title: Diffusion of a nano-wire through an obstacle field

abstract:
  We report the first experimental realization of a rod diffusing in a two
dimensional obstacle field following the single rod dynamics. We use a silver
nanowire as our rod and two types of obstacles: repelling light beams and
polymer pillars. We study the effect of hydrodynamic interactions on the
transport of the rod, comparing both experimental realizations and recent
simulations. We propose a new framework for analyzing the transport through
such systems and predict a new superdiffusive regime of rod transport at high
obstacle concentration and short times.


title:
Constant Envelope Pilot-Based Low-Complexity CFO Estimation in Massive
  MU-MIMO Systems

abstract:
  In this paper we consider a constant envelope pilot signal based carrier
frequency offset (CFO) estimation in massive multiple-input multiple-output
(MIMO) systems. The proposed algorithm performs spatial averaging on the
periodogram of the received pilots across the base station (BS) antennas. Our
study reveals that the proposed algorithm has complexity only linear in $M$
(the number of BS antennas). Further our analysis and numerical simulations
also reveal that with fixed number of users and a fixed pilot length, the
minimum required transmit pilot power decreases as $\frac{1}{\sqrt{M}}$ with
increasing $M$, while maintaining a fixed desired mean squared error (MSE) of
CFO estimation.


title: An overview of the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment

abstract:
  The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment discovered an unexpectedly large
neutrino oscillation related to the mixing angle $\theta_{13}$ in 2012. This
finding paved the way to the next generation of neutrino oscillation
experiments. In this article, we review the history, featured design, and
scientific results of Daya Bay. Prospects of the experiment are also described.


title:
The applications of the partial Hamiltonian approach to mechanics and
  other areas

abstract:
  The partial Hamiltonian systems of the form $\dot q^i=\frac{\partial
H}{\partial p_i},
  \dot p^i=-\frac{\partial H}{\partial q_i}+\Gamma^i(t,q^i,p_i)$ arise widely
in different fields of the applied mathematics. The partial Hamiltonian systems
appear for a mechanical system with non-holonomic nonlinear constraints and
non-potential generalized forces. In dynamic optimization problems of economic
growth theory involving a non-zero discount factor the partial Hamiltonian
systems arise and are known as a current value Hamiltonian systems.
  It is shown that the partial Hamiltonian approach proposed earlier for the
current value Hamiltonian systems arising in economic growth theory Naz et al
\cite{naz} is applicable to mechanics and other areas as well. The partial
Hamiltonian approach is utilized to construct first integrals and closed form
solutions of optimal growth model with environmental asset, equations of motion
for a mechanical system with non-potential forces, the force-free Duffing Van
Der Pol Oscillator and Lotka-Volterra models.


title:
Experimental energy levels and partition function of the $^{12}$C$_2$
  molecule

abstract:
  The carbon dimer, the $^{12}$C$_2$ molecule, is ubiquitous in astronomical
environments. Experimental-quality rovibronic energy levels are reported for
$^{12}$C$_2$, based on rovibronic transitions measured for and among its
singlet, triplet, and quintet electronic states, reported in 42 publications.
The determination utilizes the Measured Active Rotational-Vibrational Energy
Levels (MARVEL) technique. The 23,343 transitions measured experimentally and
validated within this study determine 5,699 rovibronic energy levels, 1,325,
4,309, and 65 levels for the singlet, triplet, and quintet states investigated,
respectively. The MARVEL analysis provides rovibronic energies for six singlet,
six triplet, and two quintet electronic states. For example, the lowest
measurable energy level of the \astate\ state, corresponding to the $J=2$ total
angular momentum quantum number and the $F_1$ spin-multiplet component, is
603.817(5) \cm. This well-determined energy difference should facilitate
observations of singlet--triplet intercombination lines which are thought to
occur in the interstellar medium and comets. The large number of highly
accurate and clearly labeled transitions that can be derived by combining
MARVEL energy levels with computed temperature-dependent intensities should
help a number of astrophysical observations as well as corresponding laboratory
measurements. The experimental rovibronic energy levels, augmented, where
needed, with {\it ab initio} variational ones based on empirically adjusted and
spin-orbit coupled potential energy curves obtained using the \Duo\ code, are
used to obtain a highly accurate partition function, and related thermodynamic
data, for $^{12}$C$_2$ up to 4,000 K.


title:
A combinatorial problem about binary necklaces and attractors of Boolean
  automata networks

abstract:
  It is known that there are no more Lyndon words of length n than there are
periodic necklaces of same length. This paper considers a similar problem
where, additionally, the necklaces must be without some forbidden factors. This
problem relates to a different context, concerned with the behaviours of
particular discrete dynamical systems, namely, Boolean automata networks. A
formal argument supporting the following idea is provided: addition of cycle
intersections in network structures causes exponential reduction of the
networks' number of attractors.


title: Progression-free sets in Z_4^n are exponentially small

abstract:
  We show that for integer $n>0$, any subset $A \subset Z_4^n$ free of
three-term arithmetic progressions has size $|A| < 4^{c n}$, with an absolute
constant $c \approx 0.926$.


title:
Observation of Ising spin-nematic order and its close relationship to
  the superconductivity in FeSe single crystals

abstract:
  Superconducting FeSe single crystals of (001) orientation are synthesized via
a hydrothermal ion-release route. An Ising spin-nematic order is identified by
our systematic measurements of in-plane angular-dependent magnetoresistance
(AMR) and static magnetization. The turn-on temperature of anisotropic AMR
signifies the Ising spin-nematic ordering temperature Tsn, below which a
two-fold rotational symmetry is observed in the iron plane. A downward
curvature appears below Tsn in the temperature dependence of static
magnetization for the weak in-plane magnetic field as reported previously.
Remarkably, we find a universal linear relationship between Tc and Tsn among
various superconducting samples, indicating that the spin nematicity and the
superconductivity in FeSe have a common microscopic origin.


title:
Fr\"olicher-Nijenhuis bracket and geometry of $G_2$-and ${\rm
  Spin}(7)$-manifolds

abstract:
  We extend the characterization of the integrability of an almost complex
structure $J$ on differentiable manifolds via the vanishing of the
Fr\"olicher-Nijenhuis bracket $[J, J] ^{FN}$ to an analogous characterization
of torsion-free $G_2$-structures and torsion-free Spin(7)-structures. We also
explain the Fern\'andez-Gray classification of $G_2$-structures and the
Fern\'andez classification of Spin(7)-structures in terms of the
Fr\"olicher-Nijenhuis bracket.


title:
Pairing Mechanism of the Heavily Electron Doped FeSe Systems: Dynamical
  Tuning of the Pairing Cutoff Energy

abstract:
  We studied pairing mechanism of the heavily electron doped FeSe (HEDIS)
systems, which commonly have one incipient hole band -- a band top below the
Fermi level by a finite energy distance $\epsilon_b$ -- at $\Gamma$ point and
ordinary electron bands at $M$ points in Brillouin zone (BZ). We found that the
system allows two degenerate superconducting solutions with the exactly same
$T_c$ in clean limit: the incipient $s^{\pm}_{he}$-gap ($\Delta_h^{-} \neq 0$,
$\Delta_e^{+} \neq 0$) and $s_{ee}^{++}$-gap ($\Delta_h =0$, $\Delta_e^{+} \neq
0$) solutions with different pairing cutoffs, $\Lambda_{sf}$ (spin fluctuation
energy) and $\epsilon_b$, respectively. The $s_{ee}^{++}$-gap solution, in
which the system dynamically renormalizes the original pairing cutoff
$\Lambda_{sf}$ to $\Lambda_{phys}=\epsilon_b$ ($< \Lambda_{sf}$), therefore
actively eliminates the incipient hole band from forming Cooper pairs, but
without loss of $T_c$, becomes immune to the impurity pair-breaking. As a
result, the HEDIS systems, by dynamically tuning the pairing cutoff and
selecting the $s_{ee}^{++}$-pairing state, can always achieve the maximum $T_c$
-- the $T_c$ of the degenerate $s^{\pm}_{he}$ solution in the ideal clean limit
-- latent in the original pairing interactions, even in dirty limit.


title: The Impact of Worst-Case Deviations in Non-Atomic Network Routing Games

abstract:
  We introduce a unifying model to study the impact of worst-case latency
deviations in non-atomic selfish routing games. In our model, latencies are
subject to (bounded) deviations which are taken into account by the players.
The quality deterioration caused by such deviations is assessed by the
$\textit{Deviation Ratio}$, i.e., the worst-case ratio of the cost of a Nash
flow with respect to deviated latencies and the cost of a Nash flow with
respect to the unaltered latencies. This notion is inspired by the
$\textit{Price of Risk Aversion}$ recently studied by Nikolova and Stier-Moses.
Here we generalize their model and results. In particular, we derive tight
bounds on the Deviation Ratio for multi-commodity instances with a common
source and arbitrary non-negative and non-decreasing latency functions. These
bounds exhibit a linear dependency on the size of the network (besides other
parameters). In contrast, we show that for general multi-commodity networks an
exponential dependency is inevitable. We also improve recent smoothness results
to bound the Price of Risk Aversion.


title: Bounded Cycle Synthesis

abstract:
  We introduce a new approach for the synthesis of Mealy machines from
specifications in linear-time temporal logic (LTL), where the number of cycles
in the state graph of the implementation is limited by a given bound. Bounding
the number of cycles leads to implementations that are structurally simpler and
easier to understand. We solve the synthesis problem via an extension of
SAT-based bounded synthesis, where we additionally construct a witness
structure that limits the number of cycles. We also establish a
triple-exponential upper and lower bound for the potential blow-up between the
length of the LTL formula and the number of cycles in the state graph.


title:
Relating spontaneous and explicit symmetry breaking in the presence of
  the Higgs mechanism

abstract:
  One common way to define spontaneous symmetry breaking involves explicit
symmetry breaking. This definition can be used in any approach to Effective
Field Theory, from perturbation theory to lattice simulations. It allows us to
study the spontaneous breakdown of global symmetries without assuming that the
local gauge symmetry is spontaneously broken. This is important since
perturbation theory is insufficient to study extended Higgs sectors: it is
insufficient to predict the physical spectrum of the SU(5) Grand Unified Theory
(Georgi-Glashow) or to predict the spontaneous breakdown of global symmetries.
  We also study background symmetries: these are symmetries that despite they
are already explicitly broken, can be still spontaneously broken. We analyse
examples where a background CP (charge-parity) symmetry is not spontaneously
broken: in the Standard Model, in rephasing symmetries and in geometrical
CP-violation.
  We show that all fields are real representations of the group of symmetries,
since CP is a unitary transformation. There are consequences: to study
accidental symmetries (e.g. custodial symmetry, pseudo-golstone bosons) we must
consider real representations; CP is a symmetry of order 4 if the neutrinos are
Majorana particles and the notion of CP-violating phases is inconsistent in
some Lagrangians; a recent claim that a toy model exhibits physical
CP-violation while the CP symmetry is conserved by the Lagrangian and the
vacuum is false.


