  We study large-scale dynamo action due to turbulence in the presence of a
linear shear flow, in the low conductivity limit. Our treatment is
nonperturbative in the shear strength and makes systematic use of both the
shearing coordinate transformation and the Galilean invariance of the linear
shear flow. The velocity fluctuations are assumed to have low magnetic Reynolds
number (Rm) but could have arbitrary fluid Reynolds number. The magnetic
fluctuations are determined to lowest order in Rm by explicit calculation of
the resistive Green's function for the linear shear flow. The mean
electromotive force is calculated and an integro-differential equation is
derived for the time evolution of the mean magnetic field. In this equation,
velocity fluctuations contribute to two different kinds of terms, the C and D
terms, in which first and second spatial derivatives of the mean magnetic
field, respectively, appear inside the spacetime integrals. The contribution of
the D terms is such that the time evolution of the cross-shear components of
the mean field do not depend on any other components excepting themselves.
Therefore, to lowest order in Rm but to all orders in the shear strength, the D
terms cannot give rise to a shear-current assisted dynamo effect. Casting the
integro-differential equation in Fourier space, we show that the normal modes
of the theory are a set of shearing waves, labelled by their sheared
wavevectors. The integral kernels are expressed in terms of the velocity
spectrum tensor, which is the fundamental quantity that needs to be specified
to complete the integro-differential equation description of the time evolution
of the mean magnetic field.


  Beck introduced two partition statistics $NT(r,m,n)$ and
$M_{\omega}(r,m,n)$,which denote the total number of parts in the partition of
$n$ with rank congruent to $r$ modulo $m$ and the total number of ones in the
partition of $n$ with crank congruent to $r$ modulo $m$, respectively. In
recent years, a number of congruences and identities on $NT(r,m,n)$ and
$M_{\omega}(r,m,n)$ for some small $m $ have been established.In this paper, we
prove an identity on $NT(r,8,n)$ and $M_{\omega}(r,4,n)$ which confirm a
conjecture given by Mao.


  We study volume growth, entropy and stability for translating solitons of
mean curvature flow. First, we prove that every complete properly immersed
translator has at least linear volume growth. Then, by using Huisken's
monotonicity formula, we compute the entropy of the grim reaper and the bowl
solitons. We also give a curvature estimate for translators in $\mathbf{R}^3$
with small entropy. Finally, we estimate the spectrum of the stability operator
$L$ for translators and give a rigidity result of $L$-stable translators.


  Let X be a 2-dimensional normed space, and let BX be the unit ball in X. We
discuss the question of how large the set of extremal points of BX must be if X
contains a well-distributed set whose distance set Delta satisfies the estimate
|\Delta\cap[0,N]|<CN^{3/2 -\epsilon}. We also give a necessary and sufficient
condition for the existence of a well-distributed set with |\Delta \cap [0,N]|
< CN.


  Single-reference methods such as Hartree-Fock-based coupled cluster theory
are well known for their accuracy and efficiency for weakly correlated systems.
For strongly correlated systems, more sophisticated methods are needed. Recent
studies have revealed the potential of the antisymmetrized geminal power (AGP)
as an excellent initial reference for the strong correlation problem. While
these studies improved on AGP by linear correlators, we explore some non-linear
exponential ansatze in this paper. We investigate two approaches in particular.
Similar to Phys. Rev. B 91, 041114(R) (2015), we show that the similarity
transformed Hamiltonian with a Hilbert-space Jastrow operator is summable to
all orders and can be solved over AGP by projecting Schrodinger's equation. The
second approach is based on approximating the unitary pair-hopper ansatz
recently proposed for application on a quantum computer. We report benchmark
numerical calculations against the ground state of the pairing Hamiltonian for
both of these approaches.


  We investigate the possible existence of (meta-)stable de Sitter vacua within
N=1 compactifications with generalised fluxes. With the aid of an algorithm
inspired by the method of differential evolution, we were able to find three
novel examples of completely tachyon-free de Sitter extrema in a non-isotropic
type IIB model with non-geometric fluxes. We also analyse the surroundings of
the aforementioned points in parameter space and chart the corresponding
stability regions. These happen to occur at small values of the cosmological
constant compared to the AdS scale.


  We review the current understanding of the behaviour of inclusive cross
sections at small x and large Q^2 in terms of Altarelli-Parisi evolution, the
BFKL equation, and Regge theory, asking in particular to what extent they are
mutually consistent.


  We study the topological structure of the symmetry group of the standard
model, $G_{SM}=U(1)\times SU(2)\times SU(3)$. Locally, $G_{SM}\cong S^1\times
(S^3)^2\times S^5$. For SU(3), which is an $S^3$ bundle over $S^5$ (and
therefore a local product of these spheres) we give a canonical gauge i.e. a
canonical set of local trivializations. These formulae give the matrices of
SU(3) in terms of points of spheres. Globally, we prove that the characteristic
function of SU(3) is the suspension of the Hopf map $h: S^3 \to S^2$. We also
study the case of SU(n) for arbitrary $n$, in particular the cases of SU(4), a
flavour group, and of SU(5), a candidate group for grand unification. We show
that the 2-sphere is also related to the fundamental symmetries of nature due
to its relation to $SO^0(3,1)$, the identity component of the Lorentz group, a
subgroup of the symmetry group of several gauge theories of gravity.


  This paper presents a 3D generative model that uses diffusion models to
automatically generate 3D digital avatars represented as neural radiance
fields. A significant challenge in generating such avatars is that the memory
and processing costs in 3D are prohibitive for producing the rich details
required for high-quality avatars. To tackle this problem we propose the
roll-out diffusion network (Rodin), which represents a neural radiance field as
multiple 2D feature maps and rolls out these maps into a single 2D feature
plane within which we perform 3D-aware diffusion. The Rodin model brings the
much-needed computational efficiency while preserving the integrity of
diffusion in 3D by using 3D-aware convolution that attends to projected
features in the 2D feature plane according to their original relationship in
3D. We also use latent conditioning to orchestrate the feature generation for
global coherence, leading to high-fidelity avatars and enabling their semantic
editing based on text prompts. Finally, we use hierarchical synthesis to
further enhance details. The 3D avatars generated by our model compare
favorably with those produced by existing generative techniques. We can
generate highly detailed avatars with realistic hairstyles and facial hair like
beards. We also demonstrate 3D avatar generation from image or text as well as
text-guided editability.


  While the convergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques with
improved information technology systems ensured enormous benefits to the
Internet of Vehicles (IoVs) systems, it also introduced an increased amount of
security and privacy threats. To ensure the security of IoVs data, privacy
preservation methodologies have gained significant attention in the literature.
However, these strategies also need specific adjustments and modifications to
cope with the advances in IoVs design. In the interim, Federated Learning (FL)
has been proven as an emerging idea to protect IoVs data privacy and security.
On the other hand, Blockchain technology is showing prominent possibilities
with secured, dispersed, and auditable data recording and sharing schemes. In
this paper, we present a comprehensive survey on the application and
implementation of Blockchain-Enabled Federated Learning frameworks for IoVs.
Besides, probable issues, challenges, solutions, and future research directions
for BC-Enabled FL frameworks for IoVs are also presented. This survey can
further be used as the basis for developing modern BC-Enabled FL solutions to
resolve different data privacy issues and scenarios of IoVs.


  The GS superstring on AdS_5 x S^5 has a nonlinearly realized, spontaneously
broken SU(2,2|4) symmetry. Here we introduce a two-dimensional model in which
the unbroken SU(2,2|4) symmetry is linearly realized. The basic variables are
supertwistors, which transform in the fundamental representation of this
supergroup.
  The quantization of this supertwistor model leads to the complete oscillator
construction of the unitary irreducible representations of the centrally
extended SU(2,2|4). They include the states of d=4 SYM theory, massless and KK
states of AdS_5 supergravity, and the descendants on AdS_5 of the standard
massive string states, which form intermediate and long supermultiplets. We
present examples of such multiplets and discuss possible states of solitonic
and (p,q) strings.


  A theoretical and numerical study of complex sliding flows of yield-stress
fluids is presented. Yield-stress fluids are known to slide over solid surfaces
if the tangential stress exceeds the {\it sliding yield stress}. The sliding
may occur due to various microscopic phenomena such as the formation of a
infinitesimal lubrication layer of the solvent and/or elastic deformation of
the suspended soft particles in the vicinity of the solid surfaces. This leads
to a `stick-slip' law which complicates the modelling and analysis of the
hydrodynamic characteristics of the yield-stress fluid flow. In the present
study, we formulate the problem of sliding flow beyond one-dimensional
rheometric flows. Then, a numerical scheme based on the augmented Lagrangian
method is presented to attack these kind of problems. Theoretical tools are
developed for analysing the flow/no-flow limit. The whole framework is
benchmarked in planar Poiseuille flow and validated against analytical
solutions. Then two more complex physical problems are investigated: slippery
particle sedimentation and pressure-driven sliding flow in porous media. The
{\it yield limit} is addressed in detail for both flow cases. In the particle
sedimentation problem, method of characteristics---slipline method---in the
presence of slip is revisited from the perfectly-plastic mechanics and used as
a helpful tool in addressing the yield limit. Finally, flows through model and
randomized porous media are studied. The randomized configuration is chosen to
capture more sophisticated aspects of the yield-stress fluid flows in porous
media at the yield limit---channelization.


  We reexamine the $W_{\infty}$ symmetry of the $sl(N)$ Conformal Affine Toda
theories. It is shown that it is possible to reduce (nonuniquely) the zero
curvature equation to a Lax equation for a first order pseudodifferential
oprator, whose coefficients are the generators of the $W_{\infty}$ algebra.
This clarifies the known relation between the Conformal Affine Toda theories
and the KP hierarchy. A possible correspondence between the matrix models and
the Conformal Affine Toda models is discussed.


  A complete classification of unimodular valuations on the set of lattice
polygons with values in the spaces of polynomials and formal power series,
respectively, is established. The valuations are classified in terms of their
behaviour with respect to dilation using extensions to unbounded polyhedra and
basic invariant theory.


