bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Mohism and the Evolving Notion of Jian Ai
Authors: Defoort Carine
Published: November 2020

This chapter traces the evolution of the Mohist idea of jian ai兼愛, often translated as “inclusive care” or “universal love.” It begins by exploring how the concept gradually came into being along with the creation of the book Mozi. During the imperial era the concept increasingly dominated Mencius’s critical portrayal of Mozi as the immoral promoter of ungraded love. In the post-imperial period jian ai reemerged as the most valuable among the ten Mohist theses. Most scholars promote jian ai as the foundation of Mohist thought, rather than other key theses such as “the will of Heaven” or “against aggression.”
The Neolithic Jade Revolution in Northeast China
Authors: Tang Chung , Tang Mana Hayashi , Liu Guoxiang , Wen Yadi
Published: November 2020

This chapter examines how Xinglongwa jades in the sixth millennium bce mark the beginning of nephrite’s preeminence in East Asia. Their carefully selected raw material, color, and texture, as well as established standards in form and production technologies, laid down the foundations for later jade cultures across a wide region in East Asia. In particular, the Xinglongwa jade slit rings are the early known circular slit earrings in the world. The influence of Xinglongwa jade culture on notable jade cultures across North China is evident, as key characteristics that distinguish Xinglongwa jades from other prehistoric jade traditions were preserved.
Imperial Conquest, Violent Encounters, and Changing Gender Relations in Colonial Warfare, 1830s–1910s
Authors: Woollacott Angela
Published: November 2020

The period between the 1830s and the 1910s is significant for the rapid expansion of the British and French Empires in particular and fierce interimperial rivalries, as well as the late rise of non-European empires. The warfare that characterized imperial expansion and indigenous resistance, as sparked by imperial invasions and gradual conquests of colonial territories, including the suppression of uprisings, was often diffuse and chaotic. This chapter considers how the contact zones of aggressively expanding colonialism were structured by violence, in places ranging from the British settler colonies of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand to Crown colonies of various European empires, including British India, the Netherlands East Indies, and French Indochina. It assesses the intersections of gender and militarized violence on frontiers and in the daily life of colonial societies.
Sexuality, Sexual Violence, and the Military in the Age of the World Wars
Authors: Mühlhäuser Regina
Published: November 2020

The two world wars—with the mass mobilization and unprecedented mobility of men and women—presented new opportunities for soldiers and civilians to engage in consensual amorous encounters and instrumental and commercial sex. At the same time, the experience of brutality, destruction, and death lowered the threshold at which sexual violence took place. The boundaries between consensual and forced, nonviolent and violent were fluid, and different forms of sexuality and violence merged. This coexistence and, indeed, entanglement of extreme violence and sexual pleasure was shocking for the contemporaries. By focusing on practices, constellations, and structures of sexual violence, the chapter discusses the meanings and effects in and for total war.
Conceptualizing Sexual Violence in Post–Cold War Global Conflicts
Authors: Zarkov Dubravka
Published: November 2020

Recent scholarship conceptualizes sexual violence as an inherent part of war violence, but emphasizes its varying pattern across conflicts, armed groups, and small units. However, some cases of sexual violence in war have remained invisible within both feminist and mainstream academia and politics, while others have been overexposed. This imbalance has received more attention in feminist scholarship only since the millennium. The chapter analyses the debates on sexual violence in the post–Cold War global conflicts. It argues that the wartime rapes of women in the wars in the former Yugoslavia and, to some extent, Rwanda and the sexual violence against men at the Abu Ghraib prison during the second Iraq War have stimulated major shifts in feminist theorizing of sexual violence against women and men in war. It also discusses the repercussions of the most common conceptualization of sexual violence in war and reflects the theoretical challenges of the conceptualization of sexual violence against men.
The United Nations, Gendered Human Rights, and Peacekeeping since 1945
Authors: Whitworth Sandra
Published: November 2020

Feminist observers of peacekeeping have asked why very little has changed within the peacekeeping of the United Nations (UN) since 1945, despite a greater overall attention to questions of gender within the UN. For example, despite calls for greater representation of women on missions, they continue to constitute a small fraction of the personnel deployed; despite calls to “gender mainstream” missions, peace operations often result in heightened insecurity for some women and girls. This chapter examines the evolution of UN peacekeeping alongside an examination of the greater attention devoted to questions of women and gender within the UN system from 1945 to the present. It argues that the ultimately “problem-solving” approach to gender and peacekeeping adopted by the UN limits the possibility of any substantive impact its policies around gender may ever achieve.
War and Gender
Authors: Dudink Stefan , Hagemann Karen
Published: November 2020

