Polymer Models of Topological Insulators

Physic

Does gender matter? A cross-national investigation of primary class-room discipline.

© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis GroupFewer than 15% of primary school teachers in both Germany and the UK are male. With the on-going international debate about educational performance highlighting the widening gender achievement gap between girl and boy pupils, the demand for more male teachers has become prevalent in educational discourse. Concerns have frequently been raised about the underachievement of boys, with claims that the lack of male ‘role models’ in schools has an adverse effect on boys’ academic motivation and engagement. Although previous research has examined ‘teaching’ as institutional talk, men’s linguistic behaviour in the classroom remains largely ignored, especially in regard to enacting discipline. Using empirical spoken data collected from four primary school classrooms in both the UK and in Germany, this paper examines the linguistic discipline strategies of eight male and eight female teachers using Interactional Sociolinguistics to address the question, does teacher gender matter?Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

The Furstenberg-S\'ark\"ozy theorem for polynomials in one or more prime variables

We establish upper bounds on the size of the largest subset of $\{1,2,\dots,N\}$ lacking nonzero differences of the form $h(p_1,\dots,p_{\ell})$, where $h\in \mathbb{Z}[x_1,\dots,x_{\ell}]$ is a fixed polynomial satisfying appropriate conditions and $p_1,\dots,p_{\ell}$ are prime. The bounds are of the same type as the best-known analogs for unrestricted integer inputs, due to Bloom-Maynard and Arala for $\ell=1$, and to the authors for $\ell \geq 2$.Comment: 22 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:2006.1540

Effects of antiplatelet therapy on stroke risk by brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases: subgroup analyses of the RESTART randomised, open-label trial

Background Findings from the RESTART trial suggest that starting antiplatelet therapy might reduce the risk of recurrent symptomatic intracerebral haemorrhage compared with avoiding antiplatelet therapy. Brain imaging features of intracerebral haemorrhage and cerebral small vessel diseases (such as cerebral microbleeds) are associated with greater risks of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage. We did subgroup analyses of the RESTART trial to explore whether these brain imaging features modify the effects of antiplatelet therapy

Setting live coding performance in wider historical contexts

This paper sets live coding in the wider context of performing arts, construed as the poetic modelling and projection of liveness. Concepts of liveness are multiple, evolving, and scale-dependent: entities considered live from different cultural perspectives range from individual organisms and social groupings to entire ecosystems, and consequently reflect diverse temporal and spatial orders. Concepts of liveness moreover evolve with our tools, which generate and reveal new senses and places of vitality. This instability complexifies the crafting of live events as artistic material: overriding habitual frames and scales of reference is a challenge when handling infinitely scalable computational phenomena. With its generative affordances, improvised interactive programming, and notational possibilities, live coding introduces unique qualities into the performance arena. At the same time, performance history abounds in adaptive systems which anticipate certain live coding criteria. Historic performance and contemporary coding practices raise shared questions that can enhance our understanding of live art, notably to do with feedback, fixed versus on-the-fly programmable conceptual and physical frameworks, and inscriptive practices and notation methods for live action. I attempt to address such questions by setting live coding in a wider performance history perspective

Flexi-Focus Lens: PDMS Variable Focal Length Lens

The design of a variable focal length, or flexi-focus, polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) lens incorporating a light emitting diode (LED) source is intended for future use on board commercial aircraft. Specifically, the design is intended for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft, serving as a personal reading light for the passengers seated in the cabin. Most current reading lights on board aircraft are rigid, incandescent, and have very limited freedom in terms of adjusting the emitted light. Incandescent lamps are also inefficient with respect to energy consumption and light output as well as a high heat output. In an economy of increasing demand for cost efficiency, environmentally friendly solutions, and user friendly devices, this lighting configuration is a hindrance in its application. The Flexi-Focus LED light system will remedy this problem by allowing the passenger the freedom to refocus the light from broad flood lighting to precise spot lighting, adequate for reading. A table of user needs can be seen in Table I of Appendix F. This system involves a variable-focal length lens fabricated with PDMS, incorporated with an LED, which has the ability to flex into a range of convex surfaces when the pressure in an airtight chamber behind it is increased, thus enabling optimization for a broad range of applications. The focal length of the lens is a function of the refractive index of the lens material and the radius of curvature created by the deflection. With a known refractive index for the material, the light can be made to focus at specific distances. In the application of interest for this project, this enables the area illuminated by the LED to vary

Sepsis-related deaths in the at-risk population on the wards: attributable fraction of mortality in a large point-prevalence study

Objective Sepsis mortality is reported to be high worldwide, however recently the attributable fraction of mortality due to sepsis (AFsepsis) has been questioned. If improvements in treatment options are to be evaluated, it is important to know what proportion of deaths are potentially preventable or modifiable after a sepsis episode. The aim of the study was to establish the fraction of deaths directly related to the sepsis episode on the general wards and emergency departments. Results 839 patients were recruited over the two 24-h periods in 2016 and 2017. 521 patients fulfilled SEPSIS-3 criteria. 166 patients (32.4%) with sepsis and 56 patients (17.6%) without sepsis died within 90 days. Out of the 166 sepsis deaths 12 (7.2%) could have been directly related to sepsis, 28 (16.9%) possibly related and 96 (57.8%) were not related to sepsis. Overall AFsepsis was 24.1%. Upon analysis of the 40 deaths likely to be attributable to sepsis, we found that 31 patients (77.5%) had the Clinical Frailty Score ≥ 6, 28 (70%) had existing DNA-CPR order and 17 had limitations of care orders (42.5%)

Here and now: perceptions of Indian Ocean islanders on the climate change and migration nexus

Empirical studies exploring the links between climate change and migration are increasing. Often, perceptions are not fully explored from the people most affected by the climate change and migration nexus. This article contributes to filling this gap by eliciting and analyzing perceptions regarding climate change and migration from an understudied population labelled as being amongst those most immediately and directly affected by climate change: Indian Ocean islanders. Open-ended, semi-structured interviews were conducted in two case study communities in Maldives (Kaafu Guraidhoo with 17 interviews and Raa Dhuvafaaru with 18 interviews) and two case study communities in Lakshadweep, India (Kavaratti with 35 interviews and Minicoy with 26 interviews). The results present the interviewees’ perceptions of climatic variability and change that they experience; how they perceive the causes of these changes; and links to migration decisions. The interviews demonstrate that perceptions of climate change, of migration, and of the links or lack thereof between the two are centred on the interviewees’ own experiences, their own locations, and the immediate timeframe. External information and direction has limited influence. Their perceptions are framed as being the ‘here and now’ through topophilia (here) and tempophilia (now). The islanders’ views do not avoid, but rather encompass, long-term livelihoods and the future. Such a future might be in another location, but the anchor is expressing future hopes and aspirations through the here and now. It is not linked to the wide-scale, long-term issue of climate change