Minimum Description Length Revisited

This is an up-to-date introduction to and overview of the Minimum Description Length (MDL) Principle, a theory of inductive inference that can be applied to general problems in statistics, machine learning and pattern recognition. While MDL was originally based on data compression ideas, this introduction can be read without any knowledge thereof. It takes into account all major developments since 2007, the last time an extensive overview was written. These include new methods for model selection and averaging and hypothesis testing, as well as the first completely general definition of {\em MDL estimators}. Incorporating these developments, MDL can be seen as a powerful extension of both penalized likelihood and Bayesian approaches, in which penalization functions and prior distributions are replaced by more general luckiness functions, average-case methodology is replaced by a more robust worst-case approach, and in which methods classically viewed as highly distinct, such as AIC vs BIC and cross-validation vs Bayes can, to a large extent, be viewed from a unified perspective

Quality control of CarboEurope flux data ? Part II: Inter-comparison of eddy-covariance software

International audienceAs part of the quality assurance and quality control activities within the CarboEurope-IP network, a comparison of eddy-covariance software was conducted. For four five-day datasets, CO2 flux estimates were calculated by seven commonly used software packages to assess the uncertainty of CO2 flux estimates due to differences in post-processing. The datasets originated from different sites representing different commonly applied instrumentation and different canopy structures to cover a wide range of realistic conditions. Data preparation, coordinate rotation and the implementation of the correction for high frequency spectral losses were identified as crucial processing steps leading to significant discrepancies in the CO2 flux results. The overall comparison indicated a good although not yet perfect agreement among the different software within 5?10% difference for 30-min CO2 flux values. Conceptually different ideas about the selection and application of processing steps were a main reason for the differences in the CO2 flux estimates observed. A balance should be aspired between scientific freedom on the one hand, in order to advance methodical issues, and standardisation of procedures on the other hand, in order to obtain comparable fluxes for multi-site synthesis studies

Aufrüstung im All. Technologische Optionen und politische Kontrolle

Die militärische Nutzung des Weltraums ist mittlerweile zu einem Kernelement in den Strategien und Planungen der führenden Akteure der Staatenwelt geworden. Die Entwicklung innovativer Technologien und wehrtechnischer Systeme wird vorangetrieben, um Streitkräften und Politik neuartige Handlungsoptionen zu eröffnen. Derzeit droht das Überschreiten einer Schwelle: die Weiterentwicklung und Stationierung von Waffensystemen mit der möglichen Folge eines internationalen Wettrüstens. Die Studie untersucht - vor allem am Beispiel der USA - das Wechselspiel zwischen technologischer Dynamik, politischen Zielen und militärischen Planungen. Aus rüstungskontrollpolitischer Perspektive werden Möglichkeiten analysiert, jene Entwicklungen zu stoppen oder einzugrenzen, die sich zu einer Gefahr für Sicherheit und Stabilität des internationalen Staatensystems auswachsen könnten. Dabei knüpfen die Autoren an die internationale Debatte an, in der sich seit langem eine große Mehrheit der Staaten besorgt über die Gefahr einer Aufrüstung im Weltraum äußert

Characterizing ecosystem-atmosphere interactions from short to interannual time scales

International audienceCharacterizing ecosystem-atmosphere interactions in terms of carbon and water exchange on different time scales is considered a major challenge in terrestrial biogeochemical cycle research. The respective time series currently comprise an observation period of up to one decade. In this study, we explored whether the observation period is already sufficient to detect cross-relationships between the variables beyond the annual cycle, as they are expected from comparable studies in climatology. We investigated the potential of Singular System Analysis (SSA) to extract arbitrary kinds of oscillatory patterns. The method is completely data adaptive and performs an effective signal to noise separation. We found that most observations (Net Ecosystem Exchange, NEE, Gross Primary Productivity, GPP, Ecosystem Respiration, Reco, Vapor Pressure Deficit, VPD, Latent Heat, LE, Sensible Heat, H, Wind Speed, u, and Precipitation, P) were influenced significantly by low-frequency components (interannual variability). Furthermore, we extracted a set of nontrivial relationships and found clear seasonal hysteresis effects except for the interrelation of NEE with Global Radiation (Rg). SSA provides a new tool for the investigation of these phenomena explicitly on different time scales. Furthermore, we showed that SSA has great potential for eddy covariance data processing, since it can be applied as a novel gap filling approach relying on the temporal correlation structure of the time series structure only

Magnetic excitations in Dy/Y superlattices as seen via inelastic neutron scattering

Measurements of the spin excitations propagating normal to the interfaces in Dy/Y superlattices using neutron inelastic scattering are presented. For a given magnon momentum, a neutron-scattering spectrum shows multiple peaks at different energies, which indicates discrete energy spectra. The results are compared with theoretical calculations developed here to describe magnetic excitations in rare-earth superlattices. The theory accounts for Ruderman-Kittel-Kasuya-Yosida (RKKY) and Dzyaloshinsky-Moriya interactions in incommensurate helicoidal structures and achieves a quantitative agreement with the experimental data. This work demonstrates that neutron inelastic scattering can be used for systematic studies of the exchange interactions and spin dynamics in nanomagnetic systems over wide areas of the Brillouin zone