Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Toward the Design and Development of a Robotic Transcatheter Delivery System for Mitral Valve Implant

Minimally-invasive surgeries using transcatheter approaches and sophisticated imaging modalities are gaining popularity to treat mitral regurgitation (MR). This paper proposes the next generation of a robotic catheter to deliver an implant onto the mitral valve (MV) through a transseptal approach. The proposed robot has an outer diameter (OD) of 5.7 mm, a rigid distal end length of 20 mm, a prismatic tube that can be advanced by 50-60 mm, and a bending joint that can easily bend 120° to reach the valve opening. The implant can be rotated 75° bidirectionally by the distal torsion joint to orient it with the MV leaflet for precise implantation. The robotic joints are modeled individually, the forward and inverse kinematics are derived, and the robot motion validation is carried out through experimentation. A modified kinematics (MK) model, Prandtl-Ishlinskii (PI) hysteresis model, and hybrid of MK and PI model are used to compensate for the catheter nonlinearities. A preliminary study is conducted to evaluate if force sensing can be used to compensate for the effects of fluid flow. Also, the implantation procedure is demonstrated in a phantom heart.
Extinction at 7 ${\rm \mu}$m and 15 ${\rm \mu}$m from the ISOGAL survey

The extinction laws at 7µm and 15µm are derived for more than 120 sightlines in the inner Galactic plane based on the ISOGAL survey data and the near-infrared data from DENIS and 2MASS. The tracers are the ISOGAL point sources with (7)-(15)<0.4 which are RGB tip stars or early AGB stars with moder- ate mass loss. They have well-defined intrinsic color indices (J-Ks)0, (Ks-(7))0 and (Ks-(15))0. By a linear fitting of the observed color indices Ks-(7) and Ks-(15) to the observed J-Ks, we obtain the ratio between the E(Ks-(7)) and E(Ks-(15)) color excesses and E(J-Ks). We infer the selective extinctions at 7 and 15µm in terms of the near-infrared extinction in the Ks band. The distribution of the derived extinc- tions around 7 micron (A7) is well represented by a Gaussian function, with the peak at about 0.47AKS and ranging from 0.33 to 0.55AKS (using the near-infrared extinctions of Rieke & Lebovsky 1985). There is some evidence that A7/AKs may vary significantly depending on the line of sight. The derived selective extinction at 15µm suffers uncertainty mainly from the dispersion in the intrinsic color in- dex (Ks-(15))0 which is affected by dust emission from mass-losing AGB stars. The peak value of A15 is around 0.40AKS.
The Study of a System of H ii Regions toward L = 24.°8, B = 0.°1 at the Galactic Bar: Norma Arm Interface

To probe the star formation process, we present a thorough multiwavelength investigation of several H ii regions located toward l = 24. °8, b = 0. °1. A system of at least five H ii regions, including the mid-infrared bubble N36 (hereafter system N36; extension ∼35 pc), is observationally investigated and is located at a distance of 6.0 kpc. With this distance, the system N36 is found to be situated at the interface of the Galactic bar and the Norma Galactic arm in our Galaxy, where one may expect the collisions of molecular clouds due to the bar potential. Each H ii region (dynamical age ∼0.4–1.3 Myr) in the system is powered by an O-type star. The system contains 27 ATLASGAL dust clumps at 870 μm. Several clumps are massive (>103 M⊙) and have high bolometric luminosity (>103 L⊙). Using the GRS 13CO line data, in the direction of the system N36, two velocity components are found around 109 and 113 km s−1 and are linked in the velocity space. The morphological analysis of 13CO favors the presence of interacting molecular clouds in the system. Four H ii regions and two 6.7 GHz masers are spatially observed at the common areas of the two clouds. The analysis of the Spitzer photometric data also traces the noticeable star formation activity in the system. Considering the observational outcomes, the formation of O-type stars (including ongoing star formation) in the system appears to be triggered by the collisions of molecular clouds at the bar–arm interface.
Exploration of Accountability as a Mediator between Managerial Competencies and Supply Chain Performance of Relief Aid Organisations in Western Uganda

The study investigated whether accountability mediates the relationship between managerial competencies and the supply chain performance of relief aid organizations in western Uganda. A cross-sectional and correlational design was used involving a sample of 108 relief aid organizations operating in western Uganda. Organizations were stratified according to the humanitarian clusters of food security, logistics, education, water and sanitation, health, and education. Self-administered questionnaires were used to collect primary data. Data were analysed using SPSSv22, while mediation was tested using Analysis of Moments Structure (AMOS) v22 software. Accountability was found to partially mediate the association between managerial competencies and supply chain performance in relief aid organizations in western Uganda. A mediation effect of accountability in the relationship between managerial competencies and supply chain performance was tested. Previous studies tended to focus on direct relationships between the aforementioned variables. The current study enriches literature, especially in the developing country’s context and more so in the downstream of the supply chain. Future studies could take a longitudinal approach since the current study was cross-sectional. The study guides humanitarian actors to recruit staff with managerial competencies to ensure transparency and effectiveness in the delivery of relief activities hence achieving the desired supply chain performance.
Observing dark energy dynamics with supernova, microwave background and galaxy clustering

Observing dark energy dynamics is the most important aspect of the current dark energy research. In this paper we perform a global analysis of the constraints on the property of dark energy from the current observations. We pay particular attention to the effects of dark energy perturbations. Using the data from SNIa (157 gold sample), WMAP, and SDSS we find that the best fitting dark energy model is given by the dynamical model with the equation of state crossing -1. Nevertheless the standard {lambda}CDM model is still a good fit to the current data and evidence for dynamics is currently not very strong. We also consider the constraints with the recent released SNIa data from Supernova Legacy Survey.
Realistic spectral function model for charged-current quasielastic-like neutrino and antineutrino scattering cross sections on 
C12

A detailed study of charged current quasielastic neutrino and antineutrino scattering cross sections on a C-12 target with no pions in the final state is presented. The initial nucleus is described by means of a realistic spectral function S(p, epsilon) in which nucleon-nucleon correlations are implemented by using natural orbitals through the Jastrow method. The roles played by these correlations and by final-state interactions are analyzed and discussed. The model also includes the contribution of weak two-body currents in the two-particle two-hole sector, evaluated within a fully relativistic Fermi gas. The theoretical predictions are compared with a large set of experimental data for double-differential, single-differential, and total integrated cross sections measured by the MiniBooNE, MINER nu A, and T2K experiments. Good agreement with experimental data is found over the whole range of neutrino energies. The results are also in global good agreement with the predictions of the superscaling approach, which is based on the analysis of electron-nucleus scattering data, with only a few differences seen at specific kinematics.
Laminin Adsorption and Adhesion of Neurons and Glial Cells on Carbon Implanted Titania Nanotube Scaffolds for Neural Implant Applications

Interfacing neurons persistently to conductive matter constitutes one of the key challenges when designing brain-machine interfaces such as neuroelectrodes or retinal implants. Novel materials approaches that prevent occurrence of loss of long-term adhesion, rejection reactions, and glial scarring are highly desirable. Ion doped titania nanotube scaffolds are a promising material to fulfill all these requirements while revealing sufficient electrical conductivity, and are scrutinized in the present study regarding their neuron–material interface. Adsorption of laminin, an essential extracellular matrix protein of the brain, is comprehensively analyzed. The implantation-dependent decline in laminin adsorption is revealed by employing surface characteristics such as nanotube diameter, ζ-potential, and surface free energy. Moreover, the viability of U87-MG glial cells and SH-SY5Y neurons after one and four days are investigated, as well as the material’s cytotoxicity. The higher conductivity related to carbon implantation does not affect the viability of neurons, although it impedes glial cell proliferation. This gives rise to novel titania nanotube based implant materials with long-term stability, and could reduce undesirable glial scarring.
The MICE Grand Challenge lightcone simulation – II. Halo and galaxy catalogues

