Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A search for annihilating dark matter in 47 Tucanae and Omega Centauri

Abstract A plausible formation scenario for the Galactic globular clusters 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc) and Omega Centauri $(\omega$ Cen) is that they are tidally stripped remnants of dwarf galaxies, in which case they are likely to have retained a fraction of their dark matter cores. In this study, we have used the ultra-wide band receiver on the Parkes telescope (Murriyang) to place upper limits on the annihilation rate of exotic Light Dark Matter particles $(\chi)$ via the $\chi\chi\rightarrow e^+e^-$ channel using measurements of the recombination rate of positronium (Ps). This is an extension of a technique previously used to search for Ps in the Galactic Centre. However, by stacking of spectral data at multiple line frequencies, we have been able to improve sensitivity. Our measurements have resulted in $3-\sigma$ flux density (recombination rate) upper limits of 1.7 mJy $\left(1.4\times 10^{43}\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}\right)$ and 0.8 mJy $\left(1.1 \times 10^{43} \mathrm{s}^{-1}\right)$ for 47 Tuc and $\omega$ Cen, respectively. Within the Parkes beam at the cluster distances, which varies from 10–23 pc depending on the frequency of the recombination line, and for an assumed annihilation cross-section $\langle\sigma v\rangle = 3\times 10^{-29} \mathrm{cm}^3\, \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ , we calculate upper limits to the dark matter mass and rms dark matter density of ${\lesssim} 1.2-1.3\times 10^5 f_n^{-0.5}$ $\left(m_\chi/\mathrm{MeV\, c}^{-2}\right)$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot}$ and ${\lesssim} 48-54 f_n^{-0.5}$ $\left(m_\chi/\mathrm{MeV\, c}^{-2}\right)$ $\mathrm{M}_{\odot} \mathrm{pc}^{-3}$ for the clusters, where $f_n=R_n/R_p$ is the ratio of Ps recombination transitions to annihilations, estimated to be ${\sim}0.01$ . The radio limits for $\omega$ Cen suggest that, for a fiducial dark/luminous mass ratio of ${\sim}0.05$ , any contribution from Light Dark Matter is small unless $\langle\sigma v\rangle < 7.9\times 10^{-28}\ \left(m_\chi/\mathrm{MeV\, c}^{-2}\right)^2 \mathrm{cm}^3 \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ . Owing to the compactness and proximity of the clusters, archival 511-keV measurements suggest even tighter limits than permitted by CMB anisotropies, $\langle\sigma v\rangle < 8.6\times 10^{-31}\ (m_\chi/\mathrm{MeV\, c}^{-2})^2 \mathrm{cm}^3 \mathrm{s}^{-1}$ . Due to the very low synchrotron radiation background, our recombination rate limits substantially improve on previous radio limits for the Milky Way.
Modeling directional hardening and intrinsic size effects using a dislocation density-based strain gradient plasticity framework

This work proposes a dislocation density-based strain gradient $J_2$ plasticity framework that models the strength contribution due to Geometrically Necessary Dislocations (GNDs) using a lower order, Taylor hardening backstress model. An anisotropy factor is introduced to phenomenologically represent the differential hardening between grains in this $J_2$ plasticity framework. An implicit numerical algorithm is implemented for the time integration of the finite deformation plasticity model. The framework is first used to predict directional hardening due to the GND-induced backstress during cyclic loading. Deformation contours are studied to understand the substructure attributes contributing to directional hardening. The framework is then used to predict the intrinsic, grain size-dependent strengthening of polygrain ensembles. Model predictions of simulations with different grain sizes are shown to agree with the Hall-Petch effect and also with Ashby's model of hardening due to GNDs in polygrain ensembles.
SUBS: Subtree Substitution for Compositional Semantic Parsing

