1,966 research outputs found
Measurements design and phenomena discrimination
The construction of measurements suitable for discriminating signal
components produced by phenomena of different types is considered. The required
measurements should be capable of cancelling out those signal components which
are to be ignored when focusing on a phenomenon of interest. Under the
hypothesis that the subspaces hosting the signal components produced by each
phenomenon are complementary, their discrimination is accomplished by
measurements giving rise to the appropriate oblique projector operator. The
subspace onto which the operator should project is selected by nonlinear
techniques in line with adaptive pursuit strategies
How Do Induced Affective States Bias Emotional Contagion to Faces? A Three-Dimensional Model
Affective states can propagate in a group of people and influence their ability to judge others’ affective states. In the present paper, we present a simple mathematical model to describe this process in a three-dimensional affective space. We obtained data from 67 participants randomly assigned to two experimental groups. Participants watched either an upsetting or uplifting video previously calibrated for this goal. Immediately, participants reported their baseline subjective affect in three dimensions: (1) positivity, (2) negativity, and (3) arousal. In a second phase, participants rated the affect they subjectively judged from 10 target angry faces and ten target happy faces in the same three-dimensional scales. These judgments were used as an index of participant’s affective state after observing the faces. Participants’ affective responses were subsequently mapped onto a simple three-dimensional model of emotional contagion, in which the shortest distance between the baseline self-reported affect and the target judgment was calculated. The results display a double dissociation: negatively induced participants show more emotional contagion to angry than happy faces, while positively induced participants show more emotional contagion to happy than angry faces. In sum, emotional contagion exerted by the videos selectively affected judgments of the affective state of others’ faces. We discuss the directionality of emotional contagion to faces, considering whether negative emotions are more easily propagated than positive ones. Additionally, we comment on the lack of significant correlations between our model and standardized tests of empathy and emotional contagion.DFG, 414044773, Open Access Publizieren 2019 - 2020 / Technische Universität Berli
The Eddy Experiment: accurate GNSS-R ocean altimetry from low altitude aircraft
During the Eddy Experiment, two synchronous GPS receivers were flown at 1 km
altitude to collect L1 signals and their reflections from the sea surface for
assessment of altimetric precision and accuracy. Wind speed (U10) was around 10
m/s, and SWH up to 2 m. A geophysical parametric waveform model was used for
retracking and estimation of the lapse between the direct and reflected signals
with a 1-second precision of 3 m. The lapse was used to estimate the SSH along
the track using a differential model. The RMS error of the 20 km averaged
GNSS-R absolute altimetric solution with respect to Jason-1 SSH and a GPS buoy
measurement was of 10 cm, with a 2 cm mean difference. Multipath and retracking
parameter sensitivity due to the low altitude are suspected to have degraded
accuracy. This result provides an important milestone on the road to a GNSS-R
mesoscale altimetry space mission.Comment: All Starlab authors have contributed significantly; the Starlab
Author list has been ordered randoml
Constructive approximations to the q=1/2 maximum entropy distribution from redundant and noisy data
An approach adopted to consider the problem of constructing the q=1/2 maximum entropy distribution from redundant and noisy data was discussed. The advantage of this generalized approach, when dealing with very noisy data was illustrated by a numerical simulation. A strategy was proposed that evolved through different steps such as independent constraints were first preselected by recourse to a data independent technique. A backward approach was also proposed for reducing the parameters of such distributions. It was found that the sub-optimal strategies could be utilized in a broad range of situations
Evaluation of the Most Significant Factors Influencing the Production Rates of Highway Construction Activities
The utilization of realistic production rates is key for the accurate estimation of the contract time in highway projects. Several factors have an impact on production rates and change the total duration of construction projects. To organize and complete projects in a timely, quality and financially responsible manner, projects need to be scheduled carefully. Schedulers and planners of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) have been noticing that the estimated timelines are far from the reality and want to investigate if external factors can be the cause of this discrepancy. Some of the factors considered in this study are the systems used to schedule highway projects, weather conditions, temperature, location and shifts. This paper aims to investigate how these factors affect projects’ schedules in order to help schedulers create more realistic timelines. Past highway projects developed in Texas, were used to extract the information valuable to perform statistical analysis and determine if these factors have a significant effect on the productivity rates of construction activities
On the truncation of the harmonic oscillator wavepacket
We present an interesting result regarding the implication of truncating the
wavepacket of the harmonic oscillator. We show that disregarding the
non-significant tails of a function which is the superposition of
eigenfunctions of the harmonic oscillator has a remarkable consequence: namely,
there exist infinitely many different superpositions giving rise to the same
function on the interval. Uniqueness, in the case of a wavepacket, is restored
by a postulate of quantum mechanics
Ocean salinity observations with SMOS mission
The purpose of this paper is to present the capabilities of SMOS (Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity mission) for the global mapping of ocean salinity from space. SMOS has been selected by the European Space Agency as the second Earth Explorer Opportunity with a launch date in June 2005. The sensor embarked on SMOS is MIRAS, a Microwave Imaging Radiometer with Aperture Synthesis. MIRAS works at L-band, in the two-polarisations, and has full polarimetric capability. The measurement of sea surface salinity (SSS) is one of the challenges of SMOS. This paper presents first the scientific requirements for a number of oceanographic applications. The scientific requirements are then translated into instrument accuracy, sensitivity, stability and spatial resolution. Major sources of error in the retrieval of ocean salinity will be addressed through an experimental campaign which is described.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
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