“It Feels Weird Telling You For Sure”: Ambivalence and Uncertainty about Academic Integrity in International Students’ Self-Reports of Using Paid Academic Support Services

This presentation reports on a study that examines some international undergraduate students’ use of  private academic support services (PASS), a growing phenomenon in Canadian higher education in the last decade whose practitioners often advertise to international and/or multilingual students. We situate the use of PASS at the intersection of three constructs: literacy brokering (Curry and Lillis, 2006), contract cheating (Lancaster & Clarke, 2016), and private supplementary tutoring/“shadow education” (Bray, 2008), seeking to understand why some students choose to pay for help with academic work and how they understand the ethics of their choices.    Using a survey (n = 898 international student responses, with ⅔ being self-identified as users of English as an additional language) and semi-structured follow-up interviews (n= 23), this presentation addresses the following research questions:    What is the type and nature of PASS that some students use, and why do they seek such services? How do students understand the use of PASS in relation to academic integrity?   Survey results reveal 30% of participants described using some form of PASS, most commonly “homework help” websites or tutoring. Students described a variety of reasons for seeking PASS, often related to their perceived convenience and/or limited access to other forms of in-time support. Interviews revealed ambivalence about the use of PASS; while some reported feeling PASS were helpful in achieving academic goals, some described feeling uneasy or uncertain about their ethical acceptability or usefulness. We conclude with policy and pedagogical implications for this growing grey area of para-academic support

Faster spectral density calculation using energy moments

Accurate predictions of inclusive scattering cross sections in the linear response regime require efficient and controllable methods to calculate the spectral density in a strongly-correlated many-body system. In this work we reformulate the recently proposed Gaussian Integral Transform technique in terms of Fourier moments of the system Hamiltonian which can be computed efficiently on a quantum computer. One of the main advantages of this framework is that it allows for an important reduction of the computational cost by exploiting previous knowledge about the energy moments of the spectral density. For a simple model of medium mass nucleus like $^{40}$Ca and target energy resolution of $1$ MeV we find an expected speed-up of $\approx 125$ times for the calculation of the giant dipole response and of $\approx 50$ times for the simulation of quasi-elastic electron scattering at typical momentum transfers.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Investigation of Rifting Processes in the Rio Grande Rift Using Data from Unusually Large Earthquake Swarms

San Acacia Swarm in the Rio Grande Rift. Because the Rio Grande rift is one of the best seismically instrumented rift zones in the world, studying its seismicity provides an exceptional opportunity to explore the active tectonic processes within continental rifts. We have been studying earthquake swarms recorded near Socorro in an effort to link seismicity directly to the rifting process. For FY94, our research has focused on the San Acacia swarm, which occurred 25 km north of Socorro, New Mexico, along the accommodation zone between the Albuquerque-Belen and Socorro basins of the central Rio Grande rift. The swarm commenced on 25 February 1983, had a magnitude 4.2 main shock on 2 March and ended on 17 March, 1983

Regional seismic discrimination in central Asia with emphasis on western China

In support of an anticipated Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, the authors have started to evaluate regional seismic event discrimination capabilities for central Asia, emphasizing western China. The authors have measured noise and seismic phase amplitudes of over 250 earthquakes and 18 underground nuclear explosions recorded at the broadband, digital station WMQ in western China and over 100 earthquakes and 5 nuclear explosions at station AAK in Kyrgyzstan. The explosions are from the Kazakh Test Site (KTS) and Lop Nor, China. The earthquakes are mostly from northwest China. They have also evaluated a single suspected chemical explosion. Event magnitudes (m{sub b}) range between 2.5 and 6.5 and maximum event-station distance is about 1,700 km. Using these measurements the authors formed phase, spectral, cross-spectral, short-period/long-period, and long-period ratios to test many possible event discriminants. All ratios were corrected for distance effects before forming ratio-versus-magnitude discrimination plots. The authors found that all five classes of these discriminants are useful for separating earthquakes from explosions in central Asia, provided the right combinations of frequency bands and phases are selected. Results are described

Regional characterization of Western China-II

As part of the CTBT Research and Development regional characterization effort, geological, geophysical, and seismic data are being assembled and organized for inclusion in a knowledge base for China. The authors have continued their analysis using data form the station WMQ of the Chinese Digital Seismic Network (CDSN) and the IRIS station AAK. They are also acquiring and analyzing data from stations that are designated as (or near a designated) primary or secondary CTBT monitoring station. Regional seismograms are being analyzed to construct travel time curves, velocity models, attenuation characteristics, and to quantify regional propagation effects such as phase blockages. Using locations from the USGS Preliminary Determination of Epicenters (PDE) they have identified Pn, Pg, Sn, and Lg phases, constructed travel time curves, and estimated apparent velocities using linear regression. Amplitudes for the seismic phases have been measured using bandpassed waveforms and a series of magnitude relations have been determined for Western China. Studies of path specific propagation efficiency of the seismic phases have mapped blockages and also identified a possible set of observations that can be used to identify intermediate depth (> 100 im) seismic events in the Pamir-Hindu Kush seismic zone. Chinese seismicity catalogs from the USGS and Chinese State Seismological Bureau (SSB) are being used to identify and obtain seismic data (including mine seismicity) and information for lower magnitude events. Clustering analysis has been used to identify seismicity clusters in space with origin times that are distributed during daylight hours which suggest mining operations. These clusters are being investigated with imagery to attempt to identify precise mine locations

