Factorization of completely bounded bilinear operators and injectivity

We characterize injectivity of von Neumann algebras in terms of factoring bilinear maps as products of linear maps.Comment: 32 pages. See also http://www.math.tamu.edu/~roger.smith/ preprints.htm

Strong singularity for subalgebras of finite factors

In this paper we develop the theory of strongly singular subalgebras of von Neumann algebras, begun in earlier work. We mainly examine the situation of type \tto factors arising from countable discrete groups. We give simple criteria for strong singularity, and use them to construct strongly singular subalgebras. We particularly focus on groups which act on geometric objects, where the underlying geometry leads to strong singularity

Maritime Indonesia and the Archipelagic Outlook; Some Reflections From a Multidisciplinary Perspective on Old Port Cities in Java

The present paper reflects on Indonesia\u27s status as an archipelagic state and a maritime nation from a historical perspective. It explores the background of a multi-year research project into Indonesia\u27s maritime past currently being undertaken at the Humanities Faculty of Universitas Indonesia. The multidisciplinary research uses toponymy, epigraphy, philology, and linguistic lines of analysis in examining old inscriptions and manuscripts and also includes site visits to a number of old port cities across the archipelago. We present here some of the core concepts behind the research such as the importance of the ancient port cities in a network of maritime trade and diplomacy, and link them to some contemporary issues such as the Archipelagic Outlook. This is based on a concept of territorial integrity that reflects Indonesia\u27s national identity and aspirations. It is hoped that the paper can extend the discussion about efforts to make maritime affairs a strategic geopolitical goal along with restoring Indonesia\u27s identity as a maritime nation

Ubiquitous Place Names Standardization and Study in Indonesia

Place names play a vital role in human society. Names exist in all languages and place names are an indispensible part of International communication. This has been acknowledged by the establishment of the United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names (UNGEGN). One of UNGEGN's tasks is to coordinate International efforts on the proper use of place names. Indonesia supports this effort and through its National Geospatial Agency (BIG). Place names are also of interest as an object of study in themselves. Academic studies into place names are found in linguistics, onomastics, philosophy and a number of other academic disciplines. This article looks at these two dimensions of place names, standardization efforts under the auspices of International and national bodies, and academic studies of names, with particular reference to the situation in Indonesia

The Tolman Surface Brightness Test for the Reality of the Expansion. II. The Effect of the Point-Spread Function and Galaxy Ellipticity on the Derived Photometric Parameters

To complete the Tolman surface brightness test on the reality of the expansion of the Universe, we need to measure accurately the surface brightness profiles of the high-redshift galaxy sample. We, therefore, investigate the effects of various sizes of point-spread-functions composed of telescope diffraction, CCD pixel resolutions, and ground-based seeing on the measurements of mean surface brightness. We have done the calculations using two synthetic galaxies of effective radii of 0.70" and 0.25" with point-spread functions of 0.1, 0.3, and 0.9 arcseconds. We have also compared actual observations of three high-redshift galaxies in the cluster Cl 1324 + 3011 (z = 0.76) made both with the Keck telescopes in seeing of about 0.9" and with HST which has a PSF that is approximately ten times smaller. The conclusion is that HST data can be used as far into the galaxy image as a Petrosian metric radius of eta = 1.3 magnitudes, whereas the ground-based data will have systematic errors of up to 2.9 magnitudes in the mean surface brightness at eta values of less than 2.2 magnitudes. In the final section, we compare the differences in derived average surface brightness for nearly circular galaxy images compared with highly flattened images. The comparison is made by using the two reduction procedures of (1) integrating the profile curves using circular apertures, and (2) approximating an ``equivalent circular'' galaxy that is highly elongated by using an ``effective'' radius of sqrt{ab}, where a and b are the semi-major and semi-minor axis, respectively, of the best-fitting ellipse. The conclusion is that the two methods of reduction give nearly identical results and that either method can be used to analyze the low and high-redshift galaxy samples used in the Tolman test.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomical Journa

Real-time 3D Tracking of Articulated Tools for Robotic Surgery

In robotic surgery, tool tracking is important for providing safe tool-tissue interaction and facilitating surgical skills assessment. Despite recent advances in tool tracking, existing approaches are faced with major difficulties in real-time tracking of articulated tools. Most algorithms are tailored for offline processing with pre-recorded videos. In this paper, we propose a real-time 3D tracking method for articulated tools in robotic surgery. The proposed method is based on the CAD model of the tools as well as robot kinematics to generate online part-based templates for efficient 2D matching and 3D pose estimation. A robust verification approach is incorporated to reject outliers in 2D detections, which is then followed by fusing inliers with robot kinematic readings for 3D pose estimation of the tool. The proposed method has been validated with phantom data, as well as ex vivo and in vivo experiments. The results derived clearly demonstrate the performance advantage of the proposed method when compared to the state-of-the-art.Comment: This paper was presented in MICCAI 2016 conference, and a DOI was linked to the publisher's versio

Sex Offender Treatment Program: Initial Recidivism Study

This report presents results of a recidivism study of participants in the Sex Offender Treatment Program at Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, Alaska Department of Corrections, from January 1987 to August 1995. The report provides an overview and history of sex offender treatment in Alaska as well as a literature review of other studies and findings on this area of treatment. The Alaska study, which was the first conducted of the treatment program, found that any level of treatment achieved resulted in less recidivism, with the longer the period of treatment, the lower the recidivism. The study also noted the high percentage of Alaska Natives in the program and the history of alcohol and substance abuse presented by many sex offenders. The majority of offenders in the program were guilty of assaulting children. The study discusses the program's cost benefits as well as the implications of its findings for probation and parole.Alaska Department of CorrectionsI. Introduction / II. Sex Offender Treatment in Alaska / III. Literature Review / IV. Methodology / V. Results / VI. Conclusions and Recommendations / VII. Reference

A Study on anisotropy of cosmic ray distribution with a small array of water-cherenkov detectors

The study of the anisotropy of the arrival directions is an essential tool to investigate the origin and propagation of cosmic rays primaries. A simple way of recording many cosmic rays is to record coincidences between a number of detectors. We have monitored multi-TeV cosmic rays by a small array of water cherenkov detectors in Tehran(35 43 N, 51 20 E, 1200m a.s.l). More than 1.1*10^6 extensive air shower events were recorded. In addition to the Compton- Getting effect due to the motion of the earth in the Galaxy, an anisotropy has been observed which is due to a unidirectional anisotropy of cosmic ray flow along the Galactic arms.Comment: 16 pages 9 figs and one tabl

The Spectrum of Crab Nebula X-Rays to 120 Kev

Counting rate and pulse height distribution spectral data of Crab Nebula telemetered from balloon detector