Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Water: A Tale of Two Liquids

Water is the most abundant liquid on earth and also the substance with the largest number of anomalies in its properties. It is a prerequisite for life and as such a most important subject of current research in chemical physics and physical chemistry. In spite of its simplicity as a liquid, it has an enormously rich phase diagram where different types of ices, amorphous phases, and anomalies disclose a path that points to unique thermodynamics of its supercooled liquid state that still hides many unraveled secrets. In this review we describe the behavior of water in the regime from ambient conditions to the deeply supercooled region. The review describes simulations and experiments on this anomalous liquid. Several scenarios have been proposed to explain the anomalous properties that become strongly enhanced in the supercooled region. Among those, the second critical-point scenario has been investigated extensively, and at present most experimental evidence point to this scenario. Starting from very low temperatures, a coexistence line between a high-density amorphous phase and a low-density amorphous phase would continue in a coexistence line between a high-density and a low-density liquid phase terminating in a liquid–liquid critical point, LLCP. On approaching this LLCP from the one-phase region, a crossover in thermodynamics and dynamics can be found. This is discussed based on a picture of a temperature-dependent balance between a high-density liquid and a low-density liquid favored by, respectively, entropy and enthalpy, leading to a consistent picture of the thermodynamics of bulk water. Ice nucleation is also discussed, since this is what severely impedes experimental investigation of the vicinity of the proposed LLCP. Experimental investigation of stretched water, i.e., water at negative pressure, gives access to a different regime of the complex water diagram. Different ways to inhibit crystallization through confinement and aqueous solutions are discussed through results from experiments and simulations using the most sophisticated and advanced techniques. These findings represent tiles of a global picture that still needs to be completed. Some of the possible experimental lines of research that are essential to complete this picture are explored.
Economic Development and Government Spending: An Exploration of Wagner’s Hypothesis during Fifty Years of Growth in East Asia

Applicability of Wagner’s hypothesis to six East Asian countries is studied for a period of nearly a half-century during which their economic growth has often been termed as a “miracle”. Despite the high rates of growth in most cases, there is little indication to support the hypothesis except for Japan and possibly Korea. This finding is broadly supported by a variety of tests of cointegration using time-series as well as panel data.
Cryptic diversity in Black rats Rattus rattus of the Galápagos Islands, Ecuador

Abstract Human activity has facilitated the introduction of a number of alien mammal species to the Galápagos Archipelago. Understanding the phylogeographic history and population genetics of invasive species on the Archipelago is an important step in predicting future spread and designing effective management strategies. In this study, we describe the invasion pathway of Rattus rattus across the Galápagos using microsatellite data, coupled with historical knowledge. Microsatellite genotypes were generated for 581 R. rattus sampled from 15 islands in the archipelago. The genetic data suggest that there are at least three genetic lineages of R. rattus present on the Galápagos Islands. The spatial distributions of these lineages correspond to the main centers of human settlement in the archipelago. There was limited admixture among these three lineages, and these finding coupled with low rates of gene flow among island populations suggests that interisland movement of R. rattus is rare. The low migration among islands recorded for the species will have a positive impact on future eradication efforts.
Sliding window-based Burst Assembly Method in Optical Burst Switching Networks

Burst assembly at edge nodes is an important issue for the optical burst switching (OBS) networks because it affects the traffic characteristics and has an influence on the burst loss performance. By applying the fractional Brownian motion (FBM) model, we find that the timer-based and threshold-based assembly algorithms could not avoid increasing the traffic variability of the science information network (SINET), which will deteriorate the network performance. Therefore a novel traffic-smoothing burst assembly method named sliding window-based assembly algorithm is introduced to reduce the variance of the assembled traffic. It can smooth the traffic by transmitting a sequence of bursts at an average length to make traffic be sent out at an average rate in small timescales. The simulation results show that the sliding window-based assembly algorithm is better than general assembly algorithms in terms of the burst loss ratio
Some remarks on the Stanley's depth for multigraded modules

We show that the Stanley's conjecture holds for any multigraded $S$-module $M$ with $\sdepth(M)=0$, where $S=K[x_1,. ,x_n]$. Also, we give some bounds for the Stanley depth of the powers of the maximal irrelevant ideal in $S$.
REVERSAL OF CISPLATIN‐INDUCED CARNITINE DEFICIENCY AND ENERGY STARVATION BY PROPIONYL‐l‐CARNITINE IN RAT KIDNEY TISSUES

