Vestibular vocal fold behavior during phonation in unilateral vocal fold paralysis

Voice quality in patients with vocal fold paralysis can be affected by several factors, such as the position of the paralyzed vocal fold, its degree of atrophy, the configuration of its free edge, and the level differences between both vocal folds. Depending on the related vocal deficiency the patient will attempt to compensate using different maneuvers, such as increment of vocal tract and neck muscle contraction to improve glottal closure. This is probably one of the reasons why ventricular folds are frequently requested. The objective of this study is to analyze the behavior of the homolateral and contralateral vestibular folds to delineate patterns of vestibular motion during sustained phonation, in cases of unilateral vocal fold paralysis.     

A Characterization of π-Complemented Algebras

π-complemented algebras are defined as those algebras (not necessarily associative or unital) such that each annihilator ideal is complemented by other annihilator ideal. Let A be a semiprime algebra. We prove that A is π-complemented if, and only if, every idempotent in the extended centroid of A lies in the centroid of A. We also show the existence of a smallest π-complemented subalgebra of the central closure of A containing A. In the case that A is a C*-algebra, this subalgebra turns out to be a norm dense *-subalgebra of the bounded central closure of A. It follows that a C*-algebra is boundedly centrally closed if, and only if, it is π-complemented.     

On strictly singular nonlinear centralizers

We show that _c0$c_0$ is the only Banach space with unconditional basis that satisfies the equation Ext(X,X)=0$Ext(X,X)=0$. This partially improves an old result by Kalton and Peck. We prove that the Kalton–Peck maps are strictly singular on a number of sequence spaces, including _?p${?}_p$ for 0<p<∞$0<p<\infty$, Tsirelson and Schlumprecht spaces and their duals, as well as certain super-reflexive variations of these spaces. In the last section, we give estimates of the projection constants of certain finite-dimensional twisted sums of Kalton–Peck type.     

The Clique Problem in Ray Intersection Graphs

Ray intersection graphs are intersection graphs of rays, or halflines, in the plane. We show that any planar graph has an even subdivision whose complement is a ray intersection graph. The construction can be done in polynomial time and implies that finding a maximum clique in a segment intersection graph is NP-hard. This solves a 21-year old open problem posed by Kratochvíl and Ne?et?il (Comment Math Univ Carolinae 31(1):85–93, 1990).     

The importance of centralities in dark network value chains

This paper introduces three novel centrality measures based on the nodes’ role in the operation of a joint task, i.e., their position in a criminal network value chain. For this, we consider networks where nodes have attributes describing their “capabilities” or “colors”, i.e., the possible roles they may play in a value chain. A value chain here is understood as a series of tasks to be performed in a specific order, each requiring a specific capability. The first centrality notion measures how many value chain instances a given node participates in. The other two assess the costs of replacing a node in the value chain in case the given node is no longer available to perform the task. The first of them considers the direct distance (shortest path length) between the node in question and its nearest replacement, while the second evaluates the actual replacement process, assuming that preceding and following nodes in the network should each be able to find and contact the replacement. In this report, we demonstrate the properties of the new centrality measures using a few toy examples and compare them to classic centralities, such as betweenness, closeness and degree centrality. We also apply the new measures to randomly colored empirical networks. We find that the newly introduced centralities differ sufficiently from the classic measures, pointing towards different aspects of the network. Our results also pinpoint the difference between having a replacement node in the network and being able to find one. This is the reason why “introduction distance” often has a noticeable correlation with betweenness. Our studies show that projecting value chains over networks may significantly alter the nodes’ perceived importance. These insights might have important implications for the way law enforcement or intelligence agencies look at the effectiveness of dark network disruption strategies over time.     

Fully nonlocal, monogamous, and random genuinely multipartite quantum correlations

Local measurements on bipartite maximally entangled states can yield correlations that are maximally nonlocal, monogamous, and with fully random outcomes. This makes these states ideal for bipartite cryptographic tasks. Genuine-multipartite nonlocality constitutes a stronger notion of nonlocality in the multipartite case. Maximal genuine-multipartite nonlocality, monogamy, and random outcomes are thus highly desired properties for genuine-multipartite cryptographic scenarios. We prove that local measurements on any Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state can produce correlations that are fully genuine-multipartite nonlocal, monogamous, and with fully random outcomes. A key ingredient in our proof is a multipartite chained Bell inequality detecting genuine-multipartite nonlocality, which we introduce. Finally, we discuss applications to device-independent secret sharing.     

Experimental observation of impossible-to-beat quantum advantage on a hybrid photonic system

Quantum resources outperform classical ones for certain communication and computational tasks. Remarkably, in some cases, the quantum advantage cannot be improved using hypothetical postquantum resources. A class of tasks with this property can be singled out using graph theory. Here we report the experimental observation of an impossible-to-beat quantum advantage on a four-dimensional quantum system defined by the polarization and orbital angular momentum of a single photon. The results show pristine evidence of the quantum advantage and are compatible with the maximum advantage allowed using postquantum resources.     

Algorithms for graphs of bounded treewidth via orthogonal range searching

We show that, for any fixed constant k3, the sum of the distances between all pairs of vertices of an abstract graph with n vertices and treewidth at most k can be computed in O(nlog^k−1n) time.We also show that, for any fixed constant k2, the dilation of a geometric graph (i.e., a graph drawn in the plane with straight-line segments) with n vertices and treewidth at most k can be computed in O(nlog^k+1n) expected time. The dilation (or stretch-factor) of a geometric graph is defined as the largest ratio, taken over all pairs of vertices, between the distance measured along the graph and the Euclidean distance.The algorithms for both problems are based on the same principle: data structures for orthogonal range searching in bounded dimension provide a compact representation of distances in abstract graphs of bounded treewidth.