cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Analyzing Crop Choice Adaptation to Climate Change Using a Korean Regional PMP Model
Creators: name: Kwon, Ohsang
name: Kwon, Ohsang
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Environmental Economics and Policy
subject: climate change
subject: crop choice
subject: Jeju Island

description: Our study analyzes producer’s crop choice adaptation responses to climate change using the data of Jeju Island, Korea. A regional level positive mathematical programming model is used for the analysis, where prices as well as outputs are endogenously determined. The impacts of forecasted temperature increase on production costs are incorporated, based on the IPCC scenarios. Our simulation results show that the planted areas of newly introduced tropical fruits such as mango, guava and pitaya will be raised substantially due to temperature change. Moreover, production of high-valued energy intensive greenhouse tangerines will also increase. Because of the responses to climate change total regional agricultural profit of Jeju Island may increase by about 20 percent in 2040. Our paper provides a case study where climate change results in potentially positive economic impacts.
Acceptability of a group intervention for initiates of antiretroviral therapy in Tanzania
Creators: name: Maman, Suzanne
name: Thielman, Nathan
name: Aronin, Elizabeth H.
name: Laiser, John
name: Watt, Melissa H.
name: John, Muze
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: The success of antiretroviral therapy (ART) programmes requires high adherence and retention in care. In light of healthcare shortages, group interventions may be optimal ways to deliver information and provide support to ART patients. This study assessed the acceptability of a group intervention for patients and their supporters, which aimed to decrease stigma, harness social support and improve adherence. 28 ART patients attended a four-hour group intervention and 11 brought someone they identified as a potential supporter. The intervention was led by HIV-infected facilitators and included interactive sessions on HIV, ART, caregiving, stigma and disclosure. Participants completed intake and exit interviews and participated in focus group discussions. Participants rated the intervention favourably and in FGDs patients said they gained knowledge about adherence, felt empowered to tackle stigma and disclose, and experienced reductions in loneliness. Supporters reported they learned how to provide better care, gained knowledge, and felt closer to the person they were taking care of. Both patients and supporters saw HIV-infected facilitators as role models. Opinions were mixed about benefits of combining patients and supporters in the same intervention due to confidentiality. The group intervention showed potential to reduce stigma, increase social support, and improve adherence to therapy.
An ion trap built with photonic crystal fibre technology
Creators: name: Lindenfelser, F.
name: Keitch, B.
name: Kienzler, D.
name: Bykov, D.
name: Uebel, P.
name: Schmidt, M. A.
name: Russell, P. St. J.
name: Home, J. P.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We demonstrate a surface-electrode ion trap fabricated using techniques transferred from the manufacture of photonic-crystal fibres. This provides a relatively straightforward route for realizing traps with an electrode structure on the 100 micron scale with high optical access. We demonstrate the basic functionality of the trap by cooling a single ion to the quantum ground state, allowing us to measure a heating rate from the ground state of 787(24) quanta/s. Variation of the fabrication procedure used here may provide access to traps in this geometry with trap scales between 100 um and 10 um.
description: 6 pages, 4 figures
HIV+ women's narratives of non-disclosure: Resisting the label of immorality
Creators: name: Moodley, Dhayendre
name: Maman, Suzanne
name: Groves, Allison Kjellman
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: Increasing partner disclosure rates among HIV positive individuals is widely seen as an important public health strategy to reduce HIV transmission. One approach for encouraging disclosure is to emphasize individuals’ moral responsibility to disclose their status to their partners. We use South Africa as a case study to draw attention to two problems with labeling non-disclosure as immoral. First, we argue that because women are tested for HIV at much higher rates than men, any approach that involves blaming HIV positive individuals for not disclosing their status will disproportionately burden women. Second, through the narratives of six HIV positive women, we highlight how a focus on morality undervalues the complexity of sexual partnerships. Specifically, women describe how their perceived obligation to disclose is directly influenced by communication with their sexual partners. Women also discuss how the onset of different life events might alter the meaning of HIV and change obligations regarding disclosure within the partnership. The differences in testing rates across gender combined with the complexity of sexual partnerships leads us to suggest that labeling non-disclosure as immoral does little to advance HIV prevention. There is an urgent need to identify alternative interventions that support women through the disclosure process.
Consumption of miR-375 in human milk associated with atopy protection.pdf
Creators: name: Hicks, Steven D
name: Beheshti, Ramin
name: Chandran, Desirae
name: Warren, Kaitlyn
name: Confair, Alexandra
Publisher: name: Health Research Alliance
Year: 2023
Subjects: Infant and child health

description:  Background: Human milk is thought to reduce infant atopy risk. The biologic mechanism for this protective effect is not fully understood. Objectives: We tested the hypothesis that infant consumption of 4 microRNAs (miR-146b-5p, miR-148b-3p, miR-21–5p, and miR375–3p) in human milk would be associated with reduced atopy risk. Methods: The Breast Milk Influence of the Microtranscriptome Profile on Atopy in Children over Time (IMPACT) study involved a cohort of mother-infant dyads who planned to breastfeed beyond 4 mo. Infant consumption of the 4 human milk microRNAs (miRNAs) in the first 6 mo was calculated as the product of milk miRNA concentration and the number of human milk feeds, across 3 lactation stages: early milk (0–4 wk), transitional milk (4–16 wk), and mature milk (16–24 wk). The primary outcome was infant atopy in the first year, defined as atopic dermatitis (AD), food allergies, or wheezing. The final analysis included 432 human milk samples and 7824 wk of longitudinal health data from 163 dyads. Results: Seventy-three infants developed atopy. Forty-one were diagnosed with AD (25%), 33 developed food allergy (20%), and 10 had wheezing (6%). Eleven developed >1 condition (7%). Infants who did not develop atopy consumed higher concentrations of miR375–3p (d = 0.18, P = 0.022, adj P = 0.044) and miR-148b-3p (d = 0.23, P = 0.007, adj P = 0.028). The consumption of miR375–3p (X2 = 5.7, P = 0.017, OR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86, 0.99) was associated with reduced atopy risk. Concentrations of miR-375–3p increased throughout lactation (r = 0.46, F = 132.3, P = 8.4 × 10−34) and were inversely associated with maternal body mass (r = –0.11, t = –2.1, P = 0.032). Conclusions: This study provides evidence that infant consumption of miR-375–3p may reduce atopy risk. Am J Clin Nutr 2022;116:1654–1662.
Determination of long-run and short-run dynamics in EC-VARMA models via canonical correlations
Creators: name: Athanasopoulos, George
name: Poskitt, D.S.
name: Vahid, Farshid
name: Yao, Wenying
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2022
Subjects: Econometric and statistical methods
Econometrics not elsewhere classified

description: This article studies a simple, coherent approach for identifying and estimating error correcting vector autoregressive moving average (EC-VARMA) models. Canonical correlation analysis is implemented for both determining the cointegrating rank, using a strongly consistent method, and identifying the short-run VARMA dynamics, using the scalar component methodology. Finite sample performances are evaluated via Monte-Carlo simulations and the approach is applied to model and forecast US interest rates. The results reveal that EC-VARMA models generate significantly more accurate out-of-sample forecasts than vector error correction models (VECMs), especially for short horizons.
Abstinence promotion under PEPFAR: The shifting focus of HIV prevention for youth
Creators: name: Edelstein, Zoe R.
name: Speizer, Ilene S.
name: Santelli, John S.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: Abstinence-until-marriage (AUM) – strongly supported by religious conservatives in the U.S. - became a key element of initial HIV prevention efforts under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). AUM programs have demonstrated limited efficacy in changing behaviors, promoted medically inaccurate information, and withheld life-saving information about risk reduction. A focus on AUM also undermined national efforts in Africa to create integrated youth HIV prevention programs. PEPFAR prevention efforts after 2008 shifted to science-based programming, however vestiges of AUM remain. Primary prevention programs within PEPFAR are essential and nations must be able to design HIV prevention based on local needs and prevention science.
Cervical cancer and the global health agenda: Insights from multiple policy-analysis frameworks
Creators: name: Vulimiri, Madhulika
name: Parkhurst, Justin O.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: Cervical cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths for women globally, with an estimated 88% of deaths occurring in the developing world. Available technologies have dramatically reduced mortality in high-income settings, yet cervical cancer receives considerably little attention on the global health policy landscape. The authors applied four policy-analysis frameworks to literature on global cervical cancer to explore the question of why cervical cancer may not be receiving the international attention it may otherwise warrant. Each framework explores the process of agenda setting and discerns factors that either facilitate or hinder policy change in cases where there is both a clear problem and a potential effective solution. In combination, these frameworks highlight a number of crucial elements that may be needed to raise the profile of cervical cancer on global health agendas, including improving local (national or sub-national) information on the condition; increasing mobilisation of affected civil society groups; framing cervical cancer debates in ways that build upon its classification as a non-communicable disease (NCD) and an issue of women's rights; linking cervical cancer screening to well-funded services such as those for HIV treatment in some countries; and identifying key global policy windows of opportunity to promote the cervical cancer agenda, including emerging NCD global health discussions and post-2015 reviews of the Millennium Development Goals.
HIV testing for pregnant women: A rights-based analysis of national policies
Creators: name: Wyckoff, Sarah C.
name: Groves, Allison K.
name: Maman, Suzanne
name: King, Elizabeth J.
name: Pierce, Matthew W.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: Ethical and human rights concerns have been expressed regarding the global shift in policies on HIV testing of pregnant women. The main purpose of this research was to conduct a policy analysis using a human rights-based approach of national policies for HIV testing of pregnant women. We collected HIV testing policies from 19 countries including: Cambodia, China, Guyana, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Moldova, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, South Africa, Sudan, Swaziland, Tanzania, Ukraine, United States, Uzbekistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. We analysed the HIV testing policies using a standardised framework that focused on government obligations to respect, protect and fulfil. Our results highlight the need for more attention to issues of pregnant women's autonomy in consenting to HIV testing, confidentiality in antenatal care settings and provision of counselling and care services. We conclude with a discussion about potential implications of the current testing policies and provide recommendations for ways that HIV testing policies can more effectively uphold the human rights of pregnant women.
metagenome data in depressed and healthy individuals
Creators: name: 杨健
Publisher: name: CNGB
Year: 2023
Subjects: Metagenome
Multispecies
Medical

