title: Polarized Scattering and Biosignatures in Exoplanetary Atmospheres

abstract:
  Polarized scattering in planetary atmospheres is computed in the context of
exoplanets. The problem of polarized radiative transfer is solved for a general
case of absorption and scattering, while Rayleigh and Mie polarized scattering
are considered as most relevant examples. We show that (1) relative
contributions of single and multiple scattering depend on the stellar
irradiation and opacities in the planetary atmosphere; (2) cloud (particle)
physical parameters can be deduced from the wavelength-dependent measurements
of the continuum polarization and from a differential analysis of molecular
band absorption; (3) polarized scattering in molecular bands increases the
reliability of their detections in exoplanets; (4) photosynthetic life can be
detected on other planets in visible polarized spectra with high sensitivity.
These examples demonstrate the power of spectropolarimetry for exoplanetary
research and for searching for life in the universe.


title: Processing Natural Language About Ongoing Actions

abstract:
  Actions may not proceed as planned; they may be interrupted, resumed or
overridden. This is a challenge to handle in a natural language understanding
system. We describe extensions to an existing implementation for the control of
autonomous systems by natural language, to enable such systems to handle
incoming language requests regarding actions. Language Communication with
Autonomous Systems (LCAS) has been extended with support for X-nets,
parameterized executable schemas representing actions. X-nets enable the system
to control actions at a desired level of granularity, while providing a
mechanism for language requests to be processed asynchronously. Standard
semantics supported include requests to stop, continue, or override the
existing action. The specific domain demonstrated is the control of motion of a
simulated robot, but the approach is general, and could be applied to other
domains.


title:
Proposed experiments to detect keV range sterile neutrinos using
  energy-momentum reconstruction of beta decay or K-capture events

abstract:
  Sterile neutrinos in the keV mass range may constitute the galactic dark
matter. Various proposed direct detection and laboratory searches are reviewed.
The most promising method in the near future is complete energy-momentum
reconstruction of individual beta-decay or K-capture events, using atoms
suspended in a magneto-optical trap. A survey of suitable isotopes is
presented, together with the measurement precision required in a typical
experimental configuration. It is concluded that among the most promising are
the K-capture isotopes 131Cs, which requires measurement of an X-ray and
several Auger electrons in addition to the atomic recoil, and 7Be which has
only a single decay product but needs development work to achieve a trapped
source. A number of background effects are discussed. It is concluded that
sterile neutrinos with masses down to the 5-10 keV region would be detectable,
together with relative couplings down to the level 10-10-10-11 in a 1-2 year
running time.


title:
Exact power series solutions of the structure equations of the general
  relativistic isotropic fluid stars with linear barotropic and polytropic
  equations of state

abstract:
  Obtaining exact solutions of the spherically symmetric general relativistic
gravitational field equations describing the interior structure of an isotropic
fluid sphere is a long standing problem in theoretical and mathematical
physics. The usual approach to this problem consists mainly in the numerical
investigation of the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff and of the mass continuity
equations, which describes the hydrostatic stability of the dense stars. In the
present paper we introduce an alternative approach for the study of the
relativistic fluid sphere, based on the relativistic mass equation, obtained by
eliminating the energy density in the Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation.
Despite its apparent complexity, the relativistic mass equation can be solved
exactly by using a power series representation for the mass, and the Cauchy
convolution for infinite power series. We obtain exact series solutions for
general relativistic dense astrophysical objects described by the linear
barotropic and the polytropic equations of state, respectively. For the
polytropic case we obtain the exact power series solution corresponding to
arbitrary values of the polytropic index $n$. The explicit form of the solution
is presented for the polytropic index $n=1$, and for the indexes $n=1/2$ and
$n=1/5$, respectively. The case of $n=3$ is also considered. In each case the
exact power series solution is compared with the exact numerical solutions,
which are reproduced by the power series solutions truncated to seven terms
only. The power series representations of the geometric and physical properties
of the linear barotropic and polytropic stars are also obtained.


title:
A Human Computer Interaction Solution for Radiology Reporting:
  Evaluation of the Factors of Variation

abstract:
  The purpose of this research is to evaluate the human and technical factors
required to create a human-computer interface (HCI) for a structured reporting
solution based on eye-gaze and speech signals. Gaze and speech signals from
radiologists acquired during simulated image interpretation and dictation
sessions were analyzed to determine a) variation of temporal relationship
between eye gaze and speech in a dictation environment, and b) variation in eye
movements for a particular image interpretation task among radiologists.
Knowledge of these factors provides information regarding the complexity of the
image interpretation or dictation task, and provides information that can be
used to design a HCI for use in diagnostic radiology. Our ultimate goal is to
use these data to create an HCI to automate the generation of a particular type
of structured radiology report. Our data indicate that the a) temporal
relationships between eye gaze and speech and b) scan paths substantially vary
among radiologists, thus implying that an HCI system based on eye gaze and
speech for automating the capture of data for structured reporting processes
should be customized for each user. The image resolution and layout, image
content, and order of targets during an image interpretation session are not
relevant factors to consider when designing an HCI. Our findings can be applied
to the design of other HCI solutions for radiological applications that involve
visual inspection and verbal descriptions of image findings.


title: How to Boost the Throughput of HARQ with Off-the-Shelf Codes

abstract:
  In this work, we propose a coding strategy designed to enhance the throughput
of hybrid ARQ (HARQ) transmissions over i.i.d. block-fading channels with the
channel state information (CSI) unknown at the transmitter. We use a joint
packet coding where the same channel block is logically shared among many
packets. To reduce the complexity, we use a two-layer coding where, first,
packets are first coded by the binary compressing encoders, and the results are
then passed to the conventional channel encoder. We show how to optimize the
compression rates on the basis of the empirical error-rate curves. We also
discuss how the parameters of the practical turbo-codes may be modified to take
advantage of the proposed HARQ scheme. Finally, simple and pragmatic rate
adaptation strategies are developed. In numerical examples, our scheme is
compared to the conventional incremental redundancy HARQ (IR-HARQ), and it
yields a notable gain of 1-2 dB in the region of high throughput, where HARQ
fails to provide any improvement.


title:
Two objective and independent fracture parameters for interface cracks
  and a paradox

abstract:
  Due to the oscillatory singular stress field around a crack tip, interface
fracture has some peculiar features. This paper is focused on two of them. One
can be reflected by a proposed paradox that geometrically similar structures
with interface cracks under similar loadings may have different failure
behaviors. The other one is that the existing fracture parameters of the
oscillatory singular stress field, such as a complex stress intensity factor,
exhibit some non-objectivity because their phase angle depend on an arbitrarily
chosen length. Two objective and independent fracture parameters are proposed
which can fully characterize the stress field near the crack tip. One parameter
represents the stress intensity with classical unit of stress intensity
factors. It is interesting to find that the loading mode can be characterized
by a length as the other parameter, which can properly reflect the phase of the
stress oscillation with respect to the distance to the crack tip. This is quite
different from other crack tip fields in which the loading mode is usually
expressed by a phase angle. The corresponding failure criterion for interface
cracks does not include any arbitrarily chosen quantity, and therefore is
convenient for comparing and accumulating experimental results, even existing
ones.


title:
Degenerate elliptic operators in $L_p$-spaces with complex
  $W^{2,\infty}$-coefficients

abstract:
  Let $c_{kl} \in W^{2,\infty}(\mathbb{R}^d, \mathbb{C})$ for all $k,l \in \{1,
\ldots, d\}$. We consider the divergence form operator $A = - \sum_{k,l=1}^d
\partial_l (c_{kl} \, \partial_k) $in $L_2(\mathbb{R}^d)$ when the coefficient
matrix satisfies $(C(x) \, \xi, \xi) \in \Sigma_\theta$ for all $x \in
\mathbb{R}^d$ and $\xi \in \mathbb{C}^d$, where $\Sigma_\theta$ be the sector
with vertex 0 and semi-angle $\theta$ in the complex plane. We show that for
all $p$ in a suitable interval the contraction semigroup generated by $-A$
extends consistently to a contraction semigroup on $L_p(\mathbb{R}^d)$. For
those values of $p$ we present a condition on the coefficients such that the
space $C_c^\infty(\mathbb{R}^d)$ of test functions is a core for the generator
on $L_p(\mathbb{R}^d)$. We also examine the operator $A$ separately in the more
special Hilbert space $L_2(\mathbb{R}^d)$ setting and provide more sufficient
conditions such that $C_c^\infty(\mathbb{R}^d)$ is a core.


title:
In-Medium Similarity Renormalization Group for Closed and Open-Shell
  Nuclei

abstract:
  We present a pedagogical introduction to the In-Medium Similarity
Renormalization Group (IM-SRG) framework for ab initio calculations of nuclei.
The IM-SRG performs continuous unitary transformations of the nuclear many-body
Hamiltonian in second-quantized form, which can be implemented with polynomial
computational effort. Through suitably chosen generators, it is possible to
extract eigenvalues of the Hamiltonian in a given nucleus, or drive the
Hamiltonian matrix in configuration space to specific structures, e.g., band-
or block-diagonal form.
  Exploiting this flexibility, we describe two complementary approaches for the
description of closed- and open-shell nuclei: The first is the Multireference
IM-SRG (MR-IM-SRG), which is designed for the efficient calculation of nuclear
ground-state properties. The second is the derivation of nonempirical
valence-space interactions that can be used as input for nuclear Shell model
(i.e., configuration interaction (CI)) calculations. This IM-SRG+Shell model
approach provides immediate access to excitation spectra, transitions, etc.,
but is limited in applicability by the factorial cost of the CI calculations.
  We review applications of the MR-IM-SRG and IM-SRG+Shell model approaches to
the calculation of ground-state properties for the oxygen, calcium, and nickel
isotopic chains or the spectroscopy of nuclei in the lower $sd$ shell,
respectively, and present selected new results, e.g., for the ground- and
excited state properties of neon isotopes.


title:
A Time- and Message-Optimal Distributed Algorithm for Minimum Spanning
  Trees

abstract:
  This paper presents a randomized Las Vegas distributed algorithm that
constructs a minimum spanning tree (MST) in weighted networks with optimal (up
to polylogarithmic factors) time and message complexity. This algorithm runs in
$\tilde{O}(D + \sqrt{n})$ time and exchanges $\tilde{O}(m)$ messages (both with
high probability), where $n$ is the number of nodes of the network, $D$ is the
diameter, and $m$ is the number of edges. This is the first distributed MST
algorithm that matches \emph{simultaneously} the time lower bound of
$\tilde{\Omega}(D + \sqrt{n})$ [Elkin, SIAM J. Comput. 2006] and the message
lower bound of $\Omega(m)$ [Kutten et al., J.ACM 2015] (which both apply to
randomized algorithms).
  The prior time and message lower bounds are derived using two completely
different graph constructions; the existing lower bound construction that shows
one lower bound {\em does not} work for the other. To complement our algorithm,
we present a new lower bound graph construction for which any distributed MST
algorithm requires \emph{both} $\tilde{\Omega}(D + \sqrt{n})$ rounds and
$\Omega(m)$ messages.


title:
Searching for the Internet of Things on the Web: Where It Is and What It
  Looks Like

abstract:
  The Internet of Things (IoT), in general, is a compelling paradigm that aims
to connect everyday objects to the Internet. Nowadays, IoT is considered as one
of the main technologies which contribute towards reshaping our daily lives in
the next decade. IoT unlocks many exciting new opportunities in a variety of
applications in research and industry domains. However, many have complained
about the absence of the real-world IoT data. Unsurprisingly, a common question
that arises regularly nowadays is "Does the IoT already exist?". So far, little
has been known about the real-world situation on IoT, its attributes, the
presentation of data and user interests. To answer this question, in this work,
we conduct an in-depth analytical investigation on real IoT data. More
specifically, we identify IoT data sources over the Web and develop a crawler
engine to collect large-scale real-world IoT data for the first time. We make
the results of our work available to the public in order to assist the
community in the future research. In particular, we collect the data of nearly
two million Internet connected objects and study trends in IoT using a
real-world query set from an IoT search engine. Based on the collected data and
our analysis, we identify the typical characteristics of IoT data. The most
intriguing finding of our study is that IoT data is mainly disseminated using
Web Mapping while the emerging IoT solutions such as the Web of Things, are
currently not well adopted. On top of our findings, we further discuss future
challenges and open research problems in the IoT area.


title: Volume conservation during finite plastic deformation

abstract:
  An elastoplastic theory is not volume conserved if it improperly sets an
arbitrary plastic strain rate tensor to be deviatoric. This paper discusses how
to rigorously realize volume conservation in finite strain regime, especially
when the unloading stress free configuration is not adopted or unique in the
elastoplastic theories. An accurate condition of volume conservation is
clarified and used in this paper that the density of a volume element after the
applied loads are completely removed should be identical to that of the initial
stress free states. For the elastoplastic theories that adopt the unloading
stress free configuration (i.e. the intermediate configuration), the accurate
condition of volume conservation is satisfied only if specific definitions of
the plastic strain rate are used among many other different definitions. For
the elastoplastic theories that do not adopt the unloading stress free
configuration, it is even more difficult to realize volume conservation as the
information of the stress free state lacks. To find a universal approach of
realizing volume conservation for elastoplastic theories whether or not adopt
the unloading stress free configuration, we propose a single assumption that
the density of material only depends on the trace of the Cauchy stress, and
interestingly find that the zero trace of the plastic stress rate is equivalent
to the accurate condition of volume conservation. Two strategies are further
proposed to satisfy the accurate condition of volume conservation: directly and
slightly revising the tangential stiffness tensor or using a properly chosen
stress/strain measure and elastic compliance tensor. They are implemented into
existing elastoplastic theories, and the volume conservation is demonstrated by
both theoretical proof and numerical examples.


title:
Real-Time Stochastic Kinodynamic Motion Planning via Multiobjective
  Search on GPUs

abstract:
  In this paper we present the PUMP (Parallel Uncertainty-aware Multiobjective
Planning) algorithm for addressing the stochastic kinodynamic motion planning
problem, whereby one seeks a low-cost, dynamically-feasible motion plan subject
to a constraint on collision probability (CP). To ensure exhaustive evaluation
of candidate motion plans (as needed to tradeoff the competing objectives of
performance and safety), PUMP incrementally builds the Pareto front of the
problem, accounting for the optimization objective and an approximation of CP.
This is performed by a massively parallel multiobjective search, here
implemented with a focus on GPUs. Upon termination of the exploration phase,
PUMP searches the Pareto set of motion plans to identify the lowest cost
solution that is certified to satisfy the CP constraint (according to an
asymptotically exact estimator). We introduce a novel particle-based CP
approximation scheme, designed for efficient GPU implementation, which accounts
for dependencies over the history of a trajectory execution. We present
numerical experiments for quadrotor planning wherein PUMP identifies solutions
in ~100 ms, evaluating over one hundred thousand partial plans through the
course of its exploration phase. The results show that this multiobjective
search achieves a lower motion plan cost, for the same CP constraint, compared
to a safety buffer-based search heuristic and repeated RRT trials.


title:
Analysis of SINR Outage in Large-Scale Cellular Networks Using
  Campbell's Theorem and Cumulant Generating Functions

abstract:
  The signal-to-noise-plus-interference ratio (SINR) outage probability is one
of the key performance parameters of a wireless cellular network, and its
analytical as well as numerical evaluation has occupied many researchers.
Recently, the introduction of stochastic geometric modeling of cellular
networks has brought the outage problem to the forefront again. A popular and
powerful approach is to exploit the available moment generating function (or
Laplace transform) of received signal and interference, whenever it exists, by
applying the Gil-Pelaez inversion formula. However, with the stochastic
geometric modeling, the moment generating function may either be too
complicated to exist in closed-form or at worst may not exist. Toward this end,
in this paper, we study two alternate ways of evaluating the SINR outage. In
the first case, we emphasize the significance of calculating cumulants over
moments and exploit the fact that the cumulants of point processes are easily
calculable using Campbell's theorem. The SINR outage is then analytically
characterized by Charlier expansion based on Gaussian and Student's
$t$-distributions and their associated Hermite and Krishnamoorthy polynomials.
In the second case, we exploit the saddle point method, which gives a
semi-analytical method of calculating the SINR outage, whenever the cumulant
generating function of received signal and interference exists. For the purpose
of demonstration, we apply these techniques on a downlink cellular network
model where a typical user experiences a coordinated multi-point transmission,
and the base stations are modeled by homogeneous Poisson point process. For the
convenience of readers, we also provide a brief overview of moments, cumulants,
their generating functions, and Campbell's theorem, without invoking measure
theory. Numerical results illustrate the accuracy of the proposed mathematical
approaches.


title: Holographic bound in covariant loop quantum gravity

abstract:
  We investigate puncture statistics based on the covariant area spectrum in
loop quantum gravity. First, we consider Maxwell-Boltzmann statistics with a
Gibbs factor for punctures. We establish formulae which relate physical
quantities such as horizon area to the parameter characterizing holographic
degrees of freedom. We also perform numerical calculations and obtain
consistency with these formulae. These results tell us that the holographic
bound is satisfied in the large area limit and correction term of the
entropy-area law can be proportional to the logarithm of the horizon area.
Second, we also consider Bose-Einstein statistics and show that the above
formulae are also useful in this case. By applying the formulae, we can
understand intrinsic features of Bose-Einstein condensate which corresponds to
the case when the horizon area almost consists of punctures in the ground
state. When this phenomena occurs, the area is approximately constant against
the parameter characterizing the temperature. When this phenomena is broken,
the area shows rapid increase which suggests the phase transition from quantum
to classical area.


title:
Magnetoelectrical control of nonreciprocal microwave response in a
  multiferroic helimagnet

abstract:
  Control of physical property in terms of external fields is essential for
contemporary technologies. The conductance can be controlled by a gate electric
field in a field effect transistor, which is a main component of the integrated
circuit. Optical phenomena induced by an electric field such as
electroluminescence and electrochromism are useful for display and other
technologies. Control of microwave propagation seems also imperative for future
wireless communication technology. Microwave properties in solids are dominated
mostly by magnetic excitations, which cannot be easily controlled by an
electric field. One of the solutions for this problem is utilizing magnetically
induced ferroelectrics (multiferroics). Here we show that microwave
nonreciprocity, which is difference between oppositely propagating microwaves,
can be reversed by the external electric field in a multiferroic helimagnet
Ba$_2$Mg$_2$Fe$_{12}$O$_{22}$. This result offers a new avenue for the
electrical control of microwave properties.


title: Decentralized Dynamic Optimization for Power Network Voltage Control

abstract:
  Voltage control in power distribution networks has been greatly challenged by
the increasing penetration of volatile and intermittent devices. These devices
can also provide limited reactive power resources that can be used to regulate
the network-wide voltage. A decentralized voltage control strategy can be
designed by minimizing a quadratic voltage mismatch error objective using
gradient-projection (GP) updates. Coupled with the power network flow, the
local voltage can provide the instantaneous gradient information. This paper
aims to analyze the performance of this decentralized GP-based voltage control
design under two dynamic scenarios: i) the nodes perform the decentralized
update in an asynchronous fashion, and ii) the network operating condition is
time-varying. For the asynchronous voltage control, we improve the existing
convergence condition by recognizing that the voltage based gradient is always
up-to-date. By modeling the network dynamics using an autoregressive process
and considering time-varying resource constraints, we provide an error bound in
tracking the instantaneous optimal solution to the quadratic error objective.
This result can be extended to more general \textit{constrained dynamic
optimization} problems with smooth strongly convex objective functions under
stochastic processes that have bounded iterative changes. Extensive numerical
tests have been performed to demonstrate and validate our analytical results
for realistic power networks.


title: Dial One for Scam: A Large-Scale Analysis of Technical Support Scams

abstract:
  In technical support scams, cybercriminals attempt to convince users that
their machines are infected with malware and are in need of their technical
support. In this process, the victims are asked to provide scammers with remote
access to their machines, who will then "diagnose the problem", before offering
their support services which typically cost hundreds of dollars. Despite their
conceptual simplicity, technical support scams are responsible for yearly
losses of tens of millions of dollars from everyday users of the web. In this
paper, we report on the first systematic study of technical support scams and
the call centers hidden behind them. We identify malvertising as a major
culprit for exposing users to technical support scams and use it to build an
automated system capable of discovering, on a weekly basis, hundreds of phone
numbers and domains operated by scammers. By allowing our system to run for
more than 8 months we collect a large corpus of technical support scams and use
it to provide insights on their prevalence, the abused infrastructure, the
illicit profits, and the current evasion attempts of scammers. Finally, by
setting up a controlled, IRB-approved, experiment where we interact with 60
different scammers, we experience first-hand their social engineering tactics,
while collecting detailed statistics of the entire process. We explain how our
findings can be used by law-enforcing agencies and propose technical and
educational countermeasures for helping users avoid being victimized by
technical support scams.


