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1009.2168

Random G-expectations.

We construct a time-consistent sublinear expectation in the setting of volatility uncertainty. This mapping extends Peng's G-expectation by allowing the range of the volatility uncertainty to be stochastic. Our construction is purely probabilistic and based on an optimal control formulation with path-dependent control sets.

1009.2513

Cold N+NH collisions in a magnetic trap.

We present an experimental and theoretical study of atom-molecule collisions in a mixture of cold, trapped N atoms and NH molecules at a temperature of ∼600  mK. We measure a small N+NH trap loss rate coefficient of k(loss)(N+NH)=9(5)(3)×10(-13)  cm(3) s(-1). Accurate quantum scattering calculations based on ab initio interaction potentials are in agreement with experiment and indicate the magnetic dipole interaction to be the dominant loss mechanism. Our theory further indicates the ratio of N+NH elastic-to-inelastic collisions remains large (>100) into the mK regime.

1009.2525

Local observation in eternal inflation.

We consider landscape models that admit several regions where the conditions for eternal inflation hold. It is shown that one can use the no-boundary wave function to calculate small departures from homogeneity within our past light cone despite the possibility of much larger fluctuations on super horizon scales. The dominant contribution comes from the history exiting eternal inflation at the lowest value of the potential. In a class of landscape models this predicts a tensor to scalar ratio of about 10%. In this way the no-boundary wave function defines a measure for the prediction of local cosmological observations.

1009.2710

ACTIVITY IN GEMINID PARENT (3200) PHAETHON

The asteroid (3200) Phaethon is widely recognized as the parent of the Geminid meteoroid stream. However, it has never shown evidence for ongoing mass loss or for any form of comet-like activity that would indicate the continued replenishment of the stream. Following an alert by Battams & Watson, we used NASA's STEREO-A spacecraft to image Phaethon near perihelion, in the period UT 2009 June 17–22, when the heliocentric distance was near 0.14 AU. The resulting photometry shows an unexpected brightening, by a factor of two, starting UT 2009 June 20.2 ± 0.2, which we interpret as an impulsive release of dust particles from Phaethon. If the density is near 2500 kg m−3, then the emitted dust particles must have a combined mass of ∼2.5 × 108a1 kg, where a1 is the particle radius in millimeters. Assuming a1 = 1, this is approximately 10−4 of the Geminid stream mass and to replenish the stream in steady state within its estimated ∼103 yr lifetime would require ∼10 events like the one observed, per orbit. Alternatively, ongoing mass loss may be unrelated to the event which produced the Phaethon–Geminid complex. An impact origin of the dust is highly unlikely. Phaethon is too hot for water ice to survive, rendering the possibility that dust is ejected through gas drag from sublimated ice unlikely. Instead, we suggest that Phaethon is essentially a rock comet, in which the small perihelion distance leads both to the production of dust (through thermal fracture and decomposition cracking of hydrated minerals) and to its ejection into interplanetary space (through radiation pressure sweeping and other effects).

1009.2755

Error estimation in astronomy: A guide

Estimating errors is a crucial part of any scientific analysis. Whenever a parameter is estimated (model-based or not), an error estimate is necessary. Any parameter estimate that is given without an error estimate is meaningless. Nevertheless, many (undergraduate or graduate) students have to teach such methods for error estimation to themselves when working scientifically for the first time. This manuscript presents an easy-to-understand overview of different methods for error estimation that are applicable to both model-based and model-independent parameter estimates. These methods are not discussed in detail, but their basics are briefly outlined and their assumptions carefully noted. In particular, the methods for error estimation discussed are grid search, varying $\chi^2$, the Fisher matrix, Monte-Carlo methods, error propagation, data resampling, and bootstrapping. Finally, a method is outlined how to propagate measurement errors through complex data-reduction pipelines.

1009.2896

On the nature of financial leverage

The article presents a translation of some widespread financial terminology into the language of decision theory. For instance, financial leverage can be regarded as an object of choice or a decision. We show how the optics of decision theory allows perceiving the recently introduced metrics of see-through-leverage, which proved to be very useful in understanding the phenomenology of the recent economic crisis. The importance for practical decision making of specification of the statistical regularity of the random phenomena at hand as well as of the rationality class of the decision maker is discussed.

1009.3499

Multiplicative Attribute Graph Model of Real-World Networks

1009.4489

Complex Networks and Symmetry II: Reciprocity and Evolution of World Trade

We exploit the symmetry concepts developed in the companion review of this article to introduce a stochastic version of link reversal symmetry, which leads to an improved understanding of the reciprocity of directed networks. We apply our formalism to the international trade network and show that a strong embedding in economic space determines particular symmetries of the network, while the observed evolution of reciprocity is consistent with a symmetry breaking taking place in production space. Our results show that networks can be strongly affected by symmetry-breaking phenomena occurring in embedding spaces, and that stochastic network symmetries can successfully suggest, or rule out, possible underlying mechanisms.

1009.4648

What do we know about gamma-ray bursts?

Decades of improving data and extensive theoretical research have led to a popular model of gamma-ray bursts. According to this model, a catastrophic event in a stellar system results in the formation of a compact central engine, which releases a fraction of a solar rest-mass energy within seconds in the form of ultra-relativistic jets. Dissipation of the jets energy leads first to prompt gamma-ray emission and later to a long lasting afterglow. Here I summarize the introduction that I gave to the debate “where do we stand?” in the conference “The Shocking Universe” held in Venice. This is a very brief summary of my view of the facts that we are (almost) certain about, models that are popular but may need rethinking, and main open questions.

1009.4698

Eternal inflation predicts that time will end

Present treatments of eternal inflation regulate infinities by imposing a geometric cutoff. We point out that some matter systems reach the cutoff in finite time. This implies a nonzero probability for a novel type of catastrophe. According to the most successful measure proposals, our galaxy is likely to encounter the cutoff within the next 5x10{sup 9} years.

1009.4753

Astronomical Symbolism in Australian Aboriginal Rock Art

Traditional Aboriginal Australian cultures include a significant astronomical component, perpetuated through oral tradition and ceremony. This knowledge has practical navigational and calendrical functions, and sometimes extends to a deep understanding of the motion of objects in the sky. Here we explore whether this astronomical tradition is reflected in the rock art of Aboriginal Australians. We find several plausible examples of depictions of astronomical figures and symbols, and also evidence that astronomical observations were used to set out stone arrangements. However, we recognise that the case is not yet strong enough to make an unequivocal statement, and describe our plans for further research.

1009.4827

Edinburgh Lectures on Geometry, Analysis and Physics

These lecture notes are based on a set of six lectures that I gave in Edinburgh in 2008/2009 and they cover some topics in the interface between Geometry and Physics. They involve some unsolved problems and conjectures and I hope they may stimulate readers to investigate them.

1009.4891

SCIENTIST 10 COMMANDMENTS

Describes 10 rules that should be followed by scientist.

1009.5161

Information Physics: The New Frontier

At this point in time, two major areas of physics, statistical mechanics and quantum mechanics, rest on the foundations of probability and entropy. The last century saw several significant fundamental advances in our understanding of the process of inference, which make it clear that these are inferential theories. That is, rather than being a description of the behavior of the universe, these theories describe how observers can make optimal predictions about the universe. In such a picture, information plays a critical role. What is more is that little clues, such as the fact that black holes have entropy, continue to suggest that information is fundamental to physics in general.In the last decade, our fundamental understanding of probability theory has led to a Bayesian revolution. In addition, we have come to recognize that the foundations go far deeper and that Cox’s approach of generalizing a Boolean algebra to a probability calculus is the first specific example of the more fundamental idea of assig...

