Representing and Computing Uncertainty in Phonological Reconstruction

Despite the inherently fuzzy nature of reconstructions in historical linguistics, most scholars do not represent their uncertainty when proposing proto-forms. With the increasing success of recently proposed approaches to automating certain aspects of the traditional comparative method, the formal representation of proto-forms has also improved. This formalization makes it possible to address both the representation and the computation of uncertainty. Building on recent advances in supervised phonological reconstruction, during which an algorithm learns how to reconstruct words in a given proto-language relying on previously annotated data, and inspired by improved methods for automated word prediction from cognate sets, we present a new framework that allows for the representation of uncertainty in linguistic reconstruction and also includes a workflow for the computation of fuzzy reconstructions from linguistic data.Comment: To appear in: Proceedings of the 4th Workshop on Computational Approaches to Historical Language Chang

Low prevalence of hepatitis C co-infection in recently HIV-infected minority men who have sex with men in Los Angeles: a cross-sectional study.

BackgroundGeographic and sociodemographic characterization of hepatitis C virus (HCV) transmission amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) has been limited. Our aim was to characterize HCV prevalence, risk factors for HCV co-infection, and patterns of HIV and HCV co-transmission and transmitted drug resistance mutations (DRMs) in newly HIV-diagnosed Los Angeles MSM.MethodsViral RNA was extracted from stored plasma samples from a Los Angeles cohort of newly diagnosed HIV-infected MSM with well-characterized substance use and sexual behavioral characteristics via computer-assisted self-interviewing surveys. Samples were screened for HCV by qPCR. HCV E1, E2, core, NS3 protease and NS5B polymerase and HIV-1 protease and reverse transcriptase regions were amplified and sequenced. Phylogenetic analysis was used to determine relatedness of HCV and HIV-1 isolates within the cohort and viral sequences were examined for DRMs.ResultsOf 185 newly HIV-diagnosed MSM, the majority (65%) were of minority race/ethnicity and recently infected (57.8%), with median age of 28.3 years. A minority (6.6%) reported injection drug use (IDU), whereas 96 (52.8%) reported recent substance use, primarily cannabis or stimulant use. High risk sexual behaviors included 132 (74.6%) with unprotected receptive anal intercourse, 60 (33.3%) with group sex, and 10 (5.7%) with fisting. Forty-five (24.3%) had acute gonorrhea or chlamydia infection. Only 3 (1.6%) subjects had detectable HCV RNA. Amongst these subjects, HIV and HCV isolates were unrelated by phylogenetic analysis and none possessed clinically relevant NS3 or NS5B HCV DRMs.ConclusionsPrevalence of HCV co-infection was low and there was no evidence of HIV-HCV co-transmission in this cohort of relatively young, predominantly minority, newly HIV-diagnosed MSM, most with early HIV infection, with high rates of high risk sexual behaviors, STI, and non-IDU. The low HCV prevalence in a group with high-risk behaviors for non-IDU HCV acquisition suggests an opportune time for targeted HCV prevention measures

Exploration of gender norms and socialization among early adolescents : the use of qualitative methods for the global early adolescent study

Purpose: The Global Early Adolescent Study (GEAS) was launched in 2014 with the primary goal of understanding the factors in early adolescence that predispose young people to subsequent sexual risks, and conversely, those that promote healthy sexuality across different cultural contexts. The present article describes the methodology that was used for the first phase of GEAS, which consisted of conducting qualitative research to understand the gendered transitions into adolescence and the role that gender norms play within the key relationships of adolescents. Researchers from each of the sites that had completed data collection were also elicited for their feedback on the key strengths, challenges, and lessons learned from conducting research among 11- to 14-year-old adolescents. The purpose of this article is to present the description of each of the methods that were used in GEAS, as well as the researchers' perspectives of using the methods among early adolescents in their sites. Methods: The GEAS is being implemented through a collaboration of university and nongovernmental institutions from 15 cities: Assiut (Egypt) Baltimore (U.S.), Blantyre (Malawi), Cape Town (South Africa), Cochabomba (Bolivia), Cuenca (Ecuador), Edinburgh (Scotland), Ghent (Belgium), Hanoi (Vietnam), Ile-Ife (Nigeria), Kinshasa (DRC), Nairobi (Kenya), New Delhi (India), Ouaga-dougou (Burkina Faso), and Shanghai (China). Approximately 30 in-depth interviews among adolescents and 30 in-depth interviews with their parent/guardian were conducted at each site, with adults and adolescents interviewed separately. To build trust and increase engagement among the adolescent participants, we used two different visual research methods: (1) timeline exercise which was small group based and (2) the Venn diagram exercise which was conducted individually and used at the start of the in-depth interview. Results: The visual aspects of both the timeline and the Venn diagrams not only helped to produce data for the purposes of the study, but also were a successful way of engaging the adolescent participants across sites. While the narrative interviews produced extremely rich data, researchers did notice that there were a few challenges among the younger adolescents. Challenges were related to the length of the interview, comprehension of questions, as some of the questions were either too abstract or asked adolescents about an experience they had not yet had and therefore could not address or articulate. Conclusions: Conducting the first phase of GEAS revealed important insights for research with participants who are in this developmental phase of early adolescence. Methods that involve greater engagement and those that are visual were shown to work well irrespective of the cultural setting

