Overview of MediaEval 2011 rich speech retrieval task and genre tagging task

The MediaEval 2011 Rich Speech Retrieval Tasks and Genre Tagging Tasks are two new tasks oered in MediaEval 2011 that are designed to explore the development of techniques for semi-professional user generated content (SPUG). They both use the same data set: the MediaEval 2010 Wild Wild Web Tagging Task (ME10WWW). The ME10WWW data set contains Creative Commons licensed video collected from blip.tv in 2009. It was created by the PetaMedia Network of Excellence (http://www.petamedia.eu) in order to test retrieval algorithms for video content as it occurs `in the wild' on the Internet and, in particular, for user contributed multimedia that is embedded within a social network. In this overview paper, we repeat the essential characteristics of the data set, describe the tasks and specify how they are evaluated

Zetos: Ein Kulturbelastungssystem für trabekuläre Knochen. Untersuchung eines Belastungssignals mit verschiedenen Intensitäten an bovinen Knochenzylindern

Das Ziel dieses Versuches war es, den Einfluss verschiedener Intensitäten (1000, 1500, 2000, 3000, 4000µstrain) eines physiologischen Belastungssignals (Springen) auf trabekulären Knochen zu untersuchen. Dazu wurde der Zetos: Ein Kultur- und Belastungssystem für trabekulären Knochen verwendet. 48 bovine Knochenexplantate wurden randomisiert und in 6 Gruppen (je 8) eingeteilt. 5 Belastungsgruppen und eine Kontrollgruppe. Die Knochenexplantate wurden für 26 Tage kultiviert (DMEM HighGlucose Medium) und an 23 Tagen mechanisch belastet. Vor jeder Belastung wurde täglich (belastete Gruppen) und alle 3 Tage (Kontrollgruppe) die Steifigkeit (Young's Modulus) gemessen. Bei Auswertung der Steifigkeitsmessung gab es signifikante Unterschiede (p<0,05) zwischen der Kontrollgruppe und den Belastungsgruppen ab 1500µstrain Maximalbelastung. In den Gruppen mit 1500, 2000, 3000µstrain konnte ein kontinuierlicher Steifigkeitsanstieg über den gesamten Versuchszeitraum festgestellt werden. Die Gruppe mit 4000µstrain erreichte schon nach sehr kurzer Zeit (8.Belastungstag) ein Steifigkeitsmaximum. Dies blieb bis zum Versuchende konstant. Die gemessenen Osteoiddicken in dieser Gruppe waren aber nicht größer als in den Gruppen mit 2000 und 3000µstrain. Die Gruppe mit 2000µstrain zeigte den höchsten Anteil neu gebildeten Osteoids. Diese 3 genannten Gruppen unterschieden sich aber signifikant (p<0,05) von der Kontrollgruppe. Zudem konnte eine Korrelation zwischen ansteigender Intensität und Osteoidzunahme beobachtet werden (r = 0,87). Die histologische Auswertung erfolgte an nicht entkalktem Knochen und zeigte gut erhaltene trabekuläre Strukturen sowie ebenso gut erhaltene Zellmorphologien

Non-Fermi liquid signatures in the Hubbard Model due to van Hove singularities

When a van-Hove singularity is located in the vicinity of the Fermi level, the electronic scattering rate acquires a non-analytic contribution. This invalidates basic assumptions of Fermi liquid theory and within perturbative treatments leads to a non-Fermi liquid self-energy and transport properties.Such anomalies are shown to also occur in the strongly correlated metallic state. We consider the Hubbard model on a two-dimensional square lattice with nearest and next-nearest neighbor hopping within the single-site dynamical mean-field theory. At temperatures on the order of the low-energy scale $T_0$ an unusual maximum emerges in the imaginary part of the self-energy which is renormalized towards the Fermi level for finite doping. At zero temperature this double-well structure is suppressed, but an anomalous energy dependence of the self-energy remains. For the frustrated Hubbard model on the square lattice with next-nearest neighbor hopping, the presence of the van Hove singularity changes the asymptotic low temperature behavior of the resistivity from a Fermi liquid to non-Fermi liquid dependency as function of doping. The results of this work are discussed regarding their relevance for high-temperature cuprate superconductors.Comment: revised version, accepted in Phys.Rev.

First higher-multipole model of gravitational waves from spinning and coalescing black-hole binaries

Gravitational-wave observations of binary black holes currently rely on theoretical models that predict the dominant multipoles (l,m) of the radiation during inspiral, merger and ringdown. We introduce a simple method to include the subdominant multipoles to binary black hole gravitational waveforms, given a frequency-domain model for the dominant multipoles. The amplitude and phase of the original model are appropriately stretched and rescaled using post-Newtonian results (for the inspiral), perturbation theory (for the ringdown), and a smooth transition between the two. No additional tuning to numerical-relativity simulations is required. We apply a variant of this method to the non-precessing PhenomD model. The result, PhenomHM, constitutes the first higher-multipole model of spinning black-hole binaries, and currently includes the (l,m) = (2,2), (3,3), (4,4), (2,1), (3,2), (4,3) radiative moments. Comparisons with numerical-relativity waveforms demonstrate that PhenomHM is more accurate than dominant-multipole-only models for all binary configurations, and typically improves the measurement of binary properties.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Blip10000: a social video dataset containing SPUG content for tagging and retrieval

