cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Blurred Lines: How South Africa's Investigative Journalism has Changed with a New Democracy and Evolving Communication Tools
Creators: name: Schaver, Zoe
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2017

description: South Africa’s developing democracy, along with globalization and advances in technology, have created a confusing and chaotic environment for the country’s journalists. This research paper provides an overview of the history of the South African press, particularly the “alternative” press, since the early 1900s until 1994, when democracy came to South Africa. Through an in-depth analysis of the African National Congress’s relationship with the press, the commercialization of the press and new developments in technology and news accessibility over the past two decades, the paper goes on to argue that while journalists have been distracted by heated debates within the media and the government about press freedom, and while South African media companies have
aggressively cut costs and focused on urban areas, the South African press has lost touch with ordinary South Africans — especially historically disadvantaged South Africans, who are still struggling and who most need representation in news coverage.
Contraction of Hamiltonian $K$-spaces
Creators: name: Hilgert, Joachim
name: Manon, Christopher
name: Martens, Johan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Symplectic Geometry (math.SG)
subject: Algebraic Geometry (math.AG)
subject: Representation Theory (math.RT)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: In the spirit of recent work of Harada-Kaveh and Nishinou-Nohara-Ueda, we study the symplectic geometry of Popov's horospherical degenerations of complex algebraic varieties with the action of a complex linearly reductive group. We formulate an intrinsic symplectic contraction of a Hamiltonian space, which is a surjective, continuous map onto a new Hamiltonian space that is a symplectomorphism on an explicitly defined dense open subspace. This map is given by a precise formula, using techniques from the theory of symplectic reduction and symplectic implosion. We then show, using the Vinberg monoid, that the gradient-Hamiltonian flow for a horospherical degeneration of an algebraic variety gives rise to this contraction from a general fiber to the special fiber. We apply this construction to branching problems in representation theory, and finally we show how the Gel'fand-Tsetlin integrable system can be understood to arise this way.
description: v3: 42 pages, various minor edits, to appear in IMRN
Automated Identification of Performance Changes at Code Level
Creators: name: Reichelt, David Georg
name: Kühne, Stefan
name: Hasselbring, Wilhelm
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Software Engineering (cs.SE)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: D.2.5

description: To develop software with optimal performance, even small performance changes need to be identified. Identifying performance changes is challenging since the performance of software is influenced by non-deterministic factors. Therefore, not every performance change is measurable with reasonable effort. In this work, we discuss which performance changes are measurable at code level with reasonable measurement effort and how to identify them. We present (1) an analysis of the boundaries of measuring performance changes, (2) an approach for determining a configuration for reproducible performance change identification, and (3) an evaluation comparing of how well our approach is able to identify performance changes in the application server Jetty compared with the usage of Jetty's own performance regression benchmarks. Thereby, we find (1) that small performance differences are only measurable by fine-grained measurement workloads, (2) that performance changes caused by the change of one operation can be identified using a unit-test-sized workload definition and a suitable configuration, and (3) that using our approach identifies small performance regressions more efficiently than using Jetty's performance regression benchmarks.
description: 10 pages, 2022 IEEE 22nd International Conference on Software Quality, Reliability and Security (QRS)
Complex networks and public funding: the case of the 2007-2013 Italian program
Creators: name: Nicotri, Stefano
name: Tinelli, Eufemia
name: Amoroso, Nicola
name: Garuccio, Elena
name: Bellotti, Roberto
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Physics and Society (physics.soc-ph)
subject: Social and Information Networks (cs.SI)
subject: Data Analysis, Statistics and Probability (physics.data-an)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: In this paper we apply techniques of complex network analysis to data sources representing public funding programs and discuss the importance of the considered indicators for program evaluation. Starting from the Open Data repository of the 2007-2013 Italian Program Programma Operativo Nazionale 'Ricerca e Competitività' (PON R&C), we build a set of data models and perform network analysis over them. We discuss the obtained experimental results outlining interesting new perspectives that emerge from the application of the proposed methods to the socio-economical evaluation of funded programs.
description: 22 pages, 9 figures
Obesity and influenza virus: Is elevated leptin the mechanism for increased infection severity?
Creators: name: Robinson, Bret
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: Previous work from our laboratory demonstrated that obese mice have alterations in antiviral
cytokine gene expression when infected with the influenza virus. Since these cytokines play
a major role in the infected cells’ innate immune response, we evaluated the effects of leptin dosage
on expression of several cytokines during a flu infection in human alveolar lung epithelium
(A549 cells). Following 48 hours of infection by influenza A/Puerto Rico/8/1934 H1N1, increasing
leptin dosage resulted in significant decreases in expression of interferon-α (IFNα) and
monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1); a strong, similar trend was found for IFNβ, but it was
not statistically significant. No leptin dosage trends were found for IL-6 or for the amount of
viral particles released by cells into the supernatant. These data suggest that leptin contributes to
the increased flu severity in obese individuals by weakening the innate immune response.
The Gould Belt
Creators: name: Bobylev, V. V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: This review is devoted to studies of the Gould belt and the Local system. Since the Gould belt is the giant stellar-gas complex closest to the sun, its stellar component is characterized, along with the stellar associations and diffuse clusters, cold atomic and molecular gas, high-temperature coronal gas, and dust contained in it. Questions relating to the kinematic features of the Gould belt are discussed and the most interesting scenarios for its origin and evolution are examined.
description: 21 pages, 6 figures
title: The magnetic activity, winds and planets of young, cool stars
Creators: name: Nicholson, Belinda A
Publisher: name: University of Southern Queensland
Year: 2018
Subjects: subject: 020110 Stellar Astronomy and Planetary Systems

