Video foreground detection based on symmetric alpha-stable mixture models.

Background subtraction (BS) is an efficient technique for detecting moving objects in video sequences. A simple BS process involves building a model of the background and extracting regions of the foreground (moving objects) with the assumptions that the camera remains stationary and there exist no movements in the background. These assumptions restrict the applicability of BS methods to real-time object detection in video. In this paper, we propose an extended cluster BS technique with a mixture of symmetric alpha stable (SS) distributions. An on-line self-adaptive mechanism is presented that allows automated estimation of the model parameters using the log moment method. Results over real video sequences from indoor and outdoor environments, with data from static and moving video cameras are presented. The SS mixture model is shown to improve the detection performance compared with a cluster BS method using a Gaussian mixture model and the method of Li et al. [11]

Runaway of Line-Driven Winds Towards Critical and Overloaded solutions

Line-driven winds from hot stars and accretion disks are thought to adopt a unique, critical solution which corresponds to maximum mass loss rate and a particular velocity law. We show that in the presence of negative velocity gradients, radiative-acoustic (Abbott) waves can drive shallow wind solutions towards larger velocities and mass loss rates. Perturbations introduced downstream from the wind critical point lead to convergence towards the critical solution. By contrast, low-lying perturbations cause evolution towards a mass-overloaded solution, developing a broad deceleration region in the wind. Such a wind differs fundamentally from the critical solution. For sufficiently deep-seated perturbations, overloaded solutions become time-dependent and develop shocks and shells.Comment: Latex, 2 postscript figures Astrophysical Journal Letters, in pres

Medium-Induced Gluon Radiation off Massive Quarks Fills the Dead Cone

We calculate the transverse momentum dependence of the medium-induced gluon energy distribution radiated off massive quarks in spatially extended QCD matter. In the absence of a medium, the distribution shows a characteristic mass-dependent depletion of the gluon radiation for angles smaller than m/E, the so-called dead cone effect. Medium-modifications of this spectrum are calculated as a function of quark mass, initial quark energy, in-medium pathlength and density. Generically, medium-induced gluon radiation is found to fill the dead cone, but it is reduced at large gluon energies compared to the radiation off light quarks. We quantify the resulting mass-dependence for momentum-averaged quantities (gluon energy distribution and average parton energy loss), compare it to simple approximation schemes and discuss its observable consequences for nucleus-nucleus collisions at RHIC and LHC. In particular, our analysis does not favor the complete disappearance of energy loss effects from leading open charm spectra at RHIC.Comment: 27 pages LaTeX, 15 eps-figure

Probing Exciton Localization in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Using High-Resolution Near-Field Microscopy

We observe localization of excitons in semiconducting single-walled carbon nanotubes at room temperature using high-resolution near-field photoluminescence (PL) microscopy. Localization is the result of spatially confined exciton energy minima with depths of more than 15 meV connected to lateral energy gradients exceeding 2 meV/nm as evidenced by energy-resolved PL imaging. Simulations of exciton diffusion in the presence of energy variations support this interpretation predicting strongly enhanced PL at local energy minima

Measuring The Collective Flow With Jets

In nucleus--nucleus collisions, high-pT partons interact with a dense medium, which possesses strong collective flow components. Here, we demonstrate that the resulting medium-induced gluon radiation does not depend solely on the energy density of the medium, but also on the collective flow. Both components cannot be disentangled on the basis of leading hadron spectra, but the measurement of particle production associated to high-pT trigger particles, jet-like correlations and jets, allows for their independent characterization. In particular, we show that flow effects lead to a characteristic breaking of the rotational symmetry of the average jet energy and jet multiplicity distribution in the $\eta \times \phi$-plane. We argue that data on the medium-induced broadening of jet-like particle correlations in Au+Au collisions at RHIC provide a first evidence for a significant distortion of parton fragmentation due to the longitudinal collective flow.Comment: 4 pages, Latex, 3 eps-figure

Shell-model phenomenology of low-momentum interactions

The first detailed comparison of the low-momentum interaction V_{low k} with G matrices is presented. We use overlaps to measure quantitatively the similarity of shell-model matrix elements for different cutoffs and oscillator frequencies. Over a wide range, all sets of V_{low k} matrix elements can be approximately obtained from a universal set by a simple scaling. In an oscillator mean-field approach, V_{low k} reproduces satisfactorily many features of the single-particle and single-hole spectra on closed-shell nuclei, in particular through remarkably good splittings between spin-orbit partners on top of harmonic oscillator closures. The main deficiencies of pure two-nucleon interactions are associated with binding energies and with the failure to ensure magicity for the extruder-intruder closures. Here, calculations including three-nucleon interactions are most needed. V_{low k} makes it possible to define directly a meaningful unperturbed monopole Hamiltonian, for which the inclusion of three-nucleon forces is tractable.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, minor additions, to appear as Rapid Comm. in Phys. Rev.

Impact of International Law on the EU Customs Union

This contribution examines the various international instruments, in both hard and soft law, that have been established by international organisations such as the WTO and WCO and scrutinises how they have been implemented into EU legislation governing the EU Customs Union, thus demonstrating the substantial influence of international instruments on the Customs Union. As the relevant international instrume