The increasing amount of digital multimedia content available is inspiring potential new types of user interaction with video data. Users want to easilyfind the content by searching and browsing. For this reason, techniques are needed that allow automatic categorisation, searching the content and linking to related information. In this work, we present a dataset that contains comprehensive semi-professional user generated (SPUG) content, including audiovisual content, user-contributed metadata, automatic speech recognition transcripts, automatic shot boundary les, and social information for multiple `social levels'. We describe the principal characteristics of this dataset and present results that have been achieved on different tasks

Reflections on when the sun hits

When the Sun Hits is a feature length film concerned with the delicate relationship between the individual and the whole. A young man named John has fallen into a state of social paralysis since his father\u27s death. He no longer knows how to relate to others and the world around him. Rather than looking to friends and family for support he closes himself off. After the mysterious disappearance of his mother, John blames himself for her leaving. He tries his best to reconnect with his old life, but finds himself making the same mistakes over and over. When his friend Tracy reaches out to him, he bitterly rejects her and once again finds himself alone. It is then that John puts his old life behind him and sets off to make amends with his mother. John has no idea where his mother might be or if she will accept him. Nonetheless, he reaches into the abyss to see if someone is there, waiting for him. The structure of the film is nonlinear as it deviates from traditional narrative form. The intent of this thesis is to serve as a post-film reflection that discusses the relation between my views on cinema and the film I made. The paper will shift between the general themes of the narrative and the film theory working behind it all. It will explore the idea of cinema as an extension of the mind and how this is present in the film. By using specific examples from the film this theory of cinema can be fleshed out and an insight into my process may be gleaned

Using charged particle test beams to constrain systematic uncertainties for the DUNE experiment

The existence of non-zero neutrino masses is the one unexplained feature of the Standard Model. As such, neutrinos warrant further investigation. The Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE) is a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment currently in its construction phase. Upon completion it aims to resolve several questions regarding the properties of neutrinos by making precise measurements of muon neutrino disappearance and electron neutrino appearance at a baseline of 1300 km. Specifically, DUNE will aim to find evidence of Charge-Parity symmetry (CP) violation in the lepton sector and determine the ordering of the neutrino mass eigenstates (the neutrino mass hierarchy). In order to accomplish these goals, DUNE’s systematic uncertainties must be understood and it is this that is the primary subject of this thesis. Initially, studies are presented showing the effect of DUNE’s nominal systematic uncertainties on its sensitivity to CP violation and the neutrino mass hierarchy, where the importance of controlling the detector systematics is highlighted. Following this, methods of controlling systematics resulting from neutrino cross-sections are presented, both utilising a high pressure gas time projection chamber. This includes a novel method for producing a low energy proton beam for use in neutrino experiments. Finally, a measurement of the electron lifetime in the ProtoDUNE-SP detector is presented. This lifetime is compared to the values obtained from dedicated purity monitors and translated to an energy scale uncertainty. The effect of this uncertainty on DUNE’s measurement of the neutrino oscillation parameters is assessed

Catch Me if You Can: Adaptation from Standing Genetic Variation to a Moving Phenotypic Optimum

International audienceAdaptation lies at the heart of Darwinian evolution. Accordingly, numerous studies have tried to provide a formal framework for the description of the adaptive process. Out of these, two complementary modelling approaches have emerged: While so-called adaptive-walk models consider adaptation from the successive fixation of de novo mutations only, quantitative genetic models assume that adaptation proceeds exclusively from pre-existing standing genetic variation. The latter approach, however, has focused on short-term evolution of population means and variances rather than on the statistical properties of adaptive substitutions. Our aim is to combine these two approaches by describing the ecological and genetic factors that determine the genetic basis of adaptation from standing genetic variation in terms of the effect-size distribution of individual alleles. Specifically, we consider the evolution of a quantitative trait to a gradually changing environment. By means of analytical approximations, we derive the distribution of adaptive substitutions from standing genetic variation, that is, the distribution of the phenotypic effects of those alleles from the standing variation that become fixed during adaptation. Our results are checked against individual-based simulations. We find that, compared to adaptation from de novo mutations, (i) adaptation from standing variation proceeds by the fixation of more alleles of small effect; (ii) populations that adapt from standing genetic variation can traverse larger distances in phenotype space and, thus, have a higher potential for adaptation if the rate of environmental change is fast rather than slow

Expression site attenuation mechanistically links antigenic variation and development in Trypanosoma brucei

We have discovered a new mechanism of monoallelic gene expression that links antigenic variation, cell cycle, and development in the model parasite Trypanosoma brucei. African trypanosomes possess hundreds of variant surface glycoprotein (VSG) genes, but only one is expressed from a telomeric expression site (ES) at any given time. We found that the expression of a second VSG alone is sufficient to silence the active VSG gene and directionally attenuate the ES by disruptor of telomeric silencing-1B (DOT1B)-mediated histone methylation. Three conserved expression-site-associated genes (ESAGs) appear to serve as signal for ES attenuation. Their depletion causes G1-phase dormancy and reversible initiation of the slender-to-stumpy differentiation pathway. ES-attenuated slender bloodstream trypanosomes gain full developmental competence for transformation to the tsetse fly stage. This surprising connection between antigenic variation and developmental progression provides an unexpected point of attack against the deadly sleeping sickness