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Attosecond x-ray pulses play a crucial role in the study of ultrafast phenomena occurring within inner and valence electrons. Especially isolated attosecond pulses with high photon energy and high peak power are of great significance in single-shot imaging in the soft x-ray region, life sciences, and attosecond pump-probe experiments. In modern accelerators, laser manipulation of electrons can be used to tailor the ultrafast properties of free-electron laser (FEL) pulses. In this paper, we propose a novel laser manipulation technique that makes use of two laser beams with mutual delays and tilted wavefronts to synthesize microbunching rotation on the scale of infrared laser wavelengths within the electron bunch for generating isolated attosecond soft x-ray pulses. This microbunching rotation ultimately leads to an enhanced current contrast ratio between the main peak and the surrounding satellite peaks within the bunch. By properly accounting for the longitudinal space charge fields within the FEL undulator, a tapered undulator can further suppress the side peaks in the radiation pulse and enable the selection of an isolated, hundred-attosecond, GW-level soft x-ray pulse.

The magnetic field inside the sunspot umbra, as observed by the Full-disk MagnetoGraph (FMG) onboard the Advanced Space based Solar Observatory (ASO-S), was found to be experiencing a weakening. To address this issue, we employed a method developed by Xu et al. (2021) to correct the weakening in the data of 20 active regions observed by FMG during the period spanning December 29, 2022, to July 23, 2023. Research has revealed that the onset of magnetic field weakening occurs at a minimum magnetic field strength of 705 G, with the peak strength reaching up to 1931 G. We computed the change ratio (R1) of the unsigned magnetic flux within the sunspot umbra, considering measurements both before and after correction. The change ratio (R1) spans from 26% to 124%, indicating a significant increase in the unsigned magnetic flux within sunspot umbrae observed by FMG after correction. To illustrate this, we selected four active regions for comparison with data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI). After correction, it is found that the unsigned magnetic flux in sunspot umbrae measured by FMG aligns more closely with that of HMI. This supports the effectiveness of the corrective method for FMG, despite imperfections, particularly at the umbra-penumbra boundary., Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a severe and sudden medical condition caused by the rupture of blood vessels in the brain, leading to permanent damage to brain tissue and often resulting in functional disabilities or death in patients. Diagnosis and analysis of ICH typically rely on brain CT imaging. Given the urgency of ICH conditions, early treatment is crucial, necessitating rapid analysis of CT images to formulate tailored treatment plans. However, the complexity of ICH CT images and the frequent scarcity of specialist radiologists pose significant challenges. Therefore, we collect a dataset from the real world for ICH and normal classification and three types of ICH image classification based on the hemorrhage location, i.e., Deep, Subcortical, and Lobar. In addition, we propose a neural network structure, dual-task vision transformer (DTViT), for the automated classification and diagnosis of ICH images. The DTViT deploys the encoder from the Vision Transformer (ViT), employing attention mechanisms for feature extraction from CT images. The proposed DTViT framework also incorporates two multilayer perception (MLP)-based decoders to simultaneously identify the presence of ICH and classify the three types of hemorrhage locations. Experimental results demonstrate that DTViT performs well on the real-world test dataset. The code and newly collected dataset for this work are available at: https://github.com/jfan1997/DTViT.

Uncovering higher-order spatiotemporal dependencies within human mobility networks offers valuable insights into the analysis of urban structures. In most existing studies, human mobility networks are typically constructed by aggregating all trips without distinguishing who takes which specific trip. Instead, we claim individual mobility motifs, higher-order structures generated by daily trips of people, as fundamental units of human mobility networks. In this paper, we propose two network construction frameworks at the level of mobility motifs in characterizing regional importance in cities. Firstly, we enhance the structural dependencies within mobility motifs and proceed to construct mobility networks based on the enhanced mobility motifs. Secondly, taking inspiration from PageRank, we speculate that people would allocate values of importance to destinations according to their trip intentions. A motif-wise network construction framework is proposed based on the established mechanism. Leveraging large-scale metro data across cities, we construct three types of human mobility networks and characterize the regional importance by node importance indicators. Our comparison results suggest that the motif-based mobility network outperforms the classic mobility network, thus highlighting the efficacy of the introduced human mobility motifs. Finally, we demonstrate that the performance in characterizing the regional importance is significantly improved by our motif-wise framework.

