Model uncertainties in top-quark physics

The ATLAS and CMS collaborations at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) are studying the top quark in pp collisions at 7 and 8 TeV. Due to the large integrated luminosity, precision measurements of production cross-sections and properties are often limited by systematic uncertainties. An overview of the modeling uncertainties for simulated events is given in this report.Comment: Proceedings from the 7th International Workshop on Top Quark Physics, Cannes, Franc

Fredholm theory for band-dominated and related operators: a survey

This paper presents the Fredholm theory on l^p-spaces for band-dominated operators and important subclasses, such as operators in the Wiener algebra. It particularly closes several gaps in the previously known results for the case p=\infty and addresses the open questions raised in a paper by Chandler-Wilde and Lindner. The main tools are provided by the limit operator method and an algebraic framework for the description and adaption of Fredholmness and convergence. A comprehensive overview of this approach is given.Comment: 25 page

On Semi-Fredholm Band-Dominated Operators

In this paper we study the semi-Fredholm property of band-dominated operators $A$ and prove that it already implies the Fredholmness of $A$ in all cases where this is not disqualified by obvious reasons. Moreover, this observation is applied to show that the Fredholmness of a band-dominated operator already follows from the surjectivity of all its limit operators

Ludwik Fleck's Scientism

In a recent paper in 'Social Epistemology' Dimitri Ginev aims to show that Ludwik Fleck uses transcendental arguments in two contexts in his work that are closely intertwined: the context of comparative cognitive sociology and the context of socio-historical epistemology. I am skeptical about Ginev’s interpretation and my aim is to show that at least the part of Ginev’s argument in which he aims to show Fleck’s use of transcendental arguments in the context of socio-historical epistemology is not convincing. To my mind, a much better interpretation of Fleck’s argument in this context is to see Fleck as using scientisticinstead of transcendental arguments

Verringern, verbieten? Die Antibiotikafrage

Rückstände von Antibiotika bilden ein Risiko für die Umwelt und auch für die Gesundheit von Mensch und Tier. Wie steht die Schweizer Biomilchproduktion in der Antibiotikafrage da? Bio Suisse wollte es wissen und hat eine Analyse auf Knospe-Höfen durchführen lassen

The Problem of Relativism in the Sociology of (Scientific) Knowledge

This volume comprises original articles by leading authors – from philosophy as well as sociology – in the debate around relativism in the sociology of (scientific) knowledge. Its aim has been to bring together several threads from the relevant disciplines and to cover the discussion from historical and systematic points of view. Among the contributors are Maria Baghramian, Barry Barnes, Martin Endreß, Hubert Knoblauch, Richard Schantz and Harvey Siegel

AlSub: Fully Parallel and Modular Subdivision

In recent years, mesh subdivision---the process of forging smooth free-form surfaces from coarse polygonal meshes---has become an indispensable production instrument. Although subdivision performance is crucial during simulation, animation and rendering, state-of-the-art approaches still rely on serial implementations for complex parts of the subdivision process. Therefore, they often fail to harness the power of modern parallel devices, like the graphics processing unit (GPU), for large parts of the algorithm and must resort to time-consuming serial preprocessing. In this paper, we show that a complete parallelization of the subdivision process for modern architectures is possible. Building on sparse matrix linear algebra, we show how to structure the complete subdivision process into a sequence of algebra operations. By restructuring and grouping these operations, we adapt the process for different use cases, such as regular subdivision of dynamic meshes, uniform subdivision for immutable topology, and feature-adaptive subdivision for efficient rendering of animated models. As the same machinery is used for all use cases, identical subdivision results are achieved in all parts of the production pipeline. As a second contribution, we show how these linear algebra formulations can effectively be translated into efficient GPU kernels. Applying our strategies to $\sqrt{3}$, Loop and Catmull-Clark subdivision shows significant speedups of our approach compared to state-of-the-art solutions, while we completely avoid serial preprocessing.Comment: Changed structure Added content Improved description