across gender, age and physical activity participation) of a Portuguese version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES). The sample consisted of 1,763 Portuguese youngsters (731 male and 1,032 female) with ages between 15 and 20 years.…

  1. Theoretical and numerical study of highly anisotropic turbulent flows

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Biferale, L.; Daumont, I.; Lanotte, A.; Toschi, F.

    2004-01-01

    We present a detailed numerical study of anisotropic statistical fluctuations in stationary, homogeneous turbulent flows. We address both problems of intermittency in anisotropic sectors, and the relative importance of isotropic and anisotropic fluctuations at different scales on a direct numerical

  2. Fractionaly Integrated Flux model and Scaling Laws in Weather and Climate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schertzer, Daniel; Lovejoy, Shaun

    2013-04-01

    The Fractionaly Integrated Flux model (FIF) has been extensively used to model intermittent observables, like the velocity field, by defining them with the help of a fractional integration of a conservative (i.e. strictly scale invariant) flux, such as the turbulent energy flux. It indeed corresponds to a well-defined modelling that yields the observed scaling laws. Generalised Scale Invariance (GSI) enables FIF to deal with anisotropic fractional integrations and has been rather successful to define and model a unique regime of scaling anisotropic turbulence up to planetary scales. This turbulence has an effective dimension of 23/9=2.55... instead of the classical hypothesised 2D and 3D turbulent regimes, respectively for large and small spatial scales. It therefore theoretically eliminates a non plausible "dimension transition" between these two regimes and the resulting requirement of a turbulent energy "mesoscale gap", whose empirical evidence has been brought more and more into question. More recently, GSI-FIF was used to analyse climate, therefore at much larger time scales. Indeed, the 23/9-dimensional regime necessarily breaks up at the outer spatial scales. The corresponding transition range, which can be called "macroweather", seems to have many interesting properties, e.g. it rather corresponds to a fractional differentiation in time with a roughly flat frequency spectrum. Furthermore, this transition yields the possibility to have at much larger time scales scaling space-time climate fluctuations with a much stronger scaling anisotropy between time and space. Lovejoy, S. and D. Schertzer (2013). The Weather and Climate: Emergent Laws and Multifractal Cascades. Cambridge Press (in press). Schertzer, D. et al. (1997). Fractals 5(3): 427-471. Schertzer, D. and S. Lovejoy (2011). International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos 21(12): 3417-3456.

  3. Electronic cleansing for computed tomography (CT) colonography using a scale-invariant three-material model

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Serlie, Iwo W. O.; Vos, Frans M.; Truyen, Roel; Post, Frits H.; Stoker, Jaap; van Vliet, Lucas J.

    2010-01-01

    A well-known reading pitfall in computed tomography (CT) colonography is posed by artifacts at T-junctions, i.e., locations where air-fluid levels interface with the colon wall. This paper presents a scale-invariant method to determine material fractions in voxels near such T-junctions. The proposed

  4. Parallel adaptive simulations on unstructured meshes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shephard, M S; Jansen, K E; Sahni, O; Diachin, L A

    2007-01-01

    This paper discusses methods being developed by the ITAPS center to support the execution of parallel adaptive simulations on unstructured meshes. The paper first outlines the ITAPS approach to the development of interoperable mesh, geometry and field services to support the needs of SciDAC application in these areas. The paper then demonstrates the ability of unstructured adaptive meshing methods built on such interoperable services to effectively solve important physics problems. Attention is then focused on ITAPs' developing ability to solve adaptive unstructured mesh problems on massively parallel computers

  5. Bianchi type-I model with conformally invariant scalar and electromagnetic field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Accioly, A.J.; Vaidya, A.N.; Som, M.M.

    1983-01-01

    A Bianchi type-I exact solution of the Einstein theory representing the homogeneous anisotropic models with the electromagnetic field and the conformally invariant scalar field is studied. The solution contains Kasner model, pure electromagnetic and pure scalar models as special cases. It is found that the models evolve from an initial Kasner type to a final open Friedmann type universe. (Author) [pt

  6. Producing a scale-invariant spectrum of perturbations in a Hagedorn phase of string cosmology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nayeri, Ali; Brandenberger, Robert H; Vafa, Cumrun

    2006-07-14

    We study the generation of cosmological perturbations during the Hagedorn phase of string gas cosmology. Using tools of string thermodynamics we provide indications that it may be possible to obtain a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological fluctuations on scales which are of cosmological interest today. In our cosmological scenario, the early Hagedorn phase of string gas cosmology goes over smoothly into the radiation-dominated phase of standard cosmology, without having a period of cosmological inflation.

  7. Research Motives of Faculty in Academic STEM: Measurement Invariance of the Research Motivation Scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deemer, Eric D.; Mahoney, Kevin T.; Ball, Jacqueline Hebert

    2012-01-01

    The authors examined the psychometric properties of the Research Motivation Scale (RMS) in a sample of faculty members (N = 337) in university science departments. It was hypothesized that the RMS would evidence partial measurement invariance across tenure status and noninvariance across gender, given the different sociocultural factors (e.g.,…

  8. Equations of motion for anisotropic nonlinear elastic continuum in gravitational field

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sokolov, S.N.

    1994-01-01

    Equations of motion for anisotropic nonlinear elastic continuum in the gravitational field are written in the form convenient for numerical calculations. The energy-stress tensor is expressed through scalar and tensor products of three vectors frozen in the continuum. Examples of expansion of the energy-stress tensor into scalar and tensor invariants corresponding to some crystal classes are given. 47 refs

  9. Multi-scale kinetic description of granular clusters: invariance, balance, and temperature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Capriz, Gianfranco; Mariano, Paolo Maria

    2017-12-01

    We discuss a multi-scale continuum representation of bodies made of several mass particles flowing independently each other. From an invariance procedure and a nonstandard balance of inertial actions, we derive the balance equations introduced in earlier work directly in pointwise form, essentially on the basis of physical plausibility. In this way, we analyze their foundations. Then, we propose a Boltzmann-type equation for the distribution of kinetic energies within control volumes in space and indicate how such a distribution allows us to propose a definition of (granular) temperature along processes far from equilibrium.

  10. Testing Lorentz invariance of dark matter

    CERN Document Server

    Blas, Diego; Sibiryakov, Sergey

    2012-01-01

    We study the possibility to constrain deviations from Lorentz invariance in dark matter (DM) with cosmological observations. Breaking of Lorentz invariance generically introduces new light gravitational degrees of freedom, which we represent through a dynamical timelike vector field. If DM does not obey Lorentz invariance, it couples to this vector field. We find that this coupling affects the inertial mass of small DM halos which no longer satisfy the equivalence principle. For large enough lumps of DM we identify a (chameleon) mechanism that restores the inertial mass to its standard value. As a consequence, the dynamics of gravitational clustering are modified. Two prominent effects are a scale dependent enhancement in the growth of large scale structure and a scale dependent bias between DM and baryon density perturbations. The comparison with the measured linear matter power spectrum in principle allows to bound the departure from Lorentz invariance of DM at the per cent level.

  11. Testing Lorentz invariance of dark matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Blas, Diego [Theory Group, Physics Department, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Ivanov, Mikhail M.; Sibiryakov, Sergey, E-mail: diego.blas@cern.ch, E-mail: mm.ivanov@physics.msu.ru, E-mail: sibir@inr.ac.ru [Faculty of Physics, Moscow State University, Vorobjevy Gory, 119991 Moscow (Russian Federation)

    2012-10-01

    We study the possibility to constrain deviations from Lorentz invariance in dark matter (DM) with cosmological observations. Breaking of Lorentz invariance generically introduces new light gravitational degrees of freedom, which we represent through a dynamical timelike vector field. If DM does not obey Lorentz invariance, it couples to this vector field. We find that this coupling affects the inertial mass of small DM halos which no longer satisfy the equivalence principle. For large enough lumps of DM we identify a (chameleon) mechanism that restores the inertial mass to its standard value. As a consequence, the dynamics of gravitational clustering are modified. Two prominent effects are a scale dependent enhancement in the growth of large scale structure and a scale dependent bias between DM and baryon density perturbations. The comparison with the measured linear matter power spectrum in principle allows to bound the departure from Lorentz invariance of DM at the per cent level.

  12. Nonsingular cosmology with a scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological perturbations from Lee-Wick theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cai Yifu; Qiu Taotao; Brandenberger, Robert; Zhang Xinmin

    2009-01-01

    We study the cosmology of a Lee-Wick type scalar field theory. First, we consider homogeneous and isotropic background solutions and find that they are nonsingular, leading to cosmological bounces. Next, we analyze the spectrum of cosmological perturbations which result from this model. Unless either the potential of the Lee-Wick theory or the initial conditions are finely tuned, it is impossible to obtain background solutions which have a sufficiently long period of inflation after the bounce. More interestingly, however, we find that in the generic noninflationary bouncing cosmology, perturbations created from quantum vacuum fluctuations in the contracting phase have the correct form to lead to a scale-invariant spectrum of metric inhomogeneities in the expanding phase. Since the background is nonsingular, the evolution of the fluctuations is defined unambiguously through the bounce. We also analyze the evolution of fluctuations which emerge from thermal initial conditions in the contracting phase. The spectrum of gravitational waves stemming from quantum vacuum fluctuations in the contracting phase is also scale-invariant, and the tensor to scalar ratio is not suppressed.

  13. Anisotropic hydrodynamics with a scalar collisional kernel

    Science.gov (United States)

    Almaalol, Dekrayat; Strickland, Michael

    2018-04-01

    Prior studies of nonequilibrium dynamics using anisotropic hydrodynamics have used the relativistic Anderson-Witting scattering kernel or some variant thereof. In this paper, we make the first study of the impact of using a more realistic scattering kernel. For this purpose, we consider a conformal system undergoing transversally homogenous and boost-invariant Bjorken expansion and take the collisional kernel to be given by the leading order 2 ↔2 scattering kernel in scalar λ ϕ4 . We consider both classical and quantum statistics to assess the impact of Bose enhancement on the dynamics. We also determine the anisotropic nonequilibrium attractor of a system subject to this collisional kernel. We find that, when the near-equilibrium relaxation-times in the Anderson-Witting and scalar collisional kernels are matched, the scalar kernel results in a higher degree of momentum-space anisotropy during the system's evolution, given the same initial conditions. Additionally, we find that taking into account Bose enhancement further increases the dynamically generated momentum-space anisotropy.

  14. HIRENASD coarse unstructured

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Unstructured HIRENASD mesh: - coarse size (5.7 million nodes, 14.4 million elements) - for node centered solvers - 01.06.2011 - caution: dimensions in mm

  15. Anisotropic turbulence and zonal jets in rotating flows with a β-effect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Galperin

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Numerical studies of small-scale forced, two-dimensional turbulent flows on the surface of a rotating sphere have revealed strong large-scale anisotropization that culminates in the emergence of quasi-steady sets of alternating zonal jets, or zonation. The kinetic energy spectrum of such flows also becomes strongly anisotropic. For the zonal modes, a steep spectral distribution, E(n=CZ (Ω/R2 n-5, is established, where CZ=O(1 is a non-dimensional coefficient, Ω is the angular velocity, and R is the radius of the sphere, respectively. For other, non-zonal modes, the classical, Kolmogorov-Batchelor-Kraichnan, spectral law is preserved. This flow regime, referred to as a zonostrophic regime, appears to have wide applicability to large-scale planetary and terrestrial circulations as long as those are characterized by strong rotation, vertically stable stratification and small Burger numbers. The well-known manifestations of this regime are the banded disks of the outer planets of our Solar System. Relatively less known examples are systems of narrow, subsurface, alternating zonal jets throughout all major oceans discovered in state-of-the-art, eddy-permitting simulations of the general oceanic circulation. Furthermore, laboratory experiments recently conducted using the Coriolis turntable have basically confirmed that the lateral gradient of ''planetary vorticity'' (emulated via the topographic β-effect is the primary cause of the zonation and that the latter is entwined with the development of the strongly anisotropic kinetic energy spectrum that tends to attain the same zonal and non-zonal distributions, −5 and , respectively, in both the slope and the magnitude, as the corresponding spectra in other environmental conditions. The non-dimensional coefficient CZ in the −5 spectral law appears to be invariant, , in a variety of simulated and natural flows. This paper provides a brief review of the zonostrophic regime. The review includes the

  16. Necessity of intermediate mass scales in grand unified theories with spontaneously broken CP invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Senjanovic, G.

    1982-07-01

    It is demonstrated that the spontaneous breakdown of CP invariance in grand unified theories requires the presence of intermediate mass scales. The simplest realization is provided by weakly broken left-right symmetry in the context of SU(2)sub(L) x SU(2)sub(R) x U(1)sub(B-L) model embedded in grand unified theories. (author)

  17. Renormalization group invariance and optimal QCD renormalization scale-setting: a key issues review

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Xing-Gang; Ma, Yang; Wang, Sheng-Quan; Fu, Hai-Bing; Ma, Hong-Hao; Brodsky, Stanley J.; Mojaza, Matin

    2015-12-01

    A valid prediction for a physical observable from quantum field theory should be independent of the choice of renormalization scheme—this is the primary requirement of renormalization group invariance (RGI). Satisfying scheme invariance is a challenging problem for perturbative QCD (pQCD), since a truncated perturbation series does not automatically satisfy the requirements of the renormalization group. In a previous review, we provided a general introduction to the various scale setting approaches suggested in the literature. As a step forward, in the present review, we present a discussion in depth of two well-established scale-setting methods based on RGI. One is the ‘principle of maximum conformality’ (PMC) in which the terms associated with the β-function are absorbed into the scale of the running coupling at each perturbative order; its predictions are scheme and scale independent at every finite order. The other approach is the ‘principle of minimum sensitivity’ (PMS), which is based on local RGI; the PMS approach determines the optimal renormalization scale by requiring the slope of the approximant of an observable to vanish. In this paper, we present a detailed comparison of the PMC and PMS procedures by analyzing two physical observables R e+e- and Γ(H\\to b\\bar{b}) up to four-loop order in pQCD. At the four-loop level, the PMC and PMS predictions for both observables agree within small errors with those of conventional scale setting assuming a physically-motivated scale, and each prediction shows small scale dependences. However, the convergence of the pQCD series at high orders, behaves quite differently: the PMC displays the best pQCD convergence since it eliminates divergent renormalon terms; in contrast, the convergence of the PMS prediction is questionable, often even worse than the conventional prediction based on an arbitrary guess for the renormalization scale. PMC predictions also have the property that any residual dependence on

  18. The pseudo-conformal universe: scale invariance from spontaneous breaking of conformal symmetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hinterbichler, Kurt; Khoury, Justin

    2012-01-01

    We present a novel theory of the very early universe which addresses the traditional horizon and flatness problems of big bang cosmology and predicts a scale invariant spectrum of perturbations. Unlike inflation, this scenario requires no exponential accelerated expansion of space-time. Instead, the early universe is described by a conformal field theory minimally coupled to gravity. The conformal fields develop a time-dependent expectation value which breaks the flat space so(4,2) conformal symmetry down to so(4,1), the symmetries of de Sitter, giving perturbations a scale invariant spectrum. The solution is an attractor, at least in the case of a single time-dependent field. Meanwhile, the metric background remains approximately flat but slowly contracts, which makes the universe increasingly flat, homogeneous and isotropic, akin to the smoothing mechanism of ekpyrotic cosmology. Our scenario is very general, requiring only a conformal field theory capable of developing the appropriate time-dependent expectation values, and encompasses existing incarnations of this idea, specifically the U(1) model of Rubakov and the Galileon Genesis scenario. Its essential features depend only on the symmetry breaking pattern and not on the details of the underlying lagrangian. It makes generic observational predictions that make it potentially distinguishable from standard inflation, in particular significant non-gaussianities and the absence of primordial gravitational waves

  19. Toward An Unstructured Mesh Database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaei Mahdiraji, Alireza; Baumann, Peter Peter

    2014-05-01

    Unstructured meshes are used in several application domains such as earth sciences (e.g., seismology), medicine, oceanography, cli- mate modeling, GIS as approximate representations of physical objects. Meshes subdivide a domain into smaller geometric elements (called cells) which are glued together by incidence relationships. The subdivision of a domain allows computational manipulation of complicated physical structures. For instance, seismologists model earthquakes using elastic wave propagation solvers on hexahedral meshes. The hexahedral con- tains several hundred millions of grid points and millions of hexahedral cells. Each vertex node in the hexahedrals stores a multitude of data fields. To run simulation on such meshes, one needs to iterate over all the cells, iterate over incident cells to a given cell, retrieve coordinates of cells, assign data values to cells, etc. Although meshes are used in many application domains, to the best of our knowledge there is no database vendor that support unstructured mesh features. Currently, the main tool for querying and manipulating unstructured meshes are mesh libraries, e.g., CGAL and GRAL. Mesh li- braries are dedicated libraries which includes mesh algorithms and can be run on mesh representations. The libraries do not scale with dataset size, do not have declarative query language, and need deep C++ knowledge for query implementations. Furthermore, due to high coupling between the implementations and input file structure, the implementations are less reusable and costly to maintain. A dedicated mesh database offers the following advantages: 1) declarative querying, 2) ease of maintenance, 3) hiding mesh storage structure from applications, and 4) transparent query optimization. To design a mesh database, the first challenge is to define a suitable generic data model for unstructured meshes. We proposed ImG-Complexes data model as a generic topological mesh data model which extends incidence graph model to multi

  20. An optimization-based framework for anisotropic simplex mesh adaptation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yano, Masayuki; Darmofal, David L.

    2012-09-01

    We present a general framework for anisotropic h-adaptation of simplex meshes. Given a discretization and any element-wise, localizable error estimate, our adaptive method iterates toward a mesh that minimizes error for a given degrees of freedom. Utilizing mesh-metric duality, we consider a continuous optimization problem of the Riemannian metric tensor field that provides an anisotropic description of element sizes. First, our method performs a series of local solves to survey the behavior of the local error function. This information is then synthesized using an affine-invariant tensor manipulation framework to reconstruct an approximate gradient of the error function with respect to the metric tensor field. Finally, we perform gradient descent in the metric space to drive the mesh toward optimality. The method is first demonstrated to produce optimal anisotropic meshes minimizing the L2 projection error for a pair of canonical problems containing a singularity and a singular perturbation. The effectiveness of the framework is then demonstrated in the context of output-based adaptation for the advection-diffusion equation using a high-order discontinuous Galerkin discretization and the dual-weighted residual (DWR) error estimate. The method presented provides a unified framework for optimizing both the element size and anisotropy distribution using an a posteriori error estimate and enables efficient adaptation of anisotropic simplex meshes for high-order discretizations.

  1. Special Relativity Kinematics with Anisotropic Propagation of Light and Correspondence Principle

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burde, Georgy I.

    2016-12-01

    The purpose of the present paper is to develop kinematics of the special relativity with an anisotropy of the one-way speed of light. As distinct from a common approach, when the issue of anisotropy of the light propagation is placed into the context of conventionality of distant simultaneity, it is supposed that an anisotropy of the one-way speed of light is due to a real space anisotropy. In that situation, some assumptions used in developing the standard special relativity kinematics are not valid so that the "anisotropic special relativity" kinematics should be developed based on the first principles, without refereeing to the relations of the standard relativity theory. In particular, using condition of invariance of the interval between two events becomes unfounded in the presence of anisotropy of space since the standard proofs drawing the interval invariance from the invariance of equation of light propagation are not valid in that situation. Instead, the invariance of the equation of light propagation (with an anisotropy of the one-way speed of light incorporated), which is a physical law, should be taken as a first principle. A number of other physical requirements, associativity, reciprocity and so on are satisfied by the requirement that the transformations between the frames form a group. Finally, the correspondence principle is to be satisfied which implies that the coordinate transformations should turn into the Galilean transformations in the limit of small velocities. The above formulation based on the invariance and group property suggests applying the Lie group theory apparatus which includes the following steps: constructing determining equations for the infinitesimal group generators using the invariance condition; solving the determining equations; specifying the solutions using the correspondence principle; defining the finite transformations by solving the Lie equations; relating the group parameter to physical parameters. The

  2. Illumination invariant feature point matching for high-resolution planetary remote sensing images

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Bo; Zeng, Hai; Hu, Han

    2018-03-01

    Despite its success with regular close-range and remote-sensing images, the scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) algorithm is essentially not invariant to illumination differences due to the use of gradients for feature description. In planetary remote sensing imagery, which normally lacks sufficient textural information, salient regions are generally triggered by the shadow effects of keypoints, reducing the matching performance of classical SIFT. Based on the observation of dual peaks in a histogram of the dominant orientations of SIFT keypoints, this paper proposes an illumination-invariant SIFT matching method for high-resolution planetary remote sensing images. First, as the peaks in the orientation histogram are generally aligned closely with the sub-solar azimuth angle at the time of image collection, an adaptive suppression Gaussian function is tuned to level the histogram and thereby alleviate the differences in illumination caused by a changing solar angle. Next, the suppression function is incorporated into the original SIFT procedure for obtaining feature descriptors, which are used for initial image matching. Finally, as the distribution of feature descriptors changes after anisotropic suppression, and the ratio check used for matching and outlier removal in classical SIFT may produce inferior results, this paper proposes an improved matching procedure based on cross-checking and template image matching. The experimental results for several high-resolution remote sensing images from both the Moon and Mars, with illumination differences of 20°-180°, reveal that the proposed method retrieves about 40%-60% more matches than the classical SIFT method. The proposed method is of significance for matching or co-registration of planetary remote sensing images for their synergistic use in various applications. It also has the potential to be useful for flyby and rover images by integrating with the affine invariant feature detectors.

  3. Computer-aided mass detection in mammography: False positive reduction via gray-scale invariant ranklet texture features

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Masotti, Matteo; Lanconelli, Nico; Campanini, Renato

    2009-01-01

    In this work, gray-scale invariant ranklet texture features are proposed for false positive reduction (FPR) in computer-aided detection (CAD) of breast masses. Two main considerations are at the basis of this proposal. First, false positive (FP) marks surviving our previous CAD system seem to be characterized by specific texture properties that can be used to discriminate them from masses. Second, our previous CAD system achieves invariance to linear/nonlinear monotonic gray-scale transformations by encoding regions of interest into ranklet images through the ranklet transform, an image transformation similar to the wavelet transform, yet dealing with pixels' ranks rather than with their gray-scale values. Therefore, the new FPR approach proposed herein defines a set of texture features which are calculated directly from the ranklet images corresponding to the regions of interest surviving our previous CAD system, hence, ranklet texture features; then, a support vector machine (SVM) classifier is used for discrimination. As a result of this approach, texture-based information is used to discriminate FP marks surviving our previous CAD system; at the same time, invariance to linear/nonlinear monotonic gray-scale transformations of the new CAD system is guaranteed, as ranklet texture features are calculated from ranklet images that have this property themselves by construction. To emphasize the gray-scale invariance of both the previous and new CAD systems, training and testing are carried out without any in-between parameters' adjustment on mammograms having different gray-scale dynamics; in particular, training is carried out on analog digitized mammograms taken from a publicly available digital database, whereas testing is performed on full-field digital mammograms taken from an in-house database. Free-response receiver operating characteristic (FROC) curve analysis of the two CAD systems demonstrates that the new approach achieves a higher reduction of FP marks

  4. Impulsivity and the Sexes: Measurement and Structural Invariance of the UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cyders, Melissa A.

    2013-01-01

    Before it is possible to test whether men and women differ in impulsivity, it is necessary to evaluate whether impulsivity measures are invariant across sex. The UPPS-P Impulsive Behavior Scale (negative urgency, lack of premeditation, lack of perseverance, and sensation seeking, with added subscale of positive urgency) is one measure of five…

  5. Anisotropic magnetism in field-structured composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, James E.; Venturini, Eugene; Odinek, Judy; Anderson, Robert A.

    2000-01-01

    Magnetic field-structured composites (FSCs) are made by structuring magnetic particle suspensions in uniaxial or biaxial (e.g., rotating) magnetic fields, while polymerizing the suspending resin. A uniaxial field produces chainlike particle structures, and a biaxial field produces sheetlike particle structures. In either case, these anisotropic structures affect the measured magnetic hysteresis loops, with the magnetic remanence and susceptibility increased significantly along the axis of the structuring field, and decreased slightly orthogonal to the structuring field, relative to the unstructured particle composite. The coercivity is essentially unaffected by structuring. We present data for FSCs of magnetically soft particles, and demonstrate that the altered magnetism can be accounted for by considering the large local fields that occur in FSCs. FSCs of magnetically hard particles show unexpectedly large anisotropies in the remanence, and this is due to the local field effects in combination with the large crystalline anisotropy of this material. (c) 2000 The American Physical Society

  6. Real-time trajectory analysis using stacked invariance methods

    OpenAIRE

    Kitts, B.

    1998-01-01

    Invariance methods are used widely in pattern recognition as a preprocessing stage before algorithms such as neural networks are applied to the problem. A pattern recognition system has to be able to recognise objects invariant to scale, translation, and rotation. Presumably the human eye implements some of these preprocessing transforms in making sense of incoming stimuli, for example, placing signals onto a log scale. This paper surveys many of the commonly used invariance methods, and asse...

  7. Coarse-coded higher-order neural networks for PSRI object recognition. [position, scale, and rotation invariant

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spirkovska, Lilly; Reid, Max B.

    1993-01-01

    A higher-order neural network (HONN) can be designed to be invariant to changes in scale, translation, and inplane rotation. Invariances are built directly into the architecture of a HONN and do not need to be learned. Consequently, fewer training passes and a smaller training set are required to learn to distinguish between objects. The size of the input field is limited, however, because of the memory required for the large number of interconnections in a fully connected HONN. By coarse coding the input image, the input field size can be increased to allow the larger input scenes required for practical object recognition problems. We describe a coarse coding technique and present simulation results illustrating its usefulness and its limitations. Our simulations show that a third-order neural network can be trained to distinguish between two objects in a 4096 x 4096 pixel input field independent of transformations in translation, in-plane rotation, and scale in less than ten passes through the training set. Furthermore, we empirically determine the limits of the coarse coding technique in the object recognition domain.

  8. Scaling invariance of spherical projectile fragmentation upon high-velocity impact on a thin continuous shield

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Myagkov, N. N., E-mail: nn-myagkov@mail.ru [Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Applied Mechanics (Russian Federation)

    2017-01-15

    The problem of aluminum projectile fragmentation upon high-velocity impact on a thin aluminum shield is considered. A distinctive feature of this description is that the fragmentation has been numerically simulated using the complete system of equations of deformed solid mechanics by a method of smoothed particle hydrodynamics in three-dimensional setting. The transition from damage to fragmentation is analyzed and scaling relations are derived in terms of the impact velocity (V), ratio of shield thickness to projectile diameter (h/D), and ultimate strength (σ{sub p}) in the criterion of projectile and shield fracture. Analysis shows that the critical impact velocity V{sub c} (separating the damage and fragmentation regions) is a power function of σ{sub p} and h/D. In the supercritical region (V > V{sub c}), the weight-average fragment mass asymptotically tends to a power function of the impact velocity with exponent independent of h/D and σ{sub p}. Mean cumulative fragment mass distributions at the critical point are scale-invariant with respect to parameters h/D and σ{sub p}. Average masses of the largest fragments are also scale-invariant at V > V{sub c}, but only with respect to variable parameter σ{sub p}.

  9. Improving scale invariant feature transform-based descriptors with shape-color alliance robust feature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Rui; Zhu, Zhengdan; Zhang, Liang

    2015-05-01

    Constructing appropriate descriptors for interest points in image matching is a critical aspect task in computer vision and pattern recognition. A method as an extension of the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) descriptor called shape-color alliance robust feature (SCARF) descriptor is presented. To address the problem that SIFT is designed mainly for gray images and lack of global information for feature points, the proposed approach improves the SIFT descriptor by means of a concentric-rings model, as well as integrating the color invariant space and shape context with SIFT to construct the SCARF descriptor. The SCARF method developed is more robust than the conventional SIFT with respect to not only the color and photometrical variations but also the measuring similarity as a global variation between two shapes. A comparative evaluation of different descriptors is carried out showing that the SCARF approach provides better results than the other four state-of-the-art related methods.

  10. Thermodynamic analysis on an anisotropically superhydrophobic surface with a hierarchical structure

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhao, Jieliang [Division of Intelligent and Biomechanical Systems, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Room 3407, Building 9003, 100084 Beijing (China); Su, Zhengliang [Division of Intelligent and Biomechanical Systems, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Room 3407, Building 9003, 100084 Beijing (China); Department of Automotive Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084 (China); Yan, Shaoze, E-mail: yansz@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn [Division of Intelligent and Biomechanical Systems, State Key Laboratory of Tribology, Tsinghua University, Room 3407, Building 9003, 100084 Beijing (China)

    2015-12-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • We model the superhydrophobic surface with anisotropic and hierarchical structure. • Anisotropic wetting only shows in noncomposite state (not in composite state). • Transition from noncomposite to composite state on dual-scale structure is hard. • Droplets tend to roll in the particular direction. • Droplets tend to stably remain in one preferred thermodynamic state. - Abstract: Superhydrophobic surfaces, which refer to the surfaces with contact angle higher than 150° and hysteresis less than 10°, have been reported in various studies. However, studies on the superhydrophobicity of anisotropic, hierarchical surfaces are limited and the corresponding thermodynamic mechanisms could not be explained thoroughly. Here we propose a simplified surface model of anisotropic patterned surface with dual scale roughness. Based on the thermodynamic method, we calculate the equilibrium contact angle (ECA) and the contact angle hysteresis (CAH) on the given surface. We show here that the hierarchical structure has much better anisotropic wetting properties than the single-scale one, and the results shed light on the potential application in controllable micro-/nano-fluidic systems. Our studies can be potentially applied for the fabrication of anisotropically superhydrophobic surfaces.

  11. Thermodynamic analysis on an anisotropically superhydrophobic surface with a hierarchical structure

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao, Jieliang; Su, Zhengliang; Yan, Shaoze

    2015-01-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • We model the superhydrophobic surface with anisotropic and hierarchical structure. • Anisotropic wetting only shows in noncomposite state (not in composite state). • Transition from noncomposite to composite state on dual-scale structure is hard. • Droplets tend to roll in the particular direction. • Droplets tend to stably remain in one preferred thermodynamic state. - Abstract: Superhydrophobic surfaces, which refer to the surfaces with contact angle higher than 150° and hysteresis less than 10°, have been reported in various studies. However, studies on the superhydrophobicity of anisotropic, hierarchical surfaces are limited and the corresponding thermodynamic mechanisms could not be explained thoroughly. Here we propose a simplified surface model of anisotropic patterned surface with dual scale roughness. Based on the thermodynamic method, we calculate the equilibrium contact angle (ECA) and the contact angle hysteresis (CAH) on the given surface. We show here that the hierarchical structure has much better anisotropic wetting properties than the single-scale one, and the results shed light on the potential application in controllable micro-/nano-fluidic systems. Our studies can be potentially applied for the fabrication of anisotropically superhydrophobic surfaces.

  12. Anisotropic to Isotropic Phase Transitions in the Early Universe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ajaib M. A.

    2012-04-01

    Full Text Available We attempt to develop a minimal formalism to describe an anisotropic to isotropic tran- sition in the early Universe. Assuming an underlying theory that violates Lorentz in- variance, we start with a Dirac like equation, involving four massless fields, and which does not exhibit Lorentz invariance. We then perform transformations that restore it to its covariant form along with a mass term for the fermion field. It is proposed that these transformations can be visualized as waves traveling in an anisotropic media. The trans- formation it = ℏ ! is then utilized to transit to a statistical thermodynamics system and the partition function then gives a better insight into the character of this transition. The statistical system hence realized is a two level system with each state doubly degenerate. We propose that modeling the transition this way can help explain the matter antimatter asymmetry of the Universe.

  13. Anisotropic scattering in three dimensional differential approximation of radiation heat transfer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Condiff, D.W.

    1987-01-01

    The differential approximation is extended to account for anisotropic scattering in invariant three dimensional form. A moment method using polyadic Legendre functions establishes that pressure cross sections should take precedence over extinction cross sections for treating radiation heat transfer in an absorbing, emitting, and scattering medium, and that use of these cross sections accounts for the extent of preferred forward or backwards scattering. The procedure and principle is extended to polyadic P-N approximations

  14. Scale invariance in chaotic time series: Classical and quantum examples

    Science.gov (United States)

    Landa, Emmanuel; Morales, Irving O.; Stránský, Pavel; Fossion, Rubén; Velázquez, Victor; López Vieyra, J. C.; Frank, Alejandro

    Important aspects of chaotic behavior appear in systems of low dimension, as illustrated by the Map Module 1. It is indeed a remarkable fact that all systems tha make a transition from order to disorder display common properties, irrespective of their exacta functional form. We discuss evidence for 1/f power spectra in the chaotic time series associated in classical and quantum examples, the one-dimensional map module 1 and the spectrum of 48Ca. A Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) method is applied to investigate the scaling properties of the energy fluctuations in the spectrum of 48Ca obtained with a large realistic shell model calculation (ANTOINE code) and with a random shell model (TBRE) calculation also in the time series obtained with the map mod 1. We compare the scale invariant properties of the 48Ca nuclear spectrum sith similar analyses applied to the RMT ensambles GOE and GDE. A comparison with the corresponding power spectra is made in both cases. The possible consequences of the results are discussed.

  15. Low temperature electroweak phase transition in the Standard Model with hidden scale invariance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suntharan Arunasalam

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available We discuss a cosmological phase transition within the Standard Model which incorporates spontaneously broken scale invariance as a low-energy theory. In addition to the Standard Model fields, the minimal model involves a light dilaton, which acquires a large vacuum expectation value (VEV through the mechanism of dimensional transmutation. Under the assumption of the cancellation of the vacuum energy, the dilaton develops a very small mass at 2-loop order. As a result, a flat direction is present in the classical dilaton-Higgs potential at zero temperature while the quantum potential admits two (almost degenerate local minima with unbroken and broken electroweak symmetry. We found that the cosmological electroweak phase transition in this model can only be triggered by a QCD chiral symmetry breaking phase transition at low temperatures, T≲132 MeV. Furthermore, unlike the standard case, the universe settles into the chiral symmetry breaking vacuum via a first-order phase transition which gives rise to a stochastic gravitational background with a peak frequency ∼10−8 Hz as well as triggers the production of approximately solar mass primordial black holes. The observation of these signatures of cosmological phase transitions together with the detection of a light dilaton would provide a strong hint of the fundamental role of scale invariance in particle physics.

  16. Numerical study of Taylor bubbles with adaptive unstructured meshes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Zhihua; Pavlidis, Dimitrios; Percival, James; Pain, Chris; Matar, Omar; Hasan, Abbas; Azzopardi, Barry

    2014-11-01

    The Taylor bubble is a single long bubble which nearly fills the entire cross section of a liquid-filled circular tube. This type of bubble flow regime often occurs in gas-liquid slug flows in many industrial applications, including oil-and-gas production, chemical and nuclear reactors, and heat exchangers. The objective of this study is to investigate the fluid dynamics of Taylor bubbles rising in a vertical pipe filled with oils of extremely high viscosity (mimicking the ``heavy oils'' found in the oil-and-gas industry). A modelling and simulation framework is presented here which can modify and adapt anisotropic unstructured meshes to better represent the underlying physics of bubble rise and reduce the computational effort without sacrificing accuracy. The numerical framework consists of a mixed control-volume and finite-element formulation, a ``volume of fluid''-type method for the interface capturing based on a compressive control volume advection method, and a force-balanced algorithm for the surface tension implementation. Numerical examples of some benchmark tests and the dynamics of Taylor bubbles are presented to show the capability of this method. EPSRC Programme Grant, MEMPHIS, EP/K0039761/1.

  17. An accurate discontinuous Galerkin method for solving point-source Eikonal equation in 2-D heterogeneous anisotropic media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Le Bouteiller, P.; Benjemaa, M.; Métivier, L.; Virieux, J.

    2018-03-01

    Accurate numerical computation of wave traveltimes in heterogeneous media is of major interest for a large range of applications in seismics, such as phase identification, data windowing, traveltime tomography and seismic imaging. A high level of precision is needed for traveltimes and their derivatives in applications which require quantities such as amplitude or take-off angle. Even more challenging is the anisotropic case, where the general Eikonal equation is a quartic in the derivatives of traveltimes. Despite their efficiency on Cartesian meshes, finite-difference solvers are inappropriate when dealing with unstructured meshes and irregular topographies. Moreover, reaching high orders of accuracy generally requires wide stencils and high additional computational load. To go beyond these limitations, we propose a discontinuous-finite-element-based strategy which has the following advantages: (1) the Hamiltonian formalism is general enough for handling the full anisotropic Eikonal equations; (2) the scheme is suitable for any desired high-order formulation or mixing of orders (p-adaptivity); (3) the solver is explicit whatever Hamiltonian is used (no need to find the roots of the quartic); (4) the use of unstructured meshes provides the flexibility for handling complex boundary geometries such as topographies (h-adaptivity) and radiation boundary conditions for mimicking an infinite medium. The point-source factorization principles are extended to this discontinuous Galerkin formulation. Extensive tests in smooth analytical media demonstrate the high accuracy of the method. Simulations in strongly heterogeneous media illustrate the solver robustness to realistic Earth-sciences-oriented applications.

  18. Black hole in closed spacetime with an anisotropic fluid

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Hyeong-Chan

    2017-09-01

    We study spherically symmetric geometries made of anisotropic perfect fluid based on general relativity. The purpose of this work is to find and classify black hole solutions in closed spacetime. In a general setting, we find that a static and closed space exists only when the radial pressure is negative but its size is smaller than the density. The Einstein equation is eventually cast into a first-order autonomous equation on a two-dimensional plane of scale-invariant variables, which are equivalent to the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation in general relativity. Then, we display various solution curves numerically. An exact solution describing a black hole solution in a closed spacetime was known in [I. Cho and H. C. Kim, Phys. Rev. D 95, 084052 (2017), 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.084052], which bears a naked singularity and negative-energy era. We find that these two deficits can be remedied when ρ +3 p1>0 and ρ +p1+2 p2<0 , where the second violates the strong energy condition.

  19. Factorial Validity and Invariance Testing of the Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised in Swedish and Portuguese Exercisers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lindwall, Magnus; Palmeira, Antonio

    2009-01-01

    The present study investigated the factorial validity and factorial invariance of the 21-item Exercise Dependence Scale-Revised using 162 Swedish and 269 Portuguese exercisers. In addition, the prevalence of exercise dependence symptoms and links to exercise behavior, gender, and age in the two samples was also studied. Confirmatory factor…

  20. Factorial Invariance of the Asian American Family Conflicts Scale across Ethnicity, Generational Status, Sex, and Nationality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Matthew J.; Lee, Richard M.

