Optimisation of on-line principal component analysis

Different techniques, used to optimise on-line principal component analysis, are investigated by methods of statistical mechanics. These include local and global optimisation of node-dependent learning-rates which are shown to be very efficient in speeding up the learning process. They are investigated further for gaining insight into the learning rates' time-dependence, which is then employed for devising simple practical methods to improve training performance. Simulations demonstrate the benefit gained from using the new methods.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Effect of manganese doping on the size effect of lead zirconate titanate thin films and the extrinsic nature of dead layers

We have investigated the size effect in lead zirconate titanate (PZT) thin films with a range of manganese (Mn) doping concentrations. We found that the size effect in the conventional Pt/PZT/Pt thin-film capacitors could be systematically reduced and almost completely eliminated by increasing Mn doping concentration. The interfacial layer at the electrode-film interface appears to disappear almost entirely for the PZT films with 2% Mn doping levels, confirmed by the fits using the conventional in-series capacitor model. Our work indicates that the size effect in ferroelectrics is extrinsic in nature, supporting the work by Saad et al. Other implications of our results have also been discussed. By comparing a variety of experimental studies in the literature we propose a scenario that the dead layer between PZT (or barium strontium titanate, BST) and metal electrodes such as Pt and Au might have a defective pyrochlore/fluorite structure (possibly with a small portion of ferroelectric perovskite phase).Comment: 21 pages, 6 figure

Partial dissociation in the neural bases of VSTM and imagery in the early visual cortex

Visual short-term memory (VSTM) and visual imagery are believed to involve overlapping neuronal representations in the early visual cortex. While a number of studies have provided evidence for this overlap, at the behavioral level VSTM and imagery are dissociable processes; this begs the question of how their neuronal mechanisms differ. Here we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to examine whether the neural bases of imagery and VSTM maintenance are dissociable in the early visual cortex (EVC). We intentionally used a similar task for VSTM and imagery in order to equate their assessment. We hypothesized that any differential effect of TMS on VSTM and imagery would indicate that their neuronal bases differ at the level of EVC. In the "alone" condition, participants were asked to engage either in VSTM or imagery, whereas in the "concurrent" condition, each trial required both VSTM maintenance and imagery simultaneously. A dissociation between VSTM and imagery was observed for reaction times: TMS slowed down responses for VSTM but not for imagery. The impact of TMS on sensitivity did not differ between VSTM and imagery, but did depend on whether the tasks were carried concurrently or alone. This study shows that neural processes associated with VSTM and imagery in the early visual cortex can be partially dissociated. (C) 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).Peer reviewe

Strain Gradients in Epitaxial Ferroelectrics

X-ray analysis of ferroelectric thin layers of Ba1/2Sr1/2TiO3 with different thickness reveals the presence of internal strain gradients across the film thickness and allows us to propose a functional form for the internal strain profile. We use this to calculate the direct influence of strain gradient, through flexoelectric coupling, on the degradation of the ferroelectric properties of thin films with decreasing thickness, in excellent agreement with the observed behaviour. This work highlights the link between strain relaxation and strain gradients in epitaxial films, and shows the pressing need to avoid strain gradients in order to obtain thin ferroelectrics with bulk-like properties.Comment: 4 pages, 3 embedded figures (1 color), revTex

Linear response strength functions with iterative Arnoldi diagonalization

We report on an implementation of a new method to calculate RPA strength functions with iterative non-hermitian Arnoldi diagonalization method, which does not explicitly calculate and store the RPA matrix. We discuss the treatment of spurious modes, numerical stability, and how the method scales as the used model space is enlarged. We perform the particle-hole RPA benchmark calculations for double magic nucleus 132Sn and compare the resulting electromagnetic strength functions against those obtained within the standard RPA.Comment: 9 RevTeX pages, 11 figures, submitted to Physical Review

Computing with Noise - Phase Transitions in Boolean Formulas

Computing circuits composed of noisy logical gates and their ability to represent arbitrary Boolean functions with a given level of error are investigated within a statistical mechanics setting. Bounds on their performance, derived in the information theory literature for specific gates, are straightforwardly retrieved, generalized and identified as the corresponding typical-case phase transitions. This framework paves the way for obtaining new results on error-rates, function-depth and sensitivity, and their dependence on the gate-type and noise model used.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figure

Self-adaptive Multiprecision Preconditioners on Multicore and Manycore Architectures

Abstract. Based on the premise that preconditioners needed for scien-tific computing are not only required to be robust in the numerical sense, but also scalable for up to thousands of light-weight cores, we argue that this two-fold goal is achieved for the recently developed self-adaptive multi-elimination preconditioner. For this purpose, we revise the under-lying idea and analyze the performance of implementations realized in the PARALUTION and MAGMA open-source software libraries on GPU architectures (using either CUDA or OpenCL), Intel’s Many Integrated Core Architecture, and Intel’s Sandy Bridge processor. The comparison with other well-established preconditioners like multi-coloured Gauss-Seidel, ILU(0) and multi-colored ILU(0), shows that the twofold goal of a numerically stable cross-platform performant algorithm is achieved.

Spin texture on the Fermi surface of tensile strained HgTe

We present ab initio and k.p calculations of the spin texture on the Fermi surface of tensile strained HgTe, which is obtained by stretching the zincblende lattice along the (111) axis. Tensile strained HgTe is a semimetal with pointlike accidental degeneracies between a mirror symmetry protected twofold degenerate band and two nondegenerate bands near the Fermi level. The Fermi surface consists of two ellipsoids which contact at the point where the Fermi level crosses the twofold degenerate band along the (111) axis. However, the spin texture of occupied states indicates that neither ellipsoid carries a compensating Chern number. Consequently, the spin texture is locked in the plane perpendicular to the (111) axis, exhibits a nonzero winding number in that plane, and changes winding number from one end of the Fermi ellipsoids to the other. The change in the winding of the spin texture suggests the existence of singular points. An ordered alloy of HgTe with ZnTe has the same effect as stretching the zincblende lattice in the (111) direction. We present ab initio calculations of ordered Hg_xZn_1-xTe that confirm the existence of a spin texture locked in a 2D plane on the Fermi surface with different winding numbers on either end.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure