title: Semantic Style Transfer and Turning Two-Bit Doodles into Fine Artworks

abstract:
  Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have proven highly effective at image
synthesis and style transfer. For most users, however, using them as tools can
be a challenging task due to their unpredictable behavior that goes against
common intuitions. This paper introduces a novel concept to augment such
generative architectures with semantic annotations, either by manually
authoring pixel labels or using existing solutions for semantic segmentation.
The result is a content-aware generative algorithm that offers meaningful
control over the outcome. Thus, we increase the quality of images generated by
avoiding common glitches, make the results look significantly more plausible,
and extend the functional range of these algorithms---whether for portraits or
landscapes, etc. Applications include semantic style transfer and turning
doodles with few colors into masterful paintings!


title: R-parity Conserving Minimal SUSY $B-L$ Model

abstract:
  We propose a simple gauged U(1)$_{B-L}$ extension of the minimal
supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM), where R-parity is conserved as usual in
the MSSM. The global $B-L$ (baryon number minus lepton number) symmetry in the
MSSM is gauged and three MSSM gauge-singlet chiral multiplets with a unit $B-L$
charge are introduced, ensuring the model free from gauge and gravitational
anomalies. We assign an odd R-parity for two of the new chiral multiplets and
hence they are identified with the right-handed neutrino superfields, while an
even R-parity is assigned to the other one ($\Phi$). The scalar component of
$\Phi$ plays the role of a Higgs field to break the U(1)$_{B-L}$ symmetry
through its negative mass squared, which is radiatively generated by the
renormalization group running of soft supersymmetry (SUSY) breaking parameters
from a high energy. This radiative U(1)$_{B-L}$ symmetry breaking leads to its
breaking scale being at the TeV naturally. Because of our novel R-parity
assignment, three light neutrinos are Dirac particles with one massless state.
Since R-parity is conserved, the lightest neutralino is a prime candidate of
the dark matter as usual. In our model, the lightest eigenstate of the mixture
of the $B-L$ gaugino and the fermionic component of $\Phi$ appears as a new
dark matter candidate. We investigate phenomenology of this dark matter
particle. We also discuss collider phenomenology of our model. In particular,
the $B-L$ gauge boson ($Z'$), once discovered at the Large Hadron Collider, can
be a probe to determine the number of (right-handed) Dirac neutrinos with its
invisible decay width, in sharp contrast with the conventional $B-L$ extension
of the SM or MSSM where the right-handed neutrinos are heavy Majorana particles
and decay to the SM leptons.


title: An Argument-based Creative Assistant for Harmonic Blending

abstract:
  Conceptual blending is a powerful tool for computational creativity where,
for example, the properties of two harmonic spaces may be combined in a
consistent manner to produce a novel harmonic space. However, deciding about
the importance of property features in the input spaces and evaluating the
results of conceptual blending is a nontrivial task. In the specific case of
musical harmony, defining the salient features of chord transitions and
evaluating invented harmonic spaces requires deep musicological background
knowledge. In this paper, we propose a creative tool that helps musicologists
to evaluate and to enhance harmonic innovation. This tool allows a music expert
to specify arguments over given transition properties. These arguments are then
considered by the system when defining combinations of features in an
idiom-blending process. A music expert can assess whether the new harmonic
idiom makes musicological sense and re-adjust the arguments (selection of
features) to explore alternative blends that can potentially produce better
harmonic spaces. We conclude with a discussion of future work that would
further automate the harmonisation process.


title: A non-traditional view on the modeling of nematic disclination dynamics

abstract:
  Nonsingular disclination dynamics in a uniaxial nematic liquid crystal is
modeled within a mathematical framework where the kinematics is a direct
extension of the classical way of identifying these line defects with
singularities of a unit vector field representing the nematic director. It is
well known that the universally accepted Oseen-Frank energy is infinite for
configurations that contain disclination line defects. We devise a natural
augmentation of the Oseen-Frank energy to account for physical situations
where, under certain conditions, infinite director gradients have zero
associated energy cost, as would be necessary for modeling half-integer
strength disclinations within the framework of the director theory. Equilibria
and dynamics (in the absence of flow) of line defects are studied within the
proposed model. Using appropriate initial/boundary data, the gradient-flow
dynamics of this energy leads to non-singular, line defect equilibrium
solutions, including those of half-integer strength. However, we demonstrate
that the gradient flow dynamics for this energy is not able to adequately
describe defect evolution. Motivated by similarity with dislocation dynamics in
solids, a novel 2D-model of disclination dynamics in nematics is proposed. The
model is based on the extended Oseen-Frank energy and takes into account
thermodynamics and the kinematics of conservation of defect topological charge.
We validate this model through computations of disclination equilibria,
annihilation, repulsion, and splitting. We show that the energy function we
devise, suitably interpreted, can serve as well for the modeling of equilibria
and dynamics of dislocation line defects in solids making the conclusions of
this paper relevant to mechanics of both solids and liquid crystals.


title: Fast calculation of correlations in recognition systems

abstract:
  Computationally efficient classification system architecture is proposed. It
utilizes fast tensor-vector multiplication algorithm to apply linear operators
upon input signals . The approach is applicable to wide variety of recognition
system architectures ranging from single stage matched filter bank classifiers
to complex neural networks with unlimited number of hidden layers.


title:
Multi-frequency studies of galaxies and groups: I. Environmental effect
  on galaxy stellar mass and morphology

abstract:
  To understand the role of the environment in galaxy formation, evolution, and
present-day properties, it is essential to study the multi-frequency behavior
of different galaxy populations under various environmental conditions. We
crossmatch the SDSS DR10 group catalog with GAMA Data Release 2 and Wide-field
Survey Explorer (WISE) data to construct a catalog of 1651 groups and 11436
galaxies containing photometric information in 15 different wavebands ranging
from ultraviolet (0.152 {\mu}m) to mid-infrared (22 {\mu}m). We perform the
spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting of galaxies using the MAGPHYS code
and estimate the rest frame luminosities and stellar masses. We use the 1/Vmax
method to estimate the galaxy stellar mass and luminosity functions, and the
luminosity density field of galaxies to define the large scale environment of
galaxies. The stellar mass functions of both central and satellite galaxies in
groups are different in low and high density large scale environments.
Satellite galaxies in high density environments have a steeper low mass end
slope compared to low density environments, independently of the galaxy
morphology. Central galaxies in low density environments have a steeper low
mass end slope but the difference disappears for fixed galaxy morphology. The
characteristic stellar mass of satellite galaxies is higher in high density
environments and the difference exists only for galaxies with elliptical
morphologies. Galaxy formation in groups is more efficient in high density
large scale environments. Groups in high density environments have higher
abundances of satellite galaxies, irrespective of the satellite galaxy
morphology. The elliptical satellite galaxies are generally more massive in
high density environments. The stellar masses of spiral satellite galaxies show
no dependence on the large scale environment.


title:
Identifying and Improving Dataset References in Social Sciences Full
  Texts

abstract:
  Scientific full text papers are usually stored in separate places than their
underlying research datasets. Authors typically make references to datasets by
mentioning them for example by using their titles and the year of publication.
However, in most cases explicit links that would provide readers with direct
access to referenced datasets are missing. Manually detecting references to
datasets in papers is time consuming and requires an expert in the domain of
the paper. In order to make explicit all links to datasets in papers that have
been published already, we suggest and evaluate a semi-automatic approach for
finding references to datasets in social sciences papers. Our approach does not
need a corpus of papers (no cold start problem) and it performs well on a small
test corpus (gold standard). Our approach achieved an F-measure of 0.84 for
identifying references in full texts and an F-measure of 0.83 for finding
correct matches of detected references in the da|ra dataset registry.


title: Combined Analysis of Amplitude and Phase Variations in Functional Data

abstract:
  When functional data manifest amplitude and phase variations, a
commonly-employed framework for analyzing them is to take away the phase
variation through a function alignment and then to apply standard tools to the
aligned functions. A downside of this approach is that the important variations
contained in the phases are completely ignored. To combine both of amplitude
and phase variations, we propose a variant of principal component analysis
(PCA) that captures non-linear components representing the amplitude, phase and
their associations simultaneously. The proposed method, which we call
functional combined PCA, is aimed to provide more efficient dimension reduction
with interpretable components, in particular when the amplitudes and phases are
clearly associated. We model principal components by non-linearly combining
time-warping functions and aligned functions. A data-adaptive weighting
procedure helps our dimension reduction to attain a maximal explaining power of
observed functions. We also discuss an application of functional canonical
correlation analysis in investigation of the correlation structure between the
two variations. We show that for two sets of real data the proposed method
provides interpretable major non-linear components, which are not typically
found in the usual functional PCA.


title: Generalised rely-guarantee concurrency: An algebraic foundation

abstract:
  The rely-guarantee technique allows one to reason compositionally about
concurrent programs. To handle interference the technique makes use of rely and
guarantee conditions, both of which are binary relations on states. A rely
condition is an assumption that the environment performs only atomic steps
satisfying the rely relation and a guarantee is a commitment that every atomic
step the program makes satisfies the guarantee relation. In order to
investigate rely-guarantee reasoning more generally, in this paper we allow
interference to be represented by a process rather than a relation and hence
derive more general rely-guarantee laws. The paper makes use of a weak
conjunction operator between processes, which generalises a guarantee relation
to a guarantee process, and introduces a rely quotient operator, which
generalises a rely relation to a process. The paper focuses on the algebraic
properties of the general rely-guarantee theory. The Jones-style rely-guarantee
theory can be interpreted as a model of the general algebraic theory and hence
the general laws presented here hold for that theory.


title: On Quantum Entanglement in Topological Phases on a Torus

abstract:
  In this paper we study the effect of non-trivial spatial topology on quantum
entanglement by examining the degenerate ground states of a topologically
ordered system on torus. Using the string-net (fixed-point) wave-function, we
propose a general formula of the reduced density matrix when the system is
partitioned into two cylinders. The cylindrical topology of the subsystems
makes a significant difference in regard to entanglement: a global quantum
number for the many-body states comes into play, together with a decomposition
matrix $M$ which describes how topological charges of the ground states
decompose into boundary degrees of freedom. We obtain a general formula for
entanglement entropy and generalize the concept of minimally entangled states
to minimally entangled sectors. Concrete examples are demonstrated with data
from both finite groups and modular tensor categories (i.e., Fibonacci, Ising,
etc.), supported by numerical verification.


title: Algorithmic randomness and Fourier analysis

abstract:
  Suppose $1 < p < \infty$. Carleson's Theorem states that the Fourier series
of any function in $L^p[-\pi, \pi]$ converges almost everywhere. We show that
the Schnorr random points are precisely those that satisfy this theorem for
every $f \in L^p[-\pi, \pi]$ given natural computability conditions on $f$ and
$p$.