description: Metagenome data of patients with MDD before and after antidepressant treatment and metagenome data of HC at baseline. More specifically, a total of 285 stool samples were collected from 110 MDD patients at baseline, week 2, and week 12 after ESC treatment. For HCs, 166 stool samples were collected at baseline, respectively. All the stool samples were subjected to shotgun metagenomic sequencing.
Compiling of informative audio
Creators: name: Blinded, Authors
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Applied Computer Science
subject: Computer Software
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: According to the voice principle, human audio (i.e. recording of the human voice) is more effective in recalling information than synthesized speech (e.g.\ audio generated by a text-to-speech system). In this document, we report the details of compilation of voice recordings.
Multi-Omic Profiles in Infants at Risk for Food Reactions
Creators: name: Beheshti, Ramin
name: Stone, Shane
name: Chandran, Desirae
name: Hicks, Steven D
Publisher: name: Health Research Alliance
Year: 2023
Subjects: Infant and child health

description: Food reactions (FR) are multifactorial and impacted by medical, demographic, environmental, and immunologic factors. We hypothesized that multi-omic analyses of host-microbial factors in saliva would enhance our understanding of FR development. This longitudinal cohort study included 164 infants followed from birth through two years. The infants were identified as FR (n = 34) or non-FR (n = 130) using the Infant Feeding Practice II survey and medical record confirmation. Saliva was collected at six months for the multi-omic assessment of cytokines, mRNAs, microRNAs, and the microbiome/virome. The levels of one miRNA (miR-203b-3p, adj. p = 0.043, V = 2913) and one viral phage (Proteus virus PM135, adj. p = 0.027, V = 2955) were lower among infants that developed FRs. The levels of one bacterial phylum (Cyanobacteria, adj. p = 0.048, V = 1515) were higher among infants that developed FR. Logistical regression models revealed that the addition of multi-omic features (miR-203b-3p, Cyanobacteria, and Proteus virus PM135) improved predictiveness for future FRs in infants (p = 0.005, X2 = 12.9), predicting FRs with 72% accuracy (AUC = 0.81, sensitivity = 72%, specificity = 72%). The multi-omic analysis of saliva may enhance the accurate identification of infants at risk of FRs and provide insights into the host/microbiome interactions that predispose certain infants to FRs.
Convolution and convolution-root properties of long-tailed distributions
Creators: name: Xu, Hui
name: Foss, Sergey
name: Wang, Yuebao
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Probability (math.PR)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 60E05, 60F10, 60G50

description: We obtain a number of new general properties, related to the closedness of the class of long-tailed distributions under convolutions, that are of interest themselves and may be applied in many models that deal with "plus" and/or "max" operations on heavy-tailed random variables. We analyse the closedness property under convolution roots for these distributions. Namely, we introduce two classes of heavy-tailed distributions that are not long-tailed and study their properties. These examples help to provide further insights and, in particular, to show that the properties to be both long-tailed and so-called "generalised subexponential" are not preserved under the convolution roots. This leads to a negative answer to a conjecture of Embrechts and Goldie [10, 12] for the class of long-tailed and generalised subexponential distributions. In particular, our examples show that the following is possible: an infinitely divisible distribution belongs to both classes, while its Levy measure is neither long-tailed nor generalised subexponential.
description: 21pages
The Effects of Productivity Gains in Asian Emerging Economies: A Global Perspective
Creators: name: Dumrongrittikul, Taya
name: Anderson, Heather
name: Vahid, Farshid
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2022
Subjects: Econometric and statistical methods
Econometrics not elsewhere classified

