title:
Recognizing and Presenting the Storytelling Video Structure with Deep
  Multimodal Networks

abstract:
  This paper presents a novel approach for temporal and semantic segmentation
of edited videos into meaningful segments, from the point of view of the
storytelling structure. The objective is to decompose a long video into more
manageable sequences, which can in turn be used to retrieve the most
significant parts of it given a textual query and to provide an effective
summarization. Previous video decomposition methods mainly employed perceptual
cues, tackling the problem either as a story change detection, or as a
similarity grouping task, and the lack of semantics limited their ability to
identify story boundaries. Our proposal connects together perceptual, audio and
semantic cues in a specialized deep network architecture designed with a
combination of CNNs which generate an appropriate embedding, and clusters shots
into connected sequences of semantic scenes, i.e. stories. A retrieval
presentation strategy is also proposed, by selecting the semantically and
aesthetically "most valuable" thumbnails to present, considering the query in
order to improve the storytelling presentation. Finally, the subjective nature
of the task is considered, by conducting experiments with different annotators
and by proposing an algorithm to maximize the agreement between automatic
results and human annotators.


title: Representations of constant socle rank for the Kronecker algebra

abstract:
  Inspired by recent work of Carlson, Friedlander and Pevtsova concerning
modules for $p$-elementary abelian groups $E_r$ of rank $r$ over a field of
characteristic $p > 0$, we introduce the notions of modules with constant
$d$-radical rank and modules with constant $d$-socle rank for the generalized
Kronecker algebra $\mathcal{K}_r = k\Gamma_r$ with $r \geq 2$ arrows and $1
\leq d \leq r-1$. We study subcategories given by modules with the equal
$d$-radical property and the equal $d$-socle property. Utilizing the
Simplification method due to Ringel, we prove that these subcategories in
$\mathrm{mod} \ \mathcal{K}_r$ are of wild type. Then we use a natural functor
$\mathfrak{F} \colon \mathrm{mod} \ \mathcal{K}_r \to \mathrm{mod} \ kE_r$ to
transfer our results to $\mathrm{mod} \ kE_r$.


title:
Optical and near-infrared photometric monitoring of the transient X-ray
  binary A0538-66 with REM

abstract:
  The transient Be/X-ray binary A0538-66 shows peculiar X-ray and optical
variability. Despite numerous studies, the intrinsic properties underlying its
anomalous behaviour remain poorly understood. Since 2014 September we are
conducting the first quasi-simultaneous optical and near-infrared photometric
monitoring of A0538-66 in seven filters with the Rapid Eye Mount (REM)
telescope, aiming to understand the properties of this binary system. We found
that the REM lightcurves show fast flares lasting one or two days that repeat
almost regularly every ~16.6 days, the orbital period of the neutron star. If
the optical flares are powered by X-ray outbursts through photon reprocessing,
the REM lightcurves indicate that A0538-66 is still active in X-rays: bright
X-ray flares (L_x > 1E37 erg/s) could be observable during the periastron
passages. The REM lightcurves show a long-term variability that is especially
pronounced in the g band and decreases with increasing wavelength, until it no
longer appears in the near-infrared lightcurves. In addition, A0538-66 is
fainter with respect to previous optical observations most likely due to the
higher absorption of the stellar radiation of a denser circumstellar disc. On
the basis of the current models, we interpret these observational results with
a circumstellar disc around the Be star observed nearly edge-on during a
partial depletion phase. The REM lightcurves also show short-term variability
on timescales of ~1 day possibly indicative of perturbations in the density
distribution of the circumstellar disc caused by the tidal interaction with the
neutron star.


title:
Zero Age Planetary Orbit of Gas Giant Planets Revisited: Reinforcement
  of the Link with Stellar Metallicity

abstract:
  In 2005 we suggested a relation between the optimal locus of gas giant planet
formation, prior to migration, and the metallicity of the host star, based on
the core accretion model and radial profiles of dust surface density and gas
temperature. At that time, less than two hundred extrasolar planets were known,
limiting the scope of our analysis. Here we take into account the expanded
statistics allowed by new discoveries, in order to check the validity of some
premises. We compare predictions with the present available data and results
for different stellar mass ranges. We find that the Zero Age Planetary Orbit
(ZAPO) hypothesis continues to hold after a one order of magnitude increase in
discovered planets. In particular, the prediction that metal poor stars harbor
planets with an average radius distinctively lower than metal rich ones is
still evident in the statistics, and cannot be explained away by chaotic
planetary formation mechanisms involving migration and gravitational
interaction between planets. The ZAPO hypothesis predicts that in metal poor
stars the planets are formed nearer their host stars; as a consequence, they
are more frequently engulfed by the stars during the migration process or
stripped of their gaseous envelops. The depleted number of gas giant planets
around metal poor stars would then be the result of the synergy between low
formation probability, as predicted by the core accretion model, and high
destruction probability, for the ones that are formed.


title:
Effect of disorder on superconductivity and Rashba spin-orbit coupling
  in LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces

abstract:
  A rather unique feature of the two-dimensional electron gas (2-DEG) formed at
the interface between the two insulators LaAlO3 and SrTiO3 is to host both
gate-tunable superconductivity and strong spin-orbit coupling. In the present
work, we use the disorder generated by Cr substitution of Al atoms in LaAlO3 as
a tool to explore the nature of superconductivity and spin-orbit coupling in
these interfaces. A reduction of the superconducting Tc is observed with Cr
doping consistent with an increase of electron-electron interaction in presence
of disorder. In addition, the evolution of spin-orbit coupling with gate
voltage and Cr doping suggests a D'Yakonov-Perel mechanism of spin relaxation
in the presence of a Rashba-type spin-orbit interaction.


title: The Predictive Context Tree: Predicting Contexts and Interactions

abstract:
  With a large proportion of people carrying location-aware smartphones, we
have an unprecedented platform from which to understand individuals and predict
their future actions. This work builds upon the Context Tree data structure
that summarises the historical contexts of individuals from augmented
geospatial trajectories, and constructs a predictive model for their likely
future contexts. The Predictive Context Tree (PCT) is constructed as a
hierarchical classifier, capable of predicting both the future locations that a
user will visit and the contexts that a user will be immersed within. The PCT
is evaluated over real-world geospatial trajectories, and compared against
existing location extraction and prediction techniques, as well as a proposed
hybrid approach that uses identified land usage elements in combination with
machine learning to predict future interactions. Our results demonstrate that
higher predictive accuracies can be achieved using this hybrid approach over
traditional extracted location datasets, and the PCT itself matches the
performance of the hybrid approach at predicting future interactions, while
adding utility in the form of context predictions. Such a prediction system is
capable of understanding not only where a user will visit, but also their
context, in terms of what they are likely to be doing.


title:
Divide-and-Conquer based Ensemble to Spot Emotions in Speech using MFCC
  and Random Forest

abstract:
  Besides spoken words, speech signals also carry information about speaker
gender, age, and emotional state which can be used in a variety of speech
analysis applications. In this paper, a divide and conquer strategy for
ensemble classification has been proposed to recognize emotions in speech.
Intrinsic hierarchy in emotions has been utilized to construct an emotions
tree, which assisted in breaking down the emotion recognition task into smaller
sub tasks. The proposed framework generates predictions in three phases.
Firstly, emotions are detected in the input speech signal by classifying it as
neutral or emotional. If the speech is classified as emotional, then in the
second phase, it is further classified into positive and negative classes.
Finally, individual positive or negative emotions are identified based on the
outcomes of the previous stages. Several experiments have been performed on a
widely used benchmark dataset. The proposed method was able to achieve improved
recognition rates as compared to several other approaches.


title:
Observation of $B^+\rightarrow J/\psi 3\pi^+ 2\pi^-$ and $B^+\rightarrow
  \psi(2S) \pi^+\pi^+\pi^-$ decays

abstract:
  The decays $B^+\rightarrow J/\psi 3\pi^+ 2\pi^-$ and $B^+\rightarrow \psi(2S)
\pi^+\pi^+\pi^-$ are observed for the first time using a data sample
corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $3.0fb^{-1}$, collected by the
LHCb experiment in proton-proton collisions at the centre-of-mass energies of 7
and 8 TeV. The branching fractions relative to that of $B^+ \rightarrow
\psi(2S)K^+$ are measured to be \begin{eqnarray*}
  \frac {\mathcal{B}\left(B^+\rightarrow J/\psi 3\pi^+ 2\pi^- \right)}
  {\mathcal{B}\left(B^+ \rightarrow \psi(2S)K^+ \right)}
  & = &
  \left(1.88\pm0.17\pm0.09\right)\times10^{-2},
  \frac {\mathcal{B}\left(B^+\rightarrow \psi(2S) \pi^+\pi^+\pi^- \right)}
  {\mathcal{B}\left(B^+ \rightarrow \psi(2S)K^+ \right)} & = &
  \left(3.04\pm0.50\pm0.26\right)\times10^{-2}, \end{eqnarray*} where the first
uncertainties are statistical and the second are systematic.


title: Ivory's Theorem revisited

abstract:
  Ivory's Lemma is a geometrical statement in the heart of J. Ivory's
calculation of the gravitational potential of a homeoidal shell. In the
simplest planar case, it claims that the diagonals of a curvilinear
quadrilateral made by arcs of confocal ellipses and hyperbolas are equal.
  In the first part of this paper, we deduce Ivory's Lemma and its numerous
generalizations from complete integrability of billiards on conics and
quadrics. In the second part, we study analogs of Ivory's Lemma in Liouville
and St\"ackel metrics. Our main focus is on the results of the German school of
differential geometry obtained in the late 19 -- early 20th centuries that
might be lesser know today.
  In the third part, we generalize Newton's, Laplace's, and Ivory's theorems on
gravitational and Coulomb potential of spheres and ellipsoids to the spherical
and hyperbolic spaces. V. Arnold extended the results of Newton, Laplace, and
Ivory to algebraic hypersurfaces in Euclidean space; we generalize Arnold's
theorem to the spaces of constant curvature.


