Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Abundance determination in massive stars: challenges for mixing processes

Massive stars, the most luminous stars, are the true “cosmic engines” of our Universe. They eject large quantity of material throughout their life, which strongly influences their evolutionary path as well as their environment. An important feature of massive stars is their high rotational velocities that are either acquired at birth or due to the influence of a companion. Rotation is believed to transport nitrogen-rich and carbon/oxygen-poor material generated in the stellar core through the CNO cycle, to the surface. A way to test the e ciency of rotational mixing is to study the chemical composition at the surface of stars, in particular the fastest rotators. The incentive for this study was the discovery, in the context of the VLTFLAMES Survey of Massive Stars, of fast rotators exhibiting an unenriched nitrogen composition at their surface, contrary to predictions from single-star evolutionary models including rotation. However, their multiplicity may a ect this conclusion, since both rotation and abundances can change as a result of binary interactions. In this work, we combined, for the first time, a detailed surface abundance analysis with a radial-velocity study to quantify the importance of binary e ects. This work was conducted for a sample of 40 bright, OB fast rotators in our Galaxy. Statistical tests and period-search techniques revealed that ≥ 40% of our targets whose multiplicity status can be probed, are binary or binary candidates. We derived the projected rotational velocity of our targets and model atmosphere codes were then used to derive stellar parameters and surface abundances of all sample stars. This abundance study revealed a correlation between the helium and nitrogen abundances of our targets, which is predicted by the rotational mixing theory. Finally, we compared our results to predictions of single-star evolutionary models. We found that 10 – 20% of our 40 targets exhibit no enhancement of the [N/O] abundance ratio, in line with results of the VLT-FLAMES Survey of Massive Stars. The properties of only half of our sample are explained by such models, and surprisingly we also uncovered a quite common large abundance of helium at the surface of our targets. Modifying the di usion coe cient in single-star models and models of non-rotating mergers did not reproduce simultaneously both the observed helium abundances and the [N/O] abundance ratios. Binary models considering a mass-transfer episode can, however, reproduce the [N/O] values of the majority of our targets and even the helium abundances of some of the most helium-enriched targets, but they cannot explain stars displaying little helium enrichment but high
International Service Learning: Decolonizing Possibilities?

International Service Learning (ISL) programs are now ubiquitous, and the concept seems immutable: well-meaning young people from the North visiting "host" communities in the South in order to provide "service" and "to learn. " The adulatory literature is replete with the purported benefits of these programs, both to those participating from the North, and to the communities in the South. By comparison, more critical follow-up of participants from the North suggest otherwise – that they serve mainly to reinforce values of charity for the "other" and do little to aid in understanding the reasons for the unequal relations of "underdevelopment. " Similarly, a number of more recent studies have raised questions about the impact of these programs on communities in the South, and the extent to which they may serve to (re)instill neo-colonial economic and/or cultural relations. This paper presents and discusses findings from a multi-year study in a number of rural communities in Nicaragua which have hosted ISL programs, undertaken with the express purpose of exploring the modes and effects of the interactions between the visitors and the community residents. Through field observation, interviews and focus groups, a complex picture emerges of community engagement with, and reaction to, these Northern visitors, and the impact they effect on their Southern hosts. Of particular interest, we examine the possibilities these programs may have for interrupting traditional knowledge-power relations and understandings on both sides.
Effects of very high-frequency sound and ultrasound on humans

Various adverse and ultrasound (US) have previously been reported. This study aimed to establish whether these symptoms are experienced under controlled laboratory conditions and are specific to 23 VHFS/US. To do this, participants were exposed to VHFS/US (at frequencies between 13.5 24 and 20 kHz and sound pressure levels between 82 and 92 dB) and to a 1 kHz reference 25 stimulus, both at 25 dB above their hearing threshold. The VHFS/US and reference stimuli 26 were presented 4 times, each time for 3 minutes, during which participants performed a 27 sustained attention task, rated their symptom severity, and had their galvanic skin response 28 (GSR) measured to assess their level of anxiety. Prior to exposure, participants were 29 assigned either to a symptomatic or an asymptomatic group, based on their prior history of 30 symptoms that they attributed to VHFS/US. In both groups, overall discomfort ratings were 31 higher in the VHFS/US condition than the reference condition. In the symptomatic group 32 only, difficulty concentrating and annoyance were also rated higher in the VHFS/US than the 33 reference condition. No difference between the two stimulus conditions was seen in 34 performance on the attention task or on average GSRs for either group.
Suicidal Ideation of Healthcare Workers During COVID-19: An Ecological Momentary Assessment Idéations suicidaires du personnel de la santé pendant la pandémie de COVID-19 : une évaluation écologique momentanée

