Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Memory for speciﬁc visual details can be enhanced by negative arousing content Memory and Language

Individuals often claim that they vividly remember information with negative emotional content. At least two types of information could lead to this sense of enhanced vividness: Information about the emotional item itself (e.g., the exact visual details of a snake) and information about the context in which the emotional item was encountered (e.g., the fact that the snake was sitting on a branch in a forest). The present study focused on the former, investigating how exposure duration at study and emotional content of an object aﬀected the likelihood of remembering an item (cid:1) s speciﬁc visual details. Participants studied neutral objects (e.g., a barometer) and negative arousing objects (e.g., a gre-nade) and were later shown either the identical object or a diﬀerent photo of the same type of object (e.g., another barometer). Across two experiments, emotional content enhanced the likelihood that speciﬁc visual details were remembered: Individuals were more likely to correctly indicate that an item was identical to the object studied earlier if it was an emotional object than if it was a neutral object. This memory beneﬁt for the emotional items was most robust when items were shown for longer exposure durations (500 or 1000 ms) rather than only brieﬂy (for 250 ms). Thus, with suf-ﬁcient processing time, negative arousing content appears to enhance the likelihood that visual details are remembered about an object.
Nonlocal Measurements in the Time-Symmetric Quantum Mechanics

Although for some nonlocal variables the standard quantum measurements which are reliable, instantaneous, and nondemolition, are impossible, demolition reliable instantaneous measurements of all variables are possible. It is shown that this is correct also in the framework of the time-symmetric quantum formalism, i.e. nonlocal variables of composite quantum systems with quantum states evolving both forward and backward in time are measurable in a demolition way. The result follows from the possibility to reverse with certainty the time direction of backward evolving quantum states.
IterLUNet: Deep Learning Architecture for Pixel-Wise Crack Detection in Levee Systems

Deep learning has recently been extensively used for crack detection in structural health monitoring settings. However, detecting cracks in levee systems have yet to receive considerable critical attention. Thus, this study presents a novel encoder-decoder-based fully convolutional neural network to detect cracks from levee images at a pixel level automatically. We propose that the feature learning be strengthened using the decoder and bottleneck feature maps by concatenating them back to the encoder blocks. The addition reinforcement in the U-Net-like architecture results in a loop-like structure to exploit all the feature maps from encoders, bottlenecks, and decoders. The proposed architecture, Iterative Loop U-Net (IterLUNet), outperforms the state-of-the-art architectures on the image dataset of the levee system, achieving an increment of Intersection over Union (IoU) by 10.32% on average for a 10-Fold Cross-Validation (FCV) compared to the baseline U-Net model and 11.00%, 7.65%, and 7.43% with a range of latest models MultiResUnet, Attention U-Net, and Unet++ respectively. In addition, IterLUNet has at least 63% fewer parameters to be trained than the baseline model, thus, allowing less space consumption for pixel-wise crack detection in AI-based inspection of levee systems.
A Monte Carlo Simulation Study to Assess Estimation Methods in Confimatory Factor Analysis (CFA) on Ordinal Data

Likert-type scale data are ordinal data and are commonly used to measure latent constructs in the educational, social, and behavioral sciences. The ordinal observed variables are often treated as continuous variables in factor analysis, which may cause misleading statistical inferences. Two robust estimators, i.e., unweighted least squares (ULS) and diagonally weighted least squares (DWLS) have been developed to deal with ordinal data in confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). In this research, we conduct an extensive simulation study to examine the impact of ULS and DWLS estimations in the accuracy of parameter estimates as well as the model fit measures by varying the number of Likert scale points. We use synthetic data generated in a Monte Carlo experiment to explore the behavior of these methods (DWLS and ULS) and compare their performance with normal theory-based ML and GLS (generalized least squares) under different levels of experimental conditions. The simulation results indicate that both DWLS and ULS yield consistently accurate parameter estimates across all conditions considered. The Likert data can be treated as a continuous variable under ML or GLS when using at least five Likert scale points to produce trivial bias. However, these methods generally fail to provide a satisfactory fit. Furthermore, we provide empirical studies in the field of psychological measurement data to present how theoretical and statistical instances have to be taken into consideration when ordinal data are used in the CFA model.
Bounds on quantum nonlocality

One of the main goals in the study of quantum nonlocality is to determine the maximum violation achieved by quantum correlations in a Bell scenario. However, given a Bell inequality, there is no general algorithm to perform this task. As an intermediate step, the development of efficiently computable bounds has played an important role for the advance of the field. In this thesis we phrase the problem of determining the quantum value of a Bell expression in the framework of computational complexity. Then we present our contributions exploring efficiently computable bounds (based on the spectral norm of some matrices) to the quantum value of a particular class of Bell inequalities: the linear games. We derive several results for the bipartite and the multipartite scenarios.
Finding the Effects of Think-Pair-Share on Student Confidence Finding the Effects of Think-Pair-Share on Student Confidence and Participation and Participation

This research study addresses the think-pair-share cooperative learning technique and its effects on students’ confidence in their abilities to do mathematics and their willingness to participate in class discussion. The study found that students’ participation increased, the number of long explanations given by students increased, and students comfort and confidence when contributing to class discussion also increased. This study examined the effectiveness of peer instruction, one cooperative learning technique. The study was conducted in an undergraduate class. Their research showed a significant improvement in students’ mastery of material and ability to solve novel problems following peer instruction. This article provides a review of literature about how to increase meaningful student learning. It centers around the fact that active processing of information, and not memorization, leads to meaningful learning. Several research backed curricular changes that lead to meaningful learning are included.
SymMC: approximate model enumeration and counting using symmetry information for Alloy specifications

Specifying and analyzing critical properties of software systems plays an important role in the development of reliable systems. Alloy is a mature tool-set that provides a first-order relational logic for writing specifications, and a fully automatic powerful backend for analyzing the specifications. It has been widely applied in areas including verification, security, and synthesis. Symmetry breaking is a useful approach for pruning the search space to efficiently check the satisfiability of combinatorial problems. As the backend solver of Alloy, Kodkod does the partial symmetry breaking (PaSB) for Alloy specifications. While full symmetry breaking remains challenging to scale, a recent study showed that Kodkod PaSB could significantly reduce the model counting time, albeit at the cost of producing only partial model counts. However, the desired term is either the isomorphic count under no symmetry breaking, or the non-isomorphic models/count under full symmetry breaking. This paper presents an approach called SymMC, which utilizes the symmetry information to compute all the desired terms for Alloy specifications. To make SymMC scalable, we propose approximate algorithms based on sampling to estimate the desired terms. We show that our proposed estimators have consistency and upper bound properties. To our knowledge, SymMC is the first approach that automatically approximates non-isomorphic model enumeration/counting for Alloy specifications. Thanks to the non-isomorphic model counting, SymMC also provides the first automatic quantification measurement on the solution space pruning ability of Kodkod PaSB. Furthermore, empirical evaluations show that SymMC provides a competitive isomorphic counting approach for Alloy specifications compared to the state-of-the-art model counters.
Energy loss during Dark Matter propagation in an overburden

As experimental constraints on DM interactions become ever more sensitive and push into new regimes of DM mass, it becomes more and more challenging to accurately model the process by which Dark Matter particles lose energy through scattering in the Earth's surface or other overburdens. We show that a commonly-used approximation due to Starkman, Gould, Esmailzadeh and Dimopoulos (SGED) can fail badly in computing the attenuation, even while being useful for an order-of-magnitude estimate of the maximum cross section reach. We introduce a method of importance sampling which makes Monte-Carlo simulation of energy loss feasible, in spite of factor-$10^7$ or greater attenuation. We demonstrate the validity of our new method and expose multiple problems with the SGED approximation, this reveals interesting features of the energy loss process. We spot-check the recent Emken, Kouvaris and Shoemaker "$5\,\Delta v$" prescription to place limits on cross sections based on a limited-statistics analysis, and find that an accurate simulation yields a factor of $\rm{4.4\times10^6}$ and $\rm{2.4\times10^4}$ larger number of events, for 50 MeV and 1 GeV DM mass respectively, than if the EKS $5\,\Delta v$ prescription were valid.
Early UV emission from disc-originated matter (DOM) in Type Ia supernovae in the double-degenerate scenario

We show that the blue and UV excess emission at the first few days of some type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) can be accounted for in the double degenerate (DD) scenario by the collision of the SN ejecta with circumstellar matter that was blown by the accretion disk formed during the merger process of the two white dwarfs (WDs). We assume that in cases of excess early light the disk blows the circumstellar matter, that we term disk-originated matter (DOM), hours to days before explosion. To perform our analysis we first provide a model-based definition for early excess light, replacing the definition of excess light relative to a power-law fit to the rising luminosity. We then examine the light curves of the SNe Ia iPTF14atg and SN 2012cg, and find that the collision of the ejecta with a DOM in the frame of the DD scenario can account for their early excess emission. Thus, early excess light does not necessarily imply the presence of a stellar companion in the frame of the single-degenerate scenario. Our findings further increase the variety of phenomena that the DD scenario can account for, and emphasize the need to consider all different SN Ia scenarios when interpreting observations.
INVERSIONLESS GAIN IN A THREE-LEVEL SYSTEM DRIVEN BY A STRONG FIELD AND COLLISIONS ∗

Inversionless gain in a degenerate three-level system driven by a strong external field and by collisions with a buffer gas is investigated. The mechanism of population distribution in upper laser level, contributed by the collision transfer, as well as by relaxation, induced by pressure of a buffer gas, is discussed in detail. Explicit formulae for analysis of optimal conditions are derived. The idea developed here for the incoherent pump could be generalized to other systems.
Symmetries, holography, and quantum phase transition in two-dimensional dilaton AdS gravity

We present a revisitation of the Almheiri-Polchinski dilaton gravity model from a two-dimensional (2D) bulk perspective. We describe a peculiar feature of the model, namely the pattern of conformal symmetry breaking using bulk Killing vectors, a covariant definition of mass and the flow between different vacua of the theory. We show that the effect of the symmetry breaking is both the generation of an infrared scale (a mass gap) and to make local the Goldstone modes associated with the asymptotic symmetries of the 2D spacetime. In this way a non vanishing central charge is generated in the dual conformal theory, which accounts for the microscopic entropy of the 2D black hole. The use of covariant mass allows to compare energetically the two different vacua of the theory and to show that at zero temperature the vacuum with a constant dilaton is energetically preferred. We also translate in the bulk language several features of the dual CFT discussed by Maldacena et al. The uplifting of the 2D model to $(d+2)-$dimensional theories exhibiting hyperscaling violation is briefly discussed.
UNIFICATION SCHEME OF RADIO GALAXIES AND QUASARS FALSIFIED BY THEIR OBSERVED SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS

In the currently popular orientation-based unified scheme, a radio galaxy appears as a quasar when its principal radio-axis happens to be oriented within a certain cone opening angle around the observer's line of sight. Due to geometrical projection, the observed sizes of quasars should therefore appear smaller than those of radio galaxies. We show that this simple, unambiguous prediction of the unified scheme is not borne out by the actually observed angular sizes of radio galaxies and quasars. Except in the original 3CR sample, based on which the unified scheme was proposed, in other much larger samples no statistically significant difference is apparent in the size distributions of radio galaxies and quasars. The population of low-excitation radio galaxies with apparently no hidden quasars inside, which might explain the observed excess number of radio galaxies at low redshifts, cannot account for the absence of any foreshortening of the sizes of quasars at large redshifts. On the other hand, from infrared and X-ray studies, there is evidence of a hidden quasar within a dusty torus in many radio galaxies, at z > 0.5. It is difficult to reconcile this with the absence of foreshortening of quasar sizes at even these redshifts, and perhaps one has to allow that the major radio axis may not have anything to do with the optical axis of the torus. Otherwise, to resolve the dichotomy of radio galaxies and quasars, a scheme quite different from the present might be required.
Exact instantons via worldline deformations

The imaginary part of the one loop effective action in external backgrounds can be efficiently computed using worldline instantons which are closed periodic paths in spacetime. Exact solutions for nonstatic backgrounds are only known in certain cases. In this paper, we propose a novel technique allowing the construction of further exactly solvable models. In order to do so, we introduce a deformation function which maps the worldline instantons for a given model to the closed periodic stationary paths of a new model. Executing this procedure iteratively results in a chain of infinitely many solvable models. Similar ideas were applied to topological and nontopological defects in quantum field theory. We explicitly discuss the tunneling exponential in the Schwinger pair creation rate and illustrate the validity of the proposed technique for well-known cases.
Spectrally entangled biphoton state of cascade emissions from a Doppler-broadened atomic ensemble

We theoretically investigate the spectral property of biphoton state from the cascade emissions from a Doppler-broadened atomic ensemble. This biphoton state is spontaneously created in the four-wave-mixing process. The upper transition of the emissions lies in telecom bandwidth, which prevails in fiber-based quantum communication for low-loss transmission. We obtain the spectral function of the biphoton state in terms of superradiant decay rates of the lower transition, excitation pulse durations, and temperature of the medium. We quantify their frequency entanglement by Schmidt decomposition and find that more entangled source can be generated with longer excitation pulses, enhanced decay rates, and significant Doppler broadening. A minimally entangled biphoton source can also be located at some optimal temperature of the atoms. By tuning these parameters, this biphoton source allows spectral shaping of continuous frequency entanglement, which is useful in multimode long-distance quantum communication.
Populations of accreting white dwarfs

Abstract Using a hybrid binary population synthesis approach, we modelled the formation and evolution of populations of accreting white dwarfs (WDs) for differing star formation histories. We found that the delay time distribution of SNe Ia in the single degenerate scenario is inconsistent with observations. Additionally, we found that our predicted X-ray and UV emission of populations of accreting WDs are consistent with the X-ray luminosities of early-type galaxies observed by Chandra and the HeII 4686 Å/Hβ line ratio measured in stacked SDSS spectra of passively evolving galaxies. Moreover, we found that the majority of current novae in elliptical-like galaxies have low-mass WDs, long decay times, long recurrence periods and are relatively faint. In contrast, the majority of current novae in spiral-like galaxies have massive WDs, short decay times, short recurrence periods and are relatively bright. Our predicted distribution of mass-loss timescales in an M31-like galaxy is consistent with observations for Andromeda.
The vanishing of strong turbulent fronts in bent pipes

Isolated patches of turbulence in transitional straight pipes are sustained by a strong instability at their upstream front, where the production of turbulent kinetic energy (TKE) is up to five times higher than in the core. Direct numerical simulations presented in this paper show no evidence of such strong fronts if the pipe is bent. We examine the temporal and spatial evolution of puffs and slugs in a toroidal pipe with pipe-to-torus diameter ratio $\unicode[STIX]{x1D6FF}=D/d=0.01$ at several subcritical Reynolds numbers. Results show that the upstream overshoot of TKE production is at most one-and-a-half times the value in the core and that the average cross-flow fluctuations at the front are up to three times lower if compared to a straight pipe, while attaining similar values in the core. Localised turbulence can be sustained at smaller energies through a redistribution of turbulent fluctuations and vortical structures by the in-plane Dean motion of the mean flow. This asymmetry determines a strong localisation of TKE production near the outer bend, where linear and nonlinear mechanisms optimally amplify perturbations. We further observe a substantial reduction of the range of Reynolds numbers for long-lived intermittent turbulence, in agreement with experimental data from the literature. Moreover, no occurrence of nucleation of spots through splitting could be detected in the range of parameters considered. Based on the present results, we argue that this mechanism gradually becomes marginal as the curvature of the pipe increases and the transition scenario approaches a dynamical switch from subcritical to supercritical.
Randomized Clinical Trial Effect of Sesame and Training on Heat Shock Protein 70 Gene Expression and Light Chain 3-I Proteins of Inactive Middle-Aged Men

Background: Clinical studies have indicated that exercise activity and supplementation may have different effects on the immune system and health. The present study aimed to determine the effect of sesame and interval training on heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene expression and light chain 3-I (LC3-I) proteins among inactive, middle-aged men. Methods: In this randomized clinical trial and quasi-experimental study which was conducted in fall, 2019, 60 middle-aged inactive men who had the habit of going to the parks in Karaj, Iran were selected as the study’s statistical subject and, then, were randomly divided into four groups (i.e., sesame supplement, interval training, sesame supplement+interval training, control). Sesame, and sesame supplement+interval training groups received sesame. The training protocol lasted for 12 weeks. HSP70 gene expression and LC3-I were measured before and after study using the enzymatic method. As for the homogeneity of variances, the Levene’s test and the Shapiro–Wilk test were used to investigate the natural distribution. Analysis of variance was used to investigate differences in four groups. Results: Significant differences were found regarding LC3-I (P<0.001) and HSP70 (P<0.001). According to the results of the Tukey post hoc test, there was a significant difference between the training+sesame group and controls (P≤0.05). Conclusion: It was concluded that high interval intensity training with sesame reduced HSP70 gene expression and LC3-I. The novelty of this study lay in the fact that it found consuming supplementation and training capable of synergistically reducing chaperone protein and autophagy indicator.
A Structural and Dynamical Study of Late-Type, Edge-on Galaxies. I. Sample Selection and Imaging Data

We present optical (B and R) and infrared (Ks) images and photometry for a sample of 49 extremely late-type, edge-on disk galaxies selected from the Flat Galaxy Catalog of Karenchentsev et al. Our sample was selected to include galaxies with particularly large axial ratios, increasing the likelihood that the galaxies in the sample are truly edge-on. We have also concentrated the sample on galaxies with low apparent surface brightness in order to increase the representation of intrinsically low surface brightness galaxies. Finally, the sample was chosen to have no apparent bulges or optical warps so that the galaxies represent undisturbed, "pure disk" systems. The resulting sample forms the basis for a much larger spectroscopic study designed to place constraints on the physical quantities and processes that shape disk galaxies. The imaging data presented in this paper have been painstakingly reduced and calibrated to allow accurate surface photometry of features as faint as 30 mag arcsec-2 in B and 29 mag arcsec-2 in R on scales larger than 10″. Because of limitations in sky subtraction and flat-fielding, the infrared data can reach only to 22.5 mag arcsec-2 in Ks on comparable scales. As part of this work, we have developed a new method for quantifying the reliability of surface photometry, which provides useful diagnostics for the presence of scattered light, optical emission from infrared cirrus, and other sources of nonuniform sky backgrounds.