Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Cross-cultural validation and measurement invariance of the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ): a study in Iran and the USA

ABSTRACT Objective Alexithymia is a trait defined by difficulty in identifying and describing feelings, as well as externally oriented thinking. It is an important transdiagnostic risk factor for a range of psychopathologies, and therefore its assessment is of substantial interest. Recently, the Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) was developed to try to enable more comprehensive assessments of alexithymia. To date, no studies have examined the PAQ’s psychometric properties among adolescents, and few have examined non-Western populations. Method To address these gaps, here we examined the psychometric properties of the PAQ among three samples of Iranian adolescents (N = 557, 53% female, Mage = 14.94, SD = 1.29), Iranian adults (N = 926, 62% female, Mage = 32.52, SD = 9.65) and American adults (N = 242, 40% female, Mage = 40.69, SD = 11.91). Results Confirmatory factor analysis supported the intended five-factor model (that distinguished between different facets of alexithymia across positive and negative emotions) within all three samples. This five-factor model was invariant across genders, ages and cultural groups. Furthermore, the PAQ subscales showed good internal consistency, test–retest reliability and concurrent validity. Conclusions Overall, the present findings indicate that PAQ has strong psychometric properties among both Middle Eastern and Western samples, and functions similarly across adults and adolescents. The PAQ therefore appears to be a useful tool for comprehensively operationalising alexithymia across a diverse range of populations. Key Points What is already known about this topic: Heightened alexithymia contributes to the development and maintenance of numerous forms of psychopathology. The assessment of alexithymia has been limited as it primarily focuses only on negative emotions. The Perth Alexithymia Questionnaire (PAQ) was recently developed to provide an integrated and valence-sensitive assessment of alexithymia. What this topic adds: The PAQ can be used to measure alexithymia in both adults and adolescents. The intended five-factor structure of the PAQ, which distinguishes between different facets of alexithymia across positive and negative emotions, was supported. The intended factor structure of the PAQ was found to be invariant in terms of gender, age, and cultural groups.
Radio propagation in non-uniform media

It has been established that, in naturally occurring ice, exotic propagation modes exist for radio signals. An interesting consequence of this is that it seems possible for signals to propagate to the receiver from an area which lies in the expected shadow zone. We present a ray tracing script based on Fermat’s principle that has been developed with the aim to model and understand these propagation modes. The results of this script have been found in agreement with an earlier prediction that over-densities are able to guide the ray paths. In addition to the in-ice problem of propagation modes we use this approach to evaluate approximations made in air-shower radio emission simulations and verify if the approximations break down for certain geometries
Analysis of Fourier ptychographic microscopy with half reduced images

Fourier ptychography microscopy (FPM) provides gigapixel imaging with both a high image resolution and a wide field-of-view (FOV). However, it is time consuming during the image capture process. In this paper, we perform an analysis on the FPM imaging process. With numerical and experimental comparison, we find that the reconstructed high resolution images with half number of the total captured images is less degenerated compare to that using all the captured images, especially in the case that the object is amplitude or phase-only.
Uplink NOMA in Large-Scale Systems: Coverage and Physical Layer Security

In this paper, the physical layer security of uplink non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) in large-scale networks is analyzed. An stochastic geometry approach is applied to derive new analytical expressions for the coverage probability and the effective secrecy throughput (EST) of the kth NOMA user, which may use a fixed or an adaptive transmission rate. We consider a protected zone around the legitimate terminals to establish an eavesdropper-exclusion area. We assume that the channel state information associated with eavesdroppers is not available at the base station. The impact of an imperfect successive interference cancellation is also taken into account in this work. Our analysis allows an easy selection of the wiretap code rates that maximizes the EST. In addition, our framework also allows an optimum selection of other system parameters like the transmit power or the eavesdropper-exclusion radius.
Bloch oscillations of a Bose-Einstein condensate in a cavity-induced optical lattice

This article complements previous work on the nondestructive observation of Bloch oscillations of a Bose-Einstein condensate in an optical lattice formed inside a high-finesse optical cavity [H. Ke\ss{}ler et al., New J. Phys. 18, 102001 (2016)]. We present measurements showing that the observed Bloch frequency is independent of the atom number and hence the cooperative coupling strength, the intracavity lattice depth, and the detuning between the external pump light and the effective cavity resonance. We find that in agreement with theoretical predictions, despite the atom-cavity dynamics, the value of the Bloch frequency agrees with that expected in conventional optical lattices, where it solely depends on the sizes of the force and the lattice constant. We also show that Bloch oscillations are observed in a self-organized two-dimensional lattice, which is formed if, instead of axially pumping the cavity through one of its mirrors, the Bose-Einstein condensate is irradiated by an optical standing wave oriented perpendicularly with respect to the cavity axis. For this case, however, excessive decoherence prevents a meaningful quantitative assessment.
Experimental and computational investigations of structural and photoluminescence properties of PVK/SWCNTs nanocomposites