title:
MASSIVE: A Bayesian analysis of giant planet populations around low-mass
  stars

abstract:
  Direct imaging has led to the discovery of several giant planet and brown
dwarf companions. These imaged companions populate a mass, separation and age
domain (mass>1MJup, orbits>5AU, age<1Gyr) quite distinct from the one occupied
by exoplanets discovered by the radial velocity or transit methods. This
distinction could pinpoint that different formation mechanisms are at play. We
aim at investigating correlations between the host star's mass and the presence
of wide-orbit giant planets, and at providing new observational constraints on
planetary formation models. We observed 58 young and nearby M-type dwarfs in
L'-band with the VLT/NaCo instrument and used ADI algorithms to optimize the
sensitivity to planetary-mass companions and to derive the best detection
limits. We estimate the probability of detecting a planet as a function of its
mass and physical separation around each target. We conduct a Bayesian analysis
to determine the frequency of substellar companions orbiting low-mass stars,
using a homogenous sub-sample of 54 stars. We derive a frequency of
$4.4^{+3.2}_{-1.3}\%$ for companions with masses in the range of 2-80MJup}, and
$2.3^{+2.9}_{-0.7}$\% for planetary mass companions (2-14MJup), at physical
separations of 8 to 400AU for both cases. Comparing our results with a previous
survey targeting more massive stars, we find evidence that substellar
companions more massive than 1MJup with a low mass ratio Q with respect to
their host star (Q<1%), are less frequent around low-mass stars. This may
represent an observational evidence that the frequency of imaged wide-orbit
substellar companions is correlated with stellar mass, corroborating
theoretical expectations. On the opposite, we show statistical evidence that
intermediate-mass ratio (1%<Q<5%) companion with masses >2MJup might be
independent from the mass of the host star.


title:
Rashba interaction and local magnetic moments in a graphene-Boron
  Nitride heterostructure by intercalation with Au

abstract:
  We intercalate a van der Waals heterostructure of graphene and hexagonal
Boron Nitride with Au, by encapsulation, and show that Au at the interface is
two dimensional. A charge transfer upon current annealing indicates
redistribution of Au and induces splitting of the graphene bandstructure. The
effect of in plane magnetic field confirms that splitting is due to
spin-splitting and that spin polarization is in the plane, characteristic of a
Rashba interaction with magnitude approximately 25 meV. Consistent with the
presence of intrinsic interfacial electric field we show that the splitting can
be enhanced by an applied displacement field in dual gated samples. Giant
negative magnetoresistance, up to 75%, and a field induced anomalous Hall
effect at magnetic fields < 1 T are observed. These demonstrate that hybridized
Au has a magnetic moment and suggests the proximity to formation of a
collective magnetic phase. These effects persist close to room temperature.


title: Electric Current Fluctuations, Entropy and Ionic Conductivity

abstract:
  This paper reports a relation between ionic conductivity and electric current
fluctuations. The relation was derived using statistical analysis and entropy
approach. The relation can be used to calculate ionic conductivity.


title:
Observation of a dissipative phase transition in a one-dimensional
  circuit QED lattice

abstract:
  Condensed matter physics has been driven forward by significant experimental
and theoretical progress in the study and understanding of equilibrium phase
transitions based on symmetry and topology. However, nonequilibrium phase
transitions have remained a challenge, in part due to their complexity in
theoretical descriptions and the additional experimental difficulties in
systematically controlling systems out of equilibrium. Here, we study a
one-dimensional chain of 72 microwave cavities, each coupled to a
superconducting qubit, and coherently drive the system into a nonequilibrium
steady state. We find experimental evidence for a dissipative phase transition
in the system in which the steady state changes dramatically as the mean photon
number is increased. Near the boundary between the two observed phases, the
system demonstrates bistability, with characteristic switching times as long as
60 ms -- far longer than any of the intrinsic rates known for the system. This
experiment demonstrates the power of circuit QED systems for studying
nonequilibrium condensed matter physics and paves the way for future
experiments exploring nonequilbrium physics with many-body quantum optics.


title:
Evaluation of TRANSFoRm Mobile eHealth Solution for Remote Patient
  Monitoring during Clinical Trials

abstract:
  Today, in the digital age, the mobile devices are more and more used to aid
people in the struggle to improve or maintain their health. In this paper, the
mobile eHealth solution for remote patient monitoring during clinical trials is
presented, together with the outcomes of quantitative and qualitative
performance evaluation. The evaluation is a third step to improve the quality
of the application after earlier Good Clinical Practice certification and
validation with the participation of 10 patients and three general
practitioners. This time, the focus was on the usability which was evaluated by
the seventeen participants divided into three age groups (18-28, 29-50, and
50+). The results, from recorded sessions and the eye tracking, show that there
is no difference in performance between the first group and the second group,
while for the third group the performance was worse, however, it was still good
enough to complete task within reasonable time.


title:
Efficient spectral sparse grid approximations for solving
  multi-dimensional forward backward SDEs

abstract:
  This is the second part in a series of papers on multi-step schemes for
solving coupled forward backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs). We
extend the basic idea in our former paper [W. Zhao, Y. Fu and T. Zhou, SIAM J.
Sci. Comput., 36 (2014), pp. A1731-A1751] to solve high-dimensional FBSDEs, by
using the spectral sparse grid approximations. The main issue for solving high
dimensional FBSDEs is to build an efficient spatial discretization, and deal
with the related high dimensional conditional expectations and interpolations.
In this work, we propose the sparse grid spatial discretization. We use the
sparse grid Gaussian-Hermite quadrature rule to approximate the conditional
expectations. And for the associated high dimensional interpolations, we adopt
an spectral expansion of functions in polynomial spaces with respect to the
spatial variables, and use the sparse grid approximations to recover the
expansion coefficients. The FFT algorithm is used to speed up the recovery
procedure, and the entire algorithm admits efficient and high accurate
approximations in high-dimensions, provided that the solutions are sufficiently
smooth. Several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency
of the proposed methods.


title:
Measurement and extinction of vector light shifts using interferometry
  of spinor condensates

abstract:
  We use differential Ramsey interferometry of ultracold atoms to characterize
the vector light shift (VLS) from a far-off resonance optical dipole trap at
$\lambda = 1064\,\mathrm{nm}$. The VLS manifests as a `fictitious' magnetic
field, which we perceive as a change in the Larmor frequency of two spinor
condensates exposed to different intensities of elliptically polarized light.
We use our measurement scheme to diagnose the light-induced magnetic field and
suppress it to $2.1(8)\times10^{-4}$ of its maximum value, by making the
trapping light linearly polarized with a quarter-wave plate in each beam. Our
sensitive measurement of the VLS-induced field demonstrates high-precision,
in-vacuo interferometric polarimetry of dipole trapping light and can be
adapted to measure vector shifts from other lasers, advancing the application
of optically trapped atoms to precision metrology.


title: Points on manifolds with asymptotically optimal covering radius

abstract:
  Given a finite set of points on the Euclidean sphere, the worst case
quadrature error in Sobolev spaces has recently been shown to provide upper
bounds on the covering radius of the point set. Moreover, quasi-Monte Carlo
integration points on the sphere achieve the asymptotically optimal covering
radius. Here, we extend these results to points on compact smooth Riemannian
manifolds and provide numerical experiments illustrating our findings for the
Grassmannian manifold.


title: Searching for signatures of $E_{\rm 6}$

abstract:
  The grand unified group $E_6$~is a predictive scheme for physics beyond the
standard model (SM). It offers the possibility of extra $Z$ bosons, new
vector-like fermions, sterile neutrinos, and neutral scalars in addition to the
SM Higgs boson. Some previous discussions of these features are updated and
extended. Their relevance to present searches at the CERN Large Hadron Collider
and in patterns of neutrino masses is noted. Addition of a small set of scalar
bosons at the TeV scale permits gauge unification near a scale of $10^{16}$
GeV, and leads to bounds on masses of particles beyond those in the standard
model.


title: Taking Prime, Maximal and Two--class Congruences Through Morphisms

abstract:
  In this paper we study prime, maximal and two--class congruences from the
point of view of the relationships between them in various kinds of universal
algebras, as well as their direct and inverse images through morphisms. This
research has also produced a set of interesting results concerning the prime
and the maximal congruences of several kinds of lattices.


title:
Rank Correlation Measure: A Representational Transformation for
  Biometric Template Protection

abstract:
  Despite a variety of theoretical-sound techniques have been proposed for
biometric template protection, there is rarely practical solution that
guarantees non-invertibility, cancellability, non-linkability and performance
simultaneously. In this paper, a ranking-based representational transformation
is proposed for fingerprint templates. The proposed method transforms a
real-valued feature vector into index code such that the pairwise-order measure
in the resultant codes are closely correlated with rank similarity measure.
Such a ranking based technique offers two major merits: 1) Resilient to
noises/perturbations in numeric values; and 2) Highly nonlinear embedding based
on partial order statistics. The former takes care of the accuracy performance
mitigating numeric noises/perturbations while the latter offers strong
non-invertible transformation via nonlinear feature embedding from Euclidean to
Rank space that leads to toughness in inversion. The experimental results
demonstrate reasonable accuracy performance on benchmark FVC2002 and FVC2004
fingerprint databases, thus confirm the proposition of the rank correlation.
Moreover, the security and privacy analysis justify the strong capability
against the existing major privacy attacks.


title: Asymptotic Properties of Approximate Bayesian Computation

abstract:
  Approximate Bayesian computation allows for statistical analysis in models
with intractable likelihoods. In this paper we consider the asymptotic
behaviour of the posterior distribution obtained by this method. We give
general results on the rate at which the posterior distribution concentrates on
sets containing the true parameter, its limiting shape, and the asymptotic
distribution of the posterior mean. These results hold under given rates for
the tolerance used within the method, mild regularity conditions on the summary
statistics, and a condition linked to identification of the true parameters.
Implications for practitioners are discussed.


