  Artificial fish swarm algorithm (AFSA) is one of the swarm intelligence
optimization algorithms that works based on population and stochastic search.
In order to achieve acceptable result, there are many parameters needs to be
adjusted in AFSA. Among these parameters, visual and step are very significant
in view of the fact that artificial fish basically move based on these
parameters. In standard AFSA, these two parameters remain constant until the
algorithm termination. Large values of these parameters increase the capability
of algorithm in global search, while small values improve the local search
ability of the algorithm. In this paper, we empirically study the performance
of the AFSA and different approaches to balance between local and global
exploration have been tested based on the adaptive modification of visual and
step during algorithm execution. The proposed approaches have been evaluated
based on the four well-known benchmark functions. Experimental results show
considerable positive impact on the performance of AFSA.


  We consider downlink max-based scheduling in which the base station and each
user are equipped with a single antenna. In each time slot, the base station
obtains channel gains of all users and selects the user with the largest
squared channel gain. Assuming that channel state information at the
transmitter (CSIT), i.e., squared channel gain, can be inaccurate, we derive
lower bounds for probability of outage, which occurs when a required data rate
is not satisfied under a delay constraint. The bounds are tight for Rayleigh
fading and show how required rate and CSIT error affect outage performance.


  We theoretically study the transport of time-bin entangled photon pairs in a
two-dimensional topological photonic system of coupled ring resonators. This
system implements the integer quantum Hall model using a synthetic gauge field
and exhibits topologically robust edge states. We show that the transport
through edge states preserves temporal correlations of entangled photons
whereas bulk transport does not preserve these correlations and can lead to
significant unwanted temporal bunching or anti-bunching of photons. We study
the effect of disorder on the quantum transport properties; while the edge
transport remains robust, bulk transport is very susceptible, and in the limit
of strong disorder, bulk states become localized. We show that this
localization is manifested as an enhanced bunching/anti-bunching of photons.
This topologically robust transport of correlations through edge states could
enable robust on-chip quantum communication channels and delay lines for
information encoded in temporal correlations of photons.


  The author has recently introduced the class of CNED sets in Euclidean space,
generalizing the classical notion of NED sets, and shown that they are
quasiconformally removable. A set $E$ is CNED if the conformal modulus of a
curve family is not affected when one restricts to the subfamily intersecting
$E$ at countably many points. We prove that several classes of sets that were
known to be removable are also CNED, including sets of $\sigma$-finite
Hausdorff $(n-1)$-measure and boundaries of domains with $n$-integrable
quasihyperbolic distance. Thus, this work puts in common framework many known
results on the problem of quasiconformal removability and suggests that the
CNED condition should also be necessary for removability. We give a new
necessary and sufficient criterion for closed sets to be (C)NED. Applying this
criterion, we show that countable unions of closed (C)NED sets are (C)NED.
Therefore we enlarge significantly the known classes of quasiconformally
removable sets.


  The Zee model is one of promising models of neutrino mass generation
mechanism. However, the original Zee model is not on the framework of the
ground unification scenario, and moreover, it is recently pointed out that the
predicted value of $\sin^2 2\theta_{solar}$ must be satisfied the relation
$\sin^2 2\theta_{solar} > 0.99$. We discuss whether possible GUT versions of
the Zee model can be free from the severe constraint $\sin^2 2\theta_{solar}
>0.99$ or not. We will conclude that the following two models are promising: an
R-parity violating SUSY GUT model and an SO(10) model with a 126-plet scalar.


  The superfluid properties of attractive Hubbard model in dice lattice are
investigated. It is found that three superfluid order parameters increase as
the interaction increases. When the filling factor falls into the flat band,
due to the infinite large density of states, the resultant superfluid order
parameters are proportional to interaction strength, which is in striking
contrast with the exponentially small counterparts in usual superfluid (or
superconductor). When the interaction is weak, and the filling factor is near
the bottom of the lowest band (or the top of highest band), the superfluid
density is determined by the effective mass of the lowest (or highest)
single-particle band. When the interaction is strong and filling factor is
small, the superfluid density is inversely proportional to interaction
strength, which is related to effective mass of tightly bound pairs. In the
strong interaction limit and finite filling, the asymptotic behaviors of
superfluid density can be captured by a parabolic function of filling factor.
Furthermore, when the filling is in flat band, the superfluid density shows a
logarithmic singularity as the interaction approaches zero. In addition, there
exist three undamped collective modes for strong interactions. The lowest
excitation is gapless phonon, which is characterized by the total density
oscillations. The two others are gapped Leggett modes, which correspond
relative density fluctuations between sublattices. The collective modes are
also reflected in the two-particle spectral functions by sharp peaks.
Furthermore, it is found that the two-particle spectral functions satisfy an
exact sum-rule, which is directly related to the filling factor (or density of
particle). The sum-rule of the spectral functions may be useful to distinguish
between the hole-doped and particle-doped superfluid (superconductor) in
experiments.


  In this paper, we realize high-level versions of Jacobi's derivative formula
to all the rational characteristics corresponding to level $k \,\,(k=3,4,5,6).$
For this purpose, we propose the method to obtain derivative formulas by means
of the residue theorem. We believe that this method can be also applied to all
the rational characteristics corresponding to level $k\ge 7.$


  The topologically nontrivial solution in Einstein-Dirac gravity with
cosmological constant is obtained. The spacetime has the Hopf bundle as a
spatial section. It is shown that the Hopf invariant is related to the spinor
current density. Two Dirac spinors are used for obtaining a diagonal
energy-momentum tensor. The solutions for the nongravitating Dirac equation on
the background of Lorentzian spacetime with the Hopf bundle as a spatial
section are also obtained. Nongravitating solutions of the Dirac equation are
defined by two quantum half-integer numbers $m, n$.


  The interaction between the dark/mirror sector and the ordinary sector is
considered, where the two sectors interact with each other by sharing the same
QCD axion field. This feature makes the mixing between ordinary and dark/mirror
photons in ordinary and dark electromagnetic fields possible. Perturbative
solutions of the equations of motion describing the evolution of fields in
ordinary and dark external magnetic fields are found. User-friendly quantities
such as transition probability rates and Stokes parameters are derived.
Possible astrophysical and cosmological applications of this model are
suggested.


  This paper continues the study of interpolation operators on scattered data.
We introduce the Poisson interpolation operator and prove various properties.
The main result concerns functions in the Paley-Wiener space $PW_{B_\beta}$,
and shows that one may recover these functions from their samples on a complete
interpolating sequence for $[-\delta,\delta]^2$ by using the Poisson
interpolation operator, provided that $0<\beta < (3-\sqrt{8})\delta$.


  In this report we provide an improvement of the significance adjustment from
the FA*IR algorithm of Zehlike et al., which did not work for very short
rankings in combination with a low minimum proportion $p$ for the protected
group. We show how the minimum number of protected candidates per ranking
position can be calculated exactly and provide a mapping from the continuous
space of significance levels ($\alpha$) to a discrete space of tables, which
allows us to find $\alpha_c$ using a binary search heuristic.


  Energy disaggregation is a promising solution to access detailed information
on energy consumption in a household, by itemizing its total energy
consumption. However, in real-world applications, overfitting remains a
challenging problem for data-driven disaggregation methods. First, the
available real-world datasets are biased towards the most frequently used
appliances. Second, both real and synthetic publicly-available datasets are
limited in number of appliances, which may not be sufficient for a
disaggregation algorithm to learn complex relations among different types of
appliances and their states. To address the lack of appliance data, we propose
two physics-informed data generators: one for high sampling rate signals (kHz)
and another for low sampling rate signals (Hz). These generators rely on prior
knowledge of the physics of appliance energy consumption, and are capable of
simulating a virtually unlimited number of different appliances and their
corresponding signatures for any time period. Both methods involve defining a
mathematical model, selecting centroids corresponding to individual appliances,
sampling model parameters around each centroid, and finally substituting the
obtained parameters into the mathematical model. Additionally, by using
Principal Component Analysis and Kullback-Leibler divergence, we demonstrate
that our methods significantly outperform the previous approaches.


  We consider Gaussian Besov spaces obtained by real interpolation and
Riemann-Liouville operators of fractional integration on the Gaussian space and
relate the fractional smoothness of a functional to the regularity of its heat
extension. The results are applied to study an approximation problem in $L_p$
for $2\le p<\infty$ for stochastic integrals with respect to the
$d$-dimensional (geometric) Brownian motion.


  In this paper, we introduce a new class of the kernels of the integral
transforms of the Laplace convolution type that we call symmetrical Sonin
kernels. For a symmetrical Sonin kernel given in terms of some elementary or
special functions, its associated kernel has the same form with possibly
different parameter values. Several known and new kernels of this type are
derived by means of the Sonin method in the time domain and using the Laplace
integral transform in the frequency domain. The new symmetrical Sonin kernels
are provided in terms of the Wright function and some extensions of the Horn
confluent hypergeometric functions in two variables.


  Recently, the authors Khalil, R., Al Horani, M., Yousef. A. and Sababheh, M.,
in " A new Denition Of Fractional Derivative, J. Comput. Appl. Math. 264. pp.
6570, 2014. " introduced a new simple well-behaved definition of the fractional
derivative called conformable fractional derivative. In this article we proceed
on to develop the definitions there and set the basic concepts in this new
simple interesting fractional calculus. The fractional versions of chain rule,
exponential functions, Gronwall's inequality, integration by parts, Taylor
power series expansions, Laplace transforms and linear differential systems are
proposed and discussed.


  There has been considerable recent interest in Bayesian modeling of
high-dimensional networks via latent space approaches. When the number of nodes
increases, estimation based on Markov Chain Monte Carlo can be extremely slow
and show poor mixing, thereby motivating research on alternative algorithms
that scale well in high-dimensional settings. In this article, we focus on the
latent factor model, a widely used approach for latent space modeling of
network data. We develop scalable algorithms to conduct approximate Bayesian
inference via stochastic optimization. Leveraging sparse representations of
network data, the proposed algorithms show massive computational and storage
benefits, and allow to conduct inference in settings with thousands of nodes.


