Normal approximation for functions of hidden Markov models

E-print/Working paper (2020)

Un nouveau type, insolite, de refus de sanction : l’inaction du roi Baudouin en 1990 et du grand-duc Henri en 2008

in Semper perseverans. Liber Amicorum André Alen (2020)

A boundary-enhanced supervoxel method for extraction of road edges in MLS point clouds

in A boundary-enhanced supervoxel method for extraction of road edges in MLS point clouds (2020)

Road extraction plays a significant role in production of high definition maps (HD maps). This paper presents a novel boundary-enhanced supervoxel segmentation method for extracting road edge contours ... [more ▼]

Road extraction plays a significant role in production of high definition maps (HD maps). This paper presents a novel boundary-enhanced supervoxel segmentation method for extracting road edge contours from MLS point clouds. The proposed method first leverages normal feature judgment to obtain 3D point clouds global geometric information, then clusters points according to an existing method with global geometric information to enhance the boundaries. Finally, it utilizes the neighbor spatial distance metric to extract the contours and drop out existing outliers. The proposed method is tested on two datasets acquired by a RIEGL VMX-450 MLS system that contain the major point cloud scenes with different types of road boundaries. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method provides a promising solution for extracting contours efficiently and completely. Results show that the precision values are 1.5 times higher and approximately equal than the other two existing methods when the recall value is 0 for both tested two road datasets. [less ▲]

Changes in neighborhood-level socioeconomic disadvantage and older Americans’ cognitive functioning

in Innovation in Aging (2020), 4(S1), 483

CPSDebug: a tool for explanation of failures in cyber-physical systems

in CPSDebug: a tool for explanation of failures in cyber-physical systems (2020)

Debugging Cyber-Physical System models is often challenging, as it requires identifying a potentially long, complex and heterogenous combination of events that resulted in a violation of the expected ... [more ▼]

Debugging Cyber-Physical System models is often challenging, as it requires identifying a potentially long, complex and heterogenous combination of events that resulted in a violation of the expected behavior of the system. In this paper we present CPSDebug, a tool for supporting designers in the debugging of failures in MAT- LAB Simulink/Stateflow models. CPSDebug implements a gray-box approach that combines testing, specification mining, and failure analysis to identify the causes of failures and explain their propagation in time and space. The evaluation of the tool, based on multiple usage scenarios and faults and direct feedback from engineers, shows that CPSDebug can effectively aid engineers during debugging tasks. [less ▲]

QUELQUES REFLEXIONS SUR LE RETOUR DU PRINCIPE DE PRIMAUTE : A PROPOS DES ARRETS POPLAWSKI (C-573/17) ET A.K. (C-585/18, C-624/18 ET C-625/18)

in in J-C. Barbato, S. Barbou des Places, M. Dubuy, A. Moine (dir), Transformations et résilience de l'Etat, Mélanges en l'honneur de Jean-Denis Mouton (2020)

Number Theory for Cryptography (Lecture Notes)

Learning material (2020)

In these lectures (8 hours taught in November 2020), we mention some topics from (algebraic) number theory as well as some related concepts from (algebraic) geometry that can be useful in cryptography. We ... [more ▼]

In these lectures (8 hours taught in November 2020), we mention some topics from (algebraic) number theory as well as some related concepts from (algebraic) geometry that can be useful in cryptography. We cannot go deeply into any of the topics and most results will be presented without any proofs. One of the things that one encounters are `ideal lattices'. In the examples I saw, this was nothing but (an ideal in) an order in a number field, which is one of the concepts that we present here in its mathematical context (i.e. embedded in a conceptual setting). It has been noted long ago (already in the 19th century) that number fields and function fields of curves have many properties in common. Accordingly, we shall also present some basic topics on affine plane curves and their function fields. This leads us to mention elliptic curves, however, only in an affine version (instead of the better projective one); we cannot go deeply into that topic at all. The material presented here is classical and very well known. [less ▲]

The insurance effect of renewable distributed energy resources against uncertain electricity price developments

in Energy Economics (2020), 91

To combat climate change, many countries all around the world currently foster the development of renewable energy sources (RES). However, in contrast to traditional energy systems that relied on few ... [more ▼]