    2009-01-01

    The factorial invariance of the Asian American Family Conflicts Scale-Likelihood (FCS-L) was examined in a sample of 1,012 participants. Results support the use of the FCS-L in future research with diverse Asian subgroups. Limitations and future directions for research are discussed. (Contains 7 tables and 1 note.)

  1. MHD simulations on an unstructured mesh

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strauss, H.R.; Park, W.; Belova, E.; Fu, G.Y.; Sugiyama, L.E.

    1998-01-01

    Two reasons for using an unstructured computational mesh are adaptivity, and alignment with arbitrarily shaped boundaries. Two codes which use finite element discretization on an unstructured mesh are described. FEM3D solves 2D and 3D RMHD using an adaptive grid. MH3D++, which incorporates methods of FEM3D into the MH3D generalized MHD code, can be used with shaped boundaries, which might be 3D

  2. Scale-invariant scalar metric fluctuations during inflation: non-perturbative formalism from a 5D vacuum

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Anabitarte, M.; Bellini, M.; Madriz Aguilar, Jose Edgar

    2010-01-01

    We extend to 5D an approach of a 4D non-perturbative formalism to study scalar metric fluctuations of a 5D Riemann-flat de Sitter background metric. In contrast with the results obtained in 4D, the spectrum of cosmological scalar metric fluctuations during inflation can be scale invariant and the background inflaton field can take sub-Planckian values. (orig.)

  3. MCR2S unstructured mesh capabilities for use in shutdown dose rate analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Eade, T.; Stonell, D.; Turner, A.

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Advancements in shutdown dose rate calculations will be needed as fusion moves from experimental reactors to full scale demonstration reactors in order to ensure the safety of personnel. • The MCR2S shutdown dose rate tool has been modified to allow shutdown dose rates calculations using an unstructured mesh. • The unstructured mesh capability of MCR2S was used on three shutdown dose rate models, a simple sphere, the ITER computational benchmark and the DEMO computational benchmark. • The results showed a reasonable agreement between an unstructured mesh approach and the CSG approach and highlighted the need to carefully choose the unstructured mesh resolution. - Abstract: As nuclear fusion progresses towards a sustainable energy source and the power of tokamak devices increases, a greater understanding of the radiation fields will be required. As well as on-load radiation fields, off-load or shutdown radiation field are an important consideration for the safety and economic viability of a commercial fusion reactor. Previously codes such as MCR2S have been written in order to predict the shutdown dose rates within, and in regions surrounding, a fusion reactor. MCR2S utilises a constructive solid geometry (CSG) model and a superimposed structured mesh to calculate 3-D maps of the shutdown dose rate. A new approach to MCR2S calculations is proposed and implemented using a single unstructured mesh to replace both the CSG model and the superimposed structured mesh. This new MCR2S approach has been demonstrated on three models of increasing complexity. These models were: a sphere, the ITER computational shutdown dose rate benchmark and the DEMO computational shutdown dose rate benchmark. In each case the results were compared to MCR2S calculations performed using MCR2S with CSG geometry and a superimposed structured mesh. It was concluded that the results from the unstructured mesh implementation of MCR2S compared well to the CSG structured mesh

  4. Higgs naturalness and dark matter stability by scale invariance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jun Guo

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Extending the spacetime symmetries of standard model (SM by scale invariance (SI may address the Higgs naturalness problem. In this article we attempt to embed accidental dark matter (DM into SISM, requiring that the symmetry protecting DM stability is accidental due to the model structure rather than imposed by hand. In this framework, if the light SM-like Higgs boson is the pseudo Goldstone boson of SI spontaneously breaking, we can even pine down the model, two-Higgs-doublets plus a real singlet: The singlet is the DM candidate and the extra Higgs doublet triggers electroweak symmetry breaking via the Coleman–Weinberg mechanism; Moreover, it dominates DM dynamics. We study spontaneously breaking of SI using the Gillard–Weinberg approach and find that the second doublet should acquire vacuum expectation value near the weak scale. Moreover, its components should acquire masses around 380 GeV except for a light CP-odd Higgs boson. Based on these features, we explore viable ways to achieve the correct relic density of DM, facing stringent constraints from direct detections of DM. For instance, DM annihilates into bb¯ near the SM-like Higgs boson pole, or into a pair of CP-odd Higgs boson with mass above that pole.

  5. Testing measurement invariance of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS-21) across four countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scholten, Saskia; Velten, Julia; Bieda, Angela; Zhang, Xiao Chi; Margraf, Jürgen

    2017-11-01

    The rising burden of mental and behavioral disorders has become a global challenge (Murray et al., 2012). Measurement invariant clinical instruments are necessary for the assessment of relevant symptoms across countries. The present study tested the measurement invariance of the 21-item version of the Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scales (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995b) in Poland, Russia, the United Kingdom (U.K.), and the United States of America (U.S.). Telephone interviews were conducted with population-based samples (nPL = 1003, nRU = 3020, nU.K. = 1002, nU.S. = 1002). The DASS-21 shows threshold measurement invariance. Comparisons of latent means did not indicate differences between U.K. and U.S. However, Polish and Russian samples reported more depressive symptoms compared with U.K. and U.S. samples; the Russian sample had the highest levels of anxiety symptoms and the Polish sample demonstrated the highest stress levels. The DASS-21 can be recommended to meaningfully compare the relationships between variables across groups and to compare latent means in Polish-, Russian-, and English-speaking populations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  6. Mobile-robot navigation with complete coverage of unstructured environments

    OpenAIRE

    García Armada, Elena; González de Santos, Pablo

    2004-01-01

    There are some mobile-robot applications that require the complete coverage of an unstructured environment. Examples are humanitarian de-mining and floor-cleaning tasks. A complete-coverage algorithm is then used, a path-planning technique that allows the robot to pass over all points in the environment, avoiding unknown obstacles. Different coverage algorithms exist, but they fail working in unstructured environments. This paper details a complete-coverage algorithm for unstructured environm...

  7. Measuring Teacher Job Satisfaction: Assessing Invariance in the Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS) Across Six Countries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pepe, Alessandro; Addimando, Loredana; Veronese, Guido

    2017-01-01

    Work and organizational psychology has long been concerned with measuring job satisfaction in organizational contexts, and this has carried across to the field of education, leading to a research focus on the work-related satisfaction of teachers. Today, a myriad of organizations continue to assess employees’ job satisfaction on a routine basis (Liu, Borg, & Spector, 2004). Unfortunately, a sort of balkanization of the field has resulted in the production of dozens of specific measurement tools, making it difficult to cross-compare samples and contexts. The present paper tested the measurement invariance of the Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS) in six international cohorts (Netherlands, United States, Russia China, Italy and Palestine) of in-service teachers (N = 2,819). Confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group invariance tests were applied. The TJSS-9 displayed robust psychometric proprieties and no substantial departures from measurement invariance (configural and metric). Future research is required to further test equivalence across additional countries, with view to developing a truly international tool for measuring job satisfaction in teaching. PMID:28904592

  8. Measuring Teacher Job Satisfaction: Assessing Invariance in the Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS) Across Six Countries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pepe, Alessandro; Addimando, Loredana; Veronese, Guido

    2017-08-01

    Work and organizational psychology has long been concerned with measuring job satisfaction in organizational contexts, and this has carried across to the field of education, leading to a research focus on the work-related satisfaction of teachers. Today, a myriad of organizations continue to assess employees' job satisfaction on a routine basis (Liu, Borg, & Spector, 2004). Unfortunately, a sort of balkanization of the field has resulted in the production of dozens of specific measurement tools, making it difficult to cross-compare samples and contexts. The present paper tested the measurement invariance of the Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS) in six international cohorts (Netherlands, United States, Russia China, Italy and Palestine) of in-service teachers (N = 2,819). Confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group invariance tests were applied. The TJSS-9 displayed robust psychometric proprieties and no substantial departures from measurement invariance (configural and metric). Future research is required to further test equivalence across additional countries, with view to developing a truly international tool for measuring job satisfaction in teaching.

  9. Measuring Teacher Job Satisfaction: Assessing Invariance in the Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS Across Six Countries

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alessandro Pepe

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Work and organizational psychology has long been concerned with measuring job satisfaction in organizational contexts, and this has carried across to the field of education, leading to a research focus on the work-related satisfaction of teachers. Today, a myriad of organizations continue to assess employees’ job satisfaction on a routine basis (Liu, Borg, & Spector, 2004. Unfortunately, a sort of balkanization of the field has resulted in the production of dozens of specific measurement tools, making it difficult to cross-compare samples and contexts. The present paper tested the measurement invariance of the Teacher Job Satisfaction Scale (TJSS in six international cohorts (Netherlands, United States, Russia China, Italy and Palestine of in-service teachers (N = 2,819. Confirmatory factor analysis and multi-group invariance tests were applied. The TJSS-9 displayed robust psychometric proprieties and no substantial departures from measurement invariance (configural and metric. Future research is required to further test equivalence across additional countries, with view to developing a truly international tool for measuring job satisfaction in teaching.

  10. Mobile user forecast and power-law acceleration invariance of scale-free networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo Jin-Li; Guo Zhao-Hua; Liu Xue-Jiao

    2011-01-01

    This paper studies and predicts the number growth of China's mobile users by using the power-law regression. We find that the number growth of the mobile users follows a power law. Motivated by the data on the evolution of the mobile users, we consider scenarios of self-organization of accelerating growth networks into scale-free structures and propose a directed network model, in which the nodes grow following a power-law acceleration. The expressions for the transient and the stationary average degree distributions are obtained by using the Poisson process. This result shows that the model generates appropriate power-law connectivity distributions. Therefore, we find a power-law acceleration invariance of the scale-free networks. The numerical simulations of the models agree with the analytical results well. (interdisciplinary physics and related areas of science and technology)

  11. NDVI, scale invariance and the modifiable areal unit problem : An assessment of vegetation in the Adelaide Parklands

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Nouri, Hamideh; Anderson, Sharolyn; Sutton, Paul; Beecham, Simon; Nagler, Pamela; Jarchow, Christopher J.; Roberts, Dar A.

    2017-01-01

    This research addresses the question as to whether or not the Normalised Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) is scale invariant (i.e. constant over spatial aggregation) for pure pixels of urban vegetation. It has been long recognized that there are issues related to the modifiable areal unit problem

  12. Short Is Beautiful: Dimensionality and Measurement Invariance in Two Length of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction at Work Scale

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mårten Eriksson

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Self-determination theory proposes that all humans have three intrinsic psychological needs: the needs for Autonomy, Competence, and Relatedness. These needs take different forms in different areas of life. The present study examines the psychometric properties of a Swedish version of the Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction at Work (BPNS-W scale. The fit of 10-factor structures previously suggested for related versions of the scale were compared. Cross-sectional data from 1,200 participants were examined in a confirmatory factor analysis framework. Both the original 21-item version and a reduced 12-item version of the BPNS-W were examined. The General Health Questionnaire was used for validation. The results supported a three-factor solution with correlated error variances for the reversed items. Invariance testing of the long and short scales gave best support to the short scale, for which partial scalar invariance was achieved. The external validity of the short scale was supported by a hierarchical regression analysis in which each need made a unique contribution in predicting psychological well-being. In conclusion, the results corroborate a three-factor structure of BPNS-W. Although not perfect the short scale should, it is argued, be preferred over the long version. Directions for the future development of the scale are discussed.

  13. Synthesis of borophenes: Anisotropic, two-dimensional boron polymorphs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mannix, A. J.; Zhou, X. -F.; Kiraly, B.; Wood, J. D.; Alducin, D.; Myers, B. D.; Liu, X.; Fisher, B. L.; Santiago, U.; Guest, J. R.; Yacaman, M. J.; Ponce, A.; Oganov, A. R.; Hersam, M. C.; Guisinger, N. P.

    2015-12-17

    At the atomic-cluster scale, pure boron is markedly similar to carbon, forming simple planar molecules and cage-like fullerenes. Theoretical studies predict that two-dimensional (2D) boron sheets will adopt an atomic configuration similar to that of boron atomic clusters. We synthesized atomically thin, crystalline 2D boron sheets (i.e., borophene) on silver surfaces under ultrahigh-vacuum conditions. Atomic-scale characterization, supported by theoretical calculations, revealed structures reminiscent of fused boron clusters with multiple scales of anisotropic, out-of-plane buckling. Unlike bulk boron allotropes, borophene shows metallic characteristics that are consistent with predictions of a highly anisotropic, 2D metal.

  14. MHD simulations on an unstructured mesh

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strauss, H.R.; Park, W.

    1996-01-01

    We describe work on a full MHD code using an unstructured mesh. MH3D++ is an extension of the PPPL MH3D resistive full MHD code. MH3D++ replaces the structured mesh and finite difference / fourier discretization of MH3D with an unstructured mesh and finite element / fourier discretization. Low level routines which perform differential operations, solution of PDEs such as Poisson's equation, and graphics, are encapsulated in C++ objects to isolate the finite element operations from the higher level code. The high level code is the same, whether it is run in structured or unstructured mesh versions. This allows the unstructured mesh version to be benchmarked against the structured mesh version. As a preliminary example, disruptions in DIIID reverse shear equilibria are studied numerically with the MH3D++ code. Numerical equilibria were first produced starting with an EQDSK file containing equilibrium data of a DIII-D L-mode negative central shear discharge. Using these equilibria, the linearized equations are time advanced to get the toroidal mode number n = 1 linear growth rate and eigenmode, which is resistively unstable. The equilibrium and linear mode are used to initialize 3D nonlinear runs. An example shows poloidal slices of 3D pressure surfaces: initially, on the left, and at an intermediate time, on the right

  15. Testing for Measurement Invariance in the Satisfaction with Life Scale: A Comparison of Russians and North Americans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Kari L.; Ozer, Daniel J.; Lyubomirsky, Sonja; Boehm, Julia K.

    2006-01-01

    This study examined the comparability of Satisfaction With Life Scale (SWLS) [Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985, "Social Indicators Research," 34: 7-32] scores across U.S. and Russian student and community groups. Criteria for weak measurement invariance were met when comparing U.S. and Russian groups (combining student and…

  16. Nonlinear Projective-Iteration Methods for Solving Transport Problems on Regular and Unstructured Grids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dmitriy Y. Anistratov; Adrian Constantinescu; Loren Roberts; William Wieselquist

    2007-01-01

    This is a project in the field of fundamental research on numerical methods for solving the particle transport equation. Numerous practical problems require to use unstructured meshes, for example, detailed nuclear reactor assembly-level calculations, large-scale reactor core calculations, radiative hydrodynamics problems, where the mesh is determined by hydrodynamic processes, and well-logging problems in which the media structure has very complicated geometry. Currently this is an area of very active research in numerical transport theory. main issues in developing numerical methods for solving the transport equation are the accuracy of the numerical solution and effectiveness of iteration procedure. The problem in case of unstructured grids is that it is very difficult to derive an iteration algorithm that will be unconditionally stable

  17. The usage of color invariance in SURF

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meng, Gang; Jiang, Zhiguo; Zhao, Danpei

    2009-10-01

    SURF (Scale Invariant Feature Transform) is a robust local invariant feature descriptor. However, SURF is mainly designed for gray images. In order to make use of the information provided by color (mainly RGB channels), this paper presents a novel colored local invariant feature descriptor, CISURF (Color Invariance based SURF). The proposed approach builds the descriptors in a color invariant space, which stems from Kubelka-Munk model and provides more valuable information than the gray space. Compared with the conventional SURF and SIFT descriptors, the experimental results show that descriptors created by CISURF is more robust to the circumstance changes such as the illumination direction, illumination intensity, and the viewpoints, and are more suitable for the deep space background objects.

  18. Factorial Invariance of the Scale Beliefs about Children's Adjustment in Same-Sex Families in Spanish, Chilean, and Hispanic University Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pascual-Soler, Marcos; Frias-Navarro, Dolores; Barrientos-Delgado, Jaime; Badenes-Ribera, Laura; Monterde-i-Bort, Hector; Cárdenas-Castro, Manuel; Berrios-Riquelme, José

    2017-01-01

    This study examines the factorial invariance of the Scale on Beliefs About Children's Adjustment in Same-Sex Families (SBCASSF) across countries in three samples: Chilean, Spanish, and Hispanic university students. The scale analyzes attitudes toward the consequences of the rearing and education of children by parents with a homosexual sexual…

  19. Unstructured Navier-Stokes Analysis of Full TCA Configuration

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frink, Neal T.; Pirzadeh, Shahyar Z.

    1999-01-01

    This paper presents an Unstructured Navier-Stokes Analysis of Full TCA (Technology Concept Airplane) Configuration. The topics include: 1) Motivation; 2) Milestone and approach; 3) Overview of the unstructured-grid system; 4) Results on full TCA W/B/N/D/E configuration; 5) Concluding remarks; and 6) Future directions.

  20. Adiabatic perturbations in pre-big bang models: Matching conditions and scale invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Durrer, Ruth; Vernizzi, Filippo

    2002-01-01

    At low energy, the four-dimensional effective action of the ekpyrotic model of the universe is equivalent to a slightly modified version of the pre-big bang model. We discuss cosmological perturbations in these models. In particular we address the issue of matching the perturbations from a collapsing to an expanding phase. We show that, under certain physically motivated and quite generic assumptions on the high energy corrections, one obtains n=0 for the spectrum of scalar perturbations in the original pre-big bang model (with a vanishing potential). With the same assumptions, when an exponential potential for the dilaton is included, a scale invariant spectrum (n=1) of adiabatic scalar perturbations is produced under very generic matching conditions, both in a modified pre-big bang and ekpyrotic scenario. We also derive the resulting spectrum for arbitrary power law scale factors matched to a radiation-dominated era

  1. Two-point correlation functions in inhomogeneous and anisotropic cosmologies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marcori, Oton H.; Pereira, Thiago S.

    2017-01-01

    Two-point correlation functions are ubiquitous tools of modern cosmology, appearing in disparate topics ranging from cosmological inflation to late-time astrophysics. When the background spacetime is maximally symmetric, invariance arguments can be used to fix the functional dependence of this function as the invariant distance between any two points. In this paper we introduce a novel formalism which fixes this functional dependence directly from the isometries of the background metric, thus allowing one to quickly assess the overall features of Gaussian correlators without resorting to the full machinery of perturbation theory. As an application we construct the CMB temperature correlation function in one inhomogeneous (namely, an off-center LTB model) and two spatially flat and anisotropic (Bianchi) universes, and derive their covariance matrices in the limit of almost Friedmannian symmetry. We show how the method can be extended to arbitrary N -point correlation functions and illustrate its use by constructing three-point correlation functions in some simple geometries.

  2. Two-point correlation functions in inhomogeneous and anisotropic cosmologies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Marcori, Oton H.; Pereira, Thiago S., E-mail: otonhm@hotmail.com, E-mail: tspereira@uel.br [Departamento de Física, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, 86057-970, Londrina PR (Brazil)

    2017-02-01

    Two-point correlation functions are ubiquitous tools of modern cosmology, appearing in disparate topics ranging from cosmological inflation to late-time astrophysics. When the background spacetime is maximally symmetric, invariance arguments can be used to fix the functional dependence of this function as the invariant distance between any two points. In this paper we introduce a novel formalism which fixes this functional dependence directly from the isometries of the background metric, thus allowing one to quickly assess the overall features of Gaussian correlators without resorting to the full machinery of perturbation theory. As an application we construct the CMB temperature correlation function in one inhomogeneous (namely, an off-center LTB model) and two spatially flat and anisotropic (Bianchi) universes, and derive their covariance matrices in the limit of almost Friedmannian symmetry. We show how the method can be extended to arbitrary N -point correlation functions and illustrate its use by constructing three-point correlation functions in some simple geometries.

  3. On the simplest scale invariant tree-tensor-states preserving the quantum symmetries of the antiferromagnetic XXZ chain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monthus, Cécile

    2018-03-01

    For the line of critical antiferromagnetic XXZ chains with coupling J  >  0 and anisotropy 0<Δ ≤slant 1 , we describe how the block-spin renormalization procedure preserving the SU q (2) symmetry introduced by Martin-Delgado and Sierra (1996 Phys. Rev. Lett. 76 1146) can be reformulated as the translation-invariant scale-invariant tree-tensor-state of the smallest dimension that is compatible with the quantum symmetries of the model. The properties of this tree-tensor-state are studied in detail via the ground-state energy, the magnetizations and the staggered magnetizations, as well as the Shannon-Renyi entropies characterizing the multifractality of the components of the wave function.

  4. Factorial Invariance and Convergent Validity of the Group-Based Medical Mistrust Scale across Gender and Ethnoracial Identity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wheldon, Christopher W; Kolar, Stephanie K; Hernandez, Natalie D; Daley, Ellen M

    2017-01-01

    The objective of this study was to assess the factorial invariance and convergent validity of the Group-Based Medical Mistrust Scale (GBMMS) across gender (male and female) and ethnoracial identity (Latino and Black). Minority students (N = 686) attending a southeastern university were surveyed in the fall of 2011. Psychometric analysis of the GBMMS was performed. A three-factor solution fit the data after the omission of two problematic items. This revised version of the GBMMS exhibited sufficient configural, metric, and scalar invariance. Convergence of the GBMMS with conceptually related measures provided further evidence of validity; however, there was variation across ethnoracial identity. The GBMMS has viable psychometric properties across gender and ethnoracial identity in Black and Latino populations.

  5. Scale invariance of the η-deformed AdS5×S5 superstring, T-duality and modified type II equations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G. Arutyunov

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available We consider the ABF background underlying the η-deformed AdS5×S5 sigma model. This background fails to satisfy the standard IIB supergravity equations which indicates that the corresponding sigma model is not Weyl invariant, i.e. does not define a critical string theory in the usual sense. We argue that the ABF background should still define a UV finite theory on a flat 2d world-sheet implying that the η-deformed model is scale invariant. This property follows from the formal relation via T-duality between the η-deformed model and the one defined by an exact type IIB supergravity solution that has 6 isometries albeit broken by a linear dilaton. We find that the ABF background satisfies candidate type IIB scale invariance conditions which for the R–R field strengths are of the second order in derivatives. Surprisingly, we also find that the ABF background obeys an interesting modification of the standard IIB supergravity equations that are first order in derivatives of R–R fields. These modified equations explicitly depend on Killing vectors of the ABF background and, although not universal, they imply the universal scale invariance conditions. Moreover, we show that it is precisely the non-isometric dilaton of the T-dual solution that leads, after T-duality, to modification of type II equations from their standard form. We conjecture that the modified equations should follow from κ-symmetry of the η-deformed model. All our observations apply also to η-deformations of AdS3×S3×T4and AdS2×S2×T6models.

  6. Rheology of confined granular flows: scale invariance, glass transition, and friction weakening.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richard, P; Valance, A; Métayer, J-F; Sanchez, P; Crassous, J; Louge, M; Delannay, R

    2008-12-12

    We study fully developed, steady granular flows confined between parallel flat frictional sidewalls using numerical simulations and experiments. Above a critical rate, sidewall friction stabilizes the underlying heap at an inclination larger than the angle of repose. The shear rate is constant and independent of inclination over much of the flowing layer. In the direction normal to the free surface, the solid volume fraction increases on a scale equal to half the flowing layer depth. Beneath a critical depth at which internal friction is invariant, grains exhibit creeping and intermittent cage motion similar to that in glasses, causing gradual weakening of friction at the walls.

  7. Second-order gauge-invariant perturbations during inflation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Finelli, F.; Marozzi, G.; Vacca, G. P.; Venturi, G.

    2006-01-01

    The evolution of gauge invariant second-order scalar perturbations in a general single field inflationary scenario are presented. Different second-order gauge-invariant expressions for the curvature are considered. We evaluate perturbatively one of these second order curvature fluctuations and a second-order gauge-invariant scalar field fluctuation during the slow-roll stage of a massive chaotic inflationary scenario, taking into account the deviation from a pure de Sitter evolution and considering only the contribution of super-Hubble perturbations in mode-mode coupling. The spectra resulting from their contribution to the second order quantum correlation function are nearly scale-invariant, with additional logarithmic corrections with respect to the first order spectrum. For all scales of interest the amplitude of these spectra depends on the total number of e-folds. We find, on comparing first and second order perturbation results, an upper limit to the total number of e-folds beyond which the two orders are comparable

  8. Scoring correction for MMPI-2 Hs scale with patients experiencing a traumatic brain injury: a test of measurement invariance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alkemade, Nathan; Bowden, Stephen C; Salzman, Louis

    2015-02-01

    It has been suggested that MMPI-2 scoring requires removal of some items when assessing patients after a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Gass (1991. MMPI-2 interpretation and closed head injury: A correction factor. Psychological assessment, 3, 27-31) proposed a correction procedure in line with the hypothesis that MMPI-2 endorsement may be affected by symptoms of TBI. This study assessed the validity of the Gass correction procedure. A sample of patients with a TBI (n = 242), and a random subset of the MMPI-2 normative sample (n = 1,786). The correction procedure implies a failure of measurement invariance across populations. This study examined measurement invariance of one of the MMPI-2 scales (Hs) that includes TBI correction items. A four-factor model of the MMPI-2 Hs items was defined. The factor model was found to meet the criteria for partial measurement invariance. Analysis of the change in sensitivity and specificity values implied by partial measurement invariance failed to indicate significant practical impact of partial invariance. Overall, the results support continued use of all Hs items to assess psychological well-being in patients with TBI. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  9. Embedding inflation into the Standard Model — More evidence for classical scale invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kannike, Kristjan; Racioppi, Antonio; Raidal, Martti

    2014-01-01

    If cosmological inflation is due to a slowly rolling single inflation field taking trans-Planckian values as suggested by the BICEP2 measurement of primordial tensor modes in CMB, embedding inflation into the Standard Model challenges standard paradigm of effective field theories. Together with an apparent absence of Planck scale contributions to the Higgs mass and to the cosmological constant, BICEP2 provides further experimental evidence for the absence of large M_P induced operators. We show that classical scale invariance — the paradigm that all fundamental scales in Nature are induced by quantum effects — solves the problem and allows for a remarkably simple scale-free Standard Model extension with inflaton without extending the gauge group. Due to trans-Planckian inflaton values and vevs, a dynamically induced Coleman-Weinberg-type inflaton potential of the model can predict tensor-to-scalar ratio r in a large range, converging around the prediction of chaotic m"2ϕ"2 inflation for a large trans-Planckian value of the inflaton vev. Precise determination of r in future experiments will single out a unique scale-free inflation potential, allowing to test the proposed field-theoretic framework.

  10. Short Form of Weinstein Noise Sensitivity Scale (NSS-SF): Reliability, Validity and Gender Invariance among Chinese Individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhong, Tao; Chung, Pak-Kwong; Liu, Jing Dong

    2018-02-01

    Independent from noise exposure, noise sensitivity plays a pivotal role in people's noise annoyance perception and concomitant health deteriorations. The present study empirically investigated the psychometric properties of the Chinese version of the Weinstein Noise Sensitivity Scale-Short Form (CNSS-SF), the widely used inventory measuring individual differences in noise perception. In total, 373 Chinese participants (age = 21.41 ± 3.36) completed the online, anonymous questionnaire package. Examination of the CNSS-SF's reliability (internal consistency), factorial validity through validation and cross-validation, nomological validity and measurement invariance across gender groups were undertaken. The Cronbach alpha coefficients and composite reliabilities indicated sufficient reliability of the CNSS-SF. Two confirmatory factor analyses (CFA), in two randomly partitioned groups of participants, substantiated the factorial validity of the scale. The nomological validity of the scale was also corroborated by the significant positive association of its score with the trait anxiety score. Measurement invariance of the CNSS-SF was also found across genders via multi-group CFA. Though not without limitations, findings from the present research provide promising evidence for the utility of the scale in measuring noise sensitivity among the Chinese population. The availability of the CNSS-SF can promote research related to environmental noise and health in China, as well as facilitate cross-cultural comparisons. Copyright © 2018 The Editorial Board of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences. Published by China CDC. All rights reserved.

  11. Shift-, rotation-, and scale-invariant shape recognition system using an optical Hough transform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmid, Volker R.; Bader, Gerhard; Lueder, Ernst H.

    1998-02-01

    We present a hybrid shape recognition system with an optical Hough transform processor. The features of the Hough space offer a separate cancellation of distortions caused by translations and rotations. Scale invariance is also provided by suitable normalization. The proposed system extends the capabilities of Hough transform based detection from only straight lines to areas bounded by edges. A very compact optical design is achieved by a microlens array processor accepting incoherent light as direct optical input and realizing the computationally expensive connections massively parallel. Our newly developed algorithm extracts rotation and translation invariant normalized patterns of bright spots on a 2D grid. A neural network classifier maps the 2D features via a nonlinear hidden layer onto the classification output vector. We propose initialization of the connection weights according to regions of activity specifically assigned to each neuron in the hidden layer using a competitive network. The presented system is designed for industry inspection applications. Presently we have demonstrated detection of six different machined parts in real-time. Our method yields very promising detection results of more than 96% correctly classified parts.

  12. Multiphase flow of immiscible fluids on unstructured moving meshes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Misztal, Marek Krzysztof; Erleben, Kenny; Bargteil, Adam

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we present a method for animating multiphase flow of immiscible fluids using unstructured moving meshes. Our underlying discretization is an unstructured tetrahedral mesh, the deformable simplicial complex (DSC), that moves with the flow in a Lagrangian manner. Mesh optimization op...

  13. Multiphase Flow of Immiscible Fluids on Unstructured Moving Meshes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Misztal, Marek Krzysztof; Erleben, Kenny; Bargteil, Adam

    2013-01-01

    In this paper, we present a method for animating multiphase flow of immiscible fluids using unstructured moving meshes. Our underlying discretization is an unstructured tetrahedral mesh, the deformable simplicial complex (DSC), that moves with the flow in a Lagrangian manner. Mesh optimization op...

  14. Do joint CMB and HST data support a scale invariant spectrum?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Benetti, Micol; Graef, Leila L.; Alcaniz, Jailson S., E-mail: micolbenetti@on.br, E-mail: leilagraef@on.br, E-mail: alcaniz@on.br [Departamento de Astronomia, Observatório Nacional, 20921-400, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil)

    2017-04-01

    We combine current measurements of the local expansion rate, H {sub 0}, and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) estimates of helium abundance with the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from the Planck Collaboration to discuss the observational viability of the scale invariant Harrison-Zeldovch-Peebles (HZP) spectrum. We also analyze some of its extensions, namely, HZP + Y {sub P} and HZP + N {sub eff}, where Y {sub P} is the primordial helium mass fraction and N {sub eff} is the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom. We perform a Bayesian analysis and show that the latter model is favored with respect to the standard cosmology for values of N {sub eff} lying in the interval 3.70 ± 0.13 (1σ), which is currently allowed by some independent analyses.

  15. Jet-dilepton conversion from an anisotropic quark-gluon plasma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mukherjee, Arghya; Mandal, Mahatsab; Roy, Pradip [Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata (India)

    2017-05-15

    We calculate the yield of lepton pair production from jet-plasma interaction where the plasma is anisotropic in momentum space. We compare both the M and p{sub T} distributions from such process with the Drell-Yan contribution. It is observed that the invariant mass distribution of the lepton pair from such process dominates over the Drell-Yan one up to 3 GeV at RHIC and up to 10 GeV at LHC. Moreover, it is found that the contribution from the anisotropic quark gluon plasma (AQGP) increases marginally compared to the isotropic QGP. In case of p{sub T}-distribution we observe an increase by a factor of 3-4 in the entire p{sub T}-range at RHIC for AQGP. However, at LHC the change in the p{sub T}-distribution is marginal as compared to the isotropic case. It should be noted that we have used a two stage evolution scenario. First, the system evolves with pre-equilibrium state anisotropy up to τ{sub iso} (the isotropization time). After that the system evolves hydrodynamically. (orig.)

  16. The Unstructured Clinical Interview

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Karyn Dayle

    2010-01-01

    In mental health, family, and community counseling settings, master's-level counselors engage in unstructured clinical interviewing to develop diagnoses based on the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" (4th ed., text rev.; "DSM-IV-TR"; American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Although counselors receive education about…

  17. Conformal invariance in the long-range Ising model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Miguel F. Paulos

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We consider the question of conformal invariance of the long-range Ising model at the critical point. The continuum description is given in terms of a nonlocal field theory, and the absence of a stress tensor invalidates all of the standard arguments for the enhancement of scale invariance to conformal invariance. We however show that several correlation functions, computed to second order in the epsilon expansion, are nontrivially consistent with conformal invariance. We proceed to give a proof of conformal invariance to all orders in the epsilon expansion, based on the description of the long-range Ising model as a defect theory in an auxiliary higher-dimensional space. A detailed review of conformal invariance in the d-dimensional short-range Ising model is also included and may be of independent interest.

  18. Conformal Invariance in the Long-Range Ising Model

    CERN Document Server

    Paulos, Miguel F; van Rees, Balt C; Zan, Bernardo

    2016-01-01

    We consider the question of conformal invariance of the long-range Ising model at the critical point. The continuum description is given in terms of a nonlocal field theory, and the absence of a stress tensor invalidates all of the standard arguments for the enhancement of scale invariance to conformal invariance. We however show that several correlation functions, computed to second order in the epsilon expansion, are nontrivially consistent with conformal invariance. We proceed to give a proof of conformal invariance to all orders in the epsilon expansion, based on the description of the long-range Ising model as a defect theory in an auxiliary higher-dimensional space. A detailed review of conformal invariance in the d-dimensional short-range Ising model is also included and may be of independent interest.

  19. Conformal invariance in the long-range Ising model

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paulos, Miguel F. [CERN, Theory Group, Geneva (Switzerland); Rychkov, Slava, E-mail: slava.rychkov@lpt.ens.fr [CERN, Theory Group, Geneva (Switzerland); Laboratoire de Physique Théorique de l' École Normale Supérieure (LPTENS), Paris (France); Faculté de Physique, Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC), Paris (France); Rees, Balt C. van [CERN, Theory Group, Geneva (Switzerland); Zan, Bernardo [Institute of Physics, Universiteit van Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    2016-01-15

    We consider the question of conformal invariance of the long-range Ising model at the critical point. The continuum description is given in terms of a nonlocal field theory, and the absence of a stress tensor invalidates all of the standard arguments for the enhancement of scale invariance to conformal invariance. We however show that several correlation functions, computed to second order in the epsilon expansion, are nontrivially consistent with conformal invariance. We proceed to give a proof of conformal invariance to all orders in the epsilon expansion, based on the description of the long-range Ising model as a defect theory in an auxiliary higher-dimensional space. A detailed review of conformal invariance in the d-dimensional short-range Ising model is also included and may be of independent interest.

  20. Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale: Method Effects, Factorial Structure and Scale Invariance Across Migrant Child and Urban Child Populations in China.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Yang; Zuo, Bin; Wen, Fangfang; Yan, Lei

    2017-01-01

    Using confirmatory factor analyses, this study examined the method effects on a Chinese version of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES; Rosenberg, 1965 ) in a sample of migrant and urban children in China. In all, 982 children completed the RSES, and 9 models and 9 corresponding variants were specified and tested. The results indicated that the method effects are associated with both positively and negatively worded items and that Item 8 should be treated as a positively worded item. Additionally, the method effects models were invariant across migrant and urban children in China.

  1. Computing Flows Using Chimera and Unstructured Grids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liou, Meng-Sing; Zheng, Yao

    2006-01-01

    DRAGONFLOW is a computer program that solves the Navier-Stokes equations of flows in complexly shaped three-dimensional regions discretized by use of a direct replacement of arbitrary grid overlapping by nonstructured (DRAGON) grid. A DRAGON grid (see figure) is a combination of a chimera grid (a composite of structured subgrids) and a collection of unstructured subgrids. DRAGONFLOW incorporates modified versions of two prior Navier-Stokes-equation-solving programs: OVERFLOW, which is designed to solve on chimera grids; and USM3D, which is used to solve on unstructured grids. A master module controls the invocation of individual modules in the libraries. At each time step of a simulated flow, DRAGONFLOW is invoked on the chimera portion of the DRAGON grid in alternation with USM3D, which is invoked on the unstructured subgrids of the DRAGON grid. The USM3D and OVERFLOW modules then immediately exchange their solutions and other data. As a result, USM3D and OVERFLOW are coupled seamlessly.

  2. Discrete Adjoint-Based Design Optimization of Unsteady Turbulent Flows on Dynamic Unstructured Grids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Eric J.; Diskin, Boris; Yamaleev, Nail K.

    2009-01-01

    An adjoint-based methodology for design optimization of unsteady turbulent flows on dynamic unstructured grids is described. The implementation relies on an existing unsteady three-dimensional unstructured grid solver capable of dynamic mesh simulations and discrete adjoint capabilities previously developed for steady flows. The discrete equations for the primal and adjoint systems are presented for the backward-difference family of time-integration schemes on both static and dynamic grids. The consistency of sensitivity derivatives is established via comparisons with complex-variable computations. The current work is believed to be the first verified implementation of an adjoint-based optimization methodology for the true time-dependent formulation of the Navier-Stokes equations in a practical computational code. Large-scale shape optimizations are demonstrated for turbulent flows over a tiltrotor geometry and a simulated aeroelastic motion of a fighter jet.

  3. An Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian Discretization of MHD on 3D Unstructured Grids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rieben, R N; White, D A; Wallin, B K; Solberg, J M

    2006-06-12

    We present an arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) discretization of the equations of resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) on unstructured hexahedral grids. The method is formulated using an operator-split approach with three distinct phases: electromagnetic diffusion, Lagrangian motion, and Eulerian advection. The resistive magnetic dynamo equation is discretized using a compatible mixed finite element method with a 2nd order accurate implicit time differencing scheme which preserves the divergence-free nature of the magnetic field. At each discrete time step, electromagnetic force and heat terms are calculated and coupled to the hydrodynamic equations to compute the Lagrangian motion of the conducting materials. By virtue of the compatible discretization method used, the invariants of Lagrangian MHD motion are preserved in a discrete sense. When the Lagrangian motion of the mesh causes significant distortion, that distortion is corrected with a relaxation of the mesh, followed by a 2nd order monotonic remap of the electromagnetic state variables. The remap is equivalent to Eulerian advection of the magnetic flux density with a fictitious mesh relaxation velocity. The magnetic advection is performed using a novel variant of constrained transport (CT) that is valid for unstructured hexahedral grids with arbitrary mesh velocities. The advection method maintains the divergence free nature of the magnetic field and is second order accurate in regions where the solution is sufficiently smooth. For regions in which the magnetic field is discontinuous (e.g. MHD shocks) the method is limited using a novel variant of algebraic flux correction (AFC) which is local extremum diminishing (LED) and divergence preserving. Finally, we verify each stage of the discretization via a set of numerical experiments.

