Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Dark Matter Subhalos, Strong Lensing and Machine Learning

We investigate the possibility of applying machine learning techniques to images of strongly lensed galaxies to detect a low mass cut-off in the spectrum of dark matter sub-halos within the lens system. We generate lensed images of systems containing substructure in seven different categories corresponding to lower mass cut-offs ranging from $10^9M_\odot$ down to $10^6M_\odot$. We use convolutional neural networks to perform a multi-classification sorting of these images and see that the algorithm is able to correctly identify the lower mass cut-off within an order of magnitude to better than 93% accuracy.
On the Robustness of Language Encoders against Grammatical Errors

We conduct a thorough study to diagnose the behaviors of pre-trained language encoders (ELMo, BERT, and RoBERTa) when confronted with natural grammatical errors. Specifically, we collect real grammatical errors from non-native speakers and conduct adversarial attacks to simulate these errors on clean text data. We use this approach to facilitate debugging models on downstream applications. Results confirm that the performance of all tested models is affected but the degree of impact varies. To interpret model behaviors, we further design a linguistic acceptability task to reveal their abilities in identifying ungrammatical sentences and the position of errors. We find that fixed contextual encoders with a simple classifier trained on the prediction of sentence correctness are able to locate error positions. We also design a cloze test for BERT and discover that BERT captures the interaction between errors and specific tokens in context. Our results shed light on understanding the robustness and behaviors of language encoders against grammatical errors.
TextAttack: A Framework for Adversarial Attacks in Natural Language Processing

TextAttack is a library for running adversarial attacks against natural language processing (NLP) models. TextAttack builds attacks from four components: a search method, goal function, transformation, and a set of constraints. Researchers can use these components to easily assemble new attacks. Individual components can be isolated and compared for easier ablation studies. TextAttack currently supports attacks on models trained for text classification and entailment across a variety of datasets. Additionally, TextAttack's modular design makes it easily extensible to new NLP tasks, models, and attack strategies. TextAttack code and tutorials are available at https://github.com/QData/TextAttack.
Carbon stars as standard candles: I. The luminosity function of carbon stars in the Magellanic Clouds

Our goal in this paper is to derive a carbon-star luminosity function that will eventually be used to determine distances to galaxies at 50–60 Mpc and hence yield a value of the Hubble constant. Cool N-type carbon stars exhibit redder near-infrared colours than oxygen-rich stars. Using Two Micron All Sky Survey near-infrared photometry and the Gaia Data Release 2, we identify carbon stars in the Magellanic Clouds (MC) and the Milky Way (MW). Carbon stars in the MC appear as a distinct horizontal feature in the near-infrared ((J − Ks)0, MJ) colour–magnitude diagram. We build a colour selection (1.4 < (J − Ks)0 < 2) and derive the luminosity function of the colour-selected carbon stars. We find the median absolute magnitude and the dispersion, in the J band, for the Large and the Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC/SMC) to be, respectively, ($\bar{M_J} = -6.284~\pm ~0.004$ and σ = 0.352 ± 0.005) and ($\bar{M_J} = -6.160~\pm ~0.015$ and σ = 0.365 ± 0.014). The difference between the MC may be explained by the lower metallicity of the SMC, but in any case it provides limits on the type of galaxy whose distance can be determined with this technique. To account for metallicity effects, we developed a composite magnitude, named C, for which the error-weighted mean C magnitude of the MC are equal. Thanks to the next generation of telescopes (JWST, ELT, and TMT), carbon stars could be detected in MC-type galaxies at distances out to 50–60 Mpc. The final goal is to eventually try and improve the measurement of the Hubble constant while exploring the current tensions related to its value.
The histopathology of experimentally induced infections of Spiroplasma taiwanense (Class : Mollicutes) in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes

Abstract Histopathology visible in premortem female Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes was examined using light and transmission electron microscopy at 5 days postintrathoracic inoculation with Spiroplasma taiwanense strain SP2/sl/mut/P9. Light microscopy showed thoracic flight muscle to have undergone extensive degradation and polysaccharide depletion. Transmission electron microscopy revealed spiroplasmas both extra- and intra-cellularly and occurring in hemolymph, thoracic flight muscle, glial cells, neural lamella, hemocytes, an unknown cell type found in juxtaposition with axon bundles, connective tissue surrounding diverticulum and midgut, trophocytes, and tracheocytes. Replication of spiroplasmas within cells caused cellular lysis and the liberation of spiroplasmas into the hemolymph. Necrosis of infected muscle cells involved, successively, condensation, swelling, and lysis of mitochondria, Z-disc loss, and splitting of myofibrils. Nerve cord axons surrounded by infected glial cells were distended by swollen mitochondria. Spiroplasmas were able to survive and replicate in hemolymph and within phagocytic vacuoles of hemocytes, independent of any host immune response. Pathologies observed within thoracic flight muscle resulted from intracellular replication of spiroplasmas and probably produced the loss of flight capacity observed for these mosquitoes. Neurological involvement and/or the presence of toxic metabolites may represent additional pathogenic determinants. The existence of life-history stages described previously in vitro were confirmed in vivo .
A catalogue of open cluster radii determined from Gaia proper motions

We are very grateful to the referee for his/her careful reading of the manuscript and helpful comments and suggestions, which improved this paper. NS and EJA acknowledge support from the Spanish Government Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades ´ through grant PGC2018-095049-B-C21 and from the State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the ‘Center of Excellence Severo Ochoa’ award for the Instituto de Astrof´isica de Andaluc´ia (SEV-2017-0709). FL-M acknowledges partial support by the Fondos de Inversiones de Teruel (FITE).
Kinematics of the Magellanic Stream and Implications for Its Ionization

The Magellanic Stream and the Leading Arm form a massive, filamentary system of gas clouds surrounding the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Here we present a new component-level analysis of their ultraviolet (UV) kinematic properties using a sample of 31 sightlines through the Magellanic System observed with the Hubble Space Telescope/Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. Using Voigt-profile fits to UV metal-line absorption, we quantify the kinematic differences between the low-ion ( and ), intermediate-ion ( ), and high-ion ( and ) absorption lines and compare the kinematics between the Stream and Leading Arm. We find that the Stream shows generally simple, single-phase kinematics, with statistically indistinguishable b-value distributions for the low-, intermediate-, and high-ion components, all dominated by narrow ( km s−1) components that are well aligned in velocity. In contrast, we find tentative evidence that the Leading Arm shows complex, multi-phase kinematics, with broader high ions than low ions. These results suggest that the Stream is photoionized up to by a hard ionizing radiation field. This can be naturally explained by the Seyfert-flare model of Bland-Hawthorn, in which a burst of ionizing radiation from the Galactic Center photoionized the Stream as it passed below the south Galactic pole. The Seyfert flare is the only known source of radiation that is both powerful enough to explain the Hα intensity of the Stream and hard enough to photoionize and to the observed levels. The flare’s timescale of a few Myr suggests it is the same event that created the giant X-ray/γ-ray Fermi Bubbles at the Galactic Center.
Kırıkkale yöresinde üretilen bazı kaba yemlerde besin madde miktarları ve metabolize olabilir enerji düzeylerinin belirlenmesi

Bu calisma Kirikkale yoresinde uretilen ve ruminant beslemede yaygin olarak kullanilan bazi kaba yemlerde ham besin madde miktarlari ile metabolize olabilir enerji (ME) duzeylerinin belirlenmesi amaciyla yapilmistir. Arastirmada Kirikkale yoresinde uretilen bazi kaba yemler (yonca kuru otu, macar figi kuru otu, misir silaji, kuru misir hasili, bugday samani, nohut samani ve uzum cibresi) kullanilmistir. Kaba yem orneklerinde kuru madde (KM), ham protein (HP), ham kul (HK), ham yag (HY) analizleri Weende analiz sistemine gore ve ham seluloz (HS) analizleri ise Crampton ve Maynard metoduna gore yapilmistir. Yemlerin asit deterjan fiber (ADF) ve asit deterjan lignin (ADL) icerikleri ise Van Soest yontemine gore belirlenmistir. Yem maddelerinde ME degerleri HS, ADF ve ADL sonuclarindan yararlanilarak hesaplanmistir. Kaba yemlerin KM duzeyleri %90.12-95.31 arasinda degismektedir. Iyi kaliteli ve kotu kaliteli yonca kuru otu, misir silaji, bugday samani ve uzum cibresinde ortalama HP ve HS miktarlari sirasiyla %20.26, 12.11, 5.61, 3.63, 12.15 ve 24.71, 30.62, 33.30, 45.53, 33.52 olarak belirlenmistir. Bu calismada, Kirikkale yoresinde uretilen bazi kaba yemlerin besin madde kompozisyonu ve enerji degerleri tespit edilerek tablo haline getirilmistir
Tunable coupling of two mechanical resonators by a graphene membrane

