Leveraging belief propagation, backtrack search, and?statistics for model counting

We consider the problem of estimating the model count (number of solutions) of Boolean formulas, and present two techniques that compute estimates of these counts, as well as either lower or upper bounds with different trade-offs between efficiency, bound quality, and correctness guarantee. For lower bounds, we use a recent framework for probabilistic correctness guarantees, and exploit message passing techniques for marginal probability estimation, namely, variations of the Belief Propagation (BP) algorithm. Our results suggest that BP provides useful information even on structured, loopy formulas. For upper bounds, we perform multiple runs of the MiniSat SAT solver with a minor modification, and obtain statistical bounds on the model count based on the observation that the distribution of a certain quantity of interest is often very close to the normal distribution. Our experiments demonstrate that our model counters based on these two ideas, BPCount and MiniCount, can provide very good bounds in time significantly less than alternative approaches.     

Determination of Uranium in Natural Waters by Laser-Excited Fluorescence for Uranium Exploration

The uranium concentrations of the natural water samples collected from Northern Aegean Region, were measured by laser-excited fluorescence technique for hydrogeochemical prospecting. The reconnaissance survey measurements were made using external standards and detailed analysis realised with internal standard method to correct the quenching. Uranium concentrations for waters of all types range from below the detection limit of 0.05 ppb to 309.09 ppb and have a mean of 16.07 ppb. The precision of the method as shown by standard deviation is satisfactory. The laser-induced fluorescence method was applied easily and successfully in the uranium prospecting program and the data might indicate a uranium deposite in Saricaoglu Region.     

Quantum Contagion: A Quantum-Like Approach for the Analysis of Social Contagion Dynamics with Heterogeneous Adoption Thresholds

Modeling the information of social contagion processes has recently attracted a substantial amount of interest from researchers due to its wide applicability in network science, multi-agent-systems, information science, and marketing. Unlike in biological spreading, the existence of a reinforcement effect in social contagion necessitates considering the complexity of individuals in the systems. Although many studies acknowledged the heterogeneity of the individuals in their adoption of information, there are no studies that take into account the individuals’ uncertainty during their adoption decision-making. This resulted in less than optimal modeling of social contagion dynamics in the existence of phase transition in the final adoption size versus transmission probability. We employed the Inverse Born Problem (IBP) to represent probabilistic entities as complex probability amplitudes in edge-based compartmental theory, and demonstrated that our novel approach performs better in the prediction of social contagion dynamics through extensive simulations on random regular networks.     

Asymmetric chiral metamaterial circular polarizer based on four U-shaped split ring resonators

An asymmetric chiral metamaterial structure is constructed by using four double-layered U-shaped split ring resonators, which are each rotated by 90° with respect to their neighbors. The peculiarity of the suggested design is that the sizes of the electrically and magnetically excited rings are different, which allows for equalizing the orthogonal components of the electric field at the output interface with a 90° phase difference when the periodic structure is illuminated by an x-polarized wave. As a result, left-hand circular polarization and right-hand circular polarization are obtained in transmission at 5.1 GHz and 6.4 GHz, respectively. The experiment results are in good agreement with the numerical results.     

Investigation of bed shear stresses subject to external turbulence

The fluctuating bed shear stress has largely been investigated only for uniform channel flows and boundary layers. In practical engineering, the flow conditions are often modified due to the presence of various hydraulic structures. To what extent the modification affects the known characteristics of the bed shear stress is not clear. This study presents experimental results of the bed shear stress fluctuations, which are obviously subjected to external turbulence generated by superimposing artificial structures in the open channel flows. The statistical analysis of the measurements shows that the probability density function of the bed shear stress can be described by the lognormal function. Some associated relations concerning higher-order moments, skewness and kurtosis, which are derived from the lognormal function, are further compared with the experimental data. Physical implication of the skewed probability density distribution is finally discussed.     

Iterated Peiffer Pairings in the Moore Complex of a Simplicial Group

We introduce a pairing structure within the Moore complex NG of a simplicial group G and use it to investigate generators for NG _n D _n where D _n is the subgroup generated by degenerate elements. This is applied to the study of algebraic models for homotopy types.     

Coupling porous sheathless interface MS with transient‐ITP in neutral capillaries for improved sensitivity in glycopeptide analysis

IgG antibodies are modulated in their function by the specific structure of the N‐glycans attached to their Fc (fragment crystallizable) portions. However, the glycosylation analysis of antigen‐specific IgGs is a challenging task as antibody levels to a given antigen only represent a fraction of the total IgG levels. Here, we investigated the use of a transient‐ITP (t‐ITP)—MS method for highly sensitive IgG1 glycosylation profiling as a complementary method to a high‐throughput nano‐RPLC‐MS method. It was found that t‐ITP‐CZE using neutrally coated separation capillaries with a large volume injection (37% of capillary volume) and interfaced to MS with a sheathless porous sprayer yielded a 40‐fold increase in sensitivity for IgG1 Fc glycopeptide analysis when compared to the conventional strategy. Furthermore, the glycoform profiles found with the t‐ITP‐CZE strategy were comparable to those from nano‐RPLC‐MS. In conclusion, the use of the highly sensitive t‐ITP‐CZE‐MS method will provide information on IgG Fc glycosylation for those samples with IgG1 concentrations below the LODs of the conventional method.