Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Understanding informational masking from a neural perspective

Historically, psychoacousticians have divided the influence of a task-irrelevant sound (a masker) on perception of a task-relevant sound (the target) into components of 1) energetic masking and 2) informational masking. In this apportionment, energetic masking is defined as that masking that can be accounted for by considering how reliably the target is represented in the auditory periphery, and how much the masker disrupts this target representation. In contrast, the term informational masking is a catchall representing any effects of the masker that could not be accounted for by energetic masking. This talk presents a framework for understanding informational masking from a neural perspective, building on both behavioral results and neuro-imaging data. In this account, informational masking is a result of bottlenecks in the neural processing of acoustic information, a problem that the brain mediates by engaging auditory attention. Auditory attention operates by modulating the representation of different.
Photonic Band Structures

Abstract Building complex materials with structures on a scale comparable to the wavelength of light offers possibilities for radically changing the way light moves around such materials, in the same way that we engineer atomic structure to vary electronic properties of semiconductors. In this paper we describe in detail how to make numerical calculations of the dispersion relations (the band structure) of these complex objects, and how to calculate transmission through, and reflection from them. Finally these methodologies are applied to a colloidal dispersion of metallic particles at 12% volume filling fraction to reproduce the well known characteristics of strong optical absorption.
High-speed unsteady flows around spiked-blunt bodies

This paper presents a detailed investigation of unsteady supersonic and hypersonic flows around spiked-blunt bodies, including the investigation of the effects of the flow field initialization on the flow results. Past experimental research has shown that if the geometry of a spiked-blunt body is such that a shock formation consisting of an oblique foreshock and a bow aftershock appears, then the flow may be unsteady. The unsteady flow is characterized by periodic radial inflation and collapse of the conical separation bubble formed around the spike (pulsation). Beyond a certain spike length the flow is ‘stable’, i.e. steady or mildly oscillating in the radial direction. Both unsteady and ‘stable’ conditions have been reported when increasing or decreasing the spike length during an experimental test and, additionally, hysteresis effects have been observed. The present study reveals that for certain geometries the numerically simulated flow depends strongly on the assumed initial flow field, including the occurrence of bifurcations due to inherent hysteresis effects and the appearance of unsteady flow modes. Computations using several different configurations reveal that the transient (initial) flow development corresponds to a nearly inviscid flow field characterized by a foreshock–aftershock interaction. When the flow is pulsating, the further flow development is not sensitive to initial conditions, whereas for an oscillating or almost ‘steady’ flow, the flow development depends strongly on the assumed initial flow field.
Near-perfect absorption with a metallic grating and dielectric substrate

Abstract. We realize near-perfect absorption with a metallic grating and dielectric substrate. The simulation results show that such near-perfect absorption results from the cavity mode resonance and surface plasmonic polaritions excitation. The absorption peaks can be tuned by changing the geometric parameters or refractive indices of the surrounding materials. When the refractive index of the superstratum is smaller than that of the substrate, one can attain near-perfect absorption with a single-layer metallic grating. The simulation results also show that the absorption peak can be tuned by increasing the incidence angle.
Finite element modeling of piezoresponse in nanostructured ferroelectric films

Patterning thin ferroelectric films into discrete islands is an effective way to release the constraint imposed by a substrate and the unpoled nonpiezoactive surrounding film to enhance the film piezoresponse. The converse piezoresponse measured by the surface displacement of ferroelectric islands, with lateral size changing from a nanoscale to a continuous film, has been modeled using three-dimensional finite element method. The modeling has shown that piezodeformation of the islands results in a local deformation of a substrate in the vicinity of island. The deformation is larger when the substrate is softer. The deformation, together with clamping strain in the film, decreases the effective d33 of the film island. The effect of the top electrode on d33 measured by surface displacement is also modeled. The piezoresponse of different size island capacitors with PbZr0.5Ti0. 5O3/SrTiO3/Si and PbZr0.2Ti0. 8O3/SrTiO3 heterostructures has been calculated. The results of modeling are in good agreement with exper.
On the nature of the symbiotic binary CI Cygni

An analysis of ultraviolet and optical spectroscopy is presented for the symbiotic binary CI Cyg. This system contains an M5 II asymptotic branch giant Mg of about 1.5 solar mass, transfering material at a few times 0.00001 solar mass/yr into a large accretion disk surrounding a main-sequence star with Mh of about 0.5 solar mass. A boundary layer at the inner edge of the disk photoionizes a small nebula approximately confined to the Roche volume of the accreting star. An extended, more highly ionized region forms when material ejected from the disk interacts with the red giant wind. 115 refs.
Measurement of Third‐Order Moduli of Silicon and Germanium

