Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Bulk and Single-Cell Transcriptome Analyses Revealed That the Pyroptosis of Glioma-Associated Macrophages Participates in Tumor Progression and Immunosuppression

Glioma is the most common of all central nervous system (CNS) malignancies and is associated with a poor prognosis. Pyroptosis has been proven to be associated with the progression of multiple tumors and CNS diseases. However, the relationships between pyroptosis and clinical prognosis and immune cell infiltration are unclear in glioma. In this study, we conducted a comprehensive exploration of pyroptosis in glioma. First, prognosis-related genes were screened at each key regulatory locus in the pyroptosis pathway, and the prognostic ability and coexpression relationships of GSDMD and its upstream pathway genes NLRC4/CASP1/CASP4 were identified and well validated in multiple datasets. Tissue microarray-based immunohistochemistry results showed higher levels of NLRC4 and N-terminal GSDMD in high-grade gliomas, providing conclusive evidence of pyroptosis in gliomas. The robustness of the prognostic model based on these four genes was well validated in TCGA and CGGA cohorts. Bulk RNA-seq-based analysis showed that the group defined as the high-risk group according to the model showed activation of multiple inflammatory response pathways and impaired synaptic gene expression and had a higher infiltration of bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) and a hypersuppressed immune microenvironment. More importantly, three independent single-cell RNA-seq (scRNA-seq) datasets demonstrated that tumor-infiltrating macrophages, particularly BMDMs but not tissue-resident microglia, showed significant coexpression of the GSDMD and CASP genes, and BMDMs from high-grade gliomas accounted for a higher proportion of immune infiltrating cells and had higher expression of pyroptosis genes. Finally, we revealed the activation of pathways in response to LPS/bacteria and oxidative stress during BMDM development toward the pyroptosis cell fate by pseudotime trajectory analysis, suggesting potential BMDM pyroptosis initiators. The above results provide not only novel insights into the pathological mechanisms of glioma but also novel therapeutic targets for glioma, suggesting the potential application of pyroptosis inhibitors (e.g., disulfiram).
Meningoencephalitis: A Rare Presentation of Scrub Typhus

Scrub typhus is a mite-born acute febrile illness endemic to a part of the world known as the “tsutsugamushi triangle,” which also includes Nepal. It has a wide range of presentations with multiple organ involvement, including meningoencephalitis. We present a unique case of a 30-year-old lady with scrub typhus meningoencephalitis, which showed drastic improvement with doxycycline. This case highlights the importance of high suspicion in an endemic area with limited diagnostic facilities. With the early initiation of empirical therapy, fatal complications of scrub typhus infection such as meningoencephalitis can be prevented.
A Scary Peek into The Future: Advanced Persistent Threats in Emerging Computing Environments

The last decade witnessed a gradual shift from cloud-based computing towards ubiquitous computing, which has put at a greater security risk every element of the computing ecosystem including devices, data, network, and decision making. Indeed, emerging pervasive computing paradigms have introduced an un-charted territory of security vulnerabilities and a wider attack surface, mainly due to network openness, the underlying mechanics that enable intelligent functions, and the deeply integrated physical and cyber spaces. Furthermore, interconnected computing environments now enjoy many unconventional characteristics that mandate a radical change in security engineering tools. This need is further exacerbated by the rapid emergence of new Advanced Persistent Threats (APTs) that target critical infrastructures and aim to stealthily undermine their operations in innovative and intelligent ways. To enable system and network designers to be prepared to face this new wave of dangerous threats, this paper overviews recent APTs in emerging computing systems and proposes a new approach to APTs that is more tailored towards such systems compared to traditional IT infrastructures. The proposed APT lifecycle will inform security decisions and implementation choices in future pervasive networked systems.
Phosphorous alloying: controlling the magnetic anisotropy in ferromagnetic (Ga,Mn)(As,P) Layers

Phosphorous alloying of GaMnAs thin films has been used for the manipulation of the magnetic anisotropies in ferromagnetic Ga0.93Mn0. 07As1-yPy layers. We have determined the anisotropy constants as a function of temperature for phosphorous alloying levels between 0 and 8.8 at % for a Mn doping level of ~ 7at%. We show that it is possible to obtain layers with robust ferromagnetism and either in-plane or out-of plane easy axes with small barriers for magnetization reorientation by phosphorous alloying with y 6at%. The critical temperatures are not significantly increased by the P alloying.
Weak antilocalization in HgTe quantum wells and topological surface states: Massive versus massless Dirac fermions

M in the Cooperon diffusion mode which we obtain from the Bethe-Salpeter equation including relevant spin degrees of freedom. We demonstrate that the relaxation gap exhibits an interesting nonmonotonic dependence on both carrier density and band gap, vanishing at a certain combination of these parameters. The weak-antilocalization conductivity reflects this nonmonotonic behavior which is unique to HgTe QWs and absent for topological surface states. On the other hand, the topological surface states exhibit specific weak-antilocalization magnetoconductivity in a parallel magnetic field due to their exponential decay in the bulk. PACS numbers:
Capturing Malware Behaviour with Ontology-based Knowledge Graphs