Coupled nanomechanical resonators are interesting for both fundamental studies and practical applications as they offer rich and tunable oscillation dynamics. At present, the mechanical coupling in such systems is often mediated by a fixed geometry, such as a joint clamping point of the resonators or a displacement-dependent force. Here we show a graphene-integrated electromechanical system consisting of two physically separated mechanical resonators—a hybrid graphene comb-drive actuator system and a suspended silicon beam—that are tunably coupled by the integrated graphene membrane. The graphene membrane, moreover, provides a sensitive electrical read-out for the two resonating systems showing 16 different modes in the frequency range from 0.4 to 24 MHz. In addition, by pulling on the graphene membrane with an electrostatic potential applied to silicon beam resonator, we control the mechanical coupling, quantified by the g-factor, from 20 kHz to 100 kHz. Our results pave the way for coupled nanoelectromechanical systems requiring controllable mechanically coupled resonators.
Topology optimization of permanent magnets for stellarators

We introduce a topology optimization method to design permanent magnets for advanced stellarators. Recent research shows that permanent magnets have great potential to simplify stellarator coils. We adopt state-of-the-art numerical techniques to determine the presence of magnets in the entire design space. The FAMUS code is developed and it can design engineering-feasible permanent magnets for general stellarators satisfying the constraints of the maximum material magnetization and explicit forbidden regions. FAMUS has been successfully verified against the previously proposed linear method. Three different permanent magnet designs together with planar TF coils for a half-Tesla NCSX configuration have been obtained for demonstrations. The designs have good accuracy in generating the desired equilibrium and offer considerably large plasma access on the outboard side. The results show that FAMUS is a flexible, advanced numerical tool for future permanent magnet stellarator designs.
Latent Fingerprint Registration via Matching Densely Sampled Points

Latent fingerprint matching is a very important but unsolved problem. As a key step of fingerprint matching, fingerprint registration has a great impact on the recognition performance. Existing latent fingerprint registration approaches are mainly based on establishing correspondences between minutiae, and hence will certainly fail when there are no sufficient number of extracted minutiae due to small fingerprint area or poor image quality. Minutiae extraction has become the bottleneck of latent fingerprint registration. In this paper, we propose a non-minutia latent fingerprint registration method which estimates the spatial transformation between a pair of fingerprints through a dense fingerprint patch alignment and matching procedure. Given a pair of fingerprints to match, we bypass the minutiae extraction step and take uniformly sampled points as key points. Then the proposed patch alignment and matching algorithm compares all pairs of sampling points and produces their similarities along with alignment parameters. Finally, a set of consistent correspondences are found by spectral clustering. Extensive experiments on NIST27 database and MOLF database show that the proposed method achieves the state-of-the-art registration performance, especially under challenging conditions. Code is made publicly available at: https://github.com/Gus233/Latent-Fingerprint-Registration.
A Three-step Approach for Modelling Tree Mortality in Swedish Forests

A new system is presented for predicting tree mortality, in order to improve Swedish long-term forest planning. A three-step approach was used, which consists of (I) estimating the probability of mortality on a sample plot; (II) quantifying the mortality in terms of proportion of basal area; and (III) distributing the mortality among individual trees. The system predicts the mortality for 5 yr periods. Data from permanent sample plots of the Swedish National Forest Inventory were used. Independent variables used for steps I and II were specific to site, stand and plot characteristics. In the step III models, which were tree-species specific, competition indices were also included. Logistic regression was used for steps I and III models, while linear regression was used for the step II models. A fair performance of the functions was observed, although mortality is a highly stochastic process. In applications, random simulation in all steps can mimic this.
Long non-coding RNA LINC00346 contributes to cisplatin resistance in nasopharyngeal carcinoma by repressing miR-342-5p

