Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Efficient Joint Sampling of Impact Parameters and Transit Depths in Transiting Exoplanet Light Curves

When fitting transiting exoplanet lightcurves, it is usually desirable to have ranges and/or priors for the parameters which are to be retrieved that include our degree of knowledge (or ignorance) in the routines which are being used. In Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) routines, for example, these enter as prior distributions. These can either represent our current knowledge of the distribution of such parameters (e.g., based on their observed values) or physically plausible parameters ranges to be sampled. Among the parameters that are constrained by transiting exoplanet lightcurves, there are two which are of much physical significance: the impact parameter of the orbit, $b = (a/R_*)\cos i $, and the planet-to-star radius ratio, $p = R_p/R_s$ (which defines the transit depth, $\delta = p^2$). These two are natural parameters to extract and constrain as they usually have well defined limits. A common set of "uninformative" priors used for those two parameters are uniform priors. However, this poses a sampling problem especially important for grazing orbits: given that we sample a value $p_i$ from the prior on $p$, the only physically plausible values for $b$ to be sampled given $p_i$ are those that satisfy $b < 1 + p_i$. If we simply reject the sample if the sampled value of b is greater than $1 + p_i$, then we will reject points from a significant portion of the prior area depending on its size. It is desirable, thus, to have an algorithm that efficiently samples values from the physically plausible zone in the $(b,p)$ plane. Here we present such an algorithm.
Twitter-based classification for integrated source data of weather observations

Meteorology and weather forecasting are crucial for predicting future climate conditions. Forecasts can be helpful when they provide information that can assist people in making better decisions. People today use big data to analyze social media information accurately, including those who rely on the weather forecast. Recent years have seen the widespread use of machine learning and deep learning for managing messages on social media sites like Twitter. In this study, authors analyzed weather-related text in Indonesia based on the searches made on Twitter. A total of three machine learning algorithms were examined: support vector machine (SVM), multinomial logistic regression (MLR), and multinomial Naive Bayes (MNB), as well as the pretrained bidirectional encoder representations of transformers (BERT), which was fine-tuned over multiple layers to ensure effective classification. The accuracy of the BERT model, calculated using the F1-score of 99%, was higher than that of any other machine learning method. Those results have been incorporated into a web-based weather information system. The classification result was mapped using Esri Maps application programming interface (API) based on the geolocation of the data.
Instability of exotic compact objects and its implications for gravitational-wave echoes

Exotic compact objects (ECOs) have recently become an exciting research subject, since they are speculated to have a special response to the incident gravitational waves (GWs) that leads to GW echoes. We show that energy carried by GWs can easily cause the event horizon to form out of a static ECO --- leaving no echo signals towards spatial infinity. To show this, we use the ingoing Vaidya spacetime and take into account the back reaction due to incoming GWs. Demanding that an ECO does not collapse into a black hole puts an upper bound on the compactness of the ECO, at the cost of less distinct echo signals for smaller compactness. The trade-off between echoes' detectability and distinguishability leads to a fine tuning of ECO parameters for LIGO to find distinct echoes. We also show that an extremely compact ECO that can survive the gravitational collapse and give rise to GW echoes might have to expand its surface in a non-causal way.
4-Thiazolidinone-Bearing Hybrid Molecules in Anticancer Drug Design

Oncological diseases have currently reached an epidemic scale, especially in industrialized countries. Such a situation has prompted complex studies in medicinal chemistry focused on the research and development of novel effective anticancer drugs. In this review, the data concerning new 4-thiazolidinone-bearing hybrid molecules with potential anticancer activity reported during the period from the years 2017–2022 are summarized. The main emphasis is on the application of molecular hybridization methodologies and strategies in the design of small molecules as anticancer agents. Based on the analyzed data, it was observed that the main directions in this field are the hybridization of scaffolds, the hybrid-pharmacophore approach, and the analogue-based drug design of 4-thiazolidinone cores with early approved drugs, natural compounds, and privileged heterocyclic scaffolds. The mentioned design approaches are effective tools/sources for the generation of hit/lead compounds with anticancer activity and will be relevant to future studies.
String analog of Reissner–Nordström black holes cannot be overcharged

In this work, we attempt to overcharge extremal and nearly extremal charged black holes in string theory, known as the Garfinkle–Horowitz–Strominger solution. We first show that extremal black holes cannot be overcharged analogous to the case of Reissner–Nordström (RN) black holes. Contrary to their analog in general relativity, nearly extremal black holes can neither be overcharged beyond extremality, nor can they be driven to extremality by the interaction with test particles. Therefore, the analysis in this work also implies that the third law of black hole thermodynamics holds for the relevant charged black holes in string theory perturbed by test particles. This can be interpreted as a stronger version of the third law since one can drop out the continuity proviso for the relevant process.
Comparative Study of Drought Tolerance of Virginia Tobacco Genotypes Differing in Origin and Their Corresponding Hybrid Progenies

Soil drought is a serious problem in agriculture leading to considerable loss of production. Tobacco is relatively sensitive to water scarcity, and the selection of resistant drought varieties is of particular importance. In this study we compared the tolerance to three different levels of drought of six genotypes of Virginia tobacco – two varieties were introduced in Bulgaria, two lines are of Bulgarian origin, and two are their hybrids. Biochemical markers of stress (malondialdehyde, hydrogen peroxide and free proline) were determined. The results showed that the Polish genotype V 385 and one of the Bulgarian lines L 0842 were moderately sensitive to drought, while the parental genotypes – the American variety Coker 254 and the Bulgarian line L 0543, as well as the two newly created Bulgarian hybrids H 27 and H 135 were relatively resistant to drought. These data can serve as a basis for selection and development of new genotypes with increased resistance to drought.
Environmental Acceptability of Geotechnical Composites from Recycled Materials: Comparative Study of Laboratory and Field Investigations

The environmental properties of three geotechnical composites made by recycling wastes were investigated on a laboratory scale and in the field with the use of lysimeters designated for the revitalization of degraded mining sites. Composites were prepared by combining the mine waste with paper-mill sludge and foundry sand (Composite 1), with digestate from municipal waste and paper ash (Composite 2), and with coal ash, foundry slag and waste incineration bottom ash (Composite 3). The results of laboratory leaching tests proved that Composites 1 and 3 are environmentally acceptable, according to the legislative limits, as the potentially hazardous substances were immobilized, while in Composite 2, the legislative limits were exceeded. In the field lysimeters, the lowest rate of leaching was determined for optimally compacted Composites 1 and 3, while for Composite 2 the leaching of Cu was high. This study proved that optimally installed Composites 1 and 3 are environmentally acceptable for use in construction as an alternative to virgin materials, for the revitalization of degraded mining sites or, along with Composite 2, for closure operations with landfills. In this way, locally available waste streams are valorised and channelized into a beneficial and sustainable recycling practice.
Simulating nonlinear spin models in an ion trap

We show how a conditional displacement of the vibrational mode of trapped ions can be used to simulate nonlinear collective and interacting spin systems including nonlinear tops and Ising models ( a universal two qubit gate), independent of the vibrational state of the ion. Thus cooling to the vibrational ground state is unnecessary provided the heating rate is not too large.
Gravitational Lensing in Clusters of Galaxies: New Clues Regarding the Dynamics of Intracluster Gas

