Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

Mortality from gastrointestinal congenital anomalies at 264 hospitals in 74 low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries: a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study

Summary Background Congenital anomalies are the fifth leading cause of mortality in children younger than 5 years globally. Many gastrointestinal congenital anomalies are fatal without timely access to neonatal surgical care, but few studies have been done on these conditions in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs). We compared outcomes of the seven most common gastrointestinal congenital anomalies in low-income, middle-income, and high-income countries globally, and identified factors associated with mortality. Methods We did a multicentre, international prospective cohort study of patients younger than 16 years, presenting to hospital for the first time with oesophageal atresia, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, exomphalos, anorectal malformation, and Hirschsprung’s disease. Recruitment was of consecutive patients for a minimum of 1 month between October, 2018, and April, 2019. We collected data on patient demographics, clinical status, interventions, and outcomes using the REDCap platform. Patients were followed up for 30 days after primary intervention, or 30 days after admission if they did not receive an intervention. The primary outcome was all-cause, in-hospital mortality for all conditions combined and each condition individually, stratified by country income status. We did a complete case analysis. Findings We included 3849 patients with 3975 study conditions (560 with oesophageal atresia, 448 with congenital diaphragmatic hernia, 681 with intestinal atresia, 453 with gastroschisis, 325 with exomphalos, 991 with anorectal malformation, and 517 with Hirschsprung’s disease) from 264 hospitals (89 in high-income countries, 166 in middleincome countries, and nine in low-income countries) in 74 countries. Of the 3849 patients, 2231 (58·0%) were male. Median gestational age at birth was 38 weeks (IQR 36–39) and median bodyweight at presentation was 2·8 kg (2·3–3·3). Mortality among all patients was 37 (39·8%) of 93 in low-income countries, 583 (20·4%) of 2860 in middle-income countries, and 50 (5·6%) of 896 in high-income countries (p<0·0001 between all country income groups). Gastroschisis had the greatest difference in mortality between country income strata (nine [90·0%] of ten in lowincome countries, 97 [31·9%] of 304 in middle-income countries, and two [1·4%] of 139 in high-income countries; p≤0·0001 between all country income groups). Factors significantly associated with higher mortality for all patients combined included country income status (low-income vs high-income countries, risk ratio 2·78 [95% CI 1·88–4·11], p<0·0001; middle-income vs high-income countries, 2·11 [1·59–2·79], p<0·0001), sepsis at presentation (1·20 [1·04–1·40], p=0·016), higher American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score at primary intervention (ASA 4–5 vs ASA 1–2, 1·82 [1·40–2·35], p<0·0001; ASA 3 vs ASA 1–2, 1·58, [1·30–1·92], p<0·0001]), surgical safety checklist not used (1·39 [1·02–1·90], p=0·035), and ventilation or parenteral nutrition unavailable when needed (ventilation 1·96, [1·41–2·71], p=0·0001; parenteral nutrition 1·35, [1·05–1·74], p=0·018). Administration of parenteral nutrition (0·61, [0·47–0·79], p=0·0002) and use of a peripherally inserted central catheter (0·65 [0·50–0·86], p=0·0024) or percutaneous central line (0·69 [0·48–1·00], p=0·049) were associated with lower mortality. Interpretation Unacceptable differences in mortality exist for gastrointestinal congenital anomalies between lowincome, middle-income, and high-income countries. Improving access to quality neonatal surgical care in LMICs will be vital to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 3.2 of ending preventable deaths in neonates and children younger than 5 years by 2030

Performance analysis of IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11g under Bursty traffic

Technology from the end of last millennium, has been shifting with an unprecedented velocity scaling human anxiety down; communication technology, perhaps demonstrated the highest. Within the frontier of such profundities, reclines a key concern; Quality, insisting acute and multidisciplinary contemplation on any techno-upgrade. Quality has been judged and perceived by the values that are being added or promised. However, evaluative sophistication lies on multi-dimensionalities of qualitative parameterisation; seeds in, due to perceptual inequities between designer and user. While designer observe an upgrade to promise higher efficiency in one parameter, other demonstrate sufficient inadequacy trivialising the initiative. Furthermore, while technical parameters are considered as qualitative value in engineering discipline, socioeconomic parameters are perceived as evaluative characteristics of technology. In term of wireless and communication technologies, equilibrium is calibrated based on no less than four criterions; 'nice even data flow in information exchange', 'consistent availability', 'cost effective application' and 'security'. By far, profound level of scientific exhaustion has been laid managing and enhancing service qualities of WLAN and yet even with such suggestive superfluity, many of the proposals are not deployed to support commercial IP backbone due to the nature of fiddly complexities embedded within the proposals. IEEE802.11 committee enhances the standard protocols to support or promise better QoS for wireless communication and so far marketed numbers of standard protocols; yet fails to guarantee every need and wants for every user. To the extent where IEEE802.11 standards are concerned, there has been much disputes which standard protocol is the best to adopt; puzzles the user groups as well as the cognoscenti groups. This research paper is an endeavour to undergo an experimental qualitative analysis between IEEE802.11a and IEEE802.11g, both of which have played enough roles in communication industry by resolving standardization disputes among the inter-continental WLAN setup. In an effort to uplift the quality, IEEE802.11g has been upgraded with CSMA/CA mechanism so to ensure data packets are not collided (thus to promise better quality to services). This initiative, thus, focused on how far the upgrade has enhanced the QoS of WLAN

