cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
The limit sets of subgroups of lattices in $PSL(2,R)^r$
Creators: name: Geninska, Slavyana
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Group Theory (math.GR)
subject: Geometric Topology (math.GT)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 22E40 (Primary), 20H10 (Secondary)

description: In this paper we give a description of the possible limit sets of finitely generated subgroups of irreducible lattices in $PSL(2,R)^r$.
description: 18 pages, 3 figures; revised version according to the referee's suggestions. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1103.2555, arXiv:1001.1720
Scalable multi-class sampling via filtered sliced optimal transport
Creators: name: Salaün, Corentin
name: Georgiev, Iliyan
name: Seidel, Hans-Peter
name: Singh, Gurprit
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Graphics (cs.GR)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: We propose a multi-class point optimization formulation based on continuous Wasserstein barycenters. Our formulation is designed to handle hundreds to thousands of optimization objectives and comes with a practical optimization scheme. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our framework on various sampling applications like stippling, object placement, and Monte-Carlo integration. We a derive multi-class error bound for perceptual rendering error which can be minimized using our optimization. We provide source code at https://github.com/iribis/filtered-sliced-optimal-transport.
description: 15 pages, 17 figures, ACM Trans. Graph., Vol. 41, No. 6, Article 261. Publication date: December 2022
Proximity to death and participation in the long-term care market
Creators: name: Spector, William
name: Weaver, France
name: Stearns, Sally C.
name: Norton, Edward C.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2009

description: The extent to which increasing longevity increases per capita demand for long-term care depends on the degree to which utilization is concentrated at the end of life. We estimate the marginal effect of proximity to death, measured by being within two years of death, on the probabilities of nursing home and formal home care use, and we determine whether this effect differs by availability of informal care —i.e. marital status and co-residence with an adult child. The analysis uses a sample of elderly aged 70+ from the 1993-2002 Health and Retirement Study. Simultaneous probit models address the joint decisions to use long-term care and co-reside with an adult child. Overall, proximity to death significantly increases the probability of nursing home use by 50.0 percent and of formal home care use by 12.4 percent. Availability of informal support significantly reduces the effect of proximity to death. Among married elderly, proximity to death has no effect on institutionalization. In conclusion, proximity to death is one of the main drivers of long-term care use, but changes in sources of informal support, such as an increase in the proportion of married elderly, may lessen its importance in shaping the demand for long-term care.
Towards a Novel Mobility Regime? The Legacies of the COVID19 Pandemic Regarding the Governance of Human Movement
Creators: name: Achermann, Christine
name: Dahinden, Janine
name: Klauser, Francisco
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Migration
Research

