Search results for: Valerie A. Thompson

Authors: Anoop T. R., Otman Basir, Robert F. Hess, Ben Thompson

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Strabismus refers to a misalignment of the eyes. Early detection and treatment of strabismus in childhood can prevent the development of permanent vision loss due to abnormal development of visual brain areas. Currently, many children with strabismus remain undiagnosed until school entry because current automated screening methods have limited success in the preschool age range. A method for strabismus detection using eye alignment stability (EAS) is proposed. This method starts with face detection, followed by facial landmark detection, eye region segmentation, eye gaze extraction, and eye alignment stability estimation. Binarization and morphological operations are performed for segmenting the pupil region from the eye. After finding the EAS, its absolute value is used to differentiate the strabismic eye from the non-strabismic eye. If the value of the eye alignment stability is greater than a particular threshold, then the eyes are misaligned, and if its value is less than the threshold, the eyes are aligned. The method was tested on 175 strabismic and non-strabismic images obtained from Kaggle and Google Photos. The strabismic eye is taken as a positive class, and the non-strabismic eye is taken as a negative class. The test produced a true positive rate of 100% and a false positive rate of 7.69%.

Keywords: strabismus, face detection, facial landmarks, eye segmentation, eye gaze, binarization

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Authors: Rym Sassi, Franck Fayon, Mohend Chaouche, Emmanuel Veron, Valerie Montouillout

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The chemical phenomena occurring during cement hydration are complex and interdependent, and even after almost two centuries of studies, they are still difficult to solve for complex mixtures combining different hydraulic binders. Powder-XRD has been widely used for characterizing the crystalline phases in both anhydrous and hydrated cement, but only limited information is obtained in the case of strongly disordered and amorphous phases. In contrast, local spectroscopies like solid-state NMR can provide a quantitative description of noncrystalline phases. In this work, the structural modifications occurring during hydration of a fast-setting ternary binder based on white Portland cement, white calcium aluminate cement, and calcium sulfate were investigated using advanced solid-state NMR methods. We particularly focused on the early stage of the hydration up to 28 days, working with samples whose hydration was controlled and stopped. ²⁷Al MQ-MAS as well as {¹H}-²⁷Al and {¹H}-²⁹Si Cross- Polarization MAS NMR techniques were combined to distinguish all of the aluminum and silicon species formed during the hydration. The NMR quantification of the different phases was conducted in parallel with the XRD analyses. The consumption of initial products, as well as the precipitation of hydraulic phases (ettringite, monosulfate, strätlingite, CSH, and CASH), were unambiguously quantified. Finally, the drawing of the consumption and formation of phases was correlated with mechanical strength measurements.

Keywords: cement, hydration, hydrates structure, mechanical strength, NMR

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Authors: Andre Slonopas, Zona Kostic, Warren Thompson

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Obfuscation is one of the most useful tools to prevent network compromise. Previous research focused on the obfuscation of the network communications between external-facing edge devices. This work proposes the use of two edge devices, external and internal facing, which communicate via private IPv4 addresses in a software-defined pseudo-random IP hopping. This methodology does not require additional IP addresses and/or resources to implement. Statistical analyses demonstrate that the hopping surface must be at least 1e3 IP addresses in size with a broad standard deviation to minimize the possibility of coincidence of monitored and communication IPs. The probability of breaking the hopping algorithm requires a collection of at least 1e6 samples, which for large hopping surfaces will take years to collect. The probability of dropped packets is controlled via memory buffers and the frequency of hops and can be reduced to levels acceptable for video streaming. This methodology provides an impenetrable layer of security ideal for information and supervisory control and data acquisition systems.

Keywords: moving target defense, cybersecurity, network security, hopping randomization, software defined network, network security theory

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Authors: Arubi Thompson Abari

Abstract:

Globally, a writer is absolutely necessary to the society, for he mirrors and projects the society, grumbles and protects against the ills that hinders its development. A writer is committed to the language, social-cultural, political and economic factors that determine the sustenance of human dignity in the society. In this 21st century. The literary artist holds literature as a tool for the restoration and sustenance of human dignity. In Nigeria, literature is politically committed because colonialism gives birth to the modern Nigerian literature. Literature thus was regarded as one of the greatest weapons against colonialism in Nigeria. Nigerian literature is aimed at the restoration and sustenance of the dignity of Nigerians in the 21st century. A literary writer is a member of the society and his sensibility is conditioned by the socio-political situations around him. A writer cannot be excused from the task of regeneration and restoration of his past lost glorious days that must be done. This academic paper therefore showcases the efficacy of literature in bringing about the sustenance of human dignity in the 21st century. Consequently, the paper in its introduction clarifies some vital concepts. It discusses the forms of literature, portrays the ability and capability of literature as a tool for the sustenance of human dignity globally, and makes useful recommendations for the growth of knowledge in the 21st century and beyond.

