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EpiVECS: exploring spatiotemporal epidemiological data using cluster embedding and interactive visualization
Abstract The analysis of data over space and time is a core part of descriptive epidemiology, but the complexity of spatiotemporal data makes this challenging. There is a need for methods that simplify the exploration of such data for tasks such as surveillance and hypothesis generation. In this paper, we use combined clustering and dimensionality…
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Writing dissected, and big answers to simple questions: Books in brief
Symbols Richard Sproat Springer (2023) Linguists differ on what counts as writing. Inclusivists use the term to cover mathematical symbols and emoji, whereas exclusivists accept only symbol systems with a phonetic element, such as European alphabets and Chinese characters. Computational linguist Richard Sproat is an exclusivist. His ambitious, in-depth book is the first systematic study…
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Approaching 1.5 °C: how will we know we’ve reached this crucial warming mark?
The world is already more than 1 °C warmer on average than it was before industrial times, owing to greenhouse gases released from human activities. And that value is rising. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects that there is at least a 50% chance that long-term global warming will overshoot 1.5 °C in…
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Gravitational waves from mega black-hole collision reveal long-sought ‘ringing’
The largest black-hole merger ever detected seemed to produce a black hole 150 times the mass of the Sun, in defiance of some accepted theories. Researchers now say they’ve found, for the first time, evidence of the long-sought vibrations produced by the resulting black hole as it settled into a spherical shape. The findings provide…
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Reshaping the training landscape by addressing cultural taxation
Minoritized doctoral students are subject to cultural taxation — disproportionate expectations and obligations based on their race or ethnicity — that negatively impacts their PhD studies. Faculty members and departments should counteract this taxation to support students of colour. Like every student attending a doctoral psychology program, students of colour attend graduate school to hone…
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Endlings
The machine is dead. I will watch over it until it isn’t. I no longer remember when I started waiting for the tiny red bulb of the machine to light up. I do, however, remember thinking that it was a noble assignment. I cringe at the pride and the sense of urgency I assigned to…
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Open-science drug discovery for COVID-19
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT 01 December 2023 Sarah Crunkhorn Sarah Crunkhorn The SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) is an attractive antiviral target due to its indispensable role in viral replication, high degree of conservation across coronaviruses, and low homology with human proteases. Indeed, first generation oral Mpro inhibitors, such as nirmatrelvir, have demonstrated clinical efficacy. However, as co-dosing…
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The association between the workload of emergency physicians and the outcomes of acute myocardial infarction: a population-based study
Abstract Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the second leading cause of mortality in Taiwan. The correlation between the workload of emergency physicians and the outcome of AMI remains unknown. To determine the effects of the workload of emergency physicians on the outcomes of AMI. We included 17 661 patients (age > 18 years) with STEMI undergoing PCI, who visited…
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New thermal decomposition pathway for TATB
Abstract Understanding the thermal decomposition behavior of TATB (1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene) is a major focus in energetic materials research because of safety issues. Previous research and modelling efforts have suggested benzo-monofurazan condensation producing H2O is the initiating decomposition step. However, early evolving CO2 (m/z 44) along with H2O (m/z 18) evolution have been observed by mass spectrometric…
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Evelyn Fox Keller (1936–2023), philosopher who questioned gender roles in science
Credit: Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Evelyn Fox Keller achieved prominence for her studies on gender and science, the role of language in shaping how we see and study the world and her analysis of key concepts in modern biology, such as the gene. Keller tackled the fundamental question of how scientific knowledge is created and…