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A major challenge for reinforcement learning is automatically generating curricula to reduce training time or improve performance in some target task. We introduce SEBNs (Skill-Environment Bayesian Networks) which model a probabilistic relationship between a set of skills, a set of goals that relate to the reward structure, and a set of environment features to predict policy performance on (possibly unseen) tasks. We develop an algorithm that uses the inferred estimates of agent success from SEBN to weigh the possible next tasks by expected improvement. We evaluate the benefit of the resulting curriculum on three environments: a discrete gridworld, continuous control, and simulated robotics. The results show that curricula constructed using SEBN frequently outperform other baselines.

As part of the BISTRO survey, we present JCMT 850 $\mu$m polarimetric observations towards the Orion Integral-Shaped Filament (ISF) that covers three portions known as OMC-1, OMC-2, and OMC-3. The magnetic field threading the ISF seen in the JCMT POL-2 map appears as a tale of three: pinched for OMC-1, twisted for OMC-2, and nearly uniform for OMC-3. A multi-scale analysis shows that the magnetic field structure in OMC-3 is very consistent at all the scales, whereas the field structure in OMC-2 shows no correlation across different scales. In OMC-1, the field retains its mean orientation from large to small scales, but shows some deviations at small scales. Histograms of relative orientations between the magnetic field and filaments reveal a bimodal distribution for OMC-1, a relatively random distribution for OMC-2, and a distribution with a predominant peak at 90$^\circ$ for OMC-3. Furthermore, the magnetic fields in OMC-1 and OMC-3 both appear to be aligned perpendicular to the fibers, which are denser structures within the filament, but the field in OMC-2 is aligned along with the fibers. All these suggest that gravity, turbulence, and magnetic field are each playing a leading role in OMC-1, 2, and 3, respectively. While OMC-2 and 3 have almost the same gas mass, density, and non-thermal velocity dispersion, there are on average younger and fewer young stellar objects in OMC-3, providing evidence that a stronger magnetic field will induce slower and less efficient star formation in molecular clouds., Comment: published in the ApJ Letters

We present 850 $\mu$m polarization observations of the IC 348 star-forming region in the Perseus molecular cloud as part of the B-fields In STar-forming Region Observation (BISTRO) survey. We study the magnetic properties of two cores (HH 211 MMS and IC 348 MMS) and a filamentary structure of IC 348. We find that the overall field tends to be more perpendicular than parallel to the filamentary structure of the region. The polarization fraction decreases with intensity, and we estimate the trend by power-law and the mean of the Rice distribution fittings. The power indices for the cores are much smaller than 1, indicative of possible grain growth to micron size in the cores. We also measure the magnetic field strengths of the two cores and the filamentary area separately by applying the Davis-Chandrasekhar-Fermi method and its alternative version for compressed medium. The estimated mass-to-flux ratios are 0.45-2.20 and 0.63-2.76 for HH 211 MMS and IC 348 MMS, respectively, while the ratios for the filament is 0.33-1.50. This result may suggest that the transition from subcritical to supercritical conditions occurs at the core scale ($\sim$ 0.05 pc) in the region. In addition, we study the energy balance of the cores and find that the relative strength of turbulence to the magnetic field tends to be stronger for IC 348 MMS than HH 211 MMS. The result could potentially explain the different configurations inside the two cores: a single protostellar system in HH 211 MMS and multiple protostars in IC 348 MMS., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 21 pages, 12 figures

Anisotropy of local pressure distribution and dissipation are essential in understanding the evolution of the internal structure of compact objects and their observable characteristics. In this work, we reinterpret local pressure anisotropy in relativistic stellar structures as a contribution to the energy density. This approach allows the modelling of any anisotropic equation of state in self-gravitating systems by treating anisotropy as a contribution. We demonstrate that this approach provides more realistic stellar models that meet essential physical criteria, such as mass-radius relationships and stability conditions. The results are compared to observational data, particularly the inferred compactness values for pulsars PSR J0740+6620 and PSR J0030+0451, showing that anisotropic and isotropic models can represent these objects. We further explore how dissipation, such as temperature gradients, influences radial pressure and show that it can be modelled similarly to anisotropy., Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures

Recent successes in applying reinforcement learning (RL) for robotics has shown it is a viable approach for constructing robotic controllers. However, RL controllers can produce many collisions in environments where new obstacles appear during execution. This poses a problem in safety-critical settings. We present a hybrid approach, called iKinQP-RL, that uses an Inverse Kinematics Quadratic Programming (iKinQP) controller to correct actions proposed by an RL policy at runtime. This ensures safe execution in the presence of new obstacles not present during training. Preliminary experiments illustrate our iKinQP-RL framework completely eliminates collisions with new obstacles while maintaining a high task success rate.

Robot manipulation in real-world settings often requires adapting the robot's behavior to the current situation, such as by changing the sequences in which policies execute to achieve the desired task. Problematically, however, we show that composing a novel sequence of five deep RL options to perform a pick-and-place task is unlikely to successfully complete, even if their initiation and termination conditions align. We propose a framework to determine whether sequences will succeed a priori, and examine three approaches that adapt options to sequence successfully if they will not. Crucially, our adaptation methods consider the actual subset of points that the option is trained from or where it ends: (1) trains the second option to start where the first ends; (2) trains the first option to reach the centroid of where the second starts; and (3) trains the first option to reach the median of where the second starts. Our results show that our framework and adaptation methods have promise in adapting options to work in novel sequences.

