Cohen-Macaulay Circulant Graphs

Let G be the circulant graph C_n(S) with S a subset of {1,2,...,\lfloor n/2 \rfloor}, and let I(G) denote its the edge ideal in the ring R = k[x_1,...,x_n]. We consider the problem of determining when G is Cohen-Macaulay, i.e, R/I(G) is a Cohen-Macaulay ring. Because a Cohen-Macaulay graph G must be well-covered, we focus on known families of well-covered circulant graphs of the form C_n(1,2,...,d). We also characterize which cubic circulant graphs are Cohen-Macaulay. We end with the observation that even though the well-covered property is preserved under lexicographical products of graphs, this is not true of the Cohen-Macaulay property.Comment: 14 page

Final report June 2023: Research impact evidence scheme - research impact: Dr. Helen Adam

This research addressed the question: What is the impact of the research of Dr. Helen Adam into the culturally responsive use of diverse literature on practitioners, school communities, policy makers and the wider community? Key Findings: The primary beneficiaries of Adam’s work include policy makers, educational professionals & consultants, academics, teacher trainers, and librarians. The secondary beneficiaries of Adam’s research include school children and their families, school communities and the wider community. Adam’s research is of pervasive and profound significance in educational sectors and is rapidly becoming of global significance. Adam’s research is transformative and impacts on the lives of educators, their learners, and communities. Adam needs to strive to increase impact in the publishing sector

Ciaran Carson’s The Alexandrine Plan and two versions of a fantasy

© 2014 W. S. Maney & Son Ltd. Author's accepted manuscript version deposited in accordance with SHERPA RoMEO guidelines. The definitive version is available at http://www.maneyonline.com/doi/abs/10.1179/1478731814Z.00000000055.This article considers the relation between the versions of sonnets by Baudelaire, Rimbaud, and Mallarmé that make up Ciaran Carson’s collection The Alexandrine Plan (1998) and the French poems from which they stem. I explore aspects of Carson’s adaptive practice, including personification, sound patterning, and the use of domestication and foreignization. The latter part of the article performs a comparative close reading of Carson’s version of Rimbaud’s ‘Ma bohème’ with a virtuoso version of the poem by Patrick McGuinness. The poets’ engagement with their source texts is attentive to their technical and stylistic accomplishments whilst also being playful and creative. The nineteenth-century text is seen as a catalyst, a partner in a creative exchange that reminds us in new ways of the riches of long-familiar poems

Epidermal stem cells are retained in vivo throughout skin aging

In healthy individuals, skin integrity is maintained by epidermal stem cells which self-renew and generate daughter cells that undergo terminal differentiation. It is currently unknown whether epidermal stem cells influence or are affected by skin aging. We therefore compared young and aged skin stem cell abundance, organization, and proliferation. We discovered that despite age-associated differences in epidermal proliferation, dermal thickness, follicle patterning, and immune cell abundance, epidermal stem cells were maintained at normal levels throughout life. These findings, coupled with observed dermal gene expression changes, suggest that epidermal stem cells themselves are intrinsically aging resistant and that local environmental or systemic factors modulate skin aging

Does stakeholder involvement really benefit biodiversity conservation?

The establishment of protected areas, such as Natura 2000, is a common approach to curbing biodiversity loss. But many of these areas are owned or managed by private actors. Policies indicate that their involvement should be encouraged to ensure long term success. However, to date there have been no systematic evaluations of whether local actor involvement in the management of protected areas does in fact contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, which is the expressed policy goal. Research incorporating both qualitative and quantitative data was carried out in three case studies in Scotland where local actor input was required in the development and/or implementation of Natura 2000 management plans. No relationship was found between the characteristics of the process of stakeholder involvement and stakeholders’ perceptions of future biodiversity outcomes. Social outcomes of increased stakeholder involvement, such as increased trust, did however increase the perceived likelihood of positive future biodiversity outcomes. The findings indicate that efforts aimed at increasing stakeholder involvement in the management of protected areas need to consider making processes more independent, and acknowledge and address underlying biodiversity conflicts. The findings also emphasise the need to evaluate multi-level conservation efforts in terms of processes, social outcomes and biodiversity outcomes

