Graph-Based Decoding Model for Functional Alignment of Unaligned fMRI Data

Aggregating multi-subject functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data is indispensable for generating valid and general inferences from patterns distributed across human brains. The disparities in anatomical structures and functional topographies of human brains warrant aligning fMRI data across subjects. However, the existing functional alignment methods cannot handle well various kinds of fMRI datasets today, especially when they are not temporally-aligned, i.e., some of the subjects probably lack the responses to some stimuli, or different subjects might follow different sequences of stimuli. In this paper, a cross-subject graph that depicts the (dis)similarities between samples across subjects is used as a priori for developing a more flexible framework that suits an assortment of fMRI datasets. However, the high dimension of fMRI data and the use of multiple subjects makes the crude framework time-consuming or unpractical. To address this issue, we further regularize the framework, so that a novel feasible kernel-based optimization, which permits nonlinear feature extraction, could be theoretically developed. Specifically, a low-dimension assumption is imposed on each new feature space to avoid overfitting caused by the highspatial-low-temporal resolution of fMRI data. Experimental results on five datasets suggest that the proposed method is not only superior to several state-of-the-art methods on temporally-aligned fMRI data, but also suitable for dealing `with temporally-unaligned fMRI data.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, Proceedings of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI-20

Advanced electrode models and numerical modelling for high frequency Electrical Impedance Tomography systems

The thesis discusses various electrode models and finite element analysis methods for Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) systems. EIT is a technique for determining the distribution of the conductivity or admittivity in a volume by injecting electrical currents into the volume and measuring the corresponding potentials on the surface of the volume. Various electrode models were investigated for operating EIT systems at higher frequencies in the beta-dispersion band. Research has shown that EIT is potentially capable to distinguish malignant and benign tumours in this frequency band. My study concludes that instrumental effects of the electrodes and full Maxwell effects of EIT systems are the major issues, and they have to be addressed when the operating frequency increases. In the thesis, I proposed 1) an Instrumental Electrode Model (IEM) for the quasi-static EIT formula, based on the analysis of the hardware structures attached to electrodes; 2) a Complete Electrode Model based on Impedance Boundary Conditions (CEM-IBC) that introduces the contact impedances into the full Maxwell EIT formula; 3) a Transmission line Port Model (TPM) for electrode pairs with the instrumental effects, the contact impedance, and the full Maxwell effects considered for EIT systems. Circuit analysis, Partial Differential Equations (PDE) analysis, numerical analysis and finite element methods were used to develop the models. The results obtained by the proposed models are compared with widely used Commercial PDE solvers. This thesis addresses the two major problems (instrumental effects of the electrodes and full Maxwell effects of EIT systems) with the proposed advanced electrode models. Numerical experiments show that the proposed models are more accurate in the high frequency range of EIT systems. The proposed electrode models can be also applicable to inverse problems, and the results show promising. Simple hardware circuits for verifying the results experimentally have been also designed

Gender, Aesthetics, and Sexuality in Play: Uneasy Lessons from Girls’ Dolls, Action Figures, and Television Programs

How does children\u27s play with dolls and action figures engender exploration of gendered identities: from aesthetics and appearances, to social standards, and various rituals and performances? This paper examines recent research in art education and gender studies concerning dolls and figural toys marketed to girls. As an artist and teacher educator, I will draw upon my teaching experiences and examine artifacts of pedagogy from popular material culture. I will address issues of consumption while taking into consideration taboos of gender and sexuality within public and private play. While children\u27s toys as symbolic bodies may pose narrowly gendered and heteronormative models of adulthood, this article argues children may also begin to counter paradigms of gender and sexuality within unintended, subversive play at home and school. I will also propose coalitions of art and material culture, through which teachers can facilitate inquiries and projects around thoughtful juxtapositions of play, performance, and art-making

Feminist Zines: (Pre)Occupations of Gender, Politics, and D.I.Y. in a Digital Age

This article examines the potential of recent feminist zines as frameworks of grassroots D.I.Y. and direct democracy in physical and digital communities. While the height of zine creations as works on paper may be traced to the 1990s, this form of feminist counterculture has evolved and persisted in cyberspace, predating, accompanying, and arguably outlasting the physical reality of protests, revolutions, and political expressions such as the Occupy Movement(s). Contemporary zines contain not only email addresses alongside ‘snail mail’ addresses, but also links to digital sites accompanying real-world resources. Zinesters today utilize the handmade craftsmanship and hand drawn and written techniques of zines in combination with the grassroots connectivity enabled by digital networks relating to zines. These physical and digital communities form interesting protest spaces. This paper explores the persistence and potential of zines as various expressions of personal and political feminist identities via maker culture and of explorations of the dimensionality of the screen and the page. The educational contexts considered in this paper include university zine collections, zine-making in K-12 teaching, as well as zine communities outside of schools and academia

A Historical Comparison of Treatment Between Male and Female Sex Offenders in the Correctional System

The purpose of the historical research study is to explore the correctional system\u27s rehabilitation and treatment perspective for both male and female sex offenders. Treatment has been deemed essential for all offenders; while it might not mean a cure, it does give offenders some tools to prevent further offenses. Literature emphasizes the importance of treatment and rehabilitation for the sex offender. Historically, the female offender has been ignored in the area of treatment and rehabilitation. Sexual offenses are generally perceived as a male phenomenon. This tidy will give an in-depth view of treatment process and the research on the effectiveness of current programs offered in the correctional facility. It will also analyze differences, offer conclusions, and make recommendations