Cold-Formed Steel Strength Predictions for Torsion

Locally slender open cross-section members are susceptible to significant twisting and high warping torsion stresses. Torsion considerations are complicated by whether it is derived as a first-order effect from loading or a second-order effect from instability. Previous direct torsion experiments on lipped channels have shown significant inelastic reserve in limited cases. The current design for combined bending and torsion interaction has some limitations, including only considering the first yield in torsion and ignoring the cross-section slenderness in torsion. A parametric study is conducted to predict the torsion capacity in locally slender cross-sections. Shell finite element models of lipped Cee and Zee section members are validated with existing experiments on combined bending and torsion. The validated models are utilized for a parametric study with applied torsion on a range of cross-sections, steel grades, and members lengths to cover the range of practically expected torsional slenderness. A set of bimoment parameters, including yield bimoment, buckling bimoment, and plastic bimoment, are calculated and the ultimate bimoment is determined by performing shell finite element collapse analyses. A simple uniform equation is adopted to predict the bimoment capacity and two bimoment strength curves under torsion only are proposed for local and distortional buckling controlled cases respectively

Marching to a different drummer : a cross-cultural comparison of young adolescents who challenge gender norms

Purpose: Little is known about how gender norms regulate adolescents' lives across different cultural settings. This study aims to illustrate what is considered as violating gender norms for boys and girls in four urban poor sites as well as the consequences that follow the challenging of gender norms. Methods: Data were collected as part of the Global Early Adolescent Study, a 15-country collaboration to explore gender norms and health in early adolescence. The current study analyzed narrative and in-depth interviews conducted in urban poor sites in two middle-income (Shanghai, China; and New Delhi, India) and two high-income countries (Baltimore, U.S.; and Ghent, Belgium). A total of 238 participants, 59 boys and 70 girls aged 11-13 years old and 109 of their parents/guardians (28 male adults and 81 female adults), were interviewed. A thematic analysis was conducted across sites using Atlas. Ti 7.5 software. Results: Findings revealed that although most perceptions and expressions about gender were regulated by stereotypical norms, there was a growing acceptability for girls to wear boyish clothes and engage in stereotypical masculine activities such as playing soccer/football. However, there was no comparable acceptance of boys engaging in traditional feminine behaviors. Across all sites, challenging gender norms was often found to lead to verbal, physical, and/or psychological retribution. Conclusions: While it is sometimes acceptable for young adolescents to cross gender boundaries, once it becomes clear that a behavior is socially defined as typical for the other sex, and the adolescent will face more resistance. Researchers, programmers, and clinicians working in the field of adolescent health need not only attend to those who are facing the consequences of challenging prevailing gender norms, but also to address the environment that fosters exclusion and underscores differences

Absolute Magnitudes and Colors of RR Lyrae stars in DECam Passbands from Photometry of the Globular Cluster M5