This chapter offers an introduction to the entangled histories of gender and war from the Thirty Years’ War to the Wars of Revolution and Independence, against the background of a wider history of war and warfare in the early modern period. It starts with a critical discussion of some of the concepts historians have used to capture the nature and development of early modern war and warfare, such as military revolution, limited war, and total war. An important aspect of this discussion is the relations between transformations in early modern warfare and processes of state formation, which are central to various arguments made by historians about gender and war in the early modern period. Against this conceptual background, the chapter then presents an overview of the major wars from this period, with a focus on the Thirty Years’ War, the Seven Years’ War, and the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, which points, among other things, to the increasing entwinement of European and colonial war in this era. The chapter concludes with an introduction to the state of research and central themes in the history of gender and war.
War and Gender
Authors: Hagemann Karen , Rose Sonya O.
Published: November 2020

The chapter offers a broad overview of the history of warfare in the Age of the World Wars. It first discusses the concept of total war and its usefulness for a gendered history of war. Then it examines some general trends in the development of warfare during the first half of the twentieth century to provide the historical context for the subsequent more detailed analysis of the Age of the World Wars from a gender perspective. In this section the chapter explores the research on some of the major themes of a gender history of military of war of this period, including gender images, war propaganda, and postwar memory; gendered war support, and war experience at the home front; economic warfare, gendered experience of occupation, and forced labor; war service, gender, and citizenship; and finally gender, genocide, and sexual violence.
History and Memory of Army Women and Female Soldiers, 1770s–1870s
Authors: Cardoza Thomas , Hagemann Karen
Published: November 2020

The chapter addresses the ways women were involved in warfare on both sides of the Atlantic in the time between the 1770s and 1880s as camp followers, officially recognized auxiliaries, nurses, and cross-dressed female soldiers and how their active war support was perceived and remembered during the nineteenth century. Collective memory of these women represents a complex picture. Camp followers and officially recognized auxiliaries were long forgotten. The small number of cross-dressed female soldiers, too, fell into obscurity, especially if they survived the wars. Yet by the latter half of the nineteenth century, some of these women were rediscovered, and their public image became more positive. Their public portrayal was, however, one dimensional: they were girls and women who rose above the limitations of their sex to defend a “nation in danger.” They now became examples of extraordinary female patriotism.
Sicily
Authors: Molinari Alessandra
Published: November 2020

Sicily is a large and fertile island at the center of Mediterranean trading networks. Renewed public interest in its medieval past, a surge in research in recent years, and the richness of its archaeological and architectural heritage make it particularly fascinating for scholars of the Islamic world and beyond. While conquered much later than other regions, it saw an incomplete Islamization during the two and a half centuries of Muslim rule but an incredible economic growth especially during the 10th century. The fulcrum of the Sicilian social, economic, and cultural transformations was the great metropolis, al-Madina, Balarm (Palermo). Contrary to scholarly assumption, the arrival of the Normans in 1061 was not painless, and archaeological evidence points to gradual but substantial changes. Social and cultural tensions at the end of the Norman kingdom came to a head in Swabian times. Sicily in the late 13th century is a different world to 10th-century Sicily in every way: crops, culture, language and religion, settlement models, material culture, and networks of exchange.
Contacts Between the Islamic World and Northern Europe in the Pre-Mongol Period
Authors: Jankowiak Marek
Published: November 2020

Northern Europe and the Islamic world, although separated by the wide belt of the steppe, were in contact throughout the pre-Mongol period. The intensity of these contacts varied over time and so did their geography: objects of Islamic provenance were imported to the basin of the Kama in the 7th–10th centuries, to the lands settled by the Scandinavians and those Slavs who were under their political or cultural influence in the 9th and 10th centuries, and to the northern edge of the steppe in the two centuries before the Mongol invasion. This chapter surveys the finds of Islamic objects associated with these interactions—mostly silver coins and silverware—and investigates the mechanisms that account for their importation to the North.
The Nilotic Sudan
Authors: Soghayroun Intisar
Published: November 2020

Islam entered the Sudan as early as the 7th century in a peaceful process. It is clear from both literary and archaeological evidence that Islam has had a presence in Sudan since the first century of the Muslim era, the result of a nonorganized, peaceful process in the Nile Valley, and in the Sahel and deserts through the assimilation of Arab and Beja nomads. From the beginning it has been associated with Sufism, which is reflected in material culture. Thus, instead of the mosque as the main building of religious practice, the khalwa (Quran school) and the qubba (domed saints tomb) are of great significance. Continuity with older forms of belief and practice are also attested in the Islamic archaeology and the material culture of the Sudan, notably in above-ground funerary monuments.
China
Authors: Armijo Jacqueline M.
Published: November 2020

Although the study of the archaeology of China is a well-developed field, the study of the archaeology of Islam in China, as a field, is virtually unknown. There are no books covering the topic and no articles providing an overview of the state of the field across China. There are however, a handful of scholars who have focused on specific examples of Islamic archaeology in China. The majority of this work is on the archaeological finds found in the coastal city of Quanzhou. China’s Muslim population today is conservatively estimated to be more than 23 million, and is made up of ten different ethnic minority groups. This chapter focuses on the largest group, the Hui. The study of the archaeology of Islam in China is made especially challenging for several reasons. Between the 7th and 15th centuries there were two major waves of Muslim immigrants to different regions of China, and between the 18th and 19th centuries there were several periods of violent uprisings that resulted in major Muslim communities being decimated and their mosques and monuments destroyed. In the 20th century, during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) mosques, together with all places of religious worship in China, came under systematic attack throughout the country. Given the dearth of surviving examples of early Chinese Islamic material culture, this chapter also discusses some of small Chinese Islamic art collections found within museums around the world, as well as early 20th-century photographic collections that document mosques and tombs that have not survived.
Southeast Asia
Authors: Wain Alexander
Published: November 2020