Maintaining Solidarity: A Look Back at the Mormon Village *

The present study suggests, in contrast to community dissolution theories, that community is maintained through a dialogue between ideological commitment and cooperative action within a cultural framework. The research follows up on a classic rural community study series, that of Lowry Nelson's Mormon villages. Replicating Nelson's ethnographic methods, the author reevaluates the earlier findings and extends the data by several decades. Nelson's findings on Mormon village dynamics are still relevant, although in modified forms, largely through community members' commitments to a common ideology. The author concludes that affectively based communities persist despite modernization. Mormon solidarity has endured because of its early articulation of expected interaction with the broader social world and because of its commitment to both ideals and practical action.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/73311/1/j.1549-0831.2000.tb00034.x.pd

Regional seismic wave propagation (Lg and Sn) and Pn attenuation in the Arabian Plate and surrounding regions

An edited version of this paper was published by Blackwell Publishing. Copyright 2004, Blackwell Publishing. See also: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1365-246X.2004.02246.x; http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu/MiddleEastNorthAfrica/publications/Al-Damegh2004.htmContinuous recordings of 17 broadband and short period digital seismic stations from a newly established seismological network in Saudi Arabia, along with digital recordings from the broadband stations of the GSN, MEDNET, GEOFON, a temporary array in Saudi Arabia, and a temporary short period stations in Oman, were analyzed to study the lithospheric structure of the Arabian plate and surrounding regions. The Arabian plate is surrounded by a variety of types of plate boundaries: continental collision (Zagros belt and Bitlis suture), continental transform (Dead Sea fault system), young sea floor spreading (Red Sea and Gulf of Aden), and oceanic transform (Owen fracture zone). Also, there are many intraplate Cenozoic processes such as volcanic eruptions, faulting, and folding that are taking place. We used this massive waveform database of more than 6200 regional seismogram to map zones of blockage, inefficient, and efficient propagation of the Lg and Sn phases in the Middle East and East Africa. We observed Lg blockage across the Bitlis suture and Zagros fold and thrust belt, corresponding to the boundary between the Arabian and Eurasian plates. This is probably due to a major lateral change in the Lg crustal wave-guide. We also observed inefficient Lg propagation along the Oman mountains. Blockage and inefficient Sn propagation is observed along and for a considerable distance to the east of the Dead Sea fault system and in the northern portion of the Arabian plate (south of the Bitlis suture). These mapped zones of high Sn attenuation, moreover, closely coincide with extensive Neogene and Quaternary volcanic activity. We have also carefully mapped the boundaries of the Sn blockage within the Turkish and Iranian plateaus. Furthermore, we observed Sn blockage across the Owen fracture zone and across some segments of the Red Sea. These regions of high Sn attenuation most probably have anomalously hot and possibly thin lithospheric mantle (i.e., mantle lid). A surprising result is the efficient propagation of Sn across a segment of the Red Sea; an indication that active sea floor spreading is not continuous along the axis of the Red Sea. We also investigated the attenuation of Pn phase (QPn) for 1-2 Hz along the Red Sea, Dead Sea fault system, within the Arabian shield, and in the Arabian platform. Consistent with the Sn attenuation, we observed low QPn values of 22 and 15 along the western coast of the Arabian plate and along the Dead Sea fault system, respectively, for a frequency of 1.5 Hz. Higher QPn values on the order of 400 were observed within the Arabian shield and platform for the same frequency. Our results based on Sn and Pn observations along the western and northern portions of the Arabian plate imply the presence of a major anomalously hot and thinned lithosphere in these regions that may be caused by the extensive upper mantle anomaly that appears to span most of east Africa and western Arabia

SYNCA: A Synthetic Cyclotron Antenna for the Project 8 Collaboration

Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) is a technique for measuring the kinetic energy of charged particles through a precision measurement of the frequency of the cyclotron radiation generated by the particle\u27s motion in a magnetic field. The Project 8 collaboration is developing a next-generation neutrino mass measurement experiment based on CRES. One approach is to use a phased antenna array, which surrounds a volume of tritium gas, to detect and measure the cyclotron radiation of the resulting β-decay electrons. To validate the feasibility of this method, Project 8 has designed a test stand to benchmark the performance of an antenna array at reconstructing signals that mimic those of genuine CRES events. To generate synthetic CRES events, a novel probe antenna has been developed, which emits radiation with characteristics similar to the cyclotron radiation produced by charged particles in magnetic fields. This paper outlines the design, construction, and characterization of this Synthetic Cyclotron Antenna (SYNCA). Furthermore, we perform a series of measurements that use the SYNCA to test the position reconstruction capabilities of the digital beamforming reconstruction technique. We find that the SYNCA produces radiation with characteristics closely matching those expected for cyclotron radiation and reproduces experimentally the phenomenology of digital beamforming simulations of true CRES signals

Viterbi decoding of CRES signals in Project 8

Cyclotron radiation emission spectroscopy (CRES) is a modern approach for determining charged particle energies via high-precision frequency measurements of the emitted cyclotron radiation. For CRES experiments with gas within the fiducial volume, signal and noise dynamics can be modelled by a hidden Markov model. We introduce a novel application of the Viterbi algorithm in order to derive informational limits on the optimal detection of cyclotron radiation signals in this class of gas-filled CRES experiments, thereby providing concrete limits from which future reconstruction algorithms, as well as detector designs, can be constrained. The validity of the resultant decision rules is confirmed using both Monte Carlo and Project 8 data