To combat climate change, many countries all around the world currently foster the development of renewable energy sources (RES). However, in contrast to traditional energy systems that relied on few central power plants, RES are typically highly decentral and spread all over a country. Against this backdrop, the promotion of a decentralization of the energy system by fostering a regional balance of energy demand and supply with a corresponding increase in energy democracy is seen as a promising approach. However, energy democracy driven by an increasing involvement of consumers requires adequate investments of consumers in their own local RES in order to become active players, usually called prosumers. Risk associated with uncertain long-term electricity price developments is generally seen as a barrier to investments. In contrast, we describe that an investment in distributed energy resources (DERs) may actually serve as a consumer's insurance against price risk. Our results set out that the consideration of risk-aversion may actually positively shift an investment decision in renewable DERs. This is due to the prosumer becoming more self-sufficient and less dependent on uncertain price developments. To analyze such an insurance effect, we create a formal decision model considering the prosumer's risk-aversion and derive the prosumer's optimal investment in renewable DERs. However, our results also indicate that under some circumstances the insurance effect disappears: When a prosumer turns into a predominant producer, the prosumer is again exposed to risk in terms of uncertain revenues. Ultimately, our work highlights the importance of a consideration of the insurance effect when assessing an investment in renewable DERs. [less ▲]

From Digitized Sources to Digital Data, Behind the Scenes of (Critically) Enriching a Digital Heritage Collection

in Weber, Andreas; Heerlien, Maarten; Gassó Miracle, Eulàlia (Eds.) et al Proceedings of the International Conference Collect and Connect: Archives and Collections in a Digital Age (2020)

Digitally available repositories are becoming not only more and more widespread but also larger and larger. Although there are both digitally-born collections and digitised material, the digital heritage ... [more ▼]

Digitally available repositories are becoming not only more and more widespread but also larger and larger. Although there are both digitally-born collections and digitised material, the digital heritage scholar is typically confronted with the latter. This immediately presents new challenges, one of the most urgent being how to find the meaningful elements that are hidden underneath such unprecedented mass of digital data. One way to respond to this challenge is to contextually enrich the digital material, for example through deep learning. Using the enrichment of the digital heritage collection ChroniclItaly 3.0 [10] as a concrete example, this article discusses the complexities of this process. Specifically, combining statistical and critical evaluation, it describes the gains and losses resulting from the decisions made by the researcher at each step and it shows how in the passage from digitised sources to enriched material, most is gained (e.g., preservation, wider and enhanced access, more material) but some is also lost (e.g., original layout and composition, loss of information due to pre-processing steps). The article concludes that it is only through a critical approach that the digital heritage scholar can successfully meet the interpretive challenges presented by the digital and the digital heritage sector fulfil the second most important purpose of digitisation, that is to enhance access. [less ▲]

FPGA Design and Implementation of a Real-time FM/PM Pseudo Random Waveform Generation for Noise Radars

in Proceedings of the 2020 IEEE Radar Conference (RadarConf20), Florence, Italy, 2020 (2020)

Noise Radar technology is the general term used to describe radar systems that employ realizations of a given stochastic process as transmit waveforms. With the advances made in hardware as well as the ... [more ▼]

Noise Radar technology is the general term used to describe radar systems that employ realizations of a given stochastic process as transmit waveforms. With the advances made in hardware as well as the rise of the software defined noise radar concept, waveform design emerges as an important research area related to such systems. Several optimization algorithms have been proposed to generate pseudo-random waveforms with specific desired features, specially with respect to sidelobes. Nevertheless, not only modifying random waveforms may compromise their LPI performance, but also the implementation of such algorithms in real time applications may not be feasible. Within this context, this paper analyzes varied design architectures for FM/PM pseudo-noise waveform generation, considering a real-time application. The proposed architectures are verified in a co-simulation environment using the Xilinx System Generator tool and implemented on reconfigurable hardware, i.e., a Xilinx Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) is taken into consideration. Timing, resource consumption, and the trade-offs related to hardware area and performance are then investigated. [less ▲]