Quantum Data Hiding

We expand on our work on Quantum Data Hiding -- hiding classical data among parties who are restricted to performing only local quantum operations and classical communication (LOCC). We review our scheme that hides one bit between two parties using Bell states, and we derive upper and lower bounds on the secrecy of the hiding scheme. We provide an explicit bound showing that multiple bits can be hidden bitwise with our scheme. We give a preparation of the hiding states as an efficient quantum computation that uses at most one ebit of entanglement. A candidate data hiding scheme that does not use entanglement is presented. We show how our scheme for quantum data hiding can be used in a conditionally secure quantum bit commitment scheme.Comment: 19 pages, IEEE style, 8 figures, submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

Evaluating probability forecasts

Probability forecasts of events are routinely used in climate predictions, in forecasting default probabilities on bank loans or in estimating the probability of a patient's positive response to treatment. Scoring rules have long been used to assess the efficacy of the forecast probabilities after observing the occurrence, or nonoccurrence, of the predicted events. We develop herein a statistical theory for scoring rules and propose an alternative approach to the evaluation of probability forecasts. This approach uses loss functions relating the predicted to the actual probabilities of the events and applies martingale theory to exploit the temporal structure between the forecast and the subsequent occurrence or nonoccurrence of the event.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/11-AOS902 the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT POLLEN HARVESTING TIMES ON QUANTITY, VIABILITY AND IN VITRO GERMINABILITY OF Ixora coccinea ‘Dwarf Red Coccinea’ POLLEN

Knowledge about pollen of Ixora coccinea, cv. ‘Dwarf Red Coccinea’ to be collected for basic investigations or plant breeding purposes is limited. Under a light microscope, I. coccinea, cv. ‘Dwarf Red Coccinea’ pollen was generally prolate in shape which was different from that of  I. congesta and I. arborea. In addition, the quantity, viability and germinability of pollen collected at different times from 8 am to 4 pm in a summer day from the flowers of I. coccinea, cv. ‘Dwarf Red Coccinea’ were investigated. Pollen quantity was determined using a haemacytometer while the viable and germinable pollen was examined after staining with 1% acetocarmine and germinating on a modified agar-gelled germination medium, respectively. The I. coccinea, cv. ‘Dwarf Red Coccinea’ pollen collected at 10 am exhibited the highest pollen density and germination percentage of 53.3×104 pollen/ml and 72.05%, respectively. When these pollen were germinated on the artificial medium supplemented with various sucrose concentrations, the highest in vitro ‘Dwarf Red Coccinea’ pollen germinability was found on a medium containing 10% sucrose. It was concluded that the best time to collect I. coccinea, cv. ‘Dwarf Red Coccinea’ pollen was at 10 am. Further studies would be worthwhile to investigate more closely the effect of changes in the environmental factors (for example, ambient temperature and humidity) even within the same day on harvestable pollen quantity and quality as well as pistil phenology to develop a more complete breeding strategy for Ixora

Stick-Man Logic

Using the minimalist aesthetic of pictograms, I constructed a series of silhouettes to represent some of the issues an everyday American may come across. The idea behind each silhouette was initially documented in a scrapbook. Eventually these images were transformed into vector images in Adobe Illustrator and then cut out of sheets of masonite into physical beings. These “stick men” were then sanded down and painted in a variety of colors in order to emphasize the significance behind each one. The outcome of the project was a population of “stick-men” that could stand on their own or together as a crowd of beings. Each silhouette is meant to have a different meaning but was left open-ended in order for the viewer to form their own opinion on the subjects approached in each piece

Smart enterprise for pulp & paper mills: Data processing and reconciliation

An ad-hoc data reconciliation procedure developed for the recausticizing section of a new pulp and paper industry is presented in this work. A comprehensive model was formulated to take into account different unit operation modes. It was also extended to incorporate specific knowledge of some pieces of equipment to increase redundancy, and consequently enhance estimate precision and gross error detectability. © 2002 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.Fil: Sanchez, Mabel Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; ArgentinaFil: Leung David. Visy Pulp And Paper Pty Ltd; AustraliaFil: Konecsny Helmut. Visy Pulp And Paper Pty Ltd; AustraliaFil: Bigaran Carlo. Visy Pulp And Paper Pty Ltd; AustraliaFil: Romagnoli José. University Of Sydney; Australi

Toward a semi-self-paced EEG brain computer interface: decoding initiation state from non-initiation state in dedicated time slots.

Brain computer interfaces (BCIs) offer a broad class of neurologically impaired individuals an alternative means to interact with the environment. Many BCIs are "synchronous" systems, in which the system sets the timing of the interaction and tries to infer what control command the subject is issuing at each prompting. In contrast, in "asynchronous" BCIs subjects pace the interaction and the system must determine when the subject's control command occurs. In this paper we propose a new idea for BCI which draws upon the strengths of both approaches. The subjects are externally paced and the BCI is able to determine when control commands are issued by decoding the subject's intention for initiating control in dedicated time slots. A single task with randomly interleaved trials was designed to test whether it can be used as stimulus for inducing initiation and non-initiation states when the sensory and motor requirements for the two types of trials are very nearly identical. Further, the essential problem on the discrimination between initiation state and non-initiation state was studied. We tested the ability of EEG spectral power to distinguish between these two states. Among the four standard EEG frequency bands, beta band power recorded over parietal-occipital cortices provided the best performance, achieving an average accuracy of 86% for the correct classification of initiation and non-initiation states. Moreover, delta band power recorded over parietal and motor areas yielded a good performance and thus could also be used as an alternative feature to discriminate these two mental states. The results demonstrate the viability of our proposed idea for a BCI design based on conventional EEG features. Our proposal offers the potential to mitigate the signal detection challenges of fully asynchronous BCIs, while providing greater flexibility to the subject than traditional synchronous BCIs

Authenticating Turkey Red Textiles through Material Investigations by FTIR and UHPLC

Nineteenth-century Turkey red, a cotton textile dyed by a peculiar and unique process, is found in many collections around the world. It was known for its bright colour and remarkable fastness to light exposure and washing. Light fading is a significant concern in the display of historical textiles, and understanding more about the properties of these objects may increase the accessibility of collections. This research explored the identification of historical Turkey red through non-invasive Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to detect the presence of oil – a necessary step in the process – on the fibres. Around 1869, Turkey red dyers began to transition from using madder and garancine to synthetic alizarin, which was investigated through ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC). The chemical profiles of 19th-century samples and references of known dye source were used to predict whether Turkey red of unknown date was dyed with natural or synthetic dye