Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Low-Variance Policy Gradient Estimation with World Models

In this paper, we propose World Model Policy Gradient (WMPG), an approach to reduce the variance of policy gradient estimates using learned world models (WM's). In WMPG, a WM is trained online and used to imagine trajectories. The imagined trajectories are used in two ways. Firstly, to calculate a without-replacement estimator of the policy gradient. Secondly, the return of the imagined trajectories is used as an informed baseline. We compare the proposed approach with AC and MAC on a set of environments of increasing complexity (CartPole, LunarLander and Pong) and find that WMPG has better sample efficiency. Based on these results, we conclude that WMPG can yield increased sample efficiency in cases where a robust latent representation of the environment can be learned.
Sizeless: predicting the optimal size of serverless functions

Serverless functions are an emerging cloud computing paradigm that is being rapidly adopted by both industry and academia. In this cloud computing model, the provider opaquely handles resource management tasks such as resource provisioning, deployment, and auto-scaling. The only resource management task that developers are still in charge of is selecting how much resources are allocated to each worker instance. However, selecting the optimal size of serverless functions is quite challenging, so developers often neglect it despite its significant cost and performance benefits. Existing approaches aiming to automate serverless functions resource sizing require dedicated performance tests, which are time-consuming to implement and maintain. In this paper, we introduce an approach to predict the optimal resource size of a serverless function using monitoring data from a single resource size. As our approach does not require dedicated performance tests, it enables cloud providers to implement resource sizing on a platform level and automate the last resource management task associated with serverless functions. We evaluate our approach on four different serverless applications on AWS, where it predicts the execution time of the other memory sizes based on monitoring data for a single memory size with an average prediction error of 15.3%. Based on these predictions, it selects the optimal memory size for 79.0% of the serverless functions and the second-best memory size for 12.3% of the serverless functions, which results in an average speedup of 39.7% while also decreasing average costs by 2.6%.
The distribution of neutral hydrogen in the colour–magnitude plane of galaxies

We present the conditional HI (neutral hydrogen) Mass Function (HIMF) conditioned on observed optical properties, $M_{\text{r}}$ ($r$-band absolute magnitude) and $C_{\text{ur}}$ ($u-r$ color), for a sample of 7709 galaxies from ALFALFA (40% data release - $\alpha.40$) which overlaps with a common volume in SDSS DR7. Based on the conditional HIMF we find that the luminous red, luminous blue and faint blue populations dominate the total HIMF at the high-mass end, knee and the low-mass end respectively. We use the conditional HIMF to derive the underlying distribution function of $\Omega_{\text{HI}}$ (HI density parameter), $p(\Omega_{\text{HI}})$, in the color-magnitude plane of galaxies. The distribution, $p(\Omega_{\text{HI}})$, peaks in the blue cloud at $M_{\text{r}}^{\text{max}}=$ $-19.25, C_{\text{ur}}^{\text{max}}=1.44$ but is skewed. It has a long tail towards faint blue galaxies and luminous red galaxies. We argue that $p(\Omega_{\text{HI}})$ can be used to reveal the underlying relation between cold gas, stellar mass and the star formation rate (SFR) in an unbiased way; that is the derived relation does not suffer from survey or sample selection.
Information-disturbance trade-off in generalized entanglement swapping

We study information-disturbance trade-off in generalized entanglement swapping protocols wherein starting from Bell pairs $\left(1,2\right)$ and $\left(3,4\right)$, one performs an arbitrary joint measurement on $\left(2,3\right)$, so that $\left(1,4\right)$ now becomes correlated. We obtain trade-off inequalities between information gain in correlations of $\left(1,4\right)$ and residual information in correlations of $\left(1,2\right)$ and $\left(3,4\right)$ respectively and argue that information contained in correlations (information) is conserved if each inequality is an equality. We show that information is conserved for a maximally entangled measurement but is not conserved for any other complete orthogonal measurement and Bell measurement mixed with white noise. However, rather surprisingly, we find that information is conserved for rank-two Bell diagonal measurements, although such measurements do not conserve entanglement. We also show that a separable measurement on $\left(2,3\right)$ can conserve information, even if, as in our example, the post-measurement states of all three pairs $\left(1,2\right)$, $\left(3,4\right)$, and $\left(1,4\right)$ become separable. This implies correlations from an entangled pair can be transferred to separable pairs in nontrivial ways so that no information is lost in the process.
SAGECal Performance With Large Sky Models

