  Although pretrained language models (PTLMs) have been shown to contain
significant amounts of world knowledge, they can still produce inconsistent
answers to questions when probed, even after using specialized training
techniques to reduce inconsistency. As a result, it can be hard to identify
what the model actually "believes" about the world. Our goal is to reduce this
problem, so systems are more globally consistent and accurate in their answers.
Our approach is to add a memory component -- a BeliefBank -- that records a
model's answers, and two mechanisms that use it to improve consistency among
beliefs. First, a reasoning component -- a weighted SAT solver -- improves
consistency by flipping answers that significantly clash with others. Second, a
feedback component re-queries the model but using known beliefs as context. We
show that, in a controlled experimental setting, these two mechanisms improve
both accuracy and consistency. This is significant as it is a first step
towards endowing models with an evolving memory, allowing them to construct a
more coherent picture of the world.


  We show how the conversion of magnetic field energy via magnetic reconnection
can progress in a fully three-dimensional, fast, volume-filling regime. An
initial configuration representative of many laboratory, space and
astrophysical plasmas spontaneously evolves from the well-known regime of slow,
resistive reconnection to a new regime that allows to explain the rates of
energy transfer observed in jets emitted from accretion disks, in stellar/solar
flare processes as well as in laboratory plasmas. This process does not require
any pre-existing turbulence seed which often is not observed in the host
systems prior to the onset of the energy conversion. The dynamics critically
depends on the interplay of perturbations developing along the magnetic field
lines and across them, a process possible only in three-dimensions. The
simulations presented here are the first able to show this transition in a
fully three-dimensional configuration.


  Lyapunov exponents are well-known characteristic numbers that describe growth
rates of perturbations applied to a trajectory of a dynamical system in
different state space directions. Covariant (or characteristic) Lyapunov
vectors indicate these directions. Though the concept of these vectors has been
known for a long time, they became practically computable only recently due to
algorithms suggested by Ginelli et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 2007, 130601] and
by Wolfe and Samelson [Tellus 59A, 2007, 355]. In view of the great interest in
covariant Lyapunov vectors and their wide range of potential applications, in
this article we summarize the available information related to Lyapunov vectors
and provide a detailed explanation of both the theoretical basics and numerical
algorithms. We introduce the notion of adjoint covariant Lyapunov vectors. The
angles between these vectors and the original covariant vectors are
norm-independent and can be considered as characteristic numbers. Moreover, we
present and study in detail an improved approach for computing covariant
Lyapunov vectors. Also we describe, how one can test for hyperbolicity of
chaotic dynamics without explicitly computing covariant vectors.


  We present an analysis of $\Xi^-$ baryon production in subthreshold
proton--nucleus ($p+A$) collisions in the framework of a BUU type transport
model. We propose a new mechanism for $\Xi$ production in the collision of a
secondary $\Lambda$ or $\Sigma$ hyperon and a nucleon from the target nucleus.
We find that the $\Xi^-$ multiplicity in $p+A$ collisions is sensitive to the
angular distribution of hyperon production in the primary $N+N$ collision.
Using reasonable assumptions on the unknown elementary cross sections we are
able to reproduce the $\Xi^-$ multiplicity and the $\Xi^-/(\Lambda+\Sigma^0)$
ratio obtained in the HADES experiment in $p$+Nb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} =
$ 3.2 GeV energy.


  In this paper, we propose a movable antenna (MA) empowered scheme for
symbiotic radio (SR) communication systems. Specifically, multiple antennas at
the primary transmitter (PT) can be flexibly moved to favorable locations to
boost the channel conditions of the primary and secondary transmissions. The
primary transmission is achieved by the active transmission from the PT to the
primary user (PU), while the backscatter device (BD) takes a ride over the
incident signal from the PT to passively send the secondary signal to the PU.
Under this setup, we consider a primary rate maximization problem by jointly
optimizing the transmit beamforming and the positions of MAs at the PT under a
practical bit error rate constraint on the secondary transmission. Then, an
alternating optimization framework with the utilization of the successive
convex approximation, semi-definite processing and simulated annealing (SA)
modified particle swarm optimization (SA-PSO) methods is proposed to find the
solution of the transmit beamforming and MAs' positions. Finally, numerical
results are provided to demonstrate the performance improvement provided by the
proposed MA empowered scheme and the proposed algorithm.


  We give an overview of various counting problems for Apollonian circle
packings, which turn out to be related to problems in dynamics and number
theory for thin groups. This survey article is an expanded version of my
lecture notes prepared for the 13th Takagi lectures given at RIMS, Kyoto in the
fall of 2013.


  The modified gravity is considered to be one of possible explanations of the
accelerated expansions of the present and the early universe. We study effects
of the modified gravity on big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN). If effects of the
modified gravity are significant during the BBN epoch, they should be observed
as changes of primordial light element abundances. We assume a $f(G)$ term with
the Gauss-Bonnet term $G$, during the BBN epoch. A power-law relation of $df/dG
\propto t^p$ where $t$ is the cosmic time was assumed for the function $f(G)$
as an example case. We solve time evolutions of physical variables during BBN
in the $f(G)$ gravity model numerically, and analyzed calculated results. It is
found that a proper solution for the cosmic expansion rate can be lost in some
parameter region. In addition, we show that calculated results of primordial
light element abundances can be significantly different from observational
data. Especially, observational limits on primordial D abundance leads to the
strongest constraint on the $f(G)$ gravity. We then derive constraints on
parameters of the $f(G)$ gravity taking into account the existence of the
solution of expansion rate and final light element abundances.


  Multi-messenger gravitational wave (GW) astronomy has commenced with the
detection of the binary neutron star merger GW170817 and its associated
electromagnetic counterparts. The almost coincident observation of both signals
places an exquisite bound on the GW speed $|c_g/c-1|\leq5\cdot10^{-16}$. We use
this result to probe the nature of dark energy (DE), showing that a large class
of scalar-tensor theories and DE models are highly disfavored. As an example we
consider the covariant Galileon, a cosmologically viable, well motivated
gravity theory which predicts a variable GW speed at low redshift. Our results
eliminate any late-universe application of these models, as well as their
Horndeski and most of their beyond Horndeski generalizations. Three
alternatives (and their combinations) emerge as the only possible scalar-tensor
DE models: 1) restricting Horndeski's action to its simplest terms, 2) applying
a conformal transformation which preserves the causal structure and 3)
compensating the different terms that modify the GW speed (to be robust, the
compensation has to be independent on the background on which GWs propagate).
Our conclusions extend to any other gravity theory predicting varying $c_g$
such as Einstein-Aether, Ho\v{r}ava gravity, Generalized Proca, TeVeS and other
MOND-like gravities.


  We compute the density of a spin-$\frac32$ particle, the raritron, produced
at the end of inflation due to gravitational interactions. We consider a
background inflaton condensate as the source of this production, mediated by
the exchange of a graviton. This production greatly exceeds the gravitational
production from the emergent thermal bath during reheating. The relic abundance
limit sets an absolute minimum mass for a stable raritron, though there are
also model dependent constraints imposed by unitarity. We also examine the case
of gravitational production of a gravitino, taking into account the goldstino
evolution during reheating. We compare these results with conventional
gravitino production mechanisms.


  Doppler velocity measurements from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search reveal
planetary mass companions to HD23127, HD159868, and a possible second planetary
companion to HD154857. These stars are all G dwarfs. The companions are all in
eccentric orbits with periods ranging from 1.2 to >9.3yr, minimum (M sin i)
masses ranging from 1.5 to >4.5 Mjup, and semimajor axes between 1 and >4.5 AU.
The orbital parameters are updated for the inner planet to HD154857, while
continued monitoring of the outer companion is required to confirm its planet
status.


  In this work, we propose a new non-abelian generalization of the Born- Infeld
lagrangian. It is based on a geometrical property of the abelian Born-Infeld
lagrangian in its determinantal form. Our goal is to extend the abelian second
type Born-Infeld action to the non-abelian form preserving this geometrical
property, that permits to compute the generalized volume element as a linear
combination of the components of metric and the Yang-Mills energy-momentum
tensors. Under BPS-like condition, the action proposed reduces to that of
Yang-Mills theory, independently of the gauge group. New instanton-wormhole
solution and static and spherically symmetric solution in curved space-time for
a SU(2) isotopic ansatz is solved and the N=1 supersymmetric extension of the
model is performed.


  This work analyses hadronic decays of exotic mesons, with a focus on the
lightest one, the $J^{PC}=1^{-+}$ $\pi_{1}$, in a fully relativistic formalism,
and makes comparisons with non-relativistic results. We also discuss Coulomb
gauge decays of normal mesons that proceed through their hybrid components. The
relativistic spin wave functions of mesons and hybrids are constructed based on
unitary representations of the Lorentz group. The radial wave functions are
obtained from phenomenological considerations of the mass operator. Fully
relativistic results (with Wigner rotations) differ significantly from
non-relativistic ones. We also find that the decay channels $\pi_{1}\to\pi
b_{1}, \pi f_{1}, KK_{1}$ are favored, in agreement with results obtained using
other models.


  Deep Learning has a hierarchical network architecture to represent the
complicated feature of input patterns. The adaptive structural learning method
of Deep Belief Network (DBN) has been developed. The method can discover an
optimal number of hidden neurons for given input data in a Restricted Boltzmann
Machine (RBM) by neuron generation-annihilation algorithm, and generate a new
hidden layer in DBN by the extension of the algorithm. In this paper, the
proposed adaptive structural learning of DBN was applied to the comprehensive
medical examination data for the cancer prediction. The prediction system shows
higher classification accuracy (99.8% for training and 95.5% for test) than the
traditional DBN. Moreover, the explicit knowledge with respect to the relation
between input and output patterns was extracted from the trained DBN network by
C4.5. Some characteristics extracted in the form of IF-THEN rules to find an
initial cancer at the early stage were reported in this paper.


  We discuss a method to select the velocities of ultra-cold atoms with a
modified Fabry-Perot type of device made of two effective barriers and a well
created, respectively, by blue and red detuned lasers. The laser parameters may
be used to select the peak and width of the transmitted velocity window. In
particular, lowering the central well provides a peak arbitrarily close to zero
velocity having a minimum but finite width. The low-energy atomic scattering
off this laser device is parameterized and approximate formulae are found to
describe and explain its behaviour.


  For each positive integer $k$, we consider five well-studied posets defined
on the set of Dyck paths of semilength $k$. We prove that uniquely sorted
permutations avoiding various patterns are equinumerous with intervals in these
posets. While most of our proofs are bijective, some use generating trees and
generating functions. We end with several conjectures.


