title:
Global registration of multiple point clouds using semidefinite
  programming

abstract:
  Consider $N$ points in $\mathbb{R}^d$ and $M$ local coordinate systems that
are related through unknown rigid transforms. For each point we are given
(possibly noisy) measurements of its local coordinates in some of the
coordinate systems. Alternatively, for each coordinate system, we observe the
coordinates of a subset of the points. The problem of estimating the global
coordinates of the $N$ points (up to a rigid transform) from such measurements
comes up in distributed approaches to molecular conformation and sensor network
localization, and also in computer vision and graphics.
  The least-squares formulation of this problem, though non-convex, has a well
known closed-form solution when $M=2$ (based on the singular value
decomposition). However, no closed form solution is known for $M\geq 3$.
  In this paper, we demonstrate how the least-squares formulation can be
relaxed into a convex program, namely a semidefinite program (SDP). By setting
up connections between the uniqueness of this SDP and results from rigidity
theory, we prove conditions for exact and stable recovery for the SDP
relaxation. In particular, we prove that the SDP relaxation can guarantee
recovery under more adversarial conditions compared to earlier proposed
spectral relaxations, and derive error bounds for the registration error
incurred by the SDP relaxation.
  We also present results of numerical experiments on simulated data to confirm
the theoretical findings. We empirically demonstrate that (a) unlike the
spectral relaxation, the relaxation gap is mostly zero for the semidefinite
program (i.e., we are able to solve the original non-convex least-squares
problem) up to a certain noise threshold, and (b) the semidefinite program
performs significantly better than spectral and manifold-optimization methods,
particularly at large noise levels.


title:
The scaling limit of random simple triangulations and random simple
  quadrangulations

abstract:
  Let $M_n$ be a simple triangulation of the sphere $S^2$, drawn uniformly at
random from all such triangulations with n vertices. Endow $M_n$ with the
uniform probability measure on its vertices. After rescaling graph distance on
$V(M_n)$ by $(3/(4n))^{1/4}$, the resulting random measured metric space
converges in distribution, in the Gromov-Hausdorff-Prokhorov sense, to the
Brownian map. In proving the preceding fact, we introduce a labelling function
for the vertices of $M_n$. Under this labelling, distances to a distinguished
point are essentially given by vertex labels, with an error given by the
winding number of an associated closed loop in the map. We establish similar
results for simple quadrangulations.


title:
Electrostatic map of T7 DNA. Comparative analysis of functional and
  electrostatic properties of T7 RNA polymerase specific promoters

abstract:
  The entire T7 bacteriophage genome contains 39937 base pairs (Database NCBI
RefSeq N1001604). Here, electrostatic potential distribution around double
helical T7 DNA was calculated by Coulomb method using the computer program of
Sorokin A.A. Electrostatic profiles of 17 promoters recognized by T7 phage
specific RNA polymerase were analyzed. It was shown that electrostatic profiles
of all T7 RNA polymerase specific promoters can be characterized by distinctive
motifs which are specific for each promoter class. Comparative analysis of
electrostatic profiles of native T7 promoters of different classes demonstrates
that T7 RNA polymerase can differentiate them due to their electrostatic
features.


title: A Physical-layer Rateless Code for Wireless Channels

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose a physical-layer rateless code for wireless
channels. A novel rateless encoding scheme is developed to overcome the high
error floor problem caused by the low-density generator matrix (LDGM)-like
encoding scheme in conventional rateless codes. This is achieved by providing
each symbol with approximately equal protection in the encoding process. An
extrinsic information transfer (EXIT) chart based optimization approach is
proposed to obtain a robust check node degree distribution, which can achieve
near-capacity performances for a wide range of signal to noise ratios (SNR).
Simulation results show that, under the same channel conditions and
transmission overheads, the bit-error-rate (BER) performance of the proposed
scheme considerably outperforms the existing rateless codes in additive white
Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels, particularly at low BER regions.


title:
Local Electron Beam Excitation and Substrate Effect on the Plasmonic
  Response of Single Gold Nanostars

abstract:
  We performed Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy and imaging in a high
resolution scanning electron microscope to locally and selectively excite and
investigate the plasmonic property of a multibranched gold nanostar on silicon
substrate. This method allows us to map the local density of optical states
from the nanostar with a spatial resolution down to a few nanometers. We
resolve both in spatial and spectral domain, different plasmon modes associated
with the nanostar. Finite- difference time-domain (FDTD) numerical simulations
are performed to support the experimental observations. We investigate the
effect of substrate on the plasmonic property of these complex shaped
nanostars. The powerful CL-FDTD combination helps us to understand the effect
of the substrate on plasmonic response of branched nanoparticles.


title: Multi-orbital Cluster Perturbation Theory for transition metal oxides

abstract:
  We present an extension of Cluster Perturbation Theory to include many body
correlations associated to local e-e repulsion in real materials. We show that
this approach can describe the physics of complex correlated materials where
different atomic species and different orbitals coexist. The prototypical case
of MnO is considered.


title:
The effects of spin-dependent interactions on polarisation of bright
  polariton solitons

abstract:
  We report on the spin properties of bright polariton solitons supported by an
external pump to compensate losses. We observe robust circularly polarised
solitons when a circularly polarised pump is applied, a result attributed to
phase synchronisation between nondegenerate TE and TM polarised polariton modes
at high momenta. For the case of a linearly polarised pump either s+ or s-
circularly polarised bright solitons can be switched on in a controlled way by
a s+ or s- writing beam respectively. This feature arises directly from the
widely differing interaction strengths between co- and cross-circularly
polarised polaritons. In the case of orthogonally linearly polarised pump and
writing beams, the soliton emission on average is found to be unpolarised,
suggesting strong spatial evolution of the soliton polarisation, a conclusion
supported by polarisation correlation measurements. The observed results are in
agreement with theory, which predicts stable circularly polarised solitons and
unstable linearly polarised solitons resulting in spatial evolution of their
polarisation.


title: How to Demonstrate the Voltage on a charged object in Physics Laboratory

abstract:
  Common Objects like a comb or a pen get charged when rubbed against something
like human hair or garment clothing. Charged objects exhibit noticeable
attractive or repulsive force lifting small pieces of paper or pushing/pulling
a suspended light object charged with the same/opposite(uncharged) polarity
respectively. This indicates the strong electrical nature of charged objects.
Flashes due to spark between oppositely charged objects can be seen in total
darkness. Implying a large potential difference between these charged objects
which is not possible at lower voltages. This article describes a method to
measure the voltage on commonly charged objects with respect to earth using
simple instrumentation based on capacitors and CMOS voltmeter. Once the
potential difference is known the average charge on the object can be
calculated as well. The article also suggests a simple femto-farad capacitance
meter for electrostatics work.


title:
How can one detect the rotation of the Earth "around the Moon"? Part 3.
  With a simple pendulum

abstract:
  The attraction of the Moon on objects at the surface of the Earth gives rise
to a so-called tidal force which is of the order of 1/10,000,000 times the
gravitational force of the Earth. For instance, when the Moon is located
between the Earth and the Sun (new moon) the distance from a given terrestrial
location to the Moon is shorter at noon than at midnight. This reduces the
gravitational acceleration and therefore increases the period of a simple
pendulum by a small amount. Although the change is of the order of 100
nanoseconds it appears that it can be detected. We give some preliminary
results and discuss how the accuracy can be further improved. It is hoped that
the present paper will encourage new experiments in this direction.


title:
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon and Mid-Infrared Continuum Emission in a
  z>4 Submillimeter Galaxy

abstract:
  We report the detection of 6.2um polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and
rest-frame 4-7um continuum emission in the z=4.055 submillimeter galaxy GN20,
using the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) on board the Spitzer Space Telescope.
This represents the first detection of PAH emission at z>4. The strength of the
PAH emission feature is consistent with a very high star formation rate of
~1600Msun/yr. We find that this intense starburst powers at least ~1/3 of the
faint underlying 6um continuum emission, with an additional, significant (and
perhaps dominant) contribution due to a power-law-like hot dust source, which
we interpret to likely be a faint, dust-obscured active galactic nucleus (AGN).
The inferred 6um AGN continuum luminosity is consistent with a sensitive upper
limit on the hard X-ray emission as measured by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory
if the previously undetected AGN is Compton-thick. This is in agreement with
the finding at optical/infrared wavelengths that the galaxy and its nucleus are
heavily dust-obscured. Despite the strong power-law component enhancing the
mid-infrared continuum emission, the intense starburst associated with the
photon-dominated regions that give rise to the PAH emission appears to dominate
the total energy output in the infrared. GN20 is one of the most luminous
starburst galaxies known at any redshift, embedded in a rich protocluster of
star-forming galaxies. This investigation provides an improved understanding of
the energy sources that power such exceptional systems, which represent the
extreme end of massive galaxy formation at early cosmic times.


title:
Star/galaxy separation at faint magnitudes: Application to a simulated
  Dark Energy Survey

abstract:
  We address the problem of separating stars from galaxies in future large
photometric surveys. We focus our analysis on simulations of the Dark Energy
Survey (DES). In the first part of the paper, we derive the science
requirements on star/galaxy separation, for measurement of the cosmological
parameters with the Gravitational Weak Lensing and Large Scale Structure
probes. These requirements are dictated by the need to control both the
statistical and systematic errors on the cosmological parameters, and by Point
Spread Function calibration. We formulate the requirements in terms of the
completeness and purity provided by a given star/galaxy classifier. In order to
achieve these requirements at faint magnitudes, we propose a new method for
star/galaxy separation in the second part of the paper. We first use Principal
Component Analysis to outline the correlations between the objects parameters
and extract from it the most relevant information. We then use the reduced set
of parameters as input to an Artificial Neural Network. This multi-parameter
approach improves upon purely morphometric classifiers (such as the classifier
implemented in SExtractor), especially at faint magnitudes: it increases the
purity by up to 20% for stars and by up to 12% for galaxies, at i-magnitude
fainter than 23.


title: Ionized Outflows from Compact Steep Spectrum Sources

abstract:
  Massive outflows are known to exist, in the form of extended emission-line
regions (EELRs), around about one-third of powerful FR II radio sources. We
investigate the origin of these EELRs by studying the emission-line regions
around compact-steep-spectrum (CSS) radio galaxies that are younger (10$^3$ to
10$^5$ years old) versions of the FR II radio galaxies. We have searched for
and analyzed the emission-line regions around 11 CSS sources by taking integral
field spectra using GMOS on Gemini North. We fit the [\ion{O}{3}] $\lambda
5007$ line and present the velocity maps for each detected emission-line
region. We find, in most cases, that the emission-line regions have
multi-component velocity structures with different velocity dispersions and/or
flux distributions for each component. The velocity gradients of the
emission-line gas are mostly well aligned with the radio axis, suggesting a
direct causal link between the outflowing gas and the radio jets. The complex
velocity structure may be a result of different driving mechanisms related to
the onset of the radio jets. We also present the results from the line-ratio
diagnostics we used to analyze the ionization mechanism of the extended gas,
which supports the scenario where the emission-line regions are ionized by a
combination of AGN radiation and shock excitation.


