ADVISE: Symbolism and External Knowledge for Decoding Advertisements

In order to convey the most content in their limited space, advertisements embed references to outside knowledge via symbolism. For example, a motorcycle stands for adventure (a positive property the ad wants associated with the product being sold), and a gun stands for danger (a negative property to dissuade viewers from undesirable behaviors). We show how to use symbolic references to better understand the meaning of an ad. We further show how anchoring ad understanding in general-purpose object recognition and image captioning improves results. We formulate the ad understanding task as matching the ad image to human-generated statements that describe the action that the ad prompts, and the rationale it provides for taking this action. Our proposed method outperforms the state of the art on this task, and on an alternative formulation of question-answering on ads. We show additional applications of our learned representations for matching ads to slogans, and clustering ads according to their topic, without extra training.Comment: To appear, Proceedings of the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV

Understanding animal fears: a comparison of the cognitive vulnerability and harm-looming models

Background: The Cognitive Vulnerability Model holds that both clinical and sub-clinical manifestations of animal fears are a result of how an animal is perceived, and can be used to explain both individual differences in fear acquisition and the uneven distribution of fears in the population. This study looked at the association between fear of a number of animals and perceptions of the animals as uncontrollable, unpredictable, dangerous and disgusting. Also assessed were the perceived loomingness, prior familiarity, and negative evaluation of the animals as well as possible conditioning experiences. Methods: 162 first-year University students rated their fear and perceptions of four high-fear and four low-fear animals. Results: Perceptions of the animals as dangerous, disgusting and uncontrollable were significantly associated with fear of both high- and low-fear animals while perceptions of unpredictability were significantly associated with fear of high-fear animals. Conditioning experiences were unrelated to fear of any animals. In multiple regression analyses, loomingness did not account for a significant amount of the variance in fear beyond that accounted for by the cognitive vulnerability variables. However, the vulnerability variables accounted for between 20% and 51% of the variance in all animals fears beyond that accounted for by perceptions of the animals as looming. Perceptions of dangerousness, uncontrollability and unpredictability were highly predictive of the uneven distribution of animal fears. Conclusion: This study provides support for the Cognitive Vulnerability Model of the etiology of specific fears and phobias and brings into question the utility of the harm-looming model in explaining animal fearJason M Armfiel

Health-state utilities in a prisoner population : a cross-sectional survey

Background: Health-state utilities for prisoners have not been described. Methods: We used data from a 1996 cross-sectional survey of Australian prisoners (n = 734). Respondent-level SF-36 data was transformed into utility scores by both the SF-6D and Nichol's method. Socio-demographic and clinical predictors of SF-6D utility were assessed in univariate analyses and a multivariate general linear model. Results: The overall mean SF-6D utility was 0.725 (SD 0.119). When subdivided by various medical conditions, prisoner SF-6D utilities ranged from 0.620 for angina to 0.764 for those with none/mild depressive symptoms. Utilities derived by the Nichol's method were higher than SF-6D scores, often by more than 0.1. In multivariate analysis, significant independent predictors of worse utility included female gender, increasing age, increasing number of comorbidities and more severe depressive symptoms. Conclusion: The utilities presented may prove useful for future economic and decision models evaluating prison-based health programs

Acute leukaemoid reaction following cardiac surgery

Chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia is an atypical myeloproliferative disorder with a natural history of progression to acute myeloid leukaemia, a complex and poorly understood response by the bone marrow to stress. Cardiac surgery activates many inflammatory cascades and may precipitate a systemic inflammatory response syndrome. We present a case of undiagnosed chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia who developed rapidly fatal multi-organ dysfunction following cardiac surgery due to an acute leukaemoid reaction

Recognition and Stigma of Prescription Drug Abuse Disorder: Personal and Community Determinants

Background Prescription drug abuse (PDA) disorders continue to contribute to the current American opioid crisis. Within this context, our study seeks to improve understanding about stigma associated with, and symptom recognition of, prescription drug abuse. Aims Model the stigma and symptom recognition of PDA in the general population. Methods A randomized, nation-wide, online, vignette-focused survey of the general public (N = 631) was implemented with an oversample for rural counties. Logit estimation was used for analysis, with regional and county-level sociodemographic variables as controls. Results Individual respondents that self-identify as having or having had “a prescription drug abuse issue” were less likely to correctly identify the condition and were 4 times more likely to exhibit stigma. Male respondents were approximately half as likely to correctly identify PDA as female respondents while older respondents (55+) were more likely to correctly identify PDA, relative to those aged 35–54. Being both male and younger was associated with slightly more stigma, in that they were less likely to disagree with the stigma statement. Conclusions In light of the continued risks that individuals with PDA behaviors face in potentially transitioning to illicit opioid use, the findings of this survey suggested a continued need for public education and outreach. Of particular note is the perspective of those who have self-identified with the condition, as this population faces the largest risks of adverse health outcomes from illicit drug use within the survey respondents

Neonatal Plasma Polarizes TLR4-Mediated Cytokine Responses towards Low IL-12p70 and High IL-10 Production via Distinct Factors