Exponential rise of Internet increases the risk of cyber attack related incidents which are generally caused by wide spread frequency of new malware generation. Different types of malware families have complex, dynamic behaviours and characteristics which can cause a novel and targeted attack in a cyber-system. Existence of large volume of malware types with frequent new additions hinders cyber resilience effort. To address the gap, we propose a new ontology driven framework that captures recent malware behaviours. According to code structure malware can be divided into three categories: basic, polymorphic and metamorphic. Packing or code obfuscation is also a technique adopted by the malware developers to make the code unreadable and avoid detection. Given that ontology techniques are useful to express the domain knowledge meaningfully, this paper aims to develop an ontology for dynamic analysis of malware behaviour and to capture metamorphic and polymorphic malware behaviour. This will be helpful to understand malicious behaviour exhibited by new generation malware samples and changes in their code structure. The proposed framework includes 14 malware families with their sub-families and 3 types of malware code-structure with their individuals. With a focus on malware behaviour the proposed ontology depicts the relations among malware families and malware code-structures with their respective behaviour.
Late Miocene Leaves and Endocarps of Choerospondias (Anacardiaceae) from Zhejiang, Eastern China: Implications for Paleogeography and Paleoclimate

Simple Summary Choerospondias endocarp and leaf fossils were found in the Shengxian Formation of Zhejiang, eastern China. We performed cuticle analysis on leaves and micro-CT on endocarps to reconstruct three-dimensional morphological characteristics. Fossil records suggest that Choerospondias spread from low to middle latitudes throughout geological time, and migrated to the northern boundary of the distribution range in China during the late Miocene. Based on the climatic parameters under which extant Choerospondias live, the paleoclimatic values of eastern Zhejiang in the late Miocene were obtained and compared with previously published paleoclimatic data. The results suggest that the climate of the late Miocene in the Tiantai region of Zhejiang was warm and humid, similar overall to the modern climate of this region. Abstract Choerospondias (Anacardiaceae), characterized by radially arranged germination pores near the top, is a monotypic genus mainly distributed in subtropical and tropical eastern Asia, while fossil records indicate a wide distribution throughout Eurasia during the Cenozoic. In this study, we reported three-dimensionally preserved Choerospondias endocarps, and the associated compressed leaves from the late Miocene Shengxian Formation in Tiantai, Zhejiang, eastern China. The plant remains were assigned to two new fossil species. The endocarps were identified as Choerospondias tiantaiensis sp. nov., and the leaves were identified as Choerospondias mioaxillaris sp. nov. Based on fossil records and climate fluctuation during the Cenozoic, we conclude that Choerospondias may have originated from Europe in the early Eocene and then spread to Asia along the coast and island chains of the Tethys and Paratethys oceans. The distribution position of the current fossils was adjacent to the northern boundary of the modern distribution of Choerospondias in East Asia, indicating that the distribution pattern of Choerospondias in East Asia likely formed no later than the late Miocene. We reconstructed the late Miocene paleoclimate of eastern Zhejiang by using the method of climate analysis of endemic species (CAES), and then compared it to the data reconstructed in previous studies. The results indicate that the late Miocene climate in eastern Zhejiang was similar to or warmer and more humid than the modern climate in this region.
VELOCITY ANISOTROPY AND SHAPE BIAS IN THE CAUSTIC TECHNIQUE

We use the Millennium Simulation to quantify the statistical accuracy and precision of the escape-velocity technique for measuring cluster-sized halo masses at z ∼ 0.1. We show that in three dimensions one can measure nearly unbiased (<4%) halo masses (>1.5 × 1014 M☉ h−1) with 10%–15% scatter. Line-of-sight projection effects increase the scatter to ∼25%, where we include the known velocity anisotropies. The classical “caustic” technique incorporates a calibration factor that is determined from N-body simulations. We derive and test a new implementation that eliminates the need for calibration and utilizes only the observables: the galaxy velocities with respect to the cluster mean v, the projected positions rp, an estimate of the Navarro–Frenk–White (NFW) density concentration, and an estimate of the velocity anisotropies β. We find that differences between the potential and density NFW concentrations induce a 10% bias in the caustic masses. We also find that large (100%) systematic errors in the observed ensemble average velocity anisotropies and concentrations translate to small (5%–10%) biases in the inferred masses.
Coupling mechanical design and control design for energy-efficient and stable walking of a compass-like biped

