title: Next-Term Student Performance Prediction: A Recommender Systems Approach

abstract:
  An enduring issue in higher education is student retention to successful
graduation. National statistics indicate that most higher education
institutions have four-year degree completion rates around 50 percent, or just
half of their student populations. While there are prediction models which
illuminate what factors assist with college student success, interventions that
support course selections on a semester-to-semester basis have yet to be deeply
understood. To further this goal, we develop a system to predict students'
grades in the courses they will enroll in during the next enrollment term by
learning patterns from historical transcript data coupled with additional
information about students, courses and the instructors teaching them.
  We explore a variety of classic and state-of-the-art techniques which have
proven effective for recommendation tasks in the e-commerce domain. In our
experiments, Factorization Machines (FM), Random Forests (RF), and the
Personalized Multi-Linear Regression model achieve the lowest prediction error.
Application of a novel feature selection technique is key to the predictive
success and interpretability of the FM. By comparing feature importance across
populations and across models, we uncover strong connections between instructor
characteristics and student performance. We also discover key differences
between transfer and non-transfer students. Ultimately we find that a hybrid
FM-RF method can be used to accurately predict grades for both new and
returning students taking both new and existing courses. Application of these
techniques holds promise for student degree planning, instructor interventions,
and personalized advising, all of which could improve retention and academic
performance.


title: A Classification Leveraged Object Detector

abstract:
  Currently, the state-of-the-art image classification algorithms outperform
the best available object detector by a big margin in terms of average
precision. We, therefore, propose a simple yet principled approach that allows
us to leverage object detection through image classification on supporting
regions specified by a preliminary object detector. Using a simple bag-of-
words model based image classification algorithm, we leveraged the performance
of the deformable model objector from 35.9% to 39.5% in average precision over
20 categories on standard PASCAL VOC 2007 detection dataset.


title:
The BOSS Emission-Line Lens Survey. III. : Strong Lensing of Ly$\alpha$
  Emitters by Individual Galaxies

abstract:
  We introduce the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Emission-Line
Lens Survey (BELLS) for GALaxy-Ly$\alpha$ EmitteR sYstems (BELLS GALLERY)
Survey, which is a Hubble Space Telescope program to image a sample of
galaxy-scale strong gravitational lens candidate systems with high-redshift
Ly$\alpha$ emitters (LAEs) as the background sources. The goal of the BELLS
GALLERY Survey is to illuminate dark substructures in galaxy-scale halos by
exploiting the small-scale clumpiness of rest-frame far-UV emission in lensed
LAEs, and to thereby constrain the slope and normalization of the
substructure-mass function. In this paper, we describe in detail the
spectroscopic strong-lens selection technique, which is based on methods
adopted in the previous Sloan Lens ACS (SLACS) Survey, BELLS, and SLACS for the
Masses Survey. We present the BELLS GALLERY sample of the 21 highest-quality
galaxy--LAE candidates selected from $\approx 1.4 \times 10^6$ galaxy spectra
in the BOSS of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III. These systems consist of
massive galaxies at redshifts of approximately 0.5 strongly lensing LAEs at
redshifts from 2--3. The compact nature of LAEs makes them an ideal probe of
dark substructures, with a substructure-mass sensitivity that is unprecedented
in other optical strong-lens samples. The magnification effect from lensing
will also reveal the structure of LAEs below 100 pc scales, providing a
detailed look at the sites of the most concentrated unobscured star formation
in the universe. The source code used for candidate selection is available for
download as a part of this release.


title: Renormalization group flow, Entropy and Eigenvalues

abstract:
  The irreversibility of the renormalization group flow is conjectured to be
closely related to the concept of entropy. In this paper, the variation of
eigenvalues of the Laplacian in the Polyakov action under the renormalization
group flow will be studied. Based on the one-loop approximation to the
effective field theory, we will use the heat kernel method and zeta function
regularization. In even dimensions, the variation of eigenvalues is given by
the top heat kernel coefficient, and the conformal anomaly is relevant. In odd
dimensions, we will conjecture a formula for the variation of eigenvalues
through the holographic renormalization in the setting of geometric AdS/CFT
correspondence.


title: Statistical sensitiveness for science

abstract:
  Research often necessitates of samples, yet obtaining large enough samples is
not always possible. When it is, the researcher may use one of two methods for
deciding upon the required sample size: rules-of-thumb, quick yet uncertain,
and estimations for power, mathematically precise yet with the potential to
overestimate or underestimate sample sizes when effect sizes are unknown.
Misestimated sample sizes have negative repercussions in the form of increased
costs, abandoned projects or abandoned publication of non-significant results.
Here I describe a procedure for estimating sample sizes adequate for the
testing approach which is most common in the behavioural, social, and
biomedical sciences, that of tests of significance developed by Fisher. The
procedure focuses on a desired minimum effect size for the research at hand and
finds the minimum sample size required for capturing such effect size as a
statistically significant result. In a similar fashion than power analyses,
sensitiveness analyses can also be extended to finding the minimum effect for a
given sample size a priori as well as to calculating sensitiveness a
posteriori. The article provides a full tutorial for carrying out a
sensitiveness analysis, as well as empirical support via simulation


title: Koll\'ar-type effective freeness for quasi-log canonical pairs

abstract:
  We prove Koll\'ar-type effective basepoint-free theorems for quasi-log
canonical pairs.


title:
Resource Allocation Optimization for Users with Different Levels of
  Service in Multicarrier Systems

abstract:
  We optimize the throughput of a single cell multiuser orthogonal frequency
division multiplexing system with proportional data rate fairness among the
users. The concept is to support mobile users with different levels of service.
The optimization problem is a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem,
which is computationally very expensive. We propose a novel and efficient
near-optimal solution adopting a two-phase optimization approach that separates
the subcarrier and power allocation. In the first phase, we relax the strict
proportional data rate requirements and employ an iterative subcarrier
allocation approach that coarsely satisfies desired data rate proportionality
constraints. In the second phase, we reallocate the power among the users in an
iterative way to further enhance the adherence to the desired proportions by
exploiting the normalized proportionality deviation measure. The simulation
results show that the proposed solution exhibits very strong adherence to the
desired proportional data rate fairness while achieving higher system
throughput compared to the other existing solutions.


title:
Anticipative backward stochastic differential equations driven by
  fractional Brownian motion

abstract:
  We study the anticipative backward stochastic differential equations (BSDEs,
for short) driven by fractional Brownian motion with Hurst parameter H greater
than 1/2. The stochastic integral used throughout the paper is the divergence
operator type integral. We obtain the existence and uniqueness of solutions to
these equations. A comparison theorem for this type of anticipative BSDEs is
also established.


title: Worst-Case Optimal Algorithms for Parallel Query Processing

abstract:
  In this paper, we study the communication complexity for the problem of
computing a conjunctive query on a large database in a parallel setting with
$p$ servers. In contrast to previous work, where upper and lower bounds on the
communication were specified for particular structures of data (either data
without skew, or data with specific types of skew), in this work we focus on
worst-case analysis of the communication cost. The goal is to find worst-case
optimal parallel algorithms, similar to the work of [18] for sequential
algorithms.
  We first show that for a single round we can obtain an optimal worst-case
algorithm. The optimal load for a conjunctive query $q$ when all relations have
size equal to $M$ is $O(M/p^{1/\psi^*})$, where $\psi^*$ is a new query-related
quantity called the edge quasi-packing number, which is different from both the
edge packing number and edge cover number of the query hypergraph. For multiple
rounds, we present algorithms that are optimal for several classes of queries.
Finally, we show a surprising connection to the external memory model, which
allows us to translate parallel algorithms to external memory algorithms. This
technique allows us to recover (within a polylogarithmic factor) several recent
results on the I/O complexity for computing join queries, and also obtain
optimal algorithms for other classes of queries.


title: Miscibility Phase Diagram of Ring Polymer Blends: A Topological Effect

abstract:
  The miscibility of polymer blends, a classical problem in polymer science,
may be altered, if one or both of the component do not have chain ends. Based
on the idea of {\it topological volume}, we propose a mean-field theory to
clarify how the topological constraints in ring polymers affect the phase
behavior of the blends. While the large enhancement of the miscibility is
expected for ring-linear polymer blends, the opposite trend toward demixing,
albeit comparatively weak, is predicted for ring-ring polymer blends. Scaling
formulas for the shift of critical point for both cases are derived. We discuss
the valid range of the present theory, and the crossover to the linear polymer
blends behaviors, which is expected for short chains. These analysis put
forward a view that the topological constraints could be represented as an
effective excluded-volume effects, in which the topological length plays a role
of the screening factor.


title: Joint Detection and Identification Feature Learning for Person Search

abstract:
  Existing person re-identification benchmarks and methods mainly focus on
matching cropped pedestrian images between queries and candidates. However, it
is different from real-world scenarios where the annotations of pedestrian
bounding boxes are unavailable and the target person needs to be searched from
a gallery of whole scene images. To close the gap, we propose a new deep
learning framework for person search. Instead of breaking it down into two
separate tasks---pedestrian detection and person re-identification, we jointly
handle both aspects in a single convolutional neural network. An Online
Instance Matching (OIM) loss function is proposed to train the network
effectively, which is scalable to datasets with numerous identities. To
validate our approach, we collect and annotate a large-scale benchmark dataset
for person search. It contains 18,184 images, 8,432 identities, and 96,143
pedestrian bounding boxes. Experiments show that our framework outperforms
other separate approaches, and the proposed OIM loss function converges much
faster and better than the conventional Softmax loss.


title: Optimal Pricing and Admission Control for Heterogeneous Secondary Users

abstract:
  This paper studies how to maximize a spectrum database operator's expected
revenue in sharing spectrum to secondary users, through joint pricing and
admission control of spectrum resources. A unique feature of our model is the
consideration of the stochastic and heterogeneous nature of secondary users'
demands. We formulate the problem as a stochastic dynamic programming problem,
and present the optimal solutions under both static and dynamic pricing
schemes. In the case of static pricing, the prices do not change with time,
although the admission control policy can still be time-dependent. In this
case, we show that a stationary (time-independent) admission policy is in fact
optimal under a wide range of system parameters. In the case of dynamic
pricing, we allow both prices and admission control policies to be
time-dependent. We show that the optimal dynamic pricing can improve the
operator's revenue by more than 30% over the optimal static pricing, when
secondary users' demands for spectrum opportunities are highly elastic.


title: New Inequalities of Steffensen's type for s-convex functions

abstract:
  In this work, new inequalities connected with the Steffensen's integral
inequality for s-convex functions are proved


title: Some Steffensen's type inequalities

abstract:
  In this paper, new inequalities connected with the celebrated Steffensen's
integral inequality are proved.


