Research papers

When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM

Joseph F. Hair, Jeffrey J. Risher, Marko Sarstedt, Christian M. Ringle

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive, yet concise, overview of the considerations and metrics required for partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) analysis and result reporting. Preliminary considerations are summarized first, including reasons for choosing PLS-SEM, recommended sample size in selected contexts, distributional assumptions, use of secondary data, statistical power and the need for goodness-of-fit testing. Next, the metrics as well as the rules of thumb that should be applied to assess the PLS-SEM results are covered. Besides presenting established PLS-SEM evaluation criteria, the overview includes the following new guidelines: PLSpredict (i.e., a novel approach for assessing a model’s out-of-sample prediction), metrics for model comparisons, and several complementary methods for checking the results’ robustness. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides an overview of previously and recently proposed metrics as well as rules of thumb for evaluating the research results based on the application of PLS-SEM. Findings Most of the previously applied metrics for evaluating PLS-SEM results are still relevant. Nevertheless, scholars need to be knowledgeable about recently proposed metrics (e.g. model comparison criteria) and methods (e.g. endogeneity assessment, latent class analysis and PLSpredict), and when and how to apply them to extend their analyses. Research limitations/implications Methodological developments associated with PLS-SEM are rapidly emerging. The metrics reported in this paper are useful for current applications, but must always be up to date with the latest developments in the PLS-SEM method. Originality/value In light of more recent research and methodological developments in the PLS-SEM domain, guidelines for the method’s use need to be continuously extended and updated. This paper is the most current and comprehensive summary of the PLS-SEM method and the metrics applied to assess its solutions.

The Hippo Pathway: Biology and Pathophysiology

Shenghong Ma, Zhipeng Meng, Rui Chen, Kun‐Liang Guan

as a key regulator of tissue growth. It is an evolutionarily conserved signaling cascade regulating numerous biological processes, including cell growth and fate decision, organ size control, and regeneration. The core of the Hippo pathway in mammals consists of a kinase cascade, MST1/2 and LATS1/2, as well as downstream effectors, transcriptional coactivators YAP and TAZ. These core components of the Hippo pathway control transcriptional programs involved in cell proliferation, survival, mobility, stemness, and differentiation. The Hippo pathway is tightly regulated by both intrinsic and extrinsic signals, such as mechanical force, cell-cell contact, polarity, energy status, stress, and many diffusible hormonal factors, the majority of which act through G protein-coupled receptors. Here, we review the current understanding of molecular mechanisms by which signals regulate the Hippo pathway with an emphasis on mechanotransduction and the effects of this pathway on basic biology and human diseases.

Teachers’ perception of their initial preparation in teaching senior high school physics

Isaac Buabeng

This study investigated New Zealand (NZ) physics teachers’ and physics educators’ views about their Initial Teacher Education (ITE). Specifically, the study explored how well the ITE prepared physics teachers for classroom practice and to become effective teachers. The study employed mixed methods to answer the questions that were formulated to guide the study. The perspectives of the physics teacher educators and physics teachers nationally indicated that the teachers considered themselves not well-prepared in some content areas including electronics, modern physics, and atomic and nuclear physics. A significant difference in perspective also existed between teachers who were educated in NZ and those gaining initial teaching qualifications from overseas. The findings from the study suggested that the non-education degree which provided the teachers most of their content knowledge was perhaps inadequate for a teaching career. The implications for ITE of physics teachers are discussed in the paper.

Occurrence, biology, natural enemies and management of Tuta absoluta in Africa

Ramzi Mansour, Thierry Brévault, Anaïs Chailleux, Asma Cherif, Kaouthar Grissa-Lebdi, Khalid Haddi, Samira A. Mohamed, Rober…

International audience

Harmonizing semantic annotations for computational models in biology

Maxwell L. Neal, Matthias König, David Nickerson, Göksel Mısırlı, Reza Kalbasi, Andreas Dräger, Koray Atalağ, Vijayalakshmi …

