Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Finite element simulations for investigating the strength characteristics of a 5 m composite wind turbine blade

Abstract. Full-scale structural tests enable us to monitor the mechanical response of the blades under various loading scenarios. Yet, these tests must be accompanied by numerical simulations so that the physical basis of the progressive damage development can be better interpreted and understood. In this work, finite element analysis is utilized to investigate the strength characteristics of an existing 5 m RUZGEM composite wind turbine blade under extreme flapwise, edgewise and combined flapwise plus edgewise loading conditions. For this purpose, in addition to a linear buckling analysis, Puck's (2D) physically based phenomenological model is used for the progressive damage analysis of the blade. The 5 m RUZGEM blade is found to exhibit sufficient resistance against buckling. However, Puck's damage model indicates that laminate failure plays a major role in the ultimate blade failure. Under extreme flapwise and combined load cases, the internal flange at the leading edge and the trailing edge are identified as the main damaged regions. Under edgewise loading, the leading edge close to the root is the failure region. When extreme load case is applied as a combination of edgewise and flapwise loading cases, less damage is observed compared to the pure flapwise loading case.
Banks, Credit Market Frictions, and Business Cycles

This paper proposes a fully micro-founded framework that incorporates an active banking sector into a DSGE model with a financial accelerator. Then, it evaluates the role and importance of banks’ behavior and financial shocks in U.S. business cycles. The banking sector consists of two types of profit-maximizing banks that offer different banking services and transact in an interbank market. Loans are produced using interbank borrowing and bank capital subject to a bank capital requirement condition. Banks have monopoly power, set nominal deposit and prime lending rates, choose their leverage ratio and their portfolio composition, and can endogenously default on a fraction of their interbank borrowing. Also, the model includes two unconventional monetary policies. Overall, because it is costly to raise fresh bank capital to satisfy the requirement condition, the active banking sector, as modelled in this paper, dampens the real impacts of aggregate shocks. Specifically, it attenuates the real effects of financial shocks, reduces macroeconomic volatilities, and stabilizes the economy. Moreover, expansionary unconventional monetary policies reduce negative impacts of financial crises. JEL classification: E32, E44, G1
Sculpting English Language Teaching Materials: A Narrative Self-Study of a Practicing Materials Developer

The present qualitative study narrates the challenges and identity changes experienced by an Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher taking her initial steps in developing second language reading materials through recreating the anecdotes of a Persian classic poet. Her descriptive and analytic field notes while designing the materials, feedbacks received from two advisors and six language teachers, and various drafts of the developed materials as documents formed the data for this self-study. Meticulous analysis of the data revealed the ways by which the practicing materials developer revisited a number of normative assumptions which had permeated her cognition; started to see materials development as art; and practiced self-reliance, creativity, respect, and ownership. Given the paucity of narrative enquiries focusing on materials developers’ identity (re)-construction, the present study is hoped to provide a richer understanding of the processes involved in generating classroom materials.
The WoNoWa Dataset: Investigating the Transactive Memory System in Small Group Interactions

We present WoNoWa, a novel multi-modal dataset of small group interactions in collaborative tasks. The dataset is explicitly designed to elicit and to study over time a Transactive Memory System (TMS), a group's emergent state characterizing the group's meta-knowledge about "who knows what". A rich set of automatic features and manual annotations, extracted from the collected audio-visual data, is available on request for research purposes. Features include individual descriptors (e.g., position, Quantity of Motion, speech activity) and group descriptors (e.g., F-formations). Additionally, participants' self-assessments are available. Preliminary results from exploratory analyses show that the WoNoWa design allowed groups to develop a TMS that increased across the tasks. These results encourage the use of the WoNoWa dataset for a better understanding of the relationship between behavioural patterns and TMS, that in turn could help to improve group performance.
Multiple nerve rings coordinate Hydra mechanosensory behavior

Hydra vulgaris is an emerging model organism for neuroscience due to its small size, transparency, genetic tractability, and regenerative nervous system; however, fundamental properties of its sensorimotor behaviors remain unknown. Here, we use microfluidic devices combined with fluorescent calcium imaging and surgical resectioning to study how the nervous system coordinates Hydra’s mechanosensory response. We find that mechanical stimuli cause animals to contract, and this response relies on both the oral and aboral nerve rings. We also find that these nerve rings work together to coordinate spontaneous contractions suggesting that spontaneous behavior and sensorimotor responses converge on to a common neural circuit. These findings improve our understanding of how Hydra’s diffuse nervous system supports sensorimotor behaviors, which is needed to increase the utility of Hydra as a model organism for neuroscience.
The effect of bee pollen in chicken diet

Bee products, including bee pollen, offer a potential alternative to in-feed antibiotics (AGPs) currently used in poultry feed. Bee pollen is a new type of feed additives and is characterised by a variety of nutritional and bioactive properties. It may enhance the immunity of poultry, promote animal growth, protect the intestinal tract health and improve the quality and safety of animal products. Various research papers have focused on the use of bee pollen in poultry feeds, and have reported that it is, as a natural feed additive, a promising alternative to antibiotics and coccidiostats. Most papers have focussed on doses of 400 or 800 mg/kg feed, however limited dose response work has been done. Effective dose rates, dose responses and standardised products need to be established. If such consistent products can be produced, then their efficacy in terms of meat performance, carcass traits, meat quality, immunity, and blood parameters of broiler chickens can be verified, along with costs and returns on investment for producers, to establish the usefulness as an alternative to AGPs.
RNA-binding protein Elavl1/HuR is required for maintenance of cranial neural crest specification

While neural crest development is known to be transcriptionally controlled via sequential activation of gene regulatory networks (GRNs), recent evidence increasingly implicates a role for post-transcriptional regulation in modulating the output of these regulatory circuits. Using available single cell RNA-sequencing datasets from avian embryos to identify potential post-transcriptional regulators, we found that Elavl1, which encodes for an RNA-binding protein with roles in transcript stability, was enriched in the premigratory cranial neural crest. Perturbation of Elavl1 resulted in premature neural crest delamination from the neural tube as well as significant reduction in transcripts associated with the neural crest specification GRN, phenotypes that are also observed with downregulation of the canonical Wnt inhibitor Draxin. That Draxin is the primary target for stabilization by Elavl1 during cranial neural crest specification was shown by RNA-sequencing, RNA-immunoprecipitation, RNA decay measurement and proximity ligation assays, further supporting the idea that the downregulation of neural crest specifier expression upon Elavl1 knockdown was largely due to loss of Draxin. Importantly, exogenous Draxin rescued cranial neural crest specification defects observed with Elavl1 knockdown. Thus, Elavl1 plays a critical a role in the maintenance of cranial neural crest specification via Draxin mRNA stabilization. Together, these data highlight an important intersection of post-transcriptional regulation with modulation of the neural crest specification GRN.
Inhibition of SARS-CoV-2 viral entry in vitro upon blocking N- and O-glycan elaboration

The Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, its receptor binding domain (RBD), and its primary receptor ACE2 are extensively glycosylated. The impact of this post-translational modification on viral entry is yet unestablished. We expressed different glycoforms of the Spike-protein and ACE2 in CRISPR-Cas9 glycoengineered cells, and developed corresponding SARS-CoV-2 pseudovirus. We observed that N- and O-glycans had only minor contribution to Spike-ACE2 binding. However, these carbohydrates played a major role in regulating viral entry. Blocking N-glycan biosynthesis at the oligomannose stage using both genetic approaches and the small molecule kifunensine dramatically reduced viral entry into ACE2 expressing HEK293T cells. Blocking O-glycan elaboration also partially blocked viral entry. Mechanistic studies suggest multiple roles for glycans during viral entry. Among them, inhibition of N-glycan biosynthesis enhanced Spike-protein proteolysis. This could reduce RBD presentation on virus, lowering binding to host ACE2 and decreasing viral entry. Overall, chemical inhibitors of glycosylation may be evaluated for COVID-19.
Altered Dynamic Postural Stability and Joint Position Sense Following British Army Foot-Drill

Impaired proprioceptive acuity negatively affects both joint position sense and postural control and is a risk factor for lower-extremity musculoskeletal injury in athletes and military personnel. British Army foot-drill is an occupational military activity involving cyclical high impact loading forces greater than those observed in athletes during high level plyometrics. Foot-drill may contribute to the high rates of lower-extremity overuse injuries observed in recruits during basic training. There is limited research investigating foot-drill specific injury risk factors in women, despite greater incidences of musculoskeletal injury reported in women (522 vs. 417 per 1,000 personnel, OR: 1.53) when compared to men during basic training. This study aimed to quantify changes in ankle joint proprioception and dynamic postural stability following a period of British Army foot-drill. Fourteen women of similar age to British Army female recruits underwent pre-post foot-drill measures of frontal plane ankle joint position sense (JPS) and dynamic postural stability using the dynamic postural stability index (DPSI). Passive ankle JPS was assessed from relative test angles of inversion 30% (IN30%) and eversion 30% (EV30%) and IN60% of participants range of motion using an isokinetic dynamometer. The DPSI and the individual stability indices (medio-lateral [MLSI], anterior-posterior [APSI], and vertical [VSI]) were calculated from lateral and forward jump-landing conditions using force plates. Foot-drill was conducted by a serving British Army drill instructor. Significantly greater absolute mean JPS error for IN30% and EV30% was observed post foot-drill (p ≤ 0.016, d ≥ 0.70). For both the lateral and forward jump-landing conditions, significantly greater stability index scores were observed for MLSI, APSI, and DPSI (p ≤ 0.017, d ≥ 0.52). Significantly greater JPS error and stability index scores are associated with the demands of British Army foot-drill. These results provide evidence that foot-drill negatively affects lower-extremity proprioceptive acuity in recruit age-matched women, which has implications for increased injury risk during subsequent military physical activity, occurring in a normal training cycle.
Natural selection reverses the exaggeration of a male sexually selected trait, which increases female fitness

