Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A ShK-like Domain from Steinernema carpocapsae with Bioinsecticidal Potential

Entomopathogenic nematodes are used as biological control agents against a broad range of insect pests. We ascribed the pathogenicity of these organisms to the excretory/secretory products (ESP) released by the infective nematode. Our group characterized different virulence factors produced by Steinernema carpocapsae that underlie its success as an insect pathogen. A novel ShK-like peptide (ScK1) from this nematode that presents high sequence similarity with the ShK peptide from a sea anemone was successfully produced recombinantly in Escherichia coli. The secondary structure of ScK1 appeared redox-sensitive, exhibiting a far-UV circular dichroism spectrum consistent with an alpha-helical secondary structure. Thermal denaturation of the ScK1 allowed estimating the melting temperature to 59.2 ± 0.1 °C. The results from toxicity assays using Drosophila melanogaster as a model show that injection of this peptide can kill insects in a dose-dependent manner with an LD50 of 16.9 µM per adult within 24 h. Oral administration of the fusion protein significantly reduced the locomotor activity of insects after 48 h (p < 0.05, Tukey’s test). These data show that this nematode expresses insecticidal peptides with potential as next-generation insecticides.
Tortuous Cardiac Intercalated Discs Modulate Ephaptic Coupling

Cardiac ephaptic coupling, a mechanism mediated by negative electric potentials occurring in the narrow intercellular clefts of intercalated discs, can influence action potential propagation by modulating the sodium current. Intercalated discs are highly tortuous due to the mingling of plicate and interplicate regions. To investigate the effect of their convoluted structure on ephaptic coupling, we refined our previous model of an intercalated disc and tested predefined folded geometries, which we parametrized by orientation, amplitude and number of folds. Ephaptic interactions (assessed by the minimal cleft potential and amplitude of the sodium currents) were reinforced by concentric folds. With increasing amplitude and number of concentric folds, the cleft potential became more negative during the sodium current transient. This is explained by the larger resistance between the cleft and the bulk extracellular space. In contrast, radial folds attenuated ephaptic interactions and led to a less negative cleft potential due to a decreased net cleft resistance. In conclusion, despite limitations inherent to the simplified geometries and sodium channel distributions investigated as well as simplifications regarding ion concentration changes, these results indicate that the folding pattern of intercalated discs modulates ephaptic coupling.
The Many Moods of Emotion

This paper presents a novel approach to the facial expression generation problem. Building upon the assumption of the psychological community that emotion is intrinsically continuous, we first design our own continuous emotion representation with a 3-dimensional latent space issued from a neural network trained on discrete emotion classification. The so-obtained representation can be used to annotate large in the wild datasets and later used to trained a Generative Adversarial Network. We first show that our model is able to map back to discrete emotion classes with a objectively and subjectively better quality of the images than usual discrete approaches. But also that we are able to pave the larger space of possible facial expressions, generating the many moods of emotion. Moreover, two axis in this space may be found to generate similar expression changes as in traditional continuous representations such as arousal-valence. Finally we show from visual interpretation, that the third remaining dimension is highly related to the well-known dominance dimension from psychology.
Incompatible measurements in a class of general probabilistic theories

We study incompatibility of measurements and its relation to steering and nonlocality in a class of finite dimensional general probabilistic theories (GPT). The basic idea is to represent finite collections of measurements as affine maps of a state space into a polysimplex and show that incompatibility is characterized by properties of these maps. We introduce the notion of an incompatibility witness and show its relation to incompatibility degree. We find the maximum incompatibility degree attainable by pairs of two-outcome quantum measurements and characterize state spaces for which incompatibility degree attains maximal values possible in GPT. As examples, we study the spaces of classical and quantum channels and show their close relation to polysimplices. This relation explains the super-quantum non-classical effects that were observed on these spaces.
Liquid Metal Enabled Electrobiology: A Generalized Easy Going Way to Tackle Disease Challenges

