753 research outputs found
Semiclassical transport in nearly symmetric quantum dots. I. Symmetry breaking in the dot
We apply the semiclassical theory of transport to quantum dots with exact and approximate spatial symmetries; left-right mirror symmetry, up-down mirror symmetry, inversion symmetry, or fourfold symmetry. In this work—the first of a pair of articles—we consider (a) perfectly symmetric dots and (b) nearly symmetric dots in which the symmetry is broken by the dot's internal dynamics. The second article addresses symmetry-breaking by displacement of the leads. Using semiclassics, we identify the origin of the symmetry-induced interference effects that contribute to weak localization corrections and universal conductance fluctuations. For perfect spatial symmetry, we recover results previously found using the random-matrix theory conjecture. We then go on to show how the results are affected by asymmetries in the dot, magnetic fields, and decoherence. In particular, the symmetry-asymmetry crossover is found to be described by a universal dependence on an asymmetry parameter gamma_asym. However, the form of this parameter is very different depending on how the dot is deformed away from spatial symmetry. Symmetry-induced interference effects are completely destroyed when the dot's boundary is globally deformed by less than an electron wavelength. In contrast, these effects are only reduced by a finite amount when a part of the dot's boundary smaller than a lead-width is deformed an arbitrarily large distance
A Flexible Network Approach to Privacy of Blockchain Transactions
For preserving privacy, blockchains can be equipped with dedicated mechanisms
to anonymize participants. However, these mechanism often take only the
abstraction layer of blockchains into account whereas observations of the
underlying network traffic can reveal the originator of a transaction request.
Previous solutions either provide topological privacy that can be broken by
attackers controlling a large number of nodes, or offer strong and
cryptographic privacy but are inefficient up to practical unusability. Further,
there is no flexible way to trade privacy against efficiency to adjust to
practical needs. We propose a novel approach that combines existing mechanisms
to have quantifiable and adjustable cryptographic privacy which is further
improved by augmented statistical measures that prevent frequent attacks with
lower resources. This approach achieves flexibility for privacy and efficency
requirements of different blockchain use cases.Comment: 6 pages, 2018 IEEE 38th International Conference on Distributed
Computing Systems (ICDCS
Towards an Economic Analysis of Routing in Payment Channel Networks
Payment channel networks are supposed to overcome technical scalability
limitations of blockchain infrastructure by employing a special overlay network
with fast payment confirmation and only sporadic settlement of netted
transactions on the blockchain. However, they introduce economic routing
constraints that limit decentralized scalability and are currently not well
understood. In this paper, we model the economic incentives for participants in
payment channel networks. We provide the first formal model of payment channel
economics and analyze how the cheapest path can be found. Additionally, our
simulation assesses the long-term evolution of a payment channel network. We
find that even for small routing fees, sometimes it is cheaper to settle the
transaction directly on the blockchain.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, SERIAL '17 Worksho
Semiclassical transport in nearly symmetric quantum dots II: symmetry-breaking due to asymmetric leads
In this work - the second of a pair of articles - we consider transport
through spatially symmetric quantum dots with leads whose widths or positions
do not obey the spatial symmetry. We use the semiclassical theory of transport
to find the symmetry-induced contributions to weak localization corrections and
universal conductance fluctuations for dots with left-right, up-down, inversion
and four-fold symmetries. We show that all these contributions are suppressed
by asymmetric leads, however they remain finite whenever leads intersect with
their images under the symmetry operation. For an up-down symmetric dot, this
means that the contributions can be finite even if one of the leads is
completely asymmetric. We find that the suppression of the contributions to
universal conductance fluctuations is the square of the suppression of
contributions to weak localization. Finally, we develop a random-matrix theory
model which enables us to numerically confirm these results.Comment: (18pages - 9figures) This is the second of a pair of articles (v3
typos corrected - including in equations
BIAS: Transparent reporting of biomedical image analysis challenges
The number of biomedical image analysis challenges organized per year is steadily increasing. These international competitions have the purpose of benchmarking algorithms on common data sets, typically to identify the best method for a given problem. Recent research, however, revealed that common practice related to challenge reporting does not allow for adequate interpretation and reproducibility of results. To address the discrepancy between the impact of challenges and the quality (control), the Biomedical Image Analysis ChallengeS (BIAS) initiative developed a set of recommendations for the reporting of challenges. The BIAS statement aims to improve the transparency of the reporting of a biomedical image analysis challenge regardless of field of application, image modality or task category assessed. This article describes how the BIAS statement was developed and presents a checklist which authors of biomedical image analysis challenges are encouraged to include in their submission when giving a paper on a challenge into review. The purpose of the checklist is to standardize and facilitate the review process and raise interpretability and reproducibility of challenge results by making relevant information explicit
Deep structure of the Ionian Sea and Sicily Dionysus - Cruise No. M111, October 10 - November 1, 2014, Catania (Italy) – Catania (Italy)
Summary
The origin of the Ionian Sea lithosphere and the deep structure of its margins remain a little
investigated part of the Mediterranean Sea. To shed light on the plate tectonic setting in this
central part of southern Europe, R/V METEOR cruise M111 set out to acquire deep penetrating
seismic data in the Ionian Sea. M111 formed the core of an amphibious investigation covering
the Ionian Sea and island of Sicily. A total of 153 OBS/OBH deployments using French and
German instruments were successfully carried out, in addition to 12 land stations installed on
Sicily, which recorded the offshore air gun shots.