Theory shows how sexual selection can exaggerate male traits beyond naturally selected optima and also how natural selection can ultimately halt trait elaboration. Empirical evidence supports this theory, but to date, there have been no experimental evolution studies directly testing this logic, and little examination of possible associated effects on female fitness. Here we used experimental evolution of replicate populations of broad-horned flour-beetles to test for evolutionary effects of sex-specific predation on an exaggerated sexually selected male trait, while also testing for effects on female lifetime reproductive success. We found that populations subjected to male-specific predation evolved smaller sexually selected traits and this indirectly increased female fitness, seemingly through intersexual genetic correlations we documented. Predation solely on females had no effects. Our findings support fundamental theory, but also reveal novel outcomes when natural selection targets sex-limited sexually selected characters.
Genetic-variant hotspots and hotspot clusters in the human genome facilitating adaptation while increasing instability

Background Genetic variants, underlining phenotypic diversity, are known to distribute unevenly in the human genome. A comprehensive understanding of the distributions of different genetic variants is important for insights into genetic functions and disorders. Methods Herein, a sliding-window scan of regional densities of eight kinds of germline genetic variants, including single-nucleotide-polymorphisms (SNPs) and four size-classes of copy-number-variations (CNVs) in the human genome has been performed. Results The study has identified 44,379 hotspots with high genetic-variant densities, and 1135 hotspot clusters comprising more than one type of hotspots, accounting for 3.1% and 0.2% of the genome respectively. The hotspots and clusters are found to co-localize with different functional genomic features, as exemplified by the associations of hotspots of middle-size CNVs with histone-modification sites, work with balancing and positive selections to meet the need for diversity in immune proteins, and facilitate the development of sensory-perception and neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction pathways in the function-sparse late-replicating genomic sequences. Genetic variants of different lengths co-localize with retrotransposons of different ages on a “long-with-young” and “short-with-all” basis. Hotspots and clusters are highly associated with tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes ( p < 10 −10 ), and enriched with somatic tumor CNVs and the trait- and disease-associated SNPs identified by genome-wise association studies, exceeding tenfold enrichment in clusters comprising SNPs and extra-long CNVs. Conclusions In conclusion, the genetic-variant hotspots and clusters represent two-edged swords that spearhead both positive and negative genomic changes. Their strong associations with complex traits and diseases also open up a potential “Common Disease-Hotspot Variant” approach to the missing heritability problem.
A Global Survey on Diseases and Pests in Oilseed Rape—Current Challenges and Innovative Strategies of Control

The introduction of high-yielding and hybrid cultivars and the opening of new markets in the food and feed sector have steadily increased rapeseed production since the 1980s in the main production regions, Canada, Europe, China, India, and Australia. Since the 1990s, however, the average growth rate of yields has declined in Europe and Australia, which has been associated with a less effective control of biotic stresses. A global survey including the knowledge of 22 experts from 10 countries revealed a total of 16 diseases, 37 insect pests, several species of nematodes, and slugs currently affecting rapeseed production globally. A ranking of the top 10 most important biotic stresses in the four global regions where Brassica napus is grown (Canada, China, Europe, Australia) indicated an increase in several important stresses and distinct regional differences in the priority of prevailing diseases and pests. A stronger overlap exists among diseases, with Sclerotinia stem rot, Phoma stem canker, and clubroot occurring in all the four global regions on the top 10 list, while the range of prevailing insect pests was more diverse among the regions, with no top 10 insect playing an equally important role worldwide. Management options are substantially broader in disease than in pest control, making the latter the larger challenge. Since common integrated pest management (IPM) tools such as crop rotation, soil management, resistant cultivars or biocontrol are ineffective or not available, insect control largely relies on insecticides. Increasing restrictions on insecticide use, particularly in Europe, and losses in insecticide efficacy threaten the profitability of oilseed rape production and its role as an important break crop in cereal dominated cropping systems. Since the survival time of insects in the absence of their main host is relatively short (<1 year), a regional synchronization of cropping schemes resulting in one or more years without the crop could lead to a substantial disruption of regional insect populations. If rotation schemes were implemented on the landscape instead the farm level, by coordination among growers in zones covering the range distances of insect pests, an efficient and chemical low management strategy could be established and enable a more sustainable rapeseed production in the future.
Differential Diagnosis of Frontotemporal Dementia, Alzheimer's Disease, and Normal Aging Using a Multi-Scale Multi-Type Feature Generative Adversarial Deep Neural Network on Structural Magnetic Resonance Images