  We study the efficiency at maximum power of non-adiabatic dissipative
(internally dissipative friction in finite time adiabatic processes)
Carnot-like heat engines operate in finite time under the power law dissipation
regime. We find that the non-adiabatic dissipation does not influence the
universal minimum and maximum bounds on the efficiency at maximum power
obtained in the generalized dissipative Carnot-like heat engines which does not
take in to account the non-adiabatic dissipation.


  We investigate the angular distribution of gamma-ray bursts using the largest
catalog of well-localized events that is currently available---combined
BATSE/Ulysses burst locations. We present the preliminary spatial analysis of
415 BATSE/Ulysses bursts included in the BATSE 4B catalog. We find that the
locations are consistent with large- and small-scale isotropy, with no
significant clustering or repetition. We also search for cross-correlation
between the BATSE/Ulysses bursts and known extragalactic objects---such as
Abell galaxy clusters, radio-quiet QSO, AGN and supernovae---and place limits
on the fraction of bursts that could originate from these objects.


  We approach the fundamental problem of obstacle avoidance for robotic systems
via the lens of online learning. In contrast to prior work that either assumes
worst-case realizations of uncertainty in the environment or a stationary
stochastic model of uncertainty, we propose a method that is efficient to
implement and provably grants instance-optimality with respect to perturbations
of trajectories generated from an open-loop planner (in the sense of minimizing
worst-case regret). The resulting policy adapts online to realizations of
uncertainty and provably compares well with the best obstacle avoidance policy
in hindsight from a rich class of policies. The method is validated in
simulation on a dynamical system environment and compared to baseline open-loop
planning and robust Hamilton- Jacobi reachability techniques. Further, it is
implemented on a hardware example where a quadruped robot traverses a dense
obstacle field and encounters input disturbances due to time delays, model
uncertainty, and dynamics nonlinearities.


  We propose a doubly holographic version of the semi-classical island formula
for the entanglement negativity in the framework of the defect AdS/BCFT
correspondence where the AdS bulk contains a defect conformal matter theory. In
this context, we propose a defect extremal surface (DES) formula for computing
the entanglement negativity modified by the contribution from the defect matter
theory on the end-of-the-world brane. The equivalence of the DES proposal and
the semi-classical island formula for the entanglement negativity is
demonstrated in AdS$_3$/BCFT$_2$ framework. Furthermore, in the time-dependent
AdS$_3$/BCFT$_2$ scenarios involving eternal black holes in the lower
dimensional effective description, we investigate the time evolution of the
entanglement negativity through the DES and the island formulae and obtain the
analogues of the Page curves.


  Recent stellar evolution models show consistently that very massive
metal-free stars evolve into red supergiants shortly before they explode. We
argue that the envelopes of these stars, which will form pair-instability
supernovae, become pulsationally unstable and that this will lead to extreme
mass-loss rates despite the tiny metal content of the envelopes. We investigate
the pulsational properties of such models and derive pulsationally induced
mass-loss rates, which take the damping effects of the mass loss on the
pulsations selfconsistently into account. We find that the pulsations may
induce mass-loss rates of ~ 1e-4 - 1e-2 Msun/yr shortly before the explosions,
which may create a dense circumstellar medium. Our results show that very
massive stars with dense circumstellar media may stem from a wider initial mass
range than pulsational-pair instability supernovae. The extreme mass loss will
cease when so much of the hydrogen-rich envelope is lost that the star becomes
more compact and stops pulsating. The helium core of these stars therefore
remains unaffected, and their fate as pair-instability supernovae remains
unaltered. The existence of dense circumstellar media around metal-free
pair-instability supernovae can make them brighter and bluer, and they may be
easier to detect at high redshifts than previously expected. We argue that the
mass-loss enhancement in pair-instability supernova progenitors can naturally
explain some observational properties of superluminous supernovae: the
energetic explosions of stars within hydrogen-rich dense circumstellar media
with little 56Ni production and the lack of a hydrogen-rich envelope in
pair-instability supernova candidates with large 56Ni production.


  We study unirationality and rationality of Fano threefolds of degree 18 over
nonclosed fields.


  The successful test of non-Abelian statistics not only serves as a milestone
in fundamental physics but also provides a quantum gate operation in
topological quantum computation. An accurate and efficient readout scheme of a
topological qubit is an essential step toward the experimental confirmation of
non-Abelian statistics. In the current work, we propose a protocol to read out
the quantum state of a Majorana vortex qubit on a topological superconductor
island. The protocol consists of four Majorana zero modes trapped in spatially
well-separated vortex cores on the two-dimensional surface of a Coulomb
blockaded topological superconductor. Our proposed measurement is implemented
by a pair of weakly coupled Majorana modes separately in touch with two normal
metal leads, and the readout is realized by observing the conductance peak
location in terms of gate voltage. Using this protocol, we can further test the
non-Abelian statistics of Majorana zero modes in the two-dimensional platform.
A successful readout of Majorana qubit is a crucial step towards the future
application of topological quantum computation. In addition, this Coulomb
blockaded setup can distinguish Majorana zero modes from Caroli-de
Gennes-Matricon modes in vortex cores.


  Edge-preserving image smoothing is an important step for many low-level
vision problems. Though many algorithms have been proposed, there are several
difficulties hindering its further development. First, most existing algorithms
cannot perform well on a wide range of image contents using a single parameter
setting. Second, the performance evaluation of edge-preserving image smoothing
remains subjective, and there lacks a widely accepted datasets to objectively
compare the different algorithms. To address these issues and further advance
the state of the art, in this work we propose a benchmark for edge-preserving
image smoothing. This benchmark includes an image dataset with groundtruth
image smoothing results as well as baseline algorithms that can generate
competitive edge-preserving smoothing results for a wide range of image
contents. The established dataset contains 500 training and testing images with
a number of representative visual object categories, while the baseline methods
in our benchmark are built upon representative deep convolutional network
architectures, on top of which we design novel loss functions well suited for
edge-preserving image smoothing. The trained deep networks run faster than most
state-of-the-art smoothing algorithms with leading smoothing results both
qualitatively and quantitatively. The benchmark is publicly accessible via
https://github.com/zhufeida/Benchmark_EPS.


  The radiative properties of microalgae are basic parameters for analyzing
light field distribution in photobioreactors (PBRs). With the growth of
microalgae cell, their radiative properties will vary with growth time due to
accumulation of pigment and lipid, cell division and metabolism. In this work,
we report both experimental and theoretical evidence of temporal scaling
behavior of the growth dependent radiative properties of microalgae cell
suspensions. A new concept, the temporal scaling function (TSF), defined as the
ratio of absorption or scattering cross-sections at growth phase to that at
stationary phase, is introduced to characterize the temporal scaling. The
temporal evolution and temporal scaling characteristics of the absoroption and
scattering cross-sections of three example microalgae species, Chlorella
vulgaris, Chlorella pyrenoidosa, and Chlorella protothecoides, were
experimentally studied at spectral range 380 to 850 nm. It is shown that the
TSFs of the absorption and scattering cross-sections for different microalgae
species are approximately constant at different wavelength, which confirms
theoretical predictions very well. With the aid of the temporal scaling
relation, the radiative properties of microalgae at any growth time can be
calculated based on those measured at stationary phase. The findings of this
work will help the understanding of time dependent radiative properties of
microalgae and facilitate their applications in light field analysis in PBRs
design.


  The is the English version of the text of the talk at S\'eminaire Bourbaki on
February 16, 2016


  We continue the $U$-bound program initiated in [J. Funct. Anal. 258, 814-851
(2010)] and prove super-Poincar\'e inequalities for a class of subelliptic
probability measures defined on M\'etivier groups, the main ingredient in the
proof being a Hardy-type inequality. In doing so, we recover and extend some
previous results from the probabilistic viewpoint.


  We present a mapping algorithm to compute large-scale magnetic field maps in
indoor environments with approximate Gaussian process (GP) regression. Mapping
the spatial variations in the ambient magnetic field can be used for
localization algorithms in indoor areas. To compute such a map, GP regression
is a suitable tool because it provides predictions of the magnetic field at new
locations along with uncertainty quantification. Because full GP regression has
a complexity that grows cubically with the number of data points,
approximations for GPs have been extensively studied. In this paper, we build
on the structured kernel interpolation (SKI) framework, speeding up inference
by exploiting efficient Krylov subspace methods. More specifically, we
incorporate SKI with derivatives (D-SKI) into the scalar potential model for
magnetic field modeling and compute both predictive mean and covariance with a
complexity that is linear in the data points. In our simulations, we show that
our method achieves better accuracy than current state-of-the-art methods on
magnetic field maps with a growing mapping area. In our large-scale
experiments, we construct magnetic field maps from up to 40000
three-dimensional magnetic field measurements in less than two minutes on a
standard laptop.


  Let $K$ be a finite abelian group and let $\exp(K)$ denote the least common
multiple of the orders of the elements of $K$. A $BH(K,h)$ matrix is a
$K$-invariant $|K|\times |K|$ matrix $H$ whose entries are complex $h$th roots
of unity such that $HH^*=|K|I$, where $H^*$ denotes the complex conjugate
transpose of $H$, and $I$ is the identity matrix of order $|K|$. Let $\nu_p(x)$
denote the $p$-adic valuation of the integer $x$. Using bilinear forms on $K$,
we show that a $BH(K,h)$ exists whenever
  (i) $\nu_p(h) \geq \lceil \nu_p(\exp(K))/2 \rceil$ for every prime divisor
$p$ of $|K|$ and
  (ii) $\nu_2(h) \ge 2$ if $\nu_2(|K|)$ is odd and $K$ has a direct factor
$\mathbb{Z}_2$.
  Employing the field descent method, we prove that these conditions are
necessary for the existence of a $BH(K,h)$ matrix in the case where $K$ is
cyclic of prime power order.


