Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Coupler-Assisted Controlled-Phase Gate with Enhanced Adiabaticity

Ji Chu and Fei Yan 2, 3, ∗ Shenzhen Institute for Quantum Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Quantum Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
More Identifiable yet Equally Performant Transformers for Text Classification

Interpretability is an important aspect of the trustworthiness of a model’s predictions. Transformer’s predictions are widely explained by the attention weights, i.e., a probability distribution generated at its self-attention unit (head). Current empirical studies provide shreds of evidence that attention weights are not explanations by proving that they are not unique. A recent study showed theoretical justifications to this observation by proving the non-identifiability of attention weights. For a given input to a head and its output, if the attention weights generated in it are unique, we call the weights identifiable. In this work, we provide deeper theoretical analysis and empirical observations on the identifiability of attention weights. Ignored in the previous works, we find the attention weights are more identifiable than we currently perceive by uncovering the hidden role of the key vector. However, the weights are still prone to be non-unique attentions that make them unfit for interpretation. To tackle this issue, we provide a variant of the encoder layer that decouples the relationship between key and value vector and provides identifiable weights up to the desired length of the input. We prove the applicability of such variations by providing empirical justifications on varied text classification tasks. The implementations are available at https://github.com/declare-lab/identifiable-transformers.
Towards Emotional Support Dialog Systems

Emotional support is a crucial ability for many conversation scenarios, including social interactions, mental health support, and customer service chats. Following reasonable procedures and using various support skills can help to effectively provide support. However, due to the lack of a well-designed task and corpora of effective emotional support conversations, research on building emotional support into dialog systems remains lacking. In this paper, we define the Emotional Support Conversation (ESC) task and propose an ESC Framework, which is grounded on the Helping Skills Theory. We construct an Emotion Support Conversation dataset (ESConv) with rich annotation (especially support strategy) in a help-seeker and supporter mode. To ensure a corpus of high-quality conversations that provide examples of effective emotional support, we take extensive effort to design training tutorials for supporters and several mechanisms for quality control during data collection. Finally, we evaluate state-of-the-art dialog models with respect to the ability to provide emotional support. Our results show the importance of support strategies in providing effective emotional support and the utility of ESConv in training more emotional support systems.
The Standard Model of Particle Physics as a Conspiracy Theory and the Possible Role of the Higgs Boson in the Evolution of the Early Universe

I am considering Veltman’s “The Infrared–Ultraviolet Connection” addressing the issue of quadratic divergences and the related huge radiative correction predicted by the electroweak Standard Model (SM) in the relationship between the bare and the renormalized theory, commonly called “the hierarchy problem” which usually is claimed that this has to be cured. After the discovery of the Higgs particle at CERN, which essentially completed the SM, an amazing interrelation of the leading interaction strengths of the gauge bosons, the top quark, and the Higgs boson showed up amounting that the SM allows for a perturbative extrapolation of the running couplings up to the Planck scale. The central question concerns the stability of the electroweak vacuum, which requires that the running Higgs self-coupling stays positive. Although several evaluations seem to favor the meta-stability within the experimental and theoretical parameter-uncertainties, one should not exclude the possibility that other experiments and improved matching conditions will be able to establish the absolute stability of the SM vacuum in the future. I will discuss the stable vacuum scenario and its impact on early cosmology, revealing the Higgs boson as the inflaton. It turns out that the Standard Model’s presumed “hierarchy problem” and similarly the “cosmological constant problem” resolve themselves when we understand the SM as a low-energy effective tail that is emergent from a cutoff-medium at the Planck scale. “The Infrared–Ultraviolet Connection” conveyed by the Higgs boson mass renormalization appears in a new light when the energy dependence of the SM couplings is taken into account.
SPECTROSCOPY OF ISOCYANIDES AND THEIR SEARCH IN INTERSTELLAR MEDIUM

L. MARGULÈS, R. A. MOTIYENKO, Laboratoire PhLAM, CNRS UMR 8523, Universit é de Lille 1, 59655 Villeneuve d’Ascq Cedex, France ; B. TERCERO, J. CERNICHARO, Centro de Astrobioloǵ ıa (CSIC-INTA). Laboratory of Molecular Astrophysics. Department of Astro physics. Ctra de Ajalvir,Km 4, 28850 Torrej ón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain ; and J.-C. GUILLEMIN,Sciences Chimiques de Rennes, UMR 6226 CNRS-ENSCR, Avenue du Ǵeńeral Leclerc, CS 50837, 35708 Rennes Cedex 7, France .
An Examination of Firm-Manager Match Quality in the Executive Labor Market

We use a three way mixed-effects model to quantify firm-manager match effects in executive compensation, and find that unobservable match heterogeneity explains a considerable proportion of the compensation variation. Firms compensate managers for productivity generated by the efficient match, so we propose a measure of firm-manager match quality based on the match effects in executive pay. We validate the proposed measure by showing that it captures systematic firm-manager complementarities and that it is positively and significantly associated with firm operating performance. We also find significant negative stock market reactions to the news of sudden deaths of CEOs with higher match quality, which helps address the concern that our match quality measure captures managerial rent extraction. Further, we show that match quality is an economically significant factor in CEO turnover decisions, an aspect of the executive labor market that features matching consideration prominently.
COVID-19 and the Urban Housing Market in China

This paper estimates that COVID-19 decreases housing prices by two percent and has a large negative effect on transaction volumes in China. The dynamic analysis from event studies demonstrates that the housing price and the transaction volume in 2020 had persistently deviated from the levels in 2019. Cities with different social-distancing measures or different reopening policies experienced similar changes in housing prices. On the other hand, houses near city centers and in taller buildings have larger decreases in prices, suggesting potential changes in household preference for urban density after the pandemic. COVID-19’s effects on the housing market are likely to be driven by a larger decrease in the housing demand and a smaller decrease in the housing supply.
Simulation of Motion of Particles in High-speed Elliptical-rotor-type Mixer by Particle Element Method.

高速楕円ローター回転型複合化装置 (θコンポーザー) による複合化過程は巨視的な観点から明らかにされつつある. と同時に, 粒子間や粒子-装置間に作用する接触力や装置内の粒子挙動に関するミクロ的な検討は, 被覆粒子層の質の向上を図るうえで必要である. そこで本報では, θコンポーザー内での付着過程を解明する第一段階として, 核粒子の挙動のみに着目し, その運動を粒子要素法 (PEM) で3次元シミュレーションした. 核粒子として直径200μmの単分散球形粒子を装置内に仕込み, 核粒子に及ぼされる接触力や接触点数の変動を解析した. ローターをつけない装置内の粒子層のPEMにより求められた巨視的な運動と実測結果はよく一致しており, 用いた粒子要素法が妥当なことを検証した. 楕円型容器の長軸が水平に対し約45度に傾斜した状態で, 最も大きな圧縮が粒子層に作用していた. また, 核粒子に作用する各種の接触力のうち, ローターから受ける力が最も大きく, それはローターの回転速度に依存した. 以上のことから, 複合化状態を制御する上でローターの回転速度を制御することが重要であることがわかった.
Reinvestment Risk and the Equity Term Structure

The equity term structure is downward sloping at long maturities. I show, through an ICAPM estimation, that the tradeoff between market and reinvestment risk explains this pattern. Intuitively, while long-term dividend claims are highly exposed to market risk, they are also good hedges for reinvestment risk because dividend prices rise as expected returns decline, and longer-term claims are more sensitive to discount rates. In the estimated ICAPM, reinvestment risk dominates at long maturities, inducing relatively low risk premia on long-term dividend claims. The model is also consistent with the equity term structure cyclicality and the upward sloping bond term structure.
Do Firms Respond Differently to Local Competition? Evidence from Textual Analysis of 10-K Filings

A firm is typically characterized as competing at the country-level, facing the same level of competition regardless of the locations in which it competes. However, an average firm operates in only five out of 50 U.S. states and the intensity of rivalry varies across states. This raises an important question: Do firms weight the rivalry from their local competitors more than distant competitors? To address this question, we develop a text-based firm-specific measure of localized competition based on firms' disclosures about operationally relevant U.S. states in 10-K filings. We validate this measure using major customer and U.S. Census data, and document its association with the rate of mean reversion of profitability. We find localized competition explains innovation and cash policies incremental to broad-based measures of competition used in prior literature. Relevance of localized competition is greater in industries with high geographic segmentation and for firms that have smaller geographic footprints than the industry as a whole. Our results suggest firms can be better characterized as competing in several local markets.
Do Verified Earnings Reports Increase Investment?

A common view is that verified earnings reports encourage investment through improved transparency. We lack direct evidence on this foundational proposition because researchers cannot observe counterfactuals where a manager either: (1) must remain silent about performance or (2) can make any statement about performance she desires, even a bald-faced lie. We experimentally manipulate whether a manager can provide information to an investor either by voluntarily disclosing a verified earnings report, communicating freely via unverifiable cheap talk, or both. Our experiment involves repeated interactions between an uninformed investor with funds that, if invested, generate uncertain gains, and a trustee-manager who observes and then divides gains after they are realized. We hypothesize and find that: (1) the provision of a verified earnings report leads to higher investment compared to a world where reporting is not possible, and (2) the provision of a verified earnings report leads to more accurate cheap talk communication than when earnings reports are unavailable. Contrary to our prediction, we find that investment when both earnings reports and cheap talk are possible is statistically indistinguishable from investment when only cheap talk communication is available. Further tests reveal that a lack of verified earnings reports leads managers to sustain a partner’s investment by providing high returns to the investor while also limiting (but not completely eliminating) deceptive communication and profit-taking. Our main conclusion is that verified earnings reports promote investment on a stand-alone basis by improving transparency, but the effect of greater transparency from earnings reports on investment is more nuanced when earnings reports can influence the disclosure of unverifiable information. The main implication of our evidence is that the greater transparency of management behavior with verified earnings reports is not unambiguously positive since making behavior more transparent can lead managers to change their behavior.
Predicting Corporate Policies Using Downside Risk: A Machine Learning Approach

Abstract This paper develops a text-based downside risk measure using corporate annual reports and assesses its ability to forecast future corporate policies. The forward-looking measure dynamically captures adverse firm conditions evolving from economic fundamentals. When the measure is below its sample average, leverage, investment, R&D, employment, and dividends consistently fall. When the measure rises, firms increase cash holdings. The proposed measure also delivers robust and persistent forecasts based on in-sample and out-of-sample LASSO regressions.
Constructing Demand Curves from a Single Observation of Bundle Sales

Firms typically require multiple sales observations under varying prices to understand how the demand for their items respond to price. In this paper, our partner online retailer is faced with the problem of reconstructing demand curves when only a single point on each curve has been historically observed. We show how a second point on each curve can be extracted from the sales of their discounted bundles, after which we help them estimate linear demand curves for their items. We perform this extraction by fitting a multi-item valuation model from the bundle pricing literature, introducing a new iterative procedure for solving this fitting problem. Our extraction process reveals a new insight on the relationship between an item's relative frequency of bundle sales vs. the steepness of its demand curve around its current price. We validate this insight on the data provided by our partner firm.
What Drives Marginal Q Fluctuations?

Sharp swings in the shadow value of capital (marginal Q) characterize business cycle fluctuations. An important question is whether marginal Q fluctuates due to revisions in expected marginal profits or discount rates, and by how much of each. We infer marginal Q from the marginal cost of investment, derive a present-value relation, and conduct a VAR-based variance decomposition for marginal Q. We find that the bulk of fluctuations in marginal Q stems from expected investment return (discount rate) shocks. Yet, expected marginal profit shocks play a non-negligible role. Additionally, the entire variation of investment stems from discount rate shocks.
Executive Compensation and Corporate Risk Taking: Evidence from Private Loan Contracts

We examine how management stock options affect corporate risk taking. We exploit exogenous variation in stock option grants generated by FAS 123R and use loan spreads to infer risk taking. Using a difference-in-differences approach, we find that the spreads of loans taken by firms that did not expense options before FAS 123R (treated firms) significantly decrease after FAS 123R relative to firms that either did not issue stock options or voluntarily expensed stock options before 123R (control firms). We also find that the effect is stronger for firms with high agency conflicts associated with risk-shifting. Furthermore, loans taken by the treated firms are less likely to contain collateral requirements and are less likely to have covenants restricting capital investment post FAS 123R.
An Experience of Multiple Hematomas in a Coronavirus Disease-19 Patient Administered with ART-123 and Heparin

Background Anticoagulant therapy for patients with severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pneumonia is considered to improve the hypercoagulable and inflammatory state. However, bleeding complications should also be considered. Case Presentation A 77-year-old man with a history of falls was diagnosed with COVID-19. Owing to his severe condition, he was intubated and transferred to our hospital for intensive care. Favipiravir, tocilizumab, unfractionated heparin, and ART-123 were administered to treat COVID-19 and manage the antithrombotic prophylaxis for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (Af). On the 6th day after admission, a hematoma was noted on the left chest wall. Computed tomography (CT) revealed multiple hematomas, including hematomas on his chest wall and obturatorius internus muscle. Emergency angiography transcatheter embolization (TAE) was performed. The patient was transferred to another hospital 23 days after TAE, without complications. Conclusion Our findings show that anticoagulation therapy and a history of falls induced multiple hematomas in a COVID-19 patient and that the condition was managed with TAE. When anticoagulants are considered in the management of Af and COVID-19 associated coagulopathy, it is necessary to closely monitor potential bleeding complications.
Precision medicine reaching out to the patients in allergology – a German-Japanese workshop report