title:
Study of trapping effect on ion-acoustic solitary waves based on a fully
  kinetic simulation approach

abstract:
  A fully kinetic simulation approach, treating each plasma component based on
the Vlasov equation, is adopted to study the disintegration of an initial
density perturbation (IDP) into a number of ion-acoustic solitary waves (IASWs)
in the presence of the trapping effect of electrons. The non-linear fluid
theory developed by Schamel has identified three separate regimes of
ion-acoustic solitary waves based on the trapping parameter. Here, the
disintegration process and the resulting self-consistent IASWs are studied in a
wide range of trapping parameters covering all the three regimes continuously.
The dependency of features such as the time of disintegration, the number,
speed and size of IASWs on the trapping parameter are focused upon. It is shown
that an increase in this parameter slows down the propagation of IASWs while
decreases their sizes in the phase space. These features of IASWs tend to
saturate for large value of trapping parameters. The disintegration time shows
a more complicated behavior than what was predicted by the theoretical
approach. Also for the case of trapping parameters bigger than one, propagation
of IASWs is observed in contrast with the theoretical predictions. The kinetic
simulation results unveil a smooth and well-defined dependency of solitary
waves' features on the trapping parameter, showing the possibility of bridging
all the three regimes. Finally, it is shown that for beta around zero, the
electron phase space structure of the accompanying vortex stays symmetric. The
effect of the electron-to-ion temperature ratio on the disintegration and the
propagation of IASWs are considered as a benchmarking test of the simulation
code (in the nonlinear regime).


title:
Existence of discretely self-similar solutions to the Navier-Stokes
  equations for initial value in $ L^2_{ loc}(\Bbb R^{3})$

abstract:
  We prove the existence of a forward discretely self-similar solutions to the
Navier-Stokes equations in $ \Bbb R^{3}\times (0,+\infty)$ for a discretely
self-similar initial velocity belonging to $ L^2_{ loc}(\Bbb R^{3})$.


title:
Nanoscale electromechanics to measure thermal conductivity, expansion
  and interfacial losses

abstract:
  We study the effect of localized Joule heating on the mechanical properties
of doubly clamped nanowires under tensile stress. Local heating results in
systematic variation of the resonant frequency; these frequency changes result
from thermal stresses that depend on temperature dependent thermal conductivity
and expansion coefficient. The change in sign of the linear expansion
coefficient of InAs is reflected in the resonant response of the system near a
bath temperature of 20 K. Using finite element simulations to model the
experimentally observed frequency shifts, we show that the thermal conductivity
of a nanowire can be approximated in the 10-60 K temperature range by the
empirical form $\kappa=b$T W/mK, where the value of $b$ for a nanowire was
found to be $b=0.035$ W/mK$^2$, significantly lower than bulk values. Also,
local heating allows us to independently vary the temperature of the nanowire
relative to the clamping points pinned to the bath temperature. We suggest a
loss mechanism (dissipation $\sim10^{-4}-10^{-5}$) originating from the
interfacial clamping losses between the metal and the semiconductor
nanostructure.


title:
On the spatial convergence and transient behaviour of lattice Boltzmann
  methods for modelling fluids with yield stress

abstract:
  In this paper, the performance of two lattice Boltzmann method formulations
for yield-stress (i.e. viscoplastic) fluids has been investigated. The first
approach is based on the popular Papanastasiou regularisation of the fluid
rheology in conjunction with explicit modification of the lattice Boltzmann
relaxation rate. The second approach uses a locally-implicit formulation to
simultaneously solve for the fluid stress and the underlying particle
distribution functions. After investigating issues related to the lattice
symmetry and non-hydrodynamic Burnett stresses, the two models were compared in
terms of spatial convergence and their behaviour in transient and inertial
flows. The choice of lattice and the presence of Burnett stresses was found to
influence the results of both models, however the latter did not significantly
degrade the velocity field. Using Bingham flows in ducts and synthetic porous
media, it was found that the implicitly-regularised model was superior in
capturing transient and inertial fluid behaviour. This result presents
potential implications for the application of the Papanastasiou-regularised
model in such scenarios. In creeping flows the performance of both models was
found to be both similar and satisfactory.


title:
Treatment of overlapping gaseous absorption with the correlated-k method
  in hot Jupiter and brown dwarf atmosphere models

abstract:
  The correlated-k method is frequently used to speed up radiation calculations
in both one-dimensional and three-dimensional atmosphere models. An inherent
difficulty with this method is how to treat overlapping absorption, i.e.
absorption by more than one gas in a given spectral region. We have evaluated
the applicability of three different methods in hot Jupiter and brown dwarf
atmosphere models, all of which have been previously applied within models in
the literature: (i) Random overlap, both with and without resorting and
rebinning, (ii) equivalent extinction and (iii) pre-mixing of opacities, where
(i) and (ii) combine k-coefficients for different gases to obtain
k-coefficients for a mixture of gases, while (iii) calculates k-coefficients
for a given mixture from the corresponding mixed line-by-line opacities. We
find that the random overlap method is the most accurate and flexible of these
treatments, and is fast enough to be used in one-dimensional models with
resorting and rebinning. In three-dimensional models such as GCMs it is too
slow, however, and equivalent extinction can provide a speed-up of at least a
factor of three with only a minor loss of accuracy while at the same time
retaining the flexibility gained by combining k-coefficients computed for each
gas individually. Pre-mixed opacities are significantly less flexible, and we
also find that particular care must be taken when using this method in order to
to adequately resolve steep variations in composition at important chemical
equilibrium boundaries. We use the random overlap method with resorting and
rebinning in our one-dimensional atmosphere model and equivalent extinction in
our GCM, which allows us to e.g. consistently treat the feedback of
non-equilibrium chemistry on the total opacity and therefore the calculated P-T
profiles in our models.


title:
Reliability of PET/CT shape and heterogeneity features in functional and
  morphological components of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer tumors: a
  repeatability analysis in a prospective multi-center cohort

abstract:
  Purpose: The main purpose of this study was to assess the reliability of
shape and heterogeneity features in both Positron Emission Tomography (PET) and
low-dose Computed Tomography (CT) components of PET/CT. A secondary objective
was to investigate the impact of image quantization.Material and methods: A
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act -compliant secondary
analysis of deidentified prospectively acquired PET/CT test-retest datasets of
74 patients from multi-center Merck and ACRIN trials was performed.
Metabolically active volumes were automatically delineated on PET with Fuzzy
Locally Adaptive Bayesian algorithm. 3DSlicerTM was used to semi-automatically
delineate the anatomical volumes on low-dose CT components. Two quantization
methods were considered: a quantization into a set number of bins
(quantizationB) and an alternative quantization with bins of fixed width
(quantizationW). Four shape descriptors, ten first-order metrics and 26
textural features were computed. Bland-Altman analysis was used to quantify
repeatability. Features were subsequently categorized as very reliable,
reliable, moderately reliable and poorly reliable with respect to the
corresponding volume variability. Results: Repeatability was highly variable
amongst features. Numerous metrics were identified as poorly or moderately
reliable. Others were (very) reliable in both modalities, and in all categories
(shape, 1st-, 2nd- and 3rd-order metrics). Image quantization played a major
role in the features repeatability. Features were more reliable in PET with
quantizationB, whereas quantizationW showed better results in CT.Conclusion:
The test-retest repeatability of shape and heterogeneity features in PET and
low-dose CT varied greatly amongst metrics. The level of repeatability also
depended strongly on the quantization step, with different optimal choices for
each modality. The repeatability of PET and low-dose CT features should be
carefully taken into account when selecting metrics to build multiparametric
models.


title: Global analysis of VHHs framework regions with a structural alphabet

abstract:
  The VHHs are antigen-binding region/domain of camelid heavy chain antibodies
(HCAb). They have many interesting biotechnological and biomedical properties
due to their small size, high solubility and stability, and high affinity and
specificity for their antigens. HCAb and classical IgGs are evolutionary
related and share a common fold. VHHs are composed of regions considered as
constant, called the frameworks (FRs) connected by Complementarity Determining
Regions (CDRs), a highly variable region that provide interaction with the
epitope. Actually, no systematic structural analyses had been performed on VHH
structures despite a significant number of structures. This work is the first
study to analyse the structural diversity of FRs of VHHs. Using a structural
alphabet that allows approximating the local conformation, we show that each of
the four FRs do not have a unique structure but exhibit many structural variant
patterns. Moreover, no direct simple link between the local conformational
change and amino acid composition can be detected. These results indicate that
long-range interactions affect the local conformation of FRs and impact the
building of structural models.


title:
Prediction of irradiation induced microstructures in the AgCu model
  alloy using a multiscale method coupling atomistic and phase field modelling

abstract:
  In this work, a multiscale approach based on phase field was developed to
simulate the microstructure's evolution under irradiation in binary systems,
from atomic to microstructural scale. For that purpose, an efficient numerical
scheme was developed. In the case of AgCu alloy under Krypton ions irradiation,
phenomenological parameters were computed using atomistic methods, as a
function of the temperature and the irradiation flux. As a result, we predicted
the influence of the irradiation flux and the temperature on the formation of
patterned microstructures. In the case of AgCu, our model was qualitatively and
quantitatively validated by a diffraction experimental study.


title: The Face Structure and Geometry of Marked Order Polyhedra

abstract:
  We study a class of polyhedra associated to marked posets. Examples of these
polyhedra are Gelfand-Tsetlin polytopes and cones, as well as
Berenstein-Zelevinsky polytopes, all of which have appeared in the
representation theory of semi-simple Lie algebras. The faces of these polyhedra
correspond to certain partitions of the underlying poset and we give a
combinatorial characterization of these partitions. We specify a class of
marked posets that give rise to polyhedra with facets in correspondence to the
covering relations of the poset. On the convex geometrical side, we describe
the recession cone of the polyhedra, discuss products and give a Minkowski sum
decomposition. We briefly discuss intersections with affine subspaces that have
also appeared in representation theory and recently in the theory of finite
Hilbert space frames.


title:
Learning Optimal Parameters for Multi-target Tracking with Contextual
  Interactions

abstract:
  We describe an end-to-end framework for learning parameters of min-cost flow
multi-target tracking problem with quadratic trajectory interactions including
suppression of overlapping tracks and contextual cues about cooccurrence of
different objects. Our approach utilizes structured prediction with a
tracking-specific loss function to learn the complete set of model parameters.
In this learning framework, we evaluate two different approaches to finding an
optimal set of tracks under a quadratic model objective, one based on an LP
relaxation and the other based on novel greedy variants of dynamic programming
that handle pairwise interactions. We find the greedy algorithms achieve almost
equivalent accuracy to the LP relaxation while being up to 10x faster than a
commercial LP solver. We evaluate trained models on three challenging
benchmarks. Surprisingly, we find that with proper parameter learning, our
simple data association model without explicit appearance/motion reasoning is
able to achieve comparable or better accuracy than many state-of-the-art
methods that use far more complex motion features or appearance affinity metric
learning.


