A “Robust” Convergent Visual Servoing System

This paper describes a simple visual servoing control algorithm capable of robustly positioning a three degree of freedom end effector based only on information from a stereo vision system. The proposed control algorithm does not require estimates of the gripper’s spatial position, a significant source of calibration sensitivity. The controller is completely immune to positional camera calibration errors, and we demonstrate robustness to orientation miscalibration through a series of simulations and experiments. For more information: Kod*La

Metastable anions of dinitrobenzene: resonances for electron attachment and kinetic energy release

Attachment of free, low-energy electrons to dinitrobenzene (DNB) in the gas phase leads to DNB as well as several fragment anions. DNB, (DNB-H), (DNB-NO), (DNB-2NO), and (DNB-NO(2)) are found to undergo metastable (unimolecular) dissociation. A rich pattern of resonances in the yield of these metastable reactions versus electron energy is observed; some resonances are highly isomer-specific. Most metastable reactions are accompanied by large average kinetic energy releases (KER) that range from 0.5 to 1.32 eV, typical of complex rearrangement reactions, but (1,3-DNB-H)(-) features a resonance with a KER of only 0.06 eV for loss of NO. (1,3-DNB-NO)(-) offers a rare example of a sequential metastable reaction, namely, loss of NO followed by loss of CO to yield C(5)H(4)O(-) with a large KER of 1.32 eV. The G4(MP2) method is applied to compute adiabatic electron affinities and reaction energies for several of the observed metastable channels. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3514931

Flow properties of driven-diffusive lattice gases: theory and computer simulation

We develop n-cluster mean-field theories (0 < n < 5) for calculating the flow properties of the non-equilibrium steady-states of the Katz-Lebowitz-Spohn model of the driven diffusive lattice gas, with attractive and repulsive inter-particle interactions, in both one and two dimensions for arbitrary particle densities, temperature as well as the driving field. We compare our theoretical results with the corresponding numerical data we have obtained from the computer simulations to demonstrate the level of accuracy of our theoretical predictions. We also compare our results with those for some other prototype models, notably particle-hopping models of vehicular traffic, to demonstrate the novel qualitative features we have observed in the Katz-Lebowitz-Spohn model, emphasizing, in particular, the consequences of repulsive inter-particle interactions.Comment: 12 RevTex page

Evolutionary estimation of a Coupled Markov Chain credit risk model

There exists a range of different models for estimating and simulating credit risk transitions to optimally manage credit risk portfolios and products. In this chapter we present a Coupled Markov Chain approach to model rating transitions and thereby default probabilities of companies. As the likelihood of the model turns out to be a non-convex function of the parameters to be estimated, we apply heuristics to find the ML estimators. To this extent, we outline the model and its likelihood function, and present both a Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm, as well as an Evolutionary Optimization algorithm to maximize the likelihood function. Numerical results are shown which suggest a further application of evolutionary optimization techniques for credit risk management

Precision mass measurements of radioactive nuclei at JYFLTRAP

The Penning trap mass spectrometer JYFLTRAP was used to measure the atomic masses of radioactive nuclei with an uncertainty better than 10 keV. The atomic masses of the neutron-deficient nuclei around the N = Z line were measured to improve the understanding of the rp-process path and the SbSnTe cycle. Furthermore, the masses of the neutron-rich gallium (Z = 31) to palladium (Z = 46) nuclei have been measured. The physics impacts on the nuclear structure and the r-process paths are reviewed. A better understanding of the nuclear deformation is presented by studying the pairing energy around A = 100.Comment: 4 pages and 4 figures, RNB7 conf. pro

Quantum lattice dynamical effects on the single-particle excitations in 1D Mott and Peierls insulators

As a generic model describing quasi-one-dimensional Mott and Peierls insulators, we investigate the Holstein-Hubbard model for half-filled bands using numerical techniques. Combining Lanczos diagonalization with Chebyshev moment expansion we calculate exactly the photoemission and inverse photoemission spectra and use these to establish the phase diagram of the model. While polaronic features emerge only at strong electron-phonon couplings, pronounced phonon signatures, such as multi-quanta band states, can be found in the Mott insulating regime as well. In order to corroborate the Mott to Peierls transition scenario, we determine the spin and charge excitation gaps by a finite-size scaling analysis based on density-matrix renormalization group calculations.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure