Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Quantum-Logic Gate between Two Optical Photons with an Average Efficiency above 40%

Optical qubits uniquely combine information transfer in optical fibers with a good processing capability and are therefore attractive tools for quantum technologies. A large challenge, however, is to overcome the low efficiency of two-qubit logic gates. The experimentally achieved efficiency in an optical controlled NOT ( CNOT ) gate reached approximately 11% in 2003 and has seen no increase since. Here, we report on a new platform that was designed to surpass this long-standing record. The new scheme avoids inherently probabilistic protocols and, instead, combines aspects of two established quantum nonlinear systems: atom-cavity systems and Rydberg electromagnetically induced transparency. We demonstrate a CNOT gate between two optical photons with an average efficiency of 41.7(5)% at a postselected process fidelity of 81(2)%. Moreover, we extend the scheme to a CNOT gate with multiple target qubits and produce entangled states of presently up to five photons. All these achievements are promising and have the potential to advance optical quantum information processing in which almost all advanced protocols would profit from high-efficiency logic gates. DOI:
Exploring Universal Intrinsic Task Subspace via Prompt Tuning

Why can pre-trained language models (PLMs) learn universal representations and effectively adapt to broad NLP tasks differing a lot superficially? In this work, we empirically find evidence indicating that the adaptations of PLMs to various few-shot tasks can be reparameterized as optimizing only a few free parameters in a unified low-dimensional intrinsic task subspace, which may help us understand why PLMs could easily adapt to various NLP tasks with small-scale data. To find such a subspace and examine its universality, we propose an analysis pipeline called intrinsic prompt tuning (IPT). Specifically, we resort to the recent success of prompt tuning and decompose the soft prompts of multiple NLP tasks into the same low-dimensional nonlinear subspace, then we learn to adapt the PLM to unseen data or tasks by only tuning parameters in this subspace. In the experiments, we study diverse few-shot NLP tasks and surprisingly find that in a 250-dimensional subspace found with 100 tasks, by only tuning 250 free parameters, we can recover 97% and 83% of the full prompt tuning performance for 100 seen tasks (using different training data) and 20 unseen tasks, respectively, showing great generalization ability of the found intrinsic task subspace. Besides being an analysis tool, IPT could further help us improve the prompt tuning stability.
Nucleotide sequence data confirm diagnosis and local endemism Nucleotide sequence data confirm diagnosis and local endemism of variable morphospecies of Andean astroblepid catfishes of variable morphospecies of Andean astroblepid catfishes

Phylogenetic analysis based on nuclear and mitochondrial DNA sequences was used to test the validity of morphospecies of catﬁshes of the family Astroblepidae inhabiting the southern-most limit of their Andean distribution in the upper Ucayali and upper Madre de Dios river basins. Population samples of morphospecies designated a priori on the basis of morphological features were further diagnosed by the presence of unique and unreversed molecular synapomorphies, thereby conﬁrming species validity for seven of nine cases. Although each are distinguished by unique combinations of morphological features, two morphospecies (designated F and H) cannot be diagnosed on the basis of apomorphic changes in molecular sequence that did not also occur in other astroblepid morphospecies or outgroup taxa. Further, one morphospecies (species G) was recovered as nested within the assemblage of populations sampled from morphospecies F, whose morphological diagnosis does not involve unique or apomorphic characters. In contrast, the absence of corroborating molecular apomorphies for species H, otherwise recognized by distinctive and uniquely derived morphological characters, suggests a history of rapid divergence and insufficient time for ﬁxation of genetic differences. Species sharing syntopic distributions were not recovered as sister groups, and in some cases species distributed in adjacent river drainage basins were not more closely related to one another than to species distributed in more distant drainages. Three independent instances were observed of sister-group relationships involving species distributed in both the Apurimac and Urubamba rivers (Ucayali drainage). These observations combine to suggest that the current distribution of astroblepid species in the southern region may have arisen via a complex history involving both divergence between and dispersal amongst drainage basins that is probably repeated numerous times throughout the Andean distribution of the group.
Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias in ALLHAT Trial Participants Receiving Diuretic, ACE-Inhibitor, or Calcium-Channel Blocker with 18 Years of Follow-Up

