Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
The Milky Way nuclear star cluster beyond 1 pc

Abstract Within the central 10 pc of our Galaxy lies a dense cluster of stars, the nuclear star cluster, forming a distinct component of our Galaxy. Nuclear star clusters are common objects and are detected in ∼75% of nearby galaxies. It is, however, not fully understood how nuclear clusters form. Because the Milky Way nuclear star cluster is at a distance of only 8 kpc, we can spatially resolve its stellar populations and kinematics much better than in external galaxies. This makes the Milky Way nuclear star cluster a reference object for understanding the structure and assembly history of all nuclear star clusters. We have obtained an unparalleled data set using the near-infrared long-slit spectrograph ISAAC (VLT) in a novel drift-scan technique to construct an integral-field spectroscopic map of the central ∼10 × 8 pc of our Galaxy. To complement our data set we also observed fields out to a distance of ∼19 pc along the Galactic plane to disentangle the influence of the nuclear stellar disk. From this data set we extract a stellar kinematic map using the CO bandheads and an emission line kinematic map using H2 emission lines. Using the stellar kinematics, we set up a kinematic model for the Milky Way nuclear star cluster to derive its mass and constrain the central Galactic potential. Because the black hole mass in the Milky Way is precisely known, this kinematic data set will also serve as a benchmark for testing black hole mass modeling techniques used in external galaxies.
COMMISSIONNING OF A 1.3-GHZ DEFLECTING CAVITY FOR PHASE SPACE EXCHANGE AT THE ARGONNE WAKEFIELD ACCELERATOR ∗

A 1/2-1-1/2 cell normal-conducting 1.3-GHz deflecting cavity was recently installed at the Argonne Wakefield Accelerator. The cavity will eventually be included in a transverse-to-longitudinal phase space exchanger that will eventually be used to shape the current profile of AWA electron bunches in support of dielectric wakefield experiments with enhanced transformer ratio. In this paper we report on the initial commissioning of the deflecting cavity including rf-conditioning and beam-based measurement of the deflecting strength.
Overexpression of GREM1 Improves the Survival Capacity of Aged Cardiac Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells via Upregulation of the ERK/NRF2-Associated Antioxidant Signal Pathway

Ischemic heart disease is the leading cause of mortality in the United States. Progenitor cell therapy can restore myocardial structure and function. However, its efficacy is severely limited by cell aging and senescence. Gremlin-1 (GREM1), a member of the bone morphogenetic protein antagonist family, has been implicated in cell proliferation and survival. However, GREM1’s role in cell aging and senescence has never been investigated in human cardiac mesenchymal progenitor cells (hMPCs). Therefore, this study assessed the hypothesis that overexpression of GREM1 rejuvenates the cardiac regenerative potential of aging hMPCs to a youthful stage and therefore allows better capacity for myocardial repair. We recently reported that a subpopulation of hMPCs with low mitochondrial membrane potential can be sorted from right atrial appendage-derived cells in patients with cardiomyopathy and exhibit cardiac reparative capacity in a mouse model of myocardial infarction. In this study, lentiviral particles were used to overexpress GREM1 in these hMPCs. Protein and mRNA expression were assessed through Western blot and RT-qPCR. FACS analysis for Annexin V/PI staining and lactate dehydrogenase assay were used to assess cell survival. It was observed that cell aging and cell senescence led to a decrease in GREM1 expression. In addition, overexpression of GREM1 led to a decrease in expression of senescence genes. Overexpression of GREM1 led to no significant change in cell proliferation. However, GREM1 appeared to have an anti-apoptotic effect, with an increase in survival and decrease in cytotoxicity evident in GREM1-overexpressing hMPCs. Overexpressing GREM1 also induced cytoprotective properties by decreasing reactive oxidative species and mitochondrial membrane potential. This result was associated with increased expression of antioxidant proteins, such as SOD1 and catalase, and activation of the ERK/NRF2 survival signal pathway. Inhibition of ERK led to a decrease in GREM1-mediated rejuvenation in terms of cell survival, which suggests that an ERK-dependent pathway may be involved. Taken altogether, these results indicate that overexpression of GREM1 can allow aging hMPCs to adopt a more robust phenotype with improved survival capacity, which is associated with an activated ERK/NRF2 antioxidant signal pathway.
THE EFFECTS OF LOW DOSES OF THREE INSECTICIDES ON ACTIVITY, FEEDING, MATING, REPRODUCTIVE PERFORMANCE AND SURVIVAL IN GLOSSINA MORSITANS MORSITANS (GLOSSINIDAE)

