Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dust–Gas Scaling Relations and OH Abundance in the Galactic ISM

Observations of interstellar dust are often used as a proxy for total gas column density NH. By comparing Planck thermal dust data (Release 1.2) and new dust reddening maps from Pan-STARRS 1 and 2MASS, with accurate (opacity-corrected) H i column densities and newly published OH data from the Arecibo Millennium survey and 21-SPONGE, we confirm linear correlations between dust optical depth τ353, reddening E(B − V), and the total proton column density NH in the range (1–30) × 1020 cm−2, along sightlines with no molecular gas detections in emission. We derive an NH/E(B − V) ratio of (9.4 ± 1.6) × 1021 cm−2 mag−1 for purely atomic sightlines at ∣ b ∣ > 5 ° , which is 60% higher than the canonical value of Bohlin et al. We report a ∼40% increase in opacity σ353 = τ353/NH, when moving from the low column density (NH < 5 × 1020 cm−2) to the moderate column density (NH > 5 × 1020 cm−2) regime, and suggest that this rise is due to the evolution of dust grains in the atomic interstellar medium. Failure to account for H i opacity can cause an additional apparent rise in σ353 of the order of a further ∼20%. We estimate molecular hydrogen column densities N H 2 from our derived linear relations, and hence derive the OH/H2 abundance ratio of XOH ∼ 1 × 10−7 for all molecular sightlines. Our results show no evidence of systematic trends in OH abundance with N H 2 in the range N H 2 ∼ (0.1−10) × 1021 cm−2. This suggests that OH may be used as a reliable proxy for H2 in this range, which includes sightlines with both CO-dark and CO-bright gas.
HPRT1 Most Suitable Reference Gene for Accurate Normalization of mRNA Expression in Canine Dermal Tissues with Radiation Therapy

Reference genes are crucial in molecular biological studies as an internal control for gene re-search as they exhibit consistent expression patterns across many tissue types. In canines, radiation therapy is the most important therapeutic tool to cure various diseases like cancer. However, when using radiation for therapeutic strategy, radiation exposure to healthy tissues leads to some possible side effects such as acute radiation-induced skin injury and alters gene expression. Therefore, the analysis of a change in reference gene expression during the skin recovery process after radiation therapy is essential in healthy canine tissue. In the present study, we analyzed eight reference genes (ACTB, GAPDH, YWHAZ, GUSB, HPRT1, RPL4, RPS5, and TBP) in canine dermal tissues at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, and 9 weeks of radiation exposure that affected the skin condition of canines. The stability of reference genes is determined by evaluating radiation therapy’s effect on healthy canine dermal tissue. Epidermal marker, Keratin 10 expression varies each week after irradiation, and HPRT1 is found to be the most suitable for normalization of mRNA expression in radiation-exposed canine dermal tissues. Changes in the gene expression level were evaluated by using a reliable tool such as quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). In order to achieve a valid qRT-PCR result, the most stable reference genes used for normalization after the radiation exposure process are important. Therefore, the current study was designed to evaluate the most stable reference gene for the post-irradiation canine tissues. After radiation exposure, the alternation of reference gene expression was estimated by three algorithms (geNorm, Normfinder, and Bestkeeper). The RG validation programs (GeNorm and NormFinder) suggested that HPRT1, RPL4, and TBP were suitable for normalization in qRT-PCR. Furthermore, three algorithms suggested that HPRT1 was the most stable reference gene for normalization with qRT-PCR results, regardless of before and after radiation exposure. Whereas GAPDH was found to be the most unstable reference gene. In addition, the use of stable or unstable reference genes for the normalization of Keratin 10 expression showed statistical differences. Therefore, we observed that, to obtain accurate and suitable PCR results of the canine tissues with and without radiation exposure, the HPRT1 reference gene is recommended for normalization with its high stability. Additionally, the use of RGs such as HPRT1, RPL4, and TBP for normalization in qRT-PCR experiments is recommended for post-radiation canine tissues to generate more accurate and reliable data. These results will provide fundamental information regarding internal controls for gene expression studies and can be used for the analysis of gene patterns in regenerative medicine.
Market Timing in Corporate Finance Decisions: Evidence From Stock Market Anomalies

