  The problem of steering a particular class of $n$-dimensional continuous-time
dynamical systems towards the minima of a function without gradient information
is considered. We propose an hybrid controller, implementing a discrete-time
Direct Search algorithm based on conjugate directions, able to solve the
optimization problem for the resulting closed loop system in an almost global
sense. Furthermore, we show that Direct Search algorithms based on asymptotic
step size reduction are not robust to measurement noise, and, to achieve
robustness, we propose a modified version by imposing a lower bound on the step
size and able to achieve robust practical convergence to the optimum. In this
context we show a bound relating the supremum norm of the noise signal to the
step size by highlighting a trade-off between asymptotic convergence and
robustness.


  We present the timing analysis results of MAXI J1803$-$298, a black hole
candidate, during its 2021 outburst using data obtained from the
\textit{Insight-}HXMT and \textit{NICER} telescopes. Our analysis reveals that
the source undergoes a state transition from the low/hard state to the hard
intermediate state, followed by the soft intermediate state, and ultimately
reaching the high/soft state. We searched for the quasi-periodic oscillations
(QPOs) and studied the characteristics of the outburst. At the beginning of the
outburst, the source was in the hard state, many type-C QPOs were seen in the
\textit{Insight-}HXMT data, and the frequency of these QPOs increased from
$\sim 0.16$ to $2.6$ Hz. Our analysis of the type-C QPOs' rms-frequency
relationship indicates a turning point in the frequency. We also analyzed the
phase lag versus frequency and energy relationship and deduced that the source
likely has a high inclination angle, consistent with previous research. The
observed rms and phase lag features in type-C QPOs could be explained by the
Lense-Thirring precession model, while the alternatives would be still viable.
The lag spectrum of type-B QPO exhibits a "\textit{U-shaped}" pattern similar
to many other sources, and the type-B QPOs' rms increase as the energy rises.
This phenomenon can be explained by the dual-corona model.


  We evaluate thermodynamical quantities and the transport coefficients of a
dense and hot hadronic matter based on the event generator URASiMA
(Ultra-Relativistic AA collision Simulator based on Multiple Scattering
Algorithm) with periodic boundary conditions. As the simplest example of the
transport coefficients we investigate the temperature dependence and the
chemical potential dependence of the baryon diffusion constant of a dense and
hot hadronic matter.


  The topological features of quantum many-body wave functions are known to
have profound consequences for the physics of ground-states and their
low-energy excitations. We describe how topology influences the dynamics of
many-body systems when driven far from equilibrium. Our results are succinctly
captured by a nonequilibrium topological classification that can be used to
predict universal aspects of generic isolated quantum systems as they evolve
unitarily in time. By analogy to the classifications used to describe systems
in equilibrium, we consider two short-ranged entangled wave functions to be
topologically equivalent if they can be interconverted via finite-time unitary
evolution governed by a symmetry-respecting Hamiltonian. We demonstrate that
this definition captures the salient features of these systems in a broad range
of nonequilibrium scenarios. As well as providing conceptual insights into the
constraints imposed by topology on many-body dynamics, we discuss the practical
implications of our findings. In particular, we show that the characteristic
zero-frequency spectroscopic peaks associated with topologically protected edge
modes will be broadened by external noise only when the system is trivial in
the nonequilibrium classification.


  A (charged) rotating black hole may be unstable against a (charged) massive
scalar field perturbation due to the existence of superradiance modes. The
stability property depends on the parameters of the system. In this paper, the
superradiant stable parameter space is studied for the four-dimensional
extremal Kerr and Kerr-Newman black holes under massive and charged massive
scalar perturbation. For the extremal Kerr case, it is found that when the
angular frequency and proper mass of the scalar perturbation satisfy the
inequality $\omega<\mu/\sqrt{3}$, the extremal Kerr black hole and scalar
perturbation system is superradiantly stable. For the Kerr-Newman black hole
case, when the angular frequency of the scalar perturbation satisfies
$\omega<qQ/M$ and the product of the mass-to-charge ratios of the black hole
and scalar perturbation satisfies $\frac{\mu}{q}\frac{M}{Q} > \frac{\sqrt{3
k^2+2} }{ \sqrt{k^2+2} },~k=\frac{a}{M}$, the extremal Kerr-Newman black hole
is superradiantly stable under charged massive scalar perturbation.


  In this lecture note, we introduce the basic concepts of game theory (GT), a
branch of mathematics traditionally studied and applied in the areas of
economics, political science, and biology, which has emerged in the last
fifteen years as an effective framework for communications, networking, and
signal processing (SP). The real catalyzer has been the blooming of all issues
related to distributed networks, in which the nodes can be modeled as players
in a game competing for system resources. Some relevant notions of GT are
introduced by elaborating on a simple application in the context of wireless
communications, notably the power control in an interference channel (IC) with
two transmitters and two receivers.


  Owing to the absence of the phase space attractors in the Hamiltonian
dynamical systems, the concept of the identical synchronization between the
dissipative systems is inapplicable to the Hamiltonian systems for which, thus,
one defines a related generalized phenomenon known as the measure
synchronization. A coupled pair of Hamiltonian systems---the full coupled
system also being Hamiltonian---can possibly be in two types of measure
synchronized states: quasiperiodic and chaotic. In this paper, we take
representative systems belonging to each such class of the coupled systems and
highlight that, as the coupling strengths are varied, there may exist intervals
in the ranges of the coupling parameters at which the systems are measure
desynchronized. Subsequently, we illustrate that as a coupled system evolves in
time, occasionally switching off the coupling when the system is in the measure
desynchronized state can bring the system back in measure synchrony. Further,
for the case of the occasional uncoupling being employed periodically and the
corresponding time-period being small, we analytically find the values of the
on-fraction of the time-period using which measure synchronization is effected
on the corresponding desynchronized state.


  We study a high-TC superconducting (YBa2Cu3O7-d) / ferromagnetic (Co/Pt
multilayer) hybrid which exhibits resistance switching driven by the magnetic
history: depending on the direction of the external field, a pronounced
decrease or increase of the mixed-state resistance is observed as magnetization
reversal occurs within the Co/Pt multilayer. We demonstrate that stray magnetic
fields cause these effects via i) creation of vortices/antivortices and ii)
magnetostatic pinning of vortices that are induced by the external field.


  Fluidically actuated soft robots have promising capabilities such as inherent
compliance and user safety. The control of soft robots needs to properly handle
nonlinear actuation dynamics, motion constraints, workspace limitations, and
variable shape stiffness, so having a unique algorithm for all these issues
would be extremely beneficial. In this work, we adapt Model Predictive Control
(MPC), popular for rigid robots, to a soft robotic arm called SoPrA. We address
the challenges that current control methods are facing, by proposing a
framework that handles these in a modular manner. While previous work focused
on Joint-Space formulations, we show through simulation and experimental
results that Task-Space MPC can be successfully implemented for dynamic soft
robotic control. We provide a way to couple the Piece-wise Constant Curvature
and Augmented Rigid Body Model assumptions with internal and external
constraints and actuation dynamics, delivering an algorithm that unites these
aspects and optimizes over them. We believe that a MPC implementation based on
our approach could be the way to address most of model-based soft robotics
control issues within a unified and modular framework, while allowing to
include improvements that usually belong to other control domains such as
machine learning techniques.


  The easily tunable emission of halide perovskite nanocrystals throughout the
visible spectrum makes them an extremely promising material for light-emitting
applications. Whereas high quantum yields and long-term colloidal stability
have already been achieved for nanocrystals emitting in the red and green
spectral range, the blue region currently lags behind, with low quantum yields,
broad emission profiles and insufficient colloidal stability. In this work, we
present a facile synthetic approach for obtaining two-dimensional CsPbBr3
nanoplatelets with monolayer-precise control over their thickness, resulting in
sharp photoluminescence and electroluminescence peaks with a tunable emission
wavelength between 432 and 497 nm due to quantum confinement. Subsequent
addition of a PbBr2-ligand solution repairs surface defects likely stemming
from bromide and lead vacancies in a sub-ensemble of weakly emissive
nanoplatelets. The overall photoluminescence quantum yield of the blue-emissive
colloidal dispersions is consequently enhanced up to a value of 73+-2 %.
Transient optical spectroscopy measurements focusing on the excitonic
resonances further confirm the proposed repair process. Additionally, the high
stability of these nanoplatelets in films and to prolonged UV light exposure is
shown.


  An analysis of high-resolution Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT)/ University
College London Echelle Spectrograph (UCLES) optical spectra for the ultraviolet
(UV)-bright star ROA 5701 in the globular cluster omega Cen (NGC 5139) is
performed, using non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE) model
atmospheres to estimate stellar atmospheric parameters and chemical
composition. Abundances are derived for C, N, O, Mg, Si and S, and compared
with those found previously by Moehler et al. We find a general metal
underabundance relative to young B-type stars, consistent with the average
metallicity of the cluster. Our results indicate that ROA 5701 has not
undergone a gas-dust separation scenario as previously suggested. However, its
abundance pattern does imply that ROA 5701 has evolved off the AGB prior to the
onset of the third dredge-up.


  A problem is \emph{downward self-reducible} if it can be solved efficiently
given an oracle that returns solutions for strictly smaller instances. In the
decisional landscape, downward self-reducibility is well studied and it is
known that all downward self-reducible problems are in \textsc{PSPACE}. In this
paper, we initiate the study of downward self-reducible search problems which
are guaranteed to have a solution -- that is, the downward self-reducible
problems in \textsc{TFNP}. We show that most natural $\PLS$-complete problems
are downward self-reducible and any downward self-reducible problem in
\textsc{TFNP} is contained in \textsc{PLS}. Furthermore, if the downward
self-reducible problem is in \textsc{TFUP} (i.e. it has a unique solution),
then it is actually contained in \textsc{UEOPL}, a subclass of \textsc{CLS}.
This implies that if integer factoring is \emph{downward self-reducible} then
it is in fact in \textsc{UEOPL}, suggesting that no efficient factoring
algorithm exists using the factorization of smaller numbers.


  The Dirac fermion is an important fundamental particle appearing in
high-energy physics and topological insulator physics. In particular, a Dirac
fermion in a one-dimensional lattice system exhibits the essential properties
of topological physics. However, the system has not been quantum simulated in
experiments yet. Herein, we propose a one-dimensional generalized lattice
Wilson-Dirac fermion model and study its topological phase structure. We show
the experimental setups of an atomic quantum simulator for the model, in which
two parallel optical lattices with the same tilt for trapping cold fermion
atoms and a laser-assisted hopping scheme are used. Interestingly, we find that
the model exhibits nontrivial topological phases characterized by gapless edge
modes and a finite winding number in the broad regime of the parameter space.
Some of the phase diagrams closely resemble those of the Haldane model. We also
discuss topological charge pumping and a lattice Gross-Neveu model in the
system of generalized Wilson-Dirac fermions.


  We explore the coherent control of nonlinear absorption of intense laser
fields in four-level atomic systems. For instance, in a four-level ladder
system, a coupling field creates electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)
with Aulter-Townes doublet for the probe field while the control field is
absent. A large absorption peak appears at resonance as the control field is
switched on. We show how such a large absorption leads to optical switching.
Further, this large absorption gets diminished and a transparency window
appears due to the saturation effects as the strength of the probe field is
increased. We further demonstrate that the threshold of the optical bistability
can be modified by suitable choices of the coupling and the control fields. In
a four-level Y-type configuration, the effect of the control field on saturable
absorption (SA) and reverse saturable absorption (RSA) is highlighted in the
context of nonlinear absorption of the probe field. We achieve RSA and SA in a
simple atomic system just by applying a control field.


  We apply the PAC-Bayes theory to the setting of learning-to-optimize. To the
best of our knowledge, we present the first framework to learn optimization
algorithms with provable generalization guarantees (PAC-bounds) and explicit
trade-off between a high probability of convergence and a high convergence
speed. Even in the limit case, where convergence is guaranteed, our learned
optimization algorithms provably outperform related algorithms based on a
(deterministic) worst-case analysis. Our results rely on PAC-Bayes bounds for
general, unbounded loss-functions based on exponential families. By
generalizing existing ideas, we reformulate the learning procedure into a
one-dimensional minimization problem and study the possibility to find a global
minimum, which enables the algorithmic realization of the learning procedure.
As a proof-of-concept, we learn hyperparameters of standard optimization
algorithms to empirically underline our theory.


  We study functions of an elliptic parameter, which are defined as iterated
integrals of elliptic functions. We establish their relation with the "elliptic
associators" of our previous work, by means of a functional realization of Lie
algebras appearing in that work.


  An all optical soliton diode (AOSD) is proposed based on a sandwich nonlinear
Bragg-grating structure: a linearly chirped Bragg-grating linked to a uniform
Bragg-grating and again to a chirped Bragg-grating. The nonreciprocity is
achieved by introducing two spatially asymmetric chirped Bragg-gratings with
optical nonlinearity. High transmission ratio up to 150 is obtained when
launching a picosecond Gaussian pulse into the setting. We find that such
pulses in a form of solitons propagate at a rather small velocity ($<0.03c$)
when pulse wavelength is selected in the vicinity of photonic bandgap.


  We construct exact eigenstates of multicomponent Hubbard models in arbitrary
dimensions by generalizing the $\eta$-pairing mechanism. Our models include the
SU($N$) Hubbard model as a special case. Unlike the conventional two-component
case, the generalized $\eta$-pairing mechanism permits the construction of
eigenstates that feature off-diagonal long-range order and magnetic long-range
order. These states form fragmented fermionic condensates due to a simultaneous
condensation of multicomponent $\eta$ pairs. While the $\eta$-pairing states in
the SU(2) Hubbard model are based on the $\eta$-pairing symmetry, the exact
eigenstates in the $N$-component system with $N\geq 3$ arise not from symmetry
of the Hamiltonian but from a spectrum generating algebra defined in a Hilbert
subspace. We exploit this fact to show that the generalized $\eta$-pairing
eigenstates do not satisfy the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis and serve
as quantum many-body scar states. This result indicates a weak breakdown of
ergodicity in the $N$-component Hubbard models for $N\geq 3$. Furthermore, we
show that these exact eigenstates constitute integrable subsectors in which the
Hubbard Hamiltonian effectively reduces to a non-interacting model. This
partial integrability causes various multicomponent Hubbard models to weakly
break ergodicity. We propose a method of harnessing dissipation to distill the
integrable part of the dynamics and elucidate a mechanism of non-thermalization
caused by dissipation. This work establishes the coexistence of off-diagonal
long-range order and SU($N$) magnetism in excited eigenstates of the
multicomponent Hubbard models, which presents a possibility of novel
out-of-equilibrium pairing states of multicomponent fermions. These models
unveil a unique feature of quantum thermalization of multicomponent fermions,
which can experimentally be tested with cold-atom quantum simulators.


  Adaptation of asexual populations is driven by beneficial mutations and
therefore the dynamics of this process, besides other factors, depend on the
distribution of beneficial fitness effects. It is known that on uncorrelated
fitness landscapes, this distribution can only be of three types: truncated,
exponential and power law. We performed extensive stochastic simulations to
study the adaptation dynamics on rugged fitness landscapes, and identified two
quantities that can be used to distinguish the underlying distribution of
beneficial fitness effects. The first quantity studied here is the fitness
difference between successive mutations that spread in the population, which is
found to decrease in the case of truncated distributions, remain nearly a
constant for exponentially decaying distributions and increase when the fitness
distribution decays as a power law. The second quantity of interest, namely,
the rate of change of fitness with time also shows quantitatively different
behaviour for different beneficial fitness distributions. The patterns
displayed by the two aforementioned quantities are found to hold for both low
and high mutation rates. We discuss how these patterns can be exploited to
determine the distribution of beneficial fitness effects in microbial
experiments.


  We investigate the recent claim of 'photon underproduction crisis' by
Kollmeier et al. (2014) which suggests that the known sources of ultra-violet
(UV) radiation may not be sufficient to generate the inferred hydrogen
photoionization rate ($\Gamma_{\rm HI}$) in the low redshift inter-galactic
medium. Using the updated QSO emissivities from the recent studies and our
cosmological radiative transfer code developed to estimate the UV background,
we show that the QSO contribution to $\Gamma_{\rm HI}$ is higher by a factor ~2
as compared to the previous estimates. Using self-consistently computed
combinations of star formation rate density and dust attenuation, we show that
a typical UV escape fraction of 4% from star forming galaxies should be
sufficient to explain the inferred $\Gamma_{\rm HI}$ by Kollmeier et al.
(2014). Interestingly, we find that the contribution from QSOs alone can
explain the recently inferred $\Gamma_{\rm HI}$ by Shull et al. (2015) which
used the same observational data but different simulation. Therefore, we
conclude that the crisis is not as severe as it was perceived before and there
seems no need to look for alternate explanations such as low luminosity hidden
QSOs or decaying dark matter particles.


  Any Z_2-graded C*-dynamical system with a self-adjoint graded-KMS functional
on it can be represented (canonically) as a Z_2-graded algebra of bounded
operators on a Z_2-graded Hilbert space, so that the grading of the latter is
compatible with the functional. The modular conjugation operator plays a
crucial role in this reconstruction. The results are generalized to the case of
an unbounded graded-KMS functional having as dense domain the union of a net of
C*-subalgebras. It is shown that the modulus of such an unbounded graded-KMS
functional is KMS.


  In a binary quantum droplet, the interspecies attraction dominates over the
intraspecies repulsions and the mean-field energy is unstable. The mechanical
stability is restored by the repulsive Lee-Huang-Yang (LHY) energy [1]. In the
Bogoliubov theory of the binary quantum droplet, there are two branches of
gapless excitations. The lower branch describes the phonon excitation and its
energy is imaginary in the long-wavelength limit, implying dynamical
instability. Recently it is found that the phonon energy is renormalized by
higher-order quantum fluctuations and the dynamical instability is removed [2].
In this work, we study a binary quantum droplet in the path integral formalism
to construct an effective model with the correct phonon energy. By integrating
out the upper excitation branch, we obtain an effective single-mode model
describing density fluctuations, and derive the extended Gross-Pitaevskii
equation. In this approach, the LHY energy in the extended-GP equation is
purely positive without any assumption of neglecting the imaginary part. This
effective single-mode model can be also used outside and close to the quantum
droplet region such as in the LHY gas.


  We have obtained three long-slit, far UV spectra of the pre-main sequence
system T Tauri. These HST/STIS spectra show a strong and variable on-source
spectrum composed of both fluoresced H_2 and stellar chromospheric lines.
Extended H_2 emission is seen up to 10" from the T Tau system. The on-source
and extended H_2 are both pumped by H I Lyman alpha. The on-source H_2 is
pumped by the red wing of a broad, self-absorbed Ly-alpha line, while the
progressions seen in the extended gas are pumped from near line center. This
suggests that the extended H_2 is pumped locally, and not by the stellar
Ly-alpha line. The H_2 to the north and west coincides with the evacuated
cavity bounded by the optical reflection nebulosity; to the south the extended
H_2 coincides with the HH 255 outflow from the embedded infrared companion T
Tau S. The spatial profile of the extended gas shows a prominent dip coincident
with the position of T Tau S. This may be absorption by a disk associated with
T Tau S. There is no evidence for absorption by a disk surrounding T Tau N
large enough to obscure T Tau S.


  We investigate systems of degenerate parabolic equations idealizing reactive
solute transport in porous media. Taking advantage of the inherent structure of
the system that allows to deduce a scalar Generalized Porous Medium Equation
for the sum of the solute concentrations, we show existence of a unique weak
solution to the coupled system and derive regularity estimates. We also prove
that the system supports solutions propagating with finite speed thus giving
rise to free boundaries and interaction of compactly supported initial
concentrations of different species.


  Stabilizing autonomous linear time delay systems, particularly when
addressing an unlimited number of pointwise and distributed delays (DDs) under
dissipative constraints, poses a significant challenge. Existing solutions are
often hindered by theoretical limitations, numerical obstacles, or an inability
to address the complexities of the delay integral kernels. In this paper, we
propose a unified framework to tackle the above problem by employing the
concept of the Kronecker-Seuret decomposition (KSD) for matrix-valued
functions, which we recently have developed for the analysis of complex delay
structures in coordination with the Krasovski\u{\i} functional approach. Our
strategy can simultaneously address two distinct control problems, where the
matrix kernels of DDs can contain an unlimited number of square-integrable
functions. We show in detail how the KSD can factorize and approximate
different kernel functions simultaneously without introducing conservatism.
Furthermore, the use of KSD also enables us to construct complete-type
functionals, whose integral kernels can include any number of weakly
differentiable and linearly independent functions, underpinned by the
utilization of novel integral inequalities derived from the least-squares
principle. The solution to each synthesis problem comprises two theorems
accompanied by an iterative algorithm, which can be utilized as a single
package to compute controller gains, thus eliminating the need for nonlinear
solvers. We present the testing results of two challenging examples, which
could not be addressed by existing methods, to demonstrate the effectiveness of
our methodology. Additionally, the paper reviews recent advancements in the
research of time-delay systems, providing a valuable reference for both
emerging and established researchers.


  For a positive integer $n$ and a real number $\alpha$, the generalized
Laguerre polynomials are defined by \begin{align*}
L^{(\alpha)}_n(x)=\sum^n_{j=0}\frac{(n+\alpha)(n-1+\alpha)\cdots
(j+1+\alpha)(-x)^j}{j!(n-j)!}. \end{align*} These orthogonal polynomials are
solutions to Laguerre's Differential Equation which arises in the treatment of
the harmonic oscillator in quantum mechanics. Schur studied these Laguerre
polynomials for its interesting algebraic properties. He obtained
irreducibility results of $L^{(\pm \frac{1}{2})}_n(x)$ and $L^{(\pm
\frac{1}{2})}_n(x^2)$ and derived that the Hermite polynomials $H_{2n}(x)$ and
$\frac{H_{2n+1}(x)}{x}$ are irreducible for each $n$. In this article, we
extend Schur's result by showing that the family of Laguerre polynomials
$L^{(q)}_n(x)$ and $L^{(q)}_n(x^d)$ with $q\in \{\pm \frac{1}{3}, \pm
\frac{2}{3}, \pm \frac{1}{4}, \pm \frac{3}{4}\}$, where $d$ is the denominator
of $q$, are irreducible for every $n$ except when $q=\frac{1}{4}, n=2$ where we
give the complete factorization. In fact, we derive it from a more general
result.


  We have argued that magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in an accretion disk
naturally produces hoop-stresses, and that in a geometrically-thick flow these
stresses could both drive and collimate an outflow. We based this argument on
an analogy of turbulent MHD fluids to viscoelastic fluids, in which azimuthal
shear flow creates hoop-stresses that cause a variety of flow phenomena,
including the Weissenberg effect in which a fluid climbs a spinning rod. One of
the more important differences between the Weissenberg effect and astrophysical
jets is the source of power. In our previous analysis, we only considered the
power due to the spin-down torque on the central object, and thus found that we
could only drive an outflow if the central object were maximally rotating. Here
we take into account the energy that is liberated by the accreting matter, and
describe a scenario in which this energy couples to the outflow to create a
thermodynamic engine.


  Evidence that the Universe may be close to the critical density, required for
its expansion eventually to be halted, comes principally from dynamical studies
of large-scale structure. These studies either use the observed peculiar
velocity field of galaxies directly, or indirectly by quantifying its
anisotropic effect on galaxy clustering in redshift surveys. A potential
difficulty with both such approaches is that the density parameter $\Omega_0$
is obtained only in the combination $\beta = \Omega_0^{0.6}/b$, if linear
perturbation theory is used. The determination of the density parameter
$\Omega_0$ is therefore compromised by the lack of a good measurement of the
bias parameter $b$, which relates the clustering of sample galaxies to the
clustering of mass.
  In this paper, we develop an idea of Fry (1994), using second-order
perturbation theory to investigate how to measure the bias parameter on large
scales. The use of higher-order statistics allows the degeneracy between $b$
and $\Omega_0$ to be lifted, and an unambiguous determination of $\Omega_0$
then becomes possible. We apply a likelihood approach to the bispectrum, the
three-point function in Fourier space. This paper is the first step in turning
the idea into a practical proposition for redshift surveys, and is principally
concerned with noise properties of the bispectrum, which are non-trivial. The
calculation of the required bispectrum covariances involves the six-point
function, including many noise terms, for which we have developed a generating
functional approach which will be of value in calculating high-order statistics
in general.


  We review the distance modulus in twelve different cosmologies: the
$\Lambda$CDM model, the wCDM model, the Cardassian model, the flat case, the
$\phi$CDM cosmology, the Einstein--De Sitter model, the modified Einstein--De
Sitter model, the simple~GR model, the flat expanding model, the Milne model,
the plasma model and the modified tired light model. The above distance moduli
are processed for three different compilations of supernovae and a supernovae +
GRBs compilation: Union 2.1, JLA, the Pantheon and Union 2.1 + 59 GRBs. For
each of the 48 analysed cases we report the relative cosmological parameters,
the chi-square, the reduced chi-square, the AIC and the $Q$ parameter. The
angular distance as function of the redshift for five cosmologies is reported
in the framework of the minimax approximation.


  Rapid robotic system development sets a demand for multi-disciplinary methods
and tools to explore and compare design alternatives. In this paper, we present
collaborative modeling that combines discrete-event models of controller
software with continuous-time models of physical robot components. The
presented co-modeling method utilized VDM for discrete-event and 20-sim for
continuous-time modeling. The collaborative modeling method is illustrated with
a concrete example of collaborative model development of a mobile robot animal
feeding system. Simulations are used to evaluate the robot model output
response in relation to operational demands. The result of the simulations
provides the developers with an overview of the impacts of each solution
instance in the chosen design space. Based on the solution overview the
developers can select candidates that are deemed viable to be deployed and
tested on an actual physical robot.


  We compute the transverse momentum dependent (TMD) soft function for the
production of a color-neutral final state at the LHC within the rapidity
renormalization group (RRG) framework to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO).
We use this result to extract the universal renormalized TMD beam functions
(aka TMDPDFs) in the same scheme and at the same order from known results in
another scheme. We derive recurrence relations for the logarithmic structure of
the soft and beam functions, which we use to cross check our calculation. We
also explicitly confirm the non-Abelian exponentiation of the TMD soft function
in the RRG framework at two loops. Our results provide the ingredients for
resummed predictions of pT-differential cross sections at NNLL' in the RRG
formalism. The RRG provides a systematic framework to resum large (rapidity)
logarithms through (R)RG evolution and to assess the associated perturbative
uncertainties.


  We consider the spin-1/2 antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model on two
one-dimensional frustrated lattices, double-tetrahedral chain and octahedral
chain, with almost dispersionless (flat) lowest magnon band in a strong
magnetic field. Using the localized magnons picture, we construct an effective
description of the one-dimensional chains with triangle and square traps within
the strong coupling approximation. We perform extensive exact diagonalization
and density matrix renormalization group calculations to check the validity of
the obtained effective Hamiltonians by comparison with the initial models with
special focus on the magnetization and specific heat at high magnetic fields.


  Let $\Bbbk$ be a field of characteristic zero and $G$ be a finite group of
automorphisms of projective plane over $\Bbbk$. Castelnuovo's criterion implies
that the quotient of projective plane by $G$ is rational if the field $\Bbbk$
is algebraically closed. In this paper we prove that $\mathbb{P}^2_{\Bbbk} / G$
is rational for an arbitrary field $\Bbbk$ of characteristic zero.


  The maximal information coefficient (MIC), which measures the amount of
dependence between two variables, is able to detect both linear and non-linear
associations. However, computational cost grows rapidly as a function of the
dataset size. In this paper, we develop a computationally efficient
approximation to the MIC that replaces its dynamic programming step with a much
simpler technique based on the uniform partitioning of data grid. A variety of
experiments demonstrate the quality of our approximation.


  We construct quasi-periodic solutions to the lattice nonlinear random
Schroedinger equation on a set of potentials of positive measure via using a
Lyapunov-Schmidt decomposition and a multiscale Newton scheme.


  In a globally hyperbolic spacetime any pair of chronologically related events
admits a connecting geodesic. We present two theorems which prove that, more
generally, under weak assumptions, given a charge-to-mass ratio there is always
a connecting solution of the Lorentz force equation having that ratio. A
geometrical interpretation of the charged-particle action is given which shows
that the constructed solutions are maximizing.


  Hearing is often believed to be more sensitive than touch. This assertion is
based on a comparison of sensitivities to weak stimuli. The respective stimuli,
however, are not easily comparable since hearing is gauged using acoustic
pressure and touch using skin displacement. We show that under reasonable
assumptions the auditory and tactile detection thresholds can be reconciled on
a level playing field. The results indicate that the capacity of touch and
hearing to detect weak stimuli varies according to the size of a sensed object
as well as to the frequency of its oscillations. In particular, touch is found
to be more effective than hearing at detecting small and slow objects.


  It is becoming increasingly popular to elicit informative priors on the basis
of historical data. Popular existing priors, including the power prior,
commensurate prior, and robust meta-analytic prior provide blanket discounting.
Thus, if only a subset of participants in the historical data are exchangeable
with the current data, these priors may not be appropriate. In order to combat
this issue, propensity score (PS) approaches have been proposed. However, PS
approaches are only concerned with the covariate distribution, whereas
exchangeability is typically assessed with parameters pertaining to the
outcome. In this paper, we introduce the latent exchangeability prior (LEAP),
where observations in the historical data are classified into exchangeable and
non-exchangeable groups. The LEAP discounts the historical data by identifying
the most relevant subjects from the historical data. We compare our proposed
approach against alternative approaches in simulations and present a case study
using our proposed prior to augment a control arm in a phase 3 clinical trial
in plaque psoriasis with an unbalanced randomization scheme.


  The Fr\'echet Inception Distance (FID) has been used to evaluate hundreds of
generative models. We introduce FastFID, which can efficiently train generative
models with FID as a loss function. Using FID as an additional loss for
Generative Adversarial Networks improves their FID.


