POSE: Pseudo Object Space Error for Initialization-Free Bundle Adjustment

Bundle adjustment is a nonlinear refinement method for camera poses and 3D structure requiring sufficiently good initialization. In recent years, it was experimentally observed that useful minima can be reached even from arbitrary initialization for affine bundle adjustment problems (and fixed-rank matrix factorization instances in general). The key success factor lies in the use of the variable projection (VarPro) method, which is known to have a wide basin of convergence for such problems. In this paper, we propose the Pseudo Object Space Error (pOSE), which is an objective with cameras represented as a hybrid between the affine and projective models. This formulation allows us to obtain 3D reconstructions that are close to the true projective reconstructions while retaining a bilinear problem structure suitable for the VarPro method. Experimental results show that using pOSE has a high success rate to yield faithful 3D reconstructions from random initializations, taking one step towards initialization-free structure from motion

Correlated Electronic Structures and the Phase Diagram of Hydrocarbon-based Superconductors

We have investigated correlated electronic structures and the phase diagram of electron-doped hydrocarbon molecular solids, based on the dynamical mean-field theory. We have found that the ground state of hydrocarbon-based superconductors such as electron-doped picene and coronene is a multi-band Fermi liquid, while that of non-superconducting electron-doped pentacene is a single-band Fermi liquid in the proximity of the metal-insulator transition. The size of the molecular orbital energy level splitting plays a key role in producing the superconductivity of electron-doped hydrocarbon solids. The multi-band nature of hydrocarbon solids would boost the superconductivity through the enhanced density of states at the Fermi level.X11910sciescopu

Observation of a kink during the formation of the Kondo resonance band in a heavy-fermion system

We have shown that the kink behavior in the spectral function of a heavy fermion can appear during the formation of the Kondo resonance (KR) band and the hybridization gap. We have investigated the heavy fermion compound CeCoGe2, using a combined approach of the density functional theory and the dynamical mean field theory. Low temperature T spectral functions show dispersive KR states, similarly to the recent experimental observation. During the evolution from the non-f conduction band state at high T to the dispersive KR band state at low T, which have topologically different band shapes, we have found the existence of kinks in the non-f spectral function near the Fermi level E-F. The observation of kink is clearly in correspondence with the multiple temperature scales of the formation of the KR band.X1186sciescopu

fMRI Evidence for Default Mode Network Deactivation Associated with Rapid Eye Movements in Sleep

System-specific brain responses—time-locked to rapid eye movements (REMs) in sleep—are characteristically widespread, with robust and clear activation in the primary visual cortex and other structures involved in multisensory integration. This pattern suggests that REMs underwrite hierarchical processing of visual information in a time-locked manner, where REMs index the generation and scanning of virtual-world models, through multisensory integration in dreaming—as in awake states. Default mode network (DMN) activity increases during rest and reduces during various tasks including visual perception. The implicit anticorrelation between the DMN and task-positive network (TPN)—that persists in REM sleep—prompted us to focus on DMN responses to temporally-precise REM events. We timed REMs during sleep from the video recordings and quantified the neural correlates of REMs—using functional MRI (fMRI)—in 24 independent studies of 11 healthy participants. A reanalysis of these data revealed that the cortical areas exempt from widespread REM-locked brain activation were restricted to the DMN. Furthermore, our analysis revealed a modest temporally-precise REM-locked decrease—phasic deactivation—in key DMN nodes, in a subset of independent studies. These results are consistent with hierarchical predictive coding; namely, permissive deactivation of DMN at the top of the hierarchy (leading to the widespread cortical activation at lower levels; especially the primary visual cortex). Additional findings indicate REM-locked cerebral vasodilation and suggest putative mechanisms for dream forgetting

Projective Bundle Adjustment from Arbitrary Initialization Using the Variable Projection Method

Bundle adjustment is used in structure-from-motion pipelines as final refinement stage requiring a sufficiently good initialization to reach a useful local mininum. Starting from an arbitrary initialization almost always gets trapped in a poor minimum. In this work we aim to obtain an initialization-free approach which returns global minima from a large proportion of purely random starting points. Our key inspiration lies in the success of the Variable Projection (VarPro) method for affine factorization problems, which have close to 100% chance of reaching a global minimum from random initialization. We find empirically that this desirable behaviour does not directly carry over to the projective case, and we consequently design and evaluate strategies to overcome this limitation. Also, by unifying the affine and the projective camera settings, we obtain numerically better conditioned reformulations of original bundle adjustment algorithms

