Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bridging Component Learning with Degradation Modelling for Blind Image Super-Resolution

Convolutional Neural Network (CNN)-based image super-resolution (SR) has exhibited impressive success on known degraded low-resolution (LR) images. However, this type of approach is hard to hold its performance in practical scenarios when the degradation process is unknown. Despite existing blind SR methods proposed to solve this problem using blur kernel estimation, the perceptual quality and reconstruction accuracy are still unsatisfactory. In this paper, we analyze the degradation of a high-resolution (HR) image from image intrinsic components according to a degradation-based formulation model. We propose a components decomposition and co-optimization network (CDCN) for blind SR. Firstly, CDCN decomposes the input LR image into structure and detail components in feature space. Then, the mutual collaboration block (MCB) is presented to exploit the relationship between both two components. In this way, the detail component can provide informative features to enrich the structural context and the structure component can carry structural context for better detail revealing via a mutual complementary manner. After that, we present a degradation-driven learning strategy to jointly supervise the HR image detail and structure restoration process. Finally, a multi-scale fusion module followed by an upsampling layer is designed to fuse the structure and detail features and perform SR reconstruction. Empowered by such degradation-based components decomposition, collaboration, and mutual optimization, we can bridge the correlation between component learning and degradation modelling for blind SR, thereby producing SR results with more accurate textures. Extensive experiments on both synthetic SR datasets and real-world images show that the proposed method achieves the state-of-the-art performance compared to existing methods.
On the metallicity dependence of crystalline silicates in oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch stars and red supergiants

We investigate the occurrence of crystalline silicates in oxygen-rich evolved stars across a range of metallicities and mass-loss rates. It has been suggested that the crystalline silicate feature strength increases with increasing mass-loss rate, implying a correlation between lattice structure and wind density. To test this, we analyse Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph and Infrared Space Observatory Short Wavelength Spectrometer spectra of 217 oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch and 98 red supergiants in the Milky Way, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, and Galactic globular clusters. These encompass a range of spectral morphologies from the spectrally rich which exhibit a wealth of crystalline and amorphous silicate features to ‘naked’ (dust-free) stars. We combine spectroscopic and photometric observations with the GRAMS grid of radiative transfer models to derive (dust) mass-loss rates and temperature. We then measure the strength of the crystalline silicate bands at 23, 28 and 33µm. We detect crystalline silicates in stars with dust mass-loss rates which span over 3 dex, down to rates . – –
Comment on “Schwinger's model of angular momentum with GUP” by Verma Harshit et al.

In this note, we show that the methodology and conclusions of "Schwinger's Model of Angular Momentum with GUP" [arxiv:1808.00766] are flawed and that the conclusions of "Generalized Uncertainty Principle and angular momentum" (P. Bosso and S. Das) [arxiv:1607.01083] remain valid.
Prevalence of the Risk Factors of Delirium Among COVID-19 Patients in the Intensive Care Unit at King Abdullah Medical City, Makkah: A Single-Center Study

Background Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) are at a higher risk of developing delirium. In this study, we estimated the incidence of delirium and its risk factors in ICU patients with COVID-19 at King Abdullah Medical City (KAMC), Makkah, Saudi Arabia. Methodology We conducted a retrospective, analytical, cohort study of adult COVID-19 patients admitted to the ICU of KAMC between May 2020 and July 2021. Data were collected from electronic medical records. Results Of the 406 examined patients with COVID-19 aged >18 years, 55 developed delirium in the ICU setting. The incidence rate was 0.59% per 100 ICU days in these 55 patients; the mean age was 62.36 ± 17.9 years, and 65.5% were men. Binary logistic regression showed that age (p = 0.027), nationality (p = 0.045), presence of infectious diseases other than COVID-19 (p = 0.047), and ICU outcome (p = 0.013) were significant risk factors for developing delirium. The clinical presentation and prognosis of patients who developed delirium were assessed using the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II and Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores, and the mean scores were 16.13 ± 7.96 and 5.25 ± 3.48, respectively. The mean length of ICU stay was 22.2 ± 33.3 days; 39 (70.9%) patients were discharged and 16 (29.1%) died. Conclusions Older age, nationality, infections, and ICU outcomes were risk factors for developing delirium in hospitalized COVID-19 patients at KAMC. Early detection of cognitive comorbidities and delirium in these patients is important.
Dynamic Residual Filtering With Laplacian Pyramid for Instance Segmentation

