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Guest Lecture: Tourism Growth Linkages in Small Economies : Economic & Environmental Challenges, University of Aruba
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Kernels of bounded operators on the classical transfinite Banach sequence spaces
Get PDFEvery closed subspace of each of the Banach spaces X=lp(Γ) and X=c0(Γ), where Γ is a set and 1<p<∞, is the kernel of a bounded operator X→X. On the other hand, whenever Γ is an uncountable set, l1(Γ) contains a closed subspace that is not the kernel of any bounded operator l1(Γ)→l1(Γ)
Federated learning with adaptive local aggregation for privacy-aware recommender systems in Internet of Vehicles
Get PDFDeep learning (DL) models have great potential to be used for recommender systems (RS) in the Internet of Vehicles (IoV) due to their excellent data processing and learning abilities. To alleviate the problem of privacy leakage in centralized training of DL models, federated learning (FL) is engaged for its advantage of just uploading gradients or parameters of models without raw data sharing. However, the ubiquitous data heterogeneity in IoV brings a big challenge to the stable global convergence of FL. In addition, existing FL schemes with high convergence latency cannot realize the timely personalized content recommendation in IoV. In this paper, a FL scheme with adaptive local aggregation for privacy-aware RS in IoV, named FLRS, is proposed. At first, we analyze the data distribution on each vehicle locally from two aspects: label distribution and feature distribution. After receiving vehicle data distribution information, the edge server selects aggregation collaborators for each vehicle according to the distribution similarity of labels and features. In the model updating stage, the local model on each vehicle is adaptively aggregated with those from its collaborators and then the local training process begins. At last, the performance of FLRS is evaluated through simulation experiments
Defoliation modifies the impact of drought on the transfer of recent plant-assimilated carbon to soil and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi
No full textAims The allocation of recent plant photosynthates to soil via arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi is a critical process driving multiple ecosystem functions in grasslands. Yet, our understanding of how defoliation modifies below-ground allocation of recent plant photosynthate and its response to drought, which is becoming more intense and frequent, remains unresolved. Methods Here we undertook a 13C pulse-labelling experiment in a mesotrophic temperate grassland to evaluate in situ how defoliation intensity modifies the transfer of recently assimilated 13C from plant shoots to roots, extraradical AM fungal hyphae, soil, and 13C-CO2 efflux (soil respiration) in response to simulated drought. Results We found that, individually, both defoliation and drought reduced initial plant 13C uptake, but when defoliation and drought were combined, we detected a significant reduction in below-ground 13C allocation to soil. Furthermore, while defoliation stimulated 13C transfer to plant roots and soil, high intensity defoliation amplified 13C-CO2 efflux relative to the amount of 13C taken up by plants. Drought stimulated 13C transfer to fungal hyphae relative to initial plant uptake. High intensity defoliation, however, suppressed both 13C enrichment of extraradical AM fungal hyphae and 13C transfer to fungal hyphae relative to initial uptake. Conclusions Our findings suggest that defoliation can reduce the transfer of recent photosynthate below-ground under simulated drought and provide new insights into how defoliation may influence grassland C allocation dynamics and cycling between plants and AM fungi in grasslands facing drought
Geographical inequalities in dementia diagnosis and care : A systematic review
No full textBACKGROUND: People with dementia can be disadvantaged in accessing health and social care services for diagnosis and care depending on where they live (including rural vs suburban vs. urban; postcode; country). Without an existing comprehensive synthesis of the evidence to date, the aim of this systematic review was to explore the evidence on geographical inequalities in accessing services for dementia diagnosis and care. METHODS: Five databases were searched in June 2024, including studies conducted in any country, published from 2010 onwards, and in English or German. Titles and abstracts, and then full texts, were screened by at least two reviewers each. Any discrepancies were resolved in discussion with a third reviewer. Data were extracted by two researchers and synthesised narratively. RESULTS: From 1321 studies screened and 49 full texts read, 32 studies were included in the final review. Most studies were conducted in the US, followed by the UK. Geographical inequalities in dementia are most often evidenced in relation to availability and suitability of services in different regions within a country, or a lack thereof. People with dementia residing in rural areas often experience challenges in receiving a timely diagnosis and accessing health and social care. No research has addressed geographical inequalities in accessing residential care. Innovative models on improving efficiency and quantity of diagnosis rates in rural Canada and Australia emerged. CONCLUSIONS: Health and social care services in rural areas need to be increased and made more suitable to the needs of people with dementia. More research needs to explore inequalities experienced by people with rarer forms of dementia. National strategies to overhaul the health and social care system need to focus on the rurality issue and recommend strategies to improve service access
