Automated linking of historical data

The recent digitization of complete count census data is an extraordinary opportunity for social scientists to create large longitudinal datasets by linking individuals from one census to another or from other sources to the census. We evaluate different automated methods for record linkage, performing a series of comparisons across methods and against hand linking. We have three main findings that lead us to conclude that automated methods perform well. First, a number of automated methods generate very low (less than 5%) false positive rates. The automated methods trace out a frontier illustrating the tradeoff between the false positive rate and the (true) match rate. Relative to more conservative automated algorithms, humans tend to link more observations but at a cost of higher rates of false positives. Second, when human linkers and algorithms use the same linking variables, there is relatively little disagreement between them. Third, across a number of plausible analyses, coefficient estimates and parameters of interest are very similar when using linked samples based on each of the different automated methods. We provide code and Stata commands to implement the various automated methods.Accepted manuscriptFirst author draf

Open World Assistive Grasping Using Laser Selection

Many people with motor disabilities are unable to complete activities of daily living (ADLs) without assistance. This paper describes a complete robotic system developed to provide mobile grasping assistance for ADLs. The system is comprised of a robot arm from a Rethink Robotics Baxter robot mounted to an assistive mobility device, a control system for that arm, and a user interface with a variety of access methods for selecting desired objects. The system uses grasp detection to allow previously unseen objects to be picked up by the system. The grasp detection algorithms also allow for objects to be grasped in cluttered environments. We evaluate our system in a number of experiments on a large variety of objects. Overall, we achieve an object selection success rate of 88% and a grasp detection success rate of 90% in a non-mobile scenario, and success rates of 89% and 72% in a mobile scenario

Monitoring responses by use of five-color flow cytometry in subsets of peripheral T cells obtained from cattle inoculated with a killed Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis vaccine

Objective—To monitor by use of 5-color flow cytometry the antigen-specific responses of subsets of peripheral T cells in cattle inoculated with a killed Mycobacterium avium subsp paratuberculosis (MAP) vaccine and to compare results with those for 2 established cell-mediated immunity assays. Animals—45 female Holstein cattle with negative results for MAP in skin tests conducted at time of inoculation with MAP. Procedures—Cattle were allocated to 4 groups. Cattle of group 1 (n = 12) were 0 to 3 months old and inoculated with a killed MAP vaccine. The 10 cattle of group 2 were the same age as those in group 1 but were not inoculated with MAP vaccine. The 11 cattle of group 3 were 9 to 12 months old and inoculated with killed MAP vaccine. The 12 cattle of group 4 were the same age as those in group 3 but were not inoculated with MAP vaccine. Results—Flow cytometry identified T-cell subsets that responded specifically to the recall antigen. Results of assays for CD25 expression and wholeblood interferon-γ had the strongest correlation with results for skin tests as well as results with each other. Intracellular expression of interferon-γ was not correlated as well with results for the other tests. Conclusions and Clinical Relevance—Flow cytometry can be useful for characterizing the immune response after administration of MAP vaccine and should be evaluated with regard to its sensitivity and specificity when used in detecting cattle naturally infected with MAP

Comparison of Risk of Recrudescent Fever in Children With Kawasaki Disease Treated With Intravenous Immunoglobulin and Low-Dose vs High-Dose Aspirin

Importance: Timely initiation of intravenous immunoglobulin plus aspirin is necessary for decreasing the risk of recrudescent fever and coronary artery abnormalities in children with Kawasaki disease (KD). The optimal dose of aspirin, however, remains unclear. Objective: To evaluate whether initial treatment with low-dose compared with high-dose aspirin in children with KD is associated with an increase in fever recrudescence. Design, Setting, and Participants: A retrospective cohort study of 260 children with KD at Riley Hospital for Children, Indianapolis, Indiana, between January 1, 2007, and December 31, 2018, was conducted. Children aged 0 to 18 years with a first episode of KD, identified by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision and International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision diagnosis codes treated within 10 days of symptom onset with high-dose intravenous immunoglobulin plus aspirin were eligible. Patients who received an alternative diagnosis, experienced a second episode of KD, did not receive intravenous immunoglobulin plus aspirin for initial treatment, were not treated within 10 days of symptoms, or had incomplete records were excluded. Exposures: High-dose (≥10 mg/kg/d) or low-dose (<10 mg/kg/d) aspirin therapy. Main Outcomes and Measures: The primary outcome was recrudescent fever necessitating retreatment of KD. The secondary outcomes were coronary artery abnormalities and hospital length of stay. Results: Among the 260 patients included, the median (interquartile range) age was 2.5 (1.6-4.3) years, 103 (39.6%) were girls, 166 (63.8%) were non-Hispanic white, 57 (21.9%) were African American, 22 (8.5%) were Asian, 11 (4.2%) were Hispanic, and 4 (1.5%) were of unknown race/ethnicity. One hundred-forty-two patients (54.6%) were treated with low-dose aspirin. There was no association between recrudescent fever and aspirin dose, with 39 children (27.5%) having recrudescent fever in the low-dose group compared with 26 children (22.0%) in the high-dose group (odds ratio [OR], 1.34; 95% CI, 0.76-2.37; P = .31), with similar results after adjusting for potential confounding variables (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 0.89-2.97; P = .11). In a subset analysis of 167 children with complete KD, however, there was nearly a 2-fold difference in the odds of recrudescent fever with low-dose aspirin (OR, 1.87; 95% CI, 0.82-4.23; P = .14), although this difference did not reach statistical significance. In addition, no association was identified between treatment group and coronary artery abnormalities (low-dose, 7.4% vs high-dose, 9.4%; OR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.48-1.55; P = .62) or median (interquartile range) length of stay (3 [3-5] days for both groups; P = .27). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, low-dose aspirin for the initial treatment of children with KD was not associated with fever recrudescence or coronary artery abnormalities. Given the potential benefits, further study of low-dose aspirin to detect potentially clinically relevant outcome differences is warranted to inform treatment decisions and guideline development