An expert workshop in collaboration of the German Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology (DGAKI) and the Japanese Society of Allergy (JSA) provided a platform for key opinion leaders of both countries aimed to join expertise and to highlight current developments and achievements in allergy research. Key domains of the meeting included the following seven main sections and related subchapters: 1) basic immunology, 2) bronchial asthma, 3) prevention of allergic diseases, 4) food allergy and anaphylaxis, 5) atopic dermatitis, 6) venom allergy, and 7) upper airway diseases. This report provides a summary of panel discussions of all seven domains and highlights unmet needs and project possibilities of enhanced collaborations of scientific projects.
Polysomnographic Sleep and Attentional Deficits in Traumatized North Korean Refugees

Introduction Attentional deficits and sleep problems are common in refugees who have experienced trauma. In the present study, we used polysomnography (PSG) to investigate the relationship between attentional deficits and objective measures of sleep structure in traumatized North Korean refugees. Methods We recruited 32 North Korean refugees (mean age = 33.78 ± 14.33 years) and 39 South Korean participants (mean age = 35.03 ± 11.08 years). Sustained attention and divided attention were assessed using the Computerized Attention Test. We conducted an overnight PSG to objectively assess sleep structure. The participants also completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Impact of Event Scale-Revised (IES-R), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), and Insomnia Severity Index (ISI). Results The North Korean refugees showed more commission errors (CEs, p < 0.05) and a larger standard deviation (SD) of the reaction time (RT) (p < 0.05) in the sustained attention task compared to the South Korean participants. Furthermore, the North Korean refugees showed a shorter period of wake after sleep onset (WASO, p < 0.01), less time spent in N1 (p < 0.05), and more time spent in N2 (p < 0.05). The larger SD of RT in the sustained attention task in the North Korean refugees was positively correlated with WASO (r = 0.62, p < 0.01) and N1 stage (r = 0.47, p < 0.05) after controlling for age, sex, BDI, BAI, and IES-R. Conclusion The North Korean refugees showed poorer performance on the sustained attention task. Nocturnal PSG revealed shorter WASO and time spent in N1 in this population, which are independently associated with the preservation of attentional capacity. These data suggest that traumatized refugees may compensate for attentional deficits induced by their traumatic experiences via increased sleep continuity.
New Perspectives in the Diagnosis and Management of Allergic Fungal Airway Disease

Abstract Allergy to airway-colonising, thermotolerant, filamentous fungi represents a distinct eosinophilic endotype of often severe lung disease. This endotype, which particularly affects adult asthma, but also complicates other airway diseases and sometimes occurs de novo, has a heterogeneous presentation ranging from severe eosinophilic asthma to lobar collapse. Its hallmark is lung damage, characterised by fixed airflow obstruction (FAO), bronchiectasis and lung fibrosis. It has a number of monikers including severe asthma with fungal sensitisation (SAFS) and allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis/mycosis (ABPA/M), but these exclusive terms constitute only sub-sets of the condition. In order to capture the full extent of the syndrome we prefer the inclusive term allergic fungal airway disease (AFAD), the criteria for which are IgE sensitisation to relevant fungi in association with airway disease. The primary fungus involved is Aspergillus fumigatus, but a number of other thermotolerant species from several genera have been implicated. The unifying mechanism involves germination of inhaled fungal spores in the lung in the context of IgE sensitisation, leading to a persistent and vigorous eosinophilic inflammatory response in association with release of fungal proteases. Most allergenic fungi, including Alternaria and Cladosporium species, are not thermotolerant and cannot germinate in the airways so only act as aeroallergens and do not cause AFAD. Studies of the airway mycobiome have shown that A. fumigatus colonises the normal as much as the asthmatic airway, suggesting it is the tendency to become IgE-sensitised that is the critical triggering factor for AFAD rather than colonisation per se. Treatment is aimed at preventing exacerbations with glucocorticoids and increasingly by the use of anti-T2 biological therapies. Anti-fungal therapy has a limited place in management, but is an effective treatment for fungal bronchitis which complicates AFAD in about 10% of cases.
Successful Treatment with Ensartinib After Alectinib-induced Hyperbilirubinemia in ALK-Positive NSCLC

Background Alectinib is approved for the treatment of advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) harboring ALK rearrangements. Although generally well tolerated, alectinib can cause serious or life-threatening side effects. Case Presentation Here, we report a case of a patient with NSCLC with an EML4-ALK fusion and was treated with alectinib but who developed grade 4 hyperbilirubinemia after five months on therapy. Alectinib was discontinued, and an artificial liver support system (ALSS) was used with an impressive decline in bilirubin levels. After two months drug-free, the patient experienced disease progression. Ensartinib was initiated as second-line treatment with a best response of stable disease after three months of therapy with no evidence of hyperbilirubinemia. Conclusion This is the first report of ensartinib treatment after alectinib-induced hyperbilirubinemia which was successfully relieved by ALSS treatment and targeted drug cessation.