Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Towards a World Wide Web without digital inequality

Significance Developing regions suffer from poor Internet connection and overreliance on low-end phones, which violates net neutrality—the idea that all Internet traffic should be treated equally. We sent participants to 56 countries to measure global variation in web-browsing experience, revealing significant inequality in mobile data cost and page load time. We also show that popular webpages are increasingly tailored to high-end phones, thereby exacerbating the inequality. Our solution, Lite-Web, makes webpages faster to load and easier to process on low-end phones. Evaluating Lite-Web on the ground reveals that it transforms the browsing experience of Pakistani villagers with low-end phones to that of Dubai residents with high-end phones. These findings call attention from researchers and policy makers to mitigate digital inequality.
Sensitive imaging of Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) autophagy with an acidity-reporting ER-Tracker

ABSTRACT Macroautophagic/autophagic turnover of endoplasmic reticulum (reticulophagy) is critical for cell health. Herein we reported a sensitive fluorescence-on imaging of reticulophagy using a small molecule probe (ER-proRed) comprised of green-emissive fluorinated rhodol for ER targeting and nonfluorescent rhodamine-lactam prone to lysosome-triggered red fluorescence. Partitioned in ER to exhibit green fluorescence, ER-proRed gives intense red fluorescence upon co-delivery with ER into acidic lysosomes. Serving as the signal of reticulophagy, the turning on of red fluorescence enables discernment of reticulophagy induced by starvation, varied levels of reticulophagic receptors, and chemical agents such as etoposide and sodium butyrate. These results show ER probes optically activatable in lysosomes, such as ER-proRed, offer a sensitive and simplified tool for studying reticulophagy in biology and diseases. Abbreviations: Baf-A1, bafilomycin A1; CCCP, carbonyl cyanide m-chlorophenyl hydrazone; CQ, chloroquine diphosphate; ER, endoplasmic reticulum; FHR, fluorinated hydrophobic rhodol; GFP, green fluorescent protein; Reticulophagy, selective autophagy of ER; RFP, red fluorescent protein; ROX, X-rhodamine; UPR, unfolded protein response
New Subgraph Isomorphism Algorithms: Vertex versus Path-at-a-time Matching

Graphs are widely used to model complicated data semantics in many application domains. In this paper, two novel and efficient algorithms Fast-ON and Fast-P are proposed for solving the subgraph isomorphism problem. The two algorithms are based on Ullman algorithm [Ullmann 1976], apply vertex-at-a-time matching manner and path-at-a-time matching manner respectively, and use effective heuristics to cut the search space. Comparing to the well-known algorithms, Fast-ON and Fast-P achieve up to 1-4 orders of magnitude speed-up for both dense and sparse graph data.
XFEM‐based crack detection scheme using a genetic algorithm

A new computational tool is developed for the accurate detection and identification of cracks in structures, to be used in conjunction with non‐destructive testing of specimens. It is based on the solution of an inverse problem. Based on some measurements, typically along part of the boundary of the structure, that describe the response of the structure to vibration in a chosen frequency or a combination of frequencies, the goal is to estimate whether the structure contains a crack, and if so, to find the parameters (location, size, orientation and shape) of the crack that produces a response closest to the given measurement data in some chosen norm. The inverse problem is solved using a genetic algorithm (GA). The GA optimization process requires the solution of a very large amount of forward problems. The latter are solved via the extended finite element method (XFEM). This enables one to employ the same regular mesh for all the forward problems. Performance of the method is demonstrated via a number of numerical examples involving a cracked flat membrane. Various computational aspects of the method are discussed, including the a priori estimation of the ill‐posedness of the crack identification problem. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Modified-QuEChERS-LC/MS method for the analysis of aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in coriander seeds

Abstract Coriander seeds consumption, like other spices, has increased due to its culinary use, medicinal benefits, and its essential oil. However, there are few reports in the scientific literature on the prevalence of mycotoxins in this spice. In this report, an easy and simple method was proposed for the determination of the aflatoxin group (AFB1, AFB2, AFG1, and AFG2) and ochratoxin A (OTA) in coriander seeds. The recoveries of analytes ranged from 72 to 102% in spiked samples (0.5–5 µg/kg), with RSD below 11%. The limits of quantification (LOQ) are between 0.12 and 0.5 µg/kg. The proposed method represents an improvement compared to previous studies. It was tested for the determination of 13 samples, proving that it is fast, efficient, and sensitive. Only OTA was identified in four samples, all at levels lower than the European limits defined for some spices (0.88 and 5.4 µg/kg). Such methods are needed for monitoring these toxins in this spice to ensure consumer safety and provide insight into their occurrence. Graphical Abstract
Backreaction effect and plasma oscillation in pair production for rapidly oscillating electric fields

The backreaction effect and plasma oscillation in pair production for rapidly oscillating electric fields are investigated by solving quantum Vlasov equation. Contrary to previously thought, it is found that the backreaction effect can be neglected in the pair production for a rapidly oscillating but weak electric field, particularly, for a subcritical external electric field with frequency chirp. In some cases the oscillation period of created electron-positron plasma can be described by a simple formula constructed based on the Langmiur oscillation frequency, but it is impossible in general case because the plasma oscillation period directly depend not only on the final number density of created particles, but also on the external electric field parameters. Moreover, it is found that the momentum spectrum presents complex interferences after considering the backreaction. These results give us the safety range of external electric fields for taking no account of the backreaction effect and deepen our understanding of the pair production with the backreaction effect.
Assessing the applicability of common performance metrics for real-world infrared small-target detection

Infrared small target detection (IRSTD) is a challenging task in computer vision. During the last two decades, researchers’ eﬀorts are devoted to improving detection ability of IRSTDs. Despite the huge improvement in designing new algorithms, lack of extensive investigation of the evaluation metrics are evident. Therefore, in this paper, a systematic approach is utilized to: First, investigate the evaluation ability of current metrics; Second, propose new evaluation metrics to address shortcoming of common metrics. To this end, after carefully reviewing the problem, the required conditions to have a successful detection are analyzed. Then, the shortcomings of current evaluation metrics which include pre-thresholding as well as post-thresholding metrics are determined. Based on the requirements of real-world systems, new metrics are proposed. Finally, the proposed metrics are used to compare and evaluate four well-known small infrared target detection algorithms. The results show that new metrics are consistent with qualitative results.
Change Propagation Without Joins

We revisit the classical change propagation framework for query evaluation under updates. The standard framework takes a query plan and materializes the intermediate views, which incurs high polynomial costs in both space and time, with the join operator being the culprit. In this paper, we propose a new change propagation framework without joins, thus naturally avoiding this polynomial blowup. Meanwhile, we show that the new framework still supports constant-delay enumeration of both the deltas and the full query results, the same as in the standard framework. Furthermore, we provide a quantitative analysis of its update cost, which not only recovers many recent theoretical results on the problem, but also yields an effective approach to optimizing the query plan. The new framework is also easy to be integrated into an existing streaming database system. Experimental results show that our system prototype, implemented using Flink DataStream API, significantly outperforms other systems in terms of space, time, and latency.
Structural Attention-Based Recurrent Variational Autoencoder for Highway Vehicle Anomaly Detection

In autonomous driving, detection of abnormal driving behaviors is essential to ensure the safety of vehicle controllers. Prior works in vehicle anomaly detection have shown that modeling interactions between agents improves detection accuracy, but certain abnormal behaviors where structured road information is paramount are poorly identified, such as wrong-way and off-road driving. We propose a novel unsupervised framework for highway anomaly detection named Structural Attention-Based Recurrent VAE (SABeR-VAE), which explicitly uses the structure of the environment to aid anomaly identification. Specifically, we use a vehicle self-attention module to learn the relations among vehicles on a road, and a separate lane-vehicle attention module to model the importance of permissible lanes to aid in trajectory prediction. Conditioned on the attention modules' outputs, a recurrent encoder-decoder architecture with a stochastic Koopman operator-propagated latent space predicts the next states of vehicles. Our model is trained end-to-end to minimize prediction loss on normal vehicle behaviors, and is deployed to detect anomalies in (ab)normal scenarios. By combining the heterogeneous vehicle and lane information, SABeR-VAE and its deterministic variant, SABeR-AE, improve abnormal AUPR by 18% and 25% respectively on the simulated MAAD highway dataset over STGAE-KDE. Furthermore, we show that the learned Koopman operator in SABeR-VAE enforces interpretable structure in the variational latent space. The results of our method indeed show that modeling environmental factors is essential to detecting a diverse set of anomalies in deployment. For code implementation, please visit https://sites.google. com/illinois.edu/saber-vae.
Systematic procedures for atom-probe field-ion microscopy studies of grain boundary segregation

A procedure is presented for systematically and reproducibly preparing alloy specimens for the study of grain boundary (GB) segregation employing both transmission electron (TEM) and atom‐probe field‐ion microscopies (APFIM) to examine the same GB; the procedure is illustrated for an Fe(Si) alloy. A commercially available oxygen plasma source is incorporated in the sample preparation procedure to remove all traces of hydrocarbon build‐up introduced during TEM GB analysis, thus allowing controlled backpolishing after a TEM analysis. Specifications for the optimum tip geometry, i.e., how a GB is positioned in a tip via backpolishing to maximize the probability of its observation and subsequent compositional analysis via APFIM, are empirically determined: 30–200 nm for the GB‐to‐tip separation, and 40–80 nm for the GB diam for shank angles less than 20°. It is demonstrated that accurate quantitative APFIM analyses of an Fe‐3 at. % Si alloy are possible for pulse fractions ≥15% and specimen temperatures ≤55 K. Results are presented for a Σ≊3a GB that was first analyzed via TEM to determine its five macroscopic degrees of freedom, and then analyzed via APFIM to measure an average GB segregation enhancement factor for Si of 3.51±0.34 at 823 K.
Variational microcanonical estimator

We propose a variational quantum algorithm for estimating microcanonical expectation values in models obeying the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. Using a relaxed criterion for convergence of the variational optimization loop, the algorithm generates weakly entangled superpositions of eigenstates at a given target energy density. An ensemble of these variational states is then used to estimate microcanonical averages of local operators, with an error whose dominant contribution decreases initially as a power law in the size of the ensemble and is ultimately limited by a small bias. We apply the algorithm to the one-dimensional mixed-field Ising model, where it converges for ansatz circuits of depth roughly linear in system size. The most accurate thermal estimates are produced for intermediate energy densities. In our error analysis, we find connections with recent works investigating the underpinnings of the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. In particular, the failure of energy-basis matrix elements of local operators to behave as \textit{independent} random variables is a potential source of error that the algorithm can overcome by averaging over an ensemble of variational states.
A Unified Theory of Diversity in Ensemble Learning

We present a theory of ensemble diversity, explaining the nature of diversity for a wide range of supervised learning scenarios. This challenge has been referred to as the holy grail of ensemble learning, an open research issue for over 30 years. Our framework reveals that diversity is in fact a hidden dimension in the bias-variance decomposition of the ensemble loss. We prove a family of exact bias-variance-diversity decompositions, for a wide range of losses in both regression and classification, e.g., squared, cross-entropy, and Poisson losses. For losses where an additive bias-variance decomposition is not available (e.g., 0/1 loss) we present an alternative approach: quantifying the effects of diversity, which turn out to be dependent on the label distribution. Overall, we argue that diversity is a measure of model fit, in precisely the same sense as bias and variance, but accounting for statistical dependencies between ensemble members. Thus, we should not be maximising diversity as so many works aim to do -- instead, we have a bias/variance/diversity trade-off to manage.
Distortion of femtosecond laser pulses in lenses and lens systems.

Owing to the difference between the phase and group velocity, the pulse front may be delayed with respect to the phase front by several picoseconds when traversing a lens or a lens system. The delay is a parabolic function of the input radius. The delay is calculated for singlet lenses, achromats, compound lenses, telescopes. The effect may be two to three orders of magnitude larger than the broadening due to group velocity dispersion in the materials of the lenses.
Structured Case-based Reasoning for Inference-time Adaptation of Text-to-SQL parsers

Inference-time adaptation methods for semantic parsing are useful for leveraging examples from newly-observed domains without repeated fine-tuning. Existing approaches typically bias the decoder by simply concatenating input-output example pairs (cases) from the new domain at the encoder’s input in a Seq-to-Seq model. Such methods cannot adequately leverage the structure of logical forms in the case examples. We propose StructCBR, a structured case-based reasoning approach, which leverages subtree-level similarity between logical forms of cases and candidate outputs, resulting in better decoder decisions. For the task of adapting Text-to-SQL models to unseen schemas, we show that exploiting case examples in a structured manner via StructCBR offers consistent performance improvements over prior inference-time adaptation methods across five different databases. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first to attempt inference-time adaptation of Text-to-SQL models, and harness trainable structured similarity between subqueries.
Estimation of User's World Model Using Graph2vec

To obtain advanced interaction between autonomous robots and users, robots should be able to distinguish their state space representations (i.e., world models). Herein, a novel method was proposed for estimating the user's world model based on queries. In this method, the agent learns the distributed representation of world models using graph2vec and generates concept activation vectors that represent the meaning of queries in the latent space. Experimental results revealed that the proposed method can estimate the user's world model more efficiently than the simple method of using the ``AND'' search of queries.
Magnetic Fields, Star Formation Rates, and Gas Densities at Sub-kiloparsec Scales in a Pilot Sample of Nearby Galaxies

We have estimated the magnetic field strengths of a sample of seven galaxies using their nonthermal synchrotron radio emission at meter wavelengths, and assuming energy equipartition between magnetic fields and cosmic-ray particles. We tested for deviation of magnetic fields from energy equipartition with cosmic-ray particles, and found that deviations of ∼25% are typical for the sample galaxies. Spatially resolved star formation rates (SFRs) were estimated for the seven galaxies along with five galaxies studied previously. For the combined sample of 12 galaxies, the equipartition magnetic fields (B eq) are correlated with the SFR surface densities (ΣSFR) at sub-kiloparsec scales with B eq ∝ ΣSFR0. 31±0.06 , consistent with model predictions. We estimated gas densities (ρ gas) for a subsample of seven galaxies using archival observations of the CO rotational transitions and the atomic hydrogen (H i) 21 cm line and studied the spatially resolved correlation between the magnetic fields and ρ gas. Magnetic fields and gas densities are found to be correlated at sub-kiloparsec scale as B eq ∝ ρgas0. 40±0.09 . This is broadly consistent with models, which typically predict B ∝ ρgas0. 5 .
Curved VPH gratings for novel spectrographs

The introduction of volume phase holographic (VPH) gratings into astronomy over a decade ago opened new possibilities for instrument designers. In this paper we describe an extension of VPH grating technology that will have applications in astronomy and beyond: curved VPH gratings. These devices can disperse light while simultaneously correcting aberrations. We have designed and manufactured two different kinds of convex VPH grating prototypes for use in off-axis reflecting spectrographs. One type functions in transmission and the other in reflection, enabling Offnerstyle spectrographs with the high-efficiency and low-cost advantages of VPH gratings. We will discuss the design process and the tools required for modelling these gratings along with the recording layout and process steps required to fabricate them. We will present performance data for the first convex VPH grating produced for an astronomical spectrograph.
Asymptotic Theory for Two-Way Clustering

This paper proves a new central limit theorem for a sample that exhibits two-way dependence and heterogeneity across clusters. Statistical inference for situations with both two-way dependence and cluster heterogeneity has thus far been an open issue. The existing theory for two-way clustering inference requires identical distributions across clusters (implied by the so-called separate exchangeability assumption). Yet no such homogeneity requirement is needed in the existing theory for one-way clustering. The new result therefore theoretically justifies the view that two-way clustering is a more robust version of one-way clustering, consistent with applied practice. The result is applied to linear regression, where it is shown that a standard plug-in variance estimator is valid for inference.
The acoustics of the external ear: Old problems and fresh perspectives

A coherent picture of the external ear, operating both in the free field and as an enclosed receiver, came into focus more than a decade ago though several troublesome problems remained, particularly at frequencies greater than a few kHz. These included uncertainty about the geometry and acoustical characteristics of the ear canal, uncertainty about the dynamics of the eardrum and the reflection of sound from the eardrum, uncertainty about the role of the external ear in sound localization and, above all, uncertainty about the acoustical interactions between earphones and ears. Considerable progress has been made in most of these areas during the past few years but some problems remain intractable. In the meantime, the scientific and technological advances of the 1970s and early 1980s have provided us with a legacy of valuable instruments: eardrum simulators, artificial heads especially the Knowles Electronic Manikin (KEMAR), microphones for probing ear canal pressure, and improved insert earphones.
Adaptive and Scalable Compression of Multispectral Images using VVC

The VVC codec is applied to the task of multispectral image (MSI) compression using adaptive and scalable coding structures. In a “plain” VVC approach, concepts from picture-to-picture temporal prediction are employed for decorrelation along the MSI’s spectral dimension. The popular principle component analysis (PCA) for spectral decorrelation is further evaluated in combination with VVC intra-coding for spatial decorrelation. This approach is referred to as PCA-VVC. A novel adaptive MSI compression algorithm, named HPCLS, is introduced, that uses PCA and inter-prediction for spectral and VVC intra-coding for spatial decorrelation. Further, a novel adaptive scalable approach is proposed, that provides a separately decodable spectrally scaled preview of the MSI in the compressed file. Information contained in the preview is exploited in order to reduce the overall file size. All schemes are evaluated on images from the ARAD HS data set containing outdoor scenes with a high variety in brightness and color. We found that “Plain” VVC is outperformed by both PCA-VVC and HPCLS. HPCLS shows advantageous rate-distortion (RD) behavior compared to PCA-VVC for reconstruction quality above 51 dB PSNR. The performance of the scalable approach is compared to the combination of an independent RGB preview and one of HPCLS or PCA-VVC denoted as simulcast. The scalable approach shows significant benefit especially at higher preview qualities. A more detailed version of this article can be found on arXiv1.