  We study surface effects of neutron $^{3}P_{2}$ superfluids in neutron stars.
$^{3}P_{2}$ superfluids are in uniaxial nematic (UN), D$_{2}$ biaxial nematic
(BN), or D$_{4}$ BN phase, depending on the strength of magnetic fields from
small to large. We suppose a neutron $^{3}P_{2}$ superfluid in a ball with a
spherical boundary. Adopting a suitable boundary condition for $^{3}P_{2}$
condensates, we solve the Ginzburg-Landau equation to find several surface
properties for the neutron $^{3}P_{2}$ superfluid. First, the phase on the
surface can be different from that of the bulk, and symmetry restoration or
breaking occurs in general on the surface. Second, the distribution of the
surface energy density has an anisotropy depending on the polar angle in the
sphere, which may lead to the deformation of the geometrical shape of the
surface. Third, the order parameter manifold induced on the surface, which is
described by two-dimensional vector fields induced on the surface from the
condensates, allows topological defects (vortices) on the surface, and there
must exist such defects even in the ground state thanks to the
Poincar\'{e}-Hopf theorem: although the numbers of the vortices and
antivortices depend on the bulk phases, the difference between them is
topologically invariant (the Euler number $\chi=2$) irrespective of the bulk
phases. These vortices, which are not extended to the bulk, are called boojums
in the context of liquid crystals and helium-3 superfluids. The surface
properties of the neutron $^{3}P_{2}$ superfluid found in this paper may
provide us useful information to study neutron stars.


  The algebra of Dirichlet series $\mathcal{A}(\mathcal{C}_{+})$ consists on
those Dirichlet series convergent in the right half-plane $\mathcal{C}_{+}$ and
which are also uniformly continuous there. This algebra was recently introduced
by Aron, Bayart, Gauthier, Maestre, and Nestoridis. We describe the symbols
$\Phi:\mathcal{C}_{+}\to\mathcal{C}_{+}$ giving rise to bounded composition
operators $\mathit{C}_{\Phi}$ in $\mathcal{A}(\mathcal{C}_{+})$ and denote this
class by $\mathcal{G}_{\mathcal{A}}$. We also characterise when the operator
$\mathit{C}_{\Phi}$ is compact in $\mathcal{A}(\mathit{C}_{+})$. As a
byproduct, we show that the weak compactness is equivalent to the compactness
for $\mathit{C}_{\Phi}$. Next, the closure under the local uniform convergence
of several classes of symbols of composition operators in Banach spaces of
Dirichlet series is discussed. We also establish a one-to-one correspondence
between continuous semigroups of analytic functions $\{\Phi_{t}\}$ in the class
$\mathcal{G}_{\mathcal{A}}$ and strongly continuous semigroups of composition
operators $\{T_{t}\}$, $T_{t}f=f\circ\Phi_{t}$,
$f\in\mathcal{A}(\mathcal{C}_{+})$. We conclude providing examples showing the
differences between the symbols of bounded composition operators in
$\mathcal{A}(\mathcal{C}_{+})$ and the Hardy spaces of Dirichlet series
$\mathcal{H}^{p}$ and $\mathcal{H}^{\infty}$.


  Opportunistic scheduling and beamforming schemes have been proposed
previously by the authors for reduced-feedback MIMO-OFDMA downlink systems
where the MIMO channel of each subcarrier is decomposed into layered spatial
subchannels. It has been demonstrated that significant feedback reduction can
be achieved by returning information about only one beamforming matrix (BFM)
for all subcarriers from each MT, compared to one BFM for each subcarrier in
the conventional schemes. However, since the previously proposed channel
decomposition was derived based on singular value decomposition, the resulting
system performance is impaired by the subchannels associated with the smallest
singular values. To circumvent this obstacle, this work proposes improved
opportunistic scheduling and beamforming schemes based on geometric mean
decomposition-based channel decomposition. In addition to the inherent
advantage in reduced feedback, the proposed schemes can achieve improved system
performance by decomposing the MIMO channels into spatial subchannels with more
evenly distributed channel gains. Numerical results confirm the effectiveness
of the proposed opportunistic scheduling and beamforming schemes.


  In this study, we consider the asymptotic behaviour of the first discrete
Painlev\{e} equation in the limit as the independent variable becomes large.
Using an asymptotic series expansion, we identify two types of solutions which
are pole-free within some sector of the complex plane containing the positive
real axis. Using exponential asymptotic techniques, we determine the Stokes
Phenomena effects present within these solutions, and hence the regions in
which the asymptotic series expression is valid. From a careful analysis of the
switching behaviour across Stokes lines, we find that the first type of
solution is uniquely defined, while the second type contains two free
parameters, and that the region of validity may be extended for appropriate
choice of these parameters.


  Ever since the emergence of large language models (LLMs) and related
applications, such as ChatGPT, its performance and error analysis for
programming tasks have been subject to research. In this work-in-progress
paper, we explore the potential of such LLMs for computing educators and
learners, as we analyze the feedback it generates to a given input containing
program code. In particular, we aim at (1) exploring how an LLM like ChatGPT
responds to students seeking help with their introductory programming tasks,
and (2) identifying feedback types in its responses. To achieve these goals, we
used students' programming sequences from a dataset gathered within a CS1
course as input for ChatGPT along with questions required to elicit feedback
and correct solutions. The results show that ChatGPT performs reasonably well
for some of the introductory programming tasks and student errors, which means
that students can potentially benefit. However, educators should provide
guidance on how to use the provided feedback, as it can contain misleading
information for novices.


  We present two recent developments on lepton flavour violation in the MSSM.
1) The supersymmetric seesaw mechanism can be realized through the exchange of
heavy SU(2)_W-triplet states, rather than `right-handed' neutrinos. In this
scenario the ratio of the tau --> mu gamma (or tau --> e gamma) and mu --> e
gamma rates are unambiguously predicted in terms of the low-energy neutrino
parameters. 2) Lepton flavour violating decays of the Higgs bosons, (h, H, A)
--> mu tau, are induced at one-loop level. The branching ratios can reach
10^{-4} for large tan(beta) and sizeable smuon-stau mixing. Interesting
implications for LHC and correlations with tau --> mu gamma and tau --> 3 mu
are found.


  We point out that insertions of matrix fields in (connected amputated)
amplitudes of (generalized) Kontsevich models are given by covariant
derivatives with respect to the Kontsevich moduli. This implies that
correlators are sections of symmetric products of the (holomorphic) tangent
bundle on the (complexified) moduli space of FZZT Liouville branes. We discuss
the relation of Kontsevich parametrization of moduli space with that provided
by either the (p,1) or the (1,p) boundary conformal field theories. It turns
out that the Kontsevich connection captures the contribution of contact terms
to open string amplitudes of boundary cosmological constant operators in the
(1,p) minimal string models. The curvature of the connection is of type (1,1)
and has delta-function singularities at the points in moduli space where
Kontsevich kinetic term vanishes. We also outline the extention of our
formalism to the c=1 string at self-dual radius and discuss the problems that
have to be understood to reconciliate first and second quantized approaches in
this case.


  Neutron capture cross sections of unstable isotopes are important for neutron
induced nucleosynthesis as well as for technological applications. A
combination of a radioactive beam facility, an ion storage ring and a high flux
reactor would allow a direct measurement of neutron induced reactions over a
wide energy range on isotopes with half lives down to minutes.


  We present variants of Goodstein's theorem that are equivalent to
arithmetical comprehension and to arithmetical transfinite recursion,
respectively, over a weak base theory. These variants differ from the usual
Goodstein theorem in that they (necessarily) entail the existence of complex
infinite objects. As part of our proof, we show that the Veblen hierarchy of
normal functions on the ordinals is closely related to an extension of the
Ackermann function by direct limits.


  We examine the vacua of the scalar potential of the effective 4-d action,
obtained after the dimensional reduction of the 10-d $\mathcal{N}=1$ heterotic
supergravity coupled to an $\mathcal{N}=1$ Yang-Mills sector. The (Coset Space)
dimensional reduction takes place over the three 6-d nearly-K\"ahler manifolds,
namely the homogeneous 6-d non-symmetric coset spaces, $G_2/SU(3)$,
$Sp_4/SU(2)\times U(1)$ and $SU(3)/U(1)\times U(1)$. The current work consists
a complete catalogue of the kinds of vacua of theories obtained after the
reduction of the heterotic string over the 6-d non-symmetric coset spaces and,
moreover, a contribution to the dialogue of the possibility to result with
non-AdS vacua in the framework of string theories.


  The process of electron-positron annihilation into a pair of $\pi^0$ and
$\omega$ mesons is considered in the framework of the SU(2)$\times$SU(2)
Nambu--Jona-Lasinio model. Contributions of intermediate photons, $\rho(770)$
and $\rho'(1450)$ vector mesons are taken into account. It is shown that the
bulk of the cross section at energies below 2 GeV is provided by the process
with intermediate $\rho'(1450)$ state. The contribution due to single photon
and $\rho(770)$ exchange is in agreement with the vector meson dominance model.
Numerical results are compared with experimental data.


  This work investigates the out-of-equilibrium dynamics of dipole and
higher-moment conserving systems with long-range interactions, drawing
inspiration from trapped ion experiments in strongly tilted potentials. We
introduce a hierarchical sequence of multipole-conserving models characterized
by power-law decaying couplings. Although the moments are always globally
conserved, adjusting the power-law exponents of the couplings induces various
regimes in which only a subset of multipole moments are effectively locally
conserved. We examine the late-time hydrodynamics analytically and numerically
using an effective classical framework, uncovering a rich dynamical phase
diagram that includes subdiffusion, conventional diffusion, and L\'evy flights.
Our results are unified in an analytic reciprocal relationship that captures
the nested hierarchy of hydrodynamics in multipole conserving systems where
only a subset of the moments are locally conserved. Moreover, we extend our
findings to higher dimensions and explore the emergence of long-time scales,
reminiscent of pre-thermal regimes, in systems with low charge density. Lastly,
we corroborate our results through state-of-the-art numerical simulations of a
fully quantum long-range dipole-conserving system and discuss their relevance
to trapped-ion experimental setups.


  So far mutations analysis was performed in terms of transitions and
trasversions, so on the basis of the molecule, or in terms of GC-content and
isochors, through the quantification of GC->AT mutations over AT->GC mutations.
We tried a different approach hypothesizing that probably we are partially
protected (by the genetic code) from amyloid fibrils formation.