In this article, a new conceptual biomedical engineering strategy to tackle modern disease challenges, termed as liquid metal enabled electrobiology, is proposed. This generalized and easy going way is based on the physiological fact that specially administrated electricity would induce a series of subsequent desired biological effects, either shortly, transitional or permanently. Owing high compliance within any part of the biological tissues, the liquid metal would aid to mold a pervasive way to treat physiological or psychological diseases. As highly conductive and non-toxic multifunctional flexible materials, such liquid metals (LMs) consist of the core to generate any requested electric treating fields (ETFields) which can adapt to various sites inside the human body. The basic mechanisms of electrobiology in delivering electricity to the target tissues and then inducing expected outputs for disease treatment are interpreted. The methods toward realizing soft and conformable electronics based on liquid metal are illustrated. Further, a group of typical disease challenges were taken to illustrate the basic strategies to perform liquid metal electrobiology therapy, which include but are not limited to: tissue electronics, brain disorder, immunotherapy, neural functional recovery, muscle stimulation, skin rejuvenation, cosmetology and dieting, artificial organs, cardiac pacing and cancer therapy etc. Some practical issues involved in the electrobiology for future disease therapy were discussed. Perspective along this direction to incubate an easy-going biomedical tool for health care was pointed out.
Hard and Soft Acid and Base (HSAB) Engineering for Efficient and Stable Sn‐Pb Perovskite Solar Cells

Regulation of Lewis acid‐base adduct intermediate is more critical for the dual metal ions of Sn2+ and Pb2+ than for the single metal ion such as Pb2+ in preparing high quality perovskite films. It has been reported here that the photovoltaic performance of Sn‐Pb alloyed perovskite solar cells is dependent on the interaction between metal ions and Lewis base additives. Urea and thiourea are selected as an O‐ and a S‐donor, respectively, which is used as an additive in the precursor solution including equimolar SnI2 and PbI2 together with organic iodides of formamidinium iodide and methylammonium iodide, forming a nominal composition of FA0.5MA0. 5Pb0.5Sn0. 5I3. Open‐circuit voltage (Voc) is increased while maintaining short‐circuit photocurrent density (Jsc) after the addition of urea. On the other hand, both Jsc and Voc are simultaneously increased by adding thiourea, leading to a considerable increase in power conversion efficiency from 14.58% (control) to 18.59%. A strong interaction between the relatively soft Sn2+, compared to Sn4+, and the soft sulfur in thiourea, associated with hard and soft acid and base theory, suppresses effectively a disproportionation reaction of 2Sn2+→ Sn4+ + Sn0, which results in a substantial enhancement of carrier lifetime and consequently photovoltaic performance.
Birkhoff’s theorem in Lovelock gravity

We show that the solutions of the Lovelock equations with spherical, planar, or hyperbolic symmetry are locally isometric to the corresponding static Lovelock black hole. As a consequence, these solutions are locally static: they admit an additional Killing vector that can either be space-like or time-like, depending on the position. This result also holds in the presence of an abelian gauge field, in which case the solutions are locally isometric to a charged static black hole.
Black Hole Decay Rates in Large Extra Dimensions

We study the evaporation of black holes in space-times with extra dimensions of size L. We show that the luminosity is greatly damped when the horizon becomes smaller than L and black holes born with an initial size smaller than L are almost stable. This effect is due to the dependence of both the occupation number density of Hawking quanta and the grey-body factor of a black hole on the dimensionality of space.
Estimating the mass of the debris disc in HD 69830

We present a method to estimate the mass of the debris disc in the HD 69830 system, which also hosts three exoplanets with Neptune-like minimum masses. By considering the range of published stellar ages, we interpret the infrared emission from the debris disc as originating from a steady-state, collisional cascade of dust grains. Using dynamical survival models subjected to observational constraints, we estimate the allowed range of disc masses. If the disc has an age t★≈ 1 Gyr, then its mass is Mdisc≈ 3–4 × 10−3 M⊕, several times more massive than our asteroid belt. The maximum allowed age for the disc and the number of planetesimals it contains are determined by the assumed value for the binding energy of the planetesimals. If one insists on interpreting the disc as being transient, then this mass estimate becomes an upper limit.
Low energy dynamics of the one dimensional multichannel Kondo-Heisenberg Lattice