Long arcs in clusters of galaxies, produced by gravitational lensing, can be used to estimate the mass interior to the arcs and therefore, constrain the cluster mass distribution. The radial density distribution of the intracluster gas (ICM) can be extracted from the X-ray surface brightness observations. If the gas temperature is also known, it is then possible to probe the dynamical state of the gas and test whether the ICM is in hydro- static equilibrium within the gravitational potential of the cluster as a result of thermal pressure support. We analyze three clusters that exhibit large arcs, whose X-ray surface brightness profiles have been observed, and whose gas temperatures have been determined. In two of the clusters, A2218 and A1689, the central mass implied by lensing is a factor of $2$--$2.5$ too large for the gas at the observed temperature to be in hydrostatic equilibrium solely due to thermal pressure support. In other words, if we accept the mass estimate derived from the lensing analysis and demand that the X-ray surface brightness profile be consistent with the observations, the required gas temperature is a factor of $2$--$2.5$ higher than observed. The results for the third cluster, A2163 (the most luminous and the hottest cluster known), are more ambiguous. The discrepancy between the X-ray and the lensing mass estimates arise because the presence of arcs imply a highly concentrated cluster mass distribution whereas the observed X-ray profiles imply a more extended mass distribution. The large X-ray core radii are not the result of the limited resolution of the X-ray detectors. We consider various possibilities that could account for the discrepancy.
Studying distant galaxies: A Handbook of Methods and Analyses

Distant galaxies encapsulate the various stages of galaxy evolution and formation from over 95% of the development of the universe. As early as twenty-five years ago, little was known about them, however since the first systematic survey was completed in the 1990s, increasing amounts of resources have been devoted to their discovery and research. This book summarises for the first time the numerous techniques used for observing, analysing, and understanding the evolution and formation of these distant galaxies. In this rapidly expanding research field, this text is an every-day companion handbook for graduate students and active researchers. It provides guidelines in sample selection, imaging, integrated spectroscopy and 3D spectroscopy, which help to avoid the numerous pitfalls of observational and analysis techniques in use in extragalactic astronomy. It also paves the way for establishing relations between fundamental properties of distant galaxies. At each step, the reader is assisted with numerous practical examples and ready-to-use methodology to help understand and analyse research.
Radio Follow-up on All Unassociated Gamma-Ray Sources from the Third Fermi Large Area Telescope Source Catalog

The third Fermi Large Area Telescope γ-ray source catalog (3FGL) contains over 1000 objects for which there is no known counterpart at other wavelengths. The physical origin of the γ-ray emission from those objects is unknown. Such objects are commonly referred to as unassociated and mostly do not exhibit significant γ-ray flux variability. We performed a survey of all unassociated γ-ray sources found in 3FGL using the Australia Telescope Compact Array and Very Large Array in the range 4.0–10.0 GHz. We found 2097 radio candidates for association with γ-ray sources. The follow-up with very long baseline interferometry for a subset of those candidates yielded 142 new associations with active galactic nuclei that are γ-ray sources, provided alternative associations for seven objects, and improved positions for another 144 known associations to the milliarcsecond level of accuracy. In addition, for 245 unassociated γ-ray sources we did not find a single compact radio source above 2 mJy within 3σ of their γ-ray localization. A significant fraction of these empty fields, 39%, are located away from the Galactic plane. We also found 36 extended radio sources that are candidates for association with a corresponding γ-ray object, 19 of which are most likely supernova remnants or H ii regions, whereas 17 could be radio galaxies.
Approach for describing spatial dynamics of quantum light-matter interaction in dispersive dissipative media

Solving the challenging problem of the amplification and generation of an electromagnetic field in nanostructures enables to implement many properties of the electromagnetic field at the nanoscale in novel practical applications. A first-principles quantum mechanical consideration of such a problem is sufficiently restricted by the exponentially large number of degrees of freedom, and does not allow the electromagnetic field dynamics to be described if it involves a high number of interacting atoms and modes of the electromagnetic field. Conversely, the classical description of electromagnetic fields is incorrect at the nanoscale due to the high level of quantum fluctuations connected to high dissipation and noise levels. In this paper, we develop the framework with a significantly reduced number of degrees of freedom, which describes the quantum spatial dynamics of electromagnetic fields interacting with atoms. As an example, we consider the interaction between atoms placed in a metallic subwavelength groove, and demonstrate that a spontaneously excited electromagnetic pulse propagates with the group velocity. The developed approach may be exploited to describe non-uniform amplification and propagation of electromagnetic fields in arbitrary dispersive dissipative systems.
Microencapsulation of Bacillus Strains for Improving Wheat (Triticum turgidum Subsp. durum) Growth and Development

