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Competence and performance revised : pragmatic development may shape mentalizing development
Get PDFFunding: This work is funded by a St Leonard’s Doctoral Scholarship for Philosophy and Psychology from the St Leonard’s Postgraduate College.Cognitive development research distinguishes between what children know (competence) and their ability to demonstrate their knowledge (performance). An experiment can fail to reveal a child’s competence if its design limits the child’s performance. This distinction allows researchers to design experiments that limit the impact of performance factors, leading to observations of competence earlier in cognitive development. The distinction is often used in a deflationary way, where performance factors are taken to be extraneous to the competence of interest, so that they are irrelevant to a theory of competence. Using the role of children’s pragmatic inferences in mentalizing development as a case, I argue that this is sometimes an implausible use of the distinction. Performance factors do not necessarily support deflationary explanations and so are not always extraneous. I develop the concept of a learning procedure which specifies the attentional and inferential constraints that govern the construction of children’s developing competences. Changes in children’s pragmatic inferences can critically reshape learning procedures with developmental consequences for mentalizing. This case has the wider implication that performance factors split into two kinds. Synchronic performance factors are extraneous to competence and track competence at a specific time. Diachronic performance factors are developmentally entangled with competence and affect competence over developmental time. I outline how these two kinds of performance can be teased apart empirically.Peer reviewe
Testing galaxy evolution theories using galaxy gradients and machine learning
Get PDFGalaxy spectra are a rich source of information about the properties of gas and stars in the galaxies. The development of large integral field spectroscopic surveys has allowed for the spatially resolved observations of thousands of galaxies in the local Universe. The advantage of such surveys lies on the ability to compute the radial profiles of different galaxy properties, which plays a key role in understanding how galaxies evolve. On the other hand, large single fibre spectroscopic surveys, such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) survey, play a crucial role in understanding the underlying structure of the Universe. To fully explore galaxy evolution science with such surveys, fibre aperture corrections need to be computed to account for the fact that the fibre only covers a fraction of the total area of each galaxy. This thesis makes use of spatially resolved data to investigate the radial profiles of galaxies, not only to constrain theories of galaxy evolution but also to compute fibre aperture corrections for single fibre surveys. The shape and gradient of these profiles are investigated to test how both internal and external processes shape the evolution of galaxies.
We use the integral field unit (IFU) spectroscopic data from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at APO (MaNGA) survey to compute the point spread function-corrected gradients of different galaxy properties, such as the stellar mass surface density, mass-weighted age and metallicity and specific star formation rate. Furthermore, we use the random forest permutation importance to understand which galaxy properties play a more significant role in setting the observed gradients and discuss its implications to models of galaxy evolution (Chapter 3). With the results obtained from machine learning, we present a new method for computing aperture corrections to the four different properties explored in this work, which is based on splitting galaxies into different types given the features highlighted by the random forest algorithm (Chapter 4). Finally, we investigate how galaxy properties are affected by their large scale environment, the cosmic web, with a specific focus on how the alignment between galaxies and their host filament correlates with different galaxy properties (Chapter 5)."This thesis was funded by the Scottish Data Intensive Science Triangle (SCOTDIST) via an PhD studentship (Grant Number ST/P006809/1)"--Fundin
Effect modification and interaction between ethnicity and socioeconomic factors in severe COVID-19 : analyses of linked national data for Scotland
Get PDFThis work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number ES/W000849/1) and the Medical Research Council (MC_PC_19075). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish or preparation of the manuscript. RM, SA, EK, ED, AHL, AP and SVK are supported by the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00022/2) and the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (SPHSU17). SVK acknowledges funding from an NRS Senior Clinical Fellowship (SCAF/15/02), the Medical Research Council (MC_UU_00022/2) and the Scottish Government Chief Scientist Office (SPHSU17). AP acknowledges funding from Wellcome Trust (205412/Z/16/Z).Objective Minority ethnic groups disproportionately experienced adverse COVID-19 outcomes, partly a consequence of disproportionate exposure to socioeconomic disadvantage and high-risk occupations. We examined whether minority ethnic groups were also disproportionately vulnerable to the consequences of socioeconomic disadvantage and high-risk occupations in Scotland. Design We investigated effect modification and interaction between area deprivation, education and occupational risk and ethnicity (assessed as both a binary white vs non-white variable and a multi-category variable) in relation to severe COVID-19 (hospitalisation or death). We used electronic health records linked to the 2011 census and Cox proportional hazards models, adjusting for age, sex and health board. We were principally concerned with additive interactions as a measure of vulnerability, estimated as the relative excess risk due to interaction (RERI). Results Analyses considered 3 730 837 individuals aged ≥16 years (with narrower age ranges for analyses focused on education and occupation). Severe COVID-19 