  It has been reported that deep learning models are extremely vulnerable to
small but intentionally chosen perturbations of its input. In particular, a
deep network, despite its near-optimal accuracy on the clean images, often
mis-classifies an image with a worst-case but humanly imperceptible
perturbation (so-called adversarial examples). To tackle this problem, a great
amount of research has been done to study the training procedure of a network
to improve its robustness. However, most of the research so far has focused on
the case of supervised learning. With the increasing popularity of
self-supervised learning methods, it is also important to study and improve the
robustness of their resulting representation on the downstream tasks. In this
paper, we study the problem of robust representation learning with unlabeled
data in a task-agnostic manner. Specifically, we first derive an upper bound on
the adversarial loss of a prediction model (which is based on the learned
representation) on any downstream task, using its loss on the clean data and a
robustness regularizer. Moreover, the regularizer is task-independent, thus we
propose to minimize it directly during the representation learning phase to
make the downstream prediction model more robust. Extensive experiments show
that our method achieves preferable adversarial performance compared to
relevant baselines.


  Implicit numerical integration of nonlinear ODEs requires solving a system of
nonlinear algebraic equations at each time step. Each of these systems is often
solved by a Newton-like method, which incurs a sequence of linear-system
solves. Most model-reduction techniques for nonlinear ODEs exploit knowledge of
system's spatial behavior to reduce the computational complexity of each
linear-system solve. However, the number of linear-system solves for the
reduced-order simulation often remains roughly the same as that for the
full-order simulation. We propose exploiting knowledge of the model's temporal
behavior to 1) forecast the unknown variable of the reduced-order system of
nonlinear equations at future time steps, and 2) use this forecast as an
initial guess for the Newton-like solver during the reduced-order-model
simulation. To compute the forecast, we propose using the Gappy POD technique.
The goal is to generate an a ccurate initial guess so that the Newton solver
requires many fewer iterations to converge, thereby decreasing the number of
lin ear-system solves in the reduced-order-model simulation.


  Recent observations suggest that long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and
their afterglows are produced by highly relativistic jets emitted in
core-collapse explosions. The pre-explosive ambient medium provides a natural
test for the most likely progenitors of GRBs. Those stars that shed their
envelopes most readily have short jet crossing times and are more likely to
produce a GRB. We construct a simple computational scheme to explore the
expected contribution of the presupernova ejecta of single Wolf-Rayet (WR)
stars to the circumstellar environment. Using detailed stellar tracks for the
evolution of massive stars, we discuss the effects that the initial main
sequence mass, metallicity, rotation and membership in a binary system have on
the ambient medium. We extend the theory of GRB afterglows in winds to consider
the effect of the relativistic fireball propagating through the WR ejecta. We
make specific predictions for the interaction of the relativistic blast wave
with the density bumps that arise when the progenitor star rapidly loses a
large fraction of its initial mass or when the ejected wind interacts with the
external medium and decelerates. A re-brightening of the afterglow with a
spectrum redder than the typical synchrotron spectrum (as seen in GRB 970508,
GRB 980326 and GRB 000911) is predicted. We also calculate the luminosity of
the reflected echo that arises when circumstellar material Compton-scatters the
prompt radiation and examine the spectral signatures expected from the
interaction of the GRB afterglow with the ejected medium.


  Van der Waals heterostructures of two-dimensional materials have opened up
new frontiers in condensed matter physics, unlocking unexplored possibilities
in electronic and photonic device applications. However, the investigation of
wide-gap high-$\kappa$ layered dielectrics for devices based on van der Waals
structures has been relatively limited. In this work, we demonstrate an easily
reproducible synthesis method for the rare earth oxyhalide LaOBr, and we
exfoliate it as a 2D layered material with a measured static dielectric
constant of $\epsilon_{0, \perp} \simeq 9$ and a wide bandgap of 5.3 eV.
Furthermore, our research demonstrates that LaOBr can be used as a
high-$\kappa$ dielectric in van der Waals field-effect transistors with high
performance and low interface defect concentrations. Additionally, it proves to
be an attractive choice for electrical gating in excitonic devices based on 2D
materials. Our work demonstrates the versatile realization and functionality of
2D systems with wide-gap and high-$\kappa$ van der Waals dielectric
environments.


  We present the first succinct distance oracles for (unweighted) interval
graphs and related classes of graphs, using a novel succinct data structure for
ordinal trees that supports the mapping between preorder (i.e., depth-first)
ranks and level-order (breadth-first) ranks of nodes in constant time. Our
distance oracles for interval graphs also support navigation queries -- testing
adjacency, computing node degrees, neighborhoods, and shortest paths -- all in
optimal time. Our technique also yields optimal distance oracles for proper
interval graphs (unit-interval graphs) and circular-arc graphs. Our tree data
structure supports all operations provided by different approaches in previous
work, as well as mapping to and from level-order ranks and retrieving the last
(first) internal node before (after) a given node in a level-order traversal,
all in constant time.


  Germanium arsenide (GeAs) is a layered semiconductor with remarkably
anisotropic physical, thermoelectric and optical properties, and a promising
candidate for multifunctional devices based on in-plane polarization dependent
response. Understanding the underlying mechanism of such devices requires the
knowledge of GeAs electronic band structure and of the hot carrier dynamics in
its conduction band, whose details are still unclear. In this work, we
investigated the properties of occupied and photoexcited states of GeAs in
energy-momentum space, by combining scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS),
angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and time-resolved ARPES. We
found that, GeAs is an indirect gap semiconductor having an electronic gap of
0.8 eV, for which the conduction band minimum (CBM) is located at the Gamma
point while the valence band maximum (VBM) is out of Gamma. A Stark broadening
of the valence band is observed immediately after photoexcitation, which can be
attributed to the effects of the electrical field at the surface induced by
inhomogeneous screening. Moreover, the hot electrons relaxation time of 1.56 ps
down to the CBM which is dominated from both inter-valley and intra-valley
coupling. Besides their relevance for our understanding of GeAs, these findings
present general interest for the design on high performance thermoelectric and
optoelectronic devices based on 2D semiconductors.


  We prove in full generality the thermal operator representation for Matsubara
sums in a relativistic field theory of scalar and fermionic particles. It
states that the full result of performing the Matsubara sum associated to any
given Feynman graph, in the imaginary-time formalism of finite-temperature
field theory, can be directly obtained from its corresponding zero-temperature
energy integral, by means of a simple linear operator, which is independent of
the external Euclidean energies and whose form depends solely on the topology
of the graph.


  Modern Learning Classifier Systems can be characterized by their use of rule
accuracy as the utility metric for the search algorithm(s) discovering useful
rules. Such searching typically takes place within the restricted space of
co-active rules for efficiency. This paper gives an historical overview of the
evolution of such systems up to XCS, and then some of the subsequent
developments of XCS to different types of learning.


  It has been shown by Nistor that given any extension of associative algebras
over C, the connecting morphism in periodic cyclic homology is compatible,
under the Chern-Connes character, with the index morphism in lower algebraic
K-theory. The proof relies on the abstract properties of cyclic theory,
essentially excision, which does not provide explicit formulas a priori.
Avoiding the use of excision, we explain in this article how to get explicit
formulas in a wide range of situations. The method is connected to the
renormalization procedure introduced in our previous work on the bivariant
Chern character for quasihomomorphisms, leading to "local" index formulas in
the sense of non-commutative geometry. We illustrate these principles with the
example of the classical family index theorem: we find that the characteristic
numbers of the index bundle associated to a family of elliptic
pseudodifferential operators are expressed in terms of the (fiberwise) Wodzicki
residue.


  We study a one-dimensional model of radiative heat transfer for which the
effect of the electromag- netic field is only from the scalar potential and
thereby ignoring the vector potential contribution. This is a valid assumption
when the distances between objects are of the order of nanometers. Using Lorenz
gauge, the scalar field is quantized with the canonical quantization scheme,
giving rise to scalar photons. In the limit as the speed of light approaches
infinity, the theory reduces to a pure Coulomb interaction governed by the
Poisson equation. The model describes very well parallel plate capacitor
physics, where a new length scale related to its capacitance emerges. Shorter
than this length scale we see greater radiative heat transfer. This differs
markedly from the usual Rytov fluctuational electrodynamics theory in which the
enhancement is due to evanescent modes shorter than the thermal wavelengths.
Our theory may explain recent experiments where charge fluctuations instead of
current fluctuations play a dominant role in radiative heat transfer. Finally,
due to the asymmetric electron-bath couplings, thermal rectification effects
are also observed and reported.


  Results of astrometric and BVRI photometric observations of the active
asteroid (596) Scheila are presented. The observations were carried out at the
Zeiss 1000 telescope of the Sanglokh International Astro-nomical Observatory of
the Institute of Astrophysics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of
Tajikistan on June 16 and 17 and from July 30 to August 1, 2017. The
coordinates of the object and its orbit were determined; and the apparent
brightness in four filters, the absolute brightness in the V and R filters, and
the color indices were obtained. The light curves suggest that no substantial
changes in the brightness of asteroid occurred during the observations. The
absolute brightness of the asteroid in the V and R filters was 9.1 mag and 8.8
mag, respectively. The mean value of the asteroid diameter was 119 km. The mean
values of the color indices B-V=0.72 mag, V-R=0.29 mag, and R-I=0.31 mag agree
well with the values for asteroids of the P and D types and its averages. The
rotation period of the asteroid estimated from photometric observations was
16.1 h. The analysis of the data has shown that the asteroid continues to
exhibit the same values of absolute brightness and other characteristics as
those before the collision with a small body in December 2010, though the
latter resulted in the outburst event and cometary activity of the asteroid.
Most likely, the collision of asteroid (596) Scheila with a small body did not
lead to catastrophic changes in the surface of the asteroid or to its compete
breakup.


  We present an experimental and theoretical study of the phase behavior of a
binary mixture of colloids with opposite adsorption preferences in a critical
solvent. As a result of the attractive and repulsive critical Casimir forces,
the critical fluctuations of the solvent lead to a further critical point in
the colloidal system, i.e. to a critical colloidal-liquid--colloidal-liquid
demixing phase transition which is controlled by the solvent temperature. Our
experimental findings are in good agreement with calculations based on a simple
approximation for the free energy of the system.


