19 research outputs found
Beta-decay studies of neutron-rich ¹¹Li and ³²Na
No full textIncludes bibliographical references (pages 135-139)
Analysis of justification for author order and gender bias in author order among those contributing equally
No full textABSTRACTThe practice of designating two or more authors as equal contributors (ECs) on a scientific publication is increasingly common as a form of sharing credit. However, EC authors are often unclearly attributed on curriculum vitae (CVs) or citation engines, and it is unclear how research teams determine author order within an EC listing. In response to studies showing that male authors were more likely to be placed first in an EC listing, the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) required that authors explain the reasons for author order beginning in 2020. In this study, we analyze data from over 2,500 ASM publications to see how this policy affected gender bias and how research teams are making decisions on author order. Data on publications from 2018 to 2021 show that gender bias was largely nonsignificant both before and after authors were asked by ASM to provide an EC statement. The most likely reasons for EC order included alphabetical order, seniority, and chance, although there were differences for publications from different geographic regions. However, many research teams used unique methods in order selection, highlighting the importance of EC statements to provide clarity for readers, funding agencies, and tenure committees.IMPORTANCEFirst-author publications are important for early career scientists to secure funding and educational opportunities. However, an analysis published in eLife in 2019 noted that female authors are more likely to be placed second even when both authors report they have contributed equally. American Society for Microbiology announced in response that they would require submissions to include a written justification of author order. In this paper, we analyze the resultant data and show that laboratories are most likely to use some combination of alphabetical order, seniority, and chance to determine author order. However, the prevalence of these methods varies based on the research team's geographic location. These findings highlight the importance of equal contributor statements to provide clarity for readers, funding agencies, and tenure committees. Furthermore, this work is critically important for understanding how these decisions are made and provides a glimpse of the sociology of science
The social ethics of Norman Mattoon Thomas
No full textThesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityPLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you.Statement of the Problem
The problem of the dissertation is to analyze the implicit and explicit ethical principles and moral norms in the social thought of Norman Mattoon Thomas, six-time Socialist Party candidate for President of the United States and
a former Presbyterian clergyman.
Method
The method is two-fold, historical and analytical. In chapters and sections dealing with formative influences and developments in Thomas' thought it is historical. In searching for norms and principles it is analytical.
Procedure
Chapter II traces the formative influence in the development of Thomas' thought down to the time when he rejected absolute pacifism in the early 1920's. Other changes in his thought are handled in the following appropriate chapters. Chapter III discusses Thomas' views on human nature, human freedom, the place of ethics and the role of religion in social ethics. Chapters IV through VII analyze the principles and norms in Thomas' positions respectively on human rights and civil liberties, the economic order, the state, and war and peace. Chapter VIII attempts to place the norms emerging from the previous chapters into a conceptual scheme. Moreover, it demonstrates that Thomas' social ethics is decidedly American and bears the firm imprint of Christian ethics. Chapter IX outlines the broad framework of Thomas' social strategy and discusses the problem of compromise as it relates to it. This chapter is used to illustrate points previously made and to suggest that Thomas' contribution to American life must be seen in his impact upon the social and cultural ethos. Chapter X outlines the conclusions of the dissertation.
Conclusions
1. This analysis of the thought of Norman Thomas has revealed an ethical system composed of two fundamental principles and a composite of six norms which exist in a nexus of tension and interpenetration. The two fundamental principles are: (a) each person ought to be treated as an end in himself, and (b) means ought to be consistent with the ends chosen. The cooperative commonwealth is an ethical composite made up of the norms of peace, plenty, freedom, justice, equality, and cooperation-fraternity.
2. This ethical system is found throughout Thomas' views on civil liberties, the economic order, the state, and war and peace. Moreover, the system is a coherent one for a moral approach to social issues.
3. The social ethics of Norman Thomas is central in his thinking and is the major determinative factor in his views. Moreover, his posture as a "moral man" rather than a "political man" is his major contribution to American life.
