An application of cluster detection to scene analysis

Certain arrangements of local features in a scene tend to group together and to be seen as units. It is suggested that in some instances, this phenomenon might be interpretable as a process of cluster detection in a graph-structured space derived from the scene. This idea is illustrated using a class of scenes that contain only horizontal and vertical line segments

Plants for predators - a participatory experiment

Encouraging natural enemies by growing attractant plants is a highly effective method of pest control in organic systems. However, it is important to establish which plants are most effective at attracting benefi cial insects. Experiments were carried out by 179 HDRA members, who grew four plant species (Coriander, Corn Marigold, Fennel and Phacelia) in their gardens and allotments. Over the course of the growing season, assessments were made on the growth and flowering of the plants and the presence of four key groups of beneficial insect (ladybirds, hoverflies, lacewings and parasitic wasps). Phacelia established quickly and its long flowering period meant it attracted insects throughout the summer. However, Phacelia was only the most attractive plant at the end of the season and insects preferred the other trial plants when they were in flower. Results highlight the importance of growing a range of flowering plants to provide resources for beneficials throughout their activity period

Dimensional crossover of the fundamental-measure functional for parallel hard cubes

We present a regularization of the recently proposed fundamental-measure functional for a mixture of parallel hard cubes. The regularized functional is shown to have right dimensional crossovers to any smaller dimension, thus allowing to use it to study highly inhomogeneous phases (such as the solid phase). Furthermore, it is shown how the functional of the slightly more general model of parallel hard parallelepipeds can be obtained using the zero-dimensional functional as a generating functional. The multicomponent version of the latter system is also given, and it is suggested how to reformulate it as a restricted-orientation model for liquid crystals. Finally, the method is further extended to build a functional for a mixture of parallel hard cylinders.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, uses revtex style files and multicol.sty, for a PostScript version see http://dulcinea.uc3m.es/users/cuesta/cross.p

A new approach to the inverse problem for current mapping in thin-film superconductors

A novel mathematical approach has been developed to complete the inversion of the Biot-Savart law in one- and two-dimensional cases from measurements of the perpendicular component of the magnetic field using the well-developed Magneto-Optical Imaging technique. Our approach, especially in the 2D case, is provided in great detail to allow a straightforward implementation as opposed to those found in the literature. Our new approach also refines our previous results for the 1D case [Johansen et al., Phys. Rev. B 54, 16264 (1996)], and streamlines the method developed by Jooss et al. [Physica C 299, 215 (1998)] deemed as the most accurate if compared to that of Roth et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 65, 361 (1989)]. We also verify and streamline the iterative technique, which was developed following Laviano et al. [Supercond. Sci. Technol. 16, 71 (2002)] to account for in-plane magnetic fields caused by the bending of the applied magnetic field due to the demagnetising effect. After testing on magneto-optical images of a high quality YBa2Cu3O7 superconducting thin film, we show that the procedure employed is effective

Apple Blossoms

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/4949/thumbnail.jp

Preheating in Quintessential Inflation

We perform a numerical study of the preheating mechanism of particle production in models of quintessential inflation and compare it with the usual gravitational production mechanism. We find that even for a very small coupling between the inflaton field and a massless scalar field, g > 10^{-9}, preheating dominates over gravitational particle production. Reheating temperatures in the range 10^{-2} GeV < T_{rh} < 10^{15} GeV can be easily obtained

Look, the World is Watching How We Treat Migrants! The Making of the Anti-Trafficking Legislation during the Ma Administration

Employing the spiral model, this research analyses how anti-human trafficking legislation was promulgated during the Ma Ying-jeou (Ma Yingjiu) presidency. This research found that the government of Taiwan was just as accountable for the violation of migrants’ human rights as the exploitive placement agencies and abusive employers. This research argues that, given its reliance on the United States for political and security support, Taiwan has made great efforts to improve its human rights records and meet US standards for protecting human rights. The reform was a result of multilevel inputs, including US pressure and collaboration between transnational and domestic advocacy groups. A major contribution of this research is to challenge the belief that human rights protection is intrinsic to democracy. In the same light, this research also cautions against Tai-wan’s subscription to US norms since the reform was achieved at the cost of stereotyping trafficking victimhood, legitimising state surveillance, and further marginalising sex workers

Phase behaviour of additive binary mixtures in the limit of infinite asymmetry

We provide an exact mapping between the density functional of a binary mixture and that of the effective one-component fluid in the limit of infinite asymmetry. The fluid of parallel hard cubes is thus mapped onto that of parallel adhesive hard cubes. Its phase behaviour reveals that demixing of a very asymmetric mixture can only occur between a solvent-rich fluid and a permeated large particle solid or between two large particle solids with different packing fractions. Comparing with hard spheres mixtures we conclude that the phase behaviour of very asymmetric hard-particle mixtures can be determined from that of the large component interacting via an adhesive-like potential.Comment: Full rewriting of the paper (also new title). 4 pages, LaTeX, uses revtex, multicol, epsfig, and amstex style files, to appear in Phys. Rev. E (Rapid Comm.