  4. The Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale: Measurement Invariance between Canada and France.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brien, Maryse; Forest, Jacques; Mageau, Geneviève A; Boudrias, Jean-Sébastien; Desrumaux, Pascale; Brunet, Luc; Morin, Estelle M

    2012-07-01

    The purpose of this study is to develop and validate the Basic Psychological Needs at Work Scale (BPNWS) in French, but items are also provided in English in the article. The BPNWS is a work-related self-report instrument designed to measure the degree to which the needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, as identified by Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), are satisfied at work. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, the first study examines the structure of the BPNWS in a group of 271 workers. The second study tests the measurement invariance of the scale in a group of 851 teachers from two different cultures, Canada and France. Results support the three-factor structure and show adequate internal consistency, as well as nomological validity across samples. © 2012 The Authors. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being © 2012 The International Association of Applied Psychology.

  5. Cosmological signatures of anisotropic spatial curvature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pereira, Thiago S.; Marugán, Guillermo A. Mena; Carneiro, Saulo

    2015-01-01

    If one is willing to give up the cherished hypothesis of spatial isotropy, many interesting cosmological models can be developed beyond the simple anisotropically expanding scenarios. One interesting possibility is presented by shear-free models in which the anisotropy emerges at the level of the curvature of the homogeneous spatial sections, whereas the expansion is dictated by a single scale factor. We show that such models represent viable alternatives to describe the large-scale structure of the inflationary universe, leading to a kinematically equivalent Sachs-Wolfe effect. Through the definition of a complete set of spatial eigenfunctions we compute the two-point correlation function of scalar perturbations in these models. In addition, we show how such scenarios would modify the spectrum of the CMB assuming that the observations take place in a small patch of a universe with anisotropic curvature

  6. Cosmological signatures of anisotropic spatial curvature

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pereira, Thiago S. [Departamento de Física, Universidade Estadual de Londrina, 86057-970, Londrina – PR (Brazil); Marugán, Guillermo A. Mena [Instituto de Estructura de la Materia, IEM-CSIC, Serrano 121, 28006, Madrid (Spain); Carneiro, Saulo, E-mail: tspereira@uel.br, E-mail: mena@iem.cfmac.csic.es, E-mail: saulo.carneiro@pq.cnpq.br [Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal da Bahia, 40210-340, Salvador – BA (Brazil)

    2015-07-01

    If one is willing to give up the cherished hypothesis of spatial isotropy, many interesting cosmological models can be developed beyond the simple anisotropically expanding scenarios. One interesting possibility is presented by shear-free models in which the anisotropy emerges at the level of the curvature of the homogeneous spatial sections, whereas the expansion is dictated by a single scale factor. We show that such models represent viable alternatives to describe the large-scale structure of the inflationary universe, leading to a kinematically equivalent Sachs-Wolfe effect. Through the definition of a complete set of spatial eigenfunctions we compute the two-point correlation function of scalar perturbations in these models. In addition, we show how such scenarios would modify the spectrum of the CMB assuming that the observations take place in a small patch of a universe with anisotropic curvature.

  7. Measurement invariance of the Illness Intrusiveness Ratings Scale's three-factor structure in men and women with cancer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mah, Kenneth; Bezjak, Andrea; Loblaw, D Andrew; Gotowiec, Andrew; Devins, Gerald M

    2011-02-01

    Illness- and treatment-related disruptions to valued activities and interests (illness intrusiveness) are central to quality of life in chronic disease and are captured by three subscales of the Illness Intrusiveness Ratings Scale (IIRS): the Instrumental, Intimacy, and Relationships and Personal Development subscales. Using individual (CFA) and multisample confirmatory factor analyses (MSCFA), we evaluated measurement invariance of the IIRS's 3-factor structure in men and women with cancer. Men (n = 210) and women (n = 206) with 1 of 4 cancer diagnoses (gastrointestinal, head and neck, lymphoma, lung) recruited from outpatient clinics completed the IIRS. In the MSCFA, we applied an analysis of means and covariance structures approach to test increasingly stringent equality constraints on factor structure parameters to evaluate weak, strong, and strict measurement invariance of the 3-factor structure between men and women. Individual CFAs demonstrated fit of the hypothesized 3-factor structure for men and women, although more consistently for men. The 3-factor structure was superior to an alternative 1-factor structure. MSCFA results indicated that parameters of the 3-factor structure could be considered equivalent between the sexes up to the level of strong invariance. Strict invariance was not supported. Overall, IIRS scores can be interpreted similarly for men and women with cancer. Illness intrusiveness can be considered as important in the psychosocial adaptation of people with cancer as it is for people affected by other chronic conditions. (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved

  8. Scale-invariant solutions to partial differential equations of fractional order with a moving boundary condition

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li Xicheng; Xu Mingyu; Wang Shaowei

    2008-01-01

    In this paper, we give similarity solutions of partial differential equations of fractional order with a moving boundary condition. The solutions are given in terms of a generalized Wright function. The time-fractional Caputo derivative and two types of space-fractional derivatives are considered. The scale-invariant variable and the form of the solution of the moving boundary are obtained by the Lie group analysis. A comparison between the solutions corresponding to two types of fractional derivative is also given

  9. Family of probability distributions derived from maximal entropy principle with scale invariant restrictions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sonnino, Giorgio; Steinbrecher, György; Cardinali, Alessandro; Sonnino, Alberto; Tlidi, Mustapha

    2013-01-01

    Using statistical thermodynamics, we derive a general expression of the stationary probability distribution for thermodynamic systems driven out of equilibrium by several thermodynamic forces. The local equilibrium is defined by imposing the minimum entropy production and the maximum entropy principle under the scale invariance restrictions. The obtained probability distribution presents a singularity that has immediate physical interpretation in terms of the intermittency models. The derived reference probability distribution function is interpreted as time and ensemble average of the real physical one. A generic family of stochastic processes describing noise-driven intermittency, where the stationary density distribution coincides exactly with the one resulted from entropy maximization, is presented.

  10. Bilateral symmetry detection on the basis of Scale Invariant Feature Transform.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Habib Akbar

    Full Text Available The automatic detection of bilateral symmetry is a challenging task in computer vision and pattern recognition. This paper presents an approach for the detection of bilateral symmetry in digital single object images. Our method relies on the extraction of Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT based feature points, which serves as the basis for the ascertainment of the centroid of the object; the latter being the origin under the Cartesian coordinate system to be converted to the polar coordinate system in order to facilitate the selection symmetric coordinate pairs. This is followed by comparing the gradient magnitude and orientation of the corresponding points to evaluate the amount of symmetry exhibited by each pair of points. The experimental results show that our approach draw the symmetry line accurately, provided that the observed centroid point is true.

  11. Unstructured mesh adaptivity for urban flooding modelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, R.; Fang, F.; Salinas, P.; Pain, C. C.

    2018-05-01

    Over the past few decades, urban floods have been gaining more attention due to their increase in frequency. To provide reliable flooding predictions in urban areas, various numerical models have been developed to perform high-resolution flood simulations. However, the use of high-resolution meshes across the whole computational domain causes a high computational burden. In this paper, a 2D control-volume and finite-element flood model using adaptive unstructured mesh technology has been developed. This adaptive unstructured mesh technique enables meshes to be adapted optimally in time and space in response to the evolving flow features, thus providing sufficient mesh resolution where and when it is required. It has the advantage of capturing the details of local flows and wetting and drying front while reducing the computational cost. Complex topographic features are represented accurately during the flooding process. For example, the high-resolution meshes around the buildings and steep regions are placed when the flooding water reaches these regions. In this work a flooding event that happened in 2002 in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom has been simulated to demonstrate the capability of the adaptive unstructured mesh flooding model. The simulations have been performed using both fixed and adaptive unstructured meshes, and then results have been compared with those published 2D and 3D results. The presented method shows that the 2D adaptive mesh model provides accurate results while having a low computational cost.

  12. Anisotropic conductivity imaging with MREIT using equipotential projection algorithm

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Degirmenci, Evren [Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Mersin University, Mersin (Turkey); Eyueboglu, B Murat [Department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Middle East Technical University, 06531, Ankara (Turkey)

    2007-12-21

    Magnetic resonance electrical impedance tomography (MREIT) combines magnetic flux or current density measurements obtained by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and surface potential measurements to reconstruct images of true conductivity with high spatial resolution. Most of the biological tissues have anisotropic conductivity; therefore, anisotropy should be taken into account in conductivity image reconstruction. Almost all of the MREIT reconstruction algorithms proposed to date assume isotropic conductivity distribution. In this study, a novel MREIT image reconstruction algorithm is proposed to image anisotropic conductivity. Relative anisotropic conductivity values are reconstructed iteratively, using only current density measurements without any potential measurement. In order to obtain true conductivity values, only either one potential or conductivity measurement is sufficient to determine a scaling factor. The proposed technique is evaluated on simulated data for isotropic and anisotropic conductivity distributions, with and without measurement noise. Simulation results show that the images of both anisotropic and isotropic conductivity distributions can be reconstructed successfully.

  13. Hydrodynamic cavitation in Stokes flow of anisotropic fluids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stieger, Tillmann; Agha, Hakam; Schoen, Martin; Mazza, Marco G.; Sengupta, Anupam

    2017-05-01

    Cavitation, the nucleation of vapour in liquids, is ubiquitous in fluid dynamics, and is often implicated in a myriad of industrial and biomedical applications. Although extensively studied in isotropic liquids, corresponding investigations in anisotropic liquids are largely lacking. Here, by combining liquid crystal microfluidic experiments, nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations and theoretical arguments, we report flow-induced cavitation in an anisotropic fluid. The cavitation domain nucleates due to sudden pressure drop upon flow past a cylindrical obstacle within a microchannel. For an anisotropic fluid, the inception and growth of the cavitation domain ensued in the Stokes regime, while no cavitation was observed in isotropic liquids flowing under similar hydrodynamic parameters. Using simulations we identify a critical value of the Reynolds number for cavitation inception that scales inversely with the order parameter of the fluid. Strikingly, the critical Reynolds number for anisotropic fluids can be 50% lower than that of isotropic fluids.

  14. Scale-invariant transition probabilities in free word association trajectories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Elias Costa

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Free-word association has been used as a vehicle to understand the organization of human thoughts. The original studies relied mainly on qualitative assertions, yielding the widely intuitive notion that trajectories of word associations are structured, yet considerably more random than organized linguistic text. Here we set to determine a precise characterization of this space, generating a large number of word association trajectories in a web implemented game. We embedded the trajectories in the graph of word co-occurrences from a linguistic corpus. To constrain possible transport models we measured the memory loss and the cycling probability. These two measures could not be reconciled by a bounded diffusive model since the cycling probability was very high (16 % of order-2 cycles implying a majority of short-range associations whereas the memory loss was very rapid (converging to the asymptotic value in ∼ 7 steps which, in turn, forced a high fraction of long-range associations. We show that memory loss and cycling probabilities of free word association trajectories can be simultaneously accounted by a model in which transitions are determined by a scale invariant probability distribution.

  15. Finite Volume Method for Unstructured Grid

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Casmara; Kardana, N.D.

    1997-01-01

    The success of a computational method depends on the solution algorithm and mesh generation techniques. cell distributions are needed, which allow the solution to be calculated over the entire body surface with sufficient accuracy. to handle the mesh generation for multi-connected region such as multi-element bodies, the unstructured finite volume method will be applied. the advantages of the unstructured meshes are it provides a great deal more flexibility for generating meshes about complex geometries and provides a natural setting for the use of adaptive meshing. the governing equations to be discretized are inviscid and rotational euler equations. Applications of the method will be evaluated on flow around single and multi-component bodies

  16. A Practical Computational Method for the Anisotropic Redshift-Space 3-Point Correlation Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slepian, Zachary; Eisenstein, Daniel J.

    2018-04-01

    We present an algorithm enabling computation of the anisotropic redshift-space galaxy 3-point correlation function (3PCF) scaling as N2, with N the number of galaxies. Our previous work showed how to compute the isotropic 3PCF with this scaling by expanding the radially-binned density field around each galaxy in the survey into spherical harmonics and combining these coefficients to form multipole moments. The N2 scaling occurred because this approach never explicitly required the relative angle between a galaxy pair about the primary galaxy. Here we generalize this work, demonstrating that in the presence of azimuthally-symmetric anisotropy produced by redshift-space distortions (RSD) the 3PCF can be described by two triangle side lengths, two independent total angular momenta, and a spin. This basis for the anisotropic 3PCF allows its computation with negligible additional work over the isotropic 3PCF. We also present the covariance matrix of the anisotropic 3PCF measured in this basis. Our algorithm tracks the full 5-D redshift-space 3PCF, uses an accurate line of sight to each triplet, is exact in angle, and easily handles edge correction. It will enable use of the anisotropic large-scale 3PCF as a probe of RSD in current and upcoming large-scale redshift surveys.

  17. 3D unstructured mesh discontinuous finite element hydro

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prasad, M.K.; Kershaw, D.S.; Shaw, M.J.

    1995-01-01

    The authors present detailed features of the ICF3D hydrodynamics code used for inertial fusion simulations. This code is intended to be a state-of-the-art upgrade of the well-known fluid code, LASNEX. ICF3D employs discontinuous finite elements on a discrete unstructured mesh consisting of a variety of 3D polyhedra including tetrahedra, prisms, and hexahedra. The authors discussed details of how the ROE-averaged second-order convection was applied on the discrete elements, and how the C++ coding interface has helped to simplify implementing the many physics and numerics modules within the code package. The author emphasized the virtues of object-oriented design in large scale projects such as ICF3D

  18. Computer-simulation study of a disordered classical spin system in one dimension with long-range anisotropic ferromagnetic interactions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Romano, S.

    1992-01-01

    The present paper considers a classical system, consisting of n-component unit vectors (n=2 or 3), associated with a one-dimensional lattice \\{uk||k∈openZ\\}, and interacting via a translationally invariant pair potential of the long-range, ferromagnetic and anisotropic form W=Wjk=-ɛ||j-k||-2(auj,nuk,n +b tsumλuk,λ denotes the Cartesian components of the unit vectors. According to the available rigorous results, the system disorders at all finite temperatures when a=b, or n=3, a=0, and possesses an ordering transition at finite temperature when b=0. Approximate arguments and simulation results suggest that the isotropic models (a=b) produce a transition to a low-temperature phase with infinite susceptibility and power-law decay of the correlation function. If this is true, the available correlation inequalities entail that it also happens in the anisotropic but O(2)-invariant case n=3, b=0. We report here Monte Carlo calculations for this latter potential model; simulation results were found to be consistent with this conjecture, and to suggest that T*c=0.65+/-0.01.

  19. Anisotropic ray trace

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lam, Wai Sze Tiffany

    Optical components made of anisotropic materials, such as crystal polarizers and crystal waveplates, are widely used in many complex optical system, such as display systems, microlithography, biomedical imaging and many other optical systems, and induce more complex aberrations than optical components made of isotropic materials. The goal of this dissertation is to accurately simulate the performance of optical systems with anisotropic materials using polarization ray trace. This work extends the polarization ray tracing calculus to incorporate ray tracing through anisotropic materials, including uniaxial, biaxial and optically active materials. The 3D polarization ray tracing calculus is an invaluable tool for analyzing polarization properties of an optical system. The 3x3 polarization ray tracing P matrix developed for anisotropic ray trace assists tracking the 3D polarization transformations along a ray path with series of surfaces in an optical system. To better represent the anisotropic light-matter interactions, the definition of the P matrix is generalized to incorporate not only the polarization change at a refraction/reflection interface, but also the induced optical phase accumulation as light propagates through the anisotropic medium. This enables realistic modeling of crystalline polarization elements, such as crystal waveplates and crystal polarizers. The wavefront and polarization aberrations of these anisotropic components are more complex than those of isotropic optical components and can be evaluated from the resultant P matrix for each eigen-wavefront as well as for the overall image. One incident ray refracting or reflecting into an anisotropic medium produces two eigenpolarizations or eigenmodes propagating in different directions. The associated ray parameters of these modes necessary for the anisotropic ray trace are described in Chapter 2. The algorithms to calculate the P matrix from these ray parameters are described in Chapter 3 for

  20. An accurate anisotropic adaptation method for solving the level set advection equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bui, C.; Dapogny, C.; Frey, P.

    2012-01-01

    In the present paper, a mesh adaptation process for solving the advection equation on a fully unstructured computational mesh is introduced, with a particular interest in the case it implicitly describes an evolving surface. This process mainly relies on a numerical scheme based on the method of characteristics. However, low order, this scheme lends itself to a thorough analysis on the theoretical side. It gives rise to an anisotropic error estimate which enjoys a very natural interpretation in terms of the Hausdorff distance between the exact and approximated surfaces. The computational mesh is then adapted according to the metric supplied by this estimate. The whole process enjoys a good accuracy as far as the interface resolution is concerned. Some numerical features are discussed and several classical examples are presented and commented in two or three dimensions. (authors)

  1. An Algorithm for Parallel Sn Sweeps on Unstructured Meshes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pautz, Shawn D.

    2002-01-01

    A new algorithm for performing parallel S n sweeps on unstructured meshes is developed. The algorithm uses a low-complexity list ordering heuristic to determine a sweep ordering on any partitioned mesh. For typical problems and with 'normal' mesh partitionings, nearly linear speedups on up to 126 processors are observed. This is an important and desirable result, since although analyses of structured meshes indicate that parallel sweeps will not scale with normal partitioning approaches, no severe asymptotic degradation in the parallel efficiency is observed with modest (≤100) levels of parallelism. This result is a fundamental step in the development of efficient parallel S n methods

  2. High Performance Parallel Multigrid Algorithms for Unstructured Grids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frederickson, Paul O.

    1996-01-01

    We describe a high performance parallel multigrid algorithm for a rather general class of unstructured grid problems in two and three dimensions. The algorithm PUMG, for parallel unstructured multigrid, is related in structure to the parallel multigrid algorithm PSMG introduced by McBryan and Frederickson, for they both obtain a higher convergence rate through the use of multiple coarse grids. Another reason for the high convergence rate of PUMG is its smoother, an approximate inverse developed by Baumgardner and Frederickson.

  3. Smoothing of Fault Slip Surfaces by Scale Invariant Wear

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dascher-Cousineau, K.; Kirkpatrick, J. D.

    2017-12-01

    multi-scale wear model to explain the evolution of faults with displacement. We suggest that together, asperity failure as a scale invariant process, and the stochastic strength of host rocks are consistent with qualitative and quantitative observational constraints made in this study.

  4. Using Score Equating and Measurement Invariance to Examine the Flynn Effect in the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benson, Nicholas; Beaujean, A Alexander; Taub, Gordon E

    2015-01-01

    The Flynn effect (FE; i.e., increase in mean IQ scores over time) is commonly viewed as reflecting population shifts in intelligence, despite the fact that most FE studies have not investigated the assumption of score comparability. Consequently, the extent to which these mean differences in IQ scores reflect population shifts in cognitive abilities versus changes in the instruments used to measure these abilities is unclear. In this study, we used modern psychometric tools to examine the FE. First, we equated raw scores for each common subtest to be on the same scale across instruments. This enabled the combination of scores from all three instruments into one of 13 age groups before converting raw scores into Z scores. Second, using age-based standardized scores for standardization samples, we examined measurement invariance across the second (revised), third, and fourth editions of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Results indicate that while scores were equivalent across the third and fourth editions, they were not equivalent across the second and third editions. Results suggest that there is some evidence for an increase in intelligence, but also call into question many published FE findings as presuming the instruments' scores are invariant when this assumption is not warranted.

  5. Semantic Annotation of Unstructured Documents Using Concepts Similarity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Pech

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available There is a large amount of information in the form of unstructured documents which pose challenges in the information storage, search, and retrieval. This situation has given rise to several information search approaches. Some proposals take into account the contextual meaning of the terms specified in the query. Semantic annotation technique can help to retrieve and extract information in unstructured documents. We propose a semantic annotation strategy for unstructured documents as part of a semantic search engine. In this proposal, ontologies are used to determine the context of the entities specified in the query. Our strategy for extracting the context is focused on concepts similarity. Each relevant term of the document is associated with an instance in the ontology. The similarity between each of the explicit relationships is measured through the combination of two types of associations: the association between each pair of concepts and the calculation of the weight of the relationships.

  6. Parallel Performance Optimizations on Unstructured Mesh-based Simulations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sarje, Abhinav; Song, Sukhyun; Jacobsen, Douglas; Huck, Kevin; Hollingsworth, Jeffrey; Malony, Allen; Williams, Samuel; Oliker, Leonid

    2015-01-01

    © The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This paper addresses two key parallelization challenges the unstructured mesh-based ocean modeling code, MPAS-Ocean, which uses a mesh based on Voronoi tessellations: (1) load imbalance across processes, and (2) unstructured data access patterns, that inhibit intra- and inter-node performance. Our work analyzes the load imbalance due to naive partitioning of the mesh, and develops methods to generate mesh partitioning with better load balance and reduced communication. Furthermore, we present methods that minimize both inter- and intranode data movement and maximize data reuse. Our techniques include predictive ordering of data elements for higher cache efficiency, as well as communication reduction approaches. We present detailed performance data when running on thousands of cores using the Cray XC30 supercomputer and show that our optimization strategies can exceed the original performance by over 2×. Additionally, many of these solutions can be broadly applied to a wide variety of unstructured grid-based computations.

  7. Exploring the Measurement Properties of the eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) Among Baby Boomers: A Multinational Test of Measurement Invariance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sudbury-Riley, Lynn; FitzPatrick, Mary; Schulz, Peter J

    2017-02-27

    The eHealth Literacy Scale (eHEALS) is one of only a few available measurement scales to assess eHealth literacy. Perhaps due to the relative paucity of such measures and the rising importance of eHealth literacy, the eHEALS is increasingly a choice for inclusion in a range of studies across different groups, cultures, and nations. However, despite its growing popularity, questions have been raised over its theoretical foundations, and the factorial validity and multigroup measurement properties of the scale are yet to be investigated fully. The objective of our study was to examine the factorial validity and measurement invariance of the eHEALS among baby boomers (born between 1946 and 1964) in the United States, United Kingdom, and New Zealand who had used the Internet to search for health information in the last 6 months. Online questionnaires collected data from a random sample of baby boomers from the 3 countries of interest. The theoretical underpinning to eHEALS comprises social cognitive theory and self-efficacy theory. Close scrutiny of eHEALS with analysis of these theories suggests a 3-factor structure to be worth investigating, which has never before been explored. Structural equation modeling tested a 3-factor structure based on the theoretical underpinning to eHEALS and investigated multinational measurement invariance of the eHEALS. We collected responses (N=996) to the questionnaires using random samples from the 3 countries. Results suggest that the eHEALS comprises a 3-factor structure with a measurement model that falls within all relevant fit indices (root mean square error of approximation, RMSEA=.041, comparative fit index, CFI=.986). Additionally, the scale demonstrates metric invariance (RMSEA=.040, CFI=.984, ΔCFI=.002) and even scalar invariance (RMSEA=.042, CFI=.978, ΔCFI=.008). To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate multigroup factorial equivalence of the eHEALS, and did so based on data from 3 diverse nations and

  8. Wavelet-based moment invariants for pattern recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Guangyi; Xie, Wenfang

    2011-07-01

    Moment invariants have received a lot of attention as features for identification and inspection of two-dimensional shapes. In this paper, two sets of novel moments are proposed by using the auto-correlation of wavelet functions and the dual-tree complex wavelet functions. It is well known that the wavelet transform lacks the property of shift invariance. A little shift in the input signal will cause very different output wavelet coefficients. The autocorrelation of wavelet functions and the dual-tree complex wavelet functions, on the other hand, are shift-invariant, which is very important in pattern recognition. Rotation invariance is the major concern in this paper, while translation invariance and scale invariance can be achieved by standard normalization techniques. The Gaussian white noise is added to the noise-free images and the noise levels vary with different signal-to-noise ratios. Experimental results conducted in this paper show that the proposed wavelet-based moments outperform Zernike's moments and the Fourier-wavelet descriptor for pattern recognition under different rotation angles and different noise levels. It can be seen that the proposed wavelet-based moments can do an excellent job even when the noise levels are very high.

  9. Visual Thing Recognition with Binary Scale-Invariant Feature Transform and Support Vector Machine Classifiers Using Color Information

    OpenAIRE

    Wei-Jong Yang; Wei-Hau Du; Pau-Choo Chang; Jar-Ferr Yang; Pi-Hsia Hung

    2017-01-01

    The demands of smart visual thing recognition in various devices have been increased rapidly for daily smart production, living and learning systems in recent years. This paper proposed a visual thing recognition system, which combines binary scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT), bag of words model (BoW), and support vector machine (SVM) by using color information. Since the traditional SIFT features and SVM classifiers only use the gray information, color information is still an importan...

  10. Scale-invariant gravity: spacetime recovered

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kelleher, Bryan

    2004-01-01

    The configuration space of general relativity is superspace-the space of all Riemannian 3-metrics modulo diffeomorphisms. However, it has been argued that the configuration space for gravity should be conformal superspace-the space of all Riemannian 3-metrics modulo diffeomorphisms and conformal transformations. Recently a manifestly three-dimensional theory was constructed with conformal superspace as the configuration space. Here a fully four-dimensional action is constructed so as to be invariant under conformal transformations of the 4-metric using general relativity as a guide. This action is then decomposed to a (3 + 1)-dimensional form and from this to its Jacobi form. The surprising thing is that the new theory turns out to be precisely the original three-dimensional theory. The physical data are identified and used to find the physical representation of the theory. In this representation the theory is extremely similar to general relativity. The clarity of the four-dimensional picture should prove very useful for comparing the theory with those aspects of general relativity which are usually treated in the four-dimensional framework

  11. Multigrid on unstructured grids using an auxiliary set of structured grids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Douglas, C.C.; Malhotra, S.; Schultz, M.H. [Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)

    1996-12-31

    Unstructured grids do not have a convenient and natural multigrid framework for actually computing and maintaining a high floating point rate on standard computers. In fact, just the coarsening process is expensive for many applications. Since unstructured grids play a vital role in many scientific computing applications, many modifications have been proposed to solve this problem. One suggested solution is to map the original unstructured grid onto a structured grid. This can be used as a fine grid in a standard multigrid algorithm to precondition the original problem on the unstructured grid. We show that unless extreme care is taken, this mapping can lead to a system with a high condition number which eliminates the usefulness of the multigrid method. Theorems with lower and upper bounds are provided. Simple examples show that the upper bounds are sharp.

  12. Anisotropic Characteristics of Turbulence Dissipation in Swirling Flow: A Direct Numerical Simulation Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xingtuan Yang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates the anisotropic characteristics of turbulent energy dissipation rate in a rotating jet flow via direct numerical simulation. The turbulent energy dissipation tensor, including its eigenvalues in the swirling flows with different rotating velocities, is analyzed to investigate the anisotropic characteristics of turbulence and dissipation. In addition, the probability density function of the eigenvalues of turbulence dissipation tensor is presented. The isotropic subrange of PDF always exists in swirling flows relevant to small-scale vortex structure. Thus, with remarkable large-scale vortex breakdown, the isotropic subrange of PDF is reduced in strongly swirling flows, and anisotropic energy dissipation is proven to exist in the core region of the vortex breakdown. More specifically, strong anisotropic turbulence dissipation occurs concentratively in the vortex breakdown region, whereas nearly isotropic turbulence dissipation occurs dispersively in the peripheral region of the strong swirling flows.

  13. Phase transition with trivial quantum criticality in an anisotropic Weyl semimetal

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Xin; Wang, Jing-Rong; Liu, Guo-Zhu

    2018-05-01

    When a metal undergoes continuous quantum phase transition, the correlation length diverges at the critical point and the quantum fluctuation of order parameter behaves as a gapless bosonic mode. Generically, the coupling of this boson to fermions induces a variety of unusual quantum critical phenomena, such as non-Fermi liquid behavior and various emergent symmetries. Here, we perform a renormalization group analysis of the semimetal-superconductor quantum criticality in a three-dimensional anisotropic Weyl semimetal. Surprisingly, distinct from previously studied quantum critical systems, the anomalous dimension of anisotropic Weyl fermions flows to zero very quickly with decreasing energy, and the quasiparticle residue takes a nonzero value. These results indicate that the quantum fluctuation of superconducting order parameter is irrelevant at low energies, and a simple mean-field calculation suffices to capture the essential physics of the superconducting transition. We thus obtain a phase transition that exhibits trivial quantum criticality, which is unique comparing to other invariably nontrivial quantum critical systems. Our theoretical prediction can be experimentally verified by measuring the fermion spectral function and specific heat.

  14. Real-time object tracking based on scale-invariant features employing bio-inspired hardware.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yasukawa, Shinsuke; Okuno, Hirotsugu; Ishii, Kazuo; Yagi, Tetsuya

    2016-09-01

    We developed a vision sensor system that performs a scale-invariant feature transform (SIFT) in real time. To apply the SIFT algorithm efficiently, we focus on a two-fold process performed by the visual system: whole-image parallel filtering and frequency-band parallel processing. The vision sensor system comprises an active pixel sensor, a metal-oxide semiconductor (MOS)-based resistive network, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), and a digital computer. We employed the MOS-based resistive network for instantaneous spatial filtering and a configurable filter size. The FPGA is used to pipeline process the frequency-band signals. The proposed system was evaluated by tracking the feature points detected on an object in a video. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Size invariance of the granular Rayleigh-Taylor instability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinningland, Jan Ludvig; Johnsen, Øistein; Flekkøy, Eirik G; Toussaint, Renaud; Måløy, Knut Jørgen

    2010-04-01

    The size scaling behavior of the granular Rayleigh-Taylor instability [J. L. Vinningland, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 048001 (2007)] is investigated experimentally, numerically, and theoretically. An upper layer of grains displaces a lower gap of air by organizing into dense fingers of falling grains separated by rising bubbles of air. The dependence of these structures on the system and grain sizes is investigated. A spatial measurement of the finger structures is obtained by the Fourier power spectrum of the wave number k. As the size of the grains increases the wave number decreases accordingly which leaves the dimensionless product of wave number and grain diameter, dk, invariant. A theoretical interpretation of the invariance, based on the scaling properties of the model equations, suggests a gradual breakdown of the invariance for grains smaller than approximately 70 microm or greater than approximately 570 microm in diameter.

  16. Slow Invariant Manifolds in Chemically Reactive Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paolucci, Samuel; Powers, Joseph M.

    2006-11-01

    The scientific design of practical gas phase combustion devices has come to rely on the use of mathematical models which include detailed chemical kinetics. Such models intrinsically admit a wide range of scales which renders their accurate numerical approximation difficult. Over the past decade, rational strategies, such as Intrinsic Low Dimensional Manifolds (ILDM) or Computational Singular Perturbations (CSP), for equilibrating fast time scale events have been successfully developed, though their computation can be challenging and their accuracy in most cases uncertain. Both are approximations to the preferable slow invariant manifold which best describes how the system evolves in the long time limit. Strategies for computing the slow invariant manifold are examined, and results are presented for practical combustion systems.

  17. Spin foam diagrammatics and topological invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Girelli, Florian; Oeckl, Robert; Perez, Alejandro

    2002-01-01

    We provide a simple proof of the topological invariance of the Turaev-Viro model (corresponding to simplicial 3D pure Euclidean gravity with cosmological constant) by means of a novel diagrammatic formulation of the state sum models for quantum BF theories. Moreover, we prove the invariance under more general conditions allowing the state sum to be defined on arbitrary cellular decompositions of the underlying manifold. Invariance is governed by a set of identities corresponding to local gluing and rearrangement of cells in the complex. Due to the fully algebraic nature of these identities our results extend to a vast class of quantum groups. The techniques introduced here could be relevant for investigating the scaling properties of non-topological state sums, proposed as models of quantum gravity in 4D, under refinement of the cellular decomposition

  18. The decomposition of global conformal invariants

    CERN Document Server

    Alexakis, Spyros

    2012-01-01

    This book addresses a basic question in differential geometry that was first considered by physicists Stanley Deser and Adam Schwimmer in 1993 in their study of conformal anomalies. The question concerns conformally invariant functionals on the space of Riemannian metrics over a given manifold. These functionals act on a metric by first constructing a Riemannian scalar out of it, and then integrating this scalar over the manifold. Suppose this integral remains invariant under conformal re-scalings of the underlying metric. What information can one then deduce about the Riemannian scalar? Dese

  19. An efficient approach to unstructured mesh hydrodynamics on the cell broadband engine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferenbaugh, Charles R [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2010-01-01

    Unstructured mesh physics for the Cell Broadband Engine (CBE) has received little or no attention to date, largely because the CBE architecture poses particular challenges for unstructured mesh algorithms. The most common SPU memory management strategies cannot be applied to the irregular memory access patterns of unstructured meshes, and the SPU vector instruction set does not support the indirect addressing needed by connectivity arrays. This paper presents an approach to unstructured mesh physics that addresses these challenges, by creating a new mesh data structure and reorganizing code to give efficient CBE performance. The approach is demonstrated on the FLAG production hydrodynamics code using standard test problems, and results show an average speedup of more than 5x over the original code.

  20. Development and verification of unstructured adaptive mesh technique with edge compatibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ito, Kei; Ohshima, Hiroyuki; Kunugi, Tomoaki

    2010-01-01

    In the design study of the large-sized sodium-cooled fast reactor (JSFR), one key issue is suppression of gas entrainment (GE) phenomena at a gas-liquid interface. Therefore, the authors have been developed a high-precision CFD algorithm to evaluate the GE phenomena accurately. The CFD algorithm has been developed on unstructured meshes to establish an accurate modeling of JSFR system. For two-phase interfacial flow simulations, a high-precision volume-of-fluid algorithm is employed. It was confirmed that the developed CFD algorithm could reproduce the GE phenomena in a simple GE experiment. Recently, the authors have been developed an important technique for the simulation of the GE phenomena in JSFR. That is an unstructured adaptive mesh technique which can apply fine cells dynamically to the region where the GE occurs in JSFR. In this paper, as a part of the development, a two-dimensional unstructured adaptive mesh technique is discussed. In the two-dimensional adaptive mesh technique, each cell is refined isotropically to reduce distortions of the mesh. In addition, connection cells are formed to eliminate the edge incompatibility between refined and non-refined cells. The two-dimensional unstructured adaptive mesh technique is verified by solving well-known lid-driven cavity flow problem. As a result, the two-dimensional unstructured adaptive mesh technique succeeds in providing a high-precision solution, even though poor-quality distorted initial mesh is employed. In addition, the simulation error on the two-dimensional unstructured adaptive mesh is much less than the error on the structured mesh with a larger number of cells. (author)

  1. Partitioning of unstructured meshes for load balancing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martin, O.C.; Otto, S.W.

    1994-01-01

    Many large-scale engineering and scientific calculations involve repeated updating of variables on an unstructured mesh. To do these types of computations on distributed memory parallel computers, it is necessary to partition the mesh among the processors so that the load balance is maximized and inter-processor communication time is minimized. This can be approximated by the problem, of partitioning a graph so as to obtain a minimum cut, a well-studied combinatorial optimization problem. Graph partitioning algorithms are discussed that give good but not necessarily optimum solutions. These algorithms include local search methods recursive spectral bisection, and more general purpose methods such as simulated annealing. It is shown that a general procedure enables to combine simulated annealing with Kernighan-Lin. The resulting algorithm is both very fast and extremely effective. (authors) 23 refs., 3 figs., 1 tab

  2. The use of scale-invariance feature transform approach to recognize and retrieve incomplete shoeprints.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Chia-Hung; Li, Yue; Gwo, Chih-Ying

    2013-05-01

    Shoeprints left at the crime scene provide valuable information in criminal investigation due to the distinctive patterns in the sole. Those shoeprints are often incomplete and noisy. In this study, scale-invariance feature transform is proposed and evaluated for recognition and retrieval of partial and noisy shoeprint images. The proposed method first constructs different scale spaces to detect local extrema in the underlying shoeprint images. Those local extrema are considered as useful key points in the image. Next, the features of those key points are extracted to represent their local patterns around key points. Then, the system computes the cross-correlation between the query image and each shoeprint image in the database. Experimental results show that full-size prints and prints from the toe area perform best among all shoeprints. Furthermore, this system also demonstrates its robustness against noise because there is a very slight difference in comparison between original shoeprints and noisy shoeprints. © 2013 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

  3. Anisotropic modelling of the electrical conductivity of fractured bedrock

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Flykt, M.J.; Sihvola, A.H.; Eloranta, E.H.

    1995-01-01

    The electromagnetic characterization of fractured bedrock is of importance when studying the final disposal of nuclear waste. The different types of discontinuities at all scales in rocks can be viewed as an inhomogeneity. In some cases there are reasons to assume the influence of the discontinuities on electrical conductivity is anisotropic in character. The effort has been made to use electromagnetic mixing rules in the definition of an equivalent homogeneous anisotropic conductivity tensor for such fractured rock mass. (author) (16 refs., 6 figs.)

  4. Automatically Determining Scale Within Unstructured Point Clouds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kadamen, Jayren; Sithole, George

    2016-06-01

    Three dimensional models obtained from imagery have an arbitrary scale and therefore have to be scaled. Automatically scaling these models requires the detection of objects in these models which can be computationally intensive. Real-time object detection may pose problems for applications such as indoor navigation. This investigation poses the idea that relational cues, specifically height ratios, within indoor environments may offer an easier means to obtain scales for models created using imagery. The investigation aimed to show two things, (a) that the size of objects, especially the height off ground is consistent within an environment, and (b) that based on this consistency, objects can be identified and their general size used to scale a model. To test the idea a hypothesis is first tested on a terrestrial lidar scan of an indoor environment. Later as a proof of concept the same test is applied to a model created using imagery. The most notable finding was that the detection of objects can be more readily done by studying the ratio between the dimensions of objects that have their dimensions defined by human physiology. For example the dimensions of desks and chairs are related to the height of an average person. In the test, the difference between generalised and actual dimensions of objects were assessed. A maximum difference of 3.96% (2.93cm) was observed from automated scaling. By analysing the ratio between the heights (distance from the floor) of the tops of objects in a room, identification was also achieved.

