Comment on ``Can Disorder Induce a Finite Thermal Conductivity in 1D Lattices?''

In a recent paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 63 (2001)], Li et al have reported that the nonequilibrium heat conducting steady state of a disordered harmonic chain is not unique. In this comment we point out that for a large class of stochastic heat baths the uniqueness of the steady state can be proved, and therefore the findings of Li et al could be either due to their use of deterministic heat baths or insufficient equilibration times in the simulations. We give a simple example where the uniquness of the steady state can be explicitly demonstrated.Comment: 1 page, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let

From Group Recommendations to Group Formation

There has been significant recent interest in the area of group recommendations, where, given groups of users of a recommender system, one wants to recommend top-k items to a group that maximize the satisfaction of the group members, according to a chosen semantics of group satisfaction. Examples semantics of satisfaction of a recommended itemset to a group include the so-called least misery (LM) and aggregate voting (AV). We consider the complementary problem of how to form groups such that the users in the formed groups are most satisfied with the suggested top-k recommendations. We assume that the recommendations will be generated according to one of the two group recommendation semantics - LM or AV. Rather than assuming groups are given, or rely on ad hoc group formation dynamics, our framework allows a strategic approach for forming groups of users in order to maximize satisfaction. We show that the problem is NP-hard to solve optimally under both semantics. Furthermore, we develop two efficient algorithms for group formation under LM and show that they achieve bounded absolute error. We develop efficient heuristic algorithms for group formation under AV. We validate our results and demonstrate the scalability and effectiveness of our group formation algorithms on two large real data sets.Comment: 14 pages, 22 figure

Transfer Learning for Multi-language Twitter Election Classification

Both politicians and citizens are increasingly embracing social media as a means to disseminate information and comment on various topics, particularly during significant political events, such as elections. Such commentary during elections is also of interest to social scientists and pollsters. To facilitate the study of social media during elections, there is a need to automatically identify posts that are topically related to those elections. However, current studies have focused on elections within English-speaking regions, and hence the resultant election content classifiers are only applicable for elections in countries where the predominant language is English. On the other hand, as social media is becoming more prevalent worldwide, there is an increasing need for election classifiers that can be generalised across different languages, without building a training dataset for each election. In this paper, based upon transfer learning, we study the development of effective and reusable election classifiers for use on social media across multiple languages. We combine transfer learning with different classifiers such as Support Vector Machines (SVM) and state-of-the-art Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), which make use of word embedding representations for each social media post. We generalise the learned classifier models for cross-language classification by using a linear translation approach to map the word embedding vectors from one language into another. Experiments conducted over two election datasets in different languages show that without using any training data from the target language, linear translations outperform a classical transfer learning approach, namely Transfer Component Analysis (TCA), by 80% in recall and 25% in F1 measure

Solid immersion lens applications for nanophotonic devices

Solid immersion lens (SIL) microscopy combines the advantages of conventional microscopy with those of near-field techniques, and is being increasingly adopted across a diverse range of technologies and applications. A comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in this rapidly expanding subject is therefore increasingly relevant. Important benefits are enabled by SIL-focusing, including an improved lateral and axial spatial profiling resolution when a SIL is used in laser-scanning microscopy or excitation, and an improved collection efficiency when a SIL is used in a light-collection mode, for example in fluorescence micro-spectroscopy. These advantages arise from the increase in numerical aperture (NA) that is provided by a SIL. Other SIL-enhanced improvements, for example spherical-aberration-free sub-surface imaging, are a fundamental consequence of the aplanatic imaging condition that results from the spherical geometry of the SIL. Beginning with an introduction to the theory of SIL imaging, the unique properties of SILs are exposed to provide advantages in applications involving the interrogation of photonic and electronic nanostructures. Such applications range from the sub-surface examination of the complex three-dimensional microstructures fabricated in silicon integrated circuits, to quantum photoluminescence and transmission measurements in semiconductor quantum dot nanostructures

An Economic Evaluation of Irish Salmon Fishing, II: The Irish Anglers. General Research Series Paper No. 75, June 1974