4. Basic changes in the thought of Norman Thomas are closely related to his religious and ethical views. This is shown in his becoming a socialist and an absolute pacifist. It is equally demonstrated in his later rejection of absolute pacifism and his views on Russia.
5. Thomas is emphatically American as an advocate of the American democratic faith.
6. Thomas' social thought reflects the firm imprint of Christian ethics although he is no longer able to accept the Christian God.
7. The lasting contribution of Norman Thomas to social ethics is not in creative thought, but in himself. His is not a seminal mind, but for more than fifty years he has been the conscience of America, questioning her certainties, her goals, and her means for achieving them. He has placed before her people the vision of the cooperative commonwealth, of a new day of peace, plenty, and freedom which will end the darkness of exploitation, war, and want.2999-01-0
Managing and Processing Nuclear Data Libraries with FUDGE
No full textFUDGE (For Updating Data and Generating Evaluations) is an open-source code that supports reading, visualizing, checking, modifying, and processing nuclear reaction and decay data. For ease of use the front-end of FUDGE is written in Python while C and C++ routines are employed for computationally intensive calculations.
FUDGE has been developed primarily at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) with contributions from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL). It is used by the LLNL Nuclear Data and Theory (NDT) group to deliver high-quality nuclear data libraries to users for a variety of applications. FUDGE is also the world leader in converting data to the Generalized Nuclear Database Structure (GNDS) and working with GNDS data, including processing and visualizing. GNDS is a new extensible hierarchy that has been internationally adopted as the new standard for storing and using nuclear data libraries, replacing the previous standard ENDF-6.
A new public release of FUDGE has recently been published on github. This paper gives an overview of nuclear data processing capabilities in FUDGE, as well as describing the latest release, new capabilities, future plans, and basic instructions for users interested in applying FUDGE to their nuclear data workflow
GIDI+: A GNDS 2.0 suite of C++ APIs to access nuclear and atomic data for use in radiation transport codes
No full textGIDI+ is a C++ package that reads GNDS formatted nuclear reaction and structure data, and photo-atomic reaction data as needed by radiation transport codes. As of version 3.25, GIDI+ supports reading GNDS 2.0 formatted data. GNDS is a new extensible hierarchy that has been internationally adopted as the new standard for storing nuclear and photo-atomic data, replacing ENDF-6 which has been the standard since the 1960’s. GIDI+ 3.25 supports the GNDS 2.0 map file which can contain a list of all GNDS data needed to make a complete nuclear reaction data library as needed by radiation transport codes. GIDI+ has functions that make it easy to obtain multi-group data from a GNDS file, including summed data (e.g., summing multi-group reaction cross sections to obtain the total multi-group cross section). In addition, the MCGIDI sub-package of GIDI+ can be used by Monte Carlo transport codes to look up data (e.g., cross section, deposition energy) as a function of projectile energy and material temperature. The MCGIDI sub-package can use either GNDS multi-groupor continuous energy data. MCGIDI also has functions for sampling a reaction from a GNDS reactionSuite and functions for sampling a reaction’s outgoing particle energy and angular data. Recent work on GIDI+ includes: supporting GNDS 2.0, speeding up load times and adding support for URR probability tables. GIDI+ is currently implemented in LLNL’s Mercury [4] (Monte Carlo) and Ardra [5] (deterministic) radiation transport codes. An effort to update GEANT4 to use the latest GIDI+ is underway and should be completed by March 2023. GIDI+ is released under the MIT license and can be found at github.com/LLNL/gidiplus
Issues facing state and local government pensions
Get PDFIn the U.S., there are nearly 14 million state and local government workers and six million retirees who are owed more than $2.3 trillion dollars in eventual pension payouts by more than 2,000 different governments. The author discusses the current condition of state and local pension plans, as well as the strategies that are being used to help meet pension obligations.Pensions ; Retirement
Energy markets and the Midwest economy
Get PDFThis article examines the effects of fuel prices on the Midwest economy. As a region that is still disproportionately reliant on manufacturing, the Midwest would be expected to feel the brunt of high energy costs. However, is this still the case, or has the impact been mitigated over time by the restructuring of the region’s economy? The author finds that the Midwest has followed the national pattern of decreasing reliance on energy to produce regional output, but still has a relatively high concentration of energy-intensive industries that, when combined with unfavorable weather conditions, suggests that the region is still sensitive to energy price spikes.Energy consumption
