  Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women worldwide.
Diagnosis of breast cancer by the pathologists is a time-consuming procedure
and subjective. Computer aided diagnosis frameworks are utilized to relieve
pathologist workload by classifying the data automatically, in which deep
convolutional neural networks (CNNs) are effective solutions. The features
extracted from activation layer of pre-trained CNNs are called deep
convolutional activation features (DeCAF). In this paper, we have analyzed that
all DeCAF features are not necessarily led to a higher accuracy in the
classification task and dimension reduction plays an important role. Therefore,
different dimension reduction methods are applied to achieve an effective
combination of features by capturing the essence of DeCAF features. To this
purpose, we have proposed reduced deep convolutional activation features
(R-DeCAF). In this framework, pre-trained CNNs such as AlexNet, VGG-16 and
VGG-19 are utilized in transfer learning mode as feature extractors. DeCAF
features are extracted from the first fully connected layer of the mentioned
CNNs and support vector machine has been used for binary classification. Among
linear and nonlinear dimensionality reduction algorithms, linear approaches
such as principal component analysis (PCA) represent a better combination among
deep features and lead to a higher accuracy in the classification task using
small number of features considering specific amount of cumulative explained
variance (CEV) of features. The proposed method is validated using experimental
BreakHis dataset. Comprehensive results show improvement in the classification
accuracy up to 4.3% with less computational time. Best achieved accuracy is
91.13% for 400x data with feature vector size (FVS) of 23 and CEV equals to
0.15 using pre-trained AlexNet as feature extractor and PCA as feature
reduction algorithm.


  Quantum entanglement between the degrees of freedom encountered in the
classical world is challenging to observe due to the surrounding environment.
To elucidate this issue, we investigate the entanglement generated over
ultrafast timescales in a bipartite quantum system comprising two massive
particles: a free-moving photoelectron, which expands to a mesoscopic
length-scale, and a light-dressed atomic ion, which represents a hybrid state
of light and matter. Although the photoelectron spectra are measured
classically, the entanglement allows us to reveal information about the
dressed-state dynamics of the ion and the femtosecond extreme ultraviolet
pulses delivered by a seeded free-electron laser. The observed generation of
entanglement is interpreted using the time-dependent von Neumann entropy. Our
results unveil the potential for using short-wavelength coherent light pulses
from free-electron lasers to generate entangled photoelectron and ion systems
for studying spooky action at a distance.


  Quantum spin liquids (QSLs) are topologically ordered exotic states of matter
that host fractionalized excitations. Kitaev proposed a particular route
towards a QSL via strongly bond-dependent interactions on the hexagonal
lattice. A number of candidate Kitaev QSL materials have been pursued, but all
have appreciable non-Kitaev interactions, which put these systems far from the
QSL regime. Using time-domain terahertz spectroscopy (TDTS) we observed a broad
magnetic continuum over a wide range of temperature and field in the honeycomb
cobalt-based magnet, BaCo$_2$(AsO$_4$)$_2$, which has been proposed to be more
ideal versions of a Kitaev QSL. Applying a small in-plane magnetic field of
$\sim$ 0.5 T suppresses the magnetic order and at at even higher fields gives
rise to a spin-polarized state. With 4T magnetic field oriented principally
out-of-plane, a broad magnetic continuum was observed that could be consistent
with a field induced QSL. Our results indicate BaCo$_2$(AsO$_4$)$_2$ to be a
promising QSL candidate.


  The aim of this paper is to describe a new an integrated methodology for
project control under uncertainty. This proposal is based on Earned Value
Methodology and risk analysis and presents several refinements to previous
methodologies. More specifically, the approach uses extensive Monte Carlo
simulation to obtain information about the expected behavior of the project.
This dataset is exploited in several ways using different statistical learning
methodologies in a structured fashion. Initially, simulations are used to
detect if project deviations are a consequence of the expected variability
using Anomaly Detection algorithms. If the project follows this expected
variability, probabilities of success in cost and time and expected cost and
total duration of the project can be estimated using classification and
regression approaches.


  \emph{Secure Search} is the problem of retrieving from a database table (or
any unsorted array) the records matching specified attributes, as in SQL SELECT
queries, but where the database and the query are encrypted. Secure search has
been the leading example for practical applications of Fully Homomorphic
Encryption (FHE) starting in Gentry's seminal work; however, to the best of our
knowledge all state-of-the-art secure search algorithms to date are realized by
a polynomial of degree $\Omega(m)$ for $m$ the number of records, which is
typically too slow in practice even for moderate size $m$.
  In this work we present the first algorithm for secure search that is
realized by a polynomial of degree polynomial in $\log m$. We implemented our
algorithm in an open source library based on HELib implementation for the
Brakerski-Gentry-Vaikuntanthan's FHE scheme, and ran experiments on Amazon's
EC2 cloud. Our experiments show that we can retrieve the first match in a
database of millions of entries in less than an hour using a single machine;
the time reduced almost linearly with the number of machines.
  Our result utilizes a new paradigm of employing coresets and sketches, which
are modern data summarization techniques common in computational geometry and
machine learning, for efficiency enhancement for homomorphic encryption. As a
central tool we design a novel sketch that returns the first positive entry in
a (not necessarily sparse) array; this sketch may be of independent interest.


  The use of alluring headlines (clickbait) to tempt the readers has become a
growing practice nowadays. For the sake of existence in the highly competitive
media industry, most of the on-line media including the mainstream ones, have
started following this practice. Although the wide-spread practice of clickbait
makes the reader's reliability on media vulnerable, a large scale analysis to
reveal this fact is still absent. In this paper, we analyze 1.67 million
Facebook posts created by 153 media organizations to understand the extent of
clickbait practice, its impact and user engagement by using our own developed
clickbait detection model. The model uses distributed sub-word embeddings
learned from a large corpus. The accuracy of the model is 98.3%. Powered with
this model, we further study the distribution of topics in clickbait and
non-clickbait contents.


  Through legislation and technical advances users gain more control over how
their data is processed, and they expect online services to respect their
privacy choices and preferences. However, data may be processed for many
different purposes by several layers of algorithms that create complex data
workflows. To date, there is no existing approach to automatically satisfy
fine-grained privacy constraints of a user in a way which optimises the service
provider's gains from processing. In this article, we propose a solution to
this problem by modelling a data flow as a graph. User constraints and
processing purposes are pairs of vertices which need to be disconnected in this
graph. In general, this problem is NP-hard, thus, we propose several heuristics
and algorithms. We discuss the optimality versus efficiency of our algorithms
and evaluate them using synthetically generated data. On the practical side,
our algorithms can provide nearly optimal solutions for tens of constraints and
graphs of thousands of nodes, in a few seconds.


  In recent years, machine learning techniques have been increasingly applied
in sensitive decision making processes, raising fairness concerns. Past
research has shown that machine learning may reproduce and even exacerbate
human bias due to biased training data or flawed model assumptions, and thus
may lead to discriminatory actions. To counteract such biased models,
researchers have proposed multiple mathematical definitions of fairness
according to which classifiers can be optimized. However, it has also been
shown that the outcomes generated by some fairness notions may be
unsatisfactory.
  In this contribution, we add to this research by considering decision making
processes in time. We establish a theoretic model in which even perfectly
accurate classifiers which adhere to almost all common fairness definitions
lead to stable long-term inequalities due to vicious cycles. Only demographic
parity, which enforces equal rates of positive decisions across groups, avoids
these effects and establishes a virtuous cycle, which leads to perfectly
accurate and fair classification in the long term.


  We consider finite-volume schemes for linear hyperbolic systems with constant
coefficients on unstructured meshes. Under the stability assumption, they
exhibit the convergence rate between $p$ and $p+1$ where $p$ is the order of
the truncation error. Our goal is to explain this effect. The central point of
our study is that the truncation error on $(p+1)$-th order polynomials has zero
average over the mesh period. This condition is verified for schemes with a
polynomial reconstruction, multislope finite-volume methods, 1-exact edge-based
schemes, and the flux correction method. We prove that this condition is
necessary and, under additional assumptions, sufficient for the $(p+1)$-th
order convergence. Furthermore, we apply the multislope method to a
high-Reynolds number flow and explain its accuracy.


  Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) is widely used as a benchmarking tool for
improving performance of organizations. For that purpose, DEA analyses provide
information on both target setting and peer identification. However, the
identification of peers is actually a by-product of DEA. DEA models seek a
projection point of the unit under evaluation on the efficient frontier of the
production possibility set (PPS), which is used to set targets, while peers are
identified simply as the members of the so-called reference sets, which consist
of the efficient units that determine the projection point as a combination of
them. In practice, the selection of peers is crucial for the benchmarking,
because organizations need to identify a peer group in their sector or industry
that represent actual performances from which to learn. In this paper, we argue
that DEA benchmarking models should incorporate into their objectives criteria
for the selection of suitable benchmarks among peers, in addition to
considering the setting of appropriate targets (as usual). Specifically, we
develop models having two objectives: setting the closest targets and selecting
the most similar reference sets. Thus, we seek to establish targets that
require the less effort from organizations for their achievement in addition to
identifying peer groups with the most similar performances, which are potential
benchmarks to emulate and improve.


  We present a new form of randomness, called Deep Randomness, generated in
such a way that probability distribution of the output signal is made
unknowledgeable for an observer. By limiting, thanks to Deep Randomness, the
capacity of the opponent observer to perform bayesian inference over public
information to estimate private information, we can design protocols, beyond
Shannon limit, enabling two legitimate partners, sharing originally no common
private information, to exchange secret information with accuracy as close as
desired from perfection, and knowledge as close as desired from zero by any
unlimitedly powered opponent. We discuss the theoretical foundation of Deep
Randomness, which lies on Prior Probability theory, introduced and developped
by authors like Laplace, Cox, Carnap, Jefferys and Jaynes ; and we introduce
computational method to generate such Deep Randomness.
  V2: we add a commented example of Perfact Secrecy Protocol based on Deep
Random assumption
  V3: we provide a major update of the article. The logic foundation of Deep
Random assumption is highly strengthened by avoiding the inconsistency attached
to rare events. Such inconsistency could lead to security flaws in previous
proposition. At the same time, several variants of the protocol are commented
with improved performances.
  V4: we correct an error due to lack of symmetry in the example of protocol
given in annex. We also make some writing improvements in perspective of
conference publication.
  V5: we introduce parallel with former article from Maurer presenting a model
of Perfect security based on partially independent channels.


  In the present work we discuss a third alternative to explain the latest
observational data concerning the accelerating Universe and its different
stages. The particle creation mechanism in the framework of non-equilibrium
thermodynamics is considered as a basic cosmic mechanism acting on the flat FRW
geometry. By assuming that the gravitationally induced particle production
occurs under "adiabatic" conditions, the deceleration parameter is expressed in
terms of the particle creation rate which is chosen as a truncated power series
of the Hubble parameter. The model shows the evolution of the Universe starting
from inflation to the present late time acceleration and it also predicts
future decelerating stage.


  Rewriting logic and its implementation Maude are an expressive framework for
the formal specification and verification of software and other kinds of
systems. Concurrency is naturally represented by nondeterministic local
transformations produced by the application of rewriting rules over algebraic
terms in an equational theory. Some aspects of the global behavior of the
systems or additional constraints sometimes require restricting this
nondeterminism. Rewriting strategies are used as a higher-level and modular
resource to cleanly capture these requirements, which can be easily expressed
in Maude with an integrated strategy language. However, strategy-aware
specifications cannot be verified with the builtin LTL model checker, making
strategies less useful and attractive.
  In this paper, we discuss model checking for strategy-controlled systems, and
present a strategy-aware extension of the Maude LTL model checker. The
expressivity of the strategy language is discussed in relation to model
checking, the model checker is illustrated with multiple application examples,
and its performance is compared.


  Context: The interstellar medium (ISM) on all scales is full of structures
that can be used as tracers of processes that feed turbulence. Aims: We used HI
survey data to derive global properties of the angular power distribution of
the local ISM. Methods: HI4PI observations on an nside = 1024 HEALPix grid and
Gaussian components representing three phases, the cold, warm, and unstable
lukewarm neutral medium (CNM, WNM, and LNM), were used for velocities
$|v_{\mathrm{LSR}}| \leq 25$ \kms. For high latitudes $|b| > 20\deg$ we
generated apodized maps. After beam deconvolution we fitted angular power
spectra. Results: Power spectra for observed column densities are exceptionally
well defined and straight in log-log presentation with 3D power law indices
$\gamma \geq -3$ for the local gas. For intermediate velocity clouds (IVCs) we
derive $\gamma = -2.6$ and for high velocity clouds (HVCs) $\gamma = -2.0$.
Single-phase power distributions for the CNM, LNM, and WNM are highly
correlated and shallow with $ \gamma \sim -2.5$ for multipoles $l \leq 100$.
Excess power from cold filamentary structures is observed at larger multipoles.
The steepest single-channel power spectra for the CNM are found at velocities
with large CNM and low WNM phase fractions. Conclusions: The phase space
distribution in the local ISM is configured by phase transitions and needs to
be described with three distinct different phases, being highly correlated but
having distributions with different properties. Phase transitions cause locally
hierarchical structures in phase space. The CNM is structured on small scales
and is restricted in position-velocity space. The LNM as an interface to the
WNM envelops the CNM. It extends to larger scales than the CNM and covers a
wider range of velocities. Correlations between the phases are self-similar in
velocity.


  In this paper, we analyse a sub-class of two-dimensional homogeneous nearest
neighbour (simple) random walk restricted on the lattice using the matrix
geometric approach. In particular, we first present an alternative approach for
the calculation of the stability condition, extending the result of Neuts drift
conditions [30] and connecting it with the result of Fayolle et al. which is
based on Lyapunov functions [13]. Furthermore, we consider the sub-class of
random walks with equilibrium distributions given as series of product-forms
and, for this class of random walks, we calculate the eigenvalues and the
corresponding eigenvectors of the infinite matrix $\mathbf{R}$ appearing in the
matrix geometric approach. This result is obtained by connecting and extending
three existing approaches available for such an analysis: the matrix geometric
approach, the compensation approach and the boundary value problem method. In
this paper, we also present the spectral properties of the infinite matrix
$\mathbf{R}$.


  Photometry from the Helios and STEREO spacecraft revealed regions of enhanced
sky surface-brightness suggesting a narrow circumsolar ring of dust associated
with Venus's orbit. We model this phenomenon by integrating the orbits of
10,000,000+ dust particles subject to gravitational and non-gravitational
forces, considering several different kinds of plausible dust sources. We find
that only particles from a hypothetical population of Venus co-orbital
asteroids can produce enough signal in a narrow ring to match the observations.
Previous works had suggested such objects would be dynamically unstable.
However, we re-examined the stability of asteroids in 1:1 resonance with Venus
and found that ~8% should survive for the age of the solar system, enough to
supply the observed ring.


  We study the effect of Debye screening of hypercharge when a net fermion
number is reflected from a domain wall during a first order phase transition,
which may be relevant for electroweak baryogenesis. We give a simple method for
computing the effect of screening within the diffusion approximation, whose
results are compatible with those of a more elaborate treatment based on the
Boltzmann equation. Our formalism takes into account the differences in
mobility of different particle species. We believe it is conceptually simpler
than other accounts of screening that have appeared in this context. Somewhat
surprisingly, we find that Debye screening can actually {\it enhance}
electroweak baryogenesis by a modest factor ($\sim 2$).


  The excited state of the 12C nucleus known as the "Hoyle state" constitutes
one of the most interesting, difficult and timely challenges in nuclear
physics, as it plays a key role in the production of carbon via fusion of three
alpha particles in red giant stars. In this letter, we present ab initio
lattice calculations which unravel the structure of the Hoyle state, along with
evidence for a low-lying spin-2 rotational excitation. For the 12C ground state
and the first excited spin-2 state, we find a compact triangular configuration
of alpha clusters. For the Hoyle state and the second excited spin-2 state, we
find a "bent-arm" or obtuse triangular configuration of alpha clusters. We also
calculate the electromagnetic transition rates between the low-lying states of
12C.


  We characterize when the reduced C*-algebra of a group has unique tracial
state, respectively, is simple, in terms of Dixmier-type properties of the
group C*-algebra. We also give a simple proof of the recent result by
Breuillard, Kalantar, Kennedy and Ozawa that the reduced C*-algebra of a group
has unique tracial state if and only if the amenable radical of the group is
trivial.


  Using numerical modeling we study emergence of structure and
structure-related nonlinear conduction properties in the self-assembled
nanoparticle films. Particularly, we show how different nanoparticle networks
emerge within assembly processes with molecular bio-recognition binding. We
then simulate the charge transport under voltage bias via single-electron
tunnelings through the junctions between nanoparticles on such type of
networks. We show how the regular nanoparticle array and topologically
inhomogeneous nanonetworks affect the charge transport. We find long-range
correlations in the time series of charge fluctuation at individual
nanoparticles and of flow along the junctions within the network. These
correlations explain the occurrence of a large nonlinearity in the simulated
and experimentally measured current-voltage characteristics and non-Gaussian
fluctuations of the current at the electrode.


  Spot is a C ++ 17 library for LTL and $\omega$-automata manipulation, with
command-line utilities, and Python bindings. This paper summarizes its
evolution over the past six years, since the release of Spot 2.0, which was the
first version to support $\omega$-automata with arbitrary acceptance
conditions, and the last version presented at a conference. Since then, Spot
has been extended with several features such as acceptance transformations,
alternating automata, games, LTL synthesis, and more. We also shed some lights
on the data-structure used to store automata.


  We study a fixed point iterative method based on generalized relaxation of
strictly quasi-nonexpansive operators. The iterative method is assembled by
averaging of strings, and each string is composed of finitely many strictly
quasi-nonexpansive operators. To evaluate the study, we examine a wide class of
iterative methods for solving linear systems of equations (inequalities) and
the subgradient projection method for solving nonlinear convex feasibility
problems. The mathematical analysis is complemented by some experiments in
image reconstruction from projections and classical examples, which illustrate
the performance using generalized relaxation.


  We compute the second and third levels of the Lasserre hierarchy for the
spherical finite distance problem. A connection is used between invariants in
representations of the orthogonal group and representations of the general
linear group, which allows computations in high dimensions. We give new linear
bounds on the maximum number of equiangular lines in dimension $n$ with common
angle $\arccos \alpha$. These are obtained through asymptotic analysis in $n$
of the semidefinite programming bound given by the second level.


  We study the effect of primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) on the anisotropies
of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We assume the spectrum of PMFs is
described by log-normal distribution which has a characteristic scale, rather
than power-law spectrum. This scale is expected to reflect the generation
mechanisms and our analysis is complementary to previous studies with power-law
spectrum. We calculate power spectra of energy density and Lorentz force of the
log-normal PMFs, and then calculate CMB temperature and polarization angular
power spectra from scalar, vector, and tensor modes of perturbations generated
from such PMFs. By comparing these spectra with WMAP7, QUaD, CBI, Boomerang,
and ACBAR data sets, we find that the current CMB data set places the strongest
constraint at $k\simeq 10^{-2.5}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ with the upper limit $B\lesssim 3$
nG.


  Complex reasoning ability is one of the most important features of current
LLMs, which has also been leveraged to play an integral role in complex
decision-making tasks. Therefore, the investigation into the reasoning
capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) is critical: numerous benchmarks
have been established to assess the reasoning abilities of LLMs. However,
current benchmarks are inadequate in offering a rigorous evaluation of the full
extent of reasoning abilities that LLMs are capable of achieving. They are also
prone to the risk of overfitting, as these benchmarks, being publicly
accessible and static, allow models to potentially tailor their responses to
specific benchmark metrics, thereby inflating their performance. Addressing
these limitations, our research introduces a new benchmark, named NPHardEval.
This benchmark is designed to evaluate the reasoning abilities of LLMs across a
broad spectrum of 900 algorithmic questions, extending up to the NP-Hard
complexity class. These questions are meticulously chosen to represent a wide
range of complexity class below the NP-hard complexity class, offering a
rigorous measure of the reasoning ability of LLMs. Through this study, we shed
light on the current state of reasoning in LLMs, providing an objective and
rigorous perspective through the comparison of LLMs' performance across complex
classes. Moreover, this benchmark is designed with a dynamic update mechanism,
where the datapoints are refreshed on a monthly basis. Such regular updates
play a crucial role in mitigating the risk of LLMs overfitting to the
benchmark, promoting a more accurate and reliable assessment of their reasoning
capabilities. The benchmark dataset and code of NPHardEval are available at
https://github.com/casmlab/NPHardEval.


  The capability of the Fermi Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) to localize
gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) is evaluated for two different automated algorithms:
the GBM Team's RoboBA algorithm and the independently developed BALROG
algorithm. Through a systematic study utilizing over 500 GRBs with known
locations from instruments like Swift and the Fermi LAT, we directly compare
the effectiveness of, and accurately estimate the systematic uncertainty for,
both algorithms. We show simple adjustments to the GBM Team's RoboBA, in
operation since early 2016, yields significant improvement in the systematic
uncertainty, removing the long tail identified in the systematic, and improves
the overall accuracy. The systematic uncertainty for the updated RoboBA
localizations is $1.8^\circ$ for 52% of GRBs and $4.1^\circ$ for the remaining
48%. Both from public reporting by BALROG and our systematic study, we find the
systematic uncertainty of $1-2^\circ$ quoted in GCN circulars for bright GRBs
localized by BALROG is an underestimate of the true magnitude of the
systematic, which we find to be $2.7^\circ$ for 74% of GRBs and $33^\circ$ for
the remaining 26%. We show that, once the systematic uncertainty is considered,
the RoboBA 90% localization confidence regions can be more than an order of
magnitude smaller in area than those produced by BALROG.


  We present detailed theoretical mass-radius relations for massive white dwarf
stars with oxygen-neon cores. This work is motivated by recent observational
evidence about the existence of white dwarf stars with very high surface
gravities. Our results are based on evolutionary calculations that take into
account the chemical composition expected from the evolutionary history of
massive white dwarf progenitors. We present theoretical mass-radius relations
for stellar mass values ranging from 1.06 to 1.30 Mo with a step of 0.02 Mo and
effective temperatures from 150000 K to approx. 5,000 K. A novel aspect
predicted by our calculations is that the mass-radius relation for the most
massive white dwarfs exhibits a marked dependence on the neutrino luminosity.
Extensive tabulations for massive white dwarfs, accessible from our web site,
are presented as well.


  Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is one of the most
ubiquitous characterization techniques utilized in the field of condensed
matter physics. The resulting spectral intensity consists of a coherent and
incoherent part, whose relative contribution is governed by atomic disorder,
where thermal contribution is expressed in terms of the Debye-Waller factor
(DWF). In this work, we present a soft-X-ray study on the sputter-induced
disorder of InAs(110) surface. We define a new quantity, referred to as the
coherence factor FC, which is the analogue of the DWF, extended to static
disorder. We show that FC alone can be used to quantify the depletion of
coherent intensity with increasing disorder, and, in combination with the DWF,
allows considerations of thermal and static disorder effects on the same
footing. Our study also unveils an intriguing finding: as disorder increases,
the ARPES intensity of quantum well states originating from the conduction band
depletes more rapidly compared to the valence bands. This difference can be
attributed to the predominance of quasi-elastic defect scattering and the
difference in phase space available for such scattering for conduction-band
(CB) and valence-band (VB) initial states. Specifically, the absence of empty
states well below the Fermi energy (EF) hinders the quasi-elastic scattering of
the VB states, while their abundance in vicinity of EF enhances the scattering
rate of the CB states. Additionally, we observe no noticeable increase in
broadening of the VB dispersions as the sputter-induced disorder increases.
This observation aligns with the notion that valence initial states are less
likely to experience the quasi-elastic defect scattering, which would shorten
their lifetime, and with the random uncorrelated nature of the defects
introduced by the ion sputtering.


  Let $G$ be a graph and $t\ge 0$. A new graph parameter termed the largest
reduced neighborhood clique cover number of $G$, denoted by ${\hat\beta}_t(G)$,
is introduced. Specifically, ${\hat\beta}_t(G)$ is the largest, overall
$t$-shallow minors $H$ of $G$, of the smallest number of cliques that can cover
any closed neighborhood of a vertex in $H$. We verify that ${\hat\beta}_t(G)=1$
when $G$ is chordal, and, ${\hat\beta}_t(G)\le s$, where $G$ is an
incomparability graph that does not have a $t-$shallow minor which is
isomorphic to an induced star on $s$ leaves. Moreover, general properties of
${\hat\beta}_t(G)$ including the connections to the greatest reduced average
density of $G$, or $\bigtriangledown_t(G)$ are studied and investigated. For
instance we show ${{\hat\beta}_t(G)\over 2}\le \bigtriangledown_t(G)\le
p.{\hat\beta}_t(G),$ where $p$ is the size of a largest complete graph which is
a $t-minor$ of $G$. Additionally we prove that largest ratio of any minimum
clique cover to the maximum independent set taken overall $t-$minors of $G$ is
a lower bound for ${\hat\beta}_t(G)$. We further introduce the class of bounded
neighborhood clique cover number for which ${\hat\beta}_t(G)$ has a finite
value for each $t\ge 0$ and verify the membership of geometric intersection
graphs of fat objects (with no restrictions on the depth) to this class. The
results support the conjecture that the class graphs with polynomial bounded
neighborhood clique cover number may have separator theorems with respect to
certain measures.


  Let f be a cusp form for SL(3, Z) associated with a generalized principal
series representation of minimal weight d, spectral parameter r and associated
L-function L(s, f). For $r \asymp d \asymp T$ the subconvexity bound $L(1/2, f)
\ll T^{3/4 - 1/140000}$ is proved.


  A boundary between two d-wave superconductors or an s-wave and a d-wave
superconductor generally breaks time-reversal symmetry and can generate
spontaneous currents due to proximity effect. On the other hand, surfaces and
interfaces in d-wave superconductors can produce localized current-carrying
states by supporting the T-breaking combination of dominant and subdominant
order parameters. We investigate spontaneous currents in the presence of both
mechanisms and show that at low temperature, counter-intuitively, the
subdominant coupling decreases the amplitude of the spontaneous current due to
proximity effect. Superscreening of spontaneous currents is demonstrated to be
present in any d-d (but not s-d) junction and surface with d+id' order
parameter symmetry. We show that this supercreening is the result of
contributions from the local magnetic moment of the condensate to the
spontaneous current.


  We develop a supersymmetric representation of the Hubbard operator which
unifies the slave boson and slave fermion representations into a single $U
(1)\times SU (1| 1)$ gauge theory, a group with larger symmetry than the
product of two $U (1)$ gauge groups. These representations of the Hubbard
operator can be used to incorporate strong Hund's interactions in
multi-electron atoms as a constraint. We show how this method can be combined
with the $SP (N)$ group to yield a locally supersymmetric large-N formulation
of the $t-J$ model.


  In this paper, we proposed two strategies which can be applied to a
multilingual neural machine translation system in order to better tackle
zero-shot scenarios despite not having any parallel corpus. The experiments
show that they are effective in terms of both performance and computing
resources, especially in multilingual translation of unbalanced data in real
zero-resourced condition when they alleviate the language bias problem.


  In the disaster and remote regions, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) can
assist the data acquisition for Internet of Things (IoT). How to cover massive
IoT devices (IDs), which require diverse quality-of-service (QoS), is a crucial
challenge. For UAV-assisted IoT, this paper studies the deployment scheme with
QoS guarantee to place multiple UAVs for covering all ground IDs and maximizing
the average data rate of UAVs. First, for the ground ID, we propose the QoS
demand based power allocation (QDPA) algorithm to solve the diversity of QoS
with respect to data rate demand. Then, the data rate maximization placement
(DRMP) algorithm is proposed to optimize the placement of single UAV. Finally,
based on QDPA and DRMP algorithms, we propose the joint power allocation and
placement (JPAP) scheme with QoS guarantee, which can cover massive IDs, to
deploy multiple UAVs for maximizing the average UAV data rate. Simulation
experiments are conducted to verify the superiority of our proposed JPAP
scheme, which can minimize the UAV number and maximize the average data rate of
UAVs.


  We focus on model risk and risk sensitivity when addressing the insurability
of cyber risk. The standard statistical approaches to assessment of
insurability and potential mispricing are enhanced in several aspects involving
consideration of model risk. Model risk can arise from model uncertainty, and
parameters uncertainty. We demonstrate how to quantify the effect of model risk
in this analysis by incorporating various robust estimators for key model
parameter estimates that apply in both marginal and joint cyber risk loss
process modelling. We contrast these robust techniques with standard methods
previously used in studying insurabilty of cyber risk. This allows us to
accurately assess the critical impact that robust estimation can have on tail
index estimation for heavy tailed loss models, as well as the effect of robust
dependence analysis when quantifying joint loss models and insurance portfolio
diversification. We argue that the choice of such methods is akin to a form of
model risk and we study the risk sensitivity that arise from choices relating
to the class of robust estimation adopted and the impact of the settings
associated with such methods on key actuarial tasks such as premium calculation
in cyber insurance. Through this analysis we are able to address the question
that, to the best of our knowledge, no other study has investigated in the
context of cyber risk: is model risk present in cyber risk data, and how does
is it translate into premium mispricing? We believe our findings should
complement existing studies seeking to explore insurability of cyber losses. In
order to ensure our findings are based on realistic industry informed loss
data, we have utilised one of the leading industry cyber loss datasets obtained
from Advisen, which represents a comprehensive data set on cyber monetary
losses, from which we form our analysis and conclusions.


  In this paper, we study the global phase space dynamics of single
nonminimally coupled scalar field inflation models in the metric and Palatini
formalisms. Working in the Jordan frame, we derive the scalar-tensor general
field equations and flat FLRW cosmological equations, and present the Palatini
and metric equations in a common framework. We show that inflation is
characterized by a "master" trajectory from a saddle-type de Sitter fixed point
to a stable node fixed point, approximated by slow roll conditions (presented
for the first time in the Palatini formalism). We show that, despite different
underlying equations, the fixed point structure and properties of many models
are congruent in metric and Palatini, which explains their qualitative
similarities and their suitability for driving inflation. On the other hand,
the global phase portraits reveal how even models which predict the same values
for observable perturbations differ, both to the extent of the phase space
physically available to their trajectories, as well as their past asymptotic
states. We also note how the slow roll conditions tend to underestimate the end
of inflationary accelerated expansion experienced by the true nonlinear
"master" solution. The explicit examples we consider range from the metric and
Palatini induced gravity quintic potential with a Coleman-Weinberg correction
factor to Starobinsky, metric and Palatini nonminimal Higgs, second order pole,
and several nontrivial Palatini models.


  To investigate the formation of Mg-based long-period stacking ordered (LPSO)
structure, we systematically study the preference of the short-range order
(SRO) in metastable disordered phases of Mg-RE-Zn (RE = Y, La, Er, Ho, Dy, Tb)
and Mg-Gd-Al ternary alloy systems through first-principles calculation. RE-Zn
(RE = Y, Er, Ho, Dy, Tb) and Gd-Al pair clusters' probability showed the
tendency of increasing. In contrast, La-Zn pair clusters' probability is not
increasing, whose system dose not form LPSO structure. This preference of SRO
in disordered phases of Mg-based ternary alloys certainly indicates that
peculiar L12-type ordering in LPSO as well as possibility of LPSO formation
should have strong correlation with SRO tendency of energetically competitive
disordered phases.


  In this paper, we establish some general Kastler-Kalau-Walze type theorems
for any dimensional manifolds with boundary which generalize the results in
[WW1].


  With the development of biomedical science, researchers have increasing
access to an abundance of studies focusing on similar research questions. There
is a growing interest in the integration of summary information from those
studies to enhance the efficiency of estimation in their own internal studies.
In this work, we present a comprehensive framework on integration of summary
information from external studies when the data are modeled by semiparametric
models. Our novel framework offers straightforward estimators that update
conventional estimations with auxiliary information. It addresses computational
challenges by capitalizing on the intricate mathematical structure inherent to
the problem. We demonstrate the conditions when the proposed estimators are
theoretically more efficient than initial estimate based solely on internal
data. Several special cases such as proportional hazards model in survival
analysis are provided with numerical examples.


  We describe the design and implementation of a high performance cloud that we
have used to archive, analyze and mine large distributed data sets. By a cloud,
we mean an infrastructure that provides resources and/or services over the
Internet. A storage cloud provides storage services, while a compute cloud
provides compute services. We describe the design of the Sector storage cloud
and how it provides the storage services required by the Sphere compute cloud.
We also describe the programming paradigm supported by the Sphere compute
cloud. Sector and Sphere are designed for analyzing large data sets using
computer clusters connected with wide area high performance networks (for
example, 10+ Gb/s). We describe a distributed data mining application that we
have developed using Sector and Sphere. Finally, we describe some experimental
studies comparing Sector/Sphere to Hadoop.


  In this paper, we propose Stacked DeBERT, short for Stacked Denoising
Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers. This novel model
improves robustness in incomplete data, when compared to existing systems, by
designing a novel encoding scheme in BERT, a powerful language representation
model solely based on attention mechanisms. Incomplete data in natural language
processing refer to text with missing or incorrect words, and its presence can
hinder the performance of current models that were not implemented to withstand
such noises, but must still perform well even under duress. This is due to the
fact that current approaches are built for and trained with clean and complete
data, and thus are not able to extract features that can adequately represent
incomplete data. Our proposed approach consists of obtaining intermediate input
representations by applying an embedding layer to the input tokens followed by
vanilla transformers. These intermediate features are given as input to novel
denoising transformers which are responsible for obtaining richer input
representations. The proposed approach takes advantage of stacks of multilayer
perceptrons for the reconstruction of missing words' embeddings by extracting
more abstract and meaningful hidden feature vectors, and bidirectional
transformers for improved embedding representation. We consider two datasets
for training and evaluation: the Chatbot Natural Language Understanding
Evaluation Corpus and Kaggle's Twitter Sentiment Corpus. Our model shows
improved F1-scores and better robustness in informal/incorrect texts present in
tweets and in texts with Speech-to-Text error in the sentiment and intent
classification tasks.


  We propose a mechanism where high entanglement between very distant boundary
spins is generated by suddenly connecting two long Kondo spin chains. We show
that this procedure provides an efficient way to route entanglement between
multiple distant sites. We observe that the key features of the entanglement
dynamics of the composite spin chain are remarkably well described using a
simple model of two singlets, each formed by two spins. The proposed
entanglement routing mechanism is a footprint of the emergence of a Kondo cloud
in a Kondo system and can be engineered and observed in varied physical
settings.


  We study the regularity properties of the value function associated with an
affine optimal control problem with quadratic cost plus a potential, for a
fixed final time and initial point. Without assuming any condition on singular
minimizers, we prove that the value function is continuous on an open and dense
subset of the interior of the attainable set. As a byproduct we obtain that it
is actually smooth on a possibly smaller set, still open and dense.


  We can approximate a continuous self-map $f$ of a compact metric space by
discretizing the space into a grid. Through either the map itself or a time
series, $f$ induces a multivalued grid map $\mathcal F$. The dynamical
properties of $\mathcal F$ depend on the resolution of the grid, and we study
the persistence of these properties as we change the resolution. In particular,
we look at the persistence of Morse decompositions, at both the global (Morse
graph) and local (individual Morse set) levels, using several notions of
persistence -- graph structure, persistent homology, and mixing properties.


  The aim of the present work is twofold: first, we present general remarks
about the application of recent procedures to compute the deflection angle in
spherically symmetric and asymptotically flat spacetimes, taking into account
finite distance corrections based on the Gauss-Bonnet theorem. Second, and as
the main part of our work, we apply this powerful technique to compute
corrections to the deflection angle produced by astrophysical configurations in
the weak gravitational regime when a plasma medium is taken into account. For
applications, we use these methods to introduce new general formulae for the
bending angle of light rays in plasma environments in different astrophysical
scenarios, generalizing previously known results. We also present new and
useful formulae for the separation angle between the images of two sources when
they are lensed by an astrophysical object surrounded by plasma. In particular,
for the case of an homogeneous plasma we study these corrections for the case
of light rays propagating near astrophysical objects described in the weak
gravitational regime by a Parametrized-Post-Newtonian (PPN) metric which takes
into account the mass of the objects and a possible quadrupole moment. Even
when our work concentrates on finite distances corrections to the deflection
angle, we also obtain as particular cases of our expressions new formulae which
are valid for the more common assumption of infinite distance between receiver,
lens and source. We also consider the presence of an inhomogeneous plasma media
introducing as particular cases of our general results explicit expressions for
particular charge number density profiles.


  We present the first spatially resolved spectroscopic imaging observations of
the 12CO(1-0) line emission in the central 2.5 kpc of the Seyfert 1 galaxy
NGC4151, obtained with the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer (PdBI). Most of
the cold molecular gas is distributed along two curved gas lanes about 1 kpc
north and south of the active nucleus, coincident with the circumnuclear dust
ring noted by previous authors. These CO arcs lie within the Inner Lindblad
Resonance of the large scale oval bar and have kinematics consistent with those
derived from neutral hydrogen observations of the disk and bar. Two additional
gas clumps are detected that show non-circular motions - one associated with
the southern gas lane and one lying ~600 pc north of the nucleus. Closer to the
nucleus, no cold molecular gas is detected in the central 300 pc where abundant
near-IR H2 line emission arises. This suggests that the H2 line emission is not
a good indicator for a cold gas reservoir in NGC4151 and that the H2 is likely
photo-excited by the AGN. The upper limit of the CO mass in the central 300 pc
is sufficient to support the AGN activity at its current level for 10^7 yrs.
The total cold molecular mass detected by PdBI is 4.3 10^7 Msun. Finally, 3 mm
continuum emission arising from the location of the AGN is detected with a flux
of S~14 mJy and appears to be unresolved at an angular resolution of 2.8" (~180
pc).


  Detecting the positions of human hands and objects-in-contact (hand-object
detection) in each video frame is vital for understanding human activities from
videos. For training an object detector, a method called Mixup, which overlays
two training images to mitigate data bias, has been empirically shown to be
effective for data augmentation. However, in hand-object detection, mixing two
hand-manipulation images produces unintended biases, e.g., the concentration of
hands and objects in a specific region degrades the ability of the hand-object
detector to identify object boundaries. We propose a data-augmentation method
called Background Mixup that leverages data-mixing regularization while
reducing the unintended effects in hand-object detection. Instead of mixing two
images where a hand and an object in contact appear, we mix a target training
image with background images without hands and objects-in-contact extracted
from external image sources, and use the mixed images for training the
detector. Our experiments demonstrated that the proposed method can effectively
reduce false positives and improve the performance of hand-object detection in
both supervised and semi-supervised learning settings.


  The superconductor at the LaAlO3-SrTiO3 interface provides a model system for
the study of two-dimensional superconductivity in the dilute carrier density
limit. Here we experimentally address the pairing mechanism in this
superconductor. We extract the electron-phonon spectral function from tunneling
spectra and conclude, without ruling out contributions of further pairing
channels, that electron-phonon mediated pairing is strong enough to account for
the superconducting critical temperatures. Furthermore, we discuss the
electron-phonon coupling in relation to the superconducting phase diagram. The
electron-phonon spectral function is independent of the carrier density, except
for a small part of the phase diagram in the underdoped region. The tunneling
measurements reveal that the increase of the chemical potential with increasing
carrier density levels off and is zero in the overdoped region of the phase
diagram. This indicates that the additionally induced carriers do not populate
the band that hosts the superconducting state and that the superconducting
order parameter therefore is weakened by the presence of charge carriers in
another band.


  Effects of the site dilution on spin-gapped Heisenberg antiferromagnets with
$S=1/2$ and S=1 on a square lattice are investigated by means of the quantum
Monte Carlo method. It is found that effective magnetic moments induced around
the diluted sites exhibit the antiferromagnetic long-range order in the medium
of spin-singlet pairs. Their microscopic structure is examined in detail and
important roles of the higher dimensionality than one on the phenomenon are
discussed.


  For each positive prime integer $p$ we construct a standard graded
$F$-rational ring $R$, over a field $K$ of characteristic $p$, such that
$R\otimes_K\overline{K}$ is not $F$-rational. By localizing we obtain a flat
local homomorphism $(R, \mathfrak{m}) \to (S, \mathfrak{n})$ such that $R$ is
$F$-rational, $S/\mathfrak{m} S$ is regular (in fact, a field), but $S$ is not
$F$-rational. In the process we also obtain standard graded $F$-rational rings
$R$ for which $R\otimes_K R$ is not $F$-rational.


  In 1922 Hardy and Littlewood proposed a conjecture on the asymptotic density
of admissible prime k-tuples. In 2011 Wolf computed the "Skewes number" for
twin primes, i.e., the first prime at which a reversal of the Hardy-Littlewood
inequality occurs. In this paper, we find "Skewes numbers" for 8 more prime
k-tuples and provide numerical data in support of the Hardy-Littlewood
conjecture. Moreover, we present several algorithms to compute such numbers.


  In ordinal evaluations of proposals in peer review systems, a set of
proposals is assigned to a fixed set of referees so as to maximize the number
of pairwise comparisons of proposals under certain referee capacity and
proposal subject constraints. In this paper, the following two related problems
are considered: (1) Assuming that each referee has a capacity to review k out
of n proposals, 2 < k < n, determine the minimum number of referees needed to
ensure that each pair of proposals is reviewed by at least one referee, (2)
Find an assignment that meets the lower bound determined in (1). It is easy to
see that one referee is both necessary and sufficient when k = n, and n(n-1)/2
referees are both necessary and sufficient when k = 2. We show that 6 referees
are both necessary and sufficient when k = n/2. We further show that 11
referees are necessary and 12 are sufficient when k = n/3, and 18 referees are
necessary and 20 referees are sufficient when k = n/4. A more general lower
bound of n(n-1)/k(k-1) referees is also given for any k, 2 < k < n, and an
assignment asymptotically matching this lower bound within a factor of 2 is
presented. These results are not only theoretically interesting but they also
provide practical methods for efficient assignments of proposals to referees.


  We present a new, better-constrained asteroseismic analysis of the
helium-atmosphere (DB) white dwarf discovered in the field of view of the
original Kepler mission. Observations obtained over the course of two years
yield at least seven independent modes, two more than were found in the
discovery paper for the object. With several triplets and doublets, we are able
to fix the $\ell$ and $\rm{m}$ identification of several modes before
performing the fitting, greatly reducing the number of assumptions we must make
about mode identification. We find a very thin helium layer for this relatively
hot DB, which adds evidence to the hypothesis that helium diffuses outward
during DB cooling. At least a few of the modes appear to be stable on
evolutionary timescales and could allow us to obtain a measurement of the rate
of cooling with monitoring of the star over the course of the next few years
with ground-based follow-up.


  A formalism is given to count integer and rational solutions to polynomial
equations with rational coefficients. These polynomials $P(x)$ are
parameterized by three integers, labeling an elliptic curve. The counting of
the rational solutions to $y^2=P(x)$ is facilitated by another elliptic curve
with integral coefficients. The problem of counting is described by two
elliptic curves and a map between them.


  In this paper, we construct a family of elliptic curves of rank at least
five. To do so, we use the Brahmagupta formula for the area of cyclic
quadrilaterals $(p^3,q^3,r^3,q^3)$ not necessarily standing for the genuine
sides of quadrilaterals. It turns out that, as parameters of the curves, the
integers $p,q,r,s$, along with the extra integers $u$, $v$ satisfy
$u^6+v^6+p^6+q^6=2(r^6+s^6)$, $uv=pq$. However, we utilize a subset of the
solutions of the above system via the rational points of a specific elliptic
curve of positive rank lying on the system.


  A conjecture of Cigler which realizes normalized q-Hermite polynomials as
moments is verified.


  We numerically study structural properties of mechanically stable packings of
hard spheres (HS), in a wide range of packing fractions $0.53 \le \phi \le
0.72$. Detailed structural information is obtained from the analysis of
orientational order parameters, which clearly reveals a disorder-order phase
transition at the random close packing (RCP) density, $\phi_{\rm c} \simeq
0.64$. Above $\phi_{\rm c}$ the crystalline nuclei form 3D-like clusters, which
upon further desification, transform into alternating planar-like layers. We
also find that particles with icosahedral symmetry survive only in a narrow
density range in the vicinity of the RCP transition.


  Two-point functions for scalar and spinor fields are investigated in Einstein
universe ($R \otimes S^{\sN-1}$). Equations for massive scalar and spinor
two-point functions are solved and the explicit expressions for the two-point
functions are given. The simpler expressions for massless cases are obtained
both for the scalar and spinor cases.


  According to the measurement of muon-neutrino experiment done by the OPERA
collaboration, the speed of high-energy neutrino exceeds that of light in
vacuum by 25ppm. Assuming that this result is correct, a possible resolution of
the dilemma between it and the validity of relativity is proposed without
changing the framework of the Standard Model of elementary particles. The
essential idea is based on a possible resolution, proposed previously, of the
color confinement problem of quantum chromodynamics.


  The quantum electrodynamical theory of the two-photon transitions in
hydrogenlike ions is presented. The emission probability for 2s1/2 -> 2E1+1s1/2
transitions is calculated and compared to the results of the previous
calculations. The emission probabilities 2p12 -> E1E2+1s1/2 and 2p1/2 ->
E1M1+1s1/2 are also calculated for the nuclear charge Z values 1-100. This is
the first calculation of the two latter probabilities. The results are given in
two different gauges.


  We give an elementary introduction to hyperk\"ahler manifolds, survey some of
their interesting properties and some open problems.


  Any single-qubit unitary operation or quantum gate can be considered a
rotation. Typical experimental implementations of single-qubit gates involve
two or three fixed rotation axes, and up to three rotation steps. Here we show
that, if the rotation axes can be tuned arbitrarily in a fixed plane, then two
rotation steps are sufficient for implementing a single-qubit gate, and one
rotation step is sufficient for implementing a state transformation. The
results are relevant for "exchange-only" logical qubits encoded in three-spin
blocks, which are important for universal quantum computation in decoherence
free subsystems and subspaces.


  Person re-identification (ReID) is a challenging crosscamera retrieval task
to identify pedestrians. Many complex network structures are proposed recently
and many of them concentrate on multi-branch features to achieve high
performance. However, they are too heavy-weight to deploy in realworld
applications. Additionally, pedestrian images are often captured by different
surveillance cameras, so the varied lights, perspectives and resolutions result
in inevitable multi-camera domain gaps for ReID. To address these issues, this
paper proposes ATCN, a simple but effective angular triplet loss-based camera
network, which is able to achieve compelling performance with only global
features. In ATCN, a novel angular distance is introduced to learn a more
discriminative feature representation in the embedding space. Meanwhile, a
lightweight camera network is designed to transfer global features to more
discriminative features. ATCN is designed to be simple and flexible so it can
be easily deployed in practice. The experiment results on various benchmark
datasets show that ATCN outperforms many SOTA approaches.


  Using scanning-tunneling-microscopy and theoretical modeling on
heterostructures of twisted bilayer graphene and hexagonal Boron-Nitride, we
show that the emergent super-moire structures display a rich landscape of
moire-crystals and quasicrystals. We reveal a phase-diagram comprised of
commensurate moire-crystals embedded in swaths of moire quasicrystals. The 1:1
commensurate crystal, expected to be a Chern insulator, should only exist at
one point on the phase-diagram, implying that it ought to be practically
undetectable. Surprisingly we find that the commensurate crystals exist over a
much wider than predicted range, providing evidence of an unexpected
self-alignment mechanism that is explained using an elastic-network model. The
remainder of the phase-diagram, where we observe tunable quasicrystals, affords
a new platform for exploring the unique electronic-properties of these rarely
found in nature structures.


  A search for charmed baryons decaying to $D^0 p$ reveals two states: the
$\Lambda_c(2880)^+$ baryon and a previously unobserved state at a mass of
[$2939.8\pm 1.3 \text{(stat.)}\pm 1.0 \text{(syst.)}$]~\mevcc and with an
intrinsic width of [$17.5\pm 5.2 \text{(stat.)}\pm 5.9 \text{(syst.)}$]~\mev.
Consistent and significant signals are observed for the $K^-\pi^+$ and
$K^-\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+$ decay modes of the $D^0$ in 287 ${\rm fb}^{-1}$
annihilation data recorded by the BaBar detector at a center-of-mass energy of
10.58~${\rm GeV}/c^2$. There is no evidence in the $D^+ p$ spectrum of
doubly-charged partners. The mass and intrinsic width of the
$\Lambda_c(2880)^+$ baryon and relative yield of the two baryons are also
measured.


  The leading-twist parton distribution amplitudes (PDAs) of ground-state
$^1S_0$ and $^3S_1$ $c\bar c$- and $b\bar b$-quarkonia are calculated using a
symmetry-preserving continuum treatment of the meson bound-state problem which
unifies the properties of these heavy-quark systems with those of light-quark
bound-states, including QCD's Goldstone modes. Analysing the evolution of
$^1S_0$ and $^3S_1$ PDAs with current-quark mass, $\hat m_q$, increasing away
from the chiral limit, it is found that in all cases there is a value of $\hat
m_q$ for which the PDA matches the asymptotic form appropriate to QCD's
conformal limit and hence is insensitive to changes in renormalisation scale,
$\zeta$. This mass lies just above that associated with the $s$-quark. At
current-quark masses associated with heavy-quarkonia, on the other hand, the
PDAs are piecewise convex-concave-convex. They are much narrower than the
asymptotic distribution on a large domain of $\zeta$; but nonetheless deviate
noticeably from $\varphi_{Q\bar Q}(x) = \delta(x-1/2)$, which is the result in
the static-quark limit. There are also material differences between $^1S_0$ and
$^3S_1$ PDAs, and between the PDAs for different vector-meson polarisations,
which vanish slowly with increasing $\zeta$. An analysis of moments of the
root-mean-square relative-velocity, $\langle v^{2m}\rangle$, in $^1S_0$ and
$^3S_1$ systems reveals that $\langle v^4\rangle$-contributions may be needed
in order to obtain a reliable estimate of matrix elements using such an
expansion, especially for processes involving heavy pseudoscalar quarkonia.


  We propose a number of heuristics that can be used for identifying when
intransitive choice behaviour is likely to occur in choice situations. We also
suggest two methods for avoiding undesired choice behaviour, namely transparent
communication and adaptive choice-set generation. We believe that these two
ways can contribute to the avoidance of decision biases in choice situations
that may often be regretted.


  Two-dimensional superconductors attract great interest both for their
fundamental physics and for their potential applications, especially in the
rapidly growing field of quantum computing. Despite intense theoretical and
experimental efforts, materials with a reasonably high transition temperature
are still rare. Even more rare are those that combine superconductivity with a
non-trivial band topology, to potentially host exotic states of matter such as
Majorana fermions. Here, we predict a remarkably high superconducting critical
temperature of 21-28 K in the easily exfoliable, topologically non-trivial 2D
semimetal W2N3 . By studying its electronic and superconducting properties as a
function of doping and strain, we find large changes in the electron-phonon
interactions that make this material a unique platform to study different
coupling regimes and test the limits of current theories of superconductivity.
Last, we discuss the possibility of tuning the material to achieve coexistence
of superconductivity and topologically non-trivial edge states.


  The weak-coupling renormalization group method is an asymptotically exact
method to find superconducting instabilities of a lattice model of correlated
electrons. Here we extend it to spin-orbit coupled lattice systems and study
the emerging superconducting phases of the Rashba-Hubbard model. Since Rashba
type spin-orbit coupling breaks inversion symmetry, the arising superconducting
phases may be a mixture of spin-singlet and spin-triplet states. We study the
two-dimensional square lattice as a paradigm and discuss the symmetry
properties of the arising spin-orbit coupled superconducting states including
helical spin-triplet superconductivity. We also discuss how to best deal with
split energy bands within a method which restricts paired electrons to momenta
on the Fermi surface.


  A new Fermionic Molecular Dynamics (FMD) model based on a Skyrme functional
is proposed in this paper. After introducing the basic formalism, some first
applications to nuclear structure and nuclear thermodynamics are presented


  Traditional close-coupling methods suppose an expansion of the total wave
function in terms of inner stationary states of colliding subsystems. In the
case of hadronic atoms, a similar expansion has to involve, \emph{inter alia},
low angular momentum states (ns, np) with large annihilation or nuclear
absorbtion widths. The life times of these states are small as compared with
the collision time and mean time between subsequent collisions, therefore the
close-coupling approach has to be modified for the similar problems.
  In this paper we propose a generalization of the close-coupling method with
annihilating states included in the basis. The correct asymptotic behaviour of
the wave function in the annihilating channels suppose that the annihilating
states can not be presented in the incoming channels whereas the corresponding
components of the wave function of relative motion in outgoing channels have to
damp out at large distances. The S-matrix of the transitions in the subspace of
all other (non-annihilating) states is not unitary, because the hamiltonian of
the problem is non-hermitian. The unitary defect gives the cross section of
induced annihilation. The scheme of the numerical solving of the generalized
close-coupling equations is proposed. It includes the calculations of two types
of solution, from the origin to an intermediate sewing point R=a and from a
large R to the point a.


  We present a sample of 30 massive (log$(M_{\ast}/M_\odot) >11$) $z=3-5$
quiescent galaxies selected from the \textit{Spitzer-}HETDEX Exploratory Large
Area (SHELA) Survey and observed at 1.1mm with Atacama Large
Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) Band 6 observations. These ALMA
observations would detect even modest levels of dust-obscured star-formation,
on order of $\sim 20 \ M_\odot \textrm{yr}^{-1}$ at $z\sim4$ at a $1\sigma$
level, allowing us to quantify the amount of contamination from dusty
star-forming sources in our quiescent sample. Starting with a parent sample of
candidate massive quiescent galaxies from the Stevans et al. 2021 v1 SHELA
catalog, we use the Bayesian \textsc{Bagpipes} spectral energy distribution
fitting code to derive robust stellar masses ($M_*$) and star-formation rates
(SFRs) for these sources, and select a conservative sample of 36 candidate
massive ($M_* > 10^{11}M_\odot$) quiescent galaxies, with specific SFRs at
$>2\sigma$ below the star-forming main sequence at $z\sim4$. Based on ALMA
imaging, six of these candidate quiescent galaxies have the presence of
significant dust-obscured star-formation, thus were removed from our final
sample. This implies a $\sim 17\%$ contamination rate from dusty star-forming
galaxies with our selection criteria using the v1 SHELA catalog. This
conservatively-selected quiescent galaxy sample at $z=3-5$ will provide
excellent targets for future observations to better constrain how massive
galaxies can both grow and shut-down their star-formation in a relatively short
time period.


  We report measurements of the time-dependent phases of the leak and retrieved
pulses obtained in EIT storage experiments with metastable helium vapor at room
temperature. In particular, we investigate the influence of the optical
detuning at two-photon resonance, and provide numerical simulations of the full
dynamical Maxwell-Bloch equations, which allow us to account for the
experimental results.


  According to the unified model, the differences observed in different classes
of AGN are due to anisotropic obscuration. This implies that in the hard
X-rays, at energies where the radiation can pierce the obscuring material, the
average spectral characteristics of different classes of AGN should be the
same. Here we present a study of the 17-250 keV INTEGRAL IBIS/ISGRI average
spectra of Seyfert galaxies, aimed to constrain similarities and possible
differences between different classes of AGN. The sample we consists of all the
172 Seyfert galaxies detected by INTEGRAL IBIS/ISGRI at z<0.2 during its first
7 years of observations. Of these, 45 are Seyfert 1s, 31 Seyfert 1.5s, 67
Compton-thin Seyfert 2s, 11 Narrow Line Seyfert 1s, 11 Compton-thick Seyfert
2s, and 9 LINERs. Comparing the average hard X-ray spectra of the different
classes we found that, while the spectra of Seyfert 1s, Seyfert 1.5 and NLS1s
are consistent, Compton-thin Seyfert 2 show a clear excess in the 20-60 keV
band over the spectrum of Seyfert 1s and Seyfert 1.5s. This excess might be due
to an intrinsically stronger reflection component or to a clumpy structure of
the absorber in Compton-thin Seyfert 2s.


  Noise is an unavoidable part of most measurements which can hinder a correct
interpretation of the data. Uncertainties propagate in the data analysis and
can lead to biased results even in basic descriptive statistics such as the
central moments and cumulants. Expressions of noise-unbiased estimates of
central moments and cumulants up to the fourth order are presented under the
assumption of independent Gaussian uncertainties, for weighted and unweighted
statistics. These results are expected to be relevant for applications of the
skewness and kurtosis estimators such as outlier detections, normality tests
and in automated classification procedures. The comparison of estimators
corrected and not corrected for noise biases is illustrated with simulations as
a function of signal-to-noise ratio, employing different sample sizes and
weighting schemes.


  We complete classical investigations concerning the dynamical stability of an
infinite homogeneous gaseous medium described by the Euler-Poisson system or an
infinite homogeneous stellar system described by the Vlasov-Poisson system
(Jeans problem). To determine the stability of an infinite homogeneous stellar
system with respect to a perturbation of wavenumber k, we apply the Nyquist
method. We first consider the case of single-humped distributions and show
that, for infinite homogeneous systems, the onset of instability is the same in
a stellar system and in the corresponding barotropic gas, contrary to the case
of inhomogeneous systems. We show that this result is true for any symmetric
single-humped velocity distribution, not only for the Maxwellian. If we
specialize on isothermal and polytropic distributions, analytical expressions
for the growth rate, damping rate and pulsation period of the perturbation can
be given. Then, we consider the Vlasov stability of symmetric and asymmetric
double-humped distributions (two-stream stellar systems) and determine the
stability diagrams depending on the degree of asymmetry. We compare these
results with the Euler stability of two self-gravitating gaseous streams.
Finally, we determine the corresponding stability diagrams in the case of
plasmas and compare the results with self-gravitating systems.


  We describe the subgroup of the mapping class group of a hypersurface in
$\mathbb{CP}^4$ consisting of those diffeomorphisms which can be realised by
monodromy.


  The absence of an identified consequence at solar system scale of the
cosmological space expansion is usually explained considering that space
expansion does not affect local anysotropies in matter distribution. This can
also be explained considering a time dependent scenario compatible with
Relativity Principle, therefore supporting physical laws independent of the
time position of the observer. A theory considering such relativist scenario,
i.e., generalizing Relativity Principle to position, embodies Cosmological
Principle and can be intrinsically able to fit directly both local and cosmic
data. In part I it is presented the general framework of such a theory, called
Local Relativity (LR), and analysed the space-time structure. Special
Relativity space-time is obtained, with no formal conflict with Einstein
analysis, but fully solving apparent paradoxes and conceptual difficulties,
including the simultaneity concept and the long discussed Sagnac effect. In
part II, LR is applied to positional analysis. It is verified the accordance
with solar system measurements and with classic cosmic tests, without dark
matter or dark energy. Two of the new features obtained in part II are the
possibility of a planetary orbital evolution compatible with a null
determination for G variation, supporting a warmer scenario for earth (and
Mars) past climate, and the possibility of an accelerating component in earth
rotation, compatible with the most recent measurements.


  Long (up to 100 hours) time series of SOHO/MDI Doppler data are analyzed. The
power spectrum of radial velocity time series in the quiet photosphere is
observed to have, along with the known 5-min mode, a stable strong mode with a
period of about 32 h, which is close to the supergranulation cell lifetime. The
spatial distribution of the amplitudes of these oscillations also coincides
with the characteristic size scale of supergranulation (~35 Mm).


  The appeal of lasers can be attributed to both their ubiquitous applications
and their role as model systems for elucidating nonequilibrium and cooperative
phenomena. Introducing novel concepts in lasers thus has a potential for both
applied and fundamental implications. Here we experimentally demonstrate that
the coupling between carrier spin and light polarization in common
semiconductor lasers can enable room-temperature modulation frequencies above
200 GHz, exceeding by nearly an order of magnitude the best conventional
semiconductor lasers. Surprisingly, this ultrafast operation relies on a short
carrier spin relaxation time and a large anisotropy of the refractive index,
both commonly viewed as detrimental in spintronics and conventional lasers. Our
results overcome the key speed limitations of conventional directly modulated
lasers and offer a prospect for the next generation of low-energy ultrafast
optical communication.


  Microstructure modifications induced by sliding a WC-Co indenter in scratch
tests on the surface of a single phase AlCuFe icosahedral quasicrystal (IQC)
was studied by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron
microscopy (TEM). The scratch track was shown tocomprise many smaller tracks.
Dislocations were discovered to emerge from the edges of the smaller scratch
tracks. Along a small track where shear stress is concentrated, a phase
transition from IQC to a body-centered cubic (b.c.c.) phase with lattice
parameter a=0.29 nm was pointed out. A modulated quasicrystal state as well as
a deformation twin of IQC were determined in the region beneath the scratch.


