Discovering patterns in a survey of secondary injuries due to agricultural assistive technology

The research is motivated by the need for hazard assessment in agriculture field. A small and highly-imbalanced dataset, in which negative instances heavily outnumber positive instances, is derived from a survey of secondary injuries induced by implementation of agriculture assistive technology which assists farmers with injuries or disabilities to continue farm-related work. Three data mining approaches are applied to the imbalanced dataset in order to discover patterns contributing to secondary injuries. All of patterns discovered by the three approaches are compared according to three evaluation measurements: support, confidence and lift, and potentially most interesting patterns are found. Compared to graphical exploratory analysis which figures out causative factors by evaluating the single effects of attributes on the occurrence of secondary injuries, decision tree algorithm and subgroup discovery algorithms are able to find combinational factors by evaluating the interactive effects of attributes on the occurrence of secondary injuries. Graphical exploratory analysis is able to find patterns with highest support and subgroup discovery algorithms are good at finding high lift patterns. In addition, the experimental analysis of applying subgroup discovery to our secondary injury dataset demonstrates subgroup discovery method\u27s capability of dealing with imbalanced datasets. Therefore, identifying risk factors contributing to secondary injuries, as well as providing a useful alternative method (subgroup discovery) of dealing with small and highly-imbalanced datasets are important outcomes of this thesis

The development of gender-differentiated /ɕ/ production in Mandarin speaking children

53 p.The goal of the present study is to examine the developmental trajectory of the gender-differentiated /ɕ/ production in Mandarin Chinese in terms of the relative contribution from anatomical development, prenatal hormonal effect, and gender typed behavior. The development of gendered /ɕ/ production has been an uncharted area of research. Mandarin-speaking participants were recruited from Grade 1(age 7), Grade 6 (age 12), and Grade 10 (age 16) from schools in Luoyang, a city in central China. The participants spoke standard Mandarin and had no known speech, language, or hearing deficiency. They were asked to read a list of 36 Mandarin words with 18 target words beginning with fricatives /ɕ/ or /s/ followed by vowels /a/, /i/, or /u/. All the fricatives were extracted from the recorded speech and their spectral mean frequencies were obtained. The spectral mean frequency was used as an acoustic indicator for gender variation of the fricative production. Anatomical development was measured through height, weight, and head circumference. Prenatal hormonal variation was assessed by the 2D: 4D ratio of the right hand. Gender typed behavior was assessed via a parent-report Child Play Behavior and Activity Questionnaire (CPBAQ). The result showed that only the sound /ɕ/ exhibited gender-differentiated production. Gender difference of /ɕ/ was found to emerge between age 7 and age 12. Significant correlation existed only between gender typed behavior and gendered /ɕ/ production for 16-year old boys(r=0.40, p=0.01). No anatomical or prenatal hormonal effect was found for gender variation of /ɕ/ production. The emergence of gendered /ɕ/ production was interpreted to be associated with the beginning of sexual maturation at the onset of puberty and gender identity development that excels at adolescence. The development of gendered /ɕ/ production was considered to parallel gender identity development at first and later become part of the gender norms for boys in mid-or late-adolescence

Couples’ perspectives in Congruence Couple Therapy and Treatment as Usual: a service-user engagement study

Couple therapy in addiction treatment is not a widely available service, despite relatively strong evidence for its efficacy. This study solicited service users’ perspectives on their experience of Congruence Couple Therapy (CCT) or individual-based Treatment as Usual (TAU) for alcohol use disorder and/or gambling disorder in a randomized trial. Twenty participants were interviewed on the benefits and limitations of CCT and TAU based on their lived experiences with addiction, treatment, and change in a couple context. Eight other service users were engaged in the research process as advisors who provided input on developing the interview protocol and gave feedback to the findings. The findings highlighted the service users’ preferences and values regarding couple therapy in addiction treatment compared to individual-based treatment, which could help inform service providers to address the current gap of couple therapy in our addiction and mental health services.2016 Alberta SPOR (Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research) Graduate Studentship, by Alberta Innovates and Canadian Institute of Health Researc

Rainfall variations in central Indo-Pacific over the past 2,700 y

Tropical rainfall variability is closely linked to meridional shifts of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) and zonal movements of the Walker circulation. The characteristics and mechanisms of tropical rainfall variations on centennial to decadal scales are, however, still unclear. Here, we reconstruct a replicated stalagmite-based 2,700-y-long, continuous record of rainfall for the deeply convective northern central Indo-Pacific (NCIP) region. Our record reveals decreasing rainfall in the NCIP over the past 2,700 y, similar to other records from the northern tropics. Notable centennial- to decadal-scale dry climate episodes occurred in both the NCIP and the southern central Indo-Pacific (SCIP) during the 20th century [Current Warm Period (CWP)] and the Medieval Warm Period (MWP), resembling enhanced El Niño-like conditions. Further, we developed a 2,000-y-long ITCZ shift index record that supports an overall southward ITCZ shift in the central Indo-Pacific and indicates southward mean ITCZ positions during the early MWP and the CWP. As a result, the drying trend since the 20th century in the northern tropics is similar to that observed during the past warm period, suggesting that a possible anthropogenic forcing of rainfall remains indistinguishable from natural variability