Using an equity mispricing score that incorporates 155 anomaly characteristics, I find that U.S. firms are 59% more likely to issue equity when overvalued and 28% more likely to repurchase shares when undervalued. Moreover, this relationship is more pronounced when executives own more equity in the firm. I also show that executives are more likely to use equity as currency in acquisitions when overvalued and use cash when undervalued. I find consistent evidence using an international dataset that includes 33 countries. These findings provide new evidence about market timing and support the market timing hypothesis. I am grateful to my dissertation advisors George Aragon, Sreedhar Bharath, Yuri Tserlukevich, and Jessie Wang. I also thank Oliver Boguth for helpful comments and suggestions. *Department of Finance, W. P. Carey School of Business, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 873906, Tempe AZ 85287; ualkan@asu.edu.
DETECTION OF SOIL MOISTURE BY REMOTE SURVEILLANCE

Three general regions of the electromagnetic spectrum are being used in feasibility studies of remote sensing of soil moisture - the short-wave region, the thermal of long-wave region, and radar or micro-wave region. Simple solarimeters have been used to correlate albedo values (ratio of reflected incoming solar radiation depends on the amount of water in surface soil) gravimetrically measured water-content values of soil layers. Albedo values could also be used to delineate the three classical stages of soil drying. Studies have suggested that a thermal inertia concept could be used to monitor soil moisture, i.e. soil temperatures are measured when they are maximum and minimum and the difference between them is related to water content. The governing principle of microwave radiation techniques derives from the fact that the dielectric constant of water at microwave frequencies is quite large (80) whereas that of dry soil is typically less than 5. A wide range of wavelengths has been used in feasibility studies of soil-moisture detection by microwave techniques - from fractions of a centimeter to tens of centimeters - and the depth of the soil layer monitored has varied from a few millimeters to a few centimeters. Microwave techniques however, suffer from the need to know surface temperatures in order to resolve moisture-induced emittance changes, and albedo techniques always require specific knowledge of the soil type viewed. Cloud-cover (encountered in satellite based programs), salinity, and the presence of vegetation also create problems for these techniques. Some of the primary benefits of remote detection of soil moisture include the ability to predict crop yields, pest outbreaks, plant disease. It could also be an aid in the management of crops and rangelands.
Moore’s Law and Economic Growth∗

Over the past 60 years, semiconductor sizes have decreased by 50% every 18 months, a trend known as Moore’s Law. This paper studies the physical channel through which Moore’s Law affects GDP growth. A new model incorporates physical constraints on firms’ production functions and allows for new types of spillovers from changes in the physical characteristics of products. I use the model and a new dataset to estimate the effect of the electronic miniaturization channel on productivity growth. The results show that between 11.74% and 18.63% of productivity growth in the 1960-2019 period can be attributed to electronic miniaturization.
UNLT: Urdu Natural Language Toolkit

Abstract This study describes a Natural Language Processing (NLP) toolkit, as the first contribution of a larger project, for an under-resourced language—Urdu. In previous studies, standard NLP toolkits have been developed for English and many other languages. There is also a dire need for standard text processing tools and methods for Urdu, despite it being widely spoken in different parts of the world with a large amount of digital text being readily available. This study presents the first version of the UNLT (Urdu Natural Language Toolkit) which contains three key text processing tools required for an Urdu NLP pipeline; word tokenizer, sentence tokenizer, and part-of-speech (POS) tagger. The UNLT word tokenizer employs a morpheme matching algorithm coupled with a state-of-the-art stochastic n-gram language model with back-off and smoothing characteristics for the space omission problem. The space insertion problem for compound words is tackled using a dictionary look-up technique. The UNLT sentence tokenizer is a combination of various machine learning, rule-based, regular-expressions, and dictionary look-up techniques. Finally, the UNLT POS taggers are based on Hidden Markov Model and Maximum Entropy-based stochastic techniques. In addition, we have developed large gold standard training and testing data sets to improve and evaluate the performance of new techniques for Urdu word tokenization, sentence tokenization, and POS tagging. For comparison purposes, we have compared the proposed approaches with several methods. Our proposed UNLT, the training and testing data sets, and supporting resources are all free and publicly available for academic use.
Low-Latency Gravitational Wave Alerts for Multi-Messenger Astronomy During the Second Advanced LIGO and Virgo Observing Run

Advanced LIGO's second observing run (O2), conducted from November 30, 2016 to August 25, 2017, combined with Advanced Virgo's first observations in August 2017 witnessed the birth of gravitational-wave multi-messenger astronomy. The first ever gravitational-wave detection from the coalescence of two neutron stars, GW170817, and its gamma-ray counterpart, GRB 170817A, led to an electromagnetic follow-up of the event at an unprecedented scale. Several teams from across the world searched for EM/neutrino counterparts to GW170817, paving the way for the discovery of optical, X-ray, and radio counterparts. In this article, we describe the online identification of gravitational-wave transients and the distribution of gravitational-wave alerts by the LIGO and Virgo collaborations during O2. We also describe the gravitational-wave observables which were sent in the alerts to enable searches for their counterparts. Finally, we give an overview of the online candidate alerts shared with observing partners during O2. Alerts were issued for 14 candidates, six of which have been confirmed as gravitational-wave events associated with the merger of black holes or neutron stars. Eight of the 14 alerts were issued less than an hour after data acquisition.
Pre-proof Assessment of Densiﬁed Fuel Quality Parameters: A Case Study for Wheat Straw Pellet

: An investigation was conducted to examine the impact of additive mixing with wheat straw (WS) for pellet making. This study manufactured seven types of pellets with different additive combinations to evaluate pellet quality characteristics and their relationships. A laboratory-type hammer mill and a pellet mill were used for feedstock preparation and pellet production. Experimental investigations showed that the lignin content increased from 7.0% to 13.1%, which was a primary need for pelletization. Also, the heating value rose from 17.02 to 20.36 MJ/kg. However, the ash content also increased from 7.09% to 16.2%. Results showed that dimension (length and diameter), durability, and tensile strength increased significantly with additives while the fines content decreased. The fines content had an inverse relationship with durability and strength. Wheat straw (60%), together with 10% sawdust (SD), 10% corn starch (CS), 10% bentonite clay (BC), and 10% biochar (BiC), was optimal with good pellet performance (T7). In addition, both the T5 pellets (70% WS, 10% SD, 10% BiC, and 10% BC) and the T6 pellets (70% WS, 10% SD, 10% BiC, and 10% CS) provide suitable quality according to EN plus 2015 standard requirements. The ash content of produced pellet was higher than the recommended value, which suggests that further research onto the alternative additive use for ash reduction is needed.
The properties of active galaxies at the extreme of eigenvector 1

Eigenvector 1 (EV1) is the formal parameter which allows the introduction of some order in the properties of the unobscured type 1 active galaxies. We aim to understand the nature of this parameter by analyzing the most extreme examples of quasars with the highest possible values of the corresponding eigenvalues $R_{Fe}$. We selected the appropriate sources from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and performed detailed modeling, including various templates for the Fe II pseudo-continuum and the starlight contribution to the spectrum. Out of 27 sources with $R_{Fe}$ larger than 1.3 and with the measurement errors smaller than 20\% selected from the SDSS quasar catalog, only six sources were confirmed to have a high value of $R_{Fe}$, defined as being above 1.3. All other sources have $an R_{Fe}$ of approximately 1. Three of the high $R_{Fe}$ objects have a very narrow H$\beta$ line, below 2100 km s$^{-1}$ but three sources have broad lines, above 4500 km s$^{-1}$, that do not seem to form a uniform group, differing considerably in black hole mass and Eddington ratio; they simply have a very similar EW([OIII]5007) line. Therefore, the interpretation of the EV1 remains an open issue.
Research Paper Opinions and Experiences of National Iranian Oil Company Retirees on Psychological Wellbeing: A Grounded Theory Approach

