title: Context-Dependent Word Representation for Neural Machine Translation

abstract:
  We first observe a potential weakness of continuous vector representations of
symbols in neural machine translation. That is, the continuous vector
representation, or a word embedding vector, of a symbol encodes multiple
dimensions of similarity, equivalent to encoding more than one meaning of the
word. This has the consequence that the encoder and decoder recurrent networks
in neural machine translation need to spend substantial amount of their
capacity in disambiguating source and target words based on the context which
is defined by a source sentence. Based on this observation, in this paper we
propose to contextualize the word embedding vectors using a nonlinear
bag-of-words representation of the source sentence. Additionally, we propose to
represent special tokens (such as numbers, proper nouns and acronyms) with
typed symbols to facilitate translating those words that are not well-suited to
be translated via continuous vectors. The experiments on En-Fr and En-De reveal
that the proposed approaches of contextualization and symbolization improves
the translation quality of neural machine translation systems significantly.


title:
Une version effective du th\'eor\`eme de Lindemann-Weierstrass par des
  m\'ethodes d'ind\'ependance alg\'ebrique

abstract:
  We present a new completely effective proof of the Lindemann-Weierstrass
theorem based on algebraic independence methods. Although it is slightly weaker
than the best known estimate due to A. Sert, it improves the best estimate due
to M. Ably obtained by such methods. The novelty of the proof lies in the
simplicity of the construction of auxiliary functions, a fact that we exploit
to introduce the non-specialist to methods of algebraic independence.


title:
The Broucke-H\'enon orbit and the Schubart Orbit in the planar
  three-body problem with equal masses

abstract:
  In this paper, we study the variational properties of two special orbits: the
Schubart orbit and the Broucke-H\'{e}non orbit. We show that under an
appropriate topological constraint, the action minimizer must be either the
Schubart orbit or the Broucke-H\'{e}non orbit. One of the main challenges is to
prove that the Schubart orbit coincides with the action minimizer connecting a
collinear configuration with a binary collision and an isosceles configuration.
A new geometric argument is introduced to overcome this challenge.


title:
Multiplicity of strong solutions for a class of elliptic problems
  without the Ambrosetti-Rabinowitz condition in $\mathbb{R}^{N}$

abstract:
  We investigate the existence and multiplicity of solutions to the following
$p(x)$-Laplacian problem in $\mathbb{R}^{N}$ via critical point theory
\begin{equation*} \left\{ \begin{array}{l} -\bigtriangleup
_{p(x)}u+V(x)\left\vert u\right\vert ^{p(x)-2}u=f(x,u),\text{ in }
\mathbb{R}^{N}, \\ u\in W^{1,p(\cdot )}(\mathbb{R}^{N}). \end{array} \right.
\end{equation*} We propose a new set of growth conditions which matches the
variable exponent nature of the problem. Under this new set of assumptions, we
manage to verify the Cerami compactness condition. Therefore, we succeed in
proving the existence of multiple solutions to the above problem without the
well-known Ambrosetti--Rabinowitz type growth condition. Meanwhile, we could
also characterize the pointwise asymptotic behaviors of these solutions. In our
main argument, the idea of localization, decomposition of the domain,
regularity of weak solutions and comparison principle are crucial ingredients
among others.


title:
3D Deeply Supervised Network for Automatic Liver Segmentation from CT
  Volumes

abstract:
  Automatic liver segmentation from CT volumes is a crucial prerequisite yet
challenging task for computer-aided hepatic disease diagnosis and treatment. In
this paper, we present a novel 3D deeply supervised network (3D DSN) to address
this challenging task. The proposed 3D DSN takes advantage of a fully
convolutional architecture which performs efficient end-to-end learning and
inference. More importantly, we introduce a deep supervision mechanism during
the learning process to combat potential optimization difficulties, and thus
the model can acquire a much faster convergence rate and more powerful
discrimination capability. On top of the high-quality score map produced by the
3D DSN, a conditional random field model is further employed to obtain refined
segmentation results. We evaluated our framework on the public MICCAI-SLiver07
dataset. Extensive experiments demonstrated that our method achieves
competitive segmentation results to state-of-the-art approaches with a much
faster processing speed.


title: High Thermoelectric Power Factor in Graphene/hBN Devices

abstract:
  Fast and controllable cooling at nanoscales requires a combination of highly
efficient passive cooling and active cooling. While passive cooling in
graphene-based devices is quite effective due to graphene's extraordinary
heat-conduction, active cooling has not been considered feasible due to
graphene's low thermoelectric power factor. Here we show that the
thermoelectric performance of graphene can be significantly improved by using
hBN substrates instead of SiO2. We find the room temperature efficiency of
active cooling, as gauged by the power factor times temperature, reaches values
as high as 10.35 W/mK, corresponding to more than doubling the highest reported
room temperature bulk power factors, 5 W/mK in YbAl3, and quadrupling the best
2D power factor, 2.5 W/mK, in MoS2. We further show that in these devices the
electron-hole puddles region is significantly reduced. This enables fast
gate-controlled switching of the Seebeck coefficient polarity for application
in n- and p-type integrated active cooling devices.


title:
Multiple solutions with constant sign of a Dirichlet problem for a class
  of elliptic systems with variable exponent growth

abstract:
  We investigate the following Dirichlet problem with variable exponents:
\begin{equation*} \left\{ \begin{array}{l} -\bigtriangleup _{p(x)}u=\lambda
\alpha (x)\left\vert u\right\vert ^{\alpha (x)-2}u\left\vert v\right\vert
^{\beta (x)}+F_{u}(x,u,v),\text{ in }\Omega , \\ -\bigtriangleup
_{q(x)}v=\lambda \beta (x)\left\vert u\right\vert ^{\alpha (x)}\left\vert
v\right\vert ^{\beta (x)-2}v+F_{v}(x,u,v),\text{ in }\Omega , \\ u=0=v,\text{
on }\partial \Omega. \end{array} \right. \end{equation*} We present here, in
the system setting, a new set of growth conditions under which we manage to use
a novel method to verify the Cerami compactness condition. By localization
argument, decomposition technique and variational methods, we are able to show
the existence of multiple solutions with constant sign for the problem without
the well-known Ambrosetti--Rabinowitz type growth condition. More precisely, we
manage to show that the problem admits four, six and infinitely many solutions
respectively.


title:
Kinematic properties of double-barred galaxies: simulations vs.
  integral-field observations

abstract:
  Using high resolution $N$-body simulations, we recently reported that a
dynamically cool inner disk embedded in a hotter outer disk can naturally
generate a steady double-barred (S2B) structure. Here we study the kinematics
of these S2B simulations, and compare them to integral-field observations from
ATLAS$^{3D}$ and SAURON. We show that S2B galaxies exhibit several distinct
kinematic features, namely: (1) significantly distorted isovelocity contours at
the transition region between the two bars, (2) peaks in $\sigma_\mathrm{LOS}$
along the minor axis of inner bars, which we term "$\sigma$-humps", that are
often accompanied by ring/spiral-like features of increased
$\sigma_\mathrm{LOS}$, (3) $h_3-\bar{v}$ anti-correlations in the region of the
inner bar for certain orientations, and (4) rings of positive $h_4$ when viewed
at low inclinations. The most impressive of these features are the
$\sigma$-humps, these evolve with the inner bar, oscillating in strength just
as the inner bar does as it rotates relative to the outer bar. We show that, in
cylindrical coordinates, the inner bar has similar streaming motions and
velocity dispersion properties as normal large-scale bars, except for
$\sigma_z$, which exhibits peaks on the minor axis, i.e., humps. These
$\sigma_z$ humps are responsible for producing the $\sigma$-humps. For three
well-resolved early-type S2Bs (NGC 2859, NGC 2950, and NGC 3941) and a
potential S2B candidate (NGC 3384), the S2B model qualitatively matches the
integral-field data well, including the "$\sigma$-hollows" previously
identified. We also discuss the kinematic effect of a nuclear disk in S2Bs.


title:
Geometric Bernstein Asymptotics and the Drinfeld-Lafforgue-Vinberg
  degeneration for arbitrary reductive groups

abstract:
  We define and study the Drinfeld-Lafforgue-Vinberg compactification of the
moduli stack of G-bundles Bun_G for an arbitrary reductive group G; its
definition is given in terms of the Vinberg semigroup of G, and is due to
Drinfeld (unpublished). Throughout the article we prefer to view the
compactification as a canonical multi-parameter degeneration of Bun_G which we
call the Drinfeld-Lafforgue-Vinberg degeneration VinBun_G. We construct local
models for the degeneration VinBun_G which "factorize in families" and use them
to study its singularities, generalizing results of the article [Sch1] which
was confined with the case G = SL_2.
  The multi-parameter degeneration VinBun_G gives rise to, for each parabolic
of G, a corresponding nearby cycles functor. Our main theorem expresses the
stalks of these nearby cycles in terms of the cohomology of the parabolic
Zastava spaces. From this description we deduce that the nearby cycles of
VinBun_G correspond, under the sheaf-function correspondence, to Bernstein's
asymptotics map on the level of functions. This had been speculated by
Bezrukavnikov-Kazhdan [BK] and Chen-Yom Din [CY] and conjectured in a precise
form by Sakellaridis [Sak2].


title:
Spiral diffusion of rotating self-propellers with stochastic
  perturbation

abstract:
  Translationally diffusive behavior arising from the combination of
orientational diffusion and powered motion at microscopic scales is a known
phenomenon, but the peculiarities of the evolution of expected position
conditioned on initial position and orientation have been neglected. A theory
is given of the spiral motion of the mean trajectory depending upon propulsion
speed, angular velocity, orientational diffusion and rate of random chirality
reversal. We demonstrate the experimental accessibility of this effect using
both tadpole-like and Janus sphere dimer rotating motors. Sensitivity of the
mean trajectory to the kinematic parameters suggest that it may be a useful way
to determine those parameters.


title:
Improvement of the Orthogonal Code Convolution Capabilities Using FPGA
  Implementation

abstract:
  When data is stored, compressed, or communicated through a media such as
cable or air, sources of noise and other parameters such as EMI, crosstalk, and
distance can considerably affect the reliability of these data. Error detection
and correction techniques are therefore required. Orthogonal Code is one of the
codes that can detect errors and correct corrupted data. An n-bit orthogonal
code has n/2 1s and n/2 0s. In a previous work these properties have been
exploited to detect and correct errors. In this paper we present a new
methodology to enhance error detection capabilities of the orthogonal code. The
technique was implemented experimentally using Field Programmable Gate Arrays
(FPGA). The results show that the proposed technique improves the detection
capabilities of the orthogonal code by approximately 50%, resulting in 99.9%
error detection, and corrects as predicted up to (n/4-1) bits of error in the
received impaired code with bandwidth efficiency.