description: This thesis uses spectropolarimetry to observationally investigate the properties of dynamos and winds of young cool stars, and search for young planets. The techniques of Doppler Imaging and Zeeman Doppler Imaging were used to reconstruct the surface brightness and large-scale magnetic field morphologies of four low-mass weak-line T Tauri stars. The first sample consists of two solar mass stars of different ages, V1095 Sco (1 Myrs) and TWA 9A (10 Myrs). The second sample analysed consists of two 10 Myr old, M-type stars, TWA 25 (0.7 M⊙) and TWA 7 (0.4 M⊙). Taken together, the reconstructed brightness maps of these young cool stars show a wide variety in their morphologies, as do the reconstructed large-scale magnetic fields. These findings are in agreement with the results of the wider Magnetic Topologies of Young Stars and the Survival of close-in giant Exoplanets (MaTYSSE) large programme, of which this thesis is a part. The variations in radial velocity are examined for all four stars, using the brightness information where available to filter out activity jitter, improving the detection limits for close-in giant planets around these stars. In addition to this investigation of pre-main sequence stellar dynamos and young planetary systems, a time series of magnetic field observations of the planet-hosting young star T Boötis spanning more than half a decade - the longest to date - is used to infer changes in the stellar wind, and the resulting potential impacts on the orbiting planet. In overall terms, this thesis demonstrates that spectropolarimetry is a valuable tool for understanding the magnetic dynamos of young cool stars, modelling stellar winds, and for searching for planets in the presence of stellar activity. In future, spectropolarimetry used as part of radial velocity surveys can advance our understanding of the early evolution of cool stars and their planetary systems.
New mixed finite elements for the discretization of piezoelectric structures or macro-fibre composites
Creators: name: Pechstein, Astrid
name: Meindlhumer, Martin
name: Humer, Alexander
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Numerical Analysis (math.NA)
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: We propose a new three-dimensional formulation based on the mixed Tangential-Displacement Normal-Normal-Stress (TDNNS) method for elasticity. In elastic TDNNS elements, the tangential component of the displacement field and the normal component of the stress vector are degrees of freedom and continuous across inter-element interfaces. TDNNS finite elements have been shown to be locking-free with respect to shear locking in thin elements, which makes them suitable for the discretization of laminates or macro-fibre composites. In the current paper, we extend the formulation to piezoelectric materials by adding the electric potential as degree of freedom.
The Successes and Shortcomings of Implementing Environmental Health Policies in Health Care Facilities: the case of Malawi
Creators: name: McCord, Ryan
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2018