risk was typically higher for minority ethnic groups and disadvantaged socioeconomic groups, but additive interactions were not consistent. For example, non-white ethnicity and highest deprivation level experienced elevated risk ((HR=2.7, 95% CI: 2.4, 3.2) compared with the white least deprived group. Additive interaction was not present (RERI=−0.1, 95% CI: −0.4, 0.2), this risk being less than the sum of risks of white ethnicity/highest deprivation level (HR=2.4, 95% CI: 2.3, 2.5) and non-white ethnicity/lowest deprivation level (1.4, 95% CI: 1.2, 1.7). Similarly, non-white ethnicity/no degree education (HR=2.5, 95% CI: 2.2, 2.7; RERI=−0.1, 95% CI: −0.4, 0.2) and non-white ethnicity/high-risk occupation (RERI=0.3, 95% CI: −0.2, 0.8) did not experience greater than additive risk. No clear evidence of effect modification was identified when using the multicategory ethnicity variable or on the multiplicative scale either. Conclusion We found no definitive evidence that minority ethnic groups were more vulnerable to the effect of social disadvantage on the risk of severe COVID-19.Peer reviewe
The ontology of the soul and Pauline renewal of the mind : how holistic dualism accounts for the restructuring of the soul and human flourishing
No full textAccording to Christianity, transformation and renewal is necessary for human flourishing. The aim of my thesis is to provide a biblical ontology of human persons that supports a coherent explanation of Pauline transformation and renewal of the mind. I argue that holistic dualism provides a successful ontological framework that coheres with relevant biblical, philosophical, and scientific data. My methodology locates transformation and renewal as entailments in human flourishing and fitness grounded in the fundamental structure of reality. I proceed by carving out a biblical ontology of persons including a matrix for sanctification, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and a Christological exemplar for human agency. Next, I provide a model of the image of God founded upon the image-bearing agent and agency that coheres with my biblical ontology. I then explicate five views of the human person and soul landing on J. P. Moreland’s organicist view of holistic dualism. Next, I explicate the structure of the soul merging Moreland’s organicist structure with Richard Swinburne’s mental structure and provide an anatomical model of the soul. Finally, I turn to the sciences and provide an account of organismic plasticity and neuroplasticity that coheres with the restructuring of both the immaterial and material structures of the soul and body. In conclusion, I provide a synthesis of three models of transformation from theology, philosophy, and science integrated with Pauline renewal of the mind in concurrence with the agency of the Holy Spirit. I find that holistic dualism provides a successful ontology that unifies the human person and coheres with essential data providing a positive account of Pauline renewal and human flourishing
Structure-aware E(3)-invariant molecular conformer aggregation networks
Get PDFFunding: The authors thank the International Max Planck Research School for Intelligent Systems (IMPRS-IS) for supporting Duy M. H. Nguyen and Nina Lukashina. Duy M. H. Nguyen and Daniel Sonntag are also supported by the XAINES project (BMBF, 01IW20005), No-IDLE project (BMBF, 01IW23002), and the Endowed Chair of Applied Artificial Intelligence, Oldenburg University. An T. Le was supported by the German Research Foundation project METRIC4IMITATION (PE 2315/11-1). Nhat Ho acknowledges support from the NSF IFML 2019844 and the NSF AI Institute for Foundations of Machine Learning. Mathias Niepert acknowledges funding by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) under Germany’s Excellence Strategy - EXC and support by the Stuttgart Center for Simulation Science (SimTech). Furthermore, we acknowledge the support of the European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems (ELLIS) Unit Stuttgart.A molecule’s 2D representation consists of its atoms, their attributes, and the molecule’s covalent bonds. A 3D (geometric) representation of a molecule is called a conformer and consists of its atom types and Cartesian coordinates. Every conformer has a potential energy, and the lower this energy, the more likely it occurs in nature. Most existing machine learning methods for molecular property prediction consider either 2D molecular graphs or 3D conformer structure representations in isolation. Inspired by recent work on using ensembles of conformers in conjunction with 2D graph representations, we propose E(3)-invariant molecular conformer aggregation networks. The method integrates a molecule’s 2D representation with that of multiple of its conformers. Contrary to prior work, we propose a novel 2D–3D aggregation mechanism based on a differentiable solver for the Fused Gromov-Wasserstein Barycenter problem and the use of an efficient conformer generation method based on distance geometry. We show that the proposed aggregation mechanism is E(3) invariant and propose an efficient GPU implementation. Moreover, we demonstrate that the aggregation mechanism helps to significantly outperform state-of-the-art molecule property prediction methods on established datasets
Lost and found : Roman surveying of municipal territories on the northern Adriatic islands, Croatia
Get PDFFunding: This research was funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF): Grant-DOI: 10.55776/I6039.The introduction of airborne laser scanning (ALS) technology in the Mediterranean region over the past decade has significantly increased opportunities for archaeological research. Archaeological remote sensing has proven to be a versatile tool with numerous applications beyond simple site mapping. One approach is the large-scale interpretation of ALS data, which allows for the analysis of the stratigraphic information contained within the data. This is particularly useful for analysing the rich remains of past land use in the karst landscapes of coastal Croatia. The Roman dry stone walls of the Kvarner islands of Krk and Cres serve as an example. These structures outline the framework backbone of Roman surveying; however, due to their poor state of preservation, many remains can only be identified through ALS data rather than aerial photography. An absolute chronology for these features was established using the OSL profiling and dating method (OSL-PD), providing a date range of AD 200 ± 100. These results can be considered the first clear evidence of surveying municipal lands on the Croatian islands.Peer reviewe