Southeast Asia’s Islamic archaeology remains unexplored and poorly understood. A perception even persists amongst some scholars that the region does not constitute fertile ground for the archaeologist, with its high humidity destroying valuable remains. This chapter, however, demonstrates that Southeast Asia is home to a fascinating array of early Islamic artifacts. Focusing on the sites of four early Southeast Asian Islamic kingdoms, namely Barus, Lambri, Samudera-Pasai, and Brunei, this chapter considers their archaeology in the context of recent claims that Muslims from China were involved in the region’s Islamization. Consonant with conversion, the chapter demonstrates that all four locations did indeed experience a connection of some sort with China. Most notably, all the sites (except Samudera-Pasai, for which no systematic ceramic evidence is available) yielded considerable amounts of Chinese pottery, pre-modern China’s principal export item. Three of the sites, Lambri, Samudera-Pasai, and Brunei, also witnessed the utilization of numerous Chinese artistic motifs in association with their earliest Islamic artifacts. Most strikingly, however, Brunei provides strong evidence not only of a much earlier sultanate than previously suspected but also of a direct connection with the major Chinese port of Quanzhou. While continually stressing that the presence of Chinese trade items and/or cultural influences does not establish a Chinese (Muslim or otherwise) presence at the examined locations, they do demonstrate that Southeast Asia’s first Muslim kingdoms emerged within an environment suffuse with Chinese trade goods and at a time when Chinese cultural influences were being freely adopted by the local Muslim population.
Heritage in Context
Authors: Rabbat Nasser
Published: November 2020

The meaning and scope of heritage are far from settled in the contemporary Middle East, as both history and geography are being contested, reclaimed, and reconfigured. Inspired by European models yet fueled by resistance to European colonialism, heritage preservation prompted a protracted contest between traditionalism and modernism in the past century. What began as an antiquarian interest in preserving historic monuments evolved into a more holistic understanding of the import of the built heritage in recent decades. Yet the historic cities still suffer from chronic problems of poverty, overcrowding, and neglect, as well as new problems resulting from manipulated planning and real estate capitalism, which accelerated the erosion of the civic qualities that were slowly acquired over the past two centuries. To rescue these old cities, a new conceptualizing of heritage is needed that builds on the thinking that has evolved in the last decade on the right to the city.
War and Recovery
Authors: Mulder Stephennie
Published: November 2020

This chapter examines history and scholarship on the theme of war and recovery in Islamic lands from the end of the 19th to the early 20th century. It argues that the dominant universalist model of archaeological heritage preservation, wherein heritage is envisioned as a property-based model belonging “to all humankind,” has in fact been an important motivation for the destruction of heritage in wartime and in the alienation of local communities from their heritage following reconstruction. Archaeologists, as researchers on the past who can assist in shaping the narratives of the present, should instead work to understand local models of heritage and support communities traumatized by war to rebuild in ways that serve local needs first. Often, postwar reconstruction has only multiplied the trauma of people in the aftermath of conflict. However, if sites damaged by war are rebuilt in an inclusive manner, reconstruction has the potential to be a genuinely healing act of resistance to the violence perpetrated during wartime.
Iraq
Authors: Northedge Alastair
Published: November 2020

This chapter surveys the most important trends in Islamic archaeology in Iraq, with a special focus on urban development and the industries associated with urbanization. The origins of new urbanism at the beginning of Islam lay in Arabia. The major difference in the new amsar was the need to settle large numbers of fighters (muqatila), registered in the diwan, around a core of mosque and palace. There was also a related model of a princely urban settlement. This was known commonly as a madina, though not always. The two lines came together in the foundation of Baghdad, with direct imitations at al-Rafiqa and the Octagon of Qadisiyya. The most extensive case is at Samarra (836–892), where, however, the model of the Baghdad suburb is used (rabad).
Islamic Heritage in Three Peninsulas
Authors: Carvajal López José C. , Živković Jelena , Aljawabra Alkindi , Lababidi Rim
Published: November 2020

This text is a reflection about the development of Islamic heritage in three different peninsulas where Islam has played an important role in the past: Qatar, Iberia, and the Balkans. The selection of these three spaces responds to the experience and academic specialization of the authors. There is a necessary simplification of the themes discussed due to the wide amount of information that has been used in the text, which includes a wide variety of approaches from different regions, languages, and traditions of scholarship. The aim of this exercise is to offer a comparative perspective that shows the complications and chances inherent to the definition of Islamic heritage beyond the limits of given communities and territories.
Editors’ Introduction
Authors: Walker Bethany J. , Insoll Timothy , Fenwick Corisande
Published: November 2020