title: Plateau Inflation in $R$-parity Violating MSSM

abstract:
  Inflation with plateau potentials give the best fit to the CMB observables as
they predict tensor to scalar ratio stringently bounded by the observations
from Planck and BICEP2/Keck. In supergravity models it is possible to obtain
plateau potentials for scalar fields in the Einstein frame which can serve as
the inflation potential by considering higher dimensional Planck suppressed
operators and by the choice of non-canonical K\"ahler potentials. We construct
a plateau inflation model in MSSM where the inflation occurs along a
sneutrino-Higgs flat direction. A hidden sector Polonyi field is used for the
breaking of supersymmetry after the end of the inflation. The proper choice of
superpotential leads to strong stabilization of the Polonyi field, $m_{Z}^2\gg
m_{3/2}^2$, which is required to solve the cosmological moduli problem. Also,
the SUSY breaking results in a TeV scale gravitino mass and scalar masses and
gives rise to bilinear and triliear couplings of scalars which can be tested at
the LHC. The sneutrino inflation field can be observed at the LHC as a TeV
scale diphoton resonance like the one reported by CMS and ATLAS.


title: Quantum signal+noise models: beyond i.i.d

abstract:
  Recently, the Gaussian optimizer conjecture in quantum information theory was
confirmed for bosonic Gaussian gauge-covariant or contravariant channels. These
results use the i.i.d. model of the quantum noise. In this paper we consider
quantum Gaussian signal+noise model with time-continuous stationary coloured
noise. A proof of the coding theorem for the classical capacity of quantum
broadband gauge-covariant Gaussian channels is given. We also discuss and
compare the "broadband" and the "bandpass" models of time-continuous
time-continuous stationary coloured noise.


title:
Profit-aware Online Vehicle-to-Grid Decentralized Scheduling under
  Multiple Charging Stations

abstract:
  Fluctuations in electricity tariffs induced by the sporadic nature of demand
loads on power grids has initiated immense efforts to find optimal scheduling
solutions for charging and discharging plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) subject
to different objective sets. In this paper, we consider vehicle-to-grid (V2G)
scheduling at a geographically large scale in which PEVs have the flexibility
of charging/discharging at multiple smart stations coordinated by individual
aggregators. We first formulate the objective of maximizing the overall profit
of both, demand and supply entities, by defining a weighting parameter. We then
propose an online decentralized greedy algorithm for the formulated mixed
integer non-linear programming (MINLP) problem, which incorporates efficient
heuristics to practically guide each incoming vehicle to the most appropriate
charging station (CS). The better performance of the presented algorithm
compared to an alternative allocation strategy is demonstrated through
simulations in terms of the overall achievable profit and flatness of the final
electricity load. Moreover, the results of simulations reveal the existence of
optimal number of deployed stations at which the overall profit can be
maximized.


title:
Topological and homological properties of the orbit space of a compact
  linear Lie group with commutative connected component

abstract:
  The problem in question is whether the quotient space of a compact linear
group is a topological manifold and whether it is a homological manifold. In
the paper, the case of an infinite group with commutative connected component
is considered.


title:
Influence of Al-doping on the structural, magnetic, and electrical
  properties of La$_{1-x}$Ba$_x$Mn$_{1-x}$Al$_x$O$_3$ ($0\leq x \leq 0.25$)
  manganites

abstract:
  We have studied the effect of Al doping on the structural, magnetic and
electrical properties of La$_{1-x}$Ba$_x$Mn$_{1-x}$Al$_x$O$_3$ ($0\leq x \leq
0.25$) manganite, annealed in two 750$^oC$ and 1350$^oC$ temperatures. The XRD
analysis shows that the structures in all samples have single phase
rhombohedral structure with R$\bar{3}$c space group. The unit cell volume
almost decrease with increasing the Al doping in all samples. The grain growth
with increasing annealing temperature and Al doping also have been studied. We
observed that, T$_c$ temperature decreases when the Al ion substitute in Mn ion
site. The magnetic study of the samples via magnetic susceptibility results in
Griffiths and spin-glass phase for samples doped with aluminium. Along the
resistivity measurement results, the $T_{MIT}$ (metal-insulator) transition
temperatures decrease and the system become an insulator. The insulator-metal
transition occurs for L0 sample in near 165K, while this transition is weak for
H0 sample due to oxygen non-stoichiometry.Using three models viz. 1. Adiabatic
small polaron hoping, 2.Variable range hopping, and 3. Percolation model, the
resistance have been studied.


title: Deterministic Computing Mechanism for Perfect Density Classification

abstract:
  The purpose of the present study is to search one-dimensional Cellular
Automata (CA) rules which will solve the density classification task (DCT)
perfectly. The mathematical analysis of number conserving functions over binary
strings of length n gives an indication of its corresponding number conserving
cellular automata rules (either uniform or non-uniform). The state transition
diagrams (STDs) of number conserving CA rules have been analyzed where it has
been found that these STDs can generate different DCT solutions. While studying
the properties of STDs, an interesting classification of binary strings could
be made where equal weight strings form a class and the cardinality of each
class is same as the binomial coefficient nCk; n is the length and k is the
weight of the binary string. Apart from STDs, other deterministic methods have
been proposed to obtain the exact solution of DCT. All these exact solutions of
DCT using different deterministic methods can be viewed as an improvement over
the soft computing techniques used earlier to obtain approximate solutions.


title: Analysis of distorted measurements -- parameter estimation and unfolding

abstract:
  1. Parameter inference from distorted measurements is discussed. 2. Smeared
measurements are unfolded without explicit regularization. The corresponding
results are unbiased and permit to fit parameters and to apply quantitative
goodness-of-fit tests. 3. Common unfolding methods (iterative EM with early
stopping, truncated SVD, ML fits with curvature, entropy and norm penalties)
are tested and compared to each other with the regularization parameter
adjusted to minimize the integrated square error (ISE) in all cases. Apart from
histogram representations, spline approximations are considered. All
simulations indicate that the EM method leads to smaller ISEs than the
competing approaches. Especially promising is the EM unfolding to spline
approximations.
  The studies are based on different distributions, event numbers, resolutions
and enough independent simulations to obtain conclusive results. It is proposed
to unfold data with the EM method to b-spline approximations and to supplement
the results with histograms and error matrices obtained by unfolding into
relative wide bins without explicit regularization.


title: Fixing improper colorings of graphs

abstract:
  In this paper we consider a variation of a recoloring problem, called the
Color-Fixing. Let us have some non-proper $r$-coloring $\varphi$ of a graph
$G$. We investigate the problem of finding a proper $r$-coloring of $G$, which
is "the most similar" to $\varphi$, i.e. the number $k$ of vertices that have
to be recolored is minimum possible. We observe that the problem is NP-complete
for any $r \geq 3$, even for bipartite planar graphs. On the other hand, the
problem is fixed-parameter tractable, when parameterized by the number of
allowed transformations $k$. We provide an $2^n \cdot n^{\mathcal{O}(1)}$
algorithm for the problem (for any fixed $r$) and a linear algorithm for graphs
with bounded treewidth. We also show several lower complexity bounds, using
standard complexity assumptions. Finally, we investigate the {\em fixing
number} of a graph $G$. It is the maximum possible distance (in the number of
transformations) between some non-proper coloring of $G$ and a proper one.


title:
Reaction rate of a composite core-shell nanoreactor with multiple,
  spatially distributed embedded nano-catalysts

abstract:
  We present a detailed theory for the total reaction rate constant of a
composite core-shell nanoreactor, consisting of a central solid core surrounded
by a hydrogel layer of variable thickness, where a given number of small
catalytic nanoparticles are embedded at prescribed positions and are endowed
with a prescribed surface reaction rate constant. Besides the precise geometry
of the assembly, our theory accounts explicitly for the diffusion coefficients
of the reactants in the hydrogel and in the bulk as well as for their transfer
free energy jump upon entering the hydrogel shell. Moreover, we work out an
approximate analytical formula for the overall rate constant, which is valid in
the physically relevant range of geometrical and chemical parameters. We
discuss in depth how the diffusion-controlled part of the rate depends on the
essential variables, including the size of the central core. In particular, we
derive some simple rules for estimating the number of nanocatalysts per
nanoreactor for an efficient catalytic performance in the case of small to
intermediate core sizes. Our theoretical treatment promises to provide a very
useful and flexible tool for the design of superior performing nanoreactor
geometries and with optimized nanoparticle load.


title:
Fractional differential equations with dependence on the
  Caputo-Katugampola derivative

abstract:
  In this paper we present a new type of fractional operator, the
Caputo-Katugampola derivative. The Caputo and the Caputo-Hadamard fractional
derivatives are special cases of this new operator. An existence and uniqueness
theorem for a fractional Cauchy type problem, with dependence on the
Caputo--Katugampola derivative, is proven. A decomposition formula for the
Caputo-Katugampola derivative is obtained. This formula allows us to provide a
simple numerical procedure to solve the fractional differential equation.


title:
Variable-to-Fixed Length Homophonic Coding with a Modified
  Shannon-Fano-Elias Code

abstract:
  Homophonic coding is a framework to reversibly convert a message into a
sequence with some target distribution. This is a promising tool to generate a
codeword with a biased code-symbol distribution, which is required for
capacity-achieving communication by asymmetric channels. It is known that
asymptotically optimal homophonic coding can be realized by a Fixed-to-Variable
(FV) length code using an interval algorithm similar to a random number
generator. However, FV codes are not preferable as a component of channel codes
since a decoding error propagates to all subsequent codewords. As a solution
for this problem an asymptotically optimal Variable-to-Fixed (VF) length
homophonic code, dual Shannon-Fano-Elias-Gray (dual SFEG) code, is proposed in
this paper. This code can be interpreted as a dual of a modified
Shannon-Fano-Elias (SFE) code based on Gray code. It is also shown as a
by-product that the modified SFE code, named SFEG code, achieves a better
coding rate than the original SFE code in lossless source coding.


title: Formation of eta'(958) Meson Bound States by the 6Li(gamma,d) reaction

abstract:
  We have investigated the 6Li(gamma,d) reaction theoretically for the
formation of the eta'(958) mesic nucleus close to the recoilless kinematics. We
have developed the theoretical formula and reported the quantitative results of
the formation spectra for various cases in this article. We have found that the
formation cross sections are reduced by the effects of the fragile deuteron
form factor.


title: General features of single-scalar field dark energy models

abstract:
  We present a systematic study of modified gravity (MG) models containing a
single scalar field non-minimally coupled to the metric. Despite a large
parameter space, exploiting the effective field theory of dark energy (EFT of
DE) formulation and imposing simple physical constraints such as stability
conditions and (sub-)luminal propagation of perturbations, we arrive at a
number of generic predictions about the large scale structures.