description: This paper investigates international responses of key macroeconomic variables, particularly real exchange rates, to simultaneous shocks to productivity in the traded sector in eight Asian emerging and developing countries. We use panel estimation techniques to construct component submodels in a thirty country global vector autoregressive (GVAR) model. The GVAR approach can account for interaction among all countries and capture many potential international transmission channels. We identify the shocks by using sign restricted impulse responses. We find that increases in traded-sector productivity in Asian developing countries lead to a real appreciation of the domestic currencies, in line with the Balassa-Samuelson hypothesis. Inflation also increases in many Asian developing countries. After the shocks, nontraded sector productivity in the US and other developed countries increases, suggesting that there is a compositional shift in their production, away from the traded goods toward the nontraded goods. This allows productivity in the nontraded sector to increase. Further, the traded sector productivity shocks in Asia stimulate international trade in most countries.
Improving health services for African migrants in China: A health diplomacy perspective
Creators: name: McLaughlin, Megan M.
name: Bulterys, Marc
name: Hall, Brian J.
name: Tucker, Joseph D.
name: Lee, Margaret C.
name: Ling, Li
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2014

description: Global health has been an increasingly prominent component of foreign policy in the last decade. The term health diplomacy has been used to describe this growing interface between foreign policy and global health, and it encompasses both the concept of using health to further foreign policy objectives, as well as the idea that diplomatic tools can be helpful for attaining public health goals. The Chinese presence in Africa has grown in the last 15 years, generating increased interest in Sino-African relations. While much has been written in recent years about the Chinese presence in Africa, the growing numbers of Africans in China have attracted considerably less attention. Many are small-scale traders and might be expected to face many of the health challenges common among foreign migrants, but their health needs have been largely unrecognised. In this paper, we consider how a health diplomacy approach could be applied to African migrants in China, and the potential advantages and limitations of this strategy. We identify areas of overlap between public health, trade, and foreign policy goals that can be emphasised to generate support for improved services for African migrants in China and to engage partners from a diversity of sectors.
The split property for locally covariant quantum field theories in curved spacetime
Creators: name: Fewster, Christopher J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The split property expresses the way in which local regions of spacetime define subsystems of a quantum field theory. It is known to hold for general theories in Minkowski space under the hypothesis of nuclearity. Here, the split property is discussed for general locally covariant quantum field theories in arbitrary globally hyperbolic curved spacetimes, using a spacetime deformation argument to transport the split property from one spacetime to another. It is also shown how states obeying both the split and (partial) Reeh-Schlieder properties can be constructed, providing standard split inclusions of certain local von Neumann algebras. Sufficient conditions are given for the theory to admit such states in ultrastatic spacetimes, from which the general case follows. A number of consequences are described, including the existence of local generators for global gauge transformations, and the classification of certain local von Neumann algebras. Similar arguments are applied to the distal split property and circumstances are exhibited under which distal splitting implies the full split property.
description: v3 27pp. Some typos and errors fixed. Version published in Lett Math Phys
Parametric Estimation from Approximate Data: Non-Gaussian Diffusions
Creators: name: Azencott, Robert
name: Ren, Peng
name: Timofeyev, Ilya
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Probability (math.PR)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 62F12, 60H10, 60G99

description: We study the problem of parameters estimation in Indirect Observability contexts, where $X_t \in R^r$ is an unobservable stationary process parametrized by a vector of unknown parameters and all observable data are generated by an approximating process $Y^{\varepsilon}_t$ which is close to $X_t$ in $L^4$ norm. We construct consistent parameter estimators which are smooth functions of the sub-sampled empirical mean and empirical lagged covariance matrices computed from the observable data. We derive explicit optimal sub-sampling schemes specifying the best paired choices of sub-sampling time-step and number of observations. We show that these choices ensure that our parameter estimators reach optimized asymptotic $L^2$-convergence rates, which are constant multiples of the $L^4$ norm $|| Y^{\varepsilon}_t - X_t ||$.
A Computational Implementation of GMM
Creators: name: Gao, Jiti
name: Hong, Han
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2022
Subjects: Econometric and statistical methods
Econometrics not elsewhere classified

description: In this paper we study a statistical method of implementing quasi-Bayes estimators for nonlinear and nonseparable GMM models, that is motivated by the ideas proposed in Chernozhukov and Hong (2003) and Creel and Kristensen (2011) and that combines simulation with nonparametric regression in the computation of GMM models. We provide formal conditions under which frequentist inference is asymptotically valid and demonstrate the validity of the use of posterior quantiles. We also show that in this setting, local linear kernel regression methods have theoretical advantages over local kernel methods that are also reflected in finite sample simulation results. Our results also apply to both exactly and over identified models. These estimators do not need to rely on numerical optimization or Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulations. They provide an effective complement to the classical M-estimators and to MCMC methods, and can be applied to both likelihood based models and method of moment based models.
Integrating community outreach into a quality improvement project to promote maternal and child health in Ghana
Creators: name: Singh, Kavita
name: Akaligaung, Akalpa
name: Sodzi-Tettey, Sodzi
name: Barrington, Clare
name: Fried, Bruce
name: Barker, Pierre M.
name: Reid, Amy
name: Cofie, Leslie E.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2014

