Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Estimating the dark matter halo mass of our Milky Way using dynamical tracers

The mass of the dark matter halo of the Milky Way can be estimated by fitting analytical models to the phase-space distribution of dynamical tracers. We test this approach using realistic mock stellar haloes constructed from the Aquarius N-body simulations of dark matter haloes in the Λ cold dark matter cosmology. We extend the standard treatment to include a Navarro–Frenk–White potential and use a maximum likelihood method to recover the parameters describing the simulated haloes from the positions and velocities of their mock halo stars. We find that the estimate of halo mass is highly correlated with the estimate of halo concentration. The best-fitting halo masses within the virial radius, R200, are biased, ranging from a 40 per cent underestimate to a 5 per cent overestimate in the best case (when the tangential velocities of the tracers are included). There are several sources of bias. Deviations from dynamical equilibrium can potentially cause significant bias; deviations from spherical symmetry are relatively less important. Fits to stars at different galactocentric radii can give different mass estimates. By contrast, the model gives good constraints on the mass within the half-mass radius of tracers even when restricted to tracers within 60 kpc. The recovered velocity anisotropies of tracers, β, are biased systematically, but this does not affect other parameters if tangential velocity data are used as constraints.
Improved method for retinotopy constrained source estimation of visual‐evoked responses

Retinotopy constrained source estimation (RCSE) is a method for noninvasively measuring the time courses of activation in early visual areas using magnetoencephalography (MEG) or electroencephalography (EEG). Unlike conventional equivalent current dipole or distributed source models, the use of multiple, retinotopically mapped stimulus locations to simultaneously constrain the solutions allows for the estimation of independent waveforms for visual areas V1, V2, and V3, despite their close proximity to each other. We describe modifications that improve the reliability and efficiency of this method. First, we find that increasing the number and size of visual stimuli results in source estimates that are less susceptible to noise. Second, to create a more accurate forward solution, we have explicitly modeled the cortical point spread of individual visual stimuli. Dipoles are represented as extended patches on the cortical surface, which take into account the estimated receptive field size at each location in V1, V2, and V3 as well as the contributions from contralateral, ipsilateral, dorsal, and ventral portions of the visual areas. Third, we implemented a map fitting procedure to deform a template to match individual subject retinotopic maps derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This improves the efficiency of the overall method by allowing automated dipole selection, and it makes the results less sensitive to physiological noise in fMRI retinotopy data. Finally, the iteratively reweighted least squares (IRLS) method was used to reduce the contribution from stimulus locations with high residual error for robust estimation of visual evoked responses. Hum Brain Mapp, 2013. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
The Distribution of Intertidal Organisms Along the Coasts of the English Channel

The English Channel may conveniently be divided into a western basin and an eastern basin separated by a line drawn approximately between the Cherbourg peninsula and the Isle of Wight. In these basins, the environmental factors are very different. Thus the water of the western basin is on average warmer and slightly more saline than that of the eastern basin and its temperature variation is less extreme. The French side of the Channel is warmer than the English coast only in the western basin. The tidal oscillations in the two basins are out of phase with each other and the strongest tidal currents occur where the two basins join. The main residual flow is up-Channel with minor coastal eddies. The shores at the western end of the Channel are generally rocky, they are close to deep water, and so are exposed to frequent heavy swells. The shores of the eastern basin are generally erodible, and accumulations of sand and shingle tend to reduce the force of the waves. The water of the eastern basin generally contains more suspended matter and the shores are usually scoured by sand and shingle. The distribution of the following animals is given in some detail and compared with earlier records: Ammonia sulcata, Actinia equina, Chthamalus stellatus, Balanus balanoides, B. perforatus, B. crenatus, B. improvisus, Elminius modestus, Verruca stroemia, Hemioniscus balani, Patella vulgata, P. depressa, P. aspera, Monodonta lineata, Gibbula umbilicalis, G. pennanti, G. cineraria, Littorina saxatilis, L. littoralis, L. littorea, L. neritoides, Paracentrotus lividus. The distribution of certain other species is also discussed: Balanus balanus, Haliotis tuberculata, Gibbula magus and Calliostoma zizyphinum.
Individual Differences in Human Path Integration Abilities Correlate with Gray Matter Volume in Retrosplenial Cortex, Hippocampus, and Medial Prefrontal Cortex

Abstract Humans differ in their individual navigational abilities. These individual differences may exist in part because successful navigation relies on several disparate abilities, which rely on different brain structures. One such navigational capability is path integration, the updating of position and orientation, in which navigators track distances, directions, and locations in space during movement. Although structural differences related to landmark-based navigation have been examined, gray matter volume related to path integration ability has not yet been tested. Here, we examined individual differences in two path integration paradigms: (1) a location tracking task and (2) a task tracking translational and rotational self-motion. Using voxel-based morphometry, we related differences in performance in these path integration tasks to variation in brain morphology in 26 healthy young adults. Performance in the location tracking task positively correlated with individual differences in gray matter volume in three areas critical for path integration: the hippocampus, the retrosplenial cortex, and the medial prefrontal cortex. These regions are consistent with the path integration system known from computational and animal models and provide novel evidence that morphological variability in retrosplenial and medial prefrontal cortices underlies individual differences in human path integration ability. The results for tracking rotational self-motion—but not translation or location—demonstrated that cerebellum gray matter volume correlated with individual performance. Our findings also suggest that these three aspects of path integration are largely independent. Together, the results of this study provide a link between individual abilities and the functional correlates, computational models, and animal models of path integration.
Identification of the alpha-enolase P46 in the extracellular membrane vesicles of Bacteroides fragilis

BACKGROUND Members of the Bacteroides fragilis group are the most important components of the normal human gut microbiome, but are also major opportunistic pathogens that are responsible for significant mortality, especially in the case of bacteraemia and other severe infections, such as intra-abdominal abscesses. Up to now, several virulence factors have been described that might explain the involvement of B. fragilis in these infections. The secretion of extracellular membrane vesicles (EMVs) has been proposed to play a role in pathogenesis and symbiosis in gram-negative bacteria, by releasing soluble proteins and other molecules. In B. fragilis, these vesicles are known to have haemagglutination and sialidosis activities, and also contain a capsular polysaccharide (PSA), although their involvement in virulence is still not clear. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to identify proteins in the EMV of the 638R B. fragilis strain by mass spectrometry, and also to assess for the presence of Bfp60, a surface plasminogen (Plg) activator, previously shown in B. fragilis to be responsible for the conversion of inactive Plg to active plasmin, which can also bind to laminin-1. METHODS B. fragilis was cultured in a minimum defined media and EMVs were obtained by differential centrifugation, ultracentrifugation, and filtration. The purified EMVs were observed by both transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and immunoelectron microscopy (IM). To identify EMV constituent proteins, EMVs were separated by 1D SDS-PAGE and proteomic analysis of proteins sized 35 kDa to approximately 65 kDa was performed using mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS). FINDINGS TEM micrographs proved the presence of spherical vesicles and IM confirmed the presence of Bfp60 protein on their surface. Mass spectrometry identified 23 proteins with high confidence. One of the proteins from the B. fragilis EMVs was identified as an enolase P46 with a possible lyase activity. MAIN CONCLUSIONS Although the Bfp60 protein was not detected by proteomics, α-enolase P46 was found to be present in the EMVs of B. fragilis. The P46 protein has been previously described to be present in the outer membrane of B. fragilis as an iron-regulated protein.
Miniaturisation decreases visual navigational competence in ants

ABSTRACT Evolution of a smaller body size in a given lineage, called miniaturisation, is commonly observed in many animals including ants. It affects various morphological features and is hypothesised to result in inferior behavioural capabilities, possibly owing to smaller sensory organs. To test this hypothesis, we studied whether reduced spatial resolution of compound eyes influences obstacle detection or obstacle avoidance in five different species of ants. We trained all ant species to travel to a sugar feeder. During their return journeys, we placed an obstacle close to the nest entrance. We found that ants with higher spatial resolution exited the corridor – the area between the two ends of the obstacle – on average 10 cm earlier, suggesting they detected the obstacle earlier in their path. Ants with the lowest spatial resolution changed their viewing directions only when they were close to the obstacle. We discuss the effects of miniaturisation on visual navigational competence in ants. Summary: Reduced spatial resolution affects obstacle detection in ants, supporting the hypothesis that miniaturisation can affect behaviour.
Effect of curing temperature on the morphology of unsaturated polyester resin blended with poly(vinyl acetate)

Phase separation of unsaturated polyester/styrene (UPE/styrene) resin blended with 5 and 10 wt% of poly(vinyl acetate) (PVAc) cured at various temperatures ranging from 75°C to 150°C was studied using low angle laser light scattering (LALS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). For UPE/styrene resin blended with 5 wt% PVAc cured at a temperature below 90°C, a discrete phase-separated structure was observed. As curing temperature was raised above 90°C, SEM micrographs revealed that more and more cured UPE globules fused together with increasing curing temperature. The LALS intensity profile became broader with increasing curing temperature, indicating a less discrete phase-separated structure at a higher curing temperature. As PVAc content was increased to 10 wt%, SEM micrographs revealed a co-continuous phase-separated structure. The LALS intensity decayed slowly from the center of the scattering pattern to a high scattering angle without the appearance of maximum scattering peak intensity. The morphology of the cured sample did not change too much with curing temperature for UPE/styrene resin blended with 10 wt% of PVAc.
Characteristics and antifungal effect of composts on Fusarium oxysporum F. SP. lycopersici incitant of Fusarium wilt of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.)

A laboratory study was carried out to evaluate some physical and chemical properties of three composts namely; composted poultry manure (CPM), composted cow dung (CCD) and composted neem-leaf (CNL) used as soil organic amendment and their efficacies was tested against Fusarium wilt of tomato. The properties of the composts showed that they were matured and therefore ideal to be use as soil amendments. Chemical analyses revealed that the composts had pH as 6.8 (CNL), 7.8 (CPM) and 8.0 (CCD). Electrical conductivity (EC) was rated low with values as 1. 3µScm-1, 1. 2µScm-1 and 1. 1µScm-1 for CNL, CPM and CCD respectively. Neem leaf-based compost exhibited higher total C (39.0 g kg-1), NO3 -1-N (135.7 mg kg-1) and K (64.9 cmol (+) kg-1), where as CPM had higher total N (2.9 g kg -1 ), NH4 + -N (24.6 mg kg -1 ), Ca (14.0 cmol (+) kg -1 ) and Ma (7.2 cmol (+) kg -1 ). The in vitro experiment consisted of four treatments – extract of CPM, CCD and CNL, and distilled water as control were arranged in a complete randomized design (CRD) replicated five times. The result showed that extract of CPM significantly reduced radial growth of the pathogen to 2.2 cm and inhibited growth by 51%. The effectiveness of CPM is attributed to the attainment of suitable physical and chemical properties that favours the survival and activity of the antagonistic micro-organisms that suppress Fusarium wilt of tomato. Further research to identify the biocontrol agents in composts and to test their efficacies as potential alternative to synthetic fungicides is recommended.
EXPERIMENTAL BOLBOPHORUS DAMNIFICUS (DIGENEA: BOLBOPHORIDAE) INFECTIONS IN PISCIVOROUS BIRDS

In order to determine potential definitive hosts of the digenetic trematode, Bolbophorus damnificus, two American White Pelicans (Pelecanus erythrorhynchos), two Double-crested Cormorants (Phalacrocorax auritus), two Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias), and two Great Egrets (Ardea alba) were captured, treated with praziquantel, and fed channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) infected with B. damnificus metacercariae. Patent infections of B. damnificus, which developed in both American White Pelicans at 3 days postinfection, were confirmed by the presence of trematode ova in the feces. Mature B. damnificus trematodes were recovered from the intestines of both pelicans at 21 days postinfection, further confirming the establishment of infection. No evidence of B. damnificus infections was observed in the other bird species studied. This study provides further evidence that Double-crested Cormorants, Great Blue Herons, and Great Egrets do not serve as definitive hosts for B. damnificus.
Genotypic and Phenotypic Diversity of Cryptococcus gattii VGII Clinical Isolates and Its Impact on Virulence

The Cryptococcus gattii species complex harbors the main etiological agents of cryptococcosis in immunocompetent patients. C. gattii molecular type VGII predominates in the north and northeastern regions of Brazil, leading to high morbidity and mortality rates. C. gattii VGII isolates have a strong clinical relevance and phenotypic variations. These phenotypic variations among C. gattii species complex isolates suggest that some strains are more virulent than others, but little information is available related to the pathogenic properties of those strains. In this study, we analyzed some virulence determinants of C. gattii VGII strains (CG01, CG02, and CG03) isolated from patients in the state of Piauí, Brazil. The C. gattii R265 VGIIa strain, which was isolated from the Vancouver outbreak, differed from C. gattii CG01, CG02 and CG03 isolates (also classified as VGII) when analyzed the capsular dimensions, melanin production, urease activity, as well as the glucuronoxylomannan (GXM) secretion. Those differences directly reflected in their virulence potential. In addition, CG02 displayed higher virulence compared to R265 (VGIIa) strain in a cryptococcal murine model of infection. Lastly, we examined the genotypic diversity of these strains through Multilocus Sequence Type (MLST) and one new subtype was described for the CG02 isolate. This study confirms the presence and the phenotypic and genotypic diversity of highly virulent strains in the Northeast region of Brazil.
Development of ionic electroactive actuators with improved interfacial adhesion : towards the fabrication of inkjet printable artificial muscles

Onic electroactive polymer based artificial muscles are promising alternative to traditional actuators, especially where compliant muscle-like response is desirable. Among them, conducting polymer actuators (CPAs) are most promising for biomedical applications, where biocompatibility, compactness and accurate positioning is essential. Nevertheless, development of applicable devices is hold down by their low efficiency and fast performance deterioration. The absence of a tactile, force or position feed-back is another feature limiting the development of functional devices. The goal of this thesis is to develop a fabrication technique for conducting polymer based actuators that could be up-scalable and enable facile integration of sensory feedback. Inkjet printing is key technology in the field of defined polymer deposition as well as in fabrication of strain sensors. It is also one of the most promising alternatives to prevalent fabrication of conducting polymer actuators. Nevertheless, inkjet printed actuators were not yet realized due to rheological properties of conducting polymer solutions that challenge jetting and the complex solution - membrane interactions, that lead to poor adhesion or uncontrolled infiltration. In order to enable this fabrication method, hybrid ion-storing membranes were developed. Argon plasma induced grafting-to of hydrophilic macromonomer with limited-indepth deposition was used to obtain polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) membranes with hydrophilic upper surfaces and hydrophobic centre. Functionalized PVDF membranes were shown to withhold good adhesion to the conducting polymer films and preserve electrically insulating layer in between them. Hybrid membranes were demonstrated to be advantageous in fabrication of CPAs by drop casting and enable production of actuators with various morphologies. Furthermore, fabricated poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) based actuators demonstrated long lifetime with no signs of delamination as well as large strain of more than 0.6%. In addition, the complex nature of the physico-chemical mechanisms of the interactions between the polymer film and the porous membrane was better understood during this work. The conditions necessary in order to ensure strong adhesion as well as circumstances leading to uncontrolled infiltration were partially identified. These were used to set up limits to membrane preparation and polymer solution composition. Combining obtained knowledge with known requirements for inkjet printable solutions lead to the realization of the first inkjet printed PEDOT:PSS based ionic actuators.
The Use of Facebook Advertising to Recruit Healthy Elderly People for a Clinical Trial: Baseline Metrics