We use polarization data from SOFIA HAWC+ to investigate the interplay between magnetic fields and stellar feedback in altering gas dynamics within the high-mass star-forming region RCW 36, located in Vela C. This region is of particular interest as it has a bipolar HII region powered by a massive star cluster which may be impacting the surrounding magnetic field. To determine if this is the case, we apply the Histogram of Relative Orientations (HRO) method to quantify the relative alignment between the inferred magnetic field and elongated structures observed in several datasets such as dust emission, column density, temperature, and spectral line intensity maps. The HRO results indicate a bimodal alignment trend, where structures observed with dense gas tracers show a statistically significant preference for perpendicular alignment relative to the magnetic field, while structures probed by photo-dissociation region (PDR) tracers tend to align preferentially parallel relative to the magnetic field. Moreover, the dense gas and PDR associated structures are found to be kinematically distinct such that a bimodal alignment trend is also observed as a function of line-of-sight velocity. This suggests that the magnetic field may have been dynamically important and set a preferred direction of gas flow at the time that RCW 36 formed, resulting in a dense ridge developing perpendicular to the magnetic field. However on filament-scales near the PDR region, feedback may be energetically dominating the magnetic field, warping its geometry and the associated flux-frozen gas structures, causing the observed the preference for parallel relative alignment., Comment: 40 pages (25 pages main paper, 15 pages appendix), 24 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in ApJ

The accretion/ejection processes in T-Tauri stars are fundamental to their physical evolution, while also impacting the properties and evolution of the circumstellar material at a time when planet formation takes place. To this date, characterization of ongoing accretion processes in stellar pairs at 5-50\,au scales has been challenging, high angular resolution spectrographs are required to extract the spectral features of each component. We present the analysis of spectroscopic observations of the tight (160mas, 25au) T-Tauri system HT Lup A/B, obtained with MUSE at VLT in March and July of 2021. We focus on constraining the accretion/ejection processes and variability of the secondary component HT Lup B, by searching for accretion tracers applying High-Resolution Spectral Differential Imaging techniques. We retrieve strong (SNR $>$ 5) $H\alpha, H\beta$ and [OI]$\lambda6300$ emission in both epochs. The $H\alpha$ and $H\beta$ line fluxes showcase high variability, with variations up to 400-500\% between epochs. The fluxes are consistent with accretion rates of $8\times10^{-9} M_\odot \, yr^{-1}$ and $2\times10^{-9} M_\odot \, yr^{-1}$ for the first and second epoch, respectively. We attribute the increased accretion activity during the first night to a "burst" like event, followed by a relaxation period more representative of the common accretion activity of the system. The [OI]$\lambda6300$ line profiles remain relatively similar between epochs and suggest ejection rates on the order of $10^{-9}-10^{-10} M_\odot \, yr^{-1}$, compatible with moderate disk winds emission. Our results also indicate that the accretion processes of HT Lup B are compatible with Classical T Tauri Stars, unlike previous classifications, Comment: 28 pages, 13 fgures, Accepted by ApJ

The physical origin of the large cavities observed in transition disks is to date still unclear. Different physical mechanisms (e.g., a companion, dead zones, enhanced grain growth) produce disk cavities of different depth, and the expected spatial distribution of gas and solids in each mechanism is not the same. In this work, we analyze the multi-wavelength interferometric visibilities of dust continuum observations obtained with ALMA and VLA for six transition disks: CQTau, UXTau A, LkCa15, RXJ1615, SR24S, and DMTau, and calculate brightness radial profiles, where diverse emission morphology is revealed at different wavelengths. The multi-wavelength data is used to model the spectral energy distribution and compute constraints on the radial profile of the dust surface density, maximum grain size, and dust temperature in each disk. They are compared with the observational signatures expected from various physical mechanisms responsible for disk cavities. The observational signatures suggest that the cavities observed in the disks around UXTau A, LkCa15, and RXJ1615 could potentially originate from a dust trap created by a companion. Conversely, in the disks around CQTau, SR24S, DMTau, the origin of the cavity remains unclear, although it is compatible with a pressure bump and grain growth within the cavity.

The generalized SU(2) Proca theory is a vector-tensor modified gravity theory characterized by an action that remains invariant under both diffeomorphisms and global internal transformations of the SU(2) group. This study aims to further explore the physical properties of the theory within astrophysical contexts. Previous investigations have unveiled intriguing astrophysical solutions, including particle-like configurations and black holes. The purpose of this work is to constrain the theory's free parameters by modeling realistic neutron stars. To that end, we have assumed solutions that are static, spherically symmetric, and have adopted the t'Hooft-Polyakov magnetic monopole configuration for the vector fields. Employing both analytical techniques, such as asymptotic expansions, and numerical methods involving solving boundary value problems, we have obtained neutron star solutions whose baryonic matter is described by realistic equations of state for nuclear matter. Furthermore, we have constructed mass-radius relations which reveal that neutron stars exhibit greater compactness in comparison with general relativity predictions for most of the solutions we have found and for the employed equations of state. Finally, we have found out solutions where the mass of the star is greater than $\sim$ 2.5 $M_\odot$; this result poses an alternative in the exploration of the mass gap of compact stellar objects., Comment: LaTeX file in RevTeX 4.1 style, 17 pages, 11 figures. v2: some clarifications made at referee's request; two appendices added regarding the Komar mass and the boundary terms of the gravitational action; version published in Physical Review D

