Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Strong variability of the coronal line region in NGC 5548

We present the second extensive study of the coronal line variability in an active galaxy. Our data set for the well-studied Seyfert galaxy NGC 5548 consists of five epochs of quasi-simultaneous optical and near-infrared spectroscopy spanning a period of about five years and three epochs of X-ray spectroscopy overlapping in time with it. Whereas the broad emission lines and hot dust emission varied only moderately, the coronal lines varied strongly. However, the observed high variability is mainly due to a flux decrease. Using the optical [FeVII] and X-ray OVII emission lines we estimate that the coronal line gas has a relatively low density of n~10^3/cm^3 and a relatively high ionisation parameter of log U~1. The resultant distance of the coronal line gas from the ionising source of about eight light years places this region well beyond the hot inner face of the dusty torus. These results imply that the coronal line region is an independent entity. We find again support for the X-ray heated wind scenario of Pier & Voit; the increased ionising radiation that heats the dusty torus also increases the cooling efficiency of the coronal line gas, most likely due to a stronger adiabatic expansion. The much stronger coronal line variability of NGC 5548 relative to that of NGC 4151 can also be explained within this picture. NGC 5548 has much stronger coronal lines relative to the low ionisation lines than NGC 4151 indicating a stronger wind, in which case a stronger adiabatic expansion of the gas and so fading of the line emission is expected.
Research Participation in Substance Use Disorder Trials: Design and Methods of a Multi-Site Nested Qualitative Study

Background Given the health and social harms of problematic substance use, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) are critical in developing and testing pharmacotherapies for substance use disorders. However, substance use RCTs can be challenging to conduct, considering the social and structural barriers to participating in research among people with substance use disorders (PSUD), including stigma, poverty, and criminalization—factors that can shape trial recruitment, enrollment, protocol adherence and study retention. Despite these barriers, adequate representation and participation of PSUD in RCT research is essential to assessing and developing treatments, and thus a deeper understanding of RCT participation dynamics among PSUD is needed to support clinical trial research. Methods We conducted a nested qualitative study within a Canadian, multisite, phase IV, open-label, pragmatic RCT that tested two approved opioid agonist treatments, methadone and buprenorphine/naloxone, among patients with prescription opioid use disorder. A subset of individuals (n = 60) participating in this RCT were interviewed across four different regions in Canada at the beginning and end of their trial involvement, as well as study clinicians (n = 16) and staff (n = 16) operating the trial. Conclusion As a nested study within a real-world addiction medicine trial, this research offers an innovative approach to investigating the experiences, strategies, and challenges associated with RCTs among PSUD. While we acknowledge challenges related to the operations of multisite research and engaging marginalized populations in experimental research, this study has the potential to generate critical insights around the RCT experiences of PSUDs and trial staff to inform the conduct of future RCTs.
Strongly coupled single quantum dot in a photonic crystal waveguide cavity

Cavities embedded in photonic crystal waveguides offer a promising route towards large scale integration of coupled resonators for quantum electrodynamics applications. Here a strongly coupled system consisting of a single quantum dot and a cavity formed by the local width modulation of a photonic crystal waveguide is demonstrated. The resonance originating from the cavity is clearly identified from microphotoluminescence mapping of the scattered signal along the waveguide. The exciton‐photon strong coupling regime is obtained by temperature control.
Event-Triggered Control for Consensus of Multi-Agent Systems with Nonlinear Output and Directed Topologies

We propose a distributed event-triggered control law to solve the consensus problem for multi-agent systems with nonlinear output. Under the condition that the underlying digraph is strongly connected, we establish sufficient conditions on the nonlinear output function and initial states to guarantee that the event-triggered controller realizes consensus. Then the results are extended to the case where the underlying directed graph contains a directed spanning tree. These theoretical results are illustrated by numerical simulations.
Mitigation strategies for distributed denial of service (DDoS) in SDN: A survey and taxonomy