Life science researchers use computational models to articulate and test hypotheses about the behavior of biological systems. Semantic annotation is a critical component for enhancing the interoperability and reusability of such models as well as for the integration of the data needed for model parameterization and validation. Encoded as machine-readable links to knowledge resource terms, semantic annotations describe the computational or biological meaning of what models and data represent. These annotations help researchers find and repurpose models, accelerate model composition and enable knowledge integration across model repositories and experimental data stores. However, realizing the potential benefits of semantic annotation requires the development of model annotation standards that adhere to a community-based annotation protocol. Without such standards, tool developers must account for a variety of annotation formats and approaches, a situation that can become prohibitively cumbersome and which can defeat the purpose of linking model elements to controlled knowledge resource terms. Currently, no consensus protocol for semantic annotation exists among the larger biological modeling community. Here, we report on the landscape of current annotation practices among the COmputational Modeling in BIology NEtwork community and provide a set of recommendations for building a consensus approach to semantic annotation.

Physics-informed neural networks: A deep learning framework for solving forward and inverse problems involving nonlinear partial differential equations

Maziar Raissi, Paris Perdikaris, George Em Karniadakis

State-of-the-art in artificial neural network applications: A survey

Oludare Isaac Abiodun, Aman Jantan, Abiodun Esther Omolara, Kemi Victoria Dada, Nachaat Mohamed, Humaira Arshad

This is a survey of neural network applications in the real-world scenario. It provides a taxonomy of artificial neural networks (ANNs) and furnish the reader with knowledge of current and emerging trends in ANN applications research and area of focus for researchers. Additionally, the study presents ANN application challenges, contributions, compare performances and critiques methods. The study covers many applications of ANN techniques in various disciplines which include computing, science, engineering, medicine, environmental, agriculture, mining, technology, climate, business, arts, and nanotechnology, etc. The study assesses ANN contributions, compare performances and critiques methods. The study found that neural-network models such as feedforward and feedback propagation artificial neural networks are performing better in its application to human problems. Therefore, we proposed feedforward and feedback propagation ANN models for research focus based on data analysis factors like accuracy, processing speed, latency, fault tolerance, volume, scalability, convergence, and performance. Moreover, we recommend that instead of applying a single method, future research can focus on combining ANN models into one network-wide application.

The future of quantum biology

Adriana Marais, Betony Adams, Andrew K. Ringsmuth, Marco Ferretti, J. Michael Gruber, Ruud Hendrikx, Maria Schuld, Samuel Sm…

Biological systems are dynamical, constantly exchanging energy and matter with the environment in order to maintain the non-equilibrium state synonymous with living. Developments in observational techniques have allowed us to study biological dynamics on increasingly small scales. Such studies have revealed evidence of quantum mechanical effects, which cannot be accounted for by classical physics, in a range of biological processes. Quantum biology is the study of such processes, and here we provide an outline of the current state of the field, as well as insights into future directions.

AI-Assisted Pipeline for Dynamic Generation of Trustworthy Health Supplement Content at Scale

Kefallinos, Dionysios, Alexandris, Georgios, Maras, Alexis, Chaidos, Panagiotis, Gomony, Manil Dev, Corporaal, Henk, Soudris…

Although geospatial question answering systems have received increasing attention in recent years, existing prototype systems struggle to properly answer qualitative spatial questions. In this work, we propose a unique framework for answering qualitative spatial questions, which comprises three main components: a geoparser that takes the input questions and extracts place semantic information from text, a reasoning system which is embedded with a crisp reasoner, and finally, answer extraction, which refines the solution space and generates final answers. We present an experimental design to evaluate our framework for point-based cardinal direction calculus (CDC) relations by developing an automated approach for generating three types of synthetic qualitative spatial questions. The initial evaluations of generated answers in our system are promising because a high proportion of answers were labelled correct.