title:
Building Ensembles of Adaptive Nested Dichotomies with Random-Pair
  Selection

abstract:
  A system of nested dichotomies is a method of decomposing a multi-class
problem into a collection of binary problems. Such a system recursively splits
the set of classes into two subsets, and trains a binary classifier to
distinguish between each subset. Even though ensembles of nested dichotomies
with random structure have been shown to perform well in practice, using a more
sophisticated class subset selection method can be used to improve
classification accuracy. We investigate an approach to this problem called
random-pair selection, and evaluate its effectiveness compared to other
published methods of subset selection. We show that our method outperforms
other methods in many cases when forming ensembles of nested dichotomies, and
is at least on par in all other cases.


title: Two-dimensional Pompeiu's mean value theorems and related results

abstract:
  In this work a mean value theorem of Pompeiu's type for functions of two
variables is presented. Other related results are given as well.


title: Iitaka's $C_{n,m}$ conjecture for 3-folds in positive characteristic

abstract:
  In this paper, we prove that for a fibration $f:X\to Z$ from a smooth
projective 3-fold to a smooth projective curve, over an algebraically closed
field $k$ with $\mathrm{char} k =p >5$, if the geometric generic fiber
$X_{\overline\eta}$ is smooth, then subadditivity of Kodaira dimensions holds,
i.e. $$\kappa(X)\ge\kappa(X_{\overline\eta})+\kappa(Z).$$


title: The Hermite-Hadamard inequality on hypercuboid

abstract:
  Given any ${\bf{a}}: = \left( {a_1 ,a_2 , \ldots ,a_n } \right)$ and
${\bf{b}}: = \left( {b_1 ,b_2 , \ldots ,b_n } \right)$ in $\mathbb{R}^n$. The
$\textbf{n}$-fold convex function defined on $\left[ {{\bf{a}},{\bf{b}}}
\right]$, ${\bf{a}},{\bf{b}} \in \mathbb{R}^n$ with ${\bf{a}}<{\bf{b}}$ is a
convex function in each variable separately. In this work we prove an
inequality of Hermite-Hadamard type for $\textbf{n}$-fold convex functions.
Namely, we establish the inequality \begin{align*} f\left( {\frac{{{\bf{a}} +
{\bf{b}}}}{2}} \right) \le \frac{1}{{{\bf{b}} -
{\bf{a}}}}\int_{\bf{a}}^{\bf{b}} {f\left( {\bf{x}} \right)d{\bf{x}}} \le
\frac{1}{{2^n }}\sum\limits_{\bf{c}} {f\left( {\bf{c}} \right)}, \end{align*}
where $\sum\limits_{\bf{c}} {f\left( {\bf{c}} \right)} : = \sum\limits_{\mathop
{c_i \in \left\{ {a_i ,b_i } \right\}}\limits_{1 \le i \le n} } {f\left( {c_1,
c_2, \ldots ,c_n } \right)}$. Some other related result are given.


title: Signatures of strong correlation effects in RIXS on Cuprates

abstract:
  Recently, spin excitations in doped cuprates are measured using the resonant
inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS). The paramagnon dispersions show the large
hardening effect in the electron-doped systems and seemingly
doping-independence in the hole-doped systems, with the energy scales
comparable to that of the antiferromagnetic magnons. This anomalous hardening
effect was partially explained by using the strong coupling t-J model but with
a three-site term(Nature communications 5, 3314 (2014)). However we show that
hardening effect is a signature of strong coupling physics even without
including this extra term. By considering the t-t'-t"-J model and using the
Slave-Boson (SB) mean field theory, we obtain, via the spin-spin
susceptibility, the spin excitations in qualitative agreement with the
experiments. These anomalies is mainly due to the doping-dependent bandwidth.
We further discuss the interplay between particle-hole-like and paramagnon-like
excitations in the RIXS measurements.


title: Estimating dimension of inertial manifold from unstable periodic orbits

abstract:
  We provide numerical evidence that a finite-dimensional inertial manifold on
which the dynamics of a chaotic dissipative dynamical system lives can be
constructed solely from the knowledge of a set of unstable periodic orbits. In
particular, we determine the dimension of the inertial manifold for
Kuramoto-Sivashinsky system, and find it to be equal to the `physical
dimension' computed previously via the hyperbolicity properties of covariant
Lyapunov vectors.


title:
Variational formulation and efficient implementation for solving the
  tempered fractional problems

abstract:
  Because of the finiteness of the life span and boundedness of the physical
space, the more reasonable or physical choice is the tempered power-law instead
of pure power-law for the CTRW model in characterizing the waiting time and
jump length of the motion of particles. This paper focuses on providing the
variational formulation and efficient implementation for solving the
corresponding deterministic/macroscopic models, including the space tempered
fractional equation and time tempered fractional equation. The convergence,
numerical stability, and a series of variational equalities are theoretically
proved. And the theoretical results are confirmed by numerical experiments.


title: Couplings between the $\rho$ and $D$- and $D^\ast$-mesons

abstract:
  We compute couplings between the $\rho$-meson and $D$- and $D^\ast$-mesons -
$D^{(\ast)}\rho D^{(\ast)}$ - that are relevant to phenomenological
meson-exchange models used to analyse nucleon-$D$-meson scattering and explore
the possibility of exotic charmed nuclei. Our framework is built from elements
constrained by Dyson-Schwinger equation studies in QCD, and therefore expresses
a consistent, simultaneous description of light- and heavy-quarks and the
states they constitute, We find that all interactions, including the three
independent $D^{\ast} \rho \,D^{\ast}$ couplings, differ markedly amongst
themselves in strength and also in range, as measured by their evolution with
$\rho$-meson virtuality. As a consequence, it appears that no single coupling
strength or parametrization can realistically be employed in the study of
interactions between $D^{(\ast)}$-mesons and matter.


title: Cowen-Douglas Operator and Shift on Basis

abstract:
  In this paper we show a Cowen-Douglas operator $T \in
\mathcal{B}_{n}(\Omega)$ is the adjoint operator of some backward shift on a
general basis by choosing nice cross-sections of its complex bundle $E_{T}$.
Using the basis theory model, we show that a Cowen-Douglas operator never be a
shift on some Markushevicz basis for $n \ge 2$.


title: Constant distortion embeddings of Symmetric Diversities

abstract:
  Diversities are like metric spaces, except that every finite subset, instead
of just every pair of points, is assigned a value. Just as there is a theory of
minimal distortion embeddings of finite metric spaces into $L_1$, there is a
similar, yet undeveloped, theory for embedding finite diversities into the
diversity analogue of $L_1$ spaces. In the metric case, it is well known that
an $n$-point metric space can be embedded into $L_1$ with $\mathcal{O}(\log n)$
distortion. For diversities, the optimal distortion is unknown. Here, we
establish the surprising result that symmetric diversities, those in which the
diversity (value) assigned to a set depends only on its cardinality, can be
embedded in $L_1$ with constant distortion.


title:
Extremely large and significantly anisotropic magnetoresistance in ZrSiS
  single crystals

abstract:
  Recently, the extremely large magnetoresistance observed in transition metal
telluride, like WTe$_2$, attracted much attention because of the potential
applications in magnetic sensor. Here we report the observation of extremely
large magnetoresistance as 3.0$\times$10$^4$ % measured at 2 K and 9 T magnetic
field aligned along [001]-ZrSiS. The significant magnetoresistance change
(~1.4$\times$10$^4$ %) can be obtained when the magnetic field is titled from
[001] to [011]-ZrSiS. These abnormal magnetoresistance behaviors in ZrSiS can
be understood by electron-hole compensation and the open orbital of Fermi
surface. Because of these superior MR properties, ZrSiS may be used in the
novel magnetic sensors.


title: Cohomological Hall algebras and affine quantum groups

abstract:
  We study the preprojective cohomological Hall algebra (CoHA) introduced by
the authors in an earlier work for any quiver $Q$ and any one-parameter formal
group $\mathbb{G}$. In this paper, we construct a comultiplication on the CoHA,
making it a bialgebra. We also construct the Drinfeld double of the CoHA. The
Drinfeld double is a quantum affine algebra of the Lie algebra $\mathfrak{g}_Q$
associated to $Q$, whose quantization comes from the formal group $\mathbb{G}$.
We prove, when the group $\mathbb{G}$ is the additive group, the Drinfeld
double of the CoHA is isomorphic to the Yangian.


title: A hybrid method for solving systems of operator inclusion problems

abstract:
  In this paper, we propose an algorithm combining the forward-backward
splitting method and the alternative projection method for solving the system
of splitting inclusion problem. We want to find a point in the interception of
a finite number of sets that we don't know, the solution of each component of
the system. The algorithm consists of approximate the sets involved in the
problem by separates halfspaces which are a known strategy. By finding these
halfspaces in each iteration we use only one inclusion problem of the system.
The iterations consist of two parts, the first contains an explicit Armijo-type
search in the spirit of the extragradient-like methods for variational
inequalities. In the iterative process, the operator forward-backward is
computed only one time for each inclusion problem, this represents a great
computational saving because the computational cost of this operator is nothing
cheap. The second part consists of special projection step, projecting in the
separating halfspace. The convergence analysis of the proposed scheme is given
assuming monotonicity all operators, without any Lipschitz continuity
assumption.


title: On Fujita invariants of subvarieties of a uniruled variety

abstract:
  We show that if $X$ is a smooth uniruled projective variety and $L$ a big and
semiample $\mathbb{Q}$-divisor on $X$, then there exists a proper closed subset
$W\subset X$ such that every subvariety $Y$ satisfying $a(Y,L)> a(X,L)$ is
contained in $W$.


title: On knots having zero negative unknotting number

abstract:
  A knot in the 3-sphere is said to have zero negative unknotting number if it
can be transformed into the unknot by performing only positive crossing
changes. In this paper, we provide an obstruction for a knot to having zero
negative unknotting number, and discuss its application to two classes of
knots.


title: Polynomial splittings of Ozsvath and Szabo's d-invariant

abstract:
  For any rational homology 3-sphere and one of its spin^{c}-structures,
Ozsvath and Szabo defined a topological invariant, called d-invariant. Given a
knot in the 3-sphere, the d-invariants associated with the prime-power-fold
branched covers of the knot, obstruct the smooth sliceness of the knot. These
invariants bear some structural resemblances to Casson-Gordon invariants, which
obstruct the topological sliceness of a knot. Se-Goo Kim found a polynomial
splitting property for Casson-Gordon invariants. In this paper, we show a
similar result for Ozsvath and Szabo's d-invariants. We give an application of
the result.