title:
On two-dimensional integrable models with a cubic or quartic integral of
  motion

abstract:
  Integrable two-dimensional models which possess an integral of motion cubic
or quartic in velocities are governed by a single prepotential, which obeys a
nonlinear partial differential equation. Taking into account the latter's
invariance under continuous rescalings and a dihedral symmetry, we construct
new integrable models with a cubic or quartic integral, each of which involves
either one or two continuous parameters. A reducible case related to the
two-dimensional wave equation is discussed as well. We conjecture a hidden
D_{2n} dihedral symmetry for models with an integral of n-th order in the
velocities.


title: Chemical Abundance Patterns and the Early Environment of Dwarf Galaxies

abstract:
  Recent observations suggest that abundance pattern differences exist between
low metallicity stars in the Milky Way stellar halo and those in the dwarf
satellite galaxies. This paper takes a first look at what role the early
environment for pre-galactic star formation might have played in shaping these
stellar populations. In particular, we consider whether differences in
cross-pollution between the progenitors of the stellar halo and the satellites
could help to explain the differences in abundance patterns. Using an N-body
simulation, we find that the progenitor halos of the main halo are primarily
clustered together at z=10 while the progenitors of the satellite galaxies
remain on the outskirts of this cluster. Next, analytically modeled
supernova-driven winds show that main halo progenitors cross-pollute each other
more effectively while satellite galaxy progenitors remain more isolated. Thus,
inhomogeneous cross-pollution as a result of different high-z spatial locations
of each system's progenitors can help to explain observed differences in
abundance patterns today. Conversely, these differences are a signature of the
inhomogeneity of metal enrichment at early times.


title:
Galaxy halo truncation and Giant Arc Surface Brightness Reconstruction
  in the Cluster MACSJ1206.2-0847

abstract:
  In this work we analyze the mass distribution of MACSJ1206.2-0847, especially
focusing on the halo properties of its cluster members. The cluster appears
relaxed in its X-ray emission, but has significant amounts of intracluster
light which is not centrally concentrated, suggesting that galaxy-scale
interactions are still ongoing despite the overall relaxed state. The cluster
lenses 12 background galaxies into multiple images and one galaxy at $z=1.033$
into a giant arc and its counterimage. The multiple image positions and the
surface brightness distribution (SFB) of the arc which is bent around several
cluster members are sensitive to the cluster galaxy halo properties. We model
the cluster mass distribution with a NFW profile and the galaxy halos with two
parameters for the mass normalization and extent of a reference halo assuming
scalings with their observed NIR--light. We match the multiple image positions
at an r.m.s. level of $0.85\arcsec$ and can reconstruct the SFB distribution of
the arc in several filters to a remarkable accuracy based on this cluster
model. The length scale where the enclosed galaxy halo mass is best constrained
is about 5 effective radii -- a scale in between those accessible to dynamical
and field strong lensing mass estimates on one hand and galaxy--galaxy weak
lensing results on the other hand. The velocity dispersion and halo size of a
galaxy with $m_{\rm 160W,AB}=19.2$ or $M_{\rm B,Vega}=-20.7$ are $\sigma=150
\rm kms^{-1}$ and $r\approx 26\pm 6 \rm kpc$, indicating that the halos of the
cluster galaxies are tidally stripped. We also reconstruct the unlensed source
(which is smaller by a factor of $\sim5.8$ in area), demonstrating the increase
of morphological information due to lensing and conclude that this galaxy has
likely star--forming spiral arms with a red (older) central component.


title: Formation of circumbinary planets in a dead zone

abstract:
  Circumbinary planets have been observed at orbital radii where binary
perturbations may have significant effects on the gas disk structure, on
planetesimal velocity dispersion, and on the coupling between turbulence and
planetesimals. Here, we note that the impact of all of these effects on planet
formation is qualitatively altered if the circumbinary disk structure is
layered, with a non-turbulent midplane layer (dead zone) and strongly turbulent
surface layers. For close binaries, we find that the dead zone typically
extends from a radius close to the inner disk edge up to a radius of around
10-20 au from the centre of mass of the binary. The peak in the surface density
occurs within the dead zone, far from the inner disk edge, close to the snow
line, and may act as a trap for aerodynamically coupled solids. We suggest that
circumbinary planet formation may be easier near this preferential location
than for disks around single stars. However, dead zones around wide binaries
are less likely and hence planet formation may be more difficult there.


title: AdS Description of Induced Higher-Spin Gauge Theory

abstract:
  We study deformations of three-dimensional large N CFTs by double-trace
operators constructed from spin s single-trace operators of dimension \Delta.
These theories possess UV fixed points, and we calculate the change of the
3-sphere free energy \delta F= F_{UV}- F_{IR}. To describe the UV fixed point
using the dual AdS_4 space we modify the boundary conditions on the spin s
field in the bulk; this approach produces \delta F in agreement with the field
theory calculations. If the spin s operator is a conserved current, then the
fixed point is described by an induced parity invariant conformal spin s gauge
theory. The low spin examples are QED_3 (s=1) and the 3-d induced conformal
gravity (s=2). When the original CFT is that of N conformal complex scalar or
fermion fields, the U(N) singlet sector of the induced 3-d gauge theory is dual
to Vasiliev's theory in AdS_4 with alternate boundary conditions on the spin s
massless gauge field. We test this correspondence by calculating the leading
term in \delta F for large N. We show that the coefficient of (1/2)\log N in
\delta F is equal to the number of spin s-1 gauge parameters that act trivially
on the spin s gauge field. We discuss generalizations of these results to 3-d
gauge theories including Chern-Simons terms and to theories where s is
half-integer. We also argue that the Weyl anomaly a-coefficients of conformal
spin s theories in even dimensions d, such as that of the Weyl-squared gravity
in d=4, can be efficiently calculated using massless spin s fields in AdS_{d+1}
with alternate boundary conditions. Using this method we derive a simple
formula for the Weyl anomaly a-coefficients of the d=4 Fradkin-Tseytlin
conformal higher-spin gauge fields. Similarly, using alternate boundary
conditions in AdS_3 we reproduce the well-known central charge c=-26 of the bc
ghosts in 2-d gravity, as well as its higher-spin generalizations.


title:
On the evolution of the snow line in protoplanetary discs II: Analytic
  approximations

abstract:
  We examine the evolution of the snow line in a protoplanetary disc that
contains a dead zone (a region of zero or low turbulence). The snow line is
within a self-gravitating part of the dead zone, and we obtain a fully analytic
solution for its radius. Our formula could prove useful for future
observational attempts to characterise the demographics of planets outside the
snow line. External sources such as comic rays or X-rays from the central star
can ionise the disc surface layers and allow the magneto-rotational instability
to drive turbulence there. We show that provided that the surface density in
this layer is less than about 50 g/cm^2, the dead zone solution exists, after
an initial outbursting phase, until the disc is dispersed by photoevaporation.
We demonstrate that the snow line radius is significantly larger than that
predicted by a fully turbulent disc model, and that in our own solar system it
remains outside of the orbital radius of the Earth. Thus, the inclusion of a
dead zone into a protoplanetary disc model explains how our Earth formed with
very little water.


title:
Mott-Anderson transition in disordered charge transfer model: insights
  from typical medium theory

abstract:
  The Mott-Anderson transition in the disordered charge-transfer model displays
several new features in comparison to what is found in the disordered
single-band Hubbard model, as recently demonstrated by large-scale
computational (statistical dynamical mean field theory) studies. Here we show
that a much simpler typical medium theory approach (TMT-DMFT) to the same model
is able to capture most qualitative and even quantitative aspects of the phase
diagram, the emergence of an intermediate electronic Griffiths phase, and the
critical behavior close to the metal-insulator transition. Conceptual and
mathematical simplicity of the TMT-DMFT formulation thus makes it possible to
gain useful new insight into the mechanism of the Mott-Anderson transition in
these models.


title: Filling the gap: a new class of old star cluster?

abstract:
  It is not understood whether long-lived star clusters possess a continuous
range of sizes and masses (and hence densities), or if rather, they should be
considered as distinct types with different origins. Utilizing the Hubble Space
Telescope (HST) to measure sizes, and long exposures on the Keck 10m telescope
to obtain distances, we have discovered the first confirmed star clusters that
lie within a previously claimed size-luminosity gap dubbed the `avoidance zone'
by Hwang et al (2011). The existence of these star clusters extends the range
of sizes, masses and densities for star clusters, and argues against current
formation models that predict well-defined size-mass relationships (such as
stripped nuclei, giant globular clusters or merged star clusters). The red
colours of these gap objects suggests that they are not a new class of object
but are related to Faint Fuzzies observed in nearby lenticular galaxies. We
also report a number of low luminosity UCDs with sizes of up to 50 pc. Future,
statistically complete, studies will be encouraged now that it is known that
star clusters possess a continuous range of structural properties.


title:
First Systematic Search for Oxygen-Line Blobs at High Redshift:
  Uncovering AGN Feedback and Star-Formation Quenching

abstract:
  We present the first systematic search for extended metal-line
[OII]{\lambda}{\lambda}3726,3729 nebulae, or [OII] blobs (OIIBs), at z=1.2
using deep narrowband imaging with a survey volume of 1.9x10^5 Mpc^3 on the
0.62 deg^2 sky of Subaru-XMM Deep Survey (SXDS) field. We discover a giant
OIIB, dubbed 'OIIB 1', with a spatial extent over ~75 kpc at a spectroscopic
redshift of z=1.18, and also identify a total of twelve OIIBs with a size of
>30 kpc. Our optical spectrum of OIIB 1 presents [NeV]{\lambda}3426 line at the
6{\sigma} level, indicating that this object harbors an obscured type-2 AGN.
The presence of gas outflows in this object is suggested by two marginal
detections of FeII{\lambda}2587 absorption and FeII*{\lambda}2613 emission
lines both of which are blueshifted at as large as 500-600 km/s, indicating
that the heating source of OIIB 1 is AGN or associated shock excitation rather
than supernovae produced by starbursts. The number density of OIIB 1-type giant
blobs is estimated to be ~5x10^{-6} Mpc^{-3} at z~1.2, which is comparable with
that of AGNs driving outflow at a similar redshift, suggesting that giant OIIBs
are produced only by AGN activity. On the other hand, the number density of
small OIIBs, 6x10^{-5} Mpc^{-3}, compared to that of z~1 galaxies in the blue
cloud in the same M_B range, may imply that 3% of star-forming galaxies at z~1
are quenching star formation through outflows involving extended [OII]
emission.