Professional Development and Physics Teachers’ Ongoing Learning Needs

Isaac Buabeng, Lindsey Conner, David A. Winter

This study sought insight into the professional learning and development needs of physics teachers in New Zealand high schools. It used a mixed methods approach that comprised a national survey of high-school physics teachers as well as interviews with high-school physics teachers and physics teacher educators. Data from the teacher survey were analysed using descriptive statistical methods. Audio recordings from interviews were transcribed, analysed and used to triangulate and add depth to the survey data. Findings indicated that physics teachers were dissatisfied with the lack of formal physics-focussed professional development opportunities available to support their professional growth. Instead, teachers tended to rely on personal critical inquiry and infrequent practitioner meetings to inform practice. Suggestions for how to support the professional development needs of physics teachers better are discussed.

Advanced Techniques in Biology & Medicine

Arika, W.M., Ogola, P.E., Nyamai, D.W., Mawia, A.M., Wambua, F.K., Kiboi, N.G., Wambani, J.R., Njagi, S.M., Rachuonyo, H.O.,…

The present study was out to evaluate the antibacterial activity of crude ethanolic extract of Cocos nucifera (coconut) husk ash against some pathogenic bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli) and their wound healing potential in experimental rats. The wound healing potential of the ethanolic extract ointment of Cocos nucifera (coconut) husk ash was evaluated in albino rats using excision wound model. Eighteen rats were divided into three groups of six each. Group 1 received no treatment (blank ointment base) which is the negative control, Group II received treatment with 1% silver sulphadiazine and group III received treatment with coconut husk ash extract. 1% silver sulphadiazine ointment was used as standard for the activity comparison. Wound healing was monitored on day 4, 8, 12 and 16. Wound healing parameters such as percentage of wound contraction rate and epithelialization period were observed.

Artificial intelligence in healthcare

Kun‐Hsing Yu, Andrew L. Beam, Isaac S. Kohane

Global, regional, and national burden of Parkinson's disease, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

E. Ray Dorsey, Alexis Elbaz, Emma Nichols, Nooshin Abbasi, Foad Abd-Allah, Ahmed Abdelalim, José Carmelo Adsuar, Mustafa Gel…

BACKGROUND: Neurological disorders are now the leading source of disability globally, and ageing is increasing the burden of neurodegenerative disorders, including Parkinson's disease. We aimed to determine the global burden of Parkinson's disease between 1990 and 2016 to identify trends and to enable appropriate public health, medical, and scientific responses. METHODS: Through a systematic analysis of epidemiological studies, we estimated global, regional, and country-specific prevalence and years of life lived with disability for Parkinson's disease from 1990 to 2016. We estimated the proportion of mild, moderate, and severe Parkinson's disease on the basis of studies that used the Hoehn and Yahr scale and assigned disability weights to each level. We jointly modelled prevalence and excess mortality risk in a natural history model to derive estimates of deaths due to Parkinson's disease. Death counts were multiplied by values from the Global Burden of Disease study's standard life expectancy to compute years of life lost. Disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were computed as the sum of years lived with disability and years of life lost. We also analysed results based on the Socio-demographic Index, a compound measure of income per capita, education, and fertility. FINDINGS: In 2016, 6·1 million (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 5·0-7·3) individuals had Parkinson's disease globally, compared with 2·5 million (2·0-3·0) in 1990. This increase was not solely due to increasing numbers of older people, because age-standardised prevalence rates increased by 21·7% (95% UI 18·1-25·3) over the same period (compared with an increase of 74·3%, 95% UI 69·2-79·6, for crude prevalence rates). Parkinson's disease caused 3·2 million (95% UI 2·6-4·0) DALYs and 211 296 deaths (95% UI 167 771-265 160) in 2016. The male-to-female ratios of age-standardised prevalence rates were similar in 2016 (1·40, 95% UI 1·36-1·43) and 1990 (1·37, 1·34-1·40). From 1990 to 2016, age-standardised prevalence, DALY rates, and death rates increased for all global burden of disease regions except for southern Latin America, eastern Europe, and Oceania. In addition, age-standardised DALY rates generally increased across the Socio-demographic Index. INTERPRETATION: Over the past generation, the global burden of Parkinson's disease has more than doubled as a result of increasing numbers of older people, with potential contributions from longer disease duration and environmental factors. Demographic and potentially other factors are poised to increase the future burden of Parkinson's disease substantially. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The Lancet Commission on global mental health and sustainable development

