2,925 research outputs found
On Convergence Properties of Shannon Entropy
Convergence properties of Shannon Entropy are studied. In the differential
setting, it is shown that weak convergence of probability measures, or
convergence in distribution, is not enough for convergence of the associated
differential entropies. A general result for the desired differential entropy
convergence is provided, taking into account both compactly and uncompactly
supported densities. Convergence of differential entropy is also characterized
in terms of the Kullback-Liebler discriminant for densities with fairly general
supports, and it is shown that convergence in variation of probability measures
guarantees such convergence under an appropriate boundedness condition on the
densities involved. Results for the discrete setting are also provided,
allowing for infinitely supported probability measures, by taking advantage of
the equivalence between weak convergence and convergence in variation in this
setting.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor
dc readout experiment at the Caltech 40m prototype interferometer
The Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory (LIGO) operates a 40m prototype interferometer on the Caltech campus. The primary mission of the prototype is to serve as an experimental testbed for upgrades to the LIGO interferometers and for gaining experience with advanced interferometric techniques, including detuned resonant sideband extraction (i.e. signal recycling) and dc readout (optical homodyne detection). The former technique will be employed in Advanced LIGO, and the latter in both Enhanced and Advanced LIGO. Using dc readout for gravitational wave signal extraction has several technical advantages, including reduced laser and oscillator noise couplings as well as reduced shot noise, when compared to the traditional rf readout technique (optical heterodyne detection) currently in use in large-scale ground-based interferometric gravitational wave detectors. The Caltech 40m laboratory is currently prototyping a dc readout system for a fully suspended interferometric gravitational wave detector. The system includes an optical filter cavity at the interferometer's output port, and the associated controls and optics to ensure that the filter cavity is optimally coupled to the interferometer. We present the results of measurements to characterize noise couplings in rf and dc readout using this system
Geometric invariant theory of syzygies, with applications to moduli spaces
We define syzygy points of projective schemes, and introduce a program of
studying their GIT stability. Then we describe two cases where we have managed
to make some progress in this program, that of polarized K3 surfaces of odd
genus, and of genus six canonical curves. Applications of our results include
effectivity statements for divisor classes on the moduli space of odd genus K3
surfaces, and a new construction in the Hassett-Keel program for the moduli
space of genus six curves.Comment: v1: 23 pages, submitted to the Proceedings of the Abel Symposium
2017, v2: final version, corrects a sign error and resulting divisor class
calculations on the moduli space of K3 surfaces in Section 5, other minor
changes, In: Christophersen J., Ranestad K. (eds) Geometry of Moduli.
Abelsymposium 2017. Abel Symposia, vol 14. Springer, Cha
Adaptive estimation in circular functional linear models
We consider the problem of estimating the slope parameter in circular
functional linear regression, where scalar responses Y1,...,Yn are modeled in
dependence of 1-periodic, second order stationary random functions X1,...,Xn.
We consider an orthogonal series estimator of the slope function, by replacing
the first m theoretical coefficients of its development in the trigonometric
basis by adequate estimators. Wepropose a model selection procedure for m in a
set of admissible values, by defining a contrast function minimized by our
estimator and a theoretical penalty function; this first step assumes the
degree of ill posedness to be known. Then we generalize the procedure to a
random set of admissible m's and a random penalty function. The resulting
estimator is completely data driven and reaches automatically what is known to
be the optimal minimax rate of convergence, in term of a general weighted
L2-risk. This means that we provide adaptive estimators of both the slope
function and its derivatives
Using the past to constrain the future: how the palaeorecord can improve estimates of global warming
Climate sensitivity is defined as the change in global mean equilibrium
temperature after a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration and provides a
simple measure of global warming. An early estimate of climate sensitivity,
1.5-4.5{\deg}C, has changed little subsequently, including the latest
assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The persistence of such large uncertainties in this simple measure casts
doubt on our understanding of the mechanisms of climate change and our ability
to predict the response of the climate system to future perturbations. This has
motivated continued attempts to constrain the range with climate data, alone or
in conjunction with models. The majority of studies use data from the
instrumental period (post-1850) but recent work has made use of information
about the large climate changes experienced in the geological past.
In this review, we first outline approaches that estimate climate sensitivity
using instrumental climate observations and then summarise attempts to use the
record of climate change on geological timescales. We examine the limitations
of these studies and suggest ways in which the power of the palaeoclimate
record could be better used to reduce uncertainties in our predictions of
climate sensitivity.Comment: The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in
Progress in Physical Geography, 31(5), 2007 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All
rights reserved. \c{opyright} 2007 Edwards, Crucifix and Harriso
Selection of indigenous lactic acid bacteria presenting anti-listerial activity, and their role in reducing the maturation period and assuring the safety of traditional Brazilian cheeses
Artisanal raw milk cheeses are highly appreciated dairy products in Brazil and ensuring their microbiological
safety has been a great need. This study reports the isolation and characterization of lactic acid
bacteria (LAB) strains with anti-listerial activity, and their effects on Listeria monocytogenes during
refrigerated shelf-life of soft Minas cheese and ripening of semi-hard Minas cheese. LAB strains (n ¼ 891)
isolated from Minas artisanal cheeses (n ¼ 244) were assessed for anti-listerial activity by deferred
antagonism assay at 37 C and 7 C. The treatments comprised the production of soft or semi-hard Minas
cheeses using raw or pasteurized milk, and including the addition of selected LAB only [Lactobacillus
brevis 2-392, Lactobacillus plantarum 1-399 and 4 Enterococcus faecalis (1-37, 2-49, 2-388 and 1-400)],
L. monocytogenes only, selected LAB co-inoculated with L. monocytogenes, or without any added cultures.
At 37 C, 48.1% of LAB isolates showed anti-listerial capacity and 77.5% maintained activity at 7 C.
