Smallest disentangling state spaces for general entangled bipartite quantum states

Entangled quantum states can be given a separable decomposition if we relax the restriction that the local operators be quantum states. Motivated by the construction of classical simulations and local hidden variable models, we construct `smallest' local sets of operators that achieve this. In other words, given an arbitrary bipartite quantum state we construct convex sets of local operators that allow for a separable decomposition, but that cannot be made smaller while continuing to do so. We then consider two further variants of the problem where the local state spaces are required to contain the local quantum states, and obtain solutions for a variety of cases including a region of pure states around the maximally entangled state. The methods involve calculating certain forms of cross norm. Two of the variants of the problem have a strong relationship to theorems on ensemble decompositions of positive operators, and our results thereby give those theorems an added interpretation. The results generalise those obtained in our previous work on this topic [New J. Phys. 17, 093047 (2015)].

Vacant parking area estimation through background subtraction and transience map analysis

A method for estimating the dimensions of non-delimited free parking areas by using a static surveillance camera is proposed. The proposed method is specially designed to tackle the main challenges of urban scenarios (multiple moving objects, outdoor illumination conditions and occlusions between vehicles) with no training. The core of this work is the temporal analysis of the video frames to detect the occupancy variation of the parking areas. Two techniques are combined: background subtraction using a mixture of Gaussians to detect and track vehicles and the creation of a transience map to detect the parking and leaving of vehicles. The authors demonstrate that the proposed method yields satisfactory estimates on three real scenarios while being a low computational cost solution that can be applied in any kind of parking area covered by a single camera.

On Gruenhage spaces, separating ��-isolated families, and their relatives

We prove that, given a topological space X, the following conditions are equivalent. (��) X is a Gruenhage space. (��) X has a countable cover by sets of small local diameter (property SLD) by F���G sets. (��) X has a separating ��-isolated family M���F���G. (��) X has a one-to-one continuous map into a metric space which has a ��-isolated base of F���G sets. Besides, we provide an example which shows Fragmentability ��� property SLD ��� the space to be Gruenhage.

WEAK ISOMETRIES OF HAMMING SPACES

In this thesis we study weak isometries of Hamming spaces. These are permutations of a Hamming space that preserve some but not necessarily all distances. We wish to find conditions under which a weak isometry is in fact an isometry. This type of problem was first posed by Beckman and Quarles for Rn. In chapter 2 we give definitions pertinent to our research. The 3rd chapter focuses on some known results in this area with special emphasis on papers by V. Krasin as well as S. De Winter and M. Korb who solved this problem for the Boolean cube, that is, the binary Hamming space. We attempted to generalize some of their methods to the non-boolean case. The 4th chapter has our new results and is split into two major contributions. Our first contribution shows if n=p or p < n2, then every weak isometry of Hnq that preserves distance p is an isometry. Our second contribution gives a possible method to check if a weak isometry is an isometry using linear algebra and graph theory.

Resistance performances: (Re)constructing spaces of resistance and contention in the 2010-2011 University of Puerto Rico student movement

On the night of April 20, 2010, a group of students from the University of Puerto Rico (UPR), R��o Piedras campus, met to organize an indefinite strike that quickly broadened into a defense of accessible public higher education of excellence as a fundamental right and not a privilege. Although the history of student activism in the UPR can be traced back to the early 1900s, the 2010-2011 strike will be remembered for the student activists��� use of new media technologies as resources that rapidly prompted and aided the numerous protests. ^ This activist research entailed a critical ethnography and a critical discourse analysis (CDA) of traditional and alternative media coverage and treatment during the 2010 -2011 UPR student strike. I examined the use of the 2010-2011 UPR student activists��� resistance performances in constructing local, corporeal, and virtual spaces of resistance and contention during their movement. In particular, I analyzed the different tactics and strategies of resistance or repertoire of collective actions that student activists used (e.g. new media technologies) to frame their collective identities via alternative news media���s (re)presentation of the strike, while juxtaposing the university administration���s counter-resistance performances in counter-framing the student activists��� collective identity via traditional news media representations of the strike. I illustrated how both traditional and alternative media (re)presentations of student activism developed, maintained, and/or modified students activists��� collective identities. ^ As such, the UPR student activism���s success should not be measured by the sum of demands granted, but by the sense of community achieved and the establishment of networks that continue to create resistance and change. These networks add to the debate surrounding Internet activism and its impact on student activism. Ultimately, the results of this study highlight the important role student movements have had in challenging different types of government policies and raising awareness of the importance of an accessible public higher education of excellence.^

