Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Exoplanet secondary atmosphere loss and revival

Significance Earth and Venus have significant atmospheres, but Mercury does not. Thousands of exoplanets are known, but we know almost nothing about rocky exoplanet atmospheres. Many rocky exoplanets were formed by a sub-Neptune-to-super-Earth conversion process during which planets lose most of their H2-rich (primary) atmospheres and are reduced in volume by a factor of >2. Does such a gas-rich adolescence increase or decrease the likelihood that super-Earths will subsequently exhibit a H2-poor (secondary) atmosphere? We show that secondary atmospheres exsolved from the magma ocean are unlikely to be retained by super-Earths, but it is possible for volcanic outgassing to revive super-Earth atmospheres. For M-dwarf planetary systems, super-Earths that have atmospheres close to the star likely were formed with abundant volatiles. The next step on the path toward another Earth is to find atmospheres similar to those of Earth and Venus—high–molecular-weight (secondary) atmospheres—on rocky exoplanets. Many rocky exoplanets are born with thick (>10 kbar) H2-dominated atmospheres but subsequently lose their H2; this process has no known Solar System analog. We study the consequences of early loss of a thick H2 atmosphere for subsequent occurrence of a high–molecular-weight atmosphere using a simple model of atmosphere evolution (including atmosphere loss to space, magma ocean crystallization, and volcanic outgassing). We also calculate atmosphere survival for rocky worlds that start with no H2. Our results imply that most rocky exoplanets orbiting closer to their star than the habitable zone that were formed with thick H2-dominated atmospheres lack high–molecular-weight atmospheres today. During early magma ocean crystallization, high–molecular-weight species usually do not form long-lived high–molecular-weight atmospheres; instead, they are lost to space alongside H2. This early volatile depletion also makes it more difficult for later volcanic outgassing to revive the atmosphere. However, atmospheres should persist on worlds that start with abundant volatiles (for example, water worlds). Our results imply that in order to find high–molecular-weight atmospheres on warm exoplanets orbiting M-stars, we should target worlds that formed H2-poor, that have anomalously large radii, or that orbit less active stars.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Regional Lockdown Policies in the Containment of Covid-19: Evidence from Pakistan

To slow down the spread of Covid-19, administrative regions within Pakistan imposed complete and partial lockdown restrictions on socio-economic activities, religious congregations, and human movement. Here we examine the impact of regional lockdown strategies on Covid-19 outcomes. After conducting econometric analyses (Regression Discontinuity and Negative Binomial Regressions) on official data from the National Institute of Health (NIH) Pakistan, we find that strategies did not lead to a similar level of Covid-19 caseload (positive cases and deaths) in all regions. In terms of reduction in the overall caseload (positive cases and deaths), compared to no lockdown, complete and partial lockdown were effective in four regions: Balochistan, Gilgit Baltistan (GB), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT), and Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Contrarily, complete and partial lockdowns were ineffective in containing the virus in the Punjab, Sindh, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) regions. A divided response of the government, a significant proportion of daily wagers, poor habitat conditions, religious gatherings, and public attitude towards the virus jointly contributed to the ineffectiveness of lockdowns in the three largest regions. The observed regional heterogeneity in the effectiveness of lockdowns advocates for careful use of lockdown strategies based on the political, demographic, socio-economic, and religious factors.
BREEDING SYSTEMS IN COTULA III. DIOECIOUS POPULATIONS

Summary Some male and female plants of dioecious populations of seven Cotula species are strictly unisexual, or constant; other plants of the same populations are inconstant, with a low proportion of florets of the opposite sex (minority-sex florets) which function normally. The distribution of minority-sex florets among heads of male and female plants is shown by rank-frequency curves. The average inconstancies of males and females are quantified as the proportions of genes transmitted via gametes of the minority-sex florets, estimated by the proportions of minority-sex florets. The average inconstancy of males is 9.9 × 10−4; that of females is 4.3 × 10−4. The Primary Sex Index, 0.9993, is the average constancy (1—inconstancy) of all individuals. This provides a measure of the degree of separation of male and female gamete functions in the two sexes, on a scale from 0.5 (sexual monomorphism) to 1.0 (complete separation of the sexes). The sex Asymmetry Index, male inconstancy–female inconstancy/male inconstancy + female inconstancy, + 0.39, measures the relative magnitude of inconstancies of the two sexes on a scale from –1.0 (androdioecy) to + 1.0 (gynodioecy). Male and female heads differ in several secondary characters. The progeny of experimental crosses show that females are heterogametic and males are homogametic for sex-determining chromosomes. Males and females occur in equal numbers in the progeny of male × female crosses and in natural populations. The distribution and experimental manipulation of sex inconstancies provide considerable information on the origin and genetic maintenance of dioecy. The evolution of dioecy in Cotula has been accomplished by divergence in the sexes of the timing of the switch from male floret to female floret formation during head development, rather than by the introduction of male- and female-sterility genes. No genes essential for female reproduction are restricted to the Y chromosome. A polyploid series in the dioecious populations (2n= 52 to 2n=c.312) indicates an ‘active Y’ mechanism, and may have been facilitated by the regeneration of sexual dimorphism from inconstant females with new chromosome numbers.
THE ORIENTATION BEHAVIOUR OF HORSE FLIES AND DEER FLIES (TABANIDAE: DIPTERA) IV. THE INFLUENCE OF SOME PHYSICAL MODIFICATIONS OF VISUAL DECOYS ON ORIENTATION OF HORSE FLIES

It was shown that the orientation of adult tabanids to visually attractive glossy black targets is little influenced by temperature and wind‐actuated movement of the targets. The size of the targets was critical only for small targets provided that the black silhouette area was reduced without dappling or without striping by light‐coloured areas.
Population Dynamics of Woolly Apple Aphid (Homoptera: Aphididae) in West Virginia Apple Orchards

Woolly apple aphid, Eriosoma lanigerum (Hausmann), populations were studied in eastern West Virginia from 1985 to 1989. In an unsprayed orchard, peak abundance of arboreal populations was 22–24 colonies per tree in early June each year. Spraying the orchard with a pyrethroid three times during 1989 had little effect on the population behavior, demonstrating the resilience of the woolly apple aphid and its natural enemy guild. Nearly 20% of the aphid colonies in June had syrphid larvae present and parasitism by Aphelinus mali (Haldeman) was >50% in July. Age structure of arboreal woolly apple aphid colonies varied through the summer with a significant reduction in first instars in July, signalling a return of aphids to the edaphic from the arboreal environment at that time. Samples of arboreal populations were not useful for predicting year-to-year population abundance or the extent of root infestations in a managed orchard. Microhabitat preference of arboreal colonies during the spring was for wound sites and other protected feeding sites on the tree branches and trunk. Leaf axils were the predominant microhabitat (51% of the colonies observed) from the end of May through August. Cicada oviposition sites were also highly preferred, with one orchard having 98% of the colonies in cicada oviposition scars. Woolly apple aphid colonies were observed more often in wounds and protected sites on branches in sprayed orchards and in high density populations than in unsprayed or low density populations. We suggest that these protected sites act as refugia for woolly apple aphid populations in apple orchards.
Late-time Circumstellar Interaction of SN 2017eaw in NGC 6946

SN 2017eaw, the tenth supernova observed in NGC 6946, was a normal Type II-P supernova with an estimated 11–13 M⊙ red supergiant progenitor. Here we present nebular-phase spectra of SN 2017eaw at +545 and +900 days post-max, extending approximately 50–400 days past the epochs of previously published spectra. While the +545 day spectrum is similar to spectra taken between days +400 and +493, the +900 day spectrum shows dramatic changes both in spectral features and emission-line profiles. The Hα emission is flat-topped and boxlike with sharp blue and red profile velocities of ≃−8000 and +7500 km s−1. These late-time spectral changes indicate strong circumstellar interaction with a mass-loss shell, expelled ∼1700 yr before explosion. SN 2017eaw’s +900 day spectrum is similar to those seen for SN 2004et and SN 2013ej observed 2–3 yr after explosion. We discuss the importance of late-time monitoring of bright SNe II-P and the nature of presupernova mass-loss events for SN II-P evolution.
Some Theoretical Insights into Wasserstein GANs

Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have been successful in producing outstanding results in areas as diverse as image, video, and text generation. Building on these successes, a large number of empirical studies have validated the benefits of the cousin approach called Wasserstein GANs (WGANs), which brings stabilization in the training process. In the present paper, we add a new stone to the edifice by proposing some theoretical advances in the properties of WGANs. First, we properly define the architecture of WGANs in the context of integral probability metrics parameterized by neural networks and highlight some of their basic mathematical features. We stress in particular interesting optimization properties arising from the use of a parametric 1-Lipschitz discriminator. Then, in a statistically-driven approach, we study the convergence of empirical WGANs as the sample size tends to infinity, and clarify the adversarial effects of the generator and the discrimi-nator by underlining some trade-off properties. These features are finally illustrated with experiments using both synthetic and real-world datasets.
The Influence of Two Systemic Organophosphates on Growth, Fruiting, and Yield of Cotton in California

The growth and fruiting pattern of cotton plants were noticeably altered in association with the use of two systemic organophosphorus insecticides. Phorate was applied as a seed treatment, and ph orate and Di-Syston®( O,O -diethyl S -[2-(ethylthio)-ethyl] phosphorodithioate) were applied as granular formulations in the soil either at planting time or in June. Phorate treatments at planting time delayed seedling emergence and reduced the number of plants per acre at one or more locations, and resulted in greater plant height and leaf size in all tests. Fruiting was delayed or reduced for up to 3 weeks in treated plots at two locations and was earlier and greater at two others. Yield differenees between treated and untreated plots were evident in 1959 and 1960, with significant increases from treatment in some plots and decreases in other plots in 1960 for both planting time and mid season applications. Differences in uniformity of fiber length in 1959 and in fiber maturity in 1960 were evident at Shafter but not elsewhere in treated plots compared to untreated plots. Lint per cent, fiber strength, and seed viability were not affected by treatment. Insect and spider mite control obtained with these materials apparently was not a contributing cause for growth and fruiting differences.
An outflow powers the optical rise of the nearby, fast-evolving tidal disruption event AT2019qiz

At 66 Mpc, AT2019qiz is the closest optical tidal disruption event (TDE) to date, with a luminosity intermediate between the bulk of the population and the faint-and-fast event iPTF16fnl. Its proximity allowed a very early detection and triggering of multiwavelength and spectroscopic follow-up well before maximum light. The velocity dispersion of the host galaxy and fits to the TDE light curve indicate a black hole mass ≈106 M⊙, disrupting a star of ≈1 M⊙. By analysing our comprehensive UV, optical, and X-ray data, we show that the early optical emission is dominated by an outflow, with a luminosity evolution L ∝ t2, consistent with a photosphere expanding at constant velocity (≳2000 km s−1), and a line-forming region producing initially blueshifted H and He ii profiles with v = 3000–10 000 km s−1. The fastest optical ejecta approach the velocity inferred from radio detections (modelled in a forthcoming companion paper from K. D. Alexander et al.), thus the same outflow may be responsible for both the fast optical rise and the radio emission – the first time this connection has been observed in a TDE. The light-curve rise begins 29 ± 2 d before maximum light, peaking when the photosphere reaches the radius where optical photons can escape. The photosphere then undergoes a sudden transition, first cooling at constant radius then contracting at constant temperature. At the same time, the blueshifts disappear from the spectrum and Bowen fluorescence lines (N iii) become prominent, implying a source of far-UV photons, while the X-ray light curve peaks at ≈1041 erg s−1. Assuming that these X-rays are from prompt accretion, the size and mass of the outflow are consistent with the reprocessing layer needed to explain the large optical to X-ray ratio in this and other optical TDEs, possibly favouring accretion-powered over collision-powered outflow models.
Influence of Drought and Shade on Seedling Growth of Native and Invasive Trees in the Seychelles

We studied the growth of seedlings of native and invasive tree species from secondary tropical forests on Mahé (Seychelles). We were interested in whether native or invasive species are more drought‐tolerant, and therefore conducted a garden (pot) experiment comparing the growth of seedlings of five native and five invasive tree species under different light (7% and 60% transmittance) and water (natural and repeated drought stress) conditions. Differences in the responses of native and invasive species to these treatments were small. In both groups, mean relative growth rates were reduced only slightly by intermittent drought that caused wilting of leaves. However, invasive species produced clearly thinner leaves (high specific leaf area, SLA) and more root biomass than native species under high light, while these differences were small under low light. Native species performed better than invasive species under low light with low water availability. It appears that high phenotypic plasticity allows some fast‐growing invasive species to cope with water stress by adjusting the relative allocation of resources to aboveground and belowground structures under high light, while this strategy is not effective when both light and water resources are limiting. We conclude that water stress may reduce the invasibility of shaded habitats by fast‐growing invasive species, while water stress in unshaded habitats may have less effect on invasive species than previously recognized.
Unifying Activation- and Timing-based Learning Rules for Spiking Neural Networks

For the gradient computation across the time domain in Spiking Neural Networks (SNNs) training, two different approaches have been independently studied. The first is to compute the gradients with respect to the change in spike activation (activation-based methods), and the second is to compute the gradients with respect to the change in spike timing (timing-based methods). In this work, we present a comparative study of the two methods and propose a new supervised learning method that combines them. The proposed method utilizes each individual spike more effectively by shifting spike timings as in the timing-based methods as wells as generating and removing spikes as in the activation-based methods. Experimental results showed that the proposed method achieves higher performance in terms of both accuracy and efficiency than the previous approaches.
Inter- and intra-specific diversity of Cuban Pinguicula (Lentibulariaceae) based on morphometric analyses and its relation with geographical distribution

Background: Phenotypic variations have been observed in populations of west Cuban Pinguicula species. Such populations occur in patches under different ecological conditions associated with specialised habitats and separated by geographical and ecological barriers, which can lead to morphological differentiation. Aims: To analyse morphological diversity among species and populations of Cuban Pinguicula; and to test if morphological variability is associated with geographical distribution and distance between populations. Methods: We sampled a total of eight populations of P. albida, P. cubensis and P. filifolia and tested for morphometric differences among them by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and analysis of variance (ANOVA) based on 31 quantitative traits. We also assessed the geographical isolation with respect to morphological distance. Results: The studied species showed high morphological variability at both species and population level. Reproductive characteristics appeared to be more promissory than vegetative ones in distinguishing geographical groups since they clearly defined populations; nevertheless a strong component of individual variation was observed. According to the distance analysis, such morphological variations were correlated with fragmented populations and isolation and allowed the differentiation of two morphotypes of P. albida and two of P. filifolia. Conclusions: We conclude that high phenotypic variation of the analysed species is related to geographical and ecological isolation which have led to the differentiation of morphotypes within species.
Study of radiological and clinical outcomes by using Anterior Bridge Plating (ABP) for humerus shaft fractures

Background: The humerus can be considered the most versatile bone in the human body. Plating can be performed using a classic open approach or minimally invasive methods. Many humeral fractures can be successfully managed conservatively due to the wide range of acceptability. Anterior bridge plating (ABP) which utilizes the minimally invasive approach popularly known as the minimally invasive Percutaneous plate osteosynthesis (MIPPO) technique can be said to be the latest entrant in this list. The present study was undertaken to evaluate the efficacy of anterior bridge plating. Method: The study was carried out from April 2015 to December 2015 involving 15 patients who met the selection criteria and were operated at the tertiary care centre. Informed consent was obtained from all the patients for use of their clinical and imaging data. The assessment of the patients was done based on functional and radiological outcomes periodically. Result: Majority of patients belongs to age group 18-25 years (53.3%). The average age is 27.4 years. Majority of side of injury were found right side (80%). Most of cases of extent of displacement of fractures were 2-5 cms (80%). Conclusion: In conclusion anterior bridge plating (ABP) is very good technique in treating midshaft humeral fractures with minimal soft tissue dissection, smaller scars, and early return to overhead activities.
On the AGN Nature of Two UV-bright Sources at zspec ∼ 5.5 in the CANDELS Fields: An Update on the AGN Space Density at M1450 ∼ −22.5