  The "handbag" model was proposed as an alternative, at the present day
energies, to the leading term QCD predictions for some hard exclusive
processes. The recent precise data from the Belle Collaboration on the large
angle cross sections $\gamma\gamma --> \pi\pi, KK $ allow a check of these two
approaches to be performed. It is shown that the handbag model fails to
describe the data from Belle, while the leading term QCD predictions are in
reasonable agreement with these data


  Radiaitve mechanism of conformal symmetry breaking in a comformal-invariant
version of the Standard Model is considered. The Coleman-Weinberg mechanism of
dimensional transmutation in this system gives rise to finite vacuum
expectation values and, consequently, masses of scalar and spinor fields. A
natural bootstrap between the energy scales of the top quark and Higgs boson is
suggested.


  Distance to Uncontrollability is a crucial concept in classical control
theory. Here, we introduce Quantum Distance to Uncontrollability as a measure
how close a universal quantum system is to a non-universal one. This allows us
to provide a quantitative version of the Quantum Speed Limit, decomposing the
bound into a geometric and dynamical component. We consider several physical
examples including globally controlled solid state qubits and a cross-Kerr
system, showing that the Quantum Distance to Uncontrollability provides a
precise meaning to spectral crowding, weak interactions and other bottlenecks
to universality. We suggest that this measure should be taken into
consideration in the design of quantum technology.


  In this work, we present a practical approach to the problem of facial
landmark detection. The proposed method can deal with large shape and
appearance variations under the rich shape deformation. To handle the shape
variations we equip our method with the aggregation of manipulated face images.
The proposed framework generates different manipulated faces using only one
given face image. The approach utilizes the fact that small but carefully
crafted geometric manipulation in the input domain can fool deep face
recognition models. We propose three different approaches to generate
manipulated faces in which two of them perform the manipulations via
adversarial attacks and the other one uses known transformations. Aggregating
the manipulated faces provides a more robust landmark detection approach which
is able to capture more important deformations and variations of the face
shapes. Our approach is demonstrated its superiority compared to the
state-of-the-art method on benchmark datasets AFLW, 300-W, and COFW.


  In this work, we study the classic submodular maximization problem under
knapsack constraints and beyond. We first present an
$(7/16-\varepsilon)$-approximate algorithm for single knapsack constraint,
which requires $O(n\cdot\max\{\varepsilon^{-1},\log\log n\})$ queries, and two
passes in the streaming setting. This provides improvements in approximation
ratio, query complexity and number of passes on the stream. We next show that
there exists an $(1/2-\varepsilon)$-approximate deterministic algorithm for
constant number of binary packing constraints, which achieves a query
complexity of $O_{\varepsilon}(n\cdot\log \log n)$. One salient feature of our
deterministic algorithm is, both its approximation ratio and time complexity
are independent of the number of constraints. Lastly we present nearly linear
time algorithms for the intersection of $p$-system and $d$ knapsack constraint,
we achieve approximation ratio of $(1/(p+\frac{7}{4}d+1)-\varepsilon)$ for
monotone objective and $(p/(p+1)(2p+\frac{7}{4}d+1)-\varepsilon)$ for
non-monotone objective.


  We perform a fully relativistic analysis of even-parity linear perturbations
around a static and spherically symmetric solution in the most general
scalar-tensor theory with second-order field equations. This paper is a sequel
to Kobayashi {\em et al.} (2012), in which the linear perturbation analysis for
the odd-parity modes is presented. Expanding the Horndeski action to second
order in perturbations and eliminating auxiliary variables, we derive the
quadratic action for even-parity perturbations written solely in terms of two
dynamical variables. The two perturbations can be interpreted as the
gravitational and scalar waves. Correspondingly, we obtain two conditions to
evade ghosts and two conditions for the absence of gradient instabilities. Only
one in each pair of conditions yields a new stability criterion, as the
conditions derived from the stability of the gravitational-wave degree of
freedom coincide with those in the odd-parity sector. Similarly, the
propagation speed of one of the two modes is the same as that for the
odd-parity mode, while the other differs in general from them. Our result is
applicable to all the theories of gravitation with an extra single scalar
degree of freedom such as the Brans-Dicke theory, $f(R)$ models, and Galileon
gravity.


  In modern intelligent video surveillance systems, automatic anomaly detection
through computer vision analytics plays a pivotal role which not only
significantly increases monitoring efficiency but also reduces the burden on
live monitoring. Anomalies in videos are broadly defined as events or
activities that are unusual and signify irregular behavior. The goal of anomaly
detection is to temporally or spatially localize the anomaly events in video
sequences. Temporal localization (i.e. indicating the start and end frames of
the anomaly event in a video) is referred to as frame-level detection. Spatial
localization, which is more challenging, means to identify the pixels within
each anomaly frame that correspond to the anomaly event. This setting is
usually referred to as pixel-level detection. In this paper, we provide a brief
overview of the recent research progress on video anomaly detection and
highlight a few future research directions.


  We investigate the relative phase between two weakly interacting 1D
condensates of bosonic atoms after suddenly switching on the tunnel-coupling.
The following phase dynamics is governed by the quantum sine-Gordon equation.
In the semiclassical limit of weak interactions, we observe the parametric
amplification of quantum fluctuations leading to the formation of breathers
with a finite lifetime. The typical lifetime and density of the these
'quasibreathers' are derived employing exact solutions of the classical
sine-Gordon equation. Both depend on the initial relative phase between the
condensates, which is considered as a tunable parameter.


  On the basis of pertubative QCD and the relativistic quark model we calculate
relativistic corrections to the process of pair $J/\psi$ production in
proton-proton collisions at LHC energy $\sqrt S=7$ TeV. Relativistic terms in
the production amplitude connected with the relative motion of heavy quarks and
the transformation law of the bound state wave functions to the reference frame
of moving $J/\psi$ mesons are taken into account. For the gluon and quark
propagators entering the amplitude we use a truncated expansion in relative
quark momenta up to the second order. Relativistic corrections to the quark
bound state wave functions are considered by means of the Breit-like potential.
It turns out that the examined effects decrease initial nonrelativistic cross
section more than two times. The final result lies below the experimental value
measured by LHCb.


  We show that planar continuous alternating systems, which can be used to
model systems with seasonality, can exhibit a type of Parrondo's dynamic
paradox, in which the stability of an equilibrium, common to all seasons is
reversed for the global seasonal system.


  We present the next-to-leading order QCD corrections to the production of a
Higgs boson in association with one jet at the LHC including the full top-quark
mass dependence. The mass of the bottom quark is neglected. The two-loop
integrals appearing in the virtual contribution are calculated numerically
using the method of Sector Decomposition. We study the Higgs boson transverse
momentum distribution, focusing on the high $p_{t,\mathrm{H}}$ region, where
the top-quark loop is resolved. We find that the next-to-leading order QCD
corrections are large but that the ratio of the next-to-leading order to
leading order result is similar to that obtained by computing in the limit of
large top-quark mass.


  Semiconductor Bi$_2$O$_2$Se nanolayers of high crystal quality have been
realized via epitaxial growth. These two-dimensional (2D) materials possess
excellent electron transport properties with potential application in
nanoelectronics. It is also strongly expected that the 2D Bi$_2$O$_2$Se
nanolayers could be of an excellent material platform for developing spintronic
and topological quantum devices, if the presence of strong spin-orbit
interaction in the 2D materials can be experimentally demonstrated. Here, we
report on experimental determination of the strength of spin-orbit interaction
in Bi$_2$O$_2$Se nanoplates through magnetotransport measurements. The
nanoplates are epitaxially grown by chemical vapor deposition and the
magnetotransport measurements are performed at low temperatures. The measured
magnetoconductance exhibits a crossover behavior from weak antilocalization to
weak localization at low magnetic fields with increasing temperature or
decreasing back gate voltage. We have analyzed this transition behavior of the
magnetoconductance based on an interference theory which describes the quantum
correction to the magnetoconductance of a 2D system in the presence of
spin-orbit interaction. Dephasing length and spin relaxation length are
extracted from the magnetoconductance measurements. Comparing to other
semiconductor nanostructures, the extracted relatively short spin relaxation
length of ~150 nm indicates the existence of strong spin-orbit interaction in
Bi$_2$O$_2$Se nanolayers.


  This paper introduces Data-Driven Search-based Software Engineering (DSE),
which combines insights from Mining Software Repositories (MSR) and
Search-based Software Engineering (SBSE). While MSR formulates software
engineering problems as data mining problems, SBSE reformulates SE problems as
optimization problems and use meta-heuristic algorithms to solve them. Both MSR
and SBSE share the common goal of providing insights to improve software
engineering. The algorithms used in these two areas also have intrinsic
relationships. We, therefore, argue that combining these two fields is useful
for situations (a) which require learning from a large data source or (b) when
optimizers need to know the lay of the land to find better solutions, faster.
  This paper aims to answer the following three questions: (1) What are the
various topics addressed by DSE? (2) What types of data are used by the
researchers in this area? (3) What research approaches do researchers use? The
paper briefly sets out to act as a practical guide to develop new DSE
techniques and also to serve as a teaching resource.
  This paper also presents a resource (tiny.cc/data-se) for exploring DSE. The
resource contains 89 artifacts which are related to DSE, divided into 13 groups
such as requirements engineering, software product lines, software processes.
All the materials in this repository have been used in recent software
engineering papers; i.e., for all this material, there exist baseline results
against which researchers can comparatively assess their new ideas.


  We review some work done with C. Rovelli on the use of the eigenvalues of the
Dirac operator on a curved spacetime as dynamical variables, the main
motivation coming from their invariance under the action of diffeomorphisms.
The eigenvalues constitute an infinite set of ``observables'' for general
relativity and can be taken as variables for an invariant description of the
gravitational field dynamics.


  The United States Department of Energy (DOE) has published a progression of
technical targets to be satisfied by on-board rechargeable hydrogen storage
systems in light-duty vehicles. By combining simplified storage system and
vehicle models with interpolated data from metal hydride databases, we obtain
material-level requirements for metal hydrides that can be assembled into
systems that satisfy the DOE targets for 2017. We assume minimal
balance-of-plant components for systems with and without a hydrogen combustion
loop for supplemental heating. Tank weight and volume are driven by the
stringent requirements for refueling time. The resulting requirements suggest
that, at least for this specific application, no current on-board rechargeable
metal hydride satisfies these requirements.


  We study the Gauss-Manin connection for the moduli space of an arrangement of
complex hyperplanes in the cohomology of a complex rank one local system. We
define formal Gauss-Manin connection matrices in the Aomoto complex and prove
that, for all arrangements and all local systems, these formal connection
matrices specialize to Gauss-Manin connection matrices.


