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Image-based virtual try-on: Fidelity and simplification
Get PDFData availability: I have shared a link to my code and dataset via GitHub.We introduce a novel image-based virtual try-on model designed to replace a candidate’s garment with a desired target item. The proposed model comprises three modules: segmentation, garment warping, and candidate-clothing fusion. Previous methods have shown limitations in cases involving significant differences between the original and target clothing, as well as substantial overlapping of body parts. Our model addresses these limitations by employing two key strategies. Firstly, it utilises a candidate representation based on an RGB skeleton image to enhance spatial relationships among body parts, resulting in robust segmentation and improved occlusion handling. Secondly, truncated U-Net is employed in both the segmentation and warping modules, enhancing segmentation performance and accelerating the try-on process. The warping module leverages an efficient affine transform for ease of training. Comparative evaluations against state-of-the-art models demonstrate the competitive performance of our proposed model across various scenarios, particularly excelling in handling occlusion cases and significant differences in clothing cases. This research presents a promising solution for image-based virtual try-on, advancing the field by overcoming key limitations and achieving superior performance.Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) grant number EP/T518116/1
Cyclic AMP is a global virulence regulator governing inter and intrabacterial signalling in <i>Acinetobacter baumannii</i>
Get PDFData Availability: Transcriptomics dataset produced in this work has been deposited at the National Centre for Biotechnology Information Gene Expression Omnibus public database under accession number GSE250425. All other data are in the manuscript and its supporting information files available online at: (https://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1012529#sec030 .Acinetobacter baumannii is an opportunistic nosocomial pathogen with high morbidity and mortality rates. Current treatment options for this pathogen are limited due to its increasing resistance to last-resort antibiotics. Despite A. baumannii’s leading position in the World Health Organisations priority pathogens list, little is known about its virulence regulation. Through a high-throughput screening approach to identify novel biofilm regulators, we identified a previously uncharacterised predicted adenylate cyclase (AC), CavA, as a central regulator of this phenotype. cAMP is a crucial mediator of various aspects of bacterial physiology in other species but information about its role in A. baumannii is limited. We confirm that CavA AC is functional and synthesizes cAMP in A. baumannii. Using dRNA-seq, we verify that CavA is a negative biofilm formation regulator affecting Csu pili and exopolysaccharide production. We demonstrate for the first time that in A. baumannii, cAMP is atop of a hierarchical signalling cascade controlling inter- and intrabacterial signalling by modulating quorum sensing and cyclic di-GMP systems, ultimately governing virulence in vivo and adaptive antibiotic resistance. In contrast to the well-established paradigm in other bacteria where cAMP and cyclic di-GMP levels are inversely regulated, we uncover that the levels of these second messengers are directly proportional in A. baumannii. Overall, this study uncovers the central role of CavA and cAMP in the pathogenic success of A. baumannii and highlights this signalling cascade as a high potential target for novel therapeutic development.RRMC is supported by a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council New Investigator Award BB/V007823/1 and the Academy of Medical Sciences/the Welcome Trust/ the Government Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy/the British Heart Foundation/Diabetes UK Springboard Award [SBF006\1040] and Medical Research Council Grant MR/Y001354/1. AJP is supported by PID2020-114861GB-I00O/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 (Agencia Estatal de Investigación / Ministry of Science and Innovation of the Spanish Government)
Anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of indoor environmental hazards impacting Syrian refugees in Lebanon
Get PDFThis thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonA pilot study of indoor air quality in Syrian refugee settlements in Lebanon found
indoor mould growth significantly linked with moisture and ventilation levels. A follow-up
cross-sectional study was subsequently performed in 4 provinces of Lebanon. It was
revealed that although non-residential shelters had the highest mean total indoor count
(TIC), 3 mould genera were strongly associated with non-permanent shelters (p<.001)
and occupancy was found strongly associated with some of the genera. Regarding shelter
conditions, highest TIC was observed in unfinished structures. These findings suggest
shelter category, condition and occupancy significantly influence indoor mould
concentrations and may lead to increased respiratory health risks for Syrian refugees in
Lebanon. Biomonitoring using the fractional exhaled breath nitric oxide (FENO) biomarker
and clinical interpretation of results suggested potential persistent exposure to allergens.
Two mitigation technologies were developed for deployment in non-permanent shelters:
Solar-powered Window Air Cleaning (SWAC) and Solar-powered Wall Air Vent (SWAV).
Operating at 100% outdoor air intake, the SWAC unit exceeded the ASHRAE standard
62.2 minimum requirement for an average refugee household occupancy (n=6) and total
floor area (56 m2) and met equivalent outdoor air requirements for the most stringent
ASHRAE standard 52.2 particle range (0.3 – 1.0 μm) operating at 50% outdoor air. The
SWAV unit exceeded ASHRAE ventilation requirements for individual refugee rooms (15
m2) at average occupancy. In conclusion, this project provides a rare insight into the poor
indoor air quality of refugee shelters in Lebanon. Exposures to indoor mould can increase
susceptibility to respiratory health risks in this vulnerable population, already impacted by
multiple factors, from poor hygiene to displacement trauma and poverty. However, the
low-cost renewable mitigation technologies developed here, offer a sustainable solution
to remediate poor indoor air quality in refugee shelters accommodating displaced
populations not only in Lebanon, but in refugee settings globally
Religious Involvement Is Associated With Higher Fertility and Lower Maternal Investment, but More Alloparental Support Among Gambian Mothers
Get PDFData Availability Statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.Open Practice: The data for this project cannot be published in raw format due to ongoing data collection. We therefore provide a finalized dataset that includes final indexes and variables entered into models. We provide a processing R script for inspection analyses with a finalized dataset. Everything is accessible from: https://osf.io/dhfwv/?view_only=7b95f6c61b59483baee99749424002a4.Objectives:
Human childrearing is cooperative, with women often able to achieve relatively high fertility through help from many individuals. Previous work has documented tremendous socioecological variation in who supports women in childrearing, but less is known about the intracultural correlates of variation in allomaternal support. In the highly religious, high-fertility setting of The Gambia, we studied whether religious mothers have more children and receive more support with their children.
Methods:
We randomly sampled 395 mothers and 745 focal children enrolled in the Kiang West (The Gambia) Longitudinal Population Study cohort. Structured interviews asked mothers who and how often people invest in their children, and about their religious practices. Data were collected at participants' homes on electronic tablet-based long-form surveys and analyzed using the Bayesian hierarchical models.
Results:
Religiosity was weakly associated with women's higher age-adjusted fertility. Maternal religiosity was negatively related to maternal investment in focal children, but positively associated with total allomaternal support. Specifically, a woman's religiosity was positively associated with allomaternal support from matrilineal kin, other offspring, and affinal kin, but unrelated to paternal, patrilineal, and non-kin investment.
Conclusions:
These results suggest that higher fertility among religious mothers may be supported by high levels of investment from biological and affinal kin. Matrilineal kin, other siblings, and affinal kin seem to be the most responsive to a woman's religiosity. Our findings cast doubt on interpretations of women's religious behaviors as signals of fidelity, and instead suggest they may be part of strategies to enable collective allomaternal resources and higher relative fertility.Funding for this study was provided by the John Templeton Foundation (grant numbers 61426 and 62773), and the Templeton Religion Trust (grant number TRT-2022-30378). Article funding: Open access publishing facilitated by University of Otago, as part of the Wiley - University of Otago agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians
Exploring the sustained impact of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program: a thematic analysis
Get PDFData availability statement: The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation.Introduction: This study aimed to explore the time-varying impact of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program, specifically examining its effects on various variables 3 months, 1 year, and 3 years after program completion. Additionally, the study aimed to identify the barriers and facilitators in maintaining mindfulness practice over time and the preferred mindfulness practices among participants in three distinct time groups.
Methods: The study utilized a qualitative research design, conducting semi-structured interviews with 45 participants who had completed the 8-week MBSR program at different time points. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data obtained from the interviews, allowing for the identification of key themes and patterns.
Results: The findings revealed that the effectiveness of the MBSR program varied at different times and across different variables. Immediately after completing the program, participants experienced a significant decrease in stress levels and an increase in awareness. One year later, the program continued to have positive effects on inner calm, coping mechanisms, and relationships. Three years after completing the program, its long-term impact was observed in the adoption of a mindful lifestyle, increased compassion and kindness, and ongoing personal growth.
Discussion: The study highlights the transformative potential of the MBSR program beyond short-term symptom relief. The long-term effects observed in overall wellbeing emphasize the sustained efficacy of mindfulness-based interventions. The identified barriers and facilitators in maintaining mindfulness practice provide insights for program implementation and individual engagement. By understanding the long-term impact and preferences of participants, tailored interventions can be developed to maximize the benefits of the MBSR program for individuals over time.The author(s) declare that no financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article
Evolved Eugenics and Reinforcement of “Othering”: Renewed Ethico-Legal Perspectives of Genome Editing in Reproduction