title: Ion Dynamics at A Rippled Quasi-parallel Shock: 2-D Hybrid Simulations

abstract:
  In this paper, two-dimensional (2-D) hybrid simulations are performed to
investigate ion dynamics at a rippled quasi-parallel shock. The results show
that the ripples around the shock front are inherent structures of a
quasi-parallel shock, and the reformation of the shock is not synchronous along
the surface of the shock front. By following the trajectories of the upstream
ions, we find that these ions behave differently when they interact with the
shock front at different positions along the shock surface. The upstream
particles are easier to transmit through the upper part of a ripple, and the
bulk velocity in the corresponding downstream is larger, where a high-speed jet
is formed. In the lower part of the ripple, the upstream particles tend to be
reflected by the shock. For the reflected ions by the shock, they may suffer
multiple stage acceleration when moving along the shock surface, or trapped
between the upstream waves and the shock front. At last, these ions may escape
to the further upstream or enter the downstream, therefore, the superthermal
ions can be found in both the upstream and downstream.


title: Origin of uranium isotope variations in early solar nebula condensates

abstract:
  High temperature condensates found in meteorites display uranium isotopic
variations (235U/238U) that complicate dating of the formation of the Solar
System and whose origin remains mysterious. It is possible that these
variations are due to decay of the short-lived radionuclide 247Cm (t1/2=15.6
Myr) into 235U but they could also be due to uranium kinetic isotopic
fractionation during condensation. We report uranium isotope measurements of
meteoritic refractory inclusions that reveal excesses of 235U reaching ~+6 %
relative to average solar system composition, which can only be due to decay of
247Cm. This allows us to constrain the 247Cm/235U ratio at Solar System
formation to (7.0 +- 1.6) x 10-5. This value provides new clues on the
universality of nucleosynthetic r-process of rapid neutron capture.


title: Variable Weak Hardy Spaces and Their Applications

abstract:
  Let $p(\cdot):\ \mathbb R^n\to(0,\infty)$ be a variable exponent function
satisfying the globally log-H\"older continuous condition. In this article, the
authors first introduce the variable weak Hardy space on $\mathbb R^n$,
$W\!H^{p(\cdot)}(\mathbb R^n)$, via the radial grand maximal function, and then
establish its radial or non-tangential maximal function characterizations.
Moreover, the authors also obtain various equivalent characterizations of
$W\!H^{p(\cdot)}(\mathbb R^n)$, respectively, by means of atoms, molecules, the
Lusin area function, the Littlewood-Paley $g$-function or
$g_{\lambda}^\ast$-function. As an application, the authors establish the
boundedness of convolutional $\delta$-type and non-convolutional $\gamma$-order
Calder\'on-Zygmund operators from $H^{p(\cdot)}(\mathbb R^n)$ to
$W\!H^{p(\cdot)}(\mathbb R^n)$ including the critical case
$p_-={n}/{(n+\delta)}$, where $p_-:=\mathop\mathrm{ess\,inf}_{x\in \rn}p(x).$


title: Characterization study of a broad-energy germanium detector at CJPL

abstract:
  The ability of background discrimination using pulse shape discrimination
(PSD) in broad-energy germanium (BEGe) detectors makes them as competitive
candidates for neutrinoless double beta decay (0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta})
experiments. The measurements of key parameters for detector modeling in a
commercial p-type BEGe detector are presented in this paper. Point-like sources
were used to investigate the energy resolution and linearity of the detector. A
cylindrical volume source was used for the efficiency calibration. With an
assembled device for source positioning, a collimated 133Ba point-like source
was used to scan the detector and investigate the active volume. A point-like
source of 241Am was used to measure the dead layer thicknesses, which are
approximately 0.17 mm on the front and 1.18 mm on the side. The described
characterization method will play an important role in the 0{\nu}\b{eta}\b{eta}
experiments with BEGe detectors at China JinPing underground Laboratory (CJPL)
in the future.


title: On some special families of $q$-hypergeometric Maass forms

abstract:
  Using special polynomials introduced by Hikami and the second author in their
study of torus knots, we construct classes of $q$-hypergeometric series lying
in the Habiro ring. These give rise to new families of quantum modular forms,
and their Fourier coefficients encode distinguished Maass cusp forms. The
cuspidality of these Maass waveforms is proven by making use of the Habiro ring
representations of the associated quantum modular forms. Thus, we provide an
example of using the $q$-hypergeometric structure of associated series to
establish modularity properties which are otherwise non-obvious. We conclude
the paper with a number of motivating questions and possible connections with
Hecke characters, combinatorics, and still mysterious relations between
$q$-hypergeometric series and {the passage} from positive to negative
coefficients of Maass waveforms.


title: On positivity for generalized cluster variables of affine quivers

abstract:
  It has been proved in \cite{LS} that cluster variables in cluster algebras of
every skew-symmetric cluster algebra are positive. We prove that any regular
generalized cluster variable of an affine quiver is positive. As a corollary,
we obtain that generalized cluster variables of affine quivers are positive and
construct various positive bases. This generalizes the results in \cite{Dupont}
and \cite{DXX}.


title: On the convergence of harmonic Ritz vectors and harmonic Ritz values

abstract:
  We are interested in computing a simple eigenpair $(\lambda,{\bf x})$ of a
large non-Hermitian matrix $A$, by a general harmonic Rayleigh-Ritz projection
method. Given a search subspace $\mathcal{K}$ and a target point $\tau$, we
focus on the convergence of the harmonic Ritz vector $\widetilde{\bf x}$ and
harmonic Ritz value $\widetilde{\lambda}$. In [{Z. Jia}, {\em The convergence
of harmonic Ritz values, harmonic Ritz vectors, and refined harmonic Ritz
vectors}, Math. Comput., 74 (2004), pp. 1441--1456.], Jia showed that for the
convergence of harmonic Ritz vector and harmonic Ritz value, it is essential to
assume certain Rayleigh quotient matrix being {\it uniformly nonsingular} as
$\angle({\bf x},\mathcal{K})\rightarrow 0$. However, this assumption can not be
guaranteed theoretically for a general matrix $A$, and the Rayleigh quotient
matrix can be singular or near singular even if $\tau$ is not close to
$\lambda$. In this paper, we abolish this constraint and derive new bounds for
the convergence of harmonic Rayleigh-Ritz projection methods. We show that as
the distance between ${\bf x}$ and $\mathcal{K}$ tends to zero and $\tau$ is
satisfied with the so-called {\it uniform separation condition}, the harmonic
Ritz value converges, and the harmonic Ritz vector converges as
$\frac{1}{\lambda-\tau}$ is well separated from other Ritz values of $(A-\tau
I)^{-1}$ in the orthogonal complement of $(A-\tau I)\widetilde{\bf x}$ with
respect to $(A-\tau I)\mathcal{K}$.


title: Complex-demand Scheduling Problem with Application in Smart Grid

abstract:
  We consider the problem of scheduling complex-valued demands over a
discretized time horizon. Given a set of users, each user is associated with a
set of demands representing different power consumption preferences. A demand
is represented by a complex number, a time interval, and a utility value
obtained if it is satisfied. At each time slot, the magnitude of the total
selected demands should not exceed a given generation capacity. This naturally
captures the supply constraints in alternating current (AC) electric systems.
In this paper, we consider maximizing the aggregate user utility subject to
power supply limits over a time horizon. We present approximation algorithms
characterized by the maximum angle $\phi$ between any two complex-valued
demands. More precisely, a PTAS is presented for the case $\phi \in
[0,\tfrac{\pi}{2}]$, a bi-criteria FPTAS for $\phi \in [0,{\pi} \mbox{-}
\varepsilon]$ for any polynomially small $\varepsilon$, assuming the number of
time slots in the discretized time horizon is a constant. Furthermore, if the
number of time slots is part of the input, we present a reduction to the
real-valued unsplittable flow problem on a path with only a constant
approximation ratio. Finally, we present a practical greedy algorithm for the
single time slot case with an approximation ratio of $\tfrac{1}{2}\cos
\frac{\phi}{2}$ and a running time complexity of only ${O}(N\log N)$, $N$
standing for the aggregate number of user demands, which can be implemented
efficiently in practice.


title: Approaches to Modeling Insurgency

abstract:
  This paper begins with an introduction to qualitative theories and models of
insurgency, quantitative measures of insurgency, influence diagrams, system
dynamics models of insurgency, agent based molding of insurgency,
human-in-the-loop wargaming of insurgency, and statistical models of
insurgency. The paper then presents a detailed case study of an agent-based
model that focuses on the Troubles in Northern Ireland starting in 1968. The
model is agent-based and uses a modeling tool called Simulation of Cultural
Identities for Prediction of Reactions (SCIPR). The objective in this modeling
effort was to predict trends in the degree of population's support to parties
in this conflict. The case studies describes in detail the agents, their
actions, model initialization and simulation process, and the results of the
simulation compared to actual historical results of elections.


title:
Combined heavy-quark symmetry and large-$N_c$ operator analysis for
  2-body counterterms in the chiral Lagrangian with $D$ mesons and charmed
  baryons

abstract:
  We construct, in the work, chiral $SU(3)$ Lagrangian with $D$ mesons of spin
$J^P=0^-$ and $J^P=1^-$ and charmed baryons of spin $J^P=1/2^+$ and
$J^P=3/2^+$. There are 42 leading two-body counter-terms involving two charmed
baryon fields and two $D$ meson fields in the constructed Lagrangian. The
heavy-quark spin symmetry leads to 35 sum rules while the large-$N_c$ operator
analysis predicts 29 ones at the next-to leading order of $1/N_c$ expansion.
The combination of the sum rules from both the heavy-quark symmetry and the
large-$N_c$ analysis results in 38 independent sum rules which reduces the
number of free parameters in the chiral Lagrangian down to 4 only. This is a
remarkable result demonstrating the consistency of the heavy-quark symmetry and
large-$N_c$ operator analysis.


title: Nonlinear backbone torsional pair correlations in proteins

abstract:
  Protein allostery requires dynamical structural correlations. Physical origin
of which, however, remain elusive despite intensive studies during last two
decades. Based on analysis of molecular dynamics (MD) simulation trajectories
for ten proteins with different sizes and folds, we found that nonlinear
backbone torsional pair (BTP) correlations, which are spatially more
long-ranged and are mainly executed by loop residues, exist extensively in most
analyzed proteins. Examination of torsional motion for correlated BTPs
suggested that aharmonic torsional state transitions are essential for such
non-linear correlations, which correspondingly occur on widely different and
relatively longer time scales. In contrast, BTP correlations between backbone
torsions in stable $\alpha$ helices and $\beta$ strands are mainly linear and
spatially more short-ranged, and are more likely to associate with intra-well
torsional dynamics. Further analysis revealed that the direct cause of
non-linear contributions are heterogeneous, and in extreme cases canceling,
linear correlations associated with different torsional states of participating
torsions. Therefore, torsional state transitions of participating torsions for
a correlated BTP are only necessary but not sufficient condition for
significant non-linear contributions. These findings implicate a general search
strategy for novel allosteric modulation of protein activities. Meanwhile, it
was suggested that ensemble averaged correlation calculation and static contact
network analysis, while insightful, are not sufficient to elucidate mechanisms
underlying allosteric signal transmission in general, dynamical and time scale
resolved analysis are essential.