Human neonates are highly susceptible to infection, which may be due in part to impaired innate immune function. Neonatal Toll-like receptor (TLR) responses are biased against the generation of pro-inflammatory/Th1-polarizing cytokines, yet the underlying mechanisms are incompletely defined. Here, we demonstrate that neonatal plasma polarizes TLR4-mediated cytokine production. When exposed to cord blood plasma, mononuclear cells (MCs) produced significantly lower TLR4-mediated IL-12p70 and higher IL-10 compared to MC exposed to adult plasma. Suppression by neonatal plasma of TLR4-mediated IL-12p70 production, but not induction of TLR4-mediated IL-10 production, was maintained up to the age of 1 month. Cord blood plasma conferred a similar pattern of MC cytokine responses to TLR3 and TLR8 agonists, demonstrating activity towards both MyD88-dependent and MyD88-independent agonists. The factor causing increased TLR4-mediated IL-10 production by cord blood plasma was heat-labile, lost after protein depletion and independent of lipoprotein binding protein (LBP) or soluble CD14 (sCD14). The factor causing inhibition of TLR4-mediated IL-12p70 production by cord blood plasma was resistant to heat inactivation or protein depletion and was independent of IL-10, vitamin D and prostaglandin E2. In conclusion, human neonatal plasma contains at least two distinct factors that suppress TLR4-mediated IL-12p70 production or induce IL-10 or production. Further identification of these factors will provide insight into the ontogeny of innate immune development and might identify novel targets for the prevention and treatment of neonatal infection

A Field Trial of Alternative Targeted Screening Strategies for Chagas Disease in Arequipa, Peru

In the wake of emerging T. cruzi infection in children of periurban Arequipa, Peru, we conducted a prospective field trial to evaluate alternative targeted screening strategies for Chagas disease across the city. Using insect vector data that is routinely collected during Ministry of Health insecticide application campaigns in 3 periurban districts of Arequipa, we separated into 4 categories those households with 1) infected vectors; 2) high vector densities; 3) low vector densities; and 4) no vectors. Residents of all infected-vector households and a random sample of those in the other 3 categories were invited for serological screening for T. cruzi infection. Subsequently, all residents of households within a 15-meter radius of detected seropositive individuals were invited to be screened in a ring case-detection scheme. Of 923 participants, 21 (2.28%) were seropositive. There were no significant differences in prevalence across the 4 screening strategies, indicating that household entomologic factors alone could not predict the risk of infection. Indeed, the most predictive variable of infection was the number of years a person lived in a location with triatomine insects. Therefore, a simple residence history questionnaire may be a useful screening tool in large, diverse urban environments with emerging Chagas disease

Nunalleq, Stories from the Village of Our Ancestors:Co-designing a multivocal educational resource based on an archaeological excavation

This work was funded by the UK-based Arts and Humanities Research Council through grants (AH/K006029/1) and (AH/R014523/1), a University of Aberdeen IKEC Award with additional support for travel and subsistence from the University of Dundee, DJCAD Research Committee RS2 project funding. Thank you to the many people who contributed their support, knowledge, feedback, voices and faces throughout the project, this list includes members of the local community, colleagues, specialists, students, and volunteers. If we have missed out any names we apologize but know that your help was appreciated. Jimmy Anaver, John Anderson, Alice Bailey, Kieran Baxter, Pauline Beebe, Ellinor Berggren, Dawn Biddison, Joshua Branstetter, Brendan Body, Lise Bos, Michael Broderick, Sarah Brown, Crystal Carter, Joseph Carter, Lucy Carter, Sally Carter, Ben Charles, Mary Church, Willard Church, Daniele Clementi, Annie Cleveland, Emily Cleveland, Joshua Cleveland, Aron Crowell, Neil Curtis, Angie Demma, Annie Don, Julia Farley, Veronique Forbes, Patti Fredericks, Tricia Gillam, Sean Gleason, Sven Haakanson, Cheryl Heitman, Grace Hill, Diana Hunter, Joel Isaak, Warren Jones, Stephan Jones, Ana Jorge, Solveig Junglas, Melia Knecht, Rick Knecht, Erika Larsen, Paul Ledger, Jonathan Lim Soon, Amber Lincoln, Steve Luke, Francis Lukezic, Eva Malvich, Pauline Matthews, Roy Mark, Edouard Masson-MacLean, Julie Masson-MacLean, Mhairi Maxwell, Chuna Mcintyre, Drew Michael, Amanda Mina, Anna Mossolova, Carl Nicolai Jr, Chris Niskanen, Molly Odell, Tom Paxton, Lauren Phillips, Lucy Qin, Charlie Roberts, Chris Rowe, Rufus Rowe,Chris Rowland, John Rundall, Melissa Shaginoff, Monica Shah, Anna Sloan, Darryl Small Jr, John Smith, Mike Smith, Joey Sparaga, Hannah Strehlau, Dora Strunk, Larissa Strunk, Lonny Strunk, Larry Strunk, Robbie Strunk, Sandra Toloczko, Richard Vanderhoek, the Qanirtuuq Incorporated Board, the Quinhagak Dance Group and the staff at Kuinerrarmiut Elitnaurviat. We also extend our thanks to three anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments on our paper.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Classical Effective Field Theory for Weak Ultra Relativistic Scattering

Inspired by the problem of Planckian scattering we describe a classical effective field theory for weak ultra relativistic scattering in which field propagation is instantaneous and transverse and the particles' equations of motion localize to the instant of passing. An analogy with the non-relativistic (post-Newtonian) approximation is stressed. The small parameter is identified and power counting rules are established. The theory is applied to reproduce the leading scattering angle for either a scalar interaction field or electro-magnetic or gravitational; to compute some subleading corrections, including the interaction duration; and to allow for non-zero masses. For the gravitational case we present an appropriate decomposition of the gravitational field onto the transverse plane together with its whole non-linear action. On the way we touch upon the relation with the eikonal approximation, some evidence for censorship of quantum gravity, and an algebraic ring structure on 2d Minkowski spacetime.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures. v4: Duration of interaction is determined in Sec 4 and detailed in App C. Version accepted for publication in JHE