Playing shadow puppets with NASA's Hubble Space Telescope

Peer-Reviewed Publication

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: THIS ARTIST'S CONCEPT IS BASED ON HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE IMAGES OF GAS-AND-DUST DISKS AROUND THE YOUNG STAR TW HYDRAE. HUBBLE SPACE TELESCOPE PHOTOS SHOW SHADOWS SWEEPING ACROSS THE DISKS ENCIRCLING THE SYSTEM. THE INTERPRETATION IS THESE SHADOWS ARE FROM SLIGHTLY INCLINED INNER DISKS THAT BLOCK STARLIGHT FROM REACHING THE OUTER DISK, AND THEREFORE ARE CASTING A SHADOW. THE DISKS ARE SLIGHTLY INCLINED TO EACH OTHER DUE TO THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF UNSEEN PLANETS WARPING THE DISK STRUCTURE. view more 

CREDIT: ARTWORK: NASA, AURA/STSCI FOR ESA, LEAH HUSTAK (STSCI)

Scientists' Hubble Space Telescope observations of the young star, TW Hydrae may signal new planets under construction.

In 2017 astronomers reported discovering a shadow sweeping across the face of a vast pancake-shaped gas-and-dust disk surrounding the red dwarf star. The shadow isn't from a planet, but from an inner disk slightly inclined relative to the much larger outer disk – causing it to cast a shadow. One explanation is that an unseen planet's gravity is pulling dust and gas into the planet's inclined orbit.

Now, a second shadow – playing a game of peek-a-boo – has emerged in just a few years between observations stored in the Hubble's MAST archive. This could be from yet another disk nestled inside the system. The two disks are likely evidence of a pair of planets under construction.

George Mason University Physics and Astronomy Professor, Peter Plavchan, collaborated with the team making the observations. He studied ways a forming planet in the disk could potentially play a role in the formation of the disk structures and the shadows they case.

TW Hydrae is less than 10 million years old and resides about 200 light-years away. In its infancy, our solar system may have resembled the TW Hydrae system, some 4.6 billion years ago. Because the TW Hydrae system is tilted nearly face-on to our view from Earth, it is an optimum target for getting a bull's-eye-view of a planetary construction yard. 

The second shadow was discovered in observations obtained June 6, 2021, as part of a multi-year program designed to track the shadows in circumstellar disks. John Debes of AURA/STScI for the European Space Agency at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, compared the TW Hydrae disk to Hubble observations made several years ago.

"We found out that the shadow had done something completely different," said Debes, who is principal investigator and lead author of the study published in The Astrophysical Journal. "When I first looked at the data, I thought something had gone wrong with the observation because it wasn't what I was expecting. I was flummoxed at first, and all my collaborators were like: what is going on? We really had to scratch our heads and it took us a while to actually figure out an explanation." Debes shared.

 “We haven't found any direct evidence for a planet at this time, but can rule out planets more massive than Jupiter from precisely monitoring the position of the star as a function of time,” said Plavchan, who also serves as Director of the Mason Observatory.

The best solution the team identified is that there are two misaligned disks casting shadows. They were so close to each other in the earlier observation, they were missed. Over time, they've now separated and split into two shadows. "We've never really seen this before on a protoplanetary disk. It makes the system much more complex than we originally thought," Debes said.

The simplest explanation is that the misaligned disks are likely caused by the gravitational pull of two planets in slightly different orbital planes. Hubble is piecing together a holistic view of the architecture of the system.

The disks may be proxies for planets that are lapping each other as they whirl around the star. It's sort of like spinning two vinyl phonograph records at slightly different speeds. Sometimes labels will match up but then one gets ahead of the other.

"It does suggest that the two planets have to be fairly close to each other. If one was moving much faster than the other, this would have been noticed in earlier observations. It's like two race cars that are close to each other, but one slowly overtakes and laps the other," said Debes.

The suspected planets are located in a region roughly the distance of Jupiter from our Sun. And, the shadows complete one rotation around the star about every 15 years – the orbital period that would be expected at that distance from the star. 

Also, these two inner disks are inclined about five to seven degrees relative to the plane of the outer disk. This is comparable to the range of orbital inclinations inside our solar system. "This is right in line with typical solar system style architecture," said Debes. 

The outer disk that the shadows are falling on may extend as far as several times the radius of our solar system's Kuiper belt. This larger disk has a curious gap at twice Pluto's average distance from the Sun. This might be evidence for a third planet in the system.

