Developing methods for reproducible research in linguistics: a first step

Poster: Reproducible research in other fields has developed various software tools that facilitate the publishing of code and results in a single document that are linked directly to the data. In mainstream linguistics, however, such software does not exist. The workflows for including linguistic examples in published work typically involve manual methods of copying and pasting text from a database into a word processing document. These manual methods are error-prone and time-consuming--often involving tedious tasks of aligning glosses in tables or with tabs. Furthermore, the examples in these documents are in no way linked to the corpus. This poster presents a first-attempt at developing a family of scripts called glossbox that link data, code, and analysis. At present, glossbox works with the typesetting software LaTeX, allowing users to semi-automatically import examples directly from the corpus. These examples require little to no manual manipulation and automatically produce citations to the corpus.Reproducible research in other fields has developed various software tools that facilitate the publishing of code and results in a single document that are linked directly to the data. In mainstream linguistics, however, such software does not exist. The workflows for including linguistic examples in published work typically involve manual methods of copying and pasting text from a database into a word processing document. These manual methods are error-prone and time-consuming--often involving tedious tasks of aligning glosses in tables or with tabs. Furthermore, the examples in these documents are in no way linked to the corpus. This poster presents a first-attempt at developing a family of scripts called glossbox that link data, code, and analysis. At present, glossbox works with the typesetting software LaTeX, allowing users to semi-automatically import examples directly from the corpus. These examples require little to no manual manipulation and automatically produce citations to the corpus.This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grant SMA-1447886

Using Raised Crosswalks to Elevate Pedestrian Safety

Discussion of how and when Carmel implemented raised crosswalks for successful traffic calming and enhanced pedestrian safety

Cage\u27s Dungeon

Cage’s Dungeon specifically refers to the work of the influential composer, performer, writer, and philosopher, John Cage. More precisely, his later compositional style which emphasized the use of chance operations within a musical composition. Cage was highly influenced by eastern philosophy, Zen Buddhism in particular, and he was fascinated by the chance operations found in the ancient I Ching text. As a result, Cage wrote many works that were nothing more than a set of simple guidelines for the performer to follow, with the outcome of the process creating the piece. These indeterminate compositions are not so much about the technical prowess of the performer or composer, or even about making a profound artistic statement. Instead, Cage’s chance music creates an opportunity for unique and interesting sounds to interact with one another in a unique way

CLASH: Discovery of a Bright z~6.2 Dwarf Galaxy Quadruply Lensed by MACS J0329.6-0211

We report the discovery of a z_{phot}=6.18^{+0.05}_{-0.07} (95% confidence level) dwarf galaxy, lensed into four images by the galaxy cluster MACS J0329.6-0211 (z_{l}=0.45). The galaxy is observed as a high-redshift dropout in HST/ACS/WFC3 CLASH and Spitzer/IRAC imaging. Its redshift is securely determined due to a clear detection of the Lyman-break in the 18-band photometry, making this galaxy one of the highest-redshift multiply-lensed objects known to date with an observed magnitude of F125W=24.00\pm0.04 AB mag for its highest-magnified image. We also present the first strong-lensing analysis of this cluster uncovering 15 additional multiply-imaged candidates of five lower-redshift sources spanning the range z_{s}~2-4. The mass model independently supports the high photometric redshift and reveals magnifications of 11.6^{+8.9}_{-4.1}, 17.6^{+6.2}_{-3.9}, 3.9^{+3.0}_{-1.7}, and 3.7^{+1.3}_{-0.2}, respectively, for the four images of the high-redshift galaxy. With this we construct a source image with a physical resolution of ~200 pc when the universe was ~0.9 Gyr old, where the z~6.2 galaxy occupies a source-plane area of approximately 2.2 kpc^{2}. Modeling the observed spectral energy distribution using population synthesis models, we find a demagnified stellar mass of ~10^{9} {M}_{sun}, subsolar metallicity (Z/Z_{sun}~0.5), low dust content (A_{V}~0.1 mag), a demagnified star formation rate (SFR) of ~3.2 {M}_{sun} yr^{-1}, and a specific SFR of ~3.4 Gyr^{-1}, all consistent with the properties of local dwarf galaxies.Comment: 6 pages, 1 table, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters; v3: minor changes including shortened text and figure

Independent Retail Business Owners\u27 Perceptions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) in 2010 prompted the question of how independent businesses may react to the employer mandate in the PPACA. The law is based on the theory of managed competition and it is more likely to affect businesses with fewer employees than to affect larger businesses that already offer health insurance. The purpose of this quantitative, pre-experimental study was to examine the strategic responses of independent retail business owners in Hillsborough County, Florida, regarding their perceptions of the employer mandate in the PPACA. Before 2014, there was a great deal of non-peer-reviewed literature in which researchers made predictions about the PPACA and independent business perceptions regarding the new law. To determine independent business owners\u27 perceptions of and strategies for addressing the PPACA, a random sample of 309 independent retail businesses in Hillsborough County was invited by e-mail to participate in an online survey. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, t tests for hypothesis testing, and chi-square goodness-of-fit analyses to confirm the results without using means. None of the alternative hypotheses were supported, indicating that the PPACA may not have an adverse effect on job creation for independent retail businesses in Hillsborough County. The findings of this study can indirectly promote positive social change by communicating to independent business owners and individuals that healthcare insurance options exist. This question was important to academics and business professionals, because the strategies employed by business owners may affect job creation

Collective Action Clauses for the Eurozone

One of the primary policy initiatives instituted in response to the Eurozone sovereign debt crisis is a requirement that all Eurozone sovereign bonds issued after January 1 2013 include provisions referred to as Collective Action Clauses or CACs. These CACs allow for a super-majority of creditors to impose restructuring terms on minority holdouts. This article assesses the likely effect of this proposal on the borrowing costs of sovereign debtors. Contrary to much of the literature, we find that the presence of CACs leads to a lower cost of capital, especially for below-investment grade bond

Post-transcriptional regulation of satellite cell quiescence by TTP-mediated mRNA decay.

Skeletal muscle satellite cells in their niche are quiescent and upon muscle injury, exit quiescence, proliferate to repair muscle tissue, and self-renew to replenish the satellite cell population. To understand the mechanisms involved in maintaining satellite cell quiescence, we identified gene transcripts that were differentially expressed during satellite cell activation following muscle injury. Transcripts encoding RNA binding proteins were among the most significantly changed and included the mRNA decay factor Tristetraprolin. Tristetraprolin promotes the decay of MyoD mRNA, which encodes a transcriptional regulator of myogenic commitment, via binding to the MyoD mRNA 3' untranslated region. Upon satellite cell activation, p38α/β MAPK phosphorylates MAPKAP2 and inactivates Tristetraprolin, stabilizing MyoD mRNA. Satellite cell specific knockdown of Tristetraprolin precociously activates satellite cells in vivo, enabling MyoD accumulation, differentiation and cell fusion into myofibers. Regulation of mRNAs by Tristetraprolin appears to function as one of several critical post-transcriptional regulatory mechanisms controlling satellite cell homeostasis

Interference Effects between Three Coupled Bose-Einstein Condensates

We study the interference effects between three weakly linked trapped Bose-Einstein condensates (BEC) as a generalization of the two-component condensates. Three coupled Gross-Pitaevskii equations (GPE) are used to describe the dynamics of the system. The nonsinusoidal oscillation is found as a generalization of the Josephson effect in superconductivity. The self-trapped effects are also predicted in three coupled BEC. Moreover, in general case, the phase diagrams of the system are closed only for some special parameters, which can be used to determine the interaction parameters between atoms in BEC.Comment: 4 figure