A pattern-recognition theory of search in expert problem solving

Understanding how look-ahead search and pattern recognition interact is one of the important research questions in the study of expert problem-solving. This paper examines the implications of the template theory (Gobet & Simon, 1996a), a recent theory of expert memory, on the theory of problem solving in chess. Templates are "chunks" (Chase & Simon, 1973) that have evolved into more complex data structures and that possess slots allowing values to be encoded rapidly. Templates may facilitate search in three ways: (a) by allowing information to be stored into LTM rapidly; (b) by allowing a search in the template space in addition to a search in the move space; and (c) by compensating loss in the "mind's eye" due to interference and decay. A computer model implementing the main ideas of the theory is presented, and simulations of its search behaviour are discussed. The template theory accounts for the slight skill difference in average depth of search found in chess players, as well as for other empirical data

Exact shock solution of a coupled system of delay differential equations: a car-following model

In this paper, we present exact shock solutions of a coupled system of delay differential equations, which was introduced as a traffic-flow model called {\it the car-following model}. We use the Hirota method, originally developed in order to solve soliton equations. %While, with a periodic boundary condition, this system has % a traveling-wave solution given by elliptic functions. The relevant delay differential equations have been known to allow exact solutions expressed by elliptic functions with a periodic boundary conditions. In the present work, however, shock solutions are obtained with open boundary, representing the stationary propagation of a traffic jam.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Out-of-equilibrium critical dynamics at surfaces: Cluster dissolution and non-algebraic correlations

We study nonequilibrium dynamical properties at a free surface after the system is quenched from the high-temperature phase into the critical point. We show that if the spatial surface correlations decay sufficiently rapidly the surface magnetization and/or the surface manifold autocorrelations has a qualitatively different universal short time behavior than the same quantities in the bulk. At a free surface cluster dissolution may take place instead of domain growth yielding stationary dynamical correlations that decay in a stretched exponential form. This phenomenon takes place in the three-dimensional Ising model and should be observable in real ferromagnets.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Generalized survival in equilibrium step fluctuations

We investigate the dynamics of a generalized survival probability $S(t,R)$ defined with respect to an arbitrary reference level $R$ (rather than the average) in equilibrium step fluctuations. The exponential decay at large time scales of the generalized survival probability is numerically analyzed. $S(t,R)$ is shown to exhibit simple scaling behavior as a function of system-size $L$, sampling time $\delta t$, and the reference level $R$. The generalized survival time scale, $\tau_s(R)$, associated with $S(t,R)$ is shown to decay exponentially as a function of $R$.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

First measurements of the flux integral with the NIST-4 watt balance

In early 2014, construction of a new watt balance, named NIST-4, has started at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). In a watt balance, the gravitational force of an unknown mass is compensated by an electromagnetic force produced by a coil in a magnet system. The electromagnetic force depends on the current in the coil and the magnetic flux integral. Most watt balances feature an additional calibration mode, referred to as velocity mode, which allows one to measure the magnetic flux integral to high precision. In this article we describe first measurements of the flux integral in the new watt balance. We introduce measurement and data analysis techniques to assess the quality of the measurements and the adverse effects of vibrations on the instrument.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas. This Journal can be found online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=1

Raman solitons in transient SRS

We report the observation of Raman solitons on numerical simulations of transient stimulated Raman scattering (TSRS) with small group velocity dispersion. The theory proceeds with the inverse scattering transform (IST) for initial-boundary value problems and it is shown that the explicit theoretical solution obtained by IST for a semi-infinite medium fits strikingly well the numerical solution for a finite medium. We understand this from the rapid decrease of the medium dynamical variable (the potential of the scattering theory). The spectral transform reflection coefficient can be computed directly from the values of the input and output fields and this allows to see the generation of the Raman solitons from the numerical solution. We confirm the presence of these nonlinear modes in the medium dynamical variable by the use of a discrete spectral analysis.Comment: LaTex file, to appear in Inverse Problem

Dynamics of a disordered, driven zero range process in one dimension

We study a driven zero range process which models a closed system of attractive particles that hop with site-dependent rates and whose steady state shows a condensation transition with increasing density. We characterise the dynamical properties of the mass fluctuations in the steady state in one dimension both analytically and numerically and show that the transport properties are anomalous in certain regions of the density-disorder plane. We also determine the form of the scaling function which describes the growth of the condensate as a function of time, starting from a uniform density distribution.Comment: Revtex4, 5 pages including 2 figures; Revised version; To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Persistence of Manifolds in Nonequilibrium Critical Dynamics

We study the persistence P(t) of the magnetization of a d' dimensional manifold (i.e., the probability that the manifold magnetization does not flip up to time t, starting from a random initial condition) in a d-dimensional spin system at its critical point. We show analytically that there are three distinct late time decay forms for P(t) : exponential, stretched exponential and power law, depending on a single parameter \zeta=(D-2+\eta)/z where D=d-d' and \eta, z are standard critical exponents. In particular, our theory predicts that the persistence of a line magnetization decays as a power law in the d=2 Ising model at its critical point. For the d=3 critical Ising model, the persistence of the plane magnetization decays as a power law, while that of a line magnetization decays as a stretched exponential. Numerical results are consistent with these analytical predictions.Comment: 4 pages revtex, 1 eps figure include

First-Order Logic Theorem Proving and Model Building via Approximation and Instantiation

In this paper we consider first-order logic theorem proving and model building via approximation and instantiation. Given a clause set we propose its approximation into a simplified clause set where satisfiability is decidable. The approximation extends the signature and preserves unsatisfiability: if the simplified clause set is satisfiable in some model, so is the original clause set in the same model interpreted in the original signature. A refutation generated by a decision procedure on the simplified clause set can then either be lifted to a refutation in the original clause set, or it guides a refinement excluding the previously found unliftable refutation. This way the approach is refutationally complete. We do not step-wise lift refutations but conflicting cores, finite unsatisfiable clause sets representing at least one refutation. The approach is dual to many existing approaches in the literature because our approximation preserves unsatisfiability

Toda Lattice Solutions of Differential-Difference Equations for Dissipative Systems

In a certain class of differential-difference equations for dissipative systems, we show that hyperbolic tangent model is the only the nonlinear system of equations which can admit some particular solutions of the Toda lattice. We give one parameter family of exact solutions, which include as special cases the Toda lattice solutions as well as the Whitham's solutions in the Newell's model. Our solutions can be used to describe temporal-spatial density patterns observed in the optimal velocity model for traffic flow.Comment: Latex, 13 pages, 1 figur