A Differential Response Functioning Framework for Understanding Item, Bundle, and Test Bias

This dissertation extends the parametric sampling method and area-based statistics for differential test functioning (DTF) proposed by Chalmers, Counsell, and Flora (2016). Measures for differential item and bundle functioning are first introduced as a special case of the DTF statistics. Next, these extensions are presented in concert with the original DTF measures as a unified framework for quantifying differential response functioning (DRF) of items, bundles, and tests. To evaluate the utility of the new family of measures, the DRF framework is compared to the previously established simultaneous item bias test (SIBTEST) and differential functioning of items and tests (DFIT) frameworks. A series of Monte Carlo simulation conditions were designed to estimate the power to detect differential effects when compensatory and non-compensatory differential effects are present, as well as to evaluate Type I error control. Benefits inherent to the DRF framework are discussed, extensions are suggested, and alternative methods for generating composite-level sampling variability are presented. Finally, it is argued that the area-based measures in the DRF framework provide an intuitive and meaningful quantification of marginal and conditional response bias over and above what has been offered by the previously established statistical frameworks

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Genetic associations at 53 loci highlight cell types and biological pathways relevant for kidney function.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate defines chronic kidney disease and is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), combining data across 133,413 individuals with replication in up to 42,166 individuals. We identify 24 new and confirm 29 previously identified loci. Of these 53 loci, 19 associate with eGFR among individuals with diabetes. Using bioinformatics, we show that identified genes at eGFR loci are enriched for expression in kidney tissues and in pathways relevant for kidney development and transmembrane transporter activity, kidney structure, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Chromatin state mapping and DNase I hypersensitivity analyses across adult tissues demonstrate preferential mapping of associated variants to regulatory regions in kidney but not extra-renal tissues. These findings suggest that genetic determinants of eGFR are mediated largely through direct effects within the kidney and highlight important cell types and biological pathways

Communist Revolution and Peasant Mobilisation in the Hinterland of North China: The Early Years

This chapter examines the depiction by populism in the domain of 'popular culture' of what purports to be its non-capitalist/non-socialist alternative: in short, the socio-economic and political structure of its 'imaginary' as this involves a symptomatic opposition between the utopic and dystopic. Using the pseudonym of Ivan Kremnev, the Russian neo-populist theoretician A. V. Chayanov wrote the utopian fiction The Journey of My Brother Alexei to the Land of Peasant Utopia. Accordingly, the utopic vision of Chayanov entails traversing time but not space; the protagonists in his narrative are projected forward into a future within the same demarcated space. Much of the populist discourse which structures the agrarian myth is present in the films of Frank Capra, who directed not only Lost Horizon but also Mr Deeds Goes to Town (1936), Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and t's a Wonderful Life (1946)

Genetic associations at 53 loci highlight cell types and biological pathways relevant for kidney function

Reduced glomerular filtration rate defines chronic kidney disease and is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), combining data across 133,413 individuals with replication in up to 42,166 individuals. We identify 24 new and confirm 29 previously identified loci. Of these 53 loci, 19 associate with eGFR among individuals with diabetes. Using bioinformatics, we show that identified genes at eGFR loci are enriched for expression in kidney tissues and in pathways relevant for kidney development and transmembrane transporter activity, kidney structure, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Chromatin state mapping and DNase I hypersensitivity analyses across adult tissues demonstrate preferential mapping of associated variants to regulatory regions in kidney but not extra-renal tissues. These findings suggest that genetic determinants of eGFR are mediated largely through direct effects within the kidney and highlight important cell types and biological pathways