  The Snowmass Community Survey was designed by the Snowmass Early Career (SEC)
Survey Core Initiative team between April 2020 and June 2021, and released to
the community on June 28, 2021. It aims to be a comprehensive assessment of the
state of the high-energy particle and astrophysics (HEPA) community, if not the
field, though the Snowmass process is largely based within the United States.
Among other topics, some of the central foci of the Survey were to gather
demographic, career, physics outlook, and workplace culture data on a large
segment of the Snowmass community. With nearly $1500$ total interactions with
the Survey, the SEC Survey team hopes the findings and discussions within this
report will be of service to the community over the next decade. Some
conclusions should reinforce the aspects of HEPA which are already functional
and productive, while others should strengthen arguments for cultural and
policy changes within the field.


  We study theoretically interspecies Cooper pairing in a fermionic system with
SU(2)xSU(6) sym- metry. We show that, with suitable unitary transformations,
the order parameter for the ground state can be reduced to only two
non-vanishing complex components. The ground state has a large degeneracy. We
find that while some Goldstone modes have linear dispersions, others are
quadratic at low frequencies. We compare our results with the case of SU(N).


  The population of binary black hole mergers identified through gravitational
waves has uncovered unexpected features in the intrinsic properties of black
holes in the universe. One particularly surprising and exciting result is the
possible existence of black holes in the pair-instability mass gap,
$\sim50-120~M_\odot$. Dense stellar environments can populate this region of
mass space through hierarchical mergers, with the retention efficiency of black
hole merger products strongly dependent on the escape velocity of the host
environment. We use simple toy models to represent hierarchical merger
scenarios in various dynamical environments. We find that hierarchical mergers
in environments with high escape velocities $(\gtrsim300~\mathrm{km\,s}^{-1})$
are efficiently retained. If such environments dominate the binary black hole
merger rate, this would lead to an abundance of high-mass mergers that is
potentially incompatible with the empirical mass spectrum from the current
catalog of binary black hole mergers. Models that efficiently generate
hierarchical mergers, and contribute significantly to the observed population,
must therefore be tuned to avoid a "cluster catastrophe" of overproducing
binary black hole mergers within and above the pair-instability mass gap.


  We present a mathematically rigorous method for solving three-atomic bound
state and scattering problems. The method is well suited for applications in
systems where the inter-atomic interaction is of a hard-core nature. It has
been employed to obtain the ground- and excited-state energies for the Helium
trimer and to calculate, for the first time, the scattering phase shifts and
wave-functions for the He atom-He dimer at ultra-low energies.


  We study lifetimes of heavy mesons in the 't Hooft model, a large-$N_c$
theory of strong interaction in two-dimensional spacetime. Since this model is
solvable, one can evaluate the total decay widths through hadronic amplitudes
that are determined unambiguously within the formalism. We investigate
quark-hadron duality by numerically comparing the exclusive result and one from
the heavy quark expansion, with the contribution of Pauli interference being
consistently incorporated. Within certain numerical accuracy, we find that the
maximal difference between inclusive and exclusive rates for
$\tau[D^+_s]/\tau[D^0]$ $(\tau[B^+]/\tau[B^0])$ is as large as the current
experimental (theoretical) error in four-dimensions, except for
$\tau[D^+]/\tau[D^0]$, where an excellent agreement between the rates is seen.


  We show that if $E$ is an arbitrary acyclic graph then the Leavitt path
algebra $L_K(E)$ is locally $K$-matricial; that is, $L_K(E)$ is the direct
union of subalgebras, each isomorphic to a finite direct sum of finite matrix
rings over the field $K$. As a consequence we get our main result, in which we
show that the following conditions are equivalent for an arbitrary graph $E$:
(1) $L_K(E)$ is von Neumann regular. (2) $L_K(E)$ is $\pi$-regular. (3) $E$ is
acyclic. (4) $L_K(E)$ is locally $K$-matricial. (5) $L_K(E)$ is strongly
$\pi$-regular. We conclude by showing how additional regularity conditions
(unit regularity, strongly clean) can be appended to this list of equivalent
conditions.


  For population systems modeled by age-structured hyperbolic partial
differential equations (PDEs) that are bilinear in the input and evolve with a
positive-valued infinite-dimensional state, global stabilization of constant
yield set points was achieved in prior work. Seasonal demands in
biotechnological production processes give rise to time-varying yield
references. For the proposed control objective aiming at a global attractivity
of desired yield trajectories, multiple non-standard features have to be
considered: a non-local boundary condition, a PDE state restricted to the
positive orthant of the function space and arbitrary restrictive but physically
meaningful input constraints. Moreover, we provide Control Lyapunov Functionals
ensuring an exponentially fast attraction of adequate reference trajectories.
To achieve this goal, we make use of the relation between first-order
hyperbolic PDEs and integral delay equations leading to a decoupling of the
input-dependent dynamics and the infinite-dimensional internal one.
Furthermore, the dynamic control structure does not necessitate exact knowledge
of the model parameters or online measurements of the age-profile. With a
Galerkin-based numerical simulation scheme using the key ideas of the
Karhunen-Lo\`eve-decomposition, we demonstrate the controller's performance.


  We study how different types of quantum correlations can be established as
the consequence of a generalized entanglement swapping protocol where starting
from two Bell pairs (1, 2) and (3, 4), a general quantum measurement (denoted
by a positive operator-valued measure or POVM) is performed on the pair (2, 3),
which results in creating quantum correlation in (1, 4) shared between two
spatially separated observers. Contingent upon using different kinds of POVMs,
we show generation or destruction of different quantum correlations in the
pairs (1, 4), (1, 2) and (3, 4). This thus reflects non-trivial transfer of
quantum correlations from the pairs (1, 2) and (3, 4) to the pair (1, 4). As an
offshoot, this study provides an operational tool to generate different types
of single parameter families of quantum correlated states (for example,
entangled but not EPR steerable, or EPR steerable but not Bell nonlocal, or
Bell nonlocal) by choosing different quantum measurements in the basic
entanglement swapping setup. We further extend our study by taking mixed
initial states shared by the pairs (1,2) and (3,4). Finally, we study network
nonlocality in our scenario. Here, we find out appropriate POVM measurement for
which the generated correlation demonstrates/does not demonstrate network
nonlocality for the whole range of the measurement parameter.


  We review recent simulation studies of interfaces between immiscible
homopolymer phases. Special emphasis is given to the presentation of efficient
simulation techniques and powerful methods of data analysis, such as the
analysis of capillary wave spectra. Possible reasons for polymer
incompatibility and ways to relate model dependent interaction parameters to an
effective Flory Huggins parameter are discussed. Various interfaces are then
considered and characterised with respect to their microscopic structure and
thermodynamic properties. In particular, interfaces between homopolymers of
equal or disparate stiffness are studied, interfaces containing diblock
copolymers, and interfaces confined in thin films. The results are related to
the phase behaviour of ternary homopolymer/copolymer systems, and to wetting
transitions in thin films.


  Text summarization has been intensively studied in many languages, and some
languages have reached advanced stages. Yet, Arabic Text Summarization (ATS) is
still in its developing stages. Existing ATS datasets are either small or lack
diversity. We build, LANS, a large-scale and diverse dataset for Arabic Text
Summarization task. LANS offers 8.4 million articles and their summaries
extracted from newspapers websites metadata between 1999 and 2019. The
high-quality and diverse summaries are written by journalists from 22 major
Arab newspapers, and include an eclectic mix of at least more than 7 topics
from each source. We conduct an intrinsic evaluation on LANS by both automatic
and human evaluations. Human evaluation of 1000 random samples reports 95.4%
accuracy for our collected summaries, and automatic evaluation quantifies the
diversity and abstractness of the summaries. The dataset is publicly available
upon request.


  In this paper we develop a new approach for studying overlapping iterated
function systems. This approach is inspired by a famous result due to
Khintchine from Diophantine approximation. This result shows that for a family
of limsup sets, their Lebesgue measure is determined by the convergence or
divergence of naturally occurring volume sums. For many parameterised families
of overlapping iterated function systems, we prove that a typical member will
exhibit similar Khintchine like behaviour. Families of iterated function
systems our results apply to include those arising from Bernoulli convolutions,
the $\{0,1,3\}$ problem, and affine contractions with varying translation
parameter. As a by-product of our analysis we obtain new proofs of well known
results due to Solomyak on the absolute continuity of Bernoulli convolutions,
and when the attractor in the $\{0,1,3\}$ problem has positive Lebesgue
measure.
  For each $t\in [0,1]$ we let $\Phi_t$ be the iterated function system given
by
$$\Phi_{t}:=\Big\{\phi_1(x)=\frac{x}{2},\phi_2(x)=\frac{x+1}{2},\phi_3(x)=\frac{x+t}{2},\phi_{4}(x)=\frac{x+1+t}{2}\Big\}.$$
We include a detailed study of this family. We prove that either $\Phi_t$
contains an exact overlap, or we observe Khintchine like behaviour. Our
analysis of this family shows that by studying the metric properties of limsup
sets, we can distinguish between the overlapping behaviour of iterated function
systems in a way that is not available to us by simply studying properties of
self-similar measures.
  Last of all, we introduce a property of an iterated function system that we
call being consistently separated with respect to a measure. We prove that this
property implies that the pushforward of the measure is absolutely continuous.
We include several explicit examples of consistently separated iterated
function systems.


  Assuming Majorana nature of neutrinos, a general expression for the charged
lepton corrections to scaling neutrino mixing has been obtained in the context
of three flavor neutrino oscillations. Non-zero value of the reactor mixing
angle is nicely accommodated. It is noted that scaling in the effective
neutrino mass matrix is equivalent to the presence of two vanishing minors
corresponding to first row elements of the effective neutrino mass matrix. A
value of reactor mixing angle which is fairly close to the currently measured
best fit is predicted for charged lepton corrections of the order of the
Cabbibo angle. We, also, present symmetry realization of such texture
structures in the framework of type-I seesaw mechanism with non-diagonal
charged lepton mass matrix using discrete Abelian flavor symmetry.


  The Spectrometer/Telescope for Imaging X-rays (STIX) will look at solar
flares across the hard X-ray window provided by the Solar Orbiter cluster.
Similarly to the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (RHESSI),
STIX is a visibility-based imaging instrument, which will ask for Fourier-based
image reconstruction methods. However, in this paper we show that, as for
RHESSI, also for STIX count-based imaging is possible. Specifically, here we
introduce and illustrate a mathematical model that mimics the STIX data
formation process as a projection from the incoming photon flux into a vector
made of 120 count components. Then we test the reliability of Expectation
Maximization for image reconstruction in the case of several simulated
configurations typical of flare morphology.


