Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dynamics and energy distribution of nonequilibrium quasiparticles in superconducting tunnel junctions

We present a full theoretical and experimental study of the dynamics and energy distribution of nonequilibrium quasiparticles in superconducting tunnel junctions (STJ’s ). STJ’s are often used for single-photon spectrometers, where the numbers of quasiparticles excited by a photon provide a measure of the photon energy. The magnitude and fluctuations of the signal current in STJ detectors are in large part determined by the quasiparticle dynamics and energy distribution during the detection process. We use this as motivation to study the transport and energy distribution of nonequilibrium quasiparticles excited by x-ray photons in a lateral, imaging junction configuration. We present a full numerical model for the tunneling current of the major physical processes which determine the signal. We find that a diffusion framework models the quasiparticle dynamics well and that excited quasiparticles do not equilibrate to the lattice temperature during the time scales for tunneling. We extract physical time scales from the measured data, make comparisons with existing theories, and comment on implications for superconducting mesoscopic systems and single-photon detectors.
Cooperation and biased competition model can explain attentional filtering in the prefrontal cortex

Recent neurophysiological experimental results suggest that the prefrontal cortex plays an important role in filtering out unattended visual inputs. Here we propose a neurodynamical computational model of a part of the prefrontal cortex to account for the neural mechanisms defining this attentional filtering effect. Similar models have been employed to explain experimental results obtained during the performance of attention and working memory tasks. In this previous work the principle of biased competition was shown to successfully account for the experimental data. To model the attentional filtering effect, the biased competition model was extended to enable cooperation between stimulus selective neurons. We show that, in a biological relevant minimal model, competition and cooperation between the neurons are sufficient conditions for reproducing the attentional effect. Furthermore, a characterization of the parameter regime where the cooperation effect is observed is presented. Finally, we also reveal parameter regimes where the network has different modes of operation: selective working memory, attentional filtering, pure competition and noncompetitive amplification.
Successful Treatment of Parainfluenza Virus Respiratory Tract Infection With DAS181 in 4 Immunocompromised Children

Background Parainfluenza virus (PIV), a common pediatric pathogen, is associated with significant morbidity in immunocompromised (IC) hosts. DAS181, a novel sialidase fusion protein inhibitor, seems to be effective against PIV in vitro and in vivo; its use in IC children has not been evaluated. Methods Patients were diagnosed with PIV infection using a quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. DAS181 was obtained under emergency investigational new drug applications and was administered via aerosol chamber or nebulizer. Patients were assessed daily for their clinical condition and adverse outcomes. Results Four pediatric hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) patients with PIV detected in respiratory specimens were identified and treated with DAS 181. Patients 1 and 2 were diagnosed with PIV lower respiratory tract infection (LRTI) by bronchoalveolar lavage at 9 months and 2 days after allogeneic transplantation, respectively. Patient 3 was on chemotherapy prior to planned autologous HCT at time of PIV diagnosis from a nasal swab. Patient 4 was diagnosed with PIV via nasal wash 2 days after HCT. Patients 1–3 had clinical symptoms and chest imaging consistent with LRTI. Inhaled DAS181 was administered for 5–10 days. All 4 patients tolerated therapy well. Clinical improvement in oxygen requirement and respiratory rate was observed in all patients who required oxygen at therapy initiation. Viral load decreased in all patients within 1 week of therapy and became undetectable by day 3 of therapy in patient 3. Conclusion DAS181 was used to treat 4 severely IC pediatric patients with PIV disease. The drug was well tolerated. Improvement in both viral loads and symptoms after initiation of therapy was observed in all cases. This report supports prospective, randomized studies in IC patients with PIV infection.
Clock gating architectures for FPGA power reduction

Clock gating is a power reduction technique that has been used successfully in the custom ASIC domain. Clock and logic signal power are saved by temporarily disabling the clock signal on registers whose outputs do not affect circuit outputs. We consider and evaluate FPGA clock network architectures with built-in clock gating capability and describe a flexible placement algorithm that can operate with various gating granularities (various sizes of device regions containing clock loads that can be gated together). Results show that depending on the clock gating architecture and the fraction of time clock signals are enabled, clock power can be reduced by over 50%, and results suggest that a fine granularity gating architecture yields significant power benefits.
Tidewater calving

