Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Implications of very rapid TeV variability in blazars

We discuss the implications of rapid (few-minute) variability in the TeV flux of blazars, which has been observed recently with the HESS and MAGIC telescopes. The variability time-scales seen in PKS 2155−304 and Mrk 501 are much shorter than inferred light-crossing times at the black hole horizon, suggesting that the variability involves enhanced emission in a small region within an outflowing jet. The enhancement could be triggered by dissipation in part of the black hole magnetosphere at the base of the outflow, or else by instabilities in the jet itself. By considering the energetics of the observed flares, along with the requirement that TeV photons escape without producing pairs, we deduce that the bulk Lorentz factors in the jets must be ≳50. The distance of the emission region from the central black hole is less well-constrained. We discuss possible consequences for multi-wavelength observations.
A hybrid overlay network for video-on-demand

On-demand video streaming through overlay networks has received much attention recently. While a tree topology is often advocated in such systems, it suffers from discontinuous playback under the highly dynamic Internet environment with frequent node joins and leaves. On the other hand, gossip protocols using random message dissemination, though robust, fail to meet the real-time demands for streaming applications. In this paper, we propose HON, a hybrid overlay network protocol, which combines the best features of these two approaches for on-demand streaming: low delay with a regular tree topology, and robust delivery with random switching among multiple paths, thus making effective use of the available bandwidth in the network We design an adaptive tree construction and gossip management algorithm for HON, and evaluate its performance under various settings. The results demonstrate that HON is quite robust in the presence of local and global bandwidth fluctuations. As compared to pure tree-based overlay VOD system, it achieves much lower and stable segment missing rates, even under highly dynamic network conditions.
Snoezelen or Controlled Multisensory Stimulation. Treatment Aspects from Israel

In Israel today, with a total population of over 6 million persons, the Division for Mental Retardation (DMR) provides services to 23,000 persons with intellectual disability (ID). Of the 23,000, residential services are provided to more than 6,000 in close to 60 residential centers, another 2,000 are provided residential care in hostels or group homes in the community in about 50 locations, while the rest are served with day-care kindergarten, day-treatment centers, sheltered workshops, or integrated care in the community. The first Snoezelen room (controlled multisensory stimulation) in the DMR was established at the Bnei Zion residential care center in 1995. The Snoezelen method is now used in Israel in more than 30 residential care centers and 3 community settings. Since the year 2000, a physiotherapist has been employed in order to supervise the treatment and development of the method nationally. Professional staff meetings take place every 4 months. A certification course has been established on a national basis for individuals from different professions (occupational therapists, physiotherapists, teachers, music therapists, nurses, speech therapists, or caregivers). Snoezelen has proved to be an important instrument and a powerful therapeutic tool among the various treatment modules employed in Israel for persons with ID. This paper presents the concept illustrated with two case stories.
Systematic Review of the Epidemiology of Complicated Peptic Ulcer Disease: Incidence, Recurrence, Risk Factors and Mortality

Background/Aims: The incidence of uncomplicated peptic ulcer has decreased in recent years. It is unclear what the impact of this has been on the epidemiology of peptic ulcer complications. This systematic review aimed to determine the incidence, recurrence and mortality of complicated peptic ulcer and the risk factors associated with these events. Methods: Systematic PubMed searches. Results: Overall, 93 studies were identified. Annual incidence estimates of peptic ulcer hemorrhage and perforation were 19.4–57.0 and 3.8–14 per 100,000 individuals, respectively. The average 7-day recurrence of hemorrhage was 13.9% (95% CI: 8.4–19.4), and the average long-term recurrence of perforation was 12.2% (95% CI: 2.5–21.9). Risk factors for peptic ulcer complications and their recurrence included nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug and/or acetylsalicylic acid use, Helicobacter pylori infection and ulcer size ≧1 cm. Proton pump inhibitor use reduced the risk of peptic ulcer hemorrhage. Average 30-day mortality was 8.6% (95% CI: 5.8–11.4) after hemorrhage and 23.5% (95% CI: 15.5–31.0) after perforation. Older age, comorbidity, shock and delayed treatment were associated with increased mortality. Conclusions: Complicated peptic ulcer remains a substantial healthcare problem which places patients at a high risk of recurrent complications and death.
Visibility-Based Pursuit-Evasion in an Unknown Planar Environment

