R3^3SGM: Real-time Raster-Respecting Semi-Global Matching for Power-Constrained Systems

Stereo depth estimation is used for many computer vision applications. Though many popular methods strive solely for depth quality, for real-time mobile applications (e.g. prosthetic glasses or micro-UAVs), speed and power efficiency are equally, if not more, important. Many real-world systems rely on Semi-Global Matching (SGM) to achieve a good accuracy vs. speed balance, but power efficiency is hard to achieve with conventional hardware, making the use of embedded devices such as FPGAs attractive for low-power applications. However, the full SGM algorithm is ill-suited to deployment on FPGAs, and so most FPGA variants of it are partial, at the expense of accuracy. In a non-FPGA context, the accuracy of SGM has been improved by More Global Matching (MGM), which also helps tackle the streaking artifacts that afflict SGM. In this paper, we propose a novel, resource-efficient method that is inspired by MGM's techniques for improving depth quality, but which can be implemented to run in real time on a low-power FPGA. Through evaluation on multiple datasets (KITTI and Middlebury), we show that in comparison to other real-time capable stereo approaches, we can achieve a state-of-the-art balance between accuracy, power efficiency and speed, making our approach highly desirable for use in real-time systems with limited power.Comment: Accepted in FPT 2018 as Oral presentation, 8 pages, 6 figures, 4 table

Origin Gaps and the Eternal Sunshine of the Second-Order Pendulum

The rich experiences of an intentional, goal-oriented life emerge, in an unpredictable fashion, from the basic laws of physics. Here I argue that this unpredictability is no mirage: there are true gaps between life and non-life, mind and mindlessness, and even between functional societies and groups of Hobbesian individuals. These gaps, I suggest, emerge from the mathematics of self-reference, and the logical barriers to prediction that self-referring systems present. Still, a mathematical truth does not imply a physical one: the universe need not have made self-reference possible. It did, and the question then is how. In the second half of this essay, I show how a basic move in physics, known as renormalization, transforms the "forgetful" second-order equations of fundamental physics into a rich, self-referential world that makes possible the major transitions we care so much about. While the universe runs in assembly code, the coarse-grained version runs in LISP, and it is from that the world of aim and intention grows.Comment: FQXI Prize Essay 2017. 18 pages, including afterword on Ostrogradsky's Theorem and an exchange with John Bova, Dresden Craig, and Paul Livingsto

Uma Visão da Empresa Baseada em Habilidades: Contextos Estratégicos e Contingenciais

This paper extends the corporation-based metaphor of the tree by proposing that cognition is the core ability which contributes to nourishing the development of core competencies in the organization. From such an extension, this paper takes a raises the following question: What is the role of cognition in the organization that is in the pursuit of core competencies and sustainable competitive advantage? This paper answers this problem by presenting two perspectives that contribute toward introducing the field of organizational cognition into the domains of the resource-based view and contingency. First, it proposes an ability-based view of the organization through analogies which are most associated with the concepts of the resource-based view and dynamic capabilities of the firm. Second, it proposes a contingency-based view of organizational cognition which is most developed through causal relations and also deductive and inductive reasoning. Grounded in these perspectives, this study sustains the thesis that cognition is a source of controlling environmental uncertainty and, complementarily, cognition contributes toward creating and sustaining the organization’s competitive advantage

Habitat Design Considerations for Implementing Solar Particle Event Radiation Protection

Radiation protection is an important habitat design consideration for human exploration missions beyond Low Earth Orbit. Fortunately, radiation shelter concepts can effectively reduce astronaut exposure for the relatively low proton energies of solar particle events, enabling moderate duration missions of several months before astronaut exposure (galactic cosmic ray and solar particle event) approaches radiation exposure limits. In order to minimize habitat mass for increasingly challenging missions, design of radiation shelters must minimize dedicated, single-purpose shielding mass by leveraging the design and placement of habitat subsystems, accommodations, and consumables. NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems RadWorks Storm Shelter Team has recently designed and performed radiation analysis on several low dedicated mass shelter concepts for a year-long mission. This paper describes habitat design considerations identified during the study's radiation analysis. These considerations include placement of the shelter within a habitat for improved protection, integration of human factors guidance for sizing shelters, identification of potential opportunities for habitat subsystems to compromise on individual subsystem performances for overall vehicle mass reductions, and pre-configuration of shelter components for reduced deployment times

The Baryon Content of Cosmic Structures

We make an inventory of the baryonic and gravitating mass in structures ranging from the smallest galaxies to rich clusters of galaxies. We find that the fraction of baryons converted to stars reaches a maximum between M500 = 1E12 and 1E13 Msun, suggesting that star formation is most efficient in bright galaxies in groups. The fraction of baryons detected in all forms deviates monotonically from the cosmic baryon fraction as a function of mass. On the largest scales of clusters, most of the expected baryons are detected, while in the smallest dwarf galaxies, fewer than 1% are detected. Where these missing baryons reside is unclear.Comment: ApJ Letters, in pres

A THEORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL COGNITION:PRINCIPLES AND CONCEPTS

Organizations and the environment change over time. Not only change their structures and processes of functioning, but also the perspectives that researchers have about them over periods of time. Hence, scientists need to review theories of organizations in order to formulate new solutions to the problems of the present. It is in such a direction of thinking that this paper contributes by introducing new concepts, principles and propositions towards a theory of organizational cognition. It put forwards new perspectives about the organization and the environment, and also about the relations between them through the concept of cognition. From these backgrounds, this research also contributes by presenting the concepts of organizational intelligence and autonomy, hierarchic levels of cognition in organizational systems, along with cognitive definitions and complex models for the organization and the environment

Time asymmetric spacetimes near null and spatial infinity. I. Expansions of developments of conformally flat data

The Conformal Einstein equations and the representation of spatial infinity as a cylinder introduced by Friedrich are used to analyse the behaviour of the gravitational field near null and spatial infinity for the development of data which are asymptotically Euclidean, conformally flat and time asymmetric. Our analysis allows for initial data whose second fundamental form is more general than the one given by the standard Bowen-York Ansatz. The Conformal Einstein equations imply upon evaluation on the cylinder at spatial infinity a hierarchy of transport equations which can be used to calculate in a recursive way asymptotic expansions for the gravitational field. It is found that the the solutions to these transport equations develop logarithmic divergences at certain critical sets where null infinity meets spatial infinity. Associated to these, there is a series of quantities expressible in terms of the initial data (obstructions), which if zero, preclude the appearance of some of the logarithmic divergences. The obstructions are, in general, time asymmetric. That is, the obstructions at the intersection of future null infinity with spatial infinity are different, and do not generically imply those obtained at the intersection of past null infinity with spatial infinity. The latter allows for the possibility of having spacetimes where future and past null infinity have different degrees of smoothness. Finally, it is shown that if both sets of obstructions vanish up to a certain order, then the initial data has to be asymptotically Schwarzschildean to some degree.Comment: 32 pages. First part of a series of 2 papers. Typos correcte

Leo V: A Companion of a Companion of the Milky Way Galaxy

We report the discovery of a new Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the constellation of Leo identified in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Leo V lies at a distance of about 180 kpc, and is separated by about 3 degrees from another recent discovery, Leo IV. We present follow-up imaging from the Isaac Newton Telescope and spectroscopy from the Hectochelle fiber spectrograph at the Multiple Mirror Telescope. Leo V's heliocentric velocity is 173.4 km/s, which is offset by about 40 km/s from that of Leo IV. A simple interpretation of the kinematic data is that both objects may lie on the same stream, though the implied orbit is only modestly eccentric (e = 0.2)Comment: Submitted to ApJ (Letters

Where are the Fossils of the First Galaxies? II. True Fossils, Ghost Halos, and the Missing Bright Satellites

We use a new set of cold dark matter simulations of the local universe to investigate the distribution of fossils of primordial dwarf galaxies within, and around the Milky Way. Throughout, we build upon previous results showing agreement between the observed stellar properties of a subset of the ultra-faint dwarfs and our simulated fossils. Here, we show that fossils of the first galaxies have galactocentric distributions and cumulative luminosity functions consistent with observations. In our model there are ~ 300 luminous satellites orbiting the Milky Way, ~50-70% of which are well preserved fossils, with this fraction decreasing with galactocentric distance. Within the Milky Way virial radius, the majority of these fossils have luminosities L_V<10^5 L_solar. This work produces an overabundance of bright dwarf satellites (L_V > 10^4 L_solar) with respect to observations where observations are nearly complete. The "bright satellite problem" is most evident in the outer parts of the Milky Way. We estimate that, although relatively bright, the primordial stellar populations are very diffuse, producing a population with surface brightnesses below surveys` detection limits and are easily stripped by tidal forces. Although we cannot yet present unmistakable evidence for the existence of the fossils of first galaxies in the Local Group, the results of our studies suggest observational strategies that may demonstrate their existence. Primarily, the detection of "ghost halos" of primordial stars around isolated dwarfs would prove that stars formed in minihalos (M<10^8 M_solar) before reionization, and strongly suggest that at least a fraction of the ultra-faint dwarfs are fossils of the first galaxies.Comment: publishing in ApJ with minor revisions in October 2011 V. 741 article ID. 1

Crater 2::An Extremely Cold Dark Matter Halo

<p>supplementary data products, including all sky-subtracted spectra from individual targets, as well as random draws from posterior PDFs for model parameters (see enclosed README file)</p> <p> </p