1 The present study examined whether propionyl‐l‐carnitine (PLC) could prevent the development of cisplatin (CDDP)‐induced acute renal failure in rats. 2 Forty adult male Wistar albino rats were divided into four groups. Rats in the first group were injected daily with normal saline (2.5 mL/kg, i.p.) for 10 consecutive days, whereas the second group received PLC (250 mg/kg, i.p.) for 10 consecutive days. Animals in the third group were injected daily with normal saline for 5 consecutive days before and after a single dose of CDDP (7 mg/kg, i.p.). Rats in the fourth group received a combination of PLC (250 mg/kg, i.p.) for 5 consecutive days before and after a single dose of CDDP (7 mg/kg, i.p.). On Day 6 following CDDP treatment, animals were killed and serum and kidneys were isolated for analysis. 3 Injection of CDDP resulted in a significant increase in serum creatinine, blood urea nitrogen (BUN), thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substances (TBARS) and total nitrate/nitrite (NOx), as well as a significant decrease in reduced glutathione (GSH), total carnitine, ATP and ATP/ADP in kidney tissues. 4 Administration of PLC significantly attenuated the nephrotoxic effects of CDDP, manifested as normalization of the CDDP‐induced increase in serum creatinine, BUN, TBARS and NOx and the CDDP‐induced decrease in total carnitine, GSH, ATP and ATP/ADP in kidney tissues. 5 Histopathological examination of kidney tissues from CDDP‐treated rats showed severe nephrotoxicity, in which 50–75% of glomeruli and renal tubules exhibited massive degenerative changes. Interestingly, administration of PLC to CDDP‐treated rats resulted in a significant improvement in glomeruli and renal tubules, in which less than 25% of glomeruli and renal tubules exhibited focal necrosis. 6 Data from the present study suggest that PLC prevents the development of CDDP‐induced acute renal injury by a mechanism related, at least in part, to the ability of PLC to increase intracellular carnitine content, with a consequent improvement in mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and energy production, as well as its ability to decrease oxidative stress. This will open new perspectives for the use of PLC in the treatment of renal diseases associated with or secondary to carnitine deficiency.
High Ion/Ioff ratio BJT selector for 32 cell string Resistive RAM arrays

A compact low leakage selector is needed for any resistive RAM arrays to enable the correct memory operation. In particular Phase Change Memories are demanding in terms of trade off between low leakage and driving current capability due to the Joule-heating-based programming mechanism. This work addresses a full integration path for optimizing bipolar junction transistor (BJT) to realize long string of base-emitter junctions up to 32, enabling the reduction of the base straps overhead thus further reducing the effective array size in respect to conventional approach. The optimization between the base resistance value and base-emitter leakage is not trivial and it has been performed by working on junction position and process thermal budget mainly by TCAD. Experimental validation has been provided on a 45 nm PCM vehicle, demonstrating the feasibility of the proposed approach.
A Novel Role for c-Myc in G Protein–Coupled Receptor Kinase 4 (GRK4) Transcriptional Regulation in Human Kidney Proximal Tubule Cells

The G protein–coupled receptor kinase 4 (GRK4) negatively regulates the dopaminergic system by desensitizing the dopamine-1-receptor. The expressional control of GRK4 has not been reported, but here we show that the transcription factor c-Myc binds to the promoter of GRK4 and positively regulates GRK4 protein expression in human renal proximal tubule cells (RPTCs). Addition of phorbol esters to RPTCs not only increased c-Myc binding to the GRK4 promoter but also increased both phospho-c-Myc and GRK4 expression. The phorbol ester–mediated increase in GRK4 expression was completely blocked by the c-Myc inhibitor, 10074-G5, indicating that GRK4 is downstream of phospho-c-Myc. The autocrine production of angiotensin II (Ang II) in RPTCs increased the phosphorylation and activation of c-Myc and subsequently GRK4 expression. 3-Amino-4-thio-butyl sulfonate, an inhibitor of aminopeptidase A, increased RPTC secretion of Ang II. 3-Amino-4-thio-butyl sulfonate or Ang II increased the expression of both phospho-c-Myc and GRK4, which was blocked by 10074-G5. Blockade of the Ang II type 1 receptor with losartan decreased phospho-c-Myc and GRK4 expression. Both inhibition of c-Myc activity and blockade of Ang II type 1 receptor restored the coupling of dopamine-1-receptor to adenylyl cyclase stimulation in uncoupled RPTCs, whereas phorbol esters or Ang II caused the uncoupling of normally coupled RPTCs. We suggest that the Ang II type 1 receptor impairs dopamine-1-receptor function via c-Myc activation of GRK4. This novel pathway may be involved in the increase in blood pressure in hypertension that is mediated by increased activity of the renin–angiotensin system and decreased activity of the renal dopaminergic system.
Efficient Use of Random Delays

Random delays are commonly used as a countermeasure to inhibit side channel analysis and fault attacks in embedded devices. This paper proposes a different manner of generating random delays. The alternative proposed increases the desynchronisation compared to uniformly distributed random delays. It is also shown that it is possible to reduce the amount of time lost due to random delays, while maintaining the increased variation.
Applying MPI to Electromagnetic Field Calculations

