Controlling the Length of Cooperative Supramolecular Polymers with Chain Cappers

The design and the characterization of supramolecular additives to control the chain length of benzene-1,3,5-tricarboxamide (BTA) cooperative supramolecular polymers under thermodynamic equilibrium is unraveled. These additives act as chain cappers of supramolecular polymers and feature one face as reactive as the BTA discotic to interact strongly with the polymer end, whereas the other face is nonreactive and therefore impedes further polymerization. Such a design requires fine tuning of the conformational preorganization of the amides and the steric hindrance of the motif. The chain cappers studied are monotopic derivatives of BTA, modified by partial N-methylation of the amides or by positioning of a bulky cyclotriveratrylene cage on one face of the BTA unit. This study not only clarifies the interplay between structural variations and supramolecular interactions, but it also highlights the necessity to combine orthogonal characterization methods, spectroscopy and light scattering, to elucidate the structures and compositions of supramolecular systems.     

Mixing time of an unaligned Gibbs sampler on the square

The paper concerns a particular example of the Gibbs sampler and its mixing efficiency. Coordinates of a point are rerandomized in the unit square ${[0,1]}^2$ to approach a stationary distribution with density proportional to $exp(?A^2{(u?v)}^2)$ for $(u,v)\in {[0,1]}^2$ with some large parameter $A$.Diaconis conjectured the mixing time of this process to be $O\left(A^2\right)$ which we confirm in this paper. This improves on the currently known $O(exp\left(A^2\right))$ estimate.     

Continuum versus discrete networks,graph Laplacians,and reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces

Motivated by applications to machine learning, we construct a reversible and irreducible Markov chain whose state space is a certain collection of measurable sets of a chosen l.c.h. space $\mathfrak{X}$. We study the resulting network (connected undirected graph), including transience, Royden and Riesz decompositions, and kernel factorization. We describe a construction for Hilbert spaces of signed measures which comes equipped with a new notion of reproducing kernels and there is a unique solution to a regularized optimization problem involving the approximation of $L^2$ functions by functions of finite energy. The latter has applications to machine learning (for Markov random fields, for example).     

The survival probability of critical and subcritical branching processes in finite state space Markovian environment

Let ${\left(Z_n\right)}_{n\ge 0}$ be a branching process in a random environment defined by a Markov chain ${\left(X_n\right)}_{n\ge 0}$ with values in a finite state space $\mathbb{X}$. Let ${\mathbb{P}}_i$ be the probability law generated by the trajectories of ${\left(X_n\right)}_{n\ge 0}$ starting at $X_0=i\in \mathbb{X}.$ We study the asymptotic behaviour of the joint survival probability ${\mathbb{P}}_i\left(Z_n>0,X_n=j\right)$, $j\in \mathbb{X}$ as $n\to +\infty$ in the critical and strongly, intermediate and weakly subcritical cases.     

Persistence of sums of correlated increments and clustering in cellular automata

Let $T$ be the first return time to $(?\infty ,0]$ of sums of increments given by a functional of a stationary Markov chain. We determine the asymptotic behavior of the survival probability, $\mathbb{P}(T\ge t)～C{t}^{?1∕2}$ for an explicit constant $C$. Our analysis is based on a connection between the survival probability and the running maximum of the time-reversed process, and relies on a functional central limit theorem for Markov chains. As applications, we recover known clustering results for the 3-color cyclic cellular automaton and the Greenberg–Hastings model, and we prove a new clustering result for the 3-color firefly cellular automaton.     

Representations for conditional expectations and applications to pricing and hedging of financial products in Lévy and jump-diffusion setting

In this article, we derive expressions for conditional expectations in terms of regular expectations without conditioning but involving some weights. For this purpose, we apply two approaches: the conditional density method and the Malliavin method. We use these expressions for the numerical estimation of the price of American options and their deltas in a Lévy and jump-diffusion setting. Several examples of applications to financial and energy markets are given including numerical examples.     

Optimal strategy of vaccination and treatment in an SIRS model with Markovian switching

Medical treatment and vaccination decisions are often sequential and uncertain. Markov decision process is an appropriate means to model and handle such stochastic dynamic decisions. This paper studies the near‐optimality of a stochastic SIRS epidemic model that incorporates vaccination and saturated treatment with regime switching. The stochastic model takes white noises and color noise into account. We first prove some priori estimates of the susceptible, infected, and recovered populations. Moreover, we establish some sufficient and necessary conditions of the near‐optimality by Pontryagin stochastic maximum principle. Our results show that the two kinds of environmental noises have great impacts on the infectious diseases. Finally, we illustrate our conclusions through numerical simulations.     

磁性纳米颗粒系统偶极相互作用的Monte Carlo研究

采用局域Monte Carlo方法模拟不同易轴分布的简单立方排列单分散单畴Fe纳米颗粒系统的ZFC-FC曲线及磁滞回线.结果表明：随着偶极相互作用的增强，系统的阻塞温度T_B逐渐增大，且ZFC曲线的峰变宽.说明偶极相互作用使得系统的有效能垒提高，分布宽度增加.研究FC曲线磁化强度的倒数与温度关系，发现偶极相互作用系统中存在反铁磁有序.系统的阻塞态及超顺磁态的磁滞回线表明，极低低温下，随着偶极相互作用的增强，系统的矫顽力和剩磁减小，偶极相互作用阻碍系统的磁化；系统处于超顺磁态，各向异性作用及偶极相互作用使得系统的磁化曲线偏离Langevin曲线且偶极相互作用展现出退磁相互作用效应.偶极相互作用增强，系统磁化曲线与Langevin曲线偏差量的最大值向低场移动.在偶极相互作用下，易轴与外场夹角为45°的磁性纳米颗粒系统的平均有效能垒和有效能垒分布宽度较易轴随机分布系统的大.     

质子辐照硼硅酸盐玻璃盖片的物理效应分析

作为航天器电源系统的重要组成部分,太阳电池需要更高的转换效率和可靠性以及更长的使用寿命。通过在太阳电池表面覆盖抗辐照玻璃盖片,可以增强太阳电池对粒子辐射的防护,延长太阳电池的服役寿命,使航天器获得可靠的能源供应。硼硅酸盐玻璃就是一种理想的太阳电池玻璃盖片材料。采用蒙特卡罗方法,结合SRIM软件模拟研究质子辐照硼硅酸盐玻璃的损伤物理机理。基于粒子与物质相互作用的理论以及基本公式,通过分析不同入射能量的质子在硼硅酸盐玻璃中的阻止本领、电离能损、位移能损、空位的产生情况,对辐照损伤的物理机制进行研究。结果表明:能量为30~120 keV的质子辐照损伤主要发生在硼硅酸盐玻璃表面;质子沉积、空位分布等均为Bragg峰型分布;电离能损是能量损失的主要部分,随入射能量的增加而增大,导致电子的电离和激发;位移能损在玻璃内部随能量降低而增大,导致硼、氧和硅等空位缺陷的产生;电离效应和缺陷的产生是硼硅酸盐玻璃色心形成的重要原因。