As astronomical instruments become more sensitive, the requirements for the calibration software become more stringent; without accurate calibration solutions, thermal noise levels in images will not be reached and the scientific output of the instrument is degraded. Calibration requires bright sources with known properties, in particular with respect to their brightnesses as a function of frequency. However, for modern radio telescopes with a huge field of view, a single calibration source does not suffice; instead a sky model with tens of thousands of sources is needed. In this work, we investigate the compute load for such complicated sky models, with up to 50,000 sources, for the SAGECal calibration package. We have chosen half of the sources in these models to be point sources and half of them extended, which we represent by Gaussian profiles.
Coherent preorder of quantum states

As an important quantum resource, quantum coherence play key role in quantum information processing. It is often concerned with manipulation of families of quantum states rather than individual states in isolation. Given two pairs of coherent states $(\rho_1,\rho_2)$ and $(\sigma_1,\sigma_2)$, we are aimed to study how can we determine if there exists a strictly incoherent operation $\Phi$ such that $\Phi(\rho_i) =\sigma_i,i = 1,2$. This is also a classic question in quantum hypothesis testing. In this note, structural characterization of coherent preorder under strongly incoherent operations is provided. Basing on the characterization, we propose an approach to realize coherence distillation from rank-two mixed coherent states to $q$-level maximally coherent states. In addition, one scheme of coherence manipulation between rank-two mixed states is also presented.
Morphology of Gamma-Ray Halos around Middle-aged Pulsars: Influence of the Pulsar Proper Motion

Recently, gamma-ray halos of a few degree extension have been detected around two middle-aged pulsars, namely, Geminga and PSR B0656+14, by the High Altitude Water Cherenkov observatory (HAWC). The gamma-ray radiation arises from relativistic electrons that escape the pulsar wind nebula and diffuse in the surrounding medium. The diffusion coefficient is found to be significantly lower than the average value in the Galactic disk. If so, given a typical transverse velocity of 300–500 km s−1 for a pulsar, its displacement could be important in shaping the morphology of its gamma-ray halos. Motivated by this, we study the morphology of pulsar halos considering the proper motion of pulsar. We define three evolutionary phases of the pulsar halo to categorize its morphological features. The morphology of pulsar halos below 10 TeV is double peaked or single peaked with an extended tail, which depends on the electron injection history. Above 10 TeV, the morphology of pulsar halos is nearly spherical, due to the short cooling timescale (<50 kyr) for tens of teraelectronvolt electrons. We also quantitatively evaluate the separation between the pulsar and the center of the gamma-ray halo, as well as the influence of different assumptions on the pulsar characteristics and the injected electrons. Our results suggest that the separation between the center of the gamma-ray halo above 10 TeV and the associated pulsar is usually too small to be observable by HAWC or the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory. Hence, our results provide a useful approach to constrain the origin of extended sources at very high energies.
Scavenging on Ungulate Carcasses in a Mountain Forest Area in Northern Italy

Abstract. We investigated the scavenging behavior of some vertebrate species inhabiting a mountainous area of Eastern Tuscany (Italy). Fieldwork was conducted by using camera traps from July 2010 to June 2013. The red fox (Vulpes vulpes) resulted to be the main scavenger species, followed by the wolf (Canis lupus), while the wild boar (Sus scrofa) resulted to be one of the less efficient scavengers, exploiting, in groups, only two carcasses. The wolf seemed to use carcasses mostly during the summer season, while no differences in red fox seasonal use of and visit to carcasses were detected. All the wild scavenger species showed a peak of activity between dusk and dawn, during both summer and winter, likely to minimize human disturbance. The red fox used carcasses whenever available, and in most cases it also was the first species arriving on a new carcass, with a very limited searching time. This paper represents the first Italian study on carrion use by Mediterranean vertebrate communities.
Wound Healing Myofibroblasts Proliferate Clonally and in a Mechanoresponsive Manner