title: A Modest Proposal: (Possible) Implications for Appropriation

abstract:
  As technologies are developed and constructed, designers may or may not be
aware that they are embedding politics and values into their artifacts.
Computer scientists operate and advance their field by building layers of
abstraction into software and hardware to reduce the complexity of interfaces,
making the artifacts they create zuhanden for others in part by imposing
constraints. The increasing reliance of global populations and economies on
communication mediated by many information and communications technologies
(ICTs) transforms them from applications into communications infrastructure,
elevating the importance of considering the values embodied in those
infrastructures. I argue that the status quo bias and economic inertia of
built-infrastructure requires a reevaluation of research in light of the de
facto global technocracy to consider a nouveau social contract between
infrastructural theorists, scientists, designers, and engineers and the current
and future generations who will be constrained by that infrastructure as it is
reified. The CHI community is uniquely situated to establish a norm of
including a discussion of the implications of appropriation as first class
topic in research output.


title: The Polarization Signature of Local Bulk Flows

abstract:
  A large peculiar velocity of the intergalactic medium produces a Doppler
shift of the cosmic microwave background with a frequency-dependent quadrupole
term. This quadrupole will act as a source for polarization of the cosmic
microwave background, creating a large-scale polarization anisotropy if the
bulk flow is local and coherent on large scales. In the case where we are near
the center of the moving region, the polarization signal is a pure quadrupole.
We show that the signal is small, but detectable with future experiments for
bulk flows as large as some recent reports.


title:
Magneto-Optical Conductivity of Silicene and Other Buckled Honeycomb
  Lattices

abstract:
  The magneto-optical longitudinal, transverse Hall and circularly-polarized
response of silicene and other materials described by a Kane-Mele Hamiltonian
are calculated. Particular attention is paid to the effects of an external
electric field and finite charge doping. The energy of interband transitions
can be tuned by varying the electric field. The onset frequency of the
absorptive peaks moves differently between the topological insulator and band
insulator regimes. This may be used to verify experimentally the existence of
the two insulating phases as well as provide a measure of the spin-orbit band
gap. The zeroth Landau level splits between four spin and valley distinct
energies resulting in valley-spin-polarized levels in the density of states.
With charge doping, transitions between these levels allow for a spin- and
valley-polarized response in the conductivity whereby charge carriers of
specific spin and valley index can be isolated by tuning the incident photon
frequency. Increasing the chemical potential is shown to redistribute spectral
weight from interband transitions to a strong low-energy intraband response.
For large chemical potential, this intraband feature is associated with the
semiclassical cyclotron resonance frequency which is shown to linearly increase
with magnetic field.


title: Comparing Euler classes

abstract:
  We establish the equality of two definitions of an Euler class in algebraic
geometry: the first definition is as a "characteristic class" with values in
Chow-Witt theory, while the second definition is as an "obstruction class."
Along the way, we refine Morel's relative Hurewicz theorem in A^1-homotopy
theory, and show how to define (twisted) Chow-Witt groups for geometric
classifying spaces.


title: Time as a dynamical variable in quantum decay

abstract:
  We present a theoretical analysis of quantum decay in which the survival
probability is replaced by a decay rate that is equal to the absolute value
squared of the wave function in the time representation. The wave function in
the time representation is simply the Fourier transform of the wave function in
the energy representation, and it is also the probability amplitude generated
by the Positive Operator Valued Measure of a time operator. The present
analysis endows time with a dynamical character in quantum decay, and it is
applicable only when the unstable system is monitored continuously while it
decays. When the analysis is applied to the Gamow state, one recovers the
exponential decay law. The analysis allows us to interpret the oscillations in
the decay rate of the GSI anomaly, of neutral mesons, and of fluorescence
quantum beats as the result of the interference of two resonances in the time
representation. In addition, the analysis allows us to show that the time of
flight of a resonance coincides with its lifetime.


title:
A determination of the space density and birth rate of hydrogen-line
  (DA) white dwarfs in the Galactic Plane, based on the UVEX survey

abstract:
  We present a determination of the average space density and birth rate of
hydrogen-line (DA) white dwarfs within a radius of 1 kpc around the Sun, based
on an observational sample of 360 candidate white dwarfs with g<19.5 and
(g-r)<0.4, selected from the UV-excess Survey of the Northern Galactic Plane
(UVEX), in combination with a theoretical white dwarf population that has been
constructed to simulate the observations, including the effects of reddening
and observational selection effects. The main uncertainty in the derivation of
the white dwarf space density and current birth rate lies in the absolute
photometric calibration and the photometric scatter of the observational data,
which influences the classification method on colours, the completeness and the
pollution. Corrections for these effects are applied. We derive an average
space density of hydrogen-line (DA) white dwarfs with T_eff > 10,000K
(M_V<12.2) of (3.8 +/- 1.1) x 1e-4 pc^-3, and an average DA white dwarf birth
rate over the last 7e7 years of (5.4 + 1.5) x 1e-13 pc^-3 yr^-1. Additionally,
we show that many estimates of the white dwarf space density from different
studies are consistent with each other, and with our determination here.


title:
Exclusion of measurements with excessive residuals (blunders) in
  estimating model parameters

abstract:
  An adjustable algorithm of exclusion of conditional equations with excessive
residuals is proposed. The criteria applied in the algorithm use variable
exclusion limits which decrease as the number of equations goes down. The
algorithm is easy to use, it possesses rapid convergence, minimal subjectivity,
and high degree of generality.


title: On Poisson structures on R4

abstract:
  This paper is devoted to the study of Poisson structures on the Euclidean
four dimensional space R4. By using the properties of the trace operator
associated to a volumen form and the elementary vector calculus operations in
R3, we give explicit formulas for the main geometric objects associated to the
Poisson structures in R4, including its characteristic foliation, the
Hamiltonian and Poisson vector fields, normal forms and some useful
decomposition formulae for Poisson tensors. We also discuss the class of
unimodular Poisson structures and give two results about the existence of
Poisson structures having as its characteristic foliation a given arbitrary
regular foliation.


title:
Conjugacy classes of non-translations in affine Weyl groups and
  applications to Hecke algebras

abstract:
  Let W be an Iwahori-Weyl group of a connected reductive group G over a
non-archimedean local field. I prove that if w is an element of W that does not
act on the corresponding apartment of G by a translation then one can apply to
w a sequence of conjugations by simple reflections, each of which is
length-preserving, resulting in an element w' for which there exists a simple
reflection s such that l(sw's)>l(w'). Even for affine Weyl groups, a special
case of Iwahori-Weyl groups and also an important subclass of Coxeter groups,
this is a new fact about conjugacy classes. Further, there are implications for
Iwahori-Hecke algebras H of G: one can use this fact to give dimension bounds
on the "length-filtration" of the center Z(H), which can in turn be used to
prove that suitable linearly-independent subsets of Z(H) are a basis.


title:
Local Ionization Dynamics Traced by Photoassisted Scanning Tunneling
  Microscopy: A Theoretical Approach

abstract:
  For tracing the spatiotemporal evolution of electronic systems, we suggest
and analyze theoretically a setup that exploits the excellent spatial
resolution based on scanning tunneling microscopy techniques combined with the
temporal resolution of femtosecond pump-probe photoelectron spectroscopy. As an
example, we consider the laser-induced, local vibrational dynamics of a
surface-adsorbed molecule. The photoelectrons released by a laser pulse can be
collected by the scanning tip and utilized to access the spatiotemporal
dynamics. Our proof-of-principle calculations are based on the solution of the
time-dependent Schrooedinger equation supported by the ab initio computation of
the matrix elements determining the dynamics.


title: Sum of Cubes is Square of Sum

abstract:
  Inspired by the fact that the sum of the cubes of the first $n$ naturals is
equal to the square of their sum, we explore, for each $n$, the Diophantine
equation representing all non-trivial sets of $n$ integers with this property.
We find definite answers to the standard question of infinitude of the
solutions as well as several other surprising results.


title:
Fuzzy games with a countable space of actions and applications to
  systems of generalized quasi-variational inequalities

abstract:
  In this paper, we introduce an abstract fuzzy economy (generalized fuzzy
game) model with a countable space of actions and we study the existence of the
fuzzy equilibrium. As applications, two types of results are obtained. The
first ones concern the existence of the solutions for systems of generalized
quasi-variational inequalities with random fuzzy mappings which we define. The
last ones are new random fixed point theorems for correspondences with values
in complete countable metric spaces.


title: Light from the Cosmic Frontier: Gamma-Ray Bursts

abstract:
  Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are the most powerful cosmic explosions since the Big
Bang, and thus act as signposts throughout the distant Universe. Over the last
2 decades, these ultra-luminous cosmological explosions have been transformed
from a mere curiosity to essential tools for the study of high-redshift stars
and galaxies, early structure formation and the evolution of chemical elements.
In the future, GRBs will likely provide a powerful probe of the epoch of
reionisation of the Universe, constrain the properties of the first generation
of stars, and play an important role in the revolution of multi-messenger
astronomy by associating neutrinos or gravitational wave (GW) signals with
GRBs. Here, we describe the next steps needed to advance the GRB field, as well
as the potential of GRBs for studying the Early Universe and their role in the
up-coming multi-messenger revolution.


title: On the Lie algebroid of a derived self-intersection

abstract:
  Let $i:X\hookrightarrow Y$ be a closed embedding of smooth algebraic
varieties. Denote by $N$ the normal bundle of $X$ in $Y$. We describe the
construction of two Lie-type structures on the shifted bundle $N[-1]$ which
encode the information of the formal neighborhood of $X$ inside $Y$. We also
present applications of classical Lie theoretic constructions (universal
enveloping algebra, Chevalley-Eilenberg complex) to the understanding of the
geometry of embeddings.


title:
The impact of population demography and selection on the genetic
  architecture of complex traits

abstract:
  Population genetic studies have found evidence for dramatic population growth
in recent human history. It is unclear how this recent population growth,
combined with the effects of negative natural selection, has affected patterns
of deleterious variation, as well as the number, frequencies, and effect sizes
of mutations that contribute risk to complex traits. Here I use simulations
under population genetic models where a proportion of the heritability of the
trait is accounted for by mutations in a subset of the exome. I show that
recent population growth increases the proportion of nonsynonymous variants
segregating in the population, but does not affect the genetic load relative to
that in a population that did not expand. Under a model where a mutation's
effect on a trait is correlated with its effect on fitness, rare variants
explain a greater portion of the additive genetic variance of the trait in a
population that has recently expanded than in a population that did not
recently expand. Further, when using a single-marker test, for a given
false-positive rate and sample size, recent population growth decreases the
expected number of significant association with the trait relative to the
number detected in a population that did not expand. However, in a model where
there is no correlation between a mutation's effect on fitness and the effect
on the trait, common variants account for much of the additive genetic
variance, regardless of demography. Moreover, here demography does not affect
the number of significant association detected. These finding suggest recent
population history may be an important factor influencing the power of
association tests in accounting for the missing heritability of certain complex
traits.


title:
Multiscale Topological Properties Of Functional Brain Networks During
  Motor Imagery After Stroke

abstract:
  In recent years, network analyses have been used to evaluate brain
reorganization following stroke. However, many studies have often focused on
single topological scales, leading to an incomplete model of how focal brain
lesions affect multiple network properties simultaneously and how changes on
smaller scales influence those on larger scales. In an EEG-based experiment on
the performance of hand motor imagery (MI) in 20 patients with unilateral
stroke, we observed that the anatomic lesion affects the functional brain
network on multiple levels. In the beta (13-30 Hz) frequency band, the MI of
the affected hand (Ahand) elicited a significantly lower smallworldness and
local efficiency (Eloc) versus the unaffected hand (Uhand). Notably, the
abnormal reduction in Eloc significantly depended on the increase in
interhemispheric connectivity, which was in turn determined primarily by the
rise in regional connectivity in the parieto-occipital sites of the affected
hemisphere. Further, in contrast to the Uhand MI, in which significantly high
connectivity was observed for the contralateral sensorimotor regions of the
unaffected hemisphere, the regions that increased in connection during the
Ahand MI lay in the frontal and parietal regions of the contralaterally
affected hemisphere. Finally, the overall sensorimotor function of our
patients, as measured by Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA) index, was significantly
predicted by the connectivity of their affected hemisphere. These results
increase our understanding of stroke-induced alterations in functional brain
networks.


title:
Discriminative Training: Learning to Describe Video with Sentences, from
  Video Described with Sentences

abstract:
  We present a method for learning word meanings from complex and realistic
video clips by discriminatively training (DT) positive sentential labels
against negative ones, and then use the trained word models to generate
sentential descriptions for new video. This new work is inspired by recent work
which adopts a maximum likelihood (ML) framework to address the same problem
using only positive sentential labels. The new method, like the ML-based one,
is able to automatically determine which words in the sentence correspond to
which concepts in the video (i.e., ground words to meanings) in a weakly
supervised fashion. While both DT and ML yield comparable results with
sufficient training data, DT outperforms ML significantly with smaller training
sets because it can exploit negative training labels to better constrain the
learning problem.


title:
Higher-order Program Verification as Satisfiability Modulo Theories with
  Algebraic Data-types

abstract:
  We report on work in progress on automatic procedures for proving properties
of programs written in higher-order functional languages. Our approach encodes
higher-order programs directly as first-order SMT problems over Horn clauses.
It is straight-forward to reduce Hoare-style verification of first-order
programs into satisfiability of Horn clauses. The presence of closures offers
several challenges: relatively complete proof systems have to account for
closures; and in practice, the effectiveness of search procedures depend on
encoding strategies and capabilities of underlying solvers. We here use
algebraic data-types to encode closures and rely on solvers that support
algebraic data-types. The viability of the approach is examined using examples
from the literature on higher-order program verification.


title: Modeling X-ray binary evolution in normal galaxies: Insights from SINGS

abstract:
  We present the largest-scale comparison to date between observed
extragalactic X-ray binary (XRB) populations and theoretical models of their
production. We construct observational X-ray luminosity functions (oXLFs) using
Chandra observations of 12 late-type galaxies from the Spitzer Infrared Nearby
Galaxy Survey (SINGS). For each galaxy, we obtain theoretical XLFs (tXLFs) by
combining XRB synthetic models, constructed with the population synthesis code
StarTrack, with observational star formation histories (SFHs). We identify
highest-likelihood models both for individual galaxies and globally, averaged
over the full galaxy sample. Individual tXLFs successfully reproduce about half
of oXLFs, but for some galaxies we are unable to find underlying source
populations, indicating that galaxy SFHs and metallicities are not well matched
and/or XRB modeling requires calibration on larger observational samples. Given
these limitations, we find that best models are consistent with a product of
common envelope ejection efficiency and central donor concentration ~=0.1, and
a 50% uniform -- 50% "twins" initial mass-ratio distribution. We present and
discuss constituent subpopulations of tXLFs according to donor, accretor and
stellar population characteristics. The galaxy-wide X-ray luminosity due to
low-mass and high-mass XRBs, estimated via our best global model tXLF, follows
the general trend expected from the L_x - star formation rate and L_x - stellar
mass relations of Lehmer et al 2010. Our best models are also in agreement with
modeling of the evolution both of XRBs over cosmic time and of the galaxy X-ray
luminosity with redshift.


title: On large deviations for the cover time of two-dimensional torus

abstract:
  Let $\mathcal{T}_n$ be the cover time of two-dimensional discrete torus
$\mathbb{Z}^2_n=\mathbb{Z}^2/n\mathbb{Z}^2$. We prove that
$\mathbb{P}[\mathcal{T}_n\leq \frac{4}{\pi}\gamma n^2\ln^2
n]=\exp(-n^{2(1-\sqrt{\gamma})+o(1)})$ for $\gamma\in (0,1)$. One of the main
methods used in the proofs is the decoupling of the walker's trace into
independent excursions by means of soft local times.


title:
The Artin-Mazur Zeta Function of a Dynamically Affine Rational Map in
  Positive Characteristic

abstract:
  A dynamically affine map is a finite quotient of an affine morphism of an
algebraic group. We determine the rationality or transcendence of the
Artin-Mazur zeta function of a dynamically affine self-map of $\mathbb{P}^1(k)$
for $k$ an algebraically closed field of positive characteristic.


title: Static and Dynamic Aspects of Scientific Collaboration Networks

abstract:
  Collaboration networks arise when we map the connections between scientists
which are formed through joint publications. These networks thus display the
social structure of academia, and also allow conclusions about the structure of
scientific knowledge. Using the computer science publication database DBLP, we
compile relations between authors and publications as graphs and proceed with
examining and quantifying collaborative relations with graph-based methods. We
review standard properties of the network and rank authors and publications by
centrality. Additionally, we detect communities with modularity-based
clustering and compare the resulting clusters to a ground-truth based on
conferences and thus topical similarity. In a second part, we are the first to
combine DBLP network data with data from the Dagstuhl Seminars: We investigate
whether seminars of this kind, as social and academic events designed to
connect researchers, leave a visible track in the structure of the
collaboration network. Our results suggest that such single events are not
influential enough to change the network structure significantly. However, the
network structure seems to influence a participant's decision to accept or
decline an invitation.


title: Change of magnetic ground state by light electron-doping in CeOs2Al10

abstract:
  The effect of Ir substitution for Os in CeOs2Al10, with an unusually high
Neel temperature of T~28.5K, has been studied by high-resolution neutron
diffraction and magnetization measurements. A small amount of Ir (~ 8%) results
in a pronounced change of the magnetic structure of the Ce-sublattice. The new
magnetic ground state is controlled by the single ion anisotropy and implies
antiferromagnetic arrangement of the Ce-moments along the a-axis, as expected
from the anisotropy of the paramagnetic susceptibility. The value of the
ordered moments, 0.92(1) mu_B, is substantially bigger than in the undoped
compound, whereas the transition temperature is reduced down to 21K. A
comparison of the observed phenomena with the recently studied CeRu1.9Rh0.1Al10
system, exhibiting similar behaviour [A. Kondo et al., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 82,
054709 (2013)], strongly suggests the electron doping as the main origin of the
ground state changes. This provides a new way of exploring the anomalous
magnetic properties of the Ce(Ru/Os)2Al10 compounds.


title: Germanium crystals on silicon show their light

abstract:
  Germanium and silicon-germanium alloys have found entry into Si technology
thanks to their compatibility with Si processing and their ability to tailor
electronic properties by strain and band-gap engineering. Germanium's potential
to extend Si functionalities, as exemplified by lasing action of strained-Ge on
Si substrates, has brought the material back to attention. Yet despite these
advances, non-radiative transitions, induced by crystal defects originating
from the Ge/Si interface, continue to be a serious bottleneck. Here we
demonstrate the drastic emission enhancement achieved via control and
mitigation over the parasitic activity of defects in micronscale Ge/Si
crystals. We unravel how defects affect interband luminescence and minimize
their influence by controlling carrier diffusion with band-gap-engineered
reflectors. We finally extended this approach designing efficient quantum well
emitters. Our results pave the way for the large-scale implementation of
advanced electronic and photonic structures unaffected by the ubiquitous
presence of defects developed at epitaxial interfaces.


title:
A near-infrared variability campaign of TMR-1: New light on the nature
  of the candidate protoplanet TMR-1C

abstract:
  (abridged) We present a near-infrared (NIR) photometric variability study of
the candidate protoplanet, TMR-1C, located at a separation of about 10" (~1000
AU) from the Class I protobinary TMR-1AB in the Taurus molecular cloud. Our
campaign was conducted between October, 2011, and January, 2012. We were able
to obtain 44 epochs of observations in each of the H and Ks filters. Based on
the final accuracy of our observations, we do not find any strong evidence of
short-term NIR variability at amplitudes of >0.15-0.2 mag for TMR-1C or
TMR-1AB. Our present observations, however, have reconfirmed the
large-amplitude long-term variations in the NIR emission for TMR-1C, which were
earlier observed between 1998 and 2002, and have also shown that no particular
correlation exists between the brightness and the color changes. TMR-1C became
brighter in the H-band by ~1.8 mag between 1998 and 2002, and then fainter
again by ~0.7 mag between 2002 and 2011. In contrast, it has persistently
become brighter in the Ks-band in the period between 1998 and 2011. The (H-Ks)
color for TMR-1C shows large variations, from a red value of 1.3+/-0.07 and
1.6+/-0.05 mag in 1998 and 2000, to a much bluer color of -0.1+/-0.5 mag in
2002, and then again a red color of 1.1+/-0.08 mag in 2011. The observed
variability from 1998 to 2011 suggests that TMR-1C becomes fainter when it gets
redder, as expected from variable extinction, while the brightening observed in
the Ks-band could be due to physical variations in its inner disk structure.
The NIR colors for TMR-1C obtained using the high precision photometry from
1998, 2000, and 2011 observations are similar to the protostars in Taurus,
suggesting that it could be a faint dusty Class I source. Our study has also
revealed two new variable sources in the vicinity of TMR-1AB, which show
long-term variations of ~1-2 mag in the NIR colors between 2002 and 2011.