Any inner planets would be difficult to detect because their light would be lost in the glare of the star. Also, dust in the system would dim their reflected light. ESA's Gaia space observatory may be able to measure a wobble in the star if Jupiter-mass planets are tugging on it, but this would take years given the long orbital periods.

The TW Hydrae data are from Hubble's Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph. The James Webb Space Telescope's infrared vision may also be able to show the shadows in more detail.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between NASA and ESA. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, manages the telescope. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated for NASA by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, in Washington, D.C.

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JOURNAL

The Astrophysical Journal

DOI

10.3847/1538-4357/acbdf1 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

The Surprising Evolution of the Shadow on the TW Hya Disk

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

4-May-2023

Precision mass measurements of nuclei reveal neutron star properties

Peer-Reviewed Publication

CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES HEADQUARTERS

 

IMAGE: THE DETECTOR SYSTEM OF NUCLEAR MASS SPECTROMETER BASED ON THE COOLER STORAGE RING (CSR) IN LANZHOU. view more 

CREDIT: IMAGE BY IMP

Researchers at the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and their collaborators recently measured the masses of several key nuclei with high-precision by employing a state-of-the-art storage-ring mass spectrometry technique. Using the new mass data, they investigated X-ray bursts on the surface of a neutron star, thus deepening the understanding of neutron star properties. The study was published in Nature Physics. 

Neutron stars are considered to be the densest objects besides black holes. Type-I X-ray bursts, among the brightest stellar objects frequently observed in the sky by space-based telescopes, are violent thermonuclear explosions occurring on the surface of neutron stars. 

Due to the strong gravity of the neutron star, hydrogen- and helium-rich matter from a companion star accretes on the surface of a neutron star for hours or days before igniting thermonuclear burning. The explosion lasts for 10 to 100 seconds, causing a bright X-ray burst. These frequent X-ray bursts offer an opportunity to study the properties of neutron stars. 

The bursts are powered by a nuclear reaction sequence, known as the rapid proton capture nucleosynthesis process (rp-process), which involves hundreds of exotic neutron-deficient nuclides. Among them, the waiting-point nuclides, including germanium-64, play a decisive role.  

“Germanium-64, like a crossroad on the path of nuclear reaction processes, is an important congested section encountered when the nuclear reaction proceeds to the medium mass region. The masses of the relevant nuclei are decisive in setting the reaction path and thereby the X-ray flux produced,” explained ZHOU Xu, first author of the paper and a Ph.D. student at IMP. 

Therefore, precision mass measurements of the nuclei around germanium-64 are essential for understanding X-ray bursts and the properties of neutron stars. However, due to extremely low production yield, it has been very challenging to measure the masses of these short-lived nuclei. As a result, few breakthroughs have been seen for many years worldwide. 

After more than ten years of effort, the researchers from the Storage Ring Nuclear Physics Group at IMP have developed a new ultrasensitive mass spectrometry technique at the Cooler Storage Ring (CSR) of the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). This technique, named as Bρ-defined Isochronous Mass Spectrometry (Bρ-IMS), is fast and efficient, thus particularly suitable for measuring short-lived nuclei with extremely low production yields. 

"Our experiment is capable of precisely determining the mass of a single nuclide within a millisecond after its production, and it is essentially background free in the measured spectrum,” said Prof. WANG Meng from IMP. 

The researchers precisely measured the masses of arsenic-64, arsenic-65, selenium-66, selenium-67 and germanium-63. The masses of arsenic-64 and selenium-66 were experimentally measured for the first time, and the mass precision was significantly improved for the others. With the newly measured masses, all nuclear reaction energies related to the waiting point nucleus germanium-64 have been experimentally determined for the first time or the precision of these measurements has been greatly improved compared to old values. 

The researchers then used the new masses as inputs for X-ray burst model calculations. They found that the new data led to changes in the rp-process path. As a result, the X-ray burst light curve from the surface of the neutron star shows an increased peak luminosity and a prolonged tail duration. 

By comparing model calculations with the observed X-ray bursts of GS 1826-24, the researchers found that the distance from Earth to the burster should be increased by 6.5%, and the neutron star surface gravitational redshift coefficient needs to be reduced by 4.8% to match astronomical observations. These results indicate that the density of the neutron star is lower than expected. In addition, the product abundances from the rp-process reveal that the temperature of the outer shell of the neutron star should be higher than generally believed after the X-ray burst. 

"Through precise nuclear mass measurement, we obtained a more accurate X-ray burst light curve on the surface of the neutron star. By comparing it with astronomical observations, we set constraints on the relationship between the mass and radius of the neutron star from a new perspective,” said Prof. ZHANG Yuhu from IMP. 

