  We present the vector quantized diffusion (VQ-Diffusion) model for
text-to-image generation. This method is based on a vector quantized
variational autoencoder (VQ-VAE) whose latent space is modeled by a conditional
variant of the recently developed Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Model
(DDPM). We find that this latent-space method is well-suited for text-to-image
generation tasks because it not only eliminates the unidirectional bias with
existing methods but also allows us to incorporate a mask-and-replace diffusion
strategy to avoid the accumulation of errors, which is a serious problem with
existing methods. Our experiments show that the VQ-Diffusion produces
significantly better text-to-image generation results when compared with
conventional autoregressive (AR) models with similar numbers of parameters.
Compared with previous GAN-based text-to-image methods, our VQ-Diffusion can
handle more complex scenes and improve the synthesized image quality by a large
margin. Finally, we show that the image generation computation in our method
can be made highly efficient by reparameterization. With traditional AR
methods, the text-to-image generation time increases linearly with the output
image resolution and hence is quite time consuming even for normal size images.
The VQ-Diffusion allows us to achieve a better trade-off between quality and
speed. Our experiments indicate that the VQ-Diffusion model with the
reparameterization is fifteen times faster than traditional AR methods while
achieving a better image quality.


  Despite 25 years of research in academia, approximate query processing (AQP)
has had little industrial adoption. One of the major causes of this slow
adoption is the reluctance of traditional vendors to make radical changes to
their legacy codebases, and the preoccupation of newer vendors (e.g.,
SQL-on-Hadoop products) with implementing standard features. Additionally, the
few AQP engines that are available are each tied to a specific platform and
require users to completely abandon their existing databases---an unrealistic
expectation given the infancy of the AQP technology. Therefore, we argue that a
universal solution is needed: a database-agnostic approximation engine that
will widen the reach of this emerging technology across various platforms.
  Our proposal, called VerdictDB, uses a middleware architecture that requires
no changes to the backend database, and thus, can work with all off-the-shelf
engines. Operating at the driver-level, VerdictDB intercepts analytical queries
issued to the database and rewrites them into another query that, if executed
by any standard relational engine, will yield sufficient information for
computing an approximate answer. VerdictDB uses the returned result set to
compute an approximate answer and error estimates, which are then passed on to
the user or application. However, lack of access to the query execution layer
introduces significant challenges in terms of generality, correctness, and
efficiency. This paper shows how VerdictDB overcomes these challenges and
delivers up to 171$\times$ speedup (18.45$\times$ on average) for a variety of
existing engines, such as Impala, Spark SQL, and Amazon Redshift, while
incurring less than 2.6% relative error. VerdictDB is open-sourced under Apache
License.


  We present a new method for the nonlinear approximation of the solution
manifolds of parameterized nonlinear evolution problems, in particular in
hyperbolic regimes with moving discontinuities. Given the action of a Lie group
on the solution space, the original problem is reformulated as a partial
differential algebraic equation system by decomposing the solution into a group
component and a spatial shape component, imposing appropriate algebraic
constraints on the decomposition. The system is then projected onto a reduced
basis space. We show that efficient online evaluation of the scheme is possible
and study a numerical example showing its strongly improved performance in
comparison to a scheme without freezing.


  Polariton polarization can be described in terms of a pseudospin which can be
oriented along the $x,\,y,$ or $z$ axis, similarly to electron and hole spin.
Unlike electrons and holes where time-reversal symmetry requires that the
spin-orbit interaction be odd in the momentum, the analogue of the spin-orbit
interaction for polaritons, the so-called TE-TM splitting, is even in the
momentum. We calculate and compare spin transport of polariton, electron, and
hole systems, in the diffusive regime of many scatterings. After dimensional
rescaling diffusive systems with spatially uniform particle densities have
identical dynamics, regardless of the particle type. Differences between the
three particles appear in spatially non-uniform systems, with pumps at a
specific localized point. We consider both oscillating pumps and transient
(delta-function) pumps. In such systems each particle type produces distinctive
spin patterns. The particles can be distinguished by their differing spatial
multipole character, their response and resonances in a perpendicular magnetic
field, and their relative magnitude which is largest for electrons and weakest
for holes. These patterns are manifested both in response to unpolarized pumps
which produce in-plane and perpendicular spin signals, and to polarized pumps
where the spin precesses from in-plane to out-of-plane and vice versa. These
results will be useful for designing systems with large spin polarization
signals, for identifying the dominant spin-orbit interaction and measuring
subdominant terms in experimental devices, and for measuring the scattering
time and the spin-orbit coupling's magnitude.


  The present notes refer to a lecture delivered on 27 September 2017 in
Roscoff during the 2017 Evry Schatzman School. It concerns a general
introduction to optical/IR interferometry, including a brief history, a
presentation of the basic principles, some important theorems and relevant
applications.The layout of these lecture notes is as follows. After a short
introduction, we proceed with some reminders concerning the representation of a
field of electromagnetic radiation. We then present a short history of
interferometry, from the first experiment of Fizeau and Stefan to modern
optical interferometers. We then discuss the notions of light coherence,
including the van Cittert - Zernicke theorem and describe the principle of
interferometry using two telescopes. We present some examples of modern
interferometers and typical results obtained with these. Finally, we address
three important theorems: the fundamental theorem, the convolution theorem and
the Wiener-Khinchin theorem which enable to get a better insight into the field
of optical/IR interferometry.


  While the advantages of photonic quantum computing, including direct
compatibility with communication, are apparent, several imperfections such as
loss and distinguishability presently limit actual implementations. These
imperfections are unlikely to be completely eliminated, and it is therefore
beneficial to investigate which of these are the most dominant and what is
achievable under their presence. In this work, we provide an in-depth
investigation of the influence of photon loss, multi-photon terms and photon
distinguishability on the generation of photonic 3-partite GHZ states via
established fusion protocols. We simulate the generation process for SPDC and
solid-state-based single-photon sources using realistic parameters and show
that different types of imperfections are dominant with respect to the fidelity
and generation success probability. Our results indicate what are the dominant
imperfections for the different photon sources and in which parameter regimes
we can hope to implement photonic quantum computing in the near future.


  Feedback Vertex Set is a classic combinatorial optimization problem that asks
for a minimum set of vertices in a given graph whose deletion makes the graph
acyclic. From the point of view of parameterized algorithms and fixed-parameter
tractability, Feedback Vertex Set is one of the landmark problems: a long line
of study resulted in multiple algorithmic approaches and deep understanding of
the combinatorics of the problem. Because of its central role in parameterized
complexity, the first edition of the Parameterized Algorithms and Computational
Experiments Challenge (PACE) in 2016 featured Feedback Vertex Set as the
problem of choice in one of its tracks. The results of PACE 2016 on one hand
showed large discrepancy between performance of different classic approaches to
the problem, and on the other hand indicated a new approach based on
half-integral relaxations of the problem as probably the most efficient
approach to the problem. In this paper we provide an exhaustive experimental
evaluation of fixed-parameter and branching algorithms for Feedback Vertex Set.


  In this work we investigate small clusters of bosons using the hyperspherical
harmonic basis. We consider systems with $A=2,3,4,5,6$ particles interacting
through a soft inter-particle potential. In order to make contact with a real
system, we use an attractive gaussian potential that reproduces the values of
the dimer binding energy and the atom-atom scattering length obtained with one
of the most widely used $^4$He-$^4$He interactions, the LM2M2 potential. The
intensity of the potential is varied in order to explore the clusters' spectra
in different regions with large positive and large negative values of the
two-body scattering length. In addition, we include a repulsive three-body
force to reproduce the trimer binding energy. With this model, consisting in
the sum of a two- and three-body potential, we have calculated the spectrum of
the four, five and six particle systems. In all the region explored, we have
found that these systems present two bound states, one deep and one shallow
close to the $A-1$ threshold. Some universal relations between the energy
levels are extracted; in particular, we have estimated the universal ratios
between thresholds of the three-, four-, and five-particle continuum using the
two-body gaussian


  Graph neural networks are currently leading the performance charts in
learning-based molecule property prediction and classification. Computational
chemistry has, therefore, become the a prominent testbed for generic graph
neural networks, as well as for specialized message passing methods. In this
work, we demonstrate that the replacement of the underlying networks with
hypernetworks leads to a boost in performance, obtaining state of the art
results in various benchmarks. A major difficulty in the application of
hypernetworks is their lack of stability. We tackle this by combining the
current message and the first message. A recent work has tackled the training
instability of hypernetworks in the context of error correcting codes, by
replacing the activation function of the message passing network with a
low-order Taylor approximation of it. We demonstrate that our generic solution
can replace this domain-specific solution.


  We propose the $B_c\to B_u^*\gamma$ decay as the most suitable probe for the
flavour changing neutral transition $c\to u\gamma$. We estimate the short and
long distance contributions to this decay within the standard model and we find
them to be comparable; this is in contrast to radiative decays of $D$ mesons,
that are completely dominated by the long distance contributions. Since the
$c\to u\gamma$ transition is very sensitive to the physics beyond the standard
model, the standard model prediction $Br(B_c\to B_u^*\gamma)\sim 10^{-8}$
obtained here opens a new window for future experiments. The detection of
$B_c\to B_u^*\gamma$ decay at branching ratio well above $10^{-8}$ would signal
new physics. In addition we study the $s\to d\gamma$ transition in $B_s\to
B_d^*\gamma$ decay and we find it to be dominated by the long distance
contribution. We use the Isgur-Scora-Grinstein-Wise (ISGW) constituent quark
model for the calculation of these decays.


  In this paper, we focus on computing local minimizers of a multivariate
polynomial optimization problem under certain genericity conditions. By using a
technique in computer algebra and the second-order optimality condition, we
provide a univariate representation for the set of local minimizers. In
particular, for the unconstrained problem, i.e. the constraint set is $\R^n$,
the coordinates of all local minimizers can be represented by the values of $n$
univariate polynomials at real roots of a system including a univariate
polynomial equation and a univariate polynomial matrix inequality. We also
develop the technique for constrained problems having equality/inequality
constraints. Based on the above technique, we design symbolic algorithms to
enumerate the local minimizers and provide some experimental examples based on
hybrid symbolic-numerical computations. For the case that the genericity
conditions fail, at the end of the paper, we propose a perturbation technique
to compute approximately a global minimizer provided that the constraint set is
compact.


  Exact solutions of two-dimensional hydrodynamics equations for the symmetric
configurations of two and four vortices in the presence of an arbitrary flow
with a singular point are found. The solutions describe the dynamics of the
dipole toroidal vortex in accretion and wind flows in active galactic nuclei.
It is shown that the toroidal vortices in a converging (accretion) flow, being
compressed along the large radius, are ejected with acceleration along the axis
of symmetry of the nucleus, forming the components of two-sided jet. The
increment of velocities of the vortices is determined by the monopole component
of the flow only. The dipole component of the flow determines the asymmetry of
ejections in the case of an asymmetric flow.


  The multi-strange baryon yields in Pb--Pb collisions have been shown to
exhibit an enhancement relative to pp reactions. In this work, $\Xi$ and
$\Omega$ production rates have been measured with the ALICE experiment as a
function of transverse momentum, ${p_{\rm T}}$, in p-Pb collisions at a
centre-of-mass energy of ${\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}}$ = 5.02 TeV. The results cover
the kinematic ranges 0.6 GeV/$c<{p_{\rm T}} <$7.2 GeV/$c$ and 0.8
GeV/$c<{p_{\rm T}}<$ 5 GeV/$c$, for $\Xi$ and $\Omega$ respectively, in the
common rapidity interval -0.5 $<{y_{\rm CMS}}<$ 0. Multi-strange baryons have
been identified by reconstructing their weak decays into charged particles. The
${p_{\rm T}}$ spectra are analysed as a function of event charged-particle
multiplicity, which in p-Pb collisions ranges over one order of magnitude and
lies between those observed in pp and Pb-Pb collisions. The measured ${p_{\rm
T}}$ distributions are compared to the expectations from a Blast-Wave model.
The parameters which describe the production of lighter hadron species also
describe the hyperon spectra in high multiplicity p-Pb. The yield of hyperons
relative to charged pions is studied and compared with results from pp and
Pb-Pb collisions. A statistical model is employed, which describes the change
in the ratios with volume using a canonical suppression mechanism, in which the
small volume causes a species-dependent relative reduction of hadron
production. The calculations, in which the magnitude of the effect depends on
the strangeness content, show good qualitative agreement with the data.


  We consider the mathematical model of photoacoustic and thermoacoustic
tomography in media with a variable sound speed. When the sound speed is known,
the explicit reconstruction formula by P. Stefanov and G. Uhlmann (Inverse
Problems, 25(7):075011, 16, 2009) can be used. We study how a modelling error
in the sound speed affects the reconstruction formula and quantify the effect
in terms of a stability estimate.


  We show that a precise measurement of the single-top production cross section
at the Tevatron and the LHC can strongly constrain the model parameters of the
Littlest Higgs model with T-parity. A reduction in the single-top production
rate from the Standard Model prediction implies new physics phenomena generated
by the heavy T-parity partners of the top quark. We show that the degree of
polarization of the top quark produced from the decay of its heavy T-odd
partner ($T_{-}$) can be utilized to determine the new physics energy scale,
and the mass of $T_{-}$ can be measured from the missing transverse momentum
distribution in the $T_{-}\bar{T}_{-}$ event.


  Embedding fields provide a way of coupling a background structure to a theory
while preserving diffeomorphism-invariance. Examples of such background
structures include embedded submanifolds, such as branes; boundaries of local
subregions, such as the Ryu-Takayanagi surface in holography; and foliations,
which appear in fluid dynamics and force-free electrodynamics. This work
presents a systematic framework for computing geometric properties of these
background structures in the embedding field description. An overview of the
local geometric quantities associated with a foliation is given, including a
review of the Gauss, Codazzi, and Ricci-Voss equations, which relate the
geometry of the foliation to the ambient curvature. Generalizations of these
equations for curvature in the nonintegrable normal directions are derived.
Particular care is given to the question of which objects are well-defined for
single submanifolds, and which depend on the structure of the foliation away
from a submanifold. Variational formulas are provided for the geometric
quantities, which involve contributions both from the variation of the
embedding map as well as variations of the ambient metric. As an application of
these variational formulas, a derivation is given of the Jacobi equation,
describing perturbations of extremal area surfaces of arbitrary codimension.
The embedding field formalism is also applied to the problem of classifying
boundary conditions for general relativity in a finite subregion that lead to
integrable Hamiltonians. The framework developed in this paper will provide a
useful set of tools for future analyses of brane dynamics, fluid mechanics, and
edge modes for finite subregions of diffeomorphism-invariant theories.


  Conformal gravity theories are defined by field equations that determine only
the conformal structure of the spacetime manifold. The Bach equations represent
an early example of such a theory, we present them here in component form in
terms of spin- and boost-weighted spin-coefficients using the compacted
spin-coefficient formalism. These equations can be used as an efficient
alternative to the standard tensor form. As a simple application we solve the
Bach equations for pp-wave and static spherically symmetric spacetimes.


  We have obtained CO(1-0) observations for a sample of 37 interacting galaxy
systems, chosen from a parent sample of optically-selected interacting
galaxies. The sample observed here spans a large range of interaction strengths
and star formation rates (SFR). Using the standard CO-to-H2 conversion factor
we find that the interacting galaxies are, on average, marginally more rich in
molecular gas than a comparison sample of isolated spiral galaxies, having mean
H2/LB and H2/HI ratios 20-40% higher than isolated spirals. The interacting
galaxies also have a mean LIR/MH2 ratio that is a factor of ~1.3 higher than
the isolated galaxies. There is a strong correlation between relative H2
content and SFRs, indicating that the level of interaction-induced star
formation activity is very dependent upon the the available gas supply. Some
galaxies, however, have moderate amounts of H2 but much lower than normal SFRs.
Therefore molecular gas is a necessary, but not sufficient, prerequisite for
star formation. There is also a strong correlation between interaction strength
and both SFR and relative H2 content. If the increase in H2 content is real,
there must be a substantial conversion of HI to H2 gas taking place in the
strongest interacting systems. At least some portion of this apparent increase,
however, could be due to non-standard CO-to-H2 conversion factors. A reduction
in the conversion factor by amounts consistent with that applicable to
ultraluminous infrared galaxies would completely account for the systematic
increase in derived H2 content as a function of interaction strength. Such a
change could not, however, account for the total range of relative H2 content
as a function of SFR. Therefore the correlation between molecular gas content
and star formation rate must be real.


  In this paper we introduce a novel hash learning framework that has two main
distinguishing features, when compared to past approaches. First, it utilizes
codewords in the Hamming space as ancillary means to accomplish its hash
learning task. These codewords, which are inferred from the data, attempt to
capture similarity aspects of the data's hash codes. Secondly and more
importantly, the same framework is capable of addressing supervised,
unsupervised and, even, semi-supervised hash learning tasks in a natural
manner. A series of comparative experiments focused on content-based image
retrieval highlights its performance advantages.


  Capturing and faithfully rendering photo-realistic humans from novel views is
a fundamental problem for AR/VR applications. While prior work has shown
impressive performance capture results in laboratory settings, it is
non-trivial to achieve casual free-viewpoint human capture and rendering for
unseen identities with high fidelity, especially for facial expressions, hands,
and clothes. To tackle these challenges we introduce a novel view synthesis
framework that generates realistic renders from unseen views of any human
captured from a single-view and sparse RGB-D sensor, similar to a low-cost
depth camera, and without actor-specific models. We propose an architecture to
create dense feature maps in novel views obtained by sphere-based neural
rendering, and create complete renders using a global context inpainting model.
Additionally, an enhancer network leverages the overall fidelity, even in
occluded areas from the original view, producing crisp renders with fine
details. We show that our method generates high-quality novel views of
synthetic and real human actors given a single-stream, sparse RGB-D input. It
generalizes to unseen identities, and new poses and faithfully reconstructs
facial expressions. Our approach outperforms prior view synthesis methods and
is robust to different levels of depth sparsity.


  In artificial-intelligence-aided signal processing, existing deep learning
models often exhibit a black-box structure, and their validity and
comprehensibility remain elusive. The integration of topological methods,
despite its relatively nascent application, serves a dual purpose of making
models more interpretable as well as extracting structural information from
time-dependent data for smarter learning. Here, we provide a transparent and
broadly applicable methodology, TopCap, to capture the most salient topological
features inherent in time series for machine learning. Rooted in
high-dimensional ambient spaces, TopCap is capable of capturing features rarely
detected in datasets with low intrinsic dimensionality. Applying time-delay
embedding and persistent homology, we obtain descriptors which encapsulate
information such as the vibration of a time series, in terms of its variability
of frequency, amplitude, and average line, demonstrated with simulated data.
This information is then vectorised and fed into multiple machine learning
algorithms such as k-nearest neighbours and support vector machine. Notably, in
classifying voiced and voiceless consonants, TopCap achieves an accuracy
exceeding 96% and is geared towards designing topological convolutional layers
for deep learning of speech and audio signals.


  CubeSats offer a flexible and low-cost option to increase the scientific and
technological return of small-body exploration missions. ESA's Hera mission,
the European component of the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment (AIDA)
international collaboration, plans on deploying two CubeSats in the proximity
of binary system 65803 Didymos, after arrival in 2027. In this work, we discuss
the feasibility and preliminary mission profile of Hera's Milani CubeSat. The
CubeSat mission is designed to achieve both scientific and technological
objectives. We identify the design challenges and discuss design criteria to
find suitable solutions in terms of mission analysis, operational trajectories,
and Guidance, Navigation, & Control (GNC) design. We present initial
trajectories and GNC baseline, as a result of trade-off analyses. We assess the
feasibility of the Milani CubeSat mission and provide a preliminary solution to
cover the operational mission profile of Milani in the close-proximity of
Didymos system.


  The central question of knot theory is that of distinguishing links up to
isotopy. The first polynomial invariant of links devised to help answer this
question was the Alexander polynomial (1928). Almost a century after its
introduction, it still presents us with tantalizing questions such as Fox's
conjecture (1962) that the absolute values of the coefficients of the Alexander
polynomial $\Delta_L(t)$ of an alternating link $L$ are unimodal. Fox's
conjecture remains open in general, with special cases settled by Hartley
(1979) for two-bridged knots, by Murasugi (1985) for a family of alternating
algebraic links, and by Ozsv\'ath and Szab\'o (2003) for the case of genus $2$
alternating knots, among others.
  We settle Fox's conjecture for special alternating links. We do so by proving
that a certain multivariate generalization of the Alexander polynomial of
special alternating links is Lorentzian. As a consequence, we obtain that the
absolute values of the coefficients of $\Delta_L(t)$, where $L$ is a special
alternating link, form a log-concave sequence with no internal zeros. In
particular, they are unimodal.


  We describe a self consistent magnetic tight-binding theory based in an
expansion of the Hohenberg-Kohn density functional to second order, about a non
spin polarised reference density. We show how a first order expansion about a
density having a trial input magnetic moment leads to the Stoner--Slater rigid
band model. We employ a simple set of tight-binding parameters that accurately
describes electronic structure and energetics, and show these to be
transferable between first row transition metals and their alloys. We make a
number of calculations of the electronic structure of dilute Cr impurities in
Fe which we compare with results using the local spin density approximation.
The rigid band model provides a powerful means for interpreting complex
magnetic configurations in alloys; using this approach we are able to advance a
simple and readily understood explanation for the observed anomaly in the
enthalpy of mixing.


  Spherical harmonic moments are well-suited for capturing anisotropy at any
scale in the flux of cosmic rays. An unambiguous measurement of the full set of
spherical harmonic coefficients requires full-sky coverage. This can be
achieved by combining data from observatories located in both the northern and
southern hemispheres. To this end, a joint analysis using data recorded at the
Telescope Array and the Pierre Auger Observatory above $10^{19}$ eV is
presented in this work. The resulting multipolar expansion of the flux of
cosmic rays allows us to perform a series of anisotropy searches, and in
particular to report on the angular power spectrum of cosmic rays above
$10^{19}$ eV. No significant deviation from isotropic expectations is found
throughout the analyses performed. Upper limits on the amplitudes of the dipole
and quadrupole moments are derived as a function of the direction in the sky,
varying between 7% and 13% for the dipole and between 7% and 10% for a
symmetric quadrupole.


  We study Byzantine fault-tolerant distributed optimization of a sum of convex
(cost) functions with real-valued scalar input/ouput. In particular, the goal
is to optimize a global cost function $\frac{1}{|\mathcal{N}|}\sum_{i\in
\mathcal{N}} h_i(x)$, where $\mathcal{N}$ is the set of non-faulty agents, and
$h_i(x)$ is agent $i$'s local cost function, which is initially known only to
agent $i$. In general, when some of the agents may be Byzantine faulty, the
above goal is unachievable, because the identity of the faulty agents is not
necessarily known to the non-faulty agents, and the faulty agents may behave
arbitrarily. Since the above global cost function cannot be optimized exactly
in presence of Byzantine agents, we define a weaker version of the problem.
  The goal for the weaker problem is to generate an output that is an optimum
of a function formed as a convex combination of local cost functions of the
non-faulty agents. More precisely, for some choice of weights $\alpha_i$ for
$i\in \mathcal{N}$ such that $\alpha_i\geq 0$ and $\sum_{i\in
\mathcal{N}}\alpha_i=1$, the output must be an optimum of the cost function
$\sum_{i\in \mathcal{N}} \alpha_ih_i(x)$. Ideally, we would like
$\alpha_i=\frac{1}{|\mathcal{N}|}$ for all $i\in \mathcal{N}$ -- however, this
cannot be guaranteed due to the presence of faulty agents. In fact, we show
that the maximum achievable number of nonzero weights ($\alpha_i$'s) is
$|\mathcal{N}|-f$, where $f$ is the upper bound on the number of Byzantine
agents. In addition, we present algorithms that ensure that at least
$|\mathcal{N}|-f$ agents have weights that are bounded away from 0. We also
propose a low-complexity suboptimal algorithm, which ensures that at least
$\lceil \frac{n}{2}\rceil-\phi$ agents have weights that are bounded away from
0, where $n$ is the total number of agents, and $\phi$ ($\phi\le f$) is the
actual number of Byzantine agents.


  We provide a rigorous mathematical derivation of the convergence in the
long-wave transonic limit of the minimizing travelling waves for the
two-dimensional Gross-Pitaevskii equation towards ground states for the
Kadomtsev-Petviashvili equation (KP I).


  The color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) of three intermediate-age LMC clusters,
NGC 2173, SL556 and NGC2155 are analyzed to determine their age and metallicity
basing on Padova stellar models. Synthetic CMDs are compared with cluster data.
The best match is obtained using two fitting functions based on star counts in
the different bins of the cluster CMD. Two different criteria are used. One of
them takes into account the uncertainties in the color of the red clump stars.
Given the uncertainties on the experimental values of the clusters metallicity,
we provide a set of acceptable solutions. They define the correspondent values
of metallicity, age, reddening and distance modulus (for the assumed IMF). The
comparison with Padova models suggests for NGC 2173 a prolonged star formation
(spanning a period of about 0.3 Gyr), beginning 1.7 Gyr and ending 1.4 Gyr ago.
The metallicity Z is in the range 0.0016 $-$ 0.003. Contrary to what suggested
for NGC 2173 a period of extended star formation was not required to fit the SL
556 and the NGC 2155 observations. For SL 556 an age of 2.0 Gyr is obtained.
The metallicity value is in the range 0.002 $-$ 0.004, depending on the adopted
comparison criterium. The derived age for NGC 2155 is 2.8 Gyr and its
metallicity Z is in the range 0.002 $-$ 0.003. The CMD features of this cluster
suggest that a more efficient overshoot should be adopted in the evolutionary
models.


  We study a continuum model of the lipid bilayer based on minimizing the free
energy of a mixture of water and lipid molecules. This paper extends previous
work by Blom & Peletier (2004) in the following ways. (a) It formulates a more
physical model of the hydrophobic effect to facilitate connections with
microscale simulations. (b) It clarifies the meaning of the model parameters.
(c) It outlines a method for determining parameter values so that
physically-realistic bilayer density profiles can be obtained, for example for
use in macroscale simulations. Points (a)-(c) suggest that the model has
potential to robustly connect some micro- and macroscale levels of multiscale
blood flow simulations. The mathematical modelling in point (a) is based upon a
consideration of the underlying physics of inter-molecular forces. The
governing equations thus obtained are minimized by gradient flows via a novel
numerical approach; this enables point (b). The numerical results are shown to
behave physically in terms of the effect of background concentration, in
contrast to the earlier model which is shown here to not display the expected
behaviour. A "short-tail" approximation of the lipid molecules also gives an
analytical tool which yields critical values of some parameters under certain
conditions. Point (c) involves the first quantitative comparison of the
numerical data with physical experimental results.


  When a discrete state is coupled to a continuum, the dynamics can be
described either by the Weisskopf-Wigner exponential decay or by the Rabi
oscillation, depending on the relative magnitudes of the continuum width and of
the Rabi frequency. A continuous transition between these two regimes exists,
as demonstrated in 1977 by C. Cohen-Tannoudji and P. Avan. Here, we describe a
fully analogous transition in classical mechanics, by studying the dynamics of
two coupled mechanical oscillators in the presence of damping. By varying the
relative magnitudes of the damping and coupling terms, we observe a continuous
transition between a regime analogous to the Rabi oscillation and a regime
analogous to the Weisskopf-Wigner exponential decay.


  We used Bands 6 and 7 of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array
(ALMA) in Cycles 7 and 8 to search for $\mathrm{CO}\,(3-2)$ emission from a
sample of five fast radio burst (FRB) host galaxies discovered by the Commensal
Real-time ASKAP Fast Transients (CRAFT) survey and the Fast and Fortunate for
FRB Follow-up (F$^4$) team. These galaxies have redshifts $z \approx
0.16-0.48$, masses log$(M_{\rm star}/M_{\odot})\approx 9.30-10.4$
characteristic of field galaxies, and emission lines indicative of ongoing star
formation. We detected three of the five galaxies with luminosities
$L'(3-2)\approx0.2-4\times10^8\,\rm K\,km \, s^{-1}\,pc^2$ and set upper limits
for the other two. Adopting standard metallicity-dependent CO-to-H$_2$
conversion factors, we estimate molecular gas masses $M_{\rm gas}\approx
0.2-3\times 10^9 \, M_{\odot}$. As a population, FRB host galaxies track the
main $M_{\rm star}-M_{\rm gas}$ locus of star-forming galaxies in the
present-day universe, with gas fractions of $\mu_{\rm gas}\approx0.1$ and gas
depletion times $t_{\rm dep} \gtrapprox 1\,$Gyr. We employ the Kaplan-Meier
estimator to compare the redshift-corrected $\mu_{\rm gas}$ and $t_{\rm dep}$
for all known FRB hosts with measurements or upper limits with those from the
xCOLD GASS survey and find statistically different gas fractions. The
difference is not statistically significant when we consider only the five
hosts studied here with consistently determined properties, suggesting more FRB
hosts with measured molecular gas masses are needed to robustly study the
population. Lastly, we present a multi-wavelength analysis of one host
(HG20180924B) combining high-spatial resolution imaging and integral field
spectroscopy to demonstrate that future high-resolution observations will allow
us to study the host galaxy environments local to the FRBs.


  Accurate traffic forecasting is of the utmost importance for optimal travel
planning and for efficient city mobility. IARAI (The Institute of Advanced
Research in Artificial Intelligence) organizes Traffic4cast, a yearly traffic
prediction competition based on real-life data
[https://www.iarai.ac.at/traffic4cast/], aiming to leverage artificial
intelligence advances for producing accurate traffic estimates. We present our
solution to the IARAI Traffic4cast 2022 competition, in which the goal is to
develop algorithms for predicting road graph edge congestion classes and
supersegment-level travel times. In contrast to the previous years, this year's
competition focuses on modelling graph edge level behaviour, rather than more
coarse aggregated grid-based traffic movies. Due to this, we leverage a method
familiar from tabular data modelling -- gradient-boosted decision tree
ensembles. We reduce the dimensionality of the input data representing traffic
counters with the help of the classic PCA method and feed it as input to a
LightGBM model. This simple, fast, and scalable technique allowed us to win
second place in the core competition. The source code and references to trained
model files and submissions are available at https://github.com/skandium/t4c22 .


  The smart grid vision is to build an intelligent power network with an
unprecedented level of situational awareness and controllability over its
services and infrastructure. This paper advocates statistical inference methods
to robustify power monitoring tasks against the outlier effects owing to faulty
readings and malicious attacks, as well as against missing data due to privacy
concerns and communication errors. In this context, a novel load cleansing and
imputation scheme is developed leveraging the low intrinsic-dimensionality of
spatiotemporal load profiles and the sparse nature of "bad data.'' A robust
estimator based on principal components pursuit (PCP) is adopted, which effects
a twofold sparsity-promoting regularization through an $\ell_1$-norm of the
outliers, and the nuclear norm of the nominal load profiles. Upon recasting the
non-separable nuclear norm into a form amenable to decentralized optimization,
a distributed (D-) PCP algorithm is developed to carry out the imputation and
cleansing tasks using networked devices comprising the so-termed advanced
metering infrastructure. If D-PCP converges and a qualification inequality is
satisfied, the novel distributed estimator provably attains the performance of
its centralized PCP counterpart, which has access to all networkwide data.
Computer simulations and tests with real load curve data corroborate the
convergence and effectiveness of the novel D-PCP algorithm.


  Sophisticated machine learning techniques have promising potential in search
for physics beyond Standard Model in Large Hadron Collider (LHC). Convolutional
neural networks (CNN) can provide powerful tools for differentiating between
patterns of calorimeter energy deposits by prompt particles of Standard Model
and long-lived particles predicted in various models beyond the Standard Model.
We demonstrate the usefulness of CNN by using a couple of physics examples from
well motivated BSM scenarios predicting long-lived particles giving rise to
displaced jets. Our work suggests that modern machine-learning techniques have
potential to discriminate between energy deposition patterns of prompt and
long-lived particles, and thus, they can be useful tools in such searches.


  Seismic velocity is one of the most important parameters used in seismic
exploration. Accurate velocity models are key prerequisites for reverse-time
migration and other high-resolution seismic imaging techniques. Such velocity
information has traditionally been derived by tomography or full-waveform
inversion (FWI), which are time consuming and computationally expensive, and
they rely heavily on human interaction and quality control. We investigate a
novel method based on the supervised deep fully convolutional neural network
(FCN) for velocity-model building (VMB) directly from raw seismograms. Unlike
the conventional inversion method based on physical models, the supervised
deep-learning methods are based on big-data training rather than
prior-knowledge assumptions. During the training stage, the network establishes
a nonlinear projection from the multi-shot seismic data to the corresponding
velocity models. During the prediction stage, the trained network can be used
to estimate the velocity models from the new input seismic data. One key
characteristic of the deep-learning method is that it can automatically extract
multi-layer useful features without the need for human-curated activities and
initial velocity setup. The data-driven method usually requires more time
during the training stage, and actual predictions take less time, with only
seconds needed. Therefore, the computational time of geophysical inversions,
including real-time inversions, can be dramatically reduced once a good
generalized network is built. By using numerical experiments on synthetic
models, the promising performances of our proposed method are shown in
comparison with conventional FWI even when the input data are in more realistic
scenarios. Discussions on the deep-learning methods, training dataset, lack of
low frequencies, and advantages and disadvantages of the new method are also
provided.


  In this paper we present an approach for classifying the activity performed
by a group of people in a video sequence. This problem of group activity
recognition can be addressed by examining individual person actions and their
relations. Temporal dynamics exist both at the level of individual person
actions as well as at the level of group activity. Given a video sequence as
input, methods can be developed to capture these dynamics at both person-level
and group-level detail. We build a deep model to capture these dynamics based
on LSTM (long short-term memory) models. In order to model both person-level
and group-level dynamics, we present a 2-stage deep temporal model for the
group activity recognition problem. In our approach, one LSTM model is designed
to represent action dynamics of individual people in a video sequence and
another LSTM model is designed to aggregate person-level information for group
activity recognition. We collected a new dataset consisting of volleyball
videos labeled with individual and group activities in order to evaluate our
method. Experimental results on this new Volleyball Dataset and the standard
benchmark Collective Activity Dataset demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed
models.


  Although the Transformer model can effectively acquire context features via a
self-attention mechanism, deeper syntactic knowledge is still not effectively
modeled. To alleviate the above problem, we propose Syntactic knowledge via
Graph attention with BERT (SGB) in Machine Translation (MT) scenarios. Graph
Attention Network (GAT) and BERT jointly represent syntactic dependency feature
as explicit knowledge of the source language to enrich source language
representations and guide target language generation. Our experiments use gold
syntax-annotation sentences and Quality Estimation (QE) model to obtain
interpretability of translation quality improvement regarding syntactic
knowledge without being limited to a BLEU score. Experiments show that the
proposed SGB engines improve translation quality across the three MT tasks
without sacrificing BLEU scores. We investigate what length of source sentences
benefits the most and what dependencies are better identified by the SGB
engines. We also find that learning of specific dependency relations by GAT can
be reflected in the translation quality containing such relations and that
syntax on the graph leads to new modeling of syntactic aspects of source
sentences in the middle and bottom layers of BERT.


  Using the United Nations COMTRADE database we apply the reduced Google matrix
(REGOMAX) algorithm to analyze the multiproduct world trade in years 2004-2016.
Our approach allows to determine the trade balance sensitivity of a group of
countries to a specific product price increase from a specific exporting
country taking into account all direct and indirect trade pathways via all
world countries exchanging 61 UN COMTRADE identified trade products. On the
basis of this approach we present the influence of trade in petroleum and gas
products from Russia, USA, Saudi Arabia and Norway determining the sensitivity
of each EU country. We show that the REGOMAX approach provides a new and more
detailed analysis of trade influence propagation comparing to the usual
approach based on export and import flows.


  Given a $C_\infty$ coalgebra $C_*$, a strict dg Hopf algebra $H_*$, and a
twisting cochain $\tau:C_* \rightarrow H_*$ such that $Im(\tau) \subset
Prim(H_*)$, we describe a procedure for obtaining an $A_\infty$ coalgebra on
$C_* \otimes H_*$. This is an extension of Brown's work on twisted tensor
products. We apply this procedure to obtain an $A_\infty$ coalgebra model of
the chains on the free loop space $LM$ based on the $C_\infty$ coalgebra
structure of $H_*(M)$ induced by the diagonal map $M \rightarrow M \times M$
and the Hopf algebra model of the based loop space given by $T(H_*(M)[-1])$.
When $C_*$ has cyclic $C_\infty$ coalgebra structure, we describe an $A_\infty$
algebra on $C_* \otimes H_*$. This is used to give an explicit (non-minimal)
$A_\infty$ algebra model of the string topology loop product. Finally, we
discuss a representation of the loop product in principal $G$-bundles.


  In order to evaluate the impact of a policy intervention on a group of units
over time, it is important to correctly estimate the average treatment effect
(ATE) measure. Due to lack of robustness of the existing procedures of
estimating ATE from panel data, in this paper, we introduce a robust estimator
of the ATE and the subsequent inference procedures using the popular approach
of minimum density power divergence inference. Asymptotic properties of the
proposed ATE estimator are derived and used to construct robust test statistics
for testing parametric hypotheses related to the ATE. Besides asymptotic
analyses of efficiency and powers, extensive simulation studies are conducted
to study the finite-sample performances of our proposed estimation and testing
procedures under both pure and contaminated data. The robustness of the ATE
estimator is further investigated theoretically through the influence functions
analyses. Finally our proposal is applied to study the long-term economic
effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami on the (per-capita)
gross domestic products (GDP) of five mostly affected countries, namely
Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India and Maldives.


  The chaotic diffusion for particles moving in a time dependent potential well
is described by using two different procedures: (i) via direct evolution of the
mapping describing the dynamics and ; (ii) by the solution of the diffusion
equation. The dynamic of the diffusing particles is made by the use of a two
dimensional, nonlinear area preserving map for the variables energy and time.
The phase space of the system is mixed containing both chaos, periodic regions
and invariant spanning curves limiting the diffusion of the chaotic particles.
The chaotic evolution for an ensemble of particles is treated as random
particles motion and hence described by the diffusion equation. The boundary
conditions impose that the particles can not cross the invariant spanning
curves, serving as upper boundary for the diffusion, nor the lowest energy
domain that is the energy the particles escape from the time moving potential
well. The diffusion coefficient is determined via the equation of the mapping
while the analytical solution of the diffusion equation gives the probability
to find a given particle with a certain energy at a specific time. The momenta
of the probability describe qualitatively the behavior of the average energy
obtained by numerical simulation, which is investigated either as a function of
the time as well as some of the control parameters of the problem.


  Following the techniques and notions we defined in our previous article, we
define the notion of twisted differential operator of finite radius. We show
that this notion is independent of the choice of the endomorphisms. In the case
of $q$-coordinates we obtain an equivalence between $\eta^\dagger$-convergent
modules of finite type endowed with an integrable connection and the modules of
finite type endowed with an action by $\underline{q}$-differential operators of
the same radius.


  In this paper we establish rigorously that the family of Burgers vortices of
the three-dimensional Navier-Stokes equation is stable for small Reynolds
numbers. More precisely, we prove that any solution whose initial condition is
a small perturbation of a Burgers vortex will converge toward another Burgers
vortex as time goes to infinity, and we give an explicit formula for computing
the change in the circulation number (which characterizes the limiting vortex
completely.) We also give a rigorous proof of the existence and stability of
non-axisymmetric Burgers vortices provided the Reynolds number is sufficiently
small, depending on the asymmetry parameter.


  Mexico, like the rest of the world, is currently facing the The COVID-19
pandemic. Given the size of its territory, the efforts to contain the disease
have involved both national and regional measures. For this work, the curves of
daily new cases of each municipality reported by the federal government were
compared. We found that 114 municipalities form a large network of
statistically dependent epidemic phenomena. Based on the network's modular
structure, these 114 municipalities can be split into four distinct communities
of coordinated epidemic phenomena. These clusters are not limited by
geographical proximity. These findings can be helpful for public health
officials for the evaluation of past strategies and the development of new
directed interventions.


  Industrial Control Systems (ICS) are evolving with advances in new
technology. The addition of wireless sensors and actuators and new control
techniques means that engineering practices from communication systems are
being integrated into those used for control systems. The two are engineered in
very different ways. Neither engineering approach is capable of accounting for
the subtle interactions and interdependence that occur when the two are
combined. This paper describes our first steps to bridge this gap, and push the
boundaries of both computer communication system and control system design. We
present The Separator testbed, a Cyber-Physical testbed enabling our search for
a suitable way to engineer systems that combine both computer networks and
control systems.