title:
An Analysis System for DNA Gel Electrophoresis Images Based on Automatic
  Thresholding an Enhancement

abstract:
  Gel electrophoresis, a widely used technique to separate DNA according to
their size and weight, generates images that can be analyzed automatically.
Manual or semiautomatic image processing presents a bottleneck for further
development and leads to reproducibility issues. In this paper, we present a
fully automated system with high accuracy for analyzing DNA and proteins. The
proposed algorithm consists of four main steps: automatic thresholding,
shifting, filtering, and data processing. Automatic thresholding, used to
equalize the gray values of the gel electrophoresis image background, is one of
the novel operations in this algorithm. Enhancement is also used to improve
poor quality images that have faint DNA bands. Experimental results show that
the proposed technique eliminates defects due to noise for average quality gel
electrophoresis images, while it also improves the quality of poor images.


title:
Spectrum Occupancy Measurement: An Autocorrelation based Scanning
  Technique using USRP

abstract:
  This paper presents a technique for scanning and evaluating the radio
spectrum use. This technique determines the average occupancy of a channel over
a specific duration. The technique was implemented using Software Defined Radio
units and GNU Radio software. The survey was conducted in Grand Forks, North
Dakota, over a frequency range of 824 MHz to 5.8 GHz. The results of this
technique were compared to those of two existing techniques, energy detection
and autocorrelation, that were also implemented. The results show that the
proposed technique is more efficient at scanning the radio spectrum than the
other two techniques.


title:
A Bayesian Network Model of the Bit Error Rate for Cognitive Radio
  Networks

abstract:
  In addition to serve as platforms for dynamic spectrum access, cognitive
radios can also serve as a method for improving the performance of wireless
communication systems by smartly adjusting their operating parameters according
to the environment and requirements. The uncertainty always present in the
environment makes the practical implementation of the latter application
difficult. In this paper, we propose a probabilistic graphical model, Bayesian
network that captures the causal relationships among the variables bit energy
to noise spectral density ratio (EbN0), carrier to interference ratio (C/I),
modulation scheme (MOD), Doppler phase shift (Dop_Phi), and bit error rate
(BER). BER indicates how the communication link is performing. The goal of our
proposed Bayesian network is to use the BER as evidence in order to infer the
behavior of the other variables, so the cognitive radio can learn how the
conditions of the environment are, and based on that knowledge make better
informed decisions. This model along with the method used to build it are
described in this paper.


title: Automatic Techniques for Gridding cDNA Microarray Images

abstract:
  Microarray is considered an important instrument and powerful new technology
for large-scale gene sequence and gene expression analysis. One of the major
challenges of this technique is the image processing phase. The accuracy of
this phase has an important impact on the accuracy and effectiveness of the
subsequent gene expression and identification analysis. The processing can be
organized mainly into four steps: gridding, spot isolation, segmentation, and
quantification. Although several commercial software packages are now
available, microarray image analysis still requires some intervention by the
user, and thus a certain level of image processing expertise. This paper
describes and compares four techniques that perform automatic gridding and spot
isolation. The proposed techniques are based on template matching technique,
standard deviation, sum, and derivative of these profiles. Experimental results
show that the accuracy of the derivative of the sum profile is highly accurate
compared to other techniques for good and poor quality microarray images.


title:
Intramolecular Torque, an Indicator of the Internal Rotation Direction
  of Rotor Molecules and Similar Systems

abstract:
  Torque is ubiquitous in many molecular systems, including collisions,
chemical reactions, vibrations, electronic excitations and especially rotor
molecules. We present a straightforward theoretical method based on forces
acting on atoms and obtained from atomistic quantum mechanics calculations, to
quickly and qualitatively determine whether a molecule or sub-unit thereof has
a tendency to rotation and, if so, around which axis and in which sense:
clockwise or counterclockwise. The method also indicates which atoms, if any,
are predominant in causing the rotation. Our computational approach can in
general efficiently provide insights into the rotational ability of many
molecules and help to theoretically screen or modify them in advance of
experiments or before analyzing their rotational behavior in more detail with
more extensive computations guided by the results from the torque approach. As
an example, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach using a specific
light-driven molecular rotary motor which was successfully synthesized and
analyzed in prior experiments and simulations.


title:
CGC/saturation approach for high energy soft interactions: `soft'
  Pomeron structure and $v_{n}$ in hadron and nucleus collisions from
  Bose-Einstein correlation

abstract:
  In the framework of our model of soft interactions at high energy based on
CGC/saturation approach,we show that Bose-Einstein correlations of identical
gluons lead to large values of $v_n$. We demonstrate how three dimensional
scales of high energy interactions: hadron radius, typical size of the wave
function in diffractive production of small masses (size of the constituent
quark), and the saturation momentum, influence the values of BE correlations,
and in particular, the values of $v_n$. Our calculation shows that the
structure of the `dressed' Pomeron leads to values of $v_n$ which are close to
experimental values for proton-proton scattering, 20\% smaller than the
observed values for proton-lead collisions, and close to lead-lead collisions
for 0-10\% centrality. Bearing this result in mind, we conclude that it is
premature to consider, that the appearance of long range rapidity azimuthal
correlations are due only to the hydrodynamical behaviour of the quark-gluon
plasma.


title:
Residential Demand Response Targeting Using Machine Learning with
  Observational Data

abstract:
  The large scale deployment of Advanced Metering Infrastructure among
residential energy customers has served as a boon for energy systems research
relying on granular consumption data. Residential Demand Response aims to
utilize the flexibility of consumers to reduce their energy usage during times
when the grid is strained. Suitable incentive mechanisms to encourage customers
to deviate from their usual behavior have to be implemented to correctly
control the bids into the wholesale electricity market as a Demand Response
provider. In this paper, we present a framework for short term load forecasting
on an individual user level, and relate nonexperimental estimates of Demand
Response efficacy, i.e. the estimated reduction of consumption during Demand
Response events, to the variability of user consumption. We apply our framework
on a data set from a residential Demand Response program in the Western United
States. Our results suggest that users with more variable consumption patterns
are more likely to reduce their consumption compared to users with a more
regular consumption behavior.


title:
Testing the Kerr black hole hypothesis using X-ray reflection
  spectroscopy

abstract:
  We present the first X-ray reflection model for testing the assumption that
the metric of astrophysical black holes is described by the Kerr solution. We
employ the formalism of the transfer function proposed by Cunningham. The
calculations of the reflection spectrum of a thin accretion disk are split into
two parts: the calculation of the transfer function and the calculation of the
local spectrum at any emission point in the disk. The transfer function only
depends on the background metric and takes into account all the relativistic
effects (gravitational redshift, Doppler boosting, and light bending). Our code
computes the transfer function for a spacetime described by the Johannsen
metric and can easily be extended to any stationary, axisymmetric, and
asymptotically flat spacetime. Transfer functions and single line shapes in the
Kerr metric are compared with those calculated from existing codes to check
that we reach the necessary accuracy. We also simulate some observations with
NuSTAR and LAD/eXTP and fit the data with our new model to show the potential
capabilities of current and future observations to constrain possible
deviations from the Kerr metric.


title:
On the Performance of DCSK MIMO Relay Cooperative Diversity in
  Nakagami-m and Generalized Gaussian Noise Scenarios

abstract:
  Chaotic Communications have drawn a great deal of attention to the wireless
communication industry and research due to its limitless meritorious features,
including excellent anti-fading and anti-intercept capabilities and jamming
resistance exempli gratia. Differential Chaos Shift Keying (DCSK) is of
particular interest due to its low-complexity and low-power and many attractive
properties. However, most of the DCSK studies reported in the literature
considered the additive white Gaussian noise environment in non-cooperative
scenarios. Moreover, the analytical derivations and evaluation of the error
rates and other performance metrics are generally left in an integral form and
evaluated using numerical techniques. To circumvent on these issues, this work
is dedicated to present a new approximate error rates analysis of multi-access
multiple-input multiple-output dual-hop relaying DCSK cooperative diversity
(DCSK-CD) in Nakagami-m fading channels (enclosing the Rayleigh fading as a
particular case). Based on this approximation, closed-form expressions for the
average error rates are derived for multiple relaying protocols, namely the
error-free and the decode-and-forward relaying. Testing results validate the
accuracy of the derived analytical expressions.


title: A Coarse-to-Fine Indoor Layout Estimation (CFILE) Method

abstract:
  The task of estimating the spatial layout of cluttered indoor scenes from a
single RGB image is addressed in this work. Existing solutions to this problems
largely rely on hand-craft features and vanishing lines, and they often fail in
highly cluttered indoor rooms. The proposed coarse-to-fine indoor layout
estimation (CFILE) method consists of two stages: 1) coarse layout estimation;
and 2) fine layout localization. In the first stage, we adopt a fully
convolutional neural network (FCN) to obtain a coarse-scale room layout
estimate that is close to the ground truth globally. The proposed FCN considers
combines the layout contour property and the surface property so as to provide
a robust estimate in the presence of cluttered objects. In the second stage, we
formulate an optimization framework that enforces several constraints such as
layout contour straightness, surface smoothness and geometric constraints for
layout detail refinement. Our proposed system offers the state-of-the-art
performance on two commonly used benchmark datasets.


title: Elastic stress effects on microstructural instabilities

abstract:
  This review is on the phase field modelling studies in elastic stress effects
on microstructural instabilities. We will focus primarily on four elastic
stress driven instabilities: (i) Spinodal phase separation; (ii) Particle
splitting; (iii) Rafting; and, (iv) Asaro-Tiller-Grinfeld (ATG) instabilities.
This review is organised as follows: in Section 1, we briefly describe some of
the important and interesting experimental observations on elastic stress
effects on microstructural instabilities; in Section 2, we describe, in
reasonable detail, the theoretical developments in understanding the effects of
elastic stress on microstructural instabilities in solids. Both Section 1 and 2
are neither comprehensive nor complete; however, they are helpful in setting
the stage for discussion of (and, in giving a perspective on) phase field
modelling studies that will be discussed in Section 3. In Section 4, we
conclude with a summary and indication of future directions.