title: Localization due to interaction-enhanced disorder in bosonic systems

abstract:
  Localization in interacting systems caused by disorder, known as many-body
localization (MBL), has attracted a lot of attention in recent years. Most
systems studied in this context also show single-particle localization, and the
question of MBL is whether the phenomena survives the effects of interactions.
It is intriguing to consider a system with no single-particle localization but
which does localize in the presence of many particles. The localization
phenomena occurs "due to" rather than "in spite of" interactions in such
systems. We consider a simple bosonic system and show that interactions enhance
the effects of very weak disorder and result in localization when many
particles are present. We provide physical insights into the mechanism involved
and support our results with analytical and numerical calculations.


title: Null pseudo-isotropic Lagrangian surfaces

abstract:
  In this paper we will show that a Lagrangian, Lorentzian surface $M^2_1$ in a
complex pseudo space form $\widetilde M^2_1 (4c)$ is pseudo-isotropic if and
only if $M$ is minimal. Next we will obtain a complete classification of all
Lagrangian, Lorentzian surfaces which are lightlike pseudo-isotropic but not
pseudo-isotropic.


title: Decision problems on unary probabilistic and quantum automata

abstract:
  It is well known that the emptiness problem for binary probabilistic automata
and so for quantum automata is undecidable. We present the current status of
the emptiness problems for unary probabilistic and quantum automata with
connections with Skolem's and positivity problems. We also introduce the
concept of linear recurrence automata in order to show the connection
naturally. Then, we also give possible generalizations of linear recurrence
relations and automata on vectors.


title: The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope for the Cherenkov Telescope Array

abstract:
  The Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) is a forthcoming ground-based observatory
for very-high-energy gamma rays. CTA will consist of two arrays of imaging
atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes in the Northern and Southern hemispheres, and
will combine telescopes of different types to achieve unprecedented performance
and energy coverage. The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is one of the
small-sized telescopes proposed for CTA to explore the energy range from a few
TeV to hundreds of TeV with a field of view $\gtrsim 8^\circ$ and angular
resolution of a few arcminutes. The GCT design features dual-mirror
Schwarzschild-Couder optics and a compact camera based on densely-pixelated
photodetectors as well as custom electronics. In this contribution we provide
an overview of the GCT project with focus on prototype development and testing
that is currently ongoing. We present results obtained during the first
on-telescope campaign in late 2015 at the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, during
which we recorded the first Cherenkov images from atmospheric showers with the
GCT multi-anode photomultiplier camera prototype. We also discuss the
development of a second GCT camera prototype with silicon photomultipliers as
photosensors, and plans toward a contribution to the realisation of CTA.


title:
Determination of the turbulent parameter in the accretion disks: effects
  of self-irradiation in 4U 1543-47 during the 2002 outburst

abstract:
  We investigate the viscous evolution of the accretion disk in 4U 1543-47, a
black hole binary system, during the first 30 days after the peak of the 2002
burst by comparing the observed and theoretical accretion rate evolution $\dot
M(t)$. The observed $\dot M(t)$ is obtained from spectral modelling of the
archival RXTE/PCA data. Different scenarios of disk decay evolution are
possible depending on a degree of self-irradiation of the disk by the emission
from its centre. If the self-irradiation, which is parametrized by factor
$C_\mathrm{irr}$, had been as high as $\sim 5\times10^{-3}$, then the disk
would have been completely ionized up to the tidal radius and the short time of
the decay would have required the turbulent parameter $\alpha\sim 3$. We find
that the shape of the $\dot M(t)$ curve is much better explained in a model
with a shrinking high-viscosity zone. If $C_\mathrm{irr}\approx(2-3)\times
10^{-4}$, the resulting $\alpha$ lie in the interval $0.5-1.5$ for the black
hole masses in the range $6-10~\mathrm{M}_\odot$, while the radius of the
ionized disk is variable and controlled by irradiation. For very weak
irradiation, $C_\mathrm{irr} < 1.5 \times10^{-4}$, the burst decline develops
as in normal outbursts of dwarf novae with $\alpha \sim 0.08-0.32$. The optical
data indicate that $C_\mathrm{irr}$ in 4U 1543-47 (2002) was not greater than
approximately $(3-6)\times10^{-4}$. Generally, modelling of an X-ray nova burst
allows one to estimate $\alpha$ that depends on the black hole parameters. We
present the public 1-D code Freddi to model the viscous evolution of an
accretion disk. Analytic approximations are derived to estimate $\alpha$ in
X-ray novae using $\dot M(t)$.


title:
Convex Histogram-Based Joint Image Segmentation with Regularized Optimal
  Transport Cost

abstract:
  We investigate in this work a versatile convex framework for multiple image
segmentation, relying on the regularized optimal mass transport theory. In this
setting, several transport cost functions are considered and used to match
statistical distributions of features. In practice, global multidimensional
histograms are estimated from the segmented image regions, and are compared to
referring models that are either fixed histograms given a priori, or directly
inferred in the non-supervised case. The different convex problems studied are
solved efficiently using primal-dual algorithms. The proposed approach is
generic and enables multi-phase segmentation as well as co-segmentation of
multiple images.


title: Unlabelled Gibbs partitions

abstract:
  We study random composite structures considered up to symmetry that are
sampled according to weights on the inner and outer structures. This model may
be viewed as an unlabelled version of Gibbs partitions and encompasses
multisets of weighted combinatorial objects. We describe a general setting
characterized by the formation of a giant component. The collection of small
fragments is shown toconverge in total variation toward a limit object
following a P\'olya-Boltzmann distribution.


title: Algebraic Stratified General Position and Transversality

abstract:
  The method of Whitney interpolation is used to construct, for any real or
complex projective algebraic variety, a stratified submersive family of
self-maps that yields stratified general position and transversality theorems
for semialgebraic subsets..


title:
Lyapunov small-gain theorems for networks of not necessarily ISS hybrid
  systems

abstract:
  We prove a novel Lyapunov-based small-gain theorem for networks of $ n \geq 2
$ hybrid systems which are not necessarily input-to-state stable. This result
unifies and extends several small-gain theorems for hybrid and impulsive
systems proposed in the last few years. We also show how average dwell-time
(ADT) clocks and reverse ADT clocks can be used to modify the Lyapunov
functions for subsystems and to enlarge the applicability of the derived
small-gain theorems.


title:
Why cells grow and divide? General growth mechanism and how it defines
  cells' growth, reproduction and metabolic properties

abstract:
  We consider a general growth mechanism, which acts at cellular level and
above (organs, systems and whole organisms). Using its mathematical
representation, the growth equation, we study the growth and division
mechanisms of amoeba and fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe. We show how
this mechanism, together with biomolecular machinery, governs growth and
reproduction of cells, and these organisms in particular. This mechanism
provides revealing answers to fundamental questions of biology, like why cells
grow and divide, why and when cells' growth stops. It also sheds light on
questions like why and how life originated and developed. Solving the growth
equation, we obtain analytical expression for the growth curve of fission yeast
as a function of geometrical characteristics and nutrient influxes for RNA and
protein synthesis, and compare the computed growth curves with 85 experiments.
Statistical evaluation shows that these growth curves correspond to
experimental data significantly better than all previous approximations. Also,
using the general growth mechanism, we show how metabolic characteristics of
cells, their size and evolutionary traits relate, considering fission yeast. In
particular, we found that fission yeast S. pombe consumes about 16-18 times
more nutrients for maintenance needs than for biomass synthesis.


title:
A Probably Approximately Correct Answer to Distributed Stochastic
  Optimization in a Non-stationary Environment

abstract:
  This paper considers a distributed stochastic optimization problem where the
goal is to minimize the time average of a cost function subject to a set of
constraints on the time averages of a related stochastic processes called
penalties. We assume that a delayed information about an event in the system is
available as a common information at every user, and the state of the system is
evolving in an independent and non-stationary fashion. We show that an
approximate Drift-plus-penalty (DPP) algorithm that we propose achieves a time
average cost that is within some positive constant epsilon of the optimal cost
with high probability. Further, we provide a condition on the waiting time for
this result to hold. The condition is shown to be a function of the mixing
coefficient, the number of samples (w) used to compute an estimate of the
distribution of the state, and the delay. Unlike the existing work, the method
used in the paper can be adapted to prove high probability results when the
state is evolving in a non-i.i.d and non-stationary fashion. Under mild
conditions, we show that the dependency of the error bound on w is exponential,
which is a significant improvement compared to the exiting work.


title:
Deterministic strain-induced arrays of quantum emitters in a
  two-dimensional semiconductor

abstract:
  An outstanding challenge in quantum photonics is scalability, which requires
positioning of single quantum emitters in a deterministic fashion. Site
positioning progress has been made in established platforms including defects
in diamond and self-assembled quantum dots, albeit often with compromised
coherence and optical quality. The emergence of single quantum emitters in
layered transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors offers new opportunities
to construct a scalable quantum architecture. Here, using nanoscale strain
engineering, we deterministically achieve a two-dimensional lattice of quantum
emitters in an atomically thin semiconductor. We create point-like strain
perturbations in mono- and bi-layer WSe2 which locally modify the band-gap,
leading to efficient funneling of excitons towards isolated strain-tuned
quantum emitters that exhibit high-purity single photon emission. These arrays
of non-classical light emitters open new vistas for two-dimensional
semiconductors in cavity quantum electrodynamics and integrated on-chip quantum
photonics.


title: Towards semi-episodic learning for robot damage recovery

abstract:
  The recently introduced Intelligent Trial and Error algorithm (IT\&E) enables
robots to creatively adapt to damage in a matter of minutes by combining an
off-line evolutionary algorithm and an on-line learning algorithm based on
Bayesian Optimization. We extend the IT\&E algorithm to allow for robots to
learn to compensate for damages while executing their task(s). This leads to a
semi-episodic learning scheme that increases the robot's lifetime autonomy and
adaptivity. Preliminary experiments on a toy simulation and a 6-legged robot
locomotion task show promising results.


title: Projective properties of Lorentzian surfaces

abstract:
  We investigate projective properties of Lorentzian surfaces. In particular,
we prove that if T is a non flat torus, then the index of its isometry group in
its projective group is at most two. We also prove that any topologically
finite noncompact surface can be endowed with a metric having a non isometric
projective transformation of infinite order.


title: Families of exotic affine 3-spheres

abstract:
  We construct algebraic families of exotic affine 3-spheres, that is, smooth
affine threefolds diffeomorphic to a non-degenerate smooth complex affine
quadric of dimension 3 but non algebraically isomorphic to it. We show in
particular that for every smooth topologically contractible affine surface S
with trivial automorphism group, there exists a canonical smooth family of
pairwise non isomorphic exotic affine 3-spheres parametrized by the closed
points of S.


title:
Invariance of separability probability over reduced states in 4x4
  bipartite systems

abstract:
  The geometric separability probability of composite quantum systems is
extensively studied in the last decades. One of most simple but strikingly
difficult problem is to compute the separability probability of qubit-qubit and
rebit-rebit quantum states with respect to the Hilbert-Schmidt measure. A lot
of numerical simulations confirm the P(rebit-rebit)=29/64 and
P(qubit-qubit)=8/33 conjectured probabilities. Milz and Strunz studied the
separability probability with respect to given subsystems. They conjectured
that the separability probability of qubit-qubit (and qubit-qutrit) depends on
sum of single qubit subsystems (D), moreover it depends just on the Bloch radii
(r) of D and it is constant in r. Using the Peres-Horodecki criterion for
separability we give mathematical proof for the P(rebit-rebit)=29/64
probability and we present an integral formula for the complex case which
hopefully will help to prove the P(qubit-qubit)=8/33 probability too. We prove
Milz and Strunz's conjecture for rebit-rebit and qubit-qubit states. The case,
when the state space is endowed with the volume form generated by the operator
monotone function f(x)=sqrt(x) is studied too in detail. We show, that even in
this setting the Milz and Strunz's conjecture holds and we give an integral
formula for separability probability according to this measure.


title:
Euler summability method of sequences of fuzzy numbers and a Tauberian
  theorem

abstract:
  We introduce Euler summability method for sequences of fuzzy numbers and
state a Tauberian theorem concerning Euler summability method, of which proof
provides an alternative to that of K. Knopp[\"Uber das Eulersche
Summierungsverfahren II, Math. Z. 18 (1923)] when the sequence is of real
numbers. As corollaries, we extend the obtained results to series of fuzzy
numbers.


title: A short introduction to process theory

abstract:
  These lecture notes concern the basics of the theory of process behaviour.
First the concept of a (labelled) transition system receives ample treatment
and then the following issues concerning process behaviour are elaborated in
the setting of transition systems: (i) concurrency and interaction, (ii)
abstraction, (iii) sequential composition, alternative composition, and
iteration, (iv) expressions that represent process behaviours, and (v)
structural operational semantics and equational laws for such expressions. To
quicken an intuitive understanding, direct connections with programs and
automata are established wherever appropriate. For the interested reader,
direct connections with Petri nets are also established. In each chapter,
except the last one, it shows that what has been dealt with so far still has
certain limitations. Each time, the next chapter is devoted to reducing the
limitations concerned.


title: Chiral magnetoresistance in the Weyl semimetal NbP

abstract:
  NbP is a recently realized Weyl semimetal (WSM), hosting Weyl points through
which conduction and valence bands cross linearly in the bulk and exotic Fermi
arcs appear. However, the most intriguing transport phenomenon of a WSM, the
chiral anomaly-induced negative magnetoresistance (NMR) in parallel electric
and magnetic fields, has yet to be observed in NbP. In intrinsic NbP the Weyl
points lie far from the Fermi energy, making chiral magneto-transport elusive.
Here, we use Ga-doping to relocate the Fermi energy in NbP sufficiently close
to the Weyl points, for which the different Fermi surfaces are verified by
resultant quantum oscillations. Consequently, we observe a NMR for parallel
electric and magnetic fields, which is considered as a signature of the chiral
anomaly in condensed-matter physics. The NMR survives up to room temperature,
making NbP a versatile material platform for the development of Weyltronic
applications.


title:
Electric field gradients in Zr$_8$Ni$_{21}$ and Hf$_8$Ni$_{21}$
  intermetallic compounds; Results from perturbed angular correlation
  measurements and first-principles density functional theory

abstract:
  Numerous technological applications of Ni-based Zr and Hf intermetallic
alloys promoted comprehensive studies in Zr$_8$Ni$_{21}$ and Hf$_8$Ni$_{21}$ by
perturbed angular correlation (PAC) spectroscopy, which were not studied
earlier until this report. The different phases produced in the samples have
been identified by PAC and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Using
$^{181}$Hf probe, two non-equivalent Zr/Hf sites have been observed in both
Zr$_8$Ni$_{21}$ and Hf$_8$Ni$_{21}$ compounds. From present PAC measurements in
Zr$_8$Ni$_{21}$, a component due to the production of Zr$_7$Ni$_{10}$ by
eutectic reaction from the liquid metals is also observed. The phase
Zr$_7$Ni$_{10}$, however, is not found from the XRD measurement. In
Zr$_8$Ni$_{21}$, while the results do not change appreciably up to 973 K
exhibit drastic changes at 1073 K. In Hf$_8$Ni$_{21}$, similar results for the
two non-equivalent sites have been found but site fractions are in reverse
order. In this alloy, a different contaminating phase, possibly due to
HfNi$_3$, has been found from PAC measurements but is not found from XRD
measurement. Density functional theory (DFT) based calculations of electric
field gradient (EFG) and asymmetry parameter ($\eta$) at the sites of
$^{181}$Ta probe nucleus allowed us to assign the observed EFG fractions to the
various lattice sites in (Zr/Hf)$_8$Ni$_{21}$ compounds.


title:
Individual wealth-based selection supports cooperation in spatial public
  goods games

abstract:
  In a social dilemma game group members are allowed to decide if they
contribute to the joint venture or not. As a consequence, defectors, who do not
invest but only enjoy the mutual benefit, prevail and the system evolves onto
the tragedy of the common state. This unfortunate scenario can be avoided if
participation is not obligatory but only happens with a given probability. But
what if we also consider a player's individual wealth when to decide about
participation? To address this issue we propose a model in which the
probabilistic participation in the public goods game is combined with a
conditional investment mode that is based on individual wealth: if a player's
wealth exceeds a threshold value then it is qualified and can participate in
the joint venture. Otherwise, the participation is forbidden in the investment
interactions. We show that if only probabilistic participation is considered,
spatially structured populations cannot support cooperation better than
well-mixed populations where full defection state can also be avoided for small
participation probabilities. By adding the wealth-based criterion of
participation, however, structured populations are capable to augment network
reciprocity relevantly and allow cooperator strategy to dominate in a broader
parameter interval.


title:
Distinguishing models of surface response through the self-energy of an
  electron

abstract:
  The self-energy of an electron confined between parallel surfaces with
arbitrary dielectric properties is calculated. The mechanism for this effect is
the surface-induced modification of the fluctuating quantised vacuum field to
which the electron is coupled, thereby endowing it with a surface-dependent
self-energy in broad analogy to the Casimir-Polder effect for an atom. We
derive a general formula for this self-energy shift and find that its sign is
different for two commonly-used models of surface response, namely the plasma
model and the Drude model. We propose an experiment which could detect this
difference in sign, shedding light on continuing uncertainty about the correct
description of the interaction of low-frequency vacuum photons with media.


title: Decentralized Topic Modelling with Latent Dirichlet Allocation

abstract:
  Privacy preserving networks can be modelled as decentralized networks (e.g.,
sensors, connected objects, smartphones), where communication between nodes of
the network is not controlled by an all-knowing, central node. For this type of
networks, the main issue is to gather/learn global information on the network
(e.g., by optimizing a global cost function) while keeping the (sensitive)
information at each node. In this work, we focus on text information that
agents do not want to share (e.g., text messages, emails, confidential
reports). We use recent advances on decentralized optimization and topic models
to infer topics from a graph with limited communication. We propose a method to
adapt latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) model to decentralized optimization and
show on synthetic data that we still recover similar parameters and similar
performance at each node than with stochastic methods accessing to the whole
information in the graph.


title:
A statics-dynamics equivalence through the fluctuation-dissipation ratio
  provides a window into the spin-glass phase from nonequilibrium measurements

abstract:
  The unifying feature of glass formers (such as polymers, supercooled liquids,
colloids, granulars, spin glasses, superconductors, ...) is a sluggish dynamics
at low temperatures. Indeed, their dynamics is so slow that thermal equilibrium
is never reached in macroscopic samples: in analogy with living beings, glasses
are said to age. Here, we show how to relate experimentally relevant quantities
with the experimentally unreachable low-temperature equilibrium phase. We have
performed a very accurate computation of the non-equilibrium
fluctuation-dissipation ratio for the three-dimensional Edwards-Anderson Ising
spin glass, by means of large-scale simulations on the special-purpose
computers Janus and Janus II. This ratio (computed for finite times on very
large, effectively infinite, systems) is compared with the equilibrium
probability distribution of the spin overlap for finite sizes. The resulting
quantitative statics-dynamics dictionary, based on observables that can be
measured with current experimental methods, could allow the experimental
exploration of important features of the spin-glass phase without
uncontrollable extrapolations to infinite times or system sizes.


title:
Low-{\Gamma} jets from Compact Binary Mergers as Candidate
  Electromagnetic Counterparts to Gravitational Wave Sources

abstract:
  Compact binary mergers, with neutron stars or neutron star and black-hole
components, are thought to produce various electromagnetic counterparts: short
gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) from ultra-relativistic jets followed by broadband
afterglow; semi-isotropic kilonova from radioactive decay of r-process
elements; and late time radio flares; etc. If the jets from such mergers follow
a similar power-law distribution of Lorentz factors as other astrophysical jets
then the population of merger jets will be dominated by low-{\Gamma} values.
The prompt gamma-rays associated with short GRBs would be suppressed for a
low-{\Gamma} jet and the jet energy will be released as X-ray/optical/radio
transients when a shock forms in the ambient medium. Using Monte Carlo
simulations, we study the properties of such transients as candidate
electromagnetic counterparts to gravitational wave sources detectable by
LIGO/Virgo. Approximately 78% of merger-jets result in failed GRB with optical
peaks 14-22 magnitude and an all-sky rate of 2-3 per year.


title: Domain and Phase De-strain - Formation of Ferroelastic Domain Structures

abstract:
  Phase decomposition is a well-known process leading to the formation of
two-phase mixtures. Here we show that a strain imposed on a ferroelastic
crystal promotes the formation of mixed phases and domains, i.e., domain and
phase de-strain with local strains determined by a common tangent construction
on the free energy versus strain curves. It is demonstrated that a domain
structure can be understood using the concepts of domain/phase rule, lever
rule, coherent and incoherent de-strain within the de-strain model description,
in a complete analogy to phase decomposition. The proposed de-strain model is
validated using phase-field simulations and experimental observations of
PbTiO_3 and BiFeO_3 thin films as examples. The de-strain model provides a
simple tool to guide and design domain structures of ferroelastic systems.


abstract:
  Cosmological implications of Higgs field fluctuations during inflation are
considered. This study is based on the Standard Model and the standard
quadratic model of chaotic inflation where the Higgs field is minimally coupled
to gravity and has no direct coupling to the inflaton. In the Standard model
the renormalisation group improved effective potential develops an instability
(an additional minimum and maximum) at large field values. It is shown that
such a new maximum should take place at an energy scale above $10^{14}
\;\text{GeV},$ otherwise a universe like ours is extremely unlikely. The
extension to the case of the Higgs field interacting with the inflaton field is
discussed.


title: Pion-nucleon scattering in the Roper channel from lattice QCD

abstract:
  We present a lattice QCD study of $N\pi$ scattering in the positive-parity
nucleon channel, where the puzzling Roper resonance $N^*(1440)$ resides in
experiment. The study is based on the PACS-CS ensemble of gauge configurations
with $N_f=2+1$ Wilson-clover dynamical fermions, $m_\pi \simeq 156~$MeV and
$L\simeq 2.9~$fm. In addition to a number of $qqq$ interpolating fields, we
implement operators for $N\pi$ in $p$-wave and $N\sigma$ in $s$-wave. In the
center-of-momentum frame we find three eigenstates below 1.65 GeV. They are
dominated by $N(0)$, $N(0)\pi(0)\pi(0)$ (mixed with $N(0)\sigma(0)$) and
$N(p)\pi(-p)$ with $p\simeq 2\pi/L$, where momenta are given in parentheses.
This is the first simulation where the expected multi-hadron states are found
in this channel. The experimental $N\pi$ phase-shift would -- in the
approximation of purely elastic $N\pi$ scattering -- imply an additional
eigenstate near the Roper mass $m_R\simeq 1.43~$GeV for our lattice size. We do
not observe any such additional eigenstate, which indicates that $N\pi$ elastic
scattering alone does not render a low-lying Roper. Coupling with other
channels, most notably with $N\pi\pi$, seems to be important for generating the
Roper resonance, reinforcing the notion that this state could be a dynamically
generated resonance. Our results are in line with most of previous lattice
studies based just on $qqq$ interpolators, that did not find a Roper eigenstate
below $1.65~$GeV. The study of the coupled-channel scattering including a
three-particle decay $N\pi\pi$ remains a challenge.


title: Read-Write Memory and k-Set Consensus as an Affine Task

abstract:
  The wait-free read-write memory model has been characterized as an iterated
\emph{Immediate Snapshot} (IS) task. The IS task is \emph{affine}---it can be
defined as a (sub)set of simplices of the standard chromatic subdivision. It is
known that the task of \emph{Weak Symmetry Breaking} (WSB) cannot be
represented as an affine task. In this paper, we highlight the phenomenon of a
"natural" model that can be captured by an iterated affine task and, thus, by a
subset of runs of the iterated immediate snapshot model. We show that the
read-write memory model in which, additionally, $k$-set-consensus objects can
be used is, unlike WSB, "natural" by presenting the corresponding simple affine
task captured by a subset of $2$-round IS runs. Our results imply the first
combinatorial characterization of models equipped with abstractions other than
read-write memory that applies to generic tasks.


title:
Non-Parametric Cluster Significance Testing with Reference to a Unimodal
  Null Distribution

abstract:
  Cluster analysis is an unsupervised learning strategy that can be employed to
identify subgroups of observations in data sets of unknown structure. This
strategy is particularly useful for analyzing high-dimensional data such as
microarray gene expression data. Many clustering methods are available, but it
is challenging to determine if the identified clusters represent distinct
subgroups. We propose a novel strategy to investigate the significance of
identified clusters by comparing the within- cluster sum of squares from the
original data to that produced by clustering an appropriate unimodal null
distribution. The null distribution we present for this problem uses kernel
density estimation and thus does not require that the data follow any
particular distribution. We find that our method can accurately test for the
presence of clustering even when the number of features is high.


title: On instanton effects in the operator product expansion

abstract:
  We revisit the computation of instanton effects to various correlation
functions in ${\cal N}=4$ SYM and clarify a controversy existing in the
literature regarding their consistency with the OPE and conformal symmetry. To
check these properties, we examine the conformal partial wave decomposition of
four-point correlators involving combinations of half-BPS and Konishi operators
and isolate the contribution from the conformal primary scalar operators of
twist four. We demonstrate that the leading instanton correction to this
contribution is indeed consistent with conformal symmetry and compute the
corresponding corrections to the OPE coefficients and the scaling dimensions of
such twist-four operators. Our analysis justifies the regularization procedure
used to compute ultraviolet divergent instanton contribution to correlation
functions involving unprotected operators.


title:
On the Joint Impact of Hardware Impairments and Imperfect CSI on
  Successive Decoding

abstract:
  In this paper, a spatial multiplexing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO)
system when hardware along with RF imperfections occur during the communication
setup is analytically investigated. More specifically, the scenario of hardware
impairments at the transceiver and imperfect channel state information (CSI) at
the receiver is considered, when successive interference cancellation (SIC) is
implemented. Two popular linear detection schemes are analyzed, namely, zero
forcing SIC (ZF-SIC) and minimum mean-square error SIC (MMSE-SIC). New
analytical expressions for the outage probability of each SIC stage are
provided, when independent and identically distributed Rayleigh fading channels
are considered. In addition, the well-known error propagation effect between
consecutive SIC stages is analyzed, while closed-form expressions are derived
for some special cases of interest. Finally, useful engineering insights are
manifested, such as the achievable diversity order, the performance difference
between ZF- and MMSE-SIC, and the impact of imperfect CSI and/or the presence
of hardware impairments to the overall system performance.


title:
Perspectives With The GCT End-to-end Prototype Of The Small-Sized
  Telescope Proposed For The Cherenkov Telescope Array

abstract:
  In the framework of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA), the GCT (Gamma-ray
Cherenkov Telescope) team is building a dual-mirror telescope as one of the
proposed prototypes for the CTA small size class of telescopes. The telescope
is based on a Schwarzschild- Couder (SC) optical design, an innovative solution
for ground-based Cherenkov astronomy, which allows a compact telescope
structure, a lightweight large Field of View (FoV) camera and enables good
angular resolution across the entire FoV. We review the different mechanical
and optical components of the telescope. In order to characterise them, the
Paris prototype will be operated during several weeks in 2016. In this
framework, an estimate of the expected performance of this prototype has been
made, based on Monte Carlo simulations. In particular the observability of the
Crab Nebula in the context of high Night Sky Background (NSB) is presented.


title:
A generalized Korn inequality and strong unique continuation for the
  Reissner-Mindlin plate system

abstract:
  We prove constructive estimates for elastic plates modelled by the
Reissner-Mindlin theory and made by general anisotropic material. Namely, we
obtain a generalized Korn inequality which allows to derive quantitative
stability and global H^2 regularity for the Neumann problem. Moreover, in case
of isotropic material, we derive an interior three spheres inequality with
optimal exponent from which the strong unique continuation property follows.


title:
One-loop structure of the U(1) gauge model on the truncated Heisenberg
  space

abstract:
  We calculate divergent one-loop corrections to the propagators of the U(1)
gauge theory on the truncated Heisenberg space, which is one of the extensions
of the Grosse-Wulkenhaar model. The model is purely geometric, based on the
Yang-Mills action; the corresponding gauge-fixed theory is BRST invariant. We
quantize perturbatively and, along with the usual wave-function and mass
renormalizations, we find divergent nonlocal terms of the $\Box^{-1}$ and
$\Box^{-2}$ type. We discuss the meaning of these terms and possible
improvements of the model.


title: LAYERS: Yet another Neural Network toolkit

abstract:
  Layers is an open source neural network toolkit aim at providing an easy way
to implement modern neural networks. The main user target are students and to
this end layers provides an easy scriptting language that can be early adopted.
The user has to focus only on design details as network totpology and parameter
tunning.


title:
Partial-wave Coulomb transition matrices for attractive interaction by
  Fock's method

abstract:
  Leaning upon the Fock method of the stereographic projection of the
three-dimensional momentum space onto the four-dimensional unit sphere the
possibility of the analytical solving of the Lippmann-Schwinger integral
equation for the partial wave two-body Coulomb transition matrix at the ground
bound state energy has been studied. In this case new expressions for the
partial p-, d- and f-wave two-body Coulomb transition matrices have been
obtained in the simple analytical form. The developed approach can also be
extended to determine analytically the partial wave Coulomb transition matrices
at the energies of excited bound states. Keywords: Partial wave Coulomb
transition matrix; Lippmann-Schwinger equation; Fock method; Analytical
solution PACS Nos. 03.65.-w; 03.65.Nk; 34.20.Cf


title:
Quantifying geometric measure of entanglement by mean value of spin and
  spin correlations for pure and mixed states

abstract:
  We quantify the geometric measure of entanglement in terms of mean values of
observables of entangled system. For pure states we find the relation of
geometric measure of entanglement with the mean value of spin one-half for the
system composed of spin and arbitrary quantum system. The geometric measure of
entanglement for mixed states of rank-2 is studied as well. We find the
explicit expression for geometric entanglement and the relation of entanglement
in this case with the values of spin correlations. These results allow to find
experimentally the value of entanglement by measuring a value of the mean spin
and the spin correlations for pure and mixed states, respectively. The obtained
results are applied for calculation of entanglement during the evolution in
spin chain with Ising interaction , two-spin Ising model in transverse
fluctuating magnetic field, Schr\"odinger cat in fluctuating magnetic field.


title:
Effective Low-Complexity Optimization Methods for Joint Phase Noise and
  Channel Estimation in OFDM

abstract:
  Phase noise correction is crucial to exploit full advantage of orthogonal
frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) in modern high-data-rate communications.
OFDM channel estimation with simultaneous phase noise compensation has
therefore drawn much attention and stimulated continuing efforts. Existing
methods, however, either have not taken into account the fundamental properties
of phase noise or are only able to provide estimates of limited applicability
owing to considerable computational complexity. In this paper, we have
reformulated the joint estimation problem in the time domain as opposed to
existing frequency-domain approaches, which enables us to develop much more
efficient algorithms using the majorization-minimization technique. In
addition, we propose a method based on dimensionality reduction and the
Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC) that can adapt to various phase noise
levels and accomplish much lower mean squared error than the benchmarks without
incurring much additional computational cost. Several numerical examples with
phase noise generated by free-running oscillators or phase-locked loops
demonstrate that our proposed algorithms outperform existing methods with
respect to both computational efficiency and mean squared error within a large
range of signal-to-noise ratios.


title:
Capacitively coupled pickup in MCP-based photodetectors using a
  conductive metallic anode

abstract:
  We have designed and tested a robust 20 $\times$ 20 cm$^2$ thin metal film
internal anode capacitively coupled to an external array of signal pads or
micro-strips for use in fast microchannel plate photodetectors. The internal
anode, in this case a 10nm-thick NiCr film deposited on a 96% pure Al$_2$O$_3$
3mm-thick ceramic plate and connected to HV ground, provides the return path
for the electron cascade charge. The multi-channel pickup array consists of a
printed-circuit card or glass plate with metal signal pickups on one side and
the signal ground plane on the other. The pickup can be put in close proximity
to the bottom outer surface of the sealed photodetector, with no electrical
connections through the photodetector hermetic vacuum package other than a
single ground connection to the internal anode. Two pickup patterns were tested
using a small commercial MCP-PMT as the signal source: 1) parallel 50$\Omega$
25-cm-long micro-strips with an analog bandwidth of 1.5 GHz, and 2) a 20
$\times$ 20 cm$^2$ array of 2-dimensional square `pads' with sides of 1.27 cm
or 2.54 cm. The rise-time of the fast input pulse is maintained for both pickup
patterns. For the pad pattern, we observe 80% of the directly coupled
amplitude. For the strip pattern we measure 34% of the directly coupled
amplitude on the central strip of a broadened signal. The physical decoupling
of the photodetector from the pickup pattern allows easy customization for
different applications while maintaining high analog bandwidth.


title: Worm Algorithm for CP(N-1) Model

abstract:
  The CP(N-1) model in 2D is an interesting toy model for 4D QCD as it
possesses confinement, asymptotic freedom and a non-trivial vacuum structure.
Due to the lower dimensionality and the absence of fermions, the computational
cost for simulating 2D CP(N-1) on the lattice is much lower than that for
simulating 4D QCD. However, to our knowledge, no efficient algorithm for
simulating the lattice CP(N-1) model has been tested so far, which also works
at finite density. To this end we propose a new type of worm algorithm which is
appropriate to simulate the lattice CP(N-1) model in a dual, flux-variables
based representation, in which the introduction of a chemical potential does
not give rise to any complications. In addition to the usual worm moves where a
defect is just moved from one lattice site to the next, our algorithm
additionally allows for worm-type moves in the internal variable space of
single links, which accelerates the Monte Carlo evolution. We use our algorithm
to compare the two popular CP(N-1) lattice actions and exhibit marked
differences in their approach to the continuum limit.


title:
Orbital frustration in the S = 1/2 kagome magnet vesignieite,
  BaCu3V2O8(OD)2

abstract:
  Here we report crystallographic and magnetic studies on high quality samples
of the magnetically frustrated S = 1/2 kagome antiferromagnet vesignieite,
BaCu3V2O8(OD)2. Powder neutron diffraction data collected from samples obtained
by a new hydrothermal synthetic route reveal a previously unobserved trigonal
P3121 structure, similar to the isoelectronic mineral SrCu3V2O8(OH)2. The
refined structure is consistent with orbital frustration of the eg d-orbitals
in a sublattice of the Cu2+ kagome network due to a dynamic Jahn-Teller effect,
which persists below the magnetic transition at TN = 9K and makes the material
an interesting candidate for exploring concomitant spin and orbital
frustration. A combination of crystallographic strain analysis and
magnetisation measurements indicate strong magnetostructural coupling which may
explain the varied magnetic behaviour between samples of vesignieite in the
literature. The revised orbital structure is similar to that found in
volborthite, rather than the quantum spin liquid herbertsmithite, and provides
a convincing argument for the differing magnetic properties found in these
frustrated magnets.


title: Positive Polynomials on closed boxes

abstract:
  We present two different proofs that positive polynomials on closed boxes of
$\mathbb{R}^2$ can be written as bivariate Bernstein polynomials with strictly
positive coefficients. Both strategies can be extended to prove the analogous
result for polynomials that are positive on closed boxes of $\mathbb{R}^n$,
$n>2$.


title:
On conservative sequences and their application to ergodic multiplier
  problems

abstract:
  The conservative sequence of a set $A$ under a transformation $T$ is the set
of all $n \in \mathbb{Z}$ such that $T^n A \cap A \not = \varnothing$. By
studying these sequences, we prove that given any countable collection of
nonsingular transformations with no finite invariant measure $\{T_i\}$, there
exists a rank-one transformation $S$ such that $T_i \times S$ is not ergodic
for all $i$. Moreover, $S$ can be chosen to be rigid or have infinite ergodic
index. We establish similar results for $\mathbb{Z}^d$ actions and flows. Then,
we find sufficient conditions on rank-one transformations $T$ that guarantee
the existence of a rank-one transformation $S$ such that $T \times S$ is
ergodic, or, alternatively, conditions that guarantee that $T \times S$ is
conservative but not ergodic. In particular, the infinite Chac\'on
transformation satisfies both conditions. Finally, for a given ergodic
transformation $T$, we study the Baire categories of the sets $E(T)$,
$\bar{E}C(T)$ and $\bar{C}(T)$ of transformations $S$ such that $T \times S$ is
ergodic, ergodic but not conservative, and conservative, respectively.


title: Nonlinear Systems Identification Using Deep Dynamic Neural Networks

abstract:
  Neural networks are known to be effective function approximators. Recently,
deep neural networks have proven to be very effective in pattern recognition,
classification tasks and human-level control to model highly nonlinear
realworld systems. This paper investigates the effectiveness of deep neural
networks in the modeling of dynamical systems with complex behavior. Three deep
neural network structures are trained on sequential data, and we investigate
the effectiveness of these networks in modeling associated characteristics of
the underlying dynamical systems. We carry out similar evaluations on select
publicly available system identification datasets. We demonstrate that deep
neural networks are effective model estimators from input-output data


title: On Realizability of Gauss Diagrams

abstract:
  The problem of which Gauss diagram can be realized by knots is an old one and
has been solved in several ways. In this paper, we present a direct approach to
this problem. We show that the needed conditions for realizability of a Gauss
diagram can be interpreted as follows "the number of exits = the number of
entrances" and the sufficient condition is based on Jordan curve Theorem.


title: Order and Chaos in some deterministic infinite trigonometric products

abstract:
  This paper discusses some infinite trigonometric products which are
characteristic functions of simple random walks on the real line; in fact,
these define "random Riemann-$\zeta$ functions," a notion which is explained.
The concept of typicality for random Riemann $\zeta$ functions is explained and
connected to the Riemann hypothesis. Then it is shown that the distribution
functions of these random walks are Schwarz functions. It is also shown that
their characteristic function factors into the characteristic function of a
Levy stable random variable and a subdominant fluctuating factor. As a
corollary it also follows that amateur mathematician Benoit Cloitre's infinite
trigonometric product $\prod_{n=1}^\infty
\left[\frac23+\frac13\cos\left(\frac{x}{n^{2}}\right)\right] = e^{- C
\,\sqrt{|x|} +\varepsilon(|x|)},$ with $|\varepsilon(|x|)| \leq K |x|^{1/3}$
for some $K>0$, and with $ C= \int\frac{\sin\xi^2}{2+\cos\xi^2}{\rm{d}}\xi;$
numerically, $C = 0.319905585... \sqrt{\pi}$. This confirms a surmise of Benoit
Cloitre. The $O\big(|x|^{1/3}\big)$ error bound is empirically found to be
accurate for moderately sized $|x|$ but not for larger $|x|$. This difference
$\varepsilon(|x|)$ between Cloitre's $\log \prod_{n\geq1}\left[\frac23
+\frac13\cos\left(\frac{x}{n^{2}}\right)\right]$ and its regular trend
$-C\sqrt{|x|}$, although deterministic, appears to be an "empirically
unpredictable" function. Our probabilistic investigation of this phenomenon
connects the fluctuations to the "random Riemann-$\zeta$ function with argument
2."


title: Jaffard families and localizations of star operations

abstract:
  We generalize the concept of localization of a star operation to flat
overrings; subsequently, we investigate the possibility of representing the set
$\mathrm{Star}(R)$ of star operations on $R$ as the product of
$\mathrm{Star}(T)$, as $T$ ranges in a family of overrings of $R$ with special
properties. We then apply this method to study the set of star operations on a
Pr\"ufer domain $R$, in particular the set of stable star operations and the
star-class groups of $R$.


title: Efficiency and Budget Balance in General Quasi-linear Domains

abstract:
  We study efficiency and budget balance for designing mechanisms in general
quasi-linear domains. Green and Laffont (1979) proved that one cannot
generically achieve both. We consider strategyproof budget-balanced mechanisms
that are approximately efficient. For deterministic mechanisms, we show that a
strategyproof and budget-balanced mechanism must have a sink agent whose
valuation function is ignored in selecting an alternative, and she is
compensated with the payments made by the other agents. We assume the
valuations of the agents come from a bounded open interval. Using this result,
we find a tight lower bound on the inefficiencies of strategyproof,
budget-balanced mechanisms in this domain. The bound shows that the
inefficiency asymptotically disappears when the number of agents is large---a
result close in spirit to Green and Laffont (1979, Theorem 9.4). However, our
results provide worst-case bounds and the best possible rate of convergence.
  Next, we consider minimizing any convex combination of inefficiency and
budget imbalance. We show that if the valuations are unrestricted, no
deterministic mechanism can do asymptotically better than minimizing
inefficiency alone.
  Finally, we investigate randomized mechanisms and provide improved lower
bounds on expected inefficiency. We give a tight lower bound for an interesting
class of strategyproof, budget-balanced, randomized mechanisms. We also use an
optimization-based approach---in the spirit of automated mechanism design---to
provide a lower bound on the minimum achievable inefficiency of any randomized
mechanism.
  Experiments with real data from two applications show that the inefficiency
for a simple randomized mechanism is 5--100 times smaller than the worst case.
This relative difference increases with the number of agents.


title: Markov Chain Modeling and Simulation of Breathing Patterns

abstract:
  The lack of large video databases obtained from real patients with
respiratory disorders makes the design and optimization of video-based
monitoring systems quite critical. The purpose of this study is the development
of suitable models and simulators of breathing behaviors and disorders, such as
respiratory pauses and apneas, in order to allow efficient design and test of
video-based monitoring systems. More precisely, a novel Continuous-Time Markov
Chain (CTMC) statistical model of breathing patterns is presented. The
Respiratory Rate (RR) pattern, estimated by measured vital signs of
hospital-monitored patients, is approximated as a CTMC, whose states and
parameters are selected through an appropriate statistical analysis. Then, two
simulators, software- and hardware-based, are proposed. After validation of the
CTMC model, the proposed simulators are tested with previously developed
video-based algorithms for the estimation of the RR and the detection of apnea
events. Examples of application to assess the performance of systems for
video-based RR estimation and apnea detection are presented. The results, in
terms of Kullback-Leibler divergence, show that realistic breathing patterns,
including specific respiratory disorders, can be accurately described by the
proposed model; moreover, the simulators are able to reproduce practical
breathing patterns for video analysis. The presented CTMC statistical model can
be strategic to describe realistic breathing patterns and devise simulators
useful to develop and test novel and effective video processing-based
monitoring systems.


title: Photonic microwave signals with zeptosecond level absolute timing noise

abstract:
  Photonic synthesis of radiofrequency revived the quest for unrivalled
microwave purity by its seducing ability to convey the benefits of the optics
to the microwave world. In this work, we perform a high-fidelity transfer of
frequency stability between an optical reference and a microwave signal via a
low-noise fiber-based frequency comb and cutting-edge photo-detection
techniques. We demonstrate the generation of the purest microwave signal with a
fractional frequency stability below 6.5 x 10^-16 at 1 s and a timing noise
floor below 41 zs.Hz^-1/2 (phase noise below -173 dBc.Hz^-1 for a 12 GHz
carrier). This outclasses existing sources and promises a new era for
state-of-the-art microwave generation. The characterization is achieved by
building two auxiliary low noise optoelectronic microwave reference and using a
heterodyne cross-correlation scheme with lowermost detection noise. This
unprecedented level of purity can impact domains such as radar systems,
telecommunications and time-frequency metrology. Furthermore, the measurement
methods developed here can benefit the characterization of a broad range of
signals, beyond comb-based systems.


title:
Bifurcation analysis and global dynamics of a mathematical model of
  antibiotic resistance in hospitals

abstract:
  Antibiotic-resistant bacteria has posed a grave threat to public health by
causing a number of nosocomial infections in hospitals. Mathematical models
have been used to study the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria
within a hospital and the measures to control antibiotic resistance in
nosocomial pathogens. Studies presented in \cite{LBL,LB} have shown great value
in understanding the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in a
hospital. However, their results are limited to numerical simulations of a few
different scenarios without analytical analysis of the models in all
biologically feasible parameter regions. Bifurcation analysis and
identification of the global stability conditions are necessary to assess the
interventions which are proposed to limit nosocomial infection and stem the
spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In this paper we study the global
dynamics of the mathematical model of antibiotic resistance in hospitals in
\cite{LBL,LB}. The invasion reproduction number $\mathcal R_{ar}$ of
antibiotic-resistant bacteria is introduced. We give the relationship of
$\mathcal R_{ar}$ and two control reproduction numbers of sensitive bacteria
and resistant bacteria ($\mathcal R_{sc}$ and $\mathcal R_{rc}$). More
importantly, we prove that a backward bifurcation may occur at $\mathcal
R_{ar}=1$ when the model includes superinfection which is not mentioned in
\cite{LB}. That is, there exists a new threshold $\mathcal R_{ar}^c$, and if
$\mathcal R_{ar}^c<\mathcal R_{ar}<1$, then the system can have two interior
equilibria and it supports an interesting bistable phenomenon. This provides
critical information on controlling the antibiotic-resistance in a hospital.


title:
Study of long-range orders of hard-core bosons coupled to cooperative
  normal modes in two-dimensional lattices

abstract:
  Understanding the microscopic mechanism of coexisting long-range orders (such
as lattice supersolidity) in strongly correlated systems is a subject of
immense interest. We study the possible manifestations of long-range orders,
including lattice-supersolid phases with differently broken symmetry, in a
two-dimensional square lattice system of hard-core bosons (HCBs) coupled to
archetypal cooperative/coherent normal-mode distortions such as those in
perovskites. At strong HCB-phonon coupling, using a duality transformation to
map the strong-coupling problem to a weak-coupling one, we obtain an effective
Hamiltonian involving nearest-neighbor, next-nearest-neighbor, and
next-to-next-nearest-neighbor hoppings and repulsions. Using stochastic series
expansion quantum Monte Carlo, we construct the phase diagram of the system. As
coupling strength is increased, we find that the system undergoes a first-order
quantum phase transition from a superfluid to a checkerboard solid at half
filling and from a superfluid to a diagonal striped solid [with crystalline
ordering wavevector $\vec{Q}=(2\pi/3,2\pi/3)$ or $(2\pi/3,4\pi/3)$] at
one-third filling without showing any evidence of supersolidity. On tuning the
system away from these commensurate fillings, checkerboard supersolid is
generated near half filling whereas a rare diagonal striped supersolid is
realized near one-third filling. Interestingly, there is an asymmetry in the
extent of supersolidity about one-third filling. Within our framework, we also
provide an explanation for the observed checkerboard and stripe formations in
${\rm La}_{2-x}{\rm Sr}_x{\rm NiO_4}$ at $x=1/2$ and $x=1/3$.


title:
Improvement of a Theorem of Lorentz (1963) and its Generalization to the
  Multivariate Case

abstract:
  In this short note we have proved an enhanced version of a theorem of Lorentz
[1] and its generalization to the multivariate case which gives a non- uniform
estimate of degree of approximation by a polynomial with positive coefficients.
The performance of the approximation at the vertices of [0; 1]d is more
precisely characterized by the improved result and its multivariate
generalization. The latter provides mathematical foundation on which
multivariate density approximation by a polynomial with positive coefficients
can be established.


title: Power majorization between the roots of two polynomials

abstract:
  It is shown that if two hyperbolic polynomials have a particular
factorization into quadratics, then their roots satisfy a power majorization
relation whenever key coefficients in their factorizations satisfy a
corresponding majorization relation. In particular, a numerical observation by
Kleme\v{s} is confirmed.


title: Asset Pricing with Random Volatility

abstract:
  This paper proposes to model asset price dynamics with a mixture of diffusion
processes where the instantaneous volatility of the underlying diffusion
process contains a random vector. The marginal probability distributions of the
proposed process can match exactly the risk-neutral distributions implied by
both spot vanilla options and forward start options. We can also derive the
explicit pricing formula for derivatives that have a closed-form solution under
Generalized Geometric Brownian Motion.


title:
Compensated Convex Transforms and Geometric Singularity Extraction from
  Semiconvex Functions

abstract:
  We apply upper and lower compensated convex transforms, which are `tight'
one-sided approximations of a given function, to the extraction of fine
geometric singularities from semiconvex/semiconcave functions and DC-functions
in $\mathbb{R}^n$ (difference of convex functions). Well-known examples of
(locally) semiconcave functions include the Euclidean distance and squared
distance functions. For a locally semiconvex function $f$ with general modulus,
we show that `locally' a point is a singular (non-differentiable) point if and
only if it is a scale $1$-valley point, and if $x$ is a singular point, then
locally the limit of the scaled valley transform exists at every point $x$ and
$ \lim_{\lambda\to \infty}\lambda V_\lambda (f)(x)=r_x^2/4$, where $r_x$ is the
radius of the minimal bounding sphere of the (Fr\'echet) subdifferential
$\partial_- f(x)$ and $V_\lambda (f)(x)$ is the valley transform at $x$. Thus
the limit function $\mathcal{V}_\infty(f)(x):=\lim_{\lambda\to+\infty}\lambda
V_\lambda (f)(x)=r_x^2/4$ gives a `scale $1$-valley landscape function' of the
singular set for a locally semiconvex function $f$, and also provides an
asymptotic expansion of the upper transform $C^u_\lambda(f)(x)$ when $\lambda
\to \infty$. For a locally semiconvex function $f$ with linear modulus we show
that the limit of the gradient of the upper compensated convex transform
$\lim_{\lambda\to+\infty}\nabla C^u_\lambda(f)(x)$ exists and equals the centre
of the minimal bounding sphere of $\partial_- f(x$, and that for a DC-function
$f=g-h$, the scale $1$-edge transform satisfies
$\liminf_{\lambda\to+\infty}\lambda E_\lambda (f)(x)\geq
(r_{g,x}-r_{h,x})^2/4$, where $r_{g,x}$ and $r_{h,x}$ are the radii of the
minimal bounding spheres of the subdifferentials $\partial_- g$ and $\partial_-
h$ of the convex functions $g$ and $h$ at $x$ respectively.


title:
Inauguration and First Light of the GCT-M Prototype for the Cherenkov
  Telescope Array

abstract:
  The Gamma-ray Cherenkov Telescope (GCT) is a candidate for the Small Size
Telescopes (SSTs) of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA). Its purpose is to
extend the sensitivity of CTA to gamma-ray energies reaching 300 TeV. Its
dual-mirror optical design and curved focal plane enables the use of a compact
camera of 0.4 m diameter, while achieving a field of view of above 8 degrees.
Through the use of the digitising TARGET ASICs, the Cherenkov flash is sampled
once per nanosecond continuously and then digitised when triggering conditions
are met within the analogue outputs of the photosensors. Entire waveforms
(typically covering 96 ns) for all 2048 pixels are then stored for analysis,
allowing for a broad spectrum of investigations to be performed on the data.
Two prototypes of the GCT camera are under development, with differing
photosensors: Multi-Anode Photomultipliers (MAPMs) and Silicon Photomultipliers
(SiPMs). During November 2015, the GCT MAPM (GCT-M) prototype camera was
integrated onto the GCT structure at the Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, where it
observed the first Cherenkov light detected by a prototype instrument for CTA.


title: Gravitational Baryogenesis in Running Vacuum models

abstract:
  We study the gravitational baryogenesis mechanism for generating baryon
asymmetry in the context of running vacuum models. Regardless if these models
can produce a viable cosmological evolution, we demonstrate that they produce a
non-zero baryon-to-entropy ratio even if the universe is filled with conformal
matter. This is a sound difference between the running vacuum gravitational
baryogenesis and the Einstein-Hilbert one, since in the latter case, the
predicted baryon-to-entropy ratio is zero. We consider two well known and most
used running vacuum models and show that the resulting baryon-to-entropy ratio
is compatible with the observational data. Moreover, we also show that the
mechanism of gravitational baryogenesis may constrain the running vacuum
models.


title:
Super-critical phasematching for photon pair generation in structured
  light modes

abstract:
  We propose a method for directly producing radially and azimuthally polarized
photon pairs through spontaneous parametric downconversion (SPDC). This method
constitutes a novel geometry for SPDC, in which a radially polarized
Bessel-Gauss pump beam is directed into a nonlinear crystal, with the central
propagation direction parallel to the crystal axis. The phasematching
conditions are controlled by changing the opening angle of the pump beam; as
the crystal axis cannot be tuned, we refer to this process as super-critical
phasematching. We model and plot the spatial and polarization output
distributions for Type-I and Type-II super-critical phasematching.


title:
Scheduling Feasibility of Energy Management in Micro-grids Based on
  Significant Moment Analysis

abstract:
  This paper studies the operation and scheduling of electric loads in
micro-grid, a highly automated and distributed cyber-physical energy system
(CPES). We establish rigorous mathematical expressions for electric loads and
battery banks in the micro-grid by considering their characteristics and
constraints. Based on these mathematical models, we propose a novel real-time
scheduling analysis method for priority-based energy management in micro-grid,
named Significant Moments Analysis (SMA). SMA pinpoints all the crucial moments
when electrical operations are requested among the micro-grid and establishes a
dynamic model to describe the scheduling behavior of electric loads. Using SMA,
we can check the scheduling feasibility and predict whether the micro-grid can
generate enough power to support the execution of electric loads. In the case
where the power is insufficient to supply load demands, SMA can provide
accurate information about the amount of insufficient power and the time when
the insufficiency happens. Simulated results are presented to show the
effectiveness of the proposed analysis method.


title:
A new quantitative central limit theorem on the Wiener space with
  applications to Gaussian processes

abstract:
  Quantitative limit theorems for non-linear functionals on the Wiener space
are considered. Given the possibly infinite sequence of kernels of the chaos
decomposition of such a functional, an estimate for different probability
distances between the functional and a Gaussian random variable in terms of
contraction norms of these kernels is derived. The applicability of this result
is demonstrated by means of the Breuer-Major theorem, unfolding thereby a new
connection between the Hermite rank of the considered function and a chaotic
gap. Especially, power variations of the fractional Brownian motion and
processes belonging to the Cauchy class are studied.


title: Self-Dual Gravity

abstract:
  Self-dual gravity is a diffeomorphism invariant theory in four dimensions
that describes two propagating polarisations of the graviton and has a negative
mass dimension coupling constant. Nevertheless, this theory is not only
renormalisable but quantum finite, as we explain. We also collect various facts
about self-dual gravity that are scattered across the literature.


title: Distributed Searching of Partial Grids

abstract:
  We consider the following distributed pursuit-evasion problem. A team of
mobile agents called searchers starts at an arbitrary node of an unknown
$n$-node network. Their goal is to execute a search strategy that guarantees
capturing a fast and invisible intruder regardless of its movements using as
few agents as possible. We restrict our attention to networks that are embedded
into partial grids: nodes are placed on the plane at integer coordinates and
only nodes at distance one can be adjacent. We give a distributed algorithm for
the searchers that allow them to compute a connected and monotone strategy that
guarantees searching any unknown partial grid with the use of $O(\sqrt{n})$
searchers. As for a lower bound, not only there exist partial grids that
require $\Omega(\sqrt{n})$ searchers, but we prove that for each distributed
searching algorithm there is a partial grid that forces the algorithm to use
$\Omega(\sqrt{n})$ searchers but $O(\log n)$ searchers are sufficient in the
offline scenario. This gives a lower bound of $\Omega(\sqrt{n}/\log n)$ in
terms of achievable competitive ratio of any distributed algorithm.


title: The Muon-Induced Neutron Indirect Detection EXperiment, MINIDEX

abstract:
  A new experiment to quantitatively measure neutrons induced by cosmic-ray
muons in selected high-Z materials is introduced. The design of the
Muon-Induced Neutron Indirect Detection EXperiment, MINIDEX, and the results
from its first data taking period are presented as well as future plans.
Neutron production in high-Z materials is of particular interest as such
materials are used for shielding in low-background experiments. The design of
next-generation large-scale experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta
decay or direct interactions of dark matter requires reliable Monte Carlo
simulations of background induced by muon interactions. The first five months
of operation already provided a valuable data set on neutron production and
neutron transport in lead. A first round of comparisons between MINIDEX data
and Monte Carlo predictions obtained with two GEANT4- based packages is
presented. The rate of muon-induced events is overall a factor three to four
higher in data than predicted by the Monte Carlo packages. In addition, the
time evolution of the muon-induced signal is not well described by the
simulations.


title:
Analysis of the linear approximation of seismic inversions for various
  structural pairs

abstract:
  Thanks to space-based photometry missions CoRoT and Kepler, we benefit from a
wealth of seismic data for stars other than the sun. In the future, K2, Tess,
and Plato will complement this data and provide observations in addition to
those already at hand. The availability of this data leads to questions on how
it is feasible to extend linear structural inversion techniques to stars other
than the sun. Linked to this problem is the question of the validity of the
linear assumption. In this study, we analyse its limitations with respect to
changes of structural variables.We wish to provide a more extended theoretical
background to structural linear inversions by doing a study of the validity of
the linear assumption for various structural variables. First, we recall the
origins of the linear assumption for structural stellar inversions and explain
its importance for asteroseismic studies. We recall the impact of unknown
structural quantities such as the mass and the radius of the star on structural
inversion results. We explain how kernels for new structural variables can be
derived using two methods, one suited to asteroseismic targets, the other to
helioseismic targets. For this second method, we present a new structural pair,
namely the (A, Y) structural kernels. The kernels are tested in various
numerical experiments that enable us to evaluate the weaknesses of different
pairs and the domains of validity of their respective linear regime. The
numerical tests we carry out allow us to disentangle the impact of various
uncertainties in stellar models on the verification of the linear integral
relations. We show the importance of metallicity, the equation of state,
extra-mixing, and inaccuracies in the microphysics. We discuss the limitations
of the method of conjugated functions due to the lack of extremely precise
determinations of masses or radii in the asteroseismology.


title:
Cooperative Output Regulation of Linear Multi-agent Systems with
  Communication Constraints

abstract:
  In this paper, we consider the cooperative output regulation problem for
heterogeneous linear multi-agent systems in the presence of communication
constraints. Under standard assumptions on the agents dynamics, we propose a
distributed control algorithm relying on intermittent and asynchronous
discrete-time information exchange that can be subject to unknown time-varying
delays and information losses. We show that cooperative output regulation can
be reached for arbitrary characteristics of the discrete-time communication
process and under mild assumptions on the interconnection topology between
agents. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of our
theoretical results.


title:
Mean value results and $\Omega$-results for the hyperbolic lattice point
  problem in conjugacy classes

abstract:
  For $\Gamma$ a Fuchsian group of finite covolume, we study the lattice point
problem in conjugacy classes on the Riemann surface $\Gamma \backslash
\mathbb{H}$. Let $\mathcal{H}$ be a hyperbolic conjugacy class in $\Gamma$ and
$\ell$ the $\mathcal{H}$-invariant closed geodesic on the surface. The main
asymptotic for the counting function of the orbit $\mathcal{H} \cdot z$ inside
a circle of radius $t$ centered at $z$ grows like $c_{\mathcal{H}} \cdot
e^{t/2}$. This problem is also related with counting distances of the orbit of
$z$ from the geodesic $\ell$. For $X \sim e^{t/2}$ we study mean value and
$\Omega$-results for the error term $e(\mathcal{H}, X ;z)$ of the counting
function. We prove that a normalized version of the error $e(\mathcal{H}, X
;z)$ has finite mean value in the parameter $t$. Further, we prove that if
$\Gamma$ is cocompact then \begin{eqnarray*} \int_{\ell} e(\mathcal{H}, X;z) d
s(z) = \Omega \left( X^{1/2} \log \log \log X \right). \end{eqnarray*} We prove
that the same $\Omega$-result holds for $\Gamma = {\hbox{PSL}_2( {\mathbb Z})}$
if we assume a subconvexity bound for the Epstein zeta function associated to
an indefinite quadratic form in four variables. We also study pointwise
$\Omega_{\pm}$-results for the error term. Our results extend the work of
Phillips and Rudnick for the classical lattice problem to the conjugacy class
problem.


title:
Initial analysis of extragalactic fields using a new AKARI/IRC analysis
  pipeline

abstract:
  We present the first results of a new data analysis pipeline for processing
extragalactic AKARI/IRC images. The main improvements of the pipeline over the
standard analysis are the removal of Earth shine and image distortion
correction. We present the differential number counts of the AKARI/IRC S11
filter IRAC validation field. The differential number counts are consistent
with S11 AKARI NEP deep and 12 microns WISE NEP number counts, and with a
phenomenological backward evolution galaxy model, at brighter fluxes densities.
There is a detection of deeper galaxies in the IRAC validation field.


title:
Towards a Unified Model of Neutrino-Nucleus Reactions for Neutrino
  Oscillation Experiments

abstract:
  A precise description of neutrino-nucleus reactions will play a key role in
addressing fundamental questions such as the leptonic CP violation and the
neutrino mass hierarchy through analyzing data from next-generation neutrino
oscillation experiments. The neutrino energy relevant to the neutrino-nucleus
reactions spans a broad range and, accordingly, the dominant reaction mechanism
varies across the energy region from quasi-elastic scattering through nucleon
resonance excitations to deep inelastic scattering. This corresponds to
transitions of the effective degree of freedom for theoretical description from
nucleons through meson-baryon to quarks. The main purpose of this review is to
report our recent efforts towards a unified description of the neutrino-nucleus
reactions over the wide energy range; recent overall progress in the field is
also sketched. Starting with an overview of the current status of
neutrino-nucleus scattering experiments, we formulate the cross section to be
commonly used for the reactions over all the energy regions. A description of
the neutrino-nucleon reactions follows and, in particular, a dynamical
coupled-channels model for meson productions in and beyond the $\Delta$(1232)
region is discussed in detail. We then discuss the neutrino-nucleus reactions,
putting emphasis on our theoretical approaches. We start the discussion with
electroweak processes in few-nucleon systems studied with the correlated
Gaussian method. Then we describe quasi-elastic scattering with nuclear
spectral functions, and meson productions with a $\Delta$-hole model. Nuclear
modifications of the parton distribution functions determined through a global
analysis are also discussed. Finally, we discuss issues to be addressed for
future developments.


title: Visual Question Answering: Datasets, Algorithms, and Future Challenges

abstract:
  Visual Question Answering (VQA) is a recent problem in computer vision and
natural language processing that has garnered a large amount of interest from
the deep learning, computer vision, and natural language processing
communities. In VQA, an algorithm needs to answer text-based questions about
images. Since the release of the first VQA dataset in 2014, additional datasets
have been released and many algorithms have been proposed. In this review, we
critically examine the current state of VQA in terms of problem formulation,
existing datasets, evaluation metrics, and algorithms. In particular, we
discuss the limitations of current datasets with regard to their ability to
properly train and assess VQA algorithms. We then exhaustively review existing
algorithms for VQA. Finally, we discuss possible future directions for VQA and
image understanding research.