Orientation of Carbon Fibers in Copper matrix Produced by Powder Injection Molding

Fiber orientation is a big challenge in short fiber reinforced composites. Powder injection molding (PIM) process has some intrinsic fiber alignment associated with it. During PIM process fibers in skin region of moldings are aligned as these regions experience higher shear flow caused by the mold walls. Fibers in the core region remain randomly aligned as these regions are far from mold walls and experience lesser shear flow. In this study short carbon fiber (CF) reinforced copper matrix composite was developed by PIM process. Two copper composite feedstock formulations were prepared having 5 vol% and 10 vol% CFs and a wax based binder system. Fiber orientation was controlled during injection molding by using a modified mold that has a diverging sprue. The sprue creates converging flow when feedstock enters into the mold cavity. Fiber orientation was analysed after molding using FESEM. The orientation of fibers can be controlled by controlling flow of feedstock into the mold

Congestion control in wireless sensor network

Wireless sensor network also known as (WSN) is a broad research area with a lot of issues and challenges. With the passage of time, a lot of issues have been resolved, but there are still many awaiting. In WSN, there are different nodes connected to each other, creating an ad-hoc network. Each node collects data and send it to the destination (base station) via ad-hoc network. We face a lot of problems in localization of nodes and transportation of data. During transportation of data, many times we waste energy due to the large volume of data, causing packet drops and in result decrease the throughput of the network. In WSNs the congestion decreases the lifetime of nodes, it should be controlled in order to save energy and resources. Many aspects of the network can affect the congestion, such as rate of report, density of node, size of packet, etc. We will see the challenges we face and different techniques to control the congestion of WSN

Experimental Preparation and Numerical Simulation of High Thermal Conductive Cu/CNTs Nanocomposites

Due to the rapid growth of high performance electronics devices accompanied by overheating problem, heat dissipater nanocomposites material having ultra-high thermal conductivity and low coefficient of thermal expansion was proposed. In this work, a nanocomposite material made of copper (Cu) reinforced by multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) up to 10 vol. % was prepared and their thermal behaviour was measured experimentally and evaluated using numerical simulation. In order to numerically predict the thermal behaviour of Cu/CNTs composites, three different prediction methods were performed. The results showed that rules of mixture method records the highest thermal conductivity for all predicted composites. In contrast, the prediction model which takes into account the influence of the interface thermal resistance between CNTs and copper particles, has shown the lowest thermal conductivity which considered as the closest results to the experimental measurement. The experimentally measured thermal conductivities showed remarkable increase after adding 5 vol.% CNTs and higher than the thermal conductivities predicted via Nan models, indicating that the improved fabrication technique of powder injection molding that has been used to produced Cu/CNTs nanocomposites has overcome the challenges assumed in the mathematical models

A review of processing techniques for graphene-reinforced metal matrix composites

In the quest to enhance reinforcement efficiency of graphene in metal matrices, various processing techniques have been devised over recent years. As the advancement in this field nowhere seems to slow down, the processing aspects of graphene-reinforced metal matrix composites are becoming more relevant than ever. In that premise, there lies an imminent need for a critical assessment of existing fabrication routes and their ability to extend a solution for the primary challenges of agglomeration, dispersion, interfacial interaction and structural integrity of graphene in metal matrix composites. This review presents a brief yet a meaningful insight to the processing techniques for graphene-reinforced metal matrix composites, while highlighting the key findings from individual studies, thereby expressing the primitive challenges and strengthens of these techniques. A critical evaluation of state of the art is presented alongside an inclusive review of improvement in mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of composites fabricated by various processing routes. In the consideration of reviewed literature, it is established that a comprehensive processing strategy with a potential to simultaneously address all of the key processing challenges of graphene, is yet to nurture. Conclusively, future road map and a potential solution encompassing hybrid processing strategies, is opined