Verification of RadCAD: Specular Capabilities

As part of the RadCAD's development process, it is necessary to compare RadCAD's results with other radiation tools and exact solutions when and where possible. Form factor algorithms have been previously verified with exact solutions. This paper will consider RadCAD's specular capabilities. First, radiation exchange factors will be compared against exact solutions and results from TRASYS for various geometries. Critical dimensions and optical properties are changed for each geometry. Second, a specular adjunct plate system will be used to verify absorbed heat fluxes. This particular geometric problem has had some attention in the literature. Previous authors have used this problem to validate software results with exact analytical solution. This paper will compare absorbed heat rates against the exact solution and other published results from other thermal radiation tools. The agreement between RadCAD and the exact solutions is good. The maximum error for both specular and diffuse exchange factors for both geometries and all optical properties was 3%. The absorbed fluxes differed by a maximum of 4% for the adjunct plate problem

Positioning ourselves for research and teaching: a cross-country analysis of academic formation

This paper presents early findings emerging from an international collaborative research project that addresses the key question of the nature of academic work, how academics make decisions regarding teaching and research and how they develop their academic identities. Drawing on survey data and pilot interviews administered in Australian and English Universities, the paper considers emerging evidence in relation to factors that contribute to success in research as well as contextual factors that discourage it. The paper begins to illuminate how academics in different countries, university contexts and with different career orientations, interpret and position themselves in relation to those contexts and how structural and agential factors may influence the formation of academic identity. The findings emerging from this research will provide new in-depth understandings about how institutions might most effectively support, develop and encourage world-class teaching, and the capacity for high quality research

How Do Personal Remittances Affect Income Inequality?

We research the effects of personal remittances sent to a country on that country\u27s degree of income inequality. Based on data we collected for the World Bank Databank from 1970 to present we compared the effect that remittances have on the income share held by the top 20 percent of the population vs their effect on income share held by lowest 20 percent. The results from comparing the two models indicate that personal remittances decrease the spread of income leading to a decrease in the income gap of lower to middle income countries. This is due to their greater effect on the income of the lowest 20 percent over the income of the highest. Our findings are similar to those of previous studies on the effects of remittances on income

Interpretation of the Eighth Amendment—Rummel, Solem, and the Venerable Case of Weems v. United States

I dagens IT-värld har användningen av datorspel ökat enormt och tagit en ordentlig plats i många unga människors upptagna vardag. Som ett resultat av detta har det börjat växa en oro bland många att detta spelande påverkar människorna negativt, speciellt när det gäller de akademiska prestationerna.   Denna rapport är en undersökning för att finna eventuella samband mellan datorspel och högskolebetyg bland studenter.   Undersökningens resultat indikerar att studenter som spelar mer, har större problem med sina betyg än de som spelar mindre. Resultaten indikerar dock också att det inte är spelandet i sig som är orsaken till problemet, eftersom korrelationen mellan antal timmar spenderat på datorspel och betyg, och korrelationen mellan antal timmar spenderat på andra hobbys och betyg, är starkt jämförbara. Detta tyder på att två timmars datorspelande påverkar betygen lika mycket som två timmar av fysisk träning.   Slutsatsen av vår undersökning är att det är tiden som man spenderar på andra saker än att studera, som påverkar betygen. Däremot är datorspel bland de enklaste aktiviteterna att engagera sig i under en längre tidsperiod, och därmed också indirekt bland de mest potentiellt skadliga aktiviteterna för en students betyg.In this 21st century IT-world, the use of video gaming has dramatically grown and taken a firm place in many young peoples’ busy day-to-day schedule. As a result, many are growing worried that video gaming will affect people in a negative way, especially when it comes to students’ academic performance.   This thesis is an investigation of the correlation between games and university grades amongst students.   Our results show that students, who played more, had more problems with their grades than the ones who played less. However, the results also show that gaming itself is not the problem, as the correlation between hours spent gaming and grades, is similar to the correlation between hours spent on other hobbies and grades. In essence, two hours of video gaming affects the grades just as much as two hours of physical exercise.   The conclusion from our research is that it is the time spent on other activities than studying, that affects the grades. Video gaming is however amongst the easiest activities to be engaged in for an extended period of time, and can therefore be indirectly harmful to students’ grades

