title:
Designing a Mobile Game for Home Computer Users to Protect Against
  Phishing Attacks

abstract:
  This research aims to design an educational mobile game for home computer
users to prevent from phishing attacks. Phishing is an online identity theft
which aims to steal sensitive information such as username, password and online
banking details from victims. To prevent this, phishing education needs to be
considered. Mobile games could facilitate to embed learning in a natural
environment. The paper introduces a mobile game design based on a story which
is simplifying and exaggerating real life. We use a theoretical model derived
from Technology Threat Avoidance Theory (TTAT) to address the game design
issues and game design principles were used as a set of guidelines for
structuring and presenting information. The overall mobile game design was
aimed to enhance avoidance behaviour through motivation of home computer users
to protect against phishing threats. The prototype game design is presented on
Google App Inventor Emulator. We believe by training home computer users to
protect against phishing attacks, would be an aid to enable the cyberspace as a
secure environment.


title: Global Deconvolutional Networks for Semantic Segmentation

abstract:
  Semantic image segmentation is a principal problem in computer vision, where
the aim is to correctly classify each individual pixel of an image into a
semantic label. Its widespread use in many areas, including medical imaging and
autonomous driving, has fostered extensive research in recent years. Empirical
improvements in tackling this task have primarily been motivated by successful
exploitation of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) pre-trained for image
classification and object recognition. However, the pixel-wise labelling with
CNNs has its own unique challenges: (1) an accurate deconvolution, or
upsampling, of low-resolution output into a higher-resolution segmentation mask
and (2) an inclusion of global information, or context, within locally
extracted features. To address these issues, we propose a novel architecture to
conduct the equivalent of the deconvolution operation globally and acquire
dense predictions. We demonstrate that it leads to improved performance of
state-of-the-art semantic segmentation models on the PASCAL VOC 2012 benchmark,
reaching 74.0% mean IU accuracy on the test set.


title: Coordinate-free Stochastic Differential Equations as Jets

abstract:
  We explain how It\^o Stochastic Differential Equations (SDEs) on manifolds
may be defined using 2-jets of smooth functions. We show how this relationship
can be interpreted in terms of a convergent numerical scheme. We show how jets
can be used to derive graphical representations of It\^o SDEs. We show how jets
can be used to derive the differential operators associated with SDEs in a
coordinate free manner. We relate jets to vector flows, giving a geometric
interpretation of the It\^o--Stratonovich transformation. We show how
percentiles can be used to give an alternative coordinate free interpretation
of the coefficients of one dimensional SDEs. We relate this to the jet
approach. This allows us to interpret the coefficients of SDEs in terms of "fan
diagrams". In particular the median of a SDE solution is associated to the
drift of the SDE in Stratonovich form for small times.


title:
Green's function Monte Carlo calculations of the electromagnetic and
  neutral-weak response functions in the quasi-elastic sector

abstract:
  A quantitative understanding of neutrino-nucleus interactions is demanded to
achieve precise measurement of neutrino oscillations, and hence the
determination of their masses. In addition, next generation detectors will be
able to detect supernovae neutrinos, which are likely to shed some light on the
open questions on the dynamics of core collapse. In this context, it is crucial
to account for two-body meson-exchange currents along within realistic models
of nuclear dynamics. We summarize our progresses towards the construction of a
consistent framework, based on the Green's function Monte Carlo method, that
can be exploited to accurately describe neutrino interactions with atomic
nuclei in the quasi-elastic sector.


title: The curvature of orbit spaces

abstract:
  We investigate orbit spaces of isometric actions on unit spheres and find a
universal upper bound for the infimum of their curvatures.


title:
Bouncing Towers move faster than Hanoi Towers, but still require
  exponential time

abstract:
  The problem of the Hanoi Tower is a classic exercise in recursive
programming: the solution has a simple recursive definition, and its complexity
and the matching lower bound are the solution of a simple recursive function
(the solution is so easy that most students memorize it and regurgitate it at
exams without truly understanding it). We describe how some very minor changes
in the rules of the Hanoi Tower yield various increases of complexity in the
solution, so that they require a deeper analysis than the classical Hanoi Tower
problem while still yielding exponential solutions. In particular, we analyze
the problem fo the Bouncing Tower, where just changing the insertion and
extraction position from the top to the middle of the tower results in a
surprising increase of complexity in the solution: such a tower of $n$ disks
can be optimally moved in $\sqrt{3}^n$ moves for $n$ even (i.e. less than a
Hanoi Tower of same height), via $5$ recursive functions (or, equivalently, one
recursion function with $5$ states).


title: Face Attribute Prediction Using Off-the-Shelf CNN Features

abstract:
  Predicting attributes from face images in the wild is a challenging computer
vision problem. To automatically describe face attributes from face containing
images, traditionally one needs to cascade three technical blocks --- face
localization, facial descriptor construction, and attribute classification ---
in a pipeline. As a typical classification problem, face attribute prediction
has been addressed using deep learning. Current state-of-the-art performance
was achieved by using two cascaded Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs), which
were specifically trained to learn face localization and attribute description.
In this paper, we experiment with an alternative way of employing the power of
deep representations from CNNs. Combining with conventional face localization
techniques, we use off-the-shelf architectures trained for face recognition to
build facial descriptors. Recognizing that the describable face attributes are
diverse, our face descriptors are constructed from different levels of the CNNs
for different attributes to best facilitate face attribute prediction.
Experiments on two large datasets, LFWA and CelebA, show that our approach is
entirely comparable to the state-of-the-art. Our findings not only demonstrate
an efficient face attribute prediction approach, but also raise an important
question: how to leverage the power of off-the-shelf CNN representations for
novel tasks.


title:
Study of Interference Cancellation and Relay Selection Algorithms Using
  Greedy Techniques for Cooperative DS-CDMA Systems

abstract:
  In this work, we study interference cancellation techniques and a multi-relay
selection algorithm based on greedy methods for the uplink of cooperative
direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems. We first
devise low-cost list-based successive interference cancellation (GL-SIC) and
parallel interference cancellation (GL-PIC) algorithms with RAKE receivers as
the front-end that can approach the maximum likelihood detector performance and
be used at both the relays and the destination of cooperative systems. Unlike
prior art, the proposed GL-SIC and GL-PIC algorithms exploit the Euclidean
distance between users of interest and the potential nearest constellation
point with a chosen threshold in order to build an effective list of detection
candidates. A low-complexity multi-relay selection algorithm based on greedy
techniques that can approach the performance of an exhaustive search is also
proposed. A cross-layer design strategy that brings together the proposed
multiuser detection algorithms and the greedy relay selection is then developed
along with an analysis of the proposed techniques. Simulations show an
excellent bit error rate performance of the proposed detection and relay
selection algorithms as compared to existing techniques.


title:
Landau level quantization for massless Dirac fermions in the spherical
  geometry: graphene fractional quantum Hall effect on the Haldane sphere

abstract:
  We derive the single-particle eigenenergies and eigenfunctions for massless
Dirac fermions confined to the surface of a sphere in the presence of a
magnetic monopole, i.e., we solve the Landau level problem for electrons in
graphene on the Haldane sphere. With the single-particle eigenfunctions and
eigenenergies we calculate the Haldane pseudopotentials for the Coulomb
interaction in the second Landau level and calculate the effective
pseudopotentials characterizing an effective Landau level mixing Hamiltonian
entirely in the spherical geometry to be used in theoretical studies of the
fractional quantum Hall effect in graphene. Our treatment is analogous to the
formalism in the planar geometry and reduces to the planar results in the
thermodynamic limit.


title: Minimax and minimax projection designs using clustering

abstract:
  Minimax designs provide a uniform coverage of a design space $\mathcal{X}
\subseteq \mathbb{R}^p$ by minimizing the maximum distance from any point in
this space to its nearest design point. Although minimax designs have many
useful applications, e.g., for optimal sensor allocation or as space-filling
designs for computer experiments, there has been little work in developing
algorithms for generating these designs, due to its computational complexity.
In this paper, a new hybrid algorithm combining particle swarm optimization and
clustering is proposed for generating minimax designs on any convex and bounded
design space. The computation time of this algorithm scales linearly in
dimension $p$, meaning our method can generate minimax designs efficiently for
high-dimensional regions. Simulation studies and a real-world example show that
the proposed algorithm provides improved minimax performance over existing
methods on a variety of design spaces. Finally, we introduce a new type of
experimental design called a minimax projection design, and show that this
proposed design provides better minimax performance on projected subspaces of
$\mathcal{X}$ compared to existing designs. An efficient implementation of
these algorithms can be found in the R package minimaxdesign.


title: Magnetized quark matter with a magnetic-field dependent coupling

abstract:
  It was recently derived that the QCD running coupling is a function of the
magnetic field strength under the strong magnetic field approximation. Inspired
by this progress and based on the self-consistent solutions of gap equations,
the properties of two-flavor and three-flavor quark matter are studied in the
framework of the Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model with a magnetic-field dependent
running coupling. We find that the dynamical quark masses as functions of the
magnetic field strength are not monotonous in the fully chirally broken phase.
Furthermore, the stability of magnetized quark matter with the running coupling
is enhanced by lowering the free energy per baryon, which is expected to be
more stable than that of the conventional constant coupling case. It is
concluded that the magnetized strange quark matter described by running
coupling can be absolutely stable.


title:
A regional compound Poisson process for hurricane and tropical storm
  damage

abstract:
  In light of intense hurricane activity along the U.S. Atlantic coast,
attention has turned to understanding both the economic impact and behaviour of
these storms. The compound Poisson-lognormal process has been proposed as a
model for aggregate storm damage, but does not shed light on regional analysis
since storm path data are not used. In this paper, we propose a fully Bayesian
regional prediction model which uses conditional autoregressive (CAR) models to
account for both storm paths and spatial patterns for storm damage. When fitted
to historical data, the analysis from our model both confirms previous findings
and reveals new insights on regional storm tendencies. Posterior predictive
samples can also be used for pricing regional insurance premiums, which we
illustrate using three different risk measures.


title: Acylindrical group actions on quasi-trees

abstract:
  A group G is acylindrically hyperbolic if it admits a non-elementary
acylindrical action on a hyperbolic space. We prove that every acylindrically
hyperbolic group G has a generating set X such that the corresponding Cayley
graph is a (non-elementary) quasi-tree and the action of G on the Cayley graph
is acylindrical. Our proof utilizes the notions of hyperbolically embedded
subgroups and projection complexes. As a by-product, we obtain some new results
about hyperbolically embedded subgroups and quasi-convex subgroups of
acylindrically hyperbolic groups.


