I'm a celebrity, get me into politics: the political celebrity and the celebrity politician

This chapter discusses the political celebrity and the celebrity politician

Minet Magnetic Indoor Localization

Indoor localization is a modern problem of computer science that has no unified solution, as there are significant trade-offs involved with every technique. Magnetic localization, though less popular than WiFi signal based localization, is a sub-field that is rooted in infrastructure-free design, which can allow universal setup. Magnetic localization is also often paired with probabilistic programming, which provides a powerful method of estimation, given a limited understanding of the environment. This thesis presents Minet, which is a particle filter based localization system using the Earth\u27s geomagnetic field. It explores the novel idea of state space limitation as a method of optimizing a particle filter, by limiting the scope of possibilities the filter has to predict. Minet is also built as a distributed model, which can be easily modified to integrate new technologies. Minet showed promising results, but ultimately fell short of its accuracy goal. Minet had some inconsistencies that led to these accuracy issues, but these issues have been diagnosed and can be fixed in future updates. Finally, potential improvements of Minet\u27s base components are discussed, along with how different technologies such as a Deep Learning model can be implemented to improve performance

In a range of meaningful contexts: 25 years of struggle for meaning in mathematics teaching

  The use of meaningful contexts has been a given in New Zealand’s mathematics curricula for the last 25 years. They hold a privileged position, but there has been little examination of why they are given this position either nationally or internationally, even though there is solid evidence that the use of contexts and word problems in mathematics is not without implications for equitable access to mathematics, student learning, and assessment of learning. So what are the affordances and constraints of taking the meaningful context approach to mathematics? What has been the impact of taking this approach on student achievement and learning? These are important questions given The New Zealand Curriculum is ten years old and a curriculum review is looming. These questions are being raised to start an essential debate for mathematics education in New Zealand, one that needs to take place prior to any curriculum review so an informed decision on the place and nature of meaningful contexts in future mathematics curricula can be made

X-Ray Wakes in Abell 160

`Wakes' of X-ray emission have now been detected trailing behind a few (at least seven) elliptical galaxies in clusters. To quantify how widespread this phenomenon is, and what its nature might be, we have obtained a deep (70 ksec) X-ray image of the poor cluster Abell 160 using the ROSAT HRI. Combining the X-ray data with optical positions of confirmed cluster members, and applying a statistic designed to search for wake-like excesses, we confirm that this phenomenon is observed in galaxies in this cluster. The probability that the detections arise from chance is less than 0.0038. Further, the wakes are not randomly distributed in direction, but are preferentially oriented pointing away from the cluster centre. This arrangement can be explained by a simple model in which wakes arise from the stripping of their host galaxies' interstellar media due to ram pressure against the intracluster medium through which they travel.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Bacterial Contamination in Public ATAC-Seq Data and Alignment-Free Detection Methods

ATAC-seq is a new high-throughput sequencing technology for measuring chromatin accessibility within genomic samples. It can be used to discover new information about open regions, nucleosome positions, transcription factor binding sites, and DNA methylation. It is especially useful when combined with other next-generation sequencing techniques, such as RNA-seq. Unlike previous technologies, however, ATAC-seq is more sensitive to bacterial contamination, which is a well-known problem in cell cultures that can lead to incorrect experimental results. Previous studies have measured the contamination in public RNA-seq data and found that 5%- 10% of samples were contaminated. In this report, we investigate the prevalence of contamination in ATAC-seq samples, rather than RNA-seq data, uploaded to the Sequence Read Archive using two popular alignment-based tools: Bowtie 2 and Kraken 2. We then develop an alignment-free method of detection using machine learning and a novel method of estimating DNA fragment lengths from paired-end ATAC-seq data. Our results show that around 5% of ATAC-seq samples are contaminated and our machine learning method is able to correctly classify 97% of samples as contaminated or not while using less computational resources than the alignment-based tools. Thus, our method shows promise as a preliminary rapid screening tool for contamination in labs with limited access huge to computational resources

Alcohol Use Disorders And Antiretroviral Therapy Among Prisoners With Hiv/aids In Argentina

While Argentina has significantly improved access to HIV care and antiretroviral therapy (ART) for both the general population and prisoners, the prevalence of alcohol use disorders (AUDs) among HIV-infected prisoners and their relationship to accessing ART in Argentina is currently unknown. This study aims to characterize the substance abuse patterns of HIV-infected prisoners in Argentina and to assess the independent correlates of receipt of pre-incarceration ART. An anonymous, cross-sectional survey of 100 HIV-infected federal prisoners was conducted in the Buenos Aires municipality from July-December 2010. AUDs were assessed using the AUDIT scale. A majority (63 per cent) of participants met criteria for AUDs, 45 per cent of subjects were diagnosed with HIV in prison and one-quarter had initiated ART during the current incarceration. In addition, over one-third (35 per cent) of participants did not receive ART during the pre-incarceration period despite receiving it upon incarceration. This correlated significantly with the presence of having an AUD (AOR 0.20, 95 per cent CI 0.06-0.74, p = 0.016). AUDs are prevalent among HIV-infected prisoners in Argentina and are significantly related to not receiving ART in the community among those who meet treatment criteria and receive ART in prison. While Argentina has provided an exemplary model of HIV-related health care reform within its prisons, future efforts to provide screening and treatment for AUDs are needed to improve the health of the nation\u27s incarcerated population