1009.5297

A fresh look at hadronic light-by-light scattering in the muon g - 2 with the Dyson-Schwinger approach

1009.5574

The self-stabilising dynamics of bicycles

We analyse the classical problem of the stability of bicycles when moving quickly and upright. Developing a lean causes the front wheel to turn thereby setting the bicycle instantaneously into circular motion. The centripetal force associated with the lean-dependent turning circle gives a restoring torque which corrects the lean. The force also helps self-steer the front wheel, ensuring the bicycle continues in an essentially straight path. We give the frequency of lean oscillations about the vertical executed during riding. As in the literature, we discuss the neglect of gyroscopic effects, which experiment suggests are negligible.

1009.5814

The extrasolar planet Gliese 581d: a potentially habitable planet?

Aims. The planetary system around the M star Gliese 581 contains at least three close-in potentially low-mass planets, Gl 581c, d, and e. In order to address the question of the habitability of Gl 581d, we performed detailed atmospheric modeling studies for several planetary scenarios. Methods. A 1D radiative-convective model was used to calculate temperature and pressure profiles of model atmospheres, which we assumed to be composed of molecular nitrogen, water, and carbon dioxide. The model allows for changing surface pressures caused by evaporation/condensation of water and carbon dioxide. Furthermore, the treatment of the energy transport has been improved in the model to account in particular for high CO2, high-pressure Super-Earth conditions. Results. For four high-pressure scenarios of our study, the resulting surface temperatures were above 273 K, indicating a potential habitability of the planet. These scenarios include three CO2-dominated atmospheres (95% CO2 concentration with 5, 10, and 20 bar surface pressure) and a high-pressure CO2-enriched atmosphere (5% CO2 concentration with 20 bar surface pressure). For all other considered scenarios, the calculated Gl 581d surface temperatures were below the freezing point of water, suggesting that Gl 581d would not be habitable then. The results for our CO2-dominated scenarios confirm very recent model results by Wordsworth et al. (2010). However, our model calculations imply that also atmospheres that are not CO2-dominated (i.e., 5% vmr instead of 95% vmr) could result in habitable conditions for Gl 581d.

1009.5830

Self-organized criticality in a network of economic agents with finite consumption

1009.6009

Profile and scaling of the fractal exponent of percolations in complex networks

We propose a novel finite-size scaling analysis for percolation transition observed in complex networks. While it is known that cooperative systems in growing networks often undergo an infinite-order transition with inverted Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless singularity, it is very hard for numerical simulations to determine the transition point precisely. Since the neighbor of the ordered phase is not a simple disordered phase but a critical phase, conventional finite-size scaling technique does not work. In our finite-size scaling, the forms of the scaling functions for the order parameter and the fractal exponent determine the transition point and critical exponents numerically for an infinite-order transition as well as a standard second-order transition. We confirm the validity of our scaling hypothesis through Monte Carlo simulations for bond percolations in some network models: the decorated (2,2)-flower and the random attachment growing network, where an infinite-order transition occurs, and the configuration model, where a second-order transition occurs.

1009.6024

New Quantum Theory of Laser Cooling Mechanisms

1009.6120

Synchronizing distant nodes: a universal classification of networks.

Stability of synchronization in delay-coupled networks of identical units generally depends in a complicated way on the coupling topology. We show that for large coupling delays synchronizability relates in a simple way to the spectral properties of the network topology. The master stability function used to determine the stability of synchronous solutions has a universal structure in the limit of large delay: It is rotationally symmetric around the origin and increases monotonically with the radius in the complex plane. This allows a universal classification of networks with respect to their synchronization properties and solves the problem of complete synchronization in networks with strongly delayed coupling.

1010.0009

Unstructured randomness, small gaps and localization

We study the Hamiltonian associated with the quantum adiabatic algorithm with a random cost function. Because the cost function lacks structure we can prove results about the ground state. We find the ground state energy as the number of bits goes to infinity, show that the minimum gap goes to zero exponentially quickly, and we see a localization transition. We prove that there are no levels approaching the ground state near the end of the evolution. We do not know which features of this model are shared by a quantum adiabatic algorithm applied to random instances of satisfiability since despite being random they do have bit structure.

1010.0073

Some New Aspects of Degenerate Quantum Plasma

Answers to some salient questions, which arise in quantum plasmas, are given. Starting from the Schrodinger equation for a single particle it is demonstrated how the Wigner‐Moyal equation can be derived. It is shown that the Wigner‐Moyal type of equation also exists in the classical field theory. As an example, from the Maxwell equations the Wigner‐Moyal type of equation is obtained for a dense photon gas, which is classical, concluding that the Wigner‐Moyal type of equation can be derived for any system, classical or quantum. A new type of quantum kinetic equations are presented. These novel kinetic equations allows to obtain a set of quantum hydrodynamic equations, which is impossible to derive by the Wigner‐Moyal equation. The propagation of small perturbations and instabilities of these perturbations are then discussed, presenting new modes of quantum plasma waves. In the case of low frequency oscillations with ions, a new Bogolyubov type of spectrum is found. Furthermore, the Korteweg‐de Vries (KdV) ...

1010.0278

Nefarious Numbers

The impact factor has been widely adopted as a proxy for journal quality. It is used by libraries to guide purchase and renewal decisions, by researchers deciding where to publish and what to read, by tenure and promotion committees laboring under the assumption that publication in a higher impact factor journal represents better work, and by editors and publishers as a means to evaluate and promote their journals. The impact factor for a journal in a given year is calculated by ISI (Thomson Reuters) as the average number of citations in that year to the articles the journal published in the preceding two years. It has been widely criticized on a variety of grounds,,,:

1010.0302

Spatial Networks

1010.0436

Modelling the scaling properties of human mobility

1010.0557

Approximating Mexican highways with slime mould

1010.0719

Multinomial diffusion equation.

We describe a new, microscopic model for diffusion that captures diffusion induced fluctuations at scales where the concept of concentration gives way to discrete particles. We show that in the limit as the number of particles N→∞, our model is equivalent to the classical stochastic diffusion equation (SDE). We test our new model and the SDE against Langevin dynamics in numerical simulations, and show that our model successfully reproduces the correct ensemble statistics, while the classical model fails.

1010.0725

Link Prediction in Complex Networks: A Survey

1010.0801

Comets in Australian Aboriginal Astronomy

We present 25 accounts of comets from 40 Australian Aboriginal communities, citing both supernatural perceptions of comets and historical accounts of bright comets. Historical and ethnographic descriptions include the Great Comets of 1843, 1861, 1901, 1910, and 1927. We describe the perceptions of comets in Aboriginal societies and show that they are typically associated with fear, death, omens, malevolent spirits, and evil magic, consistent with many cultures around the world. We also provide a list of words for comets in 16 different Aboriginal languages.

1010.0863

Coevolution of Glauber-like Ising dynamics on typical networks

1010.1037

Stratified economic exchange on networks

1010.1162

The Accelerating Universe

In this article we review the discovery of the accelerating universe using type Ia supernovae. We then outline ways in which dark energy - component that causes the acceleration - is phenomenologically described. We finally describe principal cosmological techniques to measure large-scale properties of dark energy. This chapter complements other articles in this book that describe theoretical understanding (or lack thereof) of the cause for the accelerating universe.

