Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Interpolating Population Distributions using Public-use Data with Application to the American Community Survey.

Statistical agencies publish aggregate estimates of various features of the distributions of several socio-demographic quantities of interest based on data obtained from a survey. Often these area-level estimates are tabulated at small geographies, but detailed distributional information is not necessarily available at such a fine scale geography due to data quality and/or disclosure limitations. We propose a model-based method to interpolate the disseminated estimates for a given variable of interest that improves on previous approaches by simultaneously allowing for the use of more types of estimates, incorporating the standard error of the estimates into the estimation process, and by providing uncertainty quantification so that, for example, interval estimates can be obtained for quantities of interest. Our motivating example uses the disseminated tabulations and PUMS from the American Community Survey to estimate U.S. Census tract-level income distributions and statistics associated with these distributions.
A Reduced Crouzeix–Raviart Immersed Finite Element Method for Elasticity Problems with Interfaces

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to develop a reduced Crouzeix–Raviart immersed finite element method (RCRIFEM) for two-dimensional elasticity problems with interface, which is based on the Kouhia–Stenberg finite element method (Kouhia et al. 1995) and Crouzeix–Raviart IFEM (CRIFEM) (Kwak et al. 2017). We use a P 1 {P_{1}} -conforming like element for one of the components of the displacement vector, and a P 1 {P_{1}} -nonconforming like element for the other component. The number of degrees of freedom of our scheme is reduced to two thirds of CRIFEM. Furthermore, we can choose penalty parameters independent of the Poisson ratio. One of the penalty parameters depends on Lamé’s second constant μ, and the other penalty parameter is independent of both μ and λ. We prove the optimal order error estimates in piecewise H 1 {H^{1}} -norm, which is independent of the Poisson ratio. Numerical experiments show optimal order of convergence both in L 2 {L^{2}} and piecewise H 1 {H^{1}} -norms for all problems including nearly incompressible cases.
Clock Tree Synthesis for Timing Convergence and Timing Yield Improvement in Nanometer Technologies

Designing high-performance very large-scale integration (VLSI) chips has become more challenging than ever due to nanometer effects and accelerating time-to -market cycles. Due to the interconnect delay dominance, a small routing change in the design can increase coupling capacitances on its neighboring paths and significantly increase their path delays. This can cause new timing violations and result in design iterations. While timing convergence is getting har der and harder to achieve, the accelerating time-to-market cycles further aggravate the problem. Proc ess variations result in interconnect variations, threshold voltage variations, leakage power variations, e tc. These effects not only generate reliability issues but also make the circuit performance deviate from th e design specification and cause timing yield losses. Due to the increasing process variations in nanomet er technologies, timing yield has become an important design concern because it directly affects the ma nufacturing cost. Clock designs have significant impacts on both timing conver gence and timing yield. A carefully designed clock distribution network can reduce d sign-inheritedclock skews, the discrepancies between designer intended clock skews and achieved clock skews unde r perf ct process conditions. This can improve circuit performance and timing convergence. A clock d istribution network can also be optimized to reduceprocess-inducedclock skews, such that the circuit would require less timing margin to tolerate process related timing variations. This will also improve t iming convergence and timing yield. Clock
Nonparametric Closed Testing Procedures for All Pairwise Comparisons in a Randomized Block Design

We consider multiple comparison test procedures among treatment effects in a randomized block design. We propose closed testing procedures based on signed rank statistics and Friedman test statistics for all pairwise comparisons of treatment effects. Although anyone has been failed to discuss a distribution-free method except Bonferroni procedures as a multiple comparison test, the proposed procedures are exactly distribution-free. Next we consider the randomized block design under simple ordered restrictions of treatment effects. We propose distribution-free closed testing procedures based on one-sided signed rank statistics and rank statistics of Chacko (1963) for all pairwise comparisons. Simulation studies are performed under the null hypothesis and some alternative hypotheses. In this studies, the proposed procedures show a good performance. We also illustrate an application to death rates by using proposed procedures.
Validation of the IPSL Venus GCM Thermal Structure with Venus Express Data

