Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Weak convergence theorems for priority queues: preemptive-resume discipline

We shall consider a single-server queue with r priority classes of customers and a preemptive-resume discipline. In this system customers are served in order of their priority while customers of the same priority are served in order of their arrival. Higher priority customers, immediately upon arrival, replace lower priority customers at the server, while customers displaced in this way return to the server before any other customers of the same priority receive service. When a displaced customer returns to the server, his remaining service time is the uncompleted portion of his original service time (cf. Jaiswal (1968)).
Towards a FAST-CARS anthrax detector: Analysis of cars generation from DPA

Abstract Femtosecond coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) of dipicolinic acid (DPA), a marker molecule for bacterial spores of anthrax, has been investigated. The temporal evolution of the CARS response of DPA was examined using two ultrafast pulses to ‘pump’ the DPA and a third pulse to probe the response. In one set of experiments, a single detector recorded the temporal behaviour of the signal as a function of different pump conditions. In another set of experiments, the full anti-Stokes spectrum was recorded as a function of probe delay. The data from both experiments displayed a strong, instantaneous response and a structured transient response. The implications of these data for molecular detection are discussed.
Precipitation variability, vegetation turnover, and anthropogenic disturbance over the last millennium in the Atacama highlands of northern Chile (19°S)

The Late-Holocene history of hydroclimatic variability in the Atacama Desert offers insights into the effects of precipitation and humans on ecosystems in one of the most extremely arid regions of the world. However, understanding the effects of regional precipitation variability in relation to local ecological stressors remains to be fully resolved. Here, we present a pollen-based qualitative precipitation reconstruction derived from fossil rodent middens recovered from two sites near Laguna Roja (LRO; n = 25) and Isluga (ISL; n = 15) in the Atacama highlands (19°S) of northern Chile. At LRO, the fossil pollen record shows multi-centennial hydroclimatic anomalies during the last millennium, with wetter than present phases at 1155–1130, 865–670, and 215–80 cal yrs BP, and similar to present conditions between 1005 and 880 cal yrs BP. In contrast, the ISL record shows a wet phase during 1115–840 cal yrs BP, suggesting that meso-ecological processes were as important in vegetation turnover as regional hydroclimate anomalies. Wetter conditions derived from LRO partially overlap with the Medieval Climate Anomaly (865–670 cal yrs BP) and with the latest part of the Little Ice Age (215–80 cal yrs BP). Furthermore, no strong anthropogenic signal was identified possibly related to the remote location of the records. Palynological diversity analyses evidence increasing diversification of plant communities during wet events at both sites. In correlation to existing regional hydroclimatic records from the Western Andes, our precipitation reconstruction verifies that centennial-scale changes in the strength of the South American Summer Monsoon (SASM) and partial influence of El Niño-like (ENSO) conditions drove vegetation turnover in the Atacama Desert during the last millennium.
Adapting wastewater management systems in California for water conservation and climate change

ABSTRACT In California, wastewater systems have adapted to water conservation and drought for decades. Yet, few studies have investigated how past design assumptions influence potential mitigation and adaptation actions. This paper evaluates adaptation pathways for wastewater management in California and addresses two questions. First, are wastewater facilities experiencing challenges from mismatches in design flow values and current rates of influent flow? Second, what, if any, adaptation actions are underway or planned? To answer these questions, we compiled historical literature and conducted surveys and interviews with wastewater system managers. Approximately half of respondents indicated that they are experiencing challenges associated with changing water use rates. Aging systems have implemented many types of mitigation and adaptation actions, including operational changes, chemical additions, and facility rebuilds. California’s wastewater industry is largely pursuing an incremental adaptation pathway to manage drought and climate change. The paper demonstrates an engaged approach to research on climate change adaptation.
Aggregate Homotopy Method for Min-Max-Min Programming Satisfying a Weak-Normal Cone Condition

Min-max-min programming is an important but difficult nonsmooth programming. An aggregate homotopy method was given for solving min-max-min programming by Bo Yu el al. However, the method requires a difficult to verify weak-normal cone condition. Moreover, the method is only theoretically with no algorithmic implementation. In this paper, the weak normal cone condition is discussed first. A class of min-max-min programming satisfying the condition is introduced. A detailed algorithm to implement the method is presented. Models arising from some applications such as support vector machine for multiple-instance classification in data mining, can be included in the problem. In the end, the aggregate homotopy method is given to solve the multiple-instance support vector machine model.
Self-phase-referencing interferometry with SUSI

