20,852 research outputs found
Layer by layer - Combining Monads
We develop a method to incrementally construct programming languages. Our
approach is categorical: each layer of the language is described as a monad.
Our method either (i) concretely builds a distributive law between two monads,
i.e. layers of the language, which then provides a monad structure to the
composition of layers, or (ii) identifies precisely the algebraic obstacles to
the existence of a distributive law and gives a best approximant language. The
running example will involve three layers: a basic imperative language enriched
first by adding non-determinism and then probabilistic choice. The first
extension works seamlessly, but the second encounters an obstacle, which
results in a best approximant language structurally very similar to the
probabilistic network specification language ProbNetKAT
Affective iconic words benefit from additional soundâmeaning integration in the left amygdala
Recent studies have shown that a similarity between sound and meaning of a word (i.e., iconicity) can help more readily access the meaning of that word, but the neural mechanisms underlying this beneficial role of iconicity in semantic processing remain largely unknown. In an fMRI study, we focused on the affective domain and examined whether affective iconic words (e.g., high arousal in both sound and meaning) activate additional brain regions that integrate emotional information from different domains (i.e., sound and meaning). In line with our hypothesis, affective iconic words, compared to their nonâiconic counterparts, elicited additional BOLD responses in the left amygdala known for its role in multimodal representation of emotions. Functional connectivity analyses revealed that the observed amygdalar activity was modulated by an interaction of iconic condition and activations in two hubs representative for processing sound (left superior temporal gyrus) and meaning (left inferior frontal gyrus) of words. These results provide a neural explanation for the facilitative role of iconicity in language processing and indicate that language users are sensitive to the interaction between sound and meaning aspect of words, suggesting the existence of iconicity as a general property of human language
Precision microwave dielectric and magnetic susceptibility measurements of correlated electronic materials using superconducting cavities
We analyze microwave cavity perturbation methods, and show that the technique
is an excellent, precision method to study the dynamic magnetic and dielectric
response in the frequency range. Using superconducting cavities, we
obtain exceptionally high precision and sensitivity for measurements of
relative changes. A dynamic electromagnetic susceptibility
is introduced, which
is obtained from the measured parameters: the shift of cavity resonant
frequency and quality factor . We focus on the case of a
spherical sample placed at the center of a cylindrical cavity resonant in the
mode. Depending on the sample characteristics, the magnetic
permeability , the dielectric permittivity and
the complex conductivity can be extracted from
. A full spherical wave analysis of the cavity perturbation
is given. This analysis has led to the observation of new phenomena in novel
low dimensional materials.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figure
The Expectation Monad in Quantum Foundations
The expectation monad is introduced abstractly via two composable
adjunctions, but concretely captures measures. It turns out to sit in between
known monads: on the one hand the distribution and ultrafilter monad, and on
the other hand the continuation monad. This expectation monad is used in two
probabilistic analogues of fundamental results of Manes and Gelfand for the
ultrafilter monad: algebras of the expectation monad are convex compact
Hausdorff spaces, and are dually equivalent to so-called Banach effect
algebras. These structures capture states and effects in quantum foundations,
and also the duality between them. Moreover, the approach leads to a new
re-formulation of Gleason's theorem, expressing that effects on a Hilbert space
are free effect modules on projections, obtained via tensoring with the unit
interval.Comment: In Proceedings QPL 2011, arXiv:1210.029
Magnetic and structural properties of GeMn films: precipitation of intermetallic nanomagnets
We present a comprehensive study relating the nanostructure of Ge_0.95Mn_0.05
films to their magnetic properties. The formation of ferromagnetic nanometer
sized inclusions in a defect free Ge matrix fabricated by low temperature
molecular beam epitaxy is observed down to substrate temperatures T_S as low as
70 deg. Celsius. A combined transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron
energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) analysis of the films identifies the inclusions
as precipitates of the ferromagnetic compound Mn_5Ge_3. The volume and amount
of these precipitates decreases with decreasing T_S. Magnetometry of the films
containing precipitates reveals distinct temperature ranges: Between the
characteristic ferromagnetic transition temperature of Mn_5Ge_3 at
approximately room temperature and a lower, T_S dependent blocking temperature
T_B the magnetic properties are dominated by superparamagnetism of the Mn_5Ge_3
precipitates. Below T_B, the magnetic signature of ferromagnetic precipitates
with blocked magnetic moments is observed. At the lowest temperatures, the
films show features characteristic for a metastable state.Comment: accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. B 74 (01.12.2006). High
resolution images ibide
On coalgebras with internal moves
In the first part of the paper we recall the coalgebraic approach to handling
the so-called invisible transitions that appear in different state-based
systems semantics. We claim that these transitions are always part of the unit
of a certain monad. Hence, coalgebras with internal moves are exactly
coalgebras over a monadic type. The rest of the paper is devoted to supporting
our claim by studying two important behavioural equivalences for state-based
systems with internal moves, namely: weak bisimulation and trace semantics.