Various studies have been conducted on instance segmentation and made great strides over the past few years. Most recently, instance-specific mask generation via dynamic kernel predictions has shown the significant performance improvement even without bounding boxes as well as anchors. However, this scheme still does not fully consider dynamic properties since the size of the receptive field is not enough to cover the spatially-meaningful range due to memory limitations. Furthermore, the single-fused feature often fails to grasp complicated boundaries for objects of different sizes. In this article, we propose the dynamic residual filtering method with the Laplacian pyramid, which separately restores the global layout and local boundaries of instance masks. Specifically, we firstly apply the Laplacian pyramid-based decomposition scheme to features encoded from the backbone and subsequently restore sub-band mask residuals from coarse to fine pyramid levels. To do this, we design spatially-aware convolution filters to progressively capture the residual form of mask features at each level of the Laplacian pyramid while holding deformable receptive fields with dynamic offset information. This is fairly desirable since global and local properties of mask features can be accurately restored with keeping the spatial flexibility through the invertible process of the Laplacian reconstruction. Experimental results on the COCO dataset demonstrate that our proposed method achieves the state-of-the-art performance, i.e., 42.7% AP. The code and model are publicly available at: https://github.com/tjqansthd/LapMask.
The Morphology and Structure of Stellar Populations in the Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy from Dark Energy Survey Data

Using deep wide-field photometry 3 yr data (Y3) from the Dark Energy Survey (DES), we present a panoramic study of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The data presented here—a small subset of the full survey—uniformly cover a region of 25 deg2 centered on the galaxy to a depth of g ∼ 23.5. We use these data to study the structural properties of Fornax, overall stellar population, and its member stars in different evolutionary phases. We also search for possible signs of tidal disturbance. Fornax is found to be significantly more spatially extended than what early studies suggested. No statistically significant distortions or signs of tidal disturbances were found down to a surface brightness limit of ∼32.1 mag arcsec−2. However, there are hints of shell-like features located ∼20′–40′ from the center of Fornax that may be stellar debris from past merger events. We also find that intermediate-age and young main-sequence populations show different orientation at the galaxy center and have many substructures. The deep DES Y3 data allow us to characterize the age of those young stellar substructures with great accuracy, both those previously known and those newly identified as possible overdensities in this work, on the basis of their color–magnitude diagram morphology. We find that the youngest overdensities are all found on the eastern side of Fornax, where the Fornax field population itself is slightly younger than in the west. In summary, the high-quality DES Y3 data reveal that Fornax has many rich structures and provide insights into its complex formation history.
Adaptive Detail Injection-Based Feature Pyramid Network for Pan-Sharpening

Many remarkable works have been proposed to deal with distortions problems in image fusion to date. However, the spectral distortion and the spatial distortion cannot always be well addressed at the same time. To deal with this, we propose an Adaptive Feature Pyramid Network (AFPN) to efficiently embed an Adaptive Detail Injection (ADI) module at different scales. Feature-domain injection gains are proposed in the ADI module to adaptively modulate spatial information and guide a refined detail injection. Furthermore, we propose a texture loss function to further guide our model to learn detail perception in each band. Experiments on QuickBird and GaoFen-1 datasets show that our method achieves superior performance and produces visually pleasing fusion images. Our code is available at https://github.com/yisun98/AFPN.
A meta-analytic review of the relationship between explicit memory bias and depression: Depression features an explicit memory bias that persists beyond a depressive episode.

Emotional bias in explicit memory is theorized to play a prominent role in the etiology, maintenance, and recurrence of depression. Even though this cognitive bias is regarded as one of the most robust phenomena in depression, its magnitudeandboundaryconditions indepressionare currentlyunknown.Thisreviewpresents two three-level meta-analyses to estimate the overall effect size and identify moderators of explicit memory bias in depression. Meta-analysis I (153 studies, 686 contrasts) revealed a small overall effect size for naturalistic explicit memory bias in depression, g = 0.241, 95% CI [0.179, 0.304]. The magnitude of the overall effect was moderated by emotional valence of stimuli, operational de ﬁ nition of memory bias, depth of processing during encoding, explicit memory task, and the (non-)verbal nature of stimuli. Equivalent effect sizes were found for minors and adults as well as for clinical and subclinical depression. Remarkably, a nonsigni ﬁ canteffectsizeemergedfor remitteddepression.Followinguponthelatter ﬁ nding,Meta-analysisII (21 studies, 80 contrasts) examined explicit memory bias in remitted depression under naturalistic conditions and under mood/stress induction. Results yielded a nonsigni ﬁ cant overall effect size, g = 0.131, 95% CI [ − 0.045, 0.307], but a signi ﬁ cant effect size for study conditions with mood or stress induction, g = 0.273, 95% CI [0.004, 0.542]. Both meta-analyses indicated high levels of heterogeneity, even after accounting for variation explained by sample and study characteristics. The ﬁ ndings are consistent with the view that depression is characterized by an explicit memory bias that may persist beyond a depressive episode. These ﬁ ndingshaveimplicationsforcognitivetheoriesofvulnerabilitytodepressionaswellasclinicalinterventions.
Extended Radio Structures and a Compact X-Ray Cool-core in the Cluster Source PKS 1353–341

We present a radio and X-ray study of PKS 1353–341, the brightest cluster galaxy radio source at the center of a recent Chandra-discovered X-ray cluster. Our multi-frequency Very Large Array images reveal an edge-brightened (FR-II), double-lobed structure with a total ∼50 kpc extent, and 1.5 GHz power of 1.2 × 1025 W Hz−1, separated from the bright, arcsecond-scale core. We reanalyzed the Chandra data and found that the X-ray-emitting active galactic nucleus (AGN) is offset by ∼9 kpc from a compact X-ray cool-core with temperature kT = 3.1 ± 0.5 keV, and a radius of ∼22 kpc, surrounded by a hotter kT = 6.3 ± 0.7 keV gas out to ∼50 kpc. The offset suggests sloshing inside the cool-core induced by a minor merger or a past outburst of the AGN that produced large-scale radio lobes. The comparable spatial scales of the lobes with the interface between the different temperature X-ray plasmas indicate the lobes are actively heating the outer layers of what is now a remnant compact cool-core. Our dual-frequency Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA) images reveal substructure in the central radio source, consisting of a radio core with double-sided parsec-scale jets pointing toward the kiloparsec-scale structures. The northern jet is detected only at 8.4 GHz, indicating its emission is behind an absorbing torus or disk. We also measured faster apparent motions in the southern jet up to 1.9 ± 1.1c than in the northern jet (0.8 ± 0.5c). While the VLBA observations indicate the southern jet is aligned slightly closer to our line of sight, the asymmetries are overall modest and imply minimal projection effects in the large-scale radio structures.
Successful and Failed Flux Tube Emergence in the Solar Interior

We report on our 3D magnetohydrodynamic simulations of cylindrical weakly twisted flux tubes emerging from 18 Mm below the photosphere. We perform a parametric study by varying the initial magnetic field strength (B0), radius (R), twist (α), and length of the emerging part of the flux tube (λ) to investigate how these parameters affect the transfer of the magnetic field from the convection zone to the photosphere. We show that the efficiency of emergence at the photosphere (i.e., how strong the photospheric field will be in comparison to B0) depends not only on B0, but also on the morphology of the emerging field and on the twist. We show that parameters such as B0 and magnetic flux alone cannot determine whether a flux tube will emerge to the solar surface. For instance, high-B0 (weak-B0) fields may fail (succeed) to emerge at the photosphere, depending on their geometrical properties. We also show that the photospheric magnetic field strength can vary greatly for flux tubes with the same B0 but different geometric properties. Moreover, in some cases we have found scaling laws, whereby the magnetic field strength scales with the local density as B ∝ ρκ, where κ ≈ 1 deeper in the convection zone and κ < 1 close to the photosphere. The transition between the two values occurs approximately when the local pressure scale (Hp) becomes comparable to the diameter of the flux tube (Hp ≈ 2R). We derive forms to explain how and when these scaling laws appear and compare them with the numerical simulations.
Magnetic field topology of the cool, active, short-period binary system σ2 Coronae Borealis

Aims. The goal of this work is to study the cool, active binary star σ 2 CrB, focussing on its magnetic field. The two F9–G0 components of this system are tidally locked and in a close orbit, increasing the chance of interaction between their magnetospheres. Methods. We used Stokes IV data from the twin spectropolarimeters Narval at the TBL and ESPaDOnS at the CFHT. The least-squares deconvolution multi-line technique was used to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the data. We then applied a new binary Zeeman–Doppler imaging code to reconstruct simultaneously the magnetic topology and brightness distribution of both components of σ 2 CrB. This analysis was carried out for two observational epochs in 2014 and 2017. Results. A previously unconfirmed magnetic field of the primary star has been securely detected. At the same time, the polarisation signatures of the secondary appear to have a systematically larger amplitude than that of the primary. This corresponds to a stronger magnetic field, for which the magnetic energy of the secondary exceeds that of the primary by a factor of 3.3–5.7. While the magnetic energy is similar for the secondary star in the two epochs, the magnetic energy is about twice as high in 2017 for the primary. The magnetic field topology of the two stars in the earlier epoch (2014) is very different. The fractions of energy in the dipole and quadrupole components of the secondary are similar and thereafter decrease with increasing harmonic angular degree l . At the same time, for the primary the fraction of energy in the dipole component is low and the maximum energy contribution comes from l = 4. However, in the 2017 epoch both stars have similar field topologies and a systematically decreasing energy with increasing l . In the earlier epoch, the magnetic field at the visible pole appears to be of opposite polarity for the primary and secondary, suggesting linked magnetospheres. The apparent rotational periods of both σ 2 CrB components are longer than the orbital period, which we interpret as an evidence of a solar-like differential rotation. Conclusions. Despite their nearly identical fundamental parameters, the components of σ 2 CrB system exhibit different magnetic field properties. This indicates that the magnetic dynamo process is a very sensitive function of stellar parameters.
Energetics of Hi-C EUV brightenings

We study the thermal structure and energetics of the point-like extreme ultraviolet (EUV) brightenings within a system of fan loops observed in the active region AR 11520. These brightenings were simultaneously observed on 2012 July 11 by the High-resolution Coronal (Hi-C) imager and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) on board the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We identified 27 brightenings by automatically determining intensity enhancements in both Hi-C and AIA 193 Å light curves. The energetics of these brightenings were studied using the Differential Emission Measure (DEM) diagnostics. The DEM weighted temperatures of these transients are in the range log T(K) = 6.2−6.6 with radiative energies ≈1024−25 ergs and densities approximately equal to a few times 109 cm−3. To the best of our knowledge, these are the smallest brightenings in EUV ever detected. We used these results to determine the mechanism of energy loss in these brightenings. Our analysis reveals that the dominant mechanism of energy loss for all the identified brightenings is conduction rather than radiation.
The stellar content of the Hamburg/ESO survey. III. Field horizontal-branch stars in the Galaxy

We present a sample of 8321 candidate Field Horizontal-Branch (FHB) stars selected by automatic spectral classi- fication in the digital data base of the Hamburg/ESO objective-prism survey. The stars are distributed over 8225 square degrees of the southern sky, at |b| 30 deg. The average distance of the sample, assuming that they are all FHB stars, is 9.8 kpc, and distances of up to ∼30 kpc are reached. Moderate-resolution spectroscopic follow-up observations and UB V photometry of 125 test sample stars demonstrate that the contamination of the full candidate sample with main-sequence A-type stars is <16%, while it would be up to 50% in a flux-limited sample at high galactic latitudes. Hence more than ∼6800 of our FHB candidates are expected to be genuine FHB stars. The candidates are being used as distance probes for high-velocity clouds and for studies of the structure and kinematics of the Galactic halo.
Universes without the weak force: Astrophysical processes with stable neutrons

We investigate a class of universes in which the weak interaction is not in operation. We consider how astrophysical processes are altered in the absence of weak forces, including Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), galaxy formation, molecular cloud assembly, star formation, and stellar evolution. Without weak interactions, neutrons no longer decay, and the universe emerges from its early epochs with a mixture of protons, neutrons, deuterium, and helium. The baryon-to-photon ratio must be smaller than the canonical value in our universe to allow free nucleons to survive the BBN epoch without being incorporated into heavier nuclei. At later times, the free neutrons readily combine with protons to make deuterium in sufficiently dense parts of the interstellar medium, and provide a power source before they are incorporated into stars. Almost all of the neutrons are incorporated into deuterium nuclei before stars are formed. As a result, stellar evolution proceeds primarily through strong interactions, with deuterium first burning into helium, and then helium fusing into carbon. Low-mass deuterium-burning stars can be long-lived, and higher mass stars can synthesize the heavier elements necessary for life. Although somewhat different from our own, such universes remain potentially habitable.
Effect of Phenolic Compounds from Almond Skins Obtained by Water Extraction on Pork Patty Shelf Life

The extraction of phenols from almond skin using water has not been applied before. The purpose of this study was to obtain aqueous extracts from almond skin to be added to pork patties to prolong their shelf life. Four different varieties of almonds were studied and aqueous extracts were obtained. The antioxidant capacity and composition of phenol compounds of the extracts were determined. Results showed that the use of water produces extracts with phenol compounds and antioxidant capacity, with the Antoñeta variety presenting the best performance in terms of antioxidant behavior. The most abundant phenolic compounds identified were isorhamentin-3-O-rutinoside, catechin and protocatechuic acid, all of them had a hydrophilic character due to the –OH groups in their molecules. The effect of almond skin extracts (ALMOND) on the shelf life of pork patties was compared with the effects of a control without extract (CONTROL NEG) and a control with sodium ascorbate (CONTROL POS). Throughout storage, values of pH, weight loss, headspace composition, color, TBARs and psychrotrophic aerobic bacteria were studied. CONTROL POS samples showed the lowest lipid oxidation values in comparison to CONTROL NEG or ALMOND extract samples.
Search for microscopic black holes in a like-sign dimuon final state using large track multiplicity with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for microscopic black holes in a like-sign dimuon final state in proton--proton collisions at sqrt(s)= 8 TeV. The data were collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012 and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20.3 fb-1. Using a high track multiplicity requirement, 0.6 +- 0.2 background events from Standard Model processes are predicted and none observed. This result is interpreted in the context of low-scale gravity models and 95% CL lower limits on microscopic black hole masses are set for different model assumptions.