Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Rayleigh scattering of sound by spherically symmetric bodies

An obstacle’s shape is often approximated by a sphere in analyses of sound scattering by air bubbles, objects on or near the seafloor, marine organisms, clouds of suspended particles, etc. Here, an asymptotic technique is developed to study low-frequency sound scattering from spherically symmetric inhomogeneous obstacles. The obstacle can be fluid, solid, or a fluid-filled solid shell. Physical properties of the obstacle are arbitrary piece-wise continuous functions of the distance to its center. The radius of the obstacle is assumed to be small compared to the wavelengths of sound in the surrounding fluid as well as of compressional and shear waves inside the obstacle. General properties of the sound scattering by spherically symmetric bodies are established. Resonant Rayleigh scattering is studied in detail. For plane and spherical incident waves, it is discussed which physical and geometrical parameters of the obstacle can be retrieved from the scattered acoustic field.
The Bulge-disc connection in the Milky Way

Abstract Bulges come in two flavours – classical and pseudo. The principal characteristics of each flavour are summarised and their impact on discs is considered. Classical bulges probably inhibit the formation of stellar discs. Pseudobulges exchange angular momentum with stars and gas in their companion discs, and also with its embedding dark halo. Since the structure of a pseudobulge depends critically on its angular momentum, these exchanges are expected to modify the bulge. The consequences of this modification are not yet satisfactorily understood. The Galaxy has a pseudobulge. I review the manifestations of its interaction with the disc. More work is needed on the dynamics of gas near the bulge's corotation radius, and on tracing the stellar population in the inner few hundred parsecs of the Galaxy.
REML Estimation of Genetic Correlations between Sexes on Beef Carcass Traits Using a Procedure of the Average Information Algorithm

In animal breeding and genetics applications, one topic is the evaluation of sexual dimorphism and genetic correlation between sexes. Also, in some cases, variances may be heterogeneous between levels of factors such as breed and herd as well as sex. Researches about these topics need the method for estimating relevant components of (co)variances. The objectives of this study are to derive a computational procedure of the average information algorithm for the restricted maximum likelihood estimation of the relevant (co)variances, and to estimate genetic correlations between sexes on beef carcass traits. In the current computational procedure, a derived expression for the average information matrix is used, whose elements are expressed using the solutions to the mixed model equations in a bivariate mixed linear model with heterogeneous variance and nil covariance of residuals assumed. For the current procedure, replacing the Hessian matrix by the derived average information matrix, a quasi-Newton type procedure is defined for the iterative estimation. Using simulated datasets, computing performance of the current procedure is investigated comparing with the expectation-maximization algorithm, the current procedure is applied to beef carcass traits data to estimate heritability for each sex and genetic correlation between sexes, and then the characteristics of the current procedure is concisely discussed.
The simultaneous measurement of optical activity and circular dichroism in birefringent linearly dichroic crystal sections. I. Introduction and description of the method

The 'HAUP' method, described by Kobayashi and Uesu (1983-85), for the measurement of optical activity in birefringent crystals is extended to include dichroic effects and analysed qualitatively in a novel way using intensity contour maps. The elimination of the parasitic ellipticities of the polariser and analyser is achieved by repeating the measurement in a second crystal setting, rather than physically exchanging the prisms, which has been reported as unworkable.
Stable-Damage Comparisons for Neutron-Irradiated Silicon

Measurements of minority-carrier lifetime degradation have been made for neutron-irradiated silicon which permit the following stable-damage comparisons to be drawn: a) test vehicle (device vs. bulk material); b) material type (n-type vs. p-type); c) dopant density (data obtained for various resistivities); d) neutron energy (14-MeV vs. reactor); e) measurement technique (transient vs. steady-state); f) operating condition (data obtained over a wide injection-level range). Primary results of this study are the following: a) the 14-MeV-to-reactor stable damage ratio is insensitive to injection level for a given resistivity; b) measurements of the stable damage ratio were made for bulk silicon and solar cells of various resistivities and nearly all of the values obtained were in the range 2.3 ± 0.4; c) neutron damage constants for solar cells and bulk material of a particular resistivity are in reasonable agreement if comparison is made at the same injection ratio, provided that the ratio employed is high enough so that such comparisons are not affected by bulk trapping.
A generalized spatial-temporal model of rainfall based on a clustered point process