title:
Dual decomposition for multi-agent distributed optimization with
  coupling constraints

abstract:
  We study distributed optimization in a cooperative multi-agent setting, where
agents have to agree on the usage of shared resources and can communicate via a
time-varying network to this purpose. Each agent has its own decision variables
that should be set so as to minimize its individual objective function subject
to local constraints. Resource sharing is modeled via coupling constraints that
involve the non-positivity of the sum of agents' individual functions, each one
depending on the decision variables of one single agent. We propose a novel
distributed algorithm to minimize the sum of the agents' objective functions
subject to both local and coupling constraints, where dual decomposition and
proximal minimization are combined in an iterative scheme. Notably, privacy of
information is guaranteed since only the dual optimization variables associated
with the coupling constraints are exchanged by the agents. Under convexity
assumptions, jointly with suitable connectivity properties of the communication
network, we are able to prove that agents reach consensus to some optimal
solution of the centralized dual problem counterpart, while primal variables
converge to the set of optimizers of the centralized primal problem. The
efficacy of the proposed approach is demonstrated on a plug-in electric
vehicles charging problem.


title:
Topological rank does not increase by natural extension of Cantor
  minimals

abstract:
  Downarowicz and Maass (2008) have defined the topological rank for all Cantor
minimal homeomorphisms. On the other hand, Gambaudo and Martens (2006) have
expressed all Cantor minimal continuous surjections as the inverse limits of
certain graph coverings. Using the aforementioned results, we previously
extended the notion of topological rank to all Cantor minimal continuous
surjections. In this paper, we show that taking natural extensions of Cantor
minimal continuous surjections does not increase their topological ranks.
Further, we apply the result to the minimal symbolic case.


title: Single inclusive hadron production in pA collisions at NLO

abstract:
  We study single inclusive forward hadron production in high energy
proton-nucleus collisions at next-to-leading order in the Color Glass
Condensate framework. Recent studies have shown that the next-to-leading order
corrections to this process are large and negative at large transverse
momentum, leading to negative cross sections. We propose to overcome this
difficulty by introducing an explicit rapidity factorization scale when
subtracting the rapidity divergence into the evolution of the target.


title: Forward $J/\psi$ production in pA collisions: centrality dependence

abstract:
  The nuclear suppression of forward $J/\psi$ production in high energy
proton-nucleus collisions can be used as a probe of gluon saturation at small
$x$. In an earlier work we studied this suppression in minimum bias collisions
in the Color Glass Condensate formalism, relying on the optical Glauber model
to obtain the dipole cross section of the nucleus from the one of the proton
fitted to HERA DIS data. Here we study how the impact parameter dependence of
this model can be used to compare our results with recent LHC data on the
centrality dependence of this suppression.


title: Message Routing in Wireless and Mobile Networks using TDMA Technology

abstract:
  In an era where communication has a most important role in modern societies,
designing efficient algorithms for data transmission is of the outmost
importance. TDMA is a technology used in many communication systems such as
satellite, cell phone as well as other wireless or mobile networks. Most 2G
cellular systems as well as some 3G are TDMA based. In order to transmit data
in such systems we need to cluster them in packages. To achieve a faster
transmission we are allowed to preempt the transmission of any packet in order
to resume at a later time. Preemption can be used to reduce idleness of some
stations. Such preemptions though come with a reconfiguration cost in order to
setup for the next transmission. In this paper we propose two algorithms which
yield improved transmission scheduling. These two algorithms we call MGA and
IMGA (Improved MGA). We have proven an approximation ratio for MGA and ran
experiments to establish that it works even better in practice. In order to
conclude that MGA will be a very helpful tool in constructing an improved
schedule for packet routing using preemtion with a setup cost, we compare its
results to two other efficient algorithms designed by researchers in the past:
A-PBS(d+1) and GWA. To establish the efficiency of IMGA we ran experiments in
comparison to MGA as well as A-PBS(d+1) and GWA. IMGA has proven to produce the
most efficient schedule on all counts.


title: Extrinsic size effect of pyroelectric response of ferroelectric films

abstract:
  We developed a theoretical model for the calculation of the main
characteristics of pyroelectric response of pyroactive multilayer structures,
which are basic elements of modern pyroelectric detectors of radiation and
other transducers. In the framework of the proposed model, the dependences of
the pyroelectric response frequency spectra on the ferroelectric film thickness
have been investigated. It was found that a pronounced extrinsic size effect is
inherent to the pyroelectric response frequency spectra, such as the strong
thickness dependence of the response maximal value and its frequency position.
Thickness dependences of the frequency position of the pyroelectric response
maximum and the optimal thickness of the pyroactive ferroelectric film are
calculated. The frequency spectra of the pyroelectric current and voltage
calculated theoretically are in quantitative agreement with experimental ones
for Al/P(VDF-TrFE)/Ti/Si pyroactive structure. Developed procedure is important
for improving the sensitivity of pyroelectric devices. Obtained analytical
expressions allow us to optimize the performances of pyroactive elements using
the existence of the size effect, which depend on pyroactive layer and
substrate thicknesses, as well as on the conditions of heat transfer and
exchange at corresponding boundaries of the pyroactive structure.


title:
Cyclic tridiagonal pairs, higher order Onsager algebras and orthogonal
  polynomials

abstract:
  The concept of cyclic tridiagonal pairs is introduced, and explicit examples
are given. For a fairly general class of cyclic tridiagonal pairs with
cyclicity N, we associate a pair of `divided polynomials'. The properties of
this pair generalize the ones of tridiagonal pairs of Racah type. The algebra
generated by the pair of divided polynomials is identified as a higher-order
generalization of the Onsager algebra. It can be viewed as a subalgebra of the
q-Onsager algebra for a proper specialization at q the primitive 2Nth root of
unity. Orthogonal polynomials beyond the Leonard duality are revisited in light
of this framework. In particular, certain second-order Dunkl shift operators
provide a realization of the divided polynomials at N=2 or q=i.


title: Business Process Mining

abstract:
  One of the most valuable assets of an organization is its organizational
data. The analysis and mining of this potential hidden treasure can lead to
much added-value for the organization. Process mining is an emerging area that
can be useful in helping organizations understand the status quo, check for
compliance and plan for improving their processes. The aim of process mining is
to extract knowledge from event logs of today's organizational information
systems. Process mining includes three main types: discovering process models
from event logs, conformance checking and organizational mining. In this paper,
we briefly introduce process mining and review some of its most important
techniques. Also, we investigate some of the applications of process mining in
industry and present some of the most important challenges that are faced in
this area.


title:
$\phi$-coordinated modules for quantum vertex algebras and associative
  algebras

abstract:
  We study $\N$-graded $\phi$-coordinated modules for a general quantum vertex
algebra $V$ of a certain type in terms of an associative algebra
$\widetilde{A}(V)$ introduced by Y.-Z. Huang. Among the main results, we
establish a bijection between the set of equivalence classes of irreducible
$\N$-graded $\phi$-coordinated $V$-modules and the set of isomorphism classes
of irreducible $\widetilde{A}(V)$-modules. We also show that for a vertex
operator algebra, rationality, regularity, and fusion rules are independent of
the choice of the conformal vector.


title:
Lowest priority waiting time distribution in an accumulating priority
  L\'evy queue

abstract:
  This paper presents a new method for deriving the waiting time distribution
of the lowest class in an accumulating priority (AP) queue with positive L\'evy
input. The priority of a non-atomic customer (particle) is a function of their
class and waiting time in the system, and the particles with the highest AP are
the next to be processed. The method relies on the construction of a workload
overtaking process and solving a first-passage time problem using an
appropriate stopping time.


title: Experimental Quantum Randomness Processing

abstract:
  Coherently manipulating multipartite quantum correlations leads to remarkable
advantages in quantum information processing. A fundamental question is whether
such quantum advantages persist only by exploiting multipartite correlations,
such as entanglement. Recently, Dale, Jennings, and Rudolph negated the
question by showing that a randomness processing, quantum Bernoulli factory,
using quantum coherence, is strictly more powerful than the one with classical
mechanics. In this Letter, focusing on the same scenario, we propose a
theoretical protocol that is classically impossible but can be implemented
solely using quantum coherence without entanglement. We demonstrate the
protocol by exploiting the high-fidelity quantum state preparation and
measurement with a superconducting qubit in the circuit quantum electrodynamics
architecture and a nearly quantum-limited parametric amplifier. Our experiment
shows the advantage of using quantum coherence of a single qubit for
information processing even when multipartite correlation is not present.


title:
Excitation functions of parameters extracted from three-source
  (net-)proton rapidity distributions in Au-Au and Pb-Pb collisions over an
  energy range from AGS to RHIC

abstract:
  Experimental results of the rapidity spectra of protons and net-protons
(protons minus antiprotons) emitted in gold-gold (Au-Au) and lead-lead (Pb-Pb)
collisions, measured by a few collaborations at the alternating gradient
synchrotron (AGS), super proton synchrotron (SPS), and relativistic heavy ion
collider (RHIC), are described by a three-source distribution. The values of
the distribution width $\sigma_C$ and contribution ratio (relative
contribution) $k_C$ of the central rapidity region, and the distribution width
$\sigma_F$ and rapidity shift $\Delta y$ of the forward/backward rapidity
regions, are then obtained. The excitation function of $\sigma_C$ increases
generally with increase of the center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair
$\sqrt{s_{NN}}$. The excitation function of $\sigma_F$ shows a saturation at
$\sqrt{s_{NN}}=8.8$ GeV. The excitation function of $k_C$ shows a minimum at
$\sqrt{s_{NN}}=8.8$ GeV and a saturation at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}\approx 17$ GeV. The
excitation function of $\Delta y$ increase monotonously with $\ln
\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ in the considered energy range.


title: Dark Matter Density Spikes around Primordial Black Holes

abstract:
  We show that density spikes begin to form from dark matter particles around
primordial black holes immediately after their formation at the
radiation-dominated cosmological stage. This follows from the fact that in the
thermal velocity distribution of particles there are particles with low
velocities that remain in finite orbits around black holes and are not involved
in the cosmological expansion. The accumulation of such particles near black
holes gives rise to density spikes. These spikes are considerably denser than
those that are formed later by the mechanism of secondary accretion. The
density spikes must be bright gamma-ray sources. Comparison of the calculated
signal from particle annihilation with the Fermi-LAT data constrains the
present-day cosmological density parameter for primordial black holes with
masses $M_{\rm BH}\geq10^{-8}M_\odot$ from above by values from $\Omega_{\rm
BH}\leq1$ to $\Omega_{\rm BH}\leq10^{-8}$, depending on $M_{\rm BH}$. These
constraints are several orders of magnitude more stringent than other known
constraints.