description: Quality improvement (QI) is used to promote and strengthen maternal and child health services in middle and low-income countries. Very little research has examined community-level factors beyond the confines of health facilities that create demand for health services and influence health outcomes. We examined the role of community outreach in the context of Project Fives Alive!, a QI project aimed at improving maternal and under-5 outcomes in Ghana. Qualitative case studies of QI teams across 6 regions of Ghana were conducted. We analyzed the data using narrative and thematic techniques. QI team members used two distinct outreach approaches: community-level outreach, including health promotion and education efforts through group activities and mass media communication; and direct outreach, including one-on-one interpersonal activities between health workers and pregnant women and/or mothers of children under-5. Specific barriers to community outreach included structural, cultural, and QI team-level factors. QI efforts in both rural and urban settings should consider including context-specific community outreach activities to develop ties with communities and address barriers to health services. Sustaining community outreach as part of QI efforts will require improving infrastructure, strengthening QI teams, and ongoing collaboration with community members.
Developing a Dishonest Application Suspicion Index for Implementation Inspection Efficiency Improvement of Direct Payment Programs
Creators: name: Chung, Wonho
name: Chung, Wonho
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2016
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Agricultural Finance
subject: direct payment program
subject: implementation inspection
subject: suspicion index

description: This study develops a Suspicion Index (SI) to detect the dishonest applicants for direct payment programs more efficiently. Based on the 2014 application data for the three direct payments for rice, upland crops, and less favored areas, we develop the SI through two different approaches: averaging the possibilities of fraud by several farm characteristics and logistic regression. The result shows that the SI is higher for dishonest applicants compared with the others as expected. Therefore, the SI contributes to improving the detection rate of dishonest applicants and their dishonest amounts. The result of this study could contribute to a more efficient administrative process and government budget savings for the direct payment program.
Nonparametric Regression Approach to Bayesian Estimation
Creators: name: Gao, Jiti
name: Hong, Han
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2022
Subjects: Econometric and statistical methods
Econometrics not elsewhere classified

description: Estimation of unknown parameters and functions involved in complex nonlinear econometric models is a very important issue. Existing estimation methods include generalised method of moments (GMM) by Hansen (1982) and others, efficient method of moments (EMM) by Gallant and Tauchen (1997), Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method by Chernozhukov and Hong (2003), and nonparametric simulated maximum likelihood estimation (NSMLE) method by Creel and Kristensen (2011), and Kristensen and Shin (2012). Except the NSMLE method, other existing methods do not provide closed-form solutions. This paper proposes non- and semi-parametric based closed-form approximations to the estimation and computation of posterior means involved in complex nonlinear econometric models. We first consider the case where the samples can be independently drawn from both the likelihood function and the prior density. The samples and observations are then used to nonparametrically estimate posterior mean functions. The estimation method is also applied to estimate the posterior mean of the parameter-of-interest on a summary statistic. Both the asymptotic theory and the finite sample study show that the nonparametric estimate of this posterior mean is superior to existing estimates, including the conventional sample mean.
La situación económica: Social determinants of contraceptive use in rural Honduras
Creators: name: Garrett, Jenna J.
name: Hall, Marissa G.
name: Barrington, Clare
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2014

description: Contraceptive use is an important determinant of unintended pregnancy, but little is known about the social and structural factors that determine women’s contraceptive use in rural Honduras. In this study, we aim to characterize the individual and social determinants of contraceptive use among women in rural Honduras. In 2011 and 2012, we conducted 14 interviews and two focus groups with women 18 years and older. In our analysis, we created a family planning narrative for each participant and coded transcripts around key emergent themes related to these determinants. We found that social determinants – including poverty, gender dynamics, and availability of family planning methods – had a strong influence on contraceptive use among women in our sample. Study participants stated that they were faced with a difficult economic situation compounded by rising prices of basic goods and diminishing job opportunities. Paradoxically, at the same time that the economic situation led women to seek contraception, it also contributed to the structural barriers that limited their ability to obtain their method of choice and maintain continuous contraceptive use. Our findings suggest the need for multi-level efforts to create an enabling and sustainable environment for family planning among women in rural Honduras.
title: Humans of AI3SD: Jules Tilly
Creators: name: Tilly, Jules
name: Pauli, Michelle
Publisher: name: University of Southampton
Year: 2022
Subjects: AI3SD, Interview

description: This interview forms part of our Humans of AI3SD Series.