We determine exactly the fixed point Hamiltonian of the one dimensional multichannel Kondo-Heisenberg lattice model for any number of channels N>=2. An anomalous singlet with non trivial internal dynamics is generated. We compute the correlation functions of the various conventional and unconventional order parameters of the system and find that for N<=4 the composite order parameter induce the dominant instabilities.
Investigation of the extreme wet–cold compound events changes between 2025–2049 and 1980–2004 using regional simulations in Greece

Abstract. This paper aims to study wet–cold compound events (WCCEs) in Greece for the wet and cold season November–April since these events may affect directly human activities for short or longer periods, as no similar research has been conducted for the country studying the past and future development of these compound events. WCCEs are divided into two different daily compound events, maximum temperature– (TX) accumulated precipitation (RR) and minimum temperature– (TN) accumulated precipitation (RR), using fixed thresholds (RR over 20 mm d−1 and temperature under 0 ∘C). Observational data from the Hellenic National Meteorology Service (HNMS) and simulation data from reanalysis and EURO-CORDEX models were used in the study for the historical period 1980–2004. The ensemble mean of the simulation datasets from projection models was employed for the near future period (2025–2049) to study the impact of climate change on the occurrence of WCCEs under the Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) 4.5 and 8.5 scenarios. Following data processing and validation of the models, the potential changes in the distribution of WCCEs in the future were investigated based on the projected and historical simulations. WCCEs determined by fixed thresholds were mostly found over high altitudes with TN–RR events exhibiting a future tendency to reduce particularly under the RCP 8.5 scenario and TX–RR exhibiting similar reduction of probabilities for both scenarios.
Assessment of High-Risk Human Papillomavirus Infection Characteristics in Cervical Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Adenocarcinoma in China

Background The characteristics of high-risk human papillomavirus (HR-HPV) infection in different pathological types of cervical cancer in China are unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate HR-HPV genotypes and age stratification with cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) and adenocarcinoma (ADC) in China. Materials and Methods Patients diagnosed with cervical cancer by histopathology in Fujian Maternity and Child Health Hospital from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2017, were included in this study. The HR-HPV genotype was analyzed in cervical specimens. Logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs). All tests of statistical significance were two-sided, and the P value<0.05. Results A total of 1,590,476 women were screened for cervical cancer, and 688 cervical cancers were detected, including 554 SCC and 93 ADC. The overall HR-HPV infection rate in SCC was higher than that in ADC (91.2% vs 81.7%, P=0.005). HPV-16 was the most prevalent genotype in SCC (70.0%) but was only 31.2% in ADC (P<0.001). However, the prevalence of HPV-18 in ADC was significantly higher than that in SCC (45.2% vs 7.0%; P<0.001). In SCC, the prevalence of HPV-16 was consistently much higher than that of HPV-18 regardless of age group. Among ADC, the prevalence of HPV-18 was higher than that of HPV-16 in women aged ≥45 years. Interestingly, in those aged <35 years, the highest prevalence was observed for HPV-16. HPV-18 infection has the highest risk of ADC (OR= 12.109; P< 0.001), and HPV-45 and HPV-51 were also found to be associated with the occurrence of ADC. However, HPV-16 infection greatly increased the risk of having histological SCC. Conclusion HPV-16 and HPV-18 infections are key risk factors for SCC and ADC. The use of HR-HPV genotyping tests in cervical cancer screening and vaccination against major HPV genotypes could reduce the incidence of cervical cancer.
Upper limit set by causality on the tidal deformability of a neutron star