title: Insulating phase at low temperature in ultrathin La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 films

abstract:
  Metal-insulator transition is observed in the La0.8Sr0.2MnO3 thin films with
thickness larger than 5 unit cells. Insulating phase at lower temperature
appeared in the ultrathin films with thickness ranging from 6 unit cells to 10
unit cells and it is found that the Mott variable range hopping conduction
dominates in this insulating phase at low temperature with a decrease of
localization length in thinner films. A deficiency of oxygen content and a
resulted decrease of the Mn valence have been observed in the ultrathin films
with thickness smaller than or equal to 10 unit cells by studying the
aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy and electron
energy loss spectroscopy of the films. These results suggest that the existence
of the oxygen vacancies in thinner films suppresses the double-exchange
mechanism and contributes to the enhancement of disorder, leading to a decrease
of the Curie temperature and the low temperature insulating phase in the
ultrathin films. In addition, the suppression of the magnetic properties in
thinner films indicates stronger disorder of magnetic moments, which is
considered to be the reason for this decrease of the localization length.


title: Critical nonlocal systems with concave-convex powers

abstract:
  By using the fibering method jointly with Nehari manifold techniques, we
obtain the existence of multiple solutions to a fractional $p$-Laplacian system
involving critical concave-convex nonlinearities provided that a suitable
smallness condition on the parameters involved is assumed. The result is
obtained despite there is no general classification for the optimizers of the
critical fractional Sobolev embedding.


title: On Factorization of Generalized Macdonald Polynomials

abstract:
  A remarkable feature of Schur functions -- the common eigenfunctions of
cut-and-join operators from $W_\infty$ -- is that they factorize at the
peculiar two-parametric topological locus in the space of time-variables, what
is known as the hook formula for quantum dimensions of representations of
$U_q(SL_N)$ and plays a big role in various applications. This factorization
survives at the level of Macdonald polynomials. We look for its further
generalization to {\it generalized} Macdonald polynomials (GMP), associated in
the same way with the toroidal Ding-Iohara-Miki algebras, which play the
central role in modern studies in Seiberg-Witten-Nekrasov theory. In the
simplest case of the first-coproduct eigenfunctions, where GMP depend on just
two sets of time-variables, we discover a weak factorization -- on a
codimension-one slice of the topological locus, what is already a very
non-trivial property, calling for proof and better understanding.


title:
Properties of $G$-martingales with finite variation and the application
  to $G$-Sobolev spaces

abstract:
  As is known, a process of form $\int_0^t\eta_sd\langle
B\rangle_s-\int_0^t2G(\eta_s)ds$, $\eta\in M^1_G(0,T)$, is a non-increasing
$G$-martingale. In this paper, we shall show that a non-increasing
$G$-martingale could not be form of $\int_0^t\eta_sds$ or
$\int_0^t\gamma_sd\langle B\rangle_s$, $\eta, \gamma \in M^1_G(0,T)$, which
implies that the decomposition for generalized $G$-It\^o processes is unique:
For $\zeta\in H^1_G(0,T)$, $\eta\in M^1_G(0,T)$ and non-increasing
$G$-martingales $K, L$, if \[\int_0^t\zeta_s dB_s+\int_0^t\eta_sds+K_t=L_t,\
t\in[0,T],\] then we have $\eta\equiv0$, $\zeta\equiv0$ and $K_t=L_t$. As an
application, we give a characterization to the $G$-Sobolev spaces introduced in
Peng and Song (2015).


title: Critical dynamics of classical systems under slow quench

abstract:
  We study the slow quench dynamics of a one-dimensional nonequilibrium lattice
gas model which exhibits a phase transition in the stationary state between a
fluid phase with homogeneously distributed particles and a jammed phase with a
macroscopic hole cluster. Our main result is that in the critical region ({\it
i.e.}, at the critical point and in its vicinity) where the dynamics are
assumed to be frozen in the standard Kibble-Zurek argument, the defect density
exhibits an algebraic decay in the inverse annealing rate with an exponent that
can be understood using critical coarsening dynamics. However, in a part of the
critical region in the fluid phase, the standard Kibble-Zurek scaling holds. We
also find that when the slow quench occurs deep into the jammed phase, the
defect density behavior is explained by the rapid quench dynamics in this
phase.


title: Thermoelectric Effects and Topological Insulators

abstract:
  The recent discovery of topological insulator (TI) offers new opportunities
for the development of thermoelectrics, because many TIs (like Bi$_2$Te$_3$)
are excellent thermoelectric (TE) materials. In this review, we will first
describe the general TE properties of TIs and show that the coexistence of the
bulk and boundary states in TIs introduces unusual TE properties, including
strong size effects and anomalous Seebeck effect. Importantly, the TE figure of
merit $zT$ of TIs is no longer an intrinsic property, but depends strongly on
the geometric size. The geometric parameters of two-dimensional TIs can be
tuned to enhance $zT$ to be significantly greater than 1. Then a few
proof-of-principle experiments on three-dimensional TIs will be discussed,
which observed unconventional TE phenomena that are closely related to the
topological nature of the materials. However, current experiments indicate that
the metallic surface states, if their advantage of high mobility is not fully
utilized, would be detrimental to TE performance. Finally we provide an outlook
for future work on topological materials, which offers great possibilities to
discover exotic TE effects and may lead to significant breakthroughs in
improving $zT$.


title: Red Giant Clump in the Tycho-2 Catalogue

abstract:
  The Tycho-2 proper motions and Tycho-2 and 2MASS photometry are used to
select 97348 red giant clump (RGC) stars. The interstellar extinction and
photometric distance are calculated for each of the stars. The selected stars
are shown to form a selection-unbiased sample of RGC stars within about 350 pc
of the Sun with the addition of more distant stars. The distribution of the
selected stars in space and their motion are consistent with the assumption
that the RGC contains Galactic disk stars with various ages and metallicities,
including a significant fraction of stars younger than 1 Gyr with masses of
more than 2 $M_{\odot}$. These young stars show differences of their
statistical characteristics from those of older RGC stars, including
differences in the variations of their distribution density with distance from
the Galactic plane and in the dispersion of their velocities found using radial
velocities and proper motions. The Sun has been found to rise above the
Galactic plane by $13\pm1$ pc. The distribution density of the stars under
consideration in space is probably determined by the Local Spiral Arm and the
distribution of absorbing matter in the plane of the Gould Belt.


title:
Photoresponse of atomically thin MoS2 layers and their planar
  heterojunctions

abstract:
  MoS2 monolayers exhibit excellent light absorption and large thermoelectric
power, which are, however, accompanied with very strong exciton binding energy
- resulting in complex photoresponse characteristics. We study the electrical
response to scanning photo-excitation on MoS2 monolayer (1L) and bilayer (2L)
devices, and also on monolayer/bilayer (1L/2L) planar heterojunction and
monolayer/few-layer/multi-layer (1L/FL/ML) planar double heterojunction devices
to unveil the intrinsic mechanisms responsible for photocurrent generation in
these materials and junctions. Strong photoresponse modulation is obtained by
scanning the position of the laser spot, as a consequence of controlling the
relative dominance of a number of layer dependent properties, including (i)
photoelectric effect (PE), (ii) photothermoelectric effect (PTE), (iii)
excitonic effect, (iv) hot photo-electron injection from metal, and (v) carrier
recombination. The monolayer and bilayer devices show peak photoresponse when
the laser is focused at the source junction, while the peak position shifts to
the monolayer/multi-layer junction in the heterostructure devices. The
photoresponse is found to be dependent on the incoming light polarization when
the source junction is illuminated, although the polarization sensitivity
drastically reduces at the monolayer/multi-layer heterojunction. Finally, we
investigate laser position dependent transient response of photocurrent to
reveal trapping of carriers in SiO2 at the source junction is the critical
factor to determine the transient response in 2D photodetectors, and also show
that, by systematic device design, such trapping can be avoided in the
heterojunction devices, resulting in fast transient response. The insights
obtained will play an important role in designing fast 2D TMDs based
photodetector and related optoelectronic and thermoelectric devices.


title: Dipolar exchange induced transparency with Rydberg atoms

abstract:
  A three-level atomic medium can be made transparent to a resonant probe field
in the presence of a strong control field acting on an adjacent atomic
transition to a long-lived state, which can be represented by a highly excited
Rydberg state. The long-range interactions between the Rydberg state atoms then
translate into strong, non-local, dispersive or absorptive interactions between
the probe photons, which can be used to achieve deterministic quantum logic
gates and single photon sources. Here we show that long-range dipole-dipole
exchange interaction with one or more spins -- two-level systems represented by
atoms in suitable Rydberg states -- can play the role of control field for the
optically-dense medium of atoms. This induces transparency of the medium for a
number of probe photons $n_p$ not exceeding the number of spins $n_s$, while
all the excess photons are resonantly absorbed upon propagation. In the most
practical case of a single spin atom prepared in the Rydberg state, the medium
is thus transparent only to a single input probe photon. For larger number of
spins $n_s$, all $n_p \leq n_s$ photon components of the probe field would
experience transparency but with an $n_p$-dependent group velocity.


title:
$B_c\to B_{sJ}$ form factors and $B_c$ decays into $B_{sJ}$ in covariant
  light-front approach

abstract:
  We suggest to study the $B_{s}$ and its excitations $B_{sJ}$ in the $B_c$
decays. We calculate the $B_c\to B_{sJ}$ and $B_c\to B_{J}$ form factors within
the covariant light-front quark model, where the $B_{sJ}$ and $B_{J}$ denote an
s-wave or p-wave $\bar bs$ and $\bar bd$ meson, respectively. The form factors
at $q^2=0$ are directly computed while their $q^2$-distributions are obtained
by the extrapolation. The derived form factors are then used to study
semileptonic $B_c\to (B_{sJ},B_{J})\bar\ell\nu$ decays, and nonleptonic $B_c\to
B_{sJ}\pi$. Branching fractions and polarizations are predicted in the standard
model. We find that the branching fractions are sizable and might be accessible
at the LHC experiment and future high-energy $e^+e^-$ colliders with a high
luminosity at the $Z$-pole. The future experimental measurements are helpful to
study the nonperturbative QCD dynamics in the presence of a heavy spectator and
also of great value for the spectroscopy study.


title: Visualizing Natural Language Descriptions: A Survey

abstract:
  A natural language interface exploits the conceptual simplicity and
naturalness of the language to create a high-level user-friendly communication
channel between humans and machines. One of the promising applications of such
interfaces is generating visual interpretations of semantic content of a given
natural language that can be then visualized either as a static scene or a
dynamic animation. This survey discusses requirements and challenges of
developing such systems and reports 26 graphical systems that exploit natural
language interfaces and addresses both artificial intelligence and
visualization aspects. This work serves as a frame of reference to researchers
and to enable further advances in the field.


