Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Impact of Switchbacks on Turbulent Cascade and Energy Transfer Rate in the Inner Heliosphere

Recent Parker Solar Probe (PSP) observations of inner heliospheric plasma have shown an abundant presence of Alfvénic polarity reversal of the magnetic field, known as “switchbacks. ” While their origin is still debated, their role in driving the solar wind turbulence has been suggested through analysis of the spectral properties of magnetic fluctuations. Here, we provide a complementary assessment of their role in the turbulent cascade. The validation of the third-order linear scaling of velocity and magnetic fluctuations in intervals characterized by a high occurrence of switchbacks suggests that, irrespective of their local or remote origin, these structures are actively embedded in the turbulent cascade, at least at the radial distances sampled by PSP during its first perihelion. The stronger positive energy transfer rate observed in periods with a predominance of switchbacks indicates that they act as a mechanism injecting additional energy in the turbulence cascade.
Robust Geotechnical Design of Earth Slopes Using Fuzzy Sets

AbstractThis paper presents a fuzzy set–based robust geotechnical design (RGD) approach for the design of earth slopes in which uncertain soil parameters are represented as fuzzy sets. For a slope with fuzzy sets as inputs, the stability (factor of safety) of the slope is also a fuzzy set. The failure probability of the slope can readily be determined based on the obtained fuzzy factor of safety; further, the design robustness in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can also be evaluated. The purpose of the RGD is to derive a design that is robust against the uncertainty in the input parameters, with an explicit consideration on safety and cost. Therefore, a multiobjective optimization is performed and a three-dimensional or two-dimensional Pareto front showing a trade-off between objectives can be obtained, which allows for an informed design decision. The effectiveness of the proposed fuzzy set–based RGD approach is demonstrated through an illustrative example.
Triathlon wet suit and technical parameters at the start and end of a 1500-m swim

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of wearing a triathlon wet suit on the technical parameters of the front crawl stroke. Eight highly trained male triathletes were filmed with underwater camcorders during two 1500-m swim tests: one with a wet suit (WS) and the other with a standard suit (SS). Two conditions were considered: Condition I (CI) and Condition XV (CXV), representing the 1st and the 15th 100-m, respectively. Views were synchronized and digitized using kinematic analysis software (Schleihauf, 1994) to obtain 3-D coordinates of the anatomical landmarks of the body. Results showed that the wet suit and duration of the exercise significantly influenced stroke parameters. The swim with WS was characterized by greater stroke length and a progressive increase in stroke frequency, resulting from a more extended elbow position during the stroke and from a decrease in the absolute and relative times of the propulsive phase. These changes indicated more efficient upper limb action. The dura.
Polygenic Risk Scores for Prediction of Breast Cancer in Korean women

Background: Polygenic risk scores (PRS) developed in large European GWAS have been shown to predict breast cancer risk in European-ancestry women and perform well in Asian women relative to PRS developed in smaller Asian studies. However, prospective validation of absolute risk predictions from models combining lifestyle and PRS in Asian women is limited. Objectives: Here we evaluate the calibration of four PRS developed using Asian or European training samples; two PRS were restricted to genome-wide significant SNPs (GRS-11ASN and GRS-136EUR) and two included sub-genome-wide significant SNPs (PRS-42ASN and PRS-209EUR). We also assessed the improvement in risk prediction and risk stratification by incorporating the PRS into classical risk factor model. Methods: For each PRS, we compared discrimination (area under the curve [AUC]) and calibration (expected-to-observed ratio [E/O]) of three absolute risk models in a cohort of 41,031 women from the Korean Cancer Prevention Study-II Biobank: (i) a model using incidence, mortality, and risk factor distributions among U.S. non-Hispanic white women and European-ancestry relative risks; (ii) a recalibrated model, using Korean incidence mortality and risk factor distributions but European-ancestry relative risks; and (iii) a fully Korean-based model using Korean incidence mortality and risk factor distributions and relative risk estimates from the KCPS. Results: All Asian and European PRS improved risk prediction for breast cancer in Korean women under 50 (Qx: AUC=0.65, Qx+PRS-42ASN: AUC=0.68, Qx+PRS-209EUR: AUC=0.69 in Korean-based model for age<50). European PRS had larger effect sizes and greater discrimination than Asian PRS in a Korean population (PRS-42ASN: HR per SD = 1.40, AUC = 0.60 vs. PRS-209EUR: HR per SD = 1.54, AUC = 0.62). We found that the U.S.-based absolute risk models overestimated the risks for women age [≥]50 years (PRS-42ASN: E/O=1.93, 95% CI=1.69, 2.19, PRS-209EUR: E/O = 1.92, 95% CI=1.69, 2.19). Our absolute risk projections suggest that risk-reducing lifestyle changes would lead to larger absolute risk reductions among women at higher PRS. Conclusions: Incorporation of PRS previously developed in Asian and European-ancestry populations can improve discrimination in Korean women. Our finding suggests that PRS may be useful for prioritizing individuals for targeted intervention on their lifestyle such as alcohol intake and obesity. Larger Asian training samples should improve PRS discrimination among Korean women. Further studies are needed to evaluate the value of incorporating PRS into risk models in ancestrally diverse populations.
Relationship Between Pavement Performance and Routine Maintenance: Mixed Logit Approach

