342 research outputs found
EVALUATION OF LOW-COST DEPTH SENSORS FOR OUTDOOR APPLICATIONS
Depth information is a key component that allows a computer to reproduce human vision in plenty of applications from manufacturing, to robotics and autonomous driving. The Microsoft Kinect has brought depth sensing to another level resulting in a large number of low cost, small form factor depth sensors. Although these sensors can efficiently produce data over a wide dynamic range of sensing applications and within different environments, most of them are rather suitable for indoor applications. Operating in outdoor areas is a challenge because of undesired illumination, usually strong sunlight or surface scattering, which degrades measurement accuracy. Therefore, after presenting the different working principle of existing depth cameras, our study aims to evaluate where two very recent sensors, the AD-FXTOF1-EBZ and the flexx2, stand towards the issue of outdoor environment. In particular, measurement tests will be performed on different types of materials subjected to various illumination in order to evaluate the potential accuracy of such sensors
Sequential localization of a complex electron fluid
Complex and correlated quantum systems with promise for new functionality
often involve entwined electronic degrees of freedom. In such materials, highly
unusual properties emerge and could be the result of electron localization.
Here, a cubic heavy fermion metal governed by spins and orbitals is chosen as a
model system for this physics. Its properties are found to originate from
surprisingly simple low-energy behavior, with two distinct localization
transitions driven by a single degree of freedom at a time. This result is
unexpected, but we are able to understand it by advancing the notion of
sequential destruction of an SU(4) spin-orbital-coupled Kondo entanglement. Our
results implicate electron localization as a unified framework for strongly
correlated materials and suggest ways to exploit multiple degrees of freedom
for quantum engineering.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures (preprint format
Zero Bias Conductance Peak in Dirac Semimetal-Superconductor Devices
Majorana zero modes (MZMs), fundamental building blocks for realizing
topological quantum computers, can appear at the interface between a
superconductor and a topological material. One of the experimental signatures
that has been widely pursued to confirm the existence of MZMs is the
observation of a large, quantized zero-bias conductance peak (ZBCP) in the
differential conductance measurements. In this Letter, we report observation of
such a large ZBCP in junction structures of normal metal (titanium/gold Ti/Au)
+ Dirac semimetal (cadmium arsenide Cd3As2) + conventional superconductor
(aluminum Al), with a value close to four times that of the normal state
conductance. Our detailed analyses suggest that this large ZBCP is most likely
not caused by MZMs. We attribute the ZBCP, instead, to the existence of a
supercurrent between two far-separated superconducting Al electrodes, which
shows up as a zero-bias peak because of the circuitry and thermal fluctuations
of the supercurrent phase, a mechanism conceived by Ivanchenko and Zil'berman
more than 50 years ago [JETP 28, 1272 (1969)]. Our results thus call for
extreme caution when assigning the origin of a large ZBCP to MZMs in a
multiterminal semiconductor or topological insulator/semimetal setup. We thus
provide criteria for identifying when the ZBCP is definitely not caused by an
MZM. Furthermore, we present several remarkable experimental results of a
supercurrent effect occurring over unusually long distances and clean perfect
Andreev reflection features.Comment: with Supplemental Material, which includes theoretical modeling,
experimental raw data sets used in Figure 3, and data fitting cod
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The strength of the meridional overturning circulation of the stratosphere.
The distribution of gases such as ozone and water vapour in the stratosphere - which affect surface climate - is influenced by the meridional overturning of mass in the stratosphere, the Brewer-Dobson circulation. However, observation-based estimates of its global strength are difficult to obtain. Here we present two calculations of the mean strength of the meridional overturning of the stratosphere. We analyze satellite data that document the global diabatic circulation between 2007- 2011, and compare these to three re-analysis data sets and to simulations with a state-of-the-art chemistry-climate model. Using measurements of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and nitrous oxide, we calculate the global mean diabatic overturning mass flux throughout the stratosphere. In the lower stratosphere, these two estimates agree, and at a potential temperature level of 460 K (about 20 km or 60 hPa in tropics), the global circulation strength is 6.3-7.6 × 109 kg/s. Higher in the atmosphere, only the SF6-based estimate is available, and it diverges from the re-analysis data and simulations. Interpretation of the SF6 data-based estimate is limited because of a mesospheric sink of SF6; however, the reanalyses also differ substantially from each other. We conclude that the uncertainty in the mean meridional overturning circulation strength at upper levels of the stratosphere amounts to at least 100 %
Does the Constitution Provide More Ballot Access Protection for Presidential Elections Than for U.S. House Elections?
Both the U.S. Constitution and The Federalist Papers suggest that voters ought to have more freedom to vote for the candidate of their choice for the U.S. House of Representatives than they do for the President or the U.S. Senate. Yet, strangely, for the last thirty-three years, the U.S. Supreme Court and lower courts have ruled that the Constitution gives voters more freedom to vote for the candidate of their choice in presidential elections than in congressional elections. Also, state legislatures, which have been writing ballot access laws since 1888, have passed laws that make it easier for minor-party and independent candidates to get on the ballot for President than for the U.S. House. As a result, voters in virtually every state invariably have far more choices on their general election ballots for the President than they do for the House. This Article argues that the right of a voter to vote for someone other than a Democrat or a Republican for the House is just as important as a voter’s right to do so for President, and that courts should grant more ballot access protection to minor-party and independent candidates for the House
Ecological release in White Sands lizards
Ecological opportunity is any change that allows populations to escape selection from competition and predation. After encountering ecological opportunity, populations may experience ecological release: enlarged population size, broadened resource use, and/or increased morphological variation. We identified ecological opportunity and tested for ecological release in three lizard colonists of White Sands, New Mexico (Sceloporus undulatus, Holbrookia maculata, and Aspidoscelis inornata). First, we provide evidence for ecological opportunity by demonstrating reduced species richness and abundance of potential competitors and predators at White Sands relative to nearby dark soils habitats. Second, we characterize ecological release at White Sands by demonstrating density compensation in the three White Sands lizard species and expanded resource use in White Sands S. undulatus. Contrary to predictions from ecological release models, we observed directional trait change but not increased trait variation in S. undulatus. Our results suggest that ecological opportunity and ecological release can be identified in natural populations, especially those that have recently colonized isolated ecosystems
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