title:
Efficient Globally Convergent Stochastic Optimization for Canonical
  Correlation Analysis

abstract:
  We study the stochastic optimization of canonical correlation analysis (CCA),
whose objective is nonconvex and does not decouple over training samples.
Although several stochastic gradient based optimization algorithms have been
recently proposed to solve this problem, no global convergence guarantee was
provided by any of them. Inspired by the alternating least squares/power
iterations formulation of CCA, and the shift-and-invert preconditioning method
for PCA, we propose two globally convergent meta-algorithms for CCA, both of
which transform the original problem into sequences of least squares problems
that need only be solved approximately. We instantiate the meta-algorithms with
state-of-the-art SGD methods and obtain time complexities that significantly
improve upon that of previous work. Experimental results demonstrate their
superior performance.


title:
When is Nontrivial Estimation Possible for Graphons and Stochastic Block
  Models?

abstract:
  Block graphons (also called stochastic block models) are an important and
widely-studied class of models for random networks. We provide a lower bound on
the accuracy of estimators for block graphons with a large number of blocks. We
show that, given only the number $k$ of blocks and an upper bound $\rho$ on the
values (connection probabilities) of the graphon, every estimator incurs error
at least on the order of $\min(\rho, \sqrt{\rho k^2/n^2})$ in the $\delta_2$
metric with constant probability, in the worst case over graphons. In
particular, our bound rules out any nontrivial estimation (that is, with
$\delta_2$ error substantially less than $\rho$) when $k\geq n\sqrt{\rho}$.
Combined with previous upper and lower bounds, our results characterize, up to
logarithmic terms, the minimax accuracy of graphon estimation in the $\delta_2$
metric. A similar lower bound to ours was obtained independently by Klopp,
Tsybakov and Verzelen (2016).


title:
Contractivity and complete contractivity for finite dimensional Banach
  Spaces

abstract:
  Choose an arbitrary but fixed set of $n\times n$ matrices $A_1, \ldots, A_m$
and let $\Omega_\mathbf A\subset \mathbb C^m$ be the unit ball with respect to
the norm $\|\cdot\|_{\mathbf A},$ where $\|(z_1,\ldots ,z_m)\|_{\mathbf
A}=\|z_1A_1+ \cdots+z_mA_m\|_{\rm op}.$ It is known that if $m\geq 3$ and
$\mathbb B$ is any ball in $\mathbb C^m$ with respect to some norm, say
$\|\cdot\|_{\mathbb B},$ then there exists a contractive linear map $L:(\mathbb
C^m,\|\cdot\|^*_{\mathbb B})\to \mathcal M_k$ which is not completely
contractive. The characterization of those balls in $\mathbb C^2$ for which
contractive linear maps are always completely contractive thus remains open. We
answer this question for balls of the form $\Omega_\mathbf A$ in $\mathbb C^2.$


title: Universal Vectorial and Ultrasensitive Nanomechanical Force Field Sensor

abstract:
  Miniaturization of force probes into nanomechanical oscillators enables
ultrasensitive investigations of forces on dimensions smaller than their
characteristic length scale. Meanwhile it also unravels the force field
vectorial character and how its topology impacts the measurement. Here we
expose an ultrasensitive method to image 2D vectorial force fields by
optomechanically following the bidimensional Brownian motion of a singly
clamped nanowire. This novel approach relies on angular and spectral tomography
of its quasi frequency-degenerated transverse mechanical polarizations:
immersing the nanoresonator in a vectorial force field does not only shift its
eigenfrequencies but also rotate eigenmodes orientation as a nano-compass. This
universal method is employed to map a tunable electrostatic force field whose
spatial gradients can even take precedence over the intrinsic nanowire
properties. Enabling vectorial force fields imaging with demonstrated
sensitivities of attonewton variations over the nanoprobe Brownian trajectory
will have strong impact on scientific exploration at the nanoscale.


title: A projection-based adaptive-to-model test for regressions

abstract:
  A longstanding problem of existing empirical process-based tests for
regressions is that when the number of covariates is greater than one, they
either have no tractable limiting null distributions or are not omnibus. To
attack this problem, we in this paper propose a projection-based
adaptive-to-model approach. When the hypothetical model is parametric
single-index, the method can fully utilize the dimension reduction model
structure under the null hypothesis as if the covariate were one-dimensional
such that the martingale transformation-based test can be asymptotically
distribution-free. Further, the test can automatically adapt to the underlying
model structure such that the test can be omnibus and thus detect alternative
models distinct from the hypothetical model at the fastest possible rate in
hypothesis testing. The method is examined through simulation studied and is
illustrated by a real data analysis.


title:
Phase transitions via selective elemental vacancy engineering in complex
  oxide thin films

abstract:
  Defect engineering has brought about a unique level of control for Si-based
semiconductors, leading to the optimization of various opto-electronic
properties and devices. With regard to perovskite transition metal oxides,
oxygen vacancies have been a key ingredient in defect engineering, as they play
a central role in determining the crystal field and consequent electronic
structure, leading to important electronic and magnetic phase transitions.
Therefore, experimental approaches toward understanding the role of defects in
complex oxides have been largely limited to controlling oxygen vacancies. In
this study, we report on the selective formation of different types of
elemental vacancies and their individual roles in determining the atomic and
electronic structure of perovskite SrTiO3 (STO) homoepitaxial thin films
fabricated by pulsed laser epitaxy. Structural and electronic transitions have
been achieved via selective control of the Sr and oxygen vacancy
concentrations, respectively, indicating a decoupling between the two phase
transitions. In particular, oxygen vacancies were responsible for
metal-insulator transitions, but did not influence the Sr vacancy induced
cubic-to-tetragonal structural transition in epitaxial STO thin film. The
independent control of multiple phase transitions in complex oxides by
exploiting selective vacancy engineering opens up an unprecedented opportunity
toward understanding and customizing complex oxide thin films.


title: Complex Form of Classical and Quantum Electrodynamics

abstract:
  We consider a complex covariant form of the macroscopic Maxwell equations, in
a moving medium or at rest, following the original ideas of Minkowski. A
compact, Lorentz invariant, derivation of the energy-momentum tensor and the
corresponding differential balance equations are given. Conservation laws and
quantization of electromagnetic field will be discussed in this covariant
approach elsewhere.


title: Low frequency modulation of jets in quasigeostrophic turbulence

abstract:
  Quasigeostrophic turbulence on a beta-plane with a finite deformation radius
is studied nu- merically, with particular emphasis on frequency and combined
wavenumber-frequency do- main analyses. Under suitable conditions, simulations
with small-scale random forcing and large-scale drag exhibit a spontaneous
formation of multiple zonal jets. The first hint of wave-like features is seen
in the distribution of kinetic energy as a function of frequency; specifically,
for progressively larger deformation scales there are systematic departures in
the form of isolated peaks (at progressively higher frequencies) from a
power-law scaling. Con- comitantly, there is an inverse flux of kinetic energy
in frequency space which extends to lower frequencies for smaller deformation
scales. The identification of these peaks as Rossby waves is made possible by
examining the energy spectrum in frequency-zonal wavenumber and
frequency-meridional wavenumber diagrams. In fact, the modified Rhines scale
turns out to be a useful measure of the dominant meridional wavenumber of the
modulating Rossby waves; once this is fixed, apart from a spectral peak at the
origin (the steady jet), almost all the energy is contained in westward
propagating disturbances that follow the theoretical Rossby dispersion
relation. Quite consistently, noting that the zonal scale of the modulating
waves is restricted to the first few wavenumbers, the energy spectrum is almost
entirely contained within the corresponding Rossby dispersion curves on a
frequency-meridional wavenumber diagram. Cases when jets do not form are also
considered; once again, there is a hint of Rossby wave activity, though the
spectral peaks are quite muted. Further, the kinetic energy scaling in
frequency domain follows a -5/3 power-law and is distributed much more broadly
in frequency-wavenumber diagrams


title:
A Single-Letter Upper Bound on the Feedback Capacity of Unifilar
  Finite-State Channels

abstract:
  An upper bound on the feedback capacity of unifilar finite-state channels
(FSCs) is derived. A new technique, called the $Q$-contexts, is based on a
construction of a directed graph that is used to quantize recursively the
receiver's output sequences to a finite set of contexts. For any choice of
$Q$-graph, the feedback capacity is bounded by a single-letter expression,
$C_\text{fb}\leq \sup I(X,S;Y|Q)$, where the supremum is over $P_{X|S,Q}$ and
the distribution of $(S,Q)$ is their stationary distribution. It is shown that
the bound is tight for all unifilar FSCs where feedback capacity is known:
channels where the state is a function of the outputs, the trapdoor channel,
Ising channels, the no-consecutive-ones input-constrained erasure channel and
for the memoryless channel. Its efficiency is also demonstrated by deriving a
new capacity result for the dicode erasure channel (DEC); the upper bound is
obtained directly from the above expression and its tightness is concluded with
a general sufficient condition on the optimality of the upper bound. This
sufficient condition is based on a fixed point principle of the BCJR equation
and, indeed, formulated as a simple lower bound on feedback capacity of
unifilar FSCs for arbitrary $Q$-graphs. This upper bound indicates that a
single-letter expression might exist for the capacity of finite-state channels
with or without feedback based on a construction of auxiliary random variable
with specified structure, such as $Q$-graph, and not with i.i.d distribution.
The upper bound also serves as a non-trivial bound on the capacity of channels
without feedback, a problem that is still open.


title: GIFT: A Real-time and Scalable 3D Shape Search Engine

abstract:
  Projective analysis is an important solution for 3D shape retrieval, since
human visual perceptions of 3D shapes rely on various 2D observations from
different view points. Although multiple informative and discriminative views
are utilized, most projection-based retrieval systems suffer from heavy
computational cost, thus cannot satisfy the basic requirement of scalability
for search engines. In this paper, we present a real-time 3D shape search
engine based on the projective images of 3D shapes. The real-time property of
our search engine results from the following aspects: (1) efficient projection
and view feature extraction using GPU acceleration; (2) the first inverted
file, referred as F-IF, is utilized to speed up the procedure of multi-view
matching; (3) the second inverted file (S-IF), which captures a local
distribution of 3D shapes in the feature manifold, is adopted for efficient
context-based re-ranking. As a result, for each query the retrieval task can be
finished within one second despite the necessary cost of IO overhead. We name
the proposed 3D shape search engine, which combines GPU acceleration and
Inverted File Twice, as GIFT. Besides its high efficiency, GIFT also
outperforms the state-of-the-art methods significantly in retrieval accuracy on
various shape benchmarks and competitions.