Co-Authors: Deshka Foster, MD; Alan T. Nguyen, BS; Ankit Salhotra, BS; Gunsagar Gulati, BS; Chase Ransom, MD, PhD; Shamik Mascharak, BS; R. Ellen Jones, MD; Ashley L. Titan, MD; Clement D. Marshall, MD; Michael Hu, MD; Heather E. desJardins-Park, AB; Michael Januszyk, MD, PhD; Geoffrey Gurtner, MD; Derrick C. Wan, MD; Jeffrey A. Norton, MD; Howard Y. Chang, MD, PhD; Gerlinde Wernig, MD; Michael T. Longaker, MD, MBA
Slicing the Core Network and Radio Access Network Domains through Intent-Based Networking for 5G Networks

The fifth-generation mobile network presents a wide range of services which have different requirements in terms of performance, bandwidth, reliability, and latency. The legacy networks are not capable to handle these diverse services with the same physical infrastructure. In this way, network virtualization presents a reliable solution named network slicing that supports service heterogeneity and provides differentiated resources to each service. Network slicing enables network operators to create multiple logical networks over a common physical infrastructure. In this research article, we have designed and implemented an intent-based network slicing system that can slice and manage the core network and radio access network (RAN) resources efficiently. It is an automated system, where users just need to provide higher-level network configurations in the form of intents/contracts for a network slice, and in return, our system deploys and configures the requested resources accordingly. Further, our system grants the automation of the network configurations process and reduces the manual effort. It has an intent-based networking (IBN) tool which can control, manage, and monitor the network slice resources properly. Moreover, a deep learning model, the generative adversarial neural network (GAN), has been used for the management of network resources. Several tests have been carried out with our system by creating three slices, which shows better performance in terms of bandwidth and latency.
Admixture increases performance of an invasive plant beyond first‐generation heterosis

Through its potential to enhance progeny performance, admixture (between‐population crossing) may promote invasiveness of alien plants. The few studies that tested this idea found evidence for heterosis (positive effects of admixture) in the first generation (F1), but have not considered further generations. In this paper, we test whether admixture benefits can be maintained in subsequent generations of an invasive plant. We follow up on a previous study, in which we made crosses between plants of Mimulus guttatus from native‐ (western North America) and invaded‐range populations (New Zealand and Scotland), and showed that admixture increases F1 performance. Here, we performed further crosses to create non‐admixed progeny, F1 progeny resulting from within‐ and between‐range admixture, and subsequent F2 progeny both through outcrossing and through self‐fertilization. As heterosis, out‐ and inbreeding depression may depend on the environment, we assessed progeny performance under benign (well‐watered) and drought‐stress conditions in a greenhouse experiment. We found that non‐admixed progeny of M. guttatus were outperformed by admixed progeny (averaged across F1 and F2), particularly by progeny from between‐range admixture. However, the benefit of admixture was stronger in F1 than in F2 progeny, especially when the F2 was produced by self‐fertilization. The benefit of admixture also depended on the range of origin and the test environment. Synthesis. Our findings indicate that increased performance of admixed F1 progeny is partly maintained in the F2 progeny. Admixture might thus significantly boost performance of an invasive plant across multiple generations.
Uloga signalnog puta Hedgehog u razvoju tumora