Although sequence-to-sequence models often achieve good performance in semantic parsing for i.i. d. data, their performance is still inferior in compositional generalization. Several data augmentation methods have been proposed to alleviate this problem. However, prior work only leveraged superficial grammar or rules for data augmentation, which resulted in limited improvement. We propose to use subtree substitution for compositional data augmentation, where we consider subtrees with similar semantic functions as exchangeable. Our experiments showed that such augmented data led to significantly better performance on Scan and GeoQuery, and reached new SOTA on compositional split of GeoQuery.
Simpler is Better: off-the-shelf Continual Learning Through Pretrained Backbones

In this short paper, we propose a baseline (off-the-shelf) for Continual Learning of Computer Vision problems, by leveraging the power of pretrained models. By doing so, we devise a simple approach achieving strong performance for most of the common benchmarks. Our approach is fast since requires no parameters updates and has minimal memory requirements (order of KBytes). In particular, the"training"phase reorders data and exploit the power of pretrained models to compute a class prototype and fill a memory bank. At inference time we match the closest prototype through a knn-like approach, providing us the prediction. We will see how this naive solution can act as an off-the-shelf continual learning system. In order to better consolidate our results, we compare the devised pipeline with common CNN models and show the superiority of Vision Transformers, suggesting that such architectures have the ability to produce features of higher quality. Moreover, this simple pipeline, raises the same questions raised by previous works \cite{gdumb} on the effective progresses made by the CL community especially in the dataset considered and the usage of pretrained models. Code is live at https://github.com/francesco-p/off-the-shelf-cl
Bridging Causal Consistent and Time Reversibility: A Stochastic Process Algebraic Approach

Causal consistent reversibility blends causality and reversibility. For a concurrent system, it says that an action can be undone provided that this has no consequences, thereby making it possible to bring the system back to a past consistent state. Time reversibility is instead considered in the performance evaluation ﬁeld, mostly for eﬃcient analysis purposes. A continuous-time Markov chain is time reversible if its stochastic behavior remains the same when the direction of time is reversed. We study how to bridge these two theories of reversibility by showing the conditions under which both causal consistent reversibility and time reversibility can be ensured by construction. This is done in the setting of a stochastic process calculus, which is then equipped with a notion of stochastic bisimilarity accounting for both forward and backward directions.
Less is more: balancing noise reduction and data retention in fMRI with projection scrubbing

Functional MRI (fMRI) data may be contaminated by artifacts arising from a myriad of sources, including subject head motion, respiration, heartbeat, scanner drift, and thermal noise. These artifacts cause deviations from common distributional assumptions, introduce spatial and temporal outliers, and reduce the signal-to-noise ratio of the data—all of which can have negative consequences for the accuracy and power of downstream statistical analysis. Scrubbing is a technique for excluding fMRI volumes thought to be contaminated by artifacts and generally comes in two ﬂavors. Motion scrubbing, based on subject head motion-derived measures, is popular but suﬀers from a number of drawbacks, among them the need to choose a threshold, a lack of generalizability to multi-band acquisitions, and high rates of censoring of individual volumes and entire subjects. Alternatively, data-driven scrubbing methods such as DVARS are based on observed noise in the processed fMRI timeseries and may avoid many of these issues. In this work, we undertake a comprehensive comparison of motion-based and data-driven scrubbing methods. Because a standardized scrubbing pipeline should work for arbitrary downstream analyses, we argue that the appropriate metric for success is maximal data retention subject to reasonable performance on typical benchmarks such as the reliability and predictiveness of functional connectivity (FC). We also present “projection scrubbing”, a novel data-driven scrubbing method based on a statistical outlier detection framework. Projection scrubbing is substantially more beneﬁcial to overall FC reliability than motion scrubbing and DVARS and removes about half the number of volumes, illustrating the advantages of this data-driven, outlier detection approach for identifying contaminated volumes.
AcTune: Uncertainty-aware Active Self-Training for Semi-Supervised Active Learning with Pretrained Language Models

While pre-trained language model (PLM) fine-tuning has achieved strong performance in many NLP tasks, the fine-tuning stage can be still demanding in labeled data. Recent works have resorted to active fine-tuning to improve the label efficiency of PLM fine-tuning, but none of them investigate the potential of unlabeled data. We propose {\ours}, a new framework that leverages unlabeled data to improve the label efficiency of active PLM fine-tuning. AcTune switches between data annotation and model self-training based on uncertainty: it selects high-uncertainty unlabeled samples for active annotation and low-uncertainty ones for model self-training. Under this framework, we design (1) a region-aware sampling strategy that reduces redundancy when actively querying for annotations and (2) a momentum-based memory bank that dynamically aggregates the model's pseudo labels to suppress label noise in self-training. Experiments on 6 text classification datasets show that AcTune outperforms the strongest active learning and self-training baselines and improves the label efficiency of PLM fine-tuning by 56.2\% on average. Our implementation will be available at \url{https://github.com/yueyu1030/actune}.
Outcomes of Cyber-Victimization and Bystander Reactions in Online Brand Communities

ABSTRACT Online brand communities such as Facebook fan pages show an increasing level of cyber-victimization, which is where a community member is bullied by another member. Based on the cyber-victimization literature in psychology, we designed an experiment that explores how cyber-victimization affects three commercial outcomes, namely, a victim’s positive word-of-mouth intentions, community satisfaction, and community following intentions. Using a survey of 387 community members with past cyber-victimization experiences, our results show that outcomes differ significantly in relation to the severity of cyber-victimization (severe vs. mild) and the reactions (defending vs. reinforcing vs. pretending) from bystanders (i.e., uninvolved community members who witness the cyber-victimization incident). Our findings offer brand managers a better understanding of the undesirable effects of cyber-victimization in online brand communities, and of the type of reactions from bystanders that they may wish to encourage.
How Electronic Word of Mouth Matters in Peer-to-Peer Accommodation: The Role of Price and Responsiveness

ABSTRACT Under information asymmetry, electronic word of mouth (eWOM) is crucial to understanding customer experience in peer-to-peer (P2P) accommodation. However, the topics of what dimensions are included in eWOM and how these dimensions determine sales performance from a contingency perspective remain starkly underinvestigated. Drawing upon trust transfer theory and signaling theory, we identify two eWOM dimensions (i.e., listing-based eWOM and host-based eWOM) and examine their interactions with price and responsiveness on sales performance. Using objective data from Xiaozhu.com, a leading accommodation-sharing platform in China, we apply machine learning algorithms and economic analysis to illustrate customer behavior. Our results indicate that the valence of listing-based eWOM and that of host-based eWOM are positively associated with sales performance. Compared with listing-based eWOM, host-based eWOM exerts a more decisive influence on sales performance. Notably, the relationship between the valence of listing-based eWOM (host-based eWOM) and sales performance is weakened (strengthened) by listing price (host’s responsiveness). These findings provide helpful managerial insights for service strategies and policy actions to improve the accommodation-sharing economy.
Genetic architecture of adaptive radiation across two trophic levels

Evolution of trophic diversity is a hallmark of adaptive radiation. Yet, transitions between carnivory and herbivory are rare in young adaptive radiations. Haplochromine cichlid fish of the African Great Lakes are exceptional in this regard. Lake Victoria was colonized by an insectivorous generalist and in less than 20 000 years, several clades of specialized herbivores evolved. Carnivorous versus herbivorous lifestyles in cichlids require many different adaptations in functional morphology, physiology and behaviour. Ecological transitions in either direction thus require many traits to change in a concerted fashion, which could be facilitated if genomic regions underlying these traits were physically linked or pleiotropic. However, linkage/pleiotropy could also constrain evolvability. To investigate components of the genetic architecture of a suite of traits that distinguish invertivores from algae scrapers, we performed quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping using a second-generation hybrid cross. While we found indications of linkage/pleiotropy within trait complexes, QTLs for distinct traits were distributed across several unlinked genomic regions. Thus, a mixture of independently segregating variation and some pleiotropy may underpin the rapid trophic transitions. We argue that the emergence and maintenance of associations between the different genomic regions underpinning co-adapted traits that evolved and persist against some gene flow required reproductive isolation.
Data-driven modelling of group formation in the fission–fusion dynamics of Bechstein’s bats

