Twin beams generated by cw optical parametric oscil­ lators (OPO) show intensity difference quantum noise reduction below the shot-noise level (SNL) as predicted by Reynaud et al. [1] and proved experimentally in dif­ ferent configurations [2], At powers higher than four times the threshold also the single beam intensity noise should reduce below SNL in some frequency range [3], an effect compe...

The BATSE earth-occultation database provides nine years of coverage for 75 γ-ray sources in the energy range 35− 1700 keV. For transient sources, this long time-base dataset makes it possible to study the repeated outbursts from individual objects. We have used the JPL data analysis package EBOP (Enhanced BATSE Occultation Package) to derive the light curves and the time evolution of the spect...

Suicide bombings are the leading cause of death from terrorism in Israel. Counterterror tactics, such as the targeted killings or preemptive arrests of terror leaders or suspects, are meant to prevent such attacks. To investigate whether these tactics are successful, we estimated via maximum likelihood a family of shot-noise models from monthly data covering 2001 through 2003 to see whether we ...

Absorption measurement is an exceptionally versatile tool for many applications in science and engineering. For absorption measurements using laser beams of light, the sensitivity theoretically limited by shot noise due to fundamental Poisson distribution photon number radiation. In practice, shot-noise limit can only be achieved when all other sources are eliminated. \textcolor{black}{Here, we...

The paper describes approaches to shot boundary detection and high-level features extraction from video that have been developed at the Accenture Technology Labs for the TREC Video Evaluation 2003. For shot boundary detection an approach which uses the chi-square test for the intensity histograms of adjacent I-frames has been applied. Of seventeen features that have been suggested for the TREC ...

Lieu et al. have recently claimed that it is possible to substantially improve the sensitivity of radio-astronomical observations. In essence, their proposal is to make use of the intensity of the photon shot noise as a measure of the photon arrival rate. Lieu et al. provide a detailed quantum-mechanical calculation of a proposed measurement scheme that uses two detectors and conclude that this...

Fungal spores are continuously deposited on the leaf surfaces by wind impaction, sedimentation and rain wash-out from the atmosphere and splash-dispersal. They reside and act as asymptomatic mutualists, benign commensals or latent pathogens. A slight imbalance in this relation can lead to pathogenic phase of the fungi, resulting in a variety of symptoms on leaves viz. discoloration, blight, soo...