The Sydney University Stellar Interferometer (SUSI) is being fitted with a new beam combiner, called the Micro-arcsecond University of Sydney Companion Astrometry instrument (MUSCA), for the purpose of high precision astrometry of bright binary stars. Operating in the visible wavelength regime where photon-counting and post-processing fringe tracking is possible, MUSCA will be used in tandem with SUSI’s primary beam combiner, Precision Astronomical Visible Observations (PAVO), to record high spatial resolution fringes and thereby measure the separation of fringe packets of binary stars. With continued monitoring of stellar separation vectors at precisions in the tens of micro-arcseconds over timescales of years, it will be possible to search for the presence of gravitational perturbations in the orbital motion such as those expected from planetary mass objects in the system. This paper describes the first phase of the development, which includes the setup of the dual beam combiner system and the methodology applied to stabilize fringes of a star by means of self-phase-referencing.
Effect of microstrip antenna substrate thickness and permittivity: comparison of theories with experiment

A set of measurements of patch antennas on substrates of varying thickness and permittivity, using three types of feeds, is presented. Resonant frequency and resonant resistance are compared with calculated values from the representative theories. The measurements show that erratic results may be obtained for substrates thicker than about 0.02 lambda /sub 0/, where lambda /sub 0/ is the free-space wavelength at the resonant frequency. These problems may be related to coax-to-microstripline transitions, but their cause is not yet definitely known. The theoretical models that are compared give reasonably good results for resonant frequency, but none give impedance results that are consistently reliable. It thus appears that further work is needed to develop analytical models that can adequately predict the impedance performance of microstrip antennas on thick and/or high dielectric constant substrates. >
MANUFACTURE OF BULK MAGNETORHEOLOGICAL ELASTOMERS USING VACUUM ASSISTED RESIN TRANSFER MOLDING

Magnetorheological elastomers (MREs) consist of ferromagnetic particles embedded in a compliant matrix (i.e. elastomer). Due to the magnetic interaction of the ferromagnetic particles, MREs exhibit field dependent physical properties. Very significant changes in the modulus and loss factor of the elastomer can be realized. This makes MREs a promising candidate for active vibration control mechanisms. One factor currently limiting the implementation of this technology is the lack of an efficient manufacturing method that is practical for mass production. Most of the specimens created for previous MRE research were made using simple casting or mechanical mixing methods that are not ideal. In this research a new methodology for producing MREs using Vacuum Assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VARTM) was investigated. The method was used with a range of iron particles sizes and silicon elastomer systems and found to be effective within certain limits of applicability. The specimens produced were tested in compression under a range of magnetic fields to validate the presence of the MR effect. Relative changes in compressive modulus ranging from 35% to 150% (depending on volume fraction), under fields of around 0.3T were observed.
Modeling of Micro-downburst accompanied with rain and analysis of its influence on artillery firing accuracy

The characteristics of wet micro burst are more complex, which will cause some deviation on the artillery range, side deviation and other parameters, and have a great influence on the artillery shooting accuracy. Taking 155 mm artillery explosive shell as the research object, based on vortex ring principle and fluid mechanics, the micro-downburst and raindrop motion model was established, which was integrated into the wet micro-downburst model suitable for ballistic analysis and calculation. The wet micro-downburst model was combined with the 6-DOF external ballistic model of artillery. Simulation and analysis of the effect of different initial vortex ring center induced velocity on the firing accuracy of flat firing and curved firing. The experimental results show that for long-range firing, the range of the artillery decreases with the increase of the induction velocity of the initial vortex ring center, which seriously affects the firing accuracy and killing effect of the artillery.
New Determination of the 12C(α, γ)16O Reaction Rate and Its Impact on the Black-hole Mass Gap

We present a precise measurement of the asymptotic normalization coefficient (ANC) for the 16O ground state (GS) through the 12C(11B, 7Li)16O transfer reaction using the Quadrupole‐3‐Dipole (Q3D) magnetic spectrograph. The present work sheds light on the existing discrepancy of more than 2 orders of magnitude between the previously reported GS ANC values. This ANC is believed to have a strong effect on the 12C(α, γ)16O reaction rate by constraining the external capture to the 16O ground state, which can interfere with the high-energy tail of the 2+ subthreshold state. Based on the new ANC, we determine the astrophysical S-factor and the stellar rate of the 12C(α, γ)16O reaction. An increase of up to 21% in the total reaction rate is found within the temperature range of astrophysical relevance compared with the previous recommendation of a recent review. Finally, we evaluate the impact of our new rate on the pair-instability mass gap for black holes (BH) by evolving massive helium core stars using the MESA stellar evolution code. The updated 12C(α, γ)16O reaction rate decreases the lower and upper edges of the BH gap about 12% and 5%, respectively.
Effective color CRT calibration techniques for perception research