title:
Asymptotic Bayesian Theory of Quickest Change Detection for Hidden
  Markov Models

abstract:
  In the 1960s, Shiryaev developed a Bayesian theory of change-point detection
in the i.i.d. case, which was generalized in the beginning of the 2000s by
Tartakovsky and Veeravalli for general stochastic models assuming a certain
stability of the log-likelihood ratio process. Hidden Markov models represent a
wide class of stochastic processes that are very useful in a variety of
applications. In this paper, we investigate the performance of the Bayesian
Shiryaev change-point detection rule for hidden Markov models. We propose a set
of regularity conditions under which the Shiryaev procedure is first-order
asymptotically optimal in a Bayesian context, minimizing moments of the
detection delay up to certain order asymptotically as the probability of false
alarm goes to zero. The developed theory for hidden Markov models is based on
Markov chain representation for the likelihood ratio and r-quick convergence
for Markov random walks. In addition, applying Markov nonlinear renewal theory,
we present a high-order asymptotic approximation for the expected delay to
detection of the Shiryaev detection rule. Asymptotic properties of another
popular change detection rule, the Shiryaev{Roberts rule, is studied as well.
Some interesting examples are given for illustration.


title:
On asymptotic power corrections to differential fluxes and
  generalization of optical theorem for potential scattering

abstract:
  In a wide class of potentials the exact asymptotic dependence on finite
distance R from scattering center is established for outgoing differential
flux. It is shown how this dependence is eliminated by integration over solid
angle for total flux, unitarity relation, and optical theorem. Thus, their
applicability domain extends naturally to the finite R.


title:
A possible relation between flare activity in superluminous supernovae
  and gamma-ray bursts

abstract:
  Significant undulations appear in the light curve of a recently discovered
super-luminous supernova (SLSN) SN 2015bn after the first peak, while the
underlying profile of the light curve can be well explained by a continuous
energy supply from a central engine, possibly the spin-down of a millisecond
magnetar. We propose that these undulations are caused by an intermittent
pulsed energy supply, indicating an energetic flare activity of the central
engine of the SLSN. Many post-burst flares were discovered during X-ray
afterglow observations of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). We find that the SLSN flares
described here approximately obey the empirical correlation between the
luminosity and time scale of GRB flares, extrapolated to the relevant longer
time scales of SLSN flares. This confirms the possible connection between these
two different phenomena as previously suggested.


title: Surface Code Error Correction on a Defective Lattice

abstract:
  The yield of physical qubits fabricated in the laboratory is much lower than
that of classical transistors in production semiconductor fabrication. Actual
implementations of quantum computers will be susceptible to loss in the form of
physically faulty qubits. Though these physical faults must negatively affect
the computation, we can deal with them by adapting error correction schemes. In
this paper We have simulated statically placed single-fault lattices and
lattices with randomly placed faults at functional qubit yields of 80%, 90% and
95%, showing practical performance of a defective surface code by employing
actual circuit constructions and realistic errors on every gate, including
identity gates. We extend Stace et al.'s superplaquettes solution against
dynamic losses for the surface code to handle static losses such as physically
faulty qubits. The single-fault analysis shows that a static loss at the
periphery of the lattice has less negative effect than a static loss at the
center. The randomly-faulty analysis shows that 95% yield is good enough to
build a large scale quantum computer. The local gate error rate threshold is
$\sim 0.3\%$, and a code distance of seven suppresses the residual error rate
below the original error rate at $p=0.1\%$. 90% yield is also good enough when
we discard badly fabricated quantum computation chips, while 80% yield does not
show enough error suppression even when discarding 90% of the chips. We
evaluated several metrics for predicting chip performance, and found that the
average of the product of the number of data qubits and the cycle time of a
stabilizer measurement of stabilizers gave the strongest correlation with
post-correction residual error rates. Our analysis will help with selecting
usable quantum computation chips from among the pool of all fabricated chips.


title:
On the orbital evolution of a pair of giant planets in mean motion
  resonance

abstract:
  Pairs of extrasolar giant planets in a mean motion commensurability are
common with 2:1 resonance occurring most frequently. Disc-planet interaction
provides a mechanism for their origin. However, the time scale on which this
could operate in particular cases is unclear. We perform 2D and 3D numerical
simulations of pairs of giant planets in a protoplanetary disc as they form and
maintain a mean motion commensurability. We consider systems with current
parameters similar to those of HD 155358, 24 Sextantis and HD 60532, and disc
models of varying mass, decreasing mass corresponding to increasing age. For
the lowest mass discs, systems with planets in the Jovian mass range migrate
inwards maintaining a 2:1 commensurability. Systems with the inner planet
currently at around 1 au from the central star could have originated at a few
au and migrated inwards on a time scale comparable to protoplanetary disc
lifetimes. Systems of larger mass planets such as HD 60532 attain 3:1 resonance
as observed. For a given mass accretion rate, results are insensitive to the
disc model for the range of viscosity prescriptions adopted, there being good
agreement between 2D and 3D simulations. However, in a higher mass disc a pair
of Jovian mass planets passes through 2:1 resonance before attaining a
temporary phase lasting a few thousand orbits in an unstable 5:3 resonance
prior to undergoing a scattering. Thus finding systems in this commensurability
is unlikely.


title: Schematic Interactions with Many Degeneracies

abstract:
  In previous works we examined the spectra for systems of 2 protons and 2
neutrons, in a single j shell calculation, by obtaining matrix elements from
experiment. More recently we considered schematic interactions in the same
model space. We continue in this vein here. The present work and the former can
be regarded as 2 bookends on a bookshelf.


title: The world's largest turbulence simulations

abstract:
  Understanding turbulence is critical for a wide range of terrestrial and
astrophysical applications. Here we present first results of the world's
highest-resolution simulation of turbulence ever done. The current simulation
has a grid resolution of 10048^3 points and was performed on 65536 compute
cores on SuperMUC at the Leibniz Supercomputing Centre (LRZ). We present a
scaling test of our modified version of the FLASH code, which updates the
hydrodynamical equations in less than 3 micro seconds per cell per time step. A
first look at the column density structure of the 10048^3 simulation is
presented and a detailed analysis is provided in a forthcoming paper.

categories: astro-ph.SR astro-ph.GA astro-ph.IM physics.comp-ph physics.flu-dyn


title: Exponential Torsion Growth for Random 3-Manifolds

abstract:
  We show that a random 3-manifold with positive first Betti number admits a
tower of cyclic covers with exponential torsion growth.


title:
First-Principles Momentum Dependent Local Ansatz Approach to the
  Ground-State Properties of Iron-Group Transition Metals

abstract:
  The ground-state properties of iron-group transition metals from Sc to Cu
have been investigated on the basis of the first-principles momentum dependent
local ansatz (MLA) theory. Correlation energy gain is found to show large
values for Mn and Fe: 0.090 Ry (Mn) and 0.094 Ry (Fe). The Hund-rule coupling
energies are found to be 3000 K (Fe), 1400 K (Co), and 300 K (Ni). It is
sugested that these values can resolve the inconsistency in magnetic energy
between the density functional theory and the first-principles dynamical
coherent potential approximation theory at finite temperatures. Charge
fluctuations are shown to be suppressed by the intra-orbital correlations and
inter-orbital charge-charge correlations, so that they show nearly constant
values from V to Fe: 1.57 (V and Cr), 1.52 (Mn), and 1.44 (Fe), which are
roughly twice as large as those obtained by the $d$ band model. The amplitudes
of local moments are enhanced by the intra-orbital and inter-orbital spin-spin
correlations and show large values for Mn and Fe: 2.87 (Mn) and 2.58 (Fe).
These values are in good agreement with the experimental values estimated from
the effective Bohr magneton number and the inner core photoemission data.


title: Priority, Cut, If-Then-Else and Exception Handling in Logic Programming

abstract:
  One of the long-standing problems on logic programming is to express {\it
priority}-related operations -- default reasoning, if-then-else, cut, exception
handling, etc -- in a high-level way. We argue that this problem can be solved
by adopting computability logic and prioritized sequential-disjunctive goal
formulas of the form $G_0 \bigtriangledown^* G_1$ where $G_0, G_1$ are goals.
These goals have the following intended semantics: sequentially $choose$ the
first true goal $G_i$ and execute $G_i$ where $i (= 0\ {\rm or}\ 1)$. These
goals thus allow us to specify a task $G_0$ with the failure-handling
(exception handling) routine $G_1$. This new goal can also be seen as a
logic-equivalent of the $if$-$then$-$else$ statement in imperative language. We
also discuss sequential-conjunction clauses which are {\it dual} of
sequential-disjunctive goals.


title: Holomorphic Legendrian curves

abstract:
  In this paper we study holomorphic Legendrian curves in the standard
holomorphic contact structure on $\mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$ for any $n\in\mathbb{N}$.
We provide several approximation and desingularization results which enable us
to prove general existence theorems, settling some of the open problems in the
subject. In particular, we show that every open Riemann surface $M$ admits a
proper holomorphic Legendrian embedding $M\hookrightarrow\mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$,
and we prove that for every compact bordered Riemann surface $M=\mathring M\cup
bM$ there exists a topological embedding $M\hookrightarrow \mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$
whose restriction to the interior is a complete holomorphic Legendrian
embedding $\mathring M\hookrightarrow \mathbb{C}^{2n+1}$. As a consequence, we
infer that every complex contact manifold $W$ carries relatively compact
holomorphic Legendrian curves, normalized by any given bordered Riemann
surface, which are complete with respect to any Riemannian metric on $W$.


title:
Diffractive $\phi$ electroproduction with a holographic meson
  wavefunction

abstract:
  We predict the cross-section for diffractive $\phi$ electroproduction within
the dipole model, using a holographic meson wavefunction for the $\phi$. For
the dipole cross-section, we use the Color Glass Condensate dipole model whose
parameters are fitted to the latest 2015 combined HERA data on Deep Inelastic
Scattering. Choosing a strange quark mass of $0.14$ GeV, we find good agreement
with the available data.