Magnetic fields play an important role in shaping and regulating star formation in molecular clouds. Here, we present one of the first studies examining the relative orientations between magnetic ($B$) fields and the dust emission, gas column density, and velocity centroid gradients on the 0.02 pc (core) scales, using the BISTRO and VLA+GBT observations of the NGC 1333 star-forming clump. We quantified these relative orientations using the Project Rayleigh Statistic (PRS) and found preferential global parallel alignment between the $B$ field and dust emission gradients, consistent with large-scale studies with Planck. No preferential global alignments, however, are found between the $B$ field and velocity gradients. Local PRS calculated for subregions defined by either dust emission or velocity coherence further revealed that the $B$ field does not preferentially align with dust emission gradients in most emission-defined subregions, except in the warmest ones. The velocity-coherent structures, on the other hand, also showed no preferred $B$ field alignments with velocity gradients, except for one potentially bubble-compressed region. Interestingly, the velocity gradient magnitude in NGC 1333 ubiquitously features prominent ripple-like structures that are indicative of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. Finally, we found $B$ field alignments with the emission gradients to correlate with dust temperature and anticorrelate with column density, velocity dispersion, and velocity gradient magnitude. The latter two anticorrelations suggest that alignments between gas structures and $B$ fields can be perturbed by physical processes that elevate velocity dispersion and velocity gradients, such as infall, accretions, and MHD waves., Comment: Accepted to the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal

Detecting planet signatures in protoplanetary disks is fundamental to understanding how and where planets form. In this work, we report dust and gas observational hints of planet formation in the disk around 2MASS-J16120668-301027, as part of the ALMA Large Program "AGE-PRO: ALMA survey of Gas Evolution in Protoplanetary disks". The disk was imaged with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at Band 6 (1.3 mm) in dust continuum emission and four molecular lines: $^{12}$CO(J=2-1), $^{13}$CO(J=2-1), C$^{18}$O(J=2-1), and H$_2$CO(J=3$_{(3,0)}$-2$_{(2,0)}$). Resolved observations of the dust continuum emission (angular resolution of $\sim 150$ mas, 20 au) show a ring-like structure with a peak at $0.57 ^{\prime \prime}$ (75 au), a deep gap with a minimum at 0.24$^{\prime \prime}$ (31 au), an inner disk, a bridge connecting the inner disk and the outer ring, along with a spiral arm structure, and a tentative detection (to $3\sigma$) of a compact emission at the center of the disk gap, with an estimated dust mass of $\sim 2.7-12.9$ Lunar masses. We also detected a kinematic kink (not coincident with any dust substructure) through several $^{12}$CO channel maps (angular resolution $\sim$ 200 mas, 30 au), located at a radius of $\sim 0.875^{\prime \prime}$ (115.6 au). After modeling the $^{12}$CO velocity rotation around the protostar, we identified a tentative rotating-like structure at the kink location with a geometry similar to that of the disk. We discuss potential explanations for the dust and gas substructures observed in the disk, and their potential connection to signatures of planet formation., Comment: 24 pages, 15 figures

Rings and gaps are among the most widely observed forms of substructure in protoplanetary disks. A gap-ring pair may be formed when a planet carves a gap in the disk, which produces a local pressure maximum following the gap that traps inwardly drifting dust grains and appears as a bright ring due to the enhanced dust density. A dust-trapping ring would provide a promising environment for solid growth and possibly planetesimal production via the streaming instability. We present evidence of dust trapping in the bright ring of the planet-hosting disk Elias 2-24, from the analysis of 1.3 mm and 3 mm ALMA observations at high spatial resolution (0.029 arcsec, 4.0 au). We leverage the high spatial resolution to demonstrate that larger grains are more efficiently trapped and place constraints on the local turbulence ($8 \times 10^{-4} < \alpha_\mathrm{turb} < 0.03$) and the gas-to-dust ratio ($\Sigma_g / \Sigma_d < 30$) in the ring. Using a scattering-included marginal probability analysis we measure a total dust disk mass of $M_\mathrm{dust} = 13.8^{+0.7}_{-0.5} \times 10^{-4} \ M_\odot$. We also show that at the orbital radius of the proposed perturber, the gap is cleared of material down to a flux contrast of 10$^{-3}$ of the peak flux in the disk., Comment: 18 pages, 12 figures, accepted to ApJ

Perovskite solar cells (PSCs) offer an efficient, inexpensive alternative to current photovoltaic technologies, with the potential for manufacture via high-throughput coating methods. However, challenges for commercial-scale solution-processing of metal-halide perovskites include the use of harmful solvents, the expense of maintaining controlled atmospheric conditions, and the inherent instabilities of PSCs under operation. Here, we address these challenges by introducing a high volatility, low toxicity, biorenewable solvent system to fabricate a range of 2D perovskites, which highly effective precursor phases for subsequent transformation to alpha-formamidinium lead triiodide (FAPbI3), fully processed under ambient conditions. PSCs utilising our FAPbI3 reproducibly show remarkable stability under illumination and elevated temperature (ISOS-L-2) and "damp heat" (ISOS-D-3) stressing, surpassing other state-of-the-art perovskite compositions. We determine that this enhancement is a consequence of the 2D precursor phase crystallisation route, which simultaneously avoids retention of residual low-volatility solvents (such as DMF and DMSO) and reduces the rate of degradation of FA+ in the material. Our findings highlight both the critical role of the initial crystallisation process in determining the operational stability of perovskite materials, and that neat FA+-based perovskites can be competitively stable despite the inherent metastability of the alpha-phase.