This paper aims at developing a highly efficient walking scheme for compass-like biped robots with feet. Towards this goal, a latch attached to the hip is introduced to lock the hip joint when the hip joint retracts to the desired value and spring devices are installed in the ankle joints to reduce the inputs of the ankles. Moreover, the stance foot allowed to rotate about the toe is considered. With these setups, a highly efficient limit-cycle walking gait is obtained by using the method of Poincaré shooting with the objective of minimizing the dimensionless specific mechanical cost of transport. However, this limit-cycle walking gait is unstable. To stabilize it, a new control strategy is proposed based on transverse coordinate linearization on moving Poincaré sections. A series of numerical simulations show that such a robot model under the proposed control law can walk stably and efficiently.
State-Feedback-Critical Super Twisting Sliding Mode Control for a Half-Car Suspension System

A good suspension system is of paramount importance to the operating performance of a vehicle and, consequently, to the safety and driving comfort of the passengers. Nevertheless, suspension systems are commonly susceptible to nonlinearity, parameter uncertainty, and exogenous perturbation, which can easily impair their effectiveness. This study first employs a full state feedback super twisting control (FS-STC) to stabilize both vertical displacement and pitch angle of a half-car suspension system in the presence of disturbances. FS-STC inherits the robust property of sliding mode control (SMC) while effectively attenuating the chattering phenomenon as one of its attractive features. However, FS-STC strictly requires both direct displacement and velocity state feedback, which implies additional sensors have to be installed, thus increasing the complexity of the physical structure and being prone to measurement noises. Therefore, a higher order sliding mode observer (HOSMO) based STC (HOSMO-STC) and an unscented Kalman filter (UKF) based STC (UKF-STC) are subsequently proposed to tackle this state availability problem. HOSMO estimates velocity states, thus reducing the dependence on state feedback for STC design. Meanwhile, UKF implementation takes further actions by utilizing more common and easily accessible relative displacements such as suspension strokes to estimate all concerned system states. Comparative simulation results demonstrate that UKF-STC offers better performance in terms of both convergence accuracy and chattering alleviation compared to FS-STC and HOSMO-STC while requiring the least information of state feedback.
Effect of Exercise on Vascular Function and Blood Lipids in Postmenopausal Women: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis

This study aimed to compare and rank the effectiveness of aerobic exercise (AE), resistance training (RT), combined training (CT), and water exercise (WE) on vascular function and blood lipids in postmenopausal women using a network meta-analysis (NMA). Methods: We searched the PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, Web of Science, and EBSCO (SPORTDiscus) databases to identify randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of exercise on vascular function and blood lipids in postmenopausal women. The retrieval period was from inception to March 2022. Two reviewers independently screened the retrieved articles, extracted pertinent data, and assessed the risk of bias of the included studies. Results: A total of 38 studies involving 1407 patients were included in this study. The results of the NMA indicated that WE had the greatest effect on systolic blood pressure (SBP) (surface under the cumulative ranking [SUCRA] = 84.9) and total cholesterol (TC) (SUCRA = 93.1); CT had the greatest effect on triglycerides (TG) (SUCRA = 96.2), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) (SUCRA = 94.8), and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (SUCRA = 91.1); RT had the greatest effect on low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (SUCRA = 79.4). Conclusion: The results suggest that exercise can effectively improve the PWV, SBP, and DBP and the levels of TC, TG, and LDL-C in postmenopausal women. WE had the best effect on improving TC and SBP. CT had the best effect on improving TG, HDL-C, and DBP. To improve LDL-C, RT can achieve a good effect. Considering the limitations of NMA, more RCTS need to be performed in the future to provide more direct evidence of the effectiveness of various exercise interventions on vascular health in postmenopausal women.
A minimal set of invariants as a systematic approach to higher order gravity models: physical and cosmological constraints

We compare higher order gravity models to observational constraints from magnitude -redshift supernova data, distance to the last scattering surface of the CMB, and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations. We follow a recently proposed systematic approach to higher order gravity models based on minimal sets of curvature invariants, and select models that pass some physical acceptability conditions (free of ghost instabilities, real and positive propagation speeds, and free of separatrices). Models that satisfy these physical and observational constraints are found in this analysis and do provide fits to the data that are very close to those of the LCDM concordance model. However, we find in that the limitation of the models considered here comes from the presence of superluminal mode propagations for the constrained parameter space of the models.
Application of composite indicator in evaluation of resilience in critical infrastructure system