ABSTRACT Software-defined network (SDN) plays a dominant role in meeting today’s business requirements with its ingrained features like programmability, agility, and central management. Although, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks can threaten the flexibility and availability of resources in SDN. In recent years, attackers participate actively to abuse the network elements with extensive efforts. With that, efforts have been put parallelly to defend against DDoS attacks by the researchers too. This survey performed on DDoS attack mitigation strategies in the SDN environment. As a result of this work, the mitigation taxonomy has evolved. The taxonomy of SDN DDoS mitigation strategies is categorized into four: Application plane, Control plane, Data plane, and Communication interfaces. An in-depth review of existing literature on mitigating DDoS in SDN encapsulated. This article sheds light on the nuts and bolts, strengths and limitations of mitigation strategies in SDN environment to support research and security domains.
Conditions for optimal input states for discrimination of quantum channels

We find optimality conditions for testers in discrimination of quantum channels. These conditions are obtained using semidefinite programming and are similar to optimality conditions for POVMs obtained by Holevo for ensembles of quantum states. We get a simple condition for existence of an optimal tester with any given input state with maximal Schmidt rank, in particular with a maximally entangled input state and we show the pitfalls of using input states with not maximal Schmidt rank. In case when maximally entangled state is not the optimal input state an error estimate is obtained. The results for maximally entangled input state are applied to covariant channels, qubit channels, unitary channels and simple projective measurements.
Category ${\mathcal O}$ and locally analytic representations

For a split reductive group $G$ over a finite extension $L$ of ${\mathbb Q}_p$, and a parabolic subgroup $P \subset G$ we introduce a category ${\mathcal O}^P$ which is equipped with a forgetful functor to the parabolic category ${\mathcal O}^{\mathfrak p}$ of Bernstein, Gelfand and Gelfand. There is a canonical fully faithful embedding of a subcategory ${\mathcal O}^{\mathfrak p}_{\rm alg}$ of ${\mathcal O}^{\mathfrak p}$ into ${\mathcal O}^P$, which 'splits' the forgetful map. We then introduce functors from the category ${\mathcal O}^P$ to the category of locally analytic representations, thereby generalizing the authors' previous work where these functors had been defined on the category ${\mathcal O}^{\mathfrak p}_{\rm alg}$. It is shown that these functors are exact, and a criterion for the irreducibility of a representation in the image of this functor is proved.
Renal tissue toxicity and miRNA 21, miRNA122, and miRNA221 tissue level alterations in rats administered 4-Nitroquinoline

A widespread variety of toxicants modify miRNAs profiles in target tissues. Five rat treatment groups were selected for this study, each consisting of five animals and an additional one left untreated used as a control. Administration of the carcinogen 4-Nitroquinoline (4-NQO) lasted for 5 months with four weeks intervals separating the successive groups. When the carcinogen intake period ended, the animals were euthanized and renal tissue was collected for both histopathological and molecular investigations. The results showed no significant difference (p=0.65) between the animal groups that showed kidney tissue toxicity and those that did not. Conversely, a statistically significant difference emerged if the mean ΔCt of the gene of interest (miRNA-21) in the treated group (6.95±1.23) was compared to that of the control group (4.42±0.34) (p=0.000). A significant difference was also observed when the comparison involved miRNA-122 and miRNA-221 whose ΔCt values for the treated and control groups were 2.28±0.2, 1.19±0.51 (p=0.04);0.39±0.08,1.52±0.06 (p=0.02), respectively. In conclusion: The findings of the present work revealed variable degrees of renal tissue injury despite non-significant; but it emphasizes the significant alterations of the miRNA tissue levels, the latter can indicate the adoption of specific miRNAs as vital markers denoting the prediction and/or the diagnosis of tissue injury after exposure to certain chemicals.
Galaxies with background QSOs – II. An automated search for multiple galaxy emission lines

