Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey. XXXIV. Ultracompact Dwarf Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster

We present a study of ultracompact dwarf (UCD) galaxies in the Virgo cluster based mainly on imaging from the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS). Using ∼100 deg2 of u*giz imaging, we have identified more than 600 candidate UCDs, from the core of Virgo out to its virial radius. Candidates have been selected through a combination of magnitudes, ellipticities, colors, surface brightnesses, half-light radii, and, when available, radial velocities. Candidates were also visually validated from deep NGVS images. Subsamples of varying completeness and purity have been defined to explore the properties of UCDs and compare to those of globular clusters and the nuclei of dwarf galaxies with the aim of delineating the nature and origins of UCDs. From a surface density map, we find the UCDs to be mostly concentrated within Virgo’s main subclusters, around its brightest galaxies. We identify several subsamples of UCDs—i.e., the brightest, largest, and those with the most pronounced and/or asymmetric envelopes—that could hold clues to the origin of UCDs and possible evolutionary links with dwarf nuclei. We find some evidence for such a connection from the existence of diffuse envelopes around some UCDs and comparisons of radial distributions of UCDs and nucleated galaxies within the cluster.
Two's Company, Three's a Crowd: Consensus-Halving for a Constant Number of Agents

We consider the ε-Consensus-Halving problem, in which a set of heterogeneous agents aim at dividing a continuous resource into two (not necessarily contiguous) portions that all of them simultaneously consider to be of approximately the same value (up to ε). This problem was recently shown to be PPA-complete, for n agents and n cuts, even for very simple valuation functions. In a quest to understand the root of the complexity of the problem, we consider the setting where there is only a constant number of agents, and we consider both the computational complexity and the query complexity of the problem. For agents with monotone valuation functions, we show a dichotomy: for two agents the problem is polynomial-time solvable, whereas for three or more agents it becomes PPA-complete. Similarly, we show that for two monotone agents the problem can be solved with polynomially-many queries, whereas for three or more agents, we provide exponential query complexity lower bounds. These results are enabled via an interesting connection to a monotone Borsuk-Ulam problem, which may be of independent interest. For agents with general valuations, we show that the problem is PPA-complete and admits exponential query complexity lower bounds, even for two agents.
Correlated fragile topology: A parton approach

A fragile topological insulator (FTI) can be viewed as an almost-atomic insulator, with emergent negative charges localized at certain real-space points, even though the underlying lattice Hilbert space contains only positively charged states. Fragile topology in free-fermion systems has been fruitfully studied using modern topological band theory. However, the concept is well defined even for strongly correlated systems, and fragile states that cannot be realized within free-fermion band theory exist abundantly. In this work we propose a rather general parton construction for such correlation-enabled FTIs. In our parton construction the associated gauge symmetries are completely Higgsed, resulting in only short-range entangled states. The effective negative charges in the FTIs emerge naturally as the remnants of negatively charged partons. For spinful electrons with $SU(2)$ spin-rotation symmetry, the fragile phases can be viewed as FTIs of charge-2, spin singlet bosonic Cooper pairs. We discuss a few examples of correlated FTIs for both spinless and spinful fermions, including some ``featureless Mott insulators'' on the honeycomb lattice previously discussed in the literature.
Generative Classifiers as a Basis for Trustworthy Computer Vision

With the maturing of deep learning systems, trustworthiness is becoming increasingly important for model assessment. We understand trustworthiness as the combination of explainability and robustness. Generative classifiers (GCs) are a promising class of models that are said to naturally accomplish these qualities. However, this has mostly been demonstrated on simple datasets such as MNIST, SVHN and CIFAR in the past. In this work, we firstly develop an architecture and training scheme that allows for GCs to be trained on the ImageNet classification task, a more relevant level of complexity for practical computer vision. The resulting models use an invertible neural network architecture and achieve a competetive ImageNet top-1 accuracy of up to 76.2%. Secondly, we show the large potential of GCs for trustworthiness. Explainability and some aspects of robustness are vastly improved compared to standard feed-forward models, even when the GCs are just applied naively. While not all trustworthiness problems are solved completely, we argue from our observations that GCs are an extremely promising basis for further algorithms and modifications, as have been developed in the past for feedforward models to increase their trustworthiness. We release our trained model for download in the hope that it serves as a starting point for various other generative classification tasks in much the same way as pretrained ResNet models do for discriminative classification.
Levels of Practice and Determinants of Diabetes Self-Care in Primary Health Care in Jeddah City, Saudi Arabia

Objective To assess the level and determinants of practice in diabetes self-management at primary health care centers (PHCCs) and to analyze the association of self-management with the level of glycemic control. Method A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, aged ≥ 17 years, and being followed at PHCCs in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from December 1, 2019, to December 30, 2019. A multistage cluster sampling technique was used to select 350 participants from five PHCCs. The level of practice in self-management was assessed using the Arabic version of the Summary of Diabetes Self-care Activities (SDSCA) questionnaire. The tool was administered as a face-to-face interview, followed by the collection of sociodemographic and relevant clinical data. In addition, blood was collected to measure fasting blood glucose (FBG) and HbA1c levels. The association of the overall SDSCA score with diabetes control was analyzed using linear regression and the receiver operator characteristics (ROC) curve. Multivariate binary logistic regression was carried out to analyze independent factors of inadequate practice. Result The overall mean (SD) SDSCA score was 3.13 (1.13)/7. Of the five dimensions of self-care, medication adherence yielded the highest score (mean=5.39 days per week), followed by diet (2.83) and blood glucose monitoring (2.78), while footcare had the lowest level of practice (2.26). The SDSCA score showed a negative correlation with the level of HbA1c, with a correlation coefficient r-squared =0.530 and regression coefficient B=-0.648 (p <0.001). ROC curve analysis showed that optimal glycemic control was associated with SDSCA score cutoff ≥3.5 with 82.0% sensitivity and 77.0% specificity, and the model showed that 38.0% of participants had adequate practice in self-management. Inadequate practice in diabetes self-management was independently associated with age >50 years (OR=2.00 [95%CI=1.02, 3.89]), rental accommodation (OR=0.42 [95%CI=0.23, 0.76]), independent job (OR=3.98 [95%CI=1.66, 9.57]), and longer duration of diabetes (≥8 years) (OR=4.25 [95%CI=1.82, 9.92]). Conclusion There are low levels of diabetes self-management among patients being followed at Jeddah PHCCs. This is associated with suboptimal glycemic control among the majority of the patients, indicating the importance of self-management to improve diabetes control. Patient health literacy and education for self-management should be considered the standard of care for diabetic patients in all PHCCs, with specific attention to subcategories of patients with the lowest levels of practice in self-management such as those with a longer duration of diabetes and the elderly.
Cosmological Model-independent Constraints on Spatial Curvature from Strong Gravitational Lensing and SN Ia Observations

Applying the distance sum rule in strong gravitational lensing (SGL) and SN Ia observations, one can provide an interesting cosmological model-independent method to determine the cosmic curvature parameter Ωk. In this paper, with the newly compiled data sets including 161 galactic-scale SGL systems and 1048 SN Ia data, we place constraints on Ωk within the framework of three types of lens models extensively used in SGL studies. Moreover, to investigate the effect of different mass lens samples on the results, we divide the SGL sample into three subsamples based on the center velocity dispersion of intervening galaxies. In the singular isothermal sphere (SIS) and extended power-law lens models, a flat universe is supported with an uncertainty of about 0.2, while a closed universe is preferred in the power-law lens model. We find that the choice of lens models and the classification of SGL data actually can influence the constraints on Ωk significantly.
Arthropod Abundance and Diversity in Bt and Non-Bt Cotton Fields

Abstract The widespread planting of crops genetically modified to produce Bacillus thuringeinsis Berliner (Bt) toxins for pest control may affect nontarget arthropods. To address this issue, we compared the abundance and diversity of arthropods on plants in field plots of Bt cotton, non-Bt cotton, and a row mixture of 75% Bt cotton and 25% non-Bt cotton at two sites in Arizona. Over three sampling dates during 2 yr, we recorded all of the arthropods found on 120 cotton plants per treatment. This yielded 3,309 individual arthropods from 69 families. Excluding pink bollworm, Pectinophora gossypiella Saunders, the pest targeted by Bt cotton, we compared the abundance and diversity of all arthropods, chewing herbivores, sucking herbivores, rasping-sucking arthropods, and natural enemies. Arthropod abundance was significantly affected by site, plant height, and cotton type. More arthropods were collected from row mixture plots than Bt plots, but arthropod abundance did not differ significantly between Bt plots and non-Bt plots. The number of families collected was 57 for row mixture plots, 55 for non-Bt plots, and 47 for Bt plots. The number of families increased as arthropod abundance increased, suggesting that the differences in diversity among treatments were caused by differences in abundance. Within row mixture plots, arthropod abundance and diversity did not differ significantly between Bt plants and non-Bt plants. We conclude that the differences between Bt and non-Bt cultivars had relatively minor effects on the arthropod community on cotton plants.
ADOPTION OF E-BANKING IN ROMANIA: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

E-banking, or banking via the Internet, is revolutionising the business, having multiple benefits both for the financial institutions and for clients. E-bankers offer better customer service, creating opportunities for customers and providing added value. They treat customers as individuals, making masss customisation possible and creating customer loyalty. E-banking is an opportunity for banks to leverage their strenghts and create a totally new banking experience. The present paper investigates and analyses the adoption and evolution of electronic banking in Romania, and the appropriate strategies for development of online banking services in the Romanian context.
Existence of a nonequilibrium steady state for the nonlinear BGK equation on an interval

We show existence of a non-equilibrium steady state for the one-dimensional, non-linear BGK model on an interval with diffusive boundary conditions. These boundary conditions represent the coupling of the system with two heat reservoirs at different temperatures. Our analysis is not perturbative around the equilibrium. We employ a fixed point argument to reduce the study of the model with non-linear collisional interactions to the linear BGK.
Wave Pressure and Energy Cascade Rate of Kink Waves Computed with Elsässer Variables

Numerical simulations have revealed a new type of turbulence of unidirectional waves in a plasma that is perpendicularly structured, named uniturbulence. For this new type of turbulence, the transverse structuring modifies the upward propagating wave to have both Elsässer variables, leading to the well-known perpendicular cascade. In this paper, we study an analytical description of the nonlinear evolution of kink waves in a cylindrical flux tube that are prone to uniturbulence. We show that they lead to a nonlinear cascade for both propagating and standing waves. We calculate explicit expressions for the wave pressure and energy cascade rate. The computed damping rate depends on the density contrast of the flux tube and the background plasma and is inversely proportional to the amplitude of the kink wave. The dependence on the density contrast shows that it plays a role especially in the lower solar corona. These expressions may be added in Alfvén wave driven models of the solar atmosphere (such as the Alfvén Wave Solar Model (AWSOM)), modifying it to UAWSOM (Uniturbulence and the Alfvén Wave Solar Model).
Down-step statistics in generalized Dyck paths

The number of down-steps between pairs of up-steps in $k_t$-Dyck paths, a generalization of Dyck paths consisting of steps $\{(1, k), (1, -1)\}$ such that the path stays (weakly) above the line $y=-t$, is studied. Results are proved bijectively and by means of generating functions, and lead to several interesting identities as well as links to other combinatorial structures. In particular, there is a connection between $k_t$-Dyck paths and perforation patterns for punctured convolutional codes (binary matrices) used in coding theory. Surprisingly, upon restriction to usual Dyck paths this yields a new combinatorial interpretation of Catalan numbers.
Are macroinvertebrate communities influenced by seagrass structural complexity

A study was undertaken within a sub-tidal Zostera marina seagrass bed (Devon, U.K.), with the aim of elucidating the relationship between seagrass structural complexity and the size and composition of the associated macroinvertebrate community. Samples of macroinvertebrates were recovered from three designated areas of shoot density. Various physical characteristics were measured for individual plants, and an a priori complexity index was determined relevant to the associated target organisms. Resulting data were analysed using linear regression and multivariate techniques. Significant relationships were found between shoot density and number of leaves/shoot, leaf length, stem length and algal epiphyte biomass. Neither the number of species nor abundance of macroinvertebrates was significantly related with the derived complexity index. Multivariate analysis indicated that macroinvertebrate communities from the three areas of shoot density were significantly different, the pattern of macroinvertebrate community composition being best explained by sea-grass biomass. Linear regression of seagrass biomass with macroinvertebrate number of species and abundance revealed significant positive relationships. Regression also indicated that there was no significant increase in complexity with increasing seagrass biomass. The results suggest that within a seagrass bed the size and composition of the associated macroinvertebrate community is not determined by the structural complexity of the plants, but by the amount of plant available. This finding indicates a simple species-area relationship, and arguably one brought about as a result of a sampling artefact. Thus, the current paradigm that structural complexity of seagrass is responsible for increased species diversity, can only be justifiably applied to comparisons between seagrass and other habitats, and not within a seagrass bed itself.
Testing predictions of the critical period for survival concept using experiments with stocked Atlantic salmon

Two separate field experiments were performed in the U.S.A. and Norway with stocked Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. In the Norwegian experiment, the offspring of early-spawning fish which had larger eggs and emerged a few days before offspring of later spawning fish had consistently higher survival rates. In the U.S.A. experiment, stream sections with higher proportions of favourable foraging locations during the critical period (the transition from dependence on maternally-derived yolk reserves to independent feeding) had lower loss rates of fish stocked as unfed fry. These results provide support for the critical period concept (CPC) in Atlantic salmon, underscores the utility of a manipulative approach to achieve further advances in knowledge of Atlantic salmon ecology and provide additional guidance to management and restoration. A mechanistic, conceptual model for density dependence is presented to identify important knowledge gaps that remain to further evaluate the importance of the CPC for Atlantic salmon population regulation.
Image Synthesis with a Convolutional Capsule Generative Adversarial Network

Machine learning for biomedical imaging often suffers from a lack of labelled training data. One solution is to use generative models to synthesise more data. To this end, we introduce CapsPix2Pix, which combines convolutional capsules with the pix2pix framework, to synthesise images conditioned on class segmentation labels. We apply our approach to a new biomedical dataset of cortical axons imaged by two-photon microscopy, as a method of data augmentation for small datasets. We evaluate performance both qualitatively and quantitatively. Quantitative evaluation is performed by using image data generated by either CapsPix2Pix or pix2pix to train a U-net on a segmentation task, then testing on real microscopy data. Our method quantitatively performs as well as pix2pix, with an order of magnitude fewer parameters. Additionally, CapsPix2Pix is far more capable at synthesising images of different appearance, but the same underlying geometry. Finally, qualitative analysis of the features learned by CapsPix2Pix suggests that individual capsules capture diverse and often semantically meaningful groups of features, covering structures such as synapses, axons and noise.
How Modification of the Nutrition Facts Panel Influences Consumers at Risk for Heart Disease: The Case of Trans Fat

Making well-informed, healthful food choices helps people maintain a high quality of life. This is especially true for consumers suffering from serious diseases and conditions, such as coronary heart disease and diabetes. Two studies examine how the provision of information on trans fat, a nutrient that provides no known beneficial health benefits, in the Nutrition Facts panel influences consumers’ product perceptions and purchase intentions. Using a sample of consumers suffering from diabetes, the authors show that trans fat knowledge and level (disclosed in a Nutrition Facts panel) interact to influence risk perceptions of cardiovascular disease. The results also indicate that responses of consumers who are at risk for heart disease are influenced by the interplay among consumer knowledge, trans fat level, and motivation to process nutrition information. Specifically, the authors find that motivation in the absence of knowledge can lead to a misinterpretation of the nutrient information. Overall, the results indicate that without appropriate consumer education programs, the addition of trans fat levels to the Nutrition Facts panel may have limited or even unintended consequences. The article concludes with a discussion of the implications of these results for public policy.
Perinatal Mortality According to Level of Perinatal Healthcare Institutions in Low Birth Weight Infants: Cross Sectional Multicentric Study

Background: To investigate the total survival of low birth weight infants (LBWIs) in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FB and H) and selected by subgroups of birth weight (BW) and gestational age (GA). Methods: This cross-sectional study included newborns of both genders, GA of 22–42 weeks and BW of less than 2500 g of 10 cantons territory of the FB and H. In the examined period, 22,897 children were born in the FB and H, of which 669 (2.9%) had BW less than 2500 g. Results: Surviving of LBWIs in the FB and H out of the 669 LBWIs in the first level perinatal healthcare institutions (PHI) was 29 (4.3%), the second level was 286 (42.8%), and the third level was 354 (52.9%). The total stillborn rate was 3.9%. The overall perinatal mortality rate for all levels of PHI was 8.6%. The overall rate of early neonatal mortality of LBWIs in all three levels of PHI in the FB and H was 12.7%. By the end of the first month of life (up to 28 days) and to the end of the neonatal period, 385 (57.5%) of LBWIs survived, and 284 (42.4%) died. The LBWIs by subgroups of BW up to 28 days had lower survival rates in second-level PHI than infants of the same BW subgroups (500–999 and 1000–1499) treated in third-level PHI (P = 0.0089 and P = 0.004). Conclusions: Our results show that B and H belongs to developing countries according to perinatal mortality. A unique database system is necessary to follow progress and trends.
Performance and security of 5 GHz repetition rate polarization-based quantum key distribution

We present and characterize a source for a 5 GHz clocked polarization-based simplified BB84 protocol. Secret keys are distributed over 151.5 km of standard telecom fiber at a rate of 54.5 kbps. Potentially, an increased clock frequency of the experiment introduces correlations between succeeding pulses. We discuss the impact of these correlations and propose measurements to estimate the relevant parameters.
Predictors for Extending Hospitalization Stay in Electroconvulsive Therapy Recipients With Bipolar Disorder, Manic Episodes

Objectives We aim to discern the demographic predictors that may extend the hospitalization length of stay (LOS) for patients with bipolar disorder (BD), manic episodes managed with electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), and to study the impact of insurance and hospital characteristics on LOS. Methods We used the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS, 2012-2014) from the United States hospitals and included 2,785 adult inpatients (mean age 51.3 ± 16.2 years) with a primary diagnosis of BD, manic episode, and managed with ECT. The median LOS of the sample population is 16 days, and the study inpatients were divided into subgroups: ≤16 days versus >16 days. The logistic regression model was used to find the odds ratio (OR) for the associations of demographic and hospital variables with inpatient stay >16 days versus ≤16 days. Results BD inpatients managed with ECT during their hospitalization had a mean LOS of 21.6 ± 22.1 days. About 48.65% (N = 1355) had LOS >16 days. Older adults (age >50 years) have 2.4 times higher odds (95% CI 2.06-2.87) for hospital LOS >16 days compared to younger adults. Although a higher proportion of females received ECT (71.8%), males had two times higher odds (95% CI 1.59-2.27) for hospital LOS >16 days. BD inpatients covered by private insurance/self-pay were at 1.5 times higher odds (95% CI 1.27-1.77) for hospital LOS >16 days. In terms of hospital setting, ownership type and teaching status are significant predictors with inpatients managed in public and teaching hospitals at higher odds for LOS >16 days. Conclusions Older men and inpatients covered by private insurance/self-pay have a higher likelihood of extended hospitalization stay during ECT management of BD, manic episodes. The LOS is also influenced by hospital setting with patients managed in public teaching hospitals at higher odds of longer LOS compared to their counterparts.