General circulation models (GCMs) are valuable instruments to understand the most peculiar features in the atmospheres of planets and the mechanisms behind their dynamics. Venus makes no exception and it has been extensively studied thanks to GCMs. Here we validate the current version of the Institut Pierre Simon Laplace (IPSL) Venus GCM, by means of a comparison between the modelled temperature field and that obtained from data by the Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer (VIRTIS) and the Venus Express Radio Science Experiment (VeRa) onboard Venus Express. The modelled thermal structure displays an overall good agreement with data, and the cold collar is successfully reproduced at latitudes higher than +/−55°, with an extent and a behavior close to the observed ones. Thermal tides developing in the model appear to be consistent in phase and amplitude with data: diurnal tide dominates at altitudes above 102 Pa pressure level and at high-latitudes, while semidiurnal tide dominates between 102 and 104 Pa, from low to mid-latitudes. The main difference revealed by our analysis is located poleward of 50°, where the model is affected by a second temperature inversion arising at 103 Pa. This second inversion, possibly related to the adopted aerosols distribution, is not observed in data.
Progress of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy in nuclear industry applications

In order to ensure the safety and economy of nuclear industry production, the analysis of nuclear materials and other materials used in nuclear industry environments are usually required before and during their installation and utilization, and after service. The advantages of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), such as sample preparation not being required and in situ remote analysis, make it an efficient method for the analysis of hazardous samples and samples in remotely accessible or hazardous environments. The nuclear industry has become one of the fast-growing fields of LIBS application. In this review, the feasibility of LIBS in the nuclear industry is summarized from the aspects of the physical fundamentals of plasma, instrumentation, spectral analysis, and application progress. The radiation characteristics of LIBS and spectral lines of interest are discussed, along with the main influencing factors and spectral enhancement methods. LIBS instruments and spectral analysis methods used for identification are then presented, and qualitative and quantitative analysis. The various applications of LIBS in the nuclear industry and in fusion facilities are described, including the analysis of nuclear materials, isotopes, and steels and alloys. Finally, the challenges currently being encountered by LIBS applications and its potential development direction are considered.
Awareness as inference in a higher-order state space

Abstract Humans have the ability to report the contents of their subjective experience—we can say to each other, ‘I am aware of X’. The decision processes that support these reports about mental contents remain poorly understood. In this article, I propose a computational framework that characterizes awareness reports as metacognitive decisions (inference) about a generative model of perceptual content. This account is motivated from the perspective of how flexible hierarchical state spaces are built during learning and decision-making. Internal states supporting awareness reports, unlike those covarying with perceptual contents, are simple and abstract, varying along a 1D continuum from absent to present. A critical feature of this architecture is that it is both higher-order and asymmetric: a vast number of perceptual states is nested under ‘present’, but a much smaller number of possible states nested under ‘absent’. Via simulations, I show that this asymmetry provides a natural account of observations of ‘global ignition’ in brain imaging studies of awareness reports.
Impact of atmospheric aerosols on solar power

Atmospheric aerosols affect the power production of solar energy systems. Their impact depends on both the atmospheric conditions and the solar technology employed. By being a region with a lack in power production and prone to high solar insolation, West Africa shows high potential for the application of solar power systems. However, dust outbreaks, containing high aerosol loads, occur especially in the Sahel, located between the Saharan desert in the north and the Sudanian Savanna in the south. They might affect the whole region for several days with significant effects on power generation. This study investigates the impact of atmospheric aerosols on solar energy production for the example year 2006 making use of six well instrumented sites in West Africa. Two different solar power technologies, a photovoltaic (PV) and a parabolic trough (PT) power plant, are considered. The daily reduction of solar power due to aerosols is determined over mostly clear-sky days in 2006 with a model chain combining radiative transfer and technology specific power generation. For mostly clear days the local daily reduction of PV power (at alternating current) (PVAC) and PT power (PTP) due to the presence of aerosols lies between 13 % and 22 % and between 22 % and 37 %, respectively. In March 2006 a major dust outbreak occurred, which serves as an example to investigate the impact of an aerosol extreme event on solar power. During the dust outbreak, daily reduction of PVAC and PTP of up to 79 % and 100 % occur with a mean reduction of 20 % to 40 % for PVAC and of 32 % to 71 % for PTP during the 12 days of the event.
Transitivity correlation: A descriptive measure of network transitivity