Glossina morsitans morsitans Westw. surviving 48 hr after topical doses of dieldrin, endosulfan or permethrin which killed 15% or 30% during this period in an initial bioassay, were investigated for subsequent effects of the insecticides. Males surviving 48 hr after exposure to dieldrin and endosulfan were subject to further mortality which reached 70%—80% by day 15. Permethrin had some influence on longevity but only later than day 30 after treatment. Females were less susceptible than males to these effects. Treated flies mated readily but early separation occurred more frequently in pairs including dieldrin or endosulfan‐dosed males. This premature separation may impede insemination and ovulation. Mortality associated with mating in flies exposed to dieldrin and endosulfan in these experiments is attributed mainly to enforced activity following mutual disturbance under the experimental conditions. Reproductive performance in treated females surviving mating was largely unaffected, except for a small reduction in the number of pupae produced by permethrin‐treated females and some indication of reduced survival of pupae from females exposed to dieldrin. Minor effects of the solvent (butanone) and the insecticides on activity and on feeding were also demonstrated. These results show that permethrin has relatively little effect on flies surviving at 48 hr after exposure to a low dose, compared with dieldrin or endosulfan. It is suggested that the intrinsic toxicity of insecticides measured by conventional laboratory bioassay (based on mortality at 48 hr after dosing) may prove misleading if effects of low doses similar to those described here, make a significant contribution to the impact of insecticides on tsetse populations in the field.
Multigroup Decodable STBCs From Clifford Algebras

A space-time block code (STBC) in <i>K</i> symbols (variables) is called a <i>g</i>-group decodable STBC if its maximum-likelihood (ML) decoding metric can be written as a sum of <i>g</i> terms, for some positive integer <i>g</i> greater than one, such that each term is a function of a subset of the <i>K</i> variables and each variable appears in only one term. In this paper, we provide a general structure of the weight matrices of multigroup decodable codes using Clifford algebras. Without assuming that the number of variables in each group is the same, a method of explicitly constructing the weight matrices of full-diversity, delay-optimal multigroup decodable codes is presented for arbitrary number of antennas. For the special case of <i>2</i> <sup>a</sup> number of transmit antennas, we construct two subclass of codes: 1) a class of <i>2</i> <sup>a</sup> -group decodable codes with rate <i>[(a</i>)/(2<sup>(</sup> <i>a</i>-1))], which is, equivalently, a class of single-symbol decodable codes, and 2) a class of <i>(2a</i>-2)-group decodable codes with rate <i>[((a</i>-1))/(2<sup>(</sup> <i>a</i>-2))], i.e., a class of double-symbol decodable codes.
Generalized Unitary Approximate Message Passing for Double Linear Transformation Model

The double linear transformation model <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm Y = \bm {AXB} + \bm W$</tex-math></inline-formula> plays an important role in a variety of science and engineering applications, where <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm X$</tex-math></inline-formula> is estimated through known transformation matrices <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm A$</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm B$</tex-math></inline-formula> from the noisy measurement <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm Y$</tex-math></inline-formula>. Decoupling <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm X$</tex-math></inline-formula> from <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm Y$</tex-math></inline-formula> is a formidable task due to the high complexity brought by the multiplication of the unknown matrix (vector) with the transformation matrix (M-UMTM). Unitary approximate message passing (UAMP) has been verified as a low complexity and strong robustness solution to the M-UMTM problems. However, it has only been used to tackle the problems with a single linear transformation matrix. In this work, we develop a generalized algorithm, namely, generalized double UAMP (GD-UAMP) for the target model, which not only inherits the low complexity of AMP, but also enhances robustness by employing double unitary transformation. As a generalized algorithm, GD-UAMP can be applied to address the generalized Bayesian inference problem, i.e., the arbitrary prior probability of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm X$</tex-math></inline-formula> and likelihood function of <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm Z$</tex-math></inline-formula>, where <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm Z= \bm {AXB}$</tex-math></inline-formula> is the noiseless measurement. We verify the feasibility of the proposed algorithm in the channel estimation problem for various wireless communication systems. Numerical results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm can perfectly fit different scenarios and showcase superior performance compared with benchmarks.
Medical Image Denosing Using M-Band Ridgelet Transform with NeighCoeff Thresholding

In this paper, a novel image denoising algorithm using M-band ridgelet transform for medical image denoising. Also a novel threshold algorithm called NeighCoeff thresholding is used for denoising. The performance of the proposed method is tested on ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image under salt and pepper noise conditions. The performance of the proposed method is compared with the existing wavelet, ridgelet and curvelet transform in terms of peak-signal to noise ratio (PSNR) and mean square error (MSE). The results after investigation proposed method shows a significant improvement in terms of PSNR and MSE as compared to other existing denoising algorithms on ultrasound and MRI images.
RMA-CNN: A Residual Mixed-Domain Attention CNN for Bearings Fault Diagnosis and its Time-Frequency Domain Interpretability

