Turning to art as a positive way of living with cancer: A qualitative study of personal motives and contextual influences

Why do some women turn to creative art-making after a diagnosis of cancer? Eleven women provided qualitative accounts that were analyzed following guidelines for interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Some described taking up artistic leisure activities initially in order to manage emotional distress. Others emphasized their need for positive well-being, taking up art to experience achievement and satisfaction, to regain a positive identity, and to normalize family dynamics in the context of living with cancer. Participants’ turn to art-making was facilitated by biographical and contextual factors, including pre-existing craft skills, long-standing personal values and coping philosophies, family role models for managing adversity, and the supportive encouragement of family and friends. Other research has acknowledged that positive lifestyle change and post-traumatic growth can occur after a cancer diagnosis, and this study reveals a multi-faceted process. The findings suggest a need for further research into the experiences that facilitate positive lifestyle change and subjective well-being among people who are living with cancer

Deep Neural Networks - A Brief History

Introduction to deep neural networks and their history.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figure

Fourth-order discrete-time variable centre frequency bandpass sigma-delta modulator

Copyright © 2006 IEEEA design for a variable centre frequency bandpass sigma-delta modulator is presented. The modulator is based on a tunable discrete-time resonator using only one control parameter. The noise transfer function of the modulator is controlled by a 4-bit digital signal, which provides nine different centre frequencies distributed between 0.1-0.4 normalized frequencies. The measurement results show a stable modulator at all centre frequenciesY. Zhu, S.F. Al-Sarawi, C. C. Lim, and M.J. Liebel

Statistical-Mechanical Measure of Stochastic Spiking Coherence in A Population of Inhibitory Subthreshold Neurons

By varying the noise intensity, we study stochastic spiking coherence (i.e., collective coherence between noise-induced neural spikings) in an inhibitory population of subthreshold neurons (which cannot fire spontaneously without noise). This stochastic spiking coherence may be well visualized in the raster plot of neural spikes. For a coherent case, partially-occupied "stripes" (composed of spikes and indicating collective coherence) are formed in the raster plot. This partial occupation occurs due to "stochastic spike skipping" which is well shown in the multi-peaked interspike interval histogram. The main purpose of our work is to quantitatively measure the degree of stochastic spiking coherence seen in the raster plot. We introduce a new spike-based coherence measure $M_s$ by considering the occupation pattern and the pacing pattern of spikes in the stripes. In particular, the pacing degree between spikes is determined in a statistical-mechanical way by quantifying the average contribution of (microscopic) individual spikes to the (macroscopic) ensemble-averaged global potential. This "statistical-mechanical" measure $M_s$ is in contrast to the conventional measures such as the "thermodynamic" order parameter (which concerns the time-averaged fluctuations of the macroscopic global potential), the "microscopic" correlation-based measure (based on the cross-correlation between the microscopic individual potentials), and the measures of precise spike timing (based on the peri-stimulus time histogram). In terms of $M_s$, we quantitatively characterize the stochastic spiking coherence, and find that $M_s$ reflects the degree of collective spiking coherence seen in the raster plot very well. Hence, the "statistical-mechanical" spike-based measure $M_s$ may be used usefully to quantify the degree of stochastic spiking coherence in a statistical-mechanical way.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the J. Comput. Neurosc

A BLUEPRINT FOR RESEARCH-LED TEACHING ENGINEERING AT SCHOOLS: A CASE STUDY FOR TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY

Although it is expected that research conducted at universities and institutions of higher learning will have some positive impact on the teaching quality, the literature seem to point in another direction. Available literature reports zero correlation between teaching and research. However, this need not be the case and a number of recommendations to create a positive correlation between teaching and research are proposed. This paper outlines a framework that utilises the Grand Challenges for Engineering and CDIO to create a clear link between teaching and research in Taylor’s School of Engineering. Aligning the academic staff research objectives to the Grand Challenges, creates a sense of purpose that extends beyond the academic staff to their students. Ensuring that students’ projects and other CDIO activities are derived from the academic staff research interests help creates a learning environment in which research and teaching are integrated. This integration is highly desirable as it benefits both the students and the academic staff

Indicators for socio-religious harmony index (SRHI) instrument for Malaysia: findings of FDM expert panel

This study contributes to an understanding of the Malaysian socio-religious situation. Being a multi-religious country, Malaysia is not immune to contentious issues and incidents that challenge the relationship between different religious groups. Thus, it is crucial for the country to be conscious of its level of inter-religious relationship in order to maintain peaceful coexistence within the nation. This literature review is presented as a guideline to propose suitable indicators for the Socio-Religious Harmony Index (SRHI) instrument. This study uses the Design and Developmental Research (DDR) approach to conduct a Needs Analysis (Phase 1), development of the SRHI instrument (Phase 2) and evaluation of the index (Phase 3). This paper discusses Phase 2 of DDR, which is the development of the SRHI instrument. The method of this phase uses the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) involving 14 expert panels invited to participate in the development of the instrument through a workshop. There were two rounds of FDM sessions, where the first round was to determine the indicators and the second round was to determine the sub-indicators. The end output of this paper is to present the findings of selected indicators for this index instrument as it was determined in FDM round one and two. The result shows that all 22 proposed indicators were accepted for inclusion in the SRHI instrument with the highest ranking indicators being mutual respect and the lowest ranking indicator being acknowledgement. The result of FDM round two shows that 53 sub-indicators were accepted out of 58 sub-indicators. Lastly, this paper presents the overall indicators and respective sub-indicators for the SRHI instrument

Prevalence and associated factors of Schistosomiasis among children in Yemen: implications for an effective control programme

BACKGROUND Schistosomiasis, one of the most prevalent neglected tropical diseases, is a life-threatening public health problem in Yemen especially in rural communities. This cross-sectional study aims to determine the prevalence and associated risk factors of schistosomiasis among children in rural Yemen. METHODS/FINDINGS Urine and faecal samples were collected from 400 children. Urine samples were examined using filtration technique for the presence of Schistosoma haematobium eggs while faecal samples were examined using formalin-ether concentration and Kato Katz techniques for the presence of S. mansoni. Demographic, socioeconomic and environmental information were collected via a validated questionnaire. Overall, 31.8% of the participants were found to be positive for schistosomiasis; 23.8% were infected with S. haematobium and 9.3% were infected with S. mansoni. Moreover, 39.5% of the participants were anaemic whereas 9.5% had hepatosplenomegaly. The prevalence of schistosomiasis was significantly higher among children aged >10 years compared to those aged ≤ 10 years (P<0.05). Multivariate analysis confirmed that presence of other infected family member (P<0.001), low household monthly income (P = 0.003), using unsafe sources for drinking water (P = 0.003), living nearby stream/spring (P = 0.006) and living nearby pool/pond (P = 0.002) were the key factors significantly associated with schistosomiasis among these children. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE This study reveals that schistosomiasis is still highly prevalent in Yemen. These findings support an urgent need to start an integrated, targeted and effective schistosomiasis control programme with a mission to move towards the elimination phase. Besides periodic drug distribution, health education and community mobilisation, provision of clean and safe drinking water, introduction of proper sanitation are imperative among these communities in order to curtail the transmission and morbidity caused by schistosomiasis. Screening and treating other infected family members should also be adopted by the public health authorities in combating this infection in these communities