  We report on systematic radial velocity surveys for white dwarf - white dwarf
binaries (double degenerates - DDs) including SPY (ESO Supernovae Ia progenitor
survey) recently carried out at the VLT. A large sample of DD will allow us to
put strong constrains on the phases of close binary evolution of the progenitor
systems and to perform an observational test of the DD scenario for supernovae
of type Ia. We explain how parameters of the binaries can be derived from
various methods. Results for a sample of DDs are presented and discussed.


  The LHC is the perfect environment for the study of new physics in the top
quark sector. We study the possibility of detecting signals of heavy
color-octet vector resonances, through the charge asymmetry, in top-antitop+jet
events. Besides contributions with the top-antitop pair in a color-singlet
state, the asymmetry gets also contributions which are proportional to the
color factor f_{abc}^2. This process is particularly interesting for
extra-dimensional models, where the inclusive charge asymmetry generated by
Kaluza-Klein excitations of the gluon vanishes at the tree level. We find that
the statistical significance for the measurement of such an asymmetry is
sizable for different values of the coupling constants and already at low
energies.


  We predict a spin echo in electron transport through layered
ferromagnetic-normal-ferromagnetic metal structures: whereas a spin current
polarized perpendicular to the magnetization direction decays when traversing a
single homogeneous ferromagnet on the scale of the ferromagnetic spin-coherence
length, it reappears by adding a second identical but antiparallel ferromagnet.
This re-entrant transverse spin current resembles the spin-echo effect in the
magnetization of nuclei under pulsed excitations. We propose an experimental
setup to measure the magnetoelectronic spin echo.


  Graphene's outstanding mechanical properties lend to strain engineering,
allowing for future valleytronics and nanoelectromechanic applications. In this
work, we have found that a Gaussian-shaped strain on a graphene p-n junction
results in quantum Hall conductance oscillations due to the rotated angle
between valley isospins at the graphene armchair edges. Furthermore, additional
Fano resonances were observed as the value of the strain-induced
pseudo-magnetic field approaches that of the external magnetic field. The
lifted valley degeneracy, stemming from the interplay between the real and
pseudo-magnetic fields, results in clearly valley-resolved Fano resonances.
Exploring strain engineering as a means to control conductance through valley
isospin manipulation is believed to open the door to potential graphene
valleytronic devices.


  This is the third paper of a series aimed at studying the chromosphere of
active binary systems using the information provided for several optical
spectroscopic features. High resolution echelle spectra including all the
optical chromospheric activity indicators from the Ca II H & K to Ca II IRT
lines are analysed here for 16 systems. The chromospheric contribution in these
lines has been determined using the spectral subtraction technique. Very broad
wings have been found in the subtracted H_alpha profile of the very active star
HU Vir. These profiles are well matched using a two-component Gaussian fit
(narrow and broad) and the broad component can be interpreted as arising from
microflaring. Red-shifted absorption features in the H_alpha line have been
detected in several systems and excess emission in the blue wing of FG UMa was
also detected. These features indicate that several dynamical processes, or a
combination of them, may be involved. Using the E(H_alpha)/E(H_beta) ratio as a
diagnostic we have detected prominence-like extended material viewed off the
limb in many stars of the sample, and prominences viewed against the disk at
some orbital phases in the dwarfs OU Gem and BF Lyn. The He I D_3 line has been
detected as an absorption feature in mainly all the giants of the sample. Total
filling-in of the He I D_3, probably due to microflaring activity, is observed
in HU Vir. Self-absorption with red asymmetry is detected in the Ca II H & K
lines of the giants 12 Cam, FG UMa and BM CVn. All the stars analysed show
clear filled-in Ca II IRT lines or even notable emission reversal. The small
values of the E(8542)/E(8498) ratio we have found indicate Ca II IRT emission
arises from plage-like regions.


  The SECCHI instruments aboard the recently launched STEREO spacecraft enable
for the first time the continuous tracking of coronal mass ejections (CMEs)
from the Sun to 1 AU. We analyze line-of-sight observations of the January
24-25, 2007 CMEs and fill the 20-hour gap in SECCHI coverage in January 25 by
performing a numerical simulation using a three-dimensional
magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) code, the Space Weather Modeling Framework (SWMF).
We show how the observations reflect the interaction of the two successive CMEs
with each other and with the structured solar wind. We make detailed comparison
between the observations and synthetic images from our model, including
time-elongation maps for several position angles. Having numerical simulations
to disentangle observational from physical effects, we are able to study the
three-dimensional nature of the ejections and their evolution in the inner
heliosphere. This study reflects the start of a new era where, on one hand,
models of CME propagation and interaction can be fully tested by using
heliospheric observations and, on the other hand, observations can be better
interpreted by using global numerical models.


  The interest in trust-based routing protocols has grown with the advancements
achieved in ad-hoc wireless networks.However, regardless of the many security
approaches and trust metrics available, trust-based routing still faces some
security challenges, especially with respect to privacy. In this paper, we
propose a novel trust-based routing protocol based on a fully homomorphic
encryption scheme. The new protocol allows nodes, which collaborate in a
dynamic environment, to evaluate their knowledge on the trustworthiness of
specific routes and securely share this knowledge.


  We consider quantum systems consisting of a ``small'' system coupled to two
reservoirs (called open systems). We show that such a system has no equilibrium
states normal with respect to any state of the decoupled system in which the
reservoirs are at different temperatures, provided that either the temperatures
or the temperature difference divided by the product of the temperatures are
not too small.
  Our proof involves an elaborate spectral analysis of a general class of
generators of the dynamics of open quantum systems, including quantum Liouville
operators (``positive temperature Hamiltonians'') which generate the dynamics
of the systems under consideration.


  In this paper we consider dynamics of a self - graviting matter in flat space
- time starting from our gravitation equations published early. It is shown
that only "asymptotical" singularity in the infinitely remote past occurs in
the model. In connection with evidences that the deceleration parameter $q_{0}$
in cosmology is negative it is shown that a supermassive dust ball expands with
acceleration from zero up to some radius that depends on the model parameters .


  A three-dimensional Riccati differential equation of complex
quaternion-valued functions is studied. Many properties similar to those of the
ordinary differential Riccati equation such that linearization and Picard
theorem are obtained. Lie point symmetries of the quaternionic Riccati equation
are calculated as well as the form of the associated three-dimensional
potential of the Schr\"odinger equation. Using symmetry reductions and
relations between the three-dimensional Riccati and the Schr\"odinger equation,
examples are given to obtain solutions of both equations.


  Let $\mathfrak{R}$ be a weakly noetherian variety of unitary associative
algebras (over a field $K$ of characteristic 0), i.e., every finitely generated
algebra from $\mathfrak{R}$ satisfies the ascending chain condition for
two-sided ideals. For a finite group $G$ and a $d$-dimensional $G$-module $V$
denote by $F({\mathfrak R},V)$ the relatively free algebra in $\mathfrak{R}$ of
rank $d$ freely generated by the vector space $V$. It is proved that the
subalgebra $F({\mathfrak R},V)^G$ of $G$-invariants is generated by elements of
degree at most $b(\mathfrak{R},G)$ for some explicitly given number
$b(\mathfrak{R},G)$ depending only on the variety $\mathfrak{R}$ and the group
$G$ (but not on $V$). This generalizes the classical result of Emmy Noether
stating that the algebra of commutative polynomial invariants $K[V]^G$ is
generated by invariants of degree at most $\vert G\vert$.


  We show that it is possible to describe the effective Pomeron intercept using
NLO BFKL evolution together with collinear improvements. In order to obtain a
good description over the whole range of Q^2 we use a non-Abelian physical
renormalization scheme with BLM optimal scale, combined with a parametrization
of the running coupling in the infrared region.


  We report an exchange bias of more than $2700\,$Oe at room temperature in
MnN/CoFe bilayers after high-temperature annealing. We studied the dependence
of exchange bias on the annealing temperature for different MnN thicknesses in
detail and found that samples with $t_{\text{MnN}}>32\,$nm show an increase of
exchange bias for annealing temperatures higher than
$T_{\text{A}}=400\,^{\circ}$C. Maximum exchange bias values exceeding
$2000\,$Oe with reasonably small coercive fields around $600\,$Oe are achieved
for $t_{\text{MnN}}= 42, 48\,$nm. The median blocking temperature of those
systems is determined to be $180\,^{\circ}$C after initial annealing at
$T_{\text{A}}=525\,^{\circ}$C. X-ray diffraction measurements and Auger depth
profiling show that the large increase of exchange bias after high-temperature
annealing is accompanied by strong nitrogen diffusion into the Ta buffer layer
of the stacks.


  Huntington disease (HD) is a fatal autosomal dominant neurocognitive disorder
that causes cognitive disturbances, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and impaired
motor abilities (e.g., gait, speech, voice). Due to its progressive nature, HD
treatment requires ongoing clinical monitoring of symptoms. Individuals with
the gene mutation which causes HD may exhibit a range of speech symptoms as
they progress from premanifest to manifest HD. Differentiating between
premanifest and manifest HD is an important yet understudied problem, as this
distinction marks the need for increased treatment. Speech-based passive
monitoring has the potential to augment clinical assessments by continuously
tracking manifestation symptoms. In this work we present the first
demonstration of how changes in connected speech can be measured to
differentiate between premanifest and manifest HD. To do so, we focus on a key
speech symptom of HD: vowel distortion. We introduce a set of vowel features
which we extract from connected speech. We show that our vowel features can
differentiate between premanifest and manifest HD with 87% accuracy.


  Measurements of single-, double-, and triple-differential cross-sections are
presented for boosted top-quark pair-production in 13 $\text{TeV}$
proton-proton collisions recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The top
quarks are observed through their hadronic decay and reconstructed as
large-radius jets with the leading jet having transverse momentum
($p_{\text{T}}$) greater than 500 GeV. The observed data are unfolded to remove
detector effects. The particle-level cross-section, multiplied by the $t\bar{t}
\rightarrow W W b \bar{b}$ branching fraction and measured in a fiducial phase
space defined by requiring the leading and second-leading jets to have
$p_{\text{T}} > 500$ GeV and $p_{\text{T}} > 350$ GeV, respectively, is $331
\pm 3 \text{(stat.)} \pm 39 \text{(syst.)}$ fb. This is approximately 20$\%$
lower than the prediction of $398^{+48}_{-49}$ fb by Powheg+Pythia 8 with
next-to-leading-order (NLO) accuracy but consistent within the theoretical
uncertainties. Results are also presented at the parton level, where the
effects of top-quark decay, parton showering, and hadronization are removed
such that they can be compared with fixed-order next-to-next-to-leading-order
(NNLO) calculations. The parton-level cross-section, measured in a fiducial
phase space similar to that at particle level, is $1.94 \pm 0.02 \text{(stat.)}
\pm 0.25 \text{(syst.)}$ pb. This agrees with the NNLO prediction of
$1.96^{+0.02}_{-0.17}$ pb. Reasonable agreement with the differential
cross-sections is found for most NLO models, while the NNLO calculations are
generally in better agreement with the data. The differential cross-sections
are interpreted using a Standard Model effective field-theory formalism and
limits are set on Wilson coefficients of several four-fermion operators.


  The notions of coherence and superposition are conceptually the same;
however, an important distinction exists between their resource-theoretic
formulations. Namely, while basis states are orthogonal in the resource theory
of coherence, they are not necessarily orthogonal in the resource theory of
superposition. Owing to the nonorthogonality, the manipulation and
characterization of superposition states require significant efforts. Here, we
demonstrate that the L\"{o}wdin symmetric orthogonalization (LSO) method offers
a useful means for characterizing pure superposition states. The principal
property of LSO is that the structure and symmetry of the original
nonorthogonal basis states are preserved to the greatest extent possible, which
prompts us to study the role of LSO in identifying the hierarchical relations
of resource states. Notably, we reveal that the maximally coherent states turn
into the states with maximal superposition with the help of LSO: in other
words, they are equivalent under the action of symmetric orthogonalization. Our
results facilitate further connections between coherence and superposition,
where LSO is the main tool.


  We consider an asexual biological population of constant size $N$ evolving in
discrete time under the influence of selection and mutation. Beneficial
mutations appear at rate $U$ and their selective effects $s$ are drawn from a
distribution $g(s)$. After introducing the required models and concepts of
mathematical population genetics, we review different approaches to computing
the speed of logarithmic fitness increase as a function of $N$, $U$ and $g(s)$.
We present an exact solution of the infinite population size limit and provide
an estimate of the population size beyond which it is valid. We then discuss
approximate approaches to the finite population problem, distinguishing between
the case of a single selection coefficient, $g(s) = \delta(s - s_b)$, and a
continuous distribution of selection coefficients. Analytic estimates for the
speed are compared to numerical simulations up to population sizes of order
$10^{300}$.


  We consider the long-time behaviour of the mean curvature flow of spacelike
hypersurfaces in the Lorentzian product manifold $M\times\mathbb{R}$, where $M$
is asymptotically flat. If the initial hypersurface $F_0\subset
M\times\mathbb{R}$ is uniformly spacelike and asymptotic to
$M\times\left\{s\right\}$ for some $s\in\mathbb{R}$ at infinity, we show that a
mean curvature flow starting at $F_0$ exists for all times and converges
uniformly to $M\times\left\{s\right\}$ as $t\to \infty$.


  Agreement measures are useful to both compare different evaluations of the
same diagnostic outcomes and validate new rating systems or devices.
Information Agreement (IA) is an information-theoretic-based agreement measure
introduced to overcome all the limitations and alleged pitfalls of Cohen's
Kappa. However, it is only able to deal with agreement matrices whose values
are positive natural numbers. This work extends IA admitting also 0 as a
possible value for the agreement matrix cells.


  A linear map of qudit tomogram onto qubit tomogram (qubit portrait) is
proposed as a characteristics of the qudit state. Using the qubit portrait
method the Bell inequalities for two qubits and two qutrits are discussed in
framework of probability representation of quantum mechanics. Semigroup of
stochastic matrices is associated with tomographic probability distributions of
qubit and qutrit states. Bell-like inequalities are studied using the semigroup
of stochastic matrices. The qudit-qubit map of tomographic probability
distributions is discussed as ansatz to provide a necessary condition for
separability of quantum states.


  Microgrid (MG) with different technologies in distributed generations (DG)
and different control facilities require proper management and scheduling
strategies. In these strategies, in order to reach the optimal management, the
stochastic nature of some decision variables should be considered. Therefore,
we proposes a new stochastic-based method for optimal daily energy management
(SDEM) of MGs considering economic and reliability aspects. The optimization
aim is to minimize overall operating cost, power losses cost, pollutants
emission cost and cost of energy not supply (ENS). The network is assumed to be
supplied by renewable and dispatch able generators and energy storage systems
(ESS). The system uncertainties are considered using a set of scenarios and a
scenario reduction method is applied to enhance a trade-off between the
accuracy of the solution and the computational burden. Cuckoo optimization
algorithm (COA) is applied to minimize the objective function as an
optimization algorithm. The effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method
are validated through extensive numerical tests on PG&E 69-bus test
distribution system. The results show that the proposed framework can be
considered as an efficient tool in optimal daily energy management of smart
distribution networks.


  Bourgain et al.(2001) proved that for $p>1$ and smooth bounded domain
$\Omega\subseteq\mathbb{R}^N$, \begin{equation*} \lim\limits_{s\to1}(1-s)\iint
\limits_{\Omega \times \Omega}\frac{\lvert f(x)-f(y) \rvert^p}{\lvert x-y
\rvert^{N+sp}}dx dy=\kappa \int \limits_{\Omega}\lvert \nabla f(x) \rvert^p dx
\end{equation*} for all $f\in L^p(\Omega)$. This gives a characterization of
$W^{1,p}(\Omega)$ by means of $W^{s,p}(\Omega)$ seminorms only. For the case
$p=1$, D\'avila(2002) proved that when $\Omega$ is a bounded domain with
Lipschitz boundary, \begin{equation*} \lim\limits_{s\to1}(1-s)\iint
\limits_{\Omega \times \Omega}\frac{\lvert f(x)-f(y) \rvert}{\lvert x-y
\rvert^{N+s}}dx dy=\kappa [f]_{BV(\Omega)} \end{equation*} for all $f\in
L^1(\Omega)$. This characterizes $BV(\Omega)$ in terms of $W^{s,1}(\Omega)$
seminorm. In this paper we extend the first result and partially extend the
second result to extension domains.


  One of long-standing problems in mathematical studies of superconductivity is
to show that the solution to the BCS gap equation is continuous in the
temperature. In this paper we address this problem. We regard the BCS gap
equation as a nonlinear integral equation on a Banach space consisting of
continuous functions of both $T$ and $x$. Here, $T (\geq 0)$ stands for the
temperature and $x$ the kinetic energy of an electron minus the chemical
potential. We show that the unique solution to the BCS gap equation obtained in
our recent paper is continuous with respect to both $T$ and $x$ when $T$ is
small enough. The proof is carried out based on the Banach fixed-point theorem.


  The momentum dependence of the mean-field contribution to the real part of
the optical model potential is investigated employing realistic nucleon-nucleon
interactions. Within a non-relativistic approach a momentum dependence
originates from the non-locality of the Fock exchange term. Deducing the real
part of the optical model from a relativistic Dirac Brueckner Hartree Fock
approximation for the self-energy of the nucleons yields an additional momentum
dependence originating from the non-relativistic reduction of the self-energy.
It is demonstrated that large Fock terms are required in the non-relativistic
approach to simulate these relativistic features. A comparison is made between
a local density approximation for the optical model and a direct evaluation in
finite nuclei.


  Fission fragment yield evaluation in the past has been done mainly by
considering independent and cumulative fission yields. In addition to them, the
fission fragment yields are related to various observables such as total
kinetic energy, prompt fission neutron, decay heats, etc. Various improvements
were carried out in the fission fragment yield evaluation of JENDL-5, however
it did not consider correlations between such fission observables and fragment
yields. A new evaluation including fission observables is thus required for
next generation of evaluated data. We recently developed a new calculation
system using CCONE code to calculate fission fragment yields. This calculation
system enables us to compare various fission observables with the experimental
data simultaneously. In this work, we calculated thermal-induced fission of
239Pu. We present the result of prompt fission neutrons, decay heats, and
delayed neutrons


  A polarity-dependent reversible change in the current-voltage characteristics
between states corresponding to different values of the excess current Iexc is
observed for bias voltages of several hundred millivolts in YBaCuO-Ag point
contacts in the current-carrying state.


  Using a novel approach, we investigate the shape of the average spectrum and
the spectral fluctuations of the $k$-body embedded unitary ensemble in the
limit of large matrix dimension. We identify the transition point between
semicircle and Gaussian shape. The transition also affects the spectral
fluctuations which deviate from Wigner-Dyson form and become Poissonian in the
limit $k << m << l$. Here $m$ is the number of Fermions and $l$ the number of
degenerate single-particle states.


  We present SParC, a dataset for cross-domainSemanticParsing inContext that
consists of 4,298 coherent question sequences (12k+ individual questions
annotated with SQL queries). It is obtained from controlled user interactions
with 200 complex databases over 138 domains. We provide an in-depth analysis of
SParC and show that it introduces new challenges compared to existing datasets.
SParC demonstrates complex contextual dependencies, (2) has greater semantic
diversity, and (3) requires generalization to unseen domains due to its
cross-domain nature and the unseen databases at test time. We experiment with
two state-of-the-art text-to-SQL models adapted to the context-dependent,
cross-domain setup. The best model obtains an exact match accuracy of 20.2%
over all questions and less than10% over all interaction sequences, indicating
that the cross-domain setting and the con-textual phenomena of the dataset
present significant challenges for future research. The dataset, baselines, and
leaderboard are released at https://yale-lily.github.io/sparc.


  We study the tensile deformation behaviour of metallic glass
Cu$_{50}$Zr$_{50}$ as a function of quenching rate using molecular dynamics
simulations. The atomic scale shearing is found to be independent on atomic
free volume, and the macroscopic correlation between the yield strength and the
density (or average free volume) is a coincidence that the samples with large
free volume also have a low density of shear-resistant local five-fold
symmetry. In the relatively slowly quenched ($\leq 10^{10}$ K/s) samples, shear
bands have a dilatation about 0.5\%, which compares well with recent experiment
results. In contrast, although more active local shearing occurs in the rapidly
quenched samples, shear bands are not observed. This is because the strain
energy disperses into local atomic shearing at the macroscopically elastic
stage and, hence, is not sufficient for shear band activation, resulting in
homogeneous deformation and appreciable plasticity.


  The report summarizes the results of the activities of the Working Group on
Precision Calculations for the Z Resonance at CERN during 1994.


  The topological supersymmetry of the pure Chern-Simons model in three
dimensions is established in the case where the theory is defined in the axial
gauge.