Cisplatin has been used as the first-line chemotherapy to treat advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC), while acquired cisplatin resistance resulting from epigenetic regulation is not well understood. The relative expression of LINC00346 was detected in healthy persons, cisplatin-sensitive (CS) patients and cisplatin-resistant (CR) patients. The regulatory effect of LINC00346 on the proliferation was detected by cell-counting kit-8. Apoptosis was assayed by histone/DNA ELISA and Caspase-3 activity. Clonal formation and cisplatin resistance were also deciphered. Luciferase reporter and RNA immunoprecipitation assay were adopted to study the interaction between LINC00346 and miR-342-5p. LINC00346 was highly expressed in NPC patients, especially in CR patients, which was associated with cisplatin resistance and poor prognosis. Inhibition of LINC00346 expression promoted cisplatin sensitivity of NPC cells, while LINC00346 over-expression promoted cisplatin resistance of NPC cells. miR-342-5p expression was negatively correlated with cisplatin resistance, and microRNA-342-5p siRNAs treatment could rescue the cisplatin resistance diminished by LINC00346 inhibition. It was further found that miR-342-5p was negatively regulated by LINC00346. In conclusion, LINC00346 regulates the cisplatin resistance of NPC cells by inhibiting miR-342-5p, which could provide a potential target for chemotherapy resistance.
Mathematical modelling of the role of GADD45β in the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma

Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable disease with relatively high morbidity and mortality rates. Great efforts were made to develop nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB)-targeted therapies against MM disease. However, these treatments influence MM cells as well as normal cells, inevitably causing serious side effects. Further research showed that NF-κB signalling promotes the survival of MM cells by interacting with JNK signalling through growth arrest and DNA damage-inducible beta (GADD45β), the downstream module of NF-κB signalling. The GADD45β-targeted intervention was suggested to be an effective and MM cell-specific treatment. However, the underlying mechanism through which GADD45β promotes the survival of MM cells is usually ignored in the previous models. A mathematical model of MM is built in this paper to investigate how NF-κB signalling acts along with JNK signalling through GADD45β and MKK7 to promote the survival of MM cells. The model cannot only mimic the variations in bone cells, the bone volume and MM cells with time, but it can also examine how the NF-κB pathway acts with the JNK pathway to promote the development of MM cells. In addition, the model also investigates the efficacies of GADD45β- and NF-κB-targeted treatments, suggesting that GADD45β-targeted therapy is more effective but has no apparent side effects. The simulation results match the experimental observations. It is anticipated that this model could be employed as a useful tool to initially investigate and even explore potential therapies involving the NF-κB and JNK pathways in the future.
Leptin Reversal of the Metabolic Phenotype: Evidence for the Role of Developmental Plasticity in the Development of the Metabolic Syndrome

Events in early life are associated with changes in the risk of disease in later life. There is increasing evidence that these associations are mediated by permanent transcriptional changes in metabolic pathways, in some cases linked to epigenetic alterations. We have proposed that this phenomenon of ‘developmental induction’ is not a manifestation of pathophysiological processes but rather represents the consequence of developmental decisions made during fetal and early postnatal life to maximize subsequent fitness. However, this fitness advantage is lost if the early and later environments are mismatched. Rats undernourished in utero by maternal underfeeding develop features of the metabolic syndrome, especially if fed on a high-fat diet, but transient neonatal treatment with leptin reverses induction of this adverse metabolic phenotype. This observation demonstrates that developmental programming is reversible and provides strong support for the match-mismatch or predictive model for the origins of developmental programming.
The parasitoid Gonatopus bartletti reduces presence of plant‐pathogenic Spiroplasma kunkelii within the leafhopper vector Dalbulus maidis

Homopteran vectors (e.g., leafhoppers) of plant pathogens are vessels for reproduction of cell wall‐free bacteria. These vectors also serve as hosts for larval parasitoid dipterans, hymenopterans, and strepsipterans. However, no study has explored the relationship among these wall‐free bacteria and parasitoid larvae within the insect host. We studied the corn stunt spiroplasma (CSS), Spiroplasma kunkelii Whitcomb (Mycoplasmatales: Spiroplasmataceae), a bacterium that originated from secondary symbionts that cause corn stunt disease in maize, Zea mays L. , and its reproduction in the haemolymph of the corn leafhopper, Dalbulus maidis (Delong and Wolcott) (Homoptera: Cicadellidae). We also studied the dryinid parasitoid Gonatopus bartletti Olmi (Hymenoptera: Dryinidae), the larva of which feeds in the corn leafhopper haemolymph. Our results showed that when CSS and the wasp coexisted in D. maidis, the development of the parasitoid was not affected by S. kunkelii. Parasitoid development was successfully completed when leafhoppers acquired S. kunkelii before or after parasitism and when CSS had median (10 days) and long (20 days) incubation periods in the leafhopper before parasitization. The presence of S. kunkelii did not affect parasitoid development to the adult stage. However, polymerase chain reaction showed that the presence (survival) of S. kunkelii in the leafhopper was negatively affected by the parasitoid larva. Fewer leafhoppers had CSS before and after parasitization compared with leafhoppers that only acquired the CSS. This negative effect helps to explain the high parasitism rate by G. bartletti in D. maidis and the low presence of S. kunkelii in the corn leafhopper when CSS and the wasp parasitoid overlap throughout their geographic distribution. The parasitoid larva may negatively affect S. kunkelii by (1) producing antibacterial peptides that are toxic to CSS; (2) producing teratocytes that take nutrients from the host for larval development, but these nutrients are required by CSS; (3) affecting, indirectly, CSS through other symbiotic microorganisms; and (4) producing proteins with antibacterial activity that are present in the venom of the wasp parasitoid.
Population spatial structure and migration of three butterfly species within the same habitat network: consequences for conservation.

1. In this study we addressed the question of the generalization of population viability analysis by comparing migration of different butterfly species in the same habitat network. We compared (i) the population spatial structure and (ii) the migration between local populations in three butterfly specialist species living in the same habitat (chalk grassland) within the same habitat network (eight patches) at the same time. 2. For the three species, population structures within the study system were considered as metapopulations. However, their patch occupancy and migration patterns differed strongly, from a species with six small populations, one being apparently isolated (Cupido minimus), to a species with eight populations connected by individual movement with all others within the landscape (Melanargia galathea). 3. Patch area of both donor and receiver sites affected migration rate in M. galathea. Patch quality may interfere with this area effect in Aporia crataegi. Increasing distance between patches decreased both the probability of movements between local population and the number of moving butterflies. The distribution of migration distances differed between A. crataegi and M. galathea: this distribution followed an inverse-power function for A. crataegi, and an exponential-negative function for M. galathea. 4. These differences in population structure and migration patterns will have consequences for population viability analyses: the persistence of C. minimus cannot be expected if the habitat network is designed on the basis of the requirements of the two other species. Therefore, metapopulation persistence analyses have to remain species-specific. As such analyses are impossible to perform on every threatened species living in a given habitat, we propose a preliminary screening of the most fragile candidate based on its population structure and mobility.
Diversity and Phenology of the Braconid Community (Hymenoptera: Braconidae) in the Mediterranean Protected Landscape of Sierra Calderona (Spain)

The diversity of the Braconidae subfamilies (Hymenoptera) in the protected landscape of the Natural Park of Sierra Calderona (Eastern Spain) is analysed. Samplings have been carried out along 2010 in three different habitats: almond crop, Oak forest (Quercus suber L.) and Pine forest (Pinus halepensis Miller). In total, 2166 braconid specimens, belonging to 23 subfamilies, have been captured. Alpha, beta and gamma diversities are analysed. As a result, almond crop habitat is proven to show the greatest diversity. The structure of the community and the phenology in each habitat are also analysed.