31,374 research outputs found
Non conformal gauge theories from D branes
We use fractional and wrapped branes to describe perturbative and
nonperturbative properties of the gauge theories living on their worldvolume.
(Talk given at the 35th International Symposium Ahrenshoop on the Theory of
Elementary Particles, Wernsdorf, August 26-30, 2002.)Comment: 7 pages, Late
Diffusion Adaptation Strategies for Distributed Estimation over Gaussian Markov Random Fields
The aim of this paper is to propose diffusion strategies for distributed
estimation over adaptive networks, assuming the presence of spatially
correlated measurements distributed according to a Gaussian Markov random field
(GMRF) model. The proposed methods incorporate prior information about the
statistical dependency among observations, while at the same time processing
data in real-time and in a fully decentralized manner. A detailed mean-square
analysis is carried out in order to prove stability and evaluate the
steady-state performance of the proposed strategies. Finally, we also
illustrate how the proposed techniques can be easily extended in order to
incorporate thresholding operators for sparsity recovery applications.
Numerical results show the potential advantages of using such techniques for
distributed learning in adaptive networks deployed over GMRF.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing. arXiv admin
note: text overlap with arXiv:1206.309
A unique theory of all forces
In discussing the construction of a consistent theory of quantum gravity
unified with the gauge interactions we are naturally led to a string theory. We
review its properties and the five consistent supersymmetric string theories in
ten dimensions. We finally discuss the evidence that these theories are
actually special limits of a unique 11-dimensional theory, called M-theory, and
a recent conjecture for its explicit formulation as a supersymmetric Matrix
theory.Comment: 11 pages, Latex. Talk given at the Conference `Beyond the standard
model', V, Balholm, Norway, May 199
A new lattice Boltzmann model for interface reactions between immiscible fluids
In this paper, we describe a lattice Boltzmann model to simulate chemical reactions taking place at the interface between two immiscible fluids. The phase-field approach is used to identify the interface and its orientation, the concentration of reactant at the interface is then calculated iteratively to impose the correct reactive flux condition. The main advantages of the model is that interfaces are considered part of the bulk dynamics with the corrective reactive flux introduced as a source/sink term in the collision step, and, as a consequence, the model’s implementation and performance is independent of the interface geometry and orientation. Results obtained with the proposed model are compared to analytical solution for three different benchmark tests (stationary flat boundary, moving flat boundary and dissolving droplet). We find an excellent agreement between analytical and numerical solutions in all cases. Finally, we present a simulation coupling the Shan Chen multiphase model and the interface reactive model to simulate the dissolution of a collection of immiscible droplets with different sizes rising by buoyancy in a stagnant fluid
Parental education and family characteristics: educational opportunities across cohorts in Italy and Spain
Drawing on data contained in the 2005 EU-SILC, this paper investigates the disparities in educational opportunities in Italy and Spain. Its main objective is to analyse the predicted probabilities of successfully completing upper-secondary and tertiary education for individuals with different parental backgrounds, and the changes in these probabilities across birth cohorts extending from 1940 to 1980. The results suggest that the disparities in tertiary education opportunities in Italy tend to increase over time. By contrast, the gap in educational opportunity in Spain shows a marked decrease across the cohorts. Moreover, by using an intuitive decomposition strategy, the paper shows that a large part of the educational gap between individuals of different backgrounds is “composed” of the difference in the endowment of family characteristics. Specifically, it seems that more highly educated parents are more able to endow their children with a better composition of family characteristics, which accounts for a significant proportion of the disparities in educational opportunity.Educational Opportunity, Family Background, Birth cohorts, Italy, Spain
Knowledge of catalan, public/prĂvate sector choice and earnings: Evidence from a double sample selection model
This paper explores the earnings return to Catalan knowledge for public and private workers in Catalonia. In doing so, we allow for a double simultaneous selection process. We consider, on the one hand, the non-random allocation of workers into one sector or another, and on the other, the potential self-selection into Catalan proficiency. In addition, when correcting the earnings equations, we control for the correlation between the two selectivity rules. Our findings suggest that the apparent higher language return for public sector workers is entirely accounted for by selection effects, whereas knowledge of Catalan has a significant positive return in the private sector, which is somewhat higher when the selection processes are taken into account.Language, Sector Choice, Earnings, Simultaneous Selection, Catalonia.
Stochastic Training of Neural Networks via Successive Convex Approximations
This paper proposes a new family of algorithms for training neural networks
(NNs). These are based on recent developments in the field of non-convex
optimization, going under the general name of successive convex approximation
(SCA) techniques. The basic idea is to iteratively replace the original
(non-convex, highly dimensional) learning problem with a sequence of (strongly
convex) approximations, which are both accurate and simple to optimize.
Differently from similar ideas (e.g., quasi-Newton algorithms), the
approximations can be constructed using only first-order information of the
neural network function, in a stochastic fashion, while exploiting the overall
structure of the learning problem for a faster convergence. We discuss several
use cases, based on different choices for the loss function (e.g., squared loss
and cross-entropy loss), and for the regularization of the NN's weights. We
experiment on several medium-sized benchmark problems, and on a large-scale
dataset involving simulated physical data. The results show how the algorithm
outperforms state-of-the-art techniques, providing faster convergence to a
better minimum. Additionally, we show how the algorithm can be easily
parallelized over multiple computational units without hindering its
performance. In particular, each computational unit can optimize a tailored
surrogate function defined on a randomly assigned subset of the input
variables, whose dimension can be selected depending entirely on the available
computational power.Comment: Preprint submitted to IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and
Learning System
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