title: Magneto-optical transport properties of monolayer WSe2

abstract:
  The recent experimental realization of a high quality WSe$% _{2} $ leads to
the possibility of magneto-optical measurements and the manipulation of the
spin and valley degrees of freedom. We study the influence of the very strong
spin-orbit coupling and of the anisotropic lifting of the valley pseudospin
degeneracy on its magnetotransport properties. The energy spectrum of WSe$_{2}
$ is derived and discussed in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field
$B$. Correspondingly we evaluate the magneto-optical Hall conductivity and the
optical longitudinal conductivity as functions of the frequency, magnetic
field, and Fermi energy. They are strongly influenced by the field $B$ and the
strong spin splitting. The former exhibits valley polarization and the latter
beatings of oscillations. The magneto-optical responses can be tuned in two
different regimes: the mictrowave-to-terahertz regime and the visible-frequency
one. The absorption peaks involving the $n=0$ LL appear in between these two
regimes and show a magnetic control of the spin and valley splittings. We also
evaluate the power absorption spectrum.


title:
On a class of submanifolds in tangent bundle with g - natural metric -
  normal lift

abstract:
  An isometric immersion of a Riemannian manifold $M$ into a Riemannian
manifold $N$ gives rise in a natural way to variety of immersions into the
tangent bundle $TN$ with a non-degenerate $g-$ natural metric $G$. In the paper
we introduce and study an immersion into $TN$ defined by the immersion
$f:M\longrightarrow N$ itself and the normal bundle.


title: Thermal state truncation by using quantum scissors device

abstract:
  A non-Gaussian state being a mixture of the vacuum and single-photon states
can be generated by truncating a thermal state in a quantum scissors device of
Pegg et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 81 (1998) 1604]. In contrast to the thermal
state, the generated state shows nonclassical property including the negativity
of Wigner function. Besides, signal amplification and signal-to-noise ratio
enhancement can be achieved.


title: Manifestation of nuclear cluster structure in Coulomb sums

abstract:
  Experimental Coulomb sum values of 6^Li and 7^Li nuclei have been obtained,
extending the earlier reported momentum transfer range of Coulomb sums for
these nuclei up to q = 0.750 ... 1.625 fm^-1. The dependence of the Coulomb
sums on the momentum transfers of 6^Li and 7^Li is shown to differ
substantially from similar dependences for all the other nuclei investigated.
Relationship between the nuclear cluster structure and Coulomb sums has been
considered. The momentum transfer value, above which the Coulomb sum becomes
constant, is found to be related to the cluster isolation parameter x, which
characterizes the degree of nuclear clusterization.


title:
Estimation and Prediction using generalized Wendland Covariance
  Functions under fixed domain asymptotics

abstract:
  We study estimation and prediction of Gaussian random fields with covariance
models belonging to the generalized Wendland (GW) class, under fixed domain
asymptotics. As the Mat\'ern case, this class allows a continuous
parameterization of smoothness of the underlying Gaussian random field, being
additionally compactly supported. The paper is divided into two parts: First,
we characterize the equivalence of two Gaussian measures with GW covariance
function, and we provide sufficient conditions for the equivalence of two
Gaussian measures with Mat\'ern and GW covariance functions. We elucidate the
consequences of these facts in terms of (misspecified) best linear unbiased
predictors. In the second part, we establish strong consistency and asymptotic
distribution of the maximum likelihood estimator of the microergodic parameter
associated to GW covariance model, under fixed domain asymptotics. Our findings
are illustrated through a simulation study: The first compares the finite
sample behavior of the maximum likelihood estimation of the microergodic
parameter with the given asymptotic distribution. We then compare the
finite-sample behavior of the prediction and its associated mean square error
when using two equivalent Gaussian measures with Mat\'ern and GW covariance
model, using covariance tapering as benchmark.


title:
Finite-particle approximations for interacting Brownian particles with
  logarithmic potentials

abstract:
  We prove the convergence of $ \nN $-particle systems of Brownian particles
with logarithmic interaction potentials onto a system described by the
infinite-dimensional stochastic differential equation (ISDE). % For this proof
we present two general theorems on the finite-particle approximations of
interacting Brownian motions. % In the first general theorem, we present a
sufficient condition for a kind of tightness of solutions of stochastic
differential equations (SDE) describing finite-particle systems, and prove that
the limit points solve the corresponding ISDE. This implies, if in addition the
limit ISDE enjoy a uniqueness of solutions, then the full sequence converges.
We treat non-reversible case in the first main theorem. % In the second general
theorem, we restrict to the case of reversible particle systems and simplify
the sufficient condition. We deduce the second theorem from the first. % We
apply the second general theorem to Airy$ _{\beta }$ interacting Brownian
motion with $ \beta = 1,2,4$, and the Ginibre interacting Brownian motion. The
former appears in the soft-edge limit of Gaussian
(orthogonal/unitary/symplectic) ensembles in one spatial dimension, and the
latter in the bulk limit of Ginibre ensemble in two spatial dimensions,
corresponding to a quantum statistical system for which the eigen-value spectra
belong to non-Hermitian Gaussian random matrices. The passage from the
finite-particle stochastic differential equation (SDE) to the limit ISDE is a
sensitive problem because the logarithmic potentials are long range and
unbounded at infinity. Indeed, the limit ISDEs are not easily detectable from
those of finite dimensions. Our general theorems can be applied
straightforwardly to the grand canonical Gibbs measures with Ruelle-class
potentials such as Lennard-Jones 6-12 potentials and and Riesz potentials.


title:
Vortex formation and dynamics in two-dimensional driven-dissipative
  condensates

abstract:
  We investigate the real-time evolution of lattice bosons in two spatial
dimensions whose dynamics is governed by a Markovian quantum master equation.
We employ the Wigner-Weyl phase space quantization and derive the functional
integral for open quantum many-body systems that governs the time evolution of
the Wigner function. Using the truncated Wigner approximation, in which quantum
fluctuations are only taken into account in the initial state whereas the
dynamics is governed by classical evolution equations, we study the buildup of
long-range correlations due to the action of non-Hermitean quantum jump
operators that constitute a mechanism for dissipative cooling. Starting from an
initially disordered state corresponding to a vortex condensate, the
dissipative process results in the annihilation of vortex-antivortex pairs and
the establishment of quasi long-range order at late times. We observe that a
finite vortex density survives the cooling process which disagrees with the
analytically constructed vortex-free Bose-Einstein condensate at asymptotic
times. This indicates that quantum fluctuations beyond the truncated Wigner
approximation need to be included to fully capture the physics of dissipative
Bose-Einstein condensation.


title: Sharp Regularity for Weak Solutions to the Porous Medium Equation

abstract:
  Let $u$ be a nonnegative, local, weak solution to the porous medium equation
for $m\ge2$ in a space-time cylinder $\Omega_T$. Fix a point
$(x_o,t_o)\in\Omega_T$: if the average \[
a{\buildrel\mbox{def}\over{=}}\frac1{|B_r(x_o)|}\int_{B_r(x_o)}u(x,t_o)\,dx>0,
\] then the quantity $|\nabla u^{m-1}|$ is locally bounded in a proper
cylinder, whose center lies at time $t_o+a^{1-m}r^2$. This implies that in the
same cylinder the solution $u$ is H\"older continuous with exponent
$\alpha=\frac1{m-1}$, which is known to be optimal. Moreover, $u$ presents a
sort of instantaneous regularisation, which we quantify.


title:
Determination of the exchange interaction energy from the polarization
  expansion of the wave function

abstract:
  The exchange contribution to the energy of the hydrogen atom interacting with
a proton is calculated from the polarization expansion of the wave function
using the conventional surface-integral formula and two formulas involving
volume integrals: the formula of the symmetry-adapted perturbation theory
(SAPT) and the variational formula recommended by us. At large internuclear
distances $R$, all three formulas yield the correct expression $-(2/e)Re^{-R}$,
but approximate it with very different convergence rates. In the case of the
SAPT formula, the convergence is geometric with the error falling as $3^{-K}$,
where $K$ is the order of the applied polarization expansion. The error of the
surface-integral formula decreases exponentially as $a^K/(K+1)!$, where $a=\ln2
-\tfrac{1}{2}$. The variational formula performs best, its error decays as
$K^{1/2} [a^{ K}/(K+1)!]^2$. These convergence rates are much faster than those
resulting from approximating the wave function through the multipole expansion.
This shows the efficiency of the partial resummation of the multipole series
effected by the polarization expansion. Our results demonstrate also the
benefits of incorporating the variational principle into the perturbation
theory of molecular interactions.


title: Obstructions for Twist Star Products

abstract:
  In this short note we point out that not every star product is induced by a
Drinfel'd twist by showing that not every Poisson structure is induced by a
classical $r$-matrix. Examples include the higher genus symplectic Pretzel
surfaces and the symplectic sphere $\mathbb{S}^2$.


title: Sound Static Deadlock Analysis for C/Pthreads (Extended Version)

abstract:
  We present a static deadlock analysis approach for C/pthreads. The design of
our method has been guided by the requirement to analyse real-world code. Our
approach is sound (i.e., misses no deadlocks) for programs that have defined
behaviour according to the C standard, and precise enough to prove
deadlock-freedom for a large number of programs. The method consists of a
pipeline of several analyses that build on a new context- and thread-sensitive
abstract interpretation framework. We further present a lightweight dependency
analysis to identify statements relevant to deadlock analysis and thus speed up
the overall analysis. In our experimental evaluation, we succeeded to prove
deadlock-freedom for 262 programs from the Debian GNU/Linux distribution with
in total 2.6 MLOC in less than 11 hours.


title: Ab initio Calculations of Optical Properties of Clusters

abstract:
  We have performed systematic large-scale all-electron correlated calculations
on boron Bn, aluminum Aln and magnesium Mgn clusters (n=2--5), to study their
linear optical absorption spectra. Several possible isomers of each cluster
were considered, and their geometries were optimized at the coupled-cluster
singles doubles (CCSD) level of theory. Using the optimized ground-state
geometries, excited states of different clusters were computed using the
multi-reference singles-doubles configuration interaction (MRSDCI) approach,
which includes electron correlation effects at a sophisticated level. These CI
wavefunctions were used to compute the transition dipole matrix elements
connecting the ground and various excited states of different clusters,
eventually leading to their linear absorption spectra. The convergence of our
results with respect to the basis sets, and the size of the CI expansion was
carefully examined. Isomers of a given cluster show a distinct signature
spectrum, indicating a strong structure property relationship. This fact can be
used in experiments to distinguish between different isomers of a cluster.
Owing to the sophistication of our calculations, our results can be used for
benchmarking of the absorption spectra and be used to design superior
time-dependent density functional theoretical (TDDFT) approaches. The
contribution of configurations to many-body wavefunction of various excited
states suggests that in most cases optical excitations involved are collective,
and plasmonic in nature. Optical absorption in planar boron clusters in wheel
shape, B7, B8 and B9 computed using EOM-CCSD approach, have been compared to
the results obtained from TDDFT approach with a number of functionals. This
benchmarking reveals that range-separated functionals such as wB97xD and
CAM-B3LYP give qualitatively as well as quantitatively the same results as that
of EOM-CCSD.


