  We consider the strong rescattering effects that can occur in the decays such
as B -> K pi, K* pi, K rho... and their impact on direct CP violation in these
modes. First we discuss, in general, how the CPT theorem constrains the
resulting pattern of partial rate asymmetries leading to different brands of
direct CP. Traditional discussions have centered around the absorptive part of
the penguin graph which has Delta I=0 in b -> s transitions and as a result
causes ``simple'' CP violation; long-distance final state rescattering effects,
in general, will lead to a different pattern of CP: ``compound'' CP violation.
Predictions of simple CP are quite distinct from that of compound CP. Final
states rescattering phases in B decays are unlikely to be small possibly
causing large compound CP violating partial rate asymmetries in these modes.
CPT theorem requires a cancellation of PRA due to compound CP amongst the
$K\pi$ states themselves; thus there can be no net cancellation with other
states such as K*\pi, K\rho etc. Therefore, each class of such modes, namely K
pi, K rho, K^*pi, K a_1 etc. can have large direct CP emanating from
rescattering effects. Various repercussions for the angle $\gamma$ are also
discussed.


  We give a combinatorial characterization of Fulton's operational Chow
cohomology groups of a complete , $\Q$-factorial, rational T-variety of
complexity one in terms of so called generalized Minkowsky weights in the
contraction-free case. We also describe the intersection product with Cartier
invariant divisors in terms of the combinatorial data. In particular this
provides a new way of computing top intersection numbers of invariant Cartier
divisors combinatorially.


  We explore the trade-offs of performing linear algebra using Apache Spark,
compared to traditional C and MPI implementations on HPC platforms. Spark is
designed for data analytics on cluster computing platforms with access to local
disks and is optimized for data-parallel tasks. We examine three widely-used
and important matrix factorizations: NMF (for physical plausability), PCA (for
its ubiquity) and CX (for data interpretability). We apply these methods to
TB-sized problems in particle physics, climate modeling and bioimaging. The
data matrices are tall-and-skinny which enable the algorithms to map
conveniently into Spark's data-parallel model. We perform scaling experiments
on up to 1600 Cray XC40 nodes, describe the sources of slowdowns, and provide
tuning guidance to obtain high performance.


  Surface plasmons in a centrosymmetric metal nanocrystal have been perceived
as achiral, based on the quantum-mechanical theory of molecular optical
activity. The one-electron theory is insufficient to describe optical activity
in crystals, where spatial variation of polarization states along the light
propagation direction is crucial in dimensions exceeding molecules. Such
spatial-dispersion, which can drastically modify the optical near-field in
plasmonic nanocrystals, has yet to be experimentally proved at the nanometer
scale. Here, the experimental observation of natural circular dichroism of
surface plasmons in spherical gold, silver, and copper nanocrystals in solution
is presented. It originates from spatial dispersion (nonlocality) occurred at a
dimension as small as 5 nanometers in the optical region. In particular, the
electromagnetic pressure or longitudinal volume plasmons result in phase-shift
and polarization rotation of the transverse electric field of incident light.
Dipolar surface plasmons exhibit negative ellipticity and corresponding
negative phase-shift of the electric field (i.e., optically left-handed),
whereas quadrupolar surface plasmons have positive signs in both ellipticity
and phase-shift (i.e., optically right-handed). Structural effects such as
nanocrystal assembly, nanocrystal shape, electron spin-polarization, and
plasmon-molecule interaction are accessed. Volume plasmons inside the
nanocrystal also produce a positive rotational strength for the interband
transition. This study implicates optical symmetry-breaking in isotropic
nanocrystals by the axial polarization parallel to the wavevector, which will
impact on conduction electron dynamics, hot-electron generation, and nonlinear
optical response at the surface of plasmonic nanocrystals as well as optical
excitation of bound d-band electrons.


  This paper considers to the problems of diffraction of electromagnetic waves
on a half-plane, which has a finite inclusion in the form of a Lipschitz curve.
The diffraction problem formulated as boundary value problem for Helmholtz
equations and boundary conditions Dirichlet or Neumann on the boundary, as well
as the radiation conditions at infinity. We carry out research on these
problems in generalized Sobolev spaces. We use the operators of potential type,
that by their properties are analogs of the classical potentials of single and
double layers. We proved the solvability of the boundary value problems of
Dirichlet and Neumann. We have obtained solutions of boundary value problems in
the form of operators of potential type. Boundary problems are reduced to
integral equations of the second kind.


  We investigate MeV-GeV $\gamma$-ray outbursts in 3C 273 in the frame of a
time-dependent one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model. In this model,
electrons are accelerated to extra-relativistic energy through the stochastic
particle acceleration and evolve with the time, nonthermal photons are produced
by both synchrotron and inverse Compton scattering of synchrotron photons.
Moreover, nonthermal photons during a quiescent are produced by the
relativistic electrons in the steady state and those during a outburst are
produced by the electrons whose injection rate is changed at some time
interval. We apply the model to two exceptionally luminous $\gamma$-ray
outbursts observed by the Fermi-LAT from 3C 273 in September, 2009 and obtain
the multi-wavelength spectra during the quiescent and during the outburst
states, respectively. Our results show that the time-dependent properties of
outbursts can be reproduced by adopting the appropriate injection rate function
of the electron population.


  Given a $d\times d$ quasiconvex quadratic form, $d\geq 3,$ we prove that if
the determinant of its acoustic tensor is an irreducible extremal polynomial
that is not identically zero, then the form itself is an extremal quasiconvex
quadratic form, i.e. it loses its quasiconvexity whenever a convex quadratic
form is subtracted from it. In the special case $d=3,$ we slightly weaken the
condition, namely we prove, that if the determinant of the acoustic tensor of
the quadratic form is an extremal polynomial that is not a perfect square, then
the form itself is an extremal quadratic form. In the case $d=3$ we also prove,
that if the determinant of the acoustic tensor of the form is identically zero,
then the form is either an extremal or polyconvex. Also, if the determinant of
the acoustic tensor of the form is a perfect square, then the form is either
extremal, polycovex, or is a sum of a rank-one form and an extremal, whose
acoustic tensor determinant is identically zero. Here we use the notion of
extremality introduced by Milton in [\ref{bib:Mil3}]


  We propose a nonperturbative definition of heterotic string theory on
arbitrary multidimensional tori.


  We give definitions for different types of moving spatially localized objects
in discrete nonlinear lattices. We derive general analytical relations
connecting frequency, velocity and localization length of moving discrete
breathers and kinks in nonlinear one-dimensional lattices. Then we propose
numerical algorithms to find these solutions. Finally we discuss
generalizations to higher dimensional lattices.


  Partition functions of quantum critical systems, expressed as conformal
thermal tensor networks, are defined on various manifolds which can give rise
to universal entropy corrections. Through high-precision tensor network
simulations of several quantum chains, we identify the universal entropy
$S_{\mathcal{K}} = \ln{k}$ on the Klein bottle, where $k$ relates to quantum
dimensions of the primary fields in conformal field theory (CFT). Different
from the celebrated Affleck-Ludwig boundary entropy $\ln{g}$ ($g$ reflects
non-integer groundstate degeneracy), $S_{\mathcal{K}}$ has \textit{no} boundary
dependence or surface energy terms accompanied, and can be very conveniently
extracted from thermal data. On the M\"obius-strip manifold, we uncover an
entropy $S_{\mathcal{M}} = \frac{1}{2} (\ln{g} + \ln{k})$ in CFT, where
$\frac{1}{2} \ln{g}$ is associated with the only open edge of the M\"obius
strip, and $\frac{1}{2} \ln{k}$ with the non-orientable topology. We employ
$S_{\mathcal{K}}$ to accurately pinpoint the quantum phase transitions, even
for those without local order parameters.


  The Sun has a Near-Surface Shear Layer (NSSL), within which the angular
velocity decreases rapidly with radius. We provide an explanation of this layer
based on the thermal wind balance equation. Since convective motions are not
affected by solar rotation in the top layer of the convection zone, we argue
that the temperature falls at the same rate at all latitudes in this layer.
This makes the thermal wind term very large in this layer and the centrifugal
term has also to become very large to balance it, giving rise to the NSSL. From
the values of differential rotation $\Omega (r<r_c, \theta)$ at radii less than
a radius $r_c$, we can calculate the temperature difference $\Delta T (r,
\theta)$ with respect to the standard solar model at different points of the
convection zone, by making use of the thermal wind balance equation. Then we
again use this equation in the top layer to calculate $\Omega (r>r_c, \theta)$
there from $\Delta T (r, \theta)$. We carry on this exercise using both an
analytical expression of the differential rotation and the actual data provided
by helioseismology. We find that our theoretical results of the NSSL match the
observational data reasonably well for $r_c \approx 0.96~{\rm R_{\odot}}$,
giving an estimate of the radius till which the convective motions are affected
by the solar rotation.


  Due to the increasing dimension, complexity and cost of the future
astronomical surveys, new technologies enabling more compact and simpler
systems are required. The development of curved detectors allows to enhance the
performances of the optical system used (telescope or astronomical instrument),
while keeping the system more compact. We describe here a set of five curved
CMOS detectors developed within a collaboration between CEA-LETI and CNRS-LAM.
These fully-functional detectors 20 Mpix (CMOSIS CMV20000) have been curved to
different radii of curvature and spherical shapes (both convex and concave)
over a size of 24x32 mm^2. Before being able to use them for astronomical
observations, we assess the impact of the curving process on their
performances. We perform a full electro-optical characterization of the curved
detectors, by measuring the gain, the full well capacity, the dynamic-range and
the noise properties, such as dark current, readout noise,
pixel-relative-non-uniformity. We repeat the same process for the flat version
of the same CMOS sensor, as a reference for comparison. We find no significant
difference among most of the characterization values of the curved and flat
samples. We obtain values of readout noise of 10e$^-$ for the curved samples
compared to the 11e$^-$ of the flat sample, which provides slightly larger
dynamic ranges for the curved detectors. Additionally we measure consistently
smaller values of dark current compared to the flat CMOS sensor. The curving
process for the prototypes shown in this paper does not significantly impact
the performances of the detectors. These results represent the first step
towards their astronomical implementation.