description: Establishing and maintaining safe, sufficient and effective Environmental Health (EH) conditions in health care facilities (HCFs), largely through water, sanitation and hygiene interventions, is critical to preventing and controlling infections and disseminating environmental health education. Malawi has recently drafted an EH policy with specific targets for HCFs, but there has been incomplete and unequal implementation of the policy. This study assesses the shortcomings and successes of implementing this and other EH related policies in Malawi’s HCFs. Through 53 interviews with EH officials from Malawi’s Ministry of Health, with representatives from the national to community level, we evaluate the implementation of these policies using Contextual Interaction Theory (CIT). Identified barriers include: limited political and financial support for and prioritization of the EH department; inadequate community mobilization; insufficient knowledge of policies and training of EH officials; staffing gaps in the EH working system leading to incomplete of reporting and supervision; and poor coordination with external actors leading to inefficient use of external resources to address existing service gaps. Respondents offered several solutions to these barriers, from which we propose several recommendations to improve the implementation process. Further research is needed to consider the cost-effectiveness and feasibility of these solutions to strengthen the implementation process within Malawi and elsewhere.
NuSTAR Observations of Magnetar 1E 1048.1-5937
Creators: name: Yang, C.
name: Archibald, R. F.
name: Vogel, J. K.
name: An, H.
name: Kaspi, V. M.
name: Guillot, S.
name: Beloborodov, A. M.
name: Pivovaroff, M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We report on simultaneous NuSTAR and XMM-Newton observations of the magnetar 1E 1048.1$-$5937 obtained in July 2013, along with Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) data for the same source obtained from December 2002 through March 2012. The NuSTAR data provide a clear detection of this magnetar's persistent emission up to 20 keV. We detect a previously unreported small secondary peak in the average pulse profile in the 7-10 keV band, which grows to an amplitude comparable to that of the main peak in the 10--20 keV band. We show using RXTE data that this secondary peak is likely transient. We find that the pulsed fraction increases with energy from a value of $\sim$0.55 at $\sim$2 keV to a value of $\sim$0.75 near 8 keV but shows evidence for decreasing at higher energies. After filtering out multiple bright X-ray bursts during the observation, we find that the phase-averaged spectrum from combined NuSTAR and XMM data is well described by an absorbed double blackbody plus power-law model, with no evidence for the spectral turn-up near $\sim$10 keV as has been seen in some other magnetars. Our data allow us to rule out a spectral turn-up similar to those seen in magnetars 4U 0142+61 and 1E 2259+586 of $ΔΓ>= 2$, where $ΔΓ$ is the difference between the soft-band and hard-band photon indexes. The absence of a significant spectral turn-up is consistent with what has been observed from a particularly active subset of magnetars having high spin-inferred magnetic fields, and with previously reported trends suggesting the degree of spectral turn-up is correlated with spin-down rate and/or spin-inferred magnetic field strength.
description: 14 pages, 8 figures. Accepted to APJ
Operational calculus and integral transforms for groups with finite propagation speed
Creators: name: Blower, Gordon
name: Doust, Ian
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Functional Analysis (math.FA)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Primary: 47A60, Secondary: 47D09

description: Let $A$ be the generator of a strongly continuous cosine family $(\cos (tA))_{t\in {\bf R}}$ on a complex Banach space $E$. The paper develops an operational calculus for integral transforms and functions of $A$ using the generalized harmonic analysis associated to certain hypergroups. It is shown that characters of hypergroups which have Laplace representations give rise to bounded operators on $E$. Examples include the Mellin transform and the Mehler--Fock transform. The paper uses functional calculus for the cosine family $\cos( t\sqrt Δ)$ which is associated with waves that travel at unit speed. The main results include an operational calculus theorem for Sturm--Liouville hypergroups with Laplace representation as well as analogues to the Kunze--Stein phenomenon in the hypergroup convolution setting.
description: arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1304.5868. Substantial revision to version 1
Evaluating the USDA's Farm Balance Sheet Forecasts
Creators: name: Cachay, Pedro Antonio Diaz
Publisher: name: Purdue University Graduate School
Year: 2023
Subjects: Agricultural economics

description: The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) forecasts the Farm Balance Sheet each year. The Farm Balance Sheet provides an estimate of the value of physical and financial assets in the United States agriculture sector over time (USDA, 2023). The forecasts evaluated in this paper are related to assets and debt in the farm sector, including total farm assets, farm assets real estate, total farm debt, farm debt real estate, and farm debt non-real estate. These forecasts predict the growth in the agricultural sector and help various stakeholders, such as policy makers, USDA program administrators, and agricultural lenders make important decisions. Given the importance of these forecasts in the agricultural sector, it is the main objective of this research to examine the degree to which the Farm Balance Sheet forecasts are optimal (unbiased and efficient). During this study, forecasts from the Farm Balance Sheet in the 1986-2021 period are found to be unbiased using Holden and Peel test (1990). Also, using efficiency tests by Nordhaus (1987), it was found that forecasts from the Farm Balance Sheet are inefficient. This, suggests all the information is not efficiently incorporated when the forecast is produced .
Role of different scattering mechanisms on the temperature dependence of transport in graphene
Creators: name: Sarkar, Suman
name: Amin, Kazi Rafsanjani
name: Modak, Ranjan
name: Singh, Amandeep
name: Mukerjee, Subroto
name: Bid, Aveek
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Detailed experimental and theoretical studies of the temperature dependence of the effect of different scattering mechanisms on electrical transport properties of graphene devices are presented. We find that for high mobility devices the transport properties are mainly governed by completely screened short range impurity scattering. On the other hand, for the low mobility devices transport properties are determined by both types of scattering potentials - long range due to ionized impurities and short range due to completely screened charged impurities. The results could be explained in the framework of Boltzmann transport equations involving the two independent scattering mechanisms.
description: Accepted for Publication in Scientific Reports, 2015
Effect of ARRA Expiration on the Diet Quality of Low-Income Americans
Creators: name: Brower, Alice
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2019