  A recently proposed model of social interaction in voting is investigated by
simplifying it down into a version that is more analytically tractable and
which allows a mathematical analysis to be performed. This analysis clarifies
the interplay of the different elements present in the system --- social
influence, heterogeneity and noise --- and leads to a better understanding of
its properties. The origin of a regime of bistability is identified. The
insight gained in this way gives further intuition into the behaviour of the
original model.


  A new variational formulation is herein proposed for the solution of adhesive
contact problems for non-planar profiles of arbitrary shape indenting a
deformable half-plane. The method exploits the original idea of accounting for
the shape of roughness as a correction to the normal gap function, rather than
explicitly discretizing roughness with higher-order numerical interpolation
schemes. The resulting interface finite element with eMbedded Profile for Joint
Roughness (MPJR interface finite element) is derived and its implementation as
a user-defined element is comprehensively described. The method is validated
against Hertzian contact problems between a cylinder and a half-plane, also in
the presence of adhesion, showing a remarkable accuracy in spite of the
low-order interpolation used. The capability and efficiency of the method are
subsequently illustrated in relation to the challenging frictionless normal
contact problems between deformable substrates and rough profiles analytically
described by the Weierstrass-Mandelbrot function. This method opens new
perspectives for the solution of contact problems with roughness using the
finite element method that, so far, were strongly limited by the issue of
providing an accurate representation of roughness.


  Two-locus sampling probabilities have played a central role in devising an
efficient composite likelihood method for estimating fine-scale recombination
rates. Due to mathematical and computational challenges, these sampling
probabilities are typically computed under the unrealistic assumption of a
constant population size, and simulation studies have shown that resulting
recombination rate estimates can be severely biased in certain cases of
historical population size changes. To alleviate this problem, we develop here
new methods to compute the sampling probability for variable population size
functions that are piecewise constant. Our main theoretical result, implemented
in a new software package called LDpop, is a novel formula for the sampling
probability that can be evaluated by numerically exponentiating a large but
sparse matrix. This formula can handle moderate sample sizes ($n \leq 50$) and
demographic size histories with a large number of epochs ($\mathcal{D} \geq
64$). In addition, LDpop implements an approximate formula for the sampling
probability that is reasonably accurate and scales to hundreds in sample size
($n \geq 256$). Finally, LDpop includes an importance sampler for the posterior
distribution of two-locus genealogies, based on a new result for the optimal
proposal distribution in the variable-size setting. Using our methods, we study
how a sharp population bottleneck followed by rapid growth affects the
correlation between partially linked sites. Then, through an extensive
simulation study, we show that accounting for population size changes under
such a demographic model leads to substantial improvements in fine-scale
recombination rate estimation. LDpop is freely available for download at
https://github.com/popgenmethods/ldpop


  A spin-polarizing electron beam splitter is described which relies on an
arrangement of linearly polarized laser waves of nonrelativistic intensity. An
incident electron beam is first coherently scattered off a bichromatic laser
field, splitting the beam into two portions, with electron spin and momentum
being entangled. Afterwards, the partial beams are coherently superposed in an
interferometric setup formed by standing laser waves. As a result, the outgoing
electron beam is separated into its spin components along the laser magnetic
field, which is shown by both analytical and numerical solutions of Pauli's
equation. The proposed laser field configuration thus exerts the same effect on
free electrons like an ordinary Stern-Gerlach magnet does on atoms.


  In this paper, we formulate an analytical expression of greybody factor in
the context of rotating Bardeen black hole which is valid in low energy and low
angular momentum region. Primarily, we analyze the profile of effective
potential which originates the absorption probability. We then derive two
asymptotic solutions by solving the radial part of Klein-Gordon equation in two
different regions, namely, black hole and far-field horizons. We match these
solutions smoothly to an intermediate regime to extend our results over the
whole radial coordinate. In order to elaborate on the significance of the
analytical solution, we compute the energy emission rate and absorption
cross-section for the massless scalar field. It is found that the rotation
parameter increases the emission rate of scalar field particles while the
orbital angular momentum minimizes the emission process.


  The question that is a motivation of writing is how many devote themselves to
discovering something in the world of science where much is discerned and
revealed, but at the same time, much is unknown. The insightful elements of
this algorithm are the ciphering and deciphering algorithms of Playfair,
Caesar, and Vigenere. Only a few of their main properties are taken and
modified, with the aim of forming a specific functionality of the algorithm
called Latin Djokovic. Specifically, a string is entered as input data. A key k
is given, with a random value between the values a and b = a + 3. The obtained
value is stored in a variable with the aim of being constant during the run of
the algorithm. In correlation to the given key, the string is divided into
several groups of substrings, and each substring has a length of k characters.
The next step involves encoding each substring from the list of existing
substrings. Encoding is performed using the basis of the Caesar algorithm,
i.e., shifting with k characters. However, that k is incremented by 1 when
moving to the next substring in that list. When the value of k becomes greater
than b + 1, it will return to its initial value. The algorithm is executed,
following the same procedure, until the last substring in the list is
traversed. Using this polyalphabetic method, ciphering and deciphering of
strings are achieved. The algorithm also works for a 100-character string. The
x character is not used when the number of characters in a substring is
incompatible with the expected length. The algorithm is simple to implement,
but it is questionable if it works better than the other methods from the point
of view of execution time and storage space.


  Any sports competition needs a timetable, specifying when and where teams
meet each other. The recent International Timetabling Competition (ITC2021) on
sports timetabling showed that, although it is possible to develop general
algorithms, the performance of each algorithm varies considerably over the
problem instances. This paper provides an instance space analysis for sports
timetabling, resulting in powerful insights into the strengths and weaknesses
of eight state-of-the-art algorithms. Based on machine learning techniques, we
propose an algorithm selection system that predicts which algorithm is likely
to perform best when given the characteristics of a sports timetabling problem
instance. Furthermore, we identify which characteristics are important in
making that prediction, providing insights in the performance of the
algorithms, and suggestions to further improve them. Finally, we assess the
empirical hardness of the instances. Our results are based on large
computational experiments involving about 50 years of CPU time on more than 500
newly generated problem instances.


  The electron spin relaxation in $n$-type and intrinsic GaAs$_{1-x}$Bi$_x$
with Bi composition $0\le x \le 0.1$ is investigated from the microscopic
kinetic spin Bloch equation approach. The incorporation of Bi is shown to
markedly decrease the spin relaxation time as a consequence of the modification
of the spin-orbit interaction. We demonstrate that the density and temperature
dependences of spin relaxation time in GaAs$_{1-x}$Bi$_x$ resemble the ones in
GaAs. Meanwhile, the Bir-Aronov-Pikus mechanism is found to be negligible
compared to the D'yakonov-Perel' mechanism in intrinsic sample. Due to the
absence of direct measurement of the electron effective mass in the whole
compositional range under investigation, we further explore the effect of a
possible variation of electron effective mass on the electron spin relaxation.


  One mechanism for generating a baryon asymmetry at the electroweak phase
transition involves propagation of particle asymmetries generated by reflection
from the bubble walls into the unbroken phase. Hitherto attention has focussed
on top quarks because of their large mass and thus effective scattering from
bubble walls. In this paper we point out that leptons may be more efficient
mediators of this type of electroweak baryogenesis, particularly for thicker
bubble walls favored by perturbative calculations. We carry out an analytic
calculation of each stage of the mechanism and conclude it produces a baryon
asymmetry compatible with observations for a wide range of parameters.


  Risk measures for multivariate financial positions are studied in a
utility-based framework. Under a certain incomplete preference relation,
shortfall and divergence risk measures are defined as the optimal values of
specific set minimization problems. The dual relationship between these two
classes of multivariate risk measures is constructed via a recent Lagrange
duality for set optimization. In particular, it is shown that a shortfall risk
measure can be written as an intersection over a family of divergence risk
measures indexed by a scalarization parameter. Examples include set-valued
versions of the entropic risk measure and the average value at risk. As a
second step, the minimization of these risk measures subject to trading
opportunities is studied in a general convex market in discrete time. The
optimal value of the minimization problem, called the market risk measure, is
also a set-valued risk measure. A dual representation for the market risk
measure that decomposes the effects of the original risk measure and the
frictions of the market is proved.


  We consider a supercritical branching random walk in time-inhomogeneous
random environment with a random absorption barrier, i.e.,in each generation,
only the individuals born below the barrier can survive and reproduce. Assume
that the random environment is i.i.d..The barrier is set as
$\chi_n+an^{\alpha},$ where $a,\alpha$ are two constants and $\{\chi_n\}$ is a
certain i.i.d. random walk determined by the random environment.We show that
for almost surely given environment (i.e., a sequence of point processes which
is a realization of the random environment), the time-inhomogeneous branching
random walk under the given environment will become extinct (resp., survive
with positive probability) if $\alpha<1/3$ or $\alpha=1/3, a<a_c$ (resp.,
$\alpha>1/3, a>0$ or $\alpha=1/3, a>a_c$), where $a_c$ is a positive constant
determined by the random environment. The rates of extinction when
$\alpha<\frac{1}{3}, a\geq0$ and $\alpha=1/3, a\in(0,a_c)$ are also obtained.
These extend the main results in A\"{\i}d\'{e}kon $\&$ Jaffuel (2011) and
Jaffuel (2012),to the random environment case. The influence caused by the
random environment have been specified.


  We discuss the front propagation in the $A+B\rightarrow 2A$ reaction under
subdiffusion which is described by continuous time random walks with a
heavy-tailed power law waiting time probability density function. Using a
crossover argument, we discuss the two scaling regimes of the front
propagation: an intermediate asymptotic regime given by the front solution of
the corresponding continuous equation, and the final asymptotics, which is
fluctuation-dominated and therefore lays out of reach of the continuous scheme.
We moreover show that the continuous reaction subdiffusion equation indeed
possesses a front solution that decelerates and becomes narrow in the course of
time. This continuous description breaks down for larger times when the front
gets atomically sharp. We show that the velocity of such fronts decays in time
faster than in the continuous regime.


  We study the collective diffusion in chain structures on anisotropic
substrates like (112) bcc and (110) fcc surfaces with deep troughs in the
substrate potential corrugation. These chain structures are aligned normal to
the troughs and can move only along the troughs. In a combination of
theoretical arguments and of numerical simulations, we study the mass transport
in these anisotropic systems. We find that a mechanism similar to soliton
diffusion, instead of single particle diffusion, is still effective at
temperatures well above the melting temperature of the ordered chain
structures. This mechanism is directly correlated with the ordered phases that
appear at much lower temperatures. As a consequence, also the influence of
frozen disorder is still visible above the melting temperature. Theoretically
we predict a strong dependence of the pre-exponential factor and weak
dependence of the activation energy on the concentration of frozen surface
defects. These predictions are confirmed by the simulations.