The aim of this onshore-offshore study is to quantify the deep geometry and architecture of the
Calabria subduction zone and Ionian Sea lithosphere and to shed light on the nature of the Ionian
Sea crust (oceanic crust vs. thinned continental crust). Investigating the structure of the Ionian
crust and lithospheric mantle will contribute to unravel the unknown ocean-continent transition
and Tethys margin. Analyzing the tectonic activity and active deformation zones is essential for
understanding the subduction processes that underlie the neotectonics of the Calabrian
subduction zone and earthquake hazard of the Calabria/Sicily region, especially in the vicinity of
local decoupling zones
Explanation as a Social Practice: Toward a Conceptual Framework for the Social Design of AI Systems
none20siThe recent surge of interest in explainability in artificial intelligence (XAI) is propelled by not only technological advancements in machine learning, but also by regulatory initiatives to foster transparency in algorithmic decision making. In this article, we revise the current concept of explainability and identify three limitations: passive explainee, narrow view on the social process, and undifferentiated assessment of understanding. In order to overcome these limitations, we present explanation as a social practice in which explainer and explainee co-construct understanding on the microlevel. We view the co-construction on a microlevel as embedded into a macrolevel, yielding expectations concerning, e.g., social roles or partner models: Typically, the role of the explainer is to provide an explanation and to adapt it to the current level of understanding of the explainee; the explainee, in turn, is expected to provide cues that guide the explainer. Building on explanations being a social practice, we present a conceptual framework that aims to guide future research in XAI. The framework relies on the key concepts of monitoring and scaffolding to capture the development of interaction. We relate our conceptual framework and our new perspective on explaining to transparency and autonomy as objectives considered for XAInoneKatharina J. Rohlfing; Philipp Cimiano; Ingrid Scharlau; Tobias Matzner; Heike M. Buhl;
Hendrik Buschmeier; Elena Esposito; Angela Grimminger; Barbara Hammer; Reinhold Häb-Umbach; Ilona Horwath; Eyke Hüllermeier; Friederike Kern; Stefan Kopp; Kirsten Thommes; Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo; Carsten Schulte; Henning Wachsmuth; Petra Wagner; Britta WredeKatharina J. Rohlfing; Philipp Cimiano; Ingrid Scharlau; Tobias Matzner; Heike M. Buhl;
Hendrik Buschmeier; Elena Esposito; Angela Grimminger; Barbara Hammer; Reinhold Häb-Umbach; Ilona Horwath; Eyke Hüllermeier; Friederike Kern; Stefan Kopp; Kirsten Thommes; Axel-Cyrille Ngonga Ngomo; Carsten Schulte; Henning Wachsmuth; Petra Wagner; Britta Wred
JWST Near-Infrared Detector Degradation: Finding the Problem, Fixing the Problem, and Moving Forward
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. JWST will be an infrared optimized telescope, with an approximately 6.5 m diameter primary mirror, that is located at the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point. Three of JWST's four science instruments use Teledyne HgCdTe HAWAII-2RG (H2RG) near infrared detector arrays. During 2010, the JWST Project noticed that a few of its 5 micron cutoff H2RG detectors were degrading during room temperature storage, and NASA chartered a "Detector Degradation Failure Review Board" (DD-FRB) to investigate. The DD-FRB determined that the root cause was a design flaw that allowed indium to interdiffuse with the gold contacts and migrate into the HgCdTe detector layer. Fortunately, Teledyne already had an improved design that eliminated this degradation mechanism. During early 2012, the improved H2RG design was qualified for flight and JWST began making additional H2RGs. In this article we present the two public DD-FRB "Executiye Summaries" that: (1) determined the root cause of the detector degradation and (2) defined tests to determine whether the existing detectors are qualified for flight. We supplement these with a brief introduction to H2RG detector arrays, and a discussion of how the JWST Project is using cryogenic storage to retard the degradation rate of the existing flight spare H2RGs
Light Sterile Neutrinos: A White Paper
This white paper addresses the hypothesis of light sterile neutrinos based on
recent anomalies observed in neutrino experiments and the latest astrophysical
data
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