Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Everywhere: A Framework for Ubiquitous Indoor Localization

Smartphones have become an integral part of daily human life and enable almost unlimited coverage of human mobility. Thus, collecting pervasive crowdsourced signatures is feasible. Autonomous localization of such signatures promotes the development of a self-deployable and ubiquitous indoor positioning system (IPS). However, previous crowdsourcing-based IPSs have not considered leveraging such data for developing ubiquitous IPSs. They have relied on methods for data selection and sources for localization adjustment that could work against realizing a ubiquitous system. In contrast, this study introduces a framework Everywhere that leverages crowdsourced data to develop a ubiquitous IPS and addresses existing challenges while developing such systems. Particularly, inertial data selection criteria are proposed to autonomously generate traces with better localization. Moreover, pervasive global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data are leveraged to adjust trace localization, while simultaneously introducing a deploying location (inside elevators) of one anchor node. The node surveys all the floors while reducing the localization error, especially for the buildings surrounded by GNSS-denied areas. Additionally, cumulative data densification is leveraged to realize pervasive resources within the building, thereby boosting trace adjustment and extending database spatial coverage. Furthermore, a better selection of neighboring fingerprints is proposed to enhance online fingerprinting. Such a framework can promote a ubiquitous IPS development for buildings regardless of whether they are surrounded by open sky or GNSS-denied areas.
The Chandra Deep Field South as a test case for Global Multi Conjugate Adaptive Optics

The era of the next generation of giant telescopes requires not only the advent of new technologies but also the development of novel methods, in order to exploit fully the extraordinary potential they are built for. Global Multi Conjugate Adaptive Optics (GMCAO) pursues this approach, with the goal of achieving good performance over a field of view of a few arcmin and an increase in sky coverage. In this article, we show the gain offered by this technique to an astrophysical application, such as the photometric survey strategy applied to the Chandra Deep Field South as a case study. We simulated a close-to-real observation of a 500 x 500 arcsec^2 extragalactic deep field with a 40-m class telescope that implements GMCAO. We analysed mock K-band images of 6000 high-redshift (up to z = 2.75) galaxies therein as if they were real to recover the initial input parameters. We attained 94.5 per cent completeness for source detection with SEXTRACTOR. We also measured the morphological parameters of all the sources with the two-dimensional fitting tools GALFIT. The agreement we found between recovered and intrinsic parameters demonstrates GMCAO as a reliable approach to assist extremely large telescope (ELT) observations of extragalactic interest.
Nonlinear modulation of transverse dust lattice waves in complex plasma crystals

The occurrence of the modulational instability in transverse dust lattice waves propagating in a one-dimensional dusty plasma crystal is investigated. The amplitude modulation mechanism, which is related to the intrinsic nonlinearity of the sheath electric field, is shown to destabilize the carrier wave under certain conditions, possibly leading to the formation of localized envelope excitations. Explicit expressions for the instability growth rate and threshold are presented and discussed.
MagAO-X: project status and first laboratory results

MagAO-X is an entirely new extreme adaptive optics system for the Magellan Clay 6.5 m telescope, funded by the NSF MRI program starting in Sep 2016. The key science goal of MagAO-X is high-contrast imaging of accreting protoplanets at Hα. With 2040 actuators operating at up to 3630 Hz, MagAO-X will deliver high Strehls (> 70%), high resolution (19 mas), and high contrast (< 1 × 10-4 ) at Hα (656 nm). We present an overview of the MagAO-X system, review the system design, and discuss the current project status.
Partition function of dyonic black holes in N=4 string theory

The dominant contribution to the semicanonical partition function of dyonic black holes of N = 4 string theory is computed for generic charges, generalizing recent results of Shih and Yin. The result is compared to the black hole free energy ob-tained from the conjectured relation to topological strings. If certain perturbative corrections are included agreement is found to subleading order. These corrections modify the conjectured relation and implement covariance with respect to electric-magnetic duality transformations.
Towards an optimal sampling of peculiar velocity surveys for Wiener Filter reconstructions

The Wiener Filter (WF) technique enables the reconstruction of density and velocity fields from observed radial peculiar velocities. This paper aims at identifying the optimal design of peculiar velocity surveys within the WF framework. The prime goal is to test the dependence of the quality of the reconstruction on the distribution and nature of data points. Mock datasets, extending to 250 Mpc/h, are drawn from a constrained simulation that mimics the local Universe to produce realistic mock catalogs. Reconstructed fields obtained with these mocks are compared to the reference simulation. Comparisons, including residual distributions, cell-to-cell and bulk velocities, imply that the presence of field data points is essential to properly measure the flows. The fields reconstructed from mocks that consist only of galaxy cluster data points exhibit poor quality bulk velocities. In addition, the quality of the reconstruction depends strongly on the grouping of individual data points into single points to suppress virial motions in high density regions. Conversely, the presence of a Zone of Avoidance hardly affects the reconstruction. For a given number of data points, a uniform sample does not score any better than a sample with decreasing number of data points with the distance. The best reconstructions are obtained with a grouped survey containing field galaxies: Assuming no error, they differ from the simulated field by less than 100 km/s up to the extreme edge of the catalogs or up to a distance of three times the mean distance of data points for non-uniform catalogs. The overall conclusions hold when errors are added.
The Homogeneity of Interstellar Elemental Abundances in the Galactic Disk

We present interstellar elemental abundance measurements derived from Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph echelle observations of 47 sight lines extending up to 6.5 kpc through the Galactic disk. These paths probe a variety of interstellar environments, covering ranges of nearly 4 orders of magnitude in molecular hydrogen fraction f(H2) and more than 2 in mean hydrogen sight-line density ⟨nH⟩. Coupling the current data with Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph data from 17 additional sight lines and the corresponding Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer and Copernicus observations of H2 absorption features, we explore magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, nickel, copper, and germanium gas-phase abundance variations as a function of ⟨nH⟩: density-dependent depletion is noted for each element, consistent with a smooth transition between two abundance plateaus identified with warm and cold neutral interstellar medium depletion levels. The observed scatter with respect to an analytic description of these transitions implies that total elemental abundances are homogeneous on length scales of hundreds of parsecs, to the limits of abundance measurement uncertainty. The probable upper limit we determine for intrinsic variability at any ⟨nH⟩ is 0.04 dex, aside from an apparent 0.10 dex deficit in copper (and oxygen) abundances within 800 pc of the Sun. Magnesium dust abundances are shown to scale with the amount of silicon in dust, and in combination with a similar relationship between iron and silicon, these data appear to favor the young F and G star values of Sofia & Meyer as an elemental abundance standard for the Galaxy.
The Stress Less With Mindfulness Program: Motivations, Benefits, and Barriers to Participation in a Community-Based Mindfulness Program

The family and consumer sciences (FCS) knowledge base includes three core elements: human well-being, family strengths, and community vitality. In order to increase knowledge in these three elements while enhancing relevancy to contemporary society, FCS professionals might consider mindfulness training as a component of their programming. This paper describes an evaluation study of Stress Less with Mindfulness (SLM), a 5-module program to reduce stress and build emotional skills that was conducted with 70 participants in 8 workplace sites. Questions were asked about motivation for attendance, benefits of participation, and barriers to practicing skills. Pre- and post-surveys and inventories were used to collect data. Most attended because they felt stressed or wanted to help someone else who felt stressed. They increased skills in relaxation, coping, and identifying stress cues. Barriers to using the techniques included time constraints, difficulty practicing self-awareness, misunderstanding of control, and inability to give up bad habits.
Black Brane Entropy from Brane-Antibrane Systems

In the context of string theory, it is possible to explain the microscopic origin of the entropy of certain black holes in terms of D-brane systems. To date, most of the cases studied in detail refer to extremal (supersymmetric) or near-extremal black holes. In this work we propose a microscopic model for certain black branes (extended versions of black holes) which would apply to cases arbitrarily far from extremality, including the Schwarzschild case. The model is based on a system of D-branes and anti-D-branes, and is able to reproduce several properties of the corresponding supergravity solution. In particular, the microscopic entropy agrees with supergravity, except for a factor of 2^{p/p+1}, where p is the dimension of the brane.
He-accreting WD: nucleosynthesis in the extreme binary system (1.02 + 0.30) M⊙

We investigate the evolutionary properties of AM~CVn stars with massive white dwarf donors and accretors. As a representative of them we consider a binary initially composed by a 0.30 M$_\odot$, He WD and a 1.02 M$_\odot$, CO WD. We evaluate the time-dependent mass transfer rate from the donor and compute the evolution of the accretor, accounting for the effects of mass exchange on the evolution of orbital parameters. We model the thermal response of the accreting CO WD with the FUN evolutionary code coupled to a full nuclear network, from H to Bi, including more than 700 isotopes linked by about 1000 nuclear processes. We find that accretors in these systems evolve through the stages of steady He-burning and mild and strong He-flashes and become at the end CO WDs capped by a massive ($\sim 0.1$ M$_\odot$) He-rich buffer. During He-flashes (both mild and strong) the temperature in the He-shell increases above $3\times 10^8$ K, so that the ${^{22}Ne}(\alpha,n){^{25}Mg}$ reaction becomes efficient and $n$-rich isotopes can be produced. During the RLOF episodes triggered by strong non-dynamical He-flashes matter enriched in $\alpha$-elements and $n$-rich isotopes is ejected, polluting the interstellar medium. Our results strongly suggest that massive AM CVn systems with WD donors do not experience a final very strong dynamical He-flash driving an explosive event like SN . Ia. Though the ejected matter is highly enriched in heavy isotopes, the relative contribution of massive AM CVn systems to the Galactic chemical evolution is, most probably, negligible due to their expected paucity.
Business concerns regarding environmental responsibility

This paper reviews the relevant literature concerning corporate social responsibility (CSR). Different aspects are considered in terms of CSR and firm's performance and size, disclosure-reporting and communications as well as other recent trends in reporting. Apart from reviewing these issues we consider the diffusion of the global reporting initiatives worldwide identifying the trends in the period 1999-2017 per continent. Specifically, we perform a trend analysis for all continents exploring the mean change, in all sectors and in the Energy, in the number of large, multinational and small medium enterprises with reporting initiatives worldwide for the period 1999-2017. Europe seems to have passed from a full-grown to a downturn stage in the evolution of reporting initiative in the recent years. To a smaller magnitude this is the case for Oceania and Northern America, while Asia is in the spreading out stage with a steady expansion and Latin America and Caribbean and Africa having reached the full grown stage.
Modulation-doped β-(Al0.2Ga0.8)2O3/Ga2O3 field-effect transistor

Modulation-doped heterostructures are a key enabler for realizing high mobility and better scaling properties for high performance transistors. We report the realization of a modulation-doped two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) at the β-(Al0.2Ga0.8)2O3/Ga2O3 heterojunction by silicon delta doping. The formation of a 2DEG was confirmed using capacitance voltage measurements. A modulation-doped 2DEG channel was used to realize a modulation-doped field-effect transistor. The demonstration of modulation doping in the β-(Al0.2Ga0.8)2O3/Ga2O3 material system could enable heterojunction devices for high performance electronics.
Chance constrained nonlinear optimization with skewed distributions and dependent rows

This paper discusses chance constrained optimization problems where the constraints are linear to the random variables but nonlinear to the decision variables. For the individual nonlinear chance constraint, we derive tractable reformulation under finite Gaussian mixture distributions and design tight approximation under the generalized hyperbolic distribution. For the joint nonlinear chance constraint, we study several dependence structures between different rows, including independence, comonotonicity, countermonotonicity, and partial dependence.
AIS Electronic Library (AISeL) AIS Electronic Library (AISeL)

News recommender systems (NRSs) are an essential component of online news portals. To avoid the emergence of “filter bubbles” where users display an overly selective perception of the news situation, NRSs must not only display a diverse range of news, but also motivate users to engage with the diversified content. Many existing approaches attempt to achieve this by modifying the recommendation strategy or by applying selection control techniques such as digital nudging. Based on insights from self-determination theory, we present an alternative approach that relies on user control mechanisms to promote self-determined motivation for exploratory use and thus diverse news consumption behavior. We also outline a methodological design to empirically confirm the viability of our approach. As such, we not only contribute to the theoretical understanding of the role of user control in diverse news consumption behavior, but also provide guidance on validating the practical feasibility of our approach.
A lower bound on the quantum capacity of channels with correlated errors

The highest fidelity of quantum error-correcting codes of length n and rate R is proven to be lower bounded by 1−exp[−nE(R)+o(n)] for some function E(R) on noisy quantum channels that are subject to not necessarily independent errors. The E(R) is positive below some threshold R0, which implies R0 is a lower bound on the quantum capacity. This work is an extension of the author’s previous works [M. Hamada, Phys. Rev. A, 65, 052305 (2002); quant-ph/0109114, LANL (2001); M. Hamada, quant-ph/0112103, LANL (2001)], which presented the bound for channels subject to independent errors, or channels modeled as tensor products of copies of a completely positive linear map. The relation of the channel class treated in this article to those in the previous works is similar to that of Markov chains to sequences of independent identically distributed random variables.
Bounding Surface Models Applied to Fatigue of Plain Concrete

A survey was performed to find in the literature theoretical models capable of describing the fatigue behavior of concrete, subjected to uni- and triaxial elevated stress. Four models were selected, which are based on the concept of “bounding surface. ” Several numerical simulations of fatigue tests were performed to assess the potentiality of these models in the domain of fatigue. Whereas the response of two of these models is consistent with the loading conditions in most simulations, the other ones are unable to take the effect of confining pressure into account. All of the models, however, require modifications to give realistic predictions of fatigue life and cyclic creep. The parameters that mostly seem to affect the model response under fatigue are devised and slightly modified; comparisons with available experimental data support the validity of this proposal. This preliminary research is intended to be the first step toward the incorporation of rate effects into the models considered, or other the.
Psychological Distress of Spousal Caregivers of Older Adults: The Moderating Role of Marital Quality

Psychological Distress of Spousal Caregivers of Older Adults: The Moderating Role of Marital Quality Avalon White School of Family Life, Brigham Young University Master of Science Caregiving, specifically caregiver burden, is commonly related to decreased psychological wellbeing. Conversely, marital quality is positively related to psychological well-being, though existing literature presents mixed findings as to whether or not a gender difference exists in this relationship. The current study examined the relationship between objective and subjective spousal caregiver burden and psychological distress with marital quality as a moderator. Gender differences in this relationship were also explored. 1,066 spousal caregivers from the National Study of Caregiving (NSOC) were used to estimate cross-sectional moderation models and plot significant interactions in Mplus. Results indicated a significant positive relationship between subjective caregiver burden and psychological distress, and higher marital quality protected against psychological distress in this relationship. The connection between objective caregiver burden and psychological distress was not significant, and no gender differences were found in the moderation of marital quality. These findings suggest that perceptions of caregiver burden are important for the psychological health of spousal caregivers, and higher marital quality may be an effective buffer of this relationship regardless of gender. Spousal caregivers who perceive caregiving to be highly burdensome may benefit from improving their marital quality to protect against negative psychological health outcomes.
Nuclear matter incompressibility coefficient in relativistic and nonrelativistic microscopic models

We systematically analyze the recent claim that nonrelativistic and relativistic mean field (RMF) based random phase approximation (RPA) calculations for the centroid energy ${E}_{0}$ of the isoscalar giant monopole resonance yield for the nuclear matter incompressibility coefficient ${K}_{\mathrm{nm}}$ values which differ by about $20%. $ For an appropriate comparison with the RMF based RPA calculations, we obtain the parameters of the Skyrme force used in the nonrelativistic model by adopting the same procedure as employed in the determination of the NL3 parameter set of the effective Lagrangian used in the RMF model. Our investigation suggests that the discrepancy between the values of ${K}_{\mathrm{nm}}$ predicted by the relativistic and nonrelativistic models is significantly less than $20%. $
Molecular Mimicry Analyses Unveiled the Human Herpes Simplex and Poxvirus Epitopes as Possible Candidates to Incite Autoimmunity

Clinical epidemiological studies have reported that viral infections cause autoimmune pathology in humans. Host-pathogen protein sequences and structure-based molecular mimicry cause autoreactive T cells to cross-activate. The aim of the current study was to implement immunoinformatics approaches to infer sequence- and structure-based molecular mimicry between viral and human proteomic datasets. The protein sequences of all the so far known human-infecting viruses were obtained from the VIPR database, and complete human proteome data were retrieved from the NCBI repository. Based on a predefined, stringent threshold of comparative sequence analyses, 24 viral proteins were identified with significant sequence similarity to human proteins. PathDIP identified the enrichment of these homologous proteins in nine metabolic pathways with a p-value < 0.0001. Several viral and human mimic epitopes from these homologous proteins were predicted as strong binders of human HLA alleles, with IC50 < 50 nM. Downstream molecular docking analyses identified that lead virus-human homologous epitopes feasibly interact with HLA and TLR4 types of immune receptors. The vast majority of these top-hit homolog epitopic peptides belong to the herpes simplex and poxvirus families. These lead epitope biological sequences and 3D structural-based molecular mimicry may be promising for interpreting herpes simplex virus and poxvirus infection-mediated autoimmune disorders in humans.
Finite-size effect on Bose–Einstein condensate mixtures in improved Hartree–Fock approximation

By means of Cornwal–Jackiw–Tomboulis effective action approach we considered the finite-size effect on Bose–Einstein condensate mixtures confined between two parallel palates. Keeping upto double-bubble approximation and taking into account the conservation of Goldstone boson, our results are quite different from those in previous works within one-loop approximation. The order parameters strongly depend on the distance between palates and can be expressed via the correction terms. The Casimir force is also considered.
A Triple Mutant in the (cid:2) -loop of TEM-1 (cid:3) -Lactamase Changes the Substrate Profile via a Large Conformational Change and an Altered General Base for Catalysis *

Background: TEM-1 (cid:2) -lactamase hydrolyzes penicillins and early cephalosporins but not oxyimino-cephalosporins. Results: A TEM-1 triple mutant, W165Y/E166Y/P167G, exhibits ceftazidime hydrolysis and a large active site conformational change. Conclusion: The mutant has an enlarged active site to accommodate ceftazidime and an alternative catalytic residue, Tyr-166. Significance: The study reveals plasticity in (cid:2) -lactamase structure and mechanism in the evolution of altered substrate specificity.
Higher Order Nonlinear Dynamics in AlGaAs Doped Glass Photonic Crystal Fibers at Sub Pico-Joule Energy

In the present paper, a unique semiconductor doped glass photonic crystal fiber has been designed which is suitable for soliton propagation at sub pico-Joule energy. The fiber promises to yield low and uniform anomalous dispersion profile and very large optical nonlinearities 25211 W^(-1) km^(-1) at telecommunication wavelength, thus facilitating soliton formation at ultralow energy. The observed magnitude of nonlinearity is the highest reported ever till date in AlGaAs doped glass. The soliton dynamics has been investigated taking into account of higher-order dispersions and nonlinearities. Propagating solitons breadth and experience large frequency shift, which decreases with the increase in the initial pulse width and increases with the increase in pulse energy. Temporal width of solitons oscillate, the frequency and amplitude of oscillations increase with the increase in the value of pulse energy.