We continue our research on weak bisimulations for coalgebras over order
enriched monads. The key notions used in this paper and proposed by us in our
previous work are the notions of an order saturation monad and a saturator. A
saturator operator can be intuitively understood as a reflexive, transitive
closure operator. There are two approaches towards defining saturators for
coalgebras with internal moves. Here, we give necessary conditions for them to
yield the same notion of weak bisimulation.
Finally, we propose a definition of trace semantics for coalgebras with
silent moves via a uniform fixed point operator. We compare strong and weak
bisimilation together with trace semantics for coalgebras with internal steps.Comment: Article: 23 pages, Appendix: 3 page
Towards a novel biologically-inspired cloud elasticity framework
With the widespread use of the Internet, the popularity of web applications has
significantly increased. Such applications are subject to unpredictable workload
conditions that vary from time to time. For example, an e-commerce website may
face higher workloads than normal during festivals or promotional schemes. Such
applications are critical and performance related issues, or service disruption can
result in financial losses. Cloud computing with its attractive feature of dynamic
resource provisioning (elasticity) is a perfect match to host such applications.
The rapid growth in the usage of cloud computing model, as well as the rise in
complexity of the web applications poses new challenges regarding the effective
monitoring and management of the underlying cloud computational resources.
This thesis investigates the state-of-the-art elastic methods including the models
and techniques for the dynamic management and provisioning of cloud resources
from a service provider perspective.
An elastic controller is responsible to determine the optimal number of cloud resources,
required at a particular time to achieve the desired performance demands.
Researchers and practitioners have proposed many elastic controllers using versatile
techniques ranging from simple if-then-else based rules to sophisticated
optimisation, control theory and machine learning based methods. However,
despite an extensive range of existing elasticity research, the aim of implementing
an efficient scaling technique that satisfies the actual demands is still a challenge
to achieve. There exist many issues that have not received much attention from
a holistic point of view. Some of these issues include: 1) the lack of adaptability
and static scaling behaviour whilst considering completely fixed approaches; 2)
the burden of additional computational overhead, the inability to cope with the
sudden changes in the workload behaviour and the preference of adaptability
over reliability at runtime whilst considering the fully dynamic approaches; and 3)
the lack of considering uncertainty aspects while designing auto-scaling solutions.
This thesis seeks solutions to address these issues altogether using an integrated
approach. Moreover, this thesis aims at the provision of qualitative elasticity rules.
This thesis proposes a novel biologically-inspired switched feedback control
methodology to address the horizontal elasticity problem. The switched methodology
utilises multiple controllers simultaneously, whereas the selection of a
suitable controller is realised using an intelligent switching mechanism. Each
controller itself depicts a different elasticity policy that can be designed using the
principles of fixed gain feedback controller approach. The switching mechanism
is implemented using a fuzzy system that determines a suitable controller/-
policy at runtime based on the current behaviour of the system. Furthermore,
to improve the possibility of bumpless transitions and to avoid the oscillatory
behaviour, which is a problem commonly associated with switching based control
methodologies, this thesis proposes an alternative soft switching approach. This
soft switching approach incorporates a biologically-inspired Basal Ganglia based
computational model of action selection.
In addition, this thesis formulates the problem of designing the membership functions
of the switching mechanism as a multi-objective optimisation problem. The
key purpose behind this formulation is to obtain the near optimal (or to fine tune)
parameter settings for the membership functions of the fuzzy control system in
the absence of domain expertsâ knowledge. This problem is addressed by using
two different techniques including the commonly used Genetic Algorithm and
an alternative less known economic approach called the Taguchi method. Lastly,
we identify seven different kinds of real workload patterns, each of which reflects
a different set of applications. Six real and one synthetic HTTP traces, one for
each pattern, are further identified and utilised to evaluate the performance of
the proposed methods against the state-of-the-art approaches
Heavy Quarkonium Potential Model and the State of Charmonium
A theoretical explanation of the observed splittings among the P~states of
charmonium is given with the use of a nonsingular potential model for heavy
quarkonia. We also show that the recently observed mass difference between the
center of gravity of the states and the state of
does not provide a direct test of the color hyperfine interaction in heavy
quarkonia. Our theoretical value for the mass of the state is in
agreement with the experimental result, and its E1 transition width is
341.8~keV. The mass of the state is predicted to be 3622.3~MeV.Comment: 15 page REVTEX documen
Fiber-Cavity-Based Optomechanical Device
We describe an optomechanical device consisting of a fiber-based optical
cavity containing a silicon nitiride membrane. In comparison with typical
free-space cavities, the fiber-cavity's small mode size (10 {\mu}m waist, 80
{\mu}m length) allows the use of smaller, lighter membranes and increases the
cavity-membrane linear coupling to 3 GHz/nm and quadratic coupling to 20
GHz/nm^2. This device is also intrinsically fiber-coupled and uses glass
ferrules for passive alignment. These improvements will greatly simplify the
use of optomechanical systems, particularly in cryogenic settings. At room
temperature, we expect these devices to be able to detect the shot noise of
radiation pressure.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures; the following article has been submitted to
Applied Physics Letter
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