777 research outputs found
Experimental ionization of atomic hydrogen with few-cycle pulses
We present the first experimental data on strong-field ionization of atomic
hydrogen by few-cycle laser pulses. We obtain quantitative agreement at the 10%
level between the data and an {\it ab initio} simulation over a wide range of
laser intensities and electron energies
Embrace Divergence for Richer Insights: A Multi-document Summarization Benchmark and a Case Study on Summarizing Diverse Information from News Articles
Previous research in multi-document news summarization has typically
concentrated on collating information that all sources agree upon. However, to
our knowledge, the summarization of diverse information dispersed across
multiple articles about an event has not been previously investigated. The
latter imposes a different set of challenges for a summarization model. In this
paper, we propose a new task of summarizing diverse information encountered in
multiple news articles encompassing the same event. To facilitate this task, we
outlined a data collection schema for identifying diverse information and
curated a dataset named DiverseSumm. The dataset includes 245 news stories,
with each story comprising 10 news articles and paired with a human-validated
reference. Moreover, we conducted a comprehensive analysis to pinpoint the
position and verbosity biases when utilizing Large Language Model (LLM)-based
metrics for evaluating the coverage and faithfulness of the summaries, as well
as their correlation with human assessments. We applied our findings to study
how LLMs summarize multiple news articles by analyzing which type of diverse
information LLMs are capable of identifying. Our analyses suggest that despite
the extraordinary capabilities of LLMs in single-document summarization, the
proposed task remains a complex challenge for them mainly due to their limited
coverage, with GPT-4 only able to cover less than 40% of the diverse
information on average
Índice de Confiança do Empresário de Pequenos e Médios Negócios no Brasil (IC-PMN): Metodologia e Resultados Preliminares
Measuring the health impact of human rights violations related to Australian asylum policies and practices: A mixed methods study
This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund - Copyright @ 2009 Johnston et al.BACKGROUND: Human rights violations have adverse consequences for health. However, to date, there remains little empirical evidence documenting this association, beyond the obvious physical and psychological effects of torture. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether Australian asylum policies and practices, which arguably violate human rights, are associated with adverse health outcomes. METHODS: We designed a mixed methods study to address the study aim. A cross-sectional survey was conducted with 71 Iraqi Temporary Protection Visa (TPV) refugees and 60 Iraqi Permanent Humanitarian Visa (PHV) refugees, residing in Melbourne, Australia. Prior to a recent policy amendment, TPV refugees were only given temporary residency status and had restricted access to a range of government funded benefits and services that permanent refugees are automatically entitled to. The quantitative results were triangulated with semi-structured interviews with TPV refugees and service providers. The main outcome measures were self-reported physical and psychological health. Standardised self-report instruments, validated in an Arabic population, were used to measure health and wellbeing outcomes. RESULTS: Forty-six percent of TPV refugees compared with 25% of PHV refugees reported symptoms consistent with a diagnosis of clinical depression (p = 0.003). After controlling for the effects of age, gender and marital status, TPV status made a statistically significant contribution to psychological distress (B = 0.5, 95% CI 0.3 to 0.71, p </= 0.001) amongst Iraqi refugees. Qualitative data revealed that TPV refugees generally felt socially isolated and lacking in control over their life circumstances, because of their experiences in detention and on a temporary visa. This sense of powerlessness and, for some, an implicit awareness they were being denied basic human rights, culminated in a strong sense of injustice. CONCLUSION: Government asylum policies and practices violating human rights norms are associated with demonstrable psychological health impacts. This link between policy, rights violations and health outcomes offers a framework for addressing the impact of socio-political structures on health.This research was supported by an Australian National and Medical Research Council PhD Scholarship (N. 251782) and a Victorian Health Promotion Foundation research grant (No. 2002-0280)
Identification of larval sea basses (Centropristis spp.) using ribosomal DNA-specific molecular assays
This paper is not subject to U.S. copyright. The definitive version was published in Fishery Bulletin 106 (2008): 183-193.The identification of sea
bass (Centropristis) larvae to species
is difficult because of similar
morphological characters, spawning
times, and overlapping species ranges.
Black sea bass (Centropristis striata)
is an important fishery species and
is currently considered to be overfished
south of Cape Hatteras, North
Carolina. We describe methods for
identifying three species of sea bass
larvae using polymerase chain reaction
(PCR) and restriction fragment
length polymorphism (RFLP) assays
based on species-specific amplification
of rDNA internal transcribed
spacer reg ions. The assays were
tested against DNA of ten other cooccurring
reef fish species to ensure
the assay’s specificity. Centropristis
larvae were collected on three cruises
during cross-shelf transects and were
used to validate the assays. Seventysix
Centropristis larvae were assayed
and 69 (91%) were identified successfully.
DNA was not amplified from
5% of the larvae and identification
was inconclusive for 3% of the larvae.
These assays can be used to identify
sea bass eggs and larvae and will help
to assess spawning locations, spawning
times, and larval dispersal.Collection
of larvae at sea was supported by funding from
the National Science Foundation through OCE 9876565
to C. Jones, S. Thorrold, A. Valle-Levinson, and J.
Hare. Additional funding for this project was
provided by Office of National Marine Sanctuaries
and by Grays Reef National Marine
Sanctuary
Migration experiences, employment status and psychological distress among Somali immigrants: a mixed-method international study
Background:
The discourse about mental health problems among migrants and refugees tends to focus on adverse pre-migration experiences; there is less investigation of the environmental conditions in which refugee migrants live, and the contrasts between these situations in different countries. This cross-national study of two samples of Somali refugees living in London (UK) and Minneapolis, Minnesota, (USA) helps to fill a gap in the literature, and is unusual in being able to compare information collected in the same way in two cities in different countries.
Methods:
There were two parts to the study, focus groups to gather in-depth qualitative data and a survey of health status and quantifiable demographic and material factors. Three of the focus groups involved nineteen Somali professionals and five groups included twenty-eight lay Somalis who were living in London and Minneapolis. The quantitative survey was done with 189 Somali respondents, also living in London and Minneapolis. We used the MINI International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI) to assess ICD-10 and
Results:
The overall qualitative and quantitative results suggested that challenges to masculinity, thwarted aspirations, devalued refugee identity, unemployment, legal uncertainties and longer duration of stay in the host country account for poor psychological well-being and psychiatric disorders among this group.
Conclusion:
The use of a mixed-methods approach in this international study was essential since the quantitative and qualitative data provide different layers and depth of meaning and complement each other to provide a fuller picture of complex and multi-faceted life situations of refugees and asylum seekers. The comparison between the UK and US suggests that greater flexibility of access to labour markets for this refugee group might help to promote opportunities for better integration and mental well-being
Length of stay in asylum centres and mental health in asylum seekers: a retrospective study from Denmark
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The length of stay in asylum centres is generally mentioned as a possible health risk to asylum seekers. Medical staff working with asylum seekers has claimed that long lengths of stay in asylum centres might cause or aggravate mental disorders. We used records from a large, multiethnic group of asylum seekers to study if the incidence of mental disorders increased with length of stay.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The study population was asylum seekers in Danish asylum centres run by the Danish Red Cross. General medical care was provided by Red Cross staff who could refer selected cases to medical specialists. If an asylum seeker needed more than three specialist consultations for mental illness or five consultations for physical illness the referrals had to be approved by The Danish Immigration Service. Between July 2001 – December 2002 the Red Cross prospectively registered health related data on all new applications (n = 4516) to the Immigration Service regarding referrals to medical specialists. We used these records to analyse the association between length of stay in the asylum centres and overall rate of referral for mental disorders. Data was analysed using weighted linear regression.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that referrals for mental disorders increased with length of stay in asylum centres in a large, multiethnic population of asylum seekers. The association was found in all the categories of psychiatric illness studied and for a majority of the nationality groups studied.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Length of stay in asylum centres was associated with an increase in referrals for mental disorders in a large, multiethnic group of asylum seekers. The present study supports the view that prolonged length of stay in an asylum centre is a risk factor for mental health. The risk of psychiatric illness among asylum seekers should be addressed by political and humanitarian means, giving prevention of illness the highest priority.</p
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