  5. On Integral Invariants for Effective 3-D Motion Trajectory Matching and Recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shao, Zhanpeng; Li, Youfu

    2016-02-01

    Motion trajectories tracked from the motions of human, robots, and moving objects can provide an important clue for motion analysis, classification, and recognition. This paper defines some new integral invariants for a 3-D motion trajectory. Based on two typical kernel functions, we design two integral invariants, the distance and area integral invariants. The area integral invariants are estimated based on the blurred segment of noisy discrete curve to avoid the computation of high-order derivatives. Such integral invariants for a motion trajectory enjoy some desirable properties, such as computational locality, uniqueness of representation, and noise insensitivity. Moreover, our formulation allows the analysis of motion trajectories at a range of scales by varying the scale of kernel function. The features of motion trajectories can thus be perceived at multiscale levels in a coarse-to-fine manner. Finally, we define a distance function to measure the trajectory similarity to find similar trajectories. Through the experiments, we examine the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed integral invariants and find that they can capture the motion cues in trajectory matching and sign recognition satisfactorily.

  6. Confirmatory factor analysis and invariance testing between Blacks and Whites of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale.

    Science.gov (United States)

    LaNoue, Marianna; Harvey, Abby; Mautner, Dawn; Ku, Bon; Scott, Kevin

    2015-07-01

    The factor structure of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale remains in question. Additionally, research on health belief differences between Black and White respondents suggests that the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale may not be invariant. We reviewed the literature regarding the latent variable structure of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control scale, used confirmatory factor analysis to confirm the three-factor structure of the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control, and analyzed between-group differences in the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control structure and means across Black and White respondents. Our results indicate differences in means and structure, indicating more research is needed to inform decisions regarding whether and how to deploy the Multidimensional Health Locus of Control appropriately.

  7. VisualUrText: A Text Analytics Tool for Unstructured Textual Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zainol, Zuraini; Jaymes, Mohd T. H.; Nohuddin, Puteri N. E.

    2018-05-01

    The growing amount of unstructured text over Internet is tremendous. Text repositories come from Web 2.0, business intelligence and social networking applications. It is also believed that 80-90% of future growth data is available in the form of unstructured text databases that may potentially contain interesting patterns and trends. Text Mining is well known technique for discovering interesting patterns and trends which are non-trivial knowledge from massive unstructured text data. Text Mining covers multidisciplinary fields involving information retrieval (IR), text analysis, natural language processing (NLP), data mining, machine learning statistics and computational linguistics. This paper discusses the development of text analytics tool that is proficient in extracting, processing, analyzing the unstructured text data and visualizing cleaned text data into multiple forms such as Document Term Matrix (DTM), Frequency Graph, Network Analysis Graph, Word Cloud and Dendogram. This tool, VisualUrText, is developed to assist students and researchers for extracting interesting patterns and trends in document analyses.

  8. The Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS): Reliability, validity, and gender invariance in an Indian adolescent sample.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hashim, Jayana; Areepattamannil, Shaljan

    2017-06-01

    This study examined the internal consistency reliability, factorial, convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity, as well as gender invariance of the Brief Multidimensional Students' Life Satisfaction Scale (BMSLSS; Seligson, Huebner, & Valois, 2003) in a sample of 445 adolescents (M age  = 16.04 years) hailing from the southernmost state of India, Kerala. The study also examined the test-retest reliability (n = 392) of the BMSLSS. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient suggested that the BMSLSS was reliable. Confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated the factorial validity of the BMSLSS. Bivariate correlational analyses provided support for the convergent, discriminant, and predictive validity of the BMSLSS. The test-retest reliability coefficient indicated the temporal stability of the BMSLSS. Finally, multi-group confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the gender invariance of the BMSLSS. Copyright © 2017 The Foundation for Professionals in Services for Adolescents. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Scale-invariance in three-dimensional isotropic turbulence: a paradox and its resolution

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McComb, David

    2008-01-01

    If the Reynolds number is large enough, turbulence is expected to exhibit scale invariance in an intermediate ('inertial') range of wave numbers, as shown by power-law behaviour of the energy spectrum and also by a constant rate of energy transfer through wave number. However, although it has long been known that the first of these is true, there has been little recognition of the fact that, if the second is to hold, then there is a contradiction between the definition of the energy flux (as the integral of the transfer spectrum) and the observed behaviour of the transfer spectrum itself. This is because the transfer spectrum T(k) is invariably found to have a zero crossing at a single point (at k 0 , say), implying that the corresponding energy flux cannot have an extended plateau but must instead have a maximum value at k = k 0 . We outline the resulting paradox and note that it may be resolved by the observation that the symmetry of the triadic interactions means that T(k) is not the relevant transfer term in determining the energy flux. Instead the relevant term is a filtered/partitioned version, herein denoted by T +- (k|k c ), where k = k c is the cut-off wave number for low/high-pass filtering. It is known from studies of spectral subgrid transfer that T +- (k|k c ) is zero over an extended range of wave numbers. As this is the case for quite modest Reynolds numbers, it not only resolves the paradox, but may also shed some light on the 'embarrassment of success' of the Kolmogorov theory

  10. Multiresolution, Multi-Scale Target Identification and Tracking using the Anisotropic Diffusion Pyramid

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Acton, Scott

    1998-01-01

    ...: the anisotropic diffusion pyramid and the morphological pyramid. Coarse-to-fine target searches are implemented within the image pyramids, providing a lOOX improvement in computational expense over standard correlation-based approaches...

  11. Unstructured Computational Aerodynamics on Many Integrated Core Architecture

    KAUST Repository

    Al Farhan, Mohammed A.

    2016-06-08

    Shared memory parallelization of the flux kernel of PETSc-FUN3D, an unstructured tetrahedral mesh Euler flow code previously studied for distributed memory and multi-core shared memory, is evaluated on up to 61 cores per node and up to 4 threads per core. We explore several thread-level optimizations to improve flux kernel performance on the state-of-the-art many integrated core (MIC) Intel processor Xeon Phi “Knights Corner,” with a focus on strong thread scaling. While the linear algebraic kernel is bottlenecked by memory bandwidth for even modest numbers of cores sharing a common memory, the flux kernel, which arises in the control volume discretization of the conservation law residuals and in the formation of the preconditioner for the Jacobian by finite-differencing the conservation law residuals, is compute-intensive and is known to exploit effectively contemporary multi-core hardware. We extend study of the performance of the flux kernel to the Xeon Phi in three thread affinity modes, namely scatter, compact, and balanced, in both offload and native mode, with and without various code optimizations to improve alignment and reduce cache coherency penalties. Relative to baseline “out-of-the-box” optimized compilation, code restructuring optimizations provide about 3.8x speedup using the offload mode and about 5x speedup using the native mode. Even with these gains for the flux kernel, with respect to execution time the MIC simply achieves par with optimized compilation on a contemporary multi-core Intel CPU, the 16-core Sandy Bridge E5 2670. Nevertheless, the optimizations employed to reduce the data motion and cache coherency protocol penalties of the MIC are expected to be of value for CFD and many other unstructured applications as many-core architecture evolves. We explore large-scale distributed-shared memory performance on the Cray XC40 supercomputer, to demonstrate that optimizations employed on Phi hybridize to this context, where each of

  12. Unstructured Computational Aerodynamics on Many Integrated Core Architecture

    KAUST Repository

    Al Farhan, Mohammed A.; Kaushik, Dinesh K.; Keyes, David E.

    2016-01-01

    Shared memory parallelization of the flux kernel of PETSc-FUN3D, an unstructured tetrahedral mesh Euler flow code previously studied for distributed memory and multi-core shared memory, is evaluated on up to 61 cores per node and up to 4 threads per core. We explore several thread-level optimizations to improve flux kernel performance on the state-of-the-art many integrated core (MIC) Intel processor Xeon Phi “Knights Corner,” with a focus on strong thread scaling. While the linear algebraic kernel is bottlenecked by memory bandwidth for even modest numbers of cores sharing a common memory, the flux kernel, which arises in the control volume discretization of the conservation law residuals and in the formation of the preconditioner for the Jacobian by finite-differencing the conservation law residuals, is compute-intensive and is known to exploit effectively contemporary multi-core hardware. We extend study of the performance of the flux kernel to the Xeon Phi in three thread affinity modes, namely scatter, compact, and balanced, in both offload and native mode, with and without various code optimizations to improve alignment and reduce cache coherency penalties. Relative to baseline “out-of-the-box” optimized compilation, code restructuring optimizations provide about 3.8x speedup using the offload mode and about 5x speedup using the native mode. Even with these gains for the flux kernel, with respect to execution time the MIC simply achieves par with optimized compilation on a contemporary multi-core Intel CPU, the 16-core Sandy Bridge E5 2670. Nevertheless, the optimizations employed to reduce the data motion and cache coherency protocol penalties of the MIC are expected to be of value for CFD and many other unstructured applications as many-core architecture evolves. We explore large-scale distributed-shared memory performance on the Cray XC40 supercomputer, to demonstrate that optimizations employed on Phi hybridize to this context, where each of

  13. Variance composition, measurement invariance by gender, and construct validity of the Femininity Ideology Scale-Short Form.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levant, Ronald F; Alto, Kathleen M; McKelvey, Daniel K; Richmond, Katherine A; McDermott, Ryon C

    2017-11-01

    The current study extended prior work on the Femininity Ideology Scale (FIS), a multidimensional measure of traditional femininity ideology (TFI), in several ways. First, we conducted exploratory factor and bifactor analyses, which revealed a general TFI factor and 3 specific factors: dependence/deference, purity, and emotionality/traditional roles. Second, based on these results we developed the 12-item FIS-Short Form (FIS-SF). Third, we assessed the FIS-SF using confirmatory factor analysis on a separate sample, finding that the items loaded on the general factor and 3 specific factors as hypothesized, and that the bifactor model fit better than common factors and unidimensional models. Fourth, model-based reliability estimates tentatively support the use of raw scores to represent the general TFI factor and the emotionality/traditional roles specific factor, but the other 2 specific factors are best measured using SEM or by ipsatizing their scores. Fifth, we assessed measurement invariance across 2 gender groups, finding evidence for configural invariance for all factors, and for partial metric invariance for the specific factors. Sixth, we found evidence for the convergent construct validity of the FIS-SF general factor and the emotionality/traditional roles specific factors by examining relationships with the latent variables of several constructs in the nomological network. The results are discussed in relationship to prior literature, future research directions, applications to counseling practice, and limitations. Data (N = 1,472, 907 women, 565 men, 530 people of color) were from community and college participants who responded to an online survey. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  14. Representation of magnetic fields with toroidal topology in terms of field-line invariants

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lewis, H.R.

    1990-01-01

    Beginning with Boozer's representation of magnetic fields with toroidal topology [Phys. Fluids 26, 1288 (1983)], a general formalism is presented for the representation of any magnetic field with toroidal topology in terms of field-line invariants. The formalism is an application to the magnetic field case of results developed recently by Lewis et al. (submitted for publication to J. Phys. A) for arbitrary time-dependent Hamiltonian systems with one degree of freedom. Every magnetic field with toroidal topology can be associated with time-dependent Hamiltonian systems with one degree of freedom and every time-dependent Hamiltonian system with one degree of freedom can be associated with magnetic fields with toroidal topology. In the Hamiltonian context, given any particular function I(q,p,t), Lewis et al. derived those Hamiltonians for which I(q,p,t) is an invariant. In addition, for each of those Hamiltonians, they derived a function canonically conjugate to I(q,p,t) that is also an invariant. They applied this result to the case where I(q,p,t) is expressed as a function of two canonically conjugate functions. This general Hamiltonian formalism provides a basis for representing magnetic fields with toroidal topology in terms of field-line invariants. The magnetic fields usually contain plasma with flow and anisotropic pressure. A class of fields with or without rotational symmetry is identified for which there are magnetic surfaces. The formalism is developed for application to the case of vacuum magnetic fields

  15. Incompressible Navier-Stokes inverse design method based on adaptive unstructured meshes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rahmati, M.T.; Charlesworth, D.; Zangeneh, M.

    2005-01-01

    An inverse method for blade design based on Navier-Stokes equations on adaptive unstructured meshes has been developed. In the method, unlike the method based on inviscid equations, the effect of viscosity is directly taken into account. In the method, the pressure (or pressure loading) is prescribed. The design method then computes the blade shape that would accomplish the target prescribed pressure distribution. The method is implemented using a cell-centered finite volume method, which solves the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on unstructured meshes. An adaptive unstructured mesh method based on grid subdivision and local adaptive mesh method is utilized for increasing the accuracy. (author)

  16. Dilepton production from the quark-gluon plasma using (3 +1 )-dimensional anisotropic dissipative hydrodynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ryblewski, Radoslaw; Strickland, Michael

    2015-07-01

    We compute dilepton production from the deconfined phase of the quark-gluon plasma using leading-order (3 +1 )-dimensional anisotropic hydrodynamics. The anisotropic hydrodynamics equations employed describe the full spatiotemporal evolution of the transverse temperature, spheroidal momentum-space anisotropy parameter, and the associated three-dimensional collective flow of the matter. The momentum-space anisotropy is also taken into account in the computation of the dilepton production rate, allowing for a self-consistent description of dilepton production from the quark-gluon plasma. For our final results, we present predictions for high-energy dilepton yields as a function of invariant mass, transverse momentum, and pair rapidity. We demonstrate that high-energy dilepton production is extremely sensitive to the assumed level of initial momentum-space anisotropy of the quark-gluon plasma. As a result, it may be possible to experimentally constrain the early-time momentum-space anisotropy of the quark-gluon plasma generated in relativistic heavy-ion collisions using high-energy dilepton yields.

  17. Invariant subspaces

    CERN Document Server

    Radjavi, Heydar

    2003-01-01

    This broad survey spans a wealth of studies on invariant subspaces, focusing on operators on separable Hilbert space. Largely self-contained, it requires only a working knowledge of measure theory, complex analysis, and elementary functional analysis. Subjects include normal operators, analytic functions of operators, shift operators, examples of invariant subspace lattices, compact operators, and the existence of invariant and hyperinvariant subspaces. Additional chapters cover certain results on von Neumann algebras, transitive operator algebras, algebras associated with invariant subspaces,

  18. Measurement invariance versus selection invariance: Is fair selection possible?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Borsboom, D.; Romeijn, J.W.; Wicherts, J.M.

    2008-01-01

    This article shows that measurement invariance (defined in terms of an invariant measurement model in different groups) is generally inconsistent with selection invariance (defined in terms of equal sensitivity and specificity across groups). In particular, when a unidimensional measurement

  19. Measurement invariance versus selection invariance : Is fair selection possible?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Borsboom, Denny; Romeijn, Jan-Willem; Wicherts, Jelte M.

    This article shows that measurement invariance (defined in terms of an invariant measurement model in different groups) is generally inconsistent with selection invariance (defined in terms of equal sensitivity and specificity across groups). In particular, when a unidimensional measurement

  20. Anisotropic stress as a signature of nonstandard propagation of gravitational waves.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saltas, Ippocratis D; Sawicki, Ignacy; Amendola, Luca; Kunz, Martin

    2014-11-07

    We make precise the heretofore ambiguous statement that anisotropic stress is a sign of a modification of gravity. We show that in cosmological solutions of very general classes of models extending gravity-all scalar-tensor theories (Horndeski), Einstein-aether models, and bimetric massive gravity-a direct correspondence exists between perfect fluids apparently carrying anisotropic stress and a modification in the propagation of gravitational waves. Since the anisotropic stress can be measured in a model-independent manner, a comparison of the behavior of gravitational waves from cosmological sources with large-scale-structure formation could, in principle, lead to new constraints on the theory of gravity.

  1. Implementation of LDG method for 3D unstructured meshes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Filander A. Sequeira Chavarría

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper describes an implementation of the Local Discontinuous Galerkin method (LDG applied to elliptic problems in 3D. The implementation of the major operators is discussed. In particular the use of higher-order approximations and unstructured meshes. Efficient data structures that allow fast assembly of the linear system in the mixed formulation are described in detail. Keywords: Discontinuous finite element methods, high-order approximations, unstructured meshes, object-oriented programming. Mathematics Subject Classification: 65K05, 65N30, 65N55.

  2. An efficient approach to unstructured mesh hydrodynamics on the cell broadband engine (u)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ferenbaugh, Charles R [Los Alamos National Laboratory

    2010-12-14

    Unstructured mesh physics for the Cell Broadband Engine (CBE) has received little or no attention to date, largely because the CBE architecture poses particular challenges for unstructured mesh algorithms. SPU memory management strategies such as data preloading cannot be applied to the irregular memory storage patterns of unstructured meshes; and the SPU vector instruction set does not support the indirect addressing needed by connectivity arrays. This paper presents an approach to unstructured mesh physics that addresses these challenges, by creating a new mesh data structure and reorganizing code to give efficient CBE performance. The approach is demonstrated on the FLAG production hydrodynamics code using standard test problems, and results show an average speedup of more than 5x over the original code.

  3. Equation of state with scale-invariant hidden local symmetry and gravitational waves

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lee Hyun Kyu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available The equation of state (EoS for the effective theory proposed recently in the frame work of the scale-invariant hidden local symmetry is discussed briefly. The EoS is found to be relatively stiffer at lower density and but relatively softer at higher density. The particular features of EoS on the gravitational waves are discussed. A relatively stiffer EoS for the neutron stars with the lower density induces a larger deviation of the gravitational wave form from the point-particle-approximation. On the other hand, a relatively softer EoS for the merger remnant of the higher density inside might invoke a possibility of the immediate formation of a black hole for short gamma ray bursts or the appearance of the higher peak frequency for gravitational waves from remnant oscillations. It is anticipated that this particular features could be probed in detail by the detections of gravitational waves from the binary neutron star mergers.

  4. Numerical methods and analysis of the nonlinear Vlasov equation on unstructured meshes of phase space

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Besse, Nicolas

    2003-01-01

    This work is dedicated to the mathematical and numerical studies of the Vlasov equation on phase-space unstructured meshes. In the first part, new semi-Lagrangian methods are developed to solve the Vlasov equation on unstructured meshes of phase space. As the Vlasov equation describes multi-scale phenomena, we also propose original methods based on a wavelet multi-resolution analysis. The resulting algorithm leads to an adaptive mesh-refinement strategy. The new massively-parallel computers allow to use these methods with several phase-space dimensions. Particularly, these numerical schemes are applied to plasma physics and charged particle beams in the case of two-, three-, and four-dimensional Vlasov-Poisson systems. In the second part we prove the convergence and give error estimates for several numerical schemes applied to the Vlasov-Poisson system when strong and classical solutions are considered. First we show the convergence of a semi-Lagrangian scheme on an unstructured mesh of phase space, when the regularity hypotheses for the initial data are minimal. Then we demonstrate the convergence of classes of high-order semi-Lagrangian schemes in the framework of the regular classical solution. In order to reconstruct the distribution function, we consider symmetrical Lagrange polynomials, B-Splines and wavelets bases. Finally we prove the convergence of a semi-Lagrangian scheme with propagation of gradients yielding a high-order and stable reconstruction of the solution. (author) [fr

  5. Renormalization-scheme-invariant QCD and QED: The method of effective charges

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grunberg, G.

    1984-01-01

    We review, extend, and give some further applications of a method recently suggested to solve the renormalization-scheme-dependence problem in perturbative field theories. The use of a coupling constant as a universal expansion parameter is abandoned. Instead, to each physical quantity depending on a single scale variable is associated an effective charge, whose corresponding Stueckelberg--Peterman--Gell-Mann--Low function is identified as the proper object on which perturbation theory applies. Integration of the corresponding renormalization-group equations yields renormalization-scheme-invariant results free of any ambiguity related to the definition of the kinematical variable, or that of the scale parameter Λ, even though the theory is not solved to all orders. As a by-product, a renormalization-group improvement of the usual series is achieved. Extension of these methods to operators leads to the introduction of renormalization-group-invariant Green's function and Wilson coefficients, directly related to effective charges. The case of nonzero fermion masses is discussed, both for fixed masses and running masses in mass-independent renormalization schemes. The importance of the scale-invariant mass m is emphasized. Applications are given to deep-inelastic phenomena, where the use of renormalization-group-invariant coefficient functions allows to perform the factorization without having to introduce a factorization scale. The Sudakov form factor of the electron in QED is discussed as an example of an extension of the method to problems involving several momentum scales

  6. A new model for spherically symmetric anisotropic compact star

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maurya, S.K.; Dayanandan, Baiju [University of Nizwa, Department of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, College of Arts and Science, Nizwa (Oman); Gupta, Y.K. [Raj Kumar Goel Institute of Technology, Department of Mathematics, Ghaziabad, UP (India); Ray, Saibal [Government College of Engineering and Ceramic Technology, Department of Physics, Kolkata, West Bengal (India)

    2016-05-15

    In this article we obtain a new anisotropic solution for Einstein's field equations of embedding class one metric. The solution represents realistic objects such as Her X-1 and RXJ 1856-37. We perform a detailed investigation of both objects by solving numerically the Einstein field equations with anisotropic pressure. The physical features of the parameters depend on the anisotropic factor i.e. if the anisotropy is zero everywhere inside the star then the density and pressures will become zero and the metric turns out to be flat. We report our results and compare with the above mentioned two compact objects as regards a number of key aspects: the central density, the surface density onset and the critical scaling behaviour, the effective mass and radius ratio, the anisotropization with isotropic initial conditions, adiabatic index and red shift. Along with this we have also made a comparison between the classical limit and theoretical model treatment of the compact objects. Finally we discuss the implications of our findings for the stability condition in a relativistic compact star. (orig.)

  7. Quantum search of a real unstructured database

    Science.gov (United States)

    Broda, Bogusław

    2016-02-01

    A simple circuit implementation of the oracle for Grover's quantum search of a real unstructured classical database is proposed. The oracle contains a kind of quantumly accessible classical memory, which stores the database.

  8. Implicit Unstructured Computational Aerodynamics on Many-Integrated Core Architecture

    KAUST Repository

    Al Farhan, Mohammed A.

    2014-05-04

    This research aims to understand the performance of PETSc-FUN3D, a fully nonlinear implicit unstructured grid incompressible or compressible Euler code with origins at NASA and the U.S. DOE, on many-integrated core architecture and how a hybridprogramming paradigm (MPI+OpenMP) can exploit Intel Xeon Phi hardware with upwards of 60 cores per node and 4 threads per core. For the current contribution, we focus on strong scaling with many-integrated core hardware. In most implicit PDE-based codes, while the linear algebraic kernel is limited by the bottleneck of memory bandwidth, the flux kernel arising in control volume discretization of the conservation law residuals and the preconditioner for the Jacobian exploits the Phi hardware well.

  9. Augmenting the core battery with supplementary subtests: Wechsler adult intelligence scale--IV measurement invariance across the United States and Canada.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bowden, Stephen C; Saklofske, Donald H; Weiss, Lawrence G

    2011-06-01

    Examination of measurement invariance provides a powerful method to evaluate the hypothesis that the same set of psychological constructs underlies a set of test scores in different populations. If measurement invariance is observed, then the same psychological meaning can be ascribed to scores in both populations. In this study, the measurement model including core and supplementary subtests of the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Fourth edition (WAIS-IV) were compared across the U.S. and Canadian standardization samples. Populations were compared on the 15 subtest version of the test in people aged 70 and younger and on the 12 subtest version in people aged 70 or older. Results indicated that a slightly modified version of the four-factor model reported in the WAIS-IV technical manual provided the best fit in both populations and in both age groups. The null hypothesis of measurement invariance across populations was not rejected, and the results provide direct evidence for the generalizability of convergent and discriminant validity studies with the WAIS-IV across populations. Small to medium differences in latent means favoring Canadians highlight the value of local norms.

  10. Finite volume methods for the incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on unstructured grids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meese, Ernst Arne

    1998-07-01

    Most solution methods of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) use structured grids based on curvilinear coordinates for compliance with complex geometries. In a typical industry application, about 80% of the time used to produce the results is spent constructing computational grids. Recently the use of unstructured grids has been strongly advocated. For unstructured grids there are methods for generating them automatically on quite complex domains. This thesis focuses on the design of Navier-Stokes solvers that can cope with unstructured grids and ''low quality grids'', thus reducing the need for human intervention in the grid generation.

  11. A Denotational Semantics for Communicating Unstructured Code

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nils Jähnig

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available An important property of programming language semantics is that they should be compositional. However, unstructured low-level code contains goto-like commands making it hard to define a semantics that is compositional. In this paper, we follow the ideas of Saabas and Uustalu to structure low-level code. This gives us the possibility to define a compositional denotational semantics based on least fixed points to allow for the use of inductive verification methods. We capture the semantics of communication using finite traces similar to the denotations of CSP. In addition, we examine properties of this semantics and give an example that demonstrates reasoning about communication and jumps. With this semantics, we lay the foundations for a proof calculus that captures both, the semantics of unstructured low-level code and communication.

  12. A multi-scale approach for high cycle anisotropic fatigue resistance: Application to forged components

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Milesi, M.; Chastel, Y.; Hachem, E.; Bernacki, M.; Loge, R.E.; Bouchard, P.O.

    2010-01-01

    Forged components exhibit good mechanical strength, particularly in terms of high cycle fatigue properties. This is due to the specific microstructure resulting from large plastic deformation as in a forging process. The goal of this study is to account for critical phenomena such as the anisotropy of the fatigue resistance in order to perform high cycle fatigue simulations on industrial forged components. Standard high cycle fatigue criteria usually give good results for isotropic behaviors but are not suitable for components with anisotropic features. The aim is to represent explicitly this anisotropy at a lower scale compared to the process scale and determined local coefficients needed to simulate a real case. We developed a multi-scale approach by considering the statistical morphology and mechanical characteristics of the microstructure to represent explicitly each element. From stochastic experimental data, realistic microstructures were reconstructed in order to perform high cycle fatigue simulations on it with different orientations. The meshing was improved by a local refinement of each interface and simulations were performed on each representative elementary volume. The local mechanical anisotropy is taken into account through the distribution of particles. Fatigue parameters identified at the microscale can then be used at the macroscale on the forged component. The linkage of these data and the process scale is the fiber vector and the deformation state, used to calculate global mechanical anisotropy. Numerical results reveal an expected behavior compared to experimental tendencies. We proved numerically the dependence of the anisotropy direction and the deformation state on the endurance limit evolution.

  13. Veselago focusing of anisotropic massless Dirac fermions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Shu-Hui; Yang, Wen; Peeters, F. M.

    2018-05-01

    Massless Dirac fermions (MDFs) emerge as quasiparticles in various novel materials such as graphene and topological insulators, and they exhibit several intriguing properties, of which Veselago focusing is an outstanding example with a lot of possible applications. However, up to now Veselago focusing merely occurred in p-n junction devices based on the isotropic MDF, which lacks the tunability needed for realistic applications. Here, motivated by the emergence of novel Dirac materials, we investigate the propagation behaviors of anisotropic MDFs in such a p-n junction structure. By projecting the Hamiltonian of the anisotropic MDF to that of the isotropic MDF and deriving an exact analytical expression for the propagator, precise Veselago focusing is demonstrated without the need for mirror symmetry of the electron source and its focusing image. We show a tunable focusing position that can be used in a device to probe masked atom-scale defects. This study provides an innovative concept to realize Veselago focusing relevant for potential applications, and it paves the way for the design of novel electron optics devices by exploiting the anisotropic MDF.

  14. Gauge-invariance and infrared divergences in the luminosity distance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Biern, Sang Gyu; Yoo, Jaiyul

    2017-01-01

    Measurements of the luminosity distance have played a key role in discovering the late-time cosmic acceleration. However, when accounting for inhomogeneities in the Universe, its interpretation has been plagued with infrared divergences in its theoretical predictions, which are in some cases used to explain the cosmic acceleration without dark energy. The infrared divergences in most calculations are artificially removed by imposing an infrared cut-off scale. We show that a gauge-invariant calculation of the luminosity distance is devoid of such divergences and consistent with the equivalence principle, eliminating the need to impose a cut-off scale. We present proper numerical calculations of the luminosity distance using the gauge-invariant expression and demonstrate that the numerical results with an ad hoc cut-off scale in previous calculations have negligible systematic errors as long as the cut-off scale is larger than the horizon scale. We discuss the origin of infrared divergences and their cancellation in the luminosity distance.

  15. Gauge-invariance and infrared divergences in the luminosity distance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Biern, Sang Gyu; Yoo, Jaiyul, E-mail: sgbiern@physik.uzh.ch, E-mail: jyoo@physik.uzh.ch [Center for Theoretical Astrophysics and Cosmology, Institute for Computational Science, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, CH-8057, Zürich (Switzerland)

    2017-04-01

    Measurements of the luminosity distance have played a key role in discovering the late-time cosmic acceleration. However, when accounting for inhomogeneities in the Universe, its interpretation has been plagued with infrared divergences in its theoretical predictions, which are in some cases used to explain the cosmic acceleration without dark energy. The infrared divergences in most calculations are artificially removed by imposing an infrared cut-off scale. We show that a gauge-invariant calculation of the luminosity distance is devoid of such divergences and consistent with the equivalence principle, eliminating the need to impose a cut-off scale. We present proper numerical calculations of the luminosity distance using the gauge-invariant expression and demonstrate that the numerical results with an ad hoc cut-off scale in previous calculations have negligible systematic errors as long as the cut-off scale is larger than the horizon scale. We discuss the origin of infrared divergences and their cancellation in the luminosity distance.

  16. SUPERFLUID VORTEX UNPINNING AS A COHERENT NOISE PROCESS, AND THE SCALE INVARIANCE OF PULSAR GLITCHES

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Melatos, A.; Warszawski, L.

    2009-01-01

    The scale-invariant glitch statistics observed in individual pulsars (exponential waiting-time and power-law size distributions) are consistent with a critical self-organization process, wherein superfluid vortices pin metastably in macroscopic domains and unpin collectively via nearest-neighbor avalanches. Macroscopic inhomogeneity emerges naturally if pinning occurs at crustal faults. If, instead, pinning occurs at lattice sites and defects, which are macroscopically homogeneous, we show that an alternative, noncritical self-organization process operates, termed coherent noise, wherein the global Magnus force acts uniformly on vortices trapped in a range of pinning potentials and undergoing thermal creep. It is found that vortices again unpin collectively, but not via nearest-neighbor avalanches, and that, counterintuitively, the resulting glitch sizes are scale invariant, in accord with observational data. A mean-field analytic theory of the coherent noise process, supported by Monte Carlo simulations, yields a power-law size distribution, between the smallest and largest glitch, with exponent a in the range -2 ≤ a ≤ 0. When the theory is fitted to data from the nine most active pulsars, including the two quasi-periodic glitchers PSR J0537-6910 and PSR J0835-4510, it directly constrains the distribution of pinning potentials in the star, leading to two conclusions: (1) the potentials are broadly distributed, with the mean comparable to the standard deviation; and (2) the mean potential decreases with characteristic age. Fitting the theory to the data also constrains the pinned vortex fraction and the rate of thermal creep. An observational test is proposed to discriminate between nearest-neighbor avalanches and coherent noise: the latter process predicts a statistical excess of large glitches ('aftershocks') following a large glitch, whereas the former process does not. Its discriminatory power is discussed under various microphysical scenarios.

  17. Speckle Suppression by Weighted Euclidean Distance Anisotropic Diffusion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fengcheng Guo

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available To better reduce image speckle noise while also maintaining edge information in synthetic aperture radar (SAR images, we propose a novel anisotropic diffusion algorithm using weighted Euclidean distance (WEDAD. Presented here is a modified speckle reducing anisotropic diffusion (SRAD method, which constructs a new edge detection operator using weighted Euclidean distances. The new edge detection operator can adaptively distinguish between homogenous and heterogeneous image regions, effectively generate anisotropic diffusion coefficients for each image pixel, and filter each pixel at different scales. Additionally, the effects of two different weighting methods (Gaussian weighting and non-linear weighting of de-noising were analyzed. The effect of different adjustment coefficient settings on speckle suppression was also explored. A series of experiments were conducted using an added noise image, GF-3 SAR image, and YG-29 SAR image. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can not only significantly suppress speckle, thus improving the visual effects, but also better preserve the edge information of images.

  18. Large-Scale Parallel Viscous Flow Computations using an Unstructured Multigrid Algorithm

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mavriplis, Dimitri J.

    1999-01-01

    The development and testing of a parallel unstructured agglomeration multigrid algorithm for steady-state aerodynamic flows is discussed. The agglomeration multigrid strategy uses a graph algorithm to construct the coarse multigrid levels from the given fine grid, similar to an algebraic multigrid approach, but operates directly on the non-linear system using the FAS (Full Approximation Scheme) approach. The scalability and convergence rate of the multigrid algorithm are examined on the SGI Origin 2000 and the Cray T3E. An argument is given which indicates that the asymptotic scalability of the multigrid algorithm should be similar to that of its underlying single grid smoothing scheme. For medium size problems involving several million grid points, near perfect scalability is obtained for the single grid algorithm, while only a slight drop-off in parallel efficiency is observed for the multigrid V- and W-cycles, using up to 128 processors on the SGI Origin 2000, and up to 512 processors on the Cray T3E. For a large problem using 25 million grid points, good scalability is observed for the multigrid algorithm using up to 1450 processors on a Cray T3E, even when the coarsest grid level contains fewer points than the total number of processors.

  19. Exact diagonalization of cubic lattice models in commensurate Abelian magnetic fluxes and translational invariant non-Abelian potentials

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Burrello, M.; Fulga, Ion Cosma; Lepori, L.

    2017-01-01

    of a translational invariant non-Abelian coupling for multi-component spinors does not affect the dimension of the minimal Hamiltonian blocks, nor the dimension of the magnetic Brillouin zone. General formulas are presented for the U(2) case and explicit examples are investigated involving π and 2π/3 magnetic fluxes......We present a general analytical formalism to determine the energy spectrum of a quantum particle in a cubic lattice subject to translationally invariant commensurate magnetic fluxes and in the presence of a general spaceindependent non-Abelian gauge potential. We first review and analyze the case...... of purely Abelian potentials, showing also that the so-called Hasegawa gauge yields a decomposition of the Hamiltonian into sub-matrices having minimal dimension. Explicit expressions for such matrices are derived, also for general anisotropic fluxes. Later on, we show that the introduction...

  20. Long-Time Behavior and Critical Limit of Subcritical SQG Equations in Scale-Invariant Sobolev Spaces

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coti Zelati, Michele

    2018-02-01

    We consider the subcritical SQG equation in its natural scale-invariant Sobolev space and prove the existence of a global attractor of optimal regularity. The proof is based on a new energy estimate in Sobolev spaces to bootstrap the regularity to the optimal level, derived by means of nonlinear lower bounds on the fractional Laplacian. This estimate appears to be new in the literature and allows a sharp use of the subcritical nature of the L^∞ bounds for this problem. As a by-product, we obtain attractors for weak solutions as well. Moreover, we study the critical limit of the attractors and prove their stability and upper semicontinuity with respect to the strength of the diffusion.

  1. Assessing the Implicit Theory of Willpower for Strenuous Mental Activities Scale: Multigroup, across-gender, and cross-cultural measurement invariance and convergent and divergent validity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Napolitano, Christopher M; Job, Veronika

    2018-05-21

    Why do some people struggle with self-control (colloquially called willpower) whereas others are able to sustain it during challenging circumstances? Recent research showed that a person's implicit theories of willpower-whether they think self-control capacity is a limited or nonlimited resource-predict sustained self-control on laboratory tasks and on goal-related outcomes in everyday life. The present research tests the Implicit Theory of Willpower for Strenuous Mental Activities Scale (or ITW-M) Scale for measurement invariance across samples and gender within each culture, and two cultural contexts (the U.S. and Switzerland/Germany). Across a series of multigroup confirmatory factor analyses, we found support for the measurement invariance of the ITW-M scale across samples within and across two cultures, as well as across men and women. Further, the analyses showed expected patterns of convergent (with life-satisfaction and trait-self-control) and discriminant validity (with implicit theory of intelligence). These results provide guidelines for future research and clinical practice using the ITW-M scale for the investigation of latent group differences, for example, between gender or cultures. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

  2. Gravitomagnetic Instabilities in Anisotropically Expanding Fluids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kleidis, Kostas; Kuiroukidis, Apostolos; Papadopoulos, Demetrios B.; Vlahos, Loukas

    Gravitational instabilities in a magnetized Friedman-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe, in which the magnetic field was assumed to be too weak to destroy the isotropy of the model, are known and have been studied in the past. Accordingly, it became evident that the external magnetic field disfavors the perturbations' growth, suppressing the corresponding rate by an amount proportional to its strength. However, the spatial isotropy of the FRW universe is not compatible with the presence of large-scale magnetic fields. Therefore, in this paper we use the general-relativistic version of the (linearized) perturbed magnetohydrodynamic equations with and without resistivity, to discuss a generalized Jeans criterion and the potential formation of density condensations within a class of homogeneous and anisotropically expanding, self-gravitating, magnetized fluids in curved space-time. We find that, for a wide variety of anisotropic cosmological models, gravitomagnetic instabilities can lead to subhorizontal, magnetized condensations. In the nonresistive case, the power spectrum of the unstable cosmological perturbations suggests that most of the power is concentrated on large scales (small k), very close to the horizon. On the other hand, in a resistive medium, the critical wave-numbers so obtained, exhibit a delicate dependence on resistivity, resulting in the reduction of the corresponding Jeans lengths to smaller scales (well bellow the horizon) than the nonresistive ones, while increasing the range of cosmological models which admit such an instability.

  3. Conformal Invariance, Dark Energy, and CMB Non-Gaussianity

    CERN Document Server

    Antoniadis, Ignatios; Mottola, Emil

    2012-01-01

    We show that in addition to simple scale invariance, a universe dominated by dark energy naturally gives rise to correlation functions possessing full conformal invariance. This is due to the mathematical isomorphism between the conformal group of certain three dimensional slices of de Sitter space and the de Sitter isometry group SO(4,1). In the standard homogeneous, isotropic cosmological model in which primordial density perturbations are generated during a long vacuum energy dominated de Sitter phase, the embedding of flat spatial R^3 sections in de Sitter space induces a conformal invariant perturbation spectrum and definite prediction for the shape of the non-Gaussian CMB bispectrum. In the case in which the density fluctuations are generated instead on the de Sitter horizon, conformal invariance of the S^2 horizon embedding implies a different but also quite definite prediction for the angular correlations of CMB non-Gaussianity on the sky. Each of these forms for the bispectrum is intrinsic to the sym...

