title:
CapriDB - Capture, Print, Innovate: A Low-Cost Pipeline and Database for
  Reproducible Manipulation Research

abstract:
  We present a novel approach and database which combines the inexpensive
generation of 3D object models via monocular or RGB-D camera images with 3D
printing and a state of the art object tracking algorithm. Unlike recent
efforts towards the creation of 3D object databases for robotics, our approach
does not require expensive and controlled 3D scanning setups and enables anyone
with a camera to scan, print and track complex objects for manipulation
research. The proposed approach results in highly detailed mesh models whose 3D
printed replicas are at times difficult to distinguish from the original. A key
motivation for utilizing 3D printed objects is the ability to precisely control
and vary object properties such as the mass distribution and size in the 3D
printing process to obtain reproducible conditions for robotic manipulation
research. We present CapriDB - an extensible database resulting from this
approach containing initially 40 textured and 3D printable mesh models together
with tracking features to facilitate the adoption of the proposed approach.


title: Astrometry with Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensors - A Review

abstract:
  Over the last 20 years Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor
interferometric astrometry has produced precise and accurate parallaxes of
astrophysical interesting stars and mass estimates for stellar companions. We
review parallax results, and binary star and exoplanet mass determinations, and
compare a subset of these parallaxes with preliminary Gaia results. The
approach to single-field relative astrometry described herein may continue to
have value for targets fainter than the Gaia limit in the coming era of 20-30m
telescopes.


title:
Understanding active galactic nuclei using near-infrared high angular
  resolution polarimetry I : MontAGN - stokes comparison

abstract:
  In this first research note of a series of two, we present a comparison
between two Monte Carlo radiative transfer codes: MontAGN and STOKES. Both were
developed in order to better understand the observed polarisation of Active
Galactic Nuclei (AGN). Our final aim is to use these radiative transfer codes
to simulate the polarisation maps of a prototypical type-2 radio-quiet AGN on a
wide range of wavelengths, from the infrared band with MontAGN to the X-ray
energies with STOKES. Doing so, we aim to analyse in depth the recent
SPHERE/IRDIS polarimetric observations conducted on NGC 1068. In order to
validate the codes and obtain preliminary results, we set for both codes a
common and simple AGN model, and compared their polaro-imaging results.


title: Tensor products of faithful modules

abstract:
  If $k$ is a field, $A$ and $B$ $k$-algebras, $M$ a faithful left $A$-module,
and $N$ a faithful left $B$-module, we recall the proof that the left
$A\otimes_k B$-module $M\otimes_k N$ is again faithful. If $k$ is a general
commutative ring, we note some conditions on $A,$ $B,$ $M$ and $N$ that do, and
others that do not, imply the same conclusion. Finally, we note a version of
the main result that does not involve any algebra structures on $A$ and $B.$


title:
Open top anodic Ta3N5 nanotubes for higher solar water splitting
  efficiency

abstract:
  In the present work we grow self-organized Ta2O5 nanotube layers in a
H2SO4/NH4F electrolyte at various elevated temperatures. Under optimized
conditions we obtain 4 {\mu}m long nanotubes that are well adherent to the
substrate and can be grown very homogenous over large surface areas. Moreover,
the key advantage of this approach is that an open top morphology (initiation
layer free) is obtained. After a suitable conversion treatment in NH3
atmosphere Ta3N5 nanotubes are obtained, that after (Co-Pi+Co(OH)x)
modification provide, under AM 1.5G illumination conditions, a
photoelectrochemical current response of 4.7 mA cm-2 at 1.23 V vs RHE.


title: Quasi-shuffle products revisited

abstract:
  Quasi-shuffle products, introduced by the first author, have been useful in
studying multiple zeta values and some of their analogues and generalizations.
The second author, together with Kajikawa, Ohno, and Okuda, significantly
extended the definition of quasi-shuffle algebras so it could be applied to
multiple zeta q-values. This article extends some of the algebraic machinery of
the first author's original paper to the more general definition, and uses this
extension to obtain various algebraic formulas in the quasi-shuffle algebra in
a transparent way. Some applications to multiple zeta values, interpolated
multiple zeta values, multiple q-zeta values, and multiple polylogarithms are
given.


title: Algebraic methods in approximation theory

abstract:
  This survey gives an overview of several fundamental algebraic constructions
which arise in the study of splines. Splines play a key role in approximation
theory, geometric modeling, and numerical analysis, their properties depend on
combinatorics, topology, and geometry of a simplicial or polyhedral subdivision
of a region in R^k, and are often quite subtle. We describe four algebraic
techniques which are useful in the study of splines: homology, graded algebra,
localization, and inverse systems. Our goal is to give a hands-on introduction
to the methods, and illustrate them with concrete examples in the context of
splines. We highlight progress made with these methods, such as a formula for
the third coefficient of the polynomial giving the dimension of the spline
space in high degree, much of which builds on pioneering work of Schumaker,
Alfeld-Schumaker, and Billera. The objects appearing here may be computed using
the Macaulay2 software system.


title: Learning and Transfer of Modulated Locomotor Controllers

abstract:
  We study a novel architecture and training procedure for locomotion tasks. A
high-frequency, low-level "spinal" network with access to proprioceptive
sensors learns sensorimotor primitives by training on simple tasks. This
pre-trained module is fixed and connected to a low-frequency, high-level
"cortical" network, with access to all sensors, which drives behavior by
modulating the inputs to the spinal network. Where a monolithic end-to-end
architecture fails completely, learning with a pre-trained spinal module
succeeds at multiple high-level tasks, and enables the effective exploration
required to learn from sparse rewards. We test our proposed architecture on
three simulated bodies: a 16-dimensional swimming snake, a 20-dimensional
quadruped, and a 54-dimensional humanoid. Our results are illustrated in the
accompanying video at https://youtu.be/sboPYvhpraQ


title:
A hybrid model of kernel density estimation and quantile regression for
  GEFCom2014 probabilistic load forecasting

abstract:
  We present a model for generating probabilistic forecasts by combining kernel
density estimation (KDE) and quantile regression techniques, as part of the
probabilistic load forecasting track of the Global Energy Forecasting
Competition 2014. The KDE method is initially implemented with a time-decay
parameter. We later improve this method by conditioning on the temperature or
the period of the week variables to provide more accurate forecasts. Secondly,
we develop a simple but effective quantile regression forecast. The novel
aspects of our methodology are two-fold. First, we introduce symmetry into the
time-decay parameter of the kernel density estimation based forecast. Secondly
we combine three probabilistic forecasts with different weights for different
periods of the month.


title:
Dynamic Buffer Management for Multimedia QoS in Beyond 3G Wireless
  Networks

abstract:
  This paper investigates a dynamic buffer management scheme for QoS control of
multimedia services in beyond 3G wireless systems. The scheme is studied in the
context of the state-of-the-art 3.5G system i.e. the High Speed Downlink Packet
Access (HSDPA) which enhances 3G UMTS to support high-speed packet switched
services. Unlike earlier systems, UMTS-evolved systems from HSDPA and beyond
incorporate mechanisms such as packet scheduling and HARQ in the base station
necessitating data buffering at the air interface. This introduces a potential
bottleneck to end-to-end communication. Hence, buffer management at the air
interface is crucial for end-to-end QoS support of multimedia services with
multiplexed parallel diverse flows such as video and data in the same end-user
session. The dynamic buffer management scheme for HSDPA multimedia sessions
with aggregated real-time and non real-time flows is investigated via extensive
HSDPA simulations. The impact of the scheme on end-to-end traffic performance
is evaluated with an example multimedia session comprising a real-time
streaming flow concurrent with TCP-based non real-time flow. Results
demonstrate that the scheme can guarantee the end-to-end QoS of the real-time
streaming flow, whilst simultaneously protecting the non real-time flow from
starvation resulting in improved end-to-end throughput performance.


title: Stellar flares and the dark energy of CMEs

abstract:
  Flares we observe on stars in white light, UV or soft X-rays are probably
harbingers of coronal mass ejections (CMEs). If we use the Sun as a guide,
large stellar flares will dissipate two orders of magnitude less X-ray
radiative energy than the kinetic energy in the associated CME. Since coronal
emission on active stars appears to be dominated by flare activity, CMEs pose a
quandary for understanding the fraction of their energy budget stars can spend
on magnetic activity. One answer is magnetic suppression of CMEs, in which the
strong large-scale fields of active stars entrap and prevent CMEs unless their
free energy exceeds a critical value. The CME-less flaring active region NOAA
2192 presents a possible solar analogue of this. Monster CMEs will still exist,
and have the potential to ravage planetary atmospheres.


title: Empirical spectral distributions of sparse random graphs

abstract:
  We study the spectrum of a random multigraph with a degree sequence ${\bf
D}_n=(D_i)_{i=1}^n$ and average degree $1 \ll \omega_n \ll n$, generated by the
configuration model, and also the spectrum of the analogous random simple
graph. We show that, when the empirical spectral distribution (ESD) of
$\omega_n^{-1} {\bf D}_n $ converges weakly to a limit $\nu$, under mild moment
assumptions (e.g., $D_i/\omega_n$ are i.i.d. with a finite second moment), the
ESD of the normalized adjacency matrix converges in probability to
$\nu\boxtimes \sigma_{\rm sc}$, the free multiplicative convolution of $\nu$
with the semicircle law. Relating this limit with a variant of the
Marchenko--Pastur law yields the continuity of its density (away from zero),
and an effective procedure for determining its support.
  Our proof of convergence is based on a coupling between the random simple
graph and multigraph with the same degrees, which might be of independent
interest. We further construct and rely on a coupling of the multigraph to an
inhomogeneous Erd\H{o}s-R\'enyi graph with the target ESD, using three
intermediate random graphs, with a negligible fraction of edges modified in
each step.


title:
Observation of the decay $B^0_s \to \phi\pi^+\pi^-$ and evidence for
  $B^0 \to \phi\pi^+\pi^-$

abstract:
  The first observation of the rare decay$B^0_s \to \phi\pi^+\pi^-$ and
evidence for $B^0 \to \phi\pi^+\pi^-$ are reported, using $pp$ collision data
recorded by the LHCb detector at centre-of-mass energies $\sqrt{s} = 7$ and
8~TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3{\mbox{\,fb}^{-1}}$. The
branching fractions in the $\pi^+\pi^-$ invariant mass range
$400<m(\pi^+\pi^-)<1600{\mathrm{\,Me\kern -0.1em V\!/}c^2}$ are $[3.48\pm
0.23\pm 0.17\pm 0.35]\times 10^{-6}$ and $[1.82\pm 0.25\pm 0.41\pm 0.14]\times
10^{-7}$ for $B^0_s \to \phi\pi^+\pi^-$ and $B^0 \to \phi\pi^+\pi^-$
respectively, where the uncertainties are statistical, systematic and from the
normalisation mode $B^0_s \to \phi\phi $. A combined analysis of the
$\pi^+\pi^-$ mass spectrum and the decay angles of the final-state particles
identifies the exclusive decays $B^0_s \to \phi f_0(980) $, $B_s^0 \to \phi
f_2(1270) $, and $B^0_s \to \phi\rho^0$ with branching fractions of $[1.12\pm
0.16^{+0.09}_{-0.08}\pm 0.11]\times 10^{-6}$, $[0.61\pm 0.13^{+0.12}_{-0.05}\pm
0.06]\times 10^{-6}$ and $[2.7\pm 0.7\pm 0.2\pm 0.2]\times 10^{-7}$,
respectively.