  Coherent control of a system involves steering an interaction to a final
coherent state by controlling the phase of an applied field. Plasmas support
coherent wave structures that can be generated by intense laser fields. Here,
we demonstrate the coherent control of plasma dynamics in a laser wakefield
electron acceleration experiment. A genetic algorithm is implemented using a
deformable mirror with the electron beam signal as feedback, which allows a
heuristic search for the optimal wavefront under laser-plasma conditions that
is not known a priori. We are able to improve both the electron beam charge and
angular distribution by an order of magnitude. These improvements do not simply
correlate with having the `best' focal spot, since the highest quality vacuum
focal spot produces a greatly inferior electron beam, but instead correspond to
the particular laser phase that steers the plasma wave to a final state with
optimal accelerating fields.


  Let $G$ be a nonabelian finite group and let $d$ be an irreducible character
degree of $G$. Then there is a positive integer $e$ so that $|G| = d(d+e)$.
Snyder has shown that if $e > 1$, then $|G|$ is bounded by a function of $e$.
This bound has been improved by Isaacs and by Durfee and Jensen. In this paper,
we will show for groups that have a nontrivial, abelian normal subgroup that
$|G| \le e^4 - e^3$. We use this to prove that $|G| < e^4 + e^3$ for all
groups. Given that there are a number of solvable groups that meet the first
bound, it is best possible. Our work makes use of results regarding Camina
pairs, Gagola characters, and Suzuki 2-groups.


  In a planetary system, a secular particle resonance occurs at a location
where the precession rate of a test particle (e.g. an asteroid) matches the
frequency of one of the precessional modes of the planetary system. We
investigate the secular interactions of a system of mutually inclined planets
with a gaseous protostellar disk that may contain a secular nodal particle
resonance. We determine the normal modes of some mutually inclined planet-disk
systems. The planets and disk interact gravitationally, and the disk is
internally subject to the effects of gas pressure, self-gravity, and turbulent
viscosity. The behavior of the disk at a secular resonance is radically
different from that of a particle, owing mainly to the effects of gas pressure.
The resonance is typically broadened by gas pressure to the extent that global
effects, including large-scale warps, dominate. The standard resonant torque
formula is invalid in this regime. Secular interactions cause a decay of the
inclination at a rate that depends on the disk properties, including its mass,
turbulent viscosity, and sound speed. For a Jupiter-mass planet embedded within
a minimum-mass solar nebula having typical parameters, dissipation within the
disk is sufficient to stabilize the system against tilt growth caused by
mean-motion resonances.


  In this paper the effect of the chemical pressure induced by the Sr
replacement for Ca in the La1.4Sr1.6Mn2O7 lattice is directly probed by means
of neutron diffraction as a function of temperature. The results show a
progressive change of the magnetic coupling from ferromagnetic to
antiferromagnetic by increasing the Ca content,. indicating that the orbital
order of the Mn ions is affected in the same way by the application of an
external pressure and by the chemical pressure.


  We present a new technique that employs partial differential equations in
order to explicitly construct primitives in the continuous bounded cohomology
of Lie groups. As an application, we prove a vanishing theorem for the
continuous bounded cohomology of SL(2, R) in degree four, establishing a
special case of a conjecture of Monod.


  Imaging faint companions (exoplanets and brown dwarfs) around nearby stars is
currently limited by speckle noise. To efficiently attenuate this noise, a
technique called simultaneous spectral differential imaging (SSDI) can be used.
This technique consists of acquiring simultaneously images of the field of view
in several adjacent narrow bands and in combining these images to suppress
speckles. Simulations predict that SSDI can achieve, with the acquisition of
three wavelengths, speckle noise attenuation of several thousands. These
simulations are usually performed using the Fraunhofer approximation, i.e.
considering that all aberrations are located in the pupil plane. We have
performed wavefront propagation simulations to evaluate how out-of-pupil-plane
aberrations affect SSDI speckle noise attenuation performance. The Talbot
formalism is used to give a physical insight of the problem; results are
confirmed using a proper wavefront propagation algorithm. We will show that
near-focal-plane aberrations can significantly reduce SSDI speckle noise
attenuation performance at several lambda/D separation. It is also shown that
the Talbot effect correctly predicts the PSF chromaticity. Both differential
atmospheric refraction effects and the use of a coronagraph will be discussed.


  PLACES 2015 (full title: Programming Language Approaches to Concurrency- and
Communication-Centric Software) is the eighth edition of the PLACES workshop
series. After the first PLACES, which was affiliated to DisCoTec in 2008, the
workshop has been part of ETAPS every year since 2009 and is now an established
part of the ETAPS satellite events. PLACES 2015 was held on 18th April in
London, UK.
  The workshop series was started in order to promote the application of novel
programming language ideas to the increasingly important problem of developing
software for systems in which concurrency and communication are intrinsic
aspects. This includes software for both multi-core systems and large-scale
distributed and/or service-oriented systems. The scope of PLACES includes new
programming language features, whole new programming language designs, new type
systems, new semantic approaches, new program analysis techniques, and new
implementation mechanisms.
  This volume consists of revised versions of the papers that were presented at
the workshop.


  While electronic health records (EHRs) are widely used across various
applications in healthcare, most applications use the EHRs in their raw
(tabular) format. Relying on raw or simple data pre-processing can greatly
limit the performance or even applicability of downstream tasks using EHRs. To
address this challenge, we present HealthGAT, a novel graph attention network
framework that utilizes a hierarchical approach to generate embeddings from
EHR, surpassing traditional graph-based methods. Our model iteratively refines
the embeddings for medical codes, resulting in improved EHR data analysis. We
also introduce customized EHR-centric auxiliary pre-training tasks to leverage
the rich medical knowledge embedded within the data. This approach provides a
comprehensive analysis of complex medical relationships and offers significant
advancement over standard data representation techniques. HealthGAT has
demonstrated its effectiveness in various healthcare scenarios through
comprehensive evaluations against established methodologies. Specifically, our
model shows outstanding performance in node classification and downstream tasks
such as predicting readmissions and diagnosis classifications.
  Our code is available at https://github.com/healthylaife/HealthGAT


  Existing image inpainting methods have achieved remarkable accomplishments in
generating visually appealing results, often accompanied by a trend toward
creating more intricate structural textures. However, while these models excel
at creating more realistic image content, they often leave noticeable traces of
tampering, posing a significant threat to security. In this work, we take the
anti-forensic capabilities into consideration, firstly proposing an end-to-end
training framework for anti-forensic image inpainting named SafePaint.
Specifically, we innovatively formulated image inpainting as two major tasks:
semantically plausible content completion and region-wise optimization. The
former is similar to current inpainting methods that aim to restore the missing
regions of corrupted images. The latter, through domain adaptation, endeavors
to reconcile the discrepancies between the inpainted region and the unaltered
area to achieve anti-forensic goals. Through comprehensive theoretical
analysis, we validate the effectiveness of domain adaptation for anti-forensic
performance. Furthermore, we meticulously crafted a region-wise separated
attention (RWSA) module, which not only aligns with our objective of
anti-forensics but also enhances the performance of the model. Extensive
qualitative and quantitative evaluations show our approach achieves comparable
results to existing image inpainting methods while offering anti-forensic
capabilities not available in other methods.


  Context. Determining the mass transfer in a close binary system is of prime
importance for understanding its evolution. SS Leporis, a symbiotic star
showing the Algol paradox and presenting clear evidence of ongoing mass
transfer, in which the donor has been thought to fill its Roche lobe, is a
target particularly suited to this kind of study. Aims. Since previous
spectroscopic and interferometric observations have not been able to fully
constrain the system morphology and characteristics, we go one step further to
determine its orbital parameters, for which we need new interferometric
observations directly probing the inner parts of the system with a much higher
number of spatial frequencies. Methods. We use data obtained at eight different
epochs with the VLTI instruments AMBER and PIONIER in the H- and K-bands. We
performed aperture synthesis imaging to obtain the first model-independent view
of this system. We then modelled it as a binary (whose giant is spatially
resolved) that is surrounded by a circumbinary disc. Results. Combining these
interferometric measurements with previous radial velocities, we fully
constrain the orbit of the system. We then determine the mass of each star and
significantly revise the mass ratio. The M giant also appears to be almost
twice smaller than previously thought. Additionally, the low spectral
resolution of the data allows the flux of both stars and of the dusty disc to
be determined along the H and K bands, and thereby extracting their
temperatures. Conclusions. We find that the M giant actually does not stricto
sensus fill its Roche lobe. The mass transfer is more likely to occur through
the accretion of an important part of the giant wind. We finally rise the
possibility for an enhanced mass loss from the giant, and we show that an
accretion disc should have formed around the A star.


  This paper focuses on safety performance testing and characterization of
black-box highly automated vehicles (HAV). Existing testing approaches
typically obtain the testing outcomes by deploying the HAV into a specific
testing environment. Such a testing environment can involve various passively
given testing strategies presented by other traffic participants such as (i)
the naturalistic driving policy learned from human drivers, (ii) extracted
concrete scenarios from real-world driving data, and (iii) model-based or
data-driven adversarial testing methodologies focusing on forcing
safety-critical events. The safety performance of HAV is further characterized
by analyzing the obtained testing outcomes with a particular selected measure,
such as the observed collision risk. The aforementioned testing practices
suffer from the scarcity of safety-critical events, have limited operational
design domain (ODD) coverage, or are biased toward long-tail unsafe cases. This
paper presents a novel and informative testing strategy that differs from these
existing practices. The proposal is inspired by the intuition that a relatively
safer HAV driving policy would allow the traffic vehicles to exhibit a higher
level of aggressiveness to achieve a certain fixed level of an overall safe
outcome. One can specifically characterize such a HAV and traffic interactive
strategy and use it as a safety performance indicator for the HAV. Under the
proposed testing scheme, the HAV is evaluated under its full ODD with a reward
function that represents a trade-off between safety and adversity in generating
safety-critical events. The proposed methodology is demonstrated in simulation
with various HAV designs under different operational design domains.