This is the second in a series of three papers in which we present an end-to-end simulation from the MICE collaboration, the MICE Grand Challenge (MICE-GC) run. The N-body contains about 70 billion dark-matter particles in a (3h 1 Gpc) 3 comoving volume spanning 5 orders of magnitude in dynamical range. In this paper we introduce the halo and galaxy catalogues built upon it, both in a wide (5000 deg 2 ) and deep (z < 1:4) lightcone and in several redshift snapshots. Friend-of-friends halos were resolved down to few 10 11 h 1 M what allowed us to model galaxies down to faint luminosities (absolute magnitudes Mr < 18:9). We used a new hybrid Halo Occupation Distribution and Abundance Matching technique for galaxy assignment. The catalogue includes the Spectral Energy Distributions of all galaxies from which we can model multiband photometric galaxy surveys. We describe a variety of applications for halo and galaxy clustering statistics. We discuss how mass resolution eects can bias the large scale 2-pt clustering amplitude of poorly resolved halos at the . 5% level, and their 3-pt correlation function. We
Solar-like Oscillations in the Metal-poor Subgiant ν Indi: Constraining the Mass and Age Using Asteroseismology

Asteroseismology is a powerful method for determining fundamental properties of stars. We report the first application to a metal-poor object, namely the subgiant star ν Ind. We measured precise velocities from two sites, allowing us to detect oscillations and infer a large frequency separation of Δν = 24.25 ± 0.25 μHz. Combining this value with the location of the star in the H-R diagram and comparing with standard evolutionary models, we were able to place constraints on the stellar parameters. In particular, our results indicate that ν Ind has a low mass (0.85 ± 0.04 M☉) and is at least 9 Gyr old.
PTA: Finding Hard-to-Find Data Plane Bugs

Bugs in network hardware can cause tremendous problems. However, programmable network devices have the potential to provide greater visibility into the internal behavior of devices, allowing us to more quickly find and identify problems. In this paper, we provide a taxonomy of data plane bugs, and use the taxonomy to derive a Portable Test Architecture (PTA) which offers essential abstractions for testing on a variety of network hardware devices. PTA is implemented with a novel data plane design that (i) separates target-specific from target-independent components, allowing for portability, and (ii) allows users to write a test program once at compile time, but dynamically alter the behavior via runtime configuration. We report 12 diverse bugs on different hardware targets, and their associated software, exposed using PTA.
The star formation history of the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy: a true fossil of the pre-reionization era

We present the star formation history (SFH) of the Sextans dwarf spheroidal galaxy based on deep archive $B$,$I$ photometry taken with Suprime-Cam at Subaru telescope focusing our analysis on the inner region of the galaxy, fully located within the core radius. Within the errors of our SFH we have not detected any metallicity gradient along the considered radial distance interval. As a main result of this work we can state that the Sextans dwarf spheroidal stopped forming stars less than $\sim1.3$ Gyr after Big Bang in correspondance to the end of the reionization epoch. We have been able to constrain the duration of the main burst of star formation to $\sim0.6$ Gyr. From the calculation of the mechanical luminosity released from supernovae (SNe) during the brief episode of star formation, there are strong indications that SNe could have played an important role in the fate of Sextans, by removing almost completely the gas component, so preventing a prolonged star formation.
Photoevaporation Does Not Create a Pileup of Giant Planets at 1 au

The semimajor axis distribution of giant exoplanets appears to have a pileup near 1 au. Photoevaporation opens a gap in the inner few au of gaseous disks before dissipating them. Here, we investigate if photoevaporation can significantly affect the final distribution of giant planets by modifying gas surface density and hence Type II migration rates near the photoevaporation gap. We first use an analytic disk model to demonstrate that newly formed giant planets have a long migration epoch before photoevaporation can significantly alter their migration rates. Next, we present new 2D hydrodynamic simulations of planets migrating in photoevaporating disks, in which each are paired with a control simulation of migration in an otherwise identical disk without photoevaporation. We show that in disks with surface densities near the minimum threshold for forming giant planets, photoevaporation alters the final semimajor axis of a migrating gas giant by at most 5% over the course of 0.1 Myr of migration. Once the disk mass has become low enough for photoevaporation to carve a sharp gap, migration has almost completely stalled due to the low surface density of gas at the Lindblad resonances. We find that photoevaporation modifies migration rates so little that it is unlikely to leave a significant signature on the distribution of giant exoplanets.
Generation of Cold Argon Plasma Jet at the End of Flexible Plastic Tube

This brief communication reports a new method for generation of cold atmospheric pressure plasma jet at the downstream end of a flexible plastic tube. The device consists of a small chamber where dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is ignited in Argon. The discharge is driven by a conventional low frequency AC power supply. The exit of DBD reactor is connected to a commercial flexible plastic tube (up to 4 meters long) with a thin floating Cu wire inside. Under certain conditions an Ar plasma jet can be extracted from the downstream tube end and there is no discharge inside the plastic tube. The jet obtained by this method is cold enough to be put in direct contact with human skin without electric shock and can be used for medical treatment and decontamination.
Ice Loss From the Interior of Small Airless Bodies According to an Idealized Model

Ice in main belt asteroids and near‐Earth objects is of scientific and resource exploration interest, but small airless bodies gradually lose their ice to space by outward diffusion. Here we quantitatively estimate the time it takes a porous airless body to lose all of its interior ice, based on an analytic solution for the interior temperature field of bodies in stable orbits. Without latent heat, the average surface temperature, which is lower than the classic effective temperature, is representative of the body interior and hence an appropriate temperature to evaluate desiccation timescales. In a spherically averaged model, an explicit analytic solution is obtained for the depth to ice as a function of time and the time to complete desiccation. Half of the ice volume is lost after 11% of this time. A bilobate structure emerges from the strong latitude dependence of desiccation rates. Cold polar regions can harbor subsurface ice, even when the body center does not. Latent heat retards ice loss, and we obtain a succinct expression for the temperature difference between the surface and the ice. In the outer main belt, nearly all bodies 10 km in size or larger should have been able to retain ice in their interiors over the age of the solar system. Each of the following factors favors the presence of ice inside near‐Earth objects: a semimajor axis in the outer belt or beyond, a mantle of very low thermal inertia, a young age, or a small and stable axis tilt.
A sinogram inpainting method based on generative adversarial network for limited-angle computed tomography

Limited-angle computed tomography (CT) image reconstruction is a challenging reconstruction problem in the fields of CT. With the development of deep learning, the generative adversarial network (GAN) perform well in image restoration by approximating the distribution of training sample data. In this paper, we proposed an effective GAN-based inpainting method to restore the missing sinogram data for limited-angle scanning. To estimate the missing data, we design the generator and discriminator of the patch-GAN and train the network to learn the data distribution of the sinogram. We obtain the reconstructed image from the restored sinogram by filtered back projection and simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique with total variation. Experimental results show that serious artifacts caused by missing projection data can be reduced by the proposed method, and it is hopeful to solve the reconstruction problem of 60 degrees limited scanning angle.
Computation Offloading for Rechargeable Users in Space-Air-Ground Networks

Relying on space-air-ground (SAG)-integrated artificial intelligence of everything (AIoE) networks, massive computation-intensive and latency-sensitive tasks can be efficiently either executed locally by ground AIoE users, or offloaded to SAG servers, such as remote base stations, aerial high altitude platform (HAP) and low earth orbit satellites. However, joint optimization of communication and computation resources becomes a great challenge considering dynamic network environment, large-scale coverage and battery energy backup constraint. Hence, in this paper, we propose a SAG-integrated heterogenous computation offloading architecture for the deep integration of communication and computation resources in order to maximize the sum-rate of all AIoE users. Moreover, we propose a multi-agent proximal policy optimization algorithm with the aid of Lyapunov-based profile to solve the task scheduling and HAP selection. And a convex optimization based communication and computation resource allocation scheme processes the CPU-cycle frequency and transmission power. The battery energy backup is tackled via the linear programming policy. Experimental results demonstrate that our proposed method outperforms existing state-of-the-art baselines in terms of convergence speed, average sum-rate and battery backup level of AIoE users.
Optically trapped quasi-two-dimensional Bose gases in a random environment: Quantum fluctuations and superfluid density

We investigate a dilute Bose gas confined in a tight one-dimensional (1D) optical lattice plus a superimposed random potential at zero temperature. Accordingly, the ground-state energy, quantum depletion, and superfluid density are calculated. The presence of the lattice introduces a crossover to the quasi-two-dimensional (2D) regime, where we analyze asymptotically the 2D behavior of the system, particularly the effects of disorder. We thereby offer an analytical expression for the ground-state energy of a purely 2D Bose gas in a random potential. The obtained disorder-induced normal fluid density n(n) and quantum depletion n(d) both exhibit a characteristic 1/1n(1/n(2D)a(2D)(2)) dependence. Their ratio n(n)/n(d) increases to 2 compared to the familiar 4/3 in lattice-free three-dimensional (3D) geometry, signifying a more pronounced contrast between superfluidity and Bose-Einstein condensation in low dimensions. The conditions for possible experimental realization of our scenario are also proposed.
Proper Motions of Faint Ultraviolet‐bright Sources in the Sandage Two‐Color Survey of the Galactic Plane

Proper motions with values ≥10 or ≤−10 mas yr−1 have been extracted from the USNO‐B1.0 and Tycho‐2 catalogs for all Lanning UV‐bright sources identified in the Sandage Two‐Color Survey of the Galactic Plane and presented in Papers I–VI. Of the 572 sources examined, we find at least 213 that exhibit a significantly large proper motion. Based on the location of the sources in a reduced proper motion diagram, we demonstrate that about two‐thirds of the high proper motion sources are likely or very likely to be heretofore unidentified white dwarfs.
CNN-Based Large Area Pixel-Resolution Topography Retrieval From Single-View LROC NAC Images Constrained With SLDEM

The production of high-resolution digital terrain models (DTMs) based on images is often hampered by the lack of appropriate stereo observations. Here, we propose a deep learning-based reconstruction of pixel-resolution DTMs from Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) single-view narrow angle camera (NAC) images, constrained by Selenological and Engineering Explorer and LRO LOLA Elevation Models (SLDEM). The procedure is carried out for a set of adjacent images, and the mosaicking of a contiguous large-area DTM is demonstrated. The approach is applied to the CE-3 and CE-4 landing sites, involving six multiple coverage and eight adjacent NAC L/R image pairs, respectively. For the DTM reconstruction, we use an improved convolutional neural network architecture with a weighted sum loss function involving three loss terms. We demonstrate that our method is robust and can deal with images acquired under varying illumination conditions. The DTM mosaic (1.5 m pixel size) covering the CE-4 landing area (72.8 × 30.3 km) is without apparent seams between the individual image boundaries and consistent with the SLDEM (60 m pixel size) in terms of overall elevation, trend, and scale, but is showing considerably more morphologic detail.
A Potassium-Competitive Acid Blocker-Based Regimen as Second-Line Therapy Improves Helicobacter pylori Eradication

Background/Aims: Although a potassium-competitive acid blocker (PCAB)-based regimen improves the rate of successful Helicobacter pylori first-line eradication, the efficacy of a PCAB-based regimen as second-line therapy is unclear. The aim of this study is to compare the success of second-line eradication of H. pylori using PCAB and proton pump inhibitor (PPI)-based regimens. Methods: From 2014 to 2017, 624 patients who underwent second-line H. pylori eradication were enrolled. A standard triple regimen for second-line H. pylori eradication includes metronidazole 250 mg, amoxicillin 750 mg, and PPI or PCAB twice daily for 7 days. The success of eradication was compared using intention-to-treat, per-protocol, and propensity-score matching analysis. Results: All patients completed the 7-day course of therapy. Patients using a PCAB-based regimen had a higher rate of eradication than those using a PPI-based regimen in both intention-to-treat (90% [298/330] vs. 85% [250/294], p = 0.045) and per-protocol analyses (96% [298/309] vs. 91% [250/274], p = 0.008). Adverse events occurred in 4 patients. Propensity score matching analysis acquired 274 matched pairs. Patients using a PCAB-based regimen had a higher rate of eradication than those using a PPI-based regimen (96% [264/274] vs. 91% [250/274], p = 0.013). Conclusions: PCAB-based second-line H. pylori eradication is significantly better than PPI-based therapy.