description: Food stamp benefits to low-income families were reduced in 2013, but little is known about the reduction’s impact on diet quality. To explore the mechanisms behind diet quality changes, this paper specifies the demand for sugar, saturated fat, encouraged and discouraged calories according to economic theory. Regression results indicate that diet quality is resistant to change, even whenbenefits are reduced which is consistent with other literature such as Waeher et al (2015). Results suggest that changing SNAP benefits alone will not significantly affect the diet quality of affected families.
A qualitative exploration of clinical psychologists’ experiences as leaders of intersectional power and its impact on their responses to privilege and discrimination
Creators: name: Daly, Aisling
Publisher: name: University of East London
Year: 2023
Subjects: Leadership; clinical psychology; discrimination; privilege; racism; whiteness

description: Background: Leadership and ‘inclusion’ are at the forefront of NHS policy and clinical psychologists (CPs) are considered to belong within this agenda. However, there lacks consensus on what leadership is. Nor is there clear guidance on how it can achieve ‘inclusion’. Current conceptualisations of leadership do not acknowledge the privilege and barriers faced by leaders, how they operate and their impact. Additionally, there is a lack of exploration of CPs perspectives, and minoritised and marginalised leaders’ experiences in particular. Aim: To explore how CP leaders of any background working in the UK define their leadership style and approach to issues around privilege and discrimination. Methodology: Semi structured interviews were conducted with twelve participants who self-identified as leaders and were of mixed demographic backgrounds. Responses were analysed within a critical realist framework using reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006). Results: The analysis generated one overarching theme reflecting the context within which leaders have long attempted to challenge discrimination, three subthemes and eight associated sub-themes. 1) Personal risks and challenges reflected ideas about the toll of their own personal experiences and effects on their relationships with others. 2) Fitting the leadership mould described how the profession of predominantly white CPs is no better at challenging discrimination than other professionals and despite being more readily accepted as leaders in contrast to racialised colleagues. 3) Leadership roles and responsibilities referenced divergent perspectives on the power, limits and responsibilities of leadership as well as a need to integrate personal and professional narratives. Conclusion: The study highlights divergent ideas about leaders’ roles and responsibilities when it comes to issues of privilege and discrimination and explores the role of Whiteness in relation to this. Recommendations to enhance CPs ability and capacity to manage and address discrimination include a critical exploration of the concept of leadership in addition to the crucial process of self-reflection for the benefit of service users, families, communities and the colleagues we serve and work alongside.
Applications of Gaussian Processes at Extreme Lengthscales: From Molecules to Black Holes
Creators: name: Griffiths, Ryan-Rhys
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2023
Subjects: subject: Machine Learning (stat.ML)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In many areas of the observational and experimental sciences data is scarce. Data observation in high-energy astrophysics is disrupted by celestial occlusions and limited telescope time while data derived from laboratory experiments in synthetic chemistry and materials science is time and cost-intensive to collect. On the other hand, knowledge about the data-generation mechanism is often available in the sciences, such as the measurement error of a piece of laboratory apparatus. Both characteristics, small data and knowledge of the underlying physics, make Gaussian processes (GPs) ideal candidates for fitting such datasets. GPs can make predictions with consideration of uncertainty, for example in the virtual screening of molecules and materials, and can also make inferences about incomplete data such as the latent emission signature from a black hole accretion disc. Furthermore, GPs are currently the workhorse model for Bayesian optimisation, a methodology foreseen to be a guide for laboratory experiments in scientific discovery campaigns. The first contribution of this thesis is to use GP modelling to reason about the latent emission signature from the Seyfert galaxy Markarian 335, and by extension, to reason about the applicability of various theoretical models of black hole accretion discs. The second contribution is to extend the GP framework to molecular and chemical reaction representations and to provide an open-source software library to enable the framework to be used by scientists. The third contribution is to leverage GPs to discover novel and performant photoswitch molecules. The fourth contribution is to introduce a Bayesian optimisation scheme capable of modelling aleatoric uncertainty to facilitate the identification of material compositions that possess intrinsic robustness to large scale fabrication processes.
description: PhD Thesis submitted at the University of Cambridge, August 2022. The thesis is based on a number of previous works also available on arXiv (see Introduction)
Renormalized solutions of semilinear equations involving measure data and operator corresponding to Dirichlet form
Creators: name: Klimsiak, Tomasz
name: Rozkosz, Andrzej
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Analysis of PDEs (math.AP)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: Primary: 35D99, Secondary: 35J61, 35K58, 60H30

description: We generalize the notion of renormalized solution to semilinear elliptic and parabolic equations involving operator associated with general (possibly nonlocal) regular Dirichlet form and smooth measure on the right-hand side. We show that under mild integrability assumption on the data a quasi-continuous function $u$ is a renormalized solution to an elliptic (or parabolic) equation in the sense of our definition iff $u$ is its probabilistic solution, i.e. $u$ can be represented by a suitable nonlinear Feynman-Kac formula. This implies in particular that for a broad class of local and nonlocal semilinear equations there exists a unique renormalized solution.
Family Pressure to be Thin and Parental Expectations of Perfectionism in Relation to Disordered Eating and Body Dissatisfaction in Young Adult Women
Creators: name: Alvarez, Alexandra
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between family pressure to be thin,
parental expectations of perfectionism, and their interaction on disordered eating attitudes and
behaviors in a college-aged female sample. At Time 1, a sample of 441 undergraduate women
completed the study measures through an online survey and 237 women of these women
completed the measures again one year later. As hypothesized, the results indicated that
concurrently, family pressure to be thin and parental expectations of perfectionism were each
significantly positively associated with broad eating pathology, dietary restraint, binge eating,
and body dissatisfaction. Additionally, the interaction of family pressure to be thin and parental
expectations of perfectionism was found to be a significant indicator of current levels of broad
eating pathology and body dissatisfaction, but not of disordered eating attitudes and behaviors
one year later. These findings support the dual pathway model proposed by Stice (1994) and
suggest that families are one of the critical sociocultural pressures that influence women’s body
image and eating pathology in young adulthood.
A cognitive neural architecture able to learn and communicate through natural language
Creators: name: Golosio, Bruno
name: Cangelosi, Angelo
name: Gamotina, Olesya
name: Masala, Giovanni Luca
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Computation and Language (cs.CL)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Communicative interactions involve a kind of procedural knowledge that is used by the human brain for processing verbal and nonverbal inputs and for language production. Although considerable work has been done on modeling human language abilities, it has been difficult to bring them together to a comprehensive tabula rasa system compatible with current knowledge of how verbal information is processed in the brain. This work presents a cognitive system, entirely based on a large-scale neural architecture, which was developed to shed light on the procedural knowledge involved in language elaboration. The main component of this system is the central executive, which is a supervising system that coordinates the other components of the working memory. In our model, the central executive is a neural network that takes as input the neural activation states of the short-term memory and yields as output mental actions, which control the flow of information among the working memory components through neural gating mechanisms. The proposed system is capable of learning to communicate through natural language starting from tabula rasa, without any a priori knowledge of the structure of phrases, meaning of words, role of the different classes of words, only by interacting with a human through a text-based interface, using an open-ended incremental learning process. It is able to learn nouns, verbs, adjectives, pronouns and other word classes, and to use them in expressive language. The model was validated on a corpus of 1587 input sentences, based on literature on early language assessment, at the level of about 4-years old child, and produced 521 output sentences, expressing a broad range of language processing functionalities.
description: The source code of the software, the User Guide and the datasets used for its validation are available in the ANNABELL web site at https://github.com/golosio/annabell/wiki
A 50 State Prison Policy Analysis on Media Access
Creators: name: Ajeen, Ayan
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2019

description: Conditions in jails and prisons are matters of great public importance. News media must have access to prisons to hold these facilities accountable. Through access, mistreatment can be brought to light and ultimately eliminated. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze state prison policies regarding media access and based on those policies, propose an ideal policy to be implemented. To analyze prison policies regarding media access across the fifty states, this study mainly incorporated the use of state policies. This study analyzed contemporaneous prison policies regarding media access of all fifty states and organized them into a table by interview and facility access policies. Based on the findings, this study concluded the most ideal policy is one that leans towards pro-media as well as pro-prisoner while still maintaining the safety of the facility. This would allow the media members to fulfill their role of holding the facility accountable, while leaving room for the facility to prioritize the safety of the individuals it houses and staffs.
An Exploration of the Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic on the Social Inclusion of Deaf Young People Eleanor Dewar
Creators: name: Dewar, Eleanor
Publisher: name: University of East London
Year: 2023
Subjects: Social inclusion
deaf young people
covid-19

description: The social inclusion of deaf children and young people (CYP) can be promoted or inhibited by a number of factors, including successful interactions with peers and teachers and deaf awareness within schools. The Covid-19 pandemic presented new challenges for the social inclusion of deaf CYP during this time due to the introduction of restrictions such as face masks and new ways of working, including online learning. There is, as yet, little research giving voice to the experiences of deaf children and young people during this time. This qualitative study explored the lived experiences of four deaf young people, aged between 11-15, attending mainstem schools during the time of the Covid-19 pandemic. The data was collected using in person semi-structured interviews. These interviews focused on the young people’s experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic and sought to explore the factors which acted as barriers and facilitators of their social inclusion during this time. The data was analysed using an Interpretative Phenomenological (IPA) approach. All four of the young people shared their experiences of facilitators and barriers for social inclusion during the Covid-19 pandemic. Four superordinate themes emerged from the data, which encompassed these facilitators and barriers: value of support, challenges, connectedness to peers, and self-reflections. Implications for educational professionals were explored using Allen et al’s. (2016) Socio-Ecological Framework of School Belonging, identifying that experiences of social inclusion for deaf CYP can be shaped by multiple levels of the system around the young person. A need for further deaf awareness within schools was outlined in order to continue create positive experiences of social inclusion for deaf CYP.
Evaluating North American Mountain Snowpack Extent in Regional Climate Models Using  MODIS Satellite Imagery
Creators: name: Lezine, Ekaterina
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2019

description: Mountain snowpack is a vital source of water for ecosystems, has a significant influence on the occurrence of wildfires, and provides water resources for billions of people globally. Despite the implications of climate change on mountain snowpack, we have few reliable ways of estimating global snowpack extent. In response to the lack of accurate methods of estimating mountain snowpack, Wrzesien et al. (2018) presented an estimate of snowpack extent for eleven North American mountain ranges using regional climate model (RCM) simulations. This research evaluates these model estimates using remote sensing imagery from the NASA Terra MODIS satellite instrument, providing further analysis of the usefulness of RCMs in estimating mountain snowpack. In comparison to MODIS, the RCM simulations generally perform well for most of the year for most ranges, though there is a trend towards spring overestimation of snow cover extent. Spatially, there is no clear trend in the performance of the RCM simulations. Further analysis using other remote sensing datasets could provide more insight into the ability of RCMs to accurately simulate mountain snowpack extent.
Model for the hyperfine structure of electronically-excited ${\rm KCs}$ molecules
Creators: name: Orbán, A.
name: Vexiau, R.
name: Krieglsteiner, O.
name: Nägerl, H. -C.
name: Dulieu, O.
name: Crubellier, A.
name: Bouloufa-Maafa, N.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Atomic Physics (physics.atom-ph)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: A model for determining the hyperfine structure of the excited electronic states of diatomic bialkali heteronuclear molecules is formulated from the atomic hyperfine interactions, and is applied to the case of bosonic $^{39}$KCs and fermionic $^{40}$KCs molecules. The hyperfine structure of the potential energy curves of the states correlated to the K($4s\,^2S_{1/2}$)+Cs($6p\,^2P_{1/2,3/2}$) dissociation limits is described in terms of different coupling schemes depending on the internuclear distance $R$. These results provide the first step in the calculation of the hyperfine structure of rovibrational levels of these excited molecular states in the perspective of the identification of efficient paths for creating ultracold ground-state KCs molecules.
description: 12 pages, 15 figures
Quantum conditional operations
Creators: name: Bisio, Alessandro
name: Dall'Arno, Michele
name: Perinotti, Paolo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: An essential element of classical computation is the "if-then" construct, that accepts a control bit and an arbitrary gate, and provides conditional execution of the gate depending on the value of the controlling bit. On the other hand, quantum theory prevents the existence of an analogous universal construct accepting a control qubit and an arbitrary quantum gate as its input. Nevertheless, there are controllable sets of quantum gates for which such a construct exists. Here we provide a necessary and sufficient condition for a set of unitary transformations to be controllable, and we give a complete characterization of controllable sets in the two dimensional case. This result reveals an interesting connection between the problem of controllability and the problem of extracting information from an unknown quantum gate while using it.
description: 7 pages
The distribution of language populations in an Ising model for language evolution.
Creators: name: Houghton, Conor
name: Oliver, Ludo
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2024

description: A poster presented at CCS24:

https://ccs24.cssociety.org/

The work is an elaboration of the model presented at

https://direct.mit.edu/isal/proceedings/isal2023/35/114/116937
Cortical composition hierarchy driven by spine proportion economical maximization or wire volume minimization
Creators: name: Karbowski, Jan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Neurons and Cognition (q-bio.NC)
subject: Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE)
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: The structure and quantitative composition of the cerebral cortex are interrelated with its computational capacity. Empirical data analyzed here indicate a certain hierarchy in local cortical composition. Specifically, neural wire, i.e., axons and dendrites take each about 1/3 of cortical space, spines and glia/astrocytes occupy each about $(1/3)^{2}$, and capillaries around $(1/3)^{4}$. Moreover, data analysis across species reveals that these fractions are roughly brain size independent, which suggests that they could be in some sense optimal and thus important for brain function. Is there any principle that sets them in this invariant way? This study first builds a model of local circuit in which neural wire, spines, astrocytes, and capillaries are mutually coupled elements and are treated within a single mathematical framework. Next, various forms of wire minimization rule (wire length, surface area, volume, or conduction delays) are analyzed, of which, only minimization of wire volume provides realistic results that are very close to the empirical cortical fractions. As an alternative, a new principle called "spine economy maximization" is proposed and investigated, which is associated with maximization of spine proportion in the cortex per spine size that yields equally good but more robust results. Additionally, a combination of wire cost and spine economy notions is considered as a meta-principle, and it is found that this proposition gives only marginally better results than either pure wire volume minimization or pure spine economy maximization, but only if spine economy component dominates. In sum, these results suggest that the new spine economy principle may be important for brain evolutionary design in a broader context.
description: Theoretical paper on optimization of connections in the brain, with comparison to the data
Edge states and topological insulating phases generated by curving a nanowire with Rashba spin-orbit coupling
Creators: name: Gentile, Paola
name: Cuoco, Mario
name: Ortix, Carmine
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We prove that curvature effects in low-dimensional nanomaterials can promote the generation of topological states of matter by considering the paradigmatic example of quantum wires with Rashba spin-orbit coupling, which are periodically corrugated at the nanometer scale. The effect of the periodic curvature generally results in the appearance of insulating phases with a corresponding novel butterfly spectrum characterized by the formation of fine measure complex regions of forbidden energies. When the Fermi energy lies in the gaps, the system displays localized end states protected by topology. We further show that for certain corrugation periods the system possesses topologically non-trivial insulating phases at half-filling. Our results suggest that the local curvature and the topology of the electronic states are inextricably intertwined in geometrically deformed nanomaterials.
description: 5 pages, 5 figures
THE DYNAMICS OF ENVY IN BRAND COMMUNITIES: EXAMINING THE IMPACT OF STATUS, DESERVINGNESS, AND SELF-BRAND CONNECTION
Creators: name: Alexander, Carter
Publisher: name: CARSON JOURNAL
Year: 2024
Subjects: Envy, Status Hierarchies, Brand Communities, Deservingness, Self-Brand Connection, Malicious Envy, Benign Envy, Upward Social Comparison, Prestige Products, Luxury Brands

description: Envy is a universal emotion that can be triggered by upward social comparisons and the possession of prestige products. In this research, we investigate the impact of status hierarchies within brand communities on the occurrence of Malicious and Benign Envy. We conducted two experiments to examine the antecedents and consequences of envy, as well as their effect on members of brand communities. We specifically focused on the role of deservingness and self-brand connection (SBC). In Experiment 1, we found that deservingness affects feelings of both Malicious and Benign Envy. Participants showed Benign Envy toward a higher status target who is deemed worthy of good fortune, but experienced Malicious Envy if the higher status member of the brand community was deemed unworthy of the good fortune. In Experiment 2, we manipulated deservingness and SBC to investigate their effects on the emotional presence of Malicious and Benign Envy. We found that for Malicious Envy, the impact of the source of the material item was greater for high SBC participants than for low SBC participants. Our research sheds light on the impact of status hierarchies within brand communities on Envy and provides insights into the role of deservingness and SBC in this process. The findings suggest that luxury brands can create hierarchical groups within their communities, leading to upward social comparisons and potential envy. We discuss the practical implications of our findings for marketers and brand managers, as well as future research directions
Backreaction for Einstein-Rosen waves coupled to a massless scalar field
Creators: name: Szybka, Sebastian J.
name: Wyrȩbowski, Michał J.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present a one-parameter family of exact solutions to Einstein equations that may be used to study the nature of the Green-Wald backreaction framework. Our explicit example is a family of Einstein-Rosen waves coupled to a massless scalar field. This solution may be reinterpreted as a generalized three-torus polarized Gowdy cosmology with scalar and gravitational waves. We use it to illustrate essential properties of the Green-Wald approach. Among other things we show that within our model the Green-Wald framework uniquely determines backreaction for finite size inhomogeneities on a predefined background. The results agree with those calculated in the Charach-Malin approach. In the vacuum limit, the Green-Wald, the Charach-Malin and the Isaacson method imply identical backreaction as expected.
description: 26 pages; minor changes to match published version
Scientific integrity, media coverage and impact of preprints reporting efficacy and/or safety of therapeutic interventions for COVID-19
Creators: name: Locher, Clara
name: Florian, NAUDET
Publisher: name: Open Science Framework
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences
subject: Medicine and Health Sciences
subject: Bioethics and Medical Ethics
subject: COVID-19, therapeutic interventions, preprint, communication, media

description: The COVID-19 outbreak has prompted an unprecedented use of preprint servers requiring to assess the integrity, handling and impact of this very fast communication of information between health science and public.
Social Predictors of Diet Quality in Galapagos, Ecuador
Creators: name: Watson, Elijah
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2019

description: OBJECTIVE: To examine the social predictors of diet quality and adequacy in Galapagos, Ecuador. METHODS: Data came from the 2012 Ecuador National Health and Nutrition Survey (N=665). Diet quality was operationalized by applying the Dietary Quality Index-International to 24-hour dietary recall data. Multivariate linear regression models were utilized to examine how social factors were associated with overall diet quality and dietary adequacy. Additionally, multivariate linear regression models were used to examine the social predictors of adequate intake of iron and calcium, which are both important for human growth and development, in respondents ages 18 and younger. RESULTS: Households that were larger, rural, and food insecure predicted lower dietary quality and adequacy. Women and respondents identifying as Mestizo had poorer diet quality. Having a head of household that was native to the Galapagos also predicted poorer diet quality and adequacy. For respondents under 18, adequate intake of iron was poorer for girls, especially those under age 5, in addition to boys under age 5. CONCLUSION: These results correspond with findings from similar studies examining the social determinants of diet quality. As the population of Galapagos continues to grow, so will the pressures on food systems and human health. Understanding the social predictors of diet quality is important for informing interventions that aim to reduce the dual burden of underweight/infectious disease and overweight/obesity in the Galapagos Islands.
title: Anomaly detection in brain imaging
Creators: name: Kascenas, Antanas
Publisher: name: University of Glasgow
Year: 2023

description: Modern healthcare systems employ a variety of medical imaging technologies, such as X-ray, MRI and CT, to improve patient outcomes, time and cost efficiency, and enable further research. Artificial intelligence and machine learning have shown promise in enhancing medical image analysis systems, leading to a proliferation of research in the field. However, many proposed approaches, such as image classification or segmentation, require large amounts of professional annotations, which are costly and time-consuming to acquire. Anomaly detection is an approach that requires less manual effort and thus can benefit from scaling to datasets of ever-increasing size. In this thesis, we focus on anomaly localisation for pathology detection with models trained on healthy data without dense annotations. We identify two key weaknesses of current image reconstruction-based anomaly detection methods: poor image reconstruction and overdependency on pixel/voxel intensity for identification of anomalies. To address these weaknesses, we develop two novel methods: denoising autoencoder and context-tolocal feature matching, respectively. Finally, we apply both methods to in-hospital data in collaboration with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. We discuss the issues of data collection, filtering, processing, and evaluation arising in applying anomaly detection methods beyond curated datasets. We design and run a clinical evaluation contrasting our proposed methods and revealing difficulties in gauging performance of anomaly detection systems. Our findings suggest that further research is needed to fully realise the potential of anomaly detection for practical medical imaging applications. Specifically, we suggest investigating anomaly detection methods that are able to take advantage of more types of supervision (e.g. weak-labels), more context (e.g. prior scans) and make structured end-to-end predictions (e.g. bounding boxes).
Quasilocal conservation laws from semicyclic irreducible representations of $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$ in $XXZ$ spin-$1/2$ chains
Creators: name: Zadnik, Lenart
name: Medenjak, Marko
name: Prosen, Tomaz
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We construct quasilocal conserved charges in the gapless ($|Δ| \le 1$) regime of the Heisenberg $XXZ$ spin-$1/2$ chain, using semicyclic irreducible representations of $U_q(\mathfrak{sl}_2)$. These representations are characterized by a periodic action of ladder operators, which act as generators of the aforementioned algebra. Unlike previously constructed conserved charges, the new ones do not preserve magnetization, i.e. they do not possess the $U(1)$ symmetry of the Hamiltonian. The possibility of application in relaxation dynamics resulting from $U(1)$-breaking quantum quenches is discussed.