  We calculate the amplitude of the rare flavour-changing neutral-current decay
$B\to \pi\ell^+\ell^-$ at large recoil of the pion. The nonlocal contributions
in which the weak effective operators are combined with the electromagnetic
lepton-pair emission are systematically taken into account. These amplitudes
are calculated at off-shell values of the lepton-pair mass squared, $q^2<0$,
employing the operator-product expansion, QCD factorization and light-cone sum
rules. The results are fitted to hadronic dispersion relations in $q^2$,
including the intermediate vector meson contributions. The dispersion relations
are then used in the physical region $q^2>0$. Our main result is the
process-dependent addition $\Delta C^{(B\pi)}_9(q^2)$ to the Wilson coefficient
$C_9$ obtained at $4m_\ell^2<q^2\lesssim m_{J/\psi}^2$. Together with the $B\to
\pi$ form factors from light-cone sum rules, this quantity is used to predict
the differential rate, direct CP-asymmetry and isospin asymmetry in $B\to
\pi\ell^+\ell^-$. We also estimate the total rate of the rare decay $B\to
\pi\nu\bar{\nu}$.


  A hom-associative structure is a set $A$ together with a binary operation
$\star$ and a selfmap $\alpha$ such that an $\alpha$-twisted version of
associativity is fulfilled. In this paper, we assume that $\alpha$ is
surjective. We show that in this case, under surprisingly weak additional
conditions on the multiplication, the binary operation is a twisted version of
an associative operation. As an application, an earlier result by Yael Fregier
and the author on weakly unital hom-algebras is recovered with a different
proof. In the second section, consequences for the deformation theory of
hom-algebras with surjective twisting map are discussed.


  Conformance checking deals with collating modeled process behavior with
observed process behavior recorded in event data. Alignments are a
state-of-the-art technique to detect, localize, and quantify deviations in
process executions, i.e., traces, compared to reference process models.
Alignments, however, assume complete process executions covering the entire
process from start to finish or prefixes of process executions. This paper
defines infix/postfix alignments, proposes approaches to their computation, and
evaluates them using real-life event data.


  Let $G$ be a finite group, $k$ be a field and $G\to GL(V_{\rm reg})$ be the
regular representation of $G$ over $k$. Then $G$ acts naturally on the rational
function field $k(V_{\rm reg})$ by $k$-automorphisms. Define $k(G)$ to be the
fixed field $k(V_{\rm reg})^G$. Noether's problem asks whether $k(G)$ is
rational (resp. stably rational) over $k$.
  When $k=\bQ$ and $G$ contains a normal subgroup $N$ with $G/H\simeq C_8$ (the
cyclic group of order $8$), Jack Sonn proves that $\bQ(G)$ is not stably
rational over $\bQ$, which is a non-abelian extension of a theorem of
Endo-Miyata, Voskresenskii, Lenstra and Saltman for the abelian Noether's
problem $\bQ(C_8)$. Using the method of cohomological invariants, we are able
to generalize Sonn's theorem as follows. Theorem. Let $G$ be a finite group and
$N$ $\lhd$ $G$ such that $G/N\simeq C_{2^n}$ with $n\geq 3$. If $k$ is a field
satisfying that ${\rm char}\,k=0$ and $k(\zeta_{2^n})/k$ is not a cyclic
extension where $\zeta_{2^n}$ is a primitive $2^n$-th root of unity, then
$k(G)$ is not stably rational (resp. not retract rational) over $k$.
\end{abstract}


  This is an exposition of some basic ideas in the realm of Global Inverse
Function theorems. We address ourselves mainly to readers who are interested in
the applications to Differential Equations. But we do not deal with those
applications and we give a `self-contained' elementary exposition.


  We use Integrability techniques to compute structure constants in N=4 SYM to
leading order. Three closed spin chains, which represent the single trace
gauge-invariant operators in N=4 SYM, are cut into six open chains which are
then sewed back together into some nice pants, the three-point function. The
algebraic and coordinate Bethe ansatz tools necessary for this task are
reviewed. Finally, we discuss the classical limit of our results, anticipating
some predictions for quasi-classical string correlators in terms of algebraic
curves.


  The possibility to access the absolute neutrino mass scale through the
measurement of the wrong helicity contribution of charged leptons is
investigated in pion decay. Through this method, one may have access to the
same effective mass $m^2_\beta$ extractable from the tritium beta decay
experiments for electron neutrinos as well as the analogous effective mass
$(m^2_{\nu_\mu})_{\rm eff}$ for muon neutrinos. In the channel $\pi^-\to
e^-\bar{\nu}$, the relative probability of producing an antineutrino with left
helicity is enhanced if compared with the naive expectation $(m_\nu/2E_\nu)^2$.
The possibility to constrain new interactions in the context of
Two-Higgs-Doublet models is also investigated.


  A topological defect in the form of the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen vortex in a
space of arbitrary dimension is considered as a gauge-flux-carrying tube that
is impenetrable for quantum matter. Charged scalar matter field is quantized in
the vortex background with the perfectly rigid (Neumann) boundary condition
imposed at the side surface of the vortex. We show that a current circulating
around the vortex is induced in the vacuum, if the Compton wavelength of the
matter field exceeds the transverse size of the vortex considerably. The vacuum
current is periodic in the value of the gauge flux of the vortex, providing a
quantum-field-theoretical manifestation of the Aharonov-Bohm effect. The vacuum
current leads to the appearance of an induced vacuum magnetic flux that for
some values of the tube thickness exceeds the vacuum magnetic flux induced by a
singular vortex filament. The results were compared to the results obtained
earlier in the case of the perfectly reflecting (Dirichlet) boundary condition
imposed at the side surface of the vortex. It is shown that the absolute value
of the induced vacuum current and the induced vacuum magnetic flux in the case
of the Neumann boundary condition is greater than in the case of the Dirichlet
boundary condition.


  Electric power grid components, such as high voltage transformers (HVTs),
generating stations, substations, etc. are expensive to maintain and, in the
event of failure, replace. Thus, regularly monitoring the behavior of such
components is of utmost importance. Furthermore, the recent increase in the
number of cyberattacks on such systems demands that such monitoring strategies
should be robust. In this paper, we draw inspiration from work in Moving Target
Defense (MTD) and consider a dynamic monitoring strategy that makes it
difficult for an attacker to prevent unique identification of behavioral
signals that indicate the status of HVTs. We first formulate the problem of
finding a differentially immune configuration set for an MTD in the context of
power grids and then propose algorithms to compute it. To find the optimal
movement strategy, we model the MTD as a two-player game and consider the
Stackelberg strategy. With the help of IEEE test cases, we show the efficacy
and scalability of our proposed approaches.


  We study the similarity solutions (SS) of Smoluchowski coagulation equation
with multiplicative kernel $K(x,y)=(xy)^{s}$ for $s<\frac{1}{2}$. When $s<0$% ,
the SS consists of three regions with distinct asymptotic behaviours. The
appropriate matching yields a global description of the solution consisting of
a Gamma distribution tail, an intermediate region described by a lognormal
distribution and a region of very fast decay of the solutions to zero near the
origin. When $s\in \left( 0,\frac{1}{2}\right) $, the SS is unbounded at the
origin. It also presents three regions: a Gamma distribution tail, an
intermediate region of power-like (or Pareto distribution) decay and the region
close to the origin where a singularity occurs. Finally, full numerical
simulations of Smoluchowski equation serve to verify our theoretical results
and show the convergence of solutions to the selfsimilar regime.


  We derive residue formulas for the regularized integrals (introduced by
Li-Zhou) on configuration spaces of elliptic curves. Based on these formulas,
we prove that the regularized integrals satisfy holomorphic anomaly equations,
providing a mathematical formulation of the so-called contact term
singularities. We also discuss residue formulas for the ordered $A$-cycle
integrals and establish their relations with those for the regularized
integrals.


  Two different theoretical formulations of the finite temperature effects have
been recently proposed for integrable field theories. In order to decide which
of them is the correct one, we perform for a particular model an explicit check
of their predictions for the one-point function of the trace of the
stress-energy tensor, a quantity which can be independently determined by the
Thermodynamical Bethe Ansatz.


  The central regions of galaxies harbor some of the most extreme physical
phenomena, including dense stellar clusters, non-circular motions of molecular
clouds and strong and pervasive magnetic field structures. In particular, radio
observations have shown that the central few hundred parsecs of our Galaxy has
a striking magnetic field configuration. It is not yet clear whether these
magnetic structures are unique to our Milky Way or a common feature of all
similar galaxies. Therefore, we report on (a) a new radio polarimetric survey
of the central 200 pc of the Galaxy to better characterize the magnetic field
structure and (b) a search for large-scale and organized magnetized structure
in the nuclear regions of nearby galaxies using data from the Very Large Array
(VLA) archive. The high angular resolution of the VLA allows us to study the
central 1 kpc of the nearest galaxies to search for magnetized nuclear features
similar to what is detected in our own Galactic center. Such magnetic features
play a important role in the nuclear regions of galaxies in terms of gas
transport and the physical conditions of the interstellar medium in this
unusual region of galaxies.


  The improved Cascade-Exciton Model code CEM2k and the Los Alamos version of
the Quark-Gluon String Model code LAQGSM, previously merged with the
Generalized Evaporation Model code of Furihata (GEM2) were further modified to
provide reliable proton-induced fission cross sections for applications. By
adjusting two parameters in GEM2 for each measured reaction, we were able to
describe very well with CEM2k+GEM2 and LAQGSM+GEM2 all available experimental
fission cross sections induced by protons with energies from 20 MeV to 10 GeV
both for subactinide and actinide targets. We also successfully tested our
approach on several reactions induced by neutrons, pions, and photons.


  We present a micromagnetic analysis of spin-wave propagation in a magnonic
crystal realized as a permalloy spin-wave waveguide with a spatial periodical
variation of its saturation magnetization. Frequency band gaps were clearly
observed in the spin-wave transmission spectra and their origin is traced back
to an overlap of individual band gaps of the fundamental and the higher order
spin-wave width modes. The control of the depth, width and the position in
frequency and space of the rejection band gaps by the width areas with a
reduced magnetization and by the modulation level, are discussed in this study.