title: G-expectations in infinite dimensional spaces and related PDEs

abstract:
  In this paper, we extend the G-expectation theory to infinite dimensions.
Such notions as a covariation set of G-normal distributed random variables,
viscosity solution, a stochastic integral driven by G-Brownian motion are
introduced and described in the given infinite dimensional case. We also give a
probabilistic representation of the unique viscosity solution to the fully
nonlinear parabolic PDE with unbounded first order term in Hilbert space in
terms of G-expectation theory.


title:
Generalized Halo Independent Comparison of Direct Dark Matter Detection
  Data

abstract:
  We extend the halo-independent method to compare direct dark matter detection
data, so far used only for spin-independent WIMP-nucleon interactions, to any
type of interaction. As an example we apply the method to magnetic moment
interactions.


title: Viscous Cold Dark Matter in agreement with observations

abstract:
  We discuss bulk viscous cosmological models. Since the bulk viscous pressure
is negative, viable viscous cosmological scenarios with late time accelerated
expansion can in principle be constructed. After discussing some alternative
models based on bulk viscous effects we will focus on a model very similar to
the standard $\Lambda$CDM. We argue that a $\Lambda${\rm v}CDM model, where we
assign a very small (albeit perceptible) bulk viscosity to dark matter is in
agreement with available cosmological observations. Hence, we work with the
concept of viscous Cold Dark Matter ({\rm v}CDM). At the level of the
perturbations, the growth of {\rm v}CDM structures is slightly suppressed when
compared with the standard CDM ones. Having in mind that the small scale
problems of the $\Lambda$CDM model are related to an excess of clustering, our
proposal seems to indicate a possible direction for solving the serious
drawbacks of the CDM paradigm within the standard cosmological model.


title:
A simple mechanism for higher-order correlations in integrate-and-fire
  neurons

abstract:
  The collective dynamics of neural populations are often characterized in
terms of correlations in the spike activity of different neurons. Open
questions surround the basic nature of these correlations. In particular, what
leads to higher-order correlations -- correlations in the population activity
that extend beyond those expected from cell pairs? Here, we examine this
question for a simple, but ubiquitous, circuit feature: common fluctuating
input arriving to spiking neurons of integrate-and-fire type. We show that
leads to strong higher-order correlations, as for earlier work with discrete
threshold crossing models. Moreover, we find that the same is true for another
widely used, doubly-stochastic model of neural spiking, the linear-nonlinear
cascade. We explain the surprisingly strong connection between the collective
dynamics produced by these models, and conclude that higher-order correlations
are both broadly expected and possible to capture with surprising accuracy by
simplified (and tractable) descriptions of neural spiking.


title: Interstellar H$_2$O Masers from J Shocks

abstract:
  We present a model in which the 22 GHz H$_2$O masers observed in star-forming
regions occur behind shocks propagating in dense regions (preshock density $n_0
\sim 10^6 - 10^8$ cm$^{-3}$). We focus on high-velocity ($v_s > 30$ km
s$^{-1}$) dissociative J shocks in which the heat of H$_2$ re-formation
maintains a large column of $\sim 300-400$ K gas; at these temperatures the
chemistry drives a considerable fraction of the oxygen not in CO to form
H$_2$O. The H$_2$O column densities, the hydrogen densities, and the warm
temperatures produced by these shocks are sufficiently high to enable powerful
maser action. The observed brightness temperatures (generally $\sim 10^{11} -
10^{14}$ K) are the result of coherent velocity regions that have dimensions in
the shock plane that are 10 to 100 times the shock thickness of $\sim 10^{13}$
cm. The masers are therefore beamed towards the observer, who typically views
the shock "edge-on", or perpendicular to the shock velocity; the brightest
masers are then observed with the lowest line of sight velocities with respect
to the ambient gas. We present numerical and analytic studies of the dependence
of the maser inversion, the resultant brightness temperature, the maser spot
size and shape, the isotropic luminosity, and the maser region magnetic field
on the shock parameters and the coherence path length; the overall result is
that in galactic H$_2$O 22 GHz masers these observed parameters can be produced
in J shocks with $n_0\sim 10^6 - 10^8$ cm$^{-3}$ and $v_s \sim 30 -200$ km
s$^{-1}$. A number of key observables such as maser shape, brightness
temperature, and global isotropic luminosity depend only on the particle flux
into the shock, $j=n_0v_s$, rather than on $n_0$ and $v_s$ separately.


title:
Weight distribution of two classes of cyclic codes with respect to two
  distinct order elements

abstract:
  Cyclic codes are an interesting type of linear codes and have wide
applications in communication and storage systems due to their efficient
encoding and decoding algorithms. Cyclic codes have been studied for many
years, but their weight distribution are known only for a few cases. In this
paper, let $\Bbb F_r$ be an extension of a finite field $\Bbb F_q$ and $r=q^m$,
we determine the weight distribution of the cyclic codes $\mathcal C=\{c(a, b):
a, b \in \Bbb F_r\},$ $$c(a, b)=(\mbox {Tr}_{r/q}(ag_1^0+bg_2^0), \ldots, \mbox
{Tr}_{r/q}(ag_1^{n-1}+bg_2^{n-1})), g_1, g_2\in \Bbb F_r,$$ in the following
two cases: (1) $\ord(g_1)=n, n|r-1$ and $g_2=1$; (2) $\ord(g_1)=n$,
$g_2=g_1^2$, $\ord(g_2)=\frac n 2$, $m=2$ and $\frac{2(r-1)}n|(q+1)$.


title:
Convex cocompactness in mapping class groups via quasiconvexity in
  right-angled Artin groups

abstract:
  We characterize convex cocompact subgroups of mapping class groups that arise
as subgroups of specially embedded right-angled Artin groups. That is, if the
right-angled Artin group G in Mod(S) satisfies certain conditions that imply G
is quasi-isometrically embedded in Mod(S), then a purely pseudo-Anosov subgroup
H of G is convex cocompact in Mod(S) if and only if it is combinatorially
quasiconvex in G. We use this criterion to construct convex cocompact subgroups
of Mod(S) whose orbit maps into the curve complex have small Lipschitz
constants.


title:
Affect Control Processes: Intelligent Affective Interaction using a
  Partially Observable Markov Decision Process

abstract:
  This paper describes a novel method for building affectively intelligent
human-interactive agents. The method is based on a key sociological insight
that has been developed and extensively verified over the last twenty years,
but has yet to make an impact in artificial intelligence. The insight is that
resource bounded humans will, by default, act to maintain affective
consistency. Humans have culturally shared fundamental affective sentiments
about identities, behaviours, and objects, and they act so that the transient
affective sentiments created during interactions confirm the fundamental
sentiments. Humans seek and create situations that confirm or are consistent
with, and avoid and supress situations that disconfirm or are inconsistent
with, their culturally shared affective sentiments. This "affect control
principle" has been shown to be a powerful predictor of human behaviour. In
this paper, we present a probabilistic and decision-theoretic generalisation of
this principle, and we demonstrate how it can be leveraged to build affectively
intelligent artificial agents. The new model, called BayesAct, can maintain
multiple hypotheses about sentiments simultaneously as a probability
distribution, and can make use of an explicit utility function to make
value-directed action choices. This allows the model to generate affectively
intelligent interactions with people by learning about their identity,
predicting their behaviours using the affect control principle, and taking
actions that are simultaneously goal-directed and affect-sensitive. We
demonstrate this generalisation with a set of simulations. We then show how our
model can be used as an emotional "plug-in" for artificially intelligent
systems that interact with humans in two different settings: an exam practice
assistant (tutor) and an assistive device for persons with a cognitive
disability.


title: Mellin transforms with only critical zeros: Legendre functions

abstract:
  We consider the Mellin transforms of certain Legendre functions based upon
the ordinary and associated Legendre polynomials. We show that the transforms
have polynomial factors whose zeros lie all on the critical line Re $s=1/2$.
The polynomials with zeros only on the critical line are identified in terms of
certain $_3F_2(1)$ hypergeometric functions. These polynomials possess the
functional equation $p_n(s)=(-1)^{\lfloor n/2 \rfloor} p_n(1-s)$. Other
hypergeometric representations are presented, as well as certain Mellin
transforms of fractional part and fractional part-integer part functions. The
results should be of interest to special function theory, combinatorial
geometry, and analytic number theory.


title:
Mellin transforms with only critical zeros: Chebyshev and Gegenbauer
  functions

abstract:
  We consider the Mellin transforms of certain Chebyshev functions based upon
the Chebyshev polynomials. We show that the transforms have polynomial factors
whose zeros lie all on the critical line or on the real line. The polynomials
with zeros only on the critical line are identified in terms of certain
$_3F_2(1)$ hypergeometric functions. Furthermore, we extend this result to a
1-parameter family of polynomials with zeros only on the critical line. These
polynomials possess the functional equation $p_n(s;\beta)=(-1)^{\lfloor n/2
\rfloor} p_n(1-s;\beta)$. We then present the generalization to the Mellin
transform of certain Gegenbauer functions. The results should be of interest to
special function theory, combinatorics, and analytic number theory.


title:
Synthesis and Characterization of Tungstite (WO3.H2O) Nanoleaves and
  Nanoribbons

abstract:
  An environmentally benign method capable of producing large quantities of
materials was used to synthesize tungstite (WO3.H2O) leaf-shaped nanoplatelets
(LNPs) and nanoribbons (NRs). These materials were simply obtained by aging of
colloidal solutions prepared by adding hydrochloric acid (HCl) to dilute sodium
tungstate solutions (Na2WO4.2H2O) at a temperature of 5-10oC. The aging medium
and the pH of the precursor solutions were also investigated. Crystallization
and growth occurred by Ostwald ripening during the aging of the colloidal
solutions at ambient temperature for 24 to 48hrs. When dispersed in water, the
LNPs and NRs take many days to settle, which is a clear advantage for some
applications (e.g., photocatalysis). The materials were characterized using
scanning and transmission electron microscopy, Raman and UV/Vis spectroscopies.
The current versus voltage characteristics of the tungstite NRs showed that the
material behaved as a Schottky diode with a breakdown electric field of
3.0x105V.m-1. They can also be heat treated at relatively low temperatures
(300oC) to form tungsten oxide (WO3) NRs and be used as photoanodes for
photoelectrochemical water splitting.


