Exploring ambient mass spectrometry capacities for rapid detection and phenotyping of pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in cystic fibrosis patients

Cystic fibrosis (CF) patients mostly succumb to respiratory failure, usually caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. Early, but not chronic, infection can be eradicated, mandating timely detection. However, current methods are insufficiently sensitive and unsuitable for children. This thesis explores the potential of novel ambient mass spectrometric (MS) tools for the phenotyping of P. aeruginosa and its detection in non-invasive samples. The hypotheses are that bacterial expression evolves as infection progresses and that the composition of host body fluids is impacted by P. aeruginosa acquisition. Rapid evaporative ionisation MS (REIMS) was applied to clinical isolate cultures including common CF pathogens. The detected metabolic profiles differentiated between species and led to the identification of virulence-associated metabolites in P. aeruginosa: quorum sensing molecules and rhamnolipids. Repeated analysis revealed differences between P. aeruginosa strains that allowed isolate classification. Although classification according to genetically-defined types was not achieved, REIMS potentially provides a finer resolution on quickly evolving virulence features. Exploration of intra-species disparity showed a higher metabolic diversity in chronic respiratory than in acute infections, attributed to lengthy and site-specific adaptation. The bacterial population was more disparate between than within CF patients. Variations in virulence factor levels between early and chronic isolates provided insight into P. aeruginosa‘s metabolism and adaptation, supporting the first hypothesis. These findings may support future clinical strategies. REIMS and desorption electrospray ionisation MS (DESI-MS) were evaluated as direct-from-sample diagnostic tools using sputum as a reference, and urine and skin secretions as easily accessible samples. REIMS could not detect P. aeruginosa in sputum and urine pellets, nor could DESI-MS on skin secretions. Nevertheless, the rich sputum metabolic profile and skin lipidome contained potentially highly relevant information about host physiology that may assist clinicians in the future. Although the second hypothesis was not verified, the data reported will generate future clinically relevant hypotheses.Open Acces

Social Network Analysis of Online Support Communities for Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Survivors

There are an estimated 633,000 adolescent and young adult (AYA) cancer survivors in the U.S. and nearly 89,500 AYAs are diagnosed with cancer every year. Cancer creates developmental and life stage disruptions, which result in multiple survivorship challenges, particularly among AYAs. Despite the advances made in cancer oncology and survivorship care, AYA cancer survivors continue to face diverse and unique psychosocial needs. Research suggests that online support communities have the potential to positively impact psychosocial care by providing AYA cancer survivors with access to social support which can help them successfully transition from treatment back to normal life as well as improve their well-being. In addition, online support communities have become important sources of social support, particularly peer support, offering an opportunity for AYA cancer survivors to exchange support and overcome psychosocial challenges. However, despite an increasing use of online support communities by cancer survivors in general, there is limited evidence providing insights into how online social support can be leveraged by AYA cancer survivors to bridge existing gaps in their psychosocial care. This study provides a deeper understanding of online support exchange by examining the structures of support networks of online interactions among AYA cancer survivors. It applies an informatics approach that combines content analysis, computerized text analysis, and social network analysis. The results show that AYA cancer survivors are mostly exchanging emotional support but also exchange informational and esteem support in similar proportions. In addition, this study expands current understanding of how AYA cancer survivors are using language to exchange support online. Furthermore, the structural characteristics of support networks reveal they are characterized by low densities and average degrees. Moreover, subcommunities of network support developed among AYA cancer survivors, in spite oflow levels of cohesion and clustering between them. Additionally, support networks show that AYA cancer survivors who exchange informational or esteem support are also likely to exchange emotional support. Lastly, the novel data-driven insights gathered by applying an informatics approach may inform the future design and implementation of online support interventions that aim to address the unmet psychosocial needs of AYA cancer survivors

4th. International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics (CARMA 2022)

Research methods in economics and social sciences are evolving with the increasing availability of Internet and Big Data sources of information. As these sources, methods, and applications become more interdisciplinary, the 4th International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics (CARMA) is a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange ideas and advances on how emerging research methods and sources are applied to different fields of social sciences as well as to discuss current and future challenges. Due to the covid pandemic, CARMA 2022 is planned as a virtual and face-to-face conference, simultaneouslyDoménech I De Soria, J.; Vicente Cuervo, MR. (2022). 4th. International Conference on Advanced Research Methods and Analytics (CARMA 2022). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/CARMA2022.2022.1595

Security for Decentralised Service Location - Exemplified with Real-Time Communication Session Establishment