  We study the superconformal index of 4d $\mathcal{N}=4$ $USp(2N_c)$ and
$SO(N_c)$ SYM from a matrix model perspective. We focus on the Cardy-like limit
of the index. Both in the symplectic and orthogonal case the index is dominated
by a saddle point solution which we identify, reducing the calculation to a
matrix integral of a pure Chern-Simons theory on the three-sphere. We further
compute the subleading logarithmic corrections, which are of the order of the
center of the gauge group. In the $USp(2N_c)$ case we also study other
subleading saddles of the matrix integral. Finally we discuss the case of the
Leigh-Strassler fixed point with $SU(N_c)$ gauge group, and we compute the
entropy of the dual black hole from the Legendre transform of the entropy
function.


  We study the dynamics of the holographic $s$-wave superconductors described
by the Einstein-Maxwell-complex scalar field theory with a negative
cosmological constant. If the eigenfunction of the linearized equation of
motion of the scalar field in the planar RNAdS black hole background is chosen
as the initial data, the bulk system will evolve to the intermediate state that
corresponds to the excited state superconductor on the boundary. The process
can be regarded as the non-equilibrium condensation process of the excited
state of holographic superconductor. When the linear superposition of the
eigenfunctions is chosen as the initial data, the system will go through a
series of the intermediate states corresponding to different overtone numbers,
which can be regarded as the dynamical transition process between the excited
states of holographic superconductor. Because the intermediate states are
metastable, the bulk system eventually evolves to the stationary state that
corresponds the ground state of the holographic superconductor. We also provide
a global and physical picture of the evolution dynamics of the black hole and
the corresponding superconducting phase transition from the funneled landscape
view, quantifying the weights of the states and characterizing the transitions
and cascades towards the ground state.


  We investigated the dielectric response of CaCu$_3$Ti$_4$O$_{12}$ (CCTO) thin
films grown epitaxially on LaAlO$_3$ (001) substrates by Pulsed Laser
Deposition (PLD). The dielectric response of the films was found to be strongly
dominated by a power-law in frequency, typical of materials with localized
hopping charge carriers, in contrast to the Debye-like response of the bulk
material. The film conductivity decreases with annealing in oxygen, and it
suggests that oxygen deficit is a cause of the relatively high film
conductivity. With increase of the oxygen content, the room temperature
frequency response of the CCTO thin films changes from the response indicating
the presence of some relatively low conducting capacitive layers to purely
power law, and then towards frequency independent response with a relative
dielectric constant $\epsilon'\sim10^2$. The film conductance and dielectric
response decrease upon decrease of the temperature with dielectric response
being dominated by the power law frequency dependence. Below $\sim$80 K, the
dielectric response of the films is frequency independent with $\epsilon'$
close to $10^2$. The results provide another piece of evidence for an
extrinsic, Maxwell-Wagner type, origin of the colossal dielectric response of
the bulk CCTO material, connected with electrical inhomogeneity of the bulk
material.


  This paper studies strategic communication in the context of social learning.
Product reviews are used by consumers to learn product quality, but in order to
write a review, a consumer must be convinced to purchase the item first. When
reviewers care about welfare of future consumers, this leads to a conflict: a
reviewer today wants the future consumers to purchase the item even when this
comes at a loss to them, so that more information is revealed for the consumers
that come after. We show that due to this conflict, communication via reviews
is inevitably noisy, regardless of whether reviewers can commit to a
communication strategy or have to resort to cheap talk. The optimal
communication mechanism involves truthful communication of extreme experiences
and pools the moderate experiences together.


  We identify the bosonic excitations in ferroelectrics that carry electric
dipoles from the phenomenological Landau-Ginzburg-Devonshire theory. The
"ferron" quasi-particles emerge from the concerted action of anharmonicity and
broken inversion symmetry. In contrast to magnons, the transverse excitations
of the magnetic order, the ferrons in displacive ferroelectrics are
longitudinal with respect to the ferroelectric order. Based on the ferron
spectrum, we predict temperature dependent pyroelectric and electrocaloric
properties, electric-field-tunable heat and polarization transport, and
ferron-photon hybridization.


  We discuss an anomalous Lagrangian of the pi-rho-omega-a_1 system in the
presence of external electroweak fields which is suitable for constructing the
amplitude for the radiative muon capture by proton.


  Define the minimal excludant of an overpartition $\pi$, denoted $
\overline{\text{mex}}(\pi)$, to be the smallest positive integer that is not a
part of the non-overlined parts of $\pi$. For a positive integer $n$, the
function $\sigma\overline{\text{mex}}(n)$ is the sum of the minimal excludants
over all overpartitions of $n$. In this paper, we proved that the
$\sigma\overline{\text{mex}}(n)$ equals the number of partitions of $n$ into
distinct parts using three colors. We also provide an asymptotic formula for
$\sigma\overline{\text{mex}}(n)$ and show that $\sigma\overline{\text{mex}}(n)$
is almost always even and is odd exactly when $n$ is a triangular number.
Moreover, we generalize $ \overline{\text{mex}}(\pi)$ using the least $r$-gaps,
denoted $ \overline{\text{mex}_r}(\pi)$, defined as the smallest part of the
non-overlined parts of the overpartition $\pi$ appearing less than $r$ times.
Similarly, for a positive integer $n$, the function
$\sigma_r\overline{\text{mex}}(n)$ is the sum of the least $r$-gaps over all
overpartitions of $n$. We derive a generating function and an asymptotic
formula for $\sigma_r\overline{\text{mex}}(n)$ . Lastly, we study the
arithmetic density of $\sigma_r\overline{\text{mex}}(n)$ modulo $2^k$, where
$r=2^m\cdot3^n, m,n \in \mathbb{Z}_\geq 0.$


  The comparative experimental analysis of polarization reversal kinetics in
conventional homogeneous triglycine sulfate ((NH_{2}CH_{2}COOH)_{3} \cdot
H_{2}SO_{4}; TGS) and relaxor strontium barium niobate
(Sr_{0.61}Ba_{0.39}Nb_{2}O_{6}; SBN) crystals have been performed in a broad
range of measurement conditions. The experimental data have been collected from
microscopic observation of the domain structure, switching current and D-E
hysteresis loop registration. The hysteresis loop and dielectric spectra have a
strong link to the configuration of ferroelectric microdomains. The domain
structure dynamics was examined by the nematic liquid crystal (NLC) method.


  This is a short review of the theory and phenomenology of baryon distribution
amplitudes, including recent applications to the studies of nucleon form
factors at intermediate momentum transfers using the light-cone sum rule
approach.


  In the inflationary framework of cosmology the initial phase of rapid
expansion has to be followed by a reheating stage, which is envisioned to end
in a radiation dominated big bang. Key parameters that characterize this big
bang state are the temperature at the end of the reheating stage and the baryon
asymmetry. For general interacting theories these parameters are difficult to
obtain analytically because of the involved structure of the potential. In this
paper multifield reheating is considered for interacting theories in which the
inflaton trajectory is weakly curved. This scenario is realized in the model of
$j$-inflation, a particular example of modular inflation, allowing an estimate
of the reheat temperature.


  We present a new way to factor the dirichlet convolution for completely
multiplicative functions whitch led us to constructing a ring that arise from
the operations involved in the factorisation. We will conclude by some
identities that was found during this work. An application of the results gives
us a generalisation of the following Hardy formula: $$\zeta(x)^{2} =
\zeta(2x)\sum_{m=1}^{+\infty} \frac{2^{\omega(m)}}{m^{x}}$$ which is:
$$|\zeta(z)|^{2} =
\zeta(2x)\sum_{m=1}^{+\infty}\frac{1}{m^{x}}2^{\omega(m)}\prod_{p | m , p \in
\mathbb{P}}^{\omega(m)}\cos(y\ln(p^{v_{p}(m)}))$$ with: $z$ a complex number
with $z = x+iy$ and $\Re(z) > 1 $ and x > 1 in Hardy's formula, $\omega(m)$
number of unique primes in $m$, $v_{p}(m$ power of the prime $p$ in $m$.


  We try to understand recent data on proton-proton and deuteron-gold
collisions at RHIC, employing a parton model approach called EPOS.


  Recent experiments have shown that transport properties of molecular-scale
devices can be reversibly altered by the surrounding solvent. Here, we use a
combination of first-principles calculations and experiment to explain this
change in transport properties through a shift in the local electrostatic
potential at the junction caused by nearby conducting and solvent molecules
chemically bound to the electrodes. This effect is found to alter the
conductance of bipyridine - gold junctions by more than 50%. Moreover, we
develop a general electrostatic model that quantitatively predicts the
relationship between conductance and the binding energies and dipoles of the
solvent and conducting molecules. Our work shows that solvent induced effects
are a viable route for controlling charge and energy transport at
molecular-scale interfaces.


  We obtain smoothing estimates for certain nonlinear convolution operators on
prime fields, leading to quantitative nonlinear Roth type theorems. Compared
with the usual linear setting (i.e. arithmetic progressions), the nonlinear
nature of the operators leads to different phenomena, both qualitatively and
quantitatively.


  We introduce the notion of a Hyper-K\"{a}hler manifold $X$ induced by a Hodge
structure of K3-type. We explore this notion for the known deformation types of
hyper-K\"{a}hler manifolds studying those that are induced by a K3 or abelian
surface, giving lattice-theoretic criteria to decide whether or not they are
birational to a moduli space of sheaves over said surface. We highlight the
different behaviors we find for the particular class of hyper-K\"{a}hler
manifolds of O'Grady type.


  We identify a class of potentials for which the semiclassical estimate
$N^{\text{(semi)}}=\frac{1}{\pi}\int_0^\infty dr\sqrt{-V(r)\theta[-V(r)]}$ of
the number $N$ of (S-wave) bound states provides a (rigorous) lower limit:
$N\ge {{N^{\text{(semi)}}}}$, where the double braces denote the integer part.
Higher partial waves can be included via the standard replacement of the
potential $V(r)$ with the effective $\ell$-wave potential
$V_\ell^{\text{(eff)}}(r)=V(r)+\frac{\ell(\ell+1)}{r^2}$. An analogous upper
limit is also provided for a different class of potentials, which is however
quite severely restricted.