1010.1306

Directional fast neutron detection using a time projection chamber

1010.1337

Summary of the Linear Collider Testbeam Workshop 2009 - LCTW09

This note summarises the workshop LCTW09 held between the 3.11.2009 and 5.11.2009 at LAL Orsay. The workshop was dedicated to discuss the beam tests in the years 2010 up to 2013 for detectors to be operated at a future linear electron positron collider. The document underlines the rich R&D program on these detectors in the coming years. Large synergies were identified in the DAQ and software systems. Considerable consolidation of resources are expected from the establishment of semi-permanent beam lines for linear collider detector R&D at major centres like CERN and FNAL. Reproducing a beam structure as foreseen for the International Linear Collider (ILC) would clearly enhance the value of the obtained beam test results. Although not ultimately needed for every research program, all groups would exploit such a feature if it is available.

1010.1351

Bouncing Water Droplet on a Superhydrophobic Carbon Nanotube Array

Over the past few decades, superhydrophobic materials have attaracted a lot of interests, due to their numerous practical applications. Among various superhydrophobic materials, carbon nanotube arrays have gained enormous attentions simply because of their outstanding properties. The impact dynamic of water droplet on a superhydrophobic carbon nanotube array is shown in this fluid dynamics video.

1010.1542

Lie symmetry analysis and exact solutions of the quasigeostrophic two-layer problem

The quasigeostrophic two-layer model is of superior interest in dynamic meteorology since it is one of the easiest ways to study baroclinic processes in geophysical fluid dynamics. The complete set of point symmetries of the two-layer equations is determined. An optimal set of one- and two-dimensional inequivalent subalgebras of the maximal Lie invariance algebra is constructed. On the basis of these subalgebras, we exhaustively carry out group-invariant reduction and compute various classes of exact solutions. Wherever possible, reference to the physical meaning of the exact solutions is given. In particular, the well-known baroclinic Rossby wave solutions in the two-layer model are rediscovered.

1010.1701

Experimental demonstration of the supersonic-subsonic bifurcation in the circular jump: a hydrodynamic white hole.

We provide an experimental demonstration that the circular hydraulic jump represents a hydrodynamic white hole or gravitational fountain (the time reverse of a black hole) by measuring the angle of the Mach cone created by an object in the "supersonic" inner flow region. We emphasize the general character of this gravitational analogy by showing theoretically that the white hole horizon constitutes a stationary and spatial saddle-node bifurcation within dynamical-systems theory. We also demonstrate that the inner region has a "superluminal" dispersion relation, that is, that the group velocity of the surface waves increases with frequency, and discuss some possible consequences with respect to the robustness of Hawking radiation. Finally, we point out that our experiment shows a concrete example of a possible "trans-Planckian distortion" of black or white holes.

1010.1762

Mathematics and morphogenesis of cities: a geometrical approach.

Cities are living organisms. They are out of equilibrium, open systems that never stop developing and sometimes die. The local geography can be compared to a shell constraining its development. In brief, a city's current layout is a step in a running morphogenesis process. Thus cities display a huge diversity of shapes and none of the traditional models, from random graphs, complex networks theory, or stochastic geometry, takes into account the geometrical, functional, and dynamical aspects of a city in the same framework. We present here a global mathematical model dedicated to cities that permits describing, manipulating, and explaining cities' overall shape and layout of their street systems. This street-based framework conciliates the topological and geometrical sides of the problem. From the static analysis of several French towns (topology of first and second order, anisotropy, streets scaling) we make the hypothesis that the development of a city follows a logic of division or extension of space. We propose a dynamical model that mimics this logic and that, from simple general rules and a few parameters, succeeds in generating a large diversity of cities and in reproducing the general features the static analysis has pointed out.

1010.2317

Determination of the Avogadro constant by counting the atoms in a 28Si crystal.

The Avogadro constant links the atomic and the macroscopic properties of matter. Since the molar Planck constant is well known via the measurement of the Rydberg constant, it is also closely related to the Planck constant. In addition, its accurate determination is of paramount importance for a definition of the kilogram in terms of a fundamental constant. We describe a new approach for its determination by counting the atoms in 1 kg single-crystal spheres, which are highly enriched with the 28Si isotope. It enabled isotope dilution mass spectroscopy to determine the molar mass of the silicon crystal with unprecedented accuracy. The value obtained, NA = 6.022,140,78(18) × 10(23) mol(-1), is the most accurate input datum for a new definition of the kilogram.

1010.2364

On the three-dimensional structure of the nebula around Eta Carinae

1010.2757

Positional effects on citation and readership in arXiv

arXiv.org mediates contact with the literature for entire scholarly communities, both through provision of archival access and through daily email and web announcements of new materials, potentially many screenlengths long. We confirm and extend a surprising correlation between article position in these initial announcements, ordered by submission time, and later citation impact, due primarily to intentional "self-promotion" on the part of authors. A pure "visibility" effect was also present: the subset of articles accidentally in early positions fared measurably better in the long-term citation record than those lower down. Astrophysics articles announced in position 1, for example, overall received a median number of citations 83\% higher, while those there accidentally had a 44\% visibility boost. For two large subcommunities of theoretical high energy physics, hep-th and hep-ph articles announced in position 1 had median numbers of citations 50\% and 100\% larger than for positions 5--15, and the subsets there accidentally had visibility boosts of 38\% and 71\%. We also consider the positional effects on early readership. The median numbers of early full text downloads for astro-ph, hep-th, and hep-ph articles announced in position 1 were 82\%, 61\%, and 58\% higher than for lower positions, respectively, and those there accidentally had medians visibility-boosted by 53\%, 44\%, and 46\%. Finally, we correlate a variety of readership features with long-term citations, using machine learning methods, thereby extending previous results on the predictive power of early readership in a broader context. We conclude with some observations on impact metrics and dangers of recommender mechanisms.

1010.2773

Quasi-steady linked vortices with chaotic streamlines

Abstract This paper describes the motion and the flow geometry of two or more linked ring vortices in an otherwise quiescent, ideal fluid. The vortices are thin tubes of near-circular shape which lie on the surface of an immaterial torus of small aspect ratio. Since the vortices are assumed to be identical and evenly distributed on any meridional section of the torus, the flow evolution depends only on the number of vortices ($n$) and the torus aspect ratio (${r}_{1} / {r}_{0} $, where ${r}_{0} $ is the centreline radius and ${r}_{1} $ is the cross-section radius). Numerical simulations based on the Biot–Savart law showed that a small number of vortices ($n= 2, 3$) coiled on a thin torus (${r}_{1} / {r}_{0} \leq 0. 16$) progressed along and rotated around the symmetry axis of the torus in an almost uniform manner while each vortex approximately preserved its shape. In the comoving frame the velocity field always possesses two stagnation points. The transverse intersection, along $2n$ streamlines, of the stream tube emanating from the front stagnation point and the stream tube ending at the rear stagnation point creates a three-dimensional chaotic tangle. It was found that the volume of the chaotic region increases with increasing torus aspect ratio and decreasing number of vortices.