Primary productivity of phytoplankton and its influencing factors in cold and arid regions : A case study of Wuliangsuhai Lake, China

This study measured the primary productivity (PPeu) of phytoplankton in Wuliangsuhai Lake from April 2014 to January 2019 based on the monitoring and on-site exploration of 20 sampling points in the entire lake using a vertically generalized production model (VGPM). The relationship between the spatiotemporal variation in PPeu and environmental factors was also analyzed. Our findings indicated that the temporal heterogeneity of PPeu was strong, and the average annual PPeu of the four seasons was significantly different (P spring (782.42 +/- 59.34 mg Cem-2ed-1) > autumn (465.03 +/- 49.30 mg Cem-2ed-1) > winter (96.34 +/- 10.36 mg Cem-2ed-1). Even in winter with harsh environmental conditions, PPeu under the ice sheet can reach 8 % of that in summer. The spatial heterogeneity was weak, and only the average annual PPeu in spring exhibited a significant spatial difference (P central > south. However, there were no significant differences in other seasons. Redundancy analysis (RDA) and multiple linear regression (MLR) results showed that in addition to directly participating in the calculation of the environmental factors of PPeu, PPeu in spring was mainly affected by total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and dissolved oxygen (DO). PPeu in summer was mainly affected by dissolved inorganic phosphorus (DIP), dissolved oxygen (DO), salinity (S), electrical conductivity (EC), and water temperature (WT). PPeu in autumn was mainly affected by pH, electrical conductivity (EC), suspended solids (SS), and water temperature (WT). PPeu in winter was mainly affected by water temperature (WT) and ice thickness (IT). The mechanisms through which environmental factors affect primary productivity are complex and dynamic. Therefore, long-term monitoring and research of PPeu in Wuliangsuhai Lake are necessary to explore the adaptation strategies of phytoplankton in ice and ice-free periods and understand the operation of natural life support systems under the alternation of ice generation and extinction. In turn, this would facilitate the development of strategies to maintain phytoplankton biodiversity and prevent algal blooms.Peer reviewe

Association between immunoglobulin G N-glycosylation and lupus nephritis in female patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: A case-control study

Background: Lupus nephritis (LN) is a crucial complication of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and has important clinical implications in guiding treatment. N-glycosylation of immunoglobulin G (IgG) plays a key role in the development of SLE by affecting the balance of anti-inflammatory and proinflammatory responses. This study aimed to evaluate the performance of IgG N-glycosylation for diagnosing LN in a sample of female SLE patients. Methods: This case-control study recruited 188 women with SLE, including 94 patients with LN and 94 age-matched patients without LN. The profiles of plasma IgG N-glycans were detected by hydrophilic interaction chromatography with ultra-performance liquid chromatography (HILIC-UPLC). A multivariate logistic regression model was used to explore the associations between IgG N-glycans and LN. A diagnostic model was developed using the significant glycans as well as demographic factors. The performance of IgG N-glycans in the diagnosis of LN was evaluated by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and the area under the curve (AUC) and its 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated. Results: There were significant differences in 9 initial glycans (GP2, GP4, GP6, GP8, GP10, GP14, GP16, GP18 and GP23) between women with SLE with and without LN (P \u3c 0.05). The levels of sialylated, galactosylated and fucosylated glycans were significantly lower in the LN patients than in the control group, while bisected N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc) glycans were increased in LN patients (P \u3c 0.05). GP8, GP10, GP18, and anemia were included in our diagnostic model, which performed well in differentiating female SLE patients with LN from those without LN (AUC = 0.792, 95% CI: 0.727 to 0.858). Conclusion: Our findings indicate that decreased sialylation, galactosylation, and core fucosylation and increased bisecting GlcNAc might play a role in the development of LN by upregulating the proinflammatory response of IgG. IgG N-glycans can serve as potential biomarkers to differentiate individuals with LN among SLE patients

Molecular doping enabled scalable blading of efficient hole-transport-layer-free perovskite solar cells

The efficiencies of perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are now reaching such consistently high levels that scalable manufacturing at low cost is becoming critical. However, this remains challenging due to the expensive hole-transporting materials usually employed, and difficulties associated with the scalable deposition of other functional layers. By simplifying the device architecture, hole-transport-layer-free PSCs with improved photovoltaic performance are fabricated via a scalable doctor-blading process. Molecular doping of halide perovskite films improved the conductivity of the films and their electronic contact with the conductive substrate, resulting in a reduced series resistance. It facilitates the extraction of photoexcited holes from perovskite directly to the conductive substrate. The bladed hole-transport-layerfree PSCs showed a stabilized power conversion efficiency above 20.0%. This work represents a significant step towards the scalable, cost-effective manufacturing of PSCs with both high performance and simple fabrication processes