  Eye-Tracking data is a very useful source of information to study cognition
and especially language comprehension in humans. In this paper, we describe our
systems for the CMCL 2022 shared task on predicting eye-tracking information.
We describe our experiments with pretrained models like BERT and XLM and the
different ways in which we used those representations to predict four
eye-tracking features. Along with analysing the effect of using two different
kinds of pretrained multilingual language models and different ways of pooling
the tokenlevel representations, we also explore how contextual information
affects the performance of the systems. Finally, we also explore if factors
like augmenting linguistic information affect the predictions. Our submissions
achieved an average MAE of 5.72 and ranked 5th in the shared task. The average
MAE showed further reduction to 5.25 in post task evaluation.


  Brownian information engines can extract work from thermal fluctuations by
utilizing information. So far, the studies on Brownian information engines
consider the system in a thermal bath; however, many processes in nature occur
in a nonequilibrium setting, such as the suspensions of self-propelled
microorganisms or cellular environments called an active bath. Here, we
introduce an archetypal model for Maxwell-demon type cyclic Brownian
information engine operating in a Gaussian correlated active bath. The active
engine can extract more work than its thermal counterpart, exceeding the bound
set by the second law of information thermodynamics. We obtain a general
integral fluctuation theorem for the active engine that includes additional
mutual information gained from the active bath with a unique effective
temperature. This effective description modifies the second law and provides a
new upper bound for the extracted work. Unlike the passive information engine
operating in a thermal bath, the active information engine extracts colossal
power that peaks at the finite cycle period. Our study provides fundamental
insights into the design and functioning of synthetic and biological submicron
motors in active baths under measurement and feedback control.


  In previous work, we used an $\infty$-categorical version of ultraproducts to
show that, for a fixed height $n$, the symmetric monoidal $\infty$-categories
of $E_{n,p}$-local spectra are asymptotically algebraic in the prime $p$. In
this paper, we prove the analogous result for the symmetric monoidal
$\infty$-categories of $K_{p}(n)$-local spectra, where $K_{p}(n)$ is Morava
$K$-theory at height $n$ and the prime $p$. This requires $\infty$-categorical
tools suitable for working with compactly generated symmetric monoidal
$\infty$-categories with non-compact unit. The equivalences that we produce
here are compatible with the equivalences for the $E_{n,p}$-local
$\infty$-categories.


  The Kibble balance requires a measurement of the local gravitational
acceleration, $g$, with a typical relative measurement uncertainty of
$10^{-9}$. In this paper, the determination of $g$ for the Tsinghua tabletop
Kibble balance is presented. A polynomial fitting method is proposed for blind
transfers of the absolute gravitational acceleration using relative
gravimeters, showing agreement with the value obtained by the tide correction
within a few parts in $10^{9}$. Horizontal and vertical gravity gradients are
extracted by mapping the gravity distribution at different heights. The
self-attraction effect of major components in the experiment, as well as some
time-varying systematic effects, are modeled. The final determination of the
gravitational acceleration at the mass position, with an uncertainty of 5.4
$\mu$Gal ($k=2$), is achieved for the Tsinghua tabletop Kibble balance
experiment.


  Let $\mathcal{H}$ be a 3-uniform hypergraph. The multicolor Ramsey number $
r_k(\mathcal{H})$ is the smallest integer $n$ such that every coloring of $
\binom{[n]}{3}$ with $k$ colors has a monochromatic copy of $\mathcal{H}$. Let
$ \mathcal{L}$ be the loose 3-uniform path with 3 edges and $ \mathcal{M}$
denote the messy 3-uniform path with 3 edges; that is, let $\mathcal{L} =
\{abc, cde, efg\}$ and $\mathcal{M} = \{ abc, bcd, def\}$. In this note we
prove $ r_k(\mathcal{L}) < 1.54k$ and $ r_k(\mathcal{M}) < 1.6k$ for $k$
sufficiently large.


  Answering a question of Erd\H{o}s and Graham, we show that for each fixed
positive rational number $x$ the number of ways to write $x$ as a sum of
reciprocals of distinct positive integers each at most $n$ is $2^{(c_x +
o(1))n}$ for an explicit constant $c_x$ increasing with $x$.


  We construct a boundary state for a class of analytic solutions in the
Witten's open string field theory. The result is consistent with the property
of the zero limit of a propagator's length, which was claimed in [19]. And we
show that our boundary state becomes expected one for the perturbative vacuum
solution and the tachyon vacuum solution. We also comment on possible presence
of multi-brane solutions and ghost brane solutions from our boundary state.


  We study the quench dynamics of a Bose-Einstein condensate under a
Raman-assisted synthetic spin-orbit coupling. To model the dynamical process,
we adopt a self-consistent Bogoliubov approach, which is equivalent to applying
the time-dependent Bogoliubov-de-Gennes equations. We investigate the dynamics
of the condensate fraction as well as the momentum distribution of the Bose gas
following a sudden change of system parameters. Typically, the system evolves
into a steady state in the long-time limit, which features an oscillating
momentum distribution and a stationary condensate fraction which is dependent
on the quench parameters. We investigate how different quench parameters such
as the inter- and intra-species interactions and the spin-orbit-coupling
parameters affect the condensate fraction in the steady state. Furthermore, we
find that the time average of the oscillatory momentum distribution in the
long-time limit can be described by a generalized Gibbs ensemble with two
branches of momentum-dependent Gibbs temperatures. Our study is relevant to the
experimental investigation of dynamical processes in a spin-orbit coupled
Bose-Einstein condensate.


  We investigate the signal propagation in AC-LGAD (aka RSD), which are LGAD
with a common N+ layer and segmented AC-coupled readout contacts, by measuring
response to IR laser TCT on a large selection of AC-LGAD with strip readout.
The interest for this topic derives from the realization that while large
charge sharing between neighboring strips is essential for good position
resolution, large sharing beyond the next neighbor generates background signals
which in general are detrimental to the sensor goal of low occupancy. Using
AC-LGAD with strip readout produced by Hamamatsu Photonics (HPK), we evaluate
the effects of a variety of sensor properties, including geometrical parameters
(strip length, width), process parameters like the N+ layer resistivity, the
coupling capacitance, and the thickness of the bulk on the signal sharing and
the position resolution.


  Spin-orbit coupling with bosons gives rise to novel properties that are
absent in usual bosonic systems. Under very general conditions, the
conventional ground state wavefunctions of bosons are constrained by the
"no-node" theorem to be positive-definite. In contrast, the linear-dependence
of spin-orbit coupling leads to complex-valued condensate wavefunctions beyond
this theorem. In this article, we review the study of this class of
unconventional Bose-Einstein condensations focusing on their topological
properties. Both the 2D Rashba and 3D $\vec{\sigma} \cdot \vec{p}$-type Weyl
spin-orbit couplings give rise to Landau-level-like quantization of
single-particle levels in the harmonic trap. The interacting condensates
develop the half-quantum vortex structure spontaneously breaking time-reversal
symmetry and exhibit topological spin textures of the skyrmion type. In
particular, the 3D Weyl coupling generates topological defects in the
quaternionic phase space as an SU(2) generalization of the usual U(1) vortices.
Rotating spin-orbit coupled condensates exhibit rich vortex structures due to
the interplay between vorticity and spin texture. In the Mott-insulating states
in optical lattices, quantum magnetism is characterized by the
Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya type exchange interactions.


  We generalize Kada's definable strengthening of Dilworth's
  characterization of the class of quasi-orders admitting an antichain of
  a given finite cardinality.


  We study the unique continuation property for the neutron transport equation
and for a simplified model of the Fokker-Planck equation in a bounded domain
with absorbing boundary condition. An observation estimate is derived. It
depends on the smallness of the mean free path and the frequency of the
velocity average of the initial data. The proof relies on the well known
diffusion approximation under convenience scaling and on basic properties of
this diffusion. Eventually we propose a direct proof for the observation at one
time of parabolic equations. It is based on the analysis of the heat kernel.


  Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) allows for
non-invasive imaging of the local fiber architecture of the human brain at a
millimetric scale. Multiple classical approaches have been proposed to detect
both single (e.g., tensors) and multiple (e.g., constrained spherical
deconvolution, CSD) fiber population orientations per voxel. However, existing
techniques generally exhibit low reproducibility across MRI scanners. Herein,
we propose a data-driven tech-nique using a neural network design which
exploits two categories of data. First, training data were acquired on three
squirrel monkey brains using ex-vivo DW-MRI and histology of the brain. Second,
repeated scans of human subjects were acquired on two different scanners to
augment the learning of the network pro-posed. To use these data, we propose a
new network architecture, the null space deep network (NSDN), to simultaneously
learn on traditional observed/truth pairs (e.g., MRI-histology voxels) along
with repeated observations without a known truth (e.g., scan-rescan MRI). The
NSDN was tested on twenty percent of the histology voxels that were kept
completely blind to the network. NSDN significantly improved absolute
performance relative to histology by 3.87% over CSD and 1.42% over a recently
proposed deep neural network approach. More-over, it improved reproducibility
on the paired data by 21.19% over CSD and 10.09% over a recently proposed deep
approach. Finally, NSDN improved gen-eralizability of the model to a third in
vivo human scanner (which was not used in training) by 16.08% over CSD and
10.41% over a recently proposed deep learn-ing approach. This work suggests
that data-driven approaches for local fiber re-construction are more
reproducible, informative and precise and offers a novel, practical method for
determining these models.


  Kinetic equations are difficult to solve numerically due to their high
dimensionality. A promising approach for reducing computational cost is the
dynamical low-rank algorithm, which decouples the dimensions of the phase space
by proposing an ansatz as the sum of separable (rank-1) functions in position
and velocity respectively. The fluid asymptotic limit of collisional kinetic
equations, obtained in the small-Knudsen number limit, admits a low-rank
representation when written as $f = Mg$, where $M$ is the local Maxwellian, and
$g$ is low-rank. We apply this decomposition to the
Vlasov-Amp\`{e}re-Fokker-Planck equation of plasma dynamics, considering the
asymptotic limit of strong collisions and electric field. We implement our
proposed algorithm and demonstrate the expected improvement in computation time
by comparison to an implementation that evolves the full solution tensor $f$.
We also demonstrate that our algorithm can capture dynamics in both the kinetic
regime, and in the fluid regime with relatively lower computational effort,
thereby efficiently capturing the asymptotic fluid limit.