This paper describes an implementation of the Finite Diierence Time Domain (FDTD) method using MPI (Message Passing Interface) library to the sample electromagnetic problem: calculating the input impedence of a microstrip antenna. Its objective is to demonstrate to engineers in disciplines other than computing, how easy it is to use contemporary software tools, such as MPI, to speed up engineering computations.
Liquid composite moulding of fibre nanocomposites

Abstract Two liquid composite moulding techniques have been investigated in this study, resin transfer moulding (RTM) and resin infusion under flexible tool (RIFT) for the processing of glass fabric–epoxy laminates with 5% nanoaggregates of silica nanoparticles in the epoxy matrix. It has been found that the high fibre fraction reinforcement (V f=0·50) filters the silica nanoaggregates resulting in stopping the in plane resin infiltration in RTM right at the beginning of the filling stage. Laminates of lower fibre fraction (V f=0·40) were produced successfully by RIFT. Dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and three point bend tests showed that fibre–silica–epoxy composites, processed by RIFT, had higher elastic shear modulus and interlaminar shear strength than conventional fibre–epoxy composites manufactured by the same RIFT process.
Ethyl 1-(4-chlorobenzyl)-3-phenyl-1H-pyrazole-5-carboxylate

In the title compound, C19H17ClN2O2, the pyrazole ring makes dihedral angles of 6.97 (5) and 79.25 (1)°, respectively, with the phenyl and chlorophenyl rings, respectively. In the crystal, C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds are observed.
A Context-Dependent Model of Proximity in Physically Situated Environments

The paper presents a computational model for a context-dependent analysis of a physical environment in terms of spatial proximity. The model provides a basis for grounding linguistic analyses of spatial expressions in visual perception. The model uses potential fields to model spatial proximity. It has been implemented, and when combined with a handcrafted grammar, is used to enable a conversational robot to carry out a situated dialogue with a human. The key concept in our approach is defining the region that is proximal to a landmark based on the spatial configuration of other objects in the scene. The model extends existing approaches to proximity by including object salience (visual, discourse) and interference effects between multiple objects that could act as landmarks. Theoretically, the model can help motivate the choice between topological and projective prepositions, and provides a basis for defining regions with vague spatial extent.
Animals actively use at least half of the genome 1 2

10 One central goal of genome biology is to understand how the usage of the genome differs between 11 organisms. Our knowledge of genome composition, needed for downstream inferences, is critically 12 dependent on gene annotations, yet problems associated with gene annotation and assembly errors are 13 usually ignored in comparative genomics. Here we analyze the genomes of 68 species across all animal 14 groups and some single-cell eukaryotes for general trends in genome usage and composition, taking into 15 account problems of gene annotation. We show that, regardless of genome size, essentially all animals have 16 comparable amounts of introns and intergenic sequence, with nearly all deviations dominated by increased 17 intergenic sequence. Genomes of model organisms have ratios much closer to 1:1, suggesting that the 18 majority of published genomes of non-model organisms are underannotated and consequently omit 19 substantial numbers of genes, with likely negative impact on evolutionary interpretations. Finally, our 20 results also indicate that most animals transcribe half or more of their genomes arguing against differences 21 in genome usage between animal groups, and also suggesting that the transcribed portion is more 22 dependent on genome size than previously thought. 23
Learning-by-Doing, Organizational Forgetting and Industry Dynamics

We analyze a fully dynamic model of price competition when firms face a learning curve and the possibility of organizational forgetting. We show that even though the leader firm may underprice the follower and this price difference may grow as the leader's cost advantage widens, the market may remain unconcentrated in both the short run and long run. Over an interesting range of parameters, organizational forgetting intensifies pricing rivalry and leads to a greater degree of market concentration. By extending the model to include entry and exit, we show that predatory pricing can arise endogenously and that organizational forgetting makes predatory behavior more likely to occur. We develop these insights by employing the framework in Ericson & Pakes (1995) to numerically analyze the Markov perfect equilibria (MPE) in a pricing game in a differentiated products duopoly market. In contrast to recent papers that have employed this framework, we show that there can be multiple symmetric MPE. (This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)
BOLD response in dorsal areas varies with relative disparity level

Using fMRI, we explored cortical responses to dichoptically presented random-dot (RD) stimuli which formed a checkerboard by means of horizontal disparity (Julesz). Depth reversals occurred every 800 ms by appropriate horizontal shifting of a subset of the RD pattern. We compared cortical blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) responses of five subjects under conditions with and without binocular disparity. The results indicate that only extrastriate, but not striate, areas responded more to the stimuli with binocular disparity. We further found that the BOLD signal increased with increasing disparity level only in dorsal areas of occipito-parietal and prefrontal cortex. These results suggest that the fMRI BOLD response can reflect the processing of relative binocular disparity in extrastriate cortex.
Finding comparable temporal categorical records: A similarity measure with an interactive visualization