Keywords: literature, sustenance, human dignity, 21st century

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Authors: Nan Stevens

Abstract:

Photo-voice is a participatory method through which participants identify and represent their lived experiences and contexts through the use of photo imagery. Photo-voice is a qualitative research method that explores individuals’ lived experiences. This method is known as a creative art form to help researchers listen to the 'voice' of a certain population. A teacher educator at Thompson Rivers University, responsible for preparing new teachers for the demands of the profession in an ever-changing demographic, utilized the Photo-voice method to enable a self-study of emerging teachers’ readiness for the inclusive classroom. Coding analysis was applied to 96 Photo-voice portfolios, which were created over two years with the Inclusive Education course work, in a Bachelor of Education program (Elementary). Coding utilized students’ written associations to their visual images, anecdotes attached to visual metaphors, and personal narratives that illustrated the professional development process in which they were engaged. Thematic findings include: 1) becoming an inclusive educator is a process; 2) one must be open to identifying and exploring their fear and biases, and 3) an attitudinal shift enables relevant skill acquisition and readiness for working with diverse student needs.

Keywords: teacher education, inclusive education, professional development, Photo-voice

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Authors: Julian Donovan, Jessica Brealey, Matthew Bowker, Marianne Feghali, Gregory Smith, Lee Thompson, Deborah Henderson

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This article details the development of the X-ray response team (XRT), a service that utilises innovative technology to safely deliver acute and elective imaging and medical assessment service in the pre-hospital and community setting. This involves a partnership between Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s Radiology and Emergency Medicine departments and the North East Ambulance Service to create a multidisciplinary prehospital team. The team committed to the delivery of a two-day acute service every week, alongside elective referrals, starting in November 2020. The service was originally made available to a 15-mile radius surrounding the Northumbria Hospital. Due to demand, this was expanded to include the North Tyneside and Northumberland regions. The target population was specified as frail and vulnerable patients, as well as those deemed to benefit from staying in their own environment. Within the first two months, thirty-six percent of patients assessed were able to stay at home due to the provision of off-site imaging. In the future, this service aims to allow patient transfer directly to an appropriate ward or clinic, bypassing the emergency department to improve the patient journey and reduce emergency care pressures.

Keywords: frailty, imaging, pre-hospital, X-ray

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Authors: Kailin K. Zhang, Anne W. Thompson

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Electronic learning for continuing professional education (CPE) and interprofessional education (IPE) in healthcare have been shown to improve learners’ satisfaction, attitudes, and performance. Yet, their impact on behavior change in healthcare professionals through continuing interprofessional education (CIPE) is less known. A scoping review of 32 articles from 2010 to 2020 was conducted using the Arksey and O’Malley framework across all healthcare settings. It focused on evaluating the effectiveness of CIPE on behavior change of healthcare professionals, as well as identifying course features of electronic CIPE programs facilitating behavior change. Eight different types of electronic learning methods, including online programs, tele-education, and social media, were identified as interventions. More than 35,542 healthcare professionals participated in the interventions. Electronic learning for CIPE led to positive behavior outcomes in 30 out of 32 studies, especially through a change in patient care practices. The most successful programs provided interactive and authentic learning experiences tailored to learners’ needs while promoting the direct application of what was learned in their clinical settings. Future research should include monitoring of sustained behavior changes and their resultant patient outcomes.

Keywords: behavior change, continuing interprofessional education, distance learning, electronic learning

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Authors: Lesa A. Thompson, Yoshinori Ikenaka, Victor Wepener, Mayumi Ishizuka

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One method for controlling malaria in endemic regions is the killing of vector mosquitoes using pesticides such as DDT in indoor residual spraying (IRS). This study was carried out to investigate the presence of and human health risk due to DDT and its metabolites (collectively, DDTs) contaminating human food sources in areas where DDT is used for IRS. Free-range chicken products (meat and eggs) were collected from homesteads in KwaZulu-Natal Province in the northeast of South Africa, and fish meat samples from Maputo Bay in neighbouring Mozambique. Samples were analysed for DDTs (o,p’-DDT, p,p’-DDT, o,p’-DDD, p,p’-DDD, o,p’-DDE and p,p’-DDE) using a gas chromatograph with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). DDTs were detected in all food types, with the predominant congener being p,p’-DDE. The presence of p,p’-DDT confirmed recent release of DDT into the environment. By using concentration levels detected in foods and national consumption levels, the risk to human health through consumption of such food products was calculated. In order of risk level, these were: chicken eggs > chicken meat > fish meat. Human risk (carcinogenic) values greater than one suggest there is an increased health risk through consumption of these foods.

Keywords: DDT, food contamination, human health risk, Mozambique, South Africa

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Authors: Tamara Thompson

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This presentation will address the vocality of American soprano Sibyl Sanderson (1865–1903) in Massenet’s Manon and Esclarmonde as discernible from documentary sources such as vocal treatises, annotated scores, and correspondence. These sources will then be compared and contrasted with Sanderson’s reception in French press. Sanderson sang Manon in 1888, which Massenet revised for her. She then created the role of Esclarmonde for the 1889 l'Exposition Universelle in Paris. The soprano appeared as the Byzantine Empress more than 100 times in the nine months following the premiere, which secured her fame and an international operatic career frought with controversy and criticism as well as adulation. Before her débuts as Manon and Esclarmonde, Sanderson received musical training in California and Paris from multiple teachers with varied and opposing methods. There will be an exploration of the ways in which the disparate pedagogic influences such as those taught by Giovanni Sbriglia and Jean de Reszké may have guided Sanderson’s vocal strategies, and possibly caused or promoted the severe vocal pathologies she battled in subsequent years. In addition, there is interrogation of the vocal writing and revisions made to the titular roles for Sanderson in order to assess how these factors may have affected her technique and vocal health.