title:
Universal effective coupling constants for the generalized Heisenberg
  model

abstract:
  The aim of this study is to find universal critical values of the
dimensionless effective coupling constant $g_6$ and refined universal values
$g_4$ for Heisenberg ferromagnets with $n$-component order parameters. These
constants appear in the equation of state and determine the nonlinear
susceptibilities $\chi_4$ and $\chi_6$ in the critical region. The sextic
coupling $g_6$ is calculated as a function of $g_4$ in the three-loop
approximation, the series obtained is resummed by the Pade-Borel method and
then by substituting the Wilson fixed point coordinate $g_4^*$ into resultant
expression numerical values of $g_6^*$ are obtained for different $n$. The
numbers $g_4^*$ were determined from the six-loop expansions for $\beta$
function resummed using Borel-transformation-based techniques. The analysis of
the accuracy of these $g_6^*$ values showed that they differ from the true
values by no more than 1.6 %. The values of $g_6^*$ thus found were compared
also with those given by the $1/n$ method what allowed to estimate the level of
accuracy of this method.


title:
Layer dependence of geometric, electronic and piezoelectric properties
  of SnSe

abstract:
  By means of first-principles calculations, we explore systematically the
geometric, electronic and piezoelectric properties of multilayer SnSe. We find
that these properties are layer-dependent, indicating that the interlayer
interaction plays an important role. With increasing the number of SnSe layers
from 1 to 6, we observe that the lattice constant decreases from 4.27
$\mathring{A}$ to 4.22 $\mathring{A}$ along zigzag direction, and increases
from 4.41 $\mathring{A}$ to 4.51 $\mathring{A}$ along armchair direction close
to the bulk limit (4.21 $\mathring{A}$ and 4.52 $\mathring{A}$, respectively);
the band gap decreases from 1.45 eV to 1.08 eV, approaching the bulk gap 0.95
eV. Although the monolayer SnSe exhibits almost symmetric geometric and
electronic structures along zigzag and armchair directions, bulk SnSe is
obviously anisotropic, showing that the stacking of layers enhances the
anisotropic character of SnSe. As bulk and even-layer SnSe have inversion
centers, they cannot exhibit piezoelectric responses. However, we show that the
odd-layer SnSe have piezoelectric coefficients much higher than those of the
known piezoelectric materials, suggesting that the odd-layer SnSe is a good
piezoelectric material.


title: Separability criteria with angular and Hilbert space averages

abstract:
  The practically useful criteria of separable states
$\rho=\sum_{k}w_{k}\rho_{k}$ in $d=2\times2$ are discussed. The equality
$G({\bf a},{\bf b})= 4[\langle \psi|P({\bf a})\otimes P({\bf
b})|\psi\rangle-\langle \psi|P({\bf a})\otimes{\bf 1}|\psi\rangle\langle
\psi|{\bf 1}\otimes P({\bf b})|\psi\rangle]=0$ for any two projection operators
$P({\bf a})$ and $P({\bf b})$ provides a necessary and sufficient separability
criterion in the case of a separable pure state
$\rho=|\psi\rangle\langle\psi|$. We propose the separability criteria of mixed
states, which are given by ${\rm Tr}\rho\{{\bf a}\cdot {\bf \sigma}\otimes {\bf
b}\cdot {\bf \sigma}\}=(1/3)C\cos\varphi$ for two spin $1/2$ systems and $4{\rm
Tr}\rho \{P({\bf a})\otimes P({\bf b})\}=1+(1/2)C\cos2\varphi$ for two photon
systems, respectively, after taking a geometrical angular average of ${\bf a}$
and ${\bf b}$ with fixed $\cos\varphi={\bf a}\cdot{\bf b}$. Here $-1\leq C\leq
1$, and the difference in the numerical coefficients $1/2$ and $1/3$ arises
from the different rotational properties of the spinor and the transverse
photon. If one instead takes an average over the states in the $d=2$ Hilbert
space, the criterion for two photon systems is replaced by $4{\rm Tr}\rho
\{P({\bf a})\otimes P({\bf b})\}=1+(1/3)C\cos2\varphi$.
  Those separability criteria are shown to be very efficient using the existing
experimental data of Aspect et al. in 1981 and Sakai et al. in 2006. When the
Werner state is applied to two photon systems, it is shown that the Hilbert
space average can judge its inseparability but not the geometrical angular
average.


title: A New Numerical Method for Solving the Acoustic Radiation Problem

abstract:
  A numerical method of solving the problem of acoustic wave radiation in the
presence of a rigid scatterer is described. It combines the finite element
method and the boundary algebraic equations. In the proposed method, the
exterior domain around the scatterer is discretized, so that there appear an
infinite domain with regular discretization and a relatively small layer with
irregular mesh. For the infinite regular mesh, the boundary algebraic equation
method is used with spurious resonance suppression according to Burton and
Miller. In the thin layer with irregular mesh, the finite element method is
used. The proposed method is characterized by simple implementation, fair
accuracy, and absence of spurious resonances.


title: Utility of potential energy span as an approximate free energy proxy

abstract:
  Free energy calculation is critical in predictive tasks such as protein
folding, docking and design. However, rigorous calculation of free energy
change is prohibitively expensive in these practical applications. The minimum
potential energy is therefore widely utilized to approximate free energy. In
this study, based on analysis of extensive molecular dynamics (MD) simulation
trajectories of a few native globular proteins, we found that change of minimum
and corresponding maximum potential energy terms exhibit similar level of
correlation with change of free energy. More importantly, we demonstrated that
change of span (maximum - minimum) of potential energy terms, which engender
negligible additional computational cost, exhibit considerably stronger
correlations with change of free energy than the corresponding change of
minimum and maximum potential energy terms. Therefore, potential energy span
may serve as an alternative efficient approximate free energy proxy.


title: Markov Switching Smooth Transition GARCH Model

abstract:
  A Markov switching asymmetric GARCH model which imposes more leverage effect
of the negative shocks is considered. The asymptotic behavior of the second
moment is investigated and an upper bound for it is calculated. A bayesian
strategy through Gibbs and griddy Gibbs sampling is used to estimate the
parameters. Finally we study the performance of the model by two real data
sets. We show that this model has the best in-sample fit via DIC and provides a
better forecast when the negative skewness is large enough.


title: Bound exciton and free exciton states in GaSe thin slab

abstract:
  The photoluminescence (PL) and absorption experiments have been performed in
GaSe slab with incident light polarized perpendicular to c-axis of sample at
10K. An obvious energy difference of about 34meV between exciton absorption
peak and PL peak (the highest energy peak) is observed. By studying the
temperature dependence of PL spectra, we attribute it to energy difference
between free exciton and bound exciton states, where main exciton absorption
peak comes from free exciton absorption, and PL peak are attributed to
recombination of bound exciton at 10K. This strong bound exciton effect is
stable up to 50K. Moreover, the temperature dependence of integrated PL
intensity and PL lifetime reveals that a non-radiative process, with active
energy extracted as 0.5meV, dominates PL emission.


title:
Representations of Vertex Operator Algebras $V_{L_2}^{S_4}$ and
  $V_{L_2}^{A_5}$

abstract:
  $C_2$ cofiniteness and rationality of $V_{L_2}^{S_4}$ are obtained, and
irreducible $V_{L_2}^{S_4}$-modules are classified. With the assumption of
rationality and $C_2$ cofiniteness, irreducible $V_{L_2}^{A_5}$-modules are
determined. Also, quantum dimensions of these irreducible modules are
calculated.


title:
Parallel extragradient - viscosity methods for equilibrium problems and
  fixed point problems

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose two parallel extragradient - viscosity methods for
finding a particular element in the common solution set of a system of
equilibrium problems and finitely many fixed point problems. This particular
point is the unique solution of a variational inequality problem on the common
solution set. The main idea of the paper is to combine three methods including
the extragradient method, the Mann iteration method, the hybrid
steepest-descent method with the parallel splitting-up technique to design the
algorithms which improve the performance over some existing methods. The
strongly convergent theorems are established under the widely used assumptions
for equilibrium bifunctions.


title: Noise Stability and Correlation with Half Spaces

abstract:
  Benjamini, Kalai and Schramm showed that a monotone function $f : \{-1,1\}^n
\to \{-1,1\}$ is noise stable if and only if it is correlated with a half-space
(a set of the form $\{x: \langle x, a\rangle \le b\}$).
  We study noise stability in terms of correlation with half-spaces for general
(not necessarily monotone) functions. We show that a function $f: \{-1, 1\}^n
\to \{-1, 1\}$ is noise stable if and only if it becomes correlated with a
half-space when we modify $f$ by randomly restricting a constant fraction of
its coordinates.
  Looking at random restrictions is necessary: we construct noise stable
functions whose correlation with any half-space is $o(1)$. The examples further
satisfy that different restrictions are correlated with different half-spaces:
for any fixed half-space, the probability that a random restriction is
correlated with it goes to zero.
  We also provide quantitative versions of the above statements, and versions
that apply for the Gaussian measure on $\mathbb{R}^n$ instead of the discrete
cube. Our work is motivated by questions in learning theory and a recent
question of Khot and Moshkovitz.


title:
Spin-Orbital Entangled Excitonic Insulators in $(t_{2g})^4$ Correlated
  Electron Systems

abstract:
  We employ the multi-orbital dynamical mean-field theory to examine the ground
state of a three-orbital Hubbard model with a relativistic spin-orbit coupling
(SOC) at four electrons per site. We demonstrate that the interplay between the
strong electron correlations and the SOC induces a Van Vleck-type nonmagnetic
insulator and its magnetic exciton condensation. We also find in the moderate
electron correlation regime that the SOC induces another type of a nonmagnetic
excitonic insulator, in addition to a relativistic band insulator. The
characteristic features among these insulators are manifested in the momentum
resolved single-particle excitations, thus accessible by angle-resolved
photoemission spectroscopy experiments.