title: Subdivision and spline spaces

abstract:
  A standard construction in approximation theory is mesh refinement. For a
simplicial or polyhedral mesh D in R^k, we study the subdivision D' obtained by
subdividing a maximal cell of D. We give sufficient conditions for the module
of splines on D' to split as the direct sum of splines on D and splines on the
subdivided cell. As a consequence, we obtain dimension formulas and explicit
bases for several commonly used subdivisions and their multivariate
generalizations.


title: ProQ3D: Improved model quality assessments using Deep Learning

abstract:
  Summary: Protein quality assessment is a long-standing problem in
bioinformatics. For more than a decade we have developed state-of-art
predictors by carefully selecting and optimising inputs to a machine learning
method. The correlation has increased from 0.60 in ProQ to 0.81 in ProQ2 and
0.85 in ProQ3 mainly by adding a large set of carefully tuned descriptions of a
protein. Here, we show that a substantial improvement can be obtained using
exactly the same inputs as in ProQ2 or ProQ3 but replacing the support vector
machine by a deep neural network. This improves the Pearson correlation to 0.90
(0.85 using ProQ2 input features).
  Availability: ProQ3D is freely available both as a webserver and a
stand-alone program at http://proq3.bioinfo.se/


title: Quantum enhancement of randomness distribution

abstract:
  The capability of a given channel to communicate information is, a priori,
distinct from its capability to distribute shared randomness. In this article
we define randomness distribution capacities of quantum channels assisted by
forward, back, or two-way classical communication and compare these to the
corresponding communication capacities. With forward assistance or no
assistance, we find that they are equal. We establish the mutual information of
the channel as an upper bound on the two-way assisted randomness distribution
capacity. This implies that all of the capacities are equal for
classical-quantum channels. On the other hand, we show that the back-assisted
randomness distribution capacity of a quantum-classical channels is equal to
its mutual information. This is often strictly greater than the back-assisted
communication capacity. We give an explicit example of such a separation where
the randomness distribution protocol is noiseless.


title: Renyi divergences, Bures geometry and quantum statistical thermodynamics

abstract:
  The Bures geometry of quantum statistical thermodynamics at thermal
equilibrium is investigated by introducing the connections between the Bures
angle and the Renyi $1/2$-divergence. Fundamental relations concerning free
energy, moments of work and distance are established.


title: Metastable Dark Energy with Radioactive-like Decay

abstract:
  We propose a new class of metastable dark energy (DE) phenomenological models
in which the DE decay rate does not depend on external parameters such as the
scale factor or the curvature of the Universe. Instead, the DE decay rate is
assumed to be a constant depending only on intrinsic properties of DE and the
type of a decay channel, similar to case of the radioactive decay of unstable
particles and nuclei. As a consequence, the DE energy density becomes a
function of the proper time elapsed since its formation, presumably in the very
early Universe. Such a natural type of DE decay can profoundly affect the
expansion history of the Universe and its age. Metastable DE can decay in three
distinct ways: (i) exponentially, (ii) into dark matter, (iii) into dark
radiation. Testing metastable DE models with observational data we find that
the decay half-life must be many times larger than the age of the Universe.
Models in which dark energy decays into dark matter lead to lower values of the
Hubble parameter at large redshifts relative to $\Lambda$CDM. Consequently
these models provide a better fit to cosmological BAO data (especially data
from from high redshift quasars) than concordance ($\Lambda$CDM) cosmology.


title: Nonlinear Resistivity for Magnetohydrodynamical Models

abstract:
  A new formulation of the plasma resistivity that arises from the collisional
momentum-transfer rate between electrons and ions is presented. The resistivity
computed herein is shown to depend not only on the temperature and density but
also on all other polynomial velocity-space moments of the distribution
function, such as the pressure tensor and heat flux vector. The exact
expression for the collisional momentum-transfer rate is determined, and is
used to formulate the nonlinear anisotropic resistivity. The new formalism
recovers the Spitzer resistivity, as well as the concept of thermal force if
the heat flux is assumed to be proportional to a temperature gradient.
Furthermore, if the pressure tensor is related to viscous stress, the latter
enters the expression for the resistivity. The relative importance of the
nonlinear term(s) with respect to the well-established electron inertia and
Hall terms is also examined. The subtle implications of the nonlinear
resistivity, and its dependence on the fluid variables, are discussed in the
context of magnetized plasma environments and phenomena such as magnetic
reconnection.

categories: physics.plasm-ph astro-ph.HE astro-ph.SR physics.flu-dyn


title:
Role of nonlinearity in resistive switching phenomena of lanthanum
  calcium manganate heterostructures

abstract:
  The present paper examines the influence of a nonlinear relationship between
the local oxygen-vacancy concentration and the local resistivity on resistive
switching effects in complex oxides. The continuity equation has been used as a
model for the motion of oxygen vacancies when a periodic time-dependent
electrical current is applied. The question of endurance of the switching
cycles is discussed. It is found that nonlinearity of the
resistivity-concentration dependence enhances the endurance.


title:
Diffuse X-Ray Scattering near a Two-Dimensional Solid - Liquid Phase
  Transition at the n-Hexane - Water Interface

abstract:
  According to experimental data on X-ray scattering and reflectometry with the
use of synchrotron radiation, a two-dimensional crystallization phase
transition in a monolayer of melissic acid at the n-hexane - water interface
with a decrease in the temperature occurs after a wetting transition.


title:
A collimated wind interpretation for the spectral variability of Z And
  during its major 2006 eruption

abstract:
  High-resolution observations in the region, centered at 4400 \AA\ and those
of the lines HeII 4686, Hbeta and HeI 6678 of the spectrum of the symbiotic
binary Z And were performed during its outburst in 2006. The line Hbeta had
additional satellite high-velocity emission components situated on either side
of its central peak. The lines of neutral helium presented two components,
consisting of a nebular emission situated close to the reference wavelength and
a highly variable P Cyg absorption. Close to the optical maximum the line HeII
4686 was weak emission feature, but with the fading of the light it changed
into an intensive emission consisting of a central narrow component and a broad
component with a low intensity. The lines of NIII and CIII were very broadened.
We demonstrate that all of these groups of lines with very different profiles
can be interpreted in the light of the same model, where a disc-shaped material
surrounding the compact object collimates its stellar wind and gives rise to
bipolar outflow.


title: One-dimensional Titanium Dioxide Nanomaterials: Nanotubes

abstract:
  In the present review we try to give a comprehensive and most up to date view
to the field, with an emphasis on the currently most investigated anodic TiO2
nanotube arrays. We will first give an overview of different synthesis
approaches to produce TiO2 nanotubes and TiO2 nanotube arrays, and then deal
with physical and chemical properties of TiO2 nanotubes and techniques to
modify them. Finally, we will provide an overview of the most explored and
prospective applications of nanotubular TiO2.


title:
An automatically generated code for relativistic inhomogeneous
  cosmologies

abstract:
  The applications of numerical relativity to cosmology are on the rise,
contributing insight into such cosmological problems as structure formation,
primordial phase transitions, gravitational-wave generation, and inflation. In
this paper, I present the infrastructure for the computation of inhomogeneous
dust cosmologies which was used recently to measure the effect of nonlinear
inhomogeneity on the cosmic expansion rate. I illustrate the code's
architecture, provide evidence for its correctness in a number of familiar
cosmological settings, and evaluate its parallel performance for grids of up to
several billion points. The code, which is available as free software, is based
on the Einstein Toolkit infrastructure, and in particular leverages the
automated-code-generation capabilities provided by its component Kranc.


title: Chaining, Interpolation, and Convexity II: The contraction principle

abstract:
  The generic chaining method provides a sharp description of the suprema of
many random processes in terms of the geometry of their index sets. The
chaining functionals that arise in this theory are however notoriously
difficult to control in any given situation. In the first paper in this series,
we introduced a particularly simple method for producing the requisite multi
scale geometry by means of real interpolation. This method is easy to use, but
does not always yield sharp bounds on chaining functionals. In the present
paper, we show that a refinement of the interpolation method provides a
canonical mechanism for controlling chaining functionals. The key innovation is
a simple but powerful contraction principle that makes it possible to
efficiently exploit interpolation. We illustrate the utility of this approach
by developing new dimension-free bounds on the norms of random matrices and on
chaining functionals in Banach lattices. As another application, we give a
remarkably short interpolation proof of the majorizing measure theorem that
entirely avoids the greedy construction that lies at the heart of earlier
proofs.


title: Structured Random Matrices

abstract:
  Random matrix theory is a well-developed area of probability theory that has
numerous connections with other areas of mathematics and its applications. Much
of the literature in this area is concerned with matrices that possess many
exact or approximate symmetries, such as matrices with i.i.d. entries, for
which precise analytic results and limit theorems are available. Much less well
understood are matrices that are endowed with an arbitrary structure, such as
sparse Wigner matrices or matrices whose entries possess a given variance
pattern. The challenge in investigating such structured random matrices is to
understand how the given structure of the matrix is reflected in its spectral
properties. This chapter reviews a number of recent results, methods, and open
problems in this direction, with a particular emphasis on sharp spectral norm
inequalities for Gaussian random matrices.


title: The realm of the galaxy protoclusters

abstract:
  The study of galaxy protoclusters is beginning to fill in unknown details of
the important phase of the assembly of clusters and cluster galaxies. This
review describes the current status of this field and highlights promising
recent findings related to galaxy formation in the densest regions of the early
universe. We discuss the main search techniques and the characteristic
properties of protoclusters in observations and simulations, and show that
protoclusters will have present-day masses similar to galaxy clusters when
fully collapsed. We discuss the physical properties of galaxies in
protoclusters, including (proto-)brightest cluster galaxies, and the forming
red sequence. We highlight the fact that the most massive halos at high
redshift are found in protoclusters, making these objects uniquely suited for
testing important recent models of galaxy formation. We show that galaxies in
protoclusters should be among the first galaxies at high redshift making the
transition from a gas cooling regime dominated by cold streams to a regime
dominated by hot intracluster gas, which could be tested observationally. We
also discuss the possible connections between protoclusters and radio galaxies,
quasars, and Ly-alpha blobs. Because of their early formation, large spatial
sizes and high total star formation rates, protoclusters have also likely
played a crucial role during the epoch of reionization, which can be tested
with future experiments that will map the neutral and ionized cosmic web. Last,
we review a number of promising observational projects that are expected to
make significant impact in this growing, exciting field.