Communal roosting in Bechstein’s bat colonies is characterized by the formation of several groups that use different day roosts and that regularly dissolve and re-merge (fission–fusion dynamics). Analysing data from two colonies of different sizes over many years, we find that (i) the number of days that bats stay in the same roost before changing follows an exponential distribution that is independent of the colony size and (ii) the number and size of groups that bats formed for roosting depend on the size of the colony, such that above a critical colony size two to six groups of different sizes are formed. To model these two observations, we propose an agent-based model in which agents make their decisions about roosts based on both random and social influences. For the latter, they copy the roost preference of another agent which models the transfer of the respective information. Our model is able to reproduce both the distribution of stay length in the same roost and the emergence of groups of different sizes dependent on the colony size. Moreover, we are able to predict the critical system size at which the formation of different groups emerges without global coordination. We further comment on dynamics that bridge the roosting decisions on short time scales (less than 1 day) with the social structures observed at long time scales (more than 1 year).
Effect of the Prolactin Inhibitor Cabergoline and the Gonadotropin Releasing-Hormone Agonist Deslorelin in the Suppression of Plasma Prolactin Concentrations and Egg Laying in Quail (Coturnix japonica)

Abstract: Egg binding and excessive laying frequently affect avian patients, and in many cases the treatment includes suppression of egg production. Currently, for the suppression of egg production in avian patients, a gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist, in the form of a deslorelin implant, is often used. However, the commercially available deslorelin implants have an undesired delayed onset, as well as a potential brief increase in gonadotropin secretion after administration (“flare-up” effect) that can lead to oviposition before the actual suppression of gonadotropins. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the prolactin inhibitor cabergoline suppresses ovulation and whether it could be used to bridge the time until the onset of effect by the deslorelin implant. We measured the effect of cabergoline (30 µg/kg PO q24h × 14 days), deslorelin implants (4.7 mg SC), and a combination of both on egg laying and plasma prolactin concentrations in 37 quail (Coturnix japonica) over 6 weeks. Quail were divided into 4 groups: group DesCab (deslorelin implant and cabergoline oral; n = 9); group DesPlac (deslorelin implant and placebo oral; n = 9); group PlacCab (placebo implant and cabergoline oral; n = 9); and group PlacPlac (placebo implant and placebo oral; n = 10). Regular egg laying stopped in 100% (9/9) of birds in group DesCab and 78% (7/ 9) of birds in group DesPlac within 5 days of placing the deslorelin implant. No bird ceased egg production in group PlacCab (0/9), and 10% of birds ceased egg production intermittently in group PlacPlac (1/10). Treatment with the deslorelin implant (P < .001) and with cabergoline (P = .04) had a significant (negative) influence on plasma prolactin concentrations compared with the baseline. The interaction of deslorelin and cabergoline treatment, as well as time after initiation of treatment, did not have a significant effect on plasma prolactin concentrations. These results show that daily oral cabergoline has no significant influence on egg laying and only a minor biologically nonsignificant effect on lowering the relative plasma prolactin concentrations in quail.
Survival and Release of 5 American Crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) Naturally Infected With West Nile Virus