Keywords: French, nineteenth-century, opera, pedagogy, vocality

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Authors: Angel Fabian Mijangos, Jaime Alvarez Quintana

Abstract:

Key concepts like waste heat recycling or waste heat recovery are the basic ideas in thermoelectricity so as to the design the newest solid state sources of energy for a stable supply of electricity and environmental protection. According to several theoretical predictions; at device level, the geometry and configuration of the thermoelectric legs are crucial in the thermoelectric performance of the thermoelectric modules. Thus, in this work, it has studied the geometry effect of legs on the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT of the device. First, asymmetrical legs are proposed in order to reduce the overall thermal conductance of the device so as to increase the temperature gradient in the legs, as well as by harnessing the Thomson effect, which is generally neglected in conventional symmetrical thermoelectric legs. It has been developed a novel design of a thermoelectric module having asymmetrical legs, and by first time it has been validated experimentally its thermoelectric performance by realizing a proof-of-concept device which shows to have almost twofold the thermoelectric figure of merit as compared to conventional one. Moreover, it has been also varied the length of thermoelectric legs in order to analyze its effect on the thermoelectric performance of the device. Along with this, it has studied the impact of contact resistance in these systems. Experimental results show that device architecture can improve up to twofold the thermoelectric performance of the device.

Keywords: asymmetrical legs, heat recovery, heat recycling, thermoelectric module, Thompson effect

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Authors: Ainolnaim Azizol, Valerie Ross

Abstract:

Music is as old as mankind and rituals using music such as Kavadi have been associated with social, cultural, and spiritual practices in many traditional and modern societies. Recent literature has provided scientific evidence that music affects psychological and physical changes through stimulation of brainwave. Despite such advances, the scientific study of the sonic qualities peculiar to traditional instruments and how it impacts on ritualistic activities is still lacking. This study addresses one such phenomenon. Devotees in Kavadi rituals are known to be in a state of trance state and do not experience pain nor suffer injury despite the hundreds of needles pierced through their skins. Although scientists have sought to understand how this is possible, lesser is known about the music that is used to prepare devotees to enter into the trance state. This study fills this gap of knowledge by providing scientific evidence through the identification and mapping of the sonic spectrum or sound fingerprint of the instruments and the repertoire used in these ritualistic forms in their ethnographic environment and in audio-controlled situations. The objectives are to identify and categorize the different types of traditional music used in Kavadi rituals; to record, transcribe and digitally score the musical repertoire used in the oral tradition of Kavadi rituals; to map the sonic spectrum of ritual music using spectromography and advanced music analytical software a mixed methodology will be used. This comprises ethnographic field studies using interviews, participant observation, audio-video recordings and audio-methodology using spectromography and advanced audio-technology for sonic mapping and the transcription of audio recordings into digital scores.

Keywords: sonic, traditional, ritual, Kavadi, music

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Authors: Yaser Al-Anii, Abdulmajeed Almaneea, Jonathan L. Summers, Harvey M. Thompson, Nikil Kapur

Abstract:

The natural convection cooling system of a fully immersed server in a dielectric liquid is studied numerically. In the present case study, the dielectric liquid represents working fluid and it is in contact with server inside capsule. The capsule includes electronic component and fluid which can be modeled as saturated porous media. This medium follow Darcy flow regime and assumed to be in balance between its components. The study focus is on role of spatial parameters on thermal behavior of convective heat transfer. Based on server known unit, which is 1U, two parameters Ly and S are changed to test their effect. Meanwhile, wide-range of modified Rayleigh number, which is 0.5 to 300, are covered to better understand thermal performance. Navier-Stokes equations are used to model physical domain. Furthermore, successive over-relaxation and time marching techniques are used to solve momentum and energy equation. From obtained correlation, the in-between distance S is more effective on Nusselt number than distance to edge Ly by approximately 14%. In addition, as S increases, the average Nusselt number of the upper unit increases sharply, whereas the lower one keeps on the same level.

Keywords: convective cooling of server, Darcy flow, liquid-immersed server, porous media

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Authors: Ifeanyichukwu Valerie Oguafor

Abstract:

Women generally have been categorized and placed under the chain of business industry, sometimes highly regarded and other times merely. The social construction of womanhood does not in all sense support a woman going into business, let alone succeed in it because it is believed that it a man’s world. In a typical patriarchal setting, a woman is expected to know nothing more domestic roles. For some women, this is not the case as they have been able to break these barriers to excel in business amidst these social setting and stereotypes. This study examines media representation of Nigerians business women, using content analysis of TV interviews as media text, framing analysis as an approach in qualitative methodology, The study further aims to analyse media frames of two Nigerian business women: FolorunshoAlakija, a business woman in the petroleum industry with current net worth 1.1 billion U.S dollars, emerging as the richest black women in the world 2014. MosunmolaAbudu, a media magnate in Nigeria who launched the first Africa’s global black entertainment and lifestyle network in 2013. This study used six predefined frames: the business woman, the myth of business women, the non-traditional woman, women in leading roles, the family woman, the religious woman, and the philanthropist woman to analyse the representation of Nigerian business women in the media. The analysis of the aforementioned frames on TV interviews with these women reveals that the media perpetually reproduces existing gender stereotype and do not challenge patriarchy. Women face challenges in trying to succeed in business while trying to keep their homes stable. This study concludes that the media represent and reproduce gender stereotypes in spite of the expectation of empowering women. The media reduces these women’s success insignificant rather than a role model for women in society.