  The wavelet tree (Grossi et al. [SODA, 2003]) and wavelet matrix (Claude et
al. [Inf. Syst., 47:15--32, 2015]) are compact indices for texts over an
alphabet $[0,\sigma)$ that support rank, select and access queries in $O(\lg
\sigma)$ time. We first present new practical sequential and parallel
algorithms for wavelet tree construction. Their unifying characteristics is
that they construct the wavelet tree bottomup}, i.e., they compute the last
level first. We also show that this bottom-up construction can easily be
adapted to wavelet matrices. In practice, our best sequential algorithm is up
to twice as fast as the currently fastest sequential wavelet tree construction
algorithm (Shun [DCC, 2015]), simultaneously saving a factor of 2 in space.
This scales up to 32 cores, where we are about equally fast as the currently
fastest parallel wavelet tree construction algorithm (Labeit et al. [DCC,
2016]), but still use only about 75 % of the space. An additional theoretical
result shows how to adapt any wavelet tree construction algorithm to the
wavelet matrix in the same (asymptotic) time, using only little extra space.


  We present the results of a BeppoSAX observation of PSR J0218+4232 which, for
the first time, provides detailed information on the pulsar's temporal and
spectral emission properties in the broad band 1-10 keV. We detected X-ray
pulses with a pulsed fraction of 73 +/- 12 %. The pulse profile is
characterized by two peaks phase separated by 0.47 +/-0.05. The pulsed spectrum
is best described by a power-law of photon index 0.61 +/- 0.32 with an
unabsorbed (2-10 keV) X-ray flux of 4.1E-13 erg/cm^2/s implying a luminosity of
Lx = 1.3E32 Theta (d/5.7 kpc})^2 erg/s and an X-ray efficiency of 4.8E-4 Theta
(d/5.7 kpc})^2 where Theta is the solid angle spanned by the emission beam.


  Person re-identification is an important task and has widespread applications
in video surveillance for public security. In the past few years, deep learning
network with triplet loss has become popular for this problem. However, the
triplet loss usually suffers from poor local optimal and relies heavily on the
strategy of hard example mining. In this paper, we propose to address this
problem with a new deep metric learning method called Adversarial Triplet
Embedding (ATE), in which we simultaneously generate adversarial triplets and
discriminative feature embedding in an unified framework. In particular,
adversarial triplets are generated by introducing adversarial perturbations
into the training process. This adversarial game is converted into a minimax
problem so as to have an optimal solution from the theoretical view. Extensive
experiments on several benchmark datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the
approach against the state-of-the-art literature.


  In 2007, R Coronae Borealis (R CrB) went into an historically deep and long
decline. In this state, the dust acts like a natural coronagraph at visible
wavelengths, allowing faint nebulosity around the star to be seen. Imaging has
been obtained from 0.5 to 500 micron with Gemini/GMOS, HST/WFPC2, Spitzer/MIPS,
and Herschel/SPIRE. Several of the structures around R CrB are cometary
globules caused by wind from the star streaming past dense blobs. The estimated
dust mass of the knots is consistent with their being responsible for the R CrB
declines if they form along the line of sight to the star. In addition, there
is a large diffuse shell extending up to 4 pc away from the star containing
cool 25 K dust that is detected all the way out to 500 micron. The SED of R CrB
can be well fit by a 150 AU disk surrounded by a very large diffuse envelope
which corresponds to the size of the observed nebulosity. The total masses of
the disk and envelope are 10^-4 and 2 M(Sun), respectively, assuming a
gas-to-dust ratio of 100. The evidence pointing toward a white-dwarf merger or
a final-helium-shell flash origin for R CrB is contradictory. The shell and the
cometary knots are consistent with a fossil planetary nebula. Along with the
fact that R CrB shows significant Lithium in its atmosphere, this supports the
final-helium-shell flash. However, the relatively high inferred mass of R CrB
and its high fluorine abundance support a white-dwarf merger.


  We review different definitions of the current density for quantized fermions
in the presence of an external electromagnetic field. Several deficiencies in
the popular prescription due to Schwinger and the mode sum formula for static
external potentials are pointed out. We argue that Dirac's method, which is the
analog of the Hadamard point-splitting employed in quantum field theory in
curved space-times, is conceptually the most satisfactory. As a concrete
example, we discuss vacuum polarization and the stress-energy tensor for
massless fermions in 1+1 dimension. Also a general formula for the vacuum
polarization in static external potentials in 3+1 dimensions is derived.


  The physical ingredients to describe the epoch of cosmological recombination
are amazingly simple and well-understood. This fact allows us to take into
account a very large variety of physical processes, still finding potentially
measurable consequences for the energy spectrum and temperature anisotropies of
the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). In this contribution we provide a short
historical overview in connection with the cosmological recombination epoch and
its connection to the CMB. Also we highlight some of the detailed physics that
were studied over the past few years in the context of the cosmological
recombination of hydrogen and helium. (abrigded)


  Federated learning (FL) is a computational paradigm that enables
organizations to collaborate on machine learning (ML) projects without sharing
sensitive data, such as, patient records, financial data, or classified
secrets. Open Federated Learning (OpenFL https://github.com/intel/openfl) is an
open-source framework for training ML algorithms using the data-private
collaborative learning paradigm of FL. OpenFL works with training pipelines
built with both TensorFlow and PyTorch, and can be easily extended to other ML
and deep learning frameworks. Here, we summarize the motivation and development
characteristics of OpenFL, with the intention of facilitating its application
to existing ML model training in a production environment. Finally, we describe
the first use of the OpenFL framework to train consensus ML models in a
consortium of international healthcare organizations, as well as how it
facilitates the first computational competition on FL.


  Among lattice configurations of densely packed hard ellipses, Monte Carlo
simulations are used to identify the so-called parallel and diagonal lattices
as the two favourable states. The free energies of these two states are
computed for several system sizes employing the Einstein Crystal method. An
accurate calculation of the free energy difference between the two states
reveals the parallel lattice as the state with lowest free energy. The origin
of the entropic difference between the two states is further elucidated by
assessing the roles of the translational and rotational degrees of freedom.


  We prove a determinantal type formula to compute the irreducible characters
of the general Lie superalgebra $\mathfrak{gl}(m|1)$ in terms of the characters
of the symmetric powers of the fundamental representation and their duals. This
formula was conjectured by J. van der Jeugt and E. Moens for the Lie
superalgebra $\frak{gl}(m|n)$ and generalizes the well-known Jacobi-Trudi
formula.


  On simple geodesic disks of constant curvature, we derive new functional
relations for the geodesic X-ray transform, involving a certain class of
elliptic differential operators whose ellipticity degenerates normally at the
boundary. We then use these relations to derive sharp mapping properties for
the X-ray transform and its corresponding normal operator. Finally, we discuss
the possibility of theoretically rigorous regularized inversions for the X-ray
transform when defined on such manifolds.


  We investigate hysteresis loops and return point memory for artificial square
and kagome spin ice systems by cycling an applied bias force and comparing
microscopic effective spin configurations throughout the hysteresis cycle.
Return point memory loss is caused by motion of individual defects in kagome
ice or of grain boundaries in square ice. In successive cycles, return point
memory is recovered rapidly in kagome ice. Memory is recovered more gradually
in square ice due to the extended nature of the grain boundaries. Increasing
the amount of quenched disorder increases the defect density but also enhances
the return point memory since the defects become trapped more easily.


  The work of Dykema, Figiel, Weiss, and Wodzicki on the structure of
commutators showed that arithmetic means play an important role in the study of
operator ideals, and we explored their role in a multipaper project which we
survey in this article. We start by presenting the notions of arithmetic mean
ideals and arithmetic mean at infinity ideals. Then we explore their
connections with commutator spaces, traces, elementary operators, lattice and
sublattice structure of ideals, arithmetic mean ideal cancellation properties
of first and second order, and softness properties - a term that we introduced
but a notion ubiquitous in the literature on operator ideals. Arithmetic mean
closure of ideals leads us to investigate majorization for infinite sequences
and this in turn leads us to an infinite Schur-Horn majorization theorem which
extends theorems by A. Neumann, by Arveson and Kadison, and by Antezana,
Massey, Ruiz and Stojanoff. We also list ten open questions that we encountered
in the development of this material.


  We propose FeSb2 to be a nearly ferromagnetic small gap semiconductor, hence
a direct analog of FeSi. We find that despite different compositions and
crystal structures, in the local density approximation with on-site Coulomb
repulsion correction (LDA+U) method magnetic and semiconducting solutions for
U=2.6 eV are energetically degenerate similar to the case of FeSi. For both
FeSb2 and FeSi (FeSi1-xGex alloys) the underlying transition mechanism allows
one to switch from a small gap semiconductor to a ferromagnetic metal with
magnetic moment 1 muB per Fe ion with external magnetic field.


  It is a consequence of the theorem of Stallings on groups with many ends that
splittings over finite groups are preserved by quasi-isometries. In this paper
we use asymptotic topology to show that group splittings are preserved by
quasi-isometries in many cases. Roughly speaking we show that splittings are
preserved under quasi-isometries when the vertex groups are fundamental groups
of aspherical manifolds (or more generally `coarse PD(n)-groups') and the edge
groups are `smaller' than the vertex groups.


  I look at the growth of weak density inhomogeneities of nonrelativistic
matter, in bimetric-MOND (BIMOND) cosmology. I concentrate on
matter-twin-matter-symmetric versions of BIMOND, and assume that, on average,
the universe is symmetrically populated in the two sectors. MOND effects are
absent in an exactly symmetric universe, apart from the appearance of a
cosmological constant, Lambda~(a0/c)^2. MOND effects-local and cosmological-do
enter when density inhomogeneities that differ in the two sectors appear and
develop. MOND later takes its standard form in systems that are islands
dominated by pure matter. I derive the nonrelativistic equations governing
small-scale fluctuation growth. The equations split into two uncoupled systems,
one for the sum, the other for the difference, of the fluctuations in the two
sectors. The former is governed strictly by Newtonian dynamics. The latter is
governed by MOND dynamics, which entails stronger gravity, and nonlinearity
even for the smallest of perturbations. These cause the difference to grow
faster than the sum, conducing to matter-twin-matter segregation. The
nonlinearity also causes interaction between nested perturbations on different
scales. Because matter and twin matter (TM) repel each other in the MOND
regime, matter inhomogeneities grow not only by their own self gravity, but
also through shepherding by flanking TM overdensitie. The relative importance
of gravity and pressure in the MOND system depends also on the strength of the
perturbation. The development of structure in the universe, in either sector,
thus depends crucially on two initial fluctuation spectra: that of matter alone
and that of the matter-TM difference. I also discuss the back reaction on
cosmology of BIMOND effects that appear as "phantom matter" resulting from
inhomogeneity differences between the two sectors.


