Bowie State University

Objective: Explore deep learning applications in predictive analytics for public health data, identify challenges and trends, and then understand the current landscape. Materials and Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted in June 2023 to search articles on public health data in the context of deep learning, published from the inception of medical and computer science databases through June 2023. The review focused on diverse datasets, abstracting applications, challenges, and advancements in deep learning. Results: 2004 articles were reviewed, identifying 14 disease categories. Observed trends include explainable-AI, patient embedding learning, and integrating different data sources and employing deep learning models in health informatics. Noted challenges were technical reproducibility and handling sensitive data. Discussion: There has been a notable surge in deep learning applications on public health data publications since 2015. Consistent deep learning applications and models continue to be applied across public health data. Despite the wide applications, a standard approach still does not exist for addressing the outstanding challenges and issues in this field. Conclusion: Guidelines are needed for applying deep learning and models in public health data to improve FAIRness, efficiency, transparency, comparability, and interoperability of research. Interdisciplinary collaboration among data scientists, public health experts, and policymakers is needed to harness the full potential of deep learning.

Plant breeding originated in antiquity when humans domesticated crops about 10,000 years ago. Their efforts were advanced to a new level by early plant breeding pioneers armed with rudimentary information about reproduction and heredity. Then came Gregor Mendel, who laid down the scientific basis of heredity. Along with Charles Darwin's Theory of evolution by natural selection, classical genetics revolutionized the art and science of plant breeding in the twentieth century. However, the technologies of that period need to be improved to sustain the plant breeding industry in developing crop varieties for the twenty-first century. Not only is the global population on the increase, but the effects of climate change continue to modify the agricultural landscape, making the task of developing new varieties more complicated. As knowledge abounds, new technologies and techniques emerge to revolutionize plant breeding in the twenty-first century. Innovations notwithstanding, modern plant breeders must remain conversant with conventional plant breeding approaches that remain the bedrock of crop improvement. Modern tools help the breeding program to be more efficient and effective in getting a new and more productive variety to market more quickly. Conventional selection techniques, hybridization, and breeding schemes or methods are relevant today. Modern technologies like DNA marker-assisted selection, genomic-assisted breeding, whole genome sequencing, speed breeding, RNAi technology, and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology are revolutionizing 21st-century breeding. This chapter reviews the evolution of plant breeding technologies and techniques and their successes, prospects, and challenges.

Foraging during breeding is a demanding activity linked to breeding investment and possibly constrained by individual quality. Telomere length, the protective nucleoproteins located at the ends of the chromosomes, is considered a trait reflecting somatic maintenance and individual quality. Therefore, foraging effort and parental investment may be positively related to telomere length, if individuals with longer telomeres are of better quality and thus able to maintain better body condition and allocate more resources to parental activities. In the brown booby (Sula leucogaster), we investigated if telomere length is related to body mass (a proxy of condition) and whether variation in foraging behavior and provisioning effort is related to telomere length or body mass. Then, we explored whether variation in foraging and provisioning influences the chick mass growth rate. In 34 pairs nesting in Isla de San Jorge, in the Gulf of California, México, we sampled their blood to estimate telomere length, measured their body mass, and for 10 days, recorded their foraging behavior via global positioning system (GPS) loggers and their chick provisioning rate and chicks' mass growth rate. We found a positive relationship between parents' body mass and telomere length. Body mass did not affect foraging behavior. Females with longer telomeres were more prone to travel longer distances toward offshore and deeper waters than females with shorter telomeres. In contrast, males with longer telomere lengths performed more nearshore foraging trips than males with shorter telomeres. The chick provisioning rate was unrelated to telomere length or body mass, but females fed the chick at a rate 2.4 times greater than males. Females' offshore foraging, but not males', was positively related to chick mass growth rate. Our results suggest that individual quality, indicated by telomere length, is an important driver of sex‐specific, between‐individual variation in foraging behavior, indirectly affecting offspring condition.

This chapter provides a basic introduction to the concepts and practices of neuroscience, neuroculture, and neuroethics. It discusses where they stand, why they are so prominently on the rise, and what their perspectives are.

This chapter provides an introduction to neurophilosophy which is not a well-confined field but often rather the eclectic use of elements of the history of philosophy for the observation and further development of neuroscience and, in particular, neuroethics. This chapter describes its foundations in “post-humanistic” thought with particular regard to the traditional brain–mind dualism.

While posthumanism remains a strong influence on the concepts of neuroscience and neuroethics, there is a second major ideology that is impacting the orientation of the field: neurotranshumanism. Contrary to posthumanism, transhumanism aims at using neurotechnology to radically modify the use and concept of the human body and mind in order to progress, as fast as possible, beyond the existing human condition.

Many observers are convinced that given that neurotechnology is changing the traditional self-image of human beings throughout very different societies, it might ultimately induce a “posthuman” technological self that will be the new normal. This chapter explains what neuroanthropology is and how it is changing our perception of ourselves.

The approach of neurocivics posits the question of whether civic institutions are ready for moral bio-enhancement. This chapter introduces the term and practice of neurocivics and draws the perspectives.

Given that there are new ideological fights around the “right use” of neurotechnology and neuroscience, the divide between idealistic and realistic stances has widened. Sure is that a new neurorealism is needed to find a balance between empiricism and subjectivity, or the outer and the inner dimensions of what is addressed by neuroresearch.

This chapter provides an impression of applications in the field of the so-called “New Human Technologies (NHT).” It addresses Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) and their use and explains what neuroenhancement is and could become.

This chapter presents a conclusion and outlook on the future of neuroscience, neuroculture, and neuroethics. It discusses how these fields and their intersection might evolve and be further developed.

Contemporary neuropolitics opens new frontiers for policy and strategy due to the unprecedented bandwidth of actual and potential applications and directions of development. This chapter describes what neuropolitics is and where it might be going from here.

Neuroeconomics might change the crucial field of economics profoundly over the coming decades. This chapter introduces the term and explains the most important features of the nascent practices related to it.

The rising field of neuroethics is about combining a holistic approach with preparedness and precautions against the misuse of neurotechnologies. This chapter describes what neuroethics is, what it aims to achieve, and why it must be a trans-systemic and international endeavor.

This chapter describes and discusses the most important programs and visions of the field of neuroresearch and neuroscience developed over the past decades. Some have materialized, others have not, and the question is why, and what this means in the outlook.

The exponential growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices and smart technologies has escalated the risk of network intrusions, necessitating advanced Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) to ensure robust cybersecurity. This study presents a machine learning-based IDS framework tailored for IoT networks, employing Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE), binning techniques, and GridSearchCV for comprehensive feature selection and hyperparameter tuning. The CICIDS2017 dataset, a benchmark dataset for intrusion detection, is utilized to train and validate the models. The proposed pipeline begins with data pre-processing, including attribute verification, duplicate removal, and label encoding, followed by a detailed feature selection process. Recursive Feature Elimination (RFE) was utilized to identify and retain the most significant features, feature engineering incorporated domain knowledge to create new attributes and employed binning techniques to effectively manage continuous features and GridSearchCV was applied to identify the best parameter combinations. Multiple machines learning models, including LR, DT, RF, NB and SVM were analyzed and optimized through this comprehensive pipeline. Visualization techniques further enhanced understanding of feature importance and model behavior. The performance metrics reveal the effectiveness of the approach, with Random Forest achieving a remarkable accuracy of 99.78%, closely followed by Decision Tree at 99.50%. This underscores the efficacy of the methodology in addressing network intrusion detection challenges within IoT ecosystems. The framework provides a robust, scalable solution for securing interconnected systems against evolving cyber threats.

The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH) has played a significant role in American government since its establishment by President Reagan in 1982. Although not part of the President’s Cabinet, the PCAH serves as an advisory body directly appointed by the president to support and promote arts and humanities across the nation. Despite its non-partisan mission, the PCAH has not been immune to political turmoil. In 2017, following President Trump’s controversial comments on the Charlottesville violence, the PCAH members resigned en masse, leading to the committee’s temporary disbandment. President Biden reinstated the PCAH in 2022, emphasizing its importance in fostering civic engagement, social cohesion, and equity through the arts and humanities. This article features an interview with current PCAH members, including National Endowment for the Humanities Chair Shelly C. Lowe, Oscar- and Tony-award winner and PCAH Co-Chair Bruce Cohen, and PCAH member and interdisciplinary artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya. The discussion highlights their personal and professional journeys within the arts and humanities, underscoring the profound impact of cultural experiences on their lives. They advocate for continued government support, citing the arts and humanities as essential for a functioning democracy.