The following Foreword, written by the three co-editors of this Handbook, situates the field of Islamic archaeology as it is practiced today in the larger study of the Islamic world. It also positions this Handbook in a growing body of scholarship on the archaeology of Islam. The special challenges faced by a newly emerging field, and one that is concerned with relatively recent historical periods and is quite literally global in scale, is presented in honest debate. The relationships of Islamic archaeology with Islamic art history and Islamic history are problematized, and the conceptual problems of Islamization and periodization explicated are and explored. The Foreword closes with a justification for the global scale of this Handbook, which determines its geographical organization.
Egypt
Authors: Gascoigne Alison L.
Published: November 2020

This chapter situates Egypt within wider debates arising from the field of Islamic archaeology and provides an overview of the current state of our knowledge based on diverse categories of archaeological evidence. Its overall aim is to argue for more diverse intellectual approaches—socially and scientifically aware and theoretically embedded—to be incorporated into archaeological activity in the country in place of those more closely related to the discipline of art history. The chapter starts with a consideration of evidence from a chronological perspective, noting the current relative lack of focus on the Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman periods. An inevitably brief digression follows on rural archaeology, for which minimal evidence has been uncovered. Evidence for domestic activity, trade and production, and funerary practices is outlined with a particular focus on artifactual material. The chapter also considers the growth and development of urban centers, both capital and provincial, under Islamic rule. Overall, the chapter highlights a need for a more sustained focus on Egypt’s Islamic-era/medieval archaeology for its own sake, rather than as either the inheritance of the classical world or the foundations of the early modern state.
The association between alcohol consumption and self-reported current depression among adults residing in Brazil
Authors: Oancea S C , de Oliveira G D , Sukumaran P , Vogeltanz-Holm N , Nucci L B
Published: November 2020

Background

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the association between binge and heavy drinking and self-reported current depression (SRCD) in a representative population-based sample of adults residing in Brazil.

Methods

The sample for this study was based on the 2013 Brazilian National Health Survey. SRCD was accessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-8), a valid eight-item depression measure for population-based studies instrument. The association between binge/heavy drinking and SRCD was investigated using weighted and adjusted multivariable logistic regression models.

Results

Out of the final study sample of 59 399 Brazilians, 47.2% were young adults, 34.6% were middle age adults and 52.4% were females. The prevalence of binge drinking was 13.8%, of heavy drinking was 3.2% and SRCD was 7.6%. There was a significant weighted and adjusted association between binge drinking and SRCD among young and middle age females (OR = 1.5, 95% CI:1.1–2.0 and OR = 0.6, 95% CI:0.4–0.8, respectively) and between heavy drinking and SRCD among young and middle age males (OR = 1.8, 95% CI:1.2–2.8 and OR = 2.5, 95% CI:1.5–4.1, respectively).

Conclusions

The possible protective factor of binge drinking for SRCD among middle-aged Brazilian females needs to be further investigated and understood. Longitudinal research is needed to provide further evidence of associations found in this study.
Preexposure prophylaxis strategies for African–American women affected by mass incarceration
Authors: Adams Joëlla W. , Khan Maria R. , Bessey S.E. , Friedman Samuel R. , McMahon James M. , Lurie Mark N. , Galea Sandro , Marshall Brandon D.L.
Published: November 2020

Objective:

We aimed to determine the effectiveness of various preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prescription strategies for African–American women impacted by mass incarceration within an urban setting.

Design:

An agent-based model was utilized to evaluate prevention strategies in an efficient, ethical manner. By defining agents, their characteristics and relationships, we assessed population-level effects of PrEP on HIV incidence.

Methods:

We tested hypothetical PrEP prescription strategies within a simulation representing the African–American population of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Four strategies were evaluated: PrEP for women meeting CDC indicators regarding partner characteristics, PrEP for women with a recently incarcerated male partner, PrEP for women with a recently released male partner and couples-based PrEP at time of release. Interventions occurred alongside scale-up of HAART. We evaluated reductions in HIV transmissions, the number of persons on PrEP needed to avert one HIV transmission (NNT) and the resulting proportions of people on PrEP.

Results:

Scenarios prescribing PrEP based on criminal justice system involvement reduced HIV transmissions. The NNT ranged from 147 (couples-based scenario) to 300 (recently released scenario). The percentage of the female population covered by PrEP at any one time ranged from 0.14% (couples-based) to 10.8% (CDC-based). CDC-guideline scenarios were consistently less efficient compared to the justice-involved interventions.

