Design descriptions in the development of machine learning based design tools

Applications of machine learning technologies are becoming ubiquitous in many sectors and their impacts, both positive and negative, are widely reported. As a result, there is substantial interest from the engineering community to integrate machine learning technologies into design workflows with a view to improving the performance of the product development process. In essence, machine learning technologies are thought to have the potential to underpin future generations of data-enabled engineering design system that will deliver radical improvements to product development and so organisational performance. In this paper we report learning from experiments where we applied machine learning to two shape-based design challenges: in a given collection of designed shapes, clustering (i) visually similar shapes and (ii) shapes that are likely to be manufactured using the same primary process. Both challenges were identified with our industry partners and are embodied in a design case study. We report early results and conclude with issues for design descriptions that need to be addressed if the full potential of machine learning is to be realised in engineering design

Constructing the fermion-boson vertex in QED3

We derive perturbative constraints on the transverse part of the fermion-boson vertex in massive QED3 through its one loop evaluation in an arbitrary covariant gauge. Written in a particular form, these constraints naturally lead us to the first non-perturbative construction of the vertex, which is in complete agreement with its one loop expansion in all momentum regimes. Without affecting its one-loop perturbative properties, we also construct an effective vertex in such a way that the unknown functions defining it have no dependence on the angle between the incoming and outgoing fermion momenta. Such a vertex should be useful for the numerical study of dynamical chiral symmetry breaking, leading to more reliable results.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Spontaneous Chiral-Symmetry Breaking in Three-Dimensional QED with a Chern--Simons Term

In three-dimensional QED with a Chern--Simons term we study the phase structure associated with chiral-symmetry breaking in the framework of the Schwinger--Dyson equation. We give detailed analyses on the analytical and numerical solutions for the Schwinger--Dyson equation of the fermion propagator, where the nonlocal gauge-fixing procedure is adopted to avoid wave-function renormalization for the fermion. In the absence of the Chern--Simons term, there exists a finite critical number of four-component fermion flavors, at which a continuous (infinite-order) chiral phase transition takes place and below which the chiral symmetry is spontaneously broken. In the presence of the Chern--Simons term, we find that the spontaneous chiral-symmetry-breaking transition continues to exist, but the type of phase transition turns into a discontinuous first-order transition. A simple stability argument is given based on the effective potential, whose stationary point gives the solution of the Schwinger-Dyson equation.Comment: 34 pages, revtex, with 9 postscriptfigures appended (uuencoded

Quantum Disordered Regime and Spin Gap in the Cuprate Superconductors

We discuss the crossover from the quantum critical, $z\!=\!1$, to the quantum disordered regime in high-T$_c$ materials in relation to the experimental data on the nuclear relaxation, bulk susceptibility, and inelastic neutron scattering. In our scenario, the spin excitations develop a gap $\Delta\!\sim\!1/\xi$ well above T$_c$, which is supplemented by the quasiparticle gap below T$_c$. The above experiments yield consistent estimates for the value of the spin gap, which increases as the correlation length decreases.Comment: 14 pages, REVTeX v3.0, PostScript file for 3 figures is attached, UIUC-P-93-07-06

Chiral Dynamics and Fermion Mass Generation in Three Dimensional Gauge Theory

We examine the possibility of fermion mass generation in 2+1- dimensional gauge theory from the current algebra point of view.In our approach the critical behavior is governed by the fluctuations of pions which are the Goldstone bosons for chiral symmetry breaking. Our analysis supports the existence of an upper critical number of Fermion flavors and exhibits the explicit form of the gap equation as well as the form of the critical exponent for the inverse correlation lenght of the order parameterComment: Latex,10 pages,DFUPG 70/9

Non-linear Dynamics in QED_3 and Non-trivial Infrared Structure

In this work we consider a coupled system of Schwinger-Dyson equations for self-energy and vertex functions in QED_3. Using the concept of a semi-amputated vertex function, we manage to decouple the vertex equation and transform it in the infrared into a non-linear differential equation of Emden-Fowler type. Its solution suggests the following picture: in the absence of infrared cut-offs there is only a trivial infrared fixed-point structure in the theory. However, the presence of masses, for either fermions or photons, changes the situation drastically, leading to a mass-dependent non-trivial infrared fixed point. In this picture a dynamical mass for the fermions is found to be generated consistently. The non-linearity of the equations gives rise to highly non-trivial constraints among the mass and effective (`running') gauge coupling, which impose lower and upper bounds on the latter for dynamical mass generation to occur. Possible implications of this to the theory of high-temperature superconductivity are briefly discussed.Comment: 29 pages LATEX, 7 eps figures incorporated, uses axodraw style. Discussion on the massless case (section 2) modified; no effect on conclusions, typos correcte

The Stroop revisited: a meta-analysis of interference control in AD/HD

Background: An inhibition deficit, including poor interference control, has been implicated as one of the core deficits in AD/HD. Interference control is clinically measured by the Stroop Colour-Word Task. The aim of this meta-analysis was to investigate the strength of an interference deficit in AD/HD as measured by the Stroop Colour-Word Task and to assess the role of moderating variables that could explain the results. These moderating variables included: methods of calculating the interference score, comorbid reading and psychiatric disorders, AD/HD-subtypes, gender, age, intellectual functioning, medication, and sample size. Methods: Seventeen independent studies were located including 1395 children, adolescents, and young adults, in the age range of 6-27 years. A meta-analysis was conducted to assess the effect sizes for the scores on the word and the colour card as well as the interference score. Results: Children with AD/HD performed more poorly on all three dependent variables. The effect sizes for word reading (d = .49) and colour naming (d = .58) were larger and more homogeneous than the effect size for the interference score (d = .35). The method used to calculate the interference score strongly influenced the findings for this measure. When interference control was calculated as the difference between the score on the colour card minus the score on the colour-word card, no differences were found between AD/HD groups and normal control groups. Discussion: The Stroop Colour-Word Task, in standard form, does not provide strong evidence for a deficit in interference control in AD/HD. However, the Stroop Colour-Word Task may not be a valid measure of interference control in AD/HD and alternative methodologies may be needed to test this aspect of the inhibitory deficit model in AD/HD. © Association for Child Psychology Psychiatry, 2004

Variation with mass of B(E3;01+→31-) transition rates in A=124-134 even-mass xenon nuclei

B(E3;01+→31-) transition matrix elements have been measured for even-mass Xe124-134 nuclei using subbarrier Coulomb excitation in inverse kinematics. The trends in energy E(3-) and B(E3;01+→31-) excitation strengths are well reproduced using phenomenological models based on a strong coupling picture with a soft quadrupole mode and an increasing occupation of the intruder h11/2 orbital