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Progress in our knowledge of tumor mechanisms and complexity led to the understanding of the physical parameters of cancer cells and their microenvironment, including the mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties, solid stress, and liquid pressure, as critical regulators of tumor progression and potential prognostic traits associated with clinical outcomes. The biological hallmarks of cancer and physical abnormalities of tumors are mutually reinforced, promoting a vicious cycle of tumor progression. A comprehensive analysis of the biological and physical tumor parameters is critical for developing more robust prognostic and diagnostic markers and improving treatment efficiency. Like the biological tumor traits, physical tumor features are characterized by inter-and intratumoral heterogeneity. The dynamic changes of physical tumor traits during tumor progression and as a result of tumor treatment highlight the necessity of their spatial and temporal analysis in clinical settings. This review focuses on the biological basis of the tumor-specific physical traits, the state-of-the-art methods of their analyses, and the perspective of clinical translation. The importance of tumor physical parameters for disease progression and therapy resistance, as well as current treatment strategies to monitor and target tumor physical traits in clinics, is highlighted., Comment: Cancer Heterogeneity and Plasticity, 2024

In this paper we present a unique 4-dimensional body of constant width based on the classical notion of focal conics.

We report results from 8 hours of JWST/MIRI LRS spectroscopic monitoring directly followed by 7 hours of JWST/NIRSpec prism spectroscopic monitoring of the benchmark binary brown dwarf WISE 1049AB, the closest, brightest brown dwarfs known. We find water, methane, and CO absorption features in both components, including the 3.3 $\mu$m methane absorption feature and a tentative detection of small grain ($<$ 1$\mu$m) silicate absorption at $>$8.5 $\mu$m in WISE 1049A. Both components vary significantly ($>$1$\%$), with WISE 1049B displaying larger variations than WISE 1049A. Using K-means clustering, we find three main transition points in wavelength for both components of the binary: 1) change in behavior at $\sim$2.3 $\mu$m coincident with a CO absorption bandhead, 2) change in behavior at 4.2 $\mu$m, close to the CO fundamental band at $\lambda >$ 4.4 $\mu$m, and 3) change in behavior at 8.3-8.5 $\mu$m, potentially corresponding to silicate absorption. We interpret the lightcurves observed with both NIRSpec and MIRI as likely stemming from 1) a deep pressure level driving the double-peaked variability seen in WISE 1049B at wavelengths $<$2.3 $\mu$m and $>$8.5 $\mu$m, 2) an intermediate pressure level shaping the lightcurve morphology between 2.3 and 4.2 $\mu$m, and 3) a higher-altitude pressure level producing single-peaked and plateaued lightcurve behavior between 4.2 and 8.5 $\mu$m., Comment: 28 pages, 27 figures, accepted to MNRAS

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a NASA funded Small Explorer (SMEX) mission slated to launch in 2027. COSI will house a wide-field gamma-ray telescope designed to survey the entire sky in the 0.2--5 MeV range. Using germanium detectors, the instrument will provide imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of astrophysical sources with excellent energy resolution and degree-scale localization capabilities. In addition to the main instrument, COSI will fly with a student collaboration project known as the Background and Transient Observer (BTO). BTO will extend the COSI bandpass to energies lower than 200 keV, thus enabling spectral analysis across the shared band of 30 keV--2 MeV range. The BTO instrument will consist of two NaI scintillators and student-designed readout electronics. Using spectral information from both the COSI and BTO instruments, physics such as the energy peak turnover in gamma-ray bursts, the characteristics of magnetar flares, and the event frequency of a range of transient phenomena will be constrained. In this paper, we present the expected science returnables from BTO and comment on the shared returnables from the COSI and BTO missions. We include simulations of gamma-ray bursts, magnetar giant flares, and terrestrial gamma-ray flashes using BTO's spectral response. Additionally, we estimate BTO's gamma-ray burst detection rate and find that BTO will detect ~150 gamma-ray bursts per year, with most of these events being long bursts., Comment: 12 pages of text with an additional 2 pages for acknowledgments and citations. 9 figures. 1 table

