To P or not to P: on the evidential nature of P-values and their place in scientific inference

The customary use of P-values in scientific research has been attacked as being ill-conceived, and the utility of P-values has been derided. This paper reviews common misconceptions about P-values and their alleged deficits as indices of experimental evidence and, using an empirical exploration of the properties of P-values, documents the intimate relationship between P-values and likelihood functions. It is shown that P-values quantify experimental evidence not by their numerical value, but through the likelihood functions that they index. Many arguments against the utility of P-values are refuted and the conclusion is drawn that P-values are useful indices of experimental evidence. The widespread use of P-values in scientific research is well justified by the actual properties of P-values, but those properties need to be more widely understood.Comment: 31 pages, 9 figures and R cod

Seasonal variations in the physical and chemical properties of Lago Pueblo Solar Pond, Los Roques Archipelago, Venezuela.

Dept. of Geology and Geological Engineering. Paper copy at Leddy Library: Theses & Major Papers - Basement, West Bldg. / Call Number: Thesis1978 .L49. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 40-07, page: . Thesis (M.Sc.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 1978

An Overview of Variational Integrators

The purpose of this paper is to survey some recent advances in variational integrators for both finite dimensional mechanical systems as well as continuum mechanics. These advances include the general development of discrete mechanics, applications to dissipative systems, collisions, spacetime integration algorithms, AVI’s (Asynchronous Variational Integrators), as well as reduction for discrete mechanical systems. To keep the article within the set limits, we will only treat each topic briefly and will not attempt to develop any particular topic in any depth. We hope, nonetheless, that this paper serves as a useful guide to the literature as well as to future directions and open problems in the subject

A Comparison of CNN and Classic Features for Image Retrieval

Feature detectors and descriptors have been successfully used for various computer vision tasks, such as video object tracking and content-based image retrieval. Many methods use image gradients in different stages of the detection-description pipeline to describe local image structures. Recently, some, or all, of these stages have been replaced by convolutional neural networks (CNNs), in order to increase their performance. A detector is defined as a selection problem, which makes it more challenging to implement as a CNN. They are therefore generally defined as regressors, converting input images to score maps and keypoints can be selected with non-maximum suppression. This paper discusses and compares several recent methods that use CNNs for keypoint detection. Experiments are performed both on the CNN based approaches, as well as a selection of conventional methods. In addition to qualitative measures defined on keypoints and descriptors, the bag-of-words (BoW) model is used to implement an image retrieval application, in order to determine how the methods perform in practice. The results show that each type of features are best in different contexts.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, CBMI 201

Vers un cinéma interactif

Michael Lew est un artiste-chercheur indépendant né en 1977. Après avoir obtenu son Master ès Sciences en ingénierie électronique à l'EPFL sur le thème de l'intelligence artificielle, il a été Research Fellow au Media Lab Europe, laboratoire européen du MIT, puis Adjunct Professor et Visiting Scholar à USC dans le département de médias interactifs. En 2012, il a bénéficié d'un soutien du Fonds National Suisse de la Recherche Scientifique dans le cadre du projet sinlab.Apparu en 1967 avec le Kinoautomat, le cinéma interactif devient, avec les web-documentaires, enfin accessible à tous. Cet article examine les particularités de ces films dont le déroulement est non-linéaire et adaptatif aux spectateurs. La prise en compte instantanée des décisions du public permet-elle de réaliser la promesse cybernétique ?A travers une étude illustrée de cas, nous proposons des notions utiles pour étendre le champ de la narratologie contemporaine à l'étude de ces nouveaux objets d'art.Inaugurated with the Kinoautomat in 1967, interactive cinema is finally accessible to everyone. This article examines the particularities of these films who are played in a non-linear fashion and are adaptive to the viewers. By taking into account instantaneously the decisions of the audience, are they an accomplishment of the cybernetic promise ?Through an illustrated case study, we introduce some useful notions in order to extend the field of contemporary narratology to the study of these new artworks

Settlement of Shallow Foundations Constructed over Reinforced Soil: Design Estimates vs. Measurements

Faced with difficult soil conditions for the support of two 6-story office towers in Dublin, CA and of a 6-story parking garage in Sacramento, CA, engineers recommended the use of Geopier Rammed Aggregate Piers to reinforce the soil for the support of high bearing capacity spread footings instead of deep foundations. Foundation selection for both sites was influenced by long-term settlement performance, schedule and cost savings, and seismic uplift resistance. Rammed aggregate piers were installed to strengthen upper weak and compressible soil layers resulting in a substantially stiffer soil layer on which shallow, high bearing capacity spread footings were constructed. Several rammed aggregate piers were also installed with steel anchors to resist seismically induced overturning forces. Design parameter values were confirmed by full scale aggregate pier modulus tests and uplift tests and a 24 hour load test at the Dublin site. Total settlements were estimated to be less than 1½ inches for the Sacramento site and less than 1 inch for the Dublin site. Measured settlements are less than 1 inches total for both projects with differential settlements less than ½ inches, confirming the design approaches and soil properties used for design. Site selection, rammed aggregate pier design methodology, modulus and uplift load test results, and measured settlement performance are presented for two projects in California