Identity Aperture: Self-portraits, Genealogy, and Other Archives

As a foreigner in the United States, I need a passport, I-20, and visas to provide the answer to a very simple question: who am I? This body of work grew out of this urgent curiosity about identity. Meta-cultural and meta-biological factors like race, gender, and nationality give me a certain identity without me asking for it. However, I tend to forget the fact that my identity is negotiable and is constantly being negotiated around and inside me. At a certain point, I realize that in order to understand the man I have become, I need to re-encounter my journey through life with the particular and unique experiences that make up the life of an individual. A single photograph can exist simultaneously as art, object, evidence, document, and historic record. Front-facing photos are required for numerous ID documents as proof of identity. However, there is no single layer of identity, but rather multiple and converging identities. The choice of myself as a subject provides me with an opportunity to deeply investigate the issue of identity from a personal point of view and expand my exploration to encompass ancestry, country, and global view. Correspondingly, photography plays a very important role in my work, but this project is not limited to this medium. I also adopt various documents, family photos, and appropriated images from TV series - different in style and intent from my own pictures - and gather everything together to make an associative manifesto of self-identity. This kind of connection is loose, but each photo, document, and object becomes context to understand the other subject. The result functions as a demonstration of photograph’s ineffability, its power to construct identities, and makes my singular exploration relevant for a broad audience

Numerical Simulation of Freak Waves in Random Sea State

AbstractThe generation of freak waves in a 2-dimensional random sea state characterized by the JONSWAP spectrum are simulated employing a nonlinear fourth-order Schrödinger equation. The evolution of the freak waves in deep water are analyzed. We investigate the effect of initial wave parameters on kurtosis and occurrence of freak waves. The results show that Benjamin-Feir index (BFI) is an important parameter to identify the presence of instability. The kurtosis presents a similar spatial evolution trend with the occurrence probability of freak waves. Freak waves in a random sea state are more likely to occur for narrow spectrum and small values of significant wave height

Semantic Parsing by Large Language Models for Intricate Updating Strategies of Zero-Shot Dialogue State Tracking

Zero-shot Dialogue State Tracking (DST) addresses the challenge of acquiring and annotating task-oriented dialogues, which can be time-consuming and costly. However, DST extends beyond simple slot-filling and requires effective updating strategies for tracking dialogue state as conversations progress. In this paper, we propose ParsingDST, a new In-Context Learning (ICL) method, to introduce additional intricate updating strategies in zero-shot DST. Our approach reformulates the DST task by leveraging powerful Large Language Models (LLMs) and translating the original dialogue text to JSON through semantic parsing as an intermediate state. We also design a novel framework that includes more modules to ensure the effectiveness of updating strategies in the text-to-JSON process. Experimental results demonstrate that our approach outperforms existing zero-shot DST methods on MultiWOZ, exhibiting significant improvements in Joint Goal Accuracy (JGA) and slot accuracy compared to existing ICL methods. Our code has been released.Comment: Accepted to the Findings of EMNLP 2023 (Short Paper

Data augmentation and semi-supervised learning for deep neural networks-based text classifier

User feedback is essential for understanding user needs. In this paper, we use free-text obtained from a survey on sleep-related issues to build a deep neural networks-based text classifier. However, to train the deep neural networks model, a lot of labelled data is needed. To reduce manual data labelling, we propose a method which is a combination of data augmentation and pseudo-labelling: data augmentation is applied to labelled data to increase the size of the initial train set and then the trained model is used to annotate unlabelled data with pseudo-labels. The result shows that the model with the data augmentation achieves macro-averaged f1 score of 65.2% while using 4,300 training data, whereas the model without data augmentation achieves macro-averaged f1 score of 68.2% with around 14,000 training data. Furthermore, with the combination of pseudo-labelling, the model achieves macro-averaged f1 score of 62.7% with only using 1,400 training data with labels. In other words, with the proposed method we can reduce the amount of labelled data for training while achieving relatively good performance

Synthesis of Indole-3-Acetic Acid Derivatives and a Urea Carboxylic Acid Derivative by Propylphosphonic Anhydride (T3P)

The purpose of medicinal chemistry is to efficiently create a variety of compounds with potential for pharmacological efficacy. To promote this diversity, indole-3-acetic acid, a common plant hormone, was used as the starting material for various reactions. The coupling reagent used for these reactions was propylphosphonic anhydride, or T3P, since it has demonstrated efficiency in selective amide formation under mild conditions and it is readily soluble. In the case of multiple viable reaction sites, the intended product will dimerize, as was the case in the synthesis of the compound labeled amide 2 when T3P coupled with both sites of piperazine. N-Hydroxysuccinimide, also referred to as HOSu and NHS, was used to decrease the reactivity of the carboxylic acid—T3P mixed anhydride, so it less readily formed the dimer. This increased the yield of the monomer. Pharmacological efficacy is more probable when synthesizing a chemotype with a known structure-activity relationship, or SAR. Urea carboxylic acid has been found to have antischistosomal activity. In an effort to synthesize a drug candidate with greater likelihood of pharmacological activity, a compound was synthesized from a urea carboxylic acid using T3P by the same method used to synthesize products from indole-3-acetic acid. Five compounds were synthesized using the T3P reagent in an attempt to expand the repository of potential drug candidates. The method for each compound was made largely similar, but it differed in the work-up and purification stages, as the acidity and polarity of the systems varied.https://digitalcommons.unmc.edu/surp2021/1061/thumbnail.jp

Role of sea quarks in the nucleon transverse spin

We present a phenomenological extraction of transversity distribution functions and Collins fragmentation functions by simultaneously fitting to semi-inclusive deep inelastic scattering and electron-positron annihilation data. The analysis is performed within the transverse momentum dependent factorization formalism, and sea quark transversity distributions are taken into account for the first time. We find the $\bar u$ quark favors a negative transversity distribution while that of the $\bar d$ quark is consistent with zero according to the current accuracy. In addition, based on a combined analysis of world data and simulated data, we quantitatively demonstrate the impact of the proposed Electron-ion Collider in China on precise determinations of the transversity distributions, especially for sea quarks, and the Collins fragmentation functions

The synthetic peroxide OZ78 is effective against Echinostoma caproni and Fasciola hepatica

Objectives: The trematocidal properties of a synthetic peroxide, 1,2,4-trioxolane (OZ78) were determined both in vivo and in vitro. Methods: Two weeks post-infection Echinostoma caproni-infected mice were administered single oral doses of 400-1000 mg/kg OZ78. Fasciola hepatica-infected rats were treated orally with 50-400 mg/kg OZ78 3 and 8-9 weeks post-infection. Worm burden reductions were assessed against untreated control animals. Adult F. hepatica were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) after recovery from the bile duct of a rat 3 days after administration of a single oral dose of 100 mg/kg OZ78 and after in vitro exposure to concentrations of 1, 10 and 100 μg/mL OZ78. Results: In the E. caproni-mouse model 100% worm burden reductions were achieved with a single oral dose of 1000 mg/kg OZ78. A single dose of 100 mg/kg OZ78 resulted in worm burden reductions of 100% against juvenile and adult F. hepatica. F. hepatica recovered from rats 3 days post-treatment displayed feeble activity and some flukes had died. Typical features revealed by SEM included extensive blebbing and sloughing. Exposure of F. hepatica to 10-100 μg/mL OZ78 in vitro resulted in the death of all trematodes. F. hepatica showed focal blebbing and sloughing of the tegument at all concentrations investigated. Conclusions: Our data indicate that OZ78 is highly efficacious against F. hepatica and E. caproni and provide a sound platform for identification of a synthetic peroxide drug development candidate against major trematode infection

Thickness dependence of unidirectional spin-Hall magnetoresistance in metallic bilayers

A nonlinear magnetoresistance - called unidirectional spin-Hall magnetoresistance - is recently experimentally discovered in metallic bilayers consisting of a heavy metal and a ferromagnetic metal. To study the fundamental mechanism of the USMR, both ferromagnetic and heavy metallic layer thickness dependence of the USMR are presented in a Pt/Co/AlOx trilayer at room temperature. To avoid ambiguities, second harmonic Hall measurements are used for separating spin-Hall and thermal contributions to the non-linear magnetoresistance. The experimental results are fitted by using a drift-diffusion theory, with parameters extracted from an analysis of longitudinal resistivity of the Co layer within the framework of the Fuchs-Sondheimer model. A good agreement with the theory is found, demonstrating that the USMR is governed by both the spin-Hall effect in the heavy metallic layer and the metallic diffusion process in the ferromagnetic layer

Activity of artemether and OZ78 against triclabendazole-resistant Fasciola hepatica

Triclabendazole is the drug of choice against Fasciola hepatica infections in humans and animals. However, parasite resistance against triclabendazole is spreading in the veterinary field, and there are no drugs of comparable activity currently available for the treatment and control of fascioliasis. We investigated the efficacy of single oral doses of artemether and OZ78 against adult triclabendazole-resistant F. hepatica harboured in rats, and compared the results with triclabendazole administered at two different doses. Single oral doses of 100 mg/kg OZ78 and 200 mg/kg artemether resulted in worm burden reductions of 100%. Whereas a single 10 mg/kg dose of triclabendazole achieved a worm burden reduction of only 4.0%, a five-fold higher dose yielded a significant worm burden reduction of 60.9%. However, the lower dose of triclabendazole administered to rats harbouring a triclabendazole-sensitive F. hepatica isolate resulted in a worm burden reduction of 95.3%. Our findings confirm that artemether and OZ78 possess good fasciocidal properties, even against a triclabendazole-resistant F. hepatica isolate, and hence these drugs might become useful in areas where triclabendazole resistance is commo

Investigation of the relationship between chronic stress and insulin resistance in a Chinese population

Background: Chronic stress may facilitate the development of metabolic diseases. Insulin resistance is present long before the clinical manifestations of individual metabolic abnormalities. To explore whether chronic stress is an independent risk factor of insulin resistance, we investigated the relationship between the stress system, selected parameters of energy homeostasis, and insulin resistance in a Chinese population. Methods: We recruited 766 workers employed at four companies in Beijing. The degree of insulin resistance was determined using the homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). The highest quartile of HOMA-IR among all study subjects was further defined as insulin resistance in our study. The short standard version of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire (COPSOQ) was used to assess job-related psychosocial stress. Pearson\u27s correlation coefficients were calculated between cortisol level and HOMA-IR and components of metabolic syndrome, with stratification by gender. The relationship between cortisol and HOMA-IR independent of obesity was analyzed using a linear mixed model with company as a cluster unit. Results: The values of the two scales of COPSOQ, including demands at work and insecurity at work , were significantly associated with insulin resistance and cortisol concentration (P \u3c 0.05). Cortisol was significantly positively correlated with glucose, HOMA-IR, and waist circumference in males and females (P \u3c 0.05). After adjusting for potential confounders, cortisol was an independent positive predictor for HOMA-IR (P \u3c 0.05). Conclusions: These findings showed that chronic stress was associated with insulin resistance and may contribute to the development of insulin resistance