Asymptotic Properties of Approximate Bayesian Computation

Approximate Bayesian computation allows for statistical analysis in models with intractable likelihoods. In this paper we consider the asymptotic behaviour of the posterior distribution obtained by this method. We give general results on the rate at which the posterior distribution concentrates on sets containing the true parameter, its limiting shape, and the asymptotic distribution of the posterior mean. These results hold under given rates for the tolerance used within the method, mild regularity conditions on the summary statistics, and a condition linked to identification of the true parameters. Implications for practitioners are discussed.Comment: This 31 pages paper is a revised version of the paper, including supplementary materia

Neonatal White Matter Maturation Is Associated With Infant Language Development

Background: While neonates have no sophisticated language skills, the neural basis for acquiring this function is assumed to already be present at birth. Receptive language is measurable by 6 months of age and meaningful speech production by 10-18 months of age. Fiber tracts supporting language processing include the corpus callosum (CC), which plays a key role in the hemispheric lateralization of language; the left arcuate fasciculus (AF), which is associated with syntactic processing; and the right AF, which plays a role in prosody and semantics. We examined if neonatal maturation of these fiber tracts is associated with receptive language development at 12 months of age. Methods: Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) was performed in 86 infants at 26.6 ± 12.2 days post-birth. Receptive language was assessed via the MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory at 12 months of age. Tract-based fractional anisotropy (FA) was determined using the NA-MIC atlas-based fiber analysis toolkit. Associations between neonatal regional FA, adjusted for gestational age at birth and age at scan, and language development at 12 months of age were tested using ANOVA models. Results: After multiple comparisons correction, higher neonatal FA was positively associated with receptive language at 12 months of age within the genu (p < 0.001), rostrum (p < 0.001), and tapetum (p < 0.001) of the CC and the left fronto-parietal AF (p = 0.008). No significant clusters were found in the right AF. Conclusion: Microstructural development of the CC and the AF in the newborn is associated with receptive language at 12 months of age, demonstrating that interindividual variation in white matter microstructure is relevant for later language development, and indicating that the neural foundation for language processing is laid well ahead of the majority of language acquisition. This suggests that some origins of impaired language development may lie in the intrauterine and potentially neonatal period of life. Understanding how interindividual differences in neonatal brain maturity relate to the acquisition of function, particularly during early development when the brain is in an unparalleled window of plasticity, is key to identifying opportunities for harnessing neuroplasticity in health and disease

Truss Performance and Packaging Metrics

In the present paper a set of performance metrics are derived from first principals to assess the efficiency of competing space truss structural concepts in terms of mass, stiffness, and strength, for designs that are constrained by packaging. The use of these performance metrics provides unique insight into the primary drivers for lowering structural mass and packaging volume as well as enabling quantitative concept performance evaluation and comparison. To demonstrate the use of these performance metrics, data for existing structural concepts are plotted and discussed. Structural performance data is presented for various mechanical deployable concepts, for erectable structures, and for rigidizable structures

IMMUNE RESPONSES IN VITRO : XI. Suppression of Primary IgM and IgG Plaque-Forming Cell Responses In Vitro by Alloantisera Against Leukocyte Alloantigens

The effects of alloantisera against leukocyte alloantigens on plaque-forming cell (PFC) responses to sheep erythrocytes and the terpolymer of L-glutamic acid60-L-alanine30-L-tyrosine10 (GAT) by mouse spleen cells in vitro have been investigated. Polyspecific antibodies against both H-2 and non-H-2 alloantigens on responding spleen cells suppressed both IgM and IgG PFC responses; antisera against alloantigens coded for by the K and I regions, but not the D region, of the H-2 complex also effectively suppressed PFC responses. The suppression was not due to cytotoxicity to the spleen cells or anti-immunoglobulin activity in the sera and was directly related to the amount of antiserum added to the cultures. The suppression was specific for spleen cells against which the alloantiserum was directed. The alloantisera suppressed responses most effectively when present during the first 24 h of incubation, and although not rendering lymphoid cells incapable of developing PFC responses after removal of noncell-bound antibody, did act by interfering with successful initiation of the PFC response. The alloantisera suppressed both IgM and IgG PFC responses when directed against alloantigens only on macrophages, but selectively suppressed IgG responses when directed against alloantigens only on lymphoid cells. The alloantisera did not interfere with the ability of macrophages to bind GAT or to support the viability of the lymphoid cells, but did interfere with the ability of macrophage-associated antigen to effectively stimulate antibody responses by the lymphoid cells. Possible mechanisms for the effects of alloantisera on macrophages and the selective suppression of IgG responses when the antisera are directed against alloantigens on lymphoid cells are discussed with reference to our current understanding of genetic restrictions governing cell interactions in the development of antibody responses in mice

Uncovering convolutional neural network decisions for diagnosing multiple sclerosis on conventional MRI using layer-wise relevance propagation

Machine learning-based imaging diagnostics has recently reached or even superseded the level of clinical experts in several clinical domains. However, classification decisions of a trained machine learning system are typically non-transparent, a major hindrance for clinical integration, error tracking or knowledge discovery. In this study, we present a transparent deep learning framework relying on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) and layer-wise relevance propagation (LRP) for diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS). MS is commonly diagnosed utilizing a combination of clinical presentation and conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), specifically the occurrence and presentation of white matter lesions in T2-weighted images. We hypothesized that using LRP in a naive predictive model would enable us to uncover relevant image features that a trained CNN uses for decision-making. Since imaging markers in MS are well-established this would enable us to validate the respective CNN model. First, we pre-trained a CNN on MRI data from the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (n = 921), afterwards specializing the CNN to discriminate between MS patients and healthy controls (n = 147). Using LRP, we then produced a heatmap for each subject in the holdout set depicting the voxel-wise relevance for a particular classification decision. The resulting CNN model resulted in a balanced accuracy of 87.04% and an area under the curve of 96.08% in a receiver operating characteristic curve. The subsequent LRP visualization revealed that the CNN model focuses indeed on individual lesions, but also incorporates additional information such as lesion location, non-lesional white matter or gray matter areas such as the thalamus, which are established conventional and advanced MRI markers in MS. We conclude that LRP and the proposed framework have the capability to make diagnostic decisions of..

Factorial Invariance of Self-efficacy in Physical Health Care Scale for Men and Women University Students

The present study analyses the psychometric properties of the Selfefficacy in Physical Health Care Scale. The overall sample consisted of 2006 subjects: 902 women and 1104 men, with a mean age of 18.53 years (SD= 1.52) and 18.84 years (SD= 1.55) respectively. The Factorial Psychometric analysis showed that a three-factorial structure (nutrition, physical health and hydration) was viable and adequate for both populations (men and woman) according to the established psychometric requirements when the informers are the students themselves. The results showed that factor structure, factor loadings and intercepts of the instrument could be considered invariant across groups; however, there are differences between groups in favor of men for the means of the nutrition and physical health factors

Responding to Vaccine Safety Signals during Pandemic Influenza: A Modeling Study

Background: Managing emerging vaccine safety signals during an influenza pandemic is challenging. Federal regulators must balance vaccine risks against benefits while maintaining public confidence in the public health system. Methods: We developed a multi-criteria decision analysis model to explore regulatory decision-making in the context of emerging vaccine safety signals during a pandemic. We simulated vaccine safety surveillance system capabilities and used an age-structured compartmental model to develop potential pandemic scenarios. We used an expert-derived multi-attribute utility function to evaluate potential regulatory responses by combining four outcome measures into a single measure of interest: 1) expected vaccination benefit from averted influenza; 2) expected vaccination risk from vaccine-associated febrile seizures; 3) expected vaccination risk from vaccine-associated Guillain-Barre Syndrome; and 4) expected change in vaccine-seeking behavior in future influenza seasons. Results: Over multiple scenarios, risk communication, with or without suspension of vaccination of high-risk persons, were the consistently preferred regulatory responses over no action or general suspension when safety signals were detected during a pandemic influenza. On average, the expert panel valued near-term vaccine-related outcomes relative to long-term projected outcomes by 3∶1. However, when decision-makers had minimal ability to influence near-term outcomes, the response was selected primarily by projected impacts on future vaccine-seeking behavior. Conclusions: The selected regulatory response depends on how quickly a vaccine safety signal is identified relative to the peak of the pandemic and the initiation of vaccination. Our analysis suggested two areas for future investment: efforts to improve the size and timeliness of the surveillance system and behavioral research to understand changes in vaccine-seeking behavior

The Personal is Political:Pentecostal Approaches to Governance and Security

In this essay, I explore Pentecostal approaches to governance and security, taking an anthropological approach. I focus on Pentecostalism as a distinctive way of looking at and being in the world, one that understands the family as central in its approach governance and security. I highlight the paradox between Pentecostalism’s strong orientation towards individual and family moral conduct and practices of female leadership in Pentecostal contexts. I conclude with some broader reflections on the implications for diplomacy and other practitioners of foreign policy

Knowledge-Attitudes-Practices About Malaria Among Communities in Southern Benin

Malaria still remains the main public health problem in Benin. We explored the determinants that influenced malaria treatment as well as protective behaviors, to generate a framework of useful ideas as alternative strategies against malaria. A cross-sectional survey of the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) was conducted at Hozin, Vakon and Agblangandan districts in southern region of Benin. Descriptive statistics were computed and mixed logistic regression helped evaluating the relationship between frequency of each category of severity of malaria and sex group, educational level, treatment, means of self-protection against mosquitoes and identification of the cause of malaria. A significant proportion 750 (81.3%) (p&lt;0.001) of participants stated that malaria was caused by mosquitoes. The respondents who mentioned sun as the cause of malaria, have trivialized more malaria in a proportion of about 59.30% (OR=2.67 [95% CI 1.61-4.44]) followed by those who have reported the cause of body weakness (43.68%) (OR=2.97 [95% CI 1.68-5.28]). Poor knowledge justifies the trivialization of the disease and poor management of malaria control means. National Malaria Control Programs should improve access to education, especially for women and could help improving prevention and control behaviours against malaria in communities

Teachers as brokers: adding a university-society perspective to higher education teacher competence profiles

Higher education institutions are increasingly engaged with society but contemporary higher education teacher competence profiles do not include university-society oriented responsibilities of teachers. Consequently, comprehensive insights in university-society collaborative performance of higher education teachers are not availab