We have improved upon our previous search technique of systematically searching QSO spectra for narrow galactic H-alpha emission, which indicates a foreground galaxy within the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) spectral fiber. We now search for H-alpha plus eight other galactic emission lines in the same manner. We have scanned the SDSS DR7 QSO catalog spectra searching for these emission lines. Here we present our sample which focuses on the redshift range z<0.401 where galactic H-alpha is detectable in the SDSS spectra. This has revealed 27 unique galaxies on top of QSOs (GOTOQs). We have deblended the QSOs from the respective galaxies and determined the photometric properties of these systems. We find upon deblending that most of the galaxies are primarily blue, late-type galaxies with colors in the range -0.71<(u-r)<2.07. We find a slight anti-correlation between reddening and impact parameter (E(B-V)_(g-i) vs. b). The galaxies have average star formation rates of 0.01 to 1 M_sun yr^-1, with an average of 0.6 M_sun} yr^-1. They range in z from 0 to 0.4 and in stellar luminosity from about 0.01 L* to 3.0 L*. They are foreground to QSOs of brightness 17.4 to 20.4 magnitudes (r-band) with impact parameters of 1 to 10 kpc. They represent a fair sample of typical galaxies for which it should be possible to determine accurately various quantities (e.g. abundances, dust extinction, Faraday rotation) using follow-up analysis of the background QSOs. [. ]
Phenology and plasticity can prevent adaptive clines in thermal tolerance across temperate mountains: The importance of the elevation‐time axis

Abstract Critical thermal limits (CTmax and CTmin) decrease with elevation, with greater change in CTmin, and the risk to suffer heat and cold stress increasing at the gradient ends. A central prediction is that populations will adapt to the prevailing climatic conditions. Yet, reliable support for such expectation is scant because of the complexity of integrating phenotypic, molecular divergence and organism exposure. We examined intraspecific variation of CTmax and CTmin, neutral variation for 11 microsatellite loci, and micro‐ and macro‐temperatures in larvae from 11 populations of the Galician common frog (Rana parvipalmata) across an elevational gradient, to assess (1) the existence of local adaptation through a PST‐FST comparison, (2) the acclimation scope in both thermal limits, and (3) the vulnerability to suffer acute heat and cold thermal stress, measured at both macro‐ and microclimatic scales. Our study revealed significant microgeographic variation in CTmax and CTmin, and unexpected elevation gradients in pond temperatures. However, variation in CTmax and CTmin could not be attributed to selection because critical thermal limits were not correlated to elevation or temperatures. Differences in breeding phenology among populations resulted in exposure to higher and more variable temperatures at mid and high elevations. Accordingly, mid‐ and high‐elevation populations had higher CTmax and CTmin plasticities than lowland populations, but not more extreme CTmax and CTmin. Thus, our results support the prediction that plasticity and phenological shifts may hinder local adaptation, promoting thermal niche conservatism. This may simply be a consequence of a coupled variation of reproductive timing with elevation (the “elevation‐time axis” for temperature variation). Mid and high mountain populations of R. parvipalmata are more vulnerable to heat and cool impacts than lowland populations during the aquatic phase. All of this contradicts some of the existing predictions on adaptive thermal clines and vulnerability to climate change in elevational gradients.
56Ni PRODUCTION IN DOUBLE-DEGENERATE WHITE DWARF COLLISIONS

We present a comprehensive study of white dwarf collisions as an avenue for creating type Ia supernovae. Using a smooth particle hydrodynamics code with a 13-isotope, α-chain nuclear network, we examine the resulting 56Ni yield as a function of total mass, mass ratio, and impact parameter. We show that several combinations of white dwarf masses and impact parameters are able to produce sufficient quantities of 56Ni to be observable at cosmological distances. We find that the 56Ni production in double-degenerate white dwarf collisions ranges from sub-luminous to the super-luminous, depending on the parameters of the collision. For all mass pairs, collisions with small impact parameters have the highest likelihood of detonating, but 56Ni production is insensitive to this parameter in high-mass combinations, which significantly increases their likelihood of detection. We also find that the 56Ni dependence on total mass and mass ratio is not linear, with larger-mass primaries producing disproportionately more 56Ni than their lower-mass secondary counterparts, and symmetric pairs of masses producing more 56Ni than asymmetric pairs.
THE SHAPES OF MILKY WAY SATELLITES: LOOKING FOR SIGNATURES OF TIDAL STIRRING

We study the shapes of Milky Way satellites in the context of the tidal stirring scenario for the formation of dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The standard procedures used to measure shapes involve smoothing and binning of data and thus may not be sufficient to detect structural properties such as bars, which are usually subtle in low surface brightness systems. Taking advantage of the fact that in nearby dwarfs photometry of individual stars is available, we introduce discrete measures of shape based on the two-dimensional inertia tensor and the Fourier bar mode. We apply these measures of shape first to a variety of simulated dwarf galaxies formed via tidal stirring of disks embedded in dark matter halos and orbiting the Milky Way. In addition to strong mass loss and randomization of stellar orbits, the disks undergo morphological transformation that typically involves the formation of a triaxial bar after the first pericenter passage. These tidally induced bars persist for a few Gyr before being shortened toward a more spherical shape if the tidal force is strong enough. We test this prediction by measuring in a similar way the shape of nearby dwarf galaxies, satellites of the Milky Way. We detect inner bars in Ursa Minor, Sagittarius, Large Magellanic Cloud, and possibly Carina. In addition, 6 out of 11 dwarfs that we studied show elongated stellar distributions in the outer parts that may signify transition to tidal tails. We thus find the shapes of Milky Way satellites to be consistent with the predictions of the tidal stirring model.
A 420-day X-ray/optical modulation and extended X-ray dips in the short-period transient Swift J1753.5−0127

We have discovered a \sim420d modulation, with associated X-ray dips, in RXTE-ASM/MAXI/Swift-BAT archival light-curves of the short-period (3.2h) black-hole X-ray transient, Swift J1753.5-0127. This modulation only appeared at the end of a gradual rebrightening, approximately 3 years after the initial X-ray outburst in mid-2005. The same periodicity is present in both the 2-20 keV and 15-50 keV bands, but with a \sim0.1 phase offset (\sim40d). Contemporaneous photometry in the optical and near-IR reveals a weaker modulation, but consistent with the X-ray period. There are two substantial X-ray dips (very strong in the 15-50 keV band, weaker at lower energies) that are separated by an interval equal to the X-ray period. This likely indicates two physically separated emitting regions for the hard X-ray and lower energy emission. We interpret this periodicity as a property of the accretion disc, most likely a long-term precession, where the disc edge structure and X-ray irradiation is responsible for the hard X-ray dips and modulation, although we discuss other possible explanations, including Lense-Thirring precession in the inner disc region and spectral state variations. Such precession indicates a very high mass ratio LMXB, which even for a \sim10M_sun BH requires a brown dwarf donor (\sim0.02M_sun), making Swift J1753.5-0127 a possible analogue of millisecond X-ray pulsars.We compare the properties of Swift J1753.5-0127 with other recently discovered short-period transients, which are now forming a separate population of high latitude BH transients located in the galactic halo.
Spectral Stiffness Microplane Model for Quasibrittle Textile Composites

The present contribution proposes a general constitutive model to simulate the orthotropic stiffness, pre-peak nonlinearity, failure envelopes, and the post-peak softening and fracture of textile composites. Following the microplane model framework, the constitutive laws are formulated in terms of stress and strain vectors acting on planes of several orientations within the material meso-structure. The model exploits the spectral decomposition of the orthotropic stiffness tensor to define orthogonal strain modes at the microplane level. These are associated to the various constituents at the mesoscale and to the material response to different types of deformation. Strain-dependent constitutive equations are used to relate the microplane eigenstresses and eigenstrains while a variational principle is applied to relate the microplane stresses at the mesoscale to the continuum tensor at the macroscale. Thanks to these features, the resulting spectral stiffness microplane formulation can easily capture various physical inelastic phenomena typical of fiber and textile composites such as: matrix microcracking, micro-delamination, crack bridging, pullout, and debonding. The application of the model to a twill 2$\times$2 shows that it can realistically predict its uniaxial as well as multi-axial behavior. Furthermore, the model shows excellent agreement with experiments on the axial crushing of composite tubes, this capability making it a valuable design tool for crashworthiness applications. The formulation is computationally efficient, easy to calibrate and adaptable to other kinds of composite architectures of great current interest such as 2D and 3D braids or 3D woven textiles.
Urban and Scientific Segregation: The Schelling-Ising Model