1010.2783

Virus and Warning Spread in Dynamical Networks

Recent work on information survival in sensor and human P2P networks try to study the datum preservation or the virus spreading in a network under the dynamical system approach. Some interesting solutions propose to use non-linear dynamical systems and fixed point stability theorems, providing closed form formulas that depend on the largest eigenvalue of the dynamic system matrix. Given that in the Web there can be messages from one place to another, and that these messages can be, with some probability, new unclassified virus warning messages as well as worms or other kind of viruses, the sites can be infected very fast. The question to answer is how and when a network infection can become global and how it can be controlled or at least how to stabilize the spreading in such a way that it becomes confined below a fixed portion of the network. In this paper, we try to be a step ahead in this direction and apply classic results of the dynamical systems theory to model the behavior of a network where warning messages and viruses spread.

1010.2792

DPIV Measurements of Olympic Skeleton Athletes

The Olympic sport of skeleton involves an athlete riding a small sled face first down a bobsled track at speeds up to 130 km/hr. In these races, the difference between gold and missing the medal stand altogether can be hundredths of a second per run. As such, reducing aerodynamic drag through proper body positioning is of first order importance. To better study the flow behavior and to improve the performance of the athletes, we constructed a mock section of a bobsled track which was positioned at the exit of an open loop wind tunnel. DPIV measurements were made along with video recordings of body position to aid the athletes in determining their optimal aerodynamic body position. In the fluid dynamics video shown, the athlete slowly raised his head while DPIV measurements were made behind the helmet in the separated flow region.

1010.3003

Twitter mood predicts the stock market

1010.3045

The Emerging Web of Social Machines

We define a notion of social machine and envisage an algebra that can describe networks of such. To start with, social machines are defined as tuples of input, output, processes, constraints, state, requests and responses, apart from defining the machines themselves, we define their connectors and conditionals that can be used to describe the interactions between any number of machines in a multitude of ways, as a means to represent real machines interacting in the real web, such as Twitter, Twitter running on top of Amazon AWS, mashups built using Twitter and, obviously, other social machines. This work is not a theoretical paper as yet, but, in more than one sense, we think we have found a way to describe web based information systems and are starting to work on what could be a practical way of dealing with the complexity of this emerging web of social machines that is all around us.

1010.3171

Using explosive percolation in analysis of real-world networks.

We apply a variant of the explosive percolation procedure to large real-world networks and show with finite-size scaling that the university class, ordinary or explosive, of the resulting percolation transition depends on the structural properties of the network, as well as the number of unoccupied links considered for comparison in our procedure. We observe that in our social networks, the percolation clusters close to the critical point are related to the community structure. This relationship is further highlighted by applying the procedure to model networks with predefined communities.

1010.3193

The Tibetan Singing Bowl

We present the results of an experimental investigation of the acoustics and uid dynamics of Tibetan singing bowls. Their acoustic behavior is rationalized in terms of the related dynamics of standing bells and wine glasses. Striking or rubbing a uid-lled bowl excites wall vibrations, and concomitant waves at the uid surface. Acoustic excitation of the bowl’s natural vibrational modes allows for a controlled study in which the evolution of the surface waves with increasing forcing amplitude is detailed. Particular attention is given to rationalizing the observed criteria for the onset of edge-induced Faraday waves and droplet generation via surface fracture. Our study indicates that drops may be levitated on the uid surface, induced to bounce on or skip across the vibrating uid surface.

1010.3248

Experimental Investigation of Shock Wave Surfing

Shock wave surfing is investigated experimentally in GALCIT's Mach 4.0 Ludwieg Tube. Shock wave surfing occurs when a secondary free-body follows the bow shock formed by a primary free-body; an example of shock wave surfing occurs during meteorite breakup. The free-bodies in the current investigation are nylon spheres. During each run in the Ludwieg tube a high speed camera is used to capture a series of schlieren images; edge tracking software is used to measure the position of each sphere. Velocity and acceleration are had from processing the position data. The radius ratio and initial orientation of the two spheres are varied in the test matrix. The variation of sphere radius ratio and initial angle between the centers of gravity are shown to have a significant effect on the dynamics of the system. The air flow in each fluid dynamics video is from left to right. The Mach number is 4.0 with total pressure in each run of roughly 200kPa. Each run begins with the spheres tethered and no flow. Flow arrives and the tethers are quickly broken. The spheres are then free-bodies with the dominant force being the pressure distribution around the surface of the sphere, which, in the case of the secondary sphere, is strongly manipulated by the shock wave interaction. Gravity is not a considerable body force because of the short test times in these experiments. The secondary spheres are visibly seen to be affected by the bow shock wave of the primary bodies in the form of quite beautiful trajectories. Computational images were obtained from a simulation using the AMROC code. A fully three-dimensional simulation of two free-flying bodies was performed, assuming inviscid flow, whereby the trajectory of each sphere was calculated according to the instantaneous aerodynamic forces experienced.

1010.3266

Lens Inquiry: An Astronomy Lab for Non-science Majors at Hartnell Community College

We describe a three hour inquiry activity involving converging lenses and telescopes as part of a semester-long astronomy lab course for non-science majors at Hartnell Community College in Salinas, CA. Students were shown several short demonstrations and given the chance to experiment with the materials, after which there was a class discussion about the phenomena they observed. Students worked in groups of 2-4 to design their own experiments to address a particular question of interest to them and then presented their findings to the class. An instructor-led presentation highlighted the students' discoveries and the lab's content goals, followed by a short worksheet-based activity that guided them in applying their new knowledge to build a simple telescope using two converging lenses. The activity was successful in emphasizing communication skills and giving students opportunities to engage in the process of science in different ways. One of the biggest challenges in designing this activity was covering all of the content given the short amount of time available. Future implementations may have more success by splitting the lab into two sessions, one focusing on converging lenses and the other focusing on telescopes.

1010.3279

Wet-dog shake

The drying of wet fur is a critical to mammalian heat regulation. In this fluid dynamics video, we show a sequence of films demonstrating how hirsute animals to rapidly oscillate their bodies to shed water droplets, nature's analogy to the spin cycle of a washing machine. High-speed videography and fur-particle tracking is employed to determine the angular position of the animal's shoulder skin as a function of time. X-ray cinematography is used to track the motion of the skeleton. We determine conditions for drop ejection by considering the balance of surface tension and centripetal forces on drops adhering to the animal. Particular attention is paid to rationalizing the relationship between animal size and oscillation frequency required to self-dry.

1010.3401

Fifteen Years of Econophysics Research

Econophysics is a new research field, which makes an attempt to bring economics in the fold of natural sciences or specifically attempts for a "physics of economics". The term Econophysics was formally born in Kolkata in 1995. The entry on Econophysics in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd Ed., Vol 2, Macmillan, NY (2008), pp 729-732, begins with "... the term 'econophysics' was neologized in 1995 at the second Statphys- Kolkata conference in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), India ...". The Econophysics research therefore formally completes fifteen years of research by the end of this year! The importance and proliferation of the interdisciplinary research of Econophysics is highlighted in the special issue of Science & Culture, which presents a collection of twenty nine papers (giving country wise perspectives, reviews of the recent developments and original research communications), written by more than forty renowned experts in physics, mathematics or economics, from all over the world. We present here the list of contents and the editorial. The manuscript files are available at http://fiquant.mas.ecp.fr/chakraboa for preview. This special issue will be published online at http://www.scienceandculture-isna.org/journal.htm, at the end of October 2010.

1010.3525

Tracing scientific influence

Scientometrics is the field of quantitative studies of scholarly activity. It has been used for systematic studies of the fundamentals of scholarly practice as well as for evaluation purposes. Although advocated from the very beginning the use of scientometrics as an additional method for science history is still under explored. In this paper we show how a scientometric analysis can be used to shed light on the reception history of certain outstanding scholars. As a case, we look into citation patterns of a specific paper by the American sociologist Robert K. Merton.