  We give a classification for connected complete locally irreducible
Riemannian manifolds with nonpositive curvature operator, which admit a nonzero
closed or co-closed conformal Killing $L^{2}-$form. Moreover, we prove
vanishing theorems for closed and co-closed conformal Killing $L^{2}-$forms on
some complete Riemannian manifolds.


  We present high-resolution radio and X-ray studies of the composite supernova
remnant G11.2-0.3. Using archival VLA data, we perform radio spectral
tomography to measure for the first time the spectrum of the shell and plerion
separately. We compare the radio morphology of each component to that observed
in the hard and soft Chandra X-ray images. We measure the X-ray spectra of the
shell and the emission in the interior and discuss the hypothesis that soft
X-ray emission interior to the shell is the result of the expanding pulsar wind
shocking with the supernova ejecta. We also see evidence for spatial
variability in the hard X-ray emission near the pulsar, which we discuss in
terms of ion mediated relativistic shocks.


  A new class of electrically charged wormholes is described in which the outer
two sphere is not spanned by a compact coorientable hypersurface. These
wormholes can therefore display net electric charge from the source free
Maxwell's equation. This extends the work of Sorkin on non-space orientable
manifolds, to spacetimes which do not admit a time orientation. The work is
motivated by the suggestion that quantum theory can be explained by modelling
elementary particles as regions of spacetime with non-trivial causal structure.
The simplest example of an electrically charged spacetime carries a spherical
symmetry.


  We estimate the inclusive double diffractive production of SUSY particles at
the LHC using a modified version of the POMWIG Monte Carlo event generator. The
diffractive events are produced via the Ingelman-Schlein model for double
pomeron exchange. The MSSM parameter space is scanned using the ``Snowmass
benchmark points'' and it is shown that the lightest Higgs boson is the only
SUSY particle with a large enough rate to be detected using these diffractive
events.


  I give a first characterization of the class of generalized measurements that
can be exactly realized on a pair of qudits encoded in indistinguishable
particles, by using only linear elements and particle detectors. Two immediate
results follow from this characterization. (i) The Schmidt number of each POVM
element cannot exceed the number of initial particles. This rules out any
possibility of performing perfect Bell-measurements for qudits. (ii) The
maximum probability of performing a generalized incomplete Bell-measurement is
1/2.


  We have modeled the velocity-resolved reverberation response of the H\b{eta}
broad emission line in nine Seyfert 1 galaxies from the Lick Active Galactic
Nucleus (AGN) Monitioring Project 2016 sample, drawing inferences on the
geometry and structure of the low-ionization broad-line region (BLR) and the
mass of the central supermassive black hole. Overall, we find that the H\b{eta}
BLR is generally a thick disk viewed at low to moderate inclination angles. We
combine our sample with prior studies and investigate line-profile shape
dependence, such as log10(FWHM/{\sigma}), on BLR structure and kinematics and
search for any BLR luminosity-dependent trends. We find marginal evidence for
an anticorrelation between the profile shape of the broad H\b{eta} emission
line and the Eddington ratio, when using the root-mean-square spectrum.
However, we do not find any luminosity-dependent trends, and conclude that AGNs
have diverse BLR structure and kinematics, consistent with the hypothesis of
transient AGN/BLR conditions rather than systematic trends.


  We study the continuum limit of two-dimensional chiral magnets in which
Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction (DMI) is due to the interplay between a
smooth magnetic texture and spin-orbit coupling. The resulting free-energy
density of the system contains linear terms in the spatial gradient of the
magnetic texture, which mark an instability of the system towards the formation
of nontrivial magnetic orders such as skyrmions or chiral domain walls. We
perform a microscopic analysis of DMI tensors responsible for this contribution
to free energy based on a Berry phase formulation in the mixed space of
momentum and position, and reveal that they exhibit non-Lifshitz invariants
features. In particular, a perturbation theory shows in the case of Rashba
spin-orbit interactions the presence of non-Lifshitz invariants to third order
in the small spin-orbit interaction and fourth order in the small exchange
coupling. The higher-order terms may even lead to an enhancement of DMI
interaction at strong spin-orbit coupling due to divergences in the density of
states at the bottom of the conduction band. Finally, we also study the DMI
free energy generated from Rashba spin-orbit interaction in different symmetry
groups.


  In the Standard Model, b quarks produced in e^+e^- annihilation at the Z^0
peak have a large average longitudinal polarization of -0.94. Some fraction of
this polarization is expected to be transferred to b-flavored baryons during
hadronization. The average longitudinal polarization of weakly decaying b
baryons, <P_L^{\Lambda_b}>, is measured in approximately 4.3 million hadronic
Z^0 decays collected with the OPAL detector between 1990 and 1995 at LEP. Those
b baryons that decay semileptonically and produce a \Lambda baryon are
identified through the correlation of the baryon number of the \Lambda and the
electric charge of the lepton. In this semileptonic decay, the ratio of the
neutrino energy to the lepton energy is a sensitive polarization observable.
The neutrino energy is estimated using missing energy measurements. From a fit
to the distribution of this ratio, the value
  <P_L^{\Lambda_b}> = -0.56^{+0.20}_{-0.13} +/- 0.09
  is obtained, where the first error is statistical and the second systematic.


  The famous Fisher-KPP reaction-diffusion model combines linear diffusion with
the typical KPP reaction term, and appears in a number of relevant applications
in biology and chemistry. It is remarkable as a mathematical model since it
possesses a family of travelling waves that describe the asymptotic behaviour
of a large class solutions $0\le u(x,t)\le 1$ of the problem posed in the real
line. The existence of propagation waves with finite speed has been confirmed
in some related models and disproved in others. We investigate here the
corresponding theory when the linear diffusion is replaced by the "slow" doubly
nonlinear diffusion and we find travelling waves that represent the wave
propagation of more general solutions even when we extend the study to several
space dimensions. A similar study is performed in the critical case that we
call "pseudo-linear", i.e., when the operator is still nonlinear but has
homogeneity one. With respect to the classical model and the "pseudo-linear"
case, the "slow" travelling waves exhibit free boundaries.


  We classify homogeneous degree $d\neq2$ solutions to fully nonlinear elliptic
equations.


  In the field of autonomous driving, monocular 3D detection is a critical task
which estimates 3D properties (depth, dimension, and orientation) of objects in
a single RGB image. Previous works have used features in a heuristic way to
learn 3D properties, without considering that inappropriate features could have
adverse effects. In this paper, sample selection is introduced that only
suitable samples should be trained to regress the 3D properties. To select
samples adaptively, we propose a Learnable Sample Selection (LSS) module, which
is based on Gumbel-Softmax and a relative-distance sample divider. The LSS
module works under a warm-up strategy leading to an improvement in training
stability. Additionally, since the LSS module dedicated to 3D property sample
selection relies on object-level features, we further develop a data
augmentation method named MixUp3D to enrich 3D property samples which conforms
to imaging principles without introducing ambiguity. As two orthogonal methods,
the LSS module and MixUp3D can be utilized independently or in conjunction.
Sufficient experiments have shown that their combined use can lead to
synergistic effects, yielding improvements that transcend the mere sum of their
individual applications. Leveraging the LSS module and the MixUp3D, without any
extra data, our method named MonoLSS ranks 1st in all three categories (Car,
Cyclist, and Pedestrian) on KITTI 3D object detection benchmark, and achieves
competitive results on both the Waymo dataset and KITTI-nuScenes cross-dataset
evaluation. The code is included in the supplementary material and will be
released to facilitate related academic and industrial studies.


  Unbalanced charge injection is deleterious for the performance of colloidal
quantum dot (CQD) light emitting diodes (LEDs) as it deteriorates the quantum
efficiency (QE), brightness and operational lifetime. CQD LEDs emitting in the
infrared have previously achieved high quantum efficiencies but only when
driven to emit in the low radiance regime. At higher radiance levels, required
for practical applications, the efficiency decreased dramatically in view of
the notorious efficiency droop. Here we report a novel methodology to regulate
charge supply in multinary bandgap CQD composites that facilitates improved
charge balance. Our approach is based on engineering the energetic potential
landscape at the supra-nanocrystalline level that has allowed us to report
short-wave infrared (SWIR) PbS CQD LEDs with record-high external QE in excess
of 8%, most importantly, at a radiance level of ~ 5 WSr-1m2, an order of
magnitude higher than prior reports. Furthermore, the balanced charge injection
and Auger recombination reduction has led to unprecedentedly high operational
stability with radiance half-life of 26068 hours at a radiance of 1Wsr-1m-2.


  This paper considers a communication network comprised of two nodes, which
have no mutual direct communication links, communicating two-way with the aid
of a common relay node (RN), also known as separated two-way relay (TWR)
channel.
  We first recall a cut-set outer bound for the set of rates in the context of
this network topology assuming full-duplex transmission capabilities. Then, we
derive a new achievable rate region based on hash-and-forward (HF) relaying
where the RN does not attempt to decode but instead hashes its received signal,
and show that under certain channel conditions it coincides with Shannon's
inner-bound for the two-way channel [1]. Moreover, for binary adder TWR channel
with additive noise at the nodes and the RN we provide a detailed capacity
achieving coding scheme based on structure codes.


  We give a short review of the recent development in the investigation of the
vacuum expectation values of the bulk and surface energy-momentum tensors
generated by quantum fluctuations of a massive scalar field with general
curvature coupling parameter subject to Robin boundary conditions on two
codimension one parallel branes located on $(D+1)$-dimensional anti-de Sitter
(AdS) bulk. An application to the Randall-Sundrum braneworld with arbitrary
mass terms on the branes is discussed.


  The prospects of measuring the leptonic angles and CP-odd phases at a {\em
neutrino factory} are discussed in the scenario of three active plus one
sterile neutrino. We consider the $\nu_\mu \raw \nu_e$ LSND signal. Its
associated large mass difference leads to observable neutrino oscillations at
short ($\sim 1$ km) baseline experiments. Sensitivities to the leptonic angles
down to $10^{-3}$ can be easily achieved with a 1 Ton detector. Longer baseline
experiments ($\sim 100$ km) with a 1 Kton detector can provide very clean tests
of CP-violation especially through tau lepton detection.