In this Humans of AI4SD interview he discusses his varied career, life as a PhD researcher in a startup, the challenges of working with quantum systems and his advice for early career researchers.
Perceptions of voluntary medical male circumcision among circumcising and non-circumcising communities in Malawi
Creators: name: Chilungo, Abdullah
name: Rennie, Stuart
name: Corneli, Amy
name: Umar, Eric
name: Perry, Brian
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: Three randomised controlled trials in Africa indicated that voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) is an effective method to reduce a man’s risk of becoming infected through sex with an HIV-positive female partner. The success of recent public health initiatives to increase numbers of circumcised men in Malawi has been very limited. We conducted in-depth interviews (IDIs) and focus group discussions (FGDs) with men, women, and male adolescents from non-circumcising and circumcising communities in southern Malawi to better understand their beliefs about male circumcision and the promotion of VMMC for HIV prevention. Results revealed that beliefs about male circumcision, in general, are strongly mediated by Malawian culture and history. Participants have attempted to develop a new meaning for circumcision in light of the threat of HIV infection and the publicised risk reduction benefits of VMMC. Several study participants found it difficult to distinguish VMMC from traditional circumcision practices (jando and lupanda), despite awareness that the new form of circumcision was an expression of (western) modern medicine performed largely for public health purposes. Greater recognition of background cultural beliefs and practices could inform future efforts to promote medical male circumcision as an HIV prevention strategy in this context.
Unpacking the ‘structural’ in a structural approach for HIV prevention among female sex workers: A case study from China
Creators: name: Huang, Yingying
name: Zhang, Ning
name: Muessig, Kathryn E.
name: Maman, Suzanne
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: Interventions for HIV prevention among female sex workers (FSWs) in China focus on HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) and individual behaviour change. An occupational health framework facilitates intervention across an array of health issues FSWs face including HIV/STI, violence, reproductive health, stigma and substance use. Through a case study of a community-based Jiaozhou (JZ) FSW programme, we developed a conceptual framework incorporating global discussions of structural approaches to HIV prevention with the specific social and structural contexts identified among FSWs in China. Based on ethnographic fieldwork between August 2010 and May 2013, we describe the evolution of this programme to its current occupational health focus and unpack the intervention strategies. We describe the critical features of the programme that have fostered success among FSWs including high-quality clinical services provided within a welcoming setting, responsive outreach work through staff and trained FSW peers, interpersonal and community-level engagement aimed at changing the local social and structural environments of sex work and tailored health education materials. This intervention differs from other projects in China by adopting a more holistic approach to FSW health that incorporates social issues. It also demonstrates the feasibility of structural interventions among FSWs even within an environment that has strong anti-prostitution policies.
Expression of heparan sulfate sulfotransferases in Kluyveromyces lactis and preparation of 3'-phosphoadenosine-5'-phosphosulfate
Creators: name: Liu, R.
name: Pham, T. Q.
name: Chandarajoti, K.
name: Zhou, X.
name: Liu, J.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Heparan sulfate (HS) belongs to a major class of glycans that perform central physiological functions. Heparin is a specialized form of HS and is a clinically used anticoagulant drug. Heparin is a natural product isolated from pig intestine. There is a strong demand to replace natural heparin with a synthetic counterpart. Although a chemoenzymatic approach has been employed to prepare synthetic heparin, the scale of the synthesis is limited by the availability of sulfotransferases and the cofactor, 3′-phosphoadenosine-5′-phosphosulfate (PAPS). Here, we present a novel method to produce secreted forms of sulfotransferases in the yeast cells, Kluyveromyces lactis. Five sulfotransferases including N-sulfotransferase, 2-O-sulfotransferase, 3-O-sulfotransferase 1 and 6-O-sulfotransferases 1 and 3 were expressed using this method. Unlike bacterial-expressed sulfotransferases, the yeast proteins can be directly used to modify polysaccharides without laborious purification. The yeast-expressed sulfotransferases also tend to have higher specific activity and thermostability. Furthermore, we demonstrated the possibility for the gram-scale synthesis of PAPS from adenosine 5'-triphosphate at only 1/5000th of the price purchased from a commercial source. Our results pave the way to conduct the enzymatic synthesis of heparin in large quantities.
Multi-Omic Factors Associated with Frequency of Upper Respiratory Infections in Developing Infants
Creators: name: Beheshti, Ramin
name: Halstead, E. Scott
name: Cusack, Bryan
name: Hicks, Steven D
Publisher: name: Health Research Alliance
Year: 2023
Subjects: Infant and child health

