ethicalabs/Research-Intent-Collab huggingface dataset:
Space-time transformation properties of inter-charge forces and dipole radiation: Breakdown of the classical field concept in relativistic electrodynamics

A detailed study is made of the space-time transformation properties of intercharge forces and the associated electric and magnetic force fields, both in classical electrodynamics and in a recently developed relativistic classical electrodynamical theory. Important differences are found and serious errors are found in the traditional treatment of special-relativistic effects in classical electromagnetism. Fields associated with radiation processes are also considered and classical and quantum mechanical predictions are compared. An important, though trivial, mathematical error in the derivation of the retarded Liénard-Wiechert retarded potentials is pointed out. It is also shown why electric and magnetic fields produced by moving source charges or current distributions are not `classical fields', and that they do not, in general, constitute an antisymmetic second-rank tensor, as is usually assumed.
The Unusually Long Duration Gamma‐Ray Burst GRB 000911: Discovery of the Afterglow and Host Galaxy

Of all the well-localized gamma-ray bursts, GRB 000911 has the longest duration (T90 = 500 s) and ranks in the top 1% of BATSE bursts for fluence. Here we report the discovery of the afterglow of this unique burst. In order to simultaneously fit our radio and optical observations, we are required to invoke a model involving a hard electron distribution, p ∼ 1.5, and a jet-break time less than 1.5 days. A spectrum of the host galaxy taken 111 days after the burst reveals a single emission line, interpreted as [011] at a redshift z = 1.0585, and a continuum break that we interpret as the Balmer limit at this redshift. Despite the long 790, the afterglow of GRB 000911 is not unusual in any other way when compared to the set of afterglows studied to date. We conclude that the duration of the GRB plays little part in determining the physics of the afterglow.
Cu-Sb Alloys As Electrode Materials for Lithium Ion Batteries; Thermodynamics, Electrochemistry and Structural Aspects

Cu-Sb alloys have recently gained much attention as promising electrode materials for lithium ion batteries. Sb, as the active agent, has a theoretical capacity of 660 mAhg-1, forming Li3Sb in the fully lithiated state. Cu on the other hand does not react with lithium and can precipitate upon lithiation of Cu-Sb alloys. The Cu matrix is mandatory, as the change in volume between pure Sb and Li3Sb is about 200% and therefore the structural integrity of the electrode material is compromised by the mechanical stress built up upon cycling of the cell.                 Although much information is already available on the cycling performance of Cu-Sb electrodes, almost no data on the thermodynamics behavior exists. This is surprising as many thermodynamic parameters have a direct correlation to the electrochemical performance as well as kinetics of a material system. Therefore an extensive experimental investigation was conducted in the system Cu-Li-Sb, applying thermochemical as well as electrochemical methods.                 Our investigations started with the development of fundamental property diagrams like isothermal sections and isopleths in the system Cu-Li-Sb. Thereby yet unknown ternary compounds were found and structurally characterized. On the basis of this data, reaction paths for the lithiation of different Cu-Sb alloys were proposed and further validated by electrochemical investigations, i.e. coulometric titrations. Reasons for the good cyclability of Cu-Sb alloys were found to be deeply rooted in the structural relations of the ternary compounds formed upon lithiation and their corresponding binary counterparts β-Cu3Sb and Li3Sb.                 This work has been funded by the DFG under project FL-730/1-2 within the priority program SPP 1473 “WeNDeLIB”.
A Unified Bogoliubov Approach to Primordial Gravitational Waves: From Inflation to Reheating

28 pages, 7 figures, code available at https://github.com/xunjiexu/Unified-Bogoliubov.git
FLEX GATEWAY, SERVICE MESH, AND ADVANCED API MANAGEMENT EVOLUTION

MuleSoft 2023 marks a significant evolution in API management and microservices orchestration[1][2]. This paper presents Anypoint Flex Gateway—a lightweight, Envoy-based universal API gateway—and Anypoint Service Mesh for microservices orchestration. Flex Gateway represents a paradigm shift from heavyweight application servers to cloud-native gateways managing APIs across on-premises, Kubernetes, multi-cloud, and edge environments[3][4]. Combined with Istio-based Service Mesh, organizations achieve unified API and microservices management across heterogeneous deployments, enabling secure, observable service-to-service communication[5][6]. We synthesize architectural evolution from monolithic approaches (pre-2023) to contemporary cloud-native patterns, incorporating microservices design patterns established by Richardson[7] and foundational proxy work by Lyft engineers[8]. Coverage includes Flex Gateway architecture (managed and self-managed modes), Service Mesh integration, universal API management, deployment topologies, security policies, and implementation patterns reflecting current best practices. Real-world case studies demonstrate 50-70% faster deployment cycles, 99.99% availability improvements, and 10x developer productivity gains.
The impact of the air-fluorescence yield on the reconstructed shower parameters of ultra-high energy cosmic rays

Accepted in Astroparticle Physics
Reinforcement learning with limited reinforcement: Using Bayes risk for active learning in POMDPs

Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) have succeeded in planning domains that require balancing actions that increase an agent's knowledge and actions that increase an agent's reward. Unfortunately, most POMDPs are defined with a large number of parameters which are difficult to specify only from domain knowledge. In this paper, we present an approximation approach that allows us to treat the POMDP model parameters as additional hidden state in a "model-uncertainty" POMDP. Coupled with model-directed queries, our planner actively learns good policies. We demonstrate our approach on several POMDP problems.
InMyFace: Inertial and Mechanomyography-Based Sensor Fusion for Wearable Facial Activity Recognition

Recognizing facial activity is a well-understood (but non-trivial) computer vision problem. However, reliable solutions require a camera with a good view of the face, which is often unavailable in wearable settings. Furthermore, in wearable applications, where systems accompany users throughout their daily activities, a permanently running camera can be problematic for privacy (and legal) reasons. This work presents an alternative solution based on the fusion of wearable inertial sensors, planar pressure sensors, and acoustic mechanomyography (muscle sounds). The sensors were placed unobtrusively in a sports cap to monitor facial muscle activities related to facial expressions. We present our integrated wearable sensor system, describe data fusion and analysis methods, and evaluate the system in an experiment with thirteen subjects from different cultural backgrounds (eight countries) and both sexes (six women and seven men). In a one-model-per-user scheme and using a late fusion approach, the system yielded an average F1 score of 85.00% for the case where all sensing modalities are combined. With a cross-user validation and a one-model-for-all-user scheme, an F1 score of 79.00% was obtained for thirteen participants (six females and seven males). Moreover, in a hybrid fusion (cross-user) approach and six classes, an average F1 score of 82.00% was obtained for eight users. The results are competitive with state-of-the-art non-camera-based solutions for a cross-user study. In addition, our unique set of participants demonstrates the inclusiveness and generalizability of the approach.
Influence of dental insurance coverage on access to preventive periodontal care in middle-aged and elderly populations: analysis of representative Korean Community Health Survey Data (2011–2015)

This study aimed to explore the influence of dental insurance coverage on access to preventive periodontal care. Data were extracted from the 2011, 2013 and 2015 Korean Community Health Surveys conducted by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.This study was designed as a 5-year time series analysis using secondary data. Trends in the utilisation rate of dental scaling services before and after the introduction of insurance coverage for dental scaling were evaluated, and the influence of dental insurance coverage on access to preventive periodontal care was assessed.In the 4 years after 2011, the utilisation rate of scaling services increased by 12.3%. The increase in the utilisation rate from 2011 to 2015 was greater for participants ≥ 65 years old and 45-64 years old compared with those who were 19-34 or 35-44 years old. The odds ratios (ORs) for using scaling in 2011, 2013 and 2015 were 0.9, 1.1 and 1.5, respectively, for participants with healthy gingiva. For elderly participants with gingival bleeding, the utilisation rate of scaling services increased after 2015 with ORs of 0.8, 0.9 and 1.2 for 2011, 2013 and 2015, respectively.Insurance coverage for dental scaling positively influenced access to preventive care for periodontal disease in middle-aged and elderly individuals. In the future, the long-term contributions of dental insurance coverage to the prevalence of periodontal disease and oral health disparities should be evaluated.
How can citizen science enhance mental health research quality: theory of change development

Objective                   Public involvement in mental health research enhances research quality. The use of citizen science methods in mental health research has been described as a conclusion of a movement towards increased public involvement; however, this field is in its early stages of development. Our objective was to create a theory of change (ToC) for how citizen science can be used to enhance mental health research quality.                                                   Design                   Iterative consultation with the stakeholders of an existing citizen mental health science study, that is, change for citizen science to achieve co-production at scale (C-STACS: https://www.researchintorecovery.com/research/c-stacs/)                                                   Methods                   We co-developed a ToC through an iterative consultation with C-STACS stakeholders who were (a) representatives of mental health community organisations (n=10), individuals with public involvement experience (n=2) and researchers (n=5). In keeping with established ToC practice, entities were identified, including long-term impacts, outcomes needed to create an impact, stakeholder assumptions and indicators for tracking progress.                                                   Results                   A desired primary long-term impact of greater co-production of research was identified between researchers and members of the public, which would create a secondary impact of enhancing public capacity to engage in citizen mental health science. We proposed long-term outcomes needed to enable this impact: (1) greater co-production of research objectives and pathways between researcher and the public, (2) greater embedment of citizen mental health science into funder processes (eg, the creation of specific funding calls for citizen mental health science proposals, (3) greater clarity on the boundaries between citizen science and other participatory approaches (eg, so that there is not loss of impact due to conceptual confusion between these, (4) increased knowledge around effective frameworks to enable mass public participation and (5) greater availability of technology platforms, enabling safe and accessible engagement with citizen mental health science projects.                                                   Conclusion                   The proposed ToC is grounded in the C-STACS project, but intended to be broadly applicable. It allows the continued formation of a community of practice around citizen mental health science and should be reviewed, as greater knowledge is developed on how citizen mental health science creates change.
The Emergence of the Doctrine of Stare Decisis in the World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement System

It is widely held that the common law doctrine of stare decisis, which recognizes judicial decisions as sources of law, applies neither to international law in general nor to World Trade Organization (WTO) law specifically. However, in practice, the WTO’s judicial decision-making processes might be said to manifest some of the key characteristics of the common law doctrine of stare decisis. The present study examines the key values and processes related to stare decisis, including consistency and certainty of law, identification of the ratio decidendi of a case and the rules of vertical and horizontal binding precedent as located within the hierarchy of the courts. The WTO’s institutional and regulatory frameworks, as well as key WTO cases, are considered in examining the extent to which the decision-making processes of the Dispute Settlement Body incorporate the doctrine of stare decisis.
Mines Systems Safety Improvement Using an Integrated Event Tree and Fault Tree Analysis

Mines systems such as ventilation system, strata support system, flame proof safety equipment, are exposed to dynamic operational conditions such as stress, humidity, dust, temperature, etc., and safety improvement of such systems can be done preferably during planning and design stage. However, the existing safety analysis methods do not handle the accident initiation and progression of mine systems explicitly. To bridge this gap, this paper presents an integrated Event Tree (ET) and Fault Tree (FT) approach for safety analysis and improvement of mine systems design. This approach includes ET and FT modeling coupled with redundancy allocation technique. In this method, a concept of top hazard probability is introduced for identifying system failure probability and redundancy is allocated to the system either at component or system level. A case study on mine methane explosion safety with two initiating events is performed. The results demonstrate that the presented method can reveal the accident scenarios and improve the safety of complex mine systems simultaneously.
Artificial Intelligence in Education: Ethical Considerations and Insights from Ancient Greek Philosophy

Paper accepted for the Responsible Artificial Intelligence (ReAI) workshop, 13th Conference on Artificial Intelligence (SETN 2024), September 11-13, 2024 - Piraeus, Greece
Migliorare la comunicazione della scienza e il public engagement nella scienza in Svizzera. Raccomandazioni del gruppo di esperte ed esperti «Communicating Sciences and Arts in Times of Digital Media»

Accademie svizzere delle scienze (2021) Migliorare la comunicazione della scienza e il public engagement nella scienza in Svizzera. Raccomandazioni del gruppo di esperte ed esperti «Communicating Sciences and Arts in Times of Digital Media» In Science in the Swiss Public. The State of Science Communication and Public Engagement with Science in Switzerland. Swiss Academies Reports 16 (8).
Are agricultural researchers working on the right crops to enable food and nutrition security under future climates?

Abstract   This study examined how crop-specific agricultural research investments can be prioritised to anticipate climate change impact on crops and to enable the production of more nutritious food. We used a simple crop modelling approach to derive expected future changes in regional climate suitability for crops. To determine if different starch-rich and pulse crops are currently underresearched or overresearched, we examined the global relation between crop-specific research output (number of publications) and the total nutrient output available for human consumption. Our analysis shows that current research investments are mostly associated with the current energy output of crops. Other things equal, investment levels tend to be slightly lower for crops better adapted to future climates and tend to decrease as crop nutrient richness increases. Among starch-rich crops, maize, barley, and rice receive substantially more research investment than justified by their current nutrient output. Sweetpotato, potato, and wheat show substantial current research deficits. Sweetpotato is most strongly underresearched in regions with improving climate suitability. For potato, research deficits occur in regions where these crops will experience less suitable climate conditions. For wheat, the deficits are distributed equally across regions with negative and positive climate effects. Three crops are significantly over-researched, namely maize, rice, and barley. Among pulses, cowpea, and lupin are generally overresearched. Common bean is highly underresearched, but these deficits concentrate in areas where it will likely suffer from climate change. Lentil, broad bean, and chickpea are underresearched, with deficits concentrating in regions where these crops will tend to benefit from future climates. Agricultural research investment allocations will need to consider additional factors not taken into account in this study, but our findings suggest that current allocations need reconsideration to support climate adaptation and enhance healthy human nutrition.
Illusions of protection: Environmental law and the betrayal of Indigenous peoples' right to a healthy environment

Environmental law is central to addressing the triple planetary crises consisting of chemical pollution, biodiversity loss and climate change. However, its design and implementation can, in some cases, undermine Indigenous peoples’ right to a healthy environment (R2HE) by legitimising their dispossession and exclusion from ancestral lands. Using Kenya as a case study, this article analyses how environmental laws aimed at forestry protection, wildlife conservation and climate mitigation often incorporate mechanisms that facilitate the alienation of Indigenous communities from thier lands. Two case studies make the point concrete: the eviction of the Ogiek community from Eastern Mau and Mt. Elgon to accommodate wildlife and forestry conservation projects, and the displacement of Indigenous peoples in Northeastern Kenya to make room for carbon credit projects under the Northern Kenya Grassland Carbon Project. These cases offer real life examples of the rarely acknowledged tension between environmental laws and Indigenous peoples′ R2HE. Importantly, they call for a reassessment of the ways environmental law is designed and applied in practice so that it does not become instrumental in undermining Indigenous people′s R2HE, which is fundamentally concerned with the protection of their close and enduring connection to their lands and territories. While the analysis relies on Kenya as a case study, the insights it generates are of relevance to Indigenous struggles in other regions where the R2HE is formally recognised or in development.
Projection of the Relationship between Climate Change Groundwater Resources Based on the MODFLOW Model

Climate change, a phenomenon that has been occurring since ancient times, has accelerated in recent years. This study investigates the impact of climate change on groundwater resources using the MODFLOW model. To achieve this, the water balance was first calculated, and then temperature and precipitation data for the near future (2031–2050), mid-term (2051–2070), and long-term (2071–2090) periods were estimated using global climate data. These estimated temperature and precipitation values were input into the MODFLOW 2005 model. The results showed that, under two climate change scenarios—shared socioeconomic pathways (SSPs) SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5—the monthly averages of both minimum and maximum temperatures are expected to increase across all months of the year. In the optimistic scenario (SSP2-4.5), precipitation and aquifer recharge are projected to remain at current levels on average; however, groundwater levels are anticipated to decline by approximately 22 meters by 2089, with annual and seasonal fluctuations persisting in the long term. In contrast, the pessimistic scenario (SSP5-8.5) predicts a significant reduction in both precipitation and aquifer recharge, leading to a more pronounced decrease in groundwater levels. In this scenario, groundwater levels are expected to drop by about 30 cm per year in the long term, largely due to changes in precipitation patterns and aquifer recharge rates.
Research Libraries: an Incubator for Science Communication, Public Engagement and Literacy Skills

Research libraries must play an increasingly important role in society. In an era where questionable and unreliable sources of information abound and quickly proliferate, libraries are more important than ever helping users navigate the tidal wave of information from social media, news sites and other resources and make sense of a complicated and polarized landscape. When science literacy skills, defined as the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts required for personal decision making and participating in civic and cultural affairs, are combined with information literacy skills, one is empowered to critically interpret and verify science as presented in the media. Science festivals and science engagement events in conjunction with research libraries provide ideal opportunities to combine these two literacy skill sets.  A case study will be presented of how the University of Toronto Library, Canada’s largest research library, integrated variegated literacies into science outreach events designed to engage with a diverse community. The public, in its various forms, attends science festivals to engage with scientific experts as well as participate in a range of scientific activities. Programming at science outreach events held within the library will be discussed in how it can serve as a catalyst for deeper learning about information creation, authority and dissemination. For example, students and members of the public took a deep dive into the construction and context of authority by participating in Wikipedia-edit-athons and fake news workshops. By bringing experts out from behind classroom “paywalls” via public lectures and human library events, students and citizens can informally converse and engage in debate with scholars.  The backdrop for this case study is the annual Science Literacy Week (SLW) as well as the science communication programming which has stemmed from it. SLW began as a grassroots event in 2014 at the University of Toronto and has since grown and developed into an annual federally funded week-long celebration of science which includes over 800 events put on by over 200 partners in 100 cities across Canada. Many of the 44 libraries at the University of Toronto, including non-science libraries, participate in planning SLW public engagement activities. Since the theme of SLW is changed annually, libraries can capitalise on timely trends and issues such as the concept of post-truth and the notion of information literacy as a social practice. The success of SLW spawned a science engagement portfolio of events held throughout the year within the library. This case study will also discuss the challenges as well as the opportunities of situating a research library as a social space for public engagement. Libraries with their long history of providing democratic access to information provide a natural setting for contemporary public engagement, debate and science communication.