Brief announcement : collision-free robot scheduling
Get PDFRobots are becoming an increasingly common part of scientific work within laboratory environments. In this paper, we investigate the problem of designing schedules for completing a set of tasks at fixed locations with multiple robots in a laboratory. We represent the laboratory as a graph with tasks placed on fixed vertices and robots represented as agents, with the constraint that no two robots may occupy the same vertex, or traverse the same edge, at the same time. Each schedule is partitioned into a set of timesteps, corresponding to a walk through the graph (allowing for a robot to wait at a vertex to complete a task), with each timestep taking time equal to the time for a robot to move from one vertex to another and each task taking some given number of timesteps during the completion of which a robot must stay at the vertex containing the task. The goal is to determine a set of schedules, with one schedule for each robot, minimising the number of timesteps taken by the schedule taking the greatest number of timesteps within the set of schedules. We show that the problem of finding a task-fulfilling schedule in at most L timesteps is NP-complete for many simple classes of graphs. Explicitly, we provide this result for complete graphs, bipartite graphs, star graphs, and planar graphs. Finally, we provide positive results for line graphs, showing that we can find an optimal set of schedules for k robots completing m tasks of equal length of a path of length n in O(kmn) time, and a k-approximation when the length of the tasks is unbounded
Adsorption pathways of boron on clay and their implications for boron cycling on land and in the ocean
Get PDFFunding: This research was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) Project number 455982777 awarded to M.J.H.Reversible adsorption and isotope fractionation of boron on the surface of clay minerals is a key process that impacts boron isotope cycling in porewater, rivers and the ocean. However, the differences in boron isotope fractionation factors between various clay minerals and their dependence on fluid chemistry are not well known. We performed two sets of experiments, using solutions of pure water with added boron and seawater, to explore the isotope behavior during adsorption of boron onto kaolinite, smectite and illite. We found that the amount of sorbed boron increases with ionic strength of solutions and is proportional to the cation exchange capacity of a given clay mineral. Maximum adsorption is observed in alkaline seawater, which we attribute to the efficient fixation of magnesium-borate ion pairs onto negatively charged surface sites. Isotopic fractionation is modestly different between clays and demonstrates that clay surfaces preferentially sorb borate, even when the concentration of borate in solution is low. In both pure water and seawater, adsorbed complexes retain the isotopic composition of their dissolved precursors (borate or boric acid) with minimal isotopic fractionation. In other words, isotopic composition of adsorbed boron is set by the ability of clays to adsorb boron from an already fractionated boron pool rather than specific fractionation associated with the complexation reaction. Our experimental results allow us to provide revised constraints on the adsorbed boron being transported in terrestrial fluids and the ocean.Peer reviewe
Personality states
Get PDFFunding: C.F.S. was supported by grants from the Independent Research Fund Denmark [1127-00366B] and the Tryg Foundation [162160] (PI Ingo Zettler).Personality states refer to an individuals’ feelings, thoughts, behaviours, and goals at a particular time. We review recent research with a focus on broad factor models of personality (Big Five, HEXACO), identifying several themes. First, studies show both convergence and significant differences between average states and traits and provide initial evidence that state fluctuations play a role in long-term trait change. Second, recent studies have identified theoretically plausible contingencies between situation characteristics and personality states as well as sizeable individual differences in these contingencies. Third, in applied contexts, personality states are associated with variables such as job performance, sleep quality, and stress. Finally, we highlight recent advances in the measurement of personality states.Peer reviewe
Corotating interaction regions (CIRs) : impacts with exoplanets
Get PDFFunding: The authors acknowledge support from Science and Technology Funding Council consolidated grant number ST/R000824/1.Corotating interaction regions (CIRs) are compressions that form in stellar winds when streams of different speeds collide. They form an Archimedean spiral around the star and can compress any exoplanetary magnetospheres they impact. They may also steepen into shocks capable of accelerating particles to high energies. We model the frequency and strength of these CIRs for stars of spectral types F-M. We show that the minimum radius, rCIR = Δφuslow/Ω, at which CIRs form varies strongly with the rotation rate (and hence age) of the star. For some exoplanets, such as those in Earth or Mars orbits, CIRs can form within the exoplanet’s orbit at all stellar rotation rates, depending on the angular size of the fast wind segment (Δφ). These exoplanets will experience CIR impacts at all stellar ages. However, for closer-in orbits such as Mercury or Venus, this may only be the case at higher stellar rotation rates. Both the frequency and impact of CIRs depend on the stellar rotation rate. For exoplanets with Porbit ≫ P∗, CIR impacts lasting for a time Δt raise the exoplanetary outflow rate by a factor R. If P∗ ≤ NΔt the CIR pulses overlap in time, whereas if NΔt NΔt(R + 1) the pulses are less frequent, and contribute less than 50 per cent of the total outflow.Peer reviewe
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