title:
On choosability with separation of planar graphs with lists of different
  sizes

abstract:
  A (k,d)-list assignment L of a graph G is a mapping that assigns to each
vertex v a list L(v) of at least k colors and for any adjacent pair xy, the
lists L(x) and L(y) share at most d colors. A graph G is (k,d)-choosable if
there exists an L-coloring of G for every (k,d)-list assignment L. This concept
is also known as choosability with separation.
  It is known that planar graphs are (4,1)-choosable but it is not known if
planar graphs are (3,1)-choosable. We strengthen the result that planar graphs
are (4,1)-choosable by allowing an independent set of vertices to have lists of
size 3 instead of 4.


title: Genus 3 hyperelliptic curves with (2, 4, 4)-split Jacobians

abstract:
  We study degree 2 and 4 elliptic subcovers of hyperelliptic curves of genus 3
defined over $\mathbb C$. The family of genus 3 hyperelliptic curves which have
a degree 2 cover to an elliptic curve $E$ and degree 4 covers to elliptic
curves $E_1$ and $E_2$ is a 2-dimensional subvariety of the hyperelliptic
moduli $\mathcal H_3$. We determine this subvariety explicitly. For any given
moduli point $\mathfrak p \in \mathcal H_3$ we determine explicitly if the
corresponding genus 3 curve $\mathcal X$ belongs or not to such family. When it
does, we can determine elliptic subcovers $E$, $E_1$, and $E_2$ in terms of the
absolute invariants $t_1, \dots, t_6$ as in \cite{hyp_mod_3}. This variety
provides a new family of hyperelliptic curves of genus 3 for which the
Jacobians completely split. The sublocus of such family when $E_1$ is
isomorphic to $E_2$ is a 1-dimensional variety which we determine explicitly.
We can also determine $\mathcal X$ and $E$ starting form the $j$-invariant of
$E_1$.


title: Motion of particles on a $z=2$ Lifshitz black hole in 3+1 dimensions

abstract:
  We study the geodesic structure of a $z=2$ Lifshitz black hole in 3+1
spacetime dimensions that is an exact solution to the Einstein-scalar-Maxwell
theory. We investigate the motion of massless and massive particles in this
background using the standard Lagrangian procedure. Analytical expressions are
obtained for radial and angular motions of the test particles, where the polar
trajectories are given in terms of the $\wp$ - Weierstrass elliptic function.
It is shown that confined orbits are not allowed on this spacetime, this result
agrees with the obtained recently in the literature for other Lifshitz black
holes.


title:
Stationary modes and integrals of motion in nonlinear lattices with
  PT-symmetric linear part

abstract:
  We consider finite-dimensional nonlinear systems with linear part described
by a parity-time (PT-) symmetric operator. We investigate bifurcations of
stationary nonlinear modes from the eigenstates of the linear operator and
consider a class of PT-symmetric nonlinearities allowing for existence of the
families of nonlinear modes. We pay particular attention to the situations when
the underlying linear PT-symmetric operator is characterized by the presence of
degenerate eigenvalues or exceptional-point singularity. In each of the cases
we construct formal expansions for small-amplitude nonlinear modes. We also
report a class of nonlinearities allowing for the system to admit one or
several integrals of motion, which turn out to be determined by the
pseudo-Hermiticity of the nonlinear operator.


title: Some preconditioners for systems of linear inequalities

abstract:
  We show that a combination of two simple preprocessing steps would generally
improve the conditioning of a homogeneous system of linear inequalities. Our
approach is based on a comparison among three different but related notions of
conditioning for linear inequalities.


title: Efficiently Estimating Motif Statistics of Large Networks

abstract:
  Exploring statistics of locally connected subgraph patterns (also known as
network motifs) has helped researchers better understand the structure and
function of biological and online social networks (OSNs). Nowadays the massive
size of some critical networks -- often stored in already overloaded relational
databases -- effectively limits the rate at which nodes and edges can be
explored, making it a challenge to accurately discover subgraph statistics. In
this work, we propose sampling methods to accurately estimate subgraph
statistics from as few queried nodes as possible. We present sampling
algorithms that efficiently and accurately estimate subgraph properties of
massive networks. Our algorithms require no pre-computation or complete network
topology information. At the same time, we provide theoretical guarantees of
convergence. We perform experiments using widely known data sets, and show that
for the same accuracy, our algorithms require an order of magnitude less
queries (samples) than the current state-of-the-art algorithms.


title:
Analytic Solutions for D-optimal Factorial Designs under Generalized
  Linear Models

abstract:
  We develop two analytic approaches to solve D-optimal approximate designs
under generalized linear models. The first approach provides analytic D-optimal
allocations for generalized linear models with two factors, which include as a
special case the $2^2$ main-effects model considered by Yang, Mandal and
Majumdar (2012). The second approach leads to explicit solutions for a class of
generalized linear models with more than two factors. With the aid of the
analytic solutions, we provide a necessary and sufficient condition under which
a D-optimal design with two quantitative factors could be constructed on the
boundary points only. It bridges the gap between D-optimal factorial designs
and D-optimal designs with continuous factors.


title:
Phase Diagrams for the $\nu$ = 1/2 Fractional Quantum Hall Effect in
  Electron Systems Confined to Symmetric, Wide GaAs Quantum Wells

abstract:
  We report an experimental investigation of fractional quantum Hall effect
(FQHE) at the even-denominator Landau level filling factor $\nu$ = 1/2 in very
high quality wide GaAs quantum wells, and at very high magnetic fields up to 45
T. The quasi-two-dimensional electron systems we study are confined to GaAs
quantum wells with widths $W$ ranging from 41 to 96 nm and have variable
densities in the range of $\simeq 4 \times 10^{11}$ to $\simeq 4 \times
10^{10}$ cm$^{-2}$. We present several experimental phase diagrams for the
stability of the $\nu=1/2$ FQHE in these quantum wells. In general, for a given
$W$, the 1/2 FQHE is stable in a limited range of intermediate densities where
it has a bilayer-like charge distribution; it makes a transition to a
compressible phase at low densities and to an insulating phase at high
densities. The densities at which the $\nu=1/2$ FQHE is stable are larger for
narrower quantum wells. Moreover, even a slight charge distribution asymmetry
destabilizes the $\nu=1/2$ FQHE and turns the electron system into a
compressible state. We also present a plot of the symmetric-to-antisymmetric
subband separation ($\Delta_{SAS}$), which characterizes the inter-layer
tunneling, vs density for various $W$. This plot reveals that $\Delta_{SAS}$ at
the boundary between the compressible and FQHE phases increases
\textit{linearly} with density for all the samples. Finally, we summarize the
experimental data in a diagram that takes into account the relative strengths
of the inter-layer and intra-layer Coulomb interactions and $\Delta_{SAS}$. We
conclude that, consistent with the conclusions of some of the previous studies,
the $\nu=1/2$ FQHE observed in wide GaAs quantum wells with symmetric charge
distribution is stabilized by a delicate balance between the inter-layer and
intra-layer interactions, and is very likely described by a two-component
($\Psi_{311}$) state.


title: Throughput of Large One-hop Wireless Networks with General Fading

abstract:
  Consider $n$ source-destination pairs randomly located in a shared wireless
medium, resulting in interference between different transmissions. All wireless
links are modeled by independently and identically distributed (i.i.d.) random
variables, indicating that the dominant channel effect is the random fading
phenomenon. We characterize the throughput of one-hop communication in such
network. First, we present a closed-form expression for throughput scaling of a
heuristic strategy, for a completely general channel power distribution. This
heuristic strategy is based on activating the source-destination pairs with the
best direct links, and forcing the others to be silent. Then, we present the
results for several common examples, namely, Gamma (Nakagami-$m$ fading),
Weibull, Pareto, and Log-normal channel power distributions. Finally -- by
proposing an upper bound on throughput of all possible strategies for
super-exponential distributions -- we prove that the aforementioned heuristic
method is order-optimal for Nakagami-$m$ fading.


title:
Defect recombination induced by density-activated carrier diffusion in
  nonpolar InGaN quantum wells

abstract:
  We report on the observation of carrier-diffusion-induced defect emission at
high excitation density in a-plane InGaN single quantum wells. When increasing
excitation density in a relatively high regime, we observed the emergence of
defect-related emission together with a significant reduction in bandedge
emission efficiency. The experimental results can be well explained with the
density-activated carrier diffusion from localized states to defect states.
Such a scenario of density-activated defect recombination, as confirmed by the
dependences of photoluminescence on the excitation photon energy and
temperature, is a plausible origin of efficiency droop in a-plane InGaN
quantum-well light-emitting diodes.


title: New Approach of Estimating PSNR-B For De-blocked Images

abstract:
  Measurement of image quality is very crucial to many image processing
applications. Quality metrics are used to measure the quality of improvement in
the images after they are processed and compared with the original images.
Compression is one of the applications where it is required to monitor the
quality of decompressed or decoded image. JPEG compression is the lossy
compression which is most prevalent technique for image codecs. But it suffers
from blocking artifacts. Various deblocking filters are used to reduce blocking
artifacts. The efficiency of deblocking filters which improves visual signals
degraded by blocking artifacts from compression will also be studied. Objective
quality metrics like PSNR, SSIM, and PSNRB for analyzing the quality of
deblocked images will be studied. We introduce a new approach of PSNR-B for
analyzing quality of deblocked images. Simulation results show that new
approach of PSNR-B called modified PSNR-B. it gives even better results
compared to existing well known blockiness specific indices


title:
A Note on Computing Extreme Tail Probabilities of the Noncentral T
  Distribution with Large Noncentrality Parameter

abstract:
  The noncentral $t$-distribution is a generalization of the Student's
$t$-distribution. In this paper we suggest an alternative approach for
computing the cumulative distribution function (CDF) of the noncentral
$t$-distribution which is based on a direct numerical integration of a well
behaved function. With a double-precision arithmetic, the algorithm provides
highly precise and fast evaluation of the extreme tail probabilities of the
noncentral $t$-distribution, even for large values of the noncentrality
parameter $\delta$ and the degrees of freedom $\nu$. The implementation of the
algorithm is available at the MATLAB Central, File Exchange:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/41790-nctcdfvw.


