Deep Cover HCI

The growing popularity of methodologies that turn "to the wild" for real world data creates new ethical issues for the HCI community. For investigations questioning interactions in public or transient spaces, crowd interaction, or natural behaviour, uncontrolled and uninfluenced (by the experimenter) experiences represent the ideal evaluation environment. We argue that covert research can be completed rigorously and ethically to expand our knowledge of ubiquitous technologies. Our approach, which we call Deep Cover HCI, utilises technology-supported observation in public spaces to stage completely undisturbed experiences for evaluation. We complete studies without informed consent and without intervention from an experimenter in order to gain new insights into how people use technology in public settings. We argue there is clear value in this approach, reflect on the ethical issues of such investigations, and describe our ethical guidelines for completing Deep Cover HCI Research

Ultrastructural Distribution of the 7 Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Subunit in Rat Hippocampus

Acetylcholine (ACh) is an important neurotransmitter in the mammalian brain; it is implicated in arousal, learning, and other cognitive functions. Recent studies indicate that nicotinic receptors contribute to these cholinergic effects, in addition to the established role of muscarinic receptors. In the hippocampus, where cholinergic involvement in learning and memory is particularly well documented, 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subunits (7 nAChRs) are highly expressed, but their precise ultrastructural localization has not been determined. Here, we describe the results of immunogold labeling of serial ultrathin sections through stratum radiatum of area CA1 in the rat. Using both anti-7 nAChR immunolabeling and -bungarotoxin binding, we find that 7 nAChRs are present at nearly all synapses in CA1 stratum radiatum, with immunolabeling present at both presynaptic and postsynaptic elements. Morphological considerations and double immunolabeling indicate that GABAergic as well as glutamatergic synapses bear 7 nAChRs, at densities approaching those observed for glutamate receptors in CA1 stratum radiatum. Postsynaptically, 7 nAChRs often are distributed at dendritic spines in a perisynaptic annulus. In the postsynaptic cytoplasm, immunolabeling is associated with spine apparatus and other membranous structures, suggesting that 7 nAChRs may undergo dynamic regulation, with insertion into the synapse and subsequent internalization. The widespread and substantial expression of 7 nAChRs at synapses in the hippocampus is consistent with an important role in mediating and/or modulating synaptic transmission, plasticity, and neurodegeneration

Dimensionality of spin modulations in 1/8-doped lanthanum cuprates from the perspective of NQR and muSR experiments

We investigate the dimensionality of inhomogeneous spin modulation patterns in the cuprate family of high-temperature superconductors with particular focus on 1/8-doped lanthanum cuprates. We compare one-dimensional stripe modulation pattern with two-dimensional checkerboard of spin vortices in the context of nuclear quadrupole resonance(NQR) and muon spin rotation(muSR) experiments. In addition, we also consider the third pattern, a two-dimensional superposition of spin spirals. Overall, we have found that none of the above patterns leads to a consistent interpretation of the two types of experiments considered. This, in particular, implies that the spin vortex checkerboard cannot be ruled out on the basis of available NQR/muSR experimental results.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Typical state of an isolated quantum system with fixed energy and unrestricted participation of eigenstates

This work describes the statistics for the occupation numbers of quantum levels in a large isolated quantum system, where all possible superpositions of eigenstates are allowed, provided all these superpositions have the same fixed energy. Such a condition is not equivalent to the conventional micro-canonical condition, because the latter limits the participating eigenstates to a very narrow energy window. The statistics is obtained analytically for both the entire system and its small subsystem. In a significant departure from the Boltzmann-Gibbs statistics, the average occupation numbers of quantum states exhibit in the present case weak algebraic dependence on energy. In the macroscopic limit, this dependence is routinely accompanied by the condensation into the lowest energy quantum state. This work contains initial numerical tests of the above statistics for finite systems, and also reports the following numerical finding: When the basis states of large but finite random matrix Hamiltonians are expanded in terms of eigenstates, the participation of eigenstates in such an expansion obeys the newly obtained statistics. The above statistics might be observable in small quantum systems, but for the macroscopic systems, it rather reenforces doubts about self-sufficiency of non-relativistic quantum mechanics for justifying the Boltzmann-Gibbs equilibrium.Comment: 20 pages, 3 figure

Nonparametric Bounds and Sensitivity Analysis of Treatment Effects

This paper considers conducting inference about the effect of a treatment (or exposure) on an outcome of interest. In the ideal setting where treatment is assigned randomly, under certain assumptions the treatment effect is identifiable from the observable data and inference is straightforward. However, in other settings such as observational studies or randomized trials with noncompliance, the treatment effect is no longer identifiable without relying on untestable assumptions. Nonetheless, the observable data often do provide some information about the effect of treatment, that is, the parameter of interest is partially identifiable. Two approaches are often employed in this setting: (i) bounds are derived for the treatment effect under minimal assumptions, or (ii) additional untestable assumptions are invoked that render the treatment effect identifiable and then sensitivity analysis is conducted to assess how inference about the treatment effect changes as the untestable assumptions are varied. Approaches (i) and (ii) are considered in various settings, including assessing principal strata effects, direct and indirect effects and effects of time-varying exposures. Methods for drawing formal inference about partially identified parameters are also discussed.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/14-STS499 the Statistical Science (http://www.imstat.org/sts/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

A quantum group version of quantum gauge theories in two dimensions

For the special case of the quantum group $SL_q (2,{\bf C})\ (q= \exp \pi i/r,\ r\ge 3)$ we present an alternative approach to quantum gauge theories in two dimensions. We exhibit the similarities to Witten's combinatorial approach which is based on ideas of Migdal. The main ingredient is the Turaev-Viro combinatorial construction of topological invariants of closed, compact 3-manifolds and its extension to arbitrary compact 3-manifolds as given by the authors in collaboration with W. Mueller.Comment: 6 pages (plain TeX

Phase relationship between the long-time beats of free induction decays and spin echoes in solids

Recent theoretical work on the role of microscopic chaos in the dynamics and relaxation of many-body quantum systems has made several experimentally confirmed predictions about the systems of interacting nuclear spins in solids, focusing, in particular, on the shapes of spin echo responses measured by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). These predictions were based on the idea that the transverse nuclear spin decays evolve in a manner governed at long times by the slowest decaying eigenmode of the quantum system, analogous to a chaotic resonance in a classical system. The present paper extends the above investigations both theoretically and experimentally. On the theoretical side, the notion of chaotic eigenmodes is used to make predictions about the relationships between the long-time oscillation phase of the nuclear free induction decay (FID) and the amplitudes and phases of spin echoes. On the experimental side, the above predictions are tested for the nuclear spin decays of F-19 in CaF2 crystals and Xe-129 in frozen xenon. Good agreement between the theory and the experiment is found.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, significant new experimental content in comparison with version

On Lyndon's equation in some Λ-free groups and HNN extensions

In this paper we study Lyndon's equation xpyqzr = 1, with x, y, z group elements and p, q, r positive integers, in HNN extensions of free and fully residually free groups, and draw some conclusions about its behavior in Λ-free group

The Role of the Press in Framing the Bilingual Education Debate: Ten Years after Sheltered Immersion in Massachusetts

In 2002 Massachusetts voters passed a voter initiative that changed the way children who are not fluent in English are taught. The initiative overturned the state’s requirement for “transitional bilingual education,” through which children are gradually transitioned, usually over a three-year period, from instruction in their native language to instruction entirely in English. Transitional bilingual education was replaced with “sheltered English immersion,” which places children with little or no English-language fluency in classes where almost all instruction is in English, with the expectation that they will move to regular English-only classrooms after one year. We used frame analysis to examine news coverage of this issue in the Boston Globe for the decade following the election, aiming to assess the press’s contribution to public understanding of the controversy over bilingual education and to shed light on the press’s role in enforcing the dominant language ideology of the United States, which supports English monolingualism. The study examined fifty-seven news articles identified through the use of key words. We organized the articles into three periods and focused on (1) headlines, (2) main events and themes, (3) characters, (4) use of expert sources, and (5) the placement of stories. We found most articles bunched in the period immediately following the election. The press frame featured conflicts among politicians and struggles with implementation and emphasized local concerns through placement of the stories in the paper. Some stories reported lack of success for sheltered English immersion, but very few experts on language learning or bilingual education were brought into the press frame. The news stories provided the reader little information about language learning and no perspective on the potential importance or usefulness of bi- and multilingual education. As a major news source, the Boston Globe told the story in a manner that reinforced a language ideology supporting the hegemony of English