Introduction : The COVID-19 pandemic had an impact on the psychological health of healthcare workers (HCWs). Cross-sectional studies report suicidal ideation in this population during this period, but no longitudinal study has examined the evolution of these ideas over time. Objectives : To assess the evolution of suicidal ideation of HCWs during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic among Quebec (Canada) HCWs and to identify the risk factors involved. Methods : A longitudinal study among Quebec (Canada) HCWs using ecological momentary assessment was conducted between May 8, 2020, and March 31, 2021 (corresponding to the second half of the first wave to the end of the second). Participants (n=865) answered weekly questions related to anxiety (GAD-7), depression (PHQ-9), suicidal ideation (PHQ-9 Q.9), exposure to COVID-19, exposure to COVID-19-related deaths, their infection status and that of their co-workers and loved ones, as well as the amount of time they spent consuming news related to COVID-19. Results : Proportion of suicidal ideation increased from May to June 2020 (second half of the first wave) peaking at 18% before declining up to March 2021. Anxiety and depression symptoms severity increased those ideations as well as having a colleague confirmed positive to COVID-19. Social support does not appear to be a protective factor for suicidal ideation. Suicidal thoughts are associated with media consumption and appear to be mediated by the presence of clinical distress expressed as depressive or anxiety states. Discussion and conclusion : Media consumption in a pandemic context is associated with anxiety and depression, the more severe states of which may express suicidal ideation. Without inferring causality relationship, it seems advisable for HCWs to limit their media exposure during a disaster such as a pandemic.
Explorer Using human induced pluripotent stem cells to treat retinal disease

The eye is an ideal target for exploiting the potential of human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) technology in order to understand disease pathways and explore novel therapeutic strategies for inherited retinal disease. The aim of this article is to map the pathway from state-of-the art laboratorybased discoveries to realising the translational potential of this emerging technique. We describe the relevance and routes to establishing hiPSCs in selected models of human retinal disease. Additionally, we define pathways for applying hiPSC technology in treating currently incurable, progressive and blinding
Correlation of MIR­24­3P and MIR­595 expression with CCL3, CCL4, IL­1 , TNF IP3, and NF­ BI genes in PBMCS of Β Α Κ Α patients with coronary artery disease

Inflammation has been well recognized to play an important role in developing coronary artery disease (CAD). By regulating essential genes in this pathway post-transcriptionally, MicroRNAs (miRNAs) may help or hinder the development of atherosclerotic lesions. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression of miR-24-3p, miR-595, CCL3 , CCL4 , IL-1β , TNFαIP3 , and NF-κBIα in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of CAD and control groups and to examine whether any correlation exists between the expression of miRs and genes in CAD group. A total of 168 subjects (84 CAD subjects and 84 control subjects) were examined in this research. Expression levels of miR-24-3p, miR-595, CCL3, CCL4, IL-1β , TNFαIP3 , and NF-κBIα in PBMCs were measured using the real-time PCR technique. A comparison of the CAD group with the control group indicated significantly increased expression levels of CCL3 , CCL4, and IL-1β (Fold Change (FC)=4, P =0.009; FC=2.9, P =0.01; FC=1.8, P =0.019, respectively) and remarkably reduced expression levels of TNFαIP3 and NF-κBIα (FC=-1.4, P =0.03 and FC=-5.9, P =0.001, respectively). Moreover, the expression levels of miR-24-3p downregulated (FC=- 2.5, P =0.005) and miR-595 upregulated (FC=1.9, P =0.009) in the CAD group. There was a statistical correlation
Visual encoding of partial unknown shape boundaries