Taking up the Slack: Lessons from a Cap-and-Trade Program in Chicago
Get PDFThe Emissions Reduction Market System (ERMS), an emissions-trading program for volatile organic materials (VOMs) in Chicago, Illinois, has been characterized by emissions significantly below the annual allocation of emission allowances, allowance prices much lower than predicted, limited trading, and emission allowances that expire unused. Essentially, it appears that a fundamental prerequisite for a tradable allowance program is missing—there is no scarcity of allowances. We evaluate a variety of hypotheses that may explain why the ERMS cap does not appear to be affecting abatement behavior and identify three that contributed to the lack of scarcity in the ERMS program: (1) a baseline process that inflated the cap; (2) hazardous air pollutant regulations that contributed to VOM reductions at some sources; and (3) numerous facility shutdowns. We conclude that the ERMS experience illustrates the inherent unpredictability of economic, regulatory, and other factors when setting an emissions target; a conclusion that resonates with the recent experience of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme. This argues for gathering reliable emissions data, developing sophisticated emissions projections, and making transparent assumptions about the impacts of other policies and regulations during the program planning and design phase. However, even with all these attributes, it is still difficult to anticipate every possible outcome. Thus, it is desirable to have robust mechanisms to address the uncertainties of emissions-trading markets and to make midcourse corrections if necessary. Finally, we offer some comments on how to think about the results of ERMS versus a hypothetical command and control program that might have been designed to reach the same environmental outcome.emissions-trading, ERMS, European Union, climate change
Relationship between personality type and the ability to be a change agent
Get PDFPlan BThis descriptive study investigated the relationship between personality types as indicated on the Myer’s Briggs Type Indicator and the ability to be a change agent as measured by the Change Agent Inventory. The Myer’s Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) Form G is a questionnaire designed to make Carl Jung’s theory of psychological types understandable and useful in everyday life. The author, Katharine Cook Briggs (1875-1968) and her daughter, Isabel Briggs Myers (1897-1980) were disciplined observers of human personality differences. They studied and elaborated the ideas of Jung, and applied them to human interaction. After more than 50 years of research and development, the current MBTI is the most widely used instrument for understanding normal personality differences. The Change Agent Inventory (CAI) provides a comprehensive assessment of the criteria and characteristics necessary to successfully implement key business changes in an organization. It can be used to assess individuals charged with the responsibility to make sure a change happens; and to select primary change agents for major change projects. The CAI was developed by Implementation Management Associates, Inc. of Brighton, Colorado. After these two instruments were taken by members of the College Operating Team (COT), a focus group was conducted with these questions asked of each member: What is your attitude toward change? Do you like or dislike change? Why? How effective are you as a change agent? The participants in this study were nine managers at a two-year technical college. The WITC - New Richmond COT has a variety of personality preferences. All the COT members demonstrated a higher than average capacity for change. There was a tendency for more intuitive managers to score higher on the change agent instrument. There was also a tendency for the higher the score on the change agent instrument the lower the MBTI Type S score. However, there did appear to be a positive relationship between the focus group responses and CAI scores
Where is the market going? Uncertain facts and novel theories
Get PDFThe author surveys the statistical evidence on average stock return and the economic theories that try to explain it. The statistical evidence suggests a period of low returns, followed by a slow reversion to a high long-term average. However, that evidence is quite uncertain. Standard economics predicts tiny stock returns. The author surveys new economic models that predict high returns, but by fundamentally changing the description of stock market risk. He warns that a low forecast for stock returns does not mean one should sell.Stocks ; Risk