Keywords: representation of business women in the media, business women in Nigeria, framing in the media, patriarchy, women's subordination

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Authors: Maritess A. Rulona

Abstract:

Cultural appropriation on traditional symbols has been a worldwide problem. Indonesia’s Batak Toba, an indigenous people group has experienced such appropriation. Bataknese has rich cultural heritage and oral traditions. Their cultural symbols originated from their folklores namely myths, legends, and folktales. This research used both oral traditions and cultural symbols of Batak Toba for a comparative analysis of their ancient and modern practices. This is anchored on Franz Boas’ Cultural Relativism in analyzing their five common cultural symbols. Further, it also utilized Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index to determine the common motif evident in their ten folklores. Ten Batak Toba key respondents provided information in this study. Some informants were also featured in the 20-minute documentary of this study. Thus, the findings were: 1) Traditional customs such as weddings, burial, and reburial are still observed using their cultural symbols; 2) The five most common cultural symbols are Ulos Ragidup, Sigale Gale, Rumah Bolon, Lake Toba, and Gondang; and 3) Batak culture values animals such as buffalo, lizard, and goldfish since they have ancient beliefs of mythical creatures; In conclusion, this study proved that there is a clear connection between the tribe’s oral traditions and cultural symbols. With these findings, this study recommends that elder Bataks teach younger Batak to be immersed in the cultural practices and to incorporate their traditional practices in their modern events.

Keywords: batak toba, cultural appropriation, motif-index, oral tradition, cultural emblems

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Authors: Ferreira RC, Simons HZ, Thompson WS, Cutler AJ, Dopico XC, Smyth DJ, Mashar M, Schuilenburg H, Walker NM, Dunger DB, Wallace C, Todd JA, Wicker LS, Pekalski ML

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Type 1 diabetes is caused by autoimmune destruction of insulin-secreting beta cells in the pancreas. T cells are known to play an important role in this immune-mediated destruction; however, there is no general consensus regarding alterations in cytokine production or T cell subsets in peripheral blood of patients with type 1 diabetes. Using polychromatic flow cytometry of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), we assessed production of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-21, IFN-γ and IL-17 by memory CD4 T effector (Teff) cells in 69 patients with type 1 diabetes and 61 healthy donors. We found a 21.9% (95% CI 5.8, 40.2; p = 3.9 × 10(-3)) higher frequency of IL-21(+) CD45RA(-) memory CD4(+) Teffs in patients with type 1 diabetes (geometric mean 5.92% [95% CI 5.44, 6.44]) compared with healthy donors (geometric mean 4.88% [95% CI 4.33, 5.50]). In a separate cohort of 30 patients with type 1 diabetes and 32 healthy donors, we assessed the frequency of circulating T follicular helper (Tfh) cells in whole blood. Consistent with the increased production of IL-21, we also found a 14.9% increase in circulating Tfh cells in the patients with type 1 diabetes (95% CI 2.9, 26.9; p = 0.016). Analysis of IL-21 production by PBMCs from a subset of 46 of the 62 donors immunophenotyped for Tfh showed that frequency of Tfh cells was associated with the frequency of IL-21+ cells (r2 = 0.174, p = 0.004). These results indicate that increased IL-21 production is likely to be an aetiological factor in the pathogenesis of type 1 diabetes that could be considered as a potential therapeutic target.

Keywords: T follicular helper cell, IL-21, IL-17, type 1 diabetes

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Authors: Yaser Al-Anii, Abdulmajeed Almaneea, Jonathan L. Summers, Harvey M. Thompson, Nikil Kapur

Abstract:

The natural convection cooling system of a fully immersed server in dielectric liquid is studied numerically. In present case study, the dielectric liquid represents working fluid and it is in contact with server inside capsule. The capsule includes electronic component and fluid, which can be modelled as saturated porous media. This medium follow Darcy flow regime and assumed to be in balance between its components. The study focus is on role of spatial parameters on thermal behavior of convective heat transfer. Based on server known unit, which is 1U, two parameters Ly and S are changed to test their effect. Meanwhile, wide range of modified Rayleigh number, which is 0.5 to 300, are covered to better understand thermal performance. Navier-Stokes equations are used to model physical domain. Furthermore, successive over relaxation and time marching techniques are used to solve momentum and energy equation. From obtained correlation, the in-between distance S is more effective on Nusselt number than distance to edge Ly by approximately 14%. In addition, as S increase, the average Nusselt number of the upper unit is increased sharply, whereas the lower one keeps on same level.

