A Closer Look at Spatiotemporal Convolutions for Action Recognition

In this paper we discuss several forms of spatiotemporal convolutions for video analysis and study their effects on action recognition. Our motivation stems from the observation that 2D CNNs applied to individual frames of the video have remained solid performers in action recognition. In this work we empirically demonstrate the accuracy advantages of 3D CNNs over 2D CNNs within the framework of residual learning. Furthermore, we show that factorizing the 3D convolutional filters into separate spatial and temporal components yields significantly advantages in accuracy. Our empirical study leads to the design of a new spatiotemporal convolutional block "R(2+1)D" which gives rise to CNNs that achieve results comparable or superior to the state-of-the-art on Sports-1M, Kinetics, UCF101 and HMDB51

Optical Excitation of Nuclear Spin Coherence in Tm3+:YAG

A thulium-doped crystal is experimentally shown to be an excellent candidate for broadband quantum storage in a solid-state medium. For the first time, nuclear spin coherence is optically excited, detected and characterized in such a crystal. The lifetime of the spin coherence -- the potential storage entity -- is measured by means of Raman echo to be about 300 $\mu$s over a wide range of ground state splittings. This flexibility, attractive for broadband operation, and well fitted to existing quantum sources, results from the simple hyperfine structure, contrasting with Pr- and Eu- doped crystals

Optical Excitation of Nuclear Spin Coherence in Tm3+:YAG

A thulium-doped crystal is experimentally shown to be an excellent candidate for broadband quantum storage in a solid-state medium. For the first time, nuclear spin coherence is optically excited, detected and characterized in such a crystal. The lifetime of the spin coherence -- the potential storage entity -- is measured by means of Raman echo to be about 300 $\mu$s over a wide range of ground state splittings. This flexibility, attractive for broadband operation, and well fitted to existing quantum sources, results from the simple hyperfine structure, contrasting with Pr- and Eu- doped crystals

National contributions for decarbonizing the world economy in line with the G7 agreement

In June 2015, the G7 agreed to two global mitigation goals: 'a decarbonization of the global economy over the course of this century' and 'the upper end of the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recommendation of 40%–70% reductions by 2050 compared to 2010'. These IPCC recommendations aim to preserve a likely (>66%) chance of limiting global warming to 2 °C but are not necessarily consistent with the stronger ambition of the subsequent Paris Agreement of 'holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels'. The G7 did not specify global or national emissions scenarios consistent with its own agreement. Here we identify global cost-optimal emissions scenarios from Integrated Assessment Models that match the G7 agreement. These scenarios have global 2030 emissions targets of 11%–43% below 2010, global net negative CO2 emissions starting between 2056 and 2080, and some exhibit net negative greenhouse gas emissions from 2080 onwards. We allocate emissions from these global scenarios to countries according to five equity approaches representative of the five equity categories presented in the Fifth Assessment Report of the IPCC (IPCCAR5): 'capability', 'equality', 'responsibility-capability-need', 'equal cumulative per capita' and 'staged approaches'. Our results show that G7 members' Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDCs) mitigation targets are in line with a grandfathering approach but lack ambition to meet various visions of climate justice. The INDCs of China and Russia fall short of meeting the requirements of any allocation approach. Depending on how their INDCs are evaluated, the INDCs of India and Brazil can match some equity approaches evaluated in this study

The weighted words collector

We consider the word collector problem, i.e. the expected number of calls to a random weighted generator before all the words of a given length in a language are generated. The originality of this instance of the non-uniform coupon collector lies in the, potentially large, multiplicity of the words/coupons of a given probability/composition. We obtain a general theorem that gives an asymptotic equivalent for the expected waiting time of a general version of the Coupon Collector. This theorem is especially well-suited for classes of coupons featuring high multiplicities. Its application to a given language essentially necessitates knowledge on the number of words of a given composition/probability. We illustrate the application of our theorem, in a step-by-step fashion, on four exemplary languages, whose analyses reveal a large diversity of asymptotic waiting times, generally expressible as $\kappa \cdot m^p \cdot (\log{m})^q \cdot (\log \log{m})^r$, for $m$ the number of words, and $p, q, r$ some positive real numbers

Lightcurve Classification in Massive Variability Surveys II: Transients towards the Large Magellanic Cloud

Automatic classification of variability is now possible with tools like neural networks. Here, we present two neural networks for the identification of microlensing events -- the first discriminates against variable stars and the second against supernovae. The inputs to the networks include parameters describing the shape and the size of the lightcurve, together with colour of the event. The network computes the posterior probability of microlensing, together with an estimate of the likely error. An algorithm is devised for direct calculation of the microlensing rate from the output of the neural networks. We present a new analysis of the microlensing candidates towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The neural networks confirm the microlensing nature of only 7 of the possible 17 events identified by the MACHO experiment. This suggests that earlier estimates of the microlensing optical depth towards the LMC may have been overestimated. A smaller number of events is consistent with the assumption that all the microlensing events are caused by the known stellar populations in the outer Galaxy/LMC.Comment: 11 pages, MNRAS, in pres

Abundance- and functional-based mechanisms of plant diversity loss with fertilization in the presence and absence of herbivores

Nutrient supply and herbivores can regulate plant species composition, biodiversity and functioning of terrestrial ecosystems. Nutrient enrichment frequently increases plant productivity and decreases diversity while herbivores tend to maintain plant diversity in productive systems. However, the mechanisms by which nutrient enrichment and herbivores regulate plant diversity remain unclear. Abundance-based mechanisms propose that fertilization leads to the extinction of rare species due to random loss of individuals of all species. In contrast, functional-based mechanisms propose that species exclusion is based on functional traits which are disadvantageous under fertilized conditions. We tested mechanistic links between fertilization and diversity loss in the presence or absence of consumers using data from a 4-year fertilization and fencing experiment in an alpine meadow. We found that both abundance- and functional-based mechanisms simultaneously affected species loss in the absence of herbivores while only abundance-based mechanisms affected species loss in the presence of herbivores. Our results indicate that an abundance-based mechanism may consistently play a role in the loss of plant diversity with fertilization, and that diversity decline is driven primarily by the loss of rare species regardless of a plant's functional traits and whether or not herbivores are present. Increasing efforts to conserve rare species in the context of ecosystem eutrophication is a central challenge for grazed grassland ecosystems

A higher-order entity formed by the flexible assembly of RAP1 with TRF2

Essonne committee of the Ligue contre le cancer M18756 M22897 Foundation ARC pour la Recherche sur le Cancer SFI20121205503International audienceTelomere integrity is essential to maintain genome stability, and telomeric dysfunctions are associated with cancer and aging pathologies. In human, the shelterin complex binds TTAGGG DNA repeats and provides capping to chromosome ends. Within shel-terin, RAP1 is recruited through its interaction with TRF2, and TRF2 is required for telomere protection through a network of nucleic acid and protein interactions. RAP1 is one of the most conserved shelterin proteins although one unresolved question is how its interaction may influence TRF2 properties and regulate its capacity to bind multiple proteins. Through a combination of biochemical, biophysical and structural approaches, we unveiled a unique mode of assembly between RAP1 and TRF2. The complete interaction scheme between the full-length proteins involves a complex biphasic interaction of RAP1 that directly affects the binding properties of the assembly. These results reveal how a non-DNA binding protein can influence the properties of a DNA-binding partner by mutual conformational adjustments