  We present a novel Recurrent Graph Network (RGN) approach for predicting
discrete marked event sequences by learning the underlying complex stochastic
process. Using the framework of Point Processes, we interpret a marked discrete
event sequence as the superposition of different sequences each of a unique
type. The nodes of the Graph Network use LSTM to incorporate past information
whereas a Graph Attention Network (GAT Network) introduces strong inductive
biases to capture the interaction between these different types of events. By
changing the self-attention mechanism from attending over past events to
attending over event types, we obtain a reduction in time and space complexity
from $\mathcal{O}(N^2)$ (total number of events) to
$\mathcal{O}(|\mathcal{Y}|^2)$ (number of event types). Experiments show that
the proposed approach improves performance in log-likelihood, prediction and
goodness-of-fit tasks with lower time and space complexity compared to
state-of-the art Transformer based architectures.


  In this paper we study two dimensional minimal linear code over the ring
$\mathbb{Z}_{p^n}$(where $p$ is prime). We show that if the generator matrix
$G$ of the two dimensional linear code $M$ contains $p^n+p^{n-1}$ column vector
of the following type {\scriptsize{$u_{l_1}\begin{pmatrix} 1\\ 0
\end{pmatrix}$, $u_{l_2}\begin{pmatrix} 0\\1 \end{pmatrix}$,
$u_{l_3}\begin{pmatrix} 1\\u_1 \end{pmatrix}$, $u_{l_4}\begin{pmatrix} 1\\u_2
\end{pmatrix}$,...,$u_{l_{p^n-p^{n-1}+2}} \begin{pmatrix} 1\\u_{p^n-p^{n-1}}
\end{pmatrix}$, $u_{l_{p^n-p^{n-1}+3}}\begin{pmatrix} d_1 \\ 1 \end{pmatrix}$,
$u_{l_{p^n-p^{n-1}+4}}\begin{pmatrix} d_2\\ 1 \end{pmatrix}$,...,
$u_{l_{p^n+1}}\begin{pmatrix} d_{p^{n-1}-1}\\1 \end{pmatrix}$,
$u_{l_{p^n+2}}\begin{pmatrix} 1\\d_1 \end{pmatrix}$,
$u_{l_{p^n+3}}\begin{pmatrix} 1\\d_2
\end{pmatrix}$,...,$u_{l_{p^n+p^{n-1}}}\begin{pmatrix} 1 \\d_{p^{n-1}-1}
\end{pmatrix}$}}, where $u_i$ and $d_j$ are distinct units and zero divisors
respectively in the ring $\mathbb{Z}_{p^n}$ for $1\leq i \leq p^n+p^{n-1}$,
$1\leq j \leq p^{n-1}-1$ and additionally, denote $u_{l_i}$ as units in
$\mathbb{Z}_{p^n}$, then the module generated by $G$ is a minimal linear code.
Also we show that if any one column vector of the above types are not present
entirely in $G$, then the generated module is not a minimal linear code.


  Motivated by recent experiments on Cs$_2$Cu$_3$SnF$_{12}$ and
YCu$_{3}$(OH)$_{6}$Cl$_{3}$, we consider the ${S=1/2}$ Heisenberg model on the
kagome lattice with nearest-neighbor super-exchange $J$ and (out-of-plane)
Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction $J_D$, which favors (in-plane) ${\bf
Q}=(0,0)$ magnetic order. By using both variational Monte Carlo (based upon
Gutzwiller-projected fermionic wave functions) and tensor-network approaches
(built from infinite projected-entangled pair/simplex states), we show that the
ground state develops a finite magnetization for $J_D/J \gtrsim 0.03 - 0.04$,
while the gapless spin liquid remains stable for smaller values of the
Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. The relatively small value of $J_D/J$ for
which magnetic order sets in is particularly relevant for the interpretation of
low-temperature behaviors of kagome antiferromagnets, including
ZnCu$_{3}$(OH)$_{6}$Cl$_{2}$. In addition, we assess the spin dynamical
structure factors and the corresponding low-energy spectrum, by using the
variational Monte Carlo technique. The existence of a continuum of excitations
above the magnon modes is reported within the magnetically ordered phase,
similarly to what has been detected by inelastic neutron scattering on
Cs$_{2}$Cu$_{3}$SnF$_{12}$.


  This paper reports on a study in which a novel virtual moving sound-based
spatial auditory brain-computer interface (BCI) paradigm is developed. Classic
auditory BCIs rely on spatially static stimuli, which are often boring and
difficult to perceive when subjects have non-uniform spatial hearing perception
characteristics. The concept of moving sound proposed and tested in the paper
allows for the creation of a P300 oddball paradigm of necessary target and
non-target auditory stimuli, which are more interesting and easier to
distinguish. We present a report of our study of seven healthy subjects, which
proves the concept of moving sound stimuli usability for a novel BCI. We
compare online BCI classification results in static and moving sound paradigms
yielding similar accuracy results. The subject preference reports suggest that
the proposed moving sound protocol is more comfortable and easier to
discriminate with the online BCI.


  We study the thermodynamic properties of an ideal gas of fermions in a
harmonic oscillator confining potential. The analogy between this problem and
the de Haas-van Alphen effect is discussed and used to obtain analytical
results for the chemical potential and specific heat in the case of an
isotropic potential. Step-like behaviour in the chemical potential, first noted
in numerical studies, is obtained analytically and shown to result in an
oscillatory behaviour of the specific heat when the particle number is varied.
The origin of these oscillations is that part of the thermodynamic potential
responsible for the de Haas-van Alphen effect. At low temperatures we show that
there are significant deviations in the specific heat from the expected linear
temperature dependence again as a consequence of the de Haas-van Alphen part of
the thermodynamic potential. Results are given for one, two, and three spatial
dimensions.


  New observations of the Magellanic Cloud Luminous Blue Variable candidate
S119 (HD269687) show the relationship of the star to its environs. Echelle
spectroscopy and high-resolution HST imagery reveal an expanding bubble
centered on the star. This bubble appears in both Halpha and [NII] and is
noticeably brighter on the near (blue-shifted) side. The systemic velocity of
both the expanding bubble and the star itself (as seen by the very broad Halpha
emission feature in the stellar spectrum) is V_hel=160 km/s whereas the
velocity of the superposed LMC ISM is 250-300 km/s. ISM absorption features
seen in FUSE spectra reveal components at both stellar and LMC velocities. Thus
we conclude that S119 is located within the LMC ISM and that the bubble is
interacting strongly with the ISM in a bow shock.


  The surface density and vertical distribution of stars, stellar remnants, and
gas in the solar vicinity form important ingredients for understanding the star
formation history of the Galaxy as well as for inferring the local density of
dark matter by using stellar kinematics to probe the gravitational potential.
In this paper we review the literature for these baryonic components, reanalyze
data, and provide tables of the surface densities and exponential scale heights
of main sequence stars, giants, brown dwarfs, and stellar remnants. We also
review three components of gas (H2, HI, and HII), give their surface densities
at the solar circle, and discuss their vertical distribution. We find a local
total surface density of M dwarfs of 17.3 pm 2.3 Mo/pc^2. Our result for the
total local surface density of visible stars, 27.0 pm 2.7 Mo/pc^2, is close to
previous estimates due to a cancellation of opposing effects: more mass in M
dwarfs, less mass in the others. The total local surface density in white
dwarfs is 4.9 pm 0.6 Mo/pc^2; in brown dwarfs, it is ~1.2 Mo/pc^2. We find that
the total local surface density of stars and stellar remnants is 33.4 pm 3
Mo/pc^2, somewhat less than previous estimates. We analyze data on 21 cm
emission and absorption and obtain good agreement with recent results on the
local amount of neutral atomic hydrogen obtained with the Planck satellite. The
local surface density of gas is 13.7 pm 1.6 Mo/pc^2. The total baryonic mass
surface density that we derive for the solar neighborhood is 47.1 pm 3.4
Mo/pc^2. Combining these results with others' measurements of the total surface
density of matter within 1-1.1 kpc of the plane, we find that the local density
of dark matter is 0.013 pm 0.003Mo/pc^3.The local density of all matter is
0.097 pm 0.013 Mo/pc^3. We discuss limitations on the properties of a possible
thin disk of dark matter.


  Solar flares commonly have a hot onset precursor event" (HOPE), detectable
from soft X-ray observations. Detecting this requires subtraction of pre-flare
fluxes from the non-flaring Sun prior to the event, fitting an isothermal
emission model to the flare excess fluxes by comparing the GOES passbands at
1-8 A and 0.5-4 A, and plotting the timewise evolution of the flare emission in
a diagram of temperature \textit{vs} emission measure. The HOPE then appears as
an initial "horizontal branch" in this diagram. It precedes the non-thermal
impulsive phase of the flare and thus the flare peak in soft X-rays as well. We
use this property to define a "flare anticipation index" (FAI), which can serve
as an alert for observational programs aimed at solar flares based on
near-real-time soft X-ray observations. This FAI gives lead times of a few
minutes and produces very few false positive alerts even for flare brightenings
too weak to merit NOAA classification.


  We present updated and complete radio, optical and X-ray data for BL Lacs in
the Einstein Medium Sensitivity Survey (EMSS). The complete "M91" sample first
presented in Morris et al. is updated to include 26 BL Lacs in total and we
define a new, virtually complete sample consisting of 41 EMSS BL Lacs (the
"D40" sample). New high signal-to-noise, arcsecond-resolution VLA observations
are also presented for eleven EMSS BL Lacs, completing VLA observations of the
M91 sample. The addition of four new objects, as well as updated X-ray flux and
redshift information, has increased the v/v_max value for the M91 sample to
0.399\pm0.057; and v/v_max = 0.427\pm0.045 for the newly defined D40 sample. In
conjunction with other studies of X-ray-selected BL Lac (XBL) samples, these
results solidify negative evolution for XBLs, especially for more extreme
high-energy-peaked BL Lacs. The observed v/v_max, spectral and radio properties
of XBLs are completely consistent with being the beamed population of
low-luminosity, FR-1 radio galaxies. However, our VLA observations do confirm
that XBLs are too core-dominated to be consistent with a beamed population of
FR-1s seen at intermediate angles, as suggested by the unified model, if XBLs
have moderate outflow velocities (gamma approx 5).


