3,400 research outputs found
Generic typology for irrigation systems operation
Irrigation management / Irrigation systems / Water use efficiency / Canals / Operations / Typology / Water delivery / Water distribution / Water conveyance / Water storage / Irrigation effects / Environmental effects / Gravity flow / Hydraulics / Constraints / Water supply / Networks / Case studies / Sri Lanka
Quantitative Games under Failures
We study a generalisation of sabotage games, a model of dynamic network games
introduced by van Benthem. The original definition of the game is inherently
finite and therefore does not allow one to model infinite processes. We propose
an extension of the sabotage games in which the first player (Runner) traverses
an arena with dynamic weights determined by the second player (Saboteur). In
our model of quantitative sabotage games, Saboteur is now given a budget that
he can distribute amongst the edges of the graph, whilst Runner attempts to
minimise the quantity of budget witnessed while completing his task. We show
that, on the one hand, for most of the classical cost functions considered in
the literature, the problem of determining if Runner has a strategy to ensure a
cost below some threshold is EXPTIME-complete. On the other hand, if the budget
of Saboteur is fixed a priori, then the problem is in PTIME for most cost
functions. Finally, we show that restricting the dynamics of the game also
leads to better complexity
An informational approach to the global optimization of expensive-to-evaluate functions
In many global optimization problems motivated by engineering applications,
the number of function evaluations is severely limited by time or cost. To
ensure that each evaluation contributes to the localization of good candidates
for the role of global minimizer, a sequential choice of evaluation points is
usually carried out. In particular, when Kriging is used to interpolate past
evaluations, the uncertainty associated with the lack of information on the
function can be expressed and used to compute a number of criteria accounting
for the interest of an additional evaluation at any given point. This paper
introduces minimizer entropy as a new Kriging-based criterion for the
sequential choice of points at which the function should be evaluated. Based on
\emph{stepwise uncertainty reduction}, it accounts for the informational gain
on the minimizer expected from a new evaluation. The criterion is approximated
using conditional simulations of the Gaussian process model behind Kriging, and
then inserted into an algorithm similar in spirit to the \emph{Efficient Global
Optimization} (EGO) algorithm. An empirical comparison is carried out between
our criterion and \emph{expected improvement}, one of the reference criteria in
the literature. Experimental results indicate major evaluation savings over
EGO. Finally, the method, which we call IAGO (for Informational Approach to
Global Optimization) is extended to robust optimization problems, where both
the factors to be tuned and the function evaluations are corrupted by noise.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Journal of Global Optimization (This
is the revised version, with additional details on computational problems,
and some grammatical changes
Magnitude bias of microlensed sources towards the Large Magellanic Cloud
There are lines of evidence suggesting that some of the observed microlensing
events in the direction of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are caused by
ordinary star lenses as opposed to dark Machos in the Galactic halo. Efficient
lensing by ordinary stars generally requires the presence of one or more
additional concentrations of stars along the line of sight to the LMC disk. If
such a population behind the LMC disk exists, then the source stars (for
lensing by LMC disk objects) will be drawn preferentially from the background
population and will show systematic differences from LMC field stars. One such
difference is that the (lensed) source stars will be farther away than the
average LMC field stars, and this should be reflected in their apparent
baseline magnitudes. We focus on red clump stars: these should appear in the
color-magnitude diagram at a few tenths of a magnitude fainter than the field
red clump. Suggestively, one of the two near-clump confirmed events,
MACHO-LMC-1, is a few tenths of magnitude fainter than the clump.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letters. Shortened to match the accepted version, 8
pages plus 1 ps figur
Not enough stellar mass Machos in the Galactic halo
We present an update of results from the search for microlensing towards the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) by EROS (Experience de Recherche d'Objets
Sombres). We have now monitored 25 million stars over three years. Because of
the small number of observed microlensing candidates (four), our results are
best presented as upper limits on the amount of dark compact objects in the
halo of our Galaxy. We discuss critically the candidates and the possible
location of the lenses, halo or LMC . We compare our results to those of the
MACHO group. Finally, we combine these new results with those from our search
towards the Small Magellanic Cloud as well as earlier ones from the EROS1 phase
of our survey. The combined data is sensitive to compact objects in the broad
mass range solar masses. The derived upper limit on the
abundance of stellar mass MACHOs rules out such objects as the dominant
component of the Galactic halo if their mass is smaller than 2 solar masses.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, presented at the XIX International Conference on
Neutrino Physics and Astrophysics, Sudbury, Canada, June 200
A New Channel for the Detection of Planetary Systems Through Microlensing: II. Repeating Events
In the companion paper we began the task of systematically studying the
detection of planets in wide orbits () via microlensing surveys.
