2,498 research outputs found
Reforming or Rejecting the Reference Desk: Conflict and Continuity in the Concept of Reference
This paper contends that the schism between pro- and anti-reference desk librarians is not a true dichotomy. By examining the published literature on the topic, this paper asserts that the two sides actually agree that human-mediation is fundamental to references services, although the articles do examine varying methods for the delivery of reference services. While some emphasize the need to incorporate a more computer-mediated model of reference, most do not truly reject human-mediation as necessary. Those that do fail to provide a satisfactory alternative in the current social and technological context
War and Remembrance: Walter Place and Ulysses S. Grant
In 1862-1863, General Ulysses S. Grant conducted military operations in the state of Mississippi, culminating in the siege and eventual surrender of the city of Vicksburg. During part of this time, Grant’s wife, Julia, took up residence at Walter Place in Holly Springs, Mississippi. In the years after the Civil War, Walter Place became known not just as an antebellum home, but also as a place with a strong connection to Grant and his family during the Civil War. When Mike and Jorja Lynn purchased the property, they began collecting Grant-related items for display in the home, including modern and historic decorative artifacts, cartes-de-visite, and ephemera. In 2013, Jorja Lynn donated this collection to the Ulysses S. Grant Presidential Library at Mississippi State University Libraries for display and preservation purposes. This article will address the historical background of the collection, the preservation and access plans in place, and the complexities of Civil War memory that create a more nuanced portrait of how the Civil War is represented in the South
Election Law and Government Ethics
This article surveys developments in Virginia election and government ethics laws for 2014 and 2015, with an emphasis on legislative developments. The focus is on those statutory developments thathave significance or general applicability to the implementation of Virginia\u27s election and ethics laws
A Variational Principle Based Study of KPP Minimal Front Speeds in Random Shears
Variational principle for Kolmogorov-Petrovsky-Piskunov (KPP) minimal front
speeds provides an efficient tool for statistical speed analysis, as well as a
fast and accurate method for speed computation. A variational principle based
analysis is carried out on the ensemble of KPP speeds through spatially
stationary random shear flows inside infinite channel domains. In the regime of
small root mean square (rms) shear amplitude, the enhancement of the ensemble
averaged KPP front speeds is proved to obey the quadratic law under certain
shear moment conditions. Similarly, in the large rms amplitude regime, the
enhancement follows the linear law. In particular, both laws hold for the
Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process in case of two dimensional channels. An asymptotic
ensemble averaged speed formula is derived in the small rms regime and is
explicit in case of the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process of the shear. Variational
principle based computation agrees with these analytical findings, and allows
further study on the speed enhancement distributions as well as the dependence
of enhancement on the shear covariance. Direct simulations in the small rms
regime suggest quadratic speed enhancement law for non-KPP nonlinearities.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures update: fixed typos, refined estimates in
section
Sticky central limit theorems at isolated hyperbolic planar singularities
© 2015, University of Washington. Akll rights reserved.We derive the limiting distribution of the barycenter bn of an i.i.d. sample of n random points on a planar cone with angular spread larger than 2π. There are three mutually exclusive possibilities: (i) (fully sticky case) after a finite random time the barycenter is almost surely at the origin; (ii) (partly sticky case) the limiting distribution of √nb<inf>n</inf> comprises a point mass at the origin, an open sector of a Gaussian, and the projection of a Gaussian to the sector’s bounding rays; or (iii) (nonsticky case) the barycenter stays away from the origin and the renormalized fluctuations have a fully supported limit distribution—usually Gaussian but not always. We conclude with an alternative, topological definition of stickiness that generalizes readily to measures on general metric spaces
Sticky central limit theorems on open books
Given a probability distribution on an open book (a metric space obtained by
gluing a disjoint union of copies of a half-space along their boundary
hyperplanes), we define a precise concept of when the Fr\'{e}chet mean
(barycenter) is sticky. This nonclassical phenomenon is quantified by a law of
large numbers (LLN) stating that the empirical mean eventually almost surely
lies on the (codimension and hence measure ) spine that is the glued
hyperplane, and a central limit theorem (CLT) stating that the limiting
distribution is Gaussian and supported on the spine. We also state versions of
the LLN and CLT for the cases where the mean is nonsticky (i.e., not lying on
the spine) and partly sticky (i.e., is, on the spine but not sticky).Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/12-AAP899 the Annals of
Applied Probability (http://www.imstat.org/aap/) by the Institute of
Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org
Anomalous Electron Transport in Field-Effect Transistors with Titanium Ditelluride Semimetal Thin-Film Channels
We report on "graphene-like" mechanical exfoliation of thin films of titanium
ditelluride and investigation of their electronic properties. The exfoliated
crystalline TiTe2 films were used as the channel layers in the back-gated
field-effect transistors fabricated with Ti/Al/Au metal contacts on SiO2/Si
substrates. The room-temperature current-voltage characteristics revealed
strongly non-linear behavior with signatures of the source-drain threshold
voltage similar to those observed in the charge-density-wave devices. The
drain-current showed an unusual non-monotonic dependence on the gate bias
characterized by the presence of multiple peaks. The obtained results can be
potentially used for implementation of the non-Boolean logic gates.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Isobaric multiplet yrast energies and isospin non-conserving forces
The isovector and isotensor energy differences between yrast states of
isobaric multiplets in the lower half of the region are quantitatively
reproduced in a shell model context. The isospin non-conserving nuclear
interactions are found to be at least as important as the Coulomb potential.
Their isovector and isotensor channels are dominated by J=2 and J=0 pairing
terms, respectively. The results are sensitive to the radii of the states,
whose evolution along the yrast band can be accurately followed.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Superseeds second part of nucl-th/010404
The effects of cognitive-behavioural therapy on mood-related ruminative response style in depressed adolescents
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A mood-related ruminative response style increases the risk of onset and persistence of depression. This preliminary study investigated whether, in depressed adolescents, cognitive-behaviour therapy reduces mood-related ruminative response style. Whether specific factors within the rumination scale were differentially affected by CBT is also reported.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>26 depressed adolescents were randomised to receiving serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitor antidepressants (SSRI) plus psychosocial treatment as usual or SSRI and psychosocial treatment as usual plus CBT. Ruminative response style and depressive symptoms were measured at baseline and after 30 weeks of treatment, with the Responses to Depression Questionnaire and Mood and Feelings Questionnaire.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were significantly greater reductions in ruminations in the CBT group compared to the non-CBT group (<it>p </it>= .002). There was no significant difference in the reduction in self-reported depressive symptoms between the groups. Rumination was reduced to levels of never-depressed controls in adolescents who had recovered from depression and received CBT. There were greater falls in the CBT group in the more pathological 'brooding' factor of rumination.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These findings suggest that adding CBT to SSRI medication in the presence of active clinical care causes a greater reduction in mood-related ruminative response style in depressed adolescents. This may reduce the risk of future relapse.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>Current Controlled Trials ISRCNT83809224.</p
- …