title:
The analytical aspect to the linear stability of elliptic equilibrium
  points of the Robe's restricted three-body problem

abstract:
  We study the Robe's restricted three-body problem. Such a motion was firstly
studied by A. G. Robe in \cite{Robe}, which is used to model small oscillations
of the earth's inner core taking into account the moon attraction. For the
linear stability of elliptic equilibrium points of the Robe's restricted
three-body problem, earlier results of such linear stability problem depend on
a lot of numerical computations, while we give an analytic approach to it. The
linearized Hamiltonian system near the elliptic relative equilibrium point in
our problem coincides with the linearized system near the Euler elliptic
relative equilibria in the classical three-body problem except for the rang of
the mass parameter. We first establish some relations from the linear stability
problem to symplectic paths and its corresponding linear operators. Then using
the Maslov-type $\omega$-index theory of symplectic paths and the theory of
linear operators, we compute $\omega$-indices and obtain certain properties of
the linear stability of elliptic equilibrium points of the Robe's restricted
three-body problem.


title:
Tilting and cluster tilting for preprojective algebras and Coxeter
  groups

abstract:
  We study the stable category of the factor algebra of the preprojective
algebra associated with an element $w$ of the Coxeter group of a quiver. We
show that there exists a silting object $M(\bf{w})$ of this category associated
with each reduced expression $\bf{w}$ of $w$ and give a sufficient condition on
$\bf{w}$ such that $M(\bf{w})$ is a tilting object. In particular, the stable
category is triangle equivalent to the derived category of the endomorphism
algebra of $M(\bf{w})$. Moreover, we compare it with a triangle equivalence
given by Amiot-Reiten-Todorov for a cluster category.


title: Time-Inconsistent Stochastic Linear-quadratic Differential Game

abstract:
  We consider a general time-inconsistent stochastic linear-quadratic
differential game. The time-inconsistency arises from the presence of quadratic
terms of the expected state as well as state-dependent term in the objective
functionals. We define an equilibrium strategy, which is different from the
classical one, and derived a sufficient conditions for equilibrium strategies
via a system of forward-backward stochastic differential equations. When the
state is one-dimensional and the coefficients are all deterministic, we find an
explicit equilibrium strategy. The uniqueness of such equilibrium strategy is
also given.


title:
Spin waves and magnetic exchange interactions in the spin ladder
  compound RbFe$_2$Se$_3$

abstract:
  We report an inelastic neutron scattering study of the spin waves of the
one-dimensional antiferromagnetic spin ladder compound RbFe$_2$Se$_3$. The
results reveal that the products, $SJ$'s, of the spin $S$ and the magnetic
exchange interactions $J$'s along the antiferromagnetic (leg) direction and the
ferromagnetic (rung) direction are comparable with those for the stripe ordered
phase of the parent compounds of the iron-based superconductors. The
universality of the $SJ$'s implies nearly universal spin wave dynamics and the
irrelevance of the fermiology for the existence of the stripe antiferromagnetic
order among various Fe-based materials.


title:
Lepton-pair Cerenkov radiation emitted by tachyonic neutrinos:
  Lorentz-covariant approach and IceCube data

abstract:
  Current experiments do not exclude the possibility that one or more neutrinos
are very slightly superluminal or that they have a very small tachyonic mass.
Important bounds on the size of a hypothetical tachyonic neutrino mass term are
set by lepton pair Cerenkov radiation (LPCR), i.e., by the decay channel nu ->
e^+ e^- nu which proceeds via a virtual Z0 boson. Here, we use a
Lorentz-invariant dispersion relation which leads to very tight constraints on
the tachyonic mass of neutrinos; we also calculate decay and energy loss rates.
A possible cutoff seen in the IceCube neutrino spectrum for E_nu > 2 PeV, due
to the potential onset of LPCR, is discussed.


title: A dynamical gravitational wave source in a dense cluster

abstract:
  Making use of a new N-body model to describe the evolution of a moderate-size
globular cluster we investigate the characteristics of the population of black
holes within such a cluster. This model reaches core-collapse and achieves a
peak central density typical of the dense globular clusters of the Milky Way.
Within this high-density environment we see direct confirmation of the merging
of two stellar remnant black-holes in a dynamically-formed binary, a
gravitational wave source. We describe how the formation, evolution and
ultimate ejection/destruction of binary systems containing black holes impacts
the evolution of the cluster core. Also, through comparison with previous
models of lower density, we show that the period distribution of black hole
binaries formed through dynamical interactions in this high-density model
favours the production of gravitational wave sources. We confirm that the
number of black holes remaining in a star cluster at late times and the
characteristics of the binary black hole population depend on the nature of the
star cluster, critically on the number density of stars and by extension the
relaxation timescale.


title: Lattice Defects and the Mechanical Anisotropy of Borophene

abstract:
  Using density functional theory combined with a semi-empirical van der Waals
dispersion correction, we have investigated the stability of lattice defects
including boron vacancy, substitutional and interstitial X (X=H, C, B, N, O)
and $\Sigma$5 tilt grain boundaries in borophene and their influence on the
anisotropic mechanical properties of this two-dimensional system. The pristine
borophene has significant in-plane Young's moduli and Poisson's ratio
anisotropy due to its strong and highly coordinated B-B bonds. The
concentration of B vacancy and $\Sigma$5 grain boundary could be rather high
given that their formation energies are as low as 0.10 eV and 0.06 eV/$\AA$
respectively. In addition, our results also suggest that borophene can react
easily with H$_2$, O$_2$ and N$_2$ when exposed to these molecules. We find
that the mechanical properties of borophene are remarkably degraded by these
defects. The anisotropy in Poisson's ratio, however, can be tuned by some of
them. Furthermore, the adsorbed H or substitutional C may induce remarkably
negative Poisson's ratio in borophene, and the substitutional C or N can
significantly increase the Poisson's ratio by contrast.


title: More indecomposable polyhedra

abstract:
  We apply combinatorial methods to a geometric problem: the classification of
polytopes, in terms of Minkowski decomposability. Various properties of
skeletons of polytopes are exhibited, each sufficient to guarantee
indecomposability of a significant class of polytopes. We illustrate further
the power of these techniques, compared with the traditional method of
examining triangular faces, with several applications. In any dimension $d\neq
2$, we show that of all the polytopes with $d^2+\frac{d}{2}$ or fewer edges,
only one is decomposable. In 3 dimensions, we complete the classification, in
terms of decomposability, of the 260 combinatorial types of polyhedra with 15
or fewer edges.


title: Nearest Neighbor-based Rendezvous for Sparsely Connected Mobile Agents

abstract:
  In this paper a convergent, nearest-neighbor, control protocol is suggested
for agents with nontrivial dynamics. The protocol guarantees convergence to a
common point in space even if each agent is restricted to communicate with a
single nearest neighbor. The neighbor, however, is required to lie outside an
arbitrarily small priority zone surrounding the agent. The control protocol
consists of two layers interconnected in a provably-correct manner. The first
layer provides the guidance signal to a rendezvous point assuming that the
agents have first order dynamics. The other layer converts in a decentralized
manner the guidance signal to a control signal that suits realistic agents such
as UGVs, UAVs and holonomic agents with second order dynamics.


title: On the variety of shapes in digital trees

abstract:
  We study the joint distribution of the number of occurrences of members of a
collection of nonoverlapping motifs in digital data. We deal with finite and
countably infinite collections. For infinite collections, the setting requires
that we be very explicit about the specification of the underlying
measure-theoretic formulation. We show that (under appropriate normalization)
for such a collection, any linear combination of the number of occurrences of
each of the motifs in the data has a limiting normal distribution. In many
instances, this can be interpreted in terms of the number of occurrences of
individual motifs: They have a multivariate normal distribution. The methods of
proof include combinatorics on words, integral transforms, and poissonization.


title:
Phase behaviour and structure of a superionic liquid in nonpolarized
  nanoconfinement

abstract:
  The ion-ion interactions become exponentially screened for ions confined in
ultranarrow metallic pores. To study the phase behaviour of an assembly of such
ions, called a superionic liquid, we develop a statistical theory formulated on
bipartite lattices, which allows an analytical solution within the
Bethe-lattice approach. Our solution predicts the existence of ordered and
disordered phases in which ions form a crystal-like structure and a homogeneous
mixture, respectively. The transition between these two phases can potentially
be first or second order, depending on the ion diameter, degree of confinement
and pore ionophobicity. We supplement our analytical results by
three-dimensional off-lattice Monte Carlo simulations of an ionic liquid in
slit nanopores. The simulations predict formation of ionic clusters and ordered
snake-like patterns, leading to characteristic close-standing peaks in the
cation-cation and anion-anion radial distribution functions.


title:
A Survey of Point-of-interest Recommendation in Location-based Social
  Networks

abstract:
  Point-of-interest (POI) recommendation that suggests new places for users to
visit arises with the popularity of location-based social networks (LBSNs). Due
to the importance of POI recommendation in LBSNs, it has attracted much
academic and industrial interest. In this paper, we offer a systematic review
of this field, summarizing the contributions of individual efforts and
exploring their relations. We discuss the new properties and challenges in POI
recommendation, compared with traditional recommendation problems, e.g., movie
recommendation. Then, we present a comprehensive review in three aspects:
influential factors for POI recommendation, methodologies employed for POI
recommendation, and different tasks in POI recommendation. Specifically, we
propose three taxonomies to classify POI recommendation systems. First, we
categorize the systems by the influential factors check-in characteristics,
including the geographical information, social relationship, temporal
influence, and content indications. Second, we categorize the systems by the
methodology, including systems modeled by fused methods and joint methods.
Third, we categorize the systems as general POI recommendation and successive
POI recommendation by subtle differences in the recommendation task whether to
be bias to the recent check-in. For each category, we summarize the
contributions and system features, and highlight the representative work.
Moreover, we discuss the available data sets and the popular metrics. Finally,
we point out the possible future directions in this area and conclude this
survey.


title:
Quasi-matrix-free hybrid multigrid on dynamically adaptive Cartesian
  grids

abstract:
  We present a family of spacetree-based multigrid realizations using the
tree's multiscale nature to derive coarse grids. They align with matrix-free
geometric multigrid solvers as they never assemble the system matrices which is
cumbersome for dynamically adaptive grids and full multigrid. The most
sophisticated realizations use BoxMG to construct operator-dependent
prolongation and restriction in combination with Galerkin/Petrov-Galerkin
coarse-grid operators. This yields robust solvers for nontrivial elliptic
problems. We embed the algebraic, problem- and grid-dependent multigrid
operators as stencils into the grid and evaluate all matrix-vector products
in-situ throughout the grid traversals. While such an approach is not literally
matrix-free---the grid carries the matrix---we propose to switch to a
hierarchical representation of all operators. Only differences of algebraic
operators to their geometric counterparts are held. These hierarchical
differences can be stored and exchanged with small memory footprint. Our
realizations support arbitrary dynamically adaptive grids while they vertically
integrate the multilevel operations through spacetree linearization. This
yields good memory access characteristics, while standard colouring of mesh
entities with domain decomposition allows us to use parallel manycore clusters.
All realization ingredients are detailed such that they can be used by other
codes.


title:
A novel technique for the measurement of the avalanche fluctuation of
  gaseous detectors

abstract:
  We have developed a novel technique for the measurement of the avalanche
fluctuation of gaseous detectors using a UV laser. The technique is simple and
requires a short data-taking time of about ten minutes. Furthermore, it is
applicable for relatively low gas gains. Our experimental setup as well as the
measurement principle, and the results obtained with a stack of Gas Electron
Multipliers (GEMs) operated in several gas mixtures are presented.


title:
The effects of the U$_\textrm{Y}$(1) Chern-Simons term and its baryonic
  contribution on matter asymmetries and hypermagnetic fields

abstract:
  In this paper, we study the significance of the U$_\textrm{Y}$(1)
Chern-Simons term in general, and its baryonic contribution in particular, for
the evolution of the matter asymmetries and the hypermagnetic field in the
temperature range $100$GeV$\leq T \leq 10$TeV. We show that an initial helical
hypermagnetic field, denoted by $B_Y^{(0)}$, can grow matter asymmetries from
zero initial value. However, the growth which is initially quadratic with
respect to $B_Y^{(0)}$, saturates for values larger than a critical value. The
inclusion of the baryonic contribution reduces this critical value, leading to
smaller final matter asymmetries. Meanwhile, $B_Y(T_{EW})$ becomes slightly
larger than $B_Y^{(0)}$. In the absence of the U$_\textrm{Y}$(1) Chern-Simons
term, the final values of matter asymmetries grow without saturation.
Conversely, we show that an initial matter asymmetry can grow an initial seed
of hypermagnetic field, provided the Chern-Simons term is taken into account.
The growth process saturates when the matter asymmetry drops abruptly. When the
baryonic contribution is included, the saturation occurs at an earlier time,
and $B_Y (T_{EW})$ becomes larger. We also show the results can be within the
acceptable range of present day data, provided the inverse cascade process is
also taken into account.


title: Maximum efficiency of the collisional Penrose process

abstract:
  We consider collision of two particles that move in the equatorial plane near
a general stationary rotating axially symmetric extremal black hole. One of
particles is critical (with fine-tuned parameters) and moves in the outward
direction. The second particle (usual, not fine-tuned) comes from infinity. We
examine the efficiency $\eta $ of the collisional Penrose process. There are
two relevant cases here: (i) a particle falling into a black hole after
collision is heavy, (ii) it has a finite mass. We show that the maximum of
$\eta $ in case (ii) is less or equal to that in case (i). It is argued that
for superheavy particles, the bound applies to nonequatorial motion as well. As
an example, we analyze collision in the Kerr-Newman background. When the bound
is the same for processes (i) and (ii), $\eta =3$ for this metric. For the Kerr
black hole, recent results in literature are reproduced.


title: Fuzzy sets in $\le$-hypergroupoids

abstract:
  This paper serves as an example to show the way we pass from ordered
groupoids (ordered semigroups) to ordered hypergroupoids (ordered
hypersemigroups), from groupoids (semigroups) to hypergroupoids
(hypersemigroups). The results on semigroups (or on ordered semigroup) can be
transferred to hypersemigroups (or to ordered hypersemigroups) in the way
indicated in the present paper.


title: node2vec: Scalable Feature Learning for Networks

abstract:
  Prediction tasks over nodes and edges in networks require careful effort in
engineering features used by learning algorithms. Recent research in the
broader field of representation learning has led to significant progress in
automating prediction by learning the features themselves. However, present
feature learning approaches are not expressive enough to capture the diversity
of connectivity patterns observed in networks. Here we propose node2vec, an
algorithmic framework for learning continuous feature representations for nodes
in networks. In node2vec, we learn a mapping of nodes to a low-dimensional
space of features that maximizes the likelihood of preserving network
neighborhoods of nodes. We define a flexible notion of a node's network
neighborhood and design a biased random walk procedure, which efficiently
explores diverse neighborhoods. Our algorithm generalizes prior work which is
based on rigid notions of network neighborhoods, and we argue that the added
flexibility in exploring neighborhoods is the key to learning richer
representations. We demonstrate the efficacy of node2vec over existing
state-of-the-art techniques on multi-label classification and link prediction
in several real-world networks from diverse domains. Taken together, our work
represents a new way for efficiently learning state-of-the-art task-independent
representations in complex networks.


title: The quest for the ultimate anisotropic Banach space

abstract:
  We present a new scale $U^{t,s}_p$ (with $s<-t<0$ and $1 \le p <\infty$) of
anisotropic Banach spaces, defined via Paley-Littlewood, on which the transfer
operator associated to a hyperbolic dynamical system has good spectral
properties. When $p=1$ and $t$ is an integer, the spaces are analogous to the
"geometric" spaces considered by Gou\"ezel and Liverani. When $p>1$ and
$-1+1/p<s<-t<0<t<1/p$, the spaces are somewhat analogous to the geometric
spaces considered by Demers and Liverani. In addition, just like for the
"microlocal" spaces defined by Baladi-Tsujii, the spaces $U^{t,s}_p$ are
amenable to the kneading approach of Milnor-Thurson to study dynamical
determinants and zeta functions.
  In v2, following referees' reports, typos have been corrected (in particular
(39) and (43)). Section 4 now includes a formal statement (Theorem 4.1) about
the essential spectral radius if $d_s=1$ (its proof includes the content of
Section 4.2 from v1). The Lasota-Yorke Lemma 4.2 (Lemma 4.1 in v1) includes the
claim that $\cal M_b$ is compact.
  Version v3 contains an additional text "Corrections and complements" showing
that s> t-(r-1) is needed in Section 4.


title: The End of a Myth: Distributed Transactions Can Scale

abstract:
  The common wisdom is that distributed transactions do not scale. But what if
distributed transactions could be made scalable using the next generation of
networks and a redesign of distributed databases? There would be no need for
developers anymore to worry about co-partitioning schemes to achieve decent
performance. Application development would become easier as data placement
would no longer determine how scalable an application is. Hardware provisioning
would be simplified as the system administrator can expect a linear scale-out
when adding more machines rather than some complex sub-linear function, which
is highly application specific.
  In this paper, we present the design of our novel scalable database system
NAM-DB and show that distributed transactions with the very common Snapshot
Isolation guarantee can indeed scale using the next generation of RDMA-enabled
network technology without any inherent bottlenecks. Our experiments with the
TPC-C benchmark show that our system scales linearly to over 6.5 million
new-order (14.5 million total) distributed transactions per second on 56
machines.


title:
A Hybrid POMDP-BDI Agent Architecture with Online Stochastic Planning
  and Plan Caching

abstract:
  This article presents an agent architecture for controlling an autonomous
agent in stochastic environments. The architecture combines the partially
observable Markov decision process (POMDP) model with the
belief-desire-intention (BDI) framework. The Hybrid POMDP-BDI agent
architecture takes the best features from the two approaches, that is, the
online generation of reward-maximizing courses of action from POMDP theory, and
sophisticated multiple goal management from BDI theory. We introduce the
advances made since the introduction of the basic architecture, including (i)
the ability to pursue multiple goals simultaneously and (ii) a plan library for
storing pre-written plans and for storing recently generated plans for future
reuse. A version of the architecture without the plan library is implemented
and is evaluated using simulations. The results of the simulation experiments
indicate that the approach is feasible.


title: Non-negative versus positive scalar curvature

abstract:
  We show that results about spaces or moduli spaces of positive scalar
curvature metrics proved using index theory can typically be extended to
non-negative scalar curvature metrics. We illustrate this by providing explicit
generalizations of some classical results concerning moduli spaces of positive
scalar curvature metrics.


title: Complexity and Computation of Connected Zero Forcing

abstract:
  Zero forcing is an iterative graph coloring process whereby a colored vertex
with a single uncolored neighbor forces that neighbor to be colored. It is
NP-hard to find a minimum zero forcing set - a smallest set of initially
colored vertices which forces the entire graph to be colored. We show that the
problem remains NP-hard when the initially colored set induces a connected
subgraph. We also give structural results about the connected zero forcing sets
of a graph related to the graph's density, separating sets, and certain induced
subgraphs, and we characterize the cardinality of the minimum connected zero
forcing sets of unicyclic graphs and variants of cactus and block graphs.
Finally, we identify several families of graphs whose connected zero forcing
sets define greedoids and matroids.


title: Robust Deep Appearance Models

abstract:
  This paper presents a novel Robust Deep Appearance Models to learn the
non-linear correlation between shape and texture of face images. In this
approach, two crucial components of face images, i.e. shape and texture, are
represented by Deep Boltzmann Machines and Robust Deep Boltzmann Machines
(RDBM), respectively. The RDBM, an alternative form of Robust Boltzmann
Machines, can separate corrupted/occluded pixels in the texture modeling to
achieve better reconstruction results. The two models are connected by
Restricted Boltzmann Machines at the top layer to jointly learn and capture the
variations of both facial shapes and appearances. This paper also introduces
new fitting algorithms with occlusion awareness through the mask obtained from
the RDBM reconstruction. The proposed approach is evaluated in various
applications by using challenging face datasets, i.e. Labeled Face Parts in the
Wild (LFPW), Helen, EURECOM and AR databases, to demonstrate its robustness and
capabilities.


title: Minimal tilings of a unit square

abstract:
  Tile the unit square with $n$ small squares. We determine the minimum of the
sum of the side lengths of the $n$ small squares, where the minimum is taken
over all tilings of the unit square with $n$ squares.


title: IAU Meteor Data Center | the shower database: a status report

abstract:
  Currently, the meteor shower part of Meteor Data Center database includes:
112 established showers, 563 in the working list, among them 36 have the pro
tempore status. The list of shower complexes contains 25 groups, 3 have
established status and 1 has the pro tempore status. In the past three years,
new meteor showers submitted to the MDC database were detected amongst the
meteors observed by CAMS stations (Cameras for Allsky Meteor Surveillance),
those included in the EDMOND (European viDeo MeteOr Network Database), those
collected by the Japanese SonotaCo Network, recorded in the IMO (International
Meteor Organization) database, observed by the Croatian Meteor Network and on
the Southern Hemisphere by the SAAMER radar. At the XXIXth General Assembly of
the IAU in Honolulu, Hawaii in 2015, the names of 18 showers were officially
accepted and moved to the list of established ones. Also, one shower already
officially named (3/SIA the Southern iota Aquariids) was moved back to the
working list of meteor showers. At the XXIXth GA IAU the basic shower
nomenclature rule was modified, the new formulation predicates \The general
rule is that a meteor shower (and a meteoroid stream) should be named after the
constellation that contains the nearest star to the radiant point, using the
possessive Latin form". Over the last three years the MDC database was
supplemented with the earlier published original data on meteor showers, which
permitted verification of the correctness of the MDC data and extension of
bibliographic information. Slowly but surely new database software options are
implemented, and software bugs are corrected.


