9,722 research outputs found
Nature of the vortex-glass order in strongly type-II superconductors
The stability and the critical properties of the three-dimensional
vortex-glass order in random type-II superconductors with point disorder is
investigated in the unscreened limit based on a lattice {\it XY} model with a
uniform field. By performing equilibrium Monte Carlo simulations for the system
with periodic boundary conditions, the existence of a stable vortex-glass order
is established in the unscreened limit. Estimated critical exponents are
compared with those of the gauge-glass model.Comment: Error in the reported value of the exponent eta is correcte
On the suppression of the sidelobes of the supercurrent in small Josephson tunnel junctions
The critical currents of Nb/Al, Al-oxide, Al/Nb tunnel junctions of various shapes have been measured as a function of the applied magnetic field. For the square junction and for some special shapes like the diamond, ¿1 + cosine¿ and quartic junctions the Ic(B) pattern falls off theoretically as 1/Bn, with n respectively equal to 1, 2, 3 and 4. In general the measurements are in good agreement with the theoretical predictions. For the "1 + cosine" and quartic shapes we found a sidelobe suppression that is even larger than that obtained in theory. For the quartic junction the first sidelobe is only 0.3% of the zero-field current. An Ic(B) modulation with a small, only slowly decreasing amplitude is observed for the diamond, "1 + cosine", and quartic junctions, that can be explained by rounding of the sharp edges of the junction shapes, due to the fabrication process
Snap Rounding with Restore: an Algorithm for Producing Robust Geometric Datasets
This paper presents a new algorithm called Snap Rounding with Restore (SRR), which aims to make ge- ometric datasets robust and to increase the quality of geometric approximation and the preservation of topological structure. It is based on the well-known Snap Rounding algorithm, but improves it by eliminat- ing from the snap rounded arrangement the configurations in which the distance between a vertex and a non-incident edge is smaller than half-the-width of a pixel of the rounding grid. Therefore, the goal of SRR is exactly the same as the goal of another algorithm, Iterated Snap Rounding (ISR), and of its evolution, Iterated Snap Rounding with Bounded Drift (ISRBD). However, SRR produces an output with a quality of approximation that is on average better than ISRBD, both under the viewpoint of the distance from the original segments and of the conservation of their topological structure. The paper also reports some cases where ISRBD, notwithstanding the bounded drift, produces strong topological modifications while SRR does not. A statistical analysis on a large collection of input datasets confirms these differences. It follows that the proposed Snap Rounding with Restore algorithm is suitable for applications that require both robustness, a guaranteed geometric approximation and a good topological approximation
Education Pays 2016: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society
Similar to previous editions, Education Pays 2016: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society documents differences in the earnings and employment patterns of U.S. adults with different levels of education. It also compares healthrelated behaviors, reliance on public assistance programs, civic participation, and indicators of the well-being of the next generation.In addition to reporting median earnings by education level, this year's report also presents data on variation in earnings by different characteristics such as gender, race/ethnicity, occupation, college major, and sector. Education Pays 2016 also examines the persistent disparities across different socioeconomic groups in college participation and completion. The magnitude of the benefits of postsecondary education makes ensuring improved access for all who can benefit imperative.Our focus is on outcomes that are correlated with levels of educational attainment, and it is important to be cautious about attributing all of the observed differences to causation. However, reliable statistical analyses support the significant role of postsecondary education in generating the benefits reported
Quantization and Training of Neural Networks for Efficient Integer-Arithmetic-Only Inference
The rising popularity of intelligent mobile devices and the daunting
computational cost of deep learning-based models call for efficient and
accurate on-device inference schemes. We propose a quantization scheme that
allows inference to be carried out using integer-only arithmetic, which can be
implemented more efficiently than floating point inference on commonly
available integer-only hardware. We also co-design a training procedure to
preserve end-to-end model accuracy post quantization. As a result, the proposed
quantization scheme improves the tradeoff between accuracy and on-device
latency. The improvements are significant even on MobileNets, a model family
known for run-time efficiency, and are demonstrated in ImageNet classification
and COCO detection on popular CPUs.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure
Consistent Digital Curved Rays and Pseudoline Arrangements
Representing a family of geometric objects in the digital world where each object is represented by a set of pixels is a basic problem in graphics and computational geometry. One important criterion is the consistency, where the intersection pattern of the objects should be consistent with axioms of the Euclidean geometry, e.g., the intersection of two lines should be a single connected component. Previously, the set of linear rays and segments has been considered. In this paper, we extended this theory to families of curved rays going through the origin. We further consider some psudoline arrangements obtained as unions of such families of rays
Constant-factor approximation of near-linear edit distance in near-linear time
We show that the edit distance between two strings of length can be
computed within a factor of in time as long as
the edit distance is at least for some .Comment: 40 pages, 4 figure
Coordination in Healthcare Multiteam Systems: A Qualitative Study of Healthcare Meetings
To facilitate optimal patient care and outcomes for in-patent cancer patients, healthcare organizations often rely upon the coordinated efforts between specialized teams of healthcare providers, working interdependently in a structure known as a Multiteam System (MTS). Healthcare meetings, such as Rounds, particularly those with an interdisciplinary element, may act as care coordination mechanisms for in-patient MTS. This research investigates an MTS operating within the Southeastern United States whose teams use Rounds and other meetings called SNAP Huddles, to facilitate patient care. Through qualitative analysis using interviews and observations, this exploratory study aims to elucidate research questions relating to how Rounds and SNAP Huddles facilitate MTS process and cross-team (implicit and explicit) coordination; how they address inter-team interdependencies; and how these meetings provide differential benefit to the MTS under certain conditions (e.g., patient complexity and different time points). We discuss how our results contribute to research in the domain of MTSs, healthcare meetings, and cross-team coordination within healthcare. We discuss the practical implications of our research and how it may be used to inform cross-team coordination efforts through healthcare meetings
Bi-stability resistant to fluctuations
We study a simple micro-mechanical device that does not lose its snap-through
behavior in an environment dominated by fluctuations. The main idea is to have
several degrees of freedom that can cooperatively resist the de-synchronizing
effect of random perturbations. As an inspiration we use the power stroke
machinery of skeletal muscles, which ensures at sub-micron scales and finite
temperatures a swift recovery of an abruptly applied slack. In addition to
hypersensitive response at finite temperatures, our prototypical Brownian snap
spring also exhibits criticality at special values of parameters which is
another potentially interesting property for micro-scale engineering
applications
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