The Measure of Poverty: A Boston Indicators Project Special Report

Examines Boston's poverty rate by race/ethnicity, family structure, education, and geography; income inequality; demand for safety-net programs; and how the high cost of living and budget cuts affect vulnerable households and those below the poverty line

City of Ideas: Reinventing Boston's Innovation Economy: The Boston Indicators Report 2012

Analyzes indicators of the city's economic, social, and technological progress; potential for creating innovative solutions to global and national challenges; and complexities, disparities, and weaknesses in the indicators and innovation economy paradigm

Boston's Education Pipeline: A Report Card

Assesses the city's progress in creating an effective and equitable education pipeline from early childhood through college or postsecondary training. Examines demographic and outcome data and risk and prevention factors, and notes areas for improvement

Accelerating Neural Network Training with Distributed Asynchronous and Selective Optimization (DASO)

With increasing data and model complexities, the time required to train neural networks has become prohibitively large. To address the exponential rise in training time, users are turning to data parallel neural networks (DPNN) and large-scale distributed resources on computer clusters. Current DPNN approaches implement the network parameter updates by synchronizing and averaging gradients across all processes with blocking communication operations after each forward-backward pass. This synchronization is the central algorithmic bottleneck. We introduce the Distributed Asynchronous and Selective Optimization (DASO) method, which leverages multi-GPU compute node architectures to accelerate network training while maintaining accuracy. DASO uses a hierarchical and asynchronous communication scheme comprised of node-local and global networks while adjusting the global synchronization rate during the learning process. We show that DASO yields a reduction in training time of up to 34% on classical and state-of-the-art networks, as compared to current optimized data parallel training methods

'It's because I like things… it's a status and he buys me airtime': exploring the role of transactional sex in young women's consumption patterns in rural South Africa (secondary findings from HPTN 068).

BACKGROUND: 'Transactional sex', defined as a non-marital, non-commercial sexual relationship in which money or material goods are exchanged for sex, is associated with young women's increased vulnerability to HIV infection. Existing research illustrates that the motivations for transactional sex are complex. The fulfilment of psycho-social needs such as the need to belong to a peer group are important factors underlying young women's desires to obtain certain consumption items and thus engage in transactional sex. METHODS: We use a mixed-methods approach to explore the relationship between transactional sex and consumption patterns among young women in rural Mpumalanga province, South Africa. In the secondary analysis of 693 sexually active young women, we use factor analysis to group the different consumption items and we use multivariable logistic regression to demonstrate the relationship between transactional sex and consumption patterns. The qualitative study uses five focus group discussions and 19 in-depth interviews to explore further young women's motivations for acquiring different consumption items. RESULTS: The quantitative results show that young women that engage in transactional sex have higher odds of consuming items for entertainment (e.g., movie tickets) than on practical items (e.g., food and groceries). The qualitative findings also revealed that young women's perceptions of items that were considered a 'need' were strongly influenced by peer pressure and a desire for improved status. Further, there was a perception that emerged from the qualitative data that relationships with sugar daddies offered a way to acquire consumer goods associated with a 'modern lifestyle', such as items for personal enhancement and entertainment. However, young women seem aware of the risks associated with such relationships. More importantly, they also develop relationship with partners of similar age, albeit with the continued expectation of material exchange, despite engaging in the relationship for love. CONCLUSION: This study shows that young women are willing to take certain risks in order to have a degree of financial independence. Interventions that provide alternative methods of attaining this independence, such as the provision of cash transfers may have potential in preventing them from engaging in transactional relationships. Further, the psycho-social reasons that drive young women's motivations for consumption items resulting in risky sexual behaviours need to be better understood

Clinicopathologic features of endometrial cancer with mismatch repair deficiency

The inclusion of DNA mismatch repair (MMR) evaluation as a standard of care for endometrial cancer management will result in a growing population of patients with MMR deficiency and negative germline Lynch syndrome testing (MMR-deficient). In this systematic review and study, the clinicopathologic features of endometrial cancer in patients with MMR-intact, MLH1 methylation positive, MMR-deficient or Lynch syndrome are evaluated. A systematic search of online databases between 1990 and 2018 identified studies of endometrial cancer patients with tumour testing (MMR protein immunohistochemistry or microsatellite instability) and germline assessment for Lynch syndrome. Extracted data included tumour testing, germline genetic testing, age, body mass index (BMI), family history, tumour stage, grade and histologic type. Associations between MMR-intact, MLH1 methylation positive, MMR-deficient and Lynch syndrome groups were analysed using descriptive statistics. The comprehensive search produced 4,400 publications, 29 met inclusion criteria. A total of 7,057 endometrial cancer cases were identified, 1,612 with abnormal immunohistochemistry, 977 with microsatellite instability. Nine-hundred patients underwent germline genetic testing, identifying 212 patients with Lynch syndrome. Patients in the Lynch syndrome and MMR-deficient groups were significantly younger than patients in the MMR-intact and MLH1 methylation positive groups. Patients with MMR-intact tumours had the highest BMI, followed by MMR-deficient, then Lynch syndrome. MMR-intact tumours were more likely to be grade I at diagnosis than other groups. Patients with Lynch syndrome and MMR-deficient tumours were less likely to have stage I disease as compared to patients with MMR-intact tumours. Endometrial cancer patients with MMR-deficient tumours have similar features to those with germline Lynch syndrome mutations, including age, grade, histology and stage. Even in the absence of a germline mutation, tumour evaluation for MMR status may have important clinical implications

