Inferring offline hierarchical ties from online social networks

Social networks can represent many different types of relationships between actors, some explicit and some implicit. For example, email communications between users may be represented explicitly in a network, while managerial relationships may not. In this paper we focus on analyzing explicit interactions among actors in order to detect hierarchical social relationships that may be implicit. We start by employing three well-known ranking-based methods, PageRank, Degree Centrality, and Rooted-PageRank (RPR) to infer such implicit relationships from interactions between actors. Then we propose two novel approaches which take into account the time-dimension of interactions in the process of detecting hierarchical ties. We experiment on two datasets, the Enron email dataset to infer manager-subordinate relationships from email exchanges, and a scientific publication co-authorship dataset to detect PhD advisor-advisee relationships from paper co-authorships. Our experiments show that time-based methods perform considerably better than ranking-based methods. In the Enron dataset, they detect 48% of manager-subordinate ties versus 32% found by Rooted-PageRank. Similarly, in co-author dataset, they detect 62% of advisor-advisee ties compared to only 39% by Rooted-PageRank

Was everything much better before? A comparison of children’s gross motor skills in 1995, 2004 and 2018

Sammendrag Bakgrunn: Denne studien var en videreføring av tidligere forskning som ble utført i 1995 og 2004 for å kartlegge forskjeller i grovmotorikk i sju- og åtteåringer. Det hevdes at velutviklede grovmotoriske ferdigheter bidrar på en positiv måte til aktiviteter gjennom livet og fører til vekst av mer kompliserte motoriske og sportsspesifikke ferdigheter. Hensikt: Målet med denne forskningen var å finne ut om det har vært en nedgang i grovmotorikk blant sju- og åtteåringer de siste tiårene i Nøtterøy og kartlegge forskjellene. Metode: Det var 45 deltagere i alderen syv og åtte år. I denne studien var 24 av deltagerne jenter og 21 var gutter. Deres motoriske kompetanse ble målt med Körperkoordiationstest für Kinder og analysert før sammenligning med data fra 1995 og 2004. Resultater: Resultatene fra testene i 2018 ble sammenlignet med resultatene fra 1995 og 2004. Det ble sett en signifikant nedgang i den totale motoriske kvotienten til deltagergruppen. Det var en nedgang på 14.3 poeng fra 1995 til 2018 og en nedgang på 16,4 poeng fra 2004 til 2018. Begge kjønnene scoret signifikant lavere i 2018 sammenlignet med 1995 og 2004. Jentene skåret litt bedre enn guttene med .9 poeng høyere i total motorisk kvotienten i 2018. Konklusjon: Det finnes en nedgang i grovmotorikken blant sju- og åtteåringer i Nøtterøy i 2018 sammenlignet med 1995 og 2004. Fremtidig forskning bør se mer på hvilke faktorer som påvirker motorisk kompetanse mest, og se videre på sammenhengen mellom disse og motorisk utvikling og fysisk aktivitetsnivå. Nøkkelord: Fysisk aktivitet, Körperkoordiationstest für Kinder, motoriske ferdigheter, motorisk kompetanse, motorisk utvikling. Abstract Background: This study was a continuation of previous research that was carried out in 1995 and 2004 to map differences in gross motor skills in seven- and eight-year-olds. It is claimed that well-developed gross motor skills contribute in a positive way to activities throughout life and lead to the growth of more complicated motor and sport-specific skills. Purpose: The aim of this research was to find out whether there has been a decline in gross motor skills among seven- and eight-year-olds in recent decades in Nøtterøy and to map the differences. Method: There were 45 participants aged seven and eight. In this study, 24 of the participants were girls, and 21 were boys. Their motor competence was measured by the Körperkoordiationstest für Kinder and analyzed before comparison with data from 1995 and 2004. Results: The results from the tests in 2018 were compared with the results from 1995 and 2004. A significant decrease was seen in the total motor quotient of the participant group. There was a decrease of 14.3 points from 1995 to 2018 and a decrease of 16,4 points from 2004 to 2018. Both genders scored significantly lower in 2018 compared to 1995 and 2004. Girls scored slightly better than the boys by .9 points higher in total motor quotient in 2018. Conclusion: There is a decline in gross motor skills among seven- and eight-year old’s in Nøtterøy in 2018 compared to 1995 and 2004. Future research should look more into which factors influence motor competence the most and look further into the connection between factors and motor development and physical activity levels. Key words: Körperkoordiationstest für Kinder, motor competence, motor development, motor skills, physical activity

Detecting hierarchical relationships and roles from online interaction networks

In social networks, analysing the explicit interactions among users can help in inferring hierarchical relationships and roles that may be implicit. In this thesis, we focus on two objectives: detecting hierarchical relationships between users and inferring the hierarchical roles of users interacting via the same online communication medium. In both cases, we show that considering the temporal dimension of interaction substantially improves the detection of relationships and roles. The first focus of this thesis is on the problem of inferring implicit relationships from interactions between users. Based on promising results obtained by standard link-analysis methods such as PageRank and Rooted-PageRank (RPR), we introduce three novel time-based approaches, \Time-F" based on a defined time function, Filter and Refine (FiRe) which is a hybrid approach based on RPR and Time-F, and Time-sensitive Rooted-PageRank (T-RPR) which applies RPR in a way that takes into account the time-dimension of interactions in the process of detecting hierarchical ties. We experiment on two datasets, the Enron email dataset to infer managersubordinate relationships from email exchanges, and a scientific publication coauthorship dataset to detect PhD advisor-advisee relationships from paper co-authorships. Our experiments demonstrate that time-based methods perform better in terms of recall. In particular T-RPR turns out to be superior over most recent competitor methods as well as all other approaches we propose. The second focus of this thesis is examining the online communication behaviour of users working on the same activity in order to identify the different hierarchical roles played by the users. We propose two approaches. In the first approach, supervised learning is used to train different classification algorithms. In the second approach, we address the problem as a sequence classification problem. A novel sequence classification framework is defined that generates time-dependent features based on frequent patterns at multiple levels of time granularity. Our framework is a exible technique for sequence classification to be applied in different domains. We experiment on an educational dataset collected from an asynchronous communication tool used by students to accomplish an underlying group project. Our experimental findings show that the first supervised approach achieves the best mapping of students to their roles when the individual attributes of the students, information about the reply relationships among them as well as quantitative time-based features are considered. Similarly, our multi-granularity pattern-based framework shows competitive performance in detecting the students' roles. Both approaches are significantly better than the baselines considered

A Controlled Increase in Dietary Phosphate Elevates BP in Healthy Human Subjects.

Background Despite epidemiologic evidence for increased cardiovascular morbidity and mortality associated with both high dietary and serum phosphate in humans with normal renal function, no controlled phosphate intervention studies of systemic hemodynamics have been reported. Higher serum 25(OH) vitamin D levels are associated with better cardiovascular outcomes, but vitamin D increases intestinal phosphate absorption.Methods We conducted a prospective outpatient study with blinded assessment in 20 young adults with normal renal function randomized to high phosphate (regular diet plus 1 mmol/kg body wt per day of Na as neutral sodium phosphate) or low phosphate (regular diet plus lanthanum, 750 mg thrice/day, plus 0.7 mmol/kg body wt per day of Na as NaCl) for 11 weeks. After 6 weeks, all subjects received vitamin D3 (600,000 U) by intramuscular injection. Outcome parameters were 24-hour ambulatory systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP), pulse rate (PR), biomarkers, and measures of endothelial and arterial function.Results Compared with the low-phosphate diet group, the high-phosphate diet group had a significant increase in mean±SEM fasting plasma phosphate concentration (0.23±0.11 mmol/L); 24-hour SBP and DBP (+4.1; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 2.1 to 6.1; and +3.2; 95% CI, 1.2 to 5.2 mm Hg, respectively); mean 24-hour PR (+4.0; 95% CI, 2.0 to 6.0 beats/min); and urinary metanephrine and normetanephrine excretion (54; 95% CI, 50 to 70; and 122; 95% CI, 85 to 159 µg/24 hr, respectively). Vitamin D had no effect on any of these parameters. Neither high- nor low-phosphate diet nor vitamin D affected endothelial function or arterial elasticity.Conclusions Increased phosphate intake (controlled for sodium) significantly increases SBP, DBP, and PR in humans with normal renal function, in part, by increasing sympathoadrenergic activity

Modeling of Household Evacuation Decision, Departure Timing, and Number of Evacuating Vehicles from Hurricane Matthew

This dissertation investigates households’ evacuation decision, number of household vehicles used in evacuation, and departure timing from Hurricane Matthew. Regarding the evacuation decision, this dissertation takes a step further by presenting three level evacuation decision models that include full, partial, and no evacuation alternatives rather than the binary evacuate/stay decision. Multinomial (MNL) regression and random parameter MNL techniques were utilized to develop the prediction models. Results showed that some of the variables which affect the evacuate/stay decision have different influences on the three alternatives. The preferred MNL model was tested for random parameters and one random parameter (age of the respondent) was identified for the utility expression pertaining to the no evacuation alternative. For the vehicle choice study, zero truncated Poisson regression was utilized with the survey data. This modeling approach has rarely been applied to the evacuation context and the prediction of the number of household vehicles used is relatively understudied, compared to other evacuation-related decisions. The final preferred model contains three significant variables (marital status, gender, and evacuation timing from 6 am to noon). The final part of this dissertation investigates the factors affecting departure timing choice. Having an accurate estimate of the departure time will allow the prediction of dynamic evacuation demand and developing effective evacuation strategies which will enhance the overall evacuation planning and management. A Cox proportional-hazards model was utilized to model the evacuation departure timing. Four significant variables were identified in the final model, two of them are related to uncertainty. This part of the dissertation also studies evacuees’ stated preference about whether or not they would change their evacuation timing if they relived the hurricane event. In our study, almost 34% of respondents reported that they would change their departure timing if they relived the hurricane event. A binary logit model was utilized in this part and the preferred model contains five significant variables related to past experience, the type of evacuation order received, and the evacuation destination

E-learning issues and solutions for students with disabilities during COVID-19 pandemic: Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan case study

In this research, approaches to making e-learning accessible to students with impairments were studied based on the authors’ experience at Jordan’s Al-Zaytoonah University. The educational, organizational, and instructional concerns are underlined when analyzing the university’s experience in giving access to online content. Furthermore, these difficulties must be addressed in order to create the necessary organizational change to effectively solve accessibility concerns. This study looked into the e-learning issues that 56 university students with disabilities had reported. Students reported issues with: accessibility to websites and learning course management systems; accessibility to digital audio and video; time management in completing online tasks; trouble handling data during lectures; and a lack of appropriate adaptive strategies in online questionnaires. Students also noted technical issues with using e-learning, instructors’ communication with e-learning, and their treatment of all students equally, overlooking the necessity of considering the needs of students with impairments. In this study, we present the problems raised by students with disabilities and how the e-learning affects students’ outcomes in the e-learning experience. We also make recommendations based on the students’ realistic special-needs experience at Al-Zaytoonah University in Jordan during the COVID-19 pandemic to inspire decision-makers in educational institutions and those interested in this field

Metabolomic profiling of antibiofilm compounds from fungal endophytes derived from Scottish seaweeds

In the search for a new antimicrobial bioactive compound from natural source against both biofilm-forming Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, endophytic fungi associated with seaweeds are an interesting source of bioactive secondary metabolites. Twenty-four endophytes were isolated from eight different Scottish seaweeds namely; Ascophyllum nodosum, Laminaria hyperborean, Ulva intestinalis, Ulva lactuca, Himanthalia elongata, Fucus vesiculosis, Fucus serratus, and Fucus spiralis. Endophytes responsible for producing bioactive compounds were identified using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene sequencing. Depending on their biological activity and chemical profiles, three endophytic fungi, namely; Dendryphiella salina (D. salina), Hypoxylon rubiginosum (H. rubiginosum), and Mariannaea elegans (M. elegance) were identified and subjected for media optimisation studies on five liquid media and four solid media in three different incubation periods. For liquid media; this included: malt extract broth with and without sea salt, Wickersham liquid media with and without sea salt and lastly, marine broth. While for the solid media, rice and oat, both with and without sea salt were used. The chemical profile for each extract was monitored using Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Antimicrobial activity was monitored using both AlamarBlue® and planktonic assays. The appropriate medium and the incubation period were chosen for a scale-up of the selected endophytic fungus according to the following factors: 1) higher yield, 2) improved antimicrobial activity, and 3) diverse chemical profile. Based on these factors, D. salina was chosen for scale-up and isolation work. D. salina was grown on malt extract with salt and oat without salt. The scaled-up extracts of D. salina were subjected to liquid-liquid partitioning followed by fractionation using either medium pressure flash chromatography or flash chromatographic technique. The first fractionation of the scaled-up extracts was tested against both biofilm-forming S. aureus and P. aeruginosa and analysed using 1H NMR and LC-HRMS. The HRMS data was processed using MZmine followed by dereplication using an in-house method then subjected to orthogonal partial least square-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). OPLS-DA results were used determine the antimicrobial active secondary metabolites. As a result, eight compounds were isolated from the bioactive fractions of D. salina. D. salina grown on malt extract broth yielded linoleic acid, orsellinic acid, orcinol and 2,5-dihydroxy-3-(hydroxymethyl)benzoic acid. While D. salina inoculated on oat solid media afforded the acetonide and glycerylglycoside derivatives of linoleic acid along with the peptide turnagainolide A. All isolated compounds, except for linoleic acid and its glycerol congener, displayed antibiofilm activity with MBEC (Minimum Biofilm Eradication Concentration) values between 45 and 360 µM concentrations against biofilm-forming bacteria S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. F10-2 (turnagainolide A) and F10-8 (gingerglycolipid B stereoisomer) displayed the highest potency with MIC and MBEC values between 45 and 75 µM concentrations. Conclusion: Endophytic D. salina derived from Scottish seaweed L. hyperborea grown on malt extract broth and oat solid media showed the ability to produce compounds with antimicrobial bioactivity against biofilm-forming bacteria. In addition, three new antimicrobial natural products: 2,5-dihydroxy-3-(hydroxymethyl)benzoic acid along with an acetonide and glycerylglycoside derivatives of linoleic acid were isolated from D. salina extracts. Thus, marine endophytic fungi are promising source of bioactive compounds.In the search for a new antimicrobial bioactive compound from natural source against both biofilm-forming Staphylococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, endophytic fungi associated with seaweeds are an interesting source of bioactive secondary metabolites. Twenty-four endophytes were isolated from eight different Scottish seaweeds namely; Ascophyllum nodosum, Laminaria hyperborean, Ulva intestinalis, Ulva lactuca, Himanthalia elongata, Fucus vesiculosis, Fucus serratus, and Fucus spiralis. Endophytes responsible for producing bioactive compounds were identified using internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene sequencing. Depending on their biological activity and chemical profiles, three endophytic fungi, namely; Dendryphiella salina (D. salina), Hypoxylon rubiginosum (H. rubiginosum), and Mariannaea elegans (M. elegance) were identified and subjected for media optimisation studies on five liquid media and four solid media in three different incubation periods. For liquid media; this included: malt extract broth with and without sea salt, Wickersham liquid media with and without sea salt and lastly, marine broth. While for the solid media, rice and oat, both with and without sea salt were used. The chemical profile for each extract was monitored using Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (LC-HRMS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR). Antimicrobial activity was monitored using both AlamarBlue® and planktonic assays. The appropriate medium and the incubation period were chosen for a scale-up of the selected endophytic fungus according to the following factors: 1) higher yield, 2) improved antimicrobial activity, and 3) diverse chemical profile. Based on these factors, D. salina was chosen for scale-up and isolation work. D. salina was grown on malt extract with salt and oat without salt. The scaled-up extracts of D. salina were subjected to liquid-liquid partitioning followed by fractionation using either medium pressure flash chromatography or flash chromatographic technique. The first fractionation of the scaled-up extracts was tested against both biofilm-forming S. aureus and P. aeruginosa and analysed using 1H NMR and LC-HRMS. The HRMS data was processed using MZmine followed by dereplication using an in-house method then subjected to orthogonal partial least square-discriminant analysis (OPLS-DA). OPLS-DA results were used determine the antimicrobial active secondary metabolites. As a result, eight compounds were isolated from the bioactive fractions of D. salina. D. salina grown on malt extract broth yielded linoleic acid, orsellinic acid, orcinol and 2,5-dihydroxy-3-(hydroxymethyl)benzoic acid. While D. salina inoculated on oat solid media afforded the acetonide and glycerylglycoside derivatives of linoleic acid along with the peptide turnagainolide A. All isolated compounds, except for linoleic acid and its glycerol congener, displayed antibiofilm activity with MBEC (Minimum Biofilm Eradication Concentration) values between 45 and 360 µM concentrations against biofilm-forming bacteria S. aureus and P. aeruginosa. F10-2 (turnagainolide A) and F10-8 (gingerglycolipid B stereoisomer) displayed the highest potency with MIC and MBEC values between 45 and 75 µM concentrations. Conclusion: Endophytic D. salina derived from Scottish seaweed L. hyperborea grown on malt extract broth and oat solid media showed the ability to produce compounds with antimicrobial bioactivity against biofilm-forming bacteria. In addition, three new antimicrobial natural products: 2,5-dihydroxy-3-(hydroxymethyl)benzoic acid along with an acetonide and glycerylglycoside derivatives of linoleic acid were isolated from D. salina extracts. Thus, marine endophytic fungi are promising source of bioactive compounds

Beyond the myth of the equity-efficiency trade-off: A theoretical approach

Development, on the one hand, consists of the concepts such as efficiency and progress and, on the other hand, it is based on the concepts of justice and equality. In the meanwhile, these two series of concepts are extremely relying on the fundamental opposition between matter and meaning- an opposition which itself is an old-known basic distinction in all human sciences. However, regardless of the vital importance of this opposition, almost all studies conducted around the relation between justice and efficiency have been centered merely on technical concepts, which means we hardly need deeper studies with more epistemological concerns around these concepts. In the present study, we intend to show that we need to think in a new language and in a new sphere. In opposition to the present discourse of development, we proposed a new model, based on needs, and a qualitative form of social -economy, which does not remain within the limits of dominant discourse of rationality, and in the shadow of a critical- pragmatic theory and through a democratic process from below- up, helps constructing a public sphere, that will be the best ground to solve the old enigma as well as the justice- efficiency opposition

Beyond the myth of the equity-efficiency trade-off: A theoretical approach

Development, on the one hand, consists of the concepts such as efficiency and progress and, on the other hand, it is based on the concepts of justice and equality. In the meanwhile, these two series of concepts are extremely relying on the fundamental opposition between matter and meaning- an opposition which itself is an old-known basic distinction in all human sciences. However, regardless of the vital importance of this opposition, almost all studies conducted around the relation between justice and efficiency have been centered merely on technical concepts, which means we hardly need deeper studies with more epistemological concerns around these concepts. In the present study, we intend to show that we need to think in a new language and in a new sphere. In opposition to the present discourse of development, we proposed a new model, based on needs, and a qualitative form of social -economy, which does not remain within the limits of dominant discourse of rationality, and in the shadow of a critical- pragmatic theory and through a democratic process from below- up, helps constructing a public sphere, that will be the best ground to solve the old enigma as well as the justice- efficiency opposition