SEARCH · Searcharxiv
Search indexed arXiv papers on artificial intelligence, large language models, computer vision and robotics. Read source abstracts and follow links to arXiv.
Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.
Suppose that in a multiple choice examination the leading digit of the correct options follows Benford's Law, while the the leading digit of the distractors are uniform. Consider a strategy for guessing at answers that selects the option with the lowest leading digit with ties broken at random. We provide an expression for the probability that this strategy selects the correct option.
We use various laws of classical physics to offer several solutions of Yao's millionaires' problem without using any one-way functions. We also describe several informationally secure public key encryption protocols, i.e., protocols secure against passive computationally unbounded adversary. This introduces a new paradigm of decoy-based cryptography, as opposed to "traditional" complexity-based cryptography. In particular, our protocols do not employ any one-way functions.
The Maya were known for their astronomical proficiency. This is demonstrated in the Mayan codices where ritual practices were related to astronomical events/predictions. Whereas Mayan mathematics were based on a vigesimal system, they used a different base when dealing with long periods of time, the Long Count Calendar (LCC), composed of different Long Count Periods: the Tun of 360 days, the Katun of 7200 days and the Baktun of 144000 days. There were two other calendars used in addition to the LCC: a civil year Haab' of 365 days and a religious year Tzolk'in of 260 days. Another cycle was also in use: a 3276-day cycle (combination of the 819-day Kawil cycle and the 4 directions-colors). Based on the hypothesis that Mayan astronomers had a good knowledge of naked-eye astronomy, we propose here an explanation of the origin of the LCC, the Haab', the Tzolk'in and the 3276-day cycle. This study sheds more light on the connection between arithmetic, astronomy and religion in Maya civilization.
The Sapient Paradox is the apparently unexplainable time delay of several ten thousand years following the arrival of Homo sapiens in Asia and Europe and before the introduction of impressive innovations with the agricultural revolution. Renfrew (2007) has suggested that the solution of the paradox has to do with changes in modes of thought that occurred with sedentism. According to Renfrew, this is a subject of study for cognitive archaeology where the final goal would be to understand the formation of the human mind. Several scholars, however, affirm that climatic change was crucial to such a revolution as it would have been very difficult to develop agriculture during the Palaeolithic. In other words, sedentism was not justified during the ice age, and that may be the solution to the paradox. It is widely accepted that climate variations were due to so-called orbital forcing, the slow periodic changes of orbital parameters of the Earth (known also as the Milankovitch theory). These and other astronomical effects on the climate are discussed along with the consequent impact on human evolution. The question then rises as to whether or not it is possible to adopt an astronomical perspective instead of (or complementary to) the cognitive archaeological one. Such would be possible by adopting a different point of reference (that is, from outside), and a non-anthropocentric approach.
A brief review is given of some recent positive developments regarding the reception of archaeoastronomy by the archaeological institutions in Italy. Discussions and problems that are currently going on in this field are also mentioned, such as the separation of the scientific and humanistic disciplines (i.e. the two cultures problem). Suggestions based on contemporary philosophy are also reported. Finally, sky-gazing is proposed as the place where the two cultures could meet, since, taking Plato into account, sky-gazing could be considered the mom of the human knowledge, and of the scientific and humanistic disciplines.
Sundial is the ancient or classic timekeeper device, especially prior to the invention of mechanical clock. In the classical Islamic civilization, the daily movement of the Sun becomes main indicator of praying time, which can be deduced using sundial. This kind of device probably permeated to Indonesia during the Islamic acculturation. Since then, the development of astronomical knowledge, technology, art and architectural in classical Indonesia are partially reflected into sundial. These historical attractions of sundial demand comprehensive documentation and investigation of Indonesian sundial which are rarely found in the current literatures. The required spatial and temporal information regarding Indonesian sundial can be collected by general public through citizen science scheme. This concept may answer scientific curiosity of a research and also educate the people, expose them with science. In this article, general scheme of citizen science are discussed, its application for sundial study in Indonesia is proposed as Suryakala-Nusantara program.