  Light-sheet microscopy (LSM) is a powerful imaging technique that uses a
planar illumination oriented orthogonally to the detection axis. Two-photon
(2P) LSM is a variant of LSM that exploits the 2P absorption effect for sample
excitation. The light polarization state plays a significant, and often
overlooked, role in 2P absorption processes. The scope of this work is to test
whether using different polarization states for excitation light can affect the
detected signal levels in 2P LSM imaging of typical biological samples with a
spatially unordered dye population. Supported by a theoretical model, we
compared the fluorescence signals obtained using different polarization states
with various fluorophores (fluorescein, EGFP and GCaMP6s) and different samples
(liquid solution and fixed or living zebrafish larvae). In all conditions, in
agreement with our theoretical expectations, linear polarization oriented
parallel to the detection plane provided the largest signal levels, while
perpendicularly-oriented polarization gave low fluorescence signal with the
biological samples, but a large signal for the fluorescein solution. Finally,
circular polarization generally provided lower signal levels. These results
highlight the importance of controlling the light polarization state in 2P LSM
of biological samples. Furthermore, this characterization represents a useful
guide to choose the best light polarization state when maximization of signal
levels is needed, e.g. in high-speed 2P LSM.


  Detecting gravitational waves with frequencies higher than 10 kHz requires
new strategies. In previous papers, we proposed magnon gravitational wave
detectors and gave the first limit on GHz gravitational waves by reinterpreting
the existing data from axion dark matter experiments. In this paper, we show
that the sensitivity can be improved by constructing the detector specific to
gravitational waves. In particular, we employ an infinite sum of terms in the
expansion of Fermi normal coordinates to probe gravitational waves with a
wavelength comparable to the detector size. As a consequence, we obtain
sensitivity of around $h_c \sim 10^{-20}$.


  We report a technique for applying a dc bias in a 3d microwave cavity. This
is achieved by isolating the two halves of the cavity with a dielectric and
directly using them as dc electrodes. By embedding a variable capacitance diode
in the cavity, we tune the resonant frequency with a dc voltage at room
temperature, demonstrating the introduction of a dc bias into the 3d cavity
without compromising its high quality factor.


  We use the AdS/CFT correspondence to compute the central charges of the d=4,
N=2 superconformal field theories arising from N D3-branes at singularities in
F-theory. These include the conformal theories with E_n global symmetries. We
compute the central charges a and c related to the conformal anomaly, and also
the central charges k associated to the global symmetry in these theories. All
of these are related to the coefficients of Chern-Simons terms in the dual
string theory on AdS_5. Our computation is exact for all values of N, enabling
several tests of the dualities recently proposed by Argyres and Seiberg for the
E_6 and E_7 theories with N=1.


  Inconel-718's compatibility with additive manufacturing (AM) has made it a
center of attention for researchers. This paper focuses on how cooling rates
affect the hardness of AM Inconel-718. To study the AM process, monocrystalline
and polycrystalline Inconel-718 layers were added to a pristine substrate and
equilibrated at 2000 K before being cooled to 300 K using cooling rates ranging
from 5 K/ps to 100 K/ps, as well as an exponential cooling rate. The layers
were then subjected to atomistic nanoindentation simulation to analyze the
nanomechanical response, including hardness, dislocation density,
microstructure, and surface imprints, at different cooling rates.
Load-displacement (P-h) curves were plotted for each cooling rate. The findings
of this study provide crucial insights into the effect of cooling rate on the
nanoindentation-based response of additively manufactured Inconel-718. These
insights can aid in the design of high-performance components for various
applications


  When estimating causal effects using observational data, it is desirable to
replicate a randomized experiment as closely as possible by obtaining treated
and control groups with similar covariate distributions. This goal can often be
achieved by choosing well-matched samples of the original treated and control
groups, thereby reducing bias due to the covariates. Since the 1970s, work on
matching methods has examined how to best choose treated and control subjects
for comparison. Matching methods are gaining popularity in fields such as
economics, epidemiology, medicine and political science. However, until now the
literature and related advice has been scattered across disciplines.
Researchers who are interested in using matching methods---or developing
methods related to matching---do not have a single place to turn to learn about
past and current research. This paper provides a structure for thinking about
matching methods and guidance on their use, coalescing the existing research
(both old and new) and providing a summary of where the literature on matching
methods is now and where it should be headed.


  Two-dimensional capacitively coupled radio frequency discharge in methane is
simulated by PIC-MCC method. The results were obtained in pressure range 50-300
mTorr and voltage range 40-180 V for discharge frequency 13.56 MHz. The
electron energy and electron--methane reaction rates spatial distributions show
existence of two regimes of discharge glow: a) with active sheaths, when
electrons are hot in electrode sheaths and cold in the middle of discharge so
the electron-neutral reactions strongly dominate in sheaths regions; b) with
volume domination, when the electron energy is more uniform and the reactions
take place in all discharge volume. The second regime is usually observed for
low discharge voltages, and turns to the first one with voltage increasing.
Besides, simulation of chemical reactions in methane plasma was also fulfilled
to find the gas mixture composition in discharge volume. The results are in
agreement with the known experimental data.


  In this paper we determine the irreducible projective representations of
sporadic simple groups over an arbitrary algebraically closed field F, whose
image contains an almost cyclic matrix of prime-power order. A matrix M is
called cyclic if its characteristic and minimum polynomials coincide, and we
call M almost cyclic if, for a suitable a in F, M is similar to diag(a Id_h,
M_1), where M_1 is cyclic and 0 <= h <= n. The paper also contains results on
the generation of sporadic simple groups by minimal sets of conjugate elements.


  Ultra Light OCR Competition is a Chinese scene text recognition competition
jointly organized by CSIG (China Society of Image and Graphics) and Baidu, Inc.
In addition to focusing on common problems in Chinese scene text recognition,
such as long text length and massive characters, we need to balance the
trade-off of model scale and accuracy since the model size limitation in the
competition is 10M.
  From experiments in aspects of data, model, training, etc, we proposed a
general and effective method for Chinese scene text recognition, which got us
second place among over 100 teams with accuracy 0.817 in TestB dataset. The
code is available at https://aistudio.baidu.com/aistudio/projectdetail/2159102.


  Polymer gels are comprised of a three-dimensional, cross-linked network that
can typically withstand the mechanical deformation associated with both
swelling and de-swelling. Thus, gels can be designed with smart behaviors that
require both stress generation and dissipation, making them well-suited to many
applications including membrane technology, water capture devices, and drug
delivery systems. In contrast to the fully swelled equilibrium state, limited
research characterizes the unsteady-state swelling regime prior to equilibrium.
It is in this regime where unique surface deformations can occur. Here we show
how internal network constraints and external diffusive pressure can be
leveraged to manipulate swelling kinetics and surface deformations in
poly(ethylene glycol) gels during unconstrained, three-dimensional swelling. We
find that increasing cross-linker molecular weight and swelling in ethanol, as
opposed to water, are both effective routes to increase the time it takes to
reach equilibrium but do so through different mechanisms. Networks with fewer
internal constraints, manipulated via cross-linker chain-length, imbibe more
solvent over a longer time. In contrast, swelling in ethanol reduces the amount
of solvent imbibed by the network while increasing the time to reach
equilibrium. Measurements of surface patterns during swelling establishes that
an immediate, fast relaxation at the surface occurs during the first five
minutes of swelling. However, the density and persistence of these features
varies with solvent quality. These results serve establish a framework for how
soft materials undergo dynamic deformation. Engineering transient surface
properties while mitigating unwanted instabilities opens the door for emerging
technologies such as smart anti-fouling and sensors.


  We explore the formation of multipolar structures in planetary and
pre-planetary nebulae from the interaction of a fast post-AGB wind with a
highly inhomogeneous and filamentary shell structure assumed to form during the
final phase of the high density wind. The simulations were performed with a new
hydrodynamics code integrated in the interactive framework of the astrophysical
modeling package SHAPE. In contrast to conventional astrophysical hydrodynamics
software, the new code does not require any programming intervention by the
user for setting up or controlling the code. Visualization and analysis of the
simulation data has been done in SHAPE without external software. The key
conclusion from the simulations is that secondary lobes in planetary nebulae,
such as Hubble 5 and K3-17, can be formed through the interaction of a fast
low-density wind with a complex high density environment, such as a filamentary
circumstellar shell. The more complicated alternative explanation of
intermittent collimated outflows that change direction, in many cases may
therefore not be necessary. We consider that the wind-shell interaction
scenario is more likely since the bow-shock shape expected from a strongly
cooling bow-shock from jets is different from that of the observed bubbles.
Furthermore, the timescales of the wind-wind interaction suggest that the
progenitor star was rather massive.


  [Aims] Accurate astrometry is required to reliably cross-match 20th-century
photographic catalogues against 21st-century digital surveys. The present work
provides modern-era identifications and astrometry for the 801 emission-line
objects "of stellar appearance" in the Armagh survey (the largest of its nature
to date). [Methods] Targets have been individually identified in digital images
using the Armagh Atlas and, in most cases, unambiguously matched to entries in
the UCAC astrometric catalogues. [Results] Astrometry with sub-arcsecond
precision is now available for all the major photographic spectroscopic surveys
of the LMC. The results are used to compile an annotated metacatalogue of 1675
individual, spectroscopically identified candidate H-alpha-emission stars,
including detailed cross-matching between catalogues, and resolving many
(though not all) identification ambiguities in individual primary sources.


  Quantum heat engines are often discussed under the weak coupling assumption
that the interaction between the system and the reservoirs is negligible.
Although this setup is easier to analyze, this assumption cannot be justified
on the quantum scale. In this study, a quantum Otto cycle model that can be
generally applied without the weak coupling assumption is proposed. We replace
the thermalization process in the weak coupling model with a process comprising
thermalization and decoupling. The efficiency of the proposed model is
analytically calculated and it indicates that when the contribution of the
interaction terms is neglected in the weak interaction limit, it reduces to
that of the earlier model. The sufficient condition for the efficiency of the
proposed model not to surpass that of the weak coupling model is that the
decoupling processes of our model have a positive cost. Moreover, the relation
between the interaction strength and the efficiency of the proposed model is
numerically examined using a simple two-level system. Furthermore, we show that
our model's efficiency can surpass that of the weak coupling model under
particular cases. From analyzing the majorization relation, we also find a
design method of the optimal interaction Hamiltonians which are expected to
provide the maximum efficiency of the proposed model. Under these interaction
Hamiltonians, the numerical experiment shows that the proposed model achieves
higher efficiency than that of its weak coupling counterpart.