We present two-dimensional near-infrared temperature maps of the canonical hot Jupiter WASP-43b using a phase-curve observation with JWST NIRSpec/G395H. From the white-light planetary transit, we improve constraints on the planet's orbital parameters and measure a planet-to-star radius ratio of $0.15883^{+0.00056}_{-0.00053}$. Using the white-light phase curve, we measure a longitude of maximum brightness of $6.9^{+0^\circ.5}_{-0^\circ.5}$ east of the substellar point and a phase-curve offset of $10.0^{+0^\circ.8}_{-0^\circ.8}$. We also find an $\approx4\sigma$ detection of a latitudinal hotspot offset of $-13.4^{+3^\circ.2}_{-1^\circ.7}$, the first significant detection of a non-equatorial hotspot in an exoplanet atmosphere. We show that this detection is robust to variations within planetary parameter uncertainties, but only if the transit is used to improve constraints, showing the importance of transit observations to eclipse mapping. Maps retrieved from the NRS1 and NRS2 detectors are similar, with hotspot locations consistent between the two detectors at the $1\sigma$ level. Our JWST data show brighter (hotter) nightsides and a dimmer (colder) dayside at the shorter wavelengths relative to fits to \textit{Spitzer} 3.6 and 4.5 \microns\ phase curves. Through comparison between our phase curves and a set of general circulation models, we find evidence for clouds on the nightside and atmospheric drag or high metallicity reducing the eastward hotspot offset., Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. In review at ApJ Letters

Considering a well motivated $f(R)$ modified-gravity model, in which an exponential function of the curvature is included, in this paper we implement a statistical data analysis to set constraints on the parameters of the model, taking into account an analytic approximate solution for the expansion rate, $H(z)$. From the Monte Carlo Markov Chain-based analysis of the expansion rate evolution, the standardized SN distance modulus and the redshift space distortion observational data, we find that the preferred value for the perturbative parameter, $b$, quantifying the deviation of the $f(R)$ model from $\Lambda$CDM, lives in a region which excludes $b = 0$ at $\gtrsim 4.5 \sigma$ C.L., and that the predicted current value of the Hubble parameter, $H_0$, locates in between the two observational results currently under scrutiny from Planck and SH0ES collaborations, indicating that the proposed model would alleviate the apparent tension. Under the implemented approximate solution, and with the constraints obtained for the parameters, the proposed $f(R)$ model successfully reproduce the observational data and the predicted evolution of interesting cosmological parameters resemble the results of $\Lambda$CDM, as expected, while an oscillatory behavior of the dark energy equation of state is observed, pointing to deviation from the concordance cosmological model. The results presented here reinforces the conclusion that the $f(R)$ modified-gravity model represents a viable alternative to describe the evolution of the Universe, evading the challenges faced by $\Lambda$CDM., Comment: 27 pages (including references), 7 figures, 3 tables

Most brown dwarfs show some level of photometric or spectral variability. However, finding the most variable dwarfs more suited for a thorough variability monitoring campaign remained a challenge until a few years ago with the design of spectral indices to find the most likely L and T dwarfs using their near-infrared single-epoch spectrum. In this work, we designed and tested near-infrared spectral indices to pre-select the most likely variable L4-L8 dwarfs, complementing the indices presented by Ashraf et al. (2022) and Oliveros-Gomez et al. (2022). We used time-resolved near-infrared Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Camera 3 spectra of an L6.0 dwarf, LP 261-75b, to design our novel spectral indices. We tested these spectral indices on 75 L4.0-L8.0 near-infrared SpeX/IRTF spectra, providing 27 new variable candidates. Our indices have a recovery rate of 80 percent and a false negative rate of 25 percent. All the known non-variable brown dwarfs were found to be non-variable by our indices. We estimated the variability fraction of our sample to be near 51 percent, which agrees with the variability fractions provided by Buenzli et al. (2014), Radigan et al. (2014), and Metchev et al. (2015) for L4-L8 dwarfs. These spectral indices may support in the future, the selection of the most likely variable directly-imaged exoplanets for studies with the James Webb Space Telescope and as well as the 30-m telescopes., Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 22 pages, 13 figures, 3 tables. GitHub code: https://github.com/ntlucia/BrownDwarf-SpectralIndices