title: Reference frame agreement in quantum networks

abstract:
  In order to communicate information in a quantum network effectively, all
network nodes should share a common reference frame. Here, we propose to study
how well m nodes in a quantum network can establish a common reference frame
from scratch, even though t of them may be arbitrarily faulty. We present a
protocol that allows all correctly functioning nodes to agree on a common
reference frame as long as not more than t < m/3 nodes are faulty. Our protocol
furthermore has the appealing property that it allows any existing two-party
protocol for reference frame agreement to be lifted to a protocol for a quantum
network.


title:
Design and Implementation of an Unmanned Vehicle using a GSM Network
  without Microcontrollers

abstract:
  In the recent past, wireless controlled vehicles had been extensively used in
a lot of areas like unmanned rescue missions, military usage for unmanned
combat and many others. But the major disadvantage of these wireless unmanned
robots is that they typically make use of RF circuits for maneuver and control.
Essentially RF circuits suffer from a lot of drawbacks such as limited
frequency range i.e. working range, and limited control. To overcome such
problems associated with RF control, few papers have been written, describing
methods which make use of the GSM network and the DTMF function of a cell phone
to control the robotic vehicle. This paper although uses the same principle
technology of the GSM network and the DTMF based mobile phone but it
essentially shows the construction of a circuit using only 4 bits of wireless
data communication to control the motion of the vehicle without the use of any
microcontroller. This improvement results in considerable reduction of circuit
complexity and of manpower for software development as the circuit built using
this system does not require any form of programming. Moreover, practical
results obtained showed an appreciable degree of accuracy of the system and
friendliness without the use of any microcontroller.


title:
Drosophila embryogenesis scales uniformly across temperature in
  developmentally diverse species

abstract:
  Temperature affects both the timing and outcome of animal development, but
the detailed effects of temperature on the progress of early development have
been poorly characterized. To determine the impact of temperature on the order
and timing of events during Drosophila melanogaster embryogenesis, we used
time-lapse imaging to track the progress of embryos from shortly after egg
laying through hatching at seven precisely maintained temperatures between
17.5C and 32.5C. We employed a combination of automated and manual annotation
to determine when 36 milestones occurred in each embryo. D. melanogaster
embryogenesis takes ~33 hours at 17.5C, and accelerates with increasing
temperature to 16 hours at 27.5C, above which embryogenesis slows slightly.
Remarkably, while the total time of embryogenesis varies over two fold, the
relative timing of events from cellularization through hatching is constant
across temperatures. To further explore the relationship between temperature
and embryogenesis, we expanded our analysis to cover ten additional Drosophila
species of varying climatic origins. Six of these species, like D.
melanogaster, are of tropical origin, and embryogenesis time at different
temperatures was similar for them all. D. mojavensis, a sub-tropical fly,
develops slower than the tropical species at lower temperatures, while D.
virilis, a temperate fly, exhibits slower development at all temperatures. The
alpine sister species D. persimilis and D. pseudoobscura develop as rapidly as
tropical flies at cooler temperatures, but exhibit diminished acceleration
above 22.5C and have drastically slowed development by 30C. Despite ranging
from 13 hours for D. erecta at 30C to 46 hours for D. virilis at 17.5C, the
relative timing of events from cellularization through hatching is constant
across all species and temperatures, suggesting the existence of a timer
controlling embryogenesis.


title:
Horizon wave-function for single localized particles: GUP and quantum
  black hole decay

abstract:
  A localised particle in Quantum Mechanics is described by a wave packet in
position space, regardless of its energy. However, from the point of view of
General Relativity, if the particle's energy density exceeds a certain
threshold, it should be a black hole. In order to combine these two pictures,
we introduce a horizon wave-function determined by the particle wave-function
in position space, which eventually yields the probability that the particle is
a black hole. The existence of a minimum mass for black holes naturally
follows, albeit not in the form of a sharp value around the Planck scale, but
rather like a vanishing probability that a particle much lighter than the
Planck mass be a black hole. We also show that our construction entails an
effective Generalised Uncertainty Principle (GUP), simply obtained by adding
the uncertainties coming from the two wave-functions associated to a particle.
Finally, the decay of microscopic (quantum) black holes is also described in
agreement with what the GUP predicts.


title: Secret key generation from Gaussian sources using lattice hashing

abstract:
  We propose a simple yet complete lattice-based scheme for secret key
generation from Gaussian sources in the presence of an eavesdropper, and show
that it achieves strong secret key rates up to 1/2 nat from the optimal in the
case of "degraded" source models. The novel ingredient of our scheme is a
lattice-hashing technique, based on the notions of flatness factor and channel
intrinsic randomness. The proposed scheme does not require dithering.


title:
Measurement of the multiplicity dependence of charm production in
  proton--proton collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 TeV with the ALICE experiment at the
  CERN-LHC

abstract:
  Potential of the charm quark as a probe to study the Quark-Gluon Plasma (QGP)
is best harnessed when its production mechanisms are disentangled from its
propagation through the QGP. Proton-proton (pp) collisions help us to study
charmed hadron production mechanisms. The measurement of D-meson yields in pp
collisions as a function of the multiplicity of produced particles allows one
to gain some insight into the processes occurring in the collision at a
microscopic level. Here, the preliminary results are presented from this
measurement at \sqrt{s} = 7 TeV. The analysis strategy, the applied
corrections, and the determination of the systematic uncertainties are
described. The preliminary results are presented and compared with those from a
similar, published, measurement of J/\psi production.


title:
Generalized Metaplectic Operators and the Schr\"odinger Equation with a
  Potential in the Sj\"ostrand Class

abstract:
  It is well known that the matrix of a metaplectic operator with respect to
phase-space shifts is concentrated along the graph of a linear symplectic map.
We show that the algebra generated by metaplectic operators and by
pseudodifferential opertators in a Sj\"ostrand class enjoys the same decay
properties. We study the behavior of these generalized metaplectic operators
and represent them by Fourier integral operators. Our main result shows that
the one-parameter group generated by a Hamiltonian operator with a potential in
the Sj\"ostrand class consists of generalized metaplectic operators. As a
consequence, the Schr\"odinger equation preserves the phase-space
concentration, as measured by modulation space norms.


title:
Factorising equity returns in an emerging market through exogenous
  shocks and capital flows

abstract:
  A technique from stochastic portfolio theory [Fernholz, 1998] is applied to
analyse equity returns of Small, Mid and Large cap portfolios in an emerging
market through periods of growth and regional crises, up to the onset of the
global financial crisis. In particular, we factorize portfolios in the South
African market in terms of distribution of capital, change of stock ranks in
portfolios, and the effect due to dividends for the period Nov 1994 to May
2007. We discuss the results in the context of broader economic thinking to
consider capital flows as risk factors, turning around more established
approaches which use macroeconomic and socio-economic conditions to explain
Foreign Direct Investment (into the economy) and Net Portfolio Investment (into
equity and bond markets).


title: Methods for characterising microphysical processes in plasmas

abstract:
  Advanced spectral and statistical data analysis techniques have greatly
contributed to shaping our understanding of microphysical processes in plasmas.
We review some of the main techniques that allow for characterising fluctuation
phenomena in geospace and in laboratory plasma observations. Special emphasis
is given to the commonalities between different disciplines, which have
witnessed the development of similar tools, often with differing terminologies.
The review is phrased in terms of few important concepts: self-similarity,
deviation from self-similarity (i.e. intermittency and coherent structures),
wave-turbulence, and anomalous transport.


title: Surgery and Invariants of Lagrangian Surfaces

abstract:
  We considered a surgery, called Lagrangian attaching disk surgery, that can
be applied to a Lagrangian surface L at the presence of a Lagrangian attaching
disk D, to obtain a new Lagrangian surface L' which is always smoothly isotopic
to L. We showed that this type of surgery includes all even generalized Dehn
twists as constructed by Paul Seidel. We also constructed a new symplectic
invariant, called y-index, for orientable closed Lagrangian surfaces immersed
in a parallelizable symplectic 4-manifold W. With y-index we proved that L and
L' are not Hamiltonian isotopic. We also obtained new examples of
nullhomologous Lagrangian tori which are smooth isotopic but not Hamiltonian
isotopic.


title:
Benchmarking Practical RRM Algorithms for D2D Communications in LTE
  Advanced

abstract:
  Device-to-device (D2D) communication integrated into cellular networks is a
means to take advantage of the proximity of devices and allow for reusing
cellular resources and thereby to increase the user bitrates and the system
capacity. However, when D2D (in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project also
called Long Term Evolution (LTE) Direct) communication in cellular spectrum is
supported, there is a need to revisit and modify the existing radio resource
management (RRM) and power control (PC) techniques to realize the potential of
the proximity and reuse gains and to limit the interference at the cellular
layer. In this paper, we examine the performance of the flexible LTE PC tool
box and benchmark it against a utility optimal iterative scheme. We find that
the open loop PC scheme of LTE performs well for cellular users both in terms
of the used transmit power levels and the achieved
signal-to-interference-and-noise-ratio (SINR) distribution. However, the
performance of the D2D users as well as the overall system throughput can be
boosted by the utility optimal scheme, because the utility maximizing scheme
takes better advantage of both the proximity and the reuse gains. Therefore, in
this paper we propose a hybrid PC scheme, in which cellular users employ the
open loop path compensation method of LTE, while D2D users use the utility
optimizing distributed PC scheme. In order to protect the cellular layer, the
hybrid scheme allows for limiting the interference caused by the D2D layer at
the cost of having a small impact on the performance of the D2D layer. To
ensure feasibility, we limit the number of iterations to a practically feasible
level. We make the point that the hybrid scheme is not only near optimal, but
it also allows for a distributed implementation for the D2D users, while
preserving the LTE PC scheme for the cellular users.


title: Primitive Central Idempotents of Rational Group Algebras

abstract:
  We give a description of the primitive central idempotents of the rational
group algebra QG of a finite group G. Such a description is already
investigated by Jespers, Olteanu and del R\'io, but some unknown scalars are
involved. Our description also gives answers to their questions.


title: Effective results on compositions of nonexpansive mappings

abstract:
  This paper provides uniform bounds on the asymptotic regularity for
iterations associated to a finite family of nonexpansive mappings. We obtain
our quantitative results in the setting of $(r,\delta)$-convex spaces, a class
of geodesic spaces which generalizes metric spaces with a convex geodesic
bicombing.


