The Rise of Asian American Cinema

This project won second place in the 2017 Signature Course Information Literacy Award. The award recognizes exemplary student work that achieves the learning outcomes of the Signature Course information literacy requirement, that students will be able to create and execute a research strategy, critically evaluate information, and use citations. This paper was self-nominated for the award by Stephanie Adeline, with support from Dr. Charlotte Canning and Dr. Paul Bonin-Rodriguez. It was submitted in their Spring 2016 Signature Course, “Arts, Your Money, and the Nation.” This project was chosen because Stephanie made smart use of sources, and evolved her search technique as she worked on this paper and better understood the information she needed. Her way of connecting art and money necessitated a wide variety of sources. As her professors said “…[Stephanie’s] paper draws on comparative methodologies and makes use of media studies, cultural studies, Asian studies, international relations and history…[drawing on] an expansive body of work from scholarly books and journals in communications, anthropology, and media studies, as well as extensive newspaper articles and the primary readings of the films themselves.”Canning, CharlotteBonin-Rodriguez, PaulUT Librarie

Marion most bold : feminine transgression in the greenwood

In my project, I focus on the role and depiction of women found in the Robin Hood greenwood: specifically, those of Maid Marian. Maid Marian rarely appears in early Robin Hood texts, and especially not in a capacity in which she herself speaks, so it is striking that today she has become almost as synonymous with the greenwood in Robin Hood tales as the man himself. Indeed, one of the rare instances in which Marian plays a lead role occurs in the seventeenth-century ballad “Robin Hood and Maid Marian,” which appears in only one manuscript, after the original Robin Hood ballads of the Middle Ages, and does not seem to have been popular. This seventeenth-century ballad allots Maid Marian an agency typically reserved only for Robin’s merry men. Though I agree that Marian exhibits certain transgressive behaviors, especially in “Robin Hood and Maid Marian,” by the end of Robin Hood texts—medieval, early modern, or otherwise—though the space of the greenwood allows a certain level of freedom for the men in the texts, the “good” women in the Robin Hood texts remain noble ladies who still act as they ought to even though they live outside the confines of civilized society. The same social rules of urban society continue to apply to them, and even in the few cases where the women get to demonstrate more traditionally masculine qualities, they still must end up back in their proper role at the end of the Robin Hood ballad or play.Englis

A model of downward abusive communication: exploring relationships between cognitive complexity, downward communicative adaptability, and downward abusive communication

Thesis (M.A.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2013A model was proposed to understand the antecedents of abusive supervision. Relationships were explored between cognitive complexity, downward communicative adaptability, and downward abusive communication. Superiors from various organizations were asked to take an online survey which measured superiors' cognitive complexity, downward communicative adaptability and abusive supervision. There was no evidence to support H1, which linked cognitive complexity to downward communicative adaptability, but there was evidence for H2, which stated that downward communicative adaptability was negatively correlated with downward abusive communication. The RCQ proved to be reliable but its validity was questioned in the present study which is why H1 may not have been supported.Chapter 1. Theory and research -- 1.1. Abusive supervision -- 1.2. Cognitive complexity -- 1.2.1. Constructs -- 1.2.2. Cognitive complexity -- 1.2.3. Effects of cognitive complexity -- 1.2.3.1. Relational compatibility -- 1.2.3.2. Interpersonal problem solving -- 1.2.3.3. Perceptual differentiation -- 1.3. Communicative adaptability -- 1.3.1. Effects of communicative adaptability -- 1.3.1.1. Interpersonal attraction -- 1.3.1.2. Friendship formation -- 1.3.1.3. Conflict management -- 1.4. Linking cognitive complexity to communicative adaptability -- 1.5. Abusive supervision -- 1.5.1. Individual difference variables as causes of abusive supervision -- 1.5.1.1. Personality characteristics -- 1.5.1.2. Demographic characteristics -- 1.5.1.3. Supervisors' beliefs -- 1.6. Linking communicative adaptability to abusive communication -- 1.7. Hypotheses -- 2. Research methodology -- 2.1. Participants -- 2.2. Procedures -- 2.3. Measures -- 2.3.1. Cognitive complexity -- 2.3.2. Downward commicative adaptability -- 2.3.3. Downward abusive communication -- Chapter 3. Results -- 3.1.1. Linking cognitive complexity with downward communicative adaptability -- 3.1.2. Linking downward communicative adaptability and downward abusive commication -- Chapter 4. Discussion -- References

Exact calculation of current correlations and admittance in the fractional quantum Hall regime

In this work, we focus on the finite frequency current-current correlations between edge states in a fractional quantum Hall two dimensional gas and on their relations to the quantum admittance. Using a refermionization method, we calculate these quantities within the same framework. Our results apply whatever the values of backscattering amplitude, frequency, voltage and temperature, allowing us to reach different regimes. Auto-correlations and cross-correlations exhibit distinct frequency dependencies that we discuss in detail.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figure

2-stack pushall sortable permutations

In the 60's, Knuth introduced stack-sorting and serial compositions of stacks. In particular, one significant question arise out of the work of Knuth: how to decide efficiently if a given permutation is sortable with 2 stacks in series? Whether this problem is polynomial or NP-complete is still unanswered yet. In this article we introduce 2-stack pushall permutations which form a subclass of 2-stack sortable permutations and show that these two classes are closely related. Moreover, we give an optimal O(n^2) algorithm to decide if a given permutation of size n is 2-stack pushall sortable and describe all its sortings. This result is a step to the solve the general 2-stack sorting problem in polynomial time.Comment: 41 page

Ontologies and Information Extraction

This report argues that, even in the simplest cases, IE is an ontology-driven process. It is not a mere text filtering method based on simple pattern matching and keywords, because the extracted pieces of texts are interpreted with respect to a predefined partial domain model. This report shows that depending on the nature and the depth of the interpretation to be done for extracting the information, more or less knowledge must be involved. This report is mainly illustrated in biology, a domain in which there are critical needs for content-based exploration of the scientific literature and which becomes a major application domain for IE

Tanzania Joint Health Technical Review 2002:final report HIV/AIDS

\ud Tanzania has a HIV epidemic at an estimated range of approximately 12% of the adult population (15-49 years) being infected. The epidemic is still increasing and there are few signs that the epidemic will level off in the near future. Until 2000 the response to the epidemic was the responsibility of NACP, the National AIDS Control Programme, within the MoH. As the epidemic and the insight of the impact of the epidemic on society progressed the health approach changed to a multi-sectoral response – still led by the MoH. However, as in other countries with a significant HIV epidemic it was decided to move the response of the epidemic to the highest level of government. The multi-sectoral approach thus underwent a transformation from a strategy of the MoH to a strategy of GOT by placing the responsibility under the Prime Ministers’ Office. In this transition the TACAIDS was formed to provide the leadership of GOT’s fight on HIV/AIDS in 2001. TACAIDS is placed within the PM’s Office and has slowly started to become operational. In January 2002 the commissioners were appointed and the first meeting will take place in February. The NACP is undergoing a transformation from being the body for the national response of all sectors in society to be part of the response from the MoH. The new role of NACP is still being developed, but it has been decided that the NACP in the future will operate under the authority of the CMO in the MoH. The task within the health sector is huge since the health sector is the first to be impacted by the epidemic and many of the cost-effective preventive measures to combat the epidemic, such as STI treatment, and the care of an increasing number of people being sick and dying from HIV/AIDS, fall on this sector to be appropriately dealt with in partnership with civil society and other stakeholders. The timing of the mission is appropriate as far as HIV/AIDS is concerned. Great expectations are attached to TACAIDS to ensure leadership and the MoH can now concentrate on improving the provision of services in the health sector where it has a comparative advantage. At the same time new money are being made available from the donors in the basket fund for district health services and new resources are soon going to be available for HIV/AIDS activities: the Global Fund for AIDS, the HIPC money, and the TMAP – perhaps effective from 2003. The opportunity to consolidate the achievements in the health sector has never been greater. It is the objectives of the review to assess the performance of the health sector’s response to HIV/AIDS; main challenges regarding the consequences and combat of HIV/AIDS; and based on this recommend actions in the short and medium term. The scope of work includes a review the performance of the National Aids Control Programme \ud and the opportunities lying ahead for TACAIDS. Further the review on HIV/AIDS will assess constraints and opportunities within the health sector with regard to both preventive and care interventions including MTCT and HAART treatment. The response is assessed with regard to the capacity of the health care sector. In all these areas the following should be considered: Experience within Tanzania with a view to possible best practices and lessons learned. Cost implications should be considered, with a particular view to opportunity cost in areas where there would be a choice. Private sector possible contribution and specific problems The team, Adeline Kimambo, medical doctor and Anita Alban, health economist, hold international and national experience in the field of HIV/AIDS. The team carried out a review of \ud existing documentation, including policies and guidelines, and interviews were carried out with key people within MOH, PORALG, TACAIDS and civil society (NGOs for PLWHA). Further a field trip was undertaken to a district that is part of the health sector reform process. For the Health District Reform to succeed it needs an effective facilitated response from the MoH and cooperation from all stakeholders in the process – not least PRORALG. The report reflects this approach by reviewing and assessing both the new opportunities and obstacles of the MoH in the transition from a multi-sectoral response to a consolidated health sector response and the progress of the decentralisation process at district level. Further the team has made a strategic choice in focusing on the HIV/AIDS interventions that can make a significant difference if scaled up. In the time available for the team a choice also had to be made between assessing MTCT interventions and the introduction of anti-retroviral drugs into the care agenda. We chose the latter since it is the greatest investment challenge to the MoH.\u

Estimation in the partially observed stochastic Morris-Lecar neuronal model with particle filter and stochastic approximation methods

Parameter estimation in multidimensional diffusion models with only one coordinate observed is highly relevant in many biological applications, but a statistically difficult problem. In neuroscience, the membrane potential evolution in single neurons can be measured at high frequency, but biophysical realistic models have to include the unobserved dynamics of ion channels. One such model is the stochastic Morris-Lecar model, defined by a nonlinear two-dimensional stochastic differential equation. The coordinates are coupled, that is, the unobserved coordinate is nonautonomous, the model exhibits oscillations to mimic the spiking behavior, which means it is not of gradient-type, and the measurement noise from intracellular recordings is typically negligible. Therefore, the hidden Markov model framework is degenerate, and available methods break down. The main contributions of this paper are an approach to estimate in this ill-posed situation and nonasymptotic convergence results for the method. Specifically, we propose a sequential Monte Carlo particle filter algorithm to impute the unobserved coordinate, and then estimate parameters maximizing a pseudo-likelihood through a stochastic version of the Expectation-Maximization algorithm. It turns out that even the rate scaling parameter governing the opening and closing of ion channels of the unobserved coordinate can be reasonably estimated. An experimental data set of intracellular recordings of the membrane potential of a spinal motoneuron of a red-eared turtle is analyzed, and the performance is further evaluated in a simulation study.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/14-AOAS729 the Annals of Applied Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aoas/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Extension of the SAEM algorithm for nonlinear mixed models with two levels of random effects

This article focuses on parameter estimation of multi-levels nonlinear mixed effects models (MNLMEMs). These models are used to analyze data presenting multiple hierarchical levels of grouping (cluster data, clinical trials with several observation periods,...). The variability of the individual parameters of the regression function is thus decomposed as a between-sub ject variability and higher levels of variability (for example within-sub ject variability). We propose maximum likelihood estimates of parameters of those MNLMEMs with two levels of random effects, using an extension of the SAEM-MCMC algorithm. The extended SAEM algorithm is split into an explicit direct EM algorithm and a stochastic EM part. Compared to the original algorithm, additional sufficient statistics have to be approximated by relying on the conditional distribution of the second level of random effects. This estimation method is evaluated on pharmacokinetic cross-over simulated trials, mimicking theophyllin concentration data. Results obtained on those datasets with either the SAEM algorithm or the FOCE algorithm (implemented in the nlme function of R software) are compared: biases and RMSEs of almost all the SAEM estimates are smaller than the FOCE ones. Finally, we apply the extended SAEM algorithm to analyze the pharmacokinetic interaction of tenofovir on atazanavir, a novel protease inhibitor, from the ANRS 107-Puzzle 2 study. A significant decrease of the area under the curve of atazanavir is found in patients receiving both treatments