title:
Localized and mixed valence state of Ce $4f$ in superconducting and
  ferromagnetic CeO$_{1-x}$F$_{x}$BiS$_{2}$ revealed by x-ray absorption and
  photoemission spectroscopy

abstract:
  We have performed Ce $L_3$-edge x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) and Ce
$4d$-$4f$ resonant photoemission spectroscopy (PES) on single crystals of
CeO$_{1-x}$F$_x$BiS$_2$ for $x=0.0$ and 0.5 in order to investigate the Ce $4f$
electronic states. In the Ce $L_3$-edge XAS, mixed valence of Ce was found in
the $x=0.0$ sample and the F-doping suppresses it, which is consistent with the
results on polycrystalline samples. As for the resonant PES, we found that the
Ce $4f$ electrons in both $x=0.0$ and $0.5$ systems respectively form a flat
band at 1.0 eV and 1.4 eV below the Fermi level and there is no contribution to
the Fermi surfaces. Interestingly, Ce valence in CeOBiS$_2$ deviates from
Ce$^{3+}$ even though Ce $4f$ electrons are localized, indicating the Ce
valence is not in a typical valence fluctuation regime. We assume that
localized Ce $4f$ in CeOBiS$_2$ is mixed with the unoccupied Bi $6p_z$, which
is consistent with the previous local structural study. Based on the analysis
of the Ce $L_3$-edge XAS spectra using Anderson's impurity model calculation,
we found that the transfer integral becomes smaller increasing the number of Ce
$4f$ electrons upon the F substitution for O.


title:
Even harmonic generation in isotropic media of dissociating homonuclear
  molecules

abstract:
  Isotropic gases irradiated by long pulses of intense IR light can generate
very high harmonics of the incident field. It is generally accepted that, due
to the symmetry of the generating medium, be it an atomic or an isotropic
molecular gas, only odd harmonics of the driving field can be produced. Here we
show how the interplay of electronic and nuclear dynamics can lead to a marked
breakdown of this standard picture: a substantial part of the harmonic spectrum
can consist of even rather than odd harmonics. We demonstrate the effect using
ab-initio solutions of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation for
$H$$_2$$^+$ and its isotopes in full dimensionality. By means of a simple
analytical model, we identify its physical origin, which is the appearance of a
permanent dipole moment in dissociating homonuclear molecules, caused by
light-induced localization of the electric charge during dissociation. The
effect arises for sufficiently long laser pulses and the region of the spectrum
where even harmonics are produced is controlled by pulse duration. Our results
(i) show how the interplay of femtosecond nuclear and attosecond electronic
dynamics, which affects the charge flow inside the dissociating molecule, is
reflected in the nonlinear response, and (ii) force one to augment standard
selection rules found in nonlinear optics textbooks by considering
light-induced modifications of the medium during the generation process.


title:
Robust MRAC augmentation of flight control laws for center of gravity
  adaptation

abstract:
  When an aircraft is flying and burning fuel the center of gravity (c.g.) of
the aircraft shifts slowly. The c.g. can also be shifted abruptly when e.g. a
fighter aircraft releases a weapon. The shift in c.g. is difficult to measure
or estimate so the flight control systems need to be robustly designed to cope
with this variation. However for fighter aircrafts with high manoeuvrability
there is room for improvements. In this project we investigate if the use of
adaptive control law augmentation can be used to better cope with the change in
c.g. We augment a baseline controller with a robust Model Reference Adaptive
Control (MRAC) design and analyse its benefits and possible issues.


title:
HST Imaging of Dust Structures and Stars in the Ram Pressure Stripped
  Virgo Spirals NGC 4402 and NGC 4522: Stripped from the Outside In with Dense
  Cloud Decoupling

abstract:
  We describe and constrain the origins of ISM structures likely created by
ongoing ICM ram pressure stripping in two Virgo Cluster spirals, NGC 4522 and
NGC 4402, using HST BVI images of dust extinction and stars, as well as
supplementary HI, Halpha, and radio continuum images. This is the
highest-resolution study to date of the physical processes that occur during an
ICM-ISM ram pressure stripping interaction, ram pressure stripping's effects on
the multi-phase, multi-density ISM, and the formation and evolution of
ram-pressure-stripped tails. In dust extinction, we view the leading side of
NGC 4402 and the trailing side of NGC 4522; we see distinct types of features
in both galaxies. NGC 4522 has experienced stronger, more recent pressure and
has the jellyfish morphology characteristic of some ram pressure stripped
galaxies. Its stripped tail extends up from the disk plane in continuous
upturns of dust and stars curving ~2 kpc above the disk plane. A kinematically
and morphologically distinct extraplanar arm of young, blue stars and ISM
extends above a mostly-stripped portion of the disk, and between it and the
disk plane are decoupled dust clouds. NGC 4402 contains long dust ridges,
suggesting that large parts of the ISM are being pushed out at once. Both
galaxies contain long ridges of polarized radio continuum emission indicating
the presence of large-scale ordered magnetic fields. We propose that magnetic
fields could bind together gas of different densities, causing nearby gas of
different densities to be stripped at the same rate and creating the large,
coherent dust ridges and upturns. A number of factors that play roles in
determining what types of structures form as a result of ram pressure: ram
pressure strength and history, the location within the galaxy relative to the
leading side, and pre-existing substructure in the ISM that may be bound
together by magnetic fields.


title: Optical Variability Properties of Mini-BAL and NAL Quasars

abstract:
  While narrow absorption lines (NALs) are relatively stable, broad absorption
lines (BALs) and mini-BAL systems usually show violent time variability within
a few years via a mechanism that is not yet understood. In this study, we
examine variable ionization state (VIS) scenario as a plausible mechanism, as
previously suspected. Over three years, we performed photometric monitoring
observations of four mini-BAL and five NAL quasars at $z_{\rm em}$ $\sim$ 2.0 -
3.1 using the 105 cm Kiso Schmidt Telescope in $u$, $g$, and $i$-bands. We also
performed spectroscopic monitoring observation of one of our mini-BAL quasar
(HS1603+3820) using the 188-cm Okayama Telescope over the same period as the
photometric observations. Our main results are as follows: (1) Structure
function (SF) analysis revealed that the quasar UV flux variability over three
years was not large enough to support the VIS scenario, unless the ionization
condition of outflow gas is very low. (2) There was no crucial difference
between the SFs of mini-BAL and NAL quasars. (3) The variability of the
mini-BAL and quasar light curves was weakly synchronized with a small time
delay for HS1603+3820. These results suggest that the VIS scenario may need
additional mechanisms such as a variable shielding by X-ray warm absorbers.


title:
Quasiclassical analysis of Bloch oscillations in non-Hermitian
  tight-binding lattices

abstract:
  Many features of Bloch oscillations in one-dimensional quantum lattices with
a static force can be described by quasiclassical considerations for example by
means of the acceleration theorem, at least for Hermitian systems. Here the
quasiclassical approach is extended to non-Hermitian lattices, which are of
increasing interest. The analysis is based on a generalised non-Hermitian phase
space dynamics developed recently. Applications to a single-band tight-binding
system demonstrate that many features of the quantum dynamics can be understood
from this classical description qualitatively and even quantitatively. Two
non-Hermitian and $PT$-symmetric examples are studied, a Hatano-Nelson lattice
with real coupling constants and a system with purely imaginary couplings, both
for initially localised states in space or in momentum. It is shown that the
time-evolution of the norm of the wave packet and the expectation values of
position and momentum can be described in a classical picture.


title:
Nonperturbative evaluation of quantum particle production in parametric
  resonance enhanced by noise

abstract:
  Numerical studies are reported to support the idea to explain the particle
production in late inflationary era based on the parametric resonance with a
noise effect. Two nonperturbative renormalization group formulations are used
to numerically calculate the time evolution of particle numbers. Firstly, the
dynamical renormalization group (DRG) method is applied to sum up the secular
contributions. Secondly, we derive an exact evolution equation of the particle
number which turned out to be possible surprisingly owing to the presence of
the noise effect. Our numerical results show a drastic enhancement of the
particle production in agreement with earlier works qualitatively. A comparison
is made of numerical results based on two methods. Our work provides
nonperturbative and quantitative methods to evaluate the particle production
for the inflationary cosmology.


title: Pendant-tree connectivity of line graphs

abstract:
  The concept of pendant-tree connectivity, introduced by Hager in 1985, is a
generalization of classical vertex-connectivity. In this paper, we study
pendant-tree connectivity of line graphs.


title: Closed description of arbitrariness in resolving quantum master equation

abstract:
  In the most general case of the Delta exact operator valued generators
constructed of an arbitrary Fermion operator, we present a closed solution for
the transformed master action in terms of the original master action in the
closed form of the corresponding path integral. We show in detail how that path
integral reduces to the known result in the case of being the Delta exact
generators constructed of an arbitrary Fermion function.


title:
Reinterpreting the Transformation Posterior in Probabilistic Image
  Registration

abstract:
  Probabilistic image registration methods estimate the posterior distribution
of transformation. The conventional way of interpreting the transformation
posterior is to use the mode as the most likely transformation and assign its
corresponding intensity to the registered voxel. Meanwhile, summary statistics
of the posterior are employed to evaluate the registration uncertainty, that is
the trustworthiness of the registered image. Despite the wide acceptance, this
convention has never been justified. In this paper, based on illustrative
examples, we question the correctness and usefulness of conventional methods.
In order to faithfully translate the transformation posterior, we propose to
encode the variability of values into a novel data type called ensemble fields.
Ensemble fields can serve as a complement to the registered image and a
foundation for developing advanced methods to characterize the uncertainty in
registration-based tasks. We demonstrate the potential of ensemble fields by
pilot examples


title:
Performance analysis of the Kahan-enhanced scalar product on current
  multi- and manycore processors

abstract:
  We investigate the performance characteristics of a numerically enhanced
scalar product (dot) kernel loop that uses the Kahan algorithm to compensate
for numerical errors, and describe efficient SIMD-vectorized implementations on
recent multi- and manycore processors. Using low-level instruction analysis and
the execution-cache-memory (ECM) performance model we pinpoint the relevant
performance bottlenecks for single-core and thread-parallel execution, and
predict performance and saturation behavior. We show that the Kahan-enhanced
scalar product comes at almost no additional cost compared to the naive
(non-Kahan) scalar product if appropriate low-level optimizations, notably SIMD
vectorization and unrolling, are applied. The ECM model is extended
appropriately to accommodate not only modern Intel multicore chips but also the
Intel Xeon Phi "Knights Corner" coprocessor and an IBM POWER8 CPU. This allows
us to discuss the impact of processor features on the performance across four
modern architectures that are relevant for high performance computing.


title:
A CNN Based Scene Chinese Text Recognition Algorithm With Synthetic Data
  Engine

abstract:
  Scene text recognition plays an important role in many computer vision
applications. The small size of available public available scene text datasets
is the main challenge when training a text recognition CNN model. In this
paper, we propose a CNN based Chinese text recognition algorithm. To enlarge
the dataset for training the CNN model, we design a synthetic data engine for
Chinese scene character generation, which generates representative character
images according to the fonts use frequency of Chinese texts. As the Chinese
text is more complex, the English text recognition CNN architecture is modified
for Chinese text. To ensure the small size nature character dataset and the
large size artificial character dataset are comparable in training, the CNN
model are trained progressively. The proposed Chinese text recognition
algorithm is evaluated with two Chinese text datasets. The algorithm achieves
better recognize accuracy compared to the baseline methods.


title: Spin diffusion in p-type bilayer WSe$_2$

abstract:
  We investigate the steady-state out-of-plane spin diffusion in p-type bilayer
WSe2 in the presence of the Rashba spin-orbit coupling and Hartree-Fock
effective magnetic field. The out-of-plane components of the Rashba spin-orbit
coupling serve as the opposite Zeeman-like fields in the two valleys. Together
with the identical Hartree-Fock effective magnetic fields, different total
effective magnetic field strengths in the two valleys are obtained. It is
further revealed that due to the valley-dependent total effective magnetic
field strength, similar (different) spin-diffusion lengths in the two valleys
are observed at small (large) spin injection. Nevertheless, it is shown that
the intervalley hole-phonon scattering can suppress the difference in the
spin-diffusion lengths at large spin injection due to the spin-conserving
intervalley charge transfers with the opposite transfer directions between
spin-up and -down holes. Moreover, with a fixed large pure spin injection, we
predict the build-up of a steady-state valley polarization during the spin
diffusion with the maximum along the diffusion direction being capable of
exceeding 1 %. It is revealed that the valley polarization arises from the
induced quasi hot-hole Fermi distributions with different effective hot-hole
temperatures between spin-up and -down holes during the spin diffusion, leading
to the different intervalley charge transfer rates in the opposite transfer
directions. Additionally, it is also shown that by increasing the injected spin
polarization, the hole density or the impurity density, the larger valley
polarization can be obtained.


title: ADHM Construction of (Anti-)Self-dual Instantons in Eight Dimensions

abstract:
  We study the ADHM construction of (anti-)self-dual instantons in eight
dimensions. We propose the general scheme to construct the (anti-)self-dual
gauge field configurations $F \wedge F = \pm *_8 F \wedge F$ whose finite
topological charges are given by the fourth Chern number. We show that our
construction reproduces the known $\text{SO}(8)$ one-instanton solution. We
also construct multi-instanton solutions of 't Hooft and Jackiw-Nohl-Rebbi
(JNR) types in the dilute instanton gas approximation. The well-separated
configurations of multi-instantons reproduce the correct topological charges
with high accuracy. We also show that our construction is generalized to
(anti-)self-dual instantons in $4n \ (n=3,4, \ldots)$ dimensions.


title:
A Novel Scene Text Detection Algorithm Based On Convolutional Neural
  Network

abstract:
  Candidate text region extraction plays a critical role in convolutional
neural network (CNN) based text detection from natural images. In this paper,
we propose a CNN based scene text detection algorithm with a new text region
extractor. The so called candidate text region extractor I-MSER is based on
Maximally Stable Extremal Region (MSER), which can improve the independency and
completeness of the extracted candidate text regions. Design of I-MSER is
motivated by the observation that text MSERs have high similarity and are close
to each other. The independency of candidate text regions obtained by I-MSER is
guaranteed by selecting the most representative regions from a MSER tree which
is generated according to the spatial overlapping relationship among the MSERs.
A multi-layer CNN model is trained to score the confidence value of the
extracted regions extracted by the I-MSER for text detection. The new text
detection algorithm based on I-MSER is evaluated with wide-used ICDAR 2011 and
2013 datasets and shows improved detection performance compared to the existing
algorithms.


title: Non-Generic Dispersion of Excitons in the Bulk of WSe$_2$

abstract:
  We combine electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) and density functional
theory (DFT) calculations to study the dispersion and effective mass of
excitons in the bulk of WSe$_2$. Our EELS data suggest substantial deviations
from the generic quadratic momentum dependence along the $\Gamma K$-direction.
From the DFT-derived Kohn-Sham states we deduce the EELS response without the
inclusion of particle-hole attraction to study the possible role of the
single-particle band structure on the exciton behavior. Based on this analysis
we argue in favor of a strongly momentum dependent particle-hole interaction in
WSe$_2$ and other group VI-transition-metal dichalcogenides.


title: Zero-sum Risk-Sensitive Stochastic Games

abstract:
  In this paper we consider two-person zero-sum risk-sensitive stochastic
dynamic games with Borel state and action spaces and bounded reward. The term
risk-sensitive refers to the fact that instead of the usual risk neutral
optimization criterion we consider the exponential certainty equivalent. The
discounted reward case on a finite and an infinite time horizon is considered,
as well as the ergodic reward case. Under continuity and compactness conditions
we prove that the value of the game exists and solves the Shapley equation and
we show the existence of optimal (non-stationary) strategies. In the ergodic
reward case we work with a local minorization property and a Lyapunov condition
and show that the value of the game solves the Poisson equation. Moreover, we
prove the existence of optimal stationary strategies. A simple example
highlights the influence of the risk-sensitivity parameter. Our results
generalize findings in Basu/Ghosh 2014 and answer an open question posed there.


title:
Scattering Amplitude and Bosonization Duality in General Chern-Simons
  Vector Models

abstract:
  We present exact large N calculus of four point function in general
Chern-Simons bosonic and fermionic vector models. Applying the LSZ formula to
the four point function we determine two body scattering amplitudes in these
theories taking a special care for a non-analytic term to achieve unitarity in
the singlet channel. We show that the S-matrix enjoys the bosonization duality,
unusual crossing relation and non-relativistic reduction to Aharonov-Bohm
scattering. We also argue that the S-matrix develops a pole in a certain range
of coupling constants, which disappears in the range where the theory reduces
to Chern-Simons theory interacting with free fermions.


title: A strong magnetic field in the jet base of a supermassive black hole

abstract:
  Active galactic nuclei (AGN) host some of the most energetic phenomena in the
Universe. AGN are thought to be powered by accretion of matter onto a rotating
disk that surrounds a supermassive black hole. Jet streams can be boosted in
energy near the event horizon of the black hole and then flow outward along the
rotation axis of the disk. The mechanism that forms such a jet and guides it
over scales from a few light-days up to millions of light-years remains
uncertain, but magnetic fields are thought to play a critical role. Using the
Atacama large mm/submm array (ALMA), we have detected a polarization signal
(Faraday rotation) related to the strong magnetic field at the jet base of a
distant AGN, PKS1830-211. The amount of Faraday rotation (rotation measure) is
proportional to the magnetic field strength along the line of sight times the
density of electrons. Although it is impossible to precisely infer the magnetic
fields in the region of Faraday rotation, the high rotation measures derived
suggest magnetic fields of at least tens of Gauss (and possibly considerably
higher) on scales of the order of light days (0.01 pc) from the black hole.


title:
Gamma-ray triangles: a possible signature of asymmetric dark matter in
  indirect searches

abstract:
  We introduce a new type of gamma-ray spectral feature, which we denominate
gamma-ray triangle. This spectral feature arises in scenarios where dark matter
self-annihilates via a chiral interaction into two Dirac fermions, which
subsequently decay in flight into another fermion and a photon. The resulting
photon spectrum resembles a sharp triangle and can be readily searched for in
the gamma-ray sky. Using data from the Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. instruments, we
find no evidence for such spectral feature and therefore set strong upper
bounds on the corresponding annihilation cross section. A concrete realization
of a scenario yielding gamma-ray triangles consists of an asymmetric dark
matter model where the dark matter particle carries lepton number. We show
explicitly that this class of models can lead to intense gamma-ray spectral
features, potentially at the reach of upcoming gamma-ray telescopes, opening a
new window to explore asymmetric dark matter through indirect searches.


title: AlN interlayer to improve the epitaxial growth of SmN on GaN (0001)

abstract:
  An in situ study of the epitaxial growth of SmN thin films on Ga-polar GaN
(0001)templates by molecular beam epitaxy is reported. Using X-ray
photoelectron spectroscopy we found that Ga segregates at the surface during
the first stages of growth. We showed that the problem related to Ga surface
segregation can be simply suppressed by growing a few monolayers of AlN before
starting the SmN growth. This results in a significant improvement of the
crystallinity of SmN thin films assessed by X-ray diffraction.


title: Recovery of defects from the information at detectors

abstract:
  The discrete wave equation in a multidimensional uniform space with local
defects and sources is considered. The characterization of all possible defect
configurations corresponding to given amplitudes of waves at the receivers
(detectors) is provided.


title: Subconvex bounds for compact toric integrals

abstract:
  We generalize our method for subconvex bounds for $\mathrm{GL}_2 \times
\mathrm{GL}_1$ to the setting of the Waldspurger's formula for compact torical
integrals. We address the two major difficulties: one is the lack of split
places with small norm, the other is the test vector problem. The final bound
is valid with arbitrary high probability and is better than the known bounds
for a non-empty interval.


title: Vector-like Sneutrino Dark Matter

abstract:
  In this paper, we discuss the MSSM extended with one vector-like lepton
doublets $L$-$\overline{L}$ and one right-handed neutrino $N$. The neutral
vecotor-like sneutrino can be a candidate of dark matter. In order to avoid the
interaction with the necleons by exchanging a $Z$-boson, the mass splitting
between the real part and the imaginary part of the sneutrino field is needed.
Compared with the MSSM sneutrino dark matter, the mass splitting between the
vector-like sneutrino field can be more naturally acquired without large
A-terms and constraints on the neutralino masses. We have also calculated the
relic density and the elastic scattering cross sections with the neucleons in
the cases that the dark matter particles coannihilate with or without the MSSM
slepton doublets. The elastic scattering cross sections with the neucleons are
well below the LUX bounds. In the case that the dark matter coannihilate with
all the MSSM slepton doublets, the mass of the dark matter can be as light as
370 GeV.


title: Neural Headline Generation with Sentence-wise Optimization

abstract:
  Recently, neural models have been proposed for headline generation by
learning to map documents to headlines with recurrent neural networks.
Nevertheless, as traditional neural network utilizes maximum likelihood
estimation for parameter optimization, it essentially constrains the expected
training objective within word level rather than sentence level. Moreover, the
performance of model prediction significantly relies on training data
distribution. To overcome these drawbacks, we employ minimum risk training
strategy in this paper, which directly optimizes model parameters in sentence
level with respect to evaluation metrics and leads to significant improvements
for headline generation. Experiment results show that our models outperforms
state-of-the-art systems on both English and Chinese headline generation tasks.


title:
Degeneracy of Majorana bound states and fractional Josephson effect in a
  dirty SNS junction

abstract:
  We theoretically study the stability of more than one Majorana Fermion
appearing in a $p$-wave superconductor/dirty normal metal/$p$-wave
superconductor junction in two-dimension by using chiral symmetry of
Hamiltonian. At the phase difference across the junction $\varphi$ being $\pi$,
we will show that all of the Majorana bound states in the normal metal belong
to the same chirality. Due to this pure chiral feature, the Majorana bound
states retain their high degree of degeneracy at the zero energy even in the
presence of random potential. As a consequence, the resonant transmission of a
Cooper pair via the degenerate MBSs carries the Josephson current at
$\varphi=\pi-0^+$, which explains the fractional current-phase relationship
discussed in a number of previous papers.


title: Existence of minimizing Willmore Klein bottles in Euclidean four-space

abstract:
  Let $K$ be a Klein bottle. We show that the infimum of the Willmore energy
among all immersed Klein bottles in Euclidean $n$-space is attained by a smooth
embedded Klein bottle, where $n\geq 4$. There are three distinct regular
homotopy classes of immersed Klein bottles in the Euclidean four-space each one
containing an embedding. One is characterized by the property that it contains
the minimizer just mentioned. For the other two regular homotopy classes we
show that the Willmore energy is bounded from below by $8\pi$. We give a
classification of the minimizers of these two classes. In particular, we prove
the existence of infinitely many distinct embedded Klein bottles in Euclidean
four-space that have Euler normal number $-4$ or $+4$ and Willmore energy
$8\pi$. The surfaces are distinct even when we allow conformal transformations
of the ambient space. As they are all minimizers in their homotopy class they
are Willmore surfaces.


title: On the number of Galois points for a plane curve in characteristic zero

abstract:
  For a plane curve, a point on the projective plane is said to be Galois if
the projection from the point as a map from the curve to a line induces a
Galois extension of function fields. We present upper bounds for the number of
Galois points, if the genus is greater than zero. If the curve is not an
immersed curve, then we have at most two Galois points. If the degree is not
divisible by two nor three, then the number of outer Galois points is at most
three. As a consequence, a conjecture of Yoshihara is true in these cases.


title:
Experimental evidence of optical analogue of electromagnetically induced
  transparency in graphene

abstract:
  We demonstrate the first experimental observation of coherent population
oscillation, an optical analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency,
in graphene based on phase sensitive pump-probe system. Degenerate
four-wave-mixing between pump and probe modifies the dispersion and absorption
of the population oscillation process in graphene, and leads to enhance and
depression of modulation instability with asymmetry in frequency. The
analytically predicted asymmetrical burning hole fully consists with the
experiments.


title:
Rotating system for four-dimensional transverse rms-emittance
  measurements

abstract:
  Knowledge of the transverse four-dimensional beam rms-parameters is essential
for applications that involve lattice elements that couple the two transverse
degrees of freedom (planes). Of special interest is the removal of inter-plane
correlations to reduce the projected emittances. A dedicated ROtating System
for Emittance measurements (ROSE) has been proposed, developed, and
successfully commissioned to fully determine the four-dimensional beam matrix.
This device has been used at the High Charge injector (HLI) at GSI using a beam
line which is composed of a skew quadrupole triplet, a normal quadrupole
doublet, and ROSE. Mathematical algorithms, measurements, and results for ion
beams of 83Kr13+ at 1.4 MeV/u are reported in this paper.


title:
Nielson-type transfinite triangular interpolants by means of quadratic
  energy functional optimizations

abstract:
  We generalize the transfinite triangular interpolant of (Nielson, 1987) in
order to generate visually smooth (not necessarily polynomial) local
interpolating quasi-optimal triangular spline surfaces. Given as input a
triangular mesh stored in a half-edge data structure, at first we produce a
local interpolating network of curves by optimizing quadratic energy
functionals described along the arcs as weighted combinations of squared length
variations of first and higher order derivatives, then by optimizing weighted
combinations of first and higher order quadratic thin-plate-spline-like
energies we locally interpolate each curvilinear face of the previous curve
network with triangular patches that are usually only $C^0$ continuous along
their common boundaries. In a following step, these local interpolating optimal
triangular surface patches are used to construct quasi-optimal continuous
vector fields of averaged unit normals along the joints, and finally we extend
the $G^1$ continuous transfinite triangular interpolation scheme of (Nielson,
1987) by imposing further optimality constraints concerning the isoparametric
lines of those groups of three side-vertex interpolants that have to be
convexly blended in order to generate the final visually smooth local
interpolating quasi-optimal triangular spline surface. While we describe the
problem in a general context, we present examples in special polynomial,
trigonometric, hyperbolic and algebraic-trigonometric vector spaces of
functions that may be useful both in computer-aided geometric design and in
computer graphics.


title: Sharp Davies-Gaffney-Grigor'yan Lemma on Graphs

abstract:
  In this note, we prove the sharp Davies-Gaffney-Grigor'yan lemma for minimal
heat kernels on graphs.


title:
Attainability of maximum work and the reversible efficiency from
  minimally nonlinear irreversible heat engines

abstract:
  We use the general formulation of irreversible thermodynamics and study the
minimally nonlinear irreversible model of heat engines operating between a
time-varying hot heat source of finite size and a cold heat reservoir of
infinite size. We find the criterion in which the optimized efficiency obtained
by this minimally nonlinear irreversible heat engine can reach the reversible
efficiency under the tight coupling condition: a condition of no heat leakage
between the system and the reservoirs. We assume the rate of heat transfer from
hot to cold heat reservoir obeys Fourier law and discuss physical conditions
under which one can obtain the reversible efficiency in a finite time with
finite power. We also calculate the efficiency at maximum power from the
minimally nonlinear irreversible heat engine under the non-tight coupling
condition.


title: Valeurs multiples de fonctions L de formes modulaires

abstract:
  This doctoral thesis studies the overlap between two well-known collections
of results in number theory: the theory of periods and period polynomials of
modular forms as developed by Eichler, Shimura and Manin and its extensions by
K\"ohnen and Zagier, and the theory of 'multiple zeta values' (MZV's) as
initied by Euler and studied by many authors in the last two decades. These two
theories had been linked by Manin, who introduced 'multiple L-values' (MLV's).
We propose to study those families of number and especially the relations among
them, generalizing the Eichler-Shimura-Manin relations, and also linked some of
those MLV's to MZV's.


title:
Traces des op\'erateurs de Hecke sur les espaces de formes automorphes
  de $\mathrm{SO}_7$, $\mathrm{SO}_8$ ou $\mathrm{SO}_9$ en niveau $1$ et poids
  arbitraire

abstract:
  In this article, we determine the trace of some Hecke operators on the spaces
of level one automorphic forms on the special orthogonal groups of the
euclidean lattices $\mathrm{E}_7$, $\mathrm{E}_8$ and $\mathrm{E}_8\oplus
\mathrm{A}_1$, with arbitrary weight. Using Arthur's theory, we deduce
properties of the Satake parameters of the automorphic representations for the
linear groups discovered by Chenevier and Renard. Our results corroborate a
conjecture by Bergstr\"om, Faber and van der Geer about the Hasse-Weil zeta
function on the moduli spaces of $17$-pointed curves of genus $3$.


title:
More randomness from a prepare-and-measure scenario with independent
  devices

abstract:
  How to generate genuine quantum randomness from untrusted devices is an
important problem in quantum information processing. Inspired by previous work
on a self-testing quantum random number generator [T. Lunghi et al., Phys. Rev.
Lett. 114, 150501 (2015)], we present a method to generate quantum randomness
from a prepare-and-measure scenario with independent devices. In existing
protocols, the quantum randomness depends only on a witness value (e.g.,
Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt value), which is calculated with the observed
probabilities. Differently, here all the observed probabilities are directly
used to calculate the min-entropy in our method. Through numerical simulation,
we find that the min-entropy of our proposed scheme is higher than that in the
previous work when a typical untrusted Bennett-Brassard 1984 (BB84) setup is
used. Consequently, thanks to the proposed method, more genuine quantum random
numbers may be obtained than before.


title: The Local Potential Approach to frustrated antiferromagnets

abstract:
  We revisit the critical behavior of classical frustrated systems using the
nonperturbative renormalization group (NPRG) equation. Our study is performed
within the local potential approximation of this equation to which is added the
flow of the field renormalization. Our flow equations are functional to avoid
possible artifacts coming from field expansions which consists in keeping only
a limited number of coupling constants. We present a simple numerical method to
follow the fixed point solution of our equations by changing gradually the
dimension d and the number N of spin-components. We explain in details the
advantage of this method as well as the numerical difficulties we encounter,
which become severe close to d = 2. The function N_c(d) separating the regions
of first and second order in the (d,N) plane is computed for d between 4 and
2.2. Our results confirm what was previously found within cruder approximation
of the NPRG equation and contradict both the fixed dimension perturbative
approach and the results obtained within the conformal bootstrap approach.


title:
Lower limit for differential rotation in members of young loose stellar
  associations

abstract:
  Surface differential rotation (SDR) plays a key role in dynamo models. SDR
estimates are therefore essential for constraining theoretical models. We
measure a lower limit to SDR in a sample of solar-like stars belonging to young
associations with the aim of investigating how SDR depends on global stellar
parameters in the age range (4-95 Myr). The rotation period of a solar-like
star can be recovered by analyzing the flux modulation caused by dark spots and
stellar rotation. The SDR and the latitude migration of dark-spots induce a
modulation of the detected rotation period. We employ long-term photometry to
measure the amplitude of such a modulation and to compute the quantity
DeltaOmega_phot =2p/P_min -2pi/P_max that is a lower limit to SDR. We find that
DeltaOmega_phot increases with the stellar effective temperature and with the
global convective turn-over time-scale tau_c. We find that DeltaOmega_phot is
proportional to Teff^2.18pm 0.65 in stars recently settled on the ZAMS. This
power law is less steep than those found by previous authors, but closest to
recent theoretical models. We find that DeltaOmega_phot steeply increases
between 4 and 30 Myr and that itis almost constant between 30 and 95 Myr in a 1
M_sun star. We find also that the relative shear increases with the Rossby
number Ro. Although our results are qualitatively in agreement with
hydrodynamical mean-field models, our measurements are systematically higher
than the values predicted by these models. The discrepancy between
DeltaOmega_phot measurements and theoretical models is particularly large in
stars with periods between 0.7 and 2 d. Such a discrepancy, together with the
anomalous SDR measured by other authors for HD 171488 (rotating in 1.31 d),
suggests that the rotation period could influence SDR more than predicted by
the models.


title:
Inelastic nuclear screening for different secondaries produced in p+Pb
  collisions at LHC energy

abstract:
  We calculate the inclusive spectra of secondaries produced in soft (minimum
bias) p+Pb collisions in the framework of Quark-Gluon String Model at LHC
energy, by taking into account the inelastic screening corrections (percolation
effects). The role of these effects is expected to be very large at the very
high energies, and they should decrease the spectra more than 2 times in the
midrapidity region at sqrt(s)_(NN) = 5 TeV. The experimental data confirm such
a picture, which means that the nuclear screening effects are connected with
the Pomeron interaction rather than with the interactions of the produced
secondary particles in the final state.


title:
Robust Modeling Using Non-Elliptically Contoured Multivariate t
  Distributions

abstract:
  Models based on multivariate t distributions are widely applied to analyze
data with heavy tails. However, all the marginal distributions of the
multivariate t distributions are restricted to have the same degrees of
freedom, making these models unable to describe different marginal
heavy-tailedness. We generalize the traditional multivariate t distributions to
non-elliptically contoured multivariate t distributions, allowing for different
marginal degrees of freedom. We apply the non-elliptically contoured
multivariate t distributions to three widely-used models: the Heckman selection
model with different degrees of freedom for selection and outcome equations,
the multivariate Robit model with different degrees of freedom for marginal
responses, and the linear mixed-effects model with different degrees of freedom
for random effects and within-subject errors. Based on the Normal mixture
representation of our t distribution, we propose efficient Bayesian inferential
procedures for the model parameters based on data augmentation and parameter
expansion. We show via simulation studies and real examples that the
conclusions are sensitive to the existence of different marginal
heavy-tailedness.


title:
STM study of the preparation of clean Ta(110) and the subsequent growth
  of two-dimensional Fe islands

abstract:
  This report deals with the preparation of a clean Ta(110) surface,
investigated by means of scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy as well as
by low-energy electron diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy. The surface
initially exhibits a surface reconstruction induced by oxygen contamination.
This reconstruction can be removed by annealing at high temperatures under
ultrahigh vacuum conditions. The reconstruction-free surface reveals a surface
resonance at a bias voltage of about -500 mV. The stages of the transformation
are presented and discussed. In a next step, Fe islands were grown on top of
Ta(110) and investigated subsequently. An intermixing regime was identified for
annealing temperatures of (550 - 590) K.


title:
Study of the performance of a compact sandwich calorimeter for the
  instrumentation of the very forward region of a future linear collider
  detector

abstract:
  The FCAL collaboration is preparing large scale prototypes of special
calorimeters to be used in the very forward region at a future linear electron
positron collider for a precise and fast luminosity measurement and
beam-tuning. These calorimeters are designed as sensor-tungsten calorimeters
with very thin sensor planes to keep the Moliere radius small and dedicated FE
electronics to match the timing and dynamic range requirements. A partially
instrumented prototype was investigated in the CERN PS T9 beam in 2014 and at
the DESY-II Synchrotron in 2015. It was operated in a mixed particle beam
(electrons, muons and hadrons) of 5 GeV from PS facilities and with secondary
electrons of 5 GeV energy from DESY-II. The results demonstrated a very good
performance of the full readout chain. The high statistics data were used to
study the response to different particles, perform sensor alignment and measure
the longitudinal shower development in the sandwich. In addition, Geant4 MC
simulations were done, and compared to the data.


title: On Quillen's conjecture for p-solvable groups

abstract:
  We give a new proof of Quillen's conjecture for solvable groups via a
geometric and explicit method. For p-solvable groups, we provide both a new
proof using the Classification of Finite Simple Groups and an asymptotic
version without employing it.


title:
Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): Accurate Panchromatic Photometry from
  Optical Priors using LAMBDAR

abstract:
  We present the Lambda Adaptive Multi-Band Deblending Algorithm in R
(LAMBDAR), a novel code for calculating matched aperture photometry across
images that are neither pixel- nor PSF-matched, using prior aperture
definitions derived from high resolution optical imaging. The development of
this program is motivated by the desire for consistent photometry and
uncertainties across large ranges of photometric imaging, for use in
calculating spectral energy distributions. We describe the program,
specifically key features required for robust determination of panchromatic
photometry: propagation of apertures to images with arbitrary resolution, local
background estimation, aperture normalisation, uncertainty determination and
propagation, and object deblending. Using simulated images, we demonstrate that
the program is able to recover accurate photometric measurements in both
high-resolution, low-confusion, and low-resolution, high-confusion, regimes. We
apply the program to the 21-band photometric dataset from the Galaxy And Mass
Assembly (GAMA) Panchromatic Data Release (PDR; Driver et al. 2016), which
contains imaging spanning the far-UV to the far-IR. We compare photometry
derived from LAMBDAR with that presented in Driver et al. (2016), finding broad
agreement between the datasets. Nonetheless, we demonstrate that the photometry
from LAMBDAR is superior to that from the GAMA PDR, as determined by a
reduction in the outlier rate and intrinsic scatter of colours in the LAMBDAR
dataset. We similarly find a decrease in the outlier rate of stellar masses and
star formation rates using LAMBDAR photometry. Finally, we note an exceptional
increase in the number of UV and mid-IR sources able to be constrained, which
is accompanied by a significant increase in the mid-IR colour-colour
parameter-space able to be explored.


title:
Measurement of the leptonic decay width of $J/\psi$ using initial state
  radiation

abstract:
  Using a data set of 2.93 fb$^{-1}$ taken at a center-of-mass energy of
$\sqrt{s}$ = 3.773 GeV with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider, we
measure the process $e^+e^-\rightarrow J/\psi\gamma\rightarrow
\mu^+\mu^-\gamma$ and determine the product of the branching fraction and the
electronic width $\mathcal B_{\mu\mu}\cdot \Gamma_{ee} = (333.4 \pm 2.5_{\rm
stat} \pm 4.4_{\rm sys})$~eV. Using the earlier-published BESIII result for
$\mathcal B_{\mu\mu}$ = (5.973 $\pm$ 0.007$_{\rm stat}$ $\pm$ 0.037$_{\rm
sys}$)\%, we derive the $J/\psi$ electronic width $\Gamma_{ee}$~= (5.58 $\pm$
0.05$_{\rm stat}$ $\pm$ 0.08$_{\rm sys}$) keV.


title:
Efficient Multi-Point Local Decoding of Reed-Muller Codes via
  Interleaved Codex

abstract:
  Reed-Muller codes are among the most important classes of locally correctable
codes. Currently local decoding of Reed-Muller codes is based on decoding on
lines or quadratic curves to recover one single coordinate. To recover multiple
coordinates simultaneously, the naive way is to repeat the local decoding for
recovery of a single coordinate. This decoding algorithm might be more
expensive, i.e., require higher query complexity. In this paper, we focus on
Reed-Muller codes with usual parameter regime, namely, the total degree of
evaluation polynomials is $d=\Theta({q})$, where $q$ is the code alphabet size
(in fact, $d$ can be as big as $q/4$ in our setting). By introducing a novel
variation of codex, i.e., interleaved codex (the concept of codex has been used
for arithmetic secret sharing \cite{C11,CCX12}), we are able to locally recover
arbitrarily large number $k$ of coordinates of a Reed-Muller code
simultaneously at the cost of querying $O(q^2k)$ coordinates. It turns out that
our local decoding of Reed-Muller codes shows ({\it perhaps surprisingly}) that
accessing $k$ locations is in fact cheaper than repeating the procedure for
accessing a single location for $k$ times. Our estimation of success error
probability is based on error probability bound for $t$-wise linearly
independent variables given in \cite{BR94}.


title: Thermal characteristics of a B8.3 flare observed on July 04, 2009

abstract:
  We explore the temporal evolution of flare plasma parameters including
temperature (T) - differential emission measure (DEM) relationship by analyzing
high spectral and temporal cadence of X-ray emission in 1.6-8.0 keV energy
band, recorded by SphinX (Polish) and Solar X-ray Spectrometer (SOXS; Indian)
instruments, during a B8.3 flare which occurred on July 04, 2009. SphinX
records X-ray emission in 1.2-15.0 keV energy band with the temporal and
spectral cadence as good as 6 microsecond and 0.4 keV, respectively. On the
other hand, SOXS provides X-ray observations in 4-25 keV energy band with the
temporal and spectral resolution of 3 second and 0.7 keV, respectively. We
derive the thermal plasma parameters during impulsive phase of the flare
employing well-established Withbroe-Sylwester DEM inversion algorithm.


title:
Describing synchronization and topological excitations in arrays of
  magnetic spin torque oscillators through the Kuramoto model

abstract:
  The collective dynamics in populations of magnetic spin torque oscillators
(STO) is an intensely studied topic in modern magnetism. Here, we show that
arrays of STO coupled via dipolar fields can be modeled using a variant of the
Kuramoto model, a well-known mathematical model in non-linear dynamics. By
investigating the collective dynamics in arrays of STO we find that the
synchronization in such systems is a finite size effect and show that the
critical coupling-for a complete synchronized state-scales with the number of
oscillators. Using realistic values of the dipolar coupling strength between
STO we show that this imposes an upper limit for the maximum number of
oscillators that can be synchronized. Further, we show that the lack of long
range order is associated with the formation of topological defects in the
phase field similar to the two-dimensional XY model of ferromagnetism. Our
results shed new light on the synchronization of STO, where controlling the
mutual synchronization of several oscillators is considered crucial for
applications.


title:
Improved Transients in Multiple Frequencies Estimation via Dynamic
  Regressor Extension and Mixing

abstract:
  A problem of performance enhancement for multiple frequencies estimation is
studied. First, we consider a basic gradient-based estimation approach with
global exponential convergence. Next, we apply dynamic regressor extension and
mixing technique to improve transient performance of the basic approach and
ensure non-strict monotonicity of estimation errors. Simulation results
illustrate benefits of the proposed solution.