We present a method of CRT calibration useful for the efficient examination of a wide range of hypotheses about human color perception. We take advantage of the local linearity of gamma correction in cases in which the stimulus colors for an experiment lie in a limited region of color space (or in a limited number of small regions). This situation is quite common in threshold experiments. In many cases complete monitor calibration is unnecessary and inefficient. Often when only a few colors are needed in an experiment they will be calibrated individually. However, explicit calibration of every necessary stimulus color limits the range of experiments that can be performed. Our method allows for an efficient intermediate option.
Numerical Investigation of Flow Behaviour and Erosion Potential in the Side-Wall Clearance Between Guide Vane and Runner

In the hydropower plants exposed to excessive sediment concentration, the components of Francis turbines, especially the regions of Guide Vanes (GVs) and Runner Vanes (RVs) are severely eroded. The side-wall clearance between GV and runner is present in these turbines to separate the rotating and stationary components. The height difference between the runner inlet and GV outlet covers, introduced during the fabrication or assembly process might play a crucial role in accelerating the erosion process in these components. This study is focused on numerical analysis of simplified geometries that replicate different scenarios of the height difference and consequent flow behaviour in the side-wall clearance of Francis turbines. The numerical analysis is done in OpenFOAM using the available solver adopting the finite volume method (FVM). The numerical study is compared with the experimental results obtained from Rotating Disc Apparatus (RDA). The numerical analysis shows the vortex formation in the side-wall clearance region which traps the sediment particles. Such vortex formation causes erosion in the region. The vortex formation and flow behaviour in different height difference scenarios vary with each other and so does the erosion pattern in the experimental results.
Digitally Diagnosing Multiple Developmental Delays using Crowdsourcing fused with Machine Learning: A Research Protocol

Background: Roughly 17% percent of minors in the United States aged 3 through 17 years have a diagnosis of one or more developmental or psychiatric conditions, with the true prevalence likely being higher due to underdiagnosis in rural areas and for minority populations. Unfortunately, timely diagnostic services are inaccessible to a large portion of the United States and global population due to cost, distance, and clinician availability. Digital phenotyping tools have the potential to shorten the time-to-diagnosis and to bring diagnostic services to more people by enabling accessible evaluations. While automated machine learning (ML) approaches for detection of pediatric psychiatry conditions have garnered increased research attention in recent years, existing approaches use a limited set of social features for the prediction task and focus on a single binary prediction. Objective: I propose the development of a gamified web system for data collection followed by a fusion of novel crowdsourcing algorithms with machine learning behavioral feature extraction approaches to simultaneously predict diagnoses of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) in a precise and specific manner. Methods: The proposed pipeline will consist of: (1) a gamified web applications to curate videos of social interactions adaptively based on needs of the diagnostic system, (2) behavioral feature extraction techniques consisting of automated ML methods and novel crowdsourcing algorithms, and (3) development of ML models which classify several conditions simultaneously and which adaptively request additional information based on uncertainties about the data. Conclusions: The prospective for high reward stems from the possibility of creating the first AI-powered tool which can identify complex social behaviors well enough to distinguish conditions with nuanced differentiators such as ASD and ADHD.
Toward clinical differential phase contrast mammography: preliminary evaluations and image processing schemes

Phase contrast and scattering-based X-ray imaging are very promising tools for medical diagnostics because they are able to provide additional and complementary information to traditional absorption-based methods. In this work, we discuss the investigation of three native breast samples with a grating interferometer equipped with a conventional X-ray tube, the full study being published in ref. [1]. We briefly introduce a method to fuse absorption, differential phase and scattering signals into a unique image with improved diagnostic contents. Our approach yields complementary and inaccessible information on the electron density distribution and the small-angle scattering power of the sample which could potentially answer clinically relevant, yet unresolved questions such as the capability to unequivocally discern between (pre-) malignant changes and post-operative scars or to distinguish cancer-invaded regions within healthy tissue.
Stability of the inverse problem for the attenuated Radon transform with 180° data

We consider the inverse problem for the attenuated Radon transform in two dimensions. It has recently been shown that this problem has a unique solution when the attenuation function is Holder continuous, even with limited angle data. In this paper, we study stability of the inverse problem, with data from a 180° range of angles. We show that when the attenuation function is Holder continuous and the support of the original function f is restricted to a given compact set, the Holder norm of f with exponent −1/2 can be estimated in terms of the L2 norm of the attenuated Radon transform of f. We also obtain new stability results for the forward problem, that is, estimates of the norm of the Radon transform in terms of norms of the original function and the attenuation function.
Quadratically Constrained Linear-Quadratic Regulator Approach for Finite-Thrust Orbital Rendezvous