Early fault diagnosis of bearings is crucial for ensuring safe and reliable operations. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) have achieved significant breakthroughs in machinery fault diagnosis. However, complex and varying working conditions can lead to inter-class similarity and intra-class variability in datasets, making it more challenging for CNNs to learn discriminative features. Furthermore, CNNs are often considered "black boxes" and lack sufficient interpretability in the fault diagnosis field. To address these issues, this paper introduces a Residual Mixed-Domain AttentionCNN method, referred to as RMA-CNN. This method comprises multiple ResidualMixed Domain Attention Modules (RMAMs), each employing one attention mechanism to emphasize meaningful features in both time and channel domains. This significantly enhances the network's ability to learn fault-related features. Moreover, we conduct an in-depth analysis of the inherent feature learning mechanism of the attention module RMAM to improve the interpretability of CNNs in fault diagnosis applications. Experiments conducted on two datasets—a high-speed aeronautical bearing dataset and a motor bearing dataset—demonstrate that the RMA-CNN achieves remarkable results in diagnostic tasks.
The Research Progress of Extraction, Purification and Analysis Methods of Phenolic Compounds from Blueberry: A Comprehensive Review

Blueberry is the source of a variety of bioactive substances, including phenolic compounds, such as anthocyanins, pterostilbene, phenolic acids, etc. Several studies have revealed that polyphenols in blueberry have important bioactivities in maintaining health, such as antioxidant and anti-tumor activities, immune regulation, the prevention of chronic diseases, etc. Therefore, these phenolic compounds in blueberries have been widely used in the field of healthcare, and the extraction, isolation, and purification of phenolic compounds are the prerequisites for their utilization. It is imperative to systematically review the research progress and prospects of phenolic compounds present in blueberries. Herein, the latest progress in the extraction, purification, and analysis of phenolic compounds from blueberries is reviewed, which can in turn provide a foundation for further research and usage of blueberries.
High-intensity Interval Training for the Management of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis: Participant Experiences and Perspectives

Background and Aims High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is a therapeutic option for people with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). However, the perspectives and experiences of HIIT for people with NASH are unknown, limiting translation of research. We explored the experiences and perspectives of both professionally supervised and self-directed HIIT in people with NASH and evaluated participant-reported knowledge, barriers, and enablers to commencing and sustaining HIIT. Methods Twelve participants with NASH underwent 12 weeks of supervised HIIT (3 days/week, 4×4 minutes at 85–95% maximal heart rate, interspersed with 3 minutes active recovery), followed by 12-weeks of self-directed (unsupervised) HIIT. One-on-one, semistructured participant interviews were conducted by exercise staff prior to HIIT and following both supervised and self-directed HIIT to explore prior knowledge, barriers, enablers, and outcomes at each stage. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, coded, and thematically analyzed by two independent researchers. Results Four dominant themes were identified: (1) no awareness of/experience with HIIT and ambivalence about exercise capabilities; (2) multiple medical and social barriers to commencing and continuing HIIT; (3) exercise specialist support was a highly valued enabler, and (4) HIIT was enjoyed and provided holistic benefits. Conclusions People with NASH may lack knowledge of and confidence for HIIT, and experience multiple complex barriers to commencing and continuing HIIT. Exercise specialist support is a key enabler to sustained engagement. These factors need to be addressed in future clinical programs to augment the uptake and long-term sustainability of HIIT by people with NASH so they can experience the range of related benefits.
Structural Analysis of Bacillus subtilis Sigma Factors

Bacteria use an array of sigma factors to regulate gene expression during different stages of their life cycles. Full-length, atomic-level structures of sigma factors have been challenging to obtain experimentally as a result of their many regions of intrinsic disorder. AlphaFold has now supplied plausible full-length models for most sigma factors. Here we discuss the current understanding of the structures and functions of sigma factors in the model organism, Bacillus subtilis, and present an X-ray crystal structure of a region of B. subtilis SigE, a sigma factor that plays a critical role in the developmental process of spore formation.
Mutation in PYCR2 gene and hypomyelinating leukodystrophy in children: a case report study

Introduction and importance: Hypomyelinating leukodystrophies are a heterogeneous group of inherited white matter disorders characterized by a predominant absence of myelin deposits in the central nervous system. Case presentation: The patient was a one-year-old girl child. She at the age of 6 months was hospitalized due to loose, muscle weakness, and an upward gaze for 7–8 min with complaints of fever and convulsions. Clinical discussion: Using the test of whole exome sequencing, a nonsense homozygous mutation was found in the PYCR2 gene, which a mutation in the PYCR2 gene causes hypomyelinating leukodystrophy type 10 disease. Conclusion: Advances in the field of genetics, increased awareness, and the increasing availability of genetic testing in small cities in developing countries are helping to better assess complex neurological disorders and establish a complete diagnosis.
Research on DDoS detection method based on XGB-Trans