title:
Common Origin of $3.55$ keV X-ray line and Gauge Coupling Unification
  with Left-Right Dark Matter

abstract:
  We present a minimal left-right dark matter framework that can simultaneously
explain the recently observed 3.55 keV X-ray line from several galaxy clusters
and gauge coupling unification at high energy scale. Adopting a minimal dark
matter strategy, we consider both left and right handed triplet fermionic dark
matter candidates which are stable by virtue of a remnant $\mathcal{Z}_2\simeq
(-1)^{B-L}$ symmetry arising after the spontaneous symmetry breaking of
left-right gauge symmetry to that of the standard model. A scalar bitriplet
field is incorporated whose first role is to allow radiative decay of right
handed triplet dark matter into the left handed one and a photon with energy
3.55 keV. The other role this bitriplet field at TeV scale plays is to assist
in achieving gauge coupling unification at a high energy scale within a
non-supersymmetric $SO(10)$ model while keeping the scale of left-right gauge
symmetry around the TeV corner. Apart from solving the neutrino mass problem
and giving verifiable new contributions to neutrinoless double beta decay and
charged lepton flavour violation, the model with TeV scale gauge bosons can
also give rise to interesting collider signatures like diboson excess, dilepton
plus two jets excess reported recently in the large hadron collider data.


title:
Probing the Expansion history of the Universe by Model-Independent
  Reconstruction from Supernovae and Gamma-Ray Bursts Measurements

abstract:
  To probe the late evolution history of the Universe, we adopt two kinds of
optimal basis systems. One of them is constructed by performing the principle
component analysis (PCA) and the other is build by taking the multidimensional
scaling (MDS) approach. Cosmological observables such as the luminosity
distance can be decomposed into these basis systems. These basis are optimized
for different kinds of cosmological models that based on different physical
assumptions, even for a mixture model of them. Therefore, the so-called feature
space that projected from the basis systems is cosmological model independent,
and it provide a parameterization for studying and reconstructing the Hubble
expansion rate from the supernova luminosity distance and even gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs) data with self-calibration. The circular problem when using GRBs as
cosmological candles is naturally eliminated in this procedure. By using the
Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) technique and the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC)
method, we perform an observational constraint on this kind of
parameterization. The data we used include the "joint light-curve analysis"
(JLA) data set that consists of $740$ Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) as well as
$109$ long gamma-ray bursts with the well-known Amati relation.


title: Geometric Scene Parsing with Hierarchical LSTM

abstract:
  This paper addresses the problem of geometric scene parsing, i.e.
simultaneously labeling geometric surfaces (e.g. sky, ground and vertical
plane) and determining the interaction relations (e.g. layering, supporting,
siding and affinity) between main regions. This problem is more challenging
than the traditional semantic scene labeling, as recovering geometric
structures necessarily requires the rich and diverse contextual information. To
achieve these goals, we propose a novel recurrent neural network model, named
Hierarchical Long Short-Term Memory (H-LSTM). It contains two coupled
sub-networks: the Pixel LSTM (P-LSTM) and the Multi-scale Super-pixel LSTM
(MS-LSTM) for handling the surface labeling and relation prediction,
respectively. The two sub-networks provide complementary information to each
other to exploit hierarchical scene contexts, and they are jointly optimized
for boosting the performance. Our extensive experiments show that our model is
capable of parsing scene geometric structures and outperforming several
state-of-the-art methods by large margins. In addition, we show promising 3D
reconstruction results from the still images based on the geometric parsing.


title: Fourier-positivity constraints on QCD dipole models

abstract:
  Fourier-positivity, i.e. the mathematical property that a function has a
positive Fourier transform, can be used as a constraint on the parametrization
of QCD dipole-target cross-sections or Wilson line correlators in transverse
position (r) space. They are Bessel transforms of positive transverse momentum
dependent gluon distributions. Using mathematical Fourier-positivity
constraints on the limit r -> 0 behavior of the dipole amplitudes, we identify
the common origin of the violation of Fourier-positivity for various, however
phenomenologically convenient, dipole models. It is due to the behavior
r^{2+epsilon}, epsilon>0, softer, even slightly, than color transparency.
Fourier-positivity seems thus to conflict with the present dipole formalism
when it includes a QCD running coupling constant alpha(r).


title:
Universal amorphous-amorphous transition in GexSe1-x glasses under
  pressure

abstract:
  Pressure induced structural modifications in vitreous Ge$_{x}$Se$_{100-x}$
(where 10 $\leq$ x $\leq$ 25)are investigated using X-ray absorption
spectroscopy (XAS) along with supplementary X-ray diffraction (XRD) experiments
and ab initio molecular dynamics (AIMD) simulations. Universal changes in
distances and angle distributions are observed when scaled to reduced
densities. All compositions are observed to remain amorphous under pressure
values up to 42 GPa. The Ge-Se interatomic distances extracted from XAS data
show a two-step response to the applied pressure; a gradual decrease followed
by an increase at around 15-20 GPa, depending on the composition. This increase
is attributed to the metallization event that can be traced with the red shift
in Ge K edge energy which is also identified by the principal peak position of
the structure factor. The densification mechanisms are studied in details by
means of AIMD simulations and compared to the experimental results. The
evolution of bond angle distributions, interatomic distances and coordination
numbers are examined and lead to similar pressure-induced structural changes
for any composition.


title: Fullerene graphs of small diameter

abstract:
  A fullerene graph is a cubic bridgeless plane graph with only pentagonal and
hexagonal faces. We exhibit an infinite family of fullerene graphs of diameter
$\sqrt{4n/3}$, where $n$ is the number of vertices. This disproves a conjecture
of Andova and \v{S}krekovski [MATCH Commun. Math. Comput. Chem. 70 (2013)
205-220], who conjectured that every fullerene graph on $n$ vertices has
diameter at least $\lfloor \sqrt{5n/3}\rfloor-1$.


title:
Thermal characteristics and the differential emission measure
  distribution during a B8.3 flare on July 04, 2009

abstract:
  We investigate the evolution of differential emission measure distribution
(DEM[T]) in various phases of a B8.3 flare, which occurred on July 04, 2009. We
analyze the soft X-ray (SXR) emission in 1.6-8.0 keV range, recorded
collectively by Solar Photometer in X-rays (SphinX; Polish) and Solar X-ray
Spectrometer (SOXS; Indian) instruments. We make a comparative investigation of
the best-fit DEM[T] distributions derived by employing various inversion
schemes viz. single gaussian, power-law, functions and Withbroe-Sylwester (W-S)
maximum likelihood algorithm. In addition, SXR spectrum in three different
energy bands viz. 1.6-5.0 keV (low), 5.0-8.0 keV (high) and 1.6-8.0 keV
(combined) is analyzed to determine the dependence of the best-fit DEM[T]
distribution on the selection of energy interval. The evolution of DEM[T]
distribution, derived using W-S algorithm, reveals the plasma of multi-thermal
nature during the rise to the maximum phase of the flare, while of isothermal
nature in the post-maximum phase of the flare. Thermal energy content is
estimated considering the flare plasma to be of 1) iso-thermal and 2)
multi-thermal nature. We find that the energy content during the flare,
estimated from the multi-thermal approach, is in good agreement with that
derived using the iso-thermal assumption except during the maximum of the
flare. Further, (multi-) thermal energy estimated employing low-energy band of
the SXR spectrum result in higher values than that derived from the
combined-energy band. On the contrary, the analysis of high-energy band of SXR
spectrum lead to lower thermal energy than that estimated from the
combined-energy band.


title: Degeneration of Fermat hypersurfaces in positive characteristic

abstract:
  We investigate the hypersurfaces which are the generation of the Fermat
hypersufaces, and determine their projective isomorphism classes.


title: Eta and kaon production in a chiral quark model

abstract:
  We apply a coupled-channel formalism incorporating quasi-bound quark-model
states to calculate pion scattering into eta N, K Lambda and K Sigma channels,
as well eta p, eta n, K+Lambda, and K0Sigma+ photo-production processes. The
meson-baryon and photon-baryon vertices are determined in a SU(3) version of
the Cloudy Bag Model. Our model predicts sizable amplitudes in the P11, P13,
P33 and S11 partial waves in agreement with the latest MAID isobar model and
the recent partial-wave analyses of the Bonn-Gatchina group. We are able to
give a quark-model explanation for the apparent resonance at 1685 MeV in the
eta n channel.


title: On the Noether number of $p$-groups

abstract:
  A group of order $p^n$ ($p$ prime) has an indecomposable polynomial invariant
of degree at least $p^{n-1}$ if and only if the group has a cyclic subgroup of
index at most $p$ or it is isomorphic to one of two particular groups of small
order.


title:
Theoretical aspects of the study on the new bismuth chalcogenide based
  superconductors

abstract:
  We review theoretical aspects of the studies on the recently discovered BiCh2
(Ch=chalcogen) based superconductors. We first focus on the electronic band
structure, the Fermi surface and their correlation with the lattice structure.
We then discuss the phonon features and the issue of the lattice instability.
Finally, we survey the phonon-mediated as well as the unconventional pairing
mechanisms that have been proposed so far.


title:
Nonlinear thermoelectric effects in high-field
  superconductor-ferromagnet tunnel junctions

abstract:
  Thermoelectric effects result from the coupling of charge and heat transport,
and can be used for thermometry, cooling and harvesting of thermal energy. The
microscopic origin of thermoelectric effects is a broken electron-hole
symmetry, which is usually quite small in metal structures, and vanishes at low
temperatures. We report on a combined experimental and theoretical
investigation of thermoelectric effects in superconductor/ferromagnet hybrid
structures. We investigate the depencence of thermoelectric currents on the
thermal excitation, as well as on the presence of a dc bias voltage across the
junction. Large thermoelectric effects are observed in
superconductor/ferromagnet and superconductor/normal-metal hybrid structures.
The spin-independent signals observed under finite voltage bias are shown to be
reciprocal to the physics of superconductor/normal-metal microrefrigerators.
The spin-dependent thermoelectric signals in the linear regime are due to the
coupling of spin and heat transport, and can be used to design more efficient
refrigerators


title: Quasi-algorithmical construction of reciprocal transformations

abstract:
  Reciprocal transformations mix the role of the dependent and independent
variables to achieve simpler versions or even linearized versions of nonlinear
PDEs. These transformations help in the identification of a plethora of PDEs
available in the Physics and Mathematics literature. Two different equations,
although seemingly unrelated, happen to be equivalent versions of a same
equation after a reciprocal transformation. In this way, the big number of
integrable equations could be greatly diminished by establishing a method to
discern which equations are disguised versions of a common underlying problem.
Then, a question arises: Is there a way to identify different versions of an
underlying common nonlinear problem? Other useful applications of reciprocal
transformations are subsequently discussed and illustrated with examples.