This work was conducted in collaboration with researchers from GSI Helmholtzzentrum für Schwerionenforschung, Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Ohio University, Advanced Energy Science and Technology Guangdong Laboratory, Beijing University, Lanzhou University, Beijing Normal University and East China University of Technology.

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JOURNAL

Nature Physics

The evolution of honey bee brains

Specialized neurons in some insect brains, related to highly evolved behaviors, may have developed from a multifunctional ancestor

Peer-Reviewed Publication

UNIVERSITY OF TOKYO

 

IMAGE: THE RESEARCHERS STUDIED HONEY BEES EXHIBITING DIFFERENT BEHAVIORS: FORAGERS, NURSE BEES, AND QUEENS. HONEY BEES IN GENERAL HAVE BEEN A KEY INSECT MODEL FOR BETTER UNDERSTANDING LEARNING AND MEMORY FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS. view more 

CREDIT: 2023 HIROKI KOHNO

Researchers have proposed a new model for the evolution of higher brain functions and behaviors in the Hymenoptera order of insects. The team compared the Kenyon cells, a type of neuronal cell, in the mushroom bodies (a part of the insect brain involved in learning, memory and sensory integration) of “primitive” sawflies and sophisticated honey bees. They found that three diverse, specialized Kenyon cell subtypes in honey bee brains appear to have evolved from a single, multifunctional Kenyon cell-subtype ancestor. In the future, this research could help us better understand the evolution of some of our own higher brain functions and behaviors.

Are you “busy as a bee,” a “social butterfly” or a “fly on the wall”? There are many ways we compare our behavior to that of insects, and as it turns out there may be more to it than just fun idioms. Studying insects could help us understand not only how their behavior has evolved, but also the behavior of highly evolved animals, including ourselves. Mammalian brains are big and complex, so it is difficult to identify which behaviors and neural and genetic changes have co-developed over time. By comparison, insect brains are much smaller and simpler, making them useful models for study.

“In 2017, we reported that the complexity of Kenyon cell (KC) subtypes in mushroom bodies in insect brains increases with the behavioral diversification in Hymenoptera (a large and varied order of insects)” explained Professor Takeo Kubo from the Graduate School of Science at the University of Tokyo and co-author of the current study. “In other words, the more KC subtypes an insect has, the more complex its brain and the behaviors it may exhibit. But we didn’t know how these different subtypes evolved. That was the stimulus for this new study.”

The team from the University of Tokyo and Japan’s National Agriculture and Food Research Organization (NARO) chose two Hymenoptera species as representatives for different behaviors: the solitary turnip sawfly (which has a single KC subtype) and the sophisticated, social honey bee (which has three KC subtypes). As the sawfly has a more “primitive” brain, it is thought to contain some ancestral properties of the honey bee brain. To uncover the potential evolutionary pathways between them, the researchers used transcriptome analysis to identify the gene expression profiles (the genetic activity) of the various KC subtypes and speculate their functions.

“I was surprised that each of the three KC subtypes in the honey bee showed comparable similarity to the single KC type in the sawfly,” said Assistant Professor Hiroki Kohno, co-author from the Graduate School of Science.  “Based on our initial comparative analysis of several genes, we had previously supposed that additional KC subtypes had been added one by one. However, they appear to have been separated from a multifunctional ancestral type, through functional segregation and specialization.” As the number of KC subtypes increased, each subtype almost equally inherited some distinct properties from an ancestral KC. These then modified in different ways, resulting in their varied present-day functions.

The researchers wanted a specific behavioral example of how ancestral KC functions are present in both the sawfly and the honey bee. So, they trained sawflies to engage in a common honey bee behavior test, where they learn to associate an odor stimulus with a reward. Although challenging at first, the team was eventually able to engage the sawflies in the memory task. The researchers then manipulated a gene called CaMKII in sawfly larvae, which in honey bees is associated with forming long-term memory, a KC function. When the larvae became adults, their long-term memory was impaired, indicating that the gene plays a similar role in both sawflies and honey bees. Although CaMKII was expressed (i.e., was active) across the entire single KC subtype in sawflies, in honey bees, it was preferentially expressed in only one KC subtype. This suggests that the role of CaMKII in long-term memory was passed down to the specific KC subtype in the honey bee.

Despite differences in the size and complexity of insect and mammalian brains, there are commonalities in terms of function and the basic architecture of the nervous system. That is why the model proposed in this study for the evolution and diversification of KC subtypes may help towards better understanding the evolution of our own behavior. Next, the team is interested in studying KC types acquired in parallel with social behaviors, such as the honey bee’s “waggle dance.”

“We would like to clarify whether the model presented here is applicable to the evolution of other behaviors,” said Takayoshi Kuwabara, doctoral student and lead author from the Graduate School of Science. “There are many mysteries about the neural basis that controls social behavior, whether in insects, animals or humans. How it has evolved still remains largely unknown. I believe that this study is a pioneering work in this field.”

This image illustrates how the diverse and complex Kenyon cell (KC) subtypes of the honey bee evolved from the ancestorlike single KC subtype, represented by the turnip sawfly.

CREDIT

2023 Takayoshi Kuwabara

Behavior test with turnip sawf [VIDEO] |

Paper Title:

Takayoshi Kuwabara, Hiroki Kohno, Masatsugu Hatakeyama, Takeo Kubo. Evolutionary dynamics of mushroom body Kenyon cell types in hymenopteran brains from multi-functional type to functionally specialized types. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add4201

Funding:

This research was supported by Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) 20H03300 (TKubo) and Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Fellows 21J20847 (TKuwabara).

Useful Links
Graduate School of Science: https://www.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/

About the University of Tokyo
The University of Tokyo is Japan's leading university and one of the world's top research universities. The vast research output of some 6,000 researchers is published in the world's top journals across the arts and sciences. Our vibrant student body of around 15,000 undergraduate and 15,000 graduate students includes over 4,000 international students. Find out more at www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/ or follow us on Twitter at @UTokyo_News_en.

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JOURNAL

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.add4201 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Evolutionary dynamics of mushroom body Kenyon cell types in hymenopteran brains from multi-functional type to functionally specialized types.

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-May-2023

Why are there so few insects in the ocean?

New hypothesis says it’s to do with how they harden their shells

Peer-Reviewed Publication

TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: CRUSTACEANS HARDEN THEIR SHELLS WITH CALCIUM, WHILE INSECTS HARDEN THEM WITH OXYGEN. THESE MATCH WHAT IS ABUNDANT IN THEIR RESPECTIVE HABITATS. view more 

CREDIT: TOKYO METROPOLITAN UNIVERSITY

Tokyo, Japan – Scientists from Tokyo Metropolitan University have proposed a hypothesis for why insects are so rare in marine environments. They previously showed that insects evolved a unique chemical mechanism to harden their shells which uses molecular oxygen and an enzyme called multicopper oxidase-2 (MCO2). Now, they argue that this gives them a disadvantage in the sea, while it confers advantages that help them on land, placing MCO2 at the heart of insect eco-evolution.

Insects are some of the most successful organisms on the planet. They are said to make up the most biomass of all terrestrial animals and have a significant impact on the global ecosystem. However, their abundance is matched by their startling rarity in the sea. Very few insects call the sea home, even though their biological ancestors came from there. It is a pervading mystery of science, one which scientists have been trying to answer for many years.

Now, researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University led by Assistant Professor Tsunaki Asano have proposed a solution based on evolutionary genetics. The latest in molecular phylogenetics has taught us that both crustaceans and insects are part of the same family, Pancrustacea, and that insects were a branch that left the sea and adapted to the land. They share an important feature, an exoskeleton consisting of a wax layer and hard cuticle. In previous work, the same team showed that when insects adapted to terrestrial environments, they evolved a unique gene that creates an enzyme called multicopper oxidase-2 (MCO2) that helps them harden their cuticles using oxygen. MCO2 mediates a reaction where molecular oxygen oxidizes compounds called catecholamines in the cuticle, turning them into agents that bind and harden the surface. This is in contrast to crustaceans who harden their cuticles using calcium from sea water instead. The team’s claim is that this makes the land far more suitable for insects due to the abundance of oxygen. The sea is now a harsh environment due to both the lack of oxygen and the abundance of better adapted organisms.

But it is not just that the sea is not as hospitable for insects anymore. The hardening and drying of the cuticle via the MCO2 pathway lead to a biomaterial which is not only protective, but also lightweight. They postulate that this may be why insects gained the ability to climb plants, glide, and eventually fly. This allowed them to migrate and occupy previously empty niches in the ecosystem, a strong driving force that led to their sheer numbers.  Again, this is in contrast to crustaceans, whose shells are significantly denser, with a strong correlation between density and the degree of calcification.