The objective in this paper is to present and fit a relatively simple stochastic spatial-temporal model of rainfall in which the arrival times of rain cells occur in a clustered point process. In the x-y plane, rain cells are represented as discs; each disc having a random radius; the locations of the disc centres being given by a two-dimensional Poisson process. The intensity of each cell is a random variable that remains constant over the area of the disc and throughout the lifetime of the cell, the lifetime being an exponential random variable. The cells are randomly classified from 1 to n with different parameters for the different cell types, so that the random variables of an arbitrary cell, e. g. radius and intensity, are correlated. Multi-site second-order properties are derived and used to fit the model to hourly rainfall data taken from six sites in the Thames basin, UK.
Off-limb EUV line profiles and the search for wave activity in the low corona

Two extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) observations are used to examine the off-limb characteristics of emission line widths of the million K Mg X 625 A line. To obtain sufficient statistical accuracy, the observations were madeover long periods of time and a pixel summing technique is used. The observations are made above the western limb, for quiet corona. The most significant result is the discovery of emission line narrowing as a function of altitude and intensity at altitudes above 50 000 km. The results are compared to past observations, which suggest that emission line broadening, at lower altitudes, is due to the outward propagation of undamped Alfven waves, in open field regions with decreasing density with altitude. The narrowing at higher altitudes, determined by the current study is interpreted as further evidence for coronal wave activity, but in closed field regions, and most likely the first evidence of the dissipation of Alfven waves in the corona. An additional result of this work is the identification of a significant line broadening across a narrow region on the limb, which may be due to flows in low-lying loop systems.
Influence of Pig Genetic Line and Salt Reduction on Peptide Production and Bioactivity of Dry-Cured Hams

Ham (Jamón) is a product of great value in Spanish gastronomy, although experts have recommended reducing its consumption due to its high salt content and its relationship with cardio-vascular diseases due to the increase in blood pressure it may cause. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate how the reduction of salt content and the pig genetic line influence bioactivity in boneless hams. For this purpose, 54 hams were studied, 18 boneless Iberian hams (RIB), 18 boneless white hams from commercial cross-bred pigs (RWC), and 18 salted and traditionally processed Iberian hams (TIB) to check if the pig genetic line (RIB vs. RWC) or the processing (RIB vs. TIB) affect the peptide production and bioactivity of the hams. The pig genetic line significantly affected the activity of ACE-I and DPPH, with RWC having the highest ACE-I activity and RIB having the highest antioxidative activity. This coincides with the results obtained in the identification of the peptides and the bioactivity analysis performed. Salt reduction positively affected the different hams, influencing their proteolysis and increasing their bioactivity in traditionally cured hams.
Toward the Commercialization of Carbon Nanotube Field Effect Transistor Biosensors

The development of biosensors based on field-effect transistors (FETs) using atomically thick carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as a channel material has the potential to revolutionize the related field due to their small size, high sensitivity, label-free detection, and real-time monitoring capabilities. Despite extensive research efforts to improve the sensitivity, selectivity, and practicality of CNT FET-based biosensors, their commercialization has not yet been achieved due to the non-uniform and unstable device performance, difficulties in their fabrication, the immaturity of sensor packaging processes, and a lack of reliable modification methods. This review article focuses on the practical applications of CNT-based FET biosensors for the detection of ultra-low concentrations of biologically relevant molecules. We discuss the various factors that affect the sensors’ performance in terms of materials, device architecture, and sensor packaging, highlighting the need for a robust commercial process that prioritizes product performance. Additionally, we review recent advances in the application of CNT FET biosensors for the ultra-sensitive detection of various biomarkers. Finally, we examine the key obstacles that currently hinder the large-scale deployment of these biosensors, aiming to identify the challenges that must be addressed for the future industrialization of CNT FET sensors.
New IMB16-4 Hot-Melt Extrusion Preparation Improved Oral Bioavailability and Enhanced Anti-Cholestatic Effect on Rats