  4. Anisotropic gravitational instability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Polyachenko, V.L.; Fridman, A.M.

    1988-01-01

    Exact solutions of stability problems are obtained for two anisotropic gravitational systems of different geometries - a layer of finite thickness at rest and a rotating cylinder of finite radius. It is shown that the anisotropic gravitational instability which develops in both cases is of Jeans type. However, in contrast to the classical aperiodic Jeans instability, this instability is oscillatory. The physics of the anisotropic gravitational instability is investigated. It is shown that in a gravitating layer this instability is due, in particular, to excitation of previously unknown interchange-Jeans modes. In the cylinder, the oscillatory Jeans instability is associated with excitation of a rotational branch, this also being responsible for the beam gravitational instability. This is the reason why this instability and the anisotropic gravitational instability have so much in common

  5. Orientation Encoding and Viewpoint Invariance in Face Recognition: Inferring Neural Properties from Large-Scale Signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramírez, Fernando M

    2018-05-01

    Viewpoint-invariant face recognition is thought to be subserved by a distributed network of occipitotemporal face-selective areas that, except for the human anterior temporal lobe, have been shown to also contain face-orientation information. This review begins by highlighting the importance of bilateral symmetry for viewpoint-invariant recognition and face-orientation perception. Then, monkey electrophysiological evidence is surveyed describing key tuning properties of face-selective neurons-including neurons bimodally tuned to mirror-symmetric face-views-followed by studies combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multivariate pattern analyses to probe the representation of face-orientation and identity information in humans. Altogether, neuroimaging studies suggest that face-identity is gradually disentangled from face-orientation information along the ventral visual processing stream. The evidence seems to diverge, however, regarding the prevalent form of tuning of neural populations in human face-selective areas. In this context, caveats possibly leading to erroneous inferences regarding mirror-symmetric coding are exposed, including the need to distinguish angular from Euclidean distances when interpreting multivariate pattern analyses. On this basis, this review argues that evidence from the fusiform face area is best explained by a view-sensitive code reflecting head angular disparity, consistent with a role of this area in face-orientation perception. Finally, the importance is stressed of explicit models relating neural properties to large-scale signals.

  6. Anisotropic non-Fermi liquids

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sur, Shouvik; Lee, Sung-Sik

    2016-11-01

    We study non-Fermi-liquid states that arise at the quantum critical points associated with the spin density wave (SDW) and charge density wave (CDW) transitions in metals with twofold rotational symmetry. We use the dimensional regularization scheme, where a one-dimensional Fermi surface is embedded in (3 -ɛ ) -dimensional momentum space. In three dimensions, quasilocal marginal Fermi liquids arise both at the SDW and CDW critical points: the speed of the collective mode along the ordering wave vector is logarithmically renormalized to zero compared to that of Fermi velocity. Below three dimensions, however, the SDW and CDW critical points exhibit drastically different behaviors. At the SDW critical point, a stable anisotropic non-Fermi-liquid state is realized for small ɛ , where not only time but also different spatial coordinates develop distinct anomalous dimensions. The non-Fermi liquid exhibits an emergent algebraic nesting as the patches of Fermi surface are deformed into a universal power-law shape near the hot spots. Due to the anisotropic scaling, the energy of incoherent spin fluctuations disperse with different power laws in different momentum directions. At the CDW critical point, on the other hand, the perturbative expansion breaks down immediately below three dimensions as the interaction renormalizes the speed of charge fluctuations to zero within a finite renormalization group scale through a two-loop effect. The difference originates from the fact that the vertex correction antiscreens the coupling at the SDW critical point whereas it screens at the CDW critical point.

  7. In search of invariants for viscous liquids in the density scaling regime: investigations of dynamic and thermodynamic moduli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jedrzejowska, Agnieszka; Grzybowski, Andrzej; Paluch, Marian

    2017-07-19

    In this paper, we report the nontrivial results of our investigations of dynamic and thermodynamic moduli in search of invariants for viscous liquids in the density scaling regime by using selected supercooled van der Waals liquids as representative materials. Previously, the dynamic modulus M p-T (defined in the pressure-temperature representation by the ratio of isobaric activation energy and activation volume) as well as the ratio B T /M p-T (where B T is the thermodynamic modulus defined as the inverse isothermal compressibility) have been suggested as some kinds of material constants. We have established that they are not valid in the explored wide range of temperatures T over a dozen decades of structural relaxation times τ. The temperature dependences of M p-T and B T /M p-T have been elucidated by comparison with the well-known measure of the relative contribution of temperature and density fluctuations to molecular dynamics near the glass transition, i.e., the ratio of isochoric and isobaric activation energies. Then, we have implemented an idea to transform the definition of the dynamic modulus M p-T from the p-T representation to the V-T one. This idea relied on the disentanglement of combined temperature and density fluctuations involved in isobaric parameters and has resulted in finding an invariant for viscous liquids in the density scaling regime, which is the ratio of thermodynamic and dynamic moduli, B T /M V-T . In this way, we have constituted a characteristic of thermodynamics and molecular dynamics, which remains unchanged in the supercooled liquid state for a given material, the molecular dynamics of which obeys the power density scaling law.

  8. A model for size- and rotation-invariant pattern processing in the visual system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reitboeck, H J; Altmann, J

    1984-01-01

    The mapping of retinal space onto the striate cortex of some mammals can be approximated by a log-polar function. It has been proposed that this mapping is of functional importance for scale- and rotation-invariant pattern recognition in the visual system. An exact log-polar transform converts centered scaling and rotation into translations. A subsequent translation-invariant transform, such as the absolute value of the Fourier transform, thus generates overall size- and rotation-invariance. In our model, the translation-invariance is realized via the R-transform. This transform can be executed by simple neural networks, and it does not require the complex computations of the Fourier transform, used in Mellin-transform size-invariance models. The logarithmic space distortion and differentiation in the first processing stage of the model is realized via "Mexican hat" filters whose diameter increases linearly with eccentricity, similar to the characteristics of the receptive fields of retinal ganglion cells. Except for some special cases, the model can explain object recognition independent of size, orientation and position. Some general problems of Mellin-type size-invariance models-that also apply to our model-are discussed.

  9. Discriminative phenomenological features of scale invariant models for electroweak symmetry breaking

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Katsuya Hashino

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Classical scale invariance (CSI may be one of the solutions for the hierarchy problem. Realistic models for electroweak symmetry breaking based on CSI require extended scalar sectors without mass terms, and the electroweak symmetry is broken dynamically at the quantum level by the Coleman–Weinberg mechanism. We discuss discriminative features of these models. First, using the experimental value of the mass of the discovered Higgs boson h(125, we obtain an upper bound on the mass of the lightest additional scalar boson (≃543 GeV, which does not depend on its isospin and hypercharge. Second, a discriminative prediction on the Higgs-photon–photon coupling is given as a function of the number of charged scalar bosons, by which we can narrow down possible models using current and future data for the di-photon decay of h(125. Finally, for the triple Higgs boson coupling a large deviation (∼+70% from the SM prediction is universally predicted, which is independent of masses, quantum numbers and even the number of additional scalars. These models based on CSI can be well tested at LHC Run II and at future lepton colliders.

  10. A Krylov Subspace Method for Unstructured Mesh SN Transport Computation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Han Jong; Cho, Nam Zin; Kim, Jong Woon; Hong, Ser Gi; Lee, Young Ouk

    2010-01-01

    Hong, et al., have developed a computer code MUST (Multi-group Unstructured geometry S N Transport) for the neutral particle transport calculations in three-dimensional unstructured geometry. In this code, the discrete ordinates transport equation is solved by using the discontinuous finite element method (DFEM) or the subcell balance methods with linear discontinuous expansion. In this paper, the conventional source iteration in the MUST code is replaced by the Krylov subspace method to reduce computing time and the numerical test results are given

  11. Computational invariant theory

    CERN Document Server

    Derksen, Harm

    2015-01-01

    This book is about the computational aspects of invariant theory. Of central interest is the question how the invariant ring of a given group action can be calculated. Algorithms for this purpose form the main pillars around which the book is built. There are two introductory chapters, one on Gröbner basis methods and one on the basic concepts of invariant theory, which prepare the ground for the algorithms. Then algorithms for computing invariants of finite and reductive groups are discussed. Particular emphasis lies on interrelations between structural properties of invariant rings and computational methods. Finally, the book contains a chapter on applications of invariant theory, covering fields as disparate as graph theory, coding theory, dynamical systems, and computer vision. The book is intended for postgraduate students as well as researchers in geometry, computer algebra, and, of course, invariant theory. The text is enriched with numerous explicit examples which illustrate the theory and should be ...

  12. Anisotropic constant-roll inflation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ito, Asuka; Soda, Jiro [Kobe University, Department of Physics, Kobe (Japan)

    2018-01-15

    We study constant-roll inflation in the presence of a gauge field coupled to an inflaton. By imposing the constant anisotropy condition, we find new exact anisotropic constant-roll inflationary solutions which include anisotropic power-law inflation as a special case. We also numerically show that the new anisotropic solutions are attractors in the phase space. (orig.)

  13. Invariant submanifold flows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Olver, Peter J [School of Mathematics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (United States)], E-mail: olver@math.umn.edu

    2008-08-29

    Given a Lie group acting on a manifold, our aim is to analyze the evolution of differential invariants under invariant submanifold flows. The constructions are based on the equivariant method of moving frames and the induced invariant variational bicomplex. Applications to integrable soliton dynamics, and to the evolution of differential invariant signatures, used in equivalence problems and object recognition and symmetry detection in images, are discussed.

  14. Construct validity, dimensionality and factorial invariance of the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale: A bifactor modelling approach among children of prisoners

    OpenAIRE

    Sharratt, Kathryn; Boduszek, Daniel; Jones, Adele; Gallagher, Bernard

    2014-01-01

    Background The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES) has traditionally been conceptualised as a unidimensional measure of self-esteem, but empirical evidence is equivocal, with some studies supporting a one-factor solution and others favouring multidimensional models. Participants and procedure The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure, factorial invariance and composite reliability of the RSES within a European sample of children affected by parental imprison...

  15. Confirmatory factor analysis and sample invariance of the Chinese version of Somatosensory Amplification Scale (ChSAS) among Chinese adolescents

    OpenAIRE

    Tam, B. K.; Wong, W. S.

    2011-01-01

    Objective: This paper aimed to evaluate the factor structure of the Chinese version of Somatosensory Amplification Scale (ChSAS) in a sample of Chinese adolescents across different grade levels using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Methods: A total of 1991 Chinese adolescents completed the ChSAS. CFA assessed the fit of the one-factor model to the entire sample. Factorial invariance of the ChSAS was also examined across grade levels using multigroup CFA. Results: Results of CFA confirmed ...

  16. Renormalization-group-invariant 1/N corrections to nontrival φ4 theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smekal, L.v.; Langfeld, K.; Reinhardt, H.; Langbein, R.F.

    1994-01-01

    In the framework of path integral linearization techniques, the effective potential and the master field equation for massless φ 4 theory, in the modified loop expansion around the mean field, are derived up to next to leading order. In the O(N)-symmetric theory, these equations are equivalent to a subsummation of O(N) and order 1 diagrams. A renormalization prescription is proposed which is manifestly renormalization group invariant. The numerical results for the potential in next to leading order agree qualitatively well with the leading order ones. In particular, the nontrivial phase structure remains unchanged. Quantitatively, the corrections ar small for N much-gt 8, but even for N as small as one their essential effect is to modify the scaling coefficient β 0 in the Callan-Symanzik β function, in accordance with conventional loop expansions. The numerical results are best parametrized by scaling improved mean field formulas. Dimensional transmutation renders the overall (physical) mass scale M 0 , generated by a dynamical breaking of scale invariance, the only adjustable parameter of the theory. Renormalization group invariance of the numerical results is explicitly verified

  17. An Advanced Rotation Invariant Descriptor for SAR Image Registration

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuming Xiang

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available The Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT algorithm and its many variants have been widely used in Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR image registration. The SIFT-like algorithms maintain rotation invariance by assigning a dominant orientation for each keypoint, while the calculation of dominant orientation is not robust due to the effect of speckle noise in SAR imagery. In this paper, we propose an advanced local descriptor for SAR image registration to achieve rotation invariance without assigning a dominant orientation. Based on the improved intensity orders, we first divide a circular neighborhood into several sub-regions. Second, rotation-invariant ratio orientation histograms of each sub-region are proposed by accumulating the ratio values of different directions in a rotation-invariant coordinate system. The proposed descriptor is composed of the concatenation of the histograms of each sub-region. In order to increase the distinctiveness of the proposed descriptor, multiple image neighborhoods are aggregated. Experimental results on several satellite SAR images have shown an improvement in the matching performance over other state-of-the-art algorithms.

  18. Quantification of organ motion based on an adaptive image-based scale invariant feature method

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paganelli, Chiara [Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, piazza L. Da Vinci 32, Milano 20133 (Italy); Peroni, Marta [Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, piazza L. Da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy and Paul Scherrer Institut, Zentrum für Protonentherapie, WMSA/C15, CH-5232 Villigen PSI (Italy); Baroni, Guido; Riboldi, Marco [Dipartimento di Elettronica, Informazione e Bioingegneria, Politecnico di Milano, piazza L. Da Vinci 32, Milano 20133, Italy and Bioengineering Unit, Centro Nazionale di Adroterapia Oncologica, strada Campeggi 53, Pavia 27100 (Italy)

    2013-11-15

    Purpose: The availability of corresponding landmarks in IGRT image series allows quantifying the inter and intrafractional motion of internal organs. In this study, an approach for the automatic localization of anatomical landmarks is presented, with the aim of describing the nonrigid motion of anatomo-pathological structures in radiotherapy treatments according to local image contrast.Methods: An adaptive scale invariant feature transform (SIFT) was developed from the integration of a standard 3D SIFT approach with a local image-based contrast definition. The robustness and invariance of the proposed method to shape-preserving and deformable transforms were analyzed in a CT phantom study. The application of contrast transforms to the phantom images was also tested, in order to verify the variation of the local adaptive measure in relation to the modification of image contrast. The method was also applied to a lung 4D CT dataset, relying on manual feature identification by an expert user as ground truth. The 3D residual distance between matches obtained in adaptive-SIFT was then computed to verify the internal motion quantification with respect to the expert user. Extracted corresponding features in the lungs were used as regularization landmarks in a multistage deformable image registration (DIR) mapping the inhale vs exhale phase. The residual distances between the warped manual landmarks and their reference position in the inhale phase were evaluated, in order to provide a quantitative indication of the registration performed with the three different point sets.Results: The phantom study confirmed the method invariance and robustness properties to shape-preserving and deformable transforms, showing residual matching errors below the voxel dimension. The adapted SIFT algorithm on the 4D CT dataset provided automated and accurate motion detection of peak to peak breathing motion. The proposed method resulted in reduced residual errors with respect to standard SIFT

  19. Lorentz invariance on trial in the weak decay of polarized atoms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mueller, Stefan E., E-mail: s.mueller@kvi.nl [Kernfysisch Versneller Instituut (Netherlands)

    2013-03-15

    One of the most fundamental principles underlying our current understanding of nature is the invariance of the laws of physics under Lorentz transformations. Theories trying to unify the Standard Model with quantum gravity suggest that this invariance may be broken by the presence of Lorentz-violating background fields. Dedicated high-precision experiments at low energies could observe such suppressed signals from the Planck scale. At KVI, a test on Lorentz invariance of the weak interaction is performed searching for a dependence of the decay rate of spin-polarized nuclei on the orientation of their spin with respect to a fixed absolute galactical reference frame. An observation of such a dependence would imply a violation of Lorentz invariance.

  20. Thermal Protection System Cavity Heating for Simplified and Actual Geometries Using Computational Fluid Dynamics Simulations with Unstructured Grids

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCloud, Peter L.

    2010-01-01

    Thermal Protection System (TPS) Cavity Heating is predicted using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) on unstructured grids for both simplified cavities and actual cavity geometries. Validation was performed using comparisons to wind tunnel experimental results and CFD predictions using structured grids. Full-scale predictions were made for simplified and actual geometry configurations on the Space Shuttle Orbiter in a mission support timeframe.

  1. Quark–gluon plasma phenomenology from anisotropic lattice QCD

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Skullerud, Jon-Ivar; Kelly, Aoife [Department of Mathematical Physics, Maynooth University, Maynooth, Co Kildare (Ireland); Aarts, Gert; Allton, Chris; Amato, Alessandro; Evans, P. Wynne M.; Hands, Simon [Department of Physics, Swansea University, Swansea SA2 8PP, Wales (United Kingdom); Burnier, Yannis [Institut de Théorie des Phénomènes Physiques, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, CH–1015 Lausanne (Switzerland); Giudice, Pietro [Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Münster, D–48149 Münster (Germany); Harris, Tim; Ryan, Sinéad M. [School of Mathematics, Trinity College, Dublin 2 (Ireland); Kim, Seyong [Department of Physics, Sejong University, Seoul 143-747 (Korea, Republic of); Lombardo, Maria Paola [INFN–Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, I–00044 Frascati (RM) (Italy); Oktay, Mehmet B. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242 (United States); Rothkopf, Alexander [Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Heidelberg, Philosophenweg 16, D–69120 Heidelberg (Germany)

    2016-01-22

    The FASTSUM collaboration has been carrying out simulations of N{sub f} = 2 + 1 QCD at nonzero temperature in the fixed-scale approach using anisotropic lattices. Here we present the status of these studies, including recent results for electrical conductivity and charge diffusion, and heavy quarkonium (charm and beauty) physics.

  2. The Information Content of Anisotropic Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Scale Measurements

    OpenAIRE

    Ross, Ashley J.; Percival, Will J.; Manera, Marc

    2015-01-01

    Anisotropic measurements of the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) feature within a galaxy survey enable joint inference about the Hubble parameter $H(z)$ and angular diameter distance $D_A(z)$. These measurements are typically obtained from moments of the measured 2-point clustering statistics, with respect to the cosine of the angle to the line of sight $\\mu$. The position of the BAO features in each moment depends on a combination of $D_A(z)$ and $H(z)$, and measuring the positions in two o...

  3. Comparative reliability of structured versus unstructured interviews in the admission process of a residency program.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blouin, Danielle; Day, Andrew G; Pavlov, Andrey

    2011-12-01

    Although never directly compared, structured interviews are reported as being more reliable than unstructured interviews. This study compared the reliability of both types of interview when applied to a common pool of applicants for positions in an emergency medicine residency program. In 2008, one structured interview was added to the two unstructured interviews traditionally used in our resident selection process. A formal job analysis using the critical incident technique guided the development of the structured interview tool. This tool consisted of 7 scenarios assessing 4 of the domains deemed essential for success as a resident in this program. The traditional interview tool assessed 5 general criteria. In addition to these criteria, the unstructured panel members were asked to rate each candidate on the same 4 essential domains rated by the structured panel members. All 3 panels interviewed all candidates. Main outcomes were the overall, interitem, and interrater reliabilities, the correlations between interview panels, and the dimensionality of each interview tool. Thirty candidates were interviewed. The overall reliability reached 0.43 for the structured interview, and 0.81 and 0.71 for the unstructured interviews. Analyses of the variance components showed a high interrater, low interitem reliability for the structured interview, and a high interrater, high interitem reliability for the unstructured interviews. The summary measures from the 2 unstructured interviews were significantly correlated, but neither was correlated with the structured interview. Only the structured interview was multidimensional. A structured interview did not yield a higher overall reliability than both unstructured interviews. The lower reliability is explained by a lower interitem reliability, which in turn is due to the multidimensionality of the interview tool. Both unstructured panels consistently rated a single dimension, even when prompted to assess the 4 specific domains

  4. Bracketing as a skill in conducting unstructured qualitative interviews.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sorsa, Minna Anneli; Kiikkala, Irma; Åstedt-Kurki, Päivi

    2015-03-01

    To provide an overview of bracketing as a skill in unstructured qualitative research interviews. Researchers affect the qualitative research process. Bracketing in descriptive phenomenology entails researchers setting aside their pre-understanding and acting non-judgementally. In interpretative phenomenology, previous knowledge is used intentionally to create new understanding. A literature search of bracketing in phenomenology and qualitative research. This is a methodology paper examining the researchers' impact in creating data in creating data in qualitative research. Self-knowledge, sensitivity and reflexivity of the researcher enable bracketing. Skilled and experienced researchers are needed to use bracketing in unstructured qualitative research interviews. Bracketing adds scientific rigour and validity to any qualitative study.

  5. A study on the effective hydraulic conductivity of an anisotropic porous medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seong, Kwan Jae

    2002-01-01

    Effective hydraulic conductivity of a statistically anisotropic heterogeneous medium is obtained for steady two-dimensional flows employing stochastic analysis. Flow equations are solved up to second order and the effective conductivity is obtained in a semi-analytic form depending only on the spatial correlation function and the anisotropy ratio of the hydraulic conductivity field, hence becoming a true intrinsic property independent of the flow field. Results are obtained using a statistically anisotropic Gaussian correlation function where the anisotropic is defined as the ratio of integral scales normal and parallel to the mean flow direction. Second order results indicate that the effective conductivity of an anisotropic medium is greater than that of an isotropic one when the anisotropy ratio is less than one and vice versa. It is also found that the effective conductivity has upper and lower bounds of the arithmetic and the harmonic mean conductivities

  6. Renormalization scheme invariant predictions for deep-inelastic scattering and determination of ΛQCD

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vovk, V.I.

    1989-01-01

    Theoretical aspects of the renormalization scheme (RS) ambiguity problem and the approaches to its solution are discussed from the point of view of QCD phenomenology and the scale Λ determination. The method of RS-invariant perturbation theory (RSIPT) as a sound basis for describing experiment in QCD is advocated. To this end the method is developed for the non-singlet structure functions (SF) of deep-inelastic scattering and recent high precision data on SF's are analyzed in a RS-invariant way. It is shown that RSIPT leads to a more accurate and reliable determination of the QCD scale Λ, which is consistent with the theoretical assumption of a better convergence of RS-invariant perturbative series. 24 refs.; 1 tab

  7. Warehousing Structured and Unstructured Data for Data Mining.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, L. L.; Honavar, Vasant; Barta, Tom

    1997-01-01

    Describes an extensible object-oriented view system that supports the integration of both structured and unstructured data sources in either the multidatabase or data warehouse environment. Discusses related work and data mining issues. (AEF)

  8. Psychometric properties of the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS: measurement invariance between athletes and non-athletes and construct validity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yi-Hsiang Chiu

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Background Although Perceived Stress Scale (PSS, Cohen, Kamarack & Mermelstein, 1983 has been validated and widely used in many domains, there is still no validation in sports by comparing athletes and non-athletes and examining related psychometric indices. Purpose The purpose of this study was to examine the measurement invariance of PSS between athletes and non-athletes, and examine construct validity and reliability in the sports contexts. Methods Study 1 sampled 359 college student-athletes (males = 233; females = 126 and 242 non-athletes (males = 124; females = 118 and examined factorial structure, measurement invariance and internal consistency. Study 2 sampled 196 student-athletes (males = 139, females = 57, Mage = 19.88 yrs, SD = 1.35 and examined discriminant validity and convergent validity of PSS. Study 3 sampled 37 student-athletes to assess test-retest reliability of PSS. Results Results found that 2-factor PSS-10 fitted the model the best and had appropriate reliability. Also, there was a measurement invariance between athletes and non-athletes; and PSS positively correlated with athletic burnout and life stress but negatively correlated with coping efficacy provided evidence of discriminant validity and convergent validity. Further, the test-retest reliability for PSS subscales was significant (r = .66 and r = .50. Discussion It is suggested that 2-factor PSS-10 can be a useful tool in assessing perceived stress either in sports or non-sports settings. We suggest future study may use 2-factor PSS-10 in examining the effects of stress on the athletic injury, burnout, and psychiatry disorders.

  9. Measurement invariance of the Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0 across gender and racial groups.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carr, Meagan M; Catak, Pelin D; Pejsa-Reitz, Megan C; Saules, Karen K; Gearhardt, Ashley N

    2017-08-01

    Food addiction describes a psychological and behavioral eating pattern that is similar to the experience of those compulsively taking drugs of abuse. Recent developments related to food addiction, including the development and validation of an updated measure (Yale Food Addiction Scale 2.0; Gearhardt, Corbin, & Brownell, 2016), have increased knowledge as to the prevalence and associated correlates of food addiction. However, less is known about the phenomenological experience of food addiction in diverse samples or how the existing measure of food addiction performs in heterogeneous samples. In a cross-sectional survey design, using a diverse sample of undergraduate students (N = 642) tests of measurement invariance were performed. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the hypothesized factor structure, indicating a single latent construct of food addiction modeled by 11 dichotomous indicators, in samples of White and Black participants as well as samples of men and women. Measurement invariance testing across the various demographic groups broadly provided good psychometric support for use of the measure. However, a single indicator related to attempts to cut down on highly palatable food varied across men and women. Thus, when using the measure in mixed gender samples researchers may consider obtaining additional information regarding gender and its relative impact on the experience of food addiction, particularly with respect to efforts to quit or cut down intake of highly palatable foods. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  10. Unstructured Cartesian refinement with sharp interface immersed boundary method for 3D unsteady incompressible flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angelidis, Dionysios; Chawdhary, Saurabh; Sotiropoulos, Fotis

    2016-11-01

    A novel numerical method is developed for solving the 3D, unsteady, incompressible Navier-Stokes equations on locally refined fully unstructured Cartesian grids in domains with arbitrarily complex immersed boundaries. Owing to the utilization of the fractional step method on an unstructured Cartesian hybrid staggered/non-staggered grid layout, flux mismatch and pressure discontinuity issues are avoided and the divergence free constraint is inherently satisfied to machine zero. Auxiliary/hanging nodes are used to facilitate the discretization of the governing equations. The second-order accuracy of the solver is ensured by using multi-dimension Lagrange interpolation operators and appropriate differencing schemes at the interface of regions with different levels of refinement. The sharp interface immersed boundary method is augmented with local near-boundary refinement to handle arbitrarily complex boundaries. The discrete momentum equation is solved with the matrix free Newton-Krylov method and the Krylov-subspace method is employed to solve the Poisson equation. The second-order accuracy of the proposed method on unstructured Cartesian grids is demonstrated by solving the Poisson equation with a known analytical solution. A number of three-dimensional laminar flow simulations of increasing complexity illustrate the ability of the method to handle flows across a range of Reynolds numbers and flow regimes. Laminar steady and unsteady flows past a sphere and the oblique vortex shedding from a circular cylinder mounted between two end walls demonstrate the accuracy, the efficiency and the smooth transition of scales and coherent structures across refinement levels. Large-eddy simulation (LES) past a miniature wind turbine rotor, parameterized using the actuator line approach, indicates the ability of the fully unstructured solver to simulate complex turbulent flows. Finally, a geometry resolving LES of turbulent flow past a complete hydrokinetic turbine illustrates

  11. Fracture of anisotropic materials with plastic strain-gradient effects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Legarth, Brian Nyvang

    2013-01-01

    A unit cell is adopted to numerically analyze the effect of plastic anisotropy on frac-ture evolution in a micro-reinforced fiber-composite. The matrix material exhibit size-effects and an anisotropic strain-gradient plasticity model accounting for such size-effects through a mate-rial length scale...

  12. Entanglement of periodic anisotropic XY chains

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Lifa; Tong Peiqing

    2005-01-01

    By using the concept of concurrence, the entanglement of periodic anisotropic XY chains in a transverse field is studied numerically. It is found that the derivatives ∂ λ C(1) of nearest-neighbour concurrence diverge at quantum critical points. By proper scaling, we found that all the derivatives ∂ λ C(1) for periodic XY chains in the vicinity of quantum critical points have the same behaviours as that of a uniform chain

  13. Optimization-based Fluid Simulation on Unstructured Meshes

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Misztal, Marek Krzysztof; Bridson, Robert; Erleben, Kenny

    2010-01-01

    for solving the fluid dynamics equations as well as direct access to the interface geometry data, making in- clusion of a new surface energy term feasible. Furthermore, using an unstructured mesh makes it straightforward to handle curved solid boundaries and gives us a possibility to explore several fluid...

  14. Multi-clues image retrieval based on improved color invariants

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Liu; Li, Jian-Xun

    2012-05-01

    At present, image retrieval has a great progress in indexing efficiency and memory usage, which mainly benefits from the utilization of the text retrieval technology, such as the bag-of-features (BOF) model and the inverted-file structure. Meanwhile, because the robust local feature invariants are selected to establish BOF, the retrieval precision of BOF is enhanced, especially when it is applied to a large-scale database. However, these local feature invariants mainly consider the geometric variance of the objects in the images, and thus the color information of the objects fails to be made use of. Because of the development of the information technology and Internet, the majority of our retrieval objects is color images. Therefore, retrieval performance can be further improved through proper utilization of the color information. We propose an improved method through analyzing the flaw of shadow-shading quasi-invariant. The response and performance of shadow-shading quasi-invariant for the object edge with the variance of lighting are enhanced. The color descriptors of the invariant regions are extracted and integrated into BOF based on the local feature. The robustness of the algorithm and the improvement of the performance are verified in the final experiments.

  15. Anisotropic perturbations and stability of a static universe in f(G,T) gravity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharif, M.; Ikram, Ayesha

    2017-12-01

    The aim of this paper is to analyze the stability of the Einstein universe against anisotropic homogeneous perturbations in f(G,T) gravity ( G and T represent the Gauss-Bonnet invariant and trace of the energy-momentum tensor, respectively). The corresponding field equations are constructed for static as well as perturbed configurations in the presence of a perfect fluid. We consider two specific forms of generic function f(G,T) associated with zero as well as non-zero covariant divergence of the energy-momentum tensor and explore the stability regions of the Einstein universe parameterized by the equation of state parameter. It is concluded that a stable Einstein universe exists for an appropriate choice of model parameters.

  16. A Parallel Multiblock Structured Grid Method with Automated Interblocked Unstructured Grids for Chemically Reacting Flows

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spiegel, Seth Christian

    An automated method for using unstructured grids to patch non- C0 interfaces between structured blocks has been developed in conjunction with a finite-volume method for solving chemically reacting flows on unstructured grids. Although the standalone unstructured solver, FVFLO-NCSU, is capable of resolving flows for high-speed aeropropulsion devices with complex geometries, unstructured-mesh algorithms are inherently inefficient when compared to their structured counterparts. However, the advantages of structured algorithms in developing a flow solution in a timely manner can be negated by the amount of time required to develop a mesh for complex geometries. The global domain can be split up into numerous smaller blocks during the grid-generation process to alleviate some of the difficulties in creating these complex meshes. An even greater abatement can be found by allowing the nodes on abutting block interfaces to be nonmatching or non-C 0 continuous. One code capable of solving chemically reacting flows on these multiblock grids is VULCAN, which uses a nonconservative approach for patching non-C0 block interfaces. The developed automated unstructured-grid patching algorithm has been installed within VULCAN to provide it the capability of a fully conservative approach for patching non-C0 block interfaces. Additionally, the FVFLO-NCSU solver algorithms have been deeply intertwined with the VULCAN source code to solve chemically reacting flows on these unstructured patches. Finally, the CGNS software library was added to the VULCAN postprocessor so structured and unstructured data can be stored in a single compact file. This final upgrade to VULCAN has been successfully installed and verified using test cases with particular interest towards those involving grids with non- C0 block interfaces.

  17. Invariant and Absolute Invariant Means of Double Sequences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abdullah Alotaibi

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available We examine some properties of the invariant mean, define the concepts of strong σ-convergence and absolute σ-convergence for double sequences, and determine the associated sublinear functionals. We also define the absolute invariant mean through which the space of absolutely σ-convergent double sequences is characterized.

  18. Strongly first-order electroweak phase transition and classical scale invariance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farzinnia, Arsham; Ren, Jing

    2014-10-01

    In this work, we examine the possibility of realizing a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition within the minimal classically scale-invariant extension of the standard model (SM), previously proposed and analyzed as a potential solution to the hierarchy problem. By introducing one complex gauge-singlet scalar and three (weak scale) right-handed Majorana neutrinos, the scenario was successfully rendered capable of achieving a radiative breaking of the electroweak symmetry (by means of the Coleman-Weinberg mechanism), inducing nonzero masses for the SM neutrinos (via the seesaw mechanism), presenting a pseudoscalar dark matter candidate (protected by the CP symmetry of the potential), and predicting the existence of a second CP-even boson (with suppressed couplings to the SM content) in addition to the 125 GeV scalar. In the present treatment, we construct the full finite-temperature one-loop effective potential of the model, including the resummed thermal daisy loops, and demonstrate that finite-temperature effects induce a first-order electroweak phase transition. Requiring the thermally driven first-order phase transition to be sufficiently strong at the onset of the bubble nucleation (corresponding to nucleation temperatures TN˜100-200 GeV) further constrains the model's parameter space; in particular, an O(0.01) fraction of the dark matter in the Universe may be simultaneously accommodated with a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition. Moreover, such a phase transition disfavors right-handed Majorana neutrino masses above several hundreds of GeV, confines the pseudoscalar dark matter masses to ˜1-2 TeV, predicts the mass of the second CP-even scalar to be ˜100-300 GeV, and requires the mixing angle between the CP-even components of the SM doublet and the complex singlet to lie within the range 0.2≲sinω ≲0.4. The obtained results are displayed in comprehensive exclusion plots, identifying the viable regions of the parameter space

  19. A three-dimensional electrostatic particle-in-cell methodology on unstructured Delaunay-Voronoi grids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gatsonis, Nikolaos A.; Spirkin, Anton

    2009-01-01

    The mathematical formulation and computational implementation of a three-dimensional particle-in-cell methodology on unstructured Delaunay-Voronoi tetrahedral grids is presented. The method allows simulation of plasmas in complex domains and incorporates the duality of the Delaunay-Voronoi in all aspects of the particle-in-cell cycle. Charge assignment and field interpolation weighting schemes of zero- and first-order are formulated based on the theory of long-range constraints. Electric potential and fields are derived from a finite-volume formulation of Gauss' law using the Voronoi-Delaunay dual. Boundary conditions and the algorithms for injection, particle loading, particle motion, and particle tracking are implemented for unstructured Delaunay grids. Error and sensitivity analysis examines the effects of particles/cell, grid scaling, and timestep on the numerical heating, the slowing-down time, and the deflection times. The problem of current collection by cylindrical Langmuir probes in collisionless plasmas is used for validation. Numerical results compare favorably with previous numerical and analytical solutions for a wide range of probe radius to Debye length ratios, probe potentials, and electron to ion temperature ratios. The versatility of the methodology is demonstrated with the simulation of a complex plasma microsensor, a directional micro-retarding potential analyzer that includes a low transparency micro-grid.

  20. Anisotropic contrast optical microscope.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peev, D; Hofmann, T; Kananizadeh, N; Beeram, S; Rodriguez, E; Wimer, S; Rodenhausen, K B; Herzinger, C M; Kasputis, T; Pfaunmiller, E; Nguyen, A; Korlacki, R; Pannier, A; Li, Y; Schubert, E; Hage, D; Schubert, M

    2016-11-01

    An optical microscope is described that reveals contrast in the Mueller matrix images of a thin, transparent, or semi-transparent specimen located within an anisotropic object plane (anisotropic filter). The specimen changes the anisotropy of the filter and thereby produces contrast within the Mueller matrix images. Here we use an anisotropic filter composed of a semi-transparent, nanostructured thin film with sub-wavelength thickness placed within the object plane. The sample is illuminated as in common optical microscopy but the light is modulated in its polarization using combinations of linear polarizers and phase plate (compensator) to control and analyze the state of polarization. Direct generalized ellipsometry data analysis approaches permit extraction of fundamental Mueller matrix object plane images dispensing with the need of Fourier expansion methods. Generalized ellipsometry model approaches are used for quantitative image analyses. These images are obtained from sets of multiple images obtained under various polarizer, analyzer, and compensator settings. Up to 16 independent Mueller matrix images can be obtained, while our current setup is limited to 11 images normalized by the unpolarized intensity. We demonstrate the anisotropic contrast optical microscope by measuring lithographically defined micro-patterned anisotropic filters, and we quantify the adsorption of an organic self-assembled monolayer film onto the anisotropic filter. Comparison with an isotropic glass slide demonstrates the image enhancement obtained by our method over microscopy without the use of an anisotropic filter. In our current instrument, we estimate the limit of detection for organic volumetric mass within the object plane of ≈49 fg within ≈7 × 7 μm 2 object surface area. Compared to a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation instrumentation, where contemporary limits require a total load of ≈500 pg for detection, the instrumentation demonstrated here improves

  1. Effect of anisotropic plasticity on mixed mode interface crack growth

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Tvergaard, Viggo; Legarth, Brian Nyvang

    2007-01-01

    different anisotropic yield criteria to account for the plastic anisotropy. Conditions of small-scale yielding are assumed, and due to the mismatch of elastic properties across the interface the corresponding oscillating stress singularity field is applied as boundary conditions on the outer edge...

  2. A continuum anisotropic damage model with unilateral effect

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Alliche

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available A continuum damage mechanics model has been derived within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics with internal variables in order to describe the behaviour of quasi-brittle materials under various loading paths. The anisotropic character induced by the progressive material degradation is explicitly taken into account, and the Helmholtz free energy is a scalar function of the basic invariants of the second order strain and damage tensors. The elastic response varies depending on the closed or open configuration of defects. The constitutive laws derived within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics theory display a dissymmetry as well as unilateral effects under tensile and compressive loading conditions. This approach verifies continuity and uniqueness of the potential energy. An application to uniaxial tension-compression loading shows a good adequacy with experimental results when available, and realistic evolutions for computed stresses and strains otherwise.

  3. Invariant object recognition based on the generalized discrete radon transform

    Science.gov (United States)

    Easley, Glenn R.; Colonna, Flavia

    2004-04-01

    We introduce a method for classifying objects based on special cases of the generalized discrete Radon transform. We adjust the transform and the corresponding ridgelet transform by means of circular shifting and a singular value decomposition (SVD) to obtain a translation, rotation and scaling invariant set of feature vectors. We then use a back-propagation neural network to classify the input feature vectors. We conclude with experimental results and compare these with other invariant recognition methods.

