4,775 research outputs found
Testing key underlying assumptions of respondent-driven sampling within a real-world network of people who inject drugs
No full textIn this study, we collected mixed method social network data alongside a survey of people who inject drugs (PWID) to assess key assumptions of respondent-driven sampling (RDS). We found adherence to some assumptions and non-adherence to others. Specifically, sampling did occur through a connected network of PWID and the reported degree size of survey participants did correlate with network degree and likelihood of recruitment. However, recruitment was significantly more likely via a multiplex relationship and recruitmen dyads were significantly more likely to live in the same geographical area. In addition, people actively injecting drugs, those with ‘two lives’ and ‘dealers’, may have been isolated from the survey. We believe this is the first mixed-method social network study to report an assessment of the assumptions of RDS. We highlight the potential value of network data in understanding the validity of population-level estimates in surveys using RDS.</p
Dandyism
No full textSociological analysis of dandyism.The term “dandyism” refers to a British cultural movement of the late nineteenth century, within the Victorian era. It was a doctrine of elegance, finesse, and originality which was primarily concerned with language, sophisticated manners, and dress. An aphorism coined by the writer Gabriele D'Annunzio, one of the leading representatives of the Italian movement, perfectly sums up its essence: “living life as a work of art.” For that reason, “being dandy” became an expression not only of sophisticated dress, but of a proper lifestyle that expressed itself in every aspect of existence, such as attitude and personal tastes, and was superior from the point of view of social and cultural capital. This way of life was driven by a determination to stand out from the stereotype of the ordinary bourgeois man, and its aim was to rise above social conventions and the common way of thinking. In this sense, the dandy played a leading role in the society of its time, as an actor on a theater stage, shocking the audience with his eccentric and provocative style
Symbolic Value
No full textSocial and anthropological analysis of the symbolic valueThe symbolic value of an object refers to the semantic and cultural universe linked to it, which allows consumers to express their identity and social membership. Goods are symbolic as opposed to their supposed functionality; they are symbolic because they represent embodied symbols. The value of a good, therefore, is not only connected to its tangible aspects, that is, its structural characteristics and usefulness, but it is dematerialized and becomes sign, symbol, and communication. A commodity tells a story and at the same time becomes a form of identity expression, with a code and a language that are reflected in the system of meanings attributed to it. This process of signification is developed through a subjective reworking that, however, can be extended to the collective level, through rituals of exchange and sharing. Cultural anthropology has undoubtedly been a particularly fertile field for the study of consumption as a practice of signification
Quasi-cyclic Generalized LDPC codes with low error floors
No full textIn this paper, a novel methodology for designing structured generalized LDPC (G-LDPC) codes is presented. The proposed design results in quasi-cyclic G-LDPC codes for which efficient encoding is feasible through shift-register-based circuits. The structure imposed on the bipartite graphs, together with the choice of simple component codes, leads to a class of codes suitable for fast iterative decoding. A pragmatic approach to the construction of G-LDPC codes is proposed. The approach is based on the substitution of check nodes in the protograph of a low-density parity-check code with stronger nodes based, for instance, on Hamming codes. Such a design approach, which we call LDPC code doping, leads to low-rate quasi-cyclic G-LDPC codes with excellent performance in both the error floor and waterfall regions on the additive white Gaussian noise channel
The Same Old New Normal
No full textJournal #14 from Media Rise's Quarantined Across Borders Collection by Ryan Arron D'Souza. From United Arab Emirates. Quarantined in United States, Florida.Media Rise Publications. Quarantined Across Borders Collection. Edited by Dr. Srividya "Srivi" Ramasubramanian.The author tries to make sense of the ideas and practices normalized during quarantine
The future of psychiatry commission
No full textAbstract not availableHarris A Eyre, Arshya Vahabzadeh, Ryan Abbott, Ian A Cook and Michael Ber
A Bayesian hierarchical model for risk assessment of methylmercury
No full textThis article uses a Bayesian hierarchical model to quantify the adverse health effects associated with in-utero exposure to methylmercury. By allowing for study-to-study as well as outcome-to-outcome variability, the approach provides a useful meta-analytic tool for multi-outcome, multi-study environmental risk assessments. The analysis presented here expands on the findings of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) committee, charged with advising the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on an appropriate approach to conducting a risk assessment for methylmercury. The NAS committee, for which the senior author (Ryan) was a committee member, reviewed the findings from several conflicting studies and reported the results from a Bayesian hierarchical model that synthesized information across several studies and for several outcomes. Although the NAS committee did not suggest that the hierarchical model be used as the actual basis for a methylmercury risk assessment, the results from the model were used to justify and support the final recommendation that the risk analysis be based on data from a study conducted in the Faroe Islands, which had found an association between in-utero exposure to methylmercury and impaired neurological development. We consider a variety of statistical issues, but particularly sensitivity to model specification. © 2003 American Statistical Association and the International Biometric Society
Novel multi-electrode probe with three dimensional spatial resolution for simultaneous recording/stimulation in long-term adaptive deep brain stimulaton
No full textWhen treating neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s Disease (PD) modern technologies experience many deficiencies and/or limitations that researchers have been working towards improving. The problems that occur with modern devices are inadequate mechanical robustness, glial scarring due to tissue damage, reduced target area localization, and inability to simultaneously record/stimulate in vivo post implantation. The research presented here resolves the issues stated above, delivering the design of a novel Multi-Electrode Probe with 3-D spatial resolution and an on-board preamplification/filtering chip capable of simultaneous recording/stimulation. The probe has been modeled in Wildfire Pro/Engineer 4.0 and Finite Element Analysis (FEA) was performed in COMSOL Multiphysics 3.4. The neural chip which consists of both analog and digital circuitry was designed with Taiwan Semiconductor’s (TSMC) 0.18µm CMOS technology. The very large scale integration (VLSI) design and simulation was performed in Cadence Schematic and Spectre, respectively. The aforementioned work was done in hopes of delivering a neural probe that can eventually be used in a closed loop system for Adaptive Deep Brain Stimulation treatment.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Ryan M. Elkhol
Corrigendum: Expression analysis of candidate genes regulating successional tooth formation in the human embryo
No full textA corrigendum on
Expression analysis of candidate genes regulating successional tooth formation in the human embryo
by Olley, R., Xavier, G. M., Seppala, M., Volponi, A. A., Geoghegan, F., Sharpe, P. T., et al. (2014). Front. Physiol. 5:445. doi: 10.3389/fphys.2014.00445
The author Ryan Olley should appear as Olley RC on the published article “Expression analysis of candidate genes regulating successional tooth formation in the human embryo.”
The original article was updated
Shifting and persosting in the face of failure: Learning from what did not work
No full textSocial justice activism demands coordinated, concentrated efforts to move the needle in a positive direction. In the author's nine years as a social justice educator, he led multiple large- and small-scale projects for social justice within higher education. In many ways, those efforts failed to create a lasting impact. In the higher education ecosystem, they also took away time from the kind of promotable work which would benefit his case for tenure and promotion. Trying - and failing - to effect institutional changes left him emotionally, psychologically, and physically exhausted. Beyond that, he suffered from feelings of loneliness, exclusion, and lack of direction. For a long time, the author blamed himself for the failure to change the institution to be a place in which he felt comfortable. He also failed to cope with these negative experiences and emotions, often seething in frustration or anger or avoiding similar situations of vulnerability or creativity. It took years for him to remember and internalize lessons of persistence and shifting appraisals in order to maintain motivation for action and survive the stressors of working within an oppressive system.Published versio
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