Neural Network Coding

In this paper we introduce Neural Network Coding(NNC), a data-driven approach to joint source and network coding. In NNC, the encoders at each source and intermediate node, as well as the decoder at each destination node, are neural networks which are all trained jointly for the task of communicating correlated sources through a network of noisy point-to-point links. The NNC scheme is application-specific and makes use of a training set of data, instead of making assumptions on the source statistics. In addition, it can adapt to any arbitrary network topology and power constraint. We show empirically that, for the task of transmitting MNIST images over a network, the NNC scheme shows improvement over baseline schemes, especially in the low-SNR regime

Complex posttraumatic stress disorder in intergenerational trauma transmission among Eritrean asylum-seeking mother-child dyads

Background: Traumatic stress among forcibly displaced people has a variety of adverse consequences beyond individual mental health, including implications for poor socioemotional developmental outcomes for their children post-displacement. Objective: This study explored the intergenerational transmission of maternal ICD-11 Complex Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (CPTSD) and depression among asylum-seeking mothers for their children’s internalizing and externalizing difficulties. Method: Participants were 127 trauma-affected Eritrean mothers of preschool-aged children in Israel. The severity of child difficulties was compared between mothers with probable ICD-11 CPTSD (94.5% comorbid depression), ICD-11 PTSD (48.5% comorbid depression), unimorbid depression, and healthy mothers, using multivariate analyses of variance, while controlling for children’s direct exposure to adverse life experiences. Results: Probable ICD-11 CPTSD and PTSD were present in 23.6% and 26.0% of mothers, respectively. Relative to maternal PTSD, CPTSD was significantly and strongly associated with elevated child internalizing symptoms (d = 2.44) and marginally significantly, although strongly, associated with child externalizing symptoms (d = 1.30). Post-hoc exploratory analyses documented that, relative to maternal PTSD and depression, CPTSD and depression comorbidity was marginally significantly but strongly associated with child internalizing (SMD = .67), but not externalizing symptoms (SMD = .35). Conclusions: Findings implicate maternal CPTSD and comorbid depression in child socio-emotional development and inform clinical assessment, prevention, and intervention to attenuate poor development among children in unstable post-displacement settings

Multiscale periodicities in aerosol optical depth over India

Aerosols exhibit periodic or cyclic variations depending on natural and anthropogenic sources over a region, which can get modulated by synoptic meteorological parameters such as winds, rainfall and relative humidity, and long-range transport. Information on periodicity and phase in aerosol properties assumes significance in prediction as well as to examine the radiative and climate effects of aerosols including its association with changes in cloud properties and rainfall. Periodicity in aerosol optical depth, which is a columnar measure of aerosol distribution, is determined using continuous wavelet transform over 35 locations in India. Continuous wavelet transform is used in the study because it is better suited to extract the periodic and local modulations present at various frequency ranges, as these features are invisible in conventional methods such as Fourier Transform. Monthly mean aerosol optical depths (AODs) from MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board the Terra satellite from January 2001 to December 2012 are used. Annual and quasi-biennial oscillations (QBO) in AOD are evident in addition to the weak semi-annual and quasi-triennial. The semi-annual and annual oscillations are consistent with the seasonal and yearly cycle of variations in AODs. The 40-month periodicity indicates the presence of long term correlations in AOD. The observed periodicities in MODIS Terra AODs are also evident in the ground-based AOD measurements made over Kanpur in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The phase of the periodicity in AOD is stable in the mid-frequency range, while local disturbances in the high-frequency range and long term changes in the atmospheric composition give rise to unstable phases in low-frequency range. That modulations in AOD over one location/region can influence the other is revealed by the presence of phase relation among different locations

Trends and determinants of underweight and overweight/obesity among urban Ethiopian women from 2000 to 2016

Background: Nutritional, epidemiological and demographic transitions have been associated with the emergence of the double burden of malnutrition globally. In Ethiopia, there has been no nationally representative investigation of trends and determinants of both underweight and overweight/obesity among urban women. This study examined the trends and determinants of underweight and overweight/obesity in urban Ethiopian women from 2000 to 2016. Methods: Trends in the prevalence of underweight and overweight/obesity were investigated based on a series of the Ethiopia Demographic and Health Survey (EDHS) data for the years 2000 (n = 2559), 2005 (n = 1112), 2011 (n = 3569), and 2016 (n = 3106). Multivariable multinomial logistic regression was used to investigate the association between socioeconomic, demographic, behavioural, and community-level factors with underweight and overweight/obesity. Results: The prevalence of underweight in urban Ethiopian women reduced significantly from 23.2% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 20.3, 26.3%) in 2000 to 14.8% (95% CI: 13.1, 16.7%) in 2016, while overweight/obesity increased significantly from 10.9% (95% CI: 9.1, 13.0%) in 2000 to 21.4% (95% CI: 18.2, 25.1%) in 2016. Urban women from rich households and those who had never married were less likely to be underweight. Urban women who were from wealthy households and those who attained at least secondary education were more likely to be overweight/obese. Women who were informally employed and listened to the radio were less likely to be overweight/obese compared to those who were unemployed and did not listen to the radio, respectively. Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight/obesity increased from 2000 to 2016, with a concurrent reduction in the prevalence of underweight. Interventions aiming to reduce overweight and obesity should target urban women with higher education, those who resided in wealthier households and those who watched the television

Equatorial auroral records reveal dynamics of the paleo- West Pacific geomagnetic anomaly

Localized regions of low geomagnetic intensity such as the South Atlantic Anomaly allow energetic particles from the Van Allen radiation belt to precipitate into the atmosphere and have been linked to a signature in the form of red aurora–like airglow visible to the naked eye. Smoothed global geomagnetic models predict a low-intensity West Pacific Anomaly (WPA) during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries characterized by a simple time dependence. Here, we link the WPA to an independent database of equatorial aurorae recorded in Seoul, South Korea. These records show a complex fluctuating behavior in auroral frequency, whose overall trend from 1500 to 1800 AD is consistent with the locally weak geomagnetic field of the WPA, with a minimum at 1650 AD. We propose that the fluctuations in auroral frequency are caused by corresponding and hitherto unknown fluctuations in the regional magnetic intensity with peaks at 1590 and 1720 AD, a time dependence that has been masked by the smoothing inherent in regularized global geomagnetic models. A physical core flow model demonstrates that such behavior requires localized time-dependent upwelling flows in the Earth’s core, possibly driven by regional lower-mantle anomalies