Conclusion:

Expanding PrEP for African–American women and their male partners affected by incarceration should be considered in national HIV prevention goals and correctional facilities leveraged as intervention sites. Partner characteristics in the current CDC indications may be more effective and efficient if guidelines considered criminal justice involvement.
Harpoon Suicide Attempt: A Dramatic Experience of the Multidisciplinary Approach
Authors: Guerra Raphael Capelli , Câmara Gustavo de Quadros , Mendes Bruno Coelho , Hochuli-Vieira Eduardo , Pereira Rodrigo dos Santos
Published: November 2020

Craniofacial harpoon injuries are extremely rare, especially when caused by attempted suicide. The approach to surgical removal becomes dependent on the characteristics of the device, with or without barbs on the spear, and its path, which presents with significant changes between accidents and suicide attempts. This report presents the successful treatment carried out in a dramatic case of harpoon suicide attempt. The approaches to complete and cautious removal of the spear from the occipital region, reconstruction of the orbital cavity, evisceration of the left eyeball due to amaurosis and psychiatric follow-up were successful, which allowed the restoration of the patient's physical and mental health.
Beyond the World Health Organization classification of central nervous system tumors 2016: what are the new developments for gliomas from a clinician's perspective?
Authors: Weller Michael , Reifenberger Guido
Published: November 2020

Purpose of review

The World Health Organization (WHO) classification of central nervous system (CNS) tumors was revised in 2016 to include molecular biomarkers that are important for tumor classification and clinical decision making. Thereafter, the cIMPACT-NOW initiative further refined CNS tumor classification through a series of recommendations likely to shape the upcoming WHO classification 2021.

Recent findings

Mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1 or 2 genes continue to play a major role in glioma classification. Among IDH-mutant gliomas, loss of ATRX expression identifies IDH-mutant astrocytomas without necessity for 1p/19q codeletion testing. The nomenclature for IDH-mutant glioblastoma has been changed to astrocytoma, IDH-mutant, WHO grade 4, with CDKN2A homozygous deletion representing a novel molecular marker for these tumors. IDH-wildtype astrocytomas that lack microvascular proliferation or necrosis but exhibit telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter mutation, epidermal growth factor receptor amplification, and/or a +7/−10 genotype are now classified as IDH-wildtype glioblastoma. H3.3 G34-mutant diffuse hemispheric gliomas have been proposed as a new entity separate from IDH-wildtype glioblastoma.

These changes increase diagnostic accuracy and refine clinical care by changing treatment recommendations, for example for patients with IDH-wildtype astrocytomas showing molecular features of glioblastoma. They also have major implications for clinical trial design.
Race/Ethnic Disparities in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia: The Northern Manhattan Study
Authors: Wright Clinton B. , DeRosa Janet T. , Moon Michelle P. , Strobino Kevin , DeCarli Charles , Cheung Ying Kuen , Assuras Stephanie , Levin Bonnie , Stern Yaakov , Sun Xiaoyan , Rundek Tatjana , Elkind Mitchell S.V. , Sacco Ralph L.
Published: November 2020

OBJECTIVE

Estimate the prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and probable dementia in the racially and ethnically diverse community-based Northern Manhattan Study cohort and examine sociodemographic, vascular risk factor, and brain imaging correlates.

METHODS

Cases of MCI and probable dementia were adjudicated by a team of neuropsychologists and neurologists and prevalence was estimated across race/ethnic groups. Ordinal proportional odds models were used to estimate race/ethnic differences in prevalence rates for MCI or probable dementia adjusting for sociodemographic variables (model 1), model 1 plus potentially modifiable vascular risk factors (model 2), and model 1 plus structural imaging markers of brain integrity (model 3).

RESULTS

There were 989 participants with cognitive outcome determinations (mean age 69 ± 9 years; 68% Hispanic, 16% Black, 14% White; 62% women; mean (±SD) follow-up five (±0.6) years). Prevalence rates for MCI (20%) and probable dementia (5%) were significantly different by race/ethnicity even after accounting for age and education difference across race-ethnic groups; Hispanic and Black participants had greater prevalence rates than Whites. Adjusting for sociodemographic and brain imaging factors explained the most variance in the race/ethnicity associations. White matter hyperintensity burden explained much of the disparity between Black and White, but not between Hispanic and White, participants.

CONCLUSIONS

In this diverse community-based cohort, white matter hyperintensity burden partially explained disparities in MCI and dementia prevalence in Black but not Hispanic participants compared to Whites. Longer follow-up and incidence data are needed to further clarify these relationships.
COVID-19 detection on IBM quantum computer with classical-quantum transfer learning
Authors: Acar Erdi , Yilmaz İhsan
Published: November 2020

