The Euclid Statistical Matrix Tool

Stataphobia, a term used to describe the fear of statistics and research methods, can result from a lack of improper training in statistical methods. Poor statistical methods training can have an effect on health policy decision making and may play a role in the low research productivity seen in developing countries. One way to reduce Stataphobia is to intervene in the teaching of statistics in the classroom; however, such an intervention must tackle several obstacles, including student interest in the material, multiple ways of learning materials, and language barriers.We present here the Euclid Statistical Matrix, a tool for combatting Stataphobia on a global scale. This free tool is comprised of popular statistical YouTube channels and web sources that teach and demonstrate statistical concepts in a variety of presentation methods. Working with international teams in Iran, Japan, Egypt, Russia, and the United States, we have also developed the Statistical Matrix in multiple languages to address language barriers to learning statistics. By utilizing already-established large networks, we are able to disseminate our tool to thousands of Farsi-speaking university faculty and students in Iran and the United States. Future dissemination of the Euclid Statistical Matrix throughout the Central Asia and support from local universities may help to combat low research productivity in this region

Chimpanzee face recognition from videos in the wild using deep learning

Video recording is now ubiquitous in the study of animal behavior, but its analysis on a large scale is prohibited by the time and resources needed to manually process large volumes of data. We present a deep convolutional neural network (CNN) approach that provides a fully automated pipeline for face detection, tracking, and recognition of wild chimpanzees from long-term video records. In a 14-year dataset yielding 10 million face images from 23 individuals over 50 hours of footage, we obtained an overall accuracy of 92.5% for identity recognition and 96.2% for sex recognition. Using the identified faces, we generated co-occurrence matrices to trace changes in the social network structure of an aging population. The tools we developed enable easy processing and annotation of video datasets, including those from other species. Such automated analysis unveils the future potential of large-scale longitudinal video archives to address fundamental questions in behavior and conservation.Agência financiadora Número do subsídio Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) EP/M013774/1 Cooperative Research Program of Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University Google Clarendon Fund Boise Trust Fund Wolfson College, University of Oxford Leverhulme Trust PLP-2016-114 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) Japan Society for the Promotion of Science 16H06283 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan (MEXT) Japan Society for the Promotion of Science LGP-U04info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Knowledge and Demand for Information about Islet Transplantation in Patients with Type 1 Diabetes

This cross-sectional study based on self-administrated questionnaire was conducted to investigate knowledge, related factors, and sources of information regarding islet transplantation in patients with type 1 diabetes in Japan. Among 137 patients who provided valid responses, 67 (48.9%) knew about islet transplantation. Their main source of information was newspapers or magazines (56.7%) and television or radio (46.3%). However, 85.8% of patients preferred the attending physician as their source of information. Although more than half of the patients were correctly aware of issues related to islet transplantation, the following specific issues for islet transplantation were not understood or considered, and there was little knowledge of them: need for immunosuppressants, lifestyle and dietary adaptations, fewer bodily burdens, and complications. The experience of hypoglycaemia, a high level of academic background, frequent self-monitoring of blood glucose, and the use of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion were related to higher knowledge about islet transplantation

Eucalyptus Leaf Extract Suppresses the Postprandial Elevation of Portal, Cardiac and Peripheral Fructose Concentrations after Sucrose Ingestion in Rats

Overintake of sucrose or fructose induces adiposity. Fructose undergoes a strong Maillard reaction, which worsens diabetic complications. To determine whether Eucalyptus globulus leaf extract (ELE) suppresses the postprandial elevation of serum fructose concentrations (SFCs) in the portal, cardiac, and peripheral blood after sucrose ingestion, we performed gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) and measured SFC without any interference by contaminating glucose in the samples. Fasting Wistar rats were orally administered water (control group) or ELE (ELE group) before sucrose ingestion. Blood was collected from the portal vein, heart, and tail. The increase in the SFCs in the portal and cardiac samples 30 min after sucrose ingestion was lower in the ELE group than in the control group. The coefficient of correlation between the SFCs in the portal and cardiac samples was 0.825. The peripheral SFC in the control group progressively increased and was 146 µmol/L at 60 min. This increase was significantly lower in the ELE group. In contrast, the serum glucose concentrations in the 2 groups were similar. ELE suppressed postprandial hyperfructosemia in the portal, cardiac, and peripheral circulations. ELE may counteract glycation caused by high blood fructose concentrations induced by the consumption of fructose-containing foods or drinks

Dependence of alkyl-substituent length for bulk heterojunction solar cells utilizing 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octaalkylphthalocyanine