title: Variational methods for Conditional Multimodal Deep Learning

abstract:
  In this paper, we address the problem of conditional modality learning,
whereby one is interested in generating one modality given the other. While it
is straightforward to learn a joint distribution over multiple modalities using
a deep multimodal architecture, we observe that such models aren't very
effective at conditional generation. Hence, we address the problem by learning
conditional distributions between the modalities. We use variational methods
for maximizing the corresponding conditional log-likelihood. The resultant deep
model, which we refer to as conditional multimodal autoencoder (CMMA), forces
the latent representation obtained from a single modality alone to be `close'
to the joint representation obtained from multiple modalities. We use the
proposed model to generate faces from attributes. We show that the faces
generated from attributes using the proposed model, are qualitatively and
quantitatively more representative of the attributes from which they were
generated, than those obtained by other deep generative models. We also propose
a secondary task, whereby the existing faces are modified by modifying the
corresponding attributes. We observe that the modifications in face introduced
by the proposed model are representative of the corresponding modifications in
attributes.


title:
Characterization of few transient black hole candidates during their
  X-ray outbursts with TCAF Solution

abstract:
  The theoretical concept of Chakrabarti-Titarchuk two Component Advective Flow
(TCAF) model was introduced around two decade ago in mid-90s. Recently after
the inclusion of TCAF model into XSPEC as an additive table model, we find that
it is quite capable to fit spectra from different phases of few transient black
hole candidates (TBHCs) during their outbursts. This quite agrees with our
theoretical understanding. Here, a brief summary of our recent studies of
spectral and temporal properties of few TBHCs during their X-ray outbursts with
TCAF will be discussed.


title:
Measurement of the differential cross section and charge asymmetry for
  inclusive pp to W + X production at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV

abstract:
  The differential cross section and charge asymmetry for inclusive pp to W + X
to mu + neutrino + X production at sqrt(s) = 8 TeV are measured as a function
of muon pseudorapidity. The data sample corresponds to an integrated luminosity
of 18.8 inverse femtobarns recorded with the CMS detector at the LHC. These
results provide important constraints on the parton distribution functions of
the proton in the range of the Bjorken scaling variable x from 10E-3 to 10E-1.


title: Towards Understanding What Contributes to Forming an Opinion

abstract:
  Opinion evolution mechanism can be captured by physics modeling approaches.
In this context, a kinetic equation is established by defining a generalized
displace (cognitive-level), a driving force and the related generalized
potential, information quantity, altitude. It has been shown that the details
of opinion evolution depends the type of the driving force, self-dominated
driving or environment- dominated driving. In the former case, the participants
can have their altitudes changed in the process of competition between the
self-driving force and environment-driving force. In the latter case, all of
the participants are pulled by the environment. Some regularity behind the
dynamics of opinion is also revealed, for instance, the information entropy
decays with time in a special way, etc. the results may help us to get some
deep understandings to formation of a public opinion.


title:
Consistency between the monopole strength of the Hoyle state determined
  by structural calculation and that extracted from reaction observables

abstract:
  We analyze the $\alpha$-$^{12}$C inelastic scattering to the $0^+_2$ state of
$^{12}$C, the Hoyle state, in a fully microscopic framework. With no free
adjustable parameter, the inelastic cross sections at forward angles are well
reproduced by the microscopic reaction calculation using the transition density
of $^{12}$C obtained by the resonating group method and the nucleon-nucleon $g$
matrix interaction developed by the Melbourne group. It is thus shown that the
monopole transition strength obtained by the structural calculation is
consistent with that extracted from the reaction observable, suggesting no
missing monopole strength of the Hoyle state.


title: Thick Presentism and Newtonian Mechanics

abstract:
  In the present paper I argue that the formalism of Newtonian mechanics stems
directly from the general principle to be called the principle of microlevel
reducibility which physical systems obey in the realm of classical physics.
This principle assumes, first, that all the properties of physical systems must
be determined by their states at the current moment of time, in a slogan form
it is "only the present matters to physics." Second, it postulates that any
physical system is nothing but an ensemble of structureless particles arranged
in some whose interaction obeys the superposition principle. I substantiate
this statement and demonstrate directly how the formalism of differential
equations, the notion of forces in Newtonian mechanics, the concept of phase
space and initial conditions, the principle of least actions, etc. result from
the principle of microlevel reducibility. The philosophical concept of thick
presentism and the introduction of two dimensional time---physical time and
meta-time that are mutually independent on infinitesimal scales---are the the
pivot points in these constructions.


title: On the Number of Cycles in a Graph

abstract:
  There is a sizable literature on investigating the minimum and maximum
numbers of cycles in a class of graphs. However, the answer is known only for
special classes. This paper presents a result on the smallest number of cycles
in hamiltonian 3-connected cubic graphs. Further, it describes a proof
technique that could improve an upper bound of the largest number of cycles in
a hamiltonian graph.


title: Non-affine bending mode of thin cylindrical tubes

abstract:
  We discuss the response of thin cylindrical tubes to small indentations. The
stretching-free embedding of these surfaces is completely determined by the
embedding of one edge curve, thus reducing their bending response to an
effectively one dimensional problem. We obtain that in general thin cylindrical
tubes will bend non-uniformly in response to an indentation normal to their
surface. As a consequence, their local bending stiffness, as measured by
indenting at various locations along their axis, is predicted to peak at the
center and decrease by a universal factor of 4 at either end of the tube. This
characteristic spatial profile of the bending stiffness variation allows a
direct determination of the bending modulus of very thin tubes that are shorter
than their pinch persistence length, $l_{p}\propto R^{3/2}/t^{1/2}$, where $R$
is the tube diameter and $t$ its wall thickness. We compare our results with
experiments performed on rolled-up stainless steel sheets.


title:
Estimation of mass of MAXI J1659-152 during its very first outburst with
  TCAF fits

abstract:
  We determine mass of MAXI J1659-152 using two different methods, viz:
constant Normalization parameter point of view while fitting with TCAF,
$M_{BH}$-$\chi^2_{red}$ variation from TCAF fits. We find a mass range of
$4.06-7.93~M_\odot$ with a most probable value at $6 \pm 2 M_\odot$.


title: Dynamics of a ground-state cooled ion colliding with ultra-cold atoms

abstract:
  Ultra-cold atom-ion mixtures are gaining increasing interest due to their
potential applications in quantum chemistry, quantum computing and many-body
physics. Here, we studied the dynamics of a single ground-state cooled ion
during few, to many, Langevin (spiraling) collisions with ultra-cold atoms. We
measured the ion's energy distribution and observed a clear deviation from
Maxwell-Boltzmann to a Tsallis characterized by a power-law tail of high
energies. Unlike previous experiments, the energy scale of atom-ion
interactions is not determined by either the atomic cloud temperature or the
ion's trap residual excess-micromotion energy. Instead, it is determined by the
force the atom exerts on the ion during a collision which is then amplified by
the trap dynamics. This effect is intrinsic to ion Paul traps and sets the
lower bound of atom-ion steady-state interaction energy in these systems.
Despite the fact that our system is eventually driven out of the ultra-cold
regime, we are capable of studying quantum effects by limiting the interaction
to the first collision.


title:
Commensurate and incommensurate magnetic order in spin-1 chains stacked
  on the triangular lattice in Li$_2$NiW$_2$O$_8$

abstract:
  We report thermodynamic properties, magnetic ground state, and microscopic
magnetic model of the spin-1 frustrated antiferromaget Li$_{2}$NiW$_{2}$O$_{8}$
showing successive transitions at $T_{\rm N1}\simeq 18$ K and $T_{\rm N2}\simeq
12.5$ K in zero field. Nuclear magnetic resonance and neutron diffraction
reveal collinear and commensurate magnetic order with the propagation vector
$\mathbf k=(\frac12,0,\frac12)$ below $T_{\rm N2}$. The ordered moment of 1.8
$\mu_B$ at 1.5 K is directed along $[0.89(9),-0.10(5),-0.49(6)]$ and matches
the magnetic easy axis of spin-1 Ni$^{2+}$ ions, which is determined by the
scissor-like distortion of the NiO$_6$ octahedra. Incommensurate magnetic
order, presumably of spin-density-wave type, is observed in the region between
$T_{\rm N2}$ and $T_{\rm N1}$. Density-functional band-structure calculations
put forward a three-dimensional spin lattice with spin-1 chains running along
the $[01\bar 1]$ direction and stacked on a spatially anisotropic triangular
lattice in the $ab$ plane. We show that the collinear magnetic order in
Li$_2$NiW$_2$O$_8$ is incompatible with the triangular lattice geometry and
thus driven by a pronounced easy-axis single-ion anisotropy of Ni$^{2+}$.


title:
Remote plasmon--induced heat transfer probed by the electronic transport
  of a gold nanowire

abstract:
  We show in this paper that the heat generated by the optical excitation of
resonant plasmonic antennas and diffusing along a simple glass/air interface
disturbs the electron transport of a nearby conductive element. By probing the
temperature-dependent resistance of a gold nanowire $R_{\rm nw}(T)$, we
quantitatively analyze the impact of a resonant absorption of the laser by the
antennas. We find that the temperature rise at the nanowire induced by the
laser absorption of a distant nanoparticle may exceed that of a direct
illumination of the nanowire itself. We also find that a global temperature
calibration underestimates the heat generated locally by the laser. The
temperature deduced from resistance variations are verified by numerical
simulations with a very satisfactory agreement.


title:
Characterization of circuits supporting polynomial systems with the
  maximal number of positive solutions

abstract:
  A polynomial system with $n$ equations in $n$ variables supported on a set
$\mathcal{W}\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ of $n+2$ points has at most $n+1$
non-degenerate positive solutions. Moreover, if this bound is reached, then
$\mathcal{W}$ is minimally affinely dependent, in other words, it is a circuit
in $\mathbb{R}^n$. For any positive integer number $n$, we determine all
circuits $\mathcal{W}\subset\mathbb{R}^n$ which can support a polynomial system
with $n+1$ non-degenerate positive solutions. Restrictions on such circuits
$\mathcal{W}$ are obtained using Grothendieck's real dessins d'enfant, while
polynomial systems with $n+1$ non-degenerate positive solutions are constructed
using Viro's combinatorial patchworking.


title:
Second generation Dirac cones and inversion symmetry breaking induced
  gaps in graphene/hexagonal boron nitride

abstract:
  Graphene/h-BN has emerged as a model van der Waals heterostructure, and the
band structure engineering by the superlattice potential has led to various
novel quantum phenomena including the self-similar Hofstadter butterfly states.
Although newly generated second generation Dirac cones (SDCs) are believed to
be crucial for understanding such intriguing phenomena, so far fundamental
knowledge of SDCs in such heterostructure, e.g. locations and dispersion of
SDCs, the effect of inversion symmetry breaking on the gap opening, still
remains highly debated due to the lack of direct experimental results. Here we
report first direct experimental results on the dispersion of SDCs in 0$^\circ$
aligned graphene/h-BN heterostructure using angle-resolved photoemission
spectroscopy. Our data reveal unambiguously SDCs at the corners of the
superlattice Brillouin zone, and at only one of the two superlattice valleys.
Moreover, gaps of $\approx$ 100 meV and $\approx$ 160 meV are observed at the
SDCs and the original graphene Dirac cone respectively. Our work highlights the
important role of a strong inversion symmetry breaking perturbation potential
in the physics of graphene/h-BN, and fills critical knowledge gaps in the band
structure engineering of Dirac fermions by a superlattice potential.


title: Hall polynomials, inverse Kostka polynomials and puzzles

abstract:
  We study two different one-parameter generalizations of
Littlewood--Richardson coefficients, namely Hall polynomials and generalized
inverse Kostka polynomials, and derive new combinatorial formulae for them. Our
combinatorial expressions are closely related to puzzles, originally introduced
by Knutson and Tao in their work on the equivariant cohomology of the
Grassmannian.


title:
Fiber-integrated single photon source of high efficiency based on a
  concept of ultra-broadband optical horn antenna

abstract:
  We theoretically demonstrate a fiber-integrated single photon source of
unprecedented efficiency. This fiber single photon source is achieved by
coupling optically a single quantum emitter to a monomode optical fiber with a
new concept of ultra-broadband optical antenna. Such an optical antenna concept
is the result of the transposition to optical frequencies of the well-known
low-frequency horn antenna The optical horn antenna is here shown to be capable
of directing the radiation from the emitter toward the optical fiber and
efficiently phase-matching the photon emission with the fiber mode. Numerical
results show that an optical horn antenna can funnel up to 85% of the radiation
from a dipolar source within an emission cone semi-angle as small as 7 degrees
(antenna directivity of 300). It is also shown that 50% of the emitted power
from the dipolar source can be collected and coupled to an SMF-28 fiber mode
over spectral ranges larger than 1000 nm, with a maximum energy transfer
reaching 70 %. This approach is highly promising in the engineering of
all-fiber "on-demand" single photon sources for telecommunication, quantum
optics and sensing.


title:
Proof of Threshold Saturation for Spatially Coupled Sparse Superposition
  Codes

abstract:
  Recently, a new class of codes, called sparse superposition or sparse
regression codes, has been proposed for communication over the AWGN channel. It
has been proven that they achieve capacity using power allocation and various
forms of iterative decoding. Empirical evidence has also strongly suggested
that the codes achieve capacity when spatial coupling and approximate message
passing decoding are used, without need of power allocation. In this note we
prove that state evolution (which tracks message passing) indeed saturates the
potential threshold of the underlying code ensemble, which approaches in a
proper limit the optimal threshold. Our proof uses ideas developed in the
theory of low-density parity-check codes and compressive sensing.


title:
Well-posedness of a porous medium flow with fractional pressure in
  Sobolev spaces

abstract:
  The nonnegative solution for a linear degenerate diffusion transport eqution
is proved. As a result, we show the existence and uniqueness of the solution
for the fractional porous medium equation in Sobolev spaces $H^\alpha$ with
nonnegative initial data, $\alpha>\frac d2+1$. Besides, we correct a mistake in
our previous paper \cite{zhou01}.


title:
Type Based Sign Modulation and its Application for ISI mitigation in
  Molecular Communication

abstract:
  An important challenge in design of modulation schemes for molecular
communication is positivity of the transmission signal (only a positive
concentration of molecules can be released in the environment). This
restriction makes handling of the InterSymbol Interference (ISI) a challenge
for molecular communication. Previous works have proposed use of chemical
reactions to remove molecules from the environment, and to effectively simulate
negative signals. However, the differential equation describing a
diffusion-reaction process is non-linear. This precludes the possibility of
using Fourier transform tools. In this paper, a solution for simulating
negative signals based on the diffusion-reaction channel model is proposed.
While the proposed solution does not exploit the full degrees of freedom
available for signaling in a diffusion-reaction process, but its end-to-end
system is a linear channel and amenable to Fourier transform analysis. Based on
our solution, a modulation scheme and a precoder are introduced and shown to
have a significant reduction in error probability compared to previous
modulation schemes such as CSK and MCSK. The effect of various imperfections
(such as quantization error) on the communication system performance are
studied.


title: Unambiguous Prioritized Repairing of Databases

abstract:
  In its traditional definition, a repair of an inconsistent database is a
consistent database that differs from the inconsistent one in a "minimal way".
Often, repairs are not equally legitimate, as it is desired to prefer one over
another; for example, one fact is regarded more reliable than another, or a
more recent fact should be preferred to an earlier one. Motivated by these
considerations, researchers have introduced and investigated the framework of
preferred repairs, in the context of denial constraints and subset repairs.
There, a priority relation between facts is lifted towards a priority relation
between consistent databases, and repairs are restricted to the ones that are
optimal in the lifted sense. Three notions of lifting (and optimal repairs)
have been proposed: Pareto, global, and completion.
  In this paper we investigate the complexity of deciding whether the priority
relation suffices to clean the database unambiguously, or in other words,
whether there is exactly one optimal repair. We show that the different lifting
semantics entail highly different complexities. Under Pareto optimality, the
problem is coNP-complete, in data complexity, for every set of functional
dependencies (FDs), except for the tractable case of (equivalence to) one FD
per relation. Under global optimality, one FD per relation is still tractable,
but we establish $\Pi^{p}_{2}$-completeness for a relation with two FDs. In
contrast, under completion optimality the problem is solvable in polynomial
time for every set of FDs. In fact, we present a polynomial-time algorithm for
arbitrary conflict hypergraphs. We further show that under a general assumption
of transitivity, this algorithm solves the problem even for global optimality.
The algorithm is extremely simple, but its proof of correctness is quite
intricate.


title: Blowup for flat slow manifolds

abstract:
  In this paper we present a method for extending the blowup method, in the
formulation of Krupa and Szmolyan, to flat slow manifolds that lose
hyperbolicity beyond any algebraic order. Although these manifolds have
infinite co-dimension, they do appear naturally in certain settings. For
example in (a) the regularization of piecewise smooth systems by $\tanh$, (b) a
model of aircraft landing dynamics, and finally (c) in a model of earthquake
faulting. We demonstrate the approach on a simple model system and the examples
(a) and (b).


title:
Fractional Noether's Theorem with Classical and Caputo Derivatives:
  constants of motion for non-conservative systems

abstract:
  Since the seminal work of Emmy Noether it is well know that all conservations
laws in physics, \textrm{e.g.}, conservation of energy or conservation of
momentum, are directly related to the invariance of the action under a family
of transformations. However, the classical Noether's theorem can not yields
informations about constants of motion for non-conservative systems since it is
not possible to formulate physically meaningful Lagragians for this kind of
systems in classical calculus of variation. On the other hand, in recent years
the fractional calculus of variation within Lagrangians depending on fractional
derivatives has emerged as an elegant alternative to study non-conservative
systems. In the present work, we obtained a generalization of the Noether's
theorem for Lagrangians depending on mixed classical and Caputo derivatives
that can be used to obtain constants of motion for dissipative systems. In
addition, we also obtained Noether's conditions for the fractional optimal
control problem.


title: Copositivity Detection of Tensors: Theory and Algorithm

abstract:
  A symmetric tensor is called copositive if it generates a multivariate form
taking nonnegative values over the nonnegative orthant. Copositive tensors have
found important applications in polynomial optimization and tensor
complementarity problems. In this paper, we consider copositivity detection of
tensors both from theoretical and computational points of view. After giving
several necessary conditions for copositive tensors, we propose several new
criteria for copositive tensors based on the representation of the multivariate
form in barycentric coordinates with respect to the standard simplex and
simplicial partitions. It is verified that, as the partition gets finer and
finer, the concerned conditions eventually capture all strictly copositive
tensors. Based on the obtained theoretical results with the help of simplicial
partitions, we propose a numerical method to judge whether a tensor is
copositive or not. The preliminary numerical results confirm our theoretical
findings.


title: Low-Complexity Iterative Sinusoidal Parameter Estimation

abstract:
  Sinusoidal parameter estimation is a computationally-intensive task, which
can pose problems for real-time implementations. In this paper, we propose a
low-complexity iterative method for estimating sinusoidal parameters that is
based on the linearisation of the model around an initial frequency estimate.
We show that for N sinusoids in a frame of length L, the proposed method has a
complexity of O(LN), which is significantly less than the matching pursuits
method. Furthermore, the proposed method is shown to be more accurate than the
matching pursuits and time frequency reassignment methods in our experiments.


title: Superfield Hamiltonian quantization in terms of quantum antibrackets

abstract:
  We develop a new version of the superfield Hamiltonian quantization. The main
new feature is that the BRST-BFV charge and the gauge fixing Fermion are
introduced on equal footing within the sigma model approach, which provides for
the actual use of the quantum/derived antibrackets. We study in detail the
generating equations for the quantum antibrackets and their primed
counterparts. We discuss the finite quantum anticanonical transformations
generated by the quantum antibracket.


title:
Remarks on the boundary curve of a constant mean curvature topological
  disc

abstract:
  We discuss some consequences of the existence of the holomorphic quadratic
Hopf differential on a conformally immersed constant mean curvature topological
disc with analytic boundary. In particular, we derive a formula for the mean
curvature as a weighted average of the normal curvature of the boundary curve,
and a condition for the surface to be totally umbilic in terms of the normal
curvature.


title: Strain-induced structural instability in FeRh

abstract:
  We perform density functional calculations to investigate the structure of
the inter-metallic alloy FeRh under epitaxial strain. Bulk FeRh exhibits a
metamagnetic transition from a low-temperature antiferromagnetic (AFM) phase to
a ferromagnetic (FM) phase at 350K, and its strain dependence is of interest
for tuning the transition temperature to the room-temperature operating
conditions of typical memory devices. We find an unusually strong dependence of
the structural energetics on the choice of exchange-correlation functional,
with the usual local density approximation (LDA) yielding the wrong
ground-state structure, and generalized gradient (GGA) extensions being in
better agreement with the bulk experimental structure. Using the GGA we show
the existence of a metastable face-centered-cubic (fcc)-like AFM structure that
is reached from the ground state body-centered-cubic (bcc) AFM structure by
following the epitaxial Bain path. We predict that this metastable fcc-like
structure has a significantly higher conductivity than the bcc AFM phase. We
show that the behavior is well described using non-linear elasticity theory,
which captures the softening and eventual sign change of the orthorhombic shear
modulus under compressive strain, consistent with this structural instability.
Finally, we predict the existence of an additional unit-cell-doubling lattice
instability, which should be observable at low temperature.