Diagnose the infected patient as soon as possible in the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak which is declared as a pandemic by the world health organization (WHO) is extremely important. Experts recommend CT imaging as a diagnostic tool because of the weak points of the nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT). In this study, the detection of COVID-19 from CT images, which give the most accurate response in a short time, was investigated in the classical computer and firstly in quantum computers. Using the quantum transfer learning method, we experimentally perform COVID-19 detection in different quantum real processors (IBMQx2, IBMQ-London and IBMQ-Rome) of IBM, as well as in different simulators (Pennylane, Qiskit-Aer and Cirq). By using a small number of data sets such as 126 COVID-19 and 100 Normal CT images, we obtained a positive or negative classification of COVID-19 with 90% success in classical computers, while we achieved a high success rate of 94-100% in quantum computers. Also, according to the results obtained, machine learning process in classical computers requiring more processors and time than quantum computers can be realized in a very short time with a very small quantum processor such as 4 qubits in quantum computers. If the size of the data set is small; Due to the superior properties of quantum, it is seen that according to the classification of COVID-19 and Normal, in terms of machine learning, quantum computers seem to outperform traditional computers.
A fair efficacy formula for assessing the effectiveness of contact tracing applications
Authors: Fowler Adam
Published: November 2020

Mobile contact tracing apps have been developed by many countries in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trials have focussed on unobserved population trials or staged scenarios aimed to simulate real life. No efficacy measure has been developed that assesses the fundamental ability of any proximity detection protocol to accurately detect, measure, and therefore assess the epidemiological risk that a mobile phone owner has been placed at. This paper provides a fair efficacy formula that can be applied to any mobile contact tracing app, using any technology, allowing it’s likely epidemiological effectiveness to be assessed. This paper defines such a formula and provides results for several simulated protocols as well as one real life protocol tested according to the standard methodology set out in this paper. The results presented show that protocols that use time windows greater than 30 seconds or that bucket their distance analogue (E.g. RSSI for Bluetooth) provide poor estimates of risk, showing an efficacy rating of less than 6%. The fair efficacy formula is shown in this paper to be able to be used to calculate the ‘Efficacy of contact tracing’ variable value as used in two papers on using mobile applications for contact tracing [6]. The output from the formulae in this paper, therefore, can be used to directly assess the impact of technology on the spread of a disease outbreak. This formula can be used by nations developing contact tracing applications to assess the efficacy of their applications. This will allow them to reassure their populations and increase the uptake of contact tracing mobile apps, hopefully having an effect on slowing the spread of COVID-19 and future epidemics.
Synthetic Reproduction and Augmentation of COVID-19 Case Reporting Data by Agent-Based Simulation
Authors: Popper Nikolas , Zechmeister Melanie , Brunmeir Dominik , Rippinger Claire , Weibrecht Nadine , Urach Christoph , Bicher Martin , Schneckenreither Günter , Rauber Andreas
Published: November 2020

We generate synthetic data documenting COVID-19 cases in Austria by the means of an agent-based simulation model. The model simulates the transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a statistical replica of the population and reproduces typical patient pathways on an individual basis while simultaneously integrating historical data on the implementation and expiration of population-wide countermeasures. The resulting data semantically and statistically aligns with an official epidemiological case reporting data set and provides an easily accessible, consistent and augmented alternative. Our synthetic data set provides additional insight into the spread of the epidemic by synthesizing information that cannot be recorded in reality.
Methadone Distribution Trends from 2017-2019 in the United States
Authors: Furst John A. , Mynarski Nicholas J. , McCall Kenneth L. , Piper Brian J.
Published: November 2020

Objective

Methadone is an evidence based treatment for opioid use disorder and is also employed for acute pain. The primary objective of this study was to explore methadone distribution patterns between the years 2017 and 2019 across the United States (US). This study builds upon previous literature that has analyzed prior years of US distribution patterns, and further outlines regional and state specific methadone trends.

Methods

The Drug Enforcement Administration’s Automated Reports and Consolidated Ordering System (ARCOS) was used to acquire the number of narcotic treatment programs (NTPs) per state and methadone distribution weight in grams. Methadone distribution by weight, corrected for state populations, and number of NTPs were compared from 2017 to 2019 between states, within regions, and nationally.

Results

Between 2017 and 2019, the national distribution of methadone increased 12.30% for NTPs but decreased 34.57% for pain, for a total increase of 2.66%. While all states saw a decrease in distribution for pain, when compared regionally, the Northeast showed a significantly smaller decrease than all other regions. Additionally, the majority of states experienced an increase in distribution for NTPs and most states demonstrated a relatively stable or increasing number of NTPs, with an 11.49% increase in NTPs nationally. The number of NTPs per 100K in 2019 ranged from 2.08 in Rhode Island to 0.00 in Wyoming.

Conclusion

Although methadone distribution for OUD was increasing in the US, there were pronounced regional disparities.
Challenges of Deep Learning Methods for COVID-19 Detection Using Public Datasets
Authors: Hasan Md. Kamrul , Alam Md. Ashraful , Dahal Lavsen , Elahi Md. Toufick E , Roy Shidhartho , Wahid Sifat Redwan , Martí Robert , Khanal Bishesh
Published: November 2020

A large number of studies in the past months have proposed deep learning-based Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for automated detection of COVID-19 using publicly available datasets of Chest X-rays (CXRs) or CT scans for training and evaluation. Most of these studies report high accuracy when classifying COVID-19 patients from normal or other commonly occurring pneumonia cases. However, these results are often obtained on cross-validation studies without an independent test set coming from a separate dataset and have biases such as the two classes to be predicted come from two completely different datasets. In this work, we investigate potential overfitting and biases in such studies by designing different experimental setups within the available public data constraints and highlight the challenges and limitations of developing deep learning models with such datasets. We propose a deep learning architecture for COVID-19 classification that combines two very popular classification networks, ResNet and Xception, and use it to carry out the experiments to investigate challenges and limitations. The results show that the deep learning models can overestimate their performance due to biases in the experimental design and overfitting to the training dataset. We compare the proposed architecture to state-of-the-art methods utilizing an independent test set for evaluation, where some of the identified bias and overfitting issues are reduced. Although our proposed deep learning architecture gives the best performance with our best possible setup, we highlight the challenges in comparing and interpreting various deep learning algorithms’ results. While the deep learning-based methods using chest imaging data show promise in being helpful for clinical management and triage of COVID-19 patients, our experiments suggest that a larger, more comprehensive database with less bias is necessary for developing tools applicable in real clinical settings.
A Deep Graph Neural Network Architecture for Modelling Spatio-temporal Dynamics in resting-state functional MRI Data
Authors: Azevedo Tiago , Campbell Alexander , Romero-Garcia Rafael , Passamonti Luca , Bethlehem Richard A.I. , Liò Pietro , Toschi Nicola
Published: November 2020

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) has been successfully employed to understand the organisation of the human brain. For rs-fMRI analysis, the brain is typically parcellated into regions of interest (ROIs) and modelled as a graph where each ROI is a node and pairwise correlation between ROI blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) time series are edges. Recently, graph neural networks (GNNs) have seen a surge in popularity due to their successes in modelling unstructured relational data. The latest developments with GNNs, however, have not yet been fully exploited for the analysis of rs-fMRI data, particularly with regards to its spatio-temporal dynamics. Herein we present a novel deep neural network architecture, combining both GNNs and temporal convolutional networks (TCNs), which is able to learn from the spatial and temporal components of rs-fMRI data in an end-to-end fashion. In particular, this corresponds to intra-feature learning (i.e., learning temporal dynamics with TCNs) as well as inter-feature learning (i.e., leveraging spatial interactions between ROIs with GNNs). We evaluate our model with an ablation study using 35,159 samples from the UK Biobank rs-fMRI database. We also demonstrate explainability features of our architecture which map to realistic neurobiological insights. We hope our model could lay the groundwork for future deep learning architectures focused on leveraging the inherently and inextricably spatio-temporal nature of rs-fMRI data.
Olfactory neuron turnover in adultDrosophila
Authors: Fernández-Hernández Ismael , Hu Eric , Bonaguidi Michael A.
Published: November 2020

Sustained neurogenesis occurs in the olfactory epithelium of several species, including humans, to support olfactory function throughout life. We recently developed a modified lineage tracing method to identify adult neurogenesis inDrosophila. By applying this technique, here we report on the continuous generation of Olfactory Sensory Neurons (OSN) in the antennae of adultDrosophila. New neurons develop sensory dendrites and project axons targeting diverse glomeruli of the antennal lobes in the brain. Furthermore, we identified sustained apoptosis of OSN in the antennae of adult flies, revealing unexpected turnover in the adult olfactory system. Our results substantiateDrosophilaas a compelling platform to expedite research about mechanisms and compounds promoting neuronal regeneration, circuit remodeling and its contribution to behavior in the adult.
Molecular phylogenetics and character evolution inHaplanthodes(Acanthaceae), an endemic genus from peninsular India
Authors: Surveswaran Siddharthan , Tiwari Neha , Karanth Praveen K. , Deshmukh Pradip V. , Lekhak Manoj M.
Published: November 2020

Haplanthodes(Acanthaceae) is an Indian endemic genus with four species. It is closely related toAndrographiswhich is also mainly distributed in India.Haplanthodesdiffers fromAndrographisby the presence of cladodes in the inflorescences, sub actinomorphic flowers, stamens included within the corolla tube, pouched stamens and oblate pollen grains. To understand the phylogenetic relationship ofHaplanthodeswithAndrographisandHaplanthus, another related genus, we used four plastid markers,matK, rbcL, psbA-trnHandtrnGRto construct a molecular phylogeny. Our results established the monophyly of this genus and revealed a sister relationship toAndrographisandHaplanthus. Further, to understand the historical biogeography of the genus, we inferred the divergence time and performed ancestral area reconstruction. Our analyses suggest thatHaplanthodeshas evolved during Late Miocene 5.85 Ma [95%HPD: 2.18-10.34 Ma] in peninsular India where it might have shared a common ancestor withAndrographis. To understand character evolution, the ancestral states of important morphological characters were inferred based on the equal rate model and discussed. The generic status ofHaplanthusis not resolved due to incomplete sampling.
SPDE: A Multi-functional Software for Sequence Processing and Data Extraction
Authors: Xu Dong , Lu Zhuchou , Jin Kangming , Qiu Wenmin , Qiao Guirong , Han Xiaojiao , Zhuo Renying
Published: November 2020

