Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A lost generation? The impact of the COVID‐19 pandemic on early career ASD researchers

The COVID‐19 pandemic has disrupted autism research and services. Early career researchers (ECRs) are particularly vulnerable to the impact of the pandemic on job security and career development. The goal of this study was to capture the challenges ECRs are facing during the pandemic and the supports that are needed for career development and research. ECRs were invited to complete an online survey that focused on four major areas; the impact of COVID‐19 on their research; changes in productivity due to COVID‐19; changes to training due to COVID‐19; and current mental health. 150 ECRs were eligible and provided sufficient data for inclusion. All but one ECRs reported their research had been negatively impacted by the pandemic. Reductions in productivity were reported by 85% of ECRs. The biggest impacts included recruitment of participants, increased needs at home and personal mental health. ECRs reported a 3‐fold increase in burnout, as well as increased anxiety. ECR supports, such as funding, flexibility, and tenure extensions, are required to ensure ASD research does not suffer from a “lost generation” of researchers.
Structural variation and crystal chemistry of LiMe3+Si2O6 clinopyroxenes Me3+ = Al, Ga, Cr, V, Fe, Sc and In

Abstract A total of 32 synthetic end-member and solid-solution compounds of the LiM3+Si2O6 (Li = M2 site, M3+ = M1 site = Al, Ga, V, Fe, Sc and In) clinopyroxene series have been investigated by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Except LiCrSi2O6, all compounds show C2/c symmetry at 295 K. LiCrSi2O6 has space group P21/c but transforms to the high temperature C2/c structure at 335 K. The variations of structural parameters in the LiMe3+Si2O6 clinopyroxenes are dominated by the Me3+ site. The average M1—O bond length is linearly correlated with the ionic radius of the M1 cation. Octahedra reflect the increasing size of the M1 cations by steadily increasing bond and edge lengths, the variations however are not uniform. With increasing size of the M1 cation, octahedra deviate from ideal octahedral geometry. Octahedral edges, shared with other structural units, are distinctly hampered in expansion with increasing size of the M1 cation. The increasing size of the M1 octahedral chain is compensated by changing the kinking of the tetrahedral chain and by alterations of bond and edge lengths as well as the bond angles within the tetrahedron. Three different mechanisms of adapting of the structural building units with increasing M3+ cationic radius can be identified: (i) expansion of the tetrahedral chain by stretching (ii) transition form “O” to “S” chain conformation after full expansion and (iii) finally a limit of expansion in a direction. We stress that cations larger than In3+ cannot be substituted at the M1 site because of too large geometrical differences between octahedral and tetrahedral chains.
Sarcoptic Mange: An Emerging Panzootic in Wildlife.

Sarcoptic mange, a skin infestation caused by the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, is an emerging disease for some species of wildlife, potentially jeopardizing their welfare and conservation. Sarcoptes scabiei has a near-global distribution facilitated by its forms of transmission and use of a large diversity of host species (many of those with broad geographic distribution). In this review, we synthesize the current knowledge concerning the geographic and host taxonomic distribution of mange in wildlife, the epidemiological connections between species, and the potential threat of sarcoptic mange for wildlife conservation. Recent sarcoptic mange outbreaks in wildlife appear to demonstrate ongoing geographic, increase in the number of hosts, and increased virulence. Sarcoptic mange has been reported in at least 12 Orders, 39 Families, and 148 species of domestic and wild mammals, making it one of the most generalist ectoparasites of mammals. Taxonomically, ungulates (Perissodactyla=67%, Artiodactyla=47%) and marsupials (Diprotodontia=67%) are the mammal groups with the highest percentage of susceptible host species with evidence of cross-species transmission in many of them. We propose a new agenda for the study of sarcoptic mange in wildlife, including the study of the global phylogeography of S. scabiei, linkages between ecological host traits and sarcoptic mange susceptibility, immunology of individuals and species, development of control strategies in wildlife outbreaks, and the effects of global environmental change on the sarcoptic mange system. The ongoing transmission globally and sustained spread among areas and wildlife species make sarcoptic mange an emerging panzootic in wildlife. A better understanding of sarcoptic mange could illuminate aspects of ecological and evolutionary drivers in cross-species transmission for many emerging diseases.
The Role of Understanding on Architectural Beauty: Evidence From the Impact of Semantic Description on the Aesthetic Evaluation of Architecture

There is evidence that greater aesthetic experience can be linked to artworks when their corresponding meanings can be successfully inferred and understood. Modern cultural-expo architecture can be considered a form of artistic creation and design, and the corresponding design philosophy may be derived from representational objects or abstract social meanings. The present study investigates whether cultural-expo architecture with an easy-to-understand architectural appearance design is perceived as more beautiful and how architectural photographs and different types of descriptions of architectural appearance designs interact and produce higher aesthetic evaluations. The results showed an obvious aesthetic preference for cultural-expo architecture with an easy-to-understand architectural appearance design (Experiment 1). Moreover, we found that the aesthetic rating score of architectural photographs accompanied by an abstract description was significantly higher than that of those accompanied by a representational description only under the difficult-to-understand design condition (Experiment 2). The results indicated that people preferred cultural-expo architecture with an easy-to-understand architectural appearance design due to a greater understanding of the design, providing further evidence that abstract descriptions can provide supplementary information and explanation to enhance the sense of beauty of abstract cultural-expo architecture.
Detection and Classification of Bronchiectasis Through Convolutional Neural Networks

Purpose: Bronchiectasis is a chronic disease characterized by an irreversible dilatation of bronchi leading to chronic infection, airway inflammation, and progressive lung damage. Three specific patterns of bronchiectasis are distinguished in clinical practice: cylindrical, varicose, and cystic. The predominance and the extension of the type of bronchiectasis provide important clinical information. However, characterization is often challenging and is subject to high interobserver variability. The aim of this study is to provide an automatic tool for the detection and classification of bronchiectasis through convolutional neural networks. Materials and Methods: Two distinct approaches were adopted: (i) direct network performing a multilabel classification of 32×32 regions of interest (ROIs) into 4 classes: healthy, cylindrical, cystic, and varicose and (ii) a 2-network serial approach, where the first network performed a binary classification between normal tissue and bronchiectasis and the second one classified the ROIs containing abnormal bronchi into one of the 3 bronchiectasis typologies. Performances of the networks were compared with other architectures presented in the literature. Results: Computed tomography from healthy individuals (n=9, age=47±6, FEV1%pred=109±17, FVC%pred=116±17) and bronchiectasis patients (n=21, age=59±15, FEV1%pred=74±25, FVC%pred=91±22) were collected. A total of 19,059 manually selected ROIs were used for training and testing. The serial approach provided the best results with an accuracy and F1 score average of 0.84, respectively. Slightly lower performances were observed for the direct network (accuracy=0.81 and F1 score average=0.82). On the test set, cylindrical bronchiectasis was the subtype classified with highest accuracy, while most of the misclassifications were related to the varicose pattern, mainly to the cylindrical class. Conclusion: The developed networks accurately detect and classify bronchiectasis disease, allowing to collect quantitative information regarding the radiologic severity and the topographical distribution of bronchiectasis subtype.
Dewatering of Gels by Constant Pressure Expression

The dewatering process of constant pressure expression was experimentally investigated with three kinds of bulk gels (agar-agar gel, a heavy oil gel and a salad oil gel). While the structure of a gel is different from that of a solid liquid mixture, hydraulic pressure distribution in the gel approximately coincides with that calculated from the conventional theory of filtration during the first term of the process. This first term is able to be reasonably analysed as the filtration period. The subsequent process can be analysed as the consolidation period. Some of the liquid in the gel is mechanically inseparable, so as a rule it is essential to account for this liquid in analysis of the expression process for gelatinous materials. Results of electrical conductivity measurement of the gel indicate that the net free water almost corresponds with the water mechanically separable. The experimental results of agar-agar gel coincide favourably with the calculated results based on the conventional theory of expression and the compression permeability test data
129Xe NMR Spectroscopic Investigation of the Interaction of Xenon with Ions in Aqueous Solution

Abstract 129Xe NMR spectroscopy was used to monitor the interaction of Xe atoms with monovalent, divalent, and trivalent metal cat-ions and halide anions in aqueous solution. The interaction between the Xe atom and ion causes a polarization in the electron environment of the Xe atom, which is detected by a change in the resonance frequency of 129Xe. The 129Xe chemical shift was found to be dependent on the activity, charge, and the single-ion enthalpy and entropy of hydration of the ion. The hydration shell of an ion is the barrier through which the Xe atom must pass in order to come into contact with the ion. This hydration shell barrier can be related to the single-ion enthalpy and entropy of hydration of the ion, hence the relationship observed between the 129Xe chemical shift and the single-ion enthalpy and entropy of hydration.
Efficacy and safety of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants combined with antiplatelet drugs for patients with peripheral artery disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Background The efficacy and safety of non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) combined with antiplatelet drugs in patients with peripheral artery disease remain largely unknown. Objective The aim of this meta-analysis was to explore the effects of NOACs combined with antiplatelet drugs versus antiplatelet drugs alone in this population. Methods A comprehensive search of randomized controlled trials published in PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library in 30 September 2020 and before. According to the I2 statistic, a random or fixed-effect model was used to analyze the safety and effectiveness of NOACs combined with antiplatelet drugs in peripheral artery disease patients. Results Three RCTs met the inclusion criteria, with a total sample size of 11,761 participants. Compared with antiplatelet drugs alone, NOACs combined with antiplatelet drugs resulted in lower risk of ischemic stroke events (OR = 0.75, 95%CI 0.57–0.98, p = 0.03), while other treatment effects were not worse than those of single antiplatelet drugs (p ≥ 0.05). In addition, although compared with single antiplatelet drugs alone, NOACs combined with antiplatelet drugs had a higher risk of major bleeding and clinically related nonmajor bleeding, their risk was not higher for intracranial hemorrhage, which may endanger the life of patients, or for fatal bleeding. Conclusions In summary, for peripheral artery disease patients, a combination of NOACs plus antiplatelet drugs may offer additional benefit in reducing ischemic stroke outcome, yet it may increase the risk of bleeding.
Association of Gestational Age with Postpartum Hemorrhage: An International Cohort Study

Background: Risk factors for postpartum hemorrhage, such as chorioamnionitis and multiple gestation, have been identified in previous epidemiologic studies. However, existing data describing the association between gestational age at delivery and postpartum hemorrhage are conflicting. The aim of this study was to assess the association between gestational age at delivery and postpartum hemorrhage. Methods: The authors conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study of women who underwent live birth delivery in Sweden between 2014 and 2017 and in California between 2011 and 2015. The primary exposure was gestational age at delivery. The primary outcome was postpartum hemorrhage, classified using International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision—Clinical Modification codes for California births and a blood loss greater than 1,000 ml for Swedish births. The authors accounted for demographic and obstetric factors as potential confounders in the analyses. Results: The incidences of postpartum hemorrhage in Sweden (23,323/328,729; 7.1%) and in California (66,583/2,079,637; 3.2%) were not comparable. In Sweden and California, the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage was highest for deliveries between 41 and 42 weeks’ gestation (7,186/75,539 [9.5%] and 8,921/160,267 [5.6%], respectively). Compared to deliveries between 37 and 38 weeks, deliveries between 41 and 42 weeks had the highest adjusted odds of postpartum hemorrhage (1.62 [95% CI, 1.56 to 1.69] in Sweden and 2.04 [95% CI, 1.98 to 2.09] in California). In both cohorts, the authors observed a nonlinear (J-shaped) association between gestational age and postpartum hemorrhage risk, with 39 weeks as the nadir. In the sensitivity analyses, similar findings were observed among cesarean deliveries only, when postpartum hemorrhage was classified only by International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision—Clinical Modification codes, and after excluding women with abnormal placentation disorders. Conclusions: The postpartum hemorrhage incidence in Sweden and California was not comparable. When assessing a woman’s risk for postpartum hemorrhage, clinicians should be aware of the heightened odds in women who deliver between 41 and 42 weeks’ gestation. In a retrospective analysis of childbirth registries in California and Sweden, the incidence of postpartum hemorrhage varied from 3.2 to 7.1%. Compared to delivery at a gestational age of 37 to 38 weeks, delivery at 41 to 42 weeks was associated with a doubling of risk among parturients in California and a 62% increase in Swedish women. Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text.
Dexamethasone intravitreal implant in patients with cataract and naïve diabetic macular edema

Purpose: To assess the feasibility and clinical effectiveness of dexamethasone intravitreal implant 0.7 mg (IDI) administered in diabetic patients to prevent the worsening of macular edema. Methods: Forty eyes of 40 consecutive patients with naïve macular edema secondary to diabetes mellitus who were treated with IDI administered preoperative (Group A: 20 patients) or IDI administered immediately after cataract surgery (Group B: 20 patients). Best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and central macular thickness (CMT) changes were evaluated at baseline and at postoperative time points. Results: Follow-up study was 20 weeks. In Group A and B, mean BCVA improved significantly at all post-surgery time points (p < 0.05). In Group A and B, mean CMT decreased significantly at 16 weeks (p = 0.02 and p = 0.004, respectively). At week 20, CMT failed to reach statistical significance in both groups (p = 0.5, group A and p = 0.15, group B). No statistical differences were noted between groups in term of BCVA (with the exception of week 4 for the presence of cataract in Group A), CMT and IOP. Conclusions: The use of intravitreal dexamethasone implant 1 month prior to scheduled cataract extraction or at the time of phacoemulsification appears to be safe and effective for at least 16 weeks after surgery.
Computer Simulation of the Spontaneous Combustion of Coal Storage

The two-dimensional govering equations including an exothermic chemical reaction, a heat convection a buoyancy effect and a diffusion for the spontaneous combustion of coal storage are derived from the thermophysical and thermochemical considerations. The oxidative pyrolysis of coal is assumed to be represented by a two-step chemical reaction. These governing equations are approximated by using the difference equations of Crank and Nicholson's implicit finite-difference method, and are solved numerically by the computer. The spontaneous combustion time of coal storage is predicted by the calculated results. Furthermore, the lowest spontaneous combustion time of coal storage is also calculated numerically on the adiabatic condition.
The murine intestinal stem cells are highly sensitive to the modulation of the T3/TRα1-dependent pathway.

The thyroid hormone T3 and its nuclear receptor TRα1 control gut development and homeostasis through the modulation of intestinal crypt cell proliferation. Despite increasing data, in depth analysis on their specific action on intestinal stem cells is lacking.By using ex vivo 3D organoid cultures and molecular approaches we observed early responses to T3 involving the T3-metabolizing enzyme Dio1 and the transporter Mct10, accompanied by a complex response of stem cell- and progenitor-enriched genes. Interestingly, specific TRα1 loss-of-function (inducible or constitutive) was responsible for low ex vivo organoid development and impaired stem cell activity. T3-treatment of animals in vivo not only confirmed the positive action of this hormone on crypt cell proliferation but also demonstrated its key action in modulating i) the number of the stem cells, ii) the expression of their specific markers and iii) the commitment of progenitors into lineage-specific differentiation.In conclusion, T3 treatment or TRα1 modulation has a rapid and strong effect on intestinal stem cells, broadening our perspectives in the study of T3/TRα1-dependent signaling in these cells.
Design and Validation of a Volatility Hygroscopic Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (VH-TDMA) to Characterize the Relationships Between the Thermal and Hygroscopic Properties of Atmospheric Aerosol Particles

The nature of atmospheric aerosols is extremely complex and often requires advanced analytical tools for the determination of its physical and chemical properties. In particular, the interaction of particles with atmospheric water is a complex function of both particle size and composition. The ability of a particle to grow in a humid environment can be measured by humidity tandem differential mobility analyzing techniques (H-TDMA). In this article, we present a new development combining thermo-desorption and humidification aerosol conditioning in series that allows to measure changes in the hygroscopic behavior of aerosol at 90% relative humidity (RH) after conditioning of the particle by thermo-desorption to a temperature between 25°C and 300°C. The main feature of this system, named Volatility Hygroscopic—Tandem Differential Mobility Analyzer (VH-TDMA), is to allow for rapid (10 minutes) series of scans to control particle response to 1-thermal conditioning, 2- RH increase to 90% and 3—a combination of both thermal and RH conditioning. The VH-TDMA is, therefore, suited to investigate particle ageing through a simple coupling of H-TDMA and V-TDMA performances. The aim of the present article is to describe the instrument design and to validate its performances by focusing on the measurement of hygroscopic behavior of pure inorganic particles such as sodium chloride or ammonium sulfate, as well as internally mixed organic-inorganic particles. Based on laboratory experiments and applications to natural aerosols, we show that the VH-TDMA system can be used to investigate the hygroscopic properties of the non-volatile fraction of ambient sub-micrometer aerosols in the range of 20 to 150 nm and the influence of the more volatile fraction of the particle on hygroscopic growth.
Fast‐track virtual reality for cardiac imaging in congenital heart disease

We sought to evaluate the appropriateness of cardiac anatomy renderings by a new virtual reality (VR) technology, entitled DIVA, directly applicable to raw magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data without intermediate segmentation steps in comparison to standard three‐dimensional (3D) rendering techniques (3D PDF and 3D printing). Differences in post‐processing times were also evaluated.
University of Birmingham Learning rates for stochastic gradient descent with nonconvex objectives

—Stochastic gradient descent (SGD) has become the method of choice for training highly complex and nonconvex models since it can not only recover good solutions to minimize training errors but also generalize well. Computational and statistical properties are separately studied to understand the behavior of SGD in the literature. However, there is a lacking study to jointly consider the computational and statistical properties in a nonconvex learning setting. In this paper, we develop novel learning rates of SGD for nonconvex learning by presenting high-probability bounds for both computational and statistical errors. We show that the complexity of SGD iterates grows in a controllable manner with respect to the iteration number, which sheds insights on how an implicit regularization can be achieved by tuning the number of passes to balance the computational and statistical errors. As a byproduct, we also slightly reﬁne the existing studies on the uniform convergence of gradients by showing its connection to Rademacher chaos complexities.
Grapevine growth of shoots and fruit linearly correlate with water stress indices based on root‐weighted soil matric potential

Over two consecutive seasons, six deficit irrigation regimes were imposed on Colombard vines on Ramsey rootstock. The soil water availability was quantified by logarithmic transformation of the absolute value of a root‐weighted measure of soil matric potential. Stem water potential declined linearly with decreasing soil water availability. Water stress indices were calculated by integrating the daily values of soil water availability over specific periods. Declines in both fruit and vegetative growth were linearly correlated with increases in the values of water stress indices during the respective growth periods. In the berries, concentrations of total soluble solids, tartrate and potassium were not correlated with the water stress index during the period of fruit growth; malate concentration declined linearly with increasing values of this index. Responses of pH and titratable acidity to variation in the water stress index were not consistent in the two seasons.