title:
Decentralized Collaborative Learning of Personalized Models over
  Networks

abstract:
  We consider a set of learning agents in a collaborative peer-to-peer network,
where each agent learns a personalized model according to its own learning
objective. The question addressed in this paper is: how can agents improve upon
their locally trained model by communicating with other agents that have
similar objectives? We introduce and analyze two asynchronous gossip algorithms
running in a fully decentralized manner. Our first approach, inspired from
label propagation, aims to smooth pre-trained local models over the network
while accounting for the confidence that each agent has in its initial model.
In our second approach, agents jointly learn and propagate their model by
making iterative updates based on both their local dataset and the behavior of
their neighbors. To optimize this challenging objective, our decentralized
algorithm is based on ADMM.


title:
Maximal operators and Hilbert transforms along variable non-flat
  homogeneous curves

abstract:
  We prove that the maximal operator associated with variable homogeneous
planar curves $(t, u t^{\alpha})_{t\in \mathbb{R}}$, $\alpha\not=1$ positive,
is bounded on $L^p(\mathbb{R}^2)$ for each $p>1$, under the assumption that
$u:\mathbb{R}^2 \to \mathbb{R}$ is a Lipschitz function. Furthermore, we prove
that the Hilbert transform associated with $(t, ut^{\alpha})_{t\in
\mathbb{R}}$, $\alpha\not=1$ positive, is bounded on $L^p(\mathbb{R}^2)$ for
each $p>1$, under the assumption that $u:\mathbb{R}^2\to \mathbb{R}$ is a
measurable function and is constant in the second variable. Our proofs rely on
stationary phase methods, $TT^*$ arguments, local smoothing estimates and a
pointwise estimate for taking averages along curves.


title: Computing the Minimal Model for the Quantum Symmetric Algebra

abstract:
  In this note, we use some of the tensor categorial machinery developed by the
quantum algebra community to study algebraic objects which appear in
representation stability. In MR3430359, Sam and Snowden prove that the twisted
commutative algebra Sym is Morita equivalent to the horizontal strip category.
Their proof relies on a lemma proved by Olver in MR924166. We give a self
contained proof that replaces Olver's lemma with information about the
associator in the underlying category of polynomial GL(infty)-representations.
In fact, we prove a quantum analogue of the theorem. The classical version
follows by letting the parameter converge to 1.


title: CHY formulae in 4d

abstract:
  In this paper, we develop a rather general way to reduce integrands with
polarization involved in the Cachazo-He-Yuan formulae, such as the reduced
Pfaffian, its compactiffcation and its squeezing, as well as the new object for
F^3 amplitude. We prove that the reduced Pfaffian vanishes unless evaluated on
a certain set of solutions. It leads us to build up the 4d CHY formulae using
spinors, which strains off many useless solutions. The supersymmetrization is
straightforward and may provide a hint to understand ambitwistor string in 4d.


title: Global structure of the Local Universe according to 2MRS survey

abstract:
  We report the results of a statistical analysis of the space distribution of
galaxies within distances about 300 Mpc using the 2MRS catalog, which contains
redshifts of 43533 galaxies of the 2MASS all-sky IR survey. Because of the
unique features of the 2MRS survey, such as its 90 percent sky coverage, galaxy
selection in the IR, the complete incorporation of the old stellar population
of galaxies, weakness of the dust extinction effects, and the smallness of the
k- and e-corrections allowed us to determine the statistical properties of the
global distribution of galaxies in the Local Universe. We took into account the
main methodological factors that distort the theoretically expected relations
compared to those actually observed. We construct the radial galaxy number
counts N(R), SL(R, r) statistics, and the complete correlation function
(conditional density) for volume-limited (VL) galaxy samples. The observed
conditional density in the redshift space is independent of the luminosity of
galaxies and has the form of a power-law function with slope ~ 1.0 over a large
range scale-length spanning from 0.1 to 100 Mpc. We compare the statistical
properties of the space distribution of galaxies of the 2MRS catalog with the
corresponding properties of simulated catalogs: stochastic fractal
distributions and galaxies of the Millennium catalog.


title: Link cobordisms and functoriality in link Floer homology

abstract:
  We construct cobordism maps on link Floer homology associated to decorated
link cobordisms. The maps are defined on a curved chain homotopy type
invariant. We describe the construction, and prove invariance. We also make a
comparison with the graph TQFT for Heegaard Floer homology.


title:
Photocatalytic H2 generation using dewetted Pt-decorated TiO2 nanotubes
  - Optimized dewetting and oxide crystallization by a multiple annealing
  process

abstract:
  In the present work we use TiO2 nanotube arrays, carrying a Pt coating that
is optimally dewetted, as a photocatalyst to generate H2. In order to achieve a
maximum H2-generation efficiency, on the one hand an ideal thermal dewetting of
the Pt layer into nanoparticles is needed that requires an oxygen free heat
treatment, and on the other hand an optimal crystallization of the TiO2
nanotubes into anatase with reduced defect density is achieved only by
annealing in O2 containing environment. To overcome this issue, we combine
adequate reducing and oxidizing conditions in a multiple annealing treatment,
and obtain Pt-decorated anatase TiO2 nanotubes showing significantly enhanced
photocatalytic H2 generation ability.


title: MIMO: State of the Art and the Future in Focus

abstract:
  Antennas of transmitters and receivers have been manipulated to increase the
capacity of transmission and reception of signals. Using many elements in
antennas to shape beams and direct nulls in a particular point for optimum
signal transmission and reception has over decades, had tremendous positive
influence in received power and signal to noise ratio (SNR). However, since the
antenna elements manipulation can be done both at base station and device
terminal, it gives rise to an important method of using several antennas to put
and obtain signals to and from space with increased capacity. This principle is
termed Multiple-input and Multiple-output (MIMO). This paper discusses
application of MIMO in the state of the art and next generation of wireless
systems (5G). It also discusses four models of MIMO, SISO, SIMO, MISO and MIMO,
considering three method of combing the signals from multipath propagations,
Selection combining (SC), Equal gain combing (EGC) and maximum ratio combining
(MRC). Spatial diversity and spatial multiplexing are also discussed as form of
MIMO. Finally, Massive or Hyper MIMO which is a new method of increasing
transmission capacity by very large scale for fifth generation of wireless
system is discussed with its challenges and opportunities. Key terms-Diversity
combining techniques, spatial multiplexing, channel state information (CSI).
Massive MIMO


title:
Achieving Perfect Location Privacy in Wireless Devices Using
  Anonymization

abstract:
  The popularity of mobile devices and location-based services (LBS) has
created great concern regarding the location privacy of their users.
Anonymization is a common technique that is often used to protect the location
privacy of LBS users. Here, we present an information-theoretic approach to
define the notion of perfect location privacy. We show how LBS's should use the
anonymization method to ensure that their users can achieve perfect location
privacy. First, we assume that a user's current location is independent from
her past locations. Using this i.i.d model, we show that if the pseudonym of
the user is changed before $O(n^{\frac{2}{r-1}})$ observations are made by the
adversary for that user, then the user has perfect location privacy. Here, n is
the number of the users in the network and r is the number of all possible
locations that users can go to. Next, we model users' movements using Markov
chains to better model real-world movement patterns. We show that perfect
location privacy is achievable for a user if the user's pseudonym is changed
before $O(n^{\frac{2}{|E|-r}})$ observations are collected by the adversary for
the user, where |E| is the number of edges in the user's Markov chain model.


title:
Structured Sparse Subspace Clustering: A Joint Affinity Learning and
  Subspace Clustering Framework

abstract:
  Subspace clustering refers to the problem of segmenting data drawn from a
union of subspaces. State-of-the-art approaches for solving this problem follow
a two-stage approach. In the first step, an affinity matrix is learned from the
data using sparse or low-rank minimization techniques. In the second step, the
segmentation is found by applying spectral clustering to this affinity. While
this approach has led to state-of-the-art results in many applications, it is
sub-optimal because it does not exploit the fact that the affinity and the
segmentation depend on each other. In this paper, we propose a joint
optimization framework --- Structured Sparse Subspace Clustering (S$^3$C) ---
for learning both the affinity and the segmentation. The proposed S$^3$C
framework is based on expressing each data point as a structured sparse linear
combination of all other data points, where the structure is induced by a norm
that depends on the unknown segmentation. Moreover, we extend the proposed
S$^3$C framework into Constrained Structured Sparse Subspace Clustering
(CS$^3$C) in which available partial side-information is incorporated into the
stage of learning the affinity. We show that both the structured sparse
representation and the segmentation can be found via a combination of an
alternating direction method of multipliers with spectral clustering.
Experiments on a synthetic data set, the Extended Yale B data set, the Hopkins
155 motion segmentation database, and three cancer data sets demonstrate the
effectiveness of our approach.


title:
Hit the KeyJack: stealing data from your daily wireless devices
  incognito

abstract:
  Internet of Things (IoT) is one of the most fast-growing field in high
technologies nowadays. Therefore, lots of electronic devices include wireless
connections with several communication protocols (WiFi, ZigBee, Sigfox, LoRa
and so on). Nevertheless, designers of such components do not take care of
security features most of the time while focusing on communication reliability
(speed, throughput and low power consumption). As a consequence, several
wireless IoT devices transmit data in plaintext creating lots of security
breaches for both eavesdropping and data injection attacks. This work
introduces KeyJack, a preliminary proof-of-concept of a solution aiming to
eavesdrop wireless devices and hopefully perform injection attacks afterwards.
KeyJack operates on widely-used devices: our keyboards! This solution is based
on low-cost embedded electronics and gives an attacker or a white hat hacker
the possibility to retrieve data from John Doe's computer. This work also shows
that this approach could be used to any wireless device using 2.4GHz radio
chips like the NRF24L01 from Nordic Semiconductor.


title:
Pairing in neutron matter: New uncertainty estimates and three-body
  forces

abstract:
  We present solutions of the BCS gap equation in the channels ${}^1S_0$ and
${}^3P_2-{}^3F_2$ in neutron matter based on nuclear interactions derived
within chiral effective field theory (EFT). Our studies are based on a
representative set of nonlocal nucleon-nucleon (NN) plus three-nucleon (3N)
interactions up to next-to-next-to-next-to-leading order (N$^3$LO) as well as
local and semilocal chiral NN interactions up to N$^2$LO and N$^4$LO,
respectively. In particular, we investigate for the first time the impact of
subleading 3N forces at N$^3$LO on pairing gaps and also derive uncertainty
estimates by taking into account results for pairing gaps at different orders
in the chiral expansion. Finally, we discuss different methods for obtaining
self-consistent solutions of the gap equation. Besides the widely-used
quasi-linear method by Khodel et al. we demonstrate that the modified Broyden
method is well applicable and exhibits a robust convergence behavior. In
contrast to Khodel's method it is based on a direct iteration of the gap
equation without imposing an auxiliary potential and is straightforward to
implement.