We address an on-line version of the visibility-based pursuit-evasion problem. We take a minimalist approach in modeling the capabilities of a pursuer robot. A point pursuer moves in an unknown, simplyconnected, piecewise-smooth planar environment, and is given the task of locating any unpredictable, moving evaders that have unbounded speed. The evaders are assumed to be points that move continuously. To solve the problem, the pursuer must for each target have an unobstructed view of it at some time during execution. The pursuer is equipped with a range sensor that measures the direction of depth discontinuities, but cannot provide precise depth measurements. All pursuer control is specified either in terms of this sensor or wall-following movements. The pursuer does not have localization capability or perfect control. We present a complete algorithm that enables the limited pursuer to clear the same environments that a pursuer with a complete map, perfect localization, and perfect control can clear (under certain general position assumptions). Theoretical guarantees that the evaders will be found are provided. The resulting algorithm to compute this strategy has been implemented in simulation. Results are shown for several examples. The approach is efficient and simple enough to be useful towards the development of real robot systems that perform visual searching.
Electric Field Effect Surface Passivation for Silicon Solar Cells

Effective reduction of front surface carrier recombination is essential for high efficiency silicon solar cells. Dielectric films are normally used to achieve such reduction. They provide a) an efficient passivation of surface recombination and b) an effective anti-reflection layer. The conditions that produce an effective anti-reflection coating are not necessarily the same for efficient passivation, hence both functions are difficult to achieve simultaneously and expensive processing steps are normally required. This can be overcome by enhancing the passivation properties of an anti-reflective film using the electric field effect. Here, we demonstrate that thermally grown silicon dioxide is an efficient passivation layer when chemically treated and electrically charged, and it is stable over a period of ten months. Double layers of SiO2 and SiN also provided stable and efficient passivation for a period of a year when the sample is submitted to a post-charge anneal. Surface recombination velocity upper limits of 9 cm/s and 19 cm/s were inferred for single and double layers respectively on n-type, 5 Ωcm, Cz-Si.
The Career Paths of Women (and Men) in French Research

This paper presents results from a qualitative study of perceptions of science careers in the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), the main research institution in France. Its aim is to understand the `glass ceiling' effect, which reduces the proportion of women at the higher levels of the career hierarchy. Long interviews were carried out with men, as well as women, support staff and researchers. Factors such as tension between individual and collective dimensions of research activity, and long-term time-management problems, were identified: these affect both men and women but in different ways. Organizations bear an important responsibility through the way they reinforce or alleviate difficulties that women and men face in contributing to scientific research at all levels.
Extension of the Consensual Assessment Technique to Nonparallel Creative Products

The consensual technique for assessing creativity is widely used in research, but its validation has been limited to assessing the creativity of artifacts produced under tightly constrained experimental conditions. Typically, only artifacts produced in response to very similar instructions have been compared. This has allowed researchers to compare such things as the effects of different motivational conditions on creative performance, but it has not allowed many other kinds of comparisons. It has also limited the use of the technique to artifacts gathered for specific experimental purposes, as opposed to already-existing artifacts produced under less controlled conditions. For this study, samples of writings collected by the National Assessment of Educational Progress that were written in response to a very wide variety of assignments and under varying conditions were rated for creativity by 13 expert judges. Judges compared the creativity of 103 stories, 103 personal narratives, and 102 poems, all written by 8th-grade students. Very high levels of inter-rater reliability were obtained, demonstrating that the consensual method can be validly extended to such samples. New avenues for future research made possible by these findings are then discussed.
Regulation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection, β-Chemokine Production, and CCR5 Expression in CD40L-Stimulated Macrophages: Immune Control of Viral Entry

ABSTRACT Mononuclear phagocytes (MP) and T lymphocytes play a pivotal role in the host immune response to human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection. Regulation of such immune responses can be mediated, in part, through the interaction of the T-lymphocyte-expressed molecule CD40 ligand (CD40L) with its receptor on MP, CD40. Upregulation of CD40L on CD4+ peripheral blood mononuclear cells during advanced HIV-1 disease has previously been reported. Based on this observation, we studied the influence of CD40L-CD40 interactions on MP effector function and viral regulation in vitro. We monitored productive viral infection, cytokine and β-chemokine production, and β-chemokine receptor expression in monocyte-derived macrophages (MDM) after treatment with soluble CD40L. Beginning 1 day after infection and continuing at 3-day intervals, treatment with CD40L inhibited productive HIV-1 infection in MDM in a dose-dependent manner. A concomitant and marked upregulation of β-chemokines (macrophage inhibitory proteins 1α and 1β and RANTES [regulated upon activation normal T-cell expressed and secreted]) and the proinflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) was observed in HIV-1-infected and CD40L-treated MDM relative to either infected or activated MDM alone. The addition of antibodies to RANTES or TNF-α led to a partial reversal of the CD40L-mediated inhibition of HIV-1 infection. Surface expression of CD4 and the β-chemokine receptor CCR5 was reduced on MDM in response to treatment with CD40L. In addition, treatment of CCR5- and CD4-transfected 293T cells with secretory products from CD40L-stimulated MDM prior to infection with a CCR5-tropic HIV-1 reporter virus led to inhibition of viral entry. In conclusion, we demonstrate that CD40L-mediated inhibition of viral entry coincides with a broad range of MDM immune effector responses and the down-modulation of CCR5 and CD4 expression.
An Investigation into the Realities of a Quantum Datapath

Quantum computing has shown great potential for being able to solve certain problems which are intractable on classical machines. Peter Shor devised a means to factor large number in polynomial time on a quantum machine, a feat which would compromise modern public key cryptosystems. Further, simulation of quantum mechanical systems, which is exponential in both space and time on a classical machine, is expected to be far faster on a quantum machine. In this work, we present mechanisms for producing a laid out and scheduled quantum datapath tailored to a particular target circuit.We identify two key pieces of support infrastructure in a quantum datapath. First, some quantum operations require the use of helper qubits known as ancilla qubits which are not part of the target circuit specification. We introduce and design efficient ancilla factories to use as basic functional units in our datapath layouts. Second, we provide designs for the basic components that allow the construction of a teleportation network, which is necessary for long distance communication on a quantum datapath.We utilize our basic component designs in proposing a malleable architectural specification which we call Qalypso. The benefit of the flexibility of Qalypso lies in the ability to fine tune the various components of the datapath to suit the needs of a given quantum circuit. Ancilla bandwidth, network resources and interfacing of support infrastructure to data may all be tailored to fit circuit characteristics.To complete the process of laying out and scheduling a quantum circuit, we device heuristics for mapping the circuit onto Qalypso while simultaneously finalizing the datapath characteristics as appropriate for the circuit. Our methods produce a final realizable datapath layout and associated scheduling, both optimized for the circuit in question.We have implemented these heuristics in a quantum CAD flow toolset currently tailored to designing architectures in ion trap technology. We conclude this thesis by demonstrating the application of these heuristics through the automated toolset to construct a datapath and schedule optimized for Shor's factorization algorithm.
Inter‐relation of coagulation factors and d‐dimer levels in healthy individuals

Summary. Recently, high levels of coagulation factor (F)VIII, FIX and FXI have been associated with an increased risk of venous thrombosis. For several coagulation factors a substantial hereditary component was found. If regulatory genes are located outside the clotting factor genes, they may regulate the levels of several proteins in the coagulation system. Thus levels would then cluster in individuals. The aim of the present study was to assess the inter‐relation among levels of the pro‐ and anticoagulant proteins in the coagulation cascade. We also investigated the relation between the coagulation factors and d‐dimer levels (marker of coagulation activity). All analyses were performed in healthy subjects, the control population of the Leiden Thrombophilia Study (LETS), to eliminate the influence of a prior thrombosis on the interpretation of the results (n = 466). Using principal‐components analysis, a method intended to explain relationships among several correlated variables, we found a clustering between the vitamin K‐dependent factors (prothrombin, VII, IX, X) and FXI and FXII. FV and FVIII clustered with fibrinogen and d‐dimer. FXIII remained relatively independent of the other factors. Adding the anticoagulant factors to the analysis resulted in minor changes in the clustering pattern. The anticoagulant factors clustered together. We found relatively independent clusters within the group of pro‐ and anticoagulant factors, which may suggest that the genetic basis for high or low levels of factors in the coagulation system may, at least partly, lie outside the genes coding for these factors.
Reversible Harmonic Maps between Discrete Surfaces

Information transfer between triangle meshes is of great importance in computer graphics and geometry processing. To facilitate this process, a smooth and accurate map is typically required between the two meshes. While such maps can sometimes be computed between nearly isometric meshes, the more general case of meshes with diverse geometries remains challenging. We propose a novel approach for direct map computation between triangle meshes without mapping to an intermediate domain, which optimizes for the harmonicity and reversibility of the forward and backward maps. Our method is general both in the information it can receive as input, e.g., point landmarks, a dense map, or a functional map, and in the diversity of the geometries to which it can be applied. We demonstrate that our maps exhibit lower conformal distortion than the state of the art, while succeeding in correctly mapping key features of the input shapes.
Sexual behavior and HIV transmission risk of Ugandan adults taking antiretroviral therapy: 3 year follow-up