description: Towards a Novel Mobility Regime? The Legacies of the COVID19 Pandemic Regarding the Governance of Human Movement is a project of the National Center of Competence "nccr – on the move "
Willingness-to-pay to avoid the time spent and discomfort associated with screening colonoscopy
Creators: name: Russell, Louise B.
name: Jonas, Daniel E.
name: Chou, Jon
name: Pignone, Michael
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: The screening colonoscopy process requires a considerable amount of time and some discomfort for patients.
Forecasting day ahead electricity spot prices: The impact of the EXAA to other European electricity markets
Creators: name: Ziel, Florian
name: Steinert, Rick
name: Husmann, Sven
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Trading and Market Microstructure (q-fin.TR)
subject: Econometrics (econ.EM)
subject: Statistical Finance (q-fin.ST)
subject: Applications (stat.AP)
subject: Other Statistics (stat.OT)
subject: FOS: Economics and business
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: In our paper we analyze the relationship between the day-ahead electricity price of the Energy Exchange Austria (EXAA) and other day-ahead electricity prices in Europe. We focus on markets, which settle their prices after the EXAA, which enables traders to include the EXAA price into their calculations. For each market we employ econometric models to incorporate the EXAA price and compare them with their counterparts without the price of the Austrian exchange. By employing a forecasting study, we find that electricity price models can be improved when EXAA prices are considered.
Phase transitions in a holographic s+p model with backreaction
Creators: name: Nie, Zhang-Yu
name: Cai, Rong-Gen
name: Gao, Xin
name: Li, Li
name: Zeng, Hui
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: Superconductivity (cond-mat.supr-con)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In a previous paper (arXiv:1309.2204, JHEP 1311 (2013) 087), we present a holographic s+p superconductor model with a scalar triplet charged under an SU(2) gauge field in the bulk. We also study the competition and coexistence of the s-wave and p-wave orders in the probe limit. In this work we continue to study the model by considering the full back-reaction The model shows a rich phase structure and various condensate behaviors such as the "n-type" and "u-type" ones, which are also known as reentrant phase transitions in condensed matter physics. The phase transitions to the p-wave phase or s+p coexisting phase become first order in strong back-reaction cases. In these first order phase transitions, the free energy curve always forms a swallow tail shape, in which the unstable s+p solution can also play an important role. The phase diagrams of this model are given in terms of the dimension of the scalar order and the temperature in the cases of eight different values of the back reaction parameter, which show that the region for the s+p coexisting phase is enlarged with a small or medium back reaction parameter, but is reduced in the strong back-reaction cases.
description: 15 pages(two-column), 9 figures
Does managed care affect the diffusion of psychotropic medications?
Creators: name: Domino, Marisa E.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: Newer technologies to treat many mental illnesses have shown substantial heterogeneity in diffusion rates across states. In this paper, I investigate whether variation in the level of managed care penetration is associated with changes in state-level diffusion of three newer classes of psychotropic medications in fee-for-service Medicaid programs from 1991-2005. Three different types of managed care programs are examined: capitated managed care, any type of managed care and behavioral health carve-outs. A fourth order polynomial fixed effect regression model is used to model the diffusion path of newer antidepressant and antipsychotic medications controlling for time-varying state characteristics. Substantial differences are found in the diffusion paths by the degree of managed care use in each state Medicaid program. The largest effect is seen through spillover effects of capitated managed care programs; states with greater capitated managed care have greater initial shares of newer psychotropic medications. The influence of carve-outs and of all types of managed care combined on the diffusion path was modest.
Testing General Relativity with Present and Future Astrophysical Observations
Creators: name: Berti, Emanuele
name: Barausse, Enrico
name: Cardoso, Vitor
name: Gualtieri, Leonardo
name: Pani, Paolo
name: Sperhake, Ulrich
name: Stein, Leo C.
name: Wex, Norbert
name: Yagi, Kent
name: Baker, Tessa
name: Burgess, C. P.
name: Coelho, Flávio S.
name: Doneva, Daniela
name: De Felice, Antonio
name: Ferreira, Pedro G.
name: Freire, Paulo C. C.
name: Healy, James
name: Herdeiro, Carlos
name: Horbatsch, Michael
name: Kleihaus, Burkhard
name: Klein, Antoine
name: Kokkotas, Kostas
name: Kunz, Jutta
name: Laguna, Pablo
name: Lang, Ryan N.
name: Li, Tjonnie G. F.
name: Littenberg, Tyson
name: Matas, Andrew
name: Mirshekari, Saeed
name: Okawa, Hirotada
name: Radu, Eugen
name: O'Shaughnessy, Richard
name: Sathyaprakash, Bangalore S.
name: Broeck, Chris Van Den
name: Winther, Hans A.
name: Witek, Helvi
name: Aghili, Mir Emad
name: Alsing, Justin
name: Bolen, Brett
name: Bombelli, Luca
name: Caudill, Sarah
name: Chen, Liang
name: Degollado, Juan Carlos
name: Fujita, Ryuichi
name: Gao, Caixia
name: Gerosa, Davide
name: Kamali, Saeed
name: Silva, Hector O.
name: Rosa, João G.
name: Sadeghian, Laleh
name: Sampaio, Marco
name: Sotani, Hajime
name: Zilhao, Miguel
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena (astro-ph.HE)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: One century after its formulation, Einstein's general relativity has made remarkable predictions and turned out to be compatible with all experimental tests. Most of these tests probe the theory in the weak-field regime, and there are theoretical and experimental reasons to believe that general relativity should be modified when gravitational fields are strong and spacetime curvature is large. The best astrophysical laboratories to probe strong-field gravity are black holes and neutron stars, whether isolated or in binary systems. We review the motivations to consider extensions of general relativity. We present a (necessarily incomplete) catalog of modified theories of gravity for which strong-field predictions have been computed and contrasted to Einstein's theory, and we summarize our current understanding of the structure and dynamics of compact objects in these theories. We discuss current bounds on modified gravity from binary pulsar and cosmological observations, and we highlight the potential of future gravitational wave measurements to inform us on the behavior of gravity in the strong-field regime.
description: 188 pages, 46 figures, 6 tables, 903 references. Matches version published in Classical and Quantum Gravity. Supplementary data files available at http://www.phy.olemiss.edu/~berti/research/ and http://centra.tecnico.ulisboa.pt/network/grit/files/
Normalization of quasinormal modes in leaky optical cavities and plasmonic resonators
Creators: name: Kristensen, Philip Trøst
name: Ge, Rong-Chun
name: Hughes, Stephen
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We discuss three formally different formulas for normalization of quasinormal modes currently in use for modeling optical cavities and plasmonic resonators and show that they are complementary and provide the same result. Regardless of the formula used for normalization, one can use the norm to define an effective mode volume for use in Purcell factor calculations.
United States Health Policies and Late-stage Breast and colorectal cancer diagnosis: Why such disparities by age?
Creators: name: Kuo, Tzy-Mey
name: Mobley, Lee R
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2015

