98 research outputs found
Unsupervised Detection of Sub-events in Large Scale Disasters
Social media plays a major role during and after major natural disasters
(e.g., hurricanes, large-scale fires, etc.), as people ``on the ground'' post
useful information on what is actually happening. Given the large amounts of
posts, a major challenge is identifying the information that is useful and
actionable. Emergency responders are largely interested in finding out what
events are taking place so they can properly plan and deploy resources. In this
paper we address the problem of automatically identifying important sub-events
(within a large-scale emergency ``event'', such as a hurricane). In particular,
we present a novel, unsupervised learning framework to detect sub-events in
Tweets for retrospective crisis analysis. We first extract noun-verb pairs and
phrases from raw tweets as sub-event candidates. Then, we learn a semantic
embedding of extracted noun-verb pairs and phrases, and rank them against a
crisis-specific ontology. We filter out noisy and irrelevant information then
cluster the noun-verb pairs and phrases so that the top-ranked ones describe
the most important sub-events. Through quantitative experiments on two large
crisis data sets (Hurricane Harvey and the 2015 Nepal Earthquake), we
demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach over the state-of-the-art. Our
qualitative evaluation shows better performance compared to our baseline.Comment: AAAI-20 Social Impact Trac
Overweight/Obesity and time preference: evidence from a survey among adults in the UK
Introduction: Overweight and obesity is a global problem incurring substantial health and economic implications. This has also been highlighted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic which has disproportionately affected overweight and obese individuals. Most of the interventions have concentrated on promotion of physical activities and healthy eating which may involve current sacrifices for future health gains. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between bodyweight and how individuals state they would trade-off immediate income for higher amounts in the future (time preference). Methods: An online survey was conducted targeting adults aged >16 years in the UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) from January 1, 2016 to July 31, 2016. Using paid online adverts, as well as personal and professional networks for distribution of links to the online survey, the questionnaire asked respondents to report socio-economic and demographic information, height, and weight and to complete a time preference exercise. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics; associations were explored between BMI and respondents’ characteristics and time preference using Spearman rank-order correlation and χ2 tests as appropriate. We adopted STROBE guidelines for the reporting of the study. Results: A total of 561 responses were analysed (female = 293, males = 268). The relationship between time preference and overweight/obesity, using BMI as the measure is highly significant (χ2 = 95.92: p < 0.001). Individuals of normal weight have low time preferences and are more likely to invest in activities in a bid to reap future health benefits. There are also significant relationships between BMI and employment status (χ2 = 37.03
Home-based pre-surgical psychological intervention for knee osteoarthritis (HAPPiKNEES): a feasibility randomized controlled trial
Objective: To determine the feasibility of conducting a trial of a pre-surgical psychological intervention on pain, function, and mood in people with knee osteoarthritis listed for total knee arthroplasty.
Design: Multi-centre, mixed-methods feasibility randomized controlled trial of intervention plus usual care versus usual care.
Setting: Participants’ homes or hospital.
Participants: Patients with knee osteoarthritis listed for total knee arthroplasty and score >7 on either subscales of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale.
Intervention: Up-to 10 sessions of psychological intervention (based on cognitive behavioural therapy).
Main measures: Feasibility outcomes (recruitment and retention rates, acceptability of trial procedures and intervention, completion of outcome measures), and standardized questionnaires assessing pain, function, and mood at baseline, and four and six months post-randomisation.
Results: Of 222 people screened, 81 did not meet inclusion criteria, 64 did not wish to participate, 26 were excluded for other reasons, and 51 were randomized. A total of 30 completed 4-months outcomes and 25 completed 6-month outcomes. Modal number of intervention sessions completed was three (range 2–8). At six-month follow-up, mood, pain, and physical function scores were consistent with clinically important benefits from intervention, with effect sizes ranging from small (d = 0.005) to moderate (d = 0.74), and significant differences in physical function between intervention and usual care groups (d = 1.16). Feedback interviews suggested that participants understood the rationale for the study, found the information provided adequate, the measures comprehensive, and the intervention acceptable.
Conclusion: A definitive trial is feasible, with a total sample size of 444 people. Pain is a suitable primary outcome, but best assessed 6 and 12 months post-surgery
The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Trends in [\alpha/Fe] as a Function of Morphology and Environment
We present a new set of index-based measurements of [/Fe] for a
sample of 2093 galaxies in the SAMI Galaxy Survey. Following earlier work, we
fit a global relation between [/Fe] and the galaxy velocity dispersion
for red sequence galaxies,
[/Fe]=(0.3780.009)log(/100)+(0.1550.003). We observe
a correlation between the residuals and the local environmental surface
density, whereas no such relation exists for blue cloud galaxies. In the full
sample, we find that elliptical galaxies in high-density environments are
-enhanced by up to 0.0570.014 dex at velocity dispersions
<100 km/s, compared with those in low-density environments. This
-enhancement is morphology-dependent, with the offset decreasing along
the Hubble sequence towards spirals, which have an offset of 0.0190.014
dex. At low velocity dispersion and controlling for morphology, we estimate
that star formation in high-density environments is truncated Gyr
earlier than in low-density environments. For elliptical galaxies only, we find
support for a parabolic relationship between [/Fe] and , with
an environmental -enhancement of at least 0.03 dex. This suggests
strong contributions from both environment and mass-based quenching mechanisms.
However, there is no evidence for this behaviour in later morphological types.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures. Revised after comments from refere
Molecular epidemiology of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus isolated from Australian veterinarians
This work investigated the molecular epidemiology and antimicrobial resistance of methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) isolated from veterinarians in Australia in 2009. The collection (n = 44) was subjected to extensive molecular typing (MLST, spa, SCCmec, dru, PFGE, virulence and antimicrobial resistance genotyping) and antimicrobial resistance phenotyping by disk diffusion. MRSA was isolated from Australian veterinarians representing various occupational emphases. The isolate collection was dominated by MRSA strains belonging to clonal complex (CC) 8 and multilocus sequence type (ST) 22. CC8 MRSA (ST8-IV [2B], spa t064; and ST612-IV [2B] , spa variable,) were strongly associated with equine practice veterinarians (OR = 17.5, 95% CI = 3.3-92.5, P < 0.001) and were often resistant to gentamicin and rifampicin. ST22-IV [2B], spa variable, were strongly associated with companion animal practice veterinarians (OR = 52.5, 95% CI = 5.2-532.7, P < 0.001) and were resistant to ciprofloxacin. A single pig practice veterinarian carried ST398-V [5C2], spa t1451. Equine practice and companion animal practice veterinarians frequently carried multiresistant-CC8 and ST22 MRSA, respectively, whereas only a single swine specialist carried MRSA ST398. The presence of these strains in veterinarians may be associated with specific antimicrobial administration practices in each animal species
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