description: Susceptibility to upper respiratory infections (URIs) may be influenced by host, microbial, and environmental factors. We hypothesized that multi-omic analyses of molecular factors in infant saliva would identify complex host-environment interactions associated with URI frequency. A cohort study involving 146 infants was used to assess URI frequency in the first year of life. Saliva was collected at 6 months for high-throughput multi-omic measurement of cytokines, microRNAs, transcripts, and microbial RNA. Regression analysis identified environmental (daycare attendance, atmospheric pollution, breastfeeding duration), microbial (Verrucomicrobia, Streptococcus phage), and host factors (miR-22-5p) associated with URI frequency (p < 0.05). These results provide pathophysiologic clues about molecular factors that influence URI susceptibility. Validation of these findings in a larger cohort could one day yield novel approaches to detecting and managing URI susceptibility in infants.
Directing the biological activities of heparan sulfate oligosaccharides using a chemoenzymatic approach
Creators: name: Liu, Renpeng
name: Huang, Xuefei
name: Liu, Jian
name: Xu, Yongmei
name: Bridges, Arlene S
name: Wang, Zhen
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: Heparan sulfate (HS) and heparin are highly sulfated polysaccharides exhibiting essential physiological functions. The sulfation patterns determine the functional selectivity for HS and heparin. Chemical synthesis of HS, especially those larger than a hexasaccharide, remains challenging. Enzymatic synthesis of HS has recently gained momentum. Here we describe the divergent assembly of HS heptasaccharides and nonasaccharides from a common hexasaccharide precursor. The hexasaccharide precursor was synthesized via a chemical method. The subsequent elongation, sulfation and epimerization were completed by glycosyltransferases, HS sulfotransferases and epimerase. Using the synthesized heptasaccharides, we discovered that the iduronic acid is critical for binding to fibroblast growth factor-2. We also designed a synthetic path to prepare a nonasaccharide with an antithrombin-binding affinity of 3 nM. Our method demonstrated the feasibility of combining chemical and enzymatic synthesis to prepare structurally defined HS oligosaccharides with desired biological activities.
Chemoenzymatic synthesis of glycosaminoglycans: Re-creating, re-modeling and re-designing nature's longest or most complex carbohydrate chains
Creators: name: Liu, J.
name: Linhardt, R. J.
name: DeAngelis, P. L.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: Glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) are complex polysaccharides composed of hexosamine-containing disaccharide repeating units. The three most studied classes of GAGs, heparin/heparan sulfate, hyaluronan and chondroitin/dermatan sulfate, are essential macromolecules. GAGs isolated from animal and microbial sources have been utilized therapeutically, but naturally occurring GAGs are extremely heterogeneous limiting further development of these agents. These molecules pose difficult targets to construct by classical organic syntheses due to the long chain lengths and complex patterns of modification by sulfation and epimerization. Chemoenzymatic synthesis, a process that employs exquisite enzyme catalysts and various defined precursors (e.g. uridine 5′-diphosphosphate-sugar donors, sulfate donors, acceptors and oxazoline precursors), promises to deliver homogeneous GAGs. This review covers both theoretical and practical issues of GAG oligosaccharide and polysaccharide preparation as single molecular entities and in library formats. Even at this early stage of technology development, nearly monodisperse GAGs can be made with either natural or artificial structures.
High Dimensional Correlation Matrices: CLT and Its Applications
Creators: name: Gao, Jiti
name: Han, Xiao
name: Pan, Guangming
name: Yang, Yanrong
Publisher: name: Monash University
Year: 2022
Subjects: Econometric and statistical methods
Econometrics not elsewhere classified

description: Statistical inferences for sample correlation matrices are important in high dimensional data analysis. Motivated by this, this paper establishes a new central limit theorem (CLT) for a linear spectral statistic (LSS) of high dimensional sample correlation matrices for the case where the dimension p and the sample size n are comparable. This result is of independent interest in large dimensional random matrix theory. Meanwhile, we apply the linear spectral statistic to an independence test for p random variables, and then an equivalence test for p factor loadings and n factors in a factor model. The finite sample performance of the proposed test shows its applicability and effectiveness in practice. An empirical application to test the independence of household incomes from different cities in China is also conducted.
SLB R Update 3.pdf
Creators: name: Ussenaliyeva, Aizhan
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2023
Subjects: Freshwater ecology
Groundwater hydrology
Water treatment processes
Surface water hydrology
Water resources engineering
Wastewater treatment processes
Groundwater quality processes and contaminated land assessment
Surface water quality processes and contaminated sediment assessment

