Impact: Linguistics in the real world

There is currently an emphasis in the funding of universities in the UK on the demonstrable impact of research. In this article we explore the work of the second generation of the Anglo-Scandinavian School, those linguists who were amongst the first to take the formal study of modern languages at university level out into the schools. We argue that their work is an excellent historical example of research into language having an impact in the real world, and we go on to argue that it was able to do so because the desire to make a difference was built into their research from the outset

A Complementary Resistive Switch-based Crossbar Array Adder

Redox-based resistive switching devices (ReRAM) are an emerging class of non-volatile storage elements suited for nanoscale memory applications. In terms of logic operations, ReRAM devices were suggested to be used as programmable interconnects, large-scale look-up tables or for sequential logic operations. However, without additional selector devices these approaches are not suited for use in large scale nanocrossbar memory arrays, which is the preferred architecture for ReRAM devices due to the minimum area consumption. To overcome this issue for the sequential logic approach, we recently introduced a novel concept, which is suited for passive crossbar arrays using complementary resistive switches (CRSs). CRS cells offer two high resistive storage states, and thus, parasitic sneak currents are efficiently avoided. However, until now the CRS-based logic-in-memory approach was only shown to be able to perform basic Boolean logic operations using a single CRS cell. In this paper, we introduce two multi-bit adder schemes using the CRS-based logic-in-memory approach. We proof the concepts by means of SPICE simulations using a dynamical memristive device model of a ReRAM cell. Finally, we show the advantages of our novel adder concept in terms of step count and number of devices in comparison to a recently published adder approach, which applies the conventional ReRAM-based sequential logic concept introduced by Borghetti et al.Comment: 12 pages, accepted for IEEE Journal on Emerging and Selected Topics in Circuits and Systems (JETCAS), issue on Computing in Emerging Technologie

From Voss to New York: Norwegian transmigration to America and the use of virtual worlds in historical research

The discipline of history has embraced the research opportunities offered by the rapid development in digital humanities over the past decade or so. Computer technology has enabled text mining and the analysis of large bodies of data to an extent that would have been impossible a generation earlier. The latest generation of interactive applications and user-generated content (‘Digital History 2.0’), however, allows for a different approach to presenting and researching the past. In the research project which underpins this article we use an online 3D virtual world not only to portray emigration from Norway to America but also to pioneer a new approach to historical research. Freely available virtual world software (Open Sim) was used to recreate the journey of an emigrant travelling from Voss to New York in the early 1880s. The Voss farm and the port of Bergen are included in the virtual world, as is New York. A particular emphasis, however, is the lesser-studied ‘England leg’ of the journey, via Hull and Liverpool, which had become the standard emigration route by the 1870s, and we describe this journey in some detail. We also describe the experience of creating a historical virtual world to guide others interested in this means of historiography. Aside from official records, there is frustratingly little evidence of the experience of Norwegian migration, despite the fact that hundreds of thousands of individuals were involved. Just as fictional accounts have gained credibility as valuable sources of information ‘from below’, we make the case that the “indirect personal stories” of descendants and their contribution to microhistory need to be given proper consideration as potential sources. Given how widely dispersed the informants are, we argue that online interactive spaces are an essential tool for historians, and we should not be put off by current technological limitations and challenges

Deepwater Drilling: Law, Policy, and Economics of Firm Organization and Safety

Although the causes of the Deepwater Horizon spill are not yet conclusively identified, significant attention has focused on the safety-related policies and practices—often referred to as the safety culture—of BP and other firms involved in drilling the well. This paper defines and characterizes the economic and policy forces that affect safety culture and identifies reasons why those forces may or may not be adequate or effective from the public’s perspective. Two potential justifications for policy intervention are that: a) not all of the social costs of a spill may be internalized by a firm; and b) there may be principal-agency problems within the firm, which could be reduced by external monitoring. The paper discusses five policies that could increase safety culture and monitoring: liability, financial responsibility (a requirement that a firm’s assets exceed a threshold), government oversight, mandatory private insurance, and risk-based drilling fees. We find that although each policy has a positive effect on safety culture, there are important differences and interactions that must be considered. In particular, the latter three provide external monitoring. Furthermore, raising liability caps without mandating insurance or raising financial responsibility requirements could have a small effect on the safety culture of small firms that would declare bankruptcy in the event of a large spill. The paper concludes with policy recommendations for promoting stronger safety culture in offshore drilling; our preferred approach would be to set a liability cap for each well equal to the worst-case social costs of a spill, and to require insurance up to the cap.Deepwater Horizon, BP oil spill, safety culture, government policy, liability caps, financial responsibility, insurance

Bayesian Spatial Binary Regression for Label Fusion in Structural Neuroimaging

Many analyses of neuroimaging data involve studying one or more regions of interest (ROIs) in a brain image. In order to do so, each ROI must first be identified. Since every brain is unique, the location, size, and shape of each ROI varies across subjects. Thus, each ROI in a brain image must either be manually identified or (semi-) automatically delineated, a task referred to as segmentation. Automatic segmentation often involves mapping a previously manually segmented image to a new brain image and propagating the labels to obtain an estimate of where each ROI is located in the new image. A more recent approach to this problem is to propagate labels from multiple manually segmented atlases and combine the results using a process known as label fusion. To date, most label fusion algorithms either employ voting procedures or impose prior structure and subsequently find the maximum a posteriori estimator (i.e., the posterior mode) through optimization. We propose using a fully Bayesian spatial regression model for label fusion that facilitates direct incorporation of covariate information while making accessible the entire posterior distribution. We discuss the implementation of our model via Markov chain Monte Carlo and illustrate the procedure through both simulation and application to segmentation of the hippocampus, an anatomical structure known to be associated with Alzheimer's disease.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figure

Geometrically exact Cosserat rods with Kelvin–Voigt type viscous damping

We present the derivation of a simple viscous damping model of Kelvin–Voigt type for geometrically exact Cosserat rods from three-dimensional continuum theory. Assuming moderate curvature of the rod in its reference configuration, strains remaining small in its deformed configurations, strain rates that vary slowly compared to internal relaxation processes, and a homogeneous and isotropic material, we obtain explicit formulas for the damping parameters of the model in terms of the well known stiffness parameters of the rod and the retardation time constants defined as the ratios of bulk and shear viscosities to the respective elastic moduli. We briefly discuss the range of validity of the Kelvin–Voigt model and illustrate its behaviour for large bending deformations with a numerical example

Is opportunistic disease prevention in the consultation ethically justifiable?

To access publisher version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink in Additional Links fieldTo access full text version of this article. Please click on the hyperlink "View/Open" at the bottom of this pageMedical resources are increasingly shifting from making patients better to preventing them from becoming ill. Genetic testing is likely to extend the list of conditions that can be screened for. Is it time to stop and consider whom we screen and how we approach it