description: BackgroundColorectal and breast cancers are the second most common causes of cancer deaths in the US. Population cancer screening rates are suboptimal and many cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage, which results in increased morbidity and mortality. Younger populations are more likely to be diagnosed at a later stage, and this age disparity is not well understood. We examine the associations between late-stage breast cancer (BC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnoses and multilevel factors, focusing on individual state regulations of insurance and health practitioners, and interactions between such policies and age. We expect state-level regulations are significant predictors of the rates of late-stage diagnosis among younger adults.MethodsWe included adults of all ages, with BC or CRC diagnosed between 2004 –2009, obtained from a newly available cancer population database covering 98% of all known new cancer cases. We included personal characteristics, linked with a set of county and state-level predictors based on residence. We applied multilevel models to robustly examine differences in risk of late-stage cancer diagnosis across age groups (defined as age 65+ or < 65), focusing specifically on the effects of state regulatory factors and their interactions with age.ResultsLate stage BC diagnoses range from 24%-36%, while CRC diagnoses range from 54%-60% of newly diagnosed BC or CRC cases across states. After controlling statistically for many confounding factors at three levels, age < 65 is the largest person-level predictor for CRC, while black race is the largest predictor for BC. State regulations of health markets exhibit significant interactions with age groups.ConclusionsThe state regulatory climate is an important predictor of late-stage BC and CRC diagnoses, especially among people younger than Medicare eligible age (65). State regulations can enhance the climate of access for younger, less well-insured or uninsured persons who fall outside normative screening guidelines.
Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics of weakly stochastically perturbed system of oscillators
Creators: name: Dymov, A.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: 82C05, 82C70

description: We consider a finite region of a $d$-dimensional lattice, $d\in\mathbb{N}$, of weakly coupled harmonic oscillators. The coupling is provided by a nearest-neighbour potential (harmonic or not) of size $\varepsilon$. Each oscillator weakly interacts by force of order $\varepsilon$ with its own stochastic Langevin thermostat of arbitrary positive temperature. We investigate limiting as $\varepsilon\rightarrow 0$ behaviour of solutions of the system and of the local energy of oscillators on long-time intervals of order $\varepsilon^{-1}$ and in a stationary regime. We show that it is governed by an effective equation which is a dissipative SDE with nondegenerate diffusion. Next we assume that the interaction potential is of size $\varepsilonλ$, where $λ$ is another small parameter, independent from $\varepsilon$. Solutions corresponding to this scaling describe small low temperature oscillations. We prove that in a stationary regime, under the limit $\varepsilon\rightarrow 0$, the main order in $λ$ of the averaged Hamiltonian energy flow is proportional to the gradient of temperature. We show that the coefficient of proportionality, which we call the conductivity, admits a representation through stationary space-time correlations of the energy flow. Most of the results and convergences we obtain are uniform with respect to the number of oscillators in the system.
description: 52 pages
Thermoelectric properties of semiconductor nanowire networks
Creators: name: Roslyak, Oleksiy
name: Piryatinski, Andrei
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: To examine thermoelectric (TE) properties of a semiconductor nanowire (NW) network, we propose a theoretical approach mapping the TE network on a two-port network. In contrast to a conventional single-port (i.e., resistor) network model, our model allows for large scale calculations showing convergence of TE figure of merit, $ZT$, with an increasing number of junctions. Using this model, numerical simulations are performed for the Bi$_2$Te$_3$ branched nanowire (BNW) and Cayley tree NW (CTNW) network. We find that the phonon scattering at the network junctions plays a dominant role in enhancing the network $ZT$. Specifically, disordered BNW and CTNW demonstrate an order of magnitude higher ZT enhancement compared to their ordered counterparts. Formation of preferential TE pathways in CTNW makes the network effectively behave as its BNW counterpart. We provide formalism for simulating large scale nanowire networks hinged upon experimentally measurable TE parameters of a single T-junction.
description: Revised version: 9 pages, 5 figures
Functionalising the wavefunction
Creators: name: Lorenzetti, Lorenzo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Functionalism is the view that being x is to play the role of x. This paper defends a functionalist account of three-dimensional entities in the context of Wave Function Realism (WFR), that can explain in detail how we can recover three-dimensional entities out of the wavefunction. In particular, the essay advocates for a novel version of WFR in terms of a functional reductionist approach in the style of David Lewis. This account entails reduction of the upper entities to the bottom ones, when the latter behave appropriately. As applied to WFR, it shows how the wavefunction can turn out to be identical to three-dimensional objects, provided certain conditions. The first major goal of the paper is thus to put forward an improved and more rigorous version of WFR, which dissolves several extant issues about the theory, and can serve as a starting point for the future literature about the topic. Moreover, the second major goal of the article is to take WFR as a case study to demonstrate the pros of functional reductionism, especially in the form defended here, thereby helping to bring this view back in the philosophy of science debate. The positive upshots of this paper suggest a possible application of functional reductionism also to other contexts.
A description of the social-ecological framework used in the trial of activity for adolescent girls (TAAG)
Creators: name: Elder, J. P.
name: Sallis, J. F.
name: Young, D. R.
name: Webber, L.
name: Lytle, L.
name: Stone, E.
name: Jobe, J. B.
name: Saksvig, B. I.
name: Simons-Morton, D.
name: Ribisl, K.
name: Pate, R.
name: Lohman, T.
name: Steckler, A.
name: Stevens, J.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2006