title: Nonsmooth Morse-Sard theorems

abstract:
  We prove that every function $f:\mathbb{R}^n\to \mathbb{R}$ satisfies that
the image of the set of critical points at which the function $f$ has Taylor
expansions of order $n-1$ and non-empty subdifferentials of order $n$ is a
Lebesgue-null set. As a by-product of our proof, for the proximal
subdifferential $\partial_{P}$, we see that for every lower semicontinuous
function $f:\mathbb{R}^2\to\mathbb{R}$ the set $f(\{x\in\mathbb{R}^2 :
0\in\partial_{P}f(x)\})$ is $\mathcal{L}^{1}$-null.


title:
Fitness-based Adaptive Control of Parameters in Genetic Programming:
  Adaptive Value Setting of Mutation Rate and Flood Mechanisms

abstract:
  This paper concerns applications of genetic algorithms and genetic
programming to tasks for which it is difficult to find a representation that
does not map to a highly complex and discontinuous fitness landscape. In such
cases the standard algorithm is prone to getting trapped in local extremes. The
paper proposes several adaptive mechanisms that are useful in preventing the
search from getting trapped.


title: Propagation of Light in a Hot and Dense Medium

abstract:
  Photons, as quanta of electromagnetic fields, determine the electromagnetic
properties of an extremely hot and dense medium. Considering the properties of
photons in the interacting medium of charged particles, we explicitly calculate
the electromagnetic properties such as the electric permittivity, magnetic
permeability, refractive index and the propagation speed of electromagnetic
signals in extremely hot and dense background in cosmos. Photons acquire
dynamically generated mass in a medium. The screening mass of photon, Debye
shielding length and the plasma frequency are calculated as functions of
statistical parameters of the medium. We study the properties of the
propagating particles in astrophysical systems of distinct statistical
conditions. The modifications in the medium properties lead to the equation of
state of the system. We mainly calculate all these parameters for extremely
high temperatures of the early universe.


title:
Demonstration of polarization sensitivity of emulsion-based pair
  conversion telescope for cosmic gamma-ray polarimetry

abstract:
  Linear polarization of high-energy gamma-rays (10 MeV-100 GeV) can be
detected by measuring the azimuthal angle of electron-positron pairs and
observing the modulation of the azimuthal distribution. To demonstrate the
gamma-ray polarization sensitivity of emulsion, we conducted a test using a
polarized gamma-ray beam at SPring-8/LEPS. Emulsion tracks were reconstructed
using scanning data, and gamma-ray events were selected automatically. Using an
optical microscope, out of the 2381 gamma-ray conversions that were observed,
1372 remained after event selection, on the azimuthal angle distribution of
which we measured the modulation. From the distribution of the azimuthal angles
of the selected events, a modulation factor of 0.21 + 0.11 - 0.09 was measured,
from which the detection of a non-zero modulation was established with a
significance of 3.06 $\sigma$. This attractive polarimeter will be applied to
the GRAINE project, a balloon-borne experiment that observes cosmic gamma-rays
with an emulsion-based pair conversion telescope.


title:
Atom- Photon Entanglement in Double- Lambda Quantum System by using
  femtosecond Gaussian pulses

abstract:
  The dynamical behavior of entanglement between the atomic ensemble and the
spontaneous emission is investigated by applying the femtosecond Gaussian
pulses in double- lambda quantum system. In fact by solving the density matrix
equations of motion in such a system and by using the von Neumann entropy, the
degree of entanglement (DEM) could be measured in semi classical regime and in
the multi-photon resonance condition. We interested in investigating the
maximum value for DEM and controlled the DEM via relative phase. At first we
consider three laser fields as CW optical laser fields and one femtosecond
Gaussian field. In this case DEM has interesting behavior. When the system is
applied by the other laser fields and Gaussian pulse is still there DEM can be
controlled via phase but after finishing the time duration of the femtosecond
Gaussian pulse DEM will be phase independent. Then we consider all the laser
fields as femtosecond Gaussian pulses which interact with atomic system and we
achieve to this point that the steady state entanglement can be occurred by
using such ultra-short laser pulses; in this situation DEM will be phase
independent. The system would be disentangled in special parameters of Rabi
frequencies and all the atoms are coherently populated in a dark state in
dressed state picture. Moreover when the system is entangled, there is a
population distribution of the atoms in dressed states.


title: 3D printing of gas jet nozzles for laser-plasma accelerators

abstract:
  Recent results on laser wakefield acceleration in tailored plasma channels
have underlined the importance of controlling the density profile of the gas
target. In particular it was reported that appropriate density tailoring can
result in improved injection, acceleration and collimation of laser-accelerated
electron beams. To achieve such profiles innovative target designs are
required. For this purpose we have reviewed the usage of additive layer
manufacturing, commonly known as 3D printing, in order to produce gas jet
nozzles. Notably we have compared the performance of two industry standard
techniques, namely selective laser sintering (SLS) and stereolithography (SLA).
Furthermore we have used the common fused deposition modeling (FDM) to
reproduce basic gas jet designs and used SLA and SLS for more sophisticated
nozzle designs. The nozzles are characterized interferometrically and used for
electron acceleration experiments with the Salle Jaune terawatt laser at
Laboratoire d'Optique Appliqu\'ee.


title: On entropic convergence of algorithms in terms of domain partitions

abstract:
  The paper describes an approach to measuring convergence of an algorithm to
its result in terms of an entropy-like function of partitions of its inputs of
a given length. The goal is to look at the algorithmic data processing from the
viewpoint of information transformation, with a hope to better understand the
work of algorithm, and maybe its complexity. The entropy is a measure of
uncertainty, it does not correspond to our intuitive understanding of
information. However, it is what we have in this area. In order to realize this
approach we introduce a measure on the inputs of a given length based on the
Principle of Maximal Uncertainty: all results should be equiprobable to the
algorithm at the beginning. An algorithm is viewed as a set of events, each
event is an application of a command. The commands are very basic. To measure
the convergence we introduce a measure that is called entropic weight of events
of the algorithm. The approach is illustrated by two examples.


title:
Preliminary study of 10Be/7Be in rainwater from Xi'an by Accelerator
  Mass Spectrometry

abstract:
  The 10Be/7Be ratio is a sensitive tracer for the study of atmospheric
transport, particularly with regard to stratosphere-troposphere exchange.
Measurements with high accuracy and efficiency are crucial to 7Be and 10Be
tracer studies. This article describes sample preparation procedures and
analytical benchmarks for 7Be and 10Be measurements at the Xian Accelerator
Mass Spectrometry (Xian-AMS) laboratory for the study of rainwater samples. We
describe a sample preparation procedure to fabricate beryllium oxide (BeO) AMS
targets that includes co-precipitation, anion exchange column separation and
purification. We then provide details for the AMS measurement of 7Be and 10Be
following the sequence BeO- -> Be2+ -> Be4+ in the Xian- AMS. The 10Be/7Be
ratio of rainwater collected in Xian is shown to be about 1.3 at the time of
rainfall. The virtue of the method described here is that both 7Be and 10Be are
measured in the same sample, and is suitable for routine analysis of large
numbers of rainwater samples by AMS.


title:
SDDP vs. ADP: The Effect of Dimensionality in Multistage Stochastic
  Optimization for Grid Level Energy Storage

abstract:
  There has been widespread interest in the use of grid-level storage to handle
the variability from increasing penetrations of wind and solar energy. This
problem setting requires optimizing energy storage and release decisions for
anywhere from a half-dozen, to potentially hundreds of storage devices spread
around the grid as new technologies evolve. We approach this problem using two
competing algorithmic strategies. The first, developed within the stochastic
programming literature, is stochastic dual dynamic programming (SDDP) which
uses Benders decomposition to create a multidimensional value function
approximations, which have been widely used to manage hydro reservoirs. The
second approach, which has evolved using the language of approximate dynamic
programming, uses separable, piecewise linear value function approximations, a
method which has been successfully applied to high-dimensional fleet management
problems. This paper brings these two approaches together using a common
notational system, and contrasts the algorithmic strategies (which are both a
form of approximate dynamic programming) used by each approach. The methods are
then subjected to rigorous testing using the context of optimizing grid level
storage.


title:
Unified computational framework for the efficient solution of n-field
  coupled problems with monolithic schemes

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose and evaluate the performance of a unified
computational framework for preconditioning systems of linear equations
resulting from the solution of coupled problems with monolithic schemes. The
framework is composed by promising application-specific preconditioners
presented previously in the literature with the common feature that they are
able to be implemented for a generic coupled problem, involving an arbitrary
number of fields, and to be used to solve a variety of applications. The first
selected preconditioner is based on a generic block Gauss-Seidel iteration for
uncoupling the fields, and standard algebraic multigrid (AMG) methods for
solving the resulting uncoupled problems. The second preconditioner is based on
the semi-implicit method for pressure-linked equations (SIMPLE) which is
extended here to deal with an arbitrary number of fields, and also results in
uncoupled problems that can be solved with standard AMG. Finally, a more
sophisticated preconditioner is considered which enforces the coupling at all
AMG levels, in contrast to the other two techniques which resolve the coupling
only at the finest level. Our purpose is to show that these methods perform
satisfactory in quite different scenarios apart from their original
applications. To this end, we consider three very different coupled problems:
thermo-structure interaction, fluid-structure interaction and a complex model
of the human lung. Numerical results show that these general purpose methods
are efficient and scalable in this range of applications.


title:
Extra-galactic background light measurements from the far-UV to the
  far-IR from deep ground and space-based galaxy counts

abstract:
  We combine wide and deep galaxy number-count data from GAMA, COSMOS/G10, HST
ERS, HST UVUDF and various near-, mid- and far- IR datasets from ESO, Spitzer
and Herschel. The combined data range from the far-UV (0.15microns) to far-IR
(500microns), and in all cases the contribution to the integrated galaxy light
(IGL) of successively fainter galaxies converges. Using a simple spline fit, we
derive the IGL and the extrapolated-IGL in all bands. We argue undetected low
surface brightness galaxies and intra-cluster/group light is modest, and that
our extrapolated-IGL measurements are an accurate representation of the
extra-galactic background light. Our data agree with most earlier IGL estimates
and with direct measurements in the far-IR, but disagree strongly with direct
estimates in the optical. Close agreement between our results and recent very
high-energy experiments (H.E.S.S. and MAGIC), suggest that there may be an
additional foreground affecting the direct estimates. The most likely culprit
could be the adopted Zodiacal light model. Finally we use a modified version of
the two-component model to integrate the EBL and obtain measurements of the
Cosmic Optical Background (COB) and Cosmic Infrared Background (CIB) of:
$24^{+4}_{-4}$nWm$^{-2}$sr$^{-1}$ and $26^{+5}_{-5}$nWm$^{-2}$sr$^{-1}$
respectively (48:52%). Over the next decade, upcoming space missions such as
Euclid and WFIRST, have the capacity to reduce the COB error to $<1\%$, at
which point comparisons to the very high energy data could have the potential
to provide a direct detection and measurement of the reionisation field.


title:
Constraints on photoionization feedback from number counts of
  ultra-faint high-redshift galaxies in the Frontier Fields

abstract:
  We exploit a sample of ultra-faint high-redshift galaxies (demagnified HST
$H_{160}$ magnitude $>30$) in the Frontier Fields clusters A2744 and M0416 to
constrain a theoretical model for the UV luminosity function (LF) in the
presence of photoionization feedback. The objects have been selected on the
basis of accurate photometric redshifts computed from multi-band photometry
including 7 HST bands and deep $K_s$ and IRAC observations. Magnification is
computed on an object-by-object basis from all available lensing models of the
two clusters. We take into account source detection completeness as a function
of luminosity and size, magnification effects and systematics in the lens
modeling of the clusters under investigation. We find that our sample of
high-$z$ galaxies constrain the cut-off halo circular velocity below which
star-formation is suppressed by photo-ionization feedback to $v_c^{\rm cut} <
50$ km s$^{-1}$. This circular velocity corresponds to a halo mass of
$\approx5.6\times10^9~M_\odot$ and $\approx2.3\times10^9~M_\odot$ at $z=5$ and
10 respectively: higher mass halos can thus sustain continuous star formation
activity without being quenched by external ionizing flux. More stringent
constraints are prevented by the uncertainty in the modeling of the cluster
lens, as embodied by systematic differences among the lens models available.


title: Single-Beam Optical Conveyor Belt for Chiral Particles

abstract:
  A different paradigm is proposed to selectively manipulate and transport
small engineered chiral particles and discriminate different enantiomers using
unstructured chiral light. It is theoretically shown that the response of a
chiral metamaterial particle may be tailored to enable an optical conveyor belt
operation with no optical traps, such that for a fixed incident light helicity
the nanoparticle is either steadily pushed towards the direction of the photon
flow or steadily pulled against the photon flow, independent of its position.
Our findings create distinct opportunities for unconventional optical
manipulations of tailored nanoparticles and may have applications in sorting
racemic mixtures of artificial chiral molecules and in particle delivery.


title: Estimating model evidence using data assimilation

abstract:
  We review the field of data assimilation (DA) from a Bayesian perspective and
show that, in addition to its by now common application to state estimation, DA
may be used for model selection. An important special case of the latter is the
discrimination between a factual model --- which corresponds, to the best of
the modeler's knowledge, to the situation in the actual world in which a
sequence of events has occurred --- and a counterfactual model, in which a
particular forcing or process might be absent or just quantitatively different
from the actual world. Three different ensemble-DA methods are reviewed for
this purpose: the ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF), the ensemble four-dimensional
variational smoother (En-4D-Var), and the iterative ensemble Kalman smoother
(IEnKS). An original contextual formulation of model evidence (CME) is
introduced. It is shown how to apply these three methods to compute CME, using
the approximated time-dependent probability distribution functions (pdfs) each
of them provide in the process of state estimation. The theoretical formulae so
derived are applied to two simplified nonlinear and chaotic models: (i) the
Lorenz three-variable convection (L63) model, and (ii) the Lorenz 40-variable
mid-latitude atmospheric dynamics model (L95). The numerical results of these
three DA-based methods and those of an integration based on importance sampling
are compared. It is found that better CME estimates are obtained by using DA,
and the IEnKS method appears to be best among the DA methods. Differences among
the performance of the three DA-based methods are discussed as a function of
model properties. Finally, the methodology is implemented for parameter
estimation and for event attribution.


title: On the Vortex Dynamics in Fractal Fourier Turbulence

abstract:
  Incompressible, homogeneous and isotropic turbulence is studied by solving
the Navier-Stokes equations on a reduced set of Fourier modes, belonging to a
fractal set of dimension $D$. By tuning the fractal dimension parameter, we
study the dynamical effects of Fourier decimation on the vortex stretching
mechanism and on the statistics of the velocity and the velocity gradient
tensor. In particular, we show that as we move from $D=3$ to $D \sim 2.8$, the
statistics gradually turns into a purely Gaussian one. This result suggests
that even a mild fractal mode reduction strongly depletes the stretching
properties of the non-linear term of the Navier-Stokes equations and suppresses
anomalous fluctuations.


title: Misusing the entropy maximization in the jungle of generalized entropies

abstract:
  It is well-known that the partition function can consistently be factorized
from the canonical equilibrium distribution obtained through the maximization
of the Shannon entropy. We show that such a normalized and factorized
equilibrium distribution is warranted if and only if the entropy measure $I
\{(p_i)\}$ has an additive slope i.e. $\partial I \{(p_i)\} / \partial p_i$
when the ordinary linear averaging scheme is used. Therefore, we conclude that
the maximum entropy principle of Jaynes should not be used for the
justification of the partition functions and the concomitant thermodynamic
observables for generalized entropies with non-additive slope. Finally, Tsallis
and R\'enyi entropies are shown not to yield such factorized canonical-like
distributions.


title: Tracer diffusion coefficients in a sheared inelastic Maxwell gas

abstract:
  We study the transport properties of an impurity in a sheared granular gas,
in the framework of the Boltzmann equation for inelastic Maxwell models. We
investigate here the impact of a nonequilibrium phase transition found in such
systems, where the tracer species carries a finite fraction of the total
kinetic energy (ordered phase). To this end, the diffusion coefficients are
first obtained for a granular binary mixture in spatially inhomogeneous states
close to the simple shear flow. In this situation, the set of coupled Boltzmann
equations are solved by means of a Chapman-Enskog-like expansion around the
(local) shear flow distributions for each species, thereby retaining all the
hydrodynamic orders in the shear rate $a$. Due to the anisotropy induced by the
shear flow, three tensorial quantities $D_{ij}$, $D_{p,ij}$, and $D_{T,ij}$ are
required to describe the mass transport process instead of the conventional
scalar coefficients. These tensors are given in terms of the solutions of a set
of coupled algebraic equations, which can be \emph{exactly} solved as functions
of the shear rate $a$, the coefficients of restitution $\alpha_{sr}$ and the
parameters of the mixture (masses and composition). Once the forms of $D_{ij}$,
$D_{p,ij}$, and $D_{T,ij}$ are obtained for arbitrary mole fraction
$x_1=n_1/(n_1+n_2)$ (where $n_r$ is the number density of species $r$), the
tracer limit ($x_1\to 0$) is carefully considered for the above three diffusion
tensors. Explicit forms for these coefficients are derived showing that their
shear rate dependence is significantly affected by the order-disorder
transition.


title: Derived-term Automata for Extended Weighted Rational Expressions

abstract:
  We present an algorithm to build an automaton from a rational expression.
This approach introduces support for extended weighted expressions. Inspired by
derived-term based algorithms, its core relies on a different construct,
rational expansions. We introduce an inductive algorithm to compute the
expansion of an expression from which the automaton follows. This algorithm is
independent of the size of the alphabet, and actually even supports infinite
alphabets. It can easily be accommodated to generate deterministic (weighted)
automata. These constructs are implemented in Vcsn, a free-software platform
dedicated to weighted automata and rational expressions.


title:
LOFAR 150-MHz observations of the Bo\"otes field: Catalogue and Source
  Counts

abstract:
  We present the first wide area (19 deg$^2$), deep ($\approx120-150$ {\mu}Jy
beam$^{-1}$), high resolution ($5.6 \times 7.4$ arcsec) LOFAR High Band Antenna
image of the Bo\"otes field made at 130-169 MHz. This image is at least an
order of magnitude deeper and 3-5 times higher in angular resolution than
previously achieved for this field at low frequencies. The observations and
data reduction, which includes full direction-dependent calibration, are
described here. We present a radio source catalogue containing 6276 sources
detected over an area of $19$\,deg$^2$, with a peak flux density threshold of
$5\sigma$. As the first thorough test of the facet calibration strategy,
introduced by van Weeren et al., we investigate the flux and positional
accuracy of the catalogue. We present differential source counts that reach an
order of magnitude deeper in flux density than previously achieved at these low
frequencies, and show flattening at 150 MHz flux densities below 10 mJy
associated with the rise of the low flux density star-forming galaxies and
radio-quiet AGN.


title: Lectures on Bound states

abstract:
  Even a first approximation of bound states requires contributions of all
powers in the coupling. This means that the concept of "lowest order bound
state" needs to be defined. In these lectures I discuss the "Born" (no loop,
lowest order in $\hbar$) approximation. Born level states are bound by gauge
fields which satisfy the classical field equations.
  As a check of the method, Positronium states of any momentum are determined
as eigenstates of the QED Hamiltonian, quantized at equal time. Analogously,
states bound by a strong external field $A^\mu(\boldsymbol{x})$ are found as
eigenstates of the Dirac Hamiltonian. Their Fock states have dynamically
created $e^+e^-$ pairs, whose distribution is determined by the Dirac wave
function. The linear potential of $D=1+1$ dimensions confines electrons but
repels positrons. As a result, the mass spectrum is continuous and the wave
functions have features of both bound states and plane waves.
  The classical solutions of Gauss' law are explored for hadrons in QCD. A
non-vanishing boundary condition at spatial infinity generates a constant
\order{\alpha_s^0} color electric field between quarks of specific colors.
Poincar\'e invariance limits the spectrum to color singlet $q\bar q$ and $qqq$
states, which do not generate an external color field. This restricts the
\order{\alpha_s^0} interactions between hadrons to string breaking dynamics as
in dual diagrams. Light mesons lie on linear Regge and parallel daughter
trajectories. There are massless states which may be significant for chiral
symmetry breaking. Since the bound states are defined at equal time in all
frames they have a non-trivial Lorentz covariance.


title:
The Planck legacy - Reinforcing the case for a standard model of
  cosmology: $\Lambda$CDM

abstract:
  We present a brief review of the main results of the Planck 2015 release
describing the new calibration of the data, showing the maps delivered in
temperature and, for the first time, in polarization, the cosmological
parameters and the lensing potential. In addition we present a forecast of the
Galactic foregrounds in polarization. Future satellite experiments will have
the challenge to remove the foregrounds with great accuracy to be able to
measure a tensor-to-scalar ratio of less than 0.01.