  We find an intriguing link between the symmetries of the tensionless limit of
closed string theory and the 2-dimensional Galilean Conformal Algebra (2d GCA).
2d GCA has been discussed in the context of the non-relativistic limit of
AdS/CFT and more recently in flat-space holography as the proposed symmetry
algebra of the field theory dual to 3d Minkowski spacetimes. It is best
understood as a contraction of two copies of the Virasoro algebra. In this
note, we link this to the tensionless limit of bosonic closed string theory. We
show how it emerges naturally as a contraction of the residual gauge symmetries
of the tensile string in the conformal gauge. We also discuss a possible "dual"
interpretation in terms of a point-particle like limit.


  Experimental research has shown that the brain's fast electrochemical
dynamics, or neurodynamics (ND), is strongly stochastic, chaotic, and instanton
(neuroavalanche)-dominated. It is also partly scale-invariant which has been
loosely associated with critical phenomena. It has been recently demonstrated
that the supersymmetric theory of stochastics (STS) offers a theoretical
framework that can explain all of the above ND features. In the STS, all
stochastic models possess a topological supersymmetry (TS), and the
"criticality" of ND and similar stochastic processes is associated with
noise-induced, spontaneous breakdown of this TS (due to instanton condensation
near the border with ordinary chaos in which TS is broken by
non-integrability). Here, we propose a new approach that may be useful for the
construction of low-energy effective theories of ND. Its centerpiece is a
coarse-graining procedure of neural networks based on simplicial complexes and
the concept of the "enveloping lattice." It represents a neural network as a
continuous, high-dimensional base space whose rich topology reflects that of
the original network. The reduced one-instanton state space is determined by
the de Rham cohomology classes of this base space, and the effective ND
dynamics can be recognized as interactions of the instantons in the spirit of
the Segal-Atiyah formalism.


  The nonlinear evolution of the Weibel instability driven by the anisotropy of
the electron distribution function in a collisionless plasma is investigated in
a spatially one-dimensional configuration with a Vlasov code in a
two-dimensional velocity space. It is found that the electromagnetic fields
generated by this instability cause a strong deformation of the electron
distribution function in phase space, corresponding to highly filamented
magnetic vortices. Eventually, these deformations lead to the generation of
short wavelength Langmuir modes that form highly localized electrostatic
structures corresponding to jumps of the electrostatic potential.


  In simplified models of glasses we clarify the existence of two different
kinds of activated dynamics, which coexist, with one of the two dominating over
the other. One is the energy barrier hopping that is typically used to picture
activation, and the other one, which we call entropic activation, is driven by
the scarcity of convenient directions. When entropic activation dominates, the
height of the energy barriers is no longer the decisive to describe the
system's slowdown. In our analysis, dominance of one mechanism over the other
depends on the shape of the density of states and temperature. We also find
that at low temperatures a phase transition between the two kinds of activation
can occur. Our framework can be used to harmonize the facilitation and
thermodynamic pictures of the slowdown of glasses.


  In this letter, the problem of sparse signal reconstruction from one bit
compressed sensing measurements is investigated. To solve the problem, a
variational Bayes framework with a new statistical multivariate model is used.
The dependency of the wavelet decomposition coefficients is modeled with a
multivariate Gaussian copula. This model can separate marginal structure of
coefficients from their intra scale dependency. In particular, the drawable
Gaussian vine copula multivariate double Lomax model is suggested. The
reconstructed signal is derived by variational Bayes algorithm which can
calculate closed forms for posterior of all unknown parameters and sparse
signal. Numerical results illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model
and algorithm compared with the competing approaches in the literature.


  We provide a world-sheet interpretation to the plane wave limit of a large
class of exact supergravity backgrounds in terms of logarithmic conformal field
theories. As an illustrative example, we consider the two-dimensional conformal
field theory of the coset model SU(2)_N/U(1) times a free time-like boson
U(1)_{-N}, which admits a space-time interpretation as a three-dimensional
plane wave solution by taking a correlated limit \`a la Penrose. We show that
upon a contraction of Saletan type, in which the parafermions of the compact
coset model are combined with the free time-like boson, one obtains a novel
logarithmic conformal field theory with central charge c=3. Our results are
motivated at the classical level using Poisson brackets of the fields, but they
are also explicitly demonstrated at the quantum level using exact operator
product expansions. We perform several computations in this theory including
the evaluation of the four-point functions involving primary fields and their
logarithmic partners, which are identified. We also employ the extended
conformal symmetries of the model to construct an infinite number of
logarithmic operators. This analysis can be easily generalized to other exact
conformal field theory backgrounds with a plane wave limit in the target space.


  Python's dynamic typing system offers flexibility and expressiveness but can
lead to type-related errors, prompting the need for automated type inference to
enhance type hinting. While existing learning-based approaches show promising
inference accuracy, they struggle with practical challenges in comprehensively
handling various types, including complex generic types and (unseen)
user-defined types.
  In this paper, we introduce TIGER, a two-stage generating-then-ranking (GTR)
framework, designed to effectively handle Python's diverse type categories.
TIGER leverages fine-tuned pre-trained code models to train a generative model
with a span masking objective and a similarity model with a contrastive
training objective. This approach allows TIGER to generate a wide range of type
candidates, including complex generics in the generating stage, and accurately
rank them with user-defined types in the ranking stage. Our evaluation on the
ManyTypes4Py dataset shows TIGER's advantage over existing methods in various
type categories, notably improving accuracy in inferring user-defined and
unseen types by 11.2% and 20.1% respectively in Top-5 Exact Match. Moreover,
the experimental results not only demonstrate TIGER's superior performance and
efficiency, but also underscore the significance of its generating and ranking
stages in enhancing automated type inference.


  Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) generation, a commonly used method in BioMEMS,
plays a significant role in the pulsed-release drug delivery system for a
decade. In this paper, an EHD based drug delivery system is well designed,
which can be used to generate a single drug droplet as small as 2.83 nL in 8.5
ms with a total device of 2x2x3 mm^3, and an external supplied voltage of 1500
V. Theoretically, we derive the expressions for the size and the formation time
of a droplet generated by EHD method, while taking into account the drug supply
rate, properties of liquid, gap between electrodes, nozzle size, and charged
droplet neutralization. This work proves a repeatable, stable and controllable
droplet generation and delivery system based on EHD method.


  Video prediction models based on convolutional networks, recurrent networks,
and their combinations often result in blurry predictions. We identify an
important contributing factor for imprecise predictions that has not been
studied adequately in the literature: blind spots, i.e., lack of access to all
relevant past information for accurately predicting the future. To address this
issue, we introduce a fully context-aware architecture that captures the entire
available past context for each pixel using Parallel Multi-Dimensional LSTM
units and aggregates it using blending units. Our model outperforms a strong
baseline network of 20 recurrent convolutional layers and yields
state-of-the-art performance for next step prediction on three challenging
real-world video datasets: Human 3.6M, Caltech Pedestrian, and UCF-101.
Moreover, it does so with fewer parameters than several recently proposed
models, and does not rely on deep convolutional networks, multi-scale
architectures, separation of background and foreground modeling, motion flow
learning, or adversarial training. These results highlight that full awareness
of past context is of crucial importance for video prediction.


  Using the Darboux transformation for the Korteweg-de Vries equation, we
construct and analyze exact solutions describing the interaction of a solitary
wave and a traveling cnoidal wave. Due to their unsteady, wavepacket-like
character, these wave patterns are referred to as breathers. Both elevation
(bright) and depression (dark) breather solutions are obtained. The nonlinear
dispersion relations demonstrate that the bright (dark) breathers propagate
faster (slower) than the background cnoidal wave. Two-soliton solutions are
obtained in the limit of degeneration of the cnoidal wave. In the small
amplitude regime, the dark breathers are accurately approximated by dark
soliton solutions of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. These results
provide insight into recent experiments on soliton-dispersive shock wave
interactions and soliton gases.


  We are interested in shape sensitivity analysis for an optimization problem
arising in medical applications of high intensity focused ultrasound. The goal
is to find the optimal shape of a focusing acoustic lens so that the desired
acoustic pressure at a kidney stone is achieved. Coupling of the silicone
acoustic lens and nonlinearly acoustic fluid region is modeled by the
Westervelt equation with nonlinear strong damping and piecewise constant
coefficients. We follow the variational approach to calculating the shape
derivative of the cost functional which does not require computing the shape
derivative of the state variable; however assumptions of certain spatial
regularity of the primal and the adjoint state are needed to obtain the
derivative, in particular for its strong form according to the
Delfour-Hadamard-Zol\' esio Structure Theorem.


  The hole energy spectrum with the ion of an acceptor impurity in the quantum
dot has been calculated using the spherical approximation of the multiband
Luttinger model. The dependence of the hole energy levels on the impurity
location in the quantum dot has been studied. The effect of the impurity
location on the dipole momentum and the oscillator strength has been analyzed.
The hole interlevel absorption coefficient has been calculated.


  We provide a quasi-Poisson version of the Drinfeld's correspondence between
Poisson homogeneous spaces and Lagrangian subalgebras.


  Digital signal processing (DSP) is supporting novel in-field applications of
optical interferometry, such as in laser ranging and distributed acoustic
sensing. While the highest performances are achieved with field-programmable
gated arrays (FPGAs), their complexity and cost are often too high for many
tasks. Here, we describe an alternative solution for processing optical signals
in real-time, based on a dual-core 32-bit microcontroller. We implemented
in-phase and quadrature (IQ) demodulation of optical beat-notes resulting from
the interference of independent laser sources, phase noise analysis of deployed
optical fibers covering intercity distances, and synchronization of remote
acquisitions via optical trigger signals. The embedded architecture can
efficiently accomplish a large variety of tasks in the context of optical
signal processing, being also easily configurable, compact, and upgradable.
These features make it attractive for applications that require long-term,
remotely operated, and field-deployed instrumentation.


  In this brief report, we propose a new definition of charge asymmetry in top
pair production at the LHC, namely the edge charge asymmetry (ECA). ECA
utilizes the information of drifting direction only for single top (or
anti-top) with hadronically decay. Therefore ECA can be free from the
uncertainty arising from the missing neutrino in the $t\bar{t}$ event
reconstruction. Moreover rapidity $Y$ of top (or anti-top) is required to be
greater than a critical value $Y_{\rm C}$ in order to suppress the symmetric
$t\bar{t}$ events mainly due to the gluon-gluon fusion process. In this paper
ECA is calculated up to next-to-leading order QCD in the standard model and the
choice of the optimal $Y_{\rm C}$ is investigated.


  We evaluate the valence approximation to the mass of scalar quarkonium and to
the mixing energy between scalar quarkonium and the lightest scalar glueball
for a range of different lattice sizes and quark masses. Our results support
the identification of $f_0(1710)$ as the lightest scalar glueball.


  In principle, by accepting the idea of a non-zero vacuum energy, the physical
vacuum of present particle physics might represent a preferred reference frame.
By treating this quantum vacuum as a relativistic medium, the non-zero
energy-momentum flow expected in a moving frame should effectively behave as a
small thermal gradient and could, in principle, induce a measurable anisotropy
of the speed of light in a loosely bound system as a gas. We explore the
phenomenological implications of this scenario by considering a new class of
dedicated ether-drift experiments where arbitrary gaseous media fill the
resonating optical cavities. Our predictions cover most experimental set up and
should motivate precise experimental tests of these fundamental issues.


  Large persistent memories such as NVDIMM have been perceived as a disruptive
memory technology, because they can maintain the state of a system even after a
power failure and allow the system to recover quickly. However, overheads
incurred by a heavy software-stack intervention seriously negate the benefits
of such memories. First, to significantly reduce the software stack overheads,
we propose HAMS, a hardware automated Memory-over-Storage (MoS) solution.
Specifically, HAMS aggregates the capacity of NVDIMM and ultra-low latency
flash archives (ULL-Flash) into a single large memory space, which can be used
as a working or persistent memory expansion, in an OS-transparent manner. HAMS
resides in the memory controller hub and manages its MoS address pool over
conventional DDR and NVMe interfaces; it employs a simple hardware cache to
serve all the memory requests from the host MMU after mapping the storage space
of ULL-Flash to the memory space of NVDIMM. Second, to make HAMS more
energy-efficient and reliable, we propose an "advanced HAMS" which removes
unnecessary data transfers between NVDIMM and ULL-Flash after optimizing the
datapath and hardware modules of HAMS. This approach unleashes the ULL-Flash
and its NVMe controller from the storage box and directly connects the HAMS
datapath to NVDIMM over the conventional DDR4 interface. Our evaluations show
that HAMS and advanced HAMS can offer 97% and 119% higher system performance
than a software-based hybrid NVDIMM design, while consuming 41% and 45% lower
system energy, respectively.


  Anomalous behaviour of the excess entropy ($S_e$) and the associated scaling
relationship with diffusivity are compared in liquids with very different
underlying interactions but similar water-like anomalies: water (SPC/E and
TIP3P models), tetrahedral ionic melts (SiO$_2$ and BeF$_2$) and a fluid with
core-softened, two-scale ramp (2SRP) interactions. We demonstrate the presence
of an excess entropy anomaly in the two water models. Using length and energy
scales appropriate for onset of anomalous behaviour, the density range of the
excess entropy anomaly is shown to be much narrower in water than in ionic
melts or the 2SRP fluid. While the reduced diffusivities ($D^*$) conform to the
excess entropy scaling relation, $D^* =A\exp (\alpha S_e)$ for all the systems
(Y. Rosenfeld, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 1977}, {\it 15}, 2545), the exponential
scaling parameter, $\alpha$, shows a small isochore-dependence in the case of
water. Replacing $S_e$ by pair correlation-based approximants accentuates the
isochore-dependence of the diffusivity scaling. Isochores with similar
diffusivity scaling parameters are shown to have the temperature dependence of
the corresponding entropic contribution. The relationship between diffusivity,
excess entropy and pair correlation approximants to the excess entropy are very
similar in all the tetrahedral liquids.


  We consider the classical static soliton solutions of the Skyrme model with
false vacuum potential. We make use of fully three-dimensional relaxation
calculations to construct global energy minimizers in the sectors of
topological degrees from $Q=1$ to $Q=6$. These solutions may be metastable,
they contain a domain of true vacuum inside the core. Further, we explore small
regions of negative topological charge density which appear for the Skyrmions
of degrees $Q=3,5,6$.


  We present a perturbative QCD based model for vacuum and in-medium
hadronization. The effects of induced energy loss and nuclear absorption have
been included. The main objective is the determination of the relative
contribution of these mechanisms to the multiplicity ratio observable, measured
in semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering off deuterium and nuclear targets.
This is directly related to the determination of the production length, $Lp$,
necessary for a quark to turn into a prehadron. We compare our results with
HERMES data for multiplicity ratio and $p_t$-broadening, and show that the
description of the whole data set, keeping the model parameters fixed, puts
strong constrains on $Lp$. Contrary to induced-energy-loss based models, we
find an important contribution from nuclear absorption at HERMES energies.
Finally, we discuss some consequences of our study for the LHC physics, and we
present the model predictions for the future EIC experiment.


  In this paper we study the topology of the spaces Hol(M,P{n},k) of (basepoint
preserving) holomorphic maps of a given degree k from a Riemann surface M of
genus g>0 into the n-th complex projective space P{n}, n>0. Using symmetric
products of the surface as well as the geometry of the associated Abel-Jacobi
maps, we construct an explicit topological compactification of Hol(M,P{n},k)
which allow us to construct spectral sequences with known E_1-terms that can be
used to determine the homology groups of Hol(M,P{n},k). Complete calculations
are given for the elliptic case (g=1). Complete rational calculations are also
given for hyperelliptic curves.


  We report an experimental investigation of spreading then shrinking of a
surfactant droplet at the air-water interface with fingering instability
appearing at the edge of the droplet stain. We find out that a droplet of a
surfactant on the water shows three regimes of spreading, shrinking and resting
at the appropriate parameters values. These regimes can be distinguished by
measuring the mean square displacement of the droplet parts, fractal dimension
of stain, or radius of fingerless part of the stain (to measure it, we define
the angular box-counting dimension), versus time. The shrinking regime is a
novel phenomenon.


  Three two-dimensional phosphorus nitride (PN) monolayer sheets (named as
$\alpha$-, $\beta$-, and $\gamma$-PN, respectively) with fantastic structures
and properties are predicted based on first-principles calculations. The
$\alpha$-PN and $\gamma$-PN are buckled structure, whereas $\beta$-PN shows
puckered characteristics. Their unique structures endows these atomic PN sheets
with high dynamic stabilities and anisotropic mechanical properties. They are
all indirect semiconductors and their band gap sensitively depends on the
in-plane strain. Moreover, the nanoribbons patterned from these three PN
monolayers demonstrate remarkable quantum size effect. Particularly, the Zigzag
$\alpha$-PN nanoribbon shows size-dependent ferromagnetism. Their significant
properties show potential in nano-electronics. The synthesis of the three
phases of PN monolayer sheets is proposed theoretically, which is deserved to
further study in experiments.


  A one-dimensional driven two-species model with parallel sublattice update
and open boundaries is considered. Although the microscopic many-body dynamics
is symmetric with respect to the two species and interactions are short-ranged,
there is a region in parameter space with broken symmetry in the steady state.
The sublattice update is deterministic in the bulk and allows for a detailed
analysis of the relaxation dynamics, so that symmetry breaking can be shown to
be the result of an amplification mechanism of fluctuations. In contrast to
previously considered models, this leads to a proof for spontaneous symmetry
breaking which is valid throughout the whole region in parameter space with a
symmetry broken steady state.


  We give infinitely many examples of manifold-knot pairs (Y, J) such that Y
bounds an integer homology ball, J does not bound a non-locally-flat PL-disk in
any integer homology ball, but J does bound a smoothly embedded disk in a
rational homology ball. The proof relies on formal properties of involutive
Heegaard Floer homology.


  In [7-9] and [10] the conjecture is presented that almost-commutative
geometries, with respect to sensible physical constraints, allow only the
standard model of particle physics and electro-strong models as
Yang-Mills-Higgs theories. In this publication a counter example will be given.
  The corresponding almost-commutative geometry leads to a Yang-Mills-Higgs
model which consists of the standard model of particle physics and two new
fermions of opposite electro-magnetic charge. This is the second
Yang-Mills-Higgs model within noncommutative geometry, after the standard
model, which could be compatible with experiments. Combined to a hydrogen-like
composite particle these new particles provide a novel dark matter candidate.


  We rely on Nagumo's invariance theorem to develop a new approach for
navigation in unknown environments of arbitrary dimension. The idea consists in
projecting the nominal velocities (that would drive the robot to the target in
the absence of obstacles) onto Bouligand's tangent cones (referred to as the
safety velocity cones) when the robot is close to the boundary of the free
space. The proposed projection-based controller is explicitly constructed to
guarantee safety and convergence to a set of Lebesgue measure zero that
contains the target. For specific free spaces such as Euclidean sphere worlds,
the convergence to the target is guaranteed from almost all initial conditions
in the free space. We provide a version of the controller (generating a
continuous and piecewise smooth closed-loop vector field) relying on the
robot's current position and local range measurements (e.g., from LiDAR or
stereo vision) without global prior knowledge about the environment.


  We consider a Lotka-Volterra food chain model with possibly intra-specific
competition in a stochastic environment represented by stochastic differential
equations. In the non-degenerate setting, this model has already been studied
by A. Hening and D. Nguyen. They provided conditions for stochastic persistence
and extinction. In this paper, we extend their results to the degenerate
situation in which the top or the bottom species is subject to random
perturbations. Under the persistence condition, there exists a unique invariant
probability measure supported by the interior of $\mathbb{R}_+^n$ having a
smooth density.
  Moreover, we study a more general model, in which we give new conditions
which make it possible to characterise the convergence of the semi-group
towards the unique invariant probability measure either at an exponential rate
or at a polynomial one. This will be used in the stochastic Lotka-Volterra food
chain to see that if intra-specific competition occurs for all species, the
rate of convergence is exponential while in the other cases it is polynomial.


  We describe a simple Hamiltonian for an underdamped Josephson array coupled
to a single photon mode in a resonant cavity. Using a Hartree-like mean-field
theory, we show that, for any given strength of coupling between the photon
field and the Josephson junctions, there is a transition from incoherence to
coherence as a function of N, the number of Josephson junctions in the array.
Above that value of N, the energy in the photon field is proportional to N^2,
indicative of coherent emission. Both of these features agree with recent
experiments by Barbara et al. The experimentally observed voltage steps may
require an explicit solution of the dynamical equations.