  We investigate thermalization processes occurring at different time scales in
the Yang-Mills-Higgs system at high temperatures. We determine the largest
Lyapunov exponent associated with the gauge fields and verify its relation to
the perturbatively calculated damping rate of a static gauge boson.


  We show that the resolution "per absorbed particle" of standard absorption
tomography can be outperformed by a simple interferometric setup, provided that
the different levels of "gray" in the sample are not uniformly distributed. The
technique hinges upon the quantum Zeno effect and has been tested in numerical
simulations. The scheme we propose could be implemented in experiments with
UV-light, neutrons or X-rays.


  The dynamics of an open quantum system is usually studied by performing a
weak-coupling and weak-correlation expansion in the system-bath interaction.
For systems exhibiting strong couplings and highly non-Markovian behavior this
approach is not justified. We apply a recently proposed correlated projection
superoperator technique to the model of a central spin coupled to a spin bath
via full Heisenberg interaction. Analytical solutions to both the
Nakajima-Zwanzig and the time-convolutionless master equation are determined
and compared with the results of the exact solution. The correlated projection
operator technique significantly improves the standard methods and can be
applied to many physical problems such as the hyperfine interaction in a
quantum dot.


  Applying the three axiomatic criteria of Lorentz invariance, analyticity and
unitarity to scattering amplitudes involving the Goldstone bosons and the Higgs
boson, we derive a general sum rule for the Strongly Interacting Light Higgs
Lagrangian. This sum rule connects the IR coefficient $c_H$ to the UV
properties of the theory, and can be used, for instance, to capture the role of
resonances in processes like $V_{\rm L}V_{\rm L}\to hh$ and $V_{\rm L}V_{\rm
L}\to V_{\rm L}V_{\rm L}$, with $V=W^{\pm},Z$.


  Electron beam induced current (EBIC) is a powerful characterization technique
which offers the high spatial resolution needed to study polycrystalline solar
cells. Ideally, an EBIC measurement reflects the spatially resolved quantum
efficiency of the device. In this work, a model for EBIC measurements is
presented which applies when recombination within the depletion region is
substantial. This model is motivated by cross-sectional EBIC experiments on
CdS-CdTe photovoltaic cells which show that the maximum efficiency of carrier
collection is less than 100 \% and varies throughout the depletion region. The
model can reproduce experimental results only if the mobility-lifetime product
$\mu\tau$ is spatially varying within the depletion region. The reduced
collection efficiency is speculated to be related to high-injection effects,
and the resulting increased radiative recombination.


  Background: Drug development is often inefficient, costly and lengthy, yet it
is essential for evaluating the safety and efficacy of new interventions.
Compared with other disease areas, this is particularly true for Phase II / III
cancer clinical trials where high attrition rates and reduced regulatory
approvals are being seen. In response to these challenges, seamless clinical
trials and master protocols have emerged to streamline the drug development
process. Methods: Seamless clinical trials, characterized by their ability to
transition seamlessly from one phase to another, can lead to accelerating the
development of promising therapies while Master protocols provide a framework
for investigating multiple treatment options and patient subgroups within a
single trial. Results: We discuss the advantages of these methods through real
trial examples and the principals that lead to their success while also
acknowledging the associated regulatory considerations and challenges.
Conclusion: Seamless designs and Master protocols have the potential to improve
confirmatory clinical trials. In the disease area of cancer, this ultimately
means that patients can receive life-saving treatments sooner.


  Nuclear pore complexes are constantly confronted by large fluxes of
macromolecules and macromolecular complexes that need to get into and out of
the nucleus. Such bi-directional traffic occurring in a narrow channel can
easily lead to jamming. How then is passage between the nucleus and cytoplasm
maintained under the varying conditions that arise during the lifetime of the
cell? Here, we address this question using computer simulations in which the
behaviour of the ensemble of transporting cargoes is analyzed under different
conditions. We suggest that traffic can exist in two distinct modes, depending
on concentration of cargoes and dissociation rates of the transport
receptor-cargo complexes from the pores. In one mode, which prevails when
dissociation is quick and cargo concentration is low, transport in either
direction proceeds uninterrupted by the other direction. The result is that
overall-traffic-direction fluctuates rapidly and unsystematically between
import and export. Remarkably, when cargo concentrations are high and
dissociation is slow, another mode takes over in which traffic proceeds in one
direction for a certain extent of time, after which it flips direction for
another period. The switch between this, more regulated, mode of transport and
the other, quickly fluctuating state, does not require an active gating
mechanism but rather occurs spontaneously through the dynamics of the
transported particles themselves. The determining factor for the behaviour of
traffic is found to be the exit rate from the pore channel, which is directly
related to the activity of the Ran system that controls the loading and release
of cargo in the appropriate cellular compartment.


  As social infrastructures rapidly age, it is crucial to create a digital SOC
(Social Overhead Capital) maintenance system for preventive maintenance. Using
IoT sensors installed on the structures, abnormal signals produced by the
structures may be rapidly identified and the best judgments can be made. In
this study, a multimetric IoT sensor was integrated into a digital SOC
monitoring system for long-term monitoring, use in a cloud computing server for
automated and powerful data analysis, and for creating databases to perform:
(1) multimetric sensing, (2) long-term operation, and (3) LTE-based direct
communication. The created sensor included five strain sensing axes and three
acceleration axes, and it also had an event-driven power management system that
only turned on the sensors when the vibration reached a certain threshold or
the timer started. Long-term operation might be made possible by the power
management system and an extra solar panel charging. Real-time data
transmission to the server from the sensors was accomplished using low-power
LTE CAT.1 connection, which does not need an additional gateway device.
Additionally, a displacement fusion technique was created on the cloud server
to get reference-free structural displacement for ambient structural assessment
after receiving multi-variable data from the sensor. A steel railroad and
concrete girder bridge were used to experimentally evaluate the suggested
digital SOC system.


  ZnO-based photocatalysts are widely investigated photocatalytic materials for
pollutant degradation due to their low cost, abundance, and eco-friendly
characteristics. However, the effectiveness of its photocatalytic properties is
limited by inherent challenges such as a wide bandgap, photo-corrosion, and
rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. In order to overcome
these limitations observed in traditional ZnO photocatalysts and enhance their
photocatalytic properties, an alternative approach has been proposed. This
study introduces an oxygen defects-mediated Z-scheme mechanism for charge
separation in the heterojunction by coupling Ov-ZnO with CdS, alongside the
incorporation of rGO as an electron mediator. This mechanism aims to enhance
the photostability and visible-light-induced photocatalysis properties of ZnO.
Our work focuses on the development and characterization of trinary
Ov-ZnO-rGO-CdS pho-to-catalysts, aiming to enhance their photocatalytic
properties for efficient energy conversion and environmental applications. To
characterize the trinary Ov-ZnO-rGO-CdS photocatalysts, we employed a range of
characterization techniques, including X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy,
UV-Visible spectroscopy, Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy,
Photo-luminescence spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. This
approach not only provides insights into the defect-dependent interfacial
mechanism in heterostructure nanocomposites but also opens promising
possibilities for developing high-performance ZnO-based photocatalysts for
energy conversion and environmental applications


  When giving automated feedback to a student working on a beginner's exercise,
many programming tutors run into a completeness problem. On the one hand, we
want a student to experiment freely. On the other hand, we want a student to
write her program in such a way that we can provide constructive feedback. We
propose to investigate how we can overcome this problem by using program
synthesis, which we use to generate correct solutions that closely match a
student program, and give feedback based on the results.


  A toy model is developed to understand how the spatial distribution of
fluorescent emitters in the vicinity of bright quasars could be affected by the
geometry of the quasar bi-conical radiation field and by its lifetime. The
model is then applied to the distribution of high equivalent width Lyman
$\alpha$ emitters (with rest-frame equivalent widths above 100 A, threshold
used in e.g. Trainor & Steidel, 2013) identified in a deep narrow-band 36x36
arcmin$^2$ image centered on the luminous quasar Q0420-388. These emitters are
found to the edge of the field and show some evidence of an azimuthal asymmetry
on the sky of the type expected if the quasar is radiating in a bipolar cone.
If these sources are being fluorescently illuminated by the quasar, the two
most distant objects require a lifetime of at least 15 Myr for an opening angle
of 60 degrees or more, increasing to more than 40 Myr if the opening angle is
reduced to a minimum 30 degrees. However, few of the other expected signatures
of boosted fluorescence are seen at the current survey limits, e.g. a fall off
in Lyman $\alpha$ brightness, or equivalent width, with distance. Furthermore,
to have most of the Lyman $\alpha$ emission of the two distant sources to be
fluorescently boosted would require the quasar to have been significantly
brighter in the past. This suggests that these particular sources may not be
fluorescent, invalidating the above lifetime constraints. This would cast doubt
on the use of this relatively low equivalent width threshold and thus on the
lifetime analysis in Trainor & Steidel (2013).


  We describe the read-out process of the state of a Josephson flux qubit via
solitons in Josephson transmission lines (JTL) as they are in use in the
standard rapid single flux quantum (RSFQ) technology. We consider the situation
where the information about the state of the qubit is stored in the time delay
of the soliton. We analyze dissipative underdamped JTLs, take into account
their jitter, and provide estimates of the measuring time and efficiency of the
measurement for relevant experimental parameters.


  We study the set of all pseudoline arrangements with contact points which
cover a given support. We define a natural notion of flip between these
arrangements and study the graph of these flips. In particular, we provide an
enumeration algorithm for arrangements with a given support, based on the
properties of certain greedy pseudoline arrangements and on their connection
with sorting networks. Both the running time per arrangement and the working
space of our algorithm are polynomial.
  As the motivation for this work, we provide in this paper a new
interpretation of both pseudotriangulations and multitriangulations in terms of
pseudoline arrangements on specific supports. This interpretation explains
their common properties and leads to a natural definition of
multipseudotriangulations, which generalizes both. We study elementary
properties of multipseudotriangulations and compare them to iterations of
pseudotriangulations.


  The Mollow spectrum for the light scattered by a driven two-level atom is
derived in the resolvent operator formalism. The derivation is based on the
construction of a master equation from the resolvent operator of the atom-field
system. We show that the natural linewidth of the excited atomic level remains
essentially unmodified, to a very good level of approximation, even in the
strong-field regime, where Rabi flopping becomes relevant inside the
self-energy loop that yields the linewidth. This ensures that the obtained
master equation and the spectrum derived matches that of Mollow.


