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The Words We Do Not Yet Have. A Creative Inquiry Into Human-Plant Relationships
Get PDFClimate change, loss of plant biodiversity, and ocean pollution signal the drastic changes in our ecology that call us to attend to the needs of more than human forms of life on Earth. Sustainable design and HCI research are responding to this call by offering methods and approaches to design more sustainable products and systems and recently, more than human design is building momentum. This agenda seeks to reform traditional design processes by decentering the creative agency of the dominant socio-economical group of humans and foregrounding those of diverse Others. In this paper, I focus on plants as a nonhuman form of life. Through synthesizing multiple research methods, such as fieldwork in nature, autoethnographic writings, drawing, outpainting with Generative AI (genAI), visual and thematic analysis, I propose a more than human creative process. In pursuit of that purpose, I use the notion of transcorporeality, developed by feminist Stacy Alaimo [2], as a lens to develop designers’ capacities to attend to the material configuration of human and nonhuman bodies. Decentering the designer’s creativity is an aspirational goal, which for various reasons is quite difficult to achieve fully, but the approach undertaken in this project, at a minimum, complicates the experience of human-centered design creativity. It does so by increasing perceptiveness and insight within what Alaimo refers to as the literal contact zones between human and nonhuman corporeality; leveraging that heightened capacity to synthesize the practices of traditional nature writing and autoethnographic writing to reveal and engage the enmeshment of the self in/as nature; and finally leveraging discursive text and my drawings as prompts for genAI’s outpainting technique, to experience how it extends, disrupts and reworks what I have done, revealing not only its own biases, but also many of my own
Impacts of an Urban Density Gradient on Land-Atmosphere Turbulent Heat Fluxes Across Seasonal Timescales
No full textSurface energy partitioning directly connects to the urban heat island effect, which consequently changes regional climate, the health of the urban dwellers, and anthropogenic energy use. In order to quantify land-atmosphere fluxes from urban areas and the impact of the level of intensity of development, we use seven site-years of land-atmosphere flux data from three locations averaged to seasonal timescales through binning by temperature. Additionally, all three of our study sites include urban rivers, allowing us to examine urban areas with high and low amounts of potential evapotranspiration. As expected, the urban river decreases the Bowen Ratio of observed fluxes, primarily through lowering sensible heat fluxes. Latent heat fluxes are positively correlated with urban density with coming from the river areas and negatively correlated with latent and sensible heat fluxes when coming from the urban river. We conclude that effective urban redevelopment guidelines can adopt this knowledge to decrease the urban heat island effect and reach sustainability targets to counteract increased temperatures from climate change
Identification of New Leads Against Ubiquitin Specific Protease-7 (USP7): A Step Towards the Potential Treatment of Cancers
Get PDFUbiquitin-specific protease-7 (USP7) is an important drug target as it regulates multiple proteins and genes (such as MDM2 and p53) with roles in cancer progression. Its inhibition can hinder the function of oncogenes, increase tumor suppression, and enhance immune response. The current study was designed to express USP7 in a prokaryotic system, followed by screening of small molecules against it using biophysical methods, primarily STD-NMR technique. Among them, 12 compounds showed interaction with USP7 as inferred from NMR-based screening. These compounds further caused destabilization of USP7 by reducing its melting temperature (Tm) up to 6 °C in thermal shift assay. Molecular docking and simulation studies revealed that these compounds bind to the putative substrate binding pocket of USP7 and thus may block the entry of the substrate. Four compounds i.e., 4-hydroxy-diphenyl amine (2), phenyl-(2,3,4-trihydroxyphenyl) methanone (3), 4′-amino-2′,5′-diethoxy benzanilide (5), and hydroquinone (12), showed anti-cancer activity against colorectal cancerous cells (HCT116) with IC50 values in the range of 31–143 μM. These compounds also down-regulated the mRNA expression of the MDM2 gene and up-regulated the mRNA expression of the p53 gene in HCT116 cells, as studied using qPCR analysis. This study thereby identifies several negative modulators of USP7 that can be studied further as potential anti-cancer agents
Long-Distance Photon-Mediated and Short-Distance Entangling Gates in Three-Qubit Quantum Dot Spin Systems