Chapman University: Celebrating the Past, Shaping the Future

In celebration of Chapman University’s 150 years of educational excellence this book looks back over the decades at our school’s rich history and the many people that have enriched the campus.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/chapman_150th_anniversary_publications/1000/thumbnail.jp

Is the promise of methadone Kenya's solution to managing HIV and addiction? A mixed-method mathematical modelling and qualitative study.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Promoted globally as an evidence-based intervention in the prevention of HIV and treatment of heroin addiction among people who inject drugs (PWID), opioid substitution treatment (OST) can help control emerging HIV epidemics among PWID. With implementation in December 2014, Kenya is the third Sub-Saharan African country to have introduced OST. We combine dynamic mathematical modelling with qualitative sociological research to examine the 'promise of methadone' to Kenya. METHODS, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: We model the HIV prevention impact of OST in Nairobi, Kenya, at different levels of intervention coverage. We draw on thematic analyses of 109 qualitative interviews with PWID, and 43 with stakeholders, to chart their narratives of expectation in relation to the promise of methadone. RESULTS: The modelled impact of OST shows relatively slight reductions in HIV incidence (5-10%) and prevalence (2-4%) over 5 years at coverage levels (around 10%) anticipated in the planned roll-out of OST. However, there is a higher impact with increased coverage, with 40% coverage producing a 20% reduction in HIV incidence, even when accounting for relatively high sexual transmissions. Qualitative findings emphasise a culture of 'rationed expectation' in relation to access to care and a 'poverty of drug treatment opportunity'. In this context, the promise of methadone may be narrated as a symbol of hope-both for individuals and community-in relation to addiction recovery. CONCLUSIONS: Methadone offers HIV prevention potential, but there is a need to better model the effects of sexual HIV transmission in mediating the impact of OST among PWID in settings characterised by a combination of generalised and concentrated epidemics. We find that individual and community narratives of methadone as hope for recovery coexist with policy narratives positioning methadone primarily in relation to HIV prevention. Our analyses show the value of mixed methods approaches to investigating newly-introduced interventions

Stability and Localization of Rapid Shear in Fluid-Saturated Fault Gouge: 2. Localized Zone Width and Strength Evolution

Field and laboratory observations indicate that at seismic slip rates most shearing is confined to a very narrow zone, just a few tens to hundreds of microns wide, and sometimes as small as a few microns. Rice et al. (2014) analyzed the stability of uniform shear in a fluid-saturated gouge material. They considered two distinct mechanisms to limit localization to a finite thickness zone, rate-strengthening friction, and dilatancy. In this paper we use numerical simulations to extend beyond the linearized perturbation context in Rice et al. (2014), and study the behavior after the loss of stability. Neglecting dilatancy we find that straining localizes to a width that is almost independent of the gouge layer width, suggesting that the localized zone width is set by the physical properties of the gouge material. Choosing parameters thought to be representative of a crustal depth of 7 km, this predicts that deformation should be confined to a zone between 4 and 44 μm wide. Next, considering dilatancy alone we again find a localized zone thickness that is independent of gouge layer thickness. For dilatancy alone we predict localized zone thicknesses between 1 and 2 μm wide for a depth of 7 km. Finally, we study the impact of localization on the shear strength and temperature evolution of the gouge material. Strain rate localization focuses frictional heating into a narrower zone, leading to a much faster temperature rise than that predicted when localization is not accounted for. Since the dynamic weakening mechanism considered here is thermally driven, this leads to accelerated dynamic weakening.Earth and Planetary SciencesEngineering and Applied Science