  We present a graph bisection and partitioning algorithm based on graph neural
networks. For each node in the graph, the network outputs probabilities for
each of the partitions. The graph neural network consists of two modules: an
embedding phase and a partitioning phase. The embedding phase is trained first
by minimizing a loss function inspired by spectral graph theory. The
partitioning module is trained through a loss function that corresponds to the
expected value of the normalized cut. Both parts of the neural network rely on
SAGE convolutional layers and graph coarsening using heavy edge matching. The
multilevel structure of the neural network is inspired by the multigrid
algorithm. Our approach generalizes very well to bigger graphs and has
partition quality comparable to METIS, Scotch and spectral partitioning, with
shorter runtime compared to METIS and spectral partitioning.


  We shall give an elementary and rigorous proof of the Thomae formula for
${\bf Z}_N$ curves which was discovered by Bershadsky and Radul. Instead of
using the determinant of the Laplacian we use the traditional variational
method which goes back to Riemann, Thomae, Fuchs. In the proof we made explicit
the algebraic expression of the chiral Szeg\"{o} kernels and proves the
vanishing of zero values of derivatives of theta functions with ${\bf Z}_N$
invariant $1/2N$ characteristics.


  We show that the combined system of general relativity with a non minimally
coupled electromagnetic field presents a bifurcation in a cosmical framework
driven by a cosmological constant. In the same framework we show the existence
of states such that the resulting combined energy (the sum of the minimally and
the non minimally coupled energy momentum tensor of the electromagnetic field)
vanishes in a sort of violation of the action-reaction principle.


  We have designed and deployed a system that uses X.509 public-key
certificates (PKC) and attribute certificates (AC) for access control. This
includes an authorization service for on-line environments where clients are
identified by X.509 PKCs and their privileges are expressed with X.509 ACs.
During a request to a protected resource, a privilege verifier decides if the
user satisfies all the requirements to get access to the controlled resource.
In this paper we focus on the steps to be performed by the privilege verifier,
which is the entity in charge of validating both the PKCs and the ACs involved.
The validation of PKCs and of ACs are two separate tasks but they are closely
related. In our system we have identified two distinct entities: the privilege
verifier whose task is to validate ACs, and the certificate validation server,
whose task is to validate the PKCs. The validation of PKC is more complex, and
it thus can be implemented and provided as a service by a dedicated authority,
named Validation Authority. This paper describes the model, architecture and
implementation of this system. It also includes some preliminary measurements
and our future plans for the development of the system.


  As a consequence of the classification of finite simple groups, the
classification of permutation groups of prime degree is complete, apart from
the question of when the natural degree $(q^n-1)/(q-1)$ of ${\rm L}_n(q)$ is
prime. We present heuristic arguments and computational evidence to support a
conjecture that for each prime $n\ge 3$ there are infinitely many primes of
this form, even if one restricts to prime values of $q$.


  We propose a data assimilation scheme that produces the analyses for a global
and an embedded limited area model simultaneously, considering forecast
information from both models. The purpose of the proposed approach is twofold.
First, we expect that the global analysis will benefit from incorporation of
information from the higher resolution limited area model. Second, our method
is expected to produce a limited area analysis that is more strongly
constrained by the large scale flow than a conventional limited area analysis.
The proposed scheme minimizes a cost function in which the control variable is
the joint state of the global and the limited area models. In addition, the
cost function includes a constraint term that penalizes large differences
between the global and the limited area state estimates. The proposed approach
is tested by idealized experiments, using `toy' models introduced by Lorenz in
2005. The results of these experiments suggest that the proposed approach
improves the global analysis within and near the limited area domain and the
regional analysis near the lateral boundaries. These analysis improvements lead
to forecast improvements in both the global and the limited area models.


  HST/STIS observations of Uranus in 2015 show that the depletion of upper
tropospheric methane has been relatively stable and that the polar region has
been brightening over time as a result of increased aerosol scattering. This
interpretation is confirmed by near-IR imaging from HST and from the Keck
telescope using NIRC2 adaptive optics imaging. Our analysis of the 2015
spectra, as well as prior spectra from 2012, shows that there is a factor of
three decrease in the effective upper tropospheric methane mixing ratio between
30\deg N and 70\deg N. The absolute value of the deep methane mixing ratio,
which probably does not vary with latitude, is lower than our previous
estimate, and depends significantly on the style of aerosol model that we
assume, ranging from a high of 3.5$\pm$0.5% for conservative non-spherical
particles with a simple Henyey-Greenstein phase function to a low of
2.7%$\pm$0.3% for conservative spherical particles. Our previous higher
estimate of 4$\pm$0.5% was a result of a forced consistency with occultation
results of Lindal et al. (1987, JGR 92, 14987-15001). That requirement was
abandoned in our new analysis because new work by Orton et al. (2014, Icarus
243, 494-513) and by Lellouch et al. (2015, Astron. & AstroPhys. 579, A121)
called into question the occultation results. For the main cloud layer in our
models we found that both large and small particle solutions are possible for
spherical particle models. At low latitudes the small-particle solution has a
mean particle radius near 0.3 $\mu$m, a real refractive index near 1.65, and a
total column mass of 0.03 mg/cm$^2$, while the large-particle solution has a
particle radius near 1.5 $\mu$m, a real index near 1.24, and a total column
mass 30 times larger. The pressure boundaries of the main cloud layer are
between about 1.1 and 3 bars, within which H$_2$S is the most plausible
condensable.


  Zero-shot learning (ZSL) aims to recognize novel classes by transferring
semantic knowledge from seen classes to unseen classes. Though many ZSL methods
rely on a direct mapping between the visual and the semantic space, the
calibration deviation and hubness problem limit the generalization capability
to unseen classes. Recently emerged generative ZSL methods generate unseen
image features to transform ZSL into a supervised classification problem.
However, most generative models still suffer from the seen-unseen bias problem
as only seen data is used for training. To address these issues, we propose a
novel bidirectional embedding based generative model with a tight
visual-semantic coupling constraint. We learn a unified latent space that
calibrates the embedded parametric distributions of both visual and semantic
spaces. Since the embedding from high-dimensional visual features comprise much
non-semantic information, the alignment of visual and semantic in latent space
would inevitably been deviated. Therefore, we introduce information bottleneck
(IB) constraint to ZSL for the first time to preserve essential attribute
information during the mapping. Specifically, we utilize the uncertainty
estimation and the wake-sleep procedure to alleviate the feature noises and
improve model abstraction capability. In addition, our method can be easily
extended to transductive ZSL setting by generating labels for unseen images. We
then introduce a robust loss to solve this label noise problem. Extensive
experimental results show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art
methods in different ZSL settings on most benchmark datasets. The code will be
available at https://github.com/osierboy/IBZSL.


  Measurements and simulations of inertial compressive turbulence in the solar
wind are characterized by anti-correlated magnetic fluctuations parallel to the
mean field and density structures. This signature has been interpreted as
observational evidence for non-propagating pressure balanced structures (PBS),
kinetic ion acoustic waves, as well as the MHD slow-mode. Given the high
damping rates of parallel propagating compressive fluctuations, their ubiquity
in satellite observations is surprising, and suggestive of a local driving
process. One possible candidate for the generation of compressive fluctuations
in the solar wind is Alfv\'en wave parametric instability. Here we test the
parametric decay process as a source of compressive waves in the solar wind by
comparing the collisionless damping rates of compressive fluctuations with the
growth rates of the parametric decay instability daughter waves. Our results
suggest that generation of compressive waves through parametric decay is
overdamped at 1 AU, but that the presence of slow-mode like density
fluctuations is correlated with the parametric decay of Alfv\'en waves.


  We study various aspects of extracting spectral information from time
correlation functions of lattice QCD by means of Bayesian inference with an
entropic prior, the maximum entropy method (MEM). Correlator functions of a
heavy-light meson-meson system serve as a repository for lattice data with
diverse statistical quality. Attention is given to spectral mass density
functions, inferred from the data, and their dependence on the parameters of
the MEM. We propose to employ simulated annealing, or cooling, to solve the
Bayesian inference problem, and discuss practical issues of the approach.


  When using multiple imputation, users often want to know how many imputations
they need. An old answer is that 2 to 10 imputations usually suffice, but this
recommendation only addresses the efficiency of point estimates. You may need
more imputations if, in addition to efficient point estimates, you also want
standard error (SE) estimates that would not change (much) if you imputed the
data again. For replicable SE estimates, the required number of imputations
increases quadratically with the fraction of missing information (not linearly,
as previous studies have suggested). I recommend a two-stage procedure in which
you conduct a pilot analysis using a small-to-moderate number of imputations,
then use the results to calculate the number of imputations that are needed for
a final analysis whose SE estimates will have the desired level of
replicability. I implement the two-stage procedure using a new Stata command
called how_many_imputations (available from SSC) and a new SAS macro called
%mi_combine (available from the website missingdata.org).


  The ATLAS Detector will be upgraded for higher intensity running of the LHC.
A long shutdown is envisioned in 2016 prior to the so-called Phase I running. A
new pixel layer, called the Insertable B-Layer (IBL), will be inserted at a
radius of about 3.2~cm between the existing Pixel Detector and a new (smaller
radius) beam-pipe. The IBL requires the development of several new technologies
to cope with the increased radiation level and pixel occupancy, as well as to
improve the physics performance of the existing Pixel Detector. The IBL project
provides a test of technologies for the Phase II upgrade of the entire ATLAS
tracker for luminosities around 10^35 cm^-2s^-1. An overview of the project
with particular emphasis on the IBL layout and expected performance as well as
the module development including hybridization technologies is presented.