This paper focuses on the design of a quadratically constrained linear-quadratic regulator for finite-thrust orbital rendezvous. The original linear-quadratic optimal control problem is subject to maximum thrust magnitude and quadratic collision avoidance constraints. Thrust arcs are approximated by impulsive velocity increments and the Yamanaka–Ankersen transition matrix propagates the state vector. An explicit closed-loop solution is obtained by performing high-order series expansions of the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equation on subregions of the state space associated with specific sets of active constraints. The algorithm is computationally efficient because the Lagrange multipliers are expressed as polynomial functions of the states and can be computed offline. A rendezvous in an elliptical orbit is considered to demonstrate the application of this method.
Continuous and discrete adjoint approaches for aerodynamic shape optimization with low Mach number preconditioning

Discrete and continuous adjoint approaches for use in aerodynamic shape optimization problems at all flow speeds are developed and assessed. They are based on the Navier–Stokes equations with low Mach number preconditioning. By alleviating the large disparity between acoustic waves and fluid speeds, the preconditioned flow and adjoint equations are numerically solved with affordable CPU cost, even at the so‐called incompressible flow conditions. Either by employing the adjoint to the preconditioned flow equations or by preconditioning the adjoint to the ‘standard’ flow equations (under certain conditions the two formulations become equivalent, as proved in this paper), efficient optimization methods with reasonable cost per optimization cycle, even at very low Mach numbers, are derived. During the mathematical development, a couple of assumptions are made which are proved to be harmless to the accuracy in the computed gradients and the effectiveness of the optimization method. The proposed approaches are validated in inviscid and viscous flows in external aerodynamics and turbomachinery flows at various Mach numbers. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Solitary waves for two–dimensional Schr dinger–Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equations

In this paper, the authors discuss the existence and non–existence of solitary waves for the coupled Schrödinger–Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equations in R2. The non–existence is proved by deriving the so–called Pohozaev–type identity, and the existence is obtained by considering a minimization problem using the concentration–compactness principle.
Seifert-fibred homology 3-spheres, V-surfaces and the Floer index

Let Σ be a Seifert-fibred homology 3-sphere. We are interested in the chain complex for the Floer homology of Σ. This is generated by the critical points of the ChernSimons functional acting on the moduli space of irreducible SU(2)-connections modulo gauge-equivalence, i.e. the equivalence classes of flat connections: see [6]. Specifically, we ask the question: given the holonomy ρ of a flat connection Cρ, what is the index of Cρ in the chain complex? By definition this Floer index is given by the spectral flow of a family of twisted signature operators with coefficients in the adjoint bundle (with fibre su(2)) corresponding to any path of connections joining the trivial connection to Cρ. We will calculate this spectral flow by an almost entirely direct method, obtaining a formula in terms of the dimensions of spaces of π1(Σ)- automorphic functions. These dimensions will be evaluated to give the numerical result previously obtained using a different method by Fintushel and Stern: see [5].
Design of robust supervisors for discrete event systems with infinite behaviors

Supervisory control in the context of /spl omega/-languages is considered. The nominal supervisor design problem is to find a nonblocking supervisor f for a plant G/sub 0/ such that the closed-loop infinite behavior equals a specified closed-loop behavior K satisfying lower and upper bounds, (A/spl cap/S(G/sub 0/))/spl sub/K/spl sub/(E/spl cap/S(G/sub 0/)), S(G/sub 0/) being the open-loop infinite behavior of G/sub 0/. The robustness of solutions to the nominal problem is defined with respect to variations in the plant. It is shown there exists a supervisor f* which solves the nominal problem and maximizes the set of plants for which the nominal specifications are satisfied under the supervisor f*. Computational issues are discussed and the theoretical results are illustrated with an example.
Hopping Transport through an Ensemble of Ge Self-Assembled Quantum Dots

We report investigations of the hole transport in arrays of Ge quantum dots buried in Si. Based on measurements of the temperature dependence of the conductance, the charge-transfer mechanism is proposed to be due to variable-range hopping between the dots with the typical hopping energy determined by inter-dot Coulomb interaction. We find that putting a metal plane close to the dot layer causes a crossover from Efros-Shklovskii variable-range hopping conductance to two-dimensional Mott behavior as the temperature is reduced. At the crossover temperature the hopping activation energy is observed to fall off. The experimental results are explained by screening of long-range Coulomb potentials and give evidence for strong electrostatic interaction between dots in the absence of screening. Conductance oscillations with gate voltage resulting from successive loading of holes into the dots are observed in the field-effect structures.
Stability analysis of the discrete Takagi-Sugeno fuzzy model

We present a new stability criterion to analyze the stability of the discrete TS (Takagi and Sugeno, 1985) fuzzy dynamic model by which nonlinear systems can be identified precisely. This proposed stability criterion does not need a positive definite matrix solution of Lyapunov equations or a Lyapunov equation such that sufficient stability conditions are satisfied for every IF-THEN rule. Therefore this stability criterion enables us to check the stability of the discrete TS fuzzy model with less computation. A simple example is included to illustrate an application of the proposed method.