We characterize the absolute magnitudes and colors of RR Lyrae stars in the globular cluster M5 in the ugriz filter system of the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). We provide empirical Period-Luminosity (P-L) relationships in all 5 bands based on 47 RR Lyrae stars of the type ab and 14 stars of the type c. The P-L relationships were found to be better constrained for the fundamental mode RR Lyrae stars in the riz passbands, with dispersion of 0.03, 0.02 and 0.02 magnitudes, respectively. The dispersion of the color at minimum light was found to be small, supporting the use of this parameter as a means to obtain accurate interstellar extinctions along the line of sight up to the distance of the RR Lyrae star. We found a trend of color at minimum light with pulsational period that, if taken into account, brings the dispersion in color at minimum light to < 0.016 magnitudes for the (r-i), (i-z), and (r-z) colors. These calibrations will be very useful for using RR Lyrae stars from DECam observations as both standard candles for distance determinations and color standards for reddening measurements.Comment: Accepted for publication in A

Individual and Environmental Impacts on Sexual Health of Caribbean youth

Individual health risk behaviors among Caribbean youth account for the majority of adolescent morbidity and mortality in that area. This study explores the associations between individual factors, socioenvironmental factors, and sexual healthrelated behaviors in Caribbean youth. Data from the 1995 Caribbean Youth Health Survey, a nine-country, cross-sectional study completed by 15,695 in-school youth 10—18 years of age were analyzed. One-third of the sample (n = 5,060) reporting sexual activity was analyzed. This study examined age at first sexual intercourse, number of sexual partners, history of pregnancy, and condom use. The predictor variables were rage, depressed mood, expectation of early death, self-reported school performance, parental mental health or substance abuse problems, and family connectedness. Bi- and multivariate analyses were done separately for males and females, controlling for age, to examine associations between individual and socioenvironmental factors and sexual health behaviors. In the multivariate model, there were associations between rage, abuse, family mental health and substance use, anticipation of early death, and many of the outcome variables in males and females. Family connectedness and positive self-reported school status were correlated with greater condom use at last intercourse in males. Family connectedness was correlated with older age at first sexual intercourse. Depressed mood was not correlated with any of the outcome variables.The findings of the study demonstrate an association between individual and socioenvironmental factors and sexual health behaviors in the lives of Caribbean youth. Strong associations between rage and physical/sexual abuse and risky sexual behaviors are of notable concern

Nucleon isovector structure functions in (2+1)-flavor QCD with domain wall fermions

We report on numerical lattice QCD calculations of some of the low moments of the nucleon structure functions. The calculations are carried out with gauge configurations generated by the RBC and UKQCD collaborations with (2+1)-flavors of dynamical domain wall fermions and the Iwasaki gauge action ($\beta = 2.13$). The inverse lattice spacing is $a^{-1} = 1.73$ GeV, and two spatial volumes of ((2.7{\rm fm})^3) and ((1.8 {\rm fm})^3) are used. The up and down quark masses are varied so the pion mass lies between 0.33 and 0.67 GeV while the strange mass is about 12 % heavier than the physical one. The structure function moments we present include fully non-perturbatively renormalized iso-vector quark momentum fraction, (_{u-d}), helicity fraction, (< x >_{\Delta u - \Delta d}), and transversity, (_{\delta u - \delta d}), as well as an unrenormalized twist-3 coefficient, (d_1). The ratio of the momentum to helicity fractions, (_{u-d}/_{\Delta u - \Delta d}), does not show dependence on the light quark mass and agrees well with the value obtained from experiment. Their respective absolute values, fully renormalized, show interesting trends toward their respective experimental values at the lightest quark mass. A prediction for the transversity, (0.7 _{\delta u -\delta d} < 1.1), in the (\bar{\rm MS}) scheme at 2 GeV is obtained. The twist-3 coefficient, (d_1), though yet to be renormalized, supports the perturbative Wandzura-Wilczek relation.Comment: 14 pages, 22 figures

The effects of supplementing growing-finishing pig diets with carnitine and(or) chromium on growth and carcass characteristics

Eighty crossbred gilts (initially 83 lb) were used to examine the effects of 50 ppm carnitine and(or) 200 ppb chromium from chromium nicotinate on growth performance and carcass characteristics. In this trial, adding carnitine and(or) chromiunm to the diets of high-lean growth finishing gilts did not increase carcass leanness. However, the combination of carnitine and chromium improved the color characteristics of the longissimus muscle.; Swine Day, Manhattan, KS, November 21, 199