  Allometry or the quantitative study of the relationship of body size to
living organism physiology is an important area of biophysical scaling
research. The West-Brown-Enquist (WBE) model of fractal branching in a vascular
network explains the empirical allometric Kleiber law (the 3/4 scaling exponent
for metabolic rates as a function of animal's mass). The WBE model raises a
number of new questions, such as how to account for capillary phenomena more
accurately and what are more realistic dependencies for blood flow velocity on
the size of a capillary. We suggest a generalized formulation of the branching
model and investigate the ergodicity in the fractal vascular system. In
general, the fluid flow in such a system is not ergodic, and ergodicity
breaking is attributed to the fractal structure of the network. Consequently,
the fractal branching may be viewed as a source of ergodicity breaking in
biophysical systems, in addition to such mechanisms as aging and macromolecular
crowding. Accounting for non-ergodicity is important for a wide range of
biomedical applications where long observations of time series are impractical.
The relevance to microfluidics applications is also discussed.


  An interesting way to calibrate the absolute magnitudes of remote Type Ia
supernovae (SNe Ia) that are well out in the Hubble flow, and thus determine
the value of the Hubble constant, H_0, has been introduced by van den Bergh.
His approach relies on calculations of the peak absolute magnitudes and
broad--band colors for SN Ia explosion models. It does not require any
corrections for extinction by interstellar dust, and no SNe Ia are excluded on
grounds of peculiarity. Within the last few years distances have been
determined to the parent galaxies of six SNe Ia by means of Cepheid variables.
Cepheid--based distances also have become available for three other SNe Ia if
one is willing to use the distance to a galaxy in the same group in lieu of the
distance to the parent galaxy itself. Here we determine the value of H_0 in a
way that is analogous to that of van den Bergh, but now using Cepheid--based
distances instead of calculated light curves. We obtain H_0 = 55 km/s/Mpc. This
value, with Lambda=0 and Omega=1, corresponds to a cosmic expansion time of 12
Gyr, which is consistent with several recent determinations of the ages of
globular clusters.


  We study the Doppler-cooling of radial two-dimensional (2D) Coulomb crystals
of trapped barium ions in a radiofrequency trap. Ions in radial 2D crystals
experience micromotion of an amplitude that increases linearly with the
distance from the trap center, leading to a position-dependent frequency
modulation of laser light in each ion's rest frame. We use two tones of
Doppler-cooling laser light separated by approximately 100~MHz to efficiently
cool distinct regions in the crystals with differing amplitudes of micromotion.
This technique allows us to trap and cool more than 50 ions populating 4 shells
in a radial two-dimensional crystal, where with a single tone of Doppler
cooling light we are limited to 30 ions in 3 shells. We also individually
characterize the micromotion of all ions within the crystals, and use this
information to locate the center of the trap and to determine the Matthieu
parameters $q_{x}$ and $q_{y}$.


  In this paper we improve the best known constant for the discrepancy
formulated in the Komlos Conjecture. The result is based on the improvement of
the subgaussian bound for the random vector constructed in the Gram-Schmidt
Random Walk algorithm. Moreover, we present detailed argument for the smoothed
analysis of this random vector. The analysis concerns a modification of a given
matrix in the conjecture by a Gaussian type perturbation. Our result improves
the recent paper in this direction.


  Assume that $$ Au=f,\quad (1) $$ is a solvable linear equation in a Hilbert
space, $||A||<\infty$, and $R(A)$ is not closed, so problem (1) is ill-posed.
Here $R(A)$ is the range of the linear operator $A$. A DSM (dynamical systems
method) for solving (1), consists of solving the following Cauchy problem: $$
\dot u= -u +(B+\ep(t))^{-1}A^*f, \quad u(0)=u_0, \quad (2) $$ where $B:=A^*A$,
$\dot u:=\frac {du}{dt}$, $u_0$ is arbitrary, and $\ep(t)>0$ is a continuously
differentiable function, monotonically decaying to zero as $t\to \infty$.
A.G.Ramm has proved that, for any $u_0$, problem (2) has a unique solution for
all $t>0$, there exists $y:=w(\infty):=\lim_{t\to \infty}u(t)$, $Ay=f$, and $y$
is the unique minimal-norm solution to (1). If $f_\d$ is given, such that
$||f-f_\d||\leq \d$, then $u_\d(t)$ is defined as the solution to (2) with $f$
replaced by $f_\d$. The stopping time is defined as a number $t_\d$such that
$\lim_{\d \to 0}||u_\d (t_\d)-y||=0$, and $\lim_{\d \to 0}t_\d=\infty$. A
discrepancy principle is proposed and proved in this paper. This principle
yields $t_\d$ as the unique solution to the equation: $$
||A(B+\ep(t))^{-1}A^*f_\d -f_\d||=\d, \quad (3) $$ where it is assumed that
$||f_\d||>\d$ and $f_\d\perp N(A^*)$. For nonlinear monotone $A$ a discrepancy
principle is formulated and justified.


  We present a minimal quasistatic 1D model describing the kinematics of the
transition from static friction to stick-slip motion of a linear elastic block
on a rigid plane. We show how the kinematics of both the precursors to
frictional sliding and the periodic stick-slip motion are controlled by the
amount of friction-induced torque at the interface. Our model provides a
general framework to understand and relate a series of recent experimental
observations, in particular the nucleation location of micro-slip instabilities
and the build up of an asymmetric field of real contact area.


  The recent emergence of fast, dense, nonvolatile main memory suggests that
certain long-lived data might remain in its natural pointer-rich format across
program runs and hardware reboots. Operations on such data must be instrumented
with explicit write-back and fence instructions to ensure consistency in the
wake of a crash. Techniques to minimize the cost of this instrumentation are an
active topic of research.
  We present what we believe to be the first general-purpose approach to
building buffered durably linearizable persistent data structures, and a
system, Montage, to support that approach. Montage is built on top of the
Ralloc nonblocking persistent allocator. It employs a slow-ticking epoch clock,
and ensures that no operation appears to span an epoch boundary. It also
arranges to persist only that data minimally required to reconstruct the
structure after a crash. If a crash occurs in epoch $e$, all work performed in
epochs $e$ and $e-1$ is lost, but work from prior epochs is preserved.
  We describe the implementation of Montage, argue its correctness, and report
unprecedented throughput for persistent queues, sets/mappings, and general
graphs.


  We have compared the Tenerife data with the {\it COBE} DMR two-year data in
the declination +40\deg region of the sky observed by the Tenerife experiment.
Using the Galactic plane signal at $\sim 30$ GHz, we show that the two data
sets are cross-calibrated to within 5%. The high Galactic latitude data were
investigated for the presence of common structures with the properties of
cosmic microwave background (CMB) fluctuations. The most prominent feature in
the Tenerife data ($\Delta T \sim 80\mu$K) is evident in both the 53 and 90 GHz
DMR maps and has the Planckian spectrum expected for CMB anisotropy. The
cross-correlation function of the Tenerife and DMR scans is indicative of
common structure and at zero lag has the value $C(0)^{1/2}=34^{+13}_{-15}\:
\mu$K. The combination of the spatial and spectral information from the two
data sets is consistent with the presence of cosmic microwave background
anisotropies common to both. The probability that noise could produce the
observed agreement is less than 5%.


  A recurring task in image processing, approximation theory, and the numerical
solution of partial differential equations is to reconstruct a piecewise-smooth
real-valued function f(x) in multiple dimensions from its truncated Fourier
transform (its truncated spectrum). An essential step is edge detection for
which a variety of one-dimensional schemes have been developed over the last
few decades. Most higher-dimensional edge detection algorithms consist of
applying one-dimensional detectors in each component direction in order to
recover the locations in R^N where f(x) is singular (the singular support).
  In this paper, we present a multidimensional algorithm which identifies the
wavefront of a function from spectral data. The wavefront of f(x) is the set of
points $(x,k) \in R^N \times (S^{N-1} / \{\pm 1\})$ which encode both the
location of the singular points of a function and the orientation of the
singularities. (Here $S^{N-1}$ denotes the unit sphere in N dimensions.) More
precisely, k is the direction of the normal line to the curve or surface of
discontinuity at x. Note that the singular support is simply the projection of
the wavefront onto its x-component. In one dimension, the wavefront is a subset
of R^1 and coincides with the singular support. In higher dimensions, geometry
comes into play and they are distinct. We discuss the advantages of wavefront
reconstruction and indicate how it can be used for segmentation in magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI).


  We describe the generation of entangling gates on
superconductor-semiconductor hybrid qubits by ac voltage modulation of the
Josephson energy. Our numerical simulations demonstrate that the unitary error
can be below $10^{-5}$ in a variety of 75-ns-long two-qubit gates (CZ, $i$SWAP,
and $\sqrt{i\mathrm{SWAP}}$) implemented using parametric resonance. We analyze
the conditional ZZ phase and demonstrate that the CZ gate needs no further
phase correction steps, while the ZZ phase error in SWAP-type gates can be
compensated by choosing pulse parameters. With decoherence considered, we
estimate that qubit relaxation time needs to exceed $70\mu\mathrm{s}$ to
achieve the 99.9% fidelity threshold.


  The classical problem of attitude stability in a central gravity field is
generalized to that on a stationary orbit around a uniformly-rotating asteroid.
This generalized problem is studied in the framework of geometric mechanics.
Based on the natural symplectic structure, the non-canonical Hamiltonian
structure of the problem is derived. The Poisson tensor, Casimir functions and
equations of motion are obtained in a differential geometric method. The
equilibrium of the equations of motion, i.e. the equilibrium attitude of the
spacecraft, is determined from a global point of view. Nonlinear stability
conditions of the equilibrium attitude are obtained with the energy-Casimir
method. The nonlinear attitude stability is then investigated versus three
parameters of the asteroid, including the ratio of the mean radius to the
stationary orbital radius, the harmonic coefficients C20 and C22. It is found
that when the spacecraft is located on the intermediate-moment principal axis
of the asteroid, the nonlinear stability domain can be totally different from
the classical Lagrange region on a circular orbit in a central gravity field.


  A tower is a sequence of words alternating between two languages in such a
way that every word is a subsequence of the following word. The height of the
tower is the number of words in the sequence. If there is no infinite tower (a
tower of infinite height), then the height of all towers between the languages
is bounded. We study upper and lower bounds on the height of maximal finite
towers with respect to the size of the NFA (the DFA) representation of the
languages. We show that the upper bound is polynomial in the number of states
and exponential in the size of the alphabet, and that it is asymptotically
tight if the size of the alphabet is fixed. If the alphabet may grow, then,
using an alphabet of size approximately the number of states of the automata,
the lower bound on the height of towers is exponential with respect to that
number. In this case, there is a gap between the lower and upper bound, and the
asymptotically optimal bound remains an open problem. Since, in many cases, the
constructed towers are sequences of prefixes, we also study towers of prefixes.