Urban segregation of different communities, like blacks and whites in the USA, has been simulated by Ising-like models since Schelling 1971. This research was accompanied by a scientific segregation, with sociologists and physicists ignoring each other until 2000. We review recent progress and also present some new two-temperature multi-cultural simulations.
THE DEPENDENCE OF STAR FORMATION EFFICIENCY ON GAS SURFACE DENSITY

Studies by Lada et al. and Heiderman et al. have suggested that star formation mostly occurs above a threshold in gas surface density Σ of Σc ∼ 120 M☉ pc−2 (AK ∼ 0.8). Heiderman et al. infer a threshold by combining low-mass star-forming regions, which show a steep increase in the star formation rate per unit area ΣSFR with increasing Σ, and massive cores forming luminous stars which show a linear relation. We argue that these observations do not require a particular density threshold. The steep dependence of ΣSFR, approaching unity at protostellar core densities, is a natural result of the increasing importance of self-gravity at high densities along with the corresponding decrease in evolutionary timescales. The linear behavior of ΣSFR versus Σ in massive cores is consistent with probing dense gas in gravitational collapse, forming stars at a characteristic free-fall timescale given by the use of a particular molecular tracer. The low-mass and high-mass regions show different correlations between gas surface density and the area A spanned at that density, with A ∼ Σ−3 for low-mass regions and A ∼ Σ−1 for the massive cores; this difference, along with the use of differing techniques to measure gas surface density and star formation, suggests that connecting the low-mass regions with massive cores is problematic. We show that the approximately linear relationship between dense gas mass and stellar mass used by Lada et al. similarly does not demand a particular threshold for star formation and requires continuing formation of dense gas. Our results are consistent with molecular clouds forming by galactic hydrodynamic flows with subsequent gravitational collapse.
Experientially based narrative instruction: A neurocognitive perspective

Background The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a personal narrative intervention based on neurocognitive principles and experientially based learning for improving the personal narrative language abilities of a school-age child with Down's syndrome. Method A single-case design using contemporary statistical techniques was employed to complete this study. The participant was 8 years 8 months at the time of the study and he participated in a 14-week personal narrative intervention. Personal narrative samples were collected at the beginning of each intervention session prior to instruction. Narrative samples were scored for narrative quality, language productivity, and lexical diversity. Results As a result of the intervention, the participant demonstrated moderate-significant increases in narrative abilities for narrative quality, language productivity, and lexical diversity. Conclusions The use of a personal narrative based on neurocognitive principles and experientially based learning may be feasible for improving the personal narrative language abilities of school-age children with Down's syndrome.
Quantum control of d-dimensional quantum systems with application to alkali atomic spins

In this dissertation I analyze Hamiltonian control of $d$-dimensional quantum systems as realized in alkali atomic spins. Alkali atoms provide an ideal platform for studies of quantum control due to the extreme precision with which the control fields are characterized as well as their isolation from their environment. In chapter 2, I review some background material on open-loop quantum control theory. Chapter 3 provides a derivation of the Hamiltonians arising from electromagnetic fields that we use to control our alkali atomic spins. In chapter 4, I develop an algorithm for state preparation, that is mapping a fiducial state to some arbitrary target state, and show numerical and experimental implementations for making arbitrary superpositions of hyperfine states in $^{133}Cs. Finally, chapter 5 presents a protocol for generating full unitary maps efficiently by utilizing the ability to construct state mappings.