Vehicle infrastructure cooperative localization using Factor Graphs

Highly assisted and Autonomous Driving is dependent on the accurate localization of both the vehicle and other targets within the environment. With increasing traffic on roads and wider proliferation of low cost sensors, a vehicle-infrastructure cooperative localization scenario can provide improved performance over traditional mono-platform localization. The paper highlights the various challenges in the process and proposes a solution based on Factor Graphs which utilizes the concept of topology of vehicles. A Factor Graph represents probabilistic graphical model as a bipartite graph. It is used to add the inter-vehicle distance as constraints while localizing the vehicle. The proposed solution is easily scalable for many vehicles without increasing the execution complexity. Finally simulation indicates that incorporating the topology information as a state estimate can improve performance over the traditional Kalman Filter approac

A practical phase gate for producing Bell violations in Majorana wires

The Gottesman-Knill theorem holds that operations from the Clifford group, when combined with preparation and detection of qubit states in the computational basis, are insufficient for universal quantum computation. Indeed, any measurement results in such a system could be reproduced within a local hidden variable theory, so that there is no need for a quantum mechanical explanation and therefore no possibility of quantum speedup. Unfortunately, Clifford operations are precisely the ones available through braiding and measurement in systems supporting non-Abelian Majorana zero modes, which are otherwise an excellent candidate for topologically protected quantum computation. In order to move beyond the classically simulable subspace, an additional phase gate is required. This phase gate allows the system to violate the Bell-like CHSH inequality that would constrain a local hidden variable theory. In this article, we both demonstrate the procedure for measuring Bell violations in Majorana systems and introduce a new type of phase gate for the already existing semiconductor-based Majorana wire systems. We conclude with an experimentally feasible schematic combining the two, which should potentially lead to the demonstration of Bell violation in a Majorana experiment in the near future. Our work also naturally leads to a well-defined platform for universal fault-tolerant quantum computation using Majorana zero modes, which we describe.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures; Title and references update

Government Performance and Life Satisfaction in Contemporary Britain

This paper investigates relationships between public policy outcomes and life satisfaction in contemporary Britain. Monthly national surveys gathered between April 2004 and December 2008 are used to analyze the impact of policy delivery both at the micro and macro levels, the former relating to citizens personal experiences, and the latter to cognitive evaluations of and affective reactions to the effectiveness of policies across the country as a whole. The impact of salient political events and changes in economic context involving the onset of a major financial crisis also are considered. Analyses reveal that policy outcomes, especially microlevel ones, significantly influence life satisfaction. The effects of both micro- and macrolevel outcomes involve both affective reactions to policy delivery and cognitive judgments about government performance. Controlling for these and other factors, the broader economic context in which policy judgments are made also influences life satisfaction. © 2010 Southern Political Science Association

Prevalence, intensity, and effect of a nematode (Philometra saltatrix) in the ovaries of bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix)

Examination of 203 adult bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) from Long Island, New York, in 2002 and 2003 and 66 from the Outer Banks, North Carolina, in 2003 revealed the presence of dracunculoid nematodes (Philometra saltatrix) in the ovaries of female fish. Percent prevalence reached 88% in July and then decreased after the peak of the spawning season. Bluefish contained up to 100 parasites per fish. Infection was associated with a range of disorders, including hemorrhage, inf lammation, edema, prenecrotic and necrotic changes, and follicular atresia, that may prevent proper development of oocytes and probably affect bluefish fecundity. Historical occurrences, life cycle, and geographical distribution of this nematode remain largely unknown, but may play important roles in recruitment processes of bluefish

Validation and Improvement of the Beef Production Sub-index in Ireland for Beef Cattle

End of project reportThe objectives of the following study were to: a. Quantify the effect of sire genetic merit for BCI on: 1. feed intake, growth and carcass traits of progeny managed under bull or steer beef production systems. 2. live animal scores, carcass composition and plasma hormone and metabolite concentrations in their progeny. b. Compare the progeny of : 1. Late-maturing beef with dairy breeds and 2. Charolais (CH), Limousin (LM), Simmental (SM) and Belgian Blue (BB) sires bred to beef suckler dams, for feed intake, blood hormones and metabolites, live animal measurements, carcass traits and carcass value in bull and steer production systems