  4. Permutationally invariant state reconstruction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Moroder, Tobias; Hyllus, Philipp; Tóth, Géza

    2012-01-01

    Feasible tomography schemes for large particle numbers must possess, besides an appropriate data acquisition protocol, an efficient way to reconstruct the density operator from the observed finite data set. Since state reconstruction typically requires the solution of a nonlinear large-scale opti...... optimization, which has clear advantages regarding speed, control and accuracy in comparison to commonly employed numerical routines. First prototype implementations easily allow reconstruction of a state of 20 qubits in a few minutes on a standard computer.......-scale optimization problem, this is a major challenge in the design of scalable tomography schemes. Here we present an efficient state reconstruction scheme for permutationally invariant quantum state tomography. It works for all common state-of-the-art reconstruction principles, including, in particular, maximum...

  5. Small-scale phase separation in doped anisotropic antiferromagnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kagan, M Yu; Kugel, K I; Rakhmanov, A L; Pazhitnykh, K S

    2006-01-01

    We analyse the possibility of nanoscale phase separation manifesting itself in the formation of ferromagnetic (FM) polarons (FM droplets) in the general situation of doped anisotropic three- and two-dimensional antiferromagnets. In these cases, we calculate the shape of the most energetically favourable droplets. We show that the binding energy and the volume of a FM droplet in the three-dimensional (3D) case depend upon only two universal parameters J-bar=(J x +J y +J z )S 2 and t eff (t x t y t z ) 1/3 , where J-bar and t eff are effective antiferromagnetic (AFM) exchange and hopping integrals, respectively. In the two-dimensional (2D) case these parameters have the form J-bar=(J x +J y )S 2 and t eff (t x t y ) 1/2 . The most favourable shape of a ferromagnetic droplet corresponds to an ellipse in the 2D case and to an ellipsoid in the 3D case

  6. Measurement of Anisotropic Particle Interactions with Nonuniform ac Electric Fields.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rupp, Bradley; Torres-Díaz, Isaac; Hua, Xiaoqing; Bevan, Michael A

    2018-02-20

    Optical microscopy measurements are reported for single anisotropic polymer particles interacting with nonuniform ac electric fields. The present study is limited to conditions where gravity confines particles with their long axis parallel to the substrate such that particles can be treated using quasi-2D analysis. Field parameters are investigated that result in particles residing at either electric field maxima or minima and with long axes oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the electric field direction. By nonintrusively observing thermally sampled positions and orientations at different field frequencies and amplitudes, a Boltzmann inversion of the time-averaged probability of states yields kT-scale energy landscapes (including dipole-field, particle-substrate, and gravitational potentials). The measured energy landscapes show agreement with theoretical potentials using particle conductivity as the sole adjustable material property. Understanding anisotropic particle-field energy landscapes vs field parameters enables quantitative control of local forces and torques on single anisotropic particles to manipulate their position and orientation within nonuniform fields.

  7. The Status Quo of Ontology Learning from Unstructured Knowledge Sources for Knowledge Management

    OpenAIRE

    Scheuermann , Andreas; Obermann , Jens

    2012-01-01

    International audience; In the global race for competitive advantage Knowledge Management gains increasing importance for companies. The purposeful and systematic creation, maintenance, and transfer of unstructured knowledge sources demands for advanced Information Technology. Ontologies constitute a basic ingredient of Knowledge Management; thus, ontology learning from unstructured knowledge sources is of particular interest since it bears the potential to bring significant advantages for Kn...

  8. Scale symmetry and virial theorem

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Westenholz, C. von

    1978-01-01

    Scale symmetry (or dilatation invariance) is discussed in terms of Noether's Theorem expressed in terms of a symmetry group action on phase space endowed with a symplectic structure. The conventional conceptual approach expressing invariance of some Hamiltonian under scale transformations is re-expressed in alternate form by infinitesimal automorphisms of the given symplectic structure. That is, the vector field representing scale transformations leaves the symplectic structure invariant. In this model, the conserved quantity or constant of motion related to scale symmetry is the virial. It is shown that the conventional virial theorem can be derived within this framework

  9. Invariant and semi-invariant probabilistic normed spaces

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ghaemi, M.B. [School of Mathematics Iran, University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)], E-mail: mghaemi@iust.ac.ir; Lafuerza-Guillen, B. [Departamento de Estadistica y Matematica Aplicada, Universidad de Almeria, Almeria E-04120 (Spain)], E-mail: blafuerz@ual.es; Saiedinezhad, S. [School of Mathematics Iran, University of Science and Technology, Narmak, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)], E-mail: ssaiedinezhad@yahoo.com

    2009-10-15

    Probabilistic metric spaces were introduced by Karl Menger. Alsina, Schweizer and Sklar gave a general definition of probabilistic normed space based on the definition of Menger . We introduce the concept of semi-invariance among the PN spaces. In this paper we will find a sufficient condition for some PN spaces to be semi-invariant. We will show that PN spaces are normal spaces. Urysohn's lemma, and Tietze extension theorem for them are proved.

  10. Effect of an anisotropic escape mechanism on elliptic flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaiswal, Amaresh; Bhaduri, Partha Pratim

    2018-04-01

    We study the effect of an anisotropic escape mechanism on elliptic flow in relativistic heavy-ion collisions. We use the Glauber model to generate initial conditions and ignore hydrodynamic expansion in the transverse direction. We employ the Beer-Lambert law to allow for the transmittance of produced hadrons in the medium and calculate the anisotropy generated due to the suppression of particles traversing through the medium. To separate non-flow contribution due to surface bias effects, we ignore hydrodynamic expansion in the transverse direction and consider purely longitudinal boost-invariant expansion. We calculate the transverse momentum dependence of elliptic flow, generated from an anisotropic escape mechanism due to surface bias effects, for various centralities in √{sN N}=200 GeV Au +Au collisions at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider and √{sN N}=2.76 TeV Pb +Pb collisions at the Large Hadron Collider. We find that the surface bias effects make a sizable contribution to the total elliptic flow observed in heavy-ion collisions, indicating that the viscosity of the QCD matter extracted from hydrodynamic simulations may be underestimated.

  11. Measurement invariance of the people of Color Racial Identity Attitudes Scale with Asian Americans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Matthew J; Alvarez, Alvin N; Li, Robin; Chen, Grace A; Iwamoto, Derek K

    2016-01-01

    Racial identity has been linked to a number of important psychological outcomes, including perceptions of racism, self-esteem, and psychological well-being in Asian American populations. Although the People of Color Racial Identity Attitudes Scale (PRIAS; Helms, 1995) is the most widely used measure in Asian American racial identity research, numerous competing measurement models of the PRIAS have been identified in independent Asian American samples. Therefore, this study tested these competing PRIAS measurement models and also examined PRIAS measurement invariance across generational status, gender, and ethnicity using a combined sample of 1,946 Asian American college students and community adults. Study findings demonstrated the superiority of a 12-item 4-factor PRIAS measurement model that was consistent with Helms's original racial identity theory, suggesting that the PRIAS operates in an equivalent manner across generational status, gender, and ethnicity. Study limitations and future directions for research are discussed. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

  12. Anisotropic square lattice Potts ferromagnet: renormalization group treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Oliveira, P.M.C. de; Tsallis, C.

    1981-01-01

    The choice of a convenient self-dual cell within a real space renormalization group framework enables a satisfactory treatment of the anisotropic square lattice q-state Potts ferromagnet criticality. The exact critical frontier and dimensionality crossover exponent PHI as well as the expected universality behaviour (renormalization flow sense) are recovered for any linear scaling factor b and all values of q(q - [pt

  13. Renormalization of Hořava gravity

    CERN Document Server

    Barvinsky, Andrei O.; Herrero-Valea, Mario; Sibiryakov, Sergey M.; Steinwachs, Christian F.

    2016-01-01

    We prove perturbative renormalizability of projectable Horava gravity. The key element of the argument is the choice of a gauge which ensures the correct anisotropic scaling of the propagators and their uniform falloff at large frequencies and momenta. This guarantees that the counterterms required to absorb the loop divergences are local and marginal or relevant with respect to the anisotropic scaling. Gauge invariance of the counterterms is achieved by making use of the background-covariant formalism. We also comment on the difficulties of this approach when addressing the renormalizability of the non-projectable model.

  14. Rotationally invariant correlation filtering

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Schils, G.F.; Sweeney, D.W.

    1985-01-01

    A method is presented for analyzing and designing optical correlation filters that have tailored rotational invariance properties. The concept of a correlation of an image with a rotation of itself is introduced. A unified theory of rotation-invariant filtering is then formulated. The unified approach describes matched filters (with no rotation invariance) and circular-harmonic filters (with full rotation invariance) as special cases. The continuum of intermediate cases is described in terms of a cyclic convolution operation over angle. The angular filtering approach allows an exact choice for the continuous trade-off between loss of the correlation energy (or specificity regarding the image) and the amount of rotational invariance desired

  15. Inhomogeneous anisotropic cosmology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kleban, Matthew; Senatore, Leonardo

    2016-01-01

    In homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology, the topology of the universe determines its ultimate fate. If the Weak Energy Condition is satisfied, open and flat universes must expand forever, while closed cosmologies can recollapse to a Big Crunch. A similar statement holds for homogeneous but anisotropic (Bianchi) universes. Here, we prove that arbitrarily inhomogeneous and anisotropic cosmologies with “flat” (including toroidal) and “open” (including compact hyperbolic) spatial topology that are initially expanding must continue to expand forever at least in some region at a rate bounded from below by a positive number, despite the presence of arbitrarily large density fluctuations and/or the formation of black holes. Because the set of 3-manifold topologies is countable, a single integer determines the ultimate fate of the universe, and, in a specific sense, most 3-manifolds are “flat” or “open”. Our result has important implications for inflation: if there is a positive cosmological constant (or suitable inflationary potential) and initial conditions for the inflaton, cosmologies with “flat” or “open” topology must expand forever in some region at least as fast as de Sitter space, and are therefore very likely to begin inflationary expansion eventually, regardless of the scale of the inflationary energy or the spectrum and amplitude of initial inhomogeneities and gravitational waves. Our result is also significant for numerical general relativity, which often makes use of periodic (toroidal) boundary conditions.

  16. Micromechanics model for predicting anisotropic electrical conductivity of carbon fiber composite materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haider, Mohammad Faisal; Haider, Md. Mushfique; Yasmeen, Farzana

    2016-07-01

    Heterogeneous materials, such as composites consist of clearly distinguishable constituents (or phases) that show different electrical properties. Multifunctional composites have anisotropic electrical properties that can be tailored for a particular application. The effective anisotropic electrical conductivity of composites is strongly affected by many parameters including volume fractions, distributions, and orientations of constituents. Given the electrical properties of the constituents, one important goal of micromechanics of materials consists of predicting electrical response of the heterogeneous material on the basis of the geometries and properties of the individual phases, a task known as homogenization. The benefit of homogenization is that the behavior of a heterogeneous material can be determined without resorting or testing it. Furthermore, continuum micromechanics can predict the full multi-axial properties and responses of inhomogeneous materials, which are anisotropic in nature. Effective electrical conductivity estimation is performed by using classical micromechanics techniques (composite cylinder assemblage method) that investigates the effect of the fiber/matrix electrical properties and their volume fractions on the micro scale composite response. The composite cylinder assemblage method (CCM) is an analytical theory that is based on the assumption that composites are in a state of periodic structure. The CCM was developed to extend capabilities variable fiber shape/array availability with same volume fraction, interphase analysis, etc. The CCM is a continuum-based micromechanics model that provides closed form expressions for upper level length scales such as macro-scale composite responses in terms of the properties, shapes, orientations and constituent distributions at lower length levels such as the micro-scale.

  17. Properties of invariant modelling and invariant glueing of vector fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Petukhov, V.R.

    1987-01-01

    Invariant modelling and invariant glueing of both continuous (rates and accelerations) and descrete vector fields, gradient and divergence cases are considered. The following appendices are discussed: vector fields in crystals, crystal disclinations, topological charges and their fields

  18. Domain decomposition multigrid for unstructured grids

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shapira, Yair

    1997-01-01

    A two-level preconditioning method for the solution of elliptic boundary value problems using finite element schemes on possibly unstructured meshes is introduced. It is based on a domain decomposition and a Galerkin scheme for the coarse level vertex unknowns. For both the implementation and the analysis, it is not required that the curves of discontinuity in the coefficients of the PDE match the interfaces between subdomains. Generalizations to nonmatching or overlapping grids are made.

  19. Noether symmetry analysis of anisotropic universe in modified gravity

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shamir, M.F.; Kanwal, Fiza [National University of Computer and Emerging Sciences, Department of Sciences and Humanities, Lahore (Pakistan)

    2017-05-15

    In this paper we study the anisotropic universe using Noether symmetries in modified gravity. In particular, we choose a locally rotationally symmetric Bianchi type-I universe for the analysis in f(R, G) gravity, where R is the Ricci scalar and G is the Gauss-Bonnet invariant. Firstly, a model f(R, G) = f{sub 0}R{sup l} + f{sub 1}G{sup n} is proposed and the corresponding Noether symmetries are investigated. We have also recovered the Noether symmetries for f(R) and f(G) theories of gravity. Secondly, some important cosmological solutions are reconstructed. Exponential and power-law solutions are reported for a well-known f(R, G) model, i.e., f(R, G) = f{sub 0}R{sup n}G{sup 1-n}. Especially, Kasner's solution is recovered and it is anticipated that the familiar de Sitter spacetime giving ΛCDM cosmology may be reconstructed for some suitable value of n. (orig.)

  20. Psychometric evaluation of the internalized stigma of mental illness scale for patients with mental illnesses: measurement invariance across time.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chih-Cheng Chang

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The current investigation examined the psychometric properties of the Internalized Stigma of Mental Illness (ISMI scale in a sample of patients with mental illness. In addition to the internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity that previous studies have tested for the ISMI, we extended the evaluation to its construct validity and measurement invariance using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA. METHODS: Three hundred forty-seven participants completed two questionnaires (i.e., the ISMI and the Depression and Somatic Symptoms Scale [DSSS], and 162 filled out the ISMI again after 50.23±31.18 days. RESULTS: The results of this study confirmed the frame structure of the ISMI; however, the Stigma Resistance subscale in the ISMI seemed weak. In addition, internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and concurrent validity were all satisfactory for all subscales and the total score of the ISMI, except for Stigma Resistance (α = 0.66; ICC = 0.52, and r = 0.02 to 0.06 with DSSS. Therefore, we hypothesize that Stigma Resistance is a new concept rather than a concept in internalized stigma. The acceptable fit indices supported the measurement invariance of the ISMI across time, and suggested that people with mental illness interpret the ISMI items the same at different times. CONCLUSION: The clinical implication of our finding is that clinicians, when they design interventions, may want to use the valid and reliable ISMI without the Stigma Resistance subscale to evaluate the internalized stigma of people with mental illness.

  1. Smooth Bézier surfaces over unstructured quadrilateral meshes

    CERN Document Server

    Bercovier, Michel

    2017-01-01

    Using an elegant mixture of geometry, graph theory and linear analysis, this monograph completely solves a problem lying at the interface of Isogeometric Analysis (IgA) and Finite Element Methods (FEM). The recent explosion of IgA, strongly tying Computer Aided Geometry Design to Analysis, does not easily apply to the rich variety of complex shapes that engineers have to design and analyse. Therefore new developments have studied the extension of IgA to unstructured unions of meshes, similar to those one can find in FEM. The following problem arises: given an unstructured planar quadrilateral mesh, construct a C1-surface, by piecewise Bézier or B-Spline patches defined over this mesh. This problem is solved for C1-surfaces defined over plane bilinear Bézier patches, the corresponding results for B-Splines then being simple consequences. The method can be extended to higher-order quadrilaterals and even to three dimensions, and the most recent developments in this direction are also mentioned here.

  2. Anisotropic and Hierarchical Porosity in Multifunctional Ceramics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lichtner, Aaron Zev

    The performance of multifunctional porous ceramics is often hindered by the seemingly contradictory effects of porosity on both mechanical and non-structural properties and yet a sufficient body of knowledge linking microstructure to these properties does not exist. Using a combination of tailored anisotropic and hierarchical materials, these disparate effects may be reconciled. In this project, a systematic investigation of the processing, characterization and properties of anisotropic and isotropic hierarchically porous ceramics was conducted. The system chosen was a composite ceramic intended as the cathode for a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Comprehensive processing investigations led to the development of approaches to make hierarchical, anisotropic porous microstructures using directional freeze-casting of well dispersed slurries. The effect of all the important processing parameters was investigated. This resulted in an ability to tailor and control the important microstructural features including the scale of the microstructure, the macropore size and total porosity. Comparable isotropic porous ceramics were also processed using fugitive pore formers. A suite of characterization techniques including x-ray tomography and 3-D sectional scanning electron micrographs (FIB-SEM) was used to characterize and quantify the green and partially sintered microstructures. The effect of sintering temperature on the microstructure was quantified and discrete element simulations (DEM) were used to explain the experimental observations. Finally, the comprehensive mechanical properties, at room temperature, were investigated, experimentally and using DEM, for the different microstructures.

  3. Memory assessment and depression: testing for factor structure and measurement invariance of the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition across a clinical and matched control sample.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauls, Franz; Petermann, Franz; Lepach, Anja Christina

    2013-01-01

    Between-group comparisons are permissible and meaningfully interpretable only if diagnostic instruments are proved to measure the same latent dimensions across different groups. Addressing this issue, the present study was carried out to provide a rigorous test of measurement invariance. Confirmatory factor analyses were used to determine which model solution could best explain memory performance as measured by the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition (WMS-IV) in a clinical depression sample and in healthy controls. Multigroup confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to evaluate the evidence for measurement invariance. A three-factor model solution including the dimensions of auditory memory, visual memory, and visual working memory was identified to best fit the data in both samples, and measurement invariance was partially satisfied. The results supported clinical utility of the WMS-IV--that is, auditory and visual memory performances of patients with depressive disorders are interpretable on the basis of the WMS-IV standardization data. However, possible differences in visual working memory functions between healthy and depressed individuals could restrict comparisons of the WMS-IV working memory index.

  4. Alabama Parenting Questionnaire-9: Longitudinal Measurement Invariance Across Parents and Youth During the Transition to High School.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gross, Thomas J; Fleming, Charles B; Mason, W Alex; Haggerty, Kevin P

    2017-07-01

    The Alabama Parenting Questionnaire nine-item short form (APQ-9) is an often used assessment of parenting in research and applied settings. It uses parent and youth ratings for three scales: Positive Parenting, Inconsistent Discipline, and Poor Supervision. The purpose of this study is to examine the longitudinal invariance of the APQ-9 for both parents and youth, and the multigroup invariance between parents and youth during the transition from middle school to high school. Parent and youth longitudinal configural, metric, and scalar invariance for the APQ-9 were supported when tested separately. However, the multigroup invariance tests indicated that scalar invariance was not achieved between parent and youth ratings. Essentially, parent and youth mean scores for Positive Parenting, Inconsistent Discipline, and Poor Supervision can be independently compared across the transition from middle school to high school. However, comparing parent and youth scores across the APQ-9 scales may not be meaningful.

  5. Tuning the effects of Landau level mixing on anisotropic transport in quantum Hall systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smith, Peter M; Kennett, Malcolm P

    2012-01-01

    Electron-electron interactions in half-filled high Landau levels in two-dimensional electron gases in a strong perpendicular magnetic field can lead to states with anisotropic longitudinal resistance. This longitudinal resistance is generally believed to arise from broken rotational invariance, which is indicated by charge density wave order in Hartree-Fock calculations. We use the Hartree-Fock approximation to study the influence of externally tuned Landau level mixing on the formation of interaction-induced states that break rotational invariance in two-dimensional electron and hole systems. We focus on the situation when there are two non-interacting states in the vicinity of the Fermi level and construct a Landau theory to study coupled charge density wave order that can occur as interactions are tuned and the filling or mixing are varied. We consider numerically a specific example where mixing is tuned externally through Rashba spin-orbit coupling. We calculate the phase diagram and find the possibility of ordering involving coupled striped or triangular charge density waves in the two levels. Our results may be relevant to recent transport experiments on quantum Hall nematics in which Landau level mixing plays an important role. (paper)

  6. A survey of simultaneous localization and mapping on unstructured lunar complex environment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yiqiao; Zhang, Wei; An, Pei

    2017-10-01

    Simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology is the key to realizing lunar rover's intelligent perception and autonomous navigation. It embodies the autonomous ability of mobile robot, and has attracted plenty of concerns of researchers in the past thirty years. Visual sensors are meaningful to SLAM research because they can provide a wealth of information. Visual SLAM uses merely images as external information to estimate the location of the robot and construct the environment map. Nowadays, SLAM technology still has problems when applied in large-scale, unstructured and complex environment. Based on the latest technology in the field of visual SLAM, this paper investigates and summarizes the SLAM technology using in the unstructured complex environment of lunar surface. In particular, we focus on summarizing and comparing the detection and matching of features of SIFT, SURF and ORB, in the meanwhile discussing their advantages and disadvantages. We have analyzed the three main methods: SLAM Based on Extended Kalman Filter, SLAM Based on Particle Filter and SLAM Based on Graph Optimization (EKF-SLAM, PF-SLAM and Graph-based SLAM). Finally, this article summarizes and discusses the key scientific and technical difficulties in the lunar context that Visual SLAM faces. At the same time, we have explored the frontier issues such as multi-sensor fusion SLAM and multi-robot cooperative SLAM technology. We also predict and prospect the development trend of lunar rover SLAM technology, and put forward some ideas of further research.

  7. Diffusion on unstructured triangular grids using Lattice Boltzmann

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Sman, van der R.G.M.

    2004-01-01

    In this paper, we present a Lattice Boltzmann scheme for diffusion on unstructured triangular grids. In this formulation there is no need for interpolation, as is required in other LB schemes on irregular grids. At the end of the propagation step, the lattice gas particles arrive exactly at

  8. Saving Moore’s Law Down To 1 nm Channels With Anisotropic Effective Mass

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ilatikhameneh, Hesameddin; Ameen, Tarek; Novakovic, Bozidar; Tan, Yaohua; Klimeck, Gerhard; Rahman, Rajib

    2016-08-01

    Scaling transistors’ dimensions has been the thrust for the semiconductor industry in the last four decades. However, scaling channel lengths beyond 10 nm has become exceptionally challenging due to the direct tunneling between source and drain which degrades gate control, switching functionality, and worsens power dissipation. Fortunately, the emergence of novel classes of materials with exotic properties in recent times has opened up new avenues in device design. Here, we show that by using channel materials with an anisotropic effective mass, the channel can be scaled down to 1 nm and still provide an excellent switching performance in phosphorene nanoribbon MOSFETs. To solve power consumption challenge besides dimension scaling in conventional transistors, a novel tunnel transistor is proposed which takes advantage of anisotropic mass in both ON- and OFF-state of the operation. Full-band atomistic quantum transport simulations of phosphorene nanoribbon MOSFETs and TFETs based on the new design have been performed as a proof.

  9. Remarks on the E-invariant and the Casson invariant

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seade, J.

    1991-08-01

    In this work a framed manifold means a pair (M,F) consisting of a closed C ∞ , stably parallelizable manifold M, together with a trivialization F of its stable tangent bundle. The purpose of this work is to understand and determine in higher dimensions the invariant h(M,F) appearing in connection with the Adams e-invariants. 28 refs

  10. Invariants of generalized Lie algebras

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Agrawala, V.K.

    1981-01-01

    Invariants and invariant multilinear forms are defined for generalized Lie algebras with arbitrary grading and commutation factor. Explicit constructions of invariants and vector operators are given by contracting invariant forms with basic elements of the generalized Lie algebra. The use of the matrix of a linear map between graded vector spaces is emphasized. With the help of this matrix, the concept of graded trace of a linear operator is introduced, which is a rich source of multilinear forms of degree zero. To illustrate the use of invariants, a characteristic identity similar to that of Green is derived and a few Racah coefficients are evaluated in terms of invariants

  11. 3D anisotropic modeling and identification for airborne EM systems based on the spectral-element method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Xin; Yin, Chang-Chun; Cao, Xiao-Yue; Liu, Yun-He; Zhang, Bo; Cai, Jing

    2017-09-01

    The airborne electromagnetic (AEM) method has a high sampling rate and survey flexibility. However, traditional numerical modeling approaches must use high-resolution physical grids to guarantee modeling accuracy, especially for complex geological structures such as anisotropic earth. This can lead to huge computational costs. To solve this problem, we propose a spectral-element (SE) method for 3D AEM anisotropic modeling, which combines the advantages of spectral and finite-element methods. Thus, the SE method has accuracy as high as that of the spectral method and the ability to model complex geology inherited from the finite-element method. The SE method can improve the modeling accuracy within discrete grids and reduce the dependence of modeling results on the grids. This helps achieve high-accuracy anisotropic AEM modeling. We first introduced a rotating tensor of anisotropic conductivity to Maxwell's equations and described the electrical field via SE basis functions based on GLL interpolation polynomials. We used the Galerkin weighted residual method to establish the linear equation system for the SE method, and we took a vertical magnetic dipole as the transmission source for our AEM modeling. We then applied fourth-order SE calculations with coarse physical grids to check the accuracy of our modeling results against a 1D semi-analytical solution for an anisotropic half-space model and verified the high accuracy of the SE. Moreover, we conducted AEM modeling for different anisotropic 3D abnormal bodies using two physical grid scales and three orders of SE to obtain the convergence conditions for different anisotropic abnormal bodies. Finally, we studied the identification of anisotropy for single anisotropic abnormal bodies, anisotropic surrounding rock, and single anisotropic abnormal body embedded in an anisotropic surrounding rock. This approach will play a key role in the inversion and interpretation of AEM data collected in regions with anisotropic

  12. Shingle 2.0: generalising self-consistent and automated domain discretisation for multi-scale geophysical models

    Science.gov (United States)

    Candy, Adam S.; Pietrzak, Julie D.

    2018-01-01

    The approaches taken to describe and develop spatial discretisations of the domains required for geophysical simulation models are commonly ad hoc, model- or application-specific, and under-documented. This is particularly acute for simulation models that are flexible in their use of multi-scale, anisotropic, fully unstructured meshes where a relatively large number of heterogeneous parameters are required to constrain their full description. As a consequence, it can be difficult to reproduce simulations, to ensure a provenance in model data handling and initialisation, and a challenge to conduct model intercomparisons rigorously. This paper takes a novel approach to spatial discretisation, considering it much like a numerical simulation model problem of its own. It introduces a generalised, extensible, self-documenting approach to carefully describe, and necessarily fully, the constraints over the heterogeneous parameter space that determine how a domain is spatially discretised. This additionally provides a method to accurately record these constraints, using high-level natural language based abstractions that enable full accounts of provenance, sharing, and distribution. Together with this description, a generalised consistent approach to unstructured mesh generation for geophysical models is developed that is automated, robust and repeatable, quick-to-draft, rigorously verified, and consistent with the source data throughout. This interprets the description above to execute a self-consistent spatial discretisation process, which is automatically validated to expected discrete characteristics and metrics. Library code, verification tests, and examples available in the repository at https://github.com/shingleproject/Shingle. Further details of the project presented at http://shingleproject.org.

  13. Anisotropic power spectrum of refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic turbulence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jiangting; Yang, Shaofei; Guo, Lixin; Cheng, Mingjian

    2016-11-10

    An anisotropic power spectrum of the refractive-index fluctuation in hypersonic turbulence was obtained by processing the experimental image of the hypersonic plasma sheath and transforming the generalized anisotropic von Kármán spectrum. The power spectrum suggested here can provide as good a fit to measured spectrum data for hypersonic turbulence as that recorded from the nano-planar laser scattering image. Based on the newfound anisotropic hypersonic turbulence power spectrum, Rytov approximation was employed to establish the wave structure function and the spatial coherence radius model of electromagnetic beam propagation in hypersonic turbulence. Enhancing the anisotropy characteristics of the hypersonic turbulence led to a significant improvement in the propagation performance of electromagnetic beams in hypersonic plasma sheath. The influence of hypersonic turbulence on electromagnetic beams increases with the increase of variance of the refractive-index fluctuation and the decrease of turbulence outer scale and anisotropy parameters. The spatial coherence radius was much smaller than that in atmospheric turbulence. These results are fundamental to understanding electromagnetic wave propagation in hypersonic turbulence.

  14. Asymptotics of pion electromagnetics form factor in scale invariant quark model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Efremov, A.V.; Radyushkin, A.V.

    1976-01-01

    A consistent relativistic approach is proposed to the investigation of asymptotic behaviour of form factor of a system, composed of two spinor particles, interacting with the vector of (pseudo) scalar neutral field. It is shown that the assumption of finite and small asymptotical value of quark-gluon interaction invariant charge at small distances (g 9 2 9 2 ln(-Q 2 ) 2 values (Q 2 is squared momentum)

  15. Noether symmetries, energy-momentum tensors, and conformal invariance in classical field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pons, Josep M.

    2011-01-01

    In the framework of classical field theory, we first review the Noether theory of symmetries, with simple rederivations of its essential results, with special emphasis given to the Noether identities for gauge theories. With this baggage on board, we next discuss in detail, for Poincare invariant theories in flat spacetime, the differences between the Belinfante energy-momentum tensor and a family of Hilbert energy-momentum tensors. All these tensors coincide on shell but they split their duties in the following sense: Belinfante's tensor is the one to use in order to obtain the generators of Poincare symmetries and it is a basic ingredient of the generators of other eventual spacetime symmetries which may happen to exist. Instead, Hilbert tensors are the means to test whether a theory contains other spacetime symmetries beyond Poincare. We discuss at length the case of scale and conformal symmetry, of which we give some examples. We show, for Poincare invariant Lagrangians, that the realization of scale invariance selects a unique Hilbert tensor which allows for an easy test as to whether conformal invariance is also realized. Finally we make some basic remarks on metric generally covariant theories and classical field theory in a fixed curved background.

  16. An examination of the factor structure and sex invariance of a French translation of the Body Appreciation Scale-2 in university students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kertechian, Sevag; Swami, Viren

    2017-06-01

    The Body Appreciation Scale-2 (BAS-2) is a measure of positive body image that has been found that have a one-dimensional factor structure in a number of different cultural groups. Here, we examined the factor structure and sex-based measurement invariance of a French translation of the BAS-2. A total of 652 university students (age M=21.33, SD=3.18) completed a newly-translated French version of the BAS-2. Exploratory factor analyses with a randomly selected split-half subsample revealed that the BAS-2 had a one-dimensional factor structure in both sexes. Confirmatory factor analyses with a second split-half subsample indicated that the one-dimensional factor structure had adequate fit following modifications and was invariant across sex. French BAS-2 scores had adequate internal consistency and men had significantly higher body appreciation than women (ds=.16-.23). These results provide preliminary support for the factorial validity of the French BAS-2. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. On density of the Vassiliev invariants

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Røgen, Peter

    1999-01-01

    The main result is that the Vassiliev invariants are dense in the set of numeric knot invariants if and only if they separate knots.Keywords: Knots, Vassiliev invariants, separation, density, torus knots......The main result is that the Vassiliev invariants are dense in the set of numeric knot invariants if and only if they separate knots.Keywords: Knots, Vassiliev invariants, separation, density, torus knots...

  18. Efficient and robust model-to-image alignment using 3D scale-invariant features.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toews, Matthew; Wells, William M

    2013-04-01

    This paper presents feature-based alignment (FBA), a general method for efficient and robust model-to-image alignment. Volumetric images, e.g. CT scans of the human body, are modeled probabilistically as a collage of 3D scale-invariant image features within a normalized reference space. Features are incorporated as a latent random variable and marginalized out in computing a maximum a posteriori alignment solution. The model is learned from features extracted in pre-aligned training images, then fit to features extracted from a new image to identify a globally optimal locally linear alignment solution. Novel techniques are presented for determining local feature orientation and efficiently encoding feature intensity in 3D. Experiments involving difficult magnetic resonance (MR) images of the human brain demonstrate FBA achieves alignment accuracy similar to widely-used registration methods, while requiring a fraction of the memory and computation resources and offering a more robust, globally optimal solution. Experiments on CT human body scans demonstrate FBA as an effective system for automatic human body alignment where other alignment methods break down. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Parallel Sn Sweeps on Unstructured Grids: Algorithms for Prioritization, Grid Partitioning, and Cycle Detection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Plimpton, Steven J.; Hendrickson, Bruce; Burns, Shawn P.; McLendon, William III; Rauchwerger, Lawrence

    2005-01-01

    The method of discrete ordinates is commonly used to solve the Boltzmann transport equation. The solution in each ordinate direction is most efficiently computed by sweeping the radiation flux across the computational grid. For unstructured grids this poses many challenges, particularly when implemented on distributed-memory parallel machines where the grid geometry is spread across processors. We present several algorithms relevant to this approach: (a) an asynchronous message-passing algorithm that performs sweeps simultaneously in multiple ordinate directions, (b) a simple geometric heuristic to prioritize the computational tasks that a processor works on, (c) a partitioning algorithm that creates columnar-style decompositions for unstructured grids, and (d) an algorithm for detecting and eliminating cycles that sometimes exist in unstructured grids and can prevent sweeps from successfully completing. Algorithms (a) and (d) are fully parallel; algorithms (b) and (c) can be used in conjunction with (a) to achieve higher parallel efficiencies. We describe our message-passing implementations of these algorithms within a radiation transport package. Performance and scalability results are given for unstructured grids with up to 3 million elements (500 million unknowns) running on thousands of processors of Sandia National Laboratories' Intel Tflops machine and DEC-Alpha CPlant cluster

  20. Assessing cross-cultural differences through use of multiple-group invariance analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stein, Judith A; Lee, Jerry W; Jones, Patricia S

    2006-12-01

    The use of structural equation modeling in cross-cultural personality research has become a popular method for testing measurement invariance. In this report, we present an example of testing measurement invariance using the Sense of Coherence Scale of Antonovsky (1993) in 3 ethnic groups: Chinese, Japanese, and Whites. In a series of increasingly restrictive constraints on the measurement models of the 3 groups, we demonstrate how to assess differences among the groups. We also provide an example of construct validation.

  1. Unstructured Socializing with Peers and Delinquent Behavior: A Genetically Informed Analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meldrum, Ryan C; Barnes, J C

    2017-09-01

    A large body of research finds that unstructured socializing with peers is positively associated with delinquency during adolescence. Yet, existing research has not ruled out the potential for confounding due to genetic factors and factors that can be traced to environments shared between siblings. To fill this void, the current study examines whether the association between unstructured socializing with peers and delinquent behavior remains when accounting for genetic factors, shared environmental influences, and a variety of non-shared environmental covariates. We do so by using data from the twin subsample of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (n = 1200 at wave 1 and 1103 at wave 2; 51% male; mean age at wave 1 = 15.63). Results from both cross-sectional and lagged models indicate the association between unstructured socializing with peers and delinquent behavior remains when controlling for both genetic and environmental influences. Supplementary analyses examining the association under different specifications offer additional, albeit qualified, evidence supportive of this finding. The study concludes with a discussion highlighting the importance of limiting free time with friends in the absence of authority figures as a strategy for reducing delinquency during adolescence.

  2. Gauge-invariant cosmic structures---A dynamic systems approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Woszczyna, A.

    1992-01-01

    Gravitational instability is expressed in terms of the dynamic systems theory. The gauge-invariant Ellis-Bruni equation and Bardeen's equation are discussed in detail. It is shown that in an open universe filled with matter of constant sound velocity the Jeans criterion does not adequately define the length scale of the gravitational structure

  3. Unstructured grid modelling of offshore wind farm impacts on seasonally stratified shelf seas

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cazenave, Pierre William; Torres, Ricardo; Allen, J. Icarus

    2016-06-01

    Shelf seas comprise approximately 7% of the world's oceans and host enormous economic activity. Development of energy installations (e.g. Offshore Wind Farms (OWFs), tidal turbines) in response to increased demand for renewable energy requires a careful analysis of potential impacts. Recent remote sensing observations have identified kilometre-scale impacts from OWFs. Existing modelling evaluating monopile impacts has fallen into two camps: small-scale models with individually resolved turbines looking at local effects; and large-scale analyses but with sub-grid scale turbine parameterisations. This work straddles both scales through a 3D unstructured grid model (FVCOM): wind turbine monopiles in the eastern Irish Sea are explicitly described in the grid whilst the overall grid domain covers the south-western UK shelf. Localised regions of decreased velocity extend up to 250 times the monopile diameter away from the monopile. Shelf-wide, the amplitude of the M2 tidal constituent increases by up to 7%. The turbines enhance localised vertical mixing which decreases seasonal stratification. The spatial extent of this extends well beyond the turbines into the surrounding seas. With significant expansion of OWFs on continental shelves, this work highlights the importance of how OWFs may impact coastal (e.g. increased flooding risk) and offshore (e.g. stratification and nutrient cycling) areas.

  4. Instabilities of collisionless current sheets revisited: The role of anisotropic heating

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muñoz, P. A.; Kilian, P.; Büchner, J.

    2014-01-01

    In this work, we investigate the influence of the anisotropic heating on the spontaneous instability and evolution of thin Harris-type collisionless current sheets, embedded in antiparallel magnetic fields. In particular, we explore the influence of the macroparticle shape-function using a 2D version of the PIC code ACRONYM. We also investigate the role of the numerical collisionality due to the finite number of macroparticles in PIC codes. It is shown that it is appropriate to choose higher order shape functions of the macroparticles compared to a larger number of macroparticles per cell. This allows to estimate better the anisotropic electron heating due to the collisions of macroparticles in a PIC code. Temperature anisotropies can stabilize the tearing mode instability and trigger additional current sheet instabilities. We found a good agreement between the analytically derived threshold for the stabilization of the anisotropic tearing mode and other instabilities, either spontaneously developing or initially triggered ones. Numerical effects causing anisotropic heating at electron time scales become especially important for higher mass ratios (above m i /m e =180). If numerical effects are carefully taken into account, one can recover the theoretical estimated linear growth rates of the tearing instability of thin isotropic collisionless current sheets, also for higher mass ratios

  5. Mesh Adaptation and Shape Optimization on Unstructured Meshes, Phase I

    Data.gov (United States)

    National Aeronautics and Space Administration — In this SBIR CRM proposes to implement the entropy adjoint method for solution adaptive mesh refinement into the Loci/CHEM unstructured flow solver. The scheme will...