Efficiently extracting information from biological big data can be a huge challenge for people (especially those who lack programming skills). We developedSequenceProcessing andDataExtraction (SPDE) as an integrated tool for sequence processing and data extraction for gene family and omics analyses. Currently, SPDE has seven modules comprising 100 basic functions that range from single gene processing (e.g., translation, reverse complement, and primer design) to genome information extraction. All SPDE functions can be used without the need for programming or command lines. The SPDE interface has enough prompt information to help users run SPDE without barriers. In addition to its own functions, SPDE also incorporates the publicly available analyses tools (such as, NCBI-blast, HMMER, Primer3 and SAMtools), thereby making SPDE a comprehensive bioinformatics platform for big biological data analysis.

Availability

SPDE was built using Python and can be run on 32-bit, 64-bit Windows and macOS systems. It is an open-source software that can be downloaded fromhttps://github.com/simon19891216/SPDEv1.2.git.

Contact

xudongzhuanyong@163.com
Optimal Allocation of Limited Test Resources for the Quantification of COVID-19 Infections
Authors: Chatzimanolakis Michail , Weber Pascal , Arampatzis George , Wälchli Daniel , Kičić Ivica , Karnakov Petr , Papadimitriou Costas , Koumoutsakos Petros
Published: November 2020

The systematic identification of infected individuals is critical for the containment of the COVID-19 pandemic. Presently, the spread of the disease is mostly quantified by the reported numbers of infections, hospitalizations, recoveries and deaths; these quantities inform epidemiology models that provide forecasts for the spread of the epidemic and guide policy making. The veracity of these forecasts depends on the discrepancy between the numbers of reported and unreported, yet infectious, individuals.

We combine Bayesian experimental design with an epidemiology model and propose a methodology for the optimal allocation of limited testing resources in space and time, which maximizes the information gain for such unreported infections. The proposed approach is applicable at the onset and spreading of the epidemic and can forewarn for a possible recurrence of the disease after relaxation of interventions. We examine its application in Switzerland; the open source software is, however, readily adaptable to countries around the world.

We find that following the proposed methodology can lead to vastly less uncertain predictions for the spread of the disease. Estimates of the effective reproduction number and of the future number of unreported infections are improved, which in turn can provide timely and systematic guidance for the effective identification of infectious individuals and for decision-making.
Phase 1 Assessment of the Safety and Immunogenicity of an mRNA- Lipid Nanoparticle Vaccine Candidate Against SARS-CoV-2 in Human Volunteers
Authors: Kremsner Peter , Mann Philipp , Bosch Jacobus , Fendel Rolf , Gabor Julian J. , Kreidenweiss Andrea , Kroidl Arne , Leroux-Roels Isabel , Leroux-Roels Geert , Schindler Christoph , Schunk Mirjam , Velavan Thirumalaisamy P. , Fotin-Mleczek Mariola , Müller Stefan , Quintini Gianluca , Schönborn-Kellenberger Oliver , Vahrenhorst Dominik , Verstraeten Thomas , Walz Lisa , Wolz Olaf-Oliver , Oostvogels Lidia
Published: November 2020

There is an urgent need for vaccines to counter the COVID-19 pandemic due to infections with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2). Evidence from convalescent sera and preclinical studies has identified the viral Spike (S) protein as a key antigenic target for protective immune responses. We have applied an mRNA-based technology platform, RNActive®, to develop CVnCoV which contains sequence optimized mRNA coding for a stabilized form of S protein encapsulated in lipid nanoparticles (LNP). Following demonstration of protective immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 in animal models we performed a dose-escalation phase 1 study in healthy 18-60 year-old volunteers.

This interim analysis shows that two doses of CVnCoV ranging from 2 μg to 12 μg per dose, administered 28 days apart were safe. No vaccine-related serious adverse events were reported. There were dose-dependent increases in frequency and severity of solicited systemic adverse events, and to a lesser extent of local reactions, but the majority were mild or moderate and transient in duration. Immune responses when measured as IgG antibodies against S protein or its receptor-binding domain (RBD) by ELISA, and SARS-CoV-2-virus neutralizing antibodies measured by micro-neutralization, displayed dose-dependent increases. Median titers measured in these assays two weeks after the second 12 μg dose were comparable to the median titers observed in convalescent sera from COVID-19 patients. Seroconversion (defined as a 4-fold increase over baseline titer) of virus neutralizing antibodies two weeks after the second vaccination occurred in all participants who received 12 μg doses.

Preliminary results in the subset of subjects who were enrolled with known SARS-CoV-2 seropositivity at baseline show that CVnCoV is also safe and well tolerated in this population, and is able to boost the pre-existing immune response even at low dose levels.

Based on these results, the 12 μg dose is selected for further clinical investigation, including a phase 2b/3 study that will investigate the efficacy, safety, and immunogenicity of the candidate vaccine CVnCoV.