An intent-based network virtualization platform for SDN

© 2016 IFIP. Currently, the Software Defined Networking (SDN) paradigm has attracted significant interests from industry and academia as a future network architecture. SDN brings many benefits to network operations and management including programmability, agility, elasticity, and flexibility. With SDN and OpenFlow, one of the promising SDN protocols, software defined Network Virtualization (NV) techniques can be designed and implemented via flow table segmentation to provision independent virtual networks (VNs). In this paper, we propose an intent based virtual network management platform based on software defined NV. The objective of the proposed NV platform is to automate the management and configuration of virtual networks based on high level tenant requirement specifications, called intents. The design and implementation of the platform is based on ONOS, an open-source SDN controller, and OpenVirteX, a network hypervisor. The platform is designed to provide multiple VNs over the same physical infrastructure to multiple tenants

Structure and dielectric properties of cubic Bi<inf>2</inf>(Zn <inf>1/3</inf>Ta<inf>2/3</inf>)<inf>2</inf> O<inf>7</inf> thin films

Pyrochlore Bi2(Zn1/3Ta2/3)2 O7 (BZT) films were prepared by pulsed laser deposition on Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si substrates. In contrast to bulk monoclinic BZT ceramics, the BZT films have a cubic structure mediated by an interfacial layer. The dielectric properties of the cubic BZT films [ε∼177, temperature coefficient of capacitance (TCC) ∼-170 ppm/°C] are much different from those of monoclinic BZT ceramics (ε∼61, TCC ∼+60 ppm/°C). Increasing the thickness of the BZT films returns the crystal structure to the monoclinic phase, which allows the dielectric properties of the BZT films to be tuned without changing their chemical composition. © 2009 American Institute of Physics

Secrets of matrix factorization: Approximations, numerics, manifold optimization and random restarts

Matrix factorization (or low-rank matrix completion) with missing data is a key computation in many computer vision and machine learning tasks, and is also related to a broader class of nonlinear optimization problems such as bundle adjustment. The problem has received much attention recently, with renewed interest in variable-projection approaches, yielding dramatic improvements in reliability and speed. However, on a wide class of problems, no one approach dominates, and because the various approaches have been derived in a multitude of different ways, it has been difficult to unify them. This paper provides a uni- fied derivation of a number of recent approaches, so that similarities and differences are easily observed. We also present a simple meta-algorithm which wraps any existing algorithm, yielding 100% success rate on many standard datasets. Given 100% success, the focus of evaluation must turn to speed, as 100% success is trivially achieved if we do not care about speed. Again our unification allows a number of generic improvements applicable to all members of the family to be isolated, yielding a unified algorithm that outperforms our re-implementation of existing algorithms, which in some cases already outperform the original authors’ publicly available codes.Microsoft, Toshiba Research Europ

KACC: An identification and characterization for microbial resources in Korea

Korean Agricultural Culture Collection (KACC) is an authorized organizer and the official depository for microbial resources in Korea. The KACC has developed a web-based database system to provide integrated information about microbial resources. It includes not only simple text information onindividual microbe but also morphological images and DNA sequence data for the strain. The KACC now provides the characterization information which maintains 7,433 cultures of microorganisms including 2,687 strains of bacteria, 3535 fungi, 476 actinomycetes, 64 yeasts, and 671 others (mushrooms, gene clones, etc)

Quantitative analysis on electric dipole energy in Rashba band splitting

We report on quantitative comparison between the electric dipole energy and the Rashba band splitting in model systems of Bi and Sb triangular monolayers under a perpendicular electric field. We used both first-principles and tight binding calculations on p-orbitals with spin-orbit coupling. First-principles calculation shows Rashba band splitting in both systems. It also shows asymmetric charge distributions in the Rashba split bands which are induced by the orbital angular momentum. We calculated the electric dipole energies from coupling of the asymmetric charge distribution and external electric field, and compared it to the Rashba splitting. Remarkably, the total split energy is found to come mostly from the difference in the electric dipole energy for both Bi and Sb systems. A perturbative approach for long wave length limit starting from tight binding calculation also supports that the Rashba band splitting originates mostly from the electric dipole energy difference in the strong atomic spin-orbit coupling regime.1131Ysciescopu