title:
Cognitive Interpretation of Everyday Activities: Toward Perceptual
  Narrative Based Visuo-Spatial Scene Interpretation

abstract:
  We position a narrative-centred computational model for high-level knowledge
representation and reasoning in the context of a range of assistive
technologies concerned with "visuo-spatial perception and cognition" tasks. Our
proposed narrative model encompasses aspects such as \emph{space, events,
actions, change, and interaction} from the viewpoint of commonsense reasoning
and learning in large-scale cognitive systems. The broad focus of this paper is
on the domain of "human-activity interpretation" in smart environments, ambient
intelligence etc. In the backdrop of a "smart meeting cinematography" domain,
we position the proposed narrative model, preliminary work on perceptual
narrativisation, and the immediate outlook on constructing general-purpose
open-source tools for perceptual narrativisation.
  ACM Classification: I.2 Artificial Intelligence: I.2.0 General -- Cognitive
Simulation, I.2.4 Knowledge Representation Formalisms and Methods, I.2.10
Vision and Scene Understanding: Architecture and control structures, Motion,
Perceptual reasoning, Shape, Video analysis
  General keywords: cognitive systems; human-computer interaction; spatial
cognition and computation; commonsense reasoning; spatial and temporal
reasoning; assistive technologies


title:
Comment on "A classical model for asymmetric sidebands in cavity
  optomechanical measurements"

abstract:
  We respond to a recent manuscript by Tsang [arXiv:1306.2699], on whether the
measurement presented in Safavi-Naeini et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 033602
(2012)] can be explained "without reference to quantum mechanics". We show that
the fully classical analysis provided by Tsang, and previously by Safavi-Naeini
et al. [New J. Phys. 15, 035007 (2013)], has been ruled out by our published
data. In addition, we discuss the role of the mathematical formulation used on
the interpretation of the asymmetry effect, as has previously been considered
by Khalili et al. [Phys. Rev. A 86, 033840 (2012)].


title:
Online dictionary learning for kernel LMS. Analysis and forward-backward
  splitting algorithm

abstract:
  Adaptive filtering algorithms operating in reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces
have demonstrated superiority over their linear counterpart for nonlinear
system identification. Unfortunately, an undesirable characteristic of these
methods is that the order of the filters grows linearly with the number of
input data. This dramatically increases the computational burden and memory
requirement. A variety of strategies based on dictionary learning have been
proposed to overcome this severe drawback. Few, if any, of these works analyze
the problem of updating the dictionary in a time-varying environment. In this
paper, we present an analytical study of the convergence behavior of the
Gaussian least-mean-square algorithm in the case where the statistics of the
dictionary elements only partially match the statistics of the input data. This
allows us to emphasize the need for updating the dictionary in an online way,
by discarding the obsolete elements and adding appropriate ones. We introduce a
kernel least-mean-square algorithm with L1-norm regularization to automatically
perform this task. The stability in the mean of this method is analyzed, and
its performance is tested with experiments.


title: Asymptotics for weakly dependent errors-in-variables

abstract:
  Linear relations, containing measurement errors in input and output data, are
taken into account in this paper. Parameters of these so-called
errors-in-variables (EIV) models can be estimated by minimizing the total least
squares (TLS) of the input-output disturbances. Such an estimate is highly
non-linear. Moreover in some realistic situations, the errors cannot be
considered as independent by nature. Weakly dependent (\alpha- and \phi-mixing)
disturbances, which are not necessarily stationary nor identically distributed,
are considered in the EIV model. Asymptotic normality of the TLS estimate is
proved under some reasonable stochastic assumptions on the errors. Derived
asymptotic properties provide necessary basis for the validity of
block-bootstrap procedures.


title:
HALOGAS observations of NGC 5023 and UGC 2082: Modeling of
  non-cylindrically symmetric gas distributions in edge-on galaxies

abstract:
  In recent years it has become clear that the vertical structure of disk
galaxies is a key ingredient for understanding galaxy evolution. In particular,
the presence and structure of extra-planar gas has been a focus of research.
The Hydrogen Accretion in LOcal GAlaxieS (HALOGAS) survey aims to provide a
census on the rate of cold neutral gas accretion in nearby galaxies as well as
a statistically significant set of galaxies that can be investigated for their
extra-planar gas properties.
  In order to better understand the the vertical structure of the neutral
hydrogen in the two edge-on HALOGAS galaxies NGC 5023 and UGC 2082 we construct
detailed tilted ring models. The addition of distortions resembling arcs or
spiral arms significantly improves the fit of the models to these galaxies. In
the case of UGC 2082 no vertical gradient in rotational velocity is required in
either symmetric models nor non-symmetric models to match the observations. The
best fitting model features two arcs of large vertical extent that may be due
to accretion. In the case of NGC 5023 a vertical gradient is required in
symmetric models (dV/dz =$-14.9\pm3.8$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$) and its
magnitude is significantly lowered when non-symmetric models are considered
(dV/dz =$-9.4\pm3.8$ km s$^{-1}$ kpc$^{-1}$). Additionally it is shown that the
underlying disk of NGC 5023 can be made symmetric, in all parameters except the
warp, in non-symmetric models. In comparison to the "classical" modeling these
models fit the data significantly better with a limited addition of free
parameters.


title:
Convergences and projection Markov property of Markov processes on
  ultrametric spaces

abstract:
  Let $(S,\rho)$ be an ultrametric space with certain conditions and $S^k$ be
the quotient space of $S$ with respect to the partition by balls with a fixed
radius $\phi(k)$. We prove that, for a Hunt process $X$ on $S$ associated with
a Dirichlet form $(\mathcal E, \mathcal F)$, a Hunt process $X^k$ on $S^k$
associated with the averaged Dirichlet form $(\mathcal E^k, \mathcal F^k)$ is
Mosco convergent to $X$, and under certain additional conditions, $X^k$
converges weakly to $X$. Moreover, we give a sufficient condition for the
Markov property of $X$ to be preserved under the canonical projection $\pi^k$
to $S^k$. In this case, we see that the projected process $\pi^k\circ X$ is
identical in law to $X^k$ and converges weakly to $X$.


title:
Anomalous g-Factors for Charged Leptons in a Fractional Coarse-Grained
  Approach

abstract:
  In this work, we investigate aspects of the electron, muon and tau
gyromagnetic ratios (g-factor) in a fractional coarse-grained scenario, by
adopting a Modified Riemann-Liouville (MRL) fractional calculus. We point out
the possibility of mapping the experimental values of the specie's g-factors
into a theoretical parameter which accounts for fractionality, without
computing higher-order QED calculations. We wish to understand whether the
value of (g-2) may be traced back to a fractionality of space-time.The
justification for the difference between the experimental and the theoretical
value g=2 stemming from the Dirac equation is given in the terms of the
complexity of the interactions of the charged leptons, considered as
pseudo-particles and "dressed" by the interactions and the medium. Stepwise, we
build up a fractional Dirac equation from the fractional Weyl equation that, on
the other hand, was formulated exclusively in terms of the helicity operator.
From the fractional angular momentum algebra, in a coarse-grained scenario, we
work out the eigenvalues of the spin operator. Based on the standard
electromagnetic current, as an analogy case, we write down a fractional
Lagrangian density, with the electromagnetic field minimally coupled to the
particular charged lepton. We then study a fractional gauge-like invariance
symmetry, formulate the covariant fractional derivative and propose the spinor
field transformation. Finally, by taking the non-relativistic regime of the
fractional Dirac equation, the fractional Pauli equation is obtained and, from
that, an explicit expression for the fractional g-factor comes out that is
compared with the experimental CODATA value. Our claim is that the different
lepton species must probe space-time by experiencing different fractionalities,
once the latter may be associated to the effective interactions of the
different families with the medium.


title:
The hybrid surface flux method for the ionization amplitude extraction
  from the calculated wavefunction

abstract:
  A method is proposed for extracting ionization amplitudes from the solution
of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation (TDSE) describing a system in a
time-dependent external field. The method is a hybrid of two earlier developed
methods, the time-dependent surface flux (t-SURFF) method and the method using
the propagated wavepacket as the source term in a time-independent driven
Schr\"odinger equation with the field-free Hamiltonian. It is demonstrated that
the method combines the advantages of the parent ones and allows the extraction
of ionization amplitudes by solving the TDSE within a small spatial domain
(with the boundary conditions provided by exterior complex scaling) and a time
interval, not exceeding the external field pulse duration.


title: Hamilton cycles in almost distance-hereditary graphs

abstract:
  Let $G$ be a graph on $n\geq 3$ vertices. A graph $G$ is almost
distance-hereditary if each connected induced subgraph $H$ of $G$ has the
property $d_{H}(x,y)\leq d_{G}(x,y)+1$ for any pair of vertices $x,y\in V(H)$.
A graph $G$ is called 1-heavy (2-heavy) if at least one (two) of the end
vertices of each induced subgraph of $G$ isomorphic to $K_{1,3}$ (a claw) has
(have) degree at least $n/2$, and called claw-heavy if each claw of $G$ has a
pair of end vertices with degree sum at least $n$. Thus every 2-heavy graph is
claw-heavy. In this paper we prove the following two results: (1) Every
2-connected, claw-heavy and almost distance-hereditary graph is Hamiltonian.
(2) Every 3-connected, 1-heavy and almost distance-hereditary graph is
Hamiltonian. In particular, the first result improves a previous theorem of
Feng and Guo. Both results are sharp in some sense.


title: On the differentiable vectors for contragredient representations

abstract:
  We establish a few simple results on contragredient representations of Lie
groups, with a view toward applications to the abstract characterization of
some spaces of pseudo-differential operators. In particular, this method
provides an abstract approach to J.Nourrigat's recent description of the norm
closure of the pseudo-differential operators of order zero.


title: Curvature: a variational approach

abstract:
  The curvature discussed in this paper is a rather far going generalization of
the Riemannian sectional curvature. We define it for a wide class of optimal
control problems: a unified framework including geometric structures such as
Riemannian, sub-Riemannian, Finsler and sub-Finsler structures; a special
attention is paid to the sub-Riemannian (or Carnot-Caratheodory) metric spaces.
Our construction of the curvature is direct and naive, and it is similar to the
original approach of Riemann. Surprisingly, it works in a very general setting
and, in particular, for all sub-Riemannian spaces.


title: Charm quark mass dependence in the CTEQ NNLO global QCD analysis

abstract:
  We discuss the impact of the charm quark mass in the CTEQ NNLO global
analysis of parton distribution functions of the proton. The $\bar{\rm MS}$
mass $m_c(m_c)$ of the charm quark is extracted in the S-ACOT-$\chi$
heavy-quark factorization scheme at ${\cal O}(\alpha_s^2)$ accuracy and found
to be in agreement with the world-average value. Impact on $m_c(m_c)$ of
combined HERA-1 data on semiinclusive charm production at HERA collider and
contributing systematic uncertainties are reviewed.