  In [The smallest one-realization of a given set, Electronic J. Combin. 19
(2012), $\sharp$P19], we determined the minimum number of vertices of
one-realizations of a given finite set $S$, and constructed the corresponding
mixed hypergraphs. In this paper, by finding some of their spanning
sub-hypergraphs, we determine the minimum number of ${\cal D}$-deges (resp.
${\cal C}$-edges) of one-realizations of $S$. As a result, we partially solve
an open problem proposed by Tuza and Voloshin in 2008.


  Let S be a minimal complex surface of general type and of maximal Albanese
dimension; by the Severi inequality one has $K^2_S\geq 4\chi(\mathcal O_S)$. We
prove that the equality $K^2_S=4\chi(\mathcal O_S)$ holds if and only if
$q(S):= h^1(\mathcal O_S)=2$ and the canonical model of $S$ is a double cover
of the Albanese surface branched on an ample divisor with at most negligible
singularities.


  We prove that for $k \in \mathbb{N}$ and $d \leq 2k+2$, if a graph has
maximum average degree at most $2k + \frac{2d}{d+k+1}$, then $G$ decomposes
into $k+1$ pseudoforests, where one of the pseudoforests has all connected
components having at most $d$ edges.


  Many proposed and realized spintronic devices involve spin injection and
accumulation at an interface between a ferromagnet and a non-magnetic material.
We examine the electric field, voltage profile, charge distribution, spin
fluxes, and spin accumulation at such an interface. We include the effects of
both screening and spin scattering. We also include both the spin-dependent
chemical potentials {\mu}_{\uparrow,\downarrow} and the effective magnetic
field H* that is zero in equilibrium. For a Co/Cu interface, we find that the
spin accumulation in the copper is an order of magnitude larger when both
chemical potential and effective magnetic field are included. We also show that
screening contributes to the spin accumulation in the ferromagnet; this
contribution can be significant.


  Suppose a language $L$ can be decided by a bounded-error randomized algorithm
that runs in space $S$ and time $n \cdot \text{poly}(S)$. We give a randomized
algorithm for $L$ that still runs in space $O(S)$ and time $n \cdot
\text{poly}(S)$ that uses only $O(S)$ random bits; our algorithm has a low
failure probability on all but a negligible fraction of inputs of each length.
An immediate corollary is a deterministic algorithm for $L$ that runs in space
$O(S)$ and succeeds on all but a negligible fraction of inputs of each length.
We also give several other complexity-theoretic applications of our technique.


  We propose a decentralized penalty method for general convex constrained
multi-agent optimization problems. Each auxiliary penalized problem is solved
approximately with a special parallel descent splitting method. The method can
be implemented in a computational network where each agent sends information
only to the nearest neighbours. Convergence of the method is established under
rather weak assumptions. We also describe a specialization of the proposed
approach to the feasibility problem.


  Almost all cosmologists accept nowadays that the redshift of the galaxies is
due to the expansion of the Universe (cosmological redshift), plus some Doppler
effect of peculiar motions, but can we be sure of this fact by means of some
other independent cosmological test? Here I will review some recent tests: CMBR
temperature versus redshift, time dilation, the Hubble diagram, the Tolman or
surface brightness test, the angular size test, the UV surface brightness limit
and the Alcock--Paczy\'nski test. Some tests favour expansion and others favour
a static Universe. Almost all the cosmological tests are susceptible to the
evolution of galaxies and/or other effects. Tolman or angular size tests need
to assume very strong evolution of galaxy sizes to fit the data with the
standard cosmology, whereas the Alcock--Paczynski test, an evaluation of the
ratio of observed angular size to radial/redshift size, is independent of it.


  We introduce the sequence of generalized Gon\v{c}arov polynomials, which is a
basis for the solutions to the Gon\v{c}arov interpolation problem with respect
to a delta operator. Explicitly, a generalized Gon\v{c}arov basis is a sequence
$(t_n(x))_{n \ge 0}$ of polynomials defined by the biorthogonality relation
$\varepsilon_{z_i}(\mathfrak d^{i}(t_n(x))) = n! \;\! \delta_{i,n}$ for all
$i,n \in \mathbf N$, where $\mathfrak d$ is a delta operator, $\mathcal Z =
(z_i)_{i \ge 0}$ a sequence of scalars, and $\varepsilon_{z_i}$ the evaluation
at $z_i$. We present algebraic and analytic properties of generalized
Gon\v{c}arov polynomials and show that such polynomial sequences provide a
natural algebraic tool for enumerating combinatorial structures with a linear
constraint on their order statistics.


  We study Max-Product and Max-Plus Systems with Markovian Jumps and focus on
stochastic stability problems. At first, a Lyapunov function is derived for the
asymptotically stable deterministic Max-Product Systems. This Lyapunov function
is then adjusted to derive sufficient conditions for the stochastic stability
of Max-Product systems with Markovian Jumps. Many step Lyapunov functions are
then used to derive necessary and sufficient conditions for stochastic
stability. The results for the Max-Product systems are then applied to Max-Plus
systems with Markovian Jumps, using an isomorphism and almost sure bounds for
the asymptotic behavior of the state are obtained. A numerical example
illustrating the application of the stability results on a production system is
also given.


  We propose TOPL automata as a new method for runtime verification of systems
with unbounded resource generation. Paradigmatic such systems are
object-oriented programs which can dynamically generate an unbounded number of
fresh object identities during their execution. Our formalism is based on
register automata, a particularly successful approach in automata over infinite
alphabets which administers a finite-state machine with boundedly many
input-storing registers. We show that TOPL automata are equally expressive to
register automata and yet suitable to express properties of programs. Compared
to other runtime verification methods, our technique can handle a class of
properties beyond the reach of current tools. We show in particular that
properties which require value updates are not expressible with current
techniques yet are naturally captured by TOPL machines. On the practical side,
we present a tool for runtime verification of Java programs via TOPL
properties, where the trade-off between the coverage and the overhead of the
monitoring system is tunable by means of a number of parameters. We validate
our technique by checking properties involving multiple objects and chaining of
values on large open source projects.


  We focus on solving the clustered lasso problem, which is a least squares
problem with the $\ell_1$-type penalties imposed on both the coefficients and
their pairwise differences to learn the group structure of the regression
parameters. Here we first reformulate the clustered lasso regularizer as a
weighted ordered-lasso regularizer, which is essential in reducing the
computational cost from $O(n^2)$ to $O(n\log (n))$. We then propose an inexact
semismooth Newton augmented Lagrangian ({\sc Ssnal}) algorithm to solve the
clustered lasso problem or its dual via this equivalent formulation, depending
on whether the sample size is larger than the dimension of the features. An
essential component of the {\sc Ssnal} algorithm is the computation of the
generalized Jacobian of the proximal mapping of the clustered lasso
regularizer. Based on the new formulation, we derive an efficient procedure for
its computation. Comprehensive results on the global convergence and local
linear convergence of the {\sc Ssnal} algorithm are established. For the
purpose of exposition and comparison, we also summarize/design several
first-order methods that can be used to solve the problem under consideration,
but with the key improvement from the new formulation of the clustered lasso
regularizer. As a demonstration of the applicability of our algorithms,
numerical experiments on the clustered lasso problem are performed. The
experiments show that the {\sc Ssnal} algorithm substantially outperforms the
best alternative algorithm for the clustered lasso problem.


  We present and compare three distinct atomistic models -- based on first
principles and semi-empirical approaches -- of the structural and electronic
properties of Ge$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$ alloys. Density functional theory calculations
incorporating Heyd-Scuseria-Ernzerhof (HSE) and modified Becke-Johnson (mBJ)
exchange-correlation functionals are used to perform structural relaxation and
electronic structure calculations for a series of Ge$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$ alloy
supercells. Based on HSE calculations, a semi-empirical valence force field
(VFF) potential and $sp^{3}s^{\ast}$ tight-binding (TB) Hamiltonian are
parametrised. Comparing the HSE, mBJ and TB models, and using the HSE results
as a benchmark, we demonstrate that: (i) mBJ calculations provide an accurate
first principles description of the electronic structure at reduced
computational cost, (ii) the VFF potential is sufficiently accurate to
circumvent the requirement to perform first principles structural relaxation,
and (iii) TB calculations provide a good quantitative description of the alloy
electronic structure in the vicinity of the band edges. Our results also
emphasise the importance of Sn-induced band mixing in determining the nature of
the conduction band structure of Ge$_{1-x}$Sn$_{x}$ alloys. The theoretical
models and benchmark calculations we present inform and enable predictive,
computationally efficient and scalable atomistic calculations for disordered
alloys and nanostructures. This provides a suitable platform to underpin
further theoretical investigations of the properties of this emerging
semiconductor alloy.


  The torque-free motion of rigid body in gravitational field is analyzed. The
coin lands on a soft surface (such as the palm of the hand) that allows no
bouncing. The model assumes the coin as a rigid body with constant angular
momentum vector in the body frame, and no air resistance. Unbiased
probabilities of heads and tails are obtained for various initial conditions
accessible to a usual person.


  In 1963, Corr\'adi and Hajnal proved that for all $k \ge 1$ and $n \ge 3k$,
every (simple) graph on n vertices with minimum degree at least 2k contains k
disjoint cycles. The same year, Dirac described the 3-connected multigraphs not
containing two disjoint cycles and asked the more general question: Which
(2k-1)-connected multigraphs do not contain k disjoint cycles? Recently, the
authors characterized the simple graphs G with minimum degree $\delta(G) \ge
2k-1$ that do not contain k disjoint cycles. We use this result to answer
Dirac's question in full.


  We develop a representation theory approach to the study of generalized
hypergeometric functions of Gelfand, Kapranov and Zelevisnky (GKZ). We show
that the GKZ hypergeometric functions may be identified with matrix elements of
non-reductive Lie algebras $\mathfrak{L}_N$ of oscillator type. The Whittaker
functions associated with principal series representations of
$\mathfrak{gl}_{\ell+1}(\mathbb{R})$ being special cases of GKZ hypergeometric
functions, thus admit along with a standard matrix element representations
associated with reductive Lie algebra $\mathfrak{gl}_{\ell+1}(\mathbb{R})$,
another matrix element representation in terms of
$\mathfrak{L}_{\ell(\ell+1)}$.


  We study the real-time dynamics of a translationally invariant quantum spin
chain, based on the East kinetically constrained glass model, in search for
evidence of many-body localisation in the absence of disorder. Numerical
simulations indicate a change, controlled by a coupling parameter, from a
regime of fast relaxation---corresponding to thermalisation---to a regime of
very slow relaxation. This slowly relaxing regime is characterised by dynamical
features usually associated with non-ergodicity and many-body localisation
(MBL): memory of initial conditions, logarithmic growth of entanglement
entropy, and non-exponential decay of time-correlators. We show that slow
relaxation is a consequence of sensitivity to spatial fluctuations in the
initial state. While numerics indicate that certain relaxation timescales grow
markedly with size, our finite size results are consistent both with an MBL
transition, expected to only occur in disordered systems, or with a pronounced
quasi-MBL crossover.


  We present a local measurement of gravity combining Bloch oscillations and
atom interferometry. With a falling distance of 0.8 mm, we achieve a
sensitivity of 2x10-7 g with an integration time of 300 s. No bias associated
with the Bloch oscillations has been measured. A contrast decay with Bloch
oscillations has been observed and attributed to the spatial quality of the
laser beams. A simple experimental configuration has been adopted where a
single retro-reflected laser beam is performing atoms launch, stimulated Raman
transitions and Bloch oscillations. The combination of Bloch oscillations and
atom interferometry can thus be realized with an apparatus no more complex than
a standard atomic gravimeter.


  A method based on sector decomposition is briefly described which is suitable
for the calculation of the double real radiation part of e^+e^- to 3 jets at
next-to-next-to-leading order in a fully differential way.


  Transport of intensity equation (TIE) exhibits a non-interferometric
correlation between intensity and phase variations of intermediate fields
(e.g., light and electron) in biological imaging. Previous TIE formulations
have generally assumed a free space propagation of monochromatic coherent field
functions crossing phase distributions along a longitudinal direction. Here, we
modify the TIE with fractal (or self-similar) organization models based on
intracellular refractive index turbulence. We then implement the TIE simulation
over a broad range of fractal dimensions and wavelengths. Simulation results
show how the intensity propagation through the spatial fluctuation of
intracellular refractive index interconnects fractal-dimensionality with
intensity dispersion (or transmissivity) within the picometer to micrometer
wavelength range. In addition, we provide a spatial-autocorrelation of phase
derivatives which allows the direct measurement and reconstruction of
intracellular fractal profiles from optical and electron microscopy imaging.


  This article gives an overview of the field of LLM text recognition.
Different approaches and implemented detectors for the recognition of
LLM-generated text are presented. In addition to discussing the
implementations, the article focuses on benchmarking the detectors. Although
there are numerous software products for the recognition of LLM-generated text,
with a focus on ChatGPT-like LLMs, the quality of the recognition (recognition
rate) is not clear. Furthermore, while it can be seen that scientific
contributions presenting their novel approaches strive for some kind of
comparison with other approaches, the construction and independence of the
evaluation dataset is often not comprehensible. As a result, discrepancies in
the performance evaluation of LLM detectors are often visible due to the
different benchmarking datasets. This article describes the creation of an
evaluation dataset and uses this dataset to investigate the different
detectors. The selected detectors are benchmarked against each other.


  In this brief overview we discuss the principal features of real space
pairing as expressed via corresponding low-energy (t-J or periodic
Anderson-Kondo) effective Hamiltonian, as well as consider concrete properties
of those unconventional superconductors. We also rise the basic question of
statistical consistency within the so-called renormalized mean-field theory. In
particular, we provide the phase diagrams encompassing the stable magnetic and
superconducting states. We interpret real space pairing as correlated motion of
fermion pair coupled by short-range exchange interaction of magnitude J
comparable to the particle renormalized band energy $\sim tx$, where $x$ is the
carrier number per site. We also discuss briefly the difference between the
real-space and the paramagnon - mediated sources of superconductivity. The
paper concentrates both on recent novel results obtained in our research group,
as well as puts the theoretical concepts in a conceptual as well as historical
perspective. No slave-bosons are required to formulate the present approach.


  A tomography experiment using muon cosmic rays was conducted on an
archaeological site in Greece, a tumulus. This contribution presents issues
related to the simulation of the experiment and of the site, using tools
commonly used in high-energy physics. The scientific objective is to compare
the results of the simulation with the recorded data to highlight anomalies.


  Molecular dynamics simulation is a proven technique for computing and
visualizing the time-resolved motion of macromolecules at atomic resolution.
The MDsrv is a tool that streams MD trajectories and displays them
interactively in web browsers without requiring advanced skills, facilitating
interactive exploration and collaborative visual analysis. We have now enhanced
the MDsrv to further simplify the upload and sharing of MD trajectories and
improve their online viewing and analysis. With the new instance, the MDsrv
simplifies the creation of sessions, which allows the exchange of MD
trajectories with preset representations and perspectives. An important
innovation is that the MDsrv can now access and visualize trajectories from
remote datasets, which greatly expands its applicability and use, as the data
no longer needs to be accessible on a local server. In addition, initial
analyses such as sequence or structure alignments, distance measurements, or
RMSD calculations have been implemented, which optionally support visual
analysis. Finally, the MDsrv now offers a faster and more efficient
visualization of even large trajectories.


  We numerically estimate a scale $\Lambda_{uni}$ at which tree-level unitarity
is violated in the $SO(5)\times U(1)_X$ gauge-Higgs unification model by
evaluating amplitudes for scattering of the longitudinal W bosons. The
scattering amplitudes take larger values in the warped spacetime than in the
flat spacetime, and take maximal values when $\theta_H=\pi/2$, where $\theta_H$
is the Wilson line phase along the extra dimension. We take into account not
only the elastic scattering but also possible inelastic scatterings in order to
estimate $\Lambda_{\rm uni}$. We found that $\Lambda_{\rm uni}\simeq 1.3m_{KK}$
in the warped spacetime, and $\Lambda_{\rm uni}\simeq 140m_{KK}$ in the flat
spacetime, where $m_{KK}$ is the Kaluza-Klein mass scale. The tree-level
unitarity is violated at $O(1TeV)$ for $\theta_H=\pi/2$ in the former case due
to the vanishing WWH coupling.


  We generalize an inequality of E. Heintze and H. Karcher [8] for the volume
of tubes around minimal submanifolds to an inequality based on integral bounds
for $k$-Ricci curvature. Even in the case of a pointwise bound, this
generalizes the classical inequality by replacing a sectional curvature bound
with a $k$-Ricci bound. This work is motivated by the estimates of
Petersen-Shteingold-Wei for the volume of tubes around a geodesic [12] and
generalizes their result. Using similar ideas we also prove a Hessian
comparison theorem for $k$-Ricci curvature which generalizes the usual Hessian
and Laplacian comparison for distance functions from a point and give several
applications.


  We discuss properties of local Polyakov loops in the deconfinement transition
of SU(3) lattice gauge theory at finite temperature using the fixed scale
approach. In particular we study spatial clusters where local Polyakov loops
have phases near the same center elements of the gauge group. We present
results for various properties of the center clusters, e.g., their percolation
probability or their fractality and discuss the physical implications for
temperatures below and above the phase transition.


  We compute the divergence of the finitely generated group SLn(O_S), where S
is a finite set of valuations of a function field, and O_S is the corresponding
ring of S-integer points. As an application, we deduce that all its asymptotic
cones are without cut-points.


  In this letter the nontopological scalar solitons with a self-interaction
potential are investigated in a static de Sitter spacetime and their field
equations are derived. In particular, with series expansion we prove
analytically the nonexistence of the solutions under the boundary conditions,
which show that some nontopological solitons can not live in the background.


  We introduce and study a dimensional-like characteristic of an uniformly
almost periodic function, which we call the Diophantine dimension. By
definition, it is the exponent in the asymptotic behavior of the inclusio
length. Diophantine dimension is connected with recurrent and ergodic
properties of an almost periodic function. We get some estimates of the
Diophantine dimension for certain quasiperiodic functions and present methods
to investigate such a characteristic for almost periodic trajectories of
evolution equations. Also we discuss the link between the presented approach
and the so called effective versions of the Kronecker theorem.


  This paper addresses the problem of optimizing partition functions in a
stochastic learning setting. We propose a stochastic variant of the bound
majorization algorithm that relies on upper-bounding the partition function
with a quadratic surrogate. The update of the proposed method, that we refer to
as Stochastic Partition Function Bound (SPFB), resembles scaled stochastic
gradient descent where the scaling factor relies on a second order term that is
however different from the Hessian. Similarly to quasi-Newton schemes, this
term is constructed using the stochastic approximation of the value of the
function and its gradient. We prove sub-linear convergence rate of the proposed
method and show the construction of its low-rank variant (LSPFB). Experiments
on logistic regression demonstrate that the proposed schemes significantly
outperform SGD. We also discuss how to use quadratic partition function bound
for efficient training of deep learning models and in non-convex optimization.


  In this paper we obtain comparison results for the quasilinear equation
$-\Delta_{p,x} u - u_{yy} = f$ with homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions
by Steiner rearrangement in variable $x$, thus solving a long open problem. In
fact, we study a broader class of anisotropic problems. Our approach is based
on a finite-differences discretization in $y$, and the proof of a comparison
principle for the discrete version of the auxiliary problem $A U - U_{yy} \le
\int_0^s f^*$, where $AU = (n\omega^{1/n}s^{1/n'} )^p (- U_{ss})^{p-1}$. We
show that this operator is T-accretive in $L^\infty$. We extend our results for
$-\Delta_{p,x}$ to general operators of the form $-\mathrm{div} (a(|\nabla_x
u|) \nabla_x u)$ where $a$ is non-decreasing and behaves like $| \cdot |^{p-2}$
at infinity.


  This paper presents a method for the synthesis of negative imaginary
closed-loop systems with a prescribed degree of stability under the assumption
of full state feedback. The approach extends existing work by using a
perturbation method to ensure a closed-loop system that has both the negative
imaginary property and a prescribed degree of stability. This approach involves
the real Schur decomposition of a matrix followed by the solution to two
Lyapunov equations which provides computational advantages over alternate state
feedback synthesis techniques. Also, some counterexamples are presented which
clarify the perturbation properties of strictly negative imaginary systems.
Finally, an illustrative example demonstrates the approach.


  Upon doping with Tl the narrow band-gap semiconductor PbTe exhibits
anomalously high temperature superconductivity despite a very low carrier
density as well as signatures of the Kondo effect despite an absence of
magnetic moments. These phenomena have been explained by invoking 2$e$
fluctuations of the valence of the Tl dopants but a direct measurement of the
mixed-valency implied by such a mechanism has not been reported to date. In
this work we present the unambiguous observation of multiple valences of Tl in
Tl-doped PbTe via photo emission spectroscopy measurements. It is shown via our
quantitative analysis that the suppression of the carrier density at
compositions exhibiting superconductivity and Kondo-like behaviour is fully
accounted for by mixed valency, thus arguing strongly against a
self-compensation scenario proposed elsewhere for this material and
strengthening the case for valence fluctuation models. In addition to the
identification of Tl$^+$ and Tl$^{3+}$ a possible third intermediate local
charge-density is tentatively suggested by full fits to the data, the
implications of which are discussed in the context of the charge-Kondo effect.


  We studied quantum depletion in a gaseous Bose-Einstein condensate. An
optical lattice enhanced the atomic interactions and modified the dispersion
relation resulting in strong quantum depletion. The depleted fraction was
directly observed as a diffuse background in the time-of-flight images.
Bogoliubov theory provided a semi-quantitative description for our observations
of depleted fractions in excess of 50%.


  The discovery of ferroelectric polarization in HfO2-based ultrathin films has
spawned a lot of interest due to their potential applications in data storage.
Recently, a new R3m rhombohedral phase was proposed to be responsible for the
emergence of ferroelectricity in the [111]-oriented Hf0.5Zr0.5O2 thin films,
but the fundamental mechanism of ferroelectric polarization in such films
remains poorly understood. In this paper, we employ density-functional-theory
calculations to investigate structural and polarization properties of the R3m
HfO2 phase. We find that the film thickness and in-plane compressive strain
effects play a key role in stabilizing the R3m phase leading to robust
ferroelectricity of [111]-oriented R3m HfO2.


  Lung cancer is the leading cause of the largest number of deaths worldwide
and lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the most common form of lung cancer. In this
study, we carried out an integrated meta-analysis of the mutations including
single-nucleotide variations (SNVs), the copy number variations (CNVs), RNA-seq
and clinical data of patients with LUAD downloaded from The Cancer Genome Atlas
(TCGA). We integrated significant SNV and CNV genes, differentially expressed
genes (DEGs) and the DEGs in active subnetworks to construct a prognosis
signature. Cox proportional hazards model (LOOCV) with Lasso penalty was used
to identify the best gene signature among different gene categories. The
patients in both training and test data were clustered into high-risk and
low-risk groups by using risk scores of the patients calculated based on
selected gene signature. We generated a 12-gene signature (DEPTOR, ZBTB16,
BCHE, MGLL, MASP2, TNNI2, RAPGEF3, SGK2, MYO1A, CYP24A1, PODXL2, CCNA1) for
overall survival prediction. The survival time of high-risk and low-risk groups
was significantly different. This 12-gene signature could predict prognosis and
they are potential predictors for the survival of the patients with LUAD.


  We apply pseudo-spectral methods to construct global solutions of functional
renormalisation group equations in field space to high accuracy. For this, we
introduce a basis to resolve both finite as well as asymptotic regions of
effective potentials. Our approach is benchmarked using the critical behaviour
of the scalar $O(1)$ model, providing results for the global fixed point
potential as well as leading critical exponents and their respective global
eigenfunctions. We provide new results for (1) multi-critical $O(1)$ models in
fractional dimensions, (2) the three-dimensional Gross-Neveu model at both
small and large $N$, and (3) the scalar-tensor model, also in three dimensions.


  We investigate the properties of pole-skipping of the sound channel in which
the translational symmetry is broken explicitly or spontaneously. For this
purpose, we analyze, in detail, not only the holographic axion model, but also
the magnetically charged black holes with two methods: the near-horizon
analysis and quasi-normal mode computations. We find that the pole-skipping
points are related with the chaotic properties, Lyapunov exponent ($\lambda_L$)
and butterfly velocity ($v_B$), independently of the symmetry breaking
patterns. We show that the diffusion constant ($D$) is bounded by $D
\,\geqslant\, v_{B}^2/\lambda_{L}$, where $D$ is the energy diffusion (crystal
diffusion) bound for explicit (spontaneous) symmetry breaking. We confirm that
the lower bound is obtained by the pole-skipping analysis in the low
temperature limit.


  We consider IA-endomorphisms (i.e., Identical in Abelianization) of a free
metabelian group of finite rank, and give a matrix characterization of their
fixed points which is similar to (yet different from) the well-known
characterization of eigenvectors of a linear operator in a vector space. We
then use our matrix characterization to elaborate several properties of the
fixed point groups of metabelian endomorphisms. In particular, we show that the
rank of the fixed point group of an IA-endomorphism of the free metabelian
group of rank $n \ge 2$ can be either equal to 0, 1, or greater than $(n-1)$
(in particular, it can be infinite). We also point out a connection between
these properties of metabelian IA-endomorphisms and some properties of the
Gassner representation of pure braid groups.


  At present the ground-based Very High Energy (VHE) gamma-ray astronomy is
racing to complete construction of a number of modern gamma-ray detectors, i.e.
CANGAROO III, MAGIC, H.E.S.S., and VERITAS. They should be fully operational in
a year's time. After much debate, the further development of this gamma-ray
astronomy in the foreseeable future must be widely anticipated to proceed with
the designing and building of a new instrumentation, which is primarily
intended for the further drastic reduction of the energy threshold in gamma-ray
observations down to about 10 GeV. On the ground one can hardly reach such low
energy thresholds without considerably larger, up to 30 m diameter, optical
telescopes, which might be able to collect sufficient amount of Cherenkov light
from the atmospheric gamma-ray showers of that low energy. If not taken off the
ground entirely (like GLAST), then it seems to be profitable to mount future
low energy Cherenkov telescopes at higher altitudes in the atmosphere in order
that they will be able to detect substantially more unabsorbed Cherenkov light
from a shower. There are a few sites up on the high mountains of roughly 5 km
height worldwide, which can be used for such a venture. However, one has to
remember that actual time profile, and in particular a two-dimensional
distribution (image) of Cherenkov light flash from atmospheric gamma-ray
showers, undergo a rapid change after an increase in the observational level.
This paper briefly describes the results of a topological analysis of Cherenkov
light images calculated at both conventional and desirable altitudes of 2.2 and
5 km above the sea, respectively. A discussion on major upgrades of image
topology at high altitude is also given.


  Using GL no scattering full wave modeling and inversion, we create a GLHUA
pre cloak electromagnetic (EM) material in the virtual sphere that makes the
sphere is invisible. The invisible sphere is called GLHUA sphere. In GLHUA
sphere, the Pre cloak relative parameter is not less than 1; the parameters and
their derivative are continuous across the boundary r=R2 and the parameters are
going to infinity at origin r=0. The phase velocity of EM wave in the sphere is
less than light speed and going to zero at origin. The EM wave field excited in
the outside of the sphere can not be disturbed by GLHUA sphere. By GL full wave
method, we rigorously proved the incident EM wave field excited in outside of
GLHUA sphere and propagation through the sphere without any scattering by the
sphere, the total EM field in outside of the sphere equal to the incident wave
field. Moreover, we prove that in GLHUA sphere with the pre cloak material,
when r is going to origin, EM wave field propagation in GLHUA sphere is going
to zero. We propose a $N$ dimensional MAXWELL equations. All copyright and
patent of the GLHUA EM cloaks,GLHUA sphere and GL modeling and inversion
methods are reserved by authors in GL Geophysical Laboratory.


  We present the first computation of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB)
polarisation power spectrum from galaxy clusters and filaments using
hydrodynamical simulations of large scale structure. We give the $E$ and $B$
mode power spectra of the CMB quadrupole induced polarisation between $\ell
\sim 560$ and 20000. We find that the contribution from warm ionised gas in
filamentary structures dominates the polarised signal from galaxy clusters by
more than one order of magnitude on large scales (below $\ell \sim 1000$) and
by a factor of about two on small scales ($\ell \gsim 10000$). We study the
dependence of the power spectra with $\sigma_8$. Assuming the power spectra
vary like $\sigma_8^n$ we find $n=3.2-4.0$ for filaments and $n=3.5-4.6$ for
clusters.


  The application of GNC devices on small robots is a game-changer that enables
these robots to be mobile on low-gravity planetary surfaces and small bodies.
Use of reaction wheels enables these robots to roll, hop, summersault and rest
on precarious/sloped surfaces that would otherwise not be possible with
conven-tional wheeled robots. We are extending this technology to enable robots
to climb off-world canyons, cliffs and caves. A single robot may slip and fall,
however, a multirobot system can work cooperatively by being interlinked using
spring-tethers and work much like a team of mountaineers to systematically
climb a slope. A multirobot system as we will show in this paper can climb
sur-faces not possible with a single robot alone. We consider a team of four
robots that are interlinked with tethers in an 'x' configuration. Each robot
secures itself to a slope using spiny gripping actuators, and one by one each
robot moves up-wards by crawling, rolling or hopping up the slope. If any one
of the robots loses grip, slips or falls, the remaining robots will be holding
it up as they are anchored. This distributed controls approach to cliff
climbing enables the system to reconfigure itself where possible and avoid
getting stuck at one hard to reach location. Instead, the risk is distributed
and through close cooperation, the robots can identify multiple trajectories to
climb a cliff or rugged surface. The benefits can also be realized on
milligravity surfaces such as asteroids. Too fast a jump can result in the
robot flying off the surface into space. Having multiple robots anchored to the
surface keeps the entire system secure. Our work combines dynamics and control
simulation to evaluate the feasibility of our approach. The simulation results
show a promising pathway towards advanced development of this technology on a
team of real robots.


  The notion and theory of the quantum space of all maps from a quantum space
pioneered by So{\l}tan have been mainly focused on finite-dimensional
C*-algebras which are matrix algebra bundles over a finite set $S$. We propose
a modification of this notion to cover the case of $C\left( X\right) $ for
general compact Hausdorff spaces $X$ instead of finite sets $S$ while taking
into account of the topology of $X$. A notion of free product of copies of a
unital C*-algebra topologically indexed by a compact Hausdorff space arises
naturally, and satisfies some desired functoriality.


  We define a new mass transport model on a one-dimensional lattice of size $N$
with continuous masses at each site. The lattice is connected to mass
reservoirs of different `chemical potentials' at the two ends. The mass
transfer dynamics in the bulk is equivalent to the dynamics of the gaps between
particles in the Random Average Process. In the non-equilibrium steady state,
we find that the multi-site arbitrary order cumulants of the masses can be
expressed as an expansion in powers of $1/N$ where at each order the cumulants
have a scaling form. We introduce a novel operator approach which allows us to
compute these scaling functions at different orders of $1/N$. Moreover, this
approach reveals that, to express the scaling functions for higher order
cumulants completely one requires all lower order multi-site cumulants. This is
in contrast to the Wick's theorem in which all higher order cumulants are
expressed solely in terms of two-site cumulants. We support our results with
evidence from Monte-Carlo simulations.


  In this article we describe the giant graviton configurations in AdS_m x S^n
backgrounds that involve 5-spheres, namely, the giant graviton in AdS_4 x S^7
and the dual giant graviton in AdS_7 x S^4, in terms of dielectric
gravitational waves. Thus, we conclude the programme initiated in
hep-th/0207199 and pursued in hep-th/0303183 and hep-th/0406148 towards the
microscopical description of giant gravitons in AdS_m x S^n spacetimes. In our
construction the gravitational waves expand due to Myers dielectric effect onto
fuzzy 5-spheres which are described as S^1 bundles over fuzzy CP^2. These fuzzy
spheres appear as solutions of the matrix model that comes up as the action for
M-theory gravitational waves. The validity of our description is checked by
confirming the agreement with the Abelian description in terms of a spherical
M5-brane when the number of waves goes to infinity.


  It has previously been shown that response transformations can be very
effective in improving dimension reduction outcomes for a continuous response.
The choice of transformation used can make a big difference in the
visualization of the response versus the dimension reduced regressors. In this
article, we provide an automated approach for choosing parameters of
transformation functions to seek optimal results. A criterion based on an
influence measure between dimension reduction spaces is utilized for choosing
the optimal parameter value of the transformation. Since influence measures can
be time-consuming for large data sets, two efficient criteria are also
provided. Given that a different transformation may be suitable for each
direction required to form the subspace, we also employ an iterative approach
to choosing optimal parameter values. Several simulation studies and a real
data example highlight the effectiveness of the proposed methods.


  We present a comparative investigation of the influence of crystallinity and
film thickness on the acoustic and thermal properties of 2D layered PtSe2 thin
films of varying thickness (0.6-24 nm) by combining a set of experimental
techniques, namely, frequency domain thermo-reflectance, low-frequency Raman
and pump-probe coherent phonon spectroscopy. We find a 35% reduction in the
cross-plane thermal conductivity of polycrystalline films with thickness larger
than 12 nm compared to the crystalline films of the same thickness due to
phonon grain boundary scattering. Density functional theory calculations are in
good agreement with the experiments and further reveal the ballistic nature of
cross-plane heat transport in PtSe2 up to a certain thickness (~20 nm). In
addition, our experiments revealed strong interlayer interactions in PtSe2,
short acoustic phonon lifetimes in the range of picoseconds, out-of-plane
elastic constant C33=31.8 GPa and layer-dependent group velocity ranging from
1340 m/s in bilayer PtSe2 to 1873 m/s in 8 layers of PtSe2. The potential of
tuning the lattice cross-plane thermal conductivity of layered 2D materials
with the level of crystallinity and the real-time observation of coherent
phonon dynamics, which have direct implications on the cooling and transport of
electrons, open a new playground for research in 2D thermoelectric devices and
provide guidelines for thermal management in 2D electronics.


  This article is a tutorial on deriving physical properties from the spectral
energy distributions of circumstellar disks. It includes a new derivation of
disk mass from millimeter-wave flux density using recent disk model parameters.
The energetics for most disks are dominated by radiative heating and cooling,
and almost any spectral energy distribution may be understood from physically
plausible models in the literature.


  Unitals can be obtained as closures of affine unitals via parallelisms. The
isomorphism type of the closure depends on the chosen parallelism, which need
not be unique. For affine $\operatorname{SL}(2,q)$-unitals, we introduce a
class of parallelisms for odd order and one for square order.
  Translations are automorphisms of unitals, fixing each block through a given
center. For each of the known parallelisms of affine
$\operatorname{SL}(2,q)$-unitals, we compute all possible translations with
centers on the block at infinity.


  Probabilistic model checking aims to prove whether a Markov decision process
(MDP) satisfies a temporal logic specification. The underlying methods rely on
an often unrealistic assumption that the MDP is precisely known. Consequently,
parametric MDPs (pMDPs) extend MDPs with transition probabilities that are
functions over unspecified parameters. The parameter synthesis problem is to
compute an instantiation of these unspecified parameters such that the
resulting MDP satisfies the temporal logic specification. We formulate the
parameter synthesis problem as a quadratically constrained quadratic program
(QCQP), which is nonconvex and is NP-hard to solve in general. We develop two
approaches that iteratively obtain locally optimal solutions. The first
approach exploits the so-called convex-concave procedure (CCP), and the second
approach utilizes a sequential convex programming (SCP) method. The techniques
improve the runtime and scalability by multiple orders of magnitude compared to
black-box CCP and SCP by merging ideas from convex optimization and
probabilistic model checking. We demonstrate the approaches on a satellite
collision avoidance problem with hundreds of thousands of states and tens of
thousands of parameters and their scalability on a wide range of commonly used
benchmarks.


  The coupling of a scalar field to electromagnetic field via the Chern-Simons
term will rotate the polarization directions of the cosmic microwave background
radiation. The rotation angle which relies on the distribution of the scalar
field on the CMB sky is direction dependent. Such anisotropies will give rise
to new distortions to the power spectra of CMB polarization and it can be used
to probe the detailed physics of the scalar field. In this paper we use the
updated observational data to constrain the anisotropic rotation angle in a
model independent way. We find that the dominant effect of the anisotropic
rotation on CMB comes from its variance and it is constrained tightly by the
current data.


  We analyze the Hall conductivity $\sigma_{xy}(\omega)$ of a charge ordered
state with momentum $\mathbf{Q}=(0,2Q)$ and calculate the intrinsic
contribution to the Kerr angle $\Theta_K$ using the fully reconstructed
tight-binding band structure for layered cuprates beyond the low energy hot
spots model and particle hole symmetry. We show that such a unidirectional
charge density wave (CDW), which breaks time reversal symmetry as recently put
forward by Wang and Chubukov [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 90}, 035149 (2014)], leads to a
nonzero polar Kerr effect as observed experimentally. In addition, we model a
fluctuating CDW via a large quasiparticle damping of the order of the CDW gap
and discuss possible implications for the pseudogap phase. We can qualitatively
reproduce previous measurements of underdoped cuprates but making quantitative
connections to experiments is hampered by the sensitivity of the polar Kerr
effect with respect to the complex refractive index $n(\omega)$.


  We prove several Sobolev inequalities, which are then used to establish a
fractional Hardy-Sobolev- Maz'ya inequality on the upper halfspace.


  Recently, topological quantum materials have emerged as a promising
electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). However, most of their
performance largely lags behind noble metals such as benchmark platinum (Pt).
In this work, a Pd(20nm)/SnTe(70nm) heterostructure, fabricated by molecular
beam epitaxy and electron beam evaporation, is found to display much higher
electrocatalytic activity than that of a pure Pd(20nm) thin film and even
higher than that of a commercial Pt foil. This heterostructure adopts an
extracted turnover frequency value more than two times higher than that of the
Pd(20nm) thin film at a potential of 0.2 V, indicating a much higher intrinsic
activity per Pd site. Density functional theory calculations show that the
conventional d-band theory, which works well for many transition metal
heterostructures, cannot explain the enhancement of electrocatalytic
performance. Instead, we found that the topological surface states (TSSs) of
the SnTe (001) underlayer play a key role; electrons transfer from both the Pd
surface and the adsorbed H atoms to the TSSs of SnTe (001), resulting in weaker
Pd-H binding strength and more favorable hydrogen adsorption free energies. Our
work demonstrates for the first time that a metal/topological quantum material
heterostructure could be a prominent catalyst to enjoy HER activity
outperforming that of a commercial Pt foil and offers a promising direction to
optimize the performance of electrocatalysts based on topological quantum
materials.


  Motivated by the recent theoretical and experimental developments in $b \to c
\ell\nu$ transitions, the aim of these proceedings is to critically analyse the
current situation in this sector. In particular, we will inspect the
possibility of explaining the current anomalous pattern by means of New Physics
effects coupled with light charged leptons, motivated both by the measurement
of the LFUV ratio ${\cal R}(\Lambda_c)$ and by the recent application of the
Dispersive Matrix approach to estimate Form Factors in $B \to D^*$ transitions.
These proceedings are based on Refs.~\cite{Fedele:2022iib,Fedele:2023ewe}.


  The rapid characterisation of earthquake parameters such as its magnitude is
at the heart of Earthquake Early Warning (EEW). In traditional EEW methods the
robustness in the estimation of earthquake parameters have been observed to
increase with the length of input data. Since time is a crucial factor in EEW
applications, in this paper we propose a deep learning based magnitude
classifier and, further we investigate the effect of using five different
durations of seismic waveform data after first P wave arrival of length 1s, 3s,
10s, 20s and 30s. This is accomplished by testing the performance of the
proposed model that combines Convolution and Bidirectional Long-Short Term
Memory units to classify waveforms based on their magnitude into three classes
"noise", "low magnitude events" and "high magnitude events". Herein, any
earthquake signal with magnitude equal to or above 5.0 is labelled as high
magnitude. We show that the variation in the results produced by changing the
length of the data, is no more than the inherent randomness in the trained
models, due to their initialisation.


  We study the dynamics of vortex lattice formation of a rotating trapped
Bose-Einstein condensate by numerically solving the two-dimensional
Gross-Pitaevskii equation, and find that the condensate undergoes elliptic
deformation, followed by unstable surface-mode excitations before forming a
quantized vortex lattice. The dependence of the number of vortices on the
rotation frequency is obtained.


  We discuss how to exploit the recent formulation of classical and quantum
information geometry in terms of normal states on $W^{*}$-algebras to formulate
a problem that unifies Cencov's theorem and Petz's theorem.


  Shellability is a well-known combinatorial criterion for verifying that a
simplicial complex is Cohen-Macaulay. Another notion familiar to commutative
algebraists, but which has not received as much attention from
combinatorialists as the Cohen-Macaulay property, is the notion of a Golod
ring. Recently, a criterion on simplicial complexes reminiscent of
shellability, called the strong gcd-condition, was shown to imply Golodness of
the associated Stanley-Reisner ring. The two algebraic notions were tied
together by Herzog, Reiner and Welker who showed that if the Alexander dual of
a complex is sequentially Cohen-Macaulay then the complex itself is Golod. In
this paper, we present a combinatorial companion of this result, namely that if
the Alexander dual of a complex is (non-pure) shellable then the complex itself
satisfies the strong gcd-condition. Moreover, we show that all implications
just mentioned are strict in general but that they are equivalences for flag
complexes.


  We investigate an influence of an external magnetic field on chiral symmetry
breaking in a four-fermion interaction model at finite temperature and chemical
potential. By using the Fock-Schwinger proper-time method, we calculate the
effective potential for the four-fermion interaction model at the leading order
of the $1/N_c$ expansion. A phase structure of the chiral symmetry breaking is
shown on $T$-$\mu$, $H$-$T$ and $\mu$-$H$ planes. The external magnetic field
modifies the phase structure. It is found that a new phase appears for a large
chemical potential.


  This paper gives a geometric interpretation of the generalized (including the
regularization relation) double shuffle relation for multiple $L$-values.
Precisely it is proved that Enriquez' mixed pentagon equation implies the
relations. As a corollary, an embedding from his cyclotomic analogue of the
Grothendieck-Teichmuller group into Racinet's cyclotomic double shuffle group
is obtained. It cyclotomically extends the result of our previous paper and the
project of Deligne and Terasoma which are the special case N=1 of our result.


  Recently, different researchers have found that the gallery composition of a
face database can induce performance differentials to facial identification
systems in which a probe image is compared against up to all stored reference
images to reach a biometric decision. This negative effect is referred to as
"watchlist imbalance effect". In this work, we present a method to
theoretically estimate said effect for a biometric identification system given
its verification performance across demographic groups and the composition of
the used gallery. Further, we report results for identification experiments on
differently composed demographic subsets, i.e. females and males, of the public
academic MORPH database using the open-source ArcFace face recognition system.
It is shown that the database composition has a huge impact on performance
differentials in biometric identification systems, even if performance
differentials are less pronounced in the verification scenario. This study
represents the first detailed analysis of the watchlist imbalance effect which
is expected to be of high interest for future research in the field of facial
recognition.


  We analyze the statistical properties of three-dimensional ($3d$) turbulence
in a rotating fluid. To this end we introduce a generating functional to study
the statistical properties of the velocity field $\bf v$. We obtain the master
equation from the Navier-Stokes equation in a rotating frame and thence a set
of exact hierarchical equations for the velocity structure functions for
arbitrary angular velocity $\mathbf \Omega$. In particular we obtain the {\em
differential forms} for the analogs of the well-known von Karman-Howarth
relation for $3d$ fluid turbulence. We examine their behavior in the limit of
large rotation. Our results clearly suggest dissimilar statistical behavior and
scaling along directions parallel and perpendicular to $\mathbf \Omega$. The
hierarchical relations yield strong evidence that the nature of the flows for
large rotation is not identical to pure two-dimensional flows. To complement
these results, by using an effective model in the small-$\Omega$ limit, within
a one-loop approximation, we show that the equal-time correlation of the
velocity components parallel to $\mathbf \Omega$ displays Kolmogorov scaling
$q^{-5/3}$, where as for all other components, the equal-time correlators scale
as $q^{-3}$ in the inertial range where $\bf q$ is a wavevector in $3d$. Our
results are generally testable in experiments and/or direct numerical
simulations of the Navier-Stokes equation in a rotating frame.


  In this paper we study the regularity of paths in terms of properties of
admissible nets. We show the right concentration inequality above the modulus
of continuity. Using the approach we prove the Bernstein type inequality for
the empirical processes. Therefore we obtain the best form of concentration for
processes studied recently by Mendelson and Paouris. Results of this type are
of importance in the compressed sensing theory.


  We study the non-dissipative transport effects appearing at second order in
the hydrodynamic expansion for a non-interacting gas of chiral fermions by
using the partition function formalism. We discuss some features of the
corresponding constitutive relations, derive the explicit expressions for the
conductivities and compare with existing results in the literature.


  The large (X-ray class > M1) and very large (X-ray class >X1) flares
(according to the observations of GOES-15 and Preliminary data from Current
Catalog of Flare Events) in solar activity cycle 24 were analyzed. The monthly
average values of optical Flare Index for 2010 - 2016 were calculated. The
values of the total energy of the flare E (J m-2) in the 0.1 -- 0.8 nm range at
the level of the earth's atmosphere were estimated. The energy spectrum (the
dependence of the number of flares with the full energy E from the value of
this full energy) for 115 flares of M5 - X7 classes was built. The comparative
study of monthly averaged values of several indices of solar activity in
current cycle 24: the relative sunspot numbers (SSN), the 10.7 cm radio flux,
the radiation flux in the Lyman-alpha line, the solar constant (TSI) and the
Flare Index (FI) was made.


  A new site percolation model, directed spiral percolation (DSP), under both
directional and rotational (spiral) constraints is studied numerically on the
square lattice. The critical percolation threshold $p_c\approx 0.655$ is found
between the directed and spiral percolation thresholds. Infinite percolation
clusters are fractals of dimension $d_f\approx 1.733$. The clusters generated
are anisotropic. Due to the rotational constraint, the cluster growth is
deviated from that expected due to the directional constraint. Connectivity
lengths, one along the elongation of the cluster and the other perpendicular to
it, diverge as $p\to p_c$ with different critical exponents. The clusters are
less anisotropic than the directed percolation clusters. Different moments of
the cluster size distribution $P_s(p)$ show power law behavior with $|p-p_c|$
in the critical regime with appropriate critical exponents. The values of the
critical exponents are estimated and found to be very different from those
obtained in other percolation models. The proposed DSP model thus belongs to a
new universality class. A scaling theory has been developed for the cluster
related quantities. The critical exponents satisfy the scaling relations
including the hyperscaling which is violated in directed percolation. A
reasonable data collapse is observed in favour of the assumed scaling function
form of $P_s(p)$. The results obtained are in good agreement with other model
calculations.


  We propose a quantum tweezer for extracting a desired number of neutral atoms
from a reservoir. A trapped Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) is used as the
reservoir, taking advantage of its coherent nature, which can guarantee a
constant outcome. The tweezer is an attractive quantum dot, which may be
generated by red-detuned laser light. By moving with certain speeds, the dot
can extract a desired number of atoms from the BEC through Landau-Zener
tunneling. The feasibility of our quantum tweezer is demonstrated through
realistic and extensive model calculations.


  When solid-state redox-driven phase transformations are associated with mass
loss, vacancies are produced that develop into pores. These pores can influence
the kinetics of certain redox and phase transformation steps. We investigated
the structural and chemical mechanisms in and at pores in a combined
experimental-theoretical study, using the reduction of iron oxide by hydrogen
as a model system. The redox product (water) accumulates inside the pores and
shifts the local equilibrium at the already reduced material back towards
re-oxidation into cubic-Fe1-xO (where x refers to Fe deficiency, space group
Fm3-m). This effect helps to understand the sluggish reduction of cubic-Fe1-xO
by hydrogen, a key process for future sustainable steelmaking.


  In this paper, we present a novel hybrid nonlinear explicit-compact scheme
for shock-capturing based on a boundary variation diminishing (BVD)
reconstruction. In our approach, we combine a non-dissipative sixth-order
central compact interpolation and a fifth-order monotonicity preserving scheme
(MP5) through the BVD algorithm. For a smooth solution, the BVD reconstruction
chooses the highest order possible interpolation, which is central, i.e.
non-dissipative in the current approach and for the discontinuities, the
algorithm selects the monotone scheme. This method provides an alternative to
the existing adaptive upwind-central schemes in the literature. Several
numerical examples are conducted with the present approach, which suggests that
the current method is capable of resolving small scale flow features and has
the same ability to capture sharp discontinuities as the MP5 scheme.


  The effect of conducting pipes on the equilibrium of intense nonaxisymmetric
continuous beams of charged particles is investigated. For a cylindrical pipe
and an elliptical beam, we obtain an exact closed form analytical expression
for the electrostatic potential. Using a variational principle, we then explore
the distortions that equilibrium beams suffer due to the conducting channel.
Finally, we present an exact proof that despite the nonlinear forces acting on
beams of arbitrary cross section inside conducting pipes of arbitrary shape,
the density of these beams remains homogeneous and their cross sectional area
remains the sa me as the one in free-space.


  We re-analyse the associated production of a prompt J/psi and a W boson in pp
collisions at the LHC following the results of the ATLAS Collaboration. We
perform the first study of the Single-Parton-Scattering (SPS) contributions at
the Next-to-Leading Order (NLO) in alpha_s in the Colour-Evaporation Model
(CEM), an approach based on the quark-hadron-duality. Our study provides clear
indications for Double-Parton-Scattering (DPS) contributions, in particular at
low transverse momenta, since our SPS CEM evaluation, which can be viewed as a
conservative upper limit of the SPS yields, falls short compared to the ATLAS
experimental data by 3.1 standard deviations. We also determine a finite
allowed region for sigma_eff, inversely proportional to the size of the DPS
yields, corresponding to the otherwise opposed hypotheses, namely our NLO CEM
evaluation and the LO direct Colour-Singlet (CS) Model contribution. In both
cases, the resulting DPS yields are significantly larger than that initially
assumed by ATLAS based on jet-related analyses but is consistent with their
observed raw-yield azimuthal distribution and with their prompt J/psi+J/psi and
Z + prompt J/psi data.


  We consider the profile function of ancient ovals and of noncollapsed
translators. Recall that pioneering work of Angenent-Daskalopoulos-Sesum (JDG
'19, Annals '20) gives a sharp $C^0$-estimate and a quadratic concavity
estimate for the profile function of two-convex ancient ovals, which are
crucial in their papers as well as a slew of subsequent papers on ancient
solutions of mean curvature flow and Ricci flow. In this paper, we derive a
sharp gradient estimate, which enhances their $C^0$-estimate, and a sharp
Hessian estimate, which can be viewed as converse of their quadratic concavity
estimate. Motivated by our forthcoming work on ancient noncollapsed flows in
$\mathbb{R}^4$, we derive these estimates in the context of ancient ovals in
$\mathbb{R}^3$ and noncollapsed translators in $\mathbb{R}^4$, though our
methods seem to apply in other settings as well.


  Quantum simulations are one of the pillars of quantum technologies. These
simulations provide insight in fields as varied as high energy physics,
many-body physics, or cosmology to name only a few. Several platforms, ranging
from ultracold-atoms to superconducting circuits through trapped ions have been
proposed as quantum simulators. This article reviews recent developments in
another well established platform for quantum simulations: polaritons in
semiconductor microcavities. These quasiparticles obey a nonlinear
Schr\"odigner equation (NLSE), and their propagation in the medium can be
understood in terms of quantum hydrodynamics. As such, they are considered as
"fluids of light". The challenge of quantum simulations is the engineering of
configurations in which the potential energy and the nonlinear interactions in
the NLSE can be controlled. Here, we revisit some landmark experiments with
polaritons in microcavities, discuss how the various properties of these
systems may be used in quantum simulations, and highlight the richness of
polariton systems to explore non-equilibrium physics


  By organizing knowledge within a research field, Systematic Reviews (SR)
provide valuable leads to steer research. Evidence suggests that SRs have
become first-class artifacts in software engineering. However, the tedious
manual effort associated with the screening phase of SRs renders these studies
a costly and error-prone endeavor. While screening has traditionally been
considered not amenable to automation, the advent of generative AI-driven
chatbots, backed with large language models is set to disrupt the field. In
this report, we propose an approach to leverage these novel technological
developments for automating the screening of SRs. We assess the consistency,
classification performance, and generalizability of ChatGPT in screening
articles for SRs and compare these figures with those of traditional
classifiers used in SR automation. Our results indicate that ChatGPT is a
viable option to automate the SR processes, but requires careful considerations
from developers when integrating ChatGPT into their SR tools.


  We studied the magnetization losses of four different types of filamentary
YBCO coated conductors. A 10 mm wide YBCO coated conductor was subdivided into
20 filaments by laser cutting. The separation of coupling loss from the total
is possible because the energy loss per cycle in samples with electrically
insulated filaments has a very small frequency dependence. We measured the
frequency dependence of the total losses in the frequency range between 0.1 Hz
and 500 Hz. The coupling loss was obtained from the total by subtracting the
hysteresis loss. The latter was measured at low frequencies since only
hysteresis loss is non-negligible at frequencies below 1 Hz. The transverse
resistivity was determined from the coupling losses; it was assumed that the
sample length is equal to half of the twist pitch. The values of transverse
resistivity deduced from the loss data were compared with those obtained by the
four-point measurements with current flowing perpendicular to the filaments.
Preliminary results indicate that the current method of laser ablation creates
electrical contacts between the superconducting filaments and the substrate.
This was also confirmed by the Hall probe mapping of the magnetic field in the
vicinity of the tape. The measured transverse resistivity was close to the
resistivity of the substrate (Hastelloy).


  We analyze in this paper a random feature map based on a theory of invariance
I-theory introduced recently. More specifically, a group invariant signal
signature is obtained through cumulative distributions of group transformed
random projections. Our analysis bridges invariant feature learning with kernel
methods, as we show that this feature map defines an expected Haar integration
kernel that is invariant to the specified group action. We show how this
non-linear random feature map approximates this group invariant kernel
uniformly on a set of $N$ points. Moreover, we show that it defines a function
space that is dense in the equivalent Invariant Reproducing Kernel Hilbert
Space. Finally, we quantify error rates of the convergence of the empirical
risk minimization, as well as the reduction in the sample complexity of a
learning algorithm using such an invariant representation for signal
classification, in a classical supervised learning setting.


  We analyze the statistical physics of self-propelled particles from a general
theoretical framework that properly describes the most salient characteristic
of active motion, $persistence$, in arbitrary spatial dimensions. Such a
framework allows the development of a Smoluchowski-like equation for the
probability density of finding a particle at a given position and time, without
assuming an explicit orientational dynamics of the self-propelling velocity as
Langevin-like equation-based models do. Also, the Brownian motion due to
thermal fluctuations and the active one due to a general intrinsic persistent
motion of the particle are taken into consideration on an equal footing. The
persistence of motion is introduced in our formalism in the form of a
\emph{two-time memory function}, $K(t,t^{\prime})$. We focus on the
consequences when $K(t,t^{\prime})\sim
(t/t^{\prime})^{-\eta}\exp[-\Gamma(t-t^{\prime})]$, $\Gamma$ being the
characteristic persistence time, and show that it precisely describes a variety
of active motion patterns characterized by $\eta$. We find analytical
expressions for the experimentally obtainable intermediate scattering function,
the time dependence of the mean-squared displacement, and the kurtosis.


  Aims. Our goal is to find the relation between the two-point correlation
functions (CFs) of projected and spatial density fields of galaxies in the
context of the cosmic web. Methods. To investigate relations between spatial
(3D) and projected (2D) CFs of galaxies we used density fields of two
simulations: a $\Lambda$-dominated cold dark matter (LCDM) model with known
particle data, and the Millennium simulation with know data on simulated
galaxies. We compare 3D and 2D correlation functions. In the 2D case, we use
samples of various thickness to find the dependence of 2D CFs on the thickness
of samples. We also compare 3D CFs in real and redshift space. Results. The
dominant elements of the cosmic web are clusters and filaments, separated by
voids filling most of the volume. In individual 2D sheets, the positions of
clusters and filaments do not coincide. As a result, in projection, the
clusters and filaments fill in 2D voids. This leads to a decrease in the
amplitudes of CFs (and power spectra) in projection. For this reason, the
amplitudes of 2D CFs are lower than the amplitudes of 3D correlation functions:
the thicker the 2D sample, the greater the difference. Conclusions. Spatial CFs
of galaxies contain valuable information about the geometrical properties of
the cosmic web that cannot be found from projected CFs.


  The ability to recognize human partners is an important social skill to build
personalized and long-term human-robot interactions, especially in scenarios
like education, care-giving, and rehabilitation. Faces and voices constitute
two important sources of information to enable artificial systems to reliably
recognize individuals. Deep learning networks have achieved state-of-the-art
results and demonstrated to be suitable tools to address such a task. However,
when those networks are applied to different and unprecedented scenarios not
included in the training set, they can suffer a drop in performance. For
example, with robotic platforms in ever-changing and realistic environments,
where always new sensory evidence is acquired, the performance of those models
degrades. One solution is to make robots learn from their first-hand sensory
data with self-supervision. This allows coping with the inherent variability of
the data gathered in realistic and interactive contexts. To this aim, we
propose a cognitive architecture integrating low-level perceptual processes
with a spatial working memory mechanism. The architecture autonomously
organizes the robot's sensory experience into a structured dataset suitable for
human recognition. Our results demonstrate the effectiveness of our
architecture and show that it is a promising solution in the quest of making
robots more autonomous in their learning process.


  We illustrate the importance of mass scales and their relation in the
specific case of the linear sigma model within the context of its one loop Ward
identities. In the calculation it becomes apparent the delicate and essential
connection between divergent and finite parts of amplitudes. The examples show
how to use mass scales identities which are absolutely necessary to manipulate
graphs involving several masses. Furthermore, in the context of the Implicitly
Regularization, finite(physical) and divergent (counterterms) parts of the
amplitude can and must be written in terms of a single scale which is the
renormalization group scale. This facilitates, e.g., obtaining symmetric
counterterms and immediately lead to the proper definition of Renormalization
Group Constants.


  Quasar absorption systems encode a wealth of information about the
abundances, ionization structure, and physical conditions in intergalactic and
circumgalactic media. Simple (often single-phase) photoionization models are
frequently used to decode such data. Using five discrete absorbers from the COS
Absorption Survey of Baryon Harbors (CASBaH) that exhibit a wide range of
detected ions (e.g., Mg II, S II--S VI, O II--O VI, Ne VIII), we show several
examples where single-phase ionization models cannot reproduce the full set of
measured column densities. To explore models that can self-consistently explain
the measurements and kinematic alignment of disparate ions, we develop a
Bayesian multiphase ionization modeling framework that characterizes discrete
phases by their unique physical conditions and also investigates variations in
the shape of the UV flux field, metallicity, and relative abundances. Our
models require at least two (but favor three) distinct ionization phases
ranging from $T \approx 10^{4}$ K photoionized gas to warm-hot phases at $T
\lesssim 10^{5.8}$ K. For some ions, an apparently single absorption
"component" includes contributions from more than one phase, and up to 30% of
the H I is not from the lowest ionization phase. If we assume that all of the
phases are photoionized, we cannot find solutions in thermal pressure
equilibrium. By introducing hotter, collisionally ionized phases, however, we
can achieve balanced pressures. The best models indicate moderate
metallicities, often with sub-solar N/$\alpha$, and, in two cases, ionizing
flux fields that are softer and brighter than the fiducial Haardt & Madau UV
background model.


  We examine physicists' charge of ad hocness against the Higgs mechanism in
the standard model of elementary particle physics. We argue that even though
this charge never rested on a clear-cut and well-entrenched definition of "ad
hoc", it is based on conceptual and methodological assumptions and principles
that are well-founded elements of the scientific practice of high-energy
particle physics. We further evaluate the implications of the recent discovery
of a Higgs-like particle at the CERN's Large Hadron Collider for the charge of
ad hocness against the Higgs mechanism.


  Using molecular dynamics simulations, we report a study of the dynamics of
two-dimensional vortex lattices driven over a disordered medium. In strong
disorder, when topological order is lost, we show that the depinning transition
is analogous to a second order critical transition: the velocity-force response
at the onset of motion is continuous and characterized by critical exponents.
Combining studies at zero and nonzero temperature and using a scaling analysis,
two critical expo- nents are evaluated. We find v\sim (F-F_c)^\beta with
\beta=1.3\pm0.1 at T=0 and F>F_c, and v\sim T^{1/\delta} with
\delta^{-1}=0.75\pm0.1 at F=F_c, where F_c is the critical driving force at
which the lattice goes from a pinned state to a sliding one. Both critical
exponents and the scaling function are found to exhibit universality with
regard to the pinning strength and different disorder realizations.
Furthermore, the dynamics is shown to be chaotic in the whole critical region.


  Our laws of nature and our cosmos appear to be delicately fine-tuned for life
to emerge, in a way that seems hard to attribute to chance. In view of this,
some have taken the opportunity to revive the scholastic Argument from Design,
whereas others have felt the need to explain this apparent fine-tuning of the
clockwork of the Universe by proposing the existence of a `Multiverse'. We
analyze this issue from a sober perspective. Having reviewed the literature and
having added several observations of our own, we conclude that cosmic
fine-tuning supports neither Design nor a Multiverse, since both of these fail
at an explanatory level as well as in a more quantitative context of Bayesian
confirmation theory (although there might be other reasons to believe in these
ideas, to be found in religion and in inflation and/or string theory,
respectively). In fact, fine-tuning and Design even seem to be at odds with
each other, whereas the inference from fine-tuning to a Multiverse only works
if the latter is underwritten by an additional metaphysical hypothesis we
consider unwarranted. Instead, we suggest that fine-tuning requires no special
explanation at all, since it is not the Universe that is fine-tuned for life,
but life that has been fine-tuned to the Universe.