It is widespread opinion that hydrogen reionization is mainly driven by primeval star-forming galaxies, with high-z active galactic nuclei (AGNs) having a minor role. Recent observations, however, challenge this notion, indicating a number of issues related to a galaxy-driven reionization scenario. We provide here an updated assessment of the space density of relatively faint (M1450 ∼ −22.5) AGNs at zspec ∼ 5.5 in order to improve the estimate of the photoionization rate contribution from accreting supermassive black holes. Exploiting deep UV rest-frame ground-based spectra collected at the Very Large Telescope on the CANDELS/GOODS-South field and deep Chandra X-ray images in the CANDELS/GOODS-North and EGS areas, we find two relatively bright (M1450 ∼ −22.5) AGNs at zspec ∼ 5.5. We derive an AGN space density of Φ = 1.29 × 10−6 cMpc−3 at z ∼ 5.5 and M1450 ∼ −22.5 by simply dividing their observed number by the cosmological volume in the range 5.0 < z < 6.1. Our estimate does not consider corrections for incompleteness; therefore, it represents a lower limit, although uncertainties due to cosmic variance can still be significant. This value supports a high space density of AGNs at z > 5, in contrast with previous claims mostly based on standard color selection, possibly affected by significant incompleteness. Our estimate for the AGN photoionization rate at z ∼ 5.5 is in agreement with the observed values at similar redshifts, which are needed to keep the intergalactic medium highly ionized. Upcoming James Webb Space Telescope and giant ground-based telescopes observations will improve the study of high-z AGNs and their contribution to the reionization of the universe.
A Comprehensive Survey of Neural Architecture Search

Deep learning has made substantial breakthroughs in many fields due to its powerful automatic representation capabilities. It has been proven that neural architecture design is crucial to the feature representation of data and the final performance. However, the design of the neural architecture heavily relies on the researchers’ prior knowledge and experience. And due to the limitations of humans’ inherent knowledge, it is difficult for people to jump out of their original thinking paradigm and design an optimal model. Therefore, an intuitive idea would be to reduce human intervention as much as possible and let the algorithm automatically design the neural architecture. Neural Architecture Search (NAS) is just such a revolutionary algorithm, and the related research work is complicated and rich. Therefore, a comprehensive and systematic survey on the NAS is essential. Previously related surveys have begun to classify existing work mainly based on the key components of NAS: search space, search strategy, and evaluation strategy. While this classification method is more intuitive, it is difficult for readers to grasp the challenges and the landmark work involved. Therefore, in this survey, we provide a new perspective: beginning with an overview of the characteristics of the earliest NAS algorithms, summarizing the problems in these early NAS algorithms, and then providing solutions for subsequent related research work. In addition, we conduct a detailed and comprehensive analysis, comparison, and summary of these works. Finally, we provide some possible future research directions.
Tensor Factor Model Estimation by Iterative Projection

Tensor time series, which is a time series consisting of tensorial observations, has become ubiquitous. It typically exhibits high dimensionality. One approach for dimension reduction is to use a factor model structure, in a form similar to Tucker tensor decomposition, except that the time dimension is treated as a dynamic process with a time dependent structure. In this paper we introduce two approaches to estimate such a tensor factor model by using iterative orthogonal projections of the original tensor time series. The approaches extend the existing estimation procedures and our theoretical investigation shows that they improve the estimation accuracy and convergence rate significantly. The developed approaches are similar to higher order orthogonal projection methods for tensor decomposition, but with significant differences and theoretical properties. Simulation study is conducted to further illustrate the statistical properties of these estimators.