Vikram Patel, Shekhar Saxena, Crick Lund, Graham Thornicroft, Florence Baingana, Paul Bolton, Dan Chisholm, Pamela Y. Collin…

Guidelines for Performing a Comprehensive Transthoracic Echocardiographic Examination in Adults: Recommendations from the American Society of Echocardiography

Carol Mitchell, Peter S. Rahko, Lori A. Blauwet, Barry Canaday, Joshua A. Finstuen, Michael Foster, Kenneth Horton, Kofo O. …

Physics classroom interactions: Teaching strategies and practices

Isaac Buabeng

This study investigated the interactions that occurred as part of the learning from a national survey of high school physics teachers in New Zealand (NZ) in relation to decile ranking. Specifically, the study investigated how often particular teaching strategies and practices such as: teaching approaches, teacher feedback and guidance, and ICT usage, occurred during physics teaching. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistical and inferential statistics – MANOVA. Among other things, the study revealed that learners were not exposed to the teaching methods that potentially give them the chance to observe, engage and/or discover expert strategies in context. There was a lack of use of problem-based or inquiry learning models for learning. However, there was no significant difference between teaching in the various decile rankings. The implications of the findings are discussed.

Global cancer statistics 2018: GLOBOCAN estimates of incidence and mortality worldwide for 36 cancers in 185 countries

Freddie Bray, Jacques Ferlay, Isabelle Soerjomataram, Rebecca L. Siegel, Lindsey A. Torre, Ahmedin Jemal

This article provides a status report on the global burden of cancer worldwide using the GLOBOCAN 2018 estimates of cancer incidence and mortality produced by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, with a focus on geographic variability across 20 world regions. There will be an estimated 18.1 million new cancer cases (17.0 million excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer) and 9.6 million cancer deaths (9.5 million excluding nonmelanoma skin cancer) in 2018. In both sexes combined, lung cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer (11.6% of the total cases) and the leading cause of cancer death (18.4% of the total cancer deaths), closely followed by female breast cancer (11.6%), prostate cancer (7.1%), and colorectal cancer (6.1%) for incidence and colorectal cancer (9.2%), stomach cancer (8.2%), and liver cancer (8.2%) for mortality. Lung cancer is the most frequent cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among males, followed by prostate and colorectal cancer (for incidence) and liver and stomach cancer (for mortality). Among females, breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death, followed by colorectal and lung cancer (for incidence), and vice versa (for mortality); cervical cancer ranks fourth for both incidence and mortality. The most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death, however, substantially vary across countries and within each country depending on the degree of economic development and associated social and life style factors. It is noteworthy that high-quality cancer registry data, the basis for planning and implementing evidence-based cancer control programs, are not available in most low- and middle-income countries. The Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development is an international partnership that supports better estimation, as well as the collection and use of local data, to prioritize and evaluate national cancer control efforts. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 2018;0:1-31. © 2018 American Cancer Society.

High-quality health systems in the Sustainable Development Goals era: time for a revolution

Margaret E. Kruk, Anna Gage, Catherine Arsenault, Keely Jordan, Hannah H. Leslie, Sanam Roder‐DeWan, Olusoji Adeyi, Pierre B…

and respecting all workers to deliver the best care possible. Fourth, governments and civil society should ignite demand for quality in the population to empower people to hold systems accountable and actively seek high-quality care. Additional targeted actions in areas such as health financing, management, district-level learning, and others can complement these efforts. What works in one setting might not work elsewhere, and improvement efforts should be adapted for local context and monitored. Funders should align their support with system-wide strategies rather than contribute to the proliferation of micro-level efforts.

PRISMA Extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR): Checklist and Explanation

Andrea C. Tricco, Erin Lillie, Wasifa Zarin, Kelly K. O’Brien, Heather Colquhoun, Danielle Levac, David Moher, Micah D.J. Pe…

Scoping reviews, a type of knowledge synthesis, follow a systematic approach to map evidence on a topic and identify main concepts, theories, sources, and knowledge gaps. Although more scoping reviews are being done, their methodological and reporting quality need improvement. This document presents the PRISMA-ScR (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews) checklist and explanation. The checklist was developed by a 24-member expert panel and 2 research leads following published guidance from the EQUATOR (Enhancing the QUAlity and Transparency Of health Research) Network. The final checklist contains 20 essential reporting items and 2 optional items. The authors provide a rationale and an example of good reporting for each item. The intent of the PRISMA-ScR is to help readers (including researchers, publishers, commissioners, policymakers, health care providers, guideline developers, and patients or consumers) develop a greater understanding of relevant terminology, core concepts, and key items to report for scoping reviews.

Understanding kinematics graphs using MBL tools, simulations and graph samples in an interactive engagement context in a Ghanaian university

Victor Antwi, Elwin Savelsbergh, Harrie Eijkelhof

Many students have problems when it comes to describing the shapes of displacement, velocity and acceleration-time graphs (x, v, a-t graphs), conversion of graphs from one form into another, and calculating and getting the meaning of slopes and areas under kinematics graphs. They often describe shapes of graphs as pictures and give interpretation without taking into cognizance of the type of graph being considered. In this study, 37 first year university physics students (Group One: 17 students and Group Two: 20 students) at the University of Education in Winneba (Ghana) in two consecutive years, were introduced to the use of microcomputer based laboratory (MBL) tools; simulations and graph samples to practice and describe the shapes of kinematics graphs; conversion of graphs from one form to the other; calculation of slopes and areas under kinematics graphs, and their meanings, all in an interactive engagement teaching. Students were made to answer the "Test of Understanding Graphs in Kinematics" (TUG-K) before and after the introduction of the use of MBL tools, simulations and graph samples. Students' scores were compiled and converted to mean proportion scores and average normalized gain 〈 g 〉, under the four concepts "Area under the graph (meaning and calculation); Slope (meaning and calculation); Graph description; and Graph transformation". The results indicate that the first year university students in the two groups all did better in describing the shapes of kinematics graphs, transforming kinematics graphs, calculating and getting the meaning of slopes and areas under kinematics graphs when they were tested with the same instrument after instruction in kinematics. This goes to show that MBL tools, simulations and graph samples when used in an interactive engagement manner can improve the teaching and learning of kinematics graphs in physics.

Review of Particle Physics

Masaharu Tanabashi, Katsuro Hagiwara, Ken‐ichi Hikasa, K. Nakamura, Y. Sumino, Fuminobu Takahashi, J. Tanaka, Kaustubh Agash…

The Review summarizes much of particle physics and cosmology. Using data from previous editions, plus 2,873 new measurements from 758 papers, we list, evaluate, and average measured properties of gauge bosons and the recently discovered Higgs boson, leptons, quarks, mesons, and baryons. We summarize searches for hypothetical particles such as supersymmetric particles, heavy bosons, axions, dark photons, etc. Particle properties and search limits are listed in Summary Tables. We give numerous tables, figures, formulae, and reviews of topics such as Higgs Boson Physics, Supersymmetry, Grand Unified Theories, Neutrino Mixing, Dark Energy, Dark Matter, Cosmology, Particle Detectors, Colliders, Probability and Statistics. Among the 118 reviews are many that are new or heavily revised, including a new review on Neutrinos in Cosmology.Starting with this edition, the Review is divided into two volumes. Volume 1 includes the Summary Tables and all review articles. Volume 2 consists of the Particle Listings. Review articles that were previously part of the Listings are now included in volume 1.The complete Review (both volumes) is published online on the website of the Particle Data Group (http://pdg.lbl.gov) and in a journal. Volume 1 is available in print as the PDG Book. A Particle Physics Booklet with the Summary Tables and essential tables, figures, and equations from selected review articles is also available.The 2018 edition of the Review of Particle Physics should be cited as: M. Tanabashi et al. (Particle Data Group), Phys. Rev. D 98, 030001 (2018).

Search for new physics with atoms and molecules

M. S. Safronova, Dmitry Budker, David DeMille, Derek F. Jackson Kimball, Andrei Derevianko, Charles W. Clark

Advances in atomic physics, such as cooling and trapping of atoms and molecules and developments in frequency metrology, have added orders of magnitude to the precision of atom-based clocks and sensors. Applications extend beyond atomic physics and this article reviews using these new techniques to address important challenges in physics and to look for variations in the fundamental constants, search for interactions beyond the standard model of particle physics, and test the principles of general relativity.

Global, Regional, and National Cancer Incidence, Mortality, Years of Life Lost, Years Lived With Disability, and Disability-Adjusted Life-Years for 29 Cancer Groups, 1990 to 2016

Christina Fitzmaurice, Tomi Akinyemiju, Faris Lami, Shazia Alam, Reza Alizadeh‐Navaei, Christine A. Allen, Ubai Alsharif, Ne…

Importance: The increasing burden due to cancer and other noncommunicable diseases poses a threat to human development, which has resulted in global political commitments reflected in the Sustainable Development Goals as well as the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan on Non-Communicable Diseases. To determine if these commitments have resulted in improved cancer control, quantitative assessments of the cancer burden are required. Objective: To assess the burden for 29 cancer groups over time to provide a framework for policy discussion, resource allocation, and research focus. Evidence Review: Cancer incidence, mortality, years lived with disability, years of life lost, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) were evaluated for 195 countries and territories by age and sex using the Global Burden of Disease study estimation methods. Levels and trends were analyzed over time, as well as by the Sociodemographic Index (SDI). Changes in incident cases were categorized by changes due to epidemiological vs demographic transition. Findings: In 2016, there were 17.2 million cancer cases worldwide and 8.9 million deaths. Cancer cases increased by 28% between 2006 and 2016. The smallest increase was seen in high SDI countries. Globally, population aging contributed 17%; population growth, 12%; and changes in age-specific rates, -1% to this change. The most common incident cancer globally for men was prostate cancer (1.4 million cases). The leading cause of cancer deaths and DALYs was tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer (1.2 million deaths and 25.4 million DALYs). For women, the most common incident cancer and the leading cause of cancer deaths and DALYs was breast cancer (1.7 million incident cases, 535 000 deaths, and 14.9 million DALYs). In 2016, cancer caused 213.2 million DALYs globally for both sexes combined. Between 2006 and 2016, the average annual age-standardized incidence rates for all cancers combined increased in 130 of 195 countries or territories, and the average annual age-standardized death rates decreased within that timeframe in 143 of 195 countries or territories. Conclusions and Relevance: Large disparities exist between countries in cancer incidence, deaths, and associated disability. Scaling up cancer prevention and ensuring universal access to cancer care are required for health equity and to fulfill the global commitments for noncommunicable disease and cancer control.

MobileNetV2: Inverted Residuals and Linear Bottlenecks

Mark Sandler, Andrew Howard, Menglong Zhu, Andrey Zhmoginov, Liang-Chieh Chen

In this paper we describe a new mobile architecture, MobileNetV2, that improves the state of the art performance of mobile models on multiple tasks and benchmarks as well as across a spectrum of different model sizes. We also describe efficient ways of applying these mobile models to object detection in a novel framework we call SSDLite. Additionally, we demonstrate how to build mobile semantic segmentation models through a reduced form of DeepLabv3 which we call Mobile DeepLabv3. is based on an inverted residual structure where the shortcut connections are between the thin bottleneck layers. The intermediate expansion layer uses lightweight depthwise convolutions to filter features as a source of non-linearity. Additionally, we find that it is important to remove non-linearities in the narrow layers in order to maintain representational power. We demonstrate that this improves performance and provide an intuition that led to this design. Finally, our approach allows decoupling of the input/output domains from the expressiveness of the transformation, which provides a convenient framework for further analysis. We measure our performance on ImageNet [1] classification, COCO object detection [2], VOC image segmentation [3]. We evaluate the trade-offs between accuracy, and number of operations measured by multiply-adds (MAdd), as well as actual latency, and the number of parameters.