Aiming at the problems that current DDoS detection methods are difficult to capture long-distance time-series correlation between network traffic, low detection accuracy and insufficient ability to detect unknown types of DDoS attacks, a Transformer-based DDoS detection method XGB-Trans is proposed. First, the feature selection module based on the XGBoost is used to reduce the feature dimensionality of the data; then, the Transformer after the optimized architecture is used to extract the time-series related features between the low-dimensional data, and detect DDoS attacks accordingly. The experimental results on two network security datasets show that the detection accuracy and the generalization ability of the XGB-Trans are superior to other methods, and it has the ability to detect unknown DDoS attacks.
Comparison of the bias of trimmed and Winsorized means

ABSTRACT We derive sharp upper and lower projection bounds on the bias of two-sided Winsorized means. To determine the projection of appropriate function, we consider new analytic condition which describes the form of the corresponding greatest convex minorant. Then we compare numerically obtained bounds for trimmed and Winsorized means. We conclude that if we have no information about the underlying distribution then Winsorized means are better than the trimmed ones.
Small deviation probabilities of some stochastic processes

This thesis discusses the small deviation problem -- also called small ball or lower tail probability problem -- for certain types of stochastic processes. In particular, weighted sequences of independent random variables in lp are considered. Furthermore, the connection between small deviations and entropy numbers in the case of Gaussian and symmetric stable processes are investigated. The results are applied to concrete sequences of random variables, random Fourier series, and stable convolutions.
A review of current trends in HIV epidemiology, surveillance, and control in Nigeria

The HIV epidemic remains a public health challenge in Nigeria, with about 1.9 million people living with the virus in 2020. Despite progress in controlling the epidemic, challenges remain, including inadequate funding and limited access to prevention and treatment services for key populations. This article provides an overview of the HIV control system in Nigeria and the current state of the HIV control system in Nigeria. It provides recommendations for strengthening the response to the epidemic. Contributions of government agencies, international partners, and civil society organizations are required to reduce this epidemic. This article highlights the need to strengthen surveillance systems, increase access to testing and treatment, enhance prevention strategies, address stigma and discrimination, increase funding, and expand research and development. The impact of antiretroviral therapy on HIV management is also discussed. Over the last decade, Nigeria has made significant progress in controlling the HIV epidemic, with a decline in new infections and increased treatment coverage. However, more work is needed to achieve the 95-95-95 targets set by the joint united nations programme on HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome for 2030, and a multi-pronged approach is required to address the social and structural determinants of health that drive the epidemic. By implementing the recommendations outlined in this article, Nigeria can make significant progress towards ending the HIV epidemic and improving the quality of life for those living with the virus.
Design on a rapidly ascending and descending singular perturbation optimum middle guidance law

A simple singular perturbation optimum middle guidance law was put forward based on the conclusion of two-point constraint problems in the nonlinear singular perturbation system and the analysis on the two time-scale behavior in mass center equation for missiles.The guidance law was modified further,and a rapidly ascending and descending singular perturbation optimum middle guidance law was obtained.The guidance law was applied to a high supersonic cruise missile,and 3D ballistic simulation was conducted,finally the satisfactory results were obtained.The application of singular perturbation optimum middle guidance law to high supersonic cruise missile was feasible and reliable.
Fungal Diversity and Dynamics during Long-Term Immersion of Conventional and Biodegradable Plastics in the Marine Environment

Plastics are associated with a worldwide pollution crisis, with strong negative impacts on both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In marine environments, various organisms are colonizing plastic debris, but few studies have focused on fungal communities despite their non-trivial ecological roles in the marine environment. In this study, different types of plastics (biodegradable and conventional) immersed in marine natural environments and under laboratory controlled settings were collected after long-term colonization. Using a metabarcoding approach targeting two genetic markers, namely, the ITS2 region and the V4 hypervariable region of the 18S rRNA gene, we highlighted that fungal communities associated with plastic polymers were distinct from those found in the surrounding seawater. They also differed significantly between sampling locations and the nature of immersed polymers, indicating that fungal colonization was impacted by the sites and types of plastics, with clear dissimilarities between conventional and biodegradable polymers. Specifically for the conventional PVC polymer (Polyvinyl chloride), we also observed the successive stages of biofilm development and maturation after long-term immersion in seawater. A noticeable change in the fungal communities was observed around 30–40 days in natural settings, suggesting a colonization dynamic likely associated with a transition from biofilm formation to distinct communities likely associated with biofouling. Overall, this study strengthens the idea that the fungal kingdom is an integrated part of the “plastisphere”.