This paper studies distributed nonconvex optimization problems with stochastic gradients for a multi-agent system, in which each agent aims to minimize the sum of all agents' cost functions by using local compressed information exchange. We propose a distributed stochastic gradient descent (SGD) algorithm, suitable for a general class of compressors. We show that the proposed algorithm achieves the linear speedup convergence rate $\mathcal{O}(1/\sqrt{nT})$ for smooth nonconvex functions, where $T$ and $n$ are the number of iterations and agents, respectively. If the global cost function additionally satisfies the Polyak--{\L}ojasiewicz condition, the proposed algorithm can linearly converge to a neighborhood of the global optimum, regardless of whether the stochastic gradient is unbiased or not. Numerical experiments are carried out to verify the efficiency of our algorithm.

Deep neural networks (DNN) are increasingly being used to learn controllers due to their excellent approximation capabilities. However, their black-box nature poses significant challenges to closed-loop stability guarantees and performance analysis. In this paper, we introduce a structured DNN-based controller for the trajectory tracking control of Lagrangian systems using backing techniques. By properly designing neural network structures, the proposed controller can ensure closed-loop stability for any compatible neural network parameters. In addition, improved control performance can be achieved by further optimizing neural network parameters. Besides, we provide explicit upper bounds on tracking errors in terms of controller parameters, which allows us to achieve the desired tracking performance by properly selecting the controller parameters. Furthermore, when system models are unknown, we propose an improved Lagrangian neural network (LNN) structure to learn the system dynamics and design the controller. We show that in the presence of model approximation errors and external disturbances, the closed-loop stability and tracking control performance can still be guaranteed. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through simulations.

Attosecond x-ray pulses play a crucial role in the study of ultrafast phenomena occurring within inner and valence electrons. To achieve attosecond time-resolution studies and gain control over electronic wavefunctions, it is crucial to develop techniques capable of generating and synchronizing two-color x-ray pulses at the attosecond scale. In this paper, we present a novel approach for generating attosecond pulse pairs using a dual chirp-taper free-electron laser with bunching inheritance. An electron beam with a sinusoidal energy chirp, introduced by the external seed laser, passes through the main undulator and afterburner, both with tapers. Two-color x-ray pulses are generated from the main undulator and afterburner, respectively, with temporal separations of hundreds of attoseconds to several femtoseconds and energy differences of tens of electron volts. Notably, the afterburner is much shorter than the main undulator due to bunching inheritance, which reduces the distance between two source points and alleviates the beamline focusing requirements of the two-color pulses. A comprehensive stability analysis is conducted in this paper, considering the individual effects of shot noise from self-amplified spontaneous emission and carrier-envelope phase jitter of the few-cycle laser. The results show that the radiation from the afterburner exhibits excellent stability in the proposed scheme, which is beneficial for x-ray pump-probe experiments. The proposed scheme opens up new possibilities for attosecond science enabled by x-ray attosecond pump-probe techniques and coherent control of ultrafast electronic wave packets in quantum systems.

This paper studies the privacy-preserving distributed optimization problem under limited communication, where each agent aims to keep its cost function private while minimizing the sum of all agents' cost functions. To this end, we propose two differentially private distributed algorithms under compressed communication. We show that the proposed algorithms achieve sublinear convergence for smooth (possibly nonconvex) cost functions and linear convergence when the global cost function additionally satisfies the Polyak-{\L}ojasiewicz condition, even for a general class of compressors with bounded relative compression error. Furthermore, we rigorously prove that the proposed algorithms ensure $\epsilon$-differential privacy. Unlike methods in the literature, the analysis of privacy under the proposed algorithms do not rely on the specific forms of compressors. Simulations are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed approach., Comment: 51 pages

This paper proposes a dual opinions co-evolution model based on the dual attitudes theory in social psychology, where every individual has dual opinions of an object: implicit and explicit opinions. The implicit opinions are individuals' inner evaluations affected by the experience, while the explicit opinions are external expressions of the evaluations and are influenced by public opinion. We theoretically analyze the dynamics of coupled dual opinions in an adversarial discussion scenario, in which two opposing groups participate in the discussion. We rigorously give a method to grade the degree of individual bias. When individuals have a slight bias, dual opinions reach a consensus, showing the phenomenon of acceptance. When individuals are moderately or even extremely biased, they will exhibit the phenomenon of outward compliance, that is, their publicly explicit opinions conform to public opinion, while implicit opinions will reach a persistent disagreement and even polarization. Our investigation indicates that dual opinions may not be monotone initially but eventually converge monotonically. Besides, we analyze the influence of parameters on the co-evolutionary process and results. Numerical simulations of the dual opinions formation process produce inward and outward conformity phenomena, namely acceptance and compliance.

