EXPLORING VOLUNTEERED GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION WITH DATA QUALITY CONTROL FOR INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Chinese temple networks in Southeast Asia: A WebGIS Digital Humanities Platform for the collaborative study of the Chinese diaspora in Southeast Asia

Ministry of Education, Singapore under its Academic Research Funding Tier

Determining acute ischemic stroke onset time using machine learning and radiomics features of infarct lesions and whole brain

Accurate determination of the onset time in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients helps to formulate more beneficial treatment plans and plays a vital role in the recovery of patients. Considering that the whole brain may contain some critical information, we combined the Radiomics features of infarct lesions and whole brain to improve the prediction accuracy. First, the radiomics features of infarct lesions and whole brain were separately calculated using apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequences of AIS patients with clear onset time. Then, the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (Lasso) was used to select features. Four experimental groups were generated according to combination strategies: Features in infarct lesions (IL), features in whole brain (WB), direct combination of them (IW) and Lasso selection again after direct combination (IWS), which were used to evaluate the predictive performance. The results of ten-fold cross-validation showed that IWS achieved the best AUC of 0.904, which improved by 13.5% compared with IL (0.769), by 18.7% compared with WB (0.717) and 4.2% compared with IW (0.862). In conclusion, combining infarct lesions and whole brain features from multiple sequences can further improve the accuracy of AIS onset time

Clusters of spatial, temporal, and space-time distribution of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome in Liaoning Province, Northeastern China

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) is a rodent-borne disease caused by Hantavirus, with characteristics of fever, hemorrhage, kidney damage, and hypotension. HFRS is recognized as a notifiable public health problem in China, and Liaoning Province is one of the most seriously affected areas with the most cases in China. It is necessary to investigate the spatial, temporal, and space-time distribution of confirmed cases of HFRS in Liaoning Province, China for future research into risk factors.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cartogram map was constructed; spatial autocorrelation analysis and spatial, temporal, and space-time cluster analysis were conducted in Liaoning Province, China over the period 1988-2001.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>When the number of permutation test was set to 999, Moran's I was 0.3854, and was significant at significance level of 0.001. Spatial cluster analysis identified one most likely cluster and four secondary likely clusters. Temporal cluster analysis identified 1998-2001 as the most likely cluster. Space-time cluster analysis identified one most likely cluster and two secondary likely clusters.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Spatial, temporal, and space-time scan statistics may be useful in supervising the occurrence of HFRS in Liaoning Province, China. The result of this study can not only assist health departments to develop a better prevention strategy but also potentially increase the public health intervention's effectiveness.</p

A Fluorescent Linear Conjugated Polymer Constructed from Pillararene and Anthracene

Over the past few years, conjugated polymers (CPs) have aroused much attention owing to their rigid conjugated structures, which can perform well in light harvesting and energy transfer and offer great potential in materials chemistry. In this article, we fabricate a new luminescent linear CP p(P[5](OTf)2-co-9,10-dea) via the Sonogashira coupling of 9,10-diethynylanthracene and trifluoromethanesulfonic anhydride (OTf) modified pillar[5]arene, generating enhanced yellow-green fluorescence emission at around 552 nm. The reaction condition was screened to get a deeper understanding of this polymerization approach, resulting in an excellent yield as high as 92% ultimately. Besides the optical properties, self-assembly behaviors of the CP in low/high concentrations were studied, where interesting adjustable morphologies from tube to sheet were observed. In addition, the fluorescence performance and structural architecture can be disturbed by the host&ndash;guest reorganization between the host CP and the guest adiponitrile, suggesting great potential of this CP material in the field of sensing and detection

Towards Enhancing Integrated Pest Management Based on Volunteered Geographic Information

Integrated pest management (IPM) involves integrating multiple pest control methods based on site information obtained through inspection, monitoring, and reports. IPM has been deployed to achieve the judicious use of pesticides and has become one of the most important methods of securing agricultural productivity. Despite the efforts made to strengthen IPM during the past decades, overuse as well as indiscriminate use of pesticides is still common. This problem is particularly serious in underserved farming communities which suffer from ineffectiveness with respect to pest management information collection and dissemination. The recent development of volunteered geographic information (VGI) offers an opportunity to the general public to create and receive ubiquitous, cost-effective, and timely geospatial information. Therefore, this study proposes to enhance IPM through establishing a VGI-based IPM. As a starting point of this line of research, this study explored how such geospatial information can contribute to IPM enhancement. Based on this, a conceptual framework of VGI interaction was built to guide the establishment of VGI-based IPM. To implement VGI-based IPM, a mobile phone platform was developed. In addition, a case study was conducted in the town of Shuibian in Jiangxi province of China to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. In the case study, by analyzing infestation incidents of an overwintering outbreak of striped rice stem borers voluntarily reported by farmers through mobile phones, spatiotemporal infestation patterns of the borers throughout the study area were revealed and disseminated to the farmers. These patterns include the dates and degree-days the pest infestations intensified, and the orientation or spatial structural variations of the clustering of the infestations. This case study showcased the unique merit of VGI in enhancing IPM, namely the acquisition of previously unrecorded spatial data in a cost-effective and real-time manner for discovering and disseminating previously unknown pest management knowledge