Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
SU(2) Magnetic Monopole

This article is written to review what I have learned from reading the topic on the magnetic monopole from QFT book by Shifman [13]. The main purpose is to review the quantization of the monopole moduli, remark on the electric-magnetic duality and discuss the attractive effect called Witten effect.
Antioxidant Activity of Lactobacillus plantarum DY-1 Fermented Wheat Germ Extract and Its Influence on Lipid Oxidation and Texture Properties of Emulsified Sausages

The nutrient compositions and in vitro antioxidant activities of water-soluble extract from Lactobacillus plantarum DY-1 fermented wheat germ and its effect on the lipid oxidation and texture properties of emulsified sausages were investigated. The optimal hydroxyl radical scavenging capacity of 72.8 ± 2.9% was demonstrated for fermented wheat germ extract (FWGE) by terms of the fermentation conditions as follows: fermentation time of 26 h, fermentation temperature of 35°C, initial pH of 3.0, solid to liquid ratio of 1/10, and inoculum amount of 0.48 g. The enhancement in FWGE content could improve the oxidation stability of emulsified sausages by retarding the formation of thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARSs) during 7 days of storage at 4°C. However, a higher FWGE content (2.14%) resulted in 78% of increase in cooking loss ( ) and 41.4% of decrease in hardness ( ) of emulsified sausages. It was suggested that the biotransformation of wheat germ with lactic acid bacteria could improve its nutritional quality and functional properties.
Experimentation for Business-to-Business Mission-Critical Systems: A Case Study

Continuous experimentation (CE) refers to a group of practices used by software companies to rapidly assess the usage, value and performance of deployed software using data collected from customers and the deployed system. Despite its increasing popularity in the development of web-facing applications, CE has not been discussed in the development process of business-to-business (B2B) mission-critical systems.We investigated in a case study the use of CE practices within several products, teams and areas inside Ericsson. By observing the CE practices of different teams, we were able to identify the key activities in four main areas and inductively derive an experimentation process, the HURRIER process, that addresses the deployment of experiments with customers in the B2B and with mission-critical systems. We illustrate this process with a case study in the development of a large mission-critical functionality in the Long Term Evolution (4G) product. In this case study, the HURRIER process is not only used to validate the value delivered by the solution but to increase the quality and the confidence from both the customers and the R&D organization in the deployed solution. Additionally, we discuss the challenges, opportunities and lessons learned from applying CE and the HURRIER process in B2B mission-critical systems.
Modelling cryptocurrency
 high–low
 prices using fractional cointegrating
 VAR

This paper empirically provides support for fractional cointegration of high and low cryptocurrency price series, using particularly, Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple; synchronized at different high time frequencies. The difference of high and low price gives the price range, and the range-based estimator of volatility is more efficient than the return-based estimator of realized volatility. A more general fractional cointegration technique applied is the Fractional Cointegrating Vector Autoregressive framework. The results show that high and low cryptocurrency prices are actually cointegrated in both stationary and non-stationary levels; that is, the range of high-low price. It is therefore quite interesting to note that the fractional cointegration approach presents a lower measure of the persistence for the range compared to the fractional integration approach, and the results are insensitive to different time frequencies. The main finding in this work serves as an alternative volatility estimation method in cryptocurrency and other assets’ price modelling and forecasting.
The SEDIGISM survey: First Data Release and overview of the Galactic structure

The SEDIGISM (Structure, Excitation and Dynamics of the Inner Galactic Interstellar Medium) survey used the APEX telescope to map 84 deg2 of the Galactic plane between ℓ = −60° and +31° in several molecular transitions, including 13CO (2 – 1) and C18O (2 – 1), thus probing the moderately dense (∼103 cm−3) component of the interstellar medium. With an angular resolution of 30 arcsec and a typical 1σ sensitivity of 0.8–1.0 K at 0.25 km s−1 velocity resolution, it gives access to a wide range of structures, from individual star-forming clumps to giant molecular clouds and complexes. The coverage includes a good fraction of the first and fourth Galactic quadrants, allowing us to constrain the large-scale distribution of cold molecular gas in the inner Galaxy. In this paper, we provide an updated overview of the full survey and the data reduction procedures used. We also assess the quality of these data and describe the data products that are being made publicly available as part of this First Data Release (DR1). We present integrated maps and position–velocity maps of the molecular gas and use these to investigate the correlation between the molecular gas and the large-scale structural features of the Milky Way such as the spiral arms, Galactic bar and Galactic Centre. We find that approximately 60 per cent of the molecular gas is associated with the spiral arms and these appear as strong intensity peaks in the derived Galactocentric distribution. We also find strong peaks in intensity at specific longitudes that correspond to the Galactic Centre and well-known star-forming complexes, revealing that the 13CO emission is concentrated in a small number of complexes rather than evenly distributed along spiral arms.
Biochar Application for Improved Resource Use and Environmental Quality