  We discuss the high-bias electrical characteristics of back-gated
field-effect transistors with CVD-synthesized bilayer MoS2 channel and Ti
Schottky contacts. We find that oxidized Ti contacts on MoS2 form rectifying
junctions with ~0.3 to 0.5 eV Schottky barrier height. To explain the
rectifying output characteristics of the transistors, we propose a model based
on two slightly asymmetric back-to-back Schottky barriers, where the highest
current arises from image force barrier lowering at the electrically forced
junction, while the reverse current is due to Schottky-barrier limited
injection at the grounded junction. The device achieves a photo responsivity
greater than 2.5 AW-1 under 5 mWcm-2 white-LED light. By comparing two- and
four-probe measurements, we demonstrate that the hysteresis and persistent
photoconductivity exhibited by the transistor are peculiarities of the MoS2
channel rather than effects of the Ti/MoS2 interface.


  Let $\mathcal{P}_r$ denote an almost-prime with at most $r$ prime factors,
counted according to multiplicity. In this paper, we generalize the result of
Vaughan for ternary admissible exponent. Moreover, we use the refined
admissible exponent to prove that, for $3\leqslant k\leqslant 14$ and for every
sufficiently large even integer $n$, the following equation \begin{equation*}
n=x^2+p_1^2+p_2^3+p_3^3+p_4^3+p_5^k \end{equation*} is solvable with $x$ being
an almost-prime $\mathcal{P}_{r(k)}$ and the other variables primes, where
$r(k)$ is defined in Theorem. This result constitutes a deepening upon that of
previous results.


  Using the cubic honeycomb (cubic tessellation) of Euclidean 3-space, we
define a quantum system whose states, called quantum knots, represent a closed
knotted piece of rope, i.e., represent the particular spatial configuration of
a knot tied in a rope in 3-space. This quantum system, called a quantum knot
system, is physically implementable in the same sense as Shor's quantum
factoring algorithm is implementable.
  To define a quantum knot system, we replace the standard three Reidemeister
knot moves with an equivalent set of three moves, called respectively wiggle,
wag, and tug, so named because they mimic how a dog might wag its tail. We
argue that these moves are in fact more "physics friendly" because, unlike the
Reidemeister moves, they respect the differential geometry of 3-space, and
moreover they can be transformed into infinitesimal moves.
  These three moves wiggle, wag, and tug generate a unitary group, called the
lattice ambient group, which acts on the state space of the quantum system. The
lattice ambient group represents all possible ways of moving a rope around in
3-space without cutting the rope, and without letting the rope pass through
itself.
  We then investigate those quantum observables of the quantum knot system
which are knot invariants. We also study Hamiltonians associated with the
generators of the lattice ambient group. We conclude with a list of open
questions.


  Multi-robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) enables a robot team
to achieve coordinated tasks by relying on a common map of the environment.
Constructing a map by centralized processing of the robot observations is
undesirable because it creates a single point of failure and requires
pre-existing infrastructure and significant communication throughput. This
paper formulates multi-robot object SLAM as a variational inference problem
over a communication graph subject to consensus constraints on the object
estimates maintained by different robots. To solve the problem, we develop a
distributed mirror descent algorithm with regularization enforcing consensus
among the communicating robots. Using Gaussian distributions in the algorithm,
we also derive a distributed multi-state constraint Kalman filter (MSCKF) for
multi-robot object SLAM. Experiments on real and simulated data show that our
method improves the trajectory and object estimates, compared to
individual-robot SLAM, while achieving better scaling to large robot teams,
compared to centralized multi-robot SLAM.


  For a neutrino mass matrix whose texture has an approximate flavor symmetry
and where one has near degenerate neutrino mass, it is shown that the
tribimaximal values for atmospheric angle $\sin^{2}{\theta_{23}}=1/2$ and solar
angle $\sin^{2}{\theta_{12}}=1/3$ can be maintained even when the reactor angle
$\theta_{13}\neq0$. The non zero $\sin\theta_{13}$ implies approximate
$\nu_{\mu}\rightarrow-\nu_{\tau}$ symmetry instead of
$\nu_{\mu}\rightarrow\nu_{\tau}$ symmetry.


  Social activities often done in groups include watching television or movies.
Choosing a film that appeals to the emotional inclinations of a varied group
can be tricky. One of the most difficult aspects of making group movie
suggestions is achieving agreement among members. At the same time, emotion is
the most important component that connects the film and the viewer. Current
research proposes a methodology for group movie selection that employs
emotional analysis from numerous sources, such as film posters, soundtracks,
and text. Our research stands at the intersection of emotion recognition
technology in music, text, color images, and group decision-making, providing a
practical tool for navigating the complex dynamics of film selection in a group
setting. The survey participants were given emotion categories and asked to
select the emotions that best suited a particular movie. Preliminary comparison
results between real and predicted scores show the effectiveness of using
emotion detection for group movie recommendation. Such systems have the
potential to enhance movie recommendation systems.


  Let $\mathbb{K}$ be an algebraically closed field of characteristic zero, and
$V$ a hypersurface defined by an irreducible polynomial $f$ with coefficients
in $\mathbb{K}$ .
  In this article we prove that an Embedded Deformation of $V$ which admits a
Simultaneous Embedded Resolution induces, under certain mild conditions, a
deformation of the reduced scheme associated to the space of $m$-jets $V_m$,
$m\geq 0$. An example of an Embedded Deformation of $V$ which admits a
Simultaneous Embedded Resolution is a $\Gamma(f)$-deformation of $V$, where $V$
has at most one isolated singularity, and $f$ is non degenerate with respect to
the Newton Boundary $\Gamma(f)$.


  We propose a novel approach to the detection of point-like sources of
high-energy neutrinos. Motivated by evidence for emerging sources in existing
data, we focus on the characterisation and interpretation of these sources. The
hierarchical Bayesian model is implemented in the Stan platform, enabling
computation of the posterior distribution with Hamiltonian Monte Carlo. We
simulate a population of weak neutrino sources detected by the IceCube
experiment and use the resulting data set to demonstrate and validate our
framework. We show that even for the challenging case of sources at the
threshold of detection and using limited prior information, it is possible to
correctly infer the source properties. Additionally, we demonstrate how
modelling flexible connections between similar sources can be used to recover
the contribution of sources that would not be detectable individually, going
beyond what is possible with existing stacking methods.


  In a series of recent works Ishihara and Ogawa have investigated
non-topological solitons (Q-balls) in a spontaneously broken Abelian gauge
theory coupled to two complex scalar fields. The present paper extends their
investigations to the most general U(1)$\times$U(1) symmetric quartic
potential. Also a new class of charged Q-ball solutions with vanishing
self-interaction terms is investigated and some of their remarkable properties
is exhibited.


  The pressure-temperature phase diagram of multiferroic $Ni_3V_2O_8$ is
investigated for hydrostatic pressures up to 2 GPa. The stability range of the
ferroelectric phase associated with the incommensurate helical spin order is
reduced by pressure and ferroelectricity is completely suppressed at the
critical pressure of 1.64 GPa at 6.2 K. Thermal expansion measurements at
ambient pressure show strong step-like anomalies of the lattice parameters
associated with the lock-in transition into the commensurate paraelectric
phase. The expansion anomalies are highly anisotropic, the related volume
change is consistent with the high-pressure phase diagram.


  This paper studies the distributed mode consensus problem in a multi-agent
system, in which the agents each possess a certain attribute and they aim to
agree upon the mode (the most frequent attribute owned by the agents) via
distributed computation. Three algorithms are proposed. The first one directly
calculates the frequency of all attributes at every agent, with protocols based
on blended dynamics, and then returns the most frequent attribute as the mode.
Assuming knowledge at each agent of a lower bound of the mode frequency as a
priori information, the second algorithm is able to reduce the number of
frequencies to be computed at every agent if the lower bound is large. The
third algorithm further eliminates the need for this information by introducing
an adaptive updating mechanism. The algorithms find the mode in finite time,
and estimates of convergence time are provided. The proposed first and second
algorithms enjoy the plug-and-play property with a dwell time.


  The positive and not completely positive maps of density matrices, which are
contractive maps, are discussed as elements of a semigroup. A new kind of
positive map (the purification map), which is nonlinear map, is introduced. The
density matrices are considered as vectors, linear maps among matrices are
represented by superoperators given in the form of higher dimensional matrices.
Probability representation of spin states (spin tomography) is reviewed and
U(N)-tomogram of spin states is presented. Properties of the tomograms as
probability distribution functions are studied. Notion of tomographic purity of
spin states is introduced. Entanglement and separability of density matrices
are expressed in terms of properties of the tomographic joint probability
distributions of random spin projections which depend also on unitary group
parameters. A new positivity criterion for hermitian matrices is formulated. An
entanglement criterion is given in terms of a function depending on unitary
group parameters and semigroup of positive map parameters. The function is
constructed as sum of moduli of U(N)-tomographic symbols of the hermitian
matrix obtained after action on the density matrix of composite system by a
positive but not completely positive map of the subsystem density matrix. Some
two-qubit and two-qutritt states are considered as examples of entangled
states. The connection with the star-product quantisation is discussed. The
structure of the set of density matrices and their relation to unitary group
and Lie algebra of the unitary group are studied. Nonlinear quantum evolution
of state vector obtained by means of applying purification rule of density
matrices evolving via dynamical maps is considered. Some connection of positive
maps and entanglement with random matrices is discussed and used.


  We consider a strongly coupled ODE-PDE system representing moving bottlenecks
immersed in vehicular traffic. The PDE consists of a scalar conservation law
modeling the traffic flow evolution and the ODE models the trajectory of a slow
moving vehicle. The moving bottleneck influences the bulk traffic flow via a
point flux constraint, which is given by an inequality on the flux at the slow
vehicle position. We prove uniqueness and continuous dependence of solutions
with respect to initial data of bounded variation. The proof is based on a new
backward in time method established to capture the values of the norm of
generalized tangent vectors at every time.


  Experimental X-ray crystallography, NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance)
spectroscopy, dual polarization interferometry, etc are indeed very powerful
tools to determine the 3-Dimensional structure of a protein (including the
membrane protein); theoretical mathematical and physical computational
approaches can also allow us to obtain a description of the protein 3D
structure at a submicroscopic level for some unstable, noncrystalline and
insoluble proteins. X-ray crystallography finds the X-ray final structure of a
protein, which usually need refinements using theoretical protocols in order to
produce a better structure. This means theoretical methods are also important
in determinations of protein structures. Optimization is always needed in the
computer-aided drug design, structure-based drug design, molecular dynamics,
and quantum and molecular mechanics. This paper introduces some optimization
algorithms used in these research fields and presents a new theoretical
computational method - an improved LBFGS Quasi-Newtonian mathematical
optimization method - to produce 3D structures of Prion AGAAAAGA amyloid
fibrils (which are unstable, noncrystalline and insoluble), from the potential
energy minimization point of view. Because the NMR or X-ray structure of the
hydrophobic region AGAAAAGA of prion proteins has not yet been determined, the
model constructed by this paper can be used as a reference for experimental
studies on this region, and may be useful in furthering the goals of medicinal
chemistry in this field.


  We present a regularity lemma for Boolean functions $f:\{-1,1\}^n \to
\{-1,1\}$ based on noisy influence, a measure of how locally correlated $f$ is
with each input bit. We provide an application of the regularity lemma to
weaken the conditions on the Majority is Stablest Theorem. We also prove a
"homogenized" version stating that there is a set of input bits so that most
restrictions of $f$ on those bits have small noisy influences. These results
were sketched out by [OSTW10], but never published. With their permission, we
present the full details here.


  We study the problem of computing isochrones in road networks, where the
objective is to identify the region that is reachable from a given source
within a certain amount of time. While there is a wide range of practical
applications for this problem (e.g., reachability analyses, geomarketing,
visualizing the cruising range of a vehicle), there has been little research on
fast computation of isochrones on large, realistic inputs. In this work, we
formalize the notion of isochrones in road networks and present a basic
approach for the resulting problem based on Dijkstra's algorithm. Moreover, we
consider several speedup techniques that are based on previous approaches for
one-to-many shortest path computation (or similar scenarios). In contrast to
such related problems, the set of targets is not part of the input when
computing isochrones. We extend known Multilevel Dijkstra techniques (such as
CRP) to the isochrone scenario, adapting a previous technique called isoGRASP
to our problem setting (thereby, enabling faster queries). Moreover, we
introduce a family of algorithms based on (single-level) graph partitions,
following different strategies to exploit the efficient access patterns of
PHAST, a well-known approach towards one-to-all queries. Our experimental study
reveals that all speedup techniques allow fast isochrone computation on input
graphs at continental scale, while providing different tradeoffs between
preprocessing effort, space consumption, and query performance. Finally, we
demonstrate that all techniques scale well when run in parallel, decreasing
query times to a few milliseconds (orders of magnitude faster than the basic
approach) and enabling even interactive applications.


  Printed Circuit Board (PCB) assurance in the optical domain is a crucial
field of study. Though there are many existing PCB assurance methods using
image processing, computer vision (CV), and machine learning (ML), the PCB
field is complex and increasingly evolving so new techniques are required to
overcome the emerging problems. Existing ML-based methods outperform
traditional CV methods, however they often require more data, have low
explainability, and can be difficult to adapt when a new technology arises. To
overcome these challenges, CV methods can be used in tandem with ML methods. In
particular, human-interpretable CV algorithms such as those that extract color,
shape, and texture features increase PCB assurance explainability. This allows
for incorporation of prior knowledge, which effectively reduce the number of
trainable ML parameters and thus, the amount of data needed to achieve high
accuracy when training or retraining an ML model. Hence, this study explores
the benefits and limitations of a variety of common computer vision-based
features for the task of PCB component detection using semantic data. Results
of this study indicate that color features demonstrate promising performance
for PCB component detection. The purpose of this paper is to facilitate
collaboration between the hardware assurance, computer vision, and machine
learning communities.


  The allocation of a (treatment) condition-effect on the wrong principal
component (misallocation of variance) in principal component analysis (PCA) has
been addressed in research on event-related potentials of the
electroencephalogram. However, the correct allocation of condition-effects on
PCA components might be relevant in several domains of research. The present
paper investigates whether different loading patterns at each condition-level
are a basis for an optimal allocation of between-condition variance on
principal components. It turns out that a similar loading shape at each
condition-level is a necessary condition for an optimal allocation of
between-condition variance, whereas a similar loading magnitude is not
necessary.


  The relative sidereal variation in the arrival direction of primary cosmic
ray nuclei of median energy 10 TeV was measured using downward, through-going
muons detected with the Super-Kamiokande-I detector. The projection of the
anisotropy map onto the right ascension axis has a first harmonic amplitude of
$(6.64 \pm 0.98 {stat.} \pm 0.55 {syst.}) \times 10^{-4}$ and a phase at
maximum at $(33.2^\circ \pm 8.2^\circ {stat.} \pm 5.1^\circ {syst.})$ right
ascension. A sky map in equatorial coordinates indicates an excess region in
the constellation of Taurus and a deficit region toward Virgo. The excess
region is centered at $(\alpha_T, \delta_T) = (75^\circ \pm 7^\circ, -5^\circ
\pm 9^\circ)$ with a half opening angle $\chi_T = (39 \pm 7)^\circ$; the excess
flux is ($0.104 \pm 0.020$)% above the isotropic expectation. The corresponding
parameters for the deficit region are $(\alpha_V, \delta_V) = (205^\circ \pm
7^\circ, 5^\circ \pm 10^\circ)$, $\chi_V = (54 \pm 7)^\circ$, and $(-0.094 \pm
0.014)$%. The data do not allow us to rule out a pure dipole form for the
anisotropy (allowed at 13% confidence level); they are better described by the
excess and deficit cones described above. We explored the implications under
the assumption that the true anisotropy is not distorted too much by the
analysis filter so that it is well-described by the observed excess and deficit
cones.


  This paper studies the problem of learning with augmented classes (LAC),
where augmented classes unobserved in the training data might emerge in the
testing phase. Previous studies generally attempt to discover augmented classes
by exploiting geometric properties, achieving inspiring empirical performance
yet lacking theoretical understandings particularly on the generalization
ability. In this paper we show that, by using unlabeled training data to
approximate the potential distribution of augmented classes, an unbiased risk
estimator of the testing distribution can be established for the LAC problem
under mild assumptions, which paves a way to develop a sound approach with
theoretical guarantees. Moreover, the proposed approach can adapt to complex
changing environments where augmented classes may appear and the prior of known
classes may change simultaneously. Extensive experiments confirm the
effectiveness of our proposed approach.


  Spatial variations of the average properties that characterize the hadronic
component of the diffuse Galactic cosmic-ray sea, in particular the spectral
slope and normalization, may unveil critical information about their
confinement mechanism in the Galaxy. In the first part of this paper we perform
an analysis of the Fermi-LAT gamma-ray data with the SkyFACT package, which
combines image reconstruction techniques with standard template fitting,
isolate the hadronic emission and decompose it into Galactocentric rings. We
find a significant hardening of the hadronic spectral index towards the
molecular ring. We study this hardening in different energy ranges, and assess
its resilience with respect to different prescriptions in the analysis setup.
In the second part we quantify the contribution to the diffuse gamma-ray flux
coming from unresolved point sources with a dedicated Monte Carlo simulation,
and consider whether the trend characterized in the first part can be mimicked
by a progressively more relevant flux associated to this component in the inner
Galaxy. We find that the observed hardening of the hadronic spectral index
cannot be due to unresolved sources in the sub-TeV energy range, especially
outside the molecular ring, given reasonable assumptions about the unresolved
source population.


  Motivated by remarkable properties of superfluid edge dislocations in solid
Helium-4, we discuss a broad class of quantum systems -- boundaries in phase
separated lattice states, magnetic domain walls, and ensembles of Luttinger
liquids -- that can be classified as Transverse Quantum Fluids (TQF). After
introducing the general idea of TQF, we focus on a coupled array of Luttinger
liquids forming an incoherent TQF. This state is a long-range ordered
quasi-one-dimensional superfluid, topologically protected against quantum phase
slips by tight-binding of instanton dipoles, that has no coherent
quasi-particle excitations at low energies. Incoherent TQF is a striking
example of the irrelevance of the Landau quasiparticle criterion for
superfluidity in systems that lack Galilean invariance. We detail its
phenomenology, to motivate a number of experimental studies in condensed matter
and cold atomic systems.


  This paper addresses the problem of optimally controlling nonlinear systems
with norm-bounded disturbances and parametric uncertainties while robustly
satisfying constraints. The proposed approach jointly optimizes a nominal
nonlinear trajectory and an error feedback, requiring minimal offline design
effort and offering low conservatism. This is achieved by decomposing the
affine-in-the-parameter uncertain nonlinear system into a nominal
$\textit{nonlinear}$ system and an uncertain linear time-varying system. Using
this decomposition, we can apply established tools from system level synthesis
to $\textit{convexly}$ over-bound all uncertainties in the nonlinear
optimization problem. Moreover, it enables tight joint optimization of the
linearization error bounds, parametric uncertainties bounds, nonlinear
trajectory, and error feedback. With this novel controller parameterization, we
can formulate a convex constraint to ensure robust performance guarantees for
the nonlinear system. The presented method is relevant for numerous
applications related to trajectory optimization, e.g., in robotics and
aerospace engineering. We demonstrate the performance of the approach and its
low conservatism through the simulation example of a post-capture satellite
stabilization.


  We introduce and describe the multiconfigurational time-depenent Hartree for
indistinguishable particles (MCTDH-X) software. This powerful tool allows the
investigation of ground state properties and dynamics of interacting quantum
many-body systems in different spatial dimensions. The MCTDH-X software is a
set of programs and scripts to compute, analyze, and visualize solutions for
the time-dependent and time-independent many-body Schr\"{o}dinger equation for
indistinguishable quantum particles. As the MCTDH-X software represents a
general solver for the Schr\"{o}dinger equation, it is applicable to a wide
range of problems in the fields of atomic, optical, molecular physics as well
as condensed matter systems. In particular, it can be used to study
light-matter interactions, correlated dynamics of electrons, as well as some
aspects related to quantum information and computing. The MCTDH-X software
solves a set of non-linear coupled working equations based on the application
of the variational principle to the Schr\"{o}dinger equation. These equations
are obtained by using an ansatz for the many-body wavefunction that is a
time-dependent expansion in a set of time-dependent many-body basis states. The
time-dependence of the basis set enables MCTDH-X to deal with quantum dynamics
at a superior accuracy as compared to, for instance, exact diagonalization
approaches. Herein, we give an introduction to the MCTDH-X software via an
easy-to-follow tutorial with a focus on accessibility. We use the double well
to illustrate the fermionization of bosonic particles, the crystallization of
fermionic particles, characteristics of the superfluid and Mott-insulator
quantum phases in Hubbard models, and even dynamical quantum phase transitions.
Our tutorial guides the potential user to apply the MCTDH-X software also to
more complex systems.


  In [G. Bianchi, R. J. Gardner and P. Gronchi, Symmetrization in Geometry,
Adv. Math., vol. 306 (2017), 51-88], a systematic study of symmetrization
operators on convex sets and their properties is conducted. In the end of their
article, the authors pose several open questions. The primary goal of this
manuscript is to study these questions.


  We address the question of the relation between supersymmetry breaking and
the origin of flavor in the context of CP violating phenomena. We prove that,
in the absence of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa phase, a general Minimal
Supersymmetric Standard Model with all possible phases in the soft-breaking
terms, but no new flavor structure beyond the usual Yukawa matrices, can never
give a sizeable contribution to $\epsilon_K$, $\epsilon^\prime/\epsilon$ or
hadronic $B^0$ CP asymmetries. Observation of supersymmetric contributions to
CP asymmetries in B decays would hint at a non-flavor blind mechanism of
supersymmetry breaking.


  Recently, language identity information has been utilized to improve the
performance of end-to-end code-switching (CS) speech recognition. However,
previous works use an additional language identification (LID) model as an
auxiliary module, which causes the system complex. In this work, we propose an
improved recurrent neural network transducer (RNN-T) model with language bias
to alleviate the problem. We use the language identities to bias the model to
predict the CS points. This promotes the model to learn the language identity
information directly from transcription, and no additional LID model is needed.
We evaluate the approach on a Mandarin-English CS corpus SEAME. Compared to our
RNN-T baseline, the proposed method can achieve 16.2% and 12.9% relative error
reduction on two test sets, respectively.


  This paper suveys different variants of the following problem: Given a convex
set $K$ and a sequence $\{C_i\}$ of convex bodies in $E^n$, is it possible to
pack the sequence of bodies in $K$ or cover $K$ with the bodies? Algorithmic
versions of these problems are on-line packing and on-line covering: The bodies
of the sequence are given one at a time and the algorithm is to decide on the
placement of the arriving body before the next body is revealed; once placed,
the body cannot be moved.


  We report the result of a search for scalar leptons in e+e- collisions at 189
GeV centre-of-mass energy at LEP. No evidence for such particles is found in a
data sample of 176 pb^{-1}. Improved upper limits are set on the production
cross sections for these new particles. New exclusion contours in the parameter
space of the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model are derived, as well as new
lower limits on the masses of these supersymmetric particles. Under the
assumptions of common gaugino and scalar masses at the GUT scale, we set an
absolute lower limit on the mass of the lightest scalar electron of 65.5 GeV


  The GAIA space mission is impacting astronomy in many significant ways by
providing a uniform, homogeneous and precise data set for over 1 billion stars
and other celestial objects in the Milky Way and beyond. Exoplanet science has
greatly benefited from the unprecedented accuracy of stellar parameters
obtained from GAIA. In this study, we combine photometric, astrometric, and
spectroscopic data from the most recent Gaia DR3 to examine the kinematic and
chemical age proxies for a large sample of 2611 exoplanets hosting stars whose
parameters have been determined uniformly. Using spectroscopic data from the
Radial Velocity Spectrometer (RVS) onboard GAIA, we show that stars hosting
massive planets are metal-rich and $\alpha$-poor in comparison to stars hosting
small planets. The kinematic analysis of the sample reveals that the stellar
systems with small planets and those with giant planets differ in key aspects
of galactic space velocity and orbital parameters, which are indicative of age.
We find that the galactic orbital parameters have a statistically significant
difference of 0.06 kpc for $Z_{max}$ and 0.03 for eccentricity respectively.
Furthermore, we estimated the stellar ages of the sample using the MIST-MESA
isochrone models. The ages and its proxies for the planet-hosting stars
indicate that the hosts of giant planetary systems are younger compared to the
population of stars harboring small planets. These age trends are also
consistent with the chemical evolution of the galaxy and the formation of giant
planets from the core-accretion process.


  By measuring the temperature dependence of the resistance, we investigated
the effect of Cu doping on superconductivity (SC) in Cu-doped TaSe$_3$ in which
the charge density wave (CDW) transition is induced by Cu doping. We observed
an emergence of a region where the SC transition temperature ($T_\mathrm{C}$)
decreased in samples with higher Cu concentrations and found that the region
tended to expand with increasing Cu concentration. In addition, the temperature
dependence of the upper critical field ($H_\mathrm{C2}$) of Cu-doped TaSe$_3$
was found to differ from that of pure TaSe$_3$. Based on these experimental
results and the fact that the SC of TaSe$_3$ is filamentary, we conclude that
SC is suppressed locally by Cu doping and competes with the CDW in Cu-doped
TaSe$_3$. The resistance anomaly due to the CDW transition was extremely small
and the size of the anomaly was enhanced with increasing Cu concentration but
the temperature at which the anomaly appeared hardly changed. This result of
the anomaly and the local suppression of SC imply that the induced CDWs are
short-range order in the vicinity of Cu atoms. We also discuss the effect of
the pinning of CDWs on the relationship between SC and short-range order CDWs.


  Recently, simplicial complexes are used in constructions of several infinite
families of minimal and optimal linear codes by Hyun {\em et al.} Building upon
their research, in this paper more linear codes over the ring $\mathbb{Z}_4$
are constructed by simplicial complexes. Specifically, the Lee weight
distributions of the resulting quaternary codes are determined and two infinite
families of four-Lee-weight quaternary codes are obtained. Compared to the
databases of $\mathbb Z_4$ codes by Aydin {\em et al.}, at least nine new
quaternary codes are found. Thanks to the special structure of the defining
sets, we have the ability to determine whether the Gray images of certain
obtained quaternary codes are linear or not. This allows us to obtain two
infinite families of binary nonlinear codes and one infinite family of binary
minimal linear codes. Furthermore, utilizing these minimal binary codes, some
secret sharing schemes as a byproduct also are established.


  Recently the ROSINA mass spectrometer suite on board the European Space
Agency's Rosetta spacecraft discovered an abundant amount of molecular oxygen,
O2, in the coma of Jupiter family comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko of O2/H2O =
3.80+/-0.85%. It could be shown that O2 is indeed a parent species and that the
derived abundances point to a primordial origin. One crucial question is
whether the O2 abundance is peculiar to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko or
Jupiter family comets in general or whether also Oort cloud comets such as
comet 1P/Halley contain similar amounts of molecular oxygen. We investigated
mass spectra obtained by the Neutral Mass Spectrometer instrument obtained
during the flyby by the European Space Agency's Giotto probe at comet
1P/Halley. Our investigation indicates that a production rate of O2 of
3.7+/-1.7% with respect to water is indeed compatible with the obtained Halley
data and therefore that O2 might be a rather common and abundant parent
species.


  We have investigated the growth of Pt on Ge(110) using scanning tunneling
microscopy and spectroscopy. The deposition of several monolayers of Pt on
Ge(110) followed by annealing at 1100 K results in the formation of
three-dimensional metallic Pt-Ge nanocrystals. The outermost layer of these
crystals exhibits a honeycomb structure. The honeycomb structure is composed of
two hexagonal sub-lattices that are displaced vertically by 0.2 {\AA} with
respect to each other. The nearest-neighbor distance of the atoms in the
honeycomb lattice is 2.5${\pm}$0.1 {\AA}, i.e. very close to the predicted
nearest-neighbor distance in germanene (2.4 {\AA}). Scanning tunneling
spectroscopy reveals that the atomic layer underneath the honeycomb layer is
more metallic than the honeycomb layer itself. These observations are in line
with a model recently proposed for metal di-(silicides/)germanides: a hexagonal
crystal with metal layers separated by semiconductor layers with a honeycomb
lattice. Based on our observations we propose that the outermost layer of the
Ge2Pt nanocrystal is a germanene layer.


  The popularity of the PDF format and the rich JavaScript environment that PDF
viewers offer make PDF documents an attractive attack vector for malware
developers. PDF documents present a serious threat to the security of
organizations because most users are unsuspecting of them and thus likely to
open documents from untrusted sources. We propose to identify malicious PDFs by
using conservative abstract interpretation to statically reason about the
behavior of the embedded JavaScript code. Currently, state-of-the-art tools
either: (1) statically identify PDF malware based on structural similarity to
known malicious samples; or (2) dynamically execute the code to detect
malicious behavior. These two approaches are subject to evasion attacks that
mimic the structure of benign documents or do not exhibit their malicious
behavior when being analyzed dynamically. In contrast, abstract interpretation
is oblivious to both types of evasions. A comparison with two state-of-the-art
PDF malware detection tools shows that our conservative abstract interpretation
approach achieves similar accuracy, while being more resilient to evasion
attacks.


  Results of a high-statistics, multi-volume Lattice QCD exploration of the
deuteron, the di-neutron, the H-dibaryon, and the Xi-Xi- system at a pion mass
of m ~ 390 MeV are presented. Calculations were performed with an anisotropic
n_f = 2+1 Clover discretization in four lattice volumes of spatial extent L ~
2.0, 2.5, 3.0 and 4.0 fm, with a lattice spacing of b_s ~ 0.123 fm in the
spatial-direction, and b_t ~ b_s/3.5 in the time-direction. The Xi-Xi- is found
to be bound by B_{Xi-Xi-} = 14.0(1.4)(6.7) MeV, consistent with expectations
based upon phenomenological models and low-energy effective field theories
constrained by nucleon-nucleon and hyperon-nucleon scattering data at the
physical light-quark masses. We find weak evidence that both the deuteron and
the di-neutron are bound at this pion mass, with binding energies of B_d =
11(05)(12) MeV and B_{nn} = 7.1(5.2)(7.3) MeV, respectively. With an increased
number of measurements and a refined analysis, the binding energy of the
H-dibaryon is B_H = 13.2(1.8)(4.0) MeV at this pion mass, updating our previous
result.


  Two important notions of integrability for discrete mappings are algebraic
integrability and singularity confinement, have been used for discrete
mappings. Algebraic integrability is related to the existence of sufficiently
many conserved quantities whereas singularity confinement is associated with
the local analysis of singularities. In this paper, the relationship between
these two notions is explored for birational autonomous mappings. Two types of
results are obtained: first, algebraically integrable mappings are shown to
have the singularity confinement property. Second, a proof of the non-existence
of algebraic conserved quantities of discrete systems based on the lack of
confinement property is given.