Using A Partial Differential Equation with Google Mobility Data to Predict COVID-19 in Arizona

The outbreak of COVID-19 disrupts the life of many people in the world. The state of Arizona in the U.S. emerges as one of the country's newest COVID-19 hot spots. Accurate forecasting for COVID-19 cases will help governments to implement necessary measures and convince more people to take personal precautions to combat the virus. It is difficult to accurately predict the COVID-19 cases due to many human factors involved. This paper aims to provide a forecasting model for COVID-19 cases with the help of human activity data from the Google Community Mobility Reports. To achieve this goal, a specific partial differential equation (PDE) is developed and validated with the COVID-19 data from the New York Times at the county level in the state of Arizona in the U.S. The proposed model describes the combined effects of transboundary spread among county clusters in Arizona and human actives on the transmission of COVID-19. The results show that the prediction accuracy of this model is well acceptable (above 94\%). Furthermore, we study the effectiveness of personal precautions such as wearing face masks and practicing social distancing on COVID-19 cases at the local level. The localized analytical results can be used to help to slow the spread of COVID-19 in Arizona. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first attempt to apply PDE models on COVID-19 prediction with the Google Community Mobility Reports

You And I

Artist statement Nao Yamamoto The environment I grew up in allowed me to cultivate an appreciation for both contemporary art and traditional craft, and I still respect the Japanese culture. However, experiencing contemporary art based on a different society and environment changed my perspective and I felt like it took me beyond the narrow culture of Japan. Since I recognized my art as a way to represent myself, or even to have conversations with tnyself, I became devoted to a contemporary art practice. It has been so exciting to see my thoughts made visual and how I\u27ve been changed by creating my art. I have long created my pieces based on the simple beauty of glass. I was looking fof a way to emphasize what I see in it. During the glassblowing process, I would . sometimes see the molten glass as a creature that has a consciousness that tries to challenge my skill or mastery. This idea helped me to create a different body of work which represented my experience or relationship with glass sculpture rather than the materiality of glass. Now glass has become not only a material, but also my fickle friend which. reflects my inspiration and concentration. I believe that there is nothing that compares with the beauty of nature. For me it is overwhelming because any life form doesn\u27t think about the meaning of life, but only thinks about surviving. When I am at a beach, in a forest, or in the middle of a desert, the simple, pure, clean force of life in nature inspires me to just live, strongly but simply. I believe we have lost that n~tion in complicated contemporary lives. What I atn trying to do is to reinterpret elements from nature to celebrate the power of life, both in its significance and in its insignificance

Zum japanischen Umgang mit Leben, Sterben und Tod

"Die Vorstellung zum und der Umgang mit dem Leben und Tod bei Japanern ist noch immer naturverbunden, dies zum Teil nur in der Idealvorstellung. Die Phänomene Sterben und Tod werden nicht mehr als selbstverständliche Naturgeschehen akzeptiert, sondern wurden zum Teil zum Gegenstand der menschlichen Kontrolle ('Kortex-ualisierung') erklärt. Der Tod der zweiten Person wird rituell betrauert, indem man eine neue Beziehung zum Verstorbenen herstellt." (Autorenreferat)"In the Japanese culture the idea of and the dealing with life and death is still in close touch of nature, if partly only as an idealized figuration of death. The phenomena of dying or death are no longer accepted as a self-evident natural process but as subject to human control (cortex-ualization). Death in the second person perspective is moaned ritually through the creation of a new relationship with the dead." (author's abstract

Repeated Starvation Leads Fat Accumulation in Caenorhabditis elegans

Our aim is to define the effect of repeated-starvation on organism using nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. Adult worms were exposed to two cycles of 6 hr starvation-18 hr feeding protocol, and fat content in worms was analyzed by Nile Red staining and biochemical quantification. The expression of genes involved in fat synthesis (pod-2, fasn-1, mboa-2, sbp-1) and fat degradation (hosl-1, lipl-4, cpt-1, cpt-2, B03003.3, F53a2.7) was also analyzed by quantitative RT-PCR. Both Nile Red staining and biochemical quantification showed that fat content in worms that experienced repeated-starvation increased. There was no obvious change in the expression of genes involved in fat synthesis, but those of genes involved in fat degradation tended to decrease, which is consistent with the increment of fat in worms experienced repeated-starvation. The lifespan, fecundity and mobility of worms that experienced repeated-starvation did not show remarkable differences compared to those of the fed worms. However, the pharyngeal pumping increased upon experiencing starvation, indicating amount of food intake increased by starvation. Our results indicate that repeated-starvation caused metabolic and nutritional effect in worms. It is often mentioned that repeating weight loss leads to weight regain, sometimes referred as “weight rebound”, and our data may also provide a molecular basis of weight regain

Two new chironomids bearing peculiar morphological features from Japan and China (Diptera: Chironomidae)

A new subgenus, Nothorthocladius, of the genus Orthocladius v. d. Wulp and a new genus Yaethauma which bears a superficially resemblance to Collartomyia Goethgebuer of the subfamily Chironominae are erected, and the subgeneric and generic diagnoses are provided here. Orthocladius (Nothorthocladius) brevistylus sp. n. is described based on a single male and Yaethauma longiligulata sp. n. is described in both sexes. The former species is characterized from any other orthoclads by having the short gonostylus fused to gonocoxite. The species is treated as a member belonging to the genus Orthocladius based on various morphological features. The latter species is distinguishable from two other members of Collartomyia species by having the antepronotal lobe distinctly narrowed dorsally, the long ligula being sclerotized on the dorsolateral surface along outer margin, and the distinctly bifurcated pulvilli. Furthermore, in the male, the long and spindle-shaped anal point, the short and ovoid gonostylus, the long and distally expanded median appendage, the short and dorsolaterally elongate laterosternite, the plate-like apodeme lobe and the spermatheca bearing sclerotized neck in the female will be sufficiently separated from any described genera clearly

Landscape of Participant-Centric Initiatives for Medical Research in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan : Scoping Review

Hamakawa N, Nakano R, Kogetsu A, Coathup V, Kaye J, Yamamoto BA, Kato K, Landscape of Participant-Centric Initiatives for Medical Research in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Japan:Scoping Review, J Med Internet Res 2020;22(8):e16441, DOI: 10.2196/16441, PMID: 32749228, PMCID: 743562