1,635 research outputs found
Spatial Disaggregation of Agricultural Production Data
In this paper we develop a dynamic data-consistent way for estimating agricultural land use choices at a disaggregate level (district-level), using more aggregate data (regional-level). The disaggregation procedure requires two steps. The first step consists in specifying and estimating a dynamic model of land use at the regional level. In the second step, we disaggregate outcomes of the aggregate model using maximum entropy (ME). The ME disaggregation procedure is applied to a sample of California data. The sample includes 6 districts located in Central Valley and 8 possible crops, namely: Alfalfa, Cotton, Field, Grain, Melons, Tomatoes, Vegetables and Subtropical. The disaggregation procedure enables the recovery of land use at the district-level with an out-sample prediction error of 16%. This result shows that the micro behavior, inferred from aggregate data with our disaggregation approach, seems to be consistent with observed behavior.Disaggregation, Bayesian method, Maximum entropy, Land use, Production Economics, C11, C44, Q12,
Magnetization reversal and nonexponential relaxation via instabilities of internal spin waves in nanomagnets
A magnetic particle with atomic spins ordered in an unstable direction is an
example of a false vacuum that decays via excitation of internal spin waves.
Coupled evolution of the particle's magnetization (or the vacuum state) and
spin waves, considered in the time-dependent vacuum frame, leads to a peculiar
relaxation that is very fast at the beginning but slows down to a
nonexponential long tail at the end. The two main scenarios are linear and
exponential spin-wave instabilities. For the former, the longitudinal and
transverse relaxation rates have been obtained analytically. Numerical
simulations show that the particle's magnetization strongly decreases in the
middle of reversal and then recovers.Comment: 6 EPL pages, 4 figure
Calibrated Stochastic Dynamic Models for Resource Management
In this paper we develop a positive calibrated approach to stochastic dynamic programming. Risk aversion, discount rate, and intertemporal substitution preferences of the decision-maker are calibrated by a procedure that minimizes the mean squared error from data on past decisions. We apply this framework to managing stochastic water supplies from Oroville Reservoir, located in Northern California. The calibrated positive SDP closely reproduces the historical storage and releases from the dam and shows sensitivity of optimal decisions to a decision-maker's risk aversion and intertemporal preferences. The calibrated model has average prediction errors that are substantially lower than those from the model with an expected net present value objective.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
Group Analysis of Self-organizing Maps based on Functional MRI using Restricted Frechet Means
Studies of functional MRI data are increasingly concerned with the estimation
of differences in spatio-temporal networks across groups of subjects or
experimental conditions. Unsupervised clustering and independent component
analysis (ICA) have been used to identify such spatio-temporal networks. While
these approaches have been useful for estimating these networks at the
subject-level, comparisons over groups or experimental conditions require
further methodological development. In this paper, we tackle this problem by
showing how self-organizing maps (SOMs) can be compared within a Frechean
inferential framework. Here, we summarize the mean SOM in each group as a
Frechet mean with respect to a metric on the space of SOMs. We consider the use
of different metrics, and introduce two extensions of the classical sum of
minimum distance (SMD) between two SOMs, which take into account the
spatio-temporal pattern of the fMRI data. The validity of these methods is
illustrated on synthetic data. Through these simulations, we show that the
three metrics of interest behave as expected, in the sense that the ones
capturing temporal, spatial and spatio-temporal aspects of the SOMs are more
likely to reach significance under simulated scenarios characterized by
temporal, spatial and spatio-temporal differences, respectively. In addition, a
re-analysis of a classical experiment on visually-triggered emotions
demonstrates the usefulness of this methodology. In this study, the
multivariate functional patterns typical of the subjects exposed to pleasant
and unpleasant stimuli are found to be more similar than the ones of the
subjects exposed to emotionally neutral stimuli. Taken together, these results
indicate that our proposed methods can cast new light on existing data by
adopting a global analytical perspective on functional MRI paradigms.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to Neuroimag
Strategies for protecting intellectual property when using CUDA applications on graphics processing units
Recent advances in the massively parallel computational abilities of graphical processing units (GPUs) have increased their use for general purpose computation, as companies look to take advantage of big data processing techniques. This has given rise to the potential for malicious software targeting GPUs, which is of interest to forensic investigators examining the operation of software. The ability to carry out reverse-engineering of software is of great importance within the security and forensics elds, particularly when investigating malicious software or carrying out forensic analysis following a successful security breach. Due to the complexity of the Nvidia CUDA (Compute Uni ed Device Architecture) framework, it is not clear how best to approach the reverse engineering of a piece of CUDA software. We carry out a review of the di erent binary output formats which may be encountered from the CUDA compiler, and their implications on reverse engineering. We then demonstrate the process of carrying out disassembly of an example CUDA application, to establish the various techniques available to forensic investigators carrying out black-box disassembly and reverse engineering of CUDA binaries. We show that the Nvidia compiler, using default settings, leaks useful information. Finally, we demonstrate techniques to better protect intellectual property in CUDA algorithm implementations from reverse engineering
Nonparametric Markovian Learning of Triggering Kernels for Mutually Exciting and Mutually Inhibiting Multivariate Hawkes Processes
In this paper, we address the problem of fitting multivariate Hawkes
processes to potentially large-scale data in a setting where series of events
are not only mutually-exciting but can also exhibit inhibitive patterns. We
focus on nonparametric learning and propose a novel algorithm called MEMIP
(Markovian Estimation of Mutually Interacting Processes) that makes use of
polynomial approximation theory and self-concordant analysis in order to learn
both triggering kernels and base intensities of events. Moreover, considering
that N historical observations are available, the algorithm performs
log-likelihood maximization in operations, while the complexity of
non-Markovian methods is in . Numerical experiments on simulated
data, as well as real-world data, show that our method enjoys improved
prediction performance when compared to state-of-the art methods like MMEL and
exponential kernels
First experimental demonstration of temporal hypertelescope operation with a laboratory prototype
In this paper, we report the first experimental demonstration of a Temporal
HyperTelescope (THT). Our breadboard including 8 telescopes is firstly tested
in a manual cophasing configuration on a 1D object. The Point Spread Function
(PSF) is measured and exhibits a dynamics in the range of 300. A quantitative
analysis of the potential biases demonstrates that this limitation is related
to the residual phase fluctuation on each interferometric arm. Secondly, an
unbalanced binary star is imaged demonstrating the imaging capability of THT.
In addition, 2D PSF is recorded even if the telescope array is not optimized
for this purpose.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 11 pages, 25 figure
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