Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
12CO and 13CO J = 3–2 observations toward N11 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Aims. After 30 Doradus, N11 is the second largest and brightest nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). This large nebula has several OB associations with bright nebulae at its surroundings. N11 was previously mapped at the lowest rotational transitions of 12CO (J = 1–0 and 2–1), and in some particular regions, pointings of the 13CO J = 1–0 and 2–1 lines were also performed. Observations of higher CO rotational transitions are needed to map gas with higher critical densities, which are useful to study the physical conditions of the gas component and its relation with the UV radiation more accurately. Methods. Using the Atacama Submillimeter Telescope Experiment, we mapped the whole extension of the N11 nebula in the 12CO J = 3–2 line and three subregions in the 13CO J = 3–2 line. The regions mapped in the 13CO J = 3–2 were selected with the criterion that they were to be exposed to the radiation in different ways: a region lying across the nebula, which is related to the OB association LH10 (N11B), another region that it is associated with the southern part of the nebula, which is related to the OB association LH13 (N11D), and finally an area farther away in the southwest without any embedded OB association (N11I). Results. We found that the morphology of the molecular clouds lying in each region shows some signatures that could be explained by the expansion of the nebulae and the action of the radiation. Fragmentation generated in a molecular shell due to the expansion of the N11 nebula is suggested. The integrated line ratios 12CO/13CO show evidence of selective photodissociation of the 13CO, and probably other mechanisms such as chemical fractionation. The values found for the integrated line ratios 12CO J = 3–2/1–0 are in agreement with values that were assumed in previous works, and the CO contribution to the continuum at 870 μm was derived directly. The distribution of the integrated line ratios 12CO J = 3–2/2–1 show indications of stellar feedback in N11B and N11D. The ratio between the virial and local thermal equilibrium (LTE) mass (Mvir/MLTE) is higher than unity in all analyzed molecular clumps, which suggests that the clumps are not gravitationally bounded and may be supported by external pressure. A non-LTE analysis suggests that we map gas with densities of about a few 103 cm−3. The molecular clump at N11B, the unique molecular feature with direct evidence of ongoing star formation, is the densest of the clumps we analyzed.
Data-Efficient Image Recognition with Contrastive Predictive Coding

Human observers can learn to recognize new categories of images from a handful of examples, yet doing so with artificial ones remains an open challenge. We hypothesize that data-efficient recognition is enabled by representations which make the variability in natural signals more predictable. We therefore revisit and improve Contrastive Predictive Coding, an unsupervised objective for learning such representations. This new implementation produces features which support state-of-the-art linear classification accuracy on the ImageNet dataset. When used as input for non-linear classification with deep neural networks, this representation allows us to use 2-5x less labels than classifiers trained directly on image pixels. Finally, this unsupervised representation substantially improves transfer learning to object detection on the PASCAL VOC dataset, surpassing fully supervised pre-trained ImageNet classifiers.
Interference of clocks: A quantum twin paradox

In a quantum version of the twin paradox, atom interferometers generate one clock, aging at different rates simultaneously. The phase of matter waves depends on proper time and is therefore susceptible to special-relativistic (kinematic) and gravitational (redshift) time dilation. Hence, it is conceivable that atom interferometers measure general-relativistic time-dilation effects. In contrast to this intuition, we show that (i) closed light-pulse interferometers without clock transitions during the pulse sequence are not sensitive to gravitational time dilation in a linear potential. (ii) They can constitute a quantum version of the special-relativistic twin paradox. (iii) Our proposed experimental geometry for a quantum-clock interferometer isolates this effect.
The Origin of the Late-time Luminosity of Supernova 2011dh

Due to the small amount of hydrogen (≤0.1 M⊙) remaining on the surface of their progenitors, SNe IIb are sensitive probes of the mass-loss processes of massive stars toward the ends of their lives, including the role of binarity. We report late-time Hubble Space Telescope observations of SN 2011dh in M51, and a brief period of rebrightening and plateau in the photometric light curve, from 1.8 to 6.2 yr after the explosion. These observations exclude the role of circumstellar interaction, however, a slow rotating magnetar, a significant quantity of radioactive elements, or a light echo could be responsible for the late-time luminosity observed at t > 1000 days. If the late-time light curve is powered by the decay of radioactive elements, SN 2011dh is required to have produced ∼2.6 × 10−3 M⊙ of 44Ti, which is significantly in excess of the amount inferred from earlier nebular spectra of SN 2011dh itself or measured in the Cas A SN remnant. The evolution of the brightness and the color of the late-time light curve also supports the role of a light echo originating from dust with a preferred geometry of a disk of extent ∼1.8 to ∼2.7 pc from the SN, consistent with a wind-blown bubble. Accounting for the long-term photometric evolution due to a light echo, the flux contribution from a surviving binary companion at ultraviolet wavelengths can be isolated and corresponds to a star of ∼9–10 M⊙.
Effect of isolation on coat colour polymorphism of Polynesian rats in Island Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Populations of vertebrate species introduced onto islands regularly develop similar phenotypic changes, e.g., larger or smaller body size, shortened limbs, duller coats, as well as behavioural changes such as increased tameness and reduced flight-initiation distance. These changes overlap in part with those associated with the ‘domestication syndrome’, especially tameness and changes in coat patterns, and might indicate a similar neural crest involvement in the concurrent development of multiple phenotypic traits. Here I examine long-term data on free-living populations of wild Polynesian rats from seven mainland countries and 117 islands (n = 3,034), covering the species’ native and introduced range. Mainland populations showed no aberrant coat patterns, with the exception of one albino, whereas aberrant coat patterns were found in 12 island populations. Observed coat colour polymorphisms consisted of leucistic (including singular white patches), melanistic (darkly pigmented) and piebald (mixed) coat patterns. After isolation for at least seven centuries, wild Polynesian rat populations on islands seem to exhibit a trend towards a higher incidence of aberrant coat patterns. These phenotypic changes are here explained as a neutral, non-adaptive process, likely part of the ‘domestication syndrome’ (via the commensal pathway of domestication), in combination with genetic drift, little or no gene flow between the islands and/or the mainland and a relaxed selection (as a result of the weakening or removal of competitor/predator pressure) under commensality.
ALMA Polarimetry Measures Magnetically Aligned Dust Grains in the Torus of NGC 1068

The obscuring structure surrounding active galactic nuclei (AGN) can be explained as a dust and gas flow cycle that fundamentally connects the AGN with their host galaxies. This structure is believed to be associated with dusty winds driven by radiation pressure. However, the role of magnetic fields, which are invoked in almost all models for accretion onto a supermassive black hole and outflows, has not been thoroughly studied. Here we report the first detection of polarized thermal emission by means of magnetically aligned dust grains in the dusty torus of NGC 1068 using ALMA Cycle 4 polarimetric dust continuum observations (0.″07, 4.2 pc; 348.5 GHz, 860 μm). The polarized torus has an asymmetric variation across the equatorial axis with a peak polarization of 3.7% ± 0.5% and position angle of 109° ± 2° (B-vector) at ∼8 pc east from the core. We compute synthetic polarimetric observations of magnetically aligned dust grains assuming a toroidal magnetic field and homogeneous grain alignment. We conclude that the measured 860 μm continuum polarization arises from magnetically aligned dust grains in an optically thin region of the torus. The asymmetric polarization across the equatorial axis of the torus arises from (1) an inhomogeneous optical depth and (2) a variation of the velocity dispersion, i.e., a variation of the magnetic field turbulence at subparsec scales, from the eastern to the western region of the torus. These observations and modeling constrain the torus properties beyond spectral energy distribution results. This study strongly supports that magnetic fields up to a few parsecs contribute to the accretion flow onto the active nuclei.
Intrinsic and Dual Volume Deviations of Convex Bodies and Polytopes

We establish estimates for the asymptotic best approximation of the Euclidean unit ball by polytopes under a notion of distance induced by the intrinsic volumes. We also introduce a notion of distance between convex bodies that is induced by the Wills functional and apply it to derive asymptotically sharp bounds for approximating the ball in high dimensions. Remarkably, it turns out that there is a polytope that is almost optimal with respect to all intrinsic volumes simultaneously, up to absolute constants. Finally, we establish asymptotic formulas for the best approximation of smooth convex bodies by polytopes with respect to a distance induced by dual volumes, which originate from Lutwak’s dual Brunn–Minkowski theory.
Biometric Backdoors: A Poisoning Attack Against Unsupervised Template Updating

In this work, we investigate the concept of biometric backdoors: a template poisoning attack on biometric systems that allows adversaries to stealthily and effortlessly impersonate users in the long-term by exploiting the template update procedure. We show that such attacks can be carried out even by attackers with physical limitations (no digital access to the sensor) and zero knowledge of training data (they know neither decision boundaries nor user template). Based on the adversaries' own templates, they craft several intermediate samples that incrementally bridge the distance between their own template and the legitimate user's. As these adversarial samples are added to the template, the attacker is eventually accepted alongside the legitimate user. To avoid detection, we design the attack to minimize the number of rejected samples. We design our method to cope with weak assumptions for the attacker and we evaluate the effectiveness of this approach on state-of-the-art face recognition pipelines based on deep neural networks. We find that in white-box scenarios, adversaries can successfully carry out the attack in over 70 % of cases with less than ten injection attempts. Even in black-box scenarios, we find that exploiting the transferability of adversarial samples from surrogate models can lead to successful attacks in around 15 % of cases. Finally, we design a poisoning detection technique that leverages the consistent directionality of template updates in feature space to discriminate between legitimate and malicious updates. We evaluate such a countermeasure with a set of intra-user variability factors which may present the same directionality characteristics, obtaining equal error rates for the detection between 7-14% and leading to over 99% of attacks being detected after only two sample injections. We design our method to cope with weak assumptions for the attacker and we evaluate the effectiveness of this approach on state-of-the-art face recognition pipelines based on deep neural networks. We find that in white-box scenarios, adversaries can successfully carry out the attack in over 70 % of cases with less than ten injection attempts. Even in black-box scenarios, we find that exploiting the transferability of adversarial samples from surrogate models can lead to successful attacks in around 15 % of cases. Finally, we design a poisoning detection technique that leverages the consistent directionality of template updates in feature space to discriminate between legitimate and malicious updates. We evaluate such a countermeasure with a set of intra-user variability factors which may present the same directionality characteristics, obtaining equal error rates for the detection between 7-14% and leading to over 99% of attacks being detected after only two sample injections.
Laparoscopic adrenalectomy: lateral transperitoneal versus posterior retroperitoneal approach – prospective randomized trial

Introduction Laparoscopic adrenalectomy has become the gold standard of surgical treatment for benign adrenal masses. Two alternative surgical approaches are currently advocated: the lateral transperitoneal approach (LTA) and the posterior retroperitoneal approach (PRA). Several randomized trials have compared LTA to PRA, but most of them included small numbers of patients or had stringent inclusion criteria. Aim To compare clinical results of LTA and PRA endoscopic adrenalectomies for tumors < 8 cm with wide inclusion criteria. Material and methods We randomized 77 patients to either LTA (n = 33) or PRA (n = 44). The groups were comparable in terms of age, gender proportions, body mass index, tumor size, clinical and pathological diagnosis. We analyzed duration of surgery, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative pain, length of hospital stay and postoperative morbidity. Results The follow-up concerned 98.8% of patients and was on average 28 (8–47) months long. There were no conversions. We identified significantly lower intensity of pain assessed 24 h after surgery in the PRA group (3.4 ±1), as compared to LTA (4.2 ±1), with lower prevalence of shoulder pain (2.3% vs. 30.3%, respectively). Postoperative hospital stay was shorter in the PRA (1.14 ±0.4) than in the LTA (1.36 ±0.5) group. Perioperative morbidity concerned 4 patients in each group with pain requiring oral analgesia > 7 days. Conclusions To our knowledge this is the largest prospective randomized study comparing LTA to PRA. We demonstrated safety, efficacy and very low morbidity of both techniques. The PRA proved superior to LTA in terms of lower intensity of postoperative pain and shorter hospital stay.
DaDiDroid: An Obfuscation Resilient Tool for Detecting Android Malware via Weighted Directed Call Graph Modelling

With the number of new mobile malware instances increasing by over 50\% annually since 2012 [24], malware embedding in mobile apps is arguably one of the most serious security issues mobile platforms are exposed to. While obfuscation techniques are successfully used to protect the intellectual property of apps' developers, they are unfortunately also often used by cybercriminals to hide malicious content inside mobile apps and to deceive malware detection tools. As a consequence, most of mobile malware detection approaches fail in differentiating between benign and obfuscated malicious apps. We examine the graph features of mobile apps code by building weighted directed graphs of the API calls, and verify that malicious apps often share structural similarities that can be used to differentiate them from benign apps, even under a heavily "polluted" training set where a large majority of the apps are obfuscated. We present DaDiDroid an Android malware app detection tool that leverages features of the weighted directed graphs of API calls to detect the presence of malware code in (obfuscated) Android apps. We show that DaDiDroid significantly outperforms MaMaDroid [23], a recently proposed malware detection tool that has been proven very efficient in detecting malware in a clean non-obfuscated environment. We evaluate DaDiDroid's accuracy and robustness against several evasion techniques using various datasets for a total of 43,262 benign and 20,431 malware apps. We show that DaDiDroid correctly labels up to 96% of Android malware samples, while achieving an 91% accuracy with an exclusive use of a training set of obfuscated apps.
Interaction of Inhomogeneities of Repolarization With Anisotropic Propagation in Dog Atria: Mechanism for Both Preventing and Initiating Reentry

