Motility of active fluid drops on surfaces

Drops of active liquid crystal have recently shown the ability to self-propel, which was associated with topological defects in the orientation of active filaments [Sanchez {\em et al.}, Nature {\bf 491}, 431 (2013)]. Here, we study the onset and different aspects of motility of a three-dimensional drop of active fluid on a planar surface. We analyse theoretically how motility is affected by orientation profiles with defects of various types and locations, by the shape of the drop, and by surface friction at the substrate. In the scope of a thin drop approximation, we derive exact expressions for the flow in the drop that is generated by a given orientation profile. The flow has a natural decomposition into terms that depend entirely on the geometrical properties of the orientation profile, i.e. its bend and splay, and a term coupling the orientation to the shape of the drop. We find that asymmetric splay or bend generates a directed bulk flow and enables the drop to move, with maximal speeds achieved when the splay or bend is induced by a topological defect in the interior of the drop. In motile drops the direction and speed of self-propulsion is controlled by friction at the substrate.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Reflections from ACUE Online Course in Effective Teaching Practices (Cohorts A, B, & C)

Title: ACUE Online Course in Effective Teaching Practices Description: The Association of College and University Educators’ (ACUE’s) online course in Effective Teaching Practices ensures that faculty learn about—and implement—the approaches that improve engagement and persistence and promote deeper learning. This 25-module course concentrates on teaching practices effective in face-to-face instruction. Comprehensive in scope and organized around five units of study, faculty members learn together in cohorts and implement approaches to (1) design an effective course and class, (2) establish a productive learning environment, (3) use active learning techniques, (4) promote higher order thinking, and (5) assess in ways that inform instruction and promote deeper levels of learning. This course leads to a Certificate in Effective Instruction which is co-endorsed by ACUE and the American Council on Education (ACE). Each of the 25 modules takes 3+ hours to complete. To complete each module, faculty learn about a new practice, watch, evaluate and discuss examples of instructors demonstrating an emerging practice, choose and implement one or more of the practices from the model in their course, and write up a reflection that is scored by a nationally-normed rater to meet or exceed expectations. Within the course Quality Matters certified course, faculty encounter over 200 evidence based approached to teaching backed by over 350 relevant citations. They also watch and critique authentic teaching demonstrations from 50 faculty at institutions nationwide as part of 180 instructional videos

Mainstreaming climate adaptation into development assistance in Mozambique: Institutional barriers and opportunities

Based on a literature review and expert interviews, this paper analyzes the most important climate impacts on development goals and explores relevant institutions in the context of mainstreaming climate adaptation into development assistance in Mozambique. Climate variability and change can significantly hinder progress toward attaining the Millennium Development Goals and poverty aggravates the country's climate vulnerability. Because Mozambique is one of the major recipients of official development assistance in the world, there is a clear interest in ensuring that the risks of climate impacts are incorporated into the country's development investments. A screening of donor activities at the sub-national level shows that a high share of development assistance is invested in climate-sensitive sectors, partly in areas that are particularly exposed to droughts, floods, and cyclones. The authors find that Mozambique has a supportive legislative environment and donors have a high awareness of climate risks. However, limited individual, organizational, networking, and financial capacity constrain mainstreaming initiatives. Given strong limitations at the national level, bilateral and multilateral donors can play a key role in fostering institutional capacity in Mozambique.Climate Change,Environmental Economics&Policies,Population Policies,Common Property Resource Development,Global Environment Facility

Advancing the country image construct from a public relations perspective: from model to measurement

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a new model for the measurement of the constitution and effects of the country image as a central target construct in international public relations. Design/methodology/approach – The authors combine concepts from reputation management (Eisenegger and Imhof, 2008; Ingenhoff and Sommer, 2007), national identity theory (Smith, 1987), and attitude theory (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980) to derive a four-dimensional model, conceptualizing country images as stakeholder attitudes toward a nation and its state, comprising specific beliefs and general feelings in a functional, normative, aesthetic, and emotional dimension. Furthermore, the authors develop a path model to analyze the country image’s effect on stakeholder behavior. This model is operationalized and tested in a survey regarding the country image of the USA and its effects on travel behavior. Findings – Results show how functional, normative and aesthetic image dimensions vary in affecting the formation of the affective image component. It is also demonstrated how the affective image dimension acts as a mediator in the image’s effect on stakeholder behavior. Practical implications – For international public relations and public diplomacy practice the developed model supplies a new approach for country image analyses which will serve and improve the development and evaluation of cross-national communication strategies. Originality/value – The paper introduces a new theory-grounded approach to clarify the dimensionality of the country image construct. It is the first to operationalize cognitive and affective dimensions of the country image by combining formative and reflective indicators in a mixed specified construct

The 4D Model of the country image: an integrative approach from the perspective of communication management

This conceptual article proposes a new integrative model of the country image by drawing on advances from the fields of business studies, social psychology, political science, and communication science. To interrelate different approaches, a communication management perspective is applied, providing a basic terminological framework systemizing the central constructs of country image, country reputation, country brand, and country identity. On this basis the authors develop the ‘4D Model’ of the country image by integrating well-established concepts from national identity theory, attitude theory, and reputation management. The new model is suited for application in comparative analyses of country images both on the level of different groups (such as a country’s domestic and foreign publics) as well as different societal levels (such as individual attitudes on the one hand and mass-mediated prestige information on the other)

Extraction of Forward-looking Financial Information for Stock Price Prediction from Annual Reports Using NLP Techniques

Annual reports are one of the most important sources of information for financial decisions. They contain forward-looking statements (FLS), which describe future trends and expectations. Thus, several studies deal with the automated identification of FLS, where the latest ones involve a combination of a rule-based approach and machine learning classification. In this paper, we extend this research with state-of-the-art NLP methods. We use DistilBERT for FLS identification and determine their sentiment with FinBERT. The result is processed by a Random Forest model for stock price growth prediction of different periods. Our evaluation shows that DestilBERT achieves higher accuracies on FLS identification than existing methods. For short-term stock price rate prediction, the extracted FLS information together with historical stock data outperforms the sole use of historical stock data. For mid-term prediction, using FLS alone with DestilBERT shows the best result. Finally, in the long-term, FLS provide no benefit