Abstract Data from Columbia Glacier are used to identify processes that control calving from a temperate tidewater glacier and to re-evaluate models that have been proposed to describe iceberg calving. Since 1981, Columbia Glacier has been retreating rapidly, with an almost seven-fold increase in calving rate from the mid-1970s to 1993. At the same time, the speed of the glacier increased almost as much, so that the actual rate of retreat increased more slowly. According to the commonly accepted model, the calving rate is linearly related to the water depth at the terminus, with retreat of the glacier snout into deeper water, leading to larger calving rates and accelerated retreat. The Columbia Glacier data show that the calving rate is not simply linked to observed quantities such as water depth or stretching rate near the terminus. During the retreat, the thickness at the terminus appears to be linearly correlated with the water depth; at the terminus, the thickness in excess of flotation remained at about 50 m. This suggests that retreat may be initiated when the terminal thickness becomes too small, with the rate of retreat controlled by the rate at which the snout is thinning and by the basal slope. The implication is that the rapid retreat of Columbia Glacier (and other comparable tidewater glaciers) is not the result of an increase in calving as the glacier retreated into deeper water. Instead, the retreat was initiated and maintained by thinning of the glacier. For Columbia Glacier, the continued thinning is probably associated with the increase in glacier speed and retreat may be expected to continue as long as these large speeds are maintained. It is not clear what mechanism may be responsible for the speed-up but the most likely candidate is a change in basal conditions or subglacial drainage. Consequently, the behavior of tidewater glaciers may be controlled by processes acting at the glacier bed rather than by what happens at the glacier terminus.
A discriminant metric for module cohesion

The decomposition of a large program into modules can be guided by the use of a property called cohesion, first described by Constantine. Cohesion is a quality that describes the degree to which the different actions performed by a module contribute to a unified function. However, this technique may be difficult to apply due to the subjective nature of the definitions of levels of cohesion. In this paper a software metric is defined and proposed as a discriminant for classifying modules according to their cohesion. Formal properties of the metric are derived which can be used to set the metric value ranges for module classification.
FOR FREQUENT SEQUENTIAL PATTERN FROM WEB LOGS

Sequential Pattern mining is the process of applying data mining techniques to a sequential database for the purposes of discovering the correlation relationships that exist among an ordered list of events. The task of discovering frequent sequences is challenging, because the algorithm needs to process a combinatorially explosive number of possible sequences. Discovering hidden information from Web log data is called Web usage mining. One common usage in web applications is the mining of users’ access behaviour for the purpose of predicting and hence pre-fetching the web pages that the user is likely to visit. The aim of discovering frequent Sequential patterns in Web log data is to obtain information about the access behaviour of the users. Finding Frequent Sequential Pattern (FSP) is an important problem in web usage mining. In this paper, we explore a new frequent sequence pattern technique called AWAPT (Adaptive Web Access Pattern Tree), for FSP mining. An AWAPT combines Suffix tree and Prefix tree for efficient storage of all the sequences that contain a given item. It eliminates recursive reconstruction of intermediate WAP tree during the mining by assigning the binary codes to each node in the WAP Tree. Web access pattern tree (WAP-tree) mining is a sequential pattern mining technique for web log access sequences, which first stores the original web access sequence database(WASD) on a prefix tree, similar to the frequent pattern tree (FP-tree) for storing non-sequential data. WAP-tree algorithm then, mines the frequent sequences from the WAP-tree by recursively re-constructing intermediate trees, starting with suffix sequences and ending with prefix sequences. An attempt has been made to AWAPT approach for improving efficiency. AWAPT totally eliminates the need to engage in numerous reconstructions of intermediate WAP-trees during mining and considerably reduces execution time.
Tunnel Barrier Engineering for Non-Volatile Memory