A mixed logit approach was used to investigate the relationship between routine maintenance and pavement performance. A discrete model was developed to examine how pavement performance levels affect the probability of performing maintenance on pavement sections. Another continuous model was formulated to investigate the effect of maintenance on the level of pavement performance. Maintenance was considered a discrete event representing a binary choice of its being performed on a pavement section or not. Pavement performance levels were represented by roughness numbers. Other variables included were pavement thickness, pavement loading, and a regional factor. Pavement thickness was assumed to represent initial construction, and traffic loadings were in the form of equivalent single-axle loads. The regional factor represented the weather and climatic differences between the northern and southern regions. A two-stage procedure was applied to evaluate the mixed logit approach. The data from the Interstate highways in Indiana for 1984 to 1985 were used for model estimation. The mixed logit approach produced much better results than the single-equation method in specifying the models in terms of coefficient signs and their significances. The results confirmed that pavement roughness was affected by maintenance and that the decision to undertake maintenance was influenced by the expected level of pavement roughness.
Calibration independent estimation of optical constants using terahertz time‐domain spectroscopy

A novel calibration independent technique that simultaneously determines the optical constants and material thickness with high accuracy, using the transmission and the reflection measurements, is proposed. A generalized closed form expression is derived to calculate the optical constants in terms of the measured transmitted and the reflected signals. The proposed measurement technique is noniterative, self‐calibrated, and independent of prior knowledge of the sample thickness. To validate the proposed technique, two different samples, viz., Gallium arsenide and Silicon, are considered during the numerical simulation. The result shows that the proposed technique provides highly accurate material parameters over a broad frequency domain and also recovers the information of the material thickness. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:1861–1864, 2015
Mode analysis of a multimode ladder oscillator

An arbitrary number of van der Pol oscillators mutually coupled by inductances or capacitances (i.e., a low-pass and a high-pass ladder oscillator) is investigated using the equivalent linearization technique of Kryloff and Bogoliuboff. The network is almost linear and is described by a nonlinear vector differential equation. The active element is assumed to be a cubic nonlinear shunt conductance. It is demonstrated that 1) nonresonant simultaneous double-mode oscillation can be stably excited in a ladder oscillator in which both end cells are opened, 2) but it is not excited in a ladder oscillator in which both end cells are grounded, 3) and more than three modes can not be excited in any ladder oscillator. Experiments confirm that nonresonant simultaneous double-mode oscillation can be excited stably in a ladder oscillator in which both end cells are opened. The experimental amplitudes and oscillating frequencies agree well with theoretical values.
Gait and force analysis methods applied in pig gait research

Claw injuries, leg weakness, or locomotor disorders are common problems in pigs. These disorders have been documented in scientific research for many years but the principal cause of the problem has been hard to find. In literature gait and force analysis have proven to be promising methods in linking claw injuries to surface material conditions. In present experiments the objective was to investigate if pig gait in different floor conditions can be characterised by a combination of kinematic and kinetic methods. To determine the relationship between claw disorder and floor physical properties, the factors controlling gait must be characterised. In the studies this was achieved by using kinematics and kinetics to record gait parameters and slip frequency. Kinematics were used to record gait parameters such as walking speed, stride length, swing and stance time, stride elevation together with limb support phases, gait symmetry, diagonality and duty factor. This was done by using two different types of digital video cameras with 25 Hz and 60 Hz frequency respectively. In both cases the film was imported, processed, and digitised in a commercial gait analysis programme. The kinetic method included a force plate which was used to record kinetic gait parameters such as stance time, vertical and horizontal forces, and time of peak vertical force. Ground reaction force (GRF) data were collected during the passage of moving pigs at 1 kHz. In the GRF data acquisition system the force plate was connected to a digital converter and a computer. The GRF was presented as three orthogonal components (longitudinal, latitudinal, and vertical force). The kinematic and kinetic methods proved to be reliable techniques for assessment of relevant gait parameters in characterising pig gait. The subject can be used as indicator in finding floor properties that better comply with the biological needs of the pig.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Community Antibiotic Prescribing and Stewardship: A Qualitative Interview Study with General Practitioners in England