Abstract This paper proposes that common measures for network transitivity, based on the enumeration of transitive triples, do not reflect the theoretical statements about transitivity they aim to describe. These statements are often formulated as comparative conditional probabilities, but these are not directly reflected by simple functions of enumerations. We think that a better approach is obtained by considering the probability of a tie between two randomly drawn nodes, conditional on selected features of the network. Two measures of transitivity based on correlation coefficients between the existence of a tie and the existence, or the number, of two-paths between the nodes are developed, and called “Transitivity Phi” and “Transitivity Correlation. ” Some desirable properties for these measures are studied and compared to existing clustering coefficients, in both random (Erdös–Renyi) and in stylized networks (windmills). Furthermore, it is shown that in a directed graph, under the condition of zero Transitivity Correlation, the total number of transitive triples is determined by four underlying features: size, density, reciprocity, and the covariance between in- and outdegrees. Also, it is demonstrated that plotting conditional probability of ties, given the number of two-paths, provides valuable insights into empirical regularities and irregularities of transitivity patterns.
Spectroscopic Properties of Light-Activated Proteins Resolved by Multiscale-Simulations

Rhodopsine und Lichtsammelkomplexe sind durch Licht aktivierte Proteine, die an naturlichen Prozessen wie dem Sehen oder der Photosynthese beteiligt sind. Um deren detaillierten Mechanismus zu verstehen, sind aufgrund ihrer Grose und der komplexen Umgebung, in die das Chromophor eingebettet ist, Multiskalen-Methoden erforderlich. Neue und effiziente Methoden sind daher sehr wunschenswert. In dieser Arbeit wurde somit die kurzlich erfolgte zeitabhangige Erweiterung der effizienten LC-DFTB Methode fur ihre Anwendung auf Rhodopsine und Lichtsammelkomplexe uber einen systematischen Benchmark validiert. Zusatzlich wurden etablierte Methoden zur Untersuchung des $\textit{pre-gating}$ Prozesses des lichtgesteuerten Ionenkanals $\textit{Channelrhodopsin-2}$ Wildtyp (ChR2-WT) verwendet. Die Benchmark Studie wurde sowohl an den isolierten Chromophoren Retinal und Bakteriochlorophyll a (BChl a), als auch am biologischen System als Ganzes durchgefuhrt. Dabei wurden Einflussfaktoren, die fur ihre charakteristischen Absorptionsspektren verantwortlich sind, sowie Methoden berucksichtigt, die von \textit{ab-initio} bis zum semiempirischen Ansatz reichen. LC-DFTB konnte qualitativ den gleichen Trend reproduzieren wie die LC-DFT Funktionale hinsichtlich der Beschreibung der Einflussfaktoren auf die Absorptionsspektren von Retinal und BChl a. Wahrend LC-DFTB jedoch Schwachen in der Anwendung an Rhodopsinen zeigte, waren die Ergebnisse fur Lichtsammelkomplexe in guter Ubereinstimmung mit denen von $\textit{ab-initio}$ Methoden. LC-DFTB ist damit vielversprechend, mit dem Potenzial fur weitere Untersuchungen. Der $\textit{pre-gating}$ Prozess von ChR2-WT wurde mit Methoden untersucht, die sowohl auf einem klassischen als auch auf einem QM/MM Ansatz basieren. Somit ergaben sich aus QM/MM und klassischen MD Simulationen mehrere Teilzustande des ersten Zwischenzustands des Photozyklus. Nachfolgend, wurden mit diesen Strukturen UV/Vis- und Vibrationsspektren berechnet, die in guter Ubereinstimmung mit dem Experiment waren. Somit konnte ein moglicher $\textit{pre-gating}$ Prozess abgeleitet werden. Dies ermoglicht weitere Untersuchungen der folgenden Zwischenzustande des Photozyklus, um den detaillierten Mechanismus und die Funktion von ChR2-WT zu verstehen.
Examination of Nudging Schemes in the Simulation of Meteorology for Use in Air Quality Experiments: Application in the Great Lakes Region

High levels of ozone have been observed along the shores of Lake Michigan for the last 40 years. Models continue to struggle in their ability to replicate ozone behavior in the region. In the retrospective way in which models are used in air quality regulation development, nudging or four-dimensional data assimilation (FDDA) of the large-scale environment is important for constraining model forecast errors. Here, paths for incorporating large-scale meteorological conditions but retaining model mesoscale structure are evaluated. For the July 2011 case studied here, iterative FDDA strategies did not improve mesoscale performance in the Great Lakes region in terms of diurnal trends or monthly averaged statistics, with overestimations of nighttime wind speed remaining as an issue. Two vertical nudging strategies were evaluated for their effects on the development of nocturnal low-level jets (LLJ) and their impacts on air quality simulations. Nudging only above the planetary boundary layer, which has been a standard option in many air quality simulations, significantly dampened the amplitude of LLJ relative to nudging only above a height of 2 km. While the LLJ was preserved with nudging only above 2 km, there was some deterioration in wind performance when compared with profiler networks above the jet between 500 m and 2 km. In examining the impact of nudging strategies on air quality performance of the Community Multiscale Air Quality model, it was found that performance was improved for the case of nudging above 2 km. This result may reflect the importance of the LLJ in transport or perhaps a change in mixing in the models.
Vector Effects of Dissipative Soliton in All-Fiber MOPA System

The performance of seed laser source will have a great impact on the output pulse quality of the master oscillator power amplifier (MOPA) system. Here, we report the influence of the soliton vector features on the pulse uniformity in an all-fiber MOPA configuration. We demonstrated that, although the intensity of the dissipative soliton seed source is uniform, the intensity of the output pulse train from the MOPA will show fluctuations if the soliton polarization state is not locked, i.e., polarization-rotating vector soliton. It is found that the appearance of non-uniform pulse intensity is caused by the combination of the polarization instability and the polarization dependent gain in the polarization maintaining fiber amplifier. The obtained results indicate that the polarization evolution of seed pulsed source is critical to generation of stable pulse train from the MOPA, and also might be useful to the communities dealing with solitons and high-power pulsed fiber lasers.
Export Barriers and Their Role In Reducing the Export Capability of Libyan Small and Medium Enterprises

Internationalization is defined as a process and the approach that organizations go through in their pursuit to expand their operations to foreign markets, which is a concept examined through different models; Uppsala and I-M. Moreover, market entry modes vary according to the objectives of the organization, where exportation forms the most common type of entry mode during internationalization. However, several export barriers may face companies while they go through the different exportation stages from studying its feasibility until they are able to commit to several contracts in several international markets. In this research, the export barriers facing Libyan small and medium enterprises are examined through a wide sample of the registered companies for exportation. The results show that there are several differences between the companies in different exportation phases in their perception towards each barrier. Moreover, the final results show that the most important export barriers facing Libyan SMEs are related to domestic government support, foreign currency instability and meeting international quality standards.
MEMS for Photonic Integrated Circuits

The field of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) is reviewed. This field leverages mechanics at the nanometer to micrometer scale to improve existing components and introduce novel functionalities in PICs. This review covers the MEMS actuation principles and the mechanical tuning mechanisms for integrated photonics. The state of the art of MEMS tunable components in PICs is quantitatively reviewed and critically assessed with respect to suitability for large-scale integration in existing PIC technology platforms. MEMS provide a powerful approach to overcome current limitations in PIC technologies and to enable a new design dimension with a wide range of applications.
Trace-Driven QoE-Aware Proactive Caching for Mobile Video Streaming in Metropolis

To meet the ever-increasing demands for mobile video streaming, proactive caching over the network edge has been proposed as a promising solution for next generation wireless networks. In this paper, we consider the trace-driven cache-enabled video streaming design in the scenario of a metropolis to boost the spectral efficiency on the system side and the quality of experience (QoE) on the user side. A novel scheme to jointly provide proactive caching, power allocation, user association and adaptive video streaming is designed via the formation of a QoE-aware throughput maximization problem. Specifically, the caches are refreshed in the content placement phase according to the resource status and expected traffic, which is obtained by exploring the traces collected over a big city. In addition, users need to be associated with a proper small base station (SBS) in the content delivering phase to provide the highest attainable rate. We demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme via experiments conducted over real user trace datasets.
2019年6月17日四川长宁 M S 6.0地震序列震源机制解与发震构造分析