Background Cholestasis is challenging to treat due to lacked effective drugs. N-(3,4,5-trichlorophenyl)-2 (3-nitrobenzenesulfonamido) benzamide, abbreviated as IMB16-4, which may be effective for the treatment of cholestasis. However, its poor solubility and bioavailability seriously obstruct the research programs. Methods A hot-melt extrusion (HME) preparation was first applied to increase the bioavailability of IMB16-4, the oral bioavailability, anti-cholestatic effect and vitro cytotoxicity of IMB16-4 and IMB16-4-HME were evaluated. Meanwhile, the molecular docking and qRT-PCR were used to validate the mechanism behind. Results The oral bioavailability of IMB16-4-HME improved 65-fold compared with that of pure IMB16-4. Pharmacodynamics results demonstrated that IMB16-4-HME prominently decreased the serum levels of total bile acid (TBA) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP), but elevated the level of total bilirubin (TBIL) and direct bilirubin (DBIL). Histopathology revealed that IMB16-4-HME at lower dose exhibited stronger anti-cholestatic effect compared with pure IMB16-4. In addition, molecular docking demonstrated that IMB16-4 has great affinity with PPARα, and qRT-PCR results revealed that IMB16-4-HME significantly elevated the mRNA expression level of PPARα, but decreased the mRNA level of CYP7A1. Cytotoxicity assays demonstrated that the hepatotoxicity of IMB16-4-HME was absolutely attributed to IMB16-4, and the excipients of IMB16-4-HME may increase the drug load within HepG2 cells. Conclusion The HME preparation significantly increased the oral bioavailability and anti-cholestatic effect of pure IMB16-4, but caused liver injury at high dose, which require a dose balance between the curative effect and safety in the future research.
Parameterizing Mesoscale Wind Uncertainty for Dispersion Modeling

Abstract A parameterization of numerical weather prediction uncertainty is presented for use by atmospheric transport and dispersion models. The theoretical development applies Taylor dispersion concepts to diagnose dispersion metrics from numerical wind field ensembles, where the ensemble variability approximates the wind field uncertainty. This analysis identifies persistent wind direction differences in the wind field ensemble as a leading source of enhanced “virtual” dispersion, and thus enhanced uncertainty for the ensemble-mean contaminant plume. This dispersion is characterized by the Lagrangian integral time scale for the grid-resolved, large-scale, “outer” flow that is imposed through the initial and boundary conditions and by the ensemble deviation-velocity variance. Excellent agreement is demonstrated between an explicit ensemble-mean contaminant plume generated from a Gaussian plume model applied to the individual wind field ensemble members and the modeled ensemble-mean plume formed from the .
Simulation, Learning, and Application of Vision-Based Tactile Sensing at Large Scale

Large-scale robotic skin with tactile sensing ability is emerging with the potential for use in close-contact human–robot systems. Although recent developments in vision-based tactile sensing and related learning methods are promising, they have been mostly designed for small-scale use, such as by fingers and hands, in manipulation tasks. Moreover, learning perception for such tactile devices demands a huge tactile dataset, which complicates the data collection process. To address this, this study introduces a multiphysics simulation pipeline, called SimTacLS, which considers not only the mechanical properties of external physical contact but also the realistic rendering of tactile images in a simulation environment. The system utilizes the obtained simulation dataset, including virtual images and skin deformation, to train a tactile deep neural network to extract high-level tactile information. Moreover, we adopt a generative network to minimize sim2real inaccuracy, preserving the simulation-based tactile sensing performance. Last but not least, we showcase this sim2real sensing method for our large-scale tactile sensor (TacLink) by demonstrating its use in two trial cases, namely, whole-arm nonprehensile manipulation and intuitive motion guidance, using a custom-built tactile robot arm integrated with TacLink. This article opens new possibilities in the learning of transferable tactile-driven robotics tasks from virtual worlds to actual scenarios without compromising accuracy.
Neural Network Assisted Laser Frequency Locking System

The laser frequency locking system with high robustness, high accuracy, and good anti-noise performance is usually used in laser synchronization and optics communications, continuous-variable quantum key distribution, and ultra-stable laser wavelength stabilization. In such systems, the analog or digital method is usually used to implement feedback control. Digital systems are more widely used than analog systems based on phase-locked loops due to their simplicity, flexibility, and robustness. The proportional-integral-derivative (PID) algorithm is the most typical algorithm well-developed in the digital locking system. However, due to the nonlinearity of the error signal induced by frequency variation, the PID algorithm will have a deviation in compensation for the transient response. This article demonstrates a neural network assisted laser frequency locking system using predicted values to decrease the nonlinearity. Compared to the PID algorithm locking performance in the same locking system, both the peak-to-peak deviation and the root-mean-square error of the neural network assisted locking system are reduced by half.
Phase noise reduction and photoelectron acceleration in a high-Q RF gun

