3,109 research outputs found
Reading between the lines: attitudinal expressions in text
This is a brief overview of the starting points a project currently proposed and under evaluation by funding agencies. We discuss some of the linguistic methodology we plan to employ to idenitify and analyze attitudinal expressions in text, and touch briefly on how to evaluate our future results
A Bayesian model for identifying hierarchically organised states in neural population activity
Neural population activity in cortical circuits is not solely driven by external inputs, but is also modulated by endogenous states. These cortical states vary on multiple time-scales and also across areas and layers of the neocortex. To understand information processing in cortical circuits, we need to understand the statistical structure of internal states and their interaction with sensory inputs. Here, we present a statistical model for extracting hierarchically organized neural population states from multi-channel recordings of neural spiking activity. We model population states using a hidden Markov decision tree with state-dependent tuning parameters and a generalized linear observation model. Using variational Bayesian inference, we estimate the posterior distribution over parameters from population recordings of neural spike trains. On simulated data, we show that we can identify the underlying sequence of population states over time and reconstruct the ground truth parameters. Using extracellular population recordings from visual cortex, we find that a model with two levels of population states outperforms a generalized linear model which does not include state-dependence, as well as models which only including a binary state. Finally, modelling of state-dependence via our model also improves the accuracy with which sensory stimuli can be decoded from the population response
Where to stand when playing darts?
This paper analyzes the question of where one should stand when playing
darts. If one stands at distance and aims at , then
the dart (modelled by a random vector in ) hits a random
point given by . Next, given a payoff function , one considers and asks if this is decreasing in ; i.e., whether it is
better to stand closer rather than farther from the target. Perhaps
surprisingly, this is not always the case and understanding when this does or
does not occur is the purpose of this paper.
We show that if has a so-called selfdecomposable distribution, then it is
always better to stand closer for any payoff function. This class includes all
stable distributions as well as many more.
On the other hand, if the payoff function is , then it is always
better to stand closer if and only if the characteristic function
is decreasing on . We will then show that if there are at least two
point masses, then it is not always better to stand closer using . If
there is a single point mass, one can find a different payoff function to
obtain this phenomenon.
Another large class of darts for which there are bounded continuous
payoff functions for which it is not always better to stand closer are
distributions with compact support. This will be obtained by using the fact
that the Fourier transform of such distributions has a zero in the complex
plane. This argument will work whenever there is a complex zero of the Fourier
transform.
Finally, we analyze if the property of it being better to stand closer is
closed under convolution and/or limits.Comment: 31 page
Psychological Distress and Well-Being among Students of Health Disciplines: The Importance of Academic Satisfaction
Background: Research on the mental health of students in health disciplines mainly focuses on psychological distress and nursing and medical students. This study aimed to investigate the psychological well-being and distress and related factors among undergraduate students training in eight different health-related tracks in Geneva, Switzerland. Methods: This cross-sectional study used established self-filled scales for anxiety, depression, stress, psychological well-being, and study satisfaction. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical regression analyses were applied. Results: In October 2019, out of 2835 invited students, 915 (32%) completed the survey. Lower academic satisfaction scores were strongly associated with depression (β = −0.26, p < 0.001), anxiety (β = −0.27, p < 0.001), and stress (β = −0.70, p < 0.001), while higher scores were associated with psychological well-being (β = 0.70, p < 0.001). Being female was strongly associated with anxiety and stress but not with depression or psychological well-being. Increased age was associated with enhanced psychological well-being. The nature of the academic training had a lesser impact on mental health and the academic year had none. Conclusion: Academic satisfaction strongly predicts depression, anxiety, stress, and psychological well-being. Training institutions should address the underlying factors that can improve students’ satisfaction with their studies while ensuring that they have access to psychosocial services that help them cope with mental distress and enhance their psychological well-bein
Experimental characterization of frequency dependent squeezed light
We report on the demonstration of broadband squeezed laser beams that show a
frequency dependent orientation of the squeezing ellipse. Carrier frequency as
well as quadrature angle were stably locked to a reference laser beam at
1064nm. This frequency dependent squeezing was characterized in terms of noise
power spectra and contour plots of Wigner functions. The later were measured by
quantum state tomography. Our tomograph allowed a stable lock to a local
oscillator beam for arbitrary quadrature angles with one degree precision.
Frequency dependent orientations of the squeezing ellipse are necessary for
squeezed states of light to provide a broadband sensitivity improvement in
third generation gravitational wave interferometers. We consider the
application of our system to long baseline interferometers such as a future
squeezed light upgraded GEO600 detector.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure
SCORPIO-II: Spectral indices of weak Galactic radio sources
In the next few years the classification of radio sources observed by the
large surveys will be a challenging problem, and spectral index is a powerful
tool for addressing it. Here we present an algorithm to estimate the spectral
index of sources from multiwavelength radio images. We have applied our
algorithm to SCORPIO (Umana et al. 2015), a Galactic Plane survey centred
around 2.1 GHz carried out with ATCA, and found we can measure reliable
spectral indices only for sources stronger than 40 times the rms noise. Above a
threshold of 1 mJy, the source density in SCORPIO is 20 percent greater than in
a typical extra-galactic field, like ATLAS (Norris et al. 2006), because of the
presence of Galactic sources. Among this excess population, 16 sources per
square degree have a spectral index of about zero, suggesting optically thin
thermal emission such as Hii regions and planetary nebulae, while 12 per square
degree present a rising spectrum, suggesting optically thick thermal emission
such as stars and UCHii regions.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figures, accepted by MNRA
Preparation of distilled and purified continuous variable entangled states
The distribution of entangled states of light over long distances is a major
challenge in the field of quantum information. Optical losses, phase diffusion
and mixing with thermal states lead to decoherence and destroy the
non-classical states after some finite transmission-line length. Quantum
repeater protocols, which combine quantum memory, entanglement distillation and
entanglement swapping, were proposed to overcome this problem. Here we report
on the experimental demonstration of entanglement distillation in the
continuous-variable regime. Entangled states were first disturbed by random
phase fluctuations and then distilled and purified using interference on beam
splitters and homodyne detection. Measurements of covariance matrices clearly
indicate a regained strength of entanglement and purity of the distilled
states. In contrast to previous demonstrations of entanglement distillation in
the complementary discrete-variable regime, our scheme achieved the actual
preparation of the distilled states, which might therefore be used to improve
the quality of downstream applications such as quantum teleportation
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