Generation-Blindness and the COVID-19 Websites of Highly Selective Universities

This study analyzes how highly selective universities used their COVID-19 websites to publicly address first-generation students and the challenges these students faced at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Specifically, the study investigates whether universities were generation-blind in their responses. The universities’ responses are defined as generation-blind if their COVID-19 websites did not a) reference or acknowledge generational identity; and/or did not b) address the issues that first-generation students faced at the onset of the pandemic and transition to remote learning. Findings show that highly selective universities almost never mentioned the term “first-generation students” on these websites and rarely addressed several critical issues that concerned first-generation students. These issues include: the challenge of navigating the complexities of the first-generation identity during the pandemic; the struggles that family members of these students faced (i.e. job loss); the students’ imperative to support their families (i.e. helping to watch younger siblings); and the difficulties students faced by having to use their homes as learning environments

A probability-conserving cross-section biasing mechanism for variance reduction in Monte Carlo particle transport calculations

In Monte Carlo particle transport codes, it is often important to adjust reaction cross sections to reduce the variance of calculations of relatively rare events, in a technique known as non-analogous Monte Carlo. We present the theory and sample code for a Geant4 process which allows the cross section of a G4VDiscreteProcess to be scaled, while adjusting track weights so as to mitigate the effects of altered primary beam depletion induced by the cross section change. This makes it possible to increase the cross section of nuclear reactions by factors exceeding 10^4 (in appropriate cases), without distorting the results of energy deposition calculations or coincidence rates. The procedure is also valid for bias factors less than unity, which is useful, for example, in problems that involve computation of particle penetration deep into a target, such as occurs in atmospheric showers or in shielding

Letter from Marcus J. Wright to W. S. Featherston. 14 July 1887 1861

Letter sent from Washington, DC; regarding data of United States population, Union troops furnished by state, number of Confederate troops. Attached: handwritten notes on above topics; Statement of Number of Men Called for by the President of the United States, and Number Furnished by Each State, Territory, and District of Columbia, from April 15, 1861, to Close of War of the Rebellion (1880) with handwritten notations. Envelope.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/ciwar_corresp/1283/thumbnail.jp

Price Gouging In A Hurricane: Do Free Market Forces Circumvent Price Controls?

This study analyzes gasoline prices in Florida and Georgia before and after Hurricane Irma, a major weather event that affected both states in 2017. The analysis reveals that gasoline prices in both states increased and stabilized well in advance of state of emergency declarations that triggered the states’ price gouging laws. Price gouging laws thus appear to be inconsequential. Free market forces determine prices unhindered by government price controls during hurricane emergencies

Praktisering av barnets beste i lavinntektsfamilier

Barnets beste er et prinsipp som er grunnprinsipp i velferdsstaten, og gjennom anvendelser av prinsippet skal velferdstaten legge betraktelig styrke på barnets behov og ønsker i beslutninger. Som samfunnsoppdrag har staten en plikt til å forhindre, og skape likestilling blandt mennesker i landet og i møte med lavinntektsfamilier skal prinsippet avverge konsekvenser som oppstår under fattigdom, og styrke barnets evne til å medvirke gjennom samtaler. I denne oppgaven skal prinsippet om barnets beste bli forsket på, for å se om ulike velferdsorganer og instanser prioriterer barnets beste, og hvilken effekt dette har for forhindring og likestillings oppdraget til staten

Ethnographic Advocacy Against the Death Penalty

This article develops the concept of “ethnographic advocacy” to make sense of the humanizing, open‐ended knowledge practices involved in the defense of criminal defendants charged with capital murder. Drawing from anthropological fieldwork with well‐respected figures in the American capital defense bar, as well as my own professional experience as an investigator specializing in death penalty sentencing mitigation, I argue that effective advocacy for life occurs through qualitative knowledge practices that share notable methodological affinities with contemporary anthropological ethnography. The article concludes with a preliminary exploration of what the concept of ethnographic advocacy might reveal about academic anthropology\u27s own advocative engagements

Wider consultation on Pulmonary Rehabilitation for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