The Hedgehog (Hh) signaling pathway, which was identified for the first time in the common fruit fly, is a highly preserved evolutionary pathway of signal transmission from the cell membrane to the cell nucleus. The Hh signaling pathway plays an important role in the embryonic development. It has a biological influence through a signal cascade culminating in a change of balance between activated (GliA) and repression forms (GliR) of Gli transcription factors. The components of the Hh signaling pathway involved in the information transfer to the Gli transcription factors are: Hh ligands (Shh, IHh i DHh), Ptch receptor (Ptch1, Ptch2), Smo coreceptor, Sufu, Kif7, PKA and cAMP. GliA travels to the nucleus and stimulates the transcription of target genes by binding to their promoters. The main target genes of the Hh signaling pathway are Ptch1, Ptch2 and Gli1. The malfunction of the Hh signaling pathway is associated with the developmental anomalies and tumors, such as Gorlin syndrome, basal cell carcinoma, medulloblastoma, and pancreatic, breast, colon, and ovarian cancer as well as small-cell lung carcinoma etc. The aberrant activation of the Hh signaling pathway is either caused by mutations in the signal pathway (ligand independent signaling) or by the excessive expression of the Hh signaling pathway (ligand dependent signaling-autocrine or paracrine). Numerous Hh pathway inhibitors, like vismodegib and sonidegib, have been developed for cancer treatment. They are regarded as a promising treatment to be used in cancer therapy, especially for patients with a poor prognosis.
Concordancia entre las escalas Marshall, Ranson y APACHE II como estimadoras de la morbimortalidad en pancreatitis aguda

Introduction: Different scales to estimate the risk of morbidity and mortality in patients with pancreatitis are currently in use in Colombia, which leads to uncertainty when classifying and treating these patients. Objective: This study seeks to analyze agreement between the most used scales to estimate the risk of patient morbidity and mortality in a population treated at 2,670 meters above sea level (m.a.s.l.). Materials and methods: Two hundred patients between 18 and 65 years old, diagnosed with acute pancreatitis, were evaluated and treated at the Hospital Universitario San Ignacio, Bogotá (Colombia). Three risk scales were used for the estimations. Scores ≥ 8 in the APACHE II system, ≥ 2 in the Modified Marshall Score, or 3 or more positive Ranson criteria were classified as pancreatitis with severity prognostic marker. Agreement between the results was determined using the Kappa coefficient. Results: According to the Marshall score, 45.5% of the cases were pancreatitis with predicted severity, while APACHE II and Ranson yielded scores of 39.5% and 38.5%, respectively. The Kappa coefficient showed weak agreement between APACHE II and Ranson (Kappa=0.201; 95%CI 0.05-0.34), poor agreement between Ranson and Marshall (Kappa=0.18; 95%CI 0.04-0.32), and moderate agreement between APACHE II and Marshall (Kappa=0.42; 95%CI 0.28-0.56). Conclusions: There is poor agreement between the pancreatitis severity scoring systems used in Colombia, so they cannot be interpreted as clinically equivalent. The data from this study demonstrate the need to validate the scales in Colombia and Latin America. They also suggest that the Marshall scale overestimates the risk in cities above 2,000 m.a.s.l.
Predicting DNA accessibility in the pan-cancer tumor genome using RNA-seq, WGS, and deep learning

DNA accessibility, chromatin regulation, and genome methylation are key drivers of transcriptional events promoting tumor growth. However, understanding the impact of DNA sequence data on transcriptional regulation of gene expression is a challenge, particularly in noncoding regions of the genome. Recently, neural networks have been used to effectively predict DNA accessibility in multiple specific cell types [14]. These models make it possible to explore the impact of mutations on DNA accessibility and transcriptional regulation. Our work first improved on prior cell-specific accessibility prediction, obtaining a mean receiver operating characteristic (ROC) area under the curve (AUC) = 0.910 and mean precision-recall (PR) AUC = 0.605, compared to the previous mean ROC AUC = 0.895 and mean PR AUC = 0.561 [14]. Our key contribution extended the model to enable accessibility predictions on any new sample for which RNA-seq data is available, without requiring cell-type-specific DNase-seq data for re-training. This new model obtained overall PR AUC = 0.621 and ROC AUC = 0.897 when applied across whole genomes of new samples whose biotypes were held out from training, and PR AUC = 0.725 and ROC AUC = 0.913 on randomly held out new samples whose biotypes were allowed to overlap with training. More significantly, we showed that for promoter and promoter flank regions of the genome our model predicts accessibility to high reliability, achieving PR AUC = 0.839 in held out biotypes and PR AUC = 0.911 in randomly held out samples. This performance is not sensitive to whether the promoter and flank regions fall within genes used in the input RNA-seq expression vector. Finally, we utilize this tool to investigate, for the first time, promoter accessibility patterns across several cohorts from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) [27].
Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from a Hen Shed in Japan

To clarify the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from hen rearing in Japan, we collected air samples from inside a hen shed for the four seasons in 2019 and analyzed 34 VOCs in the air samples by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and high performance liquid chromatography. The temperature and humidity inside and outside of the shed were monitored simultaneously during each sampling campaign. The average concentrations of VOCs in the shed ranged from 150 to 427 µg m−3, the concentrations being higher in summer and lower in winter. Acetone, dimethyl sulfide, 2-butanone, 2-pentanone, and acetic acid were dominant throughout all the seasons and these five compounds accounted for 70–89% of the total VOCs. The reactivity of each VOC with hydroxyl radical was also calculated and dimethyl sulfide was found to be the most reactive VOC, accounting for 84–94% of the total hydroxyl radical reactivity. The emission rate (ER) for the total VOCs (µg h−1 kg−1) was 602 in winter, 7,900 in spring, 46,500 in summer and 37,600 in autumn, respectively. Acetone, dimethyl sulfide, 2-butanone, 3-pentanone and acetic acid had higher ERs throughout all the seasons, and these five components accounted for 70–90% of the ERs for the total VOCs. The ERs of the VOCs increased exponentially in accord with temperature increases inside the shed, indicating that the ERs of the VOCs depended on the ambient temperature. The annual VOC emission from one hen and from the hen shed was calculated to be 405 g y−1 and 121 kg y−1, respectively.
Otizm Spektrum Bozukluğu Olan Çocukların Antropometrik Ölçümlerinin Değerlendirilmesi

Objective: This research was contucted to evaluate of anthropometric measurements of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Methods: The populations of the research consist of 63 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder who are studying at special education and rehabilitation center in Bursa. Sample selection wasn’t made in this study. 50 children with Autism Spectrum Disorder were included on a voluntary basis in the scope of research. Weight and height were measured and Body Mass Index was calculated for children in the research. Results were evaluated with percentile charts. Results: Number of boys and girls are 36 and 14, respectively. Mean age is 11.49±4.51. 4% of children were weak, 36% were normal, 18% were overweight and 42% were obese compared to the Body Mass Index values. Conclusion : As a result, prevelance of overweight and obesity was high in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
Shortlisting putative candidate genes underlying qDTY1.1, a major effect drought tolerant QTL in rice (Oryza sativa L.).

Drought is one of the major constraints affecting rice (Oryza sativa L.) productivity and production. Conventional breeding is leading to slow progress in developing drought tolerant varieties. In this context, mapping consistent major effect QTLs and unraveling molecular basis of those QTLs will pave way for deployment of those QTLs into breeding applications. Out of more than 2500 drought tolerance related QTLs, hardly 5 to 10 QTLs have been put into breeding applications due to larger QTL window, lack of tightly linked markers and lack of knowledge on candidate genes underlying QTLs. In this present study, in silico analysis was carried out to characterize a major effect QTL qDTY1.1 region on chromosome 1 for its gene content, drought responsiveness of genes in the QTL window and metabolic functions. Out of 352 genes residing in the qDTY1.1 window, 50% of the genes were found to be drought responsive. Bioinformatics search identified precise drought responsive expression pattern of 100 genes in the QTL window. Fifty seven genes were found to be up regulated and forty three genes were found to be down regulated. The qDTY1.1 region is found to contain 23 drought responsive transcription factors such as WRKY, bZIP, NAC, AP2 and C2H2. These drought responsive genes are confirmed for the possession of drought responsive cis elements like DRE, ABRE, MYB and MYC.