A simple mechanical dispersion method was used to elaborate new nanocomposite from the combination of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) and polyvinylcarbazole (PVK) polymer. The obtained samples were annealed at the moderate temperature of 333 K to achieve good dispersion and inhibit phase separation. Force constants calculations using Density Functional theory were correlated with FTIR measurements to support the interaction between both components. Raman scattering was used to check the dispersion state of SWCNTs on the PVK polymer. Optical absorption analysis and stationary photoluminescence and time resolved photoluminescence technics have been used to elucidate the change of optical properties after SWCNTs adding. The formation of bulk nano-hetero-junction resulting from the extended interfaces, leading to efficient dissociation of the charge pairs was shown by quenching effects in polymer photoluminescence when increasing SWCNTS contents. A noticeable decrease of the life time is observed by time resolved photoluminescence, which reflects the shortness of diffusion pathways and consequently an improvement of the electron transfer.
ON THE SCATTERING OF LOVE WAVES IN THE PRESENCE OF LIQUID LAYER AT COASTAL REGIONS

I n this paper we investigate Love waves scattering at the corner of a rigid quarter space in the presence of a liquid layer of depth on the elastic solid. The model fits with Love wave scattering at coastal regions. A shallow ocean ( ) of depth on the elastic solid earth ( ) and the quarter space ( ) is composed of hard materials like rocks at coastal regions. We use the Wiener-Hopf technique and Fourier transformation in integrals whose evaluation along appropriate contours in the complex plane yields the equations of reflected, transmitted and scattered waves. At distant points, the scattered wave retains the behavior of a cylindrical wave but decays exponentially.
Highly Efficient Option Valuation Under the Double Jump Framework with Stochastic Volatility and Jump Intensity Based on Shannon Wavelet Inverse Fourier Technique

In this paper, we explore the highly efficient valuation of financial options under a double exponential jump framework, with stochastic volatility and jump intensity. In particular, we investigate both the accuracy and efficiency of pricing options using the novel Shannon wavelet inverse Fourier technique (SWIFT). Resulting prices are compared to the benchmark Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and, its more recent alternative, the Fourier Cosine (COS) expansion prices. We demonstrate that not only is the SWIFT method more efficient, it is also accurate with exponential error convergence for both call and put valuations. Finally, further evidence of model robustness and stability is presented through a price sensitivity analysis, where we investigate the significant impact of changing model parameters to the resulting option values.
On the evolution of planetary‐scale fields and genesis of monsoon depressions over the Indian region

Daily composite Fourier coefficients of height, zonal, meridional and vertical velocity, temperature, vorticity and divergence for zonal wave numbers 0–4, during 7 days of pre‐ and 4 days of post‐depression, from 1000 to 200 hPa in the latitude belt 0–30°N are obtained for six monsoon depressions formed over the Bay of Bengal in the years 2006–2008. The planetary‐scale fields zonally averaged over the Indian region (75–96°E) are examined. Consistent with the quasi‐geostrophic approximation, in the northern sector (15–30°N) the monsoon trough, the low‐level westerlies and the vorticity are strongly intensified and progressively extended upward to 400 hPa preceding depressions. Wave number 1 is the dominant contributor towards the strengthening and vertical upward expansion of these entities linked to an increase of its amplitude in the lower‐ and a large westward phase shift in the mid‐troposphere, respectively. The cyclonic shear zone in the lower troposphere is developed to the north of 15°N due to the combined effect of intensification and sharp decrease of meridional scale of the westerlies. Different northward speeds of the zonal wind reversal and westerly maximum creates a strong cyclonic zone 2 days before depressions at 400 hPa. The planetary‐scale zonal flow in the troposphere satisfies the necessary condition for barotropic instability. The northward (westward) movement of wave number 1 at 400 hPa is 0.73° latitude (5.6° longitude) day−1. An intensification of direct thermal meridional circulation is associated with a southward and upward shift of the primary rising motion zone.
Fast Deflagration-to-Detonation Transition in Helical Tubes

When designing a new type of power plants operating on pulsed detonations of gaseous or liquid fuels, the concept of fast deflagration-to-detonation transition (FDDT) is used. According to the concept, a flame arising from a weak ignition source must accelerate so fast as to form an intense shock wave at a minimum distance from the ignition source so that the intensity of the shock wave is sufficient for fast shock-to-detonation transition by some additional arrangements. Hence, the FDDT concept implies the use of special means for flame acceleration and shock wave amplification. In this work, we study the FDDT using a pulsed detonation tube comprising a Shchelkin spiral and a helical tube section with ten coils as the means for flame acceleration and shock amplification (focusing), respectively. To attain the FDDT at the shortest distances for fuels of significantly different detonability, the diameter of the pulsed detonation tube is taken close to the limiting diameter of detonation propagation for air mixtures of regular hydrocarbon fuels (50 mm). Experiments are conducted with air mixtures of individual gaseous fuels (hydrogen, methane, propane, and ethylene) and binary fuel compositions (methane–hydrogen, propane–hydrogen, and ethylene–hydrogen) at normal pressure and temperature conditions. The use of a helical tube with ten coils is shown to considerably extend the fuel-lean concentration limits of detonation as compared to the straight tube and the tube with a helical section with two coils.
Network Reconstruction and Vulnerability Analysis of Financial Networks

