The devil is in the detail: hints for practical optimisation

Finding the minimum of an objective function, such as a least squares or negative log-likelihood function, with respect to the unknown model parameters is a problem often encountered in econometrics. Consequently, students of econometrics and applied econometricians are usually well-grounded in the broad differences between the numerical procedures employed to solve these problems. Often, however, relatively little time is given to understanding the practical subtleties of implementing these schemes when faced with illbehaved problems. This paper addresses some of the details involved in practical optimisation, such as dealing with constraints on the parameters, specifying starting values, termination criteria and analytical gradients, and illustrates some of the general ideas with several instructive examples

Symbolic Automata: The Toolkit

Abstract. The symbolic automata toolkit lifts classical automata anal-ysis to work modulo rich alphabet theories. It uses the power of state-of-the-art constraint solvers for automata analysis that is both expres-sive and efficient, even for automata over large finite alphabets. The toolkit supports analysis of finite symbolic automata and transducers over strings. It also handles transducers with registers. Constraint solving is used when composing and minimizing automata, and a much deeper and powerful integration is also obtained by internalizing automata as theories. The toolkit, freely available from Microsoft Research1, has re-cently been used in the context of web security for analysis of potentially malicious data over Unicode characters. Introduction. The distinguishing feature of the toolkit is the use and oper-ations with symbolic labels. This is unlike classical automata algorithms that mostly work assuming a finite alphabet. Adtantages of a symbolic representa-tion are examined in [4], where it is shown that the symbolic algorithms con

Degradation and healing in a generalized neo-Hookean solid due to infusion of a fluid

The mechanical response and load bearing capacity of high performance polymer composites changes due to diffusion of a fluid, temperature, oxidation or the extent of the deformation. Hence, there is a need to study the response of bodies under such degradation mechanisms. In this paper, we study the effect of degradation and healing due to the diffusion of a fluid on the response of a solid which prior to the diffusion can be described by the generalized neo-Hookean model. We show that a generalized neo-Hookean solid - which behaves like an elastic body (i.e., it does not produce entropy) within a purely mechanical context - creeps and stress relaxes when infused with a fluid and behaves like a body whose material properties are time dependent. We specifically investigate the torsion of a generalized neo-Hookean circular cylindrical annulus infused with a fluid. The equations of equilibrium for a generalized neo-Hookean solid are solved together with the convection-diffusion equation for the fluid concentration. Different boundary conditions for the fluid concentration are also considered. We also solve the problem for the case when the diffusivity of the fluid depends on the deformation of the generalized neo-Hookean solid.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Mechanics of Time-dependent Material

Three-Body Halos. II. from Two- to Three-Body Asymptotics

The large distance behavior of weakly bound three-body systems is investigated. The Schr\"{o}dinger equation and the Faddeev equations are reformulated by an expansion in eigenfunctions of the angular part of a corresponding operator. The resulting coupled set of effective radial equations are then derived. Both two- and three-body asymptotic behavior are possible and their relative importance is studied for systems where subsystems may be bound. The system of two nucleons outside a core is studied numerically in detail and the character of possible halo structure is pointed out and investigated.Comment: 16 pages, compressed and uuencoded PosrScript file, IFA-94/3

Searches for violation of fundamental time reversal and space reflection symmetries in solid state experiments

The electric dipole moment (EDM) of a particle violates both time reversal (T) and space reflection (P) symmetries. There have been recent suggestions for searches of the electron EDM using solid state experiments [1,2]. These experiments could improve the sensitivity compared to present atomic and molecular experiments by several orders of magnitude. In the present paper we calculate the expected effect. We also suggest that this kind of experiment is sensitive to T,P-violation in nuclear forces and calculate effects caused by the nuclear Schiff moment. The compounds under consideration contain magnetic Gd$^{3+}$ ions and oxygen O$^{2-}$ ions. We demonstrate that the main mechanism for the T,P-odd effects is related to the penetration of the Oxygen 2p-electrons to the Gd core. All the effects are related to the deformation of the crystal lattice.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

Normal Coordinates Describing Coupled Oscillations in the Gravitational Field

The motion of a local source inducing small oscillations in the gravitational field is investigated and shown to exhibit pure rotational kinetic energy. Should the net affect of these slow, revolving oscillations cause large-scale rotations in spacetime it would certainly result in anomalous celestial accelerations. When this angular rotational frequency of spacetime is applied to the anomalous acceleration of the Pioneer 10/11 spacecrafts, the correlation is promising.Comment: General Relativity and Gravitation Ref.: Ms. No. GERG-D-06-00077R1 accepted for publication October 06, 200

Mutual synchronization and clustering in randomly coupled chaotic dynamical networks

We introduce and study systems of randomly coupled maps (RCM) where the relevant parameter is the degree of connectivity in the system. Global (almost-) synchronized states are found (equivalent to the synchronization observed in globally coupled maps) until a certain critical threshold for the connectivity is reached. We further show that not only the average connectivity, but also the architecture of the couplings is responsible for the cluster structure observed. We analyse the different phases of the system and use various correlation measures in order to detect ordered non-synchronized states. Finally, it is shown that the system displays a dynamical hierarchical clustering which allows the definition of emerging graphs.Comment: 13 pages, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Stellar Inversion Techniques

Stellar seismic inversions have proved to be a powerful technique for probing the internal structure of stars, and paving the way for a better understanding of the underlying physics by revealing some of the shortcomings in current stellar models. In this lecture, we provide an introduction to this topic by explaining kernel-based inversion techniques. Specifically, we explain how various kernels are obtained from the pulsation equations, and describe inversion techniques such as the Regularised Least-Squares (RLS) and Optimally Localised Averages (OLA) methods.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures. Lecture presented at the IVth Azores International Advanced School in Space Sciences on "Asteroseismology and Exoplanets: Listening to the Stars and Searching for New Worlds" (arXiv:1709.00645), which took place in Horta, Azores Islands, Portugal in July 201

A Practical String Analyzer by the Widening Approach

Abstract. The static determination of approximated values of string expressions has many potential applications. For instance, approximated string values may be used to check the validity and security of generated strings, as well as to collect the useful string properties. Previous string analysis efforts have been focused primarily on the maxmization of the precision of regular approximations of strings. These methods have not been completely satisfactory due to the difficulties in dealing with heap variables and context sensitivity. In this paper, we present an abstract-interpretation-based solution that employs a heuristic widening method. The presented solution is implemented and compared to JSA. In most cases, our solution gives results as precise as those produced by previ-ous methods, and it makes the additional contribution of easily dealing with heap variables and context sensitivity in a very natural way. We anticipate the employment of our method in practical applications.

Meridional Circulation and Global Solar Oscillations

We investigate the influence of large-scale meridional circulation on solar p-modes by quasi-degenerate perturbation theory, as proposed by \cite{lavely92}. As an input flow we use various models of stationary meridional circulation obeying the continuity equation. This flow perturbs the eigenmodes of an equilibrium model of the Sun. We derive the signatures of the meridional circulation in the frequency multiplets of solar p-modes. In most cases the meridional circulation leads to negative average frequency shifts of the multiplets. Further possible observable effects are briefly discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, submittted to Solar Physics Topical Issue "HELAS