Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Eclipse Timings of the Low-Mass X-Ray Binary EXO 0748–676. II. Detection of an Apparent Orbital Period Change and of Orbital Period Noise

The rare eclipsing low-mass X-ray binary EXO 0748-676 has now been monitored accurately for over a decade in the hope of detecting orbital period evolution. We report observations of 10 complete eclipses at resolution less than 0.1 s with the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer during 1996 May and 1996 August. We have timed the eclipses with an accuracy limited by photon statistics to 0.2-0.5 s. When combined with historical measurements, the eclipse timings imply an unexpectedly large orbital period derivative, Ṗorb=3.3 × 10−11, and a rapid timescale for orbital evolution, τorb = 1.3 × 107 yr. The observations also require considerable intrinsic jitter in the mideclipse timings; a maximum likelihood estimate is 0.15 s per orbital cycle. We consider various models and scenarios that might account for these unexpected results.
An MRI‐based time‐domain speech synthesis system

A speech synthesis system was developed based on Maedas method [S. Maeda, Speech Commun. 1, 199–229 (1982)], which simulates acoustic wave propagation in the vocal tract in the time domain. This system has a GUI interface that allows fine control of synthesis parameters and timing. In addition, the piriform fossae were included to the vocal tract model, resulting in antiresonances in speech spectra at the frequency region from 4 to 5 kHz. The system can produce all the Japanese phonemes using vocal tract area‐functions (VTAFs) extracted from 3‐D cine‐MRI obtained during production of VCV or CVCV sequences for a male speaker. The system can be used to synthesize Japanese sentences with high naturalness and intelligibility by concatenating segmental units and controlling the glottal source using the GUI interface. Since a time‐varying VTAF is obtained by interpolating between VTAFs, the dataset size of the system is significantly smaller than that of corpus‐based speech synthesizers. The speaker‐specific VT.
Ultra Miniturized E-Shaped Dual Band PIFA on Cheap Foam and FR4 Substrates Hala Elsadek and Dalia Nashaat

A novel design of ultra compact Planar Inverted F-Antenna (PIFA) is proposed for dual band resonant frequencies. The antenna is designed and fabricated on both foam and FR4 cheap substrates with dielectric constants εr = 1.07 and 4.7, respectively. Over 95% reduction in the antenna size is achieved from conventional λ 0/4 rectangular PIFA resonating at same frequencies. This is done by implementing two oppositely shorting capacitive straps under the radiating surface.Dual band operation is achieved by inserting two parallel slots on the edges of the PIFA radiating surface forming an E-shape. In this case, the center wing resonates at the higher frequency while the two side wings resonate at the lower frequency. The antenna resonance frequencies on FR4 substrate are 1.07 GHz and 2.77 GHz with area's reduction ratios of 97% and 81% for lower and upper resonance frequencies, respectively. The antenna size on FR4 substrate is 13 × 11 × 8 mm3. The antenna directivity is 3.73 with radiation efficiency 97%. The radiation pattern has acceptable shape with low cross polarization in both resonances and at both E-plane and H-plane directions.
A modelling study of the mixing of 137Cs in the seas of the European Continental Shelf

A two-dimensional numerical model is formulated to simulate long-term mixing in the coastal waters over the European Continental Shelf. By using both tidal and wind-driven components, the mean circulation over this region is computed and is shown to be in good agreement with earlier estimates from (i) modelling studies, (ii) observations of residual flow, and (iii) observations of mean sea level distribution. Long-term gradients of sea level in the adjacent oceanic region are found to be unimportant for shelf circulation. These residual flow components are used to develop a mixing model, observational data of the mixing of 137Cs (released from Windscale over a 17 year period) are used to calibrate and evaluate the model. The model accurately simulates the transport routes of this material both spatially and temporally. This transport is shown to be dependent on both advection and dispersion. The model is used to determine various time constants for the shelf seas, namely: age, residence times and turn-over-times. Thus, the turn-over-time of the North Sea is calculated to be 530 d compared with a value of 328 d for the Irish Sea. The geographical distribution of turn-over-times differentiates regions of vigorous mixing from more stagnant regions and thereby indicates regions conducive to the formation of thermal fronts. The model also indicates that about one third of the material discharged from Windscale is lost to the ocean in the vicinity of the shelf edge to the north and west of Scotland.
Introduction to magnetic helicity

This paper reviews several aspects of magnetic helicity, including its history from Gauss to the present, its relation to field structure, its role in Taylor relaxation, and how it is defined for sub-volumes of space. Also, its importance in solar physics will be discussed. Magnetic helicity quantifies various aspects of magnetic field structure. Examples of fields possessing helicity include twisted, kinked, knotted, or linked magnetic flux tubes, sheared layers of magnetic flux, and force-free fields. Helicity thus allows us to compare models of fields in different geometries, avoiding the use of parameters specific to one model. Magnetic helicity is conserved in ideal magnetohydrodynamics and approximately conserved during reconnection. Often, physical systems are described in terms of interacting parts: for example one might separate the solar magnetic field into an interior field and an atmospheric (coronal) field. We can obtain insight into how the parts of a magnetic system interact by describing how magnetic helicity is transferred from one part to another. This transfer is governed by an equation similar to Poynting's theorem for the transfer of energy through boundaries. In a confined volume, widespread reconnection may reduce the magnetic energy of a field while approximately conserving its magnetic helicity. As a result, the field relaxes to a minimum energy state, often called the Taylor state, where the current is parallel to the field. Such relaxation processes are important to both fusion and astrophysical plasmas. Recent observations show that structures in the northern hemisphere of the sun have predominantly negative helicity, and structures in the south have predominantly positive helicity. Helicity injection by differential rotation may explain this dependence.
QUANTUM GELFAND-LEVITAN EQUATIONS FOR NONLINEAR SCHRODINGER MODEL OF SPIN-1/2 PARTICLES

The quantum Gelfand-Levitan equations for the nonlinear Schroedinger model of spin-(1/2) particles are obtained. Two Izergin-Korepin relations are used in the derivation. A new type commutation relation of L operators is introduced to get the commutation relations which are needed for the study of S matrices and Green's functions. As examples, the four-point Green's functions and the two-body S matrices are given.
Lamb wave based detection of damage in a stiffener bonded to a plate

Stiffener is one of the major components of aircraft structures to increase the load carrying capacity. Damage in the stiffener, mostly in the form of crack is an unavoidable problem in aerospace structures. Stiffener is bonded to the inner side of the aircraft panel which is not accessible for immediate inspection. A sensor-actuator network can be placed on the outer side of the panel that is accessible. Ultrasonic lamb waves are transmitted through stiffener using the sensoractuator network for detecting the presence of damages. The sensor-actuator network is placed on both halves of the stiffened section on the accessible surface of the plate. Detecting damage in stiffener by using this technique has significant potential for SHM technology. One of the major objectives of the present work is to determine the smallest detectable crack on the stiffener using the proposed technique. Wavelet based damage parameter correlation studies are carried out. In the proposed scheme, with increase in the damage size along the stiffener, it is found that the amplitude of the received signal decreases monotonically. The advantage of this technique is that the stiffened panels need not be disassembled in a realistic deployment of SHM system.
High power extreme ultra-violet (EUV) light sources for future lithography

Extreme ultra-violet (EUV) lithography is most likely to be used for the production of semiconductors from 2009. One of the potential showstoppers in the commercialization is the availability of a compact high power source. This paper discusses the latest developments on the different kinds of plasma-based EUV sources. The progress of laser-produced plasmas seems to be limited as they are roughly at the same level as in 2000. In the field of gas discharges and vacuum arcs, a huge improvement in output power and in lifetime has been made recently. Vacuum arcs, especially, seem to offer the possibility of meeting the specifications for high-volume manufacturing.
Solutions of fokker-planck equation with applications in nonlinear random vibration

In the course of analyzing the dynamic behavior of mechanical systems subjected to random excitations, we investigate the associated Fokker-Planck equation. We also discuss the relationship between the characteristics of the random excitation and the nonlinear intensity coefficients governed by the physical properties of the system. This relationship leads to some simplified methods for solving the response probability density of certain nonlinear systems. We present general solutions to a class of multidimensional problems with desirable constraints. The random motion of a single-mode mechanical oscillator with various nonlinear stiffnesses and a charged particle moving in an electromagnetic field are examples. Cosine-power and sech-power distributions are found to be associated with the steady state response of a tangent stiffness system and a hyperbolic tangent stiff ness system, respectively. When the influencing magnetic vector potential M is irrotational, the stationary probability for the moving particle in the 6-dimensional response phase-space is statistically independent.
Optical variability of extragalactic objects used to tie the HIPPARCOS reference frame to an extragalactic system using Hubble space telescope observations

Observations of a set of 89 extragalactic objects (EGOs) will be made with the Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensors and Planetary Camera in order to link the HIPPARCOS Instrumental System to an extragalactic coordinate system. Most of the sources chosen for observation contain compact radio sources and stellarlike nuclei; 65 percent are optical variables beyond a 0.2 mag limit. To ensure proper exposure times, accurate mean magnitudes are necessary. In many cases, the average magnitudes listed in the literature were not adequate. The literature was searched for all relevant photometric information for the EGOs, and photometric parameters were derived, including mean magnitude, maximum range, and timescale of variability. This paper presents the results of that search and the parameters derived. The results will allow exposure times to be estimated such that an observed magnitude different from the tabular magnitude by 0.5 mag in either direction will not degrade the astrometric centering ability on a Planetary Camera CCD frame.
The Physics of Ferroelectric Memories

Imagine you are in the last stages of typing your thesis, the year is 1980, and it's a hot, hazy summer afternoon, a thunderstorm brews on the horizon. Tense and tired, you have forgotten to save the document on your hard disk. Suddenly, lightning strikes! Your computer shuts down. Your final chapter is lost.
Inequalities between expected marginal log‐likelihoods, with implications for likelihood‐based model complexity and comparison measures

A multi‐level model allows the possibility of marginalization across levels in different ways, yielding more than one possible marginal likelihood. Since log‐likelihoods are often used in classical model comparison, the question to ask is which likelihood should be chosen for a given model. The authors employ a Bayesian framework to shed some light on qualitative comparison of the likelihoods associated with a given model. They connect these results to related issues of the effective number of parameters, penalty function, and consistent definition of a likelihood‐based model choice criterion. In particular, with a two‐stage model they show that, very generally, regardless of hyperprior specification or how much data is collected or what the realized values are, a priori, the first‐stage likelihood is expected to be smaller than the marginal likelihood. A posteriori, these expectations are reversed and the disparities worsen with increasing sample size and with increasing number of model levels.
Nonparametric Estimation of a Regression Function

Consider the regression model Yi*=g(xi*)+ei*, i=1,2,. ,n, where xi*'s denote unordered design variables, and g is an unknown function defined on the interval [0,1]. Assume {ei*} are iid random variables with zero mean and finite variance. Priestley and Chao (1972) and Clark (1977) proposed estimators g2nand g3n, respectively for g. In this paper, the asymptotic behavior of g2nand g3nis studied utilizing the properties of the new estimator g1n. It is shown that g1n, g2n, g3nare asymptotically equivalent in various senses. Moreover, consistency results are established and rates of uniform convergence obtained. For example, if E¦e*¦3<∞, if g is Lipschitz of order 1, and if {Βn} is any sequence of constants tending to ∞ as n→∞, then for all \(0 < a \leqq b < 1,({{n^{{1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 3}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 3}} } \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{n^{{1 \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {1 3}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} 3}} } {\beta _n \log n)\mathop {\sup }\limits_{a \leqq x \leqq b} |g_{1n} (x) - g(x)|\xrightarrow{{w.p.1}}0,}}} \right. \kern-\nulldelimiterspace} {\beta _n \log n)\mathop {\sup }\limits_{a \leqq x \leqq b} |g_{1n} (x) - g(x)|\xrightarrow{{w.p.1}}0,}}\), as n→∞. Finally, when g is monotone, a strong consistent isotonic estimator gn*is considered.
A central limit theorem for iterated random functions