Abstract: West Nile virus (WNV) has had a significant effect on avian populations in the United States since being first identified in 1999. Avian species in WNV endemic areas do not suffer the same level of mortality that has been reported in birds within the United States since the virus was first identified in North America. Because of their unique susceptibility, American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) are often used to monitor the spread and severity of WNV in North America. American crows with WNV infections are received and treated at the Janet L. Swanson Wildlife Hospital (Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA) on a regular basis during the summer and fall and have historically had a 100% mortality rate. This report describes WNV-positive American crows that were treated, recovered from the infection, and were subsequently released. The 5 American crows in this case series were tested, when possible, by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and plaque reduction neutralization on admission and monitored with both PCR and plaque reduction neutralization throughout their rehabilitation process. Four of the 5 birds had a negative PCR test before release, and 1 bird had a “suspect” positive PCR test result before release. One of the crows was confirmed to have survived for at least 2.5 years after release. Viral shedding was documented up to 93 days after initial hospitalization, which is longer than any previous report of WNV shedding in an American crow.
Parasite Community Analysis of The Gray Snapper Lutjanus Griseus (Perciformes,Lutjanidae) in a Tropical Region of The Southern Gulf of Mexico

Summary The gray snapper Lutjanus griseus is a commercially important fish species along its distribution range in the western Atlantic Ocean. However, despite its importance, there is still little knowledge about its parasitic fauna for the Mexican coasts of the Gulf of Mexico. The aims of this research were to generate a list of the parasitic fauna present in juvenile gray snapper L. griseus from a coastal lagoon located in southeastern Mexico, to evaluate the infection levels of parasites and to determine the relationship between the abundance of parasites and the fish size and condition factor. Samples of L. griseus (12 – 29.2 mm) were obtained in two periods of the year (dry and rainy seasons) to examine the intra-annual variability of its parasitic fauna. A total of 17 parasite species were recorded belonging to six taxonomic groups (Myxozoa, Monogenea, Digenea, Cestoda, Nematoda and Acanthocephala). The highest levels of infection (abundance, prevalence and intensity of infection) were found for the monogeneans Euryhaliotrema griseus and Euryhaliotrema fastigatum. There were no significant correlations between the total abundance of parasites and the fish condition and size (total length) in not any of the two seasons studied, suggesting that the body size and the biological condition index of the host did not directly influence the abundance of parasites in early life stages of L. griseus. Moreover, the species of parasites found that could be zoonotic for humans through the consumption of raw or inadequately cooked fish were the nematodes Contracaecum sp. type 1, Contracaecum sp. type 2, Cucullanus pargi and Pseudoterranova sp. The presence of the monogeneans E. griseus and E. fastigatum was also highlighted because these ectoparasite species are known to cause harm to fish under culture systems. All the parasite species found in this study, except nematodes, were new records of geographic distribution.
Experimental study of turbulent bubbly jet. Part 1. Simultaneous measurement of three-dimensional velocity fields of bubbles and water

Abstract This study proposes a method for simultaneous measurements of time-resolved three-dimensional velocity fields of the dispersed and continuous phases of a turbulent bubbly jet at a low void fraction using Lagrangian particle tracking (LPT) velocimetry with the Shake-The-Box algorithm. Four high-speed cameras are used to acquire time series of images that include both bubbles and fluid tracer particles. Bubbles are firstly tracked using intensity differences between tracer particles and bubbles, then the bubble images are removed from the camera images and all tracer particles are tracked using the residual images. Subsequently, FlowFit interpolation is applied to the LPT results obtained by phase separation to investigate flow characteristics of a bubbly jet. The bubbly jet was divided into two regions along the vertical direction: jet-like and plume-like regions. Streamwise vortex structures of continuous phase were generated mainly by the rising bubbles. The Gaussian and top-hat velocity profiles matched well with the ensemble-averaged fluid and bubble velocities, respectively. The measured slip velocity in the radial direction was not constant but linearly increased. The classical assumption of self-similarity with Gaussian profiles for fluid velocity and bubble concentration is experimentally verified. The fluid volume flux and entrainment coefficient are obtained as a function of the slip velocity, void fraction, plume and bubble width based on three-dimensional measurements. We found that the classical integral theory agrees well with experiments in the plume region.