No full textBook DOI URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-7258-0106-0 . This chapter is a reprint of a journal article published on 2023-07-11 at https://doi.org/10.3390/biotech12030051 .This article extends an exploration into renewed ethico-legal perspectives of genome editing technologies, examined from an evolved conceptualization of eugenics in contemporary human reproduction. Whilst the ethico-legal conundrums presented by genome-editing technologies in various aspects of modern medicine have thus far inspired a comprehensive trove of academic scholarship—and notwithstanding the World Health Organization’s (WHO) publication of guidelines on human genome editing in 2021—the legislative landscape for these technologies remain relatively unchanged. Accordingly, this paper presents the unresolved problematic questions that still require significant reflection. First, the paper highlights these questions, which primarily center around the tension between reproductive autonomy and the legal governance of reproductive/genome editing technologies by a democratic state. Secondly, the paper interrogates the evolved conceptualization of eugenics, exercised on the part of prospective parents as part of reproductive autonomy. By this, the paper predicates that it indirectly reinforces societal and systemic problems of discrimination and “othering”, increasing reproductive inequalities in excluded communities. Thirdly, the paper attempts to offer narratives of intersectionality as a facilitating tool in a continuing dialogue to build belonging, foster a healthy and balanced exercise of reproductive autonomy, and increase reproductive equalities
Investigating delay of the media access control protocols for IoT-RoF using quantum entanglement
Get PDFData Availability Statement: All data necessary for verification and replication are provided within the manuscript.One of the significant challenges of the Radio over fibre (RoF) Medium Access Control (MAC) protocol is the propagation delay. This delay can lead to serious issues, such as higher propagation delay resulting in collisions and unnecessary retransmissions. Quantum entanglement is an excellent candidate to overcome the propagation delay of the RoF MAC protocol. A new quantum MAC protocol is proposed, named the Quantum Entanglement-based MAC protocol (QE-MAC), in which Quantum Teleportation is utilised to address the propagation delay. Four entanglement states are employed to represent the control packets of the classical MAC protocol, and data is transmitted over the classical channel. Instead of using control packets such as acknowledgement, request to send, and Clear to send, state transitions are employed. This approach avoids the delay and collision issues associated with control packets, resulting in a significant improvement in network performance. The delay, duty cycle (DC), and power consumption of the proposed QE-MAC protocol are formulated and derived. The protocol is evaluated in terms of delay, DC, and power consumption, demonstrating superior performance compared to the classical RoF MAC protocol. In comparison to published works, our proposed approach has successfully reduced both delay and power consumption by 35%.Brunel University London, Grant/Award Number:J066
Editorial: Objective and measurable predictors of violence risk and outcome among forensic patients with psychosis
Get PDFForensic mental health services are tasked with predicting the risk of future violence for patients, to perform the very important societal function of keeping the public safe. The largest proportion of patients within forensic mental health services suffer from psychosis. Thus, it is crucially important that there are objective and measurable predictors of violence risk for this group. Forensic mental health services tend to be the most expensive services within health systems with the longest lengths of stay. Objective or numerical parameters of risk would help to introduce greater consistency into the risk assessment process, which would not only contribute to better public safety and reduce the risk of reputational damage to the service, but also help forensic clinicians to better defend their practice. This Research Topic thus focused on the objective and measurable predictors of violence risk with potential for translation into the clinical practice of risk assessment in forensic psychiatry. On this topic, we highlight four excellent studies as follows
Moore to Theatre Past: Queer Historiography and the Partnership of John Henry Moore and Jim Haynes as Foundational to British Alternative Performance Practices
Get PDFThis article features original interviews with Jim Haynes and John Henry Moore to explore their foundational roles in Britain’s burgeoning experimental performance practices of the 1960s. Despite acknowledged impacts of their work on the British countercultural scene, particularly that of Haynes, their queer sexualities, companionship, and three decades of co-habitation are broadly overlooked in historical accounts. This research challenges dominate forms of evidence in theatre history by employing queer historiography, placing significance on the personal lives and partnership of Haynes and Moore as critical to understanding their impacts and disparate legacies of co-founding the influential London Traverse Company, the London’s Arts Lab, and the underground newspaper International Times. By addressing marginalised sexualities in the 1960s and 70s – namely homosexuality, bisexuality, and non-monogamies – this work proposes ways of thinking queerly across history that reassess problematic gaps and erasures while centring queer models of solidarity relevant to today.A portion of this research was supported by a travel grant from Brunel University London
Striving for equity: exploring gender-inclusive medical leadership in India
Get PDFData availability statement: Data are available on reasonable request.Introduction: There is a notable gap in studies examining the impact of gender within sociocultural norms in non-western professional settings, especially concerning the well-being of women physicians.
Methods: Using purposive sampling and thematic data analysis, we recorded interviews with 30 physicians in India during May–July 2023. Participants were aged 34 to 65 years, with experience ranging from five to 35 years, in various clinical (37%), surgical (30%), paraclinical (23%) and hospital administration (10%) roles, 97% were postgraduates and 53% were women. The research questions explored how leadership roles happened, managing key challenges, barriers and enablers, and practical interventions to support women into medical leadership positions.
Results: Findings revealed that the majority of interviewees believed gender-related barriers were obstructing women’s progress and success in medical leadership roles in India. These barriers were identified within three overarching domains: (1) specialty, (2) organisational and (3) sociocultural. Interviewees commonly acknowledged the male-dominated landscape of medical leadership although some women stated that they did not perceive any barriers for women’s advancement into leadership roles. Interestingly, some men surgeons held the perception that women might not be as effective in certain surgical disciplines, such as orthopaedics and neurosurgery. Some men physicians, however, considered women physicians in India to be highly effective multitaskers.
Conclusion: We recommend structural reforms in medical education, leadership development, workplace systems and cultures, and improved implementation of equality, diversity and inclusion policies in the Indian context.AIIMS-UCL Grant No. AIIMS-UCL/15/RS
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