  Let $G$ be a finite pseudoreflection group, $\Omega\subseteq \mathbb C^n$ be
a bounded domain which is a $G$-space and $\mathcal H\subseteq\mathcal
O(\Omega)$ be an analytic Hilbert module possessing a $G$-invariant reproducing
kernel. We study the structure of joint reducing subspaces of the
multiplication operator $\mathbf M_{\boldsymbol\theta}$ on $\mathcal H,$ where
$\{\theta_i\}_{i=1}^n$ is a homogeneous system of parameters associated to $G$
and $\boldsymbol\theta = (\theta_1, \ldots, \theta_n)$ is a polynomial map of
$\mathbb C^n$. We show that it admits a family $\{\mathbb P_\varrho\mathcal
H:\varrho\in\widehat G\}$ of non-trivial joint reducing subspaces, where
$\widehat G$ is the set of all equivalence classes of irreducible
representations of $G.$ We prove a generalization of Chevalley-Shephard-Todd
theorem for the algebra $\mathcal O(\Omega)$ of holomorphic functions on
$\Omega$. As a consequence, we show that for each $\varrho\in \widehat G,$ the
multiplication operator $\mathbf M_{\boldsymbol\theta}$ on the reducing
subspace $\mathbb P_\varrho \mathcal H$ can be realized as multiplication by
the coordinate functions on a reproducing kernel Hilbert space of $\mathbb
C^{(\mathrm{deg}\,\varrho)^2}$-valued holomorphic functions on
$\boldsymbol\theta(\Omega)$. This, in turn, provides a description of the
structure of joint reducing subspaces of the multiplication operator induced by
a representative of a proper holomorphic map from a domain $\Omega$ in $\mathbb
C^n$ which is factored by automorphisms $G\subseteq {\rm Aut}(\Omega).$


  We investigate rare-earth magnetic Weyl semimetals through first-principles
simulations, analyzing the connection between incommensurate magnetic order and
the presence of Weyl nodes in the electronic band structure. Focusing on
PrAlSi, NdAlSi, and SmAlSi, we demonstrate that the reported helical ordering
does not originate from the nesting of topological features at the Fermi
Surface or the Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. Instead, the helical order
arises from frustrated isotropic short-range superexchange between the 4f
moments facilitated by pd-hybridization with the main group elements. Employing
a spin Hamiltonian with isotropic exchange and single-ion anisotropy we
replicate the experimentally observed helical modulation.


  Absolute value equations, due to their relation to the linear complementarity
problem, have been intensively studied recently. In this paper, we present
error bounds for absolute value equations. Along with the error bounds, we
introduce an appropriate condition number. We consider general scaled matrix
p-norms, as well as particular p-norms. We discuss basic properties of the
condition number, its computational complexity, its bounds and also exact
values for special classes of matrices. We consider also matrices that appear
based on the transformation from the linear complementarity problem.


  Many systems of both theoretical and applied interest display multi-affine
scaling at small length scales. We demonstrate analytically and numerically
that when vertical discontinuities are introduced into a self-affine surface,
the surface becomes multi-affine. The discontinuities may correspond to surface
overhangs or to an underlying stepped surface. Two surfaces are numerically
examined with different spatial distributions of vertical discontinuities. The
multi-affinity is shown to arise simply from the surface of vertical
discontinuities, and the analytic scaling form at small length scales for the
surface of discontinuities is derived and compared to numerical results.


  We investigate the thickness and temperature dependence of a series of
Ni0:8Fe0:2/Ir0:2Mn0:8 bilayer samples with varying thickness ratio of the
ferromagnet/antiferromagnet (tFM/tAFM) in order to explore the exchange
coupling strengths in tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR) devices.
Specific values of tFM/tAFM lead to four distinct scenarios with specific
electric responses to moderate magnetic fields. The characteristic dependence
of the measured TAMR signal on applied voltage allows us to confirm its
persistence up to room temperature despite an overlapped contribution by a
thermal magnetic noise.


  Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) is a widely used tool for
machine learning in distributed settings, where a machine learning model is
trained over distributed data sources through an interactive process of local
computation and message passing. Such an iterative process could cause privacy
concerns of data owners. The goal of this paper is to provide differential
privacy for ADMM-based distributed machine learning. Prior approaches on
differentially private ADMM exhibit low utility under high privacy guarantee
and often assume the objective functions of the learning problems to be smooth
and strongly convex. To address these concerns, we propose a novel
differentially private ADMM-based distributed learning algorithm called
DP-ADMM, which combines an approximate augmented Lagrangian function with
time-varying Gaussian noise addition in the iterative process to achieve higher
utility for general objective functions under the same differential privacy
guarantee. We also apply the moments accountant method to bound the end-to-end
privacy loss. The theoretical analysis shows that DP-ADMM can be applied to a
wider class of distributed learning problems, is provably convergent, and
offers an explicit utility-privacy tradeoff. To our knowledge, this is the
first paper to provide explicit convergence and utility properties for
differentially private ADMM-based distributed learning algorithms. The
evaluation results demonstrate that our approach can achieve good convergence
and model accuracy under high end-to-end differential privacy guarantee.


  Doubly enhanced third harmonic generation (THG) is realized by the electric
dipole resonance (EDR) in silicon nanodisks placed onto a metallic film at
near-infrared. By introducing the metal substrate, the perfect electric
conductor (PEC) surface effect can be formed to not only enhance the electric
field in silicon, but also improve the near-field distribution. Meanwhile, in
consideration of the periodic nanostructure, the silicon nanodisk, acting as a
high-refractive-index dielectric grating, can generate a propagating surface
plasmon resonance (PSPR) on the metal surface. By flexibly manipulating the
array period, PSPR can effectively couple with EDR, which produces further
enhancement and novel properties for EDR. On account of the dual enhancements
from these two effects, it is demonstrated that the total THG conversion
efficiency of the proposed nanostructure is raised by more than eight orders of
magnitude as compared with that of the all-dielectric nanostructure. In
addition, the influence of silicon Kerr effect on the coupling and THG is
investigated as well, manifesting an unprecedent THG efficiency around 10^-2
with input internsity 2 GW/cm^2. This work will pave a new way for improving
the multipolar mode in metal-dielectric nanosturctures and facilitate its
engineered applications in nonlinear optics, e.g. frequency conversion,
spectroscopic and biochemical sensing.


  We give a characterization of vertex-monotone properties with sharp
thresholds in a Poisson random geometric graph or hypergraph. As an application
we show that a geometric model of random k-SAT exhibits a sharp threshold for
satisfiability.


  The mapping of steady-state nonequilibrium dynamical mean-field theory from
the lattice to the impurity is described in detail. Our focus is on the case
with current flow under a constant dc electric field of arbitrary magnitude. In
addition to formulating the problem via path integrals and functional
derivatives, we also describe the distribution function dependence of the
retarded and advanced Green's functions. Our formal developments are exact for
the Falicov-Kimball model. We also show how these formal developments are
modified for more complicated models (like the Hubbard model).


  In the paper, I consider properties and mappings of free algebra with unit. I
consider also conjugation of free algebra with unit.


  The photodisintegration of $^9$Be in the energy region lower than $E_\gamma =
16$ MeV is investigated by using the $\alpha$~+~$\alpha$~+~$n$ three-body model
and the complex scaling method. The cross section exhibits two aspects in the
different two energy regions. In the low energy region up to $E_\gamma = 6$
MeV, the cross section is explained by the transition strengths into the
excited resonant states of $^9$Be, while the dipole transition into the
non-resonant continuum states of $^8$Be(2$^+$)~+~$n$ dominates the cross
section in the energy region of $6 \le E_\gamma \le 16$ MeV. Furthermore, it is
shown that the dipole strength at $E_\gamma \sim 8$ MeV is understood to be
caused by the single-neutron excitation from the $^8$Be(2$^+$)~$\otimes$~$\nu
p_{3/2}$ configuration in the ground state.


  We study the free boundary evolution between two irrotational, incompressible
and inviscid fluids in 2-D without surface tension. We prove local-existence in
Sobolev spaces when, initially, the difference of the gradients of the pressure
in the normal direction has the proper sign, an assumption which is also known
as the Rayleigh-Taylor condition. The well-posedness of the full water wave
problem was first obtained by Wu \cite{Wu}. The methods introduced in this
paper allows us to consider multiple cases: with or without gravity, but also a
closed boundary or a periodic boundary with the fluids placed above and below
it. It is assumed that the initial interface does not touch itself, being a
part of the evolution problem to check that such property prevails for a short
time, as well as it does the Rayleigh-Taylor condition, depending conveniently
upon the initial data. The addition of the pressure equality to the contour
dynamic equations is obtained as a mathematical consequence, and not as a
physical assumption, from the mere fact that we are dealing with weak solutions
of Euler's equation in the whole space.


  Environmental seismic disturbances limit the sensitivity of LIGO
gravitational wave detectors. Trains near the LIGO Livingston detector produce
low frequency (0.5-10 Hz) ground noise that couples into the gravitational wave
sensitive frequency band (10-100 Hz) through light reflected in mirrors and
other surfaces. We investigate the effect of trains during the Advanced LIGO
third observing run, and propose a method to search for narrow band seismic
frequencies responsible for contributing to increases in scattered light.
Through the use of the linear regression tool Lasso (least absolute shrinkage
and selection operator) and glitch correlations, we identify the most common
seismic frequencies that correlate with increases in detector noise as 0.6-0.8
Hz, 1.7-1.9 Hz, 1.8-2.0 Hz, and 2.3-2.5 Hz in the LIGO Livingston corner
station.


  We propose a new bi-intuitionistic type theory called Dualized Type Theory
(DTT). It is a simple type theory with perfect intuitionistic duality, and
corresponds to a single-sided polarized sequent calculus. We prove DTT strongly
normalizing, and prove type preservation. DTT is based on a new propositional
bi-intuitionistic logic called Dualized Intuitionistic Logic (DIL) that builds
on Pinto and Uustalu's logic L. DIL is a simplification of L by removing
several admissible inference rules while maintaining consistency and
completeness. Furthermore, DIL is defined using a dualized syntax by labeling
formulas and logical connectives with polarities thus reducing the number of
inference rules needed to define the logic. We give a direct proof of
consistency, but prove completeness by reduction to L.