1,862 research outputs found
QoE-centric management of advanced multimedia services
Over the last years, multimedia content has become more prominent than ever. Particularly, video streaming is responsible for more than a half of the total global bandwidth consumption on the Internet. As the original Internet was not designed to deliver such real-time, bandwidth-consuming applications, a serious challenge is posed on how to efficiently provide the best service to the users. This requires a shift in the classical approach used to deliver multimedia content, from a pure Quality of Service (QoS) to a full Quality of Experience (QoE) perspective. While QoS parameters are mainly related to low-level network aspects, the QoE reflects how the end-users perceive a particular multimedia service. As the relationship between QoS parameters and QoE is far from linear, a classical QoS-centric delivery is not able to fully optimize the quality as perceived by the users. This paper provides an overview of the main challenges this PhD aims to tackle in the field of end-to-end QoE optimization of video streaming services and, more precisely, of HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) solutions, which are quickly becoming the de facto standard for video delivery over the Internet
Solitonic asymptotics for the Korteweg-de Vries equation in the small dispersion limit
We study the small dispersion limit for the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation
in a critical scaling regime where
approaches the trailing edge of the region where the KdV solution shows
oscillatory behavior. Using the Riemann-Hilbert approach, we obtain an
asymptotic expansion for the KdV solution in a double scaling limit, which
shows that the oscillations degenerate to sharp pulses near the trailing edge.
Locally those pulses resemble soliton solutions of the KdV equation.Comment: 25 pages, 4 figure
PopCORN: Hunting down the differences between binary population synthesis codes
Binary population synthesis (BPS) modelling is a very effective tool to study
the evolution and properties of close binary systems. The uncertainty in the
parameters of the model and their effect on a population can be tested in a
statistical way, which then leads to a deeper understanding of the underlying
physical processes involved. To understand the predictive power of BPS codes,
we study the similarities and differences in the predicted populations of four
different BPS codes for low- and intermediate-mass binaries. We investigate
whether the differences are caused by different assumptions made in the BPS
codes or by numerical effects. To simplify the complex problem of comparing BPS
codes, we equalise the inherent assumptions as much as possible. We find that
the simulated populations are similar between the codes. Regarding the
population of binaries with one WD, there is very good agreement between the
physical characteristics, the evolutionary channels that lead to the birth of
these systems, and their birthrates. Regarding the double WD population, there
is a good agreement on which evolutionary channels exist to create double WDs
and a rough agreement on the characteristics of the double WD population.
Regarding which progenitor systems lead to a single and double WD system and
which systems do not, the four codes agree well. Most importantly, we find that
for these two populations, the differences in the predictions from the four
codes are not due to numerical differences, but because of different inherent
assumptions. We identify critical assumptions for BPS studies that need to be
studied in more detail.Comment: 13 pages, +21 pages appendix, 35 figures, accepted for publishing in
A&A, Minor change to match published version, most important the added link
to the website http://www.astro.ru.nl/~silviato/popcorn for more detailed
figures and informatio
Progenitors of Supernovae Type Ia
Despite the significance of Type Ia supernovae (SNeIa) in many fields in
astrophysics, SNeIa lack a theoretical explanation. The standard scenarios
involve thermonuclear explosions of carbon/oxygen white dwarfs approaching the
Chandrasekhar mass; either by accretion from a companion or by a merger of two
white dwarfs. We investigate the contribution from both channels to the SNIa
rate with the binary population synthesis (BPS) code SeBa in order to constrain
binary processes such as the mass retention efficiency of WD accretion and
common envelope evolution. We determine the theoretical rates and delay time
distribution of SNIa progenitors and in particular study how assumptions affect
the predicted rates.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, appeared in proceedings for "The 18th European
White Dwarf Workshop
The existence of a real pole-free solution of the fourth order analogue of the Painleve I equation
We establish the existence of a real solution y(x,T) with no poles on the
real line of the following fourth order analogue of the Painleve I equation,
x=Ty-({1/6}y^3+{1/24}(y_x^2+2yy_{xx})+{1/240}y_{xxxx}). This proves the
existence part of a conjecture posed by Dubrovin. We obtain our result by
proving the solvability of an associated Riemann-Hilbert problem through the
approach of a vanishing lemma. In addition, by applying the Deift/Zhou
steepest-descent method to this Riemann-Hilbert problem, we obtain the
asymptotics for y(x,T) as x\to\pm\infty.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figure
Asymptotics for a special solution to the second member of the Painleve I hierarchy
We study the asymptotic behavior of a special smooth solution y(x,t) to the
second member of the Painleve I hierarchy. This solution arises in random
matrix theory and in the study of Hamiltonian perturbations of hyperbolic
equations. The asymptotic behavior of y(x,t) if x\to \pm\infty (for fixed t) is
known and relatively simple, but it turns out to be more subtle when x and t
tend to infinity simultaneously. We distinguish a region of algebraic
asymptotic behavior and a region of elliptic asymptotic behavior, and we obtain
rigorous asymptotics in both regions. We also discuss two critical transitional
asymptotic regimes.Comment: 19 page
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