Digitizing zone maps, using modified LARSYS program

A method for digitizing zone maps is presented, starting with colored images and producing a final one-channel digitized tape. This method automates the work previously done interactively on the Image-100 and Data Analysis System computers of the Johnson Space Center (JSC) Earth Observations Division (EOD). A color-coded map was digitized through color filters on a scanner to form a digital tape in LARSYS-2 or JSC Universal format. The taped image was classified by the EOD LARSYS program on the basis of training fields included in the image. Numerical values were assigned to all pixels in a given class, and the resulting coded zone map was written on a LARSYS or Universal tape. A unique spatial filter option permitted zones to be made homogeneous and edges of zones to be abrupt transitions from one zone to the next. A zoom option allowed the output image to have arbitrary dimensions in terms of number of lines and number of samples on a line. Printouts of the computer program are given and the images that were digitized are shown

An eight-neighbor filter for LARSYS

An eight-neighbor filter was developed for the LARSYS program. It is used in cleaning zones and sharpening boundaries during the digitization of hand-painted zone maps, in making computer-based vegetation zones more homogeneous, and in classification of natural images, such as LANDSAT or other multispectral imagery

A Characterization of Deterministic Sampling Patterns for Low-Rank Matrix Completion

Low-rank matrix completion (LRMC) problems arise in a wide variety of applications. Previous theory mainly provides conditions for completion under missing-at-random samplings. This paper studies deterministic conditions for completion. An incomplete $d \times N$ matrix is finitely rank-$r$ completable if there are at most finitely many rank-$r$ matrices that agree with all its observed entries. Finite completability is the tipping point in LRMC, as a few additional samples of a finitely completable matrix guarantee its unique completability. The main contribution of this paper is a deterministic sampling condition for finite completability. We use this to also derive deterministic sampling conditions for unique completability that can be efficiently verified. We also show that under uniform random sampling schemes, these conditions are satisfied with high probability if $O(\max\{r,\log d\})$ entries per column are observed. These findings have several implications on LRMC regarding lower bounds, sample and computational complexity, the role of coherence, adaptive settings and the validation of any completion algorithm. We complement our theoretical results with experiments that support our findings and motivate future analysis of uncharted sampling regimes.Comment: This update corrects an error in version 2 of this paper, where we erroneously assumed that columns with more than r+1 observed entries would yield multiple independent constraint

Reallocation of Responsibilities and/or Financing for Selected Municipal Services to the State: A Municipal Finance Alternative

This report recommends that the administration and/or financing of a selected group of public services be shifted from municipalities to the state government in Massachusetts. Several criteria are used to identify local functions and local fiscal responsibilities which are more suitable for state than local financing. The first criterion is the efficiency of delivery of the service: for some functions, such as solid waste disposal, technology makes it more costly per capita to provide the service separately through individual municipalities than to operate regionally-based waste disposal facilities. The second criterion is the degree to which residents of the service area are agreed as to the quantity or quality of the service to be provided. The greatest degree of consensus can always be found at the lowest jurisdictional level, but this report argues that for the services selected for shifting, state financing will not result in service levels too different from any one municipality\u27s preferences. For example, there is not likely to be much dispute among municipal officials as to correctional institution standards. Third, the report recommends shifting services which have significant spill-in or spill-out characteristics; that is, when municipally-financed, they benefit or adversely affect residents of other local jurisdictions which have no voice in their delivery, on the one hand; and on the other hand, services with these characteristics involve costs without commensurate benefits to the responsible jurisdiction and eventually generate taxpayer resistance which forces severe reductions in service levels. Vocational education and transportation are two good examples of this phenomenon. The fourth criterion is that the area taxed to provide any service which effects a redistribution of services or cash (e.g. health and hospitals, veterans\u27 assistance) should include enough persons in both groups to make redistribution worthwhile: enough of those we wish to redistribute from and enough of those we wish to redistribute to. A great many municipalities in Massachusetts are somewhat internally homogeneous with respect to income; that is, the incomes of residents of any one community are likely to cluster. This tendency inhibits the provision of services with redistributive objectives which might significantly change the relative inequality of opportunity or well-being. In addition, the report notes that over-dependence on the local property tax has both inefficient and inequitable consequences which can be somewhat alleviated by any kind or measure of property tax relief

Low‐temperature crystallization of La0.15Sr0.775TiO3 using ionic liquids

The n‐type thermoelectric oxide La0.15Sr0.775TiO3 (LST) has been synthesized at 600°C using an ionic liquid method. The method uses the ionic liquid 1‐ethyl 3‐methylimidazolium acetate as the sole complexing agent: the lack of a second, carbon‐rich template decreases the quantity of reduced intermediate phases which form during heating. By suppressing these phases, greatly reduced temperatures can be used to crystallize the perovskite LST phase, on the nanoscale. These nanoparticles have the potential to be used to increase the figure of merit in n‐type thermoelectric oxide devices

Deterministic Conditions for Subspace Identifiability from Incomplete Sampling

Consider a generic $r$-dimensional subspace of $\mathbb{R}^d$, $r<d$, and suppose that we are only given projections of this subspace onto small subsets of the canonical coordinates. The paper establishes necessary and sufficient deterministic conditions on the subsets for subspace identifiability.Comment: To appear in Proc. of IEEE ISIT, 201

Civility and American Democracy: A National Forum

At a time when political discourse seems to be on the path to paralysis, this forum brought together prominent humanities scholars, political thinkers, and journalists to explore the meaning of civility and its role in American democracy. The forum holds the following sessions: Civility in American History; Civility and Morality; Civility and Culture; Civility, Politics, and the Media

Give US Your Poor: A National Public Education Campaign Addressing Homelessness

The objective of this campaign to create awareness that the Government alone cannot solve homelessness. The campaign also creates awareness that corporations need to be involved to help bring to scale solutions as well as promote innovation. The aim of the project is to create an awareness that collaboration between government, non-profits, academia, corporations, faith communities, and individuals is key to solving the issue