The Rise of a Chinese Bourgeoisie and the Potential for Democratic Transition

This project examines the logic of China’s political history and the potential for its democratic political transformation in the 21st century. Using the ideas of Moore and Skocpol the project employs a comparative historical sociology to explain the emergence of the liberal democratic political order in the 18th century western transformations as organized by an emerging bourgeoisie. The end goal of the project is to determine if the creation of a Chinese entrepreneurial class, which does exist in economic terms as a result of market activity and the devolution of state power, can be taken as evidence of an imminent shift into social structure associated with a bourgeoisie that embodies economic, cultural and political power. The analysis of the western transformations identifies the evolution of a bourgeois culture from the 16th up until the 18th century. The 16th century saw the rise of the rationalization and secularization of the entrepreneur - reason became the standard that would guide society, not the dogmas of traditional authority. The 17th century built on this by emphasizing the importance of property and law – as ways of realizing the newfound philosophical development that emerged in the previous century. Finally, the 18th century witnessed a profound emphasis on the constitutional rule of law and democratic process. These three sets of liberal values – the rise of reason over the dogmas of the state or church; emphasis on property and law; and emphasis on democratic principles and constitutional governance – are the defining features of emergent bourgeois government. The analysis of the failed eastern transformations reveals how economy and state gravely checked the rise of a bourgeoisie and its transformation of the traditional state. The comprehensive state machinery – such as existed in China and Russia – imposed autocratic constraints on the force of the market and its social attachments and political products. Until social forces could create a space for market organization and property-law within the economic system, the state maintained its autocratic monopoly. In the last 20 years the logic of Moore has been resumed in China, as markets and property have emerged with force and the state system has resiled from its traditionally autocratic role, albeit with property-capturing and law-distorting corruptions. As Moore’s logic once more exerts itself we should see change in China from market organization to property-law to a specific culture as the foundations of bourgeois political transformation

Dynamic structural analysis of ramming in bighorn sheep

Includes bibliographical references.2015 Fall.Concussions are the most common traumatic brain injury and are caused by impulsive loads applied to the skull, resulting in relative motion of the brain within the brain cavity. Despite wearing helmets, athletes involved in full contact sports, such as football, are highly susceptible to concussive injuries. Short term symptoms of concussions include nausea, headache and confusion and there is evidence of more serious, long term effects from repeated concussions. Furthermore, the physical mechanisms of concussions are not well understood, making them difficult to diagnose and treat clinically. Male bighorn sheep sustain massive impact loads to the head during ramming, which is done as a means of determining hierarchy and gaining mating privileges. These large animals thrust themselves, horns first, at one another and collide violently, repeating this ritual for up to several hours until the subdominant male succumbs. After a collision, the animals are stunned momentarily but otherwise appear to suffer no ill effects, based on behavioral observations. This simple fact provided the motivation to examine the dynamic structural behavior of bighorn sheep horns and skulls. For reference, the average translational brain cavity accelerations observed during finite element model impact were found to be 111g (1091 m/s²) and impacts thought to be damaging to human brains occur at around 100g. A dynamic finite element impact model was produced using the geometry, obtained from a CT scan, of a mature male bighorn sheep’s skull and horns. Quantitative and qualitative results of the simulation were examined to determine mechanisms of energy dissipation and stress distribution during an idealized impact event. Video analysis of particularly forceful ramming sequences of wild bighorn sheep was carried out to estimate the dynamics involved with ramming. In order to investigate the relative contributions of the horn curl as well as the internal foamy bone architecture, three separate finite element models were produced. One model had one half of the horn length removed, another had the internal foam-like bone removed and these models were compared to the fully intact model to determine the structural contributions of these features during impact. Removing one half of the horn curl had the effect of increasing the peak brain cavity translational acceleration by 49%. Eliminating the internal foamy bone architecture resulted in a dramatic 442% increase in brain cavity rotational accelerations. The dynamic (vibrational) response of bighorn sheep horns and skulls was investigated using two, related methods: finite element modal analysis and experimental modal analysis. The finite element modal analysis revealed five dominant natural frequencies with values ranging from 118 to 309 Hz. Experimental modal analysis revealed several natural frequencies between 100 and 300 Hz, however, differentiating specific modes was difficult. For both vibrational analyses the dominant vibrational mode shape was side-to-side oscillations of the horn tip. This study hopes to promote and guide further research on the mechanisms of brain trauma prevention in bighorn sheep, with an emphasis on the structural and material characteristics of the horn and skull, to increase our understanding of, and ways to prevent traumatic brain injuries in humans