title: A polynomial-time relaxation of the Gromov-Hausdorff distance

abstract:
  The Gromov-Hausdorff distance provides a metric on the set of isometry
classes of compact metric spaces. Unfortunately, computing this metric directly
is believed to be computationally intractable. Motivated by applications in
shape matching and point-cloud comparison, we study a semidefinite programming
relaxation of the Gromov-Hausdorff metric. This relaxation can be computed in
polynomial time, and somewhat surprisingly is itself a pseudometric. We
describe the induced topology on the set of compact metric spaces. Finally, we
demonstrate the numerical performance of various algorithms for computing the
relaxed distance and apply these algorithms to several relevant data sets. In
particular we propose a greedy algorithm for finding the best correspondence
between finite metric spaces that can handle hundreds of points.


title:
Existence of Traveling wave solutions of parabolic-parabolic chemotaxis
  systems

abstract:
  The current paper is devoted to the study of traveling wave solutions of the
following parabolic-parabolic chemotaxis systems, $$ \begin{cases} u_{t}=
\Delta u-\chi \nabla \cdot (u \nabla v) + u(a-bu),\quad x\in\mathbb{R}^N \tau
v_t=\Delta v-v+u, \quad x\in\mathbb{R}^N, \end{cases} $$ where $u(x,t)$
represents the population density of a mobile species and $v(x,t)$ represents
the population density of a chemoattractant, and $\chi$ represents the
chemotaxis sensitivity. We prove that for every $\tau >0$, there is
$0<\chi_{\tau}^*<\frac{b}{2}$ such that for every $0<\chi<\chi_{\tau}^*$, there
exist two positive numbers $2\sqrt a \le c^{*}(\chi,\tau)<c^{**}(\chi,\tau)$
satisfying that for every $ c\in [ c^{*}(\chi,\tau)\,\ c^{**}(\chi,\tau))$ and
$\xi\in S^{N-1}$, the system has a traveling wave solution
$(u(x,t),v(x,t))=(U(x\cdot\xi-ct;\tau),V(x\cdot\xi-ct;\tau))$ with speed $c$
connecting the constant solutions $(\frac{a}{b},\frac{a}{b})$ and $(0,0)$, and
it does not have such traveling wave solutions of speed less than $2\sqrt a$.
Moreover, $$ \lim_{\chi\to 0^+}c^{**}(\chi,\tau)=\infty,$$ $$ \lim_{\chi\to
0^+}c^{*}(\chi,\tau)=\begin{cases} 2\sqrt{a}\qquad \qquad \qquad\ \text{if}
\quad 0<a\leq \frac{1+\tau a}{(1-\tau)_+}\cr \frac{1+\tau
a}{(1-\tau)_{+}}+\frac{a(1-\tau)_{+}}{1+\tau a}\quad \text{if} \quad a\geq
\frac{1+\tau a}{(1-\tau)_+}, \end{cases} $$ and $$ \lim_{x\to
-\infty}\frac{U(x;\tau)}{e^{-\mu x}}=1, $$ where $\mu$ is the only solution of
the equation $\mu+\frac{a}{\mu}=c$ in the interval $(0, \min\{\sqrt a,
\sqrt{\frac{1+\tau a}{(1-\tau)_+}}\})$. Furthermore, it hods that
$\lim_{\tau\to 0^+}\chi_{\tau}^*=\frac{b}{2}$.


title: Verifiable fault-tolerance in measurement-based quantum computation

abstract:
  Quantum systems, in general, output data that cannot be simulated efficiently
by a classical computer, and hence is useful for solving certain mathematical
problems and simulating quantum many-body systems. This also implies,
unfortunately, that verification of the output of the quantum systems is not so
trivial, since predicting the output is exponentially hard. As another problem,
quantum system is very delicate for noise and thus needs error correction. Here
we propose a framework for verification of the output of fault-tolerant quantum
computation in the measurement-based model. Contrast to existing analyses on
fault-tolerance, we do not assume any noise model on the resource state, but an
arbitrary resource state is tested by using only single-qubit measurements to
verify whether the output of measurement-based quantum computation on it is
correct or not. The overhead for verification including classical processing is
linear in the size of quantum computation. Since full characterization of
quantum noise is exponentially hard for large-scale quantum computing systems,
our framework provides an efficient way of practical verification of
experimental quantum error correction. Moreover, the proposed verification
scheme is also compatible to measurement-only blind quantum computation, where
a client can accept the delegated quantum computation even when a quantum sever
makes deviation, as long as the output is correct.


title:
Unveiling the Magnetic Structure of VHE SNRs/PWNe with XIPE, the X-ray
  Imaging-Polarimetry Satellite

abstract:
  The dynamics, energetics and evolution of pulsar wind nebulae (PWNe) and
supernova remnants (SNRs), are strongly affected by their magnetic field
strength and distribution. They are usually strong, extended, sources of
non-thermal X-ray radiation, producing intrinsically polarised radiation. The
energetic wind around pulsars produces a highly-magnetised, structured flow,
often displaying a jet and a torus and different features (i.e. wisps, knots).
This magnetic-dominant wind evolves as it moves away from the pulsar
magnetosphere to the surrounding large-scale nebula, becoming kinetic-dominant.
Basic aspects such how this conversion is produced, or how the jets and torus
are formed, as well as the level of turbulence in the nebula are still unknown.
Likewise, the processes ruling the acceleration of particles in shell-like SNRs
up to 1e15 eV, including the amplification of the magnetic field, are not clear
yet. Imaging polarimetry in this regard is crucial to localise the regions of
shock acceleration and to measure the strength and the orientation of the
magnetic field at these emission sites. X-ray polarimetry with the X-ray
Imaging Polarimetry Explorer (XIPE) will allow the understanding of the
magnetic field structure and intensity on different regions in SNRs and PWNe,
helping to unveil long-standing questions such as i.e. acceleration of cosmic
rays in SNRs or magnetic-to-kinetic energy transfer. SNRs and PWNe also
represent the largest population of Galactic very-high energy gamma-ray
sources, therefore the study of their magnetic distribution with XIPE will
provide fundamental ingredients on the investigation of those sources at very
high energies. We will discuss the physics case related to SNRs and PWNe and
the expectations of the XIPE observations of some of the most prominent SNRs
and PWNe.


title:
Finding Hannay angle in dissipative oscillatory systems via conservative
  perturbation theory

abstract:
  Usage of a Hamiltonian perturbation theory for a nonconservative system is
counterintuitive and in general, a technical impossibility by definition.
However, the time-independent dual Hamiltonian formalism for the
nonconservative systems have opened the door for using various conservative
perturbation theories for investigating the dynamics of such systems. Here we
demonstrate that the Lie transform Hamiltonian perturbation theory can be
adapted to find the perturbative solutions and the frequency corrections for
the dissipative oscillatory systems. As a further application, we use the
perturbation theory to analytically calculate the Hannay angle for the van der
Pol oscillator's limit cycle trajectory when its parameters-the strength of the
nonlinearity and the frequency of the linear part-evolve cyclically and
adiabatically. For this van der Pol oscillator, we also numerically calculate
the corresponding geometric phase and establish its equivalence with the Hannay
angle.

categories: math-ph math.MP nlin.CD physics.class-ph


title:
The effect of cooling on particle trajectories and acceleration in
  relativistic magnetic reconnection

abstract:
  The maximum synchrotron burnoff limit of 160 MeV represents a fundamental
limit to radiation resulting from electromagnetic particle acceleration in
one-zone ideal plasmas. In magnetic reconnection, however, particle
acceleration and radiation are decoupled because the electric field is larger
than the magnetic field in the diffusion region. We carry out two-dimensional
particle-in-cell simulations to determine the extent to which magnetic
reconnection can produce synchrotron radiation above the burnoff limit. We use
the test particle comparison (TPC) method to isolate the effects of cooling by
comparing the trajectories and acceleration efficiencies of test particles
incident on such a reconnection region with and without cooling them. We find
that the cooled and uncooled particle trajectories are typically similar during
acceleration in the reconnection region, and derive an effective limit on
particle acceleration that is inversely proportional to the average magnetic
field experienced by the particle during acceleration. Using the calculated
distribution of this average magnetic field as a function of uncooled final
particle energy, we find analytically that cooling does not affect power-law
particle energy spectra except at energies far above the synchrotron burnoff
limit. Finally, we compare fully cooled and uncooled simulations of
reconnection, confirming that the synchrotron burnoff limit does not produce a
cutoff in the particle energy spectrum. Our results indicate that the TPC
method accurately predicts the effects of cooling on particle acceleration in
relativistic reconnection, and that even far above the burnoff limit, the
synchrotron energy of radiation produced in reconnection is not limited by
cooling.


title:
Addendum to "The Johnson cokernel and the Enomoto-Satoh invariant": The
  ES-trace detects all top-level partitions

abstract:
  The degree $d$ part of the cokernel $\mathsf C_d$ of the Johnson homomorphism
decomposes into irreducible $\mathrm{SP}$-modules indexed by partitions of
$d-2r$ for $r\geq 0$: $$\mathsf C_d\cong \mathsf C_d(d)\oplus \mathsf
C_d(d-2)\oplus\cdots.$$ In this addendum we calculate $\mathsf{C}_d(d)$
precisely: it is isomorphic to the $\mathrm{GL}(V)$-decomposition of a space of
coinvariants $(V^{\otimes d})_{D_{2d}}$, and the isomorphism is induced by
Enomoto and Satoh's trace map. This establishes Conjecture 7.2 of the paper
"The Johnson Cokernel and the Enomoto-Satoh invariant."


title: Balancing sums of random vectors

abstract:
  We study a higher-dimensional 'balls-into-bins' problem. An infinite sequence
of i.i.d. random vectors is revealed to us one vector at a time, and we are
required to partition these vectors into a fixed number of bins in such a way
as to keep the sums of the vectors in the different bins close together; how
close can we keep these sums almost surely? This question, our primary focus in
this paper, is closely related to the classical problem of partitioning a
sequence of vectors into balanced subsequences, in addition to having
applications to some problems in computer science.


title:
STM driven transition from rippled to buckled graphene in a
  spin-membrane model

abstract:
  We consider a simple spin-membrane model for rippling in graphene. The model
exhibits transitions from a flat but rippled membrane to a buckled one. At high
temperature the transition is second order but it is first order at low
temperature for appropriate strength of the spin-spin coupling. Driving the
system across the first order phase transition in nonequilibrium conditions
that mimic interaction of the graphene membrane with a STM tip explains recent
experiments. In particular, we observe a reversible behavior for small values
of the STM current and an irreversible transition from flat rippled membrane to
rigid buckled membrane when the current surpasses a critical value. This work
opens the possibility to test mechanical properties of graphene under different
temperature and electrostatic conditions.


title:
Characterizing error propagation in quantum circuits: the Isotropic
  Index

abstract:
  This paper presents a novel index in order to characterize error propagation
in quantum circuits by separating the resultant mixed error state in two
components: an isotropic component, that quantifies the lack of information,
and a dis-alignment component, that represents the shift between the current
state and the original pure quantum state. The Isotropic Triangle, a graphical
representation that fits naturally with the proposed index, is also introduced.
Finally, some examples with the analysis of well-known quantum algorithms
degradation are given.


title:
Transparent TiO2 Nanotubes Arrays Directly Grown on Quartz Glass Used in
  Front- and Back-Side Irradiation Configuration for Photocatalytic H2
  Generation

abstract:
  In the present work we explore the front- and back-side performance of a
photocatalytic platform consisting of self-organized TiO2 nanotube layers
formed by complete anodization of Ti metal films evaporated on quartz slides.
The adhesion and light transmission of the tube layers on the quartz surfaces
are optimized by a suitable anodization procedure. After their growth, the
nanotube arrays were converted into crystalline structures and sputter-coated
with co-catalytic Pt nanoparticles. The optically transparent quartz substrates
enable the use of the Pt-decorated tube layers for photocatalytic H2 generation
under either front- or back-side illumination configurations. The nanotube
films on quartz are characterized in view of their physico-chemical properties,
including their light transmission features measured using different light
sources. The results show that the front-side illumination under optimized
factors, i.e., the amount of loaded co-catalyst, yields a maximized
photocatalytic performance in terms of H2 generation.


title:
Estimation error for occupation time functionals of stationary Markov
  processes

abstract:
  The approximation of integral functionals with respect to a stationary Markov
process by a Riemann-sum estimator is studied. Stationarity and the functional
calculus of the infinitesimal generator of the process are used to get a better
understanding of the estimation error and to prove a general error bound. The
presented approach admits general integrands and gives a unifying explanation
for different rates obtained in the literature. Several examples demonstrate
how the general bound can be related to well-known function spaces.


title: Strichartz Estimates for Wave equations with Charge Transfer Hamiltonian

abstract:
  We prove Strichartz estimates (both regular and reversed) for a scattering
state to the wave equation with a charge transfer Hamiltonian in
$\mathbb{R}^{3}$: \[ \partial_{tt}u-\Delta
u+\sum_{j=1}^{m}V_{j}\left(x-\vec{v}_{j}t\right)u=0. \] The energy estimate and
the local energy decay of a scattering state are also established. In order to
study nonlinear multisoltion systems, we will present the inhomogeneous
generalizations of Strichartz estimates. As an application of our results, we
show that scattering states indeed scatter to solutions to the free wave
equation.


title: Li-Yau inequality on virtually Abelian groups

abstract:
  We show that Cayley graphs of virtually Abelian groups satisfy a Li-Yau type
gradient estimate despite the fact that they do not satisfy any known variant
of the curvature-dimension inequality with non-negative curvature.


title:
Single-Transverse-Spin-Asymmetry studies with a fixed-target experiment
  using the LHC beams (AFTER@LHC)

abstract:
  We discuss the potential of AFTER@LHC to measure single-transverse-spin
asymmetries in open-charm and bottomonium production. With a HERMES-like
hydrogen polarised target, such measurements over a year can reach precisions
close to the per cent level. This is particularly remarkable since these
analyses can probably not be carried out anywhere else


title: The H\"ormander condition for delayed stochastic differential equations

abstract:
  In this paper, we are interested in path-dependent stochastic differential
equations (SDEs) which are controlled by Brownian motion and its delays. Within
this non-Markovian context, we give a H \"ormander-type criterion for the
regularity of solutions. Indeed, our criterion is expressed as a spanning
condition with brackets. A novelty in the case of delays is that noise can
"flow from the past" and give additional smoothness thanks to semi-brackets.
  The proof follows the general lines of Malliavin's probabilistic proof, in
the Markovian case. Nevertheless, in order to handle the non-Markovian aspects
of this problem and to treat anticipative integrals in a path-wise fashion, we
heavily invoke rough path integration.


title:
Beyond Flory theory: Distribution functions for interacting lattice
  trees

abstract:
  While Flory theories provide an extremely useful framework for understanding
the behavior of interacting, randomly branching polymers, the approach is
inherently limited. Here we use a combination of scaling arguments and computer
simulations to go beyond a Gaussian description. We analyse distributions
functions for a wide variety of quantities characterising the tree
connectivities and conformations for the four different statistical ensembles,
which we have studied numerically in [Rosa and Everaers, J. Phys. A (2016,
published) and J. Chem. Phys. (2016, to appear)]: (a) ideal randomly branching
polymers, (b) $2d$ and $3d$ melts of interacting randomly branching polymers,
(c) $3d$ self-avoiding trees with annealed connectivity and (d) $3d$
self-avoiding trees with quenched ideal connectivity. In particular, we
investigate the distributions (i) $p_N(n)$ of the weight, $n$, of branches cut
from trees of mass $N$ by severing randomly chosen bonds; (ii) $p_N(l)$ of the
contour distances, $l$, between monomers; (iii) $p_N(\vec r)$ of spatial
distances, $\vec r$, between monomers, and (iv) $p_N(\vec r|l)$ of the
end-to-end distance of paths of length $l$. Data for different tree sizes
superimpose, when expressed as functions of suitably rescaled observables $\vec
x = \vec r/\langle r^2(N) \rangle$ or $x =l/\langle l(N) \rangle$. In
particular, we observe a generalised Kramers relation for the branch weight
distributions (i) and find that all the other distributions (ii-iv) are of
Redner-des Cloizeaux type, $q(\vec x) = C \, |x|^\theta\ \exp \left( -(K |x|)^t
\right)$. We propose a coherent framework, including generalised Fisher-Pincus
relations, relating most of the RdC exponents to each other and to the contact
and Flory exponents for interacting trees.


title: Evolving the Structure of Evolution Strategies

abstract:
  Various variants of the well known Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution
Strategy (CMA-ES) have been proposed recently, which improve the empirical
performance of the original algorithm by structural modifications. However, in
practice it is often unclear which variation is best suited to the specific
optimization problem at hand. As one approach to tackle this issue, algorithmic
mechanisms attached to CMA-ES variants are considered and extracted as
functional \emph{modules}, allowing for combinations of them. This leads to a
configuration space over ES structures, which enables the exploration of
algorithm structures and paves the way toward novel algorithm generation.
Specifically, eleven modules are incorporated in this framework with two or
three alternative configurations for each module, resulting in $4\,608$
algorithms. A self-adaptive Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to efficiently
evolve effective ES-structures for given classes of optimization problems,
outperforming any classical CMA-ES variants from literature. The proposed
approach is evaluated on noiseless functions from BBOB suite. Furthermore, such
an observation is again confirmed on different function groups and
dimensionality, indicating the feasibility of ES configuration on real-world
problem classes.


title:
A modified Conway-Maxwell-Poisson type binomial distribution and its
  applications

abstract:
  This paper proposes a generalized binomial distribution with four parameters,
which is derived from the finite capacity queueing system with state-dependent
service and arrival rates. This distribution is also generated from the
conditional Conway-Maxwell-Poisson distribution given a sum of two
Conway-Maxwell-Poisson variables. In this paper, we consider the properties
about the probability mass function, index of dispersion, skewness and kurtosis
and give applications of the proposed distribution from its geneses. The
estimation method and simulation study are also considered.


title:
Single annulus estimates for the variation-norm Hilbert transforms along
  Lipschitz vector fields

abstract:
  Let v be a planar Lipschitz vector field. We prove that the r-th
variation-norm Hilbert transform along v, composed with a standard
Littlewood-Paley projection operator P_k, is bounded from L^2 to L^{2, \infty},
and from L^p to itself for all p>2. Here r>2 and the operator norm is
independent of k\in \Z. This generalises Lacey and Li's result for the case of
the Hilbert transform. However, their result only assumes measurability for
vector fields. In contrast to that, we need to assume vector fields to be
Lipschitz.


title: On the inverse mean curvature flow in warped product manifolds

abstract:
  We consider the warped product manifold, $\mathbb{R}_+ \times_{\bf{Id}} M^n$,
with Riemannian metric $\gamma\equiv \mathrm{d} r^2 \oplus r^2 \sigma$, where
$(M^n, \sigma)$ is a smooth closed Riemannian $n$-manifold. We investigate what
sufficient curvature condition is required of $\sigma$ to ensure that a
solution to the inverse mean curvature flow - commencing with a star-shaped
surface - exists for all times $t>0$.


title:
Stochastic switching between multistable oscillation patterns of the
  Min-system

abstract:
  The spatiotemporal oscillation patterns of the proteins MinD and MinE are
used by the bacterium E. coli to sense its own geometry. Strikingly, both
computer simulations and experiments have recently shown that for the same
geometry of the reaction volume, different oscillation patterns can be stable,
with stochastic switching between them. Here we use particle-based Brownian
dynamics simulations to predict the relative frequency of different oscillation
patterns over a large range of three-dimensional compartment geometries, in
excellent agreement with experimental results. Fourier analyses as well as
pattern recognition algorithms are used to automatically identify the different
oscillation patterns and the switching rates between them. We also identify
novel oscillation patterns in three-dimensional compartments with
membrane-covered walls and identify a linear relation between the bound
Min-protein densities and the volume-to-surface ratio. In general, our work
shows how geometry sensing is limited by multistability and stochastic
fluctuations.

categories: q-bio.SC cond-mat.soft physics.bio-ph q-bio.BM


title:
Broadband achromatic anomalous mirror in near-IR and visible frequency
  range

abstract:
  The anomalous achromatic mirror operating in near-IR and visible frequency
range was designed using an array of metal-insulator-metal (MIM) resonators. An
incident wave interacting with MIM resonator experiences phase shift that is
equal to the optical path travelled by the gap plasmon, excited by the wave.
The phase gradient along the mirror surface is created through the difference
in plasmons optical paths in resonators of different lengths. In the frequency
region well below the plasma frequency of the metal, the phase gradient is a
linear function of frequency, and thus the mirror operates in achromatic
regime, i.e. reflection angle does not depend on the radiation frequency. Using
silver-air-silver resonators, we predicted that the mirror can steer normally
incident beam to angles as large as 40$^{\circ}$ with high radiation efficiency
(exceeding 98 $\%$) and small Joule losses (below 10 $\%$).


title: Phenomenological study of $Z'$ in the minimal $B-L$ model at LHC

abstract:
  The phenomenological study of neutral heavy gauge boson ($Z^{\prime}_{B-L}$)
of the minimal B-L extension was done on the dimuon production channel of the
LHC. The study begins with the LEP-II constraints on $Z'$ searches, and the
dimuon events are simulated at the parton level at the CM energies of 7 TeV and
8 TeV and studied with an integrated luminosity of 1.21 $fb^{-1}$ and 20.5
$fb^{-1}$ respectively. Later, the ATLAS detector-specific cuts unique to the
Muon Pairs are imposed followed by the signal-selection-cuts on the Invariant
Mass of the dimuon which restrict the events that are to be passed for
Signal-Background Analysis, that are finally compared with the ATLAS data, and
accounted for no experimental detection of $Z^{\prime}_{B-L}$ boson. It has
been simulated further at the CM energy of 14 TeV with an integrated luminosity
of 300 $fb^{-1}$ to predict a possible discovery of this B-L neutral-heavy
gauge boson with a mass corresponding to 1.5 TeV and a $Z'$ coupling strength
of 0.2 based on the signal-background analysis.


title: Shortcuts to quantum network routing

abstract:
  A quantum network promises to enable long distance quantum communication, and
assemble small quantum devices into a large quantum computing cluster. Each
network node can thereby be seen as a small few qubit quantum computer. Qubits
can be sent over direct physical links connecting nearby quantum nodes, or by
means of teleportation over pre-established entanglement amongst distant
network nodes. Such pre-shared entanglement effectively forms a shortcut - a
virtual quantum link - which can be used exactly once.
  Here, we present an abstraction of a quantum network that allows ideas from
computer science to be applied to the problem of routing qubits, and manage
entanglement in the network. Specifically, we consider a scenario in which each
quantum network node can create EPR pairs with its immediate neighbours over a
physical connection, and perform entanglement swapping operations in order to
create long distance virtual quantum links. We proceed to discuss the features
unique to quantum networks, which call for the development of new routing
techniques. As an example, we present two simple hierarchical routing schemes
for a quantum network of N nodes for a ring and sphere topology. For these
topologies we present efficient routing algorithms requiring O(log N) qubits to
be stored at each network node, O(polylog N) time and space to perform routing
decisions, and O(log N) timesteps to replenish the virtual quantum links in a
model of entanglement generation.


title: On the classification of ALE K\"ahler manifolds

abstract:
  The underlying complex structure of an ALE K\"ahler manifold is exhibited as
a resolution of a deformation of an isolated quotient singularity. As a
consequence, there exist only finitely many diffeomorphism types of minimal ALE
K\"ahler surfaces with a given group at infinity.


title:
Small deformations of Helfrich energy minimising surfaces with
  applications to biomembranes

abstract:
  In this paper we introduce a mathematical model for small deformations
induced by external forces of closed surfaces that are minimisers of
Helfrich-type energies. Our model is suitable for the study of deformations of
cell membranes induced by the cytoskeleton. We describe the deformation of the
surface as a graph over the undeformed surface. A new Lagrangian and the
associated Euler-Lagrange equations for the height function of the graph are
derived. This is the natural generalisation of the well known linearisation in
the Monge gauge for initially flat surfaces. We discuss energy perturbations of
point constraints and point forces acting on the surface. We establish
existence and uniqueness results for weak solutions on spheres and on tori.
Algorithms for the computation of numerical solutions in the general setting
are provided. We present numerical examples which highlight the behaviour of
the surface deformations in different settings at the end of the paper.


title: Spin-orbit coupling in quasi-one-dimensional Wigner crystals

abstract:
  We study the effect of Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) on the charge and
spin degrees of freedom of a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) Wigner crystal.
As electrons in a quasi-1D Wigner crystal can move in the transverse direction,
SOC cannot be gauged away in contrast to the pure 1D case. We show that for
weak SOC, a partial gap in the spectrum opens at certain ratios between density
of electrons and the inverse Rashba length. We present how the low-energy
branch of charge degrees of freedom deviates due to SOC from its usual linear
dependence at small wave vectors. In the case of strong SOC, we show that spin
sector of a Wigner crystal cannot be described by an isotropic
antiferromagnetic Heisenberg Hamiltonian any more, and that instead the ground
state of neighboring electrons is mostly a triplet state. We present a new spin
sector Hamiltonian and discuss the spectrum of Wigner crystal in this limit.


title: Transcendence of the Hodge-Tate filtration

abstract:
  For $C$ a complete algebraically closed extension of $\mathbb{Q}_p$, we show
that a one-dimensional $p$-divisible group $G/ \mathcal{O}_C$ can be defined
over a complete discretely valued subfield $L \subset C$ with Hodge-Tate period
ratios contained in $L$ if and only if $G$ has CM, if and only if the period
ratios generate an extension of $\mathbb{Q}_p$ of degree equal to the height of
the connected part of $G$. This is a $p$-adic analog of a classical
transcendence result of Schneider which states that for $\tau$ in the complex
upper half plane, $\tau$ and $j(\tau)$ are simultaneously algebraic over
$\mathbb{Q}$ if and only if $\tau$ is contained in a quadratic extension of
$\mathbb{Q}$. We also briefly discuss a conjectural generalization to shtukas
with one paw.


title: Pre-Translation for Neural Machine Translation

abstract:
  Recently, the development of neural machine translation (NMT) has
significantly improved the translation quality of automatic machine
translation. While most sentences are more accurate and fluent than
translations by statistical machine translation (SMT)-based systems, in some
cases, the NMT system produces translations that have a completely different
meaning. This is especially the case when rare words occur.
  When using statistical machine translation, it has already been shown that
significant gains can be achieved by simplifying the input in a preprocessing
step. A commonly used example is the pre-reordering approach.
  In this work, we used phrase-based machine translation to pre-translate the
input into the target language. Then a neural machine translation system
generates the final hypothesis using the pre-translation. Thereby, we use
either only the output of the phrase-based machine translation (PBMT) system or
a combination of the PBMT output and the source sentence.
  We evaluate the technique on the English to German translation task. Using
this approach we are able to outperform the PBMT system as well as the baseline
neural MT system by up to 2 BLEU points. We analyzed the influence of the
quality of the initial system on the final result.


title:
Structural, magnetic, electric, dielectric, and thermodynamic properties
  of multiferroic GeV4S8

abstract:
  The lacunar spinel GeV4S8 undergoes orbital and ferroelectric ordering at the
Jahn-Teller transition around 30 K and exhibits antiferromagnetic order below
about 14 K. In addition to this orbitally driven ferroelectricity, lacunar
spinels are an interesting material class, as the vanadium ions form V4
clusters representing stable molecular entities with a common electron
distribution and a well-defined level scheme of molecular states resulting in a
unique spin state per V4 molecule. Here we report detailed x-ray, magnetic
susceptibility, electrical resistivity, heat capacity, thermal expansion, and
dielectric results to characterize the structural, electric, dielectric,
magnetic, and thermodynamic properties of this interesting material, which also
exhibits strong electronic correlations. From the magnetic susceptibility, we
determine a negative Curie-Weiss temperature, indicative for antiferromagnetic
exchange and a paramagnetic moment close to a spin S = 1 of the V4 molecular
clusters. The low-temperature heat capacity provides experimental evidence for
gapped magnon excitations. From the entropy release, we conclude about strong
correlations between magnetic order and lattice distortions. In addition, the
observed anomalies at the phase transitions also indicate strong coupling
between structural and electronic degrees of freedom. Utilizing dielectric
spectroscopy, we find the onset of significant dispersion effects at the polar
Jahn-Teller transition. The dispersion becomes fully suppressed again with the
onset of spin order. In addition, the temperature dependencies of dielectric
constant and specific heat possibly indicate a sequential appearance of orbital
and polar order.


title: Characteristics of the new phase in CDT

abstract:
  Causal Dynamical Triangulations (CDT), a candidate theory of nonperturbative
quantum gravity in 4D, turns out to have a rich phase structure. We investigate
the recently discovered bifurcation phase $C_b$ and relate some of its
characteristics to the presence of singular vertices of very high order. The
transition lines separating this phase from the "time-collapsed" $B$-phase and
the de Sitter phase $C_{dS}$ are of great interest when searching for physical
scaling limits. The work presented here sheds light on the mechanisms behind
these transitions. First, we study how the $B$-$C_b$ transition signal depends
on the volume-fixing implemented in the simulations, and find results
compatible with the previously determined second-order character of the
transition. The transition persists in a transfer matrix formulation, where the
system's time extension is taken to be minimal. Second, we relate the new
$C_b$-$C_{dS}$ transition to the appearance of singular vertices, which leads
to a direct physical interpretation in terms of a breaking of the homogeneity
and isotropy observed in the de Sitter phase when crossing from $C_{dS}$ to the
bifurcation phase $C_b$.


title: BET on Independence

abstract:
  We study the problem of nonparametric dependence detection. Many existing
methods may suffer severe power loss due to non-uniform consistency, which we
illustrate with a paradox. To avoid such power loss, we approach the
nonparametric test of independence through the new framework of binary
expansion statistics (BEStat) and binary expansion testing (BET), which examine
dependence through a novel binary expansion filtration approximation of the
copula. Through a Hadamard transform, we find that the symmetry statistics in
the filtration are complete sufficient statistics for dependence. These
statistics are also uncorrelated under the null. By utilizing symmetry
statistics, the BET avoids the problem of non-uniform consistency and improves
upon a wide class of commonly used methods (a) by achieving the minimax rate in
sample size requirement for reliable power and (b) by providing clear
interpretations of global relationships upon rejection of independence. The
binary expansion approach also connects the symmetry statistics with the
current computing system to facilitate efficient bitwise implementation. We
illustrate the BET with a study of the distribution of stars in the night sky
and with an exploratory data analysis of the TCGA breast cancer data.

categories: math.ST cs.LG stat.CO stat.ME stat.ML stat.TH


title: Black-box Importance Sampling

abstract:
  Importance sampling is widely used in machine learning and statistics, but
its power is limited by the restriction of using simple proposals for which the
importance weights can be tractably calculated. We address this problem by
studying black-box importance sampling methods that calculate importance
weights for samples generated from any unknown proposal or black-box mechanism.
Our method allows us to use better and richer proposals to solve difficult
problems, and (somewhat counter-intuitively) also has the additional benefit of
improving the estimation accuracy beyond typical importance sampling. Both
theoretical and empirical analyses are provided.


title: A remark about 6j symbols and young semi-normal form

abstract:
  We compute some 6j symbols in the category of polynomial representations of
$GL(\infty)$.