  With the development and popularity of sensors installed in manufacturing
systems, complex data are collected during manufacturing processes, which
brings challenges for traditional process control methods. This paper proposes
a novel process control and monitoring method for the complex structure of
high-dimensional image-based overlay errors (modeled in tensor form), which are
collected in semiconductor manufacturing processes. The proposed method aims to
reduce overlay errors using limited control recipes. We first build a
high-dimensional process model and propose different tensor-on-vector
regression algorithms to estimate parameters in the model to alleviate the
curse of dimensionality. Then, based on the estimate of tensor parameters, the
exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA) controller for tensor data is
designed whose stability is theoretically guaranteed. Considering the fact that
low-dimensional control recipes cannot compensate for all high-dimensional
disturbances on the image, control residuals are monitored to prevent
significant drifts of uncontrollable high-dimensional disturbances. Through
extensive simulations and real case studies, the performances of parameter
estimation algorithms and the EWMA controller in tensor space are evaluated.
Compared with existing image-based feedback controllers, the superiority of our
method is verified especially when disturbances are not stable.


  We investigate the form and evolution of the X-ray luminosity-temperature
(LT) relation of a sample of 114 galaxy clusters observed with Chandra at
0.1<z<1.3. The clusters were divided into subsamples based on their X-ray
morphology or whether they host strong cool cores. We find that when the core
regions are excluded, the most relaxed clusters (or those with the strongest
cool cores) follow an LT relation with a slope that agrees well with simple
self-similar expectations. This is supported by an analysis of the gas density
profiles of the systems, which shows self-similar behaviour of the gas profiles
of the relaxed clusters outside the core regions. By comparing our data with
clusters in the REXCESS sample, which extends to lower masses, we find evidence
that the self-similar behaviour of even the most relaxed clusters breaks at
around 3.5keV. By contrast, the LT slopes of the subsamples of unrelaxed
systems (or those without strong cool cores) are significantly steeper than the
self-similar model, with lower mass systems appearing less luminous and higher
mass systems appearing more luminous than the self-similar relation. We argue
that these results are consistent with a model of non-gravitational energy
input in clusters that combines central heating with entropy enhancements from
merger shocks. Such enhancements could extend the impact of central energy
input to larger radii in unrelaxed clusters, as suggested by our data. We also
examine the evolution of the LT relation, and find that while the data appear
inconsistent with simple self-similar evolution, the differences can be
plausibly explained by selection bias, and thus we find no reason to rule out
self-similar evolution. We show that the fraction of cool core clusters in our
(non-representative) sample decreases at z>0.5 and discuss the effect of this
on measurements of the evolution in the LT relation.


  We prove explit formulas for the decomposition of a differential graded Lie
algebra into a minimal and a linear $L_\infty$-algebra. We define a category of
metric $L_\infty$-algebras, called Palamodov $L_\infty$ algebras, where the
structure maps satisfy a certain convergence condition and deduce a
decomposition theorem for differential graded Lie algebras in this category.
This theorem serves for instance to prove the convergence of the Kuranishi map
assigned to a differential graded Lie algeba.


  Data augmentation (DA) is a crucial technique for enhancing the sample
efficiency of visual reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms. Notably, employing
simple observation transformations alone can yield outstanding performance
without extra auxiliary representation tasks or pre-trained encoders. However,
it remains unclear which attributes of DA account for its effectiveness in
achieving sample-efficient visual RL. To investigate this issue and further
explore the potential of DA, this work conducts comprehensive experiments to
assess the impact of DA's attributes on its efficacy and provides the following
insights and improvements: (1) For individual DA operations, we reveal that
both ample spatial diversity and slight hardness are indispensable. Building on
this finding, we introduce Random PadResize (Rand PR), a new DA operation that
offers abundant spatial diversity with minimal hardness. (2) For multi-type DA
fusion schemes, the increased DA hardness and unstable data distribution result
in the current fusion schemes being unable to achieve higher sample efficiency
than their corresponding individual operations. Taking the non-stationary
nature of RL into account, we propose a RL-tailored multi-type DA fusion scheme
called Cycling Augmentation (CycAug), which performs periodic cycles of
different DA operations to increase type diversity while maintaining data
distribution consistency. Extensive evaluations on the DeepMind Control suite
and CARLA driving simulator demonstrate that our methods achieve superior
sample efficiency compared with the prior state-of-the-art methods.


  Andrews-Lindsay 1 is a pertinent open cluster granted it may host the
planetary nebula PHR 1315-6555, yet ambiguities linger concerning its
fundamental parameters (>50% scatter). New multiband BVJHW(1-4) photometry for
cluster and field stars, in concert with observations of recently discovered
classical Cepheids, were used to constrain the reddening and velocity-distance
profiles along the sight-line. That analysis yielded the following parameters
for the cluster: E(J-H)=0.24+-0.03, d=10.0+-0.4 kpc (d(JH)=9.9+-0.6 kpc,
d(BV)=10.1+-0.5 kpc), and log(t)=8.90+-0.15. The steep velocity-distance
gradient along l~305 indicates that two remote objects sharing spatial and
kinematic parameters (i.e., PHR 1315-6555 and Andrews-Lindsay 1) are
associated, thus confirming claims that the PN is a cluster member (e.g.,
Parker et al.). The new distance for PHR 1315-6555 is among the most precise
yet established for a Galactic PN (err_d=4%).


  The $J/\psi, \psi(3686) \to \Sigma^0 \bar{\Sigma}^{0}$ processes and
subsequent decays are studied using the world's largest $J/\psi$ and
$\psi(3686)$ data samples collected with the BESIII detector. The strong-$CP$
symmetry is tested in the decays of the $\Sigma^0$ hyperons for the first time
by measuring the decay parameters, $\alpha_{\Sigma^0} = -0.0017 \pm 0.0021 \pm
0.0018$ and $\bar{\alpha}_{\Sigma^0} = 0.0021 \pm 0.0020 \pm 0.0022$. The
weak-$CP$ test is performed in the subsequent decays of their daughter
particles $\Lambda$ and $\bar{\Lambda}$. Also for the first time, the
transverse polarizations of the $\Sigma^0$ hyperons in $J/\psi$ and
$\psi(3686)$ decays are observed with opposite directions, and the ratios
between the S-wave and D-wave contributions of the $J/\psi, \psi(3686) \to
\Sigma^0 \bar{\Sigma}^{0}$ decays are obtained. These results are crucial to
understand the decay dynamics of the charmonium states and the production
mechanism of the $\Sigma^0-\bar{\Sigma}^0$ pairs.


  The electronic structure and chemical bonding in reactively magnetron
sputtered ZrHx (x=0.15, 0.30, 1.16) thin films with oxygen content as low as
0.2 at% are investigated by 4d valence band, shallow 4p core-level and 3d
core-level X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. With increasing hydrogen content,
we observe significant reduction of the 4d valence states close to the Fermi
level as a result of redistribution of intensity towards the H 1s - Zr 4d
hybridization region at about 6 eV below the Fermi level. For low hydrogen
content (x=0.15, 0.30), the films consist of a superposition of hexagonal
closest packed metal (alpha-phase)and understoichiometric delta-ZrHx (CaF2-type
structure) phases, while for x=1.16, the film form single phase ZrHx that
largely resembles that of stoichiometric delta-ZrH2 phase. We show that the
cubic delta-ZrHx phase is metastable as thin film up to x=1.16 while for higher
H-contents, the structure is predicted to be tetragonally distorted. For the
investigated ZrH1.16 film, we find chemical shifts of 0.68 and 0.51 eV towards
higher binding energies for the Zr 4p3/2 and 3d5/2 peak positions,
respectively. Compared to the Zr metal binding energies of 27.26 and 178.87 eV,
this signifies a charge-transfer from Zr to H atoms. The change in the
electronic structure, spectral line shapes, and chemical shifts as function of
hydrogen content is discussed in relation to the charge-transfer from Zr to H
that affects the conductivity by charge redistribution in the valence band.


  Execution logs are a crucial medium as they record runtime information of
software systems. Although extensive logs are helpful to provide valuable
details to identify the root cause in postmortem analysis in case of a failure,
this may also incur performance overhead and storage cost. Therefore, in this
research, we present the result of our experimental study on seven Spark
benchmarks to illustrate the impact of different logging verbosity levels on
the execution time and storage cost of distributed software systems. We also
evaluate the log effectiveness and the information gain values, and study the
changes in performance and the generated logs for each benchmark with various
types of distributed system failures. Our research draws insightful findings
for developers and practitioners on how to set up and utilize their distributed
systems to benefit from the execution logs.


  Homological mirror symmetry is a conjecture that a category constructed in
the A-model and a category constructed in the B-model are equivalent in some
sense. We construct a cyclic differential graded (DG) category of holomorphic
vector bundles on noncommutative two-tori as a category in the B-model side. We
define the corresponding Fukaya's category in the A-model side, and prove the
equivalence of the two categories at the level of cyclic categories. We further
write down explicitly Feynman rules for higher Massey products derived from the
cyclic DG category. As a background of these arguments, a physical explanation
of the mirror symmetry for noncommutative two-tori is also given.


  We consider a Piecewise Deterministic Markov Process given by random
switching between finitely many vector fields vanishing at $0$. It has been
shown recently that the behaviour of this process is mainly determined by the
signs of Lyapunov exponents. However, results have only been given when all
these exponents have the same sign. In this note, we consider the degenerate
case where the process leaves invariant some face and results are stated when
the Lyapunov exponents are of opposite signs. Applications are given to Lorenz
vector fields with switching, and to SIRS model in random environment.


  A class of k-particle observables in a two-mode system of Bose particles is
characterized by typicality: if the state of the system is sampled out of a
suitable ensemble, an experimental measurement of that observable yields
(almost) always the same result. We investigate the general features of typical
observables, the criteria to determine typicality and finally focus on the case
of density correlation functions, which are related to spatial distribution of
particles and interference.