The phase noise and jitter characteristics of the laser and RF systems of a high-gradient X-band photoinjector have been measured experimentally. The laser oscillator is a self-mode-locked titanium:sapphire system operating at the 108th subharmonic of the RF gun. The X-band signal is produced from the laser by a phase-locked dielectric resonance oscillator and amplified by a pulsed TWT and klystron. A comparison between the klystron and TWT amplifier phase noise and the fields excited in the RF gun demonstrates the filtering effect of the high-Q structure, thus indicating that the RF gun can be used as a master oscillator and could be energized by either an RF oscillator, such as a magnetron, or a compact source, such as a cross-field amplifier. In particular, the RF gun can play the role of a pulsed RF clock to synchronize the photocathode laser system; direct drive of a synchronously mode-locked AlGaAs quantum well laser has been achieved using the X-band gun RF fields. This novel, gigahertz repetition rate, laser system is being developed to replace the more conventional femtosecond Ti:Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/ system. Some advantages include pumping this laser with a stabilized current source instead of a costly, low-efficiency pump laser. Finally, dark current measurements and initial photoelectron measurements are reported.
Marking Consistency over Time

which correctly reflect the quality of work presented because, ultimately, examination results can affect life chances. Marking should be at a common high standard and free from bias, otherwise some candidates are placed at an unfair advantage and others at an unfair disadvantage. In the past there has been much research into the reliability of marking (for example, Newton, 1996; Branthwaite et al., 1981; Murphy, 1978) and into the existence of marking bias (for example, Baird, 1998; Massey, 1983). Only a few studies, however, have considered the longitudinal reliability of marking, determining the influence that script sequence, or moment in time, can exert on the accuracy of assessment. Spear (1997) examined the biasing influence of contrast effects and found that if a good piece of work was assessed before work of a lower standard, then the poorer-quality work would be assessed more harshly. On the other hand, if higher-standard work was preceded by a piece of lesser quality it would be assessed more favourably. In a ten-year retrospective study Lunz and O’Neill (1997) showed that, although individual judges vary in their level of leniency, the leniency of most judges remains internally consistent throughout, in spite of retraining. This study corroborated earlier evidence presented by Lunz and Stahl (1990), where it was shown, albeit over a substantially smaller time scale, that judges’ leniency is reasonably consistent over time notwithstanding some variations across grading period. Such findings are of considerable interest in the context of the public system of examining in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. After standardisation meetings, examiners assessing any of the national qualifications are required to mark an allocation of scripts over a period of two to three weeks. Anecdotal evidence provided by senior examiners and awarding body staff suggests that, as time since standardisation increases and pressure to complete the marking exercise increases, so the accuracy of examiners’ marking declines. However, as the pressure increases for examiners, so does the pressure for those monitoring examiner performance. Work load is prioritised to focus on those examiners causing the most concern and, as such, the anecdotal evidence may be flawed, as the checks may be biased towards the poorest examiners at the end of the marking period. In the context of A-level M aking conistency over tim e
Court decisions on music plagiarism and the predictive value of similarity algorithms

Tune plagiarism in pop music is a common and often feverishly debated phenomenon which surely has to do with the vast amounts of money that individual melodies are able to generate in today's pop music business. The similarity between melodies is assumed to be a very important factor in a court's decision about whether a new tune is an illegitimate version of a pre-existing melody. Despite the wide-spread belief that there is a fixed and simple limit to the number of corresponding notes between two melodies, actual court decisions are based on far more complex considerations regarding the musical material. This paper first sketches the legal framework and principal features of the legal processing of cases of alleged melodic plagiarism with a focus on US copyright law and discusses selected cases to highlight the corresponding legal practices. In the empirical part of this paper, we model court decisions for cases of alleged melodic plagiarism employing a number of similarity algorithms. As a ground truth dataset we use a collection of 20 publicly available cases from the last 30 years of US jurisdiction. We compare the performance of standard similarity algorithms (edit distance and n-gram similarity measures) to several new similarity algorithms that make use of statistical information about the prevalence of chains of pitch intervals in a large pop music database. Results indicate that these statistically informed algorithms generally outperform the comparison algorithms. In particular, algorithms based on Tversky's (1977) concept of similarity show a high performance of up to 90% of court decisions correctly predicted. We discuss the performance and structure of the algorithms in relation to a few interesting example cases and give an outlook on the potential and intricacies of our approach.