title:
Gaussian distributions on Riemannian symmetric spaces: statistical
  learning with structured covariance matrices

abstract:
  The Riemannian geometry of covariance matrices has been essential to several
successful applications, in computer vision, biomedical signal and image
processing, and radar data processing. For these applications, an important
ongoing challenge is to develop Riemannian-geometric tools which are adapted to
structured covariance matrices. The present paper proposes to meet this
challenge by introducing a new class of probability distributions, Gaussian
distributions of structured covariance matrices. These are Riemannian analogs
of Gaussian distributions, which only sample from covariance matrices having a
preassigned structure, such as complex, Toeplitz, or block-Toeplitz. The
usefulness of these distributions stems from three features: (1) they are
completely tractable, analytically or numerically, when dealing with large
covariance matrices, (2) they provide a statistical foundation to the concept
of structured Riemannian barycentre (i.e. Fr\'echet or geometric mean), (3)
they lead to efficient statistical learning algorithms, which realise, among
others, density estimation and classification of structured covariance
matrices. The paper starts from the observation that several spaces of
structured covariance matrices, considered from a geometric point of view, are
Riemannian symmetric spaces. Accordingly, it develops an original theory of
Gaussian distributions on Riemannian symmetric spaces, of their statistical
inference, and of their relationship to the concept of Riemannian barycentre.
Then, it uses this original theory to give a detailed description of Gaussian
distributions of three kinds of structured covariance matrices, complex,
Toeplitz, and block-Toeplitz. Finally, it describes algorithms for density
estimation and classification of structured covariance matrices, based on
Gaussian distribution mixture models.


title:
Photometric, Spectroscopic and Orbital Period Study of Three Early Type
  Semi-detached Systems: XZ Aql, UX Her and AT Peg

abstract:
  In this paper we present a combined photometric, spectroscopic and orbital
period study of three early-type eclipsing binary systems: XZ Aql, UX Her, and
AT Peg. As a result, we have derived the absolute parameters of their
components and, on that basis, we discuss their evolutionary states.
Furthermore, we compare their parameters with those of other binary systems and
with the theoretical models. An analysis of all available up-to-date times of
minima indicated that all three systems studied here show cyclic orbital
changes, their origin is discussed in detail. Finally, we performed a frequency
analysis for possible pulsational behavior and as a result we suggest that XZ
Aql hosts a {\delta} Scuti component.


title:
Meromorphic quadratic differentials with complex residues and spiralling
  foliations

abstract:
  A meromorphic quadratic differential with poles of order two, on a compact
Riemann surface, induces a measured foliation on the surface, with a spiralling
structure at any pole that is determined by the complex residue of the
differential at the pole. We introduce the space of such measured foliations,
and prove that for a fixed Riemann surface, any such foliation is realized by a
quadratic differential with second order poles at marked points. Furthermore,
such a differential is uniquely determined if one prescribes complex residues
at the poles that are compatible with the transverse measures around them. This
generalizes a theorem of Hubbard and Masur concerning holomorphic quadratic
differentials on closed surfaces, as well as a theorem of Strebel for the case
when the foliation has only closed leaves. The proof involves taking a compact
exhaustion of the surface, and considering a sequence of equivariant harmonic
maps to real trees that do not have a uniform bound on total energy.


title: SERS Mechanism on Graphene

abstract:
  The paper presents briefly some general points of the theory of Surface
Enhanced Raman Scattering on metals, semiconductors, dielectrics and graphene.
It is pointed out that the reason of SERS on graphene and some other 2D
materials is not the chemical enhancement mechanism as it is widely accepted in
literature, but ripples, which are necessarily present on a graphene surface
and are analogues of the surface roughness, which is a reason of SERS. In
addition, it is indicated that the quadrupole interaction, which arises in
strong SERS is practically absent in the system with graphene. The results are
confirmed by the analysis of the SERS, usual Raman and IR spectra of
phthalocyanine molecule and by some other experimental data.


title: Random currents expansion of the Ising model

abstract:
  Critical behavior at an order/disorder phase transition has been a central
object of interest in statistical physics. In the past century, techniques
borrowed from many different fields of mathematics (Algebra, Combinatorics,
Probability, Complex Analysis, Spectral Theory, etc) have contributed to a more
and more elaborate description of the possible critical behaviors for a large
variety of models. The Ising model is maybe one of the most striking success of
this cross-fertilization, for this model of ferromagnetism is now very well
understood both physically and mathematically. In this article, we review an
approach, initiated in \cite{GriHurShe70,Aiz82} and based on the notion of
random currents, enabling a deep study of the model.


title:
Next-to-leading order QCD predictions for top-quark pair production with
  up to three jets

abstract:
  We present theoretical predictions for the production of top-quark pairs with
up to three jets at the next-to leading order in perturbative QCD. The relevant
calculations are performed with Sherpa and OpenLoops. To address the issue of
scale choices and related uncertainties in the presence of multiple scales, we
compare results obtained with the standard scale HT/2 at fixed order and the
MINLO procedure. Analyzing various cross sections and distributions for
tt+0,1,2,3 jets at the 13 TeV LHC we find a remarkable overall agreement
between fixed-order and MINLO results. The differences are typically below the
respective factor-two scale variations, suggesting that for all considered jet
multiplicities, missing higher-order effects should not exceed the ten percent
level.


title: The SYZ mirror symmetry and the BKMP remodeling conjecture

abstract:
  The Remodeling Conjecture proposed by Bouchard-Klemm-Mari\~{n}o-Pasquetti
(BKMP) relates the A-model open and closed topological string amplitudes (open
and closed Gromov-Witten invariants) of a symplectic toric Calabi-Yau 3-fold to
Eynard-Orantin invariants of its mirror curve. The Remodeling Conjecture can be
viewed as a version of all genus open-closed mirror symmetry. The SYZ
conjecture explains mirror symmetry as $T$-duality. After a brief review on SYZ
mirror symmetry and mirrors of symplectic toric Calabi-Yau 3-orbifolds, we give
a non-technical exposition of our results on the Remodeling Conjecture for
symplectic toric Calabi-Yau 3-orbifolds. In the end, we apply SYZ mirror
symmetry to obtain the descendent version of the all genus mirror symmetry for
toric Calabi-Yau 3-orbifolds.


title: Vizing's conjecture: a two-thirds bound for claw-free graphs

abstract:
  We show that for any claw-free graph $G$ and any graph $H$, $\gamma(G\square
H)\geq \frac{2}{3}\gamma(G)\gamma(H)$, where $\gamma(G)$ is the domination
number of $G$.


title: Optical Spectroscopy of Four Young Radio Sources

abstract:
  We report the optical spectroscopy of four young radio sources which are
observed with the Lijiang 2.4m telescope. The Eddington ratios of these sources
are similar with those of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s). Their Fe {\sc
ii} emission is strong while [O {\sc iii}] strength is weak. These results
confirm the NLS1 features of young radio sources, except that the width of
broad H$\beta$ of young radio sources is larger than that of NLS1s. We thus
suggest that the young radio sources are the high black hole mass counterparts
of steep-spectrum radio-loud NLS1s. In addition, the broad H$\beta$ component
of \astrobj{4C 12.50} is the blue wing of the narrow component, but not from
the broad line region.


title: Angles in normed spaces

abstract:
  The concept of angle, angle functions, and the question how to measure angles
present old and well-established mathematical topics referring to Euclidean
space, and there exist also various extensions to non-Euclidean spaces of
different types. In particular, it is very interesting to investigate or to
combine (geometric) properties of possible concepts of angle functions and
angle measures in finite-dimensional real Banach spaces (= Minkowski spaces).
However, going into this direction one will observe that there is no monograph
or survey reflecting the complete picture of the existing literature on such
concepts in a satisfying manner. We try to close this gap. In this expository
paper (containing also new results, and new proofs of known results) the reader
will get a comprehensive overview of this field, including also further related
aspects. For example, angular bisectors, their applications, and angle types
which preserve certain kinds of orthogonality are discussed. The latter aspect
yields, of course, an interesting link to the large variety of orthogonality
types in such spaces.


title:
Non-equilibrium Atomic Condensates and Mixtures: Collective Modes,
  Condensate Growth and Thermalization

abstract:
  The non-equilibrium dynamics of trapped ultracold atomic gases, or mixtures
thereof, is an extremely rich subject. Despite 20 years of studies, and
remarkable progress mainly on the experimental front, numerous open question
remain, related to the growth, relaxation and thermalisation of such systems,
and there is still no universally-accepted theory for their theoretical
description. In this paper we discuss one of the state-of-the-art kinetic
approaches, which gives an intuitive picture of the physical processes
happening at the microscopic scale, being broadly applicable both below and
above the critical region (but not within the critical region itself).
Specifically, the Zaremba-Nikuni-Griffin (ZNG) scheme provides a
self-consistent description of the coupling between the condensate and the
thermal atoms, including the collisions between these two subsystems. It has
been successfully tested against experiments in various settings, including
collective modes (e.g. monopole, dipole and quadrupole modes), topological
excitations (solitons and vortices) and surface evaporative cooling. Here, we
show that it can capture two important aspects of non- equilibrium dynamics for
both single-component and two-component BECs: the Kohn mode (the undamped
dipole oscillation independent of interactions and temperature) and
(re)thermalization leading to condensate growth following sudden evaporation.
Our simulations, performed in a spherically-symmetric trap reveal (i) an
interesting two-stage dynamics and the emergence of a prominent monopole mode
in the evaporative cooling of a single component Bose gas, and (ii) the long
thermalization time associated with the sympathetic cooling of a realistic
two-component mixture. Related open questions arise about the mechanisms and
the nature of thermalization in such systems, where further controlled
experiments are needed for benchmarking.