Network Reconstruction and Vulnerability Analysis of Financial Networks Nathan Scott Woodbury Department of Computer Science, BYU Master of Science Passive network reconstruction is the process of learning a structured (networked) representation of a dynamic system through the use of known information about the structure of the system as well as data collected by observing the inputs into a system along with the resultant outputs. This work demonstrates an improvement on an existing network reconstruction algorithm so that the algorithm is capable of consistently and perfectly reconstructing a network when system inputs and outputs are measured without error. This work then extends the improved network reconstruction algorithm so that it functions even in the presence of noise as well as the situation where inputs into the system are unknown. Furthermore, this work demonstrates the capability of the new extended algorithms by reconstructing financial networks from stock market data, and then performing an analysis to understand the vulnerabilities of the reconstructed network to destabilization through localized attacks. The creation of these improved and extended algorithms has opened many theoretical questions, paving the way for future research into network reconstruction.
A photoacoustic tool for therapeutic drug monitoring of heparin (Conference Presentation)

Heparin is used broadly in cardiac, pulmonary, surgical, and vascular medicine to treat thrombotic disorders with over 500 million doses per year globally. Despite this widespread use, it has a narrow therapeutic window and is one of the top three medication errors. The active partial thromboplastin time (PTT) monitors heparin, but this blood test suffers from long turnaround times, a variable reference range, and limited utility with low molecular weight heparin. Here, we describe an imaging technique that can monitor heparin concentration and activity in real time using photoacoustic spectroscopy via methylene blue as a simple and Federal Drug Agency-approved contrast agent. We found a strong correlation between heparin concentration and photoacoustic signal measured in phosphate buffered saline (PBS) and blood (R2>0.90). Clinically relevant concentrations were detected in blood with a heparin detection limit of 0.28 U/mL and a low molecular weight heparin (enoxaparin) detection limit of 72 μg/mL. We validated this imaging approach by correlation to the PTT (Pearson’s r = 0.86; p<0.05) as well as with protamine sulfate treatment. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to use imaging data to monitor anticoagulation.
Joint Request Updating and Elastic Resource Provisioning With QoS Guarantee in Clouds

In a commercial cloud, service providers (e.g., video streaming service provider) rent resources from cloud vendors (e.g., Google Cloud Platform) and provide services to cloud users, making a profit from the price gap. Cloud users acquire services by forwarding their requests to corresponding servers. In practice, as a common scenario, traffic dynamics will cause server overload or load-unbalancing. Existing works mainly deal with the problem by two methods: elastic resource provisioning and request updating. Elastic resource provisioning is a fast and agile solution but may cost too much since service providers need to buy extra resources from cloud vendors. Though request updating is a free solution, it will cause a significant delay, resulting in a bad users’ QoS. In this paper, we present a new scheme, called real-time request updating with elastic resource provisioning (TRUST), to help service providers pay less cost with users’ QoS guarantee in clouds. In addition, we propose an efficient algorithm for TRUST with a bounded approximation factor based on progressive-rounding. Both small-scale experiment results and large-scale simulation results show the superior performance of our proposed algorithm compared with state-of-the-art benchmarks.
UV/IR Filaments for High Resolution Novel Spectroscopic Interrogation of Plumes on Nuclear Materials

Abstract : In recent years, there has been a steady development of techniques to detect nuclear and radiological materials at standoff distances for nuclear nonproliferation and national security. These techniques include neutron detectors [1] and gamma-ray detectors [2] which require the production of highly energetic (MeV) electron beams, by large, heavy accelerators. An investigation of several technique involving either a light filament, or a combination of light filaments, was made. The objective was to evaluate linear and nonlinear techniques that can be exploited for remote sensing with filaments. A long term objective was to obtain a remote signature of both the chemical composition and isotopic content of materials that result from the decay of radioactive materials involved in a nuclear explosion. New diagnostic techniques were developed leading to a better understanding of filaments. These include influence of polarization, with either standard initial condition (beam focalization in air) or controlled initial condition (launching filaments from a focal spot in vacuum), developing a new video technique to visualize the evolution of the filamented pulse and plasma emission in time, space and frequency. Developments of a new source confirmed the creation of non diffracting ultraviolet filament, i.e. pulses of slightly less than 200 ps and 200 mJ energy, at 266 nm, confined to less than 1 mm diameter by nonlinear interaction with air, reported earlier [3].
An Angle-Based Virtual Vector Model Predictive Current Control for IPMSM Considering Overmodulation

The conventional model predictive control (MPC) method suffers from large current and torque harmonics due to the limited voltage vectors. To increase the control performance, in many papers, the methods of extending the predictive control set by adding virtual vectors are proposed;however, constructing virtual vectors will bring extra computational burden for vector optimization. To solve this problem, this article proposes an angle-based virtual vector model predictive current control (ABVV-MPCC) method for interior permanent magnet synchronous motor (IPMSM). In this method, a hexagonal coordinate system is introduced to define the virtual vectors. After obtaining the composite relationship between the reference voltage vector and the adjacent basic vector, the vector optimization range is reduced from six voltage sectors to one voltage sector. And the optimal voltage vector is directly obtained by searching for the closest candidate voltage vector. After adopting the proposed method, exhaustive optimization is avoided and the calculation burden is independent of the virtual voltage vector number. Therefore, the virtual voltage vector number can be set arbitrarily, which greatly reduces current harmonics. Besides, a simple overmodulation dealing method by finding the optimal reachable voltage vector is proposed. And the dynamic performance under overmodulation is increased without adding an additional control module.
Producing ultra high energy cosmic rays from AGN magnetic luminosity

Abstract The present work proposes a method to calculate the AGN magnetic luminosity fraction to be converted into ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) luminosities for nine UHECR AGN Seyfert sources based on the respective observation of gamma ray upper limits. The motivation for such calculation comes attached to the fact that a fraction of the magnetic luminosity (L B ) produced by Kerr black holes in some AGNs can produce the necessary energy to accelerate UHECRs beyond the GZK limit, observed, e.g., by the Auger experiment. Nevertheless, the direct detection of those UHECRs has a lack of information about the direction of the source from where those cosmic rays are coming, since charged particles are deflected by the intergalactic magnetic field. Such problem arises alternative methods to evaluate the luminosity of UHECRs from the observation of upper limits during the propagation.
Peptide Hydrolysate of Telfairia occidentalis Hook f. Seed Protein Promotes Effective Glucose Homeostasis by Improving β-cell Dysfunction and Abating Carbohydrate Metabolic Disturbance in Diabetic Rats

Rising concerns with the use of synthetic antidiabetic drugs have promoted a shift towards the use of natural products. This study therefore investigated the antidiabetic activity of peptide hydrolysate of Telfairia occidentalis (T. occidentalis) seed protein (PHTOSP) in streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats. Thirty-six (36) experimental animals were randomly distributed into six groups (A–F) of six rats each (n = 6). Group A served as normal control while groups B, C, D, E, and F were treated with streptozotocin (STZ, 50 mg/kg body weight, b.w, i.p) dissolved in cold citrate buffer (0.1 M, pH 4.5) to induce type 2 diabetes. Groups C, D, and E were administered 50, 100, and 150 mg/kg b.w PHTOSP, respectively, while groups B and F were diabetic untreated and 5 mg/kg b.w glibenclamide-treated controls, respectively, in the experiment that lasted for 21 days. Subsequently, the analysis of biochemical parameters demonstrated a significant ( p < 0.05 ) increase in serum insulin, hepatic glycogen, hexokinase, and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activities, accompanied by a significant ( p < 0.05 ) reduction in fasting serum glucose, glucose-6-phosphatase, and fructose-1,6-bisphosphatase, along with an enhancement in relative body weight. Similarly, PHTOSP demonstrated a significant ( p < 0.05 ) improvement on high-density (HDL) and low-density (LDL) lipoproteins, triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), and atherogenic index (AI) significantly ( p < 0.05 ). In addition, histoarchitectural analysis revealed a reversal of congestion and proliferation of inflammatory cells in the pancreatic tissue following treatment with PHTOSP. Therefore, PHTOSP might possess potential antidiabetic properties such that it improves glycolytic pathway and promotes cell survival that are helpful in the management of diabetes mellitus (DM).
Two-sample spatial rank test using projection

ABSTRACT This paper explores in high-dimensional settings how to test the equality of two location vectors. We introduce a rank-based projection test under elliptical symmetry. Optimal projection direction is derived according to asymptotically and locally best power criteria. Data-splitting strategy is used to estimate optimal projection and construct test statistics. The limiting null distribution and power function of the proposed statistics are thoroughly investigated under some mild assumptions. The test is shown to keep type I error rates pretty well and outperforms several existing methods in a broad range of settings, especially in the presence of large correlation structures. Simulation studies are conducted to confirm the asymptotic results and a real data example is applied to demonstrate the advantage of the proposed procedure.