Adaptive performance optimization for large-scale traffic control systems

In this paper, we study the problem of optimizing (fine-tuning) the design parameters of large-scale traffic control systems that are composed of distinct and mutually interacting modules. This problem usually requires a considerable amount of human effort and time to devote to the successful deployment and operation of traffic control systems due to the lack of an automated well-established systematic approach. We investigate the adaptive fine-tuning algorithm for determining the set of design parameters of two distinct mutually interacting modules of the traffic-responsive urban control (TUC) strategy, i.e., split and cycle, for the large-scale urban road network of the city of Chania, Greece. Simulation results are presented, demonstrating that the network performance in terms of the daily mean speed, which is attained by the proposed adaptive optimization methodology, is significantly better than the original TUC system in the case in which the aforementioned design parameters are manually fine-tuned to virtual perfection by the system operators

Tunable Polarons in Bose-Einstein Condensates

A toolbox for the quantum simulation of polarons in ultracold atoms is presented. Motivated by the impressive experimental advances in the area of ultracold atomic mixtures, we theoretically study the problem of ultracold atomic impurities immersed in a Bose-Einstein condensate mixture (BEC). The coupling between impurity and BEC gives rise to the formation of polarons whose mutual interaction can be effectively tuned using an external laser driving a quasi-resonant Raman transition between the BEC components. Our scheme allows one to change the effective interactions between polarons in different sites from attractive to zero. This is achieved by simply changing the intensity and the frequency of the two lasers. Such arrangement opens new avenues for the study of strongly correlated condensed matter models in ultracold gases.Comment: Revised version, results changed from last versio

Azerbaijan - Sufis and Protestants Raided

In December 2017, Sufi Muslim Rashad Abidov, whose home in the northern town of Sheki was raided by police during a religious meeting, managed to overturn the large fine he was handed down for holding a meeting without state permission. Police had brought the case against him rather than the officials of the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations

Verifying Atom Entanglement Schemes by Testing Bell's Inequality

Recent experiments to test Bell's inequality using entangled photons and ions aimed at tests of basic quantum mechanical principles. Interesting results have been obtained and many loopholes could be closed. In this paper we want to point out that tests of Bell's inequality also play an important role in verifying atom entanglement schemes. We describe as an example a scheme to prepare arbitrary entangled states of N two-level atoms using a leaky optical cavity and a scheme to entangle atoms inside a photonic crystal. During the state preparation no photons are emitted and observing a violation of Bell's inequality is the only way to test whether a scheme works with a high precision or not.Comment: Proceedings for the conference Garda 2000, to appear in Zeitschrift fuer Naturforschung, 7 pages, 7 figure

Tajikistan: Almost Two Thousand Mosques Closed in 2017

Tajikistan has claimed to have closed almost 2,000 mosques in 2017. Officials claimed they were closed at the request of local residents, but have not been able to explain why they only allow mosques with a capacity far below the possible numbers of worshippers

Fractional Quantum Hall State in Coupled Cavities

We propose a scheme to realize the fractional quantum Hall system with atoms confined in a two-dimensional array of coupled cavities. Our scheme is based on simple optical manipulation of atomic internal states and inter-cavity hopping of virtually excited photons. It is shown that as well as the fractional quantum Hall system, any system of hard-core bosons on a lattice in the presence of an arbitrary Abelian vector potential can be simulated solely by controlling the phases of constantly applied lasers. The scheme, for the first time, exploits the core advantage of coupled cavity simulations, namely the individual addressability of the components and also brings the gauge potential into such simulations as well as the simple optical creation of particles.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

Probing the effects of interaction in Anderson localization using linear photonic lattices

We show how two-dimensional waveguide arrays can be used to probe the effect of on-site interaction on Anderson localization of two interacting bosons in one dimension. It is shown that classical light and linear elements are sufficient to experimentally probe the interplay between interaction and disorder in this setting. For experimental relevance, we evaluate the participation ratio and the intensity correlation function as measures of localization for two types of disorder (diagonal and off-diagonal), for two types of interaction (repulsive and attractive), and for a variety of initial input states. Employing a commonly used set of initial states, we show that the effect of interaction on Anderson localization is strongly dependent on the type of disorder and initial conditions, but is independent of whether the interaction is repulsive or attractive. We then analyze a certain type of entangled input state where the type of interaction is relevant and discuss how it can be naturally implemented in waveguide arrays. We conclude by laying out the details of the two-dimensional photonic lattice implementation including the required parameter regime.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Anyonic Quantum Walks

The one dimensional quantum walk of anyonic systems is presented. The anyonic walker performs braiding operations with stationary anyons of the same type ordered canonically on the line of the walk. Abelian as well as non-Abelian anyons are studied and it is shown that they have very different properties. Abelian anyonic walks demonstrate the expected quadratic quantum speedup. Non-Abelian anyonic walks are much more subtle. The exponential increase of the system's Hilbert space and the particular statistical evolution of non-Abelian anyons give a variety of new behaviors. The position distribution of the walker is related to Jones polynomials, topological invariants of the links created by the anyonic world-lines during the walk. Several examples such as the SU(2) level k and the quantum double models are considered that provide insight to the rich diffusion properties of anyons.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figure

Temporal Representation and Reasoning in OWL 2

The representation of temporal information has been in the center of intensive research activities over the years in the areas of knowledge representation, databases and more recently, the Semantic Web. The proposed approach extends the existing framework of representing temporal information in ontologies by allowing for representation of concepts evolving in time (referred to as “dynamic” information) and of their properties in terms of qualitative descriptions in addition to quantitative ones (i.e., dates, time instants and intervals). For this purpose, we advocate the use of natural language expressions, such as “before” or “after”, for temporal entities whose exact durations or starting and ending points in time are unknown. Reasoning over all types of temporal information (such as the above) is also an important research problem. The current work addresses all these issues as follows: The representation of dynamic concepts is achieved using the “4D-fluents” or, alternatively, the “N-ary relations” mechanism. Both mechanisms are thoroughly explored and are expanded for representing qualitative and quantitative temporal information in OWL. In turn, temporal information is expressed using either intervals or time instants. Qualitative temporal information representation in particular, is realized using sets of SWRL rules and OWL axioms leading to a sound, complete and tractable reasoning procedure based on path consistency applied on the existing relation sets. Building upon existing Semantic Web standards (OWL), tools and member submissions (SWRL), as well as integrating temporal reasoning support into the proposed representation, are important design features of our approach

The identification of acquisition targets in the EU banking industry: An application of multicriteria approaches

In this paper we develop classification models for the identification of acquisition targets in the EU banking industry, incorporating financial variables that are mostly unique to the banking industry and originate from the CAMEL approach. A sample of 168 non-acquired banks matched with 168 acquired banks is used over the period 1998-2002, covering 15 EU countries. We compare and evaluate the relative efficiency of three multicriteria approaches, namely MHDIS, PAIRCLAS, and UTADIS, with all models developed and tested using a 10-fold cross validation approach. We find that the importance of the variables differs across the models. However, on the basis of univariate test and the results of the models we could state that in general after adjusting for the country where banks operate, acquired banks are less well capitalized and less cost and profit efficient. The results show that the developed models can achieve higher classification accuracies than a naïve model based on random assignments. Nevertheless, there is fair amount of misclassification that is hard to avoid given the nature of the problem, showing that as in previous studies for non-financial firms, the identification of acquisitions targets in banking is a difficult task. © 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved