Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Three-dimensional simulations of non-stationary accretion by remnant black holes of compact object mergers

By means of three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations with an Eulerian PPM code we investigate the time-dependent evolution and properties of accretion tori around nonrotating and rotating stellar-mass black holes, using a pseudo-Newtonian (Paczynski & Wiita or Artemova-Bjornsson-Novikov) potential to approximate the effects of general relativity. The simulations are performed with three nested Cartesian grids to ensure sufficient resolution near the central black hole on the one hand and a large computational volume on the other. The black hole and torus are considered as the remnant of a binary neutron star or neutron-star black-hole merger. Referring to results from previous hydrodynamical simulations of such events, we assume the initial configurations to consist of a black hole with a mass of about 4$\,M_\odot$ girded by a toroidal accretion disk with a mass in the range from about 0.01 $M_\odot$ to 0.2 $M_\odot$. We simulate the torus evolution without and with physical shear viscosity, employing a simple α -model for the gas viscosity. As in our previous work on merging neutron star binaries and neutron star/black hole binaries, we use the equation of state of Lattimer and Swesty. The energy loss and lepton number change due to neutrino emission from the hot torus are treated by a neutrino-trapping scheme. The energy deposition by neutrino-antineutrino annihilation around the disk is evaluated in a post-processing step. The time-dependent efficiency of converting gravitational energy to neutrinos, expressed by the ratio of neutrino luminosity to accretion rate of rest-mass energy, can reach maximum values of up to about 10%. The corresponding efficiency of converting neutrino energy into a pair-photon fireball by neutrino annihilation peaks at values of several percent. Interestingly, we find that the rate of neutrino-antineutrino annihilation decays with time much less steeply than the total neutrino luminosity does with the decreasing gas mass of the torus, because the ongoing protonization of the initially neutron-rich disk matter leads to a rather stable product of neutrino and antineutrino luminosities. The neutrino luminosity and total energy release of the torus increase steeply with higher viscosity, larger torus mass, and larger black hole spin in corotation with the disk, in particular when the spin parameter is $a \ga 0.8$. The latter dependence is moderated in case of a high disk viscosity. For rotation rates as expected for post-merger black holes ($a\ga 0.5$) and reasonable values of the alpha viscosity of the torus ($\alpha \sim 0.1$), torus masses in the investigated range can release sufficient energy in neutrinos to account for the energetics of the well-localized short gamma-ray bursts recently detected by Hete and Swift , if collimation of the ultrarelativistic outflows into about 1% of the sky is invoked, as predicted by recent hydrodynamic jet simulations.
Optimizing residue arithmetic on FPGAs

Residue number system (RNS), which originates from the Chinese remainder theorem, is regarded as a promising number representation in the domain of digital signal processing (DSP). This paper describes our work on optimizing residue arithmetic units on the platform of reconfigurable devices, such as FPGAs. First, we provide improved designs for residue arithmetic units. For reverse converters from RNS to binary numbers, we propose a novel design that uses only n-bit additions. Compared to previous work, the design consumes up to 14.3% less area and provides lower latency. Second, we develop a reconfigurable RNS arithmetic library generator for the moduli set {2n-1, 2n, 2n+1}. The generator supports a wide range of RNS numbers, and enables us to perform an extensive comparison between RNS and other number representations at both the arithmetic unit level and the application level. The comparison shows that, for applications involving a large number of multiplications, the RNS designs can reduce up to 1/2 DSP48s for large bit-width settings.
Scientific Considerations for Pharmacoenhancers in Antiretroviral Therapy

P inhibitors (PIs) are an integral component of highly active antiretroviral therapy. As part of the first line of antiretroviral therapy, PIs have made a significant contribution toward reducing the morbidity and mortality associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disease. The majority of PIs are primarily metabolized by CYP3A enzymes presystemically and after entering the systemic circulation; therefore, inhibition of this metabolism by low-dose ritonavir, a potent CYP enzyme inhibitor, leads to significant increase in the absorption and decrease in metabolism of a coadministered PI. The increased systemic exposure of a PI in the presence of ritonavir is often referred to as “pharmacoenhancement” or “boosting. ” The boosting of PIs has resulted in several therapeutic benefits, such as achieving and maintaining therapeutic levels of the PI with lower PI doses, less frequent PI dosing with improved patient adherence, the ability to dose certain PIs without any meal restrictions, reduction in the variability of PI systemic exposures, and an increase in the barrier to PI resistance. The critical role played by ritonavir in the success of PI-based antiretroviral therapy is underscored by the fact that for several PIs, all approved dosing regimens include coadministration with ritonavir.
Extreme Learning Machine for Large-Scale Action Recognition