Agroecosystems have become very important not only for their role in achieving food security but also in mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions. This agro-ecological function has become very important since society expects agriculture to be more sustainable, by decreasing fertilizer inputs while reducing greenhouse gas emission. Mitigation measures to reduce net GHG emissions include increasing soil C sequestration by reduced tillage, biochar and straw application, and increased crop-use efficiency of fertilizer-N. An adequate management of soils and crops could result in a reduction of GHG emissions through complex interactive factors. However, which factors are mainly responsible for the differences in emissions across soil and environment type remain unclear and the mechanism underlying GHG emissions are complex. It is therefore imperative to determine how biochar could mitigate greenhouse gas emissions without adverse effect on crop yield. This chapter will predominantly review biochar application for improved resource use and reduce greenhouse gas emission in sub-Saharan Africa, except in some cases where specific mechanisms have been elucidated in other regions. We consider future perspectives on whether biochar application offers economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in developing countries, with a particular focus on Ghana. These issues provided the motivation for this chapter.
IMPROVED GRADIENT PROFILE SHARPNESS TRANSFORMATION BASED SUPER-RESOLUTION USING DE-HAZING

- This paper presents a Super Resolution (SR) technique considering atmospheric scattering models of hazy images. In which a SR image is considered as combination of radiance of the scene and atmospheric light. This assumption helps us to remove the hazy part in any SR image using dark channel prior. An edge sharpness metric called Gradient Profile Sharpness (GPS) is used in transforming the Low Resolution (LR) image to High Resolution (HR). This results in improved image quality. Extensive simulation results show that proposed method improves the performance of existing SR techniques, in terms of Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR) and Structural Similarity Index Measure (SSIM).
Citrullination of Proteins as a Specific Response Mechanism in Plants

Arginine deamination, also referred to as citrullination of proteins by peptidyl-arginine deiminases, is a post-translational modification affecting histone modifications, epigenetic transcriptional regulation and proteolysis in animals, but has not been reported in higher plants. Here we report, firstly, that Arabidopsis thaliana proteome contains proteins with a specific citrullination signature and that many of the citrullinated proteins have nucleotide-binding regulatory functions. Secondly, we show that changes in the citrullinome occur in response to cold stress, and thirdly, we identify an Arabidopsis thaliana protein with calcium-dependent arginine deiminase activity. Taken together, these findings establish this post-translational modification as a hitherto neglected component of cellular reprogramming during stress responses.
Antioxidative activities of aucubin in vitro

To study the ability of aucubin to scavenge free radical and the protective effect of aucubin on tissue homogenate、mitochondria and microsome attacked by gree radical in vitro. Free radical is generated by Fenton reaction and pyrogallic acid auto-oxidate reaction,measured with spectrophotometric method; The results show that aucubin has strong ability in cleaning free radical to protect cell or cellular membrane structures of cell from free radical damage.
NOTES FOR THE AMS SHORT COURSE ON MEAN FIELD GAMES

These notes are to supplement the AMS short course on mean field games on January 13–14, 2020. The aim of of these notes in particular is to develop some elements of the limit theory, connecting n-player models to their mean field game limits. Some of the material is borrowed from my lectures notes from a PhD course I taught at Columbia University, which was an overview of interacting diffusion models, stochastic control, stochastic games, mean field games and the master equation. Those notes, for a semester-long course, are naturally much more comprehensive than these. Both are nowhere near as comprehensive or rigorous in their treatment of the subject as the recent twovolume textbook of Carmona-Delarue [7]. On my website you can also find a set of lecture notes devoted to the history and application of the “compactification methods” which are developed briefly in Section 4 below. This is to mention only some recent probabilistic accounts of mean field game theory, and the notes of Cardaliaguet [4] remain an excellent introduction to the topic from a PDE perspective. Additional surveys and perspectives may be found in [1, 12]. It is safe to say that mean field game theory now boasts a wide range of reading materials tailored to readers of various backgrounds and attention spans.
Importance of the early accretion stage of a protoplanetary disk on the chemical evolution of planetesimals and comets

