A Dynamic Era-Based Time-Symmetric Block Time-Step Algorithm with Parallel Implementations

The time-symmetric block time--step (TSBTS) algorithm is a newly developed efficient scheme for $N$--body integrations. It is constructed on an era-based iteration. In this work, we re-designed the TSBTS integration scheme with dynamically changing era size. A number of numerical tests were performed to show the importance of choosing the size of the era, especially for long time integrations. Our second aim was to show that the TSBTS scheme is as suitable as previously known schemes for developing parallel $N$--body codes. In this work, we relied on a parallel scheme using the copy algorithm for the time-symmetric scheme. We implemented a hybrid of data and task parallelization for force calculation to handle load balancing problems that can appear in practice. Using the Plummer model initial conditions for different numbers of particles, we obtained the expected efficiency and speedup for a small number of particles. Although parallelization of the direct $N$--body codes is negatively affected by the communication/calculation ratios, we obtained good load balance results. Moreover, we were able to conserve the advantages of the algorithm (e.g., energy conservation for long--term simulations).Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Projections for Neutral Di-Boson and Di-Higgs Interactions at FCC-he Collider

As a high energy e-p collider, FCC-he, has been recently proposed with sufficient energy options to investigate Higgs couplings. To analyse the sensitivity on the Higgs boson couplings, we focus spesifically on the CP-even and CP-odd Wilson coefficients with $hhZZ\:$and $hh\gamma\gamma\:$ four-point interactions of Higgs boson with Effective Lagrangian Model through the process $e^{-}p\to hhje^{-}$ . We simulate the related processes in FCC-he, with 60 GeV and 120 GeV $e^{-}$ beams and 50 TeV proton beam collisions. We present the exclusion limits on these couplings both for 68% and 95% C.L. in terms of integrated luminosities.Comment: 18 pages, 20 figures, 3 table

Probing Charged Higgs Boson Couplings at the FCC-hh Collider

Many of the new physics models predicts a light Higgs boson similar to the Higgs boson of the Standard Model (SM) and also extra scalar bosons. Beyond the search channels for a SM Higgs boson, the future collider experiments will explore additional channels that are specific to extended Higgs sectors. We study the charged Higgs boson production within the framework of two Higgs doublet models (THDM) in the proton-proton collisions at the FCC-hh collider. With an integrated luminosity of 500 fb$^{-1}$ at very high energy frontier, we obtain a significant coverage of the parameter space and distinguish the charged Higgs-top-bottom interaction within the THDM or other new physics models with charged Higgs boson mass up to 1 TeV.Comment: 22 pages, 26 figures, 6 table

Karakum desert: a unique source of cultivable novel and rare actinomycetes with a remarkable biosynthetic potential

\ua9 The Author(s) 2025.A culture-based strategy was used to isolate and screen representative actinomycetes from six sampling sites in the Karakum Desert, Turkmenistan. A total of 459 actinomycete isolates were obtained using 16 selective media, and 270 representative strains were subjected to 16 S rRNA gene sequencing. Comparative 16 S rRNA gene sequence analyses on colour-group representatives led to their assignment to 17 genera with validly published names which included many isolates assigned to novel or putatively novel species including ones belonging to rare genera, such as Actinocorallia, Actinomadura, Jiangella and Nonomuraea. Mining of whole-genome sequences of 32 isolates which formed distinct lineages in phylogenomic trees revealed biosynthetic gene clusters predicted to encode for many novel specialized metabolites, notably antibiotics. The genomes of most of these isolates included genes associated with the promotion of plant growth while bioinformatic analyses of stress-related genes provided on insight into how filamentous actinomycetes have adapted to harsh environmental conditions in the Karakum Desert. This extensive bioprospecting campaign shows that the Karakum Desert is a unique source of novel, rare and gifted filamentous actinomycetes with the ability to synthesise new specialized metabolites needed to address key existential issues facing humankind, especially, the urgent need to find a new generation of therapeutic antibiotics to control multidrug-resistant microbial pathogens and compounds that protect and promote plant growth

Connectivity precedes function in the development of the visual word form area

What determines the cortical location at which a given functionally specific region will arise in development? We tested the hypothesis that functionally specific regions develop in their characteristic locations because of pre-existing differences in the extrinsic connectivity of that region to the rest of the brain. We exploited the visual word form area (VWFA) as a test case, scanning children with diffusion and functional imaging at age 5, before they learned to read, and at age 8, after they learned to read. We found the VWFA developed functionally in this interval and that its location in a particular child at age 8 could be predicted from that child's connectivity fingerprints (but not functional responses) at age 5. These results suggest that early connectivity instructs the functional development of the VWFA, possibly reflecting a general mechanism of cortical development.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant F32HD079169)Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.) (Grant F32HD079169)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grant R01HD067312)Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.) (Grant R01HD067312

Metasurface Interlaced SR CP Patch with the Capability to Change Polarization Diversity

In this work, an affordable solution for the improved performance of circular polarization diversity array antenna by helping metasurface structure (MTS) is presented. The basic structure includes a multi-input feed network which is ended to a 2×5 sequentially rotated subarray. A layer of MTS has been used to modify basic antenna characteristics of inspiring ref. [5]. This innovation is aimed to increase the bandwidth of basic antenna from 14.7% (5.05-5.85 GHz) to 37.8% (4.5-6.6 GHz), and 3-dB AR about 4%. Employing MTS layer leads to an increase in the gain of the antenna to 15 dBic. More details of the antenna are reported in the text

Anatomical connectivity patterns predict face selectivity in the fusiform gyrus

A fundamental assumption in neuroscience is that brain structure determines function. Accordingly, functionally distinct regions of cortex should be structurally distinct in their connections to other areas. We tested this hypothesis in relation to face selectivity in the fusiform gyrus. By using only structural connectivity, as measured through diffusion-weighted imaging, we were able to predict functional activation to faces in the fusiform gyrus. These predictions outperformed two control models and a standard group-average benchmark. The structure–function relationship discovered from the initial participants was highly robust in predicting activation in a second group of participants, despite differences in acquisition parameters and stimuli. This approach can thus reliably estimate activation in participants who cannot perform functional imaging tasks and is an alternative to group-activation maps. Additionally, we identified cortical regions whose connectivity was highly influential in predicting face selectivity within the fusiform, suggesting a possible mechanistic architecture underlying face processing in humans.United States. Public Health Service (DA023427)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (F32 MH084488)National Eye Institute (T32 EY013935)Poitras FoundationSimons FoundationEllison Medical Foundatio

Integrative Processing of Touch and Affect in Social Perception: An fMRI Study

Social perception commonly employs multiple sources of information. The present study aimed at investigating the integrative processing of affective social signals. Task-related and task-free functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 26 healthy adult participants during a social perception task concerning dynamic visual stimuli simultaneously depicting facial expressions of emotion and tactile sensations that could be either congruent or incongruent. Confounding effects due to affective valence, inhibitory top–down influences, cross-modal integration, and conflict processing were minimized. The results showed that the perception of congruent, compared to incongruent stimuli, elicited enhanced neural activity in a set of brain regions including left amygdala, bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and left superior parietal cortex. These congruency effects did not differ as a function of emotion or sensation. A complementary task-related functional interaction analysis preliminarily suggested that amygdala activity depended on previous processing stages in fusiform gyrus and PCC. The findings provide support for the integrative processing of social information about others’ feelings from manifold bodily sources (sensory-affective information) in amygdala and PCC. Given that the congruent stimuli were also judged as being more self-related and more familiar in terms of personal experience in an independent sample of participants, we speculate that such integrative processing might be mediated by the linking of external stimuli with self-experience. Finally, the prediction of task-related responses in amygdala by intrinsic functional connectivity between amygdala and PCC during a task-free state implies a neuro-functional basis for an individual predisposition for the integrative processing of social stimulus content

Does congenital deafness affect the structural and functional architecture of primary visual cortex?

Deafness results in greater reliance on the remaining senses. It is unknown whether the cortical architecture of the intact senses is optimized to compensate for lost input. Here we performed widefield population receptive field (pRF) mapping of primary visual cortex (V1) with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in hearing and congenitally deaf participants, all of whom had learnt sign language after the age of 10 years. We found larger pRFs encoding the peripheral visual field of deaf compared to hearing participants. This was likely driven by larger facilitatory center zones of the pRF profile concentrated in the near and far periphery in the deaf group. pRF density was comparable between groups, indicating pRFs overlapped more in the deaf group. This could suggest that a coarse coding strategy underlies enhanced peripheral visual skills in deaf people. Cortical thickness was also decreased in V1 in the deaf group. These findings suggest deafness causes structural and functional plasticity at the earliest stages of visual cortex