A principal goal of gravitational-wave astronomy is to constrain the neutron star equation of state (EOS) by measuring the tidal deformability of neutron stars. The tidally induced departure of the waveform from that of point-particle (or spinless binary black hole (BBH)) increases with the stiffness of the EOS. We show that causality (the requirement that the speed of sound is less than the speed of light for a perfect fluid satisfying a one-parameter equation of state) places an upper bound on tidal deformability as a function of mass. Like the upper mass limit, the limit on deformabity is obtained by using an EOS with $v_{sound} = c$ for high densities and matching to a low density (candidate) EOS at a matching density of order nuclear saturation density. We use these results and those of [B.D. Lackey et al., Phys. Rev. D 89, 043009 (2014)] to estimate the resulting upper limit on the gravitational-wave phase shift of a black hole-neutron star (BHNS) binary relative to a BBH. Even for assumptions weak enough to allow an maximum mass of $4\ M_\odot$ (a match at nuclear saturation density to an unusually stiff low-density candidate EOS), the upper limit on dimensionless tidal deformability is stringent. It leads to a still more stringent estimated upper limit on the maximum tidally induced phase shift prior to merger. We comment in an appendix on the relation between causality, the condition $v_{sound} < c$, and the condition $dp/d\epsilon < 1$ for the effective EOS governing the equilibrium star.
Longhorn beetles and predatory clerid beetles attracted to a blend of longhorn beetle pheromone compounds in a Central European oak forest (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae, Cleridae)

A blend of longhorn beetle pheromones was tested as a generic attractant in a Central European oak forest. Overall, 20 cerambycid species totalling 1250 specimens were captured using two trap types. More adults of Phymatodes testaceus and Leiopus nebulosus nebulosus were attracted to pheromone‐baited traps compared to solvent controls. Significant numbers of four other species were caught by panel traps but not funnel traps. For the cerambycine Pyrrhidium sanguineum, significantly more beetles were caught in treatment traps than controls. For the cerambycine Anaglyptus mysticus, lepturines Cortodera humeralis and Rhagium sycophanta, the numbers of beetles caught in treatment or control traps were similar, indicating no attraction to the lure blend. Adults of a predatory clerid beetle Clerus mutillarius were caught in significantly larger numbers by both baited trap types in comparison to controls, totalling 1514 specimens. Antennae of both sexes of C. mutillarius showed responses to 3‐hydroxyhexan‐2‐one and 2‐methylbutan‐1‐ol, and males also responded to syn‐2,3‐hexanediol. Strong attraction of C. mutillarius suggests eavesdropping on the pheromones of cerambycids and that such attractant baits, without traps, might be used to manipulate the local population density of predators in a push‐pull biological control program.
Social, Educational and Medical Aspects after Cataract Surgery of Bilaterally Blind Children in Kinshasa—Perception of Parents and Children

The study investigated the influence of bilateral cataract surgery on the social and educational development of previously bilaterally blind children in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), where the prevalence of blindness due to cataract is higher than in high-income countries. The views of both, parents and children, were evaluated with structured interviews based on a newly developed questionnaire related to surgery, follow-up, and family life after surgery. The mean age of the children at interview was 14.4 ± 8.1 years, with 27 females and 26 males. Satisfaction with the outcome of the surgery was reported by 91% of parents. Parents would recommend surgery, because of the children being happy and able to act more independently, with personal, educational and familial factors essentially contributing to the reported satisfaction. The results also showed that 85.0% of children did not wear eyeglasses. Reasons given were mainly cost-related, but also included limited communication between families and health institutions. Providing and maintaining a high-quality and accessible pediatric cataract surgery and healthcare service for follow-up is a major requisite to reduce childhood blindness in SSA. Our study proved the necessity and effectiveness of a community-based rehabilitation program that cares about each individual child, whatever his or her social background.
A Lumped-Parameter Equivalent Circuit Modeling for S-Shaped I–V Kinks of Organic Solar Cells

We propose an improved lumped-parameter equivalent circuit model to describe S-shaped I–V kinks observed from organic solar cells. Firstly, to predict the S-shaped I–V kinks accurately in both the first and fourth quadrants, a shunt resistor in parallel with extraction diode is added to our previous model. Secondly, based on the Newton–Raphson method, we derive a solution to our improved circuit. Thirdly, our solution is verified by the method of least squares and experiments. Finally, compared with our previous work, the improved circuit has higher accuracy in demonstrating S-shaped I–V kinks in the first and fourth quadrants. Such an improved model is suitable for circuit simulations of organic solar cells.
Supervised Learning Detection of Sixty Non-transiting Hot Jupiter Candidates