title:
ODE - Augmented Training Improves Anomaly Detection in Sensor Data from
  Machines

abstract:
  Machines of all kinds from vehicles to industrial equipment are increasingly
instrumented with hundreds of sensors. Using such data to detect anomalous
behaviour is critical for safety and efficient maintenance. However, anomalies
occur rarely and with great variety in such systems, so there is often
insufficient anomalous data to build reliable detectors. A standard approach to
mitigate this problem is to use one class methods relying only on data from
normal behaviour. Unfortunately, even these approaches are more likely to fail
in the scenario of a dynamical system with manual control input(s). Normal
behaviour in response to novel control input(s) might look very different to
the learned detector which may be incorrectly detected as anomalous. In this
paper, we address this issue by modelling time-series via Ordinary Differential
Equations (ODE) and utilising such an ODE model to simulate the behaviour of
dynamical systems under varying control inputs. The available data is then
augmented with data generated from the ODE, and the anomaly detector is
retrained on this augmented dataset. Experiments demonstrate that ODE-augmented
training data allows better coverage of possible control input(s) and results
in learning more accurate distinctions between normal and anomalous behaviour
in time-series.


title: Tip Pressure Induced Incoherent Energy Gap in CaFe2As2

abstract:
  In CaFe2As2, superconductivity can be achieved by applying a modest c-axis
pressure of several kbar. Here we use scanning tunneling
microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S) to explore the STM tip pressure effect on
single crystals of CaFe2As2. When performing STM/S measurements, the tip-sample
interaction can be controlled to act repulsive with reduction of the junction
resistance, thus to apply a tip pressure on the sample. We find that an
incoherent energy gap emerges at the Fermi level in the differential
conductance spectrum when the tip pressure is increased. This energy gap is of
the similar order of magnitude as the superconducting gap in the chemical doped
compound Ca0.4Na0.6Fe2As2 and disappears at the temperature well below that of
the bulk magnetic ordering. Moreover, we also observe the rhombic distortion of
the As lattice, which agrees with the orthorhombic distortion of the underlying
Fe lattice. These findings suggest that the STM tip pressure can induce the
local Cooper pairing in the orthorhombic phase of CaFe2As2.


title:
Local Bursts Model of CMB Temperature Fluctuations: Scattering in
  Resonance Lines of Primordial Hydrogen and Helium

abstract:
  Within the framework of a flat cosmological model a propagation of an
instantaneous burst of isotropic radiation is considered from the moment of its
beginning at some initial redshift z0 to the moment of its registration now (at
z=0). We take into account Thomson scattering by free electrons and scattering
in La and Lb lines of primordial hydrogen and in lines 1s2 - 1s2p, 1s3p
(1S-1P*) of HeI. It is shown that relative amplitude of spectrum distortions
caused by scattering in these lines may be from 1000 to 10000 times greater
than maximum possible amplitude due to scattering in subordinate lines
considered in our previous paper (Dubrovich, Grachev, 2015). In a linear
approximation on the optical thickness in the lines the profiles of distortions
in resonance lines turn out to be purely in absorption and do not depend on
both direction and distance to the burst center in contradistinction to the
profiles in subordinate lines. The profiles contain jumps on frequencies
corresponding to appearance of a source (burst) at a given redshift z=z0. For
z0=5000 the jumps in hydrogen La and Lb lines are on frequencies 493 and 584
GHz respectively and jumps in two HeI lines are on 855 and 930 GHz for z0=6000.
Relative magnitude of jumps amounts to 1e-4 - 3e-3.


title:
Pulse excitation to continuous-wave excitation in a low-dimensional
  interacting quantum system

abstract:
  Real-time dynamics in one-dimensional transverse Ising model coupled with the
time-dependent oscillating field is analyzed by using the infinite
time-evolving block decimation algorithm and the Floquet theory. In particular,
the transient dynamics induced by the pulse field and their connections to the
dynamics by a continuous-wave field are focused on. During the pulse-field
irradiation, the order parameter shows a characteristic oscillation, in which
the frequency shifts from the pulse-field frequency. This is considered as a
kind of the Rabi oscillation, but the frequency strongly depends on the
intersite Ising interaction. After turning off the pulse field, the oscillation
remains with a frequency $\mathit{\Omega}$ and a damping constant $\gamma$. In
the case of low fluence, both $\mathit{\Omega}$ and $\gamma$ are scaled by the
pulse amplitude in a wide range of the parameter values of the model. In the
case of high fluence, $\mathit{\Omega}$ and $\gamma$ are arranged by a product
of the pulse amplitude and the pulse width. This implies that the dynamics
after turning off the pulse field are decided by a population of the excited
state when the pulse field is turned off.


title:
Exact solutions of the Grad-Shafranov equation via similarity reduction
  and applications to magnetically confined plasmas

abstract:
  We derive exact solutions of a linear form of the Grad-Shafranov (GS)
equation, including incompressible equilibrium flow, using ansatz-based
similarity reduction methods. The linearity of the equilibrium equation allows
linear combinations of solutions in order to obtain axisymmetric MHD equilibria
with closed and nested magnetic surfaces which are favorable for the effective
confinement of laboratory plasmas. In addition, employing the same reduction
methods we obtain analytical solutions for several non-linear forms of the GS
equation. In this context analytic force-free solutions in both linear and
nonlinear regimes are also derived.


title: Rank and select: Another lesson learned

abstract:
  Rank and select queries on bitmaps are essential building bricks of many
compressed data structures, including text indexes, membership and range
supporting spatial data structures, compressed graphs, and more. Theoretically
considered yet in 1980s, these primitives have also been a subject of vivid
research concerning their practical incarnations in the last decade. We present
a few novel rank/select variants, focusing mostly on speed, obtaining
competitive space-time results in the compressed setting. Our findings can be
summarized as follows: $(i)$ no single rank/select solution works best on any
kind of data (ours are optimized for concatenated bit arrays obtained from
wavelet trees for real text datasets), $(ii)$ it pays to efficiently handle
blocks consisting of all 0 or all 1 bits, $(iii)$ compressed select does not
have to be significantly slower than compressed rank at a comparable memory
use.


title:
Enhancing thermal conductivity of bulk polyethylene along two directions
  by paved crosswise laminate

abstract:
  Recently, some reports show that the ultra-low thermal conductivity of bulk
polymers can be enhanced along one direction, which limits its applications.
Here, we proposed paved crosswise laminate methods which can enhance the
thermal conductivity of bulk polyethylene (PE) along two directions. We find
that the thermal conductivity of paved crosswise polyethylene laminate (PPEL)
reaches as high as 181 W/m-K along two in-plane directions, which is three
orders of magnitude larger than bulk amorphous polyethylene and even more than
two times larger than PE single chain (54 W/m-K). The analyses of mechanism
indicated that PPEL is a much more crystal-like structure due to the
inter-chain van der Waals interactions. Our study may provide guides on the
design and fabrication of polymer structures with high thermal conductivity.


title:
Geometrical scaling of inclusive charged hadron $p_{\rm T}$ spectra in
  Pb-Pb collsions at 2.76 TeV

abstract:
  In Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV, we report on a
geometrical scaling in the transverse momentum ($p_{\rm T}$) spectra of
inclusive charged hadrons at 0-5$\%$, 5-10$\%$, 10-20$\%$, 20-30$\%$,
30-40$\%$, 40-50$\%$, 50-60$\%$, 60-70$\%$ and 70-80$\%$ centralities. This
geometrical scaling is exhibited when these spectra are expressed in terms of a
new scaling variable, $p_{\rm T}^{\prime}=p_{\rm
T}(191.5/N_{A})^{1/(3\lambda+6)}$, where $N_{A}$ is the number of participating
nucleon pairs, $\lambda$ is the scaling parameter. With the method of ratios,
this scaling parameter is determined to be 1.68. We then use a single Tsallis
distribution to parameterize the spectra at different centralities, and find
that the Tsallis temperature $T$ is proportional to $N_{A}^{1/(3\lambda+6)}$,
which is exactly the prediction of the geometrical scaling. The geometrical
scaling also predicts that the charged-particle density per participating
nucleon pair ($(dN_{\rm ch}/d\eta)/N_{A}$) grows as a power of $N_{A}$,
$N_{A}^{2/(3\lambda+6)}$, which is confirmed by the data collected by the ALICE
collaboration.


title:
The Roles of Substrate vs Nonlocal Optical Nonlinearities in the
  Excitation of Surface Plasmons in Graphene

abstract:
  It has recently been demonstrated that difference frequency mixing (DFM) can
generate surface plasmons in graphene [1]. Here, we present detailed
calculations comparing the contributions to this effect from substrate and from
graphene nonlinearities. Our calculations show that the substrate (quartz)
nonlinearity gives rise to a surface plasmon intensity that is around twelve
orders of magnitude smaller than that arising from the intrinsic graphene
response. This surprisingly efficient intrinsic process, given the
centrosymmetric structure of graphene, arises almost entirely due to non-local
contributions to the second order optical nonlinearity of graphene.


title: Grothendieck's inequality in the noncommutative Schwartz space

abstract:
  In the spirit of Grothendieck's famous inequality from the theory of Banach
spaces, we study a sequence of inequalities for the noncommutative Schwartz
space, a Fr\'echet algebra of smooth operators. These hold in non-optimal form
by a simple nuclearity argument. We obtain optimal versions and reformulate the
inequalities in several different ways.


title: Physical states in Quantum Einstein-Cartan Gravity

abstract:
  The definition of physical states is the main technical issue of canonical
approaches towards Quantum Gravity. In this work, we outline how those states
can be found in Einstein-Cartan theory via a continuum limit and they are given
by finite dimensional representations of the Lorentz group.


title: Black lenses in string theory

abstract:
  We present a new supersymmetric, asymptotically flat, black hole solution to
five-dimensional U(1)^3-supergravity which is regular on and outside an event
horizon of lens space topology L(2,1). The solution has seven independent
parameters and uplifts to a family of 1/8-supersymmetric D1-D5-P black brane
solutions to Type IIB supergravity. The decoupling limit is asymptotically
AdS(3) x S^3 x T^4, with a near-horizon geometry that is a twisted product of
the near-horizon geometry of the extremal BTZ black hole and L(2,1) x T^4,
although it is not (locally) a product space in the bulk. We show that the
decoupling limit of a special case of the black lens is related to that of a
black ring by spectral flow, thereby supplying an account of its entropy.
Analogous solutions of U(1)^N-supergravity are also presented.


title: Heat transport in an anharmonic crystal

abstract:
  We take an ordered, anharmonic crystal in the form of slab geometry in three
dimensions. Apart from attaching baths of Langevin type to the extreme
surfaces, we also attach baths of same type to the intermediate surfaces of the
slab to simulate the environment surrounding the system. We assume noise
functions to be Gaussian and their widths to be site dependent. We find that
the radiated heat from the slab does not receive any correction at the leading
order of anharmonic coupling and the Newton's law of cooling holds for an
appropriate choice of the widths. We observe that in the steady state limit
entire slab becomes an assembly of $N$ different thermally equilibriated
layers, where $N$ is the number of sites in the direction of conduction current
flow. We find an exponentially falling nature of the temperature profile as its
leading behaviour and its non-leading behaviour is governed by the two site
dependent functions. Our evaluation suggests that in the thermodynamic limit
thermal conductivity remains independent of the environment temperature and is
dependent only on the difference of temperature of the extreme surfaces
linearly at the leading order of anharmonic coupling. We find that owing to
finiteness of conductivity in the thermodynamic limit, Fourier's law holds to
leading order in anharmonic coupling.