  In this paper we investigate light dark matter scenarios where annihilation
to Standard Model particles at tree-level is kinematically forbidden. In such
cases annihilation can be aided by massive Standard Model-like species, called
{\it assisters}, in the initial state that enhances the available phase space
opening up novel tree-level processes. We investigate the feasibility of such
non-standard {\it assisted annihilation} processes to reproduce the observed
relic density of dark matter. We present a simple scalar dark matter - scalar
assister model where this is realised. We find that if the dark matter and
assister are relatively degenerate the required relic density can be achieved
for a keV-MeV scale dark matter. We briefly discuss the cosmological
constraints on such dark matter scenarios.


  We introduce notions of {\it upper chernrank} and {\it even cup length} of a
finite connected CW-complex and prove that {\it upper chernrank} is a homotopy
invariant. It turns out that determination of {\it upper chernrank} of a space
$X$ sometimes helps to detect whether a generator of the top cohomology group
can be realized as Euler class for some real (orientable) vector bundle over
$X$ or not. For a closed connected $d$-dimensional complex manifold we obtain
an upper bound of its even cup length. For a finite connected even dimensional
CW-complex with its {\it upper chernrank} equal to its dimension, we provide a
method of computing its even cup length. Finally, we compute {\it upper
chernrank} of many interesting spaces.


  In this survey we present a generalization of the notion of metric space and
some applications to discrete structures as graphs, ordered sets and transition
systems. Results in that direction started in the middle eighties based on the
impulse given by Quilliot (1983). Graphs and ordered sets were considered as
kind of metric spaces, where - instead of real numbers - the values of the
distance functions $d$ belong to an ordered semigroup equipped with an
involution. In this frame, maps preserving graphs or posets are exactly the
nonexpansive mappings (that is the maps $f$ such that $d(f(x),f(y))\leq
d(x,y)$, for all $x,y$). It was observed that many known results on retractions
and fixed point property for classical metric spaces (whose morphisms are the
nonexpansive mappings) are also valid for these spaces. For example, the
characterization of absolute retracts, by Aronszajn and Panitchpakdi (1956),
the construction of the injective envelope by Isbell (1965) and the fixed point
theorem of Sine and Soardi (1979) translate into the Banaschewski-Bruns theorem
(1967), the MacNeille completion of a poset (1933) and the famous Tarski fixed
point theorem (1955). This prompted an analysis of several classes of discrete
structures from a metric point of view. In this paper, we report the results
obtained over the years with a particular emphasis on the fixed point property.


  This expository text is an invitation to the relation between quantum field
theory Feynman integrals and periods. We first describe the relation between
the Feynman parametrization of loop amplitudes and world-line methods, by
explaining that the first Symanzik polynomial is the determinant of the period
matrix of the graph, and the second Symanzik polynomial is expressed in terms
of world-line Green's functions. We then review the relation between Feynman
graphs and variations of mixed Hodge structures. Finally, we provide an
algorithm for generating the Picard-Fuchs equation satisfied by the all equal
mass banana graphs in a two-dimensional space-time to all loop orders.


  Due to the powerful ability in capturing the global information, Transformer
has become an alternative architecture of CNNs for hyperspectral image
classification. However, general Transformer mainly considers the global
spectral information while ignores the multiscale spatial information of the
hyperspectral image. In this paper, we propose a multiscale spectral-spatial
convolutional Transformer (MultiscaleFormer) for hyperspectral image
classification. First, the developed method utilizes multiscale spatial patches
as tokens to formulate the spatial Transformer and generates multiscale spatial
representation of each band in each pixel. Second, the spatial representation
of all the bands in a given pixel are utilized as tokens to formulate the
spectral Transformer and generate the multiscale spectral-spatial
representation of each pixel. Besides, a modified spectral-spatial CAF module
is constructed in the MultiFormer to fuse cross-layer spectral and spatial
information. Therefore, the proposed MultiFormer can capture the multiscale
spectral-spatial information and provide better performance than most of other
architectures for hyperspectral image classification. Experiments are conducted
over commonly used real-world datasets and the comparison results show the
superiority of the proposed method.


  The spin-base invariant formalism of Dirac fermions in curved space maintains
the essential symmetries of general covariance as well as similarity
transformations of the Clifford algebra. We emphasize the advantages of the
spin-base invariant formalism both from a conceptual as well as from a
practical viewpoint. This suggests that local spin-base invariance should be
added to the list of (effective) properties of (quantum) gravity theories. We
find support for this viewpoint by the explicit construction of a global
realization of the Clifford algebra on a 2-sphere which is impossible in the
spin-base non-invariant vielbein formalism.


  There has been a surge in the development of various Large Language Models
(LLMs). However, text generation for languages other than English often faces
significant challenges, including poor generation quality and the reduced
computational performance due to the disproportionate representation of tokens
in model's vocabulary. In this work, we address these issues and introduce
Vikhr, a new state-of-the-art open-source instruction-tuned LLM designed
specifically for the Russian language. Unlike previous efforts for Russian that
utilize computationally inexpensive LoRA adapters on top of English-oriented
models, Vikhr features an adapted tokenizer vocabulary and undergoes the
continued pre-training and instruction tuning of all weights. This approach not
only enhances the model's performance but also significantly improves its
computational and contextual efficiency. The remarkable performance of Vikhr
across various Russian-language benchmarks can also be attributed to our
efforts in expanding instruction datasets and corpora for continued
pre-training. Vikhr not only sets the new state of the art among open-source
LLMs for Russian, but even outperforms some proprietary closed-source models on
certain benchmarks. The model weights, instruction sets, and code are publicly
available


  We present some constructions that are merely the fruit of combining recent
results from two areas of smooth dynamics: nonuniformly hyperbolic systems and
elliptic constructions.


  In this paper, we present a framework used to construct and analyze
algorithms for online optimization problems with deadlines or with delay over a
metric space. Using this framework, we present algorithms for several different
problems. We present an $O(D^{2})$-competitive deterministic algorithm for
online multilevel aggregation with delay on a tree of depth $D$, an exponential
improvement over the $O(D^{4}2^{D})$-competitive algorithm of Bienkowski et al.
(ESA '16), where the only previously-known improvement was for the special case
of deadlines by Buchbinder et al. (SODA '17). We also present an
$O(\log^{2}n)$-competitive randomized algorithm for online service with delay
over any general metric space of $n$ points, improving upon the
$O(\log^{4}n)$-competitive algorithm by Azar et al. (STOC '17). In addition, we
present the problem of online facility location with deadlines. In this
problem, requests arrive over time in a metric space, and need to be served
until their deadlines by facilities that are opened momentarily for some cost.
We also consider the problem of facility location with delay, in which the
deadlines are replaced with arbitrary delay functions. For those problems, we
present $O(\log^{2}n)$-competitive algorithms, with $n$ the number of points in
the metric space. The algorithmic framework we present includes techniques for
the design of algorithms as well as techniques for their analysis.


  We study the effects of radiative transfer on the Probability Distribution
Functions (PDFs) of simulations of magnetohydrodynamic turbulence in the widely
studied $^{13}$CO 2-1 transition. We find that the integrated intensity maps
generally follow a log-normal distribution, with the cases that have $\tau
\approx 1$ best matching the PDF of the column density. We fit a 2D
variance-sonic Mach number relationship to our logarithmic PDFs of the form
$\sigma_{ln(\Sigma/\Sigma_0)}^2=A\times ln(1+b^2{\cal M}_s^2)$ and find that,
for parameter $b=1/3$, parameter $A$ depends on the radiative transfer
environment. We also explore the variance, skewness, and kurtosis of the linear
PDFs finding that higher moments reflect both higher sonic Mach number and
lower optical depth. Finally, we apply the Tsallis incremental PDF function and
find that the fit parameters depend on both Mach numbers, but also are
sensitive to the radiative transfer parameter space, with the $\tau \approx 1$
case best fitting the incremental PDF of the true column density. We conclude
that, for PDFs of low optical depth cases, part of the gas is always
sub-thermally excited so that the spread of the line intensities exceeds the
spread of the underlying column densities and hence the PDFs do not reflect the
true column density. Similarly, PDFs of optically thick cases are dominated by
the velocity dispersion and therefore do not represent the true column density
PDF. Thus, in the case of molecules like carbon monoxide, the dynamic range of
intensities, structures observed and consequently, the observable PDFs, are
less determined by turbulence and more-often determined by radiative transfer
effects.


  Attempts to achieve robotic Within-Hand-Manipulation (WIHM) generally utilize
either high-DOF robotic hands with elaborate sensing apparatus or multi-arm
robotic systems. In prior work we presented a simple robot hand with variable
friction robot fingers, which allow a low-complexity approach to within-hand
object translation and rotation, though this manipulation was limited to planar
actions. In this work we extend the capabilities of this system to 3D
manipulation with a novel region-based WIHM planning algorithm and utilizing
extrinsic contacts. The ability to modulate finger friction enhances extrinsic
dexterity for three-dimensional WIHM, and allows us to operate in the
quasi-static level. The region-based planner automatically generates 3D
manipulation sequences with a modified A* formulation that navigates the
contact regions between the fingers and the object surface to reach desired
regions. Central to this method is a set of object-motion primitives (i.e.
within-hand sliding, rotation and pivoting), which can easily be achieved via
changing contact friction. A wide range of goal regions can be achieved via
this approach, which is demonstrated via real robot experiments following a
standardized in-hand manipulation benchmarking protocol.


  We formulate a new theory for how caging constraints in glass-forming liquids
at a surface or interface are modified and then spatially transferred, in a
layer-by-layer bootstrapped manner, into the film interior in the context of
the dynamic free energy concept of the Nonlinear Langevin Equation theory
approach. The dynamic free energy at any mean location involves contributions
from two adjacent layers where confining forces are not the same. At the most
fundamental level of the theory, the caging component of the dynamic free
energy varies essentially exponentially with distance from the interface,
saturating deep enough into the film with a correlation length of modest size
and weak sensitivity to thermodynamic state. This imparts a roughly exponential
spatial variation of all the key features of the dynamic free energy required
to compute gradients of dynamical quantities including the localization length,
jump distance, cage barrier, collective elastic barrier and alpha relaxation
time. The spatial gradients are entire of dynamical, not structural nor
thermodynamic, origin. The theory is implemented for the hard sphere fluid and
diverse interfaces which can be a vapor, a rough pinned particle solid, a
vibrating pinned particle solid, or a smooth hard wall. Their basic description
at the level of the spatially-heterogeneous dynamic free energy is identical,
with the crucial difference arising from the first layer where dynamical
constraints can be weakened, softened, or hardly changed depending on the
specific interface. Numerical calculations establish the spatial dependence and
fluid volume fraction sensitivity of the key dynamical property gradients for
five different model interfaces. Comparison of the theoretical predictions for
the dynamic localization length and glassy modulus with simulations and
experiments for systems with a vapor interface reveals good agreement.


  In the work \cite{Laredo} the author shows that every hypersurface in
Euclidean space is locally associated to the unit sphere by a sphere
congruence, whose radius function $R$ is a geometric invariant of hypersurface.
In this paper we define for any surface $\Sigma$ its spherical mean curvature
$H_S$ which depends on principal curvatures of $\Sigma$ and the radius function
$R$. Then we consider two classes of surfaces: the ones with $H_S = 0$, called
$H_1$-surfaces, and the surfaces with spherical mean curvature of harmonic
type, named $H_2$-surfaces. We provide for each these classes a
Weierstrass-type representation depending on three holomorphic functions and we
prove that the $H_1$-surfaces are associated to the minimal surfaces, whereas
the $H_2$-surfaces are related to the Laguerre minimal surfaces. As application
we provide a new Weierstrass-type representation for the Laguerre minimal
surfaces - and in particular for the minimal surfaces - in such a way that the
same holomorphic data provide examples in $H_1$-surface/minimal surface classes
or in $H_2$-surface/Laguerre minimal surface classes. We also characterize the
rotational cases, what allow us finding a complete rotational Laguerre minimal
surface.


  An abstract framework for studying the asymptotic behavior of a dissipative
evolutionary system $\mathcal{E}$ with respect to weak and strong topologies
was introduced in [8] primarily to study the long-time behavior of the 3D
Navier-Stokes equations (NSE) for which the existence of a semigroup of
solution operators is not known. Each evolutionary system possesses a global
attractor in the weak topology, but does not necessarily in the strong
topology. In this paper we study the structure of a global attractor for an
abstract evolutionary system, focusing on omega-limits and attracting,
invariant, and quasi-invariant sets. We obtain weak and strong uniform tracking
properties of omega-limits and global attractors. In addition, we discuss a
trajectory attractor for an evolutionary system and derive a condition under
which the convergence to the trajectory attractor is strong.


  We investigate the CP-odd Higgs boson production via two-photon processes in
$e\gamma$ collisions. The CP-odd Higgs boson, which we denote as $A^0$, is
expected to appear in the Two-Higgs Doublet Models (2HDM) as a minimal
extension of Higgs sector for which the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model
(MSSM) is a special case. The scattering amplitude for $e\gamma\rightarrow
eA^0$ is evaluated at the electroweak one-loop level. The dominant contribution
comes only from top-quark loops when $A^0$ boson is rather light and
$\tan\beta$ is not large. There are no contributions from the $W$-boson and
$Z$-boson loops nor from the scalar top-quark (stop) loops. The differential
cross section for the $A^0$ production is analysed.


  Many proximity-based mobile social networks are developed to facilitate
connections between any two people, or to help a user to find people with
matched profile within a certain distance. A challenging task in these
applications is to protect the privacy the participants' profiles and personal
interests.
  In this paper, we design novel mechanisms, when given a preference-profile
submitted by a user, that search a person with matching-profile in
decentralized multi-hop mobile social networks. Our mechanisms are
privacy-preserving: no participants' profile and the submitted
preference-profile are exposed. Our mechanisms establish a secure communication
channel between the initiator and matching users at the time when the matching
user is found. Our rigorous analysis shows that our mechanism is secure,
privacy-preserving, verifiable, and efficient both in communication and
computation. Extensive evaluations using real social network data, and actual
system implementation on smart phones show that our mechanisms are
significantly more efficient then existing solutions.


  We shall show that a smooth, quasi-projective variety $X$ has a
holomorphically convex universal covering $\wt X$ when (i) $\pi_1(X)$ is
residually nilpotent and (ii) there is an admissable variation of \mhs\ over
$X$ whose monodromy representation has a finite kernel, and where in each case
a corresponding period mapping is assumed to be proper.


  Detailed characterization of damage and rupture mechanics of arteries is one
the current challenges in vascular biomechanics, which requires developing
suitable experimental approaches. This paper introduces an approach using in
situ tensile tests in an X-ray micro-tomography setup to observe mechanisms of
damage initiation and progression in medial layers of porcine aortic samples.
The technique requires the use of sodium polytungstate as a contrast agent, of
which the conditions for use are detailed in this paper. Immersion of the
samples during 24 hours in a 15 g.L-1 concentrated solution provided the best
compromise for viewing musculo-elastic units in this tissue. The process of
damage initiation, delamination and rupture of medial tissue under tensile
loading was observed and can be described as an elementary process repeating
several times until complete failure. This elementary process initiates with a
sudden mode I fracture of a group of musculo-elastic units, followed by an
elastic recoil of these units, causing mode II separation of these, hence a
delamination plane. The presented experimental approach constitutes a basis for
observation of other constituents, or for investigations on other tissues and
damage mechanisms.


  The monopole for the geometric curvature is studied for non-Hermitian
systems. We find that the monopole contains not only the exceptional points but
also branch cuts. As the mathematical choice of branch cut in the complex plane
is rather arbitrary, the monopole changes with the branch-cut choice. Despite
this branch-cut dependence, our monopole is invariant under the
$GL(l,\mathbb{C})$ gauge transformation that is inherent in non-Hermitian
systems. Although our results are generic, they are presented in the context of
a two-mode non-Hermitian Dirac model. A corresponding two-mode Hermitian system
is also discussed to illustrate the essential difference between monopoles in
Hermitian systems and non-Hermitian systems.


  Recently, deep learning approaches have achieved promising results in various
fields of computer vision. In this paper, we investigate the combination of
deep learning based methods and depth maps as input images to tackle the
problem of driver attention monitoring. Moreover, we assume the concept of
attention as Head Pose Estimation and Facial Landmark Detection tasks.
Differently from other proposals in the literature, the proposed systems are
able to work directly and based only on raw depth data. All presented methods
are trained and tested on two new public datasets, namely Pandora and
MotorMark, achieving state-of-art results and running with real time
performance.


  We summarize and discuss some of the available experimental and theoretical
data important for understanding the role played by subsurface sites in
dissociative chemisorption calculations for the H$_2$/Pd(111) system. Then we
use a semi-empirical potential energy surface (PES) to model the interaction of
a H$_2$ molecule impinging on a Pd(111) surface. The London-Eyring-Polanyi-Sato
(LEPS) construction has been extended to make direct subsurface absorption
possible. A 2-dimensional wave packet calculation is used to find qualitative
trends in the direct subsurface absorption and to reveal the time scales
involved. We suggest that a partial in-plane relaxation occurs for the slowest
incoming particles, thus resulting in a higher direct subsurface absorption
probability for low energies.


  A computational nanophotonic design library for gradient-based optimization
called SPINS is presented. Borrowing the concept of computational graphs, SPINS
is a design framework that emphasizes flexibility and reproducible results. The
mathematical and architectural details to achieve these goals are presented,
and practical considerations and heuristics for using inverse design are
discussed, including the choice of initial condition and the landscape of local
minima.


  We present a new radiative transfer method (SPH-M1RT) that is coupled
dynamically with smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH). We implement it in the
(task-based parallel) SWIFT galaxy simulation code but it can be
straightforwardly implemented in other SPH codes. Our moment-based method
simultaneously solves the radiation energy and flux equations in SPH, making it
adaptive in space and time. We modify the M1 closure relation to stabilize
radiation fronts in the optically thin limit. We also introduce anisotropic
artificial viscosity and high-order artificial diffusion schemes, which allow
the code to handle radiation transport accurately in both the optically thin
and optically thick regimes. Non-equilibrium thermo-chemistry is solved using a
semi-implicit sub-cycling technique. The computational cost of our method is
independent of the number of sources and can be lowered further by using the
reduced speed of light approximation. We demonstrate the robustness of our
method by applying it to a set of standard tests from the cosmological
radiative transfer comparison project of Iliev et al. The SPH-M1RT scheme is
well-suited for modelling situations in which numerous sources emit ionising
radiation, such as cosmological simulations of galaxy formation or simulations
of the interstellar medium.


  We study feature selection as a means to optimize the baseline clickbait
detector employed at the Clickbait Challenge 2017. The challenge's task is to
score the "clickbaitiness" of a given Twitter tweet on a scale from 0 (no
clickbait) to 1 (strong clickbait). Unlike most other approaches submitted to
the challenge, the baseline approach is based on manual feature engineering and
does not compete out of the box with many of the deep learning-based
approaches. We show that scaling up feature selection efforts to heuristically
identify better-performing feature subsets catapults the performance of the
baseline classifier to second rank overall, beating 12 other competing
approaches and improving over the baseline performance by 20%. This
demonstrates that traditional classification approaches can still keep up with
deep learning on this task.


  We examine synchronization of identical chaotic systems coupled in a
drive/response manner. A rigorous criterion is presented which, if satisfied,
guarantees that synchronization to the driving trajectory is linearly stable to
perturbations. An easy to use approximate criterion for estimating linear
stability is also presented. One major advantage of these criteria is that, for
simple systems, many of the calculations needed to implement them can be
performed analytically. Geometrical interpretations of the criterion are
discussed, as well as how they may be used to investigate synchronization
between mutual coupled systems and the stability of invariant manifolds within
a dynamical system. Finally, the relationship between our criterion and results
from control theory are discussed. Analytical and numerical results from tests
of these criteria on four different dynamical systems are presented.


  We establish three equivalent versions of a Parisi formula for the free
energy of mean-field spin glasses in a transversal magnetic field. These
results are derived from available results for classical vector spin glasses by
an approximation method using the functional integral representation of the
partition function. In this approach, the order parameter is a non-decreasing
function with values in the non-negative, real hermitian Hilbert-Schmidt
operators. For the quantum Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model, we also show that
under the assumption of self-averaging of the self-overlap, the optimising
Parisi order parameter is found within a two-dimensional subspace spanned by
the self-overlap and the fully stationary overlap.


  We present a general framework to represent discrete configuration systems
using hypergraphs. This representation allows one to transfer combinatorial
removal lemmas to their analogues for configuration systems. These removal
lemmas claim that a system without many configurations can be made
configuration-free by removing a few of its constituent elements. As
applications of this approach we give, an alternative proof of the removal
lemma for permutations by Cooper, a general version of a removal lemma for
linear systems in finite abelian groups, an interpretation of the mentioned
removal lemma in terms of subgroups, and an alternative proof of the counting
version of the multidimensional Szemer\'edi theorem in abelian groups with
generalizations.