Bio-formulation technologies have a limited impact on agricultural productivity in developing countries, especially those based on plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria. Thus, calcium alginate microbeads were synthesized and used for the protection and delivery of three beneficial Bacillus strains for agricultural applications. The process of encapsulation had a high yield per gram for all bacteria and the microbeads protected the Bacillus strains, allowing their survival, after 12 months of storage at room temperature. Microbead analysis was carried out by observing the rate of swelling and biodegradation of the beads and the released-establishment of bacteria in the soil. These results showed that there is an increase of around 75% in bead swelling on average, which allows for larger pores, and the effective release and subsequent establishment of the bacteria in the soil. Biodegradation of microbeads in the soil was gradual: in the first week, they increased their weight (75%), which consistently results in the swelling ratio. The co-inoculation of the encapsulated strain TRQ8 with the other two encapsulated strains showed plant growth promotion. TRQ8 + TRQ65 and TRQ8 + TE3T bacteria showed increases in different biometric parameters of wheat plants, such as stem height, root length, dry weight, and chlorophyll content. Thus, here we demonstrated that the application of alginate microbeads containing the studied strains showed a positive effect on wheat plants.
TRANSPORT AND LOGISTICS VEHICULAR CLOUD : CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Vehicles represent an increasingly valuable source of computing and sensing resources. These resources may be harnessed with a conventional cloud computing systemsin a common platform, vehicular cloud network. It is a new hybrid techonology that has a meaningful impact on traffic management and road safety. In this paper we observe deployment possibilities of vehicular cloud networks as an important segment of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). An analysis of challenges and opportunities of vehicular cloud networks is presented.
Protocol of the Longitudinal Study on Child Health in Brumadinho (MG): "Bruminha Project".

OBJECTIVE To present the research protocol and to describe the preliminary results of the Bruminha Project. METHODS This project is part of the set of health actions proposed under the Brumadinho Health Project. It is a prospective cohort study with periodic follow-ups for four years. The eligible population was all children aged 0 to 6 years living in four rural communities of the affected municipality. Sociodemographic and health data were collected, as well as urinary samples, for assessment of exposure to metals. RESULTS In the first year of study, we evaluated 62% (217) of the eligible population and collected 172 (79%) valid urine samples. At least one metal was detected in all samples, and in 50.6% (n=87) or them, the metal concentration was higher than the reference value. In 38% (n=82) of the children, neuropsychomotor development was considered at risk. Report of respiratory allergy was four times (4.27) more frequent and of bronchitis 62% higher (1.62) in children living in locations exposed to dust from ore residues, compared to those living more than 10 km away from the site of the dam disaster. CONCLUSION The study protocol was proven adequate to evaluate the proposed outcomes. The strategy used for population selection required adjustments regarding the long-term community awareness process, with new participants in the upcoming follow-ups (2022 and 2023).
Structural Modelling Prediction of Recombinant Plasmodium falciparum K13-F446I and K13-C580Y Gene by AlphaFold Method and Heterologous Expression in Spodoptera frugiperda 9 Cells

