Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
FRAGMENTATION AND EVOLUTION OF MOLECULAR CLOUDS. II. THE EFFECT OF DUST HEATING

We investigate the effect of heating by luminosity sources in a simulation of clustered star formation. Our heating method involves a simplified continuum radiative transfer method that calculates the dust temperature. The gas temperature is set by the dust temperature. We present the results of four simulations; two simulations assume an isothermal equation of state and the two other simulations include dust heating. We investigate two mass regimes, i.e., 84 M☉ and 671 M☉, using these two different energetics algorithms. The mass functions for the isothermal simulations and simulations that include dust heating are drastically different. In the isothermal simulation, we do not form any objects with masses above 1 M☉. However, the simulation with dust heating, while missing some of the low-mass objects, forms high-mass objects (∼20 M☉) which have a distribution similar to the Salpeter initial mass function. The envelope density profiles around the stars formed in our simulation match observed values around isolated, low-mass star-forming cores. We find the accretion rates to be highly variable and, on average, increasing with final stellar mass. By including radiative feedback from stars in a cluster-scale simulation, we have determined that it is a very important effect which drastically affects the mass function and yields important insights into the formation of massive stars.
MULTIPLE POPULATIONS IN THE OLD AND MASSIVE SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD GLOBULAR CLUSTER NGC 121

We used a combination of optical and near-UV Hubble Space Telescope photometry and FLAMES/ESO-VLT high-resolution spectroscopy to characterize the stellar content of the old and massive globular cluster (GC) NGC 121 in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). We report on the detection of multiple stellar populations, the first case in the SMC stellar cluster system. This result enforces the emerging scenario in which the presence of multiple stellar populations is a distinctive-feature of old and massive GCs regardless of the environment, as far as the light-element distribution is concerned. We find that second-generation (SG) stars are more centrally concentrated than first-generation (FG) ones. More interestingly, at odds with what is typically observed in Galactic GCs, we find that NGC 121 is the only cluster so far to be dominated by FG stars that account for more than 65% of the total cluster mass. In the framework where GCs were born with 90%–95% of FG stars, this observational finding would suggest that either NGC 121 experienced a milder stellar mass-loss with respect to Galactic GCs or it formed a smaller fraction of SG stars.
Décodeurs Haute Performance et Faible Complexité pour les codes LDPC Binaires et Non-Binaires

Cette these se consacre a l'etude de decodeurs iteratifs, pour des codes correcteurd'erreurs binaires et non-binaires a faible densite (LDPC). Notre objectif est de modeliserdes decodeurs de complexite faibles et de faible latence tout en garantissantde bonne performances dans la region des tres faibles taux d'erreur (error floor). Dans la premiere partie de cette these, nous etudions des decodeurs iteratifssur des alphabets finis (Finite Alphabet iterative decoders, FAIDs) qui ont eterecemment proposes dans la litterature. En utilisant un grand nombre de decodeursFAIDs, nous proposons un nouvel algorithme de decodage qui ameliore la capacite decorrections d'erreur des codes LDPC de degre dv = 3 sur canal binaire symetrique.La diversite des decodeurs permet de garantir une correction d'erreur minimale sousdecodage iteratif, au-dela de la pseudo-distance des codes LDPC. Nous donnonsdans cette these un exemple detaile d'un ensemble de decodeur FAIDs, qui corrigetous les evenements d'erreur de poids inferieur ou egal a 7 avec un LDPC de petitetaille (N=155,K=64,Dmin=20). Cette approche permet de corriger des evenementsd'erreur que les decodeurs traditionnels (BP, min-sum) ne parviennent pas a corriger.Enfin, nous interpretons les decodeurs FAIDs comme des systemes dynamiques etnous analysons les comportements de ces decodeurs sur des evenements d'erreur lesplus problematiques. En nous basant sur l'observation des trajectoires periodiquespour ces cas d'etude, nous proposons un algorithme qui combine la diversite dudecodage avec des sauts aleatoires dans l'espace d'etat du decodeur iteratif. Nousmontrons par simulations que cette technique permet de s'approcher des performancesd'un decodage optimal au sens du maximum de vraisemblance, et ce pourplusieurs codes.Dans la deuxieme partie de cette these, nous proposons un nouvel algorithmede decodage a complexite reduite pour les codes LDPC non-binaires. Nous avonsappelle cet algorithme Trellis-Extended Min-Sum (T-EMS). En transformant le domainede message en un domaine appelee domaine delta, nous sommes capable dechoisir les deviations ligne par ligne par rapport a la configuration la plus fiable,tandis que les decodeurs habituels comme le decodeur EMS choisissent les deviationscolonne par colonne. Cette technique de selection des deviations ligne parligne nous permet de reduire la complexite du decodage sans perte de performancepar rapport aux approches du type EMS. Nous proposons egalement d'ajouter une colonne supplementaire a la representation en treillis des messages, ce qui resoudle probleme de latence des decodeurs existants. La colonne supplementaire permetde calculer tous les messages extrinseque en parallele, avec une implementationmaterielle dediee. Nous presentons dans ce manuscrit, aussi bien les architecturesmaterielles parallele que les architectures materielles serie pour l'execution de notrealgorithme T-EMS. L'analyse de la complexite montre que l'approche T-EMS estparticulierement adapte pour les codes LDPC non-binaires sur des corps finis deGalois de petite et moyenne dimensions.
A submillimetre survey of the kinematics of the Perseus molecular cloud – II. Molecular outflows

We present a census of molecular outflows across four active regions of star formation in the Perseus molecular cloud (NGC 1333, IC348/HH211, L1448 and L1455), totalling an area of over 1000 arcmin 2 . This is one of the largest surveys of outflow evolution in a single molecular cloud published to date. We analyse large-scale, sensitive CO J = 3 → 2 data sets from the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope, including new data towards NGC 1333. Where possible we make use of our complementary 13 CO and C 18 O data to correct for the 12 CO optical depth and measure ambient cloud properties. Of the 65 submillimetre cores in our fields, we detect outflows towards 45. 24 of these are marginal detections where the outflow's shape is unclear or could be confused with the other outflows. We compare various parameters between the outflows from Class 0 and I protostars, including their mass, momentum, energy and momentum flux. Class 0 outflows are longer, faster, more massive and have more energy than Class I outflows. The dynamical time-scales we derive from these outflows are uncorrelated to the age of the outflow driving source, computed from the protostar's bolometric temperature. We confirm the results of Bontemps et al. that outflows decrease in force as they age. There is a decrease in momentum flux from the Class 0 to I stage: (F co ) = (0.8 ± 0.3) x 10 -4 compared to (1.1 ± 0.3) x 10 -5 M ⊙ km s -1 yr -1 , suggesting a decline in the mass accretion rate assuming the same entrainment fraction for both classes of outflow. If F rad = L bol /c is the flux expected in radiation from the central source, then F CO (Class I) ~ 100F rad and F CO (Class 0) ~ 1000F rad . Furthermore, we confirm there are additional sources of mass loss from protostars. If a core's mass is only lost from outflows at the current rate, cores would endure a few million years, much longer than current estimates for the duration of the protostellar stage. Finally, we note that the total energy contained in outflows in NGC 1333, L1448 and L1455 is greater than the estimated turbulent energy in the respective regions, which may have implications for the regions' evolution.
TRACING GALAXIES THROUGH COSMIC TIME WITH NUMBER DENSITY SELECTION

A central challenge in observational studies of galaxy formation is how to associate progenitor galaxies with their descendants at lower redshifts. One promising approach is to link galaxies at fixed number density rather than fixed luminosity or mass. This method is effective if stellar mass rank order is broadly conserved through cosmic time. In this paper, we use the Guo et al. semi-analytical model to analyze under what circumstances this assumption is valid in the context of a cosmological simulation. Specifically, we select progenitor galaxies at a constant number density and compare the stellar mass evolution of their descendants to the evolution at a constant number density. The median stellar mass of the descendants increases by a factor of four (0.6 dex) from z = 3 to z = 0. Constant number density selection reproduces this to within 40% (0.15 dex) over a wide range of number densities. We show that the discrepancy primarily results from scatter in the stellar mass growth rates and merging. After applying simple, observationally based corrections for these processes, the discrepancy is reduced to 12% (0.05 dex). We conclude that number density selection can be used to predict the median descendant mass of high-redshift progenitor galaxies. The main uncertainty in this study is that semi-analytical models do not reproduce the observed mass evolution of galaxies, which makes the quantitative aggregate effects of star formation, merging, and quenching on the rank order of galaxies somewhat uncertain.
Mask mandates, race, and protests of summer 2020