  Let $Y$ be a pointed space and let $\mathcal E(Y^r)$ be the group of based
self-equivalences of $Y^r$, $r\geq 2$. For $Y$ a homotopy commutative $H$-group
we construct a subgroup $\mathcal E_{\mathrm{Mat}}(Y^r)$ of $\mathcal E(Y^r)$
which has a group structure isomorphic to either $GL_r(\mathbb Z)$, or
$GL_r(\mathbb Z_d)$, $d\geq 2$. We classify principal bundles over connected
sums of $q$-sphere bundles over $n$-spheres and use the group $\mathcal
E_{\mathrm{Mat}}(Y^r)$ to obtain homotopy decompositions of their gauge groups.
Using these decompositions we give an integral classification, up to homotopy,
of the gauge groups of principal $SU(2)$-bundles over certain 2-connected
7-manifolds with torsion-free homology.


  Motivated by well-known obstacles to quantum gravity, I look for the most
general geometrodynamical symmetries compatible with a reduced physical
configuration space for metric gravity. I argue that they lead either to a
completely static Universe, or one embodying spatial conformal diffeomorphisms.
Demanding locality for an action compatible with these principles determines
the sort of terms one can add, both for the purely gravitational part as well
as matter couplings. The symmetries guarantee that there are two gravitational
propagating physical degrees of freedom (and no explicit
refoliation-invariance). The simplest such system has a geometric
interpretation as a geodesic model in infinite dimensional conformal
superspace. An approximate solution to the equations of motion corresponds to a
static Bianchi IX spatial ansatz. The unique coupling to electromagnetism
forces its propagation equations to be hyperbolic, enabling us to \"build" a
standard space-time causal structure. There are, however, deviations from the
standard Maxwell equations when space-time anisotropies become too large.
Regarding quantization, with the geometric interpretation and the lack of
refoliation invariance, the path integral treatment of the symmetries becomes
much less involved than the similar approaches to GR. The symmetries form an
(infinite-dimensional) Lie algebra, and no BFV treatment is necessary. We find
that the propagator around the flat solution has up to 6-th order spatial
derivatives, giving it plausible regularization properties as in
Horava-Lifschitz.


  Recent observations show that hypernovae may deposit some fraction of their
kinetic energy in mildly relativistic ejecta. In the dissipation process of
such ejecta in a stellar wind, cosmic ray protons can be accelerated up to
$\sim 10^{19}$ eV. We discuss the TeV to MeV gamma-ray and the X-ray photon
signatures of cosmic rays accelerated in hypernovae. Secondary X-ray photons,
emitted by electron-positron pairs produced via cascade processes due to
high-energy protons, are the most promising targets for X-ray telescopes.
Synchrotron photons emitted by protons can appear in the GeV band, requiring
nearby ($<40$ Mpc) hypernovae for detection with GLAST. In addition, air
Cherenkov telescopes may be able to detect regenerated TeV photons emitted by
electron-positron pairs generated by CMB attenuation of $\pi^0$ decay photons.


  This paper analyzes the design space stability of negative capacitance double
gate junctionless FETs (NCDG JLFET). Using analytical expressions derived from
a charge-based model, we predict instability condition, hysteresis voltage, and
critical thickness of the ferroelectric layers giving rise to the negative
capacitance behavior. The impact of the technological parameters is
investigated in order to ensure hysteresis-free operation. Finally, the
stability of NCDG JLFET is predicted over a wide range of temperatures from 77K
to 400K. This approach has been assessed with numerical TCAD simulations.


  We study the integral Galactic extinction and reddening based on the galaxy
catalog of the South Galactic Cap U-band Sky Survey (SCUSS), where $u$ band
galaxy number counts and $u-r$ color distribution are used to derive the
Galactic extinction and reddening respectively. We compare these independent
statistical measurements with the reddening map of \citet{Schlegel1998}(SFD)
and find that both the extinction and reddening from the number counts and
color distribution are in good agreement with the SFD results at low extinction
regions ($E(B-V)^{SFD}<0.12$ mag). However, for high extinction regions
($E(B-V)^{SFD}>0.12$ mag), the SFD map overestimates the Galactic reddening
systematically, which can be approximated by a linear relation $\Delta E(B-V)=
0.43[E(B-V)^{SFD}-0.12$]. By combing the results of galaxy number counts and
color distribution together, we find that the shape of the Galactic extinction
curve is in good agreement with the standard $R_V=3.1$ extinction law of
\cite{ODonnell1994}.


  We consider random walk on dynamical percolation on the discrete torus
$\mathbb{Z}_n^d$. In previous work, mixing times of this process for
$p<p_c(\mathbb{Z}^d)$ were obtained in the annealed setting where one averages
over the dynamical percolation environment. Here we study exit times in the
quenched setting, where we condition on a typical dynamical percolation
environment. We obtain an upper bound for all $p$ which for $p<p_c$ matches the
known lower bound.


  Pulmonary optical endomicroscopy (POE) is an imaging technology in real time.
It allows to examine pulmonary alveoli at a microscopic level. Acquired in
clinical settings, a POE image sequence can have as much as 25% of the sequence
being uninformative frames (i.e. pure-noise and motion artefacts). For future
data analysis, these uninformative frames must be first removed from the
sequence. Therefore, the objective of our work is to develop an automatic
detection method of uninformative images in endomicroscopy images. We propose
to take the detection problem as a classification one. Considering advantages
of deep learning methods, a classifier based on CNN (Convolutional Neural
Network) is designed with a new loss function based on Havrda-Charvat entropy
which is a parametrical generalization of the Shannon entropy. We propose to
use this formula to get a better hold on all sorts of data since it provides a
model more stable than the Shannon entropy. Our method is tested on one POE
dataset including 2947 distinct images, is showing better results than using
Shannon entropy and behaves better with regard to the problem of overfitting.
  Keywords: Deep Learning, CNN, Shannon entropy, Havrda-Charvat entropy,
Pulmonary optical endomicroscopy.


  This is a slightly corrected version of an old work.
  Under certain cardinal arithmetic assumptions, we prove that for every large
enough regular $\lambda$ cardinal, for many regular $\kappa < \lambda$, many
stationary subsets of $\lambda$ concentrating on cofinality $\kappa$ have super
BB. In particular, we have the super BB on $\{\delta < \lambda \colon
cf(\delta) = \kappa\}$. This is a strong negation of uniformization.
  We have added some details. Works continuing it are [Sh:898] and [Sh:1028].
We thank Ari Brodski and Adi Jarden for their helpful comments.
  In this paper we had earlier used the notion ``middle diamond" which is now
replaced by ``super BB'', that is, ``super black box'', in order to be
consistent with other papers (see [Sh:898]).


  Chargaff's second parity rule holds empirically for most types of DNA that
along single strands of DNA the base contents are equal for complimentary
bases, A = T, G = C. A Markov chain model is constructed to track the evolution
of any single base position along single strands of genomes whose organisms are
equipped with replication mismatch repair. Under the key assumptions that
mismatch error rates primarily depend the number of hydrogen bonds of
nucleotides and that the mismatch repairing process itself makes strand
recognition error, the model shows that the steady state probabilities for any
base position to take on one of the 4 nucleotide bases are equal for
complimentary bases. As a result, Chargaff's second parity rule is the
manifestation of the Law of Large Number acting on the steady state
probabilities. More importantly, because the model pinpoints mismatch repair as
a basis of the rule, it is suitable for experimental verification.


  We report a study on the dynamics of absorbing asymmetric carbon clusters
trapped by a loosely focused Gaussian beam using photophoretic force. At high
laser powers, all the trapped clusters display rotation coupled with
oscillation along the axial direction, with a majority spinning about a body
fixed axis, while the rest display dual spin as well as orbital motion about a
fixed point in space. The spinning and orbiting frequency is inversely
proportional to the amplitude of the axial oscillation - with one growing at
the expense of the other. Further, the frequencies of these rotations are not
proportional to the laser power, but to the trap stiffnesses inferred from the
corresponding natural frequencies. The clusters also stop rotating below a
certain laser power, and execute random thermal fluctuations. Our work suggests
that the dynamics of clusters trapped with photophoretic force are largely
dependent on the cluster size and morphology, which could, in principle, be
tuned to obtain various motional responses, and help in the design of rotating
micromachines in air.


  We compare rain event size distributions derived from measurements in
climatically different regions, which we find to be well approximated by power
laws of similar exponents over broad ranges. Differences can be seen in the
large-scale cutoffs of the distributions. Event duration distributions suggest
that the scale-free aspects are related to the absence of characteristic scales
in the meteorological mesoscale.


  We study the existence and nonexistence of positive singular solutions to
second-order non-divergence type elliptic inequalities with measurable
coefficients. We prove the existence of a critical value $p^*$ that separates
the existence region from non-existence. In the critical case $p=p^*$ we show
that the existence of a singular solution depends on the rate at which the
coefficients stabilize at zero and we provide some optimal conditions in this
setting.


  The work investigates deep generative models, which allow us to use training
data from one domain to build a model for another domain. We propose the
Variational Bi-domain Triplet Autoencoder (VBTA) that learns a joint
distribution of objects from different domains. We extend the VBTAs objective
function by the relative constraints or triplets that sampled from the shared
latent space across domains. In other words, we combine the deep generative
models with a metric learning ideas in order to improve the final objective
with the triplets information. The performance of the VBTA model is
demonstrated on different tasks: image-to-image translation, bi-directional
image generation and cross-lingual document classification.


  A Pyramid Attention Network(PAN) is proposed to exploit the impact of global
contextual information in semantic segmentation. Different from most existing
works, we combine attention mechanism and spatial pyramid to extract precise
dense features for pixel labeling instead of complicated dilated convolution
and artificially designed decoder networks. Specifically, we introduce a
Feature Pyramid Attention module to perform spatial pyramid attention structure
on high-level output and combining global pooling to learn a better feature
representation, and a Global Attention Upsample module on each decoder layer to
provide global context as a guidance of low-level features to select category
localization details. The proposed approach achieves state-of-the-art
performance on PASCAL VOC 2012 and Cityscapes benchmarks with a new record of
mIoU accuracy 84.0% on PASCAL VOC 2012, while training without COCO dataset.


  We present the results of deep and high-resolution (FWHM ~ 0".35) JHK NIR
observations with the Subaru telescope, to search for very low mass young
stellar objects (YSOs) in the W3 Main star-forming region. The NIR survey
covers an area of ~ 2.6 arcmin^2 with 10-sigma limiting magnitude exceeding 20
mag in the JHK bands. The survey is sensitive enough to provide unprecedented
details in W3 IRS 5 region and reveals a census of the stellar population down
to objects below the hydrogen-burning limit. We construct JHK color-color (CC)
and J-H/J and H-K/K color-magnitude (CM) diagrams to identify very low
luminosity YSOs and to estimate their masses. Based on these CC and CM
diagrams, we identified a rich population of embedded YSO candidates with
infrared excesses (Class I and Class II), associated with the W3 Main region. A
large number of red sources (H-K > 2) have also been detected around W3 Main.
We argue that these red stars are most probably pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars
with intrinsic color excesses. Based on the comparison between theoretical
evolutionary models of very low-mass PMS objects with the observed CM diagram,
we find there exists a substantial substellar population in the observed
region. The mass function (MF) does not show the presence of cutoff and sharp
turnover around the substellar limit, at least at the hydrogen-burning limit.
Furthermore, the MF slope indicates that the number ratio of young brown dwarfs
and hydrogen-burning stars in the W3 Main is probably higher than those in
Trapezium and IC 348. The presence of mass segregation, in the sense that
relatively massive YSOs lie near the cluster center, is seen. The estimated
dynamical evolution time indicates that the observed mass segregation in the W3
Main may be the imprint of the star formation process.


  This paper is devoted to investigate the Killing and Noether symmetries of
static plane symmetric spacetime. For this purpose, five different cases have
been discussed. The Killing and Noether symmetries of Minkwoski spacetime in
cartesian coordinates are calculated as a special case and it is found that Lie
algebra of the Lagrangian is 10 and 17 dimensional respectively. The symmetries
of Taub's universe, anti-deSitter universe, self similar solutions of infinite
kind for parallel perfect fluid case and self similar solutions of infinite
kind for parallel dust case are also explored. In all the cases, the Noether
generators are calculated in the presence of gauge term. All these examples
justify the conjecture that Killing symmetries form a subalgebra of Noether
symmetries [1].


  Using $e^+e^-$ annihilation data taken at the CESR collider with the CLEO-c
detector, measurements of two main $\Omega^-$ branching fractions have been
made using the reaction $\psi(2S)\to\Omega^-\overline{\Omega}^+$, hyperon pair
production at $\sqrt{s}=3.69$~GeV, the peak of the $\psi(2S)$ resonance.
$\Omega^-$ decay channels are identified through momentum distributions of
charged particles, and systematics of the $\Omega^-$ branching fractions have
been studied. The result gives: $\mathcal{B}(\Omega^- \to \Lambda^0 K^-) =
(68.9\pm9.5\pm4.3)\%$, and $ \mathcal{B}(\Omega^- \to \Xi^0 \pi^-) =
(19.0\pm4.0\pm1.2)\%$.


  We report on observations of the field of GRB~970508 made in early August
1998, 454 days after outburst, with the STIS CCD camera onboard the Hubble
Space Telescope. The images, taken in open filter (50CCD) mode, clearly reveal
the presence of a galaxy which was obscured in earlier (June 1997) HST images
by emission from the optical transient (OT). The galaxy is regular in shape:
after correcting for the HST/STIS PSF, it is well-fitted by an exponential disk
with a scale length of 0."046 +/- 0."006 and an ellipticity of 0.70 +/- 0.07.
All observations are marginally consistent with a continuous decline in OT
emission as t^{-1.3} beginning two days after outburst; however, we find no
direct evidence in the image for emission from the OT, and the surface
brightness profile of the galaxy is most regular if we assume that the OT
emission is negligible, suggesting that the OT may have faded more rapidly at
late times than is predicted by the power-law decay. Due to the wide bandwidth
of the STIS clear mode, the estimated magnitude of the galaxy is dependent on
the galaxy spectrum that is assumed. Using colors obtained from late-time
ground-based observations to constrain the spectrum, we find V = 25.4 +/- 0.15,
a few tenths of a magnitude brighter than earlier ground-based estimates that
were obtained by observing the total light of the galaxy and the OT and then
subtracting the estimated OT brightness assuming it fades as a single
power-law. This again suggests that the OT may have faded faster at late time
than the power-law predicts. The position of the OT agrees with that of the
isophotal center of the galaxy to 0."01. This remarkable agreement raises the
possibility that the GRB may have been associated with either an active
galactic nucleus or a nuclear starburst.


  For a connected simply connected nilpotent Lie group $\G$ with Lie algebra
$\g$ and unitary dual $\wG$ one has (a) a global quantization of
operator-valued symbols defined on $\G\times\wG$, involving the representation
theory of the group, (b) a quantization of scalar-valued symbols defined on
$\G\times\g^*$, taking the group structure into account and (c) Weyl-type
quantizations of all the coadjoint orbits $\big\{\O_\xi\mid\xi\in\wG\big\}$. We
show how these quantizations are connected, in the case when flat coadjoint
orbits exist. This is done by a careful analysis of the composition of two
different types of Fourier transformations. We also describe the concrete form
of the operator-valued symbol quantization, by using Kirillov theory and the
Euclidean version of the unitary dual and Plancherel measure. In the case of
the Heisenberg group this corresponds to the known picture, presenting the
representation theoretical pseudo-differential operators in terms of families
of Weyl operators depending on a parameter. For illustration, we work out a
couple of examples and put into evidence some specific features of the case of
Lie algebras with one-dimensional center. When $\G$ is also graded, we make a
short presentation of the symbol classes $S^m_{\rho,\delta}$, transferred from
$\G\times\wG$ to $\G\times\g^*$ by means of the connection mentioned above.


  Detailed study of the scalar and tensor perturbation spectra can provide much
information about the primordial fluctuation-generator, be it inflation or
something else. The tensor perturbation spectrum may be observable through its
influence on CMB polarization, but only if the tensor-to-scalar ratio, r = T/S,
is greater than about 10^{-5}. The tensor tilt can be measured with an error of
sigma(n_T) that decreases with r from 0.1 at r=0.001 to 0.02 at r = 0.1.
Current CMB constraints on the scalar perturbation spectrum can be improved by
higher--resolution CMB observations and/or by tomographic cosmic shear
observations. These can both shrink errors on the tilt (n_S) and running (n_S'=
dn_S/d\ln k) to the 10^{-3} level. Stunning as these results would be, it may
become very desirable to improve upon them an order of magnitude further in
order to study the expected departures from n_S' = 0. Such improvements are
likely to require observation of three--dimensional clustering over very large
volumes. Unfortunately, to get down to the 10^{-4} level will require a sparse
spectroscopic redshift survey with about 10^9 galaxies spread over a volume
less than but comparable to that of the observable Universe.


  Linear optical quantum computing (LOQC) seems attractively simple:
information is borne entirely by light and processed by components such as beam
splitters, phase shifters and detectors. However this very simplicity leads to
limitations, such as the lack of deterministic entangling operations, which are
compensated for by using substantial hardware overheads. Here we quantify the
resource costs for full scale LOQC by proposing a specific protocol based on
the surface code. With the caveat that our protocol can be further optimised,
we report that the required number of physical components is at least five
orders of magnitude greater than in comparable matter-based systems. Moreover
the resource requirements grow higher if the per-component photon loss rate is
worse than one in a thousand, or the per-component noise rate is worse than
$10^{-5}$. We identify the performance of switches in the network as the single
most influential factor influencing resource scaling.


  We investigate the chiral electric separation effect, where an axial current
is induced by an electric field in the presence of both vector and axial
chemical potentials, in a strongly coupled plasma via the Sakai-Sugimoto model
with an $U(1)_R\times U(1)_L$ symmetry. By introducing different chemical
potentials in $U(1)_R$ and $U(1)_L$ sectors, we compute the axial direct
current (DC) conductivity stemming from the chiral current and the normal DC
conductivity. We find that the axial conductivity is approximately proportional
to the product of the axial and vector chemical potentials for arbitrary
magnitudes of the chemical potentials. We also evaluate the axial alternating
current (AC) conductivity induced by a frequency-dependent electric field,
where the oscillatory behavior with respect to the frequency is observed.


  The LIGO and Virgo gravitational-wave observatories have detected many
exciting events over the past five years. As the rate of detections grows with
detector sensitivity, this poses a growing computational challenge for data
analysis. With this in mind, in this work we apply deep learning techniques to
perform fast likelihood-free Bayesian inference for gravitational waves. We
train a neural-network conditional density estimator to model posterior
probability distributions over the full 15-dimensional space of binary black
hole system parameters, given detector strain data from multiple detectors. We
use the method of normalizing flows---specifically, a neural spline normalizing
flow---which allows for rapid sampling and density estimation. Training the
network is likelihood-free, requiring samples from the data generative process,
but no likelihood evaluations. Through training, the network learns a global
set of posteriors: it can generate thousands of independent posterior samples
per second for any strain data consistent with the prior and detector noise
characteristics used for training. By training with the detector noise power
spectral density estimated at the time of GW150914, and conditioning on the
event strain data, we use the neural network to generate accurate posterior
samples consistent with analyses using conventional sampling techniques.


  This report on axisymmetric ultraspherical/Gegenbauer polynomials and their
use in Ambisonic directivity design in 2D and 3D presents an alternative
mathematical formalism to what can be read in, e.g., my and Matthias Frank's
book on Ambisonics or J\'er\^ome Daniel's thesis, Gary Elko's differential
array book chapters, or Boaz Rafaely's spherical microphone array book.
  Ultraspherical/Gegenbauer polynomials are highly valuable when designing
axisymmetric beams and understanding spherical t designs, and this report will
shed some light on what circular, spherical, and ultraspherical axisymmetric
polynomials are. While mathematically interesting by themselves already, they
can be useful in spherical beamforming as described in the literature on
spherical and differential microphone arrays.
  In this report, these ultraspherical/Gegenbauer polynomials will be used to
uniformly derive for arbitrary dimensions D the various directivity designs or
Ambisonic order weightings known from literature: max-DI/basic, max-rE ,
supercardioid, cardioid/inphase. Is there a way to relate higher-order
cardioids and supercardioids? How could one define directivity patterns with an
on-axis flatness constraint?


  The rising use of microservices based software deployment on the cloud
leverages containerized software extensively. The security of applications
running inside containers as well as the container environment itself are
critical infrastructure in the cloud setting and 5G. To address the security
concerns, research efforts have been focused on container security with
subfields such as intrusion detection, malware detection and container
placement strategies. These security efforts are roughly divided into two
categories: rule based approaches and machine learning that can respond to
novel threats. In this study, we have surveyed the container security
literature focusing on approaches that leverage machine learning to address
security challenges.


  We study the matrix elements of local and nonlocal operators in the
single-particle eigenstates of two paradigmatic quantum-chaotic quadratic
Hamiltonians; the quadratic Sachdev-Ye-Kitaev (SYK2) model and the
three-dimensional Anderson model below the localization transition. We show
that they display eigenstate thermalization for normalized observables.
Specifically, we show that the diagonal matrix elements exhibit vanishing
eigenstate-to-eigenstate fluctuations, and a variance proportional to the
inverse Hilbert space dimension. We also demonstrate that the ratio between the
variance of the diagonal and the off-diagonal matrix elements is $2$, as
predicted by the random matrix theory. We study distributions of matrix
elements of observables and establish that they need not be Gaussian. We
identify the class of observables for which the distributions are Gaussian.


  Let $f(x) \in \bbz[x]$ and consider the index divisibility set $D = \{n \in
\bbn : n \mid f^n(0)\}$. We present a number of properties of $D$ in the case
that $(f^n(0))_{n=1}^\infty$ is a rigid divisibility sequence, generalizing a
number of results of Chen, Stange, and the first author. We then study the
polynomial $x^d + x^e + c \in \bbz[x]$, where $d > e \ge 2$ and determine all
cases where this map has a finite index divisibility set.


  In this article, we consider a Markov-modulated model with jumps for short
rate dynamics. We obtain closed formulas for the term structure and forward
rates using the properties of the jump-telegraph process and the expectation
hypothesis. The results are compared with the numerical solution of the
corresponding partial differential equation.


  The high Galactic latitude sky at millimeter and submm wavelengths contains
significant cosmological information about the early Universe (in terms of the
cosmic microwave background) but also the process of structure formation in the
Universe from the far infrared background produced by early galaxies and the
Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect in clusters of galaxies. As the Planck mission will
produce full sky maps in this frequency range, deeper maps of selected
low-foregrounds patches of the sky can produce complementary and important
information. Here we analyze the performance of a balloon-borne survey covering
a 10^\circ x 10^\circ patch of the sky with a few arcminute resolution and very
high pixel sensitivity. We simulate the different components of the mm/submm
sky (i.e., CMB anisotropies, SZ effect, radio and infrared sources, far
infrared background, and interstellar dust) using current knowledge about each
of them. We then combine them, adding detector noise, to produce detailed
simulated observations in four observational bands ranging from 130 to 500 GHz.
Finally, we analyze the simulated maps and estimate the performance of the
instrument in extracting the relevant information about each of the components.
We find that the CMB angular power spectrum is accurately recovered up to l ~
3000. Using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect, most of the galaxy clusters present
in our input map are detected (60% efficiency overall). Our results also show
that much stronger constrains can be placed on far infrared background models.


  In a small fraction of Broad Line Radio Galaxies (BLRG) and Seyfert 1
galaxies, the polarization position angle rotates across the broad emission
lines, especially at H_alpha. An understanding of this behavior can potentially
yield important information on the scattering geometry in the nucleus. We show
two examples of this phenomenon, 3C 445, a BLRG, and Mrk 231, a Seyfert 1, and
present an equatorial scattering model that explains some of its features in a
straightforward way.


  The Foucault pendulum is shown to be an example of motion on a
pseudo-surface, and the consequences of that are explored. In particular, its
first and second fundamental forms are obtained, as well as its Gaussian and
mean curvatures and the equations of its geodesics. However, a physical
consideration that relates to the extension from space to space-time introduces
a complication into the discussion of the geometry of the Foucault
pseudo-surface that relates to the possible signatures of the space-time
metric.


  We investigate the tunneling effect of a Corbino disk in graphene in the
presence of a variable magnetic flux $\Phi_{i}$ created by a solenoid piercing
the inner disk under the effect of a finite mass term in the disk region $
(R_1< r<R_2) $ and an electrostatic potential. Considering different regions,
we explicitly determine the associated eigenspinors in terms of Hankel
functions. The use of matching conditions and asymptotic behavior of Hankel
functions for large arguments, enables us to calculate transmission and other
transport quantities. Our results show that the energy gap suppresses the
tunneling effect by creating singularity points of zero transmission
corresponding to the maximum shot noise peaks quantified by the Fano factor $ F
$. The transmission as a function of the radii ratio $ R_2/R_1 $ becomes
oscillatory with a decrease in periods and amplitudes. It can even reach one
(Klein tunneling) for large values of the energy gap. The appearance of the
minimal conductance at the points $ k_F R_1=R_1 \delta$ is observed. Finally we
find that the electrostatic potential can control the effect of the band gap.


  Though effective in the segmentation, conventional multilevel thresholding
methods are computationally expensive as exhaustive search are used for optimal
thresholds to optimize the objective functions. To overcome this problem,
population-based metaheuristic algorithms are widely used to improve the
searching capacity. In this paper, we improve a popular metaheuristic called
cuckoo search using a ring topology based fully informed strategy. In this
strategy, each individual in the population learns from its neighborhoods to
improve the cooperation of the population and the learning efficiency. Best
solution or best fitness value can be obtained from the initial random
threshold values, whose quality is evaluated by the correlation function.
Experimental results have been examined on various numbers of thresholds. The
results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm is more accurate and efficient
than other four popular methods.


  We report a pronounced peak effect in the magnetization and the
magnetocaloric coefficient in a single crystal of the superconductor Nb3Sn. As
the origin of the magnetization peak effect in classical type-II
superconductors is still strongly debated, we performed an investigation of its
underlying thermodynamics. Calorimetric experiments performed during field
sweeps at constant temperatures reveal that the sharp increase in the current
density occurs concurrently with additional degrees of freedom in the specific
heat due to thermal fluctuations and a liquid vortex phase. No latent heat due
to a direct first-order melting of a Bragg glass phase into the liquid phase is
found which we take as evidence for an intermediate glass phase with enhanced
flux pinning. The Bragg glass phase can however be restored by a small AC
field. In this case a first-order vortex melting transition with a clear
hysteresis is found. In the absence of an AC field the intermediate glass phase
is located within the field range of this hysteresis. This indicates that the
peak effect is associated with the metastability of an underlying first-order
vortex melting transition.


  Charge lifetime of strained superlattice GaAs photocathodes in DC guns is
limited by ion back bombardment. It needs to be improved at least an order of
magnitude to meet the requirements for future colliders such as Electron-Ion
Collider (EIC). In this work, we propose and present simulation results for an
offset anode scheme to increase charge lifetime in DC guns. This scheme
eliminates the bombardment of high energy ions on the cathode and enables
maximum usage of the available cathode area. Depending on the size of the
available cathode area, this method can increase the charge lifetime by an
order of magnitude compared to the current best alternative method. An anode
assembly capable of in-vacuum movement is required for this method, which has
been designed and fabricated at Brookhaven National Laboratory.


  We formulate holomorphic theory of gravity and study how the holomorphy
symmetry alters the two most important singular solutions of general
relativity: black holes and cosmology. We show that typical observers (freely)
falling into a holomorphic black hole do not encounter a curvature singularity.
Likewise, typical observers do not experience Big Bang singularity. Unlike
Hermitian gravity \cite{MantzHermitianGravity}, Holomorphic gravity does not
respect the reciprocity symmetry and thus it is mainly a toy model for a
gravity theory formulated on complex space-times. Yet it is a model that
deserves a closer investigation since in many aspects it resembles Hermitian
gravity and yet calculations are simpler. We have indications that holomorphic
gravity reduces to the laws of general relativity correctly at large distance
scales.


  Context. Ultraviolet radiation plays a crucial role in molecular clouds.
Radiation and matter are tightly coupled and their interplay influences the
physical and chemical properties of gas. In particular, modeling the radiation
propagation requires calculating column densities, which can be numerically
expensive in high-resolution multidimensional simulations. Aims. Developing
fast methods for estimating column densities is mandatory if we are interested
in the dynamical influence of the radiative transfer. In particular, we focus
on the effect of the UV screening on the dynamics and on the statistical
properties of molecular clouds. Methods. We have developed a tree-based method
for a fast estimate of column densities, implemented in the adaptive mesh
refinement code RAMSES. We performed numerical simulations using this method in
order to analyze the influence of the screening on the clump formation.
Results. We find that the accuracy for the extinction of the tree-based method
is better than 10%, while the relative error for the column density can be much
more. We describe the implementation of a method based on precalculating the
geometrical terms that noticeably reduces the calculation time. To study the
influence of the screening on the statistical properties of molecular clouds we
present the probability distribution function (PDF) of gas and the associated
temperature per density bin and the mass spectra for different density
thresholds. Conclusions. The tree-based method is fast and accurate enough to
be used during numerical simulations since no communication is needed between
CPUs when using a fully threaded tree. It is then suitable to parallel
computing. We show that the screening for far UV radiation mainly affects the
dense gas, thereby favoring low temperatures and affecting the fragmentation.


  Binarity is believed to dramatically affect the history and geometry of mass
loss in AGB and post-AGB stars, but observational evidence of binarity is
sorely lacking. As part of a project to look for hot binary companions to cool
AGB stars using the GALEX archive, we have discovered a late-M star, Y Gem, to
be a source of strong and variable UV emission. Y Gem is a prime example of the
success of our technique of UV imaging of AGB stars in order to search for
binary companions. Y Gem's large and variable UV flux makes it one of the most
prominent examples of a late AGB star with a mass accreting binary companion.
The UV emission is most likely due to emission associated with accretion
activity and a disk around a main-sequence companion star. The physical
mechanism generating the UV emission is extremely energetic, with an integrated
luminosity of a few L(sun) at its peak. We also find weak CO J=2-1 emission
from Y Gem with a very narrow line profile (FWHM of 3.4 km/s). Such a narrow
line is unlikely to arise in an outflow, and is consistent with emission from
an orbiting, molecular reservoir of radius 300 AU. Y Gem may be the progenitor
of the class of post-AGB stars which are binaries and possess disks but no
outflows.


  Software tracing techniques are well-established and used by instrumentation
tools to extract run-time information for program analysis and debugging.
Dynamic binary instrumentation as one tool instruments program binaries to
extract information. Unfortunately, instrumentation causes perturbation that is
unacceptable for time-sensitive applications. Consequently we developed DIME*,
a tool for dynamic binary instrumentation that considers timing constraints.
DIME* uses Pin and a rate-based server approach to extract information only as
long as user-specified constraints are maintained. Due to the large amount of
redundancies in program traces, DIME* reduces the instrumentation overhead by
one to three orders of magnitude compared to native Pin while extracting up to
99% of the information. We instrument VLC and PostgreSQL to demonstrate the
usability of DIME*.


  We report the evolution of magnetic field and its energy in NOAA active
region 11158 over 5 days based on a vector magnetogram series from the
Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) on board the Solar Dynamic Observatory
(SDO). Fast flux emergence and strong shearing motion led to a quadrupolar
sunspot complex that produced several major eruptions, including the first
X-class flare of Solar Cycle 24. Extrapolated non-linear force-free coronal
fields show substantial electric current and free energy increase during early
flux emergence near a low-lying sigmoidal filament with sheared kilogauss field
in the filament channel. The computed magnetic free energy reaches a maximum of
~2.6e32 erg, about 50% of which is stored below 6 Mm. It decreases by ~0.3e32
erg within 1 hour of the X-class flare, which is likely an underestimation of
the actual energy loss. During the flare, the photospheric field changed
rapidly: horizontal field was enhanced by 28% in the core region, becoming more
inclined and more parallel to the polarity inversion line. Such change is
consistent with the conjectured coronal field "implosion", and is supported by
the coronal loop retraction observed by the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA).
The extrapolated field becomes more "compact" after the flare, with shorter
loops in the core region, probably because of reconnection. The coronal field
becomes slightly more sheared in the lowest layer, relaxes faster with height,
and is overall less energetic.


  Let $X(s,t), (s,t)\in E$, with $E\subset \mathbb{R}^2$ a compact set, be a
centered two dimensional Gaussian random field with continuous trajectories and
variance function $\sigma(s,t)$. Denote by $\mathcal{L}=\{(s,t):
\sigma(s,t)=\max_{(s',t')\in E}\sigma(s',t')\}$. In this contribution, we
derive the exact asymptotics of $\mathbb{P}\left(\sup_{(s,t)\in
E}X(s,t)>u\right)$, as $u\to\infty$, under condition that $\mathcal{L}$ is a
smooth curve. We illustrate our findings by an application concerned with
extremes of the aggregation of two independent fractional Brownian motions.


  We propose a model of quark and lepton mixing based on the tetrahedral A(4)
family symmetry with quark-lepton unification via the tetra-colour Pati-Salam
gauge group SU(4)_{PS}, together with SU(2)_L x U(1)_R. The "tetra-model"
solves many of the flavour puzzles and remarkably gives ten predictions at
leading order, including all six PMNS parameters. The Cabibbo angle is
approximately given by 1/4, due to the tetra-vacuum alignment (1,4,2),
providing the Cabibbo connection between quark and lepton mixing. Higher order
corrections are responsible for the smaller quark mixing angles and CP
violation and provide corrections to the Cabibbo and lepton mixing angles and
phases. The tetra-model involves an SO(10)-like pattern of Dirac and heavy
right-handed neutrino masses, with the strong up-type quark mass hierarchy
cancelling in the see-saw mechanism, leading to a normal hierarchy of neutrino
masses with an atmospheric angle in the first octant of 40 +/- 1 degree, a
solar angle of 34 +/- 1 degree, a reactor angle of 9.0 +/- 0.5 degree,
depending on the ratio of neutrino masses m_2/m_3, and a Dirac CP violating
oscillation phase of 260 +/- 5 degrees.


  In order to get astrometric parameters achieving the precision permitted by
the the forthcoming generation of astrometri cmeasurements, it will be
necessary to take into account effects that were neglected until the present
time. Two effects concerning the orbital elements of binary stars are
considered hereafter: the former is the local perspective (LP) effect, which is
due to the variation of the distance and of the orientation of the orbital
plane during the observation time span. The latter effect is the light--travel
time (LTT), which is also related to the orientation of the orbital plane.
Taking these effects into account would allow to find the ascending nodes of
the orbits, and lead to orbital elements more accurate than when they are
ignored. It is derived from simulations that, at a distance of 5 pc, and
assuming velocities typical of Pop.I stars, the position of the right ascending
node could be derived for a few simulated unresolved binaries when the
astrometric measurements have errors around 1 microas. For the resolved brown
dwarf binary 2MASS J07464256 +2000321, it appears that ignoring the LP effect
would result in underestimating the masses of the components by 14 per cent of
the errors as soon as the astrometric errors are around 20 microas for each
measurement. However, a `degenerate LP solution', taking into account the
variation of the semi-major axis when the distance is varying, should provide
reliable masses when the measurement errors are larger than 1 or 2 microas. A
few binaries in the Gaia program could deserve a degenerate LP solution,
whereas a the complete LP+LTT solution could be justified for resolved binaries
observed with SIM.


  This project describes the electricity demand and energy consumption
management system and its application to Southern Peru smelter. It is composed
of an hourly demand-forecasting module and of a simulation component for a
plant electrical system. The first module was done using dynamic neural
networks with backpropagation training algorithm; it is used to predict the
electric power demanded every hour, with an error percentage below of 1%. This
information allows efficient management of energy peak demands before this
happen, distributing the raise of electric load to other hours or improving
those equipments that increase the demand. The simulation module is based in
advanced estimation techniques, such as: parametric estimation, neural network
modeling, statistic regression and previously developed models, which simulates
the electric behavior of the smelter plant. These modules facilitate
electricity demand and consumption proper planning, because they allow knowing
the behavior of the hourly demand and the consumption patterns of the plant,
including the bill components, but also energy deficiencies and opportunities
for improvement, based on analysis of information about equipments, processes
and production plans, as well as maintenance programs. Finally the results of
its application in Southern Peru smelter are presented.


  We theoretically analyze the interactions and decay rates for atoms dressed
by multiple laser fields to strongly interacting Rydberg states using a quantum
master equation approach. In this framework a comparison of two-level and
three-level Rydberg-dressing schemes is presented. We identify a resonant
enhancement of the three-level dressed interaction strength which originates
from cooperative multiphoton couplings as well as small distance dependent
decay rates. In this regime the soft-core shape of the potential is independent
of the sign of the bare Rydberg-Rydberg interaction, while its sign can be
repulsive or attractive depending on the intermediate state detuning. As a
consequence, near-resonant Rydberg dressing in three-level atomic systems may
enable the realization of laser driven quantum fluids with long-range and
anisotropic interactions and with controllable dissipation.


  We consider the low-energy signatures of, and high-energy motivations for,
scenarios of semi-perturbative gauge coupling unification. Such scenarios can
leave striking imprints on the low-energy sparticle spectrum, including novel
gaugino mass ratios (including $M_2/M_1\approx1$), substantial compression of
the intra-generational squark-to-slepton mass ratios, and an overall lifting of
scalar masses relative to the gauginos. We also demonstrate that the
unification scale can be raised to $M_X \approx 4\times10^{17}$ GeV while still
in the perturbative regime -- close to the 1-loop heterotic string scale. We
employ a 3-loop calculation of the running of the gauge couplings as a test of
the perturbativity of the high-scale theory.


  This paper is devoted to the unidimensional analysis of a 2-ports silicon
resonator vibrating in thickness--extensional mode. Both excitation and
detection ports are capacitive transducers used to control the system of
longitudinal elastic waves established along the thickness of a layered
structure. The analysis consists of integrating the capacitive transduction of
longitudinal elastic waves within a specific implementation of the general
scheme of impedance methods largely used as standard tools for the modelling of
RF-MEMS.


  The goal of comparison is to reveal the difference of compared objects as
fast and reliably as possible. In this paper we formulate and investigate the
unambiguous comparison of unknown quantum measurements represented by
non-degenerate sharp POVMs. We distinguish between measurement devices with
apriori labeled and unlabeled outcomes. In both cases we can unambiguously
conclude only that the measurements are different. For the labeled case it is
sufficient to use each unknown measurement only once and the average
conditional success probability decreases with the Hilbert space dimension as
1/d. If the outcomes of the apparatuses are not labeled, then the problem is
more complicated. We analyze the case of two-dimensional Hilbert space. In this
case single shot comparison is impossible and each measurement device must be
used (at least) twice. The optimal test state in the two-shots scenario gives
the average conditional success probability 3/4. Interestingly, the optimal
experiment detects unambiguously the difference with nonvanishing probability
for any pair of observables.


  Models of nova outbursts suggest that an X-ray flash should occur just after
hydrogen ignition. However, this X-ray flash has never been observationally
confirmed. We present four theoretical light curves of the X-ray flash for two
very massive white dwarfs (WDs) of 1.380 and 1.385 M_sun and for two recurrence
periods of 0.5 and 1 years. The duration of the X-ray flash is shorter for a
more massive WD and for a longer recurrence period. The shortest duration of 14
hours (0.6 days) among the four cases is obtained for the 1.385 M_sun WD with
one year recurrence period. In general, a nova explosion is relatively weak for
a very short recurrence period, which results in a rather slow evolution toward
the optical peak. This slow timescale and the predictability of very short
recurrence period novae give us a chance to observe X-ray flashes of recurrent
novae. In this context, we report the first attempt, using the Swift
observatory, to detect an X-ray flash of the recurrent nova M31N 2008-12a (0.5
or 1 year recurrence period), which resulted in the non-detection of X-ray
emission during the period of 8 days before the optical detection. We discuss
the impact of these observations on nova outburst theory. The X-ray flash is
one of the last frontiers of nova studies and its detection is essentially
important to understand the pre-optical-maximum phase. We encourage further
observations.


  We investigate the behavior of fast light pulse propagation in an N-type
Doppler-broadened 4-level atomic system using double Raman gain processes. This
system displays novel and interesting results of two controllable pairs of the
double gain lines profile with a control field. The detailed physics of the
processes are explored having multiple controllable anomalous regions in the
medium. In this set up, the system exhibits significant enhancement in the
probing Gaussian pulse through the medium as compared with Ref. [L. J. Wang, A.
Kuzmich, and A. Dogariu, Nature \textbf{406}, 227(2000)]. The advance time of
the retrieved Gaussian pulse is always greater than the advance time studied in
the above said experiment. We analyzed that the pulse propagating through the
medium with larger negative group index, $7.32\times10^8$, leaves the medium
almost undistorted and sooner by time $76.12 \ ms$ than the pulse which leaves
the medium of Wang \emph{et al.}. The Gaussian pulse always remains almost
undistorted at output due to lossless characteristic of the medium. We also
underlined the ways to suppress incoherences generated by the
Doppler-broadening effect in the system. The limitations of the recently
developed applications require to explore mechanisms for ultimate speed of a
superluminal probe light pulse. In this connection, the proposed scheme may be
helpful and can be easily adjusted with the current technology.


  In this paper we characterize sums of CR functions from competing CR
structures in two scenarios. In one scenario the structures are conjugate and
we are adding to the theory of pluriharmonic boundary values. In the second
scenario the structures are related by projective duality considerations. In
both cases we provide explicit vector field-based characterizations for
two-dimensional circular domains satisfying natural convexity conditions.


  The first generation of ELT instruments includes an optical-infrared
high-resolution spectrograph, indicated as ELT-HIRES and recently christened
ANDES (ArmazoNes high Dispersion Echelle Spectrograph). ANDES consists of three
fibre-fed spectrographs ([U]BV, RIZ, YJH) providing a spectral resolution of
$\sim$100,000 with a minimum simultaneous wavelength coverage of 0.4-1.8 $\mu$m
with the goal of extending it to 0.35-2.4 $\mu$m with the addition of a U arm
to the BV spectrograph and a separate K band spectrograph. It operates both in
seeing- and diffraction-limited conditions and the fibre feeding allows
several, interchangeable observing modes including a single conjugated adaptive
optics module and a small diffraction-limited integral field unit in the NIR.
Modularity and fibre-feeding allow ANDES to be placed partly on the ELT Nasmyth
platform and partly in the Coud\'e room. ANDES has a wide range of
groundbreaking science cases spanning nearly all areas of research in
astrophysics and even fundamental physics. Among the top science cases, there
are the detection of biosignatures from exoplanet atmospheres, finding the
fingerprints of the first generation of stars, tests on the stability of
Nature's fundamental couplings, and the direct detection of the cosmic
acceleration. The ANDES project is carried forward by a large international
consortium, composed of 35 Institutes from 13 countries, forming a team of
almost 300 scientists and engineers which include the majority of the
scientific and technical expertise in the field that can be found in ESO member
states.


  We motivate and prove a strong pumping lemma for regular tree languages. The
new lemma can be seen as the natural correspondent of Ogden's lemma for
context-free string languages.


  The TauSpinner algorithm is a tool that allows to modify the physics model of
the Monte Carlo generated samples due to the changed assumptions of event
production dynamics, but without the need of re-generating events. With the
help of weights $\tau$-lepton production or decay processes can be modified
accordingly to a new physics model. In a recent paper a new version TauSpinner
ver.2.0.0 has been presented which includes a provision for introducing
non-standard states and couplings and study their effects in the
vector-boson-fusion processes by exploiting the spin correlations of
$\tau$-lepton pair decay products in processes where final states include also
two hard jets. In the present paper we document how this can be achieved taking
as an example the non-standard spin-2 state that couples to Standard Model
particles and tree-level matrix elements with complete helicity information
included for the parton-parton scattering amplitudes into a $\tau$-lepton pair
and two outgoing partons. This implementation is prepared as the external (user
provided) routine for the TauSpinner algorithm. It exploits amplitudes
generated by MadGraph5 and adopted to the TauSpinner algorithm format.
Consistency tests of the implemented matrix elements, reweighting algorithm and
numerical results for observables sensitive to $\tau$ polarization are
presented.


  We prove that any triangulation of a surface different from the sphere and
the projective plane admits an orientation without sinks such that every vertex
has outdegree divisible by three. This confirms a conjecture of Bar\'at and
Thomassen and is a step towards a generalization of Schnyder woods to higher
genus surfaces.


  Was the spread of agropastoralism from the Fertile Crescent throughout Europe
influenced by extreme climate events, or was it independent of climate? We here
generate idealized climate events using palaeoclimate records. In a
mathematical model of regional sociocultural development, these events disturb
the subsistence base of simulated forager and farmer societies. We evaluate the
regional simulated transition timings and durations against a published large
set of radiocarbon dates for western Eurasia; the model is able to
realistically hindcast much of the inhomogeneous space-time evolution of
regional Neolithic transitions. Our study shows that the consideration of
climate events improves the simulation of typical lags between cultural
complexes, but that the overall difference to a model without climate events is
not significant. Climate events may not have been as important for early
sociocultural dynamics as endogenous factors.


  SC-Flip (SCF) decoding algorithm shares the attention with the common polar
code decoding approaches due to its low-complexity and improved
error-correction performance. However, the inefficient criterion for locating
the correct bit-flipping position in SCF decoding limits its improvements. Due
to its improved bit-flipping criterion, Thresholded SCF (TSCF) decoding
algorithm exhibits a superior error-correction performance and lower
computational complexity than SCF decoding. However, the parameters of TSCF
decoding depend on multiple channel and code parameters, and are obtained via
Monte-Carlo simulations. Our main goal is to realize TSCF decoding as a
practical polar decoder implementation. To this end, we first realize an
approximated threshold value that is independent of the code parameters and
precomputations. The proposed approximation has negligible error-correction
performance degradation on the TSCF decoding. Then, we validate an alternative
approach for forming a critical set that does not require precomputations,
which also paves the way to the implementation of the Fast-TSCF decoder.
Compared to the existing fast SCF implementations, the proposed Fast-TSCF
decoder has $0.24$ to $0.41$ dB performance gain at frame error rate of
$10^{-3}$, without any extra cost. Compared to the TSCF decoding, Fast-TSCF
does not depend on precomputations and requires $87\%$ fewer decoding steps.
Finally, implementation results in TSMC 65nm CMOS technology show that the
Fast-TSCF decoder is $20\%$ and $82\%$ more area-efficient than the
state-of-the-art fast SCF and fast SC-List decoder architectures, respectively.


  We discuss magnetic field generation by the proton Weibel instability in
relativistic shocks, a situation that applies to the external shocks in the
fireball model for Gamma-ray Bursts, and possibly also to internal shocks. Our
analytical estimates show that the linear phase of the instability ends well
before it has converted a significant fraction of the energy in the proton beam
into magnetic energy: the conversion efficiency is much smaller (of order
m_e/m_p) in electron-proton plasmas than in pair plasmas. We find this estimate
by modelling the plasma in the shock transition zone with a waterbag momentum
distribution for the protons and with a background of hot electrons.
  For ultra-relativistic shocks we find that the wavelength of the most
efficient mode for magnetic field generation equals the electron skin depth,
that the relevant nonlinear stabilization mechanism is magnetic trapping, and
that the presence of the hot electrons limits the typical magnetic field
strength generated by this mode so that it does not depend on the energy
content of the protons. We conclude that other processes than the linear Weibel
instability must convert the free energy of the protons into magnetic fields.


  Decentralised machine learning has recently been proposed as a potential
solution to the security issues of the canonical federated learning approach.
In this paper, we propose a decentralised and collaborative machine learning
framework specially oriented to resource-constrained devices, usual in IoT
deployments. With this aim we propose the following construction blocks. First,
an incremental learning algorithm based on prototypes that was specifically
implemented to work in low-performance computing elements. Second, two
random-based protocols to exchange the local models among the computing
elements in the network. Finally, two algorithmics approaches for prediction
and prototype creation. This proposal was compared to a typical centralized
incremental learning approach in terms of accuracy, training time and
robustness with very promising results.


  We revisit the problem of introducing an a priori control for devices that
can be modeled via a symplectic map in a neighborhood of an elliptic
equilibrium. Using a technique based on Lie transform methods we produce a
normal form algorithm that avoids the usual step of interpolating the map with
a flow. The formal algorithm is completed with quantitative estimates that
bring into evidence the asymptotic character of the normal form transformation.
Then we perform an heuristic analysis of the dynamical behavior of the map
using the invariant function for the normalized map. Finally, we discuss how
control terms of different orders may be introduced so as to increase the size
of the stable domain of the map. The numerical examples are worked out on a two
dimensional map of H\'enon type.


  In this paper, we experimentally evaluate and compare the robustness against
interference of the OQPSK-DSSS (Offset Quadrature Phase Shift Keying - Direct
Sequence Spread Spectrum) and the SUN-OFDM (Smart Utility Network - Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing) physical layers, as defined in the IEEE
802.15.4-2015 standard. The objective of this study is to provide a
comprehensive analysis of the impact different types of interference produce on
these modulations, in terms of the resulting PDR (Packet Delivery Ratio) and
depending on the length of the packet being transmitted. The results show that
the SUN-OFDM physical layer provides significant benefits compared to the
ubiquitous OQPSK-DSSS in terms of interference robustness, regardless of the
interference type and the packet length. Overall, this demonstrates the
suitability of choosing the SUN-OFDM physical layer when deploying low-power
wireless networks in industrial scenarios, specially taking into consideration
the possibility of trading-off robustness and spectrum efficiency depending on
the application requirements.


  We start by reviewing the concept of gauge invariance in quantum mechanics,
for Abelian and Non-Ableian cases. Then we idescribe how the various gauge
potential and field can be associated with the geometrical phase acquired by a
quantum mechanical wave function while adiabatically evolving in a parameter
space. Subsequently we show how this concept is exploited to generate light
induced gauge field for neutral ultra cold bosonic atoms. As an example of such
light induced Abelian and Non Abelian gauge field for ultra cold atoms we
disucss ultra cold atoms in a rotating trap and creation of synthetic spin
orbit coupling for ultra cold atomic systems using Raman lasers.


  For a prime $p$ we construct a subset of $\mathbb{F}_p^{(k^2-k)/2}$ of size
$p^{(k^2-k)/2-1}$ that does not contain progressions of length $k$. More
generally, we show that for any prime power $q$ there is a subset of
$\mathbb{F}_q^{(k^2-k)/2}$ of size $q^{(k^2-k)/2-1}$ that does not contain $k$
points on a line. This yields the first asympotic lower bounds $c^n$ for the
size of $p$-progression-free sets in $\mathbb{F}_p^{n}$ with $c=p-o(1)$, as $p$
tends to infinity.


  The exact expression of the free energy of a planar array of a
Ginzburg-Landau chains with nn and nnn interaction is obtained. The critical
behaviour of the specific heat is not qualitatively modified by taking into
account the nnn interaction.


  Wind speed forecasting models and their application to wind farm operations
are attaining remarkable attention in the literature because of its benefits as
a clean energy source. In this paper, we suggested the time series machine
learning approach called random forest regression for predicting wind speed
variations. The computed values of mutual information and auto-correlation
shows that wind speed values depend on the past data up to 12 hours. The random
forest model was trained using ensemble from two weeks data with previous 12
hours values as input for every value. The computed root mean square error
shows that model trained with two weeks data can be employed to make reliable
short-term predictions up to three years ahead.