In this paper, we describe the method we applied for the action recognition task on the THUMOS 2014 challenge dataset. We study human action recognition in RGB videos through low-level features by focusing on improved trajectory features that are densely extracted from the spatio-temporal volume. We represent each video with Fisher vector encoding and additional mid-level feautures. Finally, we use Extreme Learning Machines for classification. We achieve 62.27% mean average precision on the validation set.
Tissue Invasion by Entamoeba histolytica: Evidence of Genetic Selection and/or DNA Reorganization Events in Organ Tropism

Entamoeba histolytica infection may have various clinical manifestations. Nine out of ten E. histolytica infections remain asymptomatic, while the remainder become invasive and cause disease. The most common form of invasive infection is amebic diarrhea and colitis, whereas the most common extra-intestinal disease is amebic liver abscess. The underlying reasons for the different outcomes are unclear, but a recent study has shown that the parasite genotype is a contributor. To investigate this link further we have examined the genotypes of E. histolytica in stool- and liver abscess-derived samples from the same patients. Analysis of all 18 paired samples (16 from Bangladesh, one from the United States of America, and one from Italy) revealed that the intestinal and liver abscess amebae are genetically distinct. The results suggest either that E. histolytica subpopulations in the same infection show varying organ tropism, or that a DNA reorganization event takes place prior to or during metastasis from intestine to liver.
Multicenter interrater and intrarater reliability in the endoscopic evaluation of velopharyngeal insufficiency.

OBJECTIVE To explore interrater and intrarater reliability (R (inter) and R (intra), respectively) of a standardized scale applied to nasoendoscopic assessment of velopharyngeal (VP) function, across multiple centers. DESIGN Multicenter blinded R (inter) and R (intra) study. SETTING Eight academic tertiary care centers. PARTICIPANTS Sixteen otolaryngologists from 8 centers. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Raters estimated lateral pharyngeal and palatal movement on nasoendoscopic tapes from 50 different patients. Raters were asked to (1) estimate gap size during phonation and (2) note the presence of the Passavant ridge, a midline palatal notch on the nasal surface of the soft palate, and aberrant pulsations. Primary outcome measures were R (inter) and R (intra) coefficients for estimated gap size, lateral wall, and palatal movement; kappa coefficients for the Passavant ridge, a midline palatal notch on the nasal soft palate, and aberrant pulsations were also calculated. RESULTS The R (inter) coefficients were 0.63 for estimated gap size, 0.41 for lateral wall movement, and 0.43 for palate movement; corresponding R (intra) coefficients were 0.86, 0.79, and 0.83, respectively. Interrater kappa values for qualitative features were 0.10 for the Passavant ridge; 0.48 for a notch on the nasal surface of the soft palate, 0.56 for aberrant pulsations, and 0.39 for estimation of gap size. CONCLUSIONS In these data, there was good R (intra) and fair R (inter) when using the Golding-Kushner scale for rating VP function based on nasoendoscopy. Estimates of VP gap size demonstrate higher reliability coefficients than total lateral wall, mean palate estimates, and categorical estimate of gap size. The reliability of rating qualitative characteristics (ie, the presence of the Passavant ridge, aberrant pulsations, and notch on the nasal surface of the soft palate) is variable.
Genomic landscape of extended-spectrum β-lactamase resistance in Escherichia coli from an urban African setting

