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Delivering impact via the ebb-and-flow of a research team: reflection on a long-term program of research into a global societal challenge*
Get PDFIn this paper, we draw insights from a 15-year qualitative research program exploring catastrophe insurance and gaps in insurance protection as risks escalate within a world impacted by a climate emergency. We suggest that the ebb-and-flow of our research team's composition and activities through time was inextricably linked with our ability to have a sustained impact on such a large-scale societal issue. The essay situates itself within the research impact and team literature, narrates the trajectory of our research program and team development, and develops a framework for effectively managing impact-oriented qualitative research teams over time. Our framework illustrates key aspects of this process including team (re)forming, building team and individual stickability, performing, and managing team flux. We also present 10 practical takeaways for how these aspects can be managed effectively to produce long-term impact work to address grand challenges
Approximate Circular Pattern Matching under Edit Distance
Get PDFIn the k-Edit Circular Pattern Matching (k-Edit CPM) problem, we are given a length-n text T, a length-m pattern P, and a positive integer threshold k, and we are to report all starting positions of the substrings of T that are at edit distance at most k from some cyclic rotation of P. In the decision version of the problem, we are to check if any such substring exists. Very recently, Charalampopoulos et al. [ESA 2022] presented O(nk^2)-time and O(nk \log^3 k)-time solutions for the reporting and decision versions of k-Edit CPM, respectively. Here, we show that the reporting and decision versions of k-Edit CPM can be solved in O(n+(n/m)k^6) time and O(n+(n/m)k^5 \log^3 k) time, respectively, thus obtaining the first algorithms with a complexity of the type O(n+(n/m) poly(k)) for this problem. Notably, our algorithms run in O(n) time when m=Ω(k^6) and are superior to the previous respective solutions when m=ω(k^4). We provide a meta-algorithm that yields efficient algorithms in several other interesting settings, such as when the strings are given in a compressed form (as straight-line programs), when the strings are dynamic, or when we have a quantum computer.
We obtain our solutions by exploiting the structure of approximate circular occurrences of P in T, when T is relatively short w.r.t. P. Roughly speaking, either the starting positions of approximate occurrences of rotations of P form O(k^4) intervals that can be computed efficiently, or some rotation of P is almost periodic (is at a small edit distance from a string with small period). Dealing with the almost periodic case is the most technically demanding part of this work; we tackle it using properties of locked fragments (originating from [Cole and Hariharan, SICOMP 2002])
Econometric aspects of convergence: a survey
Get PDFThe literature on convergence in per-capita income across countries has not converged on a common concept of convergence. It may be within a country towards its own steady state or between countries. Between country convergence may be absolute convergence to the same steady state; conditional convergence to country specific steady states, functions of observed variables; or club convergence to different steady states. It may be measured by beta convergence; sigma convergence; or the presence of a common trend. This paper surveys the econometric issues involved in estimating the rate of convergence; testing for convergence; and specifying the unobserved steady state. The survey suggests that rather than there being different ways to measure a single concept, convergence, the different measures are measuring different things
Understanding gaming disorder
Get PDFDr Halley Pontes, Senior Lecturer in Psychological
Sciences, is conducting research into video game
addiction, how it impacts peoples’ lives and how
diagnosis and treatment can be improved
Opportunities and challenges in designing and evaluating complex multilevel, multi-stakeholder occupational health interventions in practice
Get PDFExtant research suggests the effectiveness of Occupational Health Psychology (OHP) interventions depends on their design in the broader organizational context. While the field recognizes that pre- and posttest evaluation do not sufficiently capture the complex dynamics around OHP interventions, complex multi-level OHP interventions are still scarce in the literature. As established intervention implementation frameworks suggest, it remains difficult to address this complexity in practice. The present position paper re-evaluates lessons learned from two complex European OHP intervention projects, by applying the Integrated Process Evaluation Framework (IPEF) and related theories to bridge the gap between the theoretically recognized complexity and practical challenges. The re-evaluations emphasize that program-multilevel theories rooted in OHP-perspectives contribute to adequately hypothesizing around systemic factors and mechanisms relevant to OHP interventions. Concretely, middle range theories that outline how an intervention’s mechanisms work within a specific context to produce certain outcomes are crucial. Additionally, strategically and actively involving key stakeholders at all levels of the system and across the different intervention phases improves the embedding of OHP interventions in organizations. We elaborate on these insights with seven concrete recommendations for complex OHP intervention research
Defining neurodiversity and identifying neurominorities
Get PDFIn this opening chapter, the neurodiversity paradigm is defined and explained in the context of the macro-social and political changes that have taken place since the industrial revolution, and from its roots within disability rights activism in the late twentieth century. Key terms such as ‘neurodivergent’ are explained, as well as the definitions of the typically included neurodevelopmental conditions such as ADHD, autism, dyslexia and dyspraxia. The inclusion of less well-known and more mental health-based conditions is discussed. The strengths associated with different conditions are signposted. Diagnostic disparities are discussed in some detail, referring to fluctuating identification pathways geographically and over time, but as well as demographically. The bias towards the white, western, male, middle-class and heterosexual ‘norm’ within diagnostic protocols is highlighted, which leads to significant under diagnosis and lack of early support for many neurodivergent employees. The chapter closes with the implications for consulting and applied psychologists, including the need for reflecting on our own biases, working respectfully with communities of lived experience and understanding the ambiguities related to the extent to which neurodivergence is included in disability legislation
The BlockQuest game: digital behavioral phenotyping of ADHD using embodied serious game in virtual reality
Get PDFChildren with Attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) exhibit higher levels of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity compared to their typically developing peers, impacting their daily functioning. To characterize the effects of ADHD, traditional research methodologies have predominantly used an outcome-oriented approach—scoring at which ages children solve particular problems compared to typically developing children. However, such an approach neglects how children solve tasks and overlooks how perceptual, cognitive, and motor processes unfold from moment to moment during problem solving. Recent research attempted to address this knowledge gap using computerized gamification of tasks. However, most gamified paradigms are stationary and overlook the aspect of locomotion and embodiment, which are strongly related to daily functioning. Here, we argue that the effects of ADHD on daily living should be characterized through the use of virtual reality as a modernized embodied tool that provides digital behavioral phenotyping of ADHD. We present a novel embodied block-construction serious game paradigm in virtual reality that links ADHD characteristics and the real-time interaction between perception, cognition, and movement
Correlative microspectroscopy of biogenic fabrics in Proterozoic silicified stromatolites
Get PDFQuestions surrounding the biogenicity of ancient stromatolites have perplexed geobiologists for decades. Abiotic processes can produce superficially stromatolite-like structures; moreover, stromatolites frequently fail to preserve organic materials and cellular traces of their microbial architects. Using spatially correlated optical and electron microscopy coupled with Raman and FTIR microspectroscopy, we show that silicified stromatolites from the Tonian Skillogalee Dolomite (Flinders Ranges, South Australia) contain exceptionally well preserved microbial mat fragments and microbially induced sedimentary structures. These organic-rich layers exhibit mat-like laminations with low degrees of inheritance and reflect interactions between microbial communities and their environments, i.e. growth, sediment trapping and binding, and reactions to early diagenesis, and are inconsistent with abiotic formation. Although accounting for a minor proportion of the volume of the stromatolites, these kerogenous relics are demonstrably syngenetic and comprise aromatic and aliphatic organic materials, likely preserved due to early and rapid silicification. Constraining the origins of such lamination-scale features can elucidate relationships between morphogenesis and diagenesis and may assist in the resolution of controversies surrounding stromatolite biogenicity in deep time
The Washington Consensus and the post-Washington Consensus
No full textThe terms ‘Washington Consensus’ and ‘post-Washington Consensus’ denote two successive variants of the neoliberal economic policy paradigm associated with international financial institutions (IFIs) such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank from the early 1980s until recently. The Washington Consensus advocated various orthodox policies including deregulation, privatisation, and trade as well as financial liberalisation. The failures of these policies, which were often implemented via conditionalities attached to IFI loans, inspired a broadened variant by the mid-1990s. Labelled the post-Washington Consensus, this new variant preserved the market-oriented outlook of its predecessor, but expanded the prescriptive focus towards institutional reforms and social sustainability. Today, the IMF and the World Bank’s policy advice still displays a broadly neoliberal character, although ongoing transformations of the international development regime and reforms within these organisations make grand paradigms such as the Washington Consensus both ideationally and operationally less feasible than before
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