Background:Long-term impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on sexual HIV-transmission risk in Africa is unknown. We assessed sexual behavior changes and estimated HIV transmission from HIV-infected adults on ART in Uganda. Methods:Between 2003 and 2007, we enrolled and followed ART-naive HIV-infected adults in a home-based AIDS program with annual counseling and testing for cohabitating partners, participant transmission risk-reduction plans, condom distribution and prevention support for cohabitating discordant couples. We assessed participants' HIV plasma viral load and partner-specific sexual behaviors. We defined risky sex as intercourse with inconsistent/no condom use with HIV-negative or unknown serostatus partners in previous 3 months. We compared rates using Poisson regression models, estimated transmission risk using established viral load-specific transmission estimates, and documented sero-conversion rates among HIV-discordant couples. Results:Of 928 participants, 755 (81%) had 36 months data: 94 (10%) died and 79 (9%) missing data. Sexual activity increased from 28% (baseline) to 41% [36 months (P < 0.001)]. Of sexually active participants, 22% reported risky sex at baseline, 8% at 6 months (P < 0.001), and 14% at 36 months (P = 0.018). Median viral load among those reporting risky sex was 122 500 [interquartile range (IQR) 45 100–353 000] copies/ml pre-ART at baseline and undetectable at follow-up. One sero-conversion occurred among 62 cohabitating sero-discordant partners (0.5 sero-conversions/100 person-years). At 36 months, consistent condom use was 74% with discordant partners, 55% with unknown and 46% with concordant partners. Estimated HIV transmission risk reduced 91%, from 47.3 to 4.2/1000 person-years. Conclusions:Despite increased sexual activity among HIV-infected Ugandans over 3 years on ART, risky sex and estimated risk of HIV transmission remained lower than baseline levels. Integrated prevention programs could reduce HIV transmission in Africa.
Piezoelectric-electrostrictive monolithic bi-layer composite flextensional actuator

We propose a new type of flextensional actuator comprised of an electromechanically active element which is a piezoelectric-electrostrictive monolithic bi-layer composite (PE-MBLC) capped by truncated thin brass sheets. The PE-MBLC contains equal amounts of 0.65{Pb(Mg<sub>1/3</sub>Nb<sub>2/3</sub>)O<sub>3</sub>}-0.35PbTiO<sub>3</sub> and 0.9{Pb(Mg<sub>1/3</sub>Nb<sub>2/3</sub>)O<sub>3</sub>}-0.1PbTiO<sub>3</sub> by volume, and is obtained by a co-sintering process. With applied E<sub>max</sub> = 10 kV/cm unipolar drive, the maximum axial displacement (u<sub>33</sub>) produced by the uncapped and capped PEMBLC is 11 and 21 mum, respectively. The hysteresis in unipolar u<sub>33</sub> at 0.5 E<sub>max</sub> is 4.6% for the uncapped PE-MBLC, while that for the capped one is 11%. Under bipolar excitation, the maximum u<sub>33</sub> for uncapped is 11.6 mum at +E<sub>max</sub> and 6.6 mum at -E<sub>max</sub> with an asymmetry factor (xi)of 1.75 for which u<sub>33</sub> < 0 for all E < 0. Under bipolar excitation, the maximum u<sub>33</sub> at +E<sub>max</sub> for the capped PE-MBLC is 19 mum while that for -E<sub>max</sub> is 8 mum with xi = 2.4, for which u<sub>33</sub> > 0 at +E<sub>max</sub> but is smaller than the u<sub>33</sub> at +E<sub>max</sub>. The origins of the observed asymmetry in u<sub>33</sub> are discussed in the context of symmetry superposition and deformation mechanics of the endcaps.
Loss behavior analysis and its application in design of link quality metrics

Wireless losses play a significant role in determining the performance of many higher-layer protocols. Various measurement studies have presented results that explore the many facets of link behaviour. However, the results have often been contradictory. In the first half of the paper, we delve into understanding the underlying causes of losses and resolve two contradictions that appear in literature. One of the key insight we gain from this study is how packet loss manifests as a function of the packet count over which the averaging is done. This observation has wide applicability in many research domains that routinely employ loss rate measurements to dictate protocol behavior. To illustrate this point, we focus on a specific research domain: link quality metrics as employed in routing protocols. In the second half of the paper, we show that the popular link quality metric ETX [1] and variants thereof employ incorrect averaging which results in unstable and degraded performance. We modify the averaging mechanism based on our insight and term this modified version SLIQ. SLIQ stands for stability based link quality metric. The modification is simple yet subtle, and the performance improvement it provides is substantial. We carry out our evaluation of these metrics using realistic traces obtained from a wireless 802.11a testbed. We consider the impact the modified link metric has at both the routing layer and the application layer by defining appropriate performance metrics. When compared with ETX and another previously proposed metric ROMA [2], SLIQ provides stable and persistent routes (cuts the number of route flaps by a factor of 6) and can support twice as many high quality voice calls as ETX.
Dynamic Positron Emission Tomography Data-Driven Analysis Using Sparse Bayesian Learning

A method is presented for the analysis of dynamic positron emission tomography (PET) data using sparse Bayesian learning. Parameters are estimated in a compartmental framework using an over-complete exponential basis set and sparse Bayesian learning. The technique is applicable to analyses requiring either a plasma or reference tissue input function and produces estimates of the system's macro-parameters and model order. In addition, the Bayesian approach returns the posterior distribution which allows for some characterisation of the error component. The method is applied to the estimation of parametric images of neuroreceptor radioligand studies.