P. falciparum Kelch 13 (Pfk13) is an essential protein that contains BTB and Kelch-repeat propeller domains (KRPD), which was predicted to bind substrate during ubiquitin-dependent degradation pathway. However, the function of Pfk13 and the structural alterations associated with artemisinin resistance mutations remain unknown. Herein, we screened two proteins, namely Pfk13-F446I and Pfk13-C580Y, which are closely associated with artemisinin, for structural prediction analysis. The 389 amino acids from 1011 nt to 2178 nt of KRPD were cloned into pFastBacTM1. The recombinant plasmids were heterologously expressed in Spodoptera frugiperda 9 cells (SF9) and a ~44 kDa protein band was yielded by SDS-PAGE and Western Blot. A total of five structure models were generated and predicted by AlphaFold for each protein. The models predicted that Pfk13-F446I would be located in the central protein cavity, proximal to mutations in cysteine residues primarily in β strands. Unlike Pfk13-F446I, the Pfk13-C580Y is located on the small channel that runs through the center of the K13 protein. Interestingly, the hydrogen bond between C580 and C533 in the wide type (WT) was not detected, suggesting that the hydrogen bond may be lost during the mutation. Besides, the Pfk13-F446I and Pfk13-C580Y mutation were found to add 11 and 9 hydrogen bonds variations that may lead to conformational change of the protein structure compared to WT, respectively. Future work should pay more attention to the binding characteristics of those mutations related with KPRD pockets and their binding substrates, which will further clarify the structure and function of Pfk13 and its mutant.
Inspiring Work-Life Balance: Responsible Leadership among Female Pharmacists in the Egyptian Health Sector

Objective: The aim of the research was to investigate the effect of responsible leadership on female pharmacists’ work-life balance/imbalance forms in public hospitals in Menoufia province, Egypt. Research Design & Methods: This is a quantitative study and a total of 350 female pharmacists were contacted. After four follow ups, a total of 230 responses were collected with a response rate of 65.71%. Findings: The findings highlighted only an aggregate of virtues and is not considered a strong statistical predictor for any of the three work-life balance/imbalance forms (time-based balance/imbalance, strain-based balance/imbalance and behaviour-based balance/imbalance) while the other three dimensions (stakeholder involvement, the model of leader’s role and the principles of ethical values) of responsible leadership had a significantly high effect on work- life forms. Implications & Recommendations: Dependent and independent variables were collected from the same source, and this may have led to an inflation of statistical relationships. Public organisations like hospitals have to treat female pharmacists responsively as one of the main stakeholders who requires flexible work hours, active participation in decision making, and clear empowerment in the workplace. Contribution & Value Added: This article contributes by filling a gap in management and organisation literature, in which empirical studies on the relationship between responsible leadership and work-life balance/imbalance have so far been quite limited in the literature. For future studies, the author suggests testing the same propositions with physicians, nurses, and other categories of employees in Egyptian public hospitals.
Heart Team for Left Appendage Occlusion without the Use of Antithrombotic Therapy: The Epicardial Perspective

Background: Left atrial appendage occlusion is an increasingly proposed treatment for patients with atrial fibrillation and poor tolerance to anticoagulants. All endovascular devices require antithrombotic therapy. Anatomical and clinical variables predisposing to device-related thrombosis, as well as post-procedural peri-device leaks, could mandate the continuation or reintroduction of aggressive antithrombotic treatment. Because of the absence of foreign material inside the heart, epicardial appendage closure possibly does not necessitate antithrombotic therapy, but data of large series are missing. Methods: Multidisciplinary team evaluation for standalone totally thoracoscopic epicardial appendage closure was done in 180 consecutive patients with atrial fibrillation and poor tolerance to antithrombotic therapy. One hundred and fifty-two patients consented (male 66.1%, mean age 76.1 ± 7.4, CHA2DS2VASc mean 5.3 ± 1.6, HASBLED mean 3.8 ± 1.1). Indications were cerebral hemorrhage (48%), gastro-intestinal bleeding (33.3%), and other bleeding (20.7%). No antithrombotic therapy was prescribed from the day of surgery to the latest follow up. Results: Procedural success was 98.7%. At a mean follow up of 38.2 ± 18.8 months, cardioembolic and bleeding events were 1.3% and 0.6%, respectively. Among patients with a history of blood transfusions (41.1%), none needed further transfusions or treatment post procedure. Conclusion: Epicardial appendage occlusion without any antithrombotic therapy appears to be safe and effective. This strategy could be advised when minimization of bleeding risk concomitant to stroke prevention is needed.