description: Social–ecological (SE) models are becoming more widely used in health behavior research. Applying SE models to the design of interventions is challenging because models must be tailor-made for each behavior and population, other theories need to be integrated into multilevel frameworks, and empirical research to guide model development is limited. The purpose of the present paper is to describe a SE framework that guided the intervention and measurement plans for a specific study. The trial of activity for adolescent girls (TAAG) is a multi-center study of interventions to reduce the decline of physical activity in adolescent girls. The TAAG framework incorporates operant learning theory, social cognitive theory, organizational change theory and the diffusion of innovation model in a multi-level model. The explicit and practical model developed for TAAG has already benefited the study and may have elements that can generalize to other health promotion studies.
Stability of Markov regenerative switched linear systems
Creators: name: Ogura, Masaki
name: Preciado, Victor M.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Systems and Control (eess.SY)
subject: Optimization and Control (math.OC)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
subject: FOS: Mathematics

description: In this paper, we give a necessary and sufficient condition for mean stability of switched linear systems having a Markov regenerative process as its switching signal. This class of switched linear systems, which we call Markov regenerative switched linear systems, contains Markov jump linear systems and semi-Markov jump linear systems as special cases. We show that a Markov regenerative switched linear system is $m$th mean stable if and only if a particular matrix is Schur stable, under the assumption that either $m$ is even or the system is positive.
Hamiltonian simulation with nearly optimal dependence on all parameters
Creators: name: Berry, Dominic W.
name: Childs, Andrew M.
name: Kothari, Robin
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present an algorithm for sparse Hamiltonian simulation whose complexity is optimal (up to log factors) as a function of all parameters of interest. Previous algorithms had optimal or near-optimal scaling in some parameters at the cost of poor scaling in others. Hamiltonian simulation via a quantum walk has optimal dependence on the sparsity at the expense of poor scaling in the allowed error. In contrast, an approach based on fractional-query simulation provides optimal scaling in the error at the expense of poor scaling in the sparsity. Here we combine the two approaches, achieving the best features of both. By implementing a linear combination of quantum walk steps with coefficients given by Bessel functions, our algorithm's complexity (as measured by the number of queries and 2-qubit gates) is logarithmic in the inverse error, and nearly linear in the product $τ$ of the evolution time, the sparsity, and the magnitude of the largest entry of the Hamiltonian. Our dependence on the error is optimal, and we prove a new lower bound showing that no algorithm can have sublinear dependence on $τ$.
description: 21 pages, corrects minor error in Lemma 7 in FOCS version
An experimental evaluation of a group- versus computer-based intervention to improve food portion size estimation skills
Creators: name: Ayala, Guadalupe Xochitl
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2006

description: The ability to accurately estimate and measure food portion sizes is important for preventing and treating obesity. This study describes the development, implementation and evaluation of a group- versus computer-based intervention to improve food portion estimation abilities using real food and food models. A convenience sample of 76 women was randomly assigned to one of three conditions: computer training, group training or a waitlist control condition. Assessments at baseline and 2 weeks post-intervention included portion size testing using real foods and food models, self-efficacy for judging portion sizes and using measuring utensils, and knowledge of portion information. At baseline, greater estimation errors were observed for amorphous foods. No group by time interaction was observed on estimation of real foods; however, both the computer and group training resulted in significant improvements in estimating the size of food models, greater self-efficacy for judging portion sizes and more accurate knowledge of portion information compared with the control condition. Process measures indicated that the group training was deemed more helpful and more personally relevant to the participants.
Process evaluation results from a school- and community-linked intervention: the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG)
Creators: name: Pickrel, J.
name: Pratt, C.
name: Lytle, L. A.
name: Moe, S. G.
name: Steckler, A.
name: Lee, J. -S.
name: Johnson, C. C.
name: Young, D. R.
name: Felton, G.
name: Grieser, M.
name: Cohen, S.
name: Raburn, B.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2007

description: Process evaluation is a component of intervention research that evaluates whether interventions are delivered and received as intended. Here, we describe the process evaluation results for the Trial of Activity for Adolescent Girls (TAAG) intervention. The intervention consisted of four synergistic components designed to provide supportive school- and community-linked environments to prevent the decline in physical activity in adolescent girls. Process evaluation results indicate that the intervention components were delivered from intervention staff to teachers with high fidelity (84–97%) to the protocol and with lower fidelity (range: 18–93%) from teachers to students. Physical activity programs for girls, a unique feature of the TAAG intervention, increased from a mean of 10 programs per school to a mean of 16 and 15 in years 1 and 2, respectively, in intervention schools, with no change in control schools. These findings suggest that a multicomponent school- and community-based physical activity intervention can be delivered with fidelity and result in a middle school environment that supports physical activity for girls.
On robustness of discrete time optimal filters
Creators: name: Kleptsyna, Marina
name: Veretennikov, Alexander
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Probability (math.PR)
subject: FOS: Mathematics
subject: 60G35, 93E11, 94A12

description: A new result on stability of an optimal nonlinear filter with respect to small perturbations on every step is established.
description: The 2nd version is 19 pages long and has 8 references (the old one was 12 pages with 6 references); a gap in the 1st version is filled in
Storage of household firearms: an examination of the attitudes and beliefs of married women with children
Creators: name: Runyan, C. W.
name: Lewis, M. A.
name: Johnson, R. M.
name: Bowling, J. M.
name: Coyne-Beasley, T.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2007

description: Although safe firearm storage is a promising injury prevention strategy, many parents do not keep their firearms unloaded and locked up. Using the theory of planned behavior as a guiding conceptual framework, this study examines factors associated with safe storage among married women with children and who have firearms in their homes. Data come from a national telephone survey (n = 185). We examined beliefs about defensive firearm use, subjective norms, perceived behavioral control and firearm storage practices. A Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test was conducted to assess associations between psychosocial factors and firearm storage practices. Women were highly motivated to keep firearms stored safely. Those reporting safe storage practices had more favorable attitudes, more supportive subjective norms and higher perceptions of behavioral control than those without safe storage. One-fourth believed a firearm would prevent a family member from being hurt in case of a break-in, 58% believed a firearm could scare off a burglar. Some 63% said they leave decisions about firearm storage to their husbands. Women were highly motivated to store firearms safely as evidenced by favorable attitudes, supportive subjective norms and high perceptions of behavioral control. This was especially true for those reporting safer storage practices.
Constraints on hybrid metric-Palatini models from background evolution
Creators: name: Lima, Nelson A.
name: Smer-Barreto, Vanessa
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this work, we introduce two models of the hybrid metric-Palatini theory of gravitation. We explore their background evolution, showing explicitly that one recovers standard General Relativity with an effective Cosmological Constant at late times. This happens because the Palatini Ricci scalar evolves towards and asymptotically settles at the minimum of its effective potential during cosmological evolution. We then use a combination of cosmic microwave background, supernovae and baryonic accoustic oscillations background data to constrain the models' free parameters. For both models, we are able to constrain the maximum deviation from the gravitational constant $G$ one can have at early times to be around $1\%$.
description: 16 pages, 5 figures. Minor corrections and discussion added to match version accepted by ApJ
Assistive Technology for the Visually Impaired: Optimizing Frame Rate (Freshness) to Improve the Performance of Real-Time Objects Detection Application.
Creators: name: Barakat, Basel
name: Steponenaite, Aiste
name: Lall, Gurprit S
name: Arshad, Kamran
name: Wassell, Ian J
name: Keates, Simeon
Publisher: name: Springer
Year: 2020
Subjects: 46 Information and Computing Sciences
4608 Human-Centred Computing
Bioengineering
Assistive Technology