Decentralised Service Location, i.e. finding an application communication endpoint based on a Distributed Hash Table (DHT), is a fairly new concept. The precise security implications of this approach have not been studied in detail. More importantly, a detailed analysis regarding the applicability of existing security solutions to this concept has not been conducted. In many cases existing client-server approaches to security may not be feasible. In addition, to understand the necessity for such an analysis, it is key to acknowledge that Decentralised Service Location has some unique security requirements compared to other P2P applications such as filesharing or live streaming. This thesis concerns the security challenges for Decentralised Service Location. The goals of our work are on the one hand to precisely understand the security requirements and research challenges for Decentralised Service Location, and on the other hand to develop and evaluate corresponding security mechanisms. The thesis is organised as follows. First, fundamentals are explained and the scope of the thesis is defined. Decentralised Service Location is defined and P2PSIP is explained technically as a prototypical example. Then, a security analysis for P2PSIP is presented. Based on this security analysis, security requirements for Decentralised Service Location and the corresponding research challenges -- i.e. security concerns not suitably mitigated by existing solutions -- are derived. Second, several decentralised solutions are presented and evaluated to tackle the security challenges for Decentralised Service Location. We present decentralised algorithms to enable availability of the DHTs lookup service in the presence of adversary nodes. These algorithms are evaluated via simulation and compared to analytical bounds. Further, a cryptographic approach based on self-certifying identities is illustrated and discussed. This approach enables decentralised integrity protection of location-bindings. Finally, a decentralised approach to assess unknown identities is introduced. The approach is based on a Web-of-Trust model. It is evaluated via prototypical implementation. Finally, the thesis closes with a summary of the main contributions and a discussion of open issues

An archaeology of group dynamics

Individual people act and make decisions, yet the outcome viewed archaeologically is the aggregate of their myriad choices. This work provides a coherent and illustrated method for interpreting the observed outcome by deriving causal models based upon the dynamics of the individual behaviour in the context of the group. Drawing on multi-disciplinary theoretical and empirical input, an understanding of the expression of sociality and the social patterns which compound to the cultural environment within which people act is presented. From that understanding, the foundation of group dynamics theory is built, providing a model of social structure which defines the interaction between individual influence on cultural behaviour in the aggregate and the influence of cultural heritage on the individual's perceived range of choices. That model can be linked to an archaeological dataset, providing a 'freeze frame' view of social structure over time, at a resolution of chronological periods allowed by current understanding of the data. Given the model of social structure, predictions may be made about the individual's experience, viewpoint and biases as a result of the constraining and permitting effects of the cultural environment, thus broadening the range of what may be 'known' about a particular period. Finally, the 'freeze frame' view is extended by models of the dynamics of individual action and its consequences, providing a method for deriving causal models for change vested in the inter-relationship of individual behaviour and an evolving environment (cultural, natural and manufactured). Thus, group dynamics theory provides the potential for adding to the interpretative value of an archaeological dataset by presenting a wholly new way of understanding the motives and mechanisms for change, as well as explaining stasis. All facets of group dynamics theory are applied to a substantial case study of the first millennium BC in two counties in southern Britain (Hampshire and Sussex), demonstrating utility, practicability and relevance in the current archaeological climate

Detection of illicit behaviours and mining for contrast patterns

This thesis describes a set of novel algorithms and models designed to detect illicit behaviour. This includes development of domain specific solutions, focusing on anti-money laundering and detection of opinion spam. In addition, advancements are presented for the mining and application of contrast patterns, which are a useful tool for characterising illicit behaviour. For anti-money laundering, this thesis presents a novel approach for detection based on analysis of financial networks and supervised learning. This includes the development of a network model, features extracted from this model, and evaluation of classifiers trained using real financial data. Results indicate that this approach successfully identifies suspicious groups whose collaborative behaviour is indicative of money laundering. For the detection of opinion spam, this thesis presents a model of reviewer behaviour and a method for detection based on statistical anomaly detection. This method considers review ratings, and does not rely on text-based features. Evaluation using real data shows that spammers are successfully identified. Comparison with existing methods shows a small improvement in accuracy, but significant improvements in computational efficiency. This thesis also considers the application of contrast patterns to network analysis and presents a novel algorithm for mining contrast patterns in a distributed system. Contrast patterns may be used to characterise illicit behaviour by contrasting illicit and non-illicit behaviour and uncovering significant differences. However, existing mining algorithms are limited by serial processing making them unsuitable for large data sets. This thesis advances the current state-of-the-art, describing an algorithm for mining in parallel. This algorithm is evaluated using real data and is shown to achieve a high level of scalability, allowing mining of large, high-dimensional data sets. In addition, this thesis explores methods for mapping network features to an item-space suitable for analysis using contrast patterns. Experiments indicate that contrast patterns may become a valuable tool for network analysis