A central limit theorem is established for additive functions of a Markov chain that can be constructed as an iterated random function. The result goes beyond earlier work by relaxing the continuity conditions imposed on the additive function, and by relaxing moment conditions related to the random function. It is illustrated by an application to a Markov chain related to fractals.
Measurement of Optical Transfer Function by its Moments

The optical transfer function is expressed by a power series with generated moments having line-spread functions as coefficients. Since individual terms of the series diverge to plus or minus infinity as the spatial frequency increases, the power-series expansion is replaced by a summation of gaussian distributions and higher-order Rayleigh–gaussian terms. Unlike the first expansion, individual terms in the new expansion converge as the spatial frequency increases. Relations between these two expansions are derived. In addition, a simple experiment is described to measure the moments mn, which makes use of photographic masks. Equations representing the masks are also derived.
Plume composition control in double pulse ultrafast laser ablation of metals

Ultrafast laser ablation of a metallic target induced by a pair of identical laser pulses temporally delayed from ≈1 to 2000 ps was studied by optical emission spectroscopy, imaging, and ion probe. Our experimental results demonstrate that plume excitation/ionization enhancement or nanoparticles reduction is achieved by properly delaying the two pulses. This possibility of controlling plume composition via an efficient coupling of the energy of the second pulse to the various ablation components produced by the first pulse is of particular interest in the process of material deposition and film growth.
INCREASING SEQUENCES OF INDEPENDENT POINTS ON THE PLANAR LATTICE

nŽ 2 number of points on an increasing path of these points in the square 0, n . Superadditivity and simple moment bounds imply that for some constant c, 1 lim L c a.s. n n n What is the exact value of c? The original problem concerned the longest increasing subsequence of a random permutation. This reformulation in terms of a planar Poisson point process is due to Hammersley 6 . In 1977 Vershik and Kerov derived the answer c 21 3. In the same year, Logan and Shepp independently showed that c 28 . Both proofs are combinatorial and make use of Young diagrams. Recently two proofs have Ž . appeared Aldous and Diaconis 1 and Seppalainen 12 that proceed by ¨¨ embedding the increasing sequences of points in an interacting particle system. In this paper we use the approach of 12 to solve the analogous problem on Ž.
Nova-driven winds in globular clusters

Recent sensitive searches for H.cap alpha. emission from ionized intracluster gas in globular clusters have set upper limits that conflict with theoretical predictions. We suggest that nova outbursts heat the gas, producing winds that resolve this discrepancy. The incidence of novae in globular clusters, the conversion of kinetic energy of the nova shell to thermal energy of the intracluster gas, and the characteristics of the resultant winds are discussed. Calculated emission from the nova-driven models does not conflict with any observations to date. Some suggestions are made concerning the most promising approaches for future detection of intracluster gas on the basis of these models. The possible relationship of nova-driven winds of globular cluster X-ray sources is also considered.
Weighted discrepancy of Faure-Niederreiter nets for a certain sequence of weights

Quite recently Sloan and Wozniakowski [4] introduced a new notion of discrepancy, the so called weighted star discrepancy. To introduce this notion we need a sequence 7 = (7i. 72,. •) of weights with I = yi^ y2> •••>%>•••> 0. First we need some notation: let D denote the index set D — {1,2, . ,s}. For u C D let 7U = n 7j, 70 = 1, |u| the cardinality of u and for a vector x in I s = [0, l ) s let xu denote the vector from /' u ' = [0, l) ' ' containing the components of x whose indices are in u. Further let (xu, 1) be the vector x from I , with all components whose indices are not in u replaced by 1. Now we can give the definition of weighted star discrepancy. DEFINITION 1: For any N points t i , . , tjv in the s-dimensional unit cube I and any x = (xu., xs) in I s let
Red color facilitates the detection of facial anger — But how much?

