A decisive question in nonparametric smoothing techniques is the choice of the bandwidth or smoothing parameter. The present paper addresses this question when using local polynomial approximations for estimating the regression function and its derivatives. A fully-automatic bandwidth selection procedure has been proposed by Fan and Gijbels (1995a), and the empirical performance of it was tested in detail via a variety of examples. Those experiences supported the methodology towards a great extend. In this paper we establish asymptotic results for the proposed variable bandwidth selector. We provide the rate of convergence of the bandwidth estimate, and obtain the asymptotic distribution of its error relative to the theoretical optimal variable bandwidth. These asymptotic properties give extra support to the proposed bandwidth selection procedure. It is also demonstrated how the proposed selection

To study arithmetic structures of natural numbers, we introduce a notion of entropy of arithmetic functions, called anqie entropy. This entropy possesses some crucial properties common to both Shannon's and Kolmogorov's entropies. We show that all arithmetic functions with zero anqie entropy form a C*-algebra. Its maximal ideal space defines our arithmetic compactification of natural numbers, which is totally disconnected but not extremely disconnected. We also compute the $K$-groups of the space of all continuous functions on the arithmetic compactification. As an application, we show that any topological dynamical system with topological entropy $\lambda$, can be approximated by symbolic dynamical systems with entropy less than or equal to $\lambda$.

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This note is based on a series of four lectures the author gave at University of Montpellier, September 28-30, 2015. He started with the notion of mass in general relativity, gave a brief review of some known constructions of quasi-local mass, and then discussed the new quasi-local energy and quasi-local mass which Shing-Tung Yau and the author introduced in 2009. At the end, the proof of the positivity of quasi-local energy was sketched and a stability theorem of critical points of quasi-local energy by Po-Ning Chen, Shing-Tung Yau, and the author was discussed

It is shown that if a function$u$satisfies a backward parabolic inequality in an open set Ω∉$R$^{$n$+1}and vanishes to infinite order at a point ($x$_{0}·$t$_{0}) in Ω, then$u(x, t$_{0})=0 for all$x$in the connected component of$x$_{0}in Ω⌢($R$^{$n$}×{$t$_{0}}).