  We geometrize six-dimensional pure $\mathcal{N}=1$ Supergravity by means of
an exact Courant algebroid, whose Severa class is defined through the
Supergravity three-form $H$, equipped with a generalized metric and a
compatible, torsion-free, generalized connection. The Supergravity equations of
motion follow from the vanishing of the Ricci curvature of the generalized
metric, satisfying a natural notion of self-duality. This way, we interpret the
solutions of six-dimensional pure, $\mathcal{N}=1$, Supergravity as generalized
self-dual gravitational monopoles. For the D1-D5 black string solution, we
explore the possibility of controlling space-time singularities by using
$B$-field transformations.


  We propose and address a novel few-shot RL problem, where a task is
characterized by a subtask graph which describes a set of subtasks and their
dependencies that are unknown to the agent. The agent needs to quickly adapt to
the task over few episodes during adaptation phase to maximize the return in
the test phase. Instead of directly learning a meta-policy, we develop a
Meta-learner with Subtask Graph Inference(MSGI), which infers the latent
parameter of the task by interacting with the environment and maximizes the
return given the latent parameter. To facilitate learning, we adopt an
intrinsic reward inspired by upper confidence bound (UCB) that encourages
efficient exploration. Our experiment results on two grid-world domains and
StarCraft II environments show that the proposed method is able to accurately
infer the latent task parameter, and to adapt more efficiently than existing
meta RL and hierarchical RL methods.


  We analyse a light charged Higgs boson in the 2-Higgs Doublet Model (2HDM)
Type-I, when its mass satisfies the condition $M_{H^{\pm}} < M_{t}+M_{b}$ and
the parameter space is consistent with theoretical requirements of
self-consistency as well as the latest experimental constraints from Large
Hadron Collider (LHC) and other data. Over such a parameter space, wherein the
Standard Model (SM)-like state discovered at the LHC in 2012 is the heaviest
CP-even state of the 2HDM, it is found that the decay modes of the charged
Higgs boson are dominated by $H^{\pm} \rightarrow W^{\pm *} h$. Furthermore,
the light neutral Higgs boson $h$ dominantly decays into two photons. Under
these conditions, we find that the production and decay process $ p p \to H^\pm
h \to {W^\pm}^{(*)} h h \to l \nu_{l} + 4 \gamma$ ($l=e,\mu$) is essentially
background free. However, since the $W^{\pm(*)}$ could be largely off-shell and
the $h$ state is very light, so that both the lepton coming from the former and
the photons coming from the latter could be rather soft, we perform here a full
Monte Carlo (MC) analysis at the detector level demonstrating that such a
$W^{\pm} + 4\gamma$ signal is very promising, as it would be yielding
significant excesses at the LHC with an integrated luminosity of $L=$ 300
$fb^{-1}$ at both $\sqrt{s}= 13$ and $14 ~\text{TeV}$.


  The search for alternative cosmological models is largely motivated by the
growing discordance between the predictions of LCDM and the ever improving
observations, such as the disparity in the value of H_0 measured at low and
high redshifts. One model, in particular, known as the R_h=ct universe, has
been highly successful in mitigating or removing all of the inconsistencies. In
this picture, however, the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background
(CMB) would have emerged at a redshift z ~ 16, rather than via fluctuations in
the recombination zone at z~1080. We demonstrate here that a CMB created in the
early Universe, followed by scattering through a Pop III generated dust screen,
cannot yet be ruled out by the current data. Indeed, the Planck measurements
provide a hint of a ~2-4% frequency dependence in the CMB power spectrum, which
would be naturally explained as a variation in the optical depth through the
dust, but not a Thomson scattering-dominated recombination environment.
Upcoming measurements should be able to easily distinguish between these two
scenarios, e.g., via the detection of recombination lines at z~1080, which
would completely eliminate the dust reprocessing idea.


  Financial news contains useful information on public companies and the
market. In this paper we apply the popular word embedding methods and deep
neural networks to leverage financial news to predict stock price movements in
the market. Experimental results have shown that our proposed methods are
simple but very effective, which can significantly improve the stock prediction
accuracy on a standard financial database over the baseline system using only
the historical price information.


  We study the effects of endogenous cost formation in the classic Cournot
oligopoly through an extended two-stage game. The competing Cournot firms
produce low-cost but limited quantities of a single homogeneous product. For
additional procurements, they may refer to a revenue-maximizing supplier who
sets a wholesale price prior to their orders. We express this chain as a
two-stage game and study its equilibrium under two different information
levels: complete and incomplete information on the side of the supplier about
the actual market demand. In the deterministic case, we derive the unique
subgame perfect Nash equilibrium for different values of the retailers'
capacity levels, supplier's cost and market demand. To study the incomplete
information case, we model demand uncertainty via a continuous probability
distribution. Under mild assumptions, we characterize the supplier's optimal
pricing policy as a fixed point of a proper translation of his expectation
about the orders that he will receive from the retailers. If this expectation
is decreasing in his price, then such an optimal policy always exists and is
unique. Based on this characterization, we are able to proceed with comparative
statics and sensitivity analysis, both analytically and numerically. Incomplete
information gives rise to market inefficiencies because the supplier may ask
for a too high price. Increasing supplier's cost results in increasing
wholesale prices, decreasing orders from the retailers and hence decreasing
consumer surplus. Increasing retailers' production capacities results in
decreasing wholesale prices and increasing consumer surplus. Finally, as the
number of second-stage retailers increases, the supplier's profit may initially
rise but eventually drops.


  We consider a finite number $N$ of interacting bosonic atoms at zero
temperature confined in a one-dimensional double-well trap and study this
system by using the two-site Bose-Hubbard (BH) Hamiltonian. For systems with
$N=2$ and $N=3$, and $N=4$ bosons we analytically solve the eigenproblem
associated to this Hamiltonian and find its lowest energetic state. We
investigate the structure of the ground state by varying the strength of the
boson-boson interaction from the strongly attractive regime to the deep
repulsive one. We characterize the ground state of the two-site BH Hamiltonian
by calculating the Fisher information $F$, the coherence visibility $\alpha$,
and the entanglement entropy $S$. For these quantities we provide analytical
formulas that we use to study $F$, $\alpha$, and $S$ as functions of the
interaction between the particles. We discuss the difference existing, in the
deep repulsive regime, between the case with an even number of bosons and that
with an odd number of particles, both in the structure of the lowest energetic
state and in the behavior of the three above ground-state characterizing
parameters


  Binomial Theorem for (N+n)^r is described with non-commuting variables N and
n.


  This paper investigates the problem of efficient computation of physically
consistent multi-contact behaviors. Recent work showed that under mild
assumptions, the problem could be decomposed into simpler kinematic and
centroidal dynamic optimization problems. Based on this approach, we propose a
general convex relaxation of the centroidal dynamics leading to two
computationally efficient algorithms based on iterative resolutions of second
order cone programs. They optimize centroidal trajectories, contact forces and,
importantly, the timing of the motions. We include the approach in a
kino-dynamic optimization method to generate full-body movements. Finally, the
approach is embedded in a mixed-integer solver to further find dynamically
consistent contact sequences. Extensive numerical experiments demonstrate the
computational efficiency of the approach, suggesting that it could be used in a
fast receding horizon control loop. Executions of the planned motions on
simulated humanoids and quadrupeds and on a real quadruped robot further show
the quality of the optimized motions.


  In this paper, we study metallic structures, i.e. polynomial structures with
the structure polynomial $Q\left( J\right) =J^{2}-aJ-bI$ on manifolds using the
metallic ratio, which is a generalization of the Golden proportion. We
investigate for integrability and parallelism conditions of metallic
structures. Also, we give some properties of the metallic Riemannian metric and
an example of the metallic structure.


  We study a new flexible method to extend linearly the graph of a non-linear,
and usually not bijective, function so that the resulting extension is a
bijection. Our motivation comes from cryptography. Examples from symmetric
cryptography are given as how the extension was used implicitly in the
construction of some well-known block ciphers. The method heavily relies on
ideas brought from linear coding theory and secret sharing. We are interested
in the behaviour of the composition of many extensions, and especially the
space of parameters that defines a family of equations based on finite
differences or linear forms. For any linear extension, we characterize entirely
the space of parameters for which such equations are solvable in terms of the
space of parameters that render those equations for the corresponding
non-linear extended functions solvable. Conditions are derived to assess the
solvability of those kind of equations in terms of the number of compositions
or iterations. We prove a relation between the number of compositions and the
dimensions of vector spaces that appear in our results. The proofs of those
properties rely mostly on tools from linear algebra.


  In studying the formation of massive stars, it is essential to consider the
strong radiative feedback on the stars' natal environments from their high
luminosities ($10^4 \sim 10^6 L_\odot$). Given that massive stars contract to
main-sequence-like radii before accretion finishes, one form this feedback
takes is UV line-acceleration, resulting in outflows much like those expected
from main-sequence massive stars. As shown by the prior papers in this series,
in addition to driving stellar winds, such line forces also ablate the surface
layers off of circumstellar discs within a few stellar radii of the stellar
photosphere. This removal of material from an accretion disc in turn results in
a decreased accretion rate onto the forming star. Quantifying this, however,
requires accounting for the continuum optical depth of the disc along the
non-radial rays required for the three-dimensional line-acceleration
prescription used in this paper series. We introduce the "thin disc
approximation", allowing these continuum optical depths arising from an
optically thick but geometrically thin disc to be dynamically treated in the
context of radiation-hydrodynamics simulations. Using this approximation in
full dynamical simulations, we show that such continuum optical depth effects
only reduce the disc ablation by 30 percent or less relative to previous
simulations that ignored continuum absorption.


  In this paper, we provide a complete classification of $2$-$(v,k,2)$ design
admitting a flag-transitive automorphism group of affine type with the only
exception of the semilinear $1$-dimensional group. Alongside this analysis we
provide a construction of seven new families of such flag-transitive
$2$-designs, two of them infinite, and some of them involve remarkable objects
such as $t$-spreads, translation planes, quadrics and Segre varieties.
  Our result together with those Alavi et al. [1,2], Praeger et al. [15], Zhou
and the first author [37,38] provides a complete classification of
$2$-$(v,k,2)$ design admitting a flag-transitive automorphism group with the
only exception of the semilinear $1$-dimensional case.