title: Efficient Call Path Detection for Android-OS Size of Huge Source Code

abstract:
  Today most developers utilize source code written by other parties. Because
the code is modified frequently, the developers need to grasp the impact of the
modification repeatedly. A call graph and especially its special type, a call
path, help the developers comprehend the modification. Source code written by
other parties, however, becomes too huge to be held in memory in the form of
parsed data for a call graph or path. This paper offers a bidirectional search
algorithm for a call graph of too huge amount of source code to store all parse
results of the code in memory. It refers to a method definition in source code
corresponding to the visited node in the call graph. The significant feature of
the algorithm is the referenced information is used not in order to select a
prioritized node to visit next but in order to select a node to postpone
visiting. It reduces path extraction time by 8% for a case in which ordinary
path search algorithms do not reduce the time.


title: Second-Order Stochastic Optimization for Machine Learning in Linear Time

abstract:
  First-order stochastic methods are the state-of-the-art in large-scale
machine learning optimization owing to efficient per-iteration complexity.
Second-order methods, while able to provide faster convergence, have been much
less explored due to the high cost of computing the second-order information.
In this paper we develop second-order stochastic methods for optimization
problems in machine learning that match the per-iteration cost of gradient
based methods, and in certain settings improve upon the overall running time
over popular first-order methods. Furthermore, our algorithm has the desirable
property of being implementable in time linear in the sparsity of the input
data.


title: Modelling intensities of order flows in a limit order book

abstract:
  We propose a parametric model for the simulation of limit order books. We
assume that limit orders, market orders and cancellations are submitted
according to point processes with state-dependent intensities. We propose new
functional forms for these intensities, as well as new models for the placement
of limit orders and cancellations. For cancellations, we introduce the concept
of "priority index" to describe the selection of orders to be cancelled in the
order book. Parameters of the model are estimated using likelihood
maximization. We illustrate the performance of the model by providing extensive
simulation results, with a comparison to empirical data and a standard Poisson
reference.


title: An Overview of Particle Methods for Random Finite Set Models

abstract:
  This overview paper describes the particle methods developed for the
implementation of the a class of Bayes filters formulated using the random
finite set formalism. It is primarily intended for the readership already
familiar with the particle methods in the context of the standard Bayes filter.
The focus in on the Bernoulli particle filter, the probability hypothesis
density (PHD) particle filter and the generalised labelled multi-Bernoulli
(GLMB) particle filter. The performance of the described filters is
demonstrated in the context of bearings-only target tracking application.


title: Dynamics of inert spheres in active suspensions of micro-rotors

abstract:
  Inert particles suspended in active fluids of self-propelled particles are
known to often exhibit enhanced diffusion and novel coherent structures. Here
we numerically investigate the dynamical behavior and self-organization in a
system consisting of passive and actively rotating spheres. The particles
interact through direct collisions and the fluid flows generated as they move.
In the absence of passive particles, three states emerge in a binary mixture of
spinning spheres depending on particle fraction: a dilute gas-like state where
the rotors move chaotically, a phase-separated state where like-rotors move in
lanes or vortices, and a jammed state where crystals continuously assemble,
melt and move (K. Yeo, E. Lushi, and P. M. Vlahovska, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114,
188301 (2015)). Passive particles added to the rotor suspension modify the
system dynamics and pattern formation: while states identified in the pure
active suspension still emerge, they occur at different densities and mixture
proportions. The dynamical behavior of the inert particles is also
non-trivially dependent on the system composition.


title:
Creation of an ultracold gas of ground-state $^{23}\rm{Na}^{87}\rm{Rb}$
  molecules

abstract:
  We report the successful production of an ultracold sample of absolute
ground-state $^{23}$Na$^{87}$Rb molecules. Starting from weakly-bound Feshbach
molecules formed via magneto-association, the lowest rovibrational and
hyperfine level of the electronic ground state is populated following a high
efficiency and high resolution two-photon Raman process. The high purity
absolute ground-state samples have up to 8000 molecules and densities of over
$10^{11}$ cm$^{-3}$. By measuring the Stark shifts induced by external electric
fields, we determined the permanent electric dipole moment of the absolute
ground-state $^{23}$Na$^{87}$Rb and demonstrated the capability of inducing an
effective dipole moment over one Debye. Bimolecular reaction between
ground-state $^{23}$Na$^{87}$Rb molecules is endothermic, but we still observed
a rather fast decay of the molecular sample. Our results pave the way toward
investigation of ultracold molecular collisions in a fully controlled manner,
and possibly to quantum gases of ultracold bosonic molecules with strong
dipolar interactions.


title: Pressure dependence of upper critical fields in FeSe single crystals

abstract:
  We investigate the pressure dependence of the upper critical fields
({\mu}$_0$$H$$_{c2}$) for FeSe single crystals with pressure up to 2.57 GPa.
The superconducting (SC) properties show a disparate behavior across a critical
pressure where the pressure-induced antiferromagnetic phase coexists with
superconductivity. The magnetoresistance for $H//ab$ and $H//c$ is very
different: for $H//c$, magnetic field induces and enhances a hump in the
resistivity close to the $T_c$ for pressures higher than 1.2 GPa, while it is
absent for $H//ab$. Since the measured {\mu}$_0$$H$$_{c2}$ for FeSe samples is
smaller than the orbital limited upper critical field ($H$$^{orb}$$_{c2}$)
estimated by the Werthamer Helfand and Hohenberg (WHH) model, the Maki
parameter ({\alpha}) related to Pauli spin-paramagnetic effects is additionally
considered to describe the temperature dependence of {\mu}$_0$$H$$_{c2}$($T$).
Interestingly, the {\alpha} value is hardly affected by pressure for $H//ab$,
while it strongly increases with pressure for $H//c$. The pressure evolution of
the {\mu}$_0$$H$$_{c2}$(0)s for the FeSe single crystals is found to be almost
similar to that of $T_c$($P$), suggesting that the pressure-induced magnetic
order adversely affects the upper critical fields as well as the SC transition
temperature.


title:
The role of narrowband filtering in improving signal-to-noise ratio of
  ghost imaging with thermal light background

abstract:
  In ghost imaging with narrow-band signal in thermal light background, signal
arm filters bring higher value and upper limit of signal-to-noise ratio (SNR),
and faster speed to reach that limit. The narrower bandwidth, the better.


title: General Vector Machine

abstract:
  The support vector machine (SVM) is an important class of learning machines
for function approach, pattern recognition, and time-serious prediction, etc.
It maps samples into the feature space by so-called support vectors of selected
samples, and then feature vectors are separated by maximum margin hyperplane.
The present paper presents the general vector machine (GVM) to replace the SVM.
The support vectors are replaced by general project vectors selected from the
usual vector space, and a Monte Carlo (MC) algorithm is developed to find the
general vectors. The general project vectors improves the feature-extraction
ability, and the MC algorithm can control the width of the separation margin of
the hyperplane. By controlling the separation margin, we show that the maximum
margin hyperplane can usually induce the overlearning, and the best learning
machine is achieved with a proper separation margin. Applications in function
approach, pattern recognition, and classification indicate that the developed
method is very successful, particularly for small-set training problems.
Additionally, our algorithm may induce some particular applications, such as
for the transductive inference.


title: Search for Pentaquark Theta+ in Hadronic Reaction at J-PARC

abstract:
  A variety of nuclear and hadron physics experiments are being performed using
meson beams at the J-PARC Hadron Facility. As the first experiment at the
facility, the pentaquark Theta+ was searched for in the pi- p -> K- X reaction
with a missing-mass resolution of 2 MeV (FWHM). The number of accumulated beam
pions are 7.8x10^10 and 8.1x10^10 for different beam momenta of 1.92 and 2.01
GeV/c, respectively. No significant structure was observed in the missing mass
spectra. Upper limits of the production cross section are obtained to be
0.28ub/sr in the laboratory frame at 90% confidence level for each beam
momenta. With a help of theoretical models, an upper limit of the total decay
width of Theta+ was estimated to be 0.36 and 1.9 MeV for J^P = 1/2+ and 1/2-
states, respectively.


title: Mass Effect on Axial Charge Dynamics

abstract:
  We studied effect of finite quark mass on the dynamics of axial charge using
the D3/D7 model in holography. The mass term in axial anomaly equation affects
both the fluctuation (generation) and dissipation of axial charge. We studied
the dependence of the effect on quark mass and external magnetic field. For
axial charge generation, we calculated the mass diffusion rate, which
characterizes the helicity flipping rate. The rate is a non-monotonous function
of mass and can be significantly enhanced by the magnetic field. The diffusive
behavior is also related to a divergent susceptibility of axial charge. For
axial charge dissipation, we found that in the long time limit, the mass term
dissipates all the charge effectively generated by parallel electric and
magnetic fields. The result is consistent with a relaxation time approximation.
The rate of dissipation through mass term is a monotonous increasing function
of both quark mass and magnetic field.


title: Transport and spin conversion of multi-carriers in semimetal bismuth

abstract:
  In this paper, we report on the investigation of (1) the transport properties
of multi-carriers in semi-metal Bi and (2) the spin conversion physics in this
semimetal system in a ferrimagnetic insulator, yttrium-iron-garnet. Hall
measurements reveal that electrons and holes co-exist in the Bi, with electrons
being the dominant carrier. The results of a spin conversion experiment
corroborate the results of the Hall measurement; in addition, the inverse spin
Hall effect governs the spin conversion in the semimetal/insulator system. This
study provides further insights into spin conversion physics in semimetal
systems.


title:
Linear Degrees of Freedom for $K $-user MISO Interference Channels with
  Blind Interference Alignment

abstract:
  In this paper, we characterize the degrees of freedom (DoF) for $K $-user $M
\times 1 $ multiple-input single-output interference channels with
reconfigurable antennas which have multiple preset modes at the receivers,
assuming linear coding strategies in the absence of channel state information
at the transmitters, i.e., blind interference alignment. Our linear DoF
converse builds on the lemma that if a set of transmit symbols is aligned at
their common unintended receivers, those symbols must have independent signal
subspace at their corresponding receivers. This lemma arises from the inherent
feature that channel state's changing patterns of the links towards the same
receiver are always identical, assuming that the coherence time of the channel
is long enough. We derive an upper bound for the linear sum DoF, and propose an
achievable scheme that exactly achieves the linear sum DoF upper-bound when
both of the $\frac{n^{*}}{M}=R_{1} $ and $\frac{MK}{n^{*}}=R_{2} $ are
integers. For the other cases, where either $R_1 $ or $R_2 $ is not an integer,
we only give some guidelines how the interfering signals are aligned at the
receivers to achieve the upper-bound. As an extension, we also show the linear
sum DoF upper-bound for downlink/uplink cellular networks.