Morphological mapping is a fundamental step in studying the processes that shaped an asteroid surface. Yet, it is challenging and often requires multiple independent assessments by trained experts. Here, we present fast methods to detect and characterize meaningful terrains from the topographic roughness: entropy of information, and local mean surface orientation. We apply our techniques to Didymos and Dimorphos, the target asteroids of NASA's DART mission: first attempt to deflect an asteroid. Our methods reliably identify morphological units at multiple scales. The comparative study reveals various terrain types, signatures of processes that transformed Didymos and Dimorphos. Didymos shows the most heterogeneity and morphology that indicate recent resurfacing events. Dimorphos is comparatively rougher than Didymos, which may result from the formation process of the binary pair and past interaction between the two bodies. Our methods can be readily applied to other bodies and data sets., Comment: submitted to PSJ

In tissue engineering, 3D scaffolds and chemical treatments are often used for providing a cell-friendly surface for improving cell adhesion and tissue growth. Indeed, the cell adhesion degree can be controlled by physical-chemical changes in the surface of substrates, such as wettability, surface charges and roughness. In this work, we describe the synthesis, characterization and cytocompatibility of photoresins useful for construction of cell scaffolds via two-photon polymerization. Additionally, we have demonstrated a simple surface treatment method that promotes cell adhesion. This method alters the surface charge of the polymer and enhances the adhesion of epithelial cells. Our results indicate an efficient approach for modifying the surface of biocompatible polymer scaffolds with the purpose of enhances the performance of cell functions suitable for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

End-user programming (EUP) tools must balance user control with the robot's ability to plan and act autonomously. Many existing task-oriented EUP tools enforce a specific level of control, e.g., by requiring that users hand-craft detailed sequences of actions, rather than offering users the flexibility to choose the level of task detail they wish to express. We thereby created a novel EUP system, Polaris, that in contrast to most existing EUP tools, uses goal predicates as the fundamental building block of programs. Users can thereby express high-level robot objectives or lower-level checkpoints at their choosing, while an off-the-shelf task planner fills in any remaining program detail. To ensure that goal-specified programs adhere to user expectations of robot behavior, Polaris is equipped with a Plan Visualizer that exposes the planner's output to the user before runtime. In what follows, we describe our design of Polaris and its evaluation with 32 human participants. Our results support the Plan Visualizer's ability to help users craft higher-quality programs. Furthermore, there are strong associations between user perception of the robot and Plan Visualizer usage, and evidence that robot familiarity has a key role in shaping user experience., Comment: Published in the proceedings of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction

End-user development (EUD) represents a key step towards making robotics accessible for experts and nonexperts alike. Within academia, researchers investigate novel ways that EUD tools can capture, represent, visualize, analyze, and test developer intent. At the same time, industry researchers increasingly build and ship programming tools that enable customers to interact with their robots. However, despite this growing interest, the role of EUD within HRI is not well defined. EUD struggles to situate itself within a growing array of alternative approaches to application development, such as robot learning and teleoperation. EUD further struggles due to the wide range of individuals who can be considered end users, such as independent third-party application developers, consumers, hobbyists, or even employees of the robot manufacturer. Key questions remain such as how EUD is justified over alternate approaches to application development, which contexts EUD is most suited for, who the target users of an EUD system are, and where interaction between a human and a robot takes place, amongst many other questions. We seek to address these challenges and questions by organizing the first End-User Development for Human-Robot Interaction (EUD4HRI) workshop at the 2024 International Conference of Human-Robot Interaction. The workshop will bring together researchers with a wide range of expertise across academia and industry, spanning perspectives from multiple subfields of robotics, with the primary goal being a consensus of perspectives about the role that EUD must play within human-robot interaction., Comment: Accepted at Companion of the 2024 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI '24 Companion), March 11--14, 2024, Boulder, CO, USA

As service robots become more capable of autonomous behaviors, it becomes increasingly important to consider how people communicate with a robot what task it should perform and how to do the task. Accordingly, there has been a rise in attention to end-user development (EUD) interfaces, which enable non-roboticist end users to specify tasks for autonomous robots to perform. However, state-of-the-art EUD interfaces are often constrained through simplified domains or restrictive end-user interaction. Motivated by prior qualitative design work that explores how to integrate a care robot in an assisted living community, we discuss the challenges of EUD in this complex domain. One set of challenges stems from different user-facing representations, e.g., certain tasks may lend themselves better to rule-based trigger-action representations, whereas other tasks may be easier to specify via sequences of actions. The other stems from considering the needs of multiple stakeholders, e.g., caregivers and residents of the facility may all create tasks for the robot, but the robot may not be able to share information about all tasks with all residents due to privacy concerns. We present scenarios that illustrate these challenges and also discuss possible solutions., Comment: Presented at AAAI Fall Symposium Series 2023 UR-RAD