Objectives: Efforts to treat Escherichia coli infections are increasingly being compromised by the rapid, global spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Whilst AMR in E. coli has been extensively investigated in resource-rich settings, in sub-Saharan Africa molecular patterns of AMR are not well described. In this study, we have begun to explore the population structure and molecular determinants of AMR amongst E. coli isolates from Malawi. Methods: Ninety-four E. coli isolates from patients admitted to Queen’s Hospital, Malawi, were whole-genome sequenced. The isolates were selected on the basis of diversity of phenotypic resistance profiles and clinical source of isolation (blood, CSF and rectal swab). Sequence data were analysed using comparative genomics and phylogenetics. Results: Our results revealed the presence of five clades, which were strongly associated with E. coli phylogroups A, B1, B2, D and F. We identified 43 multilocus STs, of which ST131 (14.9%) and ST12 (9.6%) were the most common. We identified 25 AMR genes. The most common ESBL gene was blaCTX-M-15 and it was present in all five phylogroups and 11 STs, and most commonly detected in ST391 (4/4 isolates), ST648 (3/3 isolates) and ST131 [3/14 (21.4%) isolates]. Conclusions: This study has revealed a high diversity of lineages associated with AMR, including ESBL and fluoroquinolone resistance, in Malawi. The data highlight the value of longitudinal bacteraemia surveillance coupled with detailed molecular epidemiology in all settings, including low-income settings, in describing the global epidemiology of ESBL resistance.
Output consensus of double-integrator multi-agent systems with mismatched disturbances via SMC and GPIO

Most of the existing results on anti-disturbance consensus control of multi-agent systems focus on matched-disturbance rejection and the disturbances are assumed to be constant or slowly time-varying. This paper investigates the consensus control problem of double-integrator multi-agent systems with mismatched disturbances, which can be some kinds of faster time-varying disturbances, such as ramp and higher-order disturbances. To estimate the higher-order disturbances and their derivatives, for each agent, a generalized proportional integral observer (GPIO) is constructed. By distributedly employing the disturbances estimates, a kind of nonlinear sliding-mode surfaces are developed for both leaderless and leader-follower multi-agent systems. Based on the proposed surfaces and the disturbances estimates, composite consensus protocols are designed for both cases, which guarantee the global asymptotical stability of the consensus error systems. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the proposed algorithms.
Effect of annealing and aging treatment on mechanical properties of ultrafine grained Al 6061 alloy

Abstract A comparative study of aging and a combined treatment of short annealing and aging on mechanical properties and microstructure of cryorolled (CR) Al 6061 alloy is investigated in the present work by using tensile tests, hardness tests, electron backscattered diffraction and transmission electron microscope. The pre-CR solid solution treatment combined with post-CR short annealing (200°C, 5 min) followed by aging treatment (100°C, 57 h) of the Al 6061 alloy showed an improved ductility and well defined ultrafine grain structure as compared to the samples subjected to pre-CR solid solution treatment followed by post-CR aging treatment (100°C, 60 h).
Reliability of Performance Measurements Derived From Ground Reaction Force Data During Countermovement Jump and the Influence of Sampling Frequency

Hori, N, Newton, RU, Kawamori, N, McGuigan, MR, Kraemer, WJ, and Nosaka, K. Reliability of performance measurements derived from ground reaction force data during countermovement jump and the influence of sampling frequency. J Strength Cond Res 23(3): 874-882, 2009-Force platforms are used extensively to measure force and power output during countermovement jump (CMJ). The purpose of this study was to examine measurement reliability and validity of commonly used performance measurements derived from ground reaction force (GRF)-time data during CMJ and the influence of sampling at different frequencies. Twenty-four men performed 2 trials of CMJ on a force platform, and GRF-time data were sampled at a rate of 500 Hz. Data obtained at 500 Hz were considered as the reference, and then data were resampled at 400, 250, 200, 100, 50, and 25 Hz, using interpolation. Commonly used power, force, and velocity performance measures were obtained from GRF-time data. Reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and coefficient of variation (CV) between the 2 trials within the session. Peak power, peak force, and peak velocity were highly reliable across all sampling frequencies (ICC = 0.92-0.98, CV = 1.3-4.1). Percentage differences from 500-Hz reference values ranged from −0.85 to 0.20% at 400 Hz, −1.88 to 0.89% at 250 Hz, −1.80 to 1.31% at 200 Hz, −3.63 to 3.34% at 100 Hz, −11.37 to 6.51% at 50 Hz, and −13.17 to 9.03% at 25 Hz. In conclusion, peak power, force, and velocity measurements derived from GRF to assess leg extensor capabilities are reliable within a test session except for peak rate of force development and time to peak power. With regard to sampling frequency, scientists and practitioners may consider sampling as low as 200 Hz, depending on the purpose of measurement, because the percentage difference is not markedly enlarged until the frequency is 100 Hz or lower.
Radiation Sterilization of Anthracycline Antibiotics in Solid State

