Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Noise in the direction of motion determines the spatial distribution and proliferation of migrating cell collectives

A variety of living and non-living systems exhibit collective motion. From swarm robotics to bacterial swarms, and tissue wound healing to human crowds, examples of collective motion are highly diverse but all of them share the common necessary ingredient of moving and interacting agents. While collective motion has been extensively studied in non-proliferating systems, how the proliferation of constituent agents affects their collective behavior is not well understood. Here, we focus on growing active agents as a model for cells and study how the interplay between noise in their direction of movement and proliferation determines the overall spatial pattern of collective motion. In this agent-based model, motile cells possess the ability to adhere to each other through cell-cell adhesion, grow in size and divide. Cell-cell interactions influence not only the direction of cell movement but also cell growth through a force-dependent mechanical feedback process. We show that noise in the direction of a cell’s motion has striking effects on the emergent spatial distribution of cell collectives and proliferation. While higher noise strength leads to a random spatial distribution of cells, we also observe increased cell proliferation. On the other hand, low noise strength leads to a ring-like spatial distribution of cell collectives together with lower proliferation. Our findings provide insight into how noise in the direction of cell motion determines the local spatial organization of cells with consequent mechanical feedback on cell division impacting cell proliferation due to the formation of cell clusters.
Algorithm design for image-based wavefront control without wavefront sensing

Active optics is an enabling technology for future large space telescopes. Image-based wavefront control uses an image-sharpness metric to evaluate the optical performance. A control algorithm iteratively adapts a corrective element to maximize this metric, without reconstructing the wavefront. We numerically study a sharpness metric in the space of Zernike modes, and reveal that for large aberrations the Zernike modes are not orthogonal with respect to this metric. The findings are experimentally verified by using a unimorph deformable mirror as corrective element. We discuss the implications for the correction process and the design of control algorithms.
Codon usage bias study of the Vitamin D receptor (VDR) gene of Multiple Sclerosis and Diabetes-1 patients

Objective The codon bias usage study of the 33 Vitamin D Receptor (VDR) genes of the Multiple sclerosis and Diabetes-1 patients were characterized. Methods Various computational tools such as clustal-W, Codon adaptation index calculation (CAI cal), Effective number of codons (ENC), Relative Synonymous Codon Usage, Codon usage frequency, Nucleotide substation rate calculation, Relative codon deoptimization index, Grand average hydropathicity, Sequence Manipulation Suite software’s were used to find out the codon usage pattern of the VDR genes in both group of patients. Results The base compositions, nucleotide substation rates, codon adaptation index, hydrophobic nature of the amino acids of VDR gene of both group of patients were analysed. Conclusion The analysis of the synonymous codon usage pattern of the genes would helpful in the heterologous expression of the VDR genes leads to codon optimizations in Multiple Sclerosis and Diabetes-1 patients. The codon usage bias analysis of the VDR gene of the Multiple sclerosis and Diabetes-1 patients through computational approach determined the pattern of VDR gene expression and evolution during the acquiring of the disease in the patients.
Performance Enhancement of Cooperative MIMO-NOMA Systems Over Sub-6 GHz and mmWave Bands

In this paper, two radio links with different frequency bands are considered for base stations (BS) serving users via decode-and-forward (DF) cooperative relays. Backhaul and access links are proposed with sub-6 GHz and millimeter wave (mmWave) bands, respectively. Non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) is employed in the backhaul link to simultaneously transmit a superposed signal in the power domain, using the same band. The superposed signals, containing two signals that differ in terms of power allocation factors (PAFs), are designed for two selected DF relays in the BS. The two relays are chosen from several relays to be serviced by the BS based on a pairing algorithm that depends on different users’ circumstances. The furthest DF relay detects the incoming NOMA signal directly, while the nearest one applies successive interference cancellation (SIC) before extracting its signal. Each DF relay forwards the detected signals toward their intended users over mmWave channels. Three performance metrics are utilized to evaluate the system’s performance: outage probability, achievable throughput, and bit error rate. Comparisons between two mmWave bands in the access link (28 and 73 GHz) are made to demonstrate the superiority of the 28 GHz band in terms of the three performance-related metrics.
Integrated Characterization of Cassava (Manihot esculenta) Pectin Methylesterase (MePME) Genes to Filter Candidate Gene Responses to Multiple Abiotic Stresses

Plant pectin methylesterases (PMEs) play crucial roles in regulating cell wall modification and response to various stresses. Members of the PME family have been found in several crops, but there is a lack of research into their presence in cassava (Manihot esculent), which is an important crop for world food security. In this research, 89 MePME genes were identified in cassava that were separated into two types (type-Ⅰ and type-Ⅱ) according to the existence or absence of a pro-region (PMEI domain). The MePME gene members were unevenly located on 17 chromosomes, with 19 gene pairs being identified that most likely arose via duplication events. The MePMEs could be divided into ten sub-groups in type-Ⅰ and five sub-groups in type-Ⅱ. The motif analysis revealed 11 conserved motifs in type-Ⅰ and 8 in type-Ⅱ MePMEs. The number of introns in the CDS region of type-Ⅰ MePMEs ranged between one and two, and the number of introns in type-Ⅱ MePMEs ranged between one and nine. There were 21 type-Ⅰ and 31 type-Ⅱ MePMEs that contained signal peptides. Most of the type-Ⅰ MePMEs had two conserved “RK/RLL” and one “FPSWVS” domain between the pro-region and the PME domain. Multiple stress-, hormone- and tissue-specific-related cis-acting regulatory elements were identified in the promoter regions of MePME genes. A total of five co-expressed genes (MePME1, MePME2, MePME27, MePME65 and MePME82) were filtered from different abiotic stresses via the use of UpSet Venn diagrams. The gene expression pattern analysis revealed that the expression of MePME1 was positively correlated with the degree of cassava postharvest physiological deterioration (PPD). The expression of this gene was also significantly upregulated by 7% PEG and 14 °C low-temperature stress, but slightly downregulated by ABA treatment. The tissue-specific expression analysis revealed that MePME1 and MePME65 generally displayed higher expression levels in most tissues than the other co-expressed genes. In this study, we obtain an in-depth understanding of the cassava PME gene family, suggesting that MePME1 could be a candidate gene associated with multiple abiotic tolerance.
Genome-Wide Resequencing Reveals Genetic Relationships between Main Gardenia jasminoides Ellis Cultivars

Nineteen samples of Gardenia jasminoides Ellis from China were used for genome resequencing. The clean Q30 base rates ranged from 91.19% to 92.94%. When mapping with the reference genome, a total of 7,568,199 inDel sites and 61,535,595 SNP sites were detected, with variations of heterozygosity ratios ranging from 44.86% to 92.69% and from 41.53% to 90.38%, respectively. Genome location and function annotation of SNP and inDel in different samples were carried out. SNP and inDel were mainly located in the intergenic region, with the ratios of 67.2360% and 62.6415%, respectively. Based on the phylogenetic tree constructed by the maximum likelihood method, the 19 samples could be divided into four categories. Among them, Y_10 and Y_38 were put into one category, while Y_2 was put into a separate category. These two were first differentiated from other cultivars and species. Similar conclusions can be drawn from the results of genetic structure and principal component analysis. This study provided sequence foundation for the identifying of the molecular marker and genotype of G. jasminoides. It also provided theoretical foundation for subsequent resource conservation and utilization, the genetic localization of important agronomical traits, and high-quality variety formulation and breeding.
Unsupervised Legal Evidence Retrieval via Contrastive Learning with Approximate Aggregated Positive