The optical full-phase photometric variations of a short-period planet provide a unique view of the planet’s atmospheric composition and dynamics. The number of planets with optical phase curve detections, however, is currently too small to study them as an aggregate population, motivating an extension of the search to non-transiting planets. Here we present an algorithm for the detection of non-transiting short-period giant planets in the Kepler field. The procedure uses the phase curves themselves as evidence for the planets’ existence. We employ a supervised learning algorithm to recognize the salient time-dependent properties of synthetic phase curves; we then search for detections of signals that match these properties. After demonstrating the algorithm’s capabilities, we classify 142,630 FGK Kepler stars without confirmed planets or Kepler Objects of Interest, and for each one, we assign a probability of a phase curve of a non-transiting planet being present. We identify 60 high-probability non-transiting hot Jupiter candidates. We also derive constraints on the candidates’ albedos and offsets of the phase curve maxima. These targets are strong candidates for follow-up radial velocity confirmation and characterization. Once confirmed, the atmospheric information content in the phase curves may be studied in yet greater detail.
Measurements of Solar Irradiance and Effective Temperature as a Probe of Solar Interior Magnetic Fields

We argue that a variety of solar data suggest that the activity-cycle timescale variability of the total irradiance is produced by structural adjustments of the solar interior. Assuming these adjustments are induced by variations of internal magnetic fields, we use measurements of the total irradiance and effective temperature over the period from 1978 to 1992 to infer the magnitude and location of the magnetic field. Using an updated stellar evolution model, which includes magnetic fields, we find that the observations can be explained by fields with peak values ranging from 120 to 2.3 kG, located in the convection zone between 0.959 and 0.997 R☉, respectively. The corresponding maximal radius changes are 17 km when the magnetic field is located at 0.959 R☉ and 3 km when it is located at 0.997 R☉. At these depths, the W-parameter (defined by Δ ln R/Δ ln L, where R and L are the radius and luminosity) ranges from 0.02 to 0.006. All these predictions are consistent with helioseismology and recent measurements carried out by the Michelson Doppler Imager experiment on the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory.
High Tibial Osteotomy Using the ‘Tomofix™’ Plating System: Short Term Outcomes in Young Adults

Proximal tibial valgus osteotomy is one of the treatment options for painful medial compartment osteoarthritis and varus deformity of the knee. The aim of our study was to determine and quantify how much osteotomy altered symptoms from medial compartment gonoarthrosis. In addition we aimed to establish whether the Tomofix plating system would permit early weight bearing and achieve union without the use of bone grafts. We prospectively analysed our experience with medial opening wedge high tibial osteotomy using the Tomofix plate. Thirty-five knees were included in the study. The mean age was 47 years (36-59 years). Mean duration of follow-up was 23 months (7-48 Months). All patients underwent medial opening wedge high tibial osteotomy using the Tomofix plating system. Data was recorded using the Oxford Knee score, the Knee Injury Osteoarthritis Outcome score and through review of pre and postoperative x-rays. Good outcomes were seen with statistically significant improvement of both scores. There were two delayed unions, the remainder united without requirement for graft. There was improvement, in Oxford and Knee injury osteoarthritis scores. Correction of mal-alignment was seen in all cases. Early weight bearing was found to be permissible without risk of adverse event. The Tomofix plate provided immediate stability and satisfactory healing of the osteotomy site without the need for bone graft. Good functional results were seen.
On Airy Solutions of the Second Painlevé Equation

In this paper, we discuss Airy solutions of the second Painlevé equation (PII) and two related equations, the Painlevé XXXIV equation ( P34 ) and the Jimbo–Miwa–Okamoto σ form of PII (SII), are discussed. It is shown that solutions that depend only on the Airy function Ai (z) have a completely different structure to those that involve a linear combination of the Airy functions Ai (z) and Bi (z) . For all three equations, the special solutions that depend only on Ai (t) are tronquée solutions, i.e., they have no poles in a sector of the complex plane. Further, for both P34 and SII, it is shown that among these tronquée solutions there is a family of solutions that have no poles on the real axis.