Methods: Alzheimer's disease and Frontotemporal dementia are the first and third most common forms of dementia. Due to their similar clinical symptoms, they are easily misdiagnosed as each other even with sophisticated clinical guidelines. For disease-specific intervention and treatment, it is essential to develop a computer-aided system to improve the accuracy of their differential diagnosis. Recent advances in deep learning have delivered some of the best performance for medical image recognition tasks. However, its application to the differential diagnosis of AD and FTD pathology has not been explored. Approach: In this study, we proposed a novel deep learning based framework to distinguish between brain images of normal aging individuals and subjects with AD and FTD. Specifically, we combined the multi-scale and multi-type MRI-base image features with Generative Adversarial Network data augmentation technique to improve the differential diagnosis accuracy. Results: Each of the multi-scale, multitype, and data augmentation methods improved the ability for differential diagnosis for both AD and FTD. A 10-fold cross validation experiment performed on a large sample of 1,954 images using the proposed framework achieved a high overall accuracy of 88.28%. Conclusions: The salient contributions of this study are three-fold: (1) our experiments demonstrate that the combination of multiple structural features extracted at different scales with our proposed deep neural network yields superior performance than individual features; (2) we show that the use of Generative Adversarial Network for data augmentation could further improve the discriminant ability of the network regarding challenging tasks such as differentiating dementia sub-types; (3) and finally, we show that ensemble classifier strategy could make the network more robust and stable.
Semantic Relationships Between Representational Gestures and Their Lexical Affiliates Are Evaluated Similarly for Speech and Text

This research examined whether the semantic relationships between representational gestures and their lexical affiliates are evaluated similarly when lexical affiliates are conveyed via speech and text. In two studies, adult native English speakers rated the similarity of the meanings of representational gesture-word pairs presented via speech and text. Gesture-word pairs in each modality consisted of gestures and words matching in meaning (semantically-congruent pairs) as well as gestures and words mismatching in meaning (semantically-incongruent pairs). The results revealed that ratings differed by semantic congruency but not language modality. These findings provide the first evidence that semantic relationships between representational gestures and their lexical affiliates are evaluated similarly regardless of language modality. Moreover, this research provides an open normed database of semantically-congruent and semantically-incongruent gesture-word pairs in both text and speech that will be useful for future research investigating gesture-language integration.
Mental Health Measurement in a Post Covid-19 World: Psychometric Properties and Invariance of the DASS-21 in Athletes and Non-athletes

Psychological science faces a call to action researching the implications of the corona virus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic. Rapid reviews have reported that maintaining rigorous research standards is a priority for the field, such as ensuring reliable and valid measurement, when investigating people’s experience of Covid-19 (O’Connor et al., 2020). However, no research to date has validated a measure mental health symptomology for an athlete population. The current research addresses this gap by examining the internal consistency, factor structure, invariance, and convergent validity of the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS-21; Lovibond and Lovibond, 1995) in two athlete samples. Participants completed the DASS-21 and sport-specific measures of mental health such as the Profile of Mood States – Depression subscale (POMS-D), Sport Anxiety Scale-2 (SAS-2), Athlete Burnout Questionnaire (ABQ), and Athlete Psychological Strain Questionnaire (APSQ). In sample one (n = 894), results of exploratory structural equation modeling indicated that a three-factor model provided good fit to the data, but a bifactor model provided better fit. Factor loadings indicated minimal misspecification and higher loadings on the general-factor. Invariance testing suggested equivalence across gender, athletic expertise, sport type, and injury status. Further, latent mean differences analyses indicated that females and injured athletes scored higher than male and non-injured athletes on all DASS-21 factors reporting higher mental health symptomology, those with more expertise scored higher on the general-factor and depression and those with less expertise scored higher on anxiety and stress, and no differences between team and individual athletes. In sample two (n = 589), the bifactor structure was replicated. Results largely supported the scales convergent validity with depression predicting POMS-D scores, whereas all three subscales predicted the SAS-2, ABQ, and APSQ scores. Internal consistency was acceptable in both samples. The current work provides initial support for use of the DASS-21 as an operationalisation of mental health symptomology in athletes. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed.