Design of FastQuery: How to Generalize Indexing and Querying System for Scientific Data

Modern scientific datasets present numerous data management and analysis challenges. State-of-the-art index and query technologies such as FastBit are critical for facilitating interactive exploration of large datasets. These technologies rely on adding auxiliary information to existing datasets to accelerate query processing. To use these indices, we need to match the relational data model used by the indexing systems with the array data model used by most scientific data, and to provide an efficient input and output layer for reading and writing the indices. In this work, we present a flexible design that can be easily applied to most scientific data formats. We demonstrate this flexibility by applying it to two of the most commonly used scientific data formats, HDF5 and NetCDF. We present two case studies using simulation data from the particle accelerator and climate simulation communities. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the new design, we also present a detailed performance study using both synthetic and real scientific workloads

Multicritical Phase Transitions in Lovelock AdS Black Holes

We demonstrate that black holes in order $N\ge 4$ Lovelock gravity can exhibit multicritical phase behaviour. We show an explicit example of a quadruple point in $d=10$ fourth-order Lovelock gravity and a quintuple point in $d=14$ sixth-order Lovelock gravity. We also demonstrate that multi-criticality can be realized for uncharged, non-rotating black holes by highlighting a new type of multi-critical point between black holes and thermal radiation. We discuss the methodology used and make comparisons to other black hole multi-critical points in terms of the Gibbs phase rule.Comment: References adde

Transplantation: Polyomavirus Nephropathy and the Risk of Specific Immunosuppression Regimens

BK virus is ubiquitously present in the latent state in humans, and awareness of the importance of BK polyomavirus is emerging among the kidney transplant community. First discovered in 1971 in the urine of a renal transplant recipient, BK virus nephropathy (BKVN) has come to be recognized as a significant cause of genitourinary disease and potential graft loss in the kidney transplant patient. In this review, we discuss the risk factors, available methods of diagnosis and therapeutic monitoring, and current approaches to therapy of BKVN

Introduction: Symposium on China Studies

To meet the increasing scholarly interest in China, this symposium provides a forum for scholars in public budgeting and finance to exchange research on China-related issues. There have been new initiatives to reform China’s public fiscal system in the past two decades. The papers in this symposium examine advances and associated issues in fiscal decentralization, local budgeting, and urban infrastructure financing. The papers not only analyze the existing issues, but also make recommendations on how to develop an accountable local budgeting system, how to finance sustainable urban infrastructure, and how to pursue a more balanced approach to fiscal decentralization in contemporary China

Display Brightness Based Camera Parameter Control for Selfie Capture in Darkness

When a user in a dark room captures a selfie image or video using a front camera of a device, the display brightness can impact the captured image or video. Oscillations can occur due to a feedback loop between the image captured by the camera which when displayed on the device screen causes changes in display brightness. This disclosure describes techniques to automatically estimate the impact of display illumination on the face of a subject and slow down convergence. Per the techniques, exposure and/or white balance parameters for the camera are estimated using display illumination (brightness), depth (distance of the subject), and reflectance. Machine learning techniques or a lookup table or regression on historical data can be used for estimation. Oscillations in the captured image or video due to a feedback loop are reduced or eliminated