title: Counting rational points of an algebraic variety over finite fields

abstract:
  Let $\mathbb{F}_q$ denote the finite field of odd characteristic $p$ with $q$
elements ($q=p^{n},n\in \mathbb{N} $) and $\mathbb{F}_q^*$ represent the
nonzero elements of $\mathbb{F}_{q}$. In this paper, by using the Smith normal
form we give an explicit formula for the number of rational points of the
algebraic variety defined by the following system of equations over
$\mathbb{F}_{q}$: \begin{align*} {\left\{\begin{array}{rl}
&\sum_{i=1}^{r_1}a_{1i}x_1^{e^{(1)}_{i1}} ...x_{n_1}^{e^{(1)}_{i,n_1}}
+\sum_{i=r_1+1}^{r_2}a_{1i}x_1^{e^{(1)}_{i1}}
...x_{n_2}^{e^{(1)}_{i,n_2}}-b_1=0,\\ &\sum_{j=1}^{r_3}a_{2j}x_1^{e^{(2)}_{j1}}
...x_{n_3}^{e^{(2)}_{j,n_3}} +\sum_{j=r_3+1}^{r_4}a_{2j}x_1^{e^{(2)}_{j1}}
...x_{n_4}^{e^{(2)}_{j,n_4}}-b_2=0, \end{array}\right.} \end{align*} where the
integers $1\leq r_1<r_2$, $1\leq r_3<r_4$, $1\le n_1<n_2$, $1\le n_3<n_4$,
$n_1\leq n_3$, $b_1, b_2\in \mathbb{F}_{q}$, $a_{1i}\in \mathbb{F}_{q}^{*}$
$(1\leq i\leq r_2)$, $a_{2j}\in \mathbb{F}_{q}^{*}$$(1\leq j\leq r_4)$ and the
exponent of each variable is a positive integer. An example is also presented
to demonstrate the validity of the main result.


title: Exactness of locally compact groups

abstract:
  We give some new characterizations of exactness for locally compact second
countable groups. In particular, we prove that a locally compact second
countable group is exact if and only if it admits a topologically amenable
action on a compact Hausdorff space. This answers an open question by
Anantharaman-Delaroche.


title:
Position-Momentum Uncertainty Relation for an Open Macroscopic Quantum
  System

abstract:
  In this study, we explore the validity of the original Heisenberg position-
momentum uncertainty relation for a macroscopic harmonic oscillator interacting
with environmental micro particles. Our results show that, in the
quasi-classical situation, the original uncertainty relation does not hold when
the number of particles in the environment is small. Nonetheless, increasing
the environmental degrees of freedom resolves the violation in the region of
our investigation.


title:
Two Upper Bounds for both the van der Waerden Numbers $W(r, k + 1)$ and
  $W(r + 1, k)$, that show the Existence of a Recurrence Relation

abstract:
  Using a method we have utilized previously, namely through a finite power
series expansion which also sometimes is known as the "radix polynomial"
representation of an integer, we find an upper bound for a van der Waerden
number that has a recurrence property.


title:
Dunkl harmonic analysis and fundamental sets of functions on the unit
  sphere

abstract:
  Using Dunkl theory, we introduce into consideration some weighted
$L_p$-spaces on $[-1,1]$ and on the unit Euclidean sphere $\mathbb{S}^{d-1}$,
$d\geq 2$. Then we define a family of linear bounded operators
$\{V_\kappa^p(x)\colon x\in\mathbb{S}^{d-1}\}$ acting from the $L_p$-space on
$[-1,1]$ to the $L_p$-space on $\mathbb{S}^{d-1}$, $1\leq p<\infty$. We
establish a necessary and sufficient condition for a function $g$ belonging to
the $L_p$-space on $[-1,1]$ such that the family of functions
$\{V_\kappa^p(x;g)\colon x\in\mathbb{S}^{d-1}\}$ is fundamental in the
$L_p$-space on $\mathbb{S}^{d-1}$.


title:
Semi-Automatic Data Annotation, POS Tagging and Mildly Context-Sensitive
  Disambiguation: the eXtended Revised AraMorph (XRAM)

abstract:
  An extended, revised form of Tim Buckwalter's Arabic lexical and
morphological resource AraMorph, eXtended Revised AraMorph (henceforth XRAM),
is presented which addresses a number of weaknesses and inconsistencies of the
original model by allowing a wider coverage of real-world Classical and
contemporary (both formal and informal) Arabic texts. Building upon previous
research, XRAM enhancements include (i) flag-selectable usage markers, (ii)
probabilistic mildly context-sensitive POS tagging, filtering, disambiguation
and ranking of alternative morphological analyses, (iii) semi-automatic
increment of lexical coverage through extraction of lexical and morphological
information from existing lexical resources. Testing of XRAM through a
front-end Python module showed a remarkable success level.


title:
Spatiotemporal Evolution of Topological Order Upon Quantum Quench Across
  the Critical Point

abstract:
  We consider a topological superconducting wire and use the string order
parameter to investigate the spatiotemporal evolution of the topological order
upon a quantum quench across the critical point. We also analyze the
propagation of the initially localized Majorana bound states after the quench,
in order to examine the connection between the topological order and the
unpaired Majorana states, which has been well established at equilibrium but
remains illusive in dynamical situations. It is found that after the quench the
string order parameters decay over a finite time and that the decaying behavior
is universal, independent of the wire length and the final value of the
chemical potential (the quenching parameter). It is also found that the
topological order is revived repeatedly although the amplitude gradually
decreases. Further, the topological order can propagate into the region which
was initially in the non-topological state. It is observed that all these
behaviors are in parallel and consistent with the propagation and dispersion of
the Majorana wave functions. Finally, we propose a local probing method which
can measure the non-local topological order.


title: Tameness in the Fr\'echet spaces of analytic functions

abstract:
  We investigate tameness in the Fr\'echet spaces O(M) of analytic functions on
Stein manifolds M equipped with the compact open topology. Actually we will
look into tameness in the more general class of nuclear Fr\'echet spaces with
the properties weak DN and Omega, and then specialize to analytic function
spaces. We show that for a Stein manifold M, tameness of O(M) is equivalent to
the hyperconvexity of M.


title: Lipschitz retractions in Hadamard spaces via gradient flow semigroups

abstract:
  Let $X(n),$ for $n\in\mathbb{N},$ be the set of all subsets of a metric space
$(X,d)$ of cardinality at most $n.$ The set $X(n)$ equipped with the Hausdorff
metric is called a finite subset space. In this paper we are concerned with the
existence of Lipschitz retractions $r: X(n)\to X(n-1)$ for $n\ge2.$ It is known
that such retractions do not exist if $X$ is the one-dimensional sphere. On the
other hand L. Kovalev has recently established their existence in case $X$ is a
Hilbert space and he also posed a question as to whether or not such Lipschitz
retractions exist for $X$ being a Hadamard space. In the present paper we
answer this question in the positive.


title: Dying radio galaxies in the LOFAR Lockman Hole

abstract:
  After the jets have switched off, radio galaxies undergo a fading phase which
is often named the dying phase. The luminosity evolution of the remnant plasma
during this period is still poorly constrained because of the paucity of
objects detected. Using the new 150-MHz deep LOFAR observations of the
well-known extragalactic field the Lockman Hole, we performed a systematic
search of dying radio sources aiming to provide good statistics on their
detection and properties. To avoid selection biases towards any specific class
of dying sources we used both morphological and spectral selection criteria. To
do this we combined the LOFAR data with publicly available surveys at other
frequencies as well as dedicated deep observations. Our preliminary results,
show that the fraction of candidate dying radio sources is < 6-8% of the entire
radio source population and is dominated by steep spectrum sources. By
comparing these observational results with statistical modelling of the radio
sky population we will be able to constrain the main mechanisms contributing to
the dying radio galaxy luminosity evolution.


title: D2 brane as the wormhole and the number of the universes

abstract:
  We construct wormhole-like solutions in the type IIA string theory. These
solutions represent wormholes in four-dimensions and are given by the D2 branes
within appropraited backgrounds fields. We present the conditions on these
fields which lead to the four-dimensional wormholes. In the special case we
show how the particular solution in the type IIA theory leads to the dynamic
wormhole. We also speculate about the number of universes and the cosmological
constant.


title:
Singular Infinite Horizon Quadratic Control of Linear Systems with Known
  Disturbances: A Regularization Approach

abstract:
  An optimal control problem with an infinite horizon quadratic cost functional
for a linear system with a known additive disturbance is considered. The
feature of this problem is that a weight matrix of the control cost in the cost
functional is singular. Due to this singularity, the problem can be solved
neither by application of the Pontriagin's Maximum Principle, nor using the
Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation approach, i.e. this problem is singular. Since
the weight matrix of the control cost, being singular, is not in general zero,
only a part of the control coordinates is singular, while the others are
regular. This problem is solved by a regularization method. Namely, it is
associated with a new optimal control problem for the same equation of
dynamics. The cost functional in this new problem is the sum of the original
cost functional and an infinite horizon integral of the squares of the singular
control coordinates with a small positive weight. Due to a smallness of this
coefficient, the new problem is a partial cheap control problem. Using a
perturbation technique, an asymptotic analysis of this partial cheap control
problem is carried out. Based on this analysis, the infimum of the cost
functional in the original problem is derived, and a minimizing sequence of
state-feedback controls is designed. An illustrative example of a singular
trajectory tracking is presented.


title: Hierarchical Decision Making In Electricity Grid Management

abstract:
  The power grid is a complex and vital system that necessitates careful
reliability management. Managing the grid is a difficult problem with multiple
time scales of decision making and stochastic behavior due to renewable energy
generations, variable demand and unplanned outages. Solving this problem in the
face of uncertainty requires a new methodology with tractable algorithms. In
this work, we introduce a new model for hierarchical decision making in complex
systems. We apply reinforcement learning (RL) methods to learn a proxy, i.e., a
level of abstraction, for real-time power grid reliability. We devise an
algorithm that alternates between slow time-scale policy improvement, and fast
time-scale value function approximation. We compare our results to prevailing
heuristics, and show the strength of our method.


title:
Variations on the Grothendieck-Serre Formula for Hilbert functions and
  their applications

abstract:
  In this expository paper we present proofs of Grothendieck-Serre Formula for
multi-graded algebras and Rees algebras for admissible multi-graded
filtrations. As applications, we derive formulas of Sally for postulation
number of admissible filtrations and Hilbert coefficients. We also discuss a
partial solution of Itoh's conjecture by Kummini and Masuti. We present an
alternate proof of Huneke-Ooishi Theorem and a generalisation for multi-graded
filtrations.


title: Proximal groupoid patterns In digital images

abstract:
  The focus of this article is on the detection and classification of patterns
based on groupoids. The approach hinges on descriptive proximity of points in a
set based on the neighborliness property. This approach lends support to image
analysis and understanding and in studying nearness of image segments. A
practical application of the approach is in terms of the analysis of natural
images for pattern identification and classification.


