Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A more frequent disease monitorering but no increased disease activity in patients with inflammatory bowel disease during the first year of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. A retrospective study

Abstract Background and Aims The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic abruptly switched the healthcare service for patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) towards a telemedicine dominated approach. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of this switch on monitoring of patients and on disease activity. Material The pre-pandemic year included 868 patients and the first year of the pandemic included 891 patients. Medical records were retrospectively checked for contacts, changes in medical treatment, performed fecal calprotectin (FC) tests and colonoscopies. Results The scheduled follow-up visits to a doctor for patients with IBD shifted from mostly face-to-face pre-pandemic (from 389 to 118 appointments) to mostly telephone-based during the pandemic (from 13 to 423 appointments). There was a 21.3% increase in mean overall scheduled health contacts (p < .001) and a 20.0% increase for the mean number of FC tests (p < .001) in the year of the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic year. The proportion of patients who had a surveillance colonoscopy was significant lower in the year of the pandemic compared to the pre-pandemic year (12.7% vs 20.1%; p = .002). There were no difference in the proportion of patients with a median FC > 200 mg/kg (18.2% vs 17.1%; p = .767) and in the proportion of patients who changed their medical treatment (24.7% vs 23.9%; p = .713) in the first year of the pandemic compared to the prepandemic year. Conclusions The shift towards a telemedicine oriented IBD healthcare service in the first year of the pandemic significantly increased the scheduled contacts, as well as the frequency of FC testing. However, there was a significant decrease in performed surveillance colonoscopies. Between the two periods observed, the patients showed no difference in medical treatment or in disease activity.
Comparative Performance of Whole Body MRI and 18F-FDG PET/CT in Evaluation of Response to Treatment of Multiple Myeloma: Meta-analysis and Systematic Review.

Background: Traditional approaches for evaluating multiple myeloma (MM) treatment response have low sensitivity for residual disease. Recent studies highlight utility of whole-body MRI or FDG PET/CT in evaluating treatment response, with increasing emphasis on DWI. Objective: This systematic review was conducted to assess the diagnostic accuracy of whole-body MRI and FDG PET/CT for treatment response assessment in MM. Evidence Acquisition: Studies using whole-body MRI or FDG PET/CT to evaluate MM treatment response were identified through search of PubMed and EMBASE databases through June 30, 2021. Pooled sensitivity and specificity for detecting response were calculated by bivariate modeling. Diagnostic performance of whole-body MRI and FDG PET/CT were compared. Subgroup analyses assessed studies comparing both modalities and studies in which whole-body MRI included DWI. Evidence Synthesis: Twelve studies comprising 373 patients were included: six evaluated both modalities, four evaluated whole-body MRI only, and two evaluated FDG PET/CT only; of studies with MRI, five used DWI. Pooled sensitivity and specificity were 87% (95% CI, 75%-93%) and 57% (95% CI, 37%-76%) for whole-body MRI, versus 64% (95% CI, 45%-79%) and 82% (95% CI, 75%-88%) for FDG PET/CT (sensitivity: p = .29; specificity: p = .01). For studies directly comparing the modalities, pooled sensitivity and specificity were 90% (95% CI, 80%-100%) and 56% (95% CI, 44%-68%) for whole-body MRI, versus 66% (95% CI, 47%-85%) and 81% (95% CI, 72%-90%) for FDG PET/CT (sensitivity: p = .18; specificity: p < .001). Sensitivity and specificity were 93% (95% CI, 75%-98%) and 57% (95% CI, 21%-87%) for DWI, versus 74% (95% CI, 60%-85%) and 56% (95% CI, 38%-73%) for whole-body MRI without DWI (sensitivity: p = .27; specificity: p = .99). AUC was 0.84 for whole-body MRI, 0.83 for FDG PET/CT, and 0.92 for DWI. Conclusion: FDG PET/CT had significantly higher specificity, whereas whole-body MRI had higher sensitivity (though non-significant). DWI may contribute to the high sensitivity of whole-body MRI. Clinical Impact: This meta-analysis suggests potential complementary roles of whole-body MRI and FDG PET/CT in MM treatment response assessment. Future studies should explore their combination through PET/MRI.
Students ’ Perceptions about English Pronunciation