Retail centers for community : addressing both pedestrian and car traffic

The purpose of this thesis was to redesign a commercial center in Miami, Florida in a manner that incorporates the needs of pedestrians as well as the automobile. In my research, I studied projects that had been successful at integrating cars in retail design. I applied the strategies learned from this research to the design of a center that creates a positive interaction of pedestrian and car traffic, addressing the needs of the surrounding community. I designed a master plan that includes a mix of residential, retail, commercial and parking space. The parking is designed so that the retail center is not dominated by surface parking. Rather, the automobile is introduced into the different layers of the proposed buildings. The design focused on connecting pedestrian plazas and parking areas beneath them through the introduction of light and greenery. The findings show how a shopping center might transform the area around it by including spaces for residential, civic, cultural and social functions, as well as for the automotive infrastructure that make those functions possible.

Rota's universal operators and invariant subspaces in Hilbert spaces

A Hilbert space operator is called universal (in the sense of Rota) if every operator on the Hilbert space is similar to a multiple of the restriction of the universal operator to one of its invariant subspaces. We exhibit an analytic Toeplitz operator whose adjoint is universal in the sense of Rota and commutes with a quasi-nilpotent injective compact operator with dense range. In particular, this new universal operator invites an approach to the Invariant Subspace Problem that uses properties of operators that commute with the universal operator.

Equivalent norms in polynomial spaces and applications.

In this paper, equivalence constants between various polynomial norms are calculated. As an application, we also obtain sharp values of the Hardy Littlewood constants for 2-homogeneous polynomials on l(p)(2) spaces, 2 < p <= infinity. We also provide lower estimates for the Hardy-Littlewood constants for polynomials of higher degrees.

Lighting ambiances and materialities of wood in architecture: a comparative evaluation of the quality of spaces in relation to interior finishes

Le bois est un mat��riau souvent utilis�� par les architectes pour am��liorer l���ambiance g��n��rale d���un espace, mais peu de recherches en pr��sentent l���impact r��el du mat��riau sur les impressions visuelles et les effets lumineux. Cette recherche ��tudie l���influence de la mat��rialit�� du bois par rapport �� la cr��ation d���ambiances d�����clairage sp��cifiques dans l���architecture. Plus particuli��rement, elle se concentre sur l���impact des panneaux d��coratifs en bois �� g��n��rer de la diversit�� lumineuse dans les espaces int��rieurs et son potentiel �� am��liorer la satisfaction environnementale et l���efficacit�� ��nerg��tique. La recherche utilise des maquettes �� l�����chelle pour leur pr��cision dans la repr��sentation des ambiances lumineuses d���espaces ��clair��s naturellement ainsi que les technologies r��centes d���imagerie digitale pour capturer et analyser les r��sultats. La m��thodologie permet la comparaison entre les diff��rents r��glages des espaces int��rieurs cr����s par une s��lection des types de mat��rialit��s du bois: la r��flectance (valeur), la couleur et la r��flectivit��. Les modalit��s spatiales sont compar��es en pr��sence d���ensoleillement direct et sous des conditions de ciel couvert puisque les mod��les d�����clairage et les ambiances diff��rent consid��rablement. Les r��sultats permettent d�����tablir une discussion sur les ambiances en termes de brillance et de contraste, sur la couleur ainsi que la r��partition des zones lumineuses dans l���espace. La recherche souligne le r��le des mat��rialit��s que peuvent prendre le bois pour optimiser la diversit�� lumineuse et la cr��ation d���ambiances visuellement confortables, ainsi que ses possibilit��s d���am��liorer les ambiances architecturales par rapport �� la lumi��re.