Cultivating hierarchy: the reproduction of structural advantage in Sierra Leone’s cannabis economy

Violence is often treated as an organisational compliment to illicit drug production and exchange in sub-Saharan Africa. The thesis challenges this view in light of the “chain work” undertaken by cannabis cultivators in Sierra Leone, and examines its complex web of labour, exchange, and extra-legal relations. Research reveals that an apprenticeship system during the early 1800s slavery abolition period continued to organise labour in Western Area’s small-scale agriculture. Meanwhile, the migration of cultivators from Jamaica during the economic crises and War on Drugs of the late-1980s coincided with the spread of Rastafari culture and a post-war Neo-Evangelist discourse that established apprenticeship as a legitimate means for learning how to cultivate under the guidance of those known as “shareholders”. These shareholders were gatekeepers in accessing land, exchange partners and extra-legal relations. They secured greater returns without organised violence. This is explained by examining the shortcomings of current conceptual approaches and turning to Pierre Bourdieu’s relational sociology. It employs a mixed methodology of objectivist and subjectivist modes of analysis. The analysis relates the qualitative experience of cultivators and dealers to the particular position they occupied within the economic field of cultivation and exchange and the juridical field of law enforcement. Despite being motivated by strong economic incentives, apprentices and journeymen were subject to the uncertainties of limited contracting arrangements and illegality, which exposed them to exploitation. However, by adopting particular ways of acting, reasoning and valuing that qualified their status as “youth men”, they continued to invest in and reproduce this institution. I examine how emic practices of “sababu”, “grade” and “haju” acted as covert principles that limited the possibility for newcomers to secure higher value exchange partners, greater returns and police inaction. The thesis concludes that apprenticeship was the site at which structural advantages favouring the established shareholders were reproduced

Caught between presence and absence: Shakespeare's tragic women on film

In offering readings of Shakespeare’s tragic women on film, this thesis explores bodies that are caught between signifiers of absence and presence: the woman’s body that is present with absent body parts; the woman’s body that is spoken about or alluded to when absent from view; the woman’s living body that appears as a corpse; the woman’s body that must be exposed and concealed from sight. These are bodies that appear on the borderline of meaning, that open up a marginal or liminal space of investigation. In concentrating on a state of ‘betweenness’, I am seeking to offer new interpretive possibilities for bodies that have become the site of much critical anxiety, and bodies that, due to their own peculiar liminality, have so far been critically ignored. In reading Shakespeare’s tragic women on film, I am interested specifically in screen representations of Gertrude’s sexualised body that is both absent and present in Shakespeare’s Hamlet; Desdemona’s (un)chaste body that is both exposed and concealed in film adaptations of Othello; Juliet’s ‘living corpse’ that represents life and death in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet; the woman’s naked body in Roman Polanski’s Macbeth (1971) that is absent from Shakespeare’s play-text; and Lavinia’s violated, dismembered body in Julie Taymor’s (Titus, 1999) and Titus Andronicus, which, in signifying both life and death, wholeness and fragmentation, absence and presence, something and nothing, embodies many of the paradoxes explored within this thesis. Through readings that demonstrate a combined interest in Shakespeare’s plays, Shakespeare films, and Shakespeare criticism, this thesis brings these liminal bodies into focus, revealing how an understanding of their ‘absent presence’ can affect our responses as spectators of Shakespeare’s tragedies on film

CyberResearch on the Ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean

CyberResearch on the Ancient Near East and Neighboring Regions provides case studies on archaeology, objects, cuneiform texts, and online publishing, digital archiving, and preservation. Eleven chapters present a rich array of material, spanning the fifth through the first millennium BCE, from Anatolia, the Levant, Mesopotamia, and Iran. Customized cyber- and general glossaries support readers who lack either a technical background or familiarity with the ancient cultures. Edited by Vanessa Bigot Juloux, Amy Rebecca Gansell, and Alessandro Di Ludovico, this volume is dedicated to broadening the understanding and accessibility of digital humanities tools, methodologies, and results to Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Ultimately, this book provides a model for introducing cyber-studies to the mainstream of humanities research