  6. Longitudinal and dynamic measurement invariance of the FACIT-Fatigue scale: an application of the measurement model of derivatives to ECOG-ACRIN study E2805.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estabrook, Ryne; Cella, David; Zhao, Fengmin; Manola, Judith; DiPaola, Robert S; Wagner, Lynne I; Haas, Naomi B

    2018-03-05

    While quality of life measures may be used to assess meaningful change and group differences, their scaling and validation often rely on a single occasion of measurement. Using the 13-item FACIT-Fatigue questionnaire at three timepoints, this study tests whether individual items change together in ways consistent with a general fatigue factor. The measurement model of derivatives (MMOD) is a novel method for measurement evaluation that directly assesses whether a given factor structure accurately describes how individual test items change over time. MMOD transforms item-level longitudinal data into a set of orthogonal change scores, each one representing either a within-person longitudinal mean or a different type of longitudinal change. These change scores are then factor analyzed and tested for invariance. This approach is applied to the FACIT-Fatigue scale in a sample of patients with renal cell carcinoma treated on 'ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) study 2805. Analyses revealed strong evidence of unidimensionality, and apparent factorial invariance using traditional techniques. MMOD revealed a small but statistically significant difference in factor structure ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text]), where factor loadings were weaker and more variable for measuring longitudinal change. The differences in factor structure were not large enough to substantially affect scale usage in this application, but they do reveal some variability across items in the FACIT-Fatigue in their ability to detect change. Future applications should consider differential sensitivity of individual items in multi-item scales, and perhaps even capitalize upon these differences by selecting items that are more sensitive to change.

  7. Anisotropic evolution of 5D Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Middleton, Chad A.; Stanley, Ethan

    2011-01-01

    We examine the time evolution of the five-dimensional Einstein field equations subjected to a flat, anisotropic Robertson-Walker metric, where the 3D and higher-dimensional scale factors are allowed to dynamically evolve at different rates. By adopting equations of state relating the 3D and higher-dimensional pressures to the density, we obtain an exact expression relating the higher-dimensional scale factor to a function of the 3D scale factor. This relation allows us to write the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker field equations exclusively in terms of the 3D scale factor, thus yielding a set of 4D effective Friedmann-Robertson-Walker field equations. We examine the effective field equations in the general case and obtain an exact expression relating a function of the 3D scale factor to the time. This expression involves a hypergeometric function and cannot, in general, be inverted to yield an analytical expression for the 3D scale factor as a function of time. When the hypergeometric function is expanded for small and large arguments, we obtain a generalized treatment of the dynamical compactification scenario of Mohammedi [Phys. Rev. D 65, 104018 (2002)] and the 5D vacuum solution of Chodos and Detweiler [Phys. Rev. D 21, 2167 (1980)], respectively. By expanding the hypergeometric function near a branch point, we obtain the perturbative solution for the 3D scale factor in the small time regime. This solution exhibits accelerated expansion, which, remarkably, is independent of the value of the 4D equation of state parameter w. This early-time epoch of accelerated expansion arises naturally out of the anisotropic evolution of 5D spacetime when the pressure in the extra dimension is negative and offers a possible alternative to scalar field inflationary theory.

  8. Cohomological invariants in Galois cohomology

    CERN Document Server

    Garibaldi, Skip; Serre, Jean Pierre

    2003-01-01

    This volume is concerned with algebraic invariants, such as the Stiefel-Whitney classes of quadratic forms (with values in Galois cohomology mod 2) and the trace form of �tale algebras (with values in the Witt ring). The invariants are analogues for Galois cohomology of the characteristic classes of topology. Historically, one of the first examples of cohomological invariants of the type considered here was the Hasse-Witt invariant of quadratic forms. The first part classifies such invariants in several cases. A principal tool is the notion of versal torsor, which is an analogue of the universal bundle in topology. The second part gives Rost's determination of the invariants of G-torsors with values in H^3(\\mathbb{Q}/\\mathbb{Z}(2)), when G is a semisimple, simply connected, linear group. This part gives detailed proofs of the existence and basic properties of the Rost invariant. This is the first time that most of this material appears in print.

  9. The Gauge-Invariant Angular Momentum Sum-Rule for the Proton

    CERN Document Server

    Shore, G.M.

    2000-01-01

    We give a gauge-invariant treatment of the angular momentum sum-rule for the proton in terms of matrix elements of three gauge-invariant, local composite operators. These matrix elements are decomposed into three independent form factors, one of which is the flavour singlet axial charge. We further show that the axial charge cancels out of the sum-rule, so that it is unaffacted by the axial anomaly. The three form factors are then related to the four proton spin components in the parton model, namely quark and gluon intrinsic spin and orbital angular momentum. The renormalisation of the three operators is determined to one loop from which the scale dependence and mixing of the spin components is derived under the constraint that the quark spin be scale-independent. We also show how the three form factors can be measured in experiments.

  10. Quarkonium states in an anisotropic quark-gluon plasma

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Guo Yun

    2009-09-10

    In this work we study the properties of quarkonium states in a quark-gluon plasma which, due to expansion and non-zero viscosity, exhibits a local anisotropy in momentum space. We determine the hard-loop resummed gluon propagator in an anisotropic QCD plasma in general linear gauges and define a potential between heavy quarks from the Fourier transform of its static limit. This potential which arises due to one-gluon exchange describes the force between a quark and anti-quark at short distances. It is closer to the vacuum potential as compared to the isotropic Debye screened potential which indicates the reduced screening in an anisotropic QCD plasma. In addition, angular dependence appears in the potential; we find that there is stronger attraction on distance scales on the order of the inverse Debye mass for quark pairs aligned along the direction of anisotropy than for transverse alignment. The potential at long distances, however, is non-perturbative and modeled as a QCD string which is screened at the same scale as the Coulomb field. At asymptotic separation the potential energy is non-zero and inversely proportional to the temperature. With a phenomenological potential model which incorporates the different behaviors at short and long distances, we solve the three-dimensional Schroedinger equation. Our numerical results show that quarkonium binding is stronger at non-vanishing viscosity and expansion rate, and that the anisotropy leads to polarization of the P-wave states. Furthermore, we determine viscosity corrections to the imaginary part of the heavy-quark potential in the weak-coupling hard-loop approximation. The imaginary part is found to be smaller (in magnitude) than at vanishing viscosity. This implies a smaller decay width of quarkonium bound states in an anisotropic plasma. (orig.)

  11. Quarkonium states in an anisotropic quark-gluon plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guo Yun

    2009-01-01

    In this work we study the properties of quarkonium states in a quark-gluon plasma which, due to expansion and non-zero viscosity, exhibits a local anisotropy in momentum space. We determine the hard-loop resummed gluon propagator in an anisotropic QCD plasma in general linear gauges and define a potential between heavy quarks from the Fourier transform of its static limit. This potential which arises due to one-gluon exchange describes the force between a quark and anti-quark at short distances. It is closer to the vacuum potential as compared to the isotropic Debye screened potential which indicates the reduced screening in an anisotropic QCD plasma. In addition, angular dependence appears in the potential; we find that there is stronger attraction on distance scales on the order of the inverse Debye mass for quark pairs aligned along the direction of anisotropy than for transverse alignment. The potential at long distances, however, is non-perturbative and modeled as a QCD string which is screened at the same scale as the Coulomb field. At asymptotic separation the potential energy is non-zero and inversely proportional to the temperature. With a phenomenological potential model which incorporates the different behaviors at short and long distances, we solve the three-dimensional Schroedinger equation. Our numerical results show that quarkonium binding is stronger at non-vanishing viscosity and expansion rate, and that the anisotropy leads to polarization of the P-wave states. Furthermore, we determine viscosity corrections to the imaginary part of the heavy-quark potential in the weak-coupling hard-loop approximation. The imaginary part is found to be smaller (in magnitude) than at vanishing viscosity. This implies a smaller decay width of quarkonium bound states in an anisotropic plasma. (orig.)

  12. Cosmological disformal invariance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Domènech, Guillem; Sasaki, Misao [Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan); Naruko, Atsushi, E-mail: guillem.domenech@yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp, E-mail: naruko@th.phys.titech.ac.jp, E-mail: misao@yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1 Ookayama, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 152-8551 (Japan)

    2015-10-01

    The invariance of physical observables under disformal transformations is considered. It is known that conformal transformations leave physical observables invariant. However, whether it is true for disformal transformations is still an open question. In this paper, it is shown that a pure disformal transformation without any conformal factor is equivalent to rescaling the time coordinate. Since this rescaling applies equally to all the physical quantities, physics must be invariant under a disformal transformation, that is, neither causal structure, propagation speed nor any other property of the fields are affected by a disformal transformation itself. This fact is presented at the action level for gravitational and matter fields and it is illustrated with some examples of observable quantities. We also find the physical invariance for cosmological perturbations at linear and high orders in perturbation, extending previous studies. Finally, a comparison with Horndeski and beyond Horndeski theories under a disformal transformation is made.

  13. Donaldson invariants in algebraic geometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goettsche, L.

    2000-01-01

    In these lectures I want to give an introduction to the relation of Donaldson invariants with algebraic geometry: Donaldson invariants are differentiable invariants of smooth compact 4-manifolds X, defined via moduli spaces of anti-self-dual connections. If X is an algebraic surface, then these moduli spaces can for a suitable choice of the metric be identified with moduli spaces of stable vector bundles on X. This can be used to compute Donaldson invariants via methods of algebraic geometry and has led to a lot of activity on moduli spaces of vector bundles and coherent sheaves on algebraic surfaces. We will first recall the definition of the Donaldson invariants via gauge theory. Then we will show the relation between moduli spaces of anti-self-dual connections and moduli spaces of vector bundles on algebraic surfaces, and how this makes it possible to compute Donaldson invariants via algebraic geometry methods. Finally we concentrate on the case that the number b + of positive eigenvalues of the intersection form on the second homology of the 4-manifold is 1. In this case the Donaldson invariants depend on the metric (or in the algebraic geometric case on the polarization) via a system of walls and chambers. We will study the change of the invariants under wall-crossing, and use this in particular to compute the Donaldson invariants of rational algebraic surfaces. (author)

  14. Probing Higgs self-coupling of a classically scale invariant model in e+e- → Zhh: Evaluation at physical point

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujitani, Y.; Sumino, Y.

    2018-04-01

    A classically scale invariant extension of the standard model predicts large anomalous Higgs self-interactions. We compute missing contributions in previous studies for probing the Higgs triple coupling of a minimal model using the process e+e- → Zhh. Employing a proper order counting, we compute the total and differential cross sections at the leading order, which incorporate the one-loop corrections between zero external momenta and their physical values. Discovery/exclusion potential of a future e+e- collider for this model is estimated. We also find a unique feature in the momentum dependence of the Higgs triple vertex for this class of models.

  15. Moment invariants for particle beams

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lysenko, W.P.; Overley, M.S.

    1988-01-01

    The rms emittance is a certain function of second moments in 2-D phase space. It is preserved for linear uncoupled (1-D) motion. In this paper, the authors present new functions of moments that are invariants for coupled motion. These invariants were computed symbolically using a computer algebra system. Possible applications for these invariants are discussed. Also, approximate moment invariants for nonlinear motion are presented

  16. Wave Resource Characterization Using an Unstructured Grid Modeling Approach

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wei-Cheng Wu

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a modeling study conducted on the central Oregon coast for wave resource characterization, using the unstructured grid Simulating WAve Nearshore (SWAN model coupled with a nested grid WAVEWATCH III® (WWIII model. The flexibility of models with various spatial resolutions and the effects of open boundary conditions simulated by a nested grid WWIII model with different physics packages were evaluated. The model results demonstrate the advantage of the unstructured grid-modeling approach for flexible model resolution and good model skills in simulating the six wave resource parameters recommended by the International Electrotechnical Commission in comparison to the observed data in Year 2009 at National Data Buoy Center Buoy 46050. Notably, spectral analysis indicates that the ST4 physics package improves upon the ST2 physics package’s ability to predict wave power density for large waves, which is important for wave resource assessment, load calculation of devices, and risk management. In addition, bivariate distributions show that the simulated sea state of maximum occurrence with the ST4 physics package matched the observed data better than with the ST2 physics package. This study demonstrated that the unstructured grid wave modeling approach, driven by regional nested grid WWIII outputs along with the ST4 physics package, can efficiently provide accurate wave hindcasts to support wave resource characterization. Our study also suggests that wind effects need to be considered if the dimension of the model domain is greater than approximately 100 km, or O (102 km.

  17. Efficient Wavefield Extrapolation In Anisotropic Media

    KAUST Repository

    Alkhalifah, Tariq; Ma, Xuxin; Waheed, Umair bin; Zuberi, Mohammad Akbar Hosain

    2014-01-01

    Various examples are provided for wavefield extrapolation in anisotropic media. In one example, among others, a method includes determining an effective isotropic velocity model and extrapolating an equivalent propagation of an anisotropic, poroelastic or viscoelastic wavefield. The effective isotropic velocity model can be based upon a kinematic geometrical representation of an anisotropic, poroelastic or viscoelastic wavefield. Extrapolating the equivalent propagation can use isotopic, acoustic or elastic operators based upon the determined effective isotropic velocity model. In another example, non-transitory computer readable medium stores an application that, when executed by processing circuitry, causes the processing circuitry to determine the effective isotropic velocity model and extrapolate the equivalent propagation of an anisotropic, poroelastic or viscoelastic wavefield. In another example, a system includes processing circuitry and an application configured to cause the system to determine the effective isotropic velocity model and extrapolate the equivalent propagation of an anisotropic, poroelastic or viscoelastic wavefield.

  18. Efficient Wavefield Extrapolation In Anisotropic Media

    KAUST Repository

    Alkhalifah, Tariq

    2014-07-03

    Various examples are provided for wavefield extrapolation in anisotropic media. In one example, among others, a method includes determining an effective isotropic velocity model and extrapolating an equivalent propagation of an anisotropic, poroelastic or viscoelastic wavefield. The effective isotropic velocity model can be based upon a kinematic geometrical representation of an anisotropic, poroelastic or viscoelastic wavefield. Extrapolating the equivalent propagation can use isotopic, acoustic or elastic operators based upon the determined effective isotropic velocity model. In another example, non-transitory computer readable medium stores an application that, when executed by processing circuitry, causes the processing circuitry to determine the effective isotropic velocity model and extrapolate the equivalent propagation of an anisotropic, poroelastic or viscoelastic wavefield. In another example, a system includes processing circuitry and an application configured to cause the system to determine the effective isotropic velocity model and extrapolate the equivalent propagation of an anisotropic, poroelastic or viscoelastic wavefield.

  19. Application of discrete scale invariance method on pipe rupture

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rajkovic, M.; Mihailovic, Z.; Riznic, J.

    2007-01-01

    'Full text:' A process of material failure of a mechanical system in the form of cracks and microcracks, a catastrophic phenomenon of considerable technological and scientific importance, may be forecasted according to the recent advances in the theory of critical phenomena in statistical physics. Critical rupture scenario states that, in many concrete and composite heterogeneous materials under compression and materials with large distributed residual stresses, rupture is a genuine critical point, i.e., the culmination of a self-organization of damage and cracking characterized by power law signatures. The concept of discrete scale invariance leads to a complex critical exponent (or dimension) and may occur spontaneously in systems and materials developing rupture. It establishes, theoretically, the power law dependence of a measurable observable, such as the rate of acoustic emissions radiated during loading or rate of heat released during the process, upon the time to failure. However, the problem is the power law can be distinguished from other parametric functional forms such as an exponential only close to the critical time. In this paper we modify the functional renormalization method to include the noise elimination procedure and dimension reduction. The aim is to obtain the prediction of the critical rupture time only from the knowledge of the power law parameters at early times prior to rupture, and based on the assumption that the dynamics close to rupture is governed by the power law dependence of the temperature measured along the perimeter of the tube upon the time-to-failure. Such an analysis would not only enhance the precision of prediction related to the rupture mechanism but also significantly help in determining and predicting the leak rates. The prediction will be compared to experimental data on Zr-2.5%Nb made tubes. Note: The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessary represents those of the commission. (author)

  20. Organized and Unstructured Activity Participation among Adolescents Involved with Child Protective Services in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwak, Yoonyoung; Lu, Ting; Christ, Sharon L.

    2017-01-01

    Background: Many adolescents are referred to Child Protective Services for possible maltreatment every year, but not much is known about their organized and unstructured activity participation. Objective: The purposes of this study are to provide a description of organized and unstructured activity participation for adolescents who were possible…

  1. Multiscale Rotation-Invariant Convolutional Neural Networks for Lung Texture Classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Qiangchang; Zheng, Yuanjie; Yang, Gongping; Jin, Weidong; Chen, Xinjian; Yin, Yilong

    2018-01-01

    We propose a new multiscale rotation-invariant convolutional neural network (MRCNN) model for classifying various lung tissue types on high-resolution computed tomography. MRCNN employs Gabor-local binary pattern that introduces a good property in image analysis-invariance to image scales and rotations. In addition, we offer an approach to deal with the problems caused by imbalanced number of samples between different classes in most of the existing works, accomplished by changing the overlapping size between the adjacent patches. Experimental results on a public interstitial lung disease database show a superior performance of the proposed method to state of the art.

  2. Evidence for several dipolar quasi-invariants in liquid crystals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonin, C. J.; González, C. E.; Segnorile, H. H.; Zamar, R. C.

    2013-10-01

    The quasi-equilibrium states of an observed quantum system involve as many constants of motion as the dimension of the operator basis which spans the blocks of all the degenerate eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian that drives the system dynamics, however, the possibility of observing such quasi-invariants in solid-like spin systems in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) is not a strictly exact prediction. The aim of this work is to provide experimental evidence of several quasi-invariants, in the proton NMR of small spin clusters, like nematic liquid crystal molecules, in which the use of thermodynamic arguments is not justified. We explore the spin states prepared with the Jeener-Broekaert pulse sequence by analyzing the time-domain signals yielded by this sequence as a function of the preparation times, in a variety of dipolar networks, solids, and liquid crystals. We observe that the signals can be explained with two dipolar quasi-invariants only within a range of short preparation times, however at longer times liquid crystal signals show an echo-like behaviour whose description requires assuming more quasi-invariants. We study the multiple quantum coherence content of such signals on a basis orthogonal to the z-basis and see that such states involve a significant number of correlated spins. Therefore, we show that the NMR signals within the whole preparation time-scale can only be reconstructed by assuming the occurrence of multiple quasi-invariants which we experimentally isolate.

  3. Unusual high-energy phenomenology of Lorentz-invariant noncommutative field theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carone, Christopher D.; Kwee, Herry J.

    2006-01-01

    It has been suggested that one may construct a Lorentz-invariant noncommutative field theory by extending the coordinate algebra to additional, fictitious coordinates that transform nontrivially under the Lorentz group. Integration over these coordinates in the action produces a four-dimensional effective theory with Lorentz invariance intact. Previous applications of this approach, in particular, to a specific construction of noncommutative QED, have been studied only in a low-momentum approximation. Here we discuss Lorentz-invariant field theories in which the relevant physics can be studied without requiring an expansion in the inverse scale of noncommutativity. Qualitatively, we find that tree-level scattering cross sections are dramatically suppressed as the center-of-mass energy exceeds the scale of noncommutativity, that cross sections that are isotropic in the commutative limit can develop a pronounced angular dependence, and that nonrelativistic potentials (for example, the Coloumb potential) become nonsingular at the origin. We consider a number of processes in noncommutative QED that may be studied at a future linear collider. We also give an example of scattering via a four-fermion operator in which the noncommutative modifications of the interaction can unitarize the tree-level amplitude, without requiring any other new physics in the ultraviolet

  4. Effect of mechanical boundary conditions on the dynamic and static properties of a strongly anisotropic ferromagnet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gorelikov, G. A.; Fridman, Yu. A.

    2013-01-01

    The spectra of coupled magnetoelastic waves in a semi-infinite strongly anisotropic easy-plane ferromagnet with a rigidly fixed face are analyzed for two variants of fixation (in the basal plane and perpendicularly to it). The phase states of the system are determined. Differences in the phase diagrams and elementary excitation spectra depending on the choice of the sample fixation plane are considered. When rotational invariance is taken into account, the nonreciprocity effect for the velocities of sound in a crystal appears. It is shown that the velocity of sound in the sample considerably depends on the symmetry of the imposed mechanical boundary conditions. The phase diagrams of the system under investigation are presented

  5. Model-independent phenotyping of C. elegans locomotion using scale-invariant feature transform.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yelena Koren

    Full Text Available To uncover the genetic basis of behavioral traits in the model organism C. elegans, a common strategy is to study locomotion defects in mutants. Despite efforts to introduce (semi-automated phenotyping strategies, current methods overwhelmingly depend on worm-specific features that must be hand-crafted and as such are not generalizable for phenotyping motility in other animal models. Hence, there is an ongoing need for robust algorithms that can automatically analyze and classify motility phenotypes quantitatively. To this end, we have developed a fully-automated approach to characterize C. elegans' phenotypes that does not require the definition of nematode-specific features. Rather, we make use of the popular computer vision Scale-Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT from which we construct histograms of commonly-observed SIFT features to represent nematode motility. We first evaluated our method on a synthetic dataset simulating a range of nematode crawling gaits. Next, we evaluated our algorithm on two distinct datasets of crawling C. elegans with mutants affecting neuromuscular structure and function. Not only is our algorithm able to detect differences between strains, results capture similarities in locomotory phenotypes that lead to clustering that is consistent with expectations based on genetic relationships. Our proposed approach generalizes directly and should be applicable to other animal models. Such applicability holds promise for computational ethology as more groups collect high-resolution image data of animal behavior.

  6. Investigate the effect of anisotropic order parameter on the specific heat of anisotropic two-band superconductors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Udomsamuthirun, P.; Peamsuwan, R.; Kumvongsa, C.

    2009-01-01

    The effect of anisotropic order parameter on the specific heat of anisotropic two-band superconductors in BCS weak-coupling limit is investigated. An analytical specific heat jump and the numerical specific heat are shown by using anisotropic order parameters, and the electron-phonon interaction and non-electron-phonon interaction. The two models of anisotropic order parameters are used for numerical calculation that we find little effect on the numerical results. The specific heat jump of MgB 2 , Lu 2 Fe 3 Si 5 and Nb 3 Sn superconductors can fit well with both of them. By comparing the experimental data with overall range of temperature, the best fit is Nb 3 Sn, MgB 2 , and Lu 2 Fe 3 Si 5 superconductors.

  7. Implicit Unstructured Aerodynamics on Emerging Multi- and Many-Core HPC Architectures

    KAUST Repository

    Al Farhan, Mohammed A.

    2017-03-13

    Shared memory parallelization of PETSc-FUN3D, an unstructured tetrahedral mesh Euler code previously characterized for distributed memory Single Program, Multiple Data (SPMD) for thousands of nodes, is hybridized with shared memory Single Instruction, Multiple Data (SIMD) for hundreds of threads per node. We explore thread-level performance optimizations on state-of-the-art multi- and many-core Intel processors, including the second generation of Xeon Phi, Knights Landing (KNL). We study the performance on the KNL with different configurations of memory and cluster modes, with code optimizations to minimize indirect addressing and enhance the cache locality. The optimizations employed are expected to be of value other unstructured applications as many-core architecture evolves.

  8. Measurement and structural invariance of the US version of the Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) in a large sample.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Colin R; Hollins Martin, Caroline J; Burduli, Ekaterina; Barbosa-Leiker, Celestina; Donovan-Batson, Colleen; Fleming, Susan E

    2017-08-01

    The 10-item Birth Satisfaction Scale-Revised (BSS-R) is being increasingly used internationally. The use of the measure and the concept has gathered traction in the United States following the development of a US version of the tool. A limitation of previous studies of the measurement characteristics of the BSS-R is modest sample size. Unplanned pregnancy is recognised as being associated with a range of negative birth outcomes, but the relationship to birth satisfaction has received little attention, despite the importance of birth satisfaction to a range of postnatal outcomes. The current investigation sought to evaluate the measurement characteristics of the BSS-R in a large postpartum sample. Multiple Groups Confirmatory Factor Analysis (MGCFA) was used to evaluate a series of measurement and structural models of the BSS-R to evaluate fundamental invariance characteristics using planned/unplanned pregnancy status to differentiate groups. Complete data from N=2116 women revealed that the US version of the BSS-R offers an excellent fit to data and demonstrates full measurement and structural invariance. Little difference was observed between women on the basis of planned/unplanned pregnancy stratification on measures of birth satisfaction. The established relationship between unplanned pregnancy and negative perinatal outcomes was not found to extend to birth satisfaction in the current study. The BSS-R demonstrated exemplary measurement and structural invariance characteristics. The current study strongly supports the use of the US version of the BSS-R to compare birth satisfaction across different groups of women with theoretical and measurement confidence. Copyright © 2016 Australian College of Midwives. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Feedback-Driven Dynamic Invariant Discovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Lingming; Yang, Guowei; Rungta, Neha S.; Person, Suzette; Khurshid, Sarfraz

    2014-01-01

    Program invariants can help software developers identify program properties that must be preserved as the software evolves, however, formulating correct invariants can be challenging. In this work, we introduce iDiscovery, a technique which leverages symbolic execution to improve the quality of dynamically discovered invariants computed by Daikon. Candidate invariants generated by Daikon are synthesized into assertions and instrumented onto the program. The instrumented code is executed symbolically to generate new test cases that are fed back to Daikon to help further re ne the set of candidate invariants. This feedback loop is executed until a x-point is reached. To mitigate the cost of symbolic execution, we present optimizations to prune the symbolic state space and to reduce the complexity of the generated path conditions. We also leverage recent advances in constraint solution reuse techniques to avoid computing results for the same constraints across iterations. Experimental results show that iDiscovery converges to a set of higher quality invariants compared to the initial set of candidate invariants in a small number of iterations.

  10. Continuous-time quantum algorithms for unstructured problems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hen, Itay

    2014-01-01

    We consider a family of unstructured optimization problems, for which we propose a method for constructing analogue, continuous-time (not necessarily adiabatic) quantum algorithms that are faster than their classical counterparts. In this family of problems, which we refer to as ‘scrambled input’ problems, one has to find a minimum-cost configuration of a given integer-valued n-bit black-box function whose input values have been scrambled in some unknown way. Special cases within this set of problems are Grover’s search problem of finding a marked item in an unstructured database, certain random energy models, and the functions of the Deutsch–Josza problem. We consider a couple of examples in detail. In the first, we provide an O(1) deterministic analogue quantum algorithm to solve the seminal problem of Deutsch and Josza, in which one has to determine whether an n-bit boolean function is constant (gives 0 on all inputs or 1 on all inputs) or balanced (returns 0 on half the input states and 1 on the other half). We also study one variant of the random energy model, and show that, as one might expect, its minimum energy configuration can be found quadratically faster with a quantum adiabatic algorithm than with classical algorithms. (paper)

  11. Relating measurement invariance, cross-level invariance, and multilevel reliability

    OpenAIRE

    Jak, S.; Jorgensen, T.D.

    2017-01-01

    Data often have a nested, multilevel structure, for example when data are collected from children in classrooms. This kind of data complicate the evaluation of reliability and measurement invariance, because several properties can be evaluated at both the individual level and the cluster level, as well as across levels. For example, cross-level invariance implies equal factor loadings across levels, which is needed to give latent variables at the two levels a similar interpretation. Reliabili...

  12. Smectic liquid crystals in anisotropic colloidal silica gels

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liang, Dennis [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States); Borthwick, Matthew A [Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States); Leheny, Robert L [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218 (United States)

    2004-05-19

    We report x-ray scattering studies of the smectic liquid crystal octylcyano-biphenol (8CB) confined by strained colloidal silica gels. The gels, comprised of aerosil particles, possess an anisotropic structure that stabilizes long-range nematic order in the liquid crystal while introducing random field effects that disrupt the smectic transition. The short-range smectic correlations that form within this environment are inconsistent with the presence of a topologically ordered state predicted for 3D random field XY systems and are quantitatively like the correlations of smectics confined by isotropic gels. Detailed analysis reveals that the quenched disorder suppresses the anisotropic scaling of the smectic correlation lengths observed in the pure liquid crystal. These results and additional measurements of the smectic-A to smectic-C transition in 4-n-pentylphenylthiol-4'-n-octyloxybenzoate (8barS5) indicate that the observed smectic behaviour is dictated by random fields coupling directly to the smectic order while fields coupling to the nematic director play a subordinate role.

  13. Foliated vector fields, the Godbillon-Vey invariant and the invariant I(F)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Banyaga, A.; Landa, Alain Musesa

    2004-03-01

    We prove that if the invariant I(F) constructed in 'An invariant of contact structures and transversally oriented foliations', Ann. Global Analysis and Geom. 14(1996) 427-441 (A. Banyaga), through the Lie algebra of infinitesimal automorphisms of transversally oriented foliations F is trivial, then the Godbillon-Vey invariant GV (F) of F is also trivial, but that the converse is not true. For codimension one foliations, the restrictions I τ , (F) of I(F) to the Lie subalgebra of vector fields tangent to the leaves is the Reeb class R(F) of F. We also prove that if there exists a foliated vector field which is everywhere transverse to a codimension one foliation, then the Reeb class R(F) is trivial, hence so is the GV(F) invariant. (author)

  14. A scale invariant clustering of genes on human chromosome 7

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kendal Wayne S

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Vertebrate genes often appear to cluster within the background of nontranscribed genomic DNA. Here an analysis of the physical distribution of gene structures on human chromosome 7 was performed to confirm the presence of clustering, and to elucidate possible underlying statistical and biological mechanisms. Results Clustering of genes was confirmed by virtue of a variance of the number of genes per unit physical length that exceeded the respective mean. Further evidence for clustering came from a power function relationship between the variance and mean that possessed an exponent of 1.51. This power function implied that the spatial distribution of genes on chromosome 7 was scale invariant, and that the underlying statistical distribution had a Poisson-gamma (PG form. A PG distribution for the spatial scattering of genes was validated by stringent comparisons of both the predicted variance to mean power function and its cumulative distribution function to data derived from chromosome 7. Conclusion The PG distribution was consistent with at least two different biological models: In the microrearrangement model, the number of genes per unit length of chromosome represented the contribution of a random number of smaller chromosomal segments that had originated by random breakage and reconstruction of more primitive chromosomes. Each of these smaller segments would have necessarily contained (on average a gamma distributed number of genes. In the gene cluster model, genes would be scattered randomly to begin with. Over evolutionary timescales, tandem duplication, mutation, insertion, deletion and rearrangement could act at these gene sites through a stochastic birth death and immigration process to yield a PG distribution. On the basis of the gene position data alone it was not possible to identify the biological model which best explained the observed clustering. However, the underlying PG statistical model implicated neutral

  15. Power spectrum scale invariance identifies prefrontal dysregulation in paranoid schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Radulescu, Anca R; Rubin, Denis; Strey, Helmut H; Mujica-Parodi, Lilianne R

    2012-07-01

    Theory and experimental evidence suggest that complex living systems function close to the boundary of chaos, with erroneous organization to an improper dynamical range (too stiff or chaotic) underlying system-wide dysregulation and disease. We hypothesized that erroneous organization might therefore also characterize paranoid schizophrenia, via optimization abnormalities in the prefrontal-limbic circuit regulating emotion. To test this, we acquired fMRI scans from 35 subjects (N = 9 patients with paranoid schizophrenia and N = 26 healthy controls), while they viewed affect-valent stimuli. To quantify dynamic regulation, we analyzed the power spectrum scale invariance (PSSI) of fMRI time-courses and computed the geometry of time-delay (Poincaré) maps, a measure of variability. Patients and controls showed distinct PSSI in two clusters (k(1) : Z = 4.3215, P = 0.00002 and k(2) : Z = 3.9441, P = 0.00008), localized to the orbitofrontal/medial prefrontal cortex (Brodmann Area 10), represented by β close to white noise in patients (β ≈ 0) and in the pink noise range in controls (β ≈ -1). Interpreting the meaning of PSSI differences, the Poincaré maps indicated less variability in patients than controls (Z = -1.9437, P = 0.05 for k(1) ; Z = -2.5099, P = 0.01 for k(2) ). That the dynamics identified Brodmann Area 10 is consistent with previous schizophrenia research, which implicates this area in deficits of working memory, executive functioning, emotional regulation and underlying biological abnormalities in synaptic (glutamatergic) transmission. Our results additionally cohere with a large body of work finding pink noise to be the normal range of central function at the synaptic, cellular, and small network levels, and suggest that patients show less supple responsivity of this region. Copyright © 2011 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  16. Multiphase flow modelling of volcanic ash particle settling in water using adaptive unstructured meshes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jacobs, C. T.; Collins, G. S.; Piggott, M. D.; Kramer, S. C.; Wilson, C. R. G.

    2013-02-01

    Small-scale experiments of volcanic ash particle settling in water have demonstrated that ash particles can either settle slowly and individually, or rapidly and collectively as a gravitationally unstable ash-laden plume. This has important implications for the emplacement of tephra deposits on the seabed. Numerical modelling has the potential to extend the results of laboratory experiments to larger scales and explore the conditions under which plumes may form and persist, but many existing models are computationally restricted by the fixed mesh approaches that they employ. In contrast, this paper presents a new multiphase flow model that uses an adaptive unstructured mesh approach. As a simulation progresses, the mesh is optimized to focus numerical resolution in areas important to the dynamics and decrease it where it is not needed, thereby potentially reducing computational requirements. Model verification is performed using the method of manufactured solutions, which shows the correct solution convergence rates. Model validation and application considers 2-D simulations of plume formation in a water tank which replicate published laboratory experiments. The numerically predicted settling velocities for both individual particles and plumes, as well as instability behaviour, agree well with experimental data and observations. Plume settling is clearly hindered by the presence of a salinity gradient, and its influence must therefore be taken into account when considering particles in bodies of saline water. Furthermore, individual particles settle in the laminar flow regime while plume settling is shown (by plume Reynolds numbers greater than unity) to be in the turbulent flow regime, which has a significant impact on entrainment and settling rates. Mesh adaptivity maintains solution accuracy while providing a substantial reduction in computational requirements when compared to the same simulation performed using a fixed mesh, highlighting the benefits of an

  17. Anisotropic elastic plates

    CERN Document Server

    Hwu, Chyanbin

    2010-01-01

    As structural elements, anisotropic elastic plates find wide applications in modern technology. The plates here are considered to be subjected to not only in plane load but also transverse load. In other words, both plane and plate bending problems as well as the stretching-bending coupling problems are all explained in this book. In addition to the introduction of the theory of anisotropic elasticity, several important subjects have are discussed in this book such as interfaces, cracks, holes, inclusions, contact problems, piezoelectric materials, thermoelastic problems and boundary element a

  18. Gauge invariance rediscovered

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Moriyasu, K.

    1978-01-01

    A pedagogical approach to gauge invariance is presented which is based on the analogy between gauge transformations and relativity. By using the concept of an internal space, purely geometrical arguments are used to teach the physical ideas behind gauge invariance. Many of the results are applicable to general gauge theories

  19. Recognition and characterization of unstructured environmental sounds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chu, Selina

    2011-12-01

    Environmental sounds are what we hear everyday, or more generally sounds that surround us ambient or background audio. Humans utilize both vision and hearing to respond to their surroundings, a capability still quite limited in machine processing. The first step toward achieving multimodal input applications is the ability to process unstructured audio and recognize audio scenes (or environments). Such ability would have applications in content analysis and mining of multimedia data or improving robustness in context aware applications through multi-modality, such as in assistive robotics, surveillances, or mobile device-based services. The goal of this thesis is on the characterization of unstructured environmental sounds for understanding and predicting the context surrounding of an agent or device. Most research on audio recognition has focused primarily on speech and music. Less attention has been paid to the challenges and opportunities for using audio to characterize unstructured audio. My research focuses on investigating challenging issues in characterizing unstructured environmental audio and to develop novel algorithms for modeling the variations of the environment. The first step in building a recognition system for unstructured auditory environment was to investigate on techniques and audio features for working with such audio data. We begin by performing a study that explore suitable features and the feasibility of designing an automatic environment recognition system using audio information. In my initial investigation to explore the feasibility of designing an automatic environment recognition system using audio information, I have found that traditional recognition and feature extraction for audio were not suitable for environmental sound, as they lack any type of structures, unlike those of speech and music which contain formantic and harmonic structures, thus dispelling the notion that traditional speech and music recognition techniques can simply

  20. Statistical ensembles and molecular dynamics studies of anisotropic solids. II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ray, J.R.; Rahman, A.

    1985-01-01

    We have recently discussed how the Parrinello--Rahman theory can be brought into accord with the theory of the elastic and thermodynamic behavior of anisotropic media. This involves the isoenthalpic--isotension ensemble of statistical mechanics. Nose has developed a canonical ensemble form of molecular dynamics. We combine Nose's ideas with the Parrinello--Rahman theory to obtain a canonical form of molecular dynamics appropriate to the study of anisotropic media subjected to arbitrary external stress. We employ this isothermal--isotension ensemble in a study of a fcc→ close-packed structural phase transformation in a Lennard-Jones solid subjected to uniaxial compression. Our interpretation of the Nose theory does not involve a scaling of the time variable. This latter fact leads to simplifications when studying the time dependence of quantities

  1. Users’ support as a social resource in educational services: construct validity and measurement invariance of the User-Initiated Support Scale (UISS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barbara Loera

    2016-08-01

    Full Text Available Social support is an important resource for reducing the risks of stress and burnout at work. It seems to be particularly helpful for educational and social professionals. The constant and intense relationships with users that characterize this kind of service can be very demanding, increasing stress and leading to burnout. While significant attention has been paid to supervisors and colleagues in the literature, users have rarely been considered as possible sources of social support. The only exception is the Zimmermann et al.’ (2011 research, focused on customer support as a resource for workers’ well-being. This paper proposes the validation of the customer-initiated support scale developed by Zimmermann et al. (2011, translated into Italian and focused on educational services users (children’s parents, to measure the user support perceived by workers: the User-Initiated Support Scale (UISS. In Study 1 (105 teachers, which specifically involved educators and kindergarten teachers, the items and scale properties were preliminarily examined using descriptive analyses and exploratory factor analysis (EFA. In Study 2 (304 teachers, the construct and criterion validity and scale dimensionality were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA. In Study 3 (304 teachers from Study 2 and 296 educators, measurement invariance was tested. The EFA results from Study 1 showed a one-factor solution (explained variance, 67.2%. The scale showed good internal coherence (alpha = .88. The CFA in Study 2 validated the one-factor solution (CFI = .987; SRMR = .054. Bivariate correlations confirmed construct validity; the UISS was positively associated (convergent with user gratitude, and not associated (divergent with disproportionate customer expectations. Regarding the criterion validity test, the UISS was strongly correlated with burnout and job satisfaction. The analysis of measurement invariance performed on the Study 3 data confirmed the equality

  2. Factor structure of the CES-D and measurement invariance across gender in Mainland Chinese adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Mengcheng; Armour, Cherie; Wu, Yan; Ren, Fen; Zhu, Xiongzhao; Yao, Shuqiao

    2013-09-01

    The primary aim was to examine the depressive symptom structure of Mainland China adolescents using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D). Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were simultaneously conducted to determine the structure of the CES-D in a large scale, representative adolescent samples recruited from Mainland China. Multigroup CFA (N = 5059, 48% boys, mean = 16.55±1.06) was utilized to test the factorial invariance of the depressive symptom structure, which was generated by EFA and confirmed by CFA across gender. The CES-D can be interpreted in terms of 3 symptom dimensions. Additionally, factorial invariance of the new proposed model across gender was supported at all assuming different degrees of invariance. Mainland Chinese adolescents have specific depressive symptom structure, which is consistent across gender. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Simulation of geothermal water extraction in heterogeneous reservoirs using dynamic unstructured mesh optimisation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salinas, P.; Pavlidis, D.; Jacquemyn, C.; Lei, Q.; Xie, Z.; Pain, C.; Jackson, M.