  We have noted that the electron spectrum of muon decay in the leading
logarithmic approximation calculated in two lowest orders of the perturbation
theory in the paper of Berman (1958), can be reproduced by the parton language.
This fact permits one to generalize the result to all orders of the
perturbation theory using the structure function method.


  While halogenation of graphene presents a fascinating avenue to the
construction of a chemically and physically diverse class of systems, their
application in photovoltaics has been hindered by often prohibitively large
optical gaps. Herein we study the effects of partial bromination and
chlorination on the structure and optoelectronic properties of both graphane
and fluorographene. We find brominated and chlorinated fluorographene
derivatives to be as stable as graphane making them likely to be durable even
at elevated temperatures. A detailed investigation of the systems band
structure reveals significant 1D localization of the charge carriers as well as
strongly electron-hole asymmetric effective masses. Lastly using $G_0W_0$ and
BSE, we investigate the optical adsorption spectra of the aforementioned
materials whose first adsorption peak is shown to lie close to the optimal peak
position for photovoltaic applications ($\approx 1.5$ eV).


  We calculate direct gaugino pair production at hadron colliders at
next-to-leading order of perturbative QCD, resumming simultaneously large
logarithms in the small transverse-momentum and threshold regions to
next-to-leading logarithmic accuracy. Numerical predictions are presented for
transverse momentum and invariant mass spectra as well as for total cross
sections and compared to results obtained at fixed order and with pure
transverse-momentum and threshold resummation. We find that our new results are
in general in good agreement with the previous ones, but often even more
precise.


  The history of research in finance and economics has been widely impacted by
the field of Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE). While at the same time
being popular among natural science researchers for its proximity to the
successful methods of physics and chemistry for example, the field of ACE has
also received critics by a part of the social science community for its lack of
empiricism. Yet recent trends have shifted the weights of these general
arguments and potentially given ACE a whole new range of realism. At the base
of these trends are found two present-day major scientific breakthroughs: the
steady shift of psychology towards a hard science due to the advances of
neuropsychology, and the progress of artificial intelligence and more
specifically machine learning due to increasing computational power and big
data. These two have also found common fields of study in the form of
computational neuroscience, and human-computer interaction, among others. We
outline here the main lines of a computational research study of collective
economic behavior via Agent-Based Models (ABM) or Multi-Agent System (MAS),
where each agent would be endowed with specific cognitive and behavioral biases
known to the field of neuroeconomics, and at the same time autonomously
implement rational quantitative financial strategies updated by machine
learning. We postulate that such ABMs would offer a whole new range of realism.


  This article will be a continuation of our research into self-justifying
systems. It will introduce several new theorems and their applications. (One of
these results will transform our previous infinite-sized self-verifying
formalisms into tighter systems, with only a finite number of axioms.) It will
explain how self-justification is useful, even when the Incompleteness Theorem
limits its reach.


  In this paper, operator-valued bi-free distributions are investigated. Given
a subalgebra $D$ of a unital algebra $B$, it is established that a two-faced
family $Z$ is bi-free from $(B, B^{\mathrm{op}})$ over $D$ if and only if
certain conditions relating the $B$-valued and $D$-valued bi-free cumulants of
$Z$ are satisfied. Using this, we verify that a two-faced family of matrices is
$R$-cyclic if and only if they are bi-free from the scalar matrices over the
scalar diagonal matrices. Furthermore, the operator-valued bi-free partial
$R$-, $S$-, and $T$-transforms are constructed. New proofs of results from free
probability are developed in order to facilitate many of these bi-free results.


  The sup-norm problem in analytic number theory asks for the largest value
taken by a given automorphic form. We observe that the function-field version
of this problem can be reduced to the geometric problem of finding the largest
dimension of the $i$th stalk cohomology group of a given Hecke eigensheaf at
any point. This problem, in turn, can be reduced to the intersection-theoretic
problem of bounding the "polar multiplicities" of the characteristic cycle of
the Hecke eigensheaf, which in known cases is the nilpotent cone of the moduli
space of Higgs bundles. We solve this problem for newforms on $GL_2 (\mathbb
A_{\mathbb F_q(t)})$ of squarefree level, leading to bounds on the sup-norm
that are stronger than what is known in the analogous problem for newforms on
$GL_2(\mathbb A_{\mathbb Q})$ (i.e. classical holomorphic and Maass modular
forms.)


  With density functional theory, studied are the local magnetic moments in
Fe-Al alloys depending on concentration and Fe nearest environment. At zero
temperature, the system can be in different states: ferromagnetic,
antiferromagnetic and spin-spiral waves (SSW) which has a minimum energy. Both
SSW and negative moment of Fe atoms with many Al atoms around them agree with
experiments. Magnetization curves taken from literature are analysed.
Assumption on percolation character of size distribution of magnetic clusters
describes well the experimental superparamagnetic behaviour above 150 K.


  Computational social science studies often contextualize content analysis
within standard demographics. Since demographics are unavailable on many social
media platforms (e.g. Twitter) numerous studies have inferred demographics
automatically. Despite many studies presenting proof of concept inference of
race and ethnicity, training of practical systems remains elusive since there
are few annotated datasets. Existing datasets are small, inaccurate, or fail to
cover the four most common racial and ethnic groups in the United States. We
present a method to identify self-reports of race and ethnicity from Twitter
profile descriptions. Despite errors inherent in automated supervision, we
produce models with good performance when measured on gold standard self-report
survey data. The result is a reproducible method for creating large-scale
training resources for race and ethnicity.


  The weak phase \gamma can be determined using untagged B^0\to DK_S or B_s\to
D\phi, D\eta^{(')} decays. In the past, the small lifetime difference y\equiv
\Delta\Gamma/(2\Gamma) has been neglected in B^0, while the CP violating
parameter \epsilon\equiv 1-|q/p|^2 has been neglected in both B^0-\bar B^0 and
B_s-\bar B_s mixing. We estimate the effect of neglecting y and \epsilon. We
find that in D decays to flavor states this introduces a systematic error,
which is enhanced by a large ratio of Cabibbo-allowed to doubly
Cabibbo-suppressed D decay amplitudes.


  We show the existence and uniqueness as well as boundedness of weak solutions
to linear elliptic equations with $L^2$-drifts of negative divergence and
singular zero-order terms which are positive. Our main target is to show the
$L^r$-contraction properties of the unique weak solutions. Indeed, using the
Dirichlet form theory, we construct a sub-Markovian $C_0$-resolvent of
contractions and identify it to the weak solutions. Furthermore, we derive an
$L^1$-stability result through an extended version of the $L^1$-contraction
property.


  Motivated by the possibility of observing gravitational waves from merging
black holes whose spins are nearly extremal (i.e., 1 in dimensionless units),
we present numerical waveforms from simulations of merging black holes with the
highest spins simulated to date: (1) a 25.5-orbit inspiral, merger, and
ringdown of two holes with equal masses and spins of magnitude 0.97 aligned
with the orbital angular momentum; and (2) a previously reported 12.5-orbit
inspiral, merger, and ringdown of two holes with equal masses and spins of
magnitude 0.95 anti-aligned with the orbital angular momentum. First, we
consider the horizon mass and spin evolution of the new aligned-spin
simulation. During the inspiral, the horizon area and spin evolve in remarkably
close agreement with Alvi's analytic predictions, and the remnant hole's final
spin agrees reasonably well with several analytic predictions. We also find
that the total energy emitted by a real astrophysical system with these
parameters---almost all of which is radiated during the time included in this
simulation---would be 10.952% of the initial mass at infinite separation.
Second, we consider the gravitational waveforms for both simulations. After
estimating their uncertainties, we compare the waveforms to several
post-Newtonian approximants, finding significant disagreement well before
merger, although the phase of the TaylorT4 approximant happens to agree
remarkably well with the numerical prediction in the aligned-spin case. We find
that the post-Newtonian waveforms have sufficient uncertainty that hybridized
waveforms will require far longer numerical simulations (in the absence of
improved post-Newtonian waveforms) for accurate parameter estimation of
low-mass binary systems.


  Nuclear stellar cluster (NSCs) are known to exist around massive black holes
(MBHs) in galactic nuclei. They are thought to have formed through in-situ star
formation following gas inflow to the nucleus of the galaxy and/or through the
infall of multiple stellar clusters. Here we study the latter, and explore the
composite structure of the NSC, and its relation to the various stellar
populations originating from its progenitor infalling clusters. We use N-body
simulations of clusters infall, and show that this scenario may produce
observational signatures in the form of age segregation: the distribution of
the stellar properties (e.g. stellar age and/or metallicity) in the NSCs
reflect the infall history of the different clusters. The stellar populations
of clusters infalling at different times (dynamical ages), are differentially
segregated in the NSC, and are not fully mixed even after few Gyrs of
evolution. Moreover, the radial properties of stellar populations in the
progenitor cluster are mapped to their radial distribution in the final NSC,
potentially leading to efficient mass segregation in NSCs, even those where
relaxation times are longer than a Hubble time. Finally, the overall structures
of the stellar populations present non-spherical configurations and show
significant cluster to cluster population differences.


  We investigate in some detail a recently suggested general class of ensembles
of sparse undirected random graphs based on a hidden stub-coloring, with or
without the restriction to nondegenerate graphs. The calculability of local and
global structural properties of graphs from the resulting ensembles is
demonstrated. Cluster size statistics are derived with generating function
techniques, yielding a well-defined percolation threshold. Explicit rules are
derived for the enumeration of small subgraphs. Duality and redundancy is
discussed, and subclasses corresponding to commonly studied models are
identified.


  With the proliferation of various gaming technology, services, game styles,
and platforms, multi-dimensional aesthetic assessment of the gaming contents is
becoming more and more important for the gaming industry. Depending on the
diverse needs of diversified game players, game designers, graphical
developers, etc. in particular conditions, multi-modal aesthetic assessment is
required to consider different aesthetic dimensions/perspectives. Since there
are different underlying relationships between different aesthetic dimensions,
e.g., between the `Colorfulness' and `Color Harmony', it could be advantageous
to leverage effective information attached in multiple relevant dimensions. To
this end, we solve this problem via multi-task learning. Our inclination is to
seek and learn the correlations between different aesthetic relevant dimensions
to further boost the generalization performance in predicting all the aesthetic
dimensions. Therefore, the `bottleneck' of obtaining good predictions with
limited labeled data for one individual dimension could be unplugged by
harnessing complementary sources of other dimensions, i.e., augment the
training data indirectly by sharing training information across dimensions.
According to experimental results, the proposed model outperforms
state-of-the-art aesthetic metrics significantly in predicting four gaming
aesthetic dimensions.


