Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Effect of the equation of state for dilute neutron matter on the composition of the inner crust of neutron stars

The composition of the inner crust of neutron stars is usually studied using phenomenological interactions such as Skyrme energy-density functionals. But most of these functionals do not agree well with ab-initio calculations of very dilute neutron matter. In this work, we study the inner crust of neutron stars in the model of phase coexistence of dense neutron-rich nuclear clusters and dilute neutron gas, and we investigate how employing a realistic microscopic equation of state to the neutron gas alters the composition. Our results indicate that with a functional that reproduces the correct equation of state of neutron matter at moderate densities, one can obtain a good description of the crust even if the functional does not have the correct behavior at extremely low density.
Post-Newtonian limit of generalized scalar-teleparallel theories of gravity

We propose a general class of scalar-teleparallel theories, which are based on a scalar field which is coupled to a flat connection with torsion and nonmetricity, and study its post-Newtonian limit using the parametrized post-Newtonian formalism. We find that among this class there are theories whose post-Newtonian limit fully agrees with general relativity; for others only the parameters $\beta$ and $\gamma$ deviate from their general relativity values $\beta = \gamma = 1$, while all other parameters remain the same, thus preserving total momentum conservation, local Lorentz invariance and local position invariance; finally, we also find theories whose post-Newtonian limit is pathological. Our main result is a full classification of the proposed theories into these different cases. We apply our findings to a number of simpler classes of theories and show that for these a subset of the aforementioned cases can be found.
Efficient quantum algorithms for some instances of the semidirect discrete logarithm problem

The semidirect discrete logarithm problem (SDLP) is the following analogue of the standard discrete logarithm problem in the semidirect product semigroup $G\rtimes \mathrm{End}(G)$ for a finite semigroup $G$. Given $g\in G, \sigma\in \mathrm{End}(G)$, and $h=\prod_{i=0}^{t-1}\sigma^i(g)$ for some integer $t$, the SDLP$(G,\sigma)$, for $g$ and $h$, asks to determine $t$. As Shor's algorithm crucially depends on commutativity, it is believed not to be applicable to the SDLP. Previously, the best known algorithm for the SDLP was based on Kuperberg's subexponential time quantum algorithm. Still, the problem plays a central role in the security of certain proposed cryptosystems in the family of \textit{semidirect product key exchange}. This includes a recently proposed signature protocol called SPDH-Sign. In this paper, we show that the SDLP is even easier in some important special cases. Specifically, for a finite group $G$, we describe quantum algorithms for the SDLP in $G\rtimes \mathrm{Aut}(G)$ for the following two classes of instances: the first one is when $G$ is solvable and the second is when $G$ is a matrix group and a power of $\sigma$ with a polynomially small exponent is an inner automorphism of $G$. We further extend the results to groups composed of factors from these classes. A consequence is that SPDH-Sign and similar cryptosystems whose security assumption is based on the presumed hardness of the SDLP in the cases described above are insecure against quantum attacks. The quantum ingredients we rely on are not new: these are Shor's factoring and discrete logarithm algorithms and well-known generalizations.
Measurement of the branching fraction for the decay K S → π μν with the KLOE detector

Based on a sample of 300 million K S mesons produced in φ → K L K S decays recorded by the KLOE experiment at the DA (cid:5) NE e + e − collider we have measured the branching fraction for the decay K S → πμν . The K S mesons are identiﬁed by the interaction of K L mesons in the detector. The K S → πμν decays are selected by a boosted decision tree built with kinematic variables and by a time-of-ﬂight measurement. Signal eﬃciencies are evaluated with data control samples of K L → πμν decays. A ﬁt to the reconstructed muon mass distribution ﬁnds 7223 ± 180 signal events. Normalising to the K S → π + π − decay events the result for the branching fraction is B ( K S → πμν ) = ( 4 . 56 ± 0 . 11 stat ± 0 . 17 syst ) ×
Antibiotic treatment duration for culture-negative sepsis in the pediatric intensive care unit

Abstract Objective: Sepsis remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children. There is very limited guidance for sepsis treatment when cultures remain negative. This study sought to determine the effectiveness of short versus long course of antibiotics when treating culture-negative sepsis and assess for subsequent multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) acquisition. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Quaternary academic children’s hospital. Patients: Pediatric intensive care unit (ICU) patients with culture-negative sepsis receiving a minimum of 72 hours of antibiotics. Methods: Patients found to have culture-negative sepsis from January 2017 to May 2020 were divided into two groups: short and long course of antibiotics. Various demographic and laboratory results were collected for each subject as available. Primary outcomes included mortality and lengths of stay. The secondary outcome was subsequent acquisition of a new MDRO. Results: Eighty-six patients were treated for culture-negative sepsis with 43 patients in both the short- (< or = 7 days) and long-course (>7 days) treatment cohorts. Patients who received a short course of antibiotics had a lower overall mortality than those who received a long course (9.3% vs 25.6% p = 0.047), but there was no difference in 30-day mortality (p > 0.99). Patients in the short-course group had a shorter hospital length of stay (22 vs 30 days p = 0.018). New MDROs were found in 10% of all patients. Conclusions: Treatment of culture-negative sepsis with short-course antibiotics was not associated with worse outcomes in ICU patients. These findings warrant further investigation with a larger, prospective, multi-center study.
Succession of the bacterial community from a spacecraft assembly clean room when enriched in brines relevant to Mars

Abstract Interplanetary spacecraft are built in a spacecraft assembly facility (SAF), a clean room designed to reduce microbial contamination that could confound life detection missions or influence native ecosystems. The frigid hyperarid near-surface environment of Mars has ample hygroscopic Mg and Na salts of chloride, (per)chlorate and sulphate that may deliquesce to form dense brines, liquids with low water activity, and freezing points <0°C. The current study sought to define the climax microbial community after 6 mo of enrichment of SAF floor wipe samples in salt plains medium supplemented with 50% (w/v; ~2 M; aw = 0.94) MgSO4 or 20% (w/v; ~1.9 M; aw = 0.91) NaClO3. After 1 wk, 4 wk and 6 mo of incubation, metagenomic DNA extracts of the enriched SAF microbial community were used for high-throughput sequencing of 16S rRNA genes and subsequent phylogenetic analyses. Additionally, dozens of bacterial strains were isolated by repetitive streak-plating from the climax community after 6 mo of enrichment. Early in the enrichment, staphylococci greatly dominated and then remained abundant members of the community. However, actinobacteria succeeded the staphylococci as the dominant taxa as the cultures matured, including Arthrobacter, Brachybacterium and Brevibacterium. A diverse assemblage of bacilli was present, with Oceanobacillus being especially abundant. The SAF culture collection included representatives of Brachybacterium conglomeratum, Brevibacterium sediminis, Oceanobacillus picturae and Staphylococcus sciuri. These were characterized with biochemical and physiological tests, revealing their high salinotolerance. Shannon diversity indices were generally near 2, reflecting modest diversity at several levels of identity and the community structures were uneven throughout. However, minor members of the community seem capable of the ecosystem functions required for biogeochemical cycling. For instance, organisms capable of all the functions of the N cycle were detected. The microbial assemblage in SAFs is the most likely to be transported by spacecraft to another world. While individual microbial populations may exhibit the qualities needed for survival at the near-surface of Mars, certainly entire communities with the capacity for complete biogeochemical cycling, would have a greater chance of survival and proliferation.
Optical true time delay technique with bidirectional consistency based on unidirectional optical amplifier

The insertion loss of the optical true time delay line is mainly composed of optical waveguide transmission loss, optical switch loss and input-output coupling loss. When the insertion loss is large, the optical power needs to be compensated by the optical amplifier. In order to realize bidirectional optical amplification of true time delay line and ensure high consistency of bidirectional link performance, a new scheme of optical delay line based on unidirectional optical amplifier multiplexing is proposed. Different from the traditional bidirectional delay line that requires one optical amplifier in each of the uplink and downlink, the scheme proposed in this paper reuses the same optical amplifier in the two-way links. As a consequence, the number of devices employed is halved, and the pressures on circuit layout, power consumption and heat dissipation are also reduced. Furthermore, it solves the problem of large performance differences in insertion loss, gain, and optical noise, etc. caused by the opposite experience of optical bidirectional transmission in traditional links. In addition, the scheme in this paper also avoids the problem of performance degradation that may be caused by the use of bidirectional optical amplifiers and other devices with high complexity. In a typical circuit of two-stage cascaded optical delay line, the optical amplifier is placed between the two stages. Through the scheme of unidirectional optical amplifier multiplexing, the bidirectional differences of insertion loss, gain of the optical amplifier and the optical noise are reduced by about 4dB.
Classification of annotation semirings over containment of conjunctive queries

We study the problem of query containment of conjunctive queries over annotated databases. Annotations are typically attached to tuples and represent metadata, such as probability, multiplicity, comments, or provenance. It is usually assumed that annotations are drawn from a commutative semiring. Such databases pose new challenges in query optimization, since many related fundamental tasks, such as query containment, have to be reconsidered in the presence of propagation of annotations. We axiomatize several classes of semirings for each of which containment of conjunctive queries is equivalent to existence of a particular type of homomorphism. For each of these types, we also specify all semirings for which existence of a corresponding homomorphism is a sufficient (or necessary) condition for the containment. We develop new decision procedures for containment for some semirings which are not in any of these classes. This generalizes and systematizes previous approaches.
On the Complexity of Database Queries

We revisit the issue of the complexity of database queries, in the light of the recent parametric refinement of complexity theory. We show that, if the query size (or the number of variables in the query) is considered as a parameter, then the relational calculus and its fragments (conjunctive queries, positive queries) are classified at appropriate levels of the so-called W hierarchy of Downey and Fellows. These results strongly suggest that the query size is inherently in the exponent of the data complexity of any query evaluation algorithm, with the implication becoming stronger as the expressibility of the query language increases. On the positive side, we show that this exponential dependence can be avoided for the extension of acyclic queries with ? (but not <) inequalities.
Quasi-inverses of schema mappings

Schema mappings are high-level specifications that describe the relationship between two database schemas. Two operators on schema mappings, namely the composition operator and the inverse operator, are regarded as especially important. Progress on the study of the inverse operator was not made until very recently, as even finding the exact semantics of this operator turned out to be a fairly delicate task. Furthermore, this notion is rather restrictive, since it is rare that a schema mapping possesses an inverse. In this article, we introduce and study the notion of a quasi-inverse of a schema mapping. This notion is a principled relaxation of the notion of an inverse of a schema mapping; intuitively, it is obtained from the notion of an inverse by not differentiating between instances that are equivalent for data-exchange purposes. For schema mappings specified by source-to-target tuple-generating dependencies (s-t tgds), we give a necessary and sufficient combinatorial condition for the existence of a quasi-inverse, and then use this condition to obtain both positive and negative results about the existence of quasi-inverses. In particular, we show that every LAV (local-as-view) schema mapping has a quasi-inverse, but that there are schema mappings specified by full s-t tgds that have no quasi-inverse. After this, we study the language needed to express quasi-inverses of schema mappings specified by s-t tgds, and we obtain a complete characterization. We also characterize the language needed to express inverses of schema mappings, and thereby solve a problem left open in the earlier study of the inverse operator. Finally, we show that quasi-inverses can be used in many cases to recover the data that was exported by the original schema mapping when performing data exchange.
Effects of urbanization on biodiversity:A review.

Urbanization is being developed rapidly in the world.Urban development not only seriously changed the living environment of organisms,but also caused the rapid variance in biodiversity.In this paper,the characters of urban habitats were summarized,with the effects of urbanization on biodiversity reviewed.The pattern of biodiversity distribution along a gradient from village to urban was analyzed,and further study on the relationship between urbanization and biodiversity was suggested.
Mutation of OsCDS5 confers broad‐spectrum disease resistance in rice

Phospholipids are important components of biological membranes, participating in various biological processes, including plant development and responses to biotic and abiotic stresses. A previous study showed that mutation of the rice OsCDS5 (CDP-DAG Synthase) gene alters lipid metabolism, causing enhanced abiotic stress responses, yellowing of leaves at the seedling stage and delayed plant development. Here, we observed that the Oscds5 mutant shows enhanced resistance to rice blast, bacterial blight and bacterial leaf streak. Mutation of OsCDS5 promotes production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and increases the expression level of multiple defense-related genes. Transcriptomic analyses indicate that genes involved in responses to stress, biotic/abiotic stimuli and metabolic processes are highly upregulated and enriched in mutant Oscds5. Metabolomic analyses show that differential metabolites are enriched in the lipid metabolic and tryptophan metabolic pathways. The decreased level of phosphatidylinositol (PI) and increased level of serotonin likely contribute to enhanced disease resistance of the Oscds5 mutant. Taken together, mutation of OsCDS5 enhances abiotic and biotic stress responses, and OsCDS5 may be a promising target in genetic engineering to enhance the resilience of rice to abiotic and biotic stresses simultaneously.
Accomodating User Expressivity while Maintaining Safety for a Virtual Alcohol Misuse Counselor

Client-centered counseling, in which individuals are prompted to talk about their behavior, is the standard treatment for Alcohol misuse. However, open-ended conversations with virtual agent counselor raise potential safety concerns if the agent misunderstands and provides erroneous advice. Thus, while generative machine learning models have been successful for language understanding and generation tasks, these approaches may not be effective or safe for counseling. We present a hybrid dialog system that uses a machine-learning model to generate responses to individual client speech combined with a rule-based approach to transition through structured counseling sessions. The dialog system is used to drive a virtual agent alcohol misuse counselor. We evaluated this hybrid system by comparing it to a functionally equivalent system in which the dialog is driven by fully-constraining user utterances via multiple-choice menus among individuals with problematic drinking. Participants who interacted with the agent using the hybrid dialog system reported a higher degree of readiness to change their drinking habits compared to the system using constrained input. Additionally, the outputs of the models used by the system were judged to be safe and appropriate for the task by expert counselors.
First animal source metagenome assembly of Lawsonella clevelandensis from canine external otitis

External otitis is one of the most common conditions in dogs to be presented to the veterinarian. Moreover, the disorder is often difficult to manage. The range and role of microorganisms involved in the pathogenesis are currently not fully understood. Therefore, the condition has been studied using third-generation sequencing (Oxford Nanopore Technology) to gain a more complete picture of the pathogens involved. Throughout the metagenome assembly of a sample harvested from the ear canal of an 11-year-old female Yorkshire terrier suffering from chronic external otitis, a genome of Lawsonella clevelandensis was compiled. To our knowledge, this result is the first of its type of animal origin. The outcome of the assembly (CP140010) is a single circular chromosome with a length of 1,878,509 bp, and 1,826 predicted protein-coding genes. No open reading frames associated with antimicrobial resistance could have been identified.
Predicting non-suicidal self-injury behavior among adolescents with depressive disorders: a comparative study based on different machine learning methods

Predicting non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI) among adolescents is challenging due to its complex behavioral drivers and diverse predictors. Machine learning (ML) methods, though promising in various predictions, have been underexplored for NSSI among adolescents, particularly with large-scale cross-sectional datasets. In this study, we compiled 30 potential NSSI predictive variables from existing research and used psychological survey data from 2,343 participants across 14 Chinese psychiatry hospitals. The dataset was split into a 7:3 ratio for training and testing. Various ML models (logistic regression, Naive Bayes, SVM, decision tree, random forest, and AdaBoost) were applied, with performance evaluated using accuracy, precision, recall, F1 score, and AUC. All selected ML methods generally performed well in predicting adolescent NSSI. Random forest achieved the highest AUC (0.823), followed by AdaBoost (0.771), decision tree (0.760), logistic regression (0.758), SVM (0.714), and Naive Bayes (0.712). Compared to other methods, Naive Bayes achieved a significant lower accuracy value (0.68) and recall value (0.68) due to its prerequisite assumption of distribution of dataset. With the better explainable nature of RF model, we ranked the importance value of top 20 factors and found that psychological resilience showed the strongest influence in contributing to NSSI. The results suggest that ML methods applied in this study could hold significant value in predicting NSSI among Chinese adolescents with depressive disorders.
Evaluation of embodied conversational agents designed with ethical principles and personality for cybersecurity ethics training

There is a lack of training for those designing and implementing cybersecurity policies and technologies concerning the ethical ramifications of their choices on users. Using a principlist approach as our ethical framework, we propose a serious game to assist the player to learn about ethical decision making by providing training about five ethical principles (Autonomy, Justice, Beneficence, Non-maleficence, and Explicability) in the context of cybersecurity decision making. There are many factors that impact human decision making, with personality identified as the most influential factor. A novel feature of our work is that it identifies the relationship between specific personality traits (Openness, Extraversion, Emotional Stability, Conscientiousness, and Agreeableness) and the priority given to each of these five ethical principles. We use personality-principle combinations to design the dialogues of multiple embodied conversational agents, or non-player characters (NPCs), to provide alternative ethical perspectives to the player. To improve the player's learning and engagement, they take on the role of a new employee in a cybersecurity firm and they interact with the NPCs in video meetups to discuss ethical dilemmas currently being faced by the cybersecurity team. Our results from a study conducted online with 219 cybersecurity students show that after playing the game, students were more aware of the ethical principles and their application to cybersecurity decisions. Moreover, players were able to recognize the agents' personalities, which could be helpful in achieving future tailored training.
Evaluating the validity of the eye movement event detection model of Ganzin Sol glasses

Eye tracking requires precise measurement of gaze data. Identifying fixations and saccades reliably is crucial for eye trackers, given these are fundamental eye movements. The present study evaluated the performance of Ganzin Sol glasses, a wearable eye tracker developed by Ganzin Technology, in detecting eye movement events. Participants performed the fixation and saccade invocation task (Komogortsev et al., 2010) and the gap paradigm (Saslow, 1967) using both Ganzin Sol and Tobii Pro 2 glasses separately at both short (50 cm) and long (300 cm) viewing distance. The fixation and saccade invocation task involved maintaining fixation on a regularly shifting visual target, enabling quantitative and qualitative analysis of participants’ oculomotor behaviors. In the gap paradigm, participants executed saccades toward a peripheral target when the fixation disappeared (gap condition) or remained visible (overlap condition). Typically, saccade latency in the gap condition is shorter (i.e., the gap effect). Results revealed aligned performances with Ganzin Sol and Tobii Pro 2 glasses in the fixation and saccade invocation task and the observation of the gap effect with both eye trackers. Therefore, the validity of Ganzin Sol glasses was at least comparable to Tobii Pro 2 glasses in the present study.