Background: There is no any large randomized clinical trial of antihypertensive drug treatment with 18-year passive follow-up to examine the risk of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) or Related Dementias (ADRD). Methods: Post-trial passive follow-up study of Antihypertensive and Lipid-Lowering Treatment to Prevent Heart Attack Trial (ALLHAT) participants in 1994–1998 by linking with their Medicare claims data through 2017 among 17,158 subjects in 567 U.S. centers who were free of ADRD at baseline on January 1, 1999. Main outcome was the occurrence of ADRD over 18 years of follow-up. Results: The 18-year cumulative incidence rates were 30.9% for AD, 59.2% for non-AD dementias, and 60.9% for any ADRD. The 18-year cumulative incidence of AD was almost identical for the 3 drug groups (30.5% for chlorthalidone, 31.1% for amlodipine, and 31.4% for lisinopril). The hazard ratios of AD, non-AD dementias and total ADRD were not statistically significantly different among the 3 drug groups. The adjusted hazard ratio of AD was 1.04 (95% CI: 0.94–1.14) for chlorthalidone versus amlodipine, 1.02 (0.92–1.13) for lisinopril versus amlodipine, and 0.98 (0.89–1.08) for lisinopril versus chlorthalidone, which were not significantly different. The risk of AD and non-AD dementias was significantly higher in older subjects, females, blacks, non-Hispanics, subjects with lower education, and subjects with vascular diseases. Conclusion: The risk of ADRD did not vary significantly by 3 antihypertensive drugs in ALLHAT trial participants with 18-years of follow-up. The risk of ADRD was significantly associated with age, gender, race/ethnicity, education, and history of vascular diseases.
Smartphone usage and addiction among undergraduate dental students in Malaysia: A cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Behavioral addiction to smartphones is a common phenomenon in the present digital age, wherein indulgence in these devices is compulsive and impacts physical, social, and psychological health of the population. The smartphones effect on a dental student's life is detrimental to their academics, health, and efficiency in providing clinical patient care. To assess use and addiction of smartphones among dental students under six major domains and to compare this based on their gender, ethnicity, and year of study. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study using a validated questionnaire, Smartphone addiction scale was conducted among 349 undergraduate students (N = 349) at a private dental school in Malaysia. RESULTS: Overall results are presented as mean scores under six domains with total score as 142.40 (33.65). The total scores compared between two genders did not show statistical difference, however on comparing individual domains, females (25.25) had higher mean score for daily life disturbance (P = 0.013) and males (30.17) for cyberspace-oriented relationship (P = 0.001). Chinese students had higher scores with respect to withdrawal (32.45) and cyberspace-oriented relationship (29.48) as compared to other ethnicities. Year 4 students show higher scores than other years in daily life disturbance (27.44), tolerance (16.81), and overuse (16.51). CONCLUSION: Our research presents the extent and pattern of smartphone of usage and addiction among the undergraduate students at a dental school in Malaysia. The indicators of addiction highlighted in the study are pivotal in spreading awareness regarding this overuse and addiction as well as planning further research in this area.
The histologic effects of neoadjuvant stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) followed by pulmonary metastasectomy—rationale and protocol design for the Post SBRT Pulmonary Metastasectomy (PSPM) trial