An increasing number of temporal categorical databases are being collected: Electronic Health Records in healthcare organizations, traffic incident logs in transportation systems, or student records in universities. Finding similar records within these large databases requires effective similarity measures that capture the searcher's intent. Many similarity measures exist for numerical time series, but temporal categorical records are different. We propose a temporal categorical similarity measure, the M&M (Match & Mismatch) measure, which is based on the concept of aligning records by sentinel events, then matching events between the target and the compared records. The M&M measure combines the time differences between pairs of events and the number of mismatches. To accom-modate customization of parameters in the M&M measure and results interpretation, we implemented Similan, an interactive search and visualization tool for temporal categorical records. A usability study with 8 participants demonstrated that Similan was easy to learn and enabled them to find similar records, but users had difficulty understanding the M&M measure. The usability study feedback, led to an improved version with a continuous timeline, which was tested in a pilot study with 5 participants.
Robust Video Data Hiding Using Forbidden Zone Data Hiding and Selective Embedding

Video data hiding is still an important research topic due to the design complexities involved. We propose a new video data hiding method that makes use of erasure correction capability of repeat accumulate codes and superiority of forbidden zone data hiding. Selective embedding is utilized in the proposed method to determine host signal samples suitable for data hiding. This method also contains a temporal synchronization scheme in order to withstand frame drop and insert attacks. The proposed framework is tested by typical broadcast material against MPEG-2, H.264 compression, frame-rate conversion attacks, as well as other well-known video data hiding methods. The decoding error values are reported for typical system parameters. The simulation results indicate that the framework can be successfully utilized in video data hiding applications.
Information Content-Based Sensor Selection and Transmission Power Adjustment for Collaborative Target Tracking

For target tracking applications, wireless sensor nodes provide accurate information since they can be deployed and operated near the phenomenon. These sensing devices have the opportunity of collaboration among themselves to improve the target localization and tracking accuracies. An energy-efficient collaborative target tracking paradigm is developed for wireless sensor networks (WSNs). A mutual-information-based sensor selection (MISS) algorithm is adopted for participation in the fusion process. MISS allows the sensor nodes with the highest mutual information about the target state to transmit data so that the energy consumption is reduced while the desired target position estimation accuracy is met. In addition, a novel approach to energy savings in WSNs is devised in the information-controlled transmission power (ICTP) adjustment, where nodes with more information use higher transmission powers than those that are less informative to share their target state information with the neighboring nodes. Simulations demonstrate the performance gains offered by MISS and ICTP in terms of power consumption and target localization accuracy.
πBox: A Platform for Privacy-Preserving Apps

We present πBox, a new application platform that prevents apps from misusing information about their users. To strike a useful balance between users' privacy and apps' functional needs, πBox shifts much of the responsibility for protecting privacy from the app and its users to the platform itself. To achieve this, πBox deploys (1) a sandbox that spans the user's device and the cloud, (2) specialized storage and communication channels that enable common app functionalities, and (3) an adaptation of recent theoretical algorithms for differential privacy under continual observation.We describe a prototype implementation of πBox and show how it enables a wide range of useful apps with minimal performance overhead and without sacrificing user privacy.
Learning Models of Intelligent Agents

Agents that operate in a multi-agent system need an efficient strategy to handle their encounters with other agents involved. Searching for an optimal interactive strategy is a hard problem because it depends mostly on the behavior of the others. In this work, interaction among agents is represented as a repeated two-player game, where the agents' objective is to look for a strategy that maximizes their expected sum of rewards in the game. We assume that agents' strategies can be modeled as finite automata. A model-based approach is presented as a possible method for learning an effective interactive strategy. First, we describe how an agent should find an optimal strategy against a given model. Second, we present an unsupervised algorithm that infers a model of the opponent's automaton from its input/output behavior. A set of experiments that show the potential merit of the algorithm is reported as well.
Optimal signal reconstruction from a constant-Q spectrum

In contrast to other well-known techniques for spectral analysis such as the discrete Fourier transform or the wavelet transform the constant-Q transform (CQT) matches the center frequencies of its sub-band filters to the frequency scale of western music and accounts for the requirement of frequency-dependent bandwidths. However, it does not possess a strict mathematical inverse. Therefore, we derive an optimal reconstruction method to recover a signal from its CQT spectrum. The reconstruction problem is posed as a segmented overdetermined minimization problem where the number of frequency bins is larger than the number of reconstructed signal samples in each segment. The framework also enables the reduction of the input-output latency of the CQT. The method is evaluated for different types of music signals as well as for speech and Gaussian noise. For classical music a reconstruction quality of 89 dB signal-to-noise ratio is achieved.