  The intrinsic resolution is the primary limitation on the total energy
resolution of LaBr$_3$(Ce) crystal. This intrinsic resolution arises from two
effects: fluctuations occurring in the process of energy transfer to
luminescent centers within the LaBr$_3$(Ce) crystal and the LaBr$_3$(Ce)
crystal's non-proportional luminescence. Presently, experimental measurements
regarding the intrinsic resolution of LaBr$_3$(Ce) crystal are scarce, and the
underlying physical mechanisms remain incompletely understood. In this paper,
we aim to elucidate the concept of intrinsic resolution. We investigated the
entire physical process of luminescence following energy deposition in the
LaBr$_3$(Ce) crystal, quantifying the various components in the total energy
resolution. We conducted a series of experimental measurements and Geant4
simulations, determining the intrinsic resolution of LaBr$_3$(Ce) crystal to
100 keV electrons as 2.12%. The non-proportionality contributes significantly
at 1.43%, while fluctuations in the energy transfer process accounted for
0.27%. It is evident that non-proportionality in light output constitutes the
primary source of intrinsic resolution. Horizontal and vertical unevenness in
light collection contributed 0.25% and 0.07%, respectively. Statistical
fluctuations showed the largest impact on the total energy resolution, at
2.86%. The contribution from fluctuations in single-photoelectron events was
0.77%. Furthermore, we reconstructed the photon response using Geant4, and the
consistency between the simulated relative light yield and the experimentally
measured one confirmed the reliability of the LaBr$_3$(Ce) detector mass model
employed in the simulation.


  The coefficient of the Chern-Simons term in the effective action for massive
Dirac fermions in three dimensions is computed by using the point-splitting
regularization method. We show that in this framework no ambiguities arise.
This is related to the fact that the point-splitting regularization does not
introduce additional parity breaking effects, implementing one possible
physical criterion in order to uniquely characterize the system.


  We consider the electromagnetic form factors ratio in the Rosenbluth and
polarization methods. We explore the impact of adding new particles as the
mediators in the electron-proton scattering on these ratios. Consequently, we
find some bound on the scalar coupling as $\alpha_{sc}\sim 10^{-5}$ for
$m_{sc}\sim 5 MeV-2 GeV$ and $\alpha_{sc}\sim 10^{-4}-10^{-3}$ for $m_{sc}\sim
2-10 GeV$. Meanwhile, the vector coupling is bounded as $\alpha_v\sim 10^{-5}$
for $m_v\sim 5 MeV-1.1 GeV$ and $\alpha_v\sim 10^{-4}-10^{-3}$ for $m_v\sim
1.2-10 GeV$. These constraints are in complete agreement with those which is
found from other independent experiments.


  Balance theory proposed by Heider for the first time modeled triplet
interaction in a signed network, stating that relationships between two people,
friendship or enmity, is dependent on a third person. The Hamiltonian of this
model has an implicit assumption that all triads are independent, meaning that
state of each triad, being balanced or imbalanced, is ineffective to others.
This independence forces the network to have completely balanced final states.
However, there exists evidence indicating that real networks are partially
balanced raising the question of what is the mechanism preventing the system to
be perfectly balanced. Our suggestion is to consider a quartic interaction
which dissolves the triad's independence. We use mean field method to study
thermal behavior of such systems where the temperature is a parameter that
allows the stochastic behavior of agents. We show that under a certain
temperature, the symmetry between balanced and imbalanced triads will
spontaneously break and we have a discrete phase transition. As consequence
stability arises where either similar balanced or imbalanced triads dominate,
hence the system obtains two new imbalanced stable states. In this model, the
critical temperature depends on the second power of the number of nodes, which
was a linear dependence in thermal balance theory. Our simulations are in good
agreement with the results obtained by the mean field method.


  We present the detectability of strong mid-infrared (MIR) light echoes from
faint debris disks illuminated by bright superflares of M-dwarf stars.
Circumstellar dust grains around an M-dwarf star are simultaneously heated by
superflare radiation. One can thus expect their re-emission in the MIR
wavelength regime. According to our model calculations for the Proxima Centauri
system, the nearest M-dwarf star system, thermal emission echos from an inner
($r < 1~{\rm au}$) debris disk with a total mass down to that of the solar
system's zodiacal dust are expected to emerge at wavelengths longer than $\sim
10~{\rm \mu m}$ with a strength comparable to or greater than a white-light
superflare. Also, observable echos from inner- ($r \lesssim 0.5~{\rm au}$)
debris disks irradiated by energetic ($\gtrsim 10^{33.5}~{\rm ergs}$)
superflares of nearby ($D < 3~{\rm pc}$) M-dwarfs are expected. Our simulation
results indicate that superflare monitoring using high-speed optical
instruments like OASES and its prompt follow-up using ground-based MIR
instruments, such as TAO/MIMIZUKU, can detect these MIR light echoes from
debris disks around solar neighborhood flare stars.


  We study the evolution inside a harmonic trap of Bose-Einstein condensates
released from the periodic potential of an optical lattice. After a
time-of-flight, harmonic motion of the interference peaks is observed as well
as a breathing motion in the direction perpendicular to the optical lattice. We
interpret these results in terms of a simple physical model and discuss the
possibility of more detailed studies of such a system.


  We propose an efficient dynamic oracle for training the 2-Planar
transition-based parser, a linear-time parser with over 99% coverage on
non-projective syntactic corpora. This novel approach outperforms the static
training strategy in the vast majority of languages tested and scored better on
most datasets than the arc-hybrid parser enhanced with the SWAP transition,
which can handle unrestricted non-projectivity.


  We present experimental measurements of photodesorption from ices of
astrophysical relevance. Layers of benzene and water ice were irradiated with a
laser tuned to an electronic transition in the benzene molecule. The
translational energy of desorbed molecules was measured by time-of-flight (ToF)
mass spectrometry. Three distinct photodesorption processes were identified - a
direct adsorbate-mediated desorption producing benzene molecules with a
translational temperature of around 1200 K, an indirect adsorbate-mediated
desorption resulting in water molecules with a translational temperature of
around 450 K, and a substrate-mediated desorption of both benzene and water
producing molecules with translational temperatures of around 530 K and 450 K
respectively. The translational temperature of each population of desorbed
molecules is well above the temperature of the ice matrix. The implications for
gas-phase chemistry in the interstellar medium are discussed.


  On April 24th, 2023, a CME event caused the solar wind to become
sub-Alfvenic, leading to the development of an Alfven Wing configuration in the
Earth's Magnetosphere. Alfven Wings have previously been observed as cavities
of low flow in Jupiter's magnetosphere, but the observing satellites did not
have the ability to directly measure the Alfven Wings' current structures.
Through in situ measurements made by the Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS)
spacecraft, the April 24th event provides us with the first direct measurements
of current structures during an Alfven Wing configuration. We have found two
distinct types of current structures associated with the Alfven Wing
transformation as well as the magnetosphere recovery. These structures are
observed to be significantly more anti-field-aligned and electron-driven than
typical magnetopause currents, indicating the disruptions caused to the
magnetosphere current system by the Alfven Wing formation.


  We study the optimal control of an arbitrarily large constellation of small
satellites operating in low Earth orbit. Simulating the lack of on-board
propulsion, we limit our actuation to the use of differential drag maneuvers to
make in-plane changes to the satellite orbits. We propose an efficient method
to separate a cluster of satellites into a desired constellation shape while
respecting actuation constraints and maximizing the operational lifetime of the
constellation. By posing the problem as a linear program, we solve for the
optimal drag commands for each of the satellites on a daily basis with a
shrinking-horizon model predictive control approach. We then apply this control
strategy in a nonlinear orbital dynamics simulation with a simple, varying
atmospheric density model. We demonstrate the ability to control a cluster of
100+ satellites starting at the same initial conditions in a circular low Earth
orbit to form an equally spaced constellation (with a relative angular
separation error tolerance of one-tenth a degree). The constellation separation
task can be executed in 71 days, a time frame that is competitive for the
state-of-the-practice. This method allows us to trade the time required to
converge to the desired constellation with a sacrifice in the overall
constellation lifetime, measured as the maximum altitude loss experienced by
one of the satellites in the group after the separation maneuvers.


  In this work, we explore the effects of surrounding dark matter featuring
different equations of state on the axial gravitational quasinormal modes of
supermassive black holes situated at the center of galaxies. Our attention
primarily rests on dark matter exhibiting a spike structure, originating from
relativistic Bondi accretion through an adiabatic process, which diminishes at
a certain distance from the black hole. We analyze how varying the equation of
state of the dark matter influences the properties of the spacetime in the
black hole's vicinity. Our findings reveal that different states of dark matter
spikes correspondingly affect the black hole's quasinormal modes. In
particular, we identify deviations in both the ringing frequency and damping
time, reaching magnitudes of up to $10^{-3}$ for certain parameter values.
These variations can potentially be detected by upcoming space-borne detectors.
Our findings thus indicate the feasibility of discerning and limiting the
essential properties of dark matter surrounding supermassive black holes using
future gravitational wave detections, particularly in the case of extreme mass
ratio inspiral systems.


  In this paper, we propose a model's sparse representation based on reduced
mixed generalized multiscale finite element (GMsFE) basis methods for elliptic
PDEs with random inputs. Mixed generalized multiscale finite element method
(GMsFEM) is one of the accurate and efficient approaches to solve multiscale
problem in a coarse grid with local mass conservation. When the inputs of the
PDEs are parameterized by the random variables, the GMsFE basis functions
usually depend on the random parameters. This leads to a large number degree of
freedoms for the mixed GMsFEM and substantially impacts on the computation
efficiency. In order to overcome the difficulty, we develop reduced mixed GMsFE
basis methods such that the multiscale basis functions are independent of the
random parameters and span a low-dimensional space. To this end, a greedy
algorithm is used to find a set of optimal samples from a training set
scattered in the parameter space. Reduced mixed GMsFE basis functions are
constructed based on the optimal samples using two optimal sampling strategies:
basis-oriented cross-validation and proper orthogonal decomposition. Although
the dimension of the space spanned by the reduced mixed GMsFE basis functions
is much smaller than the dimension of the original full order model, the online
computation still depends on the number of coarse degree of freedoms. To
significantly improve the online computation, we integrate the reduced mixed
GMsFE basis methods with sparse tensor approximation and obtain a sparse
representation for the model's outputs. The sparse representation is very
efficient for evaluating the model's outputs for many instances of parameters.
To illustrate the efficacy of the proposed methods, we present a few numerical
examples for multsicale problems with random inputs.