External seeded free-electron lasers (FELs) are compelling tools for generating fully coherent EUV and soft X-ray radiations. Echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG), the most typical representative of external seeded FELs, has witnessed a remarkable growth of fully coherent FELs in the last decade, continuously evolving towards higher harmonic conversions and shorter wavelengths. Ultra-high harmonic generation is imperative in the field of FELs. This paper presents a novel method for generating FEL radiation with ultra-high harmonic conversion, utilizing harmonic optical klystron in combination with EEHG. This method can effectively increase the harmonic conversion order to about 90. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulations show that intense and almost fully coherent FEL pulses can be generated with a wavelength of 3 nm. At the same time, the seed laser intensity required by this scheme is lower compared to nominal EEHG, thus facilitating the generation of high-repetition-rate seeded FELs.

This paper addresses the problem of differentially private distributed optimization under limited communication, where each agent aims to keep their cost function private while minimizing the sum of all agents' cost functions. In response, we propose a novel Compressed differentially Private distributed Gradient Tracking algorithm (CPGT). We demonstrate that CPGT achieves linear convergence for smooth and strongly convex cost functions, even with a class of biased but contractive compressors, and achieves the same accuracy as the idealized communication algorithm. Additionally, we rigorously prove that CPGT ensures differential privacy. Simulations are provided to validate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm., Comment: To appear in IFAC WC 2023

Both goal-agnostic and goal-oriented tasks have practical value for robotic grasping: goal-agnostic tasks target all objects in the workspace, while goal-oriented tasks aim at grasping pre-assigned goal objects. However, most current grasping methods are only better at coping with one task. In this work, we propose a bifunctional push-grasping synergistic strategy for goal-agnostic and goal-oriented grasping tasks. Our method integrates pushing along with grasping to pick up all objects or pre-assigned goal objects with high action efficiency depending on the task requirement. We introduce a bifunctional network, which takes in visual observations and outputs dense pixel-wise maps of Q values for pushing and grasping primitive actions, to increase the available samples in the action space. Then we propose a hierarchical reinforcement learning framework to coordinate the two tasks by considering the goal-agnostic task as a combination of multiple goal-oriented tasks. To reduce the training difficulty of the hierarchical framework, we design a two-stage training method to train the two types of tasks separately. We perform pre-training of the model in simulation, and then transfer the learned model to the real world without any additional real-world fine-tuning. Experimental results show that the proposed approach outperforms existing methods in task completion rate and grasp success rate with less motion number. Supplementary material is available at https: //github.com/DafaRen/Learning_Bifunctional_Push-grasping_Synergistic_Strategy_for_Goal-agnostic_and_Goal-oriented_Tasks

Revealing the continuous dynamics on the networks is essential for understanding, predicting, and even controlling complex systems, but it is hard to learn and model the continuous network dynamics because of complex and unknown governing equations, high dimensions of complex systems, and unsatisfactory observations. Moreover, in real cases, observed time-series data are usually non-uniform and sparse, which also causes serious challenges. In this paper, we propose an Autoregressive GNN-ODE GRU Model (AGOG) to learn and capture the continuous network dynamics and realize predictions of node states at an arbitrary time in a data-driven manner. The GNN module is used to model complicated and nonlinear network dynamics. The hidden state of node states is specified by the ODE system, and the augmented ODE system is utilized to map the GNN into the continuous time domain. The hidden state is updated through GRUCell by observations. As prior knowledge, the true observations at the same timestamp are combined with the hidden states for the next prediction. We use the autoregressive model to make a one-step ahead prediction based on observation history. The prediction is achieved by solving an initial-value problem for ODE. To verify the performance of our model, we visualize the learned dynamics and test them in three tasks: interpolation reconstruction, extrapolation prediction, and regular sequences prediction. The results demonstrate that our model can capture the continuous dynamic process of complex systems accurately and make precise predictions of node states with minimal error. Our model can consistently outperform other baselines or achieve comparable performance.