title: On integrable wave interactions and Lax pairs on symmetric spaces

abstract:
  Multi-component generalizations of derivative nonlinear Schrodinger (DNLS)
type of equations having quadratic bundle Lax pairs related to Z_2-graded Lie
algebras and A.III symmetric spaces are studied. The Jost solutions and the
minimal set of scattering data for the case of local and nonlocal reductions
are constructed. The latter lead to multi-component integrable equations with
CPT-symmetry. Furthermore, the fundamental analytic solutions (FAS) are
constructed and the spectral properties of the associated Lax operators are
briefly discussed. The Riemann-Hilbert problem (RHP) for the multi-component
generalizations of DNLS equation of Kaup-Newell (KN) and Gerdjikov-Ivanov (GI)
types is derived. A modification of the dressing method is presented allowing
the explicit derivation of the soliton solutions for the multi-component GI
equation with both local and nonlocal reductions. It is shown that for specific
choices of the reduction these solutions can have regular behavior for all
finite x and t. The fundamental properties of the multi-component GI equations
are briefly discussed at the end.


title:
Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculation of ground state properties of
  even-even and odd Mo and Ru isotopes

abstract:
  In a previous work [Int. J. Mod. Phys. E 24, 1550073 (2015)], hereafter
referred as paper I, we have investigated the ground-state properties of Nd, Ce
and Sm isotopes within Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov method with SLy5 skyrme force in
which the pairing strength has been generalized with a new proposed formula.
However, that formula is more appropriate for the region of Nd. In this work,
we have studied the ground-state properties of both even-even and odd Mo and Ru
isotopes. For this, we have used Hartree- Fock-Bogoliubov method with SLy4
skyrme force, and a new formula of the pairing strength which is more accurate
for this region of nuclei. The results have been compared with available
experimental data, the results of Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov calculations based on
the D1S Gogny effective nucleon-nucleon interaction and predictions of some
nuclear models such as Finite Range Droplet Model (FRDM) and Relativistic Mean
Field (RMF) theory.


title: Dualities between Cellular Sheaves and Cosheaves

abstract:
  This paper affirms a conjecture of MacPherson: that the derived category of
cellular sheaves is equivalent to the derived category of cellular cosheaves.
We give a self-contained treatment of cellular sheaves and cosheaves and note
that certain classical dualities give rise to an exchange of sheaves with
cosheaves. Following a result of Pitts that states that cosheaves are
cocontinuous functors on the category of sheaves, we use the derived
equivalence provided here to gain a novel description of compactly supported
sheaf cohomology.


title:
Measurement of the WZ production cross section in pp collisions at
  sqrt(s) = 13 TeV

abstract:
  The WZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 13
TeV is measured with the CMS experiment at the LHC using a data sample
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 inverse femtobarns. The
measurement is performed in the leptonic decay modes WZ to l nu l' l', where l,
l'= e, mu. The measured cross section for the range 60 < m[l'l'] < 120 GeV is
sigma(pp to WZ) = 39.9 +/- 3.2 (stat) +2.9/-3.1 (syst) +/- 0.4 (theo) +/- 1.3
(lumi) pb, consistent with the standard model prediction.


title:
Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle as a Probe of Modified
  Newtonian Dynamics

abstract:
  The proposed Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle (STEP) will detect
possible violations of the Weak Equivalence Principle by measuring relative
accelerations between test masses of different composition with a precision of
one part in $10^{18}$. A serendipitous byproduct of the experimental design is
that the absolute (common-mode) acceleration of the test masses is also
measured to high precision as they oscillate along a common axis under the
influence of restoring forces produced by the position sensor currents, which
in drag-free mode lead to Newtonian accelerations as small as $10^{-14}$ g.
This is deep inside the low-acceleration regime where Modified Newtonian
Dynamics (MOND) diverges strongly from the Newtonian limit of General
Relativity. We show that MOND theories (including those based on the
widely-used $n$-family of interpolating functions as well as the covariant
Tensor-Vector-Scalar formulation) predict an easily detectable increase in the
frequency of oscillations of the STEP test masses if the Strong Equivalence
Principle holds. If it does not hold, MOND predicts a cumulative increase in
oscillation amplitude which is also detectable. STEP thus provides a new and
potentially decisive test of Newton's law of inertia, as well as the
equivalence principle in both its strong and weak forms.


title: Satisfiability Checking and Symbolic Computation

abstract:
  Symbolic Computation and Satisfiability Checking are viewed as individual
research areas, but they share common interests in the development,
implementation and application of decision procedures for arithmetic theories.
Despite these commonalities, the two communities are currently only weakly
connected. We introduce a new project SC-square to build a joint community in
this area, supported by a newly accepted EU (H2020-FETOPEN-CSA) project of the
same name. We aim to strengthen the connection between these communities by
creating common platforms, initiating interaction and exchange, identifying
common challenges, and developing a common roadmap. This abstract and
accompanying poster describes the motivation and aims for the project, and
reports on the first activities.


title:
Local vibrational mode of impurity in a monatomic linear chain under
  open and periodic boundary conditions

abstract:
  In this paper, we revisit the lattice vibration of one-dimensional monatomic
linear chain under open and periodic boundary conditions, and give the exact
conditions for the emergence of the local vibration mode when one of the atoms
is replaced by an impurity. Our motivation is twofold. Firstly, in deriving the
dispersion relation of the atoms, periodic boundary condition is overwhelmingly
utilized while open boundary condition is seldomly referred. Therefore we
manage to obtain the dispersion relation under both boundary conditions
simultaneously by Molinari formula. Secondly, in the presence of impurity,
local vibration mode can emerge as long as the mass of the impurity $m'$ is
smaller than the mass of the perfect atom $m$ to certain degree, which can be
measured by the mass ratio $\delta=\frac{m-m'}{m}$. At periodic boundary
condition, the critical mass ratio is $0$ or $\frac{1}{N}$, depending on
whether the length $N$ of the chain is even or odd. At open boundary condition,
the critical mass ratio is $\frac{N}{2N-1}$ if the impurity locates at the end
of the chain, while it is $\frac{N}{(2N_l+1)(2N_r+1)}$ with $N_l$ and $N_r$ be
the number of atoms at the left and right hand sides of the impurity if the
impurity locates at the middle.


title: Complex supermanifolds with many unipotent automorphisms

abstract:
  An automorphism on a complex supermanifold $\mathcal M$ is called unipotent
if it reduces to the identity on the associated graded supermanifold
$gr(\mathcal M)$. These automorphisms are close to be complementary to those
responsible for homogeneity of a supermanifold. In analogy, their study yields
results on the classification of supermanifolds. Unipotent automorphisms are
induced by even global degree increasing vector fields $X\in \mathcal
V_{\mathcal M,\bar 0}^{(2)}$. Plenitude of unipotent automorphisms is
understood as follows: the presheaf of common kernels of the operators
$[X,\cdot]$ for $X\in \mathcal V_{\mathcal M,\bar 0}^{(2)}$, on
superderivations vanishes up to errors of a fixed degree $t$ and higher. The
isomorphy class of such strictly $t$-nildominated supermanifolds is determined
up to errors of degree $t$ and higher by $\mathcal V_{\mathcal M,\bar 0}^{(2)}$
and $gr(\mathcal M)$. An example shows that a strictly $t$-nildominated
supermanifold can be non-split, deformed already in degrees lower than $t$.


title: An Analysis of the Crank-Nicolson Method for Subdiffusion

abstract:
  In this work, we analyze a Crank-Nicolson type time stepping scheme for the
subdiffusion equation, which involves a Caputo fractional derivative of order
$\alpha\in (0,1)$ in time. It hybridizes the backward Euler convolution
quadrature with a $\theta$-type method, with the parameter $\theta$ dependent
on the fractional order $\alpha$ by $\theta=\alpha/2$, and naturally
generalizes the classical Crank-Nicolson method. We develop essential initial
corrections at the starting two steps for the Crank-Nicolson scheme, and
together with the Galerkin finite element method in space, obtain a fully
discrete scheme. The overall scheme is easy to implement, and robust with
respect to data regularity. A complete error analysis of the fully discrete
scheme is provided, and a second-order accuracy in time is established for both
smooth and nonsmooth problem data. Extensive numerical experiments are provided
to illustrate its accuracy, efficiency and robustness, and a comparative study
also indicates its competitive with existing schemes.


title: The ERIS Adaptive Optics System

abstract:
  ERIS is the new AO instrument for VLT-UT4 led by a Consortium of Max-Planck
Institut fuer Extraterrestrische Physik, UK-ATC, ETH-Zurich, ESO and INAF. The
ERIS AO system provides NGS mode to deliver high contrast correction and LGS
mode to extend high Strehl performance to large sky coverage. The AO module
includes NGS and LGS wavefront sensors and, with VLT-AOF Deformable Secondary
Mirror and Laser Facility, will provide AO correction to the high resolution
imager NIX (1-5um) and the IFU spectrograph SPIFFIER (1-2.5um). In this paper
we present the preliminary design of the ERIS AO system and the estimated
correction performance.


title: Scattering off PT-symmetric upside-down potentials

abstract:
  The upside-down $-x^4$, $-x^6$, and $-x^8$ potentials with appropriate
PT-symmetric boundary conditions have real, positive, and discrete
quantum-mechanical spectra. This paper proposes a straightforward macroscopic
quantum-mechanical scattering experiment in which one can observe and measure
these bound-state energies directly.


title:
Measurements of the spin-orbit interaction and Land\'e g factor in a
  pure-phase InAs nanowire double quantum dot in the Pauli spin-blockade regime

abstract:
  We demonstrate direct measurements of the spin-orbit interaction and Land\'e
g factors in a semiconductor nanowire double quantum dot. The device is made
from a single-crystal pure-phase InAs nanowire on top of an array of finger
gates on a Si/SiO$_2$ substrate and the measurements are performed in the Pauli
spin-blockade regime. It is found that the double quantum dot exhibits a large
singlet-triplet energy splitting of $\Delta_{ST}\sim 2.3$ meV, a strong
spin-orbit interaction of $\Delta_{SO}\sim 140$ $\mu$eV, and a large and
strongly level-dependent Land\'e g factor of $\sim 12.5$. These results imply
that single-crystal pure-phase InAs nanowires are desired semiconductor
nanostructures for applications in quantum information technologies.


title: Neural Sentence Ordering

abstract:
  Sentence ordering is a general and critical task for natural language
generation applications. Previous works have focused on improving its
performance in an external, downstream task, such as multi-document
summarization. Given its importance, we propose to study it as an isolated
task. We collect a large corpus of academic texts, and derive a data driven
approach to learn pairwise ordering of sentences, and validate the efficacy
with extensive experiments. Source codes and dataset of this paper will be made
publicly available.