Language in India www.languageinindia. com ISSN 1930-2940 21:4 April 2021 Abdulhay Zafary, M.A. Afghan EFL Students’ Perceptions about English Pronunciation 63 ================================================================== Language in India www.languageinindia. com ISSN 1930-2940 Vol. 21:4 April 2021 ================================================================ Afghan EFL Students’ Perceptions about English Pronunciation
Functional Traits of Terrestrial Plants in the Intertidal: A Review on Mangrove Trees

True mangroves are vascular plants (Tracheophyta) that evolved into inhabiting the mid and upper intertidal zone of tropical and subtropical soft-sediment coasts around the world. While several dozens of species are known from the Indo-West Pacific region, the Atlantic-East Pacific region is home to only a mere dozen of true mangrove species, most of which are rare. Mangrove trees can form dense monospecific or multispecies stands that provide numerous ecosystem services. Despite their eminent socioecological and socioeconomic relevance and the plethora of studies on mangroves, many details of the ecology of mangrove ecosystems remain unknown; and our knowledge about general ecological principles in mangrove ecosystems is scarce. For instance, the functional trait concept has hardly been applied to mangroves. Here we provide an inventory of 28 quantitative and 8 qualitative functional traits of true mangrove species and stipulate some insight into how these traits may drive ecosystem structure and processes. The differentiation between true mangroves and mangrove associates, which can dwell inside as well as outside mangrove forests, is reflected by a number of leaf traits. Thus, true mangroves exhibit lower specific leaf area, lower leaf N content, and lower K∶Na ratio, and higher leaf succulence, higher Na and Cl content, and higher osmolality than mangrove associates. True mangrove species that form pure stands produce larger leaves and exhibit higher N content per leaf area, higher leaf K and Ca content, greater maximum plant height, longer propagules, and lower root porosity than more sporadic species. The species-specific expression of most traits does not reflect the species’ position along intertidal gradients, suggesting that adaptation to tidal inundation does not explain these traits. Rather, many of the traits studied herein exhibit strong phylogenetic signals in true mangroves. Thus, wood density is high in most species of the Rhizophoraceae, irrespective of their habitat or maximum height. On the other hand, species of the genus Sonneratia exhibit low wood density and do not grow taller than 20 m. Some leaf traits of true mangroves are more like those of plants from drier environments, reflecting the perception that a saline environment creates physiological drought stress. Along the same line, most true mangrove species exhibit sclerophyllous leaf traits. The few major mangrove tree species of the Atlantic-East Pacific are as distinct from each other, with regard to some traits, as are the many mangrove species of the Indo-West Pacific. We hypothesize that this phenomenon explains the similarly high biomass of mangrove forests in both the species-rich Indo-West Pacific and the species-poor Atlantic-East Pacific.
The Abrupt Transition to Distance Social Work Teaching: Lessons Learned in the Age of COVID-19

ABSTRACT Evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on higher education, specifically on social work education, is gradually emerging. While the empirical literature points to the effectiveness of delivering course content virtually, research on the impact of the abrupt, forced transition from in-person to distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic is limited. This quantitative study presents findings from a survey of social work instructors about their experiences during the abrupt transition from in-person to distance teaching in the first few weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings reveal that the sudden transition to distance teaching was perceived as stressful, required technological and emotional support, and workload adaptations from their institutions. The participants also reported that their worklife balance and attitudes toward distance teaching were positively affected by the change. Findings from this study also suggest the need for comprehensive institutional support to improve distance teaching methods, to prepare social work students to face the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and to demonstrate that social work instructors see the benefits of online teaching and may be interested in continuing with it in the future.
Shifting Gears for the Automated Vehicle: Findings from Focus Groups in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area

