Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Associations Between Periconceptional Lifestyle Behaviour Change and Adverse Pregnancy Outcomes

Background While the effect of prenatal exposure to unhealthy lifestyle is widely evidenced, little is known about these exposures in the periconception period. We investigated associations between periconceptional lifestyle behaviour change and adverse pregnancy outcomes. Methods A retrospective secondary analysis took place within a prospective multicentre cohort study in the Netherlands, including 3,684 pregnant women. Baseline characteristics and preconceptional and first-trimester lifestyle behaviours were assessed through a self-administered questionnaire. Adverse pregnancy outcomes (hypertensive disorders in pregnancy (HDP), small for gestational age (SGA), gestational diabetes (GDM) and spontaneous preterm birth (sPTB)) were reported by healthcare professionals. Data were collected between December 2012 - January 2014 and analysed between August - December 2019, using multivariate logistic regression. Results Overweight, and especially obese women, have the highest odds of developing any adverse pregnancy outcome (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) 1.61 (95%CI 1.31–1.99) and aOR 2.85 (95%CI 2.20–3.68), respectively), particularly HDP and GDM. Women who prenatally quit smoking had a lower odds of SGA (aOR 1.14 (95%CI 0.59–2.21)), while women who continued smoking attained higher odds (aOR 1.91 (95%CI 1.05–1.15)). Women who did not use folic acid tended to have a higher odds of developing adverse pregnancy outcomes (aOR 1.28 (95%CI 0.97–1.69)), while women who prenatally started folic acid did not (aOR 1.01 (95%CI 0.82–1.25)). Conclusions Our results indicate that smoking cessation, having a lower BMI and initiating folic acid supplements preconceptionally may decrease the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. Therefore, intervening as early as the preconception period could benefit the health of future generations.
Assessing the Potential Contribution of Pfumvudza Towards Climate Smart Agriculture in Zimbabwe: A Review

Concerns of food and environmental security have increased enormously in recent years due to the vagaries of climate change and variability. Efforts to promote food security and environmental sustainability often reinforce each other and enable farmers to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change and other stresses. Some of these efforts are based on appropriate technologies and practices that restore natural ecosystems and improve the resilience of farming systems, thus enhancing food security. Climate smart agriculture (CSA) principles, for example, translate into a number of locally-devised and applied practices that work simultaneously through contextualised crop-soil-water-nutrient-pest-ecosystem management at a variety of scales. The purpose of this paper is to review concisely the current state-of-the-art literature and ascertain the potential of the Pfumvudza concept to enhance household food security, climate change mitigation and adaptation as it is promoted in Zimbabwe. The study relied heavily on data from print and electronic media. Datasets pertaining to carbon, nitrous oxide and methane storage in soils and crop yield under zero tillage and conventional tillage were compiled. Findings show that, compared to conventional farming, Pfumvudza has great potential to contribute towards household food security and reducing carbon emissions if implemented following the stipulated recommendations. These include among others, adequate land preparation and timely planting and acquiring inputs. However, nitrous oxide emissions tend to increase with reduced tillage and, the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides is environmentally unfriendly.
A microwave plasma source for VUV atmospheric photochemistry

Microwave plasma discharges working at low pressure are nowadays a well-developed technique mainly used to provide radiation at different wavelengths. The aim of this work is to show that those discharges are an efficient windowless vacuum ultra-violet (VUV) photon source for planetary atmospheric photochemistry experiments. To do this, we use a surfatron-type discharge with a neon gas flow in the mbar pressure range coupled to a photochemical reactor. Working in the VUV range allows nitrogen-dominated atmospheres to be focused on (λ < 100 nm). The experimental setup makes sure that no energy sources (electrons, metastable atoms) other than the VUV photons interact with the reactive medium. Neon has two resonance lines at 73.6 and 74.3 nm that behave differently depending on the pressure or power conditions. In parallel, the VUV photon flux emitted at 73.6 nm has been experimentally estimated in different pressure and power conditions, and varies in a large range between 2 × 1013 ph s−1 cm−2 and 4 × 1014 ph s−1 cm−2, which is comparable to a VUV synchrotron photon flux. Our first case study is the atmosphere of Titan and its N2–CH4 atmosphere. With this VUV source, the production of HCN and C2N2, two major Titan compounds, is detected, ensuring the suitability of the source for atmospheric photochemistry experiments.
Flattening filter free stereotactic body radiation therapy for lung tumors: outcomes and predictive factors