The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the delivery of primary care services. We aimed to identify general practitioners (GPs) perceptions and experiences of how the COVID-19 pandemic influenced antibiotic prescribing and antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) in general practice in England. Twenty-four semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 GPs at two time-points: autumn 2020 (14 interviews) and spring 2021 (10 interviews). Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed and analysed thematically, taking a longitudinal approach. Participants reported a lower threshold for antibiotic prescribing (and fewer consultations) for respiratory infections and COVID-19 symptoms early in the pandemic, then returning to more usual (pre-pandemic) prescribing. They perceived less impact on antibiotic prescribing for urinary and skin infections. Participants perceived the changing ways of working and consulting (e.g., proportions of remote and in-person consultations), and the changing patient presentations and GP workload as influencing the fluctuations in antibiotic prescribing. This was compounded by decreased engagement with, and priority of, AMS due to COVID-19-related urgent priorities. Re-engagement with AMS is needed, e.g., through reviving antibiotic prescribing feedback and targets/incentives. While the pandemic disrupted the usual ways of working, it also produced opportunities, e.g., for re-organising ways of managing infections and AMS in the future.
Developing Design Standards for Speed Cushions

Physical devices such as traffic circles and speed humps have long been considered possible solutions to speeding and other neighborhood traffic safety problems. The primary drawback has been their documented effect on fire and other life-safety vehicles caused by increased response times. To balance driver awareness of travel speeds with emergency vehicle accessibility, the King County, Washington, Department of Transportation designed, constructed, and evaluated a traffic-calming device referred to as a speed cushion. Speed cushions resemble speed humps but are constructed with channels to allow for minimal impact and delay to wider-wheel-based emergency vehicles such as fire engines. Ten speed cushions were installed along 36th Place South, 39th Avenue South, South 294th Street, and 45th Place South between South 288th Street and South 298th Street in unincorporated King County as part of a neighborhood traffic-calming pilot project. To evaluate the effectiveness of this traffic-calming device, speed and volume studies were conducted pre-and postinstallation. This report summarizes the results and findings from this study, which determined that speed cushions can provide traffic-calming benefits without significantly affecting emergency responders in fire and other life-safety vehicles. This report also discusses important next steps for researchers and practitioners needed because of limitations in the existing literature on this device in terms of material, color, shape, and roadway placement. The increased popularity of speed cushions has accelerated the need for standardization in terms of design and construction, and specific recommendations are provided in this report.
Robust tolerance design by computer experiment

Tolerance design affects the quality and cost of a product cycle time. Most of the literature on tolerance design problems has focused on developing exact methods to minimize manufacturing cost or quality loss. The inherent assumption in this approach is that the assembly function is known before a tolerance design problem is analysed. With the current development in CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software, design engineers can proceed with the tolerance design problems, without knowing assembly functions in advance. In this study, the Monte Carlo simulation is employed using VSA-3D/Pro software to obtain experimental data. Then the design of experiments (DOE) approach is adopted for data analysis in order to select critical components for cost reduction and quality improvement. Implementing the discussed computer experiments, a tolerance design analysis which improves quality and reduces cost can be performed for any complex assembly via computer during the early stage of design.
Towards Understanding the Condensation of Neural Networks at Initial Training

Empirical works show that for ReLU neural networks (NNs) with small initialization, input weights of hidden neurons (the input weight of a hidden neuron consists of the weight from its input layer to the hidden neuron and its bias term) condense on isolated orientations. The condensation dynamics implies that the training implicitly regularizes a NN towards one with a much smaller effective size. In this work, we illustrate the formation of the condensation in multi-layer fully connected NNs and show that the maximal number of condensed orientations in the initial training stage is twice the multiplicity of the activation function, where"multiplicity"indicates the multiple roots of activation function at origin. Our theoretical analysis confirms experiments for two cases, one is for the activation function of multiplicity one with arbitrary dimension input, which contains many common activation functions, and the other is for the layer with one-dimensional input and arbitrary multiplicity. This work makes a step towards understanding how small initialization leads NNs to condensation at the initial training stage.
Cepheids with Giant Companions. I. Revealing a Numerous Population of Double-lined Binary Cepheids

Masses of classical Cepheids of 3–11 M ⊙ are predicted by theory but those measured clump between 3.6–5 M ⊙. As a result, their mass–luminosity relation is poorly constrained, impeding our understanding of basic stellar physics and the Leavitt Law. All Cepheid masses come from the analysis of 11 binary systems, including only five that are double lined and well suited for accurate dynamical mass determination. We present a project to analyze a new, numerous group of Cepheids in double-lined binary (SB2) systems to provide mass determinations in a wide mass interval and study their evolution. We analyze a sample of 41 candidate binary LMC Cepheids spread along the P–L relation, which are likely accompanied by luminous red giants, and present indirect and direct indicators of their binarity. In a spectroscopic study of a subsample of 18 brightest candidates, for 16 we detected lines of two components in the spectra, already quadrupling the number of Cepheids in SB2 systems. Observations of the whole sample may thus lead to quadrupling all the Cepheid mass estimates available now. For the majority of our candidates, erratic intrinsic period changes dominate over the light-travel-time effect due to binarity. However, the latter may explain the periodic phase modulation for four Cepheids. Our project paves the way for future accurate dynamical mass determinations of Cepheids in the LMC, Milky Way, and other galaxies, which will potentially increase the number of known Cepheid masses even 10-fold, hugely improving our knowledge about these important stars.
Polarimetric impulse response and polarimetric transfer function for time-sequential polarimeters

An analysis of polarimetric measurements in the presence of noise is presented with emphasis on rotating polarizer polarimeters. A method is presented for estimating the error bars associated with a polarization measurement of an object whose intensity is rapidly fluctuating in a noisy manner. The method requires knowledge of the power spectral density of the intensity fluctuation, and uses this information combined with the sequence of polarizing element settings and measurement times to determine the error bar estimate. The rotating polarizer polarimeter is used as an example of this technique. A relationship is established between the power spectrum of the source intensity fluctuations and the error bars associated with measurements of the Stokes vector elements. The impulse response and transfer function of a polarimetric measurement and data reduction sequence are introduced. The analytical tools presented here will assist in designing polarimeters with specified accuracies for demanding roles, such as measuring polarization signatures in rapidly moving or fluctuating scenarios. It is recommended that for rotating polarizer polarimeters, the polarizer rotates through a minimum of 360o because image nutation from wedged polarizers and linear drift couple strongly into the fundamental frequency of the discrete Fourier transform. The optimum rotating polarizer angle settings for many applications is the eight angle sequence: 0°,45°, 90°, 135°, 180°, 225°, 270°, 315°.
The Solar Neighborhood. XLVII. Comparing M-dwarf Models with Hubble Space Telescope Dynamical Masses and Spectroscopy

We use HST/STIS optical spectroscopy of 10 M dwarfs in five closely separated binary systems to test models of M-dwarf structure and evolution. Individual dynamical masses ranging from 0.083 to 0.405 M ⊙ for all stars are known from previous work. We first derive temperature, radius, luminosity, surface gravity, and metallicity by fitting the BT-Settl atmospheric models. We verify that our methodology agrees with empirical results from long-baseline optical interferometry for stars of similar spectral types. We then test whether or not evolutionary models can predict those quantities given the stars’ known dynamical masses and the conditions of coevality and equal metallicity within each binary system. We apply this test to five different evolutionary model sets: the Dartmouth models, the MESA/MIST models, the models of Baraffe et al., the PARSEC models, and the YaPSI models. We find marginal agreement between evolutionary model predictions and observations, with few cases where the models respect the condition of coevality in a self-consistent manner. We discuss the pros and cons of each family of models and compare their predictive power.
Revisiting Catastrophic Forgetting in Class Incremental Learning

Although the concept of catastrophic forgetting is straightforward, there is a lack of study on its causes. In this paper, we systematically explore and reveal three causes for catastrophic forgetting in Class Incremental Learning(CIL). From the perspective of representation learning,(i) intra-phase forgetting happens when the learner fails to correctly align the same-phase data as training proceeds and (ii) inter-phase confusion happens when the learner confuses the current-phase data with the previous-phase. From the task-specific point of view, the CIL model suffers from the problem of (iii) classifier deviation. After investigating existing strategies, we observe that there is a lack of study on how to prevent the inter-phase confusion. To initiate the research on this specific issue, we propose a simple yet effective framework, Contrastive Class Concentration for CIL (C4IL). Our framework leverages the class concentration effect of contrastive learning, yielding a representation distribution with better intra-class compactibility and inter-class separability. Empirically, we observe that C4IL significantly lowers the probability of inter-phase confusion and as a result improves the performance on multiple CIL settings of multiple datasets.
Learning a Group-Aware Policy for Robot Navigation

Human-aware robot navigation promises a range of applications in which mobile robots bring versatile assistance to people in common human environments. While prior research has mostly focused on modeling pedestrians as independent, intentional individuals, people move in groups; consequently, it is imperative for mobile robots to respect human groups when navigating around people. This paper explores learning group-aware navigation policies based on dynamic group formation using deep reinforcement learning. Through simulation experiments, we show that group-aware policies, compared to baseline policies that neglect human groups, achieve greater robot navigation performance (e.g., fewer collisions), minimize violation of social norms and discomfort, and reduce the robot's movement impact on pedestrians. Our results contribute to the development of social navigation and the integration of mobile robots into human environments.