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Esports\u27 Debut as a Medal Event at 2023 Asian Games: Exploring Public Perceptions with BERTopic and GPT-4 Topic Fine-Tuning
No full textThis study examined the public opinions of esports at the 2023 Asian Games and value cocreation during the event using an LLM-enhanced BERTopic modeling analysis. We identified five major themes representing public perceptions, as well as how major stakeholders co-created value within and beyond the esports ecosystem. Key findings highlighted the strategic use of social media marketing to influence public opinion and promote esports events and brands, emphasizing the importance of event logistics and infrastructure. Additionally, the study revealed the co-creation value contributed by stakeholders outside the traditional esports ecosystem, particularly in promoting national representation and performance. Our findings supported the ongoing efforts to legitimize esports as a sport, noting that mainstream recognition remains a challenge. The inclusion of esports as a medal event showcased broader acceptance and helped mitigate negative public perceptions. Moreover, contributions from non-traditional stakeholders underscored the value of cross-subcultural collaborations in esports
The fungal microbiota modulate neonatal oxygen-induced lung injury
Get PDFBackground: The immature lungs of very preterm infants are exposed to supraphysiologic oxygen, contributing to bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD), a chronic lung disease that is the most common morbidity of prematurity. While the microbiota significantly influences neonatal health, the relationship between the intestinal microbiome, particularly micro-eukaryotic members such as fungi and yeast, and lung injury severity in newborns remains unknown. Results: Here, we show that the fungal microbiota modulates hyperoxia-induced lung injury severity in very low birth weight premature infants and preclinical pseudohumanized and altered fungal colonization mouse models. Instead of fungal communities dominated by Candida and Saccharomyces, the first stool microbiomes of infants who developed BPD had less interconnected community architectures with a greater diversity of rarer fungi. After using a pseudohumanized model to show that transfer to the neonatal microbiome from infants with BPD increased the severity of lung injury, we used gain and loss of function approaches to demonstrate that modulating the extent of initial neonatal fungal colonization affected the extent of BPD-like lung injury in mice. We also identified alterations in the murine intestinal microbiome and transcriptome associated with augmented lung injury. Conclusions: These findings demonstrate that features of the initial intestinal fungal microbiome are associated with the later development of BPD in premature neonates and exert a microbiome-driven effect that is transferable and modifiable in murine models, which suggests both causality and a potential therapeutic strategy. 7tBaiGhHzrwGBbT1j3n_5hVideo Abstrac
EC2Vec: A Machine Learning Method to Embed Enzyme Commission (EC) Numbers into Vector Representations
Get PDFEnzyme commission (EC) numbers play a vital role in classifying enzymes and understanding their functions in enzyme-related research. Although accurate and informative encoding of EC numbers is essential for enhancing the effectiveness of machine learning applications, simple EC encoding approaches suffer from limitations such as false numerical order and high sparsity. To address these issues, we developed EC2Vec, a multimodal autoencoder that preserves the categorical nature of EC numbers and leverages their hierarchical relationships, resulting in more meaningful and informative representations. EC2Vec encodes each digit of the EC number as a categorical token and then processes these embeddings through a 1D convolutional layer to capture their relationships. Comprehensive benchmarking against a large collection of EC numbers indicates that EC2Vec outperforms simple encoding methods. The t-SNE visualization of EC2Vec embeddings revealed distinct clusters corresponding to different enzyme classes, demonstrating that the hierarchical structure of the EC numbers is effectively captured. In downstream machine learning applications, EC2Vec embeddings outperformed other EC encoding methods in the reaction-EC pair classification task, underscoring its robustness and utility for enzyme-related research and bioinformatics applications
Exploring the Benefits of a Virtual Reality Positive Psychological Intervention for Older Adults in Senior Living Communities
Get PDFThe majority of psychological research has followed a disease model focusing on how we reduce factors associated with psychopathology. In the last few decades there has been a push to explore positive psychological traits as an avenue for intervention by fostering traits we already possess. Most of these interventions have targeted mental health across the life span with fewer examining their efficacy on cognitive change with even fewer utilizing immersive technologies like virtual reality. By 2050 over 20% of the world’s population will be over the age of 60 and with this aging population rates of neurocognitive disorders will increase. This makes developing new types of interventions targeting cognitive changes even more important. The present study sought to examine if a novel immersive virtual reality (VR) intervention aimed at increasing the well-being of older adults might increase cognitive abilities and overall mood. Qualitative analysis was completed to better understand participants’ reactions to using immersive technology such as virtual reality. A total of 48 participants completed a battery of pencil and paper cognitive performance tests and self-report measures of mood and a subset of participants (n = 25) completed up to six sessions of the virtual reality intervention. Although mood and cognition were not affected by the VR, those who completed the sessions of VR experienced changes in affect after sessions, specifically higher happiness and energy and lower tiredness and confusion. Qualitative analyses showed that all the residents who participated in the intervention enjoyed exploring environments the VR. Implications for future work are discussed
Bending the Canon: Evolving Forms of Graphic Adaptation
No full textIn this dissertation, I examine comics which seek to adapt works from the literary canon in what I call a “transformative” manner, that is, they radically change ideological aspects of the source material to convey multiplicities of new meaning. Each of the comics studied in this project makes a substantive ideological change to the source narrative, and while these changes will be studied as part of the adaptation rhizome, my methodology is not inherently ideological. Rather, the surface ideological changes point us towards structural and formal adjustments these changes necessitate. I propose reading adaptations as assemblages, adopting a perspective informed by the works of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, post-structuralism, and chaos theory which suggests studying adaptations as complex dynamic networks with emergent narrative qualities rather than as progressive linear comparisons. I further argue that the comic book form is uniquely well-suited to this perspective, due to their inherently complex and chaotic qualities. This dissertation will trace the multiple spheres of influence which contributed to the creation, interpretation, and reception of each comic as examples of how such a methodology might be accomplished with the aim of showing how we might read adaptations as reflections of contemporary zeitgeists rather than as tributes to arborescent source materials. The chaotic, schizoanalytic, and post-structuralist nature of this methodology will further expand and complexify the process by which we analyze literature, comic books, and adaptations as well as providing a strategy for approaching such multifaceted analyses. The case studies I’ve chosen were first selected based on ideological changes made by the creators: a gender-flipped Odyssey, a race-bent Romeo and Juliet, and an eco-apocalyptic Rime of the Ancient Mariner. The aim in each chapter is to show the ways in which the comics form allows creators to re-write and destabilize the source narratives in support of these ideological changes, as well as to show emergent narrative qualities that appear as a result
“THEY LOVE OUR RHYTHM, BUT NOT OUR BLUES:” AN EXAMINATION OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HIP HOP ON DEPRESSION, ANXIETY, AND SELF-CARE AMONG AFRICAN AMERICAN AND HISPANIC/LATINX EMERGING ADULTS
No full textDepression and anxiety are among the most common mental health problems for emerging adults of color in higher education. Specifically, African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx emerging adults on college campuses have poorer mental health than their White counterparts. Considering the systemic oppression and cultural stressors that impact mental health among African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx students, Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Emerging Adulthood Theory were theoretical frameworks for this study. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between Hip Hop music and depression, anxiety, and intentional use as self-care among African American/Black and Hispanic/Latinx emerging adults who were college students. The study used a cross-sectional design to explore whether the role of Hip Hop music, listening frequency and settings, and intentional use of Hip Hop music was associated with depression and anxiety. The study used race/ethnicity, age, and gender as control variables. The sample size was generated from the “Me and My Music Project” (2018) study, which explored empowerment and risky elements of listening to and interacting with music. This study analyzed the secondary data of a convenience sample collected from a large ‘Historically Serving Institution’ (HSI). The original sample included 378 emerging adults ages 18-29, while the current study sample examined the perspectives of 167 emerging adults ages of 18-19. An ANCOVA analysis revealed a statistically significant relationship between the setting while listening to Hip Hop music and depression compared to other kinds of music, a statistically significant relationship between setting while listening to Hip Hop music and anxiety and intentional use of Hip Hop music to decrease negative emotions was a predictive factor for depression and anxiety symptoms. The findings support the use of Hip Hop-based interventions as culturally relevant interventions with college-aged, emerging adults of color who suffer from anxiety and depression
Fishing for Solutions: Compensation for Bycatch Reduction in the Gulf of Mexico Shrimp Fishery
Get PDFBycatch, unintentionally caught non-target species, harms the profitability of commercial fishing operations and leads to death and injury of hundreds of thousands of marine animals per year. In the Gulf of Mexico, commercial shrimpers are required to use a bycatch reduction device (BRD). Better BRDs are being tested to further reduce bycatch. Because their use will not be mandatory, it is important to measure shrimper willingness to voluntarily adopt this conservation technology to predict potential fleet participation. This study uses contingent valuation to elicit commercial shrimpers’ willingness to accept compensation for using these new devices.
We employ an incentivized payment card elicitation framed as a modified Becker-DeGroot-Marschak auction. We apply it to federally permitted commercial shrimpers in the Gulf of Mexico to estimate compensation required to adopt new BRDs and the main drivers or barriers to adoption. Based on 108 responses collected in early summer of 2024 (~11% of the total population), we find that shrimpers require a minimum payment of $263-282 per day to use the device. This work also provides a detailed analysis of a diffuse industry that is important to the Gulf Coast and has implications for ensuring bycatch reduction goals are efficiently met in the Gulf of Mexico
Mycoplasma pogonae Infection in Captive Central Bearded Dragons (Pogona vitticeps): Pathology, Diagnosis, and Treatments
No full textFrom August to November of 2023, a disease outbreak occurred in a research colony of 33, five months old, mixed sex, central bearded dragons obtained from a private breeder in USA. A total of six deaths occurred during this period. A pathological investigation followed by molecular diagnostics and gene sequencing revealed Mycoplasma pogonae as the cause of disease. We characterized the gross and histological characteristics of the disease. The remaining animals in the colony were tested and confirmed to be infected as well. Ante-mortem diagnostics with different sample types were compared. Both oral swabs and endotracheal lung lavage samples were deemed appropriate for mycoplasmal screening. A treatment trial with enrofloxacin and doxycycline for 45 days did not clear the infection; both drugs reduced mycoplasmal shedding. All animals were euthanized and sent for post-mortem examination. Molecular testing revealed that all animals were still infected at the end of the study
Optimizing LLM x86 Assembly Code Comprehension through Fine-Tuning
No full textReverse engineering is a cybersecurity process that focuses on understanding the underlying functionality of software or malware. This is an arduous process that demands large amounts of time and effort from cybersecurity practitioners. Large Language Models (LLMs) offer a potential solution to this problem. LLMs have worked their way into various fields of cybersecurity in recent years, including incident response and malware classification. However, LLMs have historically struggled with low-level code comprehension: a necessary part of reverse engineering. While LLMs can generate code and explain its function on the surface level, they struggle to grasp the wider context. In this paper, we utilize parameter-efficient fine-tuning to train LLMs to generate contextual comments for x86 assembly code in an effort to expedite reverse engineering. We choose LLMs from several parameter classes in each of the Qwen2.5-Coder, CodeLlama, and CodeGemma families to fine-tune on a dataset of x86 assembly code. We evaluate each model\u27s performance on cross entropy loss and cosine similarity before and after fine-tuning. We observe promising results, with a significant boost in similarity score for five out of the seven LLMs selected. This is particularly evident in the 0.11 increase in simialrity score for Qwne2.5-Coder-7B and the 0.18 increase in similarity score for CodeLlama-7B after fine-tuning
MODELING AND SIMULATION OF METHANE AND CO2 HYDRATES IN POROUS MEDIA
No full textThis dissertation presents a comprehensive study on modeling and simulation formethane hydrate production and CO2 sequestration. The research focuses on pore-scale and reservoir-scale modeling techniques to understand the dynamics of gashydrate dissociation, the associated risks of subsidence, and the potential for CO2storage in deep-sea environments.This dissertation begins with an investigation into pore-scale modeling. Specif-ically, a detailed pore network model was developed to simulate the processes ofmethane hydrate dissociation and formation. However, the numerical simulationsrevealed that assuming an isothermal process for hydrate formation and dissociationis not physically realistic. Consequently, the results obtained from this pore-scalestudy were deemed unsuitable for integration into the larger reservoir-scale modelingefforts.The second part addresses reservoir-scale subsidence during methane hydrate pro-duction, with a focus on developing and testing mitigation strategies. This work iscrucial for ensuring the stability and safety of hydrate-bearing sediments.The final chapters investigate the feasibility of CO2 sequestration in both deep-sea environments and depleted methane hydrate reservoirs. The research outcomesprovide significant insights into the effectiveness and stability of CO2 storage in thesesettings.Overall, this dissertation contributes to the understanding of methane hydrateproduction and CO2 sequestration, offering practical implications for energy securityand climate change mitigation.ii