Prior research has found that known shapes and letters can be recognized from a sparse sampling of dots that mark locations on their boundaries. Further, unknown shapes that are displayed only once can be identified by a matching protocol, and here also, above-chance performance requires very few boundary markers. The present work examines whether partial boundaries can be identified under similar low-information conditions. Several experiments were conducted that used a match-recognition task, with initial display of a target shape followed quickly by a comparison shape. The comparison shape was either derived from the target shape or was based on a different shape, and the respondent was asked for a matching judgment, i.e., did it “match” the target shape. Stimulus treatments included establishing how density affected the probability of a correct decision, followed by assessment of how much positioning of boundary dots affected this probability. Results indicate that correct judgments were possible when partial boundaries were displayed with a sparse sampling of dots. We argue for a process that quickly registers the locations of boundary markers and distills that information into a shape summary that can be used to identify the shape even when only a portion of the boundary is represented.
UvA-DARE Determinants of treatment waiting times for head and neck cancer in the Netherlands and their relation to survival

Introduction: Waiting to start treatment has been shown to be associated with tumor progression and upstaging in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs). This diminishes the chance of cure and might lead to unnecessary mortality. We investigated the association between waiting times and survival in the Netherlands and assessed which factors were associated to longer waiting times. Methods: Patient (age, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), tumor (site, stage) and treatment (type, of insti- tute of diagnosis/treatment) characteristics for patients with HNSCC who underwent treatment were extracted from the Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR) for 2005–2011. Waiting time was deﬁned as the number of days between histopathological diagnosis and start of treatment. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression was used to evaluate survival. Results: In total, 13,140 patients were included, who had a median waiting time of 37 days. Patients who were more likely to wait longer were men, patients with a low SES, oropharynx tumors, stage IV tumors, patients to be treated with radiotherapy or chemoradiation, and patients referred for treatment to a Head and Neck Oncology Center (HNOC) from another hospital. The 5-year overall survival was 58% for all patients. Our multivariable Cox regression model showed that longer waiting time, was signiﬁcantly related to a higher hazard of dying ( p < 0.0001). Conclusion: This is the ﬁrst large population-based study showing that longer waiting time for surgery, radiotherapy or chemoradiation is a signiﬁcant negative prognostic factor for HNSCC patients. (cid:2) Elsevier
Running Heading : Comparison of bandwidths in the auditory midbrain and nerve

A defining feature of auditory systems across animal divisions is the ability to sort different frequency components of a sound into separate neural frequency channels. Narrowband filtering in the auditory periphery is of obvious advantage for the representation of sound spectrum, and manifests itself pervasively in human psychophysical studies as the critical band. Peripheral filtering also alters coding of the temporal waveform, so that temporal responses in the auditory periphery reflect both the stimulus waveform and peripheral filtering. Temporal coding is essential for the measurement of the time delay between waveforms at the two ears a critical component of sound localization. A number of human psychophysical studies have shown a wider effective critical bandwidth with binaural stimuli than with monaural stimuli. However, other studies found no difference. Here we directly compare binaural and monaural bandwidths (BW) in the anesthetised cat. We measure monaural BW in the auditory nerve (AN) and binaural BW in the inferior colliculus (IC) using spectrally manipulated broadband noise and response metrics that reflect spike-timing. The stimulus was a pair of noise tokens which were interaurally in phase for all frequencies below a certain flip frequency (fflip) and which had an interaural phase difference of π above fflip. The response was measured as a function of fflip and, using a separate stimulus protocol, as a function of interaural correlation. We find that both AN and IC filter BW depend on characteristic frequency, but that there is no difference in mean BW between the AN and IC. Page 2 of 56
On the effective anisotropic elastic properties of porous hydroxyapatite, porous collagen, and cortical bone: A homogenization scheme with percolation threshold concept

The objective of this study is to model the effective anisotropic elastic properties of porous hydroxyapatite, wet collagen, and cortical bone by an advanced homogenization scheme with a percolation threshold concept. The theoretical basis of the anisotropic homogenization theory is first presented. A homogenization scheme with a percolation threshold concept is then introduced and validated against experimental data for porous hydroxyapatite as well as bone after decollagenization. It is also validated on a porous collagen that is a result of the demineralization of bone. Even though aligned collagen fibers are considered, similar values of the elastic stiffnesses C 11 and C 33 were found for demineralized bone due to its very high porosity. Finally the proposed method is used to model cortical bone as a mixture of hydroxyapatite mineral and soft organic content that is in turn a mixture of collagen fiber and pores filled by water. Good agreement between modeled and measured data is observed. The model presented herein is simpler than existing multi-scale homogenization schemes in the literature, but its results fit very well with the experimented trends.
Distributed impulsive synchronization of Lur'e dynamical networks via parameter variation methods

This paper is devoted to investigating the exponential synchronization of coupled Lur'e dynamical networks with multiple time‐varying delays and stochastic disturbance. The problem studied in this paper could be regarded as a kind of leader‐following synchronization issue. As the networks may suffer from certain impulsive disturbance, an effective distributed impulsive control protocol is proposed to synchronize the stochastic Lur'e dynamical networks. According to the comparison principle, the average impulsive interval, and the extended formula for the variation of parameters, sufficient conditions are derived for successful achievement of the network synchronization with consideration to different functions of impulsive effects. Furthermore, the exponential convergence rate is obtained based on the impulsive solution equation. In addition, finally, some numerical simulations are given to illustrate the validity of the control scheme and the theoretical analysis.
Approximate controllability of semilinear impulsive strongly damped wave equation

Abstract Rothe's fixed-point theorem is applied to prove the interior approximate controllability of a semilinear impulsive strongly damped wave equation with Dirichlet boundary conditions in the space Z 1/2 =D((-Δ) 1/2 )×L 2 (Ω)${Z_{1/2} = D((-\Delta )^{1/2}) \times L^{2}(\Omega )}$ , where Ω is a bounded domain in ℝn (n ≥ 1). Under some conditions we prove the following statement: For all open nonempty subsets ω of Ω the system is approximately controllable on [0,τ]${[0, \tau ]}$ . Moreover, we exhibit a sequence of controls steering the nonlinear system from an initial state z0 to a neighborhood of the final state z1 at time τ>0${\tau >0}$ .
Comparison of missing data methods in clustered survival data using Bayesian adaptive B-Spline estimation

In many epidemiological studies, missing values in the outcome arise due to censoring. Such censoring is what makes survival analysis special and di ﬀ erentiated from other analytical methods. There are many methods that deal with censored data in survival analysis. However, few studies have dealt with missing covariates in survival data. Furthermore, studies dealing with missing covariates are rare when data are clustered. In this paper, we conducted a simulation study to compare results of several missing data methods when data had clustered multi-structured type with missing covariates. In this study, we modeled unknown baseline hazard and frailty with Bayesian B-Spline to obtain more smooth and accurate estimates. We also used prior information to achieve more accurate results. We assumed the missing mechanism as MAR. We compared the performance of ﬁve di ﬀ erent missing data techniques and compared these results through simulation studies. We also presented results from a Multi-Center study of Korean IBD patients with Crohn’s disease (Lee et al. , Journal of the Korean Society of Coloproctology , 28 , 188–194, 2012).
An Improved Algorithm for Acoustic Radiation Force Impulse Imaging Based on Loupas Approach

With the purpose of solving the issue that there are errors in the traditional Loupas Algorithm used in ARFI and the effects of imaging are not as good as expected, this thesis will talk about an improved method to solve this proplem.Based on Loupas Algorithm, it is presented that we can get more accurate computing result of the displacement by changing the size of the sampling time windows and calculating the average speed according to the 2D autocorrelator.The method presented in this paper is aimed at doing computing refering to the tiny displacement caused by the push from ARFI and comparing between the displacement-time graph of the focus of the windows with different value.Finally,from these,people can know the most suitable value of the sampling time windows.Compared with the result of the experientunder traditional Loupas Algorithm,that of this experient has improved a lot.As a result,not only Elastographic Contrast-to-Noise Ratio has been improved,but also the image quality.
Feature Selection

Feature selection, as a data preprocessing strategy, has been proven to be effective and efficient in preparing data (especially high-dimensional data) for various data-mining and machine-learning problems. The objectives of feature selection include building simpler and more comprehensible models, improving data-mining performance, and preparing clean, understandable data. The recent proliferation of big data has presented some substantial challenges and opportunities to feature selection. In this survey, we provide a comprehensive and structured overview of recent advances in feature selection research. Motivated by current challenges and opportunities in the era of big data, we revisit feature selection research from a data perspective and review representative feature selection algorithms for conventional data, structured data, heterogeneous data and streaming data. Methodologically, to emphasize the differences and similarities of most existing feature selection algorithms for conventional data, we categorize them into four main groups: similarity-based, information-theoretical-based, sparse-learning-based, and statistical-based methods. To facilitate and promote the research in this community, we also present an open source feature selection repository that consists of most of the popular feature selection algorithms (http://featureselection.asu.edu/). Also, we use it as an example to show how to evaluate feature selection algorithms. At the end of the survey, we present a discussion about some open problems and challenges that require more attention in future research.