188 research outputs found
Gender Inequalities: Women Researchers Require More Knowledge in Specific and Experimental Topics
Gender inequalities in science have long been observed globally. Studies have
demonstrated it through survey data or published literature, focusing on the
interests of subjects or authors; few, however, examined the manifestation of
gender inequalities on researchers' knowledge status. This study analyzes the
relationship between regional and gender identities, topics, and knowledge
status while revealing the female labor division in science and scientific
research using online Q&A from researchers. We find that gender inequalities
are merged with both regional-specific characteristics and global common
patterns. Women's field and topic distribution within fields are influenced by
regions, yet the prevalent topics are consistent in all regions. Women are more
involved in specific topics, particularly topics about experiments with weaker
levels of knowledge and they are of less assistance. To promote inequality in
science, the scientific community should pay more attention to reducing the
knowledge gap and encourage women to work on unexplored topics and areas
Adolescents' Perception of Their Influence in Family Decision Making in China
Abstract
The family as a purchasing unit is a central phenomenon in consumer behavior. After Berey and Polly (1968) detected child's influence in family decision making, there was an increasing recognition of children's important role in family purchase decisions. Several researchers demonstrated how children interact with their parents how children attempt to influence the family purchase decision and how the parents respond to children's requests etc. However, nearly all studies are based on western context, like US and Europe. There are few studies focused on the eastern culture context, especially in China.
This paper studies adolescents influence in family decision making in Chinese context finding that there are both similarities and differences of the influence between western adolescents and Chinese adolescents in family decision making process
A Multi-Level Approach to Waste Object Segmentation
We address the problem of localizing waste objects from a color image and an
optional depth image, which is a key perception component for robotic
interaction with such objects. Specifically, our method integrates the
intensity and depth information at multiple levels of spatial granularity.
Firstly, a scene-level deep network produces an initial coarse segmentation,
based on which we select a few potential object regions to zoom in and perform
fine segmentation. The results of the above steps are further integrated into a
densely connected conditional random field that learns to respect the
appearance, depth, and spatial affinities with pixel-level accuracy. In
addition, we create a new RGBD waste object segmentation dataset, MJU-Waste,
that is made public to facilitate future research in this area. The efficacy of
our method is validated on both MJU-Waste and the Trash Annotation in Context
(TACO) dataset.Comment: Paper appears in Sensors 2020, 20(14), 381
Geometry of the Wiman Pencil, I: Algebro-Geometric Aspects
In 1981 W.L. Edge discovered and studied a pencil of highly
symmetric genus projective curves with remarkable properties. Edge's work
was based on an 1895 paper of A. Wiman. Both papers were written in the
satisfying style of 19th century algebraic geometry. In this paper and its
sequel [FL], we consider from a more modern, conceptual
perspective, whereby explicit equations are reincarnated as geometric objects.Comment: Minor revisions. Now 49 pages, 4 figures. To appear in European
Journal of Mathematics, special issue in memory of W.L. Edg
K-doped Ba122 epitaxial thin film on MgO substrate by buffer engineering
Molecular beam epitaxy of K-doped Ba122
(BaKFeAs) superconductor was realized on a
MgO substrate. Microstructural observation revealed that the undoped Ba122
served as a perfect buffer layer for epitaxial growth of the K-doped Ba122. The
film exhibited a high critical temperature of 39.8 K and a high critical
current density of 3.9 MA/cm at 4 K. The successful growth of
epitaxial thin film will enable artificial single grain boundary on oxide
bicrystal substrates and reveal the grain boundary transport nature of K-doped
Ba122.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted manuscript Supercond. Sci. Technol 202
Genome-Wide DNA Methylation Profiles Reveal Common Epigenetic Patterns of Interferon-Related Genes in Multiple Autoimmune Diseases
Graves’ disease (GD), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis (SSc) are complex autoimmune diseases sharing common clinical, genetic and pathogenetic features. However, the commonalities of the DNA methylation profiles for these diseases are still unknown. We conducted an integrative analysis of the multiple-autoimmune disease methylation dataset including GD, RA, SLE, and SSc samples, to identify the common methylation patterns of autoimmune diseases. We identified 15,289 differentially methylated sites between multiple-autoimmune disease patients and controls in CD4+ T cells. We found that the most significant differentially methylated sites had a remarkable enrichment in type I interferon (IFN) pathway genes. Similarly, we identified 9,295 differentially methylated sites between GD/SSc patients and controls in CD8+ T cells. The overall IFN-related gene panel annotated by gene ontology (GO) showed an excellent diagnostic capacity in CD4+ T cells (Sensitivity = 0.82, specificity = 0.82 and AUC = 0.90), while IFI44L, another IFN-related gene not annotated by GO, showed high prediction ability in both CD4+ (AUC = 0.86) and CD8+ (AUC = 0.75) T cells. In conclusion, our study demonstrated that hypomethylation of IFN-related genes is a common feature of GD/RA/SLE/SSc patients in CD4+ T cells, and the DNA methylation profile of IFN-related genes could be promising biomarkers for the diagnosis of GD, RA, SLE, and SSc
Prevalence of the GJB2 IVS1+1G >A mutation in Chinese hearing loss patients with monoallelic pathogenic mutation in the coding region of GJB2
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mutations in the GJB2 gene are the most common cause of nonsyndromic recessive hearing loss in China. In about 6% of Chinese patients with severe to profound sensorineural hearing impairment, only monoallelic <it>GJB2 </it>mutations known to be either recessive or of unclear pathogenicity have been identified. This paper reports the prevalence of the <it>GJB2 </it>IVS1+1G>A mutation in a population of Chinese hearing loss patients with monoallelic pathogenic mutation in the coding region of <it>GJB2</it>.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two hundred and twelve patients, screened from 7133 cases of nonsyndromic hearing loss in China, with monoallelic mutation (mainly frameshift and nonsense mutation) in the coding region of <it>GJB2 </it>were examined for the <it>GJB2 </it>IVS1+1G>A mutation and mutations in the promoter region of this gene. Two hundred and sixty-two nonsyndromic hearing loss patients without <it>GJB2 </it>mutation and 105 controls with normal hearing were also tested for the <it>GJB2 </it>IVS1+1G>A mutation by sequencing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Four patients with monoallelic mutation in the coding region of <it>GJB2 </it>were found carrying the <it>GJB2 </it>IVS1+1G>A mutation on the opposite allele. One patient with the <it>GJB2 </it>c.235delC mutation carried one variant, -3175 C>T, in exon 1 of <it>GJB2</it>. Neither <it>GJB2 </it>IVS1+1G>A mutation nor any variant in exon 1 of <it>GJB2 </it>was found in the 262 nonsyndromic hearing loss patients without <it>GJB2 </it>mutation or in the 105 normal hearing controls.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Testing for the <it>GJB2 </it>IVS 1+1 G to A mutation explained deafness in 1.89% of Chinese <it>GJB2 </it>monoallelic patients, and it should be included in routine testing of patients with <it>GJB2 </it>monoallelic pathogenic mutation.</p
Comprehensive molecular etiology analysis of nonsyndromic hearing impairment from typical areas in China
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Every year, 30,000 babies are born with congenital hearing impairment in China. The molecular etiology of hearing impairment in the Chinese population has not been investigated thoroughly. To provide appropriate genetic testing and counseling to families, we performed a comprehensive investigation of the molecular etiology of nonsyndromic deafness in two typical areas from northern and southern China.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 284 unrelated school children with hearing loss who attended special education schools in China were enrolled in this study, 134 from Chifeng City in Inner Mongolia and the remaining 150 from Nangtong City in JiangSu Province. Screening was performed for <it>GJB2</it>, <it>GJB3</it>, <it>GJB6</it>, <it>SLC26A4</it>, <it>12S rRNA</it>, <it>and tRNA</it><sup><it>ser</it>(<it>UCN</it>) </sup>genes in this population. All patients with <it>SLC26A4 </it>mutations or variants were subjected to high-resolution temporal bone CT scan to verify the enlarged vestibular aqueduct.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Mutations in the <it>GJB2 </it>gene accounted for 18.31% of the patients with nonsyndromic hearing loss, 1555A>G mutation in mitochondrial DNA accounted for 1.76%, and <it>SLC26A4 </it>mutations accounted for 13.73%. Almost 50% of the patients with nonsyndromic hearing loss in these typical Chinese areas carried <it>GJB2 </it>or <it>SLC26A4 </it>mutations. No significant differences in mutation spectrum or prevalence of <it>GJB2 </it>and <it>SLC26A4 </it>were found between the two areas.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In this Chinese population, 54.93% of cases with hearing loss were related to genetic factors. The <it>GJB2 </it>gene accounted for the etiology in about 18.31% of the patients with hearing loss, <it>SLC26A4 </it>accounted for about 13.73%, and <it>mtDNA </it>1555A>G mutation accounted for 1.76%. Mutations in <it>GJB3, GJB6</it>, and <it>mtDNA tRNA</it><sup><it>ser</it>(<it>UCN</it>) </sup>were not common in this Chinese cohort. Conventionally, screening is performed for <it>GJB2</it>, <it>SLC26A4</it>, and mitochondrial <it>12S rRNA </it>in the Chinese deaf population.</p
- …