title: Joint spectrum and infinite dihedral group

abstract:
  For a tuple $A=(A_1,\ A_2,\ ...,\ A_n)$ of elements in a unital Banach
algebra ${\mathcal B}$, its {\em projective joint spectrum} $P(A)$ is the
collection of $z\in {\mathbb C}^n$ such that the multiparameter pencil
$A(z)=z_1A_1+z_2A_2+\cdots +z_nA_n$ is not invertible. If ${\mathcal B}$ is the
group $C^*$-algebra for a discrete group $G$ generated by $A_1,\ A_2,\ ...,\
A_n$ with respect to a representation $\rho$, then $P(A)$ is an invariant of
(weak) equivalence for $\rho$. This paper computes the joint spectrum of $(1,\
a,\ t)$ for the infinite dihedral group $D_{\infty}=<a,\ t\ |\ a^2=t^2=1>$ with
respect to the left regular representation $\lambda_D$, and gives an in-depth
analysis on its properties. A formula for the Fuglede-Kadison determinant of
the pencil $R(z)=1+z_1a+z_2t$ is obtained, and it is used to compute the first
singular homology group of the joint resolvent set $P^c(R)$. The joint spectrum
gives new insight into some earlier studies on groups of intermediate growth,
through which the corresponding joint spectrum of $(1,\ a,\ t)$ with respect to
the Koopman representation $\rho$ (constructed through a self-similar action of
$D_{\infty}$ on a binary tree) can be computed. It turns out that the joint
spectra with respect to the two representations coincide. Interestingly, this
fact leads to a self-similar realization of the group $C^*$-algebra
$C^*(D_{\infty})$. This self-similarity of $C^*(D_{\infty})$ is manifested by
some dynamical properties of the joint spectrum.


title: The Magnus property for direct products

abstract:
  A group G is said to have the Magnus property if the following holds:
whenever two elements x,y have the same normal closure, then x is conjugate to
y or its inverse. We prove: Let p be an odd prime, and let G,H be residually
finite-p groups with the Magnus property. Then the direct product of G and H
has the Magnus property.
  By considering suitable crystallographic groups, we give an explicit example
of finitely generated, torsion-free, residually-finite groups G,H with the
Magnus property such that the direct product of G and H does not have the
Magnus property.


title: Reduced Switching Connectivity for Large Scale Antenna Selection

abstract:
  In this paper, we explore reduced-connectivity radio frequency (RF) switching
networks for reducing the analog hardware complexity and switching power losses
in antenna selection (AS) systems. In particular, we analyze different hardware
architectures for implementing the RF switching matrices required in AS designs
with a reduced number of RF chains. We explicitly show that fully-flexible
switching matrices, which facilitate the selection of any possible subset of
antennas and attain the maximum theoretical sum rates of AS, present numerous
drawbacks such as the introduction of significant insertion losses,
particularly pronounced in massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)
systems. Since these disadvantages make fully-flexible switching suboptimal in
the energy efficiency sense, we further consider partially-connected switching
networks as an alternative switching architecture with reduced hardware
complexity, which we characterize in this work. In this context, we also
analyze the impact of reduced switching connectivity on the analog hardware and
digital signal processing of AS schemes that rely on channel power information.
Overall, the analytical and simulation results shown in this paper demonstrate
that partially-connected switching maximizes the energy efficiency of massive
MIMO systems for a reduced number of RF chains, while fully-flexible switching
offers sub-optimal energy efficiency benefits due to its significant switching
power losses.


title:
Dynamical gap generation in graphene with frequency dependent
  renormalization effects

abstract:
  We study the frequency dependencies in the renormalization of the fermion
Greens function for the $\pi$-band electrons in graphene and their influence on
the dynamical gap generation at sufficiently strong interaction. Adopting the
effective QED-like description for the low-energy excitations within the
Dirac-cone region we self consistently solve the fermion Dyson-Schwinger
equation in various approximations for the photon propagator and the vertex
function with special emphasis on frequency dependent Lindhard screening and
retardation effects.


title:
Rigorous results for the Stigler-Luckock model for the evolution of an
  order book

abstract:
  In 1964, G.J. Stigler introduced a stochastic model for the evolution of an
order book on a stock market. This model was independently rediscovered and
generalized by H. Luckock in 2003. In his formulation, traders place buy and
sell limit orders of unit size according to independent Poisson processes with
possibly different intensities. Newly arriving buy (sell) orders are either
immediately matched to the best available matching sell (buy) order or stay in
the order book until a matching order arrives. Assuming stationarity, Luckock
showed that the distribution functions of the best buy and sell order in the
order book solve a differential equation, from which he was able to calculate
the position of two prices $J^{\rm c}_-<J^{\rm c}_+$ such that buy orders below
$J^{\rm c}_-$ and sell orders above $J^{\rm c}_+$ stay in the order book
forever while all other orders are eventually matched. We extend Luckock's
model by adding market orders, i.e., with a certain rate traders arrive at the
market that take the best available buy or sell offer in the order book, if
there is one, and do nothing otherwise. We give necessary and sufficient
conditions for such an extended model to be positive recurrent and show how
these conditions are related to the prices $J^{\rm c}_-$ and $J^{\rm c}_+$ of
Luckock.


title: Automatic Recognition of Sunspots in HSOS Full-Disk Solar Images

abstract:
  A procedure is introduced to recognise sunspots automatically in solar
full-disk photosphere images obtained from Huairou Solar Observing Station,
National Astronomical Observatories of China. The images are first
pre-processed through Gaussian algorithm. Sunspots are then recognised by the
morphological Bot-hat operation and Otsu threshold. Wrong selection of sunspots
is eliminated by a criterion of sunspot properties. Besides, in order to
calculate the sunspots areas and the solar centre, the solar limb is extracted
by a procedure using morphological closing and erosion operations and setting
an adaptive threshold. Results of sunspot recognition reveal that the number of
the sunspots detected by our procedure has a quite good agreement with the
manual method. The sunspot recognition rate is 95% and error rate is 1.2%. The
sunspot areas calculated by our method have high correlation (95%) with the
area data from USAF/NOAA.


title: Properties of the narrow line Seyfert 1 galaxies revisited

abstract:
  There is growing evidence to suggest that the black hole mass has been
previously underestimated with the H$\beta$ line width for certain active
galactic nuclei (AGN). With the assumption of the flatter rather than isotropic
velocity distribution of gases in the broad-line region of AGN, we investigated
the properties of narrow line Seyfert 1 (NLS1) galaxies, like the black hole
mass and the Eddington ratio, and compared with broad line Seyfert 1 (BLS1)
galaxies. Since gamma-rays detected in a few NLS1s which favor a smaller
viewing angle in NLS1s than BLS1s, with the projection effect we estimated the
relative black hole mass and Eddington ratio for NLS1s and BLS1s. The result
implies that the NLS1s and BLS1s have similar black hole masses and Eddington
ratios, peaked at a larger black hole mass and lower Eddington ratio for the
NLS1s than thought before. Furthermore, with applying the correction factor 6
of average black hole mass as derived from the modelling of both optical and UV
data in radio-loud NLS1s by Calderone et al., to the Xu et al. sample, we find
that the NLS1s and BLS1s also show similar black hole masses and Eddington
ratios, peaked at $2.0\times10^{7}M_{\odot}$ and 0.12 (Eddington ratio) for the
NLS1s. The $M_{BH}-\sigma$ relation due to the enhanced black hole masses of
NLS1s is discussed. In addition, there seems to show a linear correlation
between jet power and disk luminosity for the flat spectrum radio-loud NLS1
sample, which implies an accretion dominated rather than black hole spin
dominated jet.


title: Well-posedness for a monotone solver for traffic junctions

abstract:
  In this paper we aim at proving well-posedness of solutions obtained as
vanishing viscosity limits for the Cauchy problem on a traffic junction where
$m$ incoming and $n$ outgoing roads meet. The traffic on each road is governed
by a scalar conservation law $ \rho_{h,t} + f_h(\rho_h)_x = 0$, for $h\in
\{1,\ldots, m+n\}$. Our proof relies upon the complete description of the set
of road-wise constant solutions and its properties, which is of some interest
on its own. Then we introduce a family of Kruzhkov-type adapted entropies at
the junction and state a definition of admissible solution in the same spirit
as in \cite{diehl, ColomboGoatinConstraint, scontrainte, AC_transmission,
germes}.


title: Cosheafification

abstract:
  It is proved that for any Grothendieck site $X$, there exists a coreflection
(called $\mathbf{cosheafification}$) from the category of precosheaves on $X$
with values in a category $\mathbf{K}$, to the full subcategory of cosheaves,
provided either $\mathbf{K}$ or $\mathbf{K}^{op}$ is locally presentable. If
$\mathbf{K}$ is cocomplete, such a coreflection is built explicitly for the
(pre)cosheaves with values in the category $\mathbf{Pro}% \left(
\mathbf{K}\right) $ of pro-objects in $\mathbf{K}$. In the case of precosheaves
on topological spaces, it is proved that any precosheaf with values in
$\mathbf{Pro}\left( \mathbf{K}\right) $ is $\mathbf{smooth}$, i.e. is strongly
locally isomorphic to a cosheaf. Constant cosheaves are constructed, and there
are established connections with shape theory.


title: Analysis of the 4-year IceCube high-energy starting events

abstract:
  After four years of data taking, the IceCube neutrino telescope has detected
54 high-energy starting events (HESE, or contained-vertex events) with
deposited energies above 20TeV. They represent the first ever detection of
high-energy extraterrestrial neutrinos and therefore, the first step in
neutrino astronomy. In order to study the energy, flavor and isotropy of the
astrophysical neutrino flux arriving at Earth, we perform different analyses of
two different deposited energy intervals, [10 TeV $-$ 10 PeV] and [60 TeV $-$
10 PeV]. We first consider an isotropic unbroken power-law spectrum and
constrain its shape, normalization and flavor composition. Our results are in
agreement with the preliminary IceCube results, although we obtain a slightly
softer spectrum. We also find that current data are not sensitive to a possible
neutrino-antineutrino asymmetry in the astrophysical flux. Then, we show that
although a two-component power-law model leads to a slightly better fit, it
does not represent a significant improvement with respect to a single power-law
flux. Finally, we analyze the possible existence of a North-South asymmetry,
hinted at by the combination of the HESE sample with the through-going muon
data. If only using HESE data, the scarce statistics from the northern
hemisphere does not allow us to reach any conclusive answer, which indicates
that the HESE sample alone is not driving the potential North-South asymmetry.


