Saving phase: Injectivity and stability for phase retrieval

Recent advances in convex optimization have led to new strides in the phase retrieval problem over finite-dimensional vector spaces. However, certain fundamental questions remain: What sorts of measurement vectors uniquely determine every signal up to a global phase factor, and how many are needed to do so? Furthermore, which measurement ensembles lend stability? This paper presents several results that address each of these questions. We begin by characterizing injectivity, and we identify that the complement property is indeed a necessary condition in the complex case. We then pose a conjecture that 4M-4 generic measurement vectors are both necessary and sufficient for injectivity in M dimensions, and we prove this conjecture in the special cases where M=2,3. Next, we shift our attention to stability, both in the worst and average cases. Here, we characterize worst-case stability in the real case by introducing a numerical version of the complement property. This new property bears some resemblance to the restricted isometry property of compressed sensing and can be used to derive a sharp lower Lipschitz bound on the intensity measurement mapping. Localized frames are shown to lack this property (suggesting instability), whereas Gaussian random measurements are shown to satisfy this property with high probability. We conclude by presenting results that use a stochastic noise model in both the real and complex cases, and we leverage Cramer-Rao lower bounds to identify stability with stronger versions of the injectivity characterizations.Comment: 22 page

Doing it your way: How individual movement styles affect action prediction

Individuals show significant variations in performing a motor act. Previous studies in the action observation literature have largely ignored this ubiquitous, if often unwanted, characteristic of motor performance, assuming movement patterns to be highly similar across repetitions and individuals. In the present study, we examined the possibility that individual variations in motor style directly influence the ability to understand and predict others’ actions. To this end, we first recorded grasping movements performed with different intents and used a two-step cluster analysis to identify quantitatively ‘clusters’ of movements performed with similar movement styles (Experiment 1). Next, using videos of the same movements, we proceeded to examine the influence of these styles on the ability to judge intention from action observation (Experiments 2 and 3). We found that motor styles directly influenced observers’ ability to ‘read’ others’ intention, with some styles always being less ‘readable’ than others. These results provide experimental support for the significance of motor variability for action prediction, suggesting that the ability to predict what another person is likely to do next directly depends on her individual movement style

Globalization in Latin America Before 1940

How much of the good growth performance in Latin America between 1870 and 1913 can be assigned to the forces of globalization? Why was industrialization so weak? Why was inequality on the rise? This paper offers an answer to these questions. It starts by exploring the disadvantages associated with geographic isolation from world markets and the transport revolutions that helped liberate Latin America from that isolation, a pro-global force. It then asks how independence contributed to massive de-globalization during the decades of lost growth' between the 1820s and the 1870s. Next, it documents what happened to the external terms of trade in Latin America between 1820 and 1950: from the 1890s onwards the terms of trade deteriorated, but it also underwent spectacular improvement before the 1890s, suggesting that it had something to do with the fairly fast' Latin America growth during so much of the belle ‚poque. While booming relative prices of exports certainly fostered trade, policy suppressed it: tariff rates were higher in Latin America than almost anywhere else in the world between 1820 and 1929, long before the Great Depression. The paper then asks why. The answer is to be found mainly with revenue needs rather than with some precocious import substitution policy. High tariffs still had a powerful protective effect, regardless of motivation. However, protective policy was modified by those powerful and positive terms of trade shocks, yielding on net weak early industrialization. Finally, the paper documents that inequality rose in most of Latin America up to World War I, while it fell thereafter. The correlation between globalization and inequality is likely to have been causal.

Soul-full Teaching

The study is a qualitative research study done with the purpose of exploring how seven teachers at a mid-southern, state-supported, urban research university perceive their spirituality to inform their teaching philosophy. The researcher discusses the increased attention noted in educational literature, in recent years, with respect to the relationship between the spirituality of teachers and the ways in which they think about, and engage in, teaching. The heart of the study is based in his exploration of these concerns with seven teachers in higher education in regard to six areas of inquiry: What do these teachers in higher education think about their spirituality and/or religion? What do these teachers in higher education think about the processes of teaching and learning? How do spirituality and teaching come together in the cognitive processes, the affective experiences, and the actions—that is, in the person—of each of the participants? What are the perceptions of these teachers with respect to the factors that have enabled them to reach, or not to reach, their students in ways that promote growth and development? What kinds of experiences have manifested these learning and developmental exchanges? And what can be learned about the connections between spirituality and teaching based on the perceptions and experiences of these seven teachers in higher education? The researcher details the unique story of each professor with respect to these six questions and summarizes the common perspectives of the participants in regard to these concerns. He concludes that the experiences and perspectives of these seven participants indicate that spirituality is an important frame of reference through which some teachers see, experience, and interact with the world, which, in turn, informs their teaching. This type and degree of influence differs from one person to the next, but the composite picture presented in the stories of these seven professors attests to the fact that spirituality does inform the teaching of some teachers in higher education. The researcher concludes by suggesting that the institution of higher education would do well to find ways of building on this important resource in its midst

Suggesting and asking expressions in Ralph breaks the Internet (2018) movie

Suggesting expression is the act of the statements or utterances for advising to make someone better in the next time, or to get other choices when deciding on a decision. Asking expression is the act of asking someone to do something or of an information. The researcher will be conducted around these questions:1.What are the functions of suggesting and asking expression found in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) movie? 2.How are the perlocutionaries from suggesting and asking expression found in Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) movie? This research is based on the pragmatics theory about suggesting and asking developed by Searle. The research method used in this research is the qualitative method. The data used in this research are the utterance from suggesting and asking expressions. It can be seen depending on characters’ utterances. The next step, the expression are categorised into the functions and the perlocutionaries from suggesting and asking expressions. From the data analysis, the findings show the functions, for suggesting expression are giving an idea to the hearer: to do something (14 data), and to be better (2 data), and for asking expression are as request or invitation ( 11data) and as question (30 data). The perlocutionaries from suggesting and asking expression, for suggesting expression are accepting ( 13 data) and declining (3 data), and for asking expression as request or invitation are accepting ( 10 data) and declining (1 datum) , and for asking expression as question answering the question directly (29 data), and indirectly (1 datum). From the findings of the data analysis, the result of the research can be concluded that in this movie there are many suggesting aspects. This is because of the strong sense of care between characters who always give advice to each other, so they do not misstep or get bad events. Asking to request shows that the characters are loyal in making friends as they request for positive things to each other. Moreover, asking question shows curiosity and high concern for each character

Grounding Word Learning in Space

Humans and objects, and thus social interactions about objects, exist within space. Words direct listeners' attention to specific regions of space. Thus, a strong correspondence exists between where one looks, one's bodily orientation, and what one sees. This leads to further correspondence with what one remembers. Here, we present data suggesting that children use associations between space and objects and space and words to link words and objects—space binds labels to their referents. We tested this claim in four experiments, showing that the spatial consistency of where objects are presented affects children's word learning. Next, we demonstrate that a process model that grounds word learning in the known neural dynamics of spatial attention, spatial memory, and associative learning can capture the suite of results reported here. This model also predicts that space is special, a prediction supported in a fifth experiment that shows children do not use color as a cue to bind words and objects. In a final experiment, we ask whether spatial consistency affects word learning in naturalistic word learning contexts. Children of parents who spontaneously keep objects in a consistent spatial location during naming interactions learn words more effectively. Together, the model and data show that space is a powerful tool that can effectively ground word learning in social contexts

Understanding conspiracy theories

Scholarly efforts to understand conspiracy theories have grown significantly in recent years, and there is now a broad and interdisciplinary literature that we review in this article. We ask three specific questions. First, what are the factors that are associated with conspiracy theorizing? Our review of the literature shows that conspiracy beliefs result from a range of psychological, political and social factors. Next, how are conspiracy theories communicated? Here, we explain how conspiracy theories are shared among individuals and spread through traditional and social media platforms. Next, what are the risks and rewards associated with conspiracy theories? By focusing on politics and science, we argue that conspiracy theories do more harm than good. Finally, because this is a growing literature and many open questions remain, we conclude by suggesting several promising avenues for future research

A Realistic Look at Graduating Dance Majors: Problems and Solutions

My life in dance has had its share of indecision, relocation, changes in direction involving two returns to school, and many years of living poor. The circuitous route I took to stay in the field made me into entrepreneurial artist and teacher and finally, a member of a university dance faculty. I wanted to live outside New York City and have a “professional” career in modern dance, and as a result, my path has involved figuring things out as I went along: learning what was necessary to make a journey full of twists and turns, even though it was not always easy to see where the next step should take me. Financially, the desire to dance trumped any economic ambitions, but even so, the difficulties and the lack of encouragement for artists in this culture—especially dancers—often made life hard, although I did have the benefit of family support in the early years. In this article I am suggesting that we break down the barriers between the academy and the real world in a serious way, by teaching what we know about staying in the field in spite of the twists and turns life provides. Before they leave our care, we do our best to thoroughly prepare our dance education majors for work in the schools. I think we need to give young artists more preparation than simply learning to dance

Are situation awareness and decision-making in driving totally conscious processes? Results of a Hazard Prediction task

Detecting danger in the driving environment is an indispensable task to guarantee safety which depends on the driver's ability to predict upcoming hazards. But does correct prediction lead to an appropriate response? This study advances hazard perception research by investigating the link between successful prediction and response selection. Three groups of drivers (learners, novices and experienced drivers) were recruited, with novice and experienced drivers further split into offender and non-offender groups. Specifically, this works aims to develop an improved Spanish Hazard Prediction Test and to explore the differences in Situation Awareness, (SA: perception, comprehension and prediction) and Decision-Making ("DM") among learners, younger inexperienced and experienced drivers and between driving offenders and non-offenders. The contribution of the current work is not only theoretical; the Hazard Prediction Test is also a valid way to test Hazard Perception. The test, as well as being useful as part of the test for a driving license, could also serve a purpose in the renewal of licenses after a ban or as a way of training drivers. A sample of 121 participants watched a series of driving video clips that ended with a sudden occlusion prior to a hazard. They then answered questions to assess their SA ("What is the hazard?" "Where is it located?" "What happens next?") and "DM" ("What would you do in this situation?"). This alternative to the Hazard Perception Test demonstrates a satisfactory internal consistency (Alpha=0.750), with eleven videos achieving discrimination indices above 0.30. Learners performed significantly worse than experienced drivers when required to identify and locate the hazard. Interestingly, drivers were more accurate in answering the "DM" question than questions regarding SA, suggesting that drivers can choose an appropriate response manoeuvre without a totally conscious knowledge of the exact hazard