Keywords: convective cooling of server, darcy flow, liquid-immersed server, porous media

Procedia PDF Downloads 372

Authors: Przemyslaw Nogly, Tobias Weinert, Daniel James, Sergio Carbajo, Dmitry Ozerov, Antonia Furrer, Dardan Gashi, Veniamin Borin, Petr Skopintsev, Kathrin Jaeger, Karol Nass, Petra Bath, Robert Bosman, Jason Koglin, Matthew Seaberg, Thomas Lane, Demet Kekilli, Steffen Brünle, Tomoyuki Tanaka, Wenting Wu, Christopher Milne, Thomas A. White, Anton Barty, Uwe Weierstall, Valerie Panneels, Eriko Nango, So Iwata, Mark Hunter, Igor Schapiro, Gebhard Schertler, Richard Neutze, Jörg Standfuss

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Ultrafast isomerization of retinal is the primary step in a range of photoresponsive biological functions including vision in humans and ion-transport across bacterial membranes. We studied the sub-picosecond structural dynamics of retinal isomerization in the light-driven proton pump bacteriorhodopsin using an X-ray laser. Twenty snapshots with near-atomic spatial and temporal resolution in the femtosecond regime show how the excited all-trans retinal samples conformational states within the protein binding pocket prior to passing through a highly-twisted geometry and emerging in the 13-cis conformation. The aspartic acid residues and functional water molecules in proximity of the retinal Schiff base respond collectively to formation and decay of the initial excited state and retinal isomerization. These observations reveal how the protein scaffold guides this remarkably efficient photochemical reaction.

Keywords: bacteriorhodopsin, free-electron laser, retinal isomerization mechanism, time-resolved crystallography

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Authors: Justin D. Olmanson, Fitsum Abebe, Valerie Jones, Eric Kyle, Xianquan Liu, Katherine Robbins, Guieswende Rouamba

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The history of education technology--and designing, adapting, and adopting technologies for use in educational spaces--is nuanced, complex, and dynamic. Yet, despite a range of continually emerging technologies, the design and development process often yields results that appear quite similar in terms of affordances and interactions. Through this study we (1) verify the extent to which designs have been constrained, (2) consider what might account for it, and (3) offer a way forward in terms of how we might identify and strategically sidestep these influences--thereby increasing the diversity of our designs with a given technology or within a particular learning domain. We begin our inquiry from the perspective that a host of co-influencing elements, fields, and meta narratives converge on the education technology design process to exert a tangible, often homogenizing effect on the resultant designs. We identify several elements that influence design in often implicit or unquestioned ways (e.g. curriculum, learning theory, economics, learning context, pedagogy), we describe our methodology for identifying the elemental positionality embedded in a design, we direct our analysis to a particular subset of technologies in the field of literacy, and unpack our findings. Our early analysis suggests that the majority of education technologies designed for use/used in US public schools are heavily influenced by a handful of mainstream theories and meta narratives. These findings have implications for how we approach the education technology design process--which we use to suggest alternative methods for designing/ developing with emerging technologies. Our analytical process and re conceptualized design process hold the potential to diversify the ways emerging and established technologies get incorporated into our designs.

Keywords: curriculum, design, innovation, meta narratives

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Authors: Su-Lin Yu

Abstract:

This paper will explore how gender and care discourse are intersected, reformulated and contested in American daughters’ caregiving memoirs. In particular, it will attempt to show how gender structure has worked to regulate a daughter’s response to her mother’s illness. In other words, how do certain cultural notions and class difference affect the ways in which the daughter enacts her caregiving response to her mother’s illness? What is the interrelation of female subjectivity and care practice? To understand care and gender politics in the memoirs, this paper will engage in close readings of five texts: Sandra Bullock Simith’s Trading Places: Becoming My Mother’s Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir (2015),Martha Stettinius’s Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir (2012), Patricia Thompson Collamer’s Grace on the Ledge: a Caregiver's Memoir, Judith Henry’s The Dutiful Daughter's Guide to Caregiving: A Practical Memoir (2015), and The Daughter's Dilemma: A Survival Guide to Caring for an Aging, Abusive Parent by Emily Wanderer Cohen (2018). By analyzing these texts, this paper will show why adult daughters become the primary caregivers, how gender norms and care practices influence a daughter’s thoughts and actions, and how it affects her self-understanding. Taken as a whole, then, the paper will provide an important examination not only of care and gender politics, but also a contribution to the intersecting discourses of illness, death, and mother-daughter relationship.

Keywords: care ethics, daughter-mother relationship, gender politics, memoirs

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Authors: Noora Al Muftah, Reda Rawi, Richard Thompson, Halima Bensmail

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Clinical responses to anticancer therapies are often restricted to a subset of patients. In some cases, mutated cancer genes are potent biomarkers of response to targeted agents. There is an urgent need to identify biomarkers that predict which patients with are most likely to respond to treatment. Systematic efforts to correlate tumor mutational data with biologic dependencies may facilitate the translation of somatic mutation catalogs into meaningful biomarkers for patient stratification. To identify genomic features associated with drug sensitivity and uncover new biomarkers of sensitivity and resistance to cancer therapeutics, we have screened and integrated a panel of several hundred cancer cell lines from different databases, mutation, DNA copy number, and gene expression data for hundreds of cell lines with their responses to targeted and cytotoxic therapies with drugs under clinical and preclinical investigation. We found mutated cancer genes were associated with cellular response to most currently available Glioma cancer drugs and some frequently mutated genes were associated with sensitivity to a broad range of therapeutic agents. By linking drug activity to the functional complexity of cancer genomes, systematic pharmacogenomic profiling in cancer cell lines provides a powerful biomarker discovery platform to guide rational cancer therapeutic strategies.