Verifying the facts alleged by the prosecutors before the trial requires the judges to retrieve evidence within the massive materials accompanied. Existing Legal AI applications often assume the facts are already determined and fail to notice the difficulty of reconstructing them. To build a practical Legal AI application and free the judges from the manually searching work, we introduce the task of Legal Evidence Retrieval, which aims at automatically retrieving the precise fact-related verbal evidence within a single case. We formulate the task in a dense retrieval paradigm, and jointly learn the constrastive representations and alignments between facts and evidence. To get rid of the tedious annotations, we construct an approximated positive vector for a given fact by aggregating a set of evidence from the same case. An entropy-based denoise technique is further applied to mitigate the impact of false positive samples. We train our models on tens of thousands of unlabeled cases and evaluate them on a labeled dataset containing 919 cases and 4,336 queries. Experimental results indicate that our approach is effective and outperforms other state-of-the-art representation and retrieval models. The dataset and code are available at https://github.com/yaof20/LER.
Photometric study and period analysis of the W UM-type binary system QW Gem

New multi-color photometric observations of the previously unstudied contact binary QW Gem are presented. Completely covered BV RI band light curves were obtained, including four new times of light minima. The light curves were simultaneously analyzed with the 2013 version of the Wilson-Devinney method, assuming a third light. The photometric solutions confirm that QW Gem is a W-type W UMa system with a fill-out factor of f∼17%. The absolute parameters of the components were determined to be Mp=1.33±0.03M⊙, Ms=0.44±0.01M⊙, Rp=1.25±0.01R⊙, Rs=0.77±0.01R⊙, Lp=1.68±0.03L⊙ and Ls=0.68±0.01L⊙. The orbital period change of QW Gem was investigated by the O−C method using all available data. The results show that this binary system could have undergone a continuous orbital period decrease during the past two decades at a rate of about dP/dt=−2.55×10−7dyr−1. In addition, a small-amplitude oscillation was detected to be superimposed on a long-term decrease.
High gain CP aperture-coupled antenna for X-band application

Abstract In this paper, we present a composite feed circularly polarised aperture-coupled microstrip antenna at X-band with improved characteristics. The feed element is intended to produce right-hand circular polarization (RHCP). Along the periphery of the circular patch, two notches are cut at diametrically opposite points. The dimension of these diametrically opposite notches determines the AR. A prototype antenna has been designed, built-up and experimentally measured which allows the analysis and discussion about different characteristics of the antenna. The simulated 2:1 VSWR bandwidth is about 2.33 GHz (c GHz). The measured 3-dB AR bandwidth is about 1.7 GHz (8.7–10.4 GHz) and the centre frequency of the impedance bandwidth is 9 GHz which agrees with the simulation result. It is revealed by experimental results that the designed antenna achieves about 19% axial ratio bandwidth as much as 8.7 dBi gain.
Fluoroscopy versus Transthoracic Echocardiography for Detection of Mitral Valve Calcification in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Mitral Balloon Valvuloplasty

Objectives: Rheumatic heart disease remains a significant problem in developing countries, with mitral stenosis (MS) being a frequent manifestation. The objective of this study was to compare transthoracic echocardiographic (TTE) findings of mitral valve calcification with fluoroscopy. Methodology: This cross-sectional study was conducted at the department of adult cardiology, National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD) Karachi. All patients were candidates for percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty (PMBV), aged between 15 to 65 years of either gender. Patients who underwent TTE were subjected to fluoroscopy before PMBV. The Kappa coefficient was calculated to assess the agreement between the two modalities. An appropriate t-test or Mann-Whitney U test was applied, and a p-value ≤ 0.05 was taken as the criterion for statistical significance. Results: A total of 160 patients were included in this study with a mean age of 34.01± 12.32 years, 119 (74.4%) were between 18 to 40 years of age, and 108 (67.5%) were female. Calcification was observed in 40.6% (65) on echocardiography and 50.6% (81) of the patients on fluoroscopy. A substantial agreement was observed between the two modalities with a Kappa coefficient of 0.75 for the detection of calcification. Conclusion: No significant difference was observed in the detection of calcification on echocardiography and fluoroscopy, along with a substantial agreement between the two modalities for the detection of calcification. Echocardiography can be a less invasive alternative to fluoroscopy for the detection of calcification before PMBV.
Efficient Iterative Detection Based on Conjugate Gradient and Successive Over-Relaxation Methods for Uplink Massive MIMO Systems

Being a crucial aspect of fifth-generation (5G) mobile communications systems, massively multiple-input multiple-output (mMIMO) architectures are expected to help achieve the highest key performance indicators. However, the huge numbers of antennas used in such systems make it difficult to determine the inversion of the signal channel matrix relied upon by several detection methods, hence posing a problem with accurate estimation of the symbols sent. In this paper, conjugate gradient (CG) and successive over-relaxation (SOR) methods are selected to construct a new iterative approach that avoids the matrix inversion computation issue. This suggested approach for uplink mMIMO detection is based on a joint cascade structure of both iterative methods. The CG method is first applied and adjusted for the initial solution, followed by the SOR method in the final iterations for terminal computations, resulting in an algorithm with robust performance and low computational complexity. Furthermore, the new hybrid scheme operates based on the relaxation parameter, whose value has a great impact on error performance and, whose optimal determination is necessary. Numerical simulations reveal that the proposed scheme is capable of significantly improving signal detection accuracy with minimum complexity. The simulation results indicated that the proposed detector outperforms CG and SOR detectors, achieves close to optimal performance, requires fewer iterations, and reduces complexity.
Hydrogenation of High-Density Polyethylene during Decompression of Pressurized Hydrogen at 90 MPa: A Molecular Perspective

To investigate changes in the physical and chemical properties of high-density polyethylene (HDPE) upon the rapid release of hydrogen gas at a pressure of 90 MPa, several characterization techniques have been employed, including optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, differential scanning thermal analysis, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. The results showed that both physical and chemical changes occurred in HDPE upon a rapid release of hydrogen gas. Physically, a partial hexagonal phase was formed within the amorphous region, and the overall crystallinity of HDPE decreased. Chemically, hydrogenation occurred, leading to the addition of hydrogen atoms to the polymer chains. Oxidation also occurred, for example, the formation of ester -C=O groups. Crosslinking and an increase in -CH3 end termination were also observed. These changes suggest that structural transformation and chemical modification of HDPE occurred upon the rapid release of hydrogen gas.
Media pressures on Welsh language preservation

ABSTRACT Despite compulsory school instruction in the Welsh language and strong cultural incentives to acquire the language, the most recent UK Census showed a downward trend in the number of speakers. The asymmetry in explicit language acquisition incentives is here considered to be offset by the media dominance of the English language. This dominance is modeled by the introduction of time-dependent connectivity and infectivity among English speakers into an adapted epidemiological model. Extrapolations up to 2050 are made, this being the announced date of a Welsh Assembly language-planning target of one million Welsh speakers.
Modelling the ecological footprints, climate change and economic growth nexus

Ecological footprint (EF) is created by human demands for water, infrastructure, energy and food, among other things, resulting in pollution, depletion of resources and ecological disturbance. The sustainability goal in relation to EF is to reduce the impact of climate change on natural resources for long‐term growth. Pakistan is a country facing an ecological deficit and has difficulty striking a balance between economic development and environmental protection worldwide. As a result of its significant role in achieving sustainability, which is essential for human life, EF has become a global phenomenon. The study considered the nexus of economic growth, EF and its subcomponents for the economy of Pakistan. The Johansen co‐integration technique was used to analyse the short‐run (ECM) and long‐run relationship. The results showed that urbanisation, financial development, economic growth and temperature have positive effects on EFs, whereas rainfall and carbon dioxide emissions have a negative effect on EFs. The ECM test demonstrates that studied variables are responsible for 46% of disequilibrium in EF, which is less than the moderate threshold. On the contrary, in the model of EF, the coefficient of temperature in the long‐run speed is negative, indicating that the system is diverging from equilibrium and correcting its prior period disequilibrium at a rate of 663% a year, while that of CO2 emissions is positive, indicating that the system is converging towards equilibrium and correcting its prior period disequilibrium at a rate of 77.2% a year.
Muon Beam Tracking and Spin-Orbit Correlations for Precision g-2 Measurements