title: On the Aloha throughput-fairness tradeoff

abstract:
  A well-known inner bound of the stability region of the slotted Aloha
protocol on the collision channel with n users assumes worst-case service rates
(all user queues non-empty). Using this inner bound as a feasible set of
achievable rates, a characterization of the throughput--fairness tradeoff over
this set is obtained, where throughput is defined as the sum of the individual
user rates, and two definitions of fairness are considered: the Jain-Chiu-Hawe
function and the sum-user alpha-fair (isoelastic) utility function. This
characterization is obtained using both an equality constraint and an
inequality constraint on the throughput, and properties of the optimal
controls, the optimal rates, and the fairness as a function of the target
throughput are established. A key fact used in all theorems is the observation
that all contention probability vectors that extremize the fairness functions
take at most two non-zero values.


title: Forward-backward SDEs with distributional coefficients

abstract:
  Forward-backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs) have attracted
significant attention since they were introduced almost 30 years ago, due to
their wide range of applications, from solving non-linear PDEs to pricing
American-type options. Here, we consider two new classes of multidimensional
FBSDEs with distributional coefficients (elements of a Sobolev space with
negative order). We introduce a suitable notion of a solution, show existence
and uniqueness of a strong solution of the first FBSDE, and weak existence for
the second. We establish a link with PDE theory via a nonlinear Feynman-Kac
representation formula. The associated semi-linear second order parabolic PDE
is the same for both FBSDEs, also involves distributional coefficients and has
not previously been investigated; our analysis uses mild solutions, Sobolev
spaces and semigroup theory.


title:
High-dimensional Bayesian inference via the Unadjusted Langevin
  Algorithm

abstract:
  We consider in this paper the problem of sampling a high-dimensional
probability distribution $\pi$ having a density with respect to the Lebesgue
measure on $\mathbb{R}^d$, known up to a normalization constant $x \mapsto
\pi(x)= \mathrm{e}^{-U(x)}/\int_{\mathbb{R}^d} \mathrm{e}^{-U(y)} \mathrm{d}
y$. Such problem naturally occurs for example in Bayesian inference and machine
learning. Under the assumption that $U$ is continuously differentiable, $\nabla
U$ is globally Lipschitz and $U$ is strongly convex, we obtain non-asymptotic
bounds for the convergence to stationarity in Wasserstein distance of order $2$
and total variation distance of the sampling method based on the Euler
discretization of the Langevin stochastic differential equation, for both
constant and decreasing step sizes. The dependence on the dimension of the
state space of these bounds is explicit. The convergence of an appropriately
weighted empirical measure is also investigated and bounds for the mean square
error and exponential deviation inequality are reported for functions which are
measurable and bounded. An illustration to Bayesian inference for binary
regression is presented to support our claims.


title: Generalized Weyl modules and nonsymmetric $q$-Whittaker functions

abstract:
  We introduce generalized global Weyl modules and relate their graded
characters to nonsymmetric Macdonald polynomials and nonsymmetric $q$-Whittaker
functions. In particular, we show that the series part of the nonsymmetric
$q$-Whittaker function is a generating function for the graded characters of
generalized global Weyl modules.


title: Dispersionless Pfaff-Toda hierarchy and elliptic L\"owner equation

abstract:
  We show that one-variable reductions of the Pfaff-Toda integrable hierarchy
in the dispersionless limit are described by a system of coupled elliptic
L\"owner (Komatu-Goluzin) equations.


title:
Spatio-temporal dynamics of Kuramoto-Sakaguchi model with time dependent
  connectivity

abstract:
  We have studied the dynamics of the paradigmatic Kuramoto-Sakaguchi model of
identical coupled phase oscilla- tors with various kinds of time-dependent
connectivity using Eulerian discretization. We first explore the parameter
spaces for various types of collective states using the phase plots of the two
statistical quantities, namely the strength of incoherence and the discontinity
measure. In the quasi-static limit of the changing of coupling range, we have
observed how the system relaxes from one state to another and have identified a
few interesting collective dynamical states along the way. Under a sinusoidal
change of the coupling range, the global order parameter characterizing the
degree of synchronization in the system is shown to undergo a hysteresis with
the coupling range. Finally, we study the low-dimensional spatio-temporal
dynamics of the local order parameter in the continuum limit using the
recently-developed Ott-Antonsen ansatz and justify some of our numerical
results. In particular, we identify an intrinsic time-scale of the Kuramoto
system and show that the simulations exhibit two distinct kinds of qualitative
behavior in two cases when the time-scale associated with the switching of the
coupling radius is very large compared to the intrinsic time-scale and when it
is comparable with the intrinsic time-scale.


title: The equivariant de Rham complex on a simplicial G_*-manifold

abstract:
  We show that when a simplicial Lie group acts on a simplicial manifold
$\{X_*\}$, we can construct a bisimplicial manifold and the de Rham complex on
it. This complex is quasi-isomorphic to the equivariant simplicial de Rham
complex on $\{X_*\}$ and its cohomology group is isomorphic to the cohomology
group of the fat realization of the bisimplicial manifold. We also exhibit a
cocycle in the equivariant simplicial de Rham complex.


title:
Strong XUV irradiation of the Earth-sized exoplanets orbiting the
  ultracool dwarf TRAPPIST-1

abstract:
  We present an XMM-Newton X-ray observation of TRAPPIST-1, which is an
ultracool dwarf star recently discovered to host three transiting and temperate
Earth-sized planets. We find the star is a relatively strong and variable
coronal X-ray source with an X-ray luminosity similar to that of the quiet Sun,
despite its much lower bolometric luminosity. We find L_x/L_bol=2-4x10^-4, with
the total XUV emission in the range L_xuv/L_bol=6-9x10^-4, and XUV irradiation
of the planets that is many times stronger than experienced by the present-day
Earth. Using a simple energy-limited model we show that the relatively close-in
Earth-sized planets, which span the classical habitable zone of the star, are
subject to sufficient X-ray and EUV irradiation to significantly alter their
primary and any secondary atmospheres. Understanding whether this high-energy
irradiation makes the planets more or less habitable is a complex question, but
our measured fluxes will be an important input to the necessary models of
atmospheric evolution.


title:
One-sided muon tomography - A portable method for imaging critical
  infrastructure with a single muon detector

abstract:
  High-energy muons generated from cosmic-ray particle showers have been shown
to exhibit properties ideal for imaging the interior of large structures. This
paper explores the possibility of using a single portable muon detector in
conjunction with image reconstruction methods used in nuclear medicine to
reconstruct a 3D image of the interior of critical infrastructure such as the
Zero Energy Deuterium (ZED-2) research reactor at Canadian Nuclear
Laboratories' Chalk River site. The ZED-2 reactor core and muon detector
arrangement are modeled in GEANT4 and Monte Carlo measurements of the resultant
muon throughput and angular distribution at several angles of rotation around
the reactor are generated. Statistical analysis is then performed on these
measurements based on the well-defined flux and angular distribution of muons
expected near the surface of the earth. The results of this analysis are shown
to produce reconstructed images of the spatial distribution of nuclear fuel
within the core for multiple fuel configurations. This one-sided tomography
concept is a possible candidate for examining the internal structure of larger
critical facilities, for example the Fukushima Daiichi power plant where the
integrity of the containment infrastructure and the location of the reactor
fuel is unknown.


title:
Calculation of Minimum Spanning Tree Edges Lengths using
  Gromov--Hausdorff Distance

abstract:
  In the present paper we show how one can calculate the lengths of edges of a
minimum spanning tree constructed for a finite metric space, in terms of the
Gromov-Hausdorff distances from this space to simplices of sufficiently large
diameter. Here by simplices we mean finite metric spaces all of whose nonzero
distances are the same. As an application, we reduce the problems of finding a
Steiner minimal tree length or a minimal filling length to maximization of the
total distance to some finite number of simplices considered as points of the
Gromov-Hausdorff space.


title: Asteroseismology of 19 low-luminosity red giant stars from Kepler

abstract:
  Frequencies of acoustic and mixed modes in red giant stars are now determined
with high precision thanks to the long continuous observations provided by the
NASA Kepler mission. Here we consider the eigenfrequencies of nineteen
low-luminosity red giant stars selected by Corsaro et al. (2015) for a detailed
peak-bagging analysis. Our objective is to obtain stellar parameters by using
individual mode frequencies and spectroscopic information. We use a forward
modelling technique based on a minimization procedure combining the frequencies
of the p modes, the period spacing of the dipolar modes, and the spectroscopic
data. Consistent results between the forward modelling technique and values
derived from the seismic scaling relations are found but the errors derived
using the former technique are lower. The average error for log g is 0.002 dex,
compared to 0.011 dex from the frequency of maximum power and 0.10 dex from the
spectroscopic analysis. Relative errors in the masses and radii are on average
2 and 0.5 per cent respectively, compared to 3 and 2 per cent derived from the
scaling relations. No reliable determination of the initial helium abundances
and the mixing length parameters could be made. Finally, for our grid of models
with a given input physics, we found that low-mass stars require higher values
of the overshooting parameter.


title:
Anisotropy of the monomer random walk in a polymer melt: local-order and
  connectivity effects

abstract:
  The random walk of a bonded monomer in a polymer melt is anisotropic due to
local order and bond connectivity. We investigate both effects by
molecular-dynamics simulations on melts of fully-flexible linear chains ranging
from dimers ($M=2$) up to entangled polymers ($M=200$). The corresponding
atomic liquid is also considered as reference system. To disentangle the
influence of the local geometry and the bond arrangements, and reveal their
interplay, we define suitable measures of the anisotropy emphasising either the
former or the latter aspect. Connectivity anisotropy, as measured by the
correlation between the initial bond orientation and the direction of the
subsequent monomer displacement, shows a slight enhancement due to the local
order at times shorter than the structural relaxation time. At intermediate
times - when the monomer displacement is comparable to the bond length - a
pronounced peak and then decays slowly as $t^{-1/2}$, becoming negligible when
the displacements is as large as about five bond lengths, i.e. about four
monomer diameters or three Kuhn lengths. Local-geometry anisotropy, as measured
by the correlation between the initial orientation of a characteristic axis of
the Voronoi cell and the subsequent monomer dynamics, is affected at shorter
times than the structural relaxation time by the cage shape with antagonistic
disturbance by the connectivity. Differently, at longer times, the connectivity
favours the persistence of the local-geometry anisotropy which vanishes when
the monomer displacement exceeds the bond length. Our results strongly suggest
that the sole consideration of the local order is not enough to understand the
microscopic origin of the rattling amplitude of the trapped monomer in the cage
of the neighbours.