In the construction of simulations of rear-end vehicle impacts, the Articulated Total Body (ATB) software package can be a useful tool. In this article we discuss the effect of using artificially inflated values for seat-backrest stiffness in ATB simulations. We will also present methods for quickly assessing the quality of simulation results. In this connection, we will discuss the perils of using the default contact-force models that are included in ATB package releases.
This article reviews the history of digital computation, and investigates just how far the concept of computation can be taken. In particular, I address the question of whether the universe itself is in fact a giant computer, and if so, just what kind of computer it is. I will show that the universe can be regarded as a giant quantum computer. The quantum computational model of the universe explains a variety of observed phenomena not encompassed by the ordinary laws of physics. In particular, the model shows that the the quantum computational universe automatically gives rise to a mix of randomness and order, and to both simple and complex systems.
Time travel has captured the public imagination for much of the past century, but little has been done to actually search for time travelers. Here, three implementations of Internet searches for time travelers are described, all seeking a prescient mention of information not previously available. The first search covered prescient content placed on the Internet, highlighted by a comprehensive search for specific terms in tweets on Twitter. The second search examined prescient inquiries submitted to a search engine, highlighted by a comprehensive search for specific search terms submitted to a popular astronomy web site. The third search involved a request for a direct Internet communication, either by email or tweet, pre-dating to the time of the inquiry. Given practical verifiability concerns, only time travelers from the future were investigated. No time travelers were discovered. Although these negative results do not disprove time travel, given the great reach of the Internet, this search is perhaps the most comprehensive to date.
In this paper is performed an appraisal of the Olympic Sport Judo effectiveness in the optics of Biomechanics. To broaden the classical view,the field of experimentation is obviously the high level competition in which most of rotational application can be found applied more or less instinctively by high level Athletes. Considering the two biomechanical tools that are the physical basis of judo throws it is possible to obtain such results from the analysis of high competition application:Lever Techniques are enhanced in their effectiveness in three ways: The rotational movements, strictly connected to the Lever techniques mechanics achieving victory in competition, can be extended to the unbalance phase. The rotational movements can be applied in a totally new way putting away even the unbalance that is basic in the Lever techniques. The Lever tool can be hybridized with the Couple tool to lower the energy consumption. Couple Techniques are enhanced in their effectiveness also in three ways: The Couple tool that doesnt need unbalance allowing uke body rotate around his center of mass, is enhanced utilizing the Uke body smaller resistance directions,normally summarized in Diagonal attacks. The vertical rotational movements in the transverse plan with the axis in the sagittal plane can be added to the Couple application with transverse rotation and axis in the frontal plane to overcome some defensive resistance, mainly in the trunk and leg group of Couple techniques,like Uchi Mata or O Soto Gari. The rotational movements enhance the throwing action changing the mechanics of Couple into Lever applying a Torque,both with the direction change of one force or the time delay of his application. This analysis, expanded with a short physical framework, clarifies hidden deep concepts and helps teacher and coaches in their professional work.
Written in non-technical language, this review article explains the significance of the Higgs field and the associated Higgs boson in High-Energy Physics. The connection of symmetry with particle interactions and their unification is also discussed in this context. The presentation is informal and physical concepts are demonstrated through metaphors from everyday experience.
Earlier work has produced formulas for predicting stability of rifle bullets of near uniform density and also for plastic-tipped rifle bullets. These formulas have been shown to be accurate within 5%. However, the original Miller stability formula for metal bullets of near uniform density underestimates the stability of match style open tipped rifle bullets having a significant empty volume in the tip. This paper presents a new formula for accurately estimating the stability of these open tipped match style rifle bullets from parameters easily obtained such as the bullet mass, length, and depth of the empty space in the tip. The formula is tested by observations of whether bullets tumble and by measuring the aerodynamic drag vs. predicted stability of several bullets over a range of stabilities. In addition to confirmation in several test cases with original firing data, the new stability formula is validated by comparison with BRL spark range stability data for the 168 grain Sierra International in .308 to an accuracy of 2% for supersonic velocities (> M1.2).