Tetsuro Hori, Yasuo Miyake, Tetsuya Masuda, Takeshi Hayashi, Kaoru Fukumura, Hiroyuki Yoshida, Akihiko Fujii, Masanori Ozaki, and Yo Shimizu "Dependence of alkyl-substituent length for bulk heterojunction solar cells utilizing 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25-octaalkylphthalocyanine," Journal of Photonics for Energy 2(1), 021004 (2 March 2012). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JPE.2.02100

Automated face recognition using deep neural networks produces robust primate social networks and sociality measures

Longitudinal video archives of behaviour are crucial for examining how sociality shifts over the lifespan in wild animals. New approaches adopting computer vision technology hold serious potential to capture interactions and associations between individuals in video at large scale; however, such approaches need a priori validation, as methods of sampling and defining edges for social networks can substantially impact results.Here, we apply a deep learning face recognition model to generate association networks of wild chimpanzees using 17 years of a video archive from Bossou, Guinea. Using 7 million detections from 100 h of video footage, we examined how varying the size of fixed temporal windows (i.e. aggregation rates) for defining edges impact individual-level gregariousness scores.The highest and lowest aggregation rates produced divergent values, indicating that different rates of aggregation capture different association patterns. To avoid any potential bias from false positives and negatives from automated detection, an intermediate aggregation rate should be used to reduce error across multiple variables. Individual-level network-derived traits were highly repeatable, indicating strong inter-individual variation in association patterns across years and highlighting the reliability of the method to capture consistent individual-level patterns of sociality over time. We found no reliable effects of age and sex on social behaviour and despite a significant drop in population size over the study period, individual estimates of gregariousness remained stable over time.We believe that our automated framework will be of broad utility to ethology and conservation, enabling the investigation of animal social behaviour from video footage at large scale, low cost and high reproducibility. We explore the implications of our findings for understanding variation in sociality patterns in wild ape populations. Furthermore, we examine the trade-offs involved in using face recognition technology to generate social networks and sociality measures. Finally, we outline the steps for the broader deployment of this technology for analysis of large-scale datasets in ecology and evolution.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Contributions of phase resetting and interlimb coordination to the adaptive control of hindlimb obstacle avoidance during locomotion in rats: a simulation study.

Obstacle avoidance during locomotion is essential for safe, smooth locomotion. Physiological studies regarding muscle synergy have shown that the combination of a small number of basic patterns produces the large part of muscle activities during locomotion and the addition of another pattern explains muscle activities for obstacle avoidance. Furthermore, central pattern generators in the spinal cord are thought to manage the timing to produce such basic patterns. In the present study, we investigated sensory-motor coordination for obstacle avoidance by the hindlimbs of the rat using a neuromusculoskeletal model. We constructed the musculoskeletal part of the model based on empirical anatomical data of the rat and the nervous system model based on the aforementioned physiological findings of central pattern generators and muscle synergy. To verify the dynamic simulation by the constructed model, we compared the simulation results with kinematic and electromyographic data measured during actual locomotion in rats. In addition, we incorporated sensory regulation models based on physiological evidence of phase resetting and interlimb coordination and examined their functional roles in stepping over an obstacle during locomotion. Our results show that the phase regulation based on interlimb coordination contributes to stepping over a higher obstacle and that based on phase resetting contributes to quick recovery after stepping over the obstacle. These results suggest the importance of sensory regulation in generating successful obstacle avoidance during locomotion

Development and behavior of wild infant-juvenile East Bornean orangutans (Pongo pygmaeus morio) in Danum Valley

Orangutans have a long period of immaturity and the longest inter-birth interval (IBI) of all mammals, which can be explained by their solitary life style, preventing the mother from rearing two offspring simultaneously (solitary life hypothesis) [corrected]. We collected data on mother-offspring dyads living in a primary lowland forest in Danum Valley, East Borneo in an effort to examine the developmental and behavioral patterns of the subspecies Pongo pygmaeus morio. We analyzed developmental changes in mother-offspring distance, contact, and activity budgets in orangutans ranging from 1 to 7 years of age. The results indicated decreased resting and playing with increasing age, whereas feeding, traveling and social play all increased significantly. Mothers' feeding and traveling time were good predictors of their offspring's feeding and traveling activities. Mother-offspring contact lasted longer in resting contexts; contact during traveling was almost non-existent after 4 years of age. Comparisons with previously published data on the Sumatran species Pongo abelli revealed no fundamental differences in these behavioral measures. However, a shorter association time with the mother after behavioral independence is documented for this East Bornean population in comparison to Sumatran populations. These results are best explained by the solitary life hypothesis, in agreement with previous studies. We suggest that environmental constraints in Bornean forests, as well as a lower population density, should be considered when interpreting the differences between Sumatran and Bornean orangutans in both the period of association with mother and the IBI