Government and Social Media: A Case Study of 31 Informational World Cities

Social media platforms are increasingly being used by governments to foster user interaction. Particularly in cities with enhanced ICT infrastructures (i.e., Informational World Cities) and high internet penetration rates, social media platforms are valuable tools for reaching high numbers of citizens. This empirical investigation of 31 Informational World Cities will provide an overview of social media services used for governmental purposes, of their popularity among governments, and of their usage intensity in broadcasting information online.Comment: In Proceedings of the 47th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (pp. 1715-1724). IEEE Computer Society, 201

Dynamic Flow Management Problems in Air Transportation

In 1995, over six hundred thousand licensed pilots flew nearly thirty-five million flights into over eighteen thousand U.S. airports, logging more than 519 billion passenger miles. Since demand for air travel has increased by more than 50% in the last decade while capacity has stagnated, congestion is a problem of undeniable practical significance. In this thesis, we will develop optimization techniques that reduce the impact of congestion on the national airspace. We start by determining the optimal release times for flights into the airspace and the optimal speed adjustment while airborne taking into account the capacitated airspace. This is called the Air Traffic Flow Management Problem (TFMP). We address the complexity, showing that it is NP-hard. We build an integer programming formulation that is quite strong as some of the proposed inequalities are facet defining for the convex hull of solutions. For practical problems, the solutions of the LP relaxation of the TFMP are very often integral. In essence, we reduce the problem to efficiently solving large scale linear programming problems. Thus, the computation times are reasonably small for large scale, practical problems involving thousands of flights. Next, we address the problem of determining how to reroute aircraft in the airspace system when faced with dynamically changing weather conditions. This is called the Air Traffic Flow Management Rerouting Problem (TFMRP) We present an integrated mathematical programming approach for the TFMRP, which utilizes several methodologies, in order to minimize delay costs. In order to address the high dimensionality, we present an aggregate model, in which we formulate the TFMRP as a multicommodity, integer, dynamic network flow problem with certain side constraints. Using Lagrangian relaxation, we generate aggregate flows that are decomposed into a collection of flight paths using a randomized rounding heuristic. This collection of paths is used in a packing integer programming formulation, the solution of which generates feasible and near-optimal routes for individual flights. The algorithm, termed the Lagrangian Generation Algorithm, is used to solve practical problems in the southwestern portion of United States in which the solutions are within 1% of the corresponding lower bounds

Preterm birth therapies to target inflammation

Preterm birth (PTB; defined as delivery before 37 weeks of pregnancy) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in infants and children aged <5 years, conferring potentially devastating short‐ and long‐term complications. Despite extensive research in the field, there is currently a paucity of medications available for PTB prevention and treatment. Over the past few decades, inflammation in gestational tissues has emerged at the forefront of PTB pathophysiology. Even in the absence of infection, inflammation alone can prematurely activate the main components of parturition resulting in uterine contractions, cervical ripening and dilatation, membrane rupture, and subsequent PTB. Mechanistic studies have identified critical elements of the complex inflammatory molecular pathways involved in PTB. Here, we discuss therapeutic options that target such key mediators with an aim to prevent, postpone, or treat PTB. We provide an overview of more traditional therapies that are currently used or being tested in humans, and we highlight recent advances in preclinical studies introducing novel approaches with therapeutic potential. We conclude that urgent collaborative action is required to address the unmet need of developing effective strategies to tackle the challenge of PTB and its complications

Long term cognitive outcomes of early term (37-38 weeks) and late preterm (34-36 weeks) births: a systematic review

Background: There is a paucity of evidence regarding long-term outcomes of late preterm (34-36 weeks) and early term (37-38 weeks) delivery.  The objective of this systematic review was to assess long-term cognitive outcomes of children born at these gestations. Methods: Four electronic databases (Medline, Embase, clinicaltrials.gov and PsycINFO) were searched.  Last search was 5 th August 2016.  Studies were included if they reported gestational age, IQ measure and the ages assessed.  The protocol was registered with the International prospective register of systematic reviews (PROSPERO Record CRD42015015472).  Two independent reviewers assessed the studies.  Data were abstracted and critical appraisal performed of eligible papers. Results: Of 11,905 potential articles, seven studies reporting on 41,344 children were included.  For early term births, four studies (n = 35,711) consistently showed an increase in cognitive scores for infants born at full term (39-41 weeks) compared to those born at early term (37-38 weeks) with increases for each week of term (difference between 37 and 40 weeks of around 3 IQ points), despite differences in age of testing and method of IQ/cognitive testing.  Four studies (n = 5644) reporting childhood cognitive outcomes of late preterm births (34 - 36 weeks) also differed in study design (cohort and case control); age of testing; and method of IQ testing, and found no differences in outcomes between late preterm and term births, although risk of bias was high in included studies. Conclusion:  Children born at 39-41 weeks have higher cognitive outcome scores compared to those born at early term (37-38 weeks).  This should be considered when discussing timing of delivery.  For children born late preterm, the data is scarce and when compared to full term (37-42 weeks) did not show any difference in IQ scores