Accelerating Neural Network Training with Distributed Asynchronous and Selective Optimization (DASO)

With increasing data and model complexities, the time required to train neural networks has become prohibitively large. To address the exponential rise in training time, users are turning to data parallel neural networks (DPNN) to utilize large-scale distributed resources on computer clusters. Current DPNN approaches implement the network parameter updates by synchronizing and averaging gradients across all processes with blocking communication operations. This synchronization is the central algorithmic bottleneck. To combat this, we introduce the Distributed Asynchronous and Selective Optimization (DASO) method which leverages multi-GPU compute node architectures to accelerate network training. DASO uses a hierarchical and asynchronous communication scheme comprised of node-local and global networks while adjusting the global synchronization rate during the learning process. We show that DASO yields a reduction in training time of up to 34% on classical and state-of-the-art networks, as compared to other existing data parallel training methods

Visualizing delocalized correlated electronic states in twisted double bilayer graphene

The discovery of interaction-driven insulating and superconducting phases in moir\'e van der Waals heterostructures has sparked considerable interest in understanding the novel correlated physics of these systems. While a significant number of studies have focused on twisted bilayer graphene, correlated insulating states and a superconductivity-like transition up to 12 K have been reported in recent transport measurements of twisted double bilayer graphene. Here we present a scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy study of gate-tunable twisted double bilayer graphene devices. We observe splitting of the van Hove singularity peak by ~20 meV at half-filling of the conduction flat band, with a corresponding reduction of the local density of states at the Fermi level. By mapping the tunneling differential conductance we show that this correlated system exhibits energetically split states that are spatially delocalized throughout the different regions in the moir\'e unit cell, inconsistent with order originating solely from onsite Coulomb repulsion within strongly-localized orbitals. We have performed self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations that suggest exchange-driven spontaneous symmetry breaking in the degenerate conduction flat band is the origin of the observed correlated state. Our results provide new insight into the nature of electron-electron interactions in twisted double bilayer graphene and related moir\'e systems.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figure

'It’s because I like things… it’s a status and he buys me airtime': exploring the role of transactional sex in young women’s consumption patterns in rural South Africa (secondary findings from HPTN 068)

Abstract: Background ‘Transactional sex’, defined as a non-marital, non-commercial sexual relationship in which money or material goods are exchanged for sex, is associated with young women’s increased vulnerability to HIV infection. Existing research illustrates that the motivations for transactional sex are complex. The fulfilment of psycho-social needs such as the need to belong to a peer group are important factors underlying young women’s desires to obtain certain consumption items and thus engage in transactional sex. Methods We use a mixed-methods approach to explore the relationship between transactional sex and consumption patterns among young women in rural Mpumalanga province, South Africa. In the secondary analysis of 693 sexually active young women, we use factor analysis to group the different consumption items and we use multivariable logistic regression to demonstrate the relationship between transactional sex and consumption patterns. The qualitative study uses five focus group discussions and 19 in-depth interviews to explore further young women’s motivations for acquiring different consumption items. Results The quantitative results show that young women that engage in transactional sex have higher odds of consuming items for entertainment (e.g., movie tickets) than on practical items (e.g., food and groceries). The qualitative findings also revealed that young women’s perceptions of items that were considered a ‘need’ were strongly influenced by peer pressure and a desire for improved status. Further, there was a perception that emerged from the qualitative data that relationships with sugar daddies offered a way to acquire consumer goods associated with a ‘modern lifestyle’, such as items for personal enhancement and entertainment. However, young women seem aware of the risks associated with such relationships. More importantly, they also develop relationship with partners of similar age, albeit with the continued expectation of material exchange, despite engaging in the relationship for love. Conclusion This study shows that young women are willing to take certain risks in order to have a degree of financial independence. Interventions that provide alternative methods of attaining this independence, such as the provision of cash transfers may have potential in preventing them from engaging in transactional relationships. Further, the psycho-social reasons that drive young women’s motivations for consumption items resulting in risky sexual behaviours need to be better understood