  We investigate the problem of decoding a bar code from a signal measured with
a hand-held laser-based scanner. Rather than formulating the inverse problem as
one of binary image reconstruction, we instead incorporate the symbology of the
bar code into the reconstruction algorithm directly, and search for a sparse
representation of the UPC bar code with respect to this known dictionary. Our
approach significantly reduces the degrees of freedom in the problem, allowing
for accurate reconstruction that is robust to noise and unknown parameters in
the scanning device. We propose a greedy reconstruction algorithm and provide
robust reconstruction guarantees. Numerical examples illustrate the
insensitivity of our symbology-based reconstruction to both imprecise model
parameters and noise on the scanned measurements.


  With the aim of investigating galaxies with two strong simultaneous
starbursts, we have extracted a sample of galaxies with double-peaked emission
lines in their global spectra from the SDSS spectral database. We then fitted
the emission lines Halpha, Hbeta, [OIII]5007, [NII]6584, [SII]6717 and
[SII]6731 of 129 spectra by two Gaussians to separate the radiation of the two
(blue and red) components. A more or less reliable decomposition of the all
those emission lines have been found for 55 spectra. Using a standard BPT
classification diagram, we have been able to divide the galaxies from our
sample into two subsamples: Sample A consisting of 18 galaxies where both
components belong to the photoionised class of objects, and Sample B containing
37 galaxies which show non-thermal ionisation (AGNs). We have examined the
properties of the blue and red components, and found that the differences
between radial velocities of components lie within 200 - 400 km/s for galaxies
of both subsamples. The equivalent number of ionising stars is in the range
10^4 - 10^5 O7V stars for each component in the galaxies of Sample A. We have
estimated the oxygen and nitrogen abundances as well as the electron
temperatures for each component using the recent NS-calibration and from global
spectra for galaxies from Sample A using both the NS and ON-calibration. We
have found that the global oxygen abundance is typically in between the
measured abundances of individual components for our sample of galaxies, and
that both calibrations provide consistent global abundances. Finally, we
suggest the classical O/H -- N/O diagram is used to test the reliability of the
dividing lines between starburst-like objects and AGNs in the so-called BPT
diagram.


  The spatially resolved star formation histories are studied for 32 normal
star-forming galaxies drawn from the the Spitzer Extended Disk Galaxy
Exploration Science survey. At surface brightness sensitivities fainter than 28
mag arcsec$^{-2}$, the new optical photometry is deep enough to complement
archival ultraviolet and infrared imaging and to explore the properties of the
emission well beyond the traditional optical extents of these nearby galaxies.
Fits to the spectral energy distributions using a delayed star formation
history model indicate a subtle but interesting average radial trend for the
spiral galaxies: the inner stellar systems decrease in age with increasing
radius, consistent with inside-out disk formation, but the trend reverses in
the outermost regions with the stellar age nearly as old as the innermost
stars. These results suggest an old stellar outer disk population formed
through radial migration and/or the cumulative history of minor mergers and
accretions of satellite dwarf galaxies. The subset of S0 galaxies studied here
show the opposite trend compared to what is inferred for spirals:
characteristic stellar ages that are increasingly older with radius for the
inner portions of the galaxies, and increasingly younger stellar ages for the
outer portions. This result suggests that either S0 galaxies are not well
modeled by a delayed-$\tau$ model, and/or that S0 galaxies have a more
complicated formation history than spiral galaxies.


  X-ray diffraction pattern and Raman spectrum authenticate the monoclinic
P21/n structure of polycrystalline Pr$_2$ZnMnO$_6$ (PZM) synthesized by the
solid-state reaction technique. The X-ray photoemission spectrum suggests the
existence of oxygen vacancy in PZM, which plays a crucial role in electrical
conduction as well as in electrochemical behavior. The existence of two
different conduction mechanisms (such as nearest-neighbor hopping (NNH) and
Mott variable range hopping (MVRH)) is observed from the investigation of dc
conductivity studies, dielectric relaxation, and impedance analysis of PZM. It
is found that below 580 K, there is a transition from NNH to MVRH due to the
decrease of activation energy. The constant phase element model is used to
correlate the Nyquist plot and electric modulus of PZM. The bulk PZM electrode
exhibits intercalated pseudocapacitive nature which offers an efficient
specific capacitance of 69.14 F/g at a charge and discharge currents of 2 A/g
in an aqueous solution of 1 M KOH. The charge storage mechanism of the PZM
electrode has been analyzed and discussed.


  While deep neural networks are sensitive to adversarial noise, sparse coding
using the Basis Pursuit (BP) method is robust against such attacks, including
its multi-layer extensions. We prove that the stability theorem of BP holds
upon the following generalizations: (i) the regularization procedure can be
separated into disjoint groups with different weights, (ii) neurons or full
layers may form groups, and (iii) the regularizer takes various generalized
forms of the $\ell_1$ norm. This result provides the proof for the
architectural generalizations of Cazenavette et al. (2021), including (iv) an
approximation of the complete architecture as a shallow sparse coding network.
Due to this approximation, we settled to experimenting with shallow networks
and studied their robustness against the Iterative Fast Gradient Sign Method on
a synthetic dataset and MNIST. We introduce classification based on the
$\ell_2$ norms of the groups and show numerically that it can be accurate and
offers considerable speedups. In this family, linear transformer shows the best
performance. Based on the theoretical results and the numerical simulations, we
highlight numerical matters that may improve performance further.


  For high dimensional problems, such as approximation and integration, one
cannot afford to sample on a grid because of the curse of dimensionality. An
attractive alternative is to sample on a low discrepancy set, such as an
integration lattice or a digital net. This article introduces a multivariate
fast discrete Walsh transform for data sampled on a digital net that requires
only $O(N \log N)$ operations, where $N$ is the number of data points. This
algorithm and its inverse are digital analogs of multivariate fast Fourier
transforms.
  This fast discrete Walsh transform and its inverse may be used to approximate
the Walsh coefficients of a function and then construct a spline interpolant of
the function. This interpolant may then be used to estimate the function's
effective dimension, an important concept in the theory of numerical
multivariate integration. Numerical results for various functions are
presented.


  The omnipresence of deep learning architectures such as deep convolutional
neural networks (CNN)s is fueled by the synergistic combination of
ever-increasing labeled datasets and specialized hardware. Despite the
indisputable success, the reliance on huge amounts of labeled data and
specialized hardware can be a limiting factor when approaching new
applications. To help alleviating these limitations, we propose an efficient
learning strategy for layer-wise unsupervised training of deep CNNs on
conventional hardware in acceptable time. Our proposed strategy consists of
randomly convexifying the reconstruction contractive auto-encoding (RCAE)
learning objective and solving the resulting large-scale convex minimization
problem in the frequency domain via coordinate descent (CD). The main
advantages of our proposed learning strategy are: (1) single tunable
optimization parameter; (2) fast and guaranteed convergence; (3) possibilities
for full parallelization. Numerical experiments show that our proposed learning
strategy scales (in the worst case) linearly with image size, number of filters
and filter size.


  In \cite{kim11} we have generalized a tangency condition in the
Treibich-Verdier theory \cite{trei89,tv90,trei97} about elliptic solitons to a
Hitchin system. As an application of this generalization, we will define,
so-called, Hitchin hyperelliptic tangential covers and show the finiteness of
them among all Hitchin tangential covers.


  New data on pion-photoproduction off the proton have been included in the
partial wave analyses Bonn-Gatchina and SAID and in the dynamical
coupled-channel approach J\"ulich-Bonn. All reproduce the recent new data well:
the double polarization data for E, G, H, P and T in $\gamma p \to \pi^0 p$
from ELSA, the beam asymmetry $\Sigma$ for $\gamma p \to \pi^0 p$ and $\pi^+ n$
from Jefferson Laboratory, and the precise new differential cross section and
beam asymmetry data $\Sigma$ for $\gamma p \to \pi^0 p$ from MAMI. The new fit
results for the multipoles are compared with predictions not taking into
account the new data. The mutual agreement is improved considerably but still
far from being perfect.


  In this work, we consider one challenging training time attack by modifying
training data with bounded perturbation, hoping to manipulate the behavior
(both targeted or non-targeted) of any corresponding trained classifier during
test time when facing clean samples. To achieve this, we proposed to use an
auto-encoder-like network to generate the pertubation on the training data
paired with one differentiable system acting as the imaginary victim
classifier. The perturbation generator will learn to update its weights by
watching the training procedure of the imaginary classifier in order to produce
the most harmful and imperceivable noise which in turn will lead the lowest
generalization power for the victim classifier. This can be formulated into a
non-linear equality constrained optimization problem. Unlike GANs, solving such
problem is computationally challenging, we then proposed a simple yet effective
procedure to decouple the alternating updates for the two networks for
stability. The method proposed in this paper can be easily extended to the
label specific setting where the attacker can manipulate the predictions of the
victim classifiers according to some predefined rules rather than only making
wrong predictions. Experiments on various datasets including CIFAR-10 and a
reduced version of ImageNet confirmed the effectiveness of the proposed method
and empirical results showed that, such bounded perturbation have good
transferability regardless of which classifier the victim is actually using on
image data.


  Two-dimensional (2D) halide perovskites offer a unique platform to
investigate the ground-state of materials possessing significant anharmonicity.
In contrast to three-dimensional perovskites, their 2D counterparts offer
substantially fewer degrees of freedom, resulting in multiple well-defined
crystal structures. In this work, we thoroughly investigate the anharmonic
ground-state of the benchmark (PEA)2PbI4 compound, using complementary
information from low-temperature x-ray diffraction (XRD) and photoluminescence
spectroscopy, supported by density functional theory (DFT) calculations. We
extrapolate four crystallographic configurations from the low-temperature XRD.
These configurations imply that the ground-state has an intrinsic disorder
stemming from two coexisting chiral sub-lattices, each with a bi-oriented
organic spacer molecule. We further show evidence that these chiral structures
form unevenly populated ground-states, portraying uneven anharmonicity, where
the state population may be tuned by surface effects. Our results uncover a
disordered ground-state that may induce intrinsic grain boundaries, which
cannot be ignored in practical applications.


  We consider the process of black hole formation in particle collisions in the
exactly solvable framework of 2+1 dimensional Anti de Sitter gravity. An
effective Hamiltonian describing the near horizon dynamics of a head on
collision is given. The Hamiltonian exhibits a universal structure, with a
formation of a horizon at a critical distance. Based on it we evaluate the
action for the process and discuss the semiclassical amplitude for black hole
formation. The derived amplitude is seen to contain no exponential suppression
or enhancement. Coments on the CFT description of the process are made.


  Some new identities for Schur functions are proved. In particular, we settle
in the affirmative a recent conjecture of Ishikawa-Wakayama and solve a problem
raised by Bressoud.


  We consider the Steiner tree problem in quasi-bipartite graphs, where no two
Steiner vertices are connected by an edge. For this class of instances, we
present an efficient algorithm to exactly solve the so called directed
component relaxation (DCR), a specific form of hypergraphic LP relaxation that
was instrumental in the recent break-through result by Byrka et al. [BGRS10]
(STOC 2010). Our algorithm hinges on an efficiently computable map from extreme
points of the bidirected cut relaxation to feasible solutions of (DCR). As a
consequence, together with [BGRS10] we immediately obtain an efficient
73/60-approximation for quasi-bipartite Steiner tree instances. We also present
a particularly simple (BCR)-based random sampling algorithm that achieves a
performance guarantee slightly better than 77/60.


  In this paper, we study a cancer invasion model both theoretically and
numerically. The model is a nonstationary, nonlinear system of three coupled
partial differential equations modeling the motion of cancer cells, degradation
of the extracellular matrix, and certain enzymes. We first establish existence
of global classical solutions in both two- and three-dimensional bounded
domains, despite the lack of diffusion of the matrix-degrading enzymes and
corresponding regularizing effects in the analytical treatment. Next, we give a
weak formulation and apply finite differences in time and a Galerkin finite
element scheme for spatial discretization. The overall algorithm is based on a
fixed-point iteration scheme. In order to substantiate our theory and numerical
framework, several numerical simulations are carried out in two and three
spatial dimensions.


  The low concentration of proton donors in alkaline HER, subsequently leading
to the extra water adsorption and dissociation steps, identifies the value of
active sites (edge and basal sites) and crystal phases in lowering the extra
activation barrier and/or optimizing the H* adsorption kinetics; in addition,
the outstanding morphology-based features (surface area, thickness, defects,
disorders and crystallinity) of layered molybdenum dichalcogenide families
pinpoint the roles of active sites and phases for more interpretable and
feasible structure-activity analysis. In this context, hydrothermal synthetic
method is used to exhibit a clear mapping between the nanostructure/nanosurface
design and the practical HER performance by adjusting key experimental
parameters. In this article, MoX$_2$ nanostructures in different species (X =
S, Se, Te), the molar ratio of added reactants (the Se metal precursor and the
NaBH4 reducing agency) and hydrothermal temperature are considered for the
modulated structure and the optimized HER performance.


  The first steps of planet formation are marked by the growth and
crystallization of sub-micrometer-sized dust grains accompanied by dust
settling toward the disk midplane. In this paper we explore whether the first
steps of planet formation are affected by the presence of medium-separation
stellar companions. We selected two large samples of disks around single and
binary T Tauri stars in Taurus that are thought to have only a modest age
spread of a few Myr. The companions of our binary sample are at projected
separations between 10 and 450 AU with masses down to about 0.1 solar masses.
We used the strength and shape of the 10 micron silicate emission feature as a
proxy for grain growth and for crystallization respectively. The degree of dust
settling was evaluated from the ratio of fluxes at two different mid-infrared
wavelengths. We find no statistically significant difference between the
distribution of 10 micron silicate emission features from single and binary
systems. In addition, the distribution of disk flaring is indistinguishable
between the single and binary system samples. These results show that the first
steps of planet formation are not affected by the presence of a companion at
tens of AU.


  We propose a manifestly U-duality invariant modular form for the D^6 R^4
interaction in the effective action of type IIB string theory compactified on
T^2. It receives perturbative contributions upto genus three, as well as
non-perturbative contributions from D-instantons and (p,q) string instantons
wrapping T^2. Our construction is based on constraints coming from string
perturbation theory, U-duality, the decompactification limit to ten dimensions,
and the equality of the perturbative part of the amplitude in type IIA and type
IIB string theories. Using duality, parts of the perturbative amplitude are
also shown to match exactly the results obtained from eleven dimensional
supergravity compactified on T^3 at one loop. We also obtain parts of the genus
one and genus k amplitudes for the D^{2k} R^4 interaction for arbitrary k > 3.
We enhance a part of this amplitude to a U-duality invariant modular form.


  We explore methods to reduce the impact of unobserved confounders on the
causal mediation analysis of high-dimensional mediators with spatially smooth
structures, such as brain imaging data. The key approach is to incorporate the
latent individual effects, which influence the structured mediators, as
unobserved confounders in the outcome model, thereby potentially debiasing the
mediation effects. We develop BAyesian Structured Mediation analysis with
Unobserved confounders (BASMU) framework, and establish its model
identifiability conditions. Theoretical analysis is conducted on the asymptotic
bias of the Natural Indirect Effect (NIE) and the Natural Direct Effect (NDE)
when the unobserved confounders are omitted in mediation analysis. For BASMU,
we propose a two-stage estimation algorithm to mitigate the impact of these
unobserved confounders on estimating the mediation effect. Extensive
simulations demonstrate that BASMU substantially reduces the bias in various
scenarios. We apply BASMU to the analysis of fMRI data in the Adolescent Brain
Cognitive Development (ABCD) study, focusing on four brain regions previously
reported to exhibit meaningful mediation effects. Compared with the existing
image mediation analysis method, BASMU identifies two to four times more voxels
that have significant mediation effects, with the NIE increased by 41%, and the
NDE decreased by 26%.


  We discuss the possibility of lifting finite subgroups, and in particular
finite cyclic subgroups, with respect to the canonical projections between
automorphism and outer automorphism groups of free groups, surface groups and
their abelianizations.


  The idea of viewing gravitation as a many body phenomenon is put forward
here. Physical arguments supporting this idea are briefly reviewed. The basic
mathematical object of the new gravitational mechanics is a matrix of
operators. Striking similarity of the method of R-matrix (QISM) to the
mathematical formulation of the new gravitational mechanics is pointed out. The
s-wave difference Schrodinger equation describing a process of emission of
radiation by a gravitating particle is shown to be analogous to the Baxter
equation of the QISM.


  Experiments and atomic-scale simulations suggest that the transmission of
plasticity carriers in deforming amorphous-crystalline nanolaminates is
mediated by the biphase interface between the amorphous and crystalline layers.
In this paper, we present a micromechanics model for these biphase
nanolaminates that describes defect interactions through the
amorphous-crystalline interface (ACI). The model is based on an
effective-temperature framework to achieve a unified description of the slow,
configurational atomic rearrangements in both phases when driven out of
equilibrium. We show how the second law of thermodynamics constrains the
density of defects and the rate of configurational rearrangements, and apply
this framework to dislocations in crystalline solids and shear transformation
zones (STZs) in amorphous materials. The effective-temperature formulation
enables us to interpret the observed movement of dislocations to the ACI and
the production of STZs at the interface as a "diffusion" of configurational
disorder across the material. We demonstrate favorable agreement with
experimental findings reported in (Kim et al., Adv. Funct. Mater., 2011), and
demonstrate how the ACI acts as a sink of dislocations and a source of STZs.


  In this paper we study geodesic mappings of $n$-dimensional surfaces of
revolution. From the general theory of geodesic mappings of equidistant spaces
we specialize to surfaces of revolution and apply the obtained formulas to the
case of rotational ellipsoids. We prove that such $n$-dimensional ellipsoids
admit non trivial smooth geodesic deformations onto $n$-dimensional surfaces of
revolution, which are generally of a different type.


  Verma modules of superconfomal algebras can have singular vector spaces with
dimensions greater than 1. Following a method developed for the Virasoro
algebra by Kent, we introduce the concept of adapted orderings on
superconformal algebras. We prove several general results on the ordering
kernels associated to the adapted orderings and show that the size of an
ordering kernel implies an upper limit for the dimension of a singular vector
space. We apply this method to the topological N=2 algebra and obtain the
maximal dimensions of the singular vector spaces in the topological Verma
modules: 0, 1, 2 or 3 depending on the type of Verma module and the type of
singular vector. As a consequence we prove the conjecture of Gato-Rivera and
Rosado on the possible existing types of topological singular vectors (4 in
chiral Verma modules and 29 in complete Verma modules). Interestingly, we have
found two-dimensional spaces of singular vectors at level 1. Finally, by using
the topological twists and the spectral flows, we also obtain the maximal
dimensions of the singular vector spaces for the Neveu-Schwarz N=2 algebra (0,
1 or 2) and for the Ramond N=2 algebra (0, 1, 2 or 3).


  We describe a variant of Child-Sum Tree-LSTM deep neural network (Tai et al,
2015) fine-tuned for working with dependency trees and morphologically rich
languages using the example of Polish. Fine-tuning included applying a custom
regularization technique (zoneout, described by (Krueger et al., 2016), and
further adapted for Tree-LSTMs) as well as using pre-trained word embeddings
enhanced with sub-word information (Bojanowski et al., 2016). The system was
implemented in PyTorch and evaluated on phrase-level sentiment labeling task as
part of the PolEval competition.


  A celebrated theorem of Klein implies that any hypergeometric differential
equation with algebraic solutions is a pull-back of one of the few standard
hypergeometric equations with algebraic solutions. The most interesting cases
are hypergeometric equations with tetrahedral, octahedral or icosahedral
monodromy groups. We give an algorithm for computing Klein's pull-back
coverings in these cases, based on certain explicit expressions (Darboux
evaluations) of algebraic hypergeometric functions. The explicit expressions
can be computed using contiguous relations and a data base of simplest Darboux
evaluations (covering the Schwarz table). Klein's pull-back transformations
also induce algebraic transformations between hypergeometric solutions and a
standard hypergeometric function with the same finite monodromy group.


  Activity spaces are fundamental to the assessment of individuals' dynamic
exposure to social and environmental risk factors associated with multiple
spatial contexts that are visited during activities of daily living. In this
paper we survey existing approaches for measuring the geometry, size and
structure of activity spaces based on GPS data, and explain their limitations.
We propose addressing these shortcomings through a nonparametric approach
called density ranking, and also through three summary curves: the mass-volume
curve, the Betti number curve, and the persistence curve. We introduce a novel
mixture model for human activity spaces, and study its asymptotic properties.
We prove that the kernel density estimator which, at the present time, is one
of the most widespread methods for measuring activity spaces is not a stable
estimator of their structure. We illustrate the practical value of our methods
with a simulation study, and with a recently collected GPS dataset that
comprises the locations visited by ten individuals over a six months period.


  Emphasizing the physical constraints on the formulation of a quantum theory
based on the standard measurement axiom and the Schroedinger equation, we
comment on some conceptual issues arising in the formulation of PT-symmetric
quantum mechanics. In particular, we elaborate on the requirements of the
boundedness of the metric operator and the diagonalizability of the
Hamiltonian. We also provide an accessible account of a Krein-space derivation
of the CPT-inner product that was widely known to mathematicians since 1950's.
We show how this derivation is linked with the pseudo-Hermitian formulation of
PT-symmetric quantum mechanics.


  Quantum fluctuations of electromagnetic radiation pressure are discussed. We
use an approach based on the quantum stress tensor to calculate the
fluctuations in velocity and position of a mirror subjected to electromagnetic
radiation. Our approach reveals that radiation pressure fluctuations are due to
a cross term between vacuum and state dependent terms in a stress tensor
operator product. Thus observation of these fluctuations would entail
experimental confirmation of this cross term. We first analyze the pressure
fluctuations on a single, perfectly reflecting mirror, and then study the case
of an interferometer. This involves a study of the effects of multiple bounces
in one arm, as well as the correlations of the pressure fluctuations between
arms of the interferometer. In all cases, our results are consistent with those
previously obtained by Caves using different mehods.


  Background: A resonance has been observed by the ANDY Collaboration at the
Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory in Cu+Au
collisions at center-of-mass energy $\sqrt{s} = 200$ GeV and at forward
rapidity with an average mass of 18.15 GeV. The Collaboration suggests that it
is a $b \overline b b \overline b$ tetraquark state decaying to two
$\Upsilon$(1S) states, each measured through the $\Upsilon \rightarrow ggg$
channel. Purpose: Their suggestion is investigated assuming that the two
$\Upsilon$ states are produced through the materialization of a $|uud
b\overline b b \overline b \rangle$ Fock state in the projectile. Methods: The
$\Upsilon$ pair mass and rapidity distributions arising from such a state are
calculated. The production of an $X_b(b \overline b b \overline b)$ tetraquark
state from the same Fock configuration is also investigated. The dependence on
bottom quark mass and their transverse momentum range is also studied. Results:
It is found that double $\Upsilon$ production from these $|uud b \overline b b
\overline b \rangle$ states peak in the rapidity range of the ANDY detector.
The $\Upsilon$ pair and $X_b$ masses are, however, higher than the mass
reported by the ANDY Collaboration. Conclusions: The results obtained from
these calculations are incompatible with the ANDY result. They are, however,
compatible with previous predictions of $b \overline b b \overline b$
tetraquark masses.


  Sparse system identification problems often exist in many applications, such
as echo interference cancellation, sparse channel estimation, and adaptive
beamforming. One of popular adaptive sparse system identification (ASSI)
methods is adopting only one sparse least mean square (LMS) filter. However,
the adoption of only one sparse LMS filter cannot simultaneously achieve fast
convergence speed and small steady-state mean state deviation (MSD). Unlike the
conventional method, we propose an improved ASSI method using affine
combination of two sparse LMS filters to simultaneously achieving fast
convergence and low steady-state MSD. First, problem formulation and standard
affine combination of LMS filters are introduced. Then an approximate optimum
affine combiner is adopted for the proposed filter according to stochastic
gradient search method. Later, to verify the proposed filter for ASSI, computer
simulations are provided to confirm effectiveness of the proposed filter which
can achieve better estimation performance than the conventional one and
standard affine combination of LMS filters.


  (Two-scale) gradient Young measures in Orlicz-Sobolev setting are introduced
and characterized providing also an integral representation formula for non
convex energies arising in homogenization problems with nonstandard growth.


  MoS2 are facile, stable, non-toxic, affordable materials with reasonable
price, and have exhibit its superior potential in catalysis, sensing, opt
electrochemical, environmental relate application1, etc. Modification of MoS2
materials has been widely applied for adjusting and formulate the relative
performance in certain application field. Making vacancy, doping with other
atoms, expending of the layer space, heterojunction engineering, phase
engineering etc. have been applied to facilitate the catalytic hydrogen
evolution performance. We make a detailed summary on MoS2 characterization
methods, synthesis, HER performance, mechanisms, to make a holistic
understanding on the interplay between the structure, chemistry, and HER
performance, which will give directions to elevate other electrochemical
reaction by MoS2.


  This work presents use of Fully Convolutional Network (FCN-8) for semantic
segmentation of high-resolution RGB earth surface satel-lite images into land
use land cover (LULC) categories. Specically, we propose a non-overlapping
grid-based approach to train a Fully Convo-lutional Network (FCN-8) with vgg-16
weights to segment satellite im-ages into four (forest, built-up, farmland and
water) classes. The FCN-8 semantically projects the discriminating features in
lower resolution learned by the encoder onto the pixel space in higher
resolution to get a dense classi cation. We experimented the proposed system
with Gaofen-2 image dataset, that contains 150 images of over 60 di erent
cities in china. For comparison, we used available ground-truth along with
images segmented using a widely used commeriial GIS software called
eCogni-tion. With the proposed non-overlapping grid-based approach, FCN-8
obtains signi cantly improved performance, than the eCognition soft-ware. Our
model achieves average accuracy of 91.0% and average Inter-section over Union
(IoU) of 0.84. In contrast, eCognitions average accu-racy is 74.0% and IoU is
0.60. This paper also reports a detail analysis of errors occurred at the LULC
boundary.


  We systematically calculate the spontaneous fission half-lives for heavy and
superheavy nuclei between U and Fl isotopes. The spontaneous fission process is
studied within the semi-empirical WKB approximation. The potential barrier is
obtained using a generalized liquid drop model, taking into account the nuclear
proximity, the mass asymmetry, the phenomenological pairing correction, and the
microscopic shell correction. Macroscopic inertial-mass function has been
employed for the calculation of the fission half-life. The results reproduce
rather well the experimental data. Relatively long half-lives are predicted for
many unknown nuclei, sufficient to detect them if synthesized in a laboratory.


  We report on the crystal structure and ferroelectric properties of epitaxial
ZrO$_2$ films ranging from 7 to 42 nm thickness grown on
La$_{0.67}$Sr$_{0.33}$MnO$_3$-buffered (110)-oriented SrTiO$_3$ substrate. By
employing X-ray diffraction, we confirm a tetragonal phase at all investigated
thicknesses, with slight in-plane strain due to the substrate in the thinnest
films. Further confirmation of the tetragonal phase was obtained through
Infrared absorption spectroscopy with synchrotron light, performed on ZrO$_2$
membrane transferred onto a high resistive Silicon substrate. Up to a thickness
of 31 nm, the ZrO$_2$ epitaxial films exhibit ferroelectric behavior, at
variance with the antiferroelectric behavior reported previously for the
tetragonal phase in polycrystalline films. However, the ferroelectricity is
found here to diminish with increasing film thickness, with a polarization of
about 13 $\mu$C.cm$^{-2}$ and down to 1 $\mu$C.cm$^{-2}$ for 7 nm and 31
nm-thick ZrO$_2$ films, respectively. This highlights the role of thickness
reduction, substrate strain, and surface effects in promoting polarization in
the tetragonal ZrO$_2$ thin films. These findings provide new insights into the
ferroelectric properties and structure of ZrO$_2$ thin films, and open up new
directions to investigate the origin of ferroelectricity in ZrO$_2$ and to
optimize this material for future applications.


  For the SU(N) invariant supersymmetric matrix model related to membranes in 4
space-time dimensions, the general solution to the equation(s)
$Q^{\dagger}\Psi=0$ $(Q\chi =0)$ is determined for N odd. For any such
(bosonic) solution of $Q^{\dagger}\Psi=0$, a (fermionic) $\Phi$ is found that
(formally) satisfies $Q^{\dagger}\Phi=\Psi$.
  For the analogous model in 11 dimensions the solution of $Q^{\dagger}\Psi=0
(Q\Psi=0)$ is outlined.


  With the advent of general-purpose speech representations from large-scale
self-supervised models, applying a single model to multiple downstream tasks is
becoming a de-facto approach. However, the pooling problem remains; the length
of speech representations is inherently variable. The naive average pooling is
often used, even though it ignores the characteristics of speech, such as
differently lengthed phonemes. Hence, we design a novel pooling method to
squash acoustically similar representations via vector quantization, which does
not require additional training, unlike attention-based pooling. Further, we
evaluate various unsupervised pooling methods on various self-supervised
models. We gather diverse methods scattered around speech and text to evaluate
on various tasks: keyword spotting, speaker identification, intent
classification, and emotion recognition. Finally, we quantitatively and
qualitatively analyze our method, comparing it with supervised pooling methods.


  We apply a quasi-model-independent strategy ("Sleuth") to search for new high
p_T physics in approximately 100 pb^-1 of ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.8 TeV
collected by the DZero experiment during 1992-1996 at the Fermilab Tevatron. We
systematically analyze many exclusive final states and demonstrate sensitivity
to a variety of models predicting new phenomena at the electroweak scale. No
evidence of new high p_T physics is observed.


  Understanding thermal transport in 2D materials and especially in graphene is
a key challenge for the design of heat management and energy conversion
devices. The high sensitivity of measured transport properties to structural
defects, ripples and vacancies is of crucial importance in these materials.
Using a first principle based approach combined with an exact treatment of the
disorder, we address the impact of vacancies on phonon lifetimes and thermal
transport in graphene. We find that perturbation theory fails completely and
overestimates phonon lifetimes by almost two orders of magnitude. Whilst, in
defected graphene, LA and TA modes remain well defined, the ZA modes become
marginal. In the long wavelength limit, the ZA dispersion changes from
quadratic to linear and the scattering rate is found proportional to the phonon
energy, in contrast to the quadratic scaling often assumed. The impact on
thermal transport, calculated beyond the relaxation time approximation and
including first principle phonon-phonon scattering rates as reported recently
for pristine graphene, reveals spectacular effects even for extremely low
vacancy concentrations.


  Transliteration is a key component of machine translation systems and
software internationalization. This paper demonstrates that neural
sequence-to-sequence models obtain state of the art or close to state of the
art results on existing datasets. In an effort to make machine transliteration
accessible, we open source a new Arabic to English transliteration dataset and
our trained models.


  In the 21st century, our world is facing difficult conditions for serious
environmental pollution and the problem of energy shortage. An innovative idea
has emerged to recycle wind energy from air conditioning condenser fans in
outdoor buildings. Therefore, the main goal of this research is to develop
renewable wind energy from the condenser fan of an air conditioner using
Arduino as a microcontroller. This research moves towards a portable, low cost,
environmentally friendly mini device that harnesses renewable energies with
endless resources for future alternative power generation and reduces the
burden of consumers' electricity bills


  The Spectral Excess Theorem (SPET) for distance-regular graphs states that a
regular (connected) graph is distance-regular if and only if its
spectral-excess equals its average excess. Recently, some local or global
approaches to the SPET have been used to obtain new versions of the theorem for
nonregular graphs, and also to study the problem of characterizing the graphs
which have the corresponding distance-regularity property. In this paper, some
of these versions are related and compared, and some of their results are
improved. As a result, a sufficient condition for a graph to be
distance-polynomial is obtained.


  The multistsochastic Monge--Kantorovich problem on the product $X =
\prod_{i=1}^n X_i$ of $n$ spaces is a generalization of the multimarginal
Monge--Kantorovich problem. For a given integer number $1 \le k<n$ we consider
the minimization problem $\int c d \pi \to \inf$ of the space of measures with
fixed projections onto every $X_{i_1} \times \dots \times X_{i_k}$ for
arbitrary set of $k$ indices $\{i_1, \dots, i_k\} \subset \{1, \dots, n\}$. In
this paper we study basic properties of the multistochastic problem, including
well-posedness, existence of a dual solution, boundedness and continuity of a
dual solution.


  We study the non-Gaussian features in single-field slow-roll inflationary
scenario where inflation is preceded by a radiation era. In such a scenario
both bispectrum and trispectrum non-Gaussianities are enhanced. Interestingly,
the trispectrum in this scenario does not depend up on the slow-roll parameters
and thus $\tau_{NL}$ is larger than $f_{NL}$ which can be a signature of such a
pre-inflationary radiation era.


  This paper deals with the impact of linear approximations for the unknown
nonconvex confidence region of chance-constrained AC optimal power flow
problems. Such approximations are required for the formulation of tractable
chance constraints. In this context, we introduce the first formulation of a
chance-constrained second-order cone (SOC) OPF. The proposed formulation
provides convergence guarantees due to its convexity, while it demonstrates
high computational efficiency. Combined with an AC feasibility recovery, it is
able to identify better solutions than chance-constrained nonconvex AC-OPF
formulations. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first to perform
a rigorous analysis of the AC feasibility recovery procedures for robust
SOC-OPF problems. We identify the issues that arise from the linear
approximations, and by using a reformulation of the quadratic chance
constraints, we introduce new parameters able to reshape the approximation of
the confidence region. We demonstrate our method on the IEEE 118-bus system.


  We show that for an $n\times n$ random matrix $A$ with independent uniformly
anti-concentrated entries, such that $\mathbb{E} ||A||^2_{HS}\leq K n^2$, the
smallest singular value $\sigma_n(A)$ of $A$ satisfies $$ P\left(
\sigma_n(A)\leq \frac{\varepsilon}{\sqrt{n}} \right) \leq
C\varepsilon+2e^{-cn},\quad \varepsilon \ge 0. $$ This extends earlier results
of Rudelson and Vershynin, and Rebrova and Tikhomirov by removing the
assumption of mean zero and identical distribution of the entries across the
matrix, as well as the recent result of Livshyts, where the matrix was required
to have i.i.d. rows. Our model covers "inhomogeneus" matrices allowing
different variances of the entries, as long as the sum of the second moments is
of order $O(n^2)$.
  In the past advances, the assumption of i.i.d. rows was required due to lack
of Littlewood--Offord--type inequalities for weighted sums of non-i.i.d. random
variables. Here, we overcome this problem by introducing the Randomized Least
Common Denominator (RLCD) which allows to study anti-concentration properties
of weighted sums of independent but not identically distributed variables. We
construct efficient nets on the sphere with lattice structure, and show that
the lattice points typically have large RLCD. This allows us to derive strong
anti-concentration properties for the distance between a fixed column of $A$
and the linear span of the remaining columns, and prove the main result.


  It has recently been shown that one-dimensional Ising problems can have
degenerate, disordered ground states (GSs) over a finite range of coupling
onstants, ie, without `fine tuning'. The disorder is however of a special kind,
consisting of arbitrary mixtures of a short-period structure and its
symmetry-degenerate partner or partners. In this exploratory study, we assume
that the energetics of close-packed polytypes can be represented by an Ising
Hamiltonian (which includes, in principle, all terms allowed by symmetry), and
that (for simplicity) the close-packed triangular layers are unfaulted and
monatomic. We then calculate the diffraction patterns along the stacking
direction for the various possible kinds of disordered GSs. We find that some
disordered GSs give diffraction patterns which are only weakly distinguished
from their periodic counterparts, while in others the disorder is more clearly
evident beneath the delta functions. Finally, in some cases, the long-ranged
order of the layers is destroyed by the interference among the short-period
structures and their symmetry-related partners, giving a diffraction spectrum
which is purely continuous.


  The spatial discretization of convective terms in compressible flow equations
is studied from an abstract viewpoint, for finite-difference methods and
finite-volume type formulations with cell-centered numerical fluxes. General
conditions are sought for the local and global conservation of primary (mass
and momentum) and secondary (kinetic energy) invariants on Cartesian meshes.
The analysis, based on a matrix approach, shows that sharp criteria for global
and local conservation can be obtained and that in many cases these two
concepts are equivalent. Explicit numerical fluxes are derived in all
finite-difference formulations for which global conservation is guaranteed,
even for non-uniform Cartesian meshes. The treatment reveals also an intimate
relation between conservative finite-difference formulations and cell-centered
finite-volume type approaches. This analogy suggests the design of wider
classes of finite-difference discretizations locally preserving primary and
secondary invariants.


  We obtain the the long-wavelength polar optical vibrational modes of
semiconductor core-shell nanowires by means of a phenomenological continuum
model. A basis for the space of solutions is derived, and by applying the
appropriate boundary conditions, the transcendental equations for the coupled
and uncoupled modes are attained. Our results are applied to the study of the
GaAs-GaP core-shell nanowire, for which we calculate numerically the polar
optical modes, analyzing the role of strain in the vibrational properties of
this nanosystem.


  Most Java applications, including web based ones, follow the 3-tier
architecture. Although Java provides standard tools for tier-to-tier
interfaces, the separation of the tiers is usually not perfect. E.g. the
database interface, JDBC, assumes that SQL statements are issued from the
application server. Similarly, in web based Java applications, HTML code is
assumed to be produced by servlets. In terms of syntax, this turns Java source
code into mixtures of languages: Java and SQL, Java and HTML. These language
mixtures are difficult to read, modify, and maintain.
  In this paper we examine criteria and methods to achieve a good separation of
the 3 tiers and propose a technique to provide a clean separation. Our proposed
technique requires an explicit Interface and Data Definitions. These allow
isolation of the back-end, application server, and front-end development. The
Definitions also enable application design in terms of aggregated data
structures. As a result significant amounts of auxiliary code can be generated
from the Definitions, enabling the developers to concentrate on the business
logic. By and large the proposed approach greatly facilitates development and
maintenance, and overall improves the quality of the products.


  The Birkhoff polytope graph has a vertex set equal to the elements of the
symmetric group of degree $n$, and two elements are adjacent if one element
equals the product of the other element with a cycle. Maximal and maximum
cliques (sets of pairwise adjacent elements) and independent sets (sets of
pairwise nonadjacent elements) of the Birkhoff polytope graph are studied.
Bounds are obtained for different sizes of such sets.


  In this paper, we will give a natural definition for morphisms between
multiplicative unitaries. We will then discuss some equivalences of this
definition and some interesting properties of them. Moreover, we will define
normal sub-multiplicative unitaries for multiplicative unitaries of discrete
type and prove an imprimitivity type theorem for discrete multiplicative
unitaries.


  The introduction of chiral effective field theory by Steven Weinberg three
decades ago has had a profound and lasting impact on nuclear physics. This
brief review explores the impact of Weinberg's work on the field of nuclear
lattice simulations. Rather than a summary of technical details, an effort is
made to present the conceptual advances that made much of the recent progress
possible.


  The effect of sample shape on the depinning of the domain wall (DW) driven by
an applied magnetic field or a spin-polarized current is studied theoretically.
The shape effect resulting from the modulation of the sample width (geometric
pinning) can essentially affect the DW depinning. We found a good agreement
between the ratios of the critical values of the magnetic field and the
spin-polarized current predicted by the theory and measured in the experiment.


  A formula expressing the fermionic determinant as an infinite product of
smaller determinants is derived and discussed. These smaller determinants are
of a fixed size, independent of the size of the lattice and are indexed by
loops of increasing length.


  We present an implementation of a truncated unity parquet solver (TUPS) which
solves the parquet equations using a truncated form-factor basis for the
fermionic momenta. This way fluctuations from different scattering channels are
treated on an equal footing. The essentially linear scaling of computational
costs in the number of untruncated bosonic momenta allows us to treat system
sizes of up to 76x76 discrete lattice momenta, unprecedented by previous
unbiased methods that include the frequency dependence of the vertex. With
TUPS, we provide the first numerical evidence that the parquet approximation
might indeed respect the Mermin-Wagner theorem and further systematically
analyze the convergence with respect to the number of form factors. Using a
single form factor seems to qualitatively describe the physics of the
half-filled Hubbard model correctly, including the pseudogap behaviour.
Quantitatively, using a single or a few form factors only is not sufficient at
lower temperatures or stronger coupling.


  We study the phases of scalar field theories in thermal $AdS_{d+1}$ spaces
for $d=1,2,3$. The analysis is done for theories with global $O(N)$ symmetry
for the finite as well as large $N$. The symmetry-preserving and
symmetry-breaking phases are identified as a function of the mass-squared of
the scalar field and temperature. On the way we also describe a method for
computing one-loop partition function for scalar field on thermal $AdS_{d+1}$
for arbitrary $d$ that reproduces results known in the literature. The
derivation is based on the method of images and uses the eigenfunctions of the
Laplacian on Euclidean $AdS$.


  We report an investigation of Metal Insulator Transition (MIT) using
conductivity and magnetoconductance (MC) measurements down to 0.3 K in
Nd_{0.7}La_{0.3}NiO_{3} films grown on crystalline substrates of LaAlO_{3}
(LAO), SrTiO_{3} (STO), and NdGaO_{3}(NGO) by pulsed laser deposition. The film
grown on LAO experiences a compressive strain and shows metallic behavior with
the onset of a weak resistivity upturn below 2 K which is linked to the onset
of weak localization contribution. Films grown on STO and NGO show a crossover
from a Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) resistance regime to Negative
Temperature Coefficient (NTC) resistance regime at definite temperatures. We
establish that a cross-over from PTC to NTC on cooling does not necessarily
constitute a MIT because the extrapolated conductivity at zero temperature
\sigma_{0} though small (<10 S/cm) is finite, signalling the existence of a bad
metallic state and absence of an activated transport. The value of \sigma_{0}
for films grown on NGO is reduced by a factor of 40 compared to that for films
grown on STO. We show that a combination of certain physical factors makes
substituted nickelate (that are known to exhibit first order Mott type
transition), undergo a continuous transition as seen in systems undergoing
disorder/composition driven Anderson transition. The MC measurement also
support the above observation and show that at low temperature there exists a
positive MC that arises from the quantum interference which co-exists with a
spin-related negative MC that becomes progressively stronger as the electrons
approach a strongly localized state in the film grown on NGO.


  We calculate the shot noise power in a junction of a network of Majorana
bound states (MBS) with a normal metal. These Majorana bound states are on the
border of alternative ferromagnetic and superconducting regions at the quantum
spin Hall insulator edge. We analyze different realization of MBS networks
including a few isolated ones or in a chain allowing for the limit of weak and
strong tunneling. The conductance, as well as the shot noise are considerably
stronger than those of a weakly coupled normal-superconduting junction, being a
hallmark of the MBS. We find that the Fano factor is quantized $F=2$ when one
MBS member of a pair is coupled to the lead, however if both MBS members are
coupled $F$ is non-integer.


  In this paper, we prove a Logarithmic Conjugation Theorem on
finitely-connected tori. The theorem states that a harmonic function can be
written as the real part of a function whose derivative is analytic and a
finite sum of terms involving the logarithm of the modulus of a modified
Weierstrass sigma function. We implement the method using arbitrary precision
and use the result to find approximate solutions to the Laplace problem and
Steklov eigenvalue problem. Using a posteriori estimation, we show that the
solution of the Laplace problem on a torus with a few circular holes has error
less than $10^{-100}$ using a few hundred degrees of freedom and the Steklov
eigenvalues have similar error.


  In this work we discuss the mechanism behind the large electroluminescence
signals observed at relatively low electric fields in the holes of a Thick Gas
Electron Multiplier (THGEM) electrode immersed in liquid xenon. We present
strong evidence that the scintillation light is generated in xenon bubbles
trapped below the THGEM holes. The process is shown to be remarkably stable
over months of operation, providing - under specific thermodynamic conditions -
energy resolution similar to that of present dual-phase liquid xenon
experiments. The observed mechanism may serve as the basis for the development
of Liquid Hole Multipliers (LHMs), capable of producing local charge-induced
electroluminescence signals in large-volume single-phase noble-liquid detectors
for dark matter and neutrino physics experiments.


  Drones are vital for urban emergency search and rescue (SAR) due to the
challenges of navigating dynamic environments with obstacles like buildings and
wind. This paper presents a method that combines multi-objective reinforcement
learning (MORL) with a convolutional autoencoder to improve drone navigation in
urban SAR. The approach uses MORL to achieve multiple goals and the autoencoder
for cost-effective wind simulations. By utilizing imagery data of urban
layouts, the drone can autonomously make navigation decisions, optimize paths,
and counteract wind effects without traditional sensors. Tested on a New York
City model, this method enhances drone SAR operations in complex urban
settings.


  We consider a generalization of the vertex weighted online bipartite matching
problem where the offline vertices, called resources, are reusable. In
particular, when a resource is matched it is unavailable for a deterministic
time duration $d$ after which it becomes available for a re-match. Thus, a
resource can be matched to many different online vertices over a period of
time. While recent work on the problem has resolved the asymptotic case where
we have large starting inventory (i.e., many copies) of every resource, we
consider the (more general) case of unit inventory and give the first algorithm
that is provably better than the na\"ive greedy approach which has a
competitive ratio of (exactly) 0.5. In particular, we achieve a competitive
ratio of 0.589 against an LP relaxation of the offline problem.


  This paper summarizes an optimal state estimation that previously has been
used in power systems and discusses the robustness of the by using a
system-state controller. Static state estimation (SSE) traditionally tries to
linearize power systems' measurement functions in a simple Gauss-Newton method
optimization problem to obtain the best estimation of our system states.
However, SSE would not be able to respond to system dynamics very well since it
ignores to consider system nonlinearities. A state-space controller and a new
solution method is deployed to overcome that difficulties. A set of simulation
results is provided to confirm the suitability of the solution.


  Influence of the exchange interaction on the properties of the spin-electron
acoustic waves at the oblique propagation of waves relatively to the external
magnetic field in the magnetically ordered metals is studied. The spectra of
the Langmuir wave and the Trivelpiece-Gould wave are also considered. It is
well-known that there are two branches of spectrum of the spin-electron
acoustic waves in this regime. Change their properties under influence of the
exchange interaction is studied. The quantum Bohm potential is included either.
The exchange interaction and quantum Bohm potential gives opposite
contributions, but they do not compensate each other since they have different
dependence on the wave vector. This competition creates a non-monotonical
behavior of the Trivelpiece-Gould wave spectrum. The concavity changes in the
monotonic spectra of the Langmuir wave and the SEAWs are found.


  This conference summary and outlook provides a personal overview of the
topics and themes of the August 2009 Dresden meeting on quantum criticality and
novel phases. The dichotomy between the local moment and the itinerant views of
magnetism is revisited and refreshed in new materials, new probes and new
theoretical ideas. New universality and apparent zero temperature phases of
matter move us beyond the old ideas of quantum criticality. This is accompanied
by alternative pairing interactions and as yet unidentified phases developing
in the vicinity of quantum critical points. In discussing novel order, the
magnetic analogues of superconductivity are considered as candidate states for
the hidden order that sometimes develops in the vicinity of quantum critical
points in metallic systems. These analogues can be thought of as "pairing" in
the particle-hole channel and are tabulated. This analogy is used to outline a
framework to study the relation between ferromagnetic fluctuations and the
propensity of a metal to nematic type phases which at weak coupling correspond
to Pomeranchuk instabilities. This question can be related to the fundamental
relations of Fermi liquid theory.


  Context: Clumpy disk galaxies in the distant universe, at redshift of z>1,
have been observed to host several giant clumps in their disks. They are
thought to correspond to early formative stages of disk galaxies. On the other
hand, halo objects, such as old globular clusters and halo stars, are likely to
consist of the oldest stars in a galaxy (age>10 Gyr), therefore the clumpy disk
formation can be presumed to take place in a pre-existing halo system. Aims:
Giant clumps are orbiting in the same direction in a premature disk and so
massive that they may be expected to interact gravitationally with halo objects
and exercise influence on kinematic state of the halo. Accordingly, I
scrutinize the possibility that the clumps leave a kinematic imprint of the
clumpy disk formation on a halo system. Methods: I perform a restricted N-body
calculation with a toy-model to study the kinematic influence on a halo by
orbital motions of clumps, examine dependence of the results on masses
(mass-loss), number and orbital radii of the clumps. Results: I will show that
halo objects can catch clump motions and acquire disky rotation in a dynamical
friction time-scale of the clumps, ~0.5 Gyr. The influence of clumps is limited
within a region around the disk, the halo system shows vertical gradients of
net rotation velocity and orbital eccentricity. The significance of the
kinematic influence strongly depends on the clump masses, the lower limit of
postulated clump mass would be 5x10^8 solar masses. The result depends also on
whether the clumps are subjected to rapid mass-loss or not, which is an open
question under debate in recent studies. The existence of such massive clumps
is not unrealistic, I therefore suggest that there could remain the imprints of
past clumpy disk formation in current galactic halos.


  Federated Learning (FL) aims to learn a global model from distributed users
while protecting their privacy. However, when data are distributed
heterogeneously the learning process becomes noisy, unstable, and biased
towards the last seen clients' data, slowing down convergence. To address these
issues and improve the robustness and generalization capabilities of the global
model, we propose WIMA (Window-based Model Averaging). WIMA aggregates global
models from different rounds using a window-based approach, effectively
capturing knowledge from multiple users and reducing the bias from the last
ones. By adopting a windowed view on the rounds, WIMA can be applied from the
initial stages of training. Importantly, our method introduces no additional
communication or client-side computation overhead. Our experiments demonstrate
the robustness of WIMA against distribution shifts and bad client sampling,
resulting in smoother and more stable learning trends. Additionally, WIMA can
be easily integrated with state-of-the-art algorithms. We extensively evaluate
our approach on standard FL benchmarks, demonstrating its effectiveness.


  In the moduli space of complex cubic polynomials with a marked critical
point, given any p>=1, we prove that the loci formed by polynomials with the
marked critical point periodic of period p is an irreducible curve. Thus
answering a question posed by Milnor in the 90's.


  This paper is a continuation of the paper [arXiv:0911.4725], investigating a
natural radial deformation of the Fourier transform in the setting of Clifford
analysis. At the same time, it gives extensions of many results obtained in
[arXiv:0907.3749]. We establish the analogues of Bochner's formula and the
Heisenberg uncertainty relation in the framework of the (holomorphic) Hermite
semigroup, and also give a detailed analytic treatment of the series expansion
of the associated integral transform.


  A famous problem in discrete geometry is to find all monohedral plane tilers,
which is still open to the best of our knowledge. This paper concerns with one
of its variants that to determine all convex polyhedra whose every
cross-section tiles the plane. We call such polyhedra universal tilers. We
obtain that a convex polyhedron is a universal tiler only if it is a
tetrahedron or a pentahedron.