Chemical evolution of a protoplanetary disk has been studied with a model combining dust transportation and chemical equilibrium of condensed matters. The results show that the initial size and mass of a disk strongly control the temperature evolution, thus chemical evolution of the disk. Assuming that chondrites are derived from planetesimals formed at a few to several a.u. and comets were formed at tens of a.u. , the initial size of our solar system was less than 0.1 solar mass and spread to ~tens of a.u. in order to explain chemical variations of chondrites and recent observation of comprehensive inclusion of high-temperature condensates in comets.
Comparison of isolation methods for Ustilaginoidea virens,the pathogen of rice false smut

Ustilaginoidea virens,the pathogen of rice false smut,was isolated from various diseased samples.The comparison of isolation methods showed that most fresh chlamydospores from earlier mature false smut balls could germinate and isolation time was the key for the successful isolation of the fungus.Prolongation of store period resulted in quick decline of the germination percentage of chlamydospores.Most of the chlamydospores could be killed by sterilizing treatment.It was proved that the sclerotium was the most ideal sample for isolation of the pathogen,which could keep alive for a very long time.However,the central dense hyphae in false smut balls were very difficult to grow into new colonies on medium and just an alternate method for isolation of the pathogen.
Cytosolic DNA Sensors and CNS Responses to Viral Pathogens

Viral central nervous system (CNS) infections can lead to life threatening encephalitis and long-term neurological deficits in survivors. Resident CNS cell types, such as astrocytes and microglia, are known to produce key inflammatory and antiviral mediators following infection with neurotropic DNA viruses. However, the mechanisms by which glia mediate such responses remain poorly understood. Recently, a class of intracellular pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), collectively known as DNA sensors, have been identified in both leukocytic and non-leukocytic cell types. The ability of such DNA sensors to initiate immune mediator production and contribute to infection resolution in the periphery is increasingly recognized, but our understanding of their role in the CNS remains limited at best. In this review, we describe the evidence for the expression and functionality of DNA sensors in resident brain cells, with a focus on their role in neurotropic virus infections. The available data indicate that glia and neurons can constitutively express, and/or can be induced to express, various disparate DNA sensing molecules previously described in peripheral cell types. Furthermore, multiple lines of investigation suggest that these sensors are functional in resident CNS cells and are required for innate immune responses to viral infections. However, it is less clear whether DNA sensormediated glial responses are beneficial or detrimental, and the answer to this question appears to dependent on the context of the infection with regard to the identity of the pathogen, host cell type, and host species. Defining such parameters will be essential if we are to successfully target these molecules to limit damaging inflammation while allowing beneficial host responses to improve patient outcomes.
Sleep Inconsistency and Markers of Inflammation

Objective: Poor sleep is associated with higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers. Conventionally, higher average time awake, lower average time asleep, and lower sleep efficiency define poor sleep. Recent research suggests that, in addition to average sleep, sleep inconsistency is an important indicator of sleep dysfunction. The current study sought to extend our knowledge of the relationship between sleep and inflammation through an examination of sleep inconsistency and inflammatory biomarkers. Methods: Secondary analyses of the Survey of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) sleep study were conducted. Five hundred thirty-three individuals completed nightly sleep diaries, actigraphy, and underwent a blood draw for the inflammatory biomarkers C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and fibrinogen. Sleep inconsistency was derived from 7 consecutive nights of assessment and was operationalized as nightly fluctuations in the following variables: terminal wakefulness, number of awakenings, time in bed, sleep onset latency, and wake after sleep onset. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the influence of a latent average sleep and a latent sleep inconsistency variable on a latent inflammation variable. Models were subsequently adjusted for age, sex, BMI, health, and medication. Stratified models by sex were also analyzed. Results: The average sleep model would not converge. The sleep inconsistency model fit the data well. A significant positive association between the latent factors sleep inconsistency and inflammation was observed (β = 10.18, SE = 4.40, p = 0.021), suggesting inconsistent sleep is associated with higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers. When stratified by sex, the association between the latent sleep inconsistency factor and inflammation was significant for women (β = 1.93, SE = 0.82, p = 0.018), but not men (β = 0.20, SE = 0.35, p = 0.566). The association between sleep inconsistency and inflammation weakened following multivariate adjustment (β = 6.23, SE = 3.71, p = 0.093). Conclusions: Inconsistent sleep may be an associated feature of inflammatory dysfunction, especially in women. Future studies should build upon this preliminary work and examine these associations longitudinally and through treatment trials.
Combined protein and transcript single cell RNA sequencing reveals cardiovascular disease and HIV signatures

