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In this work, we present Unity Point-Cloud Interactive Core, a novel interactive point cloud rendering pipeline for the Unity Development Platform. The goal of the proposed pipeline is to expedite the development process for point cloud applications by encapsulating the rendering process as a standalone component, while maintaining flexibility through an implementable interface. The proposed pipeline allows for rendering arbitrarily large point clouds with improved performance and visual quality. First, a novel dynamic batching scheme is proposed to address the adaptive point sizing problem for level-of-detail (LOD) point cloud structures. Then, an approximate rendering algorithm is proposed to reduce overdraw by minimizing the overall number of fragment operations through an intermediate occlusion culling pass. For the purpose of analysis, the visual quality of renderings is quantified and measured by comparing against a high-quality baseline. In the experiments, the proposed pipeline maintains above 90 FPS for a 20 million point budget while achieving greater than 90% visual quality during interaction when rendering a point-cloud with more than 20 billion points. 

Abstract Siliceous spicules are micro‐laminated geyserite deposits, or micro‐stromatolites, found around high temperature hot‐springs and geysers, associated with intermittent splashes of water. Understanding conditions of formation of these structures will give insights of critical parameters involved in prebiotic environments and early life. We provide a new data set around two geysers from the El Tatio hydrothermal field, Atacama Desert, Chile, a modern analogue for habitable environments on early Earth and Mars. Small spicules (<5 mm diameter) dominate in the near vent areas, whereas larger spicules (>5 mm diameter) form complex columnar structures in the distal vent (>0.3 m distance from the vent). Hydrodynamics, eruption periodicity, and environmental conditions modulate the temperature and cooling patterns around vents. During geyser eruptions, the temperature of water reaching the ground decreases with the distance from the vent. Cooling is stronger during the evenings, due to strong winds and cold air temperature. Rapid water cooling drives supersaturation of amorphous silica, and therefore precipitation rates increase significantly with distance from the vent. Cooling also controls changes in the bacterial communities, from thin filaments <1 μm diameter predominating closer to the vent, to 1–2 μm diameter filaments in the distal vent. Changes in the silica precipitation rate and biota may control the growth of spicules and the transition to columns. Estimated precipitation rates of silica provide a first approximation of the longevity of these structures and the timing for the formation of internal laminations. Microlamination will form in year time‐scales closer to the vent, and weeks farther from the vent. 

We present the first measurement of cosmic-ray fluxes of ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$and ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$isotopes in the rigidity range from 1.9 to 25 GV. The measurements are based on $9.7\times {10}^5$ ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$and $1.04\times {10}^6$ ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$nuclei collected by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer on the International Space Station from May 2011 to October 2023. We observe that over the entire rigidity range the ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$and ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$fluxes exhibit nearly identical time variations and, above $\sim 4\mathrm{GV}$, the time variations of ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$, ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$, He, Be, B, C, N, and O fluxes are identical. Above $\sim 7\mathrm{GV}$, we find an identical rigidity dependence of the ${}^6\mathrm{Li}$and ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$fluxes. This shows that they are both produced by collisions of heavier cosmic-ray nuclei with the interstellar medium and, in particular, excludes the existence of a sizable primary component in the ${}^7\mathrm{Li}$flux. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

The goal of the proposed project is to transform a large transportation hub into a smart and accessible hub (SAT-Hub), with minimal infrastructure change. The societal need is significant, especially impactful for people in great need, such as those who are blind and visually impaired (BVI) or with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), as well as those unfamiliar with metropolitan areas. With our inter-disciplinary background in urban systems, sensing, AI and data analytics, accessibility, and paratransit and assistive services, our solution is a hu-man-centric system approach that integrates facility modeling, mobile navigation, and user interface designs. We leverage several transportation facili-ties in the heart of New York City and throughout the State of New Jersey as testbeds for ensuring the relevance of the research and a smooth transition to real world applications. 

We report the properties of precision time structures of cosmic nuclei He, Li, Be, B, C, N, and O fluxes over an 11-year solar cycle from May 2011 to November 2022 in the rigidity range from 1.92 to 60.3 GV. The nuclei fluxes show similar but not identical time variations with amplitudes decreasing with increasing rigidity. In particular, below 3.64 GV the Li, Be, and B fluxes, and below 2.15 GV the C, N, and O fluxes, are significantly less affected by solar modulation than the He flux. We observe that these differences in solar modulation are linearly correlated with the differences in the spectral indices of the cosmic nuclei fluxes. This shows, in a model-independent way, that solar modulation of galactic cosmic nuclei depends on their spectral shape. In addition, solar modulation differences due to nuclei velocity dependence on the mass-to-charge ratio ( $A/Z$) are not observed. Published by the American Physical Society2025 

Precision measurements by the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) on the International Space Station of the deuteron ( $D$) flux are presented. The measurements are based on $21\times {10}^6$ $D$nuclei in the rigidity range from 1.9 to 21 GV collected from May 2011 to April 2021. We observe that over the entire rigidity range the $D$flux exhibits nearly identical time variations with the $p$, ${}^3\mathrm{He}$, and ${}^4\mathrm{He}$fluxes. Above 4.5 GV, the $D/{}^4\mathrm{He}$flux ratio is time independent and its rigidity dependence is well described by a single power law $\propto R^{\mathrm{\Delta }}$with ${\mathrm{\Delta }}_{D/{}^4\mathrm{He}}=-0.108\pm 0.005$. This is in contrast with the ${}^3\mathrm{He}/{}^4\mathrm{He}$flux ratio for which we find ${\mathrm{\Delta }}_{{}^3\mathrm{He}/{}^4\mathrm{He}}=-0.289\pm 0.003$. Above $\sim 13\mathrm{GV}$we find a nearly identical rigidity dependence of the $D$and $p$fluxes with a $D/p$flux ratio of $0.027\pm 0.001$. These unexpected observations indicate that cosmic deuterons have a sizable primarylike component. With a method independent of cosmic ray propagation, we obtain the primary component of the $D$flux equal to $9.4\pm 0.5\%$of the ${}^4\mathrm{He}$flux and the secondary component of the $D$flux equal to $58\pm 5\%$of the ${}^3\mathrm{He}$flux. Published by the American Physical Society2024