A novel system architecture for real-time low-level vision

A novel system architecture that exploits the spatial locality in memory access that is found in most low-level vision algorithms is presented. A real-time feature selection system is used to exemplify the underlying ideas, and an implementation based on commercially available Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA’s) and synchronous SRAM memory devices is proposed. The peak memory access rate of a system based on this architecture is estimated at 2.88 G-Bytes/s, which represents a four to five times improvement with respect to existing reconfigurable computers

Ruptura de relaciones y exceso de demandas. La polémica Gadamer-Habermas.

Sin resume

Traditional Cultural Districts: An Opportunity for Alaska Tribes to Protect Subsistence Rights and Traditional Lands

Alaska tribes have limited control over their traditional lands and waters. Tribes may increase their influence through a Traditional Cultural District designation under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. This designation does not stop development, but requires federal agencies to consult with tribes regarding potential development that may impact the district. The consultation right applies regardless of whether a tribe owns or has formally designated the district. In Alaska, where no Traditional Cultural Districts exist as of 2014, there is potential for designating large areas of land or water that correspond to the range of traditionally important species

Prior, A.. La libertad en el pensamiento de Marx.

Sin resume

Frontiers of (Pareto) optimal and sustainable water management for hydropower and ecology

River regulation alters the natural flow regime of streams with consequent impacts on terrestrial and aquatic habitats of the riparian zone. The severity of such impacts can be modulated by changing the redistribution rules at water intakes and reservoirs. Contrary to minimal-flow policies, non-proportional and proportional redistribution policies result in variable environmental flow releases, namely Dynamic Environmental Flows (DEFs), which improve the global (i.e., ecological and economic) efficiency of water use practice, e.g., for energy production. DEF assessment is based on different indicators. However, the choice and aggregation method of different hydrological and fish habitat indicators affects the assessment of the global power plant performance, i.e., the Frontier of efficient solutions (sensu Pareto). This study investigates DEF assessment, and shows the extent to which the choice and method of aggregation of different indicators impacts the Frontier of Pareto-efficient solutions. The findings are supported by six case studies of hydropower practice that differ in terms of river morphology, energy production amount and technique. The relative importance of several types of indicators is examined as is their influence on optimal and sustainable water allocation solutions that lie on the Pareto Frontier. The analysis shows that DEFs arising from either proportional or non-proportional redistribution rules can positively impact strategies of sustainable management of freshwater resources

The top quark right coupling in the tbW-vertex

The most general parametrization of the tbW vertex includes a right coupling V-R that is zero at tree level in the standard model. This quantity may be measured at the Large Hadron Collider where the physics of the top decay is currently investigated. This coupling is present in new physics models at tree level and/or through radiative corrections, so its measurement can be sensitive to non-standard physics. In this paper we compute the leading electroweak and QCD contributions to the top V-R coupling in the standard model. This value is the starting point in order to separate the standard model effects and, then, search for new physics. We also propose observables that can be addressed at the LHC in order to measure this coupling. These observables are defined in such a way that they do not receive tree level contributions from the standard model and are directly proportional to the right coupling. Bounds on new physics models can be obtained through the measurements of these observables

Influence of Zn excess on compositional, structural and vibrational properties of Cu2ZnSn0.5Ge0.5Se4 thin films and their effect on solar cell efficiency

This Accepted Manuscript will be available for reuse under a CC BY-NC-ND licence after 24 months of embargo periodThe effect of Zn content on compositional, structural and vibrational properties of Cu2ZnSn1-xGexSe4 (CZTGSe, x ~ 0.5) thin films is studied. Kesterite layer is deposited by co-evaporation onto 5 × 5 cm2 Mo/SLG substrate followed by a thermal treatment at maximum temperature of 480 °C, obtaining areas with different composition and morphology which are due to the sample position in the co-evaporation system and to the non-uniform temperature distribution across the substrate. Kesterite layers with higher Zn amounts are characterized by lower Cu and Ge contents; however, a uniform Ge distribution through the absorber layer is detected in all cases. The excess Zn concentration leads to the formation of ZnSe secondary phase on the surface and in the bulk of the absorber as determined by Raman spectroscopy. When higher Ge content and no ZnSe are present in the absorber layer, a compact structure is formed with larger grain size of kesterite. This effect could explain the higher Voc of the solar cell. The Zn content does not affect the bandgap energy significantly (Eg near 1.3 eV), although the observed effect of Zn excess in CZTGSe results in a decreased device performance from 6.4 to 4.2%. This investigation reveals the importance of the control of the off-stoichiometric CZTGSe composition during the deposition process to enhance solar cells propertiesThis work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities Project WINCOST (ENE2016-80788-C5-2-R) and European Project INFINITE CELL (H2020-MSCA-RISE-2017-777968). ARP also acknowledges financial support from Community of Madrid within Youth Employment Program (PEJD-2017-PRE/IND-4062). MG acknowledges the financial support from ACCIÓ-Generalitat de Catalunya within the TECNIOspring Plus fellowship (TECSPR18-1-0048

Tourmaline records the hydrothermal events related to Zn-Pb mineralization around the Murguía diapir (Basque Cantabrian Basin, N Spain)

The chemical composition of tourmaline has been used as a host environment register as well as a potential exploration tool for mineral deposits. In this study, the textural and chemical composition of tourmalines associated with Zn-Pb mineralizations around the Murguía diapir (Basque Cantabrian Basin, N Spain) are examined to verify if they record the mineralizing events in the area. Petrographically, tourmalines have been differentiated between inherited and authigenic. Colorless authigenic tourmalines are present as halos partially around green and pleochroic detrital grains or as individual crystals. Inherited and authigenic tourmalines are also chemically distinct. Authigenic tourmalines show different X-site occupancies, a Mg/(Mg+Fe) ratio above 0.77, and are aluminum rich and plot to the right of the povondraite-oxidravite join, above the schorl-dravite join. Inherited tourmalines plot within the alkaline (Na+K) group field, and have a Mg/(Mg+Fe) ratio below 0.77. These data suggest that authigenic tourmalines grew under reducing conditions, compatible with the hydrothermal event responsible for the ore deposition and caprock formation during the diapir ascent

Learning object categories from Google's image search

Current approaches to object category recognition require datasets of training images to be manually prepared, with varying degrees of supervision. We present an approach that can learn an object category from just its name, by utilizing the raw output of image search engines available on the Internet. We develop a new model, TSI-pLSA, which extends pLSA (as applied to visual words) to include spatial information in a translation and scale invariant manner. Our approach can handle the high intra-class variability and large proportion of unrelated images returned by search engines. We evaluate the models on standard test sets, showing performance competitive with existing methods trained on hand prepared datasets