title: Infrared Supernova Remnants and their Infrared to X-ray Flux Ratios

abstract:
  Recent high-resolution infrared space missions have revealed supernova
remnants (SNRs) of diverse morphology in infrared (IR) dust emission that is
often very different from their X-ray appearance. The observed range of
infrared-to-X-ray (IRX) flux ratios of SNRs are also wide. For a sample of 20
Galactic SNRs, we obtain their IR and X-ray properties and investigate the
physical causes for such large differences. We find that the observed IRX flux
ratios ($R_{IRX.obs}$) are related to the IRX morphology, with SNRs with the
largest $R_{IRX,obs}$ showing anticorrelated IRX morphology. By analyzing the
relation of $R_{IRX,obs}$ to X-ray and IR parameters, we show that the
$R_{IRX,obs}$ of some SNRs agree with theoretical ratios of SNR shocks in which
dust grains are heated and destroyed by collisions with plasma particles. For
the majority of SNRs, however, $R_{IRX,obs}$ values are either significantly
smaller or significantly larger than the theoretical ratios. The latter SNRs
have relatively low dust temperatures. We discuss how the natural and/or
environmental properties of SNRs could have affected the IRX flux ratios and
the IRX morphology of these SNRs. We conclude that the SNRs with largest
$R_{IRX,obs}$ are probably located in dense environment and that their IR
emission is from dust heated by shock radiation rather than by collisions. Our
result suggests that the IRX flux ratio, together with dust temperature, can be
used to infer the nature of unresolved SNRs in external galaxies.


title: Grokya: a Privacy-Friendly Framework for Ubiquitous Computing

abstract:
  In a world where for-profit enterprises are increasingly looking to maximize
profits by engaging in privacy invading consumer-profiling techniques, the rise
of ubiquitous computing and the Internet of Things (IoT) poses a major problem.
If not acted upon quickly, the combination of Big Data with IoT will explode
into a dystopian world that even George Orwell could not have predicted. The
proposed project aims to fill a gap that no other solution is addressing, which
is to reach a win-win scenario that works for both the enterprises and the
consumers. It aims to do this by creating the building blocks for a consumer
owned infrastructure that can provide both privacy for the user, and still
enable the enterprises to achieve their high-level goals.


title:
Computational Enumeration of Independent Generating Sets of Finite
  Symmetric Groups

abstract:
  We developed computer algebra tools for enumerating conjugacy classes of
independent subsets and generating sets of symmetric groups up to $n=7$, and
carried out an initial analysis of the obtained results.


title: Impulsivity Parameter for Solar Flares

abstract:
  Three phases are typically observed during solar flares: the preflare,
impulsive, and decay phases. During the impulsive phase, it is believed that
the electrons and other particles are accelerated after the stored energy in
the magnetic field is released by reconnection. The impulsivity of a solar
flare is a quantifiable property that shows how quickly this initial energy
release occurs. It is measured via the impulsivity parameter, which we define
as the inverse of the overall duration of the impulsive phase. We take the
latter as the raw width of the most prominent nonthermal emission of the flare.
We computed this observable over a work sample of 48 M-class events that
occurred during the current Solar Cycle 24 by using three different methods.
The first method takes into account all of the nonthermal flare emission and
gives very accurate results, while the other two just cover fixed energy
intervals (30-40 keV and 25-50 keV) and are useful for fast calculations. We
propose an alternative way to classify solar flares according to their
impulsivity parameter values, defining three different types of impulsivity,
namely, high, medium, and low. This system of classification is independent of
the manner used to calculated the impulsivity parameter. Lastly, we show the
relevance of this tool as a discriminator of different HXR generation
processes.


title:
Robust Room-Temperature Quantum Spin Hall Effect in
  Methyl-functionalized InBi honeycomb film

abstract:
  Two-dimensional (2D) group-III-V honeycomb films have attracted significant
interest for their potential application in fields of quantum computing and
nanoeletronics. Searching for 2D III-V films with high structural stability and
large-gap are crucial for the realizations of dissipationless transport edge
states using quantum spin Hall (QSH) effect. Based on first-principles
calculations, we predict that the methyl-functionalized InBi monolayer
(InBiCH3) has no dynamic instability, and host a QSH state with a band gap as
large as 0.29 eV, exhibiting an interesting electronic behavior viable for
room-temperature applications. The topological characteristic is confirmed by
s-pxy bands inversion, topological invariant Z2 number, and the time-reversal
symmetry protected helical edge states. Noticeably, the QSH states are tunable
and robust against the mechanical strain, electric field and different levels
of methyl coverages. We also find that InBiCH3 supported on h-BN substrate
maintains a nontrivial QSH state, which harbors the edge states lying within
the band gap of substrate. These findings demonstrate that the
methyl-functionalized III-V films may be a good QSH platform for device design
and fabrication in spintronics.


title:
TabMCQ: A Dataset of General Knowledge Tables and Multiple-choice
  Questions

abstract:
  We describe two new related resources that facilitate modelling of general
knowledge reasoning in 4th grade science exams. The first is a collection of
curated facts in the form of tables, and the second is a large set of
crowd-sourced multiple-choice questions covering the facts in the tables.
Through the setup of the crowd-sourced annotation task we obtain implicit
alignment information between questions and tables. We envisage that the
resources will be useful not only to researchers working on question answering,
but also to people investigating a diverse range of other applications such as
information extraction, question parsing, answer type identification, and
lexical semantic modelling.


title:
Enhanced Slippery Behavior and Stability of Lubricating Fluid Infused
  Nanostructured Surfaces

abstract:
  Stability of lubricating fluid infused slippery surfaces is a concern for
scientists and engineers and attempts are being made for its improvement.
Lubricating oil coated slippery surface for aqueous drops is one of the
important candidates in this class and their stability needs be improved to
make them useful for practical applications. Cloaking of water drops with thin
lubricant layer results in the loss of lubricant leading to deterioration of
slippery behavior. Surface roughness or porosity provides larger surface area
to the lubricating fluid and would to affect the stability of the lubricating
film. Here we report the effect of surface roughness, from tens of nanometer to
few microns, on the stability of slippery surface. Samples with small nanoscale
roughness show improved performance in terms of contact angle hysteresis,
critical tilt angle and slip velocity. Whereas large roughness samples show
poorer performance compared to small nanoscale roughness and smooth samples.
Small nanoscale roughness samples also show relatively slower deterioration
against loss of lubricant during water flow. Once completely lost, the slippery
behavior can be restored again simply by coating the sample again by the
lubricating fluid.


title: Maximum likelihood estimates of pairwise rearrangement distances

abstract:
  Accurate estimation of evolutionary distances between taxa is important for
many phylogenetic reconstruction methods. In the case of bacteria, distances
can be estimated using a range of different evolutionary models, from single
nucleotide polymorphisms to large-scale genome rearrangements. In the case of
sequence evolution models (such as the Jukes-Cantor model and associated
metric) have been used to correct pairwise distances. Similar correction
methods for genome rearrangement processes are required to improve inference.
Current attempts at correction fall into 3 categories: Empirical computational
studies, Bayesian/MCMC approaches, and combinatorial approaches. Here we
introduce a maximum likelihood estimator for the inversion distance between a
pair of genomes, using the group-theoretic approach to modelling inversions
introduced recently. This MLE functions as a corrected distance: in particular,
we show that because of the way sequences of inversions interact with each
other, it is quite possible for minimal distance and MLE distance to
differently order the distances of two genomes from a third. This has obvious
implications for the use of minimal distance in phylogeny reconstruction. The
work also tackles the above problem allowing free rotation of the genome.
Generally a frame of reference is locked, and all computation made accordingly.
This work incorporates the action of the dihedral group so that distance
estimates are free from any a priori frame of reference.


title: Detection of Cooperative Interactions in Logistic Regression Models

abstract:
  An important problem in the field of bioinformatics is to identify
interactive effects among profiled variables for outcome prediction. In this
paper, a logistic regression model with pairwise interactions among a set of
binary covariates is considered. Modeling the structure of the interactions by
a graph, our goal is to recover the interaction graph from independently
identically distributed (i.i.d.) samples of the covariates and the outcome.
  When viewed as a feature selection problem, a simple quantity called
influence is proposed as a measure of the marginal effects of the interaction
terms on the outcome. For the case when the underlying interaction graph is
known to be acyclic, it is shown that a simple algorithm that is based on a
maximum-weight spanning tree with respect to the plug-in estimates of the
influences not only has strong theoretical performance guarantees, but can also
outperform generic feature selection algorithms for recovering the interaction
graph from i.i.d. samples of the covariates and the outcome. Our results can
also be extended to the model that includes both individual effects and
pairwise interactions via the help of an auxiliary covariate.


title:
Spectral isometries onto algebras having a separating family of
  finite-dimensional irreducible representations

abstract:
  We prove that if $\mathcal{A}$ is a complex, unital semisimple Banach algebra
and $\mathcal{B}$ is a complex, unital Banach algebra having a separating
family of finite-dimensional irreducible representations, then any unital
linear operator from $\mathcal{A}$ onto $\mathcal{B}$ which preserves the
spectral radius is a Jordan morphism.


title: Nonlinear mappings preserving at least one eigenvalue

abstract:
  We prove that if $F$ is a Lipschitz map from the set of all complex $n\times
n$ matrices into itself with $F(0)=0$ such that given any $x$ and $y$ we have
that $% F\left( x\right) -F\left( y\right) $ and $x-y$ have at least one common
eigenvalue, then either $F\left( x\right) =uxu^{-1}$ or $F\left( x\right)
=ux^{t}u^{-1}$ for all $x$, for some invertible $n\times n$ matrix $u$. We
arrive at the same conclusion by supposing $F$ to be of class $\mathcal{C}%
^{1}$ on a domain in $\mathcal{M}_{n}$ containing the null matrix, instead of
Lipschitz. We also prove that if $F$ is of class $\mathcal{C}^{1}$ on a domain
containing the null matrix satisfying $F(0)=0$ and $\rho (F\left( x\right)
-F\left( y\right) )=\rho (x-y)$ for all $x$ and $y$, where $\rho \left( \cdot
\right) $ denotes the spectral radius, then there exists $\gamma \in
\mathbb{C}$ of modulus one such that either $\gamma ^{-1}F$ or $\gamma
^{-1}\overline{F}$ is of the above form, where $\overline{F}$ is the (complex)
conjugate of $F$.