1010.3775

Dynamic reconfiguration of human brain networks during learning

Human learning is a complex phenomenon requiring flexibility to adapt existing brain function and precision in selecting new neurophysiological activities to drive desired behavior. These two attributes—flexibility and selection—must operate over multiple temporal scales as performance of a skill changes from being slow and challenging to being fast and automatic. Such selective adaptability is naturally provided by modular structure, which plays a critical role in evolution, development, and optimal network function. Using functional connectivity measurements of brain activity acquired from initial training through mastery of a simple motor skill, we investigate the role of modularity in human learning by identifying dynamic changes of modular organization spanning multiple temporal scales. Our results indicate that flexibility, which we measure by the allegiance of nodes to modules, in one experimental session predicts the relative amount of learning in a future session. We also develop a general statistical framework for the identification of modular architectures in evolving systems, which is broadly applicable to disciplines where network adaptability is crucial to the understanding of system performance.

1010.4300

Dark matter at the end of the Galaxy

Dark matter density profiles based upon {Lambda}CDM cosmology motivate an ansatz velocity distribution function with fewer high-velocity particles than the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution or proposed variants. The high-velocity tail of the distribution is determined by the outer slope of the dark matter halo--the large radius behavior of the Galactic dark matter density. N-body simulations of Galactic halos reproduce the high-velocity behavior of this ansatz. Predictions for direct detection rates are dramatically affected for models where the threshold scattering velocity is within 30% of the escape velocity.

1010.4327

Cross-Community Dynamics in Science: How Information Retrieval Affects Semantic Web and Vice Versa

Community effects on the behaviour of individuals, the community itself and other communities can be observed in a wide range of applications. This is true in scientific research, where communities of researchers have increasingly to justify their impact and progress to funding agencies. While previous work has tried to explain and analyse such phenomena, there is still a great potential for increasing the quality and accuracy of this analysis, especially in the context of cross-community effects. In this work, we propose a general framework consisting of several different techniques to analyse and explain such dynamics. The proposed methodology works with arbitrary community algorithms and incorporates meta-data to improve the overall quality and expressiveness of the analysis. We suggest and discuss several approaches to understand, interpret and explain particular phenomena, which themselves are identified in an automated manner. We illustrate the benefits and strengths of our approach by exposing highly interesting in-depth details of cross-community effects between two closely related and well established areas of scientific research. We finally conclude and highlight the important open issues on the way towards understanding, defining and eventually predicting typical life-cycles and classes of communities in the context of cross-community effects.

1010.4498

Critical effect of dependency groups on the function of networks

Current network models assume one type of links to define the relations between the network entities. However, many real networks can only be correctly described using two different types of relations. Connectivity links that enable the nodes to function cooperatively as a network and dependency links that bind the failure of one network element to the failure of other network elements. Here we present an analytical framework for studying the robustness of networks that include both connectivity and dependency links. We show that a synergy exists between the failure of connectivity and dependency links that leads to an iterative process of cascading failures that has a devastating effect on the network stability. We present exact analytical results for the dramatic change in the network behavior when introducing dependency links. For a high density of dependency links, the network disintegrates in a form of a first-order phase transition, whereas for a low density of dependency links, the network disintegrates in a second-order transition. Moreover, opposed to networks containing only connectivity links where a broader degree distribution results in a more robust network, when both types of links are present a broad degree distribution leads to higher vulnerability.

1010.4591

Possible thermochemical disequilibrium in the atmosphere of the exoplanet GJ 436b

1010.4610

An Aboriginal Australian record of the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae

We present evidence that the Boorong Aboriginal people of northwestern Victoria observed the Great Eruption of Eta ({\eta}) Carinae in the nineteenth century and incorporated the event into their oral traditions. We identify this star, as well as others not specifically identified by name, using descriptive material presented in the 1858 paper by William Edward Stanbridge in conjunction with early southern star catalogues. This identification of a transient astronomical event supports the assertion that Aboriginal oral traditions are dynamic and evolving, and not static. This is the only definitive indigenous record of {\eta} Carinae's outburst identified in the literature to date.

1010.4798

Hot Conformal Gauge Theories

We compute the nonzero temperature free energy up to the order g 6 ln(1/g) in the coupling constant for vectorlike SU(N) gauge theories featuring matter transforming according to different representations of the underlying gauge group. The number of matter fields, i.e. flavors, is arranged in such a way that the theory develops a perturbative stable infrared fixed point at zero temperature. Because of large distance conformality we trade the coupling constant with its fixed point value and define a reduced free energy which depends only on the number of flavors, colors, and matter representation. We show that the reduced free energy changes sign, at the second, fifth, and sixth order in the coupling, when decreasing the number of flavors from the upper end of the conformal window. If the change in sign is interpreted as a signal of an instability of the system then we infer a critical number of flavors. Surprisingly this number, if computed to the order g 2 , agrees with previous predictions for the lower boundary of the conformal window for nonsupersymmetric gauge theories. The higher order results tend to predict a higher number of critical flavors. These are universal properties, i.e. they are independent of the specific matter representation.

1010.4834

SU (2) lattice gauge theory simulations on Fermi GPUs

1010.4839

Rational approximation formula for Chandrasekhar’s H-function for isotropic scattering

1010.4971

Correlated couplings and robustness of coupled networks

Most real-world complex systems can be modelled by coupled networks with multiple layers. How and to what extent the pattern of couplings between network layers may influence the interlaced structure and function of coupled networks are not clearly understood. Here we study the impact of correlated inter-layer couplings on the network robustness of coupled networks using percolation concept. We found that the positive correlated inter-layer coupling enhaces network robustness in the sense that it lowers the percolation threshold of the interlaced network than the negative correlated coupling case. At the same time, however, positive inter-layer correlation leads to smaller giant component size in the well-connected region, suggesting potential disadvantage for network connectivity, as demonstrated also with some real-world coupled network structures.

1010.5051

Complex Networks: effect of subtle changes in nature of randomness

1010.5202

The potential importance of non-local, deep transport on the energetics, momentum, chemistry, and aerosol distributions in the atmospheres of Earth, Mars, and Titan

1010.5377

Estimating network parameters for selecting community detection algorithms

This paper considers the problem of algorithm selection for community detection. The aim of community detection is to identify sets of nodes in a network which are more interconnected relative to their connectivity to the rest of the network. A large number of algorithms have been developed to tackle this problem, but as with any machine learning task there is no “one-size-fits-all” and each algorithm excels in a specific part of the problem space. This paper examines the performance of algorithms developed for weighted networks against those using unweighted networks for different parts of the problem space (parameterised by the intra/inter community links). It is then demonstrated how the choice of algorithm (weighted/unweighted) can be made based only on the observed network.

1010.5504

On the Convexity of Latent Social Network Inference

In many real-world scenarios, it is nearly impossible to collect explicit social network data. In such cases, whole networks must be inferred from underlying observations. Here, we formulate the problem of inferring latent social networks based on network diffusion or disease propagation data. We consider contagions propagating over the edges of an unobserved social network, where we only observe the times when nodes became infected, but not who infected them. Given such node infection times, we then identify the optimal network that best explains the observed data. We present a maximum likelihood approach based on convex programming with a l1-like penalty term that encourages sparsity. Experiments on real and synthetic data reveal that our method near-perfectly recovers the underlying network structure as well as the parameters of the contagion propagation model. Moreover, our approach scales well as it can infer optimal networks of thousands of nodes in a matter of minutes.