Influence of the natural environment on health: evaluation of different environmental contexts (urban, green spaces) and intervention proposals

Urbanization has grown during the last decades, with an increase in population concentrated in cities. Cities are usually relatively nature-poor, and the loss of green urban space likely leads to less contact with the natural world for urban dwellers. It is known that the natural environment could provide important advantages, and the loss of contact with this type of environment has potential negative impacts on the quality of life. The use of green urban space demonstrated stronger benefits for mental health and stress reduction. In general, exposure to green urban space is linked to a reduction in mortality rates, due to the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Green urban space could be an optimal environment in which to perform physical activity. Undertaking regular physical activity is one of the major determinants of health. The benefits of exercise have been widely demonstrated through a wide range of studies. Benefits are linked to the treatment and prevention of most chronic and non-communicable diseases, that are not contagious, but they are usually long-lasting. Regular physical activity could reduce mental health problems, such as anxiety. The World Health Organization proposed to improve physical activity programs through the implementation of interventions in green urban spaces. Green urban space provides a safe, accessible, and attractive place to perform physical activity. All the interventions aimed to promote the practice of physical activity and to reduce sedentary behavior are important. It is well known that physical activity has several positive effects, a great amount of the population remains inactive. A good strategy could be to show people how integrated physical activity into their all-day life, for example through the use of green urban space or active commuting. The results in the present thesis showed the effectiveness of performing physical activity in a natural environment and of active commuting.

Coworking spaces: thriving and organizing in the new world of work

The present Ph.D. thesis proposes three studies on coworking spaces to understand how they foster thriving and organizing in the new world of work. The first study maps and analyzes the thematic structure and evolution of the academic debate that has emerged around coworking spaces in recent years. In doing so, it conducts a science mapping analysis of 351 publications on coworking spaces to detect and visualize key themes in the literature and their co-occurrence with subthemes. The second study proposes an interpretive review of 98 publications from multiple disciplines to shed light on how coworking spaces emerge as sites of organizing for professionals who are not formally connected to one another. It suggests five dimensions that articulate coworking spaces as sites of organizing ��� ���materiality,��� ���temporality,��� ���affect,��� ���identity,��� and ���formalization.��� This study aims to go beyond the community-related understanding of coworking that has characterized most scholarly attention, instead focusing on coworking spaces��� organizational character. The third study investigates what drives thriving at work for remote workers in coworking spaces. In doing so, it acknowledges the potential complex set of interrelationships underpinning thriving at work and mobilizes complexity theory and qualitative comparative analysis to uncover six different, yet equifinal, configurations of antecedents driving remote workers��� thriving in coworking spaces.

Potential theory on metric spaces

This work revolves around potential theory in metric spaces, focusing on applications of dyadic potential theory to general problems associated to functional analysis and harmonic analysis. In the first part of this work we consider the weighted dual dyadic Hardy's inequality over dyadic trees and we use the Bellman function method to characterize the weights for which the inequality holds, and find the optimal constant for which our statement holds. We also show that our Bellman function is the solution to a stochastic optimal control problem. In the second part of this work we consider the problem of quasi-additivity formulas for the Riesz capacity in metric spaces and we prove formulas of quasi-additivity in the setting of the tree boundaries and in the setting of Ahlfors-regular spaces. We also consider a proper Harmonic extension to one additional variable of Riesz potentials of functions on a compact Ahlfors-regular space and we use our quasi-additivity formula to prove a result of tangential convergence of the harmonic extension of the Riesz potential up to an exceptional set of null measure

Power in public art spaces. F(r)ictions, performativity and the generation of counter-hegemonic narratives

Abstract This thesis applies queer theories to the examination of experiences which go beyond queerness. Queer, decolonial, antiracist and feminist new materialist concepts are implemented to the analysis of four case studies dealing with power and art in public spaces. By applying concepts as methodologies, autoethnographic reflections and f(r)ictions as research alternatives, the thesis brings up new diffractive readings from where to perform those scenarios differently. In doing so, the thesis disentangles the historical, material, philosophical, political and disruptive meanings which haunt the four case studies and triggers the artivist potential of their counter-hegemonic narratives.

Integration Of Parking Assist Module with Body Computer Module.

This dissertation is focussed on integration of a Parking assist module ECU inside a Body computer Module. This project is aligned with the development of current electrical architecture into the next generation Lumped electrical architecture.