Background For the local management of pulmonary malignancies, surgical resection and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) are mutually exclusive treatments. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of SBRT on reducing tumor viability at a histologic level in the context of pulmonary metastases. Methods This protocol describes an open-label unblinded single-arm prospective Phase 2 trial to determine the effects of dual treatment of pulmonary metastasis amenable to curative resection using neoadjuvant SBRT followed by surgical resection, the Post SBRT Pulmonary Metastasectomy (PSPM) trial. Sample size require 39 patients, with an anticipated study duration of 30–36 months. Following completion of SBRT, eligible patients will be assessed at the 4–6-week mark by the treating radiation oncologist and thoracic surgeon with a post-treatment computed tomography (CT) of the chest. Patients with no disease progression will undergo scheduled surgical resection of all metastatic tumors at 8–12 weeks post SBRT. Patients will then be evaluated postoperatively at 30 days, and every 6 months for a total of 36 months with surveillance CT scans. Patients will also undergo sequential serologic evaluation of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) levels throughout their respective treatment pathway. The primary outcome of this study is the rate of complete pathologic response (pCR) following SBRT, assess using the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) multidisciplinary recommendations for pathologic assessment of lung cancer resection specimens after neoadjuvant therapy. Secondary outcomes include overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS), local recurrence rates, cancer histology effects on pCR and treatment related complications, and treatment effect on ctDNA levels. Primary and secondary outcomes will be analyzed using Fisher’s Exact test and Student’s t-test based on data type. Cox-proportional hazard ratios will be used to evaluate OS and DFS, using the log rank test. Discussion In evaluating the effect of SBRT on pulmonary metastasis at a histologic level, this trial may increase the use of this modality in selected patients who would otherwise only undergo surgery for disease that has already metastasized. Also, the trial provides secondary benefits of evaluating the abscopal effects of radiation on pulmonary metastatic disease, and serves as a platform for more comprehensive large-scale research in this field. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT04160143 (HiREB: 7925).
TCP Protocol Optimization for HTTP Adaptive Streaming

HTTP adaptive streaming (HAS) is a streaming video technique widely used over the Internet for Video on Demand (VoD) and Live streaming services. It employs Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) as transport protocol and it splits the original video inside the server into segments of same duration, called "chunks", that are transcoded into multiple quality levels. The HAS player, on the client side, requests for one chunk each chunk duration and it commonly selects the quality level based on the estimated bandwidth of the previous chunk(s). Given that the HAS clients are located inside access networks, our investigation involves several HAS clients sharing the same bottleneck link and competing for bandwidth inside the same home network. Here, a degradation of both Quality of Experience (QoE) of HAS users and Quality of Service (QoS) of the access network are often recorded. The objective of this thesis is to optimize the TCP protocol in order to solve both QoE and QoS degradations. Our first contribution consists of proposing a gateway-based shaping method, that we called Receive Window Tuning Method (RWTM); it employs the TCP flow control and passive round trip time estimation on the gateway side. We compared the performances of RWTM with another gateway-based shaping method that is based on queuing discipline, called Hierarchical Token Bucket shaping Method (HTBM). The results of evaluation indicate that RWTM outperforms HTBM not only in terms of QoE of HAS but also in terms of QoS of access network by reducing the queuing delay and significantly reducing packet drop rate at the bottleneck. Our second contribution consists of a comparative evaluation between eight combinations that result from combining two shaping methods, RWTM and HTBM, and four very common TCP variants, NewReno, Vegas, Illinois and Cubic. The results show that there is a significant discordance in performance between combinations. Furthermore, the best combination that improves performances in the majority of scenarios is when combining Illinois variant with RWTM. In addition, the results reveal the importance of an efficient updating of the slow start threshold value, ssthresh, to accelerate the convergence toward the best feasible quality level. Our third contribution consists of proposing a novel HAS-based TCP variant, that we called TcpHas; it is a TCP congestion control algorithm that takes into consideration the specifications of HAS flow. Besides, it estimates the optimal quality level of its corresponding HAS flow based on end-to-end bandwidth estimation. Then, it permanently performs HAS traffic shaping based on the encoding rate of the estimated level. It also updates ssthresh to accelerate convergence speed. A comparative performance evaluation of TcpHas with a recent and well-known TCP variant that employs adaptive decrease mechanism, called Westwood+, was performed. Results indicated that TcpHas largely outperformsWestwood+; it offers better quality level stability on the optimal quality level, it dramatically reduces the packet drop rate and it generates lower queuing delay.
Advancing Science Through Education In High Performance Computing