In this short note we discuss the case of the thought experiments on water-filled telescopes and their realizations during 18th and 19th century. The story of those instruments shows that the scientific progress occurs in a curious way, since there was no stringent reason for the construction of a water-filled telescope.
In this presentation prepared for a general audience, we briefly mention the shortcomings of standard model of universe. We then focus on the late time inconsistency of the model dubbed age crisis whose resolution requires the presence of a repulsive effect that could be sourced either by dark energy or by a large scale modification of gravity. By and large, our description is based upon Newtonian cosmology which is simple and elegant despite of its limitations. On heuristic grounds, we explain how a tiny mass of graviton could account for late time cosmic acceleration. We also include a brief discussion on the underlying physics of Type Ia supernovae explosion and the direct confirmation of late time acceleration of Universe by the related observations.
An explanation is provided for the Inca counting board described by Guaman Poma in 1615. Although the board could have been used in more than one way, we show that based on certain reasonable assumptions regarding non-uniform representation of numbers its most likely use was counting in multiples of 6, 24, and 72. The independent numbers represented on its five rows are 92, 31, 29, 79, and 56 that appear to be astronomically connected to sub-periods within the year and planet periods in a manner similar to Mayan astronomy. Based on these and other considerations we propose that the board fulfilled an astronomical counting function.
By c. 3000 BC, in the late Neolithic, there had been a significant change in the way people materialized their cosmology across Scotland with the introduction of free-standing stones. These were erected almost until the end of the Bronze Age (Burl 2000, 1993). Significantly, a series of astronomical patternings have been empirically verified for many Bronze Age monuments that were erected between 1400-900 BC (Higginbottom et 14 al. 2013, 2003, 2001, 2000). Further, two series of complex landscape patternings associated with the same monuments and their orientations have been identified (Higginbottom et al. 2013 & Higginbottom 'in preparation' - Bronze Age megalithic monuments on the isle of Mull). However, when and where these patterns were first associated with standing-stone structures was unknown. Through innovative statistics and software we show that visible astronomical-landscape variables found at Bronze Age sites on the inner isles and mainland of western Scotland were actually first established nearly two millennia earlier, with the erection of the first 'great circles' in Britain: Callanish on the Isle of Lewis and Stenness on the Isle of Orkney. In particular, we introduce our new statistical test that enables the quantitative determination of astronomical connections of stone circles. It is seen that, whilst different standing-stone monuments were created over time (Burl 2000, 1993; 22 Higginbottom et al. 2013; Sheridan & Brophy 2012) with a mixture of landscape variables (Higginbottom et al. 2013), there are nevertheless highly relevant aspects that remained unchanged through these years. This suggests that there is some continuity of this cosmological system through time, despite the various radical material and social changes that occurred from the late Neolithic to the Late Bronze Age (Lynch 2000; Mullin 26 2001; Owoc 2001).
This short note is devoted to non-proficient in physics. Its purpose is that of proposing a possible universal connection between the definition of Action given by Goethe in his ``Faust'' tragic play and the Hamilton's Principle of the Minimal Action. This Principle is one of the most general ways of formulating the dynamics of a physical system both in classical and in quantum physics. The recent discovery of the long time searched Higgs particle may be seen as the most spectacular successful confirmation of the Standard Model formalism based on the Minimal Action Principle. Supported by this experimental confirmation, we propose a possible general meaning of the Principle, inspired by the Goethe's ``Faust'' tragic play.
I have been asked to write brief, gentle introduction to the basic idea behind the field of "quantum gravity" in 1500 words or less. Doing so appears to be almost as great a challenge as coming up with a consistent theory of quantum gravity. However, I will try. Disclaimer: \emph{The views expressed in this article are my own and do not represent the consensus of the quantum gravity community}.