Selected LAB strains presented a bacteriostatic effect on L. monocytogenes in soft cheese. L. monocytogenes
was inactivated during the ripening of semi-hard cheeses by the mix of LAB added. Times to attain a 4
log-reduction of L. monocytogenes were 15 and 21 days for semi-hard cheeses produced with raw and
pasteurized milk, respectively. LAB with anti-listerial activity isolated from artisanal Minas cheeses can
comprise an additional barrier to L. monocytogenes growth during the refrigerated storage of soft cheese
and help shorten the ripening period of semi-hard cheeses aged at ambient temperature.The authors thank the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do
Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP) for financial support (Grants 13/
20456-9, 14/14891-7, 15/25641-4, 16/21041-5, 16/12406-0 and 16/
09346-5). Dr. Gonzales-Barron also acknowledges the financial
support provided by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and
Technology (FCT) through the award of an Investigator Fellowship
(IF) in the mode of Development Grants (IF/00570). A.S. Sant'Ana
acknowledges the financial support of “Conselho Nacional de
Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico” (CNPq) (Grant #302763/
2014-7) and CAPES (Grant #33003017027P1).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Credit bureaus between risk-management, creditworthiness assessment and prudential supervision
"This text may be downloaded for personal research purposes only. Any additional reproduction for other purposes, whether in hard copy or electronically, requires the consent of the author. If cited or quoted, reference should be made to the full name of the author, the title, the working paper or other series, the year, and the publisher."This paper discusses the role and operations of consumer Credit Bureaus in the European Union in the context of the economic theories, policies and law within which they work. Across Europe there is no common practice of sharing the credit data of consumers which can be used for several purposes. Mostly, they are used by the lending industry as a practice of creditworthiness assessment or as a risk-management tool to underwrite borrowing decisions or price risk. However, the type, breath, and depth of information differ greatly from country to country. In some Member States, consumer data are part of a broader information centralisation system for the prudential supervision of banks and the financial system as a whole. Despite EU rules on credit to consumers for the creation of the internal market, the underlying consumer data infrastructure remains fragmented at national level, failing to achieve univocal, common, or defined policy objectives under a harmonised legal framework. Likewise, the establishment of the Banking Union and the prudential supervision of the Euro area demand standardisation and convergence of the data used to measure debt levels, arrears, and delinquencies. The many functions and usages of credit data suggest that the policy goals to be achieved should inform the legal and institutional framework of Credit Bureaus, as well as the design and use of the databases. This is also because fundamental rights and consumer protection concerns arise from the sharing of credit data and their expanding use
Theoretical Properties of Projection Based Multilayer Perceptrons with Functional Inputs
Many real world data are sampled functions. As shown by Functional Data
Analysis (FDA) methods, spectra, time series, images, gesture recognition data,
etc. can be processed more efficiently if their functional nature is taken into
account during the data analysis process. This is done by extending standard
data analysis methods so that they can apply to functional inputs. A general
way to achieve this goal is to compute projections of the functional data onto
a finite dimensional sub-space of the functional space. The coordinates of the
data on a basis of this sub-space provide standard vector representations of
the functions. The obtained vectors can be processed by any standard method. In
our previous work, this general approach has been used to define projection
based Multilayer Perceptrons (MLPs) with functional inputs. We study in this
paper important theoretical properties of the proposed model. We show in
particular that MLPs with functional inputs are universal approximators: they
can approximate to arbitrary accuracy any continuous mapping from a compact
sub-space of a functional space to R. Moreover, we provide a consistency result
that shows that any mapping from a functional space to R can be learned thanks
to examples by a projection based MLP: the generalization mean square error of
the MLP decreases to the smallest possible mean square error on the data when
the number of examples goes to infinity
Anomalously large oxygen-ordering contribution to the thermal expansion of untwinned YBa2Cu3O6.95 single crystals: a glass-like transition near room temperature
We present high-resolution capacitance dilatometry studies from 5 - 500 K of
untwinned YBa2Cu3Ox (Y123) single crystals for x ~ 6.95 and x = 7.0. Large
contributions to the thermal expansivities due to O-ordering are found for x ~
6.95, which disappear below a kinetic glass-like transition near room
temperature. The kinetics at this glass transition is governed by an energy
barrier of 0.98 +- 0.07 eV, in very good agreement with other O-ordering
studies. Using thermodynamic arguments, we show that O-ordering in the Y123
system is particularly sensitive to uniaxial pressure (stress) along the chain
axis and that the lack of well-ordered chains in Nd123 and La123 is most likely
a consequence of a chemical-pressure effect.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to PR
- …