Development and Evaluation of Three Chatbots for Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorders

In collaboration with Postpartum Support International (PSI), a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting caregivers with postpartum mood and anxiety disorders, we developed three chatbots to provide context-specific empathetic support to postpartum caregivers, leveraging both rule-based and generative models. We present and evaluate the performance of our chatbots using both machine-based metrics and human-based questionnaires. Overall, our rule-based model achieves the best performance, with outputs that are close to ground truth reference and contain the highest levels of empathy. Human users prefer the rule-based chatbot over the generative chatbot for its context-specific and human-like replies. Our generative chatbot also produced empathetic responses and was described by human users as engaging. However, limitations in the training dataset often result in confusing or nonsensical responses. We conclude by discussing practical benefits of rule-based vs. generative models for supporting individuals with mental health challenges. In light of the recent surge of ChatGPT and BARD, we also discuss the possibilities and pitfalls of large language models for digital mental healthcare

Determination of Chlormequat and Mepiquat Residues in Tomato Plants Using Accelerated Solvent Extraction-Ultra-Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry

An Accelerated-Solvent Extraction-Ultra performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (ASE-UPLC-MS/MS) method using purified water as extraction solvent for quantitative analysis of chromequat (CQ) and mepiquat (MQ) in samples of tomato plants with higher sensibility and shorter extraction time was developed. The CQ and MQ residues and their dissipation rate were both covered in this paper. The limits of detection (S/N>3) and limits of quantitation (S/N>10) for CQ and MQ were 0.02 μg/kg and 0.1 μg/kg respectively. The linear range was 0.2~10 μg/kg and the correlation coefficients (r2) was no less than 0.9990, The average recoveries of CQ and MQ from tomato root, stem and leaf in the three spiked range of 1.0, 2.0 and 5.0 μg/kg were in the range of 100.0%~118.8% and 93.2%~110.7% respectively. The dissipation experiment showed that, on average, 98.8% of CQ residues and 99.7% of MQ residues had dissipated after 33 days, with a half-life of 3.67d and 3.66d, which can provide with guideline for using CQ and MQ on tomato in safe range.Key words: Tomato plants; Accelerated solvent extraction; Ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry; Chlormequat; Mepiqua

Microbial denitrification characteristics of typical decentralized wastewater treatment processes based on 16S rRNA sequencing

Despite the widespread application of decentralized wastewater treatment (WWT) facilities in China, relatively few research has used the multi-media biological filter (MMBF) facilities to investigate the microorganism characteristics. This study utilizes 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technology to examine the microbial biodiversity of a representative wastewater treatment (WWT) system in an expressway service area. The pathways of nitrogen removal along the treatment route were analyzed in conjunction with water quality monitoring. The distribution and composition of microbial flora in the samples were examined, and the dominant flora were identified using LEfSe analysis. The FAPROTAX methodology was employed to investigate the relative abundance of genes associated with the nitrogen cycle and to discern the presence of functional genes involved in nitrogen metabolism. On average, the method has a high level of efficiency in removing COD, TN, NH3-N, and TP from the effluent. The analysis of the microbial community identified a total of 40 phyla, 111 classes, 143 orders, 263 families, and 419 genera. The phyla that were predominantly observed include Proteobacteria, Acidobacteria, Chloroflexi, Actinobacteria, Nitrospirae, Bacteroidetes. The results show that the system has achieved high performance in nitrogen removal, the abundance of nitrification genes is significantly higher than that of other nitrogen cycle genes such as denitrification, and there are six nitrogen metabolism pathways, primarily nitrification, among which Nitrospirae and Nitrospira are the core differentiated flora that can adapt to low temperature conditions and participate in nitrification, and are the dominant nitrogen removal flora in cold regions. This work aims to comprehensively investigate the diversity and functional properties of the bacterial community in decentralized WWT processes

Cattle grazing mitigates the negative impacts of nitrogen addition on soil nematode communities

Livestock grazing and atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition have been reported as important factors affecting soil communities. However, how different large herbivore grazing and N addition may interact to affect soil biota in grassland ecosystems is unclear. Nematodes are the most abundant metazoan in soil ecosystems, play critical roles in regulating carbon and nutrient dynamics, and are valuable bioindicators. We examined the independent and interactive effects of grazing regimes (no grazing; sheep grazing; cattle grazing; mixed grazing of sheep and cattle) and N addition (ambient N; N addition) on soil nematodes in a meadow steppe. We found that grazing and N addition interacted to influence total nematode abundance, trophic group abundance, generic richness, diversity and several nematode-based indices (maturity index, channel ratio, enrichment index). In cattle grazing treatment, N addition significantly increased total nematode abundance, and the abundance of bacterial feeders, plant feeders, and omnivore-predators, and generic richness. By contrast, in the sheep and mixed grazing treatments, N addition had a negative effect on the same variables. Moreover, N addition reduced nematode maturity, enrichment and structure indices, and enhanced nematode channel ratio, in most grazing treatments, except mixed grazing where N addition had no effect on these variables. Structural equation modeling (SEM) revealed that N addition indirectly reduced nematode abundance and richness through increased soil NO3−-N content, whereas the effects of grazing were associated with increased relative biomass of grasses. Our results suggested that the response of soil nematodes to N addition strongly depended on herbivore assemblages. Nitrogen addition enhanced soil nematode diversity and maintained a relatively complex and mature soil food web in the presence of cattle rather than sheep grazing. Furthermore, our study highlighted that under N deposition, cattle grazing could benefit the soil nematode community

COMMD proteins function and their regulating roles in tumors

The COMMD proteins are a highly conserved protein family with ten members that play a crucial role in a variety of biological activities, including copper metabolism, endosomal sorting, ion transport, and other processes. Recent research have demonstrated that the COMMD proteins are closely associated with a wide range of disorders, such as hepatitis, myocardial ischemia, cerebral ischemia, HIV infection, and cancer. Among these, the role of COMMD proteins in tumors has been thoroughly explored; they promote or inhibit cancers such as lung cancer, liver cancer, gastric cancer, and prostate cancer. COMMD proteins can influence tumor proliferation, invasion, metastasis, and tumor angiogenesis, which are strongly related to the prognosis of tumors and are possible therapeutic targets for treating tumors. In terms of molecular mechanism, COMMD proteins in tumor cells regulate the oncogenes of NF-κB, HIF, c-MYC, and others, and are related to signaling pathways including apoptosis, autophagy, and ferroptosis. For the clinical diagnosis and therapy of malignancies, additional research into the involvement of COMMD proteins in cancer is beneficial

Effects of selenoprotein extracts from Cardamine hupingshanensis on growth, selenium metabolism, antioxidant capacity, immunity and intestinal health in largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides

This study aimed to assess the impact of dietary selenoprotein extracts from Cardamine hupingshanensis (SePCH) on the growth, hematological parameters, selenium metabolism, immune responses, antioxidant capacities, inflammatory reactions and intestinal barrier functions in juvenile largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides). The base diet was supplemented with four different concentrations of SePCH: 0.00, 0.30, 0.60 and 1.20 g/Kg (actual selenium contents: 0.37, 0.59, 0.84 and 1.30 mg/kg). These concentrations were used to formulate four isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets for juvenile largemouth bass during a 60-day culture period. Adequate dietary SePCH (0.60 and 1.20 g/Kg) significantly increased weight gain and daily growth rate compared to the control groups (0.00 g/Kg). Furthermore, 0.60 and 1.20 g/Kg SePCH significantly enhanced amounts of white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, lymphocytes and monocytes, and levels of hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume and mean corpuscular hemoglobin in the hemocytes. In addition, 0.60 and 1.20 g/Kg SePCH increased the mRNA expression levels of selenocysteine lyase, selenophosphate synthase 1, 15 kDa selenoprotein, selenoprotein T2, selenoprotein H, selenoprotein P and selenoprotein K in the fish liver and intestine compared to the controls. Adequate SePCH not only significantly elevated the activities of antioxidant enzymes (Total superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase, glutathione peroxidase), the levels of total antioxidant capacity and glutathione, while increased mRNA transcription levels of NF-E2-related factor 2, Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase and glutathione peroxidase. However, adequate SePCH significantly decreased levels of malondialdehyde and H2O2 and the mRNA expression levels of kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1a and kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1b in the fish liver and intestine compared to the controls. Meanwhile, adequate SePCH markedly enhanced the levels of immune factors (alkaline phosphatase, acid phosphatase, lysozyme, complement component 3, complement component 4 and immunoglobulin M) and innate immune-related genes (lysozyme, hepcidin, liver-expressed antimicrobial peptide 2, complement component 3 and complement component 4) in the fish liver and intestine compared to the controls. Adequate SePCH reduced the levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (tumour necrosis factor-α, interleukin 8, interleukin 1β and interferon γ), while increasing transforming growth factor β1 levels at both transcriptional and protein levels in the liver and intestine. The mRNA expression levels of mitogen-activated protein kinase 13 (MAPK 13), MAPK14 and nuclear factor kappa B p65 were significantly reduced in the liver and intestine of fish fed with 0.60 and 1.20 g/Kg SePCH compared to the controls. Histological sections also demonstrated that 0.60 and 1.20 g/Kg SePCH significantly increased intestinal villus height and villus width compared to the controls. Furthermore, the mRNA expression levels of tight junction proteins (zonula occludens-1, zonula occludens-3, Claudin-1, Claudin-3, Claudin-5, Claudin-11, Claudin-23 and Claudin-34) and Mucin-17 were significantly upregulated in the intestinal epithelial cells of 0.60 and 1.20 g/Kg SePCH groups compared to the controls. In conclusion, these results found that 0.60 and 1.20 g/Kg dietary SePCH can not only improve growth, hematological parameters, selenium metabolism, antioxidant capacities, enhance immune responses and intestinal functions, but also alleviate inflammatory responses. This information can serve as a useful reference for formulating feeds for largemouth bass

Leveraging pervasive data to study and support mother-infant dyads in the wild

The ubiquity of mobile devices and wearable sensors coupled with fast-evolving machine learning algorithms has transformed people's daily life, specifically in the healthcare domain. These advancements can be leveraged to not only detect and infer people's behavior patterns with great precision but also provide "just-in-time" support in a seamless, non-intrusive, and cost-effective fashion. The first year of a child's life is a particularly challenging period for the mother, and also a vital period for child developments. I hypothesize that pervasive data, such as motion, audio, text data, collected online or in people’s daily life, can be leveraged to provide support to postpartum women and their families in need in the wild. In my dissertation, I developed models that can detect two clinically-relevant parent and infant behaviors in naturalistic home interactions, namely, infant crying and parent holding. Traditional methods by developmental scientists rely heavily on behavioral observations and self-reported data while computer scientists build models using data collected in controlled environments, such as lab and hospital. These methods limit researchers’ understanding of the natural variation in mother-infant interactions across families, and its specific impacts on child development. In my work, I leveraged data collected in longitudinal home environments and built detection models that provide objective, unobtrusive, and continuous measurements of parent holding and infant crying with accuracy 0.870 and 0.613 respectively. Additionally, I evaluated both models based on assessment scenarios specific to developmental science such as event-based accuracy and contingency analysis. Another piece of my work focuses on using natural language processing to understand the experience of postpartum women experiencing or at risk of postpartum mood and anxiety disorders and to provide them with empathy in the form of a conversational agent, chatbot. Specifically, I collaborated with Postpartum Support International (PSI) and obtained text transcripts between trained volunteers and support seekers. After analyzing 7014 conversations using a combination of human annotations, dictionary models and unsupervised techniques, I find stark differences between the experiences of "distressed" and "healthy" mothers in psychological states, concerns, and goals. Additionally, incorporating the insights from the descriptive analysis as well as empathy and open questions, I designed, built, and evaluated three chatbots that accept open-ended user input to provide postpartum women with support.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Will Transaction Cost Be Reduced in the E-Commerce Model of Farmland Transfer in China?

Farmland transfer is an inevitable approach to solving farmland fragmentation and the resulting low productivity in China. Although the central government has formulated various guidelines on farmland transfer, the traditional transfer model faces high transaction cost and thus hinders transfer. With e-commerce development in China, an alternative Jutudi model of farmland transfer with e-commerce has occurred in China. Although transaction cost is an important perspective for understanding reforms, few studies have been conducted to explore whether the transaction cost of the Jutudi model would be reduced compared with the traditional model of farmland transfer and why the Jutudi model succeeds. This study introduces the operation mechanism of the Jutudi model of farmland transfer and the context of the pilot project in Jixi County, Anhui Province. Changes in transaction cost in terms of information search cost, negotiation and contracting process costs, and contract supervision and execution costs are analyzed in the Jutudi model. It is found that the productivity of transferred farmlands significantly improved using the Jutudi model in Jixi County. Transaction cost is generally lowered in the Jutudi model compared with the traditional one. How the changes in transaction cost contribute to farmland transfer is also explained. Potential problems and relevant recommendations have also been discussed to promote the Jutudi model

The Impact of Air Pollution Perception on Urban Settlement Intentions of Young Talent in China

In recent years, with the public paying more and more attention to the problem of air pollution, the impact of air quality on migration has gradually become a growing concern. However, in the current context of cities’ efforts to “attract talent” in China, research on the impact of air pollution on the flow or dwelling willingness of young talent is relatively limited. Based on the theory of planned behavior and from the perspective of subjective perception, this paper uses a regulated model to explore the impact mechanism of air pollution perception on young talent urban settlement intentions. Taking Hangzhou as a case, this study surveyed 987 individuals who were classified as young talent to explore the impact of air pollution perception on urban settlement intentions in China. The research shows that air pollution perception has a significant impact on young talent urban settlement intentions, and this impact is achieved through the intermediary effect of residential satisfaction. Place attachment of young talent to cities cannot significantly regulate the impact of air pollution perception on residential satisfaction, but it can significantly regulate the relationship between residential satisfaction and urban settlement intentions. That is to say, although place attachment cannot reduce the decline in residential satisfaction brought by air pollution perception, it can weaken the negative impact of air pollution perception on dwelling willingness through a decline in residential satisfaction. This paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the relationship between air quality and young talent settlement intentions