1010.5793

Percolation in self-similar networks

We provide a simple proof that graphs in a general class of self-similar networks have zero percolation threshold. The considered self-similar networks include random scale-free graphs with given expected node degrees and zero clustering, scale-free graphs with finite clustering and metric structure, growing scale-free networks, and many real networks. The proof and the derivation of the giant component size do not require the assumption that networks are treelike. Our results rely only on the observation that self-similar networks possess a hierarchy of nested subgraphs whose average degree grows with their depth in the hierarchy. We conjecture that this property is pivotal for percolation in networks.

1010.5829

Robustness of a Network of Networks

Network research has been focused on studying the properties of a single isolated network, which rarely exists. We develop a general analytical framework for studying percolation of n interdependent networks. We illustrate our analytical solutions for three examples: (i) For any tree of n fully dependent Erdős-Rényi (ER) networks, each of average degree k, we find that the giant component is P∞ =p[1-exp(-kP∞)](n) where 1-p is the initial fraction of removed nodes. This general result coincides for n = 1 with the known second-order phase transition for a single network. For any n>1 cascading failures occur and the percolation becomes an abrupt first-order transition. (ii) For a starlike network of n partially interdependent ER networks, P∞ depends also on the topology-in contrast to case (i). (iii) For a looplike network formed by n partially dependent ER networks, P∞ is independent of n.

1010.5943

Random Graph Generator for Bipartite Networks Modeling

The purpose of this article is to introduce a new iterative algorithm with properties resembling real life bipartite graphs. The algorithm enables us to generate wide range of random bigraphs, which features are determined by a set of parameters.We adapt the advances of last decade in unipartite complex networks modeling to the bigraph setting. This data structure can be observed in several situations. However, only a few datasets are freely available to test the algorithms (e.g. community detection, influential nodes identification, information retrieval) which operate on such data. Therefore, artificial datasets are needed to enhance development and testing of the algorithms. We are particularly interested in applying the generator to the analysis of recommender systems. Therefore, we focus on two characteristics that, besides simple statistics, are in our opinion responsible for the performance of neighborhood based collaborative filtering algorithms. The features are node degree distribution and local clustering coeficient.

1010.6091

Network motifs in music sequences

This paper has been withdrawn by the author because it needs a deep methodological revision.

1011.0342

Affordable Digital Planetariums with WorldWide Telescope

Digital planetariums can provide a broader range of educational experiences than the more classical planetariums that use star-balls. This is because of their ability to project images, content from current research and the 3D distribution of the stars and galaxies. While there are hundreds of planetariums in the country the reason that few of these are full digital is the cost. In collaboration with Microsoft Research (MSR) we have developed a way to digitize existing planetariums for approximately \$40,000 using software freely available. We describe here how off the shelf equipment, together with MSR's WorldWide Telescope client can provide a rich and truly interactive experience. This will enable students and the public to pan though multi-wavelength full-sky scientific data sets, explore 3d visualizations of our Solar System (including trajectories of millions of minor planets), near-by stars, and the SDSS galaxy catalog.

1011.0468

Efficient Triangle Counting in Large Graphs via Degree-Based Vertex Partitioning

1011.0751

Polarimetry of cool atmospheres: From the Sun to exoplanets

This is a review of a decade-long effort to develop novel tools for exploring magnetism in cold astrophysical media and to establish a new field of molecular spectropolarimetry since Berdyugina et al. (2000). It is most directly applicable to the Sun, cool stars, substellar objects, planets and other minor bodies as well as interstellar and circumstellar matter. It is close to being a mature field with developed theoretical tools poised to uncover new insights into the magnetic structures in cooler environments. Here I attempt a broad description of the literature and present some recent exciting results. In particular, following my programmatic review at Solar Polarization Workshop 3, I discuss advances in molecular magnetic diagnostics which are based on the modeling of about a dozen diatomic molecules with various electronic transitions and states, including the most challenging - FeH. The applications stretch from sunspots to starspots, small-scale and turbulent solar magnetic fields, red and white dwarfs, and spin-offs such as polarimetry of protoplanetary disks and exoplanets.

1011.0774

Community Detection in Networks: The Leader-Follower Algorithm

Traditional spectral clustering methods cannot naturally learn the number of communities in a network and often fail to detect smaller community structure in dense networks because they are based upon external community connectivity properties such as graph cuts. We propose an algorithm for detecting community structure in networks called the leader-follower algorithm which is based upon the natural internal structure expected of communities in social networks. The algorithm uses the notion of network centrality in a novel manner to differentiate leaders (nodes which connect different communities) from loyal followers (nodes which only have neighbors within a single community). Using this approach, it is able to naturally learn the communities from the network structure and does not require the number of communities as an input, in contrast to other common methods such as spectral clustering. We prove that it will detect all of the communities exactly for any network possessing communities with the natural internal structure expected in social networks. More importantly, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the leader-follower algorithm in the context of various real networks ranging from social networks such as Facebook to biological networks such as an fMRI based human brain network. We find that the leader-follower algorithm finds the relevant community structure in these networks without knowing the number of communities beforehand. Also, because the leader-follower algorithm detects communities using their internal structure, we find that it can resolve a finer community structure in dense networks than common spectral clustering methods based on external community structure.

1011.1043

Detecting Communities in Tripartite Hypergraphs

1011.1234

Storage option an Analytic approach

The mathematical problem of the static storage optimisation is formulated and solved by means of a variational analysis. The solution obtained in implicit form is shedding light on the most important features of the optimal exercise strategy. We show how the solution depends on different constraint types including carry cost and cycling constraint. We investigate the relation between intrinsic and stochastic solutions. In particular we give another proof that the stochastic problem has a "bang-bang" optimal exercise strategy. We also show why the optimal stochastic exercise decision is always close to the intrinsic one. In the second half we develop a perturbation analysis to solve the stochastic optimisation problem. The obtained approximate solution allows us to estimate the time value of the storage option. In particular we find an answer to rather academic question of asymptotic time value for the mean reversion parameter approaching zero or infinity. We also investigate the differences between swing and storage problems. The analytical results are compared with numerical valuations and found to be in a good agreement.

1011.1625

On the Meaning of Logical Completeness

Godel's completeness theorem is concerned with provability, while Girard's theorem in ludics (as well as full completeness theorems in game semantics) is concerned with proofs. Our purpose is to look for a connection between these two disciplines. Following a previous work [1], we consider an extension of the original ludics with contraction and universal nondeterminism, which play dual roles, in order to capture a polarized fragment of linear logic and thus a constructive variant of classical propositional logic. We then prove a completeness theorem for proofs in this extended setting: for any behaviour (formula) A and any design (proof attempt) P , either P is a proof of A or there is a model M of ${\mathbf{A}}^{\bot}$ which beats P . Compared with proofs of full completeness in game semantics, ours exhibits a striking similarity with proofs of Godel's completeness, in that it explicitly constructs a countermodel essentially using Konig's lemma, proceeds by induction on formulas, and implies an analogue of Lowenheim-Skolem theorem.