In this article we examine whether an innovative mixed method approach could highlight the positive and challenging effects of a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Programme (PRP) on the Quality of Life (QOL) of patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). In 2012, we conducted three consultation workshops in Mid-West Wales, UK, with COPD patients that participated in a PRP, their significant others (e.g. spouses and partners), and healthcare professionals who delivered the PRP. We found that there was a resounding enthusiasm for the content and impact of the programme, particularly in the areas of: increased patient activity, enhanced patient control and confidence, a greater willingness to self-manage treatment, and an increased sense of group belonging. Seven key themes mattered most to our study participants: the patient, physical health, mental health, the programme, professionals and significant others, knowledge and education, and the future. We used these themes to craft a best-practice outcomes document (template) of the benefits and challenges of the PRP to inform and support future service evaluation and delivery.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150179En este artículo examinamos si un innovador enfoque de método mixto podría poner de relieve los efectos positivos y desafiantes de un Programa de Rehabilitación Pulmonar (PRP) en la calidad de vida (CDV) de los pacientes con enfermedad pulmonar obstructiva crónica (EPOC). En 2012, realizamos tres talleres de consulta en el centro-oeste de Gales, Reino Unido, con pacientes con EPOC que participaron en un PRP, con personas importantes para ellos (por ejemplo, cónyuges y parejas), y profesionales de la salud que atienden el PRP. Encontramos que había un entusiasmo muy fuerte por el contenido e impacto del programa, en particular en las áreas de: aumento de la actividad del paciente, mayor control y confianza del paciente, una mayor disposición a autogestionar el tratamiento , y un mayor sentido de pertenencia al grupo. Siete temas importaron más a nuestros participantes del estudio: el paciente, la salud física, la salud mental, el programa, los profesionales y otras personas importantes, conocimientos y educación, y el futuro. Utilizamos estos temas para elaborar una plantilla de las mejores prácticas de los beneficios y desafíos de la PRP, para informar y apoyar la futura evaluación y provisión del servicio.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs150179In diesem Beitrag beschäftigen wir uns mit einem innovativen Mixed-Methods-Ansatz zur Bewertung der positiven und problematischen Effekte eines Rehabilitationsprogramms, das eine verbesserte Lebensqualität von Patient/innen mit chronisch obstruktiver Lungenerkrankung zum Ziel hatte. Hierzu führten wir 2012 drei Konsultationsworkshops in West-Wales durch mit Patient/innen, die an einem solchen Programm teilgenommen hatten, deren Angehörigen und mit Professionellen, die in dem Programm tätig gewesen waren. Die Resonanz war vergleichsweise enthusiastisch, sowohl was Inhalte und was den Impact des Programms angeht, und zwar vor allem mit Blick auf eine vermehrte Aktivität der Patient/innen, auf deren Kontrollgefühl, Zuversicht und Bereitschaft einer verbesserten Selbstfürsorge sowie ein erhöhtes Zusammengehörigkeitsgefühl. Sieben Schlüsselthemen konnten als besonders relevant für die Untersuchungsteilnehmer/innen herausgearbeitet werden: die Patient/innen, physische Gesundheit, psychische Gesundheit, das Programm, Professionale und Angehörige, Wissen und Bildung sowie die Zukunft. Ausgehend hiervon entwickelten wir einen Best-Practice-Vorschlag für die Konzeption und Durchführung von Folgeprogrammen und -Dienstleistungen.URN: http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs15017

Transient growth in Taylor-Couette flow

Transient growth due to non-normality is investigated for the Taylor-Couette problem with counter-rotating cylinders as a function of aspect ratio eta and Reynolds number Re. For all Re < 500, transient growth is enhanced by curvature, i.e. is greater for eta < 1 than for eta = 1, the plane Couette limit. For fixed Re < 130 it is found that the greatest transient growth is achieved for eta between the Taylor-Couette linear stability boundary, if it exists, and one, while for Re > 130 the greatest transient growth is achieved for eta on the linear stability boundary. Transient growth is shown to be approximately 20% higher near the linear stability boundary at Re = 310, eta = 0.986 than at Re = 310, eta = 1, near the threshold observed for transition in plane Couette flow. The energy in the optimal inputs is primarily meridional; that in the optimal outputs is primarily azimuthal. Pseudospectra are calculated for two contrasting cases. For large curvature, eta = 0.5, the pseudospectra adhere more closely to the spectrum than in a narrow gap case, eta = 0.99

Modal Ω-Logic: Automata, Neo-Logicism, and Set-Theoretic Realism

This essay examines the philosophical significance of $\Omega$-logic in Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory with choice (ZFC). The duality between coalgebra and algebra permits Boolean-valued algebraic models of ZFC to be interpreted as coalgebras. The modal profile of $\Omega$-logical validity can then be countenanced within a coalgebraic logic, and $\Omega$-logical validity can be defined via deterministic automata. I argue that the philosophical significance of the foregoing is two-fold. First, because the epistemic and modal profiles of $\Omega$-logical validity correspond to those of second-order logical consequence, $\Omega$-logical validity is genuinely logical, and thus vindicates a neo-logicist conception of mathematical truth in the set-theoretic multiverse. Second, the foregoing provides a modal-computational account of the interpretation of mathematical vocabulary, adducing in favor of a realist conception of the cumulative hierarchy of sets

Increase on the Initial Soluble Heme Levels in Acidic Conditions Is an Important Mechanism for Spontaneous Heme Crystallization In Vitro

BACKGROUND: Hemozoin (Hz) is a heme crystal that represents a vital pathway for heme disposal in several blood-feeding organisms. Recent evidence demonstrated that β-hematin (βH) (the synthetic counterpart of Hz) formation occurs under physiological conditions near synthetic or biological hydrophilic-hydrophobic interfaces. This seems to require a heme dimer acting as a precursor of Hz crystals that would be formed spontaneously in the absence of the competing water molecules bound to the heme iron. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of medium polarity on spontaneous βH formation in vitro. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We assessed the effect of water content on spontaneous βH formation by using the aprotic solvent dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) and a series of polyethyleneglycols (PEGs). We observed that both DMSO and PEGs (3.350, 6.000, 8.000, and 22.000) increased the levels of soluble heme under acidic conditions. These compounds were able to stimulate the production of βH crystals in the absence of any biological sample. Interestingly, the effects of DMSO and PEGs on βH formation were positively correlated with their capacity to promote previous heme solubilization in acidic conditions. Curiously, a short chain polyethyleneglycol (PEG 300) caused a significant reduction in both soluble heme levels and βH formation. Finally, both heme solubilization and βH formation strongly correlated with reduced medium water activity provided by increased DMSO concentrations. CONCLUSIONS: The data presented here support the notion that reduction of the water activity is an important mechanism to support spontaneous heme crystallization, which depends on the previous increase of soluble heme levels