On the chromatic number of a random hypergraph

We consider the problem of $k$-colouring a random $r$-uniform hypergraph with $n$ vertices and $cn$ edges, where $k$, $r$, $c$ remain constant as $n$ tends to infinity. Achlioptas and Naor showed that the chromatic number of a random graph in this setting, the case $r=2$, must have one of two easily computable values as $n$ tends to infinity. We give a complete generalisation of this result to random uniform hypergraphs.Comment: 45 pages, 2 figures, revised versio

Colour reverse learning and animal personalities: the advantage of behavioural diversity assessed with agent-based simulations

Foraging bees use colour cues to help identify rewarding from unrewarding flowers, but as conditions change, bees may require behavioural flexibility to reverse their learnt preferences. Perceptually similar colours are learnt slowly by honeybees and thus potentially pose a difficult task to reverse-learn. Free-flying honeybees (N = 32) were trained to learn a fine colour discrimination task that could be resolved at ca. 70% accuracy following extended differential conditioning, and were then tested for their ability to reverse-learn this visual problem multiple times. Subsequent analyses identified three different strategies: ‘Deliberative-decisive’ bees that could, after several flower visits, decisively make a large change to learnt preferences; ‘Fickle- circumspect’ bees that changed their preferences by a small amount every time they encountered evidence in their environment; and ‘Stay’ bees that did not change from their initially learnt preference. The next aim was to determine if there was any advantage to a colony in maintaining bees with a variety of decision-making strategies. To understand the potential benefits of the observed behavioural diversity agent-based computer simulations were conducted by systematically varying parameters for flower reward switch oscillation frequency, flower handling time, and fraction of defective ‘target’ stimuli. These simulations revealed that when there is a relatively high frequency of reward reversals, fickle-circumspect bees are more efficient at nectar collection. However, as the reward reversal frequency decreases the performance of deliberative-decisive bees becomes most efficient. These findings show there to be an evolutionary benefit for honeybee colonies with individuals exhibiting these different strategies for managing resource change. The strategies have similarities to some complex decision-making processes observed in humans, and algorithms implemented in artificial intelligence systems

BAICE Thematic Forum:Challenging deficit discourses in international education and development

Research and policy in international education has o en been framed in terms of a deficit discourse. For instance, policy debates on women’s literacy and education have begun by positioning women as a group who need to ‘catch up’ on certain skills in order to become more active in development. Rather than recognising the skills and knowledge that participants already have and prac se in their everyday lives, researchers who adopt this deficit perspective on learning and education may find that the research agenda and questions will already be shaped to a large extent by the providers’/ policy makers’ standpoint. This BAICE Thematic Forum aimed to deepen understanding around how deficit discourses have shaped the questions and objectives of international educational research. As well as deconstructing and gaining greater knowledge into why and how these dominant deficit discourses have influenced the research agenda, we also set out to investigate and propose alternative conceptual models through two linked seminars. The seminars were intended to explore and challenge dominant deficit discourses that have shaped the way researchers/policy makers look at specific groups in development and thematic policy areas

A Transmedia Topology of 'Making a Murderer

This article constructs a transmedia topology of the Making a Murderer text, mapping the ecologies of interaction, participation and creation with and of the text by the audience. Firstly we explore the mixed textualities of the series delivered through the streaming service Netflix. We then expand the analysis to consider the wider transmedial textualities and trace the thresholds of the transmedial text to investigate new approaches to analysing transmedial work in the context of non-fiction media forms. We explore the relationships between the core series and the participatory engagement in the production of the text as a whole which includes online engagement, active investigations, and the production of a wide range of new material in response to the core series. Here we define transmedia topology as a tracing of what we could call the geography of the text, as defined by its features and boundaries (or lack thereof). We situate the series as a piece of Complex TV, but explore how the series invites active participation from the audience; through its structure, complexity and form. The article maps the series textual connections with more traditional documentary form, and more experimental transmedial approaches, relating it to Alternate Reality Games. We consider (at the time of writing and publication) the tangible, real world outcomes of the text and the audiences participation in the production of the text. This mapping situates the text within a number of media discourses to understand its media geneology and explore its textual trajectories. This mapping explores both the 10-part series, and the wealth of paratextual material as a text together, mapping the connections between the documentary series and the emergence of a transmedial textuality that is owed largely to audiences and the textual terrain. Also translated to Spanish: Hook, A., Barrios-O'Neill, D., & Mairs Dyer, J. (2019). "Una Topología Transmedia De Making A Murderer" In N. Golubov (Ed.), TV Ficciones: Reflexiones Criticas Sobre Television Estadunide (pp. 67-93

Finding Function in Form: Compositional Character Models for Open Vocabulary Word Representation

We introduce a model for constructing vector representations of words by composing characters using bidirectional LSTMs. Relative to traditional word representation models that have independent vectors for each word type, our model requires only a single vector per character type and a fixed set of parameters for the compositional model. Despite the compactness of this model and, more importantly, the arbitrary nature of the form-function relationship in language, our "composed" word representations yield state-of-the-art results in language modeling and part-of-speech tagging. Benefits over traditional baselines are particularly pronounced in morphologically rich languages (e.g., Turkish)

Supporting Virtual Connections During Social-Distancing

This poster describes our efforts to support virtual social interaction for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) in Maine. Activities included research on existing access and use of the internet and social media, collaboration with agencies and advocacy organizations, the development of tutorials, and direct support to individuals with IDD and their direct support staff.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ccids_posters/1047/thumbnail.jp

Recruiting participants with peripheral arterial disease for clinical trials: Experience from the Study to Improve Leg Circulation (SILC)

ObjectiveTo describe the success of diverse recruitment methods in a randomized controlled clinical trial of exercise in persons with peripheral arterial disease (PAD).MethodsAn analysis of recruitment sources conducted for the 746 men and women completing a baseline visit for the study to improve leg circulation (SILC), a randomized controlled trial of exercise for patients with PAD. For each recruitment source, we determined the number of randomized participants, the rate of randomization among those completing a baseline visit, and cost per randomized participant.ResultsOf the 746 individuals who completed a baseline visit, 156 were eligible and randomized. The most frequent sources of randomized participants were newspaper advertising (n = 67), mailed recruitment letters to patients with PAD identified at the study medical center (n = 25), and radio advertising (n = 18). Costs per randomized participant were $2750 for television advertising,$2167 for Life Line Screening, $2369 for newspaper advertising,$3931 for mailed postcards to older community dwelling men and women, and $5691 for radio advertising. Among those completing a baseline visit, randomization rates ranged from 10% for those identified from radio advertising to 32% for those identified from the Chicago Veterans Administration and 33% for those identified from posted flyers.ConclusionMost participants in a randomized controlled trial of exercise were recruited from newspaper advertising and mailed recruitment letters to patients with known PAD. The highest randomization rates after a baseline visit occurred among participants identified from posted flyers and mailed recruitment letters to PAD patients