Tunnel oxide of non-volatile memory (NVM) devices would be very difficult to downscale if ten-year data retention were still needed. This requirement limits further improvement of device performance in terms of programming speed and operating voltages. Consequently, for low-power applications with Fowler-Nordheim programming such as NAND, program and erase voltages are essentially sustained at unacceptably high levels. A promising solution for tunnel oxide scaling is tunnel barrier engineering (TBE), which uses multiple dielectric stacks to enhance field-sensitivity. This allows for shorter writing/erasing times and/or lower operating voltages than single SiO₂ tunnel oxide without altering the ten-year data retention constraint. In this paper, two approaches for tunnel barrier engineering are compared: the crested barrier and variable oxide thickness. Key results of TBE and its applications for NVM are also addressed.
Smooth Muscle Cells, But Not Myocytes, of Host Origin in Transplanted Human Hearts

Background—There is increasing evidence to support a role for stem cells in the regeneration and repair of the human cardiovascular system. However, significant controversy still remains about the extent of chimerism present in blood vessels and myocytes of transplanted human hearts. Methods and Results—We investigated the contribution of infiltrating host cells to human cardiac allografts by evaluating the origin of vascular smooth muscle cells and cardiac myocytes in hearts after orthotopic cardiac transplantation. Smooth muscle cells were identified in pathological human coronary artery specimens with antibodies against smooth muscle &agr;-actin. DNA in situ hybridization for the human Y chromosome was then performed on the same samples to identify cells of male origin. Both myocytes and vascular smooth muscle cells were examined for the presence of the Y chromosome in sex-mismatched specimens. In positive control samples, 34.7% of nuclei contained a detectable Y chromosome; in sex-mismatched samples, 2.6% of the smooth muscle cells examined were of host origin. The Y chromosome in myocyte nuclei in male positive controls was detected; however, despite examination of >6000 myocyte nuclei in sex-mismatched specimens, we were unable to detect any nuclei with the clear presence of the Y chromosome. Conclusions—Vascular smooth muscle cells of infiltrating host cell origin can be found in human cardiac allografts. However, unlike prior reports, we found no evidence that chimerism is present in cardiac myocytes.
Continued Selenium Biofortification of Carrots and Broccoli Grown in Soils Once Amended with Se-enriched S. pinnata

Selenium (Se) biofortification has been practiced in Se-deficient regions throughout the world primarily by adding inorganic sources of Se to the soil. Considering the use of adding organic sources of Se could be useful as an alternative Se amendment for the production of Se-biofortified food crops. In this multi-year micro-plot study, we investigate growing carrots and broccoli in soils that had been previously amended with Se-enriched Stanleya pinnata Pursh (Britton) three and 4 years prior to planting one and two, respectively. Results showed that total and extractable Se concentrations in soils (0–30 cm) were 1.65 mg kg-1 and 88 μg L-1, and 0.92 mg kg-1 and 48.6 μg L-1 at the beginning of the growing season for planting one and two, respectively. After each respective growing season, total Se concentrations in the broccoli florets and carrots ranged from 6.99 to 7.83 mg kg-1 and 3.15 to 6.25 mg kg-1 in planting one and two, respectively. In broccoli and carrot plant tissues, SeMet (selenomethionine) was the predominant selenoamino acid identified in Se aqueous extracts. In postharvest soils from planting one, phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analyses showed that amending the soil with S. pinnata exerted no effect on the microbial biomass, AMF (arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi), actinomycetes and Gram-positive and bacterial PLFA at both 0–5 and 0–30 cm, respectively, 3 years later. Successfully producing Se-enriched broccoli and carrots 3 and 4 years later after amending soil with Se-enriched S. pinnata clearly demonstrates its potential source as an organic Se enriched fertilizer for Se-deficient regions.
A Characterization of Markov Equivalence Classes for Directed Acyclic Graphs with Latent Variables

