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A Coordinated Effort: The Recruitment of Regulatory T cells Involves Gut Microbes and the Vagus Nerve
No full textJust a Small Town with 10 Million People: Urban Agglomeration’s Effects on Labor Productivity in Chinese Cities
No full textThis paper analyzes the impact of urban agglomeration on labor productivity across 262 prefecture-level cities in China, employing a variety of econometric techniques, including fixed and random effects models, two-stage least squares (2SLS), and two-step generalized method of moments (GMM). Contrary to expectations, our findings predominantly indicate a negative relationship between urban agglomeration metrics and real labor productivity. Specifically, while initial models suggested positive effects of population and real fixed asset investments on productivity, further analysis using dynamic models and first-order differences revealed that population density negatively impacts labor productivity. Moreover, the study finds that capital density and college ratio hold varying significance across models, suggesting complex interactions between education, capital investment, and urban development. These results challenge conventional wisdom on the benefits of urban agglomeration in developing economies and suggest the presence of negative agglomeration effects, such as congestion and infrastructural strain, in China\u27s urban centers. The paper concludes with a discussion on policy implications, emphasizing the need for strategic urban planning and investment to mitigate these negative effects and foster sustainable urban growth
Childhood Maltreatment: Outcomes and Measurement Variations
No full textChild maltreatment is a widespread health issue in the United States, frequently resulting in adverse effects on physical and mental health and development. It includes both abusive and neglectful acts toward a child, often by a caregiver. Unfortunately, our knowledge of the effects and prevalence of child maltreatment is complicated by a lack of transparency in research. Researchers measure maltreatment in several ways, and any given study may use a different measurement approach. In addition, there are no standards in place that require researchers to report why they have chosen to use a particular scale. This makes it difficult to determine which aspects of maltreatment predict specific outcomes, as different scales take into account various aspects of maltreatment. This paper describes outcomes associated with childhood maltreatment, compares current methods for measuring maltreatment, and makes suggestions for future research approaches. Increasing transparency in reporting the methods used to measure maltreatment would help make the literature easier to interpret and would help professionals better understand the scope of maltreatment
Explainable AI: Breaking Down the Black Box
No full textWhy should you trust Machine Learning? Headlines are filled with fundamental flaws in machine learning models published by technology giants.
Most real-world applications lean away from inherently explainable models like decision trees or linear regression models, and towards black box models like neural networks due to their complex and robust hypothesis spaces. This flexibility often enables better representation of complex relationships. However, it also engenders a need for explanations.
This comps explores the need for Explainable AI (XAI) techniques. Explainable AI techniques attempt to illustrate how a machine learning model comes to a conclusion.
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As a 2024 Comps/Capstone for Carleton College\u27s Computer Science Department, this project has two parallel tracks following the literature review: applying XAI techniques to tabular categorization problems and applying XAI techniques to image categorization problems.
The same three XAI techniques are applied to both tracks: LIME, Shapley, and Anchoring. By applying three XAI techniques to two different models, we are able to compare how the XAI techniques perform in different contexts.
To further compare the XAI techniques, we are conducting two user studies. Because the point of XAI is to explain complex models to humans, there is no empirical method to compare techniques. To counter this we are conducting a user study, so the conclusions of this study are more than the conclusions of a few researchers
The Physics of Ocean Wave Energy Harvesting
No full textTheoretical models predict that the annual energy potential of waves off the coasts ofthe United States is up to 2.64 × 1012 kilowatt-hours, enough to provide approximately64% of the energy used in the United States in 2021. [1] Additionally, ocean wave energyis renewable, and wave energy harvesters have relatively little environmental impactcompared to some other popular renewable energy sources. Therefore, implementinglarge-scale wave energy harvesting could be a crucial step in the sustainable energytransition. This paper will briefly discuss the material properties of ocean water, thendiscuss how energy is transferred from the wind to ocean waves, and finally examineseveral popular models of wave energy harvesters (WECs), namely oscillatory bodiesand oscillating water columns
To Endure Pain Without Proof: The Invalidation and Erasure of Women’s Chronic Pain Conditions
No full textI review the literature on how both healthcare providers and patients understand, conceptualize, and manage chronic pain conditions. The literature demonstrates that women’s chronic pain lacks legitimacy, preventing patients from achieving recognition and validation from their clinicians and communities. As invisible experiences, chronic pain conditions are subject to interpretation and legitimization by professionals, who speak for the “scientific” truth. Stigmas and biases which render some patients and conditions less deserving of care then others influence how healthcare providers respond to reports of pain and how health systems distribute resources. The delegitimization of women’s chronic pain limits patients’ access to adequate diagnoses and treatments
From Liberators to Conquerors: Luxuria, Geopolitics, and Roman Imperialism in the Greek World, 264–146 BC
No full textNurture and Neuroimaging: Integrating Neurodevelopmental Changes Associated with Childhood Trauma and Psychotherapeutic Approaches to Treatment
No full textPost-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in children and adolescents is prevalent and debilitating. In contrast to adult PTSD, relatively little is known about the neurobiological underpinnings of child and adolescent PTSD, nor how current treatments may influence neurodevelopment to aid in recovery. This paper reviews the specific neurobiology of child and adolescent PTSD, the neurodevelopmental changes associated with childhood trauma and maltreatment, and examines the potential for novel treatment interventions through an evaluation of the functional and structural brain changes associated with psychotherapeutic treatments. Child PTSD is uniquely characterized by abnormal function and structure of frontolimbic threat processing and emotional regulatory neural circuitry with differential changes in volume, activity, and large network connectivity associated with the type of trauma experienced. Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy (TF-CBT) and integrative psychodynamic approaches may be most effective for treating acute and complex pediatric PTSD, respectively. Adult evidence suggests that multidimensional psychotherapies induce neuroplastic effects in prefrontal regions and the limbic system and are hypothesized to normalize neurobiological abnormalities associated with PTSD. Emerging somatosensory treatments may enhance age-specific pediatric PTSD treatment via the bottom-up regulation of large-scale neural networks involved in emotion regulation. Integrating an understanding of the unique neurobiological mechanisms of child PTSD within the context of neurodevelopment is imperative for developing novel and personalized psychotherapeutic treatment approaches
El Sueño de La Malinche: A Woman’s Body under Construction
No full textAfter the Mexican Revolution ended in 1920, the Mexican government began funding public art projects and programs intending to reorient the symbolic language of Mexico in order to establish a national identity. Art was a tool to propagate the concept of Mexicanidad, idealizing Mexico\u27s Mesoamerican past while honoring post-colonial racial and cultural mixing between indigenous Mexicans and the Spanish, known as mestizaje. Artists including Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, Alfredo Ramos Martinez, Armando Drechsler, Jesús Helguera and others adopted the well-known icon, La Malinche, in this artistic pursuit. La Malinche was the Nahua slave, translator, and sexual partner to Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of the Americas. Art in the ‘20s and ‘30s used La Malinche as a symbol against which Mexico could formulate its national character. These artists depicted La Malinche alternatively as a symbol of betrayal, highlighting Mexico\u27s shameful European origins, the mother of mestizaje and the nation, or a beautiful and sensual yet hateful accessory to the conquistador Cortés. One painting of La Malinche, often discussed in this “nationalistic art” category is El Sueño de La Malinche painted by Antonio Ruiz in 1939. In a time when art depicting La Malinche attempted to define the national character, this paper argues that El Sueño de La Malinche complicates La Malinche’s legibility as a national symbol. The painting highlights the multifaceted nature of La Malinche\u27s identity and the self- contradictory nature of the symbolic roles assigned to her. By delving into the visual complexities of the painting, this essay sheds light on the ways in which national symbols can subvert prevailing ideologies and the national project it aims to reflect. The paper will also explore the 1930s suffrage movement and changing women’s role as one possible explanation for this painting’s subversion of La Malinche’s symbolic character