title:
A Brief Technical History of the Large-Area Picosecond Photodetector
  (LAPPD) Collaboration

abstract:
  The Large Area Picosecond PhotoDetector (LAPPD) Collaboration was formed in
2009 to develop large-area photodetectors capable of time resolutions measured
in pico-seconds, with accompanying sub-millimeter spatial resolution. During
the next three and one-half years the Collaboration developed the LAPPD design
of 20 x 20 cm modules with gains greater than $10^7$ and non-uniformity less
than $15\%$, time resolution less than 50 psec for single photons and spatial
resolution of 700~microns in both lateral dimensions. We describe the R\&D
performed to develop large-area micro-channel plate glass substrates, resistive
and secondary-emitting coatings, large-area bialkali photocathodes, and
RF-capable hermetic packaging. In addition, the Collaboration developed the
necessary electronics for large systems capable of precise timing, built up
from a custom low-power 15-GigaSample/sec waveform sampling 6-channel
integrated circuit and supported by a two-level modular data acquisition system
based on Field-Programmable Gate Arrays for local control, data-sparcification,
and triggering. We discuss the formation, organization, and technical successes
and short-comings of the Collaboration. The Collaboration ended in December
2012 with a transition from R\&D to commercialization.


title: Potentials and Limits to Basin Stability Estimation

abstract:
  Stability assessment methods for dynamical systems have recently been
complemented by basin stability and derived measures, i.e. probabilistic
statements whether systems remain in a basin of attraction given a distribution
of perturbations. This requires numerical estimation via Monte-Carlo sampling
and integration of differential equations. Here, we analyze the applicability
of basin stability to systems with basin geometries challenging for this
numerical method, having fractal basin boundaries and riddled or intermingled
basins of attraction. We find that numerical basin stability estimation is
still meaningful for fractal boundaries but reaches its limits for riddled
basins with holes.


title:
Smart Procurement of Naturally Generated Energy (SPONGE) for Plug-in
  Hybrid Electric Buses

abstract:
  We discuss a recently introduced ECO-driving concept known as SPONGE in the
context of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Buses (PHEB)'s.Examples are given to
illustrate the benefits of this approach to ECO-driving. Finally, distributed
algorithms to realise SPONGE are discussed, paying attention to the privacy
implications of the underlying optimisation problems.


title:
First-passage time to clear the way for receptor-ligand binding in a
  crowded environment

abstract:
  Certain biological reactions, such as receptor-ligand binding at cell-cell
interfaces and macromolecules binding to biopolymers, require many smaller
molecules crowding a reaction site to be cleared. Examples include the T cell
interface, a key player in immunological information processing. Diffusion sets
a limit for such cavitation to occur spontaneously, thereby defining a
timescale below which active mechanisms must take over. We consider $N$
independent diffusing particles in a closed domain, containing a sub-region
with $N_{0}$ particles, on average. We investigate the time until the
sub-region is empty, allowing a subsequent reaction to proceed. The first
passage time is computed using an efficient exact simulation algorithm and an
asymptotic approximation in the limit that cavitation is rare. In this limit,
we find that the mean first passage time is sub-exponential, $T \propto
e^{N_{0}}/N_{0}^2$. For the case of T cell receptors, we find that stochastic
cavitation is exceedingly slow, $10^9$ seconds at physiological densities,
however can be accelerated to occur within 5 second with only a four-fold
dilution.


title:
Controlling Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction via Chirality Dependent
  Layer Stacking, Insulator Capping and Electric Field

abstract:
  Using first-principle calculations, we demonstrate several approaches to
manipulate Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya Interaction (DMI) in ultrathin magnetic films.
First, we find that DMI is significantly enhanced when the ferromagnetic (FM)
layer is sandwiched between nonmagnetic (NM) layers inducing additive DMI in
NM/FM/NM structures. For instance, as Pt and Ir below Co induce DMI of opposite
chirality, inserting Co between Pt (below) and Ir (above) in Ir/Co/Pt trilayers
enhances the DMI of Co/Pt bilayers by 15\%. Furthermore, in case of Pb/Co/Pt
trilayers (Ir/Fe/Co/Pt multilayers), DMI can be enhanced by 50\% (almost
doubled) compared to Co/Pt bilayers reaching a very large DMI amplitude of 2.7
(3.2) meV/atom. Our second approach for enhancing DMI is to use oxide capping
layer. We show that DMI is enhanced by 60\% in Oxide/Co/Pt structures compared
to Co/Pt bilayers. Moreover, we unveiled the DMI mechanism at Oxide/Co inerface
due to interfacial electric field effect, which is different to Fert-Levy DMI
at FM/NM interfaces. Finally, we demonstrate that DMI amplitude can be
modulated using an electric field with efficiency factor comparable to that of
the electric field control of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy in transition
metal/oxide interfaces. These approaches of DMI controlling pave the way for
skyrmions and domain wall motion-based spintronic applications.


title: Time dependent delta-prime interactions in dimension one

abstract:
  We solve the Cauchy problem for the Schr\"odinger equation corresponding to
the family of Hamiltonians $H_{\gamma(t)}$ in $L^{2}(\mathbb{R})$ which
describes a $\delta'$-interaction with time-dependent strength $1/\gamma(t)$.
We prove that the strong solution of such a Cauchy problem exits whenever the
map $t\mapsto\gamma(t)$ belongs to the fractional Sobolev space
$H^{3/4}(\mathbb{R})$, thus weakening the hypotheses which would be required by
the known general abstract results. The solution is expressed in terms of the
free evolution and the solution of a Volterra integral equation.


title: Synchronization via interacting reinforcement

abstract:
  We consider a system of urns of Polya-type, with balls of two colors; the
reinforcement of each urn depends both on the content of the same urn and on
the average content of all urns. We show that the urns synchronize almost
surely, in the sense that the fraction of balls of a given color converges
almost surely, as the time goes to infinity, to the same limit for all urns. A
normal approximation for a large number of urns is also obtained.


title: Toric rings and ideals of stable set polytopes

abstract:
  In this paper, we discuss the normality of the toric rings of stable set
polytopes, and the set of generators and Gr\"obner bases of toric ideals of
stable set polytopes by using the results on that of edge polytopes of finite
nonsimple graphs. In particular, for a graph of stability number two, we give a
graph theoretical characterization of the set of generators of the toric ideal
of the stable set polytope, and a criterion to check whether the toric ring of
the stable set polytope is normal or not. One of the application of the results
is an infinite family of stable set polytopes whose toric ideal is generated by
quadratic binomials and has no quadratic Gr\"obner bases.


title:
A Semiparametric Joint Model for Terminal Trend of Quality of Life and
  Survival in Palliative Care Research

abstract:
  Palliative medicine is an interdisciplinary specialty focusing on improving
quality of life (QOL) for patients with serious illness and their families.
Palliative care programs are available or under development at over 80% of
large US hospitals (300+ beds). Palliative care clinical trials present unique
analytic challenges relative to evaluating the palliative care treatment
efficacy which is to improve patients diminishing QOL as disease progresses
towards end of life (EOL). A unique feature of palliative care clinical trials
is that patients will experience decreasing QOL during the trial despite
potentially beneficial treatment. Often longitudinal QOL and survival data are
highly correlated which, in the face of censoring, makes it challenging to
properly analyze and interpret longitudinal QOL trajectory. To address these
issues, we propose a novel semiparametric statistical approach to jointly model
longitudinal QOL and survival data. There are two sub-models in our approach: a
semiparametric mixed effects model for longitudinal QOL and a Cox model for
survival. We use regression splines method to estimate the nonparametric curves
and AIC to select knots. We assess the model through simulation and application
to establish a novel modeling approach that could be applied in future
palliative care treatment research trials.


title:
Quantized conductance doubling and hard gap in a two-dimensional
  semiconductor-superconductor heterostructure

abstract:
  The prospect of coupling a two-dimensional (2D) semiconductor heterostructure
to a superconductor opens new research and technology opportunities, including
fundamental problems in mesoscopic superconductivity, scalable superconducting
electronics, and new topological states of matter. For instance, one route
toward realizing topological matter is by coupling a 2D electron gas (2DEG)
with strong spin-orbit interaction to an s-wave superconductor. Previous
efforts along these lines have been hindered by interface disorder and unstable
gating. Here, we report measurements on a gateable InGaAs/InAs 2DEG with
patterned epitaxial Al, yielding multilayer devices with atomically pristine
interfaces between semiconductor and superconductor. Using surface gates to
form a quantum point contact (QPC), we find a hard superconducting gap in the
tunneling regime, overcoming the soft-gap problem in 2D
superconductor-semiconductor hybrid systems. With the QPC in the open regime,
we observe a first conductance plateau at 4e^2/h, as expected theoretically for
a normal-QPC-superconductor structure. The realization of a hard-gap
semiconductor-superconductor system that is amenable to top-down processing
provides a means of fabricating scalable multicomponent hybrid systems for
applications in low-dissipation electronics and topological quantum
information.


title: A Unified picture of Dark Matter and Dark Energy from Invisible QCD

abstract:
  It has been shown in a companion paper that the late time acceleration of the
universe can be accounted for by an extension of the QCD color to a $SU(3)$
invisible sector (IQCD). In this work we discuss a unified framework such the
scale of dark chiral-breaking dictates both the accelerated expansion of the
universe, and the origin of dark matter. We find that the strong and
gravitational dynamics of dark quarks and gluons evolve to eventually form
exotic dark stars. We discuss the dynamical complexity of these dark compact
objects in light of dark big bang nucleosynthesis. We argue how IQCD favors a
halo composed of very compact dark neutron stars, strange/quark stars and black
holes, with masses $M_{MACHO}< 10^{-7}M_{\odot}$. This avoids limit from MACHO
and EROS collaborations as well as limit from clusters. We also discuss
possible phenomenological implications in dark matter searches. We argue that
dark supernovae and dark binaries can emit very peculiar gravitational waves
signal testable by the LIGO/VIRGO collaboration and future projects dedicated
to these aspects.


title: Classifying bicrossed products of two Taft algebras

abstract:
  We classify all Hopf algebras which factorize through two Taft algebras
$\mathbb{T}_{n^{2}}(\bar{q})$ and respectively $T_{m^{2}}(q)$. To start with,
all possible matched pairs between the two Taft algebras are described: if
$\bar{q} \neq q^{n-1}$ then the matched pairs are in bijection with the group
of $d$-th roots of unity in $k$, where $d = (m,\,n)$ while if $\bar{q} =
q^{n-1}$ then besides the matched pairs above we obtain an additional family of
matched pairs indexed by $k^{*}$. The corresponding bicrossed products (double
cross product in Majid's terminology) are explicitly described by generators
and relations and classified. As a consequence of our approach, we are able to
compute the number of isomorphism types of these bicrossed products as well as
to describe their automorphism groups.