title: Classification of Human Whole-Body Motion using Hidden Markov Models

abstract:
  Human motion plays an important role in many fields. Large databases exist
that store and make available recordings of human motions. However, annotating
each motion with multiple labels is a cumbersome and error-prone process. This
bachelor's thesis presents different approaches to solve the multi-label
classification problem using Hidden Markov Models (HMMs). First, different
features that can be directly obtained from the raw data are introduced. Next,
additional features are derived to improve classification performance. These
features are then used to perform the multi-label classification using two
different approaches. The first approach simply transforms the multi-label
problem into a multi-class problem. The second, novel approach solves the same
problem without the need to construct a transformation by predicting the labels
directly from the likelihood scores. The second approach scales linearly with
the number of labels whereas the first approach is subject to combinatorial
explosion. All aspects of the classification process are evaluated on a data
set that consists of 454 motions. System 1 achieves an accuracy of 98.02% and
system 2 an accuracy of 93.39% on the test set.


title:
Effect of cobalt substitution on structural, impedance, ferroelectric
  and magnetic properties of multiferroic Bi_2Fe_4O_9 ceramics

abstract:
  Structural, impedance, ferroelectric and magnetic properties were examined in
multiferroic Bi_{2}Fe_{4(1-x)}Co_{4x}O_{9} (0$\leq$x$\leq$0.02) ceramics
synthesized via solid-state reaction method. X-ray diffraction analysis and
Rietveld refinement showed secondary phase formation (for x$\geq$0.01) which
was subsequently confirmed from room temperature Raman spectroscopy study. The
frequency dependence of impedance and electric modulus of the material showed
the presence of non-Debye type relaxation in all the samples. The values of the
activation energies calculated from imaginary impedance and modulus lie in the
range of 0.92-0.99 eV which confirmed that the oxygen vacancies play an
important role in the conduction mechanism. Moreover, suitable amount of Co
substitution significantly enhanced the remnant polarisation (2P_{r}) from
0.1193 $\mu$C/cm^{2} (x=0) to 0.2776 $\mu$C/cm^{2} (x=0.02). Besides, room
temperature M-H measurement showed improved ferromagnetic hysteresis loop for
all the modified samples. The remnant magnetization (M_{r}) and coercive field
(H_{c}) increased from 0.0007 emu/gm and 42 Oe for x=0 to 0.1401 emu/gm and 296
Oe for x=0.02. The improved ferroelectricity was due to Co 3d-O 2p
hybridization and enhanced magnetization originated from the partial
substitution of Co^{3+} ions leading to breakdown of balance between the
anti-parallel sub lattice magnetization of Fe^{3+} ions.


title:
Accurate determination of time delay and embedding dimension for state
  space reconstruction from a scalar time series

abstract:
  A new and accurate method to determine the time delay and embedding dimension
for state space reconstruction of a high dimensional system from a scalar time
series using time delay embedding is presented. The time delay is obtained to
unprecedented accuracy by evaluating the minima of a newly defined dimension
deviation function. The efficacy of our method is tested by applying it to the
Lorenz system and the Mackey-Glass system. A good agreement is obtained between
the shape and embedding dimension of the physical system attractor(s) and the
corresponding reconstruction(s) for both the systems studied. This, along with
a heuristic argument provide a validation of the proposed method.


title: The Laurent coefficients of the Hilbert series of a Gorenstein algebra

abstract:
  By a theorem of R. Stanley, a graded Cohen-Macaulay domain $A$ is Gorenstein
if and only if its Hilbert series satisfies the functional equation \[
  \operatorname{Hilb}_A(t^{-1})=(-1)^d t^{-a}\operatorname{Hilb}_A(t), \] where
$d$ is the Krull dimension and $a$ is the a-invariant of $A$. We reformulate
this functional equation in terms of an infinite system of linear constraints
on the Laurent coefficients of $\operatorname{Hilb}_A(t)$ at $t=1$. The main
idea consists of examining the graded algebra $\mathcal F=\bigoplus_{r\in
\mathbb{Z}}\mathcal F_r$ of formal power series in the variable $x$ that
fulfill the condition $\varphi(x/(x-1))=(1-x)^r\varphi(x)$. As a byproduct, we
derive quadratic and cubic relations for the Bernoulli numbers. The cubic
relations have a natural interpretation in terms of coefficients of the Euler
polynomials. For the special case of degree $r=-(a+d)=0$, these results have
been investigated previously by the authors and involved merely even Euler
polynomials. A link to the work of H. W. Gould and L. Carlitz on power sums of
symmetric number triangles is established.


title: Observational-Interventional Priors for Dose-Response Learning

abstract:
  Controlled interventions provide the most direct source of information for
learning causal effects. In particular, a dose-response curve can be learned by
varying the treatment level and observing the corresponding outcomes. However,
interventions can be expensive and time-consuming. Observational data, where
the treatment is not controlled by a known mechanism, is sometimes available.
Under some strong assumptions, observational data allows for the estimation of
dose-response curves. Estimating such curves nonparametrically is hard: sample
sizes for controlled interventions may be small, while in the observational
case a large number of measured confounders may need to be marginalized. In
this paper, we introduce a hierarchical Gaussian process prior that constructs
a distribution over the dose-response curve by learning from observational
data, and reshapes the distribution with a nonparametric affine transform
learned from controlled interventions. This function composition from different
sources is shown to speed-up learning, which we demonstrate with a thorough
sensitivity analysis and an application to modeling the effect of therapy on
cognitive skills of premature infants.


title:
Structural, optical and complex impedance spectroscopy study of
  multiferroic Bi2Fe4O9 ceramic

abstract:
  Multiferroic bismuth ferrite Bi_2Fe_4O_9 (BFO) ceramic was synthesized by
conventional solid state reaction route. X-ray diffraction and Rietveld
refinement show formation of single phase ceramic with orthorhombic crystal
structure (space group Pbam). The morphological study depicted a well-defined
grain of size $\simeq$2{\mu}m. The optical studies were carried out by using
UV-Vis spectrophotometer which shows a band gap of 1.53 eV and a green emission
spectrum at 537 is observed in the Photoluminescence study. The frequency
dependent dielectric study at various temperature revealed that the dielectric
constant decreases with increase in frequency. A noticeable peak shift towards
higher frequency with increasing temperature is observed in the frequency
dependent dielectric loss plot. The impedance spectroscopy shows a substantial
shift in imaginary impedance (Z") peaks toward the high frequency side
described that the conduction in material favoring the long range motion of
mobile charge carriers. The presence of non-Debye type multiple relaxations has
been confirmed by complex modulus analysis. The frequency dependent ac
conductivity at different temperatures indicates that the conduction process is
thermally activated. The variation of dc conductivity exhibited a negative
temperature coefficient of resistance behavior. The activation energy
calculated from impedance, modulus and conductivity data confirmed that the
oxygen vacancies play a vital role in the conduction mechanism.


title: Langlands-Rapoport Conjecture Over Function Fields

abstract:
  In this article we prove the analogue of the Langlands-Rapoport conjecture
for the moduli stacks of global $G$-shtukas. Here $G$ is a parahoric
Bruhat-Tits group scheme over a smooth projective curve $C$ over a finite field
$\mathbb{F}_q$.


title: Patch-based Texture Synthesis for Image Inpainting

abstract:
  Image inpaiting is an important task in image processing and vision. In this
paper, we develop a general method for patch-based image inpainting by
synthesizing new textures from existing one. A novel framework is introduced to
find several optimal candidate patches and generate a new texture patch in the
process. We form it as an optimization problem that identifies the potential
patches for synthesis from an coarse-to-fine manner. We use the texture
descriptor as a clue in searching for matching patches from the known region.
To ensure the structure faithful to the original image, a geometric constraint
metric is formally defined that is applied directly to the patch synthesis
procedure. We extensively conducted our experiments on a wide range of testing
images on various scenarios and contents by arbitrarily specifying the target
the regions for inference followed by using existing evaluation metrics to
verify its texture coherency and structural consistency. Our results
demonstrate the high accuracy and desirable output that can be potentially used
for numerous applications: object removal, background subtraction, and image
retrieval.


title:
USNO-B1.0 1171-0309158: An RR Lyrae Star that Switched from a Double- to
  Single-mode Pulsation

abstract:
  We report the discovery of a new case of an RR Lyrae star that experienced a
switching of its pulsation mode. We detected USNO-B1.0 1171-0309158 as a
double-mode RR Lyrae star from observations of the Catalina surveys (CSS) that
showed additional scattering on the light curve. Our analysis of the
time-series of CSS data showed gradual increase in scattering and in the
amplitude of fundamental pulsation mode. Our CCD observations carried out in
2015 reveal that this object is now a fundamental-mode RRab star, with no sign
of the first-overtone pulsation.


title: Uniform hypergraphs and dominating sets of graphs

abstract:
  A (simple) hypergraph is a family H of pairwise incomparable sets of a finite
set. We say that a hypergraph H is a domination hypergraph if there is at least
a graph G such that the collection of minimal dominating sets of G is equal to
H. Given a hypergraph, we are interested in determining if it is a domination
hypergraph and, if this is not the case, we want to find domination hypergraphs
in some sense close to it, the domination completions. Here we will focus on
the family of hypergraphs containing all the subsets with the same cardinality,
the uniform hypergraphs of maximum size. Specifically, we characterize those
hypergraphs H in this family that are domination hypergraphs and, in any other
case, we prove that the hypergraph H is uniquely determined by some of its
domination completions and that H can be recovered from them by using a
suitable hypergraph operation.


title: Direct Neutrino Mass Experiments

abstract:
  With a mass at least six orders of magnitudes smaller than the mass of an
electron -- but non-zero -- neutrinos are a clear misfit in the Standard Model
of Particle Physics. On the one hand, its tiny mass makes the neutrino one of
the most interesting particles, one that might hold the key to physics beyond
the Standard Model. On the other hand this minute mass leads to great
challenges in its experimental determination. Three approaches are currently
pursued: An indirect neutrino mass determination via cosmological observables,
the search for neutrinoless double $\beta$-decay, and a direct measurement
based on the kinematics of single $\beta$-decay. In this paper the latter will
be discussed in detail and the status and scientific reach of the current and
near-future experiments will be presented.


title: Effect of Cultural Factors on Students of Pakistan

abstract:
  Pakistan as culturally diverse country possesses wide range of cultural
factors. These cultural factors affect the living style, traditions, values and
norms as well as the education. As e-learning is global mode of education so
learners from different backgrounds enrolled in learning management system.
Diversity of culture and learning styles should keep under considerations while
designing e-learning environment. In this research work e learning cultural
factors highlighted by Bentley ET. AL are incorporated to find the learner
level. After assignment of level, learner respective Learning Management System
is allocated to learner. The focus is to concentrate on cultural factor in
e-learning system. Furthermore; a prototype of the proposed system is
implemented for the validation of proposed architecture.