A framework for the construction of generative models for mesoscale structure in multilayer networks

Multilayer networks allow one to represent diverse and coupled connectivity patterns—such as time-dependence, multiple subsystems, or both—that arise in many applications and which are difficult or awkward to incorporate into standard network representations. In the study of multilayer networks, it is important to investigate mesoscale (i.e., intermediate-scale) structures, such as dense sets of nodes known as communities, to discover network features that are not apparent at the microscale or the macroscale. The ill-defined nature of mesoscale structure and its ubiquity in empirical networks make it crucial to develop generative models that can produce the features that one encounters in empirical networks. Key purposes of such models include generating synthetic networks with empirical properties of interest, benchmarking mesoscale-detection methods and algorithms, and inferring structure in empirical multilayer networks. In this paper, we introduce a framework for the construction of generative models for mesoscale structures in multilayer networks. Our framework provides a standardized set of generative models, together with an associated set of principles from which they are derived, for studies of mesoscale structures in multilayer networks. It unifies and generalizes many existing models for mesoscale structures in fully ordered (e.g., temporal) and unordered (e.g., multiplex) multilayer networks. One can also use it to construct generative models for mesoscale structures in partially ordered multilayer networks (e.g., networks that are both temporal and multiplex). Our framework has the ability to produce many features of empirical multilayer networks, and it explicitly incorporates a user-specified dependency structure between layers. We discuss the parameters and properties of our framework, and we illustrate examples of its use with benchmark models for community-detection methods and algorithms in multilayer networks

Mapping routine measles vaccination in low- and middle-income countries

The safe, highly effective measles vaccine has been recommended globally since 1974, yet in 2017 there were more than 17 million cases of measles and 83,400 deaths in children under 5 years old, and more than 99% of both occurred in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)1–4. Globally comparable, annual, local estimates of routine first-dose measles-containing vaccine (MCV1) coverage are critical for understanding geographically precise immunity patterns, progress towards the targets of the Global Vaccine Action Plan (GVAP), and high-risk areas amid disruptions to vaccination programmes caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)5–8. Here we generated annual estimates of routine childhood MCV1 coverage at 5 × 5-km2 pixel and second administrative levels from 2000 to 2019 in 101 LMICs, quantified geographical inequality and assessed vaccination status by geographical remoteness. After widespread MCV1 gains from 2000 to 2010, coverage regressed in more than half of the districts between 2010 and 2019, leaving many LMICs far from the GVAP goal of 80% coverage in all districts by 2019. MCV1 coverage was lower in rural than in urban locations, although a larger proportion of unvaccinated children overall lived in urban locations; strategies to provide essential vaccination services should address both geographical contexts. These results provide a tool for decision-makers to strengthen routine MCV1 immunization programmes and provide equitable disease protection for all childre

With Federal Moratorium Expiring, 15 Million People at Risk of Eviction

Nationwide, renters are recovering from an unprecedented economic crisis. With vaccines widely accessible, employment rising, and federal and state benefits available to millions of people, many of the over 100 million people living in rental housing are making a gradual recovery. Despite this progress, a meaningful percentage of renters are on the precipice of eviction, displacement, and homelessness. More than 15 million people live in households that are currently behind on their rental payments (7.4 million adults, 6.5 million households), which places them at legal risk of eviction. According to one estimate, these households collectively owe more than $20 billion to their landlords. On a per tenant basis, average debt owed to landlords exceeds$3,000, with significant variation based on time away from work, family needs, and other factors.When the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium ends on July 31st, these renters may face eviction, civil lawsuits for unpaid rent, and aggressive debt collection—crises that will continue to cause harm years into the future. Nearly 50% of those who are behind on rent anticipate that they will be evicted in the next two months. The threat of eviction is particularly acute for renters of color. Currently, 22% of Black renters and 17% of Latinx renters are in debt to their landlords, compared to 15% overall and 11% of White renters. Rental debt is also challenging for renters with children, with 19% unable to make payments.This report highlights the current number of people at risk of eviction as the federal moratorium expires, how we got here, and policies states can implement to help prevent a wave of evictions from cascading into long-term health and financial crises for millions of households