Tootfinder

Okay, I tried not to make it overly complex. Just a very brief cut and some music.
Here's the clip of today's walk 🙂
https://video.franzgraf.de/w/vaEHJN15GYZ7BUtgVaT81m
(powered by my own Peertube instance :))

A voice for minorities: diversity in approval-based committee elections under incomplete or inaccurate information
Feline Lindeboom, Martijn Brehm, Davide Grossi, Pradeep Murukannaiah
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.10843

A voice for minorities: diversity in approval-based committee elections under incomplete or inaccurate information
We study diversity in approval-based committee elections with incomplete or inaccurate information. As standard in the literature on approval-based multi-winner voting, we define diversity according to the maximum coverage problem, which is known to be NP-complete, with a best attainable polynomial time approximation ratio of $1-1/\e$. In the incomplete information model, voters can vote on only a small portion of the candidates. We suggest a greedy algorithm and a local search algorithm that q…

Large-scale portfolio optimization with variational neural annealing
Nishan Ranabhat, Behnam Javanparast, David Goerz, Estelle Inack
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07159

Large-scale portfolio optimization with variational neural annealing
Portfolio optimization is a routine asset management operation conducted in financial institutions around the world. However, under real-world constraints such as turnover limits and transaction costs, its formulation becomes a mixed-integer nonlinear program that current mixed-integer optimizers often struggle to solve. We propose mapping this problem onto a classical Ising-like Hamiltonian and solving it with Variational Neural Annealing (VNA), via its classical formulation implemented using …

Microsoft and Asus unveil the ROG Xbox Ally and ROG Xbox Ally X, two gaming handhelds that will run Windows games from multiple storefronts, including Steam (Stephen Totilo/Game File)
https://www.gamefile.news/p/rog-xbox-ally-x-microsoft-handhe…

I tried Microsoft’s newly revealed Xbox gaming handheld
I played Gears of War on the upcoming ROG Xbox Ally X. Steam was on there, too. What Microsoft's portable Xbox is all about... the challenges it faces.

Peering through the veil: Investigating protoplanetary disk outer edges using backside visibility
Joel George, Carsten Dominik, Christian Ginski
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.03624

Peering through the veil: Investigating protoplanetary disk outer edges using backside visibility
Protoplanetary disks observed in scattered light reveal essential insights into the disk's three-dimensional architecture and dust properties. These disks, which play a crucial role in planet formation, have complex structures where the visibility of the disk's backside can vary significantly based on several parameters. This study aims to explore the factors impacting backside visibility in protoplanetary disks, particularly under variations in inclination, dust distribution, grain characteris…

Subject grounding to reduce electromagnetic interference for MRI scanners operating in unshielded environments
Beatrice Lena, Bart de Vos, Teresa Guallart-Naval, Javad Parsa, Pablo Garc\'ia Crist\'obal, Ruben van den Broek, Chlo\'e Najac, Joseba Alonso, Andrew Webb
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.07459

Subject grounding to reduce electromagnetic interference for MRI scanners operating in unshielded environments
Purpose. Portable low-field (< 0.1 T) MRI is increasingly used for point-of-care imaging, but electromagnetic interference (EMI) presents a significant challenge, especially in unshielded environments. EMI can degrade image quality and compromise diagnostic utility. This study investigates whether subject grounding can effectively reduce EMI and improve image quality, comparing different grounding strategies. Methods. Experiments were conducted using a 47 mT Halbach-based MRI scanner with a sin…

Directional Flow of Confined Polaritons in CrSBr
Pratap Chandra Adak, Sichao Yu, Jaime Abad-Arredondo, Biswajit Datta, Andy Cruz, Sorah Fischer, Kseniia Mosina, Zden\v{e}k Sofer, Antonio I. Fern\'andez-Dom\'inguez, Francisco J. Garc\'ia-Vidal, Vinod M. Menon
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04367

Directional Flow of Confined Polaritons in CrSBr
Nanoscale control of energy transport is a central challenge in modern photonics. Utilization of exciton-polaritons hybrid light-matter quasiparticles is one viable approach, but it typically demands complex device engineering to enable directional transport. Here, we demonstrate that the van der Waals magnet CrSBr offers an inherent avenue for steering polariton transport leveraging a unique combination of intrinsic optical anisotropy, high refractive index, and excitons dressed by photons. Th…

Thermodynamics and Shadows of Kerr black holes endowed with a global monopole charge
Balendra Pratap Singh, Md Sabir Ali
https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.02653 h…

Thermodynamics and Shadows of Kerr black holes endowed with a global monopole charge
In this article, we present the thermodynamic and shadow properties of rotating black holes with global monopole charge. The angular diameter of Sgr A$^{*}$ black hole is 48.7 $\pm$ 7 $μas$, which is 8 $kps$ far away having a mass of $M = 4.0_{-0.6}^{+1.1} \times 10^6 M\odot$ as observed by Event Horizon Telescope and for the M87 black hole, the observed angular diameter is $θ_d = 42 \pm 3 μ$as, which is almost $16$ $Mpc$ far away with a mass of $M = (6.5 \pm 0.7) \times 10^9 M_\odot$. The g…

Deep ultraviolet resonant Raman (DUVRR) spectroscopy for spectroscopic evaluation and disinfection of food and agricultural samples
Joseph T. Harrington, Vsevolod Cheburkanov, Mykyta Kizilov, Ilya Kulagin, Georgi Petrov, Vladislav V. Yakovlev
https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.04199

Deep ultraviolet resonant Raman (DUVRR) spectroscopy for spectroscopic evaluation and disinfection of food and agricultural samples
The increasing demands on modern plant and food production due to climate change, regulatory pressures, and the Sustainable Development Goals necessitate advanced photonic technologies for improved sustainability. Deep ultraviolet resonant Raman (DUVRR) spectroscopy offers precise spectral fingerprinting and potential disinfection capabilities, making it a promising tool for agricultural and food sciences. We developed a cost-effective, portable DUVRR spectroscopy system using a mercury (Hg) la…

The impact of economic policies on housing prices. Approximations and predictions in the UK, the US, France, and Switzerland from the 1980s to today
Nicolas Houli\'e
https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.09620

The impact of economic policies on housing prices. Approximations and predictions in the UK, the US, France, and Switzerland from the 1980s to today
I show that house prices can be modeled using machine learning (kNN and tree-bagging) and a small dataset composed of macro-economic factors (MEF), including an inflation metric (CPI), US treasury rates (10-yr), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and portfolio size of central banks (ECB, FED). This set of parameters covers all the parties involved in a transaction (buyer, seller, and financing facility) while ignoring the intrinsic properties of each asset and encompassing local (inflation) and liqu…