  Central limit theorems for the log-volume of a class of random convex bodies
in $\mathbb{R}^n$ are obtained in the high-dimensional regime, that is, as
$n\to\infty$. In particular, the case of random simplices pinned at the origin
and simplices where all vertices are generated at random is investigated. The
coordinates of the generating vectors are assumed to be independent and
identically distributed with subexponential tails. In addition, asymptotic
normality is established also for random convex bodies (including random
simplices pinned at the origin) when the spanning vectors are distributed
according to a radially symmetric probability measure on the $n$-dimensional
$\ell_p$-ball. In particular, this includes the cone and the uniform
probability measure.


  We implement the 3D Marchenko equations to retrieve responses to virtual
sources inside the subsurface. For this, we require reflection data at the
surface of the Earth that contain no free-surface multiples and are densely
sampled in space. The required 3D reflection data volume is very large and
solving the Marchenko equations requires a significant amount of computational
cost. To limit the cost, we apply floating point compression to the reflection
data to reduce their volume and the loading time from disk. We apply the
Marchenko implementation to numerical reflection data to retrieve accurate
Green's functions inside the medium and use these reflection data to apply
imaging. This requires the simulation of many virtual source points, which we
circumvent by using virtual plane-wave sources instead of virtual point
sources. Through this method, we retrieve the angle-dependent response of a
source from a depth level rather than of a point. We use these responses to
obtain angle-dependent structural images of the subsurface, free of
contamination from wrongly imaged internal multiples. These images have less
lateral resolution than those obtained using virtual point sources, but are
more efficiently retrieved.


  We study generalized fractional $p$-Laplacian equations to prove local
boundedness and H\"older continuity of weak solutions to such nonlocal problems
by finding a suitable fractional Sobolev-Poincar\'e inquality.


  The Hamming ball of radius $w$ in $\{0,1\}^n$ is the set ${\cal B}(n,w)$ of
all binary words of length $n$ and Hamming weight at most $w$. We consider
injective mappings $\varphi: \{0,1\}^m \to {\cal B}(n,w)$ with the following
domination property: every position $j \in [n]$ is dominated by some position
$i \in [m]$, in the sense that "switching off" position $i$ in $x \in
\{0,1\}^m$ necessarily switches off position $j$ in its image $\varphi(x)$.
This property may be described more precisely in terms of a bipartite
\emph{domination graph} $G = ([m] \cup [n], E)$ with no isolated vertices, for
all $(i,j) \in E$ and all $x \in \{0,1\}^m$, we require that $x_i = 0$ implies
$y_j = 0$, where $y = \varphi(x)$. Although such domination mappings recently
found applications in the context of coding for high-performance interconnects,
to the best of our knowledge, they were not previously studied.
  In this paper, we begin with simple necessary conditions for the existence of
an $(m,n,w)$-domination mapping $\varphi: \{0,1\}^m \to {\cal B}(n,w)$. We then
provide several explicit constructions of such mappings, which show that the
necessary conditions are also sufficient when $w=1$, when $w=2$ and $m$ is odd,
or when $m \le 3w$. One of our main results herein is a proof that the trivial
necessary condition $|{\cal B}(n,w)| \ge 2^m$ for the existence of an injection
is, in fact, sufficient for the existence of an $(m,n,w)$-domination mapping
whenever $m$ is sufficiently large. We also present a polynomial-time algorithm
that, given any $m$, $n$, and $w$, determines whether an $(m,n,w)$-domination
mapping exists for a domination graph with an equitable degree distribution.


  The existence, established over the past number of years and supporting
earlier work of Ori [14], of physically relevant black hole spacetimes that
admit $C^0$ metric extensions beyond the future Cauchy horizon, while being
$C^2$-inextendible, has focused attention on fundamental issues concerning the
strong cosmic censorship conjecture. These issues were recently discussed in
the work of Jan Sbierski [17], in which he established the (nonobvious) fact
that the Schwarschild solution in global Kruskal-Szekeres coordinates is
$C^0$-inextendible. In this paper we review aspects of Sbierski's methodology
in a general context, and use similar techniques, along with some new
observations, to consider the $C^0$-inextendibility of open FLRW cosmological
models. We find that a certain special class of open FLRW spacetimes, which we
have dubbed `Milne-like,' actually admit $C^0$ extensions through the big bang.
For spacetimes that are not Milne-like, we prove some inextendibility results
within the class of spherically symmetric spacetimes.


  We view the Information Bottleneck Principle (IBP: Tishby et al., 1999;
Schwartz-Ziv and Tishby, 2017) and Predictive Information Bottleneck Principle
(PIBP: Still et al., 2007; Alemi, 2019) as special cases of a family of general
information bottleneck objectives (IBOs). Each IBO corresponds to a particular
constrained optimization problem where the constraints apply to: (a) the mutual
information between the training data and the learned model parameters or
extracted representation of the data, and (b) the mutual information between
the learned model parameters or extracted representation of the data and the
test data (if any). The heuristics behind the IBP and PIBP are shown to yield
different constraints in the corresponding constrained optimization problem
formulations. We show how other heuristics lead to a new IBO, different from
both the IBP and PIBP, and use the techniques from (Alemi, 2019) to derive and
optimize a variational upper bound on the new IBO.
  We then apply the theory of general IBOs to resolve the seeming contradiction
between, on the one hand, the recommendations of IBP and PIBP to maximize the
mutual information between the model parameters and test data, and on the
other, recent information-theoretic results (see Xu and Raginsky, 2017)
suggesting that this mutual information should be minimized. The key insight is
that the heuristics (and thus the constraints in the constrained optimization
problems) of IBP and PIBP are not applicable to the scenario analyzed by (Xu
and Raginsky, 2017) because the latter makes the additional assumption that the
parameters of the trained model have been selected to minimize the empirical
loss function. Aided by this insight, we formulate a new IBO that accounts for
this property of the parameters of the trained model, and derive and optimize a
variational bound on this IBO.


  Motivated by the existence of hierarchies of structure in the Universe, we
present four new families of exact initial data for inhomogeneous cosmological
models at their maximum of expansion. These data generalise existing black hole
lattice models to situations that contain clusters of masses, and hence allow
the consequences of cosmological structures to be considered in a well-defined
and non-perturbative fashion. The degree of clustering is controlled by a
parameter $\lambda$, in such a way that for $\lambda \sim 0$ or $1$ we have
very tightly clustered masses, whilst for $\lambda \sim 0.5$ all masses are
separated by cosmological distance scales. We study the consequences of
structure formation on the total net mass in each of our clusters, as well as
calculating the cosmological consequences of the interaction energies both
within and between clusters. The locations of the shared horizons that appear
around groups of black holes, when they are brought sufficiently close
together, are also identified and studied. We find that clustering can have
surprisingly large effects on the scale of the cosmology, with models that
contain thousands of black holes sometimes being as little as 30% of the size
of comparable Friedmann models with the same total proper mass. This deficit is
comparable to what might be expected to occur from neglecting gravitational
interaction energies in Friedmann cosmology, and suggests that these quantities
may have a significant influence on the properties of the large-scale
cosmology.


  We present the first proper motion study of M10 (NGC6254). Absolute proper
motions of about 532 stars in the field of the globular cluster M10 were
determined with respect to Hipparcos and ACT reference stars. In addition to
photographic plates of Bonn and Shanghai also wide field CCD observations as
second epoch plates were used. The wide field CCD observations show an accuracy
comparable to that of the photographic plates. A good coincidence of the
solutions based on reference stars from Hipparcos and from ACT was found. Our
final proper motions allow a sufficient separation of cluster and field stars.
Two population II Cepheids were confirmed to be members of M10. The absolute
proper motion of M10 was determined and combined with its distance from the Sun
and its radial velocity. The space motion and metallicity of M10 indicates the
characteristics of a halo object with an orbit reaching to a maximal z-distance
of less than 3kpc.


  The motivation for the search for $0\nu\beta\beta$ decay is briefly reviewed.
It is stressed that the exchange of light Majorana neutrinos is not the only
possible mechanism of the decay. The link between lepton number and lepton
flavor violation is described and its role in elucidating the
$0\nu\beta\beta$-decay mechanism is discussed. The main topic of the talk is
the evaluation of the nuclear matrix elements and their uncertainty. Various
physics effects that influence the value of the matrix elements are described
and the results of the two main methods, the quasiparticle random phase
approximation and the nuclear shell model, are compared.


  We investigate the observational viability of a class of interacting dark
energy (iDE) models in the light of the latest Cosmic Microwave Background
(CMB), type Ia supernovae (SNe) and SH0ES Hubble parameter measurements. Our
analysis explores the assumption of a non-zero spatial curvature, the
correlation between the interaction parameter $\alpha$ and the current
expansion rate $H_0$, and updates the results reported in \cite{micol}.
Initially, assuming a spatially flat universe, the results show that the
best-fit of our joint analysis clearly favours a positive interaction, i.e., an
energy flux from dark matter to dark energy, with $\alpha \approx 0.2$, while
the non-interacting case, $\alpha = 0$, is ruled out by more than $3\sigma$
confidence level. On the other hand, considering a non-zero spatial curvature,
we find a slight preference for a negative value of the curvature parameter,
which seems to relax the correlation between the parameters $\alpha$ and $H_0$,
as well as between $H_0$ and the normalization of the matter power spectrum on
scales of 8$h^{-1}$ Mpc ($\sigma_8$). Finally, we discuss the influence of
considering the SH$0$ES prior on $H_0$ in the joint analyses, and find that
such a choice does not change considerably the standard cosmology predictions
but has a significant influence on the results of the iDE model.


  Aim. We investigate synthetic observational signatures generated from
numerical models of transverse waves propagating in braided magnetic fields.
Methods. We examine two simulations with different levels of magnetic field
braiding and impose a periodic, transverse wave driver at the lower boundary.
After waves reflect off the top boundary, a complex pattern of wave
interference forms. We analyse the synthetic emission produced by the forward
modelling code, FoMo. We examine line intensity, Doppler shifts and kinetic
energy along several line-of-sight (LOS) angles. Results. The Doppler shifts
showed the presence of transverse waves. However, when analysing the intensity,
waves are less easily observed for more complex magnetic fields and may be
mistaken for background noise. Depending on the LOS angle, the observable
signatures of waves reflect some of the magnetic field braiding, particularly
when multiple emission lines are available. In the more braided simulation,
signatures of phase mixing can be identified. We identify possible ambiguities
in the interpretation of wave modes based on the synthetic emission signatures.
Conclusions. Most of the observables within this article behave as expected,
given knowledge of the evolution of the parameters in 3D space. However, some
intriguing observational signatures are present. Detecting regions of magnetic
field complexity is somewhat possible when waves are present. However,
simultaneous spectroscopic imaging from different lines is important to
identify these locations. Care needs to be taken when interpreting intensity
and Doppler velocity signatures as torsional motions as, in our setup, such
signatures were a consequence of the magnetic field complexity and not
torsional waves. Finally, the kinetic energy, estimated with Doppler
velocities, is dependent on the polarisation of the wave, complexity of the
background field and the LOS.


  We calculate the expectation value of the stress energy tensor for a massless
dilaton-coupled 2D scalar field propagating on an extremal Reissner-Nordstrom
black hole formed by the collapse of a timelike shell, showing its regularity
on the horizon.


  We develop a theory of contracting systems, where behavioural contracts may
be violated by dishonest participants after they have been agreed upon - unlike
in traditional approaches based on behavioural types. We consider the contracts
of \cite{CastagnaPadovaniGesbert09toplas}, and we embed them in a calculus that
allows distributed participants to advertise contracts, reach agreements, query
the fulfilment of contracts, and realise them (or choose not to).
  Our contract theory makes explicit who is culpable at each step of a
computation. A participant is honest in a given context S when she is not
culpable in each possible interaction with S. Our main result is a sufficient
criterion for classifying a participant as honest in all possible contexts.


  We use covariance and dimensional analysis to find expressions for the
discontinuity of the potential and normal electric field across a flat surface
with multipolar charge surface density in vacuum.


  Large Language Models (LLMs) have shown great success as high-level planners
for zero-shot game-playing agents. However, these agents are primarily
evaluated on Minecraft, where long-term planning is relatively straightforward.
In contrast, agents tested in dynamic robot environments face limitations due
to simplistic environments with only a few objects and interactions. To fill
this gap in the literature, we present NetPlay, the first LLM-powered zero-shot
agent for the challenging roguelike NetHack. NetHack is a particularly
challenging environment due to its diverse set of items and monsters, complex
interactions, and many ways to die.
  NetPlay uses an architecture designed for dynamic robot environments,
modified for NetHack. Like previous approaches, it prompts the LLM to choose
from predefined skills and tracks past interactions to enhance decision-making.
Given NetHack's unpredictable nature, NetPlay detects important game events to
interrupt running skills, enabling it to react to unforeseen circumstances.
While NetPlay demonstrates considerable flexibility and proficiency in
interacting with NetHack's mechanics, it struggles with ambiguous task
descriptions and a lack of explicit feedback. Our findings demonstrate that
NetPlay performs best with detailed context information, indicating the
necessity for dynamic methods in supplying context information for complex
games such as NetHack.


  Let X be a compact nonsingular real algebraic variety. We prove that if a
continuous map from X into the unit p-sphere is homotopic to a continuous
rational map, then, under certain assumptions, it can be approximated in the
compact-open topology by continuous rational maps. As a byproduct, we also
obtain some results on approximation of smooth submanifolds by nonsingular
subvarieties.


  High-pressure can transform the structures and compositions of materials
either by changing the relative strengths of bonds or by altering the oxidation
states of atoms. Both effects cause unconventional compositions in novel
compounds that have been synthesized or predicted in large numbers in the past
decade. What naturally follows is a question: what if pressure imposes strong
effects on both chemical bonds and atomic orbitals in the same material. A
systematic DFT and crystal structure search study of Cs polyoxides under high
pressure shows a striking transition of chemistry due to the activation of the
Cs 5p core electrons. Opposing to the general trend of polyoxides, the O-O
bonds disappear in Cs polyoxides and Cs and O atoms form molecules and
monolayers with strong Cs-O covalent bonds. Especially, the abnormal transition
of structure and chemical bonds happens to CsO, a solid peroxide that is stable
under ambient pressure, at 221 GPa, which can be accessed by current
high-pressure experiments.


  The symmetries of the order parameter (OP) responsible for pairing and the OP
responsible for phase coherence in hole-doped cuprates are discussed. We
analyze angle-resolved tunneling, ARPES, Raman scattering and torque
measurements performed on hole-doped cuprates. We conclude that, most likely,
the OP responsible for phase coherence has the d-wave symmetry whereas the OP
responsible for pairing has an anisotropic s-wave symmetry.


  We show how entanglement between two conduction electrons is generated in the
presence of a localized magnetic impurity embedded in an otherwise ballistic
conductor of special geometry. This process is a generalization of
beam-splitter mediated entanglement generation schemes with a localized spin
placed at the site of the beam splitter. Our entangling scheme is unconditional
and robust to randomness of the initial state of the impurity. The entangled
state generated manifests itself in noise reduction of spin-dependent currents.


  We present a strong lensing modeling technique based on versatile basis sets
for the lens and source planes. Our method uses high performance Monte Carlo
algorithms, allows for an adaptive build up of complexity and bridges the gap
between parametric and pixel based reconstruction methods. We apply our method
to a HST image of the strong lens system RXJ1131-1231 and show that our method
finds a reliable solution and is able to detect substructure in the lens and
source planes simultaneously. Using mock data we show that our method is
sensitive to sub-clumps with masses four orders of magnitude smaller than the
main lens, which corresponds to about $10^8 M_{\odot}$, without prior knowledge
on the position and mass of the sub-clump. The modelling approach is flexible
and maximises automation to facilitate the analysis of the large number of
strong lensing systems expected in upcoming wide field surveys. The resulting
search for dark sub-clumps in these systems, without mass-to-light priors,
offers promise for probing physics beyond the standard model in the dark matter
sector.


  Quasi-two-dimensional systems may exibit curvature, which adds
three-dimensional influence to their internal properties. As shown by da Costa
\cite{dacosta}, charged particles moving on a curved surface experience a
curvature-dependent potential which greatly influence their dynamics. In this
paper, we study the electronic ballistic transport in deformed nanotubes. The
one-electron Schr\"odinger equation with open boundary conditions is solved
numerically with a flexible MAPLE code made available as Supplementary Data. We
find that the curvature of the deformations have indeed strong effects on the
electron dynamics suggesting its use in the design of nanotube-based electronic
devices.


  Evaluating the magnitude of natural climate variations is important because
it can greatly affect future climate policies. As an example, we examine the
influence of changes in solar activity (solar wind in particular) on surface
temperatures (Ts) and major teleconnection patterns such as the Arctic
Oscillation and Pacific Decadal Oscillation. We compared correlation maps
(spatial distribution of correlation coefficient) for a combination of Ts and a
geomagnetic index (aa, an indicator of solar wind strength) and a combination
of Ts and the teleconnection patterns. The phase of the quasi-biennial
oscillation of the equatorial zonal wind and magnitude of sunspot number were
considered. As a result, we found that the influence of the solar wind is as
strong as that of the teleconnection patterns and hence, the former appears to
affect the climate via the latter. It was also found that both the solar wind
and ultraviolet change should be considered to explain the influence of solar
activity variability, i.e., a multi-pathway scheme is necessary.


  This is an expository note on large deviations, Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman (HJB)
equations, and the role of the Freidlin-Wentzell quasipotential in Chemical
Reaction Networks (CRNs). The note was motivated by observations which
identified Lyapunov functions for deterministic descriptions of CRNs by taking
appropriate scaling limits of invariant distributions for the corresponding
stochastic dynamics. We explain how this is a special case of a classical
theory due to Freidlin and Wentzell. We also show that this Lyapunov function
is a solution to the HJB partial differential equation if and only if the
network is "complex-balanced". The target audience are researchers in the CRN
community who are familiar with the Markov process description of CRNs, but do
not have the time to invest in learning the technical machinery of large
deviations. We conclude by exploring some possible relationships with K\"ahler
geometry which suggest an interesting and unexplored research direction.


  The simplest consequences of the common E_{11} symmetry of the eleven
dimensional, IIA and IIB theories are derived and are shown to imply the known
relations between these three theories.


  Tabular data is the foundation of the information age and has been
extensively studied. Recent studies show that neural-based models are effective
in learning contextual representation for tabular data. The learning of an
effective contextual representation requires meaningful features and a large
amount of data. However, current methods often fail to properly learn a
contextual representation from the features without semantic information. In
addition, it's intractable to enlarge the training set through mixed tabular
datasets due to the difference between datasets. To address these problems, we
propose a novel framework PTab, using the Pre-trained language model to model
Tabular data. PTab learns a contextual representation of tabular data through a
three-stage processing: Modality Transformation(MT), Masked-Language
Fine-tuning(MF), and Classification Fine-tuning(CF). We initialize our model
with a pre-trained Model (PTM) which contains semantic information learned from
the large-scale language data. Consequently, contextual representation can be
learned effectively during the fine-tuning stages. In addition, we can
naturally mix the textualized tabular data to enlarge the training set to
further improve representation learning. We evaluate PTab on eight popular
tabular classification datasets. Experimental results show that our method has
achieved a better average AUC score in supervised settings compared to the
state-of-the-art baselines(e.g. XGBoost), and outperforms counterpart methods
under semi-supervised settings. We present visualization results that show PTab
has well instance-based interpretability.


  In this paper I am presenting an overview on several topics related to
nonequilibrium fluctuations in small systems. I start with a general discussion
about fluctuation theorems and applications to physical examples extracted from
physics and biology: a bead in an optical trap and single molecule force
experiments. Next I present a general discussion on path thermodynamics and
consider distributions of work/heat fluctuations as large deviation functions.
Then I address the topic of glassy dynamics from the perspective of
nonequilibrium fluctuations due to small cooperatively rearranging regions.
Finally, I conclude with a brief digression on future perspectives.


  A stratified space is a kind of topological space together with a partition
into smooth manifolds. These kinds of spaces naturally arise in the study of
singular algebraic varieties, symplectic reduction, and differentiable stacks.
In this paper, we introduce a particular class of stratified spaces called
stratified vector bundles, and provide an alternate characterization in terms
of monoid actions. We will then provide large families of examples coming from
the theory of Whitney stratified spaces, singular foliation theory, and
equivariant vector bundle theory. Finally, we extend functorial properties of
smooth vector bundles to the stratified case.


  In the present paper, we try to propose a self-similar network theory for the
basic understanding. By extending the natural languages to a kind of so called
idealy sufficient language, we can proceed a few steps to the investigation of
the language searching and the language understanding of AI.
  Image understanding, and the familiarity of the brain to the surrounding
environment are also discussed. Group effects are discussed by addressing the
essense of the power of influences, and constructing the influence network of a
society. We also give a discussion of inspirations.


  We study the problem of distributed multi-robot coverage over an unknown,
nonuniform sensory field. Modeling the sensory field as a realization of a
Gaussian Process and using Bayesian techniques, we devise a policy which aims
to balance the tradeoff between learning the sensory function and covering the
environment. We propose an adaptive coverage algorithm called Deterministic
Sequencing of Learning and Coverage (DSLC) that schedules learning and coverage
epochs such that its emphasis gradually shifts from exploration to exploitation
while never fully ceasing to learn. Using a novel definition of coverage regret
which characterizes overall coverage performance of a multi-robot team over a
time horizon $T$, we analyze DSLC to provide an upper bound on expected
cumulative coverage regret. Finally, we illustrate the empirical performance of
the algorithm through simulations of the coverage task over an unknown
distribution of wildfires.


  We have analyzed the two longest (elapsed time > 3 days) BeppoSAX
observations of the X-ray brightest Seyfert galaxy, NGC 4151, to search for
spectral variability on time-scales from a few tens of ksec to years. We found
in both cases highly significant spectral variability below ~ 6 keV down to the
shortest time-scales investigated. These variations can be naturally explained
in terms of variations in the low energy cut-off due to obscuring matter along
the line of sight. If the cut-off is modeled by two neutral absorption
components, one fully covering the source and the second covering only a
fraction of the source, the shortest time-scale of variability of a few days
constrains the location of the obscuring matter to within 3.4 X 10^4
Schwarzschild radii from the central X-ray source. This is consistent with the
distance of the Broad Emission Line Region, as inferred from reverberation
mapping, and difficult to reconcile with the parsec scale dusty molecular torus
of Krolik & Begelman (1988). We have also explored a more complex absorption
structure, namely the presence of an ionized absorber. Although the behaviour
of the ionization parameter is nicely consistent with the expectations, the
results are not completely satisfactory from the statistical point of view.
  The overall absorption during the 2001 December observation is lower than in
all other historical observations with similar 2-10 keV flux. This suggests
that absorption variability plays a crucial role in the observed flux
variability of this source.


  We show that the study of conductivity nonlinearity gives a possibility to
determine the condition when the diffusion conductivity changes to the hopping
one with increasing disorder. It is experimentally shown that the conductivity
of single quantum well GaAs/InGaAs/GaAs heterostructures behaves like diffusive
one down to value of order $10^{-2}e^2/h$.


  Entanglement is a key resource of quantum science for tasks that require it
to be shared among participants. Within atomic, condensed matter and photonic
many-body systems the distribution and sharing of entanglement is of particular
importance for information processing by progressively larger and larger
quantum networks. Here we report a singly-bipartitioned qubit entanglement
inequality that applies to any N-party qubit pure state and is completely
tight. It provides the first prescription for a direct calculation of the
amount of entanglement sharing that is possible among N qubit parties. A
geometric representation of the measure is easily visualized via polytopes
within entanglement hypercubes.


  Heisenberg's uncertainty principle was originally posed for the limit of the
accuracy of simultaneous measurement of non-commuting observables as stating
that canonically conjugate observables can be measured simultaneously only with
the constraint that the product of their mean errors should be no less than a
limit set by Planck's constant. However, Heisenberg with the subsequent
completion by Kennard has long been credited only with a constraint for state
preparation represented by the product of the standard deviations. Here, we
show that Heisenberg actually proved the constraint for the accuracy of
simultaneous measurement but assuming an obsolete postulate for quantum
mechanics. This assumption, known as the repeatability hypothesis, formulated
explicitly by von Neumann and Schr\"{o}dinger, was broadly accepted until the
1970s, but abandoned in the 1980s, when completely general quantum measurement
theory was established. We also survey the author's recent proposal for a
universally valid reformulation of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle under the
most general assumption on quantum measurement.


  Measurements of circular polarization of $\gamma$-ray emitted from neutron
capture reactions provide valuable information for nuclear physics studies. The
spin and parity of excited states can be determined by measuring the circular
polarization from polarized neutron capture reactions. Furthermore, the
$\gamma$-ray circular polarization in a neutron capture resonance is crucial
for studying the enhancement effect of parity nonconservation in compound
nuclei. The $\gamma$-ray circular polarization can be measured using a
polarimeter based on magnetic Compton scattering. A polarimeter was
constructed, and its performance indicators were evaluated using a circularly
polarized $\gamma$-ray beam. Furthermore, as a demonstration, the $\gamma$-ray
circular polarization was measured in
$^{32}$S($\vec{\textrm{n}}$,$\gamma$)$^{33}$S reactions with polarized
neutrons.


  The shape of the ion energy spectra plays a critical role toward determining
the ion energetics, the acceleration mechanisms and the possible sources of
different plasma and suprathermal ion populations. The determination of the
exact shape of the total particle spectrum, provide the necessary means to
address the inner heliosheath (IHS) dynamics. Apart from various modeling
efforts, a direct fit to the measured ion spectra for an extended energy range
of $\sim$0.11 to 344 MeV has not been performed to date.
  We use an extended set of combined 0.11-55 keV ENA measurements from the
Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX-Lo and IBEX-Hi) and Cassini/Ion and
Neutral Camera (INCA), converted to protons, together with $\sim$28 keV to 344
MeV ion measurements from the Low Energy Charged Particle (LECP) and Cosmic Ray
Subsystem (CRS) experiments on Voyager 2, over the declining phase of Solar
Cyle 23 (SC23) and ascending phase Solar Cylce 24 (SC24) (2009-2016) to study
the characteristics of the particle energy spectrum.
  We fit the 0.11 keV to 344 MeV composite spectra with a set of regularized
isotropic $\kappa$-distribution functions (RKD) allowing the determination of
the macroscopic physical properties.
  We demonstrate that the 2009-2012 spectrum that corresponds to the declining
phase of SC23 is well fitted by three different RKDs, while the 2013-2016
spectrum, associated with the rise of SC24, can only be approximated with six
different RKDs.
  Our results are generally consistent with shock accelerated particles that
undergo additional acceleration inside the IHS. We identify a low energy
transmitted population of particles, a suprathermal reflected population and a
very high energy component that is modulated by GCRs. The 2013-2016 time period
is most likely associated with a mixture of particles from SC23 and SC24, which
is reflected by the need to employ six RDKs.


  In this note, we construct new doubly even self-dual codes having minimum
weight $20$ for lengths $112$, $120$ and $128$. This implies that there are at
least three inequivalent extremal doubly even self-dual codes of length $112$.


  The eighth AI City Challenge highlighted the convergence of computer vision
and artificial intelligence in areas like retail, warehouse settings, and
Intelligent Traffic Systems (ITS), presenting significant research
opportunities. The 2024 edition featured five tracks, attracting unprecedented
interest from 726 teams in 47 countries and regions. Track 1 dealt with
multi-target multi-camera (MTMC) people tracking, highlighting significant
enhancements in camera count, character number, 3D annotation, and camera
matrices, alongside new rules for 3D tracking and online tracking algorithm
encouragement. Track 2 introduced dense video captioning for traffic safety,
focusing on pedestrian accidents using multi-camera feeds to improve insights
for insurance and prevention. Track 3 required teams to classify driver actions
in a naturalistic driving analysis. Track 4 explored fish-eye camera analytics
using the FishEye8K dataset. Track 5 focused on motorcycle helmet rule
violation detection. The challenge utilized two leaderboards to showcase
methods, with participants setting new benchmarks, some surpassing existing
state-of-the-art achievements.


  As a popular channel pruning method for convolutional neural networks (CNNs),
network slimming (NS) has a three-stage process: (1) it trains a CNN with
$\ell_1$ regularization applied to the scaling factors of the batch
normalization layers; (2) it removes channels whose scaling factors are below a
chosen threshold; and (3) it retrains the pruned model to recover the original
accuracy. This time-consuming, three-step process is a result of using
subgradient descent to train CNNs. Because subgradient descent does not exactly
train CNNs towards sparse, accurate structures, the latter two steps are
necessary. Moreover, subgradient descent does not have any convergence
guarantee. Therefore, we develop an alternative algorithm called proximal NS.
Our proposed algorithm trains CNNs towards sparse, accurate structures, so
identifying a scaling factor threshold is unnecessary and fine tuning the
pruned CNNs is optional. Using Kurdyka-{\L}ojasiewicz assumptions, we establish
global convergence of proximal NS. Lastly, we validate the efficacy of the
proposed algorithm on VGGNet, DenseNet and ResNet on CIFAR 10/100. Our
experiments demonstrate that after one round of training, proximal NS yields a
CNN with competitive accuracy and compression.


  Understanding how contagions (information, infections, etc) are spread on
complex networks is important both from practical as well as theoretical point
of view. Considerable work has been done in this regard in the past decade or
so. However, most models are limited in their scope and as a result only
capture general features of spreading phenomena. Here, we propose and study a
model of spreading which takes into account the strength or quality of
contagions as well as the local (probabilistic) dynamics occurring at various
nodes. Transmission occurs only after the quality-based fitness of the
contagion has been evaluated by the local agent. The model exhibits
quality-dependent exponential time scales at early times leading to a slowly
evolving quasi-stationary state. Low prevalence is seen for a wide range of
contagion quality for arbitrary large networks. We also investigate the
activity of nodes and find a power-law distribution with a robust exponent
independent of network topology. Our results are consistent with recent
empirical observations.


  We study an alternative to the prevailing approach to modelling qualitative
spatial reasoning (QSR) problems as constraint satisfaction problems. In the
standard approach, a relation between objects is a constraint whereas in the
alternative approach it is a variable. The relation-variable approach greatly
simplifies integration and implementation of QSR. To substantiate this point,
we discuss several QSR algorithms from the literature which in the
relation-variable approach reduce to the customary constraint propagation
algorithm enforcing generalised arc-consistency.