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Mothering at the margins: Black mothers raising Autistic children in the UK
No full textBook synopsis: How can an interdisciplinary investigation into the lives of Black mothers raising autistic children in the UK encourage us to scrutinise systemic barriers and advocate for change?
Drawing from personal experience of raising autistic children, as well as a hybridised theoretical framework of Black Feminisms, Critical Race Theory, and Critical Disability Studies, this pioneering text offers an unparalleled lens into the intersecting spheres of race, gender, and disability.
Through individual testimonials, critical assessments of current practice, and actionable solutions, authors Claire Malcolm and Melissa Green compel readers to confront and dismantle the triad of oppression faced by these mothers.
Amplifying and validating the often-marginalised voices of Black mothers of autistic children, this book is ideal reading for students of Gender Studies, Disability Studies, Black Studies, Special Educational Needs, Social Work, and Psychology, as well as policy makers and educational administrators
Evidence for an Upper Crustal Melt Lens beneath Tianchi (Changbaishan) Volcano
Get PDFChangbaishan volcanic field (CBVF) located on the border of China and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is famous for intense volcanism in the Cenozoic. Many studies show evidence for partial melt beneath the volcano, but details on the structure of the magmatic system are lacking, due to a lack of data in the region. In this study, we obtained a high-resolution crust and upper mantle shear wave velocity (Vs) model beneath the CBVF by ambient noise tomography and receiver functions using a new dense seismic array. The absence of velocity anomalies beneath Wangtian'e and Namphothe volcanoes suggests a lack of magma within the crust. However, our models reveal two low Vs anomalies beneath Tianchi associated with magma reservoirs. The shallow low velocity anomaly (<4 km) overlaps with petrological estimates of the assembly depth of erupted rhyolite magma reservoir and the depth inferred for a hydrothermal reservoir from a recent MT study. The deeper one is located between 7 and 14 km depth with a lateral extent of ∼30 km, with a melt fraction of ∼6%–12%. Underlying the deeper low velocity zone in the lower crust is a region of faster velocity compared to the surrounding region. We interpret this as a low melt fraction crystal mush. This structure is similar to that seen at other large caldera volcanoes worldwide, suggesting a possible common mechanism underlying magmatism at these volcanoes
Unpredictable singleton distractors in visual search can be subject to second-order suppression
Get PDFRecent evidence suggests that attentional capture by salient-but-irrelevant distractions can be avoided via suppression, thereby improving performance in visual search. Initial evidence suggested it is only possible to suppress salient distractors with constant and predictable features (first-order suppression). We show that previous failures to find evidence for second-order suppression of unpredictable feature singletons may have been due to low feature variability: If it is probable that the salient distractor colour is the target colour on another trial, suppressing this item might hinder performance. We first validated a new multiframe letter-probe paradigm, where observers counted the search displays with a target shape and always reported as many letter probes as possible from the final display. When target and singleton colours were constant (Experiment 1), a singleton suppression effect was observed, with probe letters at the singleton distractor location reported less frequently than those at nonsingleton distractor locations. When two randomly swapped target/singleton colours were employed (Experiment 2), no suppression effect was observed, replicating previous findings. Critically, when target-colour items and the singleton could have one of eight different random colours (Experiment 3), a robust suppression effect reappeared. These observations demonstrate that first-order suppression is not universal, and that second-order suppression can be applied to singleton distractors under some circumstances. Suppression effects were observed for displays with and without targets, suggesting that they are not a product of direct target-singleton competition
Results on -freeness testing in graphs of bounded -admissibility
Get PDFWe study the property of \emph{-freeness} in graphs with known bounded average degree, I.e. the property of a graph not containing
some graph~ as a subgraph.
-freeness is one of the fundamental graph properties that has been studied in the property testing framework.
Levi showed that triangle-freeness is testable in graphs of bounded \emph{arboricity}, which is a superset of e.g. planar graphs or graphs of bounded degree. Complementing this results is a recent preprint by Eden et al which shows that, for every , -freeness is not testable in graphs of bounded arboricity.
We proceed in this line of research by drawing on results from the field of structural sparse graph theory and identify the \emph{-admissibility} as a useful measure:
Graphs of bounded -admissibility are identical to graphs of bounded arboricity, while graphs of bounded degree, planar graphs, graphs of bounded genus, and even graphs excluding a fixed graph as a (topological) minor have bounded -admissibility for any value of~~\cite{sparsity}.
In this work we show that~-freeness is testable in graphs with bounded -admissibility for all graphs~ of diameter~. Further, we show the testability
of~-freeness in bounded -admissible graphs directly (with better query complexity) and extend this result to~s.
Extending our technique further, we are able to show that~- and -freeness are testable in graphs with bounded -admissibility.
We supplement this positive results with a lower bound showing that, for every , -freeness is not testable for graphs of bounded -admissibility. This implies that for every there exists a graph~ of diameter , such that -freeness is not testable on graphs with bounded -admissibility.