  We define the Kobayashi quotient of a complex variety by identifying points
with vanishing Kobayashi pseudodistance between them and show that if a compact
complex manifold has an automorphism whose order is infinite, then the fibers
of this quotient map are nontrivial. We prove that the Kobayashi quotients
associated to ergodic complex structures on a compact manifold are isomorphic.
We also give a proof of Kobayashi's conjecture on the vanishing of the
pseudodistance for hyperk\"ahler manifolds having Lagrangian fibrations without
multiple fibers in codimension one. For a hyperbolic automorphism of a
hyperk\"ahler manifold, we prove that its cohomology eigenvalues are determined
by its Hodge numbers, compute its dynamical degree and show that its
cohomological trace grows exponentially, giving estimates on the number of its
periodic points.


  We prove a new inequality controlling the large deviations of the empirical
measure of a Markov chain. This inequality is based on the martingale used by
Donsker and Varadhan and the minimax theorem. It holds for convex sets and it
requires to take an infimum over the starting point. In the case of a compact
space, this inequality is a partial improvement of the large deviations
estimates of Donsker and Varadhan. In the case of a non compact space, we
condition on the event that the process visits $n$ times a compact subset of
the space and we still obtain a control on the exponential scale.


  We present a square root law for active sensing of phase $\theta$ of a single
pixel using optical probes that pass through a single-mode lossy thermal-noise
bosonic channel. Specifically, we show that, when the sensor uses an $n$-mode
covert optical probe, the mean squared error (MSE) of the resulting estimator
$\hat{\theta}_n$ scales as $\langle
(\theta-\hat{\theta}_n)^2\rangle=\mathcal{O}(1/\sqrt{n})$; improving the
scaling necessarily leads to detection by the adversary with high probability.
We fully characterize this limit and show that it is achievable using laser
light illumination and a heterodyne receiver, even when the adversary captures
every photon that does not return to the sensor and performs arbitrarily
complex measurement as permitted by the laws of quantum mechanics.


  We introduce a formalism to describe 2D-Potentials for 2D-matter (or charge)
distributions with arbitrary elliptical symmetry including varying eccentricity
and twisting of the iso-density curves. We use this approach to describe
elliptical matter distributions such as elliptical galaxies or clusters as
gravitational lenses. Figures are available upon request:
<EMAIL_ADDRESS>


  Virtual environments (VEs) can create collaborative and social spaces, which
are increasingly important in the face of remote work and travel reduction.
Recent advances, such as more open and widely available platforms, create new
possibilities to observe and analyse interaction in VEs. Using a custom
instrumented build of Mozilla Hubs to measure position and orientation, we
conducted an academic workshop to facilitate a range of typical workshop
activities. We analysed social interactions during a keynote, small group
breakouts, and informal networking/hallway conversations. Our mixed-methods
approach combined environment logging, observations, and semi-structured
interviews. The results demonstrate how small and large spaces influenced group
formation, shared attention, and personal space, where smaller rooms
facilitated more cohesive groups while larger rooms made small group formation
challenging but personal space more flexible. Beyond our findings, we show how
the combination of data and insights can fuel collaborative spaces' design and
deliver more effective virtual workshops.


  In various capacities of statistical signal processing two-dimensional (2-D)
chirp models have been considered significantly, particularly in image
processing$-$ to model gray-scale and texture images, magnetic resonance
imaging, optical imaging etc. In this paper we address the problem of
estimation of the unknown parameters of a 2-D chirp model under the assumption
that the errors are independently and identically distributed (i.i.d.). The key
attribute of the proposed estimation procedure is that it is computationally
more efficient than the least squares estimation method. Moreover, the proposed
estimators are observed to have the same asymptotic properties as the least
squares estimators, thus providing computational effectiveness without any
compromise on the efficiency of the estimators. We extend the propounded
estimation method to provide a sequential procedure to estimate the unknown
parameters of a 2-D chirp model with multiple components and under the
assumption of i.i.d. errors we study the large sample properties of these
sequential estimators. Simulation studies and a synthetic data analysis show
that the proposed estimators perform satisfactorily.


  Precision measurements of ultra-small linear velocities of one of the mirrors
in a Michelson interferometer are performed using two different weak-values
techniques. We show that the technique of Almost-Balanced Weak Values (ABWV)
offers practical advantages over the technique of Weak-Value Amplification
(WVA), resulting in larger signal-to-noise ratios and the possibility of longer
integration times due to robustness to slow drifts. As an example of the
performance of the ABWV protocol we report a velocity sensitivity of 60 fm/s
after 40 hours of integration time. The sensitivity of the Doppler shift due to
the moving mirror is of 150 nHz.


  We test the existence of a neighborhood based peer effect around
participation in an incentive based conservation program called `Water Smart
Landscapes' (WSL) in the city of Las Vegas, Nevada. We use 15 years of
geo-coded daily records of WSL program applications and approvals compiled by
the Southern Nevada Water Authority and Clark County Tax Assessors rolls for
home characteristics. We use this data to test whether a spatially mediated
peer effect can be observed in WSL participation likelihood at the household
level. We show that epidemic spreading models provide more flexibility in
modeling assumptions, and also provide one mechanism for addressing problems
associated with correlated unobservables than hazards models which can also be
applied to address the same questions. We build networks of neighborhood based
peers for 16 randomly selected neighborhoods in Las Vegas and test for the
existence of a peer based influence on WSL participation by using a
Susceptible-Exposed-Infected-Recovered epidemic spreading model (SEIR), in
which a home can become infected via autoinfection or through contagion from
its infected neighbors. We show that this type of epidemic model can be
directly recast to an additive-multiplicative hazard model, but not to purely
multiplicative one. Using both inference and prediction approaches we find
evidence of peer effects in several Las Vegas neighborhoods.


  In the modular linear differential equation (MLDE) approach to classifying
rational conformal field theories (RCFTs) both the MLDE and the RCFT are
identified by a pair of non-negative integers $\textbf{[n,l]}$. $\mathbf{n}$ is
the number of characters of the RCFT as well as the order of the MLDE that the
characters solve and $\mathbf{l}$, the Wronskian index, is associated to the
structure of the zeroes of the Wronskian of the characters. In this paper, we
study $\textbf{[3,0]}$ and $\textbf{[3,2]}$ MLDEs in order to classify the
corresponding CFTs. We reduce the problem to a "finite" problem: to classify
CFTs with central charge $ 0 < c \leq 96$, we need to perform $6,720$
computations for the former and $20,160$ for the latter. Each computation
involves (i) first finding a simultaneous solution to a pair of Diophantine
equations and (ii) computing Fourier coefficients to a high order and checking
for positivity.
  In the $\textbf{[3,0]}$ case, for $ 0 < c \leq 96$, we obtain many
character-like solutions: two infinite classes and a discrete set of $303$.
After accounting for various categories of known solutions, including Virasoro
minimal models, WZW CFTs, Franc-Mason vertex operator algebras and
Gaberdiel-Hampapura-Mukhi novel coset CFTs, we seem to have seven hitherto
unknown character-like solutions which could potentially give new CFTs. We also
classify $\textbf{[3,2]}$ CFTs for $ 0 < c \leq 96$: each CFT in this case is
obtained by adjoining a constant character to a $\textbf{[2,0]}$ CFT, whose
classification was achieved by Mathur-Mukhi-Sen three decades ago.


  The next generation low-background detectors operating deep underground aim
for unprecedented low levels of radioactive backgrounds. The deposition and
presence of radon progeny on detector surfaces is an added source of energetic
background events. In addition to limiting the detector material's radon
exposure in order to reduce potential surface backgrounds, it is just as
important to clean surfaces to remove inevitable contamination. Such studies of
radon progeny removal have generally found that a form of etching is effective
at removing some of the progeny (Bi and Pb), however more aggressive
techniques, including electropolishing, have been shown to effectively remove
the Po atoms. In the absence of an aggressive etch, a significant fraction of
the Po atoms are believed to either remain behind within the surface or
redeposit from the etching solution back onto the surface. We explore the
chemical nature of the aqueous Po ions and the effect of the oxidation state of
Po to maximize the Po ions remaining in the etching solution of contaminated Cu
surfaces. We present a review of the previous studies of surface radon progeny
removal and our findings on the role of oxidizing agents and a cell potential
in the preparation of a clean etching technique.


  The aim of this paper is to study the environment and intervening absorbers
of the gamma-ray burst GRB 090926A through analysis of optical spectra of its
afterglow. We analyze medium resolution spectroscopic observations (R=10 000,
corresponding to 30 km/s, S/N=15 - 30 and wavelength range 3000-25000) of the
optical afterglow of GRB 090926A, taken with X-shooter at the VLT ~ 22 hr after
the GRB trigger. The spectrum shows that the ISM in the GRB host galaxy at z =
2.1071 is rich in absorption features, with two components contributing to the
line profiles. In addition to the ground state lines, we detect C II, O I, Si
II, Fe II and Ni II excited absorption features. No host galaxy emission lines,
molecular absorption features nor diffuse interstellar bands are detected in
the spectrum. The Hydrogen column density associated to GRB 090926A is log
N_H/cm^{-2} = 21.60 +/- 0.07, and the metallicity of the host galaxy is in the
range [X/H] =3.2X10^{-3}-1.2X10^{-2} with respect to the solar values, i.e.,
among the lowest values ever observed for a GRB host galaxy. A comparison with
galactic chemical evolution models has suggested that the host of GRB090926A is
likely to be a dwarf irregular galaxy. We put an upper limit to the Hydrogen
molecular fraction of the host galaxy ISM, which is f < 7X10^{-7}. We derive
information on the distance between the host absorbing gas and the site of the
GRB explosion. The distance of component I is found to be 2.40 +/- 0.15 kpc,
while component II is located far away from the GRB, possibly at ~ 5 kpc. These
values are compatible with that found for other GRBs.


  The inspection of the Public Right of Way (PROW) for accessibility barriers
is necessary for monitoring and maintaining the built environment for
communities' walkability, rollability, safety, active transportation, and
sustainability. However, an inspection of the PROW, by surveyors or crowds, is
laborious, inconsistent, costly, and unscalable. The core of smart city
developments involves the application of information technologies toward
municipal assets assessment and management. Sidewalks, in comparison to
automobile roads, have not been regularly integrated into information systems
to optimize or inform civic services. We develop an Open Automated Sidewalks
Inspection System (OASIS), a free and open-source automated mapping system, to
extract sidewalk network data using mobile physical devices. OASIS leverages
advances in neural networks, image sensing, location-based methods, and compact
hardware to perform sidewalk segmentation and mapping along with the
identification of barriers to generate a GIS pedestrian transportation layer
that is available for routing as well as analytic and operational reports. We
describe a prototype system trained and tested with imagery collected in
real-world settings, alongside human surveyors who are part of the local
transit pathway review team. Pilots show promising precision and recall for
path mapping (0.94, 0.98 respectively). Moreover, surveyor teams' functional
efficiency increased in the field. By design, OASIS takes adoption aspects into
consideration to ensure the system could be easily integrated with governmental
pathway review teams' workflows, and that the outcome data would be
interoperable with public data commons.


  We prove the second Voronoi conjecture on parallelohedra for zonotope. We
show that for a given face-to-face tiling of d-dimensional Euclidean space into
parallel copies of zonotope Z there are d vectors, connecting centers of
zonotopes with common facet, that are basis of the correspondent lattice of the
tiling.


  I give a non-technical account of fractional statistics in one dimension. In
systems with periodic boundary conditions, the crossing of anyons is always
uni-directional, and the fractional phase $\theta$ acquired by the anyons gives
rise to fractional shifts in the spacings of the relative momenta, ${\Delta p
=2\pi\hbar/L\, (|\theta|/\pi+n)}$. The fractional shift $\theta/\pi$ is a good
quantum number of interacting anyons, even though the single particle momenta,
and hence the non-negative integers $n$, are generally not.


  The correlation between structural distortion and emergence of magnetism in
graphene containing a single vacancy was investigated using first-principles
calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). Our results have shown
that a local distortion is formed around the vacancy, with reconstruction of
two atomic bonds and with a dangling bond remaining at the third atom adjacent
to the vacancy. A systematic investigation of the possible out-of-plane
displacement of this third atom was then carried out, in order to ascertain its
effects on the magnetic features of the system. The ground state was definitely
found to be magnetic and planar, with spin-resolved $\sigma$ and $\pi$ bands
contributing to the total magnetic moment. However, we have also found that
metastable solutions can be achieved if an initial shift of the third atom
above a minimum threshold from the graphene plane is provided, which leads to a
non-planar geometry and a non-magnetic state.


  If neutrinos get mass via the seesaw mechanism the mixing matrix describing
neutrino oscillations can be effectively non-unitary. We show that in this case
the neutrino appearance probabilities involve a new CP phase, phi, associated
to non-unitarity. This leads to an ambiguity in extracting the "standard"
three--neutrino phase delta_CP, which can survive even after neutrino and
antineutrino channels are combined. Its existence should be taken into account
in the planning of any oscillation experiment aiming at a robust measurement of
delta_CP.


  We classify rank two Fano bundles over the Grassmannian of lines $\G(1,4)$.
In particular we show that the only non-split rank two Fano bundle over
$\G(1,4)$ is, up to a twist, the universal quotient bundle $\cQ$. This
completes the classification of rank two Fano bundles over Grassmannians of
lines.


  A novel method for the direct measurement of the elusive magnetic and
electric dipole moments of the tau lepton is presented. The experimental
approach relies on the production of tau+ leptons from Ds+ -> tau+ nu_tau
decays, originated in fixed-target collisions at the LHC. A sample of polarized
tau+ leptons is kinematically selected and subsequently channeled in a bent
crystal. The magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau+ lepton are
measured by determining the rotation of the spin-polarization vector induced by
the intense electromagnetic field between crystal atomic planes. The
experimental technique is discussed along with the expected sensitivities.


  Explainable AI (XAI) aims to bridge the gap between complex algorithmic
systems and human stakeholders. Current discourse often examines XAI in
isolation as either a technological tool, user interface, or policy mechanism.
This paper proposes a unifying ethical framework grounded in moral duties and
the concept of reciprocity. We argue that XAI should be appreciated not merely
as a right, but as part of our moral duties that helps sustain a reciprocal
relationship between humans affected by AI systems. This is because, we argue,
explanations help sustain constitutive symmetry and agency in AI-led
decision-making processes. We then assess leading XAI communities and reveal
gaps between the ideal of reciprocity and practical feasibility. Machine
learning offers useful techniques but overlooks evaluation and adoption
challenges. Human-computer interaction provides preliminary insights but
oversimplifies organizational contexts. Policies espouse accountability but
lack technical nuance. Synthesizing these views exposes barriers to
implementable, ethical XAI. Still, positioning XAI as a moral duty transcends
rights-based discourse to capture a more robust and complete moral picture.
This paper provides an accessible, detailed analysis elucidating the moral
value of explainability.


  A corner is a triple of points in $\Bbb{Z}^2$ of the form
$(x,y),(x+d,y),(x,y+d)$ where $d\neq 0$. One can think of them as being
2D-analogues to 3-term arithmetic progressions.
  In this short note, we extend ideas of Green-Wolf from this latter setting to
the former, achieving slightly better constructions of corner-free sets.


  We prove the strong Macdonald conjecture of Hanlon and Feigin for reductive
groups G. In a geometric reformulation, we show that the Dolbeault cohomology
$H^q(X;\Omega^p)$ of the loop Grassmannian X is freely generated by de Rham's
forms on the disk coupled to algebra generators of $H*(BG)$. Equating Euler
characteristics of the two gives an identity, independently known to Macdonald
[M], which generalises Ramanujan's_1\psi_1 sum. Simply laced root systems at
level 1 are related to a `strong'_4\psi_4 sum. Failure of Hodge decomposition
implies the singularity of X, and of the algebraic loop groups.


  Utility-driven itemset mining is widely applied in many real-world scenarios.
However, most algorithms do not work for itemsets with negative utilities.
Several efficient algorithms for high-utility itemset (HUI) mining with
negative utilities have been proposed. These algorithms can find complete HUIs
with or without negative utilities. However, the major problem with these
algorithms is how to select an appropriate minimum utility (minUtil) threshold.
To address this issue, some efficient algorithms for extracting top-k HUIs have
been proposed, where parameter k is the quantity of HUIs to be discovered.
However, all of these algorithms can solve only one part of the above problem.
In this paper, we present a method for TOP-k high-utility Itemset disCovering
(TOPIC) with positive and negative utility values, which utilizes the
advantages of the above algorithms. TOPIC adopts transaction merging and
database projection techniques to reduce the database scanning cost, and
utilizes minUtil threshold raising strategies. It also uses an array-based
utility technique, which calculates the utility of itemsets and upper bounds in
linear time. We conducted extensive experiments on several real and synthetic
datasets, and the results showed that TOPIC outperforms state-of-the-art
algorithm in terms of runtime, memory costs, and scalability.


  A skew brace is a triplet $(A,\cdot,\circ)$, where $(A,\cdot)$ and
$(A,\circ)$ are groups such that the brace relation $x\circ (y\cdot z) =
(x\circ y)\cdot x^{-1}\cdot (x\circ z)$ holds for all $x,y,z\in A$. In this
paper, we study the number of finite skew braces $(A,\cdot,\circ)$, up to
isomorphism, such that $(A,\cdot)$ and $(A,\circ)$ are both isomorphic to $T^n$
with $T$ non-abelian simple and $n\in\mathbb{N}$. We prove that it is equal to
the number of unlabeled directed graphs on $n+1$ vertices, with one
distingusihed vertex, and whose underlying undirected graph is a tree. In
particular, it depends only on $n$ and is independent of $T$.


  In this manuscript we give an extension of the classic Salem--Zygmund
inequality for locally sub-Gaussian random variables. As an application, the
concentration of the roots of a Kac polynomial is studied, which is the main
contribution of this manuscript. More precisely, we assume the existence of the
moment generating function for the iid random coefficients for the Kac
polynomial and prove that there exists an annulus of width \[O(n^{-2}(\log
n)^{-1/2-\gamma}), \quad \gamma>1/2\] around the unit circle that does not
contain roots with high probability. As an another application, we show that
the smallest singular value of a random circulant matrix is at least
$n^{-\rho}$, $\rho\in(0,1/4)$ with probability $1-O(n^{-2\rho})$.


  Rotation-powered millisecond radio pulsars have been spun up to their present
spin period by a $10^8$ - $10^9$ yr long X-ray-bright phase of accretion of
matter and angular momentum in a low-to-intermediate mass binary system.
Recently, the discovery of transitional pulsars that alternate cyclically
between accretion and rotation-powered states on time scales of a few years or
shorter, has demonstrated this evolutionary scenario. Here, we present a
thorough statistical analysis of the spin distributions of the various classes
of millisecond pulsars to assess the evolution of their spin period between the
different stages. Accreting sources that showed oscillations exclusively during
thermonuclear type I X-ray bursts (nuclear-powered millisecond pulsars) are
found to be significantly faster than rotation-powered sources, while accreting
sources that possess a magnetosphere and show coherent pulsations (accreting
millisecond pulsars) are not. On the other hand, if accreting millisecond
pulsars and eclipsing rotation-powered millisecond pulsars form a common class
of transitional pulsars, these are shown to have a spin distribution
intermediate between the faster nuclear-powered millisecond pulsars and the
slower non-eclipsing rotation-powered millisecond pulsars. We interpret these
findings in terms of a spin-down due to the decreasing mass-accretion rate
during the latest stages of the accretion phase, and in terms of the different
orbital evolutionary channels mapped by the various classes of pulsars. We
summarize possible instrumental selection effects, showing that even if an
unbiased sample of pulsars is still lacking, their influence on the results of
the presented analysis is reduced by recent improvements in instrumentation and
searching techniques.


  The UITP workshop series brings together researchers interested in designing,
developing and evaluating user interfaces for automated reasoning tools, such
as interactive proof assistants, automated theorem provers, model finders,
tools for formal methods, and tools for visualising and manipulating logical
formulas and proofs. The twelth edition of UITP took place in Coimbra,
Portugal, and was part of the International Joint Conference on Automated
Reasoning (IJCAR'16). The workshop consisted of an invited talk, six
presentations of submitted papers and lively hands-on session for reasoning
tools and their user-interface. These post-proceedings contain four contributed
papers accepted for publication after a second round of reviewing after the
workshop as well as the invited paper.


  The model Tip4p/{\epsilon} for water is tested for the presence of
thermodynamic and dy- namic anomalies. Molecular dynamic simulations for this
model were performed and we show that for this system the density versus
temperature at constant pressure ex- hibits a maximum. In addition we also show
that the diffusion coefficient versus density at constant temperature has a
maximum and a minimum. The anomalous behavior of the density and of the
diffusion coefficient obey the water hierachy. The results for the Tip4p- are
consistent with experiments and when compared with the Tip4p-2005 model show
similar results a variety of physical properties and better performance for the
dielectric constant.


  In this paper we study the sections of the canonical line bundle on the
moduli space of parabolic semistable vector bundles with trivial determinant
and fixed parabolic structure of type $\underline{\lambda}=(\lambda_1,...,
\lambda_s)$ (with each weight $\lambda_i$ in $P_{\ell}(\SL(r))$) on a smooth
projective irreducible curve over $\C$ of genus $g \geq 1$. We give a
nontrivial lower bound for the dimension of the sections (that are called
generalized parabolic SL(r)-theta functions) when $\sum_{1}^{s} \lambda_i$ is
in the root lattice.


  We define a multi-group version of the mean-field spin model, also called
Curie-Weiss model. It is known that, in the high temperature regime of this
model, a central limit theorem holds for the vector of suitably scaled group
magnetisations, that is the sum of spins belonging to each group. In this
article, we prove a local central limit theorem for the group magnetisations in
the high temperature regime.


  Training deep networks is expensive and time-consuming with the training
period increasing with data size and growth in model parameters. In this paper,
we provide a framework for distributed training of deep networks over a cluster
of CPUs in Apache Spark. The framework implements both Data Parallelism and
Model Parallelism making it suitable to use for deep networks which require
huge training data and model parameters which are too big to fit into the
memory of a single machine. It can be scaled easily over a cluster of cheap
commodity hardware to attain significant speedup and obtain better results
making it quite economical as compared to farm of GPUs and supercomputers. We
have proposed a new algorithm for training of deep networks for the case when
the network is partitioned across the machines (Model Parallelism) along with
detailed cost analysis and proof of convergence of the same. We have developed
implementations for Fully-Connected Feedforward Networks, Convolutional Neural
Networks, Recurrent Neural Networks and Long Short-Term Memory architectures.
We present the results of extensive simulations demonstrating the speedup and
accuracy obtained by our framework for different sizes of the data and model
parameters with variation in the number of worker cores/partitions; thereby
showing that our proposed framework can achieve significant speedup (upto 11X
for CNN) and is also quite scalable.


  We define and study refined Gopakumar-Vafa invariants of contractible curves
in complex algebraic 3-folds, alongside the cohomological Donaldson--Thomas
theory of finite-dimensional Jacobi algebras. These Gopakumar-Vafa invariants
can be constructed one of two ways: as cohomological BPS invariants of
contraction algebras controlling the deformation theory of these curves, as
defined by Donovan and Wemyss, or by feeding the moduli spaces that Katz used
to define genus zero Gopakumar-Vafa invariants into the machinery developed by
Joyce et al. The conjecture that the two definitions give isomorphic results is
a special case of a kind of categorified version of the strong rationality
conjecture due to Pandharipande and Thomas, that we discuss and propose a means
of proving. We prove the positivity of the cohomological/refined BPS invariants
of all finite-dimensional Jacobi algebras. This result supports this
strengthening of the strong rationality conjecture, as well as the conjecture
of Brown and Wemyss stating that all finite-dimensional Jacobi algebras for
appropriate symmetric quivers are isomorphic to contraction algebras.


  Diners dilemma is one of the most interesting problems in both economic and
game theories. Here, we solve this problem for n (number of players) =4 with
quantum rules and we are able to remove the dilemma of diners between the
Pareto optimal and Nash equilibrium points of the game. We find the quantum
strategy that gives maximum payoff for each diner without affecting the payoff
and strategy of others. We use the quantum principles of superposition and
entanglement that gives supremacy over any classical strategies. We present the
circuit implementation for the game, design it on the IBM quantum simulator and
verify the strategies in the quantum model.


  In the context of the recently proposed first-order thermodynamics of
scalar-tensor gravity, we discuss the possibility of zero-temperature states of
equilibrium other than Einstein gravity, including pathological Brans-Dicke
theory, Palatini $f(R)$ gravity, and cuscuton gravity, all with non-dynamical
scalar fields. The formalism is extended to Nordstr\"om gravity, which contains
only a scalar degree of freedom and has negative temperature relative to
general relativity.


  The newly discovered galactic black hole candidate (BHC) MAXI~J1348-630
showed two major outbursts in 2019, just after its discovery. Here, we provide
a detailed spectral and temporal analysis of the less-studied second outburst
using archive data from multiple satellites, namely Swift, MAXI, NICER, NuSTAR
and AstroSat. The outburst continued for around two and a half months. Unlike
the first outburst from this source, this second outburst was a `failed' one.
The source did not transition to soft or intermediate spectral states. During
the entire outburst, the source was in the hard state with high dominance of
non-thermal photons. The presence of strong shocks are inferred from spectral
fitting using a TCAF model. In NuSTAR spectra, weak reflection is observed from
spectral fitting. Low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations are also detected
in AstroSat data.


  We consider ground state solutions of the critical Lane-Emden system
\[\begin{cases} -\Delta u = v^p &\text{in } \mathbb{R}^n,\\ -\Delta v = u^q
&\text{in } \mathbb{R}^n,\\ u,v >0\ &\text{in } \mathbb{R}^n, \end{cases}\]
where $n \ge 3$ and $p,q>0$ and $(p,q)$ belongs to the critical hyperbola
$\frac{1}{p+1} + \frac{1}{q+1} = \frac{n-2}{n}.$ We prove that they are
non-degenerate when either $(p,q)$ is close to $(1,{n+4\over n-4})$ (if
$n\ge5$) or $(p,q)$ is close to $({n+2\over n-2},{n+2\over n-2})$ (if $n\ge3$).


  Human pose estimation (HPE) usually requires large-scale training data to
reach high performance. However, it is rather time-consuming to collect
high-quality and fine-grained annotations for human body. To alleviate this
issue, we revisit HPE and propose a location-free framework without supervision
of keypoint locations. We reformulate the regression-based HPE from the
perspective of classification. Inspired by the CAM-based weakly-supervised
object localization, we observe that the coarse keypoint locations can be
acquired through the part-aware CAMs but unsatisfactory due to the gap between
the fine-grained HPE and the object-level localization. To this end, we propose
a customized transformer framework to mine the fine-grained representation of
human context, equipped with the structural relation to capture subtle
differences among keypoints. Concretely, we design a Multi-scale Spatial-guided
Context Encoder to fully capture the global human context while focusing on the
part-aware regions and a Relation-encoded Pose Prototype Generation module to
encode the structural relations. All these works together for strengthening the
weak supervision from image-level category labels on locations. Our model
achieves competitive performance on three datasets when only supervised at a
category-level and importantly, it can achieve comparable results with
fully-supervised methods with only 25\% location labels on MS-COCO and MPII.


  Gas clouds are present in the Galactic centre, where they orbit around the
supermassive black hole. Collisions between these clumps reduce their angular
momentum, and as a result some of the clumps are set on a plunging trajectory.
Constraints can be imposed on the nature of past accretion events based on the
currently observed X-ray reflection from the molecular clouds. We discuss
accretion of clouds in the context of enhanced activity of Sgr A* during the
past few hundred years. We put forward a scenario according to which gas clouds
bring material close to the horizon of the black hole on <~0.1 parsec scale. We
have modelled the source intrinsic luminosity assuming that multiple events
occur at various moments in time. These events are characterized by the amount
of accreted material and the distribution of angular momentum. We parameterized
the activity in the form of a sequence of discrete events, followed the viscous
evolution, and calculated the luminosity of the system from the time-dependent
accretion rate across the inner boundary. Accreting clumps settle near a
circularization radius, spread there during the viscous time, and subsequently
feed the black hole over a certain period. A significant enhancement (by factor
of ten) of the luminosity is only expected if the viscous timescale of the
inflow is very short. On the other hand, the increase in source activity is
expected to be much less prominent if the latter timescale is longer and a
considerable fraction of the material does not reach the centre. A solution is
obtained under two additional assumptions: (i) the radiative efficiency is a
decreasing function of the Eddington ratio; (ii) the viscous decay of the
luminosity proceeds somewhat faster than the canonical L(t)~t^{-5/3} profile.
We applied our scheme to the case of G2 cloud in the Galactic centre to obtain
constraints on the core-less gaseous cloud model.


  In this work we define a mean-field crossover generated by the Maxwell
construction as the dividing interface for the vapor-liquid interface area. A
highly accurate density-profile equation is thus derived, which is physically
favorable and leads to reliable predictions of interfacial properties. By using
the density gradient theory and a mean-field equation of sate for the
Lennard-Jones fluid, we are able to extensively explore the interface system in
terms of the Gibbs free energy, the Helmholtz free energy and heat capacity.
The results show that the mean-field dividing interface is the natural
extension of the Widom line into the coexistence region. Hence the entire phase
space is coherently divided into liquid-like and gas-like regions in all three
(temperature-pressure-volume) planes. Some unconventional behaviors are
observed for the intrinsic heat capacity, being positive in low temperature
region while negative in high temperature region. Finally, a complete picture
of the mean-field equation of state is unfolded: all three solutions to a
vapor-liquid equilibrium problem have their respective significances.


  In this paper we present a study of in-medium jet modifications performed
with JEWEL and PYTHIA 6.4, focusing on the uncertainties related to variations
of the perturbative scales and nuclear parton distribution functions (PDFs) and
on the impact of the initial and crossover temperature variations of the
medium. The simulations are compared to LHC data for the jet spectrum and the
nuclear modification factor. We assess the interplay between the choice of
nuclear PDFs and different medium parameters and study the impact of nuclear
PDFs and the medium on the jet structure via the Lund plane.


  One objective of this paper is to propose a novel class of sequence pairs,
called "Quasi-orthogonal Z-complementary pairs (QOZCPs)", each depicting
Z-complementary property for their aperiodic auto-correlation sums and also
have a zero correlation zone when their aperiodic cross-correlation is
considered. Construction of QOZCPs based on Successively Distributed Algorithms
under Majorization Minimization (SDAMM) is presented.
  Another objective of this paper is to apply the proposed QOZCPs in fully
polarimetric radar systems and analyse the corresponding ambiguity functions.
It turns out that QOZCP waveforms are much more Doppler resilient than the
known Golay complementary waveforms.