ABSTRACT This study examined predictors to mask mandate support and racial justice protest participation across Asian (n = 103), Black (n = 102), white (n = 102) New York City residents, using binary logistic regressions. Participants with positive feelings about the racial justice movement were more likely to participate in the protests. White and Asian respondents were more likely to support the mask mandates over Black respondents. Asian respondents were less likely to participate in public protests over white respondents. Our findings offer a model for social workers to understand how race, political participation and COVID-19 intersect to create racially just responses to health and justice matters.
Revisiting a destination image model in the social media context

ABSTRACT Given the growing importance of social media (SM) for tourism promotions, the present study examined a destination image model that includes SM as image formation agents (IFAs) (autonomous, induced, and organic), cognitive image (attractions and support), affective image, and social distance as a moderator, grounded in construal level theory. With the sample of tourists (N = 699), structural equation modeling revealed that each IFA group had different patterns of effects in shaping cognitive image, which in turn influenced affective image. Latent moderated structural equation modeling analysis showed that social distance had a negative interacting effect with each of the IFA groups in forming the attractions image, highlighting the significant moderating role of social distance in the process. This study enriches an understanding on the crucial roles of IFAs and social distance in the image formation process within the SM context.
Conceptualizing anti-Asian racism in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic: A call for action to social workers

ABSTRACT Anti-Asian racism in Canada has emerged from the COVID-19 pandemic and become more rampant. This article integrates Canadian postcolonialism, a critique of Canadian multiculturalism, and a framework of intergroup prejudice to conceptualize the covert anti-Asian racism that is entrenched in Canadian society. How COVID-19 exposes and “legitimizes” anti-Asian racism is further analyzed and included in this conceptualization. This conceptualization also includes social workers’ leading roles in combating anti-Asian racism through reforming and integrating client interventions, cultural policy, social context, and offers directions that can guide future social work research and practice in improving social justice during this crisis.
Spin evolution of Earth-sized exoplanets, including atmospheric tides and core–mantle friction

Abstract Planets with masses between 0.1 and 10 M⊕ are believed to host dense atmospheres. These atmospheres can play an important role on the planet's spin evolution, since thermal atmospheric tides, driven by the host star, may counterbalance gravitational tides. In this work, we study the long-term spin evolution of Earth-sized exoplanets. We generalize previous works by including the effect of eccentric orbits and obliquity. We show that under the effect of tides and core–mantle friction, the obliquity of the planets evolves either to 0° or 180°. The rotation of these planets is also expected to evolve into a very restricted number of equilibrium configurations. In general, none of these equilibria is synchronous with the orbital mean motion. The role of thermal atmospheric tides becomes more important for Earth-sized planets in the habitable zones of their systems; so they cannot be neglected when we search for their potential habitability.
A gauge invariant Debye mass for the complex heavy-quark potential

The concept of a screening mass is a powerful tool to simplify the intricate physics of in-medium test charges surrounded by light charge carriers. While it has been successfully used to describe electromagnetic properties, its definition and computation in QCD is plagued by questions of gauge invariance and the presence of non-perturbative contributions from the magnetic sector. Here we present a recent alternative definition of a gauge invariant Debye mass parameter following closely the original idea of Debye and H\"uckel. Our test charges are a static heavy quark-antiquark pair whose complex potential and its in-medium modification can be extracted using lattice QCD. By combining in a generalized Gauss-Law the non-perturbative aspects of quark binding with a perturbative ansatz for the medium effects, we succeed to describe the lattice values of the potential with a single temperature dependent parameter, in turn identified with a Debye mass. We find that its behavior, as evaluated in a recent quenched lattice QCD study, deviates from that in other approaches, such as hard-thermal-loop perturbation theory or from electric field correlators on the lattice. In particular around the phase transition its values tend to zero significantly faster than at weak-coupling.
15-Year Benefits of Sigmoidoscopy Screening on Colorectal Cancer Incidence and Mortality