Get PDFSuperconducting resonator couplers will likely become an essential component in modular semiconductor quantum dot (QD) spin qubit processors, as they help alleviate crosstalk and wiring issues as the number of qubits increases. Here, we focus on a three-qubit system composed of two modules: a two-electron triple QD resonator coupled to a single-electron double QD. Using a combination of analytical techniques and numerical results, we derive an effective Hamiltonian that describes the three-qubit logical subspace and show that it accurately captures the dynamics of the system. We examine the performance of short-range and long-range entangling gates, revealing the effect of a spectator qubit in reducing the gate fidelities in both cases. We further study the competition between nonadiabatic errors and spectator-associated errors in short-range operations and quantify their relative importance across practical parameter ranges for short and long gate times. We also analyze the impact of charge noise together with residual coupling to the spectator qubit on intermodule entangling gates and find that for current experimental settings, leakage errors are the main source of infidelities in these operations. Our results help pave the way toward identifying optimal modular QD architectures for quantum information processing on semiconductor chips
Linkages of the 2022 Unprecedented Global Heatwave Events to Triple-Dip La Niña
Get PDFHeatwaves are influenced significantly by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO), which alters temperature and precipitation patterns throughout the world. Since 2020, we have witnessed a triple dip La Niña conditions persisting for three consecutive years resulting in severe weather and climate driven events globally. In this study, we identified the dominant frequency of Niño 3.4 Sea Surface Temperature (SST) signals and correlated them with regions experiencing unprecedented heat waves in 2022, namely, the Indian Ocean, the North Atlantic around England and Spain, and the Mediterranean Sea. The signal\u27s power spectrum and its three highest power components are determined based on the signal\u27s Singular Spectrum Analysis (SSA) for each region. Furthermore, the power spectrum coherence (PSC) of Niño 3.4 and other study regions is obtained to determine whether ENSO and heatwaves are linked. We find that Niño 3.4 and the Indian Ocean have the same dominant frequency for the highest power received, indicating ENSO\u27s influence on the Indian heat wave. Additionally, we discovered that in March 2022, the Jet stream is essential in bringing warm Arctic waves southward, passing through Niño 3.4 and India. Furthermore, we found that no other region shared the dominant frequency of the Niño 3.4 region
Enhancing Sustainable Development Goals Through Future Vapor Pressure Deficit Analysis In The Nile River Basin
Get PDFVapor Pressure Deficit (VPD) is crucial in meteorology and agriculture for understanding plant-environment interactions. Its application as an indicator in agricultural practices notably advances Sustainable Development Goals such as Zero Hunger (SDG 2) and Climate Action (SDG 13). This research focuses on the impact of climate change on agricultural productivity and food security in the Nile River Basin (NRB), emphasizing the role of VPD, temperature, and precipitation. Utilizing Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6 (CMIP6) datasets from NEX-GDDP-CMIP6, the study analyzes key climatic variables that influence agricultural conditions. The study applies the Mann-Kendall test to evaluate VPD trends from 2000 to 2060 under two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs), SSP2-4.5 and SSP5-8.5. The study\u27s findings on the implications of rising VPD levels in the Nile River Basin (NRB), particularly under the SSP 5-8.5 scenario, highlight a critical challenge for the region\u27s agricultural productivity and food security. The increased VPD, indicative of drier conditions, leads to a moisture deficit for crops, potentially reducing agricultural yields. This scenario poses a significant threat to food security, as lower crop yields can result in food shortages and higher food prices, adversely affecting vulnerable populations. The study underscores the necessity of integrating VPD insights into agricultural and water resource management strategies to uphold food security against climatic variations in support of the SDGs
Gambling Habits and Probability Judgements in a Bayesian Task Environment
Get PDFLittle is known about how gamblers form probability assessments. This paper reports on a preregistered study that administered an incentivized Bayesian choice task to n = 465 self-reported gamblers and non-gamblers. The task elicits subjective probability assessments and allows one to estimate the degree to which distinct information sources are weighted in forming probability assessments. Our data failed to support our main hypotheses that experienced online gamblers would be more accurate than non-gamblers in estimating probabilities, that gamblers experienced in games of skill (e.g., poker) would be more accurate than gamblers experienced only in non-skill games (e.g., slots), that accuracy would differ by sex, or that information sources would be weighted differently across different participant groups. Exploratory analysis, however, revealed that gambling frequency predicted lower Bayesian accuracy, while cognitive reflection predicted higher accuracy. The decline in accuracy linked to self-reported gambling frequency was stronger for female participants. Decision modeling estimated a decreased weight place on new evidence (over base rate odds) for those participant groups who showed decreased accuracy, which suggests that a proper incorporation of new information is important for probability assessments. Our results link online gambling frequency to worse performance in the critical probability assessment skills that should benefit gambling success (i.e., in skill-based games). Additional research is needed to better understand the mechanism linking reported gambling frequency to probability assessment accuracy
Digital Health Intervention for Children with ADHD to Improve Mental Health Intervention, Patient Experiences, and Outcomes: A Study Protocol
Get PDFBackground
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is the most prevalent childhood psychiatric condition with profound public health, personal, and family consequences. ADHD requires comprehensive treatment; however, lack of communication and integration across multiple points of care is a substantial barrier to progress. Given the chronic and pervasive challenges associated with ADHD, innovative approaches are crucial. We developed the digital health intervention (DHI)—CoolTaCo [Cool Technology Assisting Co-regulation] to address these critical barriers. CoolTaCo uses Patient-Centered Digital Healthcare Technologies (PC-DHT) to promote co-regulation (child/parent), capture patient data, support efficient healthcare delivery, enhance patient engagement, and facilitate shared decision-making, thereby improving access to timely and targeted mental health intervention for children at significant risk for poor outcomes. The present paper will describe our planned protocol to evaluate the efficacy of CoolTaCo via randomized control trial (RCT). Methods/design
We will recruit 60 children (ages 8–12) with ADHD who will be randomized to either immediate (n = 30) or delayed (n = 30) treatment (i.e., a waitlist control group). Among those randomized to immediate treatment, half will be assigned to DHI (delivered via a smartwatch and smartphone application), the other half to an active control treatment as usual (TAU). Unlike the DHI group, the TAU group will receive the smartwatch with no assigned activities, applications, or interventions on the devices. The intervention period will last 16 weeks; after a participant has been in the delayed treatment group for 16 weeks and has completed the post-waiting period assessment, they will be randomly assigned to either the intervention or active control group. Thus, 30 participants will complete the intervention, and 30 will complete the active control, with half of the total sample completing a waitlist period. Discussion
Individuals with ADHD have complex needs. Despite improvement in outcomes following cognitive behavioral therapies (CBT) and pharmaceutical treatment, long-term maintenance is a challenge often not addressed by traditional medical approaches, and, as we described, ineffective approaches to information sharing across points of care create further barriers to progress. Our research will fill a significant gap in translating early treatment investments and gains into long-term, sustainable outcomes.
This study was registered as a clinic trial at ClinicalTrials.gov (Digital Health Intervention for Children With ADHD, ID# NCT06456372) on 06/13/2024
The Rhetorical Mediator: Understanding Agency in Indigenous Translation and Interpretation through Indigenous Approaches to UX
Get PDFThe Rhetorical Mediator reveals how and why scholars and user experience (UX) researchers can include Indigenous technical communicators and oral interpretation practices in their interdisciplinary conversations. Nora Rivera analyzes the challenges that Indigenous interpreters and translators face in Peru, Mexico, and the United States as a means of understanding their agency and examines the various ways in which technical and professional communication, translation and interpreting studies, and UX research can better support the practices of Indigenous interpreters and translators.https://digitalcommons.chapman.edu/english_books/1041/thumbnail.jp
Corporate Civil Disobedience
No full textClassic theories of civil disobedience endorse the right of individuals to commit illegal acts to protest unjust laws and policies. Acts of civil disobedience have historically played a central role in exposing injustice and producing vital legal and social change. The literature on civil disobedience is vast; political and legal theorists have long recognized the contributions of individual legal resisters in the ongoing pursuit of a just society. Little attention has been given, however, to intentional lawbreaking by organizational entities that seek to protest unjust, illegitimate, or discriminatory laws. This Article addresses that gap by exploring the prospect of corporate civil disobedience and revealing its potential to transform law in furtherance of democratic ideals.
If the purpose of civil disobedience is to draw attention to perceived injustices, provoke public dialogue over controversial issues, and catalyze legal reform, that purpose can arguably be fulfilled by a corporate person equally as well as an individual one. This Article explains how corporate entities can commit conscientious breaches of law to counter problematic rules and policies. Defiance of the law comes with costs and risks, but legal resistance by entities can provide value in a society that understands the importance of dissenting voices in enhancing democratic debate. Highlighting several theoretical, normative, and doctrinal questions surrounding corporate civil disobedience, this Article sketches a framework for viewing corporate civil disobedience as a potentially useful tool in a well-functioning democratic system