Of course, insects are hardly the only arthropods to adapt to the land, so it’s clear that MCO2 is not strictly necessary for success in “terrestrial niches.” However, the nature of insect cuticles speaks volumes about their success in the terrestrial environment. In fact, the team believe that MCO2 might be a defining feature of insects: “no MCO2, no insects.” Their work promises an entirely new highlight on the role that cuticle hardening might play in insect evolution and terrestrialization.

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JOURNAL

Physiological Entomology

DOI

10.1111/phen.12406 

ARTICLE TITLE

Eco-evolutionary implications for a possible contribution of cuticle hardening system in insect evolution and terrestrialisation

New concept for lithium-air batteries

Research project in Germany aims to improve the stability of this novel battery type

Business Announcement

UNIVERSITY OF OLDENBURG

 

IMAGE: A LITHIUM-AIR BATTERY CELL IN FRONT OF A TEST BENCH. view more 

CREDIT: FRAUNHOFER IFAM

Lithium-air batteries, also known as lithium-oxygen batteries, are candidates for the next generation of high-energy electricity storage devices. Their theoretical energy storage capacity is ten times that of conventional lithium-ion batteries of the same weight, but they are not yet chemically stable enough to provide a reliable solution. Now a newly launched collaborative research project in which a team from the University of Oldenburg, Germany, led by chemist Professor Dr. Gunther Wittstock is participating is testing a new concept to extend the life of these battery cells.

The project, entitled "Alternative materials and components for aprotic lithium-oxygen batteries: chemistry and stability of inactive components – AMaLiS 2.0", is led by IOLITEC Ionic Liquids Technologies, a company based in Heilbronn, Germany. The MEET (Münster Electrochemical Energy Technology) Battery Research Center at the University of Münster and the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials IFAM in Bremen are also taking part. The project will receive around 1.1 million euros in funding from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research over a three-year period.

Lithium-air batteries basically work in the same way as conventional battery types, but in this type of battery the reaction of lithium ions with oxygen from the air at the positive electrode is used to generate electricity. The big advantage is that lithium-air batteries can store almost as much energy per kilogram as fossil fuels. This means that they have a similar specific energy to today's batteries but weigh much less, which makes them attractive for use in electric cars as well as in stationary energy storage. "However, before we get that far there are still a number of technical problems to be solved," Wittstock underlines. One of these challenges is the lack of electrolyte that are chemically stable at both the positive and the negative electrode. These conductive fluids or solids are located in the area between the two electrodes.

Oxygen from the air is reduced in lithium-air batteries

In lithium-air batteries, one of the electrodes is made of metallic lithium while the other – called the gas diffusion electrode – consists of a porous porous network and conducting material where oxygen (O2) from the air is reduced in an oxidation-reduction reaction. When the battery is discharging, positively charged lithium ions move across the electrolyte from one electrode to the gas diffusion electrode, where they combine with oxygen and electrons from an external electrical circuit to form lithium oxide. This generates an electric current which can be used to provide energy for electrical devices. During charging, lithium and oxygen separate once more and the ions and electrons travel in the opposite direction.

To increase the stability of the lithium-air battery, the project team aims to design a membrane that separates the positive electrode from the negative electrode, thus allowing different electrolytes to be used on either side. "This would significantly expand the options for electrolytes," says IOLITEC's project coordinator Dr Thomas Schubert. The scientists plan to test a separator with a special coating on each side that protects both the lithium electrode and the gas diffusion electrode.

The Oldenburg team led by Wittstock is using various methods, including surface spectroscopy and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), to investigate the processes on the surfaces of the separator and electrodes. IOLITEC is developing the separating layer together with a team from MEET Battery Research Center at the University of Münster which is headed by Verena Küpers. "We are testing different coatings that are specifically adapted to the challenges posed by each type of electrode," Küpers explains.

The MEET team also carries out test measurements. At the Fraunhofer IFAM, a team led by Dr Daniela Fenske is developing a new type of gas diffusion electrode made of nanostructured titanium carbide. "It will be combined with a special membrane that prevents parasitic air components such as carbon dioxide or water vapour from entering the cell," Fenske explains. The researchers' end goal is to develop a prototype that proves that a stable, rechargeable system is achievable. For this, the construction of a flat cell with a surface area of 25 square centimetres is planned.

An online adaptive model for streaming anomaly detection based on human-machine cooperation

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS

 

IMAGE: FIG.1 THE PROCESSING FLOW OF ISPFOREST view more 

CREDIT: HIGHER EDUCATION PRESS LIMITED COMPANY

Anomaly detectors are used to distinguish differences between normal and abnormal data, which are usually implemented by evaluating and ranking the anomaly scores of each instance. A static unsupervised streaming anomaly detector is difficult to dynamically adjust anomaly score calculation.

To solve the problem, a research team led by Prof. Zhiwen Yu published their new research on 15 April 2023 in Frontiers of Computer Science co-published by Higher Education Press and Springer Nature.

The team proposed a human-machine interactive streaming anomaly detection method, named ISPForest, which can be adaptively updated online under the guidance of human feedback. In particular, the feedback will be used to adjust the anomaly score calculation and structure of the detector, ideally attaining more accurate anomaly scores in the future.

The experimental results demonstrated that the utility of incorporating feedback can improve the performance of anomaly detectors with a few human efforts.

In the research, they analyze the anomaly detection principle of the space partitioning forest model. To improve the original anomaly detector, they add the human feedback mechanism for the detection result during the streaming anomaly detection process. Firstly, in the light of the relationship between forest structure and anomaly score calculation, they construct regional likelihood function and instance likelihood function, respectively, to depict the consistency of the detection results and the human feedback. Then, the parameters and structures of the original anomaly detector are adjusted timely according to the gradient decrease process following the principle of maximum likelihood estimation. Finally, an uncertainty function of the detection results is designed to control the frequency of human-machine interaction.

Experimental results on the effects of feedback reveal that combining anomaly detectors with human feedback is meaningful for adapting to a dynamic environment, and the performance of the detector is improved promptly with a small increase in labor costs. Future work can consider the extension of the method and explore the time-series anomaly detection under the feedback mechanism.

Fig.2 An example of updating process

CREDIT

Higher Education Press Limited Company

Research Article, Published: 15 April 2023

Qingyang LI, Zhiwen YU, Huang XU, Bin GUO. Human-machine interactive streaming anomaly detection by online self-adaptive forest. Front. Comput. Sci., 2023, 17(2): 172317,  https://doi.org/10.1007/s11704-022-1270-y

 

About Frontiers of Computer Science (FCS)

FCS was launched in 2007. It is published bimonthly both online and in print by HEP and Springer. Prof. Zhi-Hua Zhou from Nanjing University serves as the Editor-in-Chief. It aims to provide a forum for the publication of peer-reviewed papers to promote rapid communication and exchange between computer scientists. FCS covers all major branches of computer science, including: architecture, software, artificial intelligence, theoretical computer science, networks and communication, information systems, multimedia and graphics, information security, interdisciplinary, etc. The readers may be interested in the special columns "Perspective" and "Excellent Young Scholars Forum".

FCS is indexed by SCI(E), EI, DBLP, Scopus, etc. The latest IF is 2.669. FCS solicits the following article types: Review, Research Article, Letter.

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JOURNAL

Frontiers of Computer Science

DOI

10.1007/s11704-022-1270-y 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Human-machine interactive streaming anomaly detection by online self-adaptive forest

nTIDE April 2023 Jobs Report: Despite sharp decline, employment remains above pre-pandemic levels for people with disabilities

National Trends in Disability Employment (nTIDE) – Issued semi-monthly by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire

Reports and Proceedings

KESSLER FOUNDATION

 

IMAGE: THIS GRAPHIC COMPARES THE LABOR MARKET INDICATORS FOR MARCH 2023 AND APRIL 2023, SHOWING A SHARP DROP IN LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND A SLIGHT INCREASE FOR PEOPLE WITHOUT DISABILITIES. THE EMPLOYMENT-TO-POPULATION RATIO DECREASED FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES AND INCREASED SLIGHTLY FOR PEOPLE WITHOUT DISABILITIES. view more 

CREDIT: KESSLER FOUNDATION

East Hanover, NJ – May 5, 2023 –Declines in the April job numbers for people with disabilities raise concerns about the future of the job market, according to today’s National Trends in Disability Employment – semi-monthly update (nTIDE), issued by Kessler Foundation and the University of New Hampshire’s Institute on Disability (UNH-IOD). To assess whether this change signals a slowing of job gains for people with disabilities, nTIDE experts will look closely at the direction of next month’s employment indicators.                                                                                                                       

Month-to-Month nTIDE Numbers (comparing March 2023 to April 2023)

Based on data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Jobs Report released today, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities (ages 16-64), the employment-to-population ratio for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) decreased from 36.6 percent in March 2023 to 35.6 percent in April 2023 (down 2.7 percent or 1.0 percentage point). For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the employment-to-population ratio increased from 74.9 percent in March 2023 to 75.1 percent in April 2023 (up 0.3 percent or 0.2 percentage points). The employment-to-population ratio, a key indicator, reflects the percentage of people who are working relative to the total population (the number of people working divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

“Given April’s fairly large decline in their employment-to-population ratio, the employment gains experienced by people with disabilities over the last two years appear to be coming to a halt. At the same time, people without disabilities had a small increase in their employment-to-population ratio,” remarked Andrew Houtenville, PhD, professor of economics and research director of the UNH-IOD. “This decline for people with disabilities is likely more than just seasonal fluctuation and/or sample variation. We will be looking to next month to see whether the employment of people rebounds or continues to decline,” he added.                                                                                                                      

With regard to labor force participation, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) decreased from 40.2 percent in March 2023 to 38.3 percent in April 2023 (down 4.7 percent or 1.9 percentage points). For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the labor force participation rate also decreased from 77.6 percent in March 2023 to 77.4 percent in April 2023 (down 0.3 percent or 0.2 percentage points). The labor force participation rate reflects the percentage of people who are in the labor force (working, on temporary layoff, on furlough, or actively looking for work in the last four weeks) relative to the total population (the number of people in the labor force divided by the number of people in the total population multiplied by 100).

“While the April numbers are disappointing, the employment and labor force participation of people with disabilities still remains above the levels seen pre-COVID and in April 2022,” said John O’Neill, PhD, director of the Center for Employment and Disability Research at Kessler Foundation. “With the Federal Reserve continuing to raise rates to slow the economy, we expect the job market to be impacted at some point in the coming year,” he added.

In April, among workers ages 16-64, the 5,743,000 workers with disabilities represented 3.8 percent of the total 150,217,000 workers in the U.S.   

This graphic compares the labor market indicators for April 2022 and April 2023, showing increases for people with and without disabilities.

CREDIT

Kessler Foundation                                                                                                                                                                         

Year-to-Year nTIDE Numbers (comparing April 2022 to April 2023)

Compared to the same month last year, the labor force participation rate for people with disabilities (ages 16-64) increased from 37.5 percent in April 2022 to 38.3 percent in April 2023 (up 2.1 percent or 0.8 percentage points). For people without disabilities (ages 16-64), the labor force participation rate also increased from 76.9 percent in April 2022 to 77.4 percent in April 2023 (up 0.7 percent or 0.5 percentage points).

Regarding employment, the employment-to-population ratio for working-age people with disabilities (ages 16-64) increased from 34 percent in April 2022 to 35.6 percent in April 2023 (up 4.7 percent or 1.6 percentage points). For working-age people without disabilities, the employment-to-population ratio also increased from 74.5 percent in April 2022 to 75.1 percent in April 2023 (up 0.8 percent or 0.6 percentage points).

Ask Questions about Disability and Employment

Each nTIDE release is followed by an nTIDE Lunch & Learn online webinar. This live broadcast, hosted via Zoom Webinar, offers attendees Q&A on the latest nTIDE findings, provides news and updates from the field, and features invited panelists who discuss current disability-related findings and events.

On May 5, 2023, at 12:00 pm Eastern, Jade Gingerich, director of Employment Policy for the Maryland Department of Disabilities, joins Dr. Houtenville and Denise Rozell from the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD). Join our free Lunch & Learn live or visit the nTIDE archives at: ResearchonDisability.org/nTIDE.

Register now for our mid-month Deeper Dive into employment trends at nTIDE Deeper Dive - 5/19/2023 | Center for Research on Disability

NOTE: The statistics in the nTIDE are based on BLS numbers but are not identical. They are customized by UNH to combine the statistics for men and women of working age (16- 64). nTIDE is funded by Kessler Foundation and was initially funded by grants from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) (90RT5037).

About the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire

The Institute on Disability (IOD) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH) was established in 1987 to provide a university-based focus for the improvement of knowledge, policies, and practices related to the lives of persons with disabilities and their families. For information on the NIDILRR-funded Research and Training Center on Disability Statistics, visit ResearchOnDisability.org.

About Kessler Foundation
Kessler Foundation, a major nonprofit organization in the field of disability, is a global leader in rehabilitation research. Our scientists seek to improve cognition, mobility, and long-term outcomes, including employment, for adults and children with neurological and developmental disabilities of the brain and spinal cord including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and autism. Kessler Foundation also leads the nation in funding innovative programs that expand opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. For more information, visit KesslerFoundation.org.

Press Contacts at Kessler Foundation:
Deborah Hauss, DHauss@kesslerfoundation.org
Carolann Murphy, CMurphy@KesslerFoundation.org

Stay Connected with Kessler Foundation
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Graphics:

Title: nTIDE Year-to-Year Comparison of Labor Market Indicators for People with and without Disabilities

Caption: This graphic compares the labor market indicators for April 2022 and April 2023, showing increases for people with and without disabilities.

Title: nTIDE Month-to-Month Comparison of Labor Market Indicators for People with and without Disabilities

Caption: This graphic compares the labor market indicators for March 2023 and April 2023, showing a sharp drop in labor force participation rate for people with disabilities and a slight increase for people without disabilities. The employment-to-population ratio decreased for people with disabilities and increased slightly for people without disabilities.            

Quitting smoking early linked with improved survival rates for people diagnosed with lung cancer l

Peer-Reviewed Publication

HARVARD T.H. CHAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH

Key points:

• Among those diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer—the most common form of lung cancer—current smokers had 68% higher mortality and former smokers had 26% higher mortality compared to never smokers
• The longer a patient had gone without smoking pre-diagnosis, the more improved their odds of survival were
• The study is one of few to examine mortality not just among current and never smokers, but also among former smokers—enabling more robust findings about the impacts of smoking cessation

Boston, MA—Quitting smoking early was associated with higher survival rates following a lung cancer diagnosis, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Compared to those who never smoked and were being treated for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), current smokers had 68% higher mortality and former smokers had 26% higher mortality.

“Our participants’ smoking histories varied, with some having stopped smoking a few years before their diagnosis and others having stopped several decades before,” said senior author David Christiani, Elkan Blout Professor of Environmental Genetics. “This wide range gave us confidence in our results—that the benefit of pre-diagnosis smoking cessation persists even after lung cancer is diagnosed.”

The study will be published online in JAMA Network Open on May 5, 2023.

While most similar research has compared mortality among current smokers and never smokers, the majority of the study’s participants were former smokers, allowing the researchers to focus on the impacts of smoking cessation.

The study followed 5,594 patients with NSCLC—which accounts for 85% of all lung cancer cases—enrolled in the Boston Lung Cancer Survival Cohort at Massachusetts General Hospital between 1992 and 2022. Of these participants, 795 had never smoked; 3,308 were former smokers; and 1,491 were current smokers. Participants completed questionnaires about their smoking habits and other health and demographic information at baseline, with the researchers checking in on their survival every 12 to 18 months. During the study period, 3,842 of the participants died: 79.3% of the current smokers, 66.8% of the former smokers, and 59.6% of the never smokers.

While never smoking was associated with the best odds of survival after a lung cancer diagnosis, the findings showed significant associations between lower mortality and having quit smoking pre-diagnosis. The longer a patient went without smoking, the more health benefits they accrued: For former smokers, doubling the years of smoking cessation before their lung cancer diagnosis was significantly associated with prolonged survival. Conversely, doubling smoking-pack years was associated with shorter survival among current and former smokers diagnosed with NSCLC.

The researchers noted that associations between survival and smoking history may vary depending on the clinical stage at which lung cancer was diagnosed, and that the study did not account for the different kinds of treatment participants were receiving.

Other Harvard Chan School co-authors included Xinan Wang, Christopher Romero-Gutierrez, and Jui Kothari.

Funding for the study came from National Cancer Institute grant 5U01CA209414.

“Prediagnosis smoking cessation and overall survival among patients with non-small cell lung cancer,” Xinan Wang, Christopher W. Romero-Guttierez, Jui Kothari, Andrea Shafer, Yi Li, David C. Christiani, JAMA Network Open, online May 5, 2023, doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.11966

Visit the Harvard Chan School website for the latest news, press releases, and multimedia offerings.

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Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health brings together dedicated experts from many disciplines to educate new generations of global health leaders and produce powerful ideas that improve the lives and health of people everywhere. As a community of leading scientists, educators, and students, we work together to take innovative ideas from the laboratory to people’s lives—not only making scientific breakthroughs, but also working to change individual behaviors, public policies, and health care practices. Each year, more than 400 faculty members at Harvard Chan School teach 1,000-plus full-time students from around the world and train thousands more through online and executive education courses. Founded in 1913 as the Harvard-MIT School of Health Officers, the School is recognized as America’s oldest professional training program in public health.

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JOURNAL

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.11966 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Prediagnosis smoking cessation and overall survival among patients with non-small cell lung cancer

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

5-May-2023