China als neuer Mittelpunkt der globalen Arbeiterunruhe

Contrary to the common thesis in the literature on globalization, that the rapid growth of manufacturing in China has launched a race to the bottom concerning wages and working conditions, the rise of class struggles in China provides evidence in support of the thesis: where capital goes, labor-capital conflict shortly follows. The world historical impact of the rise of class struggle in China is evaluated by looking on different and overlapping responses by capital: geographical relocation (spatial fix), modernizing of technology and work organization, and the trajectory of the product cycle. These analytical tools are used to interpret the findings of recent fieldwork by Zhang in automobile manufacturers in China, which hint to the fact, that a stable social compact is unlikely to be reached in the „standardization phase“ of the product cycle. The implications of the further rise of labor unrest in China for the global labor movements are not yet clear. What is missing is a vision of new forms of labor organization in face of the threat of a catastrophic collapse of global capitalism

Rapid construction of insulated genetic circuits via synthetic sequence-guided isothermal assembly

In vitro recombination methods have enabled one-step construction of large DNA sequences from multiple parts. Although synthetic biological circuits can in principle be assembled in the same fashion, they typically contain repeated sequence elements such as standard promoters and terminators that interfere with homologous recombination. Here we use a computational approach to design synthetic, biologically inactive unique nucleotide sequences (UNSes) that facilitate accurate ordered assembly. Importantly, our designed UNSes make it possible to assemble parts with repeated terminator and insulator sequences, and thereby create insulated functional genetic circuits in bacteria and mammalian cells. Using UNS-guided assembly to construct repeating promoter-gene-terminator parts, we systematically varied gene expression to optimize production of a deoxychromoviridans biosynthetic pathway in Escherichia coli. We then used this system to construct complex eukaryotic AND-logic gates for genomic integration into embryonic stem cells. Construction was performed by using a standardized series of UNS-bearing BioBrick-compatible vectors, which enable modular assembly and facilitate reuse of individual parts. UNS-guided isothermal assembly is broadly applicable to the construction and optimization of genetic circuits and particularly those requiring tight insulation, such as complex biosynthetic pathways, sensors, counters and logic gates

Walking For Health: A Community Education and Physical Activity Initiative

Background/Introduction: Vermont was ranked the nation’s healthiest state, according to 2007 America’s Health Rankings. However obesity, currently the second most common cause of death among VT adults, is becoming so common it may replace cigarette smoking as the number one risk factor for death. In fact obesity affects 21% of adults in VT, most commonly low income adults. Obesity is a risk factor for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart diseases, and diabetes. Diet quality and physical activity are important factors in preventing obesity. 42% of Vermont adults are below the recommended level of physical activity. Greater knowledge about nutrition correlates with improved diet quality and greater physical activity. A successful educational strategy on physical activity and nutrition promotes group activities and adapts for cultural relevance.https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/comphp_gallery/1013/thumbnail.jp

Privacy Risks of Securing Machine Learning Models against Adversarial Examples

The arms race between attacks and defenses for machine learning models has come to a forefront in recent years, in both the security community and the privacy community. However, one big limitation of previous research is that the security domain and the privacy domain have typically been considered separately. It is thus unclear whether the defense methods in one domain will have any unexpected impact on the other domain. In this paper, we take a step towards resolving this limitation by combining the two domains. In particular, we measure the success of membership inference attacks against six state-of-the-art defense methods that mitigate the risk of adversarial examples (i.e., evasion attacks). Membership inference attacks determine whether or not an individual data record has been part of a model's training set. The accuracy of such attacks reflects the information leakage of training algorithms about individual members of the training set. Adversarial defense methods against adversarial examples influence the model's decision boundaries such that model predictions remain unchanged for a small area around each input. However, this objective is optimized on training data. Thus, individual data records in the training set have a significant influence on robust models. This makes the models more vulnerable to inference attacks. To perform the membership inference attacks, we leverage the existing inference methods that exploit model predictions. We also propose two new inference methods that exploit structural properties of robust models on adversarially perturbed data. Our experimental evaluation demonstrates that compared with the natural training (undefended) approach, adversarial defense methods can indeed increase the target model's risk against membership inference attacks.Comment: ACM CCS 2019, code is available at https://github.com/inspire-group/privacy-vs-robustnes

Maine EPSCoR, vol. 1, issue 1

The University of Maine recently gained Carnegie R1 status, a level of recognition that speaks to the quality and scale of research happening at Maine’s land grant, sea grant, and space grant institution, and across the state as a whole. Research institutes, centers and labs established because of NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 grants have created a significant and lasting impact in Maine. These entities include the Advanced Structures and Composites Center, Frontier Institute for Research in Sensor Technologies, Forest Bioproducts Research Institute, and Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, which have generated over 500 million dollars in new R&D funding for the state following the completion of their RII Track-1 support. Maine EPSCoR’s current NSF EPSCoR RII Track-1 grant, Maine-eDNA, is set to embark on a full field season with work occurring throughout the state. We recognize the researchers, staff, graduate students, and undergraduate students who continue to actively participate in this work. Their effort and resilience in the face of uncertain and changing circumstances is inspiring and makes real contributions in our efforts to expand educational opportunities in STEM, drive workforce development, and strengthen research capacity in the state of Maine

