17,689 research outputs found
Collaborative Filtering via Group-Structured Dictionary Learning
Structured sparse coding and the related structured dictionary learning
problems are novel research areas in machine learning. In this paper we present
a new application of structured dictionary learning for collaborative filtering
based recommender systems. Our extensive numerical experiments demonstrate that
the presented technique outperforms its state-of-the-art competitors and has
several advantages over approaches that do not put structured constraints on
the dictionary elements.Comment: A compressed version of the paper has been accepted for publication
at the 10th International Conference on Latent Variable Analysis and Source
Separation (LVA/ICA 2012
On the Existence of Radiation Gauges in Petrov type II spacetimes
The radiation gauges used by Chrzanowski (his IRG/ORG) for metric
reconstruction in the Kerr spacetime seem to be over-specified. Their
specification consists of five conditions: four, which we treat here as valid
gauge conditions, plus an additional condition on the trace of the metric
perturbation. In this work, we utilize a newly developed form of the perturbed
Einstein equations to establish a condition -- on a particular tetrad component
of the stress-energy tensor -- under which the full IRG/ORG can be imposed.
Using gauge freedom, we are able to impose the full IRG for Petrov type II and
type D backgrounds, using a different tetrad for each case. As a specific
example, we work through the process of imposing the IRG in a Schwarzschild
background, using a more traditional approach. Implications for metric
reconstruction using the Teukolsky curvature perturbations in type D spacetimes
are briefly discussed.Comment: 21 pages, uses iop style files. v2: proved a stronger result for type
II backgrounds, added a subsection on remaining gauge freedom in the full IRG
and improved calrity and readability throughout due to insightful referee
comments; published as Class. Quantum Grav. 24 (2007) 2367-238
Horizontal-Branch Models and the Second-Parameter Effect. IV. The Case of M3 and Palomar 3
We present a detailed analysis of the "second-parameter pair" of globular
clusters M3 (NGC 5272) and Palomar 3. Our main results can be summarized as
follows: i) The horizontal-branch (HB) morphology of M3 is significantly bluer
in its inner regions (observed with the Hubble Space Telescope) than in the
cluster outskirts (observed from the ground), i.e., M3 has an internal second
parameter. Most plausibly the mass loss on the red giant branch (RGB) has been
more efficient in the inner than in the outer regions of the cluster. ii) The
dispersion in mass of the Pal 3 HB is found to be very small -- consistent with
zero -- and we argue that this is unlikely to be due to a statistical
fluctuation. It is this small mass dispersion that leads to the most apparent
difference in the HB morphologies of M3 and Pal 3. iii) The relative HB types
of M3 and Pal 3, as measured by mean colors or parameters involving the number
of blue, variable, and red HB stars, can easily be accounted for by a fairly
small difference in age between these clusters, of order 0.5-1 Gyr -- which is
in good agreement with the relative age measurement, based on the clusters'
turnoffs, by VandenBerg (2000).Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures, emulateapj5 style. The Astrophysical Journal,
in press. Figs. 1, 6, 9, 10 are in png format. The preprint (postscript
format) with full resolution (embedded) figures is available from
http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~mc6v
General relativity on a null surface: Hamiltonian formulation in the teleparallel geometry
The Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity on a null surface is
established in the teleparallel geometry. No particular gauge conditons on the
tetrads are imposed, such as the time gauge condition. By means of a 3+1
decomposition the resulting Hamiltonian arises as a completely constrained
system. However, it is structurally different from the the standard
Arnowitt-Deser-Misner (ADM) type formulation. In this geometrical framework the
basic field quantities are tetrads that transform under the global SO(3,1) and
the torsion tensor.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, no figures, to appear in the Gen. Rel. Gra
TeV gamma-rays from photo-disintegration/de-excitation of cosmic-ray nuclei
It is commonly assumed that high-energy gamma-rays are made via either purely
electromagnetic processes or the hadronic process of pion production, followed
by decay. We investigate astrophysical contexts where a third process (A*) may
dominate, namely the photo-disintegration of highly boosted nuclei followed by
daughter de-excitation. Starbust regions such as Cygnus OB2 appear to be
promising sites for TeV gamma-ray emission via this mechanism. A unique feature
of the A* process is a sharp energy minimum ~ 10 TeV/(T/eV) for gamma-ray
emission from a thermal region of temperature T. We also check that a diffuse
gamma-ray component resulting from the interaction of a possible extreme-energy
cosmic-ray nuclei with background radiation is well below the observed EGRET
data. The A* mechanism described herein offers an important contribution to
gamma-ray astronomy in the era of intense observational activity.Comment: To be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Shortest Path Computation with No Information Leakage
Shortest path computation is one of the most common queries in location-based
services (LBSs). Although particularly useful, such queries raise serious
privacy concerns. Exposing to a (potentially untrusted) LBS the client's
position and her destination may reveal personal information, such as social
habits, health condition, shopping preferences, lifestyle choices, etc. The
only existing method for privacy-preserving shortest path computation follows
the obfuscation paradigm; it prevents the LBS from inferring the source and
destination of the query with a probability higher than a threshold. This
implies, however, that the LBS still deduces some information (albeit not
exact) about the client's location and her destination. In this paper we aim at
strong privacy, where the adversary learns nothing about the shortest path
query. We achieve this via established private information retrieval
techniques, which we treat as black-box building blocks. Experiments on real,
large-scale road networks assess the practicality of our schemes.Comment: VLDB201
Recommended from our members
Malaria parasite translocon structure and mechanism of effector export.
The putative Plasmodium translocon of exported proteins (PTEX) is essential for transport of malarial effector proteins across a parasite-encasing vacuolar membrane into host erythrocytes, but the mechanism of this process remains unknown. Here we show that PTEX is a bona fide translocon by determining structures of the PTEX core complex at near-atomic resolution using cryo-electron microscopy. We isolated the endogenous PTEX core complex containing EXP2, PTEX150 and HSP101 from Plasmodium falciparum in the 'engaged' and 'resetting' states of endogenous cargo translocation using epitope tags inserted using the CRISPR-Cas9 system. In the structures, EXP2 and PTEX150 interdigitate to form a static, funnel-shaped pseudo-seven-fold-symmetric protein-conducting channel spanning the vacuolar membrane. The spiral-shaped AAA+ HSP101 hexamer is tethered above this funnel, and undergoes pronounced compaction that allows three of six tyrosine-bearing pore loops lining the HSP101 channel to dissociate from the cargo, resetting the translocon for the next threading cycle. Our work reveals the mechanism of P. falciparum effector export, and will inform structure-based design of drugs targeting this unique translocon
In Situ and Satellite Measured Temperature Comparability
Following the International Geophysical Year in the late 1950's, small meteorological rockets caught the interest of scientists as a potentially inexpensive method to obtain meteorological information (density, temperature, wind) above balloon-borne radiosonde altitudes. These small rocketsondes have served many important observational roles in terms of studies conducted of atmospheric structure and processes, enabling many new ideas about the atmosphere to emerge. Although no longer manufactured a small residual inventory of meteorological rocketsondes exist for specific research projects. The value of data from meteorological rocketsondes is without question but with their disappearance data from many different satellites are filling the need, some able to resolve high-altitude temperatures quite well. However, the rocketsonde vertical profile is more localized to the launch site whereas satellites move several kilometers per second. The objective of this presentation is to compare in situ temperature data with remotely measured/retrieved temperature data. There have been a number of U.S. conducted missions utilizing the passive falling sphere data that we use to verify the comparability of retrieved temperatures from these satellites. Missions, some as early as 1991, were conducted in polar, equatorial, and mid-latitude locations. An important aspect is that a single satellite profile compared to a falling sphere profile often does not agree while high density satellite measurements when averaged over an area near the rocketsonde data area seems to be in better agreement. Radiosonde temperature data are used in the analysis when appropriat
Electromagnetic waves around dilatonic stars and naked singularities
We study the propagation of classical electromagnetic waves on the simplest
four-dimensional spherically symmetric metric with a dilaton background field.
Solutions to the relevant equations are obtained perturbatively in a parameter
which measures the strength of the dilaton field (hence parameterizes the
departure from Schwarzschild geometry). The loss of energy from outgoing modes
is estimated as a back-scattering process against the dilaton background, which
would affect the luminosity of stars with a dilaton field. The radiation
emitted by a freely falling point-like source on such a background is also
studied by analytical and numerical methods.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figur
A Genetic Algorithm solver for pest management control in Island systems
Island conservation management is a truly multidisciplinary problem that requires considerable knowledge of the characteristics of the ecosystem, species and their interactions. Nevertheless, this can be translated into an optimisation problem. Essentially, within a limited budget, a manager needs to select the conservation actions according to expected payoffs (in terms of protecting or restoring desired species) versus cost (the amount of resources/money) required for the actions. This paper presents the problem in terms of a knapsack formulation and develops optimisation techniques to solve it. From this, decision-support software is being developed, tailored to meet the needs of pest control on islands for conservation managers. The solver uses a Genetic Algorithm and incorporates a simplified model of the problem. The solver derives strategies that reduce the number of threats, allowing the preservation of desired species. However, the problem model needs further refinement to derive truly realistic options for conservation managers
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