title:
Increasing stability for the inverse source scattering problem with
  multi-frequencies

abstract:
  Consider the scattering of the two- or three-dimensional Helmholtz equation
where the source of the electric current density is assumed to be compactly
supported in a ball. This paper concerns the stability analysis of the inverse
source scattering problem which is to reconstruct the source function. Our
results show that increasing stability can be obtained for the inverse problem
by using only the Dirichlet boundary data with multi-frequencies.


title: Shape coexistence in 153Ho

abstract:
  The high-spin states in 153Ho, have been studied by 139 57 La(20Ne, 6n)
reaction at a projectile energy of 139 MeV at Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre
(VECC), Kolkata, India, utilizing an earlier campaign of Indian National Gamma
Array (INGA) setup. Data from gamma-gamma coincidence, directional correlation
and polarization measurements have been analyzed to assign and confirm the
spins and parities of the levels. We have suggested a few additions and
revisions of the reported level scheme of 153Ho. The RF-gamma time difference
spectra have been useful to confirm the half-life of an isomer in this nucleus.
From the comparison of experimental and theoretical results, it is found that
there are definite indications of shape coexistence in this nucleus. The
experimental and calculated lifetimes of several isomers have been compared to
follow the coexistence and evolution of shape with increasing spin.


title: Noncommutative Auslander theorem

abstract:
  A version of Auslander theorem is proven for the following classes of
noncommutative algebras: (a) noetherian PI local (or connected graded) algebras
of finite injective dimension, (b) universal enveloping algebras of finite
dimensional Lie algebras, and (c) noetherian graded down-up algebras.


title: Global solutions for a hyperbolic-parabolic system of chemotaxis

abstract:
  We study a hyperbolic-parabolic model of chemotaxis in dimensions one and
two. In particular, we prove the global existence of classical solutions in
certain dissipation regimes.


title:
Quasi-Periodic Pulsations during the Impulsive and Decay phases of an
  X-class Flare

abstract:
  Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPP) are often observed in X-ray emission from
solar flares. To date, it is unclear what their physical origins are. Here, we
present a multi-instrument investigation of the nature of QPP during the
impulsive and decay phases of the X1.0 flare of 28 October 2013. We focus on
the character of the fine structure pulsations evident in the soft X-ray time
derivatives and compare this variability with structure across multiple
wavelengths including hard X-ray and microwave emission. We find that during
the impulsive phase of the flare, high correlations between pulsations in the
thermal and non-thermal emissions are seen. A characteristic timescale of ~20s
is observed in all channels and a second timescale of ~55s is observed in the
non-thermal emissions. Soft X-ray pulsations are seen to persist into the decay
phase of this flare, up to 20 minutes after the non-thermal emission has
ceased. We find that these decay phase thermal pulsations have very small
amplitude and show an increase in characteristic timescale from ~40s up to
~70s. We interpret the bursty nature of the co-existing multi-wavelength QPP
during the impulsive phase in terms of episodic particle acceleration and
plasma heating. The persistent thermal decay phase QPP are most likely
connected with compressive MHD processes in the post-flare loops such as the
fast sausage mode or the vertical kink mode.


title: Non-thermal Axion Dark Radiation and Constraints

abstract:
  The Peccei-Quinn mechanism presents a neat solution to the strong CP problem.
As a by-product, it provides an ideal dark matter candidate, "the axion",
albeit with a tiny mass. Axions therefore can act as dark radiation if excited
with large momenta after the end of inflation. Nevertheless, the recent
measurement of relativistic degrees of freedom from cosmic microwave background
radiation strictly constrains the abundance of such extra relativistic species.
We show that ultra-relativistic axions can be abundantly produced if the
Peccei-Quinn field was initially displaced from the minimum of the potential.
This in lieu places an interesting constraint on the axion dark matter window
with large decay constant which is expected to be probed by future experiments.
Moreover, an upper bound on the reheating temperature can be placed, which
further constrains the thermal history of our Universe.


title:
A Cavity Master Equation for the continuous time dynamics of discrete
  spins models

abstract:
  We present a new method to close the Master Equation representing the
continuous time dynamics of Ising interacting spins. The method makes use of
the the theory of Random Point Processes to derive a master equation for local
conditional probabilities. We analytically test our solution studying two known
cases, the dynamics of the mean field ferromagnet and the dynamics of the one
dimensional Ising system. We then present numerical results comparing our
predictions with Monte Carlo simulations in three different models on random
graphs with finite connectivity: the Ising ferromagnet, the Random Field Ising
model, and the Viana-Bray spin-glass model.


title:
Approximation of Linear Differential Equations with variable delay on an
  Infinite Interval

abstract:
  We study approximation of non-autonomous linear differential equations with
variable delay over infinite intervals. We use piecewise constant argument to
obtain a corresponding discrete difference equation. The study of numerical
approximation over an unbounded interval is in correspondence with the problem
of transference of qualitative properties between a continuous and the
corresponding discrete dynamical systems. We use theory of differential
equations with delay and theory of integral inequality to prove our main
result. We state sufficient conditions for: a) uniform approximation of
solutions over an unbounded interval and b) transference of uniform asymptotic
stability of non-autonomous linear differential equations with variable delay
to the corresponding discrete difference equations. We improve and extended the
results of \cite{cooke1994}.


title: Authorship attribution via network motifs identification

abstract:
  Concepts and methods of complex networks can be used to analyse texts at
their different complexity levels. Examples of natural language processing
(NLP) tasks studied via topological analysis of networks are keyword
identification, automatic extractive summarization and authorship attribution.
Even though a myriad of network measurements have been applied to study the
authorship attribution problem, the use of motifs for text analysis has been
restricted to a few works. The goal of this paper is to apply the concept of
motifs, recurrent interconnection patterns, in the authorship attribution task.
The absolute frequencies of all thirteen directed motifs with three nodes were
extracted from the co-occurrence networks and used as classification features.
The effectiveness of these features was verified with four machine learning
methods. The results show that motifs are able to distinguish the writing style
of different authors. In our best scenario, 57.5% of the books were correctly
classified. The chance baseline for this problem is 12.5%. In addition, we have
found that function words play an important role in these recurrent patterns.
Taken together, our findings suggest that motifs should be further explored in
other related linguistic tasks.


title: Classes and equivalence of linear sets in $PG(1,q^n)$

abstract:
  The equivalence problem of $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear sets of rank n of
$PG(1,q^n)$ is investigated, also in terms of the associated variety,
projecting configurations, $\mathbb{F}_q$-linear blocking sets of R\'edei type
and MRD-codes.


title:
Electrodynamical Forbiddance of the Strong Quadrupole Light-Molecule
  Interaction and Its Experimental Manifestation in Fullerene C60

abstract:
  It is demonstrated that the forbidden lines, which must be present in the
SERS, TERS and SEIRA spectra of molecules with sufficiently high symmetry,
associated with a strong quadrupole light-molecule interaction, are absent in
the fullerene C60. This result is an experimental manifestation of an
electrodynamical forbiddance of the strong quadrupole light-molecule
interaction, which must be not only in molecules with cubic symmetry groups,
but in the fullerene C60 also.


title: Angular dynamics of a small particle in turbulence

abstract:
  We compute the angular dynamics of a neutrally buoyant nearly spherical
particle immersed in an unsteady fluid. We assume that the particle is small,
that its translational slip velocity is negligible, and that unsteady and
convective inertia are small perturbations. We derive an approximation for the
torque on the particle that determines the first inertial corrections to
Jeffery's equation. These corrections arise as a consequence of local vortex
stretching, and can be substantial in turbulence where local vortex stretching
is strong and closely linked to the irreversibility of turbulence.


title:
On the effects of a centralized computer routing and reservation system
  on the electric vehicle public charging network

abstract:
  One solution to the limited range of battery electric vehicles is the
provision of a public charging infrastructure to enable longer journeys. This
paper describes a simulation model of a centralized computer routing and
reservation system based on the current charging infrastructure deployed (early
2016) in Ireland using the Irish population density and a trip length
distribution. Monte Carlo simulations show quantitatively the effects of EV
on-board charger power rating and the advantages of a routing and reservation
systems on a country wide scale in terms of the number of electric vehicles
that can be supported. The effect of charge point fault rates based on the
currently deployed charging infrastructure is also assessed.


title:
A Generalized Label Correcting Method for Optimal Kinodynamic Motion
  Planning

abstract:
  A resolution complete optimal kinodynamic motion planning algorithm is
presented and described as a generalized label correcting (GLC) method. In
contrast to related algorithms, the GLC method does not require a local
planning subroutine and benefits from a simple implementation. The key
contributions of this paper are the construction and analysis of the GLC
conditions which are the basis of the proposed algorithm. Numerical experiments
demonstrate the running time of the GLC method to be less than the related SST
algorithm.


title: Supersymmetry of the quantum rotor

abstract:
  The quantum rotor is shown to be supersymmetric. The supercharge $Q$, whose
square equals the Hamiltonian, is constructed with reflection operators. The
conserved quantities that commute with $Q$ form the algebra $so(3)_{-1}$, an
anticommutator version of $so(3)$. The subduced representation of $so(3)_{-1}$
on the space of spherical harmonics with total angular momentum $j$ is
constructed and found to decompose into two irreducible components. Two natural
bases for the irreducible representation spaces of $so(3)_{-1}$ are introduced
and their overlap coefficients prove expressible in terms of orthogonal
polynomials of a discrete variable called anti-Krawtchouk polynomials.


title:
Phase-transitions of the random bond Potts chain with long-range
  interactions

abstract:
  We study phase-transitions of the ferromagnetic $q$-state Potts chain with
random nearest-neighbour couplings having a variance $\Delta^2$ and with
homogeneous long-range interactions, which decay with the distance as a power
$r^{-(1+\sigma)}$, $\sigma>0$. In the large-$q$ limit the free-energy of random
samples of length $L \le 2048$ is calculated exactly by a combinatorial
optimization algorithm. The phase-transition stays first-order for $\sigma <
\sigma_c(\Delta) \le 0.5$, while the correlation length becomes divergent at
the transition point for $\sigma_c(\Delta) < \sigma < 1$. In the latter regime
the average magnetization is continuous for small enough $\Delta$, but for
larger $\Delta$ it is discontinuous at the transition point, thus the
phase-transition is of mixed order.