title:
Existence, regularity and concentration phenomenon of nontrivial
  solitary waves for a class of Generalized Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (GKP)
  equation in $\mathbb{R}^2$

abstract:
  In this paper we establish some results concerning the existence, regularity
and concentration phenomenon of nontrivial solitary waves for a Generalized
Kadomtsev-Petviashvili (GKP) equation in $\mathbb{R}^2.$ Variational methods
are used to get an existence result and to study the concentration phenomenon,
while the regularity is more delicate because we are leading with functions in
an anisotropic Sobolev space.


title:
Upper broadcast domination of toroidal grids and a classification of
  diametrical trees

abstract:
  A broadcast on a graph $G=(V,E)$ is a function $f:V \rightarrow \{0,1,
\ldots, \text{diam}(G)\}$ satisfying $f(v) \leq e(v)$ for all $v \in V$, where
$e(v)$ denotes the eccentricity of $v$ and $\text{diam}(G)$ denotes the
diameter of $G$. We say that a broadcast dominates $G$ if every vertex can hear
at least one broadcasting node. The upper domination number is the maximum cost
of all possible minimal broadcasts, where the cost of a broadcast is defined as
$\text{cost} (f)= \sum_{v \in V}f(v)$. In this paper we establish both the
upper domination number and the upper broadcast domination number on toroidal
grids. In addition, we classify all diametrical trees, that is, trees whose
upper domination number is equal to its diameter.


title:
Single-particle theory of persistent spin helices in two-dimensional
  electron gas: the general approach for quantum wells with different growth
  direction

abstract:
  We present a detailed theoretical investigation of persistent spin helices in
two-dimensional electron systems with spin-orbit coupling. For this purpose we
consider a single-particle effective mass Hamiltonian with generalized
linear-in-k spin-orbit coupling term corresponding to a quantum well grown in
an arbitrary crystallographic direction, and derive the general condition for
the formation of the persistent spin helix. This condition applied for the
Hamiltonians describing quantum wells with different growth directions
indicates the possibility of existence of the persistent spin helix in a wide
class of 2D systems apart from [001] model with equal Rashba and Dresselhaus
spin-orbit coupling strengths and the [110] Dresselhaus model. In addition, we
employ the translation operator formalism for analytical calculation of
space-resolved spin density and visualization of the persistent spin helix
patterns.


title:
Ordinary algebraic curves with many automorphisms in positive
  characteristic

abstract:
  Let $\mathcal{X}$ be an ordinary (projective, geometrically irreducible,
nonsingular) algebraic curve of genus $\mathcal{g}(\mathcal{X}) \ge 2$ defined
over an algebraically closed field $\mathbb{K}$ of odd characteristic $p$. Let
$Aut(\mathcal{X})$ be the group of all automorphisms of $\mathcal{X}$ which fix
$\mathbb{K}$ element-wise. For any solvable subgroup $G$ of $Aut(\mathcal{X})$
we prove that $|G|\leq 34 (\mathcal{g}(\mathcal{X})+1)^{3/2}$. There are known
curves attaining this bound up to the constant $34$. For $p$ odd, our result
improves the classical Nakajima bound $|G|\leq
84(\mathcal{g}(\mathcal{X})-1)\mathcal{g}(\mathcal{X})$, and, for solvable
groups $G$, the Gunby-Smith-Yuan bound $|G|\leq
6(\mathcal{g}(\mathcal{X})^2+12\sqrt{21}\mathcal{g}(\mathcal{X})^{3/2})$ where
$\mathcal{g}(\mathcal{X})>cp^2$ for some positive constant $c$.


title:
Recent Experiments At Ndcx-II: Irradiation Of Materials Using Short,
  Intense Ion Beams

abstract:
  We present an overview of the performance of the Neutralized Drift
Compression Experiment-II (NDCX-II) accelerator at Berkeley Lab, and summarize
recent studies of material properties created with nanosecond and
millimeter-scale ion beam pulses. The scientific topics being explored include
the dynamics of ion induced damage in materials, materials synthesis far from
equilibrium, warm dense matter and intense beam-plasma physics. We summarize
the improved accelerator performance, diagnostics and results of beam-induced
irradiation of thin samples of, e.g., tin and silicon. Bunches with over
3x10^10 ions, 1- mm radius, and 2-30 ns FWHM duration have been created. To
achieve these short pulse durations and mm-scale focal spot radii, the 1.2 MeV
He+ ion beam is neutralized in a drift compression section which removes the
space charge defocusing effect during final compression and focusing.
Quantitative comparison of detailed particle-in-cell simulations with the
experiment play an important role in optimizing accelerator performance; these
keep pace with the accelerator repetition rate of ~1/minute.


title:
Ab Initio Description of Open-Shell Nuclei: Merging No-Core Shell Model
  and In-Medium Similarity Renormalization Group

abstract:
  We merge two successful ab initio nuclear-structure methods, the no-core
shell model (NCSM) and the multi-reference in-medium similarity renormalization
group (IM-SRG) to define a new many-body approach for the comprehensive
description of ground and excited states of closed and open-shell nuclei.
Building on the key advantages of the two methods---the decoupling of
excitations at the many-body level in the IM-SRG and the access to arbitrary
nuclei, eigenstates, and observables in the NCSM---their combination enables
fully converged no-core calculations for an unprecedented range of nuclei and
observables at moderate computational cost. We present applications in the
carbon and oxygen isotopic chains, where conventional NCSM calculations are
still feasible and provide an important benchmark. The efficiency and rapid
convergence of the new approach make it ideally suited for ab initio studies of
the complete spectroscopy of nuclei up into the medium-mass regime.


title:
Quantum correlations and Bell's inequality violation in a Heisenberg
  spin dimer via neutron scattering

abstract:
  The characterization of quantum information quantifiers has attracted a
considerable attention of the scientific community, since they are a useful
tool to verify the presence of quantum correlations in a quantum system. In
this context, in the present work we show a theoretical study of some
quantifiers, such as entanglement witness, entanglement of formation, Bell's
inequality violation and geometric quantum discord as a function of the
diffractive properties of neutron scattering. We provide one path toward
identifying the presence of quantum correlations and quantum nonlocality in a
molecular magnet as a Heisenberg spin-$1/2$ dimer, by diffractive properties
typically obtained via neutron scattering experiments.


title: Achieving Human Parity in Conversational Speech Recognition

abstract:
  Conversational speech recognition has served as a flagship speech recognition
task since the release of the Switchboard corpus in the 1990s. In this paper,
we measure the human error rate on the widely used NIST 2000 test set, and find
that our latest automated system has reached human parity. The error rate of
professional transcribers is 5.9% for the Switchboard portion of the data, in
which newly acquainted pairs of people discuss an assigned topic, and 11.3% for
the CallHome portion where friends and family members have open-ended
conversations. In both cases, our automated system establishes a new state of
the art, and edges past the human benchmark, achieving error rates of 5.8% and
11.0%, respectively. The key to our system's performance is the use of various
convolutional and LSTM acoustic model architectures, combined with a novel
spatial smoothing method and lattice-free MMI acoustic training, multiple
recurrent neural network language modeling approaches, and a systematic use of
system combination.


title:
Local stability conditions and calibrating procedure for new
  car-following models used in driving simulators

abstract:
  The Intelligent Driver Model is studied and several drawbacks with respect to
driving simulators are defined. We present two modifications of the IDM. The
first one gives any predefined distance to the leading vehicle in a steady
state. The second modification is a combination of the first one and the
optimal velocity model. It takes into account drivers reaction time explicitly
and is described by delay differential equation. This model always results in
realistic vehicles accelerations what allows simulating real traffic
collisions. Necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained, that guarantee a
non-oscillating solution near the equilibrium for the vehicle platoon. We
suggest the calibrating framework based on a numerical solution of the
constrained optimization problem. Nonlinear constraints are generated by the
numerical integration scheme. The suggested procedure incorporates the local
stability conditions obtained and takes into account vehicle dynamics, drivers
behavior and weather conditions.


title: Assignment of fields from particles to mesh

abstract:
  In Computational Fluid Dynamics there have been many attempts to combine the
power of a fixed mesh on which to carry out spatial calculations with that of a
set of particles that moves following the velocity field. These ideas indeed go
back to Particle-in-Cell methods, proposed about 60 years ago.
  Of course, some procedure is needed to transfer field information between
particles and mesh. There are many possible choices for this "assignment", or
"projection".
  Several requirements may guide this choice. Two well-known ones are
conservativity and stability, which apply to volume integrals of the fields.
  An additional one is here considered: preservation of information. This means
that mesh interpolation, followed by mesh assignment, should leave the field
values invariant. The resulting methods are termed "mass" assignments due to
their strong similarities with the Finite Element Method.
  We test several procedures, including the well-known FLIP, on three
scenarios: simple 1D convection, 2D convection of Zalesak's disk, and a CFD
simulation of the Taylor-Green periodic vortex sheet. The most symmetric mass
assignment is seen to be clearly superior to other methods.


title: Nucleon structure functions in noncommutative space-time

abstract:
  In the context of noncommutative space-time, we investigate the nucleon
structure functions which plays an important role to identify the internal
structure of nucleons. We use the corrected vertices and employ new vertices
that appear in two approaches of noncommutativity and calculate the proton
structure functions in terms of noncommutative tensor \theta_{\mu\nu}. To check
our result, we plot the nucleon structure function (NSF), F_2(x), and compare
it with experimental data and the result coming out from the GRV, GJR and CT10
parametrization models. We show that new vertex which is arising the
noncommutativity correction will lead us to better consistency between
theoretical result and experimental data for NSF. This consistency would be
better at small values of x-Bjorken variable. To indicate and confirm the
validity of our calculations, we also act conversely and obtain an lower bound
for the numerical values of \Lambda_{NC} scale which are corresponding to the
recent reports.


title:
Low-energy effects in a higher-derivative gravity model with real and
  complex massive poles

abstract:
  The most simple superrenormalizable model of quantum gravity is based on the
general local covariant six-derivative action. In addition to graviton such a
theory has massive scalar and tensor modes. It was shown recently that in the
case when the massive poles emerge in complex conjugate pairs, the theory has
also unitary $S$-matrix and hence can be seen as a candidate to be a consistent
quantum gravity theory. In the present work we construct the modified Newton
potential and explore the gravitational light bending in a general
six-derivative theory, including the most interesting case of complex massive
poles. In the case of the light deflection the results are obtained within
classical and semiclassical approaches.