We present results from the first experimental demonstration of a tunable thin-shell axion haloscope. This novel geometry decouples the overall volume of the cavity-based resonator from its resonant frequency, thereby evading the steep sensitivity degradation at high-frequencies. An aluminum $2.6$ L ($41$ $\lambda^3$) prototype which tunes from $7.1$ to $8.0$ GHz was fabricated and characterized at room temperature. An axion-sensitive, straightforwardly tunable $\mathrm{TM}$$_{010}$ mode is clearly identified with a room temperature quality factor, $Q$, of $\sim$$5,000$. The on-resonance $E$-field distribution is mapped and found to agree with numerical calculations. Anticipating future cryogenic operation, we develop an alignment protocol relying only on rf measurements of the cavity, maintaining a form factor of $0.57$ across the full tuning range. These measurements demonstrate the feasibility of cavity-based haloscopes with operating volume $V\gg\lambda^3$. We discuss plans for future development and the parameters required for a thin-shell haloscope exploring the post-inflationary axion parameter space ($\sim$$4$ to $\sim$$30$ GHz) at DFSZ sensitivity., Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures; references added, Table 2 updated, acknowledgments made more descriptive, grammar copy edits, and title updated to published version

Sensitive wide-field observations of polarized thermal emission from interstellar dust grains will allow astronomers to address key outstanding questions about the life cycle of matter and energy driving the formation of stars and the evolution of galaxies. Stratospheric balloon-borne telescopes can map this polarized emission at far-infrared wavelengths near the peak of the dust thermal spectrum - wavelengths that are inaccessible from the ground. In this paper we address the sensitivity achievable by a Super Pressure Balloon (SPB) polarimetry mission, using as an example the Balloon-borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) Observatory. By launching from Wanaka, New Zealand, BLAST Observatory can obtain a 30-day flight with excellent sky coverage - overcoming limitations of past experiments that suffered from short flight duration and/or launch sites with poor coverage of nearby star-forming regions. This proposed polarimetry mission will map large regions of the sky at sub-arcminute resolution, with simultaneous observations at 175, 250, and 350 $\mu m$, using a total of 8274 microwave kinetic inductance detectors. Here, we describe the scientific motivation for the BLAST Observatory, the proposed implementation, and the forecasting methods used to predict its sensitivity. We also compare our forecasted experiment sensitivity with other facilities., Comment: Published in PASP

This study explores the application of a wall-attached ferrofluid film to decrease skin friction drag in turbulent channel flow. We conduct experiments using water as a working fluid in a turbulent channel flow setup, where one wall is coated with a ferrofluid layer held in place by external permanent magnets. Depending on the flow conditions, the interface between the two fluids is observed to form unstable travelling waves. While ferrofluid coating has been previously employed in laminar and moderately turbulent flows to reduce drag by creating a slip condition at the fluid interface, its effectiveness in fully developed turbulent conditions, particularly when the interface exhibits instability, remains uncertain. Our primary objective is to assess the effectiveness of ferrofluid coating in reducing turbulent drag with particular focus on scenarios when the ferrofluid layer forms unstable waves. To achieve this, we measure flow velocity using two-dimensional particle tracking velocimetry (2D-PTV), and the interface contour between the fluids is determined using an interface tracking algorithm. Our results reveal the significant potential of ferrofluid coating for drag reduction, even in scenarios where the interface between the surrounding fluid and ferrofluid exhibits instability. In particular, waves with an amplitude significantly smaller than a viscous length scale positively contribute to drag reduction, while larger waves are detrimental, because of induced turbulent fluctuations. However, for the latter case, slip out-competes the extra turbulence so that drag is still reduced.

We report 850 $\mu$m continuum polarization observations toward the filamentary high-mass star-forming region NGC 2264, taken as part of the B-fields In STar forming Regions Observations (BISTRO) large program on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT). These data reveal a well-structured non-uniform magnetic field in the NGC 2264C and 2264D regions with a prevailing orientation around 30 deg from north to east. Field strengths estimates and a virial analysis for the major clumps indicate that NGC 2264C is globally dominated by gravity while in 2264D magnetic, gravitational, and kinetic energies are roughly balanced. We present an analysis scheme that utilizes the locally resolved magnetic field structures, together with the locally measured gravitational vector field and the extracted filamentary network. From this, we infer statistical trends showing that this network consists of two main groups of filaments oriented approximately perpendicular to one another. Additionally, gravity shows one dominating converging direction that is roughly perpendicular to one of the filament orientations, which is suggestive of mass accretion along this direction. Beyond these statistical trends, we identify two types of filaments. The type-I filament is perpendicular to the magnetic field with local gravity transitioning from parallel to perpendicular to the magnetic field from the outside to the filament ridge. The type-II filament is parallel to the magnetic field and local gravity. We interpret these two types of filaments as originating from the competition between radial collapsing, driven by filament self-gravity, and the longitudinal collapsing, driven by the region's global gravity., Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 43 pages, 32 figures, and 4 tables (including Appendix)

