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Zak-Transform-Induced Optimal Sequences and Their Applications in OTFS
Full text linkThis paper introduces a novel finite Zak transform (FZT)-aided framework for constructing multiple zero-correlation zone (ZCZ) sequence sets with optimal correlation properties. Specifically, each sequence is perfect with zero auto-correlation sidelobes, each ZCZ sequence set meets the Tang- Fan-Matsufuji bound with equality, and the maximum inter-set cross-correlation of multiple sequence sets meets the Sarwate bound with equality. Our study shows that these sequences can be sparsely expressed in the Zak domain through properly selected index and phase matrices. Particularly, it is found that the maximum inter-set cross-correlation beats the Sarwate bound if every index matrix is a circular Florentine array. Several construction methods of multiple ZCZ sequence sets are proposed, demonstrating both the optimality and high flexibility. Additionally, it is shown that excellent synchronization performance can be achieved by the proposed sequences in orthogonal-time- frequency-space (OTFS) systems
Implementing Bayesian network models using expert elicitation for instream barrier assessment
No full text1. Reducing river fragmentation is crucial for restoring freshwater biodiversity. Cost-effective methods of assessing the likelihood of fish passage at river infrastructure are required for spatial planning of barrier mitigation strategies. A paucity of empirical data on the swimming capabilities and movement behaviour of many fish species presents a challenge for evaluating barrier permeability.
2. We used a combination of expert knowledge and empirical data to define prior probabilities in Bayesian network (BN) models to estimate culvert, ford and weir permeability for multi-species fish assemblages in New Zealand. The models have been implemented as part of a national fish passage assessment tool. Model outputs are illustrated for a range of structures.
3. Uncertainty associated with incomplete knowledge was explicitly incorporated in the BN models. Experts were most confident in predicting barrier permeability under conditions where fish passage was expected to be poor. Estimates of fish passage success were more varied for conditions considered less likely to impede fish movements. This reflects experts’ understanding of the varying swimming and climbing capabilities of different fish species and life stages and how this impacts barrier permeability.
4. The BN models form the basis of a new fish passage assessment tool that has been implemented in New Zealand. Users collect data using a mobile app, recording the key features of instream structures that have been determined to influence the likelihood of successful passage. The BN models are then used to objectively classify the risk to fish passage for each structure.
5. Synthesis and applications. We have demonstrated that BN modelling and expert knowledge can be used for assessing the likelihood of fish passage where empirical data are lacking or sparse. The probabilistic framework is consistent with the need to reflect that many structures are partial barriers to fish movement and cannot be represented accurately in a binary pass/fail classification. This facilitates risk-based decision making, but also suggests that widely used connectivity indices should not ignore the uncertainty in barrier permeability by parameterising connectivity as a single value
Entanglement’s risks and rewards: exploring the experiences of women social workers who are mothers
Full text linkThis doctoral study explores the emotional complexities arising for women who are child protection social workers in the UK and mothers. Despite the critical intersection of these roles, research into how they influence one another is limited. Situated within a Critical Realist (Bhaskar 1979) epistemological position, it is theoretically informed by Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Systems Theory (1979), alongside feminist and intersectional (Crenshaw 1989) perspectives, enabling analysis of how individual emotional experience is shaped by organisational, cultural and structural contexts. Using Reflexive Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke 2022), this research systematically examines data collected from semi-structured interviews (Kvale & Brinkmann 2015) with 15 child protection social workers who are mothers. Four key themes emerged: enhanced empathy and deeper parenting insight derived from their dual roles; heightened vigilance and protective behaviours towards their own children; the impact of racism encountered by Black and Asian social workers; and the critical role of support systems - personal, peer, and professional - in sustaining their wellbeing and practice. These themes illustrate the entanglement of personal and professional identities and demonstrate how motherhood reshapes risk perception, emotional labour and decision-making in child protection practice. The findings indicate that female child protection social workers who are also mothers experience significant emotional impact from the interplay between these roles. They employ coping mechanisms to maintain boundaries, yet their personal and professional lives frequently become intertwined. The study contributes to knowledge by foregrounding the lived emotional experience of women who are mothers and child protection social workers - a group largely absent from existing literature - and by conceptualising motherhood not as a boundary challenge but as a professional resource that influences empathy, practice wisdom and reflective capacity. The findings have implications for supervision, workforce wellbeing, anti-racist organisational practice and leadership approaches, highlighting the need for reflective spaces, culturally responsive support and organisational recognition of identity-based emotional labour
Is the European Green Deal Enacting the Third Industrial Revolution in Europe? Observing the Evolution of EU Energy Law through the Lens of Rifkin’s Theory of the Lateralization of Power
No full textHuman Rights Limitations in World Health Organization Reforms: Strengthening Human Rights Obligations in Global Health Law to Ensure Global Health Equity
Full text linkHuman rights have served as a central normative framework for global health law, with the World Health Organization (WHO) providing a foundation to implement human rights law through global health governance. In implementing human rights obligations, WHO has sought to bring human rights into its normative standard-setting to promote health equity – within and between countries. Yet, WHO faced challenges in realizing human rights to ensure equity in the COVID-19 response, as its Member States violated individual rights and undermined global solidarity. Despite this imperative to strengthen human rights as a foundation for global health equity, recent reforms have failed to advance human rights meaningfully in global health law, as WHO Member States weakened necessary human rights provisions. This contribution examines new opportunities to strengthen human rights in global health, ensuring systemic integration across international legal regimes and human rights operationalization in the implementation of global health law
The effect of normal electric fields on the Stokes drift
Full text linkIn periodic wave motion, particles beneath the wave undergo a drift in the direction of wave propagation, a phenomenon known as Stokes drift. While extensive research has been conducted on Stokes drift in water wave flows, its counterpart in electrohydrodynamic flows remains relatively unexplored. Addressing this gap, we investigate Stokes drift beneath periodic traveling irrotational waves on a dielectric fluid under the effect of normal electric fields. Through numerical simulations utilizing conformal mapping, we compute particle trajectories and analyze the resultant Stokes drift behaviors beneath periodic traveling waves. Our findings indicate that variations in the electric field impact particle velocities while maintaining trajectory shapes. Moreover, the kinetic energy associated with a particle depends on its depth location and is a nondecreasing convex function in a fixed frame and a constant in a moving frame, as observed in water wave flows
A Hybrid Cooperative Game and Shapley Value Approach for Knowledge Sharing and Profit Allocation in Technology Supply Chain Strategic Alliance
Full text linkEquitable profit allocation in strategic alliances within technology supply chains remains a formidable challenge, exacerbated by the inability of conventional game-theoretic models such as Nash bargaining and Stackelberg to effectively analyze dynamic, knowledge-driven contributions. These models, constrained by their bilateral and static design, fail to capture the intricacies of multi-agent interactions. This study introduces a hybrid game-theoretic framework utilizing the Shapley value’s axiomatic fairness to allocate coalition profits by marginal contributions. The Shapley value surpasses equilibrium-based or power-centric approaches, offering superior suitability for complex multi-agent scenarios. Leveraging meticulously validated data including knowledge investment, absorptive capacity, and coordination costs—this framework employs Monte Carlo simulations to deliver statistically reliable contribution estimates, thereby overcoming the shortcomings of prior methodologies. Applied to an automotive supply chain, the model demonstrates substantial profit gains attributable to optimized knowledge-sharing processes. Absorptive capacity reflects the efficiency of organizational learning, coordination costs indicate potential frictions in collaborative processes, and knowledge investment captures the level of innovation intensity. The proposed model offers a robust, data-driven foundation for developing equitable profit-sharing mechanisms tailored to engineering management needs. At the policy level, it provides a scalable framework for strengthening supply chain resilience. This integrated approach contributes meaningfully to both the advancement of theoretical perspectives and the enhancement of practical strategies in supply chain management
Analysis of coding gene expression from small RNA sequencing
Full text linkThe popularity of microRNA expression analyses is reflected by the existence of thousands of sRNA-seq studies in which matched total RNA-seq data are often unavailable. The lack of paired sequencing experiments limits the analysis of microRNA–gene regulatory networks. Here, we explore whether protein-coding gene expression can be quantified directly from transcript fragments present in sRNA-seq experiments. We analyze studies containing matched total RNA and small RNA from four human tissues and recover transcript fragments from the sRNA-seq data sets. We find that the expression levels of protein-coding gene transcripts derived from sRNA-seq data sets are comparable to those from total RNA-seq experiments (R2 ranging from 0.33 to 0.76). Analyses across multiple tissues and species show similar correlations, indicating that the approach is applicable across organisms. We confirm that transcript half-life and the expression of housekeeping or highly abundant genes do not bias the results. Analysis of the expression of both microRNAs and coding genes from the same sRNA-seq experiments demonstrates that known microRNA–target interactions are, as expected, inversely correlated with the expression profiles of these microRNA–mRNA pairs. For a dual mRNA/miRNA profile, we recommend sequencing the ≥25 nucleotide fraction at 5 million or more reads. To confirm the utility of this approach, we apply our method to breast cancer sRNA-seq data sets lacking total RNA-seq data and achieve 75% recall and 64% accuracy comparing inferred coding gene expression with qPCR-validated targets. Our findings demonstrate that quantifying mRNA fragments from sRNA-seq experiments provides a reliable approach to investigate microRNA–mRNA interactions when total RNA-seq is unavailable
Unpacking the complex mechanisms of teacher-to-student emotion transmission in foreign language classrooms: a mixed-methods study.
No full textSecurity governance, harms and resistance: recalibrating security and redefining incivility through legitimacy concerns
Full text linkExamining the harmful effects of some existing governance approaches to urban space and various types of resistance to them, we outline a new framework to develop and evaluate security approaches in the city – in particular, towards ‘incivilities’. This framework relies on the redefinition of security, which we extended far beyond the realm of crime to include social security and concerns around vulnerability, sustainability, inclusion and so on, and takes into account the critique of existing governance measures. Simultaneously, it relies on the rethinking of ‘incivilities’, which involves shifting the focus away from behaviour deemed ‘anti-social’ to the actions or inactions of those who decide what ‘anti-social’ is in the first place, and their harmful consequences. The framework we propose – that takes into account harms, people’s broader sensitivities around public space and pro-social alternatives to current security approaches – should hopefully contribute to a more just and legitimate urban security governance