ABSTRACT Travel behavior responses to automated vehicles (AVs) could undermine broader transportation policy objectives. This study presents focus group findings on Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) residents’ interest and expected behavioral responses to AVs. Five key consumer response themes are identified: safety and ethics concerns; lack of trust; diverse AV use intentions; agreement on a role for public sector involvement; and disagreement over regulation strategies. Findings indicate that utilitarian behavioral models resonate but that psychosocial explanations, such as “control,” “trust,” and “compatibility” play a stronger role—underscoring the importance for policymakers considering the social processes of new technology adoption.
Investigating Labelless Drift Adaptation for Malware Detection

The evolution of malware has long plagued machine learning-based detection systems, as malware authors develop innovative strategies to evade detection and chase profits. This induces concept drift as the test distribution diverges from the training, causing performance decay that requires constant monitoring and adaptation. In this work, we analyze the adaptation strategy used by DroidEvolver, a state-of-the-art learning system that self-updates using pseudo-labels to avoid the high overhead associated with obtaining a new ground truth. After removing sources of experimental bias present in the original evaluation, we identify a number of flaws in the generation and integration of these pseudo-labels, leading to a rapid onset of performance degradation as the model poisons itself. We propose DroidEvolver++, a more robust variant of DroidEvolver, to address these issues and highlight the role of pseudo-labels in addressing concept drift. We test the tolerance of the adaptation strategy versus different degrees of pseudo-label noise and propose the adoption of methods to ensure only high-quality pseudo-labels are used for updates. Ultimately, we conclude that the use of pseudo-labeling remains a promising solution to limitations on labeling capacity, but great care must be taken when designing update mechanisms to avoid negative feedback loops and self-poisoning which have catastrophic effects on performance.
Editorial

Compiling this after two consecutive special issues, this second ‘open’ collection of papers in the present volume brings together a particularly rich and varied mix of papers, which I have grouped around four main themes. The first theme is intergroup relations in the workplace and includes two papers which explore contexts that lie beyond academia: two communities of Latin American emigrees working in London; and a community work project in Mexico. The second theme focuses on our staple topic of internationalisation and diversity in higher education, concluding with a paper which echoes the import of our previous issue (Corbett & Guilherme, 2021) by arguing for the ‘decolonisation’ of the language curriculum in universities in Mexico. The third theme considers the attitudes, beliefs and perceptions towards different forms of languages and intercultural communication which are held in three different pedagogic contexts. Here for the first time in LAIC, we particularly welcome a paper that explores the learning of sign language. Then our final theme focuses on what I have called here tasks and missions, essentially yoking together two collective endeavours of a highly disparate nature: first, a training voyage on a ‘tall ship’; and to conclude, an intriguing historical paper which reports on the forms of intercultural communication which took place in the Resistance movement in Occupied France during the Second World War.
FCCSP(MUF) Mold-flow Void Risk Prediction with Different Substrate Surface and Bump Height Design

Today's flip chip scale packaging (FCCSP) microelectronics products are becoming more and more complex, especially in the packaging process using molded underfill manufacturing, which reduces the cost of flip chip technology such as molded underfill (MUF) High, provides molding ability in molding. The problem is to leave effective space under the chip. Generally speaking, this requires a lot of experimental DOE (chip size, substrate design, and epoxy resin type) to solve this problem. For the reasons mentioned above, mold-flow simulation software can be applied to use different flow condition to obtain the best solution as the MUF FCCSP of the substrate structure design. Such a simulation method can help shorten the product development cycle. This article uses the commonly used 3D molding process simulation software for transferring manufacturing process parameters. This article will introduce a comparison of two different structures. A MUF is FCCSP, it is matched with different bump height (SOH) structure comparison (control the flow of different chip bottom space), and observe the difference of the flow melt-front. The second is that there are two different designs on the surface of the substrate (welding masks with completely open or partially open patterns) through the table to enter the previously separated welding mask samples (welding masks with l0um depth structure) to maintain different modes. As this research, we can get a lot of conclusion that improve the molding capability of molded underfill FCCSP in the transfer molding process. If the bottom of the molded underfill FCCSP chip is matched with a structure with a height of 55 µm, then the molding epoxy can easily flow under the area with a large flow space, so the risk of entrapment can be reduced. In addition, the molding compound also has good melt front fluidity, and the fully open substrate surface design of the substrate solder resist layer can achieve more l0µmm space underneath the die area. Then, the CAE output are consistent as the experiment and it can to predict whether the product has a risk assessment of void.
High-Resistance State Reduction During Initial Cycles of AlOxNy-Based RRAM