Effect of Etelcalcetide vs Placebo on Serum Parathyroid Hormone in Patients Receiving Hemodialysis With Secondary Hyperparathyroidism

Importance Secondary hyperparathyroidism contributes to extraskeletal complications in chronic kidney disease. Objective To evaluate the effect of the intravenous calcimimetic etelcalcetide on serum parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentrations in patients receiving hemodialysis. Design, Setting, and Participants Two parallel, phase 3, randomized, placebo-controlled treatment trials were conducted in 1023 patients receiving hemodialysis with moderate to severe secondary hyperparathyroidism. Trial A was conducted in 508 patients at 111 sites in the United States, Canada, Europe, Israel, Russia, and Australia from March 12, 2013, to June 12, 2014; trial B was conducted in 515 patients at 97 sites in the same countries from March 12, 2013, to May 12, 2014. Interventions Intravenous administration of etelcalcetide (n = 503) or placebo (n = 513) after each hemodialysis session for 26 weeks. Main Outcomes and Measures The primary efficacy end point was the proportion of patients achieving greater than 30% reduction from baseline in mean PTH during weeks 20-27. A secondary efficacy end point was the proportion of patients achieving mean PTH of 300 pg/mL or lower. Results The mean age of the 1023 patients was 58.2 (SD, 14.4) years and 60.4% were men. Mean PTH concentrations at baseline and during weeks 20-27 were 849 and 384 pg/mL vs 820 and 897 pg/mL in the etelcalcetide and placebo groups, respectively, in trial A; corresponding values were 845 and 363 pg/mL vs 852 and 960 pg/mL in trial B. Patients randomized to etelcalcetide were significantly more likely to achieve the primary efficacy end point: in trial A, 188 of 254 (74.0%) vs 21 of 254 (8.3%; P < .001), for a difference in proportions of 65.7% (95% CI, 59.4%-72.1%) and in trial B, 192 of 255 (75.3%) vs 25 of 260 (9.6%; P < .001), for a difference in proportions of 65.7% (95% CI, 59.3%-72.1%). Patients randomized to etelcalcetide were significantly more likely to achieve a PTH level of 300 pg/mL or lower: in trial A, 126 of 254 (49.6%) vs 13 of 254 (5.1%; P < .001), for a difference in proportions of 44.5% (95% CI, 37.8%-51.2%) and in trial B, 136 of 255 (53.3%) vs 12 of 260 (4.6%; P < .001), for a difference in proportions of 48.7% (95% CI, 42.1%-55.4%). In trials A and B, respectively, patients receiving etelcalcetide had more muscle spasms (12.0% and 11.1% vs 7.1% and 6.2% with placebo), nausea (12.4% and 9.1% vs 5.1% and 7.3%), and vomiting (10.4% and 7.5% vs 7.1% and 3.1%). Conclusions and Relevance Among patients receiving hemodialysis with moderate to severe secondary hyperparathyroidism, use of etelcalcetide compared with placebo resulted in greater reduction in serum PTH over 26 weeks. Further studies are needed to assess clinical outcomes as well as longer-term efficacy and safety

StrategyNZ: mapping our future strategy maps - from Te Papa to the Legislative Council Chamber

This report explains the inputs, processes and outputs of the StrategyNZ workshop held in March 2011. The aim was to encourage a conversation about our long-term future. Consensus emerged that New Zealand should work to ‘create a place where talent wants to live’. See Report 12 and the workshop booklet

Fine-root production in small experimental gaps in successional mixed boreal forests

The effects of small 10 m x 10 m experimental above-ground gaps on fine-root production for the first two years were studied in three fire-initiated stands of the northwestern mixed broad-leaf-conifer boreal forest of Quebec. The 48-yr-old forest is dominated by Populus tremuloides (Trembling aspen), the 122-yr-old forest by a mixture of P. tremuloides, Abies balsamea (balsam fir) and Picea glauca (white spruce), and the 232-yr-old forest by Thuja occidentalis (eastern white cedar) and A. balsamea, with some P. tremuloides. 40 root-ingrowth bags were installed in different locations in and around each gap (at gap center, 1 to 2 m either side of gap edge and in adjacent control plots). Half of the ingrowth bags were harvested after one year following gap creation, the other half after two years. Roots were sorted into different species grouping. Fine-root production was statistically (P < 0.05) larger in the youngest forest compared to the two older ones after one year, but not after two years. The individual species or groups of species increased, decreased or showed no change in fine-root production in gaps, but overall we did not observe a major shift in species proportion between gap and control plots after two years. Some herbs and also Taxus canadensis seemed to benefit in terms of fine-root growth from such small openings after two years. No statistical differences (P > 0.10) in total fine-root production were found among locations within and outside gaps in either year. However, there was a clear tendency for fine-root production to be smaller in gap center than in the other locations for the two younger successional forests the first year after gap creation. We conclude that small above-ground gaps (i.e. < 100 m2) do not produce a significant and long-lasting below-ground gap in terms of total fine-root production in the successional forests investigated