Hack Weeks as a model for Data Science Education and Collaboration

Across almost all scientific disciplines, the instruments that record our experimental data and the methods required for storage and data analysis are rapidly increasing in complexity. This gives rise to the need for scientific communities to adapt on shorter time scales than traditional university curricula allow for, and therefore requires new modes of knowledge transfer. The universal applicability of data science tools to a broad range of problems has generated new opportunities to foster exchange of ideas and computational workflows across disciplines. In recent years, hack weeks have emerged as an effective tool for fostering these exchanges by providing training in modern data analysis workflows. While there are variations in hack week implementation, all events consist of a common core of three components: tutorials in state-of-the-art methodology, peer-learning and project work in a collaborative environment. In this paper, we present the concept of a hack week in the larger context of scientific meetings and point out similarities and differences to traditional conferences. We motivate the need for such an event and present in detail its strengths and challenges. We find that hack weeks are successful at cultivating collaboration and the exchange of knowledge. Participants self-report that these events help them both in their day-to-day research as well as their careers. Based on our results, we conclude that hack weeks present an effective, easy-to-implement, fairly low-cost tool to positively impact data analysis literacy in academic disciplines, foster collaboration and cultivate best practices.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PNAS, all relevant code available at https://github.com/uwescience/HackWeek-Writeu

High Throughput Modeling of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

poster abstractCombat veterans, have higher instances of PTSD only about 7% of the US population will develop this pathology. The low ratio of individuals exposed to a traumatic event to individuals who develop PTSD (75%: 7%) highlights that most individuals can successfully cope with the emotional aftermath of stressful situations. Individuals suffering from PTSD seem to have a fundamental impairment in this stress coping ability, or the ability to progress past the event. It is common for people to report PTSD like symptoms in the following days or weeks after a traumatic event and is considered to be perfectly natural. It is not until these symptoms persist for more than a month before a diagnosis of PTSD can be made. Given the incidence of natural disasters, violent/sexual assaults, and other traumatic incidents in the United States, there is a great need to develop tools directed at studying PTSD. Preclinical modeling of PTSD can be achieved by using Pavlovian fear conditioning where a rat associates a mild foot shock with neutral tone. Details associated with a past traumatic can elicit a fearful reaction in PTSD, the tone previously paired with foot shock can elicit a fearful response in a rat, when not presented with a shock. The ability of an animal to disassociate the tone from the foot shock can be achieved by repeated exposure to the tone in the absence of the shock. After this repeated exposure to the tone the animal learns to “extinguish” the previous fearful memory of the footshock is very relevant to PTSD which is characterized by fearful memories that persist for an extended period of time. In the current work, we characterize a new apparatus for fear conditioning / extinction in rats that allows for the running of multiple animals paired with automated behavioral scoring

Antifeministische Männlichkeit(en) im Netz: digitale Transformation und technisch vermittelte Agitation

Der vorliegende Beitrag untersucht die Funktions- und Wirkungsweisen antifeministischer Agitation in den sozialen Medien als eine vergeschlechtlichte und technisch vermittelte Form der Propaganda. Als empirische Grundlage der Analyse dienen leitfadengestützte Tiefeninterviews mit männlich sozialisierten Personen, die rechte und antifeministische Topoi in ihren Posts reproduziert haben. Die Analyse dieses Datenmaterials zielt darauf ab, herauszuarbeiten, wie antifeministische Agitation in den sozialen Medien wirkt und wie die (Re-)Produktion dieser Agitation in diesen Medien funktioniert. Diese Untersuchung kommt zu dem Schluss, dass diese Reproduktion nicht nach einem 'Top-down'-Prinzip funktioniert, vielmehr ermöglicht sie, diese technisch vermittelte Form der Agitation den befragten Nutzern, mit persönlichen Erfahrungen zu partizipieren und die Agitation dann als eine modifizierte weiter zu teilen.This article examines the functionality and mechanisms of antifeminist agitation in social media as a gendered and technically mediated form of propaganda. Based on the analysis of in-depth interviews with men who reproduce right-wing and antifeminist topoi in their posts, the article analyses how antifeminist agitation in social media affects these men and how the (re)production of this agitation functions in these media. The article elaborates on how this (re)production does not work in a 'top-down' manner, rather that this type of agitation allows respondents to participate with their personal experiences and then to share the agitation as modified experiences

Legitimacy in conflict: concepts, practices, challenges

The study of legitimacy in situations of conflict and peacebuilding has increased in recent years. However, current work on the topic adopts many assumptions, definitions, and understandings from classical legitimacy theory, which centers on the relationship between the nation-state and its citizens. In this introduction, we provide a detailed critical overview of current theories of legitimacy and legitimation and demonstrate why they have only limited applicability in conflict and post-conflict contexts, focusing on the three main areas that the articles included in this special issue examine: audiences for legitimacy, sources of legitimacy, and legitimation. In particular, we show how conflict and post-conflict contexts are marked by the fragmentation and personalization of power; the proliferation and fragmentation of legitimacy audiences; and ambiguity surrounding legitimation strategies

Five Years of Mid-Infrared Evolution of the Remnant of SN 1987A: The Encounter Between the Blast Wave and the Dusty Equatorial Ring

We have used the Spitzer satellite to monitor the mid-IR evolution of SN 1987A over a 5 year period spanning the epochs between days 6000 and 8000 since the explosion. The supernova (SN) has evolved into a supernova remnant (SNR) and its radiative output is dominated by the interaction of the SN blast wave with the pre-existing equatorial ring (ER). The mid-IR spectrum is dominated by emission from ~180 K silicate dust, collisionally-heated by the hot X-ray emitting gas with a temperature and density of ~5x10^6 K and 3x10^4 cm-3, respectively. The mass of the radiating dust is ~1.2x10^(-6) Msun on day 7554, and scales linearly with IR flux. The infrared to soft-X-ray flux ratio is roughly constant with a value of 2.5. Gas-grain collisions therefore dominate the cooling of the shocked gas. The constancy of of this ratio suggests that very little grain processing or gas cooling have occurred throughout this epoch. The shape of the dust spectrum remained unchanged during the observations while the total flux increased with a time dependence of t^(0.87), t being the time since the first encounter between the blast wave and the ER. These observations are consistent with the transitioning of the blast wave from free expansion to a Sedov phase as it propagates into the main body of the ER.Comment: Accepted for publication in the ApJ, 11 pages, 11 figure