title:
Measuring and Maximizing Influence via Random Walk in Social Activity
  Networks

abstract:
  With the popularity of OSNs, finding a set of most influential users (or
nodes) so as to trigger the largest influence cascade is of significance. For
example, companies may take advantage of the "word-of-mouth" effect to trigger
a large cascade of purchases by offering free samples/discounts to those most
influential users. This task is usually modeled as an influence maximization
problem, and it has been widely studied in the past decade. However,
considering that users in OSNs may participate in various kinds of online
activities, e.g., giving ratings to products, joining discussion groups, etc.,
influence diffusion through online activities becomes even more significant.
  In this paper, we study the impact of online activities by formulating the
influence maximization problem for social-activity networks (SANs) containing
both users and online activities. To address the computation challenge, we
define an influence centrality via random walks to measure influence, then use
the Monte Carlo framework to efficiently estimate the centrality in SANs.
Furthermore, we develop a greedy-based algorithm with two novel optimization
techniques to find the most influential users. By conducting extensive
experiments with real-world datasets, we show our approach is more efficient
than the state-of-the-art algorithm IMM[17] when we needs to handle large
amount of online activities.


title: Exponential growth of codimensions of identities of algebras with unity

abstract:
  The asymptotic behaviour is studied of exponentially bounded sequences of
codimensions of identities of algebras with unity. A series of algebras is
constructed for which the base of the exponential increases by exactly one when
an outer unity is adjoined to the original algebra. We show that the
PI-exponents of unital algebras can take any value greater than two, and the
exponents of finite-dimensional unital algebras form a dense subset of the
domain [2,$\infty$).


title: Engineering the De-localized States of Graphene Quantum Dots

abstract:
  Employing a combination of many-body configuration interaction method
described by extended Hubbard model along with first principle calculations we
predict the emergence of high oscillator strength at near-IR region which
originates from the Davydov type of splitting in doped graphene quantum dots
(GQD). Incorporation of strain in GQD promotes closely spaced bright states
inciting for coherent excitation. Controlling the destructive interference of
the functionalized nano graphene quantum states, the dark states can be tuned
towards red end ensuing the system as a good candidate for photocell whereas
coherent states can be tailored to concentrate the light at very high intensity
resulting an opportunity for photonic device


title: Opportunistic Detection Rules: Finite and Asymptotic Analysis

abstract:
  Opportunistic detection rules (ODRs) are variants of fixed-sample-size
detection rules in which the statistician is allowed to make an early decision
on the alternative hypothesis opportunistically based on the sequentially
observed samples. From a sequential decision perspective, ODRs are also
mixtures of one-sided and truncated sequential detection rules. Several results
regarding ODRs are established in this paper. In the finite regime, the maximum
sample size is modeled either as a fixed finite number, or a geometric random
variable with a fixed finite mean. For both cases, the corresponding Bayesian
formulations are investigated. The former case is a slight variation of the
well-known finite-length sequential hypothesis testing procedure in the
literature, whereas the latter case is new, for which the Bayesian optimal ODR
is shown to be a sequence of likelihood ratio threshold tests with two
different thresholds: a running threshold, which is determined by solving a
stationary state equation, is used when future samples are still available, and
a terminal threshold (simply the ratio between the priors scaled by costs) is
used when the statistician reaches the final sample and thus has to make a
decision immediately. In the asymptotic regime, the tradeoff among the
exponents of the (false alarm and miss) error probabilities and the normalized
expected stopping time under the alternative hypothesis is completely
characterized and proved to be tight, via an information-theoretic argument.
Within the tradeoff region, one noteworthy fact is that the performance of the
Stein-Chernoff Lemma is attainable by ODRs.


title:
Entropy, energy and temperature-length inequality for Friedmann
  universes

abstract:
  In this paper we continue the study of the physical consequences of our
modified black hole entropy formula in expanding spacetimes. In particular, we
apply the new formula to apparent horizons of Friedmann expanding universes
with zero, negative and positive spatial curvature. As a first result, we found
that, apart from the static Einstein solution, the only Friedmann spacetimes
with constant (zero) internal energy are the ones with zero spatial curvature.
This happens because, in the computation of the internal energy $U$, the
contribution due to the non-vanishing Hubble flow must been added to the usual
Misner-Sharp energy giving, for zero curvature spacetimes, a zero value for
$U$. This fact does not hold when curvature is present. After analyzing the
free energy $F$, we obtain the correct result that $F$ is stationary only for
physical systems in isothermal equilibrium, i.e. a de Sitter expanding
universe. This result permits us to trace back a physically reasonable
hypothesis concerning the origin of the early and late times de Sitter phase of
our universe. Finally, we deduce an interesting temperature-length inequality
similar to the time-energy uncertainty of ordinary quantum mechanics but with
temperature instead of time coordinate. Remarkably, this relation is
independent on the gravitational constant $G$ and can thus be explored also in
non gravitational contexts.


title: Time-local Heisenberg-Langevin equations and the driven qubit

abstract:
  The time-local master equation for a driven boson system interacting with a
boson environment is derived by way of a time-local Heisenberg--Langevin
equation. Extension to the driven qubit fails---except for weak
excitation---due to the lost linearity of the system-environment interaction.
We show that a reported time-local master equation for the driven qubit is
incorrect. As a corollary to our demonstration, we also uncover odd asymptotic
behavior in the "repackaged" time-local dynamics of a system driven to a
far-from-equilibrium steady state: the density operator becomes steady while
time-dependent coefficients oscillate (with periodic singularities) forever.


title:
On Randomization-based and Regression-based Inferences for 2^K Factorial
  Designs

abstract:
  We extend the randomization-based causal inference framework in Dasgupta et
al. (2015) for general 2^K factorial designs, and demonstrate the equivalence
between regression-based and randomization-based inferences. Consequently, we
justify the use of regression-based methods in 2^K factorial designs from a
finite-population perspective.


title:
Multi-Layer Multi-Configuration Time-Dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH)
  Approach to the Correlated Exciton-Vibrational Dynamics in the FMO Complex

abstract:
  The coupled quantum dynamics of excitonic and vibrational degrees of freedom
is investigated for high-dimensional models of the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO)
complex. This includes a seven and an eight-site model with 518 and 592
harmonic vibrational modes, respectively. The coupling between local electronic
transitions and vibrations is described within the Huang-Rhys model using
parameters that are obtained by discretization of an experimental spectral
density. Different pathways of excitation energy flow are analyzed in terms of
the reduced one-exciton density matrix, focussing on the role of vibrational
and vibronic excitation. Distinct features due to both competing time scales of
vibrational and exciton motion and vibronically-assisted transfer are observed.
The question of the effect of initial state preparation is addressed by
comparing the case of an instantaneous Franck-Condon excitation at a single
site with that of a laser field excitation.


title: Root systems and graph associahedra

abstract:
  It is known that a connected simple graph $G$ associates a simple polytope
$P_G$ called a graph associahedron in Euclidean space. In this paper we show
that the set of facet vectors of $P_G$ forms a root system if and only if $G$
is a cycle graph and that the root system is of type A.


title: Integrable extended van der Waals model

abstract:
  Inspired by the recent developments in the study of the thermodynamics of van
der Waals fluids via the theory of nonlinear conservation laws and the
description of phase transitions in terms of classical (dissipative) shock
waves, we propose a novel approach to the construction of multi-parameter
generalisations of the van der Waals model. The theory of integrable nonlinear
conservation laws still represents the inspiring framework. Starting from a
macroscopic approach, a four parameter family of integrable extended van der
Waals models is indeed constructed in such a way that the equation of state is
a solution to an integrable nonlinear conservation law linearisable by a
Cole-Hopf transformation. This family is further specified by the request that,
in regime of high temperature, far from the critical region, the extended model
reproduces asymptotically the standard van der Waals equation of state. We
provide a detailed comparison of our extended model with two notable empirical
models such as Peng-Robinson and Soave's modification of the Redlich-Kwong
equations of state. We show that our extended van der Waals equation of state
is compatible with both empirical models for a suitable choice of the free
parameters and can be viewed as a master interpolating equation. The present
approach also suggests that further generalisations can be obtained by
including the class of dispersive and viscous-dispersive nonlinear conservation
laws and could lead to a new type of thermodynamic phase transitions associated
to nonclassical and dispersive shock waves.


title:
The hadronic vacuum polarization function with O(a)-improved Wilson
  fermions - an update

abstract:
  We present an update of our lattice QCD study of the vacuum polarization
function using O$(a)$-improved $N_ {\rm f} =2$ Wilson fermions with increased
statistics and a large set of momenta. The resulting points are highly
correlated and thus require a correlated fitting procedure. We employ an
extended frequentist method to estimate the systematic uncertainties due to the
momentum dependence and to the continuum and chiral extrapolations. We present
preliminary results of the leading order hadronic contribution of the anomalous
magnetic moment of the muon $\left(a_\mu^{\mathrm{HLO}}\right)$ at the physical
point for $u,d,s$ and $c$ valence quarks.


title:
Grating-Coupling-Based Excitation of Bloch Surface Waves for
  Lab-on-Fiber Optrodes

abstract:
  In this paper, we investigate the possibility to excite Bloch surface waves
(BSWs) on the tip of single-mode optical fibers. Within this framework, after
exploring an idealized, proof-of-principle grating-coupling-based scheme for
on-tip excitation of BSWs, we focus on an alternative configuration that is
more robust with respect to fabrication-related non-idealities. Subsequently,
with a view towards label-free chemical and biological sensing, we present a
specific design aimed at enhancing the sensitivity (in terms of wavelength
shift) of the arising resonance with respect to changes in the refractive
properties of the surrounding environment. Numerical results indicate that the
attained sensitivities are in line with those exhibited by state-of-the-art
plasmonic bioprobes, with the key advantage of exhibiting much narrower
spectral resonances. This prototype study paves the way for a new class of
miniaturized high-performance surface-wave fiber-optic devices for
high-resolution label-free optical biosensing, and represents an important step
forward in the "lab-on-fiber" technology roadmap.


title: On Approximate Controllability of Impulsive Linear Evolution Equations

abstract:
  In this paper, we study an approximate controllability for the impulsive
linear evolution equations in Hilbert spaces. The necessary and sufficient
conditions for approximate controllability in terms of resolvent operators are
given. An example is provided to illustrate the application of the obtained
results.