description: It has been 100+ years since the world’s first commercial radio station started. This century witnessed several astonishing inventions (e.g. the computer, internet and mobiles) that have shaped the way we work and socialize. With the start of a new decade, it is evident that we are becoming more reliant on these new technologies as the majority of the world population relies on the new technology on a daily basis. As world’s population is becoming reliant on new technologies and we are shaping our lives around it, it is of paramount importance to consider those people who struggle in using the new technologies and inventions. In this paper, we are presenting an algorithm and a framework that helps partially sighted people to locate their essential belongings. The framework integrates state-of-the-art technologies from computer vision, speech recognition and communication queueing theory to create a framework that can be implemented on low computing power platforms. The framework verbally communicates with the users to identify the object they are aiming to find and then notify them when it is within the range.
A Multimodal Approach for Dementia Detection from Spontaneous Speech with Tensor Fusion Layer
Creators: name: Ilias, Loukas
name: Askounis, Dimitris
name: Psarras, John
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Computation and Language (cs.CL)
subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: Sound (cs.SD)
subject: Audio and Speech Processing (eess.AS)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering

description: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurological disorder, meaning that the symptoms develop gradually throughout the years. It is also the main cause of dementia, which affects memory, thinking skills, and mental abilities. Nowadays, researchers have moved their interest towards AD detection from spontaneous speech, since it constitutes a time-effective procedure. However, existing state-of-the-art works proposing multimodal approaches do not take into consideration the inter- and intra-modal interactions and propose early and late fusion approaches. To tackle these limitations, we propose deep neural networks, which can be trained in an end-to-end trainable way and capture the inter- and intra-modal interactions. Firstly, each audio file is converted to an image consisting of three channels, i.e., log-Mel spectrogram, delta, and delta-delta. Next, each transcript is passed through a BERT model followed by a gated self-attention layer. Similarly, each image is passed through a Swin Transformer followed by an independent gated self-attention layer. Acoustic features are extracted also from each audio file. Finally, the representation vectors from the different modalities are fed to a tensor fusion layer for capturing the inter-modal interactions. Extensive experiments conducted on the ADReSS Challenge dataset indicate that our introduced approaches obtain valuable advantages over existing research initiatives reaching Accuracy and F1-score up to 86.25% and 85.48% respectively.
description: 2022 IEEE-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics (BHI) - Oral Presentation
Dispersion relations of strained as well as complex Lieb lattices
Creators: name: Zhang, Yiqi
name: Belić, Milivoj
name: Zhong, Weiping
name: Li, Changbiao
name: Chen, Haixia
name: Zhang, Yanpeng
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We investigate the dispersion relations of strained as well as complex Lieb lattices systematically based on the tight-binding method when the nearest-neighbor approximation is adopted. We find that edge states will no appear for strained Lieb lattices and $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetry Lieb lattice cannot be obtained.
description: The edge state is controversial and the density of state should be discussed, therefore we plan to withdraw it for a promotion
Outcome effectiveness of the lay health advisor model among Latinos in the United States: an examination by role
Creators: name: Vaz, L.
name: Elder, J. P.
name: Ayala, G. X.
name: Cherrington, A.
name: Earp, J. A.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2010

description: The objective of this study was to examine lay health advisor (LHA) programs designed to promote health among US Latinos and the extent to which educator-only versus educator-plus-bridge programs differed in designs and outcomes achieved. Two independent coders reviewed 128 published articles on LHAs yielding information at two levels: (i) study design and participant and LHA characteristics from 61 studies that broadly compared educator-only versus educator-plus-bridge programs and (ii) implementation features and outcomes from 17 randomized controlled trials or quasi-experimental studies with outcome data. LHA programs have been widely used with Latinos in certain US regions; our findings indicate that LHAs are effective intervention agents. We identified differences between educator-only and educator-plus-bridge LHA programs, although the small number of educator-plus-bridge programs with outcome data limited comparisons. Major gaps remain in research targeting Latino subgroups other than Mexican immigrants/Mexican Americans. Sufficient research has evaluated LHA programs among Latinos on their ability to achieve health behavior and/or health status changes. In the future, more of a focus on organizational and policy changes is warranted. Questions remain about diversity in LHAs’ characteristics and roles, which influence not only outcomes but also program sustainability and dissemination.
Building a Data Lifecycle Management Toolkit to Support Diversity Scholarship
Creators: name: Woodbrook, Rachel
Publisher: name: My University
Year: 2022
Subjects: DEIA
Diversity Scholarship
Data Management