The main goal of the Muon g-2 Experiment (g-2) at Fermilab is to measure the muon anomalous magnetic moment to unprecedented precision. This new measurement will allow to test the completeness of the Standard Model (SM) and to validate other theoretical models beyond the SM. The close interplay of the understanding of particle beam dynamics and the preparation of the beam properties with the experimental measurement is tantamount to the reduction of systematic errors in the determination of the muon anomalous magnetic moment. We describe progress in developing detailed calculations and modeling of the muon beam delivery system in order to obtain a better understanding of spin-orbit correlations, nonlinearities, and more realistic aspects that contribute to the systematic errors of the g-2 measurement. Our simulation is meant to provide statistical studies of error effects and quick analyses of running conditions for when g-2 is taking beam, among others. We are using COSY, a differential algebra solver developed at Michigan State University that will also serve as an alternative to compare results obtained by other simulation teams of the g-2 Collaboration.
Foliar Spraying of NaHS Alleviates Cucumber Salt Stress by Maintaining N+/K+ Balance and Activating Salt Tolerance Signaling Pathways

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is involved in the regulation of plant salt stress as a potential signaling molecule. This work investigated the effect of H2S on cucumber growth, photosynthesis, antioxidation, ion balance, and other salt tolerance pathways. The plant height, stem diameter, leaf area and photosynthesis of cucumber seedlings were significantly inhibited by 50 mmol·L−1 NaCl. Moreover, NaCl treatment induced superoxide anion (O2·−) and Na+ accumulation and affected the absorption of other mineral ions. On the contrary, exogenous spraying of 200 μmol·L−1 sodium hydrosulfide (NaHS) maintained the growth of cucumber seedlings, increased photosynthesis, enhanced the ascorbate–glutathione cycle (AsA–GSH), and promoted the absorption of mineral ions under salt stress. Meanwhile, NaHS upregulated SOS1, SOS2, SOS3, NHX1, and AKT1 genes to maintain Na+/K+ balance and increased the relative expression of MAPK3, MAPK4, MAPK6, and MAPK9 genes to enhance salt tolerance. These positive effects of H2S could be reversed by 150 mmol·L−1 propargylglycine (PAG, a specific inhibitor of H2S biosynthesis). These results indicated that H2S could mitigate salt damage in cucumber, mainly by improving photosynthesis, enhancing the AsA–GSH cycle, reducing the Na+/K+ ratio, and inducing the SOS pathway and MAPK pathway.
A 18-ms Measurement-Time MLS-Based System for Moisture Assessment in Lubricant Oil

In this article, a system and a measurement approach to reduce the measurement time in the assessment of moisture contamination in lubricant oils is presented. The system’s sensing principle leverages the permittivity change of a miniaturized interdigital capacitor (IDC) while immersed in oil. The time-domain impedance concept, that is, the impulse response (IR), is exploited by using maximum length sequences (MLSs) as efficient broadband signals for the sensor’s excitation in a wide range of frequencies. Different from conventional impedance spectroscopy (IS), MLS-based measurements are performed with simpler hardware, higher computational efficiency, lower power consumption, and lower measurement time. As a novelty with respect to the state-of-the-art, this article introduces a linear model to relate a single measured quantity from the IR to water concentration in oil. This permits to reduce the digital processing operations, leading to low measurement time and, thus, to low energy-per-measurement parameters with respect to other works which rely on laboratory instrumentation. The validity of the linear model, for the detection of small concentrations of water in lubricant oil, has been verified through experimental measurements. Water–oil samples have been prepared with 0.2 vol%, 0.5 vol%, 1 vol%, 2 vol%, and 3 vol% water concentrations at room temperature, obtaining an estimated limit of detection (LOD) of 6.3 ppm. A low measurement time of 18 ms has been achieved which advances the state-of-the-art.