The birds of the Bay : Avian landscapes of Morecambe Bay
No full textIn Morecambe Bay, the landscape is created in mutuality with non-human life, most notably experienced through temporal and seasonal changes in its avian residents. However, Morecambe Bay’s relationship with seabirds is increasingly under threat from the climate crisis. In this paper, I argue that the Bay’s avian inhabitants are critical to understanding how this ever-changing landscape is shaped by – and in turn shapes – more-than-human life. Drawing on ethnography and interviews, the paper seeks to disrupt or help to open up landscape research beyond the human. The paper is structured through three visions of landscape: (1) ecological landscapes, as the Bay goes through a period of transformation; (2) more-than-human landscapes; and (3) landscapes in crisis in a climate-changed world. I end by asking what it might mean to include non-humans not just as co-producers of landscape, but of landscape research
Corpus linguistics for language teaching and learning : A research agenda
No full textThis agenda identifies future research trajectories for the corpus revolution, proposing five specific research tasks designed to explore and advance the application of corpus linguistics in language education. These tasks focus on: (1) contrastive data-driven learning, (2) the development of corpus research for informing national language curricula, (3) the use of artificial intelligence for corpus informed language teaching and learning, (4) the reconsideration of the design and development of pedagogical corpora, and (5) the need for stakeholder engagement with corpus research design. Addressing these tasks requires a unified and collaborative effort as they sit at a number of key intersections in corpus applications to language pedagogy. We ask scholars executing them to engage in broad and cooperative research to meet the evolving needs of learners globally, to examine the potential of corpus linguistics for addressing new challenges in language education, and to influence and shape future directions in applied linguistics
Quantitative assessment of inconsistency in meta-analysis using decision thresholds with two new indices
Get PDFOBJECTIVES: In evidence synthesis, inconsistency is typically assessed visually and with the I 2 and the Q statistics. However, these measures have important limitations (i) if there are few primary studies of small sample sizes or (ii) if there are multiple studies with precise estimates. In addition, with the increasing use of decision thresholds (DT), for example in Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation evidence to decision (EtD) frameworks, inconsistency judgments can be anchored around DTs. In this article, we developed quantitative measures to assess inconsistency based on DTs. STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING: We developed two measures to quantify inconsistency based on DTs - the decision inconsistency (DI) and the across-studies inconsistency (ASI) indices. The DI and the ASI are based on the distribution of the posterior samples studies' effect sizes (ES) across interpretation categories defined by DTs. We developed these indices for the Bayesian context, followed by a frequentist extension. RESULTS: The DI informs on the overall inconsistency of ESs across interpretation categories, while the ASI quantifies how different studies are compared to each other (in relation to interpretation categories) based on absolute effects. A DI ≥ 50% and an ASI ≥ 25% are suggestive of important inconsistency. We provide an R package (metainc) and a web tool (https://metainc.med.up.pt/) to support the computation of the DI and ASI, including in the context of sensitivity analyses assessing the impact of potential uncertainty in inconsistency. CONCLUSION: The DI and the ASI can contribute to quantitatively assess inconsistency, particularly as DTs are gaining recognition in evidence synthesis and health decision-making
How can we achieve sustainable funding for open access books?
No full textIs the biggest blocker to open access (OA) for books actually the economics of it all? Book processing charges (BPCs) do not scale but they remain a significant method of paying to produce OA monographs for many researchers and libraries. However, in the last few years, we have seen several new initiatives emerge that seek to solve the problem posed by funding via BPCs alone. There is a proliferation of collective funding models for OA books, including Opening the Future, Open Book Collective, MIT Press’s D2O, JSTOR’s Path to Open and others. They all work differently, but they all offer alternatives to BPCs. In this article we explore the theme of sustainable funding for OA monographs, presenting a range of new models, and suggest that their normalization is well overdue. We also present the work of the library at Lancaster University on their new strategy supporting open access. While this article takes a somewhat UK-centric path, what is happening in the UK may be replicated in other countries and contexts. With demand increasing for monographs to be open this is a timely topic. The authors welcome discussion from publishers, libraries and other stakeholders