1,983 research outputs found
Implications of rodent Viral infections for research
No abstract availabl
Experimenting with online governance
To solve the problems they face, online communities adopt comprehensive governance methods including committees, boards, juries, and even more complex institutional logics. Helping these kinds of communities succeed will require categorizing best practices and creating toolboxes that fit the needs of specific communities. Beyond such applied uses, there is also a potential for an institutional logic itself to evolve, taking advantage of feedback provided by the fast pace and large ecosystem of online communication. Here, we outline an experimental strategy aiming at guiding and facilitating such an evolution. We first review the advantages of studying collective action using recent technologies for efficiently orchestrating massive online experiments. Research in this vein includes attempts to understand how behavior spreads, how cooperation evolves, and how the wisdom of the crowd can be improved. We then present the potential usefulness of developing virtual-world experiments with governance for improving the utility of social feedback. Such experiments can be used for improving community rating systems and monitoring (dashboard) systems. Finally, we present a framework for constructing large-scale experiments entirely in virtual worlds, aimed at capturing the complexity of governance dynamics, to empirically test outcomes of manipulating institutional logic.Received: 14 November 2020; Accepted: 23 March 2021; Published: 26 April 2021
Testing the binary hypothesis for the formation and shaping of planetary nebulae
There is no quantitative theory to explain why a high 80% of all planetary
nebulae are non-spherical. The Binary Hypothesis states that a companion to the
progenitor of a central star of planetary nebula is required to shape the
nebula and even for a planetary nebula to be formed at all. A way to test this
hypothesis is to estimate the binary fraction of central stars of planetary
nebulae and to compare it with that of the main sequence population.
Preliminary results from photometric variability and the infrared excess
techniques indicate that the binary fraction of central stars of planetary
nebulae is higher than that of the main sequence, implying that PNe could
preferentially form via a binary channel. This article briefly reviews these
results and current studies aiming to refine the binary fraction.Comment: EUROWD12 Proceeding
Planetary nebulae : getting closer to an unbiased binary fraction
Why 80% of planetary nebulae are not spherical is not yet understood. The
Binary Hypothesis states that a companion to the progenitor of the central star
of a planetary nebula is required to shape the nebula and even for a planetary
nebula to be formed at all. A way to test this hypothesis is to estimate the
binary fraction of central stars of planetary nebula and to compare it with the
main sequence population. Preliminary results from photometric variability and
infrared excess techniques indicate that the binary fraction of central stars
of planetary nebulae is higher than that of the putative main sequence
progenitor population, implying that PNe could be preferentially formed via a
binary channel. This article briefly reviews these results and future studies
aiming to refine the binary fraction.Comment: SF2A 2012 proceeding
One Month, One Class, No Bags
According to the website, theworldcounts.com, we consume about 5 trillion plastic bags per year. This translates to roughly 160,000 bags per second. This rapidly increasing consumption of plastics has led to the harming of natural ecosystems and the endangerment of many species. At the College of DuPage, our Honors English Composition class decided to address this issue and propose a solution at the local level. As a class, we broke up into several research groups, each tackling a different section of research related to plastic bags: its history, nationwide legislation, counterarguments, and connection to Illinoisâ plastic bag legislation. The groups gathered news articles and legislative documents, as well as conducted interviews and surveys to understand plastic bag consumption and its impacts on the environment. We also participated in what we called the âPlastic Bag Challengeâ, where we refrained from using plastic bags for one month. Each student recorded video diaries to recount their experiences, as well as conflicts and obstacles that surfaced. Once the research component of our project was complete, we brainstormed ways to present our findings to the public. Our goal was to persuade the State of Illinois to enact legislation banning the use of plastic bags. During our course, we studied the history of rhetoric, its persuasive appeals and the effectiveness of the classical argument. We knew our argument would use rhetoric and follow the structure of the âclassical argumentâ to persuade our audience. However, the presentation of this structural argument was something we had to discuss as a class; we wanted something that would be able to reach a large audience. We decided to create a video and a website that would present our research and advocate for the ban of plastic bags in Illinois. We formed two main groups to finish this part of the project -- one to make the video and the other to make the website. Once we were finished, we critiqued the projects before releasing them to the public. However, our work was not done when we published the video and website. We analyzed the public feedback (or lack thereof), and the results were somewhat disappointing. Our video received about 100 views, with 14 likes and 1 dislike. The video analytics also showed that we lost most viewers one minute into the video. While the results themselves were not very promising, we gained a favorable learning experience. The results led to a class discussion on why our project was not as successful as we wanted and ways we could have improved it. Now, we hope to inform our audience at the HCIR Student Symposium about our experience with trying to develop a rhetorical argument in modern-day society
Slow update of internal representations impedes synchronization in autism
Autism is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impaired social skills, motor and perceptual atypicalities. These difficulties were explained within the Bayesian framework as either reflecting oversensitivity to prediction errors or â just the opposite â slow updating of such errors. To test these opposing theories, we administer paced finger-tapping, a synchronization task that requires use of recent sensory information for fast error-correction. We use computational modelling to disentangle the contributions of error-correction from that of noise in keeping temporal intervals, and in executing motor responses. To assess the specificity of tapping characteristics to autism, we compare performance to both neurotypical individuals and individuals with dyslexia. Only the autism group shows poor sensorimotor synchronization. Trial-by-trial modelling reveals typical noise levels in interval representations and motor responses. However, rate of error correction is reduced in autism, impeding synchronization ability. These results provide evidence for slow updating of internal representations in autism
Discovery of 9 Ly alpha emitters at redshift z~3.1 using narrow-band imaging and VLT spectroscopy
Narrow-band imaging surveys aimed at detecting the faint emission from the
5007 [O III] line of intracluster planetary nebulae in Virgo also probe high
redshift z=3.1 Ly alpha emitters. Here we report on the spectroscopic
identification of 9 Ly alpha emitters at z=3.13, obtained with the FORS
spectrograph at Unit 1 of the ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT UT1). The spectra
of these high redshift objects show a narrow, isolated Ly alpha emission with
very faint (frequently undetected) continuum, indicating a large equivalent
width. No other features are visible in our spectra. Our Ly alpha emitters are
quite similar to those found by Hu (1998), Cowie & Hu (1998) and Hu et al.
(1998). Using simple population synthesis models, on the assumption that these
sources are regions of star formation, we conclude that the nebulae are nearly
optically thick and must have a very low dust content, in order to explain the
high observed Ly alpha equivalent widths. For the cosmological and star
formation parameters we adopted, the total stellar mass produced would seem to
correspond to the formation of rather small galaxies, some of which are perhaps
destined to merge. The implied star formation density in our sampled comoving
volume is probably somewhat smaller than, but of the same order of magnitude as
the star formation density at z=3 derived by other authors from Lyman-break
galaxy surveys. This result agrees with the expectation that the Ly alpha
emitters are a low-metallicity (or low-dust) tail in a distribution of star
forming regions at high redshifts. Finally, the Ly alpha emitters may
contribute as many H-ionizing photons as QSOs at z=3.Comment: 26 pages, 17 Postscript figures, ApJ in pres
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