In this paper we continue, focusing on repeating events. We find that, if all
planetary systems are similar to our own Solar System, reasonable extensions of
the present observing strategies would allow us to detect 3-6 repeating events
per year along the direction to the Bulge. Indeed, if planetary systems with
multiple planets are common, then future monitoring programs which lead to the
discovery of thousands of stellar-lens events will likely discover events in
which several different planets within a single system serve as lenses, with
light curves exhibiting multiple repetitions. In this paper we discuss
observing strategies to maximize the discovery of all wide-orbit planet-lens
events. We also compare the likely detection rates of planets in wide orbits to
those of planets located in the zone for resonant lensing. We find that,
depending on the values of the planet masses and stellar radii of the lensed
sources (which determine whether or not finite source size is important), and
also on the sensitivity of the photometry used by observers, the detection of
planets in wide orbits may be the primary route to the discovery of planets via
microlensing. We also discuss how the combination of resonant and wide-orbit
events can help us to learn about the distribution of planetary system
properties (S 6.1). In addition, by determining the fraction of short-duration
events due to planets, we indirectly derive information about the fraction of
all short-duration events that may be due to low-mass MACHOs (S 6.2).Comment: 51 pages, 7 figures. To be published in the Astrophysical Journal, 20
February 1999. This completes the introduction to the discovery of planets in
wide orbits begun in astro-ph/9808075, also to appear in ApJ on 20 February
199
Is spinal tuberculosis contagious?
SummaryWhile pulmonary Mycobacterium tuberculosis infections are recognized for their public health implications, less is known about the infectiousness of extrapulmonary tuberculosis, specifically, spinal tuberculosis or Pott's disease. We present a case of spinal tuberculosis with concomitant active pulmonary tuberculosis in the absence of chest radiographic abnormalities or symptoms, and review the literature regarding infectiousness of concomitant spinal and pulmonary tuberculosis
Pathogenesis-related proteins in grapevines induced by salicylic acid and Botrytis cinerea
The grapevine pathogenesis-related proteins (PRs) were studied in order to determine the spatial localization and the temporal production of these inducible proteins. We used leaves of plants obtained from woody cuttings grown in greenhouse. Elicitations were done either with salicylic acid or with strains of Botrytis cinerea. Several PRs extractable at pH 2.8 were found to accumulate in grapevine leaves after salicylic acid treatment or Botrytis infection (SDS-PAGE, coomassie blue). Elicitation with salicylic acid has induced one new protein at about 32 kDa. Botrytis infection has resulted in the accumulation of four major acid-soluble proteins with apparent molecular weights of 27, 32, 34 and 38 kDa. Immunodetections using antisera raised against the tobacco PR-2 family have shown several bands, particularly two bands at 34 and 36 kDa revealed by the anti-2a and present both with salicylic acid and Botrytis
Cartan subalgebras in C*-algebras of Hausdorff etale groupoids
The reduced -algebra of the interior of the isotropy in any Hausdorff
\'etale groupoid embeds as a -subalgebra of the reduced
-algebra of . We prove that the set of pure states of with unique
extension is dense, and deduce that any representation of the reduced
-algebra of that is injective on is faithful. We prove that there
is a conditional expectation from the reduced -algebra of onto if
and only if the interior of the isotropy in is closed. Using this, we prove
that when the interior of the isotropy is abelian and closed, is a Cartan
subalgebra. We prove that for a large class of groupoids with abelian
isotropy---including all Deaconu--Renault groupoids associated to discrete
abelian groups--- is a maximal abelian subalgebra. In the specific case of
-graph groupoids, we deduce that is always maximal abelian, but show by
example that it is not always Cartan.Comment: 14 pages. v2: Theorem 3.1 in v1 incorrect (thanks to A. Kumjain for
pointing out the error); v2 shows there is a conditional expectation onto
iff the interior of the isotropy is closed. v3: Material (including some
theorem statements) rearranged and shortened. Lemma~3.5 of v2 removed. This
version published in Integral Equations and Operator Theor
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