title: Unsupervised Learning of 3D Structure from Images

abstract:
  A key goal of computer vision is to recover the underlying 3D structure from
2D observations of the world. In this paper we learn strong deep generative
models of 3D structures, and recover these structures from 3D and 2D images via
probabilistic inference. We demonstrate high-quality samples and report
log-likelihoods on several datasets, including ShapeNet [2], and establish the
first benchmarks in the literature. We also show how these models and their
inference networks can be trained end-to-end from 2D images. This demonstrates
for the first time the feasibility of learning to infer 3D representations of
the world in a purely unsupervised manner.


title: Thermal mock-up studies of the DEPFET pixel vertex detector for Belle II

abstract:
  The Belle II experiment currently under construction at the $e^+e^-$-collider
SuperKEKB in Japan is designed to explore new physics beyond the standard model
with an approximately 50 times larger data sample compared to its predecessor.
The vertex detector (VXD), comprising a two layer DEPFET pixel detector (PXD)
surrounded by four layers of double sided silicon strip detector (SVD), is
indispensable for the accurate determination of the decay point of $B$ or $D$
meson as well as track reconstruction of low momentum particles. The DEPFET
sensors in Belle II are thinned down to 75 $\mu$m with low power consumption
and low intrinsic noise. In the DEPFET concept, the front-end electronics is
placed outside of the sensitive area, and thus no cooling components are
necessary inside the physics acceptance of the detector. Evaporative two-phase
CO$_2$ cooling in combination with forced air flow has been chosen as the
scheme for the PXD cooling. To guarantee the DEPFET detector operation
condition and verify the cooling concept, a PXD mockup is constructed at DESY.
Studies of the thermal and mechanical performance are presented in this paper.


title: Asymptotics of quantum representations of surface groups

abstract:
  For a banded link $L$ in a surface times a circle, the
Witten-Reshetikhin-Turaev invariants are topological invariants depending on a
sequence of complex $2p$-th roots of unity $(A_p)_{p\in 2\mathbb{N}}$. We show
that there exists a polynomial $P_L$ such that these normalized invariants
converge to $P_L(u)$ when $A_p$ converges to $u$, for all but a finite number
of $u$'s in $S^1$. This is related to the AMU conjecture which predicts that
non-simple curves have infinite order under quantum representations (for big
enough levels). Estimating the degree of $P_L$, we exhibit particular types of
curves which satisfy this conjecture. Along the way we prove the Witten
asymptotic conjecture for links in a surface times a circle.


title: The 1-D Dirac equation with concentrated nonlinearity

abstract:
  We define and study the Cauchy problem for a 1-D nonlinear Dirac equation
with nonlinearities concentrated at one point. Global well-posedness is
provided and conservation laws for mass and energy are shown. Several examples,
including nonlinear Gesztesy-\v{S}eba models and the concentrated versions of
the Bragg Resonance, Gross-Neveu, and Soler type models, all within the scope
of the present paper, are given. The key point of the proof consists in the
reduction of the original equation to a nonlinear integral equation for an
auxiliary, space-independent variable (the "charge").


title: Space, matter and topology

abstract:
  An old branch of mathematics, Topology, has opened the road to the discovery
of new phases of matter. A hidden topology in the energy spectrum is the key
for novel conducting/insulating properties of topological matter.

categories: cond-mat.mes-hall hep-th math-ph math.MP physics.pop-ph quant-ph


title:
Reducing the Energy Cost of Inference via In-sensor Information
  Processing

abstract:
  There is much interest in incorporating inference capabilities into
sensor-rich embedded platforms such as autonomous vehicles, wearables, and
others. A central problem in the design of such systems is the need to extract
information locally from sensed data on a severely limited energy budget. This
necessitates the design of energy-efficient sensory embedded system. A typical
sensory embedded system enforces a physical separation between sensing and
computational subsystems - a separation mandated by the differing requirements
of the sensing and computational functions. As a consequence, the energy
consumption in such systems tends to be dominated by the energy consumed in
transferring data over the sensor-processor interface (communication energy)
and the energy consumed in processing the data in digital processor
(computational energy). In this article, we propose an in-sensor computing
architecture which (mostly) eliminates the sensor-processor interface by
embedding inference computations in the noisy sensor fabric in analog and
retraining the hyperparameters in order to compensate for non-ideal
computations. The resulting architecture referred to as the Compute Sensor - a
sensor that computes in addition to sensing - represents a radical departure
from the conventional. We show that a Compute Sensor for image data can be
designed by embedding both feature extraction and classification functions in
the analog domain in close proximity to the CMOS active pixel sensor (APS)
array. Significant gains in energy-efficiency are demonstrated using behavioral
and energy models in a commercial semiconductor process technology. In the
process, the Compute Sensor creates a unique opportunity to develop machine
learning algorithms for information extraction from data on a noisy underlying
computational fabric.


title: Join and slices for strict $\infty$-categories

abstract:
  The goal of this paper is to develop a theory of join and slices for strict
$\infty$-categories. To any pair of strict $\infty$-categories, we associate a
third one that we call their join. This operation is compatible with the usual
join of categories up to truncation. We show that the join defines a monoidal
category structure on the category of strict $\infty$-categories and that it
respects connected inductive limits in each variable. In particular, we obtain
the existence of some right adjoints; these adjoints define
$\infty$-categorical slices, in a generalized sense. We state some conjectures
about the functoriality of the join and the slices with respect to higher lax
and oplax transformations and we prove some first results in this direction.
These results are used in another paper to establish a Quillen Theorem A for
strict $\infty$-categories. Finally, in an appendix, we revisit the Gray tensor
product of strict $\infty$-categories. One of the main tools used in this paper
is Steiner's theory of augmented directed complexes.


title: Understanding the Energy and Precision Requirements for Online Learning

abstract:
  It is well-known that the precision of data, hyperparameters, and internal
representations employed in learning systems directly impacts its energy,
throughput, and latency. The precision requirements for the training algorithm
are also important for systems that learn on-the-fly. Prior work has shown that
the data and hyperparameters can be quantized heavily without incurring much
penalty in classification accuracy when compared to floating point
implementations. These works suffer from two key limitations. First, they
assume uniform precision for the classifier and for the training algorithm and
thus miss out on the opportunity to further reduce precision. Second, prior
works are empirical studies. In this article, we overcome both these
limitations by deriving analytical lower bounds on the precision requirements
of the commonly employed stochastic gradient descent (SGD) on-line learning
algorithm in the specific context of a support vector machine (SVM). Lower
bounds on the data precision are derived in terms of the the desired
classification accuracy and precision of the hyperparameters used in the
classifier. Additionally, lower bounds on the hyperparameter precision in the
SGD training algorithm are obtained. These bounds are validated using both
synthetic and the UCI breast cancer dataset. Additionally, the impact of these
precisions on the energy consumption of a fixed-point SVM with on-line training
is studied.


title: Generalizations of Furstenberg's Diophantine result

abstract:
  We prove two generalizations of Furstenberg's Diophantine result regarding
density of an orbit of an irrational point in the one-torus under the action of
multiplication by a non-lacunary multiplicative semi-group of $\mathbb{N}$. We
show that for any sequences $\{a_{n} \},\{b_{n} \}\subset\mathbb{Z}$ for which
the quotients of successive elements tend to $1$ as $n$ goes to infinity, and
any infinite sequence $\{c_{n} \}$, the set $\{a_{n}b_{m}c_{k}x :
n,m,k\in\mathbb{N} \}$ is dense modulo $1$ for every irrational $x$. Moreover,
by ergodic-theoretical methods, we prove that if $\{a_{n} \},\{b_{n} \}$ are
sequence having smooth $p$-adic interpolation for some prime number $p$, then
for every irrational $x$, the sequence $\{p^{n}a_{m}b_{k}x : n,m,k\in\mathbb{N}
\}$ is dense modulo 1.


title:
Spectral properties and phase diagram of correlated lattice bosons in an
  optical cavity within the B-DMFT

abstract:
  We use the Bose-Hubbard model with an effective infinite-range interaction to
describe the correlated lattice bosons in an optical cavity. We study both
static and spectral properties of such system within the bosonic dynamical
mean-field theory (B-DMFT), which is the state of the art method for strongly
correlated bosonic systems. Both similarities and differences are found and
discussed between our results and these obtained within different theoretical
methods and experiment.


title: New detections of embedded clusters in the Galactic halo

abstract:
  Until recently it was thought that high Galactic latitude clouds were a
non-star-forming ensemble. However, in a previous study we reported the
discovery of two embedded clusters (ECs) far away from the Galactic plane
($\sim5$ kpc). In our recent star cluster catalogue we provided additional high
and intermediate latitude cluster candidates. This work aims to clarify if our
previous detection of star clusters far away from the disc represents just an
episodic event or if the star cluster formation is currently a systematic
phenomenon in the Galactic halo. We analyse the nature of four clusters found
in our recent catalogue and report the discovery of three new ECs with
unusually high latitude and distance from the Galactic disc midplane. All of
these clusters are younger than 5 Myr. The high-latitude ECs C 932, C 934, and
C 939 appear to be related to a cloud complex about 5 kpc below the Galactic
disc, under the Local arm. The other clusters are above the disc, C 1074 and C
1100 with a vertical distance of $\sim3$ kpc, C 1099 with $\sim2$ kpc, and C
1101 with $\sim1.8$ kpc. According to the derived parameters there occur ECs
located below and above the disc, which is an evidence of widespread star
cluster formation throughout the Galactic halo. Thus, this study represents a
paradigm shift, in the sense that a sterile halo becomes now a host of ongoing
star formation. The origin and fate of these ECs remain open. There are two
possibilities for their origin, Galactic fountain or infall. The discovery of
ECs far from the disc suggests that the Galactic halo is more actively forming
stars than previously thought and since most ECs do not survive the
\textit{infant mortality} it may be raining stars from the halo into the disc,
and/or the halo harbours generations of stars formed in clusters like those
hereby detected.