1011.1630

Ultraviolet divergences in cosmological correlations

A method is developed for dealing with ultraviolet divergences in calculations of cosmological correlations, which does not depend on dimensional regularization. An extended version of the WKB approximation is used to analyze the divergences in these calculations, and these divergences are controlled by the introduction of Pauli-Villars regulator fields. This approach is illustrated in the theory of a scalar field with arbitrary self-interactions in a fixed flat-space Robertson-Walker metric with arbitrary scale factor a(t). Explicit formulas are given for the counterterms needed to cancel all dependence on the regulator properties, and an explicit prescription is given for calculating finite regulator-independent correlation functions. The possibility of infrared divergences in this theory is briefly considered.

1011.2689

Contact processes and moment closure on adaptive networks

1011.3321

Phase transition of a two-dimensional generalized XY model

We study a two-dimensional generalized XY model that depends on an integer q by the Monte Carlo method. This model was recently proposed by Romano and Zagrebnov. We find a single Kosterlitz–Thouless (KT) transition for all values of q, in contrast with the previous speculation that there may be two transitions, a regular KT transition and a first-order transition at a higher temperature. We show the universality of the KT transitions by comparing the universal finite-size scaling behaviors at different values of q without assuming a specific universal form in terms of the KT transition temperature TKT.

1011.3685

MULTIDIMENSIONAL DYNAMIC RISK MEASURE VIA CONDITIONAL g‐EXPECTATION

This paper deals with multidimensional dynamic risk measures induced by conditional g‐expectations. A notion of multidimensional g‐expectation is proposed to provide a multidimensional version of nonlinear expectations. By a technical result on explicit expressions for the comparison theorem, uniqueness theorem, and viability on a rectangle of solutions to multidimensional backward stochastic differential equations, some necessary and sufficient conditions are given for the constancy, monotonicity, positivity, and translatability properties of multidimensional conditional g‐expectations and multidimensional dynamic risk measures; we prove that a multidimensional dynamic g‐risk measure is nonincreasingly convex if and only if the generator g satisfies a quasi‐monotone increasingly convex condition. A general dual representation is given for the multidimensional dynamic convex g‐risk measure in which the penalty term is expressed more precisely. It is shown that model uncertainty leads to the convexity of risk measures. As to applications, we show how this multidimensional approach can be applied to measure the insolvency risk of a firm with interacting subsidiaries; optimal risk sharing for γ ‐tolerant g‐risk measures, and risk contribution for coherent g‐risk measures are investigated. Insurance g‐risk measure and other ways to induce g‐risk measures are also studied at the end of the paper.

1011.3706

Concentric circles in WMAP data may provide evidence of violent pre-Big-Bang activity

Conformal cyclic cosmology (CCC) posits the existence of an aeon preceding our Big Bang 'B', whose conformal infinity 'I' is identified, conformally, with 'B', now regarded as a spacelike 3-surface. Black-hole encounters, within bound galactic clusters in that previous aeon, would have the observable effect, in our CMB sky, of families of concentric circles over which the temperature variance is anomalously low, the centre of each such family representing the point of 'I' at which the cluster converges. These centres appear as fairly randomly distributed fixed points in our CMB sky. The analysis of Wilkinson Microwave Background Probe's (WMAP) cosmic microwave background 7-year maps does indeed reveal such concentric circles, of up to 6{\sigma} significance. This is confirmed when the same analysis is applied to BOOMERanG98 data, eliminating the possibility of an instrumental cause for the effects. These observational predictions of CCC would not be easily explained within standard inflationary cosmology.

1011.3707

Networks of Economic Market Interdependence and Systemic Risk

The dynamic network of relationships among corporations underlies cascading economic failures including the current economic crisis, and can be inferred from correlations in market value fluctuations. We analyze the time dependence of the network of correlations to reveal the changing relationships among the financial, technology, and basic materials sectors with rising and falling markets and resource constraints. The financial sector links otherwise weakly coupled economic sectors, particularly during economic declines. Such links increase economic risk and the extent of cascading failures. Our results suggest that firewalls between financial services for different sectors would reduce systemic risk without hampering economic growth.

1011.3850

SNIF: A Futuristic Neutrino Probe for Undeclared Nuclear Fission Reactors

Today reactor neutrino experiments are at the cutting edge of fundamental research in particle physics. Understanding the neutrino is far from complete, but thanks to the impressive progress in this field over the last 15 years, a few research groups are seriously considering that neutrinos could be useful for society. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) works with its Member States to promote safe, secure and peaceful nuclear technologies. In a context of international tension and nuclear renaissance, neutrino detectors could help IAEA to enforce the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). In this article we discuss a futuristic neutrino application to detect and localize an undeclared nuclear reactor from across borders. The SNIF a concept proposes to use a few hundred thousand tons neutrino detectors to unveil clandestine fission reactors. Beyond previous studies we provide estimates of all known background sources as a function of the detector’s longitude, latitude and depth, and we discuss how they impact the detectability.

1011.3912

Artificial Hormone Reaction Networks - Towards Higher Evolvability in Evolutionary Multi-Modular Robotics

The semi-automatic or automatic synthesis of robot controller software is both desirable and challenging. Synthesis of rather simple behaviors such as collision avoidance by applying artificial evolution has been shown multiple times. However, the difficulty of this synthesis increases heavily with increasing complexity of the task that should be performed by the robot. We try to tackle this problem of complexity with Artificial Homeostatic Hormone Systems (AHHS), which provide both intrinsic, homeostatic processes and (transient) intrinsic, variant behavior. By using AHHS the need for pre-defined controller topologies or information about the field of application is minimized. We investigate how the principle design of the controller and the hormone network size affects the overall performance of the artificial evolution (i.e., evolvability). This is done by comparing two variants of AHHS that show different effects when mutated. We evolve a controller for a robot built from five autonomous, cooperating modules. The desired behavior is a form of gait resulting in fast locomotion by using the modules' main hinges.

1011.4071

Supervised random walks: predicting and recommending links in social networks

Predicting the occurrence of links is a fundamental problem in networks. In the link prediction problem we are given a snapshot of a network and would like to infer which interactions among existing members are likely to occur in the near future or which existing interactions are we missing. Although this problem has been extensively studied, the challenge of how to effectively combine the information from the network structure with rich node and edge attribute data remains largely open. We develop an algorithm based on Supervised Random Walks that naturally combines the information from the network structure with node and edge level attributes. We achieve this by using these attributes to guide a random walk on the graph. We formulate a supervised learning task where the goal is to learn a function that assigns strengths to edges in the network such that a random walker is more likely to visit the nodes to which new links will be created in the future. We develop an efficient training algorithm to directly learn the edge strength estimation function. Our experiments on the Facebook social graph and large collaboration networks show that our approach outperforms state-of-the-art unsupervised approaches as well as approaches that are based on feature extraction.

1011.4125

Life is Physics: Evolution as a Collective Phenomenon Far From Equilibrium

Evolution is the fundamental physical process that gives rise to biological phenomena. Yet it is widely treated as a subset of population genetics, and thus its scope is artificially limited. As a result, the key issues of how rapidly evolution occurs and its coupling to ecology have not been satisfactorily addressed and formulated. The lack of widespread appreciation for, and understanding of, the evolutionary process has arguably retarded the development of biology as a science, with disastrous consequences for its applications to medicine, ecology, and the global environment. This review focuses on evolution as a problem in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, where the key dynamical modes are collective, as evidenced by the plethora of mobile genetic elements whose role in shaping evolution has been revealed by modern genomic surveys. We discuss how condensed matter physics concepts might provide a useful perspective in evolutionary biology, the conceptual failings of the modern evolutionary synthesis, the open-ended growth of complexity, and the quintessentially self-referential nature of evolutionary dynamics.

1011.4324

Moment-Based Spectral Analysis of Large-Scale Networks Using Local Structural Information

The eigenvalues of matrices representing the structure of large-scale complex networks present a wide range of applications, from the analysis of dynamical processes taking place in the network to spectral techniques aiming to rank the importance of nodes in the network. A common approach to study the relationship between the structure of a network and its eigenvalues is to use synthetic random networks in which structural properties of interest, such as degree distributions, are prescribed. Although very common, synthetic models present two major flaws: 1) These models are only suitable to study a very limited range of structural properties; and 2) they implicitly induce structural properties that are not directly controlled and can deceivingly influence the network eigenvalue spectrum. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach to overcome these limitations. Our approach is not based on synthetic models. Instead, we use algebraic graph theory and convex optimization to study how structural properties influence the spectrum of eigenvalues of the network. Using our approach, we can compute, with low computational overhead, global spectral properties of a network from its local structural properties. We illustrate our approach by studying how structural properties of online social networks influence their eigenvalue spectra.

1011.4336

Impact of the Topology of Global Macroeconomic Network on the Spreading of Economic Crises

Throughout economic history, the global economy has experienced recurring crises. The persistent recurrence of such economic crises calls for an understanding of their generic features rather than treating them as singular events. The global economic system is a highly complex system and can best be viewed in terms of a network of interacting macroeconomic agents. In this regard, from the perspective of collective network dynamics, here we explore how the topology of the global macroeconomic network affects the patterns of spreading of economic crises. Using a simple toy model of crisis spreading, we demonstrate that an individual country's role in crisis spreading is not only dependent on its gross macroeconomic capacities, but also on its local and global connectivity profile in the context of the world economic network. We find that on one hand clustering of weak links at the regional scale can significantly aggravate the spread of crises, but on the other hand the current network structure at the global scale harbors higher tolerance of extreme crises compared to more “globalized” random networks. These results suggest that there can be a potential hidden cost in the ongoing globalization movement towards establishing less-constrained, trans-regional economic links between countries, by increasing vulnerability of the global economic system to extreme crises.

1011.4522

Modeling high-energy cosmic ray induced terrestrial muon flux: A lookup table

1011.4560

Analysis on the relations between piano touch and tone

In piano playing, different ways of touch lead to different tones. The effects of changing forces on keys are presented by changing interaction between hammer and string. The thesis focuses on several important variables in hammer-string system and draws conclusions to the question about piano touch and tone.

1011.4722

Slice Sampling with Adaptive Multivariate Steps: The Shrinking-Rank Method

The shrinking rank method is a variation of slice sampling that is efficient at sampling from multivariate distributions with highly correlated parameters. It requires that the gradient of the logdensity be computable. At each individual step, it approximates the current slice with a Gaussian occupying a shrinking-dimension subspace. The dimension of the approximation is shrunk orthogonally to the gradient at rejected proposals, since the gradients at points outside the current slice tend to point towards the slice. This causes the proposal distribution to converge rapidly to an estimate of the longest axis of the slice, resulting in states that are less correlated than those generated by related methods. After describing the method, we compare it to two other methods on several distributions and obtain favorable results.

1011.4992

Random stress and Omori's law

We consider two statistical regularities that were used to explain Omori's law of the aftershock rate decay: the Levy and Inverse Gaussian (IGD) distributions. These distributions are thought to describe stress behavior influenced by various random factors: post-earthquake stress time history is described by a Brownian motion. Both distributions decay to zero for time intervals close to zero. But this feature contradicts the high immediate aftershock level according to Omori's law. We propose that these statistical distributions are influenced by the power-law stress distribution near the earthquake focal zone and we derive new distributions as a mixture of power-law stress with the exponent psi and Levy as well as IGD distributions. Such new distributions describe the resulting inter-earthquake time intervals and closely resemble Omori's law. The new Levy distribution has a pure power-law form with the exponent -(1+psi/2) and the mixed IGD has two exponents: the same as Levy for small time intervals and -(1+psi) for longer times. For even longer time intervals this power-law behavior should be replaced by a uniform seismicity rate corresponding to the long-term tectonic deformation. We compute these background rates using our former analysis of earthquake size distribution and its connection to plate tectonics. We analyze several earthquake catalogs to confirm and illustrate our theoretical results. Finally, we discuss how the parameters of random stress dynamics can be determined through a more detailed statistical analysis of earthquake occurrence or by new laboratory experiments.

1011.5168

Analyzing the Facebook Friendship Graph

Online Social Networks (OSN) during last years acquired a huge and increasing popularity as one of the most important emerging Web phenomena, deeply modifying the behavior of users and contributing to build a solid substrate of connections and relationships among people using the Web. In this preliminary work paper, our purpose is to analyze Facebook, considering a signi�cant sample of data re ecting relationships among subscribed users. Our goal is to extract, from this platform, relevant information about the distribution of these relations and exploit tools and algorithms provided by the Social Network Analysis (SNA) to discover and, possibly, understand underlying similarities between the developing of OSN and real-life social networks.

1011.5239

Preferential attachment in growing spatial networks

We obtain the degree distribution for a class of growing network models on flat and curved spaces. These models evolve by preferential attachment weighted by a function of the distance between nodes. The degree distribution of these models is similar to that of the fitness model of Bianconi and Barabási, with a fitness distribution dependent on the metric and the density of nodes. We show that curvature singularities in these spaces can give rise to asymptotic Bose-Einstein condensation, but transient condensation can be observed also in smooth hyperbolic spaces with strong curvature. We provide numerical results for spaces of constant curvature (sphere, flat, and hyperbolic space) and we discuss the conditions for the breakdown of this approach and the critical points of the transition to distance-dominated attachment. Finally, we discuss the distribution of link lengths.

1011.5367

The dynamical strength of social ties in information spreading

We investigate the temporal patterns of human communication and its influence on the spreading of information in social networks. The analysis of mobile phone calls of 20 million people in one country shows that human communication is bursty and happens in group conversations. These features have the opposite effects on the reach of the information: while bursts hinder propagation at large scales, conversations favor local rapid cascades. To explain these phenomena we define the dynamical strength of social ties, a quantity that encompasses both the topological and the temporal patterns of human communication.

1011.6266

Characterizing the speed and paths of shared bicycle use in Lyon

1012.0009

Time-varying graphs and dynamic networks

The past few years have seen intensive research efforts carried out in some apparently unrelated areas of dynamic systems – delay-tolerant networks, opportunistic-mobility networks and social networks – obtaining closely related insights. Indeed, the concepts discovered in these investigations can be viewed as parts of the same conceptual universe, and the formal models proposed so far to express some specific concepts are the components of a larger formal description of this universe. The main contribution of this paper is to integrate the vast collection of concepts, formalisms and results found in the literature into a unified framework, which we call time-varying graphs (TVGs). Using this framework, it is possible to express directly in the same formalism not only the concepts common to all those different areas, but also those specific to each. Based on this definitional work, employing both existing results and original observations, we present a hierarchical classification of TVGs; each class corresponds to a significant property examined in the distributed computing literature. We then examine how TVGs can be used to study the evolution of network properties, and propose different techniques, depending on whether the indicators for these properties are atemporal (as in the majority of existing studies) or temporal. Finally, we briefly discuss the introduction of randomness in TVGs.