These results lead us to the conjecture that, for every , -freeness for graphs of diameter is testable in graphs with bounded -admissibility
The critical group of a combinatorial map
Get PDFMotivated by the appearance of embeddings in the theory of chip firing and the critical group of a graph, we introduce a version of the critical group (or sandpile group) for combinatorial maps, that is, for graphs embedded in orientable surfaces. We provide several definitions of our critical group, by approaching it through analogues of the cycle--cocycle matrix, the Laplacian matrix, and as the group of critical states of a chip firing game (or sandpile model) on the edges of a map.
Our group can be regarded as a perturbation of the classical critical group of its underlying graph by topological information, and it agrees with the classical critical group in the plane case.
Its cardinality is equal to the number of spanning quasi-trees in a connected map, just as the cardinality of the classical critical group is equal to the number of spanning trees of a connected graph.
Our approach exploits the properties of principally unimodular matrices and the methods of delta-matroid theory
Molecular basis of conjugation-mediated DNA transfer by gram-negative bacteria
Get PDFBacterial conjugation is the unidirectional transfer of DNA (often plasmids, but also other mobile genetic elements, or even entire genomes), from a donor cell to a recipient cell. In Gram-negative bacteria, it requires the formation of three complexes in the donor cell: i-a large, double-membrane-embedded transport machinery called the Type IV Secretion System (T4SS), ii-a long extracellular tube, the conjugative pilus, and iii-a DNA-processing machinery termed the relaxosome. While knowledge has expanded regarding molecular events in the donor cell, very little is known about the machinery involved in DNA transfer into the recipient cell. Here, focusing on systems principally involved in DNA transfer, we provide an update on progress made on various mechanistic aspects of conjugation
Nanoscale 3D DNA tracing in non-denatured cells resolves the Cohesin-dependent loop architecture of the genome in situ
Get PDFThe spatial organization of the genome is essential for its functions, including gene expression and chromosome segregation. Phase separation and loop extrusion have been proposed to underlie compartments and topologically associating domains, however, whether the fold of genomic DNA inside the nucleus is consistent with such mechanisms has been difficult to establish in situ. Here, we present a 3D DNA-tracing workflow that resolves genome architecture in single structurally well-preserved cells with nanometre resolution. Our findings reveal that genomic DNA generally behaves as a flexible random coil at the 100-kb scale. At CTCF sites however, we find Cohesin-dependent loops in a subset of cells, in variable conformations from the kilobase to megabase scale. The 3D-folds we measured in hundreds of single cells allowed us to formulate a computational model that explains how sparse and dynamic loops in single cells underlie the appearance of compact topological domains measured in cell populations
Beyond simple interaction: uncovering the perception-interaction intrinsic mechanism of Generative AI Agents—a multi-modal big data analysis with PLS-SEM and fsQCA
Get PDFGenerative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is increasingly being adopted across industries, yet existing literature has not fully explored the unique traits and the complex mechanism it introduces. To address this gap, this study investigates the unique characteristics of GenAI agents and their impact on user interaction behaviors. By analyzing user-generated text and AI-generated images from the Character.AI platform, we examine three key perceptual characteristics: social personalization, functional customization, and emotional affordance. Through multi-modal machine learning approaches combining Structural Topic Modeling (STM) and Facial Action Coding System (FACS), we propose the “perceived characteristics of GenAI agent-empathy-interactive willingness” (PCoGenAI-E-IW) theoretical model to explore how user perceptions transform into interactive behaviors. Furthermore, the PLS-SEM analysis and configurational approach identify 10 distinct variable combinations that influence users’ interaction willingness. The findings validate our multi-modal analytical framework while providing valuable empirical evidence for marketing strategy formulation, service experience optimization, and theoretical advancement in human-AI interaction research
Introduction
Get PDFBook synopsis: The book documents, analyses and makes accessible the law and policy related to illicit drugs in various Asian jurisdictions. The focus is specifically on the measures undertaken in Asia to combat drug offences and, in particular, the use of the death penalty for such offences. It will enhance the ability of public policy and law makers, non-governmental organisations and the general population to engage in the debate on the appropriate approach towards illicit drugs. A wide range of Asian jurisdictions, particularly in Southeast Asia, have been intentionally selected to show a diversity of approaches in the 'war on drugs' debate. The areas examined include developments in the law and policy relating to illicit drugs; use of criminal law measures to combat drug-related offences; motivations of drug offenders; public support for punitive punishments; structure of the laws; procedural rights of accused persons; mandatory/discretionary sentencing and use of the death penalty
Profile least squares estimation in networks with covariates
No full textMany real world networks exhibit edge heterogeneity with different pairs of nodes interacting with different intensities. Further, nodes with similar attributes tend to interact more with each other. Thus, in the presence of observed node attributes (covariates), it is of interest to understand the extent to which these covariates explain interactions between pairs of nodes and to suitably estimate the remaining structure due to unobserved factors. For example, in the study of international relations, the extent to which country-pair specific attributes such as the intensity of conflict and volume of trade explain military alliances between different countries can lead to valuable insights. We study the model where pairwise edge probabilities are given by the sum of a linear edge covariate term and a residual term to model the remaining heterogeneity from unobserved factors. We approach estimation of the
model via profile least squares and show how it leads to a simple algorithm to estimate the linear cova
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