Keywords: cancer, gene network, Lasso, penalized regression, P-values, unbiased estimator

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Authors: Ncoza Dlova, Tivani Mashamba-Thompson

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Garcinia livingstonei (Clusiaceae) extracts, morelloflavone- 7″- sulphate and sargaol were shown to be effective against hyper-pigmentation through inhibition of tyrosinase enzyme, in vitro . The aim of this study is to elucidate the structural mechanism through which morelloflavone- 7″- sulphate and sargaol binds human tyrosinase. Implementing a homology model to construct a tyrosinase model using the crystal structure of a functional unit from Octopus hemocyanin (PDB: 1JS8) as a reference template enabled us to create a human tyrosinase model. Molecular dynamics and binding free energy calculations were optimized to enable molecular dynamics simulation of the copper dependent inhibitors. Results show the importance of the hydrogen bond formation morelloflavone- 7″- sulphate and sargaol between compound and active site residues. Both complexes demonstrated the metallic coordination between compound and arginine residue as well as copper ions within the active site. The comprehensive molecular insight gained from this study should be vital in understanding the binding mechanism morelloflavone- 7″- sulphate and sargaol. Moreover, these results will assist in the design of novel of metal ion dependent enzyme inhibitors as potential anti-hyper-pigmentation disorder therapies.

Keywords: hyper-pigmentation disorders, dyschromia African skin, morelloflavone- 7″- sulphate, sagoal

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Authors: Jack R. McKenzie, Peter A. Appleby, Thomas House, Neil Walton

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Cold-start is a notoriously difficult problem which can occur in recommendation systems, and arises when there is insufficient information to draw inferences for users or items. To address this challenge, a contextual bandit algorithm – the Fast Approximate Bayesian Contextual Cold Start Learning algorithm (FAB-COST) – is proposed, which is designed to provide improved accuracy compared to the traditionally used Laplace approximation in the logistic contextual bandit, while controlling both algorithmic complexity and computational cost. To this end, FAB-COST uses a combination of two moment projection variational methods: Expectation Propagation (EP), which performs well at the cold start, but becomes slow as the amount of data increases; and Assumed Density Filtering (ADF), which has slower growth of computational cost with data size but requires more data to obtain an acceptable level of accuracy. By switching from EP to ADF when the dataset becomes large, it is able to exploit their complementary strengths. The empirical justification for FAB-COST is presented, and systematically compared to other approaches on simulated data. In a benchmark against the Laplace approximation on real data consisting of over 670, 000 impressions from autotrader.co.uk, FAB-COST demonstrates at one point increase of over 16% in user clicks. On the basis of these results, it is argued that FAB-COST is likely to be an attractive approach to cold-start recommendation systems in a variety of contexts.

Keywords: cold-start learning, expectation propagation, multi-armed bandits, Thompson Sampling, variational inference

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Authors: Mounir Azzam, Valerie Graw, Andreas Rienow

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The Syrian war, which commenced in 2011, has resulted in significant changes in the real estate market in the Damascus metropolitan area, with rising levels of insecurity and disputes over tenure rights. The quest for spatial justice is, therefore, imperative, and this study performs a spatiotemporal analysis to investigate the impact of the war on real estate differentiation. Using the hedonic price models including 2,411 housing transactions over the period 2010-2022, this study aims to understand the spatial dynamics of the real estate market in wartime. Our findings indicate that war variables have had a significant impact on the differentiation and depreciation of property prices. Notably, property attributes have a more substantial impact on real estate values than district location, with severely damaged buildings in Damascus city resulting in an 89% decline in prices, while prices in Rural Damascus districts have decreased by 50%. Additionally, this study examines the urban texture of Damascus using correlation and homogeneity statistics derived from the gray-level co-occurrence matrix obtained from Google Earth Engine. We monitored 250 samples from hedonic datasets within three different years of the Syrian war (2015, 2019, and 2022). Our findings show that correlation values were highly differentiated, particularly among Rural Damascus districts, with a total decline of 87.2%. While homogeneity values decreased overall between 2015 and 2019, they improved slightly after 2019. The findings have valuable implications, not only for investment prospects in setting up a successful reconstruction strategy but also for spatial justice of property rights in strongly encouraging sustainable real estate development.