Having found the regional differences in right atrial action potentials shown in an accompanying article, we tested two seemingly paradoxical hypotheses: 1) The spatial pattern of repolarization provides a protective mechanism against reentry, and 2) repolarization inhomogeneities interact with anisotropic discontinuous propagation to produce reentry. Measurement of multidimensional refractory periods demonstrated an anisotropic distribution within large bundles with the longest refractory periods in the medial upper crista terminalis (sinus node area), a distribution similar to that of action potential durations. Also, discontinuities of repolarization were found at muscle bundle junctions. Early premature impulses originating in the sinus node area propagated throughout the right atrial preparations without conduction disturbances or reentry. Conversely, early premature impulses that originated at sites distal to the sinus node area resulted in localized conduction block at multiple sites, which frequently produced complex conduction changes and reentry. The critical nature of the site of origin of a premature impulse in initiating reentry was related to locations where the steepest repolarization gradients occurred: within anisotropic bundles in the direction of highest axial resistance (across fibers) and at muscle bundle junctions that represented localized discontinuities of axial resistance. The multiple conduction abnormalities at localized sites interacted to produce different types of reentry at a larger size scale (25 mm2 to several cm2). In each case, neither repolarization inhomogeneities (leading circle concept) nor anisotropic discontinuous propagation was the only "mechanism" involved. That is, reentry at a macroscopic size scale occurred as a result of a combined repolarization-anisotropic discontinuous propagation mechanism.
Accuracy of a deep convolutional neural network in detection of retinitis pigmentosa on ultrawide-field images

Evaluating the discrimination ability of a deep convolution neural network for ultrawide-field pseudocolor imaging and ultrawide-field autofluorescence of retinitis pigmentosa. In total, the 373 ultrawide-field pseudocolor and ultrawide-field autofluorescence images (150, retinitis pigmentosa; 223, normal) obtained from the patients who visited the Department of Ophthalmology, Tsukazaki Hospital were used. Training with a convolutional neural network on these learning data objects was conducted. We examined the K-fold cross validation (K = 5). The mean area under the curve of the ultrawide-field pseudocolor group was 0.998 (95% confidence interval (CI) [0.9953–1.0]) and that of the ultrawide-field autofluorescence group was 1.0 (95% CI [0.9994–1.0]). The sensitivity and specificity of the ultrawide-field pseudocolor group were 99.3% (95% CI [96.3%–100.0%]) and 99.1% (95% CI [96.1%–99.7%]), and those of the ultrawide-field autofluorescence group were 100% (95% CI [97.6%–100%]) and 99.5% (95% CI [96.8%–99.9%]), respectively. Heatmaps were in accordance with the clinician’s observations. Using the proposed deep neural network model, retinitis pigmentosa can be distinguished from healthy eyes with high sensitivity and specificity on ultrawide-field pseudocolor and ultrawide-field autofluorescence images.
GASP – XVI. Does cosmic web enhancement turn on star formation in galaxies?

Galaxy filaments are a peculiar environment, and their impact on the galaxy properties is still controversial. Exploiting the data from the GAs Stripping Phenomena in galaxies with MUSE (GASP), we provide the first characterisation of the spatially resolved properties of galaxies embedded in filaments in the local Universe. The four galaxies we focus on show peculiar ionised gas distributions: Halpha clouds have been observed beyond four times the effective radius. The gas kinematics, metallicity map and the ratios of emission line fluxes confirm that they do belong to the galaxy gas disk, the analysis of their spectra shows that very weak stellar continuum is associated to them. Similarly, the star formation history and luminosity weighted age maps point to a recent formation of such clouds. The clouds are powered by star formation, and are characterised by intermediate values of dust absorption. We hypothesise a scenario in which the observed features are due to "Cosmic Web Enhancement": we are most likely witnessing galaxies passing through or flowing within filaments that assist the gas cooling and increase the extent of the star formation in the densest regions in the circumgalactic gas. Targeted simulations are mandatory to better understand this phenomenon.
decay in supersymmetry with R-parity violation

In past years, several hints of lepton flavor universality (LFU) violation have emerged from the and data. More recently, the Belle Collaboration has reported the first measurement of the longitudinal polarization fraction in the decay. Motivated by this intriguing result, along with the recent measurements of and polarization, we present the study of decays in supersymmetry (SUSY) with -parity violation (RPV). We consider , , and modes and focus on the branching ratios, LFU ratios, forward-backward asymmetries, polarizations of daughter hadrons, and the lepton. The RPV SUSY was capable of explaining the anomalies at the level, after taking into account various flavor constraints. In the allowed parameter space, the differential branching fractions and LFU ratios are largely enhanced by the SUSY effects, especially in the large dilepton invariant mass region. Moreover, a lower bound 10−6 is obtained. These observables could provide testable signatures at the high-luminosity LHC and SuperKEKB, and correlate with direct searches for SUSY.