Discussion and Depictions of Women in H.W. Janson’s History of Art, Fourth Edition

During the past twenty-five years there have been numerous highly charged and open criticisms levied against the field of art history. These accusations have been launched from a variety of fronts, both within and outside the discipline of art history (Simmons, 1990), with some of these critical questions and subsequent condemnation directed toward textbooks used to teach this subject in traditional courses that survey historical aspects of Western art. A primary criticism of these survey textbooks has been aimed at their lack of attention given to the important work of women artists. The manner in which these criticisms are treated by authors and editors of survey texts has definite ramifications for art education, a field in which preservice teachers are often required to complete a very limited number of courses in art history beyond those that present monuments of Western art through the use of such textbooks. These volumes then become the foundation and source of information art teachers use to instruct their students in art history

Comparing Population Means under Local Differential Privacy: with Significance and Power

A statistical hypothesis test determines whether a hypothesis should be rejected based on samples from populations. In particular, randomized controlled experiments (or A/B testing) that compare population means using, e.g., t-tests, have been widely deployed in technology companies to aid in making data-driven decisions. Samples used in these tests are collected from users and may contain sensitive information. Both the data collection and the testing process may compromise individuals' privacy. In this paper, we study how to conduct hypothesis tests to compare population means while preserving privacy. We use the notation of local differential privacy (LDP), which has recently emerged as the main tool to ensure each individual's privacy without the need of a trusted data collector. We propose LDP tests that inject noise into every user's data in the samples before collecting them (so users do not need to trust the data collector), and draw conclusions with bounded type-I (significance level) and type-II errors (1 - power). Our approaches can be extended to the scenario where some users require LDP while some are willing to provide exact data. We report experimental results on real-world datasets to verify the effectiveness of our approaches.Comment: Full version of an AAAI 2018 conference pape

Differential Gene Expression Segregates Cattle Confirmed Positive for Bovine Tuberculosis from Antemortem Tuberculosis Test-False Positive Cattle Originating from Herds Free of Bovine Tuberculosis

Antemortem tests for bovine tuberculosis (bTB) currently used in the US measure cell-mediated immune responses against Mycobacterium bovis. Postmortem tests for bTB rely on observation of gross and histologic lesions of bTB, followed by bacterial isolation or molecular diagnostics. Cumulative data from the state of Michigan indicates that 98 to 99% of cattle that react positively in antemortem tests are not confirmed positive for bTB at postmortem examination. Understanding the fundamental differences in gene regulation between antemortem test-false positive cattle and cattle that have bTB may allow identification of molecular markers that can be exploited to better separate infected from noninfected cattle. An immunospecific cDNA microarray was used to identify altered gene expression (P ≤ 0.01) of 122 gene features between antemortem test-false positive cattle and bTB-infected cattle following a 4-hour stimulation of whole blood with tuberculin. Further analysis using quantitative real-time PCR assays validated altered expression of 8 genes that had differential power (adj  P ≤ 0.05) to segregate cattle confirmed positive for bovine tuberculosis from antemortem tuberculosis test-false positive cattle originating from herds free of bovine tuberculosis

Multipath simulator measurements of handset dual antenna performance with limited number of signal paths

Antenna pairs for diversity or MIMO functionality are characterized under the assumption of a certain statistical distribution of the incident signals over angle and polarization, but also assuming a signal environment with a large number of signal paths. In many real-life environments, however, only a few signal paths contain most of the transferred power. A multipath simulator can be used to realize signal environments with a controlled number of signal paths. This paper presents measurements of dual antenna performance using amultipath simulator with 2–16 signal paths. The results are analyzed in terms of statistical power distributions,power imbalance, correlation coefficient, multiplexing efficiency, and diversity gain. Differences in performance depending on the number of signal paths are noted, illustrating the value of considering the number of signal paths in characterization.The work was supported in part by MICINN (Project TEC2008-05811) through an FPI doctoral grant (BES-2009-013764

Experimental Reproduction of Severe Disease in CD/CD Pigs Coinfected with PRRSV and Type 2 Porcine Circovirus

Postweaning multisystemic wasting syndrome (PMWS) has been recognized worldwide and is characterized clinically by wasting, dyspnea, and occasionally by icterus in nursery and grow-finish pigs. Type 2 porcine circovirus (PCV2) is consistently demonstrated in PMWS lesions. At the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory, both porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) and PCV2 are detected in tissues from most cases of PMWS. Since PRRSV-PCV2 coinfection has also been associated with “atypical PRRS” hepatitis, 3 week old cesarean-derived, colostrum-deprived (CD/CD) pigs were inoculated with PRRSV, PCV2, both PRRSV and PCV2, or uninfected cell culture media in order to compare the independent and combined effects of these agents. PRRSV-inoculated pigs developed respiratory distress and interstitial pneumonia typical of that previously reported for this agent. None of the pigs in the PRRSV or control groups became moribund or developed hepatitis. PCV2-inoculated pigs developed lymphoid depletion and sporadic hepatitis associated with 40% mortality. Pigs in the PRRSV/PCV2 group developed severe and persistent pyrexia and dyspnea; mortality between 10 and 20 days was \u3e90% and was associated with severe interstitial pneumonia and/or hepatitis. We conclude that 1) PCV2 alone can induce clinical disease and lesions of PMWS in CD/CD pigs, 2) PCV2 alone does not induce significant respiratory disease in CD/CD pigs, 3) PCV2/PRRSV coinfection induces more severe clinical disease and lesions of PMWS than PCV2 alone, including severe interstitial pneumonia, and 4) PCV2 coinfection is responsible for the hepatitis associated with cases of “atypical PRRS.” Simultaneous coinfection of PRRSV and PCV2 has the potential to significantly exacerbate morbidity and mortality. The timing of exposure and decay of maternal antibody to PCV2 and other pathogens may play a critical role in determining whether PCV2 infection induces PMWS or remains subclinical

Racial Differences in Survival among Hemodialysis Patients after Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

The aim of this study was to examine racial differences in long-term survival among hemodialysis patients after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). To our knowledge this has not been previously addressed in the literature. Black and white hemodialysis patients undergoing first-time, isolated CABG procedures between 1992 and 2011 were compared. Survival probabilities were computed using the Kaplan-Meier product-limit method and stratified by race. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed using a Cox regression model. A total of 207 (2%) patients were on hemodialysis at the time of CABG. White (n = 80) hemodialysis patients had significantly decreased 5-year survival compared with black (n = 127) patients (adjusted HR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.2–2.8). Our finding provides useful outcome information for surgeons, primary care providers, and their patients

Pros Who Know at The University of Maine

In January 2016, alumni, and current students from a variety of academic fields gathered at Buchanan Alumni House to swap questions and answers about the keys to landing that first job and career success. Billed as “Pros Who Know,” the event was a collaborative effort of the Alumni Association and UMaine’s Career Center. The alumni panel share their experiences and insights on career search strategies; offered interview, resume, and cover letter tips; related stories from their own career paths; and reflected about things they wish they had known when entering the workforce. Students commented that all the UMaine alumni were inspirational - and they appreciated getting to mingle with the panelists and other professionals