  We have experimentally demonstrated how two beams of light separated by an
octave in frequency can become entangled after their interaction in a
second-order nonlinear medium. The entangler consisted of a nonlinear crystal
placed within an optical resonator that was strongly driven by coherent light
at the fundamental and second-harmonic wavelengths. An inter-conversion between
the fields created quantum correlations in the amplitude and phase quadratures,
which were measured by two independent homodyne detectors. Analysis of the
resulting correlation matrix revealed a wavefunction inseparability of 0.74(1)
< 1 thereby satisfying the criterion of entanglement.


  We present a general method of solving the Cauchy problem for
multidimensional parabolic (diffusion type) equation with variable coefficients
which depend on spatial variable but do not change over time. We assume the
existence of the $C_0$-semigroup (this is a standard assumption in the
evolution equations theory, which guarantees the existence of the solution) and
then find the representation (based on the family of translation operators) of
the solution in terms of coefficients of the equation and initial condition. It
is proved that if the coefficients of the equation are bounded, infinitely
smooth and satisfy some other conditions then there exists a solution-giving
$C_0$-semigroup of contraction operators. We also represent the solution as a
Feynman formula (i.e. as a limit of a multiple integral with multiplicity
tending to infinity) with generalized functions appearing in the integral
kernel.


  In the present article we study the periodic structure of some well-known
classes of $C^1$ self-maps on the product of spheres of different dimensions:
transversal maps, Morse-Smale diffeomorphisms and maps with all its periodic
points hyperbolic. Our approach is via the Lefschetz fixed point theory. We
give a complete characterization of the minimal set of Lefschetz periods for
Morse-Smale diffeomorphisms on these spaces. We also consider $C^1$ maps with
all its periodic points hyperbolic and we give conditions for these maps to
have infinitely many periodic points. We describe the period set of the
transversal maps on these spaces. Finally we applied these results to describe
the periodic structure of similar classes of maps on compact, connected, simple
connected and simple Lie groups.


  Despite great technological importance and many investigations, a material
with measured hardness comparable to that of diamond or cubic boron nitride has
yet to be identified. Combined theoretical and experimental investigations led
to the discovery of a new polymorph of titanium dioxide with titanium
nine-coordinated to oxygen in the cotunnite (PbCl2) structure. Hardness
measurements on the cotunnite-structured TiO2 synthesized at pressures above 60
GPa and temperatures above 1000 K reveal that this material is the hardest
oxide yet discovered. Furthermore, it is one of the least compressible (with a
measured bulk modulus of 431 GPa) and hardest (with a microhardness of 38 GPa)
polycrystalline materials studied thus far.


  Obtaining a detailed understanding of strong-field double ionisation of
many-electron systems (heavy atoms and molecules) remains a challenging task.
By comparing experimental and theoretical results in the mid-IR regime, we have
unambiguously identified the transition from non-sequential (e,2e) to
sequential double ionisation in Xe and shown that it occurs at an intensity
below $10^{14}$ Wcm$^{-2}$. In addition, our data demonstrate that ionisation
from the Xe 5s orbital is decisive at low intensities. Moreover, using the
acetylene molecule, we propose how sequential double ionisation in the mid-IR
can be used to study molecular dynamics and fragmentation on unprecedented
few-femtosecond timescales.


  The stochastic entropy generated during the evolution of a system interacting
with an environment may be separated into three components, but only two of
these have a non-negative mean. The third component of entropy production is
associated with the relaxation of the system probability distribution towards a
stationary state and with nonequilibrium constraints within the dynamics that
break detailed balance. It exists when at least some of the coordinates of the
system phase space change sign under time reversal, and when the stationary
state is asymmetric in these coordinates. We illustrate the various components
of entropy production, both in detail for particular trajectories and in the
mean, using simple systems defined on a discrete phase space of spatial and
velocity coordinates. These models capture features of the drift and diffusion
of a particle in a physical system, including the processes of injection and
removal and the effect of a temperature gradient. The examples demonstrate how
entropy production in stochastic thermodynamics depends on the detail that is
included in a model of the dynamics of a process. Entropy production from such
a perspective is a measure of the failure of such models to meet Loschmidt's
expectation of dynamic reversibility.


  We consider profinite groups as 2-sorted first order structures, with a group
sort, and a second sort which acts as an index set for a uniformly definable
basis of neighbourhoods of the identity. It is shown that if the basis consists
of {\em all} open subgroups, then the first order theory of such a structure is
NIP (that is, does not have the independence property) precisely if the group
has a normal subgroup of finite index which is a direct product of finitely
many compact $p$-adic analytic groups, for distinct primes $p$. In fact, the
condition NIP can here be weakened to NTP${}_2$. We also show that any NIP
profinite group, presented as a 2-sorted structure, has an open prosoluble
normal subgroup.


  In a beyond-5G (B5G) scenario, we consider a virtual private mobile network
(VPMN), i.e., a set of user equipments (UEs) directly communicating in a
device-to-device (D2D) fashion, and connected to the cellular network by
multiple gateways. The purpose of the VPMN is to hide the position of the VPMN
UEs to the mobile network operator (MNO). We investigate the design and
performance of packet routing inside the VPMN. First, we note that the routing
that maximizes the rate between the VPMN and the cellular network leads to an
unbalanced use of the gateways by each UE. In turn, this reveals information on
the location of the VPMN UEs. Therefore, we derive a routing algorithm that
maximizes the VPMN rate, while imposing for each UE the same data rate at each
gateway, thus hiding the location of the UE. We compare the performance of the
resulting solution, assessing the location privacy achieved by the VPMN, and
considering both the case of single hop and multihop in the transmissions from
the UEs to the gateways.


  We present UnifiedQA-v2, a QA model built with the same process as UnifiedQA,
except that it utilizes more supervision -- roughly 3x the number of datasets
used for UnifiedQA. This generally leads to better in-domain and cross-domain
results.


  In this note we consider the Schr\"odinger equation on compact manifolds
equipped with possibly degenerate metrics. We prove Strichartz estimates with a
loss of derivatives. The rate of loss of derivatives depends on the degeneracy
of metrics. For the non-degenerate case we obtain, as an application of the
main result, the same Strichartz estimates as that in the elliptic case. This
extends Strichartz estimates for Riemannian metrics proved by
Burq-G\'erard-Tzvetkov to the non-elliptic case and improves the result by
Salort. We also investigate the optimality of the result for the case on
$\mathbb{S}^3\times \mathbb{S}^3$.


  We present a microscopic theory of the Hall current in the bilayer quantum
Hall system on the basis of noncommutative geometry. By analyzing the
Heisenberg equation of motion and the continuity equation of charge, we
demonstrate the emergence of the phase current in a system where the interlayer
phase coherence develops spontaneously. The phase current arranges itself to
minimize the total energy of the system, as induces certain anomalous behaviors
in the Hall current in the counterflow geometry and also in the drag
experiment. They explain the recent experimental data for anomalous Hall
resistances due to Kellogg et al. [M. Kellogg, I.B. Spielman, J.P. Eisenstein,
L.N. Pfeiffer and K.W. West, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{88} (2002) 126804; M.
Kellogg, J.P. Eisenstein, L.N. Pfeiffer and K.W. West, Phys. Rev. Lett.
\textbf{93} (2004) 036801] and Tutuc et al. [E. Tutuc, M. Shayegan and D.A.
Huse, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{93} (2004) 036802] at $\nu =1$.


  Matrix-matrix multiplication is a key computational kernel for numerous
applications in science and engineering, with ample parallelism and data
locality that lends itself well to high-performance implementations. Many
matrix multiplication-dependent applications can use reduced-precision integer
or fixed-point representations to increase their performance and energy
efficiency while still offering adequate quality of results. However, precision
requirements may vary between different application phases or depend on input
data, rendering constant-precision solutions ineffective. BISMO, a vectorized
bit-serial matrix multiplication overlay for reconfigurable computing,
previously utilized the excellent binary-operation performance of FPGAs to
offer a matrix multiplication performance that scales with required precision
and parallelism. We show how BISMO can be scaled up on Xilinx FPGAs using an
arithmetic architecture that better utilizes 6-LUTs. The improved BISMO
achieves a peak performance of 15.4 binary TOPS on the Ultra96 board with a
Xilinx UltraScale+ MPSoC.


  As DenseNet conserves intermediate features with diverse receptive fields by
aggregating them with dense connection, it shows good performance on the object
detection task. Although feature reuse enables DenseNet to produce strong
features with a small number of model parameters and FLOPs, the detector with
DenseNet backbone shows rather slow speed and low energy efficiency. We find
the linearly increasing input channel by dense connection leads to heavy memory
access cost, which causes computation overhead and more energy consumption. To
solve the inefficiency of DenseNet, we propose an energy and computation
efficient architecture called VoVNet comprised of One-Shot Aggregation (OSA).
The OSA not only adopts the strength of DenseNet that represents diversified
features with multi receptive fields but also overcomes the inefficiency of
dense connection by aggregating all features only once in the last feature
maps. To validate the effectiveness of VoVNet as a backbone network, we design
both lightweight and large-scale VoVNet and apply them to one-stage and
two-stage object detectors. Our VoVNet based detectors outperform DenseNet
based ones with 2x faster speed and the energy consumptions are reduced by 1.6x
- 4.1x. In addition to DenseNet, VoVNet also outperforms widely used ResNet
backbone with faster speed and better energy efficiency. In particular, the
small object detection performance has been significantly improved over
DenseNet and ResNet.


  We construct field theories in $2+1$ dimensions with multiple conformal
symmetries acting on only one of the spatial directions. These can be
considered a conformal extension to "subsystem scale invariances", borrowing
the language often used for fractons.


  The shape of a nucleus is one of fundamental nuclear properties. We perform a
systematic investigation of bubble nuclei that also exhibit shape coexistence
in Hf, W, Os, Pt and Hg even-even isotopes using the deformed relativistic
Hartree-Bogoliubov theory in continuum. For a systematic study, we first
consider nuclear bubble structures and shape coexistence separately. We confirm
that deformations and pairing correlations hinder bubble structures by
comparing our results with those from relativistic continuum Hartree-Bogoliubov
theory that assumes spherical symmetry in nuclei. We then predict candidate
isotopes with both bubble structure and shape coexistence. We observe that the
depletion fraction factor that characterizes bubble structure is mostly smaller
in oblate deformation than in prolate, while some isotopes such as $^{206}$Os
have bubble structures both in oblate and prolate deformations. We compare the
proton single-particle energy levels for the candidates of shape coexistence
both with only prolate bubble structure and with prolate and oblate bubble
structures.


  This paper develops, in a Brownian information setting, an approach for
analyzing the preference for information, a question that motivates the
stochastic differential utility (SDU) due to Duffie and Epstein [Econometrica
60 (1992) 353-394]. For a class of backward stochastic differential equations
(BSDEs) including the generalized SDU [Lazrak and Quenez Math. Oper. Res. 28
(2003) 154-180], we formulate the information neutrality property as an
invariance principle when the filtration is coarser (or finer) and characterize
it. We also provide concrete examples of heterogeneity in information that
illustrate explicitly the nonneutrality property for some GSDUs. Our results
suggest that, within the GSDUs class of intertemporal utilities, risk aversion
or ambiguity aversion are inflexibly linked to the preference for information.


  We define a general variant of the graph clustering problem where the
criterion of density for the clusters is (high) connectivity. In {\sc
Clustering to Given Connectivities}, we are given an $n$-vertex graph $G$, an
integer $k$, and a sequence $\Lambda=\langle
\lambda_{1},\ldots,\lambda_{t}\rangle$ of positive integers and we ask whether
it is possible to remove at most $k$ edges from $G$ such that the resulting
connected components are {\sl exactly} $t$ and their corresponding edge
connectivities are lower-bounded by the numbers in $\Lambda$. We prove that
this problem, parameterized by $k$, is fixed parameter tractable i.e., can be
solved by an $f(k)\cdot n^{O(1)}$-step algorithm, for some function $f$ that
depends only on the parameter $k$. Our algorithm uses the recursive
understanding technique that is especially adapted so to deal with the fact
that, in out setting, we do not impose any restriction to the connectivity
demands in $\Lambda$.


  Enhancing the optical cross section is an enticing goal in light-matter
interactions, due to its fundamental role in quantum and non-linear optics.
Here, we show how dipolar interactions can suppress off-axis scattering in a
two-dimensional atomic array, leading to a subradiant collective mode where the
optical cross section is enhanced by almost an order of magnitude. As a
consequence, it is possible to attain an optical depth which implies high
fidelity extinction, from a monolayer. Using realistic experimental parameters,
we also model how lattice vacancies and the atomic trapping depth affect the
transmission, concluding that such high extinction should be possible, using
current experimental techniques.


  I discuss a model for quantized gravitation based on the simplicial lattice
discretization. It has been studied in some detail using a comprehensive finite
size scaling analysis combined with renormalization group methods. The results
are consistent with a value for the universal critical exponent for gravitation
$\nu=1/3$, and suggest a simple relationship between Newton's constant, the
gravitational correlation length and the observable average space-time
curvature. Some perhaps testable phenomenological implications are discussed,
such as the scale dependence of Newton's constant and properties of quantum
curvature fluctuations.


  It is shown that a fermion mass matrix changing in orientation (rotating)
with changing scales can give a simple yet near-quantitative explanation for
quark mixing, neutrino oscillations and the fermion mass hierarchy.


  In this paper, we derive some quantitative estimates for uniformly-rotating
vortex patches. We prove that if a non-radial simply-connected patch $D$ is
uniformly-rotating with small angular velocity $0 < \Omega \ll 1$, then the
outmost point of the patch must be far from the center of rotation, with
distance at least of order $\Omega^{-1/2}$. For $m$-fold symmetric
simply-connected rotating patches, we show that their angular velocity must be
close to $\frac{1}{2}$ for $m\gg 1$ with the difference at most $O(1/m)$, and
also obtain estimates on $L^{\infty}$ norm of the polar graph which
parametrizes the boundary.


  The evolution of correlation characteristics in homogeneous helical
turbulence is considered. Additional K'arm'an-Howarth type equations,
describing the evolution of the mixed correlation tensor of the velocity and
vorticity are obtained. In the helical scaling region, the solution of obtained
equation gives the exact relation between antisymmetric component of a
rank-three tensor and the average dissipation of helicity. This relation is a
helical analogue of Kolmogorov's known 4/5 law.


  Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP) and its variants, such as
multi-state chainwise-STIRAP allow efficiently transferring the populations in
multi-state system and have been widely used to prepare ultracold deeply-bound
molecules. However, their transfer efficiencies are generally imperfect. The
main obstacle is the presence of losses and the requirement to make the
dynamics adiabatic. To this end, in the present paper a theoretical method for
the efficient and robust creation and detection of deeply-bound molecules is
proposed. The simple three- and five-level systems with states chainwise
coupled by optical fields are considered. In the regime of large detuning, the
major molecular losses are pre-suppressed by reducing the dynamics of the
three- and five-level molecular systems to those of effective two- and
three-level counterparts, respectively. Consequently, two-level counterpart can
be directly compatible with two kinds of "Invariant-based Inverse Engineering"
(IIE) recipes, the results show that both protocols give comparable performance
and have good experimental feasibility. For the five-level case, by considering
a relation among the four incident pulses, we show that the M-type structure
can be generalized into an effective $Lambda$-type one with the simplest
resonant coupling. Therefore, this generalized model can also be directly
compatible with "IIE" recipe. Numerical calculations show that the weakly-bound
molecules can be efficiently transferred to their deeply-bound states without
strong laser intensity, and the stability against parameter variations is well
preserved. Finally, the detection of ultracold deeply-bound molecules is
discussed, the results show that all the protocols allow efficient detection of
molecules.


  We generalize the Lellouch-Luscher formula, relating weak matrix elements in
finite and infinite volumes, to the case of multiple strongly-coupled decay
channels into two scalar particles. This is a necessary first step on the way
to a lattice QCD calculation of weak decay rates for processes such as D -> pi
pi and D -> KK. We also present a field theoretic derivation of the
generalization of Luscher's finite volume quantization condition to multiple
two-particle channels. We give fully explicit results for the case of two
channels, including a form of the generalized Lellouch-Luscher formula
expressed in terms of derivatives of the energies of finite volume states with
respect to the box size. Our results hold for arbitrary total momentum and for
degenerate or non-degenerate particles.


  Feature modeling is a widely used formalism to characterize a set of products
(also called configurations). As a manual elaboration is a long and arduous
task, numerous techniques have been proposed to reverse engineer feature models
from various kinds of artefacts. But none of them synthesize feature attributes
(or constraints over attributes) despite the practical relevance of attributes
for documenting the different values across a range of products. In this
report, we develop an algorithm for synthesizing attributed feature models
given a set of product descriptions. We present sound, complete, and
parametrizable techniques for computing all possible hierarchies, feature
groups, placements of feature attributes, domain values, and constraints. We
perform a complexity analysis w.r.t. number of features, attributes,
configurations, and domain size. We also evaluate the scalability of our
synthesis procedure using randomized configuration matrices. This report is a
first step that aims to describe the foundations for synthesizing attributed
feature models.


  We study the effect of adiabatically resonant conversion in galactic halos of
neutrinos at the highest energies ($ \sim 10^{20}$ - $10^{22}$ eV), when the
$\nu$ source is in the center of a galaxy. Using the standard neutrino
properties and the standard cosmological scenario for the hot dark part of
matter, we find that interesting conversions may take place just for neutrino
parameters relevant to the solar and atmospheric neutrino problem. The effect
is due to the large enhancement in the $\nu$ density in galactic halos and to
the form of the effective matter potential both below and above the pole of the
$Z$ resonance.


  Point clouds are unstructured and unordered in the embedded 3D space. In
order to produce consistent responses under different permutation layouts, most
existing methods aggregate local spatial points through maximum or summation
operation. But such an aggregation essentially belongs to the isotropic
filtering on all operated points therein, which tends to lose the information
of geometric structures. In this paper, we propose a spatial transformer point
convolution (STPC) method to achieve anisotropic convolution filtering on point
clouds. To capture and represent implicit geometric structures, we specifically
introduce spatial direction dictionary to learn those latent geometric
components. To better encode unordered neighbor points, we design sparse
deformer to transform them into the canonical ordered dictionary space by using
direction dictionary learning. In the transformed space, the standard
image-like convolution can be leveraged to generate anisotropic filtering,
which is more robust to express those finer variances of local regions.
Dictionary learning and encoding processes are encapsulated into a network
module and jointly learnt in an end-to-end manner. Extensive experiments on
several public datasets (including S3DIS, Semantic3D, SemanticKITTI)
demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method in point clouds semantic
segmentation task.


  Bound states poles in scattering amplitudes are generated by the divergence
of the perturbative series due to enhanced Coulomb scattering near thresholds.
This suggests to organize bound state calculations according to an expansion in
hbar, i.e., in the number of loops. I study QED and QCD bound states at lowest
order in hbar, which are analogous to Born amplitudes. The absence of loops
allows the use of retarded boundary conditions where particles only propagate
forward in time, making a hamiltonian approach feasible. The instantaneous A^0
field is determined by the equations of motion separately for each Fock
component of the bound state. The field equations are compatible with a linear
A^0 potential as a homogeneous, non-perturbative solution. Stationarity of the
action determines the direction of the ensuing constant electric field in each
Fock state. Applying this approach to relativistic qqbar and qqq states in QCD
results in a bound state equation which provides a reasonable description of
the spectrum, including linear Regge trajectories. The equal-time wave
functions have unique Lorentz transformation properties, which ensure the
correct dependence of the bound state energy on the center-of-mass momentum.
The qqq potential is gauge covariant and confines the three quarks in a
symmetric way.


  Determining Hamiltonian ground states and energies is a challenging task with
many possible approaches on quantum computers. While variational quantum
eigensolvers are popular approaches for near term hardware, adiabatic state
preparation is an alternative that does not require noisy optimization of
parameters. Beyond adiabatic schedules, QAOA is an important method for
optimization problems. In this work we modify QAOA to apply to finding ground
states of molecules and empirically evaluate the modified algorithm on several
molecules. This modification applies physical insights used in classical
approximations to construct suitable QAOA operators and initial state. We find
robust qualitative behavior for QAOA as a function of the number of steps and
size of the parameters, and demonstrate this behavior also occurs in standard
QAOA applied to combinatorial search. To this end we introduce QAOA phase
diagrams that capture its performance and properties in various limits. In
particular we show a region in which non-adiabatic schedules perform better
than the adiabatic limit while employing lower quantum circuit depth. We
further provide evidence our results and insights also apply to QAOA
applications beyond chemistry.


  Maxwell models for nonlinear kinetic equations have many applications in
physics, dynamics of granular gases, economy, etc. In the present manuscript we
consider such models from a very general point of view, including those with
arbitrary polynomial non-linearities and in any dimension space. It is shown
that the whole class of generalized Maxwell models satisfies properties which
one of them can be interpreted as an operator generalization of usual Lipschitz
conditions. This property allows to describe in detail a behavior of solutions
to the corresponding initial value problem. In particular, we prove in the most
general case an existence of self similar solutions and study the convergence,
in the sense of probability measures, of dynamically scaled solutions to the
Cauchy problem to those self-similar solutions, as time goes to infinity. The
properties of these self-similar solutions, leading to non classical
equilibrium stable states, are studied in detail. We apply the results to three
different specific problems related to the Boltzmann equation (with elastic and
inelastic interactions) and show that all physically relevant properties of
solutions follow directly from the general theory developed in this paper.


  We study stable allocations in an exchange economy with indivisible goods.
The problem is well-known to be challenging, and rich enough to encode
fundamentally unstable economies, such as the roommate problem. Our approach
stems from generalizing the original study of an exchange economy with unit
demand and unit endowments, the \emph{housing model}. Our first approach uses
Scarf's theorem, and proposes sufficient conditions under which a ``convexify
then round'' technique ensures that the core is nonempty. The upshot is that a
core allocation exists in categorical economies with dichotomous preferences.
Our second approach uses a generalization of the TTC: it works under general
conditions, and finds a solution that is a version of the stable set.


  We present the broadband phase averaged spectrum of one of the brightest
intermediate polars V1223 Sgr, obtained with INTEGRAL and RXTE observatories
(3-100 keV). Good statistical quality of the spectrum in a hard X-ray energy
band (INTEGRAL/IBIS and RXTE/HEXTE) allowed us to disentangle contributions of
a direct optically thin plasma emission and a reflected component to the
spectrum of V1223 Sgr. The obtained measurement of the post-shock temperature
of the accreting matter give us the information about the mass of the white
dwarf and the inclination of the system.


  Some tension exists between present experimental data and models which
comprise only the three light neutrino mass eigenstates necessary to explain
solar and atmospheric oscillation results. Hence the revival of the idea that
additional more massive states might enter the active neutrino superpositions
produced and observed in charged current reactions. Such 'heavy' neutrinos with
masses in the keV or MeV range might also be of interest as dark matter
candidates. A state with mass larger than 1022 keV could decay into an $e^+
e^-$ pair and a light mass state, leaving an easily recognizable signature. The
aim of this paper is to estimate the possible signal rate.


  The duty-cycle of powerful radio galaxies and quasars such as the prototype
Cygnus A is poorly understood. X-ray observations of inverse-Compton scattered
Cosmic Microwave Background (ICCMB) photons probe lower Lorentz-factor
particles than radio observations of synchrotron emission. Comparative studies
of the nearer and further lobes, separated by many 10s of kpc and thus 10s of
thousands of years in light-travel time, yield additional temporal resolution
in studies of the lifecycles. We have co-added all archival Chandra ACIS-I data
and present a deep 200 ks image of Cygnus A. This deep image reveals the
presence of X-ray emission from a counterjet i.e. a jet receding from Earth and
related to a previous episode of jet activity. The non-thermal X-ray emission,
we interpret as ICCMB radiation. There is an absence of any discernible X-ray
emission associated with a jet flowing towards Earth. We conclude that: (1) The
emission from a relic jet, indicates a previous episode of jet activity, that
took place earlier than the current jet activity appearing as synchrotron radio
emission. (2) The presence of X-ray emission from a relic counterjet of Cygnus
A and the absence of X-ray emission associated with any relic approaching jet
constrains the timescale between successive episodes of jet activity to ~10^6
years. (3) Transverse expansion of the jet causes expansion losses which shifts
the energy distribution to lower energies. (4) Assuming the electrons cooled
due to adiabatic expansion, the required magnetic field strength is
substantially smaller than the equipartition magnetic field strength. (5) A
high minimum Lorentz factor for the distribution of relativistic particles in
the current jet, of a few 10^3, is ejected from the central nucleus of this
active galaxy. Abridged.


  According to the fundamental laws of quantum optics, noise is necessarily
added to the system when one tries to clone or amplify a quantum state.
However, it has recently been shown that the quantum noise related to the
operation of a linear phase-insensitive amplifier can be avoided when the
requirement of a deterministic operation is relaxed. Nondeterministic noiseless
linear amplifiers are therefore realizable. Usually nondeterministic amplifiers
rely on using single photon sources. We have, in contrast, recently proposed an
amplification scheme in which no external energy is added to the signal, but
the energy required to amplify the signal originates from the stochastic
fluctuations in the field itself. Applying our amplification scheme, we examine
the amplifier gain and the success rate as well as the properties of the output
states after successful and failed amplification processes. We also optimize
the setup to find the maximum success rates in terms of the reflectivities of
the beam splitters used in the setup. In addition, we discuss the nonidealities
related to the operation of our setup and the relation of our setup with the
previous setups.


  As 6G emerges, cellular systems are envisioned to integrate sensing with
communication capabilities, leading to multi-faceted communication and sensing
(JCAS). This paper presents a comprehensive cross-layer overview of the
Hexa-X-II project's endeavors in JCAS, aligning 6G use cases with service
requirements and pinpointing distinct scenarios that bridge communication and
sensing. This work relates to these scenarios through the lens of the
cross-layer physical and networking domains, covering models, deployments,
resource allocation, storage challenges, computational constraints, interfaces,
and innovative functions.


  The multiphoton resonance transitions between ground hyperfine states are
used for the time modulation of the electron capture decay of hydrogen like
ions with the Gamow-Teller transition $1^+\to 0^+$. The proposed mechanism
offers a time oscillating decay with the frequency up to 0.1 Hz. The experiment
to observe the modulation is proposed for ions stored in a Penning trap. An
attempt to understand the GSI anomaly with multiple photon transitions is made.


  The transverse electromagnetic waves propagating in a relativistic two-fluid
plasma influenced by the gravitational field of the Reissner-Nordstr\"{o}m-de
Sitter black hole has been investigated exploiting 3+1 split of spacetime.
Reformulating the two-fluid equations, the set of simultaneous linear equations
for the perturbations have been derived. Using a local approximation, the
one-dimensional radial propagation of Alfv\'{e}n and high frequency
electromagnetic waves are investigated. The dispersion relation for these waves
is obtained and solved numerically for the wave number.


  The application of self-supervision to speech representation learning has
garnered significant interest in recent years, due to its scalability to large
amounts of unlabeled data. However, much progress, both in terms of
pre-training and downstream evaluation, has remained concentrated in
monolingual models that only consider English. Few models consider other
languages, and even fewer consider indigenous ones. In our submission to the
New Language Track of the ASRU 2023 ML-SUPERB Challenge, we present an ASR
corpus for Quechua, an indigenous South American Language. We benchmark the
efficacy of large SSL models on Quechua, along with 6 other indigenous
languages such as Guarani and Bribri, on low-resource ASR. Our results show
surprisingly strong performance by state-of-the-art SSL models, showing the
potential generalizability of large-scale models to real-world data.


  (abridged) Here we present HI line and 20-cm radio continuum data of the
nearby galaxy pair NGC1512/1510 as obtained with the Australia Telescope
Compact Array. These are complemented by GALEX UV-, SINGG Halpha- and Spitzer
mid-infrared images, allowing us to compare the distribution and kinematics of
the neutral atomic gas with the locations and ages of the stellar clusters
within the system. For the barred, double-ring galaxy NGC1512 we find a very
large HI disk, about 4x its optical diameter, with two pronounced spiral/tidal
arms. Both its gas distribution and the distribution of the star-forming
regions are affected by gravitational interaction with the neighbouring blue
compact dwarf galaxy NGC1510. The two most distant HI clumps, at radii of about
80 kpc, show signs of star formation and are likely tidal dwarf galaxies. Star
formation in the outer disk of NGC1512 is revealed by deep optical- and
two-color ultraviolet images. Using the latter we determine the properties of
about 200 stellar clusters and explore their correlation with dense HI clumps
in the even larger 2XHI disk. The multi-wavelength analysis of the NGC1512/1510
system, which is probably in the first stages of a minor merger having started
about 400 Myr ago, links stellar and gaseous galaxy properties on scales from
one to 100 kpc.


  Fully parallel architecture at disparity-level for efficient semi-global
matching (SGM) with refined rank method is presented. The improved SGM
algorithm is implemented with the non-parametric unified rank model which is
the combination of Rank filter/AD and Rank SAD. Rank SAD is a novel definition
by introducing the constraints of local image structure into the rank method.
As a result, the unified rank model with Rank SAD can make up for the defects
of Rank filter/AD. Experimental results show both excellent subjective quality
and objective performance of the refined SGM algorithm. The fully parallel
construction for hardware implementation of SGM is architected with reasonable
strategies at disparity-level. The parallelism of the data-stream allows proper
throughput for specific applications with acceptable maximum frequency. The
results of RTL emulation and synthesis ensure that the proposed parallel
architecture is suitable for VLSI implementation.


  Stochastic optimisation in Riemannian manifolds, especially the Riemannian
stochastic gradient method, has attracted much recent attention. The present
work applies stochastic optimisation to the task of recursive estimation of a
statistical parameter which belongs to a Riemannian manifold. Roughly, this
task amounts to stochastic minimisation of a statistical divergence function.
The following problem is considered : how to obtain fast, asymptotically
efficient, recursive estimates, using a Riemannian stochastic optimisation
algorithm with decreasing step sizes? In solving this problem, several original
results are introduced. First, without any convexity assumptions on the
divergence function, it is proved that, with an adequate choice of step sizes,
the algorithm computes recursive estimates which achieve a fast non-asymptotic
rate of convergence. Second, the asymptotic normality of these recursive
estimates is proved, by employing a novel linearisation technique. Third, it is
proved that, when the Fisher information metric is used to guide the algorithm,
these recursive estimates achieve an optimal asymptotic rate of convergence, in
the sense that they become asymptotically efficient. These results, while
relatively familiar in the Euclidean context, are here formulated and proved
for the first time, in the Riemannian context. In addition, they are
illustrated with a numerical application to the recursive estimation of
elliptically contoured distributions.