description: There are increasing demands on researchers to continue refining their data practices, including requirements for data sharing coming from federal and other funders. However, support to appropriately manage and assess data (e.g., for sharing) is nonstandard and inconsistent, often relying on the resources of specific institutions, mentors, or individual experience. This is likely to have a disproportionate impact on scholars doing work with data on sensitive populations or that otherwise require extra care, as well as those scholars from underrepresented backgrounds, without well-resourced institutional affiliations, or who otherwise face structural barriers in their work. Acknowledging that resolving these issues requires larger shifts in the research infrastructure, this presentation will discuss the content and creation of an openly-available toolkit of data lifecycle management resources to support diversity scholarship (scholarship that advances understanding of identity, difference, culture, representation, power, oppression, and inequality). While things have started shifting in recent years, there are still not enough easily accessible resources that explicitly integrate DEIA (and similar) concerns into the full spectrum of data management. The toolkit creation process included original research conducted in collaboration with a campus organization for diversity scholars to identify needs and gaps in support, as well as an environmental scan of existing resources which were evaluated and selected based on set criteria. The end result is a curated set of resources relevant to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility considerations for data management in multiple disciplines. The presentation will also briefly discuss the role of this partnership in conducting the research and in plans for sharing the toolkit with researchers, as well as plans for sustainability and engaging scholars in revision of the toolkit moving forward. Also available at https://osf.io/gvjhb
Evidence-based practice in school substance use prevention: fidelity of implementation under real-world conditions
Creators: name: Ringwalt, C. L.
name: Hanley, S.
name: Bowling, J. M.
name: Rohrbach, L. A.
name: Vincus, A. A.
name: Ennett, S. T.
name: Haws, S.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2011

description: Fidelity of program implementation under real-world conditions is a critical issue in the dissemination of evidence-based school substance use prevention curricula. Program effects are diminished when programs are implemented with poor fidelity. We assessed five domains of fidelity—adherence, exposure (dosage), quality of delivery, participant responsiveness and program differentiation (lack of contamination from other programs)—in a subset of respondents (N = 342) from a national random sample of public schools with middle school grades (N = 1721). Respondents taught 1 of 10 evidence-based universal substance use prevention programs as their primary program during the 2004–05 school year. Their responses to survey questions about their recent implementation practices indicated that fidelity was high for quality of delivery and participant responsiveness, low for program differentiation and modest for adherence and exposure—the two core domains of fidelity. Results suggest the need for continued emphasis on fidelity in program materials, trainings and on-going technical support. Particular attention should be paid to supporting use of interactive delivery strategies.
Analysis of photometric and spectroscopic variability of red supergiant Betelgeuse
Creators: name: Jadlovsky, Daniel
name: Krticka, Jiri
name: Paunzen, Ernst
name: Stefl, Vladimir
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2022
Subjects: subject: Solar and Stellar Astrophysics (astro-ph.SR)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Betelgeuse is a pulsating red supergiant whose brightness is semi periodically variable and in February 2020 reached a historical minimum, the Great Dimming. The aims of this study are to characterize Betelgeuse's variability based on available archival data and to study possible causes of light variability. Many spectra, from ultraviolet and optical regions, were evaluated for spectral analysis. The spectra were used primarily to determine radial velocities from different layers of atmosphere and their long{-}term evolution. Additionally, photometric data were analyzed in different filters as well, to construct light curves and to determine periods of the variability. Spectroscopic and photometric variability are compared to each other and given into a context with the Great Dimming. The two most dominant photometric periods are $ P_{1} = 2190 \pm 270 \: \rm d $ and $ P_{2} = 417 \pm 17 \: \rm d $, while the dominant optical radial velocity periods are $ P_{1, v_{\rm r}} = 2510 \pm 440 \: \rm d $ and $ P_{2, v_{\rm r}} = 415 \pm 11 \: \rm d $. In the same time, the radial velocity determined from ultraviolet spectra also shows variability and is distinctively different from the variability of photospheric velocity, undergoing longer periods of variability. We attribute these velocities to the velocities at the base of outflowing wind. We also report a maximum of stellar wind velocity during the Great Dimming, accompanied by the previously reported minimum of brightness and the maximum of photospheric radial velocity. After the Dimming, Betelgeuse mode of variability has fundamentally changed and is now instead following a shorter period of $ \sim 200 \: \rm d $.
description: 12 pages, 4 figures, 5 tables
Regge calculus models of the closed vacuum $Λ$-FLRW universe
Creators: name: Liu, Rex G.
name: Williams, Ruth M.
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: The Collins-Williams Regge calculus models of FLRW space-times and Brewin's subdivided models are applied to closed vacuum $Λ$-FLRW universes. In each case, we embed the Regge Cauchy surfaces into 3-spheres in $\mathbf{E}^4$ and consider possible measures of Cauchy surface radius that can be derived from the embedding. Regge equations are obtained from both global variation, where entire sets of identical edges get varied simultaneously, and local variation, where each edge gets varied individually. We explore the relationship between the two sets of solutions, the conditions under which the Regge Hamiltonian constraint would be a first integral of the evolution equation, the initial value equation for each model at its moment of time symmetry, and the performance of the various models. It is revealed that local variation does not generally lead to a viable Regge model. It is also demonstrated that the various models do satisfy their respective initial value equations. Finally, it is shown that the models reproduce the behaviour of the continuum model rather well initially, with performance improving as we increase the number of tetrahedra used to construct the Regge Cauchy surface. Eventually though, all models gradually fail to keep up with the continuum FLRW model's expansion, with the models with lower numbers of tetrahedra falling away more quickly. We believe this failure to keep up is due to the finite resolution of the Regge Cauchy surfaces trying to approximate an ever expanding continuum Cauchy surface; each Regge surface has a fixed number of tetrahedra and as the surface being approximated gets larger, the resolution would degrade. Finally, we note that all Regge models end abruptly at a point when the time-like struts of the skeleton become null, though this end-point appears to get delayed as the number of tetrahedra is increased.
description: 35 pages, 16 figures. Version accepted for publication. Expanded context in Introduction. Elaborated what happens when time-like struts turn null. Added further comments to interpretation of results
Parent and child characteristics related to chosen adolescent alcohol and drug prevention program
Creators: name: Spoth, R.
name: Bauman, K.
name: Miller, B. A.
name: Byrnes, H. F.
name: Aalborg, A. E.
Publisher: name: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill University Libraries
Year: 2012

description: Mothers were allowed to choose between two different family-based adolescent alcohol–drug prevention strategies and the choice was examined in relation to parent and teen characteristics. Under real world conditions, parents are making choices regarding health promotion strategies for their adolescents and little is known about how parent and teen characteristics interact with programs chosen. The two programs were: Family Matters (FM) (Bauman KE, Foshee VA, Ennett ST et al. Family Matters: a family-directed program designed to prevent adolescent tobacco and alcohol use. Health Promot Pract 2001; 2: 81–96) and Strengthening Families Program (SFP) 10–14 (Spoth R, Redmond C, Lepper H. Alcohol initiation outcomes of universal family-focused preventive interventions: one- and two-year follow-ups of a controlled study. J Stud Alcohol Suppl 1999; 13: 103–11). A total of 272 families with an 11–12 years old enrolled in health care centers were in the choice condition of the larger study. SFP requires group meetings at specified times and thus demanded more specific time commitments from families. In contrast, FM is self-directed through booklets and is delivered in the home at a time chosen by the families. Mothers were significantly more likely to choose SFP when the adolescent had more problem behaviors. Mothers with greater education were more likely to choose FM. Findings may provide more real-world understanding of how some families are more likely to engage in one type of intervention over another. This understanding offers practical information for developing health promotion systems to service the diversity of families in the community.
Ultracold bosons with short-range interaction in regular optical lattices
Creators: name: Krutitsky, K. V.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Quantum Gases (cond-mat.quant-gas)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: During the last decade, many exciting phenomena have been experimentally observed and theoretically predicted for ultracold atoms in optical lattices. This paper reviews these rapid developments concentrating mainly on the theory. Different types of the bosonic systems in homogeneous lattices of different dimensions as well as in the presence of harmonic traps are considered. An overview of the theoretical methods used for these investigations as well as of the obtained results is given. Available experimental techniques are presented and discussed in connection with theoretical considerations. Eigenstates of the interacting bosons in homogeneous lattices and in the presence of harmonic confinement are analysed. Their knowledge is essential for understanding of quantum phase transitions at zero and finite temperature.
Bloch-like waves in random-walk potentials based on supersymmetry
Creators: name: Yu, Sunkyu
name: Piao, Xianji
name: Hong, Jiho
name: Park, Namkyoo
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2015
Subjects: subject: Optics (physics.optics)
subject: Disordered Systems and Neural Networks (cond-mat.dis-nn)
subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: Bloch's theorem was a major milestone that established the principle of bandgaps in crystals. Although it was once believed that bandgaps could form only under conditions of periodicity and long-range correlations for Bloch's theorem, this restriction was disproven by the discoveries of amorphous media and quasicrystals. While network and liquid models have been suggested for the interpretation of Bloch-like waves in disordered media, these approaches based on searching for random networks with bandgaps have failed in the deterministic creation of bandgaps. Here, we reveal a deterministic pathway to bandgaps in random-walk potentials by applying the notion of supersymmetry to the wave equation. Inspired by isospectrality, we follow a methodology in contrast to previous methods: we transform order into disorder while preserving bandgaps. Our approach enables the formation of bandgaps in extremely-disordered potentials analogous to Brownian motion, and also allows the tuning of correlations while maintaining identical bandgaps, thereby creating a family of potentials with 'Bloch-like eigenstates'.