title:
A probabilistic model for the numerical solution of initial value
  problems

abstract:
  Like many numerical methods, solvers for initial value problems (IVPs) on
ordinary differential equations estimate an analytically intractable quantity,
using the results of tractable computations as inputs. This structure is
closely connected to the notion of inference on latent variables in statistics.
We describe a class of algorithms that formulate the solution to an IVP as
inference on a latent path that is a draw from a Gaussian process probability
measure (or equivalently, the solution of a linear stochastic differential
equation). We then show that certain members of this class are connected
precisely to generalized linear methods for ODEs, a number of Runge--Kutta
methods, and Nordsieck methods. This probabilistic formulation of classic
methods is valuable in two ways: analytically, it highlights implicit prior
assumptions favoring certain approximate solutions to the IVP over others, and
gives a precise meaning to the old observation that these methods act like
filters. Practically, it endows the classic solvers with `docking points' for
notions of uncertainty and prior information about the initial value, the value
of the ODE itself, and the solution of the problem.


title: Good Strategies for the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma : Smale vs. Markov

abstract:
  In 1980 Steven Smale introduced a class of strategies for the Iterated
Prisoner's Dilemma which used as data the running average of the previous
payoff pairs. This approach is quite different from the Markov chain approach,
common before and since, which used as data the outcome of the just previous
play, the memory-one strategies. Our purpose here is to compare these two
approaches focusing upon good strategies which, when used by a player, assure
that the only way an opponent can obtain at least the cooperative payoff is to
behave so that both players receive the cooperative payoff. In addition, we
prove a version for the Smale approach of the so-called Folk Theorem concerning
the existence of Nash equilibria in repeated play. We also consider the
dynamics when certain simple Smale strategies are played against one another.


title:
Improvement of the Basis for the Solution of the Dirac Equation in
  Cassini Coordinates

abstract:
  We propose an improvement of the basis for the solution of the stationary
two-centre Dirac equation in Cassini coordinates using the finite-basis-set
method presented in Ref. [1]. For the calculations in Ref. [1], we constructed
the basis for approximating the energy eigenfunctions by using smooth piecewise
defined polynomials, called B-splines. In the present article, we report that
an analysis of the employed representation of the Dirac matrices shows that the
above approximation is not efficient using B-splines only. Therefore, we
include basis functions which are defined using functions with step-like
behaviour instead of B-splines. Thereby, we achieve a significant increase of
accuracy of results as compared to Ref. [1].


title: Sensitivity of Complex Networks

abstract:
  The sensitivity (i.e. dynamic response) of complex networked systems has not
been well understood, making difficult to predict whether new macroscopic
dynamic behavior will emerge even if we know exactly how individual nodes
behave and how they are coupled. Here we build a framework to quantify the
sensitivity of complex networked system of coupled dynamic units. We
characterize necessary and sufficient conditions for the emergence of new
macroscopic dynamic behavior in the thermodynamic limit. We prove that these
conditions are satisfied only for architectures with power-law degree
distributions. Surprisingly, we find that highly connected nodes (i.e. hubs)
only dominate the sensitivity of the network up to certain critical frequency.


title:
A Property of Upper Level Sets of Lelong Numbers of Currents on
  $\mathbb{P}^2$

abstract:
  Let $T$ be a positive closed current of bidimension $(1,1)$ with unit mass on
the complex projective space $\mathbb P^2$. For $\alpha > 2/5$ and $\beta =
(2-2\alpha)/3$ we show that if $T$ has four point with Lelong number greater
than $\alpha$, the upper level set $E_{\beta}^+ (T)$ of points of $T$ with
Lelong number strictly larger than $\beta$ is contained within a conic with the
exception of at most one point.


title:
Rapid convergence for simulations that project from particles onto a
  fixed mesh

abstract:
  The advantage of particle Lagrangian methods in computational fluid dynamics
is that advection is accurately modeled. However, this complicates the
calculation of space derivatives. If a mesh is employed, it must be updated at
each time step. On the other hand, fixed mesh, Eulerian, formulations benefit
from the mesh being defined at the beginning of the simulation, but feature
non-linear advection terms. It therefore seems natural to combine the two
approaches, using a fixed mesh to perform calculations related to space
derivatives, and using the particles to advect the information with time. The
idea of combining Lagrangian particles and a fixed mesh goes back to
Particle-in-Cell methods, and is here considered within the context of the
finite element method (FEM) for the fixed mesh, and the particle FEM (pFEM) for
the particles.
  Our results, in agreement with recent works, show that interpolation
("projection") errors, especially from particles to mesh, are the culprits of
slow convergence of the method if standard, linear, FEs, are employed. By
including quadratically consistent shape functions for the particles, the rate
of convergence is restored to values competitive with purely Lagrangian
simulations.
  The procedure is validated on the Zalesak's disk problem, the Taylor-Green
vortex sheet flow, and the Rayleigh-Taylor instability.


title: Rule Extraction Algorithm for Deep Neural Networks: A Review

abstract:
  Despite the highest classification accuracy in wide varieties of application
areas, artificial neural network has one disadvantage. The way this Network
comes to a decision is not easily comprehensible. The lack of explanation
ability reduces the acceptability of neural network in data mining and decision
system. This drawback is the reason why researchers have proposed many rule
extraction algorithms to solve the problem. Recently, Deep Neural Network (DNN)
is achieving a profound result over the standard neural network for
classification and recognition problems. It is a hot machine learning area
proven both useful and innovative. This paper has thoroughly reviewed various
rule extraction algorithms, considering the classification scheme:
decompositional, pedagogical, and eclectics. It also presents the evaluation of
these algorithms based on the neural network structure with which the algorithm
is intended to work. The main contribution of this review is to show that there
is a limited study of rule extraction algorithm from DNN.


title: Cartan Subalgebras of Topological Graph Algebras and k-Graph C*-algebras

abstract:
  In this paper, two sufficient and necessary conditions are given. The first
one characterizes when the boundary path groupoid of a topological graph
without singular vertices has closed interior of its isotropy group bundle, and
the second one characterizes when the path groupoid of a row-finite k-graph
without sources has closed interior of its isotropy group bundle. It follows
that the associated topological graph algebra and the associated k-graph
C*-algebra have Cartan subalgebras due to a result of
Brown-Nagy-Reznikoff-Sims-Williams.


title:
Speckle Imaging Excludes Low-Mass Companions Orbiting the Exoplanet Host
  Star TRAPPIST-1

abstract:
  We have obtained the highest resolution images available of TRAPPIST-1 using
the Gemini-South telescope and our speckle imaging camera. Observing at 692 and
883 nm, we reached the diffraction limit of the telescope providing a best
resolution of 27 mas or, at the distance of TRAPPIST-1, a spatial resolution of
0.32 AU. Our imaging of the star extends from 0.32 to 14.5 AU. We show that to
a high confidence level, we can exclude all possible stellar and brown dwarf
companions, indicating that TRAPPIST-1 is a single star.


title: Cubical sets and the topological topos

abstract:
  Coquand's cubical set model for homotopy type theory provides the basis for a
computational interpretation of the univalence axiom and some higher inductive
types, as implemented in the cubical proof assistant. This paper contributes to
the understanding of this model. We make three contributions:
  1. Johnstone's topological topos was created to present the geometric
realization of simplicial sets as a geometric morphism between toposes.
Johnstone shows that simplicial sets classify strict linear orders with
disjoint endpoints and that (classically) the unit interval is such an order.
Here we show that it can also be a target for cubical realization by showing
that Coquand's cubical sets classify the geometric theory of flat distributive
lattices. As a side result, we obtain a simplicial realization of a cubical
set.
  2. Using the internal `interval' in the topos of cubical sets, we construct a
Moore path model of identity types.
  3. We construct a premodel structure internally in the cubical type theory
and hence on the fibrant objects in cubical sets.


title: Large Time Decay Estimates for the Muskat Equation

abstract:
  We prove time decay of solutions to the Muskat equation in 2D and in 3D. In
\cite{JEMS} and \cite{CCGRPS}, the authors introduce the norms $\|f\|_{s}(t)=
\int_{\mathbb{R}^{2}} |\xi|^{s}|\hat{f}(\xi)| \ d\xi$ in order to prove global
existence of solutions to the Muskat problem. In this paper, for the 3D Muskat
problem, given initial data $f_{0}\in H^{l}(\mathbb{R}^{2})$ for some $l\geq 3$
such that $\|f_{0}\|_{1} < k_{0}$ for a constant $k_{0} \approx 1/5$, we prove
uniform in time bounds of $\|f\|_{s}(t)$ for $-d < s < l-1$ and assuming
$\|f_{0}\|_{\nu} < \infty$ we prove time decay estimates of the form
$\|f\|_{s}(t) \lesssim (1+t)^{-s+\nu}$ for $0 \leq s \leq l-1$ and $-d \leq \nu
< s$. These large time decay rates are the same as the optimal rate for the
linear Muskat equation. We also prove analogous results in 2D.


title: SLE as a mating of trees in Euclidean geometry

abstract:
  The mating of trees approach to Schramm-Loewner evolution (SLE) in the random
geometry of Liouville quantum gravity (LQG) has been recently developed by
Duplantier-Miller-Sheffield (2014). In this paper we consider the mating of
trees approach to SLE in Euclidean geometry. Let $\eta$ be a whole-plane
space-filling SLE with parameter $\kappa>4$, parameterized by Lebesgue measure.
The main observable in the mating of trees approach is the contour function, a
two-dimensional continuous process describing the evolution of the Minkowski
content of the left and right frontier of $\eta$. We prove regularity
properties of the contour function and show that (as in the LQG case) it
encodes all the information about the curve $\eta$. We also prove that the
uniform spanning tree on $\mathbb Z^2$ converges to $\mathrm{SLE}_8$ in the
natural topology associated with the mating of trees approach.


title: Boundary Layers in Periodic Homogenization of Neumann Problems

abstract:
  This paper is concerned with a family of second-order elliptic systems in
divergence form with rapidly oscillating periodic coefficients. We initiate the
study of homogenization and boundary layers for Neumann problems with
first-order oscillating boundary data. We identify the homogenized system and
establish the sharp rate of convergence in $L^2$ in dimension three or higher.
Sharp regularity estimates are also obtained for the homogenized boundary data
in both Dirichlet and Neumann problems. The results are used to obtain a
higher-order convergence rate for Neumann problems with non-oscillating data.


title:
On the sum of integers from some multiplicative sets and some powers of
  integers

abstract:
  We show that if there exists an integer subject to some congruence conditions
that cannot be written as the sum of the norm of an ideal in
$\mathbb{Z}[\exp(2\pi i/2^k)]$ and at most $k$ powers of $2$, $k\geq 3$, then
there are infinitely many such integers. Also, if there exists an integer that
cannot be written as the sum of an integer which is the norm of an ideal in in
$\mathbb{Z}[\exp(2\pi i/p)]$ and at most $p-2$ powers of $p$, where $p\geq 3$
is a prime, then there are infinitely many such integers. Finally it is shown
that there are infinitely many integers not the sum of the norm of an ideal in
$\mathbb{Z}[\exp(2\pi i/p)]$ and at most $p-2$ powers of $p$, for $p\geq 3$
prime.