  We perform an updated phenomenological analysis of the
Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein (MSW) solutions of the solar neutrino problem,
assuming oscillations between two and three neutrino families. The analysis
includes the total rates of the Homestake, SAGE, GALLEX, Kamiokande and
Super-Kamiokande experiments, as well as the day-night asymmetry and the 18-bin
energy spectrum of Super-Kamiokande. Solutions are found at several values of
the theta_{13} mixing angle. Among the most interesting features, we find that
solar neutrino data alone put the constraint theta_{13} < 55--59 deg at 95%
C.L., and that a fraction of the MSW solutions extends at and beyond maximal
(nu_1,nu_2) mixing (theta_{12} > pi/4), especially if the neutrino square mass
splitting is in its lower range (m^2_2-m^2_1 ~ 10^{-7} eV^2) and if theta_{13}
is nonzero. In particular, bimaximal (or nearly bimaximal) mixing is possible
for atmospheric and MSW solar neutrino oscillations within the stringent
reactor bounds on theta_{13}.


  In the rapidly evolving field of large language models (LLMs), data
augmentation (DA) has emerged as a pivotal technique for enhancing model
performance by diversifying training examples without the need for additional
data collection. This survey explores the transformative impact of LLMs on DA,
particularly addressing the unique challenges and opportunities they present in
the context of natural language processing (NLP) and beyond. From both data and
learning perspectives, we examine various strategies that utilize LLMs for data
augmentation, including a novel exploration of learning paradigms where
LLM-generated data is used for diverse forms of further training. Additionally,
this paper highlights the primary open challenges faced in this domain, ranging
from controllable data augmentation to multi-modal data augmentation. This
survey highlights a paradigm shift introduced by LLMs in DA, and aims to serve
as a comprehensive guide for researchers and practitioners.


  Results are reported concerning the formation of spatial patterns in the
two-species ratio-dependent predator-prey model driven by spatial
colored-noise. The results show that there is a critical value with respect to
the intensity of spatial noise for this system when the parameters are in the
Turing space, above which the regular spatial patterns appear in two
dimensions, but under which there are not regular spatial patterns produced. In
particular, we investigate in two-dimensional space the formation of regular
spatial patterns with the spatial noise added in the side and the center of the
simulation domain, respectively.


  The objectives of option hedging/trading extend beyond mere protection
against downside risks, with a desire to seek gains also driving agent's
strategies. In this study, we showcase the potential of robust risk-aware
reinforcement learning (RL) in mitigating the risks associated with
path-dependent financial derivatives. We accomplish this by leveraging a policy
gradient approach that optimises robust risk-aware performance criteria. We
specifically apply this methodology to the hedging of barrier options, and
highlight how the optimal hedging strategy undergoes distortions as the agent
moves from being risk-averse to risk-seeking. As well as how the agent
robustifies their strategy. We further investigate the performance of the hedge
when the data generating process (DGP) varies from the training DGP, and
demonstrate that the robust strategies outperform the non-robust ones.


  We study some mapping properties of Volterra type integral operators and
composition operators on model spaces. We also discuss and give out a couple of
interesting open problems in model spaces where any possible solution of the
problems can be used to study a number of other operator theoretic related
problems in the spaces.


  We initiate the study of the monoid of right-veering diffeomorphisms on a
compact oriented surface with nonempty boundary. The monoid strictly contains
the monoid of products of positive Dehn twists. We explain the relationship to
tight contact structures and open book decompositions.


  This paper proposes a cellular network exploiting millimeter-wave (mmWave)
and ultra-densified base stations (BSs) to achieve the far-reaching 5G aim in
downlink average rate. The mmWave overlaid network however incurs a pitfall
that its ample data rate is only applicable for downlink transmissions due to
the implementation difficulty at mobile users, leading to an immense difference
between uplink and downlink rates. We therefore turn our attention not only to
maximize downlink rate but also to ensure the minimum uplink rate. With this
end, we firstly derive the mmWave overlaid ultra-dense cellular network
spectral efficiencies for both uplink and downlink cases in closed forms by
using stochastic geometry via a lower bound approximation. In a practical
scenario, such tractable results of the proposed network reveal that incumbent
micro-wave ($\mu$Wave) cellular resource should be mostly dedicated to uplink
transmissions in order to correspond with the mmWave downlink rate improvement.
Furthermore, increasing uplink rate via $\mu$Wave BS densification cannot
solely cope with the mmWave downlink/uplink rate asymmetry, and thus requires
additional $\mu$Wave spectrum in 5G cellular networks.


  A general method for the construction of smooth flat connections on
3-manifolds is introduced. The procedure is strictly connected with the
deduction of the fundamental group of a manifold M by means of a Heegaard
splitting presentation of M. For any given matrix representation of the
fundamental group of M, a corresponding flat connection A on M is specified. It
is shown that the associated classical Chern-Simons invariant assumes then a
canonical form which is given by the sum of two contributions: the first term
is determined by the intersections of the curves in the Heegaard diagram, and
the second term is the volume of a region in the representation group which is
determined by the representation of pi_1(M) and by the Heegaard gluing
homeomorphism. Examples of flat connections in topologically nontrivial
manifolds are presented and the computations of the associated classical
Chern-Simons invariants are illustrated.


  I will present a review of the field of Hanbury Brown-Twiss interferometry in
relativistic heavy-ion collisions. The "HBT puzzle" is explored in detail,
emphasizing recent theoretical attempts to understand the persisting puzzle. I
also present recent experimental results on azimuthally sensitive HBT, HBT of
direct photons, and some surprises in the comparison of HBT results from p+p
and Au+Au collisions at RHIC.


  We show that the Kohn-Sham positive-definite kinetic energy (KE) density
significantly differs from the von Weizs\"acker (VW) one at the nuclear cusp as
well as in the asymptotic region. At the nuclear cusp, the VW functional is
shown to be linear and the contribution of p-type orbitals to the KE density is
theoretically derived and numerically demonstrated in the limit of infinite
nuclear charge, as well in the semiclassical limit of neutral large atoms. In
the latter case, it reaches 12 of the KE density. In the asymptotic region we
find new exact constraints for meta Generalized Gradient Approximation
(meta-GGA) exchange functionals: with an exchange enhancement factor
proportional to $\sqrt{\alpha}$, where $\alpha$ is the common meta-GGA
ingredient, both the exchange energy density and the potential are proportional
to the exact ones. In addition, this describes exactly the large-gradient limit
of quasi-two dimensional systems.


  We propose a hypothesis test that allows for many tested restrictions in a
heteroskedastic linear regression model. The test compares the conventional F
statistic to a critical value that corrects for many restrictions and
conditional heteroskedasticity. This correction uses leave-one-out estimation
to correctly center the critical value and leave-three-out estimation to
appropriately scale it. The large sample properties of the test are established
in an asymptotic framework where the number of tested restrictions may be fixed
or may grow with the sample size, and can even be proportional to the number of
observations. We show that the test is asymptotically valid and has non-trivial
asymptotic power against the same local alternatives as the exact F test when
the latter is valid. Simulations corroborate these theoretical findings and
suggest excellent size control in moderately small samples, even under strong
heteroskedasticity.


  We have developed a new, fast method of estimating the orbital properties of
a binary or triple system using as few as two epochs of astrometric data. FOBOS
(Few Observation Binary Orbit Solver) uses a flat prior brute force Monte Carlo
method to produce probability density functions of the likely orbital
parameters. We test the code on fake observations and show that it can (fairly
often) constrain the semi-major axis to within a factor of 2-3, and the
inclination to within $\sim$20$^{\circ}$ from only two astrometric
observations. We also show that the 68 and 95 per cent confidence intervals are
statistically reliable. Applying this method to triple systems allows the
relative inclination of the secondary and tertiary star orbits to be
constrained. FOBOS can usually find a statistically significant number of
possible matches in CPU minutes for binary systems, and CPU hours for triple
systems.


  Optimization of low-thrust trajectories that involve a larger number of orbit
revolutions is considered a challenging problem. This paper describes a
high-precision symplectic method and optimization techniques to solve the
minimum-energy low-thrust multi-revolution orbit transfer problem. First, the
optimal orbit transfer problem is posed as a constrained nonlinear optimal
control problem. Then, the constrained nonlinear optimal control problem is
converted into an equivalent linear quadratic form near a reference solution.
The reference solution is updated iteratively by solving a sequence of
linear-quadratic optimal control sub-problems, until convergence. Each
sub-problem is solved via a symplectic method in discrete form. To facilitate
the convergence of the algorithm, the spacecraft dynamics are expressed via
modified equinoctial elements. Interpolating the non-singular equinoctial
orbital elements and the spacecraft mass between the initial point and end
point is proven beneficial to accelerate the convergence process. Numerical
examples reveal that the proposed method displays high accuracy and efficiency.


  The effects of the charge/spin currents of conduction electrons on the
dynamics of the localized spins are studied in terms of the perturbation in the
exchange coupling $J_{K}$ between them. The equations of motion for the
localized spins are derived exactly up to $O(J_{K}^2)$, and the equations for
the two-spin system is solved numerically. It is found that the dynamics
depends sensitively upon the relative magnitude of the charge and spin
currents, i.e., it shows steady state, periodic motion, and even chaotic
behavior. Extension to the multi-spin system and its implications including
possible ``spin current detector'' are also discussed.


  Image Registration (IR) is the process of aligning two (or more) images of
the same scene taken at different times, different viewpoints and/or by
different sensors. It is an important, crucial step in various image analysis
tasks where multiple data sources are integrated/fused, in order to extract
high-level information.
  Registration methods usually assume a relevant transformation model for a
given problem domain. The goal is to search for the "optimal" instance of the
transformation model assumed with respect to a similarity measure in question.
  In this paper we present a novel genetic algorithm (GA)-based approach for
IR. Since GA performs effective search in various optimization problems, it
could prove useful also for IR. Indeed, various GAs have been proposed for IR.
However, most of them assume certain constraints, which simplify the
transformation model, restrict the search space or make additional
preprocessing requirements. In contrast, we present a generalized GA-based
solution for an almost fully affine transformation model, which achieves
competitive results without such limitations using a two-phase method and a
multi-objective optimization (MOO) approach.
  We present good results for multiple dataset and demonstrate the robustness
of our method in the presence of noisy data.