title: Signal periodic decomposition with conjugate subspaces

abstract:
  In this paper, we focus on hidden period identification and the periodic
decomposition of signals. Based on recent results on the Ramanujan subspace, we
reveal the conjugate symmetry of the Ramanujan subspace with a set of complex
exponential basis functions and represent the subspace as the union of a series
of conjugate subspaces. With these conjugate subspaces, the signal periodic
model is introduced to characterize the periodic structure of a signal. To
achieve the decomposition of the proposed model, the conjugate subspace
matching pursuit (CSMP) algorithm is proposed based on two different greedy
strategies. The CSMP is performed iteratively in two stages. In the first
stage, the dominant hidden period is chosen with the periodicity strategy.
Then, the dominant conjugate subspace is chosen with the energy strategy in the
second stage. Compared with the current state-of-the-art methods for hidden
period identification, the main advantages provided by the CSMP are the
following: (i) the capability of identifying all the hidden periods in the
range from $1$ to the maximum hidden period $Q$ of a signal of any length,
without truncating the signal; (ii) the ability to identify the time-varying
hidden period with its shifted version; and (iii) the low computational cost,
without generating and using a large over-complete dictionary. Moreover, we
provide examples and applications to demonstrate the abilities of the proposed
two-stage CSMP algorithm, which include hidden period identification, signal
approximation, time-varying period detection, and pitch detection of speech.


title:
Gate control of lattice-pseudospin currents in graphene on WS2: Effect
  of sublattice symmetry breaking and spin-orbit interaction

abstract:
  Strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in graphene grown on tungsten disulfide
(WS2) has been recently observed, leading to energy gap opening by SOI. Energy
gap in graphene may also be induced by sublattice symmetry breaking (SSB) where
energy level in A-sublattice is not equal to that in B-sublattice. SSB-gap may
be produced by growing graphene on hexagonal boron nitride or silicon carbide.
In this work, we investigate transport property in a SOI/SSB/SOI gapped
graphene junction, focusing the effect of interplay of SOI and SSB. We find
that, lattice-pseudospin polarization (L-PSP) can be controlled perfectly from
+100% to -100% by gate voltage. This is due to the fact that in graphene grown
on WS2, the carriers carry lattice-pseudo spin degree of freedom "up and down".
The SSB-gapped graphene exhibits pseudo-ferromagnetism to play the role of
lattice-pseudospin filtering barrier. It is also found that the SOI and
SSB-gaps in graphene may be measured by characteristic of L-PSP in the
junction. The proposed controllable-lattice-pseudospin currents may be
applicable for graphene-based pseudospintronics.


title:
New cross section data and review of production routes of medically used
  $^{110m}$In

abstract:
  Evaluation of nuclear data for production routes of $^{110m}$In is in
progress in the frame of an IAEA Coordinated Research Project (CRP). New
experimental cross section data for the indirect $^{nat}$In(p,x)$^{110}$Sn
$\longrightarrow$ $^{110m}$In and for the direct
$^{107}$Ag($\alpha$,n)$^{110m}$In and $^{109}$Ag($^{3}$He,2n)$^{110m}$In
production routes and for the satellite impurity reactions
$^{107}$Ag($\alpha$,xn)$^{110g,109}$In and
$^{109}$Ag($^{3}$He,xn)$^{110g,111,109}$In have been measured by using the
activation method, stacked foil irradiation technique and gamma-ray
spectrometry. Additional data are reported for production of the $^{111}$In
diagnostic gamma-emitter via the $^{109}$Ag($\alpha$,2n)$^{111}$In reaction.
The earlier experimental data were critically reviewed in order to prepare
recommended data and optimal production parameters for the different routes.


title: Controlled K-frames and their invariance under Compact Perturbation

abstract:
  K-frames were recently introduced by L. G\v{a}vruta in Hilbert spaces to
study atomic systems with respect to bounded linear operator. Also controlled
frames have been recently introduced by Balazs, Antoine and Grybos in Hilbert
spaces to improve the numerical efficiency of interactive algorithms for
inverting the frame operator. In this manuscript, the concept of controlled
K-frames will be studied and the stability of Controlled K-frames under compact
perturbation will be discussed.


title: Dark Matter Production Associated With a Heavy Quarkonium at B Factories

abstract:
  We investigate light dark matter production associated with a heavy
quarkonium at B factories in a model-independent way by adopting the effective
field theory approach for the interaction of dark matter with standard model
particles. We consider the effective operators for the dark matter-heavy quark
interaction, which are relevant to the production of dark matter associated
with a heavy quarkonium. We calculate the cross sections for dark matter
production associated with a J/psi or eta_c to compare with the standard model
backgrounds. We set bounds on the energy scale of new physics for various
effective operators and also obtain the corresponding limits for the dark
matter-nucleon scattering cross sections for light dark matter with mass of the
order of a few GeV.


title: Controlled K-frames in Hilbert Spaces

abstract:
  K-frames were recently introduced by L. G\v{a}vruta in Hilbert spaces to
study atomic systems with respect to bounded linear operator. Also controlled
frames have been recently introduced by P. Balazs in Hilbert spaces to improve
the numerical efficiency of interactive algorithms for inverting the frame
operator. In this manuscript, we will define the concept of the controlled
K-frames and will show that controlled K-frames are equivalent to K-frames and
so the controlled operator C can be used as preconditions in applications.


title: A complexity trichotomy for approximately counting list H-colourings

abstract:
  We examine the computational complexity of approximately counting the list
H-colourings of a graph. We discover a natural graph-theoretic trichotomy based
on the structure of the graph H. If H is an irreflexive bipartite graph or a
reflexive complete graph then counting list H-colourings is trivially in
polynomial time. Otherwise, if H is an irreflexive bipartite permutation graph
or a reflexive proper interval graph then approximately counting list
H-colourings is equivalent to #BIS, the problem of approximately counting
independent sets in a bipartite graph. This is a well-studied problem which is
believed to be of intermediate complexity -- it is believed that it does not
have an FPRAS, but that it is not as difficult as approximating the most
difficult counting problems in #P. For every other graph H, approximately
counting list H-colourings is complete for #P with respect to
approximation-preserving reductions (so there is no FPRAS unless NP=RP). Two
pleasing features of the trichotomy are (i) it has a natural formulation in
terms of hereditary graph classes, and (ii) the proof is largely self-contained
and does not require any universal algebra (unlike similar dichotomies in the
weighted case). We are able to extend the hardness results to the
bounded-degree setting, showing that all hardness results apply to input graphs
with maximum degree at most 6.


title: An observation on positive definite forms

abstract:
  Given two positive definite forms $f,\,g\in\mathbb{R}[x_1,\dots,x_n]$, we
prove that $fg^r$ lies in the interior of the sums of squares cone for large
$r$.


title:
A many-body GW+BSE investigation of electronic and optical properties of
  C2N

abstract:
  A newly synthesized layered material C2N was investigated based on many- body
perturbation theory using GW plus Bethe-Salpeter equation approach. The
electronic band gap was determined to be ranging from 3.75 to 1.89 eV from
monolayer to bulk. Significant GW quasiparticle corrections, of more than 0.9
eV, to the Kohn-Sham band gaps from the local density approximation (LDA)
calculations are found. Strong excitonic effects play a crucial role in optical
properties. We found large binding energies of greater than 0.6 eV for bound
excitons in few-layer C2N, while it is only 0.04 eV in bulk C2N. All the
structures exhibit strong and broad optical absorption in the visible light
region, which makes C2N a promising candidate for solar energy conversion, such
as photocatalytic water splitting.


title:
Natural classical limit for the center of mass of many-particle quantum
  systems

abstract:
  We discuss the conditions for the classicality of quantum states with a very
large number of identical particles. By treating the center of mass as a
Bohmian particle, we show that it follows a classical trajectory when the
distribution of the Bohmian positions in just one experiment is always equal to
the marginal distribution of the quantum state in physical space. This result
can also be interpreted as a unique-experiment generalization of the well-known
Ehrenfest theorem. We also demonstrate that the classical trajectory of the
center of mass is fully compatible with a conditional wave function solution of
a classical non-linear Schr\"odinger equation. Our work shows clear evidence
for a quantum-classical inter-theory unification and opens new possibilities
for practical quantum computations with decoherence.


title:
Coherent-state discrimination via non-heralded probabilistic
  amplification

abstract:
  A scheme for the detection of low-intensity optical coherent signals was
studied which uses a probabilistic amplifier operated in the non-heralded
version, as the underlying non-linear operation to improve the detection
efficiency. This approach allows us to improve the statistics by keeping track
of all possible outcomes of the amplification stage (including failures). When
compared with an optimized Kennedy receiver, the resulting discrimination
success probability we obtain presents a gain up to ~1.85% and it approaches
the Helstrom bound appreciably faster than the Dolinar receiver, when employed
in an adaptive strategy. We also notice that the advantages obtained can be
ultimately associated with the fact that, in the high gain limit, the
non-heralded version of the probabilistic amplifier induces a partial dephasing
which preserves quantum coherence among low energy eigenvectors while removing
it elsewhere. A proposal to realize such transformation based on an optical
cavity implementation is presented.


title: Efficient functional ANOVA through wavelet-domain Markov groves

abstract:
  We introduce a wavelet-domain functional analysis of variance (fANOVA) method
based on a Bayesian hierarchical model. The factor effects are modeled through
a spike-and-slab mixture at each location-scale combination along with a
normal-inverse-Gamma (NIG) conjugate setup for the coefficients and errors. A
graphical model called the Markov grove (MG) is designed to jointly model the
spike-and-slab statuses at all location-scale combinations, which incorporates
the clustering of each factor effect in the wavelet-domain thereby allowing
borrowing of strength across location and scale. The posterior of this NIG-MG
model is analytically available through a pyramid algorithm of the same
computational complexity as Mallat's pyramid algorithm for discrete wavelet
transform, i.e., linear in both the number of observations and the number of
locations. Posterior probabilities of factor contributions can also be computed
through pyramid recursion, and exact samples from the posterior can be drawn
without MCMC. We investigate the performance of our method through extensive
simulation and show that it outperforms existing wavelet-domain fANOVA methods
in a variety of common settings. We apply the method to analyzing the orthosis
data.