This study focuses on the use of genetic algorithms to optimize control parameters in two potential strategies called mechanical and chemical control, for mitigating the spread of Huanglongbing (HLB) in citrus orchards. By developing a two-orchard model that incorporates the dispersal of the Asian Citrus Psyllid (ACP), the cost functions and objective function are explored to assess the effectiveness of the proposed control strategies. The mobility of ACP is also taken into account to capture the disease dynamics more realistically. Additionally, a mathematical expression for the global reproduction number ($R_{0}$) is derived, allowing for sensitivity analysis of the model parameters when ACP mobility is present. Furthermore, we mathematically express the cost function and efficiency of the strategy in terms of the final size and individual $R_{0}$ of each patch (i.e., when ACP mobility is absent). The results obtained through the genetic algorithms reveal optimal parameters for each control strategy, providing valuable insights for decision-making in implementing effective control measures against HLB in citrus orchards. This study highlights the importance of optimizing control parameters in disease management in agriculture and provides a solid foundation for future research in developing disease control strategies based on genetic algorithms.

Inspired by an exponential $f(R)$ gravity model studied in the literature, in this work we introduce a new and viable $f(Q)$ gravity model, which can be represented as a perturbation of $\Lambda$CDM. Typically, within the realm of $f(Q)$ gravity, the customary approach to investigate cosmological evolution involves employing a parametrization of the Hubble expansion rate in terms of the redshift, $H(z)$, among other strategies. In this work we have implemented a different strategy, deriving an analytical approximation for $H(z)$, from which we deduce approximated analytical expressions for the parameters $w_{\rm{DE}}$, $w_{\rm{eff}}$, and $\Omega_{\rm{DE}}$, as well as the deceleration parameter $q$. In order to verify the viability of this approximate analytical solution, we examined the behavior of the these parameters in the late-time regime\textbf, in terms of the free parameter of the model, $b$. We find that for $b>0$, $w_{\rm{DE}}$ shows a quintessence-like behavior, while for $b<0$, it shows a phantom-like behavior. However, regardless of the sign of $b$, $w_{\rm{eff}}$ exhibits a quintessence-like behavior. Furthermore, it has been deduced that as the magnitude of the parameter $b$ increases, the present model deviates progressively from $\Lambda$CDM. We have also performed a Markov Chain Monte Carlo statistical analysis to test the model predictions with the Hubble parameter, the Pantheon supernova (SN) observational data, and the combination of those samples, obtaining constraints on the parameters of the model and the current values of the Hubble parameter and the matter density. Our findings indicate that this $f(Q)$ gravity model is indeed a viable candidate for describing the late-time evolution of the Universe at the background level., Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. Typos corrected, minor changes; references added. Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. D

Given a finite set of points in $\mathbb{R}^d$, Tverberg's theorem guarantees the existence of partitions of this set into parts whose convex hulls intersect. We introduce a graph structured on the family of Tverberg partitions of a given set of points, whose edges describe closeness between different Tverberg partitions. We prove bounds on the minimum and maximum degree of this graph, the number of vertices of maximal degree, its clique number, and its connectedness.

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a NASA Small Explorer (SMEX) satellite mission in development with a planned launch in 2027. COSI is a wide-field gamma-ray telescope designed to survey the entire sky at 0.2-5 MeV. It provides imaging, spectroscopy, and polarimetry of astrophysical sources, and its germanium detectors provide excellent energy resolution for emission line measurements. Science goals for COSI include studies of 0.511 MeV emission from antimatter annihilation in the Galaxy, mapping radioactive elements from nucleosynthesis, determining emission mechanisms and source geometries with polarization measurements, and detecting and localizing multimessenger sources. The instantaneous field of view for the germanium detectors is >25% of the sky, and they are surrounded on the sides and bottom by active shields, providing background rejection as well as allowing for detection of gamma-ray bursts and other gamma-ray flares over most of the sky. In the following, we provide an overview of the COSI mission, including the science, the technical design, and the project status., Comment: 8 pages