  In this paper we present a fast, new and easy method for the preparation of
bentonite-g-poly(acrylate-co-acrylamide) composite material using microwave
radiation. The composite has water absorptivity of 1002 g/g while the
corresponding copolymer is tacky and has poor gel texture. The relative thermal
stability of the composite in comparison with the copolymer was proved via
thermogravimetric analysis These results indicate the synergistic effect of the
bentonite with the copolymer by increasing water absorptivity and enhancing
thermal and mechanical properties of the final gel. The composite was
characterized by X-ray and FTIR. The influence of the environmental parameters
on water absorptivity such as the pH and the ionic force was investigated


  We comment on the relationships between several supersymmetric lattice
models; the ``orbifold lattice theory'' by Cohen-Kaplan-Katz-Unsal (CKKU),
lattice regularization of the topological field theory by Sugino and the
``geometrical approach'' by Catterall. We point out that these three models
have close relationships; the N =(2,2) model by Catterall [Catterall] and the
two-dimensional N = (2,2) lattice theory being similar to Sugino's construction
[Sugino] can be derived by appropriate truncation of fields in the
two-dimensional N = (4,4) orbifold lattice theory by CKKU [Cohen et al].
Catterall's N = (2,2) description possesses extra degrees of freedom compared
to the target N = (2,2) theory. If we remove those extra degrees of freedom in
a way keeping supersymmetry on the lattice, Catterall's description reduces to
a model of the Sugino type.


  This paper introduces data augmentation for point clouds by interpolation
between examples. Data augmentation by interpolation has shown to be a simple
and effective approach in the image domain. Such a mixup is however not
directly transferable to point clouds, as we do not have a one-to-one
correspondence between the points of two different objects. In this paper, we
define data augmentation between point clouds as a shortest path linear
interpolation. To that end, we introduce PointMixup, an interpolation method
that generates new examples through an optimal assignment of the path function
between two point clouds. We prove that our PointMixup finds the shortest path
between two point clouds and that the interpolation is assignment invariant and
linear. With the definition of interpolation, PointMixup allows to introduce
strong interpolation-based regularizers such as mixup and manifold mixup to the
point cloud domain. Experimentally, we show the potential of PointMixup for
point cloud classification, especially when examples are scarce, as well as
increased robustness to noise and geometric transformations to points. The code
for PointMixup and the experimental details are publicly available.


  In recent years, the field of quantum science has attracted significant
interest across various disciplines, including quantum machine learning,
quantum communication, and quantum computing. Among these emerging areas,
quantum federated learning (QFL) has gained particular attention due to the
integration of quantum neural networks (QNNs) with traditional federated
learning (FL) techniques. In this study, a novel approach entitled quantum
split learning (QSL) is presented, which represents an advanced extension of
classical split learning. Previous research in classical computing has
demonstrated numerous advantages of split learning, such as accelerated
convergence, reduced communication costs, and enhanced privacy protection. To
maximize the potential of QSL, cross-channel pooling is introduced, a technique
that capitalizes on the distinctive properties of quantum state tomography
facilitated by QNNs. Through rigorous numerical analysis, evidence is provided
that QSL not only achieves a 1.64\% higher top-1 accuracy compared to QFL but
also demonstrates robust privacy preservation in the context of the MNIST
classification task.


  We consider a Brownian particle which, in addition to being in contact with a
thermal bath, is driven by fluctuating forces which stem from active processes
in the system, such as self-propulsion or collisions with other active
particles. These active fluctuations do not fulfill a fluctuation-dissipation
relation and therefore play the role of a non-equilibrium environment, which
keeps the system permanently out of thermal equilibrium even in the absence of
external forces. We investigate how the out-of-equilibrium character of the
active matter system and the associated irreversibility is reflected in the
trajectories of the Brownian particle. Specifically, we analyze the log-ratio
of path probabilities for observing a certain particle trajectory forward in
time versus observing its time-reversed twin trajectory. For passive Brownian
motion, it is well-known that this path probability ratio quantifies
irreversibility in terms of entropy production. For active Brownian motion, we
show that in addition to the usual entropy produced in the thermal environment
the path probability ratio contains a contribution to irreversibility from
mutual information production between the particle trajectory and the history
of the non-equilibrium environment. The resulting irreversibility measure
fulfills an integral fluctuation theorem and a second-law like relation. When
deriving and discussing these relations, we keep in mind that the active
fluctuations can occur either due to a suspension of active particles pushing
around a passive colloid or due to active self-propulsion of the particle
itself; we point out the similarities and differences between these two
situations. We obtain explicit expressions for active fluctuations modeled by
an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. Finally, we illustrate our general results by
analyzing a Brownian particle which is trapped in a static or moving harmonic
potential.


  The notion of well-separated sets is crucial in fast multipole methods as the
main idea is to approximate the interaction between such sets via cluster
expansions. We revisit the one-parameter multipole acceptance criterion in a
general setting and derive a relative error estimate. This analysis benefits
asymmetric versions of the method, where the division of the multipole boxes is
more liberal than in conventional codes. Such variants offer a particularly
elegant implementation with a balanced multipole tree, a feature which might be
very favorable on modern computer architectures.


  We investigate the evolution of high redshift seed black hole masses at late
times and their observational signatures. The massive black hole seeds studied
here form at extremely high redshifts from the direct collapse of pre-galactic
gas discs. Populating dark matter halos with seeds formed in this way, we
follow the mass assembly of these black holes to the present time using a
Monte-Carlo merger tree. Using this machinery we predict the black hole mass
function at high redshifts and at the present time; the integrated mass density
of black holes and the luminosity function of accreting black holes as a
function of redshift. These predictions are made for a set of three seed models
with varying black hole formation efficiency. Given the accuracy of current
observational constraints, all 3 models can be adequately fit. Discrimination
between the models appears predominantly at the low mass end of the present day
black hole mass function which is not observationally well constrained.
However, all our models predict that low surface brightness, bulgeless galaxies
with large discs are least likely to be sites for the formation of massive seed
black holes at high redshifts. The efficiency of seed formation at high
redshifts has a direct influence on the black hole occupation fraction in
galaxies at z=0. This effect is more pronounced for low mass galaxies. This is
the key discriminant between the models studied here and the Population III
remnant seed model. We find that there exists a population of low mass galaxies
that do not host nuclear black holes. Our prediction of the shape of the black
hole mass - velocity dispersion relation at the low mass end is in agreement
with the recent observational determination from the census of low mass
galaxies in the Virgo cluster.


  The sums $S(x,t)$ of the centered remainders $kt-\lfloor kt\rfloor - 1/2$
over $k \leq x$ and corresponding Dirichlet series were studied by A.
Ostrowski, E. Hecke, H. Behnke and S. Lang for fixed real irrational numbers
$t$. Their work was originally inspired by Weyl's equidistribution results
modulo 1 for sequences in number theory.
  In a series of former papers we obtained limit functions which describe
scaling properties of the Farey sequence of order $n$ for $n \to \infty$ in the
vicinity of any fixed fraction $a/b$ and which are independent of $a/b$. We
extend this theory on the sums $S(x,t)$ and also obtain a scaling behaviour
with a new limit function. This method leads to a refinement of results given
by Ostrowski and Lang and establishes a new proof for the analytic continuation
of related Dirichlet series. We will also present explicit relations to the
theory of Farey sequences.


  A phenomenological approach using the states of spin-like observables is
developed to understand the nature of consciousness and the totality of
experience. The three states of consciousness are taken to form the triplet of
eigenstates of a spin-one entity and are derived as the triplet resulting from
the composition of two spins by treating the subject and the object as
interacting two-state, spin-half systems with external and internal
projections. The state of deep sleep is analysed in the light of this
phenomenological approach and a novel understanding of the status of the
individual consciousness in this state is obtained. The resulting fourth state
i.e. the singlet state is interpreted to correspond to the superconscious state
of intuitive experience and is justified by invoking the concept of the
universal consciousness as the underlying source of all individual states of
experience. It is proposed that the individual experiences result from the
operations of four individualizing observables which project out the individual
from the universal. The one-to-one correspondence between the individual and
the universal states of experience is brought out and their identity in the
fourth state is established by showing that all individualizing quantum numbers
become zero in this state leaving no trace of any individuality.


  Measurements of double-differential charged pion production cross-sections in
interactions of 12 GeV/c protons on O_2 and N_2 thin targets are presented in
the kinematic range 0.5 GeV/c < p_{\pi} < 8 GeV/c and 50 mrad < \theta_{\pi} <
250 mrad (in the laboratory frame) and are compared with p--C results. For
p--N_2 (p--O_2) interactions the analysis is performed using 38576 (7522)
reconstructed secondary pions. The analysis uses the beam instrumentation and
the forward spectrometer of the HARP experiment at CERN PS. The measured
cross-sections have a direct impact on the precise calculation of atmospheric
neutrino fluxes and on the improved reliability of extensive air shower
simulations by reducing the uncertainties of hadronic interaction models in the
low energy range. In particular, the present results allow the common
hypothesis that p--C data can be used to predict the p--N_2 and p--O_2 pion
production cross-sections to be tested.


  Have been calculated the differential cross section and mean free path of
neutrino of neutrino interaction in dense matter.