In the field of safety engineering, various approaches can be found using indicators to analyse and evaluate system resilience. Such resilience is generally determined by various factors, i.e., it cannot be defined by a single indicator. A multidimensional approach is needed to evaluate the resilience of such a system. A suitable solution is the use of a composite indicator that aggregates sub-indicators describing or characterising a certain condition. As a complex indicator, a composite indicator is considered to be a very useful means of providing a comprehensible presentation of highly complex phenomena. However, when constructing a composite indicator, it is necessary to follow the principles of its creation and thus avoid distorting the result. This condition also applies when evaluating the resilience of critical infrastructure elements. For this reason, the article focuses primarily on a clear definition of the composite indicator, the procedure for its creation and an analysis of the current use of these indicators in the critical infrastructure system. The benefit of the article is therefore the assessment of the applicability of these theoretical foundations and general principles of composite indicator development for the needs of critical infrastructure protection and their subsequent implementation into a tool for predictive indication of disruption of resilience of critical infrastructure elements.
Null geodesics in the Reissner-NordstrAnti-de Sitter black holes

Departamento de Fsica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Tarapaca,Av. General Velasquez 1775, Arica, Chile(Dated: November 4, 2011)In this work we address the study of null geodesics in the background of Reissner-Nordstrom Antide Sitter black holes. We compute the exact trajectories in terms of elliptic functions of Weierstrass,obtaining a detailed description of the orbits in terms of charge, mass and the cosmological constant.The trajectories of the photon are classi ed using the impact parameter.
Cosmic Superstrings: Dynamics and Cusps

Whilst standard field theoretic Cosmic Strings cannot end, Cosmic Superstrings can form three string junctions, at which each string ends. This opens up a new class of possible boundary conditions for such strings and we show that, at least when the junctions are close together, a string ending of two such junctions will generically have cusps. Cusps are of particular interest as they are strong emitters of radiation (both gravitational and particle) and hence are possible observables. The detection of cusps from Cosmic Superstrings between junctions would be a rare observational window into the realm of String theory and Brane inflation models.
Designing coupled metal slot antennas for detecting micron-sized 2D material in terahertz regime

The metallic meta-surface which enables measurements of micron-sized two-dimensional (2D) materials with millimeter-wavelength terahertz wave is introduced to overcome diffraction limit. We induce strong light (terahertz wave)-matter (15-$\mu$ m-sized graphite) interaction by using a slot antenna making electric-field confinement and enhancement of electromagnetic waves. When micron-sized graphite partially covers the slot antenna, the resonance transmissions are significantly reduced. This result implies that strong coupling between terahertz wave and metallic graphite is accomplished through the slot antennas, which can be expanded toward various 2D materials in the regime of millimeter-wavelength.
Entanglement signatures for the dimerization transition in the Majumdar-Ghosh model

The transition from a gapless liquid to a gapped dimerized ground state that occurs in the frustrated antiferromagnetic Majumdar-Ghosh (or $J_1-J_2$ Heisenberg) model is revisited from the point of view of entanglement. We study the evolution of entanglement spectra, a "projected subspace" block entropy, and concurrence in the Schmidt vectors through the transition. The standard tool of Schmidt decomposition along with the existence of the unique MG point where the ground states are degenerate and known exactly, suggests the projection into two orthogonal subspaces that is useful even away from this point. Of these, one is a dominant five dimensional subspace containing the complete state at the MG point and the other contributes marginally, albeit with increasing weight as the number of spins is increased. We find that the marginally contributing subspace has a minimum von Neumann entropy in the vicinity of the dimerization transition. Entanglement content between pairs of spins in the Schmidt vectors, studied via concurrence, shows that those belonging to the dominant five dimensional subspace display a clear progress towards dimerization, with the concurrence vanishing on odd/even sublattices, again in the vicinity of the dimerization, and maximizing in the even/odd sublattices at the MG point. In contrast, study of the Schmidt vectors in the marginally contributing subspace, as well as in the projection of the ground state in this space, display pair concurrence which decrease on both the sublattices as the MG point is approached. The robustness of these observations indicate their possible usefulness in the study of models that have similar transitions, and have hitherto been difficult to study using standard entanglement signatures.
DTS-SNN: Spiking Neural Networks With Dynamic Time-Surfaces

Convolution helps spiking neural networks (SNNs) capture the spatio-temporal structures of neuromorphic (event) data as evident in the convolution-based SNNs (C-SNNs) with the state-of-the-art classification-accuracies on various datasets. However, the efficacy aside, the efficiency of C-SNN is questionable. In this regard, we propose SNNs with novel trainable dynamic time-surfaces (DTS-SNNs) as efficient alternatives to convolution. The novel dynamic time-surface proposed in this work features its high responsiveness to moving objects given the use of the zero-sum temporal kernel that is motivated by the simple cells’ receptive fields in the early stage visual pathway. We evaluated the performance and computational complexity of our DTS-SNNs on three real-world event-based datasets (DVS128 Gesture, Spiking Heidelberg dataset, N-Cars). The results highlight high classification accuracies and significant improvements in computational efficiency, e.g., merely 1.51% behind of the state-of-the-art result on DVS128 Gesture but a $\times 18$ improvement in efficiency. The code is available online (https://github.com/dooseokjeong/DTS-SNN).