title: Online Learning to Rank with Feedback at the Top

abstract:
  We consider an online learning to rank setting in which, at each round, an
oblivious adversary generates a list of $m$ documents, pertaining to a query,
and the learner produces scores to rank the documents. The adversary then
generates a relevance vector and the learner updates its ranker according to
the feedback received. We consider the setting where the feedback is restricted
to be the relevance levels of only the top $k$ documents in the ranked list for
$k \ll m$. However, the performance of learner is judged based on the
unrevealed full relevance vectors, using an appropriate learning to rank loss
function. We develop efficient algorithms for well known losses in the
pointwise, pairwise and listwise families. We also prove that no online
algorithm can have sublinear regret, with top-1 feedback, for any loss that is
calibrated with respect to NDCG. We apply our algorithms on benchmark datasets
demonstrating efficient online learning of a ranking function from highly
restricted feedback.


title: Open Questions On Nuclear Collective Motion

abstract:
  The status of the macroscopic and microscopic description of the collective
quadrupole modes is reviewed, where limits due to non-adiabaticity and
decoherence are exposed. The microscopic description of the yrast states in
vibrator-like nuclei in the framework of the rotating mean field is presented.


title: Classical Statistics and Statistical Learning in Imaging Neuroscience

abstract:
  Neuroimaging research has predominantly drawn conclusions based on classical
statistics, including null-hypothesis testing, t-tests, and ANOVA. Throughout
recent years, statistical learning methods enjoy increasing popularity,
including cross-validation, pattern classification, and sparsity-inducing
regression. These two methodological families used for neuroimaging data
analysis can be viewed as two extremes of a continuum. Yet, they originated
from different historical contexts, build on different theories, rest on
different assumptions, evaluate different outcome metrics, and permit different
conclusions. This paper portrays commonalities and differences between
classical statistics and statistical learning with their relation to
neuroimaging research. The conceptual implications are illustrated in three
common analysis scenarios. It is thus tried to resolve possible confusion
between classical hypothesis testing and data-guided model estimation by
discussing their ramifications for the neuroimaging access to neurobiology.


title: Gauss' Law and Non-Linear Plane Waves for Yang-Mills Theory

abstract:
  We investigate Non-Linear Plane-Wave solutions of the classical Minkowskian
Yang-Mills (YM) equations of motion. By imposing a suitable ansatz which solves
Gauss' law for the $SU(3)$ theory, we derive solutions which consist of Jacobi
elliptic functions depending on an enumerable set of elliptic modulus values.
The solutions represent periodic anharmonic plane waves which possess arbitrary
non-zero mass and are exact extrema of the non-linear YM action. Among them, a
unique harmonic plane wave with a non-trivial pattern in phase, spin and color
is identified. Similar solutions are present in the $SU(4)$ case while are
absent from the $SU(2)$ theory.


title: Gr\"obner bases and cocyclic Hadamard matrices

abstract:
  Hadamard ideals were introduced in 2006 as a set of nonlinear polynomial
equations whose zeros are uniquely related to Hadamard matrices with one or two
circulant cores of a given order. Based on this idea, the cocyclic Hadamard
test enable us to describe a polynomial ideal that characterizes the set of
cocyclic Hadamard matrices over a fixed finite group $G$ of order $4t$.
Nevertheless, the complexity of the computation of the reduced Gr\"obner basis
of this ideal is $2^{O(t^2)}$, which is excessive even for very small orders.
In order to improve the efficiency of this polynomial method, we take advantage
of some recent results on the inner structure of a cocyclic matrix to describe
an alternative polynomial ideal that also characterizes the mentioned set of
cocyclic Hadamard matrices over $G$. The complexity of the computation
decreases in this way to $2^{O(n)}$, where $n$ is the number of
$G$-coboundaries. Particularly, we design two specific procedures for looking
for $\mathbb{Z}_t \times \mathbb{Z}_2^2$-cocyclic Hadamard matrices and
$D_{4t}$-cocyclic Hadamard matrices, so that larger cocyclic Hadamard matrices
(up to $t \leq 31$) are explicitly obtained.


title:
Generalization error bounds for learning to rank: Does the length of
  document lists matter?

abstract:
  We consider the generalization ability of algorithms for learning to rank at
a query level, a problem also called subset ranking. Existing generalization
error bounds necessarily degrade as the size of the document list associated
with a query increases. We show that such a degradation is not intrinsic to the
problem. For several loss functions, including the cross-entropy loss used in
the well known ListNet method, there is \emph{no} degradation in generalization
ability as document lists become longer. We also provide novel generalization
error bounds under $\ell_1$ regularization and faster convergence rates if the
loss function is smooth.


title:
A refinement of Betti numbers and homology in the presence of a
  continuous function II (the case of an angle valued map)

abstract:
  For a continuous angle-valued map defined on a compact ANR, a fixed field and
any degree one proposes a refinement of the Novikov-Betti number and of the
Novikov homology of the pair consisting of the ANR and the degree one integral
cohomology class represented by the map. For each degree the first refinement
is a configuration of points with multiplicity located in the punctured complex
plane whose total cardinality is the Novikov-Betti number of the pair. The
second refinement is a configuration of submodules of the Novikov homology
whose direct sum is isomorphic to the Novikov homology and which has the same
support as the first configuration. When the field is a the field of complex
numbers the second configuration is convertible into a configuration of
mutually orthogonal closed Hilbert submodules of the L2-homology of the
infinite cyclic cover of the ANR defined by the angle-valued map. One discusses
the properties of these configurations namely, robustness with respect to
continuous perturbation of the angle-valued map and the Poincar\'e Duality and
one derives some computational applications in topology. The main results
parallel the results for the case of real-valued map but with Novikov homology
and Novikov-Betti numbers replacing standard homology and standard Betti
numbers.


title:
On the radio detection of multiple-exomoon systems due to plasma torus
  sharing

abstract:
  The idea of single exomoon detection due to the radio emissions caused by its
interaction with the host exoplanet is extended to multiple-exomoon systems.
The characteristic radio emissions are made possible in part by plasma from the
exomoons own ionosphere (Noyola et. al. 2014). In this work, it is demonstrated
that neighboring exomoons and the exoplanetary magnetosphere could also provide
enough plasma to generate a detectable signal. In particular, the
plasma-torus-sharing phenomenon is found to be particularly well suited to
facilitate the radio detection of plasma-deficient exomoons. The efficiency of
this process is evaluated, and the predicted power and frequency of the
resulting radio signals are presented.


title:
Improved Noise Weighting in CELP Coding of Speech - Applying the Vorbis
  Psychoacoustic Model To Speex

abstract:
  One key aspect of the CELP algorithm is that it shapes the coding noise using
a simple, yet effective, weighting filter. In this paper, we improve the noise
shaping of CELP using a more modern psychoacoustic model. This has the
significant advantage of improving the quality of an existing codec without the
need to change the bit-stream. More specifically, we improve the Speex CELP
codec by using the psychoacoustic model used in the Vorbis audio codec. The
results show a significant increase in quality, especially at high bit-rates,
where the improvement is equivalent to a 20% reduction in bit-rate. The
technique itself is not specific to Speex and could be applied to other CELP
codecs.


title: Single Image Restoration for Participating Media Based on Prior Fusion

abstract:
  This paper describes a method to restore degraded images captured in a
participating media -- fog, turbid water, sand storm, etc. Differently from the
related work that only deal with a medium, we obtain generality by using an
image formation model and a fusion of new image priors. The model considers the
image color variation produced by the medium. The proposed restoration method
is based on the fusion of these priors and supported by statistics collected on
images acquired in both non-participating and participating media. The key of
the method is to fuse two complementary measures --- local contrast and color
data. The obtained results on underwater and foggy images demonstrate the
capabilities of the proposed method. Moreover, we evaluated our method using a
special dataset for which a ground-truth image is available.


title:
Exponentially concave functions and high dimensional stochastic
  portfolio theory

abstract:
  We consider the following problem in stochastic portfolio theory. Are there
portfolios that are relative arbitrages with respect to the market portfolio
over very short periods of time under realistic assumptions? We answer a
slightly relaxed question affirmative in the following high dimensional sense,
where dimension refers to the number of stocks being traded. Very roughly,
suppose that for every dimension we have a continuous semimartingale market
such that (i) the vector of market weights in decreasing order has a stationary
regularly varying tail with an index between $-1$ and $-1/2$ and (ii) zero is
not a limit point of the relative volatilities of the stocks. Then, given a
probability $\eta < 1$ arbitrarily close to one, two arbitrarily small
$\epsilon, \delta >0$, and an arbitrarily high positive amount $M$, for all
high enough dimensions, it is possible to construct a functionally generated
portfolio such that, with probability at least $\eta$, its relative value with
respect to the market at time $\delta$ is at least $M$, and never goes below
$(1-\epsilon)$ during $[0, \delta]$. There are two phase transitions; if the
index of the tail is less than $-1$ or larger than $-1/2$. The construction
uses properties of regular variation, high-dimensional convex geometry and
concentration of measure under Dirichlet distributions. We crucially use the
notion of $(K,N)$ convex functions introduced by Erbar, Kuwada, Sturm in the
context of curvature-dimension conditions and Bochner's inequalities.


title:
An efficient adaptive polygonal finite element method for plastic
  collapse analysis of solids

abstract:
  We propose an adaptive polygonal finite element formulation for collapse
plastic analysis of solids. The article contributes into four crucial points:
1) Wachspress shape functions at vertex and bubble nodes handled at a
primal-mesh level; 2) plastic strain rates and dissipation performed over a
dual-mesh level; 3) a new adaptive primal-mesh strategy driven by the L^2
-norm-based indicator of strain rates; and 4) a spatial decomposition structure
obtained from a so-called polytree mesh scheme. We investigate both purely
cohesive and cohesive-frictional materials. We prove numerically that the
present method performs well for volumetric locking problem. In addition, the
optimization formulation of limit analysis is written by the form of
second-order cone programming (SOCP) in order to exploit the high efficiency of
interior-point solvers. The present method retains a low number of optimization
variables. This convenient approach allows us to design and solve the
large-scale optimization problems effectively. Numerical validations show the
excellent performance of the proposed method.


title:
Generalizations of local bijectivity of Keller maps and a proof of
  $2$-dimensional Jacobian conjecture

abstract: We give a proof of two-dimensional Jacobian conjecture.


title: Generalized Drazin invertibility of operator matrices

abstract:
  We study the generalized Drazin invertibility as well as the Drazin and
ordinary invertbility of an operator matrix (A C \\ 0 B) acting on a Banach or
on a Hilbert space. As a consequence some recent results are extended.