  We demonstrate the influence of damping and field-like torques in the
magnon-photon coupling process by classically integrating the generalized
Landau-Lifshitz-Gilbert equation with RLC equation in which a phase correlation
between dynamic magnetization and microwave current through combined Amp\`ere
and Faraday effects are considered. We show that the gap between two hybridized
modes can be controlled in samples with damping parameter in the order of
$10^{-3}$ by changing the direction of the dc current density $J$ if a certain
threshold is reached. Our results suggest that an experimental realization of
the proposed magnon-photon coupling control mechanism is feasible in yttrium
iron garnet/Pt hybrid structures.


  Spin-transfer torque and spin Hall effects combined with their reciprocal
phenomena, spin-pumping and inverse spin Hall (ISHE) effects, enable the
reading and control of magnetic moments in spintronics. The direct observation
of these effects remains elusive in antiferromagnetic-based devices. We report
sub-terahertz spin-pumping at the interface of a uniaxial insulating
antiferromagnet MnF2 and platinum. The measured ISHE voltage arising from
spin-charge conversion in the platinum layer depends on the chirality of the
dynamical modes of the antiferromagnet, which is selectively excited and
modulated by the handedness of the circularly polarized sub-THz irradiation.
Our results open the door to the controlled generation of coherent pure spin
currents at THz frequencies.


  Topological photonics has revolutionized our understanding of light
propagation, but most of current studies are focused on designing a static
photonic structure. Developing a dynamic photonic topological platform to
switch multiple topological functionalities at ultrafast speed is still a great
challenge. Here we demonstrate an ultrafast reprogrammable plasmonic
topological insulator, where the topological propagation route can be
dynamically steered at nanosecond-level switching time, namely more than 10^7
times faster than the current state-of-the-art. This orders-of-magnitude
improvement is achieved by using ultrafast electronic switches in an innovative
way to implement the programmability. Due to the flexible programmability, many
existing photonic topological functionalities can be integrated into this agile
topological platform. Our work brings the current studies of photonic
topological insulators to a digital and intelligent era, which could boost the
development of intelligent and ultrafast photoelectric devices with built-in
topological protection.


  We perform the two loop level renormalization of quantum gravity in
$2+\epsilon$ dimensions. We work in the background gauge whose manifest
covariance enables us to use the short distance expansion of the Green's
functions. We explicitly show that the theory is renormalizable to the two loop
level in our formalism. We further make a physical prediction for the scaling
relation between the gravitational coupling constant and the cosmological
constant which is expected to hold at the short distance fixed point of the
renormalization group. It is found that the two loop level calculation is
necessary to determine the scaling exponent to the leading order in $\epsilon$.


  Using the Gaia data release 2 (DR2), we analyzed the distribution of stars in
the close vicinity of the Sun in the full 3D position-velocity space. We have
found no evidence of incomplete phase mixing in the vertical direction of the
disk, which could be originated by some external events. We show that the
vertical phase space spiral $Z$-$V_z$ is produced by the well-known moving
groups (MGs), mainly by Coma-Berenices, Pleiades-Hyades and Sirius, when the
statistical characteristics (mean, median, or mode) of the azimuthal velocity
$V_\varphi$ are used to analyze the distribution in the vertical
position-velocity plane. This result does not invoke external perturbations and
is independent on the internal dynamical mechanisms that originate the MGs. Our
conclusions counterbalance current arguments in favor of short-lived (between
300 and 900 Myr) structures in the solar neighborhood. Contrarily, they support
the hypothesis of a longer formation time scale (around a few Gyr) for the MGs.


  The two-dimensional hydrogen with a linear potential in a magnetic field is
solved by two different methods. Furthermore the connection between the model
and an anharmonic oscillator had been investigated by methods of KS
transformation.


  Previous studies aiming at the iron-abundance determination in three PG 1159
stars (K 1-16, PG 1159-035, NGC 7094) and a [WC]-PG 1159 transition star (Abell
78) have revealed that no object shows any iron line in the UV spectrum. The
stars are iron-deficient by at least 1 dex, typically. A possible explanation
is that iron nuclei were transformed by neutron captures into heavier elements
(s-process), however, the extent of the iron-destruction would be much stronger
than predicted by AGB star models. But if n-captures are the right explanation,
then we should observe an enrichment of trans-iron elements. In this paper we
report on our search for a possible nickel overabundance in one of the four Fe
deficient PG 1159 stars, namely the central star NGC 7094. We are unable to
identify any nickel line in HST and FUSE spectra and conclude that Ni is not
overabundant. It is conceivable that iron was transformed into even heavier
elements, but their identification suffers from the lack of atomic data.


  The constraints on baryogenesis models obtained from an observation of
neutrinoless double beta decay are discussed. The lepton number violating
processes, which can underlie neutrinoless double beta decay, would together
with sphaleron processes, which are effective in a wide range of energies, wash
out any primordial baryon asymmetry of the universe. Typically, if a mechanism
of neutrinoless double beta decay other than the standard light neutrino
exchange is observed, typical scenarios of high-scale baryogenesis will be
excluded. This can be achieved by different methods, e.g. through the
observation in multiple isotopes or the measurement of the decay distribution.
In addition, we will also highlight the connection with low energy lepton
flavour violation and lepton number violation at the LHC.


  The inner regions of active galaxies host the most extreme and energetic
phenomena in the universe including, relativistic jets, supermassive black hole
binaries, and recoiling supermassive black holes. However, many of these
sources cannot be resolved with direct observations. I review how strong
gravitational lensing can be used to elucidate the structures of these sources
from radio frequencies up to very high energy gamma rays. The deep
gravitational potentials surrounding galaxies act as natural gravitational
lenses. These gravitational lenses split background sources into multiple
images, each with a gravitationally-induced time delay. These time delays and
positions of lensed images depend on the source location, and thus, can be used
to infer the spatial origins of the emission. For example, using
gravitationally-induced time delays improves angular resolution of modern
gamma-ray instruments by six orders of magnitude, and provides evidence that
gamma-ray outbursts can be produced at even thousands of light years from a
supermassive black hole, and that the compact radio emission does not always
trace the position of the supermassive black hole. These findings provide
unique physical information about the central structure of active galaxies,
force us to revise our models of operating particle acceleration mechanisms,
and challenge our assumptions about the origin of compact radio emission.
Future surveys, including LSST, SKA, and Euclid, will provide observations for
hundreds of thousands of gravitationally lensed sources, which will allow us to
apply strong gravitational lensing to study the multi-wavelength structure for
large ensembles of sources. This large ensemble of gravitationally lensed
active galaxies will allow us to elucidate the physical origins of
multi-wavelength emissions, their connections to supermassive black holes, and
their cosmic evolution.


  The nearest neighbor rule is a classic yet essential classification model,
particularly in problems where the supervising information is given by pairwise
dissimilarities and the embedding function are not easily obtained. Prototype
selection provides means of generalization and improving efficiency of the
nearest neighbor model, but many existing methods assume and rely on the
analyses of the input vector space. In this paper, we explore a
dissimilarity-based, parametrized model of the nearest neighbor rule. In the
proposed model, the selection of the nearest prototypes is influenced by the
parameters of the respective prototypes. It provides a formulation for
minimizing the violation of the extended nearest neighbor rule over the
training set in a tractable form to exploit numerical techniques. We show that
the minimization problem reduces to a large-margin principle learning and
demonstrate its advantage by empirical comparisons with other prototype
selection methods.


  We establish several new $\Omega$-theorems for logarithmic derivatives of the
Riemann zeta function and Dirichlet $L$-functions. In particular, this improves
on earlier work of Landau (1911), Bohr-Landau (1913), and recent work of
Lamzouri.


  Programmable, intelligent surfaces can manipulate electromagnetic waves
impinging upon them, producing arbitrarily shaped reflection, refraction and
diffraction, to the benefit of wireless users. Moreover, in their recent form
of HyperSurfaces, they have acquired inter-networking capabilities, enabling
the Internet of Material Properties with immense potential in wireless
communications. However, as with any system with inputs and outputs, accurate
sensing of the impinging wave attributes is imperative for programming
HyperSurfaces to obtain a required response. Related solutions include field
nano-sensors embedded within HyperSurfaces to perform minute measurements over
the area of the HyperSurface, as well as external sensing systems. The present
work proposes a sensing system that can operate without such additional
hardware. The novel scheme programs the HyperSurface to perform compressed
sensing of the impinging wave via simple one-antenna power measurements. The
HyperSurface can jointly be programmed for both wave sensing and wave
manipulation duties at the same time. Evaluation via simulations validates the
concept and highlight its promising potential.


  Unlike other techniques of causality inference, the use of valid instrumental
variables can deal with unobserved sources of both variable errors, variable
omissions, and sampling bias, and still arrive at consistent estimates of
average treatment effects. The only problem is to find the valid instruments.
Using the definition of Pearl (2009) of valid instrumental variables, a formal
condition for validity can be stated for variables in generalized linear causal
models. The condition can be applied in two different ways: As a tool for
constructing valid instruments, or as a foundation for testing whether an
instrument is valid. When perfectly valid instruments are not found, the
squared bias of the IV-estimator induced by an imperfectly valid instrument --
estimated with bootstrapping -- can be added to its empirical variance in a
mean-square-error-like reliability measure.


  We consider the transport of a passive scalar $f\in\mathbb{R}$ along a
divergence-free velocity vector field $u\in\mathbb{R}^d$ on the infinite space
$\mathbb{R}^d$. We give a quantitative version of the DiPerna-Lions
well-posedness theory for Sobolev vector fields $u \in L_t^1W_x^{1,p}$ when
$1<p<\infty$ by giving a uniform decay rate of the DiPerna-Lions commutator. We
recover a slightly more general form of the known exponential bound on the
mixing rate by a Sobolev vector field $u \in L_t^1W_x^{1,p}$ when $1<p<\infty$.


  This paper is concerned with impulse approximate controllability for
stochastic evolution equations with impulse controls. As direct applications,
we formulate captivating minimal norm and time optimal control problems; The
minimal norm problem seeks to identify an optimal impulse control characterized
by the minimum norm among all feasible controls, guiding the system's solutions
from an initial state within a fixed time interval toward a predetermined
target while the minimal time problem is to find an optimal impulse control
(among certain control constraint set), which steers the solution of the
stochastic equation from a given initial state to a given target set as soon as
possible. These problems, to the best of our knowledge, are among the first to
discuss in the stochastic case.


  This work reports on the measured performance of an Aluminum Scandium Nitride
(AlScN) Two-Dimensional Resonant Rods resonator (2DRR), fabricated by using a
Sc-doping concentration of 24%, characterized by a low off-resonance impedance
(~25 Ohm) and exhibiting a record electromechanical coupling coefficient (kt2)
of 23.9% for AlScN resonators. In order to achieve such performance, we
identified and relied on optimized deposition and etching processes for
highly-doped AlScN films, aiming at achieving high crystalline quality, low
density of abnormally oriented grains in the 2DRR's active region and sharp
lateral sidewalls. Also, the 2DRR's unit-cell has been acoustically engineered
to maximize the piezo-generated mechanical energy within each rod and to ensure
a low transduction of spurious modes around resonance. Due to its unprecedented
kt2, the reported 2DRR opens exciting scenarios towards the development of next
generation monolithic integrated radio-frequency (RF) filtering components. In
fact, we show that 5th-order 2DRR-based ladder filters with fractional
bandwidths (BW) of ~11%, insertion-loss (I.L) values of ~2.5 dB and with >30 dB
out-of-band rejections can now be envisioned, paving an unprecedented path
towards the development of ultra-wide band (UWB) filters for next-generation
Super-High-Frequency (SHF) radio front-ends.


  We recently introduced new methods to study ultrarelativistic nuclear
scattering by providing a link between the string model approach and a thermal
description. The string model is used to provide information about fluctuations
in energy density. Regions of high energy density are considered to be quark
matter droplets and treated macroscopically. At SPS energies, we find mainly
medium size droplets --- with energies up to few tens of GeV. A key issue is
the microcanonical treatment of individual quark matter droplets. Each droplet
hadronizes instantaneously according to the available n-body phase space. Due
to the huge number of possible hadron configurations, special Monte Carlo
techniques have been developed to calculate this disintegration. We present
results concerning the production of strange particles from such a
hadronization as compared to string decay.


  High-energy, multi-component plasmas in which pair creation and annihilation,
lepton-lepton scattering, lepton-proton scattering, and Comptonization all
contribute to establishing the particle and photon distributions, are present
in a broad range of compact astrophysical objects. Earlier work has included
much of the microphysics needed to account for electron-photon and
electron-proton interactions, but little has been done to handle the
redistribution of the particles as a result of their Coulomb interaction with
themselves in an arbitrary case. Our goal here is to use a Fokker-Planck
approach in order to develop a fully self-consistent theory for the interaction
of arbitrarily distributed particles and radiation to arrive at an accurate
representation of the high-energy plasma in these sources. We conduct several
tests representative of two dominant segments of parameter space and discuss
physical implications of the non-Maxwellian distribution function. Approximate
analytical forms for the electron distribution in the case of strongly
non-Maxwellian plasmas are given.


  Black Hole Mass (M_BH) estimation in quasars, especially at high redshift,
involves use of single epoch spectra with s/n and resolution that permit
accurate measurement of the width of a broad line assumed to be a reliable
virial estimator. Coupled with an estimate of the radius of the broad line
region this yields M_BH. The radius of the broad line region (BLR) may be
inferred from an extrapolation of the correlation between source luminosity and
reverberation derived r_BLR measures (the so-called Kaspi relation involving
about 60 low z sources). We are exploring a different method for estimating
r_BLR directly from inferred physical conditions in the BLR of each source. We
report here on a comparison of r_BLR estimates that come from our method and
from reverberation mapping. Our "photoionization" method employs diagnostic
line intensity ratios in the rest-frame range 1400-2000 A
(AlIII1860/SiIII]1892, CIV1549/AlIII1860) that enable derivation of the product
of density and ionization parameter with the BLR distance derived from the
definition of the ionization parameter. We find good agreement between our
estimates of the density, ionization parameter and r_BLR and those from
reverberation mapping. We suggest empirical corrections to improve the
agreement between individual photoionization-derived r_BLR values and those
obtained from reverberation mapping. The results in this paper can be exploited
to estimate M_BH for large samples of high-z quasars using an appropriate
virial broadening estimator. We show that the width of the UV intermediate
emission lines are consistent with the width of H beta, therefore providing a
reliable virial broadening estimator that can be measured in large samples of
high-z quasars.


  We use powder x-ray diffraction to study the effect of pressure on the
crystal structure of the honeycomb rhodate Li$_2$RhO$_3$. We observe
low-pressure ($P$$<$$P_{c1}$ = 6.5 GPa) and high-pressure ($P$$>$$P_{c2}$ = 14
GPa) regions corresponding to the monoclinic $C2/m$ symmetry, while a phase
mixture is observed at intermediate pressures. At $P$$>$$P_{c2}$, the honeycomb
structure becomes distorted and features short Rh--Rh bonds forming zigzag
chains stretched along the crystallographic $a$ direction. This is in contrast
to dimerized patterns observed in triclinic high-pressure polymorphs of
$\alpha$-Li$_2$IrO$_3$ and $\alpha$-RuCl$_3$. Density-functional theory
calculations at various pressure conditions reveal that the observed rhodium
zigzag-chain pattern is not expected under hydrostatic pressure but can be
reproduced by assuming anisotropic pressure conditions.


  In this paper, we derive nonasymptotic theoretical bounds for the influence
in random graphs that depend on the spectral radius of a particular matrix,
called the Hazard matrix. We also show that these results are generic and valid
for a large class of random graphs displaying correlation at a local scale,
called the LPC random graphs. In particular, they lead to tight and novel
bounds in percolation, epidemiology and information cascades. The main result
of the paper states that the influence in the sub-critical regime for LPC
random graphs is at most of the order of $O(\sqrt{n})$ where $n$ is the size of
the network, and of $O(n^{2/3})$ in the critical regime, where the epidemic
thresholds are driven by the size of the spectral radius of the Hazard matrix
with respect to 1. As a corollary, it is also shown that such bounds hold for
the size of the giant component in inhomogeneous percolation, the SIR model in
epidemiology, as well as for the long-term influence of a node in the
Independent Cascade Model.


  The Higgs production in the two-photon fusion process is investigated where
one of the photons is off-shell while the other one is on-shell. This process
is realized in either electron-positron collision or electron-photon collision
where the scattered electron or positron is detected (single tagging) and
described by the transition form factor. We calculate the contributions to the
transition form factor of the Higgs boson coming from top-quark loops and
W-boson loops. We then study the $Q^2$ dependence of each contribution to the
total transition form factor and also of the differential cross section for the
Higgs production.


  Scanned documents in electronic health records (EHR) have been a challenge
for decades, and are expected to stay in the foreseeable future. Current
approaches for processing often include image preprocessing, optical character
recognition (OCR), and text mining. However, there is limited work that
evaluates the choice of image preprocessing methods, the selection of NLP
models, and the role of document layout. The impact of each element remains
unknown. We evaluated this method on a use case of two key indicators for sleep
apnea, Apnea hypopnea index (AHI) and oxygen saturation (SaO2) values, from
scanned sleep study reports. Our data that included 955 manually annotated
reports was secondarily utilized from a previous study in the University of
Texas Medical Branch. We performed image preprocessing: gray-scaling followed
by 1 iteration of dilating and erode, and 20% contrast increasing. The OCR was
implemented with the Tesseract OCR engine. A total of seven Bag-of-Words models
(Logistic Regression, Ridge Regression, Lasso Regression, Support Vector
Machine, k-Nearest Neighbor, Na\"ive Bayes, and Random Forest) and three deep
learning-based models (BiLSTM, BERT, and Clinical BERT) were evaluated. We also
evaluated the combinations of image preprocessing methods (gray-scaling, dilate
& erode, increased contrast by 20%, increased contrast by 60%), and two deep
learning architectures (with and without structured input that provides
document layout information). Our proposed method using Clinical BERT reached
an AUROC of 0.9743 and document accuracy of 94.76% for AHI, and an AUROC of
0.9523, and document accuracy of 91.61% for SaO2. We demonstrated the proper
use of image preprocessing and document layout could be beneficial to scanned
document processing.


  Conductance and shot noise of an open cavity with diffusive boundary
scattering are calculated within the Boltzmann-Langevin approach. In
particular, conductance contains a non-universal geometric contribution,
originating from the presence of open contacts. Subsequently, universal
expressions for multi-terminal conductance and noise valid for all chaotic
cavities are obtained classically basing on the fact that the distribution
function in the cavity depends only on energy and using the principle of
minimal correlations.


  We prove the coincidence of the Sobolev and Hardy constants relative to the
"Dirichlet" and "Navier" fractional Laplacians of any real order
$m\in(0,\frac{n}{2})$ over bounded domains in $\mathbb R^n$.


  In this paper we prove a relative index theorem for pairs of generalized
Dirac operators on orbifolds which are the same at infinity. This generalizes
to orbifolds a celebrated theorem of Gromov and Lawson.


  Population dynamics varies in space and time. Survey designs that ignore
these dynamics may be inefficient and fail to capture essential spatio-temporal
variability of a process. Alternatively, dynamic survey designs explicitly
incorporate knowledge of ecological processes, the associated uncertainty in
those processes, and can be optimized with respect to monitoring objectives. We
describe a cohesive framework for monitoring a spreading population that
explicitly links animal movement models with survey design and monitoring
objectives. We apply the framework to develop an optimal survey design for sea
otters in Glacier Bay. Sea otters were first detected in Glacier Bay in 1988
and have since increased in both abundance and distribution; abundance
estimates increased from 5 otters to >5,000 otters, and they have spread faster
than 2.7 km per year. By explicitly linking animal movement models and survey
design, we were able to reduce uncertainty associated with predicted occupancy,
abundance, and distribution. The framework we describe is general, and we
outline steps to applying it to novel systems and taxa.