    2017-12-01

    It is well known that the pressure gradient into a production well increases with decreasing distance to the well. To properly capture the local pressure drawdown into the well a high grid or mesh resolution is required; moreover, the location of the well must be captured accurately. In conventional simulation models, the user must interact with the model to modify grid resolution around wells of interest, and the well location is approximated on a grid defined early in the modelling process.We report a new approach for improved simulation of near wellbore flow in reservoir scale models through the use of dynamic mesh optimisation and the recently presented double control volume finite element method. Time is discretized using an adaptive, implicit approach. Heterogeneous geologic features are represented as volumes bounded by surfaces. Within these volumes, termed geologic domains, the material properties are constant. Up-, cross- or down-scaling of material properties during dynamic mesh optimization is not required, as the properties are uniform within each geologic domain. A given model typically contains numerous such geologic domains. Wells are implicitly coupled with the domain, and the fluid flows is modelled inside the wells. The method is novel for two reasons. First, a fully unstructured tetrahedral mesh is used to discretize space, and the spatial location of the well is specified via a line vector, ensuring its location even if the mesh is modified during the simulation. The well location is therefore accurately captured, the approach allows complex well trajectories and wells with many laterals to be modelled. Second, computational efficiency is increased by use of dynamic mesh optimization, in which an unstructured mesh adapts in space and time to key solution fields (preserving the geometry of the geologic domains), such as pressure, velocity or temperature, this also increases the quality of the solutions by placing higher resolution where required

  4. Study of the Gray Scale, Polychromatic, Distortion Invariant Neural Networks Using the Ipa Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uang, Chii-Maw

    Research in the optical neural network field is primarily motivated by the fact that humans recognize objects better than the conventional digital computers and the massively parallel inherent nature of optics. This research represents a continuous effort during the past several years in the exploitation of using neurocomputing for pattern recognition. Based on the interpattern association (IPA) model and Hamming net model, many new systems and applications are introduced. A gray level discrete associative memory that is based on object decomposition/composition is proposed for recognizing gray-level patterns. This technique extends the processing ability from the binary mode to gray-level mode, and thus the information capacity is increased. Two polychromatic optical neural networks using color liquid crystal television (LCTV) panels for color pattern recognition are introduced. By introducing a color encoding technique in conjunction with the interpattern associative algorithm, a color associative memory was realized. Based on the color decomposition and composition technique, a color exemplar-based Hamming net was built for color image classification. A shift-invariant neural network is presented through use of the translation invariant property of the modulus of the Fourier transformation and the hetero-associative interpattern association (IPA) memory. To extract the main features, a quadrantal sampling method is used to sampled data and then replace the training patterns. Using the concept of hetero-associative memory to recall the distorted object. A shift and rotation invariant neural network using an interpattern hetero-association (IHA) model is presented. To preserve the shift and rotation invariant properties, a set of binarized-encoded circular harmonic expansion (CHE) functions at the Fourier domain is used as the training set. We use the shift and symmetric properties of the modulus of the Fourier spectrum to avoid the problem of centering the CHE

  5. Anisotropic evaluation of synthetic surgical meshes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saberski, E R; Orenstein, S B; Novitsky, Y W

    2011-02-01

    The material properties of meshes used in hernia repair contribute to the overall mechanical behavior of the repair. The anisotropic potential of synthetic meshes, representing a difference in material properties (e.g., elasticity) in different material axes, is not well defined to date. Haphazard orientation of anisotropic mesh material can contribute to inconsistent surgical outcomes. We aimed to characterize and compare anisotropic properties of commonly used synthetic meshes. Six different polypropylene (Trelex(®), ProLite™, Ultrapro™), polyester (Parietex™), and PTFE-based (Dualmesh(®), Infinit) synthetic meshes were selected. Longitudinal and transverse axes were defined for each mesh, and samples were cut in each axis orientation. Samples underwent uniaxial tensile testing, from which the elastic modulus (E) in each axis was determined. The degree of anisotropy (λ) was calculated as a logarithmic expression of the ratio between the elastic modulus in each axis. Five of six meshes displayed significant anisotropic behavior. Ultrapro™ and Infinit exhibited approximately 12- and 20-fold differences between perpendicular axes, respectively. Trelex(®), ProLite™, and Parietex™ were 2.3-2.4 times. Dualmesh(®) was the least anisotropic mesh, without marked difference between the axes. Anisotropy of synthetic meshes has been underappreciated. In this study, we found striking differences between elastic properties of perpendicular axes for most commonly used synthetic meshes. Indiscriminate orientation of anisotropic mesh may adversely affect hernia repairs. Proper labeling of all implants by manufacturers should be mandatory. Understanding the specific anisotropic behavior of synthetic meshes should allow surgeons to employ rational implant orientation to maximize outcomes of hernia repair.

  6. The Shame and Guilt Scales of the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-Adolescent (TOSCA-A): Psychometric Properties for Responses from Children, and Measurement Invariance Across Children and Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, Shaun D.; Gomez, Rapson; Gullone, Eleonora

    2016-01-01

    This study examined various psychometric properties of the items comprising the shame and guilt scales of the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-Adolescent (TOSCA-A) in a group children between 8 and 11 years of age. A total of 699 children (367 females and 332 males) completed these scales, and also measures of depression and empathy. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided support for an oblique two-factor model, with the originally proposed shame and guilt items comprising shame and guilt factors, respectively. There was good internal consistency reliability for the shame and guilt scales, with omega coefficient values of 0.77 and 0.81 for shame and guilt, respectively. Also, shame correlated with depression symptoms positively (0.34, p Guilt correlated with depression symptoms negatively (-0.28, p guilt factors. Multiple-group CFA comparing this group of children with a separate group of adolescents (320 females and 242 males), based on the chi-square difference test, supported full metric invariance, the intercept invariance of 17 of the 30 shame and guilt items, and higher latent mean scores among children for both shame and guilt. The non-equivalency for intercepts and mean scores were of small effect sizes. Comparisons based on the difference in root mean squared error of approximation values supported full measurement invariance and no group difference for latent mean scores. The findings in the current study support the use of the TOSCA-A in children and the valid comparison of scores between children and adolescents, thereby opening up the possibility of evaluating change in the TOSCA-A shame and guilt factors over these developmental age groups. PMID:27242573

  7. Remote sensing depth invariant index parameters in shallow benthic habitats for bottom type classification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gapper, J.; El-Askary, H. M.; Linstead, E.

    2017-12-01

    Ground cover prediction of benthic habitats using remote sensing imagery requires substantial feature engineering. Artifacts that confound the ground cover characteristics must be severely reduced or eliminated while the distinguishing features must be exposed. In particular, the impact of wavelength attenuation in the water column means that a machine learning algorithm will primarily detect depth. However, the per pixel depths are difficult to know on a grand scale. Previous research has taken an in situ approach to applying depth invariant index on a small area of interest within a Landsat 8 scene. We aim to abstract this process for application to entire Landsat scene as well as other locations in order to study change detection in shallow benthic zones on a global scale. We have developed a methodology and applied it to more than 25 different Landsat 8 scenes. The images were first preprocessed to mask land, clouds, and other distortions then atmospheric correction via dark pixel subtraction was applied. Finally, depth invariant indices were calculated for each location and associated parameters recorded. Findings showed how robust the resulting parameters (deep-water radiance, depth invariant constant, band radiance variance/covariance, and ratio of attenuation) were across all scenes. We then created false color composite images of the depth invariant indices for each location. We noted several artifacts within some sites in the form of patterns or striations that did not appear to be aligned with variations in subsurface ground cover types. Further research into depth surveys for these sites revealed depths consistent with one or more wavelengths fully attenuating. This result showed that our model framework is generalizing well but limited to the penetration depths due to wavelength attenuation. Finally, we compared the parameters associated with the depth invariant calculation which were consistent across most scenes and explained any outliers observed

  8. Cracking on anisotropic neutron stars

    Science.gov (United States)

    Setiawan, A. M.; Sulaksono, A.

    2017-07-01

    We study the effect of cracking of a local anisotropic neutron star (NS) due to small density fluctuations. It is assumed that the neutron star core consists of leptons, nucleons and hyperons. The relativistic mean field model is used to describe the core of equation of state (EOS). For the crust, we use the EOS introduced by Miyatsu et al. [1]. Furthermore, two models are used to describe pressure anisotropic in neutron star matter. One is proposed by Doneva-Yazadjiev (DY) [2] and the other is proposed by Herrera-Barreto (HB) [3]. The anisotropic parameter of DY and HB models are adjusted in order the predicted maximum mass compatible to the mass of PSR J1614-2230 [4] and PSR J0348+0432 [5]. We have found that cracking can potentially present in the region close to the neutron star surface. The instability due cracking is quite sensitive to the NS mass and anisotropic parameter used.

  9. Link invariants from finite Coxeter racks

    OpenAIRE

    Nelson, Sam; Wieghard, Ryan

    2008-01-01

    We study Coxeter racks over $\\mathbb{Z}_n$ and the knot and link invariants they define. We exploit the module structure of these racks to enhance the rack counting invariants and give examples showing that these enhanced invariants are stronger than the unenhanced rack counting invariants.

  10. Resonant absorption of electromagnetic waves in transition anisotropic media.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Kihong

    2017-11-27

    We study the mode conversion and resonant absorption phenomena occurring in a slab of a stratified anisotropic medium, optical axes of which are tilted with respect to the direction of inhomogeneity, using the invariant imbedding theory of wave propagation. When the tilt angle is zero, mode conversion occurs if the longitudinal component of the permittivity tensor, which is the one in the direction of inhomogeneity in the non-tilted case, varies from positive to negative values within the medium, while the transverse component plays no role. When the tilt angle is nonzero, the wave transmission and absorption show an asymmetry under the sign change of the incident angle in a range of the tilt angle, while the reflection is always symmetric. We calculate the reflectance, the transmittance and the absorptance for several configurations of the permittivity tensor and find that resonant absorption is greatly enhanced when the medium from the incident surface to the resonance region is hyperbolic than when it is elliptic. For certain configurations, the transmittance and absorptance curves display sharp peaks at some incident angles determined by the tilt angle.

  11. Improving scale invariant feature transform with local color contrastive descriptor for image classification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Sheng; Huang, Weilin; Qiao, Yu

    2017-01-01

    Image representation and classification are two fundamental tasks toward version understanding. Shape and texture provide two key features for visual representation and have been widely exploited in a number of successful local descriptors, e.g., scale invariant feature transform (SIFT), local binary pattern descriptor, and histogram of oriented gradient. Unlike these gradient-based descriptors, this paper presents a simple yet efficient local descriptor, named local color contrastive descriptor (LCCD), which captures the contrastive aspects among local regions or color channels for image representation. LCCD is partly inspired by the neural science facts that color contrast plays important roles in visual perception and there exist strong linkages between color and shape. We leverage f-divergence as a robust measure to estimate the contrastive features between different spatial locations and multiple channels. Our descriptor enriches local image representation with both color and contrast information. Due to that LCCD does not explore any gradient information, individual LCCD does not yield strong performance. But we verified experimentally that LCCD can compensate strongly SIFT. Extensive experimental results on image classification show that our descriptor improves the performance of SIFT substantially by combination on three challenging benchmarks, including MIT Indoor-67 database, SUN397, and PASCAL VOC 2007.

  12. A Novel Fast and Robust Binary Affine Invariant Descriptor for Image Matching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiujie Qu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available As the current binary descriptors have disadvantages of high computational complexity, no affine invariance, and the high false matching rate with viewpoint changes, a new binary affine invariant descriptor, called BAND, is proposed. Different from other descriptors, BAND has an irregular pattern, which is based on local affine invariant region surrounding a feature point, and it has five orientations, which are obtained by LBP effectively. Ultimately, a 256 bits binary string is computed by simple random sampling pattern. Experimental results demonstrate that BAND has a good matching result in the conditions of rotating, image zooming, noising, lighting, and small-scale perspective transformation. It has better matching performance compared with current mainstream descriptors, while it costs less time.

  13. WebDat: bridging the gap between unstructured and structured data

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nogiec, Jerzy M.; Trombly-Freytag, Kelley; Carcagno, Ruben

    2008-01-01

    Accelerator R and D environments produce data characterized by different levels of organization. Whereas some systems produce repetitively predictable and standardized structured data, others may produce data of unknown or changing structure. In addition, structured data, typically sets of numeric values, are frequently logically connected with unstructured content (e.g., images, graphs, comments). Despite these different characteristics, a coherent, organized and integrated view of all information is sought out. WebDat is a system conceived as a result of efforts in this direction. It provides a uniform and searchable view of structured and unstructured data via common metadata, regardless of the repository used (DBMS or file system). It also allows for processing data and creating interactive reports. WebDat supports metadata management, administration, data and content access, application integration via Web services, and Web-based collaborative analysis

  14. WebDat: bridging the gap between unstructured and structured data

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nogiec, Jerzy M.; Trombly-Freytag, Kelley; Carcagno, Ruben; /Fermilab

    2008-11-01

    Accelerator R&D environments produce data characterized by different levels of organization. Whereas some systems produce repetitively predictable and standardized structured data, others may produce data of unknown or changing structure. In addition, structured data, typically sets of numeric values, are frequently logically connected with unstructured content (e.g., images, graphs, comments). Despite these different characteristics, a coherent, organized and integrated view of all information is sought out. WebDat is a system conceived as a result of efforts in this direction. It provides a uniform and searchable view of structured and unstructured data via common metadata, regardless of the repository used (DBMS or file system). It also allows for processing data and creating interactive reports. WebDat supports metadata management, administration, data and content access, application integration via Web services, and Web-based collaborative analysis.

  15. National and Gender Measurement Invariance of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS): A 10-Nation Study With University Students.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Crocetti, Elisabetta; Cieciuch, Jan; Gao, Cheng-Hai; Klimstra, Theo; Lin, Ching-Ling; Matos, Paula Mena; Morsünbül, Ümit; Negru, Oana; Sugimura, Kazumi; Zimmermann, Grégoire; Meeus, Wim

    2015-12-01

    The purpose of this study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Utrecht-Management of Identity Commitments Scale (U-MICS), a self-report measure aimed at assessing identity processes of commitment, in-depth exploration, and reconsideration of commitment. We tested its factor structure in university students from a large array of cultural contexts, including 10 nations located in Europe (i.e., Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and Switzerland), Middle East (i.e., Turkey), and Asia (i.e., China, Japan, and Taiwan). Furthermore, we tested national and gender measurement invariance. Participants were 6,118 (63.2% females) university students aged from 18 to 25 years (Mage = 20.91 years). Results indicated that the three-factor structure of the U-MICS fitted well in the total sample, in each national group, and in gender groups. Furthermore, national and gender measurement invariance were established. Thus, the U-MICS can be fruitfully applied to study identity in university students from various Western and non-Western contexts. © The Author(s) 2015.

  16. Transmission probability method based on triangle meshes for solving unstructured geometry neutron transport problem

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wu Hongchun [Nuclear Engineering Department, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049, Shaanxi (China)]. E-mail: hongchun@mail.xjtu.edu.cn; Liu Pingping [Nuclear Engineering Department, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049, Shaanxi (China); Zhou Yongqiang [Nuclear Engineering Department, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049, Shaanxi (China); Cao Liangzhi [Nuclear Engineering Department, Xi' an Jiaotong University, Xi' an 710049, Shaanxi (China)

    2007-01-15

    In the advanced reactor, the fuel assembly or core with unstructured geometry is frequently used and for calculating its fuel assembly, the transmission probability method (TPM) has been used widely. However, the rectangle or hexagon meshes are mainly used in the TPM codes for the normal core structure. The triangle meshes are most useful for expressing the complicated unstructured geometry. Even though finite element method and Monte Carlo method is very good at solving unstructured geometry problem, they are very time consuming. So we developed the TPM code based on the triangle meshes. The TPM code based on the triangle meshes was applied to the hybrid fuel geometry, and compared with the results of the MCNP code and other codes. The results of comparison were consistent with each other. The TPM with triangle meshes would thus be expected to be able to apply to the two-dimensional arbitrary fuel assembly.

  17. An assessment of unstructured grid finite volume schemes for cold gas hypersonic flow calculations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    João Luiz F. Azevedo

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available A comparison of five different spatial discretization schemes is performed considering a typical high speed flow application. Flowfields are simulated using the 2-D Euler equations, discretized in a cell-centered finite volume procedure on unstructured triangular meshes. The algorithms studied include a central difference-type scheme, and 1st- and 2nd-order van Leer and Liou flux-vector splitting schemes. These methods are implemented in an efficient, edge-based, unstructured grid procedure which allows for adaptive mesh refinement based on flow property gradients. Details of the unstructured grid implementation of the methods are presented together with a discussion of the data structure and of the adaptive refinement strategy. The application of interest is the cold gas flow through a typical hypersonic inlet. Results for different entrance Mach numbers and mesh topologies are discussed in order to assess the comparative performance of the various spatial discretization schemes.

  18. Rotation Invariance Neural Network

    OpenAIRE

    Li, Shiyuan

    2017-01-01

    Rotation invariance and translation invariance have great values in image recognition tasks. In this paper, we bring a new architecture in convolutional neural network (CNN) named cyclic convolutional layer to achieve rotation invariance in 2-D symbol recognition. We can also get the position and orientation of the 2-D symbol by the network to achieve detection purpose for multiple non-overlap target. Last but not least, this architecture can achieve one-shot learning in some cases using thos...

  19. A method to determine site-specific, anisotropic fracture toughness in biological materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bechtle, Sabine; Özcoban, Hüseyin; Yilmaz, Ezgi D.; Fett, Theo; Rizzi, Gabriele; Lilleodden, Erica T.; Huber, Norbert; Schreyer, Andreas; Swain, Michael V.; Schneider, Gerold A.

    2012-01-01

    Many biological materials are hierarchically structured, with highly anisotropic structures and properties on several length scales. To characterize the mechanical properties of such materials, detailed testing methods are required that allow precise and site-specific measurements on several length scales. We propose a fracture toughness measurement technique based on notched focused ion beam prepared cantilevers of lower and medium micron size scales. Using this approach, site-specific fracture toughness values in dental enamel were determined. The usefulness and challenges of the method are discussed.

  20. Original article Construct validity, dimensionality and factorial invariance of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale: a bifactor modelling approach among children of prisoners

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kathryn Sharratt

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available Background The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES has traditionally been conceptualised as a unidimensional measure of self-esteem, but empirical evidence is equivocal, with some studies supporting a one-factor solution and others favouring multidimensional models. Participants and procedure The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure, factorial invariance and composite reliability of the RSES within a European sample of children affected by parental imprisonment (N = 724. The study specified and tested six alternative factor models using conventional confirmatory factor analytic (CFA techniques and a confirmatory bifactor modelling approach. Results The RSES was most effectively represented by a bifactor model including a general self-esteem factor comprising all ten scale items and separate method effects for the positively and negatively phrased items. This model was found to be factorially invariant among boys and girls. Composite reliability indicated good internal consistency for the general self-esteem dimension but slightly less so for the positive and negative method effects. Conclusions It follows that the calculation of a total RSES score is appropriate for children of prisoners, providing that the presence of method effects is taken into consideration to avoid giving rise to false interpretations. This study demonstrated the application of a bifactorial modeling approach as a potential solution.

  1. Unsupervised Ontology Generation from Unstructured Text. CRESST Report 827

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mousavi, Hamid; Kerr, Deirdre; Iseli, Markus R.

    2013-01-01

    Ontologies are a vital component of most knowledge acquisition systems, and recently there has been a huge demand for generating ontologies automatically since manual or supervised techniques are not scalable. In this paper, we introduce "OntoMiner", a rule-based, iterative method to extract and populate ontologies from unstructured or…

  2. Meson life time in the anisotropic quark-gluon plasma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ali-Akbari, Mohammad; Allahbakhshi, Davood

    2014-01-01

    In the hot (an)isotropic plasma the meson life time τ is defined as a time scale after which the meson dissociates. According to the gauge/gravity duality, this time can be identified with the inverse of the imaginary part of the frequency of the quasinormal modes, ω_I, in the (an)isotropic black hole background. In the high temperature limit, we numerically show that at fixed temperature(entropy density) the life time of the mesons decreases(increases) as the anisotropy parameter raises. For general case, at fixed temperature we introduce a polynomial function for ω_I and observe that the meson life time decreases. Moreover, we realize that (s/T"3)"6, where s and T are entropy density and temperature of the plasma respectively, can be expressed as a function of anisotropy parameter over temperature. Interestingly, this function is a Padé approximant.

  3. GRIZ: Visualization of finite element analysis results on unstructured grids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dovey, D.; Loomis, M.D.

    1994-01-01

    GRIZ is a general-purpose post-processing application that supports interactive visualization of finite element analysis results on three-dimensional unstructured grids. GRIZ includes direct-to-videodisc animation capabilities and is being used as a production tool for creating engineering animations

  4. The Shame and Guilt Scales of the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-Adolescent (TOSCA-A): Factor Structure, Concurrent and Discriminant Validity, and Measurement and Structural Invariance Across Ratings of Males and Females.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watson, Shaun; Gomez, Rapson; Gullone, Eleonora

    2017-06-01

    This study examined various psychometric properties of the items comprising the shame and guilt scales of the Test of Self-Conscious Affect-Adolescent. A total of 563 adolescents (321 females and 242 males) completed these scales, and also measures of depression and empathy. Confirmatory factor analysis provided support for an oblique two-factor model, with the originally proposed shame and guilt items comprising shame and guilt factors, respectively. Also, shame correlated with depression positively and had no relation with empathy. Guilt correlated with depression negatively and with empathy positively. Thus, there was support for the convergent and discriminant validity of the shame and guilt factors. Multiple-group confirmatory factor analysis comparing females and males, based on the chi-square difference test, supported full metric invariance, the intercept invariance of 26 of the 30 shame and guilt items, and higher latent mean scores among females for both shame and guilt. Comparisons based on the difference in root mean squared error of approximation values supported full measurement invariance and no gender difference for latent mean scores. The psychometric and practical implications of the findings are discussed.

  5. A Registration Scheme for Multispectral Systems Using Phase Correlation and Scale Invariant Feature Matching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hanlun Li

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available In the past few years, many multispectral systems which consist of several identical monochrome cameras equipped with different bandpass filters have been developed. However, due to the significant difference in the intensity between different band images, image registration becomes very difficult. Considering the common structural characteristic of the multispectral systems, this paper proposes an effective method for registering different band images. First we use the phase correlation method to calculate the parameters of a coarse-offset relationship between different band images. Then we use the scale invariant feature transform (SIFT to detect the feature points. For every feature point in a reference image, we can use the coarse-offset parameters to predict the location of its matching point. We only need to compare the feature point in the reference image with the several near feature points from the predicted location instead of the feature points all over the input image. Our experiments show that this method does not only avoid false matches and increase correct matches, but also solve the matching problem between an infrared band image and a visible band image in cases lacking man-made objects.

  6. Conformally invariant processes in the plane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lawler, G.F.

    2004-01-01

    These lectures will focus on recent rigorous work on continuum limits of planar lattice models from statistical physics at criticality. For an introduction, I would like to discuss the general problem of critical exponents and scaling limits for lattice models in equilibrium statistical mechanics. There are a number of models, [e.g., self-avoiding walk (polymers), percolation, loop-erased random walk (uniform spanning trees, domino tilings), Ising model, Potts model, nonintersecting simple random walks] that fall under this general framework. These lectures will consider the case d = 2. Mathematicians are now starting to understand rigorously the scaling limit of two-dimensional systems. For most of these models, the general strategy can be described as: Construct possible continuum limits for these models. Show that there are only a limited number of such limits that are conformally invariant. Prove that the lattice model approaches the continuum limit. We should think of the first step as being similar for all of these models. We will spend the next couple of lectures discussing the continuum limits. One example you should already know - the scaling limit of simple random walk is Brownian motion (which in two dimensions is conformally invariant). The important new ideas are restriction measures and stochastic Loewner evolution (SLE). The later lectures will discuss rigorous results about lattice models approaching the continuum limit - we will discuss nonintersecting random walks (which can be shown to be equivalent to problems about exceptional sets of Brownian paths), percolation on the triangular lattice, and the loop-erased random walk. As a rule, the methods used for the second step are particular to each model

  7. The Dynamical Invariant of Open Quantum System

    OpenAIRE

    Wu, S. L.; Zhang, X. Y.; Yi, X. X.

    2015-01-01

    The dynamical invariant, whose expectation value is constant, is generalized to open quantum system. The evolution equation of dynamical invariant (the dynamical invariant condition) is presented for Markovian dynamics. Different with the dynamical invariant for the closed quantum system, the evolution of the dynamical invariant for the open quantum system is no longer unitary, and the eigenvalues of it are time-dependent. Since any hermitian operator fulfilling dynamical invariant condition ...

  8. Synthesizing Modular Invariants for Synchronous Code

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierre-Loic Garoche

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, we explore different techniques to synthesize modular invariants for synchronous code encoded as Horn clauses. Modular invariants are a set of formulas that characterizes the validity of predicates. They are very useful for different aspects of analysis, synthesis, testing and program transformation. We describe two techniques to generate modular invariants for code written in the synchronous dataflow language Lustre. The first technique directly encodes the synchronous code in a modular fashion. While in the second technique, we synthesize modular invariants starting from a monolithic invariant. Both techniques, take advantage of analysis techniques based on property-directed reachability. We also describe a technique to minimize the synthesized invariants.

  9. Time-scale invariant changes in atmospheric radon concentration and crustal strain prior to a large earthquake

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Y. Kawada

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available Prior to large earthquakes (e.g. 1995 Kobe earthquake, Japan, an increase in the atmospheric radon concentration is observed, and this increase in the rate follows a power-law of the time-to-earthquake (time-to-failure. This phenomenon corresponds to the increase in the radon migration in crust and the exhalation into atmosphere. An irreversible thermodynamic model including time-scale invariance clarifies that the increases in the pressure of the advecting radon and permeability (hydraulic conductivity in the crustal rocks are caused by the temporal changes in the power-law of the crustal strain (or cumulative Benioff strain, which is associated with damage evolution such as microcracking or changing porosity. As the result, the radon flux and the atmospheric radon concentration can show a temporal power-law increase. The concentration of atmospheric radon can be used as a proxy for the seismic precursory processes associated with crustal dynamics.

  10. The critical behaviour of self-dual Z(N) spin systems - Finite size scaling and conformal invariance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alcaraz, F.C.

    1986-01-01

    Critical properties of a family of self-dual two dimensional Z(N) models whose bulk free energy is exacly known at the self-dual point are studied. The analysis is performed by studing the finite size behaviour of the corresponding one dimensional quantum Hamiltonians which also possess an exact solution at their self-dual point. By exploring finite size scaling ideas and the conformal invariance of the critical infinite system the critical temperature and critical exponents as well as the central charge associated with the underlying conformal algebra are calculated for N up to 8. The results strongly suggest that the recently constructed Z(N) quantum field theory of Zamolodchikov and Fateev (1985) is the underlying field theory associated with these statistical mechanical systems. It is also tested, for the Z(5) case, the conjecture that these models correspond to the bifurcation points, in the phase diagram of the general Z(N) spin model, where a massless phase originates. (Author) [pt

  11. Magnetized Anisotropic Dark Energy Models in Barber’s Second Self-Creation Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. D. Pawar

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The present paper deals with Bianchi type IX cosmological model with magnetized anisotropic dark energy by using Barber’s self-creation theory. The energy momentum tensor consists of anisotropic fluid with EoS parameter ω and a uniform magnetic field of energy density ρB. In order to obtain the exact solution we have assumed that dark energy components and the components of magnetic field interact minimally and obey the law of conservation of energy momentum tensors. We have also used the special law of variation for the mean generalized Hubble parameter and power law relation between scalar field and scale factor. Some physical and kinematical properties of the models have been discussed.

  12. Simulation of Anisotropic Rock Damage for Geologic Fracturing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busetti, S.; Xu, H.; Arson, C. F.

    2014-12-01

    A continuum damage model for differential stress-induced anisotropic crack formation and stiffness degradation is used to study geologic fracturing in rocks. The finite element-based model solves for deformation in the quasi-linear elastic domain and determines the six component damage tensor at each deformation increment. The model permits an isotropic or anisotropic intact or pre-damaged reference state, and the elasticity tensor evolves depending on the stress path. The damage variable, similar to Oda's fabric tensor, grows when the surface energy dissipated by three-dimensional opened cracks exceeds a threshold defined at the appropriate scale of the representative elementary volume (REV). At the laboratory or wellbore scale (1000m) scales the damaged REV reflects early natural fracturing (background or tectonic fracturing) or shear strain localization (fault process zone, fault-tip damage, etc.). The numerical model was recently benchmarked against triaxial stress-strain data from laboratory rock mechanics tests. However, the utility of the model to predict geologic fabric such as natural fracturing in hydrocarbon reservoirs was not fully explored. To test the ability of the model to predict geological fracturing, finite element simulations (Abaqus) of common geologic scenarios with known fracture patterns (borehole pressurization, folding, faulting) are simulated and the modeled damage tensor is compared against physical fracture observations. Simulated damage anisotropy is similar to that derived using fractured rock-mass upscaling techniques for pre-determined fracture patterns. This suggests that if model parameters are constrained with local data (e.g., lab, wellbore, or reservoir domain), forward modeling could be used to predict mechanical fabric at the relevant REV scale. This reference fabric also can be used as the starting material property to pre-condition subsequent deformation or fluid flow. Continuing efforts are to expand the present damage

  13. A more general model for testing measurement invariance and differential item functioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bauer, Daniel J

    2017-09-01

    The evaluation of measurement invariance is an important step in establishing the validity and comparability of measurements across individuals. Most commonly, measurement invariance has been examined using 1 of 2 primary latent variable modeling approaches: the multiple groups model or the multiple-indicator multiple-cause (MIMIC) model. Both approaches offer opportunities to detect differential item functioning within multi-item scales, and thereby to test measurement invariance, but both approaches also have significant limitations. The multiple groups model allows 1 to examine the invariance of all model parameters but only across levels of a single categorical individual difference variable (e.g., ethnicity). In contrast, the MIMIC model permits both categorical and continuous individual difference variables (e.g., sex and age) but permits only a subset of the model parameters to vary as a function of these characteristics. The current article argues that moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA) constitutes an alternative, more flexible model for evaluating measurement invariance and differential item functioning. We show that the MNLFA subsumes and combines the strengths of the multiple group and MIMIC models, allowing for a full and simultaneous assessment of measurement invariance and differential item functioning across multiple categorical and/or continuous individual difference variables. The relationships between the MNLFA model and the multiple groups and MIMIC models are shown mathematically and via an empirical demonstration. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

  14. A theory for the anisotropic interaction between two substitutional magnetic impurities and the magnetic anisotropic effect in dilute magnetic alloys

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Satter, M.A.

    1990-08-01

    In this paper, a formalism for studying the anisotropic interaction between two substitutional magnetic impurities and the magnetic anisotropic effect in a dilute noble metal- transition metal magnetic alloy has been developed from relativistic scattering theory. The theoretical development and the computational techniques of this formalism are based on relativistic spin-polarized scattering theory and relativistic band structure frameworks. For studying the magnetic anisotropic effect a convenient ''working'' frame of reference with its axes oriented along the fcc crystal axes is set up. This formalism is applied to study the situation for two Fe impurities in paramagnetic Au hosts. For AuFe dilute alloy, the two impurity site interaction as a function of separation is not oscillatory and the anisotropic effect is found to be less than the two site interaction itself only by an order of magnitude. Apart from the anisotropic coupling of the two impurity spins to the separation vector, for the first time, another weak anisotropic coupling to the crystal axes is also contained in the two site interaction. These anisotropic effects are the results of the relativistic spin-orbit interaction which are incorporated into the formalism. (author). 22 refs, 5 figs

  15. On generalized scaling laws with continuously varying exponents

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sittler, Lionel; Hinrichsen, Haye

    2002-01-01

    Many physical systems share the property of scale invariance. Most of them show ordinary power-law scaling, where quantities can be expressed as a leading power law times a scaling function which depends on scaling-invariant ratios of the parameters. However, some systems do not obey power-law scaling, instead there is numerical evidence for a logarithmic scaling form, in which the scaling function depends on ratios of the logarithms of the parameters. Based on previous ideas by Tang we propose that this type of logarithmic scaling can be explained by a concept of local scaling invariance with continuously varying exponents. The functional dependence of the exponents is constrained by a homomorphism which can be expressed as a set of partial differential equations. Solving these equations we obtain logarithmic scaling as a special case. The other solutions lead to scaling forms where logarithmic and power-law scaling are mixed

  16. Using unstructured diaries for primary data collection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Juliet Anne

    2015-05-01

    To give a reflective account of using unstructured handwritten diaries as a method of collecting qualitative data. Diaries are primarily used in research as a method of collecting qualitative data. There are some challenges associated with their use, including compliance rates. However, they can provide a rich source of meaningful data and can avoid the difficulties of participants trying to precisely recall events after some time has elapsed. The author used unstructured handwritten diaries as her primary method of collecting data during her grounded theory doctoral study, when she examined the professional socialisation of nursing students. Over two years, 26 participants selected from four consecutive recruited groups of nursing students volunteered to take part in the study and were asked to keep a daily diary throughout their first five weeks of clinical experience. When using open-ended research questions, grounded theory's pragmatic approach permits the examination of processes thereby creating conceptual interpretive understanding of data. A wealth of rich, detailed data was obtained from the diaries that permitted the development of new theories regarding the effects early clinical experiences have on nursing students' professional socialisation. Diaries were found to provide insightful in-depth qualitative data in a resource-friendly manner. Nurse researchers should consider using diaries as an alternative to more commonly used approaches to collecting qualitative data.

  17. Reducing Lookups for Invariant Checking

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thomsen, Jakob Grauenkjær; Clausen, Christian; Andersen, Kristoffer Just

    2013-01-01

    This paper helps reduce the cost of invariant checking in cases where access to data is expensive. Assume that a set of variables satisfy a given invariant and a request is received to update a subset of them. We reduce the set of variables to inspect, in order to verify that the invariant is still...

  18. Development of 3-D Flow Analysis Code for Fuel Assembly using Unstructured Grid System

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Myong, Hyon Kook; Kim, Jong Eun; Ahn, Jong Ki; Yang, Seung Yong [Kookmin Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2007-03-15

    The flow through a nuclear rod bundle with mixing vanes are very complex and required a suitable turbulence model to be predicted accurately. Final objective of this study is to develop a CFD code for fluid flow and heat transfer analysis in a nuclear fuel assembly using unstructured grid system. In order to develop a CFD code for fluid flow and heat transfer analysis in a nuclear fuel assembly using unstructured grid system, the following researches are made: - Development of numerical algorithm for CFD code's solver - Grid and geometric connectivity data - Development of software(PowerCFD code) for fluid flow and heat transfer analysis in a nuclear fuel assembly using unstructured grid system - Modulation of software(PowerCFD code) - Development of turbulence model - Development of analysis module of RANS/LES hybrid models - Analysis of turbulent flow and heat transfer - Basic study on LES analysis - Development of main frame on pre/post processors based on GUI - Algorithm for fully-developed flow.

  19. Development of 3-D Flow Analysis Code for Fuel Assembly using Unstructured Grid System

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Myong, Hyon Kook; Kim, Jong Eun; Ahn, Jong Ki; Yang, Seung Yong

    2007-03-01

    The flow through a nuclear rod bundle with mixing vanes are very complex and required a suitable turbulence model to be predicted accurately. Final objective of this study is to develop a CFD code for fluid flow and heat transfer analysis in a nuclear fuel assembly using unstructured grid system. In order to develop a CFD code for fluid flow and heat transfer analysis in a nuclear fuel assembly using unstructured grid system, the following researches are made: - Development of numerical algorithm for CFD code's solver - Grid and geometric connectivity data - Development of software(PowerCFD code) for fluid flow and heat transfer analysis in a nuclear fuel assembly using unstructured grid system - Modulation of software(PowerCFD code) - Development of turbulence model - Development of analysis module of RANS/LES hybrid models - Analysis of turbulent flow and heat transfer - Basic study on LES analysis - Development of main frame on pre/post processors based on GUI - Algorithm for fully-developed flow

  20. Fabrication of bio-inspired nitinol alloy surface with tunable anisotropic wetting and high adhesive ability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tian, Yan L; Zhao, Yue C; Yang, Cheng J; Wang, Fu J; Liu, Xian P; Jing, Xiu B

    2018-10-01

    In this paper, micro/nano-scale structures were fabricated on nitinol alloy (NiTi) to realize tunable anisotropic wetting and high adhesive capability. Laser texturing and silanization process are utilized to change the morphological and chemical properties of substrates. It is noted that these treated substrates exhibit the joint characteristics of anisotropic wetting and high adhesive capability. In order to investigate the influences of laser-texturing and silanization processes on NiTi, these surfaces were evaluated using scanning electron microscope (SEM), a white light confocal microscope, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and goniometer. The relationship between water volume and anisotropic wetting was also established. From the experimental testing, we can obtain the following conclusions: (1) the anisotropic wetting characterized by the difference between the water contact angles (WCAs) in the vertical and parallel directions ranges from 0° to 20.3°, which is far more than the value of natural rice leaves. (2) the water sliding angles (WSAs) kept stable at 180°, successfully mimicking the adhesive ability of rose petals. (3) the silanization process could strengthen the hydrophobicity but weaken anisotropic wetting. These bio-inspired NiTi surfaces have a tremendous potential applications such as microfluidic devices, bio-mimetic materials fabrication and lab on chip. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.