In this work, the mechanism of reliability of high resistance state (HRS) in AlO<sub>x</sub>N<sub>y</sub>-based resistive random access memory (RRAM) has been studied. The Ta/AlO<sub>x</sub>N<sub>y</sub>/Pt devices with high quality of the Schottky contact in the Ta/AlO<sub>x</sub>N<sub>y</sub> interface show excellent HRS reliability and low power consumption characteristics. We propose that the resistive switching (RS) process is caused by the migration of oxygen ions in the AlO<sub>x</sub>N<sub>y</sub>-based RRAM device, and the quality of the metal–semiconductor Schottky contact directly determines HRS reliability in AlO<sub>x</sub>N<sub>y</sub>-based RRAM.
Relation of Good University Governance with Education Management Information System, Excellent Service, and Student Trust at the Entrepreneur Campus

The research aims to analyze good university governance relationships of education management information system, excellent service, and student trust at the entrepreneur campus. Research methods use quantitative with the type of survey research according to student perception. The number of samples in the study is 340 respondents. It is taken based on the student population of approximately 15,000 at the entrepreneur campus using a sampling technique with a simple random sampling type. The data was collected using an online questionnaire instrument and then analyzed using a descriptive-analytical technique with the help of the IBM SPSS Amos 22 program. Research has shown that good university governance can significantly affect the education management information system, excellent service, and direct student trust. It has also been found that good university governance practices have a significant indirect positive effect on student trust through the education management information system and excellent service.
Sawing Investigation for Thin Wafer Laminated with Die Attach Film

The drive for smaller size and thickness has created new package assembly process challenges. Stacked die packages are increasing in interest due to the resultant smaller package and increased functionality. The requirements for a stacked package is a thinner wafer that enables more die to be stacked in a package. The die are bonded using Die Attach Film (DAF) that is laminated on the back of a wafer prior to singulation. The singulation of DAF laminated wafers with wafer thickness <3 mils is challenging, especially for devices used in automotive applications. Part of the singulation challenge is that it involves two different hardness materials (Si and the DAF polymer). Previous studies have shown that for thin die, a step-cut saw process is better than single cut but backside chipping and residual DAF whiskers must be resolved. In this study, the saw singulation process was optimized through a series of wafer saw singulation experiments. The results showed that the depth of cut for both Z1 and Z2 is a key process parameter to improve the backside chipping and resolution of DAF residual/whisker formation. Singulated die were evaluated optically and by SEM to characterize the dicing performance, including chipping and cracking. With optimized parameters, the backside chipping can meet backside chipping requirements with no DAF residual material or whisker formation in a high volume production monitor. Packaged stacked die also passed all AEC Grade 1 requirements with no chipping related defect.
Enhanced Power Saving Schemes for eXtended Reality

eXtended reality (XR) is one of the most promising services for the 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) and beyond 5G. To save user equipment (UE) power consumption, the existing power saving technologies e.g., discontinuous reception (DRX), wake-up signal (WUS) standardized in the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) specification, however, are not applicable to XR service due to its stringent quality of service (QoS) requirements. In this paper, a series of power saving schemes are proposed by considering the unique characteristics of XR to efficiently reduce power consumption with satisfying packet error rate (PER) requirement and packet delay budget (PDB). One of the proposed schemes is DRX start-offset adjustment aiming to deal with the mismatch between DRX cycle and the arrival interval of XR traffic. And dynamic physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring reduction is also put forward. Furthermore, some potential packets jitter solutions are discussed. Finally, performance evaluation and analysis are provided by adopting system-level simulation, which verifies the proposed power saving schemes can achieve significant power saving gain with negligible system capacity loss.
Perception-Aware Losses Facilitate CT Denoising and Artifact Removal