2019年6月17日，在青藏高原东缘四川盆地南缘宜宾市长宁县发生MS6. 0地震，其后5天内相继发生了珙县MS5. 1、长宁MS5. 3和珙县MS5. 4强余震；7月4日，在珙县珙泉镇再次发生MS5. 6地震. 因灾害叠加，本次地震序列导致13人死亡，200多人受伤，大量房屋受损，造成了重大的人员伤亡和财产损失. 本文基于四川区域地震台网提供的地震资料，采用多阶段定位方法，对长宁MS6. 0地震序列早期（2019年6月17日至22日）余震进行了重新定位，同时，利用CAP波形反演方法，获得了序列中截止至7月4日的16次MS≥3. 6地震的震源机制解与震源矩心深度，对该序列的发震构造进行了初步分析. 长宁MS6. 0地震序列重新定位后的610次ML≥1. 5地震分布显示余震区呈NW-SE向展布，长约25 km，宽5 km；序列震源深度在0~10 km区间，深度均值约3. 2 km，但空间上呈西深东浅的分布特征. 长宁MS6. 0地震位于余震区的东南端，具单侧破裂特征. CAP波形反演结果显示长宁MS6. 0地震序列以逆冲和逆冲兼走滑型地震为主；16次MS≥3. 6地震的震源矩心深度在1~7 km范围，平均深度3. 5 km，与定位结果一致，揭示本次长宁地震序列发生在上地壳浅部. 根据序列空间分布、震源机制解及震区构造特征，推测本次长宁MS6. 0地震序列的发生可能与长宁—双河复式大背斜中白象岩—狮子滩背斜和双河场褶皱及其伴生断层活动有关，位于余震区西北段的6月17日珙县MS5. 1、22日珙县MS5. 4及7月4日珙县MS5. 6地震应为6月17日长宁MS6. 0地震触发白象岩—狮子滩背斜伴生断层活动所致. 序列发震构造整体呈NE-SW向挤压为主、兼具一定NW-SE向拉张分量的构造变形特征，与南侧2018年12月16日兴文MS5. 7和2019年1月3日珙县MS5. 3地震所呈现的NW-SE向挤压、NE-SW向拉张构造变形特征具有显著差异，揭示四川盆地南缘地带处于构造变形模式的转换区域，所处构造环境的变化导致本次长宁地震序列震源区及附近区域发震构造变形特征具有复杂性.
User-Cache Aided Transmission With Index Coding in $K$ -User Downlink Channels

This paper considers a single-input single-output broadcast channel with receiver side information. We find the optimal clique cover index code and the optimal transmission time allocation that minimize outage probability when total transmission time is limited. As our problem is NP-hard, we first find the optimal time allocation for a given index code. Then, we describe a brute-force algorithm that finds the set of all decodable index codes and chooses the optimal one adopting the optimal time allocation. To reduce the computational complexity of the brute-force algorithm, we propose a pruning algorithm which solves the same problem using the Hasse diagram but does not harm the optimality. Our analysis reveals that the optimal index code is dependent on the channel conditions, not simply on the number of required transmissions, which implies that the index coding-channel coupling improves the outage performance. It is also shown that this claim is still valid for general scalar linear index coding. Our simulation results verify that our proposed schemes effectively reduce the outage probability compared to other reference schemes, and our pruning algorithm considerably reduces the computational complexity required for the brute-force algorithm.
Approximation Algorithms for D-optimal Design

Experimental design is a classical statistics problem and its aim is to estimate an unknown $m$-dimensional vector $\beta$ from linear measurements where a Gaussian noise is introduced in each measurement. For the combinatorial experimental design problem, the goal is to pick $k$ out of the given $n$ experiments so as to make the most accurate estimate of the unknown parameters, denoted as $\hat{\beta}$. In this paper, we will study one of the most robust measures of error estimation - $D$-optimality criterion, which corresponds to minimizing the volume of the confidence ellipsoid for the estimation error $\beta-\hat{\beta}$. The problem gives rise to two natural variants depending on whether repetitions of experiments are allowed or not. We first propose an approximation algorithm with a $\frac1e$-approximation for the $D$-optimal design problem with and without repetitions, giving the first constant factor approximation for the problem. We then analyze another sampling approximation algorithm and prove that it is $(1-\epsilon)$-approximation if $k\geq \frac{4m}{\epsilon}+\frac{12}{\epsilon^2}\log(\frac{1}{\epsilon})$ for any $\epsilon \in (0,1)$. Finally, for $D$-optimal design with repetitions, we study a different algorithm proposed by literature and show that it can improve this asymptotic approximation ratio.