Detecting Large Concept Extensions for Conceptual Analysis

When performing a conceptual analysis of a concept, philosophers are interested in all forms of expression of a concept in a text---be it direct or indirect, explicit or implicit. In this paper, we experiment with topic-based methods of automating the detection of concept expressions in order to facilitate philosophical conceptual analysis. We propose six methods based on LDA, and evaluate them on a new corpus of court decision that we had annotated by experts and non-experts. Our results indicate that these methods can yield important improvements over the keyword heuristic, which is often used as a concept detection heuristic in many contexts. While more work remains to be done, this indicates that detecting concepts through topics can serve as a general-purpose method for at least some forms of concept expression that are not captured using naive keyword approaches

Long-Range Excitation of Collective Modes in Mesoscopic Metal Clusters

We develop a semiclassical theory for the long range excitation of plasmon resonances in atomic clusters, based on the doorway hypothesis. The effect of the width of the plasmon resonance is fully taken into account. As an application we study plasmon excitation in small Sodium clusters, in collisions with electrons and protons.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figure

How do brochures encourage walking in natural environments in the UK? A content analysis.

Although walking for leisure can support health, there has been little systematic attempt to consider how recreational walking is best promoted. In the UK, local authorities create promotional materials for walking networks, but little is known about whether they effectively encourage walking through persuasive messaging. Many of these materials pertain to walks in natural environments which evidence suggests are generally visited less frequently by physically inactive individuals. Consequently the present study explores whether and how recreational walking brochures use persuasive messages in their promotion of walks in natural environments. A coding taxonomy was developed to classify text in recreational walking brochures according to five behavioural content areas and 87 categories of potentially persuasive messages. Reliability of the taxonomy was ascertained and a quantitative content analysis was applied to 26 brochures collected from Devon, UK. Brochures often provided information about an advertised route, highlighted cultural and aesthetic points of interest, and provided directions. Brochures did not use many potentially effective messages. Text seldom prompted behaviour change or built confidence for walking. Social norm related information was rarely provided and there was a general lack of information on physical activity and its benefits for health and well-being. The limited range of message strategies used in recreational walking brochures may not optimally facilitate walking in natural environments for inactive people. Future research should examine the effects of theory-informed brochures on walking intentions and behaviour. The taxonomy could be adapted to suit different media and practices surrounding physical activity in natural environments

First-time rhesus monkey mothers, and mothers of sons, preferentially engage in face-to-face interactions with infants

Face-to-face interactions between mothers and infants occur in both human and non-human primates, but there is large variability in the occurrence of these behaviors and the reason for this variability remains largely unexplored. Other types of maternal investment have been shown to be dependent on infant sex (e.g. milk production and maternal responsiveness) and maternal experience (e.g. symmetrical communication). Thus, we sought to determine whether variability in face-to-face interactions, that is, mutual gazing (MG), which are hypothesized to be important for later socio-cognitive development, could be explained by these variables. We studied 28 semi-free ranging rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta) mother-infant dyads (6 primiparous; 12 male infants) born and reared at the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology field station at the NIH Animal Center in Poolesville, MD, across the first 90 postnatal days. Infant sex (i.e. male) was a significant predictor of maternal grooming (β ± SE = 0.359 ± 0.164, Z = 2.19, P = 0.029) whereas both parity (i.e. first time mothers) and infant sex (i.e. male) significantly predicted MG (parity: β ± SE = -0.735 ± 0.223, Z = -3.30, P < 0.001; infant sex: β ± SE = 0.436 ± 0.201, Z = 2.17, P = 0.029). Separation from the mother (outside of arm's reach) was not influenced by parity or infant sex. Together with existing literature, these findings point toward differential maternal investment for sons versus daughters. Mothers may be investing differentially in sons, behaviorally, to ensure their future social competence and thus later reproductive success. Collectively, our findings add to the literature that is beginning to identify early life experiences that may lead to sex differences in neurological and behavioral development.Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Developmen

What Developers Want and Need from Program Analysis: An Empirical Study

Program Analysis has been a rich and fruitful field of research for many decades, and countless high quality program analysis tools have been produced by academia. Though there are some well-known examples of tools that have found their way into routine use by practitioners, a common challenge faced by researchers is knowing how to achieve broad and lasting adoption of their tools. In an effort to understand what makes a program analyzer most attractive to developers, we mounted a multi-method investigation at Microsoft. Through interviews and surveys of developers as well as analysis of defect data, we provide insight and answers to four high level research questions that can help researchers design program analyzers meeting the needs of software developers. First, we explore what barriers hinder the adoption of program analyzers, like poorly expressed warning messages. Second, we shed light on what functionality developers want from analyzers, including the types of code issues that developers care about. Next, we answer what non-functional characteristics an analyzer should have to be widely used, how the analyzer should fit into the development process, and how its results should be reported. Finally, we investigate defects in one of Microsoft's flagship software services, to understand what types of code issues are most important to minimize, potentially through program analysis

Resting Behaviour of Deltamethrin-Resistant Malaria Vectors, Anopheles arabiensis and Anopheles coluzzii, from North Cameroon: Upshots from a Two-Level Ordinary Logit Model

The current study was conducted in Garoua, Pitoa, and Mayo-Oulo health districts of north Cameroon, in order to investigate the resting behaviour of deltamethrin-resistant Anopheles (An.) gambiae s.l. populations and build a model of their response to the use of Permanet 2.0 long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs). Adult mosquitoes were collected in October and November 2011, using spray catches and window exit traps in 29 clusters with LLINs in use. Sampled An. gambiae s.l. were identified down to species and analysed for blood-meal origin, physiological and circumsporozoite protein status. Deltamethrin resistance was assessed using World Health Organization’s (WHO’s) standard protocol. A two-level ordinary logit model was used to relate the resting behaviour and deltamethrin resistance. Identified species of the An. gambiae complex included An. arabiensis (90.6%), An. coluzzii (7.1%) and An. gambiae s.s. (2.3%). They displayed 1.1–4.8% infection rates, 80% indoor-resting density and 56–80% human blood index. Eleven An. gambiae s.l. populations over the 15 tested were resistant to deltamethrin (51–89.5% mortality rates). Model results showed a significant dependence of indoor vector density on increasing deltamethrin resistance (p-value of <0.01). These behavioural and resistance patterns may lead to increasing malaria transmission in study health districts

Hand hygiene compliance monitoring in anaesthetics: Feasibility and validity

Background: Hand hygiene compliance scores in the anaesthetic department of an acute NHS hospital were persistently low. Aims: To determine the feasibility and validity of regular accurate measurement of HHC in anaesthetics and understand the context of care delivery, barriers and opportunities to improve compliance. Methods: The hand hygiene compliance of one anaesthetist was observed and noted by a senior infection control practitioner (ICP). This was compared to the World Health Organization five moments of hand hygiene and the organisation hand hygiene tool. Findings: In one sequence of 55 min, there were approximately 58 hand hygiene opportunities. The hand hygiene compliance rate was 16%. The frequency and speed of actions in certain periods of care delivery made compliance measurement difficult and potentially unreliable. During several activities, taking time to apply alcohol gel or wash hands would have put the patients at significant risk. Discussion: We concluded that hand hygiene compliance monitoring by direct observation was invalid and unreliable in this specialty. It is important that hand hygiene compliance is optimal in anaesthetics particularly before patient contact. Interventions which reduce environmental and patient contamination, such as cleaning the patient and environment, could ensure anaesthetists encounter fewer micro-organisms in this specialty

Caractérisation de la dynamique spatio-temporelle de la plaine inondable du Noun (Cameroun) à l’aide d’images satellites

In Cameroon, the pressure on wetlands, which cover nearly 70% of the national territory, appears to be increasing, whether for subsistence needs, firewood, grazing, logging or expansion of development projects. Currently, in terms of land use, forest has decreased by 619 km² and cultivated land has increased by 321 km². The surface area of degraded forests and land is estimated at around 12 million hectares, with a general trend towards an increase in the phenomenon due to both natural and anthropogenic factors. It is obvious that approaches in favour of wetlands are widely engaged in the different basins of Cameroon. However, the management strategies for these areas are based on knowledge that is certainly extensive, but still patchy. There is a serious lack of overview of the location of degraded lands, the intensity of this degradation and the way farmers are addressing this problem through sustainable land management.Goal and objectives:The objective of this study is to characterize the dynamics of land cover from multi-date satellite data in the Noun floodplain of Cameroon.MethodologyThe methodology relies on the use of remote sensing and GIS to identify spatial units and detect changes over a twenty-two year period (1999 to 2021). The land cover maps were produced from an unsupervised classification with maximum likelihood.Results:The results identified eight classes: herbaceous savannahs with shrubs, forest galleries, fields and plantations, herbaceous tannas, young fallows, mineralized and built-up soils, bare soils and surface waters. It appears that in 1999, the landscape was dominated by natural vegetation (72.6%) located from north to south of the Noun plain. However, since 2004, the landscape has been dominated by agricultural areas (56.8%). Natural formations have been progressively reduced in space over time. The evolution of the Noun floodplain landscape reveals that 14.3% of the space has remained stable. These are fields and plantations, young fallows, mineralized soils and surface water. This space has not migrated to other classes. While about 73.9% of the area has moved to higher classes, of which 35.6% to herbaceous tannas and 26% to fields and plantations. On the other hand, 72.6% of the area (herbaceous savannahs and forests gallery) has been heavily degraded. These results indicate that the landscape of the Noun floodplain is marked by a high level of agricultural activity, which is at the origin of the progressive degradation of the land.  They suggest an effective awareness of the level of land degradation and a better integrated management of land at the local level