description: Another journal contribution on Save Lake Balkhash Research Project
Finite field calculations of static polarizabilities and hyperpolarizabilities of In$^{+}$ and Sr
Creators: name: Yu, Yan-mei
name: Suo, Bing-bing
name: Feng, Hui-hui
name: Fan, Heng
name: Liu, Wu-Ming
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The finite field calculations are performed for two heavy frequency-standard candidates In$^+$ and Sr. The progressive hierarchy of electron correlations is implemented by the relativistic coupled-cluster and configuration interaction methods combined with basis set of increasing size. The dipole polarizabilities, dipole hyperpolarizabilities, quadrupole moments, and quadrupole polarizabilities are recommended for the ground state 5s$^2$ $^1S_0$ and low-lying states 5s5p $^3P^{\rm o}_{0,1,2}$ of In$^+$ and Sr. Comparative study of the fully and scalar relativistic electron correlation calculations reveals the effect of the spin-orbit interaction on the dipole polarizabilities of In$^{+}$ and Sr. Finally, the blackbody-radiation shifts due to the dipole polarizability, dipole hyperpolarizability, and quadrupole polarizability are evaluated for the clock transition 5s$^2$ $^1S_0$ - 5s5p $^3P^{\rm o}_0$ of In$^+$ and Sr.
description: 18 pages, 7 tables
A Second Order TV-type Approach for Inpainting and Denoising Higher Dimensional Combined Cyclic and Vector Space Data
Creators: name: Bergmann, Ronny
name: Weinmann, Andreas
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Numerical Analysis (math.NA)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 65K05, 65K10, 68U10, 94A08

description: In this paper we consider denoising and inpainting problems for higher dimensional combined cyclic and linear space valued data. These kind of data appear when dealing with nonlinear color spaces such as HSV, and they can be obtained by changing the space domain of, e.g., an optical flow field to polar coordinates. For such nonlinear data spaces, we develop algorithms for the solution of the corresponding second order total variation (TV) type problems for denoising, inpainting as well as the combination of both. We provide a convergence analysis and we apply the algorithms to concrete problems.
description: revised submitted version
Investigation of the substrate specificity of K5 lyase A from K5A bacteriophage
Creators: name: O'Leary, T. R.
name: Liu, J.
name: Xu, Y.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2013

description: K5 lyase A (KflA) is a tailspike protein from the K5A phage that catalyzes the degradation of the capsule polysaccharide of K5 strains of Escherichia coli. The K5 E. coli capsule polysaccharide, also known as heparosan, is composed of the disaccharide repeating unit of [-4)-GlcA-β(1,4)-GlcNAc-α(1-] and therefore identical to the biological precursor of heparin and heparan sulfate (HS). KflA could supplement the heparin lyases for heparin and HS analysis. The first part of this study aimed to clarify ambiguity resulting from the revision of the KflA amino acid sequence in 2010 from that published in 2000. We found that only the expression of the updated sequence gave a soluble active enzyme, which produced heparosan degradation products similar to those of previous studies. Next, we examined the specificity of KflA toward heparosan oligosaccharides of varying sizes, all containing a single N-sulfated glucosamine (GlcNS) residue. The presence of GlcNS in an octasaccharide and a nonasaccharide chain directed cleavage by KflA to a single position at the reducing end of the substrate. However, an N-sulfated decasaccharide exhibited extensive cleavage at the nonreducing end of the chain, illustrating a distinct change in the cleavage pattern of KflA toward substrates of differing sizes. Because KflA is able to cleave a substrate containing isolated GlcNS residues, this enzyme could be used for the analysis of low-sulfate content HS domains.
Constraining and applying a generic high-density equation of state
Creators: name: Alford, Mark G.
name: Burgio, G. F.
name: Han, Sophia
name: Taranto, Gabriele
name: Zappalà, Dario
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Nuclear Theory (nucl-th)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We discuss the "constant speed of sound" (CSS) parametrization of the equation of state of high-density matter and its application to the field correlator method (FCM) model of quark matter. We show how observational constraints on the maximum mass and typical radius of neutron stars are expressed as constraints on the CSS parameters. We find that the observation of a $2\,M_{\odot}$ star already severely constrains the CSS parameters, and is particularly difficult to accommodate if the squared speed of sound in the high-density phase is assumed to be around $1/3$ or less. We show that the FCM equation of state can be accurately represented by the CSS parametrization, which assumes a sharp transition to a high-density phase with density-independent speed of sound. We display the mapping between the FCM and CSS parameters, and see that FCM only allows equations of state in a restricted subspace of the CSS parameters.
description: 14 pages, 9 figures. Published version
Noetherianity of some degree two twisted commutative algebras
Creators: name: Nagpal, Rohit
name: Sam, Steven V
name: Snowden, Andrew
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Commutative Algebra (math.AC)
subject: Algebraic Geometry (math.AG)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 13E05, 13A50

description: In recent years, researchers have discovered various large algebraic structures that have surprising finiteness properties, such as FI-modules and Delta-modules. In this paper, we add another example to the growing list: we show that certain degree two twisted commutative algebras are noetherian. This example appears to have some fundamental differences from previous examples, and is therefore especially interesting. Reflective of this, our proof introduces new methods for establishing noetherianity that are likely to be applicable in other situations. The algebras considered in this paper are closely related to the stable representation theory of classical groups, which is one source of motivation for their study.
description: 21 pages; v2: small corrections and added Example 1.4