title: Light Scalar Mesons in Central Production at COMPASS

abstract:
  COMPASS is a fixed-target experiment at the CERN SPS that studies the
spectrum of light-quark hadrons. In 2009, it collected a large dataset using a
$190\,$GeV$/c$ positive hadron beam impinging on a liquid-hydrogen target in
order to measure the central exclusive production of light scalar mesons. One
of the goals is the search for so-called glueballs, which are hypothetical
meson-like objects without valence-quark content. We study the decay of neutral
resonances by selecting centrally produced pion pairs from the COMPASS dataset.
The angular distributions of the two pseudoscalar mesons are decomposed in
terms of partial waves, where particular attention is paid to the inherent
mathematical ambiguities. The large dataset allows us to perform a detailed
analysis in bins of the two squared four-momentum transfers carried by the
exchange particles in the reaction. Possible parameterisations of the mass
dependence of the partial-wave amplitudes in terms of resonances are also
discussed.


title:
Orthogonal Sparse PCA and Covariance Estimation via Procrustes
  Reformulation

abstract:
  The problem of estimating sparse eigenvectors of a symmetric matrix attracts
a lot of attention in many applications, especially those with high dimensional
data set. While classical eigenvectors can be obtained as the solution of a
maximization problem, existing approaches formulate this problem by adding a
penalty term into the objective function that encourages a sparse solution.
However, the resulting methods achieve sparsity at the expense of sacrificing
the orthogonality property. In this paper, we develop a new method to estimate
dominant sparse eigenvectors without trading off their orthogonality. The
problem is highly non-convex and hard to handle. We apply the MM framework
where we iteratively maximize a tight lower bound (surrogate function) of the
objective function over the Stiefel manifold. The inner maximization problem
turns out to be a rectangular Procrustes problem, which has a closed form
solution. In addition, we propose a method to improve the covariance estimation
problem when its underlying eigenvectors are known to be sparse. We use the
eigenvalue decomposition of the covariance matrix to formulate an optimization
problem where we impose sparsity on the corresponding eigenvectors. Numerical
experiments show that the proposed eigenvector extraction algorithm matches or
outperforms existing algorithms in terms of support recovery and explained
variance, while the covariance estimation algorithms improve significantly the
sample covariance estimator.


title: Implicitization of Hypersurfaces

abstract:
  We present new, practical algorithms for the hypersurface implicitization
problem: namely, given a parametric description (in terms of polynomials or
rational functions) of the hypersurface, find its implicit equation. Two of
them are for polynomial parametrizations: one algorithm, "ElimTH", has as main
step the computation of an elimination ideal via a \textit{truncated,
homogeneous} Gr\"obner basis. The other algorithm, "Direct", computes the
implicitization directly using an approach inspired by the generalized
Buchberger-M\"oller algorithm. Either may be used inside the third algorithm,
"RatPar", to deal with parametrizations by rational functions. Finally we show
how these algorithms can be used in a modular approach, algorithm
"ModImplicit", for avoiding the high costs of arithmetic with rational numbers.
We exhibit experimental timings to show the practical efficiency of our new
algorithms.


title:
Spontaneous edge current in a small chiral superconductor with a rough
  surface

abstract:
  We study theoretically the spontaneous edge current in a small chiral
superconductor with surface roughness. We obtained self-consistent solutions of
the pair potential and the vector potential by solving the quasiclassical
Eilenberger equation and the Maxwell equation simultaneously. We then employed
them to calculate numerically the spatial distribution of the chiral edge
current in a small superconductor. The characteristic behavior of the
spontaneous edge current depends strongly on the symmetries of the order
parameters such as chiral $p$-, chiral $d$- and chiral $f$-wave pairing. The
edge current is robust under the surface roughness in the chiral $p$- and
chiral $d$-wave superconductors. In the chiral $d$-wave case, the surface
roughness tends to flip the direction of the chiral current. On the other hand,
the edge current in a chiral $f$-wave superconductor is fragile when there is
surface roughness. We also discuss the temperature dependence of a spontaneous
magnetization, which is a measurable value in standard experiments.


title:
An automatic method for segmentation of fission tracks in epidote
  crystal photomicrographs

abstract:
  Manual identification of fission tracks has practical problems, such as
variation due to observer-observation efficiency. An automatic processing
method that could identify fission tracks in a photomicrograph could solve this
problem and improve the speed of track counting. However, separation of
non-trivial images is one of the most difficult tasks in image processing.
Several commercial and free softwares are available, but these softwares are
meant to be used in specific images. In this paper, an automatic method based
on starlet wavelets is presented in order to separate fission tracks in mineral
photomicrographs. Automatization is obtained by Matthews correlation
coefficient, and results are evaluated by precision, recall and accuracy. This
technique is an improvement of a method aimed at segmentation of scanning
electron microscopy images. This method is applied in photomicrographs of
epidote phenocrystals, in which accuracy higher than 89% was obtained in
fission track segmentation, even for difficult images. Algorithms corresponding
to the proposed method are available for download. Using the method presented
here, an user could easily determine fission tracks in photomicrographs of
mineral samples.


title:
Cylindrical continuous martingales and stochastic integration in
  infinite dimensions

abstract:
  In this paper we define a new type of quadratic variation for cylindrical
continuous local martingales on an infinite dimensional spaces. It is shown
that a large class of cylindrical continuous local martingales has such a
quadratic variation. For this new class of cylindrical continuous local
martingales we develop a stochastic integration theory for operator valued
processes under the condition that the range space is a UMD Banach space. We
obtain two-sided estimates for the stochastic integral in terms of the
$\gamma$-norm. In the scalar or Hilbert case this reduces to the
Burkholder-Davis-Gundy inequalities. An application to a class of stochastic
evolution equations is given at the end of the paper.


title:
Simple electron-electron scattering in non-equilibrium Green's function
  simulations

abstract:
  In this work we include electron-electron interaction beyond Hartree-Fock
level in our non-equilibrium Green's function approach by a crude form of GW
through the Single Plasmon Pole Approximation. This is achieved by treating all
conduction band electrons as a single effective band screening the Coulomb
potential. We describe the corresponding self-energies in this scheme for a
multi-subband system. In order to apply the formalism to heterostructures we
discuss the screening and plasmon dispersion in both 2D and 3D systems. Results
are shown for a four well quantum cascade laser with different doping
concentration where comparisons to experimental findings can be made.


title: A few-emitter solid-state multi-exciton laser

abstract:
  We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of non-conventional
lasing from higher multi-exciton states of a few quantum dot-photonic crystal
nanocavity. We show that the photon output is fed from saturable quantum
emitters rather than a non-saturable background despite being rather
insensitive to the spectral position of the mode. Although the exciton
transitions of each quantum dot are detuned by up to $160$ cavity linewidths,
we observe that strong excitation populates a multitude of closely spaced
multi-exciton states, which partly overlap spectrally with the mode. The
limited number of emitters is confirmed by a complete saturation of the mode
intensity at strong pumping, providing sufficient gain to reach stimulated
emission, whilst being accompanied by a distinct lasing threshold. Detailed
second-order photon-correlation measurements unambiguously identify the
transition to lasing for strong pumping and, most remarkably, reveal
super-thermal photon bunching with $g^{(2)}(0)>2$ below lasing threshold. Based
on our microscopic theory, a pump-rate dependent $\beta$-factor $\beta(P)$ is
needed to describe the nanolaser and account for the interplay of multi-exciton
transitions in the few-emitter gain medium. Moreover, we theoretically predict
that the super-thermal bunching is related to dipole-anticorrelated
multi-exciton recombination channels via sub- and super-radiant coupling below
and above lasing threshold, respectively. Our results provide new insights into
the microscopic light-matter-coupling of spatially separated emitters coupled
to a common cavity mode and, thus, provides a complete understanding of
stimulated emission in nanolasers with discrete emitters.


title: {\omega} structure in steel: a first-principles study

abstract:
  Recent experimental works reported observation of the {\omega} structure in
steel. Here, stability of the {\omega} structure in steel is investigated based
on first-principles with special interests in effects of interstitial C atoms.
The interstitial C atoms increase the energy of the {\omega} structure compared
with the ferromagnetic (FM) BCC. The {\omega} structure incorporating C atoms
is also mechanically unstable unless the C concentration is 25 at.%. It is
concluded that the {\omega} structure is mostly unstable in steel, and the
{\omega} structure in steel may be formed under special atomic constraints at
twin boundaries or other interfaces.


title: Budget-Constrained Multi-Battle Contests: A New Perspective and Analysis

abstract:
  In a multi-battle contest, each time a player competes by investing some of
her budgets or resources in a component battle to collect a value if winning
the battle. There are multiple battles to fight, and the budgets get consumed
over time. The final winner in the overall contest is the one who first reaches
some amount of total value. Examples include R & D races, sports competition,
elections, and many more. A player needs to make adequate sequential actions to
win the contest against dynamic competition over time from the others. We are
interested in how much budgets the players would need and what actions they
should take in order to perform well.
  We model and study such budget-constrained multi-battle contests where each
component battle is a first-price or all-pay auction. We focus on analyzing the
2-player budget ratio that guarantees a player's winning (or falling behind in
just a bounded amount of collected value) against the other omnipotent player.
In the settings considered, we give efficient dynamic programs to find the
optimal budget ratios and the corresponding bidding strategies. Our definition
of game, budget constraints, and emphasis on budget analyses provide a new
perspective and analysis in the related context.


title:
A two-component model for fitting light-curves of core-collapse
  supernovae

abstract:
  We present an improved version of a light curve model, which is able to
estimate the physical properties of different types of core-collapse supernovae
having double-peaked light curves, in a quick and efficient way. The model is
based on a two-component configuration consisting of a dense, inner region and
an extended, low-mass envelope. Using this configuration, we estimate the
initial parameters of the progenitor via fitting the shape of the
quasi-bolometric light curves of 10 SNe, including Type IIP and IIb events,
with model light curves. In each case we compare the fitting results with
available hydrodynamic calculations, and also match the derived expansion
velocities with the observed ones. Furthermore, we also compare our
calculations with hydrodynamic models derived by the SNEC code, and examine the
uncertainties of the estimated physical parameters caused by the assumption of
constant opacity and the inaccurate knowledge of the moment of explosion.


title:
An overmassive Dark Halo around an Ultra-diffuse Galaxy in the Virgo
  Cluster

abstract:
  Ultra diffuse galaxies (UDGs) have the sizes of giant galaxies but the
luminosities of dwarfs. A key to understanding their origins comes from their
total masses, but their low surface brightnesses ($\mu(V) \geq$ 25.0) generally
prohibit dynamical studies. Here we report the first such measurements for a
UDG (VCC~1287 in the Virgo cluster), based on its globular cluster system
dynamics and size. From 7 GCs we measure a mean systemic velocity $v_{\rm sys}$
= 1071$^{+14}_{-15}$ km/s, thereby confirming a Virgo-cluster association. We
measure a velocity dispersion of 33$^{+16}_{-10}$ km/s within 8.1 kpc,
corresponding to an enclosed mass of $(4.5 \pm 2.8)\times10^{9}$ $M_{\odot}$
and a $g$-band mass-to-light ratio of $(M/L)_g = 106^{+126}_{-54}$. From the
cumulative mass curve, along with the GC numbers, we estimate a virial mass of
$\sim8\times10^{10}$ $M_{\odot}$, yielding a dark-to-stellar mass fraction of
$\sim3000$. We show that this UDG is an outlier in $M_{\rm star} - M_{\rm
halo}$ relations, suggesting extreme stochasticity in relatively massive
star-forming halos in clusters. Finally, we discuss how counting GCs offers an
efficient route to determining virial masses for UDGs.


title: Bayesian smoothing of dipoles in Magneto-/Electro-encephalography

abstract:
  We describe a novel method for dynamic estimation of multi-dipole states from
Magneto/Electro-encephalography (M/EEG) time series. The new approach builds on
the recent development of particle filters for M/EEG; these algorithms
approximate, with samples and weights, the posterior distribution of the neural
sources at time t given the data up to time t. However, for off-line inference
purposes it is preferable to work with the smoothing distribution, i.e. the
distribution for the neural sources at time t conditioned on the whole time
series. In this study, we use a Monte Carlo algorithm to approximate the
smoothing distribution for a time-varying set of current dipoles. We show,
using numerical simulations, that the estimates provided by the smoothing
distribution are more accurate than those provided by the filtering
distribution, particularly at the appearance of the source. We validate the
proposed algorithm using an experimental dataset recorded from an epileptic
patient. Improved localization of the source onset can be particularly relevant
in source modeling of epileptic patients, where the source onset brings
information on the epileptogenic zone.


title: A Few Observations on Weaver's Quantum Relations

abstract:
  The concept of quantum relation $\mathcal{R}$ over a von Neumann algebra
$\mathcal{M}$ has been recently introduced by Nik Weaver. When $\mathcal{M}$ is
either finite dimensional or discrete and abelian, $\mathcal{R}$ is given by an
orthogonal projection in $\mathcal{M} \otimes \mathcal{M}_\mathrm{op}$. Here,
we generalize such result to general von Neumann algebras, proving that quantum
relations are in bijective correspondence with weak-$\ast$ closed left ideals
inside $\mathcal{M} \otimes_{e h} \mathcal{M}$, where $\otimes_{e h}$ is the
extended Haagerup tensor product. The correspondence between the two is given
by identifying $\mathcal{M} \otimes_{e h} \mathcal{M}$ with
$\mathcal{M}'$-bimodular operators and proving a double annihilator relation.
  Given an action of a group/quantum group on $\mathcal{M}$ we give a
definition for invariant quantum relations and prove that, in the case of group
von Neumann algebras $\mathcal{L} G$, invariant quantum relations are left
ideals in the measure algebra $M G$. At the end we explore possible
applications to noncommutative harmonic analysis, in particular noncommutative
Gaussian bounds.


title:
A tool for computing diversity and consideration on differences between
  diversity indices

abstract:
  Diversity represents a key concept in ecology, and there are various methods
of assessing it. The multitude of diversity indices are quite puzzling and
sometimes difficult to compute for a large volume of data. This paper promotes
a computational tool used to assess the diversity of different entities. The
BIODIV software is a user-friendly tool, developed using Microsoft Visual
Basic. It is capable to compute several diversity indices such as: Shannon,
Simpson, Pielou, Brillouin, Berger-Parker, McIntosh, Margalef, Menhinick and
Gleason. The software tool was tested using real data sets and the results were
analysed in order to make assumption on the indices behaviour. The results
showed a clear segregation of indices in two major groups with similar
expressivity.


title: Individual area and spatial distribution of saplings

abstract:
  Forest regeneration is a spatial multifaceted process with numerous unknown
variables. The individual area or the area potentially available (APA) to an
individual plant embodies an idea widely used in population ecology but it has
fewer applications in forest research. It was used a Voronoi/ Thiessen
tessellation in order to determine the individual area of each sapling. The
study was conducted in a naturally regenerated area; using data collected from
over seven thousands saplings positioned in a network of permanent rectangular
sampling plots. The Voronoi/ Thiessen polygons were used to characterize
spatial pattern of sapling distribution as well as the competition relations
between the individuals. It is obvious that, at least from the mathematically
point of view, the Voronoi tessellation represents one of the best solutions to
determine neighbouring competitors of a tree. There were studied the
correlations between APA values and the main biometrical attributes, height
growth and competition indices. Furthermore, it is shown that APA coefficient
of variation is a straight-forward indicator with positive results as an
indicator of spatial pattern. The statistical significance of this indicator
was evaluated by comparing the results with the values of a 95% confidence
envelope generated by Monte-Carlo simulations. Two practical software tools
were produced using Visual Basic (VORONOI and ARIA VORONOI) in order to
simplify the analyses.


title: Complete contracts through specification drivers

abstract:
  Existing techniques of Design by Contract do not allow software developers to
specify complete contracts in many cases. Incomplete contracts leave room for
malicious implementations. This article complements Design by Contract with a
simple yet powerful technique that removes the problem without adding
syntactical mechanisms. The proposed technique makes it possible not only to
derive complete contracts, but also to rigorously check and improve
completeness of existing contracts without instrumenting them.


title:
Extension theorem of Whitney type for $\mathcal S(\mathbb{R}_+^d)$ by
  the use of the Kernel Theorem

abstract:
  We study the expansions of the elements in $\mathcal S(\mathbb{R}_+^d)$ and
$\mathcal{S}'(\mathbb{R}_+^d)$ with respect to the Laguerre orthonormal basis,
extending the result of M. Guillemont-Teissier in the case $d=1$. As a
consequence, we obtain the Schwartz kernel theorem for
$\mathcal{S}(\mathbb{R}_+^d)$ and $\mathcal{S}'(\mathbb{R}_+^d)$ and the
extension theorem of Whitney type for $\mathcal{S}(\mathbb{R}_+^d)$.


title: A new constraint on millicharged dark matter from galaxy clusters

abstract:
  We propose a new constraint on millicharged dark matter from considerations
on galaxy clusters. The charged dark matter moves under the influence of the
randomly oriented magnetic fields in galaxy clusters, and the corresponding
dark matter density profile can significantly differ from the concordance CDM
predictions which are well supported from the galaxy cluster observations. With
a typical amplitude of magnetic fields $B=\mathcal O(1)\,\mu$G and dark matter
velocity $v=\mathcal O(100)\,$km/sec at a cluster radius $R\simeq 1\,$Mpc, we
claim that the charge $\epsilon e$ ($e$ is the elementary charge) of dark
matter with mass $m$ should be bounded as $\epsilon \lesssim 10^{-14}(m/{\rm
GeV})$ which is substantially tighter than the other previous constraints.


title: Transient Thermal Behaviour in a Model of Linear Friction Welding

abstract:
  We derive a non-local model for the evolution of temperature in workpieces
being joined by linear friction welding. The non-locality arises through the
velocity being fixed by the temperature gradient at the weld. Short- and
long-time behaviours are considered.


title:
Thermal generation of spin current in a helimagnetic multiferroic
  hexaferrite

abstract:
  We report the experimental observation of longitudinal spin Seebeck effect in
a multiferroic helimagnet Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22. Temperature gradient applied
normal to Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22/Pt interface generates inverse spin Hall voltage
of spin current origin in Pt, whose magnitude was found to be proportional to
bulk magnetization of Ba0.5Sr1.5Zn2Fe12O22 even through the successive magnetic
transitions among various helimagnetic and ferrimagnetic phases. This finding
demonstrates that the helimagnetic spin wave can be an effective carrier of
spin current. By controlling the population ratio of spin-helicity domains
characterized by clockwise/counter-clockwise manner of spin rotation with use
of poling electric field in the ferroelectric helimagnetic phase, we found that
spin-helicity domain distribution does not affect the magnitude of spin current
injected into Pt. The results suggest that the spin-wave spin current is rather
robust against the spin-helicity domain wall, unlike the case with the
conventional ferromagnetic domain wall.


title: Roth--Waring--Goldbach

abstract:
  We use Green's transference principle to show that any subset of the $d$th
powers of primes with positive relative density contains nontrivial solutions
to a translation-invariant linear equation in $d^2+1$ or more variables, with
explicit quantitative bounds.


title:
Method for determining the residual electron- and hole- densities about
  the neutrality point over the gate-controlled n $\leftrightarrow$ p
  transition in graphene

abstract:
  The Hall effect, and the diagonal resistance, which indicates a residual
resistivity $\rho_{xx} \approx h/4e^{2}$, are experimentally examined over the
p$\leftrightarrow$n transition about the nominal neutrality point in chemical
vapor deposition (CVD) grown graphene. A distribution of neutrality potentials
is invoked in conjunction with multi-carrier conduction to model the
experimental observations. From the modeling, we extract the effective residual
electron- and hole- densities around the nominal neutrality point. The results
indicate mixed transport due to co-existing electrons and holes in large area
zero-band gap CVD graphene devices, which indicates domain confined ambipolar
currents broadly over the gate-induced n $\leftrightarrow$ p transition.


title: Complex symmetric operator acting between two different Hilbert spaces

abstract:
  This paper will initiate a study on the class of complex symmetric operators
acting between two different Hilbert space. Among other things, we compute the
closure of CSO with respect to the several topologies.


title: An effective metric on C(H,K) with normal structure

abstract:
  This study first defines a new metric with normal structure on C(H,K) and
then a new technique to prove fixed point theorems for families of
non-expansive maps on this metric space. Indeed, it shows that the presence of
a bounded orbit implies the existence of a fixed point for a group of
h-biholomorphic automorphisms on C(H,K).


title: The pion: an enigma within the Standard Model

abstract:
  Almost 50 years after the discovery of gluons & quarks, we are only just
beginning to understand how QCD builds the basic bricks for nuclei: neutrons,
protons, and the pions that bind them. QCD is characterised by two emergent
phenomena: confinement & dynamical chiral symmetry breaking (DCSB). They are
expressed with great force in the character of the pion. In turn, pion
properties suggest that confinement & DCSB are closely connected. As both a
Nambu-Goldstone boson and a quark-antiquark bound-state, the pion is unique in
Nature. Developing an understanding of its properties is thus critical to
revealing basic features of the Standard Model. We describe experimental
progress in this direction, made using electromagnetic probes, highlighting
both improvements in the precision of charged-pion form factor data, achieved
in the past decade, and new results on the neutral-pion transition form factor.
Both challenge existing notions of pion structure. We also provide a
theoretical context for these empirical advances, first explaining how DCSB
works to guarantee that the pion is unnaturally light; but also, nevertheless,
ensures the pion is key to revealing the mechanisms that generate nearly all
the mass of hadrons. Our discussion unifies the charged-pion elastic and
neutral-pion transition form factors, and the pion's twist-2 parton
distribution amplitude. It also indicates how studies of the charged-kaon form
factor can provide significant contributions. Importantly, recent predictions
for the large-$Q^2$ behaviour of the pion form factor can be tested by
experiments planned at JLab 12. Those experiments will extend precise
charged-pion form factor data to momenta that can potentially serve in
validating factorisation theorems in QCD, exposing the transition between the
nonperturbative and perturbative domains, and thereby reaching a goal that has
long driven hadro-particle physics.


title:
$G$-type Spaces of Ultradistributions over $\mathbb{R}^d_+$ and the Weyl
  Pseudo-differential Operators with Radial Symbols

abstract:
  The first part of the paper is devoted to the $G$-type spaces i.e. the spaces
$G^\alpha_\alpha (\mathbb R^d_+)$, $\alpha\geq 1$ and their duals which can be
described as analogous to the Gelfand-Shilov spaces and their duals but with
completely new justification of obtained results. The Laguerre type expansions
of the elements in $G^\alpha_\alpha(\mathbb R^d_+)$, $\alpha\geq 1$ and their
duals characterise these spaces through the exponential and sub-exponential
growth of coefficients. We provide the full topological description and by the
nuclearity of $G_\alpha^\alpha(\mathbb{R}^d_+)$, $\alpha\geq 1$ the kernel
theorem is proved. The second part is devoted to the class of the Weyl
operators with radial symbols belonging to the $G$-type spaces. The continuity
properties of this class of pseudo-differential operators over the
Gelfand-Shilov type spaces and their duals are proved. In this way the class of
the Weyl pseudo-differential operators is extended to the one with the radial
symbols with the exponential and sub-exponential growth rate.


title:
The kinematics of globular clusters systems in the outer halos of the
  Aquarius simulations

abstract:
  Stellar halos and globular cluster (GC) systems contain valuable information
regarding the assembly history of their host galaxies. Motivated by the
detection of a significant rotation signal in the outer halo GC system of M31,
we investigate the likelihood of detecting such a rotation signal in
projection, using cosmological simulations. To this end we select subsets of
tagged particles in the halos of the Aquarius simulations to represent mock GC
systems, and analyse their kinematics. We find that GC systems can exhibit a
non-negligible rotation signal provided the associated stellar halo also has a
net angular momentum. The ability to detect this rotation signal is highly
dependent on the viewing perspective, and the probability of seeing a signal
larger than that measured in M31 ranges from 10% to 90% for the different halos
in the Aquarius suite. High values are found from a perspective such that the
projected angular momentum of the GC system is within 40 deg of the rotation
axis determined via the projected positions and line-of-sight velocities of the
GCs. Furthermore, the true 3D angular momentum of the outer stellar halo is
relatively well aligned, within 35 deg, with that of the mock GC systems. We
argue that the net angular momentum in the mock GC systems arises naturally
when the majority of the material is accreted from a preferred direction,
namely along the dominant dark matter filament of the large-scale structure
that the halos are embedded in. This, together with the favourable edge-on view
of M31's disk suggests that it is not a coincidence that a large rotation
signal has been measured for its outer halo GC system.


title: Energetics of the brain and AI

abstract:
  Does the energy requirements for the human brain give energy constraints that
give reason to doubt the feasibility of artificial intelligence? This report
will review some relevant estimates of brain bioenergetics and analyze some of
the methods of estimating brain emulation energy requirements. Turning to AI,
there are reasons to believe the energy requirements for de novo AI to have
little correlation with brain (emulation) energy requirements since cost could
depend merely of the cost of processing higher-level representations rather
than billions of neural firings. Unless one thinks the human way of thinking is
the most optimal or most easily implementable way of achieving software
intelligence, we should expect de novo AI to make use of different, potentially
very compressed and fast, processes.


title:
Universal Unitarity Triangle 2016 and the Tension Between $\Delta
  M_{s,d}$ and $\varepsilon_K$ in CMFV Models

abstract:
  Motivated by the recently improved results from the Fermilab Lattice and MILC
Collaborations on the hadronic matrix elements entering $\Delta M_{s,d}$ in
$B_{s,d}^0-\bar B_{s,d}^0$ mixing, we determine the Universal Unitarity
Triangle (UUT) in models with Constrained Minimal Flavour Violation (CMFV). Of
particular importance are the very precise determinations of the ratio
$|V_{ub}|/|V_{cb}|=0.0864\pm0.0025$ and of the angle $\gamma=(63.0\pm
2.1)^\circ$. They follow in this framework from the experimental values of
$\Delta M_{d}/\Delta M_s$ and of the CP-asymmetry $S_{\psi K_S}$. As in CMFV
models the new contributions to meson mixings can be described by a single
flavour-universal variable $S(v)$, we next determine the CKM matrix elements
$|V_{ts}|$, $|V_{td}|$, $|V_{cb}|$ and $|V_{ub}|$ as functions of $S(v)$ using
the experimental value of $\Delta M_s$ as input. The lower bound on $S(v)$ in
these models, derived by us in 2006, implies then upper bounds on these four
CKM elements and on the CP-violating parameter $\varepsilon_K$, which turns out
to be significantly below its experimental value. This strategy avoids the use
of tree-level determinations of $|V_{ub}|$ and $|V_{cb}|$ that are presently
subject to considerable uncertainties. On the other hand if $\varepsilon_K$ is
used instead of $\Delta M_s$ as input, $\Delta M_{s,d}$ are found significantly
above the data. In this manner we point out that the new lattice data have
significantly sharpened the tension between $\Delta M_{s,d}$ and
$\varepsilon_K$ within the CMFV framework. This implies the presence of new
physics contributions beyond this framework that are responsible for the
breakdown of the flavour universality of the function $S(v)$. We also present
the implications of these results for $K^+\to\pi^+\nu\bar\nu$,
$K_L\to\pi^0\nu\bar\nu$ and $B_{s,d}\to\mu^+\mu^-$ within the Standard Model.


title: Scalar field conformally coupled to a charged BTZ black hole

abstract:
  We study the Klein-Gordon equation of a scalar field conformally coupled to a
charged BTZ black hole. The background metric is obtained by coupling a
non-linear and conformal invariant Maxwell field to (2+1) gravity. We show that
the radial part is generally solved by a Heun function and, in the pure gravity
limit, by a hypergeometric function.


title:
Spin-thermoelectric transport induced by interactions and spin-flip
  processes in two dimensional topological insulators

abstract:
  We consider thermoelectric transport properties of the edge states of a two
dimensional topological insulator in a double quantum point contact geometry
coupled to two thermally biased reservoirs. Both spin-preserving and
spin-flipping tunneling processes between opposite edges are analyzed in the
presence of electron-electron interactions. We demonstrate that the
simultaneous presence of spin-flipping processes and interactions gives rise to
a finite longitudinal spin current. Moreover, its sign and amplitude can be
tuned by means of gate voltages with the possibility to generate a pure spin
current, with a vanishing charge current.


title:
Short term X-ray spectral variability of the quasar PDS 456 observed in
  a low flux state

abstract:
  We present an analysis of the 2013 Suzaku campaign on the nearby luminous
quasar PDS 456, covering a total duration of ~1 Ms and a net exposure of 455
ks. During these observations, the X-ray flux was suppressed by a factor of >10
in the soft X-ray band when compared to other epochs. We investigated the
broadband continuum by constructing a spectral energy distribution, making use
of the optical/UV photometry and hard X-ray spectra from the later
XMM-Newton/NuSTAR campaign in 2014. The high energy part of this low flux state
cannot be accounted for by self-consistent accretion disc and corona models
without attenuation by absorbing gas, which partially covers a substantial
fraction of the line of sight towards the X-ray source. Two absorption layers
are required, of column density $\log (N_{\rm{H,low}}/{\rm
cm^{-2}})=22.3\pm0.1$ and $\log (N_{\rm{H,high}}/{\rm cm^{-2}})=23.2\pm0.1$,
with average covering factors of ~80% (with typical 5% variations) and 60%
($\pm$10-15%), respectively. In these observations PDS 456 displays significant
short term X-ray spectral variability, on timescales of ~100 ks, which can be
accounted for by variable covering of the absorbing gas. The partial covering
absorber prefers an outflow velocity of $v_{\rm pc} = 0.25^{+0.01}_{-0.05}c$ at
the >99.9% confidence level over the case where $v_{\rm pc}=0$. This is
consistent with the velocity of the highly ionised outflow responsible for the
blueshifted iron K absorption profile. We therefore suggest that the partial
covering clouds could be the denser, or clumpy part of an inhomogeneous
accretion disc wind. Finally we estimate the size-scale of the X-ray source
from its variability. The radial extent of the X-ray emitter is found to be of
the order ~15-20 $R_{\rm g}$, although the hard X-ray (>2 keV) emission may
originate from a more compact or patchy corona of hot electrons, which is ~6-8
$R_{\rm g}$ in size.


title:
Comment on "Relativistic atomic data for W XLVII" by S. Aggarwal {\em et
  al.} [Chin. Phys. B 24 (2015) 053201]

abstract:
  Recently, S. Aggarwal et al. [Chin. Phys. B 24 (2015) 053201] reported energy
levels, radiative rates and lifetimes for the lowest 148 levels belonging to
the 3s$^2$3p, 3s3p$^2$, 3s$^2$3d, 3s3p3d, 3p$^3$, 3p$^2$3d, 3s3d$^2$, 3p3d$^2$,
and 3d$^3$ configurations of Al-like tungsten. While their calculated energies
for the levels and the radiative rates for transitions are correct, the
reported results for lifetimes are completely wrong. According to our
calculations, errors in their reported lifetimes are up to 14 orders of
magnitude for over 90\% of the levels. Here we report the correct lifetimes and
explain the reasons for discrepancies.


title:
P$\acute{o}$lya-Szeg$\ddot{o}$ fractional inequality via Hadamard
  fractional integral

abstract:
  In the present paper, we establish some new fractional integral inequalities
similar to P$\acute{o}$lya-Szeg$\ddot{o}$ integral inequality and fractional
inequality related to Minkowsky inequality by using the Hadamard fractional
integral operator. Also, we discuss few spacial cases of these inequalities.