We demonstrate the existence of semivortex (SV) solitons, with vorticities $0$ and $1$ in the two components, in a two-dimensional (2D) fermionic spinor system under the action of the Rashba-type spin-orbit coupling in the combination with the Zeeman splitting (ZS). In the ``heavy-atom" approximation, which was previously elaborated for the bosonic system, the usual kinetic energy is neglected, which gives rise to a linear spectrum with a bandgap. The model includes the effective Pauli self-repulsion with power $7/3$, as produced by the density-functional theory of Fermi superfluids. In the general case, the inter-component contact repulsion is included too. We construct a family of gap solitons of the SV type populating the spectral bandgap. A stability region is identified for the SV solitons, by means of systematic simulations, in the parameter plane of the cross-repulsion strength and chemical potential. The stability region agrees with the prediction of the anti-Vakhitov-Kolokolov criterion, which is a relevant necessary stability condition for systems with self-repulsive nonlinearities. We also test the stability of the SV solitons against a sudden change of the ZS strength, which initiates robust oscillations in the spin state of the soliton due to transfer of particles between the system's components., Comment: Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, in press

Inorganic semiconductors based on heavy pnictogen cations (Sb3+ and Bi3+) have gained significant attention as potential nontoxic and stable alternatives to lead-halide perovskites for solar cell applications. A limitation of these novel materials, which is being increasingly commonly found, is carrier localization, which substantially reduces mobilities and diffusion lengths. Herein, the layered p\v{r}\'ibramite CuSbSe2 is investigated and discovered to have delocalized free carriers, as shown through optical pump terahertz probe spectroscopy and temperature-dependent mobility measurements. Using a combination of theory and experiment, it is found that the underlying factors are: 1) weak coupling to acoustic phonons due to low deformation potentials, as lattice distortions are primarily accommodated through rigid inter-layer movement rather than straining inter-atomic bonds, and 2) weak coupling to optical phonons due to the ionic contributions to the dielectric constant being low compared to electronic contributions. This work provides important insights into how pnictogen-based semiconductors avoiding carrier localization could be identified., Comment: 47 pages, 4 figures

Metal halide perovskites have shown great performance as solar energy materials, but their outstanding optoelectronic properties are paired with unusually strong anharmonic effects. It has been proposed that this intriguing combination of properties derives from the "lone pair" 6$s^2$ electron configuration of the Pb$^{2+}$ cations, and associated weak pseudo-Jahn-Teller effect, but the precise impact of this chemical feature remains unclear. Here we show that in fact an $ns^2$ electron configuration is not a prerequisite for the strong anharmonicity and low-energy lattice dynamics encountered in this class of materials. We combine X-ray diffraction, infrared and Raman spectroscopies, and first-principles molecular dynamics calculations to directly contrast the lattice dynamics of CsSrBr$_3$ with those of CsPbBr$_3$, two compounds which bear close structural similarity but with the former lacking the propensity to form lone pairs on the 5$s^0$ octahedral cation. We exploit low-frequency diffusive Raman scattering, nominally symmetry-forbidden in the cubic phase, as a fingerprint to detect anharmonicity and reveal that low-frequency tilting occurs irrespective of octahedral cation electron configuration. This work highlights the key role of structure in perovskite lattice dynamics, providing important design rules for the emerging class of soft perovskite semiconductors for optoelectronic and light-harvesting devices.

Instrumental Variables provide a way of addressing bias due to unmeasured confounding when estimating treatment effects using observational data. As instrument prescription preference of individual healthcare providers has been proposed. Because prescription preference is hard to measure and often unobserved, a surrogate measure constructed from available data is often required for the analysis. Different construction methods for this surrogate measure are possible, such as simple rule-based methods which make use of the observed treatment patterns, or more complex model-based methods that employ formal statistical models to explain the treatment behaviour whilst considering measured confounders. The choice of construction method relies on aspects like data availability within provider, missing data in measured confounders, and possible changes in prescription preference over time. In this paper we conduct a comprehensive simulation study to evaluate different construction methods for surrogates of prescription preference under different data conditions, including: different provider sizes, missing covariate data, and change in preference. We also propose a novel model-based construction method to address between provider differences and change in prescription preference. All presented construction methods are exemplified in a case study of the relative glucose lowering effect of two type 2 diabetes treatments in observational data. Our study shows that preference-based Instrumental Variable methods can be a useful tool for causal inference from observational health data. The choice of construction method should be driven by the data condition at hand. Our proposed method is capable of estimating the causal treatment effect without bias in case of sufficient prescription data per provider, changing prescription preference over time and non-ignorable missingness in measured confounders., Comment: 44 pages, 11 figures

We conducted a search for narrowband radio signals over four observing sessions in 2020-2023 with the L-band receiver (1.15-1.73 GHz) of the 100 m diameter Green Bank Telescope. We pointed the telescope in the directions of 62 TESS Objects of Interest, capturing radio emissions from a total of ~11,680 stars and planetary systems in the ~9 arcminute beam of the telescope. All detections were either automatically rejected or visually inspected and confirmed to be of anthropogenic nature. In this work, we also quantified the end-to-end efficiency of radio SETI pipelines with a signal injection and recovery analysis. The UCLA SETI pipeline recovers 94.0% of the injected signals over the usable frequency range of the receiver and 98.7% of the injections when regions of dense RFI are excluded. In another pipeline that uses incoherent sums of 51 consecutive spectra, the recovery rate is ~15 times smaller at ~6%. The pipeline efficiency affects calculations of transmitter prevalence and SETI search volume. Accordingly, we developed an improved Drake Figure of Merit and a formalism to place upper limits on transmitter prevalence that take the pipeline efficiency and transmitter duty cycle into account. Based on our observations, we can state at the 95% confidence level that fewer than 6.6% of stars within 100 pc host a transmitter that is detectable in our search (EIRP > 1e13 W). For stars within 20,000 ly, the fraction of stars with detectable transmitters (EIRP > 5e16 W) is at most 3e-4. Finally, we showed that the UCLA SETI pipeline natively detects the signals detected with AI techniques by Ma et al. (2023)., Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, in press at AJ

We studied five methods to include anisotropy, or unequal stress distributions, in general relativistic matter configurations. We used nine acceptability conditions that the metric and physical variables must meet to determine if our models were astrophysically viable. Our analysis found the most effective way to introduce anisotropy while keeping a simple density profile. We also found a practical "rule of thumb" that relates the density at the boundary to the density at the centre of relativistic matter distributions. Additionally, we calculated the configuration radius and encountered that values observed by NICER for PSR J0740+6620 are consistent with several acceptable matter configurations, both isotropic and anisotropic., Comment: 20 pages, 3 figures. Typo correction

We review a model for a solid electrolyte derived under thermodynamics principles. We non-dimensionalise and scale the model to identify small parameters, where we identify a scaling that controls the width of the space-charge layer in the electrolyte. We present asymptotic analyses and numerical solutions for the one dimensional zero charge flux equilibrium problem. We introduce an auxiliary variable to remove singularities from the domain in order to facilitate robust numerical simulations. From the asymptotics we identify three distinct regions: the bulk, boundary layers, and intermediate layers. The boundary and intermediate layers form the space charge layer of the solid electrolyte, which we can further distinguish as strong and weak space-charge-layers respectively. The weak space-charge-layer is characterised by a length, $\lambda$, which is equivalent to the Debye length of a standard liquid electrolyte. The strong space-charge-layer is characterised by a scaled Debye length, which is larger than $\lambda$. We find that both layers exhibit distinct behaviour, we see quadratic behaviour in the strong space-charge-layer and exponential behaviour in the weak space-charge-layer. We find that matching between these two asymptotic regimes is not standard and we implement a pseudo-matching approach to facilitate the transition between the quadratic and exponential behaviours. We demonstrate excellent agreement between asymptotics and simulation., Comment: 24 pages plus 14 page supplementary materials, 19 figures total (counting subfigures) Submitted to SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics

The translation of AI-generated brain metastases (BM) segmentation into clinical practice relies heavily on diverse, high-quality annotated medical imaging datasets. The BraTS-METS 2023 challenge has gained momentum for testing and benchmarking algorithms using rigorously annotated internationally compiled real-world datasets. This study presents the results of the segmentation challenge and characterizes the challenging cases that impacted the performance of the winning algorithms. Untreated brain metastases on standard anatomic MRI sequences (T1, T2, FLAIR, T1PG) from eight contributed international datasets were annotated in stepwise method: published UNET algorithms, student, neuroradiologist, final approver neuroradiologist. Segmentations were ranked based on lesion-wise Dice and Hausdorff distance (HD95) scores. False positives (FP) and false negatives (FN) were rigorously penalized, receiving a score of 0 for Dice and a fixed penalty of 374 for HD95. Eight datasets comprising 1303 studies were annotated, with 402 studies (3076 lesions) released on Synapse as publicly available datasets to challenge competitors. Additionally, 31 studies (139 lesions) were held out for validation, and 59 studies (218 lesions) were used for testing. Segmentation accuracy was measured as rank across subjects, with the winning team achieving a LesionWise mean score of 7.9. Common errors among the leading teams included false negatives for small lesions and misregistration of masks in space.The BraTS-METS 2023 challenge successfully curated well-annotated, diverse datasets and identified common errors, facilitating the translation of BM segmentation across varied clinical environments and providing personalized volumetric reports to patients undergoing BM treatment.

We present observations of polarized dust emission at 850 $\mu$m from the L43 molecular cloud which sits in the Ophiuchus cloud complex. The data were taken using SCUBA-2/POL-2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope as a part of the BISTRO large program. L43 is a dense ($N_{\rm H_2}\sim 10^{22}$-10$^{23}$ cm$^{-2}$) complex molecular cloud with a submillimetre-bright starless core and two protostellar sources. There appears to be an evolutionary gradient along the isolated filament that L43 is embedded within, with the most evolved source closest to the Sco OB2 association. One of the protostars drives a CO outflow that has created a cavity to the southeast. We see a magnetic field that appears to be aligned with the cavity walls of the outflow, suggesting interaction with the outflow. We also find a magnetic field strength of up to $\sim$160$\pm$30 $\mu$G in the main starless core and up to $\sim$90$\pm$40 $\mu$G in the more diffuse, extended region. These field strengths give magnetically super- and sub-critical values respectively and both are found to be roughly trans-Alfv\'enic. We also present a new method of data reduction for these denser but fainter objects like starless cores., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 23 pages, 9 figures (7 main text, 2 appendix)