  This paper is concerned with a complete asymptoticanalysis as $\mathfrak{E}
\to 0$ of the stationary Munk equation $\partial\_x\psi-\mathfrak{E} \Delta^2
\psi=\tau$ in a domain $\Omega\subset \mathbf{R}^2$, supplemented with
boundaryconditions for $\psi $ and $\partial\_n \psi$. This equation is a
simplemodel for the circulation of currents in closed basins, the variables$x$
and $y$ being respectively the longitude and the latitude. A crudeanalysis
shows that as $\mathfrak{E} \to 0$, the weak limit of $\psi$ satisfiesthe
so-called Sverdrup transport equation inside the domain, namely$\partial\_x
\psi^0=\tau$, while boundary layers appear in the vicinity ofthe boundary.These
boundary layers, which are the main center of interest of thepresent paper,
exhibit several types of peculiar behaviour. First, thesize of the boundary
layer on the western and eastern boundary, whichhad already been computed by
several authors, becomes formally verylarge as one approaches northern and
southern portions of the boudary,i.e. pieces of the boundary on which the
normal is vertical. Thisphenomenon is known as geostrophic degeneracy. In order
to avoid suchsingular behaviour, previous studies imposed restrictive
assumptionson the domain $\Omega$ and on the forcing term $\tau$. Here, we
provethat a superposition of two boundary layers occurs in the vicinity ofsuch
points: the classical western or eastern boundary layers, andsome northern or
southern boundary layers, whose mathematicalderivation is completely new. The
size of northern/southern boundarylayers is much larger than the one of western
boundary layers($\mathfrak{E}^{1/4}$ vs. $\mathfrak{E}^{1/3}$). We explain in
detail how the superpositiontakes place, depending on the geometry of the
boundary.Moreover, when the domain $\Omega$ is not connex in the $x$
direction,$\psi^0$ is not continuous in $\Omega$, and singular layers appear
inorder to correct its discontinuities. These singular layers areconcentrated
in the vicinity of horizontal lines, and thereforepenetrate the interior of the
domain $\Omega$. Hence we exhibit some kindof boundary layer separation.
However, we emphasize that we remainable to prove a convergence theorem, so
that the singular layerssomehow remain stable, in spite of the
separation.Eventually, the effect of boundary layers is non-local in
severalaspects. On the first hand, for algebraic reasons, the boundary
layerequation is radically different on the west and east parts of theboundary.
As a consequence, the Sverdrup equation is endowed with aDirichlet condition on
the East boundary, and no condition on the Westboundary. Therefore western and
eastern boundary layers have in factan influence on the whole domain $\Omega$,
and not only near theboundary. On the second hand, the northern and southern
boundary layerprofiles obey a propagation equation, where the space variable
$x$plays the role of time, and are therefore not local.


  Classical results due to Ingham and Paley-Wiener characterize the existence
of nonzero functions supported on certain subsets of the real line in terms of
the pointwise decay of the Fourier transforms. Viewing these results as
uncertainty principles for Fourier transforms, we prove certain analogues of
these results on connected, noncompact, semisimple Lie groups with finite
center. We also use these results to show unique continuation property of
solutions to the initial value problem for time-dependent Schr\"odinger
equations on Riemmanian symmetric spaces of noncompact type.


  For an integer $q\ge 2$, a graph $G$ is called $q$-Ramsey for a graph $H$ if
every $q$-colouring of the edges of $G$ contains a monochromatic copy of $H$.
If $G$ is $q$-Ramsey for $H$, yet no proper subgraph of $G$ has this property
then $G$ is called $q$-Ramsey-minimal for $H$. Generalising a statement by
Burr, Ne\v{s}et\v{r}il and R\"odl from 1977 we prove that, for $q\ge 3$, if $G$
is a graph that is not $q$-Ramsey for some graph $H$ then $G$ is contained as
an induced subgraph in an infinite number of $q$-Ramsey-minimal graphs for $H$,
as long as $H$ is $3$-connected or isomorphic to the triangle. For such $H$,
the following are some consequences.
  (1) For $2\le r< q$, every $r$-Ramsey-minimal graph for $H$ is contained as
an induced subgraph in an infinite number of $q$-Ramsey-minimal graphs for $H$.
  (2) For every $q\ge 3$, there are $q$-Ramsey-minimal graphs for $H$ of
arbitrarily large maximum degree, genus, and chromatic number.
  (3) The collection $\{{\cal M}_q(H) : H \text{ is 3-connected or } K_3\}$
forms an antichain with respect to the subset relation, where ${\cal M}_q(H)$
denotes the set of all graphs that are $q$-Ramsey-minimal for $H$.
  We also address the question which pairs of graphs satisfy ${\cal
M}_q(H_1)={\cal M}_q(H_2)$, in which case $H_1$ and $H_2$ are called
$q$-equivalent. We show that two graphs $H_1$ and $H_2$ are $q$-equivalent for
even $q$ if they are $2$-equivalent, and that in general $q$-equivalence for
some $q\ge 3$ does not necessarily imply $2$-equivalence. Finally we indicate
that for connected graphs this implication may hold: Results by
Ne\v{s}et\v{r}il and R\"odl and by Fox, Grinshpun, Liebenau, Person and Szab\'o
imply that the complete graph is not $2$-equivalent to any other connected
graph. We prove that this is the case for an arbitrary number of colours.


  We study the dissolution of a solid by continuous injection of reactive
``acid'' particles at a single point, with the reactive particles undergoing
biased diffusion in the dissolved region. When acid encounters the substrate
material, both an acid particle and a unit of the material disappear. We find
that the lengths of the dissolved cavity parallel and perpendicular to the bias
grow as t^{2/(d+1)} and t^{1/(d+1)}, respectively, in d-dimensions, while the
number of reactive particles within the cavity grows as t^{2/(d+1)}. We also
obtain the exact density profile of the reactive particles and the relation
between this profile and the motion of the dissolution boundary. The extension
to variable acid strength is also discussed.


  A dessin is a $2$-cell embedding of a connected $2$-coloured bipartite graph
into an orientable closed surface. A dessin is regular if its group of colour-
and orientation-preserving automorphisms acts regularly on the edges. In this
paper we employ group-theoretic method to determine and enumerate the
isomorphism classes of regular dessins with the complete bipartite underlying
graphs of odd prime power order.


  We study the problem of node classification on graphs with few-shot novel
labels, which has two distinctive properties: (1) There are novel labels to
emerge in the graph; (2) The novel labels have only a few representative nodes
for training a classifier. The study of this problem is instructive and
corresponds to many applications such as recommendations for newly formed
groups with only a few users in online social networks. To cope with this
problem, we propose a novel Meta Transformed Network Embedding framework
(MetaTNE), which consists of three modules: (1) A \emph{structural module}
provides each node a latent representation according to the graph structure.
(2) A \emph{meta-learning module} captures the relationships between the graph
structure and the node labels as prior knowledge in a meta-learning manner.
Additionally, we introduce an \emph{embedding transformation function} that
remedies the deficiency of the straightforward use of meta-learning.
Inherently, the meta-learned prior knowledge can be used to facilitate the
learning of few-shot novel labels. (3) An \emph{optimization module} employs a
simple yet effective scheduling strategy to train the above two modules with a
balance between graph structure learning and meta-learning. Experiments on four
real-world datasets show that MetaTNE brings a huge improvement over the
state-of-the-art methods.


  Cooperation is one of the behavioral traits that define human beings, however
we are still trying to understand why humans cooperate. Behavioral experiments
have been largely conducted to shed light into the mechanisms behind
cooperation and other behavioral traits. However, most of these experiments
have been conducted in laboratories with highly controlled experimental
protocols but with varied limitations which limits the reproducibility and the
generalization of the results obtained. In an attempt to overcome these
limitations, some experimental approaches have moved human behavior
experimentation from laboratories to public spaces, where behaviors occur
naturally, and have opened the participation to the general public within the
citizen science framework. Given the open nature of these environments, it is
critical to establish the appropriate protocols to maintain the same data
quality that one can obtain in the laboratories. Here, we introduce Citizen
Social Lab, a software platform designed to be used in the wild using citizen
science practices. The platform allows researchers to collect data in a more
realistic context while maintaining the scientific rigour, and it is structured
in a modular and scalable way so it can also be easily adapted for online or
brick-and-mortar experimental laboratories. Following citizen science
guidelines, the platform is designed to motivate a more general population into
participation, but also to promote engaging and learning of the scientific
research process. We also review the main results of the experiments performed
using the platform up to now, and the set of games that each experiment
includes. Finally, we evaluate some properties of the platform, such as the
heterogeneity of the samples of the experiments and their satisfaction level,
and the parameters that demonstrate the robustness of the platform and the
quality of the data collected.


  In [3] it was shown that the Dedekond sums $s(m_1,n)$ and $s(m_2,n)$ are
equal only if $(m_1m_2-1)(m_1-m_2)\equiv 0$ mod $n$. Here we show that the
latter condition is equivalent to $12s(m_1,n)-12s(m_2,n)\in \Z$. In addition,
we determine, for a given number $m_1$, the number of integers $m_2$ in the
range $0\le m_2<n$, $(m_1,m_2)=1$, such that $12s(m_1,n)-12s(m_2,n)\in \Z$,
provided that $n$ is square-free.


  Hot subdwarf stars are faint, blue objects, and are the main contributors to
the far-UV excess observed in elliptical galaxies. They offer an excellent
laboratory to study close and wide binary systems, and to scrutinize their
interiors through asteroseismology, as some of them undergo stellar
oscillations. However, their origins are still uncertain, and increasing the
number of detections is crucial to undertake statistical studies. In this work,
we aim at defining a strategy to find new, uncatalogued hot subdwarfs. Making
use of Virtual Observatory tools we thoroughly search stellar catalogues to
retrieve multi-colour photometry and astrometric information of a known sample
of blue objects, including hot subdwarfs, white dwarfs, cataclysmic variables
and main sequence OB stars. We define a procedure to discriminate among these
spectral classes, particularly designed to obtain a hot subdwarf sample with a
low contamination factor. In order to check the validity of the method, this
procedure is then applied to two test sky regions: the Kepler FoV and to a test
region of around (RA:225, DEC:5) deg. As a result, we obtained 38 hot subdwarf
candidates, 23 of which had already a spectral classification. We have acquired
spectroscopy for three other targets, and four additional ones have an
available SDSS spectrum, which we used to determine their spectral type. A
temperature estimate is provided for the candidates based on their spectral
energy distribution, considering two-atmospheres fit for objects with clear
infrared excess. Eventually, out of 30 candidates with spectral classification,
26 objects were confirmed to be hot subdwarfs, yielding a contamination factor
of only 13%. The high rate of success demonstrates the validity of the proposed
strategy to find new uncatalogued hot subdwarfs. An application of this method
to the entire sky will be presented in a forthcoming work.