The first part of the study, which dealt with salmon anglers from outside the Republic, has already been completed and the results published [i]. The terms of reference of the study together with some background information were given in the latter publication. This second part is concerned with Irish salmon anglers and particularly with assessing the extent and regional distribution of the economic effects of their activities. In both these papers, we attempt to find out what Sort of peoplethe ang!ers are; where and how Often they fish, and, particularly, how much they spend and where this expenditure takes place. The concluding part of the study will deal with commercial fishermen and fishery operators, and in that paper we also hope to amalgamate our information on angling and on commercial fishing into a comprehensive picture of Irish salmon fishing

An Economic Evaluation of Irish Salmon Fishing General Summary of Results. ESRI Memorandum Series No. 99 1974

The purpose of the study was to investigate the economies of salmon fishing in Ireland. Essentially, it set out to answer the question "how valuable was the Irish salmon industry to the economy in 1970?" In order to answer this question, the study tried to evaluate the economic impact of angling and commercial fishing on the various districts, determine the capacity of the industry for future development and provide information to assist in the more effective marketing of salmon and sea-trout angling. Although the survey was confined to 1970, its findings may be updated for subsequent years by means of the regularly published data on catches and numbers of licences, and by appropriate price indices

Dallas with balls: televized sport, soap opera and male and female pleasures

Two of the most popular of television genres, soap opera and sports coverage have been very much differentiated along gender lines in terms of their audiences. Soap opera has been regarded very much as a 'gynocentric' genre with a large female viewing audience while the audiences for television sport have been predominantly male. Gender differentiation between the genres has had implications for the popular image of each. Soap opera has been perceived as inferior; as mere fantasy and escapism for women while television sports has been perceived as a legitimate, even edifying experience for men. In this article the authors challenge the view that soap opera and television sport are radically different and argue that they are, in fact, very similar in a number of significant ways. They suggest that both genres invoke similar structures of feeling and sensibility in their respective audiences and that television sport is a 'male soap opera'. They consider the ways in which the viewing context of each genre is related to domestic life and leisure, the ways in which the textual structure and conventions of each genre invoke emotional identification, and finally, the ways in which both genres re-affirm gender identities

Moral cleansing as hypocrisy: When private acts of charity make you feel better than you deserve

What counts as hypocrisy? Current theorizing emphasizes that people see hypocrisy when an individual sends them “false signals” about his or her morality (Jordan, Sommers, Bloom, & Rand, 2017); indeed, the canonical hypocrite acts more virtuously in public than in private. An alternative theory posits that people see hypocrisy when an individual enjoys “undeserved moral benefits,” such as feeling more virtuous than his or her behavior merits, even when the individual has not sent false signals to others (Effron, O’Connor, Leroy, & Lucas, 2018). This theory predicts that acting less virtuously in public than in private can seem hypocritical by indicating that individuals have used good deeds to feel less guilty about their public sins than they should. Seven experiments (*N* = 3,468 representing 64 nationalities) supported this prediction. Participants read about a worker in a “sin industry” who secretly performed good deeds. When the individual’s public work (e.g., selling tobacco) was inconsistent with, versus unrelated to, the good deeds (e.g., anonymous donations to an anti-smoking cause vs. an anti-obesity cause), participants perceived him as more hypocritical, which in turn predicted less praise for his good deeds. Participants also inferred that the individual was using the inconsistent good deeds to cleanse his conscience for his public work, and such moral cleansing appeared hypocritical when it successfully alleviated his guilt. These results broaden and deepen understanding about how lay people conceptualize hypocrisy. Hypocrisy does not require appearing more virtuous than you are; it suffices to feel more virtuous than you deserve

An Economic Evaluation of Irish Salmon Fishing, III: The Commercial Fishermen. ESRI General Research Series Paper No. 78, November 1974

This is the third report of a study entitled An Economic Evaluation of Irish Salmon and Sea-Trout Fishing which was sponsored by the Department of Agriculture and Fishseries and conducted by the Economic and Social Research Institute. The first report was concerned with the visiting anglers (i.e. salmon anglers from outside the Republic) [I] while the second report dealt with the Irish anglers [2]. The terms of reference of the study together with some background information on the life history of the salmon and on methods of evaluation were given in the previous reports. This third study deals with commercial salmon fishermen, their methods of operation, the time spent fishing, their alternative occupations and particularly with the income arising from salmon fishing. The report also gives information relating to the owners of angling waters and the opinions of these and of the commercial fishermen on certain aspects of salmon fishing. In the final section of the paper an attempt is made to collate the results of the three studies so as to provide some basis on which policy issues can be considered