Objective: Mental health refers to emotional balance and social adjustment, feeling comfortable, the absence of mental illness, the integration of personality, and the knowledge of self and the environment. This study aimed to investigate the opinions and experiences of Iranian Oil Company retirees about psychological wellbeing. Methods: This qualitative study was conducted using the grounded theory approach. The participants in this study were 15 retired senior managers of the National Iranian Oil Company in Tehran who were selected through purposive sampling based on the theoretical saturation criterion in 2021. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and were analyzed using Corbin and Strauss method (1998). Results: Data analysis revealed three selective codes, 11 axial codes, and 67 open codes. The selective codes include self-coherence and the balance between life needs and satisfaction with the current situation, contextual factors promoting psychological health in older adults, and the process of achieving psychological health and wellbeing in older adults. Conclusion: The insights from present research can be used for developing and implementing therapeutic and educational models for elders and recognizing retirement concerns. In addition, understanding the opinions and experiences of the psychological wellbeing of elders helps the healthcare system and social welfare professionals to realize the retirees’ psychological needs.
Long-term carbon dioxide toxicity and climate change: a major unapprehended risk for human health .

As atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide continue to escalate and drive climate change, the safe level for breathing is not clear. The toxicity of CO 2 has been defined for short-duration exposures at high concentrations but it is unknown what levels will compromise human health when individuals are perpetually exposed for their lifetime. There is now substantial evidence that permanent exposure, to CO 2 levels predicted in the future, will have significant effects on humans. Blood CO 2 levels in populations are increasing and unhealthy concentrations have been measured from people in common indoor environments where reduced thinking ability and health symptoms have been observed at levels of CO 2 above 600 ppm for relatively short-term exposures. Although humans and animals are able to deal with elevated levels of CO 2 in the short-term due to compensation mechanisms in the body, the eventual failure of these may have severe consequences in a perpetual environment of elevated CO 2 . Protein malfunctions in cells due to elevated CO 2 and associated low pH has the potential to cause threats to life including cancer, neurological disorders, lung disease, diabetes, etc. In particular excess CO 2 causes the overexpression of carbonic anhydrase, the enzyme that catalyses CO 2 in the body, causes calcification in the kidneys, arteries and tissues, along with other diseases and this may be an existential threat. Although there is very low awareness of this risk and its proximity is yet to be adequately defined, it is likely that human health will be significantly affected in the near-future with the progressive severity dependant on CO 2 emissions.
Suprathreshold Contrast Matching between Different Luminance Levels

We investigated how perceived achromatic and chromatic contrast changes with luminance. The experiment consisted of test and reference displays viewed haploscopically, where each eye sees one of the displays. Test stimuli presented on the test display on a background of varying luminance levels (0.02, 2,20,200,2000 cd/m 2 ) were matched in perceived contrast to reference stimuli presented on a background at a fixed 200cd/m 2 luminance level. We found that approximate contrast constancy holds at photopic luminance levels (20 cd/m 2 and above), that is, test stimuli presented at these luminance backgrounds matched when their physical contrasts were the same magnitude as the reference stimulus for most conditions. For lower background luminances, covering an extensive range of 5 log units, much higher physical contrast was required to achieve a match with the reference. This deviation from constancy was larger for lower spatial frequencies and lower pedestal suprathreshold contrasts. Our data provides the basis for new contrast retargeting models for matching appearances across luminance levels.
Language over Labels: Contrastive Language Supervision Exceeds Purely Label-Supervised Classification Performance on Chest X-Rays

The multi-modal foundation model CLIP computes representations from texts and images that achieved unprecedented performance on tasks such as zero-shot image classification. However, CLIP was pretrained on public internet data. Thus it lacks highly domain-specific knowledge. We investigate the adaptation of CLIP-based models to the chest radiography domain using the MIMIC-CXR dataset. We show that the features of the pretrained CLIP models do not transfer to this domain. We adapt CLIP to the chest radiography domain using contrastive language supervision and show that this approach yields a model that outperforms supervised learning on labels on the MIMIC-CXR dataset while also generalizing to the CheXpert and RSNA Pneumonia datasets. Furthermore, we do a detailed ablation study of the batch and dataset size. Finally, we show that language supervision allows for better explainability by using the multi-modal model to generate images from texts such that experts can inspect what the model has learned.
Impact of Unplanned Rail Disruption on Urban Transit Systems

: This study proposes a general incident analysis framework from supply and demand sides using automated fare collection (AFC) and automated vehicle location (AVL) data in public transit systems. Specifically, on the supply side, we propose an incident-based network redundancy index to analyze the network’s ability to provide alternative services under a specific rail disruption. The impacts on the operation are analyzed through the headway changes in multiple rail lines. On the demand side, we calculate the demand changes of different rail lines, rail stations, bus routes, and bus stops to show the passenger flow redistribution under incidents. Individual behavior is analyzed using a binary logit model based on inferred passengers’ mode choices and socio-demographics using AFC data. The public transit system of Chicago Transit Authority is used as a case study. Two rail disruption cases are analyzed, one of which has high network redundancy and low for another. Results show that the service frequency of the incident line was largely reduced during the incident time. Depending on the incident location, the network's redundancies are different, as well as the passengers' behavior. In the low redundancy scenario, most passengers choose to use nearby buses to move, either to their destinations or to the nearby rail lines. In the high redundancy scenario, most of the passengers transferred to nearby lines. ABSTRACT 1 This study proposes a general incident analysis framework from supply and demand sides using 2 automated fare collection (AFC) and automated vehicle location (AVL) data in public transit sys- 3 tems. Speciﬁcally, on the supply side, we propose an incident-based network redundancy index to 4 analyze the network’s ability to provide alternative services under a speciﬁc rail disruption. The 5 impacts on the operation are analyzed through the headway changes in multiple rail lines. On the 6 demand side, we calculate the demand changes of different rail lines, rail stations, bus routes, and 7 bus stops to show the passenger ﬂow redistribution under incidents. Individual behavior is analyzed 8 using a binary logit model based on inferred passengers’ mode choices and socio-demographics 9 using AFC data. The public transit system of Chicago Transit Authority is used as a case study. 10 Two rail disruption cases are analyzed, one of which has high network redundancy and low for 11 another. Results show that the service frequency of the incident line was largely reduced during 12 the incident time. Depending on the incident location, the network’s redundancies are different, as 13 well as the passengers’ behavior. In the low redundancy scenario, most passengers choose to use 14 nearby buses to move, either to their destinations or to the nearby rail lines. In the high redundancy 15 scenario, most of the passengers transferred to nearby lines. 16
Reconstructing the velocity dispersion profiles from the line-of-sight kinematic data in disc galaxies

We present a modification of the method for reconstructing the stellar velocity ellipsoid (SVE) in disc galaxies. Our version does not need any parametrization of the velocity dispersion profiles and uses only one assumption that the ratio $\sigma_z/\sigma_R$ remains constant along the profile or along several pieces of the profile. The method was tested on two galaxies from the sample of other authors and for the first time was applied to three lenticular galaxies NGC~1167, NGC~3245 and NGC~4150 as well as to one Sab galaxy NGC~338. We found that for galaxies with a high inclination ($i >55-60^\circ$) it is difficult or rather impossible to extract the information about SVE while for galaxies at an intermediate inclination the procedure of extracting is successful. For NGC~1167 we managed to reconstruct SVE, provided that the value of $\sigma_z/\sigma_R$ is piecewise constant. We found $\sigma_z/\sigma_R=0.7$ for the inner parts of the disc and $\sigma_z/\sigma_R=0.3$ for the outskirts. We also obtained a rigid constrain on the value of the radial velocity dispersion $\sigma_R$ for highly inclined galaxies and tested the result using the asymmetric drift equation, provided that the gas rotation curve is available.