High-performance computing (HPC) platforms are becoming increasingly accessible to scientists and engineers due the remarkable decrease in commodity hardware costs. The promise of HPC allows engineers to perform more detailed analysis of complex systems in shorter times. Ultimately, design cycle times can be reduced and reliability can be increased by utilizing new HPC facilities. However, barriers to effective use of existing and emerging HPC technologies remain. In fact, few researchers and engineers possess the knowledge to benefit from the current computing capabilities. In response to this unheralded demand, a pilot course for exposing engineering students to new technologies and capabilities in the computing world has been developed. As a result, not only have student participants become HPC savvy, but also the research community as a whole has expressed intense interest in the continuation and expansion of the initial project. This surge in interest is derived from the fact that student participants have been able to solve problems that were previously not considered because of their computational requirements. In other words, science has been advanced because of this single class offering.
LSU Digital Commons LSU Digital Commons Skeletal muscle mitochondrial capacity and insulin resistance in Skeletal muscle mitochondrial capacity and insulin resistance in type 2 diabetes type 2 diabetes

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the role of maximum mitochondrial capacity on the variation in insulin sensitivity within a population of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Research Design and Methods: Fifty-eight participants enrolled in a cross-sectional design: eight active controls [maximum aerobic capacity (VO 2max ) (cid:1) 40 ml/kg (cid:1) min], 17 healthy sedentary controls without a family history (FH (cid:2) ) and seven with a family history (FH (cid:3) ) of diabetes, four obese participants, and 21 patients with T2DM. Mitochondrial capacity was measured noninvasively using 31 P magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the vastus lateralis. Maximal ATP synthetic rate (ATP max ) was determined from the rate of phosphocreatine (PCr) recovery after short-term isometric exercise. Results: ATP max was lower ( P (cid:4) 0.001) in T2DM and higher ( P (cid:4) 0.001) in active as compared with healthy sedentary FH (cid:2) (active, 1.01 (cid:5) 0.2; FH (cid:2) , 0.7 (cid:5) 0.2; FH (cid:3) , 0.6
Changing Predominance of Norovirus Recombinant Strains GII.2[P16] to GII.4[P16] and GII.4[P31] in Thailand, 2017 to 2018

In the present study, the prevalence of norovirus infection in children with acute gastroenteritis in Chiang Mai, Thailand between 2017 and 2018 was 14.9%. A variety of norovirus genotypes were detected, including GI.5, GII.2, GII.3, GII.4, GII.6, GII.7, GII.13, GII.14, and GII.17 with the predominance of GII.4 genotype. ABSTRACT Human norovirus is a major virus that causes acute gastroenteritis in all age groups. Recently, norovirus recombinant strains have been reported as the cause of norovirus outbreaks. This study has investigated the distribution of norovirus genotypes and recombinant strains circulating in children hospitalized with diarrhea in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 2017 to 2018. A total of 882 stool specimens were tested for the presence of norovirus GI and GII by reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) assay. Genotypes of the viruses were assessed by partial VP1 nucleotide sequencing and the representative strains were further characterized for norovirus recombinant strains by amplification of ORF1 (RdRp)/ORF2 (VP1 capsid) junction region. From a total of 882 stool samples, 131 (14.9%) were positive for norovirus, of which the majority of norovirus genogroups were norovirus GII, and only one was identified as norovirus GI. A wide variety of norovirus genotypes were detected in this study, including GI.5, GII.2, GII.3, GII.4, GII.6, GII.7, GII.13, GII.14, and GII.17 with the predominance of GII.2 (62.5%) in 2017 and GII.4 (57.0%) in 2018. Nevertheless, it should be noted that GII.4 remained the most predominant genotype (50.4%) in overall prevalence. Analysis of norovirus recombination revealed that several norovirus recombinant strains (GII.2[P16], GII.3[P16], GII.4[P16], GII.4[P31], GII.6[P7], GII.13[P16], and GII.14[P7]) had been identified with the predominance of GII.2[P16] in 2017 and changed to GII.4[P16] and GII.4[P31] in 2018. In conclusion, this study reported the detection of a wide variety of norovirus genotypes and several norovirus recombinant strains in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 2017 to 2018. IMPORTANCE In the present study, the prevalence of norovirus infection in children with acute gastroenteritis in Chiang Mai, Thailand between 2017 and 2018 was 14.9%. A variety of norovirus genotypes were detected, including GI.5, GII.2, GII.3, GII.4, GII.6, GII.7, GII.13, GII.14, and GII.17 with the predominance of GII.4 genotype. In addition, several norovirus recombinant strains (GII.2[P16], GII.3[P16], GII.4[P16], GII.4[P31], GII.6[P7], GII.13[P16], and GII.14[P7]) had been identified. Our results revealed that GII.2[P16] was a predominant strain till the end of 2017 and then was replaced by GII.4[P16] and GII.4[P31] in 2018. The findings imply that norovirus recombinant strains emerged in Chiang Mai, Thailand and that circulating strains changes over time.
Multiple Genome Sequences of Foot-and-Mouth Disease Virus Asia-1 Lineage Sindh-08 from Outbreaks in Pakistan, 2011 to 2012