With the rapid development of connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) and intelligent transportation infrastructure, CAVs, connected human-driven vehicles (CHVs), and un-connected human-driven vehicles (HVs) will coexist on the roads in the future for a long time. This paper comprehensively considers the different traffic characteristics of CHVs, CAVs, and HVs, and systemically investigates the unsignalized intersection management strategy from the upper decision-making level to the lower execution level. The unsignalized intersection management strategy consists of two parts: the heuristic priority queues based right of way allocation (HPQ) algorithm and the vehicle planning and control algorithm. In the HPQ algorithm, a vehicle priority management model considering the difference between CAVs, CHVs, and HVs, is built to design the right of way management for different types of vehicles. In the lower level for vehicle planning and control algorithm, different control modes of CAVs are designed according to the upper-level decision made by the HPQ algorithm. Moreover, the vehicle control execution is realized by the model predictive controller combined with the geographical environment constraints and the unsignalized intersection management strategy. The proposed strategy is evaluated by simulations, which show that the proposed intersection management strategy can effectively reduce travel time and improve traffic efficiency. Results show that the proposed method can decrease the average travel time by 5% to 65% for different traffic flows compared with the comparative methods. The intersection management strategy captures the real-world balance between efficiency and safety for future intelligent traffic systems.

Deep reinforcement learning (DRL) has a great potential for solving complex decision-making problems in autonomous driving, especially in mixed-traffic scenarios where autonomous vehicles and human-driven vehicles (HDVs) drive together. Safety is a key during both the learning and deploying reinforcement learning (RL) algorithms process. In this paper, we formulate the on-ramp merging as a Markov Decision Process (MDP) problem and solve it with an off-policy RL algorithm, i.e., Soft Actor-Critic for Discrete Action Settings (SAC-Discrete). In addition, a motion predictive safety controller including a motion predictor and an action substitution module, is proposed to ensure driving safety during both training and testing. The motion predictor estimates the trajectories of the ego vehicle and surrounding vehicles from kinematic models, and predicts potential collisions. The action substitution module updates the actions based on safety distance and replaces risky actions, before sending them to the low-level controller. We train, evaluate and test our approach on a gym-like highway simulation with three different levels of traffic modes. The simulation results show that even in harder traffic densities, our proposed method still significantly reduces collision rate while maintaining high efficiency, outperforming several state-of-the-art baselines in the considered on-ramp merging scenarios. The video demo of the evaluation process can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FvjbAM4oFw

This paper explores the state controllability of multilayer networked sampled-data systems with inter-layer couplings, where zero-order holders (ZOHs) are on the control and transmission channels. The effects of both single- and multi-rate sampling on controllability of multilayer networked linear time-invariant (LTI) systems are analyzed, with some sufficient and/or necessary controllability conditions derived. Under specific conditions, the pathological sampling of single node systems could be eliminated by the network structure and inner couplings among different nodes and different layers. The representative drive-response inter-layer coupling mode is studied, and it reveals that the whole system could be controllable due to the inter-layer couplings even if the response layer is uncontrollable itself. Moreover, simulated examples show that the modification of sampling rate on local channels could lay a positive or negative effect on the controllability of the whole system. All the results indicate that the controllability of the multilayer networked sampled-data system is collectively affected by mutually coupled factors.

The controllability of networked sampled-data systems with zero-order holders on the control and transmission channels is explored, where single- and multi-rate sampling patterns are considered, respectively. The effects of sampling on the controllability of networked systems are analyzed, with some necessary and/or sufficient controllability conditions derived. Different from the sampling control of single systems, the pathological sampling of node systems could be eliminated by an appropriate design of network structure and inner couplings. While for singular topology matrices, the pathological sampling of single nodes will cause the entire system to lose controllability. Moreover, any periodic sampling will not affect the controllability of networked systems with specific node dynamics. All the results indicate that whether a networked system is under pathological sampling or not is jointly determined by mutually coupled factors.

In this article, we discuss an observation phenomenon where the total amount of photons in the full passband of the Birefringent lter is a constant number that is considered by removing the spectrum of the light source irrespective of the instrument transmittance. This conclusion is only noticed and considered to be correct in Huairou Solar Observing Station since 1980s. This article will give a further discussion to the question that had been proposed by the previous researchers. The article structure is organized as history (Sec. 1), experiment (Sec. 2), math (Sec. 3), and discussion (Sec. 4). This issue should be the Paseval-Theorem manifesting itself in astronomical measurement, even though we rigorously demonstrate that this photons conservation has its mathematical generality in Sec. 3., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures

Long ties, the social ties that bridge different communities, are widely believed to play crucial roles in spreading novel information in social networks. However, some existing network theories and prediction models indicate that long ties might dissolve quickly or eventually become redundant, thus putting into question the long-term value of long ties. Our empirical analysis of real-world dynamic networks shows that contrary to such reasoning, long ties are more likely to persist than other social ties, and that many of them constantly function as social bridges without being embedded in local networks. Using a novel cost-benefit analysis model combined with machine learning, we show that long ties are highly beneficial, which instinctively motivates people to expend extra effort to maintain them. This partly explains why long ties are more persistent than what has been suggested by many existing theories and models. Overall, our study suggests the need for social interventions that can promote the formation of long ties, such as mixing people with diverse backgrounds., Comment: Forthcoming at Communications Physics (Nature portfolio)

Grasping objects in cluttered scenarios is a challenging task in robotics. Performing pre-grasp actions such as pushing and shifting to scatter objects is a way to reduce clutter. Based on deep reinforcement learning, we propose a Fast-Learning Grasping (FLG) framework, that can integrate pre-grasping actions along with grasping to pick up objects from cluttered scenarios with reduced real-world training time. We associate rewards for performing moving actions with the change of environmental clutter and utilize a hybrid triggering method, leading to data-efficient learning and synergy. Then we use the output of an extended fully convolutional network as the value function of each pixel point of the workspace and establish an accurate estimation of the grasp probability for each action. We also introduce a mask function as prior knowledge to enable the agents to focus on the accurate pose adjustment to improve the effectiveness of collecting training data and, hence, to learn efficiently. We carry out pre-training of the FLG over simulated environment, and then the learnt model is transferred to the real world with minimal fine-tuning for further learning during actions. Experimental results demonstrate a 94% grasp success rate and the ability to generalize to novel objects. Compared to state-of-the-art approaches in the literature, the proposed FLG framework can achieve similar or higher grasp success rate with lesser amount of training in the real world. Supplementary video is available at https://youtu.be/e04uDLsxfDg.

The ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has wreaked havoc worldwide with millions of lives claimed, human travel restricted and economic development halted. Leveraging city-level mobility and case data, our analysis shows that the spatial dissemination of COVID-19 can be well explained by a local diffusion process in the mobility network rather than a global diffusion process, indicating the effectiveness of the implemented disease prevention and control measures. Based on the constructed case prediction model, it is estimated that there could be distinct social consequences if the COVID-19 outbreak happened in different areas. During the epidemic control period, human mobility experienced substantial reductions and the mobility network underwent remarkable local and global structural changes toward containing the spread of COVID-19. Our work has important implications for the mitigation of disease and the evaluation of the socio-economic consequences of COVID-19 on society., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures

Various scientific and industrial researches such as spectroscopy and advanced nano-technologies have been demanding high flux and fully coherent EUV and X-ray radiation. These demands can be commendably satisfied with a MHz-level repetition-rate seeded free-electron laser (FEL). Dictated by the seed laser system, seeded FELs have faced obstacles for the realization of MHz repetition rate. Reducing the required peak power of an external coherent seed laser can effectively increase the repetition rate of a seeded FEL. This paper presents a novel technique that employs a long modulator as a carrier for laser amplification and electron modulation, which is quite different from nominal seeded FELs. Applications of the proposed technique into high-gain harmonic generation (HGHG) and echo-enabled harmonic generation (EEHG) are investigated. Simulation results demonstrate that seed laser power is reduced by about three orders of magnitude and the FEL radiation possesses consistently high coherence and power stability with respect to the nominal HGHG or EEHG. The proposed technique paves the way for the realization of fully coherent EUV and soft X-ray FELs with a repetition rate of MHz and an average power of about 100 W.

A recent paper proposed an algorithm iSOIRE, which combines single-occurrence automaton (SOA) and maximum independent set (MIS) to learn a subclass single-occurrence regular expressions with interleaving (SOIREs) and claims the learnt expression is SOIRE, which has unrestricted usage for interleaving. However, in reality, the learnt expression still has many restrictions for using interleaving, even does for Kleene-star or interation, i.e, the learnt expression is not an SOIRE, we prove that by examples. In this paper, for the algorithm iSOIRE, we first give the basic notions, then provide analyses about incorrectness, finally present the correct result learnt by iSOIRE. Our theoretical analyses demonstrate that the result derived by iSOIRE belongs to a subclass of SOIREs., Comment: 6 papges