Background Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) using flattening filter free (FFF) has been commonly used, however, its outcomes and predictive factors in lung tumors are limiting. Thus, we aim to assess the clinical outcomes of this approach and identify factors associated with outcomes in patients with early stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and oligometastatic/oligoprogressive lung tumor (OLT). Methods Patients who underwent lung SBRT with FFF were retrospectively reviewed. All patients were delivered using volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) technique. The primary outcome was local control (LC). The secondary outcomes were overall survival (OS) and toxicities. We assessed the association between LC and various factors in OLT. Results From February 2014 to July 2019, ninety-four patients and 129 lesions with median follow-up time of 30 months were included in the analysis. Twenty-six patients with 26 lesions were early NSCLC, while 68 patients with 103 lesions were OLT, 41.7% of which were from colorectal cancers (CRC) and 18.5% were from primary lung cancers. Two-year LC was 88.9% and 85.7% for early NSCLC and OLT, respectively. Two-year OS was significantly higher for early NSCLC than OLT (83.3% vs. 68.7%, P=0.035). In the multivariate analysis for OLT, CRC origin (hazard ratio, HR 10.59, 95% CI: 2.29–48.95, P=0.003) and gross tumor volume (GTV) mean BED10 ≤147 Gy (HR 5.16, 95% CI: 1.13–23.59, P=0.034) were significantly associated with higher local failure (LF). Most of the acute grade 1–2 toxicities were radiation pneumonitis (26.5%). No grade 3–5 event was observed. Conclusions This study confirmed the clinical efficacy and safety of lung SBRT using FFF-technique. Our findings support the role of using a high BED10 regimen to achieve good LC for OLT and the potential role for dose escalation for primary CRC.
Conceptual Design of the Combinable Legged Robot Bio-Inspired by Ants’ Structure

This study presents a new combinable multi-legged modular robot that mimics the structures of ants to expand the physical capabilities of the legged robot. To do this, the robot design is focused on exploring a fusion of two robotic platforms, modular and multi-legged, in which both the body frame and the legged structure are designed to be a rectangular prism and a 3-DoF sprawling-type articulated leg structure, respectively. By imitating ants’ claws, the hook-link structure of the robot as the coupling mechanism is proposed. This study includes the platform’s development, and the experimental work on the locomotion in both single and combined modes is carried out. The result of this study proves that mimicking ants’ structure in the proposed robots successfully enhances the capability of the conventional legged robot. It is feasible to use in a multi-robot system to realize ants’ super-organized behavior.
Graphene quantum Hall effect parallel resistance arrays

As first recognized in 2010, epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) provides a platform for quantized Hall resistance (QHR) metrology unmatched by other two-dimensional structures and materials. Here we report graphene parallel QHR arrays, with metrologically precise quantization near 1000 Ω. These arrays have tunable carrier densities, due to uniform epitaxial growth and chemical functionalization, allowing quantization at the robust ν = 2 filling factor in array devices at relative precision better than 10−8. Broad tunability of the carrier density also enables investigation of the ν = 6 plateau. Optimized networks of QHR devices described in this work suppress Ohmic contact resistance error using branched contacts and avoid crossover leakage with interconnections that are superconducting for quantizing magnetic fields up to 13.5 T. Our work enables more direct scaling of resistance for quantized values in arrays of arbitrary network geometry.
Observed Water Exchange Between the South China Sea and Java Sea Through Karimata Strait

Volume, heat and freshwater transports from the South China Sea (SCS) to the Java Sea through the Karimata Strait are estimated based on direct measurements of current, temperature, salinity, and satellite observations. Subject to strong seasonal variability, the volume, heat, freshwater transports are −1.98 ± 0.23 Sv (1 Sv = 10 6 m 3 /s), −209.68 ± 15.19 TW (1 TW = 10 12 W), −99.87 ± 15.11 mSv (1 mSv = 10 -3 Sv) in boreal winter, and 0.47 ± 0.20 Sv, 61.06 ± 15.46 TW, 31.67 ± 8.76 mSv in boreal summer, respectively (negative transport defined from SCS to Java Sea). The annual mean volume, heat and freshwater transports are −0.78 ± 0.12 Sv, −77.31 ± 4.99 TW, and −30.87 ± 6.15 mSv, respectively. The freshwater transport through Karimata Strait is as large as 42% of rainfall input to the entire Indonesian seas in boreal winter, thereby modulating the Indonesian Throughflow (ITF) through the “freshwater plug” effect in the Makassar Strait. The interannual variability of the transports is not significantly correlated to the Indian Ocean Dipole and El Niño-Southern Oscillation. There is a significant decreasing trend of volume and heat transports from the SCS to Java Sea over the period of 1997–2015, with a reduction of 0.26 Sv and 15 TW, respectively. The freshwater transport decreases 12.29 mSv by 2016 compared with that in 2009, equivalent to 33.2%–49.72% of the annual mean freshwater transport during 2009–2016. This decreasing trend would play contradictory roles in the decadal trend of ITF transport by building a “freshwater plug” in the southern Makassar Strait and a ‘buoyant plume’ in the Indo-Australian Basin, respectively. were based on observations less than 1 year. In this study, ten-year records of direct measurements and satellite observations are used to calculate the volume, heat and freshwater transports of the Karimata Throughflow from 1993 to 2017. The updated climatological transports corroborate our previous estimation. The interannual variability of the Karimata Throughflow is not well correlated with either the Indian Ocean Dipole or El Niño-Southern Oscillation. The results also reveal significant decreasing trend of volume, heat and freshwater transports from the SCS to the Java Sea over the 1997–2015 period. The importance of the decreasing trends lies in the fact that it may modulate ITF by dual factors: first, the “freshwater plug” may be less effective in inhibiting water transport of the ITF in Makassar Strait; second, the “salinity effect” that suggests freshening of the buoyant plume in the Indo-Australian Basin favoring the enhancement of ITF would be depressed. from 1993 2017 are estimated based on in situ and satellite observations • Karimata Throughflow shows a strong seasonal cycle driven by monsoon and weak interannual variation that is less correlated to Indian Ocean Dipole and El Niño-Southern Oscillation • A significant decrease in freshwater transport into Indonesian seas may influence the decadal enhancement of the Indonesian Throughflow
Conduction mechanism of Co-doped ZnO transparent memristive devices

The Co dopant substitutes the Zn atomic position in the hexagonal crystal lattice and generates acceptor defects. These defects play significant role in modulating the conduction mechanism of the memristive device. The devices without Co dopant have high concentration of donor defects so that the electron can flow easily through hopping these donor defects; henceforth, only weak filaments can be formed during the set process. Meanwhile, the increase of the acceptor defects in the films enhances the film resistivity. This acceptor defects also contribute to an increase of barrier height at the electrode/dielectric interface where the electrons require higher energy to overcome this barrier and, eventually, induce the formation of strong filaments during the set process.
Pedestrian identification in infrared and visible images based on pose keypoints matching

The identification of persons in multi-spectral images that are not spatially aligned is a challenging process. A correct identification can improve the pedestrian detection task for machine vision applications. In this context we propose a person identification mechanism able to correctly find the same person in infrared and visible images. The main contribution of the paper is the keypoint based matcher that uses a deep learning based solution for finding relevant human pose keypoints and a local neighbour search for extracting the best candidates for person identification. For each of the two images, infrared and color we first perform pedestrian detection. Next, on each detected instance we extract the relevant keypoints for shoulders, hands and legs. A matching algorithm between the extracted keypoints is proposed in order to perform the identification of persons in the two images. We obtain an identification accuracy of 76% for pedestrians that have a medium height with respect to the image dimensions, and have a small occlusion degree.
COVID-19 monetary transfer in El Salvador: determining factors

Abstract Given the lack of governmental guidelines, this paper identifies and analyzes the statistical determinants associated with receiving the onetime monetary transfer in El Salvador ($300 dollars) as an economic measure to face the COVID-19 pandemic. A logistic regression was implemented (whether received the transfer or not) based on a probabilistic sample (n=1222) of surveyed people throughout the country. Independent variables were selected drawing upon key characteristics employed internationally in monetary transfers: age, gender, rural area, employment, family income, and education. The text identifies a statistically significant and negative relation between receiving the monetary transfer and two variables: family income and educational level. The need to increase coverage of the program is addressed as well as the importance of considering age, gender, rural areas, and employment as criteria for selecting the beneficiaries in such economic measures.
Research on Transmission Equipment Defect Detection based on Edge Intelligent Analysis

In the transmission system, the continuous load operation and the external environment will make the equipment fault hidden danger, which will affect the stable operation of the transmission system. In this paper, an edge intelligent analysis system of transmission equipment defect image recognition is proposed. The system migrates the cloud image recognition to the edge. Feature Pyramid Network(FPN) is introduced into Single Shot MultiBox Detector(SSD) object detection algorithm based on MobileNet v1 feature extraction network to detect defects of different sizes in large-size, small-size, tower and insulator equipment. So as to realize the rapid positioning of defects and upload the results to the cloud. The results of system application show that the accuracy and recall rate of the proposed system are high. In the case of ensuring the detection accuracy, it meets the real-time requirements of detection. The system can effectively improve the automation level of transmission equipment operation and maintenance. While improving the operation and maintenance efficiency of transmission lines, the safe operation of the transmission system is ensured.
Color Correction and Repair of Haze Images Under Hue-saturation-intensity Color Space and Machine Learning

To improve the visual effect and quality of haze images after fog removal, a model for color correction and repair of haze images under hue-saturation-intensity (HSI) color space combined with machine learning is proposed. First, the haze image imaging model is constructed according to the atmospheric scattering theory. Second, based on HSI color space, the color enhancement and fog removal of the haze image model is proposed, and a haze image-transmittancegallery is constructed. Third, the visual dictionary of the transmittance graph is obtained by training the k-means clustering algorithm based on density parameter optimization and support vector machine algorithm based on genetic algorithm optimization. Fourth, based on the visual dictionary and the atmospheric scattering model, the haze image is repaired and defogged, and the subjective visual effects and objective evaluation indexes of color enhancement and fog removal of haze images are compared. It is concluded that the algorithm can effectively guarantee the detail and clarity of the image after defogging.
Size effect analysis of quasi-brittle fracture with localizing gradient damage model

The size effect of a quasi-brittle fracture is associated with the size of fracture process zone relative to the structural characteristic length. In numerical simulations using damage models, the nonlocal enhancement is commonly adopted to regularize the softening response. However, the conventional nonlocal enhancement, both integral and gradient approaches, induces a spurious spreading of damage zone. Since the evolution of fracture process zone cannot be captured well, the conventional nonlocal enhancement cannot predict the size effect phenomenon accurately. In this paper, the localizing gradient enhancement is adopted to avoid the spurious spreading of damage. Considering the three-point bend test of concrete beams, it is demonstrated that the dissipation profiles obtained with the localizing gradient enhancement compare well with those of reference meso-scale lattice models. With the correct damage evolution process, the localizing gradient enhancement is shown to capture the size effect phenomenon accurately for a series of geometrically similar concrete beams, using only a single set of material parameters.
Determination of cobalt(II), nickel(II) and palladium(II) Ions via fabric phase sorptive extraction in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography-UV detection

ABSTRACT A method for the determination of Co(II), Ni(II) and Pd(II) in aqueous samples by fabric phase sorptive extraction-high-performance liquid chromatography-UV detection (FPSE-HPLC-UV) is developed. A preconcentration step was necessary due to the trace level concentrations of these elements in aqueous samples. Sol-gel polytetrahydrofuran nanocomposite was selected as the sorbent. All major FPSE parameters were optimized. The limit of detection for Co(II), Ni(II) and Pd(II) morpholino dithiocarbamate complexes were found at much lower concentration level compared with earlier reported data with excellent reproducibility. The new FPSE-HPLC-UV method can be used for routine determination of these metal species in various aqueous environmental samples and in different alloys.
Interpersonal human relations: a profile of the literature on social skills

This study aimed to investigate the trends of available national contributions on social skills in scientific journals indexed in the area of psychology. This is a narrative review of the scientific literature on the field of social skills in Brazil carried out in the Index Psi database. We have observed 36 articles that met the selection criteria established. Among the main results, we highlight that a prevalent publications profile was presented with children and adolescents as the main target audience, and the Del Prette Social Skills Inventory as an instrument for data collection. We highlight interventions to appropriate the repertoire of social skills in all stages of human development since childhood, with special care for the male sex. It is concluded that the reasonable amount of articles on social skills, are directed to approaches already traditional in the literature with strong influence in the field of psychological and educational studies in general. The panorama evidenced in the present study suggests opening up on the horizon an extensive and important agenda for a better understanding of social skills in the Brazilian scenario, in relation to its association with topics still little investigated, namely, health promotion in the territory, professional categories, lifestyle and quality of life related to health, and the still emerging themes of spirituality and religiosity.