Keywords: hedonic price, real estate differentiation, reconstruction strategy, spatial justice, urban texture analysis

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Authors: Tivani Phosa Mashamba-Thompson, Mahmoud E. S. Soliman

Abstract:

To date, the cause of neurodegeneration is not well understood and diseases that stem from neurodegeneration currently have no known cures. Cathepsin B (CB) enzyme is known to be involved in the production of peptide neurotransmitters and toxic peptides in neurodegenerative diseases (NDs). CA-074Me is a membrane-permeable irreversible selective cathepsin B (CB) inhibitor as confirmed by in vivo studies. Due to the lack of the crystal structure, the binding mode of CA-074Me with the human CB at molecular level has not been previously reported. The main aim of this study is to gain an insight into the binding mode of CB CA-074Me to human CB using various computational tools. Herein, molecular dynamics simulations, binding free energy calculations and per-residue energy decomposition analysis were employed to accomplish the aim of the study. Another objective was to identify novel CB inhibitors based on the structure of CA-074Me using fragment based drug design using scaffold hoping drug design approach. Results showed that two of the designed ligands (hit 1 and hit 2) were found to have better binding affinities than the prototype inhibitor, CA-074Me, by ~2-3 kcal/mol. Per-residue energy decomposition showed that amino acid residues Cys29, Gly196, His197 and Val174 contributed the most towards the binding. The Van der Waals binding forces were found to be the major component of the binding interactions. The findings of this study should assist medicinal chemist towards the design of potential irreversible CB inhibitors.

Keywords: cathepsin B, scaffold hopping, docking, molecular dynamics, binding-free energy, neurodegerative diseases

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Authors: Elizabeth McLean, Katrina Skewes-McFerran, Grace Thompson

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Scholarship highlights the need to further examine and better understand and foster the process of becoming a parent to a premature baby in the neonatal context to support the critical development of the parent-infant relationship. Music therapy research documents significant benefits of music therapy on neonatal physiological and neurodevelopmental function, reduced maternal anxiety and validating parents’ relationship with their premature baby, yet limited studies examine the role of music in supporting parental identity. This was a multi-site study, exploring parents’ musical engagement with their hospitalised baby and parental identity in a NU. In-depth interviews with nine parents of a premature baby across varying time points in their NU journey took place. Data collection and analysis was influenced by Constructive Grounded Theory methodology. Findings in the form of a substantive grounded theory illuminated the contribution of parents’ musical engagement on their sense of parental identity in the NU. Specifically, the significance of their baby’s level and type of response during musical interactions in influencing parents’ capacity to engage in musical dialogue with their baby emerged. Specific conditions that acted as both barriers and fosters in parents’ musical engagement across a high- risk pregnancy and NU admission also emerged. Recommendations for future research into the role of music and music therapy in supporting parental coping and transition to parenthood during a high-risk pregnancy and birth and beyond the NU will be discussed.

Keywords: grounded theory, musical engagement, music therapy, parental identity

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Authors: A. Almaneea, N. Kapur, J. L. Summers, H. M. Thompson

Abstract:

Meeting the growth in demand for digital services such as social media, telecommunications, and business and cloud services requires large scale data centres, which has led to an increase in their end use energy demand. Generally, over 30% of data centre power is consumed by the necessary cooling overhead. Thus energy can be reduced by improving the cooling efficiency. Air and liquid can both be used as cooling media for the data centre. Traditional data centre cooling systems use air, however liquid is recognised as a promising method that can handle the more densely packed data centres. Liquid cooling can be classified into three methods; rack heat exchanger, on-chip heat exchanger and full immersion of the microelectronics. This study quantifies the improvements of heat transfer specifically for the case of immersed microelectronics by varying the CPU and heat sink location. Immersion of the server is achieved by filling the gap between the microelectronics and a water jacket with a dielectric liquid which convects the heat from the CPU to the water jacket on the opposite side. Heat transfer is governed by two physical mechanisms, which is natural convection for the fixed enclosure filled with dielectric liquid and forced convection for the water that is pumped through the water jacket. The model in this study is validated with published numerical and experimental work and shows good agreement with previous work. The results show that the heat transfer performance and Nusselt number (Nu) is improved by 89% by placing the CPU and heat sink on the bottom of the microelectronics enclosure.

Keywords: CPU location, data centre cooling, heat sink in enclosures, immersed microelectronics, turbulent natural convection in enclosures

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Authors: Cristian Matti, Valerie Fowles, Eva Enyedi, Piotr Pogorzelski

Abstract:

The system mapping process can be defined as a knowledge service where a team of facilitators, experts and practitioners facilitate a guided conversation, enable the exchange of information and support an iterative curation process. System mapping processes rely on science-based tools to introduce and simplify a variety of components and concepts of socio-technical systems through metaphors while facilitating an interactive dialogue process to enable the design of co-created maps. System maps work then as “artifacts” to provide information and focus the conversation into specific areas around the defined challenge and related decision-making process. Knowledge management facilitates the curation of that data gathered during the system mapping sessions through practices of documentation and subsequent knowledge co-production for which common practices from data science are applied to identify new patterns, hidden insights, recurrent loops and unexpected elements. This study presents empirical evidence on the application of these techniques to explore mechanisms by which visual tools provide guiding principles to portray system components, key variables and types of data through the lens of climate change. In addition, data science facilitates the structuring of elements that allow the analysis of layers of information through affinity and clustering analysis and, therefore, develop simple indicators for supporting the decision-making process. This paper addresses methodological and empirical elements on the horizontal learning process that integrate system mapping through visual tools, interpretation, cognitive transformation and analysis. The process is designed to introduce practitioners to simple iterative and inclusive processes that create actionable knowledge and enable a shared understanding of the system in which they are embedded.

Keywords: indicators, knowledge management, system mapping, visual tools

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Authors: Catherine Thompson, Maryam Jalali, Peter Hills

Abstract:

The allocation of visual attention is critical when driving and anything that limits attention will have a detrimental impact on safety. Engaging in a secondary task reduces the amount of attention directed to the road because drivers allocate resources towards this task, leaving fewer resources to process driving-relevant information. Yet the dangers associated with a secondary task do not end when the driver returns their attention to the road. Instead, the attentional settings adopted to complete a secondary task may persist to the road, affecting attention, and therefore affecting driver performance. This 'attentional inertia' effect was investigated in the current work. Forty drivers searched for hazards in driving video clips while their eye-movements were recorded. At varying intervals they were instructed to attend to a secondary task displayed on a tablet situated to their left-hand side. The secondary task consisted of three separate computer games that induced horizontal, vertical, and random eye movements. Visual search and hazard detection in the driving clips were compared across the three conditions of the secondary task. Results showed that the layout of information in the secondary task, and therefore the allocation of attention in this task, had an impact on subsequent search in the driving clips. Vertically presented information reduced the wide horizontal spread of search usually associated with accurate driving and had a negative influence on the detection of hazards. The findings show the additional dangers of engaging in a secondary task while driving. The attentional inertia effect has significant implications for semi-autonomous and autonomous vehicles in which drivers have greater opportunity to direct their attention away from the driving task.

Keywords: attention, eye-movements, hazard perception, visual search

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Authors: Daniel Thompson, Sophie Cerutti, Muhammad Peerbux, Hansraj Bookun

Abstract:

Introduction: Diabetic nephropathy is the leading cause end stage renal failure in Australia, responsible for 36% of cases. Patients who require dialysis may be suitable for haemodialysis through an arteriovenous fistula (AVF), and preoperatively careful planning is required to select suitable vessels for a long-lasting fistula that provides suitable dialysis access. Due to high levels of vascular disease in diabetic patients, we sought to investigate whether there is a difference in the types of autologous AVFs created for diabetic patients in renal failure compared to their non-diabetic counterparts. Method: Data was collected from the Australasian Vascular Audit, for all vascular surgery completed at St. Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne between 2011-2020. Patients were selected by operative type, creation of AVF, and compared in two groups, diabetic patients and patients without diabetes. Chi-squared test was utilised to determine significance. Results: Data analysis is ongoing and will be complete with updated abstract in time for the conference. Discussion: Diabetic nephropathy is the cause for roughly a third of end stage renal failure in Australia. Diabetic patients present with a unique set of challenges when it comes to dialysis access due to increased risk of peripheral vascular disease and arterial calcification. Care must be taken in the creation of fistulas to minimise complications and increase the chance of long-lasting access. Our study investigates the difference in autologous AVFs between diabetics and non-diabetics, and results may be used to influence location of fistula creation. Further research may be used to investigate patency rates of fistulas in diabetics vs non-diabetics which would further influence treatment decisions.

Keywords: dialysis, diabetes, renal access, fistula

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Authors: Clare Maxwell, Lorna Porcellato, Valerie Fleming, Kate Fleming

Abstract:

A review of global online forums and social media reveals large numbers of mothers experiencing bottle refusal by their breastfed baby. It is difficult to determine precise numbers due to a lack of data, however, established virtual communities illustrate thousands of posts in relation to the issue. Mothers report various negative consequences of bottle refusal including delaying their return to work, time and financial outlay spent on methods to overcome it and experiencing stress, anxiety, and resentment of breastfeeding. A search of the literature revealed no studies being identified, and due to a lack of epidemiological data, a study investigating mother’s experiences of bottle refusal by their breastfed baby was undertaken. The aim of the study was to investigate UK mothers’ experiences of bottle refusal by their breastfed baby. Data were collected using an online questionnaire collecting quantitative and qualitative data. 841 UK mothers who had experienced or were experiencing bottle refusal by their breastfed baby completed the questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and non-parametric testing. The results showed 61% (516/840) of mothers reported their breastfed baby was still refusing/had never accepted a bottle, with 39% (324/840) reporting their baby had eventually accepted. The most frequently reported reason to introduce a bottle was so partner/family could feed the baby 59% (499/839). 75% (634/841) of mothers intended their baby to feed on a bottle ‘occasionally’. Babies who accepted a bottle were more likely to be older at 1st attempt to introduce one than those babies who refused (Mdn = 12 weeks v 8 weeks, n = 286) (p = <0.001). Length of time taken to acceptance was 9 weeks (Mdn = 9, IQR = 18, R = 103.9, n = 306) with the older the baby was at 1st attempt to introduce a bottle being associated with a shorter length of time to acceptance (p = < 0.002). 60% (500/841) of mothers stated that none of the methods they used had worked. 26% (222/841) of mothers reported bottle refusal had had a negative impact upon their overall breastfeeding experience. 47% (303/604) reported they would have tried to introduce a bottle earlier to prevent refusal. This study provides a unique insight into the scenario of bottle refusal by breastfed babies. It highlights that bottle refusal by breastfed babies is a significant issue, which requires recognition from those communicating breastfeeding information to mothers.

Keywords: bottle feeding, bottle refusal, breastfeeding, infant feeding

Procedia PDF Downloads 134