  We investigate the new and still poorly studied matter of so-called multiple
stellar populations (MSPs) in Galactic globular clusters (GGCs). Studying MSPs
and their accumulated data can shed more light on the formation and evolution
of GGCs and other closely related fundamental problems. We focus on the strong
relation between the radial distribution of evolutionary homogeneous stars and
their U-based photometric characteristics in the nearby GGC NGC 6752 and
compare this with a similar relation we found in NGC 3201 and NGC 1261. We use
our new multi-color photometry in a fairly wide field of NGC 6752, with
particular emphasis on the U band and our recent and already published
photometry made in NGC 3201 and NGC 1261. We found and report here for the
first time a strong difference in the radial distribution between the
sub-populations of red giant branch (RGB) stars that are bluer and redder in
color U-B, as well as between sub-giant branch (SGB) stars brighter and fainter
in the U-magnitude in NGC 6752. Moreover, the fainter SGB and redder RGB stars
are similarly much more centrally concentrated than their respective brighter
and bluer counterparts. Virtually the same applies to NGC 3201. We find
evidence in NGC 6752 as in NGC 3201 that a dramatic change in the proportion of
the two sub-populations of SGB and RGB stars occurs at a radial distance close
to the half-mass radius, R_h, of the cluster. These results are the first
detections of the radial trend of the particular photometric properties of
stellar populations in GGCs. They imply a radial dependence of the main
characteristics of the stellar populations in these GGCs, primarily of the
abundance, and (indirectly) presumably of the kinematics.


  Based on our formulation of the DNA electrophoresis near a pore [P.
Rowghanian and A. Y. Grosberg, Phys. Rev. E 87, 042723 (2013)], we address the
electrophoretic DNA capture into a nanopore as a steady-state process of
particle absorption to a sink placed on top of an energy barrier. Reproducing
the previously observed diffusion-limited and barrier-limited regimes as two
different limits of the particle absorption process and matching the data, our
model suggests a slower growth of the capture rate with the DNA length for very
large DNA molecules than the previous model, motivating more experiments beyond
the current range of electric field and DNA length. At moderately weak electric
fields, our model predicts a different effect, stating that the DNA length
dependence of the capture rate first disappears as the field is reduced and
eventually reverses to a decreasing trend with $N$.


  Consider the family of bounded degree graphs in any minor-closed family (such
as planar graphs). Let d be the degree bound and n be the number of vertices of
such a graph. Graphs in these classes have hyperfinite decompositions, where,
for a sufficiently small \e > 0, one removes \edn edges to get connected
components of size independent of n. An important tool for sublinear algorithms
and property testing for such classes is the partition oracle, introduced by
the seminal work of Hassidim-Kelner-Nguyen-Onak (FOCS 2009). A partition oracle
is a local procedure that gives consistent access to a hyperfinite
decomposition, without any preprocessing. Given a query vertex v, the partition
oracle outputs the component containing v in time independent of n. All the
answers are consistent with a single hyperfinite decomposition. The partition
oracle of Hassidim et al. runs in time d^poly(d/\e) per query. They pose the
open problem of whether poly(d/\e)-time partition oracles exist. Levi-Ron
(ICALP 2013) give a refinement of the previous approach, to get a partition
oracle that runs in time d^{\log(d/\e)-per query. In this paper, we resolve
this open problem and give \poly(d/\e)-time partition oracles for bounded
degree graphs in any minor-closed family. Unlike the previous line of work
based on combinatorial methods, we employ techniques from spectral graph
theory. We build on a recent spectral graph theoretical toolkit for
minor-closed graph families, introduced by the authors to develop efficient
property testers. A consequence of our result is a poly(d/\e)-query tester for
any monotone and additive property of minor-closed families (such as bipartite
planar graphs). Our result also gives poly(d/\e)-query algorithms for additive
{\e}n-approximations for problems such as maximum matching, minimum vertex
cover, maximum independent set, and minimum dominating set for these graph
families.


  We have studied the rapid X-ray time variability in 149 pointed observations
with the \textit{Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer} (RXTE)'s Proportional Counter
Array of the atoll source 4U~1636--53 in the banana state and, for the first
time with RXTE, in the island state. We compare the frequencies of the
variability components of 4U~1636--53 with those in other atoll and Z-sources
and find that 4U~1636--53 follows the universal scheme of correlations
previously found for other atoll sources at (sometimes much) lower
luminosities. Our results on the hectohertz QPO suggest that the mechanism that
sets its frequency differs from that for the other components, while the
amplitude setting mechanism is common. A previously proposed interpretation of
the narrow low-frequency QPO frequencies in different sources in terms of
harmonic mode switching is not supported by our data, nor by some previous data
on other sources and the frequency range that this QPO covers is found not to
be related to spin, angular momentum or luminosity.


  We present the exact solution of a model of interacting fermions in any
dimension with a pure repulsive interaction projecting out a given Cooper
channel. The solution rests upon the infinite ranged character of the
interaction in real space, leading to a functional integral that is dominated
by a Gaussian term. The solution produces strong superconducting enhancements
and quasi long ranged order in a channel that is not present in the Hamiltonian
explicitly, but of the form given by arguments from order by projection.


  We study a noisy tensor completion problem of broad practical interest,
namely, the reconstruction of a low-rank tensor from highly incomplete and
randomly corrupted observations of its entries. While a variety of prior work
has been dedicated to this problem, prior algorithms either are computationally
too expensive for large-scale applications, or come with sub-optimal
statistical guarantees. Focusing on "incoherent" and well-conditioned tensors
of a constant CP rank, we propose a two-stage nonconvex algorithm -- (vanilla)
gradient descent following a rough initialization -- that achieves the best of
both worlds. Specifically, the proposed nonconvex algorithm faithfully
completes the tensor and retrieves all individual tensor factors within nearly
linear time, while at the same time enjoying near-optimal statistical
guarantees (i.e. minimal sample complexity and optimal estimation accuracy).
The estimation errors are evenly spread out across all entries, thus achieving
optimal $\ell_{\infty}$ statistical accuracy. We have also discussed how to
extend our approach to accommodate asymmetric tensors. The insight conveyed
through our analysis of nonconvex optimization might have implications for
other tensor estimation problems.


  The aim of this article is twofold: on the one hand it is intended to serve
as a gentle introduction to the topic of creative telescoping, from a practical
point of view; for this purpose its application to several problems is
exemplified. On the other hand, this chapter has the flavour of a survey
article: the developments in this area during the last two decades are sketched
and a selection of references is compiled in order to highlight the impact of
creative telescoping in numerous contexts.


  One of the most popular training algorithms for deep neural networks is the
Adaptive Moment Estimation (Adam) introduced by Kingma and Ba. Despite its
success in many applications there is no satisfactory convergence analysis:
only local convergence can be shown for batch mode under some restrictions on
the hyperparameters, counterexamples exist for incremental mode. Recent results
show that for simple quadratic objective functions limit cycles of period 2
exist in batch mode, but only for atypical hyperparameters, and only for the
algorithm without bias correction. %More general there are several more
adaptive gradient methods which try to estimate a fitting learning rate and /
or search direction from the training data to improve the learning process
compared to pure gradient descent with fixed learningrate. We extend the
convergence analysis for Adam in the batch mode with bias correction and show
that even for quadratic objective functions as the simplest case of convex
functions 2-limit-cycles exist, for all choices of the hyperparameters. We
analyze the stability of these limit cycles and relate our analysis to other
results where approximate convergence was shown, but under the additional
assumption of bounded gradients which does not apply to quadratic functions.
The investigation heavily relies on the use of computer algebra due to the
complexity of the equations.


  The NA48/2 experiment at CERN collected a large sample of charged kaon decays
into final states with multiple charged particles in 2003--2004. A new upper
limit on the rate of the lepton number violating decay
$K^{\pm}\to\pi^{\mp}\mu^{\pm}\mu^{\pm}$ obtained from this sample is reported:
$\mathcal{B}(K^{\pm}\to\pi^{\mp}\mu^{\pm}\mu^{\pm})<8.6 \times 10^{-11}$ at
90\% CL. Searches for two-body resonances in the $K^{\pm}\to\pi\mu\mu$ decays
(including heavy neutral leptons~$N_4$ and inflatons~$\chi$) in the accessible
range of masses and lifetimes are also presented. In the absence of a signal,
upper limits are set on the products of branching
ratios~$\mathcal{B}(K^{\pm}\to\mu^{\pm}N_4)\mathcal{B}(N_4\to\pi\mu)$ and
$\mathcal{B}(K^{\pm}\to\pi^{\pm}\chi)\mathcal{B}(\chi\to\mu^+\mu^-)$ as
functions of the resonance mass and lifetime. These limits are in the
$10^{-10}-10^{-9}$ range for resonance lifetimes below 100~ps.


  The relationship between the long-range antiferromagnetic order in cuprates
and the high-temperature superconductivity in these compounds represents
unresolved, nearly four-decades long scientific problem. Because recently
discovered nickelate superconductors are crystallographical counterparts of
cuprates, many properties and difficulties into describing these compounds are
common to both families. Recently, Fowlie et al (2022 Nature Physics 18 1043)
aimed to detect the antiferromagnetic order in $R_{1-x}Sr_{x}NiO_{2}$ (R = Nd,
Pr, La, x ~ 0.2) films by using the muon spin rotation (muSR) technique. This
research group reported on the existence of short-range antiferromagnetic order
in all studied nickelates. Here, we aimed to reveal the existence of this
interaction in the same nickelate films by analyzing the temperature dependent
resistivity, $\rho(T)$, reported by the same research group. Global $\rho(T)$
data fits to the advanced Bloch-Gr\"uneisen model showed that each of
R1-xSrxNiO2 compounds can be characterized by a unique power-law exponent, p
(where p=2 for the electron-electron scattering, p=3 for the electron-magnon
scattering, and p=5 for the electron-phonon scattering), and global
characteristic temperature, $T_{\omega}$ (which has the meaning of the Debye
temperature at p=5). We found that p=2.0 in Nd- and Pr-based compounds, and
p=1.3 for La-based compound. The latter value does not have any interpretation
within established theoretical models. We also analyzed $\rho(T)$ data for
$Nd_{1-x}Sr_{x}NiO_{2}$ (0.125 < x < 0.325) reported by Lee et al (2022
arXiv2203.02580). Because our analysis showed that p-values in nickelates are
remarkably different from p=3, we call for the developent of a new theoretical
model to describe $\rho(T)$ in materials exhibiting a short-range
antiferromagnetic order.


  Multipartite entangled states are an essential building block for advanced
quantum networking applications. Realizing such tasks in practice puts
stringent requirements on the characteristics of the states in terms of
fidelity and generation rate, along with a desired compatibility with
telecommunication network deployment. Here, we demonstrate a photonic platform
design capable of producing high-fidelity Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ)
states, at telecom wavelength and in a compact and scalable configuration. Our
source relies on spontaneous parametric down-conversion in a layered Sagnac
interferometer, which only requires a single nonlinear crystal. This enables
the generation of highly indistinguishable photon pairs, leading by
entanglement fusion to four-qubit polarization-entangled GHZ states with
fidelity up to $(94.73 \pm 0.21)\%$ with respect to the ideal state, at a rate
of 1.7Hz. We provide a complete characterization of our source and highlight
its suitability for practical quantum network applications.


  We simulate the current-voltage relation of short layered superconductors,
which we model as stacks of capacitively coupled Josephson junctions. The
system is driven by external laser fields, in order to optically control the
voltage drop across the junction. We identify parameter regimes in which
supercurrents can be stabilised against thermally induced phase slips, thus
reducing the effective voltage across the superconductor. Furthermore, single
driven Josephson junctions are known to exhibit phase-locked states, where the
superconducting phase is locked to the driving field. We numerically observe
their persistence in the presence of thermal fluctuations and capacitive
coupling between adjacent Josephson junctions. Our results indicate how
macroscopic material properties can be manipulated by exploiting the large
optical nonlinearities of Josephson plasmons.


  We give an alternative proof of a (former) conjecture of Bj\"orner stating
that the matrix expressing face numbers in terms of g numbers is totally
non-negative. We briefly discuss the case of simple flag polytopes.


  Collective oscillations of superfluid mixtures of ultra cold fermionic and
bosonic atoms are investigated while varying the fermion-boson scattering
length. We study the dynamics with respect to excited center of mass modes and
breathing modes in the mixture. Parametric resonances are also analyzed when
the scattering length varies periodically in time, by comparing partial
differential equation (PDE) models and ordinary differential equation (ODE)
models for the dynamics. An application to the recent experiment with fermionic
$^{6}$Li and bosonic $^{7}$Li atoms, which approximately have the same masses,
is discussed.


  The customized multiple arrays are becoming vastly used in microarray
experiments for varies purposes, mainly for its ability to handle a large
quantity of data and output high quality results. However, experimenters who
use customized multiple arrays still face many problems, such as the cost and
time to manufacture the masks, and the cost for production of the multiple
arrays by costly machines. Although there is some research on the multiple
arrays, there is little concern on the manufacture time and cost, which is
actually important to experimenters. In this paper, we have proposed methods to
reduce the time and cost for the manufacture of the customized multiple arrays.
We have first introduced a heuristic algorithm for the mask decomposition
problem for multiple arrays. Then a streamline method is proposed for the
integration of different steps of manufacture on a higher level. Experiments
show that our methods are very effective in reduction of the time and cost of
manufacture of multiple arrays.


  The microfabrication of cesium vapor cells for optically pumped magnetometry
relies on optimization of buffer gas pressure in order to maximize atomic
coherence time and sensitivity to external magnetic signals. We demonstrate
post-bond nitrogen buffer gas pressure tuning through localized heating of an
integrated micro-pill dispenser. We characterize the variation in the intrinsic
longitudinal relaxation rate, $\gamma_{10}$, and magnetic sensitivity, as a
function of the resulting nitrogen buffer gas pressure. Measurements are
conducted through employing an optically pumped magnetometer operating in a
free-induction-decay configuration. $\gamma_{10}$ is extracted across a range
of nitrogen pressures between $\sim$~60~-~700~Torr, measuring a minimum of
140~Hz at 115~Torr. Additionally, we achieve sensitivities as low as 130
~fT/$\sqrt{\text{Hz}}$ at a bias field amplitude of $\sim 50~\mu$T. With the
optimal nitrogen buffer gas pressure now quantified and achievable
post-fabrication, these mass-producible cells can be tailored to suit a variety
of sensing applications, ensuring peak magnetometer performance.


  Theoretical calculations of the conductivity of sodium nitrate in water are
presented and compared with experimental measurements. The method of direct
correlation force in the framework of the interionic theory is used for the
calculation of transport properties in connection with the associative mean
spherical approximation (AMSA). The effective interactions between ions in
solutions are derived with the help of Monte Carlo and Molecular Dynamics
calculations on the Born-Oppenheimer level. This work is based on earlier
theoretical and experimental studies of the structure of concentrated aqueous
sodium nitrate solutions.


  Community detection in online social networks is typically based on the
analysis of the explicit connections between users, such as "friends" on
Facebook and "followers" on Twitter. But online users often have hundreds or
even thousands of such connections, and many of these connections do not
correspond to real friendships or more generally to accounts that users
interact with. We claim that community detection in online social networks
should be question-oriented and rely on additional information beyond the
simple structure of the network. The concept of 'community' is very general,
and different questions such as "whom do we interact with?" and "with whom do
we share similar interests?" can lead to the discovery of different social
groups. In this paper we focus on three types of communities beyond structural
communities: activity-based, topic-based, and interaction-based. We analyze a
Twitter dataset using three different weightings of the structural network
meant to highlight these three community types, and then infer the communities
associated with these weightings. We show that the communities obtained in the
three weighted cases are highly different from each other, and from the
communities obtained by considering only the unweighted structural network. Our
results confirm that asking a precise question is an unavoidable first step in
community detection in online social networks, and that different questions can
lead to different insights about the network under study.


  In this work, we have described the Brans-Dicke theory of gravity and given a
particular solution by choosing a power law form of scalar field $\phi$ and
constant $\omega$. If we assume first law and entropy formula on apparent
horizon then we recover Friedmann equations. Next, assuming first law of
thermodynamics, the validity conditions of GSL on event horizon are presented.
Also without use first law, if we impose the entropy relation on the horizon,
then we also obtain the condition of validity of GSL on event horizon. The
validity of GSL completely depends on the model of BD scalar field solutions.
We have justified that on the apparent horizon the two process are equivalent,
but on the event horizon they are not equivalent. If first law is valid on the
event horizon then GSL may be satisfied in BD solution, but if first law is not
satisfied then GSL is not satisfied in BD solution. So first law always favours
GSL on event horizon. In our effective approach, the first law and GSL is
always satisfied in apparent horizon, which do not depend on BD theory of
gravity.


  We first consider the Lagrangian formulation of general relativity for
perturbations with respect to a background spacetime. We show that by combining
Noether's method with Belinfante's "symmetrization'' procedure we obtain
conserved vectors that are independent of any divergence added to the perturbed
Hilbert Lagrangian. We also show that the corresponding perturbed energy-
momentum tensor is symmetrical and divergenceless but only on backgrounds that
are "Einstein spaces" in the sense of A.Z. Petrov. de Sitter or anti-de Sitter
and Einstein "spacetimes" are Einstein spaces but in general
Friedmann-Robertson -Walker spacetimes are not. Each conserved vector is a
divergence of an anti- symmetric tensor, a "superpotential". We find
superpotentials which are a generalization of Papapetrou's superpotential and
are rigorously linear, even for large perturbations, in terms of the inverse
metric density components and their first order derivatives. The
superpotentials give correct globally conserved quantities at spatial infinity.
They resemble Abbott and Deser's superpotential, but give correctly the
Bondi-Sachs total four-momentum at null infinity. Next we calculate conserved
vectors and superpotentials for perturbations of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker
background associated with its 15 conformal Killing vectors given in a
convenient form. The integral of each conserved vector in a finite volume V at
a given conformal time is equal to a surface integral on the boundary of V of
the superpotential. For given boundary conditions each such integral is part of
a flux whose total through a closed hypersurface is equal to zero. For given
boundary conditions on V, the integral can be considered as an "integral
constraint" on data in the volume...


  A common approach to evaluate entropy in quantum systems is to solve a
master-Bloch equation to determine density matrix and substitute it in entropy
definition. However, this method has been recently understood to lack many
energy correlators. The new correlators make entropy evaluation to be different
from the substitution method described above. The reason for such complexity
lies in the nonlinearity of entropy. In this paper we present a pedagogical
approach to evaluate the new correlators and explain their contribution in the
analysis. We show that the inherent nonlinearity in entropy makes the second
law of thermodynamics to carry new terms associated to the new correlators. Our
results show important new remarks on quantum black holes. Our formalism
reveals that the notion of degeneracy of states at the event horizon makes an
indispensable deviation from black hole entropy in the leading order.


  Like the old saying, "a graph is worth a thousand words," the non-verbal
language, encapsulated in the concept of inscription, is a fundamental
rhetorical device in the construction of knowledge represented by research
outputs. As many inscriptions are deeply situated in a scientific and
data-driven research paradigm, they can be used to understand the relationships
between research traditions involved in the field of digital humanities (DH), a
highly cross-disciplinary field that is frequently regarded as a battleground
between these distinct research traditions, especially the humanities and STEM
fields. This paper presents a quantitative, community-focused examination of
how inscriptions are used in English-language research articles in DH journals.
We randomly selected 252 articles published between 2011 and 2020 from a
representative DH journal list, and manually coded and classified inscriptions
and author domains in these publications. We found that inscriptions have been
increasingly used during the past decade and their uses are more intensive in
publications led by STEM authors comparing to other domains. This study offers
a timely survey of the disciplinary landscape of DH from the perspective of
inscriptions and sheds light on how different research approaches collaborated
and combated in the field of DH.


  The additively separable hedonic game (ASHG) is a model of coalition
formation games on graphs. In this paper, we intensively and extensively
investigate the computational complexity of finding several desirable
solutions, such as a Nash stable solution, a maximum utilitarian solution, and
a maximum egalitarian solution in ASHGs on sparse graphs including
bounded-degree graphs, bounded-treewidth graphs, and near-planar graphs. For
example, we show that finding a maximum egalitarian solution is weakly NP-hard
even on graphs of treewidth 2, whereas it can be solvable in polynomial time on
trees. Moreover, we give a pseudo fixed parameter algorithm when parameterized
by treewidth.