The color red seems to be consistently associated with the concept of anger. Beyond semantic associations, it has been suggested that the color red enhances our ability to perceive anger in faces. However, previous studies often lack proper color control or the results are confounded by the presence of several emotions. Moreover, the magnitude of the (potential) effect of red has not been quantified. To address these caveats, we quantified the effect of facial color and background color on anger with psychometric functions measured with the method-of-constant-stimuli while facial hue or surround hue was varied in CIELAB color space. Stimulus sequences were generated by morphing between neutral and angry faces. For the facial color, the average chromaticity of the faces was shifted by ΔE 12/20 in red, yellow, green and blue directions. For the background color, the hue was either neutral or saturated red, green or blue. Both facial redness and surround redness enhanced perceived anger slightly, by 3–4 morph-%. Other colors did not affect perceived anger. As the magnitude of the enhancement is generally small and the effect is robust only in a small subset of the participants, we question the practical significance of red in anger recognition.
ON UNIQUE SOLVABILITY OF THE PLANE NEUMANN-KELVIN PROBLEM

Well-posed formulations of the plane Neumann-Kelvin problem are found. This linear boundary value problem describes the steady-state motion of a semisubmerged cylinder in an ideal, incompressible, heavy fluid. Theorems on unique solvability for arbitrary speed of the motion of the cylinder are proved for the formulations found.Figures: 1. Bibliography: 15 titles.
Two-Dimensional Transient Finite Volume Difusional Approach to Transport Equations

This paper aims at presenting the Diusional Method coupled with the Finite Volume scheme as an alternative approach for solving convection-diusion equations, which under high Peclet numbers may congure a hard numerical task. It is also intended to test the proposed methodology for a case where analytical solution is known and for another one characterized by a high gradient prole. For the last case, results show that false diusion eects are present. Comparisons of the Diusional Method with other numerical schemes are also presented.
A highly accurate iterative PIV technique using a gradient method

An iterative PIV technique in which the combination of the iterative cross-correlation technique and three-point Gaussian peak fitting for a sub-pixel analysis has been used can improve the spatial resolution and accuracy of measurement. It is reported that the root-mean-square (RMS) error of the technique is of the order of only 0.04 pixels. However, a large interrogation window, typically 32×32 pixels or larger, should be taken, resulting in a low resolution, in order to achieve the high sub-pixel accuracy. The high accuracy is not compatible with high spatial resolution. In this paper, a new high-resolution PIV technique based on a gradient method is proposed. Initially, the pixel unit displacement is detected by the iterative method. Then, the sub-pixel displacement is evaluated by the use of the gradient method instead of the three-point Gaussian peak fitting technique. The error of the proposed technique is analytically assessed by Monte Carlo simulations. The RMS error is of the order of 0.01 pixels even with a small interrogation window, for instance 13×13 pixels or less. Thus, the method can achieve high sub-pixel accuracy and high spatial resolution compatibility.
Low-resistivity, stable p-type ZnO thin films realized using a Li–N dual-acceptor doping method

A Li–N dual-acceptor doping method has been developed to prepare p-type ZnO thin films by pulsed laser deposition. The lowest room-temperature resistivity is found to be ∼0. 93Ωcm, much lower than that of Li or N monodoped ZnO films. The p-type conductivity of ZnO:(Li,N) films is very reproducible and stable, with acceptable crystal quality. The acceptor activation energy in ZnO:(Li,N) is about 95meV. ZnO-based homostructural p-n junctions were fabricated by depositing an n-type ZnO:Al layer on a p-type ZnO:(Li,N) layer, confirmed by secondary ion mass spectroscopy. The current-voltage characteristics exhibit their inherent rectifying behaviors.