The concerns over radiation-related health risks associated with the increasing use of computed tomography (CT) have accelerated the development of low-dose strategies. There is a higher need for low dosage in interventional applications as repeated scanning is performed. However, using the noisier and under-sampled low-dose datasets, the standard reconstruction algorithms produce low-resolution images with severe streaking artifacts. This adversely affects the CT assisted interventions. Recently, variational autoencoders (VAEs) have achieved state of-the-art results for the reconstruction of high fidelity images. The existing VAE approaches typically use mean squared error (MSE) as the loss, because it is convex and differentiable. However, pixel wise MSE does not capture the perceptual quality difference between the target and model predictions. In this work, we propose two simple but effective MSE based perception aware losses, which facilitate a better reconstruction quality. The proposed losses are motivated by perceptual fidelity measures used in image quality assessment. One of the losses involves calculation of the MSE in the spectral domain. The other involves calculation of the MSE in the pixel space and the Laplacian of Gaussian transformed domain. We use a hierarchical vector-quantized VAE equipped with the perception-aware losses for the artifact removal task. The best performing perception-aware loss improves the structural similarity index measure (SSIM) from 0.74 to 0.80. Further, we provide an analysis of the role of the pertinent components of the architecture in the denoising and artifact removal task.
Training Robust Deep Neural Networks on Noisy Labels Using Adaptive Sample Selection with Disagreement

Learning with noisy labels is one of the most practical but challenging tasks in deep learning. One promising way to treat noisy labels is to use the small-loss trick based on the memorization effect, that is, clean and noisy samples are identified by observing the network’s loss during training. Co-teaching+ is a state-of-the-art method that simultaneously trains two networks with small-loss selection using the “update by disagreement” strategy; however, it suffers from the problem that the selected samples tend to become noisy as the number of iterations increases. This phenomenon means that clean small-loss samples will be biased toward agreement data, which is the set of samples for which the two networks have the same prediction. This paper proposes an adaptive sample selection method to train deep neural networks robustly and prevent noise contamination in the disagreement strategy. Specifically, the proposed method calculates the threshold of the small-loss criterion by considering the loss distribution of the whole batch at each iteration. Then, the network is backpropagated by extracting samples below this threshold from the disagreement data. Combining the disagreement and agreement data of the two networks can suppress the degradation of the true-label rate of training data in a mini batch. Experiments were conducted using five commonly used benchmarks, MNIST, CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, NEWS, and T-ImageNet to verify the robustness of the proposed method to noisy labels. The results show the proposed method improves generalization performance in an image classification task with simulated noise rates of up to 50%.
On Secure Downlink NOMA Systems with Aerial Eavesdroppers

In this paper, we study the secure communication performance of nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) communication systems in presence of aerial eavesdroppers. The security of ground-to-air NOMA communication systems is investigated wherein, utilizing stochastic geometry, the near user is uniformly distributed in an internal three-dimensional (3D) spherical cap and the far user is uniformly distributed in an external 3D spherical cap. To enhance secrecy performance, a protection zone and directional antenna are introduced. The scenarios of both a single eavesdropper and multiple eavesdroppers are considered and new exact expressions for the secrecy outage probability (SOP) under both scenarios are derived. Monte Carlo simulation results are presented to verify the correctness of the derived analytical expressions and the effects of system parameters on SOP of the considered system are investigated.