We report the near-full-length genome sequences of 22 isolates of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype Asia-1, lineage Sindh-08, obtained from foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in Pakistan between 2011 and 2012. The scarcity of full-length FMDV sequences from this region enhances the importance of these new genomes for understanding the regional molecular epidemiology. ABSTRACT We report the near-full-length genome sequences of 22 isolates of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype Asia-1, lineage Sindh-08, obtained from foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks in Pakistan between 2011 and 2012. The scarcity of full-length FMDV sequences from this region enhances the importance of these new genomes for understanding the regional molecular epidemiology.
Determinants and Effects of Child Labor in Agriculture Sector of Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh

Child labour remains a widespread problem in the world today. Although, child labour can have positive effects in some situations, it has negative effects on health and development of the children. Thus, the purpose of the study is to identify the determinants of child labour in agriculture sector and its socio-economic correlates. The data have been collected using purposive sampling process from two districts of Rajshahi division, Bangladesh by schedule questionnaire. Binary logistic regression analysis has been used to measure the individual impact on the determinants of child labour and socio-economic correlates. In the study areas, male children (90.20%) are more visible than that of female (9.80%) and those children are working more times in agriculture sector violating working laws and regulations due to poverty and family requirements. Empirical results show that if the fathers are employed in agriculture, it raises the probability that a child would work on that sector. The presence of very young child labour, parents’ willingness to invest them for their financial security and payment of loan, and three-fourth child labour had been enforced by the poverty; they did not get enough food and regular payment coupled with low labour cost. Since these children are a part of the young adults who constitute the major sector of Bangladeshi population, it follows that their health status should be a major concern for the community, policy makers and development planners.
Bioinformatic analysis of promoter, motifs and CpG islands of genes encoding potassium transporters in crop plants

ABSTRACT Potassium transporter genes are essential for plant salt stress tolerance. Identification of gene regulatory elements is vital for the recognition of gene expression patterns. Thus, understanding gene regulatory systems of potassium transporter genes is useful to improve the salt tolerance of crop plants. The present study was aimed at in silico analysis of promoter and regulatory elements of potassium transporter genes in coffee, peanut, soybean, maize, sorghum and potato crops. A total of 19 potassium transporter genes were identified, and the transcription start site (TSS), conserved motif, CpG islands were analysed using various computational tools. The highest promoter prediction score (1) was obtained in one gene sequence (LOC113728271) for Coffea arabica transcription start site, whereas the lowest score (0.8) was recorded in one gene sequence (LOC8065633) for Sorghum bicolor transcription start site. The analysis also showed that 66% of the genes contained more than one transcription start site whereas 63.16% had only one transcription start site. Five motifs were identified. Motif 1 was found as the common promoter motif residing on 78.95% of potassium transporter promoter sequences with an E-value of 3.4e − 002.C2H2 zinc finger transcription factors are predicted to bind to these conserved motifs with high statistical probability (2.28e − 03). Very few CpG islands were observed both in the promoter and body region of the gene sequences using two algorithms. The present study could contribute for better understanding of gene expression and the improvement of crops’ tolerance to environmental stresses through molecular assisted breeding or genetic engineering techniques.