Different directed acyclic graphs (DAGs) may be Markov equivalent in the sense that they entail the same conditional independence relations among the observed variables. Meek (1995) characterizes Markov equivalence classes for DAGs (with no latent variables) by presenting a set of orientation rules that can correctly identify all arrow orientations shared by all DAGs in a Markov equivalence class, given a member of that class. For DAG models with latent variables, maximal ancestral graphs (MAGs) provide a neat representation that facilitates model search. Earlier work (Ali et al. 2005) has identified a set of orientation rules sufficient to construct all arrowheads common to a Markov equivalence class of MAGs. In this paper, we provide extra rules sufficient to construct all common tails as well. We end up with a set of orientation rules sound and complete for identifying commonalities across a Markov equivalence class of MAGs, which is particularly useful for causal inference.
THE PROPERTIES OF THE 500 K DWARF UGPS J072227.51−054031.2 AND A STUDY OF THE FAR-RED FLUX OF COLD BROWN DWARFS

We present i and z photometry for 25 T dwarfs and 1 L dwarf. Combined with published photometry, the data show that the i − z, z − Y, and z − J colors of T dwarfs are very red, and continue to increase through to the late-type T dwarfs, with a hint of a saturation for the latest types with Teff ≈ 600 K. We present new 0.7–1.0 μm and 2.8–4.2 μm spectra for the very late type T dwarf UGPS J072227.51−054031.2, as well as improved astrometry for this dwarf. Examination of the spectral energy distribution using new and published data, with Saumon & Marley models, shows that the dwarf has Teff = 505 ± 10 K, a mass of 3–11 MJupiter, and an age between 60 Myr and 1 Gyr. This young age is consistent with the thin disk kinematics of the dwarf. The mass range overlaps with that usually considered to be planetary, despite this being an unbound object discovered in the field near the Sun. This apparently young rapid rotator is also undergoing vigorous atmospheric mixing, as determined by the IRAC and WISE 4.5 μm photometry and the Saumon & Marley models. The optical spectrum for this 500 K object shows clearly detected lines of the neutral alkalis Cs and Rb, which are emitted from deep atmospheric layers with temperatures of 900–1200 K.
Optimal stopping and the American put under incomplete information

Optimal stopping is a sub-field of probability theory that is present within mathematical finance, mathematical statistics, stochastic calculus and other disciplines. In mathematical finance, one well known problem is the pricing of an American put option. In this thesis we first give a brief review of some general optimal stopping theory, its connection to free-boundary problems and we then extend the problem of pricing the American put option to the case with incomplete information about the drift of the underlying stock.
Derivation of Response Time Service Level Objectives for Business Services

Design of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) emerges as an increasingly important discipline in business-oriented IT management. In this work, we study utility maximization of contractual obligations of a business service provider for a typical SLA. We demonstrate that using service usage and performance data as well as IT performance data, routinely collected by enterprises, efficient automated derivation of optimal response time Service Level Objectives (SLOs) of an SLA is possible. This paper addresses a specific facet of the SLA design problem not sufficiently addressed in previous studies. One common approach is to calculate SLOs attainable for the given IT infrastructure by means of simple percentile analysis. However, this methodology is business agnostic and may result in sub-optimal SLOs. Another widespread approach addresses IT infrastructure (re)design, where the goal is to enable the IT to meet specified target SLOs. In contrast to these approaches, our work proposes finding optimal response lime SLOs attainable for the given IT infrastructure in a business aware manner. We define the response time SLO optimization problem, propose an algorithm that efficiently solves it using linear optimization and percentile analysis, and evaluate our solution both analytically and experimentally.
Multilevel coding for peak power limited complex Gaussian channels

For transmission over the peak power limited complex Gaussian channel with various rates, the semi-continuous transmitter probability density function (pdf) maximizing mutual information is approximated by discrete equiprobable signal points. Since there is no need for shaping, in most cases only one bit of redundancy per two dimensions is sufficient to come very close to capacity. These results are in contrast to the average power limited channel requiring two bits of redundancy for coding and shaping. Combinations of properly designed multilevel coding (MLC) schemes with these discrete signal sets show a trade-off between bandwidth efficiency and peak power similar to the case of average power limitation.
Phenotypic characteristics associated with the APC gene I1307K mutation in Ashkenazi Jewish patients with colorectal polyps.