The impact of ionizing radiation generated by a beam of electrons of 25–400 kGy on the stability of such analogs of anthracycline antibiotics as daunorubicin (DAU), doxorubicin (DOX), and epidoxorubicin (EPI) was studied. Based on EPR results, it was established that unstable free radicals decay exponentially with the half-time of 4 days in DAU and DOX and 7 days in EPI after irradiation. Radiation-induced structural changes were analyzed with the use of spectrophotometric methods (UV-Vis and IR) and electron microscope imaging (SEM). A chromatographic method (HPLC-DAD) was applied to assess changes in the contents of the analogs in the presence of their impurities. The study showed that the structures of the analogs did not demonstrate any significant alterations at the end of the period necessary for the elimination of unstable free radicals. The separation of main substances and related substances (impurities and potential degradation products) allowed determining that no statistically significant changes in the content of particular active substances occurred and that their conversion due to the presence of free radicals resulting from exposure to an irradiation of 25 kGy (prescribed to ensure sterility) was not observed.
Design considerations for slotted substrate integrated waveguide leaky-wave antennas

Substrate integrated waveguides (SIWs) are a popular choice for implementing compact slotted waveguide leaky-wave antennas (LWAs). However, certain design parameters that may not seem important can have a significant impact on the radiation performance of such structures. The junction between the end of the SIW and the microstrip line typically used to terminate such structures can result in spurious radiation if the extent of the substrate on which the antenna is printed is not judiciously chosen. Here, it is shown that the extent of the substrate beyond the via walls, as well as the length of the microstrip line used to terminate SIWs, can have a non-trivial impact on the gain and scanning performance of SIW LWAs. In many cases, this spurious radiation can easily be missed since it does not occur in the principle cuts of the radiation pattern. An increased extension of substrate as well as a shorter terminating microstrip line effectively eliminates the spurious beam.
Peer-to-Peer Indoor Navigation Using Smartphones

Most of existing indoor navigation systems work in a client/server manner, which needs to deploy comprehensive localization services together with precise indoor maps a prior. In this paper, we design and realize a peer-to-peer navigation system (ppNav), on smartphones, which enables the fast-to-deploy navigation services, avoiding the requirements of pre-deployed location services and detailed floorplans. ppNav navigates a user to the destination by tracking user mobility, promoting timely walking tips and alerting potential deviations, according to a previous traveller’s trace experience. Specifically, we utilize the ubiquitous WiFi fingerprints in a novel diagrammed form and extract both radio and visual features of the diagram to track relative locations and exploit fingerprint similarity trend for deviation detection. We further devise techniques to lock on a user to the nearest reference path in case he/she arrives at an uncharted place. Consolidating these techniques, we implement ppNav on commercial mobile devices and validate its performance in real environments. Our results show that ppNav achieves delightful performance, with an average relative error of 0.9 m in trace tracking and a maximum delay of nine samples (about 4.5 s) in deviation detection.
Type-Specific Antiviral Antibodies to Genital Human Papillomavirus Types in Mothers and Newborns

Type-specific antibodies to human papillomaviruses (HPVs) can be detected in most infected adult patients, and they have virus-neutralizing properties. However, there is a dearth of information on the seroprevalence of maternal and neonatal antibodies to HPV capsid antigens. Sera from 104 mothers, their newborns, and 3 twin pregnancies were analyzed by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for the presence of specific IgG, IgM, and IgA antibodies to virus-like particles of HPV-6, -11, -16, -18, and -31. Maternal IgG positivity rates to HPV types 6, 11, 16, 18, and 31 were 23.1%, 2.9%, 8.7%, 5.8%, and 9.6%, respectively. Neonatal rates did not differ significantly, and individual IgG ELISA values of mothers and their infants and all paired twins showed a very high correlation. In contrast, nearly all IgM and IgA individual values in newborns were designated negative, whereas mothers' positivity rates ranged as high as 19.2%. Infants showed no HPV-related lesions at birth or at 4-year follow-up. Seven of 8 tested children lost IgG HPV antibodies in a follow-up examination. Similar anti-HPV IgG seropositivity in mothers and newborns and a lack of neonatal IgA and IgM together with twin and follow-up results indicate that neonatal IgG is not a sign of intrauterine HPV infection but, rather, maternofetal antibody transmission.
Construction of IRA-Like Codes with Cycle Optimization-Constraint and Modified Extended Quasi-Cyclic Structure

In this paper, a novel method is proposed for constructing irregular repeat accumulate like (IRA-like) codes with cycle optimization-constraint and modified extended quasi-cyclic (QC) structure. Analysis and simulation results show that the IRA-like codes not only achieve almost the same performance as the computer-generated random low-density parity-check (LDPC) codes, but also have much lower encoding complexity.
Can clinically relevant dose errors in patient anatomy be detected by gamma passing rate or modulation complexity score in volumetric-modulated arc therapy for intracranial tumors?

Abstract We investigated whether methods conventionally used to evaluate patient-specific QA in volumetric-modulated arc therapy (VMAT) for intracranial tumors detect clinically relevant dosimetric errors. VMAT plans with coplanar arcs were designed for 37 intracranial tumors. Dosimetric accuracy was validated by using a 3D array detector. Dose deviations between the measured and planned doses were evaluated by gamma analysis. In addition, modulation complexity score for VMAT (MCSv) for each plan was calculated. Three-dimensional dose distributions in patient anatomy were reconstructed using 3DVH software, and clinical deviations in dosimetric parameters between the 3DVH doses and planned doses were calculated. The gamma passing rate (GPR)/MCSv and the clinical dose deviation were evaluated using Pearson's correlation coefficient. Significant correlation (P < 0.05) between the clinical dose deviation and GPR was observed with both the 3%/3 mm and 2%/2 mm criteria in clinical target volume (D99), brain (D2), brainstem (D2) and chiasm (D2), albeit that the correlations were not ‘strong’ (0.38 < |r| < 0.54). The maximum dose deviations of brainstem were up to 4.9 Gy and 2.9 Gy for Dmax and D%, respectively in the case of high GPR (98.2% with 3%/3 mm criteria). Regarding MCSv, none of the evaluated organs showed a significant correlation with clinical dose deviation, and correlations were ‘weak’ or absent (0.01 < |r| < 0.21). The use of high GPR and MCSv values does not always detect dosimetric errors in a patient. Therefore, in-depth analysis with the DVH for patient-specific QA is considered to be preferable for guaranteeing safe dose delivery.
Dependent component analysis as a tool for blind spectral unmixing of remote sensed images

In this work, we present a blind technique for the estimation of the material abundances per pixel (endmembers) in hyperspectral remote-sensed images. Classical spectral unmixing techniques require the knowledge of the existing materials and their spectra. This is a problem when no prior information is available. Some techniques based on independent component analysis did not prove to be very efficient for the strong dependence among the material abundances always found in real data. We approach the problem of blind endmember separation by applying the MaxNG algorithm, which is capable to separate even strongly dependent signals. We also present a minimum-mean-squared-error method to estimate the unknown scale factors by exploiting the source constraint. The results shown here have been obtained from either synthetic or real data. The synthetic images have been generated by a noisy linear mixture model with real, spatially variable, endmember spectra. The real images have been captured by the MIVIS airborne imaging spectrometer. Our results showed that MaxNG is able to separate the endmembers successfully if a linear mixing model holds true and for low noise and reduced spectral variability conditions.
A 9 . 2 mW 528 / 66 / 50 MHz Monolithic Clock Synthesizer for Mobile P Platforms

A low-power monolithic clock synthesizer suitable for use in mobile P platforms is presented. Clock synthesis is accomplished using an all-Si RF LC reference oscillator that does not require an external frequency reference. Fabricated in 0.18 m CMOS, the developed clock synthesizer demonstrates 1% frequency accuracy over process, voltage, and 0-70 C, exhibits 7.4/21/33psrms period jitter on 528/66/50MHz clock signals, and achieves a start-up latency of only 3.2 s.