Financial Accounting 3B

Exam paper for second semester: Financial Accounting 3

Resonant Tunnelling Diodes for Next Generation THz Systems

Resonant tunnelling diodes (RTDs) are a strong candidate for future wireless communications in the THz spectrum (sub-millimetre waves), offering compact, roomtemperature operation with the potential to exceed the bit transfer rate mandated by the 12G-SDI standard, using a single wireless link. A free-space RTD emitter operating at 353GHz is described. The fabrication process consists of a dual-pass I-line photolithography & etch technique using an air bridge, allowing low resistivity ohmic contacts, and accurate control of desired device area. With extrinsic circuit elements taken into account, the intrinsic semiconductor efficiency is analysed to investigate structural improvements for radiative efficiency. Such optimised structures are presented, and then characterised after being epitaxially grown with commercially viable metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE) reactors. A combination of low temperature photoluminescence spectroscopy, X-Ray diffractometry, and transmission electron microscopy attest the quality of the new material. We end with a suggestion for the next steps to exceed technological readiness levels of 8, and use monolithic RTD emitters as components in new systems

Should there be a female age limit on public funding for Assisted Reproductive Technology? Differing conceptions of justice in resource allocation

Should there be a female age limit on public funding for assisted reproductive technology (ART)? The question bears significant economic and sociopolitical implications and has been contentious in many countries. We conceptualise the question as one of justice in resource allocation, using three much-debated substantive principles of justice—the capacity to benefit, personal responsibility, and need—to structure and then explore a complex of arguments. Capacity-to-benefit arguments are not decisive: There are no clear cost-effectiveness grounds to restrict funding to those older women who still bear some capacity to benefit from ART. Personal responsibility arguments are challenged by structural determinants of delayed motherhood. Nor are need arguments decisive: They can speak either for or against a female age limit, depending on the conception of need used. We demonstrate how these principles can differ not only in content but also in the relative importance they are accorded by governments. Wide variation in ART public funding policy might be better understood in this light. We conclude with some inter-country comparison. New Zealand and Swedish policies are uncommonly transparent and thus demonstrate particularly well how the arguments we explore have been put into practice

The role of trust in the resolution of conservation conflicts

Conflicts between biodiversity conservation and other human activities are intensifying as a result of growing pressure on natural resources and concomitant demands by some for greater conservation. Approaches to reducing conflicts are increasingly focusing on engaging stakeholders in processes that are perceived as fair, i.e. independent and where stakeholders have influence, and which in turn can generate trust between stakeholders. Hitherto, there has been limited empirical research supporting the claim that conservation conflicts can be reduced by building trust through fair participation. Using quantitative and qualitative empirical data from three case studies, we analysed whether fair participation processes were directly related to conflict resolution and if this relationship was mediated by trust. Our research provided empirical quantitative evidence that increased trust through fair processes makes conflict resolution more likely. The qualitative analysis revealed caveats to this finding, including the different understandings of the definition of conflict by stakeholders, the complex nature of trust in conservation conflicts where most stakeholders have high levels of ecological knowledge, and the atypical nature (i.e. presence of a local champion) of one of the case studies. Building and maintaining trust with landowners and managers may be central to conserving biodiversity. Such trust-building requires effort and resources, opportunities for appropriate dialogue between stakeholders and a willingness to share power in terms of knowledge and policy implementation, especially when local stakeholders are dependent on and knowledgeable about natural resources

Young Edinburgh Action presents..... YEA, WE CAN!

The creation of this briefing paper was a collaborative project between a group of young people from YEA and an MSc Childhood Studies student from the University of Edinburgh as part of a placement based dissertation. Keeping in the spirit of YEA, to create this briefing paper we used this opportunity to create a questionnaire to find out about how young people who participate in YEA projects feel about their participation. The questionnaires were sent out to all former and active members of YEA and we used the responses to inform this briefing paper