Creating a Relational Distributed Object Store

In and of itself, data storage has apparent business utility. But when we can convert data to information, the utility of stored data increases dramatically. It is the layering of relation atop the data mass that is the engine for such conversion. Frank relation amongst discrete objects sporadically ingested is rare, making the process of synthesizing such relation all the more challenging, but the challenge must be met if we are ever to see an equivalent business value for unstructured data as we already have with structured data. This paper describes a novel construct, referred to as a relational distributed object store (RDOS), that seeks to solve the twin problems of how to persistently and reliably store petabytes of unstructured data while simultaneously creating and persisting relations amongst billions of objects.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figure

R3^3SGM: Real-time Raster-Respecting Semi-Global Matching for Power-Constrained Systems

Stereo depth estimation is used for many computer vision applications. Though many popular methods strive solely for depth quality, for real-time mobile applications (e.g. prosthetic glasses or micro-UAVs), speed and power efficiency are equally, if not more, important. Many real-world systems rely on Semi-Global Matching (SGM) to achieve a good accuracy vs. speed balance, but power efficiency is hard to achieve with conventional hardware, making the use of embedded devices such as FPGAs attractive for low-power applications. However, the full SGM algorithm is ill-suited to deployment on FPGAs, and so most FPGA variants of it are partial, at the expense of accuracy. In a non-FPGA context, the accuracy of SGM has been improved by More Global Matching (MGM), which also helps tackle the streaking artifacts that afflict SGM. In this paper, we propose a novel, resource-efficient method that is inspired by MGM's techniques for improving depth quality, but which can be implemented to run in real time on a low-power FPGA. Through evaluation on multiple datasets (KITTI and Middlebury), we show that in comparison to other real-time capable stereo approaches, we can achieve a state-of-the-art balance between accuracy, power efficiency and speed, making our approach highly desirable for use in real-time systems with limited power.Comment: Accepted in FPT 2018 as Oral presentation, 8 pages, 6 figures, 4 table

Detailed design specification for the ALT Shuttle Information Extraction Subsystem (SIES)

The approach and landing test (ALT) shuttle information extraction system (SIES) is described in terms of general requirements and system characteristics output products and processing options, output products and data sources, and system data flow. The ALT SIES is a data reduction system designed to satisfy certain data processing requirements for the ALT phase of the space shuttle program. The specific ALT SIES data processing requirements are stated in the data reduction complex approach and landing test data processing requirements. In general, ALT SIES must produce time correlated data products as a result of standardized data reduction or special purpose analytical processes. The main characteristics of ALT SIES are: (1) the system operates in a batch (non-interactive) mode; (2) the processing is table driven; (3) it is data base oriented; (4) it has simple operating procedures; and (5) it requires a minimum of run time information

GameSense Interactions: Improving Guest Experience with Responsible Gaming

How do conversations about responsible gambling impact the employee and guest experience? With the implementation of GameSense and its strong ties to our loyalty marketing program, M life Rewards, MGM Resorts endeavors to answer that very question. Through focus groups research, interaction surveys, and on the ground conversations with casino employees, we are learning a lot about our innovative approach to responsible gambling. During this lightning talk, Director of Responsible Gaming, Richard Taylor, will provide a typical GameSense interaction, and a very brief summary about GameSense and why it\u27s critically important to make RG a focal point of guest experience

Magnon dark modes and gradient memory

Extensive efforts have been expended in developing hybrid quantum systems to overcome the short coherence time of superconducting circuits by introducing the naturally long-lived spin degree of freedom. Among all the possible materials, single-crystal yttrium iron garnet has shown up very recently as a promising candidate for hybrid systems, and various highly coherent interactions, including strong and even ultra-strong coupling, have been demonstrated. One distinct advantage of these systems is that the spins are in the form of well-defined magnon modes, which allows flexible and precise tuning. Here we demonstrate that by dissipation engineering, a non-Markovian interaction dynamics between the magnon and the microwave cavity photon can be achieved. Such a process enables us to build a magnon gradient memory to store information in the magnon dark modes, which decouple from the microwave cavity and thus preserve a long life-time. Our findings provide a promising approach for developing long-lifetime, multimode quantum memories.Comment: 18 pages, 12 figure

Precious?

The costume industry regularly utilizes vintage clothing for performance in theatre and film. Reflecting on garments previously encountered during a career in this industry, the authors contemplate the lives and purpose of such items and their role within a working costume store. Discussion with professionals from various backgrounds evokes a wide range of questions and differing opinions surrounding the idea of value in this context, producing a subjective reaction with no definitive answer. This article contextualizes these questions through the study of a single item of historical clothing currently used as costume, encouraging the reader to consider how the value of such pieces is perceived. The concept of the costume stock room as an accessible, living archive is explored in relation to the recognized traditional archival structure of a museum store where conservation and preservation have priority

V-cycle optimal convergence for DCT-III matrices

The paper analyzes a two-grid and a multigrid method for matrices belonging to the DCT-III algebra and generated by a polynomial symbol. The aim is to prove that the convergence rate of the considered multigrid method (V-cycle) is constant independent of the size of the given matrix. Numerical examples from differential and integral equations are considered to illustrate the claimed convergence properties.Comment: 19 page