CONTEXT The I1307K mutation of the APC gene is found in approximately 6% of the Ashkenazi Jewish population and is associated with elevated risk of colorectal cancer. The incidence of the mutation in patients with colorectal adenomas is unknown. OBJECTIVES To determine the carrier rate of the I1307K mutation in Ashkenazi Jewish patients with a history of colorectal polyps but without colorectal cancer and to compare phenotypic characteristics and family history of carriers vs noncarriers. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS A total of 231 patients who had at least 1 large bowel polyp diagnosed between January 1, 1992, and January 31, 1999, at 1 of 5 centers in Boston, Mass, were included, of whom 183 were Ashkenazi Jewish. DNA was isolated from cheek swab samples. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Presence of the I1307K variant in the APC gene. RESULTS The I1307K variant was identified in 22 (14%) of 161 Ashkenazi Jewish patients with a history of adenomatous polyps and in 1 (5%) of 20 Ashkenazi Jewish patients with hyperplastic polyps. The phenotypic features of adenomas, family history of polyps, colorectal cancer, and other cancers were indistinguishable between I1307K carriers and noncarriers. CONCLUSIONS The frequency of the APC I1307K mutation is elevated in Ashkenazi Jewish patients with adenomatous polyps, but not hyperplastic polyps. The I1307K mutation represents a novel paradigm for cancer-predisposing genes, as it is associated with moderately increased risk of neoplasia without other associated distinguishing phenotypic features. JAMA. 2000;284:857-860
Turkish Version of the Dyadic Almost Perfect Scale

The present study examined the reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the Dyadic Almost Perfect Scale (DAPS). The Turkish version of DAPS and Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (MPS) was administered to 263 (157 female and 104 male) Turkish university students and 2 participants didn’t specify their gender. Internal reliability was calculated and Cronbach’s α coefficients ranged between . 87 and . 90. Criterion validity (Pearson correlation) between the DAPS and the MPS ranged from . 27 to . 50. Additionally, a confirmatory factor analysis result revealed good model fit indices for the three-factor model of the DAPS. The findings suggested that the Turkish version of DAPS can be reliably used to measure participants’ expectations for their partners or significant others among a Turkish sample.
Temporal transcoding of H.264/AVC video to the scalable format

In this work, a novel implementation of a video transcoder that converts a video sequence encoded with the H.264/AVC standard to a temporally scalable H.264/SVC stream is achieved with the use of a pixel-domain heterogeneous architecture. The input H.264/AVC stream is fully decoded by the transcoder. Macroblock coding modes are extracted from the input stream and are reused to encode the output stream. A set of new motion vectors is computed from the input stream coded motion vectors, and are mapped to either the hierarchical B-frame or zero-delay referencing structures employed by H.264/SVC. These new motion vectors are further subjected to a 3 pixel refinement. As a result, a significant decrease in computational complexity is achieved, while maintaining a close to optimum compression efficiency.
Combining heterogeneous data sources for civil unrest forecasting

Detecting and forecasting civil unrest events (protests, strikes, etc.) is of key interest to social scientists and policy makers because these events can lead to significant societal and cultural changes. We analyze protest dynamics in six countries of Latin America on a daily level, from November 2012 through August 2014, using multiple data sources that capture social, political and economic contexts within which civil unrest occurs. We use logistic regression models with Lasso to select a sparse feature set from our diverse datasets, in order to predict the probability of occurrence of civil unrest events in these countries. The models contain predictors extracted from social media sites (Twitter and blogs) and news sources, in addition to volume of requests to Tor, a widely-used anonymity network. Two political event databases and country-specific exchange rates are also used. Our forecasting models are evaluated using a Gold Standard Report (GSR), which is compiled by an independent group of social scientists and experts on Latin America. The experimental results, measured by F1-scores, are in the range 0.68 to 0.95, and demonstrate the efficacy of using a multi-source approach for predicting civil unrest. Case studies illustrate the insights into unrest events that are obtained with our methods.