Software Architecture, from definition to maintenance and evolution, is a complex aspect of software development and, consequently, a challenging subject when it comes to teaching it, and learning it. Many research efforts have been devoted to designing teaching approaches, strategies and tools. Most of them, however, focus on the knowledge itself and the ways to convey it to students, rather than on the different learning styles of students themselves. Teaching methods which predominantly rely on verbal and written communication, are very well aligned with some learning styles. However, students with learning styles that benefit more from physical activity or first-hand experience, need to defer to cognitive processes that are less natural to them. In this work, we propose an innovative use of role-playing as teaching strategy for architecture models of reference (i.e. layered, pipe and filter, client-server, etc.). This role-playing of different software architectures, in which students play the part of specific components in the system, intends to complement other classical teaching materials, such as in-person or recorded lectures, lab assignments, or development projects. Addressing all learning styles within a classroom is key to ensure that we favour and foster the students' different learning processes, and give everyone an even playfield in which to best develop their capabilities as Software Architects., Comment: Accepted at 20th IEEE International Conference on Software Architecture (ICSA'23)

We present BISTRO Survey 850 {\mu}m dust emission polarisation observations of the L1495A-B10 region of the Taurus molecular cloud, taken at the JCMT. We observe a roughly triangular network of dense filaments. We detect 9 of the dense starless cores embedded within these filaments in polarisation, finding that the plane-of-sky orientation of the core-scale magnetic field lies roughly perpendicular to the filaments in almost all cases. We also find that the large-scale magnetic field orientation measured by Planck is not correlated with any of the core or filament structures, except in the case of the lowest-density core. We propose a scenario for early prestellar evolution that is both an extension to, and consistent with, previous models, introducing an additional evolutionary transitional stage between field-dominated and matter-dominated evolution, observed here for the first time. In this scenario, the cloud collapses first to a sheet-like structure. Uniquely, we appear to be seeing this sheet almost face-on. The sheet fragments into filaments, which in turn form cores. However, the material must reach a certain critical density before the evolution changes from being field-dominated to being matter-dominated. We measure the sheet surface density and the magnetic field strength at that transition for the first time and show consistency with an analytical prediction that had previously gone untested for over 50 years (Mestel 1965)., Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. ApJ accepted

Humans make their evacuation decisions first at strategic/tactical levels, deciding their exit and route choice and then at operational level, navigating to a way-point, avoiding collisions. What influences an individuals at tactical level is of importance, for modelers to design a high fidelity simulation or for safety engineers to create efficient designs/codes. Does an unlit exit sign dissuades individual(s) to avoid a particular exit/route and vice versa? What effect does the crowd's choices have on individual's decision making? To answer these questions, we studied the effect of exit signage (unlit/lit), different proportions of crowd movement towards the exits, and the combined (reinforcing/conflicting) effect of the sign and the crowd treatment on reaction times and exit choices of participants in an immersive virtual reality(VR) evacuation experiment. We found that there is tolerance for queuing when different sources of information, exit signage and crowd movement reinforced one another. The effect of unlit exit signage on dissuading individuals from using a particular exit/route was significant. The virtual crowd was ineffective at encouraging utilization of a particular exit/route but had a slight repulsive effect. Additionally, we found some similarities between previous studies based on screen-based evacuation experiments and our VR-based experiment., Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 8 tables

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a dynamic network of interconnected sheets and tubules that orchestrates the distribution of lipids, ions, and proteins throughout the cell. The impact of its complex, dynamic morphology on its function as an intracellular transport hub remains poorly understood. To elucidate the functional consequences of ER network structure and dynamics, we quantify how the heterogeneity of the peripheral ER in COS7 cells affects diffusive protein transport. In vivo imaging of photoactivated ER membrane proteins demonstrates their non-uniform spreading to adjacent regions, in a manner consistent with simulations of diffusing particles on extracted network structures. Using a minimal network model to represent tubule rearrangements, we demonstrate that ER network dynamics are sufficiently slow to have little effect on diffusive protein transport. Furthermore, stochastic simulations reveal a novel consequence of ER network heterogeneity: the existence of 'hot spots' where sparse diffusive reactants are more likely to find one another. Intriguingly, ER exit sites are disproportionately found in these highly accessible regions. Combining in vivo experiments with analytic calculations, quantitative image analysis, and computational modeling, we demonstrate how structure guides diffusive protein transport and reactions in the ER.

We report kinematic and thermal signatures associated with the directly imaged protoplanet candidate in the Elias 2-24 disc. Using the DSHARP ALMA observations of the $^{12}$CO J=2-1 line, we show that the disc kinematics are perturbed, with a detached CO emission spot at the location of the planet candidate and traces of spiral wakes, and also that the observed CO emission intensities require local heating. While the foreground extinction hides the velocity channels associated with the planet, preventing a planet mass estimate, the level of gas heating implied by the CO emission indicates the presence of a warm, embedded giant planet. Comparison with models show this could either be a $\gtrsim 5$M$_\mathrm{Jup}$, or a lower mass ( $\gtrsim 2$M$_\mathrm{Jup}$) but accreting proto-planet., Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters