Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
Model Selection and Parameter Estimation in Neutrino Cosmology and High Energy Astrophysics Around the Galactic Center

Understanding the particle nature of dark matter and determining the properties of neutrinos remain two of the most important questions within the physics community. Both problems lie within the intersection between astrophysics and particle physics, a fact which gives rise to a rich set of independent and complementary approaches to making progress on both fronts. This thesis presents three works that attempt to construct models and constrain the properties of these particles using empirical data from a large host of astronomical observations. The first work uses observations from the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope’s Large Area Telescope (Fermi LAT) to construct empirical models of the diffuse gamma-ray background in the Galactic Center (GC). A new template associated with cosmic rays interacting with molecular gas is detected with high significance. Using this new template along with other known sources of gamma-ray emission in the GC, I find that the previously detected extended gamma-ray excess is still detected for all permutations of the background model, although its properties vary significantly within the observed range of models. The second work presents a detection of a new source of gamma-ray emission in the GC that traces the morphology of infrared starlight, again using observations from the Fermi LAT. I argue that this emission is likely due to the same source of cosmic rays responsible for producing the emission associated with the molecular gas template in the previous work, and further make the case that this population of cosmic rays could be produced by the same source responsible for the GC excess. The last work explores how derived neutrino parameter constraints depend on the assumed form of the primordial power spectrum, using constraints derived from a host of cosmological data sets, including cosmic microwave background, baryon acoustic oscillation, power spectrum, cluster counts, and hubble constant measurements. I find that for a model independent reconstruction of the primordial power spectrum, neutrino parameter constraints are robust. In addition, certain data sets suggest evidence for non-standard cosmological parameters, though this could also be attributed to systematics within the data.
Readiness-based differentiation in primary school mathematics: expert recommendations and teacher self-assessment

The diversity of students' achievement levels within classrooms has made it essential for teachers to adapt their lessons to the varying educational needs of their students ('differentiation'). However, the term differentiation has been interpreted in diverse ways and there is a need to specify what effective differentiation entails. Previous reports of low to moderate application of differentiation underscore the importance of practical guidelines for implementing differentiation. In two studies, we investigated how teachers should differentiate according to experts, as well as the degree to which teachers already apply the recommended strategies. Study 1 employed the Delphi technique and focus group discussions to achieve consensus among eleven mathematics experts regarding a feasible model for differentiation in primary mathematics. The experts agreed on a five- step cycle of differentiation: (1) identification of educational needs, (2) differentiated goals, (3) differentiated instruction, (4) differentiated practice, and (5) evaluation of progress and process. For each step, strategies were specified. In Study 2, the Differentiation Self-Assessment Questionnaire (DSAQ) was developed to investigate how teachers self-assess their use of the strategies recommended by the experts. While teachers (N = 268) were moderately positive about their application of the strategies overall, we also identified areas of relatively low usage (including differentiation for high-achieving students) which require attention in teacher professional development. Together, these two studies provide a model and strategies for differentiation in primary mathematics based on expert consensus, the DSAQ which can be employed in future studies, and insights into teachers' self-assessed application of specific aspects of differentiation.
Academic procrastinators, strategic delayers and something betwixt and between: An interview study

The study explored university undergraduates’ dilatory behaviour, more precisely, procrastination and strategic delaying. Using qualitative interview data, we applied a theory-driven and person-oriented approach to test the theoretical model of Klingsieck (2013). The sample consisted of 28 Bachelor students whose study pace had been slow during their first university year. Three student profiles emerged. The first concerned strategic delay and was represented by motivated students with strong self-efficacy beliefs who had intentionally postponed their studying. The second consisted of students whose delaying was unnecessary in nature; these students had minor self-regulation problems but were still motivated to study. The third profile consisted of procrastinating students who lacked self-regulation skills and had weaker self-efficacy beliefs. The results indicate that dilatory behaviour can vary from strategic delay to dysfunctional procrastination, and that different factors are related to these various types of dilatory behaviour. This study adds to our theoretical understanding of academic procrastination by empirically testing a new theoretical model of procrastination. In addition, the study opens a new ‘methodological path’ to explore dilatory behaviour qualitative instead of following a strong tradition of using quantitative methods.
What Works in School ? Expert and Novice Teachers ’ Beliefs about School Effectiveness

In 2009, John Hattie first published his extensive metasynthesis concerning determinants of student achievement. It provides an answer to the question: “What works in school? ” The present study examines how this question is answered by preand in-service teachers, how their beliefs correspond to the current state of research and whether they differ according to the teachers' level of expertise. Thus, it takes on a novel approach as it draws on data from two sources in the field of education -empirical research and teachers’ beliefs -and examines their similarities and differences. The teachers’ beliefs were elicited by asking N = 729 participants to estimate the effect sizes of several determinants of student achievement. Those were compared to the empirical effect sizes found by Hattie (2009). Profile correlations showed that expert teachers’ beliefs are more congruent with current research findings than those of novice teachers. We further examined where expert and novice teachers’ beliefs differ substantially from each other by using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and comparing group means in latent variables. Our findings suggest that teachers’ beliefs about school effectiveness are related to professional experience: Expert teachers showed a stronger overall congruence with empirical evidence, scoring higher in achievement-related variables and lower in variables concerning surfaceand infrastructural conditions of schooling as well as student-internal factors. Results are discussed with regard to teacher-education practices that emphasize research findings and challenge existing beliefs of (prospective) teachers.
IMPROVING THE RELIABILITY OF BOOTSTRAP TESTS WITH THE FAST DOUBLE BOOTSTRAP

Two procedures are proposed for estimating the rejection probabilities of bootstrap tests in Monte Carlo experiments without actually computing a bootstrap test for each replication. These procedures are only about twice as expensive (per replication) as estimating rejection probabilities for asymptotic tests. Then a new procedure is proposed for computing bootstrap P values that will often be more accurate than ordinary ones. This “fast double bootstrap” is closely related to the double bootstrap, but it is far less computationally demanding. Simulation results for three different cases suggest that the fast double bootstrap can be very useful in practice. JEL codes: C100, C120, C150 March, 2006. ha ls hs -0 04 39 24 7, v er si on 1 7 D ec 2 00 9
Controlling the Properties of 2D Chiral Fermions and Local Moments in Graphene

Controlling the Properties of 2D Chiral Fermions and Local Moments in Graphene Matthew P. Killi Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of Physics University of Toronto 2013 The primary subject of this thesis is graphene and how the rudimentary attributes of its charge carriers, and local moments on its surface, can be directly manipulated and controlled with electrostatic potentials. We first consider bilayer graphene subject to a spatially varying electrostatic potential that forms two neighbouring regions with opposite interlayer bias. Along the boundary, 1D chiral ‘kink’ states emerge. We find that these 1D modes behave as a strongly interacting Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid whose properties can be tuned via an external gate. Next, we consider superlattices in bilayer graphene. Superlattices are seen to have a more dramatic effect on bilayer graphene than monolayer graphene because the quasiparticles are changed in a fundamental way; the dispersion goes from a quadratic band touching point to linearly dispersing Dirac cones. We illustrate that a 1D superlattice of either the chemical potential or an interlayer bias generates multiple anisotropic Dirac cones. General arguments delineate how certain symmetries protect the Dirac points. We then map the Hamiltonian of an interlayer bias superlattice onto a coupled chain model comprised of ‘topological’ edge modes. We then discuss the relevance of spatially varying potentials to recent transport measurements. This is followed by another study that considers the effect of a magnetic field on graphene superlattices. We show that magnetotransport measurements in a weak per-
F ¨ Ur Mathematik in Den Naturwissenschaften Leipzig towards Understanding the Structure and Capacitance of Electrical Double Layer in Ionic Liquids towards Understanding the Structure and Capacitance of Electrical Double Layer in Ionic Liquids

In order to understand basic principles of the double layer formation in room temperature ionic liquids, we have performed Molecular Dynamic simulations for a simplified system: dense assembly of charged Lennard-Jones spheres between charged walls. For simplicity, in this first investigation we have considered the cations and anions of the same size. We have calculated the corresponding values of the double layer capacitance as a function of the electrode potential and compared the results with existing theories. We have found that the capacitance curve does not follow the U-shape of the Gouy-Chapman theory, but has a bell-shape in agreement with the mean-field theory that takes into account the effect of limited maximum packing of ions. The wings of capacitance decrease inversely proportional to the square root of electrode potential, as prescribed by the mean-field theory and the charge conservation law that the latter obeys at large electrode polarizations. We have found, however, that the mean-field theory does not quantitatively reproduce the simulation results at small electrode potentials, having detected there remarkable overscreening effects (ionic correlations). The plots for the distributions of ions near the electrode at different electrode charges show that for the considered system the double layer is not one layer thick. The overscreening effects, dominating near the potential at the point of zero charge (p.z.c.), are suppressed by the high electrode polarizations with the onset of the so called 'lattice saturation effect. ' The maximum of the capacitance bell coincides with the p.z. c. , but only for this 'symmetric' system: if sizes of cation and anion are different the maximum will be shifted away from the p.z. c.
Psychopathy , intelligence and emotional responding in a non-forensic sample : an experimental investigation

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The ‘neutron deficit’ in the JET tokamak

The measured D–D neutron rate of neutral beam heated JET baseline and hybrid H-modes in deuterium is found to be between approximately 50% and 100% of the neutron rate expected from the TRANSP code, depending on the plasma parameters. A number of candidate explanations for the shortfall, such as fuel dilution, errors in beam penetration and effectively available beam power have been excluded. As the neutron rate in JET is dominated by beam–plasma interactions, the ‘neutron deficit’ may be caused by a yet unidentified form of fast particle redistribution. Modelling, which assumes fast particle transport to be responsible for the deficit, indicates that such redistribution would have to happen at time scales faster than both the slowing down time and the energy confinement time. Sawteeth and edge localised modes are found to make no significant contribution to the deficit. There is also no obvious correlation with magnetohydrodynamic activity measured using magnetic probes at the tokamak vessel walls. Modelling of fast particle orbits in the 3D fields of neoclassical tearing modes shows that realistically sized islands can only contribute a few percent to the deficit. In view of these results it appears unlikely that the neutron deficit results from a single physical process in the plasma.
European Journal of Educational Research

: This study explores a socially relevant problem related to teachers' conceptions of hate speech from a gender perspective present in the discourse of teaching history and social science educational practices. The methodology was used within the paradigm with a case study design, as a generalization was not intended. The sample consisted of 80 professors of history and social sciences. A quantitative questionnaire was used to determine the conceptions of the participants. The main findings include the constraints placed by programs and curricula on the presence of hate speech, student interventions in classes, and strategies implemented by participating teachers to position counter-narratives to hate in their practice. The conclusions include the importance teachers place on analyzing the prevalence of hate speech in their practice, both by students and the media, and its impact on teaching. In addition, the results offer some educational insights and perspectives for positioning hate speech as a transformative social justice perspective
Job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the Hong Kong fast food industry

Studies of new employees’ socialization have gained importance in the fast food industry in view of the demand for high quality service in this increasingly competitive business environment. New employees in the industry are unique in terms of job expectations. The aim of this study was to investigate the unmet expectations of new employees, and the relationships between unmet expectations, job satisfaction and organizational commitment in the Hong Kong fast food industry. A sample of 203 employees from the industry was collected. The results show that expectations are normally unmet, and job characteristics, training and development, and compensation and fairness are related to satisfaction and commitment.
Dynamics of simultaneous epidemics on complex graphs

The subject of this thesis is the study of a system of multiple simultaneously spreading diseases, or strains of diseases, in a structured host population. The disease spread is modelled using the well-studied SEIR compartmental model; host population structure is imposed through the use of random graphs, in which each host individual is explicitly connected to a predetermined set of other individuals. Two different graph structures are used: Zipf power-law distributed graphs, in which individuals vary greatly in their number of contacts; and Poisson distributed graphs, in which there is very little variation in the number of contacts. Three separate explorations are undertaken. In the first, the extent to which two SEIR processes will overlap due to chance is examined in the case where they do not affect each other’s ability to spread. The overlap is found to increase with increased heterogeneity in the number of contacts, all things equal. Introducing differences in infection probability or a delay between introducing the two strains produces more complex dynamics. I then extend the model to allow strains to modify each other’s transmissibility. This is found to lead to modest changes in the size of the outbreak of affected strains, and larger effects on the size of the overlap. The extent of the effect is found to depend strongly on the order in which the strains are introduced to the population. Zipf graphs experience somewhat larger reductions in outbreak size and less reduction of overlap size, but overall the two graphs experience similar effects. This is due to the reduced effect of modification in key high-degree vertices in the Zipf graph being offset by higher local clustering. Finally, I introduce recombination and competition by replacement into the model from the first project. The number of recombinant strains that arise is found to be either very low or very high, with chance governing which occurs. Recombinant strains in Zipf distributed graphs have a significant chance of failing to spread, but not in Poisson distributed graphs. Replacement competition in the presence of a growing number of strains is found to both increase the chance of a strain failing to spread, and to reduce the overall size of outbreaks. This effect is equal in both graph types.
Computer Methods and Programs in Biomedicine

Background and objective: COVID-19 is a serious threat to human health. Traditional convolutional neural networks (CNNs) can realize medical image segmentation, whilst transformers can be used to perform machine vision tasks, because they have a better ability to capture long-range relationships than CNNs. The combination of CNN and transformers to complete the task of semantic segmentation has attracted intense research. Currently, it is challenging to segment medical images on limited data sets like that on COVID-19. Methods: This study proposes a lightweight transformer+CNN model
Positive expression of programmed death ligand-1 correlates with superior outcomes and might be a therapeutic target in primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma

Background: Primary pulmonary lymphoepithelioma-like carcinoma (LELC) is a rare subtype of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and no effective treatments have been defined for advanced disease. Programmed cell death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) is expressed in a group of cancers that may be suitable targets for specific immunotherapy. Methods: This study investigated the expression and clinical value of PD-L1 in pulmonary LELC. Seventy-nine patients with pulmonary LELC were investigated. Paraffin-embedded tumor sections were stained with PD-L1 antibody. Correlations of PD-L1 expression with clinicopathologic parameters and outcomes were analyzed. Results: Fifty patients (63.3%) were PD-L1 positive. The 3-year and 5-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate was 76.0% and 68.0%, respectively, and the 3-year and 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 88.0% and 79.0%, respectively. Kaplan–Meier analysis revealed that patients with positive PD-L1 expression had longer PFS and OS than those with negative PD-L1 expression ( P = 0.019 and P = 0.042, respectively). In a multivariate Cox regression model including age, tumor size, stage, and PD-L1 expression status, the latter three factors were found to be independent predictors of PFS ( P = 0.023, P = 0.000, and P = 0.009, respectively), but only stage was found to be an independent factor for OS ( P = 0.007), and PD-L1 expression status showed a trend to be independently correlated with OS ( P = 0.080). Conclusion: Our results showed that a large proportion of patients with pulmonary LELC had positive expression of PD-L1, supporting the potential use of anti-PD-1/PD-L1-targeted therapies in this distinct type of NSCLC. basis of potential targets for therapy and treatment protocols employed to the management of programs therapeutic and protocols perspectives
Three-dimensional elliptical cloak by impedance design of meta-composite cloak shell structure

Abstract Research into metamaterials with unique material properties has led to the development of acoustic cloaks. The use of a spatially transformed space makes it possible to change (i.e. redirect) the propagating path of an acoustic wave using an anisotropic shell material as a cloak. However, the cloak of an acoustic wave in air, based on spatial transformation, requires an anisotropic cloak shell with unique properties, such as a mass density less than air that is not found in nature and is hard to be realized. We overcome the difficulties by providing a new concept in acoustic metamaterial design based on the impedance of the cloak shell. Using this method, we propose a new meta-composite material structure and further, design an elliptic meta-composite cloak shell complying with a three-dimensional space transformation. The new meta-composite material comprises a specially designed structure of layered plastic block elements forming cavities and pipes, respectively. Analysis of acoustic waves passing through the cloak shell demonstrates the effectiveness of acoustic cloaking performance over a frequency range of 800 to 1250 Hz in a 1/3 octave band. The anisotropic properties of the proposed cloak make it possible to alter the direction of the acoustic waves propagating from the original path and direct them to travel along a pre-determined path. This meta-composite material design accomplishes the goal of realizing an invisible elliptical acoustic cloak in the air.
Working Papers / Documents de travail

We study physicians’ incentives to use personalized medicine techniques, replicating the physician’s trade-offs under the option of personalized medicine information. In a laboratory experiment where prospective physicians play a dual-agent real-effort game, we vary both the information structure (free access versus paid access to personalized medicine information) and the payment scheme (pay-for-performance (P4P), capitation (CAP) and fee-for-service (FFS)) by applying a within-subject design. Our results are threefold. i) Compared to FFS and CAP, the P4P payment scheme strongly impacts the decision to adopt personalized medicine. ii) Although expected to dominate the other schemes, P4P is not always efficient in transforming free access to personalized medicine into higher quality patient care. iii) When it has to be paid for, personalized medicine is positively associated with quality, suggesting that subjects tend to make better use of information that comes at a cost. We conclude that this last result can be considered a “commitment device”. However, quantification of our results suggests that the positive impact of the commitment device observed is not strong enough to justify generalizing paid access to personalized medicine.