title: Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics and Conformal Field Theory

abstract:
  We present a model independent, operator algebraic approach to
non-equilibrium quantum thermodynamics within the framework of two-dimensional
Conformal Field Theory. Two infinite reservoirs in equilibrium at their own
temperatures and chemical potentials are put in contact through a defect line,
possibly by inserting a probe. As time evolves, the composite system then
approaches a non-equilibrium steady state that we describe. In particular, we
re-obtain recent formulas of Bernard and Doyon.

categories: hep-th cond-mat.stat-mech math-ph math.MP math.OA


title: Superstring theories as low-energy limit of supergroup gauge theories

abstract:
  We consider Yang-Mills theory with $N=2$ super translation group in $d=10$
auxiliary dimensions as the structure group. The gauge theory is defined on a
direct product manifold $\Sigma_2\times H^2$, where $\Sigma_2$ is a
two-dimensional Lorentzian manifold and $H^2$ is the open disc in
$\mathbb{R}^2$ with the boundary $S^1=\partial H^2$. We show that in the
adiabatic limit, when the metric on $H^2$ is scaled down, the Yang-Mills action
supplemented by the $d=5$ Chern-Simons term becomes the Green-Schwarz
superstring action. More concretely, the Yang-Mills action in the infrared
limit flows to the kinetic part of the superstring action and the $d=5$
Chern-Simons action, defined on a 5-manifold with the boundary $\Sigma_2\times
H^2$, flows to the Wess-Zumino part of the superstring action. The same kind of
duality between gauge fields and strings is established for type IIB
superstring on AdS$_5\times S^5$ background and a supergroup gauge theory with
PSU(2,2$|$4) as the structure group.


title: Bifurcation Analysis of Reaction Diffusion Systems on Arbitrary Surfaces

abstract:
  In this paper we present computational techniques to investigate the
solutions of two-component, nonlinear reaction-diffusion (RD) systems on
arbitrary surfaces. We build on standard techniques for linear and nonlinear
analysis of RD systems, and extend them to operate on large-scale meshes for
arbitrary surfaces. In particular, we use spectral techniques for a linear
stability analysis to characterize and directly compose patterns emerging from
homogeneities. We develop an implementation using surface finite element
methods and a numerical eigenanalysis of the Laplace-Beltrami operator on
surface meshes. In addition, we describe a technique to explore solutions of
the nonlinear RD equations using numerical continuation. Here, we present a
multiresolution approach that allows us to trace solution branches of the
nonlinear equations efficiently even for large-scale meshes. Finally, we
demonstrate the working of our framework for two RD systems with applications
in biological pattern formation: a Brusselator model that has been used to
model pattern development on growing plant tips, and a chemotactic model for
the formation of skin pigmentation patterns. While these models have been used
previously on simple geometries, our framework allows us to study the impact of
arbitrary geometries on emerging patterns.


title: Parallel Pairwise Correlation Computation On Intel Xeon Phi Clusters

abstract:
  Co-expression network is a critical technique for the identification of
inter-gene interactions, which usually relies on all-pairs correlation (or
similar measure) computation between gene expression profiles across multiple
samples. Pearson's correlation coefficient (PCC) is one widely used technique
for gene co-expression network construction. However, all-pairs PCC computation
is computationally demanding for large numbers of gene expression profiles,
thus motivating our acceleration of its execution using high-performance
computing. In this paper, we present LightPCC, the first parallel and
distributed all-pairs PCC computation on Intel Xeon Phi (Phi) clusters. It
achieves high speed by exploring the SIMD-instruction-level and thread-level
parallelism within Phis as well as accelerator-level parallelism among multiple
Phis. To facilitate balanced workload distribution, we have proposed a general
framework for symmetric all-pairs computation by building bijective functions
between job identifier and coordinate space for the first time. We have
evaluated LightPCC and compared it to two CPU-based counterparts: a sequential
C++ implementation in ALGLIB and an implementation based on a parallel general
matrix-matrix multiplication routine in Intel Math Kernel Library (MKL) (all
use double precision), using a set of gene expression datasets. Performance
evaluation revealed that with one 5110P Phi and 16 Phis, LightPCC runs up to
$20.6\times$ and $218.2\times$ faster than ALGLIB, and up to $6.8\times$ and
$71.4\times$ faster than single-threaded MKL, respectively. In addition,
LightPCC demonstrated good parallel scalability in terms of number of Phis.
Source code of LightPCC is publicly available at
http://lightpcc.sourceforge.net.


title:
Finite groups with non-trivial intersections of kernels of all but one
  irreducible characters

abstract:
  In this paper we consider finite groups G satisfying the following condition:
G has two columns in its character table which differ by exactly one entry. It
turns out that such groups exist and they are exactly the finite groups with a
non-trivial intersection of the kernels of all but one irreducible characters
or, equivalently, finite groups with an irreducible character vanishing on all
but two conjugacy classes. We investigate such groups and in particular we
characterize their subclass, which properly contains all finite groups with
non-linear characters of distinct degrees, which were characterized by
Berkovich, Chillag and Herzog in 1992.


title: Categories with families and first-order logic with dependent sorts

abstract:
  First-order logic with dependent sorts, such as Makkai's first-order logic
with dependent sorts (FOLDS), or Aczel's and Belo's dependently typed
(intuitionistic) first-order logic (DFOL), may be regarded as logic enriched
dependent type theories. Categories with families (cwfs) is an established
semantical structure for dependent type theories, such as Martin-L\"of type
theory. We introduce in this article a notion of hyperdoctrine over a cwf, and
show how FOLDS and DFOL fit in this semantical framework. A soundness and
completeness theorem is proved for DFOL. The semantics is functorial in the
sense of Lawvere, and uses a dependent version of the Lindenbaum-Tarski algebra
for a DFOL theory. Agreement with standard first-order semantics is
established. Applications of DFOL to constructive mathematics and categorical
foundations are given. A key feature is a local propositions-as-types
principle.


title:
Angular Momentum-Free of the Entropy Relations for Rotating Kaluza-Klein
  Black Holes

abstract:
  Based on a mathematical lemma related to the Vandermonde determinant and two
theorems derived from the first law of black hole thermodynamics, we
investigate the angular momentum independence of the entropy sum as well as the
entropy product of general rotating Kaluza-Klein black holes in higher
dimensions. We show that for both non-charged rotating Kaluza-Klein black holes
and non-charged rotating Kaluza-Klein-AdS black holes, the angular momentum of
the black holes will not be present in entropy sum relation in dimensions
$d\geq4$, while the independence of angular momentum of the entropy product
holds provided that the black holes possess at least one zero rotation
parameter $a_j$ = 0 in higher dimensions $d\geq5$, which means that the
cosmological constant does not affect the angular momentum-free property of
entropy sum and entropy product under the circumstances that charge $\delta=0$.
For the reason that the entropy relations of charged rotating Kaluza-Klein
black holes as well as the non-charged rotating Kaluza-Klein black holes in
asymptotically flat spacetime act the same way, it is found that the charge has
no effect in the angular momentum-independence of entropy sum and product in
asymptotically flat spactime.


title: Local Models For The Moduli Stacks of Global $G$-Shtukas

abstract:
  In this article we develop the theory of local models for the moduli stacks
of global $G$-shtukas, the function field analogs for Shimura varieties. Here
$G$ is a smooth affine group scheme over a smooth projective curve. As the
first approach, we relate the local geometry of these moduli stacks to the
geometry of Schubert varieties inside global affine Grassmannian, only by means
of global methods. Alternatively, our second approach uses the relation between
the deformation theory of global $G$-shtukas and associated local $P$-shtukas
at certain characteristic places. Regarding the analogy between function fields
and number fields, the first (resp. second) approach corresponds to the
Beilinson-Drinfeld-Gaitsgory (resp. Rapoport-Zink) local model for
(PEL-)Shimura varieties. As an application, we prove the flatness of these
moduli stacks over their reflex rings, for tamely ramified group $G$.
Furthermore, we introduce the Kottwitz-Rapoport stratification on these moduli
stacks and discuss the intersection cohomology of the special fiber.


title:
On Barnes Beta Distributions and Applications to the Maximum
  Distribution of the 2D Gaussian Free Field

abstract:
  A new family of Barnes beta distributions on $(0, \infty)$ is introduced and
its infinite divisibility, moment determinacy, scaling, and factorization
properties are established. The Morris integral probability distribution is
constructed from Barnes beta distributions of types $(1,0)$ and $(2,2),$ and
its moment determinacy and involution invariance properties are established.
For application, the maximum distributions of the 2D gaussian free field on the
unit interval and circle with a non-random logarithmic potential are
conjecturally related to the critical Selberg and Morris integral probability
distributions, respectively, and expressed in terms of sums of Barnes beta
distributions of types $(1,0)$ and $(2,2).$


title:
Quantum state geometry and entanglement of two spins with anisotropic
  interaction in evolution

abstract:
  Quantum evolution of a two-spin system with anisotropic Heisenberg
Hamiltonian in the magnetic field is considered. We show that this evolution
happens on some manifold with geometry depending on the ratio between the
interaction couplings and on the initial state. The Fubini-Study metric of this
manifold is calculated. The entanglement of the states belonging to this
manifold is examined. Also we investigate similar problem for a two-spin system
described by the Dzyaloshinsky-Moria Hamiltonian. The problem is solved using
the fact that this Hamiltonian and the anisotropic Heisenberg Hamiltonian are
linked by the unitary transformation.


title: Hall polynomials for the torsion free groups of Hirsch length at most 5

abstract:
  A theorem by Hall asserts that the multiplication in torsion free nilpotent
groups of finite Hirsch length can be facilitated by polynomials. In this note
we exhibit explicit Hall polynomials for the torsion free nilpotent groups of
Hirsch length at most 5.


title:
A comparison of methods for the analysis of binomial proportion data in
  behavioral research

abstract:
  In behavioral and psychiatric research, data consisting of a per-subject
proportion of "successes" and "failures" over a finite number of trials often
arise. This kind of clustered binary data are usually non-normally distributed,
which can cause issues with parameter estimation and predictions if the usual
general linear model is applied and sample size is small. Here we studied the
performances of some of the available analytic methods applicable to the
analysis of proportion data; namely linear regression, Poisson regression,
beta-binomial regression and Generalized Linear Mixed Models (GLMMs). We report
the conclusions from a simulation study evaluating power and Type I error rates
of these models in scenarios akin to those met by behavioral researchers and
differing in sample size, cluster size and fixed effects parameters; plus, we
describe results from the application of these methods on data from two real
behavioral experiments. Our results show that, while GLMMs and beta-binomial
regression are powerful instruments for the analysis of clustered binary
outcomes, linear approximation can still provide reliable hypothesis testing in
this context. Poisson regression, on the other hand, can suffer heavily from
model misspecification when used to model proportion data. We conclude
providing some guidelines for the choice of appropriate analytical instruments,
sample and cluster size depending on the conditions of the experiment.