BACKGROUND The effectiveness of screening for colorectal cancer (CRC) by sex and age in randomized trials is uncertain. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the 15-year effect of sigmoidoscopy screening on CRC incidence and mortality. DESIGN Pooled analysis of 4 large-scale randomized trials of sigmoidoscopy screening. SETTING Norway, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Italy. PARTICIPANTS Women and men aged 55 to 64 years at enrollment. INTERVENTION Sigmoidoscopy screening. MEASUREMENTS Primary end points were cumulative incidence rate ratio (IRR) and mortality rate ratio (MRR) and rate differences after 15 years of follow-up comparing screening versus usual care in intention-to-treat analyses. Stratified analyses were done by sex, cancer site, and age at screening. RESULTS Analyses comprised 274 952 persons (50.7% women), 137 493 in the screening and 137 459 in the usual care group. Screening attendance was 58% to 84%. After 15 years, the rate difference for CRC incidence was 0.51 cases (95% CI, 0.40 to 0.63 cases) per 100 persons and the IRR was 0.79 (CI, 0.75 to 0.83). The rate difference for CRC mortality was 0.13 deaths (CI, 0.07 to 0.19 deaths) per 100 persons, and the MRR was 0.80 (CI, 0.72 to 0.88). Women had less benefit from screening than men for CRC incidence (IRR for women, 0.84 [CI, 0.77 to 0.91]; IRR for men, 0.75 [CI, 0.70 to 0.81]; P = 0.032 for difference) and mortality (MRR for women, 0.91 [CI, 0.77 to 1.17]; MRR for men, 0.73 [CI, 0.64 to 0.83]; P = 0.025 for difference). There was no statistically significant difference in screening effect between persons aged 55 to 59 years and those aged 60 to 64 years. LIMITATION Data from the U.K. trial were less granular because of privacy regulations. CONCLUSION This pooled analysis of all large randomized trials of sigmoidoscopy screening demonstrates a significant and sustained effect of sigmoidoscopy on CRC incidence and mortality for 15 years. PRIMARY FUNDING SOURCE Health Fund of South-East Norway.
Stability and Relevance in Incomplete Argumentation Frameworks

We explore the computational complexity of stability and relevance in incomplete argumentation frameworks (IAFs), abstract argumentation frameworks that encode qualitative uncertainty by distinguishing between certain and uncertain arguments and attacks. IAFs can be speciﬁed by, e.g., making uncertain arguments or attacks certain; the justiﬁcation status of arguments in an IAF is determined on the basis of the certain arguments and attacks. An argument is stable if its justiﬁcation status is the same in all speciﬁcations of the IAF. For arguments that are not stable in an IAF, the relevance problem is of interest: which uncertain arguments or attacks should be investigated for the argument to become stable? We redeﬁne stability and deﬁne relevance for IAFs and study their complexity.
A Target Enterprise Architecture Approach for New Mobility Services in Demand-Responsive Public Transport

Demand-responsive public transport, such as new mobility solutions (NMS), like car sharing, urban bikes or e-scooters, have become increasingly popular in big cities. NMS have started to influence the way people move in urban areas, but they are also expected to impact public transport operators and especially their IT landscape. The purpose of this paper is to present and evaluate this issue from a first enterprise architecture (EA) as a target/reference architecture based on ArchiMate (V.3.1). Although EA management is recognised as relevant for public transport companies, there is a lack of an overall architecture fulfilling requirements of needs-oriented local public transport (especially NMS). The purpose of the research and in particular of this paper is to contribute to this area by (a) highlighting the strategic necessity including the required capabilities, (b) presenting a first target architecture and (c) concretising it in a section using the example of the area of planning and resource deployment.
Energy dependent time delays of kHz oscillations due to thermal Comptonization