Experimental techniques for determining third‐order moduli of single crystals by means of ultrasonic wave propagation are described. Results for silicon and germanium demonstrate a good degree of self‐consistency among the basic experimental data obtained with both hydrostatic and uniaxial pressure.In units of 1012 dyn/cm2 and for 25°C, the third‐order moduli are: ModulusValue for SiValue for GeC111−8.25±0.10−7.10±0.06C112−4.51±0.05−3.89±0.03C123−0.64±0.10−0.18±0.06C144+0.12±0.25−0.23±0.16C166−3.10±0.10−2.92±0.08C456−0.64±0.20−0.53±0.07 Thermodynamic definitions for the moduli (K. Brugger, Phys. Rev. 133, A1611 (1964)] have been used.
Mechanical properties of chemical vapor deposition-grown multiwalled carbon nanotubes

The bending modulus (Young’s modulus) of several chemical vapor deposition-grown multiwalled nanotubes (MWNTs) have been measured using a vibrating reed technique. Three different precursors were used to produce MWNTs with differing densities of defects in the tube walls. Individual MWNTs were electrostatically driven in air over a dark-field light microscope and the bending modulus of the nanotubes was determined from the frequency of the first vibrational resonance. A correlation between the defect density and the bending modulus was found which implies that the bending modulus is relatively more sensitive to wall defects than the nanotube diameter.
Free-surface fluctuations behind microbreakers: space–time behaviour and subsurface flow field

The unsteady development toward breaking of the wavy flow generated by a submerged hydrofoil starting from rest is investigated numerically by solving the two-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations for the two-phase flow of air and water and by using a level-set technique to capture the interface. The study, carried out for hydrofoils with various chord lengths, shows that, when passing from longer to shorter scales, the role played by surface tension becomes more and more relevant and different flow regimes are recovered ranging from intense plunging jet, eventually leading to a large amount of entrapped air, down to microscale breakers, in which the jet is replaced by a bulge growing on the wave crest and the breaking event takes place without air entrapment. The ‘toe’ of the bulge slides down upon the forward face of the wave and large downstream-propagating surface fluctuations are observed. Wavenumber and frequency spectra of the computed free-surface profiles, aimed at understanding the downstream motion of free-surface fluctuations, are evaluated and found in good agreement with similar investigations carried out experimentally and available in literature. A careful inspection of the instantaneous vorticity field under the microbreakers reveals the presence of an intense shear flow originating at the toe, instability of which eventually gives rise to coherent vortex-structures. These structures are convected downstream by the flow at a growing speed, remaining confined in a thin layer just beneath the free surface. This continuous interaction is responsible for the generation of the free-surface fluctuations experimentally found.
On the bettinumbers of finite pure and linear resolutions

A characterization in terms of the Bettinumbers for a module possessing a pure resolution to be Cohen-Macauiay is given, the conjecture that the Bettinumbers should satisfy is being proven roi the case that m has a linear resolution, and finally examples of ideals of arbi-rarlly high modal type are constructed.
No-hardware-signature cybersecurity-crypto-module: a resilient cyber defense agent

We present an optical cybersecurity-crypto-module as a resilient cyber defense agent. It has no hardware signature since it is bitstream reconfigurable, where single hardware architecture functions as any selected device of all possible ones of the same number of inputs. For a two-input digital device, a 4-digit bitstream of 0s and 1s determines which device, of a total of 16 devices, the hardware performs as. Accordingly, the hardware itself is not physically reconfigured, but its performance is. Such a defense agent allows the attack to take place, rendering it harmless. On the other hand, if the system is already infected with malware sending out information, the defense agent allows the information to go out, rendering it meaningless. The hardware architecture is immune to side attacks since such an attack would reveal information on the attack itself and not on the hardware. This cyber defense agent can be used to secure a point-to-point, point-to-multipoint, a whole network, and/or a single entity in the cyberspace. Therefore, ensuring trust between cyber resources. It can provide secure communication in an insecure network. We provide the hardware design and explain how it works. Scalability of the design is briefly discussed. (Protected by United States Patents No.: US 8,004,734; US 8,325,404; and other National Patents worldwide.)
Optimal Thrust Development in Oscillating Foils with Application to Fish Propulsion

