Confidence intervals and joint confidence sets are constructed for the nonparametric calibration of exponential Lévy models based on prices of European options. This is done by showing joint asymptotic normality for the estimation of the volatility, the drift, the intensity and the Lévy density at finitely many points in the spectral calibration method. Furthermore, the asymptotic normality res...

One of the most robust qualities of our visual world is the scale invariance of natural images. Not only has scaling been found in different visual environments, but the phenomenon also appears to be calibration-independent. This paper proposes a simple property of natural images which explains this robustness: they are collages of regions corresponding to statistically independent "objects". E...

A multichannel far-infrared laser-based POlarimeter-INTerferometer (POINT) system utilizing the three-wave technique is under development for current density and electron density profile measurements in the EAST tokamak. Novel molybdenum retro-reflectors are mounted in the inside wall for the double-pass optical arrangement. A Digital Phase Detector with 250 kHz bandwidth, which will provide re...

Surveys of clusters of galaxies provide us with a powerful probe of the density and nature of the dark energy. The red-shift distribution of detected clusters is highly sensitive to the dark energy equation of state parameter w. Upcoming Sunyaev– Zel’dovich (SZ) surveys would provide us large yields of clusters to very high red-shifts. Self-calibration of cluster scaling relations, possible for...

A new 10 channel Thomson scattering (TS) system was installed on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak to measure radial profiles of electron density and temperature at the plasma edge with high radial resolution. Together with the already existing TS system, which is now used for the core plasma, electron density and temperature profiles extending from the edge to the core are now obtained in a single dis...

This paper shows, in a two-sector Malthusian model of endogenous population growth, that output per capita, population density, and industrialization depend upon the labor intensity of agricultural production. Because the diminishing returns to labor are less pronounced, high labor intensity (as in rice production) leads not only to a larger population density but also to lower output per capit...

One of the most robust qualities of our visual world is the scale invariance of natural images. Not only has scaling been found in different visual environments, but the phenomenon also appears to be calibration-independent. This paper proposes a simple property of natural images which explains this robustness: they are collages of regions corresponding to statistically independent "objects". E...

The complexity and accuracy of current and future “precision cosmology” observational campaigns has made it essential to develop an efficient technique for directly combining simulation and observational datasets to determine cosmological and model parameters; a procedure we term calibration. Once a satisfactory calibration of the underlying cosmological model is achieved, independent predictio...

We study the impact of systematic errors on planned weak-lensing surveys and compute the requirements on their contributions so that they are not a dominant source of the cosmological parameter error budget. The generic types of error we consider are multiplicative and additive errors in measurements of shear, as well as photometric redshift errors. In general, more powerful surveys have strong...

The Thomson scattering diagnostic on the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) records excessive levels of stray Nd:YAG laser light. Stray light saturates the 1064 nm spectral channel in all polychromators, which prevents absolute electron density measurements via Rayleigh scattering calibration. Furthermore, stray light contaminates adjacent spectral channels for r/a ≥ 0.75, which renders the diagnost...