Background HIV-infected people have an increased risk of atherosclerosis-based cardiovascular disease (CVD), even when the HIV virus is fully controlled. Both chronic HIV infection and CVD are chronic inflammatory diseases. The interaction between these two diseases is not well understood. Methods The Women’s Interagency HIV Study (WIHS) collected peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and data on subclinical CVD defined by carotid artery ultrasound from HIV-infected women. We interrogated 32 PBMC samples using combined protein and transcript panel single cell (sc) RNA sequencing of women without HIV or CVD, with HIV only, with HIV and CVD, and with HIV and CVD treated with cholesterol-lowering drugs. Expression of 40 surface markers enabled detailed analysis of all major cell types, resolving 58 clusters in almost 42,000 single cells. Results Many clusters including 5 of 8 classical monocyte clusters showed significantly different gene expression between the groups of participants, revealing the inflammatory signatures of HIV, CVD and their interactions. Genes highly upregulated by CVD included CCL3, CCL4 and IL-32, whereas CXCL2 and 3 were more highly upregulated by HIV. Many genes were synergistically upregulated by HIV and CVD, but others were antagonistically regulated, revealing that the gene signature in people with HIV and CVD is not simply the sum of the HIV and CVD signatures. Elevated expression of most inflammatory genes was reversed by cholesterol control (statin treatment). The cell numbers in 3 of 5 intermediate monocyte subsets, 1 of 14 CD8 T cell subsets, 1 of 6 B cell subsets and 1 of 6 NK cell subsets showed significant changes with HIV or CVD. Conclusions We conclude that HIV and CVD show interactive inflammatory signatures including chemokines and cytokines that are improved by cholesterol-lowering drugs.
A Motion Correction Strategy for Multi-Contrast based 3D parametric imaging: Application to Inhomogeneous Magnetization Transfer (ihMT)

Purpose To propose an efficient retrospective image-based method for motion correction of multi-contrast acquisitions with a low number of available images (MC-MoCo) and evaluate its use in 3D inhomogeneous Magnetization Transfer (ihMT) experiments in the human brain. Methods A framework for motion correction, including image pre-processing enhancement and rigid registration to an iteratively improved target image, was developed. The proposed method was compared to Motion Correction with FMRIB’s Linear Image Registration Tool (MCFLIRT) function in FSL over 13 subjects. Native (pre-correction) and residual (post-correction) motions were evaluated by means of markers positioned at well-defined anatomical regions over each image. Results Both motion correction strategies significantly reduced inter-image misalignment, and the MC-MoCo method yielded significantly better results than MCFLIRT. Conclusion MC-MoCo is a high-performance method for motion correction of multi-contrast volumes as in 3D ihMT imaging.
Asymmetric evolvability leads to specialization without trade-offs

Many ideas about the evolution of specialization rely on trade-offs—an inability for one organism to express maximal performance in two or more environments. However, optimal foraging theory suggests that populations can evolve specialization on a superior resource without explicit trade-offs. Classical results in population genetics show that the process of adaptation can be biased toward further improvement in already productive environments, potentially widening the gap between superior and inferior resources. Here I synthesize these approaches with new insights on evolvability at low recombination rates, showing that emergent asymmetries in evolvability can push a population toward specialization in the absence of trade-offs. Simulations are used to demonstrate how adaptation to a more common environment interferes with adaptation to a less common but otherwise equal alternative environment. Shaped by recombination rates and other population-genetic parameters, this process results in either the retention of a generalist niche without trade-offs or entrapment at the local optimum of specialization on the common environment. These modeling results predict that transient differences in evolvability across traits during an episode of adaptation could have long-term consequences for a population’s niche.
Replication and the Establishment of Scientific Truth

The idea of replication is based on the premise that there are empirical regularities or universal laws to be replicated and verified, and the scientific method is adequate for doing it. Scientific truth, however, is not absolute but relative to time, context, and the method used. Time and context are inextricably intertwined in that time (e.g., Christmas Day vs. New Year’s Day) creates different contexts for behaviors and contexts create different experiences of time, rendering psychological phenomena inherently variable. This means that internal and external conditions fluctuate and are different in a replication study vs. the original. Thus, a replication experiment is just another empirical investigation in an ongoing effort to establish scientific truth. Neither the original nor a replication is the final arbiter of whether or not something exists. Discovered patterns need not be permanent laws of human behavior proven by the pinpoint statistical verification through replication. To move forward, phenomenon replications are needed to investigate phenomena in different ways, forms, contexts, and times. Such investigations look at phenomena not just in terms the magnitude of their effects but also by their frequency, duration, and intensity in labs and real life. They will also shed light on the extent to which lab manipulations may make many phenomena subjectively conscious events and effects (e.g., causal attributions) when they are nonconsciously experienced in real life, or vice versa. As scientific knowledge in physics is temporary and incomplete, should it be any surprise that science can only provide “temporary winners” for psychological knowledge of human behavior?