We consider the view planning problem where a range sensor is mounted on a robot mechanism with non-trivial geometry and kinematics. The robot–sensor system is required to explore the environment for obstacles and free space. We present an information theoretical approach in which the sensing action is viewed as reducing ignorance of the planning space, the C-space of the robot. The concept of ...

A description of the Poisson boundary of random walks on discrete subgroups of semi-simple Lie groups in terms of geometric boundaries of the corresponding Riemannian symmetric spaces is given. Let G be a discrete group, and { a probability measure on G. A function f on G is called-harmonic if f(g) = P f(gx) (x) 8 g 2 G. The Poisson boundary of the pair (G;) is the probability space (?;) with a...

We formulate a minimal ansatz for local stress distribution in a solid that includes the possibility of strongly anharmonic short-length motions. We discover a broken-symmetry metastable phase that exhibits an aperiodic, frozen-in stress distribution. This aperiodic metastable phase is characterized by many distinct, nearly degenerate configurations. The activated transitions between the config...

OBJECTIVE To develop and critically evaluate an information theory method for identifying gene-gene and gene-environment interactions in count and rate data. METHODS The entropy-based metric k-way interaction information (KWII) was critically assessed for utility in detecting interactions with count data and over-dispersed count data in three simulation studies of increasing complexity and in...

A number of recent studies have estimated the inter-galactic void probability function and investigated its departure from various random models. We study a family of parametric statistical models based on gamma distributions, which do give realistic descriptions for other stochastic porous media. Gamma distributions contain as a special case the exponential distributions, which correspond to t...

The dynamics of dissipative fluids in Eulerian variables may be derived from an algebra of Leibniz brackets of observables, the metriplectic algebra, that extends the Poisson algebra of the frictionless limit of the system via a symmetric semidefinite component, encoding dissipative forces. The metriplectic algebra includes the conserved total Hamiltonian H, generating the non-dissipative part ...

We establish the local in time well-posedness of strong solutions to the vacuum free boundary problem of the compressible Navier-Stokes-Poisson system in the spherically symmetric and isentropic motion. Our result captures the physical vacuum boundary behavior of the Lane-Emden star configurations for all adiabatic exponents γ > 6 5 . 1 Formulation and Notation The motion of self-gravitating vi...

CNRS, Université de Rennes-1 and Technische Universität Graz We study the Poisson boundary (≡ representation of bounded harmonic functions) of Markov operators on discrete state spaces that are invariant under the action of a transitive group of permutations. This automorphism group is locally compact, but not necessarily discrete or unimodular. The main technical tool is the entropy theory whi...