The Compton Spectrometer and Imager (COSI) is a selected Small Explorer (SMEX) mission launching in 2027. It consists of a large field-of-view Compton telescope that will probe with increased sensitivity the under-explored MeV gamma-ray sky (0.2-5 MeV). We will present the current status of cosipy, a Python library that will perform spectral and polarization fits, image deconvolution, and all high-level analysis tasks required by COSI's broad science goals: uncovering the origin of the Galactic positrons, mapping the sites of Galactic nucleosynthesis, improving our models of the jet and emission mechanism of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and active galactic nuclei (AGNs), and detecting and localizing gravitational wave and neutrino sources. The cosipy library builds on the experience gained during the COSI balloon campaigns and will bring the analysis of data in the Compton regime to a modern open-source likelihood-based code, capable of performing coherent joint fits with other instruments using the Multi-Mission Maximum Likelihood framework (3ML). In this contribution, we will also discuss our plans to receive feedback from the community by having yearly software releases accompanied by publicly-available data challenges.

The Borsuk conjecture and the V\'azsonyi problem are two attractive and famous questions in discrete and combinatorial geometry, both based on the notion of diameter of a bounded sets. In this paper, we present an equivalence between the critical sets with Borsuk number 4 in $\mathbb{R}^3$ and the minimal structures for the V\'azsonyi problem by using the well-known Reuleaux polyhedra. The latter lead to a full characterization of all finite sets in $\mathbb{R}^3$ with Borsuk number 4. The proof of such equivalence needs various ingredients, in particular, we proved a conjecture dealing with strongly critical configuration for the V\'azsonyi problem and showed that the diameter graph arising from involutive polyhedra is vertex (and edge) 4-critical.

In this study, we propose a reparameterization of a specific viable $f(R)$ gravity model to represent it as a perturbation of the $\Lambda$CDM model. The $f(R)$ gravity model under consideration includes two parameters, $b$ and $n$, which control how close the proposed model can be to $\Lambda$CDM, allowing for arbitrary proximity. Furthermore, it is shown that the Hu-Sawicki (HS) model is a limiting case of this reparameterized model. Following the existing literature, we also derive an analytical approximation for the expansion rate $H(z)$, which shows an excellent agreement between this analytical approximation and the numerical solution over a wide range of redshifts for realistic values of the deviation parameter $b$. By appropriately selecting values for the model parameters, we plot the cosmological parameters $w_{\rm{DE}}$, $w_{\rm{eff}}$, $\Omega_{\rm{DE}}$, and $H(z)$, as well as the statefinder quantities $q$, $j$, $s$, and $Om(z)$. We find that their present values (at $z=0$) are consistent with the observations from Planck 2018 and the values predicted by the $\Lambda$CDM model. It is important to note that the examined cosmological and statefinder parameters do not exhibit significant oscillations of effective dark energy, which could lead to singular and unphysical solutions at high redshifts. This anomalous behavior has been avoided here by utilizing the approximate analytical solution for $H(z)$. Additionally, we conduct a detailed analysis of the evolution of matter density perturbations within the introduced $f(R)$ gravity model. The results demonstrate that this viable $f(R)$ gravity model is practically indistinguishable from the $\Lambda$CDM model at the background level., Comment: 21 pages, 22 figures, 1 table. Typos corrected, minor changes; references added. Accepted for publication in Int. J. Mod. Phys. D

Crystalline defects, such as line-like dislocations, play an important role for the performance and reliability of many metallic devices. Their interaction and evolution still poses a multitude of open questions to materials science and materials physics. In-situ TEM experiments can provide important insights into how dislocations behave and move. During such experiments, the dislocation microstructure is captured in form of videos. The analysis of individual video frames can provide useful insights but is limited by the capabilities of automated identification, digitization, and quantitative extraction of the dislocations as curved objects. The vast amount of data also makes manual annotation very time consuming, thereby limiting the use of Deep Learning-based, automated image analysis and segmentation of the dislocation microstructure. In this work, a parametric model for generating synthetic training data for segmentation of dislocations is developed. Even though domain scientists might dismiss synthetic training images sometimes as too artificial, our findings show that they can result in superior performance, particularly regarding the generalizing of the Deep Learning models with respect to different microstructures and imaging conditions. Additionally, we propose an enhanced deep learning method optimized for segmenting overlapping or intersecting dislocation lines. Upon testing this framework on four distinct real datasets, we find that our synthetic training data are able to yield high-quality results also on real images-even more so if fine-tune on a few real images was done.

Understanding the nature of energetic particles in the solar atmosphere is one of the most important outstanding problems in heliophysics. Flare-accelerated particles compose a huge fraction of the flare energy budget; they have large influences on how events develop; they are an important source of high-energy particles found in the heliosphere; and they are the single most important corollary to other areas of high-energy astrophysics. Despite the importance of this area of study, this topic has in the past decade received only a small fraction of the resources necessary for a full investigation. For example, NASA has selected no new Explorer-class instrument in the past two decades that is capable of examining this topic. The advances that are currently being made in understanding flare-accelerated electrons are largely undertaken with data from EOVSA (NSF), STIX (ESA), and NuSTAR (NASA Astrophysics). This is despite the inclusion in the previous Heliophysics decadal survey of the FOXSI concept as part of the SEE2020 mission, and also despite NASA's having invested heavily in readying the technology for such an instrument via four flights of the FOXSI sounding rocket experiment. Due to that investment, the instrumentation stands ready to implement a hard X-ray mission to investigate flare-accelerated electrons. This white paper describes the scientific motivation for why this venture should be undertaken soon., Comment: White paper submitted to the Decadal Survey for Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) 2024-2033; 15 pages, 5 figures

Context: White-light continuum observations of solar flares often have coronal counterparts, including the classical ``white-light prominence'' (WLP) phenomenon. Aims: Coronal emissions by flares, seen in white-light continuum, have only rarely been reported previously. We seek to use modern data to understand the morphology of WLP events. Methods: We have identified a set of 14 examples of WLP detected by the HMI (Heliospheric and Magnetic Imager) experiment on board SDO (the Solar Dynamics Observatory satellite), using a new on-line catalogue covering 2011-2017. These invariably accompanied white-light flares (WLF) emission from the lower atmosphere by flares near the limb, as identified by hard X-ray images from RHESSI (the Reuven Ramaty High Energy Spectroscopic Imager). HMI provides full Stokes information, and we have used the linear polarisations (Q~and~U) to distinguish Thomson scattering from cool material. Results: The event morphologies fit roughly into three categories: Ejection, Loop, and Spike, but many events show multiple phenomena. Conclusions: The coronal white-light continuum, observed by HMI analogously to the observations made by a coronagraph, detects many examples of coronal emission and dynamics. Using the Stokes linear polarisation, we estimate the masses of hot coronal plasma in 11 of the 14 events and find them to be similar to typical CME masses, but not exceeding 10$^{15}$\,g. We note that the HMI observations do not occult the bright solar disk and were not designed for coronal observations, resulting in relatively low signal-to-noise ratios. We therefore believe that future such observations with better optimisation will be even more fruitful., Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in A&A

In this work, we analyse the late-time evolution of the universe for a particular $f(R)$ gravity model built from an exponential function of the scalar curvature. Following the literature, we write the field equations in terms of a suited statefinder function ($y_H(z)$) and considering well motivated physical initial conditions, the resulting equations are solved numerically. Also, the cosmological parameters $w_{\rm{DE}}$, $w_{\rm{eff}}$, $\Omega_{\rm{DE}}$ and $H(z)$ and the statefinder quantities $q$, $j$, $s$ and $Om(z)$ are explicitly expressed in terms of $y_H(z)$ and its derivatives. Furthermore, setting an appropriate set of values for the model parameters, the cosmological parameters as well as the statefinder quantities are plotted, and their present values (at $z=0$), are shown to be compatible with Planck 2018 observations and the $\Lambda$CDM-model values. Considering updated measurements from the dynamics of the expansion of the universe, $H(z)$, we perform an statistical analysis to constrain the free parameters of the model, finding a particular set of values that fit the data well and predict acceptable values for the cosmological and statefinder parameters at present time. Therefore, the $f(R)$ gravity model is found to be consistent with the considered observational data, and a viable alternative to explain the late-time acceleration of the universe., Comment: 23 pages, 16 figures. References added. Minor modifications, conclusions unchanged. Accepted for publication in Physics of the Dark Universe. Matched accepted version