Abstract Oscillating foils produce thrust through the development of a jet-like average flow. It is found that such jets are convectively unstable with a narrow range of frequencies of maximum amplification, resulting in the formation of a staggered array of vortices with direction opposite to that of the classical Karman street. A stable co-existence of the jet profile and the large-scale patterns is ensured only at the frequency of maximum amplification, hence at this frequency optimal efficiency is obtained, i.e., maximum thrust per unit input energy. The nondimensional frequency of maximum amplification (Strouhal number) is in the range of 0·25 to 0·35. Experiments confirms this results, while the analysis of a large number of data from observations on fish and cetaceans confirm that optimal fish propulsion is achieved within this range of Strouhal number.
Convective Wakes in the Equatorial Western Pacific during TOGA

Abstract The evolution of convective wakes was studied using composite time series calculated from data collected in the western Pacific warm pool during a pilot cruise and intensive observation period (IOP) of the Tropical Ocean Global Atmosphere (TOGA) Coupled Ocean-Atmosphere Response Experiment (COARE). Hourly averaged observations from 42 convective wakes were used to compute wake-relative composite time series of the bulk meteorological variables, as well as sensible and latent heat fluxes. These analyses show great similarities between the convective wake characteristics of the pilot cruise and the IOP, despite differences in season and location. This result, combined with a strong correlation between individual wakes and the composite time series, demonstrates the representativeness of the composites. TOGA convective wakes were found to cause a significant decrease in air temperature, a significant increase in wind speed, and thus significant increases in sensible and latent heat fluxes, which is .
Pyroelectric LiTaO3 Thin Films Elaborated by RF Magnetron Sputtering on RuO2/SiNx

LiTaO 3 thin films were deposited on RuO 2 electrode by RF magnetron sputtering with a Li 2 O 2 /Ta 2 O 5 (50%–50%) target. This article presents a morphological, structural, dielectric and pyroelectric study of LiTaO 3 thin films. The originality of this work resides on the choice of the substrate: silicon nitride on Si (SiN x /Si) membrane. The final aim is to improve the pyroelectric coefficient for infrared pyroelectric detectors applications. The best pyroelectric coefficient of LiTaO 3 thin films (400 nm) is equal to 60 μC/m 2 K. It was obtained for deposited temperature of 400°C, and a pressure of 10 mTorr.
Propagation in Doubly Clad Single-Mode Fibers

General propagation properties and universal curves are given for doubly clad single-mode fibers with inner cladding index higher or lower than outer cladding index, using the two parameters inner cladding/core radii ratio and inner cladding/core index differences ratio. LP01, LP11, and LP02 cutoff conditions are examined. It is shown that dispersion properties largely differ from the singly clad single-mode fiber case, leading to large new possibilities for low-loss dispersion-free fibers at any wavelength between 1.3 and 1.7 µm.
Congruence test of molecular clock calibration hypotheses based on Bayes factor comparisons

Molecular clock calibration is a crucial step for placing phylogenetic trees in the temporal framework required to test evolutionary hypotheses and estimate evolutionary rates. In general, most authors agree that the best approach is to incorporate multiple calibrations to avoid the risk of bias associated with a single dating source. However, the indiscriminate inclusion of as many calibration points as possible can lead to tree shape distortion and an overestimation of the variation in evolutionary rates among branches due to errors in the geological, paleontological or paleogeographic information used for dating. We present a test of congruence among calibration hypotheses to assist their filtering prior to molecular clock analysis, which we have called Bayes Factor Cluster Analysis (BFCA). This is a heuristic method based on the comparison of pairwise calibrations hypotheses by Bayes factors that allows identifying sets of congruent calibrations. We have tested BFCA through simulation using beast and mcmctree programs and analysed a real case of multiple calibration hypotheses to date the evolution of the genus Carabus (Coleoptera: Carabidae). The analyses of simulated data showed the predictability of change in Bayes factors when comparing alternative calibration hypotheses on a particular tree topology, and thus the suitability of BFCA in identifying unreliable calibrations, especially in cases with limited variation in evolutionary rates among branches. The exclusion of inconsistent calibrations as identified by BFCA produced significant changes in the estimation of divergence times and evolutionary rates in the genus Carabus, illustrating the importance of filtering calibrations before analyses. The method has been implemented in an open‐source R package called bfca to simplify its application.
Energetic protons, alpha particles, and electrons in magnetic flux transfer events

We have analyzed energetic proton, alpha particle, and electron measurments during two magnetopause crossings of ISEE 1 which show mgnetic field signatures characteristic of flux transfer events. While the ions are streaming highly collimated along the magnetic field, the electrons show either isotropic distributions or distributions which are consistent with convected small-scale structures. Fluxes and relative abundances of ions in flux transfer events are similar to the trapped particle values. We have observed similar particle signatures when no change in the magnetic field normal component has been measured. During the occurrence of isotropic electron distributions, the absolute electron flux (above 75 keV) is greatly reduced when compared with the flux of the trapped electron population. Thus the electrons cannot be explained by simple leakage out of the magnetosphere.
Band gap widening with time induced by structural relaxation in amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 films

In a phase change memory the device resistance corresponding to the amorphous phase monotonically increases with time after the reset programming operation. This phenomenon, called drift, affects the stability of the high resistive state, namely the reset state. In this work we investigate the resistance-drift process through ellipsometric measurements as a function of time in thin film of as-deposited amorphous Ge2Sb2Te5 alloy. We show a tight correlation between the resistance increase with time and the optical band gap widening extracted by ellipsometric measurements. This characterization supports the drift origin due to a structural atomic rearrangement of the amorphous network affecting the band structure that, in particular, promotes the increase of the energy gap and the reduction of localized states within the energy gap.
A FitzHugh Differential-Difference Equation Modeling Recurrent Neural Feedback

A very simple model based on the FitzHugh equations is developed to simulate the phenomenon of recurrent neural feedback. This phenomenon, which is ubiquitous in the vertebrate nervous system, occurs when a neuron excites a second neuron which in turn excites or inhibits the first neuron. Since the excitation or inhibition occurs only after conduction and synaptic delays, the model involves a system of differential-difference equations. Conditions for the existence of a Hopf bifurcation are derived, and formulas for the stability of the bifurcation are given. Some numerical results for large amplitude solutions are presented. A discussion of the applicability of the model is given.
Impact of a vortex dipole with a semi-infinite rigid plate

The physics of a two-dimensional vortex dipole impinging on the tip of a semi-infinite rigid plate is numerically examined. The dipole trajectory is initially orthogonal to the plate and aligned with its tip. The impact behavior is examined for three dipole Reynolds numbers. As the dipole approaches, vorticity is induced along the plate, as in the case of a dipole approaching a full wall, and is additionally shed from the tip. Upon impact, the dipole effectively splits, with half of it interacting with the vorticity induced on the plate and the other half with the vorticity shed from the tip. Each half of the original dipole forms a new secondary vortex pair whose behavior depends upon the Reynolds number of the original dipole. Contingent upon the rate of momentum diffusion, these secondary (and tertiary) vortex pairs may return and impact the plate again. Herein, we detail the interaction of the dipole impact at various Reynolds numbers, with a focus on the vortex dynamics and the distributed load impos.
EFFECTS OF PHOTOINDUCED HOLE DOPING ON TRANSPORT PROPERTIES OF YBA2CU3OY GRAIN BOUNDARY JUNCTIONS

The effects of photoinduced hole doping on the electrical characteristics of grain boundary weak link junctions based on high Tc YBa2Cu3Oy thin films are investigated. Visible light illumination induces a substantial enhancement in the critical current Ic of approximately 20%–40% even at temperatures well below Tc. The Ic enhancement is accompanied by a clear decrease in the junction resistance RN which can be explained by the photoinduced hole doping of the degraded regions with oxygen deficiency and/or disorder near the grain boundary. It is also demonstrated that photoinduced hole doping provides a way of improving the IcRN product and also a way of controlling the Ic value in situ in these weak link junctions.
On outindependent subgraphs of strongly regular graphs

An outindependent subgraph of a graph Γ, with respect to an independent vertex subset C⊂ V, is the subgraph ΓC induced by the vertices in V∖ C. We study the case when Γ is strongly regular, where the results of de Caen [1998, The spectra of complementary subgraphs in a strongly regular graph. European Journal of Combinatorics, 19 (5), 559–565. ], allow us to derive the whole spectrum of ΓC . Moreover, when C attains the Hoffman–Lovász bound for the independence number, ΓC is a regular graph (in fact, distance-regular if Γ is a Moore graph). This article is mainly devoted to study the non-regular case. As a main result, we characterize the structure of ΓC when C is the neighborhood of either one vertex or one edge.
Observation of interstellar polarization at 2. 2 and 3. 8 microns

Interstellar linear polarization has been observed in the K (2.2 micron) and L-prime (3.8 micron) bands for 30 stars. The K band results generally agree with the previous measurements. The L-prime polarization, obtained for the first time, is larger for most stars than Serkowski's (1974) and Wilking's (1980) empirical formulas predict. From these observations, a power-law dependence of polarization of about wavelength exp-2 in the wavelength range of 1.25-2.2 microns is proposed; this dependence is similar to that of interstellar extinction. The decrease of polarization from K to L-prime is even slower than this power-law. This might be also similar to the extinction law, but confirmation by further observations is necessary. 35 refs.