We study the energy dependent photon variability from a thermal Comptonizing plasma that is oscillating at kHz frequencies. In particular, we solve the linearised time dependent Kompaneets equation and consider the oscillatory perturbation to be either in the soft photon source or in the heating rate of the plasma. For each case, we self consistently consider the energy balance of the plasma and the soft photon source. The model incorporates the possibility of a fraction of the Comptonized photons impinging back into the soft photon source. We find that when the oscillation is due to the soft photon source, the variation of the fractional root mean sqaure (r.m.s) is nearly constant with energy and the time-lags are hard. However, for the case when the oscillation is due to variation in the heating rate of the corona, and when a significant fraction of the photons impinge back into the soft photon source, the r.m. s increases with energy and the time lags are soft. As an example, we compare the results with the $\sim 850$ Hz oscillation observed on March 3, 1996 for 4U 1608-52 and show that both the observed soft time-lags as well as the r.m. s versus energy can be well described by such a model where the size of the Comptonizing plasma is $\sim 1$ km. Thus, modelling of the time lags as due to Comptonization delays, can provide tight constraints on the size and geometry of the system. Detailed analysis would require well constrained spectral parameters.
Protection against H2O2-evoked toxicity in HT22 hippocampal neuronal cells by geissoschizine methyl ether via inhibiting ERK pathway

Abstract Oxidative stress is considered as an important mechanism underlying the pathology of neurodegenerative disorders. In this study, we utilized an in vitro model where oxidative stress process was evoked by exogenous hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in HT22 murine hippocampal neurons and evaluated the neuroprotective effects of geissoschizine methyl ether (GME), a naturally occurring alkaloid from the hooks of Uncaria rhynchophylla (Miq.) Jacks. After a 24 h H2O2 (350 μM) insult, a significant decrease in cell survival and a sharp increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species were observed in HT22 cells. Encouragingly, GME (10–200 μM) effectively reversed these abnormal cellular changes induced by H2O2. Moreover, mechanistic studies using Western blot revealed that GME inhibited the increase of phospho-ERK protein expression, but not phospho-p38, caused by H2O2. Molecular docking simulation further revealed a possible binding mode that GME inhibited ERK protein, showing that GME favorably bound to ERK via multiple hydrophobic and hydrogen bond interactions. These findings indicate that GME provide effective neuroprotection via inhibiting ERK pathway and also encourage further ex vivo and in vivo pharmacological investigations of GME in treating oxidative stress-mediated neurological disorders. Graphical abstract
Managing Decision Complexity of Post-Merger Information System Integration

One of the important activities after the decision to merge organizations is made is the post-merger integration (PMI) of organizations, including the integration of their information systems (IS). This research focuses on the decisions and plan phase in the post-merger integration and aims to answer the following question - how decisions on PMI IS integration should be organized for better M&A results? In this research, merger and acquisition (M&A) context and PMI are integration-related literature is reviewed to determine factors that can impact PMI IS integration decision-making and correspondingly M&A results. Based on findings, the PMI IS integration decision requirements model is created and applied to the previously created PMI-specific requirements engineering, knowledge management, and enterprise architecture-based framework, uncovering required adjustments to the previously defined PMI IS decision-making process.
Completeness in discrete-time process algebra

We prove soundness and completeness for some ACP-style concrete, relative-time, discrete-time process algebras. We treat non-delayable actions, delayable actions, and immediate deadlock. Basic process algebras are examined extensively, and also some concurrent process algebras are considered. We conclude with ACPdrt, which combines all described features in one theory. 1991 Mathematics Subject Classification: 68Q10, 68Q22, 68Q55. 1991 CR Categories: D.1. 3, D.3. 1, F.1. 2, F.3. 2.
Effect of polar discontinuity on the growth of LaNiO3/LaAlO3 superlattices

We have conducted a detailed microscopic investigation of [LaNiO3(1 u.c.)/LaAlO3(1 u.c.)]N superlattices grown on (001) SrTiO3 and LaAlO3 to explore the influence of polar mismatch on the resulting electronic and structural properties. Our data demonstrate that the initial growth on the nonpolar SrTiO3 surface leads to a rough morphology and unusual 2+ valence of Ni in the initial LaNiO3 layer, which is not observed after growth on the polar surface of LaAlO3. A devised model suggests that the polar mismatch can be resolved if the perovskite layers grow with an excess of LaO, which also accounts for the observed electronic, chemical, and structural effects.