Background This report provides data on the use of social media advertising as a clinical trial recruitment strategy targeting healthy volunteers aged 60 years and older. The social media advertising campaign focused on enrollment for a Phase 1 clinical trial. Traditional means of recruiting—billboards, newspaper advertising, word of mouth, personal referrals, and direct mail—were not producing enough qualified participants. Objective To demonstrate the effectiveness of using targeted advertising on the social networking site Facebook to recruit people aged 60 years and older for volunteer clinical trial participation. Methods The trial sponsor used a proactive approach to recruit participants using advertising on social media. The sponsor placed and monitored an Institutional Review Board-approved advertising campaign on Facebook to recruit potential candidates for a Phase 1 clinical trial. The clinical trial required a 10-day residential (overnight) stay at a clinic in Michigan, with one follow-up visit. The sponsor of the clinical trial placed the advertising, which directed interested respondents to a trial-specific landing page controlled by the Contract Research Organization (CRO). The CRO provided all follow-up consenting, prescreening, screening, and enrollment procedures. The campaign was waged over an 8-week period to supplement recruiting by the CRO. Results A total of 621 people responded to a Facebook advertising campaign by completing an online form or telephoning the CRO, and the clinical trial was fully enrolled at 45 subjects following an 8-week Facebook advertising campaign. Conclusions An 8-week Facebook advertising campaign contributed to 868 inquiries made regarding a Phase 1 clinical trial seeking to enroll healthy elderly subjects. Over the initial 11 weeks of recruitment, 178 inquiries were received using traditional methods of outreach. Respondents to the Facebook advertising campaign described in this report engaged with the sponsored advertising at a higher rate than is typical for social media-based clinical trial recruitment strategies. The older adults’ engagement rate of 4.92% was more than twice as high as click-through rates of younger adults engaged with social media advertising in other clinical trial recruitment studies. Advertising placed on the social media platform Facebook is effective with the healthy volunteer population aged 60 years and older. This approach can quickly and cost-effectively reach qualified candidates for clinical trial recruitment as a supplement to traditional means of recruiting. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02840279; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02840279 (Archived by WebCite at http://www.webcitation.org/6wamIWXAt)
Fault-tolerant modulation strategy for inverter stage of full bidirectional switches two stage matrix converter

Full bidirectional switches two stage matrix converter (FBS-TSMC), which can be effectively used in critical applications, is presented. Comparing with traditional two stage matrix converter, it adds six additional switches to inverter stage as redundancy hot backup. Meanwhile, its bidirectional switches structure in inverter stage makes it possible to reverse dc bus voltage polarity. The above two features provide FBS-TSMC fault-tolerant capacity in the presence of faults. From the view of modulation, this paper proposes two fault-tolerant strategies for FBS-TSMC to deal with single switch short circuit failure and bidirectional switch open circuit failure in inverter stage respectively. By utilizing the characteristics of fault switch and increasing additional switch times in healthy phases, the proposed fault-tolerant strategies can ensure FBS-TSMC's satisfactory performance without modifying the control technique. A simulation model of FBS-TSMC has been built in Matlab/Simulink and the verification of the proposed fault-tolerant modulation strategy is confirmed using extensive simulation results.
Highly specific pose estimation with a catadioptric omnidirectional camera

This article presents a new method for estimating the pose of para-catadioptric vision systems. It is based on the estimation of vanishing points associated with vertical edges of the environment. However, unlike classical approaches no feature (line